May 18th, 2012 by Jen Hen under The Busy Life. No Comments.
I started writing this over a week ago, but life happens and drafts sit in my draft box for days, weeks or months on end. I’m lazy and don’t want to go through to adjust time frames so I’m leaving it as is. haha.
Last Friday Baby M ran a low grade fever in the evening, and was drooling a whole lot. He had two new teeth peak through his gums so I chalked it all up as teething. Saturday he was a grumpy gills. Sunday he had a little clear drip from his nose…. Monday he had a little cough and not much of that clear nasal drip… then came Tuesday.
Yesterday morning Baby M woke up wheezing and looking just absolutely pitiful. This onset seemingly came out of nowhere. Initially I was hoping it was something we could clear up on our own so I got out the Honey Elixir to soothe his throat and plugged in the Vicks Vaporizer in hopes it would help him breathe easier. I had to go to the post office and go for an appointment with my trusty therapist so DH was going to be in charge. M was ready for nap just before I needed to leave so I got him laid down.
When I got home about two hours later he was awake and in better spirits but still sounded just awful. Within a couple of minutes I had decided to call the doctor’s office and get him in… I felt like this was something I didn’t want to see if we could fight through anymore.
An hour later, 4 prescriptions, a Nebulizer treatment and a schedule written out on my white board: I found out he had Bronchiolitis and tested positive for RSV.
————————
Now I’m adding in the rest of the details. See? Lazy. You’re lucky I’m finishing. haha.
Those breathing treatments SUCKED! Like, seriously. Sucked big fat hairy toes. Baby M fought me with every ounce of strength the little guy could muster which was sometimes almost more than I could muster to hold him in place. AND they tell you that each treatment needs to last 15-20 minutes. We were given one medicine for four times a day in the nebulizer and one that needed to be used twice a day so… 6 times a day I, or DH and I, was restraining Baby M while trying to also hold a mask in front of his mouth so he could suck in some meds when he tried to catch his breath between screams. Micah has some lungs on him. Seriously.
He’s pretty much done with all the medicines now and I can’t even begin to explain how glad I am to have it behind us and how badly I hope we never have to endure this torture again.
The strangest thing to me was trying to figure out where he picked up RSV. Micah hasn’t spent a day in a daycare or home daycare setting. We’re mostly home all the time and the only caregivers he has other than DH and me are family members. The doctor said it could have been as simple as DH or me coming in with a cold virus and it just reared its ugly head as the true virus it was in Micah’s little baby lungs. Pretty scary when you think about it, right? This whole experience just really reinstated my feelings of hesitation about having to send him to daycare in the Fall. I’m really hoping that DH’s work schedule falls in place so we only need someone for about 5 hours on Fridays.
—————–
What are some of your worst experiences with childhood illnesses?
May 14th, 2012 by Jen Hen under The Busy Life. No Comments.
This has been a long road. I realize there are people who have traveled a much longer road for their education, but in my own personal life the last 13 years has been filled with a lot of obstacles. Many of those obstacles were self inflicted, some were merely my own choices in trying to find balance after other choices that created obstacles. Does that make sense?
I graduated high school, started college, gave birth to X-man and got married all in the same 12 month span. From there, life took a lot of twists and turns. In attempts to make the “right” decisions I probably made some mistakes. Not probably… I know I did. However, those mistakes were lessons… at least, I made them lessons for myself after the fact. I went from a girl who grew up in rural Western Kentucky in a small farming community with a population less than 1,000 (part of a county with less than 30,000 at the time) to a girl trying to become a woman on a college campus with an enrollment level exceeding 100,000. I went to a high school that was predominantly white and by predominantly white I mean you could probably count on no more than your ten fingers how many people weren’t white. I ended up at a college campus (Michigan State University) where I learned that there was a whole different world full of more cultures and more ethnicity and more religion than I could begin to count. I had a lot of patient friends who answered questions that were both naive and stereotypical of a sheltered country girl while they were trying to figure out how these questions still existed in a civilized world. Maybe they didn’t. I can’t speak for my friends who aren’t white and weren’t born and raised in rural America. But, I can say that there were some very patient people in my life who let me know where lines should be drawn in questions or phrases, and other lines could be blurred or ignored and how to distinguish between the two.
