Sunday, April 14, 2019

Next

David began to complain about water in his ear in January. I sincerely believed it was because of the weekly swim lessons, and the weekly trips to the pool he and I were taking for Elizabeth's lesson. He shook his head, we tried the drying drops, David dealt. Swim lessons ended, but the water persisted.

At the end of February David and Andrea both got wicked sore throats. David tested positive for strep. They also noted the fluid in David's right ear. They put it on record and instructed us to come back if he still had the water/plugged feeling in six weeks, or if it started to hurt. We couldn't do any more at the time because they needed to establish that it was an ongoing problem before doing any more.

This last week, David got an odd look and said "Mom, I can't hear out of this ear." I immediately called in and got him seen. Luckily there is no infection, and the ear doesn't look inflamed or damaged. But when they wheeled in the hearing-test cart I was nervous. Turn your back away from the nurse, hear a beep, raise your hand. Things started off well, but they'd started with the left ear. Then the nurse and tech watched David expectantly, reminded him what he was supposed to do, and waited for him to raise a hand while they pushed buttons and took notes. He totally failed that hearing test in the right ear. Ha.

So we are off to another doctor in a couple of weeks.

Other items of note this week:

Got a lot of the kids' summer clothes. Yay!

J passed the hardest test of his training. Yay!

I'm reorganizing. The kitchen looks great and is much easier to keep clean. Yay! Closets next.

Elizabeth's MRI showed a normal brain. Yay!

Wednesday, April 10, 2019

Clever titles aren't my thing

I've lost my voice. Don't know what happened, I think it is the waffling weather, but I woke up this morning and my throat hurts and it kills to talk. So it is a good thing the kids know a little bit of sign. It will be a quiet day.



Elizabeth had her MRI done yesterday. We were up at 4:30a.m. to get ready to go. I dropped the middles off with a friend so she could take them to school. Then Lizzie and I headed off to the hospital for a 6:30 check-in. Things went so smoothly, they even got us back earlier than scheduled! That's a first for us. She had to be sedated for the MRI, and the MRI took longer than they'd planned, so I'm glad they were able to get her back early. They offered to give her Versed, which really helps her be calm when they take her away, but it makes her doubly grumpy and groggy when coming out of anesthesia. The other option was to go back with them and hold her while they helped get her to sleep. I opted for that, and I'm glad I did because she wasn't nearly so scared going back, and she was back to her normal self by the early afternoon. We should have results in the next couple of days.

Conference was great this weekend. I really enjoyed a lot of the talks. 


The kids were good and listened a lot of the time. That allowed me to really listen, too. I am grateful for our leaders and the direction and peace found in their words. I can't wait to go back and study all the talks even more.

While listening to conference the kids worked on crafts for their fair. Andrea and Peter are almost fully stocked. David is doing baked goods, so that is really a last minute kind of shop. But he did work on cake postcards! Something fun to offer besides cakes and cookies.

We've gone to the park and on walks a lot the last few days. Spring has definitely sprung (just going to ignore the snow and sleet in the forecast for tonight and tomorrow), and it is getting so much warmer.  I made the summer-wardrobe list and did my audit of the closets. I'm surprised at how much we actually have, shirts from last year should fit for most of the summer (except for Peter, who somehow destroyed every single t-shirt last summer). So we are going to hit up the stores this Saturday and check off the list. Wish me luck!

Thursday, April 4, 2019

Spring Break

This week has been a nice, relaxing week. Each day we've done a bit of Spring Cleaning, and each day we've done something a little entertaining.

Tuesday I did a lot of sewing for work while the kids played in the back yard. I'm very nearly finished with a shirt I've been working on for a while. I need to cuff the other sleeve and then sew the sleeves into place. Then done! Probably one more afternoon of work and I'll be finished. I also finished the edges of my fabric for my pa'u. I've been taking hula lessons, and I needed a skirt. I also need to make a bag for my pu'ili. This class is no joke, but I enjoy it so much. I have to admit, it has really made me miss the ocean, is that weird? The Great Lakes are nice, but I miss the salt. It has been six years since I've seen an ocean, eight since I visited California. Someday I'll go back!

We did the zoo on Wednesday. We hit some fun sites we don't normally see. Like the little farm area, where we saw a yak (I had no idea they were actually so small), and lots of chickens, pigs, and a cow. Elizabeth was super excited about all of them. (Maybe I should take her to the farm center in Kensington tomorrow, I bet she'd get a kick out of that!) She also flipped out over the giraffes. During the winter the zoo has them in a giant building, and we can see them in there. So we actually get a closer look at them during the winter, and she just thought they were the coolest things ever.

Today the middles had dentist appointments. Peter chipped a tooth the other day. Rather, he chipped the cap on his front tooth. Dentist said there's no point replacing it because there's no root and the adult tooth is really ready to come through. So it should be loose any minute now. Andrea had bad news. No cavities, but the ramifications of some prior dental work are hitting her hard now. I was hoping I'd have another year to prepare to get her into braces. Not so much. So I'm working a plan.

