7 Quick Takes: Preschool, Grad School, and Bug Bites

There has been a lot of news chez Lynch this week! 

1

The big news chez Lynch: The hubby has finished all his coursework for his online Master’s degree from Holy Apostles Seminary!  The last step is to pass the comprehensive exams.  Then he will be DONE!  We were able to celebrated at home during our final week of summer, and I am pleased to say that the hubby is much more relaxed.  Wait, don’t teachers get the summers off?  Don’t go there.

2

Our twins started preschool this week, and they were beaming on the first day.  That is, until I came to pick them up.  Elisabeth burst into tears, and had a mini-tantrum: “I want to staaaaay!”  I am so pleased they enjoy school, however short and infrequent it may be. 

They have preschool from 9-11:30 twice a week, which may not seem like a lot at first glance, but it has brought me enough time to think.  I have the freedom of going to the supermarket with only two kids.  I can go to the school track and let Gregory play in the grass while Joseph naps in the infant carrier.  The other day I did just that, and I actually got in 3 miles.  It felt fabulous. 

And then it hit me: ever since I made the decision to be a full-time, stay-at-home parent, I have never had less than 3 kids at home. When the twins were babies I was working full-time, and I worked up until Gregory was born.  This would probably explain why I have so much trouble getting up in the mornings.

All that being said, I can’t help but feel the small pinch of bittersweet reality: the girls’ baby stage is over.  And as much as I am excited for them, I’m not sure I like it.

3

This weekend Gregory had some kind of allergic reaction to a bug bit.  It must of happened on Friday evening when we were all out at the playground after dinner.  By Saturday morning he had a goose egg on his forehead that looked as if he had bonked his head.  Ice didn’t really help.  In fact, it got bigger, as in, it spread out. 

Being teachers, Greg and I have been to enough allergic reaction talks led by our respective schools’ nurses to mildly freak out.

We called the pediatrician who assured us it was probably just a bug bite, and not to worry if the swelling moved down to his eye area.  Well, it did.  Poor guy looked like he was on the losing end of a bar fight. 

It has since cleared up, and perhaps I am overreacting, but it has made me turn to mama bear mode whenever a bee flies by.  Has anyone else had a child that experienced such swelling from a bug bite? 

4

The students are back on campus at our boarding school.  Their presence certainly brings a certain buzz to the campus.  Unfortunately, that means that the hubby has certain night duties and school meetings in the evenings.  Like right after dinner until after bedtime is over.  I put four littles to bed all by myself for two nights in a row.  Awesome.  Can we all have a collective sigh that summer is over? 

5

Now this was the exciting news for me this week: I was featured on another blog!  A blog with a significant number of readers!  You can check it out on Blissful and Domestic.  It was so encouraging to receive such positive feedback.  Yay!

Danielle has an ongoing series, “A Day in the Life of Her”, an effort to showcase the real lives of women and to de-bunk the myth that the perfect woman exists.  Check it out! 

6

I am definitely hooked on this blogging thing, and in my following of certain mommy-Catholic blogs I stumbled upon this new project, Blessed is She.  The site will give you the Scripture readings for the day as well as a short devotional written by some very talented bloggers.  I was actually lamenting the fact that since becoming a Catholic, my daily Bible reading habit has admittedly become a less urgent part of my spiritual game plan.  (Sidenote: not long after I rejoined the Church, the twins were born.  That might have something to do with it too.)  But no excuses anymore: I am inspired daily by the Word and encouraged by these devotions.  Hey, Catholics need to know their Bible too! 

7

I will end on a lighter note with some pictures from this weekend at a local farm pig roast.  There were plenty activities for the kids (hay rides, a petting zoo, even a bouncy house), and even some for the, ahem, big kids.  My husband wanted the whole family to experience the thrill of corn launching using a compressed air gun.  Have you ever seen the show “Punkin’ Chunkin’” on the Discovery Channel?  It was a bit like that, only with corn.  Welcome to ‘Murica, folks.

Read more 7 Quick Takes from Jennifer Fulwiler and others at www.conversiondiary.com!

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