Marie's Musings

Musings from the mundane day to day life of a mom of 9 to more serious ponderings of the day.

Friday, November 30, 2007

Sleep woes

For the most part most of my kids sleep thru the night. Gideon will probably 4 or 5 nights a week and maybe get up once or twice on the other nights. That I generally can deal with. Last night was not fun.

Zemirah just was awake,not once, not twice but at least 5 or 6 times last night. I lost count of the number of times I took her back to her bed. Finally at like 3 am, I think andrew settled her down on his side of the bed. On top of that Gideon was up 3 times last night and Ezekiel wandered into our bed at one point as well. To say I got very little restful sleep last night is an understatment.

Im rather grumpy and cranky this morning. Little things like the toddlers wanting to be read to at 715 in the morning, or the boys refusing to change their jeans or the endless talk of the pending snowstorm are just magnified in their irriation factor this morning.

Ugh ... I hope I can snag a nap this afternoon or this shall be a really really long day.

MJ

Thursday, November 29, 2007

Praising God

God is good all the time,he puts this song of praise in this heart of mine. I have been thinking today a bit on praising, musing a bit I guess. Sometimes God digs us out of holes of our own doing, somtimes he doesnt. What strikes me though is remembering to praise him for whatever he does, cause he is good and right and holy. Someone had mentioned they didnt think it right to expect God to provide for problems of your own doing. I thought bout that and I dont really agree. I dont think I expect God to dig me out of holes that I created but I expect him to do whats best for me that would bring glory to him. It may be that he provides a solution to the problem or that he gives grace for me to bear the consquences of falling into my own hole but either way its designed to bring glory to him and to bring me closer to God.

Our van is fixed and Im praising God for that. I was thinking bout timing, and how thankful I was that it wasnt last month it broke down, when we had myriads of doctor appts for Gideon. How thankful I was that I had nowhere to go this week, so it didnt matter how long the mechanic took to fix it. Thankful that we had the money to pay for it without screwing up our budget. Thankful it didnt break down away from home and that we were able to get it to the shop before it died completely.

Another big priase,our dishwasher is fixed and working again!!!! God is indeed good, he provided the means to get it fixed thru another person. I am praising God for this huge blessing. It turned out not to be as big of a problem as I thought. Our water softener had run out of salt, and we hadnt gotten it filled for awhile, and the hard water and minerals clogged up the dishwasher. So the guy cleaned it out and we ran several cycles of cleaners thru it and it works fabulous now!

Praising God for another blessing. My mentor let me know yesterday that along with several other ladies, they were going to play Mrs. Claus and bring some presents for the kids. I was so touched by this blessing. I had been telling the kids christmas would be small, since our budget is so tight,and this is just a huge blessing that God has bestowed upon us.

God is sooo good . . . all the time!

MJ

Wednesday, November 28, 2007

The Grinch

How the Grinch stole Christmas is my very favorite holiday cartoon. Dont ask me why, but thats the one i love. Frosty and rudolph are fun but dont compare to the grinch in my book. And forget the one with real people, it has to be the cartoon version, the other one wasnt very good.

It was on tonite, and since we stayed home from homegroup due to sickies, I was able to watch. I watched mostly with Ezekiel and Zemirah,although a few others wandered in and out. It was a whole new experience watching it with Zemirah. It really was fun listening to her exclamations. She was genuienly concerned that the dog was falling or getting stuck as the grinch took the sled down the hill. Then when they got the bottom and the dog reappeared, she exclaimed with absolute delight "hes unstuck!" It really was cute! She also proclaimed the grinch "scary". Although this is the girl who is scared of a bug :)

Maybe its the fact that the whos celebrate Christmas regardless of the decorations being gone and the presents stolen. While they dont mention Jesus at all in that cartoon, the concept in a much much broader sense is there. That we dont need all the trimmings, wrappings and goodies to celebrate the real reason -- Jesus Christ is born!

MJ

Bug Hijinks

The two littles were downstairs watching a movie and all of a sudden, I heard a commotion. Both of them were screaming and fussing. I figured by the amount of fuss, they were fighting over something, so I prepared myself to sort this all out.

