Please pray for this family. If you don't pray, please do whatever you do when tragedy strikes. This is Jeff's cousin's wife and 3 year old son, Sean, who died very suddenly of a rare flu complication Monday evening. His twin brother, who was with him when he stopped breathing, has since been hospitalized with pneumonia. We were not close to them ourselves, but are feeling the family's pain. If you are inclined to pray, his parents' names are Erik and Corinne and he has two older brothers besides his twin.Wednesday, July 30, 2008
Sean
Please pray for this family. If you don't pray, please do whatever you do when tragedy strikes. This is Jeff's cousin's wife and 3 year old son, Sean, who died very suddenly of a rare flu complication Monday evening. His twin brother, who was with him when he stopped breathing, has since been hospitalized with pneumonia. We were not close to them ourselves, but are feeling the family's pain. If you are inclined to pray, his parents' names are Erik and Corinne and he has two older brothers besides his twin.
Monday, July 28, 2008
Foreign Bodies
I don't mean to make this blog all about Kathryn, but I am considering changing its name since it kind of is.
I'll be brief and I won't include any gross pictures even though I reeeeeeally want to.
I thought Kathryn might have Swimmer's Ear. We have been swimming every day, sometimes more than once a day, for nearly two weeks while we were pool sitting for a family member who was on vacation. Plus swim lessons, plus a beach visit or two. You get the idea...wet ears.
She had complained about her right ear being touched even ever so lightly which was beginning to interfere with even the most basic activities of daily living. Hair combing, washing, sunscreen application, etc would reduce her to howling in pain.
After the ordeal that was her shower last night, I decided I would seek medical attention ASAP this morning. Moments later she fell in the shower and split her chin open. I decided not to take her in for stitches, against my better judgment. I had had no experience (knock on wood) with injuries requiring stitches and just didn't know what to do. I knew I could see subcutaneous tissue, but I pretended that I could not.
This morning I took her to the doctor who said she should have had a couple stitches last night, but could not now because too much time had elapsed since the injury. Luckily it is on the under side of her chin so if it scars it shouldn't be too unsightly.
Also, upon examination he discovered a foreign body in her right ear and enough wax to light a menorah in her left. He was able to successfully remove both. Looked like two pieces of kelly green fabric fiber which Doctor insisted was dental floss. I disagreed. Dental floss is NOT kelly green, it is much more minty in color. Duh. I didn't go to medical school, but come on! I brought said "bodies" in an attempt to color match them to something in the house on which to lay the blame.
She did have a mild case of Swimmer's Ear. We got a prescription, as well as a rebate for the prescription, and were on our way, but not before the patient stopped to LICK a doorknob on the way out.
I was so proud!
She has said numerous times throughout the day, "I can HEAR!"
And I am glad.
Never
a
dull
moment.
I'll be brief and I won't include any gross pictures even though I reeeeeeally want to.
I thought Kathryn might have Swimmer's Ear. We have been swimming every day, sometimes more than once a day, for nearly two weeks while we were pool sitting for a family member who was on vacation. Plus swim lessons, plus a beach visit or two. You get the idea...wet ears.
She had complained about her right ear being touched even ever so lightly which was beginning to interfere with even the most basic activities of daily living. Hair combing, washing, sunscreen application, etc would reduce her to howling in pain.
After the ordeal that was her shower last night, I decided I would seek medical attention ASAP this morning. Moments later she fell in the shower and split her chin open. I decided not to take her in for stitches, against my better judgment. I had had no experience (knock on wood) with injuries requiring stitches and just didn't know what to do. I knew I could see subcutaneous tissue, but I pretended that I could not.
This morning I took her to the doctor who said she should have had a couple stitches last night, but could not now because too much time had elapsed since the injury. Luckily it is on the under side of her chin so if it scars it shouldn't be too unsightly.
Also, upon examination he discovered a foreign body in her right ear and enough wax to light a menorah in her left. He was able to successfully remove both. Looked like two pieces of kelly green fabric fiber which Doctor insisted was dental floss. I disagreed. Dental floss is NOT kelly green, it is much more minty in color. Duh. I didn't go to medical school, but come on! I brought said "bodies" in an attempt to color match them to something in the house on which to lay the blame.
She did have a mild case of Swimmer's Ear. We got a prescription, as well as a rebate for the prescription, and were on our way, but not before the patient stopped to LICK a doorknob on the way out.
I was so proud!
She has said numerous times throughout the day, "I can HEAR!"
And I am glad.
Never
a
dull
moment.
Thursday, July 17, 2008
Ark of the Covenant
Kathryn still compulsively tattles on herself. Don't know why. She confesses secret thoughts she has, like wanting to scratch my eyes out, and saying "stupid kitty" to a cat on Webkinz.com. She tells on herself for ALMOST picking her scabs. And David's. So I was not that surprised to hear what sounded like yet another tattle this morning. It started out like any other..."Mom, I told David..." But then it took an unusual twist when she continued..."about the ark of the covenant."
