At your best, you are: straight shooting, ambitious, and energetic
At your worst, you are: anxious and high strung
You drink coffee when: anytime you're not sleeping
Your caffeine addiction level: high
I have to admit, I thought the numbers would be a little closer. I voted no, of course - and no, I didn't vote anywhere near 40,000 times (just once, I promise!) When I voted, the "no"s were at 94% and those that thought parents should be required to have teaching credentials rang in at a resounding 6% (many of them probably card carrying members of the NEA...)
I don't think Parade magazine is a conservative christian periodical... I'll call this today's 'RAY OF HOPE' (A noteworthy event that defies the mystery).
None for me, thanks, I've had enough...
As if a week of worry and little-to-no sleep due to a child struggling with asthma and double pneumonia weren't enough, it took most of last week just to get a little energy back, only to be hit late Thursday with a little unintentional detoxing. Um, yeah, this is no little stomach bug, I'm on day 6 and I've hardly eaten more than a couple crackers, and even those caused much pain and distress. Sipping Sprite and Gaterade, yeah, that's painful as well, not to mention the fact that they don't seem to want to stay in my body for any length of time... ugh... this can't be good for a pregnant body. My legs are weak and shaky, which is an improvement on the intense aches and pains of the weekend, it was as though my very bones hurt... (cue sad violin music) sigh...
4 of my 6 children have gotten bit by the bug as well, though thankfully not nearly as bad as me, I guess I'm just lucky this time... There are many joys that come with having a big family- all those pinchable cheeks, more laughs and giggles, hugs and back pats, I could go on and on, but at times like this I am faced with the harsh reality that along with those big family blessings comes the inescapable fact that when a stomach bug hits, there is a lot more puking going on here than in the average American home... oh well, gotta take the bad with the good, right? This too, shall pass...
I've managed to knit precious little- seamed and finished the little Girl's Sundress, another inch on my current sock, and I'm up to the sleeves on an Easy Raglan. I've managed to sew even less, though I am working on a couple cute bags from Bend the Rules Sewing,
and I still have a couple skirts to finish up, and some cute little stuffed balls for baby gifts all cut out and waiting patiently for me to sew and stuff...
Oh, and bloomers, as soon as I get the little pink bloomers made, I'll get some pics of the finished sundress, but first I need to make an earnest effort to do some catching up on all the laundry and dishes that haven't been getting done with all of the sickness going on around here. (It's doubly bad now that my teenager is down-for-the-count, woe is me...)
Homeschooling? Well, most of the kids have squeezed in a few math lessons, and there is always a lot of reading going on around here... and violin and piano practice... we've got a few projects going and way too many more planned... so, I guess it's still pretty normal in that area around here, ahhh, relaxed homeschooling, just my style...
Just a quick note- Grace's followup appointment went well. Her lungs sounded clear, praise the Lord, another episode passed and now a thing of the past.
Her pediatrician was none-too-pleased with the fact that the ER nurse told me I could keep her home with O2 stats in the 80's, low 80's even. It's not good for a body to be deprived of oxygen for so many hours so many nights in a row... every organ in our bodies needs that oxygen... sigh... my poor sweetie.
She made it through just fine, but I'll be bringing her in every time she dips and lingers in the 80's from now on. If they send us back home, so be it. If she gets oxygen for 2 or 3 hours, well that's more than she would've had laying at home with low stats all night... If she ends up admitted, we'll just have to deal with the inconvenience of it all- nothing we haven't done before.
Yesterday (Friday) was actually a pretty good day for Gracie. She coughed a bit, but not very often (which, can actually be a bad sign sometimes, she needs to cough it up to clear it up), she did get easily winded when running around the house playing with her siblings, but her stats stayed up in the low to mid 90's for the day.
She kept running up to me, breathing fast and loud, to tell me that she feels fine and isn't sick anymore... I can hear otherwise...
She has been on the oral steroids and antibiotic since Tuesday morning, and the inhaled steroids and bronchodilators since Monday, when she first complained of pain when she breathes, one would think that would be enough medication to nip this thing in the bud, yet this saga continues.
I came very, very close to bringing her back in to the ER last night (which would have made 3 times in one week). By the time I got the other girls down to bed and was ready to give Grace her neb, it was 9:30. She was still doing just fine and I told her she was doing well enough and had been on her meds long enough to be able to go sleep in her own bed after her neb (she's been sleeping on the floor next to me, I've been sleeping on the couch next to her). I put the pulse oximeter on her finger and sat with her during her neb.
