Thankful Tuesday

1. Last Tuesday Nadia started having her second case of hives. She had them on her legs for several days the last week of October. Last Wednesday they really started to spread all over her body - abdomen, back, shoulders, face, hands, etc. so I called the Pediatrician's office. They said to start her on Benadryl and give it to her every six hours. Paul was at work, and I had no vehicle, but he left a little earlier than he planned and got her some Benadryl. It did not make her sleepy, but it certainly helped with the hives. Sunday morning I didn't give her the pill she was due at 7am as I was hoping she didn't need it any more, but by the time we got home from church on Sunday she was breaking out in various places again. Yesterday I called the allergist and although at first I was told the first available appointment was in March, there was a cancellation for today, and I took it and the Pediatrician's office faxed a referral. We spent 90 minute in the office today, and I have three things I was thankful for as we left. First, the kids were very well behaved. For quite awhile I have avoided taking all three to the doctor, but

really it went fine so now I know we can handle this. Second, Nadia only has a virus and is not allergic to a food or laundry detergent or something. At one point we were guessing maybe it was almonds, but I am relieved to know it's just a virus. She will need to be on Zyrtec and Benadryl for a few more weeks (possibly months!), but the pharmacy at the hospital had amazing prices on the medication - 24 tablets of Benadryl for $1.06 including tax and 100 tablets of Zyrtec for $5.30 including tax. Wow that is cheap! I am a big fan of CVS, but they definitely charge a lot more than that for those medications.  I now remember that she did have a virus in late October (I remember giving her Tylenol for a fever and headache) and that must have been the start of these hives. This morning when she woke up she had them on her face. We just never know where they are going to pop up next!

2. Paul got his car back last night! Oh  I am SOOOOO grateful to be back to a two vehicle family. If we lived in a city and had public transportation options that would be a different story, but for where we live, having only one vehicle is definitely less convenient. We skipped a few field trips (such as the tour of the SPCA yesterday morning) due to only having one car, but now life can go back to "normal." Yay!

3.  I have really enjoyed how tidy our bedroom has been over the past week. It has been far neater (less cluttered) than it has been in 3 years (plus 3 months). I guess there are some perks to putting your house on the market. We signed the contract on Friday, but actually I don't think it's on the MLS yet, and there isn't a sign in our yard yet so I guess it's not quite officially for sale.

4. The kids really enjoyed glow in the dark dodgeball at gym class on Friday morning. This Friday will be their last class until January.

5. I could have run during Oliver's  nap on Friday or Saturday (because Paul was at home), but I didn't because it was just TOO cold and windy for me. However it turned much warmer on Sunday, and I thoroughly enjoyed my run from 4-5 pm that day. It got up to almost 70 degrees on Monday, but I couldn't run because Paul wasn't home until 8:30pm, but I did walk with the kids to the playground.

6. We took the kids to Lowe's for a building project and then to Toys R Us for a Lego build on Saturday morning. Both were free events. We left with three pull back cars and three Lego mini Star Wars x wing fighters. It was Oliver's second time going to Lowe's. He went once this past summer, but this project was much easier and Paul was pleased with how Oliver did.

7. Nadia has really been enjoying the biography of George Muller. She actually would rather hear it than Snow Treasure (although Ian and Paul prefer the Norwegian WWII novel).

8. Paul's parents came up on Sunday to hear the kids sing at church, and she came bringing food for our lunch, which was very kind. The kids enjoyed playing with their grandparents in the afternoon.

9. On Sunday afternoon Paul replaced Nadia's window blind that she broke a couple of months ago. A few weeks ago he fixed the spring on my garage door, but he has one more repair to make on the door before it can be used. I have really missed being able to put the van in the garage. It didn't fit on Paul's side so I couldn't even put it in the garage during the 2 weeks we were down to one car. I am hoping this next weekend Paul can finish fixing the door so I can go back to parking inside the garage (which means no more scraping my windshield).

10. It took two weeks, but the boys adjusted to the one hour time change. I actually had to wake Oliver up on Sunday morning so we could be out the door by 8:05. That was quite a change from November 1 when he was up 2.5 hours before we needed to leave for church.

11. We sang "It is well" on Sunday morning. I love that hymn. I almost always cry when I sing that hymn. "When peace like a river...." I also liked the anthem the choir sang. The lyrics were straight from John 3:16-17 (with a few "Amens" added at the end of the song). The pastor's sermon also really spoke to me.