Simpler Life...

Sometimes I wonder if I will ever have to go back to work. I enjoy staying home with the kids, making our meals from scratch, and just being here. If I were to go to work, something would have to give. I am not ready to sacrifice anything important to make more money...

We are working to position ourselves in a place where money won't be an object. It is a long time coming, and granted we would be in a better place had the economy not taken such a drastic turn for the worse. I don't really want to get into a "Bush-Obama", it's all your fault kind of fight. I think Americans as a whole got greedy. "We" wanted more, more, more.

I noticed something fishy five and a half years ago, when Brian & I were looking to buy a home. Nearly every one we went to look at was empty. Are you serious? How can people afford to have two houses? Why are all these perfectly good houses empty? Then newly married people that we new were building nice, new homes. Really? Seriously? Is that necessary? What happened to buying a nice, older home. Doing some sweat equity and having some pride in what was yours and what you worked for?

People just borrowed for what they wanted. Got way in over their heads. Children & adults getting every toy imaginable.

I would love to go back to a simpler time. Where if you didn't make it or work for it, it wasn't yours to have. Where people slowed down. Where family dinners were the norm, not the exception. Where you could take your kids to the store and they didn't know to ask for everything. Where people got enough sleep.

How nice would contentment be in this day and age?

Illness & Children

So, a few weeks ago, I shared with you that we were going to go to a huge indoor playground for Lauren's third birthday. We did, and we were able to share her birthday with about 150 other kids, over half of which I am sure were carrying one form of virus or another.

That was a Friday. By Monday, Bree (4) was complaining of a sore throat. Great, here we go...another reason we stay home. When Bree gets sick, she gets cranky and feisty. She picks excessive fights with her sisters and parents and has frequent meltdowns. That is tough to deal with. But at least you can set her in another room, and she can melt there.

Last week, Lauren came down with this cold. She is my ultra-sensitive child. Her first response to the sniffles? Let's run a fever of 104. That is always fun. And let's not let it go down, unless mom wakes every three hours to administer different forms of fever reducing medications. We did this Wednesday through Saturday night. She stopped eating on Wednesday, and was taking only water through this time. Sunday, she decided she was done with everything, medications, water, juice. I had to beg her to eat a jelly bean Sunday afternoon when the nurse on the nurse line told me I needed to bring her in, but our insurance didn't really think ER visits are necessary. The nurse told me we could stay home if I could get Lauren to take one ounce of caloric substance every 15 min. HA! One ounce to a petite 30-pound, fever-running, completely lethargic, won't get out of my arms child is unheard of! Let alone every 15 minutes. I begged her to eat pudding, drink pop, juice, cookie dough truffle, I didn't care, as long as she would eat SOMETHING!

I was able to keep her out of the ER, and made it to urgent care first thing Monday morning. Let me explain how our insurance works. We do not have a co-pay for doctor's visits. We are each allowed three "free" visits a year. Free, however, does not include x-rays or labs. Basically, you can say hello for free. On your fourth and subsequent visits (or ER visits), you must pay for the entire cost, until the individual deductible of $1000 is met, then it is covered 80/20.

The nurse we see checks her out and finds that she has an ear infection in her right ear. Great. Can an ear infection cause my daughter to be so extremely sick? She tells me that if she doesn't eat or drink in the next 24 hours, then bring her back tomorrow and they will do labs (visit two of three) and then if her cough doesn't go away in 2-3 days, then bring her back again for x-rays. February, and our free visits for Lauren are gone. I insisted, due to the fact that my husband had to use a day of vacation to help--I just do not have enough hands--that she do the tests today. She had been sick since Wednesday. Of course, test came back clear. We administered the first of five antibiotic doses, which she fought tooth and nail, but got enough in her to give her severe diarrhea. Great again! She still isn't eating or drinking, and now diarrhea! Luckily, the small amount she had taken had been enough to also get her up and moving. She agreed to take some Tylenol, and then was able to eat some Jello and crackers and then dinner, too.

She is still coughing quite a bit today, but at least she is off of my lap. Bree seems to be kicking it. That leaves Megan...my 18-month-old trooper. She just walks around with a finger in her ear. "Owie". Yep, another visit to the doctor is in order today. "Mom? Can you help??"

I should be glad only one of my four child reacts this way to illnesses--we have probably gone through this with Lauren 6-8 times in the past 2 years. It is so difficult to deal with. But with such a sweetheart, I have no problems taking her into my arms...

Is this my banana?

