March Madness

And we are not talking about basketball here people. We are talking sickness - knock you down, ruin your vacation, stop your world sickness.

Let's start at the beginning.

B missed a week back in February with some strep throat/flu combo. You can read about that here if you don't recall the story. So I was happy and amazed that Lu didn't pick it up. He has always been the sicker of my 2 kids and usually catches everything that gets thrown our direction. This year has been exceptional and except for one day for my aunt's funeral, he has had perfect attendance. This is pretty much unheard of for us!

Can you see where this is headed??

Enter March. My current least favorite month ever. Sweet Lu goes to spend Saturday night with a friend in a neighboring town - about 20 miles away. G, B and me wake up Sunday morning (March 1st) and get ready for early church. I have to admit it is kind of nice to only have one kid to get ready. I am so excited to be at church - we are just beginning a new Lenten Sermon Series and our Sunday School class is starting a new study as well. This is going to be a good day! Well, about 8:30 my phone rings - yes, in church - but luckily I have it on vibrate. It's Lu's friend's mother. Everything is great she reports except Lu is not really eating and not playing just laying around watching t.v. This certainly doesn't sound like him....she takes his temp and sure enough it is 101. I go back and tell the news to G and take off to pick up Lu. I get to him and he looks bad. I call the pediatrician's office and get an appointment for the afternoon. He has the flu. We qualify for the inhaled medicine which was wonderful. I must work on Monday as it is TAKS week so G stays home. Lu is great and able to return to school on Tuesday. Whew! We sure dodged a bullet on that one. Or did we?? Fast forward to Friday, March 6th. I am running errands all over town. My parents are driving in to keep the boys because G and I are going to San Antonio for a 4 day get-away! So excited. I have my nails done, get a cool new shirt to wear out Saturday night, buy food for home and snacks for the hotel room.......then at 2:30 the school nurse calls to say that Lu threw up at school and is running a temp of 103.1. Are you kidding me?? Pick up Lu, take him straight to the doctor. Not sure what it is - could be the stomach virus, could be appendicitis, could be pneumonia......we decide to go home and let him get some rest and treat it like the stomach virus since that is most likely what it is. My parents arrive and we feel certain our San Antonio trip is just delayed for a few hours. These stomach things never last very long, right? WRONG! He just keeps getting worse and worse. I cannot get his temp to come down, he won't eat anything, he is throwing up about twice a day.....so G leave for San Antonio on Sunday with out me (he had to get to a conference he was attending) and I take Lu back to the doctor. Doctor #2 says this can last up to 10 days - he is fine, blah,blah,blah. I know he is not fine, but bring him back home and start praying. I have never seen Lu so sick for so long. I was truly scared and felt like we were headed for the hospital. I finally take him to see our pediatrician on Tuesday morning. He immediately does a CBC and send us to the hospital for x- rays. It IS pneumonia as Doctor #1 said it could be. Yeah! We have a diagnosis. He had to get 4 shots over 2 days and he has to take antibiotics for 10 days We have to go back for another x-ray in 2 weeks to make sure it has cleared up. He is weak and has been laying in the bed for 7 days now, but his temperature is NORMAL and he is getting his appetite back. Praise the Lord - he is doing so much better now!!

The bad words....

So, where do I even begin..........

There are certain words in my home that I don't allow. I have always called them bad words and not allowed my children to say them. Words such as - butt, stupid, shut up, and my least favorite word of all time - fart. I am not so naive as to believe that these words never come out of my children's mouths, but I can report that they do not come out around me...except for those occasions when B wants to know how old he has to be to say these off-limit words....especially butt and my least favorite word - fart.

So we are out to eat dinner last night - G is on a business trip - AGAIN- he has been gone 15 out of the last 26 days......but I digress - that is an entirely different post.

So, dinner, last night - I am asking the boys about their day and Lu says he is reading a book at school that has some bad words in it. "OK," I say, "what bad words?" And he says, "you know mom the bad s words like stupid and shut up" and I say, "Oh, OK!" Then B pops off and says,"You know there is another bad s word..." and I (stupidly) say, "Which one?" and he says, plain as day, "You know Shit!" Oh my! My children really believe that stupid - shut up - shit are all on the same level..........is this good or bad?? Anyway, I had to explain to them that their are bad words and then their are cuss words. We talked about how some mommies don't care if their kid says butt or stupid and that is OK because all mommies are different and they just happened to get a mommy that doesn't think these words do anything to enhance the English language. HOWEVER - cuss words, such as the one B so sweetly shared with us at dinner are completely off limits. We don't say these - no matter what! These are the words that hurt God's ears and his heart.

