Strength

As everyone knows, Nick is deployed on his 2nd tour to Iraq. The hardest thing for me to deal with has been taking on everything by myself and dealing with it. I have to look very deep in myself to find the strength I need. I have always pulled most of my strength from Nick. We've been together almost 15 years. To say I lean on him for strength would be just scratching the surface of what I depend on him for. Last week, we had a scare with the dreaded swine flu. One of Zachary's teachers was exposed to it and didn't tell anyone. She was not feeling well, went to the ER and was tested for the swine flu. It was confirmed that she did have it. So that meant that Zachary had been directly exposed to this terrible illness that we've all dreaded for so many months. When he told me 2 days ago that he wasn't feeling well, I was so worried that he had it. He started to spike a fever on Thursday night and was complaining that his throat hurt. Of course, I went online and began searching for the symptoms of the swine flu. And of course, that was the worst thing I could have done. Doing that always make the anxiety worse for me and yet I still do it. So I decided I needed to take Zachary to the dr this morning. I didn't know what it was but I knew that with me going out of town and Zachary staying with my parents next week, he needed to be looked at even it it was nothing. So we got an appointment, thankfully, and the dr looked in his throat and said she wanted to test him for strep throat. I prayed that that was what it was. As I was praying, I realized what I was praying for but I also realized that strep throat was the lesser of two evils. The test came back positive and Zachary was diagnosed with strep throat, thankfully. He was prescribed antibiotics and he will be fine.

I realize that I am not the only Army wife that is going through this but sometimes it sure feels like it. I have a great support system in my family but they are all 2 hours away. Be supportive of your friends who are going through this. It's so hard to ask for help and when we do, we hope you'll say yes.

Hankster the Fish

For a while now, Zachary's been asking for a fish. After alot of convincing by Zachary, I finally agreed. I bought all of the fish supplies online and waited until Zachary got home from his grandpa's house to let him pick out a fish. We went to Petco and he picked out a blue betta. I talked to the people that work at Petco and they said the best fish for young children are bettas. They live for 2 years and can live in a dixie cup. He had the name picked out a long time before we ever bought the fish. We came home and added the water and the conditioner to the tank. Zachary wanted to scoop Hankster out of the small bowl we bought it in. Zachary tried to scoop him and he flipped out of the bowl and he landed on the nightstand. I scooped him up and put him in the tank. Hankster's first minutes with our family were very traumatic! So after a few days we are all adjusting. I have been letting Zachary feed Hankster but he still hasn't gotten the hang of how it works. Tonight, when we got home, we went to check on Hankster and we needed to feed him. I told Zachary he could feed Hankster. After all, I want this to be an opportunity to teach Zachary about responsibility. I gave him the food and he came out alot faster than Zachary could control. So Hankster was fed alot for dinner. I told Zachary we needed to work on how to feed Hankster. He told me that he needed to go to fish school to learn how to feed him. I just laughed...he's so funny.

Websites

So lately I've been a little obsessed with finding interesting sites to visit. I like to read all kinds of articles. Not only on parenting but also on women's issues. I was on MSN this weekend and I clicked onto a link about birth order and what is says about you. As I'm reading this article, I start looking at the site it is on. It's call DivineCaroline. I love this site already. It's got all kinds of goodies for women, whether you're single, married, a stay at home mom or if you are a work outside the home mom. You should really check it out. I'll post the link at the end of this post. Now, while looking through this site, I came across a site called Beyond the Rack. It's a site that carries designer clothing at lower prices. I was intrigued at this site when I first clicked onto it. The site runs sales on certain items for 48 hours. It rotates with the clothing, accessories, shoes...all kinds of stuff. Another site I really like that I have been visiting for a while is called Bag, Borrow or Steal. It's a cool site that you can rent items that you normally wouldn't be able to afford. This is a smart idea. We've all had that reunion, party, business meeting that we have wanted to "wow" someone or everyone. This site allows you to do that and not break the bank. I know as women, whether you are married, single, a mom or not, we tend to do everything for everyone else before ourselves. We are forever buying our kids new sneakers, new clothes, new whatever they need and we don't treat ourselves like we should. This site allows you to do that and not feel those pangs of guilt I know we all sometimes feel. What a genius idea.....don't you think?

Links to the sites:

http://www.divinecaroline.com/

http://www.beyondtherack.com/

http://www.bagborroworsteal.com/