MaeLyn's Musings

I made the mistake of mentioning to someone about a week ago that our family really doesn't get sick very often. I guess the fates decided that it was time. On Tuesday, John wasn't feeling well. He had a sore throat, and possibly a fever. He lay around and read; I figured it would pass. By Wednesday, I think the sore throat was better, but he awoke with his eye crusted over with thick green gunk, which continued to ooze throughout the day. Yesterday (Thursday) his eye was still oozing gunk, and the area around his eye was sore from his attempts to clean the mucus. He couldn't open his eye all the way, and it kind of looked like his entire eye was sunken down on his face. As if that wasn't enough, by the evening, he was complaining about feeling a lot of pressure in his ear, and was so uncomfortable that he was almost in tears. Last night, Steven took him to the doctor. Sure enough, he has conjunctivitis (pink eye) as well as an ear infection. He came home with e...

You know how I mentioned yesterday that Peter took a nap on the living room couch at 10am yesterday? Did it sound strange to you that my active almost nine year old would take a morning nap? Well if so, you're right. He spent the rest of the day either laying there on the couch with a headache, or else in the bathroom throwing up. (I'm so glad that he is old enough to get to the bathroom when he needs to throw up!) He sipped from a water bottle throughout the day and watched movies from the couch. He had a fever that got up to 103*F last night, and he went to bed early instead of attending cub scouts. This morning his temperature was back down to 99*F, but he has already thrown up once so far today. (It couldn't have been much because he hardly ate anything yesterday.) I convinced him to eat a bite of toast and drink a cup of milk for breakfast before going back to bed and he was busily snoring away last time I checked on him. The sad thing is that he seems to take it a...

I hate getting colds - face becomes leaky faucet; my head will explode. The back of my throat is scratchy as sandpaper. My neck has a rash. Heaven sent water - soothe my throat, thin the mucous, let me breathe again. Does anyone else tend to get rashes whenever they get a cold? 

I was sick on Monday. My head ached, my stomach ached, I had no appetite, no energy, and spent the entire day on the couch not throwing up, but burping up smelliness. Steven was kind enough to drive the boys to school in the morning, so I only had to leave the couch to take Peter to kindergarten and pick up the kids after school. Hannah made dinner. I slept. Tuesday I was feeling a little better. My head still ached a little, and I was still feeling a bit weak, but I was well enough to get up, wash some laundry and straighten the house a little. I decided not to help out in Peter's class like I usually do on Tuesdays, and spent that quiet time resting rather than exposing twelve kindergartners to whatever bug I had. Yesterday, (Wednesday) I was straightening the house and trying to get caught up on neglected housework when I realized I had forgotten to go to a breakfast at the school  for John, who was selected "Physical Education Student of the Month" by his PE teach...

I'm grateful for automatic dishwashers. I'm grateful for running hot water. I'm grateful that my new dishwasher will be delivered today. I'm grateful for my loving husband who uninstalled our old dishwasher on Saturday so it can be hauled away when the delivery people come today. I'm grateful that I have some experience hand washing dishes so I knew what to do for the interim. I'm grateful that while the hot water was turned off all weekend to my kitchen sink, it was still available in the bathrooms so I didn't have to heat all my dish-washing water on the stove or in the microwave. I'm grateful that Steven was kind enough to wash the dishes Saturday night while I went to bed early due to a headache. I'm grateful that I was feeling well enough last night to wash the day's dishes after Steven had gone to bed early with a headache. I'm grateful that neither Steven nor I have come down with the stomach flu yet. I'm grateful that my three sch...

Happy Martin Luther King Jr. Day! The kids are all home from school today in honor of the occasion. They are supposed to be taking advantage of the occasion by cleaning their rooms, and while they got off to a good start, they seem to have run out of energy and will power and I don't know if anything has progressed in the last hour. Meanwhile, I cleaned my room, including cleaning the closet and changing the sheets on my bed. I feel like I've set my example for the kids, and now I can relax and play. Maybe I will work on my quilt. Hannah wants to have a picnic in the park if they get their rooms clean before lunch time. I don't see it happening, but they can try for it. On Thursday afternoon I took Peter to the doctor. He's had a blistery looking thing on his thumb for a week or so that seemed to be growing and crusting over. I didn't remember any injury to his finger that could have caused it, and since it was getting worse instead of better, I took him in. The d...

Peter threw up again this morning. When I got up there was a smelly mess on his bed. When I asked him about it he said, "That was just a mistake. I'm not really sick." And he doesn't act sick in the slightest. He ate breakfast and is running around acting perfectly normal. At least I don't have to decide whether or not to keep him home from school. Yesterday started out pretty good. I didn't get any phone calls from the school. I was able to walk to the school to pick up the kids, and so I got some much needed exercise. I worked some more on my quilt. Last night I took John to scouts. The difficult part was the long afternoon after the kids came home from school. I am frustrated because I don't know how to motivate my children to do the things they need to do. Everyone has an assigned room to straighten. Joshua had two homework assignments he needed to work on. John had homework as well as an assignment to clean out the cat's litter (which he had neg...

