Can Your Husband Do This?

I've said it before, and I'll say it again.  My husband is a genius!  Look what he made me to solve my laundry room dilemma...

Okay, so it's hard to communicate in a photo.  It's a pulley system for a clothes rod.  It's not a new idea, but I was super impressed that he figured out how to do it in our space and got it rigged up in one afternoon.  He loved being able to use his experience with sailboat rigging and play with pulleys and knots.  He even designed it so that the rigging is inconspicuous.  I take the ring off the hook behind the door to lower the rod and hang my wet clothes, then pull the rope to make the rod go back up.  The clothes are out of the way and dry faster up there.  My man's a genius!

The Dark Side

Many of you have expressed concern for many years now.  "It's not normal," you say.  "How do you function?"  "You must be exhausted."  Why, yes, friends, I usually am.  But no level of exhaustion has ever convinced me that coffee is worth drinking.  I can choke down tea only if social niceties demand it.  Carbonated beverages cause my stomach much regret.  I have survived 34 years without a caffeine addiction, but lo, I have been converted to the dark side; and I have my sister to blame thank.

Sometime in January, when children and husband were very sick, and mama was running low on nice, sweet unassuming sister popped over with a little envelope of something called chai latte.  "This is the good stuff," she promised.  "If you don't like it, call me and I'll come drink it.  Don't you pour that out."  I set it aside, knowing it would be like all the other failed attempts throughout the years to woo me to caffeine.  

I pulled it out on a Sunday morning after very few hours of sleep the night before.  And as my sister had promised, "It's definitely a mommy drink.  The smell will drive your children away so you can enjoy it in peace."  They abandoned the table and I was left alone to contemplate the threshold I may be crossing.  She had described it as a blend of spiced wassail and hot chocolate.  That doesn't sound very good, but friends, it was.  It was so good.  If ever I was to be converted, you had to know it would involve chocolate.

That particular envelope made a big mug of chai latte.  A big mug that probably should have been sipped over several hours.  I guzzled it before we left for church.  By the time we walked into our class, my heart was ready to leap out of my chest and my eyes wouldn't blink.  An incredible force, yet I had to harness it or it would be my undoing.

Over the last few weeks, my sister and I have perfected this concoction.  Other, more sage caffeine-drinkers are probably aware of this recipe, but we have found that a packet of hot coca mix added to a cup of spiced chai brewed from the cheap tea bags makes a wonderful elixir to carry mommy through a slow school morning or a long, rainy afternoon.  Or both.  Give it a try the next time you suffer from a severe case of rear-endus-draggus.  You know it has to be good if it won me over to the dark side. 

Paradigm Shift

J and I were discussing school philosophies recently and the topic of memorization came up.  In the homeschool waters I swim in, there is a lot of emphasis on young children being able to memorize facts as a way to organize information so that they can process and manipulate it as their brains develop those abilities.  While I maintain that there is value in memorizing because of the physical exercise it provides to the brain (neurons and synapses making connections and all that), J opened my mind to a new paradigm that I hadn't realized was upon me.

He (and lots of other smart people) realize that memorizing facts is no longer a necessary or useful skill.  In a literate society in the information age, we have the entirety of human knowledge at our fingertips in an instant.  There really is no need to memorize the Presidents, the periodic table, or prime numbers to 100.  We told our teachers that we would never use that information in real life.  But now the students tell the teachers that they'll find it on the internet if they should ever need it.

I'm still wrapping my head around what this means for the way I teach my kids.  I know it doesn't change my goal of teaching them how to learn.  A very wise friend recently told me that it is more important to teach my children skills than content; great content is a means for teaching the skill.  It's more important to be able to know how to learn, but while we're at it, let's learn great content.

I'm babbling here as I think through it myself.  This article--the web kids manifesto--that J shared with me really does a much better job of communicating the generational shift.  The scary part is that it probably is shifting even faster than whole generations.  The way A learns and gathers information may be outdated by the time Z approaches the same skills.  Read the article.  It really will help you see information in a new light and ponder the ramifications for the way our kids learn.

The Spotted Mystery

Sunday morning I was pulling C's curls into ponytails as requested and noticed her right ear had a significant sore on it.  The outer edge of her ear was blue, purple and pink with dry blood crusting up on the crease.  It was really nasty looking.  She hadn't said anything about hurting her ear.  Daddy hadn't noticed anything earlier that day when she had a bath either.  I cleaned it up and found a little cut inside the crease of her ear, but I was afraid the cut had gotten infected because of the awful color of her ear.  It wasn't any better on Monday, so off to the doctor we went to make sure she wasn't breeding staph.  Nope, just a bruise in a really strange place.  But hey, while we're here, what do you recommend for the sniffles that won't go away for the better part of a month?  Nasonex?  Yes, I'll squirt something into my 3-year-old's nose once a day in the name of good health.

Tuesday night, no one slept well at our house.  C was up most of the night with classic ear infection symptoms.  Inner ear infection this time.  Thanks a lot, Nasonex.  Back to the doctor we go Wednesday morning for the predictable diagnosis and prescription.

I gave her the antibiotic around lunchtime--cefdinir.  She'd had it before for an ear infection.  Come quiet time, I knew we all needed a nap, so I did what any good parent would do and brought out the benadryl.  She took a good two-hour nap.  She was pretty puny and just wanted to curl up in my lap most of the afternoon.  I made calls to rearrange our weekend plans, since it was slightly insane to try to proceed with such a sick baby.  After I got off the phone, she came to me complaining her nose hurt.  It looked red and chapped from too much wiping, so I put some vaseline on it.  A few minutes later, she was back, telling me her hands hurt.  Sure enough, they were swollen and red.  Another look and I could tell her lips were swollen with red splotches all around and her nose was one big pink splotch.  The prescription info leaflet said to call your doctor immediately with those symptoms.  The after-hours nurse asked if I could get to an ER within 10 minutes; if not, I should call an ambulance.  After another dose of benadryl, I handed Z off to J who was just walking in the door, and raced to the ER with C.

