Sunday, March 30, 2008

7 weeks to go

Today we are 33 weeks pregnant...time for an update!

New this week- I am enormous. I can't kneel at mass anymore because there's not enough belly room between the kneeler and the pew. I also can't fit into the booths in the snack bar at the skating rink. I can barely fit behind the steering wheel of my car. My back hurts, my right hip hurts, and I gladly (most of the time) accept all of this because my pregnancies are healthy, my babies (so far) have been healthy, and so I can't really complain about these small troubles.

Saturday, March 22, 2008

a new meme

I've been tagged by Morning Glories and Moonflowers for this meme that's been circling the blog-o-sphere....I know, I said no more posts until Easter, but I've actually been working on this post for a few days, trying to think of interesting things, heh. I'm just finishing it up tonight cuz I'm looking for distraction. I'm lonely! My favorite daughter is gone, my husband is gone. Tomorrow is Easter morning and it'll just be me and the boys going to mass and hunting eggs! We will be joining more family for dinner, so don't feel too sorry for me. :)

Here are the rules:


1. Link to your tagger and post the rules on your blog.
2. Share seven facts about yourself (some random, some weird).
3. Tag seven people by leaving their names as well as links to their blogs.
4. Let them know they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

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1. I keep a running list of little pet peeves in my head, probably from watching too many Seinfeld episodes. Like the way Wendy's always overstuffs their bags so that the fries stick out of the top and get cold on the way home. Or the way companies now put those little foil lids over the top of all the condiment bottles for you to try and pry off without getting BBQ sauce all over the place. Or people who ride your rear end in traffic so that they can get you to move over to the other lane and they can move up five more feet to the car that was right in front of *you*. I actually waste energy stewing over these things. It's a sickness. And on a particularly hormonal day, it's enough to send me over the edge man!

2. I hate kids' books that are based on television shows and Disney movies. You know the kind, right? They form the bulk of the books in the scholastic book catalogues. They will have the title of the movie or show, like "The Wild Thornberrys" or "The Lion King", and there won't even be an author listed because no one wants to claim credit for putting a tv script down on paper. These were the books the kids would often pick out at the bookstore, and then I imposed a buying ban and told them if they wanted them they could spend their own allowance on them. No one has bought one since. Now I just need to purge the ones I have on the shelves, especially since I now also refuse to read them to anyone. They are long and boring and a total drudge to read. Twaddle, anyone?

3. Can I talk about more stuff I hate? lol...this is quite therapeutic. I hate cd's, dvd's, and cd-rom's and think they are a plot by The Man to get us to spend more money on disposable objects. We live in a world of amazing technology. I have toys made of such indestructible material they will be sitting in a landfill 800 years from now. Can they REALLY not make cd's and such out of more durable material? Now that we have three kids messing with these things pretty much every dvd, cd, and cd-rom we own is now scratched and ruined, waiting for someone to go through them, tediously try them all out, and pitch the ones scratched beyond repair, which is pretty much all of them since I've never had any luck with those "repair kits". I do, however, have video tapes such as Barney's "ABC's and 123's" that Maria got for her first birthday, and cassettes such as the Poison's "Pour Some Sugar on Me" that I got for my 14th birthday. Really. So, who thought it was a brilliant idea to replace these relatively indestructible things with fragile discs that scratch if you breathe on them wrong? That's right people...The Man.

4. I took three years of Latin in high school. What, did you not think someone who listened to hairbands could be such a nerd? It has come in surprisingly handy....quite useful if you should go to nursing school, want to start teaching your 3rd grader Latin, or play Jeopardy.

5. I love, love, love children's literature of the non-screenplay variety. My very favorite is The Velveteen Rabbit, a certain edition in particular with the most beautiful illustrations I've ever seen in a book. I love Peter Rabbit, Winnie the Pooh (pre-Disney), "Lilly's Purple Plastic Purse", "The Little Mouse, The Red Ripe Strawberry and The Big Hungry Bear", Frog and Toad, The Chronicles of Narnia, "We're Going on a Bear Hunt", The Secret Garden, The Phantom Tollbooth...so many fantastic ones out there among the twaddle.

