A Little Ray of Sunshine

Thursday, November 09, 2006

Now I know why

My husband got the job he wanted before he got his degree. (Hopefully Mom and Mom-in-law will stop complaining about him dropping out sometime in the next century.) And why Hummer came twelve days early.
I took Beau to the doctor yesterday. He's got a nebulizer now that he has to use four times a day. One perscription for that, plus two others. Hemi has a fever today, a cold, I hope. As if we didn't have enough stress already!
My husband's first day of work was the day Hummer was born. I don't think I could deal with everything else with a two-week-old, but with a four-week-old who's sorta grasped the difference between night and day, it's survivable. I hope. It seemed like a bad day to have a baby at the time, but just goes to show how little I know.
Since my husband's employer insisted that he start right away, his health insurance started November first. Which means, for the first time since our marriage, we actually all have health coverage.
Why the poor child has asthma, I don't know. (In one sense. It's clearly genetic: there's more family with it than without it.) But at least we're in a position to deal with it. If anyone has any non-drug ways of dealing with it, I'd much appreciate hearing them. About all I know is to avoid anything that seems to trigger it.
We're still moving. It snowed today, and it's melted somewhat, but not entirely. I have a feeling this November is going to be a very, very long month. I'd really like to be done moving so we can start looking for a church. Being out of town weekends is not conducive to that.

Tuesday, November 07, 2006

And life continues

Beau appears to be having an asthema attack this morning. Asthema runs in both sides of the family, unfortunately. We had hoped that the boys would avoid it, since the dry climate has prevented attacks in everyone else who has asthema and lives here (in our families). I'm blaming the restaurant where we ate last night. I can't recall how long it's been since I was asked smoking or non-smoking in a restaurant, and then saw that the smoking section was one side of the room and the non was the other. Reminds me of childhood trips, I told my husband. (Since I grew up in Mormonville, the completely non-smoking restaurant was the norm even then.) However, while I don't have the asthema, I do get a scratchy throat from cigarette smoke. Too bad, because the food was good. At least the younger two seem to be fine.

Mom went down to visit her folks this weekend. Dad called yesterday afternoon to say that Mom had called the hospice people and that there wasn't long left for Grandmother. Last night, Dad called to say that Grandmother passed. Apparently Mom was singing through the old Girl Scout songs, and Grandmother went on the last line of Taps.
I never knew Grandmother much, but I feel sorry for her. She spent years being mad at my mom for becoming a Christian. (Which is a large part of why I never really got to know her.)
Mom is staying there with Grandfather for a while. My uncle and one aunt are flying in. There won't be a funeral--Grandmother and Grandfather don't believe in anything and don't see the need. I think Mom, Aunt, and Uncle are planning to have some sort of memorial next summer. I don't know if we'll try to go--if we do, it would be to try to get to know Grandfather. Hummer has Grandfather's first name for his middle name. Grandfather is 96, but in pretty good health. It might be worth it.

Hummer has already outgrown the newborn size clothing. He holds his head up pretty well now, and his eyes track very well. He's still on the quiet side--he's got the lungs to let you know when he's mad, but he doesn't use them much. He still hums in his sleep, and when he's awake he makes little murmurs. He's a sweet baby and his big brothers love him. A well-meaning friend (who has one child, a teen) was trying to tell me over the weekend that the more children I have the harder time I will have teaching them things. I told her I wasn't worried about that: Beau is already teaching Hemi things, such as how to take his clothes off and put them on, without ever being asked to. All I have to do is give some coaching. I'm sure writing and other 'school' stuff will happen the same way naturally.

I was planning to go vote today with the three of them, but with Beau's lungs acting up, I'm not sure. We'll see how the day goes, I guess. He's claiming to be better now, but I can still hear the wheeze in his breathing.