It's a wonderful thing.

Warehouse Wednesday.

I don't know how many of you live near a Spaghetti Warehouse (like the one in Memphis) but ours has a Warehouse Wednesday special.

Spaghetti, with your choice of sauce; salad; bread; and a drink, all for $5!

We make the 45-minute trek once every few weeks. The food is great, and the atmosphere is even better. One of the booths is made from a brass canopy bed, and there's a trolley car you can eat inside (Anna Marie's favorite).

Last night we went, and although I stayed (roughly) inside my POINTS range, I guess all that pasta blew up inside me - I'm not used to being that full these days.

I had a hard time sleeping because of the feeling.

Maybe next time I won't be quite so hungry (it was after 7:00 when we ate, and I'm used to eating 5:30 or 6:00) and can better control myself. I think if I'd eaten more slowly, I wouldn't have gotten that "full all of a sudden feeling." It was awful.

Ahh, pasta!

I think I have this super hero stuff figured out.

See, it isn't my fault.

It's society.

(I'm such a good American! I found someone to blame!)

The problem I have with Anna Marie being obsessed with male super heroes is that I don't want her to think that only men can be strong. However, there seems to be a dearth of female heroes in the media these days.

I know what you're thinking - almost all the "action" shows have a female character. That's just the problem. It's just "a" character - a token, if you will. Where are the portrayals of strong women that don't need legions of men to come to their rescue?

That was the great thing about Wonder Woman. She was strong and smart, but also beautiful. And she could take care of herself.

So, if Anna Marie wants a Batman party, I'm not going to fight her about it. Let her have one. Like I said before, the problem isn't hers, it's mine, and now I have figured out the "root cause."

Where is Lynda Carter when we need her?

This birthday business is hard.

So, Anna Marie's birthday isn't until October 2.

However, I have not done ONE IOTA of planning. Not one. I woke up in the middle of the night this past week with that realization.

Last year, we had her party at Chick-Fil-A. It cost us $7 per kid, and we had a 7 kid minimum. I ended up eating one of the kids meals (which is probably what I would've ordered anyway). They provided a meal for each kid, cake, ice cream, balloons, and some party favors. But, I had to have it at like 10 a.m., which was a little early for eating lunch, because they wanted us out before the lunch rush.

This year, I'm thinking I don't want to do the fast food route. The trouble is, if I have it at my house, most of the people who come live almost an hour away. The locale last year was a halfway point for both sets of folks.

But I don't know where else to have it. There is a park about 15 minutes up the road, but I'm afraid of outdoor parties. You know, weather and all.

The other dilemma: a theme.

See, she's into super heroes. WAY into super heroes. I'm trying not to bend to gender stereotypes and don't really say much to discourage her. Except with this birthday thing. She asked for a Spiderman party last year. We got blessed with some Nemo stuff from a lady at our church, so that's what we used. Problem solved, at least for one year.

Now, she's back on the superhero track. And she doesn't want any of this pink Supergirl stuff either. I could deal with that. I could deal with Wonder Woman, because she was my absolute favorite when I was Anna Marie's age. Problem is, she doesn't know much about Wonder Woman or Supergirl. Seems there aren't many cartoons of the two of them.

I tried to steer her to soccer. We got a catalogue in the mail yesterday, and I let her look through it. What does she gravitate towards? BATMAN.

I know I'm being silly. What do I care if my daughter would rather play with Superman than Disney Princess? I don't want her being that stereotypical princess (besides the "I deserve it" attitude I think it portrays, I also don't want her growing up to think that a prince is going to sweep her off her feet. Cause honey, that isn't how it works in real life.)

The thing that concerns me is what other parents think. I know my little spitfire is not a "girly girl." That's OK. I've adjusted to that. I'm concerned about her getting made fun of. By whom? Other parents, probably. Most of the kids coming to her party (my cousins' kids, her babysitter's son) will be boys. They won't mind the Batman theme at all. But what would some other parents think, if I invite their daughter to a super hero party?

I know I can't have it both ways. I can't have her not be a "diva" and not be a "super hero" either. There has to be some sort of compromise.

I have to find that middle ground, more for my sake than hers.

After all, I received a Spiderman doll for my third birthday. She comes by it honest.

Good news!

I have three items of good news to post tonight.

1. The special football edition has been put to bed! I am finished with that particular nightmare for one more year.

2. I was going over the pages in Welcome to Tate County (the magazine our paper publishes once a year) and (it would seem) that I don't have to panic about not having enough copy. GOD IS SO GOOD!

Explination: usually, someone outside of the regular office staff puts the mag together, since we run such a skeleton crew. However, the publisher decided that it would be done in-house this year. The problems with that are 1. I already have my hands full with my regular work, 2. I know LESS THAN NOTHING about putting a magazine together, and 3. Usually, there is an intern to help out, but thanks to some "magic brownies" the night before a drug test, that didn't quite work out this year.

I'll still work on Saturday, but I'm much better off than I thought I was. Now, I just have to concentrate on the deadline: September 1. Luckily we have an early deadline on our normal work that week, so I can devote Friday to the magazine.

Now, for the third bit:

3. I BROKE THE 180 MARK! FINALLY, I'M IN THE 170's! I lost another pound this week, taking me to 179. Actually, it was a little more than that, but my WW leader said she'd be conservative this week so that I'd have a better weigh in next week. Then she told the group I was her star pupil!

(I know y'all are getting tired of the whole weight loss thing. I'll try to keep these rants to once a week. I promise.)

That about does it for this update. I got very little sleep last night, and had to function today on basically lots of caffeine. I am now off to bed, except that I think I hear Jason watching one of his Star Trek Voyager DVDs in there.

Oh bother.

Coming up to breathe

Well, I finally came to a place where I can come up for air for a few minutes and update my blog.

This is during the water/grape break I'm making myself take. (Thanks mom, for stocking the office fridge with grapes. I almost had to resort to Starburst from the vending machine. Almost.)

This is a picture of our little "footballer" (as her Aunt Manda keeps calling her, prompting cries of "No, I'm a soccerer!"). She had her first practice Monday night. At the scrimmage at the end, she did pretty well - except for when the coach told the team to run after the ball, and she stood in one place jumping up and down from all the excitement.

The next Mia Hamm, I'm telling you. Or David Beckham. I haven't decided.

She was so excited to get her "kit" (as Amanda told her the uniform is called in England) that she wanted to change into it right away. At the church. I told her that we had to drop by Gramma's, and she could change there. I could barely get inside before she was trying to get to her cute little uniform. It's a little big, but that makes it cuter in our estimation.

Her first game is September 16. I need to work on getting a lawn chair. I also have to work on some alternative hair situation for her - the usual hair barrette is not going to cut it. I guess it's back to the pigtails.

Break's over. Back to the grindstone, er, magazine.

Go Geckos!

The Brothers Grimm

Hmm. It seems like Sunday nights are definitely for movies around here, even if Amanda doesn't make sushi (which she didn't tonight. I had most of the stuff here still - I should've taken it upon myself)

On a related note - she found the wasabi! Oh happy day! Now my sinuses can be opened by its biting pungency once more!

Anyway, Anna Marie went to mom's tonight because Jason is getting up at the crack of dawn to go to the auction and meet the food service truck. We've had The Brothers Grimm for at least a week (maybe more - gotta love Netflix!) I didn't think it would be appropriate for Anna Marie, and I was right. Waaaay too creepy for a four year old.

Heck, it was almost too creepy for me!

On another note, it was good to see some of our Arkansas kinfolk today. And, Caleb, a.k.a. "Brotha Coley," finally made his debut down here! He's a "Coley baby" for sure. (For those of you non-kin type readers, that's my mom's, and Caleb's grandmothers', maiden name.)

Well, it's back to work this week. I could SO use a day off, but the magazine is due on September 1, and I have a football tab that has to go down this week, so I won't be getting much rest for the next week or two.

If I'm MIA from here for a few days, you'll know why.

For all you Anna Marie fans out there…

I caved.

I made The Kid a blog.

Amanda has rolled her eyes over the whole thing.

She has two posts (one of them a video) so go visit already.

And leave her a comment, if you please. It'll make a little red headed girl happy.

