Witch Doctor

Okay, so I'm feeling like sort of a witch doctor but I use that term very loosely because I really don't know what a witch doctor is and it doesn't sound like it would coincide well with my Christian beliefs. So maybe that's the wrong word. And I'm too lazy to look it up. But let's not get crazy about it - just know that I'm now into using essential oils.

I learned about them from a long-time friend (thanks Ash!) and after my daughter got sick with bacterial pneumonia this year, I figured, let me try it. I had heard about an oil called thieves that helps with sickness or you could use it to clean with, as well as a bunch of other oils so I thought, why not? Well, let me just say - I am loving all of the oils I have so far and I am putting them on people around me and diffusing it in our home. I feel sort of like a crazy lady and people may think I have jumped off the deep end but have no fear - I think I am still mostly sane.

So I gave my mom a bottle of an oil called Valor, which is a blend of some oils (I don't remember which) and told her to rub a drop under each big toe and behind each ear so that she wouldn't snore at night. She laughed at me, I laughed too, and that's when that witch doctor song popped into my head. But I said "just try it - the whole neighborhood hears you snoring at night (we do - I live around the corner from her)so what's it gonna hurt?" Well, she didn't snore for a week which had everyone impressed and my stepdad gave me a hug and nearly cried. BUT THEN she gave the bottle back to me and told me it was because she wanted to see if it was really the oil that was helping (but she could have been thinking she had gone off the deep end too using the oils so she returned it). Needless to say, the snoring started back up the first night she didn't use it and my stepdad came back to my house in search of the bottle. He also asked me how it works to which I replied, "I have no idea." But it works (and I've heard there actually is a description of how it works out there, but again, I'm too lazy to go check it out).

That is just one example so far of how I've used the oils. I've also been cleaning with them, diffusing them, putting some into a spray bottle and spraying it everywhere, etc. Last night, I felt a sore throat coming on so I diffused some thieves in my room at night while I was asleep - I feel perfectly fine this morning. My daughter was coughing the other night so I diffused some stuff in her room - she slept like a baby and I didn't have to use her inhalers. I had a cut on my finger - I put a drop of lavender on it - within 2 hours it was practically gone. Tony had a toothache this morning so I told him to rub some thieves on it - pain is gone (and I am NOT paying for ANOTHER root canal by the way! He can go find a random person for all I care to pull the tooth out for a small fee - I am not doing it!). Remember the saying - "You don't need to floss all your teeth - just the ones you want to keep!" Tony needs to get on it (whew, that was my pregnant lady rant right there where all of your feelings just come pouring out at once with no filter).

Anyway, that is why I feel like a witch doctor. People tell me something and I say, "I have an oil for that!" So if you come to our home for a visit, you may find yourself being a hit with random oils - AND I even think you will love it :)

-Emily

Thank you for your prayers

Well, what a scary night Tuesday was. I didn't even know a temperature of 106 was possible - the thermometer just kept on going and going and all I could think of was "please stop going up, please stop going up."

It all started Monday morning. I went to Ava's room to wake her up for school and noticed she felt warm. She had a temp of 101.5 so she stayed home from school and I figured she just had a bug. The day went on and around 2pm her temp was at 102.3 so I gave her some tylenol. It went down a bit but not for too long. Gave her tylenol again before she went to bed. She also started with a bad cough on Monday night. Usually when she starts coughing, it doesn't start off bad but will gradually get worse. Well this time she coughed and it sounded bad right from the start.

At 3:30am Tuesday morning her temp was 103.7 so we took her to the doctor in the morning. My first thought was that she had strep throat again because she said her throat hurt so I figured she would need an antibiotic because she had an infection. Ava NEVER gets a temp over 103 so I thought for sure, we would get antibiotics. Well, the nurse practitioner tested her for strep and for the flu Tuesday morning - both came back negative. She assured us it was just a virus and would go away soon. We took her home, Tony stayed home with her, and I went into work for a bit.

Tony texted me later to say the temp was at 103.4 even though he gave her some motrin just a couple of hours before. Told him to put her in a lukewarm bath and make sure she wore light clothing. I called the doctor again to share my concerns that her temp was still high even after meds. So she called in a prescription for Ava for tamiflu, even thought the flu test came back negative - she thought it would help with her symptoms. Well, tamiflu was $212 so I said, "no thanks - we will just try and keep her comfortable."