I was totally unimpressed by this ER experience.  The doctor and nurse contradicted each other several times.  I got several "I don't know's" from the nurse on things that should have been within her realm of knowledge.  Then the doctor said it wasn't an allergic reaction at all, but hand, foot, and mouth disease.  My mommy red flags went flying, but I listened nicely.  In my mind, I was thinking of how I would keep C away from the baby for the next week; who I needed to call and break the awful news to; and how I could rearrange our calendar for the next week or two to be quarantined.

By the time we received our discharge instructions, the redness in her hands was fading.  I asked for the doctor again.  He said, "Yeah, it might do that.  Still looks like HFMD."  "Does she have any sores in her mouth?" I asked.  "No, but they don't always get that or it might take a day or two."  I texted J with the diagnosis and he wanted to start calling folks right away.  I asked him to wait.  I wasn't convinced and didn't want to start an unnecessary panic.

This morning, with all the benadryl out of her system, she was covered in splotches.  I've done hives before with A, and this looked just like hives.  I called our regular doctor to talk to the nurse.  Of course you can't diagnose over the phone.  Here we come.  "Why in the world would you think this is HFMD?" the doctor asks.  I relay the story of the ER.  She came just short of calling the ER doc a fool.  Classic presentation of hives as an allergic reaction to medication.  You're very fortunate it didn't affect her breathing.  Keep up the benadryl for 24 hours, and get this new prescription for the ear infection.

I have never rejoiced more to have one of my children covered in spots!!  We both danced out of the office to the pharmacy to resolve our week's mystery and get my happy-go-lucky baby back on the road to wellness.

Can it please be spring and the end of sniffling, sneezing, ear infection season yet?  We're a smidge done with that winter ritual and would like to try something new.  Healthy family, anyone?  Yes, we'll take two!  Never hurts to have a spare.

Paint Marathon

Last week, my girls were invited to Grandma Camp for five days!!  Thank you, Grandma!!  My sister drove them with her two youngest to Grandma's on Saturday.  As soon as they were out of the driveway, J and I started prepping their room for paint.

Before...

After...

We rearranged their furniture, so it's sort of hard to see what you're looking at.  It's sort of a peachy pink this time instead of bubble gum pink.  I have some fabric to make duvets for their beds, and that was the inspiration for the color.  But it might be another year or three before those get done.  I've got some cute ideas for art on their walls, but one thing at a time.

We moved on to their bathroom the next morning.  I forgot to take a before, but it was the same dull vanilla color as their bedroom.  The whole house is builder vanilla.  Here's the after--a nice sunshiny yellow that will accommodate a little boy joining the mix...

It was sometime during the painting of the bathroom that I remembered I wanted to paint the girls' closet.  I'm pretty sure the previous owners kept a pet in there and I was beyond ready to seal in whatever was left behind.  So we got bogged down in the details of the closet, trim and doors in their room for most of Sunday.  Monday morning, J escaped to work and I tackled the kitchen.  Before...

 and after....

I went bold in the kitchen!  I was a little scared about it as it was going on, but it's been a week now and I really like it.  I have some photo frames for the half wall that will break it up a bit and need to find a few other things for the far wall.  But it's really nice to have some COLOR in the house!  Thanks to my sister and nephew for helping get it done!

I was disappointed that we didn't get as far as I had hoped.  But three rooms in three days will take it out of you.  And I needed a full day to put everything back the way it goes for normal living again.  Next up, we'll tackle the living room and formal areas.  I've got stuff to put on the walls in those rooms and I haven't done it yet because I figure why put holes in the walls right before you paint.  Hopefully, we can squeeze those rooms in before this month is over.

Nine Months

What a difference nine months can make!  I know you guys get tired of hearing me talk about how I'm not pregnant anymore, but it really is a great attitude-adjuster for me.  Nine months ago, I was relieved of the burden of pregnancy and had the wonderful thrill of meeting my baby boy.  I love him so much more as his own person.

And he is definitely his own little man now.  He's quick as lightening with his army crawl, not minding the carpet burn on his forearms.  He's so over baby toys and heads straight for anything that looks contraband.  He has discovered that he can make his own fun by chasing a ball or bottle cap around the room like a little soccer player.  And he loves to climb already.  We have a huge bean bag that has become his personal mountain.  He giggles and grunts as he goes back and forth over it.  If we give him the tiniest boost, he can pull himself up to a standing position and cruise along the couch.

All this mobility means he sometimes must be contained.  Oh, how he hates to be fenced in!  You'd think we were pulling his toenails out to hear him howl if I have to put him behind a gate or in his playpen.  So hard to be a baby.

He is discovering new table foods at every meal.  He tried noodles, green beans and carrots at supper last night and avocado for lunch today.  If nothing else, he's enjoying the squish of it all between his fingers.  Oddly enough, bananas make him gag.  Strangest thing....all three of my children cannot abide bananas.  Maybe it's because I ate one every morning for breakfast while I was pregnant?

He is still over the moon for his sisters and they are mostly still in love with him.  Though he is more challenging now that he pulls their hair, chews their toys, and has his own shows to watch during screen time.  He can't wait to be able to follow them up the stairs, play in their room, or ride on the tire swing.

J will tell you that he's said several words.  But I can only confirm that "Dada" is his first word.  He uses that one consistently and in the right context.  I'm always happy to hand him over when he asks for "Da."

I'm sure there will be lots of milestones in the next few months.  I'll do my best to keep up with them and share them with you, his adoring fans.