Pixiemom

Amie realized that her hair was long enough after I cut mine off, so today she was ready to get it cut off… a whole 11 inches of it. It is quite a change.

Before

After

But it is related to an insect. It’s Lyme Disease. We caught it in the early stages, so she should be fine. The only symptoms she’s had were the spots, fatigue, and headaches. The spots that I took pictures of and are on Flickr have been given new captions and tags. Maybe they will help someone else who has Lyme Disease in the early stages to know what they have and get treatment quickly. She has a third spot that was found yesterday on her right thigh. She’s taken naps everyday for the last week and a half and she’s had headaches two days this last weekend. She had an EKG done to check her heart and it is doing fine. She also had a blood test done to check the levels of the bacteria. She was really mad at me about the blood test, but I had warned her before we went in that she might get a shot or something. I got her some mini chocolate chip cookies afterwards and everything was okay.

The one thing that made her really happy though was that she could stop taking the yucky steroid medicine that the urgent care center had prescribed for us and is now on some yummy tasting antibiotics.

I’m keeping a log of her symptoms or anything out of character for her to give the dr an idea of how the medicine is working and to let her know if anything more pops us that we might need to check out.

Prayers for her during this are appreciated. I’m just frazzled with everything that’s been going on.

I’m taking AnnaBeth to the dr tomorrow afternoon. I was referred to a male dr, but they gave me the option of any of the pediatricians. Since she is kind of modest and one of the bites is on her chest, I asked for a female dr. She was horrified on Friday night when she thought she was going to have to show her chest to a male and later relieved when she found out that she was able to have a female tech, nurse, and dr there.

I’ll update you all on how it goes.

Oh, and James is doing better. This was a bit of a longer period of sickness than he’s had before and he wasn’t up to do anything for a few days. Yesterday, he stayed home from church with Jeremy. Today, other than a bit of stuffiness and still not too active, he is doing well. He even went outside for a little bit this morning.

Well, we moved into our new house on June 7, Sat and continued until the next Mon, with a quick trip on Tues when I realized we had forgot to get everything out of one closet. We’ve had our vacation scheduled for months. We had paid for most of it already. It started on that Tuesday, after we got done moving and getting a little organized. We left at 3:30 pm. We stopped at a rest area for supper. I’d made tuna salad for sandwiches and put it into our cooler. We traveled through the night, Jeremy and I switching our driving and resting. At 3:00 am, we were both really tired, so we pulled into a rest area and slept for a bit, but I didn’t sleep long. I was okay after an hour and continued on our way. We only had a little more time on the interstate before getting off and using the rural highways to get to Lake George, NY. We were using directions from Google maps, but I missed a turn somewhere. We were going in the right direction, so I didn’t mind. After a while, we came to the highway our motel was on, so we just turned on it. I love those rural highways. The scenery is so spectacular.

We stopped in Corinth, NY for a breakfast of some donuts I’d brought along. We ended up in Lake George around 9:30 am. Check-in time wasn’t until 3 pm, so we drove around just a little and then stopped at a drug store for the sunscreen and camera batteries that I had forgotten to buy beforehand. (Sorry, but there are no pictures from Lake George as I took them with my film camera so I could get better pics. I’ll share them when I get them developed.) It was still only 11 am and we were all worn out, so we headed over to the motel to see if we could check in early. Yay! It’s the off season and they only had a few rooms being used, so they had our room ready for us. We brought in our stuff and then we all took naps. After 2 hours, we (except Jeremy) all woke up and had peanut butter and honey sandwiches for lunch. The kids changed into their swimsuits and we went down to the motel’s beach. Amie, James, and Christine had a lot of fun wading and swimming around in the water. It doesn’t get deep very fast, so they were able to go out fairly far and still able to stand with it only halfway up their chests. AnnaBeth got in up to her waist and Noelle only got her feet wet. I sat on the boat dock that went around the swimming area and dangled my feet in the water. It was too cold for me. We just rested there by the lake for the rest of the day. Jeremy woke up about an hour after us and joined us out there. He went up to the local grocery store and got us some stuff to grill for dinner.