Anna Marie's World

My 1 year Weight Watchers anniversary

This marks my one-year anniversary on Weight Watchers.

I have been to the Senatobia Church of Christ every Thursday for the past year. I have not skipped one weigh-in, mainly because I've become so obsessed with my weight that I don't think I could go more than one week without knowing how much I weigh.

When I started last year, I weighed 237 pounds. That isn't the most I've ever weighed, even when pregnant. I had lost a few pounds about a year and a half before doing South Beach, but it wasn't practical for my "lifestyle" (read: too expensive). I had read many, MANY studies about how that WW was the easiest to maintain plan, and I knew that if I was paying someone to look at my weight every week, it would go a long way toward making me behave.

That, and I knew that no food was a "no-no."

At last night's weigh in, I came in at 180 pounds. That means in the past 52 weeks, I've lost 57 pounds. I have had a few times when I either didn't lose anything, or I gained (one week it was two pounds! I was devistated!) but I always got back on track.

I have a long way yet to go, but it feels good to look back and see that I'm much better off than I was this time last year.

My daughter, the Gecko.

We got Anna Marie's soccer roster yesterday.

She's apparently a Gecko!

At first, she wasn't thrilled about being on a team named after a lizard, but then Jason got her to do the "lizard tongue" thing that only the two of them know how to do, and she was OK with it.

Practice starts next week, and the games start mid-September. Thankfully most of them are at 9:15 a.m., and only a couple are at 8:00 a.m.

The other teams have names like Squirrels, Hamsters, and such.

Considering all that, I guess Gecko is the coolest team of all.

Talk about support!

I went to my book club meeting today (Lunch with Books).

Someone always brings an amazing dessert. I know this. I want that dessert. So, I plan my day accordingly: a good-for-me breakfast (Kashi cereal this morning with low fat milk), a healthy mid-morning snack (a banana), and I bring something low-POINT for lunch - today it was a cantelope half with grapes where the seeds used to be. I picked it up before work this morning.

Somehow, the other ladies have picked up on my "healthy lunch" vibes, and have noticed my weight loss.

Today, Marie (the un-official head of our band of bookworms) brought the goodies, and she made sure to have something healthy - carmel rice cakes.

It made me feel so, I don't know, special that someone who barely knows me would think of me ahead of time.

I'm part of the Diet Naked team at The Amazing Shrinking Mom blog, and this week we've been talking about having supportive people around. You can read the post here.

So, if you know someone who is trying to live healthier, or quit smoking, or get their life straight - whatever - please do all you can to support them.

You never know how important a simple act of support might be to their success.

Another day, another round of medicine…

Anna Marie is still coughing.

Jason took her to the doctor yesterday and they did another swab for strep. It came back positive. I don't know how, and neither does the dr. He said the in-office test is very sensitive, and if there is only one strep bacteria it will come back positive. He sent a second swab for testing in a lab.

Meanwhile, we have another antibiotic and some liquid albuterol. I was going to post about what a big girl she was being by taking her medicine, but this morning ruined all that. I had to wrestle with her for a good while, and threaten to throw away her beloved butterfly net, before she took it. She said the albuterol tasted like cooking oil, which I thought was strange.

I just hope we don't have to go through this every early August - because next year she'll be starting school.

On a lighter note, please be amazed at the biggest bag of cereal you have ever seen. IN.YOUR.LIFE. (I still haven't figured out the whole "periods between each word thing.") I like to call it the "Sock O' Cereal."



Hopefully, this new round of medicine will take, and we can be through with this. Otherwise, I'm finding a new doctor. One of my co-workers told me yesterday that he took his kids to this particular doctor three times for the same cold, which he kept diagnosing as allergies.

I miss the World's Best Pediatrician, Dr. Middlebrooks! I'm considering moving back to Georgia, just so Anna Marie can see him again. It would only be for the next 13 years, and then we can move back.

I'm not kidding.

Turner/Raney Sushi Night!

Last night marked the second weekly Turner/Raney Sushi Night. Amanda made a variation on her rolls of last week, this time using some sweet potatoes and teryaki seitan. Unfortunately, she couldn't find her tube of wasabi paste, so we had to concoct our own dipping sauces from various ingredients. Good stuff.

