Well, it’s official. After days and days of working at it, Isabella can whistle. No big deal, you say? Well then OBVIOUSLY, you are not a 5 year old. Whistling is hard and precise work and after attempting to explain how to do it, repeatedly, I’ve come to the grand conclusion that it’s one of those things you just have to practice and muddle through until you get it to work. She’s been practicing constantly and yesterday she finally got it. Cries of “Did you hear that? Did you hear that?” have been heard from all corners of the house, yard, car, friends houses and stores. In the car last night, when she should have been winding down, she was practicing changing the pitch of her newly found skill. All is good until she starts figuring out how to get it to an ear splitting volume.

In other Dady news, Tim got the bathroom fan installed yesterday. Many hours and a good bit of frustration later and we have a new fan. Now it would have been fabulous had we known that the venting could be a different size from the old one. So that’s still left to be done, but let me tell you… the new fan is shockingly quiet. I’m talking, check the light switch to make sure it’s on kind of quiet. Compared to our old fan, a B-52 would be considered quiet, but this is a whole new level. We’re still waiting on the electrician to come out and hook up the electric to the bathtub. After that, we’re finding a new electrician to switch out the can light with two sconces for us. We can’t wait 3 months for 2 lights.

Nicholas (who is still sleeping at this juncture) and I are starting to feel better. He was never as sick as I got last week, but he’s got the cough. It’s down to an annoying tickle which makes me hack like a 20 year smoker at odd times. His is not so bad. We pretty much missed out on Webkinz weekend Extravaganza at Hallmark this weekend. Our weekend got sucked into the time vortex, never to be heard of again.

Off to wake up my little prince. He’s got gym class today and then to Granny’s house. He LOVES going to Granny’s house. We get there and he runs and pulls out the paints and paper and settles himself down to get Granny to paint him pictures. It’s very cute.

Everything is going well here for now. I’m in physical therapy 3 times a week. It’s expensive, but I’m hoping that somehow it’ll help the leg. I stretch a lot. Of course today we had an Aha! moment where the therapist showed me the difference between a muscle pain in a stretch and a nerve pain. I’ve never in my life felt anything other than nerve pain in a stretch when it gets painful, so I didn’t know. So does that mean I’m actually limber, but my nerves are not? Interesting.

We scrapbooked on Sunday. I didn’t actually do any scrapbooking, but Kiki did. I worked on Baby Brinley’s quilt. It turned out quite cool. Eventually the taggy edges will turn into fringe. According to my directions, after the 3rd time through the wash/dry cycle it should have all fringed, but apparently I bought some persnickity fabrics. Leave it to me. So I’ll do a little cleanup on it, make sure everything is happy and it can be folded up and sent out to my Lis, who I miss… Sniff, sniff. I was really trying to get out there this month, but between the kids doctor visits/ER visits/meds and my PT 3x a week (you don’t want to know what they charge) it’s just not going to happen.

Tim and I have a corporate race Thursday night and my parents are on their way down to see Wicked tomorrow. Busy, busy. Luckily I’ve been able to get a Saturday morning run in pretty well. Tim doesn’t have to leave until the afternoon, so he can supervise the gaggle of girls who are planning to crash at our house Friday night. Bella loves her sleepovers.

I’m going to organize the rest of Spring Break pictures including Silver Springs pics and post them later.

So, maybe it’s the weather. But I’m telling you, weirdness abounds. Nicholas went to the dr Monday and they irrigated his ear out. They have to do this with him strapped down. No ear infections (Phew!) but lots o’ gunk. Doc says we’re probably going to have to bring him in once in a while to have his ears cleaned out. Let’s just say the experience was not pleasant. Yells of “Help Mama. I’m stuck Mama. Please Mama.” Let’s just say that Mama was tearing up pretty well by the end. Now he has ear drops that sting. Also not fun. So now the poor boy falls asleep covering his ears because he knows we’ll ear drop him when he’s not looking. Oy!

Yesterday I had dropped him off at school and went for my first meeting with the physical therapist to see if they can find what’s wrong with my leg. Right as I’m actually getting inside, Nicholas’ school called and I could hear him in hysterics in the background. He was screaming bloody murder like the house was on fire. In my mind, I could envision the red face, screaming, snot… oy! They said “Something is really wrong with him. He’s holding his ears and we can’t get him to calm down at all.” I called Cindy and asked if she could go pick him up. I knew something was off, since we had his ears checked the day before. She went and picked him up and she said when she walked in he was soaked in sweat from screaming and his jacket was covered in slobber from all the crying. She really thought she was going to have to call me to come get him and get him to a doctor. When she picked him up he started calming down. Then she got him in the car, got his jacket off and in the carseat and he stopped completely. He then looks at her and says “Lunch now?” She asked him if he wanted chicken nuggets and he said “Yeah! I like chicken” and was happy as a clam. I called to check on him and she said he was just fine. She hadn’t had to give him any medicine and that he and Becca were having a blast playing. We’ve come to the conclusion that when they put his jacket on him, it was heavy (it’s a leather jacket, slightly too big) and he felt the heavy arms and immediately thought someone was going to do something with his ears. Thus the hands over the ears and the fit. And now whenever he wants to be picked up, he covers his ears and yells “Up! Up!” So he’s figured out how to work the problem to his advantage. Sheesh!

This morning I sent him to school with a very light weight jacket and for them to call me if he has any fits, but so far, so good. Here’s fingers crossed that we get through the day. Especially since I have PT Thursday and Friday this week. What they found yesterday is that I have significant weakness in some part of my left leg possibly caused by nerve damage. They’re trying to see if it’s in my back or hip that the damage is. Results got sent back to the neurologist so we’ll see what happens with that. I’d really like to be able to wear jeans again, but the issue is making my leg so hypersensitive to hard materials that I can only wear really loose, thin, soft materials for pants. I can sit for about an hour or so at a time before the burning and pain start, but I’m a pacer anyway when I think. I walk through the house with my lime water talking out code problems then go and sit and see if my idea works. I’m not a very sit still kind of girl. I’ll try and keep updated on my progress. And I’ll hopefully post some pictures soon. I have a cute one (from a distance) of Bella in Karate from yesterday. She got her belt and she’s just so cute up there all little and in all white.

I am SO sick of today. I lost my wallet and Bella just hurt herself so we have to go wait at Night Light Pediatrics to see if she broke her finger or chipped it or if it’s just got the freakiest bruise I’ve ever seen. Dinner cancelled. Movie cancelled. Oh and did I mention her insurance card is in my missing wallet. Here’s what I want, so send out good thoughts for it:

My wallet will be found by some nice person who will return it with all cards intact.
Isabella’s finger is just funkily bruised and it’ll work out on it’s own.

Cross your fingers. This has been a horrible week so far. Ugh!

I just heard from my dad and my parent’s little dog Spring didn’t make it through her surgery. I haven’t had a chance to speak to my mom, but she’s devastated. Spring was her baby. She was only a few years old. She was a teacup chihuahua and the absolute nicest dog (especially being a chihuahua) that I’ve ever known. My parent’s just lost one of their other dogs a few months ago and now this. Please include them in your prayers.