Soccer starts this week and we have three boys playing this season. I'll definitely need to keep up on my meal planning because if I don't, we will end up eating out too much. Wednesday's dinner idea resulted from finding Coleman's Mild Italian Chicken Sausage on manager's special.

Monday

Dinner: Beef Stew, Salad

Tuesday

Dinner: Chicken Tortilla Soup

Wednesday

Dinner:  Red beans & rice with chicken sausage, Salad

Thursday

Dinner: Beef Shepherd's Pie (I may use cauliflower instead of carrots with the potatoes)

Friday

Dinner: Chicken Pot Pie

Saturday

Dinner: Italian Chicken & Veggies 

Sunday
Dinner: White Chicken Chili, Cornbread

One Tough Bug

{Left to right: homemade chest rub, antibiotic, homeopathic ear drops, saline nasal spray, acetaminophen, peppermint tea, vitamin C supplement. Other remedies we are using: chamomile tea, eucalyptus drops on pillow, humidifier, homemade chicken soup, and acidophilus}

This is what has been cluttering my counter for the past two weeks now. Spring always brings a nasty virus and the one going around here is a tough bug to beat. Almost everyone I've talked to has been hit by it. M2 started with it and then passed it to IB and M1. Now LJ and NG have finally gotten it a week and a half later. I started to feel it coming on but started taking Sambucol Cold & Flu Relief and the next day felt fine again. NG started taking them also but he still got it. Hopefully, it won't be as bad. The boys have shared similar symptoms and spiced it up with their own unique variations.

Fever. Congestion. Cough. Sore throat. Ear infections. Headache. Vomiting. Diarrhea. 

M2 had such a horrible cough that was causing him (and us) to lose sleep, so I took him to our doctor to make sure it wasn't turning into a secondary infection, like bronchitis or pneumonia. His lungs were clear but the PA said that his ears and throat were red. I let him know my opinion on antibiotics and ear infections and he gave me a prescription "just in case" M2 had strep and said it was my choice if I gave it to him or not. {Let me tell you that this was the beginning of my irritation with our family doctor's staff. I didn't process all of this until after I left, but if that PA had actually done a strep test, we most likely wouldn't have had to give M2 any antibiotic. And not only did he prescribe M2's first antibiotic, he wrote it for a mid-range one, Cefdinir, instead of amoxicillin and said that only about 5% of children get the diarrhea and rash with it!!  Of course, since then, I have talked to about 4 other moms whose kids took it and they said their little one got a horrible rash and one vomited.} Well, I wasn't going to give it to him but Papa Bear isn't quite of the same mind when it comes to these matters and insisted that we give it to him "just in case". Mommy doubt kicked in and I complied. Immediately, I regretted it. M2 developed diarrhea immediately and his little bottom was so red and tender that he screamed from the slightest touch. It was days before it got any better.

My normally very active son, IB, planted himself on the couch for a week, only getting up occasionally. He also had fever for about five days and looked so ill that I've been watching him closely. Of course, he broke out with several cold sores too. A curse that has been passed down from my grandmother to my mother to me and to at least one of my sons, so far. 

M1 developed an ear infection after a few days and within hours, his eardrum ruptured. We had been treating it with warm olive oil/garlic drops, warm compresses, and acetaminophen. Papa Bear took him to the urgent care and they gave him prescriptions for antibiotics and Claritin-D, claiming that he must have allergies. Another diagnosis without much evidence, so I'm not giving him the Claritin. This was the third ear infection and second rupture he's had in the past 6-8 months. We treated one infection at home and it went away in 48 hours. They have each occurred during a viral infection.

The very next morning, M1 woke up with an earache in the other ear and it ruptured too! I called our family doctor for a follow-up but couldn't get an appointment until two days later...with his PA! It takes a week or two to get an appointment with our doctor himself and he is also too busy for phone consultations. Then, when it was time for M1's appointment, we were running late because he was still feeling bad and moving slowly and was nervous about taking a shower with ruptured eardrums. I called them to let them know we were still five minutes away and was told that it is "office policy" to reschedule when you are more than 15 minutes late. Yes, being late was our fault but we probably would have still been in the waiting room at that point anyway. Since my kids don't get sick enough to see a doctor very often, I didn't realize what a pain it would be to actually see our family physician and not a PA. I chose our FP because he was of similar mind on some issues, like vaccinations and treating illness at home. We have been developing a relationship during wellness visits and then, when we actually need to see him, he's not available. Okay, I'm finished venting. Needless to say, we ended up at a convenient care and left with a prescription for antibiotics.