6:15pm - Ava went to sleep and her temp was around 102. Tony and I sat down to eat dinner. Around 7:30pm Tony noticed she was moving around a bit in bed so he went to check on her. Said, "Hey Em, she feels really warm." I took her temp and the numbers just kept climbing and climbing. Finally it stopped at 105.2. We immediately put shoes on, grabbed some flip flops for Ava, locked up the house, and got in the car.

The hospital took her temp twice and I sat there watching the numbers climb. First time it was 106, second time it was 106.2. I almost started crying. The guy taking the temp looked at the nurse and told her, "I took it twice." They went and got ice packs to put under her arms. Ava's little heart rate was high. She started to cry but I wanted her to calm down thinking, what if she has a seizure? Got us in a room and as we walked into the room, the doctor walked right in with us and started askinng us questions. "When did it start, does she have a cough, did you go anywhere this weekend, did she get bit, is there cancer is your family . . . " Then you could hear them consulting with one another by their computers - "They said they went to oceanside to a pumpkin patch, she didn't go swimming, cough started yesterday, . . . " I was grateful they were moving quickly with trying to help her. So they did lab work, urine test, chest x-ray and took the labs in a big orange bag that said STAT. Gave her some fluids and they took her temp again and it had gone way down. I was so grateful for everyone's prayers that night.

When all of the tests came back, it was determined she had Pneumonia and they gave her some antibiotics through her IV. I was so relieved we had an answer.

Ava was such a trooper. Anytime one of the doctors or nurses asked how she was, she would say, "I'm good." She was very relieved they could just leave the needle in her arm so that they wouldn't have to poke her again each time they gave her something. The doctors and nurses were wonderful. Our nurse brought Tony and I some coffee and crackers - I jokingly asked how much it would cost (but I was only sort of half joking because I knew we would be getting a huge hospital bill in the mail). Luckily, the coffee and crackers were free.

I felt such peace knowing that the Lord arranged this night the way He did. All day I had been praying, "Lord let me know if I need to take her to the emergency room" because Ava has a very high deductible - and we don't just go to the emergency room for a sore thraot or a little slice on your finger. And He did - it was very clear we needed to take her. Also if Ava hadn't gone to sleep so early, we wouldn't have noticed her moving around it bed and checked on her. If we all went to bed at the same time, I wouldn't have checked on her for awhile and it just makes me overwhelmed to think "what if we all went to sleep and I didn't check on her for hours?" Who knows what would have happened with her temp so high for so long.

So once again, I praise God and I thank everyone for their prayers. And I am at peace with the huge bill we will get in the mail because we had to take her. And the Lord will provide for us the way He always does. I have complete peace.

"I love the Lord because He has heard my voice and my supplications. Because He inclined His ear to me, therefore I will call upon Him as long as I live." Psalm 116:1-2

-Emily

Spanking

The other day as I was walking back to my car after dropping off Ava at school, there was a mom with her children walking toward me. The mother looked mad and the little family kept walking while the mom kept talking when she finally just reached over and hit her son on the arm (maybe to be extra sure he got what she was trying to tell him?) Either way, I walked away very interested in the whole idea of spanking/hitting your children as "discipline."

Now, I'm sure she was upset about something - you could see it in her whole demeanor. And she didn't hit him hard or else I would like to think I would have said something. But it is fascinating to me that some people spank their children as a form of discipline. If you think about it, those that spank/hit their children cannot do it to anyone else. If someone I supervise at work does something wrong EVEN THOUGH I'VE TOLD THEM A MILLION TIMES THAT'S NOT HOW IT'S DONE AND NOW I AM FRUSTRATED I can't just reach over and whack them on their arm. If I do something at home and Tony hates my guts, he can't come over to me and hit me - he'll get arrested. But kids? Sure - go right on ahead and spank them.

Countless studies have shown that spanking your children is not effective and people tend to do it more out of frustration rather than "Okay Johnny, I'm going to spank you now with an open hand on your bottom because I didn't like how you just spoke to me and I'm doing this to correct your behavior." If you are trying to correct a child's behavior with hitting - what message does that send? "You did something wrong - now I can hit you." Totally illogical. Not to mention, when they get older, what are you going to do then?

Now, I have heard many tales of people spanking their children maybe once in their lives because of something just crazy that happened and the parent was freaked out - e.g. child walks out into the street and a car is coming so you hit them on their bottom as you yell. I can logically get that and maybe that will be me one day. I can also see myself pushing Tony or smacking him if he jumped out from behind a door and scared me half to death - I get it. But I don't get it when people spank as one of their primary ways of discipline.

