March Recap (a MAJOR catch up)

Well March was quiet here on this blog but our life was anything but quiet here. In fact here's a recap of what our life looked like this past month.
** WARNING** This is VERY long so you may need to read this in segments :)

March 1, 2, 3:  the stomach bug had hit our family and we were all quarantined in our house.
March 4: Tim left on a business trip to Orlando just 24 hours after the stomach bug had hit him.
March 4-7: I was flying solo while Tim was out of town which always means there's added chaos in the house. I am just one person and there are 3 littles that need me 24 hours a day. I also had to help a couple of friends out and pick up their kids from school two of those days. Oh and let's not forget I had TONS upon TONS of laundry to clean, disinfecting to do and catchup of household chores that had been neglected due to the great stomach bug that hit.
March 8: TIM WAS BACK HOME!!!! We had a nice family night together and went to bed early!!!
March 9: Can't remember anything about this day other than we set our clocks forward. No memory means it must have been uneventful which is my favorite kind of day!
March10: Church day, the first Sunday we were able to make it to church in March. That afternoon I was hit with a cold oh fun!
March 11: We took Lucy to be groomed and ran a few errands. Baby A had a melt down when we left Lucy at the vet and that made it so much fun in the post office as I mail off 40 packages of things I sold on eBay.
March 12:  another uneventful day....YAHOO!
March 13: Wednesday night church...the first time we had gone since Feb.6th due to either illness or Tim being out of town. Wednesdays are always difficult to get kids homework done, dinner ready and out the door in time for church but we make it and always enjoy it so much.
March 14: another uneventful day.... that makes 3 days out of 14 that are uneventful so far, I take it!!
March 15:  We had 3 boys spend the night that night for Rascal's birthday. I have no idea what I was thinking since the next day Tim was leaving to go to Germany for 8 days. I was on emotional overload with NO sleep. Those two things DO NOT mix well and let's just say I was not pleasant to be around. Fighting back tears takes everything out of you and leaves nothing much for the kids. I regret this SO MUCH! Proof I am definitely NOT super mom (just in case you were wondering)
March 16: It was a LATE night with 5 boys being boys and mom getting zero sleep and low and behold the boys were up at the crack of dawn ready for breakfast. I had bought cereal for them to have but they have spent the night before and that time I made them homemade waffles and chocolate gravy and it must have left an impression. One boy asked so nicely for me to make them again and well the hostess in me likes to please everyone, so I sleepily threw together some homemade waffles and chocolate gravy for 5 already hyper boys. Tim left for Germany right before lunch and I still had more than just my boys at my house. It was at that point that I wanted to crawl in a hole and hide so I could just get a little bit of sleep. This by far was the hardest day of the month for me.
March 16-22:  Flying solo again while Tim is in Germany on a business trip.
March 17:  Church day... we were heading to church without Tim and once again I had no sleep the night before. Tim made it to Germany 3:30am our time and I was up all night tracking his flight (the flight aware app is one AMAZING app) and waiting for his phone call that he made it safely. We were running late to church because once again I am just one person and 3 littles need all of me. Tim is a HUGE help to me and it is not easy when he is gone. We got Lucy dropped off at my in-laws to hang out while we were at church and then we made our late appearance into Sunday school. I was already spent on patience, emotions and energy and it was only 9:15 in the morning. Sunday school was refreshing, as it always is, and then we headed in to the service. We always have the same routine, I sit my boys down, tell them to behave and then I head to the bathroom right before service starts. This day I handed them each a lifesaver creme saver, told them to behave and then headed towards the bathroom. My mother-in-law came over to see them, which she doesn't typically do since she is in the choir, and I now know this was God's way of providing protection for us. As I was drying my hands in the ladies restroom, my mother-in-law rushes in with Rascal and all I see is blood everywhere!!!! I gasp drop my purse and run to him. He was choking on the candy I had given him. I could tell he was breathing but he couldn't talk. I tried and tried to get him to say something and finally took him into a stall and did the Heimlich. This moved the candy enough so he got relief and was then able to talk. The candy never came up but we were pretty sure it dislodged and went on down. We then focused on stopping his nose bleed (which later I called the nurse to get clarification from). The reason his nose bled was from the pressure in his head and his blood pressure spiking (and his body was in panic mode) and that cause the membranes in his nose to rupture. He had a few more nose bleeds the rest of that day due to this. That was one of the scariest moments I have had in a long time. As always, I jumped into action right away with out second thought and then afterwards when I had time to actually process what had just happened,  I had my melt down! Way too much emotional stuff going on in less than 48 hours. We went on to the service after all this and I kept a watchful eye on Rascal the rest of the day.
March 18: I got the boys off to school and then headed to Ashlee's to spend time with her and my adorable nephew Levi. This helped me get my mind off tall the things that had gone on that weekend..
March 19: I got the boys off to school and ran some errands that morning and then I went through the kids clothes to see what fit and what didn't. That afternoon I took Rascal for his weekly allergy shot and then we headed into town to cut family's hair.
