The Saturday 7

1. Levi had a rough week. I wrote last Saturday that he was battling a fever. When he still had it Sunday, was pulling on his ears, had no appetite, and was acting lethargic, I decided to take him to urgent care. Sure enough: ear infection. I figured after a couple doses of the antibiotic he'd be back to himself. But he was miserable almost all week. All day. Every day. Actually, that's not true. He usually made a miraculous recovery around 5:00 every evening . . . just in time for Justin and my parents to get home. I wanted to scream, "You don't understand!! He has been crying for hours on end!" I resorted to taking pictures as proof:

Even being outside didn't make him happy.

He can't even.

Yesterday, for the first time, he finally started to turn the corner and act more like himself. And by today, he was full of energy and giggles. Whew! Finally!

2. Before our trip to urgent care on Sunday, the whole fam got together at Golden Corral to celebrate my mom's 60th birthday! The secret project I was working on last week was a photo book complete with 60 things we love about Mom. It was hilarious to look back at old pictures.

Here we are sometime in the 90s. I'd guess 95 or 96 because I'm pretty sure I wore that dress in my 6th grade school photo (1996).

This is my mom pregnant with me 2 MONTHS before I was born! So apparently it's Karma that I get so huge while pregnant. Haha. (Or genetics.)

And this must be about 1999. I think this was our Y2K party. (And before I started getting my eyebrows waxed. Oy.)

3. As if Levi's ear infection wasn't enough misery for this week, I had a terrible dentist debacle. I've never had problems with dental work . . . until this week. Last year, I got a cavity filled and it was a piece of cake. The gas made me feel heavy and sleepy and I didn't even care what they were doing in my mouth. But this time was a totally different story. I had to get the old filling repaired and get a new cavity filled (yeah, yeah, I need to lay off the Dr Pepper . . .). I wasn't at all worried. I marched right in and got hooked up to the gas, ready to go to my happy place. I noticed pretty quickly that the gas didn't feel nearly as strong as it did last time. And then when he numbed my gums the 2 shots I got last time weren't sufficient and he had to give me a third. While we waited for the numbing to take effect, he asked how the gas was and I said I wasn't feeling it very much, so he upped it. A few minutes later he started drilling my teeth . . . and I totally freaked out. It was so embarrassing. Lol. I was not afraid of the drill. I did not feel anything. I just got really hot and dizzy and started shaking from head to toe. He immediately stopped working and opened windows, put a cold cloth on my head, helped me take my sweatshirt off, and turned off the gas. I finally calmed down and he resumed work, but they never turned the gas back on, so I just had to lay there fully aware of everything going on. After the initial freak-out, I was fine, but it was so uncomfortable. He had some kind of trouble and kept asking for smaller tools and saying, "Hm, well let's try this . . ." so it took forever and my jaw is still sore 3 days later. Afterward, when I was apologizing profusely for being a maniac, he explained that some patients respond negatively to the gas . . . but I really don't think that was the issue since I had no problem with a stronger dose of the gas last time. He also said that there's epinephrine in the numbing shots and the third one might have pushed me over the edge, since I only needed two last time. I think that's more likely. Especially because I think the same thing happened when I had my epidural with Levi. Remember how the anesthesiologist gave me a "wet tap" and I was worried about a spinal headache? He gave me the small numbing shot and then started the big needle when I jumped because I wasn't numb yet. So he gave me more of the numbing stuff and I had the same panicky reaction where I thought I was going to pass out. Apparently I have a low threshold for local anesthetic. Lucky me. And now I'm going to be scared of dental work. Great. Just what I need. More anxiety.

4. Speaking of anxiety . . . it's that time of year again . . . our annual labor day camping trip. Once again I begin with the caveat that I love Justin's family and I love the opportunity to make memories with our kids, but I really do not love camping.

Pretty sure these words have been said in our tent in the past . . .

Last year Levi was 6 months old, so I went to a family member's house at night to sleep with him [Levi - not the family member. Just to be clear. ;-)]. This year, I don't think I'm going to have an excuse not to sleep in the tent with my family. We bought a brand new, huge tent, so we can fit two queen air mattresses and the pack n' play in there. I'm going to have to find my old Xanax so I'll actually sleep instead of worrying about bears . . . Seriously, though, aside from my weird phobias, I'm dreading dealing with Levi all weekend. How on earth is he going to nap in a tent? Last year he was young enough that'd he sleep anywhere anytime. This year, that is not going to happen. Plus he is constantly on the go. At home, our house is child-proof enough that I don't have to watch him like a hawk. But in a campground with roads and strangers and fire pits, I'm never going to be able to take my eyes off him. How bad would you judge me if I got one of those dog tie-down stakes and a leash and just let him run in circles . . .

5. Whew. I'm long winded tonight. Here's a quick sweet one. One day recently I was having a really hard time with Lucy. She was being sassy and disrespectful and I was feeling overwhelmed by my inability to parent her effectively. So I went in my room to take a few deep breaths and Lena followed me in. She asked what I was doing and I told her that I needed to pray to have a better attitude and be a good mom. She piped up, "I'll pray for you, Mommy!" So we knelt next to my bed and she prayed in her precious little voice that I would have a good attitude and that Lucy would obey (she's no dummy - she knew what set me off). It was amazing, and made me feel like I might be doing something right!

6. The girls are starting school next week which means our summer is officially drawing to a close. We had a great summer. We did lots of fun activities, spent lots of time with friends and family, and made some great memories. To celebrate and memorialize it, I printed out a bunch of pictures for the girls, gave them each an empty notebook and some stickers and told them to make a "Summer Scrapbook." They loved it and spent 2 solid hours gluing and captioning and reminiscing. Lucy's captions were adorable: