This week is starting in a state of exhaustion . I don 't know what happened last night , but I just could not sleep . I had the shakes after laying there for hours on the brink of sleep but never quite getting there . Then I had to get up with Micah at one point , which is becoming something of a ritual these days . He did not settle as easily as he normally does . I don 't remember what happened after that . All I know is that most of the night I was aware , so if I was sleeping , I was barely out of my conscious state and I was nowhere near ready to get up when Mike woke me a few minutes before 7 a . m . But I got up and got Cody ready for school . It 's a gorgeous fall day today and I enjoyed our walk to the road . Jamie came along , as he got up when Cody did . Micah woke up as soon as we got back , which was slightly disappointing , but oh well . I did a workout anyway . Just a 20 minute ab routine , but at least it was something . I am going riding tonight , so I will count that as my cardio for today . It will be a perfect day for it . Hopefully it won 't get too windy or the horses might be a little silly , and I don 't want any silliness if I can avoid it . Micah will be going down for his " nap " soon . He has not fallen asleep in his " nap " in several weeks other than maybe once or twice . I still put him down because it 's good for him to have the quiet time , and yes , it is even better for me . So it will just be me and Jamie this afternoon . I would love to have a nap , but I don 't dare , in case I sleep too long and miss picking Cody up from the bus at 3 : 10 p . m . So , I will either read or write , or maybe even both . My room is bright and there is a fresh wind blowing in the windows . I love it . I hope this weather lasts a long time . Fall is my favourite time of year , but I usually find it flies by way too quickly . I 'm hoping it is more drawn out this year . Anyway , not much else to say at this point . I 'm barely even awake , so I better snap out of it at least for another 20 minutes until Micah goes to bed . After that , maybe I 'll take it easy for a while . Bye for now . I am in bed , but I need to get up now . In the monitor , Micah is singing to me . The words are , " Mommy , Mommy , Mommy , Ma - ma . . . " etc . The tune , Jingle Bells . Oh , now it 's " Today is the day , Oh oh - wa , oh oh - wa " . He loves to sing . Though it is Saturday , I am somewhat reluctant to face the day . Mike has been gone since well before the crack of dawn and I don 't really know when to expect him back . He is helping his brother for the day , who is building a house . I haven 't seen much of Mike lately . Monday evening I went riding . Tuesday evening , he watched a hockey game while I did some writing in our room . Wednesday evening he went golfing . Thursday evening he had an open house at his school to meet the parents , and last night , I went riding again . Yes , I went riding last night with both of my sisters , and it was so much fun . Fall is the very best time for riding because the weather is so nice and the bugs are not bad and the fields are cut so there are many places to ride . I am hoping to go again early next week , but I will make those arrangements when I can . My older two boys are absolutely silent , which leads me to believe they have either stolen some kind of forbidden food and are eating it somewhere sneaky , or they have left the building . Yes , they may have gone outside . I know they are awake because I heard them earlier . Maybe they got the TV figured out . That is also a possibility , though it is less likely than the other two scenarios . So , I have to get out of my cozy bed and deal with whatever the day has for me . Hopefully it will be a positive one . At least Micah is in a good mood , but then , Micah is nearly always in a good mood . I 'm off for now . It 's a rainy , windy September day but in the house there 's a rocking ' beat and the scent of blueberry muffins baking in the oven . Cody is at school today , so it 's just me and the dynamic duo . Micah is on my lap even as I type this , cuddling . He has a bad cold , ( we all have colds ) , and he is feeling kind of pathetic . His big brother keeps hurting him and just now he bonked his own face on the kitchen table , so that was the straw that broke the camel 's back , so to speak . It is not quite noon and I am already fizzling out . Haha . Well , I have had a productive day so far , so maybe that 's okay . I was awake before 7 a . m . ( blech ) and I was all prepared to walk Cody to the bus but Mike kindly took him in the vehicle instead because of the miserable weather . As a result , I was saved a good chunk of time where I would have normally been outside , so I changed into my workout clothes and got a whole workout done before 8 : 30 a . m . Phew ! I was happy about that . Micah did