Saturday, May 26, 2007
Where to start?
Here it is a holiday weekend and we have so much to do. House to clean, groceries to get, summer clothes to unpack, and companies coming. I also have to work this afternoon and the kids, especially Stephen, have homework to do. How's that sound for an exciting holiday? We have promised Stephen a round of frisbee golf down at the park but haven't decided when yet. The weather is cloudy and we had rain this morning. Hopefully that will help to get us busy working so when it clears we can have the fun.
Monday, May 21, 2007
All better
We seem to be finally mended around here. No ER visits in the last 5 days! Joshua even went back to school today!
Rachel & I went on the field trip to Mackinac Island last Thursday. Mom met up with us and we had a good time. The weather was beautiful--much warmer than I expected! Time just flew by and we had to leave much too soon.
Friday, Joshua had a follow up visit with our dr. and she gave him the "all clear" to get moving a bit more and told him "no more visits this summer". We'll have to wait and see if he listens to that instruction.
Saturday was booked solid with stuff and I really wasn't comfortable leaving Joshua with a teen babysitter since they might have to give him medications so Mark asked his mom to come and give us a hand. She came over Friday evening and stayed with the kids on Saturday then headed home as we left for church on Sunday morning.
I was registered for a table at a home business expo show at a local library on Saturday. I really didn't want to pull my Avon booth out of that. It was from 9:30-3 but we had to set up at 8 a.m. The day went rather slow because it was first year but not too bad either. It is still sort of a wait and see situation.
After the expo was done, I went straight to Meijer to work 4 hours decorating cakes. It was the first time I had been there in over a week. I guess rumors were starting to fly as to whether I had quit or been fired. They were really glad to see me.
Mark also had to work at Camp & Cruise on Saturday and he no more than got home when the guy he is doing work for on the side called and wanted to meet. So they met most of the time I was gone to Meijer.
Yesterday, it was rather a normal schedule as we had church in the morning, I worked at Meijer in the afternoon, and then back to church for evening service. Mark asked the photographer to bring her camera so I could still get a picture done even though it wasn't Mother's Day so we did that. Mark also borrowed a truck for the afternoon to go to Newaygo to pick up a snow blower from a guy he works with. This one is in better condition than ours which only starts part of the time. Rachel was also happy with this trip because she got to visit a little with Jackie.
I have lots to get caught up with around here. Fortunately, I don't have to worry about laundry as Mark's mom did that while she was here. Avon has suffered though and needs lots of attention.
I do have a cell phone again and with the same number as before. We checked everywhere for my phone that I lost last Monday and it didn't turn up and since that is the number I have on all my business info I couldn't be without it for long.
Joshua made it through his first day back to school today. He does have a bit of a headache this afternoon though. So it is a calm rest of the day now with plenty of rest again.
Rachel & I went on the field trip to Mackinac Island last Thursday. Mom met up with us and we had a good time. The weather was beautiful--much warmer than I expected! Time just flew by and we had to leave much too soon.
Friday, Joshua had a follow up visit with our dr. and she gave him the "all clear" to get moving a bit more and told him "no more visits this summer". We'll have to wait and see if he listens to that instruction.
Saturday was booked solid with stuff and I really wasn't comfortable leaving Joshua with a teen babysitter since they might have to give him medications so Mark asked his mom to come and give us a hand. She came over Friday evening and stayed with the kids on Saturday then headed home as we left for church on Sunday morning.
I was registered for a table at a home business expo show at a local library on Saturday. I really didn't want to pull my Avon booth out of that. It was from 9:30-3 but we had to set up at 8 a.m. The day went rather slow because it was first year but not too bad either. It is still sort of a wait and see situation.
After the expo was done, I went straight to Meijer to work 4 hours decorating cakes. It was the first time I had been there in over a week. I guess rumors were starting to fly as to whether I had quit or been fired. They were really glad to see me.
Mark also had to work at Camp & Cruise on Saturday and he no more than got home when the guy he is doing work for on the side called and wanted to meet. So they met most of the time I was gone to Meijer.
Yesterday, it was rather a normal schedule as we had church in the morning, I worked at Meijer in the afternoon, and then back to church for evening service. Mark asked the photographer to bring her camera so I could still get a picture done even though it wasn't Mother's Day so we did that. Mark also borrowed a truck for the afternoon to go to Newaygo to pick up a snow blower from a guy he works with. This one is in better condition than ours which only starts part of the time. Rachel was also happy with this trip because she got to visit a little with Jackie.
