So It's Been A Week So Far

People keep asking me how it's going being a SAHM. Honestly, the first week was awful, but I guess that depends on your expectations. My expectations were different than how it went.

Blondie did stay home with me on Friday. She was sick through the weekend. The bright spot was last Saturday when I went to see my new baby cousin in the hospital. It was my cousin's first baby, and the love in her eyes for the baby really touched me. The maternal instinct is strong and takes over quickly. :)

The week started out okay on Monday. The social worker was scheduled to visit at 4:30 and Blondie had an appointment to find out if she will be on growth hormone shots at 2:45. I rushed around straightening the house and doing dishes. Then I put in a call to the social worker because I was afraid we wouldn't be home before she got here. She called back and we rescheduled the appointment for Tuesday. So I stopped cleaning house and made supper instead. I talked to my best friend and we went over our lessons for our bible study while I chopped onions.

I took Blondie to the doctor and found out that her growth hormone level is so low that she will probably need to take the shots for the rest of her life. Most people get to stop when they are 16. She is scheduled for an MRI next week, and the shots will probably start in about three weeks. The doctor said that the insurance company takes that over from here, and they will send someone to our house with the medication and teach me how to give the shots. It is possible that Boaz will be the one to give her the shot each night, because he used to give himself allergy shots and is less squeamish about the whole thing. I could do it, but I'll gladly step aside if he is willing. :)

On Tuesday, Bucky got sick. I had to pick him up early from school. Bucky has already missed 15 days of school this year, and can only miss 18 days if he wants to pass sixth grade. Fortunately he was there for homeroom and wasn't counted absent. He didn't get well. I had to pick him up right after homeroom every day last week. I'm going to take him to the doctor today. If he doesn't have strep then I'm going to ask them to give him a steroid shot. Usually I hate that type of thing, but the kid isn't getting well. He is weak and has a sore throat. It started out with a stomachache, and he is now congested and just generally feels bad. He has had fever, but it's never been over 99.5. I think it's just some kind of weird virus that won't go away.

On Wednesday night, Bubbles reported a loud noise coming from the garage. Bucky went to check, and it turns out that a pipe had broken and water was pouring into the garage. Boaz ran out and turned it off. We didn't have the necessary equipment to fix it right then. So we took the kids to church, except Bucky who was sick and stayed home, and Boaz went to the hardware store while I checked the kids in. We ate dinner and took the kids home. When we got there with the right parts, Boaz realized that his glue was dried up. Yea! So now we were looking at an entire day without water on Thursday until Boaz could pick up some glue on the way home from work. Yea! Can you tell how excited I was about not having water in the house?

Babygirl, Blondie and Bubbles had to go without baths on Thursday. Fortunately I had one Wednesday, but the girls had theirs on Tuesday. Bucky never bathes anyway...okay, he does, but let's just say bathing isn't high on the priority list for him. I have to harass him to get him clean regularly.

Early Thursday morning I was out at the faucet that comes off the well, filling buckets to bring water into the house. We had to have it to be able to flush the toilets. I won't give the details of the toilet ordeals, but let's just say it wasn't fun. We couldn't even wash our hands much. I would pour some water into the sink and use the stopper, and then everyone would wash in the same water. Eww. You never know what a blessing it is to have running water in your house until you don't have it.

Guess what! Boaz got asked to work late on Thursday! Yea! That meant that the water situation would continue until late that night. Finally, he got home at 9pm and fixed the broken pipe. I was worn out and unhappy about how my first week had gone, and I was really hoping for a nice day on Friday. Then Boaz checked the messages on the phone and there was one from the church secretary asking me to help out at the church on Friday morning. After a big sigh, I decided that I would do it. I thought maybe God was testing me to see if I would really put him first even after a week like I had just had.

So Friday I went up to church and played receptionist. Of course, I had to take a short break to go pick up Bucky from school. There was a loveseat in the church office, and he was able to rest on it and play his Nintendo DS. I also got to eat lunch with a good friend who works at the church, and that was very nice.

I had a pretty good weekend. Babygirl, Bubbles and I planted tomatoes, peppers, corn and flowers while Boaz rode on his tractor, Bucky played games in the house, and Blondie wrote sentences.

Blondie had a very bad day on Friday. She brought home a note from her teacher stating they had had a rough day and that Blondie had been very argumentative with her. Blondie also brought home a sandwich that wasn't hers and tried to hide it from me. We have received complaints from her teacher that she begs other kids for food, so she has been told that she is not allowed to take any food from other kids. I asked Blondie to bring me her backpack so that we could get rid of all the old papers and such, and she removed the sandwich and the part of her lunch that she hadn't eated and left it in the dining room. I happened to walk into the kitchen for something, and I heard a bag rattling in the dining room. I went to check, and there was our cat, Joey, enjoying a peanut butter sandwich on white bread. I knew immediately from both the color of the ziploc bag and the white bread that it didn't come from our home. I asked both girls about it, and both denied that it was theirs, and then Blondie started babbling that it belonged to her friend, but she had no idea how it ended up in her bag, blah, blah, blah. Suddenly I heard rattling again! This time Joey was happily enjoying an orange slice and some cherry tomatoes that Blondie didn't eat.

I called my SIL who is a social worker for advice. Obviously if Blondie is bringing food home, I'm sending enough food in her lunch. So I don't think I need to send m0re food. On the other hand, I don't want to send less food until she doesn't have enough and that increases her need to ask others for their food. My SIL suggested that I ask her each day what fruit she would like and how much of it.

Boaz decided that since Blondie wanted the sandwich so bad that she brought it home, then she had to eat it. We cut off the parts that Joey had nibbled, and Blondie got to eat it while we had homemade burritos. She said that it wasn't very good because it didn't have any jelly on it, and the peanut butter didn't taste as good as ours. She also said that she doesn't want anyone else's food anymore because she wants to eat what we're having. I guess we'll see. I don't know what else to do to keep her from begging for food at school. I know her friends won't like her if she keeps it up, but how can I convince her to stop?

On Sunday we went to church, and then I took Babygirl and Blondie shopping with me for new summer clothes. Bubbles was supposed to go, but she refused to eat her lunch because it included a salad, which resulted in her not being able to go shopping. I told her that she would be tired if she didn't have energy from not eating. She was quite happy to have her salad at dinner time. I guess skipping lunch can even make a salad taste good.

I really hope this week is better.