Last week, I talked about some changes I wanted to make in my home life. Well, its been a week since I wrote that, and I can happily say I am well on my way to making those changes! Not all of them, mind you. But hey, you gotta start somewhere, right?
Every morning now, while I'm eating my peanut butter toast, I've been doing a Bible study instead of scrolling through facebook. (Well, technically, I do both. My Bible study only takes a few minutes. I don't rush it, but when I'm done, then I allow myself to check facebook/instagram.) I'm reading through a study called "The Excellent Wife Day By Day." I think that's the title. I've blogged about it before. I really like it. I actually started it earlier this year, but forgot about it, so I just picked up where I left off a few months ago.
I've been a LOT better about not using my "technology" once I'm home with C. "Technology" meaning the iPad (unless I need to look up a recipe). Once I consciously decided to stop looking at it so much, it wasn't too hard to enforce the new rule. When I get home, I turn the iPad to silent, so I don't hear when I get new e-mails or facebook messages. It goes on the shelf next to my rocking chair, and I don't touch it until I sit down to rock C. During the week, this rule hasn't proven to be very hard for me to follow, but it was tougher on the weekend, for some reason. I found myself picking up the iPad several times over the weekend when I could have been doing something more productive. But, I was better than I normally am, so that's something!
So far, I haven't been able to get back into meal planning yet. DH knows I want to do it, and I say every day that I'm gonna start. I haven't quite found the time to start yet, though. Hopefully tonight. Actually, I fully intended to make a meal plan on Sunday night. I went to the grocery store and got a bunch of good staples like chicken. But C has been pretty sick - more on that in a minute - so that's been preventing me from doing anything "extra" these past few days. Hopefully tonight I can complete at least Phase 1 of meal planning - making a list of everything that's in the freezer, fridge, and pantry so I can begin to formulate meals based on what we have. That's how I started last time, and it really worked. Then, once I use up what we already have, I can make plans and shop based on that.
Budgeting hasn't happened yet, either, for the same reasons listed above. I'm not stressing about it, though. I'll get to it eventually.
So here's the real purpose of this post. I said that C has been pretty sick. Well, she actually has pneumonia. Thankfully, we caught it before it became too serious. Her and I have both been sick with sinus infections for several weeks now. Both of us were on antibiotics. The drugs didn't help me much, and 4 weeks later I am still congested. C got better, but then last week started to get worse again. I just assumed her sinus infection hadn't been cleared up, and maybe she needed another antibiotic. She was acting just fine, so I decided to wait a few more days and see if she got over it on her own.
Saturday, she seemed pretty tired and cranky off and on, but that's not too unusual for her on the weekends, so I didn't think much of it. Sunday morning, she was acting like herself, and she had a good time in her Sunday School class. During church, she started feeling bad, and wanted me to hold her, which is highly unusual for my child. After her nap, she seemed much better, so we played outside for a few hours. But that afternoon, she started coughing more and more, and by that night she was coughing almost nonstop. I still figured it was just allergies/sinus infection. As the night wore on, she felt worse and worse. We did everything we could to stop her coughing and make her feel better, but nothing helped. Finally, she fell asleep while I was rocking her. I noticed she was breathing very rapidly, but I didn't know what to think about it..
Yesterday morning, I took C to the walk in clinic at her pediatrician. She got a breathing treatment because her lungs sounded "junky." After that, the doctor made the diagnosis - pneumonia! She said it was because her sinus infection didn't clear up. So I was partly right. We left with a prescription for another antibiotic and an inhaler. She's already doing much better than she was, though my mother-in-law says she's not eating today and is laying around more than usual. Hopefully it won't take her long to get back to normal.
But during this time of her being so sick and not wanting to eat much, I am so thankful that she is still breastfeeding. Yes, she will be 3 years old next month (woah!) and she still breastfeeds. And I'm not ashamed of it. I don't flaunt it. I don't make a point to tell everyone I know. Mainly because most people just don't get it and think its gross. Its not gross to me. Its just natural. C hasn't shown any signs of being ready to wean, and I haven't felt the need to make her. If it ain't broke, why fix it, right? I plan to post more about breastfeeding soon, but for now I'm just thankful for it. Because even when she's not eating, I can still know that at least she's getting nutrients from my breast milk, and she's getting awesome immune system-building stuff (technical, huh?). She's been asking for milk a little more than usual the past few days, and I've just been going with it. If it makes her feel better, and provides her with some nutrition, why not?
Showing posts with label sickness. Show all posts
Showing posts with label sickness. Show all posts
11.12.2013
8.26.2013
Weekend Recap and Other Awesomeness
Ugh, I am SO unmotivated today! Mainly because I can't take a decent breath. I don't know if I've pulled a muscle from all my coughing spells over the past 10 days, or if I have pleurisy (which I get all the dang time, so you'd think I'd know), or bronchitis, but my right lung/chest HURTS when I breathe. I'm still coughing, though not as frequently as I was last week. I can now breathe through my nose, though I still have to blow it quite a bit. I guess not being able to breathe deeply makes you tired, cause I have no energy today.
Yesterday afternoon, I ran around in the yard with C, kicking balls. It was fun, but man did it wear me out! Am I goin to the doctor? Nah, probably not. If I thought I had a sinus infection I'd be there to get some drugs, but I don't think they can do anything for this right now. So unless I get a whole lot worse, I'll just complain about it. :P (Just kidding, complaining will cease now!)
We had a great weekend. Saturday morning, me and C headed to town to find some tap shoes. On Friday during my lunch break, I went to the consignment store and bought her some tap shoes, but they ended up being too small. I also got a few leotards and skirts, which thankfully fit just fine - yay for consignment! I found some ballet slippers at Target, and they were too small as well.
Of course, Once Upon A Child (consignment) didn't have any tap shoes in C's size, but luckily I got a full refund. Next, we hit up Michael's, where I scored some ribbon on clearance for $1. I made a beautiful hair bow for her, and forgot to take a picture (haha). I'll try to get on that (and a bow tutorial) soon! We exchanged the ballet slippers at Target for a larger brand, then went on a search for tap shoes.
Luckily, we hit pay dirt at Payless. C is totally in love with her shoes and wants to wear them all the time. And I have to say, she's pretty much a natural at tapping. ( :
Hopefully that video will play! If not, here's a still:
She tapped all over the house for me, and after her long nap (in her CRIB!!), we went to my mama's house, where she tapped for her, my cousin, and my grandma. I love that kid. ( :
Yesterday, she was alternating between the tap shoes and the ballet slippers to dance for her daddy - so cute.
After church yesterday, we headed to my aunt's for a birthday lunch for my cousin. We had a good time, and got to eat some of my aunt's delicious chocolate pound cake with cream cheese icing! Yum. Of course, we stayed over there through nap time, and when we got home, C wasn't about taking a nap. So her and I played outside while DH worked on the chicken and rabbit pens.
C and I had so much fun playing outside. We played with the balls, she rode her tricycle, we swung on the swingset, and she had a blast on the slide. I cherish times like that. Then one of DH's friends stopped by to show us what he bought at the livestock sale that morning, and somehow we ended up with 6 guinea keets! When they get big enough, we'll turn them loose so they can eat bugs around the farm. Our farm will never be quiet again! If you're not familiar with guineas, they are LOUD - like, obnoxiously loud.
Anyway, after we got over our new bird excitement (note my sarcasm), C and I hopped on Sunshine bareback. Then C kicked me off so she could ride by herself, haha. I didn't feel up to giving her a "lesson," so I just walked around with her. She didn't care! I'm so glad she loves horses already. ( :
Speaking of birds, our baby ducks are still going strong! Well, 8 of them are. We lost 1, but that was expected cause he was very weak. I'm happy. Mama duck is doing a great job at protecting them. They hang out in the pond a lot, but have also been hanging out around the chicken pens - which is pretty farm from the pond, so they must be strong babies.
All in all, it was an excellent weekend. The only thing that would have made it better if is I had felt better. But I can't complain, since it was a drastic improvement from the previous weekend, when I couldn't do anything but hack and blow my nose.
At church yesterday, my pastor preached on Psalm 121. This is my favorite Psalm, and probably my favorite Bible verses. I'd never heard a sermon on it, and I was impressed.
This Psalm has gotten me through some tough times in my life. It reminds me that God is always there for me. My pastor's message was about much more than that fact, though.
It inspired me to be better about my Bible reading and studies. Well, I should say it inspired me to DO it again. Sadly, I've really gotten off track with that. At the beginning of this year, I was reading the Bible daily with my Bible In One Year app, plus I was doing other random studies through books I found. I also read several books about building a closer relationship to God. I'm not sure what happened, but I stopped doing all that gradually. Its just easier to read "fun" things, like trashy romance novels, I guess. But you know what? Lately, I've been feeling not quite myself, almost depressed at times. I was just thinking on Friday how I needed to get back into the Word, cause when I was deep within it, I didn't feel this way. And then I heard this sermon yesterday - coincidence? I think not. My God is just awesome like that. ( :
So, I'm jumping back in. I'm gonna pick up where I left off with my "The Excellent Wife Day by Day" devotional, the BIOY app, and a couple of other books I recently purchased. Fill myself with spiritual goodness, reconnect with my Maker, have peace again. Who's with me? ( :
Yesterday afternoon, I ran around in the yard with C, kicking balls. It was fun, but man did it wear me out! Am I goin to the doctor? Nah, probably not. If I thought I had a sinus infection I'd be there to get some drugs, but I don't think they can do anything for this right now. So unless I get a whole lot worse, I'll just complain about it. :P (Just kidding, complaining will cease now!)
We had a great weekend. Saturday morning, me and C headed to town to find some tap shoes. On Friday during my lunch break, I went to the consignment store and bought her some tap shoes, but they ended up being too small. I also got a few leotards and skirts, which thankfully fit just fine - yay for consignment! I found some ballet slippers at Target, and they were too small as well.
Of course, Once Upon A Child (consignment) didn't have any tap shoes in C's size, but luckily I got a full refund. Next, we hit up Michael's, where I scored some ribbon on clearance for $1. I made a beautiful hair bow for her, and forgot to take a picture (haha). I'll try to get on that (and a bow tutorial) soon! We exchanged the ballet slippers at Target for a larger brand, then went on a search for tap shoes.
Luckily, we hit pay dirt at Payless. C is totally in love with her shoes and wants to wear them all the time. And I have to say, she's pretty much a natural at tapping. ( :
Yesterday, she was alternating between the tap shoes and the ballet slippers to dance for her daddy - so cute.
After church yesterday, we headed to my aunt's for a birthday lunch for my cousin. We had a good time, and got to eat some of my aunt's delicious chocolate pound cake with cream cheese icing! Yum. Of course, we stayed over there through nap time, and when we got home, C wasn't about taking a nap. So her and I played outside while DH worked on the chicken and rabbit pens.
C and I had so much fun playing outside. We played with the balls, she rode her tricycle, we swung on the swingset, and she had a blast on the slide. I cherish times like that. Then one of DH's friends stopped by to show us what he bought at the livestock sale that morning, and somehow we ended up with 6 guinea keets! When they get big enough, we'll turn them loose so they can eat bugs around the farm. Our farm will never be quiet again! If you're not familiar with guineas, they are LOUD - like, obnoxiously loud.
Anyway, after we got over our new bird excitement (note my sarcasm), C and I hopped on Sunshine bareback. Then C kicked me off so she could ride by herself, haha. I didn't feel up to giving her a "lesson," so I just walked around with her. She didn't care! I'm so glad she loves horses already. ( :
Speaking of birds, our baby ducks are still going strong! Well, 8 of them are. We lost 1, but that was expected cause he was very weak. I'm happy. Mama duck is doing a great job at protecting them. They hang out in the pond a lot, but have also been hanging out around the chicken pens - which is pretty farm from the pond, so they must be strong babies.
All in all, it was an excellent weekend. The only thing that would have made it better if is I had felt better. But I can't complain, since it was a drastic improvement from the previous weekend, when I couldn't do anything but hack and blow my nose.
At church yesterday, my pastor preached on Psalm 121. This is my favorite Psalm, and probably my favorite Bible verses. I'd never heard a sermon on it, and I was impressed.
This Psalm has gotten me through some tough times in my life. It reminds me that God is always there for me. My pastor's message was about much more than that fact, though.
