Just when I had the good intentions to start making time to blog more I went a got a job! Last Wednesday I got a message from the principal of a local elementary school saying she really wanted to interview me for a 1st grade position at their school. I interviewed Thursday morning and got the call 6 hours later that I got the job!!!!!
I have been at home for the past 4 years so needless to say the past week has been absolutely NUTS between finding the best possible childcare/preschool for Lucy and Ruby and an after school program for Max and Abby (I am not at either one of their schools and even though we could transfer them to my school we decided to let them stay at their schools with their friends).
Ruby and Lucy were going to be able to start at their school this past Tuesday so that left me with figuring out what to do with Max and Abby. Thanks and a big SHOUT OUT to my awesome sister Shea and my awesome in-laws Jack and Charlotte for agreeing to keep our two older monkeys up in Charlotte. I drove them up Monday evening and drove back the same night since I had to go to work in my classroom on Tuesday. Looooong night ;p
Lucy has taken to her new school wonderfully but Ruby is having a very hard time and has consequently screamed and cried herself hoarse. She does calm down some during the day but will start crying periodically and doesn't really eat much while she is there. Thankfully she does take about an hour long nap otherwise she'd be done for! I know it will take time and her teachers are great so they are letting her do what she needs to do to adjust. It breaks my heart and I wish we'd had time to get her adjusted more slowly but I had to report officially yesterday and we had Meet the Teacher tonight!
Okay, gotta go clean up the kitchen then head to bed. I have to drop Ruby and Lucy off at school between 6:30 and 6:45 tomorrow to go to professional development meetings by 8am ;p
*****ALLERGY UPDATE*****
Got a call Tuesday afternoon from Ruby's allergist's office. She is definitely allergic to peanuts but thankfully it is a mild allergy but we have to keep the epi-pen handy. She is also definitely allergic to dogs (showed up on the skin test). The blood work also showed positive for allergy to egg whites...she can have fully cooked eggs in cakes and cookies but no scrambled/fried/etc. eggs or anything where the egg may not be fully cooked. He wants to do an "egg challenge" in the office in about 6 months to see how she does. Also, what I had feared with all of my kids actually came true...Ruby is allergic to CATS!
We have 2 cats so I was sad when I was talking to the nurse about it. She said that they have never told anyone they had to get rid of their pets. She suggested just keeping Tai and Chi out of Ruby's room for now and see how she does. The cats are 15 and 14 years old so it would be heartbreaking to have to find them a new home (if we didn't have a choice then we'd certainly pick Ruby's health over anything else) so I am glad we don't have to resort to that.
You know how when you spend a lot of time at a certain place it can begin to feel like a home away from home? Well, for the past couple of weeks that has been our pediatrician's office ;p Last week I had Ruby there twice due to her high fever and sore throat, which got worse after I took her in on Monday so I took her back on Wednesday. She thankfully started feeling SO MUCH BETTER Wednesday evening...just in time for John and the kids to get back from Charlotte :) So much for all the projects I had hoped to complete while they were gone!
Then Sunday night Max started complaining of ear pain and drainage. Abby had a case of swimmer's ear so we used some of her drops on him. This was NOT fun and from past experience (using the drops after his numerous ear tube surgeries) I expected I'd have a fight on my hands trying to get them in his ear...Max met my expectations and beyond! I got him into the pediatrician's office on Tuesday because his ENT didn't have an appointment available until next Thursday. He was diagnosed with a "bad case" of swimmer's ear. The Dr. prescribed drops which would require 4 drops TWICE A DAY. I was tempted to ask if I could just drive Max downtown twice a day for the next 7 days to let the Dr. do it. I didn't want him to think I was a coward though so I didn't ask ;p
The funny thing was, when I called to make the appointment for Max, the receptionist took his name then she got quite for a second and said, "You are here ALL THE TIME!" She mentioned the two appointments the week before and then the appointment I made for Max. I said, "Yeah, and I'll be back Monday for Abby's 6 year check-up". She laughed and told me I might as well bring a pillow and just stay...I did ask if I could get a reserved parking space right out front though :)
The drops have been a nightmare and he has been on round the clock Motrin for the pain and swelling in his ear. I had to call the after hours nurse Tuesday night because Max just couldn't sleep at all through the pain and the Motrin was wearing off about an hour before I could give him another dose. He also started running a fever. The wonderful nurse (they are the nicest ladies when a frantic parent calls in the middle of the night...I've never felt like I was bothering them at 3 in the morning when they would have to call me back) said it would probably take 2-3 days before he really started feeling better.
I was driving Max around last night from 1-1:30am because he woke up in a lot of pain (and he tends to yell and scream through his pain) and he wasn't due for another dose of Motrin until 1:30. He was able to get back to sleep right afterwards though and only fussed a couple more times before sleeping until 7:30 this morning :) Ironically, my child that had the worst case of swimmer's ear is the same child that won't even put his head underwater at the pool ;)
Of course in the meantime Lucy had woken up and I found her in our bed with john when Max and I got back from our "road trip". I went to sleep on the living room couch and caught some Z's for about 30 minutes before she woke up yelling and crying for me...yes...daddy was RIGHT THERE NEXT TO HER!...so when I got my tired body up the stairs I found that she had wet the bed ;p It was one of "those" nights! Good thing for me I had a job interview at 9 this morning!