At dinner time, Amie was itching the back of her head and pulled her hand out and there was a little blood on her finger. My first thought was that she had a tick, so I asked her to let me see. She had spots all down her back! Then I checked James and Christine. They had them as well. Since I don’t bathe, clothe, or do Amie’s hair any more, I had no idea how long she’d had them. I could tell that hers was the earliest as she had many more. We thought it was chicken pox at first, but after a bit I decided it didn’t really look like those. We had to decide what we were going to do after we checked out on Friday. We had planned on going to a family reunion in New Hampshire, but there was a little baby there with health problems, so we couldn’t do that now. The spots didn’t seem to be affecting the kids too much except for a little less appetite, so we decided to stay at the motel until Friday as planned, than my Grandpa offered to let us stay at his house in Massachusetts during the time of the family reunion even though he’d be up in NH with the family.

On Thursday, we had some biscuits for breakfast and then we took a walk. AnnaBeth started not feeling well then and running a small fever, so Jeremy took her back to the motel. The other kids and I went down to the park and boardwalk, then after playing and taking pictures, we headed back. Afterwards, the kids wanted to swim in the pool, so Jeremy got his swimsuit on and we all headed over to the pool. Noelle and AnnaBeth just played on the stairs. I sat on the edge with my feet on the top step, playing with them a bit. Then they decided later to play on the playset, so I watched them while Jeremy stayed at the pool with the three older kids. We didn’t really want to have to make that extra long trip back so quickly as well as ruin Christine’s summer plans (explained later) so we went to Grandpa’s house on Friday. We went on rural highways and roads through Vermont using directions from Google. It was so great. I loved seeing some of those old New England houses and churches. The directions took us the “scenic route” on a long dirt road for the last 7 miles before we hit the interstate close to the Vermont/Mass border. Not long after getting into Massachusetts we stopped for a lunch of meat and cheese sandwiches (our little cooler did a lot of duty during this vacation, but it sure saved us a bunch of money).

We got to Grandpa’s house about 3 pm and unpacked our things. The kids went outside to play and run around. They had a lot of fun. That’s about all we did during the time we were there. I went out and checked out what of the herbs from my Grandma’s garden might have come out this year since she wasn’t there to plant it. I found some mint and dill. It really hit me that she was gone and I wouldn’t see her anymore while I was there. I spent most of the time going through some stuff that Grandpa had for any of his children/grandchildren to pick stuff of hers for us. I picked out some clothes I really liked and one of her aprons. We have two aprons from Grandma Anna (Jeremy’s grandma), so I wanted one of my own Grandma’s as well. My girls like wearing them for dress-up or when we’re making something that they might get messy with. I also got some of her cookbooks that Mom picked out for me.

On Sunday, Grandpa, my aunt Becca, Mom, Jill (my sister), and my nieces came down from the reunion. My kids were so happy to see their cousins. My mom and sister couldn’t stay for long, only for lunch and to pack up Christine’s stuff. My mom was taking her on down to NC with her. (Amie went two years ago and James went last year.) Christine’s been talking about her turn for a year. My dad’s work goes to Hilton Head every year for a conference and spouses, children, and grandchildren are invited to come enjoy themselves, so Christine is so excited to get to go this year. My other two enjoyed their special time and I know Christine will as well. Anyway, back to Sunday. After lunch, we tried to get a picture of all 7 cousins, but it was hard. Then they took off.

The rest of us (Jeremy and I with the four other kids and my Aunt Becca) stayed that night before leaving. My kids really enjoyed getting to know Aunt Becca, I think. She teld funny stories and read books to them. Noelle kept calling her Grandma. She said that there needed to be a Grandma since there was a Grandpa. Aunt Becca didn’t mind. On Monday, we took our time getting everything packed up. I think we accidentally left a sleeping bag, but it was getting all torn up, so we probably would have thrown it away anyway. We drove a little more than halfway before stopping just west of Cleveland, Ohio and getting a hotel for the night and then we finished the drive home this last Tuesday. I’ve been busy with the house and catching up and all since then.

