Confidence booster

Tonight Dan was busy buying and hooking up our new dryer (we vacuumed, checked, replaced, etc everything we could think of on the old one, and finally gave up). So I decided to take the boys to Pittsburgh Mills Mall.

I looked at Steelers superbowl gear and didn't find any good deals yet. I noticed when they won three years ago that the prices went down about 50% within two weeks following the big game. And is it just me or is the logo on the new shirts kind of lame? Maybe I just have to get used to it.

Then I browsed through H&M (my favorite clothing store!). We squeezed into the handicapped fitting room, double stroller and all. Isaiah kept saying, "Aw! You look cute in that!" I think I'll take him with me every time I go clothes shopping. He was also very interested to know if the articles of clothing had pockets. Apparently this is a very important feature to him.

Because the boys were so well-behaved, they got to play at the kiddie play area and go to the hobby store where they get to play with the Thomas train table.

It was a nice, refreshing night and a pleasant end to a crazy week.

P.S. Sam (who turned 15 months yesterday!) seems to be doing better already. Thanks for the prayers!

P.P.S. Check out my 300th post below.

This is my 300th post

Blogging does me good. It's like therapy to me some days (and cheaper than real therapy!!). It's an open forum type of genre so I know I can't always say everything on my mind, but I can usually say enough so you all get the gist of what's going on in my innermost, private thoughts. =) Thanks for reading.

Is this week over yet?

I'd be lying if I said this week was going well. It all started to go downhill on Sunday night when I got the minivan seriously stuck in the snow as I pulled into the driveway after our trip to Kentucky.

On Tuesday our dryer broke. It tumbles just fine, but there's no heat. This majorly freaks my groove because I have a steady stream of laundry moving through the washer and dryer on a daily basis. When the laundry gets backed up and people start running out of essentials I start to get all twitchy. This is not good.

The second thing that happened on Tuesday was that Sam was acting really clingy and coughing to the point he was choking. We gave him an albuterol treatment three times that day to try to clear him up. It really wasn't helping.

The third thing that happened on Tuesday was that Dan got the Prizm stuck in the snow. He and Vern tried to get it out. Then we called AAA, and they wouldn't come back here because our road is too icy. Argh. Eventually Dave from the Lighthouse came and pulled it out.

Since Tuesday we've done some dryer research (gotta love google/youtube!) and we realized that we had a bad heating element. Today Dan was able to buy a new one and replace it in under a half hour. We were both really impressed with how easy it was. So we started the dryer and it worked for about two minutes. Then the new heating element stopped working. Vern looked at it tonight and everything seems fine. The thermostat is working and one other thing that commonly malfunctions is fine. So now we have to make a choice. Do we get the dryer repair guy in here to try to fix it, or do we buy a new dryer. Which one is more cost effective?

Sam had a very rough night last night. He kept waking up coughing and crying. I ended up sleeping on the recliner in his room so I would be able to hear him breathing. We had a few scares where it sounded like he was trying to catch his breath.

So I ended up taking Sam to the doctor this morning, and he has bronchiolitis, which is caused by the common virus RSV. The younger a child is, the more dangerous this virus is. This virus is one of the main reasons preemies need to stay home for a few weeks when they go home from the hospital. The doctor checked Sam's oxygenation levels and they are at 100%, which is great. We are supposed to watch him for signs of fatigue or total loss of appetite, because then he may not be oxygenating fully. Then we would have to take him to the doctor and then possibly the hospital to get oxygen. He also has a double ear infection. Add to all that the fact that he's been cutting his two-year-old molars for several weeks now, and you have a pretty miserable child who is barely eating anything. If you know Sam, this is very unusual.

As if all that wasn't enough, Isaiah has been having some potty problems. Apparently he has what may be an anal tear/fissure. This is snowballing into a major issue. It hurts when he goes potty, so he doesn't want to go. When he finally goes, it hurts more, and etc etc. I already had him at the doctor for this a week or two ago, and they said basically to alter his diet, which I've been doing. But the poor guy is just miserable.

The good news is that this weekend's weather forecast has improved. Originally they were predicting rain. Rain over ice makes our road literally impassable even for the bravest of winter drivers. So I was wondering if we'd have to stay with my mom or in-laws this weekend so we could get to church. But now it's just supposed to warm up and not rain!

This has gotten exceedingly long, but at least I feel better having gotten it all out. =)

Our weekend

Dan and I had a really great trip down to Kentucky to meet my new neice Karis and visit Abbie, Katherine and Matt. They invited us to stay with them, but we pampered ourselves and stayed in a bed and breakfast near the seminary.

The drive down started out a little dicey. The roads on Friday morning were pretty snow covered, even the highways. Once we got to West Virginia, things mostly cleared up. We ate a leisurely lunch at Cracker Barrel, and after getting stuck in some Cincinnati and Lexington traffic, finally arrived around 6:00. We ate dinner and went to a game night with some of Matt and Katherine's friends. Our table was playing a game called "Loaded Questions" which I would highly recommend for a group of people regardless of how well they know each other. We heard some really interesting stories from people including most embarassing moments, hopes and dreams, things they're most proud of, etc.

In the morning we ate a wonderful, big breakfast and hung around for the rest of the day. The last time we were all together was in July 2008, so we got to see Abbie talking and walking for the first time! She's getting so big. And Karis is a little sleeping, eating bundle.

On Sunday morning we headed home in much more favorable weather. Dan and I were wearing our jerseys, and the closer we got to Pittsburgh, the harder I waved my towel. Well, it's hard to wave a towel in the car. There just isn't enough room. I sort of wagged and flapped it.

We had to pick Sam up from Vern and Lorrie's house, and when I pulled in our driveway, I got the minivan stuck in the snow!!! Ugh. So Vern and Dan tried to push it out. We called Rick from church, and he and Bethany came over (my heros!!!). Between the four of them pushing, we got it out. Phew! So that was an interesting end to our nice, relaxing, kid-free weekend.

Oh goodness... That just about killed me

My head is throbbing. My heart is still racing. I'm not sure how long it will take for me to recover from that game. I know tomorrow everyone will be sporting the Steeler superbowl shirts. I need one that says "I survived Superbowl XLIII." Go Ben. Go Santonio. GO STEELERS.