Never a Dull Moment

This week has been one of those fast-moving “never a dull moment” kind of weeks.  Christian has been home all week (except for Tuesday, and even then I was called to pick him up early from school).  I don’t think that he has minded getting to hang out in his favorite jammies all day though.    He is starting to move around a little more quickly and we are starting to hear cycles of his “happy screaming” come back to life, but he is not quite back to normal.  (And this I can tell for sure, because he is napping right now, which never happens when he is perfectly healthy.)

 However, since Christian’s illness is not contagious, we have been trying to have therapy yesterday and today.  So, yesterday afternoon PS was here having therapy with Christian in the basement, where Olivia had joined them.  (Really, I think Olivia is under the impression that the therapists foremost job is to play with her. )  Christian and Liv were bouncing around in the ballpit and pretending to be stuck in one of the corners.  Well, Christian was actually stuck with Liv laying on top of him, so PS grabbed Olivia by the hands to pick her up off of him when she started crying hysterically.  This was not her whiny cry.  This was not her attention-getting cry.  This was her real “I’m hurt!” cry.  Poor PS was trying to console an inconsolable Olivia. I came down and brought Livs back upstairs and sat her down on my lap.  Anytime she moved her arm, even the tiniest little bit, she would scream out in pain and start crying again.

Instinctually, my gut said, “dislocated elbow.”  Christian had 3 or 4 dislocated elbows when he was between the ages of 2-3.  It seemed like this was exactly was Liv had going on, but there was a bit of doubt in my mind just because she had never had this problem before.  After trying to console her for 2+ hours, I decided to take her into the urgent care once AT & LW got here to do therapy with Christian.  Liv was still crying as I got her into the car, cried on the way over to the clinic, cried getting out of the car…and then we were sitting in the registration area when all of the sudden she turned to me and said, “Mommy, my arm not hurt anymore.”  She was bending and twisting her arm again with a smile on her face.  So, we just talked to the nurse, who confirmed my initial thought of it being a dislocated elbow” and told me that if we didn’t wait to see the doctor, she wouldn’t charge us for the visit.  We left with a couple more stickers than what we came with. 

Today, Christian is doing well, but still has a pretty significant cough.  And Olivia has a belly ache, threw-up once, and has taken three naps already (and it is only 1pm).  Poor Livs, is just not doing well.    I’m hoping that all of the extra sleep will be what she needs to help her tummy feel better!

I have been more exhausted than normal and thinking that my ears may have some fluid inside, but am doing OK.  Looking forward to having everybody feeling better again.   (And hopefully soon…)

 

Sick Again

Christian is actually sick now. 

Sunday morning, he woke-up with a fever at 4:45 (stupid daylight’s savings changes).  (He felt hot, although we never got his temp to see how “hot” he was.)  He was napping by 8am.  (Um, totally NOT normal!!!)  Brian stayed home with him while Olivia and I went to LARB’s baptism.  (Brian was also a godfather.)  I guess Christian laid around, not wanting to eat or drink until 1pm-ish, at which point he then ate some toast and pretzels and drank some water.  When I got home, he curled up on me and slept some more and snuggled on the couch.  I started cancelling therapy, school, and the bus for Monday.  Boom — 7pm — Christian got up and ran downstairs.  He was running and playing with the DVD player.  Yep, his fever had broken.  He seemed back to normal to me…

…but because the fever had lasted so late into the evening, I kept him home on Monday.  He seemed perfectly fine all day.  I cancelled the bus on Tuesday to keep an eye on his cough for an extra hour, which subsided after he was awake for a 1/2-hour, so I took him to school.  Miss JB called me at 1pm and told me that Christian looked like he was going to fall asleep on the table and asked if I wanted to pick him up a little early since he had 4 hours of therapy after school.  So, I picked him up 30-minutes early.  They told me that he had a really good day, but that he was very quiet (whispering answers/noises) and inactive.  SO not him!  He didn’t nap (of course) once we got home, but was extremely quiet and not moving at the speed-of-light like normal.  He fought the sleep as long as he could, but fell asleep around 6:15 while AB was here.  So tired.  (And since he had fallen asleep SO early, he woke at 11:45 and was up until 4am.  Then he napped until 6 before he was up for the day.)

I was starting to put the clues together by this time — quiet, slow-moving Christian is NOT a healthy Christian — so what was wrong???  I was thinking ears — ear infection(s) because he was SO quiet.  (I know that when I had my ear infection in the last year that my voice kind of echoed in my head when I talked, so maybe his voice was too loud for him??)  And then I was concerned about his cough.  It just didn’t sound good.

