Music

I have to share a story. For those of you who don't know, I direct the choir and bells at my church. My kids sit with my mom in the congregation so I can do these things. My mom has told me several times that when the choir is singing, Matthew sits in the congregation and hums all the way through the songs. Very cute.

Well, Sunday I was directing the bells. When I'm directing the bells I stand in the middle aisle of the sanctuary a few rows back, about even to where my kids and mom sit. While I was directing I could hear this little voice humming and softly singing along. I got so tickled and wanted so much to turn around and look but I knew I'd lose my place in the music! But it was so nice to know that my little ones enjoy the music as much as I do.

We are blessed in so many ways. I was blessed by the beautiful job the bells were doing and by this sweet little voice humming along.

Boredom!!

And this is what happens when you've had WAY too much snow, you have cabin fever and are bored to death!!






We sit in the sink.......




















We watch the moon.....actually this was the eclipse. The kids had their little chairs set in front of the big window, popcorn bowls in their laps, watching the eclipse. This lasted about 5 minutes.
























We spend way too much time on the computer....



















and....





We take pictures of ourselves being bored....









Hurry Up Spring!!

Calming Down

At least it seems that way. The kids are recovered. Rachael is back in school and had a wonderful first day back. In fact, she said it was her best birthday ever. After school she had dance practice then we had her favorite, spaghetti for dinner. By then she was completely exhausted and went to sleep without a bit of trouble.

I got a gift for Rachael's birthday too! My dad bought me a new digital camera. My old one was 4 years old and in digital camera years that's pretty antiquated. His rationale for buying me a new camera (other than the other one just pooped out) was that we all benefit from my camera, I regularly send pictures to him of the kids, etc. So he benefits as well. Anyway, I'm sure there will be lots more pictures as I play with my new toy!

I'm still working on my friendships, relationships and am taking a good hard look at myself in the process. I will update as I learn more (and I hope I do!). A dear friend of mine wrote in her blog recently , "But, if GOD is listening right now, I would just like to point out, that I really think I am strong enough now. No more lessons for that are necessary…okay? And by the way, I think I have the patience thing down too, so no more lessons for that either, okay?" I'm feeling that too....seems we keep having to learn lesson after lesson....it never ends! By the way, she's got a great blog! Worth checking out. She's a fantastic writer and is working on a collection of short stories. I hope you don't mind the plug, Julie, but you rock! Both as a friend and as a writer! Check her out at: Julie Ann Writes

Well, both kids are at school. I've got to run and get valentine party supplies for BOTH classes. Parties on Thursday and Friday!

Oh and for the record, I'm still smoke free! Granted, being sick probably helped the cause, my coughing has been so bad I can't imagine smoking! But look at my counter!! I'm doing it! Yea Me!

Happy Birthday Boo!

Today is Rachael's 7th birthday. My how they grow. She has turned into a beautiful, sweet, smart and funny girl. I love her so. :)

The Saga Continues...

Well, Matthew is better. Rachael is improving but still has a fever and is exhausted. We're on the back end of this though (I think) and that's great. I may survive! I'm not sick yet, YEA! Grandad will be here in 2 days and we might just be germ free by then! We've had bunches of snow here and schools have been closed so at least the kids haven't "missed" much school. Since they are feeling better they are now bored and bickering. Maybe the sleeping all day was better! I can imagine that Rae will be out of school the rest of the week, since her fever is still 101-102. Matthew could have gone back today but of course the snow kept him here.

So I fell off the wagon (so to speak). I smoked. Not much, granted, only 1-2 a day (for the past few days) but I realized I couldn't do it without the patch. I became rather irritable and nervous! The state of Iowa offers 2 weeks of free patches and I got them yesterday, so here I go again! I'm not giving up on this one!

Another Day in Paradise

Well, it's Monday now. Both kids are now officially sick. Matthew continued to get worse and when his fever reached 104 I hauled him off to the ER. His cough had not improved at all (perhaps it was even worse!) and he had been running a fever for going on 3 days. I had my fill. Of course, it was in the middle of the night. Isn't that when all crazy, exhausted moms take their kids to the ER?

So, let me tell you about my ER visit. When we got there Matthew was actually feeling a little better because I had given him some Ibuprofen which completely hypes him up. I supposed that's not terribly convincing to the doctors when I say he's completely lethargic and has been sleeping 20 hours a day. We did the typical check in, it all went relatively well. We were the only ones there (one of the perks of a small town). I couldn't help but think of my dear friend who runs an ER in Houston Texas. He would be shell-shocked to enter an ER at midnight on a Saturday night and it be empty!

Well, we waited a very few minutes when the doctor came in, or at least I suppose it was the doctor. Given he had no identification on him and he didn't bother to introduce himself, who really knows? He sat down in front of Matthew and kept telling him to move closer so he could listen to his chest. "I'm not going to bend over, my back hurts. You are going to have to scoot over here!" Ugh.

Well. After a very thorough (HA!) 2 minute examination he determined that there was nothing wrong with Matthew. Granted, he had 104 fever and he was coughing up a lung. But it would pass in a week or so. Thank you and goodnight.

I was livid. I guess since I've worked in hospitals before (or maybe just because I'm human) I was so put out by this visit! I mean, seriously. Nothing wrong? Granted, perhaps it's not pneumonia and we had ruled out flu, but nothing? How about a little compassion and bedside manner? Even a "continue to give him the medicine you are giving him, make sure he gets lots of rest and call your doctor if he doesn't improve in a few days" would have been better than "There's nothing wrong with him." See, Scott? There's incompetence in every ER.

OK. So he leaves and I did think to ask the nurse what his name is. I'll be calling my family physician about this one.

We got home around 2am and I finally managed to fall asleep in time to get up for church in the morning.

To be continued....

Keep A Bucket in the Car

There are so many joys to motherhood...so many I could spend a lifetime and never name them all. But let me tell ya. I don't do sick kids. I guess it's a good thing mine are rarely sick, because I'd probably have to hire a nurse! I mean seriously, the whining, the crying, the wanting to be carried everywhere, the various excrements! You can have it.

Can you tell I have a sick kid? Yup. Matthew woke me up Wednesday night in the middle of the night fussing. I took him downstairs to lay on the couch (so I'm not the perfect mother who puts them straight back in bed!) and noticed he had a fever. Not a bad one, but one nonetheless. He was coughing a little but nothing alarming.

The next morning he was no better so I made him an appointment with our doctor. There's just too much pneumonia and flu going around to not be careful. He was tested negative for the flu (thankfully!) and given cough medicine for the cough. He slept most of the day and when it was time to get Rae from school we piled up in the car and headed on to get her.

I guess it was a combination of the cough medicine and the bump-bump of the car but Matthew was getting sicker, and fast! We ran by the bank and while in the drive-thru, Matthew unloaded, literally....all over the backseat. Poor Rachael, I thought she was going to climb in the glove compartment!

He felt better after and ended up sleeping the rest of the day and night. He's still got fever, cough, but at least the sleep will help. We'll see how this all turns out. I see visions of an entire household being down!