Because of My Motto: Why Achieve When You Can Unnecessarily Stress Yourself Out By Overachieving At The Last Minute?

I busted 30 of these out of my ass (no, not literally lindalou) for the girls to take to school tomorrow:

And bought these ceramic pie plates for their teachers (and filled them with pie no less):

Good News Update

Just a quick note to say that cardiology cleared her of having any heart related reason for her symptoms.  We did get an echocardiogram, so they feel pretty definitive that she is no more likely to drop dead than any other 6 year old.  So that is GOOD NEWS.  She does have a slight defect, but not one that would effect her health and it is not necessarily more or less than anyone else might have.  She does still have her double heart murmurs which they are confident are both innocent and said that her very thin chest can amplify (to us and residents at ER and such who are often alarmed) her heart beat and draw attention to her murmurs when they might otherwise go unnoticed.  So when her heart feels like it is beating out of her chest it is mostly because it is just so close to the surface.

They are also mystified and concerned about her weird exhaustion.  They suggest we get a Peak Flow monitor and see what is going on with her breathing... some kids have asthma without prominent wheezing.  They also suggest we get her tested for mono.

So, still some stuff to go before we have an answer, but right now we have ruled out the deadly possibilities so I'm good with that.

It's Sunday

#1 This is the last weekend I have to spend washing school uniforms... for 11 weeks!

#2  Tomorrow Baby heads to the hospital .  I haven't mentioned it, although FB friends will maybe have noticed, but Baby's health has been strangely declining over the past year.  It's been stressful and weird... the kind of thing you can't quite figure out and makes you hopeful it will just go away... but it hasn't.  Something is not right.  But you know that weird guilty feeling (is it just me?) where you worry people will think you are overreacting... so.... you don't want to say... "I don't have anything very concrete but I know something is very wrong here"?  Well, finally I did and the doctor said... "something is wrong here".  And then they did a full blood panel... and we all hoped for anemia and not leukemia (and I wish that wasn't what they thought)... but it all came back clear.  Which was a short lived relief when they rushed our referral to cardiology (which has been my suspicion all along).  So, tomorrow morning we should hopefully (hopefully) be able to rule out a congenital heart problem.  Then I don't know what will be next.  She's exhausted all the time (and this is Baby we are talking about), she falls asleep nearly everyday (she stopped napping at 11 mo and only goes to 1/2day K), can't run without taking a break... doesn't even like to be active anymore, her heart races with exertion, and complains of headaches, stomach aches, and chest pain.  She's been to the ER or doctor 7 times in the last couple of months.  We had met our high insurance deductible (we're talking THOUSANDS of dollars) by February.  A kid who never went to the doctor (except when she bit through her lip!) for anything but well visits the first 4 years of her life.  She was even lying down during her gymnastics class last week between her turns.  She had to stop playing hide and seek after 5 minutes the other night.  I find her lying in her bed all the time.  It has been alarming.  Anyway, so that's been going on.  It's been a scary few months and I can't sleep very well.  Hopefully we're on the way to an answer that is less scary that what haunts me on a regular basis.  (She's also had a full allergy work up... nothing)

#3  So... that's fun... right?  No end to the strange stressors that befall us.

#4  The other day, Kid got into the car and announced "Breaking News!  Noah S. has a crush on me!" And, so, it begins.  We all know that Kid came out of the womb boy crazy... so this is just about the best thing that has ever happened.  He lives in our little town and I was able to rig up, courtesy of our early morning cardiology appt tomorrow, a ride to school with him.  His mother laughed and said Noah would be waiting by the door!  So, at least there will be one bright spot tomorrow.  You should have seen this boy's face when he found out she'd be going to school with him... he was beaming.   He is so cute... it is hard not to want to encourage it.  (He wasn't her front runner, but I told her... "You know what is really attractive? Someone who recognizes how great you are." I'm hoping she can learn that early and save herself a lot of future heartache.)  Plus he's one of the shortest boys in class and she's one of the tallest girls... so... its the Wonder Years all over again.

#5  We had our first real Tornado of the year. (hopefully last) It ended up tracking north of us, but we still got to enjoy the panic of the sirens and all.  The girls went into full hysteria mode.  I got a bit anxious but I said to Mr F "I'm handling this surprisingly well" and he agreed.  We even got in the car and went to our concert as soon as we knew it was clear.  So that is saying something!  Go get yourself the Tornado app from the Red Cross.  This is the first time the app's siren has come on my phone and it worked and it blared each time the weather service reissued the warning (unlike the outdoor sirens which just sounded once).  I highly recommend it, especially if you can't reliably hear your area's sirens or worry you might sleep through it.  You will not sleep through this app!

I'll be back for a quick cardiology update tomorrow.  I don't know what we hope for anymore... something minor and easily resolved.