I have lots to get caught up with around here. Fortunately, I don't have to worry about laundry as Mark's mom did that while she was here. Avon has suffered though and needs lots of attention.
I do have a cell phone again and with the same number as before. We checked everywhere for my phone that I lost last Monday and it didn't turn up and since that is the number I have on all my business info I couldn't be without it for long.
Joshua made it through his first day back to school today. He does have a bit of a headache this afternoon though. So it is a calm rest of the day now with plenty of rest again.
Wednesday, May 16, 2007
Unbelievable
The last week has really been rather unbelievable. We have made 4 trips to the ER in 5 days and the one day we didn't visit the ER, we were actually upstairs admitted during that time. We have even been in the same room in the ER 3 of those trips. I think we should have our name on a plaque pretty soon.
You know about 3 of the trips already. The 4th came yesterday. It was Joshua again. His headache pain was uncontrollable. I had given him all the pain meds that I had here for him. It was so bad it was making him vomit and then we have the threat of dehydration. Mark and I took him back to the ER and they gave him something for the nausea and then also morphine. Lovely drug...really does the trick. After observing him for a while, they sent us home with him again. We were told to do more meds when we got home and then to keep him rather well medicated all day today. I really hate to give him so much meds but it is better than another ER visit and more morphine. We are also to keep him on the couch pretty much completely inactive today.
On the way home last night, we had to pick up Stephen at the friend's house where we had left him and he had his fever back again. We got home and Rachel had spent most of the evening dozing in front of the TV. She had a headache and hadn't even gotten anything to eat. Checked her forehead and sure enough, she had a fever too. So I actually have all 3 home today from school. I'm pushing the vitamins and echenachia today. Rachel is scheduled to go on the main field trip all year tomorrow. We are to leave at 5:00 a.m. for Mackinaw Island. Right now, we're saying she is going to have to be much sicker to stay home and miss this.
I have also managed to lose my cell phone during all of this and have not gotten any AVON done in the last week. Oh, and Meijer's called today. Seems the cake decorator scheduled for today called in sick. They wanted to know if I could come in. Well, I would rather be there then home right now but that isn't a possibility and that's what I told them.
Let's see, what else...oh, Mark was contacted over the weekend by a man that he has done some accounting work for on the side. He had been trying to start up a business and Mark did the work on his planning for investors. Well, we haven't heard from him in over a year and we thought that he had pretty much given up on the company. Turns out that he had a new potential investor and needed some changes to the charts that Mark had done. So Mark has been trying to do some work for him over the last couple of days too. We are all so tired that Mark was falling asleep in the ER last night.
I think that is about all our news for now. Might not be very good news but it is what is happening. Except the extra work for Mark is good news because we could use the extra income since I have missed my last 2 days I was scheduled to work.
You know about 3 of the trips already. The 4th came yesterday. It was Joshua again. His headache pain was uncontrollable. I had given him all the pain meds that I had here for him. It was so bad it was making him vomit and then we have the threat of dehydration. Mark and I took him back to the ER and they gave him something for the nausea and then also morphine. Lovely drug...really does the trick. After observing him for a while, they sent us home with him again. We were told to do more meds when we got home and then to keep him rather well medicated all day today. I really hate to give him so much meds but it is better than another ER visit and more morphine. We are also to keep him on the couch pretty much completely inactive today.
On the way home last night, we had to pick up Stephen at the friend's house where we had left him and he had his fever back again. We got home and Rachel had spent most of the evening dozing in front of the TV. She had a headache and hadn't even gotten anything to eat. Checked her forehead and sure enough, she had a fever too. So I actually have all 3 home today from school. I'm pushing the vitamins and echenachia today. Rachel is scheduled to go on the main field trip all year tomorrow. We are to leave at 5:00 a.m. for Mackinaw Island. Right now, we're saying she is going to have to be much sicker to stay home and miss this.
I have also managed to lose my cell phone during all of this and have not gotten any AVON done in the last week. Oh, and Meijer's called today. Seems the cake decorator scheduled for today called in sick. They wanted to know if I could come in. Well, I would rather be there then home right now but that isn't a possibility and that's what I told them.
Let's see, what else...oh, Mark was contacted over the weekend by a man that he has done some accounting work for on the side. He had been trying to start up a business and Mark did the work on his planning for investors. Well, we haven't heard from him in over a year and we thought that he had pretty much given up on the company. Turns out that he had a new potential investor and needed some changes to the charts that Mark had done. So Mark has been trying to do some work for him over the last couple of days too. We are all so tired that Mark was falling asleep in the ER last night.
I think that is about all our news for now. Might not be very good news but it is what is happening. Except the extra work for Mark is good news because we could use the extra income since I have missed my last 2 days I was scheduled to work.
Tuesday, May 15, 2007
More hospital visits
but first I should tell you all that we had a wonderful visit with Mom last weekend. We even ended up with 2 mom's here since Mark's mom wanted to surprise him for his birthday and came to visit for the weekend. The kids loved having 2 grammas here for the weekend. Saturday evening, we went out to Berlin Raceway in Marne and watched some school bus races. There were other super stock races too but the highlight that took us there that night was the school bus races. It was really fun to watch. I think Mom took some pics and if she sends them to me, I'll try to post them. In a way, I guess you could say we had Mother's Day a week early. Of course, then we didn't bother with much of one this weekend and here's why:
Friday about dinner time, Joshua started complaining of a headache. When it didn't settle down shortly, I gave him some tylenol. He sort of laid around a bit Friday evening but we were all watching a video so it didn't seem strange. Then at bedtime, he complained more. I gave him some motrin and put him to bed. He was still crying almost an hour later that his head hurt so I took him to the ER. It was busy there so it took 4 hours for them to say he was simply dehydrated and send us home. We slept downstairs the rest of the night and I pushed him to drink every time he stirred. Saturday, he seemed to be improving so we thought they might have been right. Then around 1 p.m. he started having a fever and it went over 103 very quickly. While I was waiting for phone calls from the nurse at our dr.'s office, he vomited and that made up our minds that we were headed back to the ER which we did around 2. This time they did a lumbar puncture (spinal tap) and determined it was meningitis. All signs were pointing at viral (aseptic) meningitis but the cultures to determine that for sure take 48 hours to develop. As a precaution, they admitted him (us) and started him on IV antibiotics. They were also able to give him better pain medication to keep the headaches and fever under control.
The plans for Saturday had included a Gaither Homecoming concert that Mark's Mom had gotten us 4 tickets to. We felt Joshua too young to go but knew the other 2 would really enjoy it. When Joshua became sick and had to be admitted, we didn't want the tickets to go to waste. Mark took Rachel, Stephen, and a good friend from church to the concert. They did really enjoy it! Rachel was able to meet and get autographs from 4 Signature Sound members (only not meeting Ernie Haase). Stephen was also excited that he got to meet Ben Speer. They all stopped by the hospital to see Joshua and I afterwards. They even brought Joshua 2 Gaither's Pond DVD's.
Sunday, Mark took Rachel & Stephen to church before coming to spend the afternoon at the hospital. He brought me up clean clothes and other items I needed to spend another day & night at the hospital. They also brought my mother's day presents including a painted flower pot that Joshua made at school and had a flower planted in. He was really glad about that because he was upset thinking he wouldn't get to give it to me on Mother's Day. This was the first year that I can remember in the 12 years of being a mom that I didn't get a picture of the family done at church so that was a bit disappointing but Mark asked the photographer to bring her camera next weekend to get one for us.
Mark & I had to go over what needed done to be ready for the week and I sent them home mid-afternoon to work on some things before evening service. They came back for a visit afterwards and then one of our pastors came too. It turned out to be a second late night for Rachel & Stephen.
Yesterday, we had to wait for the results of the tests to come back at 4:30 before we could be released but as soon as they came I was ready to go. Mark and the kids came and got us and then we had to grab a quick dinner and I took Rachel and Stephen out to watch Stephen's spring program for school. Mark had some other things to do at home so he took his turn staying with Joshua who actually fell asleep on the couch as soon as we got home from the hospital and slept till 10:30 last night.
