Out and About

Clinic visit today was reassuring. ECHO was unchanged, as was EKG. We are hoping her oxygen issue was just an issue with the concentrator, as she is satting normal on a tank on her hold settings. So we are on a higher concentrator setting, and I’m okay with that for now!

Viewed her labs online last night, and they all look okay from what I can tell. Sodium is good… but I’d LOVE for her to get off her Sodium supplement (Insurance had a fit that we were sent home on it… they said if she needed to be on sodium she should still be in the hospital, although I think they finally realized how much cheaper the $17 Sodium was gonna be than a prolonged hospital stay!)

I forgot to mention in my last post how our FIRST OUTING as a family went!!!!

It was pretty good! We went to Olive Garden for dinner. (THANKS to those who had provided us the giftcards… I’d been saving them up for this occassion!)

We went a bit early so we wouldn’t have any crowds… plus it was only a Tuesday night… so we got a nice corner table all to ourselves with no one around to caugh any germs on Annabelle!

Annabelle was a little stunned. She spent the first while just looking around trying to figure things out. She then got fussy, so we had our first trip to a public restroom for a diaper change. Mommy quickly realized she’d forgotten an important purchase: A diaper changing pad! So we laid down her blanket on the diaper changer instead and just didn’t use it the rest of the trip. Suffice to say, a trip to Target is in my future sometime BEFORE Annabelle goes out again!

Mommy held her most the rest of the time while I ate my food. She had fun looking around and playing with her toy we brought her. She even had a VERY small bite of Mommy’s mashed potatoes… but wasn’t sure what to think about it!

My other girls LOVED having their sister with them!!!! They grinned the entire time.

I did realize, however, that I have much work to do regarding them.

Manners, in general, are now non-existant.

Gabby looked at me from across the table, irritated. ” Cut up my stupid spaghetti.”

Mommy: “Um, excuse me?”

Gabby repeated herself.

Mommy: “Can you ask nicely?”

Gabby: “Fine. Cut up my spaghetti.”

Mommy, flabbergasted: “How about, ‘Mommy, will you please cut up my spaghetti?”

Gabby: “Fine. Will you please cut up my spaghetti?”

I counted that as a minor victory. We will have discussions later about the use of the word “fine.”

*sigh*

Don’t even get me STARTED on our new “chore” schedule. My children are NOT pleased, but I have 4 little girls and I CAN NOT DO EVERYTHING. I just can’t.

I can tell this week that Annabelle is more grumpy, but I really think part of it is getting less attention, that and getting used to the commotion her 3 sisters bring. But she still needs specialized care, and balancing it and still giving my other three children the time and attention they deserve is hard. And while it may seem selfish, I realize that I need at least a wee bit of time to myself too. It’s why I’m still making myself blog every few days. And I really want, NEED, to carve out writing time too, and I’m still working on projects for my old job from home, and I NEED the money from that, so must carve out that time too.

Ohhhhh, time, time time, SUCH a precious commodity!

We’ll figure it out soon enough. Next week will be better. It’s already getting a little better everyday. The girls are slowly getting used to doing their chores and getting better at picking up after themselves.

And one REALLY nice thing about having them home is that I have FETCHERS again. “I need a diaper!” “I need her venting syringe!” (although the first time I asked I got some pretty funny looks from them…) To not have to lug Annabelle around the house to get things I need for her is SO very nice!

Speaking of Annabelle… it is 8 a.m. and she is STILL SLEEPING!!! I’m okay with that though, as I’ve been checking her SATs and they have been right at 90, so WOOHOO! She woke up about 5:30 for a diaper change, and cried for a minute at 7, but went right back to sleep.

Prayers today for my husband are appreciated. I am going to “work” for some of my project stuff that can’t be done here. I had it preschedule dwith them for today, so he will be here by himself with all 4 kiddos. PLEASE pray it goes well, that there are no hiccups with Annabelle, and that the girls mind him… I’m trying not to be worried about being gone most of a day… this is my first time leaving them home for this long.

Oh, and ALSO a big thank you to those who are providing meals to us!!! Our church set up a “Care Calendar” and it has been SUCH a blessing!!!! Thank you Thank you to those who have provided and those who have signed up so far! You all are amazing!

Scott and I took Annabelle to the park last week… it was a VERY quick trip and was just to eat a quick lunch on the picnic tables, but Annabelle had a time. She thought the wind was VERY weird and tried to eat it!

Chillin’ at Olive Garden!

Momma and Annabelle!

My three girls!!! Hind sight… I realized Scott took most of the pics with his camera and I didn’t get any of him! He was there though… I promise!!!