Saturday Quick Takes

No pictures this time, so I might actually finish this in one day!

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It takes a very special kind of person to be a pediatric ER nurse.  I was struck by this late last night as Andy and I entered into the exam area and were suddenly bombarded by whining and hysterics and everything in between.  I couldn't imagine working a 12-hour shift in that kind of environment.  And everyone we met was so cheery and calm and unperturbed!  They must all have incredibly thick skins, because you know that every little kid there hated them all.  I have all kinds of new respect for medical staff who work with children.  They are seeing humanity at its rawest and most vulnerable -- children are uninhibited in the expression of their suffering.  You have to have a real selfless love for others, and a desire to alleviate their suffering, to want to make that your career.

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So Andy.  He spiked a really high fever yesterday afternoon.  I've never had a baby with 104 fever before.  He was all purply and blotchy, and so lethargic and drowsy, it was pretty scary.  I couldn't get him to take any medicine, since he kept gagging so strongly that I couldn't get him to swallow anything.  I tried a cool bath, but he fussed through the whole thing and it didn't make his temp go down at all.  I called our pediatrician to ask if I should give him a suppository, but she ordered us to the emergency room, in case it was a bacterial infection.  It wasn't, but to find out, they had to do all kinds of horrible things to him to get blood and urine samples.  He objected vehemently.  It was WAY past his bedtime and he was tired beyond belief and just wanted to eat and sleep for Pete's sake and they kept Doing Things to him and he had had enough, by gum!  He was crying so hard he made himself sick, poor little baby, and I wanted to cry right along with him.

Our sweet nurse managed to get him to gag down some ibuprofen, and once that kicked in his fever started going down immediately.  After the nurses finished violating him from top to bottom and I could pick him up again, he calmed down instantly and crashed soon after while we waited for test results.  I noticed while he slept on my shoulder (his preferred location the last 2 days) that he started sweating, a good sign.  His fever dropped about 4 degrees in the hospital, and all the tests came back negative, so they let us go home.  Fairfax Hospital has complimentary valet parking for the emergency room, which was a beautiful thing at 1 am.

I stopped at an all-night pharmacy on the way home from the hospital to get loaded up on infant analgesics, and to get a snack for me since I hadn't eaten in about 7 hours (which for a nursing mother with a sick infant is about the equivalent of 3 days), and then we finally got to bed around 2:30.  Mr. Pickles was a saint and got up early with the boys so we could sleep in, bless him.

The fever was gone this morning -- his temp was completely normal, praise God -- and he had returned to his cheerful, manic self.  He feels a little warm this afternoon, and was acting cranky, so I gave him some acetaminophen (which he managed to accept this time) and put him to bed.  We'll see how he feels after he wakes and eats.

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Ever notice it's always when you have tons of things planned that life throws up on you (sometimes literally)?  The Pickles had 5 separate things planned for today, and we had to scrap all of them but one. (that would be the party following the Mass celebrating a First Holy Communion -- because you can't pass up a party!)  I stayed home with all the boys so Andy and I could have a "restful afternoon."  Ha. 

Sometimes I'm grateful when life has to get put on hold like this -- it almost always happens when I'm starting to feel overwhelmed and stressed, so a mini-crisis actually forces me to stop and hunker down with family for a day or two, and it puts everything else in perspective.  *deep breath* Ahhhhhhh.

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My poor sleep-deprived husband.  I just found the cranberry juice in the cupboard with the glasses.

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I've been reading the Chronicles of Avonlea by L.M. Montgomery.  I really, really like her as an author.  All of her stories which I've read are all so full of hope.  Everyone gets a happy ending, even the cranks.  And the characters are such real... well, characters.  She must have had a real love for people to have been able to portray them all in such a sympathetic light.  I suppose some modern critics might accuse her stories of being honey-coated, but they really aren't.  There have been at least 3 mentions of mothers who died in childbirth (gulp!), plus assorted orphans, quarrels, and spitefulness.  I just like that the people are all decent, honest, ordinary folks -- the kind of neighbors you'd like to have.  Even Mrs. Blewett (!) offers a platter of donuts as a peace offering after a quarrel with a neighbor.  (They get fed to said neighbor's pigs, but that's another story.)

