Saturday, March 31, 2007

A New Blog

I started a new blog today. I will be keeping this one too. There's a link to the new one in my side bar under "My New Blog." Original, huh? If you'll recall, in Jauary I posted about this year and my goals. Part of that included a desire to do some temple remodeling. The new blog will be totally dedicated to that journey. I've realized that the remodel could never be purely external. There are lots on interior rooms that need to be re-done as well. Join me there and see how it's going. I'm sure I'll need your support along the way.

Friday, March 30, 2007

Lessons Learned

Today's Friday Five is five things I've learned in the last month.

1. Gluing a wound back together, although much less painful, is not any prettier than having stitches done.

2. Posum is, well, I don't know the right word. Posum is our big dog. Due to her incessant barking at the old house, we had to bring her here a little sooner than we were ready. (the friends that bought the old place were keeping her for us) That meant we had to get our fence built in a hurry. Now she's in the back yard. She barks quite a bit, she eats A LOT, she digs, she smells, she has hearing challenges, she digs, she stares in the back windows at me at night and it creeps me out, did I mention that she digs?, and she makes my husband and my children smile. I wish she mad me smile. She does not make me smile. So, the lesson here is.....absence did not make the heart grow fonder.

3. Apparently painting with poop and then getting a pop on the rear end for it is sufficient lesson learning to get my two year old to go in the potty. He has only had 1 #2 in a pull-up since the artistic episode. Woo Hoo!!!

4. You can travel too much. Being gone as much as I have been in the last month leads to many negative things. Laundry gets backed up, cleaning gets behind, grocery shopping/meal planning don't get done properly, clutter accumulates EVERYWHERE. I've also learned that a cluttered house leads to a cluttered mind which leads to less sleep which leads to a mommy walking around everyday trying to keep her head out of the water and feeling a constant sense that she my drown at any moment. We're staying home this weekend.

5. Having chest x-rays done of a 10 1/2 month old baby is unpleasant. Even more unpleasant is having said baby diagnosed with pneumonia and then having to hold her while a nurse (who Vivie smiled and waved at when she came in the room) sticks her in the leg with a big honkin' shot of antibiotic that will make her leg hurt for several days. However, x-rays are MUCH easier to go through than stitches on a 7 month old (or again on a 2 1/2 year old, or even having the same 4 year old glued back together).

Monday, March 26, 2007

Health Update

So........since the last time I wrote things have been pretty crazy around here. I've made two out of town trips. One to the Women of Faith National conference in San Antonio and one quick trip to Baytown so I could go to my sister-in-law's baby shower. Take those into account with the health issues we've had in our house and that leaves you with one pooped mommy! Here's the scoop:

Vivie is all better. She got a clean bill of health at her check-up last Wednesday. Thursday was the first day she was really back to her normal self. If you go back and count the days, that was almost 12 days from when she got sick. That's a long time to have a sick baby! But she's all better now and has even decided that not nursing and having real milk in her cup is OK. I don't think she LOVES it, but she's drinking it so I'm satisfied.

As for Tripp - other than his perpetual snot (which we've just about decided is allergies) he's doing well. We did get a "health alert" (as though we should be alarmed by health in general?) from his school. Apparently someone(s) at school that he comes in contact with has had Pin worms. Don't know what those are? They are little teeny tiny white thread like worms that live in the anus. Yes, I said anus. They are transmitted in a "rectal - oral" fashion. Can we say EEEEWWW! Symptom? Rump scratching, especially at night? How to you confirm them? You get a flashlight and go on a worm hunt at night. As our pedi put it so nicely (imagine hand motions along with this) "Get a flashlight and then spread the (pause) buttock and look for white thread like wigglies." I told Easy that after all the diapers I've changed over the years that clearly worm hunting is a job for Daddy. Fortunately, we've had no rump scratching so that hasn't had to happen. In truth, I was afraid we were perhaps the source. After all, we did have that whole poo painting thing a few weeks back and who know if any of that made it to the mouth......GROSS!!!!!

And then there's my sweet goose. Paris has been doing great. We've been having fun. We've had a few tough days. Apparently mommy being gone two weekend in a row didn't sit well with her so we went through that whole test the limits thing in the midst of Vivie having pneumonia. She redeemed herself this weekend though and went shopping with Graggie and me and even went to the shower with us. She won't call it a shower though. That's just "silly" according to her so we called it a party for Aunt Kara's baby that hasn't come out of her tummy yet. Quite a mouthful, huh? Anyway, she pulled a Sarah. (for those of you unaware, I have an extremely clumsy history!) We brought this little wooden trunk home from my moms house for her to use in her room. It was mine as a kid. I stored all my baby doll clothes in it. We need to clean Paris' room in a bad way so the trunk was just sort of sitting in the entry. Paris, in her typical exuberance, went to sort of roll over one of our ottomans and went a bit too fast. As she went off the other side (the ottoman is being used as a barricade to keep Vivie in the living room) she literally bounced her head off the edge of the trunk! Lots of blood. Not cool. I bundled her up with a damp towel pressed on it. Told Easy to get off the toilet because we needed to go to the ER "now!" We took her to urgent care at Scott & White and thank goodness they were able to glue her back together. It wasn't painless and and it certainly isn't pretty, but it was WAY better than stitches. We've done stitches with her twice already and she remembers the second set. She didn't want to go tot he doctor because she was so freaked that she might have stitches again. In the end she is left with one heck of a headache and a big blob of steri-strips and Dermabond that will flake off on it own. We don't even have to go back to the doctor unless there's a problem. I'm left with a migraine and an extremely sore right bicep. See, once my mom handed her to me I didn't really put her down until we were in the room getting seen by the doctor. I had no idea 39 lbs. was so heavy!

So, there you go - all caught up. Today I'm staying home all day and trying to put my house back in order. There is a TON of laundry to be done and more cleaning than I could possibly do in one day. So I guess I'll just eat the elephant one bite at a time and hope I get through it all before it gets crazy around here again! Have a great day!

Tuesday, March 13, 2007

Home and Helpless

So, we got back to my folks house at about 1:30 AM Monday morning. Our conference was AMAZING!! The kids were all happy to see us. Little Miss Viv did NOT drink any milk while I was away. Mom used the milk I had expressed to mix with cereal each day so we knew she was getting some. I don't know how I'm going to get her to drink milk from a cup, but I'm not worried about that at the moment.

Instead, I'm worried about getting her healthy. Mom said she started coughing and had a little runny nose Sunday morning. By the time we got home she sounded pretty bad and then she spiked a 102 temp Monday afternoon - on Tylenol! So, off we went to the doctor this morning to find out that she has pneumonia! Not cool. I feel so helpless. She's so tired, but she feels so bad she can't just go to sleep. She doesn't have the energy to play, but she doesn't really want to be held. They gave her a big shot of antibiotic this morning and told me that her leg would hurt for several days. I just want to make it all better and all I can do is hold her and rock her and pray that the medicine kicks in quick and that we beat this thing fast. I do think we caught it early enough that it won't take too long for her to start feeling better. I found myself actually gasping with her breaths this afternoon. My chest actually hurt. I've never experienced such real "sympathy pain" before. She's resting now though and the big kids are playing their Little Leaps video game so all is well for the moment. I better go get dinner ready. Tripp didn't nap so he'll be off to bed about 7:00 tonight. I think on a day like today that's a good thing. I'm looking forward to the quiet once I get at least two of them in bed this evening.

Father, heal my daughter. Help me to be patient with Paris. When I am worried about Vivie I seem to not have much left over and I get very snappy with Paris. Help me to not be that way. Thank you for making Tripp such a laid back little dude. Thank you for giving me parents that can keep my children when I'm away. I am so blessed with family. Help us to all rest tonight. In Jesus' name - amen.

Thursday, March 08, 2007

Friday Five: I Miss My Kids

Easy and I are off to St. Louis in a few hours for a business conference (yes we're leaving at 3 in the morning) so I dropped off the kids at my folks today. It was really hard to leave them. I told them each that I would be there when they wake up Monday morning. Paris promised to help take care of Vivie. Vivie flapped her arms at me. Tripp (after I gave him a million hugs and kisses and kept saying I love you) just waved and said "bye bye." I know they will be fine, but here are five things I miss already...........

