Little Drummer Girl

Meaghan caught me off guard today when we were out running errands and she shared her rendition of "Little Drummer Boy", which is still her favorite song...

"Come, they told me, pa rum-a-pum PUM...

A new-darn king to see, pa rum-a-pum PUM..."

Good thing I was stopped at a red light already.

The Entertainer

Most normal people wake up sort of slowly.  They stretch, they yawn, they rub their eyes, they sit up in bed before contemplating their next moves.

Not so for my Dustin.

This morning, he woke up, and not 10 seconds later he was literally bouncing down the hall to the bathroom while humming The Entertainer as loudly as he could.  He continued his humming for several minutes.  How the littlest children didn't wake up through all of this, I'm not sure.

But he sure was cute.

Finally!

Despite the cough I am sporting as a result of my kids being sick...

I now have a clean bill of health.

The x-ray is clear.  My lungs no longer sound like there's static and goop inside.

Now, to continue regaining my cardiovascular strength and some energy...

I've been going for some really long walks in addition to the basketball and skiing.  Last week I went for a 6 mile walk and an 8 mile walk... and a couple of shorter ones (around 2 miles)... and last night I went with a friend for about 4 1/2 miles, after the kids were in bed.  Nice and brisk, getting me sweating.  I'm starting to itch to run.

Tonight, though?  Tonight, I'm really tired.  The time change doesn't bother me too much on the first day; the worst of it is day two.  That'd be today.  I am having a hard time keeping my eyes open.

Boys are at swimming lessons.  They will be home in an hour, at which point we'll eat a quick supper and put everyone - myself included - to bed.

One day, I will be at a point where I won't be counting the minutes to bedtime... tonight is not that night.

But, I am grateful.  Grateful for friends who are closer than family, grateful for my sweet children, grateful for new health and promises for the future.

Time Change

Normally, my kids are up at the crack of dawn.  Meaning, as soon as Daddy hits the shower at 6:45, three kids wake up.  Sometimes all 4.

However, today was a different story.  Normally, on Sundays, the boys wake up around 7:30, and we make them read quietly until around 8:00.  Today, the house was slumbering like we'd been up till all hours.  I can assure you, we weren't.

8:54 a.m. - Dustin emerges.  Factor in the time change, and his body slept in just a little (he was on "7:54" time).

10:15 - Spencer wakes.  Huh?  Why so late, little buddy?

10:45 - Joshua surfaces.  Poor kid was not feeling well in the night and woke with a  raging fever.  Fair enough.  He needed some sleep.

11:20, and Meaghan was still sawing logs.  She finally popped out of bed, happy as a clam, at 11:42 a.m.  Even with the adjusted time, that would only be 10:42... SUPER late for her, by about 4 hours!!

Needless to say, with Spencer sick (he's just getting over a cold), Joshua sick, and Meaghan also recovering from a cold, we decided to skip church.  Probably the single best decision we could've made today.

Maybe we could do this again, oh, say, NEXT SATURDAY?

Seven happier quick takes on a Saturday night

1.  I am feeling human again.

2.  I have played basketball 3 weeks in a row now, and haven't injured anything.  And, I'm getting stronger.  My breathing isn't as affected as it was before.  I still have a bit of a cough from the pneumonia, but it's residual.  I'm starting to be able to keep up  a little again.  And, I'm even sinking some shots.

3.  I know it seems silly, but yesterday, for the first time in I-don't-know-how-long, I cleaned ALL four bathrooms, top to bottom, including floors and the yucky bases around the toilets, and the baseboards.  It felt really good to do them all in one day.  Usually I tackle the two little ones, then call it a day... leaving the bigger bathrooms to do on separate days when I've got a little extra time.

4.  Skiing season is over, I think.  My last ski of the season was last Saturday, with some of Graeme's co-workers who had invited me.  It was HARD - they are GOOD!! - but it was an excellent challenge and helped me get stronger.

