A Better Perspective

Luke started with a cold on Monday night.  This poor kid cannot catch a break!  Last night, he was sporting a low grade fever to accompany said cold.

AAARRRRGGHHHHH!

Despite the vitamins he takes, Luke is a germ magnet!   I'm going to try some cod liver oil and vitamin D at the suggestion of my friend, Anne-Marie.  I need to boost this poor child's immune system.  I know the first year at school is usually rough, but this is ridiculous!

I started to slip and slide into a nice little pity party with myself.  The dark clouds from last week blew back in really quickly!  I had to cancel the weekly book club....again!  We have only met once since the week before Thanksgiving!

My exact words to Jay this morning were, "This house has become like a prison."

Yeah...it was a little melodramatic, but it's where I was at in the moment!

Thankfully, I read one of the blogs that I subscribe to this morning....A Knotted Life.  The woman that writes the blog, Bonnie, has a huge devotion to Fulton Sheen because her son is one of the miracles being investigated to use for his canonization.  Because Bonnie frequently mentions Fulton Sheen, a 6th grade teacher that reads her posts sent her a prayer request for one of her students, Samantha.  Samantha was just diagnosed with stage 4 bone cancer that has spread all over her body.  Needless to say, she needs a miracle....and Samantha's family, class, and friends are praying to God through Fulton Sheen's intercession.

Well, after reading that, even a winter full of colds, fevers, strep throat and stomach viruses really aren't that important.  I needed a better perspective....so, thank-you, God, for providing one.  Bonnie included a prayer for Samantha that I will share here.  If you feel so inclined, please join in.  Of course, we pray for her healing...but also the peace for Samantha, her family and loved ones to find peace in whatever God's will is.  Sometimes life is really hard...thankfully we don't have to do it alone!

Eternal Father, You alone grant us every blessing in Heaven and on earth, through the redemptive mission of Your Divine Son, Jesus Christ, and by the working of the Holy Spirit. 
If it be according to Your Will, glorify Your servant, Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen, by granting the favor I now request through his prayerful intercession: 
the complete healing of Samantha from cancer and the return of her health. 
I make this prayer confidently through Jesus Christ, our Lord. 
 Amen

He Said, She Said

He Said, She Said

Me:(to Kate) "How old are you?"
Kate:  "Good"

Mike and I in the kitchen...
Mike has a gross sneeze
Me:  "I'm not wiping your boogies!"

Luke playing in the tub and sees Sarah's special Bath and Body soap
Luke(to Jay):  "What's that?"
Jay:  "That's special soap that makes girls smell pretty."
Luke:  "Can I have some?"
Jay:  "Boys don't want to smell pretty.  Boys want to smell like dirt, and sawdust, and..."
Luke:  "Poop!?!"  (Laughing maniacally)

Kate was throwing a fit because she didn't want to wear a coat over her sweatshirt.....
Andrew:(to Kate)  "Sometimes fashion hurts."

Luke giving his cousin Brayden a present for his birthday..
Brayden: "Is that a present for me?"
Luke:  "Yeah, it's a 'minja' turtle!"
(Luke proceeds to take one of the 'minja' turtles out of the gift bag...)
"I want to play with this one"

Ugh...guess we have some work to do about present etiquette!

Luke was being ultra silly and teasing Andrew.  Brotherly "love" follows...
Andrew:  (to Luke) "You're being a butt head."
Luke: (laughing maniacally)  "No, you're a butt head!"
Kate: (in her cute, squeaky voice)  "Butt head"
Andrew: (shaking his head)  "You are all horrible children."

Moments after the 'butt head' incident...
Me:  (emailing myself the previous exchange so I don't forget it.)
Jon:  (watching me type)  "Oh, ho, she's gonna blog it!!!"(all excited and animated and silly)
Me:  "Yep, and I'm going to blog about you, too!"

Happy hump day!

A Healthy Weekend!

Oh my goodness!  It finally happened!  We had....wait for it(!).... A HEALTHY WEEKEND!

I can't believe it actually happened!

Jay spent time over the weekend making our laundry room more functional.  He cleaned out the items that belonged in the garage and then built large wooden shelves that doubled our storage space.  That room needed some serious help and this was a good start!  Now if only I can convince him to strip the wallpaper and paint it!

We got together with our friends, The Martins, on Saturday night.  It was so nice to talk to grown-ups!  (Jay and I kept commenting on that after they left.  It's amazing what isolation does to you!)  Our kiddos all had fun playing together, too!  Fun times all around:)

Sunday was Mass...and we all got to go together for the first time in a while.  Sunday night was supposed to be dinner out for our future brother-in-law's birthday, but his mom was sick so they had to cancel.  My in-laws still wanted to go out so we kept the dinner reservations.  Great food and more talking to grown-ups.

