Noah made a pun

I was getting Noah ready for bed last night and when he was all set, I gave him a few pats on his bottom. He giggled but shook his head "no" and said "Stop spankin' me, Mama." I said, "What, you don't want a spanking?" ...and he said "No spank you." LOL

Snow Day

Today is a snow day for me. Indiana University is closed for the day, which is highly unusual; and of course all the local middle and high schools are closed as well, which means that all of the parents of the girls I watch are off work for the day; therefore I have an unexpected day off as well.

The above picture is the view out my front door. Looks like most of my neighbors are staying in for the day.

And here's my own car. I don't think I'll be going anywhere any time soon. :)
The only thing that bothers me about being snowed in is the fact that I really need to make a trip to the library. I have overdue books to return, and I need to check out another book to read for a book club this Saturday. But the library is closed due to the weather, so there's no point in shoveling the snow off my car and attempting the short drive.

Yesterday evening I went for a walk in the snow and sleet. The sleet accumulated on my glasses but I was well bundled up and quite enjoyed my tromp through the snow. I went 1.3611 miles (thank you Gmaps Pedometer) and listened to the hush that falling snow creates. The roads were slick--even the snowplows were moving in slow motion--but the sidewalks had all been shoveled recently enough that my non-booted feet stayed dry.

For my southern readers who may be assuming that all Midwestern winters are like this--well, they're not; here in southern Indiana, we only get a snowfall like this once every couple of years. Usually we don't get more than a couple of inches of snow, and it's often melted within two or three days.

All righty, better go be productive.

a few borrowed pictures

If you read Leah's blog you've already seen most of these--but here are a few pictures from our trip to Texas. Enjoy!

Here we all are at dinner--myself and sons, Mom and Dad, Jesh and Ben, Caleb and Leah, and Mercy and Mark. Sorry you can't see everyone. I love not being the only adult at a meal.

After the above dinner, we went to the Aquarium in downtown Houston. Here Elijah is reading the sign to Noah, with Jeshurun supervising.

Caleb and Leah took Elijah for a ride on the carousel. Elijah rode on a dolphin, if I remember correctly. Pardon his goofy attempt at a smile.

And this picture has nothing to do with me but I had to borrow it anyway because it's such a nice picture (hope you don't mind, Leah). These are three of the four Smith sisters--the one on the right is married to my brother Caleb, and is expecting a baby girl in the spring. (As is my sister, by the way--I'm so excited!)

Okay, that's it for now and the children have had more than enough time playing by themselves (they are playing soo nicely, I might add!) so I should go fix lunch. I have absolutely no idea what I'm fixing, I might add, so this will be fun. I suppose we haven't had peanut butter and jelly for a while. :) Oh, on the topic of food, last night I discovered that a can of tuna goes nicely with a pot of white beans--cook the beans with a little onion and garlic, salt and pepper, and when the beans are tender add the tuna and top with chunks of cheddar cheese and Saltine crackers--a great way to use up all those cans of tuna in my pantry. Note to self: Noah LOVES crumbling crackers into his food--you should have seen his delighted face. Must serve more cracker/soup combinations.

January 12th

Noah spent the weekend in the hospital with a severe case of croup. My poor baby! Friday night when he was admitted, he was struggling so hard just to take a breath. I am very thankful for modern medicine; every time he had another attack of croup, he was given a breathing treatment which had him breathing normally within minutes.

The ER doc diagnosed Noah with pneumonia without even listening to his breathing first. He approached with the stethoscope but Noah cried when he came near, so he (the doc) gave up after a couple of seconds. Because of the pneumonia diagnosis, Noah got a shot of antibiotics and also had his blood drawn to check for the spread of infection. Well all that turned out to be unnecessary as he didn't have pneumonia after all--thankfully our regular pediatrician caught that right away and told us we didn't need to continue the antibiotics. I'm a little upset about the misdiagnosis though and the unnecessary treatment. I mean, Noah didn't even have a fever--pneumonia? *sigh*

Noah is now terrified of anyone wearing scrubs. Which is too bad really, as all the nurses in the pediatrics ward were really nice, as is our regular pediatrician. Actually, come to think of it, Noah didn't mind the pediatrician so much. Perhaps the pediatrics nurses were too much for him because they were all so over-the-top...you know the type..."HI there SWEETIE! Aren't you the most PRECIOUS THING! We'll have you better in NO TIME!" all said very loudly about a foot away from his face. Elijah just loves that sort of thing--when the attention was turned on him, he would beam all over and jump up and down--but Noah is a little bit overwhelmed by really expressive people.

Noah came home Sunday morning. Now all three of us are dealing with a hacking cough and runny noses, and Noah points to his cheeks and says "Owie," so I think he may be dealing with some sinus pain. But at least we can all breathe. Today all my childcare girls came as usual and it was kind of hard; I was able to get everything/everyone taken care of as usual, but I was just tired I guess. Hopefully tomorrow is better. I guess I should get to bed!

no pictures, sorry

I am safely back from Texas as of Tuesday night. Somehow while in Texas I neglected to take any pictures. If anyone wants to e-mail me some pictures from last week so that I can post them here, that would be great! I know a couple of people got pictures of the boys.

While in Texas, my wise brother pointed out that moving trucks are expensive, and that I should consider selling off all of my furniture here in Indiana, and just move down with what I can fit into my car and my mom's (as Mom will come up to help with the moving process). I thought about it and decided that my brother is right (as usual). But, wow! That means I have a lot of stuff to get rid of! I suppose I'll have to sell most of my furniture on Craigslist, which is always a hassle. Maybe once the weather improves, I'll borrow someone's yard and have a big yard sale.

Anyone want to buy a bookcase? It's solid wood, and folds up. Quite nifty really. Or perhaps you would like an electric ice cream maker? Or a big trunk with Stockholm shipping labels from the 1920s?

I am headed to the local children's resale shop to see if they will buy some of our outgrown boys' clothes and maternity clothes. Perhaps then I will stop by a local used book shop to see if they are interested in purchasing any of my books. Adios!