Our movie of choice was Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow. Kind of odd, kind of artsy-fartsy, but not too bad. I never thought I'd say this, but there really wasn't much in the way of character development. And, you find out pretty early on who the Sky Captain is, but you have to wait until near the end to figure out the World of Tomorrow part.

We had two "visitors" at church yesterday from "across the river" (West Memphis) - Uncle Melvin and Aunt Debra. (For those of you non-family-members, they are my mom's older brother and younger sister.) We all went to Rio Lindo afterwards, and Anna Marie invited them to our house. Luckily, we thought they might come down, and that Anna Marie might invite them over, so we made a real effort to have the house in some sort of order. And it worked! Aunt Debra was amazed that anyone's house looked that clean after the before-church rush, and then she saw Jason's office. She said it helped her feel better about the rest of the house, like it was all more real. I'm glad they came down. We had a nice visit. And Anna Marie just loves her Aunt Naw!

On another note, Anna Marie has heard all this "blog talk" and now wants one of her own. I'm on the fence about it. Input anyone?

Tell me what sense this makes.

I spied this in the Dollar Tree today. Peaches in pear juice? What is this world coming to?

(Actually, I thought this would be a good time to try out my new camera phone. It has a removable memory card, so I just put it in my card reader and away I go! I just got it Wednesday, so I'm still figuring it out.)

While I'm trying out the new phone, here is another picture I took:



It's my desk at work. Now that I look at it here, I am ashamed to claim it. You'd think with this cool computer, I'd take better care of my area. Shame on me.

You may wonder why I have no pictures of The Kid. The answer is simple: I've seen her very little in the last couple of days, and when I have seen her and tried to get a picture, she hasn't been cooperative. She's with mom right now, in fact, at the chiropractor. Sometimes I'm afraid mom is going to ask for child support.

I'll go for now. I'm expecting some late breaking news from the Sheriff's Department about some meth bust they made yesterday, and it should be coming over the email any minute now.

Oh, the exciting life of a reporter.

Edit! The Chief of Police just called to say that this article I wrote about scams saved some little old lady from getting taken! It's nice to know you make a difference sometimes!

Another great food find!

Since my Boca post was so popular, I thought I'd let you lucky people in on another food find.

I have three words for you: VAN'S EGG ROLLS. Yep, I found them in Super WalMart. Even here in Senatobia, where you can find NO specialty food, I found them.

I got turned on to them on the Weight Watchers message boards. The legendary ca_vol is their biggest cheerleader. Seriously. She wants to do commercials.

Anyway, I tried the vegetable, and they were OK. Then, I had the chicken. Oh.my.gosh. They are beyond divine.

I made them in the toaster oven. I would not attempt microwaving - it will probably lead to sogginess, a state which we all hope to avoid.

(I know the picture is the shrimp flavor. I haven't tried the shrimp, but I couldn't find a picture of the chicken.)

They are two POINTS each for most flavors, but beware - two of the chicken count as five POINTS. I think ca_vol does one chicken and one pork, and that keeps it at four.

No sauce needed either! I find myself craving these, wishing I could eat them at odd times. I know I ate Bocas for breakfast, but I just can't bring myself to do these that early in the morning. No aversion to real food at that hour, but I don't want to spend that many POINTS on something so small.

Tonight I washed them down with another great find - Diet A & W Root Beer. It is, by far, THE BEST. Bar none. (Hey, do you remember the candy bar by that name in the '80's? Nevermind - this is supposed to be about healthy food.) The 20-oz. bottles are even cool looking, but they are rather hard to find. Our SWM does not carry them, but our local market Kaye's does.

So, in short, you have two new healthier choices to try - Van's Egg Rolls and Diet A & W.

Go on now. Get to it. You can thank me later.

Thirty things about me.

I was going to do this yesterday, but it got kind of long with the pictures and all. Actually, I should've done this Sunday, but I wasn't in front of a computer long enough. (This sharing one computer thing has GOT TO STOP!)

So, in honor of my recently passed 30th birthday, here are thirty things I've done in the last thirty years. In no particular order, just the order I happen to think of them in.

