Life as it happens with our three beautiful and adopted children, Shayla, Yamira and Manuel: Checking in here while I have a moment to spare

What a week of sickness. I didn't feel well the entire week and tended to as little as I could tend to. Now I am trying to get caught up.

Last Sunday, I woke up with the same cold that had been plaguing me, but it seemed much worse. On top of that, it was pouring outside and dark. We were supposed to take the kids to the Heifer Project in Rutland to meet with Ping's Daisy troop, but I canceled. I never cancel. It wasn't the rain that had me cancel. It was the fact that I felt awful, Bill wasn't feeling great and neither was Ping. We also had plans in the afternoon to meet up with Mindy, Joe, Connor and Ciara, but I canceled that as well. I did not want to be around them with this cold and we couldn't do what we had planned on doing which was to walk around and see the Christmas lights at an outdoor place near them. The rain was going to nip that plan in the bud. So we stayed home and watched movies and did some organizing around the house.

On Monday morning, I woke up and felt so awful. I asked Bill to take the girls to school so I could stay in bed and sleep. He did so with great disappointment. Sorry, Mommy occasionally gets sick!!!! I spent most of the morning in bed. In the afternoon, I got up and did a few things here and there around the house. That night Bill was supposed to go to the Masons, but flat out forgot to go. He did go at the end of the meeting to give a gift that we had purchased for an 11 year old. Not sure if the child is in foster care or what, but Bill had an 11 year old boy to buy for. So Bill ran out and handed that to the correct person and then came home. He wasn't feeling great either, but he was better off than I was.

On Tuesday, I asked Bill again to take the girls as I was miserable. I had the flu shot on Thursday and that may have led me to feel even sicker, I don't know. We did have a 12:00 pm meeting with Holli to come see the kids. So we visited for an hour or so. I sat as far away as I could as I didn't want Holli to catch my cold. In the afternoon, we picked up Ping and took the girls to the rink for their ice skating lesson. That night Bill went to the fire department for training. While I was sitting at my desk, I got the worst pain in my side. I immediately had to lay down. It was so painful I could barely breathe. I couldn't lie on my right or my left or stand up. I was just miserable and teary. I was home alone, the three kids were sleeping as were the three cats. I was concerned I may have a perforated ulcer or something. I was also shaking and cold. Part was cold, part of it was pain. Bill called and said he was heading to Walmart. I begged him to come home. When something like this happens, you have no idea if it's surgery related or something else. It wasn't bug like. It was like something was moving. Sort of like a gallstone or kidney stone? When Bill came home, he covered me with a blanket. Twenty or so minutes later, the pain was gone. It was like my body warmed up and got rid of the pain. So very bizarre. I was fine for the rest of the night.

The next day I was going to get up and take the girls to school, but my stomach was bothering me on and off. Mostly the pain. Wasn't sure if it was gas trapped or a gallstone or kidney stone or something else. I asked Bill to take the girls to school. I stayed in bed for the morning and then I got up and the four of us went to school to see Ping's Holiday concert. It was so adorable. We had a nice time. I felt awful, but seeing her smiling face and the other kids was so cute. We then did a few errands and picked up Ping. Bill dropped off me and Manny and took the girls to their gymnastic class. My stomach would bother me and then disappear. It was very nerve wracking. Either way, I didn't want to be away from the house long in case I doubled over in pain. After about 5:00 pm that night, the pain had disappeared. It was no longer coming and going. I was thrilled and hoped it was gone for good.

I woke up Thursday and got ready to head to school as I was the helper in Mrs. Kiefer's classroom. I felt so much better. It was a good 75% improvement over where I had been. My stomach wasn't bothering me anymore and my cold was so much better. I helped the children with a stocking project. They used pom poms, cotton balls, glue, glitter and little shapes to decorate. I then went home for an hour and then back out with both Yamira and Manny for a routine dentist appointment and a trip to Target. My stomach started to bug me just a little, so I put a call into one of my local doctors. I had called my Florida doctor the other night just to let him know what was up with my stomach. He had no clue what it was and why would he? He can't diagnose over the phone. I just wanted to make him aware and I was so desperate since I was in agony! Anyway, my local doctor called me back and said that if it continued, I should go for a urinalysis at my primary care office. Well it seemed to have cleared up because for the rest of the day I was pain free. I suspect it was a kidney stone that was moving around. Hopefully it has moved itself permanently!!! I ended up feeling so decently that night that I wrapped for hours. I was up till 2:00 am wrapping and then went I went to bed, I couldn't sleep. I thought I would sleep like a baby, but I guess not. It felt so good to get all of the wrapping done. I honestly only have a few more things to wrap and then I am done. We ran out of paper!

Friday I got up and went swimming. I had missed it all week long and I was feeling pretty good even though my cold was still hanging on to me. I then did a few errands before heading home to shower. I then to Yamira to therapy and then to the bank and back home. I spent the rest of the afternoon working at my desk. I had a lot to do. I had a few more Christmas cards to get out, some bills to organize and so on and so forth. Last night, our wonderful neighbor Hania came over to watch Yamira and Manny because we had plans to go see "A Christmas Carol" at the Hanover Theatre. I had planned on taking all of the kids, but the show didn't start till 7:30 pm and Manny and Yamira are a mess after 7:00 pm. Hania has been offering to babysit for months and so I gave her a quick call the night before to ask her if she could and she said she would be delighted. If she couldn't, we would have just taken the kids. I never call anyone last minute, but I figured I would just give it a try. Usually I give a boatload of notice. So Hania and her daughter Heidi came over at 6:45 pm. The kids were all ready to go to bed, so they were not going to be up much longer, but the ladies decided to make gingerbread ornaments with the kids. They came out so cute! They then went to bed with a story or two. We got home around 10 pm. Ping went straight to bed as she was exhausted.

Yesterday we stayed home for most of the day. Just got some stuff done around here. Then last night we met Marghrit and Berj and their two girls at Zoolights in Stoneham. We walked around and saw the lights and the kids went on a few rides. It was so nice to be with our friends, but we were all frozen stiff.

Today was a great day. The girls were in a pageant at church. Sadly I missed it because I thought they were just singing and I was so tired. Bill went and got a few pictures of it. So cute. We went to Anita's parents house for a little get together with her family this afternoon. We sat and chatted and exchanged gifts. We all loved our gifts. Bill got a bird feeder with food and an App gift certificate for his iPhone. The kids got candy, a gingerbread house to build and some cds so we can listen to them in the car and I got UGGS. The ones I so desperately wanted because my feet are always so cold. She also gave me some pretty stationary with my name on it. We had a wonderful time. Well off to post some pictures!

Mama Out!!!!!!