Winter

Lots of Illness

Lots of Snow

Very Cold

EQUALS = WE ARE READY FOR SPRING... PLEASE??

Well, the HAPPY new is that we are headed to the Smokies this weekend to the indoor water park. Woot Woot... Can't wait!

I couldn't make this stuff up...

The week before Christmas - 7 WEEKS AGO - our kids got sickly. They weren't so sick they were miserable, but they were sick. Seth soon followed with his bout of what was some form of the flu. The kids weren't miserable but daddy WAS!

Christmas came and went. By Christmas day everyone was feeling better. I was never so happy to go back to work and send everyone to daycare and Seth off to work than I was after the Holidays. I love my family, but 2 weeks cooped up at home with sick toddlers and a husband (so make that 3 toddlers) about puts even the best of us mommies OVER the EDGE!

I go back to work for 2 days, and what do you know...2 snow days follow. That Saturday afternoon I started to feel a little strange. We had a babysitter and went out for my birthday dinner with my sister, BIL, and my parents. It was great. It was LOTS of fun. I think I drank enough wine to dismiss my crappy sick feeling and all was good...UNTIL the next day.

I was getting it, and I was getting it BAD!! A high fever and a terrible cough were my symptoms. My entire body ached. My clothes hurt me. The sheets on the bed hurt me. It was AWFUL. And I know everyone says this but, I NEVER GET SICK!

I finally drug my sick ass to the doctor. Yep, I had some sort of flu and I should be getting better in a day or two. This was already day 6!!!

3 days later the fever went away. The achiness left too, but something wasn't right. I was short of breath and just so TIRED! All I wanted to do was sleep, and my energy level was in the negatives. It SUCKED. So, I went back to the Doc. Yaaaa, my flu has turned into pneumonia. ?? WTF? How is that even fair. I was vaccinated for BOTH flus in the fll and now I have freaking pneumonia? NOT HAPPY - but sent home with a shot in my rear and an antibiotic. I should be better soon. They assured me. UGHHH...6 days later and 2 rounds of antibiotics, I still felt like shit. So, just this past Saturday back to the Doc I went.

I saw a nurse practitioner I had never seen before. She was very nice, but the look on her fae said it all. I was in BAD SHAPE, damn it. She was sure my weeks worth of antibiotics didn't work and spoke gently about hospitalizing me. WHAT?? DO YOU KNOW ME?? I HATE hospitals. I HATE them! I am TERRIFIED of them. I am soooo beyond SCARED out of my mind.

We all have irrational fears. I know this. And I know what mine are...hospitals, medical stuff (like blood and guts and poop), and birds. Yes, I am also deathly afraid of BIRDS. I do not like them! And even in the back of my mind knowing these are completely irrational, when the time comes...my logic goes out the window and my instinctive fear sets in.

So...I talk her OUT of the hospital but with conditions. She was sending me across the street for chest X-Rays to make sure my pneumonia wasn't worst and they would HOLD ME THERE until the XRays were read and I was cleared to go home. I was shaking and holding back tears. I felt awful, but apparently not bad enough to agree to go to the hospital. My Xrays came back. I wasn't better, BUT... I wasn't worse. SIGH...I got to home. I was strictly informed that they were bringing out the BIG GUNS of outpatient antibiotics and if this didn't work, and I wasn't better by Monday, I would have to go into the hospital. With that, came the threat..."YOU BETTER REST AND SLEEP!" I am not good at either of those, but seriously...to keep me out of the hospital - OK.

So, I go to the Doc yesterday and Yaaaa - The BIG GUNS antibiotics are working! I am off the hook, and I am also feeling SOOOOO much BETTER! She even tells me I can GO TO WORK the next day! I skip out of there and head to the grocery store. I decide that I am BACK and mommy is taking back over the messy house I was not able to tend to for 2 weeks. I was making dinner and in comes the family. "He is HURT." Seth belts out as they walk in the door.

Baby Bam apparently fell down as he was leaving daycare. His right knee was the size of a baseball and he wouldn't bear any weight on it at all. There is nothing worse than seeing your baby in pain. We fed him dinner and off the ER daddy and Zac went. I was a nervous wreck. I wanted to take him, but with my pneumonia and compromised immune system, we decided that Seth should. I sat with butterfly's in my stomach. I was sooo HOPING, and more so expecting, to be back to the normal...It had been SEVEN, (7), weeks since we were back in routine, healthy and living life as normal. Turns out he had a bad contusion, and it still hurts him. He was limping this morning a little, but overall, he was his normal self.

So, today would be the day...I went back to work (after 2 LONG weeks of resting and looking at four walls) and all was well in the Taylor household. It was all good until...10:55am. I got a call from the director at daycare. She said Zachary was covered from head to toe in red whelps and we needed to come and get him. Oh... My... HEAVENS! Are you freaking KIDDING ME!!! Ok, for real, I couldn't make this stuff up!

I call their pediatrician who rocks my world! I LOVE him! Then I call Seth and, God love this man, he rushes out his office doors and takes both kids to the Doc. He is the best Daddy and Husband, He gets it...sometimes... and sometimes he just doesn't. Today he did. Hahaha. Thank the Lord.

Alright, so to wrap this up...Zachy is allergic to the antibiotic he has been on for his ear infections. I text Kevan, his birth father - which is an entirely different post - YES, we have connected with them - which I couldn't be more thankful for - And he is also allergic to penicillin. It turns out that his sisters are also allergic to shellfish. VALUABLE, AMAZING INFORMATION!!

Anyway, Zachy is better. I am better, kids ears are better, Lydia is still on breathing treatments for her cough and stuff and Seth know sounds like a barking seal.

Incredibly ANNOYING this 7 weeks have been for us - BUT we are brought back to PERSPECTIVE! We are healthy. We have access to medicine and first class medical treatment. We are not homeless, denied of adequate health care. We are not lying in a street just hoping someone will come along and help. We are not desperately searching for our loved ones whose bodies could very well have been scooped up by a bulldozer with hundreds of others.

It's so hard to take it all in. As I looked at my kitchen counter last week and saw the line of RX's to be distributed among my family, I couldn't help but feel guilty. Chances are, even without meds we would all have recovered fine. We would have been uncomfortable for sure, but we would have recovered. I wanted so badly to ship all those meds to Hatia. Ho Hum. I am getting some things together for a Hatian orphange. Wish I could do more.

I at least got to enjoy a dinner out before it all set in! Happy Birthday To Me! I actually LOVE birthdays. I don't care how old I get! I just think birthdays are FUN!

I AM 35!!! YIKES!

The Lake in the Winter

Despite all of our illness, we headed up to my parents lake house in Ky last weekend. I spent most of the weekend lying on the couch praying to feel better, but we did have a good time. Our good friend, Kyle came up on Saturday night with his new boyfriend Chuck. We have only met Chuck once, so it was fun to get to know him. We all LOVED him! He's a Keeper Kyle!

CUTIES!

My dad RELAXING! A rare scene!

My Feverish-self trying to read the game directions - Nevermind my appearance.

Game ON.

Seth's Serious Game Face!

My Mom's guessing... I think she was on my team at this point!

The MORAL:

GAME NIGHT IS ALWAYS FUN...IT doesn't even matter if you're SICK as shit! ;)

Oh Good Lord - 2010

We have started the year off with a BANG - of lots of crappy illness' that is. Oh my Lord, it's been ROUGH. Seth was sick over Christmas - really sick. It turns out he had a good case of the ole' H1N1. The kids both had some similar symptoms, but not quite as severe as Seth's. Just as everyone on my house was recuperating, GUESS WHO gets sick?? Yours Truly. I ended up going to the Doc the day after my birthday, and I too (although vaccinated for BOTH flu's) had the FLU. I had a fever for 8 straight days. I felt like absolute shit. I can't imagine the people who DON'T get vaccinated and get it. I think I would have probably died. haha. Sounds funny now, but there were times I thought I was drawing near last week.

We went to the lake house this weekend to relax and get better. Lydia and I coughed ALL weekend long. It would have been comical if we weren't both in pain. Zachary's ears started draining this horrible GREEN pussy, nasty stuff. We knew one tube had fallen out, b/c we saw it but no the other.

So, on the way home from the lake yesterday we stopped at the pediatrician. Turns out, double ear infections for both kiddos, and Lydia had some mild walking pneumonia. GREAT. I came home with half of Walgreens pharmacy. To make matters even better, I was literally coughing my head off (but FINALLY fever FREE) and Seth was out of town. Nice huh? NOT SO MUCH.

The kids slept like babies last night which would have been great if I wasn't coughing all night. My house this morning was like a hospital. Lydia was getting a breathing treatment while I was wrestling Zac to the ground to get ear drops in his ears. On top of that, they both had other meds and antibiotics. We got out of the house on time...how, I will never know, but we did.

As the day went on, and my cough was disrupting meeting after meeting, I decided i should probably go back to the Doc too. So on my way home tonight, I had an appt. Why would I even have been surprised that a chest X-Ray showed pneumonia in my lungs and I am now on 4 different meds. UUUGGGHHH.

There, it's Out... I have vented... NOW... I can go and spend my energy and prayers for the thousands and thousands of Haitians who my heart just hearts for. I feel so helpless, and all I want to do is help. I have given $$ but I want to BE THERE!! I want to help people find the resources they need. I want to hug the weeping mother, I want to hold the sickly orphan. I want to raise up the helpless man. I just want to help. And as I immediately received the shot I needed today, and easily went to Walgreens and was handed three other medications that will make me better within days, I can't help but wonder why some of us get so blesses and others just don't.