This morning, the kids woke up and remembered we bought bananas yesterday. My kids love fruit. I can go through a huge bunch of bananas in less than 12 hours. I try to keep fruit in the house, but I have to kept it hidden so it lasts more than a day. This morning, visions of bananas floated through their head--and they were off. As I made my coffee, Bree came and asked if she could save the rest of hers for her cereal. What a great idea! There it sat on the counter waiting for Lauren's to join it, which of course it did within a few minutes. The best part of this was about a half hour later, Lauren asked if this was her banana. I didn't know--I forgot to pay attention to whose were who's.

How did Lauren decide if it were her's? Yep, one big ol' lick. That was her banana afterall...

Reality Sets In...

I went to grab the below mentioned laundry basket and found a flooded laundry room. I clean up the mess (it is very cold in my laundry room, not much warmer than the garage that it is connected to), and went to take care of my bare, frozen feet. Only to find Megan had sprinkled her 4 ounces of water all over my bedroom carpet...

if it isn't one thing, it is another...

Time for a Date Night

Every once in a couple of months I decide I need to get out of here. I run this house with such a schedule...up at 6, breakfast at 7, snack at 9, lunch at 10:45, nap at 11:15, snack at 2, dinner at 4:15, and bed at 6. Everyday is the same routine. Then, out of the blue, I get crabby. Like I have had enough. I think my husband is starting to understand it--that I need some US time. Time that does not include kids and does not include the basement. :)

I remember about a year ago, maybe longer. I was so very crabby...and my husband, I think, was just trying to stay away from me. I mentioned getting a sitter and going to get a bite to eat. The look on his face was amazement. He took my crabbiness as something he had done wrong. When in actuality, he hadn't...but I just needed a break from my reality.

I am approaching that time. Time to find a sitter and time to find a couple of hours where we can just enjoy each other. Until then, I guess I grab the laundry basket and start folding.

Addictions

My mom once told me her family came with very addictive tendencies. I can so see that in me, also. My computer crashed last week. It came, as always, at the most inopportune time. This time it was an hour after a very persistent Kirby dealer wouldn't leave our house without us purchasing this fabulous product he had. I could have cried when my computer turned into a 1970's television screen...a blotchy, black and white scrambled mess.

We aren't without a computer--we had two laptops. My husband and I would put the kids to bed, settle in on the couch in front of the TV, and "surf" away doing mindless activities. Sometimes we would coordinate our searches, compare our findings, and discuss different events. The only time we DIDN'T have the computers on was if we were watching a movie, maybe once every other month.

Now we have to share. And we have to take a look at our mindless activities. What one deems important, the other seems worthless. It will probably be good for us. It WILL be good for us.

Play Dates & Sunshine!

We were very lucky to have both today! I love having people over in the mornings...although I am starting to wonder where all my fellow coffee drinkers are??? Still, I was able to make homemade coffee cake and visit with a real live adult, in person! Plus, the kids were able to play--which in turn allowed me to have a quiet afternoon while they napped.

The sun is shining today...and I wish we could be outside and enjoy it! I asked the kids yesterday if they remembered when they were able to go outside without shoes and run around without coats. Bree's response, "no snow pants, either?" Yes, dear, no snow pants either. When Josh and I moved back home, it was April of 1998. He was 7 1/2 years old. Within six months, I was able to buy an older home in a small town, not far from here. It didn't take Josh long to realize that snow really wasn't that fun. In the movies, they don't show how hard and frozen it all gets. Then the spring, after our first winter in Minnesota, he went out to play, and grabbed his coat. I told him he didn't need it. Talk about being utterly confused at first...then it changed absolute bliss. Being able to run and play in the yard without being confined.

That is what I am looking forward to, being able to just go. Not being trapped in this house. To walk to the post office every day, just because the sun is shining. Going to the park, and watching them run and play in the outdoors.

Tomorrow, we are going to celebrate Lauren's birthday with her super secret birthday trip. We did this for Bree--we went to the zoo and Chuck E Cheese, and they didn't know where we were going until we got there. Tomorrow, we are going to a HUGE indoor playground, and a indoor park, where there are trees and plants growing everywhere. I can only assume that there is a glass roof, to allow the plants to grow as naturally as possible, and with that I hope we can have today's sunshine. Then at least we can run, jump, climb and play as we pretend it is a day in July...not January.

Now excuse me while I curl up with the dog on the front mat and catch some of those rays for myself...

Creative Kids...

So, it is nap time here. I have to go around the house and find all the beloved teddy bears, babies and blankets that must accompany my kids for their slumber time.

