Price you pay...

to be a Momma with sick babies. Haven't had much to blog about due to my recovering from sickness as well as dealing with my babies. This whole time dealing with my babies being sick I have thought about the Duggars. I have not watched that show up until now, it comes on in the morning while I am nursing SayJ and it is just intriguing to watch a family of 19 kids. They are Christians and have some things figured out...it is unbelievable how they make things work. Granted they have both said that God has called them to this life of babymaking, Mick assures me He has not called us to that. Anyways, whenever something happens with my TWO I think, oh my word, 19? How in the world. So today we headed back to the dr because Sadie Jane was up all night and hasn't taken a nap without being in her carseat for a few days. Lo and behold pink and fluid in the dadgum ear! Ahhh...so when I went to get her prescription I started trying to total up what we'd spent in just the last two weeks with what started with a little germ...and then I stopped and thought...no I'll put it on the blog. It is good info to see in type and then I'll multiply and see what the good ole' Duggars are spending...

Double Copay Micah and Sadie Jane both sick.........70 buckaroos

steroid for Micah.........15ish

albuteral for breathing treatments...........20ish (*we had gotten a prescrip for something that didn't make him CRAZY but it cost 150!!! so crazy kid we got)

antibiotic for Sadie Jane.................20ish

Copay for Micah 4 days later when green goop was coming out the eyes......35 buckaroos

antibiotic for Micahbird......................20ish

Copay for Sadie Jane two weeks from original...................35 buckaroos

another antibiotic for SayJ........................15

tylenol, nose spray, motrin.........................15 buckaroos (with two everybody has to have their own so we don't pass the germs. ha.)

Grand Totalish: $245 big buckaroos*

*This doesn't include the stuff that I am too sleep deprived to remember nor the 50-75 buckaroos spent on my meds, visit, etc.

So, for those sweet Duggars, if somehow they managed to only share these germs with half of their kids they would be dropping somewhere around 1000 dollars on a two week sickness! Crazy to think about. No wonder they need some love from TLC.

Nana mentioned my lack of blogging and I know this post isn't going to make her happy since there are no pictures of our sweet things...those are coming...as soon as Mick gets home. Which is sometime in May...I love baseball.

Disclaimer: As I lay trying to take a nap I of course started to analyze my blog post. Something I do way too much since the anonymous comment. I did want to say I am WAY thankful that we have insurance, good doctors, medicine, me at home, and so much more. Even though things are costly I can not imagine having to go through with my babies struggling to get them well without proper treatment. Seriously makes me want to cry thinking about it. So I am definitely thankful for what God has blessed us with in our station in life and am foolish to not pray for those who aren't as fortunate.

And I think while we spent a good bit on all the meds and visits I have skipped my mall visits and eating out for a while so we probably saved money in the end. Ha!

March Supper Club

The boys at supper club...why we make them take a picture I really don't know.

Creepy Uncle Justina...with SayJ loving it.

The girls...thanks to Jonathan for getting Say J in...

This month's supper club was at Aunt April and Uncle Justin's house. It was a St. Patty's theme and we had hoped to be able to attend and relax, ie not take children. But both sets of grandparents went out of town and since they both needed meds and our family had spent no time together we weren't going to attend. Then Aunt April says...oh just bring the kids. So we did. I am pretty sure she didn't think we would and I felt guilty about it the whole time...but I hadn't been out around other adults in so long I just took them and went. We had fun except Micah is going through a really rough stage. It seems to be corelated to either the end of sickness, lack of sleep, hunger, or Mick's absense then reappearance...and then absence again.

Basically Micah is incredibly whiny and prone to fits when something doesn't go his way. I know he is almost three and this will all be over in a few weeks..."terrible twos" that is. But I am just not sure either of us will make it:) Seriously I have found my patience lacking and Micah has just in the last few days started doing things that are over the line for the whole "he's two" excuse. Like flailing on the floor for hours...and today the ultimate disappointment of slapping me in the face in anger as I was carrying him to timeout. I feel like such a failure. I wouldn't document this except for the fact I hope and pray to be able to look back on "how far we've come" in a few months. God is good and I reminded Micah that I want him to obey me so that ultimately he learns to obey our God. So as I gain perspective I will stop taking everything so personally, react less angrily and hopefully show Micah who our God is. Please Lord, Help me do that.

