Flying Solo

This week I was a single parent as Brent was in Boston for an academic conference. I was a little nervous about the week, but I think we managed pretty well, although the end of the week was a bit of a disaster.

Brent's Conference
Every year, thousands of scientist gather in Boston, Massachusets for a huge scientific conference. It is a very big deal. Brent spent much of his time attending lectures, meeting friends from Sweden and making contacts. During his free time, he applied for several jobs. Making contacts was probably the most important thing he did because that's how you get jobs. Brent's work in Israel and his current job came as a direct result of making contacts at conferences. Cross your fingers that his networking paid off!

Compliments
This week I received two notable compliments about my skills as a mother. The first I received while at Barnes and Noble will all the kids. We were attending a book fair and I had given each child a budget. The kids were great as the searched for items that would fall within their budget limits. Two older women were watching me intently and began chatting with me. The women complimented me on my calm temperament and my ability to care for my children. They were surprised I don't employ a nanny. It made me feel good to receive the compliment for my "large" family.
I received the second compliment while at the pediatric dentist's office. The office staff and dentist complimented me on my parenting, my organization and calmness.

Pictures
I took Jonathan to Sears to get some pictures taken. His pictures were very sweet. The photographer wanted to do some shots of the baby on his tummy. But when he gets on his tummy, he starts moving around like crazy. He pushes his head up and starts moving his legs in a crawling movement. He is a cute boy.

Tender Mercies
Neither Jonathan nor Brooke slept well on Monday night. I was exhausted and wanted to take a short nap. When I laid down on the couch beside Brooke, she kept waking me up. Just as I had reached my limit, my phone rang. My neighbor called to see if Brooke could come over for a playdate with her son. Brooke ended up playing for most of the day.
Then scouts was cancelled that night for Trent and Walter, so that I didn't have to keep all the kids up late driving boys home from the church.

Band Concert
On Thursday evening, Walter had his first band concert. He plays the snare drum. Brent came home just in time for the concert. We all went and I prepared myself for an evening of squeaky clarinets, bad tuning, etc. I was pleasantly surprised! The kids played pretty well. Walter was delightful to watch. He watched his director attentively, kept very good time and played with such enthusiasm. Then he sang in choir. They did some great pieces. My favorite was a Spanish/English song with a fairly complex harmony and melody. I love watching Walter perform--he performs with his whole body. He did very well, despite his swollen cheek and toothache.

Infections
Walter didn't sleep well at all on Wednesday evening. I let him stay home from school on Thursday. Then I noticed his cheek was swollen and so I made an appointment with the dentist. Walter has to have his tooth pulled. But I'm kind of relieved. We've had so many problems with this tooth, that it will be nice not to have to worry about it anymore!
After we visited the dentist on Friday, I started to feel very achy and sore. I went home, rested and took some medicine. I was hoping to feel better to attend a party with some of our friends from Sweden. Several people from the university had gone to Boston to attend the conference. They came down to New York to tour IBM. A mutual friend had planned a party. But alas, I wasn't feeling well and I so I cancelled our babysitter. That night I got worse, ended up with a fever and everything. It wasn't until 3 a.m. that I realized I probably had mastitis. I was able to call my doctor and get a prescription for antibiotics. I've started to feel a bit better.