Chapter 3

I had hoped the book about our medical journey would be complete by now, at least for 2010. But alas, now we enter a new chapter. Ava has a bladder infection. No big deal, right? No big deal, unless it's her second in two months (and actually, I think it's her third, but the first one wasn't diagnosed). There's a certain smell to her diapers that made me wonder, and then today she was just off, took a long nap, and woke up lethargic and feverish. I knew immediately, took her in, she peed in a bag (getting talented at that!) and sure enough.

So what next? An ultrasound and other imaging tests that I'm not too sure what all they entail. I don't know if she'll have to be put under or not. I'm not sure what they're looking for. And I'm not sure if it's related to my kidney issues or not. Or to the staph infections going around our house.

But I'm sure that this too, will pass. Tonight, I'm tired of it. Tomorrow is pharmacy delivery and home health nurse for Abby. The rest of the days will take care of themselves.

Shopping

I enjoy shopping. Really, I do! But mostly, I enjoy shopping at Kohl's, Target, Walmart, the grocery store. Last week I ventured to the mall to get a birthday present for a friend of Abby's. Her friend really likes the store Justice, and I'd never been there, so wasn't quite sure what to expect. I walked in, and right away felt a little clausterphobic. It has everything a preteen could possibly want--clothes, pillows, jewelry, shoes, zhu zhu pets, pink soccer balls, whatever! If ever a 12-year-old-girl said, "I want a...", they have it. Which, while not my thing, isn't a bad thing in and of itself. What was more disturbing was the number of times I heard, "I want...", "Buy me...", or "But you said I could get..." Lots of entitled girls, lots of indulgent moms. Clearly not everyone who shops their is like that, and Abby's friend who I was getting the gift for is not at all like that, but that day it was just really crazy to me. My plan was to walk the rest of the mall, but I got halfway done and just couldn't even do the rest.

Then, Friday, I got up at 4 AM, in the freezing cold, to get a TV. I've never done Black Friday shopping, at least not since it's gotten so crazy. I got to Best Buy at 4:40, stood in the long line that wrapped around the back of the building in the cold, finally got in, and then stood in the TV line for another 25 minutes. Then I stood in the regular check-out line for 25 minutes. But I got a good deal on a TV! And although it took a long time, it was all pretty organized and tame. Then I went into Target, saw the lines that literally wrapped around the store (up and down the aisles, all the way to the back of the store) and walked out. Same thing at Fleet Farm (I mistakenly assumed it would be calmer there... WRONG!). Then I went to the grocery store, got donuts and went home just in time for the kids to wake up. Luckily, mid-morning I got a two hour nap and was doing well by the end of the day.

And inbetween all that shopping was Thanksgiving. I glossed over the actual day, but know that I am truly thankful this year. For so many things. We were at my mom and dad's house, for the second year in a row, and the kids have so much fun with their cousins. And never fail, there's always a time when Dave and my brother-in-law are off doing something, and all the kids are somewhere, and it's just my sister, my parents and me hanging out for a little bit. It feels so old school and comfortable and nice. And of course, with all eight kids, no matter how good they are, it's always just a little bit crazy. I wouldn't have it any other way! And this year, our cutest turkey of all was my sister's youngest, 3-month old Kate...

Hope you had a great holiday, too!

It's the noticing

Abby came with me to my doctor's appointment yesterday. While she was waiting in the waiting room for me, she was playing games on my iTouch. When I came out (it took about 45 minutes, so she waited quite awhile) I was hustling her to come on, we needed to get home, get dinner, get her medicine changed, too much stuff! We got to the car, and she gave me my iTouch back and told me to read it. She had somehow found a Notes application and this is what she wrote:

Mommy i love you! You are so nice! You Are so lovable and sweet. I
could think of 1000000 amazing and nice things to say about you.you
are the best mom a daughter could have.thank you for helping me at the
hospital .it was really helpful.sorry for not putting the shirts
away.i love you more than anythingin the world! Well, bye!

It melted my heart and, while everything I do for all of them is worthwhile, this just made it all the more special because she noticed.

Week of Thankfulness

As we begin Thanksgiving week, I'm thankful more than I probably ever have been at the start of any Thanksgiving week. Mostly, I'm thankful today that for the first week in four weeks, I'm not at Children's Hospital or ER with one of the kidlets.

Second, I'm thankful that not only are we at home, but that everyone is on the mend nicely, and quicker than we ever thought possible.

Third, I'm thankful for all the prayers, thoughts, well-wishes, hugs and other support we've gotten through all of this. It's been truly amazing and overwhelming.

Fourth, I'm thankful for all the gifts we've gotten to keep us fat and happy. Cookies, McDonald's gift cards, card games, pillow pets, baloons, teddy bears, socks, slippers, pjs, puzzles, books, CDs, and one BP gift card from someone anonymous that I love because it gets me my English toffee cappuchinos on the way to hospital visits.

Fifth, I'm thankful for a short week, for celebrating with my family a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner, for the start of the holiday season and for my own bed, which I'll be hitting soon.

Scary!

Scary comes in so many shapes and sizes. There's scary from last week, and then there's these scary, way too cute Halloween pictures! With the craziness of everything, I never got around to getting these off my camera...

A little late, but happy Halloween!!