Boots

I've been wanting a pair of cowboy boots for about a year now, and still haven't found a pair. With fall coming, I need something easy to slip on, yet different from the flats that I practically live in- note to self, I need new flats, too!

The things they say

The tv was on today and a commercial came on advertising a Dodge Ram sale. They said that if the truck didn't do everything you asked it to do, you could return it. Kate said, "So if I ask it to make me a grilled cheese, and it doesn't, then I can take it back?"

Oh, dear, you make me smile!

Sunday already

It's hard to believe that the weekend is already over. It went by too fast. I decided to start tackling some of the toys this morning and the kids "helped" somewhat. I was hoping to weed through and get rid of more, but Preston wasn't going for it, even with the prospect of new toys next month. We did manage to clear some shelf space, but still need to make room for the Playmobil school he's getting. I hope to finish that task this week and box up some more of the toys he doesn't play with.

We went to Granny and Pa's this afternoon and had a fun time. Grampy was there helping move Granny's $25 queen size bed she found at a garage sale, so the kids were glad to see him. It had been a while. We all played Life and had a good time until Kate gave up because she wasn't winning- usually, it's Preston being that way. We also flew a kite behind the Mule when the wind died down and the kids thought that was wonderful! You know, there's more than one way to fly a kite!

Today was Preston's last day of ear drops. After 3 1/2 weeks of drops 3 times a day, I can say that I am SO glad to be finished! And I know that Preston is just as glad! Now we wait and see if the infection returns. I pray that it doesn't. Right now, I have a cold, and when we got to Granny's tonight, Nan and Grampy both had colds/sinus infections. If he gets sick, we will be right back at square one. The poor child can not make it through a cold without his ears taking the brunt of it, even with tubes. It's 100% predictable. And if he does get a cold with an ear infection, that complicates matters because we need to know if it's from that cold, or if it's this pre-existing one we're trying to conquer. I hate to be a negative Nellie, but it's just too hard to be positive with his ears.

I hope everyone has a great week!

Monkey Joe's

Today, we loaded up in Pa's van with little Glen in tow, and headed to Monkey Joe's. My kids had never been. Seth and Diana had taken Glen and he loved it, so he was excited to be going back. My kids were just excited to be doing something with Glen! They love that little guy to pieces! This place was really pretty neat! They had so much fun climbing and sliding! Preston was sopping wet by the time we stopped! The only downside was that once you left, you couldn't come back- even though our bands said we could be there until 3:00. We went before lunch and by 12:30, the kids were starving and we had to go find some lunch. They were right there at the door to cut our bands off. The kids were disappointed, but I think they were tired enough that they really didn't dwell on it. I think eating lunch at a park in O'Fallon made them forget all about it. We had to take Glen home after that and they really didn't want to see him go.

MJ's is definitely a place that we will be returning to. It would be perfect this winter after being stuck inside and bored.

LISTEN!

For the past several days, Preston has had some MAJOR issues with not listening. Maybe I should say that it's more like outright defiance, and I don't know where it's come from or why, but I'm ready for it to stop NOW!

I don't know if it's having to do with school, or what. He says he likes school and his teacher, and today, he came skipping out to me! He was in such a great mood! I was thinking, "This is going to be a great afternoon!" While we were waiting for Kate to get out (she gets out 15 minutes later), I let him unstrap while we were parked. He knows he's not allowed in the front seat, so he leans up front and opens the sunroof. I objected at first, but figured it was OK for it to be open. Well, bad move because he then proceeded to stand on the center console stick his head out. I firmly told him to get down. Had it not been for all of the other cars beside us, I would have said it louder and probably given him a good tug on his arm, but I didn't. He just kept standing there with his head out. So he got in trouble for that one. Once we got home, he reached up front and grabbed my cell, which he knows is not allowed to be played with. When I asked for it back, he danced around the backseat dodging my hand which trying to find ringtones. He got mad when I took it from him and turned it off, and then I lost it. I was MAD. I can't say that the rest of the evening went much better, and he spent a lot of time in the corner. He has no tv or video game privelleges through the weekend, and we may not go to Monkey Joe's tomorrow if he even gives me the slightest bit of trouble come morning. We had a long chat tonight about his attitude and that I am not putting up with any more. I have a feeling it's going to be a rough week or so of punishments before this gets better. It better get better, or this momma is gonna lose her mind.

Done!

Painting the sunroom has been on my to-do list since we moved in. After all of the painting we did before we moved, I was so burned out that I didn't pick up a paint brush for over a year. Then it just kept getting put off, and since it's not insulated and has 14 windows, it gets HOT, so doing it over the summer was out. But today, the weather was FANTASTIC! It didn't even get out of the 70's! In fact, I had all the windows open at 6:00 this morning and the house cooled down enough to not even run the a/c the entire day! YES! Cheaper electric bills!