In the last thirty years, I have:

1. Spent two Christmases in Dallas ringing bells for the Salvation Army. Yes, some places do hire people, and pay them quite well, for that type of work.

2. Spent two weeks in New Mexico, conducting a youth camp on a reservation.

3. Spent one summer in North Carolina working at a home for children whose parents couldn't (or wouldn't) take care of them.

4. Lived in Tenneessee, Mississippi, Georgia, South Carolina, and, briefly, Texas.

5. Gotten married (eight years ago).

6. Been pregnant twice, given birth once.

7. Lived with my family.

8. Had my family live with me.

9. Worked for the Journal of the Islamic Medical Association of North America. (It was before 9/11, so no, I don't know how my editor felt about it.)

10. Ran a soup kitchen/food pantry.

11. Visited North Carolina, Virginia, Ohio, Michigan, Arkansas, Alabama, Indiana, Florida, Texas, Louisiana, New Mexico, Arizona, Missouri, Kentucky, and Canada (twice).

12. Sold Premier Jewelry (briefly).

13. Written some books.

14. Written some songs.

15. Delivered some sermons.

16. Worked at three different desks (and positions) in the same office - the one I'm in now.

17. Entered a two-mile walk, and got a trophy for it (in my age group, not overall!)

18. Started this blog.

19. Driven 1,000 mile round trips by myself, many, many times.

20. Driven the same car for 10 years (and it wasn't anywhere near new when I got it).

21. Completed my bachelor's degree in English.

22. Accepted Christ into my life (I said this was no particular order, so don't get upset that He's not first).

23. Competed in several academic competitions, some of which were on TV.

24. Moved more times than I care to remember.

25. Lost loved ones, and met some new ones.

26. Learned to eat tofu, and like it.

27. Gained weight, and lost some of it.

28. Learned to drive a manual transmission, and then forgot because of lack of practice.

29. Eaten sushi.

30. Started scrapbooking.

There are more, but I thought I'd be kind and limit it to 30. Some of the things I haven't done include ice skate, learn to whistle, and run a marathon (but you knew that already, didn't you?)

Today is also the one year anniversary of the passing of my maternal grandfather, Rev. G.L. Coley. He was 91 years old, and he led a man to Christ just a couple of weeks before he "moved away to be with God" as my mother says.

One day, Papaw, we'll see you again.

Thirty.

It's all a big joke until it happens to you.

(That was the card Marcia sent me. I thought it quite clever.)

Well, now. There it is. I'm 30. It doesn't feel much different from 29. I think that's part of the problem.

See, I think of 30 as an "adult" age. I remember a few years ago a friend at church in SC turning 30, and I thought she was a grown up. She had a son and a set of twins, and she was considered an adult at church. I was considered, I guess, a "young adult." Now, I don't think I'm the same kind of "30" that Kim was when she turned 30.

(Strange sounding, isn't it?)

Amanda was gracious enough to send me some pictures from Sunday. One of which is her real sushi. Seems she got kind of offended at the stock sushi photo I put in my last post.



That's me with my Aunt Esther, the one with whom I share a birthday. She gave me some money, and I think I'll buy a purse in honor of her.



That's me with my cousin Alison, Esther's younger daughter. It isn't that we didn't invite her big sister Cheree, but she was on a trip with her in-laws.



Ok, this is sort of embarassing, but I don't know why. We were passing by a "bling cart" at Peabody Place Mall, and Anna Marie spied a big Playboy Bunny necklace. "Look, Mama, a bunny!" Oh, to be that innocent!



The promised picture of Amanda with her real sushi. Sorry sis, the other was all I had to work with at the time.

Jason was so good and humored me yesterday. He took me to WalMart to get some cupcakes. The only ones with white frosting and buttercream icing were Crayola - they had crayon-box rings on top! Awesome! We get the BEST cakes when we wait until the last minute to pick up what they have premade, like the time Jason went to get one for mine and Amanda's birthday and it was a hunting-themed cake complete with a 3-D deer magnet you could take off. That magnet is still on mom's fridge. He then took my by Radio Shack to give Lindsey one, but she had gone home for lunch, so he then took me to Jeremy and Lindsey's apartment so I could deliver a couple. Next, we went to mom's house to eat the rest, and then he took me to the mall in Southaven and dropped me off so I could spend a $15 gift certificate Lane Bryant sent me. I ended up with two shirts, and only had to spend $5.

