Travelin' Tuesday

Okay, so your spouse is really struggling to find ways to show their undying affection and appreciation for you, right? They have been racking their brain to think of a romantic place to whisk you away for a few days of nothing but the two of you, time and the ocean blue.

Ahhh, look no farther -


An overwater bungalow at the Four Seasons Resort in Bora Bora!




Or, if you have some aversion to the Four Seasons, you could always visit the Bora Bora Lagoon Resort for your overwater bungalow adventure



Oh, to dream on this Travelin' Tuesday!

Have a great night!

How's Your Cup - Half Full?

Occasionally I slip into my "negative Nelly" mood when I become easily agitated (more so than normal) and the act of tongue-biting (aka resisting to speak my mind) is non-existent. My tolerance level hits a -2 and patience becomes a thing of the distant past. Either you are, or you aren't; you did it, or you didn't do it; you said it, or you didn't say it. Expectations are at an all-time high and the margin of error is 0. So, you get the picture (hence no blog updates in the last three days as they would not have been nice or enjoyable for a reader!) You've probably experienced similar "negative Nelly" moments (unfortunately my negative Nelly mood comes in spurts and can last for several days).

I began to think this morning about the need to reverse my "negative Nelly" attitude and the old adage - 'is your cup half full or half empty' - came to mind (of course, that assumes you have a cup which may soon become a thing of the past since we all must live so consciously consumed by thoughts of how we can change our behavior and habits to save our dying environment - it's taboo to use plastic, or paper or styrofoam, or aluminum or glass).

Anyway, if you have a cup, it should be half full and that's the way I'd want mine to be, honestly.

I said all that to tell you this - this time of year when I take the young ones to school I have to drive over 3 miles due East right when the sun is rising - historically, on 'negative Nelly' days, it has been a huge irritant and only served to start my mornings off on a bad note due to the glaring sun shining in the car window (ya know, it's too low for the visor to have any effect and your sun glasses just don't do the trick).

But, this morning, in my effort to have a cup half full - I took great wonder and amazement in the beautiful sunrise that God gave us -



Here's to a cup that should always be half full!! Have a blessed night!

Surgery and Snake Dogs

Well, our weekend started bright and early on Friday when we had to wake at 4am in order to have K3 at the hospital at 5am for her "bilateral myringotomy" - in other words, tubes in both ears. All went well and our littlest angel did great - here she is waiting, completely unbeknownst to her, to be taken back to the OR and put in la-la land.



Then, here in Central Alabama, the rest of the weekend was rain, rain, thunder, lightning, rain, rain, thunder, rain....and, ya get the picture. Little league football was cancelled Saturday (which meant no little league cheerleading for the Calvert's) but, have no fear - K2 had a plan that was sure to cure the boredom blues any little girl might have on a rain-soaked Saturday. She discovered one of her Kid's Cookbooks and quickly began her campaign of "Momma!" "Momma!" "Look at this!" So, off we go to the grocery store, in the rain, just me with three kids in tow (after a 20 minute search for an umbrella - why is it you can never find one when you need it the worst).

Anyway, we were joined by a neighbor and the girls had a great time making Snake Dogs...

SSSSS, the finished product

And their own Bagel Bites...


K3 brought everyone to laughter when we noticed her Puff was stuck to her head!


We made the most of a rainy weekend and hope you did the same!

Can I Have Your Autograph, Please?

Not so much in the traditional sense of a baseball card or 8x10 photograph. Heck, you don't even have to be famous. K2 just appreciates anyone taking the time to place their mark of fame on her new "hot pink" cast.

I knew when I bought those Sharpies for our Disney World trip a couple of years ago that they might come in handy again.



And, yes, Big Sissy signed Baby Sissy's name on the cast, too - but, this time, Mommy got to go first!!

She has been a trooper throughout her broken arm ordeal and has not complained one time - honestly, not once!

Peace

Tonight was the 3rd night of "Spectacular September" at our church. So far the services have been great and tonight was no different as we listened to Scott Dawson explain the basic principles of Christianity, how Jesus died for my sins and that He is always, unequivocally, with us during a storm. As it has been said, we are all either entering a storm, in the midst of a storm, or on our way out of a storm. The scripture tonight came from 1 John 14 wherein Jesus explained to the disciples what he had told them over and over again "27 I give you peace, the kind of peace that only I can give. It isn't like the peace that this world can give. So don't be worried or afraid."