Anyway, what I thought would be a quick project, turned out not to be. I finally quit around noon because I was starving and needed to get some other things done before I picked up the kids. I did end up going up and finishing it while they had their 30 minute game time, and it looks SO much better. Christopher couldn't tell a difference since I painted it the same color (white), but the sills are no longer stained from rain coming in, and I covered up all of the holes I filled in. Now to buy some curtain rods and hang the curtains that have been sitting for two months... I'll show a picture then. I figured a before and after today wouldn't really be too exciting. Now that it has a fresh coat of paint, I need to take out all of the windows and screens and hose them off. Let's see if that one gets done! ;)

Very busy day

Today flew by like a flash. It seemed like one thing happened right after another, but it was a great day!

Yesterday we went downtown mattress shopping for the kids. Let me tell you that the highlight of the trip was not the mattresses, but the early 1900's elevator in this 100+ year-old building. It was awesome! You know me, I love anything historical, so this was just too cool. I took the time to show the kids the quality of the old glass and the architecture, which they thought was neat. But this elevator was so old school. It was completely wooden and the elevator shaft was enclosed by wooden slats. The door was just your ordinary swinging door made from the same slats instead of the sliding doors on modern elevators. This thing was just as smooth and fast as any modern elevator, yet it was all original. Testimony to the fact that they just don't make things today like they used to! Even if you're not needing new furniture, go down to Allen's and pretend you're looking for mattresses so you can ride the elevator to the third floor! Anyway, the kids got new mattresses and they were delivered today. HOLY COW! I didn't take into account just how high these new ones were until they were on their beds. I can't say that I like them that high, and I pray that Preston doesn't fall out of bed (I even told him to make sure he didn't). The kids thought they were so neat when they got home from school! Preston didn't want to sleep in his, though, and asked me to get his old one back, but it's long gone!

We've been needing to get our driveway sealed this summer and Christopher didn't want to do it. I talked to a guy last week that is supposed to be coming to give us an estimate but he has yet to show. So I ran to Wal-Mart this morning and then to the hardware store, and as I was leaving, I get a call asking me to run to the bank to get some cash because the guy was there and Christopher liked his price. I was a little skeptical because there was a guy that was doing our neighbor's drive this morning, but since this one guy was supposed to be stopping by, I figured it was him. So not correct. As I go over the hill, I see a red truck in our driveway and it was the same guy that did our neighbor's. So of you know the trouble we had when some guy just stopped by 3 years ago, screwed up our driveway royally and left with our money, and the lengths we went to with the BBB and the State's Attorney General trying to track this guy down (they never found him). So I was not too pleased. Christopher assured me he would not let this guy leave without making sure he was 100% pleased. He actually did a very nice job. Keith stopped by while he was here and agreed that he did a good job. He says he'll be back in a few days to make sure everything turned out OK and to fix anything that's not. We have his name and number!

Preston had a dentist appointment this afternoon and got to get out of school a little early. That made his day! Everything looked great and he got his picture taken for the "no cavity club" book. He was so proud!

Tomorrow I get to paint the sunroom, and I'm not looking forward to it. I'm only doing it because Christopher's wanting me to get the curtains hung out there and it needs painted first. Plus, it's supposed to be cool tomorrow, so that's a plus! I am SO loving this weather we're having! Highs of only 80 are much welcomed after 100! I am so ready for fall!

Back into the routine

Since school started last Friday, we've made a surprising swing back into our old routine. It's still hard to rouse them for breakfast, but so far this year, they've done a really good job of getting ready on time. The past 2 days we've been ready 20 minutes early! And this year, instead of it being Kate that's dawdling, it's Preston. I feel like I'm constantly on him, "Clear your spot from the table, get dressed, brush your teeth..." But we're only 3 days into it, so I'm sure he'll get better once he's used to the routine.

I've been enjoying my time with the kids at school. I miss them, and the house is too quiet, but it's nice. I've been able to get a lot of things accomplished that I had been putting off. I cleaned under their "shop" (play store) today and I wish I'd taken a picture of everything- bouncy balls, Easter egg halves, several hundred dollars of play money... I also cleaned out the play kitchen. Now i need to tackle the toy boxes before I have a garage sale and before Preston's birthday next month. It's much better to do that when they're gone. ;)

I really want to find some volunteer activities to help occupy my time as well. I really want to do Meals on Wheels. I remember my great-grandma doing that when I was little and ever since, it's been something I've wanted to do. I have such a soft spot for elderly people. I need to find some volunteer activities that I can do with the kids as they're getting a little ungrateful for what they have, and I think they need to see first-hand just how fortunate they are. This Christmas we will be helping with the Coat and Shoes project that my grandpa started with his church group, am I am hopeful that this will help with that.

Aliens

Lately I've been trying to watch this series I recorded called Ancient Aliens on the History Channel. I've been a long-time believer that there are other beings out there somewhere in the universe, so this has been an interesting series. Long, but interesting!

