Summer Schedule and HFMD

Once we had our house back to ourselves after cousins left, we had a family council over the weekend and talked about the new summer schedule. I wanted to start into our "school year", getting a head start on the curriculum so I don't feel stressed out when I need to take time off. We will be taking it slow and lots of breaks, but at least we're moving in the right direction. I also don't want them sitting around all summer complaining about being bored! I am not a fan of being lazy all summer. I told them that they had to get all the stuff done on their chore charts by noon, or they couldn't go swimming that day. The pool is awesome motivation. I started leaving at 6 a.m. to go walking every morning, and it was my favorite time of day. I was back by 6:30 or even a few minutes before to try to read my scriptures. But the kids are all getting up by then and Kenny's getting out the door. So the day begins. I'm seeing a good change in some of the kids as we've been consistent with these morning schedules. Kelsey, especially, used to whine about emptying the dishwasher every single day and would drag it on and on for hours unless I pushed back on it. It was so annoying. Same thing with making her bed. She would complain that she just couldn't do it and it was too hard, and she needed help. But we've been consistent and it's sunk in that she doesn't really get a choice. She's doing so much better now and does it quickly and mostly willingly! 

Their charts include their morning chores (say prayers, get dressed, brush teeth, make bed, do hair, clean room) along with their house chore. The older three each have a room or bathroom they're in charge of. Kelsey's job is the dishwasher, but she often ends up helping Madison with the game room since those two are the ones who make a disaster of it on a daily basis. T & B also have to do 30 minutes of reading each day, and their piano practicing. (We just started taking piano lessons again this month, on Mondays.) Madison does reading time with me as well.

We start our Family School time at 9:00 each morning. So far it's going really well. We're still getting a few kinks worked out with the set up of our school room, but it's coming along. I really love the curriculum (The Family School online). I still need to do better at incorporating a little math each day so they don't forget everything :). That only takes between 1 and 1.5 hours. After that they're free to do whatever. They swim for hours a day, and I'm so so grateful we have a pool. I don't know what I'd do without it, seriously. 

One activity for school was making a model of the solar system. We were supposed to paper mache and do all kinds of big crafty things. But I like to keep it simple, or I knew it would end up with me spending many hours on something by myself, and they wouldn't really care anyway. So we just blew up different sizes and colors of balloons, labeled them, and hung them up on the fan to orbit around our "sun". It was great!

Sunrises and sunsets are some of my most favorite things in the world. So I love being outside each morning as the sun comes up so I can see it.

Tyler's learning to make chocolate chip cookies all by himself. Next time he does it I will try to stay out of the kitchen and let him do it alone.

They each picked out a little fake animal at the store for different things. The older three it was for finishing some books they'd been reading, and for Kelsey it was for not wetting the bed for a week! She had been doing great and then we moved and I was washing her sheets every day or every other day. I know she is capable though! 

The summer was off to a great start and I felt like we were rockin it! Plenty of time for all of our work and play, things were going so great. In my last post I told that we went fishing with that other family. Well the next day (Sunday), they texted us that evening and said "sorry but we just figured out what's wrong with our daughter, we think it's hand, foot, and mouth disease. Hope nobody in your family gets it." Their daughter had a horrible rash that progressively got worse as we were there. I had never had experience with HFMD so I didn't know that's what it was, and I stupidly trusted the parents. My heart sank when Kenny read me their text and I started praying so hard, but I just knew Briggs was going to get it because he'd been playing with the little girl, who's in nursery with him. He didn't really have an appetite on Monday, which is strange for this big boy. Tuesday his fever started, and that night I checked again and found spots in his mouth. That started this long, hellish week. Kenny's been sleeping in the game room on the couch and I've been up doctoring Briggs all day and night. It's been the worst sickness we've had in our home, I dare say. I'm home from church with him right now. He has horrible sores all over, and they blister and pop and bleed. He is so miserable and the sores really itch and hurt all at once. It breaks my heart to watch him go through this and not be able to take it away from him. He's just the sweetest boy and we're praying it all goes away quickly and that none of the other kids get it. He is starting to do better. He is eating a little bit now after several days of not eating at all. And last night he slept through the night for the first time all week. So I'm hopeful that the worst is over, for him at least.

I was really angry for several days at this family for bringing their daughter and not just being up front with me. They could have easily said, "let's just go fishing another day, our daughter is really sick and was up all night from this rash". But they didn't. It's not just that Briggs is sick, but the timing of it is horrible. My sister, Kim and her family are going to be here in a few days and I've really been looking forward to spending time with them. They're only here for like a week and then they move to Europe for another year. We never get to see them and if this sickness keeps us from being able to spend time with them for those few days we have, I will not be happy.

He just wants to be held and snuggled about 22 hours a day. My awkward, large belly is not very conducive to that but we do our best.

He's all caked in calamine lotion. We do lots of different things to try to give him relief. Oatmeal baths, bakign soda baths, dermoplast spray, this lotion, benadryl, essential oils, hydrocortisone cream for the rash on his bum, etc. etc.

Another beautiful sunset last night after a big storm.