diagnosis

I went to the doctor since Chip was leaving town and I was supposedly going on a field trip.

Thanks to an excellent doctor and a killer flu test (q-tip up the nose...and i mean UP):

I do not have the flu--YAY!

I have pneumonia--BOO!

i think i have the flu

I have been in denial for a few days now. I started aching and had a headache saturday afternoon. I never get headaches. Sunday I felt fine. Yesterday I felt bad in the afternoon and went to bed before 9. Yesterday evening the kids wanted to go for a walk. So, I went. It was a chore. I was really not feeling well. Ella insisted on walking which made the trip 5x longer and more nerve-racking. This morning I woke up with sore calf muscles. Remember we walked slowly. I should not be sore anywhere. So, I knew something was not right. Laid low most of the day. Thankfully the kids stayed after school 2 hours for "lunch bunch" which basically means they ate lunch and played on the playground. Translation: Ella did not get a nap. Got everyone in bed at a decent time. Chip was on campus. Took my temp and it was 100.2. So, I am officially sick.

I have always gotten weepy when sick. Don't know why. Don't feel sad. It just happens. So, since I had spent so much time resting in my room since Saturday, I decided I was not ready to go to bed at 7:30. I know, I have Steel Magnolias saved on our new DVR (which i love btw). Note to self, do not watch Steel Magnolias when you are prone to the emotion of sadness. I was crying as soon as Shelby got married. All I could think of was Ella the entire movie.

Don't know what to do about this. I have never had the flu. Delima #1: Do I go to the doctor, pay $30 and then $10 or so for medicine or just treat it with Tylenol, fluids and rest? Delima #2: Chip is leaving for 2 days on Thurs! Delima #3: And Streed has a field trip that I am supposed to chaperone.

My head is throbbing. Thanks Steel Magnolias.

a balanced equation

husband working late + baby that insists on feeding himself (i.e throwing the food on the floor) = bedtime for baby

mommy does not care that it is 6pm

no nap

Streed no longer naps. I am fine with this. Some days it bothers me but not too much, only when I really have stuff to get done during that time. Today Ella did not nap. The only reason this was OK was because I was not here! I actually got to go to lunch for an hour & a half. Chip was home because he was going to campus from 3 until about 9. The last few nights we have fought her big time at bed time. Not really a new problem, it just seemed to be going later and later. Tonight they were all asleep by probably 7:45--hence the fact that I actually blogged.

I need down time at night. My kids get up early. Today they were all up at 6am. Maybe that is why they were so tired now that I think about it. Whatever it is, I like it. Getting up early and then wrestling them to bed at night does a number on my nerves, my mood, my self-control etc. Basically my flesh is weak and fails often. My "rights" get violated and then I get irritated. On little sleep this can be a bad combination. So, I started this post to talk about how no nap led to a good bedtime...oh well. What can I say, confession is good for the soul!

music man

From an early age Streed has loved music. I remember Donna joking with me when he was about 6 months old that he would be a music minister. Tonight we were singing a hymn, Christ the Lord is Risen Today. Streed asked me to where the notes were for the Alleluia part "because I can sing it better if I know what the notes are." I just laughed and said, "Oh really." If I'm lying I'm dying. He constantly says really mature but funny things. So, maybe Donna you were right. I want my children to love music and most importantly hymns. Most are so rich in doctrine--and not just the love of God and happy things, they talk about sin too. Before that we were singing "What can wash away my sin, nothing but the blood of Jesus". I like to sing that to them while I am bathing them since it is talking about washing. But I really want them to know it too so we are working on it.

walky talky

Nate was my latest walker but looks like he will be the earliest talker. He jabbers constantly, in the form of requests, sentences etc. The past few days he has started saying more and more words. Some are not as intelligible as others. Here are some he knows as well as their pronunciations where needed.

cookie
keys
go
bath (ba)
paci (pa)
sissy
ella
streed (see)
mama
dada
mae mae -- a friend of ours
jay jay -- our friend Jadyn
milk (mi)
dog
down
apple (ple --basically the last syllable)
ball
shoe (sue)
drink (dink)

I forgot:
outside (I-side)
NO!

I am amazed at how many words he knows. Some of these he says constantly, some he has only said once. Still, he is learning language and that is exciting. Since he is catching language early, he is also quite frustrated when he has trouble communicating. The feeling is mutual at times.

