3 Weeks

The boys go back to school tomorrow and I am sad.  We didn't get to do a lot of the things that we had planned.  The first half of week one was spent in quarantine, as Seth and Mark had pinkeye.  Normally there is just a 24-hour wait until you aren't considered contagious, but Monday Seth had it, Tuesday morning Mark's right eye was infected, and then his left eye was infected on Wednesday.  As a precaution and courtesy, we stayed home to avoid sharing the bug.  I was so grateful that Jane didn't get it.  I am glad that it stopped at two people.  I spent a lot of time cleaning door knobs, handles, light switches, remotes, etc. to keep the rest of the family from getting pinkeye. 

Week two was good.  We spent an afternoon with Madeleine, played with friends and had a good week. 

Week three was not so good.  I had a migraine that started on Tuesday night and it stayed with me until Thursday.  I had the classic "migraine hangover" on Friday and Saturday.  It amazed me how quickly I got depressed when my headache lingered.  Having the boys home made it difficult for me and I was upset that I had to cancel the plans we had made. 

We did go to the dinosaur museum at Thanksgiving Point with my parents on Friday.  We had never been there before and my parents have a membership there (it was a Christmas present from the kids!) so we went and had a good time.  If my parents hadn't been coming, I wouldn't have taken the boys (and girl! Why do I always forget to include her?).

On Saturday the boys were trying to link up with their cousins to play a computer game together, but it wasn't working.  Ben came and got the boys and took them to his house.  They spent the night there and it was strange to have it so quiet around the house.  It was theraputic for me to have some quiet while getting over the crazy headache and accompanying depression (You know what?  Sometimes I really don't like being a girl.)

I know that tomorrow Jane will call out for the boys.  She doesn't understand this crazy schedule we are on.  She loves to play with her brothers and really does miss them when they are at school.  The first few days are the hardest on her. 

Jane calls all of the boys "Paul" (it sounds like Pauw).  Paul thinks that it is great, but Mark and Seth try desperately to have her call them by their names.  She will say Seth's name when looking at his pictures, but she will call all of them Pauw when face-to-face! 

Jane is quite the chatter bug and I love it!  It is so fun to see her chat away- she is so animated!  Almost every time I try to catch it on the camera, she stops.  The other day Seth pretended to fall down the stairs in a dramatic fashion.  Jane ran to the top of the stairs and yelled down "You okay?" 

The next time that the boys are off-track will be our last off-track session this school year.  Next school year will be different around here because Mark will be on a different schedule than Paul and Seth. Mark will start Jr. High in the fall.  I'm not sure how I feel about being on different schedules.  I know that Mark will feel kind of left out when we do things while Paul and Seth are off-track, but I can't make them stay home because Mark is at school.   We are entering new territory here.  Hopefully we will all be healthy for our next break from school.