It's Friday, I'm in Love

1. Isabella has been home from school for three days now because of a sinus infection/fever/bad cough. The antibiotic *finally* seems to be kicking in and she's feeling better. James stayed home with her on Wednesday, and I've been home yesterday and today. I've been able to cath up on a few things around here, which is nice. Around 10:00 or so this morning I folded a load of laundry on my bed and then put it away. I sat down for a minute to survey the joint, fully intending to get back up, put my shoes on and go get some more Ginger Ale (Ginger Ale fixes any illnesss. Did you know that??)

Nex thing I knew I was waking up and it was 1:00! What kind of person have I become?? One who falls asleep for a three hour nap, evidently.

2. I am feeling quite motivated to rearrange my books on the bookshelves in the living room. Right now everything is (mostly) arranged by author (but not in alphabetical order) and the occasional genre. I think of moving all the genre books together and making a larger shelf for books I haven't read yet. I'm hoping this way I'll remember what I haven't read when I go looking for something before I go out and buy something new.

But the thought of rearranging 500+ books is a little daunting. Maybe I'll just run down to the library and pick up the books I have on hold first.

3. You know I worship at the feet of The Pioneer Woman. Everything she does is magic and all that jazz. But the last few recipes I've made from her have only been so-so. The Cherry Cake Pudding was especially disappointing. But it's okay, Ree. I still love you!!!

4. I am so very glad we don't have school on Monday.

Update

As I posted on Facebook yesterday afternoon, I'm cautiously optimistic.

Bella seems to be doing better today, and the doctor thinks she is finally on the mend. (It's only taken three different antibiotics- shots and oral- two different inhaled medicines, and two different steroids -again both shots and oral!) She slept good last night for the first time in over a week. Obviously she is still very tired and still coughing, but I'm hopeful that we've found the right combo.

The trick now is keeping her moving in the right direction! I didn't know this until the doctor told me, that steroids depress the immune system making you even more susceptible to whatever disease is lurking around. So we've got to be careful about easing her back into school. He said if she is feeling great one day, give her *another* full day of recovery before sending her back to school, just to be safe. As of right now, I'd say the soonest she'd be back is Friday, and I may just give her the weekend to be on the safe side!

But I want to thank you ALL for your thoughts, prayers and well-wishes. I know that it has made a difference, and I am so very grateful for all of you.

What day is it??

Bella isn't doing so well, folks. After repeat trips to the doctor's office yesterday and today for antibiotic and steroid shots, we're aren't any better off than when we started last Wednesday.

The doctor said if she was any younger he would have already admitted her to the hospital and put her in an oxygen tent. However, his fear is that she will pick something *else* up in the hospital and just make everything worse. So we are giving it another 24 hours at home with three new, stronger medicines (another antibiotic, an oral steroid, and a new medicine for her nebulizer). We are also avoiding any contact with the outside world (snow flurries! Today! In south Georgia! Crazy!) as much as possible. I trust our pediatrician, and he feels she's really on the edge and it could go either way. Sooooo....we wait, we rest and we pray.

*Sigh*

1. Isabella woke up around 4:30 with a high fever and started vomit ting. So she and I trouped back to the doctor (after I called them yesterday when her fever was higher than the day before, and after being on the antibiotic for over 24 hours, to which they told me it can take up to 72 hours for the meds to kick in so not to worry), went through several blood tests and X-Rays only to find out that my poor girl has strep, a sinus infection AND pneumonia.

So we are now the proud owners of a nebulizer. How is it that I made it through 31 years of life, plus 10.5 years of motherhood never, ever having to have/do breathing treatments, only to have 2009 hit and have both myself AND one of my children need them??? It truly boggles the mind. So we'll do breathing treatments every for hours for the next three days. Poor Bella. For some reason, the medicine used in the breathing treatment always gives you the shakes real bad, and you feel all anxious and jittery. When the treatment is over she really does look like a skinny, strungout crack head.

She also got two antibiotic shots, one in each leg (rendering her unable to walk, which meant I got to carry her, her water bottle, the nebulizer, my purse and her "I Stood Still During My X-Ray" goodie bag on the five mile trek out to the car). You can imagine how excited she was about the shots. Even better, we get to go back for the next two days for MORE shots! You would think, her being almost 9 and all, that she would understand the need for shots. But NO- she still looked at me with her big, sad puppy dog eyes welling over with tears with a look that said, "HOW CAN YOU LET THEM DO THIS TO ME??!?!??"

*sighs again*

2. The bathroom has been primed (twice) and it ready for new white paint. Perhaps by Sunday we'll be able to use it again. Hallelujah.

I'm still alive

1. Well, pneumonia is no fun, but I'm starting to feel human again. It's a constant 'two steps forward, one step back' kind of thing. I'm too sick to do much of anything, but not sick enough to spend ALL day in bed. So I'll load up some laundry, then lie down for a bit. Load the dishwasher, lie back down. Read a book, take a nap. You get the picture.

2. Dealing with insurance is no fun, but everything seems to be resolved and *fingers crossed* repair work will begin on the roof today. If not, then on Monday at the latest.

3. I really, really love and appreciate my husband and children. They have been amazingly patient and helpful and kind over the last two weeks, and I am a very lucky woman.

4. James and I have got into The Office this season. Holy cow- that show is uncomfortably hilarious! Grey's Anatomy has gone so far downhill over the past two seasons that it's a relief to laugh from 9pm till 10pm. 30 Rock continues to rock, and I was so happy for their Golden Globe wins!

5. After seeing The Unicorn and the Wasp I decided to explore the world of Agatha Christie. I started A Murder is Announced last night, but I would love any suggestions as to which work I should pick up next.

6. Finally, Friday Night Lights in back TONIGHT!!! I'm so happy I could cry. I've managed to avoid any spoilers so far, but from what I've heard this season is just as good as Season One (which was the most absolutely perfect season of television ever).

And the other shoe falls

1. The insurance adjuster came and did his thing today. We're still in a holding pattern while he "crunches the numbers" and "looks at his chart", and we should hear from him "in a few days". Thanks. Nothing like specific details!

2. I do, in fact, have pneumonia. I woke up this morning unable to breathe. James took me to the docotr who proceeded to give me a breathing treatment and shot some steroids in my rear end (making me feel like a crazy crack fiend and providing James with endless amusement as I could barely hold a cup I was so jittery) and a prescription for antibiotics. I was also given explicit instructions that if I didn't feel better in 24 hours then they wanted to see me again, and we would discuss an extended visit to the hospital. Fabulous.

3. Other than that, everything's just spiffy!

Stupid Me

From the annals of "Be careful what you wish for..."

I thought long and hard about my word for the year before I made my choice. I realized that choosing CHALLENGE was a bit like praying for patience (and we all know what happens when we make that mistake!), but I thought I knew what I was doing.

*insert maniacal laughter*

Twelve days into the year and EVERYTHING is proving to be a challenge so far.

- Dealing with the damage to the house from last week's weather; multiple phone calls to multiple people about multiple things; playing the waiting game and hoping for the best
- Feeling miserable from a cold I just can't shake (What does it feel like to have pneumonia??)
- Trying to get a refill on Isabella's allergy medicine; coordinating phone calls and faxes between the doctor's office and mail-order pharmacy we are required to use; dealing with a screw-up that should have never happened in the first place

Sometimes I feel like if I fail one of these challenges I'll get voted off the island. (Come to think of it, that might not be such a bad thing! ;D)

Monday, Monday

I don't know if anyone knows this, but I have a somewhat dramatic personality. You're shocked to find this out, aren't you? It's true, though.

You can imagine the internal dramatics that kicked in when Madeline woke James and I up at 3:00 am to tell us that Isabella was throwing up. The drama then returned at 6:45 when I went to wake Madeline up for school and she started throwing up, too. All of this was after the decidely external dramatics that occurred last night when we discovered that Madeline has lost her $250 retainer.

In other words, I'm drama-d out.

Thankfully, I don't have school today or tomorrow. (The preschool follows a different school system's calendar than the calendar the girls' school system follows.) I'm going to spend the whole day thinking positively. The girls don't have a stomach virus- they are simply exhausted from all of the 'fast living' of the past week and weekend!

Now I'm off to coat every surface in our house with a layer of Lysol.