6. Most of the adult books I read are non-fiction though. This isn't because I don't like adult fiction, but it tends to suck me in and make me hide myself in a corner all day so I can read instead of doing what I need to be doing. Plus, if it's depressing at all it colors my mood and puts me in a funk the whole time I'm reading it.

7. I used to be a smoker. People are always shocked by that and say, "You don't look like a smoker," which I think is funny. I'm not really sure what it means. I think it means I'm too fat to look like a smoker. hehe. But a smoker I was, once upon a time. What's really funny is that I hated to date smokers when I was single, even though *I* was a smoker, because I always intended to quit someday and I sure didn't want to be married to a smoker, yuck! :) When John and I started dating, he was already a reformed smoker (It's like some kind of rule, if you're a nurse you very likely are a smoker or at least a former smoker. We are insuring the future of our profession). I was still smoking, which I didn't let him find out for as long as possible of course. Then when he found out, *he* started smoking again, which *really* ticked me off...nothing like that good ole double standard, right? I married him anyway, the lucky guy, and quit soon after that. John kept smoking off and on for quite a while. It's really hard to quit when you are still working with a bunch of smokers, I know. He did finally quit a couple of years ago, apparently for good. Yay, John!

I'm late with this meme, it's been making the rounds and I'll bet most people have done it already so I'm not sure who to tag! I'll tag Entropy, cuz I know she's be on a blog break for Lent, and anyone else that hasn't done it yet, leave a note in the comment box so I can read your answers! :)

Friday, March 21, 2008

last pre-Easter post

This will be my last post before Easter Sunday...shouldn't even be posting this morning, Good Friday, but my plans have gone out the window anyway. Kain is at his Dad's, Maria is with my parents, and John is at work...it's just me and Jack today!

Someone pointed out something funny in the post below,,,if you click on the picture of Jack below to enlarge it, you will notice how almost all of the books in his bed are about vehicles of different kinds...even the stuffed toy he's sleeping with is a Thomas the Tank Engine. Shows where his passions lie.

My pet peeve of the week...
We have a cat we have been trying to get rid of. We've had her for probably nearly two years now, we found her as a tiny stray kitten, but she cannot be consistently house trained. We've decided we can't keep her, especially with a new baby coming, and my house is starting to smell like a litter box. I've only put up with it this long for Maria's sake,,,she loves that cat. For many reasons, we decided the most humane thing to do would be to have the vet put her down. We considered finding a home for her as a barn cat, but we didn't think she'd have a good life that way. She goes outside, but rarely and reluctantly and not for very long. She much prefers to stay in. From what I've been told, the barn cat life is not really a great one, and many people don't feed their barn cats at all because they want them motivated to hunt. We couldn't in good faith pass her along to a shelter without telling them that we haven't been able to house train her, because I'd hate for some other family to adopt her and find out that out the hard way. And I figured once they knew that she'd never get adopted. I didn't want to take her to animal control because she'd definitely be put down there, but it'd be more traumatic for her that way than us just taking her to the vet to have it done quickly.

Well, I've found out that I could get rid of one of my children more easily than I can get rid of a cat. The vet was horrified with my reasoning and refused to put her down. She gave me the names and numbers of several no-kill rescues in the area. John called them all and they were all full and couldn't take her. Then he called a couple of humane societies and found one that would put her on a waiting list for "problem animals". That was the best we could do. I was debating the animal control option, but decided to put out the word about our situation to see if we could find her a home as a barn cat after all, and we did manage to find someone that would take her. I hope she does ok there. These are friends of ours, I know that if she can have a decent life as a barn cat with anyone it would be with them. If she was a cat that enjoyed being outside more, I wouldn't be concerned, but I still think the most humane option would have been for the darned vet to put her down, and frankly I'm a little irritated at being treated like some kind of serial killer for trying to do such a thing. I love animals too....more than many people. We are in the process of reducing meat in our diet so that we can switch to organic meat, mainly because the site of Tyson chicken trucks with their filthy birds crammed into cages like so many sardines and knowing they spend their whole lives this way makes me want to cry. So, I am not heartless when it comes to animals, I'm really not. This cat is our 4th, and we really didn't want a 4th cat. I've taken in many strays in my lifetime. She probably would have become a feral cat or road kill if we didn't take her in two years ago. We tried to make it work, and this decision obviously wasn't an easy one or we wouldn't have waited two years to do it. I was going to have her put down because I really thought it was the most humane thing for *her*. She's a young cat, and having her live many years as a barn cat when she hates being outdoors or in a cage at a rescue as a "problem cat" with little hope of being adopted just didn't seem as humane to me. And as much as I love animals, they are not human beings, they do not have eternal souls, and I really don't see anything wrong with having an animal humanely put down when there aren't any other good options.