not wake up until I was done showering , so I was very grateful . That saves me having to do it after lunch , and I will be able to write instead . I am on chapter 11 now , and finally it is going somewhere . I have no other big plans today except for maybe a trip to get the mail later today , after Cody gets home . I must mention though that yesterday was a beautiful day and I took advantage by going for a ride with my sister Andrea in the evening . I 'm talking about horseback riding , in case that was not clear . I still have not ridden my own horse , and it is feeling like maybe I will not be riding her this fall at all , but this was my third ride since my fall last year and I had no fear this time around , or really any nervousness either . I enjoyed it immensely , and I was very happy with my progress . I will still be nervous to ride Sasha for the first time , but like I said , it looks like it will be a while before that happens . I knew this day was coming . I hoped it wouldn 't , but I knew better . Cody made it through a week of the back - to - school adjustment without a hitch . Really , he has been great . Sure , he had a meltdown when he got home after his first day , but it was a teary one , not an angry one . Tomorrow , he has school pictures , so he got his hair cut last night . Unfortunately , the only time we could do it was in the evening , so he did not get home until 8 : 30 p . m . and was not settled until almost 9 p . m . Today has been , shall we say . . . difficult . He has a cold , and I think with everything he is dealing with ( adjusting to a new school year , taking the bus . . . etc . ) he just kind of lost it . So my day has been the kind that I dread . Jamie decided to join in the fray this afternoon too , and I was hit with one projectile at his hands . Lovely . This afternoon I did a workout . It was the kind that involve a lot of punching and kicking , and I thought , Yes , this will help me blow off some steam . Surely I would feel better after that . Micah was in bed , though not even pretending to sleep . No matter . He was contained and happy , so I could still do a workout . Jamie and Cody actually obeyed me and went outside so I could do the workout in peace . Wow . Two for two . Or is that three for three ? Either way , I did the workout , and it was good . Yes , it felt good to throw some punches , even though there was no recipient other than whatever my imagination conjured up . It was a tough workout , but I made it through to the last five minutes before the boys came in . Okay , I can handle that . After all , it 's only five minutes , right ? Well , Jamie came in without any pants or underwear on . I demanded to know where they were . He informed me he peed in them so he needed to change . Fabulous . I had told him to use the bathroom before he went out , but he refused . I was not impressed . My relaxed , after - workout state was starting to get tense . Then Cody bugged me until I was nearly in tears of frustration and hollered at him to get out so I could do the last minute and a half in peace . By the time I was done , I was so angry I felt like the entire workout was for nothing . I told the boys I was going to shower and I went into my room . The first thing I saw was cat barf on the floor . Great ! Did I mention there was also an incident earlier in the day where one of the boys peed on the floor ? It was an accident , but it was also on carpet . Ack ! ! ! Fine . I cleaned up the barf and had my shower . It was time to release Micah from his crib . Once again , he did not settle . ( He still does sometimes , so I am not being cruel leaving him in there . He seems to enjoy his solitude and I gave him a toy this time at his request , seeing I knew he would likely stay awake anyway . ) When I entered the room , a very familiar odour greeted me . Yikes . I guess he pooped . I checked the crib to make sure it had not been desecrated in any way . Woo hoo ! Finally a point for the home team . His pants were still on and the crib and bedding was clean . Sure , I still had to clean up a poop , but maybe things would start to go my way . Or not . It turns out he had undone his diaper inside of his pants . I will not share the details . I don 't need to . It was not a fun clean - up , though it could have been much worse . Still , I was beginning to feel like today was a " Jonah Day " . ( That 's an Anne of Green Gables reference , for anyone who does not know . Also a Bible reference , as it happens . ) Since then I have gotten things a little calmer now , though not before being violently smacked in the back with a football . Deliberately . Jamie has a good arm . He also has a bad temper . So tonight we are supposed to be going to this barbecue put on by the school division , and I desperately don 't want to go . In fact , I would be delighted if Mike just