Full Weekend

Friday...what did we do Friday? Oh yea, we drove to West Lafayette to return Matt's company truck to his co-worker, who had been on vacation all week. Two hours of driving and no fun to come of it.

So, I will digress...while Matt had the company truck, we took the opportunity to get both of our vehicles serviced. They were each having issues. After spending $600 on Matt's car, we picked it up and dropped the van off (actually, my dad did that for us, thanks, Dad!). Then we found that none of the gauges on his dash worked. So, Friday morning when Matt was off for Good Friday, we returned his car and picked up the van. For another $200, we had no more squeaking in the van. Yeah! Friday afternoon, we find out that the entire gauge component went out on Matt's car. We're told this was coincidental and had nothing to do with the work that was done on his car earlier in the week. Matt is skeptical of this theory, but he's had dash problems in the past, so I'm not as hard to convince. It'll just be another $200 to replace it. Of course it will. Well, we can't very well have Matt driving around with no speedometer and no fuel gauge so what else can we do?

So, with all the swapping of vehicles through the week, I ended up putting Avery's car seat in forward facing. I'm a rebel. It was just easier and we were only going down the road. So, now we're back to Friday afternoon. Matt and Elliot are in the company truck and Avery is with me in the van. I decided for the long trip to W. Lafayette that it would be wise to turn her car seat back around. Avery is not so fond of this plan. She screams her head off all the way to the gas station. I played peek-a-boo with her while the gas was pumping and then she decided to tolerate the rear-facing view. She only screamed a couple of times on the way to W. Lafayette. Whew! I was scared. On the way home, it's going on 6pm and everyone's getting hungry. My plan to make fish tacos for dinner was quickly tossed. Instead, we stop at Little Caesars for cheese pizzas and breadsticks. Elliot played basketball with the neighbor kids until after 8pm. We all turned in relatively early, knowing that we had a busy Saturday.

Saturday, after Matt made French toast for us for breakfast, we spent all morning cleaning the house. Matt and Elliot are tremendous helpers. Matt and I kept trying to gross each other out with the filth that was uncovered. "Look what I just swept up in the dining room". " Look how black the swiffer is". At 1:00, we hosted my Dad's birthday dinner. My mom provided all the food and all we did was let everyone come over. It was the easiest hosting gig ever! We all chowed down on barbecue pork, chips, green bean casserole and a homemade mint chocolate chip ice cream cake for dessert (the final remnants I just finished while typing this, yum!). Everyone was gone by 3pm and Avery went down for a nap. I ran to the store and picked up some food coloring, came home and boiled eggs. Then, I ironed shirts for Matt and Elliot to wear to mass Sunday morning. Elliot came in from playing basketball and helped me color eggs. We had leftover pizza for dinner and then the Butler game started. On commercials, Elliot and I went to get dressed for the Easter Vigil mass. Here, Elliot entered melt-down mode. He didn't want to wear long sleeves. He didn't want to wear school pants. He wanted to wear black shoes, not brown. Matt sent Elliot to bed for the night. It was 6:30pm and Elliot and I were supposed to be at the church at 7:15.

At 6:50, Matt gave Elliot the option of going to church without whining or staying in bed. Elliot chose to come to church. When we arrived, I reminded Elliot that the mass would be long. It was the Easter vigil mass and my dad was being baptized, confirmed and receiving his First Communion. Elliot said he wished that he would have chosen to stay in bed. I told Elliot the mass would last 4 hours, even though I only thought it would last 2. My thought was that after an hour I would say, it's only been 1 hour, but we're almost done...make it seem better than it actually was. We were all given candles at the beginning of mass, so we could process in with candles lit from the Easter candle. Elliot made me a nervous wreck with his. After we blew them out, Elliot proceeded to pick all the wax drippings off of both of our candles. The floor was covered with wax. The mass was bilingual English and Spanish. I tried to encourage Elliot to follow along, but was unsuccessful. I got a text from Matt, "butler won". Once the baptisms were complete (about 1.5 hours into the mass), we were welcomed to come congratulate the newly baptized. Elliot and I went up to the alter and hugged my dad. He was tearful and very proud. It was very emotional. About half the church emptied out after that, including the people who were sitting in the pew behind us. Elliot took this opportunity to stretch out on the pew to rest. I considered letting him lie there, but once all settled and the mass began again, I decided it was a bad idea. (OK, so seeing three nuns sitting at his feet probably helped me come to this conclusion). I made him sit up and participate in mass again. Would you believe that the mass lasted 3.5 hours???!! That's what I get for telling Elliot it would last 4 hours. So much for that! We went over to the cafeteria afterward for cake and punch. Elliot and I left quickly after that. It was midnight when we got home. Matt had to remind me that the Easter bunny was still to come that night. Ugh!

