To all my Mom friends – this one is for you!!! Happy Mother’s Day!

Anita Renfroe’s Mom Song from Total Momsense

Kids are so predictable – well, at least my kids are -they each have their own unique behavior patterns that tip me off to how they are feeling or what is ailing them.

My twelve year old daughter woke up this morning with a headache, no appetite and was whinier than her normal self. She spent most of the morning laying on the couch – not interested in TV or anything else for that matter – and then suddenly she started throwing up. And there was my cue!! I quickly escorted her to the car and we headed straight to the Urgent Care center where the puking continued. These are my middle daughter’s tell tale signs that she has strep. Every single time she has had strep in her twelve years, the tell tale sign has not been a sore throat, it has been a headache, fever and puking.

My other two kids rarely get strep, more often than not, those two are affected by strep’s cousin – viral pharyngitis. Viral sore throats are characterized by pain, redness in the throat, runny or stuffy nose, hoarseness and cough. However, when they do get strep, they tend to have the “traditional” symptoms of a fever, pain when swallowing, and spots on their tonsils.

So how can you tell the difference between strep throat and a viral sore throat? According to InteliHealth the symptoms of the two are:

• Viral pharyngitis – Sore throat often occurs with the following symptoms: pain when swallowing; redness in the throat; runny nose; stuffy nose; cough; hoarseness; redness of the eyes; and, in children, diarrhea. In some cases, there can be a painful redness around the mouth or small painful sores on the lips and inside the mouth.
• Strep throat – With strep throat and other forms of bacterial pharyngitis, sore throat can be accompanied by any of the following symptoms: fever; pain when swallowing; a generally sick feeling (malaise); headache; redness and swelling in the throat; a coating on the tonsils or tongue; and swollen, tender lymph nodes (swollen glands) in the front of the neck. Children also can have nausea, vomiting and abdominal pain.

However, when in doubt, you should ALWAYS have your child checked by a doctor.

Some kids are more prone to strep than others  and some are simply the “carriers” of strep, never really showing the symptoms themselves. Chances are, your kids will develop their own set of tell tale symptoms making it a little easier for you to figure out what is up.

Next challenge? Keeping the twelve year old from getting bored as she spends her day in bed tomorrow. Luckily she just got a new book for her Kindle and can use part of time reading.

MommaSaid.net‘s Jen Singer is feeling my pain! Winter break can be a lot of fun, but add a snow storm to the front of it and Christmas on a Friday in the middle and things start to get a bit crazy around the house.  Watch her video – 12 Days of Christmas Break – one, for a good laugh, and two, to reassure yourself that you are not the only Mom counting down the days until the kids go back to school.

If you like Jen’s parenting humor, you have to read some of her books:

• You’re a Good Mom (and Your Kids Aren’t So Bad Either): 14 Secrets to Finding Happiness Between Super Mom and Slacker Mom
• Stop Second-Guessing Yourself–The Toddler Years: A Field-Tested Guide to Confident Parenting (Momma Said)
• Stop Second-Guessing Yourself–The Preschool Years: A Field-Tested Guide to Confident Parenting (Momma Said)

Like so many on the East Coast the weekend storm left us with a little more snow than we bargained for – try 19 more inches than I wanted!!

I don’t think my little red Jetta is very happy and I don’t think it is going anywhere anytime soon. The 4 wheel drive vehicle got the luxury of going into the garage instead.

Anyhow, 48 hours of forced domestication is just not my thing! I have dusted ceiling fans, done laundry and dishes, vacuumed, played with the kids, wrapped Christmas gifts and a host of other domestic chores I normally avoid like the plague. Let’s hope we can get out tomorrow – I still have some last minute shopping to do, groceries to get and we still have (hopefully) gymnastics and swim practices this week.

If you are snowed in, what are you doing to stay sane? How about the kids? Last year I did a guest post for TotallyHer.com called Snow Day Sanity Savers – check it out – it might just come in handy!

Ireland is by far one my favorite places on earth! Lucky for me, my grandparents live there and we have made quite a few trips there over the years. When we go we usually stay at Oysterhaven which is a very family friendly resort near Kinsale (see my photo above) with one of the most breathtaking views ever.

Growing up, my Mom would make classic Irish dishes year round, but the week of St. Patrick’s Day was always guaranteed to be special. Six of my favorite Irish dishes are:

Potato Leek Soup – This smooth and creamy soup is absolutely perfect for cold, dreary days.  The leeks (from the onion family) are truly the secret ingredient.  Thin sliced and tender the leeks add so much flavor to the soup.

Colcannon sounds exotic but it isn’t. Basically Colcannon is mashed potatoes with cabbage and sausage, plenty of butter and a bit of milk. Comfort food at its finest! This is also known as Bubble and Squeak.