I've been researching every connection I can think of as to why M1 is having this problem. When he was an infant/toddler, he had ear problems but only one or two since then...until this past year. I'm trying to get him to give up dairy, but I don't think he'll stick with it. Besides allergies, other connections I've considered are his iPod {loud volume and bacteria on the ear buds} and his posture {I'm constantly reminding him to straighten up}. M1 has had orthodontic work done to correct several problems and just got his braces off a few months ago. He said that he has some jaw popping in the morning and occasional headaches. Relevant? I don't know but I'm not ruling anything out yet. I'm very concerned about the possibility of loss of hearing. I would like to be able to work with our doctor but I'm not happy with him right now. Chiropractic and an allergist are on my list to try.

Do you have any experience with their older child or adult having recurring ear infections with ruptures? I need help figuring this out. Thanks!

Conversations With LJ & Happy Birthday

We had a triple birthday party for M2, NG, and LJ two weeks ago but today is LJ's actual birthday. Four years old. We are going out to buy yellow balloons for the birthday boy and, later, I'll bake a chocolate cake. Because even if you've already had a party, you still have to have cake and balloons on your special day.

His gift is a new super hero cape. LJ specifically requested a yellow cape with a red lightning bolt because "lellow" is his favorite color right now. After opening his gift a bit ago, he said, "While you're driving, I'm gonna fly." 

A couple of days ago, I noticed some scratches on LJ. 

Me: "How did you get those scratches?"

LJ: "Maybe from a bear...when me and Dad went hunting last night." 

Got Ants? Need a Natural Solution?

We have ants. They've been coming out from under the downstairs toilet for a while. {Papa Bear and I are both afraid to see what's under our old toilet. It leans a little too.} And since someone spilled juice on our end table and it soaked into the felt pad on the base of our lamp, ants have found their way into our living room too. I removed the felt pad and scrubbed the area but they are persistent. They are only a minor nuisance right now, but I've got to do something before they invite more friends to the party or find their way into my kitchen.

Fortunately, when ants invaded our old house last year, I found Lindsay's ant trap recipe. It did the trick fast! The next morning after setting out the bait, I found dozens of ants sipping the sweet nectar to carry back to their nest. The next morning, the numbers were down. And by the third or fourth day, I didn't see any more ants.

Want to know how I did it?

Mix 1 tsp of Borax into 2 cups of hot water; stir to dissolve. Stir in 6 Tbsp of sugar. Dip a folded or crumpled paper towel into the solution, making sure it's saturated. Stuff the paper towel into a small dish, like a ramekin. Place the dish near the area where you see the ants, but out of reach of children and pets.

Sounds too easy, doesn't it? Believe me, it works. And after I did some research, I found that several marketed ant control products contain the same ingredients. It's easy and much cheaper to make your own.

Do you have any natural solutions for getting rid of uninvited pests?


Linked to Domestically Divine.

One Step Closer to Becoming an Adult

Last Friday was a big day for my oldest son and for us, as his parents. M1 got his intermediate driver's license, which means he can legally drive alone. He can get in his car and drive somewhere...on his own. Yes, I know that you know what that means. I'm still trying to get used to the idea.

He's been waiting for this for years. We began letting him start the car when he was about 11 and then, back the car out of the driveway to park on the street when he was 14, always supervised. We've always talked about the rules of the road while driving, explaining why we do certain things, pointing out what other drivers are doing wrong. {wink} M1 was always paying attention, soaking it all up like a sponge. When it was time to get his learner's permit, he read the whole manual in two days and passed the test with flying colors. And in the past seven months, he has read Crash-Proof Your Kids (actually written for parents), taken a four-hour state required course, watched the Rules of the Road, and has been racking up over 60 hours of driving practice time, mostly with Dad. And responded correctly to his mother's paranoid pop quizzes.

We feel that he has demonstrated good driving skills, but he's not out from under our wings yet. He knows that we still want to have supervised driving time with him and that he will have restrictions on where and when he can go out alone. We also printed off a parent/child agreement that sets up guidelines and expectations.

Papa Bear bought him a car last spring and he's been working on it, putting all of his money into it. M1 is so proud of it and himself. He has learned how to locate problems, research and order parts online, install the parts, change the oil, and understand how a car works, with some help, but mostly on his own. M1 got to experience his first solo outing yesterday when he drove to Auto Zone to buy a part for his car. I can imagine his excitement, that feeling of freedom that comes with being able to drive yourself where you want to go. My own feelings were more of the "butterflies in my stomach" variety, with a smidgen of nausea, as I watched him pull out of the driveway and drive down our street, disappearing around the corner. He texted when he got there and again to let me know he was going to the store next door to Auto Zone. And when he got home, he walked in the door a little taller.

Now that he can drive by himself, he's ready for the next big step...a job.