It has occurred to me that I could have aborted the baby I'm carrying far more easily than I have been able to get rid of a stray cat. What does that say about our society?

Wednesday, March 19, 2008

Sunday, March 16, 2008

A big catch up post.....

I haven't been posting much of substance lately, I know. I "write" in my head all the time, but very little has been making it here. I don't know if it's the time change, getting over the flu, 3rd trimester pregnancy, or the crazy tree pollen that has my head so plugged up that I feel like I'm walking underwater all day...boy, I'd give my left arm for some Claritin...but I'm really struggling to just make it through the day the last couple of weeks. I'm super tired and really forgetful (more than usual!), and it's all very irritating because, HELLO, I am 31 weeks pregnant today! and I have lots of stuff to DO before this baby comes!!! This has all affected our Lenten plans as well...so many things I've wanted to do have fallen through the cracks in my poor brain. Many, many days I forget to pray the Chaplet with the kids, many, many days we have forgotten our sacrifice jars, or the kids will remember just as I'm tucking them in and I'll be too tired to bother and promise them we'll remember tomorrow...I'm hoping to do a better job during Holy Week. We did manage to pull off a little something for St. Patrick's Day last week...I know, it's not until Monday, but the Church has asked that we not celebrate on Monday because it's during Holy Week and would be inappropriate to celebrate during a time of recollection and repentance. The other day, Maria read aloud Tomie de Paola's picture book about the life of St. Patrick. She made Irish soda bread all by herself, I made corn beef, cabbage, and potatoes in the crock pot (which is *really* easy to do, btw, if you've never tried it), and we both made lime pie and lime punch for dessert...it was all very, very yummy! We had a little mishap with the soda bread...the recipe called for the butter to be cut into the flour with a pastry cutter, which Maria didn't know how to do, so I told her I'd be right there to help her. While she was waiting, she decided to go ahead and add the wet ingredients,,,so, I couldn't cut the butter in after that! We substituted vegetable oil instead and kept our fingers crossed, and it actually came out pretty good...good enough that I've been toasting the leftovers for breakfast. It's pretty yummy with some apricot jam.

I had plans to do something yesterday for the Solemnity of St. Joseph, but just couldn't muster it up...sorry St. Joseph. :( We went to Palm Sunday mass last night. John was working today, and since the kids didn't have PSR this morning, we decided to go to mass with John for a change. Jack, however, reminded me why we don't do evening masses anymore. At the beginning of this mass, they have the children process through the church with palm branches. I thought Jack would love to do this. We never found out though, because he didn't even make it through the opening prayer before he started screeching and had to be taken out. He fell asleep on my lap in the Narthex and so I spent mass there, returning long enough to lug his sleeping 40 pounds over my pregnant belly as I lumbered up for communion. I'm not sure what to do about services this week for Holy Thursday and Good Friday. I love to go to these services...but John is working a lot this week, I don't think he's likely to be off, and I dread taking the boys by myself.

