So the day of the big anniversary party, the cousins had the opportunity to go swimming earlier in the day. Mason, Hannah Kate and Abbie always enjoy visits with Avery and Beau, especially pool time. These pictures were taken while Abbie was at dance recital practice, but she did join us a little later.
Here's our bathing beauty.
So that was Saturday. The following week was crazy busy. So here goes.
Sunday - Mason had baseball practice after church.
Monday is always my errand day. So the girl and I spent the morning in town. When we got home, I prepared supper and put it in the crockpot for later. As soon as Mason got home, we all loaded up and headed to the River Center Theatre for the Performing Arts. Hannah Kate had dress rehearsal for her upcoming recital. I took snacks and homework, and we spent three hours watching Miss Machita and the classes rehearsing for the big day. When we got home, we ate supper, got baths and went to bed. And that was a very busy, tiring Monday.
Hannah Kate had a doctor's appointment on Tuesday morning. She was overdue for her 4-year check-up, and I was concerned about a lingering cough. In case you don't know, you get three shots at your 4-year check-up. I did not inform Hannah Kate of this, deciding instead that what she didn't know was probably better. But before the shots came, I discussed with Dr. K some of my concerns and observations of late. So as a precaution, it was first decided that Hannah Kate needed to undergo a stool test. I can tell you that all results from that were absolutely normal and fine. Dr. K also diagnosed Hannah Kate with bronchial something-or-another. Just so we're all on the same page, this is otherwise known as asthma. This was no surprise. I'd seen it coming for more than a year now. Given Hannah Kate's severe bout with croup two years ago and family medical history, it's just one of those things. Dr. K thinks she'll eventually grow out of it though. So that's the good news. She typically has multiple recurrences of croup every spring and fall. This spring has been the worst. The only way she could sleep through the night without having those awful coughing fits was with the humidifier. I've purchased three during the past two years, and I was about to have to buy another one. We've used it nightly since the beginning of March. And no cough medicine in the world helps her. So because of her age, Hannah Kate is not yet ready for inhalers. That means we came home with a nebulizer. Dr. K prescribed breathing treatments five times a day. Each treatment takes about ten minutes. So you do the math. After all of that, Nurse S walked in with the immunizations. As soon as Hannah Kate saw them, she knew what was coming. And boy did she yell! But it didn't last long. Unfortunately though, it wasn't over.
We headed downstairs for a visual and hearing screening, both of which she passed. Dr. K also ordered blood work, which I knew wasn't going to be good. And I was right. At this point, we've been at the doctor's office nearly two hours. To say that Hannah Kate was ready to go is an understatement. So the lab technician asked me if I would rather her finger pricked or draw blood from her arm. Thinking the finger stick would be the least painful option, that's what I chose. I should've known better once I realized how big that vial actually was and how much blood they wanted. Hannah Kate did okay with the finger stick, but things got bad rather quickly. To say the finger stick didn't work is an understatement. So they went for her arm. And she started screaming. It wasn't a scream of pain. She was mad. I mean M.A.D. So that was over quickly, although it seemed an eternity, and we were on our way out. She refused to walk so I had to carry her. She's still screaming. So here I am, 29 weeks big and pregnant, trying to carry my 4-year old with one arm and holding my purse, a bag containing the nebulizer machine and another bag containing what we needed for the stool sample in the other hand. She's screaming at the top of her lungs, "GET IT OFF! GET IT OFF!" And she's clawing at her finger and her arm. She gets the band aid off her finger and throws it to the ground. So I stop and empty my arms so I can pick it up. She's still clawing at the tape on her arm and getting madder by the second because she can't get it off. So I sit down with her in the lobby to get the tape off and calm her down. I have never seen her that mad before! She still insists I carry her, but once we're to the parking lot, I can't carry her anymore.
While we're waiting on the pharmacy to fill her breathing treatment prescriptions, I take her to Chic-fil-A for lunch. And we're finally on our way home. At this point, I am exhausted. But the day is nowhere near over. When we get home, she takes her first breathing treatment. It didn't go so well. She snatched the mask off her face. So we had to have a mommy-to-daughter talk about her attitude and her responsibility to get better. Here she is with her first treatment. I can tell you now that she is doing much better, and we have been three nights in a row without a coughing fit. I also got to put the humidifier away yesterday.
And now I have a confession to make. I didn't take any pictures at Mason's game! I know. But I was just so exhausted by this point that I just didn't feel like it. Besides, he had another game coming up on Thursday so I figured I would just snap some pictures then.
So I mentioned that hitting the ball takes quite a number of tries. The game last an hour and a half, and each team batted only twice. By the time we got home, everyone was so tired and ready for bed. But we still had to take baths, and Mason had a test the following day that we needed to review for. It was a very long, very crazy, very busy, very exhausting Tuesday.
We had a little break on Wednesday. Hannah Kate and I had Bible study that morning, but we didn't have anything else the rest of the day. And then the dance studio called. Miss Machita wanted to have an extra ballet practice for Hannah Kate's class tomorrow evening at 5:30. Sigh. Mason's next game is tomorrow evening at 5:30. So I had to figure out how to have two children in two different places in two different towns at the same time. It was a crazy, busy Wednesday.
It was so nice not to have to get up and go anywhere Thursday morning. So I spent much of the day cleaning, doing laundry and working in my garden. When Mason got home from school, we had time to do homework before heading to dance practice and the baseball game. Of course, I missed the game. So you know what that means. No pictures. Well, no worries. There were two games scheduled for this week, one on Monday and the other on Friday. BOTH games were rained out. Still no pictures.
And then it was Friday. I really didn't want to, but I had several errands that I really needed to take care of so Hannah Kate and I were at it again. It didn't take us long though so we got home in time for me to do some more work in my garden, finish preparing my Sunday School lesson and get my music together for Sunday.
It was a crazy, busy week . . . just another week in the life of being a mommy. But the best was yet to come the following day . . .