Happy Veterans' Day

In an ironic twist, while public schools are on holiday today, we started back up with homeschooling. (We've been off since the 30th!) Started slow, with some Bible, grammar, math, history, and silent reading. I breathed a sigh of relief to be finished by noon, and the boys are off playing with the neighbor kids. :0)

Remember our veterans...

Easy on the eyes...

The view inside...



The view outside...

Double Digits!

Tate is TEN!!!

The day I 'crashed' was the day we celebrated Tate and my mom's November birthdays. I had originally planned to host the dinner at our house, but that plan changed when my surgery was scheduled.

God bless "Grandma", she put on her own birthday dinner and made it oh-so-special for my Tater-bug.



Here he is, cuddling his Webkinz gecko. Even a 10-year old likes cuddly toys, once in awhile. Especially when they allow him to have an account to play the webkinz games... what he REALLY wanted :0)







He's amazed that I actually remembered the exact G-I Joe soldier toys he had pointed out on a shopping expedition. (Well, duh, I was taking NOTES, for goodness sake!)








Uncle Dave picked a winner of a Star Wars card :0)










And - oh boundless joy - the Star Wars Spider Droid Lego Kit he has been asking for, these long months of waiting.

The party was a success!

Night Sounds

I've been having the kids do some journal writing for homeschool. I don't correct their "GPS" (grammar, punctuation, spelling) - I just want them to WRITE. I'm always looking for topics, or "prompts" in the educational lingo, that will interest them. When I found the question, "What sounds do you hear as you fall asleep at night?", my mind automatically went to comforting sounds... rain falling on the roof, frogs or crickets, the wind blowing, etc.

But, of course, that's an adult thinking...

Three boys, who share a bedroom, think differently. As I suggested the topic, they immediately made two categories - what they WANT to hear, and what they DON'T want to hear.

And for Tate, it's a whole different thing. I asked him to write about what he would LIKE to hear, as he went to bed and waited to fall asleep.

I'd forgotten the Tinnitus.

Here's what he wrote:

Thes are some sawnds I here befor I Go to sleep.

eeeeee aeee
meeerrrvrvr
arrrbe reeeeee

I wode rather here my mind and Nothing Els !!!

Fictionary #10

Dopeler Effect: The tendency of stupid ideas to seem smarter when they come at you rapidly.

I'm including this one here, because of the random and bizarre thoughts that have passed through my head, along with the Vicodin!

Progress Report

To my real life and my blog-world friends...

I am really grateful for the prayers and encouragement that has come my way :0) Thanks for all the notes, the ice cream, the dinners, and especially the prayers. Today it is 3:20 pm and I have not had a nap! And I'm down to 1/2 a Vicodin every 3 or 4 hours. That means I have a bit of pain (manageable) but am getting away from the loopiness. Tomorrow I think I'll just try Tylenol, and save the V. for bedtime :0)

This has been a very weird (and unpleasant) experience, and I am hopeful that the rewards are yet to come... in the form of not having strep or tonsillitis on an almost on-going basis. Oddly, it has not really been a case of feeling a little better each day, but more like two-steps forward, one back, two forward, one back...

I really "crashed" on Friday. Fortunately the boys were playing at my friend's (thanks Mel!) I thought I was drinking enough, but apparently relying on thirst (and, really, I was peeing!) just isn't enough to go by. I got dehydrated. Seriously. I was almost delirious. Just breathing made me nauseous. Kerry was going to go to a meeting (I think?) and I begged him not to leave me alone, because something was really WRONG. Not pain, just WRONG. He got the Doc's office on the phone and they (correctly) thought dehydration was the cause. Fortunately I could keep down small sips of water. Kerry sat next to me, not letting me fall asleep, offering me alternate sips of water and gatorade until... ta daaaa!

Mommy to the rescue!

Talk about being a big crying baby. Kerry was doing all the right things, but I WANTED MY MOM! Yes, I am - ahem - 42 years old, but I wanted my mom!

I have to say it is amazing how quickly the body bounces back with proper fluids. The doc's office recommended the water AND gatorade, because my electrolytes were probably all screwed up, and I avoided having to be "IV'ed" back to health.

