Boulder Bound

On Friday afternoon, Ella and I headed over to Houston for another climbing competition. This one was the qualifier for Nationals, next month in Boulder, CO.

Ella had a great competition. She handled some tough climbs really well, and I was beyond impressed with her tenacity.

The top four in her division qualified for Nationals. Ella placed second, so now we’re negotiating who gets to make the trip. Ella is hoping she’ll get to go skiing while she’s there, but I’m not making any promises.

This was her second climb at finals. My hands were sweating the entire time. I also need to learn not to yell for her when I’m recording her climbs.

Finishing her first climb during prelims.

She had to climb around the corner, which she did without a problem.

And hanging upside-down.

Quigley and Fred

Earlier this week, at the beginning of my solo parenting gig, I told the big girls that if they were helpful and extra good this week, I’d get them pet hermit crabs. We all mostly survived the week, and the girls were mostly good, so we trekked to the pet store yesterday and picked out our new family members.

Introducing

Quigley – he is Ella’s crab. She looks unhappy in the picture because she was convinced he was going to pinch her.

 

And Fred – Lily’s crab. Lily, my animal lover, desperately wants to hug him, and squeeze him and call him George, but Fred isn’t cooperating. I have to stop her from opening the tank and poking Fred 20 times an hour.

Turns out hermit crabs don’t do much, at least not during the day. The sand in their tank was covered in tracks this morning, so they apparently explored every nook and cranny during the night.

My idea, which wasn’t a brilliant one as it turns out, was that the kids would SHARE the hermit crabs. But since Ella and Lily have each claimed and named a crab, Campbell wants one, too. So I’ll be going back to the pet store for the 4th time – if I include the 2 trips it took to get the hermit crabs for Campbell’s class, which I do – in seven days. I don’t think I went to the pet store four times in the entire 13 years we had a dog.

My next goal is to find a permanent place in the house for Quigley and Fred. Right now they’re in the living room on a table, entirely too close to Elizabeth’s little hands for my comfort. Each time one of the big kids climbs on the arm of the sofa to check on the crabs, she’s right there behind them. I’m afraid I’m going to walk in the living room and find Elizabeth with a crab in her mouth.

B’s suggestion was that now that we can’t hold getting crabs out as a bribe, we can threaten to have a crab boil if the girls don’t behave. I knew I married him for a reason.

Happy Birthday Knittergran, Part III

This is the silly version. The kids laughed as much watching it as they did making it. And they are begging to watch it over and over again.

Cleaning Out

Yesterday morning I watched two episodes of "Hoarders" and promptly went on a cleaning spree in my kids' rooms. I cleaned out and organized both closets, which are now things of beauty. Unfortunately, the closets won't look neat for long. But I'm enjoying it while I can.

Among the assorted Legos, Lincoln Logs, and Little People toys I found:

My copy of Brideshead Revisited

13 socks

Two shoes, not from the same pair

6 empty cereal boxes pilfered from the recycling bin for future "art" projects

Four American Girl Doll outfits

5 pairs of underpants

One torn Twister mat

Pieces to three different puzzles

One pair of LL Bean Moose slippers that Campbell now refuses to take off

One Percy

One Rhenaus

One Thomas

and

FIVE bags of trash.

Seriously - I took five bags of trash out of two closets and one toy box. I was ruthless in what I threw out - puzzles with missing pieces, games with missing boxes, Ella's collection of poker chips, precious artwork, wrapping paper, homework from last year, and lots and lots of wadded up paper.

It was such a cathartic exercise. I actually enjoyed sitting on the floor and sorting all the blocks, Legos, train tracks, Little People, and GeoTrax into their proper bins and then storing everything neatly on the shelves.

I even cleaned out enough stuff that I was able to move the basket of Elizabeth's toys from the living room to the toy box. B did a happy dance when he saw that the toy corner had been cleaned out.

When the big girls got home, I showed them the improved closets and pleaded with them to keep everything neat for at least a few days. Ella rolled her eyes and immediately began checking for her treasures. Lily shrieked with delight at all the "missing" dress-up clothes that I had located and returned to the dress-up basket.

Next I'll tackle the mess that is their desk. But I need to wait until after trash collection day - our garbage can and recycling bin are filled to the brim.

Obligatory First Day of School Post

The kids started back to school this week, and all the baby angels sang Hallelujah. I wasn't at all weepy about sending the big girls to school. I've had just about as much as I can take of the bicker twins lately. Being around other kids at school will be good for them.

