The Way My Mind Works at 2 am.

The wind is practically howling outside today...but the sky is mostly blue, the sun is shining determinedly through the heavy gray clouds that are zooming by...Tiny Princess is blessedly asleep in her bed, Captain Chaos is happily playing trains and watching D.isney's "C.ars" downstairs...the house is amazingly quiet, but for the typing on my laptop.

As the title suggests...these are the things that were running through my brain at 2 this morning, while I desperately trying to stop it from whirling so I could return to sleep...

Captain Chaos spent the better part of the weekend alternating between playing like a mad-man, and screaming like a banshee. He has contracted some sort of stomach virus that causes horrible, horrible, unspeakable emissions from his hind end. He, as a result, has a hideous rash, which therefore causes great pain, causing the screaming, causing an "I will absolutely not sit on the potty" reaction...we have fallen so far back in our training that I despair if the boy will ever be potty trained. He is NOT getting teeth, so it is not a result of molars coming in. He has a low fever, and has thrown up a couple of times since Saturday night. Tiny Princess is sporting a very congested nose, the same hideous rash, the horrible bowel movements, but thankfully NOT the vomiting.

We have an appointment with the doctor. At 2:45 this afternoon. I'm so glad that I called as soon as they start answering phones at 8am...I got the last appointment when I finally go through to them at 8:07. Apparently it's "going around".

BB has scheduled and reserved a trip for us to California. He'll be going to the office in San Jose for some training, and got a smokin' deal on plane tickets, so the kids and I will be going with him. Now, I will tell you that when he made the arrangements for tickets, and THEN told me about it, I was a bit put out. I did not wish to spend 5 days in a hotel room with a 2 1/2 year old and a 13 month old. I would much rather have spent a long weekend with him - fly in with him Friday, spend the weekend, and come home Tuesday with the kids, or something like that...fly out Thursday at the end of the time he's there, spend Friday, Saturday, and Sunday in CA visiting friends and relatives, simply because it is SO hard to have the kids at a hotel at this age. They aren't old enough to swim by themselves, we can't do something like a theme park because they aren't big enough. I am not comfortable driving and finding my way around the area to go to a park or a mall...so that leaves watching DVDs in the room, playing with as many toys as we can pack in our suitcase (which brings up another point I'll discuss shortly), and trying to keep the kids from going stir crazy.

HOWEVER!! We found an awesome hotel chain (at least they look awesome online) that is a bit more pricy than your normal hotel, nut it has a 2-bedroom suite. You read that correctly...it is a living room, with 2 complete bedrooms that each have their own full bathroom, and, get this...a FULL kitchen...as in, a real fridge, a microwave, a cook-top, pots, pans, dishes, glasses, silverware...PLUS they have a pool, a putt-putt course for the kids, laundry service on each floor, and we're in the heart of downtown, so I can take the kids for walks/rides in the stroller!

There is a DVD player in the room, so we can take some videos, and watch movies while there that don't cost us money. I can put the kids down for naps in separate rooms, and still watch TV, knit, read, study, whatever...I can cook lunch for them, we can eat in the room, OR in the restaurant...

I cannot tell you how excited this makes me to go to California!!!

The only downside at this point, is that we arrive on Friday morning, will get everything together and loaded into our rental car, and then drive about an hour down the road to a Mc.Donald's that has a playground, where we will have lunch, play, and let BB work from a hot spot. After a bit, we'll load up the kiddos (hopefully very worn out from scrambling on slides and through tunnels and in balls), and drive the remaining 2 hours to Fresno to visit with his grandparents. The drive isn't the issue, nor is the visit per se. The downer is that while talking to Grandma last night, she said "make sure you tell BB that his grandpa is not the same as he was last time you were here" and went on to describe how his cousin will drive over with his wife to visit every other week or so, and will spend the drive back to the Bay Area in tears at the changes.

Grandpa has Alzheimer's and it has really taken a hideous down-turn on his mind in the last months. We were out there a little over a year ago, in the October prior to Tiny Princess' birth, and since that time, he apparently only recognizes Grandma because they've been married and together for so long...

It stinks, and I hate the idea of having to face the reality of this, and the effect it will have on BB. My own grandma went through this toward the end (as mentioned previously), and I am SO not looking forward to seeing the hurt and despair in my husband's being at seeing his grandfather as this broken man...

As I can't do anything about it, I shall now turn my attention to how on earth I will be able to pack enough clothes, toys, books, and videos to get us through 10 days (yes, I'll do laundry while we're there) and NOT have to check a bag. I'm hopeful that we can find a way to only have to check Tiny Princess' car seat...as I don't believe that the airline can charge for checking something that we're mandated to have for our children...we'll see how I do...wish me luck!