He makes me laugh

Yesterday we went to breakfast at a local restaurant. I dressed the baby, but Evan dressed himself. He didn't match, but I certainly didn't care. I was just happy that he was in weather appropriate clothing of sweatpants and a sweatshirt.

We were seated at the restaurant when Evan suddenly announces quite loudly, "I'm not wearing any underwear!"

Eric and I both busted up laughing. What else could we do? I guess that's what happens when the kid dresses himself and we don't pay very much attention!

A sidenote: After breakfast the Forcey Boys got haircuts and I got my eyebrows waxed. Evan chose to get black gel in his hair for the day. That's why his hair is so dark in the photo.

I think I can write about this now

See this man? This amazing, wonderful, husband of mine was extremely sick last weekend. I wrote a short blurb about it a few days ago, but I think I am ready to write about it in more detail today. I just wasn't able to do that a few days ago. I was more concerned with the health of my true love.

Eric got sick on Wednesday and came home early. He was throwing up but also had a bad pain in his stomach. I found him curled up in bed when I got home from school that afternoon. Honestly, at that point my biggest concern was keeping the kids away from him because I really didn't want them picking up yet another bug. However, it was a bit concerning that his stomach hurt so bad.

Thursday morning arrives and our plans were out of whack from the beginning. Evan was going to have his kindergarten placement test at my school, and then Eric was supposed to take him over to his school when the test was done. Instead, I took Hudson to daycare, and Evan went to school with me. Luckily the kindergarten teacher tested him right away, and I jetted him over to his school.

I had just gotten back to my school when Eric texted me asking if I could come home and take him to the doctor. Huh? That was my first reaction. My second reaction was worry. Eric never needs me to do stuff like that for him. It's always the other way around.

I quickly lined up people to take over the class and ran home to zip Eric over to Urgent Care, fully intending to make it back to school in time to take the kids to church to practice their songs for Mass. That was not to be.

Urgent Care directed us right to the hospital. That's when I started getting a bit more concerned. We drove to Clovis Community and began the worst weekend EVER. Poor man was hurting so bad he was moaning. It took two hours to be seen by triage. They gave him a shot for pain, ordered a CT scan, and sent us back into the waiting room because there were no beds in the E.R. Apparently Thursdays are busy (or at least that's all I can come up with as to why people were streaming in all day on a random Thursday in March). You sure do see some interesting people in the E.R. though. My favorite was the girl waiting for her cigarettes to arrive while also flirting with a drunk cowboy who broke his hand the night before. Books could be written!

Finally at 4:30ish (6 hours after arriving), we were taken back into the E.R. A few hours and one CT scan and ultrasound later, we were told that Eric had pancreatitis and was going to be admitted to the hospital, but there were no beds available. Apparently "no beds" is the new trend. At least he was getting better medicine, but it only controlled his pain for about two hours at a time.

Hudson's godmother ran to school to get Evan and deliver him to Hudson's daycare. The boys ended up spending the night there. We thought for sure Eric would have a bed upstairs within hours. Oh we were so silly in our thoughts. I finally ran home to gather pj's, blankets, and fresh clothes for the kids. It was so hard to hold them and have to leave again.

I stayed with Eric all night, twisting myself into the most unimaginable positions I have ever not wanted to be in. E.R. waiting chairs suck. I felt horrible because Eric was not allowed to have food or water, and he was so horribly thirsty. All he wanted was water. Every time he was in pain, I'd run out and tell a nurse. Every time he had to pee, we had to find a nurse to unhook the IV, and then they usually never came back to hook him up again. Frustrating to say the least.

I finally went home at 5 a.m., because I figured if I didn't, I wasn't going to be able to help anyone on Friday. I slept for a few hours, showered, and went back to the hospital fully expecting Eric to be in a bed upstairs. Nope.

We didn't get a bed until 5:30 Friday night. Thirty-one hours in the E.R. An experience I would not wish on anyone.

