The Road To Recovery

The Roberts family in on the mend this day...though it has been a long and slow process to be sure! I feel back to my very normal self as far as my tummy goes...though I am now fighting back Chris's head cold. I have the sniffles, but other than that am not really ailing too badly. Chris and Ben, on the other hand, while definitely better...are still struggling. Chris is still battling an upset stomach and Ben is absolutely exhausted from his ordeal. His stomach also seems to be bothering him a bit tonight. Clara seems all better in the tummy arena...however, now has developed quite a nasty rash over her legs and on her arms. It is very red and blotchy...almost like something tried to have her for lunch! She woke up with it from her nap today. So we tucked Ben into bed with tylenol, Clara into bed with benadryl, hydrocortisone cream and motrin. Chris is already snoring on the couch at exactly 8:56 p.m....which we will leave me sitting here alone working until my own exhaustion kicks in. I can have more sniffles medicine in an hour, so I am planning to stay awake for a while more.

We have no big plans for Memorial Day weekend. Maxwell had a friend over to play today for a while. Lucas is a really sweet kid and we enjoyed having him around. He goes to our church and has the nicest parents ever. Not too long after he left, the rain set in and we have just been listening to it off and on ever since. Noone seems to be oozing energy on this stormy night. On the contrary, Ben was trying to sleep at the dinner table at 7 p.m. and Clara was asking to be put to bed. And as I already mentioned...Chris is doing his pre-sleeping on the couch as I type this. I think the food poisoning really took it out of all of us. Max is the only one of us who escaped unscathed. He is being amazingly patient with the rest of us as we try to summons our health and energies back. It is nice to know that we have nothing planned other than church tomorrow morning for the rest of the weekend. We will have all afternoon and all day Monday to lay around and get ourselves well again. Then we are off and running again on Tuesday.

On Tuesday, the boys will begin working with the SwimTucson swim team. They will swim at 8:20 each morning for 40 minutes. Then we will all head on down to the gym for my workout and then home for whatever the rest of the day holds. This will be the routine 4 days a week. We will see what becomes of that 5th day!

All in all, we are all well and life is good here in the desert. I am thankful for the fact that I made it 33 years without ever having food poisoning. I hope I make it another 33 years before I have anything remotely similar to it again! Until later!

Tummy Troubles!

Our whole family is recovering (albeit very slowly) from a nasty case of food poisoning. It was, I can honestly say, one of the worst experiences of my life...and I think that I prefer unmedicated childbirth to food poisoning any day. I was sure that I was going to die during both instances...however...at least when you get through childbirth you have something to show for it! Granted...the scale was showing 5 pounds lighter...but having Ben was an immediate 6 lbs, 15 oz. weight loss as well. I don't plan to do either ever again...but if I had to choose, I think I'm taking the childbirth...it was shorter too at only 9 hours! We are now at the 48 hour mark with the food poisoning, and though I am moving under my own steam and able to be a little bit productive as far as picking up the house and catching up on the laundry...I am feeling far from well. My stomach is still crampy and food has no appeal whatsoever. Poor Ben looks like a truck ran over him. Of all of us, I think he might have had the worst case. He was in pretty bad shape for most of the day yesterday. But he's a trooper and got up and went to school today....the last day of school. Which is more than I could have done I think. Then he went to evaluate for the swim team and swam like a trooper. He's just been laying around since we got home this afternoon...I can't really blame him. And I noticed that he hardly touched his lunch today. It was a rough ride for all of us...but especially so for him. Poor baby.

Other than trying to recover from our near death experience, not much is going on in our house. Today was the last day of school. I have very bittersweet feelings about that. I rather liked them being there and the routine that comes along with the school year. Routine is a good thing for me. So, I signed the boys up for the summer swim team with SwimTucson. They start May 31st at 8:20 a.m. This is a great thing for us. It will get us up and out of the house early...it's important to do everything early here in the desert! From the pool, we will head on down the road to the gym for my morning workout! We should wrap it all up and be home by 11:15 each day for lunch and afternoon reading (a MUST for my crew in the summer!) and swimming if anyone is up for it. The afternoons really cool down to nice and tolerable by 5 or so, so the evenings here are delightful. It also leaves the afternoons free for get-togethers with friends if all of our errands and exercises are taken care of first thing in the morning. I know the boys will miss their friends a bunch, but they exchanged phone numbers with several friends and hopefully we will make lots of playdates until August.

