Updates, updates, updates:
The baby birds: They're all dead. Yup, all of 'em. Why? Who knows? Too much peeking in? Too cold last Saturday night? Were the roofers who are ripping off our old roof too annoying? Were they sick? I'll never know. On Sunday we were leaving for church and I did my daily peek. There were fewer in the nest and one was laying on the bottom, legs splayed out behind it. It looked dead. When we returned later in the day, the nest was empty. The mother came and stayed in the nest overnight, and by the next day she was gone.
Sad, yes. But I have to say, it was a bad situation from the start. A nest at our front door, roofers on top of the house... not to mention it was a House Finch family, and they have spent the past few decades crowding out other birds at feeders, taking over more and more territory. If it had been a rarer breed, the whole thing might have been different. I might have never peeked, I might have rescheduled the roofers, I might have locked up the front door for a few months.
Learning to Rest: Me. Learning to rest. I'm trying, really I am. Actually I am reluctantly learning that I have to. I'm sick and I need to take my health very seriously this week and next so that I can get better. Last week I got bit by a bug or a spider and I had an allergic reaction that lasted for a few days, followed by a skin infection called cellulitis. My leg swelled, got red, became super hot, and it kept getting worse. It's not something that will go away on its own, so I sought medical help. I'm now on super-strong antibiotics that are slowly making my leg feel better, but my stomach feels worse. I'm eating lots of homemade yogurt, trying to keep things together and my attitude positive. Five more days left of antibiotics. I know I'll make it.
I'm wondering if drinking raw milk would make my stomach feel better or worse these next few days. If all the good bacteria is being killed off, will I be able to digest the raw milk and stay healthy? Will the bacteria in the raw milk help me? Or hurt me?
Learning to Read: 'A'. It turns out that she doesn't need glasses, not yet anyway. So we're back to the original idea, which is that she just will not have anything to do with sitting down and learning to read with a teacher. However, she does get out of bed every night after we tuck her in, and she tries to read and write on her own. I think it's wonderful. Just this week, she started writing notes to me and Jeff. I'm learning that she'll gracefully accept one gentle suggestion about her spelling, but not more than one. As I made strawberry jam this week, she drew a picture of jars of jam and wrote me this note: "Do you love str barae cjam Mommy." My answer is, "Yes!"
It's taken me a while to get used to letting go and letting her teach herself. She's so clear with me that she will teach herself to read. It's been hard for me to really and truly keep my hands out of it. I am definitely closer now than ever before. She'll do it on her own time and in her own way.
Allergies & Asthma: 'A' visited a local allergist this week and we got her official asthma diagnosis. I've been waiting to hear those words. Even though she's used a nebulizer and an inhaler over the past year, no one has ever confirmed that she has asthma... until this doctor said it. It's new territory for me. I can tell when she's good and wheezy, but there are signs leading up to that point that I haven't learned to pick up yet. The *good* news that came from this most recent visit is that our insurance company will pay for allergy shots and the shots should help her seasonal allergies (which are awful in the spring, kind of bad now, and might be a problem in the fall, as she is allergic to trees, grass and ragweed). AND the shots might help her Oral Allergy Syndrome (which is where she gets red splotches on her face and a tingly tongue when she eats raw fruits and vegetables). It's not fun to be sick, to be poked and tested, but at least there are some positive things coming out of all of this.
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