It inspired me to be better about my Bible reading and studies. Well, I should say it inspired me to DO it again. Sadly, I've really gotten off track with that. At the beginning of this year, I was reading the Bible daily with my Bible In One Year app, plus I was doing other random studies through books I found. I also read several books about building a closer relationship to God. I'm not sure what happened, but I stopped doing all that gradually. Its just easier to read "fun" things, like trashy romance novels, I guess. But you know what? Lately, I've been feeling not quite myself, almost depressed at times. I was just thinking on Friday how I needed to get back into the Word, cause when I was deep within it, I didn't feel this way. And then I heard this sermon yesterday - coincidence? I think not. My God is just awesome like that. ( :
So, I'm jumping back in. I'm gonna pick up where I left off with my "The Excellent Wife Day by Day" devotional, the BIOY app, and a couple of other books I recently purchased. Fill myself with spiritual goodness, reconnect with my Maker, have peace again. Who's with me? ( :
8.13.2013
Vent
My daughter is my greatest blessing. She's also the source my greatest worry/stress. I knew being a mother would be hard, but its hard in so many different ways than I expected!
The hardest thing about being a mother is when your child is sick. Hands down. Yes, sometimes she's in one of her toddler moods and she's extremely hard to deal with, but I can handle that. I can handle it when her feelings are hurt or she's have a tantrum. I can even handle it when she gets a boo-boo like a scraped knee or a busted lip (which happened recently - and dang, do mouth wounds bleed a lot!!). But it kills me to know something is wrong that I can't fix with a hug and a kiss, or a Bandaid.
No one told me about this part of motherhood.
C is not sick right now. I do suspect she has yet another UTI, though. Her last one was just 3-4 weeks ago. The past few days, she's been showing the same symptoms she always does - very frequent urination and lots of accidents. Actually, over the weekend she did really well.
A few nights last week she told me her pee-pee hurt, and twice she actually cried when she was peeing. Since it only lasted a few nights (and only happened at night), I didn't think much of it.
Sunday at the baby shower, she did really well - no accidents. But she was going to the potty pretty frequently. Once, I asked her if she needed to potty and she did, then we barely made it out of the door before she said "I gotta pee-pee again!" But that time nothing came out. That's odd for her, but since she was otherwise acting fine, I brushed it off.
Yesterday when I picked her up, my MIL told me C had had 3 accidents that day. Pretty unusual for her. Then again, she had a busy weekend, my mother kept her on Friday, and we were at the beach Thursday. Sometimes a disruption in her normal schedule messes up her potty habits with my MIL. When that normally happens, she does just fine at home with me. So I again didn't think much of it.
Until I got home, and she had 5 accidents in the span of an hour and a half.
That is a lot of urinating! Each time it was just a small amount. Just like when she had her last UTI.
I can't say that I panicked, but I was on the edge. I feel so out of control when this happens. WHY does my baby keep getting UTIs??!
Next Monday, we have an appointment with a pediatric urologist at Duke. I'm hoping he can give us some answers.
In the meantime, I decided to go ahead and get a urine sample to her pediatric doctor. Last month, the nurse told me I could just bring in a sample without her being seen, but at the last minute, they changed their mind. (And then she got that terrible stomach bug from being in that germ-infested place.) So I brought the sample with me to work and called the peds. You have to leave a message for a nurse to call you back, and they usually call within an hour. 3 hours later I hadn't heard a thing, so I left another message.
This time, they called back pretty quickly. But the nurse said I had to bring her in. I insisted that I did not want to take her in, and explained that every single time I take her there, she comes home with a virus. That place is disgusting. Plus, we have to wait over an hour every time. Its just so stressful. I figured since they just saw her 3-4 weeks ago for this same issue, it wouldn't be a big deal to just test her urine.
Well, the nurse was kinda ugly on the phone, which brought out my inner Mama Bear. You don't want to be on the wrong side of that, trust me. I demanded that she ask the doctor and get back to me. Well, lo and behold, the doctor said it was fine to drop off a urine sample. But if it was positive, she wouldn't prescribe antibiotics without seeing C. Fine.
I dropped off the sample and told the nurse to call me. I explained to her that last month, the urine looked fine initially, but the culture grew, so to make sure to not discount it until tomorrow morning. She called me back in an hour and said the urine was fine. I asked had they cultured it and she said "umm....it got thrown away." WHAT!!
Let's just say that woman should be glad this happened over the phone and not in person. I was furious. I mean, really?! Why would you throw out a sample before you're done doing standard tests on it????!
For now, we're just gonna wait and see how C is tonight. If she's urinating a lot again, I'll try again with another sample tomorrow. Maybe it was just a one day thing, who knows.
It just doesn't seem normal to urinate that frequently and have nothing be wrong. Plus, we already know that her right kidney is swollen, and has been for at least 2 years now. My prayer is that this specialist on Monday can help us figure this out. Until then, please pray that C is okay and doesn't have an infection!
And yes, I have decided after this incident that I am DONE with her pediatric doctor. DoctorS, actually. Its a group practice. I love 2 of the physicians, but they are not worth all the headache I deal with every single time I go there. Last month, after the nurse called to confirm the UTI, I requested to speak to a doctor. The doctor that actually delivered me 30 years ago was who called me back. I've always liked him, until that day. When I asked him why C keeps having these UTIs, he was too nonchalant about it and brushed me off. When I requested a referral to a specialist, he tried to talk me out of it, saying a specialist wouldn't do anything. I had to demand a referral. He reluctantly gave me one, but I did not like his attitude. I am not the type of mother who rushes her child off to the doctor at every sniffle. (Hello, she had a cold for 5 weeks earlier this year, and I never even called the doctor cause I knew it was a cold.) But I trust my instincts, and so far they haven't led me wrong.
The hardest thing about being a mother is when your child is sick. Hands down. Yes, sometimes she's in one of her toddler moods and she's extremely hard to deal with, but I can handle that. I can handle it when her feelings are hurt or she's have a tantrum. I can even handle it when she gets a boo-boo like a scraped knee or a busted lip (which happened recently - and dang, do mouth wounds bleed a lot!!). But it kills me to know something is wrong that I can't fix with a hug and a kiss, or a Bandaid.
No one told me about this part of motherhood.
C is not sick right now. I do suspect she has yet another UTI, though. Her last one was just 3-4 weeks ago. The past few days, she's been showing the same symptoms she always does - very frequent urination and lots of accidents. Actually, over the weekend she did really well.
A few nights last week she told me her pee-pee hurt, and twice she actually cried when she was peeing. Since it only lasted a few nights (and only happened at night), I didn't think much of it.
Sunday at the baby shower, she did really well - no accidents. But she was going to the potty pretty frequently. Once, I asked her if she needed to potty and she did, then we barely made it out of the door before she said "I gotta pee-pee again!" But that time nothing came out. That's odd for her, but since she was otherwise acting fine, I brushed it off.
Yesterday when I picked her up, my MIL told me C had had 3 accidents that day. Pretty unusual for her. Then again, she had a busy weekend, my mother kept her on Friday, and we were at the beach Thursday. Sometimes a disruption in her normal schedule messes up her potty habits with my MIL. When that normally happens, she does just fine at home with me. So I again didn't think much of it.
Until I got home, and she had 5 accidents in the span of an hour and a half.
That is a lot of urinating! Each time it was just a small amount. Just like when she had her last UTI.
I can't say that I panicked, but I was on the edge. I feel so out of control when this happens. WHY does my baby keep getting UTIs??!
Next Monday, we have an appointment with a pediatric urologist at Duke. I'm hoping he can give us some answers.
In the meantime, I decided to go ahead and get a urine sample to her pediatric doctor. Last month, the nurse told me I could just bring in a sample without her being seen, but at the last minute, they changed their mind. (And then she got that terrible stomach bug from being in that germ-infested place.) So I brought the sample with me to work and called the peds. You have to leave a message for a nurse to call you back, and they usually call within an hour. 3 hours later I hadn't heard a thing, so I left another message.
This time, they called back pretty quickly. But the nurse said I had to bring her in. I insisted that I did not want to take her in, and explained that every single time I take her there, she comes home with a virus. That place is disgusting. Plus, we have to wait over an hour every time. Its just so stressful. I figured since they just saw her 3-4 weeks ago for this same issue, it wouldn't be a big deal to just test her urine.
Well, the nurse was kinda ugly on the phone, which brought out my inner Mama Bear. You don't want to be on the wrong side of that, trust me. I demanded that she ask the doctor and get back to me. Well, lo and behold, the doctor said it was fine to drop off a urine sample. But if it was positive, she wouldn't prescribe antibiotics without seeing C. Fine.
I dropped off the sample and told the nurse to call me. I explained to her that last month, the urine looked fine initially, but the culture grew, so to make sure to not discount it until tomorrow morning. She called me back in an hour and said the urine was fine. I asked had they cultured it and she said "umm....it got thrown away." WHAT!!
Let's just say that woman should be glad this happened over the phone and not in person. I was furious. I mean, really?! Why would you throw out a sample before you're done doing standard tests on it????!
For now, we're just gonna wait and see how C is tonight. If she's urinating a lot again, I'll try again with another sample tomorrow. Maybe it was just a one day thing, who knows.
It just doesn't seem normal to urinate that frequently and have nothing be wrong. Plus, we already know that her right kidney is swollen, and has been for at least 2 years now. My prayer is that this specialist on Monday can help us figure this out. Until then, please pray that C is okay and doesn't have an infection!
And yes, I have decided after this incident that I am DONE with her pediatric doctor. DoctorS, actually. Its a group practice. I love 2 of the physicians, but they are not worth all the headache I deal with every single time I go there. Last month, after the nurse called to confirm the UTI, I requested to speak to a doctor. The doctor that actually delivered me 30 years ago was who called me back. I've always liked him, until that day. When I asked him why C keeps having these UTIs, he was too nonchalant about it and brushed me off. When I requested a referral to a specialist, he tried to talk me out of it, saying a specialist wouldn't do anything. I had to demand a referral. He reluctantly gave me one, but I did not like his attitude. I am not the type of mother who rushes her child off to the doctor at every sniffle. (Hello, she had a cold for 5 weeks earlier this year, and I never even called the doctor cause I knew it was a cold.) But I trust my instincts, and so far they haven't led me wrong.
7.22.2013
One Thing After Another
My poor baby girl just can't catch a break lately. First she had the UTI, then she got the stomach bug, and now it appears she's got vaginitis (AGAIN - I hate antibiotics for that reason!!) and some sort of really strange rash. :( She's a tough cookie, though - none of this is slowin her down much!
The stomach bug lasted almost a week. It didn't stop all at once, it was very gradual. And thankfully no one else got it from her, which makes me think maybe it was, in fact, related to the antibiotics and not actually a virus (though she did have a fever for a few days, so who knows). At any rate, I'm super glad that its over. There is nothin worse than seeing your child in pain and not being able to help. And her little tummy was causing her a lot of pain!!
Every time C is on antibiotics, she develops vaginitis (basically, a yeast infection; not sure why her dr calls it something different). I mean every. Time. Its so frustrating. I know we can try to prevent it by getting her to take probiotics and eat yogurt. But, seriously, have you ever tried to get a toddler to consume something she didn't want?! Its near bout impossible. This time, I bought gummy bear probiotics, and I just knew she'd love them cause they're basically candy. Nope. She wouldn't touch them for days. Until we saw a commercial on TV and the littler girl ate some. Even after that I've managed to get C to eat maybe 2 of them. They taste pretty good to me, so I assume she just doesn't like the gummy texture. *sigh*
As for yogurt...she used to love the stuff. She'd ask for it. But maybe she ate too much of it and got sick of it, cause now she rarely will eat it. My MIL can't get her to eat it at all anymore, and I can only occasionally. I got her to eat one container of yogurt when she was on antibiotics this last time. After that she wouldn't touch it. So I pretty much resigned myself to the fact that she'd get a yeast infection at some point, and I've been watching for it.