Time Out

Day 4 of school for Ella. Her teacher approached the van in all seriousness at pick up. She said there was an incident and Ella had to go into time out. Apparently she was hitting the toy another child was playing with. The child asked her to stop as did the teacher. She was in one of the feisty moods where she was going to do what she wanted to do no matter what. We like to refer to that around here as selfishness, b.k.a "SIN". I had her apologize to her teacher. Hopefully we can bump into the child next week and apologize to him too. On the way home I decided role play may be the best way to teach about this scenario. So, once we got home I had Streed be the other child, and I was the teacher and Ella was of course Ella. We acted out what she did as well as what she should have done. Then I had her bring one of her babies in to the room. We were all the same characters and we acted out a similar scenario. I just wanted Ella to see how it feels to be the one being mistreated. It went well. The book Don't Make Me Count to Three is big on role play. I highly recommend it to anyone with a child two or older.

Poison Control

Today was the first day I have ever had to call Poison Control. I think that is a feat in itself. Ella was eating something. Chip asked me what it was. I looked closer and said, "Oh that's my B-12 vitamin." She said she ate about 4. And that they are pink. A friend of ours, who is a pharmaceutical sales rep, was over visiting. He called a doctor friend who said it was probably fine but call Poison Control just to be safe. Chip called and got an awesome man named Jim. He said something about diarrhea and to call back at some point. Chip relayed the message but of course I did not catch all the details. Chip left for work a few moments later. Around 5pm Ella needed to potty. I went with her and it was diarrhea. I called Jim back. He said that was good as long as it did not persist. He told me he was about to call me and check on Ella and to call back in one hour to give him another report. The time slipped by as I was feeding, bathing, reading and putting them all down. Jim called me back at 7pm just to check on Ella. I told him that was my first time to use Poison Control. He said he hoped it was a pleasant experience. I assured Mr. Jim that it was.

500 posts! what?

My dashboard says I have written 500 posts. That sounds a little ridiculous to me. To think I have really had that much to say. But, I did start this thing in May of 2006 as I was heading to Brazil for the summer with a big baby in my belly and a sweet little boy by my side. So, I guess three years of life could offer opportunities for that many posts. Actually there is often a lot more I could say or want to say but for some reason choose not to say. I occasionally enjoy looking back on old posts. For instance if it is Sept 09 I will go back to Sept 07 and see what we were doing then. It is really fun and this is why I do it, for my family and friends who are far away and for myself who apparently has memory loss! Also, I have chosen (subconsciously) to not scrapbook or even print out pictures for that matter. Don't judge me! (that's for you Shana) So, this serves that purpose for me. Looking fwd to another 500!

brief birthday post

my little cutie

eating a pretend cookie

i like this picture for many reasons:
1) my house looks pretty
2) nate is there
3) the tea party is too cute
4) my arm looks like i work out a lot...
but really i just have heavy children

The Fairy Tea Party book on which the party was based

family photo with the birthday girl

The Fairy Tea Party was a success. All the moms said their little fairies loved it. They all got wings and decorated wands. They had a pretend tea party with water, ran around the yard, ate and opened presents. They were all so cute. It was the perfect number of girls. Just a few sweet friend to help celebrate our sweet baby girl turning 3. She is so excited about being "fwee". Most of her sentences end with, "But I'm fwee now". Here are a few pictures.

day 1--harder than i thought

I remember thinking the other day when moms were talking about how they were so sad their kids were going to Mom's Day Out two days a week that they were crazy. But it was really a tear jerker seeing my two oldest kids join a lot of other small people on a playground with adult supervision that were strangers to me. Chip met me there. He called after we dropped them off and said, "Well that was sad." I was already about to lose it. So when he said that I really started crying. I quickly got it together though. I got Nate down for his nap, prayed for the kids and their friends and their time at school. Then I had one hour to clean/straighten and then one hour for stillness and quietness for bible study. It was a good two hours. The kids were so excited when I got there to pick them up from school. I love the set up. You drop off and pick up the 3's and 4's on the playground. So, Ella & Streed are together at the beginning and end. I saw Streed first. He was on top of a play thing. I called his name. He looked up and smiled. Then he said, "Sissy, our mom is here." I looked down and she was under the play thing. This too brought tears to my eyes because they were together and she was happy. (She was less than happy at drop off, more like hysterical). Her teacher said she did great. She was actually calmed down before I even left the play ground. So, here goes to wishing tomorrow was Thursday!

school

Preschool starts tomorrow. There will be no pictures of the big day. That makes me sad. I guess I will take them on my 1 megapixel phone. Yipee.

party

Ella's party was great. Just ask the 6 girls that were there. They apparently had a blast. I am so glad they did. I am waiting on my sister (hint hint) to upload my pictures for me so I can post a few.

almost 3

Tomorrow, well in a few hours, is Ella's Fairy Tea Party. She will have 5 friends over to celebrate. My sweet brother-in-law was kind enough to loan me his new camera for the occasion. I am so looking forward to documenting this party. Hopefully I will get some good ones to post. Oh I hope Ella puts the cute headband on that I found at Dollar Tree. I guess we shall soon see.