The Temperature's Rising...

Well, I admit it. I was getting all comfortable, all content that the winter illnesses seemed to have passed us by with little effect. And just about the time I was feeling that comfort, wiping my forehead saying, "Whew...that was close...", I had a knock on my classroom door. "Mrs. Cloud, you have a phone call. They need to talk to you right now." Oddly, I knew. I didn't panic which I would have done most other times. Our school office is being remodeled right now, so I found my phone call in the hallway. "Mrs. Cloud, your child has a fever." And like that, the dream was over.

Thankfully I only had thirty minutes of the school day left. So I ran down the road to pick him up. Oh, bless his heart. Anytime he has a fever, his breathing is a bit labored (I fully anticipate an asthma diagnosis in the next few years). As I drove back to pick up the other kids, my little guy started saying in a very pitiful voice, "I want Mommy hold you." Which really means he wanted his Mommy to hold him. So once we got home, I did.

With Motrin, he is good. He perks up, will play, and acts more like himself. But once the Motrin has run its course, the fever starts back up. Tonight he begged to go to bed.

So...I get to stay at home tomorrow (after I run up to the school for one little activity before Mark heads out to work).

In other news, Mark's mom was released from the hospital today! Yippee! I imagine she is ready to sleep at her own house (I would be!). Please continue to pray for her healing.

Did I mention anything about McTeacher Night? Our school partnered with a local McDonalds to do a little fundraiser. It was called McTeacher Night. The teachers volunteered to work one hour shifts, and part of the proceeds from the night come back to the schools. Of course, we encouraged our students to come see us "at work". Last time we had one of these, we were in the midst of basketball and swim team, so I wasn't able to participate. This time around, I volunteered for the last hour. I was a bit nervous. I managed to never work fast food (or really any kind of food) in my younger days. I honestly am not sure I can handle it. I forget half the time what my kids tell me they want to drink or eat from the table to the kitchen. Thankfully I was given an "easy" job passing out tickets for free ice cream. However, none of this is the point of the story. In fact, it is just useless information. :)

Partway through my shift, one of my co-workers called out, "Hey, Cloud, this girl had you for a teacher in kindergarten." I have to say that students typically change a lot appearance wise once they leave kindergarten and enter the teen years. So I had to get a closer look...at her nametag. As soon as I saw her nametag, I knew who she was. I really do remember most of my students and little facts about them. It was so neat to see her (she even had her kindergarten picture WITH her!). I am proud of the lady she has become; she was helpful, friendly, and hard-working. I have said it before, but as much as I might want to take credit for these things, I cannot. I really believe that most students would succeed without me. However, I am truly grateful that for now, I get to be part of their lives, watching those "lightbulbs" go off as the learning comes together for them.

I got a fun little surprise last night! We were given a Roomba. If you read my blog at all, you know I have had this on the wishlist for a couple of years now. If you could see my floor, especially after meals, you would understand. Anyway, I got it out last night, charged it for a bit, and let it go to work. It sure did. It was a busy little fella, moving all over the place including under my bed. Don't know when it was last cleaned under there! I think Roomba and I will get along just fine.

Okay, I keep falling asleep. I better go for now. More to come!
Reba

Moved to Tears

I have written posts in my head all weekend. I have several going at once. Unfortunately, I am not living in my head but in reality. And in reality, I am barely hanging on with very little sleep. So the posts will have to wait.

We did fine this morning. Ironically, we typically get to school sooner than usual when we take child 4 to his school. I guess I build more time into the schedule, so we end up running ahead of schedule. Now saying that, I could oversleep tomorrow. You never know. (I am thankful that he did NOT cry when I left him. He was just chilled...)

We (Me and the three) always pray on the way to school. Usually it is me praying (yes, I do leave my eyes open since I am driving), asking for blessings upon the kids' days and their work. This morning I asked my oldest to pray for MeMe. And then I cried all the way through the prayer.