Back when I was in high school, I had an experience the really cemented this belief and it's something I remember clear as day. My boyfriend at the time and I were out one night and could find nothing to do. If you're familiar with this town, you know that the only thing for us "kids" to do was cruise town, and on this particular night, no one was out. We decided to just go out to the marina, park and talk (and yes, talking was all we did). It was the middle of winter, so there were no boats on the lake, and no one else at the marina. We were parked facing the lake. At one point we noticed a very bright, circular light from across the lake. I remember mentioning something about the light, and then rather quickly, the light started coming toward us, getting bigger and brighter as it approached. The light was coming directly toward us, not above us, and although I have no idea how, the light went through the car and disappeared. We were both so absolutely freaked out that I immediately put the car in gear and drove off. I took him straight home and neither of us could even speak. I have no doubt in my mind what that light was. How that light came to us and went "through" my car without the slightest sound or anything is beyond me. But I know that we were TERRIFIED!

Of course, no one believed our story, even though we both experienced it. I know I'll never forget it. Then next time I see Daniel, I'll have to ask him if he remembers that night!

Storms

Friday night, around 12:30 (I guess that would be Sat. morning), Preston had woken me up because it was storming- he's terrified of storms. I went up to lie down with him and minutes later, the power went out. If he's scared of storms, he's even more scared when the power goes out. Then Christopher was up and on a mission to get the generator hooked up to the sump pump so that our basement wouldn't flood like it has before. So while I'm trying to help Christopher, Preston is upstairs crying because I was downstairs. Not pleasant in the middle of the night. We got the generator running and I went up to lie down and hopefully get Pres back to sleep. Without the A/C, it was HOT! I laid at the foot of his bed because it was too hot to lie next to him. I can't go to sleep with the generator running, even though it's outside. It scares me. So I laid in the pitch black until around 2:10 when the power came back on. I was SO glad to see electricity! We got Preston settled (he was fine once the lights were on) and the generator unplugged, etc. I still didn't get to sleep until 3:00 because I was wide awake, and I was TIRED all day Saturday! I did sneak a nice nap while the kids nicely watched a tv show and felt much better afterward!

This afternoon we headed down to my brother and sister-in-law's house for the afternoon. They'd gotten a new bedroom suite that was in, and since Seth got "snipped" Friday, he was unable to get it in and needed help. The kids were beyond excited to get to play with Glen. They absolutely love that little guy! They tore through their basement playroom like a tornado! I made them pick up several times, but within minutes, toys were everywhere! I imagine they were glad to see us go! We hadn't seen them since fourth of July weekend, so it was nice to visit. Little Cooper has gotten SO big- he didn't even look like the same baby! He's just on the verge of sitting up and tries so hard to crawl. I have a feeling he'll be walking around 8 months like his big brother! Wow!

Tomorrow is their first "full" day of school. They get out at 2:00 through labor day due to heat since two of the schools in town aren't air conditioned- one of which is Preston's. I still don't understand why they don't just keep them in school an extra two weeks at the end of the year than to send them back when it's 95+ and let them out early. It's just too hot. I've got a water bottle in the freezer to send with Preston, so hopefully that will help a little. Next year he'll have a/c...

First day of school!

It's nothing short of a miracle that on the first day, we were all up and ready EARLY! I made doughnuts this morning, which Kate later told Granny were "pretty awesome." WTG mom! I could hardly get either of them out of bed, but the lure of doughnuts got them up. And the first day wouldn't be complete without pictures! Check out Preston and his Beatles backpack! I thought about having him wear his Beatles shirt, but with the backpack, folders and notebook, I thought that would be overkill.
My handsome first-grader!
Someone thinks she's too cool for school (or at least first day pictures).

Kate had a flip out on our way out the door about where her classes were, and getting lost, and that in turn freaked Preston out. Kate protested getting out of the car, which only made it worse. So when I went to take Preston in, he refused to get out of the car. Nice... I eventually got him out, him very unhappy, and into school. He plopped down in a chair in the office while I signed in and Macie's dad commented that he didn't look too happy! Macie was all smiles and glad to be back! She's such a sweetie! Preston cried when I left him, and I felt so bad. He didn't even cry in kindergarten! By the time I picked him up, he was better and happily told me about his day and seeing his friends, and that he liked his teacher. Yay! He was a little sad that the other kids got candy because she didn't know what was OK for him, so she told him Monday he gets double candy! That made his day! Kate had a good day too, and quite a few of her friends are in her classes. She didn't get lost, either!

All in all, it was a good day!