took all the boys by himself and left me here . I could really use some time by myself . This is my first true disaster day since school started , and I hope it will be the last for a long time . Now I am going to attempt to read for a short time . It will probably be a bust . Yep . A bust . I have the dynamic duo with me now . Micah 's fingers are brown , and ( thank goodness ) they smell like chocolate . There is no chocolate accessible in this house , so I think I may have a problem . Jamie just informed me there is chocolate in the laundry room . Huh ? Micah just said " Chocolate chip ! Chocolate chip ! Bye ! " and exited my room . This is why I don 't want to force a smile onto my face and meet people I don 't know tonight . I am just too tired to fake it . I hope it goes quickly , that 's all I can say . While I am not one who enjoys the intense heat in the summer , this morning 's cold front caught me a little unprepared . I knew there was a frost warning last night , but I didn 't expect to be affected by it very much . Sure , it was chilly this morning walking Cody ( and Jamie , as it turned out today ) to the bus . Indeed , it was below zero . Well , only by one degree , but it was cold , and our winter attire is not out yet . Well of course it isn 't . It is not quite the middle of September , and I can 't send Cody to school in a winter jacket because he will be way too hot when it warms up later . Or will he ? Everyone who knows me well knows I like my house on the cool side , though I have been less picky about that since becoming a mother , for the sake of my kids . But this morning , the thermostat read 14 . 4 degrees celsius in the living room . I can tell you for sure , it is accurate . It is freezing in here , and the weather outside is not even supposed to get quite that warm , so I don 't know how much warming up will happen in this house today . I usually try really hard not to turn the heat on before October , and sometimes even before November , but I am seriously tempted to turn it on today . So , me and my two younger boys are hanging out in the living room where the sun is shining brightly through our bay windows . Really , it is making a valiant effort , but if it has not reached 18 degrees by mid afternoon , I might have to turn on the heat . Exciting stuff , right ? I realized this morning why it is so incredibly cold in here . We did indeed get frost last night and guess what ? We have no insulation in the bottom half of our basement . Right ! It got ruined in the flood . I suddenly find myself wondering how we are going to keep warm this fall . I don 't believe the water is low enough down there that we can insulate just yet . All I can say is I hope things warm up again before we really get hit with our Manitoba fall weather . The days are beautiful , in my opinion , but this house is simply not prepared for winter yet . It 's like it is not wearing any socks or boots yet and we are asking it to be out in sub - zero temperatures . It is nearly the middle of September and Cody has only had two days of school so far , but all is going very well . Some of you know Cody is a bit of a brain and he often amazes us with the things that come out of his mouth . I 'm sure I have shared the odd one of his brilliant sentences in here and I have a whole document on my laptop devoted to the funny or amazing things our boys say . Cody really is a remarkable boy in that he is not only extremely intelligent for his age , he is also emotionally intelligent . By that I mean , he is very adept at identifying and expressing his own feelings . I love this quality about him because it makes it easy for me to connect with him and I can really help him work through things . Having said that , let me share with you what Cody learned on his first day at Kindergarten . He has a fantastic teacher , in case I have not mentioned it before . Well , when Cody returned from his first day of school last Thursday , he had a few things to share with me . His class had watched a little movie and I guess they did a whole lesson about emotions . Of course , I thought that was wonderful . He told me they all acted out a bunch of emotions and pretended to cry , laugh . . . etc . I approved wholeheartedly . How could I not . Then in the kitchen while I was preparing supper , Cody was doing some drawing at the table . He really enjoys drawing now and it 's a great way for him to be creative and quiet for a while . It usually cuts back on fights too . Then he showed me his drawings . The first one was of himself . It was different from Cody 's usual drawings because it had a huge smile . He was practicing drawing emotions ! How lovely ! Here is his first drawing . The next drawing was of Jamie . In it , Jamie is sad , crying I think , though it is hard to tell because of a large scribble where his mouth should be . It turns out he was sad because somebody hit him . Hm . Okay , not as sweet as his drawing of himself , but we could let that slide . After all , he is still drawing an emotion , and that is great for his development . Here is the picture of Jamie . Then he told me he had another one to show me . I went over to see it . Oh my ! " This is you ! " he told me , with pride and a big smile . " You 're angry . " Here is the drawing of me . So as you can see , Cody is learning a lot in Kindergarten , and he is kind enough to share that wonderful knowledge with his family . How touching . As it turned out , the drawing of me was angry because someone had hurt Jamie in his drawing . Oh , okay . That does make it somewhat better . Still , I cringe to think of what type of reaction Cody 's teacher will have when she asks him to draw a picture of his mother and this is the result . Freud would have loved it . There is not much else to say today . I mean really , what more can I say ? If a picture is worth a thousand words , I think it speaks for itself . I will be keeping that one in my treasure box forever . I suppose today is not all that hectic , but it feels like it for me . I did not get much sleep last night . Micah was up twice hysterical , and Jamie was up at 1 a . m . or so complaining of a sore mouth , which translates to a sore throat . They seem to be getting colds , which is not cool , but so far it is not too severe so that is good . I got up before 7 a . m . this morning after all the interruptions feeling very tired . I had to get Cody ready for school and then walk him to the bus again . Radar came along this time , and tried to get on the bus . I have to buy him a new collar and leash so he doesn 't end up succeeding in his mission to get on board . Micah slept in , which was nice , but I got a call this morning and we have another inspector coming to assess our flood damage . I had no notice , and I have all this paperwork to gather , so I am feeling anxious about it . Mike is going to come home briefly at lunch to help me get everything organized . I am nervous . Silly , I suppose , but I just am . Mike knows way more about what we have done to fight this flood , but I guess the inspector will have to be satisfied with just talking to me . It will be weird though , because I might have to walk to the bus to get Cody while the guy is still here , and then I will have to take the boys with me because I can 't leave them alone in the house with a stranger , so the whole process will take longer than it otherwise would and he will have to wait for me . In a fit of inspiration , I did a workout this morning before Micah got up . I had planned to do it after lunch but now I can 't because of this inspector , so I 'm thankful it is already over with . One small victory for my day . And now I have to run and get lunch ready for the boys so I am prepared when Mike gets home to get all this flood stuff ready . Ick ! Gotta run . Micah 's in trouble again ! Today was the day . I mentioned that I took the boys to Cody 's Kindergarten Open House yesterday morning , but that was not a big deal . I knew he would start officially today , and he was not worried about it . He was excited . It helps tremendously that he knows the teacher , the students and even the actual classroom . He also knows the routine . This is going to sound a bit crazy , but the only thing making it seem a bit less real to me was that there was a bit of a mix - up with the school bus arrangements . For some reason , Cody got overlooked . This has been stressing me out for a while , as I have been wondering when they would call , and whether the bus driver would be able to find our driveway because it is so hidden . I called the division yesterday morning and spoke to the guy in charge . He confirmed that we had been overlooked and then gave me the name of our bus driver . He told me he 'd have her call me . But I had to go to town . ( Incidentally , I survived my trip and it was mostly uneventful , though extremely busy , and I got several sympathetic smiles and even a laugh or two in the check - out line with my three monkeys . ) So , sure enough , I missed her call . I called her back as soon as I got home , but of course , she was driving the bus at that time . No worries . I figured I would just drive Cody myself today and then figure out the bus thing next week . The bus driver called at 7 : 15 p . m . It was only then that I realized that deep inside I was relieved that he would not be taking the bus today . Somehow , that made it an easier transition . For me , of course . Cody is brave and amazing , but apparently I am not . So , we worked out the details and arranged for her to pick him up this morning , on his first day of school . I had a strange feeling in the pit of my stomach . Was I really sending my little boy out on the bus