Tuesday, January 24, 2006

Maybe, perchance, perhaps….we might possibly be seeing the end of the illness marathon somethime soon. So far, it’s been a record three and a half weeks of colds, stomach flu, and various viruses. We’ve also added in there, several doctor visits, an ear infection, a couple of dermatologist visits, three dentist check- ups, and uh….I’m sure there is some more, but I’d rather not try to think of it…it’s already a painful enough thought. Anyway, we are down to a couple of runny noses and Jeff running a low grade fever as far as contagious diseases go and I think these things have been going on so long, that they aren’t very contagious anymore. Don’t worry, that doesn’t mean we are all going to suddenly have obsessions with spitting on other people’s door knobs or anything!

Speaking of spitting, we also have our share of non contagious ailments. I believe I’ve already mentioned James visit to the dentist where he had a dead tooth pulled. I also got the pleasure of visiting the dentist and discovered that for the first time in my life I have to have something besides just a cleaning. I have made an appointment to have two fillings put in. Alas, great teeth should last forever…even if we abuse them! So, I’m looking forward to this new experience.. They aren’t large areas, just tiny pin holes on the side of two different teeth.

And speaking of new experiences, Jonathon has his share of problems, though they aren’t as pleasant. He’s had some bleeding of a sensitive nature and when we went to the doctor to find out the cause, she suspected that the opening in his “equipment” is closing over and set us up with a urologist. At least the situation isn’t painful for Jonathon, for which I am VERY grateful. There is no infection it seems, only some sort of stubborn scar tissue.

And speaking of scar tissue, Brandon had a dermatologist check up and had a pound of flesh removed from his body…not really, just 6 moles, but this morning, while he was taking a shower, the pain was intense enough that he passed out over it. Not to worry, God worked things out so that I walked into the bathroom to talk to him just before it happened and I could gently let him down to the floor, so he wasn’t hurt. Anyway, this cheery situation is awaiting results from biopsys on the “samples” removed from his person to find out if they are canerous---oh goody! I’m glad we did it though.

And speaking of cancerous, I’m headed for patch testing myself at the dermatologist. I’ve had some skin problems for about a year and a half and I’ve tried all the doctors suggestions, all my friends wacky ideas, and many other things, including personally lancing the blisters off my hand hoping they would just not come back. Now, I’m reduced to having people intentionally attempt to make my skin irritated by the 23 most common skin allergens. I’m thrilled about this process as you can see…my only hope is that it will reveal something that leads me closer to fixing the problem.

And speaking of fixing problems, things aren’t all bad. Don’t get me wrong, there have been numerous days in the last three weeks that I have just cried my eyes out over being so overwhelmed with everything, but there have been good times too. This past week we had several days in the 50’s. The snow all melted away and the boys had some GLORIOUS days of outdoor play. We took some walks and I found myself outside in short sleeves and bare feet a couple of times. I’ve also had some fun in the Fairwood kitchen working on meals with some of the men. We’ve had one of three scheduled swap days and I get the pleasure of working with some excellent chefs of the male persuasion. I have another one coming up tomorrow and I am looking forward to it. We’ve had some meals with the Bible School lately and that has been a nice break. I say break, but I’m sure most of you know that break means a break from one thing so I can catch up on another.

Speaking of catching up another thing I’ve been enjoying is learning to play raquetball. Several weeks ago I went to the “Y” with a student and friend here and she taught me how to play. The next morning in a fit of (as Brandon calls it) over ambtitousness, I went up to the gym at 6 am and beat the ball around the walls for a half an hour before I started the day. Yesterday I went up again with previously mentioned buddy (Bet’nay, BJ, Gunslinger Girl) and we played again. Now we’ve played a total of three games and on the third game I actually got 6 points. It was quite thrilling since the other two I was a big fat zero. It is great for cardio and I’m enjoying the exercise. This morning I did some toning stuff and I am hoping to continue the insane morning regiment in hopes of allowing the feeling that I’m a big bloated blob of buttery blubber ( say that three times fast) fade fast. It’s already fading and that’s exciting. (Brandon just said he’s going to start calling me “Bluttery Bubber”- I think it has a nice ring to it…ugh!) Anyway, the regular workout is good for me and it is also giving me a bit of a head start on the day. Of course, one must crawl out of bed to do such things and that’s my biggest difficulty! Sometimes I feel almost nailed to the mattress for all the effort it takes me to drag my body off the bed. Perhaps if I slept on nails it wouldn’t be as difficult to get up…but then I don’t think I would sleep very well either.