As for Easter plans...well, this year is just a season of "doing what you can do" all around. John is working Easter Sunday...such are the hazards of being married to a nurse. My favorite mass of the whole year is the Easter vigil mass. We usually go to the one at Little Portion Hermitage, and it is *lovely*. It's also very late, and very long. Last year, John had to leave with Jack very soon into the mass and so he missed the whole thing. And this year, John wouldn't even be able to come. That, combined with the thoughts of managing Kain long after his Adderall has worn off, has me making other plans. The boys and I will go to one of the Sunday morning masses at our own parish instead and join my parents at the Hermitage afterwards for the Easter egg hunt and Easter dinner. Maria will have a great experience though. My parents are picking her up on Wednesday and she will stay with them until Sunday. This means she will get to go to Holy Week services at the Hermiage, including their Holy Saturday Seder meal...I'm so jealous! I've never been to their Seder and have always wanted to go, but I've always had a young child in tow and it's late and long and not really a fun thing for little kids. Ah well...such things are for another season of life I guess.

Here's some random pictures of the last week or so....

Last week we had a lovely warm day with temperatures around 70 degrees, so we planned another nature walk, this time with some friends. The photos aren't as good, or as plentiful. John was working this time, so I had my hands full trying to keep Jack out of the creek.


This is a picture of Kain's adopted dogwood tree,,,you can't tell here, but there are some leaf buds swelling. Maria missed her tree somehow on the walk...a hazard of hiking with friends along I guess.


Here's Jack engaging in his favorite hiking activity, throwing rocks in the water. He could do this all day. Shortly after this, he waded in up to his ankles when I wasn't watching and spent the rest of the day with wet feet.


And here is a sign of Real Spring...daffodils along the side of the trail starting to bud.


And Jack, pooped out at the end of the day. It was a long one...after the hike, we had a picnic lunch and then headed on to a vision therapy appointment for Maria and a midwife appointment for me.

Speaking of midwife appointments, things are progressing well for Peanut. Like my baby ticker over there on the right? It's pretty cool, huh? Except that I'm pretty sure the baby is past the floating around stage anymore. It's definitely been head down for the last two weeks at least, and I'm sure it's too tight in there to float like that anymore! He/she is getting big,,,which of course means *I* am getting big. That hike pictured up there just about did me in! When I came down with the flu, the midwife started hounding me in earnest to switch my diet around. She's really big into this raw foods/vegan stuff. Sure, that's what I want when I'm horribly ill, a big ole plate of salad and nuts! Sorry, but I just can't do that. I could never tell the midwife, but when we were all sick most of what we ate came out of a can our a drive-thru. John does not cook, ever, and *I* sure wasn't cooking anything. Usually though, I eat plenty of fruits and veggies, most of them raw, and I feel like our diet is usually pretty healthy,,,we eat mostly whole foods and I'm slowly switching over to more organic choices as I can find ways to lower my grocery bill in other areas,,,but being pregnant with three kids is just not the time for major lifestyle overhaul...besides, not to tweak any noses, but I've never been convinced that this whole raw foods thing is the healthiest way to go. It's not something I've researched much, I don't have the interest for it, and besides, if I had the discipline to follow such a strict diet I'd be way skinnier!, but I can't begin to see how you can get enough protein that way, especially pregnant women and children.

Ok, well, that's enough rambling commentary for now. The kids have Blue Knights/Little Women groups this afternoon, so I need to get busy getting everyone ready to head out this afternoon.

Friday, March 14, 2008

Lamentations of the Father

I first read this a long time ago...but it still makes me laugh. :)

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Of the beasts of the field, and of the fishes of the sea, and of all foods that are acceptable in my sight you may eat, but not in the living room. Of the hoofed animals, broiled or ground into burgers, you may eat, but not in the living room. Of the cloven-hoofed animal, plain or with cheese, you may eat, but not in the living room. Of the cereal grains, of the corn and of the wheat and of the oats, and of all the cereals that are of bright color and unknown provenance you may eat, but not in the living room. Of the quiescently frozen dessert and of all frozen after-meal treats you may eat, but absolutely not in the living room. Of the juices and other beverages, yes, even of those in sippy-cups, you may drink, but not in the living room, neither may you carry such therein. Indeed, when you reach the place where the living room carpet begins, of any food or beverage there you may not eat, neither may you drink.



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But if you are sick, and are lying down and watching something, then may you eat in the living room.