Coincidentally, or maybe not, I have been following a blog of a family that I do not know personally but have friends that do. It is a story of a family with two young children who lost their mother a few weeks ago after a sudden heart attack at the young age of 34. The widow, her husband, writes a daily devotional and prayer about his walk. I encourage you to check this link to be touched by their story.

When I got home tonight and checked the Cains' blog I was surprised to see that today's devotional was from the VERY SAME scripture that Scott Dawson spoke about this evening. Reminding me, yet again, that God gives us peace in any and every storm - no matter how big or how little!

May peace be with all of you - have a blessed night and don't forget a lost friend when you say your prayers!

Love!

Calvert Medical Center and Urgent Care ("CMCUC")

Conveniently located in Mt. Olive, Alabama we offer the best in routine and emergent care. We offer private or semi-private rooms depending upon our patients' desires (or level of fear). Our care is provided by experienced caretakers with no formal education in clinical practices. If experience alone is not enough to care for a particular condition we often rely on the limitless resources available at CMCUC.

These resources include unlimited access to Sister Tammy (a mother of three with no clinical education) and the Internet (we all know it has every answer imaginable!)

Our care is primarily inpatient with comfortable conditions and all the conveniences of home (we provide phone and internet connection, satellite TV with Disney and Nickelodeon, toiletries, hair dryers, etc).


We routinely go the 'extra mile' by providing ancillary services including:
Tooth Extraction and
Comfort Measures for Incoming Teeth

We also occasionally offer psychological care as we are fully equipped with an isolation room that is used for "lock down" (aka time out) and to isolate patients who may have a communicable virus.

Although we do not have a full inhouse pharmacy we do have access to Walgreens and CVS and often administer multiple medications, as dictated by the current conditions of our patients. Just today we have, or will, utilize the following:


Additionally, we have developed strong relationships with specialist in the Greater Birmingham area when our patients' needs exceed our capabilities. We offer free transportation to those specialist who include scheduled visits next week to an ENT and Orthopeadic specialist.

In order to fully understand the level of care and wide expansive services provided we have listed below the conditions that have been addressed here at CMCUC just this week:

Physical Abrasions and Mental Anguish associated with being ran over by a Barbie Jeep driven by a sibling (notice the excellent healing progression of these skin wounds with photo taken 6 days post injury);

Comfort care provided for chronic otitis media (10 weeks of ear infections) - this includes the standard hug and love as well as midnight feedings, diaper changes and administration of appropriate antibiotics and acetaminophen.

Emergent personal transportation to Children's Hospital Emergency Room for x-ray (a service we unfortunately do not provide) and casting of a broken right arm. This injury occurred as a result of a playground incident while a resident patient was at school:


Arranged for early dismissal (ie check-out) from school of a 2nd grader suffering from moderate fever, migraine and dizziness. Our treatment included comfort care, fluids, routine monitoring and temperature levels (we do not monitor blood pressure or oxygen saturation levels at this time).

IMPORTANT DISCLAIMER: We attempt to always maintain adequate staffing levels but are sometimes overwhelmed when multiple residents present with issues. Likewise, we do not always maintain the confidentiality of our residents or their treatment as we are their guardians and do not consider this to be a breach of their privacy. We currently waive all co-pays and deductibles as we provide 100% of our care under our Charity Policy (parental moral obligation). We hold no licenses, are not accredited and are not liable for any aspect of our care (parental immunity).

Unfortunately, CMCUC is running full census at this time and is unable to accept any additional residents/patients.

What a week!!

Our Precious Girl!

It is with great pride that we celebrate the 5 year anniversary of the birth of our second daughter!


Oh, how I remember it well. It was Labor Day weekend and we were camping with our then 2 year old and my in-laws in their motor home (yes, I was 9 months pregnant sleeping with my husband and toddler on a camper's couch that made out into a bed!) Labor pains started about 2am and we left the campground (1.5 hours from the hospital) about 4:30am. We stopped by our house to shower and call the MD and made our way to the hospital arriving shortly after 8am. This was by far the easiest labor and delivery and our precious angel was born at 11:50am weighing 7lbs 14oz.

She has always been so spunky and full of life - she will make you laugh in the most serious of times - and as any faithful reader will know, she loves to talk and ask questions and involves "Mommy" in every new discovery!!


Looking back at old pictures makes me wonder if maybe there is some resemblance in looks?



And, maybe, in personality, too?


We love you K2! You have blessed us in more ways than we will ever be able to express and we look forward to celebrating many more birthdays with you!!