The Past Few Days

Well, I have not posted in a few days...Did you miss me?  LOL...just joking.  I am sure I gave a much needed relief from our crazy family antics.

After posting my quick note on Tuesday, I went to bed glad for the much needed rest.  I woke up the next morning feeling a little achy but nothing too serious.  Henry and I started spaghetti sauce in the crock-pot for serving the college students tonight.  Then, we headed out the door quickly to make it BACK to the dentist for another round of fun.  This time Brendan and Sean had their annual cleaning done.  Edward had the second half of his mouth worked on...more caps and fillings.  Michael stayed with these boys, while I took Henry to his nature art class.  Of course, with Zaira along for the ride!

We arrived at the park in time to enjoy the quiet of the park before Bruce arrived to look around and choose the trees of the day.  Once Henry was settled in his chair to draw, I went in search of costumes!  NOT for Halloween!  If you have been following both of my blogs, you know we are gearing up for a food contest next week.  We decided on a patriotic theme a few days back.  I was trying to hunt down the Lincoln and Roosevelt costumes.  Unfortunately, I did not fare very well!  I am going to have to break down and buy them online.  I hope we do well after all of this trouble and expense.  I have already told Michael and Henry they will need to wear their costumes around town for the costumes to be worth it!  Brenda suggested that the boys use their costumes to compete in the fashion show later this year.  Hmmmm...that just might work!

Zaira and I headed back for the park and enjoyed the rest of the morning watching the group draw.  I am amazed at how well they are doing.  Bruce continues to be a great teacher.  He has so much knowledge about the trees, which I found the most fascinating.

Then we picked up the rest of the group.  Michael even managed to get his own dental visit scheduled.  Before heading home, Michael was able to stop and pick up a passport picture to renew his passport before heading back to Afghanistan.  Not to mention stopping at our favorite burger spot for lunch.

We arrived home just in time to eat lunch, rest a little while and then back out the door again.  Sean had his speech session.  Then we went to the church to prepare for dinner.  We do this every Wednesday evening along with men from the local Knights of Columbus group.  By this time, I was really starting to feel tired and achy so I just made the salad and left the rest for the two men in charge.  I even had a little help making the salad from Brendan.  He 'convinced' the carrots to get chopped up for the salad  He does have an imagination!

We went to Mass and I began to get a little chilled, which is funny because the church is not cooled unless in use, so it takes a while to cool down the building.  We then went to the social hall and that was the end for me!  I began to shake uncontrollably and could not get warm.  I was trying so hard to stay because we were going to make announcements are Pro-life events in the area.  Twenty minutes into the meal, I had to leave the building...thinking that the outside air would help.  It did not!

So, I had Michael make the announcement and we headed home.  I decided to have Michael check my temperature (I never have a temp!) and I was hitting 103-degree temp!  I sat in the recliner and begged Zaira to nurse to relieve the pain!  You see, if you read my blog a couple of weeks ago, I talked about mastitis and how much fun it is to be in pain.  Well, I think my body was telling me that I never really got over that last round of fun.  Also, I needed to solve this issue soon before Michael headed out for Afghanistan again.

This is the problem as I see it.  Zaira likes to hold her poop for three day intervals.  This is not unusual for a breastfed baby...BUT Zaira decides that she is not hungry by day two and she stops nursing.  I have to beg her to nurse!  So, what I need to try to get her to do is nurse even on these off days...so any suggestions are gladly excepted at this time.  The way it is going I am looking to begging again tomorrow if this cycle continues!

Needless to say I was wiped out again yesterday, so we cancelled all our arranged plans...a big deal in our house!  The boys did schoolwork and kindly let me rest.  The only time they even left the house was to go to the VFW lodge who graciously donated to our 4H club.  I will tell more about that on my other blog along with our hushpuppy adventure for the day.

This morning I woke up feeling so rested but still wanting to make the day as easy as possible for us.  I could not have planned the phone call from a dear friend, Vicky, any better.  She was looking forward to meeting Zaira and bringing a homemade dinner for the evening meal!  Praise God!

That meant the only thing we had for the day was the hushpuppies mentioned above and a quick stop into Wal-mart.  Then we could come home and finish up the school week with some testing.  I could not have planned that better!

We did enjoy the day also.  Zaira had the first joy of experiencing rain, which was so needed in our area!  She even had a drop fall on her sweet head as she leaned back to see it better.  She was a little startled but I think she enjoyed it!  I do not know what she would have done had it fallen into her mouth.

Soon after that she actually managed to get her thumb IN her mouth...although it was really just the side of her thumb, she was content.  It is so funny to see a baby discover themselves.

Earlier this week, I talked about our 4H photography photo session with our family.  We got the proofs in last night.  They are so wonderful!  We were told we could choose 20 but we had such a hard time.  I am so thankful we chose Natalie to do this for us, and that she was willing to work with our little group of photographers.  If you ever need a photographer, she would be top on my list.

So another awesome day in our house, thankful for God's blessings.