Our house over the last 6ish weeks has been filled with sickness! Everyone of us has caught something in that time, I held on to something for most of that time!
It all started with getting what I thought was the stomach flu, I felt great as long as no food was in my stomach but as soon as I tried to eat anything I was running to the bathroom! On week 2 I was able to start stomaching small things like watermelon and rice cakes! I am so much better now but my stomach hasn't fully recovered and it still tends to shout at me when it is unhappy! This last weekend just as things really started to look up I was hit by a sinus infection! I have never had one in my life and let me just tell you they are NOT fun! Still fighting that at the moment.
The kids have also been sick in this time frame, mostly on and off with weird stomach things! I honestly think we all have some weird parasite or something!
This last weekend Evan also started to get sick. He was hit by fever, chills, no energy, sore throat, headache and nausea! At one point we were both lying in bed trying to convince to other one to call in sick and take the day off! We both ended up going into work because that is just how we roll!
Evan found out yesterday that he actually has Malaria, the first one in our family! There should be a medal for that........... hmmmmm!
Hoping that November is a month of health for our family and hopefully some relaxing weekends as well!
Thursday, October 27, 2011
Tuesday, October 25, 2011
Monday, October 24, 2011
The Schellenbergs ......... wait who?
Apparently I have become so very slack on the whole blogging thing! Oops!
We are busy people, I had no ideas how little time we have when both Evan and I work full time, the kids are in school and after school programs, our house is a job site, meals to prepare and I don't have an and..... we are just busy!
The hardest fact to swallow is I don't have to clean my house or do our families laundry! Working moms my hat goes off to you!
Here is a very random update on our lives and I am guessing I will forget things but that just means more juicy details for a future post!
er!
- Our regular house keeper had to go in for surgery and was taking 3 weeks off for healing and rest. On the first day the substitute house cleaner was here on her own she bleach about half of our clothes! Out of 4 black tank tops I now have 3 tie die tanks tops and 1 black one! I had almost all my work shirt ruined, 1 of Evan's work shirts, a couple t-shirts of Emmanuel and Micah's and almost all of our underwear ( underwear doesn't really matter though).
- Our house has been a job site for 7 LONG weeks, we just got hot water, okay running water last week and it is still touch and go! I took 1 shower and Evan's parents place in that 7 weeks.... how I missed showers! Bathing when you need to haul the water and boil it so it is hot is so much work I often ended up sponge bathing in cold water!
Tiles are half finished and electrical is coming along! Hopefully this next week our pool will be up and running and our washing machine will be operable again!
- I am not walking to work by myself anymore! A couple weeks ago and man started to show up on the corner of the street where the kids and I turn towards school. He would yell at my and get all worked up, I didn't think much of it until one day he grabbed my arm and spun me around as I walked by! The kids and I now walk with the guard!
Unfortunately it is another way that it feels like I have lost some of my freedom but I am trying to embrace and accept!
- Evan's work is busy and keeps him very preoccupied! I can't complain because mine does as well!
- We return to Calgary for Christmas holidays in approximately 8 weeks! WHOO HOO ! ! ! ! ! ! ! !
I will think of more to update a little later............. hopefully ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! !
We are busy people, I had no ideas how little time we have when both Evan and I work full time, the kids are in school and after school programs, our house is a job site, meals to prepare and I don't have an and..... we are just busy!
The hardest fact to swallow is I don't have to clean my house or do our families laundry! Working moms my hat goes off to you!
Here is a very random update on our lives and I am guessing I will forget things but that just means more juicy details for a future post!
er!
- Our regular house keeper had to go in for surgery and was taking 3 weeks off for healing and rest. On the first day the substitute house cleaner was here on her own she bleach about half of our clothes! Out of 4 black tank tops I now have 3 tie die tanks tops and 1 black one! I had almost all my work shirt ruined, 1 of Evan's work shirts, a couple t-shirts of Emmanuel and Micah's and almost all of our underwear ( underwear doesn't really matter though).
