The Saturday 7

1. We went back to the ENT for Levi this week. We went in November and the doctor said Levi was "on the cusp" of needing tubes, but wanted us to wait it out. When he got an ear infection last month, our regular doctor sent us back to the ENT. He also had a hearing test since the combination of his delayed speech and frequent ear infections raises a red flag. He and I sat in a little room and waited for a noise from either side of the room. If Levi turned his head toward the noise, he got a point. Then at the end, the technician (who was standing outside the room) asked Levi a question. He immediately started shaking his head no. The good news is that Levi heard her and passed the test. The bad news is that I could not hear a word she was saying.

I'm blaming it on my cold, but I know I have some hearing loss even when I'm in perfect health. Great. Anyway, the ENT still wasn't concerned and said he doesn't need tubes. I don't care what our pediatrician says. We are not going back there. It's such a pain.

2. I got to help with a cool fundraiser my girls did at school this week. I think I've written about it before - we participated in Feed the Need for the first time this year. The kids (and their parents) raised $95,000! The school gets to keep 65% of that and the rest goes to feeding starving kids in Haiti. On Wednesday, the kids packed 10,000 meals to ship to Haiti. It's really neat that the kids do the work and see the food they raised money to send.

Lucy helping scoop soy. 

Each bag got a scoop of soy, dehydrated vegetables, vitamin powder, and rice. The Feed the Need organization has the assembly system down to a science and it went so smoothly. The school packed 10,000 meals before noon!

3. The health update: my cold lessened in severity, but my cough took over full force. This is how my body always responds to respiratory ailments: unrelenting, body-wracking, never ending coughing. It's the worst. Although thankfully, I've been able to sleep. And as long as I keep myself medicated, my coughing fits are pretty few and far between. I can't wait to be totally back to normal, though. I keep telling myself, "this won't last forever. It will be over soon. You are going to survive."

This was me last week. Lol.

Lena woke up with a random fever on Tuesday and I thought it was the beginning of this awful cold for her, but she's had a pretty mild case.

4. I'm especially glad that we're all feeling better because we added another kid to our menagerie this week! My sweet great-niece Nova is staying with us for 11 days while her parents and grandparents are on a cruise. (One of my sisters just got home from a week in Florida while the other just set sail on a 7 day cruise to Mexico. I'm not bitter at all.) Nova came Thursday morning, so we've got a couple days under our belt. It's actually going really well. She's a super easy baby. She's usually pretty content to play with toys or sit in the exersaucer as long she's not hungry or tired. But she likes to fight sleep, so I spend a lot of time pacing with her and jiggling her - which is wreaking havoc on my back. It's so annoying that 10 minutes of jiggling ruins my back for the rest of the day. It's actually been a really good reminder of what it felt like to be pregnant and is renewing my conviction that we should be done having babies. Fortunately the girls are really good helpers. They give her bottles and hold her and comfort her when she cries. Levi is absolutely not helpful at all. I can't take my eye off him for a second while he's near her because he's constantly falling on her or chucking toys at her head or trying to feed her grapes. Lol.

3 little helpers assisting with rice cereal

Teaching her how to use a tablet from a young age.

5. This week is Spring Break and we are supposed to have absolutely abysmal weather. I'm a tiny bit worried about what I'm going to do inside with 4 kids all week. Especially because my car is going into the shop on Monday, so we're going to be stranded at home indefinitely. If you've got any brilliant ideas, feel free to send them my way!

6. Today, Libby came over with donuts.

Hahahaha

And she helped me dye eggs with the kids.

I've never even let Levi paint because I can't handle messes. This was way out of my comfort zone. Lol.

Then, while the babies were napping my Mom, Libby, and I played Scrabble. I have a big mouth and a bigger ego when it comes to Scrabble, so I'm always a little worried that my mouth is bigger than my brain. But my brain prevailed today. Mom and Libby tied at 212 and I beat them both with 224! Whew. Close one.

7. Well I'm off to fill and hide eggs and baskets, so enjoy a couple more pictures:

Watching Jeopardy in bed.

Sweet boy snuggling with me.

Movie night.

Playing Scrabble Junior with my little monkey