Done

I sent in my taxes today, hurray!  Invariably Turbo Tax tells me I should redo my W-4 so we don't get such a big refund.  I wish I could, but I can't do anything about the fact that the government takes 30% out of our bonuses and I have no way of predicting how large those bonuses will be.  It really bothers me that they do that.  Yet another reason our tax system needs massive overhaul.  Enjoy your loan while you got it government, it'll be mine in 2 weeks again!

Are You Going to Poke Me?

We had a bit of an adventure yesterday morning.  Loofa was sounding pretty croupy Sunday night, but he sounded better during the day Monday.  Tuesday night his breathing dramatically worsened.  I pulled out the humidifier, but that wasn't helping.  J took him into the bathroom to give him a steam treatment from the shower while I called the on call service.  She had me take him outside for a few minutes, but when that didn't help she said to take him to the ER.  Luckily we have a hospital just a few blocks away.  It is small so it doesn't take long to get checked in and into a room.  His breathing sounded a little better by the time we got there, but it was still bad enough to need some treatment.  Loofa was pretty interested in what was going on and asked a million questions.  First they gave him a breathing treatment, adrenaline to open up his airway a bit.  Then he had to give some blood so they could test his white blood count.  He did not care for that.  He does great with his immunizations, but this took quite a bit longer.  To add insult to injury, they followed the blood draw with an enormous shot of steroids in his bum.  That one really upset him.  It took him awhile to calm down from that because it made him uncomfortable to sit.  They gave him a teddy bear to make him happy, but he could have cared less about it.  This is the second teddy bear he has received at an ER.  He'll probably have quite a collection by the time he is 12.  The nurse brought him gatorade at one point and that cheered him up more than the bear.  After the shot he rode in a wheelchair over to get a chest x-ray.  I wish I had my camera for all this stuff.  The xray was pretty simple, but he was still periodically upset from the shot so it took a bit to calm him down so he would hold still.  After the xray they moved us to another room with a tv since it was going to be a while longer.  J had to get the kids ready for school while all this was going on.  At one point when I was talking to him, he told me that it was snowing outside.  There was an inch of snow out there when I opened the window.  It was pretty slick too from some freezing rain.  J slid a bit on one turn and drove up a curb.  Luckily he just bumped a sign a little bit.  Meanwhile, poor Loofa had to get two more shots in the bum, the antibiotic this time.  These ones were huge as well, no quick pokes.  The nurse brought him his favorite cereal after the shots.  Once he finished he was ready to go home.  We had to wait 1/2 an hour after the antibiotics were given before we could leave.  Loofa fell asleep on me the last 15 minutes.  I don't think he had much sleep during the night so he was pretty exhausted, especially since the adrenaline had worn off at that point.  I was glad to hear his breathing normalized.

Last night Fefe's breathing started sounding pretty labored.  It wasn't quite as bad as Loofa's, but I was still worried.

Today he had a followup appt with the pediatrician and she was really happy with how well Loofa was doing.  He asked her if she was going to poke him, he's pretty paranoid about that now.  We were able to discontinue his amoxicillin because his ear infection was completely gone.  HOWEVER, I mentioned to the Dr. how badly Fefe had been breathing the previous night.  She had us check her in so that she could check her out.  Turns out her croup is bad enough that she has to have three days of steroids and she has an ear infection so gets to use the rest of Loofa's amoxicillin.  I was relieved the doctor took it seriously enough.  I have to sleep in her room tonight to keep an eye on her, but hopefully the steroids will keep it from getting too bad.  

I always think of Anne of Green Gables when I think of croup because of the one chapter where she has to help the family with croupy kids.  I'm so thankful for modern medicine that takes this from a life threatening situation to a minor hiccup.

One word to the wise, ibuprofen is pretty good for croup because it relieves the inflammation in the throat. I found out also that there are specific viruses that actually cause croup (most likely parainfluenza in this case).  I had always thought it was just a tendency.  Some kids can be more prone to it, but kids under 5 are more likely to develop it because of their small airways.  The dr. said that Ephant's cold was the same virus, but since she was older it just gave her laryngitis instead of croup.

Lost Is Back!

Although I had to watch it at a friend's house after all.  I don't know how long this will go on for, but I figured out a pretty good setup with my desktop that is practically like watching it on tv.  Most of my shows are back so I've been gorging on tv lately.  We've really turned into some pretty awesome couch potatoes between the wii and the tv.  I'm going to have to make the kids start running with me in the morning.

