Things to remember

I enjoy so many things that my kids do and say, but with life being as busy as it is I find myself forgetting things that I wish I wouldn't. So, a few weeks ago the kids and I were leaving school and headed to my parents house. Carissa noticed the almost full moon was out even though the sun wasn't set all the way yet. She told me that she saw the moon and that the moon was a planet. Then she asked me if it was a planet and I just answered, "kind of." But, I told her that Grandpa was a space guy and he could answer her question better than I could. Pretty soon I heard Gabe say, "Grandpa's a space guy,... cool." That just made me smile.

Then I told them that we had to drive by the post office so that I could drop off our tax returns, so that we could get money to help pay for our trip to CA in June. So we started talking about our trip to CA, that we are going to go to Disneyland, and also to Sea World. We started talking about what animals are at Sea World that we want to see, Carissa said she wanted to see a shark, and Gabe said he wanted to see a whale. We talked a bit more then Gabe said, "I want to see a chicken...nugget." I laughed and told him I'm sure he could see a chicken nugget if he really wanted to while we were in CA.

Then as soon as I drove away from the post office after dropping off the taxes, Gabe said, "Did you get the money?" Evidently the mail box outside the post office should work like an ATM when you drop off your tax return papers. I thought that would be great, but unfortunately it doens't. I told Gabe it will be awhile before we get the money.

Busy

I keep meaning to write more, but it seems like I'm always busy lately. It takes a lot of time to keep up with my classes and keep up with the kids and work. And I keep trying more and more to make every minute of my day count. I use my train ride to and from school to read, and I study/read while I eat lunch. And, I still feel like I'm just going and going. And then when I think about the things that I want to do with my kids that I'm not doing, it makes me sad.

This Saturday though, I'm going to take Carissa to her first birthday party. She has been invited to the birthday parties of kids in her class before, but this is the first one she is going to go to. So this is a first for me too, but Carissa is very excited. It is going to be a princess party at Sweet and Sassy so it should be fun for Carissa. Then, Saturday night is Kids Night Out at school again, it happens once a month and Carissa and Gabe really enjoy going. Usually, Ben and I go out together while the kids are at KNO, but this time Ben will be working until 1 am. So, I asked Alyssa if she wanted to go out with me to do something. Since having kids I really don't spend much time with Josh or Alyssa anymore, so I'm excited to spend the evening with my little sister.

And then I get to start getting ready for our trip to Colorado. We will leave here on Friday March 14, so I'm only going to go to school and work for 4 days next week. I'm really looking forward to spending more time with Carissa and Gabe and doing some fun things with them. Also I'm really excited to visit with family and friends in Colorado.

Kidney Infection Update

When I went to the doctor's on Friday. He agreed that I must just have a kidney infection, since I was starting to feel better. So I got another shot and a prescribtion of antibiotics. I'm doing much better now, and I'm hoping that if I ever get another bladder infection I will see a doctor before it gets to my kidneys.

Kidney Infection

Yesterday morning I didn't feel very well and within a couple hours I went from not feeling well to balled up in pain and throwing up. It was awful, I called my mom to pick me up and I called the doctor's office to get an appointment. The doctor's office couldn't get me in for a few hours so I waited at my mom's house going through waves of feeling well enough to move around and talk to being in so much pain that I just stayed in the bathroom on the floor. I also called Ben at work to tell him that he had to pick the kids up from school and that I was going to the doctor. The doctor said that my urine was full of blood, and because I don't have insurance he decided to treat me for a kidney infection yesterday evening and if it works then I don't have kidney stones. I would need a CT to see if there were kidney stones, and that is expense. I go back to the doctor today so he can check me again and decide if I need a CT. From how I've felt since I got the shot yesterday evening I'm thinking that it is just a kidney infection. I haven't had that severe pain since yesterday, and I'm very happy about that.

My Favorite Valentine

Last night when I finally got to opening the mail I found an envelope that was from the kids' school. I opened it to find out it was a valentine from Carissa. Her teacher wrote for her, "I love you because you let me sleep in your bed and call me princess." And then Carissa wrote her name on the bottom all by herself, a signature that is readable. I was very happy, because even though Carissa didn't do it all by herself it sounds like it was coming from her own words and she has only been writing her name on her own for about a week. I plan to keep the valentine forever. It also makes me feel good to get that valentine, because lately I've been feeling like a bad mom. I've been so far behind in school that on top of our normal busy weeks, I've had someone else (Ben and my mom) watch Carissa and Gabe the last two Friday nights through about 9pm on Saturdays. Followed by me doing mostly housework on Sundays. I haven't spend much time with them lately, but I think that in the long run it will work out. I knew it would be difficult to get back into the swing of going to school, but I still miss having more time with the kids.

Doctor

Carissa had her 4 year old check up today, and it was a little more eventful than some of the others. First, her weight was 33 lbs. (33%) and her height was 37 1/2 inches (8%). She did well with her vision test and most of the other tests. One of her tubes in her ears was draining, so she gets antibiotics for that. And because her allergy medicine hasn't been working as well lately her dosage is increasing. Also her iron levels are in the normal range but the very bottom, so we need to keep trying to get her to eat foods with iron in them. And the last part of her appointment I asked about Carissa passing out (She passed out recently for the first time) and we decided not to do any tests right now. But, on one side she may just be like her mom and pass out when she gets hurt occassionally or it could be something worse. So we are supposed to just keep an eye on her and if she starts passing out frequently or starts just gazing off (looking spacey) then we can do some tests on her. Personally, I think that she is probably just like me, but I don't want to rule anything out completely just in case it is something worse.

Parent Teacher Conferences

This week was parent teacher conferences for school. And it was my first time both as a teacher and as a parent. I really enjoyed talking to all of my class parents, and I loved hearing about my kids from their teachers. Carissa and Gabe are both doing great and are where they should be for their ages. Carissa has great verbal skills and is extremely excited to be learning to write her name. Gabe's verbal skills have improved greatly (he has only been talking for 8 months), as well as his temper control and sharing. Also he does extremely well with his gross motor skills, an area that he has never had problems with.