all by himself ? He is only five . It felt so foreign . I don 't know the bus driver , though she is incredibly nice and I 'm happy she is not gruff or cold . So , I got up before 7 a . m . this morning for the first time in quite a while . ( That is not to say that we are not woken up frequently before 7 a . m . but we do our best to ignore all the sleep interruptions and stay in bed a while longer . ) Micah and Jamie did not wake up , and for that I was very thankful . I already had Cody 's stuff all packed in his backpack , so we got him eating and then we invited Radar in so we could put on his collar . Radar hates his collar , so the only way to put it on is in the house . Had this day occurred two weeks ago , I would have just locked him in his crate and went without him . However , last week we found out about a bear sighting right by our driveway so I was wary of going there so early in the morning . Oh right , did I mention he gets picked up at 7 : 35 a . m . ? Quite early , but he starts school at 8 : 20 a . m . Yikes . So , after Radar totally spazzed out on us , we sent him outside in his collar . Then when the time came to leave , I went out to put the leash on him . He was gone . Nowhere . My useless German Shepherd ( cross ) who looks so big and scary and barks at any animal that invades our property hid like a little girl and I couldn 't even find a sign of him . I was disgusted . So , Cody and I walked down the lane in the trees by ourselves . ( Fortunately , his brothers were still sleeping . ) I took a cell phone in my back pocket incase I had to call someone for help because of a bear attack . Haha . Silly , but I did . I was going to carry a golf club too in case I needed a weapon , but I was also carrying my camera , so I didn 't want to take anything else . He was the first one on the bus , which was very exciting for him . Somewhere down the line , one of his friends from his class last year will be getting on and the bus driver may arrange for him to sit with her . She is in grade one , but she was in Sr K when he was in Jr K . He is really excited about sitting with her . So I walked back up the lane myself , teary eyed , and more worried about my little boy slipping a little further out of the nest than I was about a bear attack . Radar , the coward , emerged out of somewhere with much coaxing when I got back . I don 't even know where he was hiding . Useless guard dog . Now , I will spend the day feeling as though I have gone back in time . Now I have two boys , both young , and nobody here using words I can 't even pronounce , holding up his end of the conversation with no problem at all . The atmosphere is different . Will it be easier ? I honestly don 't know . Maybe in a way , and in a way it won 't be . I 'm sure I will adjust and things will feel normal again soon . But today I am feeling mixed emotions . Sad , knowing that time will fly by from here on , and one day I will watch this same little boy graduate high school and wonder where the years went . Proud of my big boy and his courage and his eternal optimism . And glad for the time I have had with him at home , as well as his brothers . Now to maximize that time and not take it for granted . I know I get stressed out and more than a little frazzled at times , but in case I don 't say it enough , I love my three boys more than life itself and I will always be incredibly grateful that I was able to stay home with them , even if only for a few years . Time to tackle the dishes . I 'm off for now . I 'm a grown woman with three children and I sit here on my bed trembling at the thought of going to town . That 's right , I intend to take all three boys to town with me , with no other adult present . I don 't know why I thought this would work , but I did . In fact , I was feeling a bit confident about the experience . Maybe even a bit Supermom - ish . Well , no more . I did take all three to Cody 's school this morning for his open house , but that 's different . Micah and Jamie ran around in the kindergarten classroom playing with basketballs and other fun toys . There was nowhere for them to escape , and not much they could wreck . No problem . Going to town is different . Still , I fully intended to do so and figured it would be no problem at all . After all , we only have to get indoor runners for Cody . How hard could that be ? But as the time approached , I started to chicken out . I had called my mother - in - law earlier and invited her , because like me , she loves school supplies . But she couldn 't come . That was fine . I still felt totally fine about going with the boys , and I had invited her just for the fun of it . But suddenly the boys were fighting every few seconds and crying and whining and tattling . . . sigh . Can I really do this ? Then it came to my attention that we need more than the shoes . Panic started to set in . Shoes are one thing , and even then I envision Micah and Jamie in the shopping cart fighting and trying to climb out while Cody tries on shoes . The image is even worse if they get out of the cart . On top of that , I have to put eye drops in every hour , which is awkward in public places . My hands are not sterilized . . . etc . If Cody wasn 't starting school tomorrow I wouldn 't even be considering doing this . How I wish I had baby - sitters available . I just have to face the music and take all three boys to the store . They are in bratty moods today . Well , just Jamie , I guess , but he 's good at it , and will very likely make me completely miserable the whole time we are gone . I guess I 'll just go , and whatever food items we don 't get I will have to have Mike bring home tonight . The problem is , he thinks he 'll be late tonight , and without groceries , we will have nothing to eat tonight . Does this post seem ridiculous ? Probably to some of you it does . I can 't help it . My fear comes from many bad experiences when I got brave in the past . The idea of doing this stresses me out more than I can describe . If the city was ten minutes away , I would feel differently . Forty minutes means I 'm trapped there until I get everything done . No running away if disaster strikes . Maybe some of you don 't have boys , or only have one , or have lots of boys but with more than two years between each of them . Or , maybe my boys are just exceptionally difficult . Or , maybe I 'm the wimpiest mom ever to have wandered the earth . Whatever the case , I am afraid . But I 'm going to do it . Two years from now , when I have a seven year old , a five and a half year old and a four year old , I suspect I will view shopping differently . For now , you 'll have to take my word for it . This is not going to be fun . I better get ready to go . Perhaps tomorrow I will have a post describing the trip . Hopefully not , because if there is material for a blog post , it will likely be a scary trip for me . I 'm off . Mike has been back to work unofficially for a long time now , two weeks , maybe more . He has not been gone full days , but more than half days , so it has been a bit of a bummer to say the least . I know we are blessed with him working as a teacher , and now principal , that we get as much holiday time as we do , but this year our " holiday " was not what it normally would be . So , with him returning to work much earlier than I am used to , and than I was really expecting , it feels like the holiday got cut short , or at least got cut off before I was ready . Last week was kind of a tough one for me with the kids and I guess Mike must have felt bad for me because he suggested that I go away this weekend . His intention was not to get rid of me , but rather to ensure that I would get some kind of break and rest before we really get back into the official grind , which starts tomorrow . Mike is even working today , even though it is labour day and he is supposed to be at home . So I left on Saturday morning and stayed with a good friend in the big city . I was only there overnight , and then yesterday morning I went to my grandma 's place for a visit . I was there a couple of hours , which was nice , and then I dropped in on my parents , who had not known I was going to be in town . I had a short but nice visit with them too and then came home . I did not get here until around 6 p . m . Here 's the thing . No offence to my dear husband , but in all honesty , when I left on Saturday morning I surveyed the house and saw a clean kitchen and living room and all I could think about was how I dreaded returning the next day . You see , I kind of figured the house would be a mess . Again , it is not because Mike doesn 't clean . On the contrary , he does clean . But the last time I was gone overnight with Cody for his eye appointment , when I came back the place was a disaster and not a single dish had been done . But Mike worked his butt off the whole time I was gone . He was working on outside stuff , flood - related , that was equally important , so I do not fault him for not getting to the dishes . But I kind of figured with him having all three boys on his own , this time would be a similar story . I was wrong . When I walked in the house , the kitchen was spotless except for a few dishes stacked by the sink that had just been used at supper time . The living room was not only clean , he had moved a bunch of stuff out that has been driving me crazy for a while now . He had done a few loads of laundry too . Basically , I came home and didn 't have any work to catch up on because he did so much cleaning . Oh , he even organized the laundry room ( huge job ) and washed the kitchen floor . So I just wanted to proclaim my gratitude and also just wanted to say how wonderful he is . Thank