Well Then!

What an exciting past few days (she said in a sarcastic tone of voice)

First off, Gabe's MRI went well. He didn't have any issues with the i.v. or the anesthesia to put him to sleep. In fact, he had a liquid drug that made him goofy as all get out and it was pretty funny watching him and hearing him talk. Whenever he and I go to the doctor, we ask each other "ok, what's your number?" (on the pain scale)

 

He said to me, in a drug induced stupor, "Nine. No! Blue. Ha ha, I'm the magic number" It was hilarious. It took the edge off that was for sure. He went under fine and every single person who came in contact with him before and after the procedure (when he was awake that is) made a point to tell me how polite and sweet he was. Always a good thing to hear.

Thursday nights we've been going to an additional dance class to get ready for Bitsy's big recital in two weeks. We got to class and she was a bit lethargic BUT she'd spent the whole day with Aubrey driving Aunt Katie crazy, so I figured she was just tired. Halfway through class she started to cough so hard she was crying. She was miserable, so I made an appointment with our pediatrician for the next day. By the end of class she was coughing so hard she was starting to wheeze (By the way, I blame this ALL on our pediatrician who early in the week had asked if she still wheezed! Dang it Dr. S! ha ha) My throat had been sore all week, but I get strep throat all the damn time (I'm a carrier of strep, hooray) and around this time of year I always have a sore throat. 

We ended up going to urgent care where the doctor told me that Bits had strep throat. I said "well then, you ought to take a look at this" and opened my mouth. I swear he shuddered when he saw how swollen my throat was. He said "ok, then, you have strep also, let me listen to you since you've recently had pneumonia" Oh joy of joys! I STILL had pneumonia. Six weeks of feeling like crap apparently should have been my tip off. Bits got another antibiotic and is fine, I got my third antibiotic in six weeks and am finally starting to feel a bit more human. In addition to antibiotics, I got a lecture from the doctor about not coming in for a follow up. I told him I was pretty sure that pneumonia took a while to clear up and I wasn't worried about it. He conceded, that yes, it does take a while, but it shouldn't take this long. I suppose having pneumonia still explains why I am out of breath five minutes into a work out lately, eh?

Thankfully everyone else is feeling fine and we're all working our way back to normal. I am completely and utterly done with being sick. We are ALL ready for spring to be here permanently so we don't have to deal with this crap anymore.

I hope everyone is happy and healthy and a special congrats today to our dear friends Cindy and Trav who are celebrating 7 years of marriage today. Seems like just yesterday we were at their wedding watching them exchange their vows :) Such a lovely couple-we wish you guys only the best and can't wait to see you soon!!

Thankful Thursday: A Boy and His Dog

When Gabriel was born, my aunt Sue gave him a stuffed puppy named Samson; Samson, of course, being known as a very strong person, both physically and emotionally. Gabe has been attached to Sam since day one. Sam goes everywhere with us; he's been to multiple states, he's had "x-rays" with Gabe, he's been "casted" with Gabe, and has had an "mri" with Gabriel as well. Gabe is a big boy now, he's seven, and he doesn't "need" Sam as much as he used to, but this morning he's scheduled for an MRI (totally routine, but still scary for him) and Sam is coming with us. All of the medical professionals we work with are wonderful; they understand that Sam is Gabe's security item and make an effort to make sure that when he goes in for a procedure (such as an MRI) Sam is on his lap when he goes to sleep and is put back on him so that when he wakes up, Sam is right where he was before he went to sleep.

I'm thankful today for Sam and for those who deal with Gabriel and I who realize how important Sam is to us, and I'm thankful that Gabe has Sam and that I have Gabe.

We're Home!

After a long weekend in Michigan, we're home and catching up on everything...laundry particularly ha ha. I'll be back to blogging regularly later today with lots and lots of pictures!! Hope everyone had a great Easter.

Wordy Wednesday: Word Power

Today's Wordless Wednesday is different in two ways: one, I'm posting it on Tuesday night and two, it's all about words.

I love playing with words; I love writing words, saying words, and using large descriptive words when a short one would suffice. I like saying things like:

"The word alliteration is alliterative"

and

"The word palindrome is not actually a palindrome"

and

"A pronoun is a noun that's lost its' amateur status"

I also like to say colloquial phrases such as "ass over teakettle", "take that jig jog" and  "rule of thumb" I like to know the meaning of those phrases too--and if you want to know the meaning of phrases like that go to this site-thanks DIL!