I have been concerned (obviously) about my mother-in-law and the severity of the surgery. But I hadn't really let myself stop and think about it. It reminds me of the day I was sliding down a mountain sideways (on ice) in my car as a teenager. I remained calm during the process. Then we stopped at the bottom of the hill. It was only when we stopped that I realized the graveness of the situation. And I dissolved into a puddle of tears.

Same thing this morning. I was fine. I was praying and asked others to pray. But it wasn't until I got Mark's text that the surgery was over (very quickly) that the tears really fell. I finally went down to my oldest's classroom to let him know. I called him out into the hallway then burst into tears. Thankfully he knows me well enough to know what that means.

So, just to warn you. If you see me out in public and I tear up, it isn't you. It is me. Just plain ole tired me.
Reba

Update

MeMe (Mark's mom) came through surgery much quicker than expected. The tumor was removed, and initial tests do not indicate malignancy though I think they automatically test more extensively which will require time. The surgery wasn't quite as involved as the doctors had thought it would be, which hopefully means MeMe will recover a little quicker. Mark has already seen her and talked to her. She was feeling a bit sick and groggy but overall was very alert. If all goes well, Mark should be heading back tomorrow.

Thanks for praying!
Reba

Accentuate the Positive

So my main man is out of town. And I am glad he is. No, that doesn't sound right. I am not glad he is gone. I am glad he wants to spend some time with his mom before the surgery. I have always felt like how a man treats his mom is directly related to how a man treats his wife. At the same time, I miss him when he isn't here. For one thing, my interaction with adults is greatly reduced. Plus, I don't have my "Go 2 Guy" to pass the baton to for both parenthood and household duties. So in that regard, I could bellyache about the fact that he isn't here. But instead I am going to accentuate the positive.

Here are a few reasons I can live with my main man being gone...

• I can let the sink overflow as much as I want. Mark is a bit of a fanatic about our sink. He wants it empty and clean all of the time. Unfortunately for him, he has had to let go of that a little bit because when we eat at home, we fill up the dishwasher very quickly. And if we entertain or cook for anyone else, we may get three loads easily in a day's time. So sometimes the sink has to be overflowing while another load is washing. Okay, so it kind of bothers me too, so I will not likely let it overflow, but I could if I wanted to...
• I can listen to my i-Touch all around the house. Typically on the weekends, the boys (that would be Mark and Hunter) like to channel surf, especially in search of sports. So if I am working in the kitchen (which I was today), I can't really listen to my i-Touch because it gets drowned out by sports announcers and cheers/boos. Today I just turned on the "shuffle" and listened away.
• Easier to keep up with kids' consequences. Mark and I agree on how we handle the kids and misbehavior. But lots of times, only one of us is present when a consequence is doled out to the offender. And we may forget to mention to the other one, "Oh, by the way, this child is not allowed to play in the toy room for three days." Thankfully, most of the times, the loving siblings are very happy to remind me. But with only one parent here to dole out the consequences, it is MUCH easier to keep up with them. Provided I remember them. :)
• The pressure is off with meals. Okay, my husband never makes a big deal about meals. If I say, "Let's go out," more often than not, we do. If I say, "It is on your own night", then we just eat whatever we have. But I do try to cook more often than not (depends on the week), and sometimes that man can be challenging. I will think we will have chicken for dinner only to find out he had it for lunch. So no pressure. The kids will eat most of what I make. Tonight, we had pancakes and bacon. Tomorrow...who knows. I will decide then. :)
• I have control of the t.v. I could go on and on about that but let's be honest. It speaks for itself.
• The two big kids are better helpers when Dad is gone. He always gives them a "pep talk" reminding them to step up to the plate to help me out. Today they did just that. Lauren helped me make pancakes. Hunter read a book to Joshua. Now, we will see if it lasts beyond tomorrow.
• It is a GREAT excuse if I don't want to do something. I have not really used it this weekend, but just in case someone asked me to do something I really didn't want to do, I can always say, "Um, I am so sorry...I am on my own with the kids right now..."
• I tend to be a bit more productive when my man is gone. I know, it is pathetic. I don't sleep as well when he is gone, so I am more likely to be up. And if I am up/awake, then I might as well do something like inventory the kitchen. (Partway done already :)
• I may actually talk to Mark (at least without interruption) when he is out of town more than when he is home. Okay, probably not, but it feels like it. We have texted a few dozen times today (or a dozen anyway), and then he called once the kids were in bed. We weren't distracted by the busyness of life. We just took time to share about our day. Maybe he should go away more often. Maybe not.
• I don't have to shave my legs. He doesn't complain, but since I think nothing of propping my legs on him when I am lounging, I do it out of consideration. I don't have to for a few days. Of course, I will anyway, because I don't like the feeling of not shaving.
• I have more to blog about. :)

