Spring has left the building

Today is crazy! Freezing, hurricane-force winds, possible snow...and yesterday was 80! Weather in the flatlands is never predictable.

Though it is not technically Spring, and the weather is telling me this in a huge, loud, obnoxious way today, I wanted to update on some new things in our life.

1. February was still the month it always is for our family, bringing sickness and major yucks.
Mailey was sick with ear infections, a virus that "mimics the flu," and severe bronchitis/rsv for about 3 and a half weeks. It was so sad to see her feel so awful, then cough without stopping for hours on top of it all. I have never had a kid cough for that many days with that intensity. Tracen gets very sick very quickly, and Makenna can cough for weeks, but the choking, in between every single breath coughing for hours at a time nearly did us in. It is all so weird because Mailey has been very healthy. The last time she was at the doctor was for her 2 year old well visit. In our family that is a miracle. 3 antibiotics, 5 doctor visits, 2 bottles of Dimetap and Ibuprofen, and a major case of 'roid rage, she is (kind of) back to normal.
Makenna got pink eye and an upper respiratory, but was doing great in a day or two.
Tracen got pink eye in both eyes to such a degree his eyes were swollen nearly shut and I used an entire box of kleenex, ummmm, getting out the goo. gag. Then poor boy was great, came home from baseball practice and started screaming and sobbing because his ear hurt so badly. After going to the clinic, sitting by the flu and people puking into trash cans, oh my word, and him rocking and crying for 2 hours, they said his ears were so bad one was about to rupture. Duh. So he is on meds and doing better.
Tyson also was in bed for days with sinus stuff.
I have had 2 fever blisters in a week due to lack of sleep and running on empty. (if you do not get those, thank Jesus right now. do it. because i despise them.)
February, we still cannot get past you.

2. Makenna went to a super doctor that is very hard to get in to. She is a behavioral specialist and has given us many tools and a month to see if my eldest can exhibit self-control over her defiance. I really cannot explain how bad it is. Most do not believe it until they happen to be here when it happens. Then shock and awe ensue. Joking aside, though the reality is that is true, it is the absolute hardest part of our days and nights here. Please pray for her mind and mouth to have peace, for situations to not escalate, and for things to change. Pray that I will be able to close my mouth when needed and know what to say when I have to speak.

3. Tyson starts a new job on Monday. Our life will be changing in the sense that he has to leave the house by about 6:30 each morning. The kids won't get to see him in the mornings anymore, or from Monday night until Thursday night because of the night classes he teaches. I am not looking forward to that! This is not "the job" nor does it enable him to quit his other job(s), but it is a job, and we are thankful. Hoping and praying life will feel more stable in some ways? It will be a give and take for sure. Thanks for everyone that has prayed for him to find something. Means lots.

4. I am tutoring 2 kiddos now, still keeping Julianne, and about to start keeping another 7 month old. It will be crazy to juggle all that. I am also typing for a friend's business, so yes, it can get crazier!

5. I went a little nuts during the home-bound sickness days and turned Tracen's room in the sunroom behind bookshelves into a playroom. I moved his bed and dresser into Mailey's room, and we are adding a bar to the closet so I can hang his clothes. After 2 years of living out of a suitcase or cubbies or shelves and a dresser, the boy will get to see his clothes again!! All of it might be worth it to me for that. I am not sure about the whole thing, but for the Summer I thought it would help to have a place to play. He and Mailey are definitely squeezed in to sleep, think 10x10 room with 2 beds and 2 dressers. It also still does not stop her wandering to our bed at night. Try explaining to a 2 year old that she is not sick so she can't keep coming in here, and that she is waking up her brother and sis who have school. Not successful. Last night at midnight I told her to go back to her bed. I went to check on her and she had taken Makenna's Kindle Fire off the charger in the kitchen and had fallen asleep holding it in her bed. She is a mess!!

6. Upward bball is over, and Tracen is playing "real" baseball for the first time. He has played for years in a very low-key league, and we knew it was now or never to switch. Problem is that he had to skip coaches pitch and go straight to pitching machine. That ball is whizzing by him, and contact has yet to be made with his bat! But like always, he is working hard and having fun and learning a lot, and that is all I care about.

7. A problem with the conversion of the sunroom is that our dogs used to go in the little space the back door and Tracen's gate to his room made when it was cold or rainy. No space. I am about to have to let them into my home. Oh my. I love them dearly, spend time with them, but do not let them inside unless it is freezing at night in their cage in our room. The cage is in the garage nearly every night besides. What am I going to do?? Just don't tell Beth Dallas. She will never come over again.


That is about it. Hopefully Spring will return soon, on every level of the word, to our house.

I leave you with random pictures: