Monday, Monday, Monday

We have a couple glimmers of hope today! Hanny went to school this morning, although I kept the twins home for another day due to their nasty coughs. They're definitely feeling better, so that's exciting news. I think I might live now too. I'm still not sleeping because of all my coughing, my glands hurt and I wear out very quickly, but I do think I'm improving. Gary's improving faster than any of us, I think. I actually cleaned the kitchen & ran the sweeper this morning. I know. Not exciting news, but the fact that I accomplished something today is reason for celebration. Granted, I'm ready for a day-long nap now, but progress is progress. We also took apart the fireplace garland and put it back together with new lights, hung it up and hung up our stockings this morning. All in all, we've done a lot since we took Hanny to school.

The girls are looking forward to this week's Christmas specials (Charlie Brown tonight) and also to my birthday on Friday. It's the holiday dinner at school, so I hope we're all healthy and can eat lunch at school together Friday before we have to go back to the doctor for another re-check. I've tried to make my list of things I want to get baked before Christmas, as well as the list of things I've yet to buy. If we don't get healthy soon, some of our loved ones are going to get a lot of nothing for Christmas! :) It's not for lack of knowing what to get, it's just a matter of not being able to go get it. Surely in the next 17 days I'll have a chance to finish up the shopping. I've got a lot of things I hope to accomplish in the next 17 days. Some of them HAVE to get done. Some of them don't. The most important thing is that the girls are happy and healthy. Everything else we can take or leave.

Sickly Sunday

Yes, we're still sickly. I think at this point I'm feeling worse than anybody else. I don't know if that's good or not. I'm definitely happy that everybody else is showing a little improvement, but I wish I could say the same for myself. Nobody understands that Mama doesn't yet feel like talking, playing, etc. Oh well...

Last night we were watching football (Dad's choice, obviously) and talking about going to bed. I, as usual, had Boo & Doodle squeezed into the recliner with me. I had been trying to read a magazine but finally gave up because Doodle wouldn't leave me alone. We had been discussing the fact that everybody was going to sleep in her own bed, and Boo began to question what would happen if they started coughing. I responded that I would take care of them if they coughed in the night. Boo replied, "I know that, Mama. I knew you would take care of us because you're the mama." It wasn't anything exciting or profound, but it was something nice to hear. There are a few important things I want my angels to remember, and that's one of them. I'm the mama and I will do anything and everything possible to take care of them. Simple concept, difficult action. But the fact that she knows that warms my heart.

Shortly after that moment, though, the girls proclaimed just how much they would LOVE it (They actually said, "I would LOVE it if...") if they could sleep on the living room floor with Dad on the couch. I was all for it. I knew I'd take Doodle into my bed because she's coughed every night this week. I didn't want everybody in the house to be awake all night, so she moved in with me. Apparently the other three slept pretty good because they said they didn't hear us all night. Doodle slept most of the night without coughing, so that was progress. We've spent this morning coloring and watching any Christmas show we can find on TV. I'm cleaning all the vaporizers this morning as well. Pretty exciting life, I know. I couldn't handle anything more exciting though. I had planned to go get groceries today, but I'm not leaving the house. I'm doped up on cough medicine and feeling like death warmed over (looking like it too, I'm afraid). It's a good day to avoid our house! :)

Sickly Saturday

Oh, what a week. The girls had a scheduled doctor's appointment yesterday, which was a good thing. Boo & Doodle both ended up on antibiotics again for whatever is causing the nasty cough they've had. Hanny checked out with just a cold - thank goodness! By last night I was feeling awful, exhausted and ready to crawl in a hole and hibernate until late Spring. I went to the doctor in Topeka this morning and got medicine for a double ear infection and cough. Gary is now up there at the doctor as well. It all started with him, after all, so he should've gone to the doctor first! He thought he was improving but not fast enough, apparently. I've not had any improvement at all. I still have my growly voice. Growly is being kind, quite frankly. I'm better off if I just don't talk at all. Oh well.

I have Christmas shopping to finish, grocery shopping to do, food that I need to prepare, gifts I need to wrap, etc. It's not getting done. I'm going to require a nap this afternoon, which means sleeping on the floor so the little ladies will watch a movie. Doodle should really take a nap too, so hopefully I can convince her to do that. I really want to be able to enjoy some of the fun Christmas preparations, but until I feel better it won't happen. Hopefully I can spend some time in the next week doing some fun baking. It just won't be Christmas without some sugar cookies, candy, etc. Maybe I can squeeze in 48 hours of sleep soon...

One of those days

I apologize in advance for this one. It's sort of the result of a combination of things - lack of sleep, feeling crummy, sick kids, etc. What I need is a good cry. I'm tired. I'm tired of being sick. I'm tired of having sick kids. I'm tired of not getting anything done because I feel crummy. I'm tired of not getting anything done because I spend my time trying to keep puny kids content. I need a miracle. I need a long period of time of health for all of us. It's so frustrating to just get them feeling good again only to send them back to school to bring something else home within days. This makes homeschooling appealing. We have been sick more than healthy probably since August, but definitely since October. I'm just needing something, and I don't even know what. Encouragement? Maybe. Antibiotics? Maybe. But since the girls have a doctor's appointment today, Mama can't. It probably wouldn't do any good, though, since when they go back to school we'll get something else. Yeah, I know. Wah, wah, poor me. I'm just praying for strength. I'm praying for health. I'm praying for optimism. Sometimes it's just hard to see the stars through the heavy clouds.

