I'm desperately trying to dig myself out of this enormous hole that has swallowed me. I have gotten myself buried under mountains of laundry, lengthy to-do lists, and the usual overwhelming workload that comes with having 6 children.
Since returning from our long trip to Georgia and back, I have not had a single day in which I did not declare that there are not enough hours in the day. Slowly, I'm realizing that life is never going to slow down enough for me to catch up. I just have to hang on for the ride and do the best I can.
Here's what the last week or two has involved for our family...
We finished up the school year for the 4 older kids and completed the end-of-year standardized testing for our homeschool. Matthew got his first pair of glasses and has started reading like crazy. Matthew also had to get an orthodontic appliance in preparation for braces. (At least 4 of my kids will need braces so I should probably start playing the lottery now.)
Jason has had staff duty at work a lot lately (3 times in the last 2 weeks.) Usually it doesn't bother me (it's even a nice break sometimes) but he had it on the weekend, Joshua's birthday, and the 4th of July. Staff duty means he spends 24 hours at work and sleeps on the floor in his office. It's not exactly the way you want to spend your holiday or weekend off.
The weather has finally warmed up and the sun is out so we are trying to take advantage of it while it lasts. I put together the girls' birthday bikes since they are riding without training wheels now. Then I dug out my old bike and stripped it, painted it, and reassembled it. We are going to be spending a lot of time riding bikes together now that I have 4 good bike riders and a borrowed double bike trailer for the little boys.
Today I started my first round of steroid injections to reduce the scar tissue under my tongue from the surgery. At least, I think that is what they're trying to do when they torture me with 6 injections in my mouth. I found out that the adhesion that formed after my surgery has left me tongue-tied. The irony here would be that 3 of my boys have had surgery to correct severe posterior tongue ties. I blogged about it here and here. I have had a lot of trouble eating solid foods and choking, partially because I still don't have feeling back on the right side of my tongue and face. The other factor is a thick band of scar tissue that is adhered to my frenulum, leaving me tongue-tied. They'll have to do a skin graft after they excise the adhesion. It should be loads of fun. Not.
I'm meeting with the ear doctor in a couple of weeks to find out when I'll have my ear surgery. I sincerely hope that this brings an end to my dizziness issues. Although I've gotten used to the sensation of constantly being off-balance, I have recently discovered that the dizziness also gives me motion sickness. This means I find myself suddenly feeling carsick and that roller coasters are probably a thing of the past for me now. I feel... old.
Jason and I have recently been discussing the future for us and our family. (No, I'm not pregnant!) Adoption has become a topic of conversation, interestingly enough. I'm not sure what the future will hold, but I'm excited. In the meantime, a sweet dog recently joined our family. She's 5 years old and we found her through a local rescue group. That's a whole other blog post, though.
In 2 weeks my mother and grandmother will be flying out to visit us on their way to Alaska. I am thrilled to have my grandmother here because she's 86 years old and hasn't been to the west coast since she visited us when we lived in California. She's so special to me. Besides, this motivates me to clean up our office/guest room. And I randomly busted out my sewing machine and made new curtains for the playroom the other day. I suppose I was feeling inspired.
I have about two thousand photos (literally) that I have been meaning to sort through and share. Of course, I also still have over 700 unread emails. I've really been so busy lately that I sometimes forget to get dressed in the morning. One of these days I will get caught up. Hopefully it will happen before my children leave for college. (Probably not.)
So, that's where I'm at today. How about you? What have I missed?
