Imitation is the most sincere form of flattery?

Just this morning David said to Darin,

"For Halloween I'm going to be a witch just like momma."

I REALLY hope he's referring to my costume last year.


p.s. I have no idea what any of my kids are going to end up wearing for costumes. They all have several ideas. It will be interesting to see what happens. Is it really this week?

Sick of Sick

We are now going on one straight month of sick. At least one member of our household has been sick in some form or another for 4 weeks now. I know this because I missed taking Brig's 3 month photo with the bear because he was sick, and he is now 4 months old. We have had everything from coughs, sniffles, croup, eye infections, ear infections, sinus infections, and now fevers. I know that in a home with 7 people (3 of whom bring lots of extra germs from school) it increases our chances of being sick, but this year has been ridiculous! We are normally not very sickly people. I don't think my kids missed any school last year for illness, and our only doctor visits were well child checks. This year Warren has already missed a day (and he will be staying home again today), Sean woke up with an eye infection, and we have been to the doctor (mostly after hours of course) 4 times. Our first trip to the doctor was an after hours visit for Brig. He had been extra fussy and not sleeping well for a couple of days. He didn't have a fever, but I knew something had to be wrong. I went and joined the masses at the doctor's office and began to doubt my decision to be there. Everyone there sounded and looked awful. Brig was relatively happy and didn't look sick, and I thought that maybe I had been imagining or over-exaggerating his crankiness. When the doctor came in I said, "I really hope I'm not wasting your time. I'm just here on mother's intuition." She was very kind and replied that mother's intuition is right more often than not. Sure enough. An ear infection and the beginning of an eye infection. I dropped Brig off with Darin while I headed to the pharmacy (we're becoming good friends, the pharmacy and I) to pick up his medicine. When I got home I found them like this:

I'm so glad to have Darin on my team. I don't know how I could have done this month without him. He is always on the scene with the middle of the night episodes. In fact, one night I was so tired from being up so much with Brig that I didn't even know that David and Warren had been awake with fevers. I'm so grateful to be married to a helping husband.

Brig has now finished his antibiotics, but is still fussy and not sleeping well. I went back to the doctor Saturday to see if the ear infection was a stubborn one. Nope. Both ears look great. Is this just how he is now? The doctor thinks it might be acid reflux. So...the good news is that for the next two weeks I will be on a strict elimination diet so we can see what it is that I am eating that is causing him to be fussy. I have been praying for motivation to eat better. Be careful what you pray for! Just when I thought we had the green light to go back to living our lives as normal, David and Warren both woke up in the middle of the night with high fevers. It is becoming physically and emotionally draining. I am beginning to wonder if I will ever sleep for more than 3 hours at a time. Brig thinks I am a rock star and wants me to hold him at all times. He goes to other people just fine, but when he sees me he pleads with me (with his eyes and arms) to hold him. It is equal parts adorable and exhausting. My days are filled with giving medicine (and plenty of natural remedies), reminders to wash hands and cover coughs, disinfecting, washing bedding to kill the sick germs, trying to keep up with dishes and laundry (I have mastered many things one handed--baby in arms--but dishes and laundry aren't on the list yet), and trying to give enough TLC to all. Even with the challenges that come from having a big family of small kids, this is what I have always wanted to do and I am grateful to have this be my life. I just hope that we can go back to healthy very soon.

Strewshens

Early yesterday morning there was a knock at the door. I wasn't expecting anyone, and was still in bed. The kids opened the door before I could tell them to wait for me, and I heard a male voice ask for their mom. I rolled out of bed and got dressed in one swift move and headed downstairs, still wondering who it could be. I remembered halfway down the stairs that this was the day our vinyl fence posts were going to be installed. I went to the door (still half asleep) and saw three workers. One served as spokesman, and here's how the conversation went:

(Polite greeting by both of us)

Worker: Do you have any strewshens?
Me: What was that?
Worker: Do you have any strewshens?
Me: Can you repeat that?
Worker: Do you have strewshens for the fence?

At this point they were all looking at me like I was up in the night; which, in their defense, I have been up in the night...a LOT...with sick kids, and I'm very tired. My brain doesn't function at 100%, so I was still thinking it was more of a me problem rather than a language barrier. I didn't know how to ask him to repeat it a fourth time without being offensive, so I decided to repeat it back to him to make sure I was hearing him properly.

Me: Strewshens?
Worker: Yes
(uh-oh. I heard him right. I had no idea where to go from here)
Me: I don't know what strewshens are.
Worker: We take down old fence?
Me: No. You can just put the vinyl fence in front of the other fence. The other fence will be taken down by UTA.
Worker: (Smiling) Thank you.

I guessed he had what he needed because they walked away. I shut the door and started laughing. It wasn't until I took a minute to spell it out in my mind (strutions) that I realized he was asking if I had INSTRUCTIONS.

The fence posts were installed correctly and beautifully. I guess I did have strewshens after all.