Catch Up Monday

SOOO much to catch up on! First... right before Cosette left with her mama on Thanksgiving I realized that I didn't have any pictures of me and all my descendants together... ever. So we hustled this together and my sister-in-law Angie was good to take photos for us. I look sick and the babies are distracted but this is us - me and mine. It's surreal to think that had I not lived... these people wouldn't have lived... it makes me feel quite maternal and like my life has had meaning and purpose. All I ever wanted to be was a mother and I'm so grateful to be THEIR mother and now THEIR Nana and I love each and every person in this photo with all of my heart. They are my heart. They are what matters in the world to me. I feel like my sons are my pride and my grandchildren are my joy... and a reward for the hard work I did for all those years as a single mom... and continue to do, of course because it's still hard work!

When we last left this story... I had gone from migraine to strep and now, confirmed yesterday,  to bronchitis. In the middle of all of that I broke a tooth from coughing which is stupid crazy and looks horrible but I'm going to have to cancel my dentist appointment this morning because I canNOT stop coughing and the new antibiotics are doing a number on me. I won't say which number but it is definitely not conducive to sitting patiently in a dental chair.

I wasn't going to go to the doctor yesterday because honestly, I'm just so tired and I had already been to Urgent Care once and sat for hours without being seen (because I gave up and left). I prayed about it and asked God to guide me to know if I should go. A few minutes later I got up and there was a refrigerator magnet on my table from Urgent Care. I don't even remember having it and I sure don't know how it got on my table but I took it as a sign. I called the number on the magnet and they said there was no one waiting so I took off, still in my pjs. I went straight in, was in and out quickly and the pharmacy even had my meds ready in the time it took me to drive from the Urgent Care to the pharmacy. Coincidence? Maybe. I feel like God guided me to be there and opened all the doors to make it happen quickly, as I needed it to be.

As I mentioned earlier, we had mediation on the 15th to get a final custody agreement in place for Cosette. For now we have Cosy on Tuesdays, Fridays and every other Saturday. We also had her Thanksgiving so we ended up having her Thursday, Friday and Saturday WHILE I was dealing with bronchitis. When I say "we" have her, truly, Austin is very hands on and with her almost every minute (except when smoking, yuck) but I am always also right there with her because I just can't NOT be. We try not to keep her cooped up at home so I've been all over town spreading my germs... you're welcome, White County. We had a great time with her and yesterday morning it felt weird not to go pick her up.

Actually, the doctor said yesterday that he saw a whole lot of people with strep around the time I was in with strep... and now is seeing a lot of those same people with bronchitis. He said that likely I had both when I came in with strep but the symptoms didn't show up for bronchitis until later. Because my lungs have a bunch of scar tissue in them (granulomas) it's really hard for me to shake bronchitis. I'm just praying that this doesn't stretch into a three month deal like usual. I just want to be well. So far Cosy doesn't have any symptoms of bronchitis. Hopefully she's tough enough to battle past.

I have been living on Halls cough drops, alka seltzer severe congestion meds - which my doctor had me change to mucinex - and can't be without kleenex because there is all sorts of stuff being coughed up or dripping out of my nose. I'm just a big juicy bag of germs. I am drinking a lot and trying to eat healthy but I've lost five pounds between the time I went in for strep and the time I went in for bronchitis so it's definitely affecting me.

On Wednesday Ryan and Sara came down (over?) from Myrtle Beach and spent two nights with us - Wednesday and Thursday night. Cosette is still not sure about Ryan's beard. She's shy with men anyways but bearded men are especially suspect. But she LOVES their dog Luke and he was so good to let her pet him and hug him and she was in "oof" heaven. She can't pet our dog Oscar because he's unpredictable when it comes to nipping and she LOVES dogs. She also loves cats but you can tell that dogs are her favorite. We had a great time with Ryan and Sara - even if I did make them suffer through a Downton Abbey Marathon. My kids were ready to stage an intervention. They sleep in my room - which I basically use as a dressing room / walk in closet since I can't sleep in a bed because of my back. The cleaning lady had made up the bed for them so my hostessing duties were minimal - which is good because I was feeling right poorly.

Austin is STILL not working. He's applied so many places. I don't know if his follow up is not good or what the deal is but it's costing me a fortune because life goes on and he needs stuff.  My parents have always been so generous to me so I gladly step in to do my part because I can, therefore I should. I promised Tasha that I would never let her go without child support as long as I had money to share. That was such a hard part of single parenting for me - that child support was never a guarantee. I don't want my grandchildren to have to go through the same hardships my children did and so I pay, while I can. I also pretty much buy everything that Cosy asks for because... she's just so durn cute.

When we were in Walmart on Saturday she found this little seat. Her mom had bought one for her on Black Friday for $20. They were in a bin still marked $20 but the actual price at the cash register was $35. The problem was that Cosette loved it SOOOO much that she wouldn't even let us put it on the conveyor to be rung up. She wanted her dad to put it on the floor so she could sit in it and he had to rip the price tag off for them to scan. When you want something so bad that you can't even bear to be away from it long enough to ring it up... well, you should get it. It folds out to be a little bed. Someone saw us carrying it around in the store and said her kids had one when they were little and they were so cute to curl up together on it. I would love for Cosy and Oliver to cuddle up together but Cosy has a real issue with not sharing her Frozen things with Oliver. She isn't crazy about sharing any toys (we're working on it) but will melt down if Oliver gets her Frozen things. "There is a BOY touching my things". You can see it in her face. Anyways... I just loved her camping out in the check out line with her couch. Not afraid to make a scene... that's my girl.

Oddly though, she didn't mind sharing her plate with Oliver on Thanksgiving. He had his own plate but had more fun eating from hers and she just let him. She had noticed the table set at 9am and wanted to sit at the table then. She was READY! Finally when people showed up and there was food everywhere she got hold of a paper plate and walked around wanting us to put food on it. For it to only be her second Thanksgiving she really got the idea of it all! She is such a little timid thing and is so afraid of strangers. On Friday and Saturday every time a car would go past on the road by the house she would run to the nearest adult and want to be picked up. She was OVER having people around and Nana the Introvert totally understands. I feel that way too sometimes.

Besides the Halls cough drops and the tissues, things I'm loving lately are holiday scented candles, the Fisher Price Nativity Set I bought for the babies and I splurged and bought myself stacking rings with the babies' names on them from Lisa Leonard. I have wanted these rings forever and honestly... would love to have them with my sons names too but the price was prohibitive. This weekend they are 25% off so I got the two with the babies names. I love sterling silver and wear a lot of silver rings and although it was a splurge... I know I'll enjoy these for a long time. Some time in the future I'll buy the ones with Ryan, Cody and Austin on them. Some time after Austin is working again and I've paid to fix my teeth and all that.

I'm sure there is plenty more I've forgotten from the past few weeks of my blogging sabbatical but I guess this is enough for now! At some point we need to discuss the Gilmore Girls revival because... wow. Hope you have a great week! Love and hugs, y'all!