Laws When at Table

And if you are seated in your high chair, or in a chair such as a greater person might use, keep your legs and feet below you as they were. Neither raise up your knees, nor place your feet upon the table, for that is an abomination to me. Yes, even when you have an interesting bandage to show, your feet upon the table are an abomination, and worthy of rebuke. Drink your milk as it is given you, neither use on it any utensils, nor fork, nor knife, nor spoon, for that is not what they are for; if you will dip your blocks in the milk, and lick it off, you will be sent away. When you have drunk, let the empty cup then remain upon the table, and do not bite it upon its edge and by your teeth hold it to your face in order to make noises in it sounding like a duck; for you will be sent away.

When you chew your food, keep your mouth closed until you have swallowed, and do not open it to show your brother or your sister what is within; I say to you, do not so, even if your brother or your sister has done the same to you. Eat your food only; do not eat that which is not food; neither seize the table between your jaws, nor use the raiment of the table to wipe your lips. I say again to you, do not touch it, but leave it as it is. And though your stick of carrot does indeed resemble a marker, draw not with it upon the table, even in pretend, for we do not do that, that is why. And though the pieces of broccoli are very like small trees, do not stand them upright to make a forest, because we do not do that, that is why. Sit just as I have told you, and do not lean to one side or the other, nor slide down until you are nearly slid away. Heed me; for if you sit like that, your hair will go into the syrup. And now behold, even as I have said, it has come to pass.


Laws Pertaining to Dessert

For we judge between the plate that is unclean and the plate that is clean, saying first, if the plate is clean, then you shall have dessert. But of the unclean plate, the laws are these: If you have eaten most of your meat, and two bites of your peas with each bite consisting of not less than three peas each, or in total six peas, eaten where I can see, and you have also eaten enough of your potatoes to fill two forks, both forkfuls eaten where I can see, then you shall have dessert. But if you eat a lesser number of peas, and yet you eat the potatoes, still you shall not have dessert; and if you eat the peas, yet leave the potatoes uneaten, you shall not have dessert, no, not even a small portion thereof. And if you try to deceive by moving the potatoes or peas around with a fork, that it may appear you have eaten what you have not, you will fall into iniquity. And I will know, and you shall have no dessert.


On Screaming
Do not scream; for it is as if you scream all the time. If you are given a plate on which two foods you do not wish to touch each other are touching each other, your voice rises up even to the ceiling, while you point to the offense with the finger of your right hand; but I say to you, scream not, only remonstrate gently with the server, that the server may correct the fault. Likewise if you receive a portion of fish from which every piece of herbal seasoning has not been scraped off, and the herbal seasoning is loathsome to you, and steeped in vileness, again I say, refrain from screaming. Though the vileness overwhelm you, and cause you a faint unto death, make not that sound from within your throat, neither cover your face, nor press your fingers to your nose. For even now I have made the fish as it should be; behold, I eat of it myself, yet do not die.


Concerning Face and Hands

Cast your countenance upward to the light, and lift your eyes to the hills, that I may more easily wash you off. For the stains are upon you; even to the very back of your head, there is rice thereon. And in the breast pocket of your garment, and upon the tie of your shoe, rice and other fragments are distributed in a manner wonderful to see. Only hold yourself still; hold still, I say. Give each finger in its turn for my examination thereof, and also each thumb. Lo, how iniquitous they appear. What I do is as it must be; and you shall not go hence until I have done.


Various Other Laws, Statutes, and Ordinances

Bite not, lest you be cast into quiet time. Neither drink of your own bath water, nor of bath water of any kind; nor rub your feet on bread, even if it be in the package; nor rub yourself against cars, nor against any building; nor eat sand.

Leave the cat alone, for what has the cat done, that you should so afflict it with tape? And hum not that humming in your nose as I read, nor stand between the light and the book. Indeed, you will drive me to madness. Nor forget what I said about the tape.


Complaints and Lamentations

O my children, you are disobedient. For when I tell you what you must do, you argue and dispute hotly even to the littlest detail; and when I do not accede, you cry out, and hit and kick. Yes, and even sometimes do you spit, and shout "stupid-head" and other blasphemies, and hit and kick the wall and the molding thereof when you are sent to the corner. And though the law teaches that no one shall be sent to the corner for more minutes than he has years of age, yet I would leave you there all day, so mighty am I in anger. But upon being sent to the corner you ask straightaway, "Can I come out?" and I reply, "No, you may not come out." And again you ask, and again I give the same reply. But when you ask again a third time, then you may come out.

