The Saturday 7

1. I had a miserable week. Last weekend, I thought we were all on the road to recovery from our colds. Apparently that was true for everyone but me. I'm not sure if this is a well documented fact about me, but I have an issue with coughing. If I get a cough, it clings for dear life until it has long outlived its welcome. I have had this problem multiple times and always dread that first throat tickle. Suffice it to say, the dread was well-deserved this week. I was up all night on Saturday, coughed all day on Sunday, got myself some Delsym and cough drops and figured I'd be fine by Monday for work. Oh ye of unfounded optimism . . . After I inhaled 7 cough drops in two hours, had to leave the classroom I was aiding in twice for major coughing fits, and had to let my library class listen to a Youtube rendition of the book I was reading them because I couldn't open my mouth without coughing, I called it and went home. I hate inconveniencing people, and I hate leaving work for anything other than a fever, puking, or Covid, but I couldn't do my job and was just being a distraction. 

2. The worst part is the inability to sleep. The second I lay down - or even remotely recline - I start coughing. All week, I got an average of 4 very interrupted hours of sleep a night. It was brutal. Finally, by Wednesday when I wasn't getting any better, I got a doctor's appointment. I was worried that they'd test me for Covid and tell me to go home, but because I've never had a fever and my coughing wasn't productive, I think they were able to rule that out. I hacked my way through the fifteen minute appointment, the doctor was surprised to find out I did not have childhood asthma (apparently this inability to shake a cough is a long-term effect of asthma even if kids outgrow it), and she wrote me two prescriptions: one for steroids, and one for a cough syrup with codeine in it. 

3. It took a really long time for the meds to kick in - as in, I've really only started to feel like I've turned the corner in the past 24 hours. I've been taking 40 grams of Prednisone a day, plus codeine-laced cough syrup every four hours around the clock since Wednesday afternoon. I've actually tried to stop the codeine today because it's almost gone and I'm going to need it to get me through Easter and work on Monday! I'm not sure how willing the pharmacy would be to refill my opioid prescription less than a week after it was filled. It's not that I'm addicted to drugs. I'm just addicted to not coughing! My ribs are killing me, I pulled something in my neck, and I haven't slept more than 4 hours in a row in a week, but I should end up with a six-pack after this, right??

4. That's about enough about that! Oh, except for this: my blood pressure was 98/60 at my appointment on Wednesday - after days of not sleeping and excessive coughing . . . and after a lifetime of a diet solely of carbs, sugar, and dairy, never exercising, and drinking obscene amounts of Dr Pepper. I'm not saying that science has been wrong about everything always, but maybe I should be a test case or something. Maybe excessive caffeine consumption actually lowers blood pressure. Someone should check that out. In the meantime, feel free to follow me for more healthy lifestyle tips. 

5. Speaking of healthy lifestyles, Levi started soccer this week! In case you didn't know, sports were Justin's life as a kid - and he played soccer all through college. The girls have never been interested in competitive sports, so I was excited to have a boy that could hopefully share Justin's interests. But then Covid hit just as Levi came of age to play, so this is the first year he's had the chance. I'm not certain he's the most athletic kid, but he's got enthusiasm, and the whole point of starting them young is to teach them athleticism, right? His first practice was on Tuesday - the nicest day we've had in months - so he was thrilled to run around outside. We'll see how excited he is to practice every week even when it's 40 degrees or 80. 🤷 

6. Today, I was finally functioning enough to have some Easter fun with the kids. Our church hosted its first annual Easter egg hunt this morning. There were 20,000 filled eggs spread out across the church lawn as well as a whole bunch of fun prizes. It was 35 degrees when we got there bundled up in our hats, coats, and gloves, but the kids had fun raking in their haul.

Don't mind Nash's black eye. You should see the other guy . . . er . . . stool . . .

Cousin love! Hopefully next year it'll be warmer, and Thea and Saylor will be more steady on their feet and ready to join in. (Lucy's too cool I guess. #tweens)

Then this afternoon, we decorated eggs. I hate dyeing eggs, so this year I gave in to a facebook ad and bought this fancy contraption. Of course it didn't work straight out of the box, and Justin had to go buy a special tool to solder a wire that wasn't connected correctly. But once they got it going, the kids loved it.

After a while, I went to go lay in bed and watch The Home Edit (my new obsession), but Levi insisted on me taking pictures of every egg he completed. Haha. He kept coming down for photoshoots. 

MUCH better than old fashioned dyeing!!

7. A couple more pics . . .

With his homemade Kleenex Bot

No spring outside? Fake spring inside.

Friday fort-day. See the kid inside? Do any other moms hate fort building as much as I do? Lena and Levi love to make them, but they spend more time fighting, screaming at each other, and crying when it inevitably breaks than they actually do enjoying the fort. Not to mention the mess it makes of the living room! *shudder*

We had this on Thursday. Maybe next week we'll finally get a nice day??