Ella is in 4th grade, which doesn't seem possible. I remember being in 4th grade. I met my bestest friend in 4th grade. I'm still friends with kids from 4th grade. How did she get so old? Ella picked out her outfit and was quite pleased when I told her none of it matched. She especially loves her new Converse All-Stars.

Lily is in 2nd grade. She, of course, had to pick out a dress for the first day. And I have to admit, she looked darn cute in it. Her teacher is one of the best at the school, and we're thrilled she has him. Lily cracked me up when we were walking through the halls on the first day. She was like the little mayor of the school, saying hi to and chatting up everyone she saw. She is definitely my little social butterfly.

Campbell now goes to preschool five mornings a week, thank the baby jeebus. He needs more activities and stimulation that I can give him. He insisted on wearing his new sunglasses to school. We've started calling him The Dude. And he does indeed abide.

And finally, mah baybee. Elizabeth started a mother's day out program and goes to school Tuesday and Thursday mornings. She has the same divine teacher all of the other kids have had, which made dropping her off much easier. I was able to hand Elizabeth off to Miss Katherine and leave, knowing that she was in the best possible care.

But I was still a little weepy when I left - my last baby has started school. Before I know it, she'll be in college.

Sob.

I think we need a dog

Our neighbors just adopted a 9 month old puppy, and I think my girls are as excited about Jake's arrival as his owners are. My big girls and the kids next door have been talking lots about dog training and what they are going to teach Jake to do.

But my girls' enthusiasm for dog training has taken a worrisome turn. They've decided to train Elizabeth like she's a puppy.

Yesterday I caught Ella teaching Elizabeth to sit and stay and then rewarding her by popping pieces of cookies in Elizabeth's open mouth. Ella and Lily have done such a good job that Elizabeth now responds to hand signals for lie down and twirl.

The girls have asked for their own puppy, but B and I have told them that we cannot possibly bring another living thing into this house because there is simply not enough room.

But if they keep up the puppy training with Elizabeth, I may change my mind.

*****

And speaking of cute animals, go check out knittergran's adorable new kitten Baxter.

Climbing Video

As promised to some of you via e-mail, here's a video of Ella's first climb at Nationals. She had three moves to the top when she fell. Her coach called it a "brain fart," because it looked to both of us like she just let go of the wall.

Still, it's an amazing climb. And there's no way in heck you'd catch me doing it.

US Climbing Nationals

Part of the reason we went to Atlanta, other than to visit my parents and have fun with airport security, was so that Ella could compete in US Climbing Nationals, which were held at Stone Summit Gym in Atlanta. This gym is brand-new, and it is amazing. Ella and I walked in the first morning and our jaws dropped simultaneously. Below is just part of the main climbing wall - it continues on to both the left and the right. The walls top out at 50 feet - almost five stories. If you click to embiggen the picture, you can see that there are seven climbers going at the same time.

Ella climbed in both the technical and speed climbing events, and she had a mixed comp. Thursday's event was the first qualifying round for technical, and she climbed really well until almost the top, when she had what her coach called a "brain fart" and just let go of the wall. She said she got her hands mixed up on the holds and couldn't figure out what to do next. She ended up 27th out of 36 girls.

Friday, however, she climbed like a rock star. This is just one of the two overhangs she conquered without problem. She fell three holds before the top, but it was still an incredible climb. She moved from 27th to 8th place, which qualified her for semi-finals on Saturday.

Saturday didn't go so well. She fell right after I took the above picture. The reach from the foothold on the right to the one on the left was too far for her. Shorter climbers than Ella had managed to get across by swinging over, but they all paused to work out the solution. Ella just went for it instead. Sigh.

This is the second time Ella's climbed at summer nationals, and the amount of improvement she's made since last year is just amazing. I can't wait to see what next year holds. At the rate she's going, she may actually make finals. But the most important part is that she has fun doing it.

Her overall results were 16th out of 36 in technical and 13th out of 36 in speed. Not too shabby for a 9-year-old.

Colorado state of mind

Ella and I both fell in love with Boulder. She's already decided that she wants to go to The University of Colorado, but I'm not sure I'm OK with that. I told her I was too afraid that she'd be distracted by all the hiking, climbing, biking, kayaking in the area to actually study. She just giggled.

Here are lots of pictures, in no particular order because Blogger always seems to scramble them.