After one "sick day" of not acting particularly sick, Joshua is back in school. I'm knocking on wood that they'll all stay there and I won't get a phone call from the school: "Hannah just threw up; can you come get her?" The temps today are supposed to get up to 59 degrees, and I want to get out and take a walk or something to enjoy it. I usually make the kids walk home on Wednesdays because it is their early dismissal day, but I haven't lately because it has been freezing. (Seriously, I won't make them walk when it is less than 32 degrees out, and lately we've had several days in the teens.) I'm thinking today I might walk up to the school to meet them and walk home with them just so I can get out and get some exercise. Yesterday I worked on my quilt some more. If I keep working on it I could probably have the whole quilt top done in about a week. Then I'll have to figure out how I want to quilt it. Also yesterday I got to help s...

Yesterday was pretty quiet. Peter slept almost all morning until 2:15pm when I took him with me to pick up the kids from school. After that he still didn't have much appetite, but he ate some food and it stayed down and he was up and running around again. I thought I was going to be able to make it to my presidency meeting this morning. Funny me. Last night after FHE, Josh didn't want much of the dessert he had chosen (peanut butter and jelly cookies) and complained that his stomach ached. At 4:45 this morning I woke up to hear him in the bathroom, losing whatever was in his stomach. So he is at home today. I rescheduled my meeting; hopefully by Friday everyone will be better? I hope so. Or maybe I will have it myself by then. It would figure. Meanwhile, I have been working on a quilt that I started last summer, but put away to work on Halloween costumes and Christmas superhero capes. I think the cats may have been another issue then too. For some reason they can't see ...

I enjoyed a very nice weekend. The weather was beautiful and warm (well, it got into the 50s, which is very warm compared to what it's been.) I finally got to go to the store to exchange some things. I pulled out the quilt I started last summer and worked on it for a while. Yesterday I taught Sharing Time in Primary and it went pretty well. Last night Kristy sent me a text to tell me that a bunch of family members were chatting online and invited me to join them. I wanted to, but Hannah was on the computer and I didn't feel like it would be respectful to kick her off before her time was up. I hurried to get Josh and Peter in their jammies and dinner chores done so as soon as Hannah's time was up I could get on and see if anyone was still there. I was glad that a few were on still, and I was able to chat for a short time before Steven came home from his youth fireside. At one point I mentioned that John had been sick, but I didn't think anyone else was going to get it. I...

The temperature is dropping. When I left to take the kids to school this morning, the car's thermometer said it was about 40 degrees. By the time I got home it was closer to 30. Now the thermometer on the porch reads about 20, with 80% humidity. It will snow soon. John is home sick again. He has eaten a little and hasn't thrown up yet today, but he woke up with a headache and feeling dizzy. He's watching "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets" right now. Peter spent much of the morning working on his school book this morning. He cut out a bunch of flash cards and we played memory - matching a picture with the letter that makes its beginning sound. He's really good at that. Tiny wispy snowflakes are starting to come down now.  I should find a good long book to curl up with. Too bad I didn't get to the library yesterday. Oh well.

It has been too cold for too long. The thermometer on our front porch says it is about 2 degrees outside. Today is about the fifth day of below freezing temperatures and I am sick of it!!! Instead of snowing and melting off within a day or two, like it usually does here, the snow has stuck, and hasn't melted at all. It makes it hard to want to get out of the house at all, and the last couple days I've only left to get the kids to and from school. I cancelled a presidency meeting yesterday... we didn't have that much we needed to talk about, and I really didn't feel like driving on the slippery roads. Also, yesterday I started feeling sick - not flu, but a really bad cold. My nose is stuffed and my head is aching, I think primarily from the pressure in my sinuses. I don't feel like doing anything... except curling up with a good book, wrapped up in a blanket. I wish we had a fireplace and that Hannah and the other kids hadn't finished up all our hot chocolate mix...

When I was pregnant with John, my friend Tabitha was pregnant at the same time. Tabitha's baby, Joseph, lived long enough to be born (one day after John) but suffered from something called Trisomy 13 and only lived about 12 days. A couple days ago I learned that a young family in our ward just found out that the baby they are carrying has this same terminal chromosomal disorder. They are due in January. At the same time, the secretary in our ward primary has gone to see to her mother who is suffering from heart problems. The doctor told her family they had a couple choices: he could do nothing, and her mom would probably die. Or he could perform surgery, but the operation itself could kill her. I hope I never have to make that kind of a choice. I can't express how sad these things make me, or how grateful I am for my knowledge that families can be eternal. I am grateful that my parents were married in the temple, that I was born under the covenant, sealed to them, and that I, i...

I'm waiting for the phone to ring. It will be the school asking me to come pick up John because he threw up, or isn't feeling well, or is coughing too much. It is hard sometimes to decide whether or not to send a child to school. John threw up twice yesterday-- once in the morning and once in the evening. Most of the morning he wasn't acting particularly sick, but in the afternoon and evening he stayed lying down, and was obviously less energetic than normal. He went to bed early, and I was thinking I would have him at home another day. This morning he was coughing, and his nose was running, and he still didn't look like he was 100% better. I took his temperature and it was 99.4 F. But he didn't feel nausious any more, he ate some breakfast, and he wanted to go back to school. His temperature wasn't all that high, so I'm left with the dilemma: do I let him go to school, knowing I may have to go pick him up in a half hour or an hour? Or do I keep him home, wh...