Well, as usual, I am staying up later than I should. So I better conclude this list. Hopefully, I accomplished my goal...accentuating the positive. (Love ya, dear!)

Reba

Prayer Please

Tomorrow, early in the morning, Mark is heading to Mississippi to visit his mom. Her surgery to remove the tumor from her pituitary gland will be Monday morning. Mark will come back Tuesday evening.

Please pray for Mark's mom. She has been waiting for over a month for this surgery. That gives anyone enough time to worry and fret about what is to come, no matter how strong the faith.

Please pray for the doctors to have wisdom and a steady hand.

Please pray for Mark as he travels. I always worry about him staying awake which is pretty crucial on the road. I am sure he will be hitting the Red Bull to help out. Ick!

Please pray for the kids. The younger ones especially will not understand why Daddy is not here. It also changes our routines since we are responsible for taking the youngest to school for a few days.

And lastly, please pray for me. I know if God called me to do this on my own, I could do it (with His help). But at this time (with both of us alive and kicking), we are very much a team. And when one member is gone...well, it is hard to be a team. I already miss him and he hasn't even left yet...

Reba

Weighing In...

If you have read on here at all, you know that Wednesdays are "weigh in" days for our "biggest loser" contest at school. I am really careful about what I eat on Tuesday nights (I learned early on that eating ham which contains LOTS of sodium will NOT help you have a good weigh in) so I can weigh in well on Wednesdays. I also eat a light breakfast that day. As soon as I got to school, my weigh in partner popped her head into my room excited. She was four pounds lighter. Great for her, bad for me because now the pressure was on! I ended up being a half pound heavier this week. However, I didn't totally let my partner down. We ended up (thanks to her) being in first place this week. Woohoo!

The other thing about Wednesdays is that it is my "indulge" day. After weighing in, I am ready to eat and eat well. So I sent an e-mail to my dear hubby and told him to choose something (and to choose wisely). After much consideration on his part, we decided to go with Shoguns (which is a Japanese hibachi type grill). We had a gift certificate there which helped a lot. (We are trying to crack down on our budget/spending)

After school, I ran to pick up the youngest. Oh, by the way, he woke up fever free this morning and raring to go. So off to school he went. Anyway, I had a meeting after school but it was with my K team. So I just ran down the road to pick him up and bring him back to the school. He LOVES coming to Mommy's school. Loves it. Today, he had a brand new teacher today. She told me how sweet he had been and that he had been asking for me all afternoon. (I am thinking, "New teacher, he is totally playing her :) She also mentioned that he had had NO nap. She said he just didn't want to sleep. Of course, he has no choice at home. He doesn't have to sleep but he has to rest. Apparently he didn't. Suddenly these little red flags started going off all over my head in regards to dinner.

We stopped in at my school. At first, child 4 was very clingy. Thankfully it was a very informal meeting. He didn't want to venture more than a few steps away from me. However, as he became more comfortable, he started venturing further, going back to my room (right next door) and in the end going to a room across the hall with his sister. What I really loved is that personality that I was talking about yesterday really started to show. Lots of times, in front of others, he shuts down. Today he really warmed up. He would come in and tell me funny stories, with voice inflection and character voices. I am glad the others got to see that side of him.

