stunningly quiet

John and Ella are with their grandparents in Washington DC for the weekend while we continue to recuperate. I am feeling somewhat functional, but I have absolutely no energy or stamina. I'm starting to understand why people buy recliner chairs and giant televisions. This morning I watched a girlie movie and several shows on HGTV. The moment I have any energy I am going to demolish our kitchen island and head over to Lowes to resurface it. If we are going to spend a few more years in this house we have got to have kitchen counters that are cleanable. I also need one of those heartless home organizers to come over and throw all my crap away. I was watching one of those sell your house shows and one of those heartless women actually made a hideous house look good by getting rid of most of the clutter and spending three hundred dollars on some simple updates.

ribs, no sauce, no slaw

This is just another "I am better post". Better with a side of broken ribs. Actually, I think three of them are broken. No, it wasn't skiing or ice skating. I broke my ribs coughing. Hacking.

It isn't as bad as all that. The first two nights were fairly excruciating, but I just propped myself up on some very fluffy pillows. Now I feel like my ribs went to the gym and lifted weights for a few hours. I can't really lift the little man, so I'm getting lots of help. Perhaps we are lucky that we planned on visiting family for the entire holiday season. The children can be lifted and entertained.

I'm at my mothers house doing little more than sleep and eat great food.The first night that I was here I slept for fifteen hours; Today I lay on the sofa under a quilt with my feet pointed towards the woodstove.

ella

ella, originally uploaded by ellajohn. This is from the last creative movement class of the semester. The parents were invited to observe the hour long class.

nose

clowny, originally uploaded by ellajohn.

soon

I know, you want pictures and tales of christmas children, but they are four hours away baking cookies and making messes. Even the doctor says that I am "better". Not well, just better. I'm taking it as a good sign that she didn't make me another appointment. Just more antibiotics.

With any luck we are joining the children tomorrow, so I'll see you in the New Year.

from morning sickness to pneumonia

Maybe I'm better. After all this time it is getting hard to tell. I didn't throw up today, and I hacked up lots of green stuff. Hopefully my tattered old immune systeme will finally slough off the lung bugs.

I let the children go to their grandparents house, and it is stunningly quiet here. I read 758 pages of Harry Potter in the last twenty four hours.

It is hard to actually write about anything when you have been moving from chair to sofa to bed for weeks on end. I go back to the doctor tomorrow afternoon, and hopefully she says that I can travel for christmas.

I'm fourteen weeks pregnant today.

er::bad bug

I've never been to the emergency room, but yesterday I couldn't even get comfortable in my bed, couldn't stop coughing, and couldn't breathe. I knew I wasn't in mortal danger, but I have this little baby in my belly and Christmas looming. Earlier in the week I had called my family doctor and told her that the cough syrup she had recommended wasn't doing anything. She said that I could try steam baths. (Insert laugh here)

So, the emergency room was fairly wonderful. I got this older hippy woman doctor who seemed smart and warm and funny. She seemed to be balancing the pregnancy with actually feeling better. She called doctor steam bath and my OB and talked to them. I did have a chest X-ray wearing a huge lead skirt and standing in front of a lead panel. She had the respiratory therapist give me a breathing treatment and put me on some prednisone for three days to get me functional again. I got to lie in a very soft albeit narrow bed for four hours. The woman next to me had sliced her hand while chopping chocolate for christmas cookies. It wasn't a bit like TV.

I actually slept last night. I woke up to hear the ice hitting the roof and then again when it rained hard this morning. The ice storm has left our woods very sparkley, but the sun is out and it is already dripping. There is snow predicted for this afternoon. Ah, mountain living at the top of a big hill.

So, it has been a strange holiday season. I haven't made anything. I haven't baked anything. I haven't been shopping. We do have two christmas trees up and have the children's seasons tree decorated with birds.

elfin'

This will give you a good laugh.

sick, week three

I'm losing my patience with mucus. Apparently there is some sort of battle going on between my nose and my lungs. The Puffs Plus are the only thing keeping my nose intact. I cough incessantly, and that either causes me to throw up or pee in my pants. You can see why I'm not really leaving the house much.

The fact that I'm typing this makes me think that I must be getting better.

Ella stayed home today, mostly because I think that she wanted to be with me, so we opened up the futon in the living room and watched movies and PBS all morning. Charlie Brown Christmas.

cat out of the bag

In my attempts to beg someone to work at the school I just sent half the school my blog address. Pull up a chair, make yourselves at home. It is a happy place. Ella doesn't know I'm pregnant, so shhhhhhh.

upright

I've been in the upright position since eleven o'clock, a record for the week. Earlier this morning I was cold and weeping, so I'm not pronouncing myself healthy just yet. The bad bug/morning sickness combination has literally kicked me to the ground. I have lost five pounds this week, so my first trimester weight gain is at minus five. The only food that has been good this week is hot and sour soup and grapefruit. The local chinese restaurant makes really good soup with lots of schezwan preserved vegetables and tofu. I added some chile and garlic sauce from the fridge and a spoonful of cider vinegar.

The small ones are snotty and coughy but restless and ready to get out of the house. John has been literally climbing the furniture and has had more than his share of time outs. John and Ella went out yesterday to get a Christmas tree, a Norway spruce with roots that can be planted in our yard. We are leaving on our Christmas tour of grandmothers, aunts, and uncles next monday. I haven't even started making my cards. I do have the supplies, but I haven't even attempted a photo of the children.

news from the couch

A few days ago I finally had to accept the fact that I was sick. Pretty much too sick to get off the sofa. I couldn't breath while carrying the thirty four pound man. I took him to the doctor, and she immediately wrote out three prescriptions. So here we are. Hacking. Hacking. Coughing. Blowing noses. Measuring medicines for little people.

tree swing

ella, originally uploaded by ellajohn.

I wish I knew how many hours I spent doing just this as a kid. Our grandparents lived next door and put up a swing like this in the woods behind their house. It was on a steep hill so when you swung out you were high above the ground.

self portrait by ella

self portrait by ella, originally uploaded by ellajohn.

dear santa

dear santa, originally uploaded by ellajohn.