Is It Naptime Yet

So I’ve stuck to a bland diet for a a day and a half. I’m feeling better but, I think the tapioca pudding my mom said I could eat didn’t do me too well yesterday. I can have hard boiled eggs with my applesauce and banana’s so that adds so much to the mix. (Please note the sarcasm.) I should have asked my doctor for more suggestions, but I just wasn’t in the right frame of mind when I saw him on Tuesday.

I’ve been able to do house work and errands in the mornings. Yesterday afternoon and evening was a hard one, so I’m hoping to avoid that tonight and maybe tomorrow night I’ll be able to take the girls to the Aladdin play that Hannah is in.

I’m not attending yoga while I’m eating so few calories. I would get light-headed if I didn’t have a night-time snack the night before, so I’m afraid I’d pass out and I don’t want to use up any unnecessary calories since I’m know my intake is down greatly.

I guess this does show me I can survive on less food, which was an obstacle in my eating less and being a little more healthy, but I’m also doing less, so I’m not using up as much energy, and need less. I also constantly feel hungry which isn’t fun either.

Hopefully things can be a little more normal beginning next week and I can get over this by the end of next week.

The girls are doing fine, even with a slightly grumpy mommy and school has been on vacation, except reading, I have patience for reading since they’re so good at sitting and listening and since Lilah is doing so well it’s not hard to sit and listen to her. She really is so smart.  The other day she came and told me she had read an article in The Friend. “It was about a boy who needed a blessing to get better, and I read it all, though some of the words I can’t read. ” That’s what she told me and I was so happy to see her so excited.

Jon took a sick day so he could take care of the girls or help me if I needed him to take me to my doctor’s appointment.
Since I was felling OK this morning on my applesauce, banana’s, and 7-up diet I tried some stew for lunch that Jon had made last night for dinner.

Bad, bad, really bad, idea.

Within an hour I was experiencing the all to familiar paralyzing, nauseating, abdominal pain that I’ve experienced all weekend after I ate anything but my favorite three foods. (Applesauce, banana’s, and 7- Up.)
I  ate part of our last banana in hopes that within the hour I would feel up to going to the doctor’s office on my own.

I wasn’t.

So we packed the girls up and all went. It took a lot of my energy to stand the there waiting while the receptionist typed in my information and then handed me the papers I needed to fill out. Thankfully Jon was there and he filled out most of the forms, leaving the past health problems to be checked by me.

I got in fairly quickly and Jon and the girls retired to the car so as not to bother the other patrons.

All my stats were normal or good according to the nurse, but that meant nothing to me as I sat trying to find the most comfortable position for my aching belly in the very uncomfortable chair that had no back support.

The doctor came in asked some questions and did a quick abdominal exam.

He said I have gastritis and recommended me to stay on my bland diet for three days, take an over the counter pill, and try to slowly introduce more foods after three days. If I’m not better in 7 to 10 days to call back.

I still have a hard time digesting my bland foods, but they don’t give me as much pain as normal meals and we couldn’t find the two recommended pills, and settled for the next best thing. (Prilosec OTC being the first recommend, but sold out at both stores, and only Pepcid AC was at the second store, not Pepcid Complete which he had also recommended.)

Oh, how I long to eat our ripened avocados or bake the orange rolls that have been sitting in our fridge waiting to be bake since New Years, but haven’t due to the girls being sick, and now me.

I wonder how much weight I’ll lose over the next few days and I hope I don’t have something worse, since he didn’t do any fancy test like Web MD suggests and really don’t want to be like this for another 2 plus weeks.

I missed the actual inauguration due to enjoying some time in bed with my girls, but I loved watching this.

Since I’m feeling more myself at this particular moment I’ll make my 5 things list.

1. A husband who takes wonderful care of me for three days while I’m stuck on the couch in pain.
2. Mini series on DVD to keep me occupied while I am stuck on the couch in pain. Pride and Prejudice and North and South to name the two I’ve watched.
3. Interesting shows on PBS. I love the new season of Masterpiece and we watched some of the Make Em’ Laugh series yesterday too.
4. Kind girls who share favorite stuffed animals with me while I’m sick.
5. Banana’s and 7-Up. I only wish the bananas had been ripe two days ago when this whole thing started and that I had tried the 7-Up sooner, though I may finally be getting better. (Knock on wood.)

I saw this on a friends blog and entered, or was the first of three commenters, and now must do my duty and post it.

The Rules

1. Be one of the first THREE bloggers to leave a comment on this post, which then entitles you to a handmade item from me.

