an announcement....

here's your hint...

Yes... we're moving back to Chicago! Jeff has a new job that doesn't require so much travel, so soon we'll be a real family again, living in the city we consider "home". Although, being in Texas for four years has probably thinned out my blood a bit so moving back in the thick of winter in Chicago is probably not the best situation, but we'll be just fine. Yay!

Other than that... things have been pretty crazy normal around here. Today was Clara's 5 year check-up... she's doing great. Alex went with me to have a couple of warts (that word just makes me cringe for some reason) frozen off and we were all getting flu shots. When the PA came in she told us that if we wanted to we could do the nose thing for the flu vaccine instead of the shot. I was all for that... I don't like shots and Alex is a beast to deal with when it comes to shots. So after Clara's exam, the PA froze Alex's warts, however, she didn't have the little plastic cone thing tight to his skin around the wart so the freezing stuff ran all down his finger.... his whole finger was turning white!!! It was numb so he didn't feel it at the time... but it started to sting about the time they came to do our flu vaccine. When the nurse came in I noticed a syringe... apparently the cost of the nasal vaccine is different than the shot and since I had already paid, I was getting the shot (the kids' vaccines were covered under the co-pay). I got to go first and have a nice little Daffy Duck band-aid to show for it. Clara was next... she stood right up and got the vaccine without so much as her eyes watering. Now.... we come to Alex who was already starting to freak out seeing me get a shot, plus his finger was stinging. He totally lost it... I mean totally lost it. He was a total wreck. As a mom, I was so torn right then... part of me wanted to tell it was okay and we didn't have to do it... but I knew we should (Alex and I got the flu last winter and it was HORRIBLE, plus Clara has a history of breathing problems... so we need to stay healthy in our house). He sat on the floor, grabbed onto a chair and refused to move. I had to pick him up while the nurse pryed the chair out of his hands. We finally got the vaccine in him and he just blinked and said "that didn't hurt". Well... duh! That's what we had been trying to tell him. Clara kept trying to comfort him by telling him how easy it was and even at one point turned her head away from us and closed her eyes. I had no idea what she was doing, but when she turned around she told me that she had just prayed to God to make her big brother brave. She can really surprise you sometimes.

Anyway... if you don't like nastiness... don't look at this pic... it's just a shot of my poor boy's finger from where the freezing stuff got out of control. Have you ever seen a blister like that?

Well... after my day of 6 year old boy wrestling... I'm tired and ready for bed.

'nite!