Tomorrow has no plans. I think we are going to finalize plans for the kids' craft fair items. They are all so excited about running their little shops next month. It has been tricky keeping the kids focused and helping them to think small, haha! They just want to go all out, and I have to remind them that we can't do that, the fair only runs for two hours.

I'm really looking forward to General Conference this weekend. This is David's first time going to the Priesthood session, too. It will be a great weekend. My Conference Craft is more smocking. I don't think I'll be able to get Easter dresses finished for the girls, or ties for the boys, but I'm going to see if I can get the panel finished. If I can I just might be able to make this dress happen. If I can't? Oh well. I have really given a lot of thought to what I commit to lately. Being the only parent in the home really does just take a lot of time. Again, life is not harder, everything just takes longer. So I've started saying "No" to an awful lot that I would otherwise have liked to do. But it is okay because the littles need me a lot right now, and that's the best feeling in the world. I've found that I feel a lot better slowing down and not over-extending myself so much. Who'd've thought, right? ;)


Saturday, March 30, 2019

Week's recap : Feis rhymes with mesh

Monday - The fiasco with the car keys. That was fun. Late night.

Tuesday - A rare evening free, spent cleaning, grocery shopping, and cleaning. I made a drying rack for our laundry that I absolutely love. I can vacuum under it, that's my favorite part.

Wednesday - I did extra laundry, just because I was so giddy over that laundry rack. And I started getting prepped for our feis weekend. David had mutual, Andrea had dance. Mutual is a pain because it requires rides every single week, and I don't like inconveniencing the families in our ward like that. But he got there. And Andrea got to dance, then the last half hour of Activity Days when we got to the church to pick up David. Another late night, though.

Thursday - David played with a friend, I started cooking and packing and planning for our road trip. Andrea had dance. I also had the kids do a sock folding blitz with me. I hate folding socks. I don't know why. Maybe because trolls exist, they steal your socks, but only the left ones (why's that?). So we had two baskets with nothing but socks in it. The kids and I laid out all the clean socks in rows, then paired all that we could. We will find the rest eventually. I think. Why do we have so many socks? We need more trolls.

Friday - I volunteer at the school to help with popcorn every Friday. Then I packed and cooked and cleaned like a crazy lady. We drove straight from picking up the middles from school to our Airbnb in Columbus. Ohio is weird, man. Without anything adjusting, or our map changing course, the GPS added minutes to our drive time. When we left the house it told us we'd have a 3 1/2 hour drive ahead of us. By the time we were an hour in the GPS had added 20 minutes to that drive time. It got no better. Almost 5 hours later we rolled up to the Airbnb. I don't know how it did that. We hit no traffic, and we only had one potty stop. We ate the food I'd packed up in the car (use take-out boxes, it makes no mess, its not flat like a plate so it keeps food contained, and you can just throw it away when you're done), so we didn't stop for food. But somehow our drive took an hour and half longer than we'd anticipated.

Saturday - we were up and going at 7:00. That's a feis day for ya. Andrea got dressed, the boys got dressed, we ate the breakfast I'd packed, and we left. The Ohio Expo Center is a mess to get to, and don't listen to Larry when he tells you the ladies at the other booths take cards, it is a cash-only establishment. (Why didn't I have cash??? That was stupid, I always carry cash.) Andrea worked so hard the last few weeks to practice and learn all of her steps. She didn't do as well as she'd hoped. There was some stiff competition, and a LOT of kids competing in each dance. She came out about the middle of the pack in each one. The judge comments were the same in each dance: turn out your feet, crossover, high on your toes. Turn out has been a bear the entire time she's danced. She'll get there, if she wants to. We'll see what happens. We left the expo at 3:30. Again, our GPS said 3 hours, 27 minutes to get home. With one added stop we still didn't get home until 9:00. I don't know what happens in Ohio, but it adds time to your GPS. But it does have Chick-fil-A and Waffle House, so I'll give it that. Otherwise we bleed Blue, and PureMichigan is way better. Sorry, Buckeyes.

Things I've learned this week:

- Feising in Ohio is hard.
- Feising with all the kids is harder.
- Feising overnight and away from home needs to be saved for when Jonathan is back.*
- *Muskegon is an overnight feis, but it is also a great place with a warm sandy beach and a gorgeous lake that looks like an ocean. It does not count.
- Keep your keys in your pocket, even if you think the car door is unlocked.
- Ohio adds time to your drive.
- I need to say NO more often, I just don't have the time I think I do. I feel like everything takes longer without another parent. It isn't harder, it just takes more time. Like Ohio.

Tuesday, March 26, 2019

Key-ping it Real

Hardest part about having J gone (I think I've mentioned this) is that I have to take all of the kids to every activity we have. Scouts is really the worst because it runs from 7:30 (Elizabeth and Peter's bedtimes) until 9:00.

