Little bits

Just a couple of quick notes.

First, congratulations to my friend Christina on Emma Kate, born this morning!! I am so excited, and can't wait to see her. I am beginning to feel that I am lagging behind. Chrissy, Naomi, Diana and Nicole, four of my closest friends, all have a minimum of 5 kids!! As I was the one who always said growing up that I wanted a "bakers dozen", it just seems off for me to only have 2!!! Thankfully, I also have some friends with fewer, or no children, to remind me that families come in all different sizes.

- OH YEAH!! Speaking of families, congrats are also due for Sarah, who got engaged a couple of days ago! I am so excited for your wedding, and to finally meet your invisible boyfriend.

Secondly, Marcy asked about the BRAT diet. It stands for Bananas, Rice, Applesauce, Toast. Naomi pointed out an interesting question though... is Toast really better for a recovering stomach, or did they just not want to say Bread, since that would make the acronym BRAB, and that just sounds weird? Any input anyone? Is toast really better for a recovering stomach? I know that I read somewhere that if you toast bread it changes the glycemic index, making it have less carbs, or easier to digest carbs, or something like that - better for "diets".

Thirdly, Zion is sick, AGAIN! This time he just as a fever. Woke up with it about 2am, and despite several doses of tylenol, it remains. He has no other symptoms that I can perceive, so I must assume that his body is successfully fighting off whatever it is fighting off. I have only given him two doses, since I prefer to let his body work it out itself. However, when it gets over 102, I like to give him a little relief. Anyway, since he is "ill", Andy and Canaan have gone out without him. He was very upset when they were leaving, running around saying "sock shoe" while they were getting ready. (that means that he wants to put on his socks and shoes, and go too) When they were leaving Andy asked him if he would like them to bring him a surprise when they come back. His response was "dang". Now, I am pretty positive that dang is not what he was trying to say, since he has probably never heard that word before, but it was really amusing. I wish I knew what he was trying to say, but we took "dang" to mean yes, he would like a surprise. We'll see what Andy and Canaan come back with. Andy had weekend duty this morning, and has been working on school pretty much every free minute this week, so he just needed to "get out". He gets stir crazy if he stays at home too long. I have become pretty much the opposite. I think I have become anti-social lately. I am perfectly content to curl up and read, absolutely every free second that I get. I have read 6 books in the last two weeks. That a little excessive, even for me... I expect this insatiable desire will pass eventually. For now, I am keeping up with my "chores", and Canaan's school, so I will allow myself to read in any "free time" I find after that. I have watched practically zero tv, and done no sewing, scrapbooking, phone calls, etc, For some reason, Jane Austen and I have become fast friends this week, as well as Nora Roberts. Oh well....
If you usually hear from me, and you haven't lately, that is why. It is nothing personal. I just keep forgetting that anyone outside my home and my books exist!!
One last note - I finally opened a facebook account. I still haven't really figured it out, but if you are on there, please drop by and make me your friend!

Florida trip

Canaan went to Disney with my sisters, Kelsey and Mary, and our foreign exchange student, Edna. He has talked mostly about the Pirates ride, the shuttle train, and his Pluto hat. K and M tried to talk him out of it, and into pretty much anything else in the park, but that was the one thing he wanted to bring home. He loves it! Funny, the things kids get attached to.

Getting well

First of all, thank you Chrissy, Marcy, Naomi and Corey for proving to me that Carrie is not the only one who reads my blog! Thank you Carrie, for always reading my blog too.
I did not go to Florida. It just didn't seem like a good idea to take a potentially sick child to visit my grandparents, who are not as young as they use to be. Canaan went with my parents and sisters, and has had a wonderful time. Zion stayed home with Andy and I, and I think he has had a wonderful time too. He has never had a chance to be the only child, and he has enjoyed it. He has been bored a few times too though, so I think he will really enjoy getting his playmate back. Canaan was much better at entertaining himself by this age. Zion almost never has to play by himself - he always has Canaan, or Emma to entertain him. This long weekend has probably been good for him. Lots of one on one time with Mommy, and a little bit of alone time to try to entertain himself.
Andy wrote 3/4 of his paper, created a powerpoint slide show for his presentation, and did about half of his case study. It has been a fruitful weekend for him. He still has to finish the paper and case study, but it is a huge relief to have them well on their way.
My family will be headed north in the next few hours, and will be here sometime this afternoon. I am so eager to see Canaan, and see some pictures of his trip to Disney. He called twice yesterday and was so excited. It is a little sad that my baby went to Disney without me, but Zion just wasn't old enough yet, and Canaan was, so I am glad it worked out the way it did.
Oh, by the way - thank for all the advice. As always, the BRAT diet works well. I finally broke down and called the doctor, and she recommended milk, and anything with live cultures. (yogurt, cheese) I forgot to ask about imodium, but after the 15th episode, I broke down and gave him some. I am so glad I did! He was much better on Sat. and completely well by Sun. I didn't take him to church, just in case, but he seems to be completely over it. Emma, the little girl I babysit, was sick on Sat. I didn't talk to her mom yesterday, so I don't know if she was still sick, but if so, I guess she caught it from Zion. I'm still holding my breath, hoping that nobody else gets sick.

more...

