Puke and Roll

A Collection of Thoughts:

It’s been an interesting week at our house.  Things started out with a bang on Monday afternoon, when Benjamin started throwing up at daycare.  No one could get a hold of me because I was teaching piano lessons in the lower level of the church (no cell phone reception) and the receptionist had already left the front desk.  At 5pm, as I reached the stairs to go up to my office: [bing!] [bing!] [bing!] [bing!]  text messages galore.  Let me just tell you how horrible I felt that no one could reach me.  Ugggghhhhhh!

And in the meantime, our wonderful daycare provider was sitting with Benjamin while he puked.

After spending an extended amount of time getting B dressed for the ride home, we braved the drive.  I was nervous for the bumps and turns (not that my car couldn’t use a good cleaning, anyway) but B was a big boy; and the one time he really felt sick he managed to weakly say, “I think I need the bucket, Mommy.”  We still don’t know what triggered all the puking.  From what Nicole told me, everything that went down came back up.  His tummy didn’t settle down until 9pm Monday night and then he slept hard until 3am.  No one else has gotten sick, so it wasn’t a virus.  Praise the Lord.

Speaking of getting sick, I feel like I earned a gold star when I could hold the bucket without getting sick myself.  (Nicole, you earn 527,000 gold stars.)

Benjamin was feeling much better on Tuesday – no puking and lots of drinking.  We discovered Pedialyte (thanks, Nicole) and B went through a whole liter of it that day.  I stayed home with him, of course, and we spent the day laying low & watching movies.

Annie entertained us by rolling over (first time that I’ve seen her do it!).  Hooray for baby girl!  She’s really starting to notice and grab toys (and hair and necklaces and glasses…).  Annie is still a happy, calm baby…which we all love.    It is amazing to me, after rocking B to sleep for what seemed his entire infancy, that I can simply put her in her crib and turn on her musical crib toy and leave the room…and come back 10 minutes later to find her sound asleep.  Amazing and wonderful.

She is still cute as a button.  Now she’s entered the chunky-leg stage and the roly-poly tummy stage.  Her little giggle overflows when you tickle her or when you rub her hands in your hair.  Those chunky legs are strong and she likes to stand most of the time, getting frustrated when she’s just sitting on someone’s lap.  Annie’s started to razz a bit, and you’ll often find her with her 2-3-4 fingers in her mouth, chewing or sucking on them.  No thumb sucker, it seems … just the rest of the fingers. 

We’ve started doing Pat-a-Cake and So Big with our little babe, and tomorrow I’ll clean up the exersaucer for her.  I can hardly believe she’ll be four months old in a few days.  Whoa!!  Today I also found a stack of thank-you notes for friends and family who sent us baby gifts when Annie was born.  They were in my car, underneath my seat.  ???????  I have no recollection of putting them under my car seat.  Why in the world would I put them there?  But I must have put them there, because I’m the only one who drives my car.  But ???????

Needless to say, I’m just gonna re-do the stack of them tomorrow.

Work is good.  I feel behind.  My days in the office get filled so quickly with meetings that I end up doing planning work until midnight some nights – you know, after I’ve cleaned the kitchen and picked up the toy bombs scattered around the house and taken out trash bags and changed the laundry and sat down on the couch to enjoy 5 minutes & a tall glass of water by myself with the tv on mute and folded the basket(s) of clean clothes.  And then I blog at 12:30am since I’ve gotten a second wind from working until midnight.

But work is good.  I enjoy some parts of it much more than others; and some days I enjoy the not-so-enjoyable projects much more than the enjoyable ones from yesterday.  I suppose that’s what keeps my job interesting.

Well, that and the kindergartners in the youngest children’s choir.  “Ms. Katie, will you keep a secret?  I have a boyfriend now and his name is Caden and I used to have a boyfriend and his name was Mitchell but I broke up with him yesterday because he wouldn’t build a snow fort with me during recess time.”  Kindergartners have boyfriends now?  Ohmagoodness.

This morning was our very first preschool visit.  Preschool??????  Yes.  Thanks to my new Puma watch from Santa, we were on time.  And a fun time was had by all!  B was captivated by the magnets in a clear plastic box and wanted so badly to play with them during circle time & story time.  We just about had a tantrum on our hands, but it was kept at bay.  Popcorn for a snack = a homerun.  Playdough station at free play = awesome.  Moon sand to explore because the theme right now is Space = very cool and not too messy.

Ben still sings the soundtrack of the Wizard of Oz – all. the. time.  First it’s the Scarecrow’s song, then the Tin Man’s, then the Lion’s, then the O-Wi-O song, then possibly Dorothy’s.  Benjamin also announced this in the car on Tuesday night: “Mom!  The Scarecrow and the Tin Man and the Lion and Dorothy and Toto are coming to our HOUSE!!!!!”  He is just so excited about this movie.  And I am just so excited that he loves the Wizard of Oz.

I check Twitter about ten times a day, and each time I am reminded of the devastation in Haiti.  Tonight I am so grateful to be in a warm home (though most times messy) with amazing children (though sometimes sick) and a wonderful husband (though he seldom rinses his milk glasses).  Tonight I’m thankful for the abundance that surrounds me; and my heart aches as I hear the mounting news of what heartbreak and destruction the people of Haiti will wake up to face in the morning.  Tonight I’ll soon fall into bed, and I’ll pray for God’s arms to gently hold the people of Haiti as they wait and watch for help to come.  May we truly be the hands and feet of Jesus in any way we know how.

Peace be with you all…