Closer to Normal...

We're getting closer to normal around here.

Zach woke up sick to his stomach this morning and has thrown up a few times today. But Kira is feeling almost normal. It's amazing how hard life is when she's sick. And while I don't want to downplay Zach's illness, it's just nothing compared to dealing with Kira. He pukes and then goes and lays down on the couch. Easy.

And just for the heck of it, I want to post a picture of our eternally patient kitty:

Humpty Dumpty...

...sat on a wall.
Humpty Dumpty had a great fall.
All the King's horses, and all the King's men
Couldn't put Humpty Dumpty together again.


Kira's illness has thrown me for a loop, knocked me off my wall, kicked me in the patooty.

Man. I'm exhausted beyond words.

But thankfully she's slowly feeling better.

Hopefully Kira's health will be able to put the pieces back together and my world will return to normal.

Only Three Months...

It's been three months since I posted here. Yeah... I'm doing good to keep my head above water...

But I did want to share this bit of a story:

Yesterday around 4pm, I was sitting in a chair finishing up the VERY last row of Cole's surprise crocheted blanket for his birthday (WHICH IS TODAY... HAPPY BIRTHDAY COLE!!!) when Kira climbed in my lap looking all tired. I thought, "She had kind of a bad night... I guess she might fall asleep and take a nap." No sooner did I think that when she puked all over me, the blanket, the floor, the chair... did I mention me? Big, chunky puke, too. Whew. She had a few residual pukes, we got her cleaned up, wrapped her up in a couple of towels, put her on her bed, and she promptly passed out. I cleaned up all the puke off me, had to tie off the blanket I was making, and got everything in the washer.

During one of my many, many trips to the sink to rinse off the washcloth I was using to wipe up the chunks, my eldest child asked, "Can we do a driving lesson?"

Sidestory:

See... he turned 16 a little over a month ago and he's certain he's going to die if he doesn't get his license: NOW! We've been working on completing the driver's ed course as quickly as possible. He has it in his head that we should be done tomorrow so that he can go and schedule a driving test and have his license by the middle of next week. I've tried explaining to him that that might not happen for him as he plans, but all I get in return are heavy sighs.

Back to the main story:

I say, "Kira just puked all over the place and I'm dealing with that right now." His response, "So, what, 10 minutes?"

Yeah... the conversations I heard in dark corners at church between moms who were so happy that their sons were moving off to college are becoming clearer to me. I know that teenagers think the universe and everything in it revolve around them, but really? 10 minutes?

I love my oldest. Truly. Deeply. But wow. I don't know that I'm ready to fight the gravity of his planetary greatness for the next two and a half years.


Anyway...

Kira is beginning to feel better. Literally 24 hours later. How do stomach viruses do that?

I just hope and pray that it doesn't start spreading to the other kids. Although, if I was a bettin' man... I'd probably bet against me on that one.

Oh... and the blanket is still sitting waiting to be finished before dinner when we attempt to celebrate Cole's birthday amid the lingering smell of stomach virus in the house.

Yeah...

This whole blogging thing has gone on the back burner.

Our days are mostly filled with regular life. Nothing overly exciting to blog about.

Although, last week we did buy a new car. That's pretty exciting.

Our 2004 Sienna was just having lots of issues. The front end sounded like it was going to fall off every time I drove it. I had not had a good feeling about that car for the past year, but kept fighting it off. But when I got back from Durham last month and drove it... well, let's just say that the sounds coming from the front end worried me.

So last week we traded it in on a 2011 Honda Odyssey.

And I'm in love. Truly.

It holds Kira's car seat in the middle of the second row. And there's plenty of space for all the boys.

It has leather, DVD player, sunroof, the works!

Here's what it looks like (same color and options, too):


I'm looking forward to driving this car for a LONG time!

More Braces

Zach got his bottom braces today. When he had the top ones put on, they said it would take about two hours, but it only took one. I figured it might be about the same situation today...

No.

He was back there for two full hours. He is much much less miserable today than he was when he got the top braces on, so that's nice.

His next appointment is on November 9th. I'll be taking Jacob on that day for his consultation. I've been saving for Jacob's braces. I don't know when they'd want to start Jacob with braces...

All I can say is "Thank goodness for the dental school prices!"

Do you know I'm working again???

I've kind of avoided telling lots of people about this because I almost feel like I'm stupid for choosing to go back when I've stressed out so much over this place in the past.

But to tell you the truth, I like working. I like seeing my little Social Security mail each year and seeing that I'll have benefits one day (if SS doesn't go belly up).

So I'm a telecommuting bookkeeper. So far it seems to be working. I flew to Durham last month for a few days and will do the same each month for the foreseeable future.

The pay is good and the hours are flexible. As a stay at home mom, it's the ideal job. So I'm happy with the arrangement and hope it continues to be a good thing for both me and them.

Edit: Okay. So this came across a little strong. :) I think I was just trying to say that with five kids, two of whom are homeschooled, and one of whom is not quite 2, I'm not sure I really thought about whether or not I could handle this job with it's stress load. But so far it seems to be going well. I'm enjoying it. It's nice to feel needed and wanted outside my immediate family.

Yum

Chicken Stew with Biscuit Topping

This is one of my favorite dinners. It's Zach's "official" favorite dinner (meaning he asks for it for his birthday).

I make it on rare occasions. It requires dirtying just about every mixing bowl, pot, and measuring device in the kitchen. You cook the chicken, chop it, and put it in the baking dish. You cook the veggies separately in broth, then you remove them and pour the broth into another pot where you've started a rue to thicken the broth. Then you make the biscuits. I should have doubled the biscuits (well... this is doubled... I should have doubled the double) because it's just about our favorite part.

I'm looking forward to digging into this dinner in a little while. It is the very definition of comfort food.