A Glimpse Into My Daily Life

I get back to my mom's house around 3pm after taking Josiah to the doctor. He was diagnosed with bilateral ear infections and clinical pneumonia (which is just pneumonia diagnosed without a chest x-ray). I attempt to give him his first dose of Augmentin. He starts running away from me, crying, which is not like him. All of my kids love to take medicine. So I have to sit on the floor with him, hold his arms down and his head back, and force the dropper into his mouth. He swallows it. So I decide to give him another dose of Motrin as well for pain control. He pulls the same act, so I have to go through the same routine to get the Motrin in. When all that is said and done, I get him some milk and yogurt, give it to my mom, and she takes him outside (because it was like 60 degrees today) to give it to him. I wash my hands and sit down to nurse Elizabeth.

Elizabeth's tummy has been bothering her today. I assume this because everytime I've tried to feed her she's arched her back and screamed. She's very gassy too. Halfway through the first boob she starts screaming and arching, and my niece Mackenzie comes in the house, leaving Isaac all alone outside by himself (Josiah had already come in with my mom at some point in between there). Mackenzie is yelling at my mom that she should be the one to bring Isaac in because she's the one who took him out there. All the while I'm saying, "Mackenzie, is he out there by himself?!?" No one seems at all concerned about this. They're more concerned about their argument over who should bring him inside. Finally, I put Elizabeth down on the couch and start to go out to get Isaac. Mackenzie at that point decides she will go get him after all. Isaac of course isn't going without a fight, so when she ultimately does get him in she accidentally pinches his finger in the door. I didn't see this though. I don't even think he noticed. He was too busy freaking out over being brought inside. Our policy for freaking out (aka tantrums) is that they have to sit in the corner or in their room, someplace alone, until they settle down. So I had to carry Isaac under his arms into a bedroom where he could cool it.

It didn't take too long for him to get his wits about him. I went into the bedroom to give him a hug and explain to him that no one was available to watch him outside. This is when I noticed the skin missing from his finger. So, we had to go into my mom's bathroom to wash his hands and get a band-aid. Remember, all this time Elizabeth is still laying on the couch, kind of waiting for me to come back and finish feeding her. When we get into my mom's bathroom I see her bathmat still sitting on top of the stool that Isaac normally uses to pee in the potty. I realize he probably hasn't peed all day! But he is dry, so he pees, we wash his hands, and get a band-aid for that finger. Just when I think I've taken care of everything, Isaac turns around to leave the bathroom to show off his new band-aid, smacks his head off of the corner of the ceramic-tiled wall, and proceeds to scream bloody murder. That corner is sharp, I'll give him that.

Remember, I'm still in the middle of trying to feed Elizabeth.

Anyway, I hold Isaac for a minute and he settles down pretty quickly. We go back out into the living room. Isaac shows off his battle wounds. I try to nurse Elizabeth some more but she just isn't having it. We ALL end up going outside ANYWAY!

What makes this all worth it? When we got outside Josiah found a little play shovel and begins "shoveling" the little bit of snow that is left in my parents' backyard. He picks up little bits of snow and tries to carry them over to my dad to throw them at him, but when he pulls the shovel back to wind-up, all the snow falls off and there's nothing to throw at Pappy! This goes on for several minutes before he decides to hold the shovel steady and throw it up the air except, it all falls down on top of him! If only we had a camcorder on the scene! You've never seen anything this good on America's Funniest Home Videos!

This is just one example of the absurd multi-tasking and the ridiculous things that go on in my life day after day. I don't know what my TV name could be. I don't have 3 under 3 anymore, but 3, 3 & under. I echo my fellow reading competitor and blogger in saying, "This too shall pass." And to think that one day I will actually miss these days. Knowing me I'll actually weep for these days in as little as a year from now. Talk about ridiculous.

Book #6-The Screwtape Letters

Clever, revealing, and all too true, while bringing to light my terribly limited vocabulary! Loved the book. It's definitely a must-read for all Christians. However, C.S. Lewis' writing style reminded me how small my brain is: how much my 3 children have fried it or, how it was never all that sharp to begin with! If I had more time to devote to such a venture, I could have kept a dictionary by my side and made a vocabulary lesson out of each letter. It seemed there were no less than 5 words per letter that old Screwtape wrote to his dear nephew, Wormwood, that I had either never heard of before in my life (like chattels) or had heard of/used to know but forgot the actual meaning of (like avarice). Despite this shortcoming, I do believe I got the gist of each letter! So I think I'll make a note of this book's ability to expand my vocabulary and perhaps try it again in the future, with the dictionary by my side!

chattel: 1 a) a movalabe item of personal property, as a piece of furniture, and automobile or a head of livestock b) any interest in real estate less than a freehold 2) a slave

Lewis writes: "The man can neither make, nor retain, one moment of time; it all comes to him by pure gift; he might as well regard the sun and moon as his chattels." I get the sentiment, just wouldn't be my choice of words.

avarice: too great a desire to have wealth; cupidity.

I can't find the sentence I saw that word in, but I still don't get its definition. Maybe I never knew what that one meant in the first place but I'm sure I've come across it before...was it Pride and Prejudice or The Diary of Ann Frank?

Well I'm onto Bringin Up Boys by Dr. Dobson. Isaac has been going through quite the rebellious phase and it has brought Keith and I to tears at times. Maybe reading this book will give me some peace of mind that he won't always be this way. Or will he?

Per the agreement between me and my dear competitor, Kelly, I will be cleaning the bathrooms and the tile floor before beginning my next book. I also have a small, 3-picture collage frame in the shape of a baseball that has been sitting on my craft table since October I think that I have intended to hang in Josiah's room if ever I fill it with pictures! Other to-do list items? There are a few small albums small enough to carry in my purse as brag books if ever I put pictures in them. I have yet to review the cd that came with my nifty new camera last May describing ALL the neat-o things it does. Lastly, there is another small frame I got for Elizabeth that could use a picture. So there you have a bit of my to-do list. One of these items must be completed as well as my cleaning before starting Bringing Up Boys.

By the way, I just want to mention that I changed a total of 7 poopy diapers yesterday alone, plus several more pee-pee diapers.