Its probably been building up for the past several days, and we just weren't able to see any outward signs (i.e, redness) yet. Well, I saw the tell-tale redness last night. Thankfully, the last time we dealt with this the dr provided us with a ton of Nystatin cream, so I won't have to take her back to get a new prescription. She's already had 2 doses of the stuff, so she should be improving pretty quickly. But the stupid yeast infection makes her have accidents, just like with a UTI. Its so frustrating. I think its because the infection makes it burn when she pees, so she holds it until she just can't hold it anymore, then has an accident. Cause she's not just been having small accidents (like she did with the UTI - that was a tiny amount of urine every 20 minutes or so) - this is like a lake every few hours! Big mess to clean up. My MIL told me last week that C was still wetting her pants quite a bit, and I told her she's probably messed up from bein sick, just to give her time. But now I'm thinkin its the vaginitis that was brewing. *sigh*
The good news is that the Nystatin usually works really fast, and then she'll stop having accidents. I know the pattern. Luckily, she doesn't have to be on antibiotics very often since she's a pretty healthy child (other than recurrent UITs, and we are seeing a specialist next month about that). She's had 2 ear infections that we treated with antibiotics. The only other thing she's taken them for was UTIs. I think that's pretty good for 2.5 years. Anyway, the faster she gets, the better cause we're all sick of dealing with accidents! Yesterday she peed on my bed and my couch. And I don't mean a little bit. It looked like someone had spilled a gallon of liquid both times. Oh, and she did the same thing in the carseat over the weekend. *sigh!* You can't get mad at her though; she can't help it. We're just workin through this until she gets back to normal.
Now for her rash...this one has us all completely stumped. I noticed it Friday night. She was super ill Friday evening (that means she was in a bad mood, for all you non-Southern folks!) and we couldn't figure out why. She ate a lot at supper - I had cooked fried pork chops, fresh green beans, and fresh potatoes, and she ate everything, which surprised us. After supper, the 3 of us went outside to feed the animals. When we got back in, I noticed what looked like a bug bite on her shoulder. I had forgotten to put bug spray on her and it was at the edge of dark, so I assumed it was a mosquito. Well, in the bath tub later, I could see the spot better and it didn't look like a mosquito bite. It almost looked like fire ants had got on her. She had 6-8 little whelps and the whole area was very red. Wasn't bothering her though.
Then I noticed she had another really red area on the back of her neck. By the time we got out of the tub, I was noticing red places (and some with whelps) on several different areas on her body. None of the areas were bothering her, so I wasn't too worried. Until I was literally watching them pop up! It was crazy. When they got on her face (around her eye), I got concerned. So I gave her Benadryl. She hadn't had anything to eat that was new to her, and hadn't been exposed to anything new at all recently.
Saturday morning, she looked better, but as the morning wore on, I was seeing more red places pop up. And then it got really weird. She'd get a red area and a whelp that looked like a bug bite, and 30 minutes later it was gone. You could literally watch it pop up then disappear. Crazy. It still wasn't bothering her, so I just let her go about her day as usual. The 2 of us went to my MIL's pool that afternoon, and I'm sure the chlorine didn't help her at all. When we got back home, it looked like she had eczema on her thighs and butt. I rubbed her down with lotion and got her to sleep, but she slept fitfully. That night I gave her more Benadryl. DH kept saying take her to the dr, but I knew they'd tell me to do what I was since it wasn't bothering her at all.
Yesterday the places were a little itchy to her, but not enough that it interfered with her day or anything. For church I put her in a super soft dress with no inside seams, and during church we were watching her get redder and redder, and little whelps popping up everywhere. And then disappearing. After church I let her be naked at home, because it did seem that any type of fabric was irritating her skin. That did help some, but she was still getting red places.
I gave her more Benadryl last night and this morning at first she looked much better. By the time I dropped her off at my MIL's, though, I saw several red places - on her feet and around her right eye. :( I've looked online and all I can find is reactions to changes in diet or things like fabric softener. Well, I've been using All Free & Clear for years now, and I don't use fabric softener cause I'm allergic to it (and it ruins cloth diapers). Absolutely nothing has changed lately. The only thing I can think of is maybe she's developed a sudden food allergy. But to what?? Over the weekend she ate a ton of bread and crackers, but that's normal for her. My girl loves her carbs, haha. I don't even want to call the pediatrician because they're gonna want to see her, and we are NOT doing that again right now. I hate exposing her to all those germs in that place, and I know her immune system is weak right now, since she's been dealing with so much. No, thank you. So I'm not sure what to do. I'm gonna keep researching and keep praying that it doesn't get worse. Maybe its a delayed reaction to the antibiotic she was on? Her last dose was Friday night. But she's had that drug before, several times. I'm at a loss!!
Sorry, I know this post was terribly boring for people other than myself. But I wanted to document it for later. I really hope I haven't passed on my freak gene to my daughter. We all know that Nikki has unexplained health issues that come and go. :(
The stomach bug lasted almost a week. It didn't stop all at once, it was very gradual. And thankfully no one else got it from her, which makes me think maybe it was, in fact, related to the antibiotics and not actually a virus (though she did have a fever for a few days, so who knows). At any rate, I'm super glad that its over. There is nothin worse than seeing your child in pain and not being able to help. And her little tummy was causing her a lot of pain!!
Every time C is on antibiotics, she develops vaginitis (basically, a yeast infection; not sure why her dr calls it something different). I mean every. Time. Its so frustrating. I know we can try to prevent it by getting her to take probiotics and eat yogurt. But, seriously, have you ever tried to get a toddler to consume something she didn't want?! Its near bout impossible. This time, I bought gummy bear probiotics, and I just knew she'd love them cause they're basically candy. Nope. She wouldn't touch them for days. Until we saw a commercial on TV and the littler girl ate some. Even after that I've managed to get C to eat maybe 2 of them. They taste pretty good to me, so I assume she just doesn't like the gummy texture. *sigh*
As for yogurt...she used to love the stuff. She'd ask for it. But maybe she ate too much of it and got sick of it, cause now she rarely will eat it. My MIL can't get her to eat it at all anymore, and I can only occasionally. I got her to eat one container of yogurt when she was on antibiotics this last time. After that she wouldn't touch it. So I pretty much resigned myself to the fact that she'd get a yeast infection at some point, and I've been watching for it.
Its probably been building up for the past several days, and we just weren't able to see any outward signs (i.e, redness) yet. Well, I saw the tell-tale redness last night. Thankfully, the last time we dealt with this the dr provided us with a ton of Nystatin cream, so I won't have to take her back to get a new prescription. She's already had 2 doses of the stuff, so she should be improving pretty quickly. But the stupid yeast infection makes her have accidents, just like with a UTI. Its so frustrating. I think its because the infection makes it burn when she pees, so she holds it until she just can't hold it anymore, then has an accident. Cause she's not just been having small accidents (like she did with the UTI - that was a tiny amount of urine every 20 minutes or so) - this is like a lake every few hours! Big mess to clean up. My MIL told me last week that C was still wetting her pants quite a bit, and I told her she's probably messed up from bein sick, just to give her time. But now I'm thinkin its the vaginitis that was brewing. *sigh*
The good news is that the Nystatin usually works really fast, and then she'll stop having accidents. I know the pattern. Luckily, she doesn't have to be on antibiotics very often since she's a pretty healthy child (other than recurrent UITs, and we are seeing a specialist next month about that). She's had 2 ear infections that we treated with antibiotics. The only other thing she's taken them for was UTIs. I think that's pretty good for 2.5 years. Anyway, the faster she gets, the better cause we're all sick of dealing with accidents! Yesterday she peed on my bed and my couch. And I don't mean a little bit. It looked like someone had spilled a gallon of liquid both times. Oh, and she did the same thing in the carseat over the weekend. *sigh!* You can't get mad at her though; she can't help it. We're just workin through this until she gets back to normal.
Now for her rash...this one has us all completely stumped. I noticed it Friday night. She was super ill Friday evening (that means she was in a bad mood, for all you non-Southern folks!) and we couldn't figure out why. She ate a lot at supper - I had cooked fried pork chops, fresh green beans, and fresh potatoes, and she ate everything, which surprised us. After supper, the 3 of us went outside to feed the animals. When we got back in, I noticed what looked like a bug bite on her shoulder. I had forgotten to put bug spray on her and it was at the edge of dark, so I assumed it was a mosquito. Well, in the bath tub later, I could see the spot better and it didn't look like a mosquito bite. It almost looked like fire ants had got on her. She had 6-8 little whelps and the whole area was very red. Wasn't bothering her though.
Then I noticed she had another really red area on the back of her neck. By the time we got out of the tub, I was noticing red places (and some with whelps) on several different areas on her body. None of the areas were bothering her, so I wasn't too worried. Until I was literally watching them pop up! It was crazy. When they got on her face (around her eye), I got concerned. So I gave her Benadryl. She hadn't had anything to eat that was new to her, and hadn't been exposed to anything new at all recently.
Saturday morning, she looked better, but as the morning wore on, I was seeing more red places pop up. And then it got really weird. She'd get a red area and a whelp that looked like a bug bite, and 30 minutes later it was gone. You could literally watch it pop up then disappear. Crazy. It still wasn't bothering her, so I just let her go about her day as usual. The 2 of us went to my MIL's pool that afternoon, and I'm sure the chlorine didn't help her at all. When we got back home, it looked like she had eczema on her thighs and butt. I rubbed her down with lotion and got her to sleep, but she slept fitfully. That night I gave her more Benadryl. DH kept saying take her to the dr, but I knew they'd tell me to do what I was since it wasn't bothering her at all.
Yesterday the places were a little itchy to her, but not enough that it interfered with her day or anything. For church I put her in a super soft dress with no inside seams, and during church we were watching her get redder and redder, and little whelps popping up everywhere. And then disappearing. After church I let her be naked at home, because it did seem that any type of fabric was irritating her skin. That did help some, but she was still getting red places.
I gave her more Benadryl last night and this morning at first she looked much better. By the time I dropped her off at my MIL's, though, I saw several red places - on her feet and around her right eye. :( I've looked online and all I can find is reactions to changes in diet or things like fabric softener. Well, I've been using All Free & Clear for years now, and I don't use fabric softener cause I'm allergic to it (and it ruins cloth diapers). Absolutely nothing has changed lately. The only thing I can think of is maybe she's developed a sudden food allergy. But to what?? Over the weekend she ate a ton of bread and crackers, but that's normal for her. My girl loves her carbs, haha. I don't even want to call the pediatrician because they're gonna want to see her, and we are NOT doing that again right now. I hate exposing her to all those germs in that place, and I know her immune system is weak right now, since she's been dealing with so much. No, thank you. So I'm not sure what to do. I'm gonna keep researching and keep praying that it doesn't get worse. Maybe its a delayed reaction to the antibiotic she was on? Her last dose was Friday night. But she's had that drug before, several times. I'm at a loss!!
Sorry, I know this post was terribly boring for people other than myself. But I wanted to document it for later. I really hope I haven't passed on my freak gene to my daughter. We all know that Nikki has unexplained health issues that come and go. :(
7.15.2013
I'm Alive!
Whew! The last few weeks have been insane. I say that a lot, don't it? But its always true. Of course, looking back, all those other times I said that were nothing compared to the past 2 weeks for me. Most of my business has been work-related, and thankfully I've been able to come home in the evenings and basically just relax. Which I have desperately needed, let me tell you!
In short, my company has been experiencing a lot of major changes lately. My office has broken away from our parent company and with that has come a ton of work for me. I love being busy at work, so its been okay, but there have been a few times that I've wanted to pull my hair out! On top of all the changes and new stuff to deal with, I had to train 2 employees for our parent company. Of course, everything was happening all at the same time, so it was pretty stressful. Which is why I haven't even thought about my blog. I do plan to go back and finish blogging about our OBX trip, cause I definitely want to remember that! And we've taken more trips since then, so more memories to log. ( :
Here's a brief rundown of what's been going on since I last posted (3 weeks ago!):
I think I blogged about my eye issues recently. If not, basically I've been suffering from extreme dry eye for several months now. A prescription for Restasis is pending, has been pending for weeks now (my insurance doesn't like to cover expensive drugs like Restasis, bleh). Anyway, I had another appointment the week after our OBX trip. My eye dr put plugs in my tear ducts, and it has made a huge difference. For a few days, I didn't see much improvement and I was pretty disappointed. But finally, I can wear my contacts almost normally. I still can't wear them every day, and I still normally take them out early in the evening, but its such an improvement. If my RX for Restasis ever gets approved, I'm sure I'll be able to wear contacts like any normal person.
The weekend after our OBX trip I didn't do a thing. At least not that I remember. I remember on Sunday we were supposed to take C to a birthday party, but neither of us felt like going so we just lazed around the house. It was lovely. Thankfully, we hadn't even mentioned the party to C, so she didn't know what she was missing! Terrible parents, huh? ( ;
July 1 was supposed to be a quiet day for me at work, but I got a call early that said 2 people were on the way for me to train, and they were 15 minutes away! Yikes. (For the record, it wasn't my boss that called me. He found out after I did that these girls were coming.) Unfortunately, I didn't teach them much since they were unexpected. Plus, the 3 of us went to lunch and then they had to leave around 2. Oh well. The next 2 days, I had one girl here. Thankfully, she was really smart and nice, and having her here wasn't much of a burden. I had a ton of work-related problems to deal with, though. The first and second weeks of July were horrible in terms of work problems. I spent hours every day on the phone with support people. Fun, fun. I think I've got almost everything sorted out now. Whew.
On July 3, my best friend had some important surgery. So on top of dealing with all the work-related mess, I was worried about her all day until I heard she was okay. Well, sort of. She had some major reactions to the surgery and the drugs. It was pretty scary for a while there. But she pulled through and is now almost back to normal. ( :
Also on that day, my boss told me not to worry about coming in on Friday (we were already closed for the 4th). I think he felt sorry for me since I was so stressed out and working so hard. So I had a 4 day weekend!!
The 4th was spent in a frenzy. We had a ton to do to prepare for our annual July 4th cookout. I made sure to enjoy the day, though. After I got some initial cleaning done that morning, me, C, and my mama played in the pool for a while. Then, while I got C to sleep (on her crib mattress on the floor again), Mama cleaned my bathrooms for me. DH was a huge help around the house that day, too. Between the 3 of us, we got that nice nice and clean. So that the family could demolish it that night, haha.
Our yard has been pretty soaked lately. It rained for 40 days and 40 nights here. That's not really an exaggeration. I've never seen so much rain at once. Literally, every day for a long time now it has rained. Our garden has drowned. Our animals are swimming. Its been bad, though not nearly as bad as some people have had it. Anyway, because the yard was so soaked, we set up all the tables in the driveway. Of course, people still managed to get dirty and track all that into my house. I was amazed at how much dirt we swept up that night. But everyone had a great time. We had over 30 people show up for the cookout this year. And it was nice cause we didn't have to rush off for fireworks at 9. (This year, our town held fireworks on July 6th for some reason.) Which also meant we had guests in the house until like 10pm. But C got to play with her cousin (who is 3), and they had a blast together. I love having both our families together like that.
The next day was Friday, and DH decided to head down to the river for the day. His aunt and uncle have a place near the Pamlico River, and they have a boat. Its where we went back in January, when I got the pictures of the eagles. Its about a 2 hour drive from home, so not bad at all. When we got there, we rode the boat to Washington, where we got out and walked around town for a while. That was nice, even though it was about a thousand degrees. C absolutely loved riding the boat, as long as her uncle didn't drive too fast! When we rode back to the dock, we let C play in the water for a while. The Pamlico River is really brown and muddy from all the rain eastern NC has had lately, so it was pretty gross, but that didn't stop C from having fun! We didn't have her bathing suit with us (we knew on the boat we wouldn't be stopping to swim or anything), so we just let her play in the water in her clothes. She loved that. We stayed until after supper and got home that night around 10pm.
Which is when we discovered that our air conditioning was broken. It was 85 degrees in our house. WAY too hot!! My brother works on heat and air units for a living, so luckily he was able to come over that night and work on it some. I don't know anything about A/C units, but he couldn't do much Friday night. So we turned up all the fans and slept almost naked. Saturday morning my brother came back and worked some more. He got it working, sort of, but said it would take a long time to cool the house. Well, most of our windows don't open (hello, old house) so we weren't able to get a good breeze going through there. It was miserable. I stayed long enough to get the floors vacuumed and mopped, and did a few loads of laundry, then C and I left for Mama's. We played in Mama's little pool for a while, then took a nap in the wonderful A/C.
DH wanted to head back to the river that night, and since our house was still 85 degrees, he didn't get an argument from me! We packed up and made it there before it was too late. We spent the day Sunday on the boat fishing. Now, I don't have any patience at all for fishing. But this was actually kinda fun to watch. I didn't participate cause I had to hold C and make sure she didn't fall off the boat. But DH and his uncle were net fishing, which I'd never seen before. They had this super long net and would set it up, then his uncle would drive the boat in circles and we'd be really loud. The idea was to scare the fish into the net. It worked pretty well. We caught a good mess of fish this way, mostly spots. Even C wasn't bored with everything.
I, unfortunately, discovered that day that I now have a true allergy to the sun. I applied SPF 50 sunscreen every hour or so all day, and didn't get a sunburn, but after a couple of hours I broke out into a rash on my legs. It was wonderful. I ended up having to cover my legs with a towel. And lucky me kept having a reaction for days after the sun exposure. Like, I'm still a little itchy, and its been over a week. Ugh. Every night last week I had to take Benadryl just to sleep, and some days I had to take it at work, too. Which I hate doing!!
Anyway, we had a fun time at the river. Once again, after we got off the boat, we let C play on the little beach. This time in her bathing suit. ( : She had a ball. I think we made it home that evening by around 6. Our house was still pretty hot, but we could tell it was getting cooler.
By Monday morning the house was blessedly cool, but DH had decided that we'll be getting a new unit. My brother patched ours up so it'll work for a while, but sometime in the very near future we'll be shelling out a couple grand for this thing. Gotta stay cool, though!
Actually, yesterday afternoon I noticed the house was getting hot again, and DH had to go tinker with out unit again. Hopefully it'll still be cool when I get home from work today.
Now for the sickness. My poor baby has been suffering through another UTI lately. :( She started having a lot of accidents, and after a couple of days I started to wonder if it was her kidneys again. Last Tuesday night, she peed 5 or 6 times in 40 minutes, so I knew something was up. I tried to get her doctor to just test her urine without having to see her, but they insisted. So Wednesday after work, I took her in. Her urine looked clean under the microscope, and I was confused. Of course, I didn't want her to have a UTI, but I knew somethin was wrong. They cultured it "just in case." Well, early Thursday morning I got the call that she did indeed have an infection. It took until after lunch for her antibiotic to be ready, but we did manage to get 2 doses in her that day.
Almost immediately, the antibiotic made her have looser stools (sorry, TMI probably). But that's normal, so I didn't think much of it. Saturday morning, she had a few bouts of explosive diarrhea. Poor baby. She still acted okay, though, and she wasn't peeing as much. So I felt comfortable leaving her with my parents while I went to see my friend that had had the surgery. C ended up staying with them for longer than I intended cause she took a super long nap. Again, that's normal when she's fighting an infection, so I didn't think much of it. She was really whiny and clingy after her nap, but after a while she acted better. Her and I drove to town to pick up a pizza for supper, and she ate 2 pieces, plus some bread bites. Then after her bath that night, she told me she was freezing and started crying. Then I realized she had a fever. :(
She actually slept pretty well that night, considering. But yesterday morning, she woke up with a bad stomachache and immediately went to the potty, where she had diarrhea. That continued all morning. She was pitiful, and it broke my heart. I was thinking the antibiotic was affecting her, so I called the doctor, who insisted on seeing her again. So the 3 of us headed to town, where we learned that she most likely has a stomach virus. On top of her UTI! Poor baby. :( Probably picked it up the other day when I brought her to that germ-ridden place, and her defenses were already weakened. Ugh. Sot he doctor didn't do a thing for her.
After the appointment, she was feeling better, so we picked up some groceries and ate at Outback. She barely ate though, and was really tired. Once we got home, she napped for a little while, but woke up with a tummyache again. After a while she was feeling better again, and seemed like herself. We actually had fun yesterday afternoon. She had a few more bouts of pain/diarrhea last night, but then slept in her crib until 4:45am. Unfortunately, it all started up again this morning. Fever and all. I hate seein my baby sick! By the time I left for work she was feeling better, thankfully. Hopefully she'll be over this soon. And hopefully we won't get it. I've already been feeling nauseous for the past several days...ugh.
So that's my busy busy life for the past 3 weeks!! Whew!
In short, my company has been experiencing a lot of major changes lately. My office has broken away from our parent company and with that has come a ton of work for me. I love being busy at work, so its been okay, but there have been a few times that I've wanted to pull my hair out! On top of all the changes and new stuff to deal with, I had to train 2 employees for our parent company. Of course, everything was happening all at the same time, so it was pretty stressful. Which is why I haven't even thought about my blog. I do plan to go back and finish blogging about our OBX trip, cause I definitely want to remember that! And we've taken more trips since then, so more memories to log. ( :
Here's a brief rundown of what's been going on since I last posted (3 weeks ago!):
I think I blogged about my eye issues recently. If not, basically I've been suffering from extreme dry eye for several months now. A prescription for Restasis is pending, has been pending for weeks now (my insurance doesn't like to cover expensive drugs like Restasis, bleh). Anyway, I had another appointment the week after our OBX trip. My eye dr put plugs in my tear ducts, and it has made a huge difference. For a few days, I didn't see much improvement and I was pretty disappointed. But finally, I can wear my contacts almost normally. I still can't wear them every day, and I still normally take them out early in the evening, but its such an improvement. If my RX for Restasis ever gets approved, I'm sure I'll be able to wear contacts like any normal person.
The weekend after our OBX trip I didn't do a thing. At least not that I remember. I remember on Sunday we were supposed to take C to a birthday party, but neither of us felt like going so we just lazed around the house. It was lovely. Thankfully, we hadn't even mentioned the party to C, so she didn't know what she was missing! Terrible parents, huh? ( ;
July 1 was supposed to be a quiet day for me at work, but I got a call early that said 2 people were on the way for me to train, and they were 15 minutes away! Yikes. (For the record, it wasn't my boss that called me. He found out after I did that these girls were coming.) Unfortunately, I didn't teach them much since they were unexpected. Plus, the 3 of us went to lunch and then they had to leave around 2. Oh well. The next 2 days, I had one girl here. Thankfully, she was really smart and nice, and having her here wasn't much of a burden. I had a ton of work-related problems to deal with, though. The first and second weeks of July were horrible in terms of work problems. I spent hours every day on the phone with support people. Fun, fun. I think I've got almost everything sorted out now. Whew.
On July 3, my best friend had some important surgery. So on top of dealing with all the work-related mess, I was worried about her all day until I heard she was okay. Well, sort of. She had some major reactions to the surgery and the drugs. It was pretty scary for a while there. But she pulled through and is now almost back to normal. ( :
Also on that day, my boss told me not to worry about coming in on Friday (we were already closed for the 4th). I think he felt sorry for me since I was so stressed out and working so hard. So I had a 4 day weekend!!
The 4th was spent in a frenzy. We had a ton to do to prepare for our annual July 4th cookout. I made sure to enjoy the day, though. After I got some initial cleaning done that morning, me, C, and my mama played in the pool for a while. Then, while I got C to sleep (on her crib mattress on the floor again), Mama cleaned my bathrooms for me. DH was a huge help around the house that day, too. Between the 3 of us, we got that nice nice and clean. So that the family could demolish it that night, haha.
Our yard has been pretty soaked lately. It rained for 40 days and 40 nights here. That's not really an exaggeration. I've never seen so much rain at once. Literally, every day for a long time now it has rained. Our garden has drowned. Our animals are swimming. Its been bad, though not nearly as bad as some people have had it. Anyway, because the yard was so soaked, we set up all the tables in the driveway. Of course, people still managed to get dirty and track all that into my house. I was amazed at how much dirt we swept up that night. But everyone had a great time. We had over 30 people show up for the cookout this year. And it was nice cause we didn't have to rush off for fireworks at 9. (This year, our town held fireworks on July 6th for some reason.) Which also meant we had guests in the house until like 10pm. But C got to play with her cousin (who is 3), and they had a blast together. I love having both our families together like that.
The next day was Friday, and DH decided to head down to the river for the day. His aunt and uncle have a place near the Pamlico River, and they have a boat. Its where we went back in January, when I got the pictures of the eagles. Its about a 2 hour drive from home, so not bad at all. When we got there, we rode the boat to Washington, where we got out and walked around town for a while. That was nice, even though it was about a thousand degrees. C absolutely loved riding the boat, as long as her uncle didn't drive too fast! When we rode back to the dock, we let C play in the water for a while. The Pamlico River is really brown and muddy from all the rain eastern NC has had lately, so it was pretty gross, but that didn't stop C from having fun! We didn't have her bathing suit with us (we knew on the boat we wouldn't be stopping to swim or anything), so we just let her play in the water in her clothes. She loved that. We stayed until after supper and got home that night around 10pm.
Which is when we discovered that our air conditioning was broken. It was 85 degrees in our house. WAY too hot!! My brother works on heat and air units for a living, so luckily he was able to come over that night and work on it some. I don't know anything about A/C units, but he couldn't do much Friday night. So we turned up all the fans and slept almost naked. Saturday morning my brother came back and worked some more. He got it working, sort of, but said it would take a long time to cool the house. Well, most of our windows don't open (hello, old house) so we weren't able to get a good breeze going through there. It was miserable. I stayed long enough to get the floors vacuumed and mopped, and did a few loads of laundry, then C and I left for Mama's. We played in Mama's little pool for a while, then took a nap in the wonderful A/C.
DH wanted to head back to the river that night, and since our house was still 85 degrees, he didn't get an argument from me! We packed up and made it there before it was too late. We spent the day Sunday on the boat fishing. Now, I don't have any patience at all for fishing. But this was actually kinda fun to watch. I didn't participate cause I had to hold C and make sure she didn't fall off the boat. But DH and his uncle were net fishing, which I'd never seen before. They had this super long net and would set it up, then his uncle would drive the boat in circles and we'd be really loud. The idea was to scare the fish into the net. It worked pretty well. We caught a good mess of fish this way, mostly spots. Even C wasn't bored with everything.
I, unfortunately, discovered that day that I now have a true allergy to the sun. I applied SPF 50 sunscreen every hour or so all day, and didn't get a sunburn, but after a couple of hours I broke out into a rash on my legs. It was wonderful. I ended up having to cover my legs with a towel. And lucky me kept having a reaction for days after the sun exposure. Like, I'm still a little itchy, and its been over a week. Ugh. Every night last week I had to take Benadryl just to sleep, and some days I had to take it at work, too. Which I hate doing!!
Anyway, we had a fun time at the river. Once again, after we got off the boat, we let C play on the little beach. This time in her bathing suit. ( : She had a ball. I think we made it home that evening by around 6. Our house was still pretty hot, but we could tell it was getting cooler.
By Monday morning the house was blessedly cool, but DH had decided that we'll be getting a new unit. My brother patched ours up so it'll work for a while, but sometime in the very near future we'll be shelling out a couple grand for this thing. Gotta stay cool, though!
Actually, yesterday afternoon I noticed the house was getting hot again, and DH had to go tinker with out unit again. Hopefully it'll still be cool when I get home from work today.
Now for the sickness. My poor baby has been suffering through another UTI lately. :( She started having a lot of accidents, and after a couple of days I started to wonder if it was her kidneys again. Last Tuesday night, she peed 5 or 6 times in 40 minutes, so I knew something was up. I tried to get her doctor to just test her urine without having to see her, but they insisted. So Wednesday after work, I took her in. Her urine looked clean under the microscope, and I was confused. Of course, I didn't want her to have a UTI, but I knew somethin was wrong. They cultured it "just in case." Well, early Thursday morning I got the call that she did indeed have an infection. It took until after lunch for her antibiotic to be ready, but we did manage to get 2 doses in her that day.
Almost immediately, the antibiotic made her have looser stools (sorry, TMI probably). But that's normal, so I didn't think much of it. Saturday morning, she had a few bouts of explosive diarrhea. Poor baby. She still acted okay, though, and she wasn't peeing as much. So I felt comfortable leaving her with my parents while I went to see my friend that had had the surgery. C ended up staying with them for longer than I intended cause she took a super long nap. Again, that's normal when she's fighting an infection, so I didn't think much of it. She was really whiny and clingy after her nap, but after a while she acted better. Her and I drove to town to pick up a pizza for supper, and she ate 2 pieces, plus some bread bites. Then after her bath that night, she told me she was freezing and started crying. Then I realized she had a fever. :(
She actually slept pretty well that night, considering. But yesterday morning, she woke up with a bad stomachache and immediately went to the potty, where she had diarrhea. That continued all morning. She was pitiful, and it broke my heart. I was thinking the antibiotic was affecting her, so I called the doctor, who insisted on seeing her again. So the 3 of us headed to town, where we learned that she most likely has a stomach virus. On top of her UTI! Poor baby. :( Probably picked it up the other day when I brought her to that germ-ridden place, and her defenses were already weakened. Ugh. Sot he doctor didn't do a thing for her.
After the appointment, she was feeling better, so we picked up some groceries and ate at Outback. She barely ate though, and was really tired. Once we got home, she napped for a little while, but woke up with a tummyache again. After a while she was feeling better again, and seemed like herself. We actually had fun yesterday afternoon. She had a few more bouts of pain/diarrhea last night, but then slept in her crib until 4:45am. Unfortunately, it all started up again this morning. Fever and all. I hate seein my baby sick! By the time I left for work she was feeling better, thankfully. Hopefully she'll be over this soon. And hopefully we won't get it. I've already been feeling nauseous for the past several days...ugh.
So that's my busy busy life for the past 3 weeks!! Whew!
4.12.2013
All Sorts of Things
Its been another crazy and not-so-great week for me. Seems like crazy and stressful is my new norm these days. Maybe sometime soon things will settle down and start looking up!!
This week I had jury duty. Excuse me, jury service, as the clerks at the court kept emphasizing. I really wasn't there very long - just 1/2 the day on Monday, most of the day Tuesday, and a 1/2 day on Wednesday. Thankfully, the judge released us after that. But let me tell you, it was torturous!! There were at least 50 potential jurors crammed into the jury pool room, which was tiny. We were sitting in rows of chairs that were too close together to have any walking room between aisles, and each chair touched the one next to it, so you had no personal space. But the worst part was we weren't allowed to leave the room at all unless the judge gave us a break to stretch our legs. Which actually only happened once during those 3 days. The room had no windows. It did have a bathroom, a drink machine, and a snack machine. Oh, and a water fountain. But you couldn't even stand up without being on top of another person, so I just sat in my chair. Thankfully, I had purchased a book on my Kindle for the week, so I was able to get lost in that story most of the time. I was a little disappointed that I'd sat there all that time and never got to see a trial. But the judge released us on Wednesday and said he wouldn't need a jury at all this week. I was glad to be done, though!!
Monday was particularly stressful. Of course I knew I had jury duty (I had to be there at 1pm, so I went to work first), so I spent the first part of the day preparing at the office in case I got put on a case. I kind of hate not knowin what to expect day to day with my job. I like variety, sure, but not knowing if I would even be there? No thanks. Too stressful. Probably wouldn't be so bad if it wasn't just me and the boss here. But there's no one to do my job if I'm not here.
The other thing that made Monday stressful was being worried over C. My MIL and I decided that C probably needed to see a doctor. We were afraid she had another UTI. For the past 2 weeks, her potty training has been terrible. I just attributed it to all the stress we've dealt with lately, a growth spurt, general toddlerness, whatever. But last week she started sayin "my pee pee hurts" occasionally. Not while she was peeing, though, just randomly. Monday she woke up at 5:30am and told me it hurt and that she needed medicine. So I called her doctor when I got to work and the nurse said she needed to be seen. Apparently toddlers can have a UTI without a fever, which I didn't know. My MIL got a urine sample at home, bless her, so C wouldn't have to be cathed (and I knew she wouldn't go in their potty).
Well, the doctor looked at C's urine and said it looked fine. They did a culture just to be sure, but she didn't have a UTI, thankfully. She did, however, have vaginitis. That's kinda like a yeast infection, but a different bacteria. (And from what I understand, really young girls can't get yeast infections - yeast rashes, yes, but that's totally different.) The doctor said it was probably from her being on antibiotics last month (ear infection). She gave us some Nystatin cream and sent us on our way.
The very next day, C felt better. And I am happy to say she hasn't had an accident in THREE DAYS!!! So I guess the infection was making her uncomfortable when she had to pee, so she held it in as long as possible, then wasn't able to get to the potty in time. I'm so glad I trusted my gut and took her to the doctor, even though she wasn't acting "sick." Always trust your Mama Instincts!!!
As for the rest of the week, this year my body has decided it is allergic to pollen. Like most of the rest of the world. I have some serious allergies, but pollen has never bothered me, in all my 30 years. This year, however, is a different story. I sneezed a few times Wednesday night, and immediately my throat was sore. And it still is. I'm not congested or anything, but I just have that "allergy feeling," as I say. Ugh. All I want to do is sleep, though of course that doesn't happen.
I think my true problem is I just need a vacation. There's been a lot on my plate for a while now, and we normally take a trip in February for our anniversary. We put it off this year since DH's grandma was so sick in the hospital. Then we put it off because my uncle was so sick, and then he died. DH's grandma is still in a rehab facility, and she's started having seizures again, and some days she doesn't recognize people and talks out of her head. She's not in danger of passing away, but the family is stressed because who knows if she will ever be able to take care of herself again. And now DH has the flowers in for his business, plus the chicks, so he's super busy taking care of all that and selling it. *sigh* We had hoped to get away this month, but there is something going on almost every weekend, so we never planned anything. Maybe next month...
I did kind of feel like I had a vacation day last Saturday. C and I spent the whole day just playing and having fun. We were outside most of the day. I didn't take my DSLR out with me because I just wanted to enjoy life and not worry about taking a perfect picture. I did bring my iPhone and got some snapshots with it...
Sunday was a busy day. We went to church, then had a quick lunch. DH left to go to the livestock sale with a friend, and C and I went with my mama to TWO baby showers. We had a great time, but C missed her nap. After the second shower, we took C on a walk around Mama's house. Mama's neighbor raises goats and C got to meet the baby that they are bottle feeding...
She loved that! After that, we went to my cousin's house, where my brother was helping to build a deck. We stayed there a while because my 3 year old cousin was there, and her and C had a ball running around the yard together.
C was passed out by 8 that night, which is extremely rare for her. DH and I were able to have the night off, so to speak! We watched the ACM awards and just enjoyed time alone.
I wish I could go back in time to last weekend. Though I am looking forward to this weekend. Tomorrow, I am taking C to my mama's church with some friends. They have a little playground there that's fenced in (so the babies can wander around and we don't have to worry about them wandering off!) and the babies love to play in there. Its not public, so it'll be nice and quiet. And that is the only thing I have planned for the entire weekend. I might have to ask DH if we can take a day trip Sunday and just get away......! We'll see. ( ;
I'll leave you with one more image. I love this time of year because all the flowers and starting to come out. My hasta around the flower beds have come back and are growing rapidly. My amaryllis are going to be gorgeous when they bloom - there are a TON of bulbs now. The irises have multiplied, too. My gerbera daisies are coming back up. My azaleas are starting to bloom. My tulip tree is blooming and greening up. I just love it!! Last weekend I put 2 pots of geraniums on the porch and hung up 2 hanging baskets. One is a red portulaca (though I don't have a picture of it yet), and the other is a basket of 3 different flowers. Petunia is one of them, but don't ask me what the other 2 are, haha. I love it, though! Its gorgeous hanging on my porch. Don't you agree? ( :
This week I had jury duty. Excuse me, jury service, as the clerks at the court kept emphasizing. I really wasn't there very long - just 1/2 the day on Monday, most of the day Tuesday, and a 1/2 day on Wednesday. Thankfully, the judge released us after that. But let me tell you, it was torturous!! There were at least 50 potential jurors crammed into the jury pool room, which was tiny. We were sitting in rows of chairs that were too close together to have any walking room between aisles, and each chair touched the one next to it, so you had no personal space. But the worst part was we weren't allowed to leave the room at all unless the judge gave us a break to stretch our legs. Which actually only happened once during those 3 days. The room had no windows. It did have a bathroom, a drink machine, and a snack machine. Oh, and a water fountain. But you couldn't even stand up without being on top of another person, so I just sat in my chair. Thankfully, I had purchased a book on my Kindle for the week, so I was able to get lost in that story most of the time. I was a little disappointed that I'd sat there all that time and never got to see a trial. But the judge released us on Wednesday and said he wouldn't need a jury at all this week. I was glad to be done, though!!
Monday was particularly stressful. Of course I knew I had jury duty (I had to be there at 1pm, so I went to work first), so I spent the first part of the day preparing at the office in case I got put on a case. I kind of hate not knowin what to expect day to day with my job. I like variety, sure, but not knowing if I would even be there? No thanks. Too stressful. Probably wouldn't be so bad if it wasn't just me and the boss here. But there's no one to do my job if I'm not here.
The other thing that made Monday stressful was being worried over C. My MIL and I decided that C probably needed to see a doctor. We were afraid she had another UTI. For the past 2 weeks, her potty training has been terrible. I just attributed it to all the stress we've dealt with lately, a growth spurt, general toddlerness, whatever. But last week she started sayin "my pee pee hurts" occasionally. Not while she was peeing, though, just randomly. Monday she woke up at 5:30am and told me it hurt and that she needed medicine. So I called her doctor when I got to work and the nurse said she needed to be seen. Apparently toddlers can have a UTI without a fever, which I didn't know. My MIL got a urine sample at home, bless her, so C wouldn't have to be cathed (and I knew she wouldn't go in their potty).
Well, the doctor looked at C's urine and said it looked fine. They did a culture just to be sure, but she didn't have a UTI, thankfully. She did, however, have vaginitis. That's kinda like a yeast infection, but a different bacteria. (And from what I understand, really young girls can't get yeast infections - yeast rashes, yes, but that's totally different.) The doctor said it was probably from her being on antibiotics last month (ear infection). She gave us some Nystatin cream and sent us on our way.
The very next day, C felt better. And I am happy to say she hasn't had an accident in THREE DAYS!!! So I guess the infection was making her uncomfortable when she had to pee, so she held it in as long as possible, then wasn't able to get to the potty in time. I'm so glad I trusted my gut and took her to the doctor, even though she wasn't acting "sick." Always trust your Mama Instincts!!!
As for the rest of the week, this year my body has decided it is allergic to pollen. Like most of the rest of the world. I have some serious allergies, but pollen has never bothered me, in all my 30 years. This year, however, is a different story. I sneezed a few times Wednesday night, and immediately my throat was sore. And it still is. I'm not congested or anything, but I just have that "allergy feeling," as I say. Ugh. All I want to do is sleep, though of course that doesn't happen.
I think my true problem is I just need a vacation. There's been a lot on my plate for a while now, and we normally take a trip in February for our anniversary. We put it off this year since DH's grandma was so sick in the hospital. Then we put it off because my uncle was so sick, and then he died. DH's grandma is still in a rehab facility, and she's started having seizures again, and some days she doesn't recognize people and talks out of her head. She's not in danger of passing away, but the family is stressed because who knows if she will ever be able to take care of herself again. And now DH has the flowers in for his business, plus the chicks, so he's super busy taking care of all that and selling it. *sigh* We had hoped to get away this month, but there is something going on almost every weekend, so we never planned anything. Maybe next month...
I did kind of feel like I had a vacation day last Saturday. C and I spent the whole day just playing and having fun. We were outside most of the day. I didn't take my DSLR out with me because I just wanted to enjoy life and not worry about taking a perfect picture. I did bring my iPhone and got some snapshots with it...
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| Still can't reach the pedals enough to go anywhere, but she tries! |
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| DH took this one. C's first picnic! She had a blast. |
C was passed out by 8 that night, which is extremely rare for her. DH and I were able to have the night off, so to speak! We watched the ACM awards and just enjoyed time alone.
I wish I could go back in time to last weekend. Though I am looking forward to this weekend. Tomorrow, I am taking C to my mama's church with some friends. They have a little playground there that's fenced in (so the babies can wander around and we don't have to worry about them wandering off!) and the babies love to play in there. Its not public, so it'll be nice and quiet. And that is the only thing I have planned for the entire weekend. I might have to ask DH if we can take a day trip Sunday and just get away......! We'll see. ( ;
I'll leave you with one more image. I love this time of year because all the flowers and starting to come out. My hasta around the flower beds have come back and are growing rapidly. My amaryllis are going to be gorgeous when they bloom - there are a TON of bulbs now. The irises have multiplied, too. My gerbera daisies are coming back up. My azaleas are starting to bloom. My tulip tree is blooming and greening up. I just love it!! Last weekend I put 2 pots of geraniums on the porch and hung up 2 hanging baskets. One is a red portulaca (though I don't have a picture of it yet), and the other is a basket of 3 different flowers. Petunia is one of them, but don't ask me what the other 2 are, haha. I love it, though! Its gorgeous hanging on my porch. Don't you agree? ( :
11.12.2012
Again
I'm sick. Again. Again! Haven't I been sick pretty much since the beginning of October??! (Yes, I have, actually.) Okay, the very last "sickness" was self-imposed (the colonoscopy), but I felt bad for days with that. My daughter had a cold the week before last, and it wasn't too bad, though she did run a low-grade fever a few nights. After her symptoms were gone for a week and I felt fine, I just knew I'd escaped the sickness.
Nope.
To be fair, I can't say that I caught this crud from her. She just had a runny, stuffy nose and the fever a few nights. Saturday morning I woke up with a sore throat. That's a common occurrence for me, though, so I didn't think much of it. What bothered me was when I realized that as the day progressed, my throat was getting worse, despite the hoards of ibuprofen I was taking. I didn't do a whole lot that day, just mostly hung out with C, which was wonderful. By that evening, I was feeling pretty crummy. When I went to bed, I was having chills and just felt basically like I'd been hit by a bus.
I had fevers the rest of that night. I do not get fevers. I think the last one I had was 7 years ago or so. Its just not my thing. Lots of sickness, yes, but no fevers associated with those sicknesses. So I'm basically a big baby when I get a fever. Sunday morning I started sweating the fever off, but then it would come right back. I was absolutely miserable. I couldn't do a thing but lay in the bed. My throat hurt so bad I couldn't even open my mouth without pain, and forget talking. (I think DH enjoyed my silence, haha!) So DH took care of C all day, and when they were in the house she was really good about leaving me alone. She'd come up to me and ask, "Mama feel bad? Her feel better." And she'd pat me when I coughed. So sweet.
Last night was rough. C woke up at 12:30 with a nightmare (we guess - she was screaming and it took a while for her to calm down), so she slept with us, and she was fitful the rest of the night. Which means I didn't get any sleep again. When I had another fever early this morning, I knew it was time to see a doctor.
After waiting in the waiting room of the doctor's office for an hour, and then another hour waiting in the exam room, I saw the doctor for approximately 6 minutes, and he told me I have a sinus infection and bronchitis. Wonderful. So after 45 more minutes of waiting at the pharmacy, I finally got my antibiotic and made it to work. Where I am sitting here wondering why I didn't just go back home and get in bed....seriously. I sound terrible and of course the phone keeps ringing, and when I talk it gets me coughing. I hurt everywhere and I'm so sleepy....poor, pitiful me, right?
I'm sure there's a reason God's put all this sickness on me lately. And really, I should be thankful I haven't had anything really serious. I mean, I'm probably not gonna die from a sinus infection. I don't need hospitalization. So, it could be much worse, so I'm grateful its not. But there's still got to be a purpose for me to have to go through this. Maybe its to teach my husband how to do some of my jobs around the house, like changing C's diaper, cause he's certainly had to step up!
Or maybe its to teach me to let go of some things. Like sweeping 3 times a day. I kid you not, I am obsessed with sweeping. Ever since we ripped up all the carpet in our house and put down laminate floors (they look like hardwood floors) 2 years ago, I just can't stand to see a speck of dirt on the floor. I vacuumed Friday night (which is my normal vacuuming day), but on Saturday I think I swept 4 times. No lie. (I told you I'm obsessed.) Yesterday, with DH and C going in and out (it was a beautiful day), of course some dirt got tracked on the floors, not to mention the crumbs from C's snacks....a few times I almost grabbed the broom, and then I thought, you idiot, get back in bed, you can barely walk, don't worry about the floor!! Even this mornin, when I felt a little better, I was tempted to sweep but forced myself not to. There are more important things than obsessing over a little dirt on your floor. Like rest.
Whatever the reason for this, I pray that this antibiotic works quickly and I feel better fast. I hate that I missed out on a perfect fall day yesterday, and I hate the empty tank feeling I have. This, too, shall pass!
Nope.
To be fair, I can't say that I caught this crud from her. She just had a runny, stuffy nose and the fever a few nights. Saturday morning I woke up with a sore throat. That's a common occurrence for me, though, so I didn't think much of it. What bothered me was when I realized that as the day progressed, my throat was getting worse, despite the hoards of ibuprofen I was taking. I didn't do a whole lot that day, just mostly hung out with C, which was wonderful. By that evening, I was feeling pretty crummy. When I went to bed, I was having chills and just felt basically like I'd been hit by a bus.
I had fevers the rest of that night. I do not get fevers. I think the last one I had was 7 years ago or so. Its just not my thing. Lots of sickness, yes, but no fevers associated with those sicknesses. So I'm basically a big baby when I get a fever. Sunday morning I started sweating the fever off, but then it would come right back. I was absolutely miserable. I couldn't do a thing but lay in the bed. My throat hurt so bad I couldn't even open my mouth without pain, and forget talking. (I think DH enjoyed my silence, haha!) So DH took care of C all day, and when they were in the house she was really good about leaving me alone. She'd come up to me and ask, "Mama feel bad? Her feel better." And she'd pat me when I coughed. So sweet.
Last night was rough. C woke up at 12:30 with a nightmare (we guess - she was screaming and it took a while for her to calm down), so she slept with us, and she was fitful the rest of the night. Which means I didn't get any sleep again. When I had another fever early this morning, I knew it was time to see a doctor.
After waiting in the waiting room of the doctor's office for an hour, and then another hour waiting in the exam room, I saw the doctor for approximately 6 minutes, and he told me I have a sinus infection and bronchitis. Wonderful. So after 45 more minutes of waiting at the pharmacy, I finally got my antibiotic and made it to work. Where I am sitting here wondering why I didn't just go back home and get in bed....seriously. I sound terrible and of course the phone keeps ringing, and when I talk it gets me coughing. I hurt everywhere and I'm so sleepy....poor, pitiful me, right?
I'm sure there's a reason God's put all this sickness on me lately. And really, I should be thankful I haven't had anything really serious. I mean, I'm probably not gonna die from a sinus infection. I don't need hospitalization. So, it could be much worse, so I'm grateful its not. But there's still got to be a purpose for me to have to go through this. Maybe its to teach my husband how to do some of my jobs around the house, like changing C's diaper, cause he's certainly had to step up!
Or maybe its to teach me to let go of some things. Like sweeping 3 times a day. I kid you not, I am obsessed with sweeping. Ever since we ripped up all the carpet in our house and put down laminate floors (they look like hardwood floors) 2 years ago, I just can't stand to see a speck of dirt on the floor. I vacuumed Friday night (which is my normal vacuuming day), but on Saturday I think I swept 4 times. No lie. (I told you I'm obsessed.) Yesterday, with DH and C going in and out (it was a beautiful day), of course some dirt got tracked on the floors, not to mention the crumbs from C's snacks....a few times I almost grabbed the broom, and then I thought, you idiot, get back in bed, you can barely walk, don't worry about the floor!! Even this mornin, when I felt a little better, I was tempted to sweep but forced myself not to. There are more important things than obsessing over a little dirt on your floor. Like rest.
Whatever the reason for this, I pray that this antibiotic works quickly and I feel better fast. I hate that I missed out on a perfect fall day yesterday, and I hate the empty tank feeling I have. This, too, shall pass!
10.11.2012
I cheated!
The exclamation point in the title of this post probably tells you that I'm not really beating myself up over my "cheating" incident. I was actually pretty pleased with myself! Sometimes, you just gotta take a short cut, you know??
I have been sick lately. Like really, really sick. The doctor in the Emergency Room last week said I had the stomach flu (DH took me there because I was severely dehydrated - that's how sick I was). I got 3 bags of fluids, some nausea medication, and some pain medication (dehydration makes you have intense stomach pain, if you didn't know - so intense that I told DH I'd rather be in labor again...yeah). It was a fun night. Its been over a week now, and I'm almost back to normal.