Interestingly (or not, if you're more than saturated with this...) my lymph nodes had felt swollen and tender all week, but once I got hydrated they quit bothering me.

So... I am still feeling like a weakling. I get tired easily, and need lots of fluids and TLC, which I get in abundance, at home. I was happy to go to church yesterday, though I took a 2+ hour nap, afterwards.

We'll be starting to ease back into homeschooling tomorrow... SO thankful my mom and dad did some history and math with the boys, so we are not "behind" (on my schedule).

Whew!

Vicodin Moments

A whole week has gone by with little of coherence to show for it on my part. I have a disjointed series of memories of things happening and people coming and going. Often with food :0)


Our church has provided several dinners for us this week. And my sister (a strep throat veteran) sent this:













My little Gunnar-bug, a tender and compassionate soul, leaves a note on my little Dry-Erase board every time he walks by:













Tuesday was kind of a "low" day. I was feeling sick. Kerry had a major deadline and had to work most of the day (he works from home, so he was still 'in charge'). It poured all day, so the kids got a LOT of "screen time" (computer and movie). At one point, Wyatt and Tate were playing Lego Star Wars and getting very frustrated. I overheard Wyatt, near tears,

"Taaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaate!

That was all yooooooooooooooour faaaaaaaaaaaaaaaault!

You made me lose all my cooooooooooooooiiiiiiiiiiiiiins!"

(Pause, breathe)

"Oooohhhhhhhh, I wish I could say a Bad Word right now!"

A Brilliant Deduction

(I wrote this on Thursday, but forgot to post it. Oops. A perfect reflection of my fuzzy thinking of late...)

Okay, it’s been a week, and I really hoped I’d be feeling better than this by now.

It must be all the medication. Yeah. That’s the problem. If I could just get off the meds, all would be well.

That darn Vicodin makes me dizzy and sometimes nauseous… and all I do is lay around and sleep. Can’t even read much.

So (brilliant foggy-minded reasoning): if I could just quit taking the Vicodin, and take Tylenol instead (which does NOT usually make me dizzy or nauseous) all will be well!

Oh. Then there’s PAIN. Yeah. I forgot about the PAIN.

I guess that Vicodin isn’t so bad after all.

Monday...

The boys have been here with me today. Grandma has been doing History with them - yea Grandma :0)

They're bringing me home tonight to sleep in my own bed, and Grandma is coming to "help" in the morning. I'm still really 'rummy' in the mornings, but feel better as the day goes by. Still sleeping a lot. Hope ALL the boys (Kerry included) realize I'm not quite resuming my normal activities yet.

Our church has offered us dinners this week, and I am glad to accept :0) I had no idea I could sleep so much. Ugh.

The pain is not too bad, it's the side-effects that get me... dizzy, sometimes nauseaus, and just TIRED.

The boys are being wonderful :0)

Again, I am really feeling the prayers - many many thanks, though I haven't responded personally. Oddly, reading and writing makes me kind of dizzy... sort of like motion sickness. Yuck... I can't even read for more than a few minutes!

Thankful that this is temporary,

Julie

Just a quick update...

Had my tonsils out yesterday morning at 9am. Surgery took about an hour - a bit more involved than they anticipated, apparently, though nothing went "wrong". The doc told my mom I will be VERY glad I had this done... later.

I've been told to expect to feel worse and worse for the first four or five days, and then to begin to improve. I'm praying that I'll feel better and better!

I am spending the first three nights with my parents, who are dutifully making sure I take my plethora of meds on schedule, and filling me up with liquids... water, juices, and home-made chicken soup :0)

Kerry has the boys at home. I've written them a detailed schedule (indoor soccer, birthday party to attend, set the clocks back tonight, lunch with Aunty Tam-Tam...), and I'm sure they'll all do fine :0) I miss them all, but this is much more restful! The plan is for him to bring the boys up here Monday morning, and I will go home, while my mom does some homeschool history with them. She'll have them again on Wednesday for a Math day. Yea, Mom/Grandma! Kerry works at home (for any who don't know) and will just have to catch as catch can, regarding work.

I surely appreciate all the prayers... keep them coming :0) !

Julie