2. Winners, you must post this challenge on your blog, meaning that you will Pay It Forward, creating a handmade gift for the first THREE bloggers who leave a comment on YOUR post about this giveaway!

3. The gift that you send to your Three Friends can be from any price range and you have 365 days to make/ship your item. This means you should be willing to maintain your blog at least until you receive your gift and have shipped your gifts. And, remember: It’s the Spirit and the Thought That Count!

4. When you receive your gift, please feel free to blog about it, sharing appropriate Linky Love!

If you are not one of the Top Three Commenters on this post, you can still play along. Please take the button and post it on your blog; start your own Pay It Forward chain, and encourage your blogging friends to do the same!

I will add you have an option of what I might make you:

Apron
Truffles- around 20, though I don’t know how these will ship so if you live out of state, this probably isn’t an option.
nursing cover
cookies of some creative sort, or your favorite kind.
two baby swaddling blankets
I’ll sing you a song- ha, I’m just kidding on this one.

Or if by some chance you can think of something I made on this site that you would like me to make you you can tell me, as long as it doesn’t cost more than $20 to make, I am on a budget. 😉 If you want me to surprise you, it may be something comepletely different than what’s on this list.

Also it says I have 365 days to get it to you, so I’m hoping to get it to you in the first 182 days. 😉

This week I was a part-time parent. I had the girls Tuesday and Thursday and The other “parent” had them Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.

Yeah, I was sewing or doing something sewing related on my Monday, Wednesday, and Friday so Beth and her daughters watched the girls.

Tuesday I babysat for Kristi and did other things. Thursday I watched Britta in the morning for Sam and then after lunch we went over there to let the kids play and to sew and serge the pajama pants. Serging them was so much easier than french seaming and I know if I ever decide to sew for money I will invest in a serger.

Beth had the girls from 9:30 am till 2:30 or 3 pm when they were over there. They were very well behaved and let me tell you always excited to go over. I packed school stuff to do, though on Monday they were so engaged in playing with the Lincoln Logs and animal toys that Beth didn’t want to stop and do school stuff with them. Beth is a firm believer in letting kids play and do things for as long as they are engaged, as to help with attention spans. The longer they can do things without being directed the better.

Beth is one of the few people I people I trust with having my girls for long periods. Her and her daughters are so good to my girls and they really take an active part, especially Hannah who probably played more than she should have, and should have done more school work, since the girls were there during school time.

I finished all the sewing Friday, and sewed the buttons on at Beth’s house since I was lonely and not feeling well on Friday. I thought it was due to not getting enough sleep and not eating as much as I should have. Jon and I went to the movies that night while my parents watched the girls. I had a sore neck the whole time because of the position of the chair.

With having sore muscles I borrowed a heating pad from my mom and used it Friday night. It helped but I woke up Saturday morning with a low fever, headache, a hurting stomach, and I felt nauseous whenever I stood for too long.

Jon took good care of me and the girls all day since I’m a baby when sick and couldn‘t do much. I  just laid or slept on the couch the whole day, taking breaks to go to the bathroom and to take a short nap with Eden in our bed.

Today since I am feeling mostly myself, I still get a little lightheaded when I stand for too long and tummy aches after eating, Jon is studying all day and has sequestered himself in our room. I’m in charge of the girls and I’m hoping to resort to a day of movie watching only if they start fighting a lot since I really don’t want to deal with fighting today.

I’m just grateful I was able to get all the sewing done before I got sick. I think my body may have known that my stress would be going away and it was OK to get sick, though it wasn’t an ideal time for Jon since he’s in school and needs regular studying time.

Life will be back to normal and, at least for a long time, I don’t see  myself being a part-time parent. It was lonely being by myself on the days Beth was watching my girls. I had no one to show me the cute things they were doing or to watch me as I sewed.

I like being a full-time parent.

Time for some random pictures I’ve taken lately, though they each have their own reason, I just don’t want to make several posts about each subject and instead will roll them into one.

Here is Eden holding cutie pie Zarina when Andrea and Brien were down.

I just think they’re cute.

Next, while on vacation Jon decided to grow a beard. The only problem, I can’t stand kissing him when he has facial hair, and I have no idea how any woman can kiss a man with a beard or mustache.

To remedy this, Jon shaved around the mouth and left just a  beard along his jaw line.

I kept calling him Amish, which he didn’t mind, and I teased that he could have been in a Weird Al video.

It grew on me if his glasses weren’t on, it was a little rebellious, but once the glasses were on all I could think was Amish.