5.  Spencer is starting to "dance."  By "dance," I mean "wiggle" when music is playing.  It's so stinking cute.  I can't believe he's 10 months old.  I really need to get onto completing - writing - his birth story.  It's mostly done, but I just want to edit a little.

6.  Spencer is also starting to sleep more at night.  He's had approximately 6 nights out of the last 10 or so that he's slept for 10-12 hours straight.  I'm sure this correlates highly to point number one above.

7.  With the melting snow comes the itch to run again...  might even attempt that half-marathon again that I did two years ago.  I'm a little behind on training already, though, with the medical setbacks, but hopefully I can regain my health quickly!

That's all for now... I could add a few more, but then I would have to re-title this post, and it just wouldn't be the same then...

It's 10:10.  I'm going to bed.  Really.  Early, hey?  :)

Boy or Girl?

As I'm changing Spencer's diaper:

Meaghan: "Mommy, is Spencer a boy or a girl?"
Me: " What do you think?"
Meg: "He's a girl!"
Me: "Why do you say that?"
Meg:  "Because he just is!"
Me:  "But why? What makes him a girl?"
Meg (sweetly):  "Because he will be a vampire!"

Whaaaaaat?!!??

Books and Pneumonia and Spencer and some other random stuff.

Trying to discipline at 7 in the morning when you can't breathe because every time you talk brings on a coughing fit... not a good start to the week.  Can't wait for this ridiculous pneumonia to pass.

What are some good book series for boys?  Joshua is 7, but reads at a ridiculous grade level - the boy has no limits any more.  However, just because he *can* read something doesn't mean that he's emotionally ready for some things... he inhales Hardy Boys and such, but even that at this age concerns me a little.  I need ideas for some age-appropriate novels that are also challenging enough for him to read.

I may have mentioned this before, but I'm thinking of writing a letter to someone...about their deliberate absence in my life... freeing myself from the bondage of their silence but also giving them a chance to be part of it all if they want...

Spencer is experimenting with all kinds of lovely sounds... "ooooo" and 'ba ba ba' and, my personal favourite, "ma ma".  He is now pulling up on things and gets the 'victory grin' when he succeeds in pulling something out of a bin that was thought to be too high for him to reach.

I saw a doctor again yesterday - pneumonia is still stuck here.  A new antibiotic with the caution that if this doesn't work, off to the hospital for IV antibiotics I go.  Because really, I had nothing more fun planned for February.

So... about those book ideas for Joshua?  Hit me!

Seven Quick Takes on Tuesday

1.  Pneumonia stinks.  I hate how it sucks my breath away.  I hate how the coughing fits just jump up on me and render me completely useless for two or ten or fifteen minutes.  I hate how exhausted I am.

2.  Pneumonia stinks even worse when your nearly three-year-old gets the stomach flu at 11:30 at night, and throws up 6 times before 4:30.

3.  My husband is my hero.  I've been sleeping on the sofa for about the last 10 or 12 nights so that he can sleep.  Meaghan has been sleeping in our room (her bed at the foot of ours) while Spencer figures out his own sleep.  While I was up helping clean up the first three puke episodes, Graeme took care of the last 3 by himself.  Granted, by this time of the night, we were completely out of bedding and she was sleeping on towels, so it was an easy cleanup, and there was also nothing left in her tummy to chuck besides acid.  Easy cleanup.  But still.  Graeme is my hero.  He took care of it and let me rest.  I love him for it.

4.  Pneumonia stinks, but what stinks even worse is cancer.  I found out this week that an acquaintance of mine from Bible School days (who now lives in the same city as me) has stage 3 breast cancer, having spread to the surrounding lymph nodes, and having just been diagnosed less than a month ago.  She and her husband have three children; her oldest is in grade one.  Following her story has rocked my world.

5.  I don't understand how people could ever turn their backs on their children.  I've made no secret on Facebook that I have been really sick.  My mom is my Facebook "friend", and I know she's active on FB because she's been conversing with my aunt even today.  You think there might be *some* sort of acknowledgement or something...?  I wish I knew what to do with this messy ugly situation.  I wish I knew what to hope for.  I can't stand it.  We sent her a Christmas card with a  note inside, and have received no response.