Shepherd’s Pie was one of my childhood favorites. It is the ultimate one dish meal consisting of layers of ground meat (beef, lamb, or a combination), mixed vegetables, tomatoes, and a topping made of mashed potatoes and cheese. Yummy!

Irish Lamb Stew is made from amazingly simple ingredients, yet tastes so rich. I think the reason is that it cooks for 8 hours and those flavors just meld so well. Serve with Irish Soda Bread and you will feel like you are dining on the Emerald Isle.

Corned Beef & Cabbage is another simple yet delicious Irish recipe that is good any day of the year. The corned beef brisket will absolutely melt in your mouth after it spends all day cooking in the slow cooker.

For more great Irish recipes check out:

• Irish Traditional Cooking: Over 300 Recipes from Ireland’s Heritage
• The New Irish Table: 70 Contemporary Recipes
• The Irish Spirit: Recipes Inspired by the Legendary Drinks of Ireland
• The Irish Pub Cookbook
• McGuire’s Irish Pub Cookbook

Food photos from Food Network

Keep the kids busy while you cook with fun St. Patrick’s Day printable activities and coloring sheets.

Snow in March, are you kidding me? Well, it happened and the kids are getting a snow day, which is good, because their classrooms are all germ factories right now. Hopefully if the schools are closed for a few days the cold anf flu bugs on the desks will die and the kids can actually go to school with out getting sick for a few weeks.

We got about 8″ of snow overnight and the kids have already been out in it. I was able to get a photo of the front yard before anyone had a chance to mess it up. Like the tree that is just about bent to the ground All it is going to take is one good gust of wind and I’m guessing it is coming down.

If the kids start getting a bit antsy, check out the article I did for TotallyHer.com on Snow Day Sanity Savers!

This amazing video by Anita Renfroe packs all the things we Moms say in a normal 24 hour day in to a musical 2 minute sketch.

Happy Sunday!

Today was a day of dread for my 6 year old. She was scheduled to have a badly decayed molar extracted and she was terrified. We had to leave the house by 7:30 am and she was not in the mood to hurry up and get ready.

When we got to the dentist office, things got even more stressful. The buildings were surrounded by fire trucks! A neighboring building had smelled smoke and no one was allowed in anywhere. Finally about 15 minutes later, all was cleared and we got to go in.

Miss N is not good when it comes to needles, so we determined ahead of time that she would need some Valium to start her appointment. As soon as they took her back to give her the Valium, they asked her if she wanted a teddy bear or a monkey to keep her company. She picked the super squishy monkey (pictured at the right) and it immediately became a source of distraction. About 10 minutes after getting her medicine she got sleepy and was very relaxed.

When they were ready to take her back into the procedure she suddenly got very frightened and basically cried all the way through. I felt so bad for her. She didn’t like the shot of Novocaine at all.

The actual extraction of the tooth took all of about 30 seconds!

She has resting all morning – we’ve watched Alvin and the Chipmunks, Barbie Mariposa and now she is just reading books. It looks as if she is starting to feel much better – she’s fighting with her sister!

It is a busy night for the Tooth Fairy at my house this evening!

This afternoon my daughter declared that it was time for her incisor to come out – and she worked that thing all afternoon. Personally, I think she had a few more days before it was really ready to come out, but she just can’t help but to mess with it. Blood and a little pain won’t deter her – once she decides its time for a tooth to come out, she just won’t let up. She packed a zip lock baggie and a paper towel and proceeded to remove in the car on our way to gymnastics! Oh my.

About 30 minutes after bedtime my son came back down and let me know that he had also lost a tooth. But his just fell out – no extra effort for him – blood makes him squeemish and he has no tolerance for pain.

It’s a good thing I have some cash on me tonight! The tooth fairy will be delivering $2 per tooth once she is sure that both of them are fast asleep.

What is the going rate for the Tooth Fairy in your house?

We have set a mini-record in this house – with three kids we have managed to go about 6 weeks without anyone being sick. But today we are hosting my middle daughter’s birthday party at our house and like clockwork my youngest woke up barking like a dog this morning. It never fails.

She isn’t running a fever, but her voice is raspy and there some stridor in her breathing along with her barky cough. (get more info about kids coughs ) I have a feeling that before the morning is over we will take her in to the Urgent Care center just to make sure this isn’t strep in disguise or something (my kids are weird that way – their strep never presents itself with the normal symptoms).

The challenge is going to come this afternoon. How do I keep her away from the party? Its a gorgeous day and we are having the party outside but she isn’t going to want to miss out on any of the action. Stay tuned.