I dared him to go to work with the beard, but he shaved it off.

Giving me a silly look.

Hello Brother Jonathan, or whatever the Amish call each other.

Deep in thought. The funny thing is this and the eyebrow lift, are probably two of the most used poses of Jon’s. He’s so silly.

The next set of random pictures are of my necklace.
No one has asked to see it, but I love it so much, partially because I love my girl’s names so much, I had to post pictures of it.

Next we have the nursing cover I made for Sam. It has a piece of boning that bends and opens the top of the cover to help the mom see her child and what’s going on down there.

The blankets are made of lightweight flannel since she’s having Matilda in the winter, but I don’t think the weather has gotten the memo that it’s winter. It was like 70 degrees today. Very crazy weather this year. The week we had snow has probably been the longest and coldest and then everything else has been above average temperatures.

Lastly, here are my silly girls wearing every dress up necklace and items we have practically.

The girls were sick the very first Sunday of this year, so the second Sunday, or the eleventh, was their first Sunday of Primary, more specifically Eden’s very first Sunday of Primary and Lilah’s first Sunday with a new teacher, but it was a substitute and she’ll have her regular teacher next week.

They wore the dresses I picked out with Carolyn at Old Navy on Black Friday, and I later picked up the tights at Target.

I think they’re adorable and I can’t believe that Eden is now in Primary.

I asked Jon to get pictures, and these are the three he took. Lilah as been such a ham in pictures lately so these are true to her current silliness.

Not sure what Lilah is doing here.

I guess we are going to church and Lilah is assuming the correct position, just not the most reverent of faces.

Again, not sure what exactly is going through her mind.

Eden seemed to have a fun first day and when Jon and I separately checked in on her she seemed to be doing just fine.

Lilah’s teacher was a substitute, but we knew the sister, so her first Sunday in a new class went smoothly also. She talked, knew how to read trust when it was written on the board, and was very well behaved.

I don’t want them to grow up, but they sure are cute.

Today was the first class of gymnastics, or tiny tot tumblers, or whatever the class is called, for the girls. With Sam not teaching dance class, and Eden obviously not completely enjoying all the elements of dance class, we thought we’d try something else.

This gymnastics class is not at the same school Lilah previously took gymnastics at. I’m not sure if Lilah’s old teacher Miss Brooks is still there and she was the one teacher I really had any confidence in at that community center.  I also like that the class is during the day. Jon can’t be there but at least we won’t be waking Eden up from her naps to get to class, or having to rush through dinner before class.

Eden seemed to really enjoy herself and took direction from the teacher well. I was not really in sight, since the bleachers are on the other side, so I was a little out of sight out of mind, and I think that really helped, along with having a big sister to show the way. The class is for 3 years to 5 years 11 months, so Lilah just barely qualifies.  Lilah of course loved the class and did not want to leave, neither did Eden.

I think Eden had fun tumbling and doing different things. She seemed to wait her turn most of the time and had no problems with the teacher.

The class is a little unorganized in that the teacher was trying to show them how to do back tumbles when only half the kids could do forward tumblers and she wasn’t demanding, or needing, a very organized line, they also have less mat area.  The other gymnastics class also taught about start and finishing poses, but I think I’ll just be happy as long as they have fun and the teacher seems to have patience, the other teachers didn’t always have the most patience so that’s what really bothered me.

I didn’t have my camera due to rushing out the house, but I’ll try to take some pictures next week.

Today I made an impromptu lunch outing to McDonald’s on our way home from gymnastics. I didn’t want Lilah going in the play area in her socks or bare feet so I told her to keep her shoes on.

She had a very, very hard time with this.

She was about to go in and then she came  back to me.

“It says ‘No Shoes’. I can’t go in.”

“It’s not a big deal. Mommy says you can go in there with shoes.”

Then she whispers in my ear, “I don’t want you to go to jail.”

I chuckle a little and I reply, “I won’t go to jail. Only people who do really bad things go to jail.”

Luckily the play place police weren’t around, otherwise I may have gone to hamburger jail for having my girls break the no shoes allowed rule.

On a side note, the substitute who taught Lilah’s class just came by to drop something off and she just gave some wonderful compliments on how well behaved Lilah was, but also how impressed she was that Lilah read the word “trust” when she wrote it on the board and that Lilah was so smart and was answering a lot of questions. I love my good girl.  She surprises us with words she knows. Last night we got some Greek and Latin root flash cards and she read ‘friendship’ in the back of one.