January 18, 2013

Date Night

Tonight was so great.  Debbie and Brian came over to watch the kids so that Kyle and I could go into Ann Arbor for date night.

And when I say "date night," I mean going to the doctor's office, driving over to get a chest x-ray, getting a call on the way home letting me know I do, in fact, have pneumonia, and waiting at the pharmacy for drugs.  Fun times.

The good news?  The strep throat is gone.  Yay, me!
The bad news?  If we weren't married, I'm not sure Kyle would ask me out again.

The whining and complaining is welling up in me, but then I remember that we are a healthy family.  This is the worst that it gets and in the grand scheme of things it's not that bad.  We have access to antibiotics.  We're in a medical system that has some of the best doctors in the country.

This week has been unfortunate, but we are a blessed family.

This week has been unfortunate, but we are a blessed family.   This week has been unfortunate, but we are a blessed family.     This week has been unfortunate, but we are a blessed family.  I'm just going to be sitting here chanting this for a while I remind my lungs to continue taking in oxygen . . .

January 17, 2013

This blog will survive . . .

I will get back into the habit of blogging, if for no other reason than to make sure my two youngest children don't complain about having less record of their lives than their older brother.  It's not so much the time issue (thought that's a major factor), as it is the writer's block.  Every time I open a new post, my mind goes blank and I want to type things like, "My kids are getting bigger" and "They grow up so fast" and my favorite, "It feels like just yesterday . . . "

Sometimes, I feel like I've just lost it.

However, I've put 6 years into this blog.  6 years of jotting down memories and telling stories that sometimes even surprise me when I go back and read them, because I would have forgotten had I not written them here.  On my list of things to do is exporting my blog posts into a book (likely through blurb), although I started that 4 years and two children ago and haven't quite finished.

Anyway, here's what's been going on over the last month:



  • Claire turned one . . . I promise to post about her first birthday.  Right after I post about Jack's 5th from back in June and Ben's 3rd from back in September.  And those will happen right after I process the photos from all of those parties.  She's been in a cranky mood since Christmastime, and we finally put her on an antibiotic for her ears this week.  And just like that . . . she's back to her happy cheerful self.  She's definitely developed a fiestiness to her.  She likes things her way and she likes them RIGHT. NOW. but nothing out of the ordinary for a toddler.  My baby is a TODDLER!
  • Christmas was fun.  Well, Christmas day, right up until 8 PM was fun.  The days surrounding Christmas were awful.  We picked up Jack on his last day of school and he threw up IN. THE. CAR. on the way home, setting off a chain the stomach bug that left someone in our house puking every day from the 21st - 27th.  Except for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day . . . leaving us just enough time to go out and infect our family and friends.  Claire's party was supposed to be on the 26th, but was postponed to the 30th to avoid spreading any more "Christmas cheer" than we already had.
  • December, as usual, was the most wonderful time of the year, complete with the lack of sleep, stress and other chaos that comes with it.  It was my 6th Christmas in business, and Kyle and I agree that it was the hardest on us, but neither of us can figure out why.  Sales were level with last year.  Maybe having another child made it crazier?  We can't really put our finger on it.
  • Jack was Student of the Month in December.  Though we're not really sure what that means, we are proud of him.  He's doing really well in school.  He was supposed to be acknowledged somehow in an assembly today, but he's been sick this week and missed it.  Fortunately, he'll get another chance in February.  I told him before I dropped him off at school last week that I pray for him and his teachers every morning.  He was upset that I didn't pray for his principal, so I quickly added him to the list.  That night, he sat down and told me everyone else I should be praying for . . . specific names of friends, lunch room ladies, librarians, etc.  I told him that he could pray for those people on the way to school, while I pray for him, his teachers and his principal.  I love how much he cares.
  • On Sunday night, I went to bed with a sore throat and woke up with an even worse sore throat.  I figured it was sinus drainage and went about my day.  At about 3:00 I was home alone with Ben and Claire.  Over the course of about 30 minutes, I went from playing with them to laying down on the floor and feeling like I was dying.  It continued through the night and I really thought I had the flu.  Kyle took me to the doctor and they told me I have strep throat.  I remember having it when I was a kid . . . about a day after I started on antibiotics, I'd bounce right back and all was good.  Apparently, things are different when you're an adult.  You don't just "bounce back."  Never have I felt so old.  On top of that, I've had a pesky little cough all week that has turned into full blown hacking tonight.  Fantastic.  I'm just praying that Kyle doesn't get sick.  I will not be able to function without him.  He's pretty much held everything . . . EVERYTHING . . . together this week.

    One great part of the week, though, was Jack telling Kyle that he hates being away from home when he knows that someone in our family is sick.  Tonight, Jack and I were home alone and I was in the bathroom coughing like crazy.  Jack came in with a full glass of water and said, "Are you ok, mom?  I got this for you?  Do you need anything?"
  • I spent $103 at the dentist on Monday, for her to tell me there's nothing wrong with my teeth.  They're just really sensitive.  Though given what I know now . . . I might have given her strep throat, so I guess she earned her $103.
  • Ben has grown up really fast over the last month.  He just understands more and can express himself more.  He love preschool, though he protests about going every morning.  I think he really just likes to be home.  It's so good for him to get out and interact with other kids.

    Even though he's grown up, he's still my cuddler.  He loves to just sit in my lap and cuddle up.  I know he'll soon be too big (he kind of is already), but I just try to soak it up.  He loves to "read" to me too.  Books that he's heard over and over, he has memorized.  But books he's not as familiar with are the best, because he'll just make up stories to go with the pictures.  Jack never did this . . . I think he was too much of a perfectionist to try and read a story and not get every word exactly as it's written.  Ben on the other hand, comes up with all kinds of things when he's "reading" me the stories.  He's got a great imagination.