Speaking of kids, poor Fefe was really sick first, then Ephant caught it.  She missed school the whole week.  I thought her fever finally broke this morning, but it came back in the afternoon.  We think she might have moved onto an ear infection now.  She doesn't seem too down about it so I've been holding off on taking her to the doctor.  I hope she doesn't miss anymore school though.  I got sick on Thursday, but it never really developed into anything. I mostly just felt wiped out.  Thank you vitamins.

Here is Fefe looking terrible.  On the plus side, we got a lot of good cuddles out of her.

Between Fefe and Ephant's fevers we've been using the thermometer alot:

Marv was asking if Loofa has done anything bad lately, but I couldn't think of anything worth blogging about.  Fefe's really stepping into his position.  He's had Ephant home to entertain him all week plus mucho Mario kart so I guess he hasn't had much time to cause trouble.

Brother B continues to go silently through life.  I can't remember if I mentioned, last week his teacher told me that she had recommended he be tested for TAG.  I was pretty amazed since most kids get screened for it in 3rd grade, not 1st.  She did say it is more in the math and science area, but they will test his reading too.  I became the TAG rep for our school this year and finally attended my first meeting last week.  The high school principal was there and gave a presentation on some of the grading changes at the high school.  It was pretty fascinating stuff and made me glad our kids will go to that high school.  Now if we could just get the middle school up to speed.

Brother B's hair looks like this every morning.  Luckily he doesn't fight me about doing his hair anymore.

On the yard front, I bought a couple new fruit trees for the front side yard.  You might recall the dying apricot tree I blogged about a while back.  I bought another apricot and peach tree that I plan to stay on top of spraying.   I had to remove the stump of the apricot tree before we could plant the new trees.  I started out trying to dig it up.  That was too hard.  Next I tried sawing it off below the base.  That was too hard.  Then I tried hacking at the roots with the pick.  That was too hard.  Then I remembered I have a tow hitch.  I tied some inventive knots and hooked the rope up between the tree and car.  I figured it could go really well or really bad.  Thankfully J wasn't home to talk me out of it.  Luckily it went great.  I managed to snap the rope in several pieces (it really was not designed for this), but it got the tree pulled out enough that I just had to hack off a few roots and it was out.  I was pretty impressed with myself.  J was very nice and helped me plant the new trees today.

Fefe had her first chance to use a spoon not long ago.  I hate the process of teaching, but it is so worth it once they can do it themselves.

I finally decided Fefe's hair was long enough to do something.  It doesn't last, but it looks so adorable before it comes out.

I use the spray bottle to wet down the kid's hair and Fefe decided it makes a great drink too:

Everything's Coming Up Fefe

J headed out to Mount Hood again on Saturday for a "high adventure" skiing trip with the Scouts.  They didn't actually do High Adventure last year so the money for it was burning a hole in their pocket.  J came back acting like the old man he is.  That is what happens the second time you ski when the first time was 13 years ago.  I wish we had a hot tub he could soak in.  Mostly I'm just glad he survived Oregon's roads.  While he was gone we had a party.  Ephant dressed Fefe in her apron so she could walk around looking official with her kitchen set.

Brother B watched Reign of Fire while Ephant watched Hannah Montana in the other room.  I decided I needed some snickerdoodles so I made a double batch.  That way I can share and still have plenty to feed my thighs.  After I finished the cookies we watched our new favorite show, The Ghost Whisperer.  I can't believe how much the kids like it.  Speaking of shows, I'm going to have to go to a friend's house to watch Lost.  We don't have ABC right now because Dish Network hasn't been able to negotiate a good deal with the network.  I'm okay with that though, if they give in, then my prices go up.

We have adjusted to our back to school routine fairly smoothly.  The kids didn't get to make up any of their holiday parties, but they did get some treats.  Ephant told me she was okay that they weren't doing the play because she didn't get the part she wanted.  Silly girl. So far it looks like they won't extend the year to make up for the snow days.  They plan to use some teacher prep/seminar days.

We also started swimming lessons again for the oldest three.  Loofa seems to be doing much better this time.  Last time he was afraid to dunk his head, but he seems to be mostly over that now.  It is amazing how time can make more of a difference in swimming progress as opposed to doing one lesson after the other.  Brother B isn't too excited about lessons, which is funny since he has the most natural talent for it.

One piece of advice for any Honda Odyssey owners out there.  Do not attempt to change your own headlights!  It is impossible.  Luckily the dealer will do it free.  I'm guessing the recognize the impossibility and own some tool to get in that tiny space.  Either that or they employ midgets with superhero strong hands for just that task.

The Wii continues to be well used.  Ephant had her first Wii Fit injury.  I've had to order rechargers for the remotes before we become the soul revenue stream for Duracell batteries.

Mirror Land

I was taking pictures of the kids by the window for fun today and discovered this funny one after downloading: