Carsick Kids!

There was a time not too many years ago that my sister, my mom and myself decided to take the three boys on a mini getaway to a Niagara Falls water park. To put it into perspective that’s almost three hours of driving with two 3 year olds and an almost 2-year-old. At about hour 1.75 number one threw up, and then number two, then, little number three! As my sister is cutting off cars to try to get off the QEW I’m trying to hold bags up to my kids faces, rub backs and also not puke myself.

This was the day we found out our kids suffered from motion sickness.

From that point on trips 30 minutes and longer could spell disaster for us, long trips were out of the question and we generally arrived most places with bags of pukey clothes, a bunch of used baby wipes and grumpy, smelly children. Good times.

Throughout the years they have gotten better but we have a list of must haves with us at all times now.

1. Grocery bags. Must have a place for the puke rags and dirty clothes
2. Sea Bands. They are for motion sickness, typically used on boats. All the kids have them and where them every time we go somewhere further than 30 minutes.
3. DoTerra Zengest rollerball: the first time anyone mentions a sore tummy they get this rollerball on their tummy. A smiley face under the belly button with two eyes above!
4. Peppermint essential oil: They say peppermint helps with motion sickness so I put a drop on their sea bands before we go.
5. A sturdy garbage pail: (Dollar store) Yes this is the collector of cheese string and fruit snack wrappers but if someone isn’t feeling well it has been known to be dumped quickly and passed back. It has saved our interior multiple times!
6. Gravol: (Pharmacy) We don’t like to drug the kids if we are just going on a trip to the city so we don’t generally use this unless it’s a big trip, like Niagara Falls or Toronto…which isn’t often anyway.
7. Food/No food: We haven’t quite figured this one out yet. They have definitely eaten too much before. A ton of grapes coming back up is not fun. But then too little to eat before we go doesn’t help either. So we usually aim for small…a piece of toast, an apple sauce, nothing to heavy.

So I hope that helps, anyone… it is hard to be confined to your house for fear of multiple pukey kids. We must carry on and hope they grow out of it eventually. It does seem that they are getting better as they are older, so that’s promising!

For the birds…and boys who eat like them

When my twins started eating real food it was organic, handmade, fresh food. I was #supermom and only the best for my little babies! No cheese whiz or hot dogs, don’t you dare give them juice or sugar period! (Laughing to myself) That didn’t last too long. Firstly we had twins so buying organic food that was being thrown on the floor or in the garbage was a waste! I still made everything but they had their fair share of processed food at a young age and it became an acquired taste for the young men. Now our constant rotation of dinners is pizza, chicken nuggets, macaroni, Alpha-getti, pogos and French fries…lunch are cheese whiz or jam wraps and a plethora of prepackaged snacks. I’m not a complete monster, they eat yogurt and cheese faster than I can buy it and I buy applesauce buy the Costco size case. Fruit, though expensive, never lasts long in this house. They have no desire to eat cookies or cakes. They still don’t drink juice often, either water or milk.  But they have a wicked addiction to ‘blue snacks’ (Welches fruit snacks)

I’m not sure where I went wrong. I tried to expand their pallet as children but now their likes mirror a first year collage student. My doctor and friends insist that we should be happy they are eating and as they get older they will acquire better taste buds. I try not to worry but their reaction to vegetables and meats (other than hotdogs and bologna…which aren’t even real meat) is almost embarrassing! So I do what any sane mother would do with a child on a horrible diet…vitamins!

Every night my kids get vitamin c, a multi vitamin and an omega 3. It helps me sleep at night knowing they got some vitamins along with their processed goodies!

Organizing: Our morning routine!

With four boys, three of which are in school there is major commotion in the mornings. They usually wake up around 630am and get dressed the second they come downstairs. My husband gets them breakfast and they watch Netflix with their cereal. I get up with the baby when my husband leaves for work, usually at eight o’clock. We are out the door by 850 for school, which is a minute down the road. Sounds easy peasy right? Hahahaha its not, its torture most mornings. I am a screaming broken record and they are tiny little lemmings that have lost their hearing and the ability to comprehend easy tasks. Bad combination for the wee hours of the morn.

I have come up with a few things in our house that actually do help with the morning routine. If you look around our house there are a ton of signs, white boards and colour coordination in order to help morning and all other tasks run smoothly…err smoother…

1. A 5-drawer storage container. (I got these at Canadian Tire three years ago) We originally started using this as a Monday to Friday thing. We put shirt, pants and undies for each day of the school week. They get their own socks because, to be honest, they are a bit weird about which socks they wear lol But anyway, as the boys got older they wanted to pick out their own clothes, their own styles and maybe not match their brother.

   

   5 drawer storage container

2. Easy accessible back packs. We have the boy’s backpacks in the front entry. In the mornings I put their icepacks in their lunch pail and their lunch in their backpack. Then they can just grab them on the way out in the morning. Having them in a specific spot helps with the chaos, everything has a spot.

   

   Easily accessible backpack hooks

3. Reminders! This list is as much for me as it is for them. It is a checklist of things that must be done before they leave in the morning. Things like nails and ears is obviously not a daily thing but sometimes in a busy week ears and nails can easily be forgotten until its too late and your kids nails are long and dirty and their ears have potatoes growing out of them lol No need for judgement from the perfect mothers, so we try to stay on top of things.

   

   lists, lists, lists! For momma and the boys

4. Essential oils every day! I have kids in school. Therefore I have kids who are around germs all.day.long. I do not need a house full of sick kids; I also have a baby who I do not want getting sick either. So every morning my little pumpkins get a nice rollerball remedy for immunity down their spine and on the back of their necks. I also made up a ‘potion’ to ward off head lice. A concoction I spray into their hats every morning for the prevention of those awful little critters. One other rollerball I have set out for the morning routine is Cheer by DoTerra. Some mornings are rough, for me and for them. I like to run a line down their spine when they aren’t in the best mood. It promotes feelings of optimism, cheerfulness, and happiness. I have those three sitting by their hat and coat racks, again, easily accessed and easy to remember if it’s in your face.

   

   Essential oils for the win!

5. Timing is everything. They say kids need structure. So how is this for structure? 

   8:25 – 5 minute warning before they need to get ready. they need to be prepped, usually a 5 minute warning then 2 then its go time. Less whining this way.

   8:30 – Brush teeth and use mouth wash, one at a time, so no one fights. It is an utter disaster if three boys are in the bathroom at the same time.

   8:40 – Hat, coat, boots, oils and hat spray! Stand at the front door with your backpack on. This is mainly to keep them in one spot while I run around getting the baby ready and myself too.

   8:50 – Out the door, in the van, on our way to school!

 

Timing is everything