I learned about standing on my own two feet by working multiple jobs for reasons I won’t air on here. I held so many jobs simultaneously while attempting to complete 14 and 16 credit hour semesters that I reached a point of sleeping no more than three hours a night most nights… and my grades reflected it.
After a series of experiences and a few hopeful ups only to find myself on a slippery downhill slope with both my mental stability (no doubt, partially thanks to the lack of time I was devoting to sleeping) and emotional stability (I consider them two separate things) and realized that I needed to come home to Western Kentucky, back to my hometown. I needed my son to be raised near my extended family. I needed him to grow up knowing the closeness of my family and knowing the comfort and security of this community. I needed this community to get myself in check because I needed to regain control over myself and I knew that living back here I would be more aware of my behavior and my choices. I mean, let’s face it, when you live in a small community everyone knows everyone else and their business before the individual does. It’s something to love and hate simultaneously.
I had some more lessons to learn before everything came into full perspective and Lil’ C came out of some of those lessons. I had forgotten to take pride in myself, take pride in my self representation, take pride in my choices and keep my eyes on the prize (success on any respectable level).
A few (or several) more faulty decisions, and a few more growing pains…. leads to now. The present.
I have completed my first semester back in college in two years, and my first semester with more than half time status since the Spring of 2003 when I was put on academic suspension at Michigan State University due to my complete and utter negligence to classes. I managed to finish this semester with a 4.0GPA. I’m anxiously awaiting the official calculations to come through on the system so I can see how that effected my overall GPA. I’ve also decided to add a few classes to my list to complete before graduation: some will serve as prerequisites for my Masters curriculum, while others will serve to replace some of those craptastic grades from State (which will boost my GPA). I am going to make sure that I graduate not only Cum Laude, but as close to Magna Cum Laude as possible. My fingers are crossed for an invite into one of the Honors Societies, and I’m hoping to pledge for one of the Professional Co-ed Fraternities once I complete the required courses for consideration.
My DH is an amazing source of support. As my grades were coming through he congratulated me and the smile on his face was so genuinely proud for and of me. I’m not sure he’ll ever understand just how much his support means to me. This is a concerted team effort – a team effort to keep up with house and home, kids, meals, errands…. a team effort in ensuring I get the study time required to complete assignments and prepare for exams. This semester wasn’t all roses, but we were redefining our roles around the home. This was, without a doubt, a huge transition for Cam’s involvement with the kids.
The Fall semester promises to bring more adjustments to our routine as I’ll be taking 15 credit hours, Lil’ C will begin Kindergarten (GAH!), and Cam’s work schedule will most likely change between now and then. Baby M will have to go to some version of daycare a few days a week (no more than three, thankfully – another post altogether). One day a week I will rely on DH to take care of all afternoon obligations for the kids. But you know what is great? I know we can do it. I know that my husband is someone I can count on to come through for me… and I’m pretty positive that it’s because he knows he can count on me to put in my best efforts in everything I set my mind to. We have shared views for our life goals and the future we can provide for ourselves, each other, and our children and I think that is one of the biggest factors for success in our marriage. I’m so excited for our life!
May 13th, 2012 by Jen Hen under The Busy Life. No Comments.
I have to take a break from writing with deliberate intention as opposed to unintentional neglect. Thank you for reading. I hope to return soon.
May 10th, 2012 by Jen Hen under The Busy Life. No Comments.
In honor of the end of the semester this will be a school themed Thursday Thirteen. It was my first semester back in college since I was pregnant with Baby M, and my first semester with more than half time since sometime around 2002/2003. The Fall semester will be my first full time semester since Spring of 2003 at Michigan State University (Go Green!).
So… 13 things I’ve learned this semester:
- Debit does not mean “subtract” and Credit does not mean “add” in the world of accounting. In the world of accounting Debit solely means the Latin definition of “left” and Credit means the Latin definition of “right”. So, if you’re dealing with Assets a Debit will be on the left hand column of a T-account and will actually represent a positive balance; conversely, when dealing with a Liability or Equity, it will represent a negative balance.
- I have a better understanding of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and how it is calculated.
- I hear the term T-account and automatically know what to look for.
- I have a basic understanding of amortization schedules and how to calculate the interest based on these schedules.
- Hosiery and toys are most frequently distributed through Rick Jobbers.
- Price, Product, Placement, and Promotion are 4 of the 5 P’s of Marketing.
- The cost of a 30 second SuperBowl ad placement is actually significantly cheaper than other advertisement options when you consider the audience reached in that half minute. In fact, for most companies it can reduce the cost of their outreach by half. That’s insane, right? 3 Million dollars is actually WORTH it.
- When the time comes that I can afford significant investments in stock, I will choose investments in Preferred Stock over Common Stock for the sake of the security and the Dividend payment structure. At this point, I don’t think I mind if I sacrifice a vote in exchange for the security.
- I can almost set-up Multi-Step Income Statements, Retained Earnings, Balance Sheets, and Stockholder’s Equity Balance Sheets in my sleep.
- I learned about the stealth, secret missions that the Federal Reserve executes in the event that a public bank is drowning. It’s actually super neat and a really well laid out, quick turnover system. I think it’d be really awesome to witness one in person (but um, just as a spectator at this point, and most certainly I wouldn’t want the heart break of being an employee of the bank being taken over).
- I finally get inflation and deflation of U.S. currency (or at least, I get some of the more basic factors)… as a result I get all the more frustrated with some of the generalized comments that people make without being informed of what controls which way things go.
- Aggregate Supply and Aggregate Demand = more fluctuations than I care to keep count of.
- I like Accounting because numbers can’t often argue with me, and when they do they’re probably right and I’m probably wrong (because I transpose more often than not).
May 7th, 2012 by Jen Hen under Book Review. No Comments.
Hey guys! Just wanted to let you all know about this chance to score a free eBook. It’s “The Cheerleader for Tired Moms”, collections of posts from The Gypsy Mama’s blog. Just click on the link and you’ll head to her post. To be honest this freebie caught my attention because I could use a cheerleader in my court right now. 
May 7th, 2012 by Jen Hen under The Busy Life. No Comments.
It’s such an ugly monster: teething. Cutting teeth. Teeth breaking through. However you say it, it’s still not pretty. This weekend was filled with a roller coaster of moods for Baby M, fevers, swollen gums, stinky diapers, not wanting to eat, tugging on ears, a round with throwing up, … just was NOT how I had pictured the weekend when I woke up Friday morning. Funny how that happens, eh? We think we have the perfect plan in place then we’re thrown a curve ball like a grumpy baby who is in a state of discomfort that we can hardly help.
Baby M has been wearing an Amber bead teething necklace since he was only 5 or 6 months old (around the time he started his first round with teething). This was the first time I truly felt like he was having to endure some of the ugliest discomforts that teething brings. I gave him Tylenol, Teething Tablets, ear drops, and Orajel. We tried chewing on things, rubbing his gums, and a laundry list of other “tricks” trying to help him feel better.
Thankfully he was in a better mood today, but he was still uncomfortable. I’m praying tomorrow he can just wake up with a miraculous new set of fully grown 1st year molars.
May 2nd, 2012 by Jen Hen under Places to Go, Pre-teen, The Busy Life, Toddler, Travel Bug, Travels. No Comments.
On Sunday morning of our weekend away, X-man, Lil’ C and I went for one final stop before heading back to get Baby M and arrive home. Rock City on Lookout Mountain is one of my favorite places to go in the Chattanooga area. X-man had not been there since he was about 4 years old so he didn’t remember much about it, and they had made some changes since that trip so it was a “new” experience for all three of us. We made it up the mountain around 9am. I spotted a Starbucks across the street so we made a quick detour so I could get a Cafe Mocha (gah! I love Cafe Mochas). 
Rock City is a winding trail through gardens that were started by the couple who once lived on the property. If memory serves me correctly she started the project sometime in the 1930′s, spent several years designing her path and planting flora and fauna native to the area, and eventually opened it to the public. Now, of course, it’s commercialized a bit and is a tourist hot spot. One of the neatest things is the ability to see seven states from one point on the side of the mountain (granted, it has to be a really clear day to see the full distance to a few of the states). I can’t believe I didn’t take the cliche photo of the kids in front of the Seven States slab.
I had forgotten how much of the path was little stone overpasses and railed sections on the side of the mountain. Let’s cover something again: I’m afraid of heights. Horribly, ridiculously, afraid of heights. Now, I can push myself through some basic stuff like this trail, but I kept having moments of panic as I thought of how the day would have been with Baby M there with us. Those stone overpasses don’t have rails and the stone wall edging only goes to my knee. Baby M is in the lunge stage where you think your kid is going to launch head first onto whatever surface you are standing on, except at Rock City that could have been a 20 foot drop (or more). I’m not good with those situations. haha. 
And then… then there’s the swinging bridge. Sigh. Xman is afraid of heights too (I think I mentioned that in Part 1 and Part 2), and he said he didn’t want to do the swinging bridge. I told him he could walk to stone bridge and meet us on the other side because Lil’ C was determined to go across the swinging bridge. The couple walking in front of us was purposely swinging the bridge and it was a slow day so I convinced Lil’ C to wait until they crossed before we stepped to begin our journey across. That child seriously has no fear. I let him walk out a ways by himself so I could snap a couple of pictures of him. He was thrilled and thought the whole thing was the coolest way to go across.
I stepped on the bridge and the second it started moving I found myself holding my breath. I asked Lil’ C to hang out and be still until I could catch up with him. “It’s okay Mom. Just don’t look down. Don’t be afraid. Just don’t look down.” Thanks… thanks a lot for the pep talk there kid. ha. X-man was amused when watching me. I told him not to pick on me too much because I spared him when I didn’t talk him into facing that fear too. haha. 
Such a journey.
Directly after the bridge overpass is when you actually arrive at the Seven States panoramic view from the mountain top. The kids were hungry (they ALWAYS are) and when I spotted the sign for funnel cake I went weak in the knees. We got a funnel cake to share as a special treat and enjoyed sitting on the patio with the fantastic view. Have I mentioned how much I love the mountains? Because I do. I love the mountains. 
In total we probably spent about three hours walking through Rock City. When we got to the car the kids were ready for a 4.5 hour drive back to Western Kentucky and the three of us were beyond ready to see Baby M again. Everytime I quoted how far we were from home along the drive, Lil’ C asked “And Baby M? We’re going to get Baby M, right?” Awww. He missed his brother.
Tags:Cafe Mocha, Chattanooga, family, family friendly vacation, Lookout Mountain, Rock City Gardens, See Rock City, See Seven States, Starbucks, Tennessee, trip, vacation, weekend, weekend getaway.
May 1st, 2012 by Jen Hen under Give Away, Product Review. 11 Comments.
Hey guys! It’s a Review and GIVEAWAY! YAY! I should have completed this WEEKS ago, but alas I’ve been queen supreme at neglecting my page. SORRY! I hope you can forgive me. Anyway, the point… what you want to read and find out about:
The lovely people at Schroeder & Tremayne, Inc. contacted me and asked if I’d be interested in reviewing their product, The Original Dish Drying Mat. I said, sure! So they sent me the product to try out and share my honest opinion.
