Writing

All my life I've been a writer. Always had a pen and paper in hand, capturing my thoughts. I started journaling as a teenager. Writing is an outlet that allows you to freely and openly express yourself. Your worries and fears, your hopes and dreams, your frustrations and your happiness. There are no rules. There is nothing better than a pen, a blank piece of paper and your thoughts. While in college, my English professor was a huge fan of my writing style. He strongly suggested I keep writing. I've never forgotten the conversations we had or the feedback I received from him. I enjoy blogging. I need to find time and discipline myself to do it more often. I also do some freelance writing. My husband is a awesome writer too. I love his writing style. When we were dating we often talked about the prospect of us writing a book or two. We all have a story to tell and an inspiration to share. I'm in the process of penning a few projects. I can't wait to actually complete them and see where the next level of writing takes me.

The Germ Share Program

There's a program for everything. I've dubbed mine, well ours the germ share program. That's right the germs start with one child and undoubtedly will rotate through each child before it's over with. Sometimes it would just be better if everyone were sick and quarantined at the same time. It's so hard to keep everyone out of each others face, when all they want to do is love, hug and kiss one another, or your Kindergartner brings home the latest virus from school. One day it's a rash, the next a fever. Or perhaps it's a fever with no other accompanying symptoms. My children are the ones who seem to have a high tolerance for pain. They end up with a significant cough so we go in, only to find we have strept, double ear infections and bronchitis. It's classic and has happened more time than I care to recall. So we brace ourselves and pray that it will not move down the line. The copays and prescriptions alone can break the bank. And Lord forbid one of us get it. There is nothing worse than a house full of sick little ones and a sick stay@home Mom. Help! When that happens, my husband takes GREAT care of us. There was one time we were all down for the count. We tag teamed as best we could and just limped along until it was over. We rejoice over the weeks when everyone is well, but we understand there are a lot of instances where hand washing, Lysol, humidifiers and open windows just can't combat the madness.

Swagger Wagon

I never thought I'd say this, but I own a mini-van. No offense to those who always wanted one, couldn't wait to have that second child to justify getting one, but I swore I would never drive a mini-van. I wanted no part of it. So when that last little one was on the way, we knew we had to look at other options. Mini-vans are practical for larger families, but I love my SUV. Realistically we 'can' all fit in the SUV, but it's just the way you have to access the back seating area that is the challenge. I dug my heels in all the way to the dealership. We went in to 'look', got a incredible deal, and walked out owners. Yes, my kids play soccer and I'm their Mom, but I don't like the implication that I 'could' drive the entire team around. I do enjoy the storage and automatic doors, but it's still a mini-van. Thanks to Toyota, we've dubbed ours the Swagger Wagon. Those You Tube videos do add a certain amount of sexy to it. However, when I'm flying solo I jump in the SUV. Instantly my street cred increases. Well, at least in my head.

Moonlighting

The show "Moonlighting' helped launch the careers of Cybil Shepard and Bruce Willis. A little Moonlighting is allowing me to supplement the our income and the little ones to do a variety of activities and lessons. I've taken on a contract as a consultant for a local media company. I handle all distribution, circulation, billing and payables for their corporate based accounts. Production hours are typically from 2am up until 7am or later, seven days a week. That's right, I'm hustling every day. There are days I may have the chance to get a hour of so of rest before starting the day with the rest of the crew. Being up for 19-20 hours a day is no joke and has been a major adjustment. It would be difficult for me to find something part-time to really work with our life schedule, school schedule and personal schedules. This would require having a sitter or placing the girls in a program. It defeats the purpose. My husband and I work together to make this work. Sometimes it feels like "Tag your it", but overall it works out. I continue to pray and ask the Lord to give me the capacity to do all that I need to do. And he does.. I'm looking to put some things in place that hopefully will give me a break, yet still allow me to manage this workload. Until then I keep pressing. This is not a forever solution. It is basically a means to an end.

Surgery

My son's breathing started sounding like Darth Vadar while he slept at night. We had been dealing with this on and off for quite some time. It was usually as a result of a sinus infection. They were becoming increasingly more present. Our pediatrician told us his adenoids were very large and would likely need to be removed. Recently we've witnessed a few episodes of sleep apnea and immediately took him to a specialist to determine what our next steps should be. Who knew while at that visit he had strep throat and his tonsils were such a mess that he only had a sliver of a opening visible. This infection ultimately landed him in the hospital for several days with a antibiotic and steroid needing to be administered intraveneously. Our attempts to schedule his surgery were thwarted even further due to another infection and round of medication.

Last Friday my little guy had his tonsils and his adenoids removed. The procedure has changed considerably over the years. The surgery takes about 5-10 minutes and the recovery varies from 30 minutes to an hour. My son has had a few unpleasant experiences and this was a major ordeal. I was very concerned about how he would do. I prayed about it and knew everything would be ok. When we arrived his assigned anesthetist came in. His approach was very light and comical. Just want I needed. Our Dr. came in and went over everything with us and just as he was leaving he asked if he could pray with/for my son. I was so touched and had great peace after that. My son did great. He is such a trooper. Who knew anesthesia could make kids so combative. I wasn't prepared for that, but he recovered beautifully. Nothing like all the popsicles and ice cream you want. Darth Vadar has left the premises and all is well.

Gimpy

About 7 days ago I decided to re-up the sand in the kids sandbox. This required me to carry and maneuver a 50lb bag of sand to the backyard. This was going very well until I reached the gate. We have a gate that automatically closes via a spring mechanism. Well I cleared the gate, but as it shut full force, one of the barbs ripped the side of my foot open. Ouch! After several stitches and a tetanus shot, I've had the joy of spending the last week hobbling along on crutches. It really has been no fun trying to rangle 3 kids with a crutch in hand. There are days the kids are great and sympathetic to what ails Mommy, but other days I think they know I couldn't keep up with them if I tried. So I'm counting down the days to ditching the crutches and ridding myself of this major inconvenience. Some times it's easy to take for granted the use and mobility of all functioning limbs and body parts. Another week or so and I can get these stitches out. I can't wait. My coping skills have been dwindling, so I'm hoping my sanity will remain intact until then.

Houston We Have a Walker

Makinley is walking. It has been very exciting watching her confidence increase to take those first few stops solo. There have been a lot of ups and literally downs as she works to master this new skill. She has her eye on the prize. Picking up the pace and trying to keep up with her brother and sister. Just think in a few short weeks she'll have the stride down pat. She'll be moving right along and gearing up for running. For now it's 3, 2, 1 and she's off!