I am so thankful to be able to work at home.  Annika has been sick this week with ear infections in both ears, but since I work at home, I can hold her while she sleeps, and work at the same time.  I feel so blessed to be able to do both things. 

Wow, I am a mess tonight.  I often read blogs on the weekend – as a way to relax and catch up with my online friends (and some local friends) lives.  Tonight, I was reading one of my favorite my favorite blog, and I couldn’t help but be touched.  You see, Jennifer is currently in Kenya with Compassion International.  I have heard lots about Compassion, but friends, you need to go read this, to really put life in perspective.  I shared this with my kids tonight… They certainly don’t grasp the entirety of it, but it got their little minds thinking and hopefully will help them be grateful for what they have (for at least a day).  I think a Compassion Child may be joining our family soon.

Then, as if all that wasn’t enough to pull on my heart strings, one of my dear friends posted this video on Facebook.

That goes completely with my goal of being purposeful this year. 

With an extremely grateful heart…

C-

Wow, well, thank you all for your kind thoughts & emails.   Thankfully everything is pulling together for my conference next week.  I can’t wait to show you pictures and share how it went!  

My binders showed up yesterday!  I was sooo relieved.  They put a rush on my order for no extra charge and they got here in one day!  The colors aren’t exactly what I had in mind (particularly the yellow – it was supposed to be more of an orange…), but they are going to have to work!  It has been so fun to go from an idea in my mind, to getting the design on paper, to having the actual product in my hand. 

My aprons are supposed to get here Friday.  You know when you picture something in your mind, and just presume it is going to be that way?  I’m not sure how I got it in my mind, but somehow…. I pictured the aprons coming in a big box all individually wrapped in poly bags – so FLAT bags… WELL… the company called Tuesday and asked if I wanted them on a pallet and shipped freight or in boxes (plural) via UPS.  All the sudden it occurred to me… if they need to be on a pallet, they are taking up much more space that I was thinking… So I asked.. “just how are these packaged?”  (Yeah, I probably should have thought to ask this before… but like I said I had just pictured it in my mind and figured that’s how it as going to be.)  So how do they come?  In INDIVIDUAL boxes….   LOL  So I am getting four HUNDRED individual boxes with aprons on Friday.  LOL  LOL  I mean the individual boxes will come in larger boxes, but this is going to take up WAY more space than I was anticipating!  I’m not sure if we are going to make it in 1 trip (2 hours away) or not…  My husband might have to make a trip as well to help us get it all there!  We shall see!  This is all such a learning process! 

This morning I picked up my 37,312 copies from Staples.  They did all that in 1 day as well!  WOW… I felt really bad for the copy center lady. 

Tuesday I have super good amazing friends coming to help me assemble binders, write coupon codes on post cards etc. 

It’s an adventure for sure!  One that I am grateful to have the opportunity to experience. 

C-

Hello Monday!  I’m so grateful for a new week…  Last week was just Crazy!  So crazy, I hardly remember all of it, aside from the fact that it was just stressful (with some fun parts sprinkled in).  Let’s see, I’ll try to do at least a little recap.

- I have been working a crazy insane amount, trying to get ready for our Hearts at Home Conference we are having a booth at.  This is a pretty big deal, only a few companies get picked and it is a large conference (about 4000 moms!)  I am so excited, and yet it has been just complete chaos as well.  For example, I ordered custom printed binders to hold my Kid Approved Meals Book.  Well, I ordered them Feb. 15th, and saw it takes 19 days.  GREAT!  I need them by March 9th, I should have them!  Then, I get a call on Friday to inform me “GREAT NEWS!”  Your binders are scheduled to be shipped March 12th!  UMMMM  TERRIBLE NEWS!  The conference is over then!  I went back to read the contract, to discover that it is 19 WORKING days…  UGH  So of course they were closed on Friday by the time I got this news…  So I am anxiously awaiting a call today to hopefully put a rush on the order. 