An Unexpected Holiday

About 3:45 yesterday, the bus driver called the house (actually, it was the bus driver's helper) to make sure someone would be home when the bus came by because Madeline was throwing up. (As Bella told us later, "They had to use the Body Clean Up kit!") We're unsure whether it's a reaction to her antibiotic or a stomach virus, so she and I are home today.

My excitement for the day includes paying bills and figuring out what that gross smell is in the refrigerator.

Today....Did Not Go As Planned

I had plans for today. Oh, did I have plans.

I planned on waking up early so as not to be rushed today. On Tuesdays and Thursdays I do "Early Birds" at school- it's basically an early drop-off time. The preschool is affliated with a church that is also a voting precinct. I needed extra time to make sure I got a parking spot and had enough time to get all my stuff inside before the kiddos arrived.

I had also planned to teach my preschool kids all about the election process by reading books like Duck for President and If I Ran For President and Arthur Meets the President. Then we were going to vote on our snack today, complete with a ballot box and hand drawn ballots. I even had official, state of Georgia "I Voted" stickers to give to each child.

After school, I planned on picking Madeline up for a doctor's appointment, maybe picking up a prescription, then heading home to wait for Isabella to get off the bus. Then I planned to spend a quiet evening at home watching the election returns while James took the girls to their team party.

I still have hopes for this evening, but my morning plans were disrupted pretty much from the get-go.

I did wake up early, so that was good. (Too bad it was 5:30 early as opposed to the alarm set 6:15 early.) Unfortunately the girls' bus driver must have *also* woken up early, because I didn't hear the bus until it was already pulling away from our house, a good 5-10 minutes BEFORE its scheduled arrival. Luckily, the same bus also picks up children in the next neighborhood over, and the girls have friends over there. So I hustled the girls into the car, drove them to a friend's house and begged the mama to let them catch the bus from there.

In all of the hustle and bustle I went off and forgot the special snacks I had purchased for preschool today, so I had to make an extra stop at Publix. When I arrived at the school, the voting line was out the door, which meant I had to park around back and haul my 87 bags the long way around. I made it in time, though just barely.

About 9:30, my cell phone rang. It was Madeline's doctor's office. The nurse had talked to the doctor about Madeline's "bump" (a bump which is on her lower left abdomen, about the size of a nickel, and also hurting quite badly). She said they didn't want me to wait and bring her in at 2:15, they wanted me to bring her in NOW. They felt the bump might be a Staph Infection and they wanted to ummmm, excise it, and they were calling in a prescription for Tylenol with Codeine right then that I should give her before she arrived at the office.

*blinks*

Okay. So no teaching young minds about democracy for me today! I explained the situation to my preschool director, grabbed my purse and headed up to the school to get Madeline. I called James on the way, and he decided he should meet me at the office.

After waiting for a bit, we finally see the doctor, who decides NOT to try and excise it right then, but instead decides to start her on a major antibiotic and send us home with a swabbing kit in case it heads up or starts to ooze. The kit is complete with swab, specimen container, gauze and gloves! YAY for medical fun!

By this time Madeline is about ready to pass out from the Tylenol with Codeine that we gave her, but at least she's not in any pain, right??

*sighs*

So now we're home. Madeline took a nap and is now in a vegetative state on the couch. I'm thinking about joining her.

It never goes away, but it all works out

I just uploaded some pictures from my camera only to find out that I haven't done that since before Madeline's birthday! Oops. I was wondering where the pictures from Madeline's birthday had ended up!

Speaking of Madeline, this was her yesterday about this time:



Poor kid. She has croup AND strep! Whoever heard of a ten year old having croup? She never had it as a baby. She sounds terrible- barky cough and no voice, not to mention a sore throat and wonky stomach from the strep. Hooray for antibiotics! Hopefully she'll be able to go back to school tomorrow.

We've also had to cancel our trip to Disney World. :( You want to be at 100% for Disney, and there's just no way Madeline will be there in time for us to leave on Saturday. We're disappointed, really disappointed, but we're trying to make the best of it.

In other exciting news, Bella got her top braces on yesterday!



She still has to wear her retainer/spreader for another two months. We have a good time trying to figure what she's trying to say, because she really does sound like she has a bunch of marbles in her mouth.

And with that thought, I'll leave you with a preview of Madeline's birthday pictures.