The week that kept on giving

I keep putting off writing this post because there are a lot of pictures and sometimes I don't like having to mess with posting pictures.  But I'm making myself get to it because if I don't, I'll forget everything.

First off, we went to Harmony Hill. I know I posted some pictures during the week but I think I have a few more on my phone and later on, I'll post the ones from the big camera.

It was really nice on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. Then on Thursday afternoon, as several of us were sitting around enjoying a fresh lime sorbet (courtesy of Ryan and his Vitamixer),  we suddenly got to witness Nora lose her lunch. In my lap. All over everywhere.
So that was fun.
And the poor baby kept throwing up and throwing up and throwing up until she finally fell asleep that evening. The next day was Friday and by this time there were quite a few sickies around the property. By Friday afternoon, the drama with Nora was over but the whole morning I was on the phone with Jason because his car had decided to basically die and somehow, he had to get to Texas and then on to Colorado. Of course, he couldn't take the Explorer because I had it with with me. So Friday morning was chaos while I tried to figure out a plan for Jason's travels and teach the preschool class. There are two teachers for every class, but during the first class, one of Barbara's children's tummy was feeling a bit iffy and she had to go deal with that scenario. We managed to figure out a plan to get Jason to Texas (thank you Adam and Ashlie!) and then, through of the generosity of others, a way for him to go on to Colorado. Friday evening, as we were supposed to be getting ready for the end-of-the-week performance, Jason came running down towards our tent with Elaina draped over his arms. She had ran into another little girl during supper and had a fork in her mouth at the time. We took her over to the ER in the nearby town, while other extended family members had to stay behind and bathe and dress our remaining children for the performance. Nothing like putting all kinds of people out in one day.

The hole opened up into her sinus cavity so they gave her some pain meds and put her on an antibiotic and sent us on our way.  On Saturday, I packed up the campsite and we headed for Dallas. The original plan was to stay until Monday morning with my cousin, Molly, and her husband, Daniel. Sunday night, the Sacrans started dropping like flies. So poor Molly and Daniel had our entire family of sickies plus two other guests, Eleanor and Ryan. (Ryan with the Vitamixer.) Those poor people. There is only one bathroom at Molly's house so they just had to share the germs, whether they liked it or not. Slowly we all started to get better. Claire was the first to mend.

And then Eily perked up a little. 

Poor Jason, though. He just got worse and worse. For some reason, Jason's body will sometimes get to a point where it stops working for him and starts working against him. It happened the night before our wedding, again on our first anniversary, and then again one other time. I could tell pretty quickly that he was headed to that place and so once again, I dumped my children off on someone and took him to the ER for fluids and Zofran.  We were finally able to leave on Tuesday. It was a long trip home. We were all tired and exhausted and didn't like having to say goodbye to Jason.

So the next couple of days were filled with Mom having to make trips to our house to help me take Jason's car to the mechanic, pick up Jason's car from the mechanic and take me back and forth. Oh yeah, I forgot to say that on Tuesday, I came home to Adam and Jacob mowing and weed-eating my yard. It was literally as high as Jacob's knees. I tell you, my family- they're hard to beat. 

Thursday evening, Eily and Nora were playing some kind of jumping game where they were jumping from the couch to the coffee table but they would push each other as they jumped. Had I known exactly what was going on, I would have stopped it, but I didn't and therefore....

this happened.

Ouch.

Warning: there is some blood in the next several pictures. For the third time in a week, I had to call on someone to watch my kids so I could take someone else in the family to the ER. Adam and Audrey quickly came over and I left with Nora. It was seven o'clock when we arrived at the hospital. Around ten-thirty Nora rubbed her little band-aid off her chin and I had one of the nurses at the front desk help me re-bandage the cut. About thirst minutes later, at eleven, I asked that same nurse if it was going to be anytime soon that we were going to be called back. He said it could easily be several more hours. I had been second guessing this whole time if it were even necessary for me to be at the ER. Maybe a butterfly band-aid would be sufficient. I asked him what he thought and he said it definitely need stitches. So, after waiting three hours,  I did what I should have done in the first place; I packed up our things and drove 45 minutes to the town where I grew up and registered Nora at the nice, clean, new-ish ER.  There was only one other person there and within 15 minutes they had us back in a room.  Let me tell you, the next hour or so was not fun. Watching your daughter, strapped in a straight jacket type of contraption, screaming in a way you could never imagine her capable of screaming, begging you to make them stop and asking you to hold her , is a horrible feeling and something I wish on no parent. Even with her strapped down, it took four of us to hold her still. The doctor and the nurses were amazing. They tried to comfort her with soothing voices. They sang to her. They were as gentle and as kind as they could be in that type of situation. Unless my children are literally about to die, I will always skip the local ER's and just go straight to the Booneville hospital.  After it was all over, they talked to her and visited with her and gave her stickers and loved on her. I am just so appreciative of their attitudes, the way they made us feel, and the care they gave us.

Before the stitches

The nightmare is over

At nine, I had called Sarah to come relieve Adam and since we didn't get home until two in the morning, she just slept on the couch. I felt so bad because she was supposed to be back at my house by six in the morning that coming Saturday. I'm telling you, it has been very hard to have to ask someone to come watch your kids over and over and over again. The guilt starts to pile up pretty quickly. On Friday, I babysat Rachel's kids while she went to a doctor appointment and then she came back to my house and told me to just go. Take a break. Spend some time by myself. So I went and bought a van. And it really was that simple and that easy. And I'm so thankful for that. By this time, we knew we weren't going to fix Jason's van so we had to find another vehicle but I didn't expect it to be so easy and quick. 

Big Blessing.

Around two or three on Saturday morning, Eily started throwing up.  I texted Sarah because, so far, she hadn't been exposed to the virus, and instead I asked Mom to come. Leah had been sick at her house earlier in the week so I knew at least I wouldn't be contaminating her. Or at least, I would be the first to contaminate her. She arrived around eight-thirty and I had to run to Fort Smith first to fill Nora's prescription. I finally was able to leave Fort Smith around eleven. I had to take the Explorer to Dallas so that Jason would have a vehicle to take to Colorado once he flew in from Maryland. I drove up there, waited a couple of hours, met my brother-in-law and niece who happened to be traveling home from a singing school in San Antonio, and came back home. I made it home around midnight. 

Sunday was church. 

Monday, Elaina started her tennis day camp. 

One day this past week, I took Nora to get her stitches removed. I don't know what day it was. I'm losing track of it all. 

It took some help from Benadrly, but we were able to get the stitches out with much less drama.

Saturday, the poor child had a migraine that was so bad that she threw up from the pain. She's had a rough couple of weeks.  But we are all good and settled in a routine of sorts. The girls are in the middle of swimming lessons, the house is clean, the laundry is caught up, life is moving along.

These are a few pictures from Harmony Hill that I found on my phone.

Claire, Catherine and a couple of boys leading a song

Claire showing off Eli's masterpiece

A posing Eily

Eily with flowers in her hair during class

I don't have many pictures of Elaina from Harmony Hill because the girl was never around. She was too busy socializing.

These two pictures are just some random pictures that were on my phone that I though were cute.

Nora swinging on the best kind of swing there is

Eating ice cream sandwiches on Nanny's porch swing 

I want to say thank you to Adam, Ashlie, Mom, Dad, Sarah, Dan, Caitlin, Molly, Daniel, Eleanor and Ryan. There is no way I could have mentally made it through the past two/three weeks without your help, kind words, patient attitudes and love. 

I also want to say that I realize that even though it was a rough couple of weeks, it was in no way near as bad as some other people's situations. I have a brother-in-law and sister-in-law who are having to deal with the upcoming surgery of their newborn baby boy. I have a friend who has a one year old little girl that was recently diagnosed with cancer and is in the middle of chemotherapy. I have many other friends and family who have things going on in their lives that are much more serious and important than my little boo-boo episodes and car trouble. I am blessed with four healthy girls. I have a supportive, loving husband. I have a roof over my head. I am very blessed and I know it. And I thank God for these blessings. They are not to be taken lightly.