What's in your pockets?

At my class today, my teacher asked if someone in the class had a dime.  Since I neglected to bring my wallet, I emptied my pockets to see if I had one stashed somewhere.

From my pockets, I pulled out:

• one spool of white thread
• 2 screws
• a piece of lego
• a bobby pin
• Canadian Tire money
• An air inflator pin
• an iPod
• Lincoln's tooth (in a baggy so you are not TOO grossed out (top front that he just lost yesterday)
• A Toonie from the tooth fairy, that somehow ended up back in my pocket.

No dime.  But I was pretty sure that being a mom made my pocket contents the most interesting in the class...

Now I super curious - does every mom have random stuff in their pockets at the end of the day?  What are in your pockets right now?  If you feel like leaving a comment about this - it would make my day.  I really want to know!

Just Because This Brought Me So Much Joy...

These are the proofs for Oliver's school pictures this year...

He said, "I was trying to smile, but my face wouldn't let me!"

I have never loved a picture more, nor has one made me laugh so hard.

Thank you Oli - you made my day.

You can click on it to see all of its full glory...

Update

Man, I am the worst at updates.  As requested, here is some more info...

California was awesome and... no earthquakes.  Wicked.  The shoot was super fun. but I am not sure when/if they will use the footage.  They do it with 4 different people every 6 weeks and so get an overload of material.  At first I was a little bummed that it might not be used - like maybe it was an indicator that they weren't thrilled with what I said. And what about my friends whom I had told about the shoot, and then... no Maja.  I wouldn't want anyone to think I had LIED!  And then, I realized, all that was the ca-RAZY talking, and in the end if they didn't use it, I still got a fantastic free trip to California with my sweet Hubs and Chubs (aka Saskatoon Fats, McChub...  Ezra) AND I don't have to be on tv talking ABOUT MY ACNE.  Turns out, I am perfectly ok with option #2.

Photos of the shoot:

At the Getty with the cute boys...  (Just as an FYI - Ezra really was the star of the shoot - they ATE up the chubbiness)

Now on to Lincoln - he is getting BETTER!!!!  I really started to notice a difference when I got home from church on Sunday.  And then on Monday - it was like he was himself again.  He got dressed!!!!  For the first time in 10 days!!!!  AND said he was "really hungry and sick and tired of fasting..."  haha!   I was over the moon with relief and so, so grateful that he was getting better.  I kept hugging him all day and yelling - You are getting BETTER!!  I am so HAPPY!

And then, as I was walking out of my house to an exam, Lincoln said he was super itchy.  So I checked him out and the poor kid was covered in HIVES!  I mean head to toe, can't stop scratching welt-y looking nastiness.  I went from utter elation of having him improve so dramatically to despair that he was allergic to the antibiotic that was saving his life.  It was all I could do to not sob.  I was more upset at the sight of those things than going to the hospital in an ambulance.  At that point I was still in ignorance to the gravity of the situation, but now I was fully aware of the seriousness.  And he couldn't take the drug anymore.

And I was going to class to write an EXAM.

Every question I read my head spun thinking of Lincoln.  Do I take him back to the ER?  Walk-in?  How does Le Chatellier's principle apply to...?  How can I phone the health line, ER, family friends who are doctors from here?  What is the concentrations of products and reactants at equilibrium?  Is this as big a deal as I am making it out to be in my head???

I could hardly read my eyes were so blurred from tears.

Finally I finished and got a hold of our friend Kevin, who is nearing the end of his residency in family med and calmed my super over reactive fears.  He said Lincoln wasn't likely allergic, and I should continue on with the treatment.

What a stress though.  I did as Kevin told me, and sure enough - there has been nothing more.  And he keeps getting better; and more and more bored at being at home.  He really could go back tomorrow, but I will likely keep him home until Monday just to be on the safe side.

So there - updated!!  Thanks again for all your prayers, well wishes and support.  It meant a lot to me to know so many people cared.


(And an update on the exam... I got 96%.) 

PS

This is what I am doing instead of my taxes.  Which really need to be done, and I REALLY don't want to do.  We'll see how many posts I do before I finish them...  (this is post 4 in less than 24 hours.  Good grief.)