6.  I'm not sure what God is trying to do with me.  I know He wants me healthy and whole, and part of that is taking care of myself physically (exercising).  But then, He allows something like pneumonia to rob me of potentially weeks or months of the type of activity that would be of benefit...?

7.  I've got some really good friends.  Friends who pray, friends who bring meals, friends who get mad at doctors who can't diagnose pneumonia... friends who stand with me even when my attitude stinks.

Yuck

So, after 13 days of sweating, fevers, and coughing, and four separate doctor visits, "they" (as in "the nice doctor at the hospital") discovered I have pneumonia.

Pneumonia stinks.

I can't take care of my children.  It's all I have just to try and nurse Spencer.  "Drink extra fluids," they say -  meaning I have to drink about 20 cups of water a day just to replace what was lost (I'm dehydrated from all the fevering and sweating), to try and kick this misery, and to replenish enough to feed my baby.

Joshua is at school and the middles are at Grandma's house.

I cried when the doctor told me.  Not because I was sad that I am apparently *that sick* (apparently this is worse than I've been giving it credit for), but because I *finally* had an answer...an answer that a few of my friends had been speculating on for days beforehand.  Why the first three doctor visits didn't pick this up, I'm not sure.

I'm thankful to have an answer.

I'm thankful to have medicine that will hopefully help me feel a little more human in a day or two.

I'm thankful that the nurse in radiology was so compassionate.  The triage nurse was miserable and rude, the admitting nurse was abrupt, and the doctor wasn't too interested in giving me the time of day.  But the radiologist?  She came to get me - I was sitting with Graeme and Spencer ('cuz I'd had to feed him so he had to come with me, and since I couldn't care for him myself, Graeme also had to come).  She smiled at Spencer and took me back to x-ray; once we were back there, she said to me, "You look terrible.  It must be hard caring for your little one."

"Yeah."

"How many do you have?"

"Four."

"Oh, honey, I feel so bad for you..."

She must be a mama herself.

(The doctor was a lot nicer to me when he came back with the diagnosis.)

So now, I rest.  I have a bit of coverage for the kids over the next couple of days.  Not 100% coverage, but more than I normally would otherwise have.  I'll take what I can get.

I had signed up a few months ago to ski the Birkie with my friend Mary Jane this coming weekend... well, not the full Birkie, just the shorter Birkie... only 31km... but now I can't do that, obviously.  The nice lady in registrations will send my refund request to the powers that be and see what they can do.

I can't play basketball for a while... part of me only thinks for a week or two, but when I say that, people kind of giggle and tell me it'll be a lot longer than that... really?  I suppose I'll take what I can get, 'cuz right now, even climbing the stairs is a massive undertaking.


Spencer is finally napping.  I'm going to do the same.  I've got 1 1/2 hours till Joshua gets off the bus and storms my door with hugs and kisses.

I knew this would happen...

I've had a fever nearly non-stop for five days, accompanied by painful muscle spasms and headaches.

Graeme has a friend coming over to do a wood project in the garage (Graeme has the tools, friend has the project).

Friend comes with 2 kids (slightly older than my boys) because their mom is at a conference.

Spencer has had a few crabby days - I wonder if he's getting sick, too, or if it's just the teething.  Tooth number 8 is ready to come out any minute.

No matter.

Project should only take 15 or 20 minutes...?  It's been an hour.

Guess who gets stuck with ALL six kids?  And guess who gets Spencer *finally* settled and asleep?

Me.

Yeh.  He didn't stay asleep. I'm not sure how I'm supposed to keep 5 Star-Wars playing kids quiet while I'm feeding and settling a crabby baby in my condition...

I wonder - it's 5:02 - if I'm going to have to miraculously come up with supper for them, too?

This is one of *those* days where I simply don't need this... what is God trying to teach me, I wonder?