Oh no, it was much more nefarious than that. The cause of all the waling and screaming -- a bug! One,Im told with many legs and very scary. So I calmed them the best I could and went downstairs to deal with this bug. Ezekiel helpfully gave me an oatmeal container with a lid to capture it. I didnt notice til i got downstairs, it had no bottom. Perfect for capturing wicked bugs lol! I could not find the source of this crime, no bugs in sight anywhere on the floor. I managed to convince ezekiel to resume watching the movie, as long as he was on the couch.

Zemirah on the other hand was still really scared, almost paralyzed with fear. She was convinced it was on her leg or foot and took much more calming. I remembered a trick we had to use when katarina, Josiah , Nathaniel and Zechariah were little. I had read somewhere that you cant convince kids that there arent monsters under the bed. They have created such a state in their mind, they cant comprehend adult logic. So Bobs monster jail was created. Anytime they were afraid of monsters, Id come up and wave my hand a certain way and the monsters got put into bobs monster jail. It helped them feel a bit less afraid and that they were safe. Its similar to the concept of monster go away spray, where you spray air fresherner or just plain water to scare them away.

So today Bobs bug jail was reborn and the bug is now safely enscounceed in jail. She seems calmer at least for now.

The fun we have around here!

MJ

Short and not so sweet

Being sick is never fun, but Im thankful at least this time around it was short lived. By late evening, I was able to keep some 7up and stuff down and I feel okay today. Mostly just tired and worn out a bit.

Andrew is back at work today and I canceled my hosting of moms group. i am really looking forward to just hanging out with the 3 littles today. Its nice to be back to a sort of normal weekday. I may even pull out some xmas decorations today, depending on my energy leval.

Right now Gideon is sleeping, Ezekiel and Zemirah watching some PBS and Im enjoying a nice cup of java.

God is good . . . all the time!!

MJ

Tuesday, November 27, 2007

Bumper pool

It seems that the sickies are bumping from one person to the next. Andrew and Gideon both have a cough/cold thing going on. Ariana was throwing up yesterday and she so kindly bumped that to me today.

I havent been this sick for a long while. I think the last time I was really out for the count was when I had rapid onset pnemonia. I feel like crap though for sure.

Thats all for now
MJ

Monday, November 26, 2007

Monday Mania

I woke up Ariana this morning for school and she stumbles into the kitchen saying she feels like throwing up. Hmm ... not exactly my favorite words for a monday morning. She definitely is sick, so shes home from school today. Thankfully shes in a pretty good mood in between bouts. The other praise is she is generally old enough to hit the bucket, that helps too!

Andrew is dealing with a cough/cold/scratchy voice, so hes home today as well.

Already ran the van to the mechanics this morning. Im still hoping its somthing other than the alternator but it seems unlikely given the symptoms. It was a nice but cold walk back home. Praising God again for the small town we live in. I love being close enough to the mechanic to walk home without having to catch a ride. With Andrew home sick as well, I didnt have to drag the littles along either. Double praise!

Not much on the agenda today, just taking care of sickies and some laundry. It will be nice to have a low key day.

God is good ... all the time!

MJ

Saturday, November 24, 2007

2 days post holiday

I wanted to blog yesterday but the timing just never occured. Overall it was a nice day. What I was most excited bout-- the fact that the house was still clean after the massive clean up for the holiday. So I have been on top of the kids a bit more to clean up more often, rather than letting it get overwhelming.

On wednesday night, Katarina and Nathaniel stayed up late to help with the cleaning; Andrew even lent a hand. It was fun team cleaning :) We finished up on Thursday morning and began the cooking that needed to be done.

It was a very enjoyable thanksgiving with company over. I really enjoyed spending time with our friends and getting to know some new friends. Some of our company didnt leave til after 9 pm that night due to a fun risk game. While I did lose, I was holding my own for quite a while.

Friday, I finished up folding the laundry, the only thing I really didnt get done for thursday. Then played some skipbo with the kids. Even the dishes are still caught up. For once, I actually did the dishes right after the holiday meal and even several times before the meal while we were still cooking. I generally tend to ignore the dishes and spend time hanging out with company. While I still prefer that option, it was really nice to not have a huge pile of dishes to deal with and having the kitchen put back together and swept up! God is good!

Since I really have been dogging the kids to keep picking up periodically during the day, the house is still fairly tidy today. Which is really nice change for rest day!!! So we have spent the morning playing some games with the kids. Some of them are watching saturday morning cartoons, computer or gameboy. Some are playing cards with andrew or I. Andrew has played some backgammon with Elijah. Its much more relaxing this morning. Praising God for this blessing today.