Interesting fact: the United States passed an Animal Welfare Act in 1966 to help protect animals. Did you know that the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act wasn't passed until 1974? Now I'm not saying spanking is child abuse so don't go crazy. I just thought it was interesting that we had a law passed for animals before we did to legally protect children from abuse.

Now, I work somewhere where everyday I hear stories about families and their children who are taken away because of abuse. I have heard horrendous stories about sexual abuse that would make you want to vomit. I hear about the children who are malnourished and live outside under a tarp. Very sad world we live in. So if you do have your children, let's love them, show them patience, notice when they are getting tired so that we don't frustrate them, etc - because life goes by so fast, doesn't it? And I for one need to stop being so judgmental and start being more kind. And helpful. Rather than just talking all the time without doing. Because that's just as bad as spanking - maybe worse. Maybe that mom that I saw at Ava's school that hit her child on the arm has no one to talk to and her life feels out of control. Who knows. We can all be more kind. You never know what someone may be going through.

So just some thoughts I had to share . . . sort of a bummer topic I know. But children (especially babies) are on my mind (and bladder) all the time now so these things just pop up. Plus as you know we don't have cable at the Dual house so evenings can be very quiet. But in all seriousness, we can all love better. And then our children will see us loving others better, and then they will show love to others more, and then . . .

-Emily

"Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord . . . " Psalm 127:3

Football is here

So yes, football season has arrived and while it is an exciting time for the Hubinero, it is also an annoying time for him as we do not have cable television. How will he make it through the season? Just barely, I'm sure.

Now, don't go thinking I'm some cruel wife who got rid of cable two years ago just for the heck of it. It is around this time of year when I do wish we had it because I, for one, do not like to watch people suffer. But it was actually a mutual choice and we really couldn't justify paying over a hundred dollars a month anymore for shows we never watched anyway. Also, we had a tremendously horrible experience with the customer service at Verizon Fios and I vowed to never do business with them ever again. A lady even stopped by our house a while back asking me if I was interested in Verizon Fios and I immediately felt my heart start racing as I had flashbacks to the terrible experience I had with people at Fios. She asked me how they could ever provide their service to us again and I told her only if the bill every month was going to be zero dollars. She laughed at me and said, "oh come on." It was then that I may have hypothetically crossed the line by saying my experience was so bad, I felt like finding my way to their corporate office and showing them how awful I thought their customer service was. She quickly walked away. I'm sure she knew I was only joking as I would never do such a thing but the words just sort of flew out of my mouth very quickly. Plus, I also felt very ashamed as soon as I said it since our "As For Me And My House, We Will Serve The Lord" flag was flying right by the front door. I was definitely not a good witness that day at all. So, to sum it up, we are an Internet only family who still needs to work on being Christ-like.

So, if you want to hang out here in our home hoping to catch a game, you have come to the wrong place. And if you do mistakenly show up because you are unaware that we will not have a football game on, I completely understand if you have to leave. Tony may follow you though so be ready for a buddy. But who knows - we may one day get cable again if the Fios people decide to install it and give us free service or if we start making a ton of money somehow and decide, what the heck?! But until then, my manly man has to find alternative ways to zone out to football. Can you tell I'm not a sportsfan? (only some of you will get that last sentence)

-Emily

What a difference a pregnancy makes

Well, to say this pregnancy is just like my first one is an untrue statement. This pregnancy is completely different.

I'm definitely not as tired like I was with Ava. I'm not as close to throwing up like I was with Ava. But the morning sickness does start around 4pm like clockwork everyday so I don't tend to have much for dinner. But I've really just been praying and leaving it in God's hands that He is taking care of everything going on in my uterus because I can't get in there to see how everything's going.

So far, I've been sick twice this pregnancy - once in the beginning with a high temp and strep throat. Then again last week I had another temp. This of course caused me to google high-temps-in-pregnancy and the results freaked me out so I have vowed not to return to google to ask about anything pregnancy related. I was also in a car accident a few weeks ago. My doctor had me come in recently because they thought I may be leaking amniotic fluid but apparently I wasn't, so they sent me on my way. So part of me is wondering how our baby is doing in there while all of these things are happening around me. Another part of me just thinks there's nothing I can do about it so stop wondering. Life is quite interesting at times, that's for sure.

