Monday, October 6, 2014

More doctor visits..and fewer strips.

As usual, I was so busy at Courtney's baby shower, I forgot to take pictures!  I will say it was SO much fun.  We ended up having enough little glass jars with string and ribbon tying on scalloped circles with numbers (since you could pretty simply get your drinks mixed up!).  We had LOTS of cookies (I had TOO many left over!), and plenty of food.  I would totally rather make too much than not enough, haha!
She's so beautiful pregnant! : )
I even wished I'd taken pictures of her cute gifts, so sweet in brown kraft paper, tulle and ribbon.  Ah, next time!  Praying she feels blessed by her friends in memory! : )

I'd bought some cloth diapers to monogram/embroider with the letter C (we know it'll begin with a C!), or the letter S for his last name.  BUT.  As I was sitting down to work on a design (or several!), my hasp/dongle broke!  It is a little USB thingie, and the sofware won't even OPEN without it.  I'm so sad.  The store I bought it from is out of business, so I'm trying to find another dealer that might be able to send it back for repair/replacement.  I am up a creek with an embroidery machine..and no way to use it.  Sadness.  Praying it's ready by the time she has the baby!!
working on their computers.  Carter loves this old white Mac that we can't even find the charger for!
My little Ethan has been home since last Wednesday.  We went to the doctor last week, and he had an ear infection.  He's had a consistent fever since then (like 99.6-102.1), and we're now on day SiX.  Not good.  Not only do I feel for him..he's missing school.  We really studied for his spelling test, just in case the fever dropped..but No.  Mary Claire is also home today..is this a crazy fever virus?!  Her blood sugars are more on the low side (we've seen a 46 and a 56 today!), so I'm baffled.
Sweet girl.  Pictures are tomorrow, and she'd like her hair straightened, please.  After having me hot roll it the last two weekends. ; )
**Update: Ethan rose to 103.2, so I took him back to the doctor..and if he is still feverish in the morning, we go for a chest xray.  His flu test was negative.  (And they are only testing for the enterovirus if the child has to be hospitalized.  The state complained it was too much paperwork to just test for testing's sake.) (Feeling so sorry for them and all their paperwork.)
Towels are my insurance.  So I can walk away once in a while. ; )
But on the upside..we are trying harder actually trying to potty train Carter!  He's a doll in his little underwear.  He's used the potty a few times, but not with any consistency.  We usually (with the other three kids..) let them go bottomless for two or three days, then graduate to underwear.  This is Day One.  (yes, go ahead and laugh!)  I don't know if it's me or him.  I kinda love having a baby to change.  (Ok..maybe it's me.)

Ok..as the day has worn on, my attitude is less than positive.  Do you ever just feel like your day is less than.. oh, I don't know..below average?  I'm wearing down and probably need a decent night's sleep.  I just don't get those anymore. : (
He loves the baby.
I can see why some students commit suicide.  And I'm serious.  My son is in four pre-AP classes are they are tough stuff.  We did math until 10 tonight, and I made him take it with us to pick up his new glasses, work on it in the car, at the doctor's office with Ethan, and all night.  He has multiple assignments to work on at any given time, and it's like playing whack-a-mole.  Whatever is due soonest..whack it!  I worry about him.  (He is not suicidal, I just mean it would be easy to lose sight of a way out, and become incredibly overwhelmed.  Schools push harder and harder to have the highest scores and the "best" students.  He has harder stuff in Algebra 1 than I had in college algebra.  Not kidding.  He's writing quadratic equations for weird graphs.  I can't elaborate.  It hurts my head.)

His religious education class isn't any picnic either.  I know he wants to be confirmed with his classmates, but she's tough.  He's supposed to be reading a book of the Bible every night, memorizing answers to questions, and there are assignments for EVERY night of the week (7 days of homework for a one hour a week class!).  He's just getting more and more behind.  There's no way he can do it all.  And forget a social life.  I hear about things going on at school, but he doesn't have a spare minute.  He did campaign for a friend to be voted into student council (and she did!), but he said he couldn't even consider one more thing.  Makes me sad.
Soo glad we listened to Ethan, and we went to play at a park.  May be just what we needed. : )
And he already has issues with self-discipline.  He's on medication to help him concentrate, but when we increase that to help him make it through the day, he picks at his skin and eyes.  He is covered in scabs right now, and his eyes are infected again.  We have an open prescription for antibiotic eye drops, but I can't even stand to watch him dig his fingernails into his eyelids.  (Like between his eye ball and under his lids.  It is sooo creepy!!)

And..We got letters from our insurance company, UMR, than they will only pay for FiVE strips a day for checking the kids' blood.  Umm, we sometimes use up two just to get one reading.  And five?  So.. which checks should I eliminate?  When do you want to see them go high/low/unchecked?  And is hospitalization so much cheaper than preventative care?  This makes no sense.  It's a battle they hope I won't fight.  And tonight, I'm tired.

And I need to get ready to teach on Wednesday.  (And remember my kids don't need nightly homework!)  Breathe in, breathe out.  Pray.  Pray some more.  God's got this, I'm just sure of it.  I know when I'm teaching religious education, I go though the most pain and emotional trauma.  Drawing the little children closer to God is dangerous work.  And I'm not kidding.  Say some extra prayers for our family.  It's tough stuff.  Prayers for your family too.  Hugs.

But Jesus looked at them and said to them,
“With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible."  Matthew 19: 26

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