Throughout the whole trip, Ella wanted to take a ski lift to the top of a mountain. We never found a lift, but when we went to Estes Park, we rode the tramway, which Ella said was just as good.

When we turned the corner into Estes Park, and I caught my first glimpse of the "real" Rockies, not the foothills of Boulder, I gasped out loud. The mountains are just breathtaking, and very forbidding looking with the low clouds. I can't imagine being one of the first settlers coming through and being adventurous enough to see what was on the other side.

"Redrum, redrum." The Stanley Hotel was Stephen King's inspiration for the Overlook Hotel in The Shining. It's not the hotel that was used in the Jack Nicholson movie, but it was used in the mini-series version a few years ago. These days it has a housing development in its back yard, and a view out the front of a strip mall. Not quite as grand a location as in its earlier days.

These are the Flatirons, which loom over Boulder. For most of our trip, it was raining, so we couldn't actually see the mountains. But on our last day, the sun came out, and the view was spectacular. The grey area on the bottom left of the picture is the talus field Ella climbed.

When we reached this talus field, Ella begged and pleaded with me to let her climb it. "This is what I dreamed hiking would be," she said. "Everything else we've done was just walking in mud." I finally gave in and let her go up. If you click to embiggen, she's the little green dot towards the top. I decided to take the path up instead of the rocks.

I found my dream house. It overlooks the Chautauqua meadow and the Flatirons in the front and Boulder in the back. It probably only costs a few million.

We drove up Fulsom Mountain on our last morning. Ella loved that we were above the clouds.

We wanted to go hiking along Boulder Creek, but it was roaring, and the trails by Boulder Falls were closed.

When we left Estes Park on our last day, Ella started crying because she was sure she'd never get to visit Colorado again. I had to promise her that if the gym in Boulder ever hosted another competition, we'd go to it. That satisfied her long enough for me to pack her in to the car and head to Denver. I really do hope the gym gets to host another comp. I'd love to go back. Next time I want to actually venture into Rocky Mountain National Park. We didn't have enough time on this trip to do it.

And the results are . . .

Ella and I got back late last night from our trip to Boulder, and we had such a good time. I have so much to write about, but first things first.

As I've mentioned a few times, Ella is a competitive rock climber, and we went to Boulder for the Division 2 championships. Division 2 includes Texas, Louisiana, New Mexico, Arizona, California and Colorado. To qualify for Divisionals, the climbers had to compete at a Regional comp. Ours was about a month ago.

Ella is in the Youth D division, which is for kids ages 11 and under. Sixteen girls from Division 2 made it to the comp this weekend, meaning they were all pretty dang good. There was a pack of teeny girls from a gym in Boulder who were amazing considering how small they were.

On Saturday, Ella competed in prelims for sport climbing (technical climbing) and for speed climbing (exactly what it sounds like). In sport climbing, the kids had two routes to attempt. Ella was able to complete both of them, and she ended up in a 6-way tie for first, meaning five other girls also completed both routes. She placed 4th for speed. Top ten kids in each even advanced to finals, so Ella easily qualified for Sunday's events.

Sunday morning I was a wreck. The route was unbelievably hard. I sent the below picture to B and my parents to show them what Ella was up against. I told them I wanted to find the route setter and tell him to change it because what he had put up there was way too hard for such little girls.

In case you're wondering, that wall is four stories high. And the dark grey area is indeed an overhang.

The Youth D boys climbed first, so I got to watch how they handled the route. Not one managed to finish it, although two came close. My heart raced each time one fell. Even though the climbers are all in harness and on belay, it's still a bit terrifying to watch them falling through the air until the belayer catches them. It doesn't seem to phase the kids at all.

After waiting for what seemed like forever, Ella finally got to climb. My heart was in my throat the entire time. The scoring is based upon how high a climber gets on the wall and whether she merely touches a hold or gets a secure grip on it. I'd been keeping track of how high the climbers before Ella had gotten, and measured her progress against theirs. She managed to get a solid grip on the holds just above the overhang, which was higher than most of the other climbers. After she climbed, she was allowed to come sit with me and watch the final two girls in her division. After they finished, I knew Ella was at least in the top six, which would qualify her for Nationals in Atlanta next month, which is all I really cared about.

The results were posted an hour later, and when I saw them, I gasped out loud and asked a mom from a Houston team to confirm what I had seen.

Presenting . . .

The Female Youth D Division 2 Sport Climbing Champion.

Holy cow.