I was so humored as I wondered what in the world she had told him about a topic she knew nothing about. So I asked what she had told him. Apparently she told him it was the presence of God. Andrew quickly confirmed that they had heard this in Children's Church Sunday morning and it made me appreciate their teacher all the more.
But lest you think she is too righteous and reverant, my mother later overheard her singing "Ark of the covenant, doot doot..." to the tune of "Skunk in the barnyard, peeee eeeeww!"
I was so humored as I wondered what in the world she had told him about a topic she knew nothing about. So I asked what she had told him. Apparently she told him it was the presence of God. Andrew quickly confirmed that they had heard this in Children's Church Sunday morning and it made me appreciate their teacher all the more.
But lest you think she is too righteous and reverant, my mother later overheard her singing "Ark of the covenant, doot doot..." to the tune of "Skunk in the barnyard, peeee eeeeww!"
Friday, July 11, 2008
100
And it was just moments before this photo was taken that Julia's birthday guest, Ella-daughter of Amy Lynn, guessed the respective ages of my mom and dad to be 96 and 100. It was AWESOME! =)
Thursday, July 10, 2008
Wednesday, July 09, 2008
Quotes to Remember
"No, they are not in love, they're already married." ~Julia Jackson, 8
"Men are wildly self-delusional." ~Redbook Magazine
"You can break the back, but you can't break the spirit of a small town southern man." ~Alan Jackson
"Men are wildly self-delusional." ~Redbook Magazine
"You can break the back, but you can't break the spirit of a small town southern man." ~Alan Jackson
Thursday, June 26, 2008
Vomit in the Headband Drawer and Other Unpleasantries
Warning: Very long post detailing the events of my vomit-filled adventures...
I don't know how I got so lucky as to avoid this scenario for sooooooo long, but I did and I am ever so thankful. But last night my good fortune expired.
I should have suspected something was up when Kathryn was dozing on the loveseat before bedtime. She felt a tiny bit warm to me when I tucked her in, but I thought she was still just hot from playing. She shared some sleepy, incoherent thoughts with me before whispering, "You can't see God, but he is VERY real..." And then she was out.
Julia went down hard and not without telling me she didn't feel well several times, but this has come to be routine so I thought nothing of it. No pious words passed from her lips as I left the room.
Starting at 1 something or other, Julia entered our room sobbing, stating that her stomach hurt very badly. I could hear what I thought was David crying, but it sounded too close and I wondered why on earth she would have opened his door before coming in our room. I proceeded to gather the necessary sick bedding to place at my bedside for Julia when I quickly realized it was not David, but Kathryn wailing in the hallway with her pants down because there was no toilet paper in the bathroom. It was when I began guiding her back to the bathroom that I discovered she must have a fever of at least 109.
The rest of the night was a blur. We came downstairs and made beds on the couch and loveseat. Kathryn wondered why Julia was getting preferential treatment in the form of "better stuff" when SHE was the one who was sick. Her appetite for sibling rivalry was not suppressed even at this hour, nor in this condition, but she fell back to sleep quickly.
Julia, however, did not. She was writhing in pain, such as I have never seen in my young in all my parenting days. She was inconsolable, did not want to be touched, and was begging to go to the hospital. She would doze off momentarily and then wake back up in agony. I woke Jeff and we discussed taking her to the ER about 3:00. About that time she fell asleep for about half an hour. And then woke up. And threw up. Once. Then again. And again. And again. I have since lost track of her tally, but I am very pleased that her aim has improved tremendously since the last time she needed to empty the contents of her stomach. And somewhere in the middle we decided against taking her in to the ER.
On to Kathryn and the headband drawer. Sometime in the night Jeff brought her back upstairs to the sick bed on the floor. She woke when he got up for work at 5:30 and was quite chipper, a little too chipper. She was anxious to get a start on her day, but I would not hear of it and sent her back to her own bed, desperate to fall asleep for even a few minutes before David got up in a couple of hours.
Minutes later there was a gentle little, polite-like knock at my bedroom door. Who could THIS be, I wondered. I opened it to behold Kathryn standing there with hands full, and shirt full, of vomit.
"I threw up in my bed and I don't really like the taste of it on my tongue."
The damage was more extensive and explosive than I could have imagined, but surprisingly not in her bedroom. There was a sizable puddle on her bed, but it was contained in one general area.
But the bathroom. Oh my. On the light switch, on the counter, on the rugs, on the toilet, around the toilet, on the bathtub, on the toilet paper roll. Because she didn't like the taste, of course, and had been frantically trying to grasp a square to wipe her tongue off with. But oddly enough, there was a large pool of it on the opposite end of the counter from the toilet just above the middle drawer which stood ever so slightly ajar. By the time I had arrived to assess the damage, gravity had already run its course, which led right over the edge of the counter and into the drawer.
