When it rains...

What a week. And I mean that with all my heart.
First, I take Dollface to the doctor for a sinus infection. Poor kid. Which of course means there's been more whining than usual around here. That night, Sugarplum wakes up with scary coughing and wheezing; I take her to the doc the next day, and she tests positive for RSV. Within a day, we all start coughing to some degree. All this time, Little Man is super tired, whiney, and not eating much at all (no, really; less than usual). I figure he's got some of the same crud as the rest of us, and concentrate more on the girls and hubby, who's coughing his ruddy head off.
Friday, Sugarplum's birthday, Kyle picks up a cake from the grocery store, which tastes surprisingly good, but not what I wanted to do for my baby's first birthday. I had plans. Big plans. Homemade cake, fondant, sparkly pink plans. But I just was not up to it.
We figure the kids are getting better, and we're all sick of each other, so we get out of the house for a while on Saturday. We come home around 8pm, and Little Man is crashed, so we put him straight to bed before we bathe the girls. Just before 4 am, Little Man comes and asks to sleep in my bed, so I grudgingly roll over and tell him 'just for a minute'. Then I pat his arm. Wow, he's a little warm. Pat the head. Holy cow, he's burning up. Even his little feet were just on fire! I check his temp... 104. I call our 24 hour nurse line. She asks if there are any other symptoms, I mention Sugarplum's RSV, and then I remember that earlier that day, he cried when he peed. She says, "Well, sometimes kids this age say things, but with that and the fever, you could take him to the ER."
We get there, and he's running around, throwing his little car, spinning on the doctor's stool, squeezing the blood pressure thing... all sorts of cavorting typical of a normal, silly 3 year old boy. Then, just after I call my husband and say I think I jumped the gun and oh great, another ER bill... the doc comes back. Turns out he has a KIDNEY INFECTION. Scary. Really scary; but even more so because this is so uncommon in children, particularly boys. So, we have to do a follow up with his regular Ped, plus a urological exam. I'm not sure what that entails, but I'm guessing a cathether at some point, along with a road trip of some length, since I'm pretty sure there's no pediatric urologist in Midland. My poor sweet baboo!
Needless to say, we did not make it to church this morning. Kyle keeps saying, Are we bad parents? A kidney infection. I feel like we're bad parents somehow. Even though we both know there's no way we're to blame, I can't help but share his feelings.
If you got his far, thanks for reading. I really needed to whine publicly.

I love my kids!

Ok, that's kind of a 'duh' title. But I really do. Just because. I had to post these pictures.




I took this of Sugarplum yesterday. Did you ever see such a sweet smile on a baby that's sick as a dog with RSV?









And this one, well, Dollface and Little Man had such spectacular bedhead this morning, I had to document it.






I'll have to remember these moments the next time I find skidmarked Batman underwear and tiny stick-on craft jewels stuck to the carpet.

Sick chicken

When I was sick as a kid, my mom would cuddle me and say, "My poor sick chicken!"  I have no idea the significance of it, but... I have a poor sick chicken!  Dollface has woken up with what I suspect is strep throat for the third time in about 6 months, I think.  I feel so bad for her.  I also feel bad for me, because I have two other children to take care of, and I have to call a friend on her birthday and re neg on watching her little one so she could attend a funeral, and a house where laundry and dishes are competing in a how-tall-can-they-get contest, and a hubby who's out of town at the moment.  And is that a tickle in my throat, too, or is it just the power of suggestion and my own little pity party? "Debbie Downer" (a term I wish I'd coined myself, Gillian) has reared her ugly head here today.

I'm reminded of an email I've received occasionally... I'm sure you've seen it, something to the effect of, I'm grateful I'm so busy, because it means I'm needed; I'm grateful for that leaky faucet because it means I have a roof over my head; etc.  I truly am blessed.  I have 3 great kids.  I have good friends who know they can (usually!) depend on me.  I  have a roof over my head in this cold weather.  I am very much needed.  I have a wonderful husband who's working hard in a job he's less than pleased with to support us all... which also brings me to the excellent (not universal!) health care I have in case of times when one or more of us is under the weather.  I really do have it good.

I gotta go hug my sick chicken now (and then use some hand sanitizer).

No pictures, please..

Ok, I am the blogger of this blog, and I've yet to post pictures of myself.  There are two reasons for this... one, the weight gain from 3 pregnancies have made me a less than willing subject. Call it vanity, shame, whatever. Two, I'd rather look at pictures of my kids than myself.  Then again, recording history, for the sake of posterity, blah blah blah... so ok, here are two recent shots of me.  One with Sugarplum, the other with my sister.  Deep breath.  There, that wasn't too painful after all.

family in waiting...

It's now 1:29 pm.  Any minute, my husband will get a phone call letting him know whether or not he is laid off.  His partner was laid off in June, and we were safe for the time being, but knew more layoffs were coming in the future. I have a flood of mixed feelings at the moment.  Our time here has been wonderful, and it would be sad to leave.  But before we came here, we said this would be our stepping stone; the foot-in-the-door, being his first job out of college.  The gateway to bigger and better things! I didn't plan on making such great friends and actually loving the community.  I didn't know how attached I would be my church family.  It's great to tell someone, "I'll be there in 5 minutes," and really get there in 5 minutes (well, 7 or 8 if there's traffic).  I never imagined tumbleweeds and dust and flat land and stinky tap water would feel so much like home...

Alright, when will that darn phone ring, already?  

Well, it's now 1:39 and hubby's just informed me that he's still employed.  I can breathe again! Guess we're here a bit longer, so far.

My son , the fairy?? Uh oh...

I had to record this before I forgot...  Dollface was a fairy last Halloween.  Here she is with her friend, also a fairy (and no prior planning).

So a couple days ago I found Little Man, wearing her wings, jumping from the chair to the ottoman, attempting to fly.  I can't wait to show this to his girlfriend when he's 16!

Day 11 of diet

I'm proud to report that my spare tire is reduced to that of a Smart Car.  (Given the name, those things sure look stupid).  My fat pants fit, and I've got 4 to 6 weeks of my diet to go!  Yay!