The boys are with their grandparents

for a couple days. Anna really misses her best friend Jonah, and I am strangely missing the noise and chaos produced by little boys. Life with two kids seems a little tame. I hope the boys are having fun and spending lots of quality time with their grandparents. Grandparents are the best!

A 3yo funny from church

Mark was lectoring this Sunday so I was in the front pew with the kids by myself. It's Lent and Father Ray was wearing the standard purple vestments. As we are kneeling, Eli whispers as only a 3yo can whisper, "Mommy, does that purple Jesus have a penis?" How could I not snicker? So, I snicker and answer him, "Honey, that's Father Ray. It's not Jesus." Eli thought a minute and then replied, "Does that purple Father Ray have a penis?" Oh, my. A little while later Jonah leaned over to tell me that his gloves smelled like garter snakes. I can see why he would need to give that report. Than he asked me if I thought they would be able to find garter snakes this year just like last year. Geez. Is that really what we need to discuss in the middle of mass? Boys.

Our mornings seem

to have the same rhythm every day. I took pics just for fun. We eat breakfast. Then onto chores. The kids clean their bedrooms, do their morning personal care, and play. I do laundry and any other housekeeping chores that are screaming for attention.

We take Anna to her public school class and come home for lunch.

Sarah puts herself to bed and we move to schoolwork.

Random Pictures

I am a laundry nazi. I do laundry every morning, and I wash everything in the house. I fold in the morning, and the kids put everything away. I have found that laundry is a task which easily becomes overwhelming if I don't stay on top of it. My system works, and it's not overwhelming if I do a load or two or three every day. However.......between wet beds and mud, I have been doing laundry ALL day for about a week. I am TIRED of it! You can see why the mud is a problem.

Mark was on his reserve weekend last weekend, and I expected to have a low-key weekend since I am absolutely exhausted. The kids had other plans, and they had a crafting/painting weekend. I HATE paint. It's just a huge mess. I know they should paint, but I hate it!!! After an entire day of painting they moved on to an obsession with perler bead crafts. At least I don't have to be involved with that!

This is what school usually looks like at our house. We find a warm area and spend about 2 hours working. Jonah's schoolwork is only 15-20 min/day and it goes very quickly. Anna works for about 1.5 hours, and the boys are usually nearby the whole time. Eli is wanting "schoolwork" too, so I need to come up with some non-academic preschool activities for him.

Anna's Food Log

Yesterday

• Breakfast: 1/2 egg, milk (1 hour)
• Lunch: 1/4 peanut butter & jelly sandwich, milk (2 hours)
• Snack: 1/2 inch of a banana, milk
• Snack: scooop of ice cream
• Dinner: 1/2 egg, milk (45 min)
• Snack: 2 bites ice cream

Today So Far

• Breakfast: 1 egg, milk
• Lunch: 1/3 grilled cheese sandwich, milk
• Snack: 3 inches of banana, milk
• Snack: 2 pieces of cantelope

It's so painful. The poor girl spent more than 4 hours eating yesterday with not much to show for it. She has another appointment on Monday so we can have her weighed again and talk about alternative nutrition options. She won't eat any meat or veggies, but at least she has started eating a little fruit. She is telling me that eating is getting easier. I know this will move slowly, but it's difficult to watch.

Anna update

We saw the ear, nose & throat specialist yesterday. I can't say whether this is good or bad, but he didn't see anything physically wrong with Anna. He said that he has seen similiar situations where kids will suddenly become afraid of swallowing, so at least she isn't the first ever. Anna had lost a couple pounds yesterday, so now we are even more worried. Last night we started our long journey back to normal eating, and it was so painful. I am beginning to understand how eating disorders feel in a family. Anna has been subsisting on bread products eaten very slowly, chewed to a pulp, and then washed down with a liquid. Last night her job was to eat six grapes dipped in peanut butter. It was agonizing for her, and we settled on her just eating the peanut butter. Not great, but it was her first protein in over a week. As the doctor said yesterday, eating is going to a be a monumental job for her for quite a while. I'm going to find some food alternatives like Pediasure or protein shakes so we can be sure she is getting enough healthy nutrients while she works her way back to eating. I can't believe my beautiful 7yo has an eating disorder. It is just bewildering.

The Boys

Jonah set up a bowling game. Big fun for everyone!

Here's one of Eli's songs complete with interpretive dance.

What do you do when you are so worried about

your little girl, but there's not much you can do? Our little Anna hasn't been able to swallow solid food for about a week now. It's really unexplainable. She's clearly hungry but she just can't eat. I took her in yesterday and fortunately, she hasn't lost any weight yet. She's subsisting on milk and bread products chewed into a liquid and eaten veeeerrrryyy slowly. It takes her about 30-45 minutes to eat half a muffin. The doctor didn't have any suggestions for us, but he did refer us to an ear, nose & throat specialist. We will see the specialist on Wednesday. Hopefully he/she finds something physical. If it's an emotional issue, I just don't know what to do. Sarah is becoming our potty training queen. She turned 22 months last week, and she has decided that she's not wearing diapers anymore. Who can argue with that? We still have to hover near her to send her to the toilet when she needs to go, but she does communicate when she needs to go. Since she's so young, I'm not sure when she'll send herself consistently. She's a smart cookie, though, so I expect she'll get it figured out quickly. Saturday she even went poop all by herself. Mark didn't even know she had done it till the deed was done! No other news to report. Eli has been busy making up songs and dances. I'll have to post a couple tomorrow. Jonah had the pleasure of going to bed early last night for not eating his peas & beans. Well, he mostly went to bed for his attitude about eating the peas & beans. He had 10ish peas and he couldn't think about eating them without throwing a fit. Geesh. How hard could it really be to stare at peas on your plate and then to choke them down?