around here :: week 3 2020

All Day.
Every Day.
#momlife

{feels like 2!?!}

Reading... Anne of Green Gables (my book choice for book club!) and listening to Five Love Languages of Children and The Good Earth (another book club book that I just jumped into ahead of time).  Five Love Languages is giving me tons of good ideas for showing love to my many children, and The Good Earth is so much more engrossing than I had imagined.

Finishing... Gentle Ben with the boys who really enjoyed it.  It's about a boy who gets a pet brown bear and how his small Alaska town reacts.  I also finished Motherhood So White, which was an interesting read that made me think, but also frustrated me in some of its points.

Excited... to find a copy of a book I read over and over in elementary school at the Friends of the Library sale to read to my boys when it's my turn for read aloud again.  It was only .25! It's a ghost story called Wait Till Helen Comes and as I was researching what the old cover looks like, I discovered that a movie has been made, just in 2016. So now I want to see it!!
Recently I reread another childhood favorite, Goodnight Mr. Tom, and loved the experience, so I can't wait to reread this one as well.

Sending... Jack & Wyatt off to the land with Josh so I could focus on just caring for Logan on Saturday.  He did pretty well all day until late afternoon when I was in the shower.  He then suddenly came upstairs, out of breath from nonstop coughing.  I checked his oxygen with our oximeter (it was in the high 70's and low 80's- not good) and his breaths per minute were 40 (normal is between 12-20).  I threw on some yoga pants, got boots and a coat on Carly, called Josh and we headed out the door to the ER. 
At the ER Logan was diagnosed with some type of Influenza (the tests came back negative, but the doctor thinks the results were an error) and pneumonia.  He was placed on Tamiflu and an antibiotic.  We were luckily released relatively quickly and met Josh and the other kids back at home (he had picked Carly up at the ER on his way home) and were back in time for movie night with our crew. 

Dealing... with Jack getting sick as well on Sunday and staying home with Logan, Carly and I on Monday.  We are quite the crew.

Smiling... every time I see Ramona sleeping with Wyatt in his bed.  He adores the cats, who usually sleep in the twins' room, so having her sleep with him makes him so happy.  They look so cozy, all snuggled up together in his blankets. 

Taking... Carly to Grandma's and the twins to the doctor on Tuesday to have Logan rechecked after his ER visit and to have Jack checked as well.  When I dropped Carly at Grandma Carol's we saw bunny tracks in the snow, which was so cool! And she was thrilled to spend the day learning and playing with Grandma.  I was happy to take the twins to the doctor without an extra kid on hand.

Learning... that in addition to Logan's pneumonia, Jack has Influenza A and an ear infection, and Logan is slowly recovering from fever blisters in his mouth and pink eye.  (Jack & Wyatt at Influenza B back before Christmas break- and this is all WITH our flu vaccines! Very poor luck this year for us!)

Worrying... when Carly threw up for no good reason Wednesday morning, until I pieced together that I think it was from giving her the Tamiflu (as a preventative) on an empty stomach.  Last time I gave it to her right at meal time after she'd eaten. This time I waited and she had an empty tummy.  Apparently that was not ideal, as she vomited up every last drop of the medicine.
I'm so blessed, though because that girl knows she's supposed to puke in a bowl so she came all the way downstairs with her hand over her mouth, holding the puke in, to ask me for a bowl, before she would let it fly. Gosh, do I love that girl.

Napping... for two solid hours on Wednesday afternoon when my sore throat really hit with a full force and the sickness seemed to really settle in.  Thank goodness Carly is old enough to watch a screen and not get into mischief while hanging out with her big bros while I slept.  Boy did I feel better after that!

Driving... Carly to Grandma Carol's to spend the day Thursday again and feeling ever so grateful for that day off from parenting her when I am feeling so crummy.  It was lovely to rest, and sleep, and catch up on some blog posts, all without overdoing it.

Grateful... for friends who think of us when they are getting rid of their kids' things.  I have the BEST group of friends and none of them get rid of things without offering them to Carly. I swear. They always call.  "Does Carly need a coat? Snow pants?"  This week it was dress up clothes.  So Carly got home from Grandma's to see a cowgirl dress up outfit (including hat!!!) on her bed and was beyond thrilled!!  Thank you, Becky!!

Waking up... every morning to a Kleenex apocalypse in Logan & Jack's room, where they simply blow their noses and throw the tissue (BOMBS AWAY!) over the edge of their bunk beds toward the floor. Some mornings this week were quite impressive. G R O S S
(Thankfully they seem to be getting better.)

Tolerating... super cold temperatures this week, as it was only 2 degrees with wind chill one day! Brrr!!!

Taking... Wyatt late to school Friday because I let myself sleep in.  The twins are finally getting better, but now I am fully coming down with it and it's got me exhausted.  Old Shelly would have berated myself for letting him be late, giving no grace.  But New Shelly is full of mercy and patience and knows that I was doing the best I could, and that Wyatt being an hour late was not the end of the world.

Loving... watching Carly playing dolls.  She props their bottles, changes their diapers, and talks in the sweetest, highest voice to them.  It just melts me.  Having a girl has yet to get old.

Listening... to Jen Hatmaker reveal bits & pieces of her book to us this week (it's out in April) and her words from the chapter about our bodies??? UGLY TEARS.  It reads like poetry, and she ends like this:

"Her voice is the sound of home.  

You may hate her, but no one else does."

***

For laughs:

{This had me DYING! Hahaha!}

{Maybe a little too accurate to be funny. I'm going on nine years next month...}