Yee Haw

update.......

Friday before Valentine's Day, Gracie didn't have school which was nice. All 3 of the girls accompanied me to Super Wal Mart that morning to get groceries. I rarely shop at WM anymore for groceries, but this one is a fairly new one and quite nice-for now anyway, so we checked it out. It's nice when Gracie goes with us because she pushes Ellie in the stroller and then I push Katie in the buggy. Makes for more room in the buggy. Of course, when I can go alone it's nice too!
That night, we had our first family dinner at our new dining room table. I even used my wedding china and crystal glasses. Chris was a bit surprised I was allowing the girls to use them, but nothing was broken! I was nervous every time Katie picked up her glass though! We has salmon and mashed potatoes and a good salad with feta cheese, almonds, & cranberries. I also made a heart shaped cake. It kind of fell apart, but it was the thought that counts, right?The next morning, Chris made his usual Saturday morning doughnut run and he & the girls got a few little Valentine's Day goodies. He had sent me a dozen red roses earlier in the week! We went out on a real date that night and left the girls with a real babysitter! Not the norm for us, but everyone did great and we had a good time and look forward to having this girl babysit for us more.
Gracie & Chris were both off for Presidents' Day, so we made a trip to the Houston zoo. It happened to be one of their free days which was great because it saved us about $25-30! We had a good time at the zoo, although we had a flat tire once we were there and Chris got to change it in the parking lot. Then we got to go get 2 new tires. Fun, fun.Of course, after 1 thing happens with our cars, it snowballs. Chris's car ended up having to get a new transmission about a week later. :( It is a hybrid Honda which apparently makes the parts more expensive. *sniff sniff* Thankfully, our tax refund is going to cover it, but it sure does hurt to use the money for that. However, I am very THANKFUL that we will have the money to cover it. A true blessing when needed!


Last weekend, we enjoyed going to a carnival at Gracie's school and then went to church to enjoy watching "Fireproof." They had babysitting for the kids which was nice. We had already seen the movie once but enjoyed watching it again. Saturday night we had some friends from church over which was a lot of fun.


Monday was "Go Texas Day" at Katie's preschool. She was excited to wear her daddy's cowboy hat and have a petting zoo. She even got to ride a pony. She looked so cute! Ellie got to enjoy it too, but she didn't have a cowboy hat.

Tuesday, the 24th, was Ellie's 8 month birthday! It's so hard to believe she's already that old! She isn't crawling yet but is really close. She's starting to eat more table food. She's had mashed potatoes, green beans, pancake, cottage cheese, macaroni & cheese, banana. She still spits up a lot. I've gotten past not wanting to cover up cute outfits with a bib. Having her wear a bib is better than having to change the cute outfit as soon as I put it on! She poops a lot! She is soooo much fun. We have to watch her because she rolls all over the place and gets into stuff these days-not as much as when she'll start crawling but still-the other day, I found her with a Sharpie marker in her hand! Thursday was 'awards day' for Gracie for the last 6 weeks. She did well again-all A's. We are proud of her!Next week, she takes the Reading TAKS. Anyone with a child 3rd grade or older in a Texas public school knows what that means! I know she'll do well and am not too concerned. My main thing has been telling her to pay attention and not skip any and pay attention to what the question is really asking.


I bought a new mattress, box springs, frame, & headboard for Gracie's room yesterday. It should be delivered tomorrow. I'm excited to get it. It's a full size which will be nice for when we have company. Also, Gracie's current bed is old-my dad slept in it and then I slept in it, and it's seen better days. I'm afraid to let anyone sit on it, and anytime we barely pull it away from the wall, it collapses. It will be nice for her to have a more stable bed.


This afternoon, I had Katie go upstairs for her usual "rest time" (which really translates to quiet time for me!) I noticed it had gotten really quiet and found that she was in her bed sleeping which was a bit odd. I didn't think too much of it. I went to wake her up when it was time to get Gracie from school. She asked to ride her bike which was fine. She rode it like normal, but once we got to the park, she kept laying on me instead of playing as usual. I felt her head, and it felt warm. She let me hold her and just generally acted like she didn't feel well. Once we got home, she really felt warm, so I took her temperature and it was around 101-102. She was also acting kind of lethargic and puny.


Once Chris got home, he wanted to take her to the doctor because if she had the flu, he wanted to get her on the medicine-and hopefully the rest of us too so we wouldn't get it. (Lots of people around here have had the flu.) Of course, her regular doctor had closed 5 minutes earlier, so we decided he would take her to an urgent care place. She wanted me to take her, so I got ready to go. When we got there, she wanted me to hold her which was hard because of course I had a million things to fill out. I finally got to hold her and she just could not get comfortable. Finally, it became evident that she was about to throw up!


I called out to the people behind the desk to see if they had a bucket or anything and this 'interesting looking' man who was standing there indicated that we could use the trashcan! Well, I didn't really want her leaning her head into the trashcan at the urgent care place. Just seemed too 'germy!' They handed out a bucket (which the interesting looking man handed me) and she proceeded to throw up and scream all at the same time! Poor thing. She HATES to throw up (who doesn't?!) but she just kept screaming & screaming! A nurse came out with a washcloth (not wet though-who uses a dry washcloth when throwing up?!) and asked how long she had been like this. I told her that she'd just started with fever this afternoon and this was the first time to throw up. She suggested I take her to the ER, but then she took her temp and it was only 101, so she (the nurse) calmed down.


Poor Katie threw up quite a bit and was scared to let go of the bucket. I finally convinced her that we could set the bucket next to us and we'd pick it back up if we needed it. (They had given us a 2nd one, so the 1st one wasn't there thank goodness! *shudder*) We got called back. Her temp. was now just 100 something. She was still acting puny and wanted me to hold her. The doctor finally came in and she had an ear infection! He said it was about 50% infected-had just begun to be infected. I was surprised that she would throw up with an ear infection, but he said the fever can upset their stomach. He also said that if they seem fine, go to sleep and wake up with fever, that I guess it can mean an infection. Anyway, as soon as he left the room to get the prescriptions, she was acting silly again! I had given her Tylenol before we'd gone, so I guess that combined with throwing up had helped perk her up.


He indicated that tonight would have been a hard night if we hadn't found out about the ear infection b/c she would have been in pain (she still said her ear didn't hurt) and also indicated that it could still be a hard night, so he gave us some Tylenol with codeine for her to take. I think we'll hold off on that unless she acts like she really needs it. She hasn't complained of any pain but just now told me that she thinks she's going to throw up again. It feels like her fever has come back, so she's probably starting to feel puny again. Hopefully, she's going to get all better soon since we got the medicine started so quickly. I've already given her one dose of her antibiotic and just gave her a dose of regular Tylenol. I hesitate to give her the one with codeine unless she's really in pain.


We were supposed to have company tomorrow morning. We'd had it planned for over a month, but we decided to play it safe and not let her girls be around Katie just in case it was something more than just an ear infection. Disappointing. We also have plans tomorrow night with some people from church, so I guess we'll just see how she does tomorrow during the day. Chris went to play basketball with some guys from church tonight. I was supposed to hang out with some of the wives, but alas that plan changed as well since I stayed home.


Chris is still staying busy with his job. My job is keeping me a bit busier than I expected, but I'm hoping to get into more of a routine with it soon. I'm having problems with the computer connection b/w work & home which is making things frustrating & difficult, but hopefully all of those problems will soon be resolved.


We look forward to going to the Houston Livestock Show & Rodeo next week! Yee-haw!