Now A Family of *gulp* Six.

First, the health issues. I am recovering from my outpatient surgery last week, but have encountered a slight complication that is irritating. Hopefully that can be cleared up in the next day or two. Roman went in for a recheck on Tuesday and dr. heard some crackling. The 3rd x-ray in one week finally revealed pneumonia. Great. So we're scaling back his energy as much as we can. Doug had hoped to earn his own antibiotics, but he was told he'd have to go 10 days feeling rotten before he would be rewarded (including 3 days of yellow nasal mucus). He's on day 5 but reports he's feeling better today. Swimming started this week, and as of today we had 89 bodies in the pool. That's a lot, we only had 60-some last year. It's good... but it's a lot. So, on to my destiny. My district, after a failed bond attempt last year, regrouped and put together a new trimmed bond to be voted on yesterday. By survey results residents approved the new trimmed bond by 60-some perce...

We've been so lucky with Roman - he's only thrown up once in his life, and never had to be rushed to the ER. Until last night. He's been sick but on antibiotics all week. Saturday we decided to make a lazy day at home, and Roman and I both napped. He woke up normal and giggly, but by about 3:30 was complaining of a headache. I gave him Tylenol at 4pm. He actually fell asleep in my arms around 5:30pm which I thought was odd, but he'd been so sick and so busy this week... We woke him up at 6:15pm to eat dinner. He whined and cried, and actually asked to lay back down. He laid down on the floor and just sort of stared at Daddy and at the ceiling. We ate somewhat quickly, and then Doug checked his temp. Under arm it was 102.8! Oh man, did we pack that boy up quick and get to the ER. They took a rectal and it was 104.1. Can you believe it?! Roman was lethargic and burning up. They did lots of dignity-stealing tests, including taking his blood, doing a nasal swab (where they ...

You'd think, with a week off for vacation, or "mid-winter break" as they call it around here, I'd have time to update this. But no! After I started getting better from an apparent sinus infection, Roman began his cough... he's on day 4 of antibiotics. My parents visited for a few days and we had a good time while Doug went ice fishing. Then I decided to spend a couple days doing nothing, which is a wonderful thing. And now, my break is practically over! On the selling-the-house front, we've noticed a slight pickup. Our realtor reports that he has received a phone call asking about our house, and we've seen 2 people this week stop to study the house and pick up a flyer. Doug noticed yesterday, a couple streets over, there was a "sold" sign on a house that had been for sale, and a moving truck in the driveway of another. We take that as a good sign that things are moving in our neighborhood. I believe at least one of those was priced below us, and...

A day of snow and mush, more like it. A snow day today. How'd you like that for timing? Sick day yesterday, snow day today. Why work?! Roman had a very busy Valentine's Day. He so sweetly wished us a happy day first thing this morning. He got lots of cards at preschool (with lots of candy). He received a card with a small amount of $$ from both sets of grandparents, so we're going to put it together and let him buy something for himself at Toys R Us. Next month. :) After dinner this evening (which included red strawberry-flavored Jello hearts), we went to Baskin-Robbins for ice cream. Then Daddy surprised us both with cards (stickers in Roman's!). A very nice day, just the way I like it. A little special, but nothing over the top for a Hallmark day. I bet I'll have to go to work tomorrow. Oh well, two days and then I'm off for a week. Life's not all bad!

It hit me again on Friday. This time it went backwards... cough first, followed by sore throat, THEN came the stuffy/runny nose. Either way it's the same diagnosis - sinus infection. #3 of the school year. Beginning to think I may need to have something done with my sinus cavities. In the silver lining, I found a new doctor. I have been struggling with the office staff at my primary care's office since... oh... since I began going there. This past Fall I actually started documenting all the issues. Having me sign bizarre acknowledgements (they can't verify my insurance coverage?) to arriving early for an appointment, only to be made to wait 40 minutes (while my dr. was waiting for ME). Once I took Roman in for an ear infection and it took 1-1/2 hours for a tympanogram. Anyway, I called my dr. office today around 9:45 on my prep to make an appt. I was on hold for 22 minutes when I hung up, no one having answered the phone to make a simple appointment. Unfortunately, this is...

We put Roman in for quiet time around 12:30. He was so tired, but did his usual singing, talking, coming out of his room, reading, anything possible to not fall asleep. About an hour in after a great round of songs, Roman came to the door and said to Daddy "I have run out of words!" The boy had used up his entire vocabulary trying to keep himself awake! Daddy told him to go back in and be quiet - and Roman was asleep soon after. And included in this round, some pictures of decorating our Valentine mailbox!

When I picked Roman up tonight, he came flying across the room with a "Mama! MAMA! I GOT TO PICK OUT OF THE TREASURE BOX!!!!" What an accomplishment for Roman, he is so proud. It has been a long, long time since he's been able to pick a toy. When he was on his behavior modification plan (the 504), he picked because he went 3 days without being obnoxious. But it's been weeks and weeks. Even better, here's why he got to pick, as told by a note from Miss Marcie: "Roman had a great day today! This morning he let another friend be line leader so that she would stop crying. He was a very good friend. He was also a very good listener today." Line leader is a big deal - when they leave the Green Room to go to the Yellow Room at 8:30am and start preschool, the line leader - obviously - leads the whole class down. Apparently Roman was picked for line leader and Ella got very upset. Roman simply switched places with her. He told me, "I didn't say anythi...

One of the days when we were in Russia on our first trip, the temperature was an actual -13 F (that was the high that day). That doesn't include "wind chill." So when it gets really cold here, I'll tell Roman that it's "Russia cold"! And sure enough, it has been almost that cold the last two days. We did cancel school today because of kids at bus stops, and also at the high schools in my district they travel between buildings. Most schools were closed anyway - it was nice to have a day to catch up at home. I did a few things on the computer I had been putting off for weeks, if not months; and also took interior photos of our house to send to our realtor, who is going to put them online. I haven't done much blogging lately, but it's not because nothing is happening. I am finding it hard to translate Roman's everyday adorableness into stories when they're such fleeting moments. To try to describe to you his cute little prayer at dinner; or...