Smile...

Well here we are again...the school year has started and the sniffles have begun. Beginning of the week, the older kids were complaining about sore throats and all had runny noses. If that isn't bad enough, Kenny and Gina both got whatever the older kids had. At this point, Gina is feeling much better, but Kenny is just getting worse and worse. He was up all night coughing which means it went straight to his lungs. Having a child who has BPD (or as they call it when they get older, Chronic Lung Disease) and catches a cold is not a good thing. I was just waiting for the coughing and throwing up to begin and it has started. Last evening at dinner, he was getting a tube feeding in his high chair along with us putting pieces of our dinner on his tray (which he was actually putting in his mouth) only to come back up. I had to sit him in the sink to clean him up, that's how bad it was. On a good note (if there is one), because he is pretty much on a liquid diet, it wasn't completely disgusting...I know...TMI...sorry. This post is going to be full of TMI LOL... So, anyways we got him cleaned up, the kids all got their baths/showers out of the way as well because it is picture day today at school. Finding outfits (that we had here at home) for these kids is like pulling teeth. I almost sent them in their school uniforms because it was THAT stressful. But we managed to pull off some very cute outfits. Next came the hair. All the girls wanted braided waves...you know, you braid the hair while wet, then in the morning, take the braids out and there you have the braided wave look. OK...now, I told these kids that they should be wearing their hair like they wear it everyday, which looks great...but they all insisted on this look, so...with a sick little boy coughing, puking and wiping his runny nose on everything, I started with the braids. I braided and braided...my fingers were about to fall off! Finally, after all is said and done, my girls were the braided queens and I was ready for a large glass of wine. HAHA!

This morning, was just as bad. After being up all night I woke up to my favorite friends that have shared our home since March...yep...the ants. This time they were in my kitchen and dining room. So at 5:00 I am sitting here killing these stupid nuisances which have aggravated me for the very last time. I then went on to ironing the "picture day" clothes that the kids laid out. On to waking them up. I should have a bull horn for this but instead I flick their lights on and keep up with the wake up call...Get up everyone, time for school...over and over again, sounding oh so much like a scratched record...but hey, it works. As the morning goes on, I have a 7th grader who couldn't find his homework, so I was searching high and low for this stupid notebook everywhere...only to see him, 10 minutes later, sitting at the dining room table "redoing" it. No comment on if he actually did it in the first place...I just dont want to talk about it. LOL. Then, I hear Kayleigh calling for me from the bathroom. I go up there because I already know what she wanted...to get wiped. she still doesn't like to wipe her butt when she goes poop...see....to much TMI lol...So as she is bent forward to get wiped, I see her new silver necklace that Tony (hubby) got her...laying on the bottom of the toilet bowl, sharing very tight quarters with a large poop. I screamed (not in anger, but in shock) seeing this...How the H#ll was I going to get this out? Should I just flush it with the other contents of the toilet bowl? It was a brand new necklace that wasn't cheap (it wasn't expensive but certainly not cheap either). At that moment, I thanked God for Paradime Medical Services for the supplies they bring me monthly. In those supplies were medical gloves that I never use...until now! The necklace was saved and the morning was good...or so I thought...
The time came for me to unravel the braids on 4 girls...Ok...I have to say, they didn't look horrible...but they and myself had no idea on how to style the hair once we got the braids out. I wanted to put Kayleigh's hair up half way but she insisted on wearing it down...part in the back and all...ummmm...I tried, but she threw a temper tantrum so I figured that the photographer would help with the hair. I just couldn't get upset over this (which I was). So, I took a deep breath, fixed each girls hair the best way for their personalities (except Kayleigh) and honestly, they looked cute...yes, including Kayleigh. Thank God, God threw in an oldest son who likes his hair short!

So as the kids are at school, our Kenny is home again today...so that makes 3 days missed at school...and probably will be home tomorrow too. If his coughing and not feeling good continues, we are gonna be heading back to the doctors office. I just wish that his doctors would have given us a pulse ox machine so I wouldn't be so paranoid about his oxygen saturation levels when he gets sick. So that is how yesterday was, and how today started off...and you know what...I made it through...laughing at everything (except for Kenny being so sick). Makes me think, what will the rest of the day hold in store for me...hmmmm....