Stomach Bug

 Tuesday I was on my way to a dr appt and had a few bad stomach cramps. That doesn't happen often but I didn't think much about it. As the day progressed so did the symptoms. At 1:30am the stomach bug that is going around hit with a vengeance! I was awake the rest of the night, in the bathroom. Wednesday morning I still felt "off" but not enough to miss out on school. So I taught and made the best of it. The school nurse stopped me and asked if I was feeling okay because I didn't look so good. She said that there was a nasty stomach bug going around. By the end of the school day I was worn out. I figured it was because I hadn't slept much the night before. I hadn't run a fever so I figured it was something I ate. I came home and laid down for a couple hours, determined to feel good enough to go to P's baseball game. I made it out the door...barely...getting to his game a few minutes late. I watched him bat and then barely made it to the ballpark bathroom where I started vomiting violently. I raced home and spent the rest of the evening alternating between trying to sleep and running to the bathroom. 

Around 11pm I got up to use the bathroom for the 1 millionth time and, as I was washing my hands, I got lightheaded. The last thing I remember was thinking, "If I move fast, I think I can make it back to bed." I didn't. Rob heard a commotion in the bedroom (he was planning to sleep on the couch). He came in our room and found me sprawled out on the ground with blood dripping off my face. I didn't make it to the bed, but I'm pretty sure that our gun safe "caught" me on my way down as I passed out. Without going into detail, it was a very embarrassing situation that Rob dealt with in the classiest way possible. We argued about me going to the hospital but I was adamant I was not going since the boys were already in bed for the night. He finally realized that I was going to be more stubborn than him so he helped me get in the bath to get cleaned up. In between getting cleaned up and making it back to our bed, I passed out 2 more times. All I could think about was how I was messing up our floors after the housecleaner had just come that day. (The things that run through my head!)

Thursday I woke up and wasn't doing much better. I knew if I didn't get to the hospital, I wasn't going to feel better any time soon. So, after Rob took the boys to school, I agreed to have him take me to the ER. The doctor gave me an IV and Zofran and I felt like a million bucks about an hour later. Actually, I didn't but I definitely felt more human. I was discharged and went home to sleep the rest of the day while Rob took over Dad Taxi duties. 

Last night (4 days after originally feeling sick) I finally felt human again. I don't remember the last time I was that sick and I definitely don't remember ever having to go to the ER for dehydration. (I drink 60-90 oz of water a day...every day!). It was horrible and I don't wish that stomach virus on my worst enemy. I am glad it's behind me and hope to never experience it again. I don't get sick often but, when I do, it's not a big deal. I don't deal well with stomach bugs and that one was a really big deal. Glad that one's behind me. Good riddance.

Spring Break

 There's something about Spring that makes me want to clean. There's also something about Spring that makes me want to travel. During our Spring break, the traveling bug in me won out. We jammed our week off with soooooo much stuff. We started the weekend with E playing in a tournament and P killing his first turkey. That Monday we met up with P's girlfriend and her sister at a local trampoline park, where they wore themselves out playing tag and Dodgeball. Then Tuesday morning we got up, loaded up the truck and headed to Texas. We stayed in a cute lakefront cabin for 3 days, where we were able to unplug and enjoy time as a family. We fished every day, made S'mores, walked on the little beach, caught turtles, used our imagination, saw bald eagles, waited out storms and visited Lake Fork Trophy Lures. The trophy lures store was probably the highlight of the trip. An employee asked us if we wanted to go see where the lures were made. She gave us a tour and went into great detail about how each lure is handmade. Then she told the boys that they could each fill a gallon ziplock bag with all the "reject" lures they want. They had barrels of lures that were simply not fit to sell because the dye was further down on one side or the other. I think the boys heard angels sing as they filled their bags with probably close to $300 worth of soft baits!

We got back Friday and I had just enough time to do some laundry and clean a little before heading to MS for Easter. Sunday morning we enjoyed a nice sunrise service and then went to a later church service before going to Rob's cousin's house for a nice Easter lunch. After we stuffed ourselves with delicious food, the kids enjoyed an egg hunt. 

I don't think we could've humanly fit any more things into our week. We had a blast and I am so glad we chose to travel instead of clean. Ha! Here are some of the pictures from our adventures.... 

Baseball! Baseball! Baseball!!

 If you asked me what my least favorite sport to watch is, it would be a toss up between golf, tennis....and baseball. But if you asked me what one of my most favorite things to do is I would say watching our boys do something they love. Good thing my love for our boys trumps my dislike of baseball because our lives are consumed with it! Both boys are now playing baseball so 4-6 days a week our days and nights are consumed with practices or games. 

P started playing for his middle school a couple weeks ago. He played his first game on Wednesday and I was impressed. He got hit, hard, with a ball on the side of his head before the game even started. But he went back out on the field before the first hit and played his heart out. He ended the game with a throw to 1st, earning the last out of the game. His team won!

E is in his third tournament this weekend. I don't know if I'm more amazed at how well his team is playing compared to their first game or how E stays eternally optimistic. When I was putting him to bed tonight he said, " Tomorrow is going to be a long day because I'll have 3 games." He's already thinking ahead to playing in the championship game despite not winning a game yet. (They've been close once or twice but didn't pull it off.) That's the heart of a champion!

I love watching the boys play. I love hearing their excitement when they talk about baseball. I love watching them watch baseball, taking notes on how they can get better. Although baseball is far from my favorite sport to watch I will gladly watch my boys play baseball every day of the week because I love them! 

First Date

Sometimes I look at our oldest and he looks like our little boy. Other times I look at him and he looks very much like the teenager he's becoming. That was the case a few days ago when he had his first date. He's had a girlfriend since Christmas but they both have busy schedules and don't get to see each other outside of school (other than youth group). Sunday, however, they were both free so his girlfriend's mom and I helped them make plans to go fishing and then to fro-yo. We picked Miss A and her mom up and took them to our favorite local fishing hole. Miss A's mom, Summer, and I sat a ways away and talked so they could have their privacy. Sadly they didn't catch anything due to the high pressure. But they had fun. We ended the afternoon at fro-yo where I got to know Miss A better. According to P, the date had the expected first date awkwardness but it was cute watching them from afar. 

Then last night Miss A and her mom came to watch P's first baseball game with his jr high team. He started the night by getting hit in the head with a baseball during warm ups. But he pulled it together and was able to throw a nice final out of the game. Afterwards Rob and I got to witness the "teenage" awkwardness as we said our goodbyes to Miss A and Summer.

Hopefully as they hang out more, the awkwardness will fade. I really like her and her family and am glad that P can call Miss A his first girlfriend. They have both set the bar high for future relationships!