Heritage

My grandfather entered into the ranks of our "great cloud of witnesses" (Heb. 12) this evening. After a long struggle with COPD and heart problems, he went home tonight peacefully, with my mother at his side.

I have so many happy memories of this man. He was always so cheerful, and had a great sense of humor. I think I'll miss his laugh more than anything. He loved his family and church, and had one of the strongest senses of duty I have ever seen. He worked very hard; I thought he never would retire. He finally did - at age 82.

But one of the things that has struck me most today as I anticipated the call telling me he was gone, and since I have received it, was about heritage. How thankful I am that God placed me in the family He did. I don't know if Granddad ever thought about leaving us all with a specific heritage, but he and my grandmother have. I am proud of the man he was. He will be greatly missed.

This photo was taken during a visit in June.

What the kids have been up to

It hasn't all (quite) been illness and such around here. This was Kora's weekend project:

Her daddy is so proud. (In case you can't tell, this is a fighter plane constructed out of Tinker Toys.)

Also, Friday Kora and Aubrey went over to the home of one of the moms in our scout group. She had offered to help any of the girls who wanted to earn the horsemanship badge with the requirements. Kora was a little disappointed that she wasn't in the junior high group - they got to go to a ranch and do an overnight trail ride! But the girls did get to groom, help tack a horse, clean out hooves, etc. on Friday. They were in horsey heaven.

Kora, Aubrey, and Brynna are all practicing for the Christmas musical that the kids at our church are putting on in December. So they've all been singing along with the Psalty's Christmas Calamity CD (can you believe Psalty has a Wikipedia page?) to learn the music.

Wardrobe Management

The big project for the day was the semi-annual changing out of the children's wardrobes: putting away the spring/summer clothes and pulling out the fall/winter ones. Usually I do this job all by myself, reasoning that I need to see what they have and don't have, what I need to buy, etc. This fall has been a little stressful, and I just felt overwhelmed by the task, so I recruited help. Kora and Aubrey basically did their own; I just went in and looked at what the final result was to take stock, plus make sure that things still fit. Kelly helped me fold up and pack away summer clothing for the others. Otherwise, I could never have done this in a day.

Over the years, several women have asked me how I manage all the clothes, so I thought I'd write about it in case anyone else was interested.

Over the years I have bought 10 gallon plastic bins like you see in the picture. This may sound like a big expense, but I usually only buy 1-2 a season, as I have been doing this since Kora was very small. They are also sturdier than cardboard boxes (like copier paper boxes) and are more bug resistant if you store things in a garage or attic. This size fits perfectly on the shelves above the closets, where the kids don't store anything anyway.

Each box stores one size when they are small. So I have the 3-6 month clothes all in one box. When they get about 24 month to 2T size, I put one size in two boxes, one labeled SPRING/SUMMER and one labeled FALL/WINTER. my husband got me a nifty little Brother label maker a few years ago, but before that I used masking tape and a sharpie marker. Just so the size and season are clearly marked, it doesn't matter if it looks like something from Mission Organization.

Here are a few tips I've used in keeping tabs of the clothes:

• Don't go strictly by the label. As all moms know, not all sizes are equal. Today I put away an outfit of Lauryn's into the 3T summer box that is labeled a 6. But it is clearly not a 6. Don't be afraid to put clothes in the box with other clothes that are the same size, no matter what the tag says. You'll thank yourself when the next little person comes along needing those clothes.
• My baby clothes are labeled "Girl Size 3-6 months" or whatever. This was done back in the day when I thought it might be necessary to make the distinction. :-) If you do have a gender mix, be sure to mark them. The point of the labels is to be able to know exactly what is in the box at a single glance. My original idea was to have different colored boxes for boys and girls, but I quickly discovered that manufactures like to change the colors of what they sell, so that idea wouldn't have worked even had I needed boy boxes.
• I also have one box that is labeled "Baby - Gender Neutral." As I have never known the sex of our babies before their birth, I have many blankets, burp rags, onesies, sleepers, etc that could go either way. This is also a great place to store things that aren't size specific for babies.
• I also have bins for shoes. Not all shoes can be passed down to younger siblings, but the ones that can have their own plastic bins, however these are 14 gallon sized. These are labeled differently than clothing. Right now I have 4 such bins: "Shoes for Aubrey" (ones Kora has outgrown), "Shoes for Brynna and Hailey" (shoes Aubrey has outgrown), "Shoes for Lauryn" (shoes Hailey has outgrown), and "Other Shoes" (shoes Lauryn has outgrown). If someone outgrows a pair of shoes, I go "shopping" in the appropriate shoe bucket to see if I have tennis shoes in that size, or whatever, before I go to the store.
• A word about jeans, t-shirts, socks and undies. Once they get above a certain size, jeans will no longer fit in the bucket along with the other clothes that size. However, since I have four girls in rather a stair step pattern, most jeans pass from one set of dresser drawers to another. But on the occasion I have some that aren't currently fitting anyone, I put them in a bucket labeled "jeans" or in a bucket that is currently empty because all the clothes are hung up. T-shirts are almost never packed away, as they will go from one child to the next without ever seeing a bucket. With the exception of training panties, underwear does not get passed on from one child to another. Usually by the time one of my kids outgrows a size, the underwear is needing to be replaced anyway. Ditto with socks, except for baby sizes.
• While I am putting away clothes and getting out new ones, I take note of what I need to buy. I used to just keep a list, but that confused me and I always forgot something. So I made a chart. Of course, right? But it helps me keep track of what each child needs or doesn't need. For instance, Brynna needs more Sunday dresses. So in that square, I'll right how many she needs and what size, so I know exactly what to get at the store. (Click on the chart below for a bigger view.)
  

Remember, there are two main reasons for having any sort of organization for the kids' clothes. One is that it is an obviously frugal thing to hand down clothes. Having them organized in some way will keep you from over buying. If you have relatives who buy clothes for you, it can allow you to direct their purchases to what you really need. Secondly, it also just simplifies your life, especially when the seasons change.

Do you have any great tips for keeping up with all the clothes for your family? Add a comment and let me know - I'm always looking for ways to improve the system!

One of our favorite recipes

This is one of the family's favorite. We serve this with any meal remotely Italian: lasagna, spaghetti, Italian meatloaf, any pasta, etc.

Focaccia Bread

Add these ingredients in this order in your bread machine:
1 C warm water
3 T olive oil
1 1/2 t salt
3 C bread flour
2 t yeast

Set to dough cycle (which on most machines is an hour and a half). When done, sprinkle corn meal on a baking sheet (I use a rectangular stone). Turn oven to 400. Remove the dough and punch down. Let rest for 5 minutes on the baking sheet. Roll into a round shape, about 1/2 inch thick.

Mince 2-3 (or 4-5) cloves of garlic - use fresh! - on top and spread over dough. Sprinkle (about 1 1/2 t each) rosemary and coarse salt (I use kosher - DON'T use regular table salt, believe me it's not pretty if you do) and press all three into dough. Poke shallow indentations all over top of dough. Pour about 3 T olive oil over top, letting pool in the indentations. Sprinkle about 1 T Parmesan cheese over top. Bake until lightly browned, about 20 minutes.

Actually, I never measure the toppings, but these were the original measurements on my recipe. Enjoy!

A much better day - UPDATED

No one has thrown up at our house for over 30 hours.

The highest temperature anyone in our house is running is 99.5.

The washing machine is working (albeit after a hefty repair bill that cost more than our first washing machine).

Kelly had a short day "at work" - he had jury duty today but was sent home pretty quickly as the case had been resolved. (Which is a good thing considering the next thing on my list.)

The car is working (after I had to get a store employee to jump it while I was out running errands and my husband went to get a new battery after I got home).

