This week: Busy

It's amazing how little things can add to up to feeling super busy. Here's what's been going on with us this week:

*I'm volunteering at Katy's school Tues/Thurs morning to help with child care for the other parents who are doing vision screens. It's nice to be able to help out. Katy passed her screen.

*Every year in the middle of November, Veteran's Day takes us by surprise with a day off for Brian. Today we went swimming at the local rec center (which has an awesome kiddie area pool). Katy amazes me, she is close to swimming - underwater - already. I really think that if we give her the opportunity, she'll be swimming across the pool by summer. What a fish, totally opposite of me. David has been timid in the past, but he did great today. He went down the slide over and over (it's like a playground slide into the water, and he has to go by himself - no lap sitting!), walked around in water up to his chin, jumped off the side with help, and had a genuinely good time.

*Katy's been having some tummy issues on and off for weeks now, they seem to be related to gas and constipation (sorry, future Katy, if that's embarrassing!). I'm trying to figure out how to help her, sometimes she's doubled over in pain. Any tips?

*This evening we roasted hot dogs over a fire in the backyard for dinner with neighbors. Fun!

*I've been debating, along with the rest of the county, about whether to get the kids the H1N1 vaccine. The only place it's been available around here is in "clinics" put on by the state health department, and most of the reports I've been hearing are waiting in line for HOURS. And I just haven't been willing to do that. Plus, I'm about 50% confident that we already had the stupid thing back in early October when we were all flat on our backs for a week. But then yesterday afternoon we were riding bikes and neighbor told me of a clinic that was going on right now, for another hour, it's a 30 minute drive, and there was *reportedly* no wait. So on a whim I decided to throw the kids in the car and try to make it. At five minutes before closing, I was on the phone with Brian in tears because I still hadn't made it to the place, was lost in the semi-dark, and was frustrated that I had gone that far and wasn't going to get the shot. But thank the Lord, the clinic was open an hour longer than my neighbor thought, so we did make it. There was a line, but it moved quickly and the whole process took about 40 minutes. I'm relieved to have it done, but then you're supposed to get the kids a booster in a month. I hope it won't be as much of an ordeal for the booster, but who knows.

*When we were at Home Depot last weekend, we got suckered into having someone come out to "test our water" for free! Plus you get a $20 HD gift card and a chance to win a new refrigerator! It will take 45 minutes! We made an appointment for 8pm last night. The guy showed up at 8:40. He then proceeded to engage us in the most hard core sales pitch I've ever heard in my life in which he tried to sell us a $7,000 water purification system. But here's the best part: do you know what time he left our house for that 45 minute water test? ELEVEN O FIVE PM. I was looking at him at 10:40 with a huge mess in our kitchen going, "what can I say to you to get you to leave my house right now?" I'm not sure that was worth a $20 gift card.