the time has come...

I have to admit, I have grown tired of blogging. I simply do it for the sake of my kids' grandparents who are all on the other side of the world (in opposite directions). I actually wish I could get on and rant and rave about the political climate, my frustrations with public education policies, insurance and how I know it is a rip off, my views on social programs and the welfare system, and so on (the list could go on and on and on). But no one really cares about all that and I think I would create a lot of enemies in the process. So instead of boring you with my endless opinions (and they really are endless) I will continue to write about the hum-drum day to day events; it is, after all, why the grandparents read...

The last few weeks have been full and very tiring. As I sit here and write Davie is screaming because his one true love (ME) isn't holding him; he does that a lot lately. Gracie is rinsing off her princess shoes in the bathroom sink because a dragon attacked her on the way to the chicken coop and now she has mud on her shoes (her story, not mine). And Adam is secretly scrounging for food because he is "starving," but not starving enough the eat the grapes and oranges I have left on counter for them to snack on (no doubt I will find him with chocolate around his mouth).

So back to the last few weeks...about three weeks ago I contracted pink eye in both of my eyes. This was probably the worse case of pink eye I have ever seen; it took about ten days before I was able to put my contacts in again - I woke up each morning for about five days with my eyes completely glued shut. It was pretty miserable. By some miracle (and a lot of hand washing and laundry) none of my kids or Scott got it. But just as that was winding down David was starting to have something go on with him. He was getting fevers and throwing up all the time. I chalked it up to a bad cold or teething (although since then I have read that teething does not cause a fever). His fevers persisted and started to get high, like 102 and 103 degrees. Finally on Thursday, after this had been taking place for about ten days I decided that we have good health insurance and I should use it; so I took him in (despite the fact that I had just been in the week before for Adam who has some strange skin condition on the back of his leg). I figured the doc would tell me that he is fine and send me home. Boy, was I wrong. She began running all sorts of tests trying to eliminate different possibilities. Strep...negative. Urine infection...negative. Flu...negative. So we were instructed to go to the lab and have blood work done. I didn't think this was a big deal until I got there and realized they take blood from an 8 month old the same way they take it from an adult - from the vein in his little arm. Oh man that the was the saddest thing ever. Well, long story short (too late)...we have been going from doctors to labs everyday (except Sunday) since Thursday. Today is the first day I haven't had to go somewhere. They had to get blood from him three times (so NOT fun), he had to get two honey-consistency antibiotic shots and now he is on a regular medication. But he hasn't had a fever in three days and his blood looks really good. In the end my doctor figured he has some bacterial infection; she doesn't know what, but it looks like it is clearing up. Now he is just so used to being held all the time that he will hardly let me out of his sight.

So there is my last few weeks. My house looks like hurricane Katrina came through, my surprise, overnight, birthday trip to Park City was ruined by lab work and doctors appointments, and my actual birthday was ruined by our choir director who thought it would be a good idea to meet one hour before Stake Conference to run through a couple of simple songs (no french toast for me). Although on the up side, my birthday ended up being a lot fun with some really good food, Davie is feeling better, Gracie continues to make me laugh everyday, the chickens (that we are babysitting for Renee for a few months) bring much delight to the kids, Lily is excelling at school, and Adam is...well, still Adam. Plus I have very kind friends, neighbors, and sisters who have helped me tremendously over the last few weeks during the many many trips I have made to all the different medical facilities that I have had to visit. So life isn't so bad and even if is seems that it is; it is definitely looking up.