January

(Happy New Year!)

Fever,
sick.
Fever, fever,
sick, sick.
Fever, fever, fever.
Sick, sick, sick.
Fever, fever
sick, sick.
Fever,
sick,
snow.

Snow, snow, snow, snow
shovel, shovel, snow.
Snow, snow, snow, snow
shovel, shovel snow.

What time is it in China?
When will Daddy call?
What time is it in China?
When will Daddy call?
What time is it in China?
When will Da-

Ni Hao, Daddy!
I love you.
Ni Hao, Daddy!
I love you.
Ni Hao, Daddy!
I love you.
Ni Hao, Honey.
I miss you.

Snow, snow, snow, snow
shovel, shovel, snow.

Fever,
sick.
Fever, fever,
sick, sick.
Fever, fever, fever.
Sick, sick, sick.
Fever, fever
sick, sick.
Fever,
sick,
snow.

Snow, snow, snow, snow
shovel, shovel, snow.
Snow, snow, snow, snow
shovel, shovel, snow.
Snow, snow, snow, snow
shovel, shovel, snow.
(Euthanize the cat.)
Snow.
Snow.
Snow.

Hatching Pistachios

J and S love pistachios in the shell. They enjoy shelling them by themselves butoccasionally need help. The other day J handed a tough one over to me and said

"Will you hatch this one for me mom?"

So cute.

Just Saying

This is how the cutting board on the kitchen counter looks. No joke.

Today I am grateful for:

Access to medicine to help heal my family
Access to health care to help heal my family
Access to health insurance coverage to pay for health care and medicine to help heal my family

My husband works for a company that pays for our health insurance. So today I am also grateful for the health of my husband which allows him to work - which is a little bit scary.

The average cost to the uninsured for addressing and treating the recent illness in our family would have been approximately $675.

Cost breakdown according to my crude research (google searches):

Four urgent care visits - $400
Three ten-day Amoxicillin prescriptions - $150
One Predisolone prescription - $45
Sixty-count liquid Albuterol nebulizer treatments - $50
One nebulizer - $30

If we had to pay this $675 out of pocket we would be defaulting on our mortgage. If we had mediocre coverage that paid, say half of this $675 we would be getting our groceries at Second Harvest. Sure, we don't have to live in a 1700 square foot home. And there's no shame in shopping at Second Harvest; I'm proud but not that kind of proud. But, I don't know of any apartments big enough for our family that cost a lot less than our mortgage and I'm not sure Second Harvest was intended for use by the middle class. Just saying.

To Health!

Seven days after the first child stayed home from school and I think we are on our way back to health in our house. S went to the doctor Friday evening at 7:00 pm, approximately 45 minutes after his first complaint of ear pain (yes I was on the phone upon hearing that complaint like flies on poop). He came home with antibiotics for an ear infection and Albuterol and Prednisolone for Croup. I took J in today (Monday) because he's been running a fever every single night since last Wednesday. Diagnosis: ear infection. Treatment: antibiotics. C is on the mend; coughing like crazy, but otherwise well.

Phew.

The last two days have been the most challenging of this bout of illness. There's nothing like three boys, ages five and under, recovering from days upon days of sickness-induced lethargy who have rediscovered their vigor in an unkempt sickhouse in the dead of winter. There's also nothing like being their mom who got used to their lethargy and sort of forgot about their usual zest... These boys are not easing back into their antics and general bouncing-off-the-walls shenanigans - their play is full force. And, of course, their crashes are hard and dramatic: whining, crying, fighting... They're sick of being sick, well enough for occasional rowdiness but not quite well enough to return to school - or are they?

For the past week I have gladly ignored all regular household jobs that weren't absolutely urgent (i.e. the mortgage payment) so that I could curl up under mounds of blankets with my "babies" while they are still young enough to desperately need me. Now that we are in this transition phase (a/k/a well enough to get into trouble) we are cuddling less and I'm noticing more everything that was neglected for the past week. The playroom floor is covered in blankets, pillows, pajamas and oh-so-many crumbs (because who makes their sick kids sit at the table to eat?). The laundry I had just caught up on that I "forgot" to do over the holidays (ten loads) is piling up again and the powder room smells like a urinal because apparently sick, little boys have even worse aim than healthy ones. The bedding needs changing, the pantry needs stocking, the cat needs brushing my belly fat needs crunching...

Tomorrow I say farewell to this illness as I gently nudge my boys back out into the world. I'll be washing things, tidying things, getting ducks in a row and putting one foot in front of the other once again. I'll miss hunkering down in pajamas under mounds of blankets but it's good to be out of the woods.

Where Exactly is God?

S to J:

"God is in the TV"

J to S:

"No, God is in we're (our) brain"

our kids love talking about "god" even though we don't go to church or subscribe to (or indoctrinate them in) particular religion(s). I think they are just naturally curious and spiritual!