What A Day!

Phew...
First off, the main highway (and intersection of 3 major highways) is closed because the road collapsed into a sink hole. I'm zig-zagging all over town trying to find the best alternate route because some of the roads I typically would have taken also have construction, lane closures, and detours. They say it won't be fixed until early fall.

Next, I'm driving home, in a severe thunderstorm, and Maddie says, "my nose hurts." I look in my rear view mirror and blood is gushing out of her nose and down her face. I try asking her questions to find out how this happened, but she won't tell me anything useful. I don't know if she hit it somehow or if she stuck her finger (or something else) up a little too far.

Her doctor's office is closed, I don't really want to go the ER, so I try my doctor's office which has urgent care and after 5 hours. Well, I get there, but they don't have a doctor on call that day that is licensed to see children. But there is another urgent care center two buildings away. We walk in, but Bryan has the one insurance card for both of them, and he is in Nebraska for a business trip. I try calling so I can get the numbers, but he doesn't answer, so I have to pay the out of pocket amount. While we were waiting, however, he calls with the numbers and we get the co-pay changed (a savings of $30). But there's another slight issue with the insurance. They have Madison's birthdate as 09/07/07, but that is 1907! She looks really good for 103! Maybe she's a real Benjamin Buttons.

So we finally get to see the doctor and Madison did GREAT! She abliged to all the doctor's tests of checking her temperature and her pulse, and looking up her nose, in her ears, and in her mouth. Well, her nose and tonsils were a little red, so he thinks it's a sinus infection and prescribed an antibiotic.

Next stop - the pharmacy. First they were having troubles with their computers freezing. They get that working and say it will take 15-20 minutes. No problem. We'll sit and wait. 20 minutes goes by. Madison is getting antsy, and hungry, and tired (so am I). They, too, were having trouble because her birthdate was off by 100 years. But they were finally able to get it sorted out and after an hour, we got her antibiotic. Now it is almost 9:00 and we haven't even eaten yet. I drive through the McDonalds accross the street to treat her with chicken nuggets for being such a trooper through all this.

Then, to top it off, someone hacked into my FB account and sent a post about testing the new iPad.

Today is a new day. My commute was a little better. And so far no more bloody noses.

Fireworks Day (Weekend) 2010

We had a really nice holiday weekend. Bryan and I left Thursday afternoon and drove halfway to Aunt Marlene's house in Bloomington, IL. We got to my parents' house Friday afternoon. Maddie was in the middle of her nap when we arrived, but we were so anxious to see her that we had to wake her up (she had been sleeping about an hour and a half already). Friday evening, we went to Greenfield Village to watch the Detroit Symphony Orchestra and fireworks.

It was a gorgeous evening. In fact, it even got a little chilly once the sun started to go down. The kids were really excited about the upcoming fireworks. But poor Madison, she just could not stay awake.

Saturday was mostly spent relaxing. Maddie's cousins were over again and they played together in the kiddie pool. Saturday night we shot off our own fireworks that I had gotten from work and that we bought at our church's fundraiser. I made sure Maddie stayed awake this time and she really enjoyed them.

On our way to Michigan, I had received a Facebook comment from one of Bryan's half sisters saying that they were going to be in Ohio the same weekend. Shortly thereafter, I received another one from Bryan's Aunt Kay saying that BOTH of his sisters were going to be at their house for brunch on Sunday and invited us to join. Columbus is a bit out of our way to travel home, but seeing as Madison and I have never met Bryan's two half-sisters and he hasn't seen them in a very long time, we just HAD to make it. So we left my parents' house Sunday morning to drive down to Columbus.

We had a very nice brunch. I was able to meet Bryan's sisters and their families as well as one of his cousins and their kids, Ben (3) & Bess (1). As you can see from the picture above, Bess also has red hair just like Maddie. We spent the rest of the day visiting with Uncle Larry & Aunt Kay, who we haven't seen since about 2 summers ago. We spent the night at their house then headed back to Missouri Monday morning. Despite all the potty breaks (potty training & long car trips are not easy) we still made it home by 7:30 for a late dinner.

Anniversary

So yesterday was our 3rd wedding anniversary. Some people may not feel that this is any cause for real celebration. I mean, it's only 3 years...that's hardly enough time to work through too many marriage straining life experiences, right? In most cases, probably so. But who else do you know that, in their first 3 years of marriage, had to deal with the birth of a child, a layoff, a cross-country move, buying a house, another layoff, 18 months of unemployment, and still love each other deeply? Now THAT is a cause for celebration!