some outings are a necessity

Last week was made up mostly of Gabriel and I being homebound. He was sick with gross green goo constantly making an appearance – which meant no school and no gym play place [they frown on that sort of thing]. I, being the awesome mother I am, thought we’d wait out this cold until it passed. Only by Friday, I noticed he wasn’t getting better. At closer inspection, he had a really bad ear infection. I’m super observant. Saturday night (late) was spent at the Urgent Care – getting antibiotic shots. In my defense (cause I’m feeling defensive), when Gabriel’s sick, he acts fine. No rubbing the ears, no whining. He still wants to run around and play outside.

A late night at the Urgent Care meant a late morning at our house. So by the time we woke up, the big kids were already bored. That brings on arguing. Which creates an intolerant mother. We needed to get away from our four walls pronto!

I packed up a quick lunch and we headed out for a picnic/short hike. Breathing in some fresh air can be so helpful to my irritable soul.

We lunched:

We hiked:

Gabriel made it a quarter of the way up holding hands with Paige:

(As a side note: I love this, for her sake. Because generally Gabriel favors Taylor. When they come home from school, she’ll open her arms wide for a hug, and he’ll scurry past her to get to Taylor. It’s not personal, just the way it is. Hiking = bonding.)

Soon he got wise, and took an easier way up the hill:

We danced atop the hill and posed for pictures:

(Can anyone guess that my good camera is broken? It’s killing me!)

We spotted interesting new (to us) lizards:

After Todd told the kids frightening stories of how poisonous this beast was, we looked it up. On our ride home, we did a little research via the iphone: turns out the chuckwalla lizard is harmless.

It was fabulous to get a 2 hour breather from the monotony and the boredom. Yay for family picnics!

how to lose weight fast

Eat very little because it hurts too dang much to swallow.

I should be at my goal weight by the end of next week. (Here's to a slow recovery)

(I just thought this pic was funny)

halloween

I know, it's been over a week since I've updated. I, too, am sick of looking at pics of our jack-o-lanterns. No matter how creative or fabulously sculpted they are, no one wants to see them for a week straight.

I'm pretty much writing this out of a feeling of obligation and for posterity's sake, since it feels like a year has passed since Halloween. We've had germ after germ invading our house for more than 10 days now. Gabriel missed all of his Halloween festivities at school, and Taylor and Paige both missed two days this week due to strep. Good times for their mom. Then, just because I was recently bragging that I rarely catch my kids' illnesses, I've been down the last 2 days myself. Hopefully, we'll all be back to our fun selves soon.

Halloween was fun. We had some of Todd's family over for home-made chicken noodle soup. It was yummy, even if it was a bit warm outside for hot soup. The kids got prettied up and our friends and family met us for trick-or-treating. We doped Gabriel up with some Benadryl and off we went. We even let Taylor and Austin go off with friends on their own this year (that's a big step for me). The kids had fun running from door to door. Some of the houses were a bit spooky and might have scarred a few kids for life (I still remember which houses I thought were scary as a kid). Once they collected enough candy for their sugar overdose, we set up a spooky Halloween movie in the backyard. The girls stayed hidden under their blankets for much of the time.

[Gabriel as a vampire, Paige - the devil (with Hannah M), Taylor as some sort of hobo]

making 'em suffer

I am the world's greatest mom.

Most likely.

Well.... probably.

Ok, it's doubtful.

Definitely not.

Wednesday, Paige's teacher called and said Paige was teary and just 'wasn't quite herself' - she wanted to come home. I talked to Paige and determined with my best mommy instinct that she was just tired and wanted to leave early. I told Miss Teacher to call back in an hour if she wasn't doing any better, I'd come get her (there was only 2 hours left of school).* An hour later she called, and I picked her up. Within 30 seconds of getting home, she was asleep.

That night she had a raging fever. So did Gabriel. So did Todd. (I won't bother to mention that Todd was the worst sick person ever. WAY worse than both the kids combined. Oh! The moaning, the groaning.)

I feel bad I didn't pick her up from school earlier.

So fever all night, fever the next day and night. Chills, tummy ache, sore throat, headache and no appetite. Friday morning it finally dawns on me to look at her throat. Terribly. Disgusting. I don't even know what to look for really, and I still know it's bad. I've forced my loved ones to live with strep throat for days without so much as a doctor visit. Shameful. They should take away my mommy certification.