Not a lot on our agenda this weekend. Andrew has a paper to write but we are mostly unoccupied for this weekend.

God is good ... all the time!
MJ

Tuesday, November 20, 2007

Deadlines

One of the many reasons that I enjoy having company over is the set in stone deadline for cleaning. It prompts me to prioritize my time better( although sometimes to the other extreme of not spending enough time with the kids) and get the cleaning and organizing and decluttering done.

So I have been on my mad cleaning frenzy. First place of organizning happened to be the storage room. Which to me sounds odd, as thats not typically a place guests would frequent. It makes sense though in a much broader picture. In decluttering the upstairs, I realize I need the storage room clean and organized in order to put some other things away, that have been sitting awhile. Thus it began. I have been wanting to tackle it anyway, so i could get the clothing bins in a good place to start sorting summer clothes back into bins by size. I also took an opportunity to rid ourselves of some of our billion shoes!!! Summer shoes all matched and boxed up for next year, too small and not useful for a younger siblings-- passed on to others, and others put in the pile for the local thrift store.

It took me too days, but other than the gigantic mountain of laundry(recently reduced from volcanic proportions) its neat and tidy! I love how this year I feel Im much more ready for winter. Boots already gone thru and double checked that we have right sizes, snow pants already hanging on nails in the storage room, and the glove/hat/mitten tote out and in use. I still need to do some matching of gloves and put each kids in their cubby downstairs. That too got brought in, the cubby that is, and is ready to be used.

Dishes got all caught up today as well as 7 loads of laundry not only washed but folded and put away as well. The house definitely needs some decluttering but its mostly in order. Im pumped bout that too, cause then when i clean tomorrow, I can put more effort into deep cleaning rather than just the standard picking up and cleaning i normally do.

Im really looking forward to hosting some friends and giving thanks.

God is good ... all the time!

MJ

Thursday, November 15, 2007

The masses have spoken

Okay so only 3 people (Hi Tom, Gina and Brenda). I am due for writing a recent post anyway.

We had a great weekend away. It was really nice to hang out with our friends and for the kids to see their friends. It was interesting to watch the dynamics. Ezekiel is a leader and had the two girls following him around the house. At one point they all had play bananas and were shooting the snakes that had come into the house. Great imaginations!

Andrew was bogged down with a 2000 word paper most of the weekend, so he didnt enjoy the time so much with that hanging over his head.

My aunt and uncle went all out for us, I mean ALL OUT! We pulled up to their house and in the backyard was a spongbob jumping inflatable thing!!! I think I was a bit in shock at what they had done for us. They really wanted to make sure the kids had fun. I enjoyed seeing my grandparents and my aunts and uncles. We did pick an intersting time to come, in almost every room of the house, the packers/viking game was on. My family is all from wisconsin, so big packer fans. I enjoyed razzing them a little telling them I like the Vikings since they have better colors. They made a huge spread, turkey, mashed potatoes, fruit salad, stuffing -- yum! I loved being able to stay as long as we wanted, without the added pressure of knowing we had to go home that night with a 6 hr drive in front of us. That was really nice to go home Monday morning instead.

Then my aunt brought out the kids xmas presents, since we wont be able to go home for christmas. She went all out there too. They all got a shirt/vest combo, toothbrush,activity books, new snow gloves, new socks and some candy goodies. Then she got us 3 family movies on top of all that too! She got little Gideon, really cute jammmies, which he totally needed. It was very much a blessing to us.

We left at 9 am monday and arrived home at 430 pm, with a stop for lunch, and 2 bathroom breaks. Not bad really. We dropped andrew off in stpaul to get the car and head to school, so he didnt even get to come home til 11 pm that night.

This week has been spend recooperating, getting caught back on household chores and preparing for K's birthday sleepover. She managed to con me into letting her invite 6 girls.

Gideon is doing well, hes up another 4 oz. So hes back on a good growth curve and should gain about a 1 lb a month. He is so much more enjoyable now, mostly a happy baby(cept when hes teething). His little grin is adorable with his top teeth in now, he has 4 teeth and working on 2 more. Though watch out -- he bites! He also pulls hair much to Zemirahs dismay, she often gets too close and he grabs a fistful.