After I confirmed that she really had won, I told her coach, who gave me a big bear hug. He then told Ella. Her eyes got huge, and then she gave him that small quiet smile she gets when she's really, really happy about something. I started crying, just a little.

Ella also placed 5th in Speed Climbing, so she'll get to compete at both events next month in Atlanta.

Congratulations Big Girl!

Catching up

Phew, I am so glad last week is over. That had to be one of the longest weeks of my life. I haven't blogged about it, but we had one more ER visit on Thursday, which made five days in a row at the hospital. We had to go in for B. His leg kept cramping so badly he couldn't even stand up. When he called his doc, the doc said to go straight to the ER to have them check for a blood clot. Apparently people who have broken feet and legs are prone to DVT.

Except the doctor neglected to ask one very important question - where was the cramping? B's quad was seizing up. When we got to the Heart Hospital ER the doctor there said that DVT doesn't happen in the thigh, only in the calf. But they ran bloodwork just to make sure we got our $150's worth.

Since then I've been playing catch up with everything and pulling myself together. Those five days wiped me out physically, mentally and emotionally. I'd managed to stay calm and collected during all the drama, but once it was over, I completely collapsed.

I spent most of Thursday and Friday sleeping and working. The little three were off with family members, which was a huge help. Saturday we all flopped around the house and watched cartoons, and Sunday I cleaned and folded laundry. On Monday, Campbell went back to preschool (thank the baby jeebus), and I was able to get a ton of writing done.

Now I'm where I need to be with my work projects, and the house is reasonably clean, so I'm feeling a bit better about the universe.

Plus, I get to go to Boulder, CO on Friday with Ella for a climbing competition. We leave at the crack of dawn and are staying through Monday evening. We'll have lots of time to explore and play when Ella's not climbing.

Yet another trip to the hospital

Last time I wrote, I had taken Ella to the ER for severe stomach pains and a fever. That morning we went to our regular pediatrician for a follow-up. He said that he didn't think that it was her appendix but told me he'd be on call Wednesday night if she got worse. Which of course she did. I spent 20 minutes on the phone with the doctor, while he had me go through some diagnostic things with her - like having Ella jump up and down, which she wouldn't do. She had also gotten to the point where she wouldn't let me touch her right side.

Off to Dell Children's Medical Center we went, for the second night in a row. Our doctor called ahead to tell them we were coming in the hopes of saving us some waiting time. We got taken back and evaluated pretty quickly. The doctor sent Ella for an abdominal ultrasound in the hopes of definitely ruling out appendicitis. Unfortunately, they couldn't get a clear view of her appendix with the ultrasound, so she had to have a CT scan of her belly.

And this is when I started wanting to punch people.

The ER doc came in and said, "The radiologist called up, and the tip of her appendix is enlarged. So I've called surgery down and started the procedures to admit her." And then she walked out. Ella started sobbing even harder than she already had been, crying that she wanted to go home and go to sleep in her own bed and that she wanted the IV port taken out of her arm.

After a few minutes, the surgery PA came in and told me that she had reviewed the CT scans and that she wasn't convinced that the problem was Ella's appendix. She said it was measuring on the larger side of normal, but that there was no inflammation in the surrounding tissue. She also said that Ella had swollen abdominal lymph nodes on her right side, which was consistent with having a stomach bug. When I asked about the pain and fever, she said that kids with appendicitis are screaming in pain even after having morphine, which is what she would expect Ella to be doing given how long her stomach had been hurting.

The PA told me that they were going to admit Ella for the night and re-check her bloodwork in the morning and see how she was feeling. That was at 11:30pm. We were finally taken to a room at 2:00am. We didn't get settled and to sleep until 3:00 and then nurses came in at 5:00 and 6:00 to get blood samples.

At about 9:00am, the surgeon finally came in to see us and confirmed that the problem was swollen lymph nodes, which can mimic the signs of appendicitis and are one of the most common reasons for kids having to have their appendixes out. Go figure.

He gave us permission to feed Ella breakfast, which brought a smile to her face, and said he'd start the paperwork for getting her discharged. We didn't get to leave the hospital until 2:00pm. Turns out nothing happens quickly when you're in the hospital.

As soon as we got home, Ella crawled into our big bed and slept for four hours straight. I packed up the three little kids and sent them off for the night with B's mother and aunt and then climbed into bed next to Ella.

While we were asleep, B went to an appointment with an orthopedic surgeon who specializes in feet and found out that the ER doc on Sunday was wrong and his foot is actually broken. B is in an air cast for at least 8 weeks.