1. Vivie's cheeks - they are so full and I just love kissing on them.
2. Tripp's chatter - he is getting to be quite the talkative one these days.
3. Paris' exclamations - particularly the "I love you Mommy" ones!
4. Watching them play with each other - Tripp had Viv in stitches on the way to Baytown today. It was so sweet to hear her laughing at her bubba!
5. Being able to just go look at them because I want to!!

Father, keep my children safe while I am away from them. Help them to be good for Graggie & Dadoo. Help Vivie drink milk out of a cup. Help Tripp put his business in the potty. Let them all sleep well so Graggie & Dadoo aren't TOTALLY exhausted when I get back. Please help me to not worry too much. I know that you are watching over them and me and that you will keep us all safe. Thank you for loving my children. Amen.

Thursday, March 01, 2007

A Story and a Lesson

My children teach me a lot. Sometimes I get a rather profound lesson from events that seem silly to others or sometimes even gross - like the time I blogged about sin and snot. I had another of these experiences recently so I thought I should share..........

The Story

Sunday afternoon I had the kids all down for rest. Tripp was unusually quiet so I figured he must have actually gone to sleep. I was tired so I vegged on the couch instead of getting up to check in on him. When Paris got up she started a movie. Viv was still asleep so I told Paris she could open Tripp's door so he would start waking up. She did as I asked and then exclaimed "Oh Bubba, why are you naked?" I got up and headed to his room to find him naked from the waist down. Then I was hit buy a foul, foul smell. Then I saw it. True to form, Tripp had waited until rest time when he would have on a pull-up to do his "business." Once done he had removed the soiled undergarment. Instead of following his normal routine of crying until I get him a clean one however, he decided that his poop did indeed look remarkably like brown play dough. I can only imagine that he first touched it and flung it off his hand thinking it as yucky as it truly is. Then after looking at it a while, maybe he decided it wasn't all that yucky and playing a little would be fun. I'm sure once he started playing it just became so much fun he couldn't stop. He proceeded to "paint" his toy shelves a lovely color of brown. He smooshed and smeared his new found plaything into his toy piano and left pieces of it all over the carpet. When I realized what I was starring at I was in shock. So, I took him by the hand over to the bulk of the devastation (the toy shelves) and said "Tripper, No no. We do not play with poo poo." I spanked his little naked rear with my hand and told him to sit on his bed. I made him stay there as I cleaned up the colossal mess he had made. When he saw the toy shelf shining white again he sat up and proclaimed, "Ah keen! Good job Mommy!"

The lesson:

This one is really pretty simple. Isn't this how we are with sin in our lives? At first it's easy to say no. But the more time we spend around that thing or person or situation, the more we start to think it's not so bad. We begin to understand the "other" point of view on a topic or we start to feel entitled to a little bit of "fun." It doesn't matter what the sin is, at some point we decide it's OK and we start to play with it a little. It is so easy from there to just get so involved that we don't have any sense at all how big a mess we are making. And then we find ourselves standing before our Father, naked, in the middle of a big, stinky mess. With all the love and gentleness in the world he tells us no no. Sometimes he even spanks those of us that are a bit thick in the skull. And we always find ourselves sitting by, watching him do the work of cleaning up our mess because we are so totally incapable of repairing the damage on our own.

I suppose the good news is this: since Tripp had his "artistic outburst" he has put his poo in the potty everyday. If only I learned so quickly the lessons God is trying to teach me.

Father, thank you for cleaning up my messes. Thank you for sending your precious son to wash all the brown play dough from my life. Help me Lord to stay as clean as I can. And when I start to play in something that smells of Satan, stop me, tell me no, spank my naked rear end if you have to. Put me in time out and help me look at the reality of what I have done. Forgive me Lord and wash me clean again, and again, and again..............and when you have brought me through yet another of my stumbles Lord, let me give you all the credit with a resounding, "Good job Daddy! I couldn't possibly have done that on my own. The credit is all yours. Thank you for your patience and love and meticulous cleansing of my soul." Amen.