Weekly Update

I'm sitting here holding my baby Charlie right now. He is getting so big and spending more time awake. He just fell asleep on my tummy.
We don't have much else going on right now. I only have a couple more weeks of school left, so lots of report card work, practicing for graduation, and sad goodbyes coming up. I'm excited because I've decided not to work this summer so more time for fun stuff like the pool. Joey is old enough for camps now, so he'll be going to cub scout camp a few weeks, basketball camp, soccer camp, and bicycling camp. I'll also have time to take both boys to Bible School for the first time this summer.
Sarah booked a cruise for spring break next year and I am desperately trying to convince my husband that we need to join them. He's a little weird in that a cruise, warm weather, and beaches hold no attraction to him. Unfortunately for him, he had a vacation in Europe without me last year, so now it is my turn. Stay tuned to see if I win this one.
The scale was really making me mad earlier this week, but with some dedication, I managed to take the 2 pounds it said I put back on and 2 more pounds off. So 4 pounds in 4 days and 4.5 hours of working out. I'm going to keep going and now I'm going to lose 2 pounds per week. Right. If it's in writing it must be true, right?

Going Good

It was a big day for Joey today. He finally can ride a 2 wheel bike. Look Ma, no training wheels. Now he just needs to work on takeoff. One (small) step at a time.And he had his 1st grade concert. He had the first speaking part: "Welcome to Rock Cut Elementary School's 1st and 2nd Grade Concert." The great part was when the fire alarm went off right in the middle of the 2nd graders' last song. Awesome.

Here's my goof-nuttiest nut. He arranged all his toys around a plastic tire "campfire." And don't miss those goggles. He wears them all the time, but I'm sure they'll be lost by the time swimm lessons start.

Oh, and remember those baby birds? They're all grown up now and living on their own. Don't worry, there are new babies hatching right now.

I met with Ben's principal today and feel much better. We worked out a plan for next time and she will be addressing my perceptions of attitude with the nurse.

I've also worked out 4 days in a row after that week and 1/2 off from mouth surgery. I'm a bit sore today, but renewed in spirit to finally get this weight off. I wonder how many times I'll say that before it actually works?

P.S. I can't wait for it to be 86 degrees on Friday (and pretty warm Saturday too). Saturday we are going to Galena for the day for Joey's cub scouts. Looking forward to just being warm.

Ben Update

Well, we didn't get any sleep last night, but it wasn't because of the breathing. The steroids kicked in really quick and just made him very restless. At 4 in the morning he wanted to have conversations about Daddy's watch glowing in the dark.
So we stayed home for the morning which made him mad- he really wanted to go to school. I decided that since his breathing was way better and he wanted to go that I would send him to his "2nd school" I saw one of his teachers there and filled her in on the situation and headed to the grocery store. Before I even got home, hubby called to tell me that he was at the nurse and needed to be picked up. What? I thought he was fine?!?!
I go to the nurses office and the poor baby is sitting in a little chair with 3 ladies standing over him just staring at him. I right away felt his chest and tried to listen- didn't hear anything but gave nurse benefit of the doubt. Then. She started reiterating that he really just shouldn't be there and he sounds bad and there is no reason for him to be there adn on and on. Then. She asked if we have a nebulizer at home. Well, no. We use an inhalor, just like the one you have in your office.
"Well, a nebulizer is much more effective than an inhalor at this age."
Really? So the school nurse now knows more than a Momma who has been dealing with the asthma for 5 years and the Allergy specialist who gave us the inhalor and our family Dr who trusts my judgement? Hmmm. Starting to get offended now.
Take the baby home, listen to his breathing....Nothing. Not one single wheeze. No cough. Nothing.
They overreacted because I told them that he had an attack the night before.
The thing is, he has come home wheezing before and I wondered why there wasn't concern then.
So now I have to worry that my kid is going to get sent home for no reason, and that the teachers and nurse have no idea what they are listening for with his asthma. I thought it was pretty obvious. Especially now that he can talk, he pretty much lets us know when he can't breath.
Oy. So do I call the school? Do I have a meeting? I don't really know how to handle this.