Hear me, O my children, for the bills they kill me. I pay and pay again, even to the twelfth time in a year, and yet again they mount higher than before. For our health, that we may be covered, I give six hundred and twenty talents twelve times in a year; but even this covers not the fifteen hundred deductible for each member of the family within a calendar year. And yet for ordinary visits we still are not covered, nor for many medicines, nor for the teeth within our mouths. Guess not at what rage is in my mind, for surely you cannot know.

For I will come to you at the first of the month and at the fifteenth of the month with the bills and a great whining and moan. And when the month of taxes comes, I will decry the wrong and unfairness of it, and mourn with wine and ashtrays, and rend my receipts. And you shall remember that I am that I am: before, after, and until you are twenty-one. Hear me then, and avoid me in my wrath, O children of me.

Friday, March 07, 2008

um....thanks?

Kain-- Aunt Mel, your hair is so soft...it feels just like my dad's pet rat.


Thursday, March 06, 2008

A week with the Flu

Cuz, you wanted all the details, right? Sure you did!

Seriously, I've been wanting to post a little weekly "recap" of our schooling and have been trying hard to remember to take enough notes during the week to make that happen...and of course, the week we all get the flu is the week I actually remember.

Sunday, you know, the one before last- We had mass and PSR for the younger kids as usual, and this week they had the yearly "pot painting" at our parish...the kids get to have a pizza lunch and paint a terra cotta pot to take home and fill with flowers for spring. John was off and got to help with the Sunday Shuffle, which was great for me because Jack was a bit of a, um, handful during mass. I don't remember what else we did that day, it was so long ago and my notes are spotty. I know we stayed home as we always try to do on Sunday. Read "People" by Peter Spiers and "Frog and Toad All Year" to the boys, and Maria and I are reading aloud from "The Horse and His Boy", one of the Narnia books.

Monday- We did our usual morning school subjects...Kain did religion, math, poetry (he's almost done with "Windy Nights"), a phonics lesson and page from Explode the Code, read aloud to me from a Little Angels Reader,,,,Maria did religion, math, poetry (she's almost done with "George Washington"), spelling, cursive, grammar, Latin...much of this was on her own, but again, my notes are spotty...need to get better at doing these. She finished reading "Pharaohs of Ancient Egypt", which she said was "boring",,,she says this about all history reading. John was off work and entertained Jack for me. In the afternoon, Kain had an appointment with the psychiatrist, so we didn't get to afternoon school. Read "Dr. Seuss' ABC's" and "Alphabeasts" to the boys, and Maria and I finished "The Horse and His Boy". On to the next one!

Tuesday- Co-op day! I dropped off the big kids and Jack and I made our weekly trip to the library. He's still not interested at all in attending the preschool story time...it all seems a bit beyond him yet. Then we ran a few errands, including grocery shopping and hitting the Dollar Tree to scope out goodies for the bribe boxes. What are bribe boxes you say? Part of their religion lessons is memorizing catechism questions and such. They earn points for this that they can exchange for little goodies from my bribe boxes. Surprisingly motivating. Jack and I took a nice nap together in the afternoon and John picked up the big kids for me.

Wednesday- This is the day when it all turned tragically wrong. John was working, and we did our morning schoolwork. Maria had her vision therapy at 2pm, I had a midwife appointment at 4pm, and then we needed to pick up a quick dinner on the road to get Maria to choir practice and PSR at the church by 6. I brought the boys home until it was time to pick her up at 8. It was during that time that the chills started, the "uh oh, I don't feel so good" thing, and then by bedtime I had a fever...which explained, belatedly, why my pulse was so fast at the midwife's office.

