Oh dear furnace!!

I came home from work on Thursday night not feeling very well, kinda like I was coming down with a cold. Great...this is all I need. Bryden had an upper respiratory infection that was almost gone and Hayden's ear infection had cleared up. I guess that it is only fair that it is my turn.

I didn't take the kids to school because I was feeling pretty awful. You know, the kind of sick when your skin hurts to touch and you are hot one minute and freezing the next. Yep, that was me!! So, we made it through Friday and it was on to Saturday. Thank goodness for Jim. He let me sleep in a bit and rest most of the day. I still wasn't feeling great. Why is it that when mom's get sick (the person in the family least available to get sick) always gets it worse than anyone else?

Well I thought that Sunday things would start on the upswing I quickly figured I was wrong. Bryden was still coughing...Hayden was really fussy...and Landen had a "yuck nose" as Hayden would say. Nobody ate much and we all just sat around hoping to feel better sooner than later.

At about 6pm I wondered why the house felt chilly. I figured that Jim had turned the temperature down a bit. When I looked at the thermostat it read 67 degrees - that is 19 degrees for those of you in the "NORTH" :-). We usually keep the house at about 69 or 70 as the kids won't wear socks and don't keep the blankets on at night. What was odd is that the gauge was set for 70 degrees. We are all sick and our furnace is BROKEN!! At one point during the night I checked and the house was a little more than 63 degrees which is 17 degrees back home.

Jim slept in my office with Bryden because it has electic baseboard heating. The boys slept in their room with layers of clothes on and a space heater to provide warmth...and I got to sleep in the king size bed all by myself with lots of clothes and lts of blankets. OK, sleep in a realtive word I guess. Hayden cried most of the night (a signal that his ear infection has returned) and when Hayden wasn't crying Landen was because he could hardly breathe. His "yuck nose" was filled (and I am not exaggerating) with more green snot than I had ever seen before. Sometime between 4am and 7am I got about 90 minutes of sleep.

So, what is the end result you ask? The furnace needed a new ignitor switch which for almost $200 was replaced on Monday. I wish everything else was as easy to fix. Hayden has another ear infection so he is on more medicine. Landen has an upper respiratory infection and it will just work it's course with some help from triaminic. I am suffering from a sinus infection and exhaustion :-) Bryden is still coughing and my loving husband is caring, sensitive and made dinner last night for me!!

I hope that the rest of the week gets better...as do the kids and I. Please don't take your furnace for granted. Get it checked before winter starts :-) Too late for this year and too early for next year.

Family Picture 2005

We only do family pictures once a year so here it is. Our wonderful family of 5. Hayden is 26 months old, Bryden is 1 week shy of being 4 and Landen is almost 3 1/2 months. No one is crying and all the clothes are clean. It was a success all the way around :-) 

Santa's Gift to Landen!!

Out little Landen was only 3 1/2 months old at Christmas time but since he was already sleeping through the night Santa figured that he also deserved a present. Landen enjoys being upright much more than laying down so this jumper that makes all kinds of noise (thanks Santa) has been entertaining him for hours (thanks Santa). 

What Santa brought for Bryden!!

Wow, Bryden got a Cinderella bike from Santa. That Santa is one smart guy to know how much Bryden loves Cinderella. She left Santa a bunch of cookies and some egg nog. Hopefully we have a nice Spring so that she can ride her bike down to the park.  

Santa came!! Santa came!!

Santa came to our house on Christmas Eve despite the fact that we weren't sure that Hayden was always good ;-) Santa left a Pooh bear bike for Hayden. His poor short little legs (thanks to Mama) don't quite reach the peddles but maybe they will by Spring.

The Kids with Santa :-)

Well, we waited until the very last minute to get pictures done with Santa. I am usually good about getting to the mall about 2 weeks ahead of time...but not this year. We had to stand in line for about 45 minutes. The things that we do for memories!! Bryden was happy to sit with Santa, Hayden was tired of waiting to sit with Santa and Landen could have cared less about sitting with Santa.