Now we've got the whole lot of them on antibiotics. It's been no small feat pinning Gabriel down (it takes two of us, and we could use more) and making him take it. Even then, he spits most of it back at me. We tried to hide the medicine in a milkshake, but after a couple sips, Gabriel shoved the cup away with an emphatic "EW". Todd gave it a try and felt his pain. We tried masking it with more chocolate syrup with no more success. I called my fabulous cousin-in-law doctor for suggestions and we decided to give him a bicillin shot. Dr. Ron went out of his way to take us early on a Saturday morning, I was so appreciative. Now we don't have to use restraints for the next 10 days x2. Gabriel was a tough warrior and only gave us his sad cry for about a minute and hasn't fussed about it a bit since then. (And, no, I didn't get this picture during the actual shot. It took all of us to keep him still)

Not to be a hypochondriac, but I'm certain that my throat is becoming itchy and I'm a tad achy. Who takes care of the mommy when she's sick?




*In my defense, I was already at home with sick Gabriel and didn't want to have to drag him around. That didn't redeem me any, did it?

catch up

This week has been crazy busy with all the loose-ends kind of things that come just before Christmas. I've been cleaning like a mad-woman all week, which is just insane to be doing right before the kids are out of school for 2 weeks. And it's still not done. It's impossible to ever be done when I have a demolition crew following right behind me. Todd's been working feverishly with his step-dad Don (who is always too willing to lend his expertise and help) fixing his dune buggy and a mini-chopper --- great for the dune buggy, but I haven't gotten much accomplished with the kids hanging around. Yesterday Taylor even was laying on the floor, nearly in tears, complaining about his boredom. Unfortunately, I was lacking in patience and would not go back on my 'no more tv or video games' policy, therefore he wallowed in sadness. It wasn't until I threatened him with a nap that he went outside to ride his bike. I'm the meanest mom ever.

Our week started off with Scrooge. No, not me. Todd and I took Taylor and Paige to see the play 'The Christmas Carol'. I was worried that a play would be boring for the little ones, but they both loved it! Paige sat on my lap and was quite inquisitive the whole time asking all kinds of questions. Although she was tired before the play even began, she was alert and interested until the very end.

We attended the Shumway family annual Christmas party as well. There wasn't quite as many of us this year for one reason or another, but it was still nice. There was good food (of course) and good company and we sang our traditional Christmas carols which gave me a good helping of Christmas spirit.

Mara again had a get together for our kids. She made dinner and the kids played and it went well. Everyone got along and Amber (our surrogate sister) read a Christmas story and the kids all listened as well as they could. Afterwards, Faith and I went on a hunt for some good Christmas lights to continue the mood.

Gabriel and Paige are sick - AGAIN. At least this time it's not the stomach flu. Paige came down with a high fever and she's GRUMPY! Gabriel's nose won't stop running and has goopie eyes. I'm not feeling 100% today either, but as usual I'm going to ignore that. All week I've felt zapped of all energy and feel like I just can't get enough sleep to make me happy. That could mean 1 of 2 things: 1- I'm sick 2- too much chocolate!! Most likely it's a combination of both. Right now I'm at the point that I don't even want to look at chocolate - that should be an indication of just how much I have actually consumed!

Today, though, sick kids and all, we went to church. We only went for the first hour, to hear the Christmas program and then I came home so my sickies could nap (they have yet to actually slumber). I'm glad we went. There was such a nice spirit there as they talked and sang about our Savior's birth. My kids all sat nicely and Gabriel only escaped under the benches twice (Last week he ended up on the bishop's lap during the prayer). After a rough morning with an impatient mommy, it was good to feel some peace and love for our precious little family. Gabriel contentedly sat on Daddy's lap and Todd softly whispered songs into his ear, and my heart was full.

sick sick sick

This weekend our home has become a regular sick bay. Gabriel started us off with round the clock vomitting on Thanksgiving night. Our usual little destroyer didn't want anything other than cuddles and a designated barf bowl for 3 straight days. Sunday night his old self finally started to make an appearance and he was able to eat some delicious cold cereal.

Unfortunately, Paige came down with the same thing Saturday night. Now, I don't want any of my children to be sick, but if I had my pick, I would choose Paige. She's an excellent patient and quite a trooper - no complaining, basically takes care of herself and occasionally asks for a snuggle. After one surprise attack while sleeping - which led to a messy sleeping bag in mommy's room - she just took herself to the bathroom and held back her own hair time and time again throughout the night. She's still a tad touchy today, but this afternoon she's wanting to eat everything she can, so it looks like she's coming around.

I'm just looking forward to getting off the couch where I've sat with my kids for an eternity and not changing the linens 3 times a day. And I'm ignoring the fact that my own belly is not quite 100 percent right now.

Today Paige wrote a story that sums up our feelings about being sick: