A basket and a tooth

Nadia pulled out a loose tooth on Thursday. She forgot to put her tooth under the pillow that night. She remembered to do that Friday night, but Paul (I asked him to be the tooth fairy because I went to bed at the same time as Nadia) forgot to put the $1 under her pillow. He took her tooth on Saturday night but couldn't locate a $1 bill to put under pillow. Thankfully Nadia didn't mind. I handed her a $1 coin this morning.

None of our kids had scored a basket thus far this year, but that changed yesterday as Ian had his first basket! Nadia is also making progress as yesterday she had her first shot that was high enough (actually went too high!). I have attended all of Ian's games this year. Some of his games I've been the only family member watching them, but I missed his shot! I had been helping Oliver break apart his cinnamon pretzel, and my hands were really sticky. There was a drinking fountain about 10 feet away from where we were sitting so I got up and walked over to take a drink and rinse off my hands. I was gone for less than a minute, but during that

time Ian scored for the first time this year! His team was losing, and his basket was near the end of the third (of six) periods, and after his basket their team had 6 total points. Nadia's team won by a large margin yesterday (thus far they are 4-1). Ian's team hasn't won any games. Last week and this week only four of the eight kids on his team were there for the games, which meant that both weeks all four boys had to play all six periods. Both weeks their opponent had eight kids so the kids on the opposing team only played every other period.

Paul stayed home from work yesterday and today which was heavenly. He had worked 12 days straight prior to these two days at home. Yesterday he helped me figure out a way that I could still receive calls from the babysitter but not from anyone else. I had always put my phone on vibrate when I was at work. The day of Oliver's accident the only reason I answered the call was because she called while I was driving from one school to another, and the hands-free system in the van took the call. If I had been in a

school doing an observation of a student teacher or teaching on campus, I would have given my phone zero attention and not known what was happening. Now I will put my phone in "Do not disturb" mode instead of vibrate when I am at work, and I have it set up that my phone is to ring ONLY if she calls when in Do not disturb mode. Technology can be helpful! I had purchased a refurbished phone in 2014, and the battery is starting to give me issues. I purchased a new battery online today. I'm hoping that will solve the problem, and I won't need to get a new phone.

The guinea pigs have to be grateful Oliver's hospitalization wasn't any longer than it was. The morning of his accident, the kids forgot to feed them and fill their water bottle. They told me they'd do it when we got home, and then we all forgot about them during Oliver's crisis. As I was driving home with Oliver after his discharge, I thought of them and wondered if they survived. As soon as I came in the house I gave them food and water. Since Paul didn't join us on any trips last year (aside from a one night trip in August for my dad's wedding), he was able to take care of the guinea pigs in our absence. This will be the first year we'll have to figure out who could help care for them in our absence as we plan to spend 2 nights in Philadelphia next month and 9 nights in San Diego in late May/ early June.

Last night I had planned to take Nadia to a concert in Hershey sponsored by Compassion that would have only cost $10 total for our two tickets. Considering I spend a lot more time driving these days, I wasn't sure how appealing this sounded to me although the line-up of artists definitely piqued my interest. I also wasn't sure I could spare the time because I put in a lot of hours working every Saturday and Sunday (grading, emailing students, etc.). I was really torn as to what I should do, and then when I heard that it was supposed to snow on Saturday evening, I knew we should skip it. The weather has been all over the map lately. It was gorgeous on Thursday. My students asked me if we could have class outside (nope). Then it snowed yesterday, and now  in a few days it's supposed to get up to 70 degrees, which is WAY warmer than usual for February.

Thankful Thursday

If I had to choose the word to best describe how I've felt for the past four weeks, it would absolutely be overwhelmed. During these four weeks I've been teaching two classes on campus plus supervising fifteen student teachers who are located in 9 different buildings in 5 different school districts. Altogether I'm considered to be teaching five courses (15 credits) this semester as 5 student teachers equals one three credit course. Add to that the fact that from December 27 to the present we have seen very little of Paul. He didn't travel with us to Maryland for Christmas and then he was gone two other weeks on business trips to Baltimore and Las Vegas, and when he has been in PA he has been working long hours. Last week he slept at his parent's house three nights instead of coming home. Usually we see him more on the weekends, but this past weekend we barely saw him at all because he didn't get home until 7:30pm on Saturday and 8:00pm on Sunday (he leaves for work before the rest of us get up in the morning). Today is the eleventh consecutive day he's worked at the plant.

Take today for instance, Oliver's alarm clock accidently went off at 5:55 and woke us up. Oliver came in bed with me. We were eating breakfast around 7:15 and then jumped right into schoolwork as we were trying to get as much of it done as possible before 10:45. We ate an early lunch, and then I dropped the kids off at the babysitter's house before heading to do an observation of a student teacher. Then I was on campus teaching. The kids ate dinner at the babysitter's house. She took them to Ian's basketball practice, and I met them there. I was very hungry when I got home as it was two hours later than I usually eat dinner. I made myself some dinner and helped Nadia make a batch of cookies. I constantly feel like I am rushing to get things done as quickly as possible, and I still never feel like I'm caught up. Trying to juggle the housework (cooking, cleaning, laundry, etc.) plus homeschooling three kids plus a FT job is just way too much. Some things will have to change between before the next semester. When one is feeling overwhelmed, it's a good time to stop and count one's blessings....

1. Although it's too much with everything I have on my plate, I do love my job. I GREATLY prefer the math methods course I am teaching this semester over the ones I taught last semester. I *think* I might be able to teach two sections of this again in the fall, and it would be awesome to teach the same course again.

2. Fourteen of my student teachers are off to a good start. One unfortunately is not, but I'm thankful that the vast majority of them are doing well because it's emotionally draining when someone isn't doing well, and it means I need to give her (and her cooperating teacher) a LOT more time than I am giving each of the other student teachers.

3. The gymnastics center gave us a credit for most of what we paid for Oliver's gymnastics session in light of his missing one class due to illness and four due to his skull fracture.

4. Shutterfly sent the coupon code I was really hoping they'd send again as the last two times they sent it I didn't have the photo book ready in time to make use of it. I am ready to use it this time! I worked on the photo book a couple of weeks ago so that I would be ready the next time. I haven't made a photo book since September, which is longer than I usually go. Making a photo book reminded me once again that I've been taking far fewer pictures than I usually do, but I'm thankful I still had more than enough to make a nice photo book.

5. Yesterday the Children's Museum in Bloomsburg told me we had been selected to receive four free tickets to see Mr. Popper's Penguins at Bucknell. I had planned on buying tickets, but then I thought there was a chance we might be able to get free ones through the museum, and we did! This saved us about $50! I have been very delinquent in taking the kids on field trips the last two months, but I plan to take them to two shows next week. Hopefully that will actually happen as quite a few of our planned events have been cancelled (due to illness, snow, or injury) the past four weeks.

6. I'm thankful for the volunteers and staff who help make a hospitalization less traumatic for a child. The kids enjoyed meeting two therapy dogs last Thursday night - a mastiff and a golden retriever named Georgie. Oliver enjoyed playing games, painting, etc. with the Child Life intern.

7. I'm thankful we were only in the hospital one night. I really missed my hairbrush, toothbrush, and pajamas. I don't usually sleep wearing a skirt and nylons.

8. Our babysitter really loves our kids. She shared the devotional during the half-time during Ian's basketball game last Saturday. Oliver's accident was also very traumatic for her. When she was talking about holding him in her arms on the drive to the ER, she talked about the qualities she admires in him, which again showed how well she knows him.

9. I absolutely love the canvas she had the kids make for me. It was an incredibly thoughtful gift. It's beyond a doubt the best gift I have ever been given for Valentine's Day in my whole life. If you can't tell already, I love it! It means so much because it contains the handprints, signatures, and ages of my three precious children. I plan to keep it on my wall for many years to come!

10. The kids and I enjoyed the community group meeting on Sunday night. Pastor Ken shared a devotional and then we ate some yummy food. We left before they started playing games because it was Oliver's bedtime.

11. On Tuesday I woke the kids up at 6:20am so we could be out the door by 6:35. All three of the kids objected. Last semester I was doing that twice a week. I'm thankful it was the first time this semester I had to do that. Hopefully it won't happen very often.

P.S. I have pictures I could include, but I still haven't edited all the photos I took last Saturday during Nadia's basketball game. Sorry for the lack of photos in this post!

Happy Valentine's Day!

The kids and I have had a tradition for several years of eating heart shaped food on Valentine's Day such as heart shaped pancakes or a piece of toast with a heart shaped egg cooked in the middle of the toast. Because Oliver had an appointment at 8:20 at the Pediatrician's office to have his sutures removed, I decided to take the kids to Dunkin Donuts for heart shaped donuts for breakfast this morning. I bought half a dozen, we ate five of them, and we brought one home for Paul to eat this evening. This time of year is the only time the Dunkin Donuts in our area sell the brownie batter donuts, which happen to be a favorite of Nadia, Ian, and myself. Oliver really did NOT want the doctor taking his stitches out. I had to help restrain him. I guess he was really in shock or something last Thursday as he was totally still when they put the stitches in. The doctor told me he had a concussion in addition to a skull fracture and laceration according to the records he received from the hospital. As for the Chiari malformation, he said that until Oliver has symptoms (headaches and such) that we shouldn't consider surgery. I hope he never needs brain surgery! I will ask more questions about it when we see the neurosurgeon again next month.

After the doctor appointment we came home and Nadia and Ian did their schoolwork. Oliver finished a 100 piece puzzle he had started last night. This afternoon while Nadia and Ian were in gymnastics class Oliver and I bought a few things at Walmart and checked out some books, cds, and a dvd about fish at the library. Then the kids played in the children's museum that's in the same building as gymnastics for about 50 minutes before we came home for dinner. We didn't do anything special for lunch, but for dinner I made heart shaped white chocolate chip pancakes for the boys and the heart shaped egg in the toast for Nadia. The last at least two years I bought the kids each one small gift for Valentine's Day. Two years ago I got them each a puzzle. Another year I got them each a book. This year I got all of them one gift (paid $20 to buy 24 episodes of Spiderman and his Amazing Friends from the 80's), plus I bought Nadia one $3 Adventures in Odyssey CD, Ian one Imagination Station book for the Kindle, and two picture books (that haven't arrived yet). I received my MOST favorite Valentine's Day gift from my whole life yesterday - a canvas the kids painted. Nadia did the painting, all three of them put their handprints on it, all three of them wrote their name, and Ian and Nadia wrote their ages. Tab (babysitter) wrote Oliver's age and helped Nadia draw the heart. Nadia wrote in very neat cursive - Owl Always ❤ you! The handprints were made to look like three owls in a tree. At the bottom of the tree it says Feb 2018. I am going to hang it on the wall somewhere and treasure it for years to come! It was SUCH a thoughtful thing for her to have the kids do for me. It means SO SO much to me!

I am very glad I was with my three Valentines today. Yesterday they were at the babysitter's house for 10.5 hours as I observed student teachers and then taught my classes on campus. Oliver received one get well card in the mail yesterday and three more today. He also received a Valentine's Day card in the mail today from his AWANA leader. She is a very thoughtful lady! Three of the four get well cards were from people at First Baptist (where the kids play basketball) and one was from a lady in my Sunday School class. Oliver enjoyed getting all that mail!!! Daddy brought home cards for each of them from Grandma this evening. Oliver hasn't finished memorizing John 3:14-16, but he's making progress as seen below. Seems appropriate to share verses about God's love on the holiday that's focused on love! I didn't have the kids make any Valentine's Day crafts, cards, or heart shaped sugar cookies as we usually do, but it's just not possible for me to do everything I used to now that I've taken on a FT job.

Stitches, CT scan, and more

Thursday morning the kids and I headed out the door around 9:30am. We had done a little bit of schoolwork and packed everything up to take to the babysitter's house - schoolwork, lunches, water bottles, snow suits, gloves, snow boots, hats, etc. I dropped them and all that paraphernalia and drove to what I thought would be my first of three student teacher observations that day. I completed the first one, and as I was driving to the second school district (about 30 minute drive between the two), my phone rang. My phone was on vibrate so if I had been in a school at the time, I would not have answered it, but it rang through the van's hands-free system, and I answered it. It was the babysitter calling me and telling me that Oliver had a very bad head injury and asking me which hospital she wanted me to take him to. She kept repeating that it was very bad. I told her which hospital and tried to find a place to turn around as I was headed in the opposite direction of the hospital. I kept trying to reach Paul. He didn't answer his cell phone. I called the office manager, and he put me on hold and the call was dropped. I called Paul's brother and told him it was an EMERGENCY. I told Paul what the babysitter had told me, and he also said he'd be coming to the hospital ASAP. I was horrified when I learned later exactly how fast he drove to the hospital. Thankfully he didn't get in an accident!

I got there first. I went in and tried to speed things along by giving them Oliver's insurance card and such. At that point I had no idea if Oliver was paralyzed or unconscious. "Very bad head injury" kept replaying in my mind. The babysitter had asked a relative to drive her van. She was holding Oliver in the back, and the other four kids were also in the van (my three plus her two boys). I met her at the entrance and carried Oliver into the ER. I was very relieved to see that he seemed to be conscious (albeit very subdued) and could move his limbs. I noticed he had a hole in his forehead. She had a towel on it to absorb the blood. It wasn't bleeding that heavily, and Oliver wasn't crying at all. I held him and sang to him. As I had been driving to the ER I had been praying fervently to the Lord. Although I did feel some panic, I also kept reminding myself that Oliver is in God's hands. I cried some while waiting in the ER for him to arrive, but I got it together once he was in my arms. After a little while of sitting in the waiting room, I told Tab to take the other four kids home. They were all sitting in the van with the man who had driven the van for her. I knew Paul would be coming in the near future.

Oliver was a trooper. He kept complaining about his right leg so they did x-rays of that first (nothing wrong). The put gel on his forehead to start numbing it and after some injections, they stitched him up. The doctor saw me take an "after' picture with my cell phone, and she was surprised to learn I hadn't taken a "before" picture. Let's just say if I could erase that "before" image from my brain I would do so. I had zero desire to own a picture of what it looked like when he came in the ER. The sight of it made me feel woozy. Ian didn't see it (thankfully) but Nadia, Tab, Paul, and I saw it. Oliver was very surprised the next day when he saw his stitches on his forehead. I had known right away that I was going to need to reschedule the second and third observations from that day. I was flustered about the one being rescheduled because that cooperating teacher had recently expressed some concerns, and I wanted to get in there ASAP, but obviously I knew it was more important to be with my son. Once Paul was there, I toyed with whether I should go to campus and teach my classes from 2:00-4:45. I called my department chair, and she said I should stay at the hospital. I emailed my students and also called the student worker in the office to have her put a sign on the classroom door in case any of the students didn't get my email in time. We had a debate and quiz scheduled for that day; I had told them in the email that both were being postponed until Tuesday. I had gone back with Oliver during his x-rays, but I asked Paul to go back with him during the CT scan so I could email my students and also because I wasn't feeling well. It was way past the normal time I would eat lunch so between my blood sugar being too low and the emotional trauma, I was pretty wiped out at that moment. I ate my lunch and that definitely helped. Oliver was really hungry also, but they wouldn't let him  have anything until they knew that he didn't have a brain bleed.

When we got the news that he didn't have a brain bleed, they gave Oliver a boxed lunch (apple slices, sandwich, and cookie) and then said we could leave. Paul went back to work. I stopped at the babysitter's house to get Ian and Nadia. We were only home for a little bit when the ER department called to say we needed to come back right away because the CT scan showed he had a skull fracture. If I could go back in time I would have taken 5 minutes to grab a few things for myself such as a toothbrush, hairbrush, and more comfortable clothes. I did grab the Kindle, iPad, and my paperwork and laptop. Although Oliver didn't cry during the stitches, he was not a fan of having his blood drawn. We sat in the waiting room for awhile, then the four of us sat in a triage room for quite awhile albeit there were only two chairs in the room. All three kids piled into a wheelchair, and we headed up to Oliver's room on the 2nd floor of the Children's Hospital. He's stayed in the NICU (lower level 1), PICU (level 1), and has been on the 2nd floor more than once. Thankfully he's never been on the 3rd floor as that's for pediatric oncology patients. The 2nd floor is MUCH nicer for parents than the PICU or NICU because there's a couch that can be used as a bed, and there is a bathroom plus shower in the room. All three kids were really hungry at that point as it was well past when we usually eat dinner. I called and ordered Oliver a meal. A nurse gave the kids some Oreos and apple juice. Paul had asked his parents to come and get Nadia and Ian. Paul had slept at his parent's house on Tuesday night and Wednesday night. He made arrangements for Nadia and Ian to sleep at his parent's house on Thursday night. The four of us had been at the hospital for 3 hours when his parents showed up. Paul worked until 8:30 that night. I went down to the cafeteria and bought myself a sweet potato for my dinner. Unfortunately they really goofed up Oliver's dinner order. He asked for a salad, chips, pizza, apple juice, and a brownie. They actually brought him chicken, corn, mashed potatoes, ginger ale, milk, and a brownie. He did like the brownie.

I tucked him into bed at 8pm as it had been a really long day, and that's his usual bedtime. He and I were sound asleep when the nurse came in at 8:20 to check his vitals and due a neurological check (flashing a light in his eyes, asking him questions, etc.). I had to help wake him up as he was OUT cold. This was repeated throughout the night every 1-2 hours. So needless to say we didn't get much sleep. At 6:00am the nurse really woke him up as she asked him to drink juice, took him to the bathroom, etc. He usually doesn't get up until 7:00 (or later) so I tried to get him to go back to sleep, but I could tell it wasn't happening so I turned on the room lights and let him watch TV. Over the course of the day a variety of medical professionals evaluated him - an occupational therapist, a trauma doctor, a neuro psychologist, a neurosurgeon, etc. They all put the fear of God in me as far as making sure he does NOT hit his head over the next two months. I was told he should have a brain rest (not do any schoolwork) for one week. He is not allowed to play basketball, do gymnastics, go to gym class, ride a bike, jump on a trampoline, etc. I felt like I should wrap him in bubble wrap or have him wear a bicycle helmet all the time. It would be much easier to keep Ian safe because he likes to sit and play Legos for hours on end. Oliver is far more physical and loves to play outside.

It was hard for them to assess his memory and such given his age. They would ask him questions like "what month is it?" or "what year is it?" and he would say "ask her" (and point to me). As is probably true of most five-year-olds, he's not very calendar oriented. He did know his age. In fact he consistently told everyone he was 5 1/2, which impressed me because I had only told him the day before that he was now 5 1/2. They would say numbers and ask him to repeat them backwards. He didn't understand what they wanted him to do. They would repeat a list of words such as "sunset, monkey, baby, iron, etc." and ask him to repeat the list.

This hospitalization was very different from all his hospitalizations from 2012-2016 (2017 was the one year he stayed out of the hospital). It was different because he was almost 5 1/2 instead of 3 1/2 or younger and because he was sick those times. He was in isolation and not allowed to go in the play room in the past. He was extremely clingy. This time he was feeling fine and wanted to play with the staff. If anyone would play a game of Go Fish with him, he was thrilled. He called the nurse his "friend doctor." He painted a wooden snake, played games, etc. In the past hospitalizations he was feeling so awful (always on oxygen) that he certainly wasn't playing with anything.

Paul went to work today, and because of the snow on Wednesday the choir rehearsal was cancelled. This meant the choir director wanted us to be there at 8:00am. Oliver didn't have any trouble going to his Sunday School class. I told the teachers to please make sure he didn't play with a ball, run around, or anything like that. There is a slide in the kindergarten classroom, and I told them he wasn't allowed to go down the slide. It was definitely nerve wracking for me to leave him, but I know I can't keep him in my eyesight for the next two months. Then when I came to get him he started crying and saying he didn't want to go to the choir rehearsal. Thankfully he snapped out of it and did participate as Paul wasn't there, and I wanted to sing in the choir in the second service and then go to my Sunday School class. When he first wakes up in the morning it's hard for him to open the one eyelid because of swelling, but once he's up and about the swelling seems to go down some. I am taking him to the Pediatrician on Wednesday morning to have his stitches removed. Hopefully he won't have much of a scar. The pediatrician also will be following up on an incidental finding from the CT scan. They discovered a congenital brain defect, which could possible involve him needing brain surgery in the future. I hope not! I guess he'll be needing to have MRIs now and then to ascertain the growth. Did you know that you have tonsils in your brain? I didn't until reading his discharge papers. The condition is called either cerebellar tonsillar ectopia or Chiari malformation. I have learned about various maladies through being a parent including hypospadias, eosinophilic esophagitis, human menopneumovirus, and now I will be learning about cerebellar tonsils and Chiari malformations.

Paul didn't get home from work until 7:30 last night. I took the three kids to both basketball games. Nadia's was at 9:00 and Ian's was at 2:00. Oliver is done playing basketball this year. Nadia's team lost (for the first time), and Ian's team also lost. In both games they only lost by one basket. Nadia's team was ahead the whole game (sometimes by as many as 10 points), but then the other team started catching up at the end and literally made a buzzer beater to win the game. Ian's team had a huge disadvantage because only four kids showed up so they all played all 6 quarters (36 minutes of playing time). Their opponent had 8 kids on their team so their players each played 3 quarters. None of my kids have made any baskets thus far this year. There are just three games left and the season will be over.

This afternoon I had planned to take the kids to Snow Fest at the state park but between the fact Paul is at work, Oliver's injury, I had some work I needed to get done, and the fact it's rained some today, I decided to stay HOME this afternoon. I'm planning on taking the kids to a game night at one of the pastor's house tonight. They live less than 10 minutes from our house. After all the stress I've been under lately, a game night sounds heavenly to me. Last Tuesday was a long day of work and after picking up the kids I stopped at the grocery store and came home to feed them dinner. When I heard the weather forecast I figured I wouldn't be driving to the library the next day as planned. I called the library to ask if they could give me a slight extension on 3 items, but they would only do so on one of the items. So at almost 7pm I had to load the kids back in the van and drive to the library. I had said to the librarian won't you probably be closed tomorrow anyhow? She said she doubted that would happen, but actually it is what happened. The one item they gave me a few extra days on is due tomorrow. I had thought I'd return it on our way home from Snow Fest, but once I knew we weren't going to Snow Fest I decided to see if there was someone at church who lives in that town who could return it for me. A woman in choir said she was happy to do so. I can't tell you what a big relief this was to me. It was a good reminder to me today that it's okay sometimes to ask others for help. I surely could use some now and then as I feel like I have way too much on my plate.

Nadia made these on Wednesday and named them Anne and Dianna (from Anne of Green Gables).

Thinking about my three kids, Nadia has never had any surgeries and her only hospitalization was in the NICU after birth. Since her discharge from the NICU the only doctor she's seen is a Pediatrician. Ian also was only hospitalized in the NICU. He had four surgeries (at four different hospitals!). He has seen a wider variety of doctors (ENT, GI, Allergists, etc.). He spent four weeks in an outpatient feeding clinic in Hershey (we stayed in a Ronald McDonald House). Ian went to an ER once for a cut on his chin from an ice skating injury. Oliver has been hospitalized in four different hospitals. He has ridden in an ambulance twice. He's stayed in a PICU. Oliver has been to an ER multiple times - collapsed lung, RSV, human menopneumovirus, cut on the bridge of his nose, and now for a skull fracture/ forehead laceration. Well here's to hoping we can stay out of the ER and avoid hospitalizations for the rest of 2018! I imagine this visit cost us more than $500.

Between the snow and Oliver's hospitalization, four of my observations were cancelled last week. I need to do eleven observations this week. Hopefully they will actually take place. Oliver came home with a boat load of goodies. He got a new blanket, matchbox cars, two new stuffed animals, markers, crayons, etc. etc. Ian has claimed one of his Star Wars stuffed animals.

5 1/2 years old!

Today is Oliver's half-birthday! I am thankful that my 5.5 year old has been able to stay out the hospital for almost two years. He has gone almost six months without using the nebulizer. He's doing much better when singing in the kids choir at church albeit he attracts a little more attention than is comfortable for me with his "dancing". He even asked for a speaking part for the musical in May! I am very glad they didn't give him a part, but I'm also thankful that he was interested. Over the past 6 months he memorized the books of the New Testament. Right now he's working on memorizing John 3:14-16 for Sparks. Over the past six months he played on flag football and basketball teams for the first time. In both instances he was/is pretty much just a decoration on the field/ court. He has also been participating in homeschool gym class from 10:00-11:30 on Fridays and homeschool gymnastics on Wednesdays from 2:00-3:00.

He's in the Kindergarten class in Sunday School and AWANA. He's definitely making progress in his schoolwork. Since we're homeschooling I keep reminding myself it's fine if he's not where I'd like him to be academically. I imagine at some point he'll catch up. It's partially due to his immaturity (having a birthday in August doesn't help one iota), but it's also partially due to my trying to homeschool three kids while maintaining a FT job. He's had practice with writing all his uppercase and lowercase letters and numbers 0-10, but he certainly hasn't mastered all of them yet. He can say one sound that is associated with each letter of the alphabet, and he's also been working on "sh," "th" and "ch" plus some final blends such as "ump" or "ent". His favorite word to read is "fox." He has mastered the sight word "the" but still struggles sometimes with "of" and "a". Sometimes I feel like he's making great progress with reading, and then the next day he goes back to wildly guessing instead of sounding things out. He is getting better at counting items.

In some ways he is more independent than Ian, but in other ways it's obvious he's the baby of the family. For example, he always wants me to carry him upstairs at night. He also likes me to put his toothpaste on his toothbrush, and he spends more time sitting on my lap than the other two did when they were this age. The other two were independent in terms of getting dressed and undressed at this age. Either Paul or I often still give him some assistance with this. I'd like him to become independent with getting dressed and undressed over the next few months. I can't recall the last time he had an accident at night, which makes me think those days are behind us. Yahoo! He goes through five zillion tissues. I'd like to see a decrease in that.

Oliver loves to listen to music. He turns on the radio or a cd on the cd player or accesses Amazon Music on the iPad far more than his siblings. His favorite artist at the moment is Toby Mac. He loves to watch TV, use the iPad, or play outside no matter what the weather is like. He is always making new friends when he's in the indoor play land at church (such as when Ian and Nadia are in art class on Friday mornings). He absolutely loves to play with the kids in our neighborhood. He still eats just about everything I offer him to eat. He eats a far bigger quantity of vegetables than his siblings. He eats his cereal dry most mornings, but he drinks milk. When it comes to toys, he still really doesn't have a favorite. He is very attached to his green blanket though that he's been using since he was very young. He's wearing size 5 or 5/6 these days in both tops and bottoms. Hopefully Ian will outgrow size 6 clothes in the near future as it won't be long before Oliver needs them! Oliver talks incessantly. Most of the time he's talking to himself. Most of the time it doesn't bother me, but when he does that when I'm reading a chapter book to his siblings, it's rather annoying. I try to get him to whisper in those instances. He has a VERY vivid imagination.

Thank you, Eagles!

Although I was born in Pennsylvania in 1972, I lived in other states from 1977-1995. Some members of my family cheered for different football teams depending on where we lived. There was a time when we lived in Texas that some were fans of the Cowboys, and then some switched when we lived in Maryland to being Redskin fans after Tom Landry was fired as head coach of the Cowboys. My loyalty never changed. For as long as I can remember, I have been a fan of the Pittsburgh Steelers. When I moved to Pennsylvania in 1996 it meant I could see far more of the games on TV. We live a little bit closer to Philadelphia than Pittsburgh, so my guess is that there are probably more Eagles fans in our area. I personally have never had any ill feeling toward the Eagles. They are in the NFC, and the Steelers are in the AFC so it means our teams only play each other once every four years in the regular season. Since Paul is a Giants fan, the Eagles are a division rival, and thus he's not fond of them. I have always been surprised by the negative comments I have gotten

regarding the Steelers from Eagles fans. Eagles fans seem to wish their team was the only one in this state. Well I am quite certain that Steelers fans were united in their support of the Eagles last night in the Super Bowl. The Steelers are the only team (thus far) to win six Super Bowls. There are three other teams who have won five Super Bowls - Cowboys, 49ers, and Patriots. If the Patriots had won yesterday, then the Steelers would no longer have been the only team to win six Super Bowls. I typically root for the underdog in the Super Bowl, and considering it was the Eagles' first ring, I am very happy for them. I know many of my students are Eagles fans, Yvonne's family are Eagles fans, etc. The Patriots also happen to be my very least favorite team in the whole NFL so I am also happy they lost. The NFC East has helped the Steelers out a lot as between the Giants the Eagles they have defeated the Patriots three times in the Super Bowl in the past eleven years.

Nadia was the only one who went to church yesterday. I called our neighbor who goes to

the same church as we do. They helped us out and let Nadia ride with them. They only go to the first service. Nadia begged me to agree to come get her after the second service so she could also attend the choir rehearsal, but I was just too light headed yesterday morning. While she was in church, I was sitting on the couch doing somethings on my laptop computer while Ian was sleeping on my lap. Paul was sleeping while sitting in a chair, and Oliver climbed up on his lap and fell asleep there. The three of them slept until Nadia rang the doorbell after she was dropped off at our house. I am happy to say that I do believe today we have all been free of fevers - the first that has been true for all four of us in eleven days. It snowed yesterday. I had zero desire to go out and take pictures of the kids outside yesterday, but today I actually have some energy, which is a huge relief. Life feels very overwhelming when I don't have much energy. I even shoveled most of the driveway (albeit from the photos it looks like the boys did it, actually I did 99% of the work).

So this means the kids can go to the babysitter's house tomorrow, which is very good news for Paul because this is a big week for him at work (installing a new piece of machinery). Tomorrow will be the first time in two months that they'll be doing all their schoolwork at her house. I haven't left our property since Friday, which was just what I needed. Paul took Nadia to her basketball game on Saturday morning. I stayed home with the boys. Paul went to work today, but the kids and I stayed home and did our schoolwork, housework, etc. I was really disappointed to miss the concert at church on Friday night, but sleep was more important to me. In our first few years of marriage Paul went to concerts with me, but then I became friends with Cheri, and she became my concert buddy. Nadia is my new concert buddy, but it ended up being a daddy daughter date since I wanted to go to bed really early on Friday night. Nadia and I are planning to go to a Steven Curtis Chapman concert next month. I hope and pray we both make it to that one.

Although I was sitting on the couch for most of the day yesterday, I did get some things accomplished. I booked a hotel for two nights in Philadelphia in March during my spring break so the five of us can have a three day getaway that will include the Adventure Aquarium, Franklin Institute, US Mint, etc. Before I knew Paul was wanting to join us I was trying to decide whether to book something right downtown via Airbnb or use a time share resort near Atlantic City. The cost of those two was about the same (meaning 2 nights in Philly was the same as 7 nights  in a 3 bedroom unit at the resort), but of course staying in Philly would me a lot less driving. Once Paul decided to join us I decided to book a hotel via Priceline (I let them pick the hotel as long as I was able to choose a room that had 2 queen beds). This way we'll have access to a swimming pool. It's been years since I booked an actual hotel room. I'm so used to using time share resorts. I had been thinking we'd take a 2-3 night trip to Niagara Falls in the middle of May and another trip to the Saratoga (NY) area around Memorial Day, but those plans have been postponed as we've started booking a trip to San Diego for late May/early June. Since we're traveling all the way to California we decided to stay 9 nights, especially as we are not opting to fly back on a traditional "red eye" flight. I booked the seven of us an apartment through Airbnb. It will be Paul's first vacation since September 2016. We're looking forward to visiting places such as SeaWorld, the San Diego Zoo, USS Midway, Maritime Museum, Fleet Science Center, Disneyland, seeing the La Jolla sea lions and Children's pool seals, Cabrillo National Monument, etc. If you have any input, I'm all ears! In particular I'm trying to decide whether it's worth it to visit the San Diego Safari Park (in addition to the zoo) and/or Disneyland's California Adventure Park. At the moment neither of those are on my list, but I have toyed with including them. I do love planning and going on vacations. It's exciting!

Dropping like flies

Last Friday while Paul was in Las Vegas he came down with a respiratory and GI bug. His father was the first one to get it after Paul (his dad traveled with him to Vegas). Oliver succumbed to it on Monday afternoon. He slept for 15 hours straight (minus going to the bathroom a couple of times); he slept from 4:30pm on Monday to 7:30am on Tuesday! Ian came down sick on Tuesday night. The kids couldn't go to the babysitter on Tuesday because we wouldn't want to spread their germs to her kids, especially as her 1st grader is scheduled to have oral surgery this coming Monday. Paul wasn't feeling well enough to go to work on Monday. From Saturday afternoon through Sunday afternoon Paul slept for almost 24 hours straight. He was going to go to work on Tuesday but between the snow we got that morning (the two schools I planned to visit that day both had snow days), how he was feeling, plus the fact he would have had to come very early to watch the kids so I could go to the university, he opted to stay home that day. He went to work yesterday, although he's still under the weather. He usually leaves very early (ex. 4:30am), but he didn't leave until about 8:30am yesterday. Nadia went to gymnastics yesterday afternoon and AWANA last night. The boys and I ran errands during gymnastics (CVS, library, etc.), and they stayed home during AWANA. I started coming down with the bug yesterday morning, and by last evening I felt miserable. I went to bed around 6:30pm since Paul was at home.

When my temperature was around 102 degrees at 1am I decided to take a sick day today, and I *never* take sick days, but my fever broke sometime after that and was lower this morning. I took a hefty dose of Advil before heading out the door, and that did the trick. Paul had gone to work, but he met the kids and I in Northumberland (the town where I was visiting two student teachers) at 11:15. I then headed to campus for a seminar at 1:00 and then taught my classes from 2:00-4:45. Yesterday I was trying to work on a photo book on Shutterfly. I hadn't made one since September and had a wonderful coupon code that was expiring yesterday, but I just didn't have it in me. I was hoping they'd extend the coupon code (sometimes they do that). This morning when I checked I discovered they had extended another code (a calendar code I don't intend to use), but they hadn't extended the extra 91 page photo book code. I'm really hoping they offer that code again sometime this month or next month. I don't regret the fact I chose to go to bed at 6:30 last night. I was going to do one more student teaching visit tomorrow while the kids are in gym class, but the boys are still sick so I think I'll have to reschedule that visit for the third time. I intended to visit last Thursday but the co-op had a death in the family and asked me to reschedule. Then they had a snow day on Tuesday (which was my second plan). The co-op wasn't in today either, so I had planned to go tomorrow, but now this time I'm the one needing it to be rescheduled. I can't ask Paul to miss another day of work. These are the challenges when both parents work outside the home, and I don't have any family that lives near by to help out in a situation like this. We have been earnestly praying that Paul's mom will escape the bug because with her immune system being low since she's been undergoing chemo it would be really awful if she got this bug. It is a doozy! Nadia has dodged the bullet thus far. If she's going to get it, I hope she does ASAP because it would be awful if the boys were healthy and then we still couldn't take the kids to the babysitter next week because Nadia was sick. Of course it would be awesome if she never got it!

We've still be doing most of our school work. I let Nadia and Ian skip math and piano yesterday and today (Nadia benefitted from her brothers' illnesses). We still did history, science, Bible, reading, and spelling. They have watched more TV than usual. Since we had recently studied whales and dolphins in science, I checked out a few of the Free Willy dvds from the library. They enjoyed them! The boys have had very little energy and almost no appetites. They have pretty much been either in bed or lying on the floor or the couch. Here's to hoping and praying we will all be healthy soon!

Not that I don't have things to be thankful for today, but I thought this time I'd share some prayer requests instead:

1. My brother (his birthday is today!) had an interview recently regarding his doctoral application to Penn. He has another interview scheduled for this month with NYU. I'm hoping and praying Penn will make him an offer in the next week or so as it would be awesome to have my brother living in the same state as me! Penn is in Philadelphia so it's not super close, but it's *much* closer than Brazil (where he lived previously) or Texas (where he has lived for the last 2 years).

2. Julianna (niece who will turn 5 in 13 days) recently burned herself really badly (mostly her leg) with hot water. She has an amazingly high tolerance to pain. Praying that there won't be any permanent damage. 

3. That we'll all be healthy soon (Paul's dad, Paul, Ian, Oliver, and I), and that Paul's mom and Nadia will not come down with it. I had gone 5.5 months without being sick (the last time I was sick was early August when I caught the stomach bug the Towfighis brought over from Turkey) for which I am grateful.

4. A friend of mine has been going through a divorce/custody battle. She has homeschooled their boys for many years. They are now waiting to hear the judge's verdict regarding which parent will have primary custody, etc. Praying for God to give the judge wisdom and for peace while they wait.

5. For wisdom for future decisions for the Towfighis. The relationship between Turkey and the US has become increasingly strained for a variety of reasons (including recent events in Syria). They are exploring the possibility of possibly moving to Vienna, Austria. 

Third game

The basketball season is eight games long. This year that works out to three games in January, three in February, and two games in March. Yesterday the boys had their third game, which means next week the season will be half over. As seems to be the norm this season, Nadia plays 4 out of 6 periods, Ian plays 3 of 6 periods, and Oliver plays 2 of 6 periods. It would be more accurate to say Oliver is on the court for two periods. It's a bit of a stretch to say he is playing basketball. He's more of a spectator. He does like to make a grand entrance when his name is announced before the game. He even did a 360 when he came in yesterday. He dribbled the ball once, and that was the extent of his participation. I was seriously contemplating pulling him off the team, but I guess we should just finish out the season. Ian played defense and certainly wasn't just a spectator although he was a bit goofy at times (looked like he and the boy he was guarding were playing tag rather than basketball). Nadia's team again dominated their opponent. They don't allow the lead to be greater than ten points so the scoreboard didn't accurately represent exactly how large their lead was over the other team. Nadia is by far the weakest link on her team. She turned the ball over

umpteen times when she was dribbling the ball. In the second half her teammates kept feeding her the ball far more than anyone else in the hopes she'd make her first basket. She made several attempts but never got a basket. The ball never went high enough, but the ball did go near the net a couple of times. It was extremely kind of her teammates to keep giving her the ball over and over and over again, but I admit I became rather self-conscious. Ian's team had lost their first two games, but according to the scoreboard their game ended in a tie yesterday. The other team had a large lead at one point so it's possible not all of the other team's points were recorded, but still they were happy the game ended in a tie.

Nadia always talks about how much she loves basketball, but she almost never touches a basketball at home. This is her fifth year playing on a basketball team. I personally am not athletic and do not have the time to work with them on basketball in addition to homeschooling them, giving them piano lessons, maintaining a full-time job, etc. Nadia was really, really disappointed that she couldn't take ice skating lessons this winter because they interfered with the boys' basketball practices. At the

moment I am thinking that next year I won't sign any of them up for basketball but will sign them all up for ice skating lessons, which is only a Thursday night commitment. At the moment basketball involves 2 hours of practice on Thursday night, 1 hour of practice on Friday night, and multiple hours of games each Saturday. I might change my mind at some point in the coming months, but at the moment I'm thinking of skipping basketball next winter.

Paul came home yesterday from Las Vegas while we were eating lunch. We didn't have time to come home in between Nadia and Oliver's games as they were at 9:00 and 11:00, but we had time to come home and eat lunch before Ian's 2:00 game. He's really sick. Nadia and Oliver were grateful to be able to stay home with Paul during Ian's game. I cheered for Ian during his game, and we stopped at the grocery store on the way home. Once Ian and I got home, Paul slept most of the rest of the day, and I haven't seen him leave our bedroom yet today (and it's 4:30pm). Unlike moms, dads do get sick days. It is very rare that he has a fever, but he had a 101 degree fever yesterday so he certainly is feeling very yucky. I slept on the couch last night, as I really don't want to catch what he has. Praying the kids and I escape it!

This morning we didn't have to leave for church as early as normal, which I really liked. The choir didn't sing this morning. It meant I had time to read and discuss Hebrews 1-2 with Nadia and Ian this morning before we went to church. The pastors and their wives were on a retreat this weekend so my Sunday School teacher was asked to preach. He called me yesterday to ask me to be his substitute in Sunday School, but I told him I was already signed up to help in the 3rd/4th grade girls' class during the 2nd service. I was disappointed as I do enjoy teaching the adult class. When I showed up to the girls' class today, I found out they didn't need me. I ended up attending the adult class after all, but thankfully someone else he had called had agreed to be his substitute. Bruce did a great job preaching today. He preached from Matthew 5, and at the end of the sermon he briefly talked about three Christians who he imagined heard "well done thou good and faithful servant" when they entered into Heaven. Oliver and Nadia were in their Sunday School classes, but Ian was with me in the worship service. The three people he told a little about were Jan Huss, Amy Carmichael, and Jim Elliot. I had already read the kids biographies of the latter two. Ian was most intrigued by

what Bruce shared about Jan Huss because we've been reading about the Reformation lately. He mentioned things like Wycliffe translating the Bible into English, indulgences, Martin Luther's 95 theses, etc. and Ian was very excited because we have been talking about all of those things recently. The biography I've been reading them lately has been about Ulrich Zwingli.

As I walked into the sanctuary the lady who was handing out bulletins at the door where we entered said, "I thought I recognized you, Dr. Kennedy"! One of my cooperating teachers attends our church. She said she told her student teacher on Thursday that she thought she recognized me but couldn't place where, and this morning she figured it out. When I was at church on Friday night for Nadia's basketball practice I ran into another cooperating teacher (one I haven't visited yet but plan to visit this Tuesday). She was there for a concert. It's a small world after all!


Nadia had been VERY anxiously awaiting this Sunday because she knew they were passing out parts in the kids'

choir for the musical they'll be doing in May. She and Ian were both given parts. Ian has a much bigger part than he's ever had before. The play has a pirate theme, and the choir director said Ian did a great job of really getting into his part (lots of "Arrrs"). She said she's hoping his enthusiasm will be contagious to the other children. That was music to my ears. I'll start having them learn their lines this week. I am far more capable of helping them with drama than I am with helping them with basketball.

First week done

On Tuesday a few students who were not enrolled in my class but rather were on the waiting list showed up for class anyhow in the hopes they would get into the class. I went down and told the secretary, and she called the department chair. The chair added another section of the course so starting yesterday I am teaching from 2:00-4:45 on Tuesdays and Thursdays as I'm teaching two sections of the same class. I am now on overload (the academic term for overtime). It means I'll make a little more money which helps to balance out for the

fact I probably won't be able to teach this summer. It also makes me feel like I have pretty good job security even though I'm an adjunct at the moment, especially in light of the fact that three professors in our department are supposedly retiring this summer. Now to get back to being permanent instead of temporary. The soonest that might happen is August 2019. I'm praying to that end!

The first week back is usually more tiring than usual, but this week was particularly taxing. Waiting until the last minute to get my contract (first day of the semester) was stressful, and it meant that I wasn't able to have access to some things until Wednesday so my students didn't have their syllabus, etc. on the first day of class. The projector also wasn't working in the classroom on either day. I didn't think to use the Smartboard instead on Tuesday, but a student gave me that excellent suggestion on Thursday. Although I placed my textbook order with the university bookstore in October, the textbooks also hadn't arrived yet for my students. Hopefully the projector will be fixed

soon, and the textbooks are supposed to arrive next week. Yesterday was a hectic day. I homeschooled the kids (most of the subjects anyhow), met with five student teachers, proctored a final exam for a student who took any incomplete last semester, taught for 2.5 hours, and then met our babysitter and the kids at the church where Ian was in the middle of his basketball practice. I had packed the kids' lunches. They ate lunch and dinner with the babysitter. Until basketball season is over they're going to eat dinner with her family on Thursday nights. They'll have dinner with me on Tuesday nights when we get home around 5:30. I had packed my lunch and dinner. I intended to eat dinner at the church during Ian's basketball practice, but the church kitchen was locked, and I couldn't find a microwave anywhere else in the building. Usually we don't go home during Oliver's basketball practice, but we did yesterday because I was really hungry. It meant we drove for 30 minutes round trip to be home for 30 minutes, but I didn't regret my decision. Once I got home I caught up with emails from university personnel, cooperating teaches, students, and student teachers, and then I went straight to bed.

Today was thankfully not as exhausting of a day. I had purposefully gotten all of our Bible, science, and spelling work done for the week in four days as I knew there wouldn't be time today. I finished reading the last book from the Crispin trilogy to them this morning, and they did most of their math. We have to be out the door at 8:40 on Fridays for art and gym class so that doesn't allow for much time for schoolwork in addition to getting dressed, eating breakfast, packing lunches, feeding the guinea pigs, etc. I had brought their piano

books, AWANA books, and books for them to read while at the babysitter's house after gym class, but today my observations took less time than anticipated. I arrived at her house and the church 15 minutes late on both Tuesday and Thursday, but today I showed up at her house an hour earlier than planned. When we got home they finished their math and practiced the piano. We'll be heading back out this evening for Nadia's basketball practice. Next week shouldn't be as hectic because I'm only planning to be on campus or in a school building two days of

the week whereas I did that four days this week. I think I will be visiting schools three days a week on average.

I was too tired to write a post last night, but here are some things I'm thankful for at the moment.

1. Paul and his Dad made it safely to Las Vegas. They were tired as it was 3AM EST when they checked into their hotel on Monday night. Now we're praying they'll make it back safely to PA tomorrow.

2. I got access to all my courses in BOLT Wednesday (the learning management system). This is where students post their assignments, where I post documents they need, where grades are posted, etc. It is rather frustrating for both the students and myself when this isn't in place before the semester begins.

3. I will receive an overload payment this semester because I am teaching 15 credits, whereas 12 credits is full-time.

4. The kids and I enjoyed using a gift card for Friendly's that we received as a Christmas gift. We had dinner at Friendly's on Tuesday night.

5. As we begin a new semester, I am again grateful for the assistance of our babysitter.

6. We are all healthy!

7. Now that I am employed again, it means I am able to borrow money from my retirement account. I am planning to borrow enough that I can pay off the mortgage. It's better to pay interest to myself (my retirement account) than to pay it to the bank that holds our mortgage. It means that in hindsight it wasn't the right decision to refinance the mortgage a little over a year ago, but at the time it was the right decision as we cut the interest rate in half. I had no way of knowing then that I would be reemployed in August 2017. We took out a 15 year mortgage, and it will technically have been paid off within 15 months instead of 15 years. The retirement loan will need to be paid off in five years, but we plan on paying it off sooner than that. It will be a wonderful feeling to be debt free!