Smells!

I wish I couldn't smell right now! Why is it that when smells seem at their worst in the middle of the winter, all shut up in one house and no fresh air coming in, that my pregnant nose feels the need to notice every whiff that breezes through this house?

Mornings are the worst for me because of showers. Yes, showers! I am grateful that my children shower daily but wow does it wreak havoc on my senses. First of all, the showers are a combination of 3 different body washes. Erika of course needs something fruity or flowery, which to me just smells sickly sweet, Levi adds to that the AXE smell and Derek tops it off with the latest teenage version of Old Spice, Justin uses whatever is within reach. As if that combination isn't enough, add AXE body spray (of course not the same smell as the AXE used in the shower), Derek's deoderant and Erika's spattering of body spray, deoderant and enough hairspray to blow up our house! Did you know that toothpaste can actually create a smell as well. Levi has the kind that is best for his braces, Derek and Justin use vanilla something-or-other and Erika has the usual mint Crest. As we all pile into the Yukon to head to 4 different schools they all pop the gum of their choice into their mouths and off we go . Let me tell you, that the combination of all of these smells just ruins breakfast for me and it all chemically adds up to the equivalent of TOILET BOWL CLEANER. And a strong one at that! It would seem that the simple solution to this would be to use only 1 body wash, everyone have 1 toothpaste, and limit the hairspray but since they don't like "the cheap stuff" that I am willing to provide in this household, they each buy their own. Now I have no control over it.

This morning (once again a snow day for the kids . . no school) I thought my nose would have a break but instead I woke up to this aweful moldy smell permeating throughout the entire house. I tracked it down (yes, like a sniffing dog) and found the source. Levi's room. Two nights ago he woke up in the middle of the night to find his fishtank almost empty and the hose (to whatever part of the filter it goes to) siphoning all of the water from the tank directly onto his floor. Well, since it was the middle of the night, he threw a towel on it, unplugged the filter and went back to bed. Certainly not the mothering thing to do, and he even admitted that he secretly didn't care if the fish died in only 2 inches of remaining water. That thing is a 10 gallon tank, most of which was now on his bedroom floor spreading underneath his dresser, bed and throughout all the organized junk on his floor. The next morning he attempted to wipe it up a little better (remember he is a teenage boy and I'm a pregnant Momma who is NOT getting down on the floor to do it), he refilled the tank, yes the fish still alive!

Well, now we get to smell moldy fishtank water until it is all cleaned out of the carpet for good. Levi's thinking is that the carpet doesn't matter because the new homeowners are tearing it all out anyway when they split this house into 2 apartments. I'm thinking of the next 8 weeks before we move! So as I type, Levi is pushing everything away from that side of his room and we (mostly he) will clean that carpet and dry it until this smell is gone. Now he is grumbling about what a waste this is for a snow day. Oh well, parenting it tough!