Poor Ben

Last night he came to our bed and he was breathing fast and wheezing a bit. He went to sleep, but was noisy so I slept the rest of the night downstairs. All day today he has had to have his inhalor every 3 hours, but when he had it at 5 it didn't work. By 6 he was begging me for more medicine. I was hoping to wait until tomorrow to take him to the regular Dr, but no such luck. Fortunately the Immediate Care was open til 8 so we headed down. Amazing how fast you get seen when a. you have breathing problems and b. they are ready to go home. We went back right away and his pulse ox was 91. Not good but not too scary. They gave him some steroids and a treatment and sent us home, with the stipulation that we go to the hospital if he still has a hard time breathing overnight. As soon as we got home I could hear him wheezing again already, so I think it is going to be a long night. Fortunately I don't have to go to work tomorrow and he has only missed one day of school all year so it won't be a big problem to stay home and rest.
Wish us luck getting some sleep tonight.
Thanks

Slow But Beautiful Week

Joey had his 2nd round of Pinewood Derby today. He was happy to come in 2nd and we were happy to be done for this year. Daddy and the boys spent the day together while I was up at Whitewater for an Early Childhood Conference all day. It was a great time and I can't wait to use what I learned. The rest of the pictures are from Monday when the boys and I walked to the park at Joey's school. I LOVE taking pictures outside in the summertime. I'm already noticing myself taking a lot more pictures. Too bad if anything important happens in Winter. I like that sun!

In other news: I've managed to lose all my mouth stitches, some with help and some just came out. My tooth is still sore and it is hard to bite down in front, but I can pretty much eat what I want now. And I think I've run out of excuses to not work out so I'll be getting back to that tomorrow.

I only have FOUR more weeks of school left! It's bittersweet, because I'm looking forward to this summer, but I love the kids and they'll be mine no longer:( Plus the end of the year crunch is awful. There are way too many things to do in the time we have left.

Easter

Easter was good. Good food (as long as I cut it small and put it into the back of my mouth), good company, and excellent weather. We spent most of the day outside playing. Joey and Daddy played a good game of soccer. Ben mostly just wanted someone to play with him and his new Handy Manny toy from the Easter Bunny. His two 8 year old girl cousins kept running away from him and the boys were playing football and baseball. :( This really was unacceptable to Ben.
Both boys looked very handsome, but I had a hard time getting a good pic of Joey because the sun bothers his eyes so he's forever squinting and looking down. This is a group shot that I cropped. Pretty good.
And of course there's baby Charlie. I love him so much and he is so cute and good and precious.

Oral Surgery Sucks!

It was horrible. Really horrible. They kept telling me that it would be better than a root canal, but it was not. After my root canal I could eat. I could function. After the surgery I was in pain. I have a mouthful of stitches. And my whole upper mouth is swollen. When I took a vicodin I must not have had enough food in my stomach because I got really light-headed. But when I tried to figure out something to eat (not too easy when you can't use the front part of your mouth) I almost passed out in the kitchen.
Plus my stinking husband was at work and I had the boys to worry about. Thank goodness they can fix themselves a bowl of cereal for dinner in a pinch. And after I almost passed out my dear loving husband who couldn't possibly get off work to help me called his Mom to come help out until the kids went to bed. But when I went to put the kids to bed, Ben (accidently) punched me in the mouth and made me start bleeding.
So what did they do? I'm not entirely sure because I had my eyes squeezed shut the entire time to avoid seeing any knives coming at me. The Dr told me afterward that there was a ball of tissue that resembled rubber cement that he was able to scoop out whole. It was eating at the bone so it was good that I got it taken care of when I did. Now I should heal right up in about 2 weeks and hopefully never have a problem with this tooth again.
This morning I woke up without any pain, but really puffy. My mouth feels nasty because I can't brush anywhere near the stitches, and now that I worked and talked all day I'm feeling pretty sore. I've got the kids planted in front of the tv again and plan to take it easy for one more night. We have a 4 day weekend for the holiday so that takes some pressure off, too.
Any sympathy you want to express is surely welcome today. I'm not whining (much) but have to say that this whole experience has really not been fun.

Surgery!?!?!?!?

I had a Root Canal way back in December because of an abscess. I had two rounds of antibiotics then and in January. And yet there is still swelling and tenderness. I finally called and went back to the dentist today. The result: surgery. In my mouth. On Wednesday. And by the way I have to pay for it up front. Hmm. Perhaps that is why I put off going back in.
Wish me luck.

Job Updates

I finally have my permanent job title: Nursery Director. (Nursery is what we call our 3's program.) Basically nothing has changed- I got a small raise and I have the same duties. My co-director this year is now Preschool Director as well. So, nothing really new, but we have official permanent positions and can stop worrying about the future.
And now, exactly one day later, I have a parent complaint. Oy. Apparently, and I never realized this before yesterday, some Christians feel that Yoga goes against their beliefs. I had been doing Yoga for Kids (that I had learned in college) about once a month in gym class. A parent let me know that this is not ok with them, so now we are simply doing stretches and "Animal Poetry." Hopefully that will keep everyone happy:)

PS I found a new way to entertain the kids. They had never witnessed the washer draining before and found it very fascinating last night. I had about 30 minutes of peace and quiet while they stood by the washer waiting to watch the water come out. Woo-hoo.