Then, I decided I wanted to sell aprons in our booth.  They are so cute!  Well, the company I wanted to purchase them had a special through last Friday, but first I had to get it approved by Hearts at Home, and of course… The lady who approves things was out for surgery until mid-week.   UGH.  I finally was able  to get approval late Monday night from someone else there, and the company did honor their special for me.  PHEW!

Oh, and then there was my postcards – that came with the back printed upside down…

Everything just seems to be ending up last minute – which was not at all what I was planning… but so it goes!  I’m just hoping it can all pull together by next week!  EEK!  Nothing like a little stress!

- We did have some fun times last week too.  Tuesday I spent the day with a friend.  We did some shopping and we met with a doula, as my friend and I would both love to be doula’s some day, and chatted for a good two hours.  That was a lot of fun! 

- Friday the kids didn’t have school, so we went to 123 JUMP (a big place with lots of big bounce houses) with 4 other moms.  So there were 5 moms and 11 kids!  Fun times!  We even went out to lunch at Steak N’ Shake, and the kids were great!  Here’s 7 of them.  They had their own table – too cute! 

Saturday Matt and I went to the Focus on Marriage Conference.  It was excellent!  A day well spent. 

Last week My “The Menu Mom” Blog also got a HUGE Makeover!  I Love it!  Go take a look! 

Okay, I better get busy with homeschool.  It’s March!  We’re down to the final 3 months before summer vacation!  YEA!

C-

Hi, I need your opinion on something on my Facebook Page – RE: Aprons I am considering selling at a conference next month.  I will be highlighting Dine Without Whine and Kid Approved Meals at the conference, and I think these might fit in… But I’m curious what your opinion is….www.dinewithoutwhine.com/facebook 

THANKS so much!

C-

As I relax a bit this evening and read blogs and catch up with friends on Twitter, Facebook & E-mail, the thought comes to me…  Seriously… How do they have time for all of that?  Then I realize… Once again… that I am looking at MANY different people, in MANY different circumstances and trying to put them all into that cookie cutter mold of the “perfect” mom.  C’mon… don’t tell me you don’t do that sometimes too. 

I devour a post about a mom editing each photo she publishes because they just aren’t blog worthy until they have been “tweeked” in photoshop. I am taking in all the instructions, bookmarking the post, thinking this must be something I should be doing… and then it hits me…  Yeah… Don’t have time for that – you get what you get – straight out of the camera on my family blog that boasts a picture a day.  (I thought that was pretty good in and of itself! No way I have an extra 30 min. to make the photo look perfect!)

I chat with another homeschooling mom about the field trips they have planned this spring, what elaborate science experiment they should try next and I think… Wow, we’re lucky to just get through the bare bones each day. 

I chat with a friend about all the new business projects she has going and how great everything is going.  Meanwhile, I think.. I am still with the same ol’ projects and they are not moving forward fast at all… downright slow actually…

I read a very popular blog (we’re talking sometimes 2-3 posts a day) about a mommy expecting baby #5 (and her kids are all much closer in age than mine) and I think Wow, I wish I had time (& inspiration) to blog like that…

We do the best we can… and that is just going to have to be good enough.  The issue comes in trying to accept that we have done our best. 

C-

Happy Valentine’s Day!  I hope you had a great day.  We stayed home because little Annika had a fever.  She still dressed up cute for her daddy though! 

We’re sending you lots of LOVE!

I’m a researcher… Big time!  If I want to buy something, I take a look at all the brands available, read hundreds of reviews, compare prices, search for discounts – you name it…  If we’re going on vacation – same thing, I will spend hours learning about the area, figuring out the best place to stay, the best places to eat, the best deals.  It really can get to be a bit excessive… but I like to be informed – really informed.  Just my personality I guess. 

So knowing this, it shouldn’t surprise you that after Annika’s “episode” last week, I had to research.  And research I did.  I have concluded that we are likely dealing with this:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Breath-holding_spells  This is also what her dr. felt was going on.  So… good news is it is not really a super major thing and she should grow out of it.  Bad news is, it still scares me to death (even more so now – after last week) when she holds her breath when she cries.  We have been blowing in her face and telling her to breathe when she starts in, and it seems to be working for the most part.  She actually has done this (held her breath when she cries) since she was tiny, but not to the extent she did it on Tuesday.  I think as she gets older and ventures through toddlerhood, learning how to share her opinion, it is getting a bit worse. 

