Monday, February 9, 2009

This's and that's......

I am feeling a bit scattered today and have blogging on my list of things to do so I really feel I must get it done. However, I have been desperately trying to think of some insightful, witty or ever slightly clever entry and just haven't been hit with inspiration but here it goes.....
Two stand out moments (in my mind, anyway) from the last week:
1. Lily and I were discussing her terrific potty training accomplishments (as I may have mentioned awhile back, she is all undies, all the time-even at bedtime! Pretty good for a two year old!). I told her she is doing a great job and she gave me a big hug and said, "You are a great mom!" Talk about making my day! :)

2. While eating supper on Wednesday, Ella was expressing her "frustration" (yeah, right) at Tanner (a classmate) blowing her a kiss. She reported, "Tanner blew me a kiss, just like Ty did. Those two boys, I'm gonna be watching them!" Of course, she had a huge smile on her face while talking about this grave issue so I am thinking she was possibly somewhat flattered by the attention!

Thursday we had conferences and both Grace and Ella received rave reviews from their teachers. Grace earned very high marks on a writing assignment she completed. She was given the choice between writing about a particularly good or bad recess or about being a teacher for a day. Obviously, she chose to write about being a teacher since that is her first love. This assignment was then given to a teacher from a different school for grading. Mrs. Loge (Grace's teacher) said Grace's score was the highest she has seen. Jason and I have not seen this paper yet but are hoping to get to read it. Mrs. Costello (Ella's teacher) spoke about Ella's determination and desire to impress neither of which were surprises to us. Since being introduced to writing and math, Ella has logged many, many hours at the kitchen table working on each subject, all on her own, all because she wants to. The girl has drive like no one I have ever seen!

Friday while out doing shopping, Lily, once again, stopped me in my tracks with her insane vocabulary. Grace and Ella were gushing about a pair of shorts they both thought were SO CUTE! Lily, always one to jump on the cuteness bandwagon, took it to another level by exclaiming, "Those are so stinkin' adorable. They are just so incredible!" I think that is just how I would describe Lily!


Saturday was quite a mixed up day. I had it all planned out, as you would expect, and again, as you would expect, my plans were derailed. Ella had a birthday party at Chuck E. Cheese at 10AM. Wow! Brave parents-definitely not my cup of tea. And then all three girls were invited to Emily Denevan's bday party at 12:45PM. The plan was for Jason to take Ella to the first party, then all of us pick her up, drop the 3 off at Emily's and Jason and I were going to use our two hours of child-free bliss grill shopping. We had purchased chicken legs and thighs in anticipation of this big moment and were greatly looking forward to replacing the grill we bought with wedding money almost 10 years ago! Unfortunately, Lily threw us all into a tail spin. Shortly after waking up, she began complaining of a sore neck and this quickly snowballed into full on wailing and neck clutching. Jason and I were extremely concerned as she was obviously in a great deal of pain. While he did the birthday party transporting, I took Lily to Urgent Care. Just getting the poor baby, out of her jammies (she insisted on getting dressed, against my advice) and into her car seat was enough to just about put me over the edge. When I arrived at the desk at the Urgent Care clinic, I was sweating, stressed out to the max and on the verge of tears myself. My presentation must have indicated as much because the receptionist but us on an express route to an exam room which was much appreciated. After a quick examination, a strep culture and a finger prick, poor Lily was in quite a state. The doctor was unable to find any evidence of an infection and chalked it all up to something muscle related and sent us on our way (Lily still unable to turn her head and still sobbing) with instructions to give Motrin and watch for a fever and swelling (either of which would then lead to a trip to the ER for a CT scan). Upon arrival home, Lily quickly fell asleep and appeared peaceful. A couple hours later she woke up and immediately began howling in pain again. A call to our regular pediatrician set our minds at ease when he recommended waiting and watching for 24 hours before running to the ER. Luckily we spoke with him, because about an hour later, she had completely snapped out of it and was back to her good ol' self, laughing, running and hiding from us.

I can't even put into words the extent of my worry and where exactly my mind went. At the risk of being melodramatic, I believe God puts these types of events in front of us to give us a moment's pause. To allow me to re-evaluate my priorities and really figure out what is important. I believe this may be one way of God answering my continual prayers for patience. I can tell you without hestitation, my ability to listen to the tears, whining and complaining over the last 36 hours is much more than it was prior to this mini-emergency. I am sure this will wear off in time but I am going to do my best to keep those memories of my fears close at hand as I know to many parents, those cries would be welcomed and wonderful sounds.

Sunday we capped the weekend off with a Hot Cha Cha themed birthday party for Jason's mom. After 12 years of protecting the Carter family secret recipe, I unveiled it to the Kolb family and I hope they all enjoyed it. We had a great time at the party and were glad to have everyone over.

The birthday girl!

Rachel, Ann Marie, Grace and Emily

Ella holding Victoria~Ella was really excited because she is pretty sure Victoria likes her!

Theresa and Johno

Mary and Lily couldn't take the excitement of the party and had to retire to watch Tom and Jerry!


This week looks pretty busy for me again (which explains my scattered brain). Anytime I have more than one item that is somewhat off of my beaten path, I get a little goofy. For the past several months, I have been working on a project to provide prepackaged school supply kits at our school and this afternoon all of my planning is coming to fruition. I have a table reserved at the school's hot dog feed to provide information, handle any orders and answer questions. I am really hoping it goes well as I have put a lot of work into it and in typical Jessica fashion, am taking it very personal. In addition to this monumental event, Grace has Girl Scouts tonight, I have volleyball tomorrow, we have to get our car fixed on Thursday, Grace is participating in a volleyball clinic on Thursday and Friday and we have our annual Valentine's Day family swimfest planned for Saturday night. Not to mention, I do not have the SLIGHTEST idea what to get Jason for Valentine's Day. Oh, the pressure! If any of you have any thoughts on the perfect gift to get for the man who has everything and wants nothing, please pass these thoughts on to me. I pride myself on coming up with really great, thoughtful gifts and I am failing this time around. HELP!
In light of our incident with Lily and also with the upcoming holiday, I would like to wish you all a week of patience, an appreciation for the important people and "things" in your life and of course, LOVE!

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