Feelbetters, Fru Fru, and Fire Trucks

You expect for your teenager to ignore you. You expect to repeat yourself when telling an adolescent boy to put his dirty clothes up for the fourth time. But when your four-year-old suddenly stops responding to you when you say his name twice, you know something ain't right.

Caleb has been struggling with allergies (haven't we all!) the last few weeks, off and on, and we've been good about giving him his Singulair, but about Wednesday of last week I noticed he wasn't hearing me when I said his name. I would say it three times and then raise my voice before he would look up from whatever he was doing. I would have been more worried except I could hear the stuffiness in his voice so I thought his ears had to be all clogged up. He's had allergies before, and sinus infections, but never had it affected his hearing. Of course, a mom's worriful mind always goes there, but in the end, poor lil dude has both ears slightly infected, and LOTS of fluid behind his ears, thus causing "Eustachian tube disruption." I just love how our pediatrician address the child and tells him big words like that. Hilarious! So in addition to his nightly chewable pill, he now gets a special nose spray with an exercise in plugging his nostrils and blowing gently to try to pop his ears open, and some antibios.

On the same day, Greg woke up with a sinus/allergy attack and has two prescriptions he's taking too. So our kitchen counter is a regular pharmacy these days!

In other news, I've been a busy sewing maniac these days and knocking out my to-do list. Last Thursday I delivered three new outfits to Sparkles, to add to a few that were already there at the store, and can you believe that all three were gone that day! Jessica texted me to tell me to keep 'em coming, so I whipped up two more and took them over today. I've got three more cut out and ready to put together. I enjoy working with Jessica at Sparkles so much!





Today we took the kids to a fire station in Tyler. It was an impromptu visit-- We weren't even sure they would let us in. Greg knocked on the door and three fire fighters came to the door (pretty quickly, since the sign on the door reads, "knock for information or emergencies") and he asked if we could show our kids the fire truck. They were enthusiastic about their "Yes!" So we went in the big garage and walked around the ladder truck and the guys showed us all the hoses and axes and ladders, and then they opened it up and let the kids climb in the seats and see the inside. They even turned on the lights (and the siren accidentally -- loud!). Caleb did NOT want to leave. I was so excited that they were so nice and accommodating for us, just a little family out for a Saturday morning of fun. I asked if they take appointments for groups, and they told us of course! So, I'll be suggesting this to my MOPS group this week, for sure!

It was a fitting outing, considering today's date.


Funny face


Happy kid in the driver seat!


It's a really big truck!


Kids driving the truck


Carly got in the truck first, surprised? No.


Funniest thing of the day: While the kids were climbing around in the truck, I asked Caleb, "Do you want to be a firefighter when you grow up so you can drive this big truck?" He answered yes, and then Carly inserted her idea, "I want to drive a pink one!" The two guys thought that was hilarious!