It was a positive experience all the way around :-) I am glad that it happens only once a year. Oh, that isn't right...we do it all again with the Easter Bunny in April!!

February 10, 2006 - Finally Friday

Alright, I called my sister on Wednesday and she says "Why don't you start a Blog?" "A WHAT?" I ask. I know that now being in my almost middle 30's technology is starting to get away from me a little bit but a BLOG??!! How was I to know that it was a hip term for a diary that I would be OK with the entire world having access to? Didn't I spend my whole childhood trying to keep my diary from being read?

Since I now live about 3000 miles away from all family and most friends I thought that this might be a good way for everyone to keep up to date on my crazy life. I have all the good intentions of keeping in touch by phone (at best) or by e-mail (at worst) but really, I seem to do a whole lot of NEITHER!!

I suppose I could blame it on the kids...or Jim...or work...or the laundry (that is completely taking over my house by the way)...or the dishes (no, can't use that one as Jim does the dishes)...or the fact that there are just not enough hours in a day. OK, that is the one I am going with. I DON'T KEEP IN TOUCH BECAUSE THERE ARE NOT ENOUGH HOURS IN A DAY (and there are 3 hours less if you live on the West Coast :-)!!

So, I hope that everyone will forgive me and now we can all get on with our lives and maybe this will be a better way to keep in touch.

I love Fridays!! Bryden (4) goes to pre school 9 - 12. The boys and I get to stay home. Landen (5 months old today) slept 9 - 11 and Hayden (2) and I watched a Thomas the Train movie and had a sing-along session with the "Wiggles" guitar that he owns. Good thing no one could hear us...I am sure that I was singing off key and you can't understand most of the words that come out of Hayden's mouth.

After we pick up Bryden we eat lunch. Well, we eat lunch after we go to Wendy's drive thru and get chicken nuggets, fries and sweet tea (remember that I live in the "South" now). Whoever (or is it WHOMever...you pick the correct one) created chicken nuggets should be given an award. Mothers all across North America might not be able to feed their children if it was not for that fabulous food!!

After a great lunch it is my favorite time of day. NAP TIME!! I am blessed that all 3 children rest at the same time...some days they don't all sleep though. I use this time to get some work done on the computer and attempt to start thinking about dinner. I have a baby monitor in my office so that I can hear everything that is going on. The monitor's are also walkie-talkies. Bryden has not figured out how I can hear her or where my voice is coming from when i tell her that I am sure she does not want me to have to come upstairs.

As I type Hayden is singing (and I use that term loosely) about Choo-Choo's. Did I mention that he is ALL boy? Loves anything with wheels - "Fava Trucks" (firetrucks) and "Peace Cars" (police cars) are the things we love to see when driving. Back to naptime...I think that Landen is sleeping. I only hear heavy breathing so I assume that is him. He has started to roll over now (a 3rd mobile child - lucky me!!) and will do it in his sleep and then wake up because his arms are flailing. So far so good though. Bryden usually does not sleep but she said that she didn't feel well and asked to go to bed. She put her Cinderella dress on and collected up all her Dumbo's (every elephant stuffed animal that she has is named Dumbo) and climbed under her G.G. blankie and has gone to sleep.

I also love Fridays because I don't have to go to work. Maybe that isn't the right way to put it as I think that I actually have to do quite a bit of work. I don't teach swimming lessons on Fridays so I don't have to leave my home to do any work. I know that one day Friday is going to mean that I get a babysitter to stay with the kids while Jim and I go out for dinner and a movie or something. Here is a sad statistic...since having children Jim and I have been to exactly 1 movie in the theater TOGETHER. I guess that we have brought it on ourselves having 3 children in 5 years but I would NOT give those kids back for anything and thank goodness for Blockbuster :-)

Well, I suppose that I should think about getting dinner started before the natives start to stir. Once they are up it is a constant whirl of chaos until bedtime at 8pm. So until the next time that I have 15 minutes so write...