Fresh Air

Ahh to breathe fresh air again today was a blessing. We have been through lots of kleenex's and tylenol in our house over the last two weeks. Today is the first day in almost two weeks that we all have felt ok. We still have runny noses and aren't up to par but we ventured out in the beautiful weather and of course had to take a few pictures. Mainly for Jenny because Sadie Jane had on her new hairbow. Too bad she looks a little drunk in most of the pictures! Better luck next time. Say J was the onlly one really dressed for a photoshoot. So here you have it!

Happy St. Patty's to You!

o

Even though we are sick and no one will see our green today I had to post some pictures. Micah and I made our Leprechaun hats and made a little one for SayJ. She was not lovin' it. I should also take a picture of Nana who has been filling in for me when I get to run to the store or to work for a few minutes. Thanks Nana! Hopefully tonight we'll eat something green! If you don't know the story of St. Patrick you should google it because it is neat to see that it is a Christian holiday...just go to Savannah and I am sure you could tell. Happy St. Patrick's Day to you, friend!

I'm Sorry for Worrying...

Still no pictures from me as we are still a household under attack, not neccesarily from satan this go round(although I feel like he has something to do with it!)...we are under attack from germs and bugs! Yuck. So far the tally is up to 3 ear infections, fevers of 102 for days on ends, 1000's of coughs, 5 sleepless nights and lots of lovin' from Momma (and Daddy when he isn't at the ballfielld). Sadie Jane and Micahbird have taken turns on the sick train and I woke up this morning with a sore throat and am praying it off as hard as I possibly can. Right before our second trip to the doctor we found out we had also been exposed to head lice. Ahhhh...I can not stand those nasty bugs and I obsess about it if we are ever in contact with it. So far so good...but I have found it hard pressed to do anything while waiting to see if they strike besides obsessing over our heads...

So I wanted to say a little bit about worry. I am looking up every verse about it today because I have found myself paralyzed by it and I know that God calls us not to worry but to trust Him. I hate worrying, it makes me sick mentally and physically. It's not that I enjoy worry, but I feel like I can't help it. But I am sure that I can, somehow. Can't I? And then I worry that I'll never stop worrying! Eekk! All this sickness and issues with relationships has sent my worrywartness off the charts!! It is seriously interferring with my life so I know it is something I need to handle. But I am not sure how. The other thing is that because I worry so much I apologize almost as much as I worry. Which when I talk to others I can tell they are annoyed by my incessant need to apologize for almost everything. But if I don't say I am sorry I worry that someone is mad at me for something...sheesh...ugly sin cycle. So this is a bit of a downer post but just sharing what is on my heart. Hopefully things will start looking up the more I let go and let God. I wont apologize for it or worry about it! Ha! I had been so excited about St. Patrick's Day because Micah's favorite color is green and I had all kinds of plans to make crafts, discuss the Christian meaning and dye everything we ate green! But such is life and we have gotten through one craft that didn't quite workout. But they'll be pictures nonetheless...

"Plans"

Events. Dates. Prearranged gettogethers. Rsvps. Parties. You know making "plans". We in the Harper household rarely make any plans after the babies have come along. With all the nursing, napping, and other inconsistencies making plans in our house is like an act of congress. And just when you think you'll succeed at fulfilling plans...SayJ has a blow out and I am 30 minutes late if I am lucky. I digress, because this weekend we made "plans" and I should have known unless the plans were arranged 15 minutes prior to event time we were going to have a hard time going through with them. We had dinner plans with new friends for a family date and then Saturday I had invited some of my best friends over with their kiddos because Mick had a poker fundraiser for baseball. Beginning Wed. I began to wonder if we would make it. Thursday night was what I thought was my longest Momma night of my life. As I sat rubbing one babies back while nursing the much smaller baby while trying to keep them both quiet so the other would go to sleep at 3AM I thought of how bad I thought it was when just Micah was sick...but add two and mercy it is tough, I had no idea how easy taking care of one sick baby was compared to two. We headed to the doctor office Friday morning because sometimes when Micah gets a cold he has childhood asthma...which means he can't breathe and I freak out. We thought since we were going we'd have them check SayJ out since she had the sniffles and wasn't sleeping good. Micah just had something viral...with the good ole asthma scare...and SayJ had another stinkin' ear infection. Boo hiss. (I will state Micah has been unbelievably well this year as opposed to the last two cold seasons so I am still so thankful to God that He spared him this far!) We called the friends to cancel and their baby was sick too so she said she wasn't scared of our germs...so we made our Friday night plans at the Hanes house and administered antibiotics all around. Sadie Jane and Baby Rhett played so cute together and if Brittany ever gets me pictures I will put them up because they are hilarious. Then Saturday Micah seemed all the way better, we made our trip to the mall and he seemed great. We come home and Mick heads out and Micah goes nuts! For the first time in his life he refuses to take a nap. Crying, spanking, yelling, apologizing and so on. Finally I realize that the steroid and the breathing treatments combined were making him act like he was on some sort of speed. So as to not interrupt my "plans" friends and their kiddos make it over for dinner. Micah was so unkind to his friends that I almost cried. It was nice to have some of my bestest friends under one roof but I think in order to communicate with them we would need maybe a three day weekend to actually finish a conversation...in between...Micah don't hit Jaxson, Micah share...It did make me think trying to do that again might not be a good idea but going on vacation with friends would be just about the only way to find time to talk. Now I know why my parents did that. Anyways, I get baths done and last night was a bigger doozy than Thursday night. SayJ slept better but Micah was up half the night! Needless to say we are done with that medicine and we'll see how he does without it. He woke up better again this morning so apparently it is some sort of darkness sickness. Then I had also made plans to play tennis today. I did, and I won, but it wasn't pretty and I only fell asleep twice during the match.

"Many are the plans in a man's heart, but it is the Lord's purpose that prevails." Proverbs 19:21

So I am taking that a little out of context but while I did accomplish my plans for the weekend and while I enjoyed the time spent with friends... I think God's purpose was for me to realize He is in control and that not having plans isn't such a bad thing after all. Also my heart just had too too many plans for one weekend and two not all the way well babies.

Love my boy...

Lest, I give satan too much blogtime I wanted to give credit to my Jesus for His grace and love even in trying times. The way God blesses me tangibly and most outright is with my babies. Sadie Jane can't talk yet but her goodness, sweetness and joy is a blessing. Micah as usual just cracks me up but he also has the most tender of hearts and I am so thankful for it. Below are some ways that he has made me laugh or cry or laugh until I cry just in the last few days:

~We were jammin to "Standing on the Promises" in the car the other day and Micah was really belting it out. I then got a phonecall so the cd moved on and when I got off the phone, Micah says "Who's Sammy, Momma? Sammy?" At first I thought I had said something about Sammy, but I don't know anyone named Sammy. Finally he says, "You know, Sammy on the promises of God, Momma, that Sammy." I clarified and we jammed on.

~I did mention satan attacking and on one night Mick was pretty upset. We told Micah he didn't feel good. Micah says "Daddy, just eat some chicken noodle soup and you'll feel all better." Pure sweetness.

~I guess I get it from my Momma but she always randomly told us she loved us. I understand why now, with your babies you could really tell them that constantly just because your so full up with the stuff for them. So, we'll be riding in the car, whereever and I'll remind Micah that I love him. This week, he has started doing it to us and it has to be one of the sweetest things Mick and I hear each day.

~ Some days to get Micah to bed for nap he'll pretend to be a puppy and I use his blanket to lure him to his bedroom while he tries to pounce and bark from all fours. Today we did that then got in bed for his two books. We were laying there talking then I asked him to get the two books...he looks at me and says "Momma, I'm still a dog, so you'll have to pick them out, I can't."