Tomorrow is our first official day of summer! No real big plans. Just trying to recover! Ben has a birthday party to attend tomorrow afternoon. It is at a cool bowling place called Bedroxx. I like going there and the kids are crazy about it. I hope to go to the gym in the morning if this darned tummy will let up a little bit. I'm still all crampy and sore and last night I did not sleep well. But tomorrow is a new day and I am hoping for the best...to have everyone back on their feet and ready for a fun filled weekend! Wish us luck! Life has been better in the desert for sure! But life is bound to look up!

112

For those of you who read this from time to time....NO, that is not my current weight! I wish! But it IS the temperature here in the town of Oro Valley yesterday. We are expected to see that or higher today. Wow! I have personally never experienced temperatures that high. Things are SO different here in the desert. I can honestly say though that it was not too bad...the heat. It was hot..no doubt. But it was not sticky and we did not feel like we were going to suffocate. It was really amazing. Even Chris was not complaining and he tends to complain about the heat early on! It is amazing how miserable humidity can make things! I will take 112 degrees here in the desert any day over 92 degrees in Florida!

We are off to church today (back at our rock and roll church) and then Chris has invited a friend and his family over to cook out tonight. We aren't totally sure they are coming and his wife and daughters just flew in yesterday afternoon. But they don't have much else to do as their moving truck is not coming for another 2 or 3 days...so they just might. They have a daughter the same age as Max and one that is 4 I think. I thought that they might enjoy getting to know some kids here as they don't have the benefit of school now for the summer...but I understand that the 9 year old daughter doesn't really like boys these days. Go figure! So maybe they will come or maybe they won't. Regardless, I think that we are going to grill out and sit by the pool no matter what.

I started smocking a dress for Clara Friday night. It is SO gorgeous! It is baby blue and sleeveless...and it is going GREAT!!! I am having a blast doing it and it really looks really good. Of course...I can point out every single imperfection for you, but if you don't know any better, the average eye will be clueless tot he imperfections! I am already looking forward to my next project, and I'm not even done with this one yet! My friend is pregnant right now so I think that I will take on a project for her next...maybe one of those ridiculously sweet bonnets and gown sets! It would be nice if she knew what she was having...but she is one of those stubborn types who just loves to leave us all in suspense! Oh well!

All is great here. Loving the desert, loving my house, loving my family! Sometimes life is just fantastic and the blessings are just pouring out all over the place and you can't help but rejoice and feel so thankful that you have it SO good. We don't just have it good...we have it GREAT! So...that's me right now....thankful and SOOOO blessed. Life is good here in the desert!

Friends Today

We had a busy day today running errands and on our way home I checked messages at home and found that Ben's friend Peyton had called and wanted to get together to play....and so they did. Peyton came over and swam and played. Chris and I got to meet his very nice parents and it was a great day as it was our first play date so to speak for the boys!

Chris and I are watching VH-1's top 10 one hit wonders. Come on Eileen was just shown. That is like my favorite all time song..ever! I pushed to name Clara Eileen, but Chris would not hear of it. I like the name Eileen...especially when it is set to such lovely tunes! Chris and I were just saying that we should have a "one hit wonder" party. That would be fun....play all the greatest one hit wonders like Micky and Come on Eileen and Tainted Love. What fun would that be! We are having a Luau party on Wednesday night with friends from Chris' office. It should be fun as he works with a fun group of people! We're going to hit the pool and chill the drinks and kick back and have some Hawaiian fun. Macarena! Oh my...I love that song! I'm going to end all of this and go on a music hunt! Adios...life is good in the desert!