March 20: This was by far my favorite day of the month. It was GIRLS DAY!!! I ran a bag of the kids too small clothes to my friend Jana. It was her birthday and poor thing was sick so I picked her up some Starbucks too. Then Baby A and I headed to pick up my mom for a day of shopping together. We picked out makeup, window shopped, had lunch and talked and talked and talked. It was such a refreshing day and exactly what I needed.
March 21: Rascal wakes up complaining of a tummy ache. I figure it's a "fake ache" and sent him on to school. By lunch time I got a call from his teacher and he wasn't eating and still complaining of his tummy hurting. I checked him and his brother out and we decided to just hang out at home the rest of the day.
March 22: Rascal's 7th birthday!!! We had plans to be at the school all day for egg hunts, a mini field day, birthday celebration.. plus TIM CAME HOME THAT NIGHT!!!!! However, Rascal was up ALL night  the previous night sick with a very upset tummy and he had to stay home. This means Scooter was bummed he had to go to school while Rascal stayed home. What a way to spend his poor birthday, he missed the mini field day, the egg hint and celebrating his birthday with his friends. By 10:00 that morning I took Rascal's temp and it was at 104.4! That is too high for my liking so we made a call to family, made arrangements for Scooter to get picked up and Baby A to be watched and I got Rascal into the doctor as soon as I could. The verdict.... a virus! And boy what a virus it was. Tim came home that night and we had a family night together with Chick fila for dinner. I began to pack for our upcoming trip and tried to get things around the house in order.
March 23: This was the day that we were going to have Rascal's party. I had decorations up and lunch plans were ready. He was feeling some what better. Fever had subsided and he was able to get up a little more. We went on with his party although he didn't eat anything (not even his cake). He barely gave a smile and wanted to be so happy about his party but he just still felt crummy. Maybe we should have called his party off but this momma already felt so bad about him missing so much the day before I couldn't bear to tell him we had to cancel his party.  The rest of the night he laid around recovering from the busy day.
March 24: Rascal woke up in tears with his tummy hurting and I was beginning to wonder if it was more than just a virus. A quick call to the nurse and she said she really felt like it was indeed just a virus. She told me warning signs to watch for and I had to make the difficult decision to cancel lunch with my family. I hated to have to tell Rascal. Rascal, Baby A and I chilled out at home while Tim and Scooter went on to church. Tim and I had talked and decided that maybe we should leave that night to head to the mountains and spend the night half way.. The plan was to leave the 25th but with Rascal not feeling well we hated to have him in the car for 7 to 8 straight hours. We made the reservations at a hotel in Nashville and waited to see how Rascal felt. Around 10:00 Rascal began to tell me he was hungry (I am sure he was since he had not really eaten since Thursday). Once he ate a little bit things started to turn around for him and he was beginning to feel much better. Tim and Scooter got home from church. They had stopped by my parents and picked up the birthday gifts for Rascal. He opened them up and since he felt good we took off and headed towards Nashville. Praise God Rascal continued to get better and better by the hour and by Monday morning he was back to his old self!
March 24 -28: Spring Break in Gatlinburg TN (I'll write another post on our trip to Gatlinburg)
March 29: Good Friday! The boys went fishing while Baby A and I stayed home doing laundry and unpacking from our trip. The boys fishing trip was rained out so they had the great idea to surprise me a day early with a homemade banner and some great gifts for my birthday. (I'll post more on that with pictures later) We had planned on meeting up at a Mexican restaurant with my family for my birthday but thanks to more sickness (this time my brother, Baby A and Scooter) we canceled that and we stayed home resting. Good thing because Baby A SCREAMED for a solid HOUR complaining of her tummy hurting. Yes she had been hit (she actually got sick on our trip) with the same virus Rascal had and was still fighting it off.
March 30:  My 31st birthday!!! Baby A woke up feeling great and since it was my birthday Baby A and  I spent the morning getting our nails done at the nail salon (more on that later with pictures). Absolutely a priceless morning. After lunch we headed to our church's Easter Egg hunt. That night we made meatball subs and got things ready for the next day  (Easter Sunday).
March 31: Easter Sunday!! It was a very yucky rainy morning but we all dressed up in our Easter outfits, took a picture or two and then headed to church. We spent the afternoon at my parents eating yummy food and celebrating Easter and birthdays together (since sickness put a wrench in the previous plans). After relaxing and watching Duck Dynasty (love that show) we headed to Tim's parents for dinner and more Easter celebration. We headed home after dinner and I fell asleep and slept the ENTIRE night for the first time since March 14th! Yes I kept count of the sleepless nights and yes I woke up this morning feeling so much more rested!
And if you kept count I had 3 (ONLY THREE) uneventful days among the 31 days in March.
 I was SO GLAD to say good bye to March 2013 and so ready to see April 2013! As of right now our calendar is fairly empty for April and I pray that is stays that way!