Camian Academy

We got two snails to help eat the icky stuff in our fish tank. Apparently we got a boy and a girl because within a few weeks we discovered several others in various sizes. Now there are quite a few snails in the tank. They are doing a great job of cleaning it.

Jamie’s mom said they once got a plant to go in a fish tank when Jamie was young. Apparently there were tiny snails on the plant when they got it because from then on the tank was overrun by snails. Those things are really prolific in the reproduction department. Even better at it than rabbits!

We skipped school last Tuesday since Ani was feeling pretty miserable from the chicken pox. We skipped again on Friday, Monday, and Tuesday because various combinations of us were feeling awful from the upper respiratory infections. Today we are feeling much better so we are going back to doing school.

I can see the light at the end of the tunnel of illness. Jamie has a few chicken pox now and the rest of us are getting through these nasty colds, but we seem to be headed in the getting generally better direction. I’m still holding my breath that we’ll catch something else, though.

Last night Fritz was having some trouble breathing. I am sure it is just his sinuses being clogged like mine, Ani’s, and Cameron’s. For whatever reason Fritz does not like to breathe through his mouth and so between laying down in bed (even propped up on pillows) and the post-nasal drip he’d choke a little every so often. I’m continually amazed at how much I can sleep without going into deep sleep when the little one next to me isn’t feeling well. He never needed any real help breathing (no more apnea episodes like Friday night’s thank goodness), but I still spent a lot of time just listening to him breathe.

Hopefully in a couple days he’ll be just fine. The worst of it seemed to pass for the rest of us in just a couple days. I’m really looking forward to going back to a normal sleep pattern again!

Our beloved prophet, Gordon B. Hinckley, president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints for nearly 13 years, died last night. He was 97 years old. What an amazing homecoming that must have been!

People always talk about how the ward is like a family. The ward I grew up in was (and still is) very focused on the inactive members and getting them to come back to church. They don’t seem to care about the active members much at all. The ward we lived in when we were first married was a lot better about seeming to care about the active members. When we moved to VA the ward we lived in was awful. It was a very transient ward and for the first 6 months no one really spoke to you because they figured you’d be leaving soon anyway.

Then we moved to the ward we are in now. I’ve never seen anything quite like it. There are a mix of people who have moved in over the last few years and those who have lived here for decades. Everyone seems genuinely concerned about the people who show up every week, and particularly concerned if those people don’t show up for a couple weeks. While the one lost is important, the ninety and nine who aren’t are treated as just as important. It’s quite nice.

We’ve missed church for three weeks as of today, four if you consider we went to my parents’ ward the first Sunday of the month. A friend let the Relief Society president know that we were all sick weekend before last and they brought us dinners for a couple days to help out. My visiting teachers have called regularly to check on us and one of them had Cameron over to spend the night last weekend and took him to church since he was the only healthy one of us and he and Ani were showing signs of being together way too long (and her son and my son have a great time together). Our home teachers have called to check on us as well. They knew we’d be coming back to church as soon as we were well, but we were genuinely important and they wanted to be sure we were holding up and doing okay.

That’s what it means to be a ward family.

I’m 21 weeks today. I’m not revising my no more morning sickness goal anymore. I’d like to say it’s because I’m not nauseas anymore (I am) and not throwing up anymore (I am). But, it’s not bad anymore. The nausea comes and goes and I only throw up every few days. As long as it’s livable I don’t feel the need to just make it another three weeks. If it doesn’t go away until 30 or 33 weeks or even later, that’s okay. It’s just not so bad anymore so I can take it just fine.

I haven’t been out of the house in over two weeks, and still I managed to get yet another bug. I have an ear infection, a sinus infection, croupy sounding lungs, and a sore throat. I blame Cameron. He’s coughing some again and has a stuffy nose and he went to church on Sunday. This is totally and completely ridiculous. I just hope the antibiotic kills all the nasty germs running through me.

Oh, and Fritz has chicken pox now. The spots he had before must have just been a random rash.

Cameron couldn’t have cared less about me posting a picture of his pox. Ani on the other hand has told me in no uncertain terms that I will NOT be posting any of hers. So I asked Ani if she doesn’t want me to post any pictures of her and she said no. Just no pictures with the pox. She is not pleased at all with how she looks right now and only wants pretty pictures of herself shared with the world.