Weekly picnics

Our weekly picnics were a lot of fun! We enjoyed figuring out different places to have them. We had a few repeats, but overall, we tried to find different spots each time. I didn't include pictures from our first 2 picnics- the first we forgot the camera and the second was in our backyard.
6/16 Ramsey Lake State Park. The kids really liked this picnic! Driving through the wooded hills and valleys reminded us of our trip to Gatlinburg last summer. We played at the lake, had a photo shoot, and enjoyed a cool day.
6/24 Shrine Club. Possibly our favorite spot! We spent a lot of time at the lake playing in the water and building castles in the mud.
6/28 Effingham park. Back to Effingham park with more time to play this time. We played in the creek, on the slides, and around the ball park.
7/14 Effingham park... again. After a mishap trying to find a Burger King in Mattoon and Charleston, we had to fore-go our picnic at Mattoon Lake and settled for EP again.
7/23 Ruemellin Park. We enjoyed a nice lunch at the park before going swimming. It was HOT that day!
7/27 Ballard's Nature Center. The kids always enjoy going here. We spent a while inside the nature center doing all kinds of neat things before heading out to eat. The kids liked seeing turtles swimming in the pond and wished the could get out there with them!
8/1 St. Louis Arch. Nan and Granny joined us for this picnic! Directly behind Granny's head (in black) was the homeless man that we made a lunch for.
8/6 Rogier Park. A fairly cool day allowed us to go to the park and take along the bikes. They had so much fun riding that they really didn't play! Preston fell in the creek.
8/11 Children's Museum of Illinois, Decatur. Taking the trip that Preston missed with his class when he had pneumonia. He loved it! I still wish we hadn't missed that trip!
8/19 Marina. Our last picnic. Preston insisted I be in the picture, too. HOT, but fun!

Good-bye Summer

Today we said good-bye to summer break. It was bittersweet. As much as I know they are ready for school (i.e. they won't stop fighting), I'm not ready for them to go back. It's been a nice summer. It went by too quickly, though. Funny, it doesn't seem like tomorrow is school. It feels like any old Thursday.

Preston woke up this morning fever-free. I still have NO clue what was the cause as he never did get any other symptoms, but he was feeling great this morning and I was thrilled! I was afraid he'd be missing his first day tomorrow- taking after Kate, who missed her first day of kindergarten due to strep.

We had the last of our weekly picnics today, which was also sad. We've enjoyed them so much and have traipsed all over central Illinois finding new and fun places to have lunch and play. It is definitely on next summer's agenda already! We headed out to the marina and spent some time by the lake. It was HOT again, but we didn't mind. The kids played at the park, Preston lost a shoe in the lake, which I retrieved with a stick, and we had a fun lunch. I'm planning a post of all of our weekly picnics, and if you're lucky, I'll do it tonight!

I still can't believe the kids will be off to school in the morning. I'm dreading the alarm! I'll be up early, though, to make doughnuts for their first day. I'll enjoy a little quiet time to myself before picking them up. I know Granny and Pa will miss them coming up in the morning. They've enjoyed watching them on Fridays, and I'm so thankful they offered to watch them while I grocery shopped.

Good-bye, summer!

ME!

In order to lighten the mood around here, I'll post a little bit about me! I stumbled across Melissa's blog through Kelly's Korner, and I love reading about her sweet little boy, Grayson. She posted a post all about her, which you can find here.

ME!

• I am a stay-at-home mom and have been full-time since 6 weeks before Preston was born.
• I have two sweet children, Kate and Preston.
• I love home renovation- I'm always looking for something new to do!
• My favorite magazine is Better Homes and Gardens and I save all my ideas in a binder.
• I love to cook and cook from scratch almost every day.
• I have been cooking for food allergic children for 6 years.
• I an very nostalgic and love anything to do with history.
• I love photography and am honing my skills to one day do it professionally.
• I have two cats- Nonni and Zipper.
• I do not like dogs.
• I enjoy gardening until it gets hot. I had a productive garden until it hit 100 degrees, then I let it go.
• I enjoy reading Nancy Drew books with Kate every night.
• I have a brother and two sisters (who are 13 and 17 years younger than me).
• I have two nephews and twin nieces that I adore!
• I love Christmas and everything about it!
• I absolutely HATE winter.
• I enjoy a good, deep snow, until I have to get out in it.
• I watch very little tv- mainly Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives or Golden Girls.

• I love the Beatles, and my children have refused to listen to anything else for the past year. :)
• I have a degree in Political Science and am a strong Conservative.
• I CAN'T wait for election year 2012. ;)
• I have bad ears- a Eustachian tube disorder, chronic ear infections, myringosclerosis (scarred eardrums) and hearing loss.
• I have tubes just like Preston.
• I don't drink caffeine.
  

I hope you've enjoyed reading about me! I know my family knows all about me, but just because they love me so much, they get to know me all over again!

I thought we had turned a corner

Guess who's had a 100 degree temp all day. Yes, if you guessed Preston, then you win the prize (although there is none)! I can tell you that it was not a pleasant discovery with all that's been going on with his ears. I have NO idea what it causing the fever. He has absolutely no symptoms at all- he's been running around like crazy and doesn't feel bad. That leads me to believe that it's related to this infection that he's been battling. I know that he was running a temp. last Monday when I took him in, but I don't chase him around with the thermometer everyday to see if he has a temp., especially when he doesn't feel warm and feels fine, so it is entirely possible that he's had a low-grade temp since then. You'd think that being on the antibiotics would take care of that. But, it could be that he's contracted something viral in the mean time. I don't know. Dee comes over on Wednesdays to pick up the kids so I called her and asked her to bring her otoscope to look in his ears. She said they looked "moist." I'd just given him his drops shortly before that, so I'm not sure if "moist" means drops or drainage. Christopher thinks it may be a reaction to the Tobradex- I'm not so sure. If he's still running a temp tomorrow, I'll call Dr. B. and see what they say. I am SO ready to just get this over with already!

