My Latest Trial

Monday morning, I woke up with my lips feeling a little more dry than usual and a bit crusty. I scraped some gunk off my lips that was a yellowish color. When I looked in the mirror, I was surprised to see my lips look so red and crusty. To put it this way, I felt like I looked like the Joker from Batman or some other freaky clown. My thoughts were that maybe my lips are doing this because of the chicken we had the night before and that it was a bit salty on the outside and Curtis had also used baking soda in the mixture. I washed off my lips and put my chapstick on and decided to try and drink extra water and propel that day to see if hydration would help. My bottom lip also looked a little bit swollen, so I took an Ibuprofen. I didn't want to go anywhere that day while looking like this, but I had to meet with Sister Gale to prep stuff for activity days. She's going to be out of town for a while helping her daughter recover from a surgery and wanted to help me in any way she could for the next couple activities. 

That night before going to bed I took some Benadryl to see if it might be an allergic reaction. That didn't do anything, because the next morning it was pretty much the same, maybe a little worse. I could even feel a slight burning sensation and it was a bit itchy. I decided I better see if I could get into a doctor. I don't have a family doctor here for myself yet so I called the Kadlec Express. They were all booked up for that day and got me scheduled for Wednesday morning. After making that appointment though, I really wanted to try getting it looked at that day and so I checked our insurance to see what dermatologist is in our network. I was blessed to find one just down the street and they had a cancelation and was able to get me in that morning at 10:20am. What a relief! I go in and it turns out I have an infection called Impetigo, which is a type of staph infection. They sent in a prescription for an ointment and said it should be looking better by Friday, but if it wasn't to call them.

I am so thankful that I was able to get in so quickly and get this figured out, but so far it's been a long and a little painful process. I apply the ointment 5 times a day and each time I wipe my mouth off with a clean washcloth to get rid of the crusties and then apply the ointment. It typically burns a bit for the first little while and then cools down.

This is what it looked like when I woke up Tuesday morning before making the appointment.

It doesn't help that we are low on food. I need to go grocery shopping, but I don't want to go out in public and I don't really want to wear a mask either. I was forced to go to Walmart to get my prescription, so I picked up some cereal and milk while there. I was embarrassed to walk around looking like that but thankfully most people aren't looking at me. Usually, people are looking in different directions and thinking about their own things.

This is what it looked like yesterday before washing my face off.

This is what it looked like after cleaning my face but before the ointment. It's starting to crack and bleed a little. Not fun!

It has also been a little difficult to eat my food because my lips feel dry and stiff and it's hard to open my mouth all the way. On Monday and Tuesday I felt very tired and didn't do much during the day but yesterday I felt a little more energy. I forced myself to exercise and at least get some finances done and a bit of laundry. Today, I'm feeling tired again and not wanting to do much. Maybe I just need to listen to my body and rest because it's fighting an infection. 

Here is what I look like this morning after cleaning off and applying ointment. 

This morning, I did a little better job scraping the dry crust off and made it bleed more but I think it will help because the ointment needs to get past the crusties to fight the infection. It still looks bad, but I think it is doing better today. It just needs time. So that's been my latest trial I'm dealing with and I'm just glad it's me that has to deal with it and not any of my kids. It is contagious with contact but hopefully nobody else will get it. I have been washing my water bottle every morning and washing my hands frequently.

On another note, Sister Gale gave us some branches that were trimmed off her cherry blossom tree to see if we could put them in a vase or bucket and have them bloom. I wasn't sure if I wanted to, but my girls grabbed some at the end of our last activity day activity. I didn't have a vase, but I found a glass pitcher to put them in and sure enough, they are starting to sprout. Coco has decided that he prefers getting his water out of the pitcher now. I caught a picture of him drinking.

This was taken Sunday morning before church.

You can see the tip of green on the branches. They weren't green at all when she first gave them to us the Monday before.

This is what they looked like yesterday. Big difference in just a few days.