My friend's little boy should be getting out of the hospital this afternoon.

I fully expect to be able to cook a real dinner tonight, and that all 7 of us will actually be able to sit around the table and eat together. Funny how I've always taken this one for granted.

AND my friend Cathi has some of the best news EVER!

The light may be a little further away than I thought

Lauryn started running fever again last night, and threw up (again) during the night. So I guess this tunnel is longer than I ever dreamed.

On the other hand, my friend Aubrey's little 3 yo boy is probably going into the hospital this afternoon with respiratory problems, so I am thankful that we are not having to deal with that.

However, my washing machine is acting up, and that is definitely NOT something you want to happen when dealing with a stomach bug. :-(

Light at the End of the Tunnel

I have had several people check in with us, and I really appreciate it. We seem to be on the downward side of this nasty bug. I have NEVER seen my kids this sick before. Brynna and Hailey got so bad that I had to take them in to a clinic yesterday for IV fluids. At one point we thought Brynna might have to be hospitalized, she just could not keep anything down and was quite lethargic. But the clinic gave her two bags of IV fluids, and two different anti-nausea medicines until we found one that worked. This seems to have finally gotten her over the hump.

So we were all able to get a pretty decent amount of sleep last night. No one threw up in the night, or even needed medicine. We still have one or two running a low grade fever, and everyone is pretty wiped out, but I think we are going to make it.

If you live in San Antonio, there is a pediatric urgent care clinic at Bandera and 1604 called Little Spurs Urgent Care Clinic and I highly recommend them. Seems we lived up there this weekend. But they took very good care of us. They also take most insurances, and are far cheaper than the ER. They are also open 7 days a week, which is good because stuff like this NEVER happens during the week!

Enough already!

Well, I apologize for both the lack of posts and the graphic nature of the ones I have posted. Since Wednesday night we've been dealing with fever and vomiting, but that was super-sized Friday night. Lauryn came down with it Friday evening, and Brynna and Aubrey started throwing up in the middle of the night Friday night. I literally felt like I was running a hospital ward. Needless to say I got about 2 hours of sleep total Friday night, most of it before 11:30 pm, bouncing between four vomiting kids. Hailey's fever has soared to well over 104 at times. I did take her in to an urgent care clinic yesterday, and they ruled out strep, the flu, and pneumonia. I thought the doctor put it very well.

She told me that it appeared to be "the virus from he**."

I agree.

Just the time we think one of them is over it, they relapse. Lauryn threw up this afternoon and is running fever, after never running fever before and not getting sick since about 4 am Saturday morning. Hailey, Aubrey and Brynna are still running fevers.

When this is all over, I think I'm going to fumigate the house. Then I'm getting a massage.

Parenting rule #250

If you have one or more children throwing up, DO NOT let your supposedly well children eat Kellogg's Berry Krispies, even if they swear they feel fine. Because one or more of them will start throwing up in the night, and the result will resemble a very grisly scene from one of the innumerable horror movies so popular this time of year. All those red dyed cereal bits...

Don't ask, just trust me on this one.

Don't send out the rescue team

If you don't see or hear anything from my husband in the next several days (weeks?), please do not be concerned. Over the last several weeks his computer has had several problems, crashed multiple times, etc. All this meant we decided to upgrade his computer. Outside of a new hard drive here and there, this is the first upgrade to his computer in several years.

And the box with all the goodies arrived yesterday. He is reusing his case, but nearly all the insides have been gutted and replaced. But please don't ask me what his new system is - all the acronyms confuse me. I do know that although it has only one CPU chip on it, there are two processors on the one chip. So I expect that it is super fast.

Needless to say, when a man has a new toy.... ;-)

And poor Hailey is sick. She threw up on the way to Bible study Wednesday night (that was fun to clean up - I may never serve anything with spaghetti sauce again!) and has been running a fever ever since, with a slight sore throat. Just hope it's not anything too serious, like strep or the pneumonia-like illness our pastor's family has. This has just not been our autumn as far as health goes.

