We have been pretty busy over the past week,Chanukah was fun,and I have a feeling that it is going to remain busy until Daddy is able to go back to work. We are definitely still trying to adjust. Daddy needs a lot of help with everything for he is stuck in his chair all day. I have not had the computer for more than about 5-10 minutes a day over the past couple of weeks. However, it started of on a good note when I found out after Shabbos that a dear friend of mine had a baby girl last week. 🙂 It is always nice to hear good news, especially when things are on the tough side. It put a bit of extra joy into the day and seems to help.
I have heard just a little bit about the terrible school shooting on Connecticut. What can I say? Obviously it hurts and pains me to hear such terrible news. I try to be a happy person in general, and it is very difficult for me listen to much of these kinds of news. However, I hope that you will forgive me for I am not going to talk about it and hope that people do not think that I am uncaring or that I am self-centered, it is just my way of dealing with things. I do not believe in bringing up this topic to my children, there is no need too. They will hear all about the real world soon enough, I have no doubt about it. We keep up on news in our house. If any of them come to me and bring up the topic (or similar topics), I will talk to the beautiful boy at their level.
I do not think I would have been able to read up much on the shooting if I tried. Well, I have been able to squeeze in two sets of exercises this week. Not really hot, but I guess it is better than the one time last week, and none the week and half before. It’s amazing how much extra help one person needs. Granted that I have not put on the alarm for the last 2 weeks and so I am getting up an hour and a half later, but that does not really affect the morning routine that much. I have to make sure all the towels, soap, shampoo, clothes, chair in the shower, etc are set in the right places for DH can’t really reach over and rearrange things. Sometimes Daddy is ready to daven with the boys in the morning when they are needing too, and sometimes not. It takes a lot longer for him to shower and get dressed now. Even when Daddy is ready to daven, he has not eaten like the boys have. We juggle getting food when Daddy is ready to eat and going through our Parsha HaShavua. It is not hard and is not long to get ready (it is usually mostly ready anyways,) it just interrupts our learning a bit. The same is true for the rest of the day. Since Daddy cannot get up and go get anything, everything needs to be brought to him. I know he does not like it, but the rest of us do not mind. It just takes time to do each of the things that need to be done, Baruch Hashem I had built in a little extra time in between classes. All that extra time is used up, but at least we usually get to complete most of the daily school work.
Usually. We are still having issues fitting our math in. We have done better than last week, but not as much as we should. I am on the move all day either with teaching a boy or assisting my DH or doing laundry or cleaning. By the time school is over I just do not want to do much. I have made good use of the crock pot this week and that was such a relief! Pea soup is always a hit and I threw it all into the pot during the 5 minutes I had mid morning and 6 mouths were watering by supper. Tonight was the much sought after tortillas. I forgot I was saving the jar of roasted peppers for tonight and had used it up earlier this week, so I had to be creative and find some other filling. Cut up Tofurky with shredded carrots, sliced olives and quartered whole tomatoes warmed up with chili powder and topped with salsa sauce today. Usually I do beans, but I wanted a change tonight. Twas good! Again, less than 10 minutes to make. Nutritious and delicious and fast to make. My kind of food.
Doctors, doctors, doctors – 4 visits to doctors this week, 3 to the chiro for the extra strain on the shoulders that the walker has caused, and one to the surgeon for the post-op. That means that I am not around for school during that time. I am so glad I do not normally have to run around like that! Perhaps if I did that all day I would not be so tired from it.
Baruch Hashem the ankle is healing very nicely. The cast was removed and a boot put on in its place. He still cannot put any pressure on the foot at all and needs to keep it elevated almost all the time. All was going well until we realized it was going to be another 4 weeks with the foot up, not 2 like we thought! Poor Daddy, he is going stir crazy sitting in the same chair all day, every day. We have rearranged our dining room/kitchen and brought the recliner into the dining room and moved the table into the kitchen part – it is a lot brighter and makes for a happier Daddy. We have tried to go out to a store or the mall a couple of times just to get out. It is not as easy for it is not that we have to put the wheelchair into the car, we have to dismantle it. It is not too bad when the weather is calm, but with wind or rain, it seems to take so much longer to remove the legs and reassemble them afterwards. I am glad it has been as warm as it has been this winter. It is almost as if the weather has been warm just for us. Thank you Hashem!
The boys have been really good and very helpful. Mr. Boy #1 always initiates dismantling the wheelchair to put into the van. He is very sweet, I
try to not have him do it all the time, but it is so nice to have help and not ask for it! All the boys are helpful. Sometimes they are not quite sure what needs to be done, but once they have been told, they are very willing to do what is needed. Baruch Hashem. It has also been nice on Shabbos so the boys have been able to wheel Daddy to shul on Shabbos morning. It is good for him to get out and I know he appreciates it. We are not sure about this Shabbos, I think it is suppose to snow, so it might be a cooped up day.
Even after supper I’m still kept busy. Even with good boys, they are still boys (I would not want otherwise!) One little one has such a loud voice and is not old enough to understand how to talk quietly for more than 5 seconds at a time. Others are just needing to move around and be boys. I finally sent them all outside tonight. Yes, it was dark, but we have a fenced in backyard. It started raining. As Charlotte Mason said, the rain will do them good as long as it is not thundering and lightening. They have dry clothes in the house to change into if they get too wet. I think they spent some time outside and some time in the breezeway. Now, they are in the basement. Not sure what they are doing, but I sure hear that little one with a big voice!
Daddy likes company and it is sure nice to see him everyday, even though we are not able to sit down and talk much. There are still things that need to get done. Among other things, he can still work on the budget – we need to make sure we mark all the extra expenses now before we forget which ones they are! He tries hard to do as much as he can without extra help, but I know he is glad when school is finished so we can give him more time. Not sure how I was able to keep up with laundry this week, I even went downstairs to put on another load and there was not enough to deal with! I do have 3 loads to fold and put away, but that is all. I have not been able to get the boys to all go to bed at a reasonable time most nights, mostly because I just am wiped and partly because I do not want to deal with it. After the boys finally are in the bedrooms it is bedtime for adults. I have found that I hardly get any down time, which is why I mentioned to DH that I needed some tonight, with the computer.
I definitely am not complaining, and I have even given DH mussar (reprimand) for NOT asking for help. Even though it means a lot of work and 
energy from the rest of us to help him out, we want to do it, we do it out of love for we all love him. There has been some positive to all of this – he has definitely been able to bond with Mr. Big Boy #4. That has been lacking, but slowly it has been shown to be a good thing. This has also given him the much needed mental vacation from work (because this is a Worker’s Comp. case, the company has completely shut down his email and other ways to access the company by internet so he has no choice but not do work,) not that we wanted it this way nor do we wish this on anyone else, but Hashem knows best and knew this was the only way.
On a bright note, life does roll on. Mazal Tov to Mr. Big Boy #1 who advanced two ranks in Boy Scouts last night during his Court of Honor and earned a whooping 10 merit badges! Woohoo!
So, for all of you who wonder why I do not answer emails and wonder why do not see me on Facebook, now you know. This is the first time in a long time that I had more than 5-10 minutes on the computer in a day. I access email and Facebook by phone, but just to keep up, it is hard to type on it.