So, I kept him home today.  I finally got a 2pm appointment with the nurse practitioner.  She was very good and did his whole work-up on the floor with us because that was where Christian was the most comfortable.  (Although, he definitely did NOT want to be at the doctor’s office!!)  Yep, fluid in his ears, his glands were swollen, and he had a wheeze in his breathing.  Sigh.  Poor guy.  (At least she said that he is not contagious!!!)  She wanted him on antibiotics and since I canNOT get him to take oral meds that left us the only option of an antibiotic injection. 

Christian is surprisingly strong.  It took 3 nurses and myself wrestling him (on the floor, so that he wouldn’t fall off of the table) to give him the shot.  The nurses didn’t really want to do it, but I knew that was my only option to get him the full dose of medicine.  (I would have been wearing it otherwise.  Seriously.)

So, Christian will be home again tomorrow.  Perhaps with some therapy (as he is not contagious) depending on how tired he is.  I’m going to play Friday by ear.  We’ll see.  I just hope that he sleeps better tonight!

 

Wanted: Magical Kitchen-Cleaning Fairy

I look around my kitchen and can’t believe how bad it’s become.  Dishes stacked in the sink.  Pots stacked on the counter.  No ambition to do anything about it.  (Even though I always feel so much better after its taken care of.)

I’ve decided that what I need is a Magical Kitchen-Cleaning Fairy.  A fairy who would noiselessly come in at night and not only clean my dishes, but also dry them and put them back to their correct spots.  (Yes, I’m a little OCD. )  It would also be great if said fairy did counter and floor scrubbing as well.

The problem is I don’t mind cooking.  I actually have to cook quite a bit considering that Christian is on a totally different diet than the rest of the family.  So, meals are pretty much doubled. (If not tripled, depending on whether Olivia will eat what the big people are eating for supper.  I can’t really force her to eat what we’re eating, when Christian is almost always eating something other than what we are having.  She doesn’t see that as fair, and I can’t reason that with her yet.  I’m hoping that over time, she will start liking more and more of what we are eating.) 

Anyway, more meals, means more dishes.  I just really don’t like to do the dishes.  Blah.    I would say that I almost loathe doing the dishes.  And the longer they sit there, the harder it is for me to get motivated to do something about it.  Henceforth, the “Fairy Plan.”  I’m thinking that would be a great Christmas gift this year.  What do you think??? 

 

Trick-or-Treat

So, Brian and I decided to take the kids trick-or-treating again this year.  The plan had been to do the “candy hop” in my SIL’s neighborhood with the cousins, but her kids were sick, so we opted to do the downtown businesses trick-or-treating instead.  (The businesses were doing it at an earlier time, too, so Brian could still get out bow hunting. )  Our niece and SIL, JJ, met us downtown after we had stopped by my in-law’s house for a warm-up trick-or-treat.

Christian wasn’t overly enthused about going out.  Well, and getting out of his jammies.  (He had been wearing them since Wednesday afternoon.  Apparently, they are SUPER comfortable! )  I finally wrestled him into his “train engineer” costume (blue-stripped overalls and a million long-sleeved shirts).  Brian coaxed him into his socks and shoes and we convinced him to get into the car.  (We live in the country without many nearby neighbors.)  He seemed OK after that.

After our quick stop at the farm, we braved the cold, windy weather downtown — going up and down Main Street trick-or-treating at the participating businesses.  It was fairly busy.  It was extremely cold.  We made it up one side of the street and halfway down the other when all of the sudden Christian had a meltdown.  A drop on the ground, cry and refuse to be picked-up “wet noodle” fest.  Brian and I looked at each other and said, “Time to go.”  I picked Christian up and started walking quickly towards the car.  I’m not sure what everyone else was thinking as I was rushing down the sidewalk with a boy hanging off my arm kicking and crying and hitting me in the face, but frankly, I wasn’t really thinking about them.  I just wanted to get him to a safe place where he could feel “safe” (i.e. the car). 

Brian came to my aid with a block left to go, as I had to stop and set Christian down trying to find a better way to carry him.  We traded, and I took Olivia.  I’m not quite sure what it was that just set him off SO badly, but, WOW, it was extremely upsetting to him.

Besides that, it was a success.  Christian wouldn’t say much while we were out, but before we left I heard him say (while jumping on a bed), “Trick-or-treat.  Give me candy!”  and then whispered, “Thank you.”  I’m sorry, but that is WAY too cute!   