Today is much warmer and sporting some sunshine.  My friend, Carol, should be by any minute so we can get in a walk outside.  I know that this weather won't be staying, but I am taking advantage of it while it's here.

It's amazing how some sunshine and the ability to walk outside without your teeth chattering make such a big difference in one's mood!

I need to set up walking times with my friends once spring comes to get some exercise in!  I do not enjoy exercise but I know it's important.  I don't mind walking...especially with friends...so hopefully when the weather warms up I can make walking times a permanent part of my schedule!

I hope your week is off to a good start!

Another Crazy Week!

We made it to Friday!  What a weird week this has been!  

1. Fever Free!

I am thrilled to report that for the first time in a week our entire house is fever free!  With cautious optimism, I am hoping to remain illness free through the weekend!  After the last 7 weeks, that feels like a monumental task!  We even....wait for it...have plans(!).  My sister-in-law texted me last night and invited Jay and I out to dinner to celebrate her fiance's birthday at my favorite restaurant. 

Fever free and a date night...idk, seems too good to be true!

2. Pretend Play

You know your house has been sick a lot when...

the 2 year old is doing pretend play with her toy kitty saying the kitty is sick and having it 'throw up' in a bucket!  Then she comforts the kitty by rubbing its back and saying, "good, kitty".  

At least she has empathy!

3. Cute Moments Captured

Luke was "reading" How the Grinch Stole Christmas, and Kate wanted to be close to Luke and listen to the story more than she wanted to get dressed!

4.  Back to School

Mike headed back to Assumption on Monday.  For the most part, his visit went really well!  I am actually sad that he is gone and miss having him around.  Having him away at school is such a change....and we are still wondering how many of our older boys will be living at their colleges come September!

5.  College News

Speaking of college, Jon has heard from two of the colleges he got into regarding financial aid.  He got a package that covered about half of the tuition at his dream school.  (Unfortunately, that 'other half' is still around $30,000!  ugh!)  

He also found out that he got a merit scholarship from our local state university that he applied to that gives him pretty much a free ride for four years as long as he maintains a 3.2 GPA!  We are very proud of him!

Now, we are waiting for school #3 to send us their information.  

Andrew is still working on his transfer applications, (bc he is very unhappy where he is this year), and then we will be waiting for answers for him, too!  

Exciting and overwhelming all at the same time!

6 & 7.  Before and After

So, way back in November, I mentioned that we were repainting our kitchen cabinets and adding a backsplash and painting our family room.  The cabinets got painted pretty quickly, but the backsplash took longer to get up.(Thanks to my sister and her friend for doing the backsplash!)  Then, I measured wrong so we ran out of tile and I had to order more.  

I have been waiting to share the pics until it was completely finished, but realistically, if I wait until the moldings are up or I order the big stencil that I want for a feature wall in the family room we will be ready to re-do the kitchen again!  So...here are some before and afters.(please ignore the dirty dishes in the sink!)   

before

after

before

after!
I love the new cabinet color!  It brightens up the space a lot!
The back splash is fun and brings in sage green in the glass tiles:)

before

after
I should have looked at the original camera angle that I took!
We painted the island a shade of green for a "pop" of color.
The color ties into the backsplash, too!
See, honey, all those hours watching HGTV aren't wasted!

Have a fun..and healthy...weekend!

With God, All Things Are Possible!

What a crazy week!  Strep throat, snow storm, no school because of snow storm, a cancelled trip to D.C. to attend the March for Life for Jay and the older kids....This week has felt more like a month than a week!

There's been lots of disappointment to go around!

We are mostly on the mend here, but Ellie is having a hard time kicking this strep throat.  I'm going to try some natural treatments along with her antibiotic.  I proclaim war on illness!

Today, bedding will be washed(again), and I will wipe down every handle in the house(again)!

I just want everyone to be healthy!

Winter blues seem to have taken up residence in our house.  Having their much anticipated trip cancelled was very discouraging to Jay, Andrew, Jon and Sarah.  Jay has spent many, many hours working on talks to give to the youth group at different points of the long bus ride down to D.C.  It's a very inspiring trip...and of course lots of fun for the kids to spend many hours with their closest friends.  Sarah probably took it the hardest.  She is very driven by the pro-life cause and going to the March was very important to her.

I did not do a very good job trying to foster a positive atmosphere in my home this week.  In fact, I may have won the "Queen Negativity" crown for the week.  That's not exactly the crown I am after:(  Never is it more evident at the effect's of mom's mood than when I'm cranky and it spreads to everyone on the house faster than....well, strep throat!