She started out at a whopping 97%, for a minute, then 96, then 95... I started to wonder how far it would dip. By the time the neb was done she had dipped down to 90%, which seemed odd after doing so well all day. I didn't feel comfortable sending her up to bed, so I had her lay down right where she was on the living room floor. She was very sleepy and drifted right off, as her O2 stat drifted right down to the mid 80's again. Then all the way down to 81%- that's too low. I was starting to panic, and dreading another late night run to the ER (it was now 10 pm) when she coughed a bit and changed position a bit and her O2 came up to 86%, still not good, but not quite panic level.
After about 15 more minutes and no improvement I decided to try the wonderdug Duoneb, which did great Wed night/Thurs morning. I had only been about 45 mintes since her last neb, but they've told me if she's not responding that it is okay to 'stack nebs' and do one right after another, if need be. Well, I figured close to an hour with O2 stats in the 80's called for more meds. It did nothing. No change, zip, nada, nothing. I thought (hoped) maybe the Duoneb takes a while to kick in.
I decided to call the ER and talk to a triage nurse before running in, especially after being sent back home twice already this week. Her stats always seem to come up into the safe zone after waking up and walking about... I thought, do I wake her up every hour all night long? to get her stats back up every hour? It took a while for the nurse to call me back, by the time we chatted Grace's O2 level had been in the 80's for about 2 hours...
I explained our week, and our current evening's issues. She said the Duoneb should have some effect right away. So why didn't it? No one knows. She also said that as long as she was sleeping and not waking up and/or sitting up gasping for air that she really didn't need to be on oxygen... I'm not so sure how I feel about that. I've had 2 doctors say she needs O2 whenever she spends any amount of time below 92% and I've had another doctor say that it's okay to dip to 88 or 89%, as long as she's sleeping comfortably. But now I'm being told that even mid to low 80's is okay? She conceded that it obviously wasn't ideal, that Grace was obviously sick, but said she didn't think she was in any danger. She added that if she dipped into the 70's at all, get her to the ER. How much better is 81 stinking percent than 79??!!
We need to get back in to see the pulmonologist or respiratory therapist, where I will ask many questions, including where to draw the line. I think I am wanting to get some marching orders from the specialists, so I'll just know yes, take her in, or no, she's okay for now, from someone who specializes in pediatric respiratory issues rather than a triage nurse who seemed to think that mid 80's was an okay oxygen level for a child to be at for the night...
After another hour her O2 came up to 90%. It slowly climbed though the night, and was at 95% by 6 am. I got some sleep the second half of the night, but not enough for optimal functioning, if you know what I mean...
She's been acting pretty normal today, for a child on steroids- rambunctious, kinda rude and whiny, and not exactly the easiest child to get along with... This too, shall pass, I know... I'm hoping it passes quickly! And permanently wouldn't be too bad, either...
Trying to enjoy each and every one of them, wheezes, crackles, and all,
It's been a tough week. Our 5 yr old daughter is having another battle with the problem known as asthma. It turned to pneumonia fast and furiously Monday night. We ended up in the ER early Tuesday morning (her O2 was down to 84% overnight and she wasn't responding well to her nebs). Her O2 level came up, and then dipped back down, but not as far, while we were there, so she wasn't admitted this time (to be on oxygen). She did, however, get yet another chest x-ray to confirm the presence of pneumonia in her left lung, upper lobe. We were sent home to add antibiotics and oral steroids to the inhaled steroids, allergy meds and bronchodilators she was already on.
I hardly slept Monday night, slept a bit Tuesday night, and about 3 hours Wednesday night, or more technically, this morning. We ended up going back to the ER last night after her stats dropped back down into the mid 80's. (We have a pulse oximeter at home, thanks to too many trials like this one.) They used a different med in a neb at the hospital and her stats stayed up a bit better, so we came home around 4:45 this morning... (though the pneumonia had spread to now 3 lobes of 2 lungs) and with 5 more children at home all day, every day (we homeschool) I was up by 8, though I would have liked to have slept until noon...
We interrupt the regularly scheduled blog post for what can only be described as a very bad joke...
Somebody has got to be kidding...
I mean, seriously...
What IS the deal?
This is getting ridiculous. It IS the 26th of April, after all. At least, that's what my calendar says... My hilarious 8 year old son heard the forecast on the radio yesterday and, without missing a beat, let out an exasperated "does Al Gore know about this?!"
Guess what I got done earlier this week? I got the last of the kids' winter coats washed and packed away... sigh...