I managed to sleep in this morning until 10:30, but I still feel like I've been hit by a bus. Ella is still pretty flat, which the doc said to expect since she does have a GI bug of some sort.

The house is a wreck, I'm behind in my work, and today's the first day of summer break.

I swear, we have a big, black cloud o' doom hanging over our house, and it needs to move on immediately or this is going to be a long, long summer.

Another day, another ER visit

Last night I spent another four hours in an emergency room, this time with Ella at the children's Hospital. And, as with her father, we don't have a specific diagnosis.

Ella started complaining on Sunday afternoon, while we were still at the lake, that her stomach hurt. Given that she's the only one in the house who hadn't yet had the stomach bug that's going around, I figured she was on her way to barfing her toes up like the rest of us did.

She woke up yesterday morning still complaining of a stomach ache; at times it was hurting her enough that she was rolled into a ball whimpering. She was also running a fever, which no one else did while sick. Ella slept on and off all day, crying when the pain got bad. I gave her motrin every four hours to control the fever and the pain.

By the evening, she was complaining that it mostly hurt on her right side. I, of course, got on Dr. Google and looked up appendicitis and read that symptoms include fever, stomach pain on the right side, and nausea.

I called the on-call pediatrician and described what was going on. He said the odds were that Ella had a stomach bug, but a different one than we all had. He also said that I wasn't telling him anything would allow him to definitively rule out appendicitis and told me to take her to Dell Children's Hospital.

Anyone who thinks our healthcare system works just fine has obviously never spent time in a public hospital emergency room. The ER waiting area was standing room only with two overflow rooms filled also. I would be willing to bet good money that half the patients there could have avoided the ER trip just with access to regular medical care - like the girl sitting next to us who was there for an abscessed tooth.

After two hours of sitting in the waiting area with Ella lying in my lap crying silently, we finally went back to a private room. The doctor poked around on her belly and decided that her appendix wasn't the problem. He said that given how long she'd been complaining of a stomach ache, he would expect her to be in a lot more pain if her appendix was going bad. They also screened her for a possible kidney or urinary tract infection, both of which came up negative.

Even though he ruled out appendicitis, the doctor couldn't give us a definite diagnosis, other than maybe it's a virus. When he told me to bring her back to the ER this morning for a follow-up check, I nearly sank through the floor. The idea of spending more hours sitting in that waiting room was just too much. Fortunately, he said that I could take her in to our regular doctor instead.

Ella's still in bed, still complaining that her stomach hurts and still running a fever. As soon as our doctor's office opens, I'll be calling to take her in. I hope he can tell us what's wrong instead of what's not.

And I hope it's a long time before I have to go back to an emergency room.

Great day, bad end

A few things you should know going before I get into what happened yesterday. First, my husband was a competitive diver - springboard and platform, not SCUBA. He dove for the University of Texas and was on two NCAA champion teams. He also travelled as part of the US diving team. Once his competitive career was over, he coached diving for a few years.

Second, we have what we call "The Lake Place," which isn't as glamorous as it sounds. It's a tree-shaded lot on Lake LBJ, just outside of Kingsland. Our goal is to someday build a house on it, but right now all it has is a covered boat dock, a boat, and a diving board. Even though it's rustic, I love going up there. No matter how hot it is, the water always feels great, and the big pecan tree provides shade all day long.

Yesterday we went up to the lake and had a great time. B's brother and his wife were in town from Louisiana, and the girls love horsing around with Uncle D and Aunt A. We had invited some friends up, and they brought their jet-ski, which the girls got to ride on. Campbell, after hating going in the boat last summer, loved his first ride this year. He sat in the bow of the boat, with Uncle D holding onto his life jacket, yelling "Faster, daddy! Faster!" the whole time. When we pulled into the dock, Campbell's hair was standing straight up, and he had the biggest grin on his face.

It was a very nice, very relaxing day. I was actually able to read and knit in the shade.

At the very end of the day, B hopped up on the diving board to jump in one last time before we started packing for the return trip. He bounced a few times, and then things went wrong. The best we can figure, his left foot slipped off the side of the board, which then rebounded and caught his right foot and gave it a good snap.

Uncle D fished B out of the water, pale and shaking and cursing a blue streak. I pulled a bag of ice out of the cooler and packed his foot, which was swelling as we watched, in it. Then everyone scrambled to pack up the floaties and rafts and gear. With help from B's dad and brother, we got him loaded in the car and hightailed it into town. It was the longest hour-long drive I've ever made.

When we got to the house, I took the kids inside and got them settled while B waited in the car. As soon as Uncle D and Aunt A arrived, B and I left for the ER (the Heart Hospital ER totally rocks, BTW).

They gave B some high-octane pain meds and took x-rays. While we were waiting for the results, B said that if his foot was actually broken, it would be the first time in 15 years that he's had a clear diagnosis and treatment plan for any of his injuries.

As if on cue, the doctor walked up to say that there were no broken bones. B managed to mangle his tendons pretty well, which is almost worse than having a broken bone. Instead of having 6-8 weeks in a cast, B now has an unknown number of weeks on crutches with rehab and PT.

We got home at 10:30 pm to find the house spotless. Uncle D and Aunt A had convinced the girls to clean up their rooms and the living room. I'm thinking of having them move in with us.

And to add insult to injury, Ella woke this morning with the stomach bug the rest of us have already had.

It's going to be a long day. just.kill.me.now.

The Bicker Twins

I've had a packed week of blogging, so just a short note today to point you to Deep South Moms, where I have a post up about my daughters and their relationship. Please go take a look.

Speed Climbing

Here's footage from one of Ella's two speed climbing routes. I'm pretty sure she placed in the top two for this event, too.

Speed climbing is a lot of fun to watch, especially the "big boys," as Ella calls them. They go up the wall so fast it looks like something from the movies.

At last summer's climbing nationals, it was announced that speed climbing is going to be part of the 2016 Olympics. Ella jumped up and down and cheered and then immediately asked, "Will I be old enough to go?" I love that she is so confident in her abilities that she is sure she will be good enough to go to the Olympics, provided she's old enough. I hope that confidence lasts.

Baby in a basket

Ella got tired of having Elizabeth in her room, messing things up. So she did this and pushed Elizabeth into the hallway and slammed the door.

Haikus by the big girls

The other night had the potential to be a bad one. I was worn out, and B had to go meet some clients. Instead, we had a great evening. Elizabeth went to bed without a problem, and the big girls kept Campbell entertained in the back for an hour while I folded laundry and pulled myself together.

Once Campbell went to bed, the girls continued to play quietly in my bedroom, making words out of Bananagram tiles and writing haikus. When it was time for them to go to bed, they brought out their work, complete with illustrations.

Lily only wrote one, but I can tell from her rough draft that it was quite an effort. She's still new to the whole concept of syllables.

I live in a rock
I sleep in a quite large sock
Please bring me some food

Ella's were more elaborate, and each had a title.

Waves
Rolling on the beach
Green as grass, blue as the sky
As calm waves go by

Hide and Seek
I constantly hide
You have to come and find me
This is hide and seek

Book
I illustrated
a picture of a butterfly
He wrote the story

Something
Refrigerator
Bicycle pump with blue wheels
Big, loud cannon ball

I love that the girls are content to work together and write little books and that Ella did such a good job of helping Lily with her haiku.

*blogger spellcheck is insisting that the plural of haiku is haiku's. I don't think so.

This is what happens

This is what happens when I leave Ella alone in the kitchen. She decides to see what happens when you add blue food coloring to salt.

I didn't even know we owned any food coloring.

Sitting with my kids

We have had a string of illnesses here at Chez HOK that has left me reeling. Ella was sick last Thursday and Friday - I sent her to school on Friday only to have her teacher call me, sigh. Campbell woke up at 3:00am on Sunday with croup, which is always fun. I particularly enjoy sitting in front of an open freezer in the middle of the night with a sobbing preschooler. Then, to add insult to injury, Elizabeth spiked a fever Tuesday night and started coughing.

As a result, I've spent much of the past 7 days with a child in my lap. Even though Ella is approaching the age where she won't want to admit she knows me in public, she does still love to be mother-henned when she's sick. And Campbell and Elizabeth both turn into Velcro babies when they don't feel well.

Instead of letting myself get upset at the amount of work that needs to be done around the house and the amount of paying work I've fallen behind on, I've decided to enjoy these quiet days of snuggling and loving.

My babies are growing up so fast, as is evidenced by the fact that Ella doesn't even fit on my lap, and I need to treasure the quiet moments. Plus, being a mom is my primary job - ahead of vacuuming and doing laundry and writing continuing education modules for doctors. Nothing in my life right now is more important than taking care of my sick kids.

That having been said, if one more child gets sick, I may just lose my mind.