- Our house has been a job site for 7 LONG weeks, we just got hot water, okay running water last week and it is still touch and go! I took 1 shower and Evan's parents place in that 7 weeks.... how I missed showers! Bathing when you need to haul the water and boil it so it is hot is so much work I often ended up sponge bathing in cold water!
Tiles are half finished and electrical is coming along! Hopefully this next week our pool will be up and running and our washing machine will be operable again!
- I am not walking to work by myself anymore! A couple weeks ago and man started to show up on the corner of the street where the kids and I turn towards school. He would yell at my and get all worked up, I didn't think much of it until one day he grabbed my arm and spun me around as I walked by! The kids and I now walk with the guard!
Unfortunately it is another way that it feels like I have lost some of my freedom but I am trying to embrace and accept!
- Evan's work is busy and keeps him very preoccupied! I can't complain because mine does as well!
- We return to Calgary for Christmas holidays in approximately 8 weeks! WHOO HOO ! ! ! ! ! ! ! !
I will think of more to update a little later............. hopefully ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! !
The tale of a mango worm
Our family has had its share of staf infections ( even different strains of them), we have gotten so used to treating them we have not gone into the hospital for the last 2. We take care of the disinfecting, cleaning, applying cream, wrapping and squeezing puss at home. Granted we do watch them VERY carefully and at any point we feel they are getting worse instead of better or they are not healing as fast as we like we head into the hospital for antibiotics!
Rewind to last Monday morning, I was brushing Micah's hair and notice a very red bump on the top of her ear. Right away my heart sank ( as good as we have gotten at treating these they are hard to have around and draining to see), I told Micah I would have to clean it and put the cream on. On Tuesday night it wasn't really improving put I did notice that puss had com too the surface. I tried popping it but only clear fluid came out! Wednesday morning when Micah was eating breakfast before school I checked her ear again and notice some "puss" coming out! So I told Micah that I would need to pop it, Micah put down her Nutella sandwich and braced herself ( they are tender). Well 2 squeezes and some tears later a MANGO WORM popped out! Ewwww!
The best part, I showed it to Micah who looked said oh and pick up her sandwich and kept eating!
Nothing fazes my kids!
** Mango worms are very common here, they lay there eggs in your clothes and then transfer onto your skin in moist areas. Yes, I do bath my kids ! :)
Rewind to last Monday morning, I was brushing Micah's hair and notice a very red bump on the top of her ear. Right away my heart sank ( as good as we have gotten at treating these they are hard to have around and draining to see), I told Micah I would have to clean it and put the cream on. On Tuesday night it wasn't really improving put I did notice that puss had com too the surface. I tried popping it but only clear fluid came out! Wednesday morning when Micah was eating breakfast before school I checked her ear again and notice some "puss" coming out! So I told Micah that I would need to pop it, Micah put down her Nutella sandwich and braced herself ( they are tender). Well 2 squeezes and some tears later a MANGO WORM popped out! Ewwww!
The best part, I showed it to Micah who looked said oh and pick up her sandwich and kept eating!
Nothing fazes my kids!
** Mango worms are very common here, they lay there eggs in your clothes and then transfer onto your skin in moist areas. Yes, I do bath my kids ! :)
Wednesday, October 5, 2011
Oh my!
I am sitting here in my office trying to motivate myself to do more work, I am tried today and just finished grading 50 tests.... my brain wants to quit!
I thought why not read back a couple posts and start to put together a new post before I head out to do some work with the grade 5's and teach my classes this afternoon.
Well, I was reading back a couple of posts and got to one line and burst out laughing...... full out laughing! I start talk OUT LOUD about what was so funny and very quickly realized that no one else was around!
Apparently I have become my own best friend! ** sigh**
I thought why not read back a couple posts and start to put together a new post before I head out to do some work with the grade 5's and teach my classes this afternoon.
Well, I was reading back a couple of posts and got to one line and burst out laughing...... full out laughing! I start talk OUT LOUD about what was so funny and very quickly realized that no one else was around!
Apparently I have become my own best friend! ** sigh**
Tuesday, October 4, 2011
Monday, September 26, 2011
I think I have fallen in love................