Modern literature is just so depressing and dark -- it's refreshing to read something written by someone who was full of love and hope for a change!

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It's spring!  It's spring!  The bulbs have come and gone, the violets are up everywhere, the dandelions are dotting everyone's lawns with mini drops of sunshine, and all the cars are coated with fine yellow powder!  *achoo*  *sniff*  Happy spring!

After such lousy winter weather, we are reveling in the beautiful weather, even if we have to arm ourselves with Allegra and Patanol.  The hardest part is keeping the house shut up -- I just want to open all the windows to the breezes and sunlight, but it makes two members of my family utterly miserable.  Next on our list of purchases (after a new dishwasher, which has finally and irrevocably gone kaput) is a portable air purifier for bedrooms.

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I never want a hybrid vehicle.  We had to get some work done on the van a while back which took longer than a day, so they loaned us a really nice vehicle to tide us over.  Of course, it only held half our family, but it was enough for the errands I had to run that day.  It was a Kia Sephora, and the thing was a terror to drive.  By which I mean it had no pickup, and took upwards of 3 seconds to respond to a touch on the accelerator.  This is murder when you're trying to make a right turn on a red light with oncoming traffic.  I like my cars to go vroom vroom when I want them to, and this car did not go vroom vroom.

Gimme a good ol' gas guzzler any day!

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One of our family Lenten (and Advent) things is to watch more religious-themed movies as a family.  One which we would highly recommend is called The Miracle Maker: The Story of Jesus.  It's a claymation movie, and the title is pretty self-explanatory.  Mr. Pickles and I call it "The Passion of the Christ for children."  It is very well done and very enjoyable.

However, I can't get over the fact that Ralph Fiennes does the voice of Jesus.  Even though he has the perfect Jesus voice in this, he just creeps me out for some reason. (And no, it's not just b/c he's Voldemort.)

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Ha ha, I lied!  You get pictures anyway!

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!!!!!!!

 Yup.  We've started Clearing Out.  We rented a storage unit last weekend and began with hauling books (27 boxes so far!).  We also removed two bookcases.  The living room looks so much lighter already!  I'll do a big reveal after we're done with it.  It's still in part chaos, but not nearly as terrible as this.

I hope to start painting this week.  (*snicker snicker*)

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1.)

 2.)

Yup.  They're brothers.

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Okay, so I gave Andrew (ha -- at first I wrote "Daniel" -- poor baby, he's going to go through life being called by his older brother's name) a baby book for the first time the other day, planning to take a picture of him chewing on it and then posting the picture and making a funny comment about how even the babies in die Gurkehaus DEVOUR books.  But he refused to chew on it!  He was fascinated with its shape.  He kept flipping it over and back, and opening and closing the cover, studying how it moved.  Future engineer in the making?

I don't devour books, I study them!

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Miriam took some chalk the other day and made a highway down the sidewalk, complete with directional arrows.

one obedient citizen

ha!  I'm a rebel!

 Joseph would get very upset that Daniel insisted on going the wrong direction every. single. time.

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Just when you're ready to sell one of your children to the gypsies for a wooden nickel, they go and make you something like this:

done all by himself with no help.  on truck-shaped paper.  awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww.

 

 

 

The love of a little boy for his mommy is a sweet, sweet thing.  I pray I'm worthy of it.

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Another entrant in the "awwwwww" category:

all together now: awwwwwwwwwwwwww.

 That's the best thing about large families -- the babies get so much love from so many places!

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Plus, there are so many more people to appreciate moments like this:

mmf, why are you all laughing when I should be eating breakfast right now?

That mohawk of awesomeness lasted half the day.

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Okay reader(s), should I disable comments?  I'm thinking of doing it since NO ONE LEAVES THEM ANYWAY.

(ahem)



...throw a dog a bone?...

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Andy is awake now.  And now I know why he was fussy earlier.  Off to give a quick bath and wash a load of diapers!  Have a great weekend, everyone!