I got to see "Wicked" last night with Steven, Lindy and Thom. I had been concerned about having a babysitter, but April received clearance from her doctor and was able to come up. She had a few contractions, but hasn't gone into labor yet. I'm so grateful that she was willing and able to come and watch the kids for me. It was exciting to dress up, drive down town, and walk down the 16th street mall for the very first time. It was fun to see the bicycle - pulled carriages, and a horse drawn carriage along with the shuttle that provides transportation up and down the street. We had dinner at Chili's, and the food was good, and the conversation was fun. For dessert I had a shot glass sized key lime pie, that was really good, but it was frozen, which made it difficult to eat. After dinner we hurried to the theater where Wicked was being performed. Lindy and Thom had seats on the orchestra level, and Steven and I had seats up in the balcony. I didn't know much ...

I hate it when my husband gets sick. I know he can't help it usually. I know that I shouldn't get upset at him, especially when he needs my sympathy and help more than ever. I still don't like it. Yesterday Steven came home from work, and without saying a word, without even letting me know that he was home (Dinner was ready; I was back in the bedroom wondering what was keeping him) he just sat down at the table for dinner. He could have sat there for five minutes before I finished what I was doing and came out to the living room and saw him. I gathered the rest of the family for dinner and we ate, but there was an oppresive silence over the table. I asked him how work went, and apparently something had happened at work and he'd had to redo some project he'd been working on. He said he was tired. He looked like he was tired- that heavy, sullen kind of tired like he wished the world would let him off for a while and he could get back on in some other universe far away...

I have a lot on my mind this morning. Yesterday afternoon I had two girls over from the family up the street. I was watching them so their Grandma could get a chance to rest. They had a blast playing with my kids. Apparently their mother is still in the hospital, and their dad has bleeding ulcers. I wish there was more I could do for them. Our bishop also is in the hospital suffering from complications of the H1N1 virus. He has viral pneumonia, was having a lot of difficulty breathing, and is now in a drug induced coma for what could be a couple weeks or a month. We are praying for him and his family. As a result of all this, he was unable to participate in setting me and my counselors apart for our new callings last night; his counselors had to do that instead. While I was being set apart, one comment that was made in the blessing struck me particularly. I was told that the Lord has been preparing me for this calling for a long time. I guess that is why so many of my callings so f...

There is nothing like the adrenaline rush of waking up 40 minutes late to get a person moving in the morning. Especially when that means I have only 20 minutes to get three kids dressed, fed and packed up to leave for school. Steven has been sick the last few days. His upper back and neck have been bothering him for a week and a half. It feels like he has been miserable forever. Yesterday he came home from work early and spent the evening reading in bed. Last night he kept making noises in his sleep: something half way between a grunt and a groan. Anyway, it was keeping me awake so I went to sleep on the living room couch. I kept waking up out there too, because one of the cats decided to come lay on me and purr and give himself a bath, noisily licking himself until I pushed him off. I wasn't laying in a position where I could see the clock, but suddenly I opened my eyes and realized it was light already. Suddenly I jumped off the couch and looked at the clock - 7:10, the time we...

Monday morning is when I'm supposed to be my busiest, cleaning the house, recovering from the weekend, maybe getting some laundry going. Instead I'm sitting at my computer with my head in a bit of a haze. Am I still sick? not really. My nose is still stuffy and I have a lingering cough, and a tiny touch of a headache if I think about it, but other than that I feel pretty well. Yet my brain is still a bit fuzzy. I guess I'll take it easy today. I wouldn't want a relapse. The weather is actually cold today! The newspaper said the high would be in the 50's, and after months in the 70s and 80s, that seems COLD! It's also damp outside. It isn't really raining, but it is damp. John and Josh are home from school today, coughing and really congested. I might have left the windows open for the humidity if it weren't so cold out since my humidifier doesn't have a filter for it and my vaporizer is broken. Instead, I have a huge pot simmering gently on the stove...

Sacrament meeting began fifteen minutes ago. I am at home with four children. Steven alone is representing our family at church today. I hope he enjoys the peace and quiet of being able to concentrate on the talks and lessons today. Tuesday morning Hannah woke up after a sleepless night with a headache. She didn't have a fever and she wanted to go to school, so I let her go. Twenty minutes later I got a phone call from the school; she had thrown up. So I picked her up and brought her home. She stayed home on Wednesday as well, running a fever and throwing up. Thursday she was feeling better and I brought her back to school, but I wasn't feeling very well. As the day progressed I felt worse and worse. I wasn't throwing up. What I had was just a terrible head cold. I felt like my sinuses were stuffed and the entire front of my face hurt, even my jaw felt pressure on it. I took Ibuprofin for my headache, but two pills (200mg) did nothing for it. I dug out my 800mg Ibuprofin ...