..........with African rain storms! They are unbelievably incredible.... almost like nothing I have experienced before! The rain falls fast and hard, not really letting up for the duration of the storm, it gets dark and windy quickly. I don't think I even have the words to describe it, next storm I will hopefully remember to take my camera out and take a couple picture ( it is time to get some pictures of the blog).
Last week I was training the soccer and swim team and during our training session the rain hit.... I sent my teams running laps in the rain and yes I run with them! We had to end up canceling practice due to the raining falling to hard. That same day I went running with Maggie and we thought we would be fine to run amongst the trees...... we were soaked within a minute and then the thunder and lightening hit. Lightening strikes are common in Kinshasa due to the high mineral count in the ground. We were not just running to work out we were running for cover!
Good times!
The sound of the storm is also amazing, it is so loud on the tin roof. It is almost like you can hear the individual rain drops! The last storm we had Emmanuel was counting the between the clap of thunder and bolt of lightening, there were many times that he didn't finish saying 1!
Hopefully more updates will start happening, still no internet at home, trying to work out all the electricity and water issues as well. We have also been dealing with sickness in our home, I have been sick for a week already and Micah was fighting what I think was a migraine this weekend. Fingers crossed we get better soon!
Last week I was training the soccer and swim team and during our training session the rain hit.... I sent my teams running laps in the rain and yes I run with them! We had to end up canceling practice due to the raining falling to hard. That same day I went running with Maggie and we thought we would be fine to run amongst the trees...... we were soaked within a minute and then the thunder and lightening hit. Lightening strikes are common in Kinshasa due to the high mineral count in the ground. We were not just running to work out we were running for cover!
Good times!
The sound of the storm is also amazing, it is so loud on the tin roof. It is almost like you can hear the individual rain drops! The last storm we had Emmanuel was counting the between the clap of thunder and bolt of lightening, there were many times that he didn't finish saying 1!
Hopefully more updates will start happening, still no internet at home, trying to work out all the electricity and water issues as well. We have also been dealing with sickness in our home, I have been sick for a week already and Micah was fighting what I think was a migraine this weekend. Fingers crossed we get better soon!
Thursday, September 22, 2011
My mom heart
I often wish that my kids will not have to experience certain things in life, I know that I can't stop it from happening but it often creeps into my mind.
Both my kids are struggling in school right now and I am not sure what exactly is happening or how to help them.
Emmanuel complains of stomach aches often, I will send him to school and tell him to go see the nurse if he is feeling worse and she will call me or come get me in my classroom. Emmanuel never goes because he is to scared to ask. Today I sent him to school with a stomach ache and he wasn't pretending. I told him again to go and see the nurse if he feels worse, I just ran into him at Art class and he came to me in tears saying that he needed to go home. I told him he would have to see the nurse whether I take him or he asks his teacher..... not sure what he will do because I had to leave for a meeting.
Emmanuel has friends, he plays soccer, karate and doesn't find the school work to hard yet..... I can't figure out what is causing all the stomach aches before school and he says nothing is wrong!
Micah............ my social butterfly has almost stopped flying!
Micah is the kind of girl who will not stick to one group of friends, she moves from group to group all the time. The girls in her class have stopped playing with her and they do not let her join in at all when she asks. This is breaking her heart and she is starting to withdraw a little. Micah has made one best friend, this little boy named James. He is so cute and writes Micah these little notes saying how he missed her at home. Well the girls are calling James Micah's boyfriend so now she doesn't want to hang out with him either. I make sure to reminder her that having a boy that is a friend is AWESOME!
It is so hard to see your kids struggle, I wish I could fix it! I know I can't and all I can so is guide them but it would be nice to rush on a "fix" the problem.
Both my kids are struggling in school right now and I am not sure what exactly is happening or how to help them.
Emmanuel complains of stomach aches often, I will send him to school and tell him to go see the nurse if he is feeling worse and she will call me or come get me in my classroom. Emmanuel never goes because he is to scared to ask. Today I sent him to school with a stomach ache and he wasn't pretending. I told him again to go and see the nurse if he feels worse, I just ran into him at Art class and he came to me in tears saying that he needed to go home. I told him he would have to see the nurse whether I take him or he asks his teacher..... not sure what he will do because I had to leave for a meeting.
Emmanuel has friends, he plays soccer, karate and doesn't find the school work to hard yet..... I can't figure out what is causing all the stomach aches before school and he says nothing is wrong!
Micah............ my social butterfly has almost stopped flying!
Micah is the kind of girl who will not stick to one group of friends, she moves from group to group all the time. The girls in her class have stopped playing with her and they do not let her join in at all when she asks. This is breaking her heart and she is starting to withdraw a little. Micah has made one best friend, this little boy named James. He is so cute and writes Micah these little notes saying how he missed her at home. Well the girls are calling James Micah's boyfriend so now she doesn't want to hang out with him either. I make sure to reminder her that having a boy that is a friend is AWESOME!
It is so hard to see your kids struggle, I wish I could fix it! I know I can't and all I can so is guide them but it would be nice to rush on a "fix" the problem.
Tuesday, September 20, 2011
update
We have now been in our new house for just over a week...... what a long week it has been! I love the fact that we are closer to TASOK, it is so nice to be able to walk to and from school in about 15 mins. We are right now just trying to get everything fixed and up to livable standards..... I guess they are livable just not comfortable.
Some of the things we are working on are getting electricity to work more consistently, getting electricity to work PERIOD in half of the house, get water to run at more than a trickle when it is running, getting water to run more than 10% of the time, getting hot water, fixing the tiles in the house and a bunch of other stuff! We have no internet at our house and I am not sure when it is going to come so bear with us if posts are a lot less for the next 2 -3 weeks or so. I will need to write them at work for the time being.
Our pool is in the process of being fixed right now and we are crossing our fingers that it will be done and ready to swim in at the end of this week. The pool is going to be awesome; the weather is definitely changing around here.... it is getting a little hotter. Yesterday morning I went for a run at 8:00 am with another teacher and then sun’s rays were beating pretty strong already. Oh I almost forgot we have had one or two days of almost blue sky! We can see some blue starting to poke through the clouds! Yesterday got up to +32 so the heat is slowly starting to come!
Here are a couple little tid-bits for you
- Evan and I figured out that we have been at the hospital ( for medical treatment) 24 times in the last 3 months and 3 weeks! Not a great average!
- between the 4 of us we have had 5 staf infections. The one I got almost 2 months ago still bothers me on a daily bases.
- Emmanuel and Micah have started to feel a little more comfortable speaking french to strangers. They may only say 1 or 2 words but it is a start!
- I just remembered that I have some AWESOME to blog about but forget what the topic was..... I will have to ask Evan tonight!
Okay, I've got to get back to work !
Some of the things we are working on are getting electricity to work more consistently, getting electricity to work PERIOD in half of the house, get water to run at more than a trickle when it is running, getting water to run more than 10% of the time, getting hot water, fixing the tiles in the house and a bunch of other stuff! We have no internet at our house and I am not sure when it is going to come so bear with us if posts are a lot less for the next 2 -3 weeks or so. I will need to write them at work for the time being.
Our pool is in the process of being fixed right now and we are crossing our fingers that it will be done and ready to swim in at the end of this week. The pool is going to be awesome; the weather is definitely changing around here.... it is getting a little hotter. Yesterday morning I went for a run at 8:00 am with another teacher and then sun’s rays were beating pretty strong already. Oh I almost forgot we have had one or two days of almost blue sky! We can see some blue starting to poke through the clouds! Yesterday got up to +32 so the heat is slowly starting to come!
Here are a couple little tid-bits for you
- Evan and I figured out that we have been at the hospital ( for medical treatment) 24 times in the last 3 months and 3 weeks! Not a great average!
- between the 4 of us we have had 5 staf infections. The one I got almost 2 months ago still bothers me on a daily bases.
- Emmanuel and Micah have started to feel a little more comfortable speaking french to strangers. They may only say 1 or 2 words but it is a start!
- I just remembered that I have some AWESOME to blog about but forget what the topic was..... I will have to ask Evan tonight!
Okay, I've got to get back to work !
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