It's hard to be a mom in the midst of many illnesses.  Just that alone is a lot to handle...and this winter has been a tough one for us!  Strep is not our first rodeo of the winter!

My tolerance to deal with it just isn't as high as it usually is.  (Although, even in my best emotional year, a winter like this would have me crying in a corner at some point!)

I've got a few kinks in my emotional armor this year.  The all over the place emotions make it easy to keep my focus down and small and negative.  I feel like positive change won't happen, or that it is too hard and there's no way that I can actually do it so why even bother trying.

My word for the year is "Wish", yet even thinking about creating goals and having dreams just seems overwhelming and pointless.  I know I need goals and dreams...beyond getting the laundry done each day(because, really, that's such a fruitless dream because the laundry is never done!)

The other day, I received an invitation to a webinar in my inbox from the Women of Grace Benedicta Leadership Institute for Women..."Successfully Navigating Through a Mid-life Crisis."  I actually almost laughed out loud when I opened the email.

I'm thinking it would be a good thing for me to log into!  (stop nodding enthusiastically in agreement, Honey!)

Here's to hoping that Ellie can kick the strep and we can have a healthy weekend!  (I won't be holding my breath!...)

Oh, wait...that was negative.  With God, all things are possible!

Better!

Trying To Stay Positive

I had half of my Friday post already written but never got a chance to finish it.  It had been a whirlwind morning of grocery shopping and picking up things for the baby shower that I was supposed to host on Saturday.

Did you notice I said 'supposed to'?

Well, Friday afternoon, Luke didn't look good.  Kate already had a miserable cold,(and had been queen cranky for several days), which wasn't a huge deal since Jay was bringing all the little kids out of the house for the baby shower.  But, Luke...he just continued to fade as the day went on.  And Andrew started running a fever.  Then Luke's fever started...and he vomited right before dinner.

"Not Again!" was all I could think.

I hadn't been feeling good for most of the day either and figured I was catching the nasty cold Kate so generously shared!

I started to freak out...a lot!  I had a house full of people coming the next day, food to prep, a house to clean, and I was feeling completely discouraged that our family was getting sick....AGAIN!  I called my close friend, Mary, and tried not to completely freak out as I told her what was occurring in my house.  She generously offered to host the shower!  That took all the cleaning off my list and, with Sarah's help, I finished the desserts and prepped the food to go to Mary's house the next morning.

By Saturday morning, I was still sporting a fever and now a sore throat.  I asked Andrew if his throat hurt and it did.  Luke said his throat didn't hurt, buy when I looked at it I was 99% sure he had strep.  I got them all appointments and the strep test came out positive for everyone.

Jay and Sarah took all the food and decorations to Mary's while I was at the doctor's.  They were all lifesavers.  I called my own doctor on the way home from the pediatrician's and, thankfully, she called in an antibiotic for me!  I was dreading having to wait at urgent care with everyone so sick at home and feeling so lousy myself.

Sunday was spent on the couch or doling out antibiotics and advil!  Ellie started with a fever Saturday night, so Jay had to bring her to the doctor's after church.  She had the worst case of all:(  She is still running a fever today, but much lower than yesterday!

Ugh!  Lots of laughs around here!

I had my share of pity parties this weekend.  We have just had so many illnesses come through our house since the beginning of December.  We have had to cancel so many plans!  This weekend was supposed to be the baby shower on Saturday, then we were getting together with the Martin Family on Sunday morning for breakfast after Mass, and then my nephew's birthday party at lunch time.

I was supposed to get to talk to grown ups multiple times this weekend!

There are some years that are like this.  Sometimes there are so many viruses passed around...and so many people to get sick...that it feels like we will never be better!  I know that isn't true....but caring for sick kids, and getting sick yourself, multiple times over a winter is definitely a challenging part of motherhood!

I'm feeling like just locking us all in the house, sticking a "quarantined" sign on the door, and not coming out until spring!

I'm grateful for friends' prayers and well wishes, gifts of popsicles for the sick people and Air borne to hopefully keep the rest of the family from getting sick from my friend, Kim, and some homemade soup from my friend, Michelle.

Staying positive isn't easy right now.

I'm trying!

Selfie Photo Shoot

Jay got me an iphone for Christmas.  Most of my kids know how to work it better than I do.  Kate enjoyed her own little photo session the other day.  I'm not sharing all 114 pictures she took in less than a minute(!), but here are a few of Kate's first attempt at 'selfie's'......

What a goober...but a cute goober:)