Once upon a time...

In our house, we are used to older girls reading to younger girls (I think that's the main reason Hailey has no real inner drive to learn phonics - not only is it work, but she has Brynna, a voracious reader, as a roommate who will read her anything she wants). We've had girls reading to their baby dolls, even.

But last night was a new one for us.
This is Lauryn reading to her hungry, hungry hippos. Not only that, but even though she is holding an Usborne book of fairy tales, she is "reading" them the story of The Very Hungry Caterpillar. I didn't realize she had it so memorized that she didn't even need the pictures to prompt her.

And I guess it is an appropriate story for the hungry hippos. :-)

Just for the record

To those of you who think I always have it all together:

Because Kora had a doctor's appointment not too long before her piano practice today, I had packed lunch for the kiddos to take with us, so we could picnic at the church where Kora's teacher is. I packed the cooler with the refrigerated items, grabbed the bread, chips, even a roll of paper towels to use for plates and napkins. I had everything I needed for a couple of ham and cheese sandwiches and three peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.

Everything.

Except the peanut butter. When you see them, ask how they like jelly sandwiches.

I don't wanna grow up...

I think nearly all of us can remember thinking as a child, "I can't wait until I am grown up! Then I can ________!" Fill in the blank - do what I want, stay up as late as I want, eat whatever I want, never have anyone tell me what to do, etc. I don't remember the particular thing that I longed to be free of, but I do remember being convinced that life would be so much better then. I know my husband felt the same way - he ran away from home at age 17, he was so convinced that life would be better that way.

There are days now that I long for something of those carefree - comparatively - days of childhood. Oh, yes, there are joys that children cannot understand that I have been privileged to experience: marrying the man I love, growing together over the years into "one flesh," becoming a mother, having deeper friendships than a young girl can experience, oversees travel, etc.

But there are also days when the load seems heavy.

Over the years, I have known what it is like to have marriage problems, family problems, to rush a child to the ER, to be very worried about money, to watch friends hurting and suffering, to be severely depressed, to make difficult decisions. Sometimes it seems unbearable.

No, nothing is really wrong today. Nothing bad has happened. It just seems like over the past 4-5 months, that so much has happened to us and the people in our lives - some small irritations, some big life changing situations - that at times I wish for the days when my only problem was whether I was going to have to take a nap or what cartoon to watch on TV. My friends and family out there who are going through difficult times of one type or another, please know that I am praying for you.

Birth Center

UPDATE:The website for the new center is:
www.sanantoniobirthcenter.com
Thanks, Candace!

One of the errands I had to go to Saturday was actually my first appointment with the midwife. This is the same wonderful lady who delivered Lauryn here at our house (in my bathtub actually, but that is a story for another day). I had forgotten just how much I really like this woman. Not only is she incredibly knowledgeable about the entire pregnancy, labor, delivery, recovery process, she trusts the mommy. She actually listens to you, and doesn't treat any concern or belief you have as silly. She works with you so that you can have the best pregnancy and delivery as possible.

She also has a new birth center! Now we plan on having this baby at home as well, but if it weren't for having to leave my house, I sure wouldn't mind having this baby there. It looks like a spa room. And, for those who are nervous about not having a baby at a hospital, the new center is at Babcock and Wurzback, just about a minute and a half from 4-5 hospitals, and right across the street from a fire department.

Next time I go, I'll ask Janet if I can take pictures for the blog. And maybe some time I'll get around to posting that birth story.

I could get used to this...

I went to a new-to-me store yesterday. In fact, I had many errands, but one was a need for some maternity specialty items, so I went to a place on I10 here in San Antonio called Destination Maternity. It's actually 3 stores in one - Motherhood, Pea in a Pod, and Mimi Maternity. Which means that 90% of the clothes are out of my price range, but there are just some things Target doesn't carry.