The kids got candy, but not too much.  I did have to hide it after awhile, though, as they were both circling the kitchen trying to sneak additional sugar.  Olivia asked me what had happened to the candy and I told her that it had gone on vacation.  She seemed satisfied with that answer and left the room.  A half-hour later she came back and said, “Mommy, candy don’t go on vacation.  People go on vacation.  So, where my candy?”  Too funny, Liv, too funny!  (And great reasoning skills, sweetheart. )

 

Proud of My Hubby

My husband and I are both former teachers.  I know I find myself thinking about my former students and wondering how they are doing and what they are up to these days.  Wondering if I make any impact on them, and, if so, was it a positive one???

A couple of weeks ago, my husband received an email from a former student’s parent.  My husband had this student in his inner-city 5th grade class 7 years ago.   The father had said that they were hoping to find my husband to let him know that his once struggling student was a senior in high school pulling a 4.0.  Awesome!  The student remembered Brian telling him at one point in time that if he didn’t go to college, Brian would hunt him down and proverbially “kick his butt.”  Ah, yes, my hubby has a way with words.    But, how awesome!  Brian was so glad that they found him and was so happy for the amazing change for his former student.

I know that many of Brian’s former students will remember his many stories about growing up on a farm, etc., but other words my hubby has spoken has also resonated with his students.  Someone has quoted him on a FB page saying, “If you ignore your conscience, it will go away.”  I’m am proud of my husband that he made enough of an impact on his kids that they remember those types of things and carry those words with them.

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Also Brian has been asked to help out with a sister congregation’s new ministry to people with special needs.  What an incredible opportunity!  Brian jumped right on board. 

 

“Chartreuse”

I would like to thank Blue’s Clues episode “Colors Everywhere” for teaching Christian the primary, secondary, and tertiary colors all wrapped up in a catchy little tune sung by Joe (Donovan Patton).  Christian absolutely LOVES that song and LOVES the little paint blobs that dance around and combine to make the different colors.

Nothing like your 5-year-old talking about colors at school and getting mad that “chartreuse” didn’t make the conversation!  Yeah, Christian’s favorite – Chartreuse – it’s a yellowy green.  (I had to look it up in the dictionary to learn how to spell it.)  His other favorites — vermillion, marigold, aquamarine, violet, and magenta.  Who needs plain old red, yellow, blue, orange, green, and purple???  Not my boy.  So, I’ve written out word cards so he can learn how to spell them, too.  I figure I might as well work with his strengths. 

 

 

Keeping Me Honest

Some have suggested that when sleep is going well here that I may have to consider changing my blog title.  Well, I don’t think that will happen any time soon.  The kids are working on keeping me honest — Livs was up once last night with the “pees” and, well, Christian got up at 3:30 (again).  At 4am I realized that there was nothing that I could do to persuade him back to sleep, so he went downstairs and played while I passed out on the couch (with Olivia because her bed was torn apart and being washed).  I figured Christian knew where I was if he needed anything and I could get some much needed sleep in-between those times.    And Christian never went back to sleep.  (Good luck therapists with his 7-hours of therapy today.  Who’s watch will he fall asleep on??    )

The question is why?  Why did he get up last night?  He didn’t have to poo, so there must be another reason.  Hmm…  could it really just be the change in the atmospheric pressure?  Did he sneak a food that he’s not supposed to eat?  I don’t have any clue, but I sure hope sleep actually happens tonight!!!

 

Blah

So, this week is cruising right along, but I’m feeling sort of blah.  Not really sure why.  Just tired.  Unmotivated.  But still needing to get things accomplished.

I have been needing to wrestle Christian into his clothes every morning this week.  This morning it literally took me a half-hour to find a shirt that he would even remotely tolerate and then help him into his pants, socks, shoes, coat, etc.  Sigh.  At least, the other mornings weren’t quite as bad.  And tomorrow, if he REALLY wants to, he can spend all day in his jammies because there is no school Thursday/Friday (teachers’ conferences) and we only have home therapy scheduled.  Perhaps this will be less of an issue by next week.  (One can dream, right???)