TLC's 18 Kids and Counting

I have a new favourite show on tv that I LOVE -  TLC's 18 Kids and Counting!!!  It is on my PVR, and I record all episodes, new and old.  When it starts, I start smiling, and the goofy grin stays on my face THE ENTIRE TIME I watch it.  To be honest, it is hard for me to explain why I love it so much, but I am going to try because I think it is so good that everybody should watch it.  (Once you get over that fact that the dad's name is Jim-Bob and the initial shock to the cheesiness-  you get used to it and then start to enjoy it.  And I mean, really love it!)

1. It does not have extra-ordinarily beautiful people on it, but they are extra-ordinary people which makes them beautiful.
2. It is not the funniest show on tv (30 Rock holds that title), but, like I said earlier - I am smiling the entire time it is on.
3. There is no drama, astounding wit or intense situation.  Unless you count living with 21 people.  That would be a lot of drama for me.
4. It is the only show on tv that I can think of that they talk about God.  They talk about their beliefs, and you see it in action.  I love that they can talk about God.  He has become so taboo that the only time you hear His name on tv now, it is taken in vain.  So this is such a great change.
5. It seriously inspires me.  There are so many things that I see, and think, Yeah.  I want to do that. For example, I try so hard to never yell anymore because they don't yell at their kids.  Ever.  Did I mention there are 18 of them?  And they are not all over the age of 20.  They have little ones, Lincoln, Oliver, Charlotte, and Ezra's age - plus probably a couple more in the same age span.  And no yelling.  They explained it one show that they want to show by example how the kids need to learn to respond.  Love that.  But I am, by nature, a Neilson.  And Neilson's are LOUD (Happy loud, mad loud, excited loud...  My nana used to tell me "Soft and classy, not loud and Brassy."  Now I tell that to Charlotte and it has come full circle.  She is ALL Neilson - a mini Maja in fact.)  Anyway - back to the Duggar's...
6. They homeschool.  I went down that crazy road last year and it only lasted a month, but I keep holding it in my heart that maybe I will do it again.  (And as a side note - for all intents and purposes I am doing again, simply because Lincoln will be missing at least a month's worth of school due to this nasty virus.)  I love that she does it though.  LOVE it.  The kids are so happy and the environment is so protected.  And by the the time they get old enough to be out in the world, they make good decisions because that is how they have been taught.
7. They teach modesty to the kids.  They don't let the boys see immodesty in others and if someone is approaching who is dressed inappropriately, they say the Code Word "Nike" and the boys drop their eyes.  The girls are covered and modest and don't think anything of it.  They want people to focus on their faces, not their bodies.  While extreme, it sure makes a lot of sense.
8. They all work hard, play hard and are live providently.  Does that even make sense?  I feel as though they are what most LDS people strive to be.  
9. They are good, righteous, wholesome people who make me want to be better.  And I see how they live and think, "they are living the gospel better than me!!"  I need to work on that!!  (And no, they are not LDS, but holy cow they should be!)  But it is awesome to feel that way after WATCHING A TV SHOW. The ironic thing is they don't watch tv.  At all.  I think they have a 10" screen with rabbit ears that they dig out of the closet to watch if the parents are being interviewed. So many things for me to work on...

OK - so I said it would be hard to explain...  Maybe not so much seeing I could still go on and on. But don't take my word for it -check it out Tues. night on TLC (the Learning Channel).  It is so nice to see something so GOOD on tv and I want to support that kind of television.  Not just by watching it, but also by telling other people about it.  

Family Pics

You have seen a preview of some pics that were taken By Chantelle Slocombe - but here are the rest.  She is so good and I am thrilled with them!  I am hoping that there is an awesome one of everyone that is still going to come...  (just as an FYI - the last family pics we had done, I was pregnant with Charlotte, so we were a little overdue for some new ones!!)

Paul and Me 

(yes, that grammar is correct - I think...)

Paul

Me

sLincoln

Oli - Boli or Bolsifer

(or Small-iver, but he doesn't like that one too much)

Charlotte

(Chuck - but mostly she gets MAD when you call her anything but Charlotte)

The Ezi-nator

The Group

More About Linc

I do have other children, I swear.  But it seems like most of my blogs are about sweet, sweet Linc.  He really is that sweet though and this is another post dedicated to my first born, the apple of my eye.