Sometimes I like to
write in haiku form just 'cuz
it's super fun.

I like the way certain words feel in my mouth for example: "facetious","patronizing" and "onomatopoeia"

More than any of these things though, I love that both of my kids like to play with words. I love hearing Gabe sounding out words and then saying outloud to himself "what does that mean? am I saying that correctly?" I love when he asks the meaning of a word and then later on I hear him working that word into a sentence or two.  I like when Bitsy hears me say something and repeats it, such as "You're making me very cross" or "can you turn that [radio] up a tick?"

Tonight she and I had the following conversation...
Mom: What are you doing in there? [there being the bathroom]
Bits: I'm just using the potty.
Mom: Ok, but go right back to bed when you're done. [major wishful thinking on my part. HA]
Bits: Okay Momma. I mean, MUDDER. [the "th" diphthong escapes her sometimes]

Words are simply delicious (isn't the word delicious delicious? Don't you just want to eat it? Much like the words scrumptious, delectable, and edible just sound like you could eat them)

Not only are both of the kiddos learning words to describe things and the world around them,  they're learning that words have meaning. They're learning that some words give are "warm fuzzies" and others are "cold pricklies" I love when kids get to that age when they hear a word and don't quite know what it means but know that it gets a reaction out of you-I'm not just talking about swear words (though we ALL know that SarahAnne has a mouth like a sailor and I am pretty sure at this point it's not about getting a reaction, it's more that she wants to speak as colorfully aloud as she thinks-case in point: we were having a particularly tasty meal and with a mouth full of said tasty food, she sighed and said "oh momma, this is so damn delicious" and then gave another satisfied sigh. I can't fault her for saying it-though we did tell her we don't say those sorts of things at the table-because sometimes when I eat something *I* want to yell "THIS IS SO DAMN DELICIOUS")

Words like "like" "love" "dislike" and "hate" are words we are currently working on at home. We're working on other words that evoke emotions, such as "heart broken" and "ecstatic". Bits and Gabe have learned that using the word hate is strictly forbidden in our house-we simply do NOT use that word. Nor are we allowed to say that we don't love one another. As we explain it to the kids, we always love one another, even when we don't LIKE each other. It's okay not to like something that someone said or did BUT we still love them and treat them like we love them.

My hope is that Gabe and SarahAnne will grow up to love words the way I do-that before saying things they'll think about the meaning of the words they are about to say-and that in an excited moment, they won't lose the spelling bee because they spell the word "antler" incorrectly. (*sigh* the truth comes out; I once lost  a spelling bee because I was completely and utterly overly self confident in my own abilities to whip everyone's asses at spelling. I started to spell antler, a rather simple word, and skipped over the letter "l" how embarrassing, to say the least!)

and just so this post has one wordless aspect to it...

Parent Teacher Conferences

Friday was a busy day around here-I was so busy I even forgot to do a Friday Five!! Whoops. I had Gabe's third quarter parent teacher conference that afternoon and was really pleased with how it went. He's continuing to improve in all academic areas; he's reading well, he loves math and science, and apparently is a really great kid to be around (which I knew, but I'm pretty biased) I was lucky enough to meet Gabe's gym teacher-whom he IDOLIZES. He said that despite what he KNOWS are Gabe's limitations, Gabriel always gives 100% and never tries to get out of doing something because he can't do it. He said he wished all the kids had the determination that he has, which made me feel really good. I mean, yes, as a former teacher, you always want to paint the child of the parent you're speaking to in a positive light, but that was above and beyond. I was so touched by that statement-I can't explain it. It's been a long bumpy road to get to where we are, and I'm so pleased to see what an awesome young man Gabriel is growing up to be.

Now, as amazing and as awesome as Gabriel is...he's also a little dickens-this is a note that he wrote his uncle this weekend when we went out for dinner. I'm totally biased, but I think Gabe is absolutely hilarious-thankfully so did Uncle Dole when he was slid this note:

But still...he's a little dickens...he he

Thankful Thursday-Siblings

Today's Thankful Thursday is a simple one; I'm incredibly thankful for my amazing and hilarious siblings; I'm so lucky to have them in my life. Even if we are hundreds of miles apart, we talk often and can always make each other laugh. I am SO looking forward to spending a four day weekend with them next weekend! Love you Dave and Buzzy!

Wordless Wednesday: Shadows