Since I posted this morning, Zion has had diarrhea (I looked up how to spell it!) four more times. I guess I was overly optimistic that it was a one day thing. After the third time I finally talked him into wearing a diaper again. He really prefers underwear, and sobbed and cried when I made him wear a diaper, but when he went again just 10 minutes later, I was really glad I had talked him into it! He seems to feel fine. He runs and plays most of the time, and has no fever. I don't know what is wrong with him, but I sure hope it stops. I don't want to take him to FL if he is sick.
Anybody got any ideas? (that means you Carrie, since you are the only one who reads my blog on a regular basis!)

Embarrassing moment

To start this blog off right, I am not even sure I spelled embarrassing right - adding to it all!
Zion has been doing pretty good with the potty training. He usually only has one accident a day in which he pees his pants. But, I have been cleaning poopoo out of abnormal places a lot lately. Sometimes his underwear, more often the floor. First I will tell you the funny story. Last weekend Andy's parents came down to visit. We put the boys to bed, and heard someone moving around, but just ignored it. Zion has gotten much better at going to bed, but still fights it, so we just assumed he was getting a new stuffed animal to sleep with, or getting a book. When it got quiet Andy went to check on him. He came back just laughing his head off. Zion was laying on the floor, sound asleep, buck naked. I went to go see it, and try to wrestle some pajama's on him so he would be warm. The reason he was buck naked was because he had pooped in his diaper, then taken it off, laid it neatly beside him, then proceeded to go to sleep. Maybe you had to be there, but it was really funny.
This week he has been doing much better. He had actually gone in the toilet a couple of times, and I was so proud. But yesterday we went to a new friends house. First time we were actually meeting in person. So I show up, and the kids are playing nicely, then I hear Zion crying. He had diarhia (sp?) running down his leg, all over his shoe, and onto the rug. First time I have met this person (we met through a homeschool online forum), and my kid poops all over her floor, and himself. I was horrified. Wanted to melt into the floor and die, beyond embarrassed. Poor Zion is just standing there, sobbing. Poor kid. He ended up having diarhia about three more times that afternoon, so he obviously had an upset stomach. I kept a diaper on him for the rest of the day.
Darlene, my new friend, proved herself as a real friend. She was fabulous, even finding a pair of her daughter's shoes for Zion. (he got to wear pink Dora shoes for the afternoon, and didn't mind one bit). I guess it could have been worse, but it was plenty bad enough for me. I am emotionally exhausted just by retelling it!
Zion is back in underwear today, and has already peed his pants once. I am afraid that wearing a diaper all day yesterday made him forget that he has to actually go to the toilet to pee. We'll just wait and see if he is reminded easily, or if we are going to have to start over again!
Since I am completely blaming the Domino's pizza for his upset stomach, we will avoid greasy nasty food for awhile, and hope that he is all better. I am going to my grandparent's in FL this weekend, so he better be well!!!!!
I have five kids today, so need to stay on my toes and focused. Thanks for listening, and I'll try to write again, and post pictures from our trip to FL.

A very full week

This week has been very full of exciting things. Zion started his speech therapy this week, and I think it has helped already. The therapist comes here to our home and basically just plays with him for about 30 minutes. It is very low key, but with lots of focus on talking about everything they are doing. He responds to her really well. I am almost jealous, because he says things for her that he will not even attempt to say for me. But, at least it is progress. Zion also decided to potty train this week. He insisted on wearing underwear. The first day he peed about 5 times in his pants, and I was about to give up. The second day he only had about 3 accidents. I think there was only one on the third day, but about 4 again on day number 4. Days 5, 6, and 7 have been accident free. He wears a diaper during nap time, and saves his poopy for that, but he stays dry all day long. I am pretty much in shock - I wasn't really taking potty training very seriously yet, but he wanted to do it. I am not sure what we are going to do about poopy, since he won't do that in the toilet, but for now I will take what I can get. Unfortunately for me, I had JUST BOUGHT 2 mega packs of diapers, and 2 packs of pullups. I found the receipt, and I think I can take at least one of them back, so that is good. We still need diapers at nap and bedtime, so have to keep a few in reserve anyway.
Canaan managed to stay dry at night almost all week. After five nights in a row, I let him wear underwear to bed. Of course, that was the night he peed. We'll just wait that one out I guess. He was so proud of himself, so I was sad for him when he had an accident again. Everything I read says it is pretty common for boys to wet the bed for several years, so I am not worried yet. He is doing so good at his school, learning to read, and write, and add, and write his numbers. He amazes me every day!
Andy got his birthday present today. His birthday is not until March 17. but he talked me into getting a new tv. He wanted bigger (then our current one), I wanted flatter and using less energy, so we are both content with the new LCD. It seems a little extravagant, but I know we will enjoy it for a long time, so will choose to be happy, instead of feeling guilty. Please, no one remind me of the starving children in Africa!
We are going to watch T3 on our new tv, so I better run. I just wanted to share some of my excitement about the comings and goings of the Freeman crew.