A busy week at the end of March

Can you believe we are already at the end of March 2009! Where has the first quarter of the year gone?

Our week looks to be a rather big one. Wednesday Nathan goes in to have his tubes removed. We are putting drops in his ears to hopefully ease that situation. IF the doctor cannot get them out then we either have to come back AGAIN or schedule an OR visit. (I am sure you can guess we don't really want either)

Then later in the week, Marianne's sister and her husband are going to be here for a short visit! We always like to see Aunt Jean!

On Friday morning, our MOPS groups is having an outing in Hastings (2 trips to hastings in one week - eeekk!). We are taking the kids to the Children's Museum up there. I hear great things about it and I'll try to post about it when we get back.

We praise God that everyone is healed up and feeling good! We had our own March Madness and it had nothing to do with basketball!

Well, I can't think of too much else to add right now. The kids are just being kids - Abi's hair is getting longer and we've been doing some fun things with it. Maybe I'll see if I can get around to posting some of those pictures for you. Nathan is a boy and three - that sums up what is happening with him! And Jonathan has reached the fastenation stage of putting things in things (like the trash can!). I have been trying to foster good choices with that and need to go around and dig out all the shapes that go in our tuperware ball because he LOVES them!

That is pretty much it for right now...hope you are all having a great Spring season! (even with the snow and storms)

Getting Better

Well, we are about a week into the antibiotics and I think everyone is doing much better. Actually, I noticed their coughs pretty much disappeared after 24 hours, but we'll stay the course to make sure we rid that bug for good!

Marion is doing better too. His ankle is finally starting to feel better.

Life is just treking along.

The kids are excited for summer to come. They have already been talking about going to the pool, and the other day Marion had them water the strawberries and they had a blast spraying each other!

Jonathan is still a handful outside. You have to really watch him closely because he loves to run and before you know it he is out of sight and you don't know where he went. I have a little buzzer I need to get on him that beeps when you hit the remote. I think I'll need that to keep track of him!

Well, that pretty much covers our activities for the last few weeks. Coming up next week, Nathan will have the tubes taken out of his ears and hopefully we won't have to do anything else with that. I'll update you after we get back from that.

Antibiotics All Around

Well, we made another trip to the doctor today as Jonathan was still running a fever after ten days...and though I hadn't registered a fever with Abi or Nate since Saturday morning, their coughs were deep and terribly disruptive to sleeping!  So, we went back in today and the doctor said that since they had waited this long and were still struggling he'd suggest an antibiotic for them all.  They all had red ears, runny noses, and of course their coughs.  What was funny was that Jonathan didn't register a fever at the office, but Abi and Nate did...when at home it was absolutely reversed!

 

Oh well, maybe we can get this thing licked now!

And Here we go Again!

Marion sprained his ankle yesterday!

Apparently he was getting off the tractor and twisted it pretty bad! He told me it had happened and that it hurt when it happened but he wasn't limping so I didn't think much about it. Besides, he said it got better as he walked on it, and he made it through the day with no real issue.

However, when he got home it was about the size of a tennis ball...his ankle that is! We elevated it last night but it was stiff and sore this morning...actually he'd say it wasn't bad at all but he is limping where last night when he came in he wasn't! I asked him if I could help him, but he said the little bit that it hurt was good to remind him to not go running around on it.

I love him...but the man is stubborn...in case none of you knew that!

Jonny's Got Croup

Sure enough...we all have a cold (cough, runny nose, congestion) but Jonathan's turned into croup.  I am pretty sure Abi's is croupy too, but she didn't get to the strider level.  In case you are not familiar with croup or strider - croup is a barking cough that when they inhale they sound like a seal - and this seal type noise is strider.  Abi often gets the croupy cough but it has never progressed into the strider...Jonathan would get into striding when he cried and tried to breath in...he never really seemed to struggle breathing but would just make this weird noise until he calmed down.  He also had a deep rattle in his chest and a hoarse sound in his throat.

 

The humidifiers help alot while the kids are sleeping but after three days of 101 & 102 temps with the strider, the doctor wanted to see him, so we went in this afternoon.  Fortunately, the doctor felt it was a rather mild case and decided to give him a one time steroid dose - mostly because he felt it was getting better!  But, we are to keep an eye on him and make sure he is drinking, wetting, and that the cough backs off now.