I had this lace tied around my orchid flowerpot I got for Valentine's, but decided to take it off this morning. I asked Alice if she wanted me to tie it in her hair and so I did. She loves it!

She took a selfie first.

It's a little difficult to see because it's sheer ribbon.

But it has rainbow colors in it.

Anyway, other than my mouth I would say this week is going well. Any time I start to feel sorry for myself about my situation and pain, I just remind myself that this is nothing compared to what so many others have to deal with. I'm thankful it's in a small area and that I have antibiotics. 

I am also thankful to have spring like weather because I see family and friends in Idaho and Utah experiencing more snow this week and I'm thankful it's not here! But maybe I shouldn't be thankful because we probably need the snowpack here still. I'm not sure.

Activities This Week

This last week the girls' school had a spirit week to celebrate Dr. Suess's birthday and Read Across America. On Monday it was hat day. I got my cowgirl hat out and offered that Charlotte could wear it if she wanted to. She said she would if she couldn't find one from her room. Charlotte and Alice both wore their old t-ball/softball hats from when they played in Nampa. They were both on teams with the same name, so their hats were the same. They even wore their hats to activity days that day because I picked them up from school and drove straight over to the church. The main activity we did was making slip knot bracelets. I had taught my girls how to do them on Sunday so that they could get practice and help other girls, but they still got to make another one on Monday also. Afterwards we played "Do You Love Your Neighbor?". I was surprised that no one had ever played this game before, and they had such a good time. Unfortunately, they didn't get to play it very long. That one hour goes by quickly!

Showing off their bracelets.

Neither of the girls wore my hat to school but Alice put it on that evening, and she looked like the cutest little cowgirl with her skirt and black boots.

Thursday night was the big Read Across America Night and they had some activities going on at the school, so I took the girls over there. They each got a Cat in the Hat hat to wear and a "passport" that had check boxes for each of the activities you could do. We were able to do most of them. Alice did a little scavenger hunt first that was for first graders only and she got a little prize for doing it. There were things like listening to a story read by a police officer, face painting, writing an appreciation note to a staff member at the school, guessing how many words are in a book, and voting on the best decorated doors done by the teachers. The doors were decorated to relate to books. There was also a free cookie in the cafeteria along with some pizza and pop for sale by the PTO and there were bookmarks to color and a washable tattoo. The girls had a great time.

Alice got her face painted but Charlotte chose not to.

Jack's band teacher sent out an email asking for 2 chaperones for the wind ensemble group for the competition they were having at the college in Ellensburg on Saturday. Normally Jack is not in the wind ensemble, but he and a couple other younger kids were invited to join them for this competition, including his friend Eli. They needed two chaperones to ride the bus and it was an all day event. We didn't really have any plans other than me wanting to do some yard work, but I was willing to be a chaperone. I waited to see if anyone else would sign up first but when no one had, I talked to Curtis about it. He said he was willing to go too, even though he wasn't excited about riding the bus. I wasn't either to tell the truth. If they hadn't got the chaperones they needed, then they would have had to cancel their trip. So, Curtis and I signed up to be the chaperones. I was glad to be doing it together. He said he hasn't ridden on a bus since he was a kid. I've had a lot more practice than him since I've been chaperone for kids' events over the years. 

Since I knew we were going to be gone most of the day Saturday, I decided I wanted to get some yard work done on Friday during the day. I tackled the big bush in the back yard again. Even after trimming it last Summer/Fall I knew it was still too tall. I trimmed it way down because I know it will have all Spring and Summer to grow.

I had already started trimming it when I thought to get a picture, but this is basically the before picture.

And here's the after.

Milo had lots of outside time with me on Friday. Occasionally I would throw a toy for him to get or a big branch that I cut from the bush for him to chew on.

There's a lot more yard work I wanted to do but this bush took up all of my time. We had plans that evening to go hang out with friends from the ward. It started with Jack getting invited by Cam and Cole Wingert to go rock wall climbing. Then we decided to get together with their parents to play games. We went to their house because they were hosting a teenage girl get together for their daughters. Charlotte is friends with their youngest son, Connor, so we brought the girls along as well. While the men were gone to take the boys over to Richland for the rock wall climbing, Tiffani and I got to visit for awhile. The men ended up staying the whole time with the boys because Jack didn't want to stay long. I think Jack was tired from being up since 5 am and playing tennis after school for the tennis team. We snacked on some pizza and popcorn when they came back and then the adults played a couple of rounds of Uno Flip. I had never played this variation of Uno before. It was kind of fun but it can get confusing. We had fun but we were tired and didn't stay too long since we had to get to the school early the next morning.

We woke up around 5:20am to be able to shower and eat before getting to the school by 7:15am. The bus was loaded at 7:30am and we hit the road shortly after. It's about a 2 hour drive except we did take one rest stop break, so it was probably closer to 2 1/2 hours. There were supposed to be 23 students but only 20 showed up. We got there and watched a couple of other bands perform before going to get ready for their performance. We were told that we could stay in the auditorium while they did that and during the performance. After they were finished, we forgot that they were going to get some instruction in a separate room. We waited outside of the auditorium for awhile before deciding to check to see if they went to the instrument storage area. They were not there and then we thought they went to lunch already at the cafeteria, but they were not there when we got over there. We just decided to ahead and get ourselves some food. Finally, Jack contacted us, and they were heading our way, so we waited. After lunch we had a couple of hours to hang out until we had to go back and watch some more performances. Then we hit the road and got home around 6:15pm. The ride home felt more uncomfortable than the ride there. They just need more leg space and softer seats on those buses. It was a long day but I'm happy we were able to help.

Riding on the bus.

Watching their performance. Jack played the French horn.

The picture Curtis sent Jack when he said we were lost. This is how worried we were, ha ha.

The bus ride home. Jack and Eli.

Charlotte's dress came in the mail early! It was supposed to come on Monday, but it came on Friday. Charlotte wore it to church this morning and I think she's really happy with it. It is a little long, but it still works. Unfortunately, she didn't get to wear it to class because she started coughing a lot during Sacrament meeting and Curtis ended up taking her home right after the Sacrament was passed. He gave her some cough medicine and she did a breathing treatment. It's getting a bit frustrating with her cough getting better and then acting up again over and over. Fortunately, the meds worked and helped settle her cough down. She's feeling much better now.

She wanted to wear it with her white vest.

But it looks cute either way.

Getting Out

Last Friday morning after Curtis took off for work and dropped the boys off to school, he called me and said we should do something fun with the kids that night and get them out of the house. He had heard about a mini golf glow in the dark place. It was a little expensive to take our whole family but we decided it would be worth it to do something fun as a family and break up the usual movie/video game weekend. Well, we still watched movies afterwards but at least we got out of the house. Even Garrett seemed to enjoy himself. It was nice to have something to look forward to throughout the day. Curtis also said we should make something for dinner together as a family and to ask the kids what they wanted to do. The kids decided on French toast for dinner. I added in bacon, hashbrowns, and orange juice. Garrett made the syrup. Jack cooked the bacon and helped Alice make the juice. Curtis did the hashbrowns and Charlotte helped me with the French toast. It was fun having everyone help out. After we finished eating and cleaning up, we took off to go play some golf.

We were keeping track of scores, but I don't even know what score I ended up with. Some holes I played well and some I didn't, so I don't really know how I did but I don't really care about the score anyway. 

Like I said, we still came home and watched movies afterwards. Garrett, the girls and I went downstairs to watch Sing 2. We like both of the Sing movies, but we like Sing 2 better. For the last couple of weeks, I have been waking the girls up to songs from those movies and they love it. We love listening to the songs. Curtis and Jack watched either James Bond or Pirates of the Caribbean. I don't remember. 

