Parental Pride

We just got the notification from the school psychologist that Catie qualified for the gifted program. WooHoo! I knew she was smart–not just bright and a good student, but SMART.

7 Quick Takes Friday

1. I dabbled in karma yesterday. Or, to put a Christian spin on it, I did to others as I wished that they had done to me: I visited a friend on bedrest. I HATED bedrest. I came down in the morning, waddling the whole way, got breakfast and then laid on the couch. All. Day. Long. Until it was time to laboriously climb upstairs to bed at night. I was so lonely and bored, words cannot describe. So the instant I learned about my friend on bedrest, I immediately emailed with “I’m coming!” because, really, I wouldn’t wish that on my worst enemy.

2. Speaking of worst enemies, here comes my big toe dipping into politics for a second. There has been a LOT of cheering about Osama Bin Laden’s death this week. Which, honestly, saddens me. Are we so inured to death from the media that we cannot mourn a real human being dying? He was a child of God; Jesus died for him. The fact that he didn’t believe is something to be sad about. We KNOW where he is, and I wouldn’t wish that on my worst enemy, either. Ok, except for Satan. He IS my worst enemy. Yes, bin Laden was the mastermind behind much evil. Yes, he deserved to be brought to justice for what he has done. But the cheering and outright gladness for his death is over the top.

3. Switching back to normal life topics, what is the deal with sticking tongues out? I am constantly hearing “MOM! Catie stuck her tongue out at me!” I’m sure I did it at that age. But, oh brother, am I ready for this particular stage to be done with.

4. We had to have “The Talk” with Catie this week. One of our neighbors’ children has been talking about sex in a very inappropriate way. I talked to his father who talked to him, but unfortunately the damage was done. She and I sat together and went through Book 2 of God’s Design for Sex. Her comment? “Euuu!” Let’s hope she keeps that point of view for many years!

5. Jim’s been working for two months now, but we are still definitely playing catch up with finances. We had some debt before all this started and only added to it, as well as having to borrow money from family. It’s going to take some time to dig ourselves out of the hole. In the meantime, other than our special Friday night pizza and cheap movie, we’re not doing anything extra. I can’t WAIT until we are out of debt and finally able to save some money again!

6. Pursuant to #5, he was able to convince the New Hampshire people that telecommuting made a lot more sense for them financially. It was costing them upwards of $1000 each time he went up. So he’s been home for two weeks and we are very grateful to have him at the dinner table each night, as well as to help put the kids to bed. Splitting the parenting burdens makes things ever so much easier!

7. I’m surviving The Upgrade. I’m still finding my way around everything, but each day gets a little easier. There are still things that need to be loaded on–I keep finding new needs when I go to use a program and there’s a “You Need to Load XYZ to use this”. But, in the end, it will be easier and faster and better and I’ll be glad I did it. I’m just not there yet!

Short Update

Catie is still sick–still throwing up. I’m trying to keep her hydrated (water, popsicles etc) and rested. She was up 6 or so times in the middle of the night, including one changing of the sheets. I’m starting to wonder about dinner because I usually shop on Mondays (or Tuesdays if I can’t on Monday) so I’m starting to run low on things. And Jim is working late.

CONSTRUCTION HAS BEGUN! They are already digging as I type, which is just so cool. I’ve never seen a backhoe this close before. It’s bright orange and HUGE.

Bug is Sick

Catie has always been “Bug”…when she was a baby she was as cute as a bug so she started out as Catie Bug and then it was just shortened to Bug. It still fits.

We went over Nana’s house visiting and were in the car just saying good bye. She told me her stomach didn’t feel good and I told her to tell Daddy. She got out. A few minutes later I hear the news that she vomited all over. We cleaned up, went home with a bin in her hands and then waited for the long night.

She woke up at 3, again around 4 or so and then again around 6:30.

Yeah. I’m exhausted too.

It’s now about 11:20 and she seems to be past the throwing up stage (thank goodness!), but the fever is still here even after taking Tylenol. This will give her tomorrow at home as well, since the school wants them to be fever free for 24 hours before coming back to school.

So she’ll get to see the big Ground Breaking on the garage and laundry room. I can’t believe it’s finally HERE!

Things That Make You Go HUH?

Friday morning the kids and I and our playdate friends went to McDonalds for lunch. Bennett apparently didn’t finish his chocolate milk and took it out into the van. No biggie.

Except.

Catie found it this evening (still in the car some 56 odd hours later) and DRANK IT.

!!!!!!!! ??????

I even called Poison Control. I said “well, this isn’t poison, but it’s close”. The lady on the other end said she might feel nauseous, throw up, have diarrhea or nothing. NOTHING? Seriously??

Well, she felt nauseated, I gave her a few goldfish and her tummy settled down and now she’s sound asleep. We’ll see if she wakes up at 2am vomiting.

I’ve had to call Poison Control three times in the course of my children’s lives. Two were for Catie.

You know, I never shared the first one with you. Let me go find it in my documents archives…..

This was from December 4, 2003:

Ok, if you can’t handle really disgusting stuff, don’t read this email!!

The triplets are all two, and are all into various states of undressing. Bennett is the worst and is apt to take everything off–including diaper–if not prevented by his clothing. Well, his overalls are in the wash and I honestly didn’t want him in his pj’s all day. About an hour ago, I went to check on the kids and found Bennett’s diaper on my side of the gate. Upon further examination, there were little “marbles” on his side of the floor. Catie saw me and came up to say hi. She had brown marks on her forehead and nose. Dread filling my heart, I picked her up and smelled her breath. Yup, CATIE ATE BENNETT’S POOP!!! Ahhhhhh!!!!!

I called the pediatrician in a panic and they told me to call the Poison Control, who said it was actually ok. She might feel a little nauseous, but no harm done. I was still hyperventilating anyway and gave her a bath and washed her teeth as best I could (it was also caked on her hands). Euuuu!! In the 2+ years as a parent and having experienced all sorts of disgusting things, this far surpasses everything on the gross factor.

Poor Little Bug Part 1

Catie had her six month dental check up last week. She had THREE CAVITIES. Today they filled the first one. It was the first time any of my kids have had fillings. I had one done about two years ago and didn’t like the experience very much at all. She was a trooper, but when it was over she just wanted me to hug her and her eyes were swimming.

I let her take the day off school. Cuz I’m a nice mom that way.

Next Tuesday they will fill the other two. I’m expecting her to hang out with me that day as well.

Cuz missing a day of kindergarten never killed anyone.

Poor little Bug.

Poor Little Bug

Catie (our Catie Bug) is sick with some sort of stomach virus. She’s throwing up a lot and sleeping the rest of the time. Poor little Bug!

I really really hope that no one else catches it!

Happy Birthday Catie!

Catherine Sarah is now a big six years old! Her birth story is here if you want to read it.

She’s standing beside me right now as I type, wearing a dress because it’s her special day. She is getting to have donuts and juice in school this afternoon (apparently children don’t like cupcakes anymore), and then have hot dogs, mac’n'cheese and carrots for dinner. Because she’s six. And then Sunday our family will descend and we’ll have a big family party. So far, my children haven’t had a “children’s party” with just kids. I have to admit to some relief on my part about that. It’s a lot of work!

So Happy Birthday, my Catie Bug!

Memory Lane

One of the nice things about keeping a blog is the written record of things you have posted. I was wondering what happened last year and looked back. This is what I found: Catie making a decision to follow Jesus. How sweet is that?

I was just saying to my mother yesterday that seeing Catie do things shows me just how much the “preemie-ness” has affected Laura. Catie magically does thing. She just “gets” them–zippering, writing, cutting, putting on shoes and socks. Laura has to be taught everything, step by step. Being a preemie doesn’t stop just because the child is older. Both Laura and Ethan struggle with fine motor skills. Ethan doesn’t have the fine motor strength to do a lot of things including put on socks and shoes. Laura can do that after a lot of training. I would think that was “normal” were it not for my other, full-term, child who is able to do fine-motor skills without training–without thinking.

We’re a week into Laura’s palatal expander. Cleaning it out is G-R-O-S-S, but turning the key each morning is probably the worst part for Laura. It makes her teeth ache. Two more weeks of turning and then four weeks of waiting and then getting braces on her four front top teeth. They’re hoping that all this intervention now will negate the need for full braces later on. I’m hoping it as well! Neither Jim nor I ever needed anything in our mouths, so this braces thing is very new and different for us. I had to call the orthodontist the first night because Laura wasn’t able to eat and it was freaking us out. She has since figured it out, but the first few days were three meals a day of yogurt.

Can I just say Thank Goodness for yogurt? It’s the one thing that I can count on that every single child loves and will eat every day. It’s good carbs and protein. One of the drawers in the bottom of our fridge is the yogurt drawer. I buy anywhere from 4-6 packs of it every week, including drinkable and Go-Gurt ::shudder::.

Well, this seems to have turned into a great big ole post about the kids! No Wifey Wednesday or Works for Me Wednesday, sorry!

Our Little Scientist and Menu Planning Monday

This week’s menu has been incredibly tough for me, I have no idea why. The every week stuff fits in fine, but that’s only three days–the other four were just seriously tough. And yes, I know I’m having two ground-beefy things in one week, but I think I can safely say that chili and meatloaf are nothing alike.

M: Spaghetti and Meatballs
T: Hot dogs, mac’n'cheese, carrots
W: Meatloaf, frozen potato product of some sort, carrots/green beans
R: Quiche, fruit
F: Take Out
S: Shrimp Pomodoro Pasta (recipe posted after I try it, but it sounds yummy)
S: QAD Chili*, cornbread

*QAD chili is Quick and Dirty Chili. I got sick and tired of all the steps of making “proper” chili, so I take 2 cans of chili beans, 1 lb ground beef (browned and drained) and 1 can of diced tomatoes. Put together in a dutch oven, probably mix in some extra chili powder and call it good. Jim and I both like it and man, it’s a LOT easier!

Onto our Little Scientist

Back story: two nights ago we went to Chili’s for dinner and Catie brought home her cup with ice in it and put it into the freezer. No explanations, just “I want to do this.” Ok.

This morning Catie got up, saw that it was, yes, still freezing outside. She put on her snow clothes, and informed Jim and me that she was going to do her ice experiment. Huh? Ice experiment? I figured, oh, she’ll put the ice outside and that’s the end of it. No, our little scientist got the cup out, broke the ice into two groups, put them on the deck into two piles and put salt on one group. Apparently they did this last year in preschool and she wanted to see if she got the same results that they did! And no surprise, she did!

But wow! For a five (almost six) year old, I was pretty impressed that she planned it out and got it done all by herself!