Last night, the littles and I found a little hallway so that Andrea could practice her dancing, and so Peter and Elizabeth would not get in anyone's way. By 8:45, however, Liz was done. She was not going to be quiet any longer, and was running amok in the gym. I decided to take all of the littles to the car and get them buckled in, then wait the last 15 minutes for David to be finished.

We get to the car. My key fob's battery is dead, so I have to unlock the car with the key. I get the door unlocked, throw my keys onto the driver's seat, then hit the unlock button on the switch. (Unfortunately, that switch has been jammed for a while, so it usually takes some effort to get the doors unlocked.)

I then turn to pick up Elizabeth and get her into her seat. We were parked on a slant, and between the weight of the door and the wind, my door shut. When I pull on the door handle to Elizabeth's door, the door is still locked. No big, I'll just put a little more pressure on that switch again.... only MY door is locked. And my KEYS are on the front seat. And Peter has no coat, I have no coat, and it is below freezing.

Sent the kids inside, called roadside assistance, and was told it would be 75 minutes before a locksmith could get to me to unlock the door. We waited inside the church until the last second, then headed out at 9:15 to hunker down for another 45 minutes in the cold. A kind scout's mom heard what happened and invited us to wait in her car! And then the locksmith showed up at 9:30. It still took another 25 minutes to get us into the car, but we got in!

So we finally rolled up home about 10:40, and then all of the kids headed off to bed right before 11:00. I decided there that I would let the kids sleep as late as they wanted, so even though school starts at 9:00, they did not get to school until 10:20 this morning. I don't feel bad about that.

And I've been rethinking my key habits. I think I'm going to buy a lanyard to put my keys on. If I wear it around my neck my keys will still be easy to access, but I won't throw them onto the seat to empty my hands. That's a cute look, right? (Just say yes.)

Sunday, March 24, 2019

How the cookie crumbles


This week was nuts. We had something we were doing every single night, and were out later than usual every night. This week we have one free night! I'm so excited about that.

Today was a long day at church. Elizabeth didn't sleep last night until I'd hauled her out into the living room with me. So I finally got settled at 3:00 this morning. So we were late to church, and I was wiped. We didn't stay for the Linger Longer, I got home and napped. I'm hoping Elizabeth's nights will be a bit better this week.

The talks at church were good though. The topic was the atonement, which is always a good topic, but was a great way to start preparing for Easter celebrations.

The kids in Primary had fun learning their hand chimes. Andrea has them for one of the songs they are performing for Easter. And then the Sr. Primary is also learning harmonies for Beautiful Savior. It will be very pretty.

On the deck this week:
Scouts
Dance two nights this week
Mutual
Feis in Columbus

Jonathan got official news regarding training. Classes run for 26 weeks, barring problems. Unfortunately his classes haven't even started, and he's not sure if he will even start this week. And then there is processing after everything is finished, which can take a few weeks. It is all adding up to more time gone, poor kids. Good thing they are tough little ones.

Wednesday, March 20, 2019

Before and After

2015

When Jonathan left for BCT we had very little time to prepare. We didn't fully know what we were getting into, we just knew that we'd felt like it was the right thing to do, so we jumped in feet first. It was definitely a miserable sink-or-swim experience. We mostly sunk.

2019

We had more time to prepare, and we made sure the kids were ready for an extended separation. At least we thought we did. Here's how the first week without the kids' dad around has been:

David has been mostly helpful. He's stepped up, looked for ways to help, and observantly found ways to serve. He's a good kid. Thanks for taking out the trash without being asked, Buddy.

Andrea has had her weepy moments. She holds on to the pictures we took pretty tightly. She has thrown herself into dance, and has done very well. She's been rather stoic.

Peter is a mess. We only have one meltdown a day, if Dad calls we have two. The worst was Sunday at church when Brooke found him hiding under the piano while he just sobbed. He misses dad hugs and snuggles.

Elizabeth hardly recognizes that things have changed. She does point out daddy in pictures more, and she does get very excited when he calls. But otherwise she just trucks along being her normal self.

I have found that my only difficulties arise when the kids have evening activities. Scouts on Monday, Cub Scouts on Tuesday, dance on Wednesday and Thursday, mutual on Wednesday at the same time as dance, and this Friday night is Pinewood Derby check-in one hour before the Youth Auction at church. Taking all of the kids along to all of these activities is a tad tiring. But at the end of the day I think I'm handling it just fine (except last Saturday when I forgot to feed the kids dinner, I have not forgotten to feed them again).

So we are alive, and we are mostly thriving. And I feel good and calm about how we are managing here on the home front.

Reports from Jonathan are spotty. Apparently the average length of this training is 32 weeks, though it can take up to 36. We've been planning on 26. Ha. Hahaha. HAHAHAHAHAHA!

We'll just see what happens.