Stephen was really dragging after his concert and complaining of a headache. We had to stop by the store and get some stuff before coming home and he just was wiped out. By the time we did get home, he had a fever and said that it hurt to put his head to his chest (oh, boy, here we go again). I called the dr. afterhour care for advice and they said that he needed to be seen so back to the ER we went at 11:00 last night. It took till 1:30 for them to tell us that they thought it was just a virus and not the meningitis that Joshua had. My main concern was pain management and had been hoping that they wouldn't hospitalize him even if it was meningitis since Joshua's was not bacterial anyway.
So today I am home with both boys. Joshua is doing rather well, still some headache though. Stephen is rather miserable. He has been sneezing for over an hour straight. He has taken a claritin but it is slow in taking effect. He doesn't have a fever at this point yet but it is early in the day. We will have to see how he does at night. I did get a list of just how much of both tylenol and ibuprofen he can take at a time to help him with that. I'm even keeping a list of exactly who is taking what medicine when because keeping it straight for 2 is hard enough when you are thinking clearly but I am basically on fumes today with lack of sleep. Mark is too but he gets to go through it at work. Sometimes I think that would be easier because around here I have chairs and beds that would be so easy to curl up in but he doesn't and also has people needing his input and needing him to keep on tasks.
I just keep thanking God for his timing in all this. If this had happened a week earlier, Mark would have been out of town, Mom would have been here (she doesn't need exposed to viruses), Joshua would have missed Awana awards, and I had to spend a lot of time the first part of last week putting together the picnic for the last night of Awana and would have not been able to do.
We basically have a couple of down days right now anyway and the next big thing is Thursday. Rachel & I are going to Mackinac Island with the other 6th graders from school. Well, Mark has requested the day off so he will be here with any boys not able to go to school. If they both make it, he then has lunch duty and carpooling to deal with as well as a kindergarten ice cream social in the evening. Our biggest question there is getting Rachel & I back and forth to/from school at strange times but there are others that live nearby that can probably help.
Needing help with transportation should tell you that the van is down again. It worked for all of a day before having more trouble with getting fuel and for some reason (I wonder why...haha) we haven't had time to look into it.
So that has been our weekend around here. The picture of Rachel as Carrier of the Month finally came out in the Advance last week. We thought she was getting it for April but I guess it was for May. I'm going to try and get it scanned in later and posted but will have to get some other things caught up around here first.
Friday about dinner time, Joshua started complaining of a headache. When it didn't settle down shortly, I gave him some tylenol. He sort of laid around a bit Friday evening but we were all watching a video so it didn't seem strange. Then at bedtime, he complained more. I gave him some motrin and put him to bed. He was still crying almost an hour later that his head hurt so I took him to the ER. It was busy there so it took 4 hours for them to say he was simply dehydrated and send us home. We slept downstairs the rest of the night and I pushed him to drink every time he stirred. Saturday, he seemed to be improving so we thought they might have been right. Then around 1 p.m. he started having a fever and it went over 103 very quickly. While I was waiting for phone calls from the nurse at our dr.'s office, he vomited and that made up our minds that we were headed back to the ER which we did around 2. This time they did a lumbar puncture (spinal tap) and determined it was meningitis. All signs were pointing at viral (aseptic) meningitis but the cultures to determine that for sure take 48 hours to develop. As a precaution, they admitted him (us) and started him on IV antibiotics. They were also able to give him better pain medication to keep the headaches and fever under control.
The plans for Saturday had included a Gaither Homecoming concert that Mark's Mom had gotten us 4 tickets to. We felt Joshua too young to go but knew the other 2 would really enjoy it. When Joshua became sick and had to be admitted, we didn't want the tickets to go to waste. Mark took Rachel, Stephen, and a good friend from church to the concert. They did really enjoy it! Rachel was able to meet and get autographs from 4 Signature Sound members (only not meeting Ernie Haase). Stephen was also excited that he got to meet Ben Speer. They all stopped by the hospital to see Joshua and I afterwards. They even brought Joshua 2 Gaither's Pond DVD's.
Sunday, Mark took Rachel & Stephen to church before coming to spend the afternoon at the hospital. He brought me up clean clothes and other items I needed to spend another day & night at the hospital. They also brought my mother's day presents including a painted flower pot that Joshua made at school and had a flower planted in. He was really glad about that because he was upset thinking he wouldn't get to give it to me on Mother's Day. This was the first year that I can remember in the 12 years of being a mom that I didn't get a picture of the family done at church so that was a bit disappointing but Mark asked the photographer to bring her camera next weekend to get one for us.