We came home, and I immediately sent the kids outside. I think it was only in the 40's but the sun had been shining all day long. So it was pretty pleasant. At least if you are a kid. I am too cold natured, so I watched from inside. They had a good time out there. Okay, besides some quarrelling (mostly among the two youngest children). I loved watching them play in the sunlight. Gives me hope that spring is really on its way!

As soon as Mark got home, we headed out the door. Child 4 was SO excited. I had told him that there would be fire there, so he kept asking to go to the "fire". Thankfully the restaurant wasn't overly busy so we were seated quickly. Right after we were seated, one of the "big fires" happened at a grill near us. And that child about climbed the walls. He decided he did NOT want to be there and was ready to go home. I told him he could sit in the car. He agreed. As we started to walk out, I told him I was hungry. He said he was hungry too. So we headed back inside. Right after he was seated, another grill "fire" flared up (all for entertainment purposes), and we went through the whole scenario again. Sigh. I looked at Mark and said, "This was a bad idea..." The third time it happened, Child 4 tried to convince me to leave but our salad had arrived. So I told him I was staying put for the time being. He just whined for a bit. Then it was over. By the time our chef arrived to cook for us, he was a little frantic, but overall, he handled it well. The cook was kind enough to warn us when a "fire" was coming up. The first one, Mark took him away from it to a place where they could watch it but not actually be near it. The second "fire", he decided to stay and handled it just fine.

By the end of the meal, that child was using his chopsticks to pick up chicken. Of course, he didn't eat the chicken, but he picked it up. He actually used regular chopsticks and most of the time picked it up one handed. I was pretty impressed. We were sitting near an aquarium that had a clownfish in it. Every time it swam anywhere where we could see it, he nwould yell out, "There's Nemo!" He can see much better than me because it wasn't until the end of the meal that I saw there really was a clownfish in there!

As for the rest of the crew, I think child 3 enjoyed the meal the most. She chowed down on most of it, including the soup. The bigger kids loved the meat. Our oldest struck up a conversation with the family next to us who had a son around his age. When the family left, the woman kindly complimented him to us which was sweet and good for him to hear.

On the way home, we stopped by a store so I could pick up something for school. We were maybe five minutes from home when I turned around and saw our youngest sound asleep. Mark carried him in to the house, put him in his pj's, and put him in bed. I think the only words every uttered were when he looked up at Mark and said, "No book tonight."

And another adventure had come to an end...

Reba

I wonder...

There are some things I cannot help but wonder in life...

• Why does my son play in my bathtub (no water) in the morning instead of say, the toy room?
• Why do I have a basket overflowing with socks without partners?
• Why does nobody need to tell me something until I am in the bathroom then suddenly everyone has something important to share?
  Why is is that the day after you brag about your children's improved behavior that the behavior takes a nose dive?
• Why do your children insist on singing at the top of their lungs when someone calls on the phone?
• Why does someone drop their juice or a big crumbly cookie on the floor the same afternoon after it was cleaned?
• Why is it only the nights you have gotten to bed really late that a child shows up in your room just a few hours later to tell you they are sick?
• Why do children suddenly act like they feel a LOT better after you make a doctor's appointment for them?
• Why do my children ask me every single morning what else they can have for breakfast when I give them the same answer every single morning? (almonds, yogurt, banana, fruit...)
• Why I am more tired on Friday nights than any other day of the week?
• Why my kids will call out for "Mama" over and over again when their daddy (who is an involved daddy) is sitting just a few feet away?
• Why my kids will say "Mama" over and over again without really pausing to let me respond?
• Why kids suddenly find their most favorite toys in the whole world in the consignment sale pile when those same toys haven't been touched for months?
• Why do my kids remember to ask us for our allowance every week but never seem to remember the times I bought a pack of gum for them with promises they would pay me back?
• At what point will I walk across the kitchen floor without hearing the crunch of Cheerios beneath my feet?
• How can the child who has you laughing one moment have you crying the next?
• At what point did my life not become mine?
• How come parenting is the hardest job but the most rewarding job in the world?

What is is that you wonder?

Reba