 

I just have to say, Praise God for His strength and stability...He has been carrying us through all these months and I am only now beginning to see how much so!  It amazes me to think how easy it is to get our eyes fixated on the circumstances and the situations and become consumed by them.  Fortunately, I am now endeavoring to learn the lesson so aptly shown me today of letting go and letting God be God. 

 

In the verse I am endeavoring to seed into my heart right now it says:  But this I recall and therefore have I hope and encouragement, It is because of the Lord's mercy and loving kindness that we are not consumed, because His compassions fail not.  They are new every morning, great and abundant is your stability and faithfulness.  Lamentations 3:21-23

The Swing is Fixed...

Sometime last year the swing in the front yard broke...Several times Abi asked when it was going to get fixed and to be honest, I never thought of fixing it because I really wanted to add onto the fort and put the swings over there. But that hasn't happened yet - so I decided to fix the swing. I went to Cawker and got some chain, cable and clams and rehung the swing...The kids were estatic! Here are some pics of the kids enjoying the 'new' swing with daddy:

Crafty Projects on Facebook

Okay, here is a link for you to see some pictures that I posted on Facebook about a few of the crafty projects the kids have done lately.

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=77928&id=572351454&l=6461d

Let me know if you can't see them and I'll try to post them here too.

A Severe Ear Infection & Trip to the ER

For Mommy...yep, sure enough! For about two weeks now my ears have been itching but they didn't hurt - just itched...so I didn't think too much about it. I do remember thinking once as I was trying to relieve the itch "maybe I should go to the doctor" but then I erased that thought with "for what - itchy ears?" Well, I probably should have gone to the doctor for itchy ears!

Saturday morning I woke up with a muffled blocked right ear. The pain was mild, so I just took some IBF and went about my way....reading that most ear infections are viral and end in 24-48 hours. By the end of the day I had either adjusted to the hearing loss or it had gotten better, so I went to bed with IBF and went straight to sleep.

However, in the night, I awoke with my left ear hurting. I was able to take some IBF and we made it through. But sitting in church, they started hurting pretty bad as the IBF had worn off. So I went looking...and found a lady in the nursery who had some IBF that I could take. Well, that got me through though I noticed that even with the medicine it still hurt...just not as sharply. Anyway, I forgot to take more medicine before going back to church that night and we had a special CCN broadcast we were viewing after the service...which I was in charge of!

It was about half way through and I was eating my sandwich and the pain started growing, and growing, and growing. I was in tears as we drove home and the pain was unbearable. We called the ER and they said to take some more IBF with Tylenol and wait 45 - 60 minutes. I think I made it like 56 minutes and the pain went from way off the charts to endurable...but there was no way I was going to be able to sleep...I even tried!

My cheek bone, all around the back of my ear, and even my jaw HURT! There was fire and PAIN in my right ear and it hurt to touch the little ball on the left! I had to lay on my back because it hurt to turn my head and lay on either side. Marion and I talked and talked...we both were trying to get me to the morning when I could go see the doctor, but I just could NOT endure the pain...even with 800 mg of IBF in me for an hour!

So, off I went to the ER! One good thing was that my blood pressure was good! :-) They actually called the Doctor in and it happened to be the new one - his wife is in my MOPS group and he is very nice! He remembered me immediately and was very sympathetic and kind. I felt aweful for getting him out so late! Anyway, he looked in my ear and I had to bit my tongue to not scream it hurt so bad. He didn't say anything after looking in the right ear but after he looked in the left and I couldn't help but groan he looked at me and said, "It was good that you came in, you have a severe infection in your canals and encompasing your ear drum. I can't say how severe it is in the middle ear, but we need to get you on medication immediately!"

So, now I am on steroid/antibotic ear drops, oral antibiotics, 800 mg of IBF every 8 hours, and Loritab every 6!

When I got home, I crawled into bed and told Marion my left ear was blocked now too and I can't hear! I don't think he truly believed me, but three times in the night the kids got up and I heard NOTHING! I only awoke because the bed shifted when Marion got out! (I guess there are some advantages with this after all ;-)

So...that was my exciting night...how was yours?