I am really looking forward to cleaning out our garage before the baby comes! Once we find out if we are having a girl or boy, then I will know what to do with the loads of plastic bins that are piled to the ceiling. I am also looking forward to getting the baby's room ready because this means taking out the eliptical machine that takes up the majority of the space.

But I'm also looking forward to this pregnancy going by slowly. I want to just take everything in because children grow up so quickly. Ava's going to be in college soon (at least it feels like it). The other day she asked me what a compound word was and as I went to answer ( after consulting with google first quickly on my phone) she stopped me and told me herself what it was. And she even threw in a little fancy phrase of "they don't resist each other." Who is this child of mine?!

So we will see what else comes my way for the rest of this pregnancy. And I can't wait to hold both of my children at the same time in about six months.

-Emily

We survived!

Somehow we survived Ava's first week of kindergarten. It has not been too easy getting out the door by 7:40 (we used to wake up at this time) but we have all managed to be successful! Only once did she forget her glasses but she told me not to worry - she would be okay. Well thank you Ava for the reminder!

So far Ava seems to be having a great time. She did say she has seen quite a few beatles flying around at recess which put her in a slight panic but she also keeps telling me that they plan to have a dance party at school one day - she just doesn't know which day yet. And maybe I should actually believe her - after all, she was the one telling me she was in a class with first graders and I thought she was completely mistaken (she is in a class with first graders).

Ava basically towers over all of the other children. As she lines up in the morning with her teacher, I have no trouble spotting her above all the other kids. She's also gone to the treasure chest once (she was thrilled) and even got to do some math work on a computer at school - although she did say there were not enough computers for everyone so those kids had to use ipads.

When I was in kindergarten, I think this was my first time ever using scissors and all we did was spread some chunky paste around a piece of paper and glue things on. I remember one time a child threw up and I was grossed out. But that was basically it - you used paste, some ate it, and you went home. It is crazy that times have changed quite a bit. My daughter thinks it's completely normal that ipads are part of your school day. Who would've thought?!

So, so far so good with the school thing. There is some homework every night so that totally stinks - Ava's handling that better than I am. But she's doing great.

And when they finally have their dance party, I will let you all know!

-Emily

I Hope I Don't Get Huge

So yes, I am pregnant! Finally! And I must say, I am looking forward to being pregnant this time because there are so many things I wish I would have done while I was pregnant the first time.

Starting with:

1) When people just reach out and randomly touch my belly, I am sooo looking forward to reaching out and grabbing them in return! Why did I never do this while I was pregnant with Ava?! I just sort of stood there at Costco while the random lady came over to me and started to violate me. I will definately be reaching out to return the favor!

2) A person once trying to be wise told me, "Now I'm not saying starve yourself, but just eat enough for the baby." We all know they really meant to basically starve myself and looking back I laugh at how funny some people are and the crazy things they say. Now don't get me wrong - I don't want to be a huge elephant but I am starting off this pregnancy heavier than what I was with Ava so part of me is freaking out that I will look quite scary walking down the street. But what are you gonna do, what are you gonna do? (you really have to say it twice for the effect). So I'm planning on eating but not stuffing myself.

3) Our house and hospital room may be closed off to others. Yes, I get some people may be offended when they come to see us and we have a sign up or something saying sorry-we-are-resting - we will let you know when we are ready for visitors. But I remember crying when I had Ava and we had had people coming to visit us all darn day and the thing I wanted the most was for people to LEAVE. I wanted time with just Ava and Tony. I remember just wanting the room to ourselves so that I could try and breastfeed without a room full of spectators. I was in pain everywhere - I had an incision across my abdomen, my nipples were bleeding, I hadn't showered yet, I still had a catheter in - EVERYONE GET OUT!!! is what I wanted to say. But I think I just tried to smile and please everyone. But no, not this time - sorry. I want to just enjoy the peace and newness of our new addition and help Ava transition well too without being overloaded and overwhelmed.

So maybe I feel more bold this time around being pregnant since it's familiar to me. I feel in more of a protective mode maybe. What I do know for sure is that Ava, Tony, and I are so excited about adding another child to our family. And I can't wait to see Ava in her role as Big Sister. She is so loving already and has such a kind heart. I can't wait to see how everything unfolds for us as this is something we have been praying about for a long time. I love sitting back, peacefully watching how everything in His time works out so much better than when it's on my time. And this is now the right time :)

-Emily