Archive for January, 2011
I’ve been a little busy with the necessities of resting my foot from surgery (4 weeks ago) and having the most horrible case of the flu EVER (I’m serious y’all, it was bad.) and otherwise “willing” my dad better. Dad’s doing so much better now and plans to work half a day tomorrow. Still keep praying for him but I think he’s found that corner and is slowly, but surely, turning it.
Here’s a little pic of what happened when I was horizontal with the flu. We gave the kids lots of games this Christmas and they had great opportunities to play! They (and I) didn’t leave the house for 6 days. Kevin took off work for 3 days because I simply could not take care of the kids. Or myself. I couldn’t even watch the Aggie basketball game on the tv in the living room because I couldn’t get out of my bed. I told someone on Facebook I felt like I had a combination of: strep throat, mono, high fever, sore throat & cough, postnasal drip, lost my voice, nausea & vomiting, delusional & dizzy…. it was awful. I am glad that last week is now over.
I went to the doctor about 24 hours after I started feeling really bad. He put me on high dosages of Tamiflu and also the kids and Kevin on the same medicine, preventively. I also slept for about 18 hours of every day last week. I’m still just now getting over the cough from my post-nasal drip. Yay, fun.
I am suddenly a big fan of the flu shot and I think I’ll be getting it from now on. I never want to be that sick again.
January 27th, 2011
And now, I’m going to make public my NYR-11. I don’t think I’ve ever made resolutions public before, but it will be interesting to see if I can keep up with all of these or if I’ll need to set my sights higher in June.
This is a list of things I would like to get done; a sort of long-term “to-do” list.
1. Backyard Garden – take better care of it and be more involved with the planting and care = weeding, watering, etc. (This has been Kevin’s job, but I’d like to do more of it since I’m home more.)
2. Front Yard Maintenance – also take care of it better and involve the kids in the weeding and sweeping and throwing away of yard refuse. (They are able to do these jobs and would like to do so more.)
3. Build a Deck on the Back Patio – looking to Kevin for assistance on this one. And, considering our recent purchase of wood for burning in our fireplace, we need some more room up there.
4. Build an Outdoor Shed in the Back Yard.
5. Buy and Put in Kids’ Playscape/Playground. This will be their combined birthday present this year.
And now for my own personal goals:
1. [after my foot heals, which should be 2 more weeks!] Work out 3x/week. This could be at the gym, running in the neighborhood or at the park, doing a workout DVD, or a combination of all. I might need to re-set this goal if I’m continually hitting 3x – might need to be 4x.
2. Freeze More Meals – especially breakfasts. I’ve done well in freezing dinners and getting those on the table, but for breakfast my kids are stuck in a frozen waffle rut. They are okay with that, but I really don’t like frozen waffles, so I’ll tend to skip breakfast and just drink coffee, which leads to a grumpy Jenna. This makes me neither productive nor affectionate, and I lose points with everyone that way. I’ve been loving the book Fix Freeze Feast (you can buy it on Amazon) for making dinner recipes and then freezing them, and I’ve tried a couple of their breakfast recipes but the kids aren’t crazy about them. So, if you have any ideas, send them my way.
3. Meet once a week for mentoring/prayer. I’ve been trying to meet with Kelsey and Addison (our newest adopted Aggie) once a week but something has gotten in the way. But now I’m realizing accountability doesn’t just have to be with them, it can mean coffee with other friends too – although I’d like to be more stable with K&A.
4. Do something fun once a day with the kids. We’ve been doing Tuesday as movie night this month – we’ve gotten so many free Redbox or Blockbuster kiosk rental codes! With foot surgery and being sick and my dad in the hospital, this is one area where I feel like I’ve failed and/or need major help. Hence the goal. Here’s some ideas of mine: Library time, Reading a Story time, Park playtime, Outside playtime, Cooking with Mom time, Science Experiment time, Computer playtime, Dress-up time, Wii-playing time, Art project time, Acting out a story-time…. Also would like for the kids to pick their activities.
5. Take Kevin on 2 trips this year – one in-state, one out of state. Nuff said.
Organizational Goals: I had to make a separate category for this one, because I might just get all excited about organizing my house. I love to organize, and I found this blog called iheartorganizing. ”Inspirational” is not the word I’d use to describe her – I’ll say she’s my creative muse. Wow. the things she does are so pretty. I do heart them, and I’ve been trying to do my own organizing projects around the house. But one thing she says is to start small and choose one project per month. So, here’s my 12 (13?) goals for organization this year, and I hope to have pictures of finished projects up soon, because some of them are DONE!
1. Laundry room
X 2. Wrapping paper & gift bags
3. Kitchen Pantry
4. Colby’s Room
5. Kennedy’s Room
6. Carlee’s Room
7. Master closet
8. Office/Kids’ Art Supplies
9. Entertainment Center
10. Back Patio
11. Night stands
X 12. Kitchen drawers
X 13. Master Bookshelf
So, I haven’t paced myself that well, because I do like to cross things off my list. BUT I will say that it is so good to get organized and I can’t wait til you see what I’ve done with not much time and even less money. Hopefully that will encompass many of the posts on my blog in the near future.
Did you make any NYR?
January 27th, 2011
I love how much Colby is reading. I knew he was reading but really didn’t realize it until his Kindergarten teacher stopped me and told me what a great job he is doing! She also told me she’s been bragging on him to the First Grade teachers! Look out! He received the leveled readers at school, which has just pushed his ability further.
His writing is something that has just come to light with his entrance to Kindergarten. I have always been a good speller but when I was little I’d look up a word in a dictionary or ask how to spell it. Colby hasn’t figured that out yet – he spells everything phonetically, not asking for help but being very sure in how he’d like to get his point across. Consider, items A&B.
Colby wrote the names of many relatives & friends: Ally, Tyler, Colby, Grandmom, Ryan, Keith, Kennedy, Alicia, Granddad, Cooper, McKay (the biggest head-scratcher “muka”), Carlee, Belle, Doc, Ben, Dad.
Colby also wrote the names of vehicles: planes, cars, helicopters, trucks, hot air balloons, balloons, stacks (whatever that is).
So great.
January 26th, 2011
Just wanted to let the blog readers know that I’ve been on hiatus for a little while because of 2 things -
1. I had foot surgery 10 days ago. Recovery was painful the first 5 days but now it seems to be better. The doctor says my foot looks great and that this surgery went better than the other 2. He has researched and changed the surgical technique and added 2 strands of wire in each foot, all because of little old me. Kevin thinks the doctor should name it the Jenna-knot.
2. My dad had a heart attack on Tuesday and sextuple bypass surgery on Wednesday. He had over 90% blockage in each artery. He spent a few days in Critical Care Unit but is now in a regular room in the hospital. His blood pressure is still a bit high so they’re not releasing him just yet but he’s off the oxygen and breathing on his own, plus he’s able to get up and walk well. I will tell the whole story later, but that’s where most of my time and energy has been this week. I realize that I still need to finish out the 365 project (and I do have the pictures waiting).
Please please pray for my family right now:
- for my dad to be able to breathe well enough to sleep. If you can imagine, he’s very very sore from the surgery, so taking a deep breath is very hard for him. It’s hard to get into the good restful sleep he needs, plus he only wants to sit up because it’s more comfortable.
- for my dad’s blood pressure to go down. Sleep will help this, as will exercise. His body has been through quite a lot of trauma – the surgery alone took 5 hours to complete.
- for my mom – she is spending all of visiting hours (9-9) up at the hospital, and I’m glad she can and does. (It’s what I would do.) And pray that she would be able to rest at night without my dad there.
- for my sister Alicia – she is still in chiropractic college in Houston, so it’s hard for her to be in two places at once. And, although I know she’d rather be here right now, she has less than a year left of school before she can take over Dad’s practice. But, pray that Alicia can do well in school and that she can help Dad as a medical professional.
- for my sister Katrina – she is looking for a job. Pray that God would show her exactly what He wants her to do and give her the energy and wisdom to do it. Also pray that she could help Mom out with Dad’s recovery and not feel like she’s in the way. I am thankful that my mom doesn’t have to come home to an empty house while my dad’s in the hospital, because Katrina is there.
- for Kevin and me – we are emotionally and physically drained right now, so I don’t want it to take a toll on our marriage. Pray for rest and for discernment, especially for Kevin at work and me with parenting.
- for our kids – they have felt the stress of the week’s events and have been at each other’s throats a bit. Carlee won’t stop saying “shut up”, and the other 2 won’t stop tattling on her. This may or may not have something to do with the fact that we’ve been watching The Incredibles a lot lately. Pray that we could take a bit of a break from watching movies (now that I’m feeling better) and we could play with the great toys and games we got for Christmas. The kids have been great helpers this week, with yardwork and laundry and cooking, so I’m very thankful for that.
The kids were pretty devastated that they couldn’t see their Doc while he was in CCU. But they have been the sweetest prayer warriors, especially Kennedy, praying for the surgery and for Doc’s heart to get better. Colby drew Doc pictures of a heart and wrote things like “Doc, I hop your horte gest bedrr.” [More on phonetic spelling later.] Carlee asks, “Doc get better? Go see Doc?” and then lays her head on his hand when she sees him.
It’s very hard for us to see Dad not up and moving about like he usually does, and I know he’s going to have to sit still even longer. I’m praying against any sort of depression he might have or get from “just sitting around”. The doctors say there’s a corner you have to turn before progress goes forward faster, and Dad hasn’t gotten there yet. I’m praying for the corner.
I am very thankful also for this blog and for Facebook, to keep people updated. I didn’t have to tell the story 15 times at church today – most people knew from Facebook, or heard from someone on Facebook. (By the way, if you’re on Facebook, I’m Jenna Stephenson Grubbs, and my picture right now is of Cinderella’s castle from Disney World. I probably should change that, at least for now.)
Thanks again, friends and family, for lifting us up to the Father.
January 10th, 2011