Today was another really nice day, and the fever put a stop to all the fun things I'd hoped to do. Pretty stinky being that tomorrow is the last day of break, too! Granny had called and invited us to lunch, but I had to turn that down, too. We made plans for Friday after they get out of school since they get out before lunch. They will enjoy that! Mom is wanting to go to a parade tomorrow night, but I haven't decided if we'll be going. It's 30 minutes away and doesn't start until 7:00, and being that school starts Friday, I need the kids in bed at a decent time so they won't wake up bears! Did I mention how much I'm dreading the alarm clock? I think we'll have a lazy morning tomorrow- one last one.

Turning a corner... hopefully

After starting the new drops yesterday, there was a marked improvement today! There was still a lot of junk when he woke up, and I felt like screaming (what did I think, these were magic drops?). After cleaning him up and doing his first round of drops for the day, I noticed that it wasn't dripping (You're welcome for the visuals. Just be glad you didn't actually see it). There's still some drainage, but it looks like these drops are doing something, and at this rate, anything is welcome! So today, I've felt better, more at peace. I still worry what will happen come Monday when he starts back on the Cipro. Will the drainage return? I know for a fact the infection could not have been cleared up that quickly. Christopher said it might be that the steroid in it is opening his Eustachian tubes and the junk is draining through them instead of through the tubes. Poor guy has the same problem as me- those Eustachian tubes are forever in "closed" mode. They don't open up to allow fluid to drain for anything. So yes, there is some progress, and I'm hopeful that this regimen will take care of this round, but until it's completely gone and he's off of meds, I'm still guarded.

Besides the ear drama, we've been enjoying our last week of summer break. The heat wave finally broke Sunday and we've been enjoying some great temps in the low to mid 80's! Yes, in August! We SO needed this after 2 weeks around 100! We've been outside enjoying the weather and it's been nice to let the kids go out and run off some of their steam! Granny is planning a trip to a water park somewhere this week and the kids are excited. She wanted to go yesterday, but with the ear drama, we had to stay home by the phone waiting for our instructions. I didn't plan on taking him with drippy ears anyway. So now that he's doing better, hopefully we'll be able to go later this week. He won't be too happy to go back to his wax plugs and Ear Band-it, but there's no way I'm sticking those $75 plugs in his ears and risking infection settling into them, especially if this does turn out to be MRSA- we'd have to toss them in the trash.

A good family friend passed away yesterday, and I was saddened when my dad called tonight to tell me. Ferd was like another grandpa to me, and I'm honored to have known him. There wasn't a time I saw him that he didn't give me a big hug and insist I tell him all about everything that was going on- including in the grocery store! I'll miss driving by his house this Christmas and seeing the lights that he always hangs, and seeing him sitting in his front window dressed as Santa. He was a great guy!

The plan

Well, we have a plan. It's not the plan I would have chosen, but it's a plan none-the-less, and hopefully it works.

Dr. S's nurse called this afternoon with the details. Preston is to finish his round of Biaxin, but he switched him to Tobradex drops for 7 days (they have a steroid) and then back to the Ciprodex drops for another 7 days. If that doesn't work, then he'll see him.

Can you see why this isn't my choice of plans? We're already on day 11 of this infection- never have they lasted this long with drops and antibiotics. Now we have to wait another 2 weeks to see if this works. If not, who knows how long it will take to get him in. When he had his infection in May, it was June 30th before they could get us in. I can't wait another month and a half if this infection isn't gone. VERY frustrating. I know that Dr. S. is a professional. He's never led us astray before. He's a very intelligent dr. that knows what he's doing, but it's hard to trust him in this particular situation because I'm past the point of concern. Then again, there isn't another ENT that I would trust more- he's done a LOT of work on our family!

I'm really kicking myself for not pushing a culture when I took P in to his regular dr. last week. At least then we'd know exactly what we're dealing with and how to treat it. We don't know if this is some run on the mill infection or if it's MRSA, so we're kind of paranoid about Preston touching the drainage, which he does a LOT. The last thing we need is this spreading to other parts of his body or to others in the house. I don't want to be that way.

