Quick Takes

Lots going on, and it would take at least five posts for me to feel caught up! So I’m going to give the Reader’s Digest version of life in our house.

1. I am back in the land of the living. Starting around 12:30 yesterday, I was feeling queasy and blah. Then there was some rumbling in my tummy two hours later, with full-blown barfs at 3:30. I barely got the kids home safely before things went south and I passed out on the couch waiting for Dan to get home from his own medical maladies (see #2). I floated in and out of consciousness for the rest of the night, between trips to the bathroom and hugging our lovely barf bucket. I slept for almost 13 hours straight, and woke feeling a little better this morning. The kids and I stayed home and I refereed lots of fights, but we made it through the day in one piece (barely). I haven’t been this violently ill in about seven years, and I hope it’s a long time until this happens again!

2. Dan’s been fighting some major back pain since before Christmas. It got better for a little while, but this week it’s gotten pretty bad. He went for an x-ray and MRI yesterday, and has seen two doctors already this week. His third is scheduled for tomorrow. Please pray for relief!

3. I hope I don’t jinx it, but here’s big news in our house: today was day nine of underwear for Jackson! It appears our boy is potty trained. WOO HOO! He’s still wearing diapers at bedtime, but undies for the rest of the day. He’s had a few accidents, but not in the last four days. It’s been relatively easy, mostly because I waited for him to decide when he was ready. He’s doing really well and I can hardly believe we are *mostly* finished with diapers for the first time in almost eight years.

4. Fantastic news for lupus patients: the FDA approved the first new lupus drug in 56 years. I don’t know that this drug will be beneficial to me, but I’m glad there is some movement forward in the treatment of lupus. At my last checkup with my rheumatologist, she decided to keep me on my current regimen of Plaquenil. If my disease progresses and the Plaquenil can’t control it, we will consider other options. Basically, for now, if it ain’t broke we won’t fix it.

5. Lastly, during my recovery today, I tried to entertain the kids by letting them paint muffin boxes. We used toilet paper tubes we got from Leftovers, and they fit perfectly in the boxes. Katie is using hers to organize her desk supplies. Jackson turned his into a Sqwishy Hotel. He loves these little Sqwishy characters that we first got in a gumball machine (they’re now sold at Walgreens and Target). I helped him put his collection in the box, but then he spent a few minutes rearranging them. He didn’t like them sitting upright and preferred them to be laying down or even upside down. So odd!