I survived

I survived another Superbowl.

Things I don't like about football:
1. The noise
2. How insanely ridiculous people get over it
3. Not sure what they're doing
4. How much time it takes

I remember when I was waiting for an epidural when I was in labor with Hailey; the nurse told me that it would be about 15 or 20 minutes for anesthesia to arrive and begin the epidural. I shot her a look in between miserable contractions, and said, "is that really 15 minutes or is that hospital time which means much much longer...?" She paused, and said it'll probably be at least 30 minutes, probably longer. I opted for another medication to "take the edge off" and then the epidural arrived shortly afterwards. See what I mean? Don't give me false hope - I want to know reality.

But I'm over that about football. That may be all I understand!

But, it seems to make the people important around me pretty happy, so I agree to have the TV on in our home on Superbowl night.

Germs are only half the story. Well, maybe

This day has been over the top. Let's rewind.

December: I had a bad cough, which ended up with another round of pink eye. Because every girl in her thirties needs pink eye several times a year. Seriously. The kids don't even get it, but I never seem to escape it. We were distracted by Christmas and the Imagine Christmas production long enough to get us to the New Year.

January: Out of the blue, Hailey got sick ... that wicked stomach bug that everyone I know had. It was an intense, horrible 4 hours for my little H, but alas, she was ok. 48 hours later, Maddie started showing signs of it, and ended up staying home from school. She never did get the worst of it. Whew. But that night (through night) Chloe was up with the stomach bug. Another 24 hours. 3 days later, it hit me. Let's skip all those gory details because, well, I'm writing this and don't feel like reliving those memories again.

So keep all that in mind when I describe this week's events ...

Monday afternoon: sore throat. fine, I down some Airborne. That stuff usually knocks out anything I have and I'll be fine in a couple of hours.

Monday evening: sore throat is getting worse, Airborne didn't even touch it. Weird. Headache, too.

Tuesday: throat is still sore, head still hurts, but with Advil, life can go on. oh, and coffee.

Tuesday overnight: wake up every hour with the worst sore throat of my entire life. can't get back to sleep. Advil only takes the edge off, but well not really.

Wednesday morning: neck, head, throat is miserable; low grade fever. Called in "sick" (which means Mike works from home so I can go to doctor and not have to manage kids).

Wednesday noon: done at doctor, probably won't know if it's strep till 48 hours because the rapid test never comes back positive. PA puts me on medicine anyway, so I stop at the pharmacy. By time I get home there's a message on voicemail telling me that the rapid test DID come back positive and I have strep. Oh, and go get the girls tested, just in case they're "carriers".

Fantastic.

I leave not one, but TWO messages for the pediatrician's office. Oddly, they didn't return my call until Thursday afternoon, a full 24 hours later. I coordinate Mike to meet me at the lab to help manage 3 throat cultures.

The ped's office called today to tell me they have Hailey's back, and it's positive for strep. But they don't know about Maddie or Chloe yet. They call in a prescription, but of course she's napping so I have to wait until she wakes up to go get it and begin medicating her. This is important because now that I know she has it and is contagious, we have to stay away from everyone for 24 hours.

But don't worry. I wasn't bored during her nap time. Earlier in the day, the toilet overflowed, leaving a huge mess in the powder room and mud room to clean up. And so I did. After I got the call from the doctor's office, I decided I would start disinfecting all the toys she's touched over the past 4 weeks (did I mention that before she had the stomach bug in December she also had a wicked "cold"?). So, Chloe and I head to the basement with a huge container of Clorox Wipes.

Germs are only half the story. In the corner of the basement, where we keep all of our storage items, happens to be directly below the powder room / mud room area. And of course, all the stuff on shelves and clothes in bins are now covered in overflowed (clean?) toilet water. And so begins removing all said items from that area into another (dry) section of the basement; more paper towels. Chloe continued with the Clorox wiping. And, yes, I do trust a 5 year old to completely wipe down items ... she's been watching me do this her entire life and has "helped" since she was about 18 months old.

A friend told me I should relax by taking a bath. I laughed and said, "no, because then I would have to scrub the bathtub!"

I think my heart can smile

Last night, while eating our grilled cheese and french fries, the girls began discussion about what they wanted for Christmas. Maddie was shouting something about a DS, and Hailey quietly mumbled something. In the second it took Maddie to take a breath, I heard it again: "I want a hug for Christmas".

Crying Gets You Nowhere

What changed? What changed, I shout!! Two year and three month old Hailey has never, ever, ever had trouble taking a nap or going to bed. Not in her entire life, save for our trip to my in-laws, when she refused to sleep in a small dark room because she could hear everything we were doing in the next room. But that's not my point. There's nothing new about our house. She's been sleeping in her room since the day she got home from the hospital.

Now, suddenly, she's afriad of the wind and wants me to hold her. Only today it's not windy. It's fine outside. And she's so overtired it's not even funny! I'm trying to get "stuff" done, so if she's somehow in tune with that and is trying to sobtage my plans, she's succeding!

So, we continue with the cry-it-out plan. I go in every 10 minutes, 20, etc. to give her a quick comfort, then I leave. And she's back at it. Crying, sobbing, talking (or should I say shouting). I've been doing this for 8 years, people! Can we be done already? Can they just go to bed when it's the day is done or when it's nap time? And while we're at it, not talk back, follow directions the first time, and eat while sitting in a chair? Don't even get me started on potty training. So not interested. Oh, she is, but I'm not!

48 inches of Meredith

And, now, what you've been waiting for. My opinion of Grey's last night. First of all, I think that was the first time I've seen Grey's on a 48" screen TV. Wow, Meredith and the like are enormus! I spent several minutes trying to figure out if the entire cast put on 10 pounds since the spring, but decided that no, I got a new TV since it was last on. Makes perfect sense. My favorite part of the entire show was the last word: acceptance. It's ironic, because I was just reading about acceptance yesterday in the book I'm reading.

It also brought more to mind. Like, isn't it ironic in real life how God brings you to and through situations? And then when that one is finished, you're stronger, smarter, more humble, and changed forever? What if you don't really have time to reflect on that one and you're tossed into something else? What if you can't see the big picture until several years later? What if you don't know the big picture until your picture is at the end? Or what if you never know the big picture? I'll sum up this paragraph by using the word obedient. That's how I would like to be remembered and known for. Even if what I'm doing doesn't make sense to anyone else, if I'm obedient to the Creator of life, I'm doing the right thing, wouldn't you think?

I heart change

Another stint of silence. This time I can't blame memory loss. It's just pure laziness. I haven't felt like writing anything new to this blog that no one reads, so I haven't. But today I got the brilliant thought of actually telling people about this blog of mine for others to actually ... get this, read. Whew. What a concept.

So today's thought is based on a facebook status I wrote earlier this week. It said: "I heart change". I had several comments -- what's changing? are you rolling change? cashing in on change? First let me address the "heart" in my comment. It means love. It's a little code word I like to use instead of actually committing to the actual act of "love." It's deep, I know.

But really, this time of year is exciting. About to enter a brand new school year brings on more change. The daily routine will change. I'm thrilled about this. If you've known me for any length of time you know I like variety - change. But don't worry, I'll get sick of that "new" routine by Halloween and be craving a new one.

Speaking of, the girls want to play Yahtzee now, so I need to change my original plan of writing a blog post, and go play a game. This is my life. I'd like to embrace it and not fight it.

My Memory is Failing

Actually, my memory isn't really failing, it's just that I have too much to remember. Take passwords for example. Every single thing in my life has to have a password. And if you're like me you might have, say, two or three passwords and then several variations of those words. That gets really confusing when you're updating a few blogs, logging onto your bank accounts, paying bills, and just shopping online.

So is the answer writing them down in an address book? What if someone found that book? Would they really care enough to log onto blogger and write the blog? Doubt it.

In case you haven't already guessed, that is the reason for my 6+ month silence. I couldn't remember my password! The dog ate my homework!