3 Things I Learned This Weekend...

1. It is so much, MUCH more fun to shop at garage sales than it is to be having one.

Right after Christmas we did a major clean out of our upstairs room as well as the rest of the house and decided that there was so much stuff we should have a garage sale. When I say we, that means I, because Da Hubby wasn't quite as excited about it as I was. We've been doing the Dave Ramsey Financial Peace University thing and was inspired to try to make a little money. I thought to myself what a great way to make a little extra cash-ola!

We stored all the crap, uhh, I mean treasures, in the garage for four months and finally had the sale this weekend. Can we say WASTE.O.TIME? So after weeks of hard work, pricing & storing, hours of sitting in the sun (which was the best part), and a profit of only $61.00 we decided this was officially the first and last garage sale the Balentine household would ever have. 5 truck loads of Goodwill donations later we will have a place to park the cars again.

2. Being sick, while having a child who is recovering from a sinus infection, another child with laryngitis, and yet another with a double ear infection and strep throat all while hosting an unsuccessful garage sale makes for a VERY long weekend.

3. I have incredibly sweet children.

I had to take Duglin this morning to the doctor. Yes, it's Sunday, but that's one advantage of having a Jewish pediatrician. They are open Sunday mornings for emergency cases. Duglin has been running a 104 temperature since Friday morning that doesn't want to break. So I carted the poor baby off to the doctor first thing this morning to find out he has two "mega" ear infections that have caused a temporary loss of hearing in both ears AND a severe case of strep throat. I feel so bad for my little man.

Anyway, after his examination, the doctors let the kids raid a little drawer built into the examination table that is full on plastic animals and doo-dads. Duglin began to choose one to take home and the comical doctor "whispered" to Duglin to take on of the plastic lizards and put it on his mama's pillow tonight to see what she would do. Hearing full well what the doctor had said, I played dumb and asked Duglin what the doctor said. Duglin laughed and motioned for the doctor to come near so he could whisper back. I could hear him tell the doctor no, I love my mom too much to do that. AW! What a precious boy! I might possibly need to eat him!

The doctor was so shocked at his response that his eyes welled up with tears. He looked at me and said he had been a doctor for 30 years and that he has told his other patients the same thing hundreds and hundreds of times. Never once has a child ever responded that way. We both were teary-eyed. He looked back at Duglin and shook Duglin's hand. He told Duglin that it was worth coming to work on a Sunday to be able to meet him and to be able to hear that. He proceeded to walk out of the room and bring all the nurses in to meet my little guy.

Seriously! What more can a proud mama say? Remember this post? Perhaps it's safe to say that he still loves his mommy best!

Get well, sweet boy! I love you, too!

Christmas with the Cooties

Most of this year I have boasted in that fact that my family has remained healthy and hasn't seen the doctor in over a year. You all remember this post in which I had the flu and conjunctivitis. Little did we know from that point on we would be on a health roller-coaster ride. I think it's totally unfair that illness doesn't recognize holidays, don't you?!

We were all set to enjoy a fabulous Christmas break. Two Tuesday's prior to Christmas was our last day of homeschooling and we had some very busy schedules between Christmas parties, baking, church activities, and just Christmas itself. Perri had come home with a fever from church the Sunday before, but was feeling better. By that Wednesday Duglin was running a fever and was complaining of an achy ear. I knew Christmas was around the corner, so I immediately packed him up and took him to our fabulous pediatrician. He indeed had an ear infection (he has never had one before!) and was able to start antibiotics in time to ward it off before Christmas. Whew!

Two days later his ear was feeling better, but I noticed that he had some discharge in his eyes. I knew that symptom all too well. He picked up conjunctivitis at the doctors office. That's OK, I thought to myself. The doctor prescribed eye drops that seemed to be clearing things up quickly, so by Sunday we should be good to go! Mmm. Mmm. Mmm. I had to put my party hat away. We weren't done yet.

That Saturday, Daylor started complaining that he was feeling yucky and had a sore throat. We missed church in hopes he would feel better, but by Monday evening he too was complaining of a ear ache. Tuesday morning, the day before Christmas Eve we rush to the doctors office again to find Daylor has a full-blown ear infection (only the second he's ever had). I was not ready to give up though, knowing he had 24 hours for the antibiotic to start working on him, and Duglin's eyes were better. We very well had a chance of making it to Da Hubby's parent's house for Christmas with them and then to church where Da Hubby had to run sound and I was singing back-up during the Christmas Eve service. All was well and there was peace on earth once again.

Bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, we hopped out of bed the next morning and Da Hubby mentioned that he was feeling a bit under the weather, but felt like he would be OK for the day. I proceeded to go get the kids ready to go to their grandparent's house. It was Christmas Eve and the boys were feeling better! It was going to be fabulous day!!!! NOT.

I went to get Perri's clothes for her and noticed she was hiding in the boys room. I went to her and pushed the hair that was hanging in her beautiful little face behind her ear. I looked her in her big, sweet, blue eyes and saw it. Her right eye was swollen shut and red with the nasty discharge that comes along with the horrible and CONTAGIOUS eye ickiness called conjunctivitis. We tried so hard to keep the kids away from each other and used separate towels and sprayed everything multiple time with Lysol. There are just some things that are going to spread no matter what you do to prevent it.

We had to postpone Christmas eve with Da hubby's folks as not to share our yuckies with them. As the day went on she went downhill and by the time Da hubby and the boys left for the Christmas Eve service at the church she had 104 degree temperature and was miserable. I was soooo sad for her. We ended up snuggled on the couch and watch Enchanted together.

We then postponed Christmas day activities with my parents. Good thing Santa still comes when you are sick! Christmas Day itself was actually very sweet. The kids were still mellow from being sick, but it was nice being able to stay home, hang out in our Christmas pj's and just be with each other, and celebrate Jesus' birthday.

On Christmas, Da Hubby was putting on his game face but was steadily declining fast. We made it through the day OK and Perri was beginning to feel better, but Friday, Saturday, and Sunday Dewayne was so bad off he was condemned to the bed and I got the pleasure of sleeping on the couch. I was seriously beginning to wonder if we were ever going to get healthy again!

So, Christmas wasn't the huge success that I had envisioned with healthy kids ripping into presents and family gatherings galore, but it was definitely a time to recognize and remember why we celebrate. The day a tiny baby that came into the world in a most peculiar way. It was because of His overpowering love for us that He came. Illness or not, it's more than worth celebrating!

I am proud to say as we kick in the New Year, everyone is recuperating nicely. I did tear my foot open this morning on a couple of carpet nails that are exposed in my floor, but hey, at least no one is running a fever! Happy New Year!!!

Hi! Remember Me?

Hello, from the land of the living dead! It seems like forever and I feel like a stranger, but I think I am finally on the road to recovery. Where have you been, you may ask. You know the word that strikes fear in the heart of every man, woman, boy, and girl? The word that every mother screams at the very thought of and fights with every ounce of strength and ability she has?

Let me spell it for you. F-L-U. We are not talking the cough, sniffle, down for a day or two kind, either. I'm talking the coughing so hard kind that you break the cappularies in your lungs (literally), the fever is so high kind that you can't roll over to answer the phone or for that matter even talk, the aching so bad kind you literally feel every joint in your body, the kind that makes you so dehydrated your blood pressure drops 15 points, and you lose 10 lbs in a week because you just don't have it in you to eat. Sounds like a mini-vacation, huh? Almost 10 days later, I am starting to feel normal-ish again. YAY!!

Oh, I had conjunctivitis (pink-eye), too!!! It was quite humorous to at my doctors office to watch all the people stare at me. I think the Haz-Mat Team came as soon as I left and burned the place down. Now, putting pictures up like this is a test in pride for me, so I am going to be completely vulnerable showing this to you. But, I also know the human nature's need for a good laugh, so here ya go!

Even though I was already aware of this, Da Hubby was totally amazing this week. His AWESOME boss (I LOVE her!) allowed him to take most of the week off to take over here at the house. Now, I know there are husbands out there who would be completely lost when their wives fall ill, but not mine. Bear with me a sec and allow me to brag on him for a minute. He was my substitute teacher so the kids would not fall behind at school. He washed all the cooty-fied towels and clothes everyday, picked up my med's., and drove me looking like this to the doctor (See above picture.) The house stayed mostly cleaned. (Let me just stop here real quick and say that this is an almost IMPOSSIBLE task to do with three children and 2 adults to help clean, much less by yourself. My kidos can do some serious damage!!)

He cooked every meal, (even baked cookies with the kids 2 Saturdays in a row), washed all the dishes, and gave the kids baths. And poor baby, because I was so contagious I had to be "quarantined" in our bedroom, he had to sleep on the couch for 8 days. He's such a catch! ***Side note - Only a SERIOUS blogger would get up with a 103 fever to get a picture for her blog later.***



Notice his very own roll of TP - He has been doing some hacking of his own this week.

I also haven't been able to hug or smooch on my kidos in over a week which has probably been the most horrible part of this whole thing. I miss that - still can't touch them too much - hopefully in the next day or two I will and I just might not let go! One night this week, I had a mini-meltdown because Perri began to cry after being told, yet again, that she couldn't kissy or hug her mommy ni-night. It broke my heart. To make me feel better, my precious boys brought their stuffed animals to keep me company until I could start spending time with them again. "Panda Bear" and "Snoopy" have been most excellent and gracious guests.

Hmmm, what else? Oh, yeah! I am a druggie! I am taking so much medication it is almost funny. My favorite is my cough medicine. First, it works very well and second, it looks like tiny little pearls! So adorable! I know. Sorry, again I am still a little medicated.


So all and all, life is improving quickly and I am grateful to have only had the flu and not something more serious. I can't imagine what that must be like to have to deal with on a daily basis. I am sooooo grateful to have a wonderful family who has jumped right in there to help.

Thanks, to my mom, "Go-Go", for risking the her life with the funk and coming over and helping a couple of days with the kids, and to my in-laws for watching the kids while I was at the doctr's office. I love you guys! Most of all, thank you to my amazing husband. I love you with all that is in me. Thank you for all you have done - I can't imagine my life without you. I am so thankful for you and for our family...(insert the make your closing comments, there is an upcoming commercial, so you need to stop your speech or you are going to get cut off music here.) Oh, well, OK then. I better run - it's good to be back...mostly.