All in all, we are completely blessed to have four healthy children.  God gives us periodic obstacles and trusts us to lean on him to overcome. 

C-

So my week continues.  Wednesday really wasn’t too bad.  A trip to the Dr. for Annika, Dane played with a friend, Christian did homeschool, Matt worked and taught confirmation, I tried to convince Annika not to climb on chairs…

Fast forward to Thursday afternoon.  We had a pleasant morning.  Lunch was finished, Christian and Dane were playing, Annika was enjoying an afternoon nap. 

Soon Dane and I were upstairs talking and Christian was downstairs, I presumed playing.  The downstairs is kind of the kids domain – minus the laundry room and pantry.

Anyway, soon I hear Christian coming up the stairs, not crying, but obviously something was wrong.  He acts panicked and quickly tells me that the fan downstairs was half-way unplugged, so he tried to plug it in the rest of the way and when he did it shocked him.  I’m thinking he probably saw a bit of a spark – you know how sometimes you see that when you plug something in, and it just scared him.  At this point he is just acting scared, not hurt.  Then all the sudden he starts crying and saying Ow, Ow, my hand it hurts!  I looked down to see that his fingers are BLACK and one has skin missing.  YOWZA! 

Matt was next door at church.  He had just done a funeral, they had eaten the meal and he was just visiting.  I ran over there and motioned for him to hurry and come with me.  We ran (and I don’t normally run) home while I explained that Christian had been shocked.  By this time, Christian is outright screaming – I’m sure it scared him when I said I needed to run and get daddy. 

Matt got him calmed down.  He has two large blisters on his fingers – one that is popped and one not, and he was complaining that his hand stings and tingles, and HURTS… he is obviously in a lot of pain.  As Matt is getting him some ice, Christian tells me that I should go look down there because he is worried it is on fire!  WHAT?!?  As I start walking down the stairs the infamous burning electrical smell hits me.  I panic a bit, and run upstairs.  I told Matt, I’ll do the ice… you go see what is on fire! 

Thankfully…. there are circut breakers, and nothing was on fire…  He said, “but you need to go look”.  All I could think of when I saw it was… well… I won’t type the words I thought, but anyway….  something along the lines of “Oh my goodness, that is much worse than I initially thought!”

There was both a nurse and an electrician at the funeral, so that was helpful!  They both provided their services. 

This could have been sooo much worse!  Our house could have caught on fire, Christian could have been completely electricuted.  The nurse said it was very lucky it went through his hands and to the wall instead of to his heart.  He could have been laying there in who knows what shape and I wouldn’t have even known it for at least a half an hour.  It is not unusual for them to play down there for awhile on their own.  I wouldn’t have gone to check on him for awhile I’m sure!

The electrician said that when something is half-way plugged in, the current is constantly trying to meet the metal in that plug.  So that was happening and when he tried to plug it in it exploded.  Generally speaking, if something is half-way plugged in I guess you are supposed to unplug it before plugging it in again.  Lesson learned the hard way I guess. 

Christian should be okay, it will just be a few days of healing – you know how burns are – so painful! 

In the meantime, I am feeling a bit nervous – what’s next?  Everything could have been so much worse for both Annika and Christian, so we are counting our blessings.  But Wow!  What a week. 

C-

Wow, it has been a stressful week around here!  How are you doing?  Here’s the summary of the excitement around here.

First off, Matt and I started a new Lifestyle Change (read between the lines – diet).  It is the Prism Weight Loss Program.  So far so good.  I will probably post more about it on my Menu Mom Blog in another day or so. 

But that has been the least of our worries!  We hardly have had time to worry about eating (although we have… don’t worry..)

So Tuesday as Matt was cooking dinner and I was in the dining room organizing some homeschool stuff, Annika was crawling up and down chairs on the table. (This is a normal thing… she is a climber, and usually does just fine.)  Suddenly we realize she has fallen – neither of us saw it happen, but she is on the floor, trying to get up, and crying.  I rush over to pick her up and she begins her typical open her mouth to cry and nothing comes out cry. (This is also a normal thing for her – although not something I like…) She has always done this where she doesn’t breathe for a few seconds when she is really upset and then finally breathes and either lets out another cry, or just stops crying all together.   Only this time… it lasted longer than I cared for – her lips were turning blue and she was not breathing.

I handed her to Matt (yes he remembered to turn off the burner of the stove thank goodness) and she did finally take a bit of a breath, but then her eyes started rolling back into her head and her arms tightened by her face, almost seizure like, and again she wasn’t breathing!  I grabbed the phone and called 911.  Matt continued to talk to her and she came to, but then did the same thing again.  All I could think is “Oh my goodness, we live out in the country with volunteer EMT’s – they are never going to get here in time to save her!”.  It was a terrifying moment.  I do not wish that upon anyone. 

Thankfully, after the 2nd round she came to.  She was pale – yellow instead of blue, and was alert.  The ambulance crew arrived – first a neighbor down the road who just drove straight here when he heard the page – instead of going into town to hop into the ambulance; and shortly after the ambulance.  It was an approximately 10 min. wait from the initial call to 911.  FAST for the country, as the station is 7 miles away and the crew has to get to the station and then head out, but it felt like an eternity. 

So I had my first ambulance ride.  They strapped me down to the gurney – we’re talking fully strapped, ankles, hips, and arms/chest.  The heat was turned up in the cab, I had my coat on, they put a hot blanket over us and you travel backwards, with the bright lights shining on my face.  (I was praying not to throw-up from the panic and motion sickness….  I didn’t – thank goodness)  Annika laid on top of me, responsive but very serene.  They hooked her up to the oxygen and heart monitors and all was normal.  They checked her eye dilation – normal. 

We rolled into the ER as the only patients there at the time.  Unfortunately, I never have been too impressed with our little town hospital.  It’s good they are there for emergencies, but if I am driving kids (or anyone) to the hospital, I am heading to the one Annika was born in a bit further away.  Anyway… once again they seemed like they had no clue what to do.. which made me a bit nervous!  Thankfully she was perking up by the moment, so I wasn’t quite as worried. 

Meanwhile, choir was starting at church, so a few people had seen the ambulance, and one asked if they could watch the kids for Matt.  So, he headed out right away, and arrived within five minutes after we did. 

They took all her vitals, and within a half an hour or so, she was pink again and looking good.  They decided to just observe her for an hour and a half to see how she did.   She decided to get down and wander the hospital halls for the next hour.  She hadn’t had dinner yet, so Matt went and got her a cheeseburger at McD’s and she gobbled that up just fine.  She didn’t have any signs of a concussion, and seemed great.  So we were sent on our merry way with instructions to check in on her throughout the night.

When we got home Christian informed us that he was right next to her when it happened.  (remember, we didn’t really know what had happened – we knew she was on the chair, but we didn’t know if she was sitting or standing.)  Turns out she was only standing on the crossbars under the chair, so only 6” or so off the ground.  He said she fell backwards and hit the back of her head. 

We followed up with our primary doctor on Wednesday and all looked good.  She said sometimes when kids are sensitive to stress, their endorphines over-react and produce the type of symptoms we saw. 

So… the good news is that she doesn’t have a major head injury.  Bad news is.. that may be how she reacts when she gets hurt!  I’m hoping to not go through that again!  I’m thinking if she was hurt somewhere else – that it would have still been scary, but maybe not quite as scary.  But when you think it is a head injury, and then she started acting like that – it totally freaked us out! 

She has been great the last couple days – her normal busy toddler self.  Her parents on the other hand… have been a bit paranoid.  We give praise to the Lord for protecting her.

So…. that is the BEGINNING of our excitement this week… (oh yes… there is more…) but I think I am going to make that another post because this is getting so long!
 
Stay tuned…

c-