Well gotta run, time for lunch

God is good. . . all the time!

MJ

Wednesday, November 07, 2007

Atypical

Following Gideons trend since birth, making his own way into the world, Gideons diagnosis follows the same pattern. Yesterday the geneticist confirmed the diagnosis of Klippel-Trenaunay syndrome but indicated that his was atypical in the fact that he did not have the port wine stain or vascular birthmark.

It was a good appt, Andrew was able to go with me, so that was a great support as well. Im glad we had gotten the heads up on the syndrome(so we had done research ahead of time) so the questions we asked were more productive in terms of learning what we needed to know.

Its not generally life threatening or progressive. So its not likely, that this will spread to other parts of his body or systems. She also indicated she felt that much of the bulk of his big leg was due to lymphedema, which can be reduced. She indicated that with special massage therapy and wrapping the leg, that we could greatly reduce the swelling. This is a very specialized procedure that not a lot of therapists are trained in , let alone on kids. Once we find one, then andrew and I will begin the process of learning how to do this ourselves. It will take several weeks of intense sessions to learn how to do it correctly.

I also learned more about his venous malformation, its not a tangle of veins and whatnot as I thought, but a vein that didnt finish forming and just stops abruptly. The blood is still getting thru, it tends to take the pain of least resistence.

One of things we will have to do is make sure we are really watching that leg for infection. Cuts or scrapes on that leg/foot will take longer to heal as it doesnt get as much oxygen, so we will need to be diligent in cleaning and disinfecting cuts on that leg and watching for ingrown toenails.

On another positive note, she did not think his developmental delays were associated with his leg syndrome. Time will fully tell on that marker, but he is making remarkable progress on hitting varouis milestones.

Gideon is also gaining weight, he is up to 16 lbs and 10 oz, thats 1 lb 10 oz up in a month. Gideon is 7 months old today!!!!

We are still learning thruout all of this but it does feel good to be getting somewhere in diagnosing his issues and not the constant wondering of what ifs. God is good ... all the time!~

MJ

Monday, November 05, 2007

Operation Embarrass Katarina

My baby girl is 14 yrs old today. I must say I certainely dont "feel" old enough to have a 14 yr old daughter. It is a complete joy to see her mature into a young woman. She still wants to hang out wiht her mother now and then, so I love that too!

She though now is at the age where singing her happy birthday anywhere in public, completely embarrasses her. Her father managed to sing to her at church yesterday, a day early. Josiah is planning on telling the bus driver and kids at school. Poor girl doesnt stand a chance! My plans, well they are a bit more nefarious. She seemed positvely appalled at the idea, which just fuels me even more! Im making a sign and putting it on the corner, saying Happy 14th Birthday Katarina! We live on one of the main roads in town next to the main gas station, so well it will get some press.

Feel free to call and sing to her over the phone and stop in tonite and sing ... She will love it (read be completely embarrassed).

God is good ... all the time

MJ

Ps I did offer to skip her birthday, maybe next year she will take me up on it lol!

Thursday, November 01, 2007

Good news

I really was dreading todays appt, mostly because I couldnt get a sitter, so my 2 and almost 4 yr old were coming with. They overall were pretty good and Im thankful for that. A little rambunctious at times, but thats pretty normal.

The best part is he doesnt have a problem with his hip!!! Woohoo! Cant tell you how relieved I was. They took an xray, which shows it as normal and not loose. Yes he does have a click but in the doctors words, he doesnt have a clunk. He said a click,is usually somthing with a ligament or muscle, nothing really to worry bout but a clunk means the hip bones and things are moving in ways they should not. Gideon will need to go back in 6 months for another xray and followup but thats to be expected.

I really liked this doctor, he also took some time and looked at his leg and was very conversational. Im actually sad that he is only filling in and moving on to Louisana in december. He thought also that the leg looked likely indictive of KT. He also filled in the reason why we were sent to a geneticist. He stated they generally sent people there when dealing with syndromes rather than just one symptom. They can look at the overall picture. He also told me that with a venous malformation, that leg and area get more blood and oxygen, which in turn causes that leg to grow bigger faster. Pretty interesting stuff.

Two more appts tommorrow,one for Gideon in the morning and one for Josiah in the afternoon. REally looking forward to the weekend!

MJ