I am looking at the pharmacy of antibiotics on my counter and wishing sooo badly that I could just give them to someone lying on the street hoping not to lose a limb. My kids ear infections will heal, antibiotic or not. My pneumonia will get better - with rest and warmth. If only I could help. I feel so guilty! That's just how I am feeling these days.

It's all About me

I have been feeling Super Duper Crap-tastic this week with an off and on fever, chills, night sweats, a headache and a hacking cough. This morning was no different and that sucks b/c it is my birthday! So, I made the best of it.

I decided instead of dragging my sickly ass into work like i did yesterday, I would stay home. I laid in bed all morning and watched T.V. and surfed the Internet. Then I soaked in a HOT, BUBBLY bath. This is something I NEVER get to do. This afternoon, I am just hanging out. I should be doing laundry, or cleaning up but I am not. I am still not feeling up to par and I figure I deserve a day to recover and chill. So that's what I am doing today.

I have enjoyed my minute b/c it's usually all about them...

Lydia LOVING the Wii after Bath... and she's pretty good too!!


Waiting for HIS turn!

Playing in the **SNOW**

What Could Be Cuter? Than That Look!

Weeee!! NO HANDS!

And That's Just Fine With Me...

On the Fence

I am so on the fence, I think, although maybe not...UGh, I don't know.

Seth and I both attended Catholic school from K-12th grade. It was all I knew. It was all he knew. Then we went to college. I went to college in Alabama. Seth attended in Indiana. I, (coming from a private, Catholic school) was in the minority. Seth was not. Not that any of this really matters BUT, I am so on the fence about where to send my kids to school. Seth, not so much.

I ALWAYS thought, hands down, my kids would go to Catholic school. Then I started working as a Social Worker in the public school systems. Over the years, I have worked in the poorest of poor and the richest of rich. I have worked in the inner cities, and also out in the middle of absolutely NO where schools.

And now I am on the fence, although not really. Deep down, I think I want my kids to go to Catholic school. But, then again, I am constantly asking myself WHY? The truth is I want them to have the faith that I developed, a very deep faith. Then I start thinking...did I get that from Catholic school; Or, did I get that from my parents? Did I get that from being a Social Worker and and the gift from God of truly being able to see the other side? I don't know? I don't know where I got it. I have to think that it's a combination. Of course it's a combination. But how I am ever to know how much came from my Catholic education. This is so hard!

Tennessee is NOT well known for their great public education system. In fact, it's quite the opposite. However, we happen to live in the very BEST county in the state for public education. Everyone wants to live here...for the schools - at least if you live in TN. We are zoned for a well known school in the county. My sisters' kids attend there and do just fine, as do almost all of our neighbors. It's getting over crowded, but there are plans to build another one by the time The Bug would start kindergarten.

Here's the thing...I don't work for OUR county schools, I work for our CITY schools, and although we are not a huge county; there is a difference. The county brings in most (but not all) of the middle class to wealthier families of our county. The city schools bring in the rest of the middle class, some of the wealthy, and also almost all of the poverty of the county. Which is EXACTLY why I LOVE the district I work in.

I am a big fan of elementary schools that are K-8 ~ Maybe it's b/c that is what I am used to in Catholics schools, OR, maybe it is the literature I have read in the past about the benefits, OR, maybe it is b/c it is my FAVORITE school I work in within my district. I don't know. SEE- I told you, I don't know. SIGH...

Here are the highlights of our dilemma...

1) We want religion and faith to be a part of of children's lives, first at home and second at school. Once they start school, they will be there more than here and it's important to us that it is a constant in their lives. Public school doesn't teach these things, and personally, I don't think they should.

2) While Catholic schools are a dime a dozen across most of the country, they are not here in the south. In fact, we only have ONE in our entire county. So, I am sure you can imagine that it is crowded. Priority goes to Parishioners, and we go to the other Catholic church. If we decide on Catholic, we need to switch Parrish's now, and start "giving". Wright or wrong, that's the way it is.

3) We don't want our children to grow up in their "little, white, Catholic world." We want our kids to know and appreciate diversity. We want them to learn from and accept others who are different. Public school would offer this, Catholic would not.

4) I of all people, understand the conduct and behavior problems in the public schools - even here, in the wealthiest of counties. As parents, we all want the best, most effective learning environment for our kids...right?? I worry about this when I see what I see in the public schools.

5) Catholic school is set up for the "average" student. You can't be much above or much lower than the median. They don't have the resources and they don't have to meet every students' needs. Public school, on the other hand, is required by law to educate every child according to their needs, no matter what.

6) Public school is FREE!

I could go on and on... These are just the highlights. I am so confused, although I am leaning in the Catholic school direction. Anyone else out there ever had to make this decision? Man, it's a hard one!

The New Year

In this New Year... I promise to...

1) Have more patience with my husband and kids
2) Take better care of my emotional, physical and spiritual health
3) Blog more for the memories and sake of my children

I think I'll work on those before I add any more.

Happy New Year Blogging World. I have missed you!