Last Night

We had a much better night last night.  Poor Midge finally fell asleep like this, and managed to stay that way for much of the night.  I can imagine she was rather exhausted as she really didn't sleep at all the night before.  Today is a better day as well.  3 out of 5 kids seem perfectly well and the other two appear to be recovering.  I am still cautiously optimistic about Buster, who is still running a fever.  The well kids are rollerblading, a Christmas gift I will have to blog about, and the sick kids are resting.  Whew!  I think we just might be getting better.

Rotten

One of the things that really annoys me about New Year's is the concept that the simple progression from one day to another can somehow change your life.  I put way too much hope in the idea that this year would be so much better instead of just realizing that things can change on a dime and the year really has little to do with it.  That being said, today has been awful.  Rotten, terrible, and any other adjective you might be able to think up. 

Midge's ear went from bad to worse and by 9:40 am I had her in the doc's office with a ruptured ear drum.  Two hours later, after standing in line for EVER, I had her prescription in hand.  She has slept all day and her fever has hovered around 105.  As if that isn't enough, the truck we are borrowing broke down, Buster started running a fever, and Chiggie's ipod that she bought with her very own money was dropped and the screen is now cracked.  Come on tomorrow!

One Step Back

I must have spoken too soon because today we back slid.  As I type, Midge is miserable on the couch with an earache.  She is running a low grade fever, but it's hard to tell if her ear is infected or just congested.  I gave her some de-congestant tonight and I really hope she feels better tomorrow.  If not, we will head to the doctor to have it checked out.  Buster also wasn't feeling well.  Nap time was a nightmare, he too ran a low grade fever, and he is complaing of tongue pain.  I think it's his throat that hurts, but it is really hard to get a good look.  The older girls are feeling great and I am starting to feel sorry for them as I am sure they are getting cabin fever.  I am really praying this eases up as we move into the weekend when getting a doctor's appointment is that much more difficult.

Clearing Up

 

I think it is officially safe to say we are seeing the end of this awful illness.  Boo and Buster went the entire day with no fevers at all.  Midge was feverish this evening but responded immediately to Tylenol, and was fine by bedtime.  It is so hard to see them so sick and I am very glad they are getting back to their happy and playful selves!

 

 

Planning

It may not be a new school year, but it is a new year so I am using that to my advantage to do some planning and make some changes.  Last night I went through the kids work boxes and cleaned out all of the trash and organized their folders and notebooks.  It was fun to see how much we really have accomplished so far this year.  Some of our school goals for the new year are:

• Read more.  We have been really busy and I have missed our read alouds tremendously.
• Math facts.  The kids are great with these, but I want to make sure that practicing at their own level is part of our DAILY  routine during the week.
• More art. We all love this, but it can be a pain coming up with the supplies and dealing the mess. 
• Staying with the whole supplies and mess theme, more science projects.  We love science but it can be time consuming on my part and I often sometimes take short-cuts to make my life easier.
• Turn our library books in on time!  I have some hefty fines right now and we have to be better about this. 
• Get up on time!  Again this is hard because I hate, hate, hate, to wake a sleeping baby.  We need to be up at the same time everyday so this is a must!  Buster also needs an earlier bedtime, I can't say I am dreading this one.
• Work with the older girls on independence.  I need more time with the little ones and the older girls are perfectly capable of doing much more on their own at a reasonable pace.  We will work on this.

This at least provides us with a starting point.  I love fresh starts and I am actually really looking forward to Monday.

Day 1

We survived yet another day with this horrible flu.  At this point Midge has it the worst, but I really think she will turn a corner tomorrow.  It wasn't a wonderful way to ring in the New Year, but I am hoping we are getting it over with early so we can have a healthy winter from here on out.  We spent most of the day watching movies.  Our favorite was the Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Day's.  The kids have really enjoyed these books and even I think the movies are hilarious. 

It makes me kind of nervous that our vacation from school (mine and theirs) is quickly coming to a close.  I need to do some planning for them to make things easier when I start back up on the 14th.  It shouldn't be too terrible since I will only be taking one class at a time, but I like to be prepared.  One of the things I want to re-establish this new year is a better routine.  We tend to start out really well and then get more and more lax until eventually what started out organized feels a lot more like chaos.  I know I can do it, it is just going to take self discipline. 

 

Until then, we continue to enjoy the luxury of sleeping in and playing more often than working.  Luckily Chiggie was feeling well enough to entertain Buster with a horse ride.  The joys of siblings!

Welcome 2013!

Happy New Year!  I am excited to see 2013.  It's always fun to have a new year, a new beginning of sorts, to set new goals and make plans.  I am hoping this is a good year for us, I know we could really use one.  That being said, it didn't roll in too nicely.  We have had a flu in our house since Christmas night.  I am very thankful it held out until then, but it has been pretty much awful since.  Boo was hit the worst and is still sick.  We managed to have a nice New Year's Eve despite the yuckiness.

Chiggie and Camie went to a lock in at our church for the youth group.  It was an ugly sweater contest and my mom made them these "sweaters" to wear.  They looked cute.  Unfortunately, Chiggie didn't make it all night.  She was picked up, feeling especially crummy, at nearly 5 am.  No one really slept well, so today should be interesting.

 

 Buster, who was briefly ill, but is now feeling rather spunky, enjoyed the snacks most of all.  That and making me get up to keep getting him more, he enjoyed that as well.

 Poor Midge was pretty out of it.  She spent most of the evening curled up feeling miserable.  She is the most recent victim.

Everyone saw the ball drop.  It's exciting for them.  It's exciting for me.  I hope many good things happen this year, but most of all I am thankful that I have a wonderful family to experience it with regardless of what it holds!