The pictures of the new house, some of the vacation, and some random kid pictures are up on my flickr.

It was a small class called Cottontails. It was about rabbits. James only had an hour of scouts instead of his usual 2 hours, so he was able to attend it as well. I took Noelle along too, even though she was a little young. She sat on my lap and just listened.

The teacher was a woman who used to work at another nature preserve, specifically with the rabbits. She told some interesting stories about rescuing nests of bunnies from school yards and playgrounds. Did you know that a bunny is able to be on his/her own by 3 weeks? I thought it was around 2 months, but I was wrong. That is fast. After telling the kids some facts about bunnies, she read a story and then the kids made pictures. I helped Noelle and one of the ranger ladies helped AnnaBeth a little though she was impressed by how much AnnaBeth could do by herself. All the kids really enjoyed it. I need to check and see when the next class is.

Amie and Christine are interested in doing the summer day camps they are having. They will be one week for 2 hours in the morning. I think I will enroll them in those. James will be doing the day camp that our church is sponsoring, mostly because a lot of it will be focusing on things he needs for scouting. I would like to get Noelle and AnnaBeth into something as well, but we’ll see. Maybe the artsy day camp that the park system is offering. We’ll see.

James always likes to be able to do what Amie is doing unless it’s too girly. He came back from Grandma’s house on Sunday and found out today that Amie has her little blog, so he wanted me to make one for him as well. I already knew he would, so I had already planned to do it.

He picked out his name for it and all. Meet Little Computer Geek!

Yeah, I’m the sick one. No one to be sick with me. All my kids have recovered and are very active. I was well enough yesterday to do what I needed to do at church and then after lunch, I just started feeling kind of dizzy and yucky. I went to bed and have hardly left it since. I am drained of energy, my throat is on fire, and my head is stuffed full of anything but coherent thought. I keep sneezing and I don’t know where Jeremy hid the kleenexes with Vicks on them. I guess I’ll be okay with regular ones. I took some ibuprofen and it helped take care of my headache, but my throat doesn’t want to give up it’s fiery-ness.

In other news, the kids did very well with their special song yesterday. I love how young children are not afraid to sing out loud. I really got a kick out of one little boy who just turned 4. He couldn’t remember all the words, so he kind of slurred the first of the words and came in on the words he knew at the top of his voice. Noelle refused to sing, but she stood up there and swayed. No pushing. I know some kids will be like that and if they don’t want to get up in front of everyone, I’m not going to make them. The children’s Praise Dance team did fairly well too. My kids were kind of nervous about it because they hadn’t been able to practice on Wednesday since they were home sick, but they did good and I’m happy with it. Jeremy was happy to be at church again after missing a lot of last week and enjoyed the evening service Bible Study. I would have loved to have gone. I’m really enjoying our studies in the book of Joshua. I enjoyed reading it myself when I started my “read through the Bible” thing. (I’m through the old testament, just have new to go.) I learned a lot then, but reading it through again with others to share with really helps me to see more. It’s amazing how much more comes out with the perspective of others mixed in with my own. I really missed the time last night, but I doubt I would have enjoyed it with my head feeling like this.

That’s what I’m going to be doing for a little while… sewing. I went out and bought material for dresses for each of the girls. I found a pattern to make James a vest and a skirt pattern that I like for myself. I also found a capri and top pattern for the girls for summer. I plan on getting the material for those later. Amie found a quilt package that has ballerinas on some of the material that she liked, so she bought half of it. I am still in the process of washing the material I bought, but Amie’s came pre-washed with instructions to NOT wash before cutting and sewing, so we started on hers. We cut out all the pieces and sewed together a few strips. We’ll sew two more strips together today. I’m not sure when exactly we’ll get done, but she’s enjoying this even after getting her fingers pricked multiple times while pinning two pieces of material together. As soon as the dress material is out of the dryer, I’ll start on cutting them out. These are the first dresses I’m attempting. I hope I don’t have to pull out too many seams.

