cough, cough, runny nose!

~update: After taking her to the doctor, it was discovered that Katie has an ear infection & a sinus infection~

I'm home once again on a Sunday morning with a sick child. *sigh* To be honest, I'm surprised that it's not Gracie since she had so many out sick in her school class this week-7 on Monday & 6 on Tuesday with 3 more going home during the day-but so far she's good! She's coughing & sniffing a bit, but for now that's all-thankfully!

Katie had her bad cough last week along with a clear runny nose for a day or two. The nose got better and the cough is better. When she coughs it still sounds bad, but she's not doing it near as often. However, her nose has now started running again, and it looks pretty gross. I think she had some fever last night. I didn't actually take it, but she felt pretty warm. I also wasn't feeling well at all, so Chris tried to find me a sub for this morning but was unsuccessful. I felt better this morning once I got up and Katie seemed better, but her nose quickly started looking gross again. We called a few more people and finally found someone who could sub for my class. I know Chris could have grabbed someone once he got there, but I really hate for him to have to do that-for the extra work it puts on him as well as the person he grabs feeling rushed. Calling someone 45 minutes before class starts isn't a whole lot more notice, but at least it's a little more notice than being asked when you walk in the doors of the building!

So, Katie Boo and I are at home-her with a runny nose & watery eyes and me not feeling great either. I feel better than last night but still not great-swollen throat, headache, stuffy head, etc. I told Chris I feel like I need a good snort of nose spray (sorry if that's TMI) but I'm not sure that's approved by my doctor. I'll probably call him tomorrow to see what-if anything-I can take. I've been very blessed this pregnancy that I haven't needed to take many meds, so maybe I'll just get over this mess without needing to take any meds. We may take Katie into her pediatrician this afternoon because I'm afraid she may have an infection that needs something stronger than what we can give her over the counter. Hopefully, I will be able to take her to MDO Tuesday because I'm supposed to take my friend out to lunch for her birthday. I was supposed to do it last week and had to cancel, so I don't want to have to do that again!

Here she is holding a packet of tissues-we need to keep those handy!

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This week has been a doozie, let me tell ya. My hormones are a little off anyway because of the pregnancy, so maybe things are getting to me more than usual, but there have been about 3 things that have brought me to tears this week. I guess I won't bore everyone with all the details, but hopefully this week will be better! Thanks, MB, for coming over Thursday morning when I was having a meltdown! MB always gives me perspective-she was upset too-but she doesn't have redhead/pregnancy hormones running through her, so she was calmer. Of course, to be fair to me, she does have her fair share of times when she's more upset about things-hopefully I give her perspective from time to time! LOL

I'm just glad God is greater & bigger than all the sin in this world. I feel so bad for kids who make such bad decisions (referring to an incident at Gracie's school) which can cause horrible consequences for other students & parents, etc. However, as upset as I am with the kid, I find myself being sad for him as well because in looking at the home situation I find myself shaking my head and wondering how he hasn't made even worse decisions. It's hard to expect an 11 or 12 year old to "know better" when one of the adults in his life doesn't appear to know better. Maybe it's the parent in me that wants to be so mad, but the teacher in me wants to "save" him. Thank you God for all the wonderful teachers who try so hard to be a bright spot in the lives of these children who need it-they just never know when they will say or do something that may make a positive difference for the rest of the child's life! I pray that something will touch this kid that causes a positive change for his life!

God is bigger than all things, and He loves everyone. Pretty amazing really. I mean, I do bad things everyday and He still loves me. He doesn't love me any more than He loves someone who does "bad" things according to the world. I mean, my bad things may have less severe "worldly" consequences than what other people do, but my actions still make God sad. We all sin and we all need God's grace!

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Changing the subject.....

Katie just asked me, "How do babies get in people's tummies?" (This was after she asked me-again-why we're not getting a boy baby and we had to review which of our friends at church are getting boy babies and that God had chosen for us to have a girl baby.) I said, "God makes a special way for them to get in there." Wonder how long I can get away with that answer??!

We've already had to get a tad deeper on the answer for Gracie simply because the girl reads ALL the time and got her hands on something that explained things in a little more detail than I would have liked for her to know at this age. I found out one day when she asked me, "Did you know........" and proceeded to tell me things that I did indeed know but had NO idea that she knew! And no, it wasn't something she got at school or from a friend. It was something from a book in her own bookcase! (BTW: Philip & Jaime-if Colt seems to know a little more than he did before Christmas, she learned this stuff from one of the books he & Gracie were looking at together when he came over to play! *oops-sorry about that!*) Anyway, as you can tell, Katie is still a little hung up on why we're not having a boy. Goodness grief! Hopefully by June, she's going to accept that this precious baby is another girl! I for one am truly excited about having 3 girls!

I liked what one of my new "moms" at school said. Her son (who Gracie thinks is pretty cute!) said to me, "I hear you want to have another baby." I said, "Yes, I do." He looked at me and said, "Why don't you want to have a boy?" He said it all so innocently as if all I had to do was want it and I'd get it. I laughed and looked away. When I looked back he was blushing. (He really is a cutie!) I laughed & said, "I didn't get to choose." Well, I emailed his mom to tell her the story because it was so cute, and she said that when she had told him a couple of weeks earlier that Gracie was going to have another sister, he seemed to be very disappointed. He had asked his mom then why I didn't want to have a boy. She explained to him that it wasn't my decision and that God had already planned to send our family another girl before I even got pregnant. She said she had no idea why he was so interested in the s-e-x of our baby, but it gave them another opportunity to talk about God! I thought that was such a neat way to say it-God had already planned to send us another girl before I got pregnant. So neat!

Speaking of this new little girl-she is moovin' & groovin' and I'm feeling it! I love it! I can't wait for the girls & Chris to be able to feel & see her move.

Here's a picture that shows the times doesn't it? My 3 year old sitting on the couch with the laptop on her lap-playing on Playhouse Disney no doubt!

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My grandfather is having his heart valve replacement surgery on Tuesday in Huntsville, AL. Please say a prayer for him.

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I just finished reading "When the Morning Comes" by Cindy Woodsmall. It was the 2nd in the series and I have really enjoyed both of them. There will be a 3rd, but it won't be released until September! ugh I'd had this 2nd one on reserve at the library, but it was going to be forever before it'd be my turn, so I ended up buying it. I couldn't find it at Wal Mart, Target, or Family Christian but finally found it at B. Dalton.

Chris pre-ordered "Someday" for me so I should get it this next week. It's the 3rd book in a series by Karen Kingsbury that I'd started reading. It's one of those great series that just keeps going & going so you really feel like you "know" the family! There have probably been 9 books before this "sub-series" began. They sub-series just keep shooting off of each other with some of the same characters but new ones added along the way.

I have just begun reading "Believing God" by Beth Moore. I look forward to getting into it more. I also had a friend send me "Take Flight" in the mail this week. How fun to get a package! Thanks, Alissa!