And then there has been the bus issue this week…  Christian’s regular driver has been out sick all week.  There has been a different sub on the bus every morning.  Um, yeah, Christian has NOT been thrilled about this and has dropped to the ground every morning in protest.  Sigh.  So, I wrestle him into his harness and then clip him into his seat.  Except, yesterday, he was SO worked up (and having major sinus congestion) that I think he gagged himself in his anger and threw-up on the bus.  They called me as soon as he got to school and I had to go pick him up.  By the time I got there, he was running laps in the classroom and laughing.  Once we got home he ran up and down the hallway and stairs and ate and climbed and jumped and danced all day (just like usual).  (Oh, and during one of his “Christian dances” he was mumbling to himself and I listened real closely and he was saying “I’m dancing.  I’m dancing.”  TOO cute!!    )  So, after wrestle-fest this morning, I walked him out to the bus to find another new sub and a bus assistant.  Apparently his harness was still getting sanitized from the pukes, so they wanted him to sit with a seatbelt on in a different seat than normal.  Um, yeah, that didn’t go over very well.  Actually, it didn’t go over at all.  After personally wrestling him into a seat for a couple of minutes, they said that they can’t wrestle him all the way to school.  Sigh.  So, I drove him in.  (He gets to spend an extra 45-minutes at home that way.)  Unfortunately, me driving him to school only throws off his whole school day, because in his mind Mommy is only at school to take him home, so as soon as we got to the classroom and saw me in his classroom, he wanted to go home.  Yes, another “wet noodle” episode.  Then he got aggressive with Olivia for holding my hand while in his classroom and pushed her right over pretty hard.  So then they were both crying.    Not the best start to the day…

…which actually started at 3:30am when Christian decided that he was done sleeping for the night.  (Why???)  I tried my hardest to convince him to go back to sleep (or at least lay back down and stop jumping on the bed), but it didn’t work.  By 4:30 he was in the basement, spelling with his letter blocks and monkeying with the DVD player (and needing my help every couple of minutes).  Sigh.  No more sleep for me.  I had plenty of time to pick out his “costume” for school today, though.  (He went as a train engineer because he has to wear overalls.  (His choice, not mine.)  It was either that or a hunter because he has some camo shirts and overalls, too.)  Unfortunately, I hadn’t been able to get him to bed before 10-ish last night.  Then Olivia got up ten minutes later, so I got her back to sleep in the next 1/2-hour only to have her wake a couple hours later because she “peed.”  Sigh.  So changed her, cleaned that up, got her back to sleep, got myself finally back to sleep when — sigh — Christian woke for the day.  Bummer.  But I am counting on better sleep tonight because he pooed.  That’s right, he pooed.  A monstrous poo.  And on days when he needs to poo and doesn’t do so before bed, he gets up in the middle of the night and has a hard time going back to sleep.  Well, he pooed a week’s worth this afternoon, so I’m counting on there being sleep tonight.  (Well, at least for him.  )

And Monday, I started a major project that I have been meaning to do for a while and just wasn’t sure where to start, so just kept putting it off.  De-cluttering our bedroom.  It has been pretty bad since we moved into this house about a year ago.  There were boxes that hadn’t been gone through since we moved back from Florida (over two years ago).  Kids clothes all over the place, as I keep taking clothes that don’t fit out of the kids’ closets and somehow it all just piles in our room.  Along with the curtain rods that were taken down so that they wouldn’t be constantly pulled down, and suitcases from our vacation this summer that just never made it back to the basement, etc.  We are hosting a party here in a couple of weeks and I know that we are going to need a place to stash everyone’s coats/purses/etc.  I know that place is going to end up being our room, so the proverbial fire has been lit under by butt and I’m going to get it done.  It actually looks SO MUCH BETTER in there already.  I’m excited to see what it will look like when it is totally done.  (And then I’m hoping that I can keep it looking that nice all of the time!!! ;) )

So, anyway, the weeks keep right on going, whether I’m ready or not.  It’s hard to believe that Sunday is November already!!!  And we are left with the next two days without school.  (Which always throws Christian for a loop.  At least the therapists have added an extra shift each day!!  Thanks, guys! )

I am looking forward to Sunday, though.  Brian and I were asked to be godparents for new nephew, LARB.  I’m extra excited because this will be the first time that I will be a godmommy and actually get to be at the baptism!  Hurray!  (Now to see how Christian handles Mommy and Daddy both being in the front of church for 5-ish minutes.  Help!)  But, I’m excited.    Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these. — Matthew 19:14

 

Parent/Teacher Conference

Last Thursday was the first parent/teacher conference of the year.  Miss JB pulled out Christian’s IEP and we were all pleasantly surprised with the progress Christian is already making this years.  He had met the majority of his IEP goals within the 1st quarter!  Yay, Christian!!!    They will continue to push him and try to help him through the things he continues to struggle with by utilizing his strengths.  Yay, teachers!    I am thrilled that things are going so well!  (And Christian is REALLY enjoying his first grade reading group.) 

 

New Nephew

We have a new nephew as of Tuesday!  Little, tiny LARB was born a couple of weeks early.  So tiny (especially compared with our 2)!  We got to meet him on Saturday.  That was lovely.    Welcome to the world, LARB!  We love you.