Baby of Mine

Clara is convinced she is a baby. She insists on being treated and coddled and carried like a baby. It is a huge goofy game for her. I count it a great blessing that she, in her "baby state" has continued to use the potty and not insisted that she needs a diaper. I imagine she knows that that would just SO NOT happen in our house. Still...I'm glad she conforms! She refers to herself in the third person these days. If she is upset, she does not just say "I'm upset". She says "Clara is upset." And she tells me that "The baby is thirsty", meaning herself of course. So I hear a lot of Clara this and Clara that from her. She tells me that "Mommy loves her baby SOOOO much" and that "Mommy's baby is SOOOO sweet". I don't remember the boys ever referring to themselves in the third person the way she does...but it's cute and a phase that I know will be gone just as fast as I blink...which is why I sitting here now trying to get it all written down for posterity's sake. My daughter is a breath of fresh air. I adore all of my children...for all different reasons. But I guess I notice Clara the most these days. It could be because she is 2 that I notice her more...she is simply more requiring of my attention at this young age...it could be that she is a girl...but I don't think so. I think it is because Clara is a totally "in your face" little kid. She is not content to talk to you across the room. She wants to be on your lap, with your face held tight between her little warm hands, looking right into your eyes as she tells you something. She loves to be up in your arms and the complete center of your world. And in so many ways she is. I remember that Ben used to do something somewhat similar. He used to climb up on my lap and take my face in his fat little hands and put his nose up to mine and look right into my eyes and say "Hi Mommy". That would be it. Then he would get down and be off into his kid world again. It was sweet and I hope I remember it forever. How sweet he sounded and looked and felt there on my lap. Now he is huge and much too big for too much lap holding. A little here and there. Of my three children, sometimes I am sure that it is Ben who will have the sweetest and most tender heart. Although Clara is very sweet (usually) and very concerned with people's feelings...Ben has such a gentleness to him. Max is more of a black and white, right and wrong kind of kid. He looks out for his number one self and others may or may not receive any of his consideration. Thoughtfulness does not usually come naturally for him. He is a great kid...just wired completely different than the others. I guess that's God's plan...keep us always entertained with something new always going on with them. We are blessed to have them all and see them grow day by day. Challenging as they are at times...it has been an adventure that I would not trade for anything.

When it rains, it pours!

While Clarabelle is on the mend....finally, Ben is having his turn in the doctor's office. I decided to take him in today as he has had a persistent cough for weeks now. Not a bad cough...just persistent. I figured we were having allergy issues--which would be nothing new for this family. But when we got there the Dr. said he sounded really bad, but only on one side of his lungs. So, thinking he had walking pneumonia or Valley Fever, we were sent down the hall for a chest x-ray. Surprisingly, the chest x-rays looked okay...not perfect, but not horrible either. So, it was determined that he has some sort of microplasm infection and was placed on the same strong antibiotic as Clara was on...and not a cheap one either! I figured up that Clara's little respiratory crisis this past week cost somewhere in the neighborhood of $300. Ben is up to $70 so far. We will see how his crisis ends up in the end once we see if we have to return in 10 days or not. Kids can be REALLY expensive! Gotta love em!

I just carried Clara up to bed. She looked so sweet and peaceful as she slept in my arms here and just snuggled right into me as I carried her up the stairs. It made me think that I can't remember the last time that I carried my boys up to bed, asleep in my arms. I wonder if I will know it is the last time when it happens with Clara. Will I recognize that she is outgrowing the option of being carried up to bed while she snoozes away the night? Will I treasure it and commit every tiny detail of that last time to memory? I did know it was the last time when she last nursed. We had had a great deal of trouble in those last few months of nursing and I knew that it was time to end it. My third bout of mastitis left no doubt in my mind that it was time to move on. Clara was just over a year old. I remember sitting there just gazing into her eyes and holding her little hand and watching her smile up at me all happy and milky and unaware that she would never do this again. I knew she would never do it again...so I tried to commit each moment to memory...so that I might be able close my eyes and feel that moment one more time. I was not too sad about it since I had had SO much trouble to that point. The mastitis bouts were horrible and scary. Still, it was a little bit sad to know that this phase in our lives was coming to an end. I worried that it might affect our bond...though now I know that I shouldn't have. That child is SO attached to me. We are attached at the hip. Noone loves me like Clara does..noone. She lets me know it each and every moment of the day. She is my little chatterbox that follows me everywhere. She talks to me throughout the day and constantly tells me that she loves me...and that I love her, too. The way she says it is so sweet...the way she pronounces me, Mama...it is precious. I hope I never forget it. I want to remember how she says my name. I want to remember how she calls the toilet paper "pull tater". I want to remember how she calls her princess goggles for the pool her "gobbles". I loved the way she calls herself "Daddy's grill" instead of Daddy's girl. And I love the way she smiles when she says all of these things. She has the most beautiful smile. It is just sweet and fresh...and her blue eyes just seem to sparkle when she turns that big, beautiful smile on me. It melts my heart. She is such a gift. All of my children are and in such different and wonderful ways. So many times I wish I had slowed down and enjoyed my boys more. Just soaked up the little things, you know. Instead, we were always just looking for the next milestone and the next big step for them. Hurry, hurry, hurry...bring on the next phase. I am really cherishing Clara and her little phases. I feel like so many of them are just too short. I know that all of those milesones will come soon enough, will come whether or not I help it along. I know that soon enough, I will come to the startling realization that it has been a year since I last carried my sleeping baby up to her bed because she outgrew me. I just want to cherish and remember it. I hope that when I am an old lady with nothing but my memories, THAT is one of the memories I will have. I want to remember what it felt like to hold and rock my babies and have them lay all sleepy and trusting in my arms. Don't get me wrong. I hope I'll have TONS of memories when I am old and gray...I just hope that is one of them. Children are precious and I am thankful every day that we have ours.

