Suite 1101

It has been a long week. Preceded by a long winter. This winter has been a long, hard learning experience for us. Julia has had back-to-back-to-back sinus infections. We've been working with an ENT for the last couple of months (Dr. Sulman, who is an AWESOME addition to Julia's team). She started us with 4 weeks of antibiotics. Followed by a CT scan. Followed by 4 more weeks of antibiotics. Followed by a week of clarythromycin. Followed by an ambulance ride. Followed by six days at Children's. Followed by a 3-hour sinus surgery. Followed by at least two weeks of Vancomycin IV antibiotics.

The nearly week-long stay at the hospital was spent in the penthouse suite - the largest room on the top floor of patient rooms. Beautiful room, huge bathroom, and just not home. Bad bed, no sleep, lots of stress, beeping machines. Quiet time, great views, no cooking, reading books. Not-so-great nurses, PICC line, CT scan, postponed surgery. Healthier, happier Julia. And, it is so good to be on the other side of this challenge. Even though the last couple of weeks have been filled with stress and roadblocks, we are so hopeful that the payoff is going to be huge - we're getting our happy, spunky, sassy girl back again, and it is so nice.

So, even though life doesn't always seem fair, right now it feels so good. We have so much to be grateful for. Seems to me I got the best birthday gift I could have hoped for this year. And, the long road getting here makes it so much sweeter.

Luke Says the Darndest Things

About 3 weeks ago, Luke had to have a talk with the principal. On the bus ride to school, he called one of his 4K buddies a jackass. He seemed to think that was okay since his buddy called him a fat shark. To really top things off, the bus driver asked Alex to take Luke to the principal's office. Alex, who has never had to visit the principal himself, thought this was the best thing to ever happen at school. Should we be worried that Luke had his first trip to the principal's office while still in 4K?

Luke also has some girlfriends already. A few days ago, he told me he wanted to kiss Kina. I told him he was too young to be thinking about kissing girls. He responded that he would have to kiss her when they got married. I told him that wouldn't be for a long time. He said, "You mean like 50 years?" I'm not sure he will be able to wait that long since Ethan also wants to marry Kina. Luke seems to think he has the advantage over Ethan since: 1 - he's older than Ethan and 2 - he sits closer to Kina on the carpet (at least until they got new spots). But, Kina's not the only girl that boy has on his list. He also likes Kayla (he made sure to buy her a candy bar for her birthday with his own money), Hana (much older woman at age 12) - and, of course, Mom and Grandma!

27 Things I've Learned as a Mother

1. It is possible to have toys creep into every single nook and cranny of your house.
2. You can never take too many pictures.
3. Time goes by faster as your kids get older.
4. Some of the best memories come from the silly everyday moments.
5. It is possible to love your kids so much that it hurts.
6. Little things, like a Dora toothbrush or a trip to the library, can make a big difference.
7. Your kids appreciate you even if they don't always tell you so.
8. It's not always easy to get your kids to eat healthy food, but it is completely possible.
9. Sometimes it's nice to buy a friend a chocolate bar for their birthday...and get one for yourself.
10. Boring is not always a bad thing.
11. Belly kisses are hysterical.
12. It is possible to love all of your kids equally, yet completely differently.
13. Boys and girls are wired differently.
14. The best knock knock jokes have a punchline that makes absolutely no sense.
15. Simple is often better.
16. Ice cream is always a good thing.
17. Little kids are really smart if you just pay attention.
18. I have lots more patience than I ever would have guessed.
19. It is possible to lose your mind on a daily basis and still function.
20. It doesn't pay to worry about things that might not ever happen.
21. Play Doh is a lot of fun, but makes a big mess.
22. Naps make the day go better.
23. A fart by any other name is still a fart, and it will make kids laugh.
24. You can't live vicariously through your kids, but it's great to look at life through the eyes of a child every once in a while.
25. Love will give you the strength to do things you never would have guessed you would be able to do.
26. Grocery shopping can count as a date - even as a fun date, especially if you thrown in lunch at Noodles or Panera Bread.
27. Dirty laundry will multiply if it's left alone in a dark room.

