How a Week Wears Kimmie Out

Goodness, we just passed a really hectic week.  And we are staring down another!  Before I dive headlong into that one, some shots and notes from this one...

Josh was off for President's Day, so he loaded up all three kids Monday morning and they partied on down at Monkey's Joe's for Monkey Joe's birthday.  Anna even won a drawing for a free stuffed animal.  Because she doesn't already have too many of those... wait, what?!!

Tuesday we enjoyed another visit from Jonah's Journey, not counting how Lasa started getting a cold and the matching grumpy mood to go with it.  Wednesday, we did a half day of school and enjoyed a playdate with some fellow homeschool buddies ... not counting how fussy Lasa continued to be.  Red flags going up.  That night at Community Group, Lasa was an inconsolable beast.  More red flags.  Thursday, the kids had co-op and Lasa and I soldiered on through her cold.  Not getting better, snot turning thick and green in fact.   Friday I swore she was feverish, so I took her to the dr.  Turned out, she had a double ear infection and a RUPTURED ear drum.  This sweet thing!  In all that pain.  I cried right there in front of the doctor.  

Thankfully, my friend Karla was kind enough to take both my kiddos with her to play at Circus World while I did the doctor with baby.  Our homeschool group had plans to go and I hated to think of my kiddos missing it after looking forward to it all week.  Karla only planned to stay an hour or two.  They had such a great time, they stayed gone five hours!!   Which was immensely helpful while I did the doctor, pharmacy, wait, re-try pharmacy, and text everyone in town for GTP/baby/car issues juggling act.

Clearly we have a shortage of girls in our homeschool group.  At least we did Friday. Sheesh!

So, like I said, Baby had really, really painful ear stuff going on.  We were supposed to go to my sister's on Saturday but her oldest was sick and puny and Josh was gonna keep Lasa home anyway after the earfest she was battling, so we cancelled that trip at the last minute, which was no small bummer.   To get our minds off that let down, I busied myself tagging for consignment and Josh busied himself buying us a new car.  Yes, a new car. No, it was not an enjoyable way to pass a nice warm Saturday.  But it had to be done.  We have no savings to show for ourselves now that that's got and now we have a car payment which is also no small bummer.  But now I don't have to gripe about the GMC that I hated more and more every day.  Since it started rattling this week, we knew we had to bite the bullet and pour money into a reliable ride instead of repairing the Acadia again.  Memo to us, never buy American-made vehicles again.  Never.   Here's the ride we landed on after a bit of waffling and test-driving and borrowing for the afternoon - a 2015 Toyota Highlander.  I am thinking of naming her Julia or Trixie, but Anna wants us to think about it.  :}

There is a third row, but we have opted to only use the second on a daily basis.  That means it looks like this with all three bambinos piled in there.  

The kids assured me they weren't crowded and Lasa thorougly enjoyed not laying in a carrier for a change.  We are upgrading her to a big baby carseat this week once we get the right strap for riding her around rear-facing.  The test run with the big mamma-jamma carseat (though technically facing the wrong way) helped us get an idea of how workable this seating arrangement would or would not be.  We called it a go and signed on the dotted line ... which apparently still takes hours to get completed ... and we still have to go back Monday for a few final things.  It only felt a little weird to not get to say goodbye to the Acadia.  That car has been with us since before Anna was born and since Noah was just two years old!! That's a lot of life the GMC has seen us through since then!  It's also the last shred of Alabama we had hanging on to us.  We bought it just before we moved to Tennessee.  

So now it's Sunday, baby has three days of two antibiotics in her, and she is still a cranky beast.  We just suffered through a bummer of a visit with her momma and momma's new hubby tonight.  My nerves are shot and we are calling the doctor tomorrow, probably in tears again, begging for another solution to baby's pain.  Wish us luck!