Not much else in life going on around here. Chris is in San Francisco tonight. I am sitting around...catching up on my e-mail and blog. I am feeling thankful for my many, many blessings. Life is most definitely good here in the desert.

My boo boo baby with her GORGEOUS band aid! So pretty! 

Thank Goodness for Monday!

I am not usually a great lover of Mondays...with everyone having to jump back into routine and schedules and laundry and school and laundry and what not. However. I have to tell you that I greeted this Monday with open arms and spent hours over the weekend just willing it here. Clara was quite sick last week and through the weekend. It seemed for a while there that she would never turn the corner. We ended up in the E.R. on Friday night again...bless her heart...we thought she was never going to kick this thing. I had started to wonder if it could get any worse and then when I declared that it could not...it did. See, Clara started feeling better Saturday...not much, but some. And so we got out with her to run a couple of VERY short and low impact errands. When we returned her library books, she wanted to help to drop them in the hole. So I got her out of the car and let her help. Big mistake! On the way back to the car, she tripped and fell on the sidewalk, smashing her forehead on the concrete and split her head open. Nice little gash...front and center. I thought that it needed a stitch, but Chris thought not. I still think it did/does. But being as we had already had 2 trips of the emergency nature this week involving her, I hated to take her in again. I mean...enough already. So we bought a skin closure kit at Walgreen's and proceeded to tape her up so to speak and try to close the gap. I am hoping that it worked. Hoping, because I, as of yet, do not know for sure. We have not looked at or bothered it since it happened. We decided to clean it up good, tape it up good, and then let it sit for 24 to 48 hours before messing with it again to give it a chance to close up on it's own. I am SO praying that it worked and that we will not have to have any medical intervention. It would be rough on her.. and quite honestly, rough on me. On the bright side, she seems to be feeling much better today. She is happy and sassy and fever free. She has not required a breathing treatment in 13 hours now and seems most definitely to be on the mend. Praise God for that!

My Mother's Day weekend was nice...well, not the weekend really with all the fever and the new and improved forehead gash...but Sunday was nice. I took Max and Ben to church with me and Chris took Clara to Walmart to do the grocery shopping for us. So that was nice...I HATE grocery shopping. Then, I got everyone fed for lunch and down for a nap...well, just Clara down for a nap, and then Chris and I laid out by the pool while the boys played and swam. That was nice as the day was just gorgeous. Then I came inside and changed into my running clothes and Chris took Clara on an errand while I ran 4 miles on my new treadmill that Chris gave me for Mother's day! Then we put the kids to bed early and started watching a movie...Oceans 12. It was really good, but Chris and I were really pooped and could not stay awake very long. We were in the bed by 10 p.m. and sleeping like logs! Clara was up at 2:30 for a breathing treatment...but has not needed one since! I have to say that I have really never remembered being so glad to see Monday come! Hallelujah! Today has been good. I have gotten all caught up on the laundry...hooray! And got some vaccuuming done as well as the dusting of the downstairs. So all in all...today was good. We even went to the post office and to the library for new books and videos. So once again my friends, life is most definitely good in the desert!