So, here’s the long and short of it: I actually really love this mat. I’ve been using it since I got my package. I’ve put baby bottles, sippy cups, cookie sheets, random dishes… just whatever was wet and needed to dry on my mat. The material seems to be really breathable because the glasses haven’t been left with those water droplets inside. If the Original Dish Drying Mat gets dirty? No problem! Wash it! If you need it out of sight? No problem! Fold it up and put it under the sink! (Or it has a nifty hook so you can hang it if you’re nice and organized unlike myself.) You can put your regular drainer on the mat, or just put your dishes directly on it. It’s practical and functional. I like practical and functional. Even better? These things are really reasonably priced, retailing at $4.99 at Bed, Bath & Beyond. From what I could tell on their site, it’s available in Cream, Red, Green, and Gray. I recommend checking one of these things out for yourself. Honest. That’s the Momma Hen’s take on it. And no, I’m not swayed by the fact that I got my mat for free because I promise you’d know if I didn’t like it. You HAVE read some of my posts before, right?
Now for the good stuff: I have FOUR of these babies to give away to FOUR lucky readers! What do you have to do? Well, you have a few options:
(more…)
Tags:Bed Bath and Beyond, dish accessories, dish drying, free stuff, Freebie, functional kitchen item, giveaway, kitchen, kitchen accessories, sweepstakes, The Original Dish Drying Mat.
May 1st, 2012 by Jen Hen under The Busy Life. 2 Comments.
Cam's okra, lettuce, brussel sprouts and peppers
Gardening is something Dear Husband Cam and I have wanted to do for a while, but we just took the leap this year. For Christmas DH had asked for a lot of gardening related materials including heating pad and hydroponic system materials. He actually got quite a few components from family and I surprised him with a “mini” green house. DH added things along the way as he was concocting his big idea based off information and research he was completing. If there is one thing a person couldn’t say with truth, it’s that my husband takes short cuts when he sets his sight on a project. Because there are no shortcuts for this man. Haha. I’m hoping I can convince him to do a guest post about his hydroponic set-up soon. He has been documenting the process via photos.
Top to Bottom: Carnations, Dahlias, Whirligigs and Zinnias, and Strawberries
My favorite thing is flowers. Cam is Mr. Practical (vegetables) and I’m Mrs. Pretty Yard (flowers). Lil’ C likes to plant things so he helped me start strawberries and several flower varieties. I’m impatient about the whole germination and blooming delay, but I hope that the wait is well worth it. This is the first year I’ve started pots of plants from seeds instead of just buying overpriced plants from a garden center. Cam used to work at a nursery so he’s going to help me learn how to transplant and split the plants so we can get the maximum results and slowly grow our landscape from a humble beginning to an elaborate oasis. Okay, maybe the elaborate oasis is a far stretch, but our yard will be beautiful. We still need to split some Hostas that we have around the house because those things are very hearty.
I can hardly wait for my pretty flowers, and Cam’s homegrown veggies. Especially the okra! Nom, nom, nom.
I’ve also been really excited seeing the progress (you can read that “survival”) of plants I put in place last year. Bleeding Hearts wither away after their peak so I had been really skeptical of whether or not they’d come back. One of my Hydrangeas got diseased and too much sun so I was just certain I had killed it. My ivy wasn’t really expanding any last year. This year? The Bleeding Hearts are big and green and I can hardly wait for the bloom. BOTH my Hydrangeas have come up, although the one that got “sick” last year is definitely a little runt compared to the other one. And the ivy is starting to do the ground cover I was going for. Carter and I added Forget-me-Not seeds around the base of the tree that is the center of that section of the yard.
Hydrangea
Bleeding Heart
April 30th, 2012 by Jen Hen under The Busy Life. No Comments.
It’s the last Monday before my Final Exams for the semester which means I’m way behind on many things and the blog got the back burner. I have a bit of studying, two quizzes, and a homework assignment for the week, then it’s 1 final this Wednesday and two finals next week. Forgive me! I’ll try my best to write part 3 in the vacation “series” during down time tomorrow. I spent my spare time organizing Lil’ C and Baby M’s toys in their room and the living room, pruning a few bushes outside, and weeding along our sidewalk.
Until next time friends! Don’t forget to enter the giveaway for The Original Dish Drying Mat. It was posted this past Friday and ends this coming Saturday! 4 winners!
Disclaimer: Momma Hen is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com.