He then humored me one last time, by waiting in Southaven when Marcia called from Oxford (an hour away) to see if we wanted to get some pizza with her for my birthday. I'm telling you, he's a good man.

So, I have a gray hair (or two). And, I'm starting to get a few "laugh lines" around my mouth. My goal for the future is to stop always wishing to be someone and somewhere else, and concentrate on being the best "me" I can be.

My latter will be greater than my former.

On the brink . . .

Of turning 30.

As I write this, it's roughly nine hours until I turn 30. (I was born at 6:35 a.m. Ironic, since I'm much more of a night owl than a morning person.)

Today was the day we "celebrated." Let me give you a rundown.



1. I am officially a soccer mom. (This didn't have anything to do with the celebration. It's just part of what we had to do today). We took Anna Marie to sign up for Upwards Soccer at a local church (OK, so I don't guess 15 miles is local). She also had to show them her mad soccer skills, so they could put her on a team. We were there at 8:00 a.m., so needless to say we had to get up pretty darn early.

2. We met Aunt Esther and Alison at Pancho's for my yearly birthday lunch. (Tomorrow is Aunt Esther's birthday too. I like to think of myself as the best birthday present she ever got.) I ate the Tijuana Taco Salad, with LOTS of Pancho's dressing. And no, I don't know how many points it was. Nor do I care. Jason admitted that he hadn't gotten around to getting me what he wanted to (a gift certificate for some clothes) so he told me just to take the cash. Sweet. Mom got me a GC, but to a store called Special Daze here in town. I walked down there (it's only about two blocks from home) when we got back, but they'd just closed. I'll have to wait until Monday.



3. After lunch, we went to Peabody Place (across the street) and all got different desserts. Mine was a mocha light frappuchino from Starbucks. Neither Dad nor Aunt Esther had ever been to Peabody Place before. Anna Marie was very excited, and took Aunt Esther on a tour.



4. Sushi! Amanda just learned how to make the stuff, and she came over to make some here tonight. It was great! I guess they were kind of like California rolls - rice, avocado, cucumber, and carrots. Oh, and the wasabi/soy dipping sauce - I'm craving the stuff now! We watched the Bewitched movie too. I kept hearing bad reviews, but I thought it was quite cute. I love Will Ferrell so much - he reminds me of my brother Jonathan.

And now, my friends, it is time for bed. I've already started spying grey hairs, and I guess I could be like my Mamaw Coley and either pluck them out or dye my hair. I went a big part of my life thinking she was naturally not going grey, and then my mom told me about her Fancy Full/hair plucking habit. I was shocked.

When I awake, I'll be "thirtysomething."

See you on the other side.

Scrapapalooza '06!

Remember when I said that I got some layouts done while Jason and Little AM were in SC? Well, this morning I took a wild hare and got pictures of them. I uploaded them to the gallery at the CKMB, and now here are a few for your viewing pleasure.

(Keep in mind that while I do have a scanner, I don't know how to do that "stitching" thing that others do so I just take pictures. You get the general idea.)



These are the pictures of Anna Marie's Big Girl Bed, which she received at the end of December. No momentous occasion in getting it, other than we found a good deal on a bedroom suite.



Page 1 of the "Pretty Girl" layout from her Spring '05 photo shoot. That's my back door she's in front of. The paper came from Dollar Tree, of all places.



Page 2 of the Pretty Girl.



Our family's trip to Heber Springs, Ark., last summer.



Page 2 of Family Time.

That's all I had time to do this morning. There are LOTS of others, I assure you. Some of them are finished, and some need a little "something" that I haven't figured out what yet.

I was almost late to work doing all this. I figured it must be how Amanda feels.

P.S. Anna Marie and everyone else had a great time at James Micheal's party last night. I SO hated not to go, but I had to cover a school board meeting.

The rims say it all.

In case you can't see these, they say "Player." In the center, and all around the edge. They were so shiny, I had a really hard time getting this picture (not to mention trying to sneak and do it, so that the owner of the vehicle wouldn't come and pimp slap me.)

These were spotted on a slick BMW outside the Tate County court house yesterday. I couldn't resist. Has this person ever heard of "hubris?" (Thanks, Dr. Krickel, for that one. That's Krickel, like nickel, not pickle.)

Anna Marie is still coughing. The doctor didn't really address that problem AT ALL. I called back today, and he's called her in some cough medicine at the pharmacy. He could've just paid attention to that yesterday. She was coughing her little red head off in the office. I know he could hear her.

She is, however, on the road to recovery, and for that I am thankful.

I am officially a bad mother.

I took Anna Marie to the doctor this afternoon. Thankfully, we aren't in the middle of flu season so I didn't have to wait too long. Here is what I was told:

1. She has strep throat. Yep, strep. (Hey, that rhymes!) She's never had strep, not even this past spring when it was going around the home of her former babysitter. She's never had so much as an ear infection (I know, we're blessed). Her list of illnesses up unitl now has been: pink eye, some sort of viral infection that gave her spots, a "flu-like virus", and now strep. That's pretty much it. I was give a prescription for amoxicilin and she has to take it for the next several days.

2. She was behind on her shots. That meant she needed three today. THREE! She had just calmed down from the trauma of getting her finger pricked, and the doctor came in and said she needed three. She fell apart, the poor thing! Got so upset she was hyperventalating. I had to HOLD HER DOWN ON THE TABLE! It was traumatic for both of us, but she got a popsicle out of the deal (from the doctor)>

3. He wants her to see a speech therapist. Now, I know she doesn't speak perfectly, but she's four! I told him we had planned on just waiting for school next fall, and he thinks that if she goes now she won't need one at school. Trouble is, the nearest one is half an hour away! I've really got mixed feelings about this.

She's watching Winnie the Pooh right now, and trying to rest. At least her medicine tasted good enough that she took it freely. The doctor says that after 24 hours of the medicine, she won't be contagious. Maybe she can get to go to James Micheal's birthday party tomorrow night, because she'll have been taking the medicine that long.

The worst part: she keeps reminding me that she tried to get me to take her to the doctor for TWO DAYS! And holding up two fingers, just so I'll know how many days two is. I feel just awful, but I tried to explain to her that I knew she was sick, I was just trying to make sure it was the kind of sick that needed a doctor and not the kind we can fix at home.

At least now we know what's wrong with her, and what can make it right.

Cough! Cough!

That's the sound I've been hearing for the past couple of days. Not from myself - from Anna Marie.

Now, I'm not a bad mother (at least I don't think I am) and I'm not opposed to medical care. It's just that in the last four years of her life, I still sometimes have a hard time figuring out when she needs to go to the doctor.

Her allergies have been bothering her, just like they did this time last year. Last week it was some sneezing and stuffy/runny nose. I gave her Claritin, and it was (getting) better.

This past weekend, things progressed to a cough. I still had the medicine left over from last year's trip to the minor medical clinic, and it says it's good until 8/7/2006, so I gave it to her. I can't tell whether it's helping, and she HATES taking it.

Sunday, she was at mom's to spend the night and we got concerned about her coughing (I didn't want her up all night, because that would keep mom up too) so I went to get her some Triaminic strips. She loves taking it, but I don't think it's helping.

She only goes to a babysitter twice a week, and today was the first day. Kim (the sitter) agrees that the medicine isn't doing any good, so tonight we're back on the "hard stuff."

I'm so confused as to what to do (besides pray) for her. She isn't running a fever. Other than being a little less energetic than usual, she isn't acting "sick" (and I don't know if that's just because of the cough medicine.) She has one more day the sitter's this week, and Kim said she doesn't think I need to keep her home.

So, what's a mother to do? If she had a temp, I'd keep her home or take her to the doctor. How do you know when it's post-nasal drip or something more serious?

I'm thankful that she hasn't been sick very often, but it's kind of left me a "non-expert" in these things.

Mothers and others out there - HELP!