Sunday, Elliot came to wake us up at 7:30. Seriously, you were up until midnight. Go back to bed. The baby's not even up yet. Matt sent him back to bed. He returned at 7:45. Now, Avery was up too. Ok, off to find Easter baskets. Guess we're not going to church this morning. Why did we buy the kids Easter clothes and why did I iron shirts??? I made an egg and sausage scramble with hashbrowns. Elliot wasn't very hungry (what? the boy never stops eating these days). Avery took a nap and the rest of us got ready to leave. Everyone was forced to wear their Easter clothes. Otherwise, what's the point. Once Avery woke up, we hopped in the van and headed to Matt's parent's house for the annual Easter egg hunt. We were early (first in line to borrow new DVD's--The Blind Side--yeah). Elliot, who's wearing jeans and a long-sleeve dress shirt complains that he's freezing. Something's wrong. The boy is always hot. It's all we can do to keep him in long pants through the winter. Now, it's 70 degrees and he's freezing. Uh oh! He cuddles up with a blanket and hangs out in the recliner for awhile. He feels warmish, but not feverish. He doesn't eat much. I think he's probably more tired than sick. Grandma insists on some tylenol chewables. By the time everyone is finished eating and we head out for the egg hunt, Elliot seems better. He found a $5 egg! Seven eggs found Avery. When the egg hunt is finished, Avery goes down for a nap, but not willingly. I go outside to visit with Matt's brothers and nephews, and send Matt in to check on Avery. When I go in a few minutes later, Avery is in Matt's arms. She had been screaming. Time to go. As we're packing up to go (this is a great event...diaper bag, pack n play, blankets, etc.) we realize Avery's filled her pants. No wonder she was screaming. Both kids fall asleep on the way home. We tried to put Avery down when we got home, but not sure if she ever fell back to sleep. Even if she did, it was not for long. She was up half-hour later. Elliot curled up with a blanket on the couch. Then, came into my room as I was changing into comfy clothes, and curled up on my bed. Soon after, the neighbor kids come down and Elliot went out to play basketball. I settle into the kitchen for some cooking. I'll have a houseful of kids this week and nothing prepared to feed them. I made spaghetti and chicken noodle soup. Then, I heated up leftover burrito filling, tossed some prepared rice into it and served it over tortilla chips. I was still stuffed from Easter dinner at the in-laws. Elliot, Matt and Avery ate the nachos (Avery's sans chips). Once again, Elliot didn't eat much.

After dinner, Elliot worked up a drawing for his First Communion banner that's due next week. Then it was time for a shower and bed. At 1am, I wake up and think I hear whimpering. I'm straining my ears, but can't really tell. When I get up to check it out, I hear Elliot. I go in to check on him. He's lying at the opposite end of the bed, on his belly. He tells me that when he faces the ceiling, the room goes in circles. Uh oh! I go downstairs to get the thermometer. When I come back up, he's asleep. I take his temp under his arm while he's sleeping. He flinches a couple times knocking the thermometer loose. It reads 100.3. I wonder if it's true. I give him some Motrin and go back to bed. I decide that he needs to stay home from school tomorrow, which means I can't babysit, either. Do I call now or in the morning? I decide to wait. I sleep restlessly worrying about Elliot and the spinning room. My experience with spinning rooms is that it's a miserable feeling, but my experiences have always been self-induced. I feel bad for Elliot. I'm sure his is not a result of too many screwdrivers!

I send a text out to the moms at 5am. At 5:20, I haven't heard any response from anyone. I text Grace again. She's due at my house at 5:45. At 5:30, I call her, but get voicemail. I plan to meet her at the car so she doesn't get the little one out of the car. The next thing I know I hear a knock at the door. Shoot! I throw on my robe, run downstairs, turn off the house alarm and open the door. Poor Grace. I have to inform her that Elliot's sick and I can't keep Amelia. I feel terrible that she came all this way for nothing and that she's going to be late for work by the time she makes other arrangements. Darn! I decide to wait until 6:30 to call Carol, our friend who takes Elliot to school. I wake up to the phone ringing. It's 7:17. Crap! Carol is in my driveway. Her son is knocking on the door. I incoherently tell her that Elliot's sick and not going to school, apologizing as I go. I fall asleep again.

We all get up at 8am. We do some breakfast. Elliot has dry cheerios and gatorade. I call the doctor. I'm concerned about the spinning room. The dr. doesn't think there's anything to worry about. Sometimes fevers cause dizziness. OK. I take Elliot's temp again at 10am, 101. I give him some Tylenol. At noon Elliot eats four chicken nuggets for lunch. I'm happy that he's feeling well enough to want nuggets. But, then he tells me that his body is trembling. I take his temp again 101.3. I'm surprised that it's still rising when he just had Tylenol 2 hours ago. Now, I remember that he has a slightly infected ingrown toenail (we just discovered Friday). Maybe the infection is causing the fever. I call the doctor's office again. They tell me to come in. OK, I'll be right in. I go wake up Avery, who's already gotten in a 2 hour nap. We start to get ready to leave and then I remember that I don't have a vehicle. Matt's car is still in the shop and he drove the van to work. Pooh! I call my mom. No answer. I call my dad. He doesn't have a vehicle. He tells me to blow up my mom's phone, telling me that's what he does when she doesn't answer. Knowing how much it drives me nuts when people do this to me, I opt for sending her a quick text instead. After a few minutes without response, I call my Grandma. Grandma's recovering from surgery and I don't know how well she's doing and I feel bad for asking her for a favor, but she is happy to help.

On the way to the doctor, the car shop calls. Matt's car is done. Hmmm. Nice timing. We get into the doctor's office and the nurse comes in to talk to us about Elliot's symptoms. I'm feeling foolish for taking him in all the while. She checks out his toenail and said that it's not bad enough to cause the fever. She advises that we just treat it with neosporin. By the time the doctor comes in, I'm feeling like a jerk for wasting his time. He says that Elliot's throat is a little red and pulls out the long q-tip. He just wants to "tickle Elliot's tongue". Haha! Nice try. Elliot's not falling for it. He's been through this before and he flat out refuses. The doctor says he'll send the nurse in to do it! I find this rather amusing! The nurse comes in and tries to talk Elliot into letting her do the strep test, but he's not going for it. He wants to do it himself. No. Then, she tells him that if he doesn't let her do it, then the doctor comes back in and the have to pin him down and plug his nose so he has to open his mouth to breathe. He gives in! The test is positive...aha! I'm not such a jerk after all. I'm glad we have an answer, sorry Elliot has strep throat, but glad the strep test was not in vain.

OK, we're well into Monday, so I guess the "Full Weekend" post should end...

Awakenings

I've never been able to understood when people say that they can't sleep at night. I just couldn't comprehend it. I've always been a good sleeper. My mom says she checked on me all the time as an infant because I slept so much. I sleep through all kinds of noise and I can sleep just about anywhere. That is, until recently. Suddenly, I'm waking up in the middle of the night and can't go back to sleep. How frustrating! Mostly, it's been around 4am and I've decided that instead of lying in bed trying to fall back to sleep for an hour and a half, that I might as well just get up and get some things done.

Early this morning I woke up when Matt got up to go to the bathroom. I thought it was time to get up. Nope. It was 1:15. I couldn't go back to sleep. Neither could Matt. We each tossed and turned in silence for awhile. I finally got out of bed at 2am.

So, what did I do during my awakening? I cleaned the bathroom downstairs. I sorted the laundry and threw in a load of darks. I checked email and facebook, posted a blog, signed Elliot up for another swim session, updated the calendar for April, updated my "to do" list, put the darks in the dryer and threw in a load of whites. I went back to bed at 3am, feeling tired, but not really sleepy. Matt was sleeping. Good for him. I tossed and turned long enough to hear the whites finish in the washer. Then, finally glorious sleep came to me. Needless to say, 5:20 came really fast. I made an extra cup of coffee this morning. I'm pretty sure I'll need it!