Double the Illness

B got sick when we were trying to move up here. On Friday evening, we noticed that K was warmer than usual and her eyes didn't seem quite right. Her temperature was 103.5. We gave her Motrin and ran her up to the hospital here in Milwaukee. Her temp went down while we were there and the doc looked in her throat and ears, but didn't see anything wrong. His diagnosis was "fever", which I was not happy about. A fever is a symptom, not a diagnosis. We went there to find out what was causing her fever. I know that it is a natural process to kill off infection, but I wanted to know what the infection was. I left an unhappy mother. All weekend, she slept in bed with us so we could keep an eye on her. By Sunday night, she sweated it out and since, she hasn't had a fever.

B was dancing on a box last night and cut the upper frenulum in his mouth when he fell onto the box. His mouth was full of blood but after a while, he acted like it didn't bother him. Seeing all of the blood that came from him definitely made my heart skip a few beats, though.

B has this habit of taking his pants and diaper off. He sure is a funny kid. He has six teeth now and he loves to eat anything we eat. He loves fruit, rice, bread, yogurt, pasta, chicken, peas, carrots, and almost anything else that he can chew. He is still in size 3 diapers, 3-6 or 6-9 month pants (depending on the manufacturer). The 12 month clothes are still a little long and too wide for his waist unless we roll them up. K is a bit more picky when she eats. She likes bread, rice, yogurt, chicken, some fruit, and peas. She will at least try food, but then she'll wrinkle up her nose if she doesn't care for it. She is in size 3 diapers, 6-9 month or 12 month clothes. 12 month pants are a little big in the waist, though. Both like Bakers Square, Rosas Cafe, and Olive Garden. (Rosas Cafe is one of the places I miss most being up here in Wisconsin. Apparently, it is only a Texas thing. :( I guess I should invest in a franchise. Mexican food up here is nothing like it is in Texas. I still haven't found a Mexican restaurant we like.)

Both kiddos have discovered toilet paper and the ease in which it rolls. :) They love playing with pots, pans, and wooden kitchen utensils. Shoes, diapers, buttons that have lights, and anything that other people have in their hands are fascinating. They have outgrown the swing, baby bathtub, bouncy seat, and jumperoo. :( My babies are growing up so fast.

With the passing of everyday, I enjoy parenthood even more.

So far, we are loving the Wisconsin life. The temperatures are nice...the high humidity levels make it more tolerable. Rain, trees, and animals a lot more abundant. Teaching two grade levels in one room is challenging, especially when I am teaching every subject. I am definitely learning some tricks to make things easier on myself. I hate seeing teachers take their work home every night and grade or plan for four or five hours at a time. I do not think it is healthy to spend that much time away from the family every single night. On occasion, it is necessary, but every single night? You're asking to get sick. If I have learned one thing teaching, it is to take care of yourself and your family first. Teaching is a ministry, but your first ministry is to your spouse and children. I never understood that more than I do now. Because of this, I have become a big advocate of grading in the classroom and decreasing the complexity of how the assignment is graded. My husband told me one thing, "Teachers control how much work they end up grading. If you don't have time to grade a 10 page paper, then don't assign a 10 page paper. If you can get the concept across by doing an assignment that is quicker to grade, then do it." He is not saying to avoid challening the kids. He is saying that not every assignment needs to be so complicated that grading takes forever for each one. Challenging assignments can be easy to grade if you pick the right assignment. :) This is still a work in progress for me.

Back in Wisconsin

We have had probably the toughest week ever. While I was at the airport, I got a call from K saying that the project at his job had been funded for another year. He had been told for the past couple of months that he was being laid off. When we decided to move up here to Wisconsin, we had a pretty clear getting laid off sign by his boss when he started telling K to take all of his personal items home, so I quit my job in Texas.

We planned on leaving Texas on Saturday, September 3rd, but B ended up with a 102 degree temperature. He's never had one before, so we called the doctor's office. The nurse said she thought that it was caused by his MMR vaccine and that they usually recommend going to the hospital if it's 104 or higher. We gave him some Tylenol and two hours later, his temperature was 103. Instead of waiting until it got to 104, we went to the ER. Luckily, his temperature started going down when they gave him Motrin. A look at his throat showed pus pockets on his tonsils. The strep culture turned up negative. Since there wasn't a bacteria found, we can't do antibiotics.

Things have been stressful, to say the least. We are still living out of boxes, I can't find my work shoes, and we have no pots and pans to cook with because they are spread out throughout the house. We didn't have enough room in the truck to put all of our furniture, so we left some behind. We were blessed enough to have a friend of ours offer to stay in our house and pay rent until we found a buyer. He is also keeping two of the cats since we didn't have room here.

Since we've been up here, we've seen a deer in the backyard and a chipmunk in the front. :) The temperature tomorrow should be in the 50's so winter is starting early! We are all excited to have our first "real" winter. On Sunday, we had to call the police because K saw three men in the backyard with rifles. Silly me...I went to chase them down. I was in protection mode I guess. Come to find out, they were teenagers playing with air rifles.

Signing off for now.