Thursday- John was off and took the kids to our local Poor Man's Chuck E. Cheese for me, allowing me to take a long and lovely nap while they were gone. We actually like this place a lot better than the Real and Actual Chuck E. Cheese, which gives me a migraine. The house was so blessedly quiet. When they returned, Jack fell asleep on the couch, and when he woke up almost two hours later he was also running a fever. By dinnertime, Kain was running one as well. I sent John to stock up on fever meds and soup and all that good stuff, as well as a board game or two for the big kids who were already bored with their freedom of being off schedule. Jack would not take any medicine by mouth *at all* and heaved up what little I managed to get down him. I had John hunt up some Tylenol suppositories, which was a good thing since Jack's temp peaked at 104 that night. At bedtime, we kept him in our bed so that we could keep an eye on him.

Friday and Saturday- lost to me completely. Jack and I both had high fevers and slept most of this time, Jack peaking at an impressive 105.4. We had horrible, bone-shaking chills and drenching sweats when the fever would break temporarily. It was not a good time. Kain never got too bad this time. His temp stayed pretty low and he was happy to have free reign on the computer games. John was scheduled off Thursday and Friday, so that was a blessing. He did a great job of pinch-hitting for me, though he said by Saturday he was "tired"...indeed,,,being me is tiring, hehe. Friday night John did start running a low fever and seemed to have the lesser version of the virus like Kain was having. They had both had flu shots, I imagine that's why.

Sunday- John dropped Maria off at mass because she was supposed to sing and didn't want to miss. She stayed healthy through all of this, how I have no idea. She had no flu shot, never has had one. She also stayed well during the stomach virus we all had a few weeks ago. She should be studied. John called into work, still running a fever and not wanting to spread it around to the elderly people he takes care of. Jack and I kinda sorta turned the corner this day and slowly started getting better, though he was still very cranky and clingy. We came downstairs and read stacks of picture books and watched TV and just hung out. Jack's big activity of the day was to take his first bath in days, which was so sorely needed what with all the dried sweat and Tylenol in his hair. John still had his fever going off and on, though John was awesome about rallying the big kids to help catch up on picking up the house and doing their regular chores.

So that's the week, though now this week is half over as well...we have remained homebound until today because Jack continued to spike fevers and sleep badly at night because his asthma started acting up pretty badly. I even ended up taking him to the doctor on Tuesday just to make sure that he didn't have an ear infection or strep or anything else going on. Tuesday night he finally had his first night with only a low grade temp and slept well. Wednesday night, last night, he slept in his own bed until around midnight when he woke up crying and joined us again...we may have set a pattern here. But he was still without fever and slept well. Tuesday evening I took the big kids out to sign up for Upwards soccer, even though I could barely speak and still can't very well...laryngitis. Today we ventured out to the library, Jack's first post-flu outing, and it was a welcome change of scenery. Other than that, I have spent the day catching up on laundry and all in an effort to take life back full-time tomorrow. The kids have done little school this whole time, other than a few "on your own" assignments I threw at them and a couple of library videos, one on prehistoric life that is related to what we are doing in history and one Magic School Bus on bugs and butterflies. Maria started reading her next history book, Shadowhawk, and pronounced it as "boring". And of course they've been doing their free reading time and have been making lots of "Easter presents" for everyone they know. John went back to work today as well, and I do believe he was glad to go!

Some random pictures....


Traffic jam.


Jack's new obsession is "building roads"...in my dining room.


Sissy snuggling feverish Jack.


Indoor snow...am I not the coolest mom ever? It snowed several inches Tuesday night, and in true fashion for our area all the snow was melted and gone by Wednesday afternoon. Jack noticed, however, and wanted to play in the snow...but he still had a fever. This was our compromise. I kept trying to build a cute little snowman to take a picture of, but Jack kept smashing him before I could finish.

Sunday, March 02, 2008

poking my head above water....

We've had the flu here, though we seem to be on the tail end of it. In some ways, it's harder now than when we were all good and sick...Jack and I were the worst off and pretty much spent the last three days in bed together. We are downstairs and functioning today, and Jack's temperature is down from a whopping 105 to a much more sane 101, but he's at that awkward post-illness stage of being well enough to be bored and restless and yet still ill enough to feel yucky and tired. It's a bad combo. Anyway, update on our past week coming...