As some of you have heard Lincoln has been SO SICK.  For 8 days, he has had a high fever, sore throat, cough, severe body aches, and has generally felt like complete and utter garbage.  As he put it, he said "I am so sick, I feel like I might die..."  Ohhh... my poor buddy!

So I have been the ever diligent mom.  Stopping what I was doing to give him a cuddle if he needed it, popsicles if he wanted, medicine, back rubs - pretty much anything that turned his fancy he got.  He would say so often, "Mom, thank you for being so good to me while I have been sick.  I promise, when I feel better, I will make you breakfast in bed."

Man that kid - you see why I melt a little.

Back to Linc.  So he has had a cough since last Wed. (and yes, I am certain he has H1N1 and no, he has not officially been tested), but since Sunday it has become a more persistant cough.  And he had complained a couple times that it was hard for him to breathe, and his heart rate and breathing was up.  Not thinking too much of it, I tried my best to make him comfortable.  It continued, and finally Wed. night I thought I would finally take him into the walk-in clinic.  He didn't want to be there after waiting for 1 hour, and told me again that it was hard to breathe, and that all he wanted to do was go home and go to sleep.  He was even crying!  I felt so bad for him, that I went to tell the desk clerk that was having a hard time breathing and this moved him up the line.  After 20 more minutes of agonizing wait, we finally got in to see the Doctor.  He listened to his chest, and sent him immediately over for a chest x-ray.    When we got back about 10 minutes later, he ran in from seeing the x-ray with an oxygen tank and pulse -oxygen meter.  He measured Lincoln and he was at an 84 which apparently is NOT good.  He phoned an ambulance, and told us that Lincoln needed to be at the ER where he could be properly helped.  I was in SHOCK.  Lincoln just had a cough!  Ok, he did have H1N1, but this guy was saying that he now had pneumonia, that part of his lung collapsed and that he had seen kids with higher levels of O2 crash, respiratory distress...

CRASH???  RESPIRATORY DISTRESS???  WHAT????

So - off we go in the ambulance.  Wheeled out of the clinic on a stretcher.  With masks on.  It was so surreal, I could hardly even register that it was that serious, let alone real. Although when they took his pulse-oxygen in the ambulance it was in the 70's - so it helped re-focus me as to what was really going on.  I tried not to think about that line from About a Boy that "while it was really serious to be driving behind an ambulance, driving that fast was fantastic..."  It was serious and scary and this was LINCOLN!  (But it was my first time in an ambulance, and maybe that part was a little cool. - )

After about 4 hours in the pediatric ER, and once his fever was controlled, his oxygen levels stabilized to 92 - enough to go home for the night.  We are on high alert though - if his conditions worsens at all, if he is not getting better in 48 hours, if he throws up his antibiotics we are to come back immediately.  He does have a secondary infection from ILI (influenza-like-illness officially) - pneumonia and part of his lung had collapsed.  Poor, poor, sweet Lincoln!  I felt terrible that I hadn't taken him in earlier.  That I had blown off his telling me "that it was hard to breathe" as just part of this flu.  When we got home, I held him and told him I was so sorry.  And promised not to blow it again.  (Not till next time anyway...)  This is my sweet boy, and it is crazy to realize how serious it was.  The walk-in doctor phoned today, asking how he was feeling and re-hashed the previous evenings events with me.  Today, he was even more upfront about how scared he was for Lincoln.  It had really, really scared him.  When I think about how Lincoln had been so tired in the waiting room, and that he had been begging to go home to go to bed, crying that he was so sick... it makes me sick to think about the possibilities.  And beyond grateful that I finally took him into the clinic when I did, and for doctors, and diagnostic equipment, and for vaccines so others won't have to go through this...

So it was pretty crazy and very scary.  But I hope now that he will get better quickly.  He is on some crazy antibiotics that make him gag, but hopefully he is on the mend.  Thanks to all of you who have called and for dinners.  We didn't need them, but it is so nice to be thought of.  Thank you, thank you, thank you.