Speaking of sleeping well, I will leave you with the stupid story of the day. Jonathon was playing quietly in his room and as usual had been instructed to stay there “until his clock said a 3”. So later in the afternoon, he comes running into the kitchen saying, “My clock says the right time, I can get up now.” I looked at the clock and it was only 2:22pm, not 3, so I told him he was mistaken. He said his clock did say it was time and for me to come and look at it. Upon arriving in his room I discovered that his clock did not say 2:22 as mine did, so I asked him how it came to say what it did. “Oh it changed all by itself.” He replied. Oh, no it didn’t! You changed it didn’t you! “Yes, I did.” He said. So I instructed him to stay in there until it said a 3 and I reset his clock. The funny part was that he had mistakenly changed his clock to say 7:00am- when he’s allowed to wake up in the morning, not the afternoon time of 3pm. Oh well, it made it easy for me.

And speaking of easy, I’ve written long enough and should pay attention to my army once again.

Monday, January 16, 2006

A "New" New Year

Brandon and I have come to the conclusion that we should start the year over with the hopes of doing it a little differently. I know some of you have been eagerly awaiting me to say we're finally all well....but it is not to be yet! As soon as Brandon got over his stomach flu, he caught some heavy duty cold that he has passed to the rest of us- or most of us. Jonathon is ok and Rachel is too, but the rest of us are a big pile of runny noses, sore throats, headaches, achy bodies, and general fussiness.

You need not fret however, I am not beat yet. Thankfully, Brandon and I have had our bad days on different days so the tag team continues. Of course, work around here continues at full speed as well, so just in case we need a distraction from sickies, there's always our jobs.

There have been some good things: I took the kids to the grandparents over the weekend and that was a good mini break. The weather was nice over the weekend too and that always helps. Ok so that's my brief update.

Oh...Brandon has declared he does not want to be a housewife when he grows up!

Tuesday, January 10, 2006

For Grossness Goers Only!

It just keeps going and going and going and going….

James threw up this evening. I thought he had already been sick. At least, one morning, he came in with a bowl and said, "Mama, I need to spit." Then he proceeded to do his thing, but maybe he really did just spit. Well, he didn’t just “spit” tonight! For all of you sensitive stomachs out there I will spare the rest of the details. But let’s just say things are still quite germy around here.

And that’s really too bad, because I thought we were over all this stuff and so I took up an offer on Sunday to go to someone’s house with my children. We went to iceskate, sled, and just hang out. They have 9 children and the mother is truly an inspiration to me. I love their kids- they are well behaved, active, and fun to be around. Somehow, I hope that my children turn out something like hers in a lot of ways- good character! Anyway, I’m afraid that at least one of their sons has this stomach flu stuff now- though I’m not sure if it was to our credit or not. I also had one of the Bible School girls here this afternoon helping me clean in James’ room- it was quite dirty, so I hope she doesn’t get sick.

And speaking of dirty- this mornings diaper duty was the worst I’ve had so far. Jeff had some runny brown “stuff” this morning that seemed to be going the “extra mile” if you get my meaning. We had it down the legs, soaked into the pants, dripped on the bed, puddle on the floor, tracked around the room, dripped in a long line down the hallway, puddle in front of the changing table, mess on the changing table and later this afternoon, I found it still on the floor, underneath some books in his room. I think he used the books as a cover up. (They were cloth books, so I washed them.) He knew it was bad and he knew I just couldn’t handle seeing another spot of that stuff. For all those of you who are wishing for kids---this is the part that is just plain disgusting and makes you reconsider all those dreamy ideas of raising a large family- or even any family at all. I tossed Brandon his swimsuit in the shower and handed Jeff over to him for a hosing down so I could put clean clothes on him and get the mess off the floor. Ahhh…it’s this routine that makes me just LOVE mornings!

It’s all this excitement that makes me grateful for several things: candles, air freshener, windows that open, and my new handy dandy electronic odor eliminator that Brandon got for me as a gift. This is not a joke, it does work- very nicely!

Ok, time to go to bed and prepare to spit into the wind again tomorrow morning.

Thursday, January 05, 2006

Adendum to Bliss

Thursday Night
Brandon threw up.
Mom's night flew the coop.

A Week of Blisss.....tering Mess!

I think lately I have been trying to keep to a once a week posting schedule if not more often. I don't relly get to the more often, but I feel like I'm neglecting my readers if I go much longer than the self imposed week limit. This week however, I have legitimate excuses with which to comfort myself and thus relieve my worn conscience from all guilty pricks and tingles.

I, hereby, propose to you my recent schedule of events, worthy of preventing much if not all recent blogging attempts:

We'll begin with Friday, the 30th. ( I posted on the 28th, so Friday was only two days later.)
Friday: Made lunch for the directors meeting (volunteered for it, but I was busy)
Made soup for lunch on Sunday.
Took care of the kids alone for the day (normal except for meal times)
Dressed everyone for Sabbath meeting alone.
Took them to Sabbath meeting.
Jonathon came home not feeling well.
Went back and forth between dinner and home checking on Jonathon and the other children eating.
Jonathon begins throwing up.
Jonathon throws up in the night.
Parents change sheets.

Saturday
Brandon goes to meetings.
All children running fevers and fussy.
No children have appetites.
ALL DAY!
Jeff begins throwing up.
Rachel throws up once.
People go to bed.
Brandon does the laundry!!!!!!

Sunday
James throws up.
ALL children want to eat everything in sight.
Brandon goes to meetings and brings me a double portion of Lord's Supper.
Lewis brings some more later.
I had already had one. (A quadruple portion of Jesus for this month! Sounds good to me!)
Hmm....perhaps that much wasn't such a good idea. Icky feelings.
Jonathon throws up in the night again.
Mumma starts throwing up.
Up all night! Yuck. Sick. Gross.

Monday
Ugh!
Children fussy, but not sick.
Mumma sick, fever, achy back, not throwing up any more...(lost 7 lbs. in 24 hours!)
Brandon on duty for the day.

Tuesday
Try to get back to normal...a little too fast.
By 9 am, mom's exhausted. Rest.
Make dinner. Rest.
Baths for the stinky family.
Fellowship meeting.
Crawl into bed.
Jonathon wakes up crying.

Wednesday
Jonathon and James and I run errands in town.
Eat lunch (everyone fussy)
Jonathon has an earache and keeps me occupied all afternoon.
Dinner.
Take Jonathon to the doctor (7:15 apt.)
Mumma feeling sick again.
See doc. @ 7:50pm.
Doc calls in a prescription.
Pharmacy says we aren't in the system, so they didn't fill it.
Fill out paper work.
Prescription put in the back of the line to be filled.
"It should only take 30 min." Arg!
Come back at 9pm after killing half and hour at Colony Mills.
Get meds and go home.
Go to bed.

Thursday (today)
Tired, but feeling ok.
Children ok.
Jeff a little fussy.
Mom's night out tonight....can Brandon stand it???? We'll see.


So there, I rest my case. Yesterday I told my mother I was turning in my "Mom" badge. But today I think maybe I'll keep it a little while longer. After all, surely the worst is over.....perhaps?

( Now doesn't that make you all want to have loads of kids at your house...we could rent out...)