Recently

What's been going on with the Serr's lately? Well, I'll tell you.

A week and a half ago the kids and I took a short trip down to see my parents. I didn't have to teach Sunday School at church on Sunday, so we took advantage of the situation and left town. And what visit would be complete without a project? A project that I again underestimated the time and difficulty it would require. In my recent love affair with Pinterest, I discovered some fun DIY projects. The one I attempted to do was turning an adult sweater into a toddler sweater dress. I had a bag of less than fashionable sweaters ready to go to the DI, so I pulled one out and figured I had nothing to lose in cutting it apart.

Unfortunately, the sweater was so thick it wouldn't fit through the sewing machine. I had to sew it very carefully with the presser foot up. The machine wasn't happy about that. Then I had the problem of the collar. It was originally a cowl-neck sweater that would have looked ridiculous on a toddler neck. So, I cut it off. I decided to use the collar of an old fitted t-shirt. The dress is certainly not perfect, but I think it's wearable. Cost of new winter dress = free.

The other thing we've been doing is taking care of sick kids. Madeline spiked a temp on Wednesday morning, and it lasted a couple of days. I finally figured out at the end of the second day that her ears hurt. The next morning she was fever-free, but she couldn't hear well. She's had on and off low-grade fevers since then, she still can't hear, and she's not hungry. Benson started to get really fussy on Saturday evening. When Scott tried to look in his ears (very helpful to have an otoscope at home), he screamed. My baby who usually wants nothing to do with me when he's sleeping, now can't sleep without me.

So, away to the doctor we went yesterday. There isn't an urgent care facility here, so our choices over the weekend were the ER, or wait until Monday. Benson gets to take antibiotics, and Madeline gets to wait it out. She mostly just had fluid in her ears, which is why she can't hear. Apparently they'll drain it if it doesn't go away in a month. The irony in this situation is that I've been trying really hard lately not to raise my voice, and now she can't hear me at all unless I'm yelling at her. I think she must hear herself really loudly in her head, because she's talking more quietly than normal. It makes rides in the car really fun with a child who feels the need to speak her every thought. She can't hear me and I can't hear her. All Scott hears is "What? What? What?" as we drive down the road. Just another bump in our adventure together as a family. One I'm sure we'll laugh about and remember later.