One thing after another...

Well, so much for blogging daily. Life keeps happening. What a weird week we just had!

Saturday, Cade randomly got a fever of 103.6 and just couldn’t shake it. We could keep it down by alternating Tylenol and Motrin (Motrin works better, I think), but as soon as they would start to wear off, the fever just crept back up. His only other symptom was a really sore throat, so he wouldn’t eat or drink. Christian stayed home with him on Monday and I took him to the doctor on Tuesday. His ears and chest were fine. She did a quick-Strep test which came back negative. She sent that off to the lab and sent us down for a blood test to see if he had mono. When we got back home around lunchtime, his fever was 103.9!

Needless to say, I was really freaked out. I hate when there’s no apparent cause when my kids are sick. I went to work for a few hours Tuesday afternoon when Christian got home and let the other managers know that I wouldn’t be in the next day. So of course, Wednesday morning, he’s completely back to normal! No fever, sore throat gone, happy, energetic, and HUNGRY! I took him to school, went to work, and the rest is history.

Until that night. After Emma’s bath I was blow-drying her hair and noticed a bug crawling around! I picked it out and took a good look. Then I showed it to Christian. Then I took another look at her hair. And found eggs. And more bugs. OMG GROSS! The kid picked up lice from her YMCA camp. Christian ran out to the drugstore to pick up a RID shampoo kit. I stayed back picking lice and eggs out of her hair. The treatment and hand-picking took about 2 hours. The poor kid was up until almost 10:00.

Thursday morning I took her to camp and explained that we had a slight problem. The looks on the counselors’ faces was priceless. One kid with lice meant they’d have to check every single kid there and I’m sure there were a lot of unhappy parents getting phone calls yesterday morning! I couldn’t be “that parent” though and not tell them. I’m sure that’s how she ended up with them in the first place and I couldn’t do that to anyone else. Being honest often doesn’t pay, though. Christian was sure they’d let her stay, but I was pretty sure they wouldn’t. I figured it was worth a try, though. It turns out the rule is if they find one nit, the kid can’t stay. The counselor got her gloves and stick and right off the bat found 3 more nits. Good grief.

After dropping Cade of at St. Andrew’s, we went home and spent about 45 minutes on the patio going through her hair again. You have no idea how much hair someone has until you have to look at every single strand of hair on someone’s head. Then she came to work with me until Christian could pick her up at 3:00. She did a great job, watching movies, coloring, eating office M&Ms, and generally charming anyone she saw.

Needless to say, TGIF!

Antsy

Work has been so intense for so many months. I have been working way too many hours and have been pretty stressed out. Just this week, things have finally calmed down to a manageable pace. I had a staff meeting yesterday and feel like my department is running smoothly. I have a huge list of medium- and low-priority issues that I can finally begin to tackle. But all I want to do is not work. I am antsy! I am all out of websites to cruise and ways to avoid working today. I'm not a slacker by nature, but my motivation for work is out the window today. I know that I work better under pressure. Tomorrow I will need to have some motivation to get things done!

I am catching up on some things at home. Last night I finally got four months of pictures off of my camera. I'm going to try to figure out how to post some on here.

On a different note, Cade was really funny the other night. He's been learning about God at school. We were chatting before bed and his window was open. He said the blinds looked like Jesus' cross. Then he was asking about God, "who is that guy?". That cracked me up! He's also very interested in where God is. He wanted to know if he "got up there in an airplane". Three is such a funny age.

Wicked Fun

Our weekend was packed, as is the norm lately. Friday night we went to the pancake store (IHOP) for dinner. They have a kids eat free special right now that we couldn't resist, especially since the kids eat so well there. I finished off my first week of Weight Watchers (again) by ordering off of the light menu that comes with fruit instead of pancakes or hash browns. I'll have to say I was pretty proud of myself.

Saturday was full of errands and Cade's last swim lesson at the YMCA. We split up in the evening. Christian and the kids went to Fillippi's in PB with his parents, Emily and Randy. I went downtown with Sara to an early sushi dinner and drinks (cherry vodka, anyone?) at RA and to see Wicked. The show was awesome and we had a great time.

Today was filled with more fun. Christian had an early bike ride with Randy and Ryan to get ready for the triathlon next weekend. Then we went to the Fuchs for their annual summer pool party. That was a ton of fun and Emma was so glad to spend some time with her school friends. I asked her the other day what she is most excited for when she starts kindergarten in a few weeks. I was surprised when she said it was seeing Paloma! I didn't realize how much she misses her school friends, so Paloma will be coming over for a playdate next weekend.

The other surprise today is how well Emma is swimming. She has been swimming everyday at the Y this summer, but she's been using a float-belt. Today she was jumping into the deep end on her own and swimming back to the side. I'm so pleased to see this! I think her camp has been a really good experience. That really gives me a piece of mind and a good idea of what she'll be doing next summer, too.

Off to bed, it's late and my bed is covered with clean laundry. I hope to get some pictures posted this week. It's good to have goals, right??

Anything for a Buck

Getting Emma ready in the morning is a monumental task that would probably go better if I had a cattle prod. The girl loves to sleep and just can't get going in the morning. Combine that with her "Oh, what's this over here?!?" distractability factor and she would leave the house in her jammies every day.

Last night we had finished reading in her room and she asked if she could have a dollar for camp today for "Sno-cone Friday". I told her she could, but she needed to get ready without me having to ask 800 times. Lo and behold, she came into our room this morning fully dressed with her shoes on and a smile on her face! Who needs intrinsic motivation when you could have money!?!

Finally Taking the Plunge!

I've been thinking about starting a blog for awhile and am finally taking the plunge! I don't know if this means I have more time on my hands (I don't think so!) or if I just need an outlet. I've always enjoyed writing. I really feel that life is passing me by too quickly and my memory is SO bad that maybe this will be something I will reflect on later.

Let's start with the title: Raw Toast on the Run. I liked just "Raw Toast", but it was taken. ;) Weekday mornings are always hectic for us and breakfast is the last thing we do before we leave the house. Christian has always gone to work early (his new schedule has him up at 4:30 AM!) so that leaves me in charge of getting the kids and myself up, ready, and out the door. The kids usually have yogurt and I try to get at least something else with substance in them like pancakes (frozen), french toast sticks (also frozen), or waffles (and again, frozen). One morning a few weeks ago, they had finished their yogurt and toast (Emma with jelly, Cade without) and they both wanted more toast. I had NO time left, I'm sure I was already late for work, so I told them they could have raw toast (aka a piece of bread) in the car. This is hilariously funny to me. And also sums up my life quite nicely.

So there you have it. Welcome to my blog. I will try diligently to keep it current. Wish me luck!