V is for Virus

I just spent nearly 3 hours in at Urgent Care with Clara tonight. She was coughing horribly and running a high fever...all out of the blue. Whooping cough is going around so severely here, that I called the pediatrician to ask some questions. She thought Clara might have pneumonia and suggested she be seen in Urgent Care tonight...so off we went. Her temperature was 103 when we got there, bless her little heart. She was just burning up and limp and miserable. They gave her some Motrin to try to get the fever down and discovered she had an ear infection and major congestion as well...even though she has no outward signs of congestion at all. So we are on the big antibiotic Zithromax...which will clear the ear, and pneumonia should that end up being an issue...and the whooping cough...most importantly...it would clear up the whooping cough if that is what she had. So...I brought home a VERY exhausted little girl. I put her in some fresh jammies and gave her her first round of meds...she will need more tylenol at 10 p.m. and another Motrin dose at midnight. She is on limited activity status for the next couple of days. I just hope and pray that when she wakes up tomorrow, she is feeling a WHOLE lot better. She is very, very pitiful right about now.

Ben has a field trip to the zoo tomorrow. That should be fun for him. I have to make sure that he is all organized in the morning for that. He needs his hat and sunscreen and water bottle and a sack lunch...no lunchboxes tomorrow. He should just have a blast with his friends there tomorrow. The weather is supposed to be quite nice too! As for Clara and I...we will be sitting here at home, laying low and being quiet.

Chris is in New Orleans tonight. Out of town of course as we deal with this little Clara crisis. Hopefully this will be his last trip for a while now. We sure do like having him around here. And all heck seems to break loose when he is gone! That's the worst thing about it. As long as he is home...everyone is healthy and in one piece and life just trips on along. But as soon as he leaves, something major almost always happens! Just our luck!

Despite Clara's illness right now, life is good here in the desert. I am feeling more and more settled and feel like I am finding more and more friendly faces these days. I find myself looking forward to seeing all of these ladies again...it has been nice getting to know them just a wee bit.

No other news to speak of...that's all for us right now. Feeling blessed and just praying for our little girl. Life is good in the desert!

Whew!

That's about how I feel at the end of this day at the end of this weekend. It ended up being SO busy and fast paced. I am WIPED out! My feet even hurt tonight. We headed to church this morning. Sunday School went really well. I had several nice folks to talk to and enjoyed it a lot. Then Jackie met me there and we went to the worship service. It was okay...but I got paged to the nursery to get Clara in the middle. When I got there she had been crying and was all upset and couldn't seem to calm down. I took her into church with me and she fell asleep in my arms and slept through the service and all the way home and all the way to Jackie's and even slept a few minutes after we got to Jackie's house. I left her and Max there while I took Ben to a birthday party. It was TOTAL chaos! 20 kids turned out for a pool party. IT was crazy. I was SO tired and SO ready to leave when it was over! When I got back to Jackie's I found that Clara had wet her pants 3 times! She also wet them right before we left for church this morning. So I spent the rest of the day with her making sure she sat on the potty every 30 minutes to reinforce the no accident mantra. She seemed tired and went to bed quite easily. The boys...not so easily. Honestly...those two cannot follow simple directions to save their lives. Ben is fairly decent about following through on things...but Max...God love his soul...he can't remember ANYTHING for more than a few seconds. You send him to do something and then 15 minutes later he comes back...but he didn't do what you sent him to do. He doesn't even remember what it was you asked him to do in the first place. I have a saying with him. IMMEDIATE OBEDIENCE! It is the only way he can get things done. If he thinks to himself, "I'll do that in a few minutes.", then it NEVER happens because he has about a one minute retention for instructions. He is a procrastinator to top it off. And on the off chance that he actually does begin the task you gave him...he RARELY completes it. He somehow manages to get off task halfway through and never comes back to it. He just forgets what he was doing. So when he picks up his laundry...he usually gets distracted halfway through so that he may take downstairs his shirt and shorts...but not his socks. Or if I put his things in a pile for him to take upstairs...he may pick up the gameboy and the hat, but not the Spiderman car or the bouncy ball. And he could easily carry all of it...so that is not the issue if that is what you were thinking. No. He simply forgets what the task is halfway through. Is it making me crazy????? ABSOLUTELY!!!! Anyway. Tomorrow is a new day in a new week...so wish me luck! Chris will be home tomorrow night. Hooray! Oh...church was a good thing today. It felt like going home. I guess that really is where we belong after all. Life is good...albeit exhausting...in the desert!