you , Mike ! Now , to begin the process of survival for the next ten months . I don 't know when Mike will be home today . It is nearing the end of the lunch hour and soon I will put Micah down for a nap . The kitchen is still spotless , and Micah just used the toilet and has not wet a diaper since he got up this morning , so those are some seemingly small , yet important victories . I may attempt a workout this afternoon , though in truth , I would prefer to steal a little nap and perhaps work on my book a bit . Here 's hoping there will be no epic stories to tell of my boys ' insane adventures after I post this . A quiet , uneventful day would be much appreciated today . I 'm off for now . Sometimes in life it feels like everything is falling apart . Today is one of those times for me . My boys have been in terribly grouchy states since they got up this morning . I had a battle that lasted about an hour long with Cody about eating the cereal that he asked for this morning . Micah was naked when I went to get him out of bed , and there was poop smeared on his crib , his sheets , and his body . ( He 's in that phase right now . Maybe it 's a boy thing , I don 't know . All of mine went through it . The good news is , it only lasted a couple of weeks with each of them . The bad news is , those weeks were filled with horror and stress , and a lot of extra laundry and showers . ) Jamie pulled Micah off a chair and he landed on his chin , bruising it and cutting his lower lip with his teeth . Cody , in his anger about the cereal battle , jumped up and down violently by the pantry lashing at our new " bolt " until the board flew up and fell down on top of him . How many days did that last ? ? Four days . Oh , and I didn 't even mention Jamie 's stunt the other day of opening the living room window and then going outside and spraying the garden hose through the window into the living room . He soaked the carpet as well as our sound system speakers and our internet router . Fabulous . But those things are all just part of daily life with little boys . Little kids , really , as I am sure girls must do some crazy stuff too . ( Though secretly I have my doubts . I just can 't picture life being this insane with three girls , but I simply don 't know . ) I guess the real icing on the cake for me today is that my eye has flared up again and I am officially on drops again every hour until supper time on Tuesday , when I will get to see the ophthalmologist again . For some reason , when my eyes flare up it really upsets me . First , it is painful , this time much more so than it has been in a long time . But it 's not just like getting a bad round of bronchitis or something , where you suffer for a while and take medicine and then it goes away . Yes , the eye drops will clear it up . The problem is , the eye drops have the potential to permanently damage my eyes . The condition itself is also very dangerous to the eyes . So every time I get this , it increases my odds of having permanent damage and I am afraid . I just took my last eye drops a week and two days ago , and now I have to start again . It 's very discouraging . The thing is , I am battle - weary . I want a break . This afternoon an inspector is coming to our place regarding flood issues . He is with an organization that will pay to have people 's homes raised or even moved to a different location on their land in order to prevent future flooding . I have no idea whether they will approve us or not . I kind of doubt it . If they don 't , we will be facing probable future flooding . If they do approve us , we will be facing a huge obstacle , as either project is a huge undertaking that may even require us to move out for a while . It is a daunting thought , and we have no idea what is in store for us . More than likely , we will not find out for quite some time now , unless the guy today flat out tells us there is no way we qualify . In a few hours the meeting will be behind us and we will be one step closer to finding out what we have to do to avoid ever flooding this way again . I must sign off now to get ready for the inspection today . I don 't know what he will do or what he will tell us . The more I think about it , the more unlikely it is that we will qualify for their help , but my policy is always that it doesn 't hurt to ask . I 'm sure there will be more news about this in the coming weeks . Hopefully it is good news . What to say ? In a nutshell , I am married to Mike and we now have three boys which is intimidating , but also amazing ! I have two cats : Cricket ( black and white ) and Tabu ( tabby ) , a black and white mini - lop named Oreo and a German Shepherd cross named Radar for his larger - than - life ears ! ( Trust me on that one ! ) I work for the government , but am currently on leave , taking care of my kids while they are small .