I could not believe the tragedy I discovered! The stomach flu has hit our house, and I didn't even realize...

Noise

When did I start being bothered by the sound of the TV or radio? There was a time not long ago, it seems, I needed it. Couldn't live without it. Was it the introduction of having three children in three years, and not every having any quiet time? I now, as I sit here, the kids are "flapping their wings like a birdie"--is it not enough to just go through the motions? Do they have to scream out what they are doing at every moment? It is insane.

We stay home for the most part. Being in this cold climate, and having so many people to dress for the weather makes it impossible to leave the house. Well, not impossible, but close to it. The other day, we had some friends over for a play date, and I thought it would be nice to offer some bakery fresh doughnuts. The bakery is 2 blocks away. How long could it possible take? Any guesses? I got them in the van, and looked at the clock. 8:50. Back in the house, 9:10. I am sure we started with the boots, coats, and everything else somewhere around 8:30. FORTY MINUTES to take the kids 2 blocks. Any longer and one of the two that are potty trained would have had to go to the bathroom. So, unless my husband is there to help, we stay home.

Which takes me back to my kids running around flapping their wings, or playing house, or school or "mysta googaa" whatever the day may bring. We very rarely sit in front of the TV. They run around, imagine, sing, fight, cry, tons of stuff. Then we do go to someone's house. And it seems the suggestion is to have the kids sit and watch a movie. They don't know how to sit and watch a movie. They do watch it in the van--but they have no choice to sit there. Honestly, they are better behaved in the car when we turn it off.

CAN they sit? Yes, they sit and play puzzles, they sit and play with playdough and flubber for an hour, and they could sit forever and listen to books. But watching TV, for some reason makes them hungry--when I know if they would be busy, food would be the farthest from their mind.

Kids are loud. Point Blank. If you happen to be lucky enough to have a houseful of kids, and it is quiet enough to listen to the radio, I would check on them.

Thinking Back...

Three years ago, at this moment, I was in labor with Lauren Elizabeth. I was due on this date, but I was impatient. With all the information available to a person on the "internet", the baby could have come two weeks ago. In fact, my husband and I were in the hospital on January 1st, and we were told WE would have the first New Year's baby. Here we were, 26 days later, and were "induced" last night. Ha. Lauren wanted to come at her own pace. She is still like that three years later...slow and steady will win her race.

A scary thing happened to me this very morning, three years ago. I woke up, feeling fine, and almost sent my husband to work...thinking he could probably get a full-days work in before Lauren decided to join us. I remember ringing the bell for the nurse, it was 6 AM, and they were going to restart the induction drugs again, and this would be a good time to empty that bladder. By the time the nurse arrived at my room, I felt strange, and I said so...then, right before me, on the white cabinet across the room that housed the delivery lights, I could see my eye. It was HUGE. I could see my pupil get smaller and smaller, until finally my husband was shaking me "Angie, you have to talk to us," he said. The doctor, who slept two rooms down, certain I would have Lauren in the night, was there in a flash. I remember, just coming out of it, her saying, "Well, I don't think it was a stroke". A stroke. A stroke. I was a healthy, 36 year-old woman. You don't think of having a stroke when you are suppose to be having a baby! Not sure what happened, other than knowing I passed out, they gave me some food and allowed me to wait before eventually breaking my water. By 2:15 that afternoon, we had Lauren Elizabeth in our lives.

The things we do as parents. The things, as children, we never realize our parents do for us. It is a daily, hourly sacrifice we make for them. But, oh, how it is worth it.

Wow

I never knew how long it took me to actually do something! I have been thinking of blogging for a long time now, and finally came up with a name last week. And still, there are no posts...hmmm.

My name: Pearls, Orchids & Magic...


Pearls refers to the things in my life that start out a bit rocky and little by little they turn into something beautiful.

Orchids are those things that are beautiful from the start.

Magic refers to those things that we don't understand...but will make us shutter with amazement and wonder.

I am a stay at home mom. I have four children, although the oldest is away at college. He is 19, and while I don't understand some things about him, I think that is the way it is suppose to be. It wasn't long ago, when I was his age, that I became a mom for the first time. How time flies...

The other three came later in life...all girls, to keep my on my toes through my midlife woes I may experience some day soon. My oldest daughter is 4, then 3 (today!!) and 1.

My husband is a wonderfully, supportive man whom I don't think I deserve...but for some reason he is here enjoying this life with me.

This blog will be a place for me to share my stories with anyone who wants to listen.

Thanks for joining me...let's keep our hands and feet inside the car, it's going to be a wild ride!