Just before I enter the door, I stop to enjoy a nice trickling fountain in a small courtyard area leading to the door. As I enter the door, a very nice sales lady greets me and asks if I had ever been there before. She then showed me where everything was and asked, "Would you like a bottle of water or some orange juice while you shop?"

As I walk back to the area of the store which had what I needed, I noticed a cute little play area for small kids, surrounded by a low wall to kind of box the area in. Just to the side of this area were two flat screen televisions tuned to college football games. This was obviously an area where the poor hapless husbands of the customers had a place to sit and watch sports while the gestating females in their lives shopped.

And while they weren't intrusive, the sales staff was very helpful - like when I was lost about sizes. They were also very interested in all the details about your pregnancy. They wrap your purchases, however mundane, in tissue paper and place them in a crisp paper bag with handles - no plastic if you please - and offer you a water or juice for the road.

I tell you, if you are pregnant and need to feel pampered, go window shop at this place. I felt like I had been an honored guest. I know it's their job and all, but I could definitely get used to being treated like that when I was out spending my (husband's) hard-earned money. :-)

Classical...Star Wars?

Can it still be considered classical education if you use Star Wars as an illustration?

The other day, Kora and I were discussing one of the stories in Canterbury Tales, and I was trying to describe irony to her. The most obvious example I could think of was Episode III of Star Wars. Anakin, in trying to prevent the thing he most feared, decided on a course of actions that directly led to the dreaded event. She instantly got it, and was then able to describe the irony in the literature she had read.

So will this get me kicked out of the classical education community? ;-)

School is the Pits

The girls are studying astronomy this year, and we've just finished up a chapter on Mercury. As a hands-on project, I made a ball of salt dough. The girls had a ball pretending that marbles and pencils were asteroids slamming into the planet. Even Lauryn got into the action.

After drying overnight, the planet has hardened. As Mercury has no atmosphere, it has no protection against space debris. However, there are parts of Mercury that are relatively smooth. This has most scientists confused, because after "millions of years", it "should" be completely pock marked.
If you are ever looking for a creation based, young earth worldview science elementary curriculum, please take a look at the Elementary Apologia books. It's science is solid, but geared age appropriately, all the while giving God the glory for the creation we are studying.

What I wish I had said

I love a snappy comeback. Unfortunately, I often think of them well after the appropriate moment for them has passed. Such a thing happened yesterday.

I had to go to the dentist. Not only had I not had a check up in 1.5-2 years (although I had been in during that time to see the hygienist for my cleanings), but I knew I had a problem with one of my back molars. It felt like a corner had broken off and I could see a cavity.

So I go to the dentist, and fill out the form to update my info. I clearly write on the form that I am pregnant and am 3 months along. Evidently that piece of paper is purely for legal purposes to cover their behinds, as no one looks at it. When the tech came to get me she immediately took me to the x-ray area. I informed her that I was pregnant. "Oh." She looked a little confused. Do pregnant women never come to this dentist? "So do you want a visual exam only?" I answered with a simple yes, but I could have said that no one could fail to see the problem, even without an x-ray.

When the dentist comes in, we have one of the weirdest conversations I have ever had with a "professional."

Dentist: So you're pregnant.

Me: Yes.

D (looking at my chart): What is this, your third?

Me: No, my sixth.

D (looking completely dumbfounded): Sixth?

Me: Mmm-hmm.

D: Wow. What are their ages?

Me: Ten, eight, six, five, and almost three.

D: How old are you?

Me: Uh, 33.

D: Wow. Six. Are you ok with all those kids?

Me (a little confused myself - how am I supposed to answer this?): Yeeeees.

D: After we had our two, I told my wife, "Whoa, no more." Well, good for you. (This was a little unconvincing.) Now what seems to be the problem with your teeth....

What I wish I had said, when he asked me if I was "ok with all those kids" was this:

Me: Well, there are a couple we thought about returning, but we lost the receipts.