Crazy Girls? I Like Crazy Girls!

Two weeks ago, Erica was just starting to get really sick with viral bronchitis. It was eight o'clock on a Monday night, and Matt and I were just getting ready to watch some grown-up TV. Erica was upset and coughing so hard she threw up. After she started to settle down, I told her she could snuggle with me while we watched The Bachelor. To explain, I said "The Bachelor is a show where a bunch of crazy girls are all after the same guy." She paused for a split second and said, "Crazy girls? I like crazy girls."

A week later, we were loading up to take Julia to yet another doctor appointment. Erica sat in the back, Julia and Christa sat in the middle and I was driving. Then, Erica informs us that we are just like the crazy girls all riding on that bus. Um, yeah, it kind of was just like that - the bachelorettes were all riding in an RV in the episode we watched together, and our strange seating arrangement was sort of like that. And, in case you were wondering, she also remembered that the bachelor's name is Jake - seems we were watching quality adult TV with a three-year-old that was really paying attention.

January Round-Up

- Making eggnog pound cake and eggnog muffins in an attempt to use up lots and lots of leftover eggnog.
- Alex brought home a C on his Social Studies test (first C I can remember him getting), and was quite upset about it.
- Julia had some sporatic attendance at school. Although she has been relatively healthy, she has lots and lots of sinus congestion. It takes the whole morning to get things moving and cleared out. She saw a new pediatrician who said she is not contagious. Nice thought, but everyone but Luke has the same sinus junk and cough, so if it's not contagious, how did we all get it at the same time??
- Cooper is still chewing - latest casualty is the Super Mario Brothers DS game.

December Round-Up

All in all, not a bad month:

- Julia returned to school on December 23, just in time for some holiday celebrations. She had a great day. She had been absent for just over two months.
- We took two trips to the Enchantment in the Park light display at Fair Park. The outdoor courtyard with the light display sychronized to music was my favorite part. I even found a new holiday song I LOVE - Snowflake.
- Lots and lots of gifts for the kids - highlight was Luke's new Nintendo DS. In his words, he got the grand prize.
- Tubing at Sunburst with my boys. It was packed, but we had a good time.
- A very white Christmas - I'm not sure what the stats say, but it seems like we're getting a lot of snow this season. It did make for an eventful drive to and from Matt's parents on the 26th.
- After waiting until nearly the last minute, we pulled off another year of cookie trays.
- Going with Erica, Luke and Alex to see "The Squeakquel" - after dinner at Noodles, we still had room for soda, popcorn and M'n'Ms at the movie. Yummy. The movie was good, but I did like the first one a little bit better.

The Easter/Christmas Mix-Up

We arrived for Christmas eve mass about 40 minutes before the services started and we sat closer to the front than we usually do. Those two changes set up a situation that was sweet, frustrating, cute and a bit heartbreaking all in one. Here's what happened - once we were seated and settled, I took Erica and Luke up to the Nativity scene so they could get a close look at Baby Jesus. Then, we settled back into our pew. The kids looked at books for a little while (we usually don't bring books to church, but we knew there would be extra time to fill). After she was done with the books, she started studying the pictures on the wall of the Stations of the Cross. That led to many, many questions - "Why is Jesus on the cross? Who put Jesus there? Do you see how sad his mommy is? How did they get Jesus down? Why did the soldiers think Jesus was a bad guy? Why did they take his clothes? Why did they make him carry the heavy cross?" Once she understood that Jesus died on the cross, she was heartbroken. She started crying and saying, "I miss Jesus." By this time, Mass has started, but she wasn't finished figuring things out. We kept telling her that she needed to be quiet, but she said, "I have lots of questions!" Finally Luke said, "Erica, Jesus died for our sins, but he rose again. I will show you in my Bible when we get home." She finally settled down, but she wanted to see the Bible story for herself as soon as we got home. So, that's how Erica learned about the Easter miracle...on Christmas eve. On a side note, when we went to Sunday mass, she was still studying the art on the walls, and Father Rick asked what she was looking at. She told him, "Pictures of Jesus." He explained that there were fourteen pictures, with seven on each side. She spent a good part of mass confirming his count.