**BRRRR**

Baby, it's cold outside! Lucky for me, I'm inside with three of my favorite people in the whole world. Yes, they're sick, but not painfully so. Yes, I have a voice that sounds like I swallowed a porcupine, but I don't feel that bad. I've had to choose when it's really necessary to talk, which isn't such a bad exercise for any of us. Instead of asking them four times to do something, I tell them ahead of time that I can't talk much and I'm only going to ask once. My instructions are much more brief. I will be glad, though, when I can sleep in my bed without worrying about who's coughing and when she's going to stop and who she's going to wake up in the process. For Christmas this year, I want a few CONSECUTIVE weeks of healthiness in our house! That's not too much to ask, is it?

Today's big plans are pretty basic around here. We're going to do a little cleaning, take a long, steamy bath, make some vegetable soup, make some chocolate-dipped Ritz crackers with p.b. and take a long nap. Yeah, I know. It'll never happen. I'm scheduled to go to Topeka this afternoon/evening for Gary's office Christmas get-together. We're meeting for supper at Red Lobster. It should be good, but I could easily stay home where it's warm and eat some homemade vegetable soup. Call me Scrooge. This time of year brings out the hermit in me! I'm sort of a loner anyway. I don't like to fight the crowds, I don't like to be out in the cold (even though I like to look at it), and I don't like to pick up germs unnecessarily. I'd be totally content to hibernate with my family all winter long. I have a friend who is the same way (you know who you are!), so I know I'm not alone in this! I am just not a social butterfly, especially during the winter months. We all have our idiosyncracies! :)

I was off by a couple days...

I was right, although I was off by a couple days. I wasn't being pessimistic. I was being realistic. We're sick...again. I knew it was unavoidable. I started feeling puny Monday afternoon. When I mentioned this to Gary he told me he'd been fighting a cold for 2 days. Yeah, thanks for kissing me, Sweetie! Oh well... Last night at 8:30 Boo was coughing in bed. I didn't want her to wake up Doodle, so when I decided she wasn't going to work through it and go back to sleep anytime soon I scooped her up and brought her out to the living room. We made a bed on the floor, fired up the vaporizer, slathered on some Vicks and took a little medicine. I tickled her to sleep, fell asleep eventually and was woken up to Doodle coughing in their bedroom at 2:45. I had turned up the monitor in our room so Gary would be sure to hear her if she began coughing. I'm not sure whether he didn't hear her coughing or that he just knew I'd hear her and take care of her. Either way, he remained in bed. I scooped her up, gave her a little medicine, gave her a drink, slathered on the Vicks and tucked her into bed next to me on the floor. It took her what seemed like FOREVER to settle down and stop coughing, but she finally did. I had already decided that there would be no school today (obviously), so we slept until about 7:15 this morning. I could've slept longer... I'm pretty sure they're about a day behind me with this cold. Hanny told me this morning that I have a really growly voice. That's putting it mildly. I've already told them that I can't spend the day breaking up arguments and asking endless questions about what they want to eat. My voice just isn't going to last today. Hopefully we'll get through this one without much of a hitch. On the plus side, they've already got a scheduled doctor's appointment on Friday, so that's a mind-settling thing.

Maybe we'll make some cookies. It's cold, I'm sick, I'm in the mood for comfort foods. Boo wants ham, mashed potatoes/gravy and green beans for dinner. I told Hanny we'll probably make vegetable soup (with big fat noodles) for supper. Who knows what we'll end up with, but we have great aspirations. I predict a nap in the not so distant future, though. I'll probably be the only napper.

Sunny Day

It looks like today is going to be the best of the week. It's only supposed to get up to 37 degrees tomorrow with a 30 mph north wind and snow...not exactly a day to be out! I'm thankful we live somewhere that we have seasons though, so I can truly appreciate the weather changes.

Sunday's blog was written before the day actually unfolded, I guess. We ended up going to church and going Christmas shopping (for me) afterward. Gary thought it might be a good idea for me to go since they were buying me a coat. I agreed...completely. I picked out what I wanted and have conveniently forgotten what it is that I picked out. I'll have to act surprised, after all, when I open it up on Christmas! I've spent this morning wrapping presents and hope to get all of the girls' gifts wrapped before I have to go pick them up. It would be nice to have most of it done. They're counting down the days until the many fun things this month. Gary's office Christmas party (I use that term loosely - we're just going out to eat!) is this Thursday evening, so the girls are going to stay with Meme for the evening. They're also counting down the days until my birthday next week. From there it turns into a flurry of fun with their Christmas program at school, Christmas party/last day of school on the 18th, and those many days of NO SCHOOL (woo hoo!) before and after Christmas.

I'm really looking forward to being home Christmas Eve and Christmas Day this year. We don't have to go anywhere for Christmas until the afternoon of the 26th, so it will be nice to be able to have some family time. I think we'll bake Jesus a birthday cake as well so they're sure to appreciate the real reason we're celebrating. We did that last year. Hannah thought Jesus would like a yellow cake with pour-over frosting...