I just feel defeated at this point. I feel exactly how I felt between the first and second set of tubes. Here he was back to having infections on a monthly basis, and Dr. S. wanted to wait to put in the new set. I KNEW he needed them. I hated the fact that he was having them so often, that he was in pain, running temps, the whole deal. Now, he has his tubes, yet we're having infections every other month and now it's not clearing up. This set is due to come out in January, and I have no clue what will come of that. Ideally for Preston, I would have him go in, take the old set out and immediately put in a new set, saving us a separate trip to the OR. I don't know if he can, or if he even will do that. He told me that the BEST thing we can do is keep him in tubes. Hopefully his history will rule harder over waiting this time around. He and I go back to Dr. S. in October and I plan to have a lengthy discussion with him over this whole situation. Right now, I'm starting to feel like maybe another ENT may be in our future, hinging on what he plans to do with his ears. A second opinion could never hurt, but it's hard to think of not going to Dr. S. He's fantastic and the kids love him. It's hard to find great doctors that genuinely love kids, and that my kids love equally.

When is enough, enough?

I know you're probably ready to run away from here screaming, "ENOUGH!" But this is, ahem, my blog, so I'll write what I want. ;) I promise that one day my posts will return to non-ear-related topics.

Ready? Preston's ears are STILL draining. His right ear is draining so much that it drips out onto his shirt, continuously. Seriously. This means that 1. these antibiotics are no longer working, or 2. this could possibly be MRSA. Not one of those options is good. With a child that's allergic to penicillin, there are very few antibiotics for him to take. Zithromax has already been kicked to the curb- it won't even touch his infections. Biaxin has been our lean-to, and has always taken care of them quickly. Clindamycin is the last-ditch effort, one we had to turn to pre-tubes because nothing else was clearing his ears (neither did it). But that's a drug that has potentially dangerous side effects for digestive tracts, and is the strongest he can take, so we really don't want to turn to it unless absolutely necessary. I can't see how Biaxin could work for one infection and not the next. You'd think there'd be a slow progression of drug resistance. I don't know, though, I'm not a doctor. The other option is MRSA, and I absolutely pray that it's not. If it is, Preston will have to have immediate surgery to remove the tubes, who knows how many rounds of antibiotics, and once fully healed, the tubes will have to be re-inserted. It's a thought I don't even want to consider.

I will be on the phone with his ENT's office first thing in the morning. It's a surgery day for Dr. S., so it will likely be afternoon before I hear from him. I imagine we'll be in for a culture. I don't know what else he'll want to do- new drops, new oral antibiotic, who knows. All I know is that I'm past the point of this just being a random infection. I'm past the point of feeling like I usually do with his infections. I'm worried. I'm scared. I need to know what's going on and what we need to do to fix it. I already feel a great deal of guilt for passing on my bad ears to him. At this point, I feel helpless. Dr. S. says we're doing absolutely the best thing for him, and all that we can do preventative-wise, but when your child still gets infections every other month despite tubes, you feel horrible.

One week

One week from today, school starts. It doesn't seem real. June crawled by. I can't tell you how many times that month I'd think they'd been out of school for weeks, but when I'd look at the calendar, it would only be a week and a half. July flew by so quickly, and as soon as Christopher said that there were only 3 weeks left, it feels like a blur.

I'm going to miss having the kids home all day. I won't miss the non-stop fighting between them, but I will miss them. It will be too quiet. I will have too much free time, although I already have a to-do list a mile long. Not to mention Preston's birthday parties to plan.

Today was the last day that the kids went to Granny and Pa's while I bought groceries. Nest week they'll be in school when I go. They've been there every Friday except for 3 occasions. I know they've enjoyed having them out, and the kids have had a blast!

I hope the last week is a great one!

For your listening pleasure

This is what gets stuck in your head after listening to Sgt. Pepper continuously for hours upon end in the car!

We survived

We survived our trip to the Children's Museum. The kids had a great time! I didn't think I'd ever get them out of there! Unfortunately, I made a wrong turn and ended up in the parking lot of the zoo, otherwise they would've never known it was there, but alas, they saw the giganto playground and the train, and we had to go. It was HOT. I told them we'd ride the train and the carousel and leave. On the way out, Preston got knocked in the mouth by a turnstile (he ALWAYS gets hurt on them), so we ended our trip on a sour note. I'm too lazy to get the camera or to share the whole story. Sorry.

Still dealing with his ears, too, which frustrates me to no end. You'd think they'd stop draining with a week's worth of drops and 4 days on oral antibiotics. I'm at a complete loss wether to call the ENT. I know it won't hurt to ask, but being that tomorrow is Friday, and he's not in his main office, he won't have his records, and I usually get him calling from his cell on his way home. Not that that is a bad thing because I get to speak with him personally, but on a Friday, I'll be told to wait until Monday to see how they are. But if by some slim chance they're able to relay my message early (if tomorrow isn't a surgery day), they may be able to squeeze us in for a culture. That being a VERY slim chance as it takes 2 months to get in to see him. Then if they'd squeeze him in and his ears are healing just fine (albeit slowly), I'll feel bad for wasting his time (and $30). Dilemmas.