Luckily for me, my family really stepped up and were just basically awesome last week. My mother-in-law keeps C every day, and pretty much every day last week I called her to come pick up the baby. Which meant she also had to get her dressed for the day, pack her bag, etc. I was just too sick to take care of my own child, which was a hard pill for me to swallow! DH had to do things he doesn't normally have to do around the house, and he was a good nurse. My mother came a few nights and gave C her bath for me, which was a huge help, and then she stayed with me all day Friday because I was too weak to do ANYthing for myself. (She made me drink Ensure - yuck! But it helped me. I guess I needed the calories.) So what I'm trying to say is I am eternally grateful for my family! Its wonderful to know I have so many people I can count on when I'm in need.
Back to my cheating. I clean our bathrooms usually once every 2 weeks. I know some people clean their bathrooms much more often than that, but I struggle to get it done, so every 2 weeks is impressive to me! The bathrooms really don't get that dirty, anyway. My husband and I are both neat people and clean up after ourselves. And C is never in there unsupervised. Anyway, even though I clean the bathrooms regularly, I still have a mildew problem on my shower curtain. Gross, I know.
For a while, we did the shower spray stuff. You know, that chemical that you spray after you take a shower that is supposed to prevent mildew. It doesn't work. DH and I were diligent about it for months, and still mildew grew. Straight vinegar works wonders on the stuff growin on the walls of the shower (though it still grows back every other week - grr), I found. But I haven't had any luck with the mildew on the shower curtain, at the bottom.
It. Was. Nasty!
The week I got sick, I had planned on taking the curtain down and soaking it in bleach or something really strong to see if that took care of it. Of course as sick as I was, that didn't happen. I thought about just buying a new shower curtain, but DH would surely be less than happy with that idea. Plus, what a waste of money! Even though I'm feeling better this week, I have had so much to catch up on that I haven't had time to work on that curtain.
So, the other night I cut off the offensive bottom of the curtain!
I cut off about 2 inches of nastiness. Definitely cheating, but it looks so much better in the shower now. And I'm looking at it as a clean slate. Hopefully I'll find something that keeps the mildew away when I'm doing my regular cleaning.
What's funny is that DH hasn't even noticed. Or if he has, he hasn't bothered to mention it to me.
But I am vowing to myself to keep the dang thing clean and mildew free this time. I will NOT let it get to that point again. And I will NOT ever have to cut off 2 inches of a shower curtain again!
Don't judge me; aside from my previously nasty shower curtain, my house is actually pretty clean. Not as organized as it could be, perhaps, but definitely clean. ( : And I can't be the only one who's ever cheated on housework like this, can I??
I have been sick lately. Like really, really sick. The doctor in the Emergency Room last week said I had the stomach flu (DH took me there because I was severely dehydrated - that's how sick I was). I got 3 bags of fluids, some nausea medication, and some pain medication (dehydration makes you have intense stomach pain, if you didn't know - so intense that I told DH I'd rather be in labor again...yeah). It was a fun night. Its been over a week now, and I'm almost back to normal.
Luckily for me, my family really stepped up and were just basically awesome last week. My mother-in-law keeps C every day, and pretty much every day last week I called her to come pick up the baby. Which meant she also had to get her dressed for the day, pack her bag, etc. I was just too sick to take care of my own child, which was a hard pill for me to swallow! DH had to do things he doesn't normally have to do around the house, and he was a good nurse. My mother came a few nights and gave C her bath for me, which was a huge help, and then she stayed with me all day Friday because I was too weak to do ANYthing for myself. (She made me drink Ensure - yuck! But it helped me. I guess I needed the calories.) So what I'm trying to say is I am eternally grateful for my family! Its wonderful to know I have so many people I can count on when I'm in need.
Back to my cheating. I clean our bathrooms usually once every 2 weeks. I know some people clean their bathrooms much more often than that, but I struggle to get it done, so every 2 weeks is impressive to me! The bathrooms really don't get that dirty, anyway. My husband and I are both neat people and clean up after ourselves. And C is never in there unsupervised. Anyway, even though I clean the bathrooms regularly, I still have a mildew problem on my shower curtain. Gross, I know.
For a while, we did the shower spray stuff. You know, that chemical that you spray after you take a shower that is supposed to prevent mildew. It doesn't work. DH and I were diligent about it for months, and still mildew grew. Straight vinegar works wonders on the stuff growin on the walls of the shower (though it still grows back every other week - grr), I found. But I haven't had any luck with the mildew on the shower curtain, at the bottom.
It. Was. Nasty!
The week I got sick, I had planned on taking the curtain down and soaking it in bleach or something really strong to see if that took care of it. Of course as sick as I was, that didn't happen. I thought about just buying a new shower curtain, but DH would surely be less than happy with that idea. Plus, what a waste of money! Even though I'm feeling better this week, I have had so much to catch up on that I haven't had time to work on that curtain.
So, the other night I cut off the offensive bottom of the curtain!
I cut off about 2 inches of nastiness. Definitely cheating, but it looks so much better in the shower now. And I'm looking at it as a clean slate. Hopefully I'll find something that keeps the mildew away when I'm doing my regular cleaning.
What's funny is that DH hasn't even noticed. Or if he has, he hasn't bothered to mention it to me.
But I am vowing to myself to keep the dang thing clean and mildew free this time. I will NOT let it get to that point again. And I will NOT ever have to cut off 2 inches of a shower curtain again!
Don't judge me; aside from my previously nasty shower curtain, my house is actually pretty clean. Not as organized as it could be, perhaps, but definitely clean. ( : And I can't be the only one who's ever cheated on housework like this, can I??
8.24.2012
High Five for Friday!
Highlights of my week:
1 - I had a follow up appointment with my GI doctor. Actually, his NP-C, but she was very thorough and I loved her. She was surprised I haven't seen any relief yet. When I asked her about my milk allergy, she said milk was probably contributing to my reflux, but it probably wasn't the source of it. She said to continue to eliminate all dairy, though. She also gave me a steroid inhaler to use for 2 months. Apparently, some of my issue is an allergic reaction in my esophagus. The theory is that an inhaler used for asthma symptoms can help. I was willing to try it. Today is day 4 of the inhaler, and I think its helping. I'm still on my other 2 meds for reflux. I can't say I'm symptom free yet, but I'll take any relief I get! I have to go back in 2 months to see how I'm doing. If I'm still having issues, we're gonna run more tests.
2 - Today marks day 10 of being dairy free. I can honestly say its getting easier! I still crave dairy products, especially chocolate. But cooking is getting easier. I still want to try cooking with almond milk or something like that. Maybe I'll attempt that this weekend. I bought myself some expensive dark chocolate that is dairy free. Its much more bitter than I like, but it does satisfy my cravings.
3 - We went to the beach again this past Sunday! This time, me and DH went with my dad and took C out on the boat. She loved it! We couldn't stay long because a really bad storm came up, but we enjoyed it while it lasted.
4 - Last Saturday, I got up super early and drove several hours to the Constitution Party of NC State Convention. To be honest, I was dreading the event. Especially the drive! 8 hours by myself in a car? No thanks. But, it turns out the drive wasn't so bad. And it was only a little over 3 hours instead of the 4 that mapquest said. And I was also pleasantly surprised to find that I enjoyed the convention! We had great speakers and I learned a lot. I don't want to repeat almost 7 hours of driving alone any time soon, but it did give me a chance to think and be quiet for once. ( :
5 - C and I attended the local La Leche Leage (LLL) meeting Monday night. We haven't been since she was around 10 months old. They only meet once a month, and something always came up on meeting nights. I was so glad we went to this one, though. Attendance was low (just us, the leader with her 3 super loud kids, and two other mamas with their 6 month old babies), but we had good discussions. Its always nice to talk to other breastfeeding mamas.
I'd almost like to add a 6th highlight here. I don't have much planned for this weekend! I've got a few projects I'd like to get done around the house, but if they don't happen I won't be upset. I have a riding lesson to teach tomorrow morning, and that's about it. I'm so excited for a relaxing weekend! ( :
1 - I had a follow up appointment with my GI doctor. Actually, his NP-C, but she was very thorough and I loved her. She was surprised I haven't seen any relief yet. When I asked her about my milk allergy, she said milk was probably contributing to my reflux, but it probably wasn't the source of it. She said to continue to eliminate all dairy, though. She also gave me a steroid inhaler to use for 2 months. Apparently, some of my issue is an allergic reaction in my esophagus. The theory is that an inhaler used for asthma symptoms can help. I was willing to try it. Today is day 4 of the inhaler, and I think its helping. I'm still on my other 2 meds for reflux. I can't say I'm symptom free yet, but I'll take any relief I get! I have to go back in 2 months to see how I'm doing. If I'm still having issues, we're gonna run more tests.
2 - Today marks day 10 of being dairy free. I can honestly say its getting easier! I still crave dairy products, especially chocolate. But cooking is getting easier. I still want to try cooking with almond milk or something like that. Maybe I'll attempt that this weekend. I bought myself some expensive dark chocolate that is dairy free. Its much more bitter than I like, but it does satisfy my cravings.
3 - We went to the beach again this past Sunday! This time, me and DH went with my dad and took C out on the boat. She loved it! We couldn't stay long because a really bad storm came up, but we enjoyed it while it lasted.
4 - Last Saturday, I got up super early and drove several hours to the Constitution Party of NC State Convention. To be honest, I was dreading the event. Especially the drive! 8 hours by myself in a car? No thanks. But, it turns out the drive wasn't so bad. And it was only a little over 3 hours instead of the 4 that mapquest said. And I was also pleasantly surprised to find that I enjoyed the convention! We had great speakers and I learned a lot. I don't want to repeat almost 7 hours of driving alone any time soon, but it did give me a chance to think and be quiet for once. ( :
5 - C and I attended the local La Leche Leage (LLL) meeting Monday night. We haven't been since she was around 10 months old. They only meet once a month, and something always came up on meeting nights. I was so glad we went to this one, though. Attendance was low (just us, the leader with her 3 super loud kids, and two other mamas with their 6 month old babies), but we had good discussions. Its always nice to talk to other breastfeeding mamas.
I'd almost like to add a 6th highlight here. I don't have much planned for this weekend! I've got a few projects I'd like to get done around the house, but if they don't happen I won't be upset. I have a riding lesson to teach tomorrow morning, and that's about it. I'm so excited for a relaxing weekend! ( :
8.17.2012
High Five for Friday!
This week has thankfully been a slow, pretty event-free week for me. I'm definitely not complaining! Here's a quick list of the highlights from my week:
1. I got my hair cut. Well, trimmed. I'm growing it out (or trying to), and right now it sits just a tad below my shoulders. The last time I had it trimmed, I had my sister (don't worry, she's a professional!) do something different. I wanted the ends to be more fringe-y instead of straight across. I saw it in a magazine and thought it looked really cool. Not so cool on me. It was terrible to work with! So this week my sister just trimmed my hair normally and it is SO much better. Hey, when you're at this awkward length like I am you take what you can get with your hair!
2. I got a new flat iron! I know that sounds pretty dumb, but I'm super excited about it. I realized my el cheap-o flat iron was part of my problem, and it was probably ruining my hair. So I got one that's a little more expensive (still only $30, but that was at TJ Maxx, so its really more like $60) and I can already tell its much better. And its pink!
3. I discovered deep conditioner for hair. Yes, this is three hair events in one week, and yes its probably very shallow of me. But I don't care. This is what has made me happy this week! One of my favorite blogs, The Small Things Blog, is written by a professional hair stylist in Raleigh. She's got all kinds of tutorials for hair styles on there, and so much more. Recently, she did a FAQ video and one of the questions she answered concerned deep conditioners. I'd never used one before, but after hearing her advice, decided to try it. I got the Organix Moroccan Argan Oil deep conditioner from Target. Probably not the best stuff out there, but I really liked it. It made my hair feel really silky and moisturized.
I only wash my hair 2-3 times a week because it (like the rest of my body) is extremely dry, and washing any more than that is too much for it. I already use a pretty intense conditioner (I think), but this stuff just made it feel so much better. Today I'm on day 2 post-wash and my hair still feels great, not dry at all!
4. Okay, enough talk about hair! Last night, it hit me how truly happy I am with my life. God has blessed me so much. Sure, nothing is perfect, and I get discouraged and upset sometimes, but really, I've got a great life.
This week, I bought my daughter a pair of "shortalls" (that's overalls, but shorts instead of long pants) from Target. I've been eyeballing them all summer, waiting for them to go on sale. They went on clearance this week, so I snagged them. She, of course, loved them. (My child loves all clothes, God help me.) Immediately wanted to put them on. So last night I put them on her and she walked around the house so proud, with her hands in the little pockets. Then DH came home to mow the grass, and C wanted to ride with him. So I put her shoes and sunglasses on and took her outside. As I watched them ride off on the mower, it just struck me: I am so happy. Its probably going to be super annoying when she's a teenager, but right now C's assertion of her own fashion sense is super cute, and seeing the love between my husband and my child just lights me up.
5. The last thing is something I'm trying really hard to make positive. This week, I was diagnosed with a milk allergy. My allergist recommended I avoid everything that contains milk products. I didn't realize this at first, but milk is in everything. Even deli meats and hot dogs! The only way to tell how severe my allergy is is to eliminate it from my diet, then slowly add things back and see how I react. So for one month I am going completely dairy free. Its hard. I'm only on day 2 and its a struggle. I don't know how to cook without using milk or butter, so I'm having to relearn everything in the kitchen. Its frustrating. The silver lining I'm trying to see is that hopefully this is the cause of my severe reflux (GERD, whatever you want to call it), and once I get milk out of my body I'll feel better. Fingers crossed!
1. I got my hair cut. Well, trimmed. I'm growing it out (or trying to), and right now it sits just a tad below my shoulders. The last time I had it trimmed, I had my sister (don't worry, she's a professional!) do something different. I wanted the ends to be more fringe-y instead of straight across. I saw it in a magazine and thought it looked really cool. Not so cool on me. It was terrible to work with! So this week my sister just trimmed my hair normally and it is SO much better. Hey, when you're at this awkward length like I am you take what you can get with your hair!
2. I got a new flat iron! I know that sounds pretty dumb, but I'm super excited about it. I realized my el cheap-o flat iron was part of my problem, and it was probably ruining my hair. So I got one that's a little more expensive (still only $30, but that was at TJ Maxx, so its really more like $60) and I can already tell its much better. And its pink!
4. Okay, enough talk about hair! Last night, it hit me how truly happy I am with my life. God has blessed me so much. Sure, nothing is perfect, and I get discouraged and upset sometimes, but really, I've got a great life.
This week, I bought my daughter a pair of "shortalls" (that's overalls, but shorts instead of long pants) from Target. I've been eyeballing them all summer, waiting for them to go on sale. They went on clearance this week, so I snagged them. She, of course, loved them. (My child loves all clothes, God help me.) Immediately wanted to put them on. So last night I put them on her and she walked around the house so proud, with her hands in the little pockets. Then DH came home to mow the grass, and C wanted to ride with him. So I put her shoes and sunglasses on and took her outside. As I watched them ride off on the mower, it just struck me: I am so happy. Its probably going to be super annoying when she's a teenager, but right now C's assertion of her own fashion sense is super cute, and seeing the love between my husband and my child just lights me up.
5. The last thing is something I'm trying really hard to make positive. This week, I was diagnosed with a milk allergy. My allergist recommended I avoid everything that contains milk products. I didn't realize this at first, but milk is in everything. Even deli meats and hot dogs! The only way to tell how severe my allergy is is to eliminate it from my diet, then slowly add things back and see how I react. So for one month I am going completely dairy free. Its hard. I'm only on day 2 and its a struggle. I don't know how to cook without using milk or butter, so I'm having to relearn everything in the kitchen. Its frustrating. The silver lining I'm trying to see is that hopefully this is the cause of my severe reflux (GERD, whatever you want to call it), and once I get milk out of my body I'll feel better. Fingers crossed!
8.03.2012
High Five for Friday!
This week has been a challenge, to say the least. Last weekend, our big freezer in the laundry room broke. Everything in there thawed out. It was a disaster. And it led to more problems later in the week. We have now recovered (I think), and looking back, all I can say is "MAN!" I am just glad its Friday and this week is almost over!
Despite all the stress, I can say there have been good things about this week:
1 - I can count on my daddy to be there for me when I need him. I already knew that, but the knowledge was reinforced this week. I was having a major breakdown over an issue yesterday morning (another problem stemming from the broken freezer), and DH was already at work. I called Daddy and he came right over. I am not ashamed, either. Yes, I am a grown woman and I should be able to handle my own problems. But there's nothin like callin your daddy to come make everything better! (For the record, I can count on my mama, too. But she was having issues with one of her horses that morning and couldn't come.) I'm a total Daddy's Girl. Which is awesome because he's technically my step-father. He raised me, though, so I rarely even think of that label.
2 - I learned this week that sometimes, you need to take a step back from a situation and recognize that its the Devil workin against you! I did that Saturday, when the freezer broke. Things were extremely tense at our house. I went outside to transfer some food to the other freezer (we're hoping everything wasn't totally ruined, but we'll see), and while I was out there it struck me that yes, the freezer breaking is stressful and it sucks, but the Devil is totally making it worse by making us lash out at each other. I prayed about it, and when I went back inside I felt much calmer. You just have to see the Devil's work for what it is, and then its easier to deal with. Now, the hard part is realizing that when something's going wrong! I certainly don't always do that, and even later in the week struggled with it.
3 - This week, I "taught" C how to eat Oreos - you know, the RIGHT way. DH bought a package and gave one to C. Of course she loved it. I only eat Oreos after dipping them in milk, which DH thinks is nasty, so I introduced it to C. She loved it, but I think she prefers eating them plain. She just likes the mess associated with dunking the cookies in milk! We probably shouldn't be encouraging our child to eat sweets and other "bad" foods like Oreos, but come on, you gotta live a little! At any rate, its so cute watchin her try somethin new. ( :
4 - I've been able to sleep on just one pillow this week. I have GERD and the reflux has been terrible lately, so I've been sleeping on 3 pillows to prop me up. Which makes my back hurt. I went to a specialist, had some tests run, got on new medication, and its starting to help. At least enough so that now I can lay flat at night and sleep like normal people. And I'm not in constant pain all day. So its a huge improvement, and I am grateful for any relief!
5 - We got a new kithcen table this week! I already posted about it earlier, but I'm so tickled with it, had to include it here. I feel less cramped in my kitchen now, and it "goes" with our kitchen much better than the old table did. C loves it, too. Every day when we get home, she goes into the kitchen and says "new table!" ( :
So what are the highlights from YOUR week?
Despite all the stress, I can say there have been good things about this week:
1 - I can count on my daddy to be there for me when I need him. I already knew that, but the knowledge was reinforced this week. I was having a major breakdown over an issue yesterday morning (another problem stemming from the broken freezer), and DH was already at work. I called Daddy and he came right over. I am not ashamed, either. Yes, I am a grown woman and I should be able to handle my own problems. But there's nothin like callin your daddy to come make everything better! (For the record, I can count on my mama, too. But she was having issues with one of her horses that morning and couldn't come.) I'm a total Daddy's Girl. Which is awesome because he's technically my step-father. He raised me, though, so I rarely even think of that label.
2 - I learned this week that sometimes, you need to take a step back from a situation and recognize that its the Devil workin against you! I did that Saturday, when the freezer broke. Things were extremely tense at our house. I went outside to transfer some food to the other freezer (we're hoping everything wasn't totally ruined, but we'll see), and while I was out there it struck me that yes, the freezer breaking is stressful and it sucks, but the Devil is totally making it worse by making us lash out at each other. I prayed about it, and when I went back inside I felt much calmer. You just have to see the Devil's work for what it is, and then its easier to deal with. Now, the hard part is realizing that when something's going wrong! I certainly don't always do that, and even later in the week struggled with it.
3 - This week, I "taught" C how to eat Oreos - you know, the RIGHT way. DH bought a package and gave one to C. Of course she loved it. I only eat Oreos after dipping them in milk, which DH thinks is nasty, so I introduced it to C. She loved it, but I think she prefers eating them plain. She just likes the mess associated with dunking the cookies in milk! We probably shouldn't be encouraging our child to eat sweets and other "bad" foods like Oreos, but come on, you gotta live a little! At any rate, its so cute watchin her try somethin new. ( :
4 - I've been able to sleep on just one pillow this week. I have GERD and the reflux has been terrible lately, so I've been sleeping on 3 pillows to prop me up. Which makes my back hurt. I went to a specialist, had some tests run, got on new medication, and its starting to help. At least enough so that now I can lay flat at night and sleep like normal people. And I'm not in constant pain all day. So its a huge improvement, and I am grateful for any relief!
5 - We got a new kithcen table this week! I already posted about it earlier, but I'm so tickled with it, had to include it here. I feel less cramped in my kitchen now, and it "goes" with our kitchen much better than the old table did. C loves it, too. Every day when we get home, she goes into the kitchen and says "new table!" ( :
So what are the highlights from YOUR week?
7.27.2012
High Five for Friday!
I'm going to eventually link up with Lauren at from my grey desk for these High 5 posts. Every week, Lauren gives the top 5 highlights of her week, and invites other bloggers to do the same. I don't feel I'm quite ready to link up and really get my blog out there, so for now I'll just share my own 5 highlights and not tell the entire world. ( :
1. My husband and I had a great day together yesterday! I had an upper endoscopy done first thing in the morning, which was not exactly fun, but afterwards, we spent the whole day together. Granted, I was groggy and extremely tired from the sedation, but I'll take what I can get. We did a little shopping, and a lot of talking, which was wonderful.
2. I discovered Pancake Puppies at Denny's! Yesterday was my first time eating at a Denny's restaurant, and it was really good. But my favorite thing was the Pancake Puppies we got as an appetizer. (I know, right? Who needs an appetizer for breakfast?? I do, when I've not been allowed to eat since the night before and its waaaaay past my normal breakfast time!
3. Even better, I found out how to make them! Maybe this shouldn't count as 2 things, but if you tried them, you'd probably understand. Its actually not as hard as I thought, so this is definitely something I am going to try soon! (This recipe is for the blueberry/white chocolate ones, which sound Divine, but I had the strawberry ones yesterday. You dip them in cream cheese icing and it is heavenly!)
4. Dye-free children's ibuprofen. We don't use a lot of pain medication for C, but lately we've been giving her ibuprofen at bedtime. She's cutting 4 molars and she is in serious pain (as evidenced by her constant waking up and screaming throughout the night). The doctor told us it was fine to give her ibuprofen every night until the molars are in. She likes the grape flavored stuff (I always buy generic to save money), but its dyed purple. I recently purchased some dye-free generic (I think I have the Target version). Its berry flavored. I gave it to C last night and she loved it. Score! I read a long time ago that all the dyes that go into foods, drinks, and medications can be irritating for some people, especially kids. All kinds of issues have been linked to dyes. So just in case, I like to avoid them when possible.
5. The beach! DH and I took C this past Sunday. It wasn't C's first time at the beach, but it was her first time this year. Meaning, it was her first time when she could actually play! Last summer, she wasn't walking and the beach did not impress her. She loved it this time! We went in the morning when it wasn't so hot or crowded. We played in the water, built sandcastles (which C immediately destroyed, haha), and looked for seashells (which C decided should be thrown back into the ocean right away). Our beach day was a perfect day. ( :
What are the highlights from YOUR week?
1. My husband and I had a great day together yesterday! I had an upper endoscopy done first thing in the morning, which was not exactly fun, but afterwards, we spent the whole day together. Granted, I was groggy and extremely tired from the sedation, but I'll take what I can get. We did a little shopping, and a lot of talking, which was wonderful.
2. I discovered Pancake Puppies at Denny's! Yesterday was my first time eating at a Denny's restaurant, and it was really good. But my favorite thing was the Pancake Puppies we got as an appetizer. (I know, right? Who needs an appetizer for breakfast?? I do, when I've not been allowed to eat since the night before and its waaaaay past my normal breakfast time!
4. Dye-free children's ibuprofen. We don't use a lot of pain medication for C, but lately we've been giving her ibuprofen at bedtime. She's cutting 4 molars and she is in serious pain (as evidenced by her constant waking up and screaming throughout the night). The doctor told us it was fine to give her ibuprofen every night until the molars are in. She likes the grape flavored stuff (I always buy generic to save money), but its dyed purple. I recently purchased some dye-free generic (I think I have the Target version). Its berry flavored. I gave it to C last night and she loved it. Score! I read a long time ago that all the dyes that go into foods, drinks, and medications can be irritating for some people, especially kids. All kinds of issues have been linked to dyes. So just in case, I like to avoid them when possible.
What are the highlights from YOUR week?
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