Enjoying them, (but not so much this Minnesota weather...)
cull old shoes that don't even fit any kids here from overflowing entry closet
nature walk with kids
knit something
remove turtlenecks and various warm long sleeve shirts from too-small closets of often overheating children who will not need such clothing for at least 3 or 4 months
set up pool for kids
knit something
remove too-small clothes from speed-growing teenage son's overstuffed dresser drawers so he can actually put away the clothes that do fit this week
take kids hiking
knit something
clear years' worth of collected junk/stuff from junk/stuff room downstairs, throw most of it away, store leftovers in attic to be thrown away 10 years from now- that room is needed for children to make way for a new addition this fall...
explore a new park with kids
knit something else
plan garden, buy seeds, locate tools like rakes and hoes
drawing/sketching outside with kids
knit something
dream about getting chickens
read a classic book out on a blanket in the sun with kids
knit something more
go through pantry, eat or throw food nearing or past expiration date, restock pantry
bird watching with kids
knit something
clean some windows
try a new cookie recipe
knit something new
plan summer field trips
have fun with kids
knit some more...
If you notice a week (or two) pass with no blog activity, assume that I'm working on my list!
I was showing my kids (and my husband, who happened to be home early that day due to a 'locked ourselves out of the house' incident...) the different flags from countries represented by visitors to my blogs (this one and my knitting blog)- I thought it was cool to have returning traffic from places like Estonia and Poland... when my husband hopped on the laptop and checked his stats. He casually says, yours gets way more traffic than mine, to which my oldest two half-whispered to me, with shock and awe in their hushed tones, "Dad has a blog?!?!?!"
Um, nope, dad doesn't have a blog. He doesn't have time to blog, but then either do I, but that hasn't stopped me so far... Dad does have a website for his business, and while it may not be splattered with fabulous pictures of my darling children, it does explain why having your data backed up offsite is not just a luxury these days, it's essential for businesses, and could come in pretty handy for home computer users as well.
Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean: wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.
Psalm 51:7
Out our back door this morning. White, everything was white, beautiful.
No picnics in our immediate future, but soon, very soon. It'll happen, just you wait and see.
No climbing and sliding today, maybe tomorrow...
How pretty is that?! Snow covered weeds make me smile. I love simple pleasures.
So crisp, white, and delicate. You don't see that every day, even in Minnesota.
I love having these pines right out back, especially when they're covered in fluffy white stuff.
Don't the big kid rope and toddler/baby swing look lonely? Soon there will be swinging, soon.
A view up through the trees, with snow falling in clumps all around me...
So pretty.
This guy won't be ridden any time soon...
And this poor fella wasn't really needed today... this snow didn't last long. It never does this time of year. That's what makes it so special, it's so fleeting...
With all the kids sick, there were no outings today, and hence, no need to scrape of the van...
Picture heavy post, I know, but it was so beautiful out this morning and I just had to share. Snow is an amazing thing. So pure and white (except for the mud-plattered stuff on the side of the highway...) I love that the Bible uses snow as a picture of what we can be when washed by the blood of the Lamb. Do you see that whiteness?! The Lord is good to us!
For those of you who don't have a personalized Google page (local weather, local news, your favorite news sources' top stories, and tips of the day), you may have missed this one. Linking it here will also help me to find it later when I'm looking for a rainy day activity, or prehaps some costuming for the kids when we get to reciting the Gettysburg Address...
Now, doesn't that look like fun? We, unfortunately, don't happen to have any black duct tape, only silver, so this won't get made today... but it's definitely going in the arsenal of cool ideas! They also have links to How to Make a Duct Tape Fedora, and How to Make a Duct Tape Viking Hat... fun stuff.
6 out of 6 of my kids are currently in the throes of some viral crud, complete with fevers, headaches, muscle aches, and coughing/congestion (sounds like the flu/influenze, I know) and while I know this too shall pass, we are in need of a little divierionary arts and crafts fun, as even sick kids can only watch so many movies... so I think I'll se what else I can find on wikiHow. No orchestra for us today (other orchestra members can thank us later for not bringing the dreaded 'crud' there today for all to catch) and I don't think much in the way of real schooling will get done either, though they are currently watching a video all about digestion... so I guess we'll get some health/science in today after all.
It was one of those "wish I had that on video..." moments-
The rousing round of giggles coming from my brood while watching Donald O'Conner's "Make 'em Laugh" scene in Singin' in the Rain tonight... Now that was music to this mother's ears!
I had previously posted this fascinating little video by simply embedding the code from the video hosting site it was located at... without realizing that the link was connected to some unsavory web content. I am so sorry if anyone was exposed to more than they were bargaining for with a little laundry lesson. The situation has now been rectified, this clip is hosted elsewhere, and I learned some new code, fun, fun, fun. (Yep, I researched and googled, and learned how to embed my very own video in my very own html!)
If you haven't seen it before, really, you must watch this woman fold this shirt- it's addicting, as evidenced by my husband's stack of undershirts now... I can't not doit this way anymore...