Saturday morning, the boys did chores in order to get ready to play D&D with their friends again and we took the girls and Milo for a ride in the truck to the park. It was the longest ride he's been on and he wasn't scared this time. Of course, this time he was riding in the truck with the girls instead of in the kennel in the back. He loved it and so did the girls. He was a bit nervous going to the park though when he saw other people. We need to get him out more and get him socialized. Curtis walked around with him while the girls played and I watched them. 

He was in the middle of a big yawn.

After our outing at the park, Charlotte started coughing a lot on the way home. This keeps happening any time she runs around while she still has a little cough. It will seem like she's better and then she runs and plays and her cough acts up. I had to get her on the nebulizer when we got home and just let her watch tv for awhile so she could rest and relax the cough. Later she was feeling better and I took her out shopping to try and find her a new dress that she will actually like. She's very picky about dresses and doesn't like very many of them. Her criteria were that it needed a high neckline, short sleeves, stretchy material, long length and she was hoping for it to be yellow. I was disappointed in what we found or should I say, didn't find at Ross and Burlington. There was only one dress that she was willing to try on and because there was elastic on the sleeves, she didn't like that. The next day I decided to look online to see what I could find. I really want her to have a dress she likes and the one red dress that she's willing to wear right now is all she has worn for the last year and it's not going to fit her much longer. Fortunately, I found exactly what she is looking for on Amazon. It was even yellow and has pockets! I just hope the size I ordered is the right size. She is a bit overweight and short for her age. The dress is due to arrive next Monday, so crossing our fingers it will work. If she likes it enough, then I'll buy more in other colors so she can have options.

Sunday morning, Charlotte was coughing a lot, so I had her stay home with Milo while the rest of us went to church. Alice was about to say something about her wanting to stay home also but I quickly told her that I get to go to class with her that day! The primary was having a special class for the kids turning 8 this year and talking about baptism with their parents. She was excited to have me in class with her. The primary president showed a video and talked about baptism and the bishop also talked a little bit about the bishop interview before baptism. Alice will be turning 8 at the end of the year, so she won't actually get baptized until next year. She is very excited to get baptized! The primary president also gave each child a bag of goodies.

Donuts on a stick in the shape of an "8".

She got a dry erase chart to write goals on, stickers, a picture of Christ with a child and a temple ring.

Here's her temple ring. I love these temple rings and wish they had them when I was a kid.

The rest of our Sunday was kind of lazy and everyone was doing their own thing. I watched several episodes of the Chosen.  We finally got together after dinner to play a game of Uno and shared the remainder of the girls' Valentine candy. I was so happy to see Garrett playing with us and having fun. He even wore some silly heart shaped glasses while playing.

Being silly for the picture. Alice was ducking down to hide.

We finally used our new card shuffler that Curtis's parents gave to him for Christmas. It works really well and I'm glad we have one now.

Listening to the "Lollipop" song while licking suckers.

He was faking it.

Lick, lick, bite!

Overall, it was a good weekend. I was hoping to get some yard clean up done on Saturday but that didn't happen. The weather has not been cooperating with me this week either to be able to do it. It's either really windy and cold or it's raining. March starts tomorrow and things are starting to grow. I'm getting anxious to get out there and get things done but will have to be patient.

Our Valentine's Week

On the evening of the 13th Jack had a jazz dessert night fundraiser for the music department at the high school. Curtis was still in Idaho and so the girls and I decided to attend while Garrett stayed home. We paid for our tickets and sat at decorated tables in the cafeteria and listened to music while eating different kinds of desserts. The girls were happy to bring home some balloons from the event. I wasn't even sure I was going to go to the event until the girls got home from school and I asked if they wanted to go. I'm glad we did because it was fun and they enjoyed it also. They had a silent auction for different baskets and things. I bid on a Southridge blanket but got outbid and didn't win. Charlotte was really bummed.

They had a cute display of balloons to take pictures in front of.

Listening to the band now.

He loves that black hat.

Enjoying their desserts.

The napkins were wrapped like a rose. It looked so cool.

Jack and his girlfriend, Morgan.

The balloons the girls were lucky enough to bring home. 

Charlotte had woken up with an aching ear the day before the concert, after we got home from Idaho. Her doctor didn't have any appointments available, so we took her to the express care close to our house and was able to get her in that morning. It was just an outer infection in one ear, so the doctor prescribed some ear drops for that ear. That's the first time ear drops have ever been prescribed for my kids. Usually, they are given Amoxicillin. The next day (same day as the band concert) she was feeling good and went to school and then of course the band concert. Garrett had also stayed home on Monday still not feeling well (like he did in Idaho). I started him on Dayquil and Nyquil pills and made sure he got them regularly. He felt good enough to go to school the next day. For the next few days I would bring him his pills at lunch time to the seminary building to make sure he would get the next dose when he needed it. He continued to feel better each day and eventually didn't need the pills anymore. Sure glad they worked!

The girls had a fun Valentines' at school and brought home lots of goodies. Curtis traveled home that day and brought me a bag of dark chocolate truffles and roses. I'm surprised the roses lasted the trip home. We didn't go out to dinner since it was Wednesday and they had mutual. I was fine with that. Curtis was having tooth trouble while in Idaho and ended up having a tooth pulled by his brother Casey, where a root canal had failed. He may put an implant in that spot later on but for now he's just healing up.

Alice made me a cute Valentine at school. Charlotte made something similar to it for Mother's Day last year. Their teachers must have shared the idea.

The girls and their Valentine loot.

That morning before the girls went to school, I surprised them with the Sing 1&2 DVDs as a Valentine gift. I don't normally give them a Valentine gift, but it was an excuse to get them these movies. They were super excited and couldn't wait until Friday to watch them for the first time. They had discovered music videos from the movies on YouTube and kept watching them over and over. That's when I secretly ordered them on Amazon. Curtis and I were interested in watching them also. They had some good songs on the show that we recognized. We watched them together Friday night. Curtis wanted to watch them but ended up falling asleep for most of the first movie. He didn't want to watch the 2nd one until he could rewatch the 1st movie. They were cute movies and the girls and I enjoyed them. Garrett enjoyed them also. Jack wasn't interested and didn't watch with us.

That night Charlotte woke me up in the middle of the night at 1:30am with both of her ears hurting now. The one that had ear drops (her right ear) wasn't hurting as much as the other one, but it was still hurting. I had to give her some Ibuprofen and sit up with her until the pain died down enough for her to go back to sleep. She was definitely going to stay home from school again that day. I called the express care as soon as they opened at 8am but there weren't any openings anywhere that day. Even the express care takes appointments only. We had to wait until the next morning (Friday) to get her in. Luckily, she only missed half a day of school on Friday because they were having a special early release that day. I took her in and she had inner ear infections in both ears. The doctor prescribed amoxicillin and Flonase. She had a cough on top of that and the doctor said she sounded a little raspy inside and said to use her nebulizer a couple of times a day and to have the humidifier on at night. I was really missing our old pediatrician that week because I know we would have only had one appointment. He would have done the Amoxicillin from the start just to make sure it didn't spread (like it did). 

Alice loves to wear dresses and wore a dress to school that Friday and when she got home she put on the crown that Grandma Vernie gave her. She wore it the rest of the day. I love this girl and that she likes to look like a princess. She's my only girl who likes to wear dresses.

Curtis and I did end up going out to eat Friday night before we watched the movies. I guess that was considered our Valentine's date. We decided on a Chinese restaurant. It was good but I didn't care for the chow mein. I got to thinking that maybe it was lo mein that I ordered on accident because it was more of a sauce than noodles. Maybe it wasn't the greatest Valentine's week but it was still good.