Hot, hot, HOT

We are still enduring the heat wave that has been here for close to 2 weeks. Temps have hovered around 100+ and the humidity is just terrible. It takes your breath away. It's too hot to really do much of anything but stay inside. It's really kind of sad because this is the last full week before school starts and it's too hot to even swim. The pool water was 94 today, and it doesn't even cool you off. It's kind of nice using that as an excuse not to swim while Preston's ears are nasty (and still draining...), although he's not buying that excuse. Last summer it was so chilly the entire time. We only swam 2-3 times, and we spent a lot of time outdoors with the badminton net set up most of the summer. Not this year!

Tomorrow I'm taking the kids to the Children's Museum in Decatur. This is the place that Preston missed out on back in May when his kindergarten class took their field trip because he had that nasty pnuemonia. He's going to be SO excited! I let them know that I had something special planned for tomorrow and that was a mistake... They have been begging incessantly. I didn't think I'd ever get them to sleep! I don't plan on telling them until we get there. They know we're having our weekly picnic there, and Kate thinks we're going back to Ramsey Lake. Too hot! Unfortunately, it's too hot to go to the zoo next door to the museum, too, and it's free admission day to boot!

Ears and school

I ended up taking Preston in for his ears today. The right one didn't look too bad, but the left was full of green pus. He's now on Biaxin and his drops to hopefully clear this up soon. I was worried about MRSA since Dr. S. mentioned it the last time we were there. Right now, it looks like just a regular old infection, but in hindsight, I really wish I'd pushed a culture just to be sure. If it's still draining in a few days, a culture will be necessary. I tried to look online for MRSA symptoms in the ear and you can't find any. I did find a site with tons of people sharing their stories of MRSA in their ears and it probably wasn't the best thing for me to read right now. Now it really makes me wonder since he's had infections in January, March, May and August. Ugh! I hate this!

I got the kids all registered today for school. Preston got Mrs. Daniels for his teacher this year. I"m not completely pleased, though, as I haven't heard many good things from other moms. Dee assured me that everyone she's talked to had rave reviews, and that she will be good for him. I hope so. Kate starts switching classes, so she doesn't have just one. All of them except for her band teacher are new to her, so this will definitely be a big change. Hopefully it goes better than last year with Mrs. Kelly!

Coffee

I was reading in my magazine the other day about a woman that gives tours of Seattle's coffee district and it really made me think about what the big deal about coffee is. I do NOT, will not drink coffee in any form. I think it's just plain nasty. I don't even like deserts that have coffee in them- I can taste it and it just ruins it.

So what really IS the big deal about coffee? Why is it that people will go to Starbucks and pay $5+ for a cup of coffee? Why is it that Seattle, 1. has a "coffee district," and 2. gives tours of it? It's just coffee! You don't see that with any other drink.

Just thinking out loud.

Ready

This afternoon we went with my mom to buy school supplies. We're all set. Almost... Of course, it's par for the course that our Wal-Mart will not have everything. Last year, they did not have the Crayola or Prang water colors. They HAD to be that brand or the art teacher will deduct their grades. This year, they didn't have Glue-All. They can't have washable school glue, and of course, that's all they had.

I bought Preston a lunch box yesterday and was ready to order his bento box from Pottery Barn Kids. Lo and behold, the box is bigger than his lunch box. Sigh. I search around for smaller ones, and can't find them. So now it looks like I'll be finding him a different lunch box, which of course, there aren't any around here. Living in the middle of nowhere is not always fun.

Did I mention Preston's ears the other day? I'm too lazy or I'd go back and look. Well, they've been draining since Thursday. I've been using the drops, but they're still bad- especially the left. It had tons of green junk sitting in it, and the smell about knocks you down. So it seems that we'll be making a trip to Dr. B. tomorrow for antibiotics. This makes 4 times since January. Poor guy.

Shop til we drop

Whew! Today we went shopping with Grandma Lou, Grammy and Aunt Jessie. No babies, no boys, just girls. We had a blast! We always have fun when we all go shopping together, but today was nice to just have the girls. We did SO much shopping! It was crazy! We came home with bags and bags of clothes which are now being washed. We were unable to find any tennis shoes for Preston, but he insists on wearing his boots again (with shorts), so I'm not too concerned. He has regular Converse to wear, too.

Tomorrow we go buy school supplies and then we'll be done. Monday morning is registration. I'm eager to find out who Preston's teacher will be. Kate will begin changing classes this year, so she'll have a whole array of teachers. I think that will be very good for her. Last year, having Mrs. K. the whole time was BAAAAAAAAD. It ruined her entire year. I hope this year goes much better!

It's official

Although I'm not ready for school to start, today made it perfectly clear that it is time. The kids have been around each other for too long. They can't play nicely for more than a few minutes. Everything is a fight. It's time.

School starts two weeks from Friday. I am so NOT ready. I'm ready for some quiet time, but that comes with a price. That means waking up at 6:00, packing lunches, making breakfast, and trying to get everyone out the door by 8:00. It also means 3:30 rush with two kids begging for a snack, book bags to go through and homework- for two this year. I'm not looking forward to the alarm clock or homework. I had to set the alarm Monday and I was dragging the entire day. I couldn't stop yawning. I am not a morning person.

Saturday we're going school shopping. Sunday we're buying school supplies. We're incredibly blessed that have grandmas that insist on helping us out this time of year, and we're so thankful for them! Ready or not, school's coming.

The Arch

Preston had never been up in the Arch before, and Kate really wanted to go again, so she kept mentioning it to my mom and she decided it would be a fun trip before school starts. Granny came along, too, so we had a fun time. Kate asked me to take a picture of the skyline as we crossed the river. Her camera died in the car due to the kids watching videos on it at 6:00 this morning (more on that one...).

For some reason, Kate decided that she was afraid of heights. It's totally not true at all- you can't keep that child out of any tree. But for some reason, she kept saying she was dizzy and wobbly-kneed before we even went up in the tram. Inside, she had such a tight grip on my wrist that I made her let go because she was hurting me. Once at the top, though, her "fear" instantly vanished and she had a blast.
Looking straight down! I thought this shadow was really neat. It was the perfect time of day and it just worked out.
Preston gazing out over the East side. He really enjoyed this experience.
St. Louis skyline. The kids kept asking me to show them the hospital Christopher works at, but it was too far out. They really liked seeing inside the new Busch Stadium (they LOVE the Cards) and were begging to go to the game. It's funny, but if you click on the picture and enlarge it, look to the right and you can see the in-field of the old Busch. It's nothing but a little ball field now.

The kids and my mom on the steps to the Arch.
We walked down the steps to the Landing and walked along back to the parking garage. I HAVE to go back there for a photo shoot. It was perfect. I wish I'd had more time to really take more time for photos. The river was up a lot, so the kids got to dip their feet into it. The Lewis and Clark statue was underwater except for the hat!

We went to the Science Center after the Arch. I didn't really take many pictures there because I was too busy watching my kids and making sure no one snatched them. It was so busy. They had fun, though. We watched the Omnimax Under the Sea movie and I fell asleep for part of it. I was SO worn out! We left as soon as the movie was over. We were so glad to be going home!

On the way to the Arch, we walked past a homeless man asleep on a park bench. I immediately felt the need to pray for this man. On our way back to the car, he was still there. We had a picnic lunch near him and my heart felt really sad for this man. I have no idea what his situation is- if he'd fallen on hard times or was homeless because of poor decisions, but I really felt for him. After we ate, mom and I made him a sandwich and packed him some chips and a bottle of water, and left it on his bench. He was still asleep (or at least we think he was) when we left. I just hope he woke up before his sandwich went bad- chicken salad in 90 degree heat might not have been the best option, but I really felt I needed to do something. And I'm no stranger to homelessness. We live in an impoverished county. I see them holding signs, I see them living in their truck. I see the work my mom does with the school district on behalf of homeless students. I see my grandpa with his Coats and Shoes program every Christmas, providing them with shoes and coats. But there was just something about seeing him lying on that bench asleep that tore at my heart. It sickened me to see people taking pictures of him, and stopping to stare. I was grateful to have the kids with me, though, so that they could witness this. To see him, to see us doing something to help him, and giving them an opportunity to realize how blessed they really are. I pray for this man, and I hope that he feels God's presence today.

And I realize this is so out of order. Preston woke up at 5:00 this morning with a cold. ugh. He didn't have a temp, so we still went on our trip (obviously). The alarm went off at 6:00 so that I could get up, and both kids got up too. I tried to send them back to bed, but they only sat and looked at videos on Kate's camera until breakfast. So Preston was TIRED! He slept the entire way home and did not want to go to bed tonight. Hopefully he feels better tomorrow.

Back to normal

We are finally back moved in upstairs after almost 3 weeks of being "displaced." Our basement is back to normal and now looks huge with everything gone! The kids have been happy to be able to get to their toys again and away from video games and tv non-stop- seriously, their toys were completely blocked in except for the game cabinet and it was too hot to go out. Ah! It's nice to be able to use the living/dining room again. Everything is back in place and it looks like the same room, but with a different floor, yet it looks totally different. Saturday night we sat down to dinner in our dining room and it was really surreal. It had been nearly 3 weeks since we'd eaten there, but I realized as I looked to my left and saw Preston, that it had been since April since he'd sat beside me. When the woodpile came in, his seat had to move to the end of the table. It was nice to have him there again.

The floors are still driving me nuts. If left up to me, we'd still be downstairs. They're not 100% dry. For the most part, it is good. The main issue remaining are the little balls of wet poly creeping up between the boards. They get stuck to your feet, and swiffering remains impossible because as soon as you hit one of those balls, it pops off and dust sticks to the tacky spot. Ugh! Another call to Minwax assured me that they were drying and they would eventually dry completely- even the balls. I'm being overly cautious with them, and every little thing scares me- the remote falling off the couch, Preston hopping, the cat speeding through...

Tomorrow should be a fun and busy day.