Us, lately

So, with the curricula all done, I had a list of things I was going to get to next. Apples, laundry, dishes, floors (as in re-doing the flooring in two spaces, not as in cleaning them), the baby's room needs to be created (right now it's a TV room).  Boxes need sorting and unpacking.

The spirit is willing.

Unfortunately, I have a rather large, rather heavy belly that sets into serious contractions if I stand up for more than 10 minutes or sit in a hard chair for more than half an hour. I also have been having a bad spell of fibro for the last 8 months, so I can't hold my arms up or out (even long enough to wipe the table), or stand up long, or sit in one position long, and I have to get extra sleep or I fall apart completely (I even dreamed last night that I was throwing a fit and yelling at everyone because someone told me I had to do an activity that required me to reach out and work on something, and they wouldn't let me sit to do it and didn't understand that I'm in constant pain, even in my dreams). With all the appointments and schooling we've had lately, enough sleep is not a reliable thing.

So I discovered yesterday that the apples HAD to be dealt with immediately. So the kids got an apple cake for dinner. And I did four trays of dried apples and a crockpot of applesauce. Plus we put 3 grocery bags FULL in the fridge (the fridge wouldn't fit any more) and have two boxfuls left that I still need to deal with. I did most of the work sitting down and still had to take almost an hour in my rocking chair to recover afterward (and then dreamed I was in pain last night).  The results of all the work were very yummy, though. I love apples.

I started on the laundry problem this week. I made diagrams of all the shelves and cubbies we have in the clothes room and decided where everyone's clothes will be put to make them easy to find (last time I put pants and shirts not together, and the kids never could remember where their pants were). I also printed labels for all the cubbies, so the kids can find their stuff (since all 5 recognize the letters of the alphabet, that works even for Nathanael) and so Tim can put things away, too, and not have me go back and wonder where the socks all went. It helps when we're all on the same system. Notice, though, I didn't actually touch the laundry. I did all the sit-down work! I'll have to have the kids help me with the laundry itself, I think. If I can sit, and they can do the running and moving of things, we might get that room in order.

I intended to fix the dryer today, which works but is making an awful racket, but I can't even pull it out from the wall, and sitting on the floor is painful, and I'm not sure I'm actually capable of fixing a dryer when my belly is this huge.

I have managed to get all the kids to the dentist for checkups. That's 5 appointments, with two of them going to toddlers (one of whom has a phobia of all things medical). So far, 5/5 need a lot of work, which means MORE appointments. For all of them. Daniel had his teeth all fixed at once while under general anaethesia at the Children's Hospital in Denver (They're REALLY good with kids--no tearing them away from their parents to put them under, for example. No needles that they are aware of. No forcing them into hospital gowns. No making them wake up before parents can come in.). Daniel had all but four teeth crowned, and two pulled out. Anda is scheduled to have one pulled and all the rest filled (her teeth are crowded, so they have cavities between them) in a series of 5 more appointments--and if the first doesn't go well, she'll be going to Children's Hospital, too. Benji wouldn't open his mouth, so he has to come to everyone else's appointments to get used to the dentist, and then we'll try again in six weeks--and if that doesn't work, the dentist will send him to a psychologist for therapy first and we'll try again. I'm pretty sure he'll have to go to Children's hospital--I can see decay between his front teeth and in his upper molars. Nathanael's teeth came in with brown bars on them, and the dentist said all of our children's teeth have been attacked by "the Arnold Swarzenegger of dental bacteria"--a superbug that eats enamel like candy--and that's why their teeth are so bad. She said they probably got it from me, since Tim didn't have any cavities until he married me (shoot....I gave it to him, too?). Since Nathanael's teeth aren't even fully formed yet, but are decayed severely front and back, he has to have most of them pulled. He's not even 2 years old yet! So down to Children's Hospital with him, too. Oh, and Caleb, who had his teeth done at Children's Hospital when he was four, has a crowded mouth that is going to require a space maintainer and then probably orthodontic work (when his teeth all come in) AND his teeth have malformed enamel (his adult teeth) that require immediate treatment before they develop decay (apparently they have special sealants for that problem. Phew).  So we have dental appointments scheduled out to January and then some.

I still need to get the three big kids to the eye doctor and Daniel to the allergist and Caleb to a neuropsychologist (to get a formal diagnosis on his tic disorder--I think it's Tourettes--so we get accommodations at places like the dentist when he tics in the chair and can't keep his mouth open because of it). Not to mention I have to see the doctor every week or two myself until mid-December, and prepare Thanksgiving and Christmas early as  much as possible just in case.

In other words, getting to my to-do list isn't happening.

Instead, I find myself sitting in my rocking chair reading the news. Out of the blue I surprised myself and started contacting literary agents again for my novel that I haven't looked at in two months. I watch the kids do school. Stuff I can do sitting down.

Maybe I need a new to-do list, all of things I can do in my rocking chair.