Roses and Baby Powder

 

"St. Therese, the Little Flower, please pick me a rose from the heavenly garden and send it to me with a message of love; ask God to grant me the favor I thee implore and tell Him I will love Him each day more and more. Amen."

 

Baby powder?

Roses?

Two of my favorite smells.

Too bad sometimes it takes me awhile to recognize that I am smelling them.

 

Our son Cameron is 14 months old.

Back in March, and again in July, he ran a very high fever

with very high wbc.

After 3 or 4 days he would be fine.

No other symptoms.

No results from any tests.

Viral. (?) That was what I was told.

 

And here we go again.

 

Cami was fine Monday night.

I took our 8 children to Family Eucharistic Adoration.

After, there was a dinner downstairs. Tom met up with us there.

Our children had fun running around chasing each other.

(They are very comfortable at church.)

 

Then at 4:00am I woke up and heard Cami whimpering in his sleep.

I touched his little foot and it was hot.

I quickly picked him up and went downstairs to take his temp and get some Tylenol.

I talked to my pediatrician's office when they opened. Since Cami was acting fine we decided I would watch him for 24 hours then bring him in if he still had a fever with no other symptoms.

 

All day the fever stuck around.

When it was down a little from the medicine, Cami would act happy and play with his toys. But it would go right back up after a few hours. Then Cami and I would cuddle.

 

Last night Cami and I slept on the couch together.

We were up every couple hours.

Cami hasn't wanted to eat food so we've been nursing a lot.

His temp was around 105 at the highest.

So today we are going in to see his doctor.

 

But as I have prayed over Cameron I noticed how sweet he smelled at times.

Then I finally realized he smelled like baby powder to me.

The smell would come and go. Seemed to be around when his fever was high.

I started craving the smell.

I'd cradle Cami and smell all around his head trying to find it.

Sounds silly maybe, but it brought me comfort when I could smell it.

 

Today I smelled the sweet smell and then thought of roses.

I adore Mother Mary and I know that the scent of roses is associated with her.

I was looking on my computer about it.

I found a nice Catholic site that had testimonies of smelling roses.

Mary was mentioned and so was St. Therese, "the little flower."

St. Therese promised to release a scent of roses from Heaven.

So then I wondered about the scent of baby powder.

I looked it up and the scent of baby powder is partially made with rose oil.

 

I believe that St. Therese and Mother Mary are sending me comfort

while I care for Cameron.

 

I just really felt the need - and want - to share this :o)

 



School is in

"An education turns mirrors into windows."

 

School is in!

I am actually not too thrilled about that.

Where did summer go?

 

So far - I am very pleased with the teachers our children got this year.

(Bus driver too!)

Everyone seems to be off to a great start!

I just don't know how long I can last doing the morning routine

and the homework routine in the afternoon.

Getting 6 children out the door is exhausting!

Making sure everything is signed and put back in the right child's folder and in the right child's backpack can be confusing.

At night we get the snacks picked out, the water bottles filled,

and the outfits (including the shoes!) set out for the morning.

I go to bed feeling confident that everything is ready for the morning craziness, but somehow the craziness still finds me.

 

I had to go searching for more pants for our boys and more

shoes for our girls. They all decided to do some growing over the summer.

And it's hard to know that they've grown so much until you put long pants on them and they wear something more than flip flops on their feet.

Thankfully I can go into our basement and find a few

things packed away in bins, but our oldest son and our oldest daughter don't have bins to go through.

 

We really need to find more space for homework.

It usually ends up being done on the floor next to our front door.

It is the one place they can just spread out.

So far our kindergartner is the only one who loves the idea of homework.

She cries if I ask her to wait.

Of course, her homework is fun.

This weekend she needed to make a paper bear that looked like her.

Tom had a great time helping her.

Sarah's bear had Sarah's face (photo) and was wearing a

Dora shirt and a pink tutu.

Cute!

 

Now if I could get our youngest 2 to nap at the same time, I just might get things done around here and maybe have a little time for myself.

So far, that doesn't seem to be in their plans.

Mommy will have to change that :o)

 



Jacob 3

"Celebrate Life."

Today we celebrated our 7th child's 3rd birthday.
When we asked him what he wanted - "Blueberries!"
Ok.
What do you want with your blueberries? - "Steak!"
Ok.
Is there a certain toy you might like to go with your blueberries and steak?
"Umi Zoomi!"

So our little Jakey woke up to blueberry muffins.
We had a cookout with Tom's mom.
And Jacob got a Team Umi Zoomi remote control car.

We had a very happy 3 year old.
And a wonderful day with family.



Summer - BTR

"Don't count every hour in the day. Make every hour of the day count."

I can't believe it is August!

Where did our summer go?

It was a great summer.

Camp, vacation at the lake, waterpark, lots of friends and family time.

Our daughter Rachel went to her first concert this weekend.

She went with her friend for their birthdays.

Big Time Rush!

Kendall (her favorite) & James (her 2nd favorite) came right up next to her.

How exciting!

My first concert was Donny and Marie Osmond with my friend Dana.

(Dana lived kitty corner across from me just like Rachel's friend does!)

I didn't get to be up close to Donny, but I still remember how exciting it was.

On a side note: I did finally get to be up close to Donny when I saw him in Joseph and the Technicolor Dreamcoat. Tom and I left the musical and were walking around downtown Chicago when we saw a bunch of people waiting outside by the back door of the theater. I said to Tom "What fools thinking Donny is going to come out that door." Then Tom said "There he is."

I was suddenly 14 years old again and took off running and screaming. Ha ha!

I busted my way through the crowd and got Donny's autograph and touched his hand.

I feel very "giddy" right now. Lol!

So Rachel had a wonderful time and came back with a t-shirt, necklace, and bracelet.

Her friend's mother loved seeing our girls so excited and she made sure they had the

time of their lives that night!

I have been to many Duran Duran concerts and have never come really close to Simon - though I swear John looked right at me at one of them - what an exciting night for Rachel and her friend.

Today my sister and my nephew from Texas are coming to visit.

I am so excited to see them and to spend a few days with them.

Family is the best!