That was what Amie said when I said something about her doing her homemaking schoolwork. She made hotdogs for dinner. Jeremy cooked beanless chili and I made homemade french fries and chedderwurst. After dinner, she mixed up some brownies which are in the oven right now. She did these all herself including putting them in the oven which is something she has been fearful of. The only problem we have is that the nob on our oven is gone, so we have a bit of trouble figuring out if we have the correct temperature. I realized it was not high enough when we took a check just a minute ago, so I have adjusted it and we’ll see how it goes.

Jeremy and I have discussed that when the kids are old enough, they will have at least one day every other week in which they must plan and fix a meal. Because Amie is showing such an interest in cooking and baking, we are talking about letting her have one day a month right now to do this. She has learned how to make hotdogs, mac n cheese, tuna casserole, and is interested in learning more, so this will give her a chance.

EDIT: Yummy! They came out so delicious!

Please, melt the 8+ inches of snow still left outside here. I am tired of shoveling our sidewalk and having snow jackets, hats, mittens, scarves, and boots all over my living room drying out. My kids all have two pairs of hats and mittens, which is good because they would go out and play and then come in and take off the wet/cold stuff and then later when we needed to go somewhere, they would have a dry pair to put on. I made them use the store bought ones to play because they would get really dirty and the ones made by my mom for when we were going to church or the store or wherever. They would still throw snowballs and stuff when outside, but the mittens didn’t get all dirty and they helped keep hands warm until our van would heat up (if there was enough time for that, most stuff around here is within 5 miles of us and only takes up to 15 minutes at the most to get to.)

The kids have enjoyed the snow and aren’t wanting it to go away. They were excited last night when it was snowing again (5 inches came down in 3 hours on top of the 9 inches we already had). It is pretty when it’s coming down, but I just don’t like being stuck here at the house so much. This morning, I refused to drive Jeremy to the train station because I am not one who enjoys driving on snow. He drove himself, so I’m without the van, but we have only had one vehicle most of the time we’ve been married, so it is something I’m used to. Anyway, I had no where to go right now, unless I wanted to do the last of our grocery shopping with all five kids and that doesn’t appeal to me at the moment.

On a better note, Sunday was mostly a good day. I enjoyed some good discussion in Sunday School. I did better this time with leading the congregational singing and directing the choir special. I was more prepared this time than I had been a few weeks ago. The choir director had been sick, so I was ready in case she still was (she was feeling fine, but had no voice yet.) The pastor had a really great sermon on Luke 4:1-13 (Jesus in the desert being tempted by Satan) and Hebrews 4:15-16 which I wrote a post on a few weeks ago. Later, after a lunch at the Chinese restaurant and a rest time, we were back at church for another good feeding of Biblical teaching. We are studying Joshua on Sunday nights and a book on leadership (will have to find out the title for you.) We were in the book last night and talked about our motivation for being leaders in the church and how we handled different things that came up. We didn’t make it through the whole chapter we were on, but that was okay. The fellowship of talking about it was refreshing. It is good to get this. The down part of Sunday was the Patriots loss of the Super Bowl. *sigh* Oh well. It’s just football. I wish I could have seen the game. It sounded like a great game and since we don’t have TV, Jeremy pulled up a radio stream on the internet for me to listen to. James was trying to listen and figure out what was going on, but couldn’t follow it too much. After the game, I got on Facebook and did a bit of racing my (fluff)pet, Little Samson. He had won a bronze trophy now, so that made up for the Super Bowl disappointment.

Today, I’ve just done regular stuff, dishes, laundry, and so on. I also had to go out and shovel the walk of it’s snow with slush underneath, so the mail lady can walk up to our mailbox easily. The slush was heavy, so I guess this was my shoulder exercises for today. I can’t do my weights after that or my shoulders will be overworked. Anyway, there you are… an update to today.