Mark & I had to go over what needed done to be ready for the week and I sent them home mid-afternoon to work on some things before evening service. They came back for a visit afterwards and then one of our pastors came too. It turned out to be a second late night for Rachel & Stephen.
Yesterday, we had to wait for the results of the tests to come back at 4:30 before we could be released but as soon as they came I was ready to go. Mark and the kids came and got us and then we had to grab a quick dinner and I took Rachel and Stephen out to watch Stephen's spring program for school. Mark had some other things to do at home so he took his turn staying with Joshua who actually fell asleep on the couch as soon as we got home from the hospital and slept till 10:30 last night.
Stephen was really dragging after his concert and complaining of a headache. We had to stop by the store and get some stuff before coming home and he just was wiped out. By the time we did get home, he had a fever and said that it hurt to put his head to his chest (oh, boy, here we go again). I called the dr. afterhour care for advice and they said that he needed to be seen so back to the ER we went at 11:00 last night. It took till 1:30 for them to tell us that they thought it was just a virus and not the meningitis that Joshua had. My main concern was pain management and had been hoping that they wouldn't hospitalize him even if it was meningitis since Joshua's was not bacterial anyway.
So today I am home with both boys. Joshua is doing rather well, still some headache though. Stephen is rather miserable. He has been sneezing for over an hour straight. He has taken a claritin but it is slow in taking effect. He doesn't have a fever at this point yet but it is early in the day. We will have to see how he does at night. I did get a list of just how much of both tylenol and ibuprofen he can take at a time to help him with that. I'm even keeping a list of exactly who is taking what medicine when because keeping it straight for 2 is hard enough when you are thinking clearly but I am basically on fumes today with lack of sleep. Mark is too but he gets to go through it at work. Sometimes I think that would be easier because around here I have chairs and beds that would be so easy to curl up in but he doesn't and also has people needing his input and needing him to keep on tasks.
I just keep thanking God for his timing in all this. If this had happened a week earlier, Mark would have been out of town, Mom would have been here (she doesn't need exposed to viruses), Joshua would have missed Awana awards, and I had to spend a lot of time the first part of last week putting together the picnic for the last night of Awana and would have not been able to do.
We basically have a couple of down days right now anyway and the next big thing is Thursday. Rachel & I are going to Mackinac Island with the other 6th graders from school. Well, Mark has requested the day off so he will be here with any boys not able to go to school. If they both make it, he then has lunch duty and carpooling to deal with as well as a kindergarten ice cream social in the evening. Our biggest question there is getting Rachel & I back and forth to/from school at strange times but there are others that live nearby that can probably help.
Needing help with transportation should tell you that the van is down again. It worked for all of a day before having more trouble with getting fuel and for some reason (I wonder why...haha) we haven't had time to look into it.
So that has been our weekend around here. The picture of Rachel as Carrier of the Month finally came out in the Advance last week. We thought she was getting it for April but I guess it was for May. I'm going to try and get it scanned in later and posted but will have to get some other things caught up around here first.
Thursday, May 03, 2007
Mom's coming
and my house is trashed. I have an Avon order due today, the kids have dentists appointments at 3, & Mark has left for a Men's Retreat at Lake Ann Camp this weekend. I worked at Meijer this morning and then had lunch duty. Sound busy enough for everyone. So much to do and so little time (and sometimes energy)!
As bad as my house looks, I'm still glad Mom is coming. It is nice to have her for a visit and we either completely blow off working or do it together and either way, it is enjoyable.
My hubby's birthday is tomorrow so I decorated a cake at work this morning and I'm sending it to the retreat with a different vehicle then he rode it. It should be a nice surprise for him tomorrow.
Well, I better get to that Avon order. It was due an hour ago and I have quite a bit to do before it goes in.
As bad as my house looks, I'm still glad Mom is coming. It is nice to have her for a visit and we either completely blow off working or do it together and either way, it is enjoyable.
My hubby's birthday is tomorrow so I decorated a cake at work this morning and I'm sending it to the retreat with a different vehicle then he rode it. It should be a nice surprise for him tomorrow.
Well, I better get to that Avon order. It was due an hour ago and I have quite a bit to do before it goes in.
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