The Rest of November

I did a few more window painting jobs in November. I feel like I'm improving, which is a good feeling. As always, I put most of the window pictures on the window blog, but these two are my favorites from my last couple of jobs.


A sampling of Miles's cool Lego creations.


Apple Pressing Day with G&G Garner! Side Story- Earlier that week, Lindy came down with an awful case of croup. We are no strangers to croup, so we whipped out all of our handy tricks and figured we'd have a couple long nights and call it good. However, she just got progressively worse until I knew I had to take her in to the Dr.s office for a breathing treatment. She had such trouble breathing that her chest was concave every time she tried to breath, and when she couldn't get a breath- she'd get upset, which made her breathing worse or course. Then she'd cough, but have no air to cough with, so she'd end up throwing up, over and over again. It was awful. They gave her a breathing treatment (pure torture) and some oral steroids, and then we waited. There was no change and she was SO upset. After a sufficient amount of time, they tried another breathing treatment and another round of oral steroids. Still nothing. That's when he admitted us to the hospital over night. He says he's usually not a stickler about croup, and that he only admits maybe 1 kid every couple of years, and Lindy was it. During the second breathing treatment, they left me alone in the room to administer it because she became so upset every time a Dr. or nurse came in. I was wrestling her trying to get the steam in her airways, and then I noticed on the heart monitor that her heart rate was at 220! Poor, poor girl.
Anyway, we spent a sleepless night in the hospital with lots of nice nurses and Dr.s. They gave her another round of breathing treatment and oral steroids in the middle of the night. By around 11 the next morning, she had improved just enough that we could be sent home. However, the next few days were still awful. She still sounded incredibly croupy and she was miserable, but at least it was tolerable and we could work with it. Christy whipped up every homemade herbal remedy up her sleeve. They were also so helpful taking the kids when need be; Apple pressing was one of those outings they took Miles and Gwen and let me rest with Lindy at home.
I love that Miles and Gwen have a G&G far enough away that we get to make trips down there and sleepover. There's anticipation and one-on-one time and lots of other good things that come with visiting grandparents in another city. However, there are also a lots of pro's to having grandparents 2 minutes away. I never had that opportunity, but I'm grateful my kids get to have a more frequent relationship with their grandparents here. Since beginning home-schooling, I'm more and more grateful for good mentors (So I don't feel like it's ALL on my shoulders) that lead and teach my children, especially grandparents. On this particular day, it was just Grandma and Grandpa Garner, and Miles and Gwen, working side by side. Lucky kids. (Oh, and the apple juice tastes amazing!!!)