And what was in that drawer? Headbands. And spongey curlers. Yum!
Kathryn has not thrown up since and is resting comfortably, but Julia has...at least 2 more times.
On the bright side, I had one bathroom cleaned, one load of laundry, and two children bathed by 6:10 this morning.
And I think I might have fallen asleep for 7 or 8 minutes before David woke up.
Julia needs me. I must go.
I don't know how I got so lucky as to avoid this scenario for sooooooo long, but I did and I am ever so thankful. But last night my good fortune expired.
I should have suspected something was up when Kathryn was dozing on the loveseat before bedtime. She felt a tiny bit warm to me when I tucked her in, but I thought she was still just hot from playing. She shared some sleepy, incoherent thoughts with me before whispering, "You can't see God, but he is VERY real..." And then she was out.
Julia went down hard and not without telling me she didn't feel well several times, but this has come to be routine so I thought nothing of it. No pious words passed from her lips as I left the room.
Starting at 1 something or other, Julia entered our room sobbing, stating that her stomach hurt very badly. I could hear what I thought was David crying, but it sounded too close and I wondered why on earth she would have opened his door before coming in our room. I proceeded to gather the necessary sick bedding to place at my bedside for Julia when I quickly realized it was not David, but Kathryn wailing in the hallway with her pants down because there was no toilet paper in the bathroom. It was when I began guiding her back to the bathroom that I discovered she must have a fever of at least 109.
The rest of the night was a blur. We came downstairs and made beds on the couch and loveseat. Kathryn wondered why Julia was getting preferential treatment in the form of "better stuff" when SHE was the one who was sick. Her appetite for sibling rivalry was not suppressed even at this hour, nor in this condition, but she fell back to sleep quickly.
Julia, however, did not. She was writhing in pain, such as I have never seen in my young in all my parenting days. She was inconsolable, did not want to be touched, and was begging to go to the hospital. She would doze off momentarily and then wake back up in agony. I woke Jeff and we discussed taking her to the ER about 3:00. About that time she fell asleep for about half an hour. And then woke up. And threw up. Once. Then again. And again. And again. I have since lost track of her tally, but I am very pleased that her aim has improved tremendously since the last time she needed to empty the contents of her stomach. And somewhere in the middle we decided against taking her in to the ER.
On to Kathryn and the headband drawer. Sometime in the night Jeff brought her back upstairs to the sick bed on the floor. She woke when he got up for work at 5:30 and was quite chipper, a little too chipper. She was anxious to get a start on her day, but I would not hear of it and sent her back to her own bed, desperate to fall asleep for even a few minutes before David got up in a couple of hours.
Minutes later there was a gentle little, polite-like knock at my bedroom door. Who could THIS be, I wondered. I opened it to behold Kathryn standing there with hands full, and shirt full, of vomit.
"I threw up in my bed and I don't really like the taste of it on my tongue."
The damage was more extensive and explosive than I could have imagined, but surprisingly not in her bedroom. There was a sizable puddle on her bed, but it was contained in one general area.
But the bathroom. Oh my. On the light switch, on the counter, on the rugs, on the toilet, around the toilet, on the bathtub, on the toilet paper roll. Because she didn't like the taste, of course, and had been frantically trying to grasp a square to wipe her tongue off with. But oddly enough, there was a large pool of it on the opposite end of the counter from the toilet just above the middle drawer which stood ever so slightly ajar. By the time I had arrived to assess the damage, gravity had already run its course, which led right over the edge of the counter and into the drawer.
And what was in that drawer? Headbands. And spongey curlers. Yum!
Kathryn has not thrown up since and is resting comfortably, but Julia has...at least 2 more times.
On the bright side, I had one bathroom cleaned, one load of laundry, and two children bathed by 6:10 this morning.
And I think I might have fallen asleep for 7 or 8 minutes before David woke up.
Julia needs me. I must go.
Saturday, June 21, 2008
Monday, June 09, 2008
T.O.F.
Thinking of Frankie.
This will be meaningless to everyone except him whose initials are F.A.H. And maybe his wife whose are...E...umm, sorry I don't know your middle name...H.
I just wanted you to know. =)
This will be meaningless to everyone except him whose initials are F.A.H. And maybe his wife whose are...E...umm, sorry I don't know your middle name...H.
I just wanted you to know. =)
Tuesday, May 27, 2008
Friday, May 09, 2008
Real Live Guitar Hero
Andrew on his way to his first lesson inbecoming a classically trained musician.
So far he's a natural.
Happiness is...
...finding some generously cut garage sale jeans that are a size smaller than you usually wear and fooling yourself into believing you really HAVE lost inches...cause everyone knows tags don't lie.
Tuesday, April 29, 2008
Screaming
"Dear Jesus...Thank you we have enough food so we never have to be TOO hungry and please be with all the people who are sick so they don't have to scream for medicine..."
Do I even need to say who prayed these words from her tender heart last night?
I thank God for seeing the need for her in our family. I cannot imagine life without her. She has brought so much balance to the family dynamic...and joy...and HUMOR!
As I often tell her, and as my Dad used to frequently tell me, "I sure am glad you came to our house to live and not someone else's."
Do I even need to say who prayed these words from her tender heart last night?
I thank God for seeing the need for her in our family. I cannot imagine life without her. She has brought so much balance to the family dynamic...and joy...and HUMOR!
As I often tell her, and as my Dad used to frequently tell me, "I sure am glad you came to our house to live and not someone else's."
Friday, April 18, 2008
Steve Austin Who?
Steve_Austin_Photo.jpg)
Last night when I went to bed, Jeff had already been sleeping for about an hour, dreaming about who knows what, when this interesting dialogue took place:Jeff: Hello, Steve Austin. Are you ready to play dead so I can bury you?
Me: Umm...yeah.
Jeff: C'mon, I'm gonna bury you.
Me: Why do you want to bury me?
Jeff: I don't know. So I can get some new stuff.
Jeff: [Siiiiiiiiigh] I'm SOOOOO tired.
What I was wondering, among other things, was Steve Austin who? As in Stone Cold Steve Austin? Or Steve Austin, as played by Lee Majors in The Six Million Dollar Man? I also wondered why he thought burying Steve Austin or ME would result in new stuff. I wondered if it had anything to do with our discussion of life insurance options for me that we had had last night. Maybe he really was plotting to bury me so he could buy a new truck with Buckshot Mudders.
Luckily there were no more disturbances from that side of the bed for the remainder of the twilight hours. And I awoke alive. To an earthquake.
By now, surely most people have heard that a 5.4 magnitude earthquake shook the Midwest just before 6:00 this morning. I was actually in a semi-awake state, but fading in and out of consciousness as I anticipated the sound of my alarm. I first heard the shower door begin to rattle a little. Then a little more. And then the bed shook a little too. My first thought was that it was Jeff trying to wake me without startling me too badly as I have a tendency to rise up in terror if he tries to rouse me from sleep with traditionally normal methods. Or was he trying to KILL me so he could get new stuff? It lasted 10 seconds at the most. Once I was awake, I was certain it had been an earthquake. I came downstairs straightaway to find that Jeff hadn't left for work yet. He had felt the couch shaking too. I inquired about which Steve Austin. Though he did not recall having any such conversation, he was pretty sure he would have been talking about The Six Million Dollar Man, not Stone Cold.
And sure enough, the lead story on the Today Show was the earthquake that had rocked the Midwest.
"The walls was shakin'...the earth was quakin'...my mind was achin'...and who the heck is Steve Austin?"
Monday, April 14, 2008
Ortolan
One of the things I like about being pals with Dave is that he never ceases to amaze me with the pieces of oddly obscure information he manages to weave into everyday conversations and emails, as if he were simply discussing the weather or trying to decide what to have for dinner tomorrow night.
At times I am baffled as I desperately scramble to distinguish satire from reality, but I must admit I often find myself genuinely enlightened and enriched by said tidbits.
Today's reference to the endangered ortolan of France was one such time.
Thank you, Dave, thank you.
At times I am baffled as I desperately scramble to distinguish satire from reality, but I must admit I often find myself genuinely enlightened and enriched by said tidbits.
Today's reference to the endangered ortolan of France was one such time.
Thank you, Dave, thank you.
Friday, April 11, 2008
Saturday, April 05, 2008
Oh yeah, and one more....
"Why do we wear sunscreen anyway? To keep our germs out of other people's pools?"
Kathrynisms Part 33 1/3
Kathryn: I just squeezed David's ear with my teeth.
Mom: WHAT?! KathhhhhhhhhhRYN!
Kathryn: But I unloosed it. I UNLOOSED IT! I did.
. . . .
"Don't you just wish you could choke hell? UHHH, I just hate hell SO much!"
. . . .
"Don't you love meatloaf, Mom? I love meatloaf almost as much as I love myself!"
Mom: WHAT?! KathhhhhhhhhhRYN!
Kathryn: But I unloosed it. I UNLOOSED IT! I did.
. . . .
"Don't you just wish you could choke hell? UHHH, I just hate hell SO much!"
. . . .
"Don't you love meatloaf, Mom? I love meatloaf almost as much as I love myself!"
Saturday, March 29, 2008
Old and New
One of the things that Jeff's mom keptsaying right up until the day she stopped talking was,
"David is going to look so BIG when that new baby comes."
He sure enough does, Mom, he sure enough does.
You can tell they are cousins.
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