Things improved once he was taken upstairs. For one thing, they gave him ice water! I happened to walk in and see Eric with a huge grin on his face. I asked him if he was on some good drugs. He smiled, held up a cup, and said, "No, they gave me ice water!" It was nice to laugh after having cried so many tears. I'm a bit of a weeper.

There is more to the story, but suffice it to say that Eric was in the hospital until Sunday afternoon. He was discharged a day earlier than we expected, so that was a nice surprise. He will have to have his gallbladder removed. We are trying to be healthier so as not to aggravate said gallbladder until it can be removed.

I will write about taking Evan to his opening day of T-ball in another post. It was sad because Eric was in the hospital. I cried some more.

I am just so extremely grateful to have my best friend home where he belongs. It is terribly frightening to watch someone you love be in so much pain. I hope Eric thinks I was supportive during all this, despite my tears.

A big thank you to Linda for watching the kids the first night, my mom for staying with me on Friday and Saturday, and to Tiff for taking the kids for the weekend. Another big thanks to Greg for help in the hospital and to Rosa for fighting her way back into the E.R. to deliver me some much needed snacks and diversion. Thank you to everyone for the phone calls, texts, and prayers. We feel very loved and blessed.

Life is standing still

I took Eric to the E.R. on Thursday morning for severe abdominal cramps. Six hours after we arrived he was finally taken back into a room. Thirty-one hours after he arrived he was taken upstairs and admitted to the hospital with pancreatitis.

His pancreas are inflamed which is causing a LOT of pain. I've never seen Eric like this. He's been on strong antibiotics and strong pain killers. He has had several procedures done including a CT Scan, MRI, and Ultrasound. They are trying to figure out if his gallbladder is to blame for the pancreatitis.

We are blessed to have many family and friends who immediately jumped in to offer help. Thank you to everyone. Hopefully Eric will be home very soon.

A Hard Lesson

Evan (and I) learned a hard lesson today. His scooter was stolen from right outside our house in broad daylight.

I had the day off so I was able to pick Evan up right after school. We came home, and while I was loading groceries into the house, Evan was playing out front riding his scooter.

At one point I needed to use the bathroom, and I didn't want to leave Evan out front alone with me at the back of the house. I told him he needed to come inside. He came in but left his scooter leaning on the curb right in front of the house.

We were inside for maybe 10 minutes (and no I wasn't in the bathroom that long!). Then we went back outside to continue playing. All of a sudden Evan said, "Hey, where's my scooter?" I sort of looked around in disbelief. It was indeed gone.

We live at the end of a cul de sac that only has three houses on it. There is a canal along the side of the house. In other words, we don't get a lot of foot traffic.

It is really dismaying to realize that you can't leave your scooter, bike, or other play items outside of your supposedly safe neighborhood without fear of returning to an empty yard. It really angers me.

I then had to sit down and have a talk with my 4-year-old about how some people in the world are bad and how this was an unfortunate lesson for all of us to have learned. Evan said, "God will help us!" I'm not sure if he thought God would bring back his scooter or if God will strike the thief! I'm hoping for either result.

Sometimes this world gets me down. It's hard to look at the face of your 4-year-old and try to explain why someone took something that belonged to him. Like I said in the title: a hard lesson.

Ready for WASC

My students and I have been extremely busy getting ready for our accreditation visit which starts tomorrow. This is a really big deal. Our school staff has been working for the past two years to get ready for the three-day visit.

My students really worked hard today getting our projects finished, decorating, and just helping out in general. I owe them a huge thank you...and maybe a treat later this week!

Here are some photos of the classroom.


This is a small sampling of what we have done this year.


St. Nicholas is our classroom saint.


Every month we study a new Fruit of the Holy Spirit. Then the kids put their "fruit" on the tree. I'm not sure how we are going to fit 3 more months worth of fruit up there!


Sorry the chairs are in the way. The room is ready for the visit!