When it rains...

It pours.

I feel that I should be getting a frequent visitor reward at Dr. Greer's office. Or at least have a revolving door with my name gold-plated over it. Seriously. As we walked in yesterday, I told the receptionist that we were there for our weekly check-in. I know that having 2 precious little ones in "school" at least once a week is asking for germs to latch right on and wreck havoc in our house (Jack goes to Ms. C's class on Tuesdays and Thursdays and I take them both to Children's Day Out on Wednesdays so I can go to Bible study, plus of course church on Sundays). But this is getting old!

Four weeks ago Jason took Jack to the doctor (of course, I was convinced it was an ear infection). Turns out that both J AND Jack actually had strep. Thankfully Will and I were clear. However, since Will is so young, Dr. Greer put him on antibiotics as a preemptive strike. Thanks to the meds, Will ended up at Dr. Greer's office a couple of weeks ago with thrush (again, I was SURE it was an ear infection...somehow I had TOTALLY missed the funkiness in his mouth).

Well, last week the runny noses started back up. Will and Jack seem to be passing it back and forth, but in typical Jack fashion, his came with an extra dose of fussiness...and you guessed it! I immediately blame his ears. However, we took a HUGE step towards big-boyhood: he woke up crying Tuesday morning (at 5 am - ugh) and said, "Mommy, this ear hurts." Not only was I right, but he can finally pinpoint and name the problem! Life just got a little easier.

I was able to get him in to see Dr. Greer that afternoon. SO very thankfully, his buddy JP's mom, Mrs. D, lent us their portable dvd player to take with us...typically I'm not a fan of those, but 2 fussy babies in a waiting room has a way of shifting perspectives. :) Jack used to do fine going to see the doctor, but he was slightly less than thrilled to be there on Tuesday. We barely had to wait at all (another blessing!) and they took us right back. Jack was verrrrrrrry whiny (I guess waking up at 5 am and having an ear ache will do that to a 2-year old!), but I was thankful for the distraction of the movie.

However, when Dr. Greer came in, Jack was too aware of what was probably about to happen, so the movie lost his attention. Dr. Greer, in an attempt to win Jack over, pulled out his iphone...complete with the iFart app. Jack was (THANKFULLY) unfazed by the completely inappropriate noises and continued to cry. We decided to go ahead with me just holding him tightly while Dr. Greer checked him out and confirmed the TERRIBLE ear infection. As soon as Dr. Greer got his instruments put away, Jack calmed down and even smiled a little before we left. The whole way to the pharmacy, he and I talked about how God gave us Dr. Greer to help him feel better and that he was going to get us some medicine to fix that ear ache.

Fast forward to tonight: J and I were saying bedtime prayers with Jack, and we've started this new thing where Jack asks us to "help" him say them (we say a line and he repeats it). Once we finished, Jack said he wanted to thank "Our God" (compliments of the Chris Tomlin song) for Dr. Greer. I said, "That's right! He looks at your ears and God told him how to make you feel all better and what kind of medicine you need!". Jack paused for a minute and then stated, "And he taked out his phone. And he pooped."

J and I burst out laughing at the randomness...and then I remembered the iphone and Dr. Greer's app.

That was about 20 minutes ago, and I can hear Jack back in his room still repeating that conversation and laughing. While I thoroughly am enjoying the ability to share a great laugh with my child, I pray that the topic might get a bit more, ahem, civilized in the years to come.

ALIVE

I did some quick calculations the other day (no small feat for one who hasn't slept in several years), and realized that I've had a parasite for 3.5 years. Between being pregnant and nursing, my body hasn't been my own since December 2006...and in case you're wondering, that was a LOOOONG time ago. Now, add to the exhaustion of having another person literally depend on you for their livelihood the fact that the precious parasites seem to have an aversion to (night-time) sleeping and that one of them is a VERY busy 2 year old = I am BEYOND exhausted. Everyday. I gave up on my attempts of coherent thoughts about 2 years ago, but also know that this, too, shall pass...and have even somewhat embraced the fact that I will, at some point every night, unconsciously stumble into the nursery, pick up a screaming baby, and fall back into deep slumber in a glider/rocker/recliner/tasteofheaven for at least 1-2 hours, resulting in an even more tired state the next morning. It's actually quite a nasty cycle of sleep deprivation.

But thanks to my fabulous, thoughtful, self-sacrificing Momma, I got glorious sleep last night: 8 hours uninterrupted! And not only did J and I have a great time with our small group, but I also got to do something this morning that I rarely get to enjoy: ride alone in my car! And while I confess that having a minivan all to myself seems a bit superfluous (a nice little convertible would suit me MUCH better), I love being able to crank up the music, roll down a window or two...and worship. With all I've got. Hillsong United, Highlands worship, the new Passion recording. LOVE it. I had 45 perfect minutes in the car alone on my way to get the babies, and I enjoyed it for all that it was worth.

However, there are 2 fun little aspects of having Jack in the car that I miss when he's not there. Everyday, I play "Name That Tune" and lose. That's right; every time Jack hears a new song, he'll ask about 14 times what the name of the song is while it's playing...and I willingly oblige him, knowing that he will remember it well enough that he'll NEVER have to ask again. And not only that, within hearing about 3 seconds of a learned song, he can tell you not only the title of it, but also what song comes next on the album. It's awesome...and fantastically he does NOT ask for children's music, but is happy with my favorites. Win-win.

The other fun (and occasionally annoying) thing about having Jack in the car is that he has an impeccable sense of direction. Example: last Sunday evening, we went out S. College Street to have dinner at a friend's house who have a little boy named Finn. Everyday since, every time we've gotten on any part of College Street (it's about 10 miles long, and we live at the far North end of it), Jack has accurately pointed in the right direction and said, "Finn's house that way." He can correctly guide us towards the football stadium, church, Pop's house, Gigi's house, school, Winn-Dixie, the lake (Lake Martin!), James' house (280 West to Bham), Tiger Town and TCBY. He can direct you to the neighborhood pool, his buddy JP's house and to Chick-fil-a. One smart cookie.

In conclusion, if I could get at least 7 hours of uninterrupted sleep a night, I think I could take over the world with my productivity...or at least conquer my seemingly unending "to do" list. With a little sleep, I feel productive, sociable, motivated and, well, smarter. Maybe one day...