I would have loved to see his expression if I had thought of this at the time! ;-)

ATTENTION SAN ANTONIO DRIVERS

I have an announcement:

The left lane of traffic on freeways and interstates is a passing lane. I realize that this is a new concept for many of you, especially those headed west/south on 1604 last night. But, unless you are passing someone, you are supposed to drive in the right lane.

This goes especially if you decide to drive 3 miles per hour below the speed limit.

Oh, and if a car comes up behind you and has to slow down, it might be an indication that you need to move into the right lane of traffic.

And if cars are passing you on the right, it is definitely a sign to MOVE INTO THE RIGHT LANE!

OK, rant over. :-)

I am sick and tired

of being sick and tired. My blog posts in the last few weeks have been filled to the brim with sickness, pain and injury. Yes, that seems to be our lot in life the last few weeks, but I'm SICK of writing about it. (I will just put in here that my husband has a doctor's appt this afternoon at 4:30 to see about his ankle.)

BUT, enough of that, so I thought I'd put in a quick tip of the day:

When I am making any kind of muffin or quickbread, I nearly always substitute the oil or butter called for for one half oil and one half applesauce. Yes, I know many recipe books and diets tell you to substitute all applesauce, but believe me, it affects the texture too much. ICK! But a half and half mixture produces a product with the same texture but with half the fat and many fewer calories than all oil or butter.

However, in pancake, waffle, or dessert recipes, I just don't find the results to be as pleasing. Waffles don't crisp without the oil, pancakes don't use that much anyway, and come on - if you are going to make dessert, then make it, for pete's sake. I'd rather eat a smaller square of something that tastes good, than mess around with the applesauce.

Mulligan, anyone?

You ever just had a week that you wish you could do over? Well I'm sure my husband wishes he could do over this week. Not only did he have issues with his esophagus problem, but yesterday he somehow injured his Achilles tendon.

Friday night we had a great time of fellowship at OP Schnabel park with our homeschool group. This is one of the times of year the whole group gets together, dads and kids, to share a meal together and fellowship.

Saturday morning we followed through with our plans to leave for Kyle, Texas right after breakfast to spend the day with Kelly's brother and his family. Kelly's parents had driven in and we were all going to watch my nephew Nikita play soccer. Then Tony, my BIL, had suggested we all go to the Texas Department of Parks and Wildlife Expo. So we drove over to the street where the department has its headquarters.. and sat there. And we sat there some more. We crept forward about half a city block in 15-20 minutes. That's how long the line of cars was just to get into the parking lot, which we could see. An outlet mall the day after Thanksgiving would be less crowded. There were hundreds of cars and thousands upon thousands of people.

So we went to Plan B, and drove to McKinney Falls State Park down the road a ways. We ate lunch and went down to one of the falls and soaked our feet in the water. Pretty area.

When we got back to the Suburban, Kelly noticed his heel on his right foot was hurting a little. We went back to his brother's house, grabbed some dinner and headed home. I drove back, which was a good thing, because by the time we got home, his heel was killing him. It's on the back of his heel right where the tendon attaches to the bone. He went to bed, both of us thinking it would be better this morning.

It wasn't. When the alarm went off, he got out of bed, and nearly sunk to his knees on the floor. I think he'd forgotten, but he was reminded very quickly. So he decided to stay off of it all day, and try to get into Brynna's orthopedist tomorrow. We did some research and the symptoms seem consistent with a tear or pulling of the Achilles tendon, but we are both hoping that is not the case, as that would take a long time to heal. The really weird thing is that he doesn't remember a particular moment when he went "OW!" He didn't fall, or turn his ankle that he remembers. There were some steep inclines down to the river, but he doesn't really know when it would have happened.

So, we are hoping we can get him into the doctor tomorrow. He thinks he can drive, so he plans to go to work and call the doctor from there. He has used so much time off lately that he wants to miss as little as possible. We borrowed my friend Candace's crutches, but she's a little shorter than Kelly. But they are allowing him to hobble around when he needs to, and we figure the doctor will get him some correctly sized one if he needs them.

So, he has definitely had a week to forget. We are just praying that it is not too serious. And that these things really don't happen in threes.

That was then...

This is now.

This was tonight at our annual HOPE (my homeschool group) picnic. My friend Cathi snapped this picture after Lauryn came in from the playground looking like she had war paint on. In fact our pastor started quoting lines from Braveheart when he saw her. At least some things don't change. :-)

Another uneventful week

So everything seemed to be going so much better this week. I'm feeling better, although still not out of the woods yet. Tuesday the girls and I started doing some cleaning in preparation for Bible Study at our house on Wednesday. Kelly was going to help me some more after dinner. I made sloppy joes, and that's when everything stated falling apart.

Kelly, as many of you know, has a few medical problems. One of which is a ringed esophagus. This means that he has to get his esophagus dilated about once a year (this is done via endoscopy) or else he gets food stuck in his esophagus when he swallows. He hadn't had this happen in a while, but Tuesday night, he got some stuck.

His usual method of relieving this problem is not pretty. He has to gag himself to try to make himself throw up, as this will cause the matter in his throat to come up as well. Well after two hours of trying to do this, he still had the food caught. This meant he could not swallow anything, even his own saliva, or it would back up into his airways and choke him. We called his GI doctor, and were told to go to the ER. So I called some friends who have teenagers who graciously came over to put the kids to bed and stay with them.

When we got to the hospital, the ER waiting room was packed. But I thought we would get seen relatively soon because this was an airway issue. However it was 2 HOURS before he was triaged - in other words before the nurse even assessed his condition. We got to the ER at 8 pm, saw the nurse at 10. He was immediately put into a room, hooked up to everything, and we waited some more.

Of course by this time, I'm feeling a little empty, and of course I had no one dollar bills to get anything out of the vending machines. So Kelly and the nurse both encouraged me to go somewhere and get something to eat. The nurse said, "He's going to be here a while." Great. So I run and get something, breaking a bill, so I am fully prepared for the long night ahead. I get back to the room and he still hadn't seen a doctor. After I eat, I run out to the car to get something I left. When I get back, Kelly looks much better and said it had finally gone down! He had felt something funny in his throat, so had massaged the sides of his throat while swallowing hard. That had done it, after 5 hours of being stuck, 3 while in the ER. We aren't sure what happened, but he was very grateful to avoid the emergency endoscopy.

This was 11 pm. Of course right after this the doctor walks in, ready to order the IV needed for the endoscopy drugs. Of course he had to make sure Kelly could drink fluids, and told us we could leave. It was 11:30 by the time we left. It will be interesting to see what the ER bill will be for all their help. :-)

Kelly's throat is very sore - he says he feels like he swallowed a brillo pad. He didn't eat anything yesterday until late last night when he got hungry enough to be willing to swallow something. I told him that he will go to extraordinary measures to get out of helping me clean the house before Bible study. :-)

I was so proud of myself today

In spite of my migraine headache this morning, I got up at 6 am and fixed my husband breakfast. I actually worked out before the kids got up. Believe me, these are things that I haven't done for a few weeks.

After a trip to the chiropractor to get rid of the headache, I actually baked cookies this afternoon! The girls got up from nap smelling the air very appreciatively. I hadn't baked a single cookie or brownie in about 6 weeks. But tonight was my night to bring snacks for Brynna's scout group, so I made oatmeal chocolate chip cookies. Kora boxed up enough for the whole group, and there were plenty left over for dessert.

When we got to scouts tonight, Brynna's leader asked about snacks. To my horror, I realized I had walked off and forgotten the cookies I had been so proud of! Fortunately my husband bailed me out, ran to HEB and got Oreos for the whole group.

Is it too early to claim pregnancy brain? :-0>