The Oregon Ducks

Not the football team; though these ducks do huddle! (And their parents came from Oregon.) My sister aka Auntie A decided that Rei needed ducks since we'd had ducks when we were around his age.  Reilly had spent the night with Grandma and since we'd likely have ducks before we brought him back home I decided I'd stay here to help set up.  Well I ended up sending D to get him while I went on the duck expedition with the fam.  Pop, GiGi, Auntie A and me headed out first to a little place we'll refer to as ComicCon (inside joke now).  We had a few hours to spare we wandered around a decent size outdoor market.

People basically brought anything and everything to sell.  While some may think of it as junk, and most of it was, there were some things that caught my eye.  I saw a grape vine wine holder, a faux tree that would do fine in the bedroom, one fabulously oversized hat, and some cute tea sets.  After a bit of perusing, we made our way to the livestock.  You name it they had it; rabbits, goats, lambs, chickens, roosters, ducks, puppies.  We were put off by the conditions of the animals.  The small cages and crowding of the animals in them changed our minds about buying any there.  They had the wrong ducks anyway. :P  We had an appointment with someone in a closer city and we were amazed at the difference.  We'll just say that when I get around to having a rabbit, that's where I'll be going.  Seeing the chicks still cracking their way out of the eggs was just precious!  So here I am with 6 ducks my sister claims are hers for Rei for me to care for :P  It's going to be fun.  My dad came up with a pretty good enclosure for them complete with heat lamp, "bedding", feeder, and water bowl.  When they get a little bigger we've got a small baby pool they'll be able to swim in.  It's hilarious watching the leader take the rest back and forth between food and water.  They even played a game of ring around the rosie walking in circles around a feeder.  They are just adorable and us girls all "awww'd" in sync as they snuggled together.  Both on the way there and back, we schemed and came up with names for 5 of the ducks: Train, Bruce(leader), Neville(the small one), Charlotte, and Madeline.  We decided to let Rei name the last and after hearing Train he decided on Freight Car.  We all laughed and Rei was tickled we loved the name.  So in my back yard they live.  We'll keep them for a few months and when they're ready we'll transfer them to Grandma's farm to swim in the big duck ponds.  If anyone wants to come see them you know where to find me!

bills bills bills!

Arggh!  I know we have to pay for the care the boys received but when the hell are they gonna stop billing?  Feels like we're gonna be paying forever the bills for them.  So now we have Bennett's "last" bill and waiting on them to file Matthew's.  I swear if we get anything after this I'm gonna have a few more words to say.

Feels good to do good...

It really does.  Its a rewarding feeling knowing we shared our resources and were able to provide a reasonable amount of groceries for someone who cannot afford them much less the gas it would've taken for her to get there.  We live a minute from the major highway here in town and our sweet new friend lives miles and miles away behind the airport.  After some mailbox confusion we were able to fill up her kitchen table with bags of food. :)  You never realize how precious of a commodity food is; how much of a privilege it really is.  Food should be something that everyone has access to.  While this lady would not be kicked out of any store the price of the food and the distance make it a privilege while it should be a right.  She should have the right to the food she wants and yet she depends on charity.  I don't want to come across as feeling sorry for her; I don't think she'd want that.  What I mean to say is while I'm glad that there are people and churches able to provide things like groceries it seems strange and out of my "bubble" for these services to be needed.  No one should have to go without something like food.  We always hear about places like Africa where children are dying from starvation all day every day despite their parents sacrificing their own hunger for their kids.  We ALWAYS hear about the global problems and how we can donate money for someone to allegedly help them.  We like to think our money is helping, but the reality is that we'll never really know for sure unless we make the trip ourselves.  Even then, can we meet the exact person we believe we helped?  Today I looked inward.  The opportunity to help locally was there and I knew that the money I used would go to good use.  Now our new friend and her aged daughter have food through Easter at the minimum.  Is it strange that I feel I'm not doing enough?  I can't help but think what they'll do after those groceries are gone?  What about Christmas?  At least I have their address and a phone number.  I feel driven to do more.  What that'll be, I don't quite know yet.

Monday Monday

ah ahhh ah-ah-ah aahh  oh monday mornin'!

the start to a long spring break.  its so different being the parent.  i'm ready for school to start back!

Asthma

That's right.  Reilly officially has asthma.  We kinda figured since both David and Grandma have it.  I believe I put in my last post that Reilly'd had a cough for the last three months at least and had three fevers through that.  He's on antibiotics as well as a nebulizer bringing the grand total of prescriptions to 5.  Plus he's scheduled for allergy testing next week and I'm taking him for a chest xray tomorrow.  He did a breathing treatment at the doctor office and afterward there was a noticeable difference in the breathing.  I can't hear a wheeze but his doc can take one good listen and say "oh yeah, he's got it."  Sigh.  So now he's taking at least 3 meds a day plus the treatments as needed.  I posted a pic on facebook of all the medications he's got.  I've put the nebulizer next to his bed so that he can breathe easier when laying down.  It's a good spot for him to relax and watch a cartoon or play his v reader.  Glad we've got a plan on this whole mess.

poor Reilly

He's had a persistent cough for more than 3 months now and nothing seems to be helping!  It all started late last December.  Took him to our family doctor in early February where first we were told to wait it out a bit and if it got worse, to bring him back.  Well he got worse; fever, vomit, he couldn't eat anything but apple juice and crackers.  We go back to the doctor and he's presribed clarythromyacin (sp).  It helps some.  Reilly quits getting sick, the fever's gone, and the cough seems to be getting better.  Doc listens to his lungs and doesn't hear any wheezing so no breathing treatments are recommended and we're told the cough should go away soon.  Well now its early April and the poor kid's STILL coughing and has a 101 F fever AGAIN!  We're thinking he's got asthma but the fever tells me some kind of respiratory infection that just won't go away.  Either way he's headed to his allergy doctor on Monday that also handles asthma and immunology so we'll have it all covered.  Reading the reputation on this doctor, I'm glad we've got her.  She's real down to earth but is extremely smart.  We're talking valedictorian twice/chief resident smart.  I've got a list of what's been going on and I'm ready to head in there and say hey, find out what's wrong so we can fix it or handle it.  I'm tired of my baby being sick!