17 posts from March 2008

One of those days

It was one of those days. 


One of those rare, everything is going right sort of days. I know. You thought I was going to complain about something. 

I got up later than I should have, but early than I have been lately, so it was still good. The Princess was sitting in her crib patiently waiting for me without making a peep. SkyWalker got dressed with a minimum amount of complaint. The vet called and Isaac is just fine--all of the tumors were benign. We left the house on time. Got to Cartwheels for our meetup, had a blast, SkyWalker ran from me to play with things and even let me go to the potty while he stayed and played with other kids. The Princess cooed at the other meetup mom who could make it and let me walk away from her as she played. It was amazing. There was only one mom there from my meetup, but it went great. And I have found a new reason not to complain.* Anyway, her 16 month old daughter gave the Princess hugs and the Princess seemed to like it. She was also very interested in SkyWalker, as are all the little girls. Her son is SkyWalker's age but he was off playing with someone else he had just met. He seemed like a nice boy though and one who would get along well with SkyWalker. It was a great meetup. 

From there we went to our favorite place to eat and met up with one of my friends. SkyWalker was amazingly cute and hilarious. Aside from the Princess's insistence on shredding napkins and dropping them on the floor, they were both very well-behaved and I couldn't complain about anything. 

SkyWalker requested that we not go home but instead go "somewhere". He had earlier asked that we go to the internet to find the numbers he wanted (I told him I didn't think they would be in a store and we'd have to get them on the internet)... so I said how about checking out our favorite store and we went to Target, despite the Princess not having had a decent nap yet. They were both pretty good at the store. I bought myself a $4 1000-piece puzzle and some storage bins. We checked the toy section and didn't see the numbers or any mats at all. A clerk came walking by as I said to SkyWalker "I just don't see them." The clerk asked what I was looking for, called someone and led me to the spot... where they had one package of the mats left and it was... numbers! Amazing. And it was cheaper than what it would have been online. The only problem is that they are bigger than the letters we have at home so they don't interlock. I don't know where my MIL found letters so small... SkyWalker's solution is that Grama needs to find new letters. He's a funny boy. 

I am hungry and tired and waiting for Vader to come home from grocery shopping. But it's all good. 

* So this adorable 16 month old girl with little glasses on her face and the sweetest little smile had brain surgery in January! Her brain was just too big and she had to have part of her skull and vertebrate shaved down to make room. She developed complications and there was fluid in her brain so she had to have a shunt put in. She'll probably have to have some type or shunt surgery every 10 years or so as she grows. Can you imagine??? She's tiny, the size of the Princess, and looks young. But you can tell she's a fighter. She was independent and walked away and played and showed no fear of anything. She was so amazing. Really an inspiration and a reminder that when you think you've got it bad there's always someone else who has it worse... and her mom was so calm and together. This is her 3rd child and I think I would have pulled my hair out. The surgeries have been in Rochester so there's been lots of driving back and forth. I'm sure she had her dark moments, but she was inspirational too. It would be easy to be pessimistic and negative and I didn't get that from her at all. Just amazing. 

And with that the Princess has decided to cry out. She slept last night, but lately she's been crying for no apparent reason in the middle of the night. I think she just needs a little cuddle. But she doesn't go back down easily. The other night I had to just leave her crying. She was done by the time I got to the bottom of the stairs, but it was still not the best way to spend the middle of the night. Ah, she has quieted herself. This is what all the sleep training is about. 

It is now 9 pm. I am hungrier. Time to eat and watch some How I Met Your Mother and hope the dogs don't bark when Vader gets home.

1 comment Tags: isaac, making friends, meetups, the power of positive thinking

The Poop Wars

Today's game was "Who's heiney needs to be wiped the most?". SkyWalker pooped once requiring LOTS of wipage. He pooped a second time while I was in the shower and didn't tell me. There was LOTS of toilet paper and wipes in the toilet. I can only hope that some of them actually made contact with his anal region. The Princess, not wanting to be outdone, pooped three times before 2 pm, each one messier than the last.

Neither of them won.

The winner, hands-down, was Isaac. He did not poop once today. Not at all. But he still managed to get icky stainage all over his heiney. He tried to wipe himself on the floor. And he's clearly wiping himself outside since he's all green as well as poopy. I had to use the kids' wipes on him numerous times today and he is still filthy. I doubt he can get a bath until his stitches are out. He didn't try to roll over when I was wiping him, like the Princess does, but he did growl a bit and didn't really cooperate.

Good times.

The Princess randomly nursed during soccer this morning. She must have been really thirsty/hungry. She even did it with big brother sitting right next to her because he refused to play at all. Again. He's paying for this session. He didn't want to leave the house, didn't want to stop playing with his toys. If he continues like this I might stop it for the summer. I'm not paying all that money for him to just sit there next to me. He wouldn't even play with me out on the field holding the Princess.

I have eaten a lot of munchkins in the last 15 minutes.

Post a comment Tags: nursing, soccer, poop

Sad lips

Shinesalot is going through what I did just a mere 2 months ago; her FIL passed away early this morning and now she has to pick up the pieces and juggle her responsibilities to her husband and her son. Never an easy thing. I wish I could hop on a plane and be there.

I spent the afternoon outside, first with SkyWalker running around with the soccer ball, and then with both SkyWalker and the Princess on the swings. The Princess wasn't quite sure what to make of the swing at first but she liked it. She especially liked when her big brother was swinging right next to her.

She did wonderful at the meet-up today. She was cute and flirty with a baby just one month younger. They teamed up to move one of the chairs. She held his hand. SkyWalker said she made a friend. He did okay. He was quiet but then he started to warm up and say silly things. There was another 3 year old girl there who was non-verbal and with her therapists and then a 2 year old so SkyWalker really didn't have anyone to play with. I talked a lot with the mom of the baby. It went well.

Isaac was doing well when we got home. No more bloody diarrhea or vomiting. He went out a million times to pee but I think he also just wanted to be outside and I felt guilty that I couldn't just let him out. Haze spent the ENTIRE day outside, sleeping on the deck. Rubbing it in. I feel so bad for Isaac. How much does this poor dog have to go through? It's not like any of the surgeries were cosmetic. And it's not like we had a real choice. Sure, you always have a choice, but we really didn't have a choice. I hope the biopsy comes back okay. If it doesn't then we'll have a real problem.

The Princess has been very kissy lately. She usually tries to french kiss me and likes to eat my lips when I pucker up for a kiss. But the other day I was laying on her floor and she crawled to me and I felt a little soft kiss on my nose. Her mouth was closed and it was a real little kiss. And then she looks at me and smiles and laughs and it's the best thing in the world.

SkyWalker has been "bery happy" lately. I don't really know why but that's okay with me. He is constantly telling me he loves me and the Princess and Daddy and the dogs. And we're all bery happy. Except the dogs. Because they have sad lips.



Post a comment Tags: isaac, skywalker, making friends, meetups, the princess, shinesalot

Surgery sucks

Isaac's surgery went as well as it could. He looks pretty beat up... stitches on his neck, his legs. The vet had never seen anything like that big lump that was on his back leg. That's comforting. (not). We'll get the results of the biopsy in a week. He's wearing a cone--collar again and will have to be on the leash until he gets the stitches out (April 5). He's pretty doped up now and just sleeping but I'm sure he'll be a pain in the ass tomorrow and scratching at his cone.


The Princess had her checkup. She's 17 pounds, 15 ounces (she's always 1 or 2 ounces below the next pound. Always. It's hilarious.). She's dropped to the 10th percentile so I know she's mine for sure now. She's 27 1/2 inches long, I think that's the 25th percentile so she's proportionate and right where she should be. She's doing great with everything. Her ears look fine. She's probably teething. I got the go-ahead to do cow's milk early and now I probably won't. 

I have my first meet-up tomorrow. I hope it goes well. I'm trying SO hard people. So hard. 

2 comments Tags: surgery, isaac, making friends, meetups, the princess

Who's counting?

Those of you keeping track at home know that my son had one surgery, my daughter had one surgery and Isaac the dog had TWO surgeries--not including getting fixed because that's just not optional if you're a good dog owner. Next Tuesday he will have his third surgery. That's right! Number 3. 


I discovered a cyst on his neck a few weeks ago that Vader poo-pooed. Last week Vader said we were going to have to take him to the vet because it was worse. I looked at it and it looked like what was on his ear back in Oct. 2006 so I was pretty sure we'd have to do surgery again. While he's getting this removed they are also going to remove the growing bumps on his legs. He hasn't lost hair there but they've gotten bigger and bother me. They just can't be normal. 

It'll just be a one-day thing, no overnight. I'd really like to know why he keeps getting these things. It can't just be our bad luck rubbing off on him because Haze is fine. Although she did have that adventure in the woods... but she's been healthy. 

Speaking of healthy, coughing child number 2 beckons.

1 comment Tags: surgery, isaac

Small world

The Princess does indeed have an ear infection. Her very first cold has led to her very first ear infection. Since she was on amoxicillin forever, she's taking a different antibiotic and will hopefully get better soon. I gave her some ibuprofen at bedtime. SkyWalker got some tylenol but I can hear him making noise. Hopefully he is pooping since he hasn't done that yet today. Hmmm, is that grunting of a poop or grunting trying to get something in the bathroom Ah--"I pooped Mommy." Anyway, hopefully they will both sleep tonight. If they don't I will be very cranky tomorrow. 


I have not showered since Tuesday. I have been wiping up a lot of snot, some of it mine. I'm not as bad as I thought I would be--the vitamin C I finally managed to swallow and the extra zinc seem to be doing the trick--but I'm still not at my best. Keep this in mind....

We're at the doctor and a young um, nurse maybe? A guy who brought us in the room and took all of our info and did the temps and the weighings. Maybe he was a nurse, maybe he was a PA, I'm not sure, anyway, he says "What school did you go to?" And I say "you mean high school-school?" He says "yeah." I say "Long Island." He says, "Hmmm... you look familiar but I guess that's not it." He leaves, comes back and says "Um. This is going to be a strange question..." and I'm thinking I haven't showered in 2 days, the dude is not trying to pick me up. He says "Are you on meetup.com?" And I LAUGH and say "Um, yeah." and he laughs at says "My wife L. just e-mailed you last night!" HAHAHAHA. The newest member of the group who has a 5 1/2 week old. How funny is that? I have not met any of these people yet and here I am meeting her husband first. We had a nice talk about making friends... she's in the same boat as me. She's from Florida and she moved here for her husband and has no one here. Small world right?  I left a shout on her profile telling her that her husband stuck a thermometer up my baby's butt. 

I could be cleaning the kitchen