Sheesh.....I hope this at least carries me for the next few years.......parenting, you've gotta love it!

My special present...

You know the gift is going to be good when it begins with a James Avery box! G got me a charm bracelet about 7 years ago and I love it. Every once in a while he surprises me with some new charms. I never know what they will be, but they never disappoint!
The angel is new - because I am "G's little angel"! (His words, I swear!)
The cross is also new because we are "grounded in Him". (Again, G's words.)
But perhaps the best present of the night is this little boy is still fever free! We have seriously taken his temp about 20 times today - about to be 21 when I finish this post. The highest it has been is 99.1 and any good mom knows that is NOT fever. You may see us at work/school tomorrow!!

Happy Valentine's Day

For most of the world Valentine's Day was yesterday, but not for us! G and the boys are members of the YMCA Adventure Guides. They go with a large group of friends several times a year to camp. It just so happened that the February camp-out was Valentine's weekend. If you read the previous post, you know B missed the fun. But G and Lu forged ahead without their sweet boy B! In the meantime, I had not purchased V-Day gifts for anyone - since I had no idea we would be down and out for a week. So, when B and I woke up on the 14th, he felt good enough to go and purchase the present with me! That is why he doesn't look too blown away or surprised in any of the following pictures!


The big gift - each got an mp3 player. Lu has been begging for one for about a month, so we finally gave in and got them each one. I have to admit they are super cool and you should see Lu dance when he is "jamming". I have got to get that on video for the world to see. We laughed until we cried watching him dance in the yard today!


Money from Papa and Mimi is always a big hit! What will we buy this year....

The gum ball machines were a fun bonus as well - B and I went to Target today and actually got these 1/2 price! See, there are bonuses to celebrating the day after a holiday!

Is it the 2 weeker??

If you are alive, breathing and living in the USA........then you know it is flu and cold season. Silly me, I thought it had just passed us by. Boy was I wrong.

Last Saturday my throat was feeling scratchy and sore. But I am the mom, you know, I can't be sick. Monday night B starts running fever - now, I can join him and be sick! We go to the doctor on Tuesday and both test positive for strep. I did a happy dance - strep is the thing to get, right? 24 hours with antibiotics and you are good to go, right? WRONG! B and I get our meds, take a nap and 6 days later we are still sick. I think our strep has morphed into something else. And talk to anyone around town - they have either had this or had a friend who has experienced the same thing.

So far today, no fever. But we are taking B's temp every hour just to be sure. Maybe tomorrow will be a day when he can return to school and I can go to work and our life will slowly return to normal. Maybe not.............

(Oh and the reason for the title - 2 weeks is the longest I have heard of anyone having this...wish us luck and say some prayers!)

Pine Wood Derby

My sweet B-boy competed in his 2nd Boy Scout Pine Wood Derby. His car came in 2nd place and I was so proud of him - he was really disappointed. It made me think about 2nd place...would 5th or 6th place really be better since 2nd is so close to 1st? Anyway, B survived and already has plans on how to make his car the winning one next year. We will see...in the mean time I am proud of his resilience and perseverance.

Once again........

It seems that I am unable to balance my life. I can not keep up with work, home, laundry, extra-curricular, blogging, facebook, out-of-town family.......you get the picture. So, I only had 1 post for the entire month of January. I was busy and blue - dealing with the loss of a loved one is difficult and comes at you in so many different ways. I didn't talk to my aunt every day, but my mom did and then she passed on all the info to me. I kept up with my 4 cousins, their jobs, spouses, children, etc..without doing much at all. I miss that! I miss knowing what they are up to. I realize there are many ways in which I can contact them and keep up with them, but it was always fun to hear about their lives through my aunts VERY PROUD perspective. I know, too, there is a big void in my mom's life and that breaks my heart. I learned something interesting about myself through this process - it may not be a huge surprise to those who know me, but it was shocking for me. I am a HUGE planner (ok, that I knew). Well I had my "new year" all planned. Well, God showed me! Dropping everything at a moment's notice to drive 7 hours to be with family unsure of the outcome can really shake a person up. Not knowing what to pack or how long I would be gone just about did me in! Then coming home to my list that had not been accomplished - well, I am still recovering. Seriously. It was a good lesson for me to realize that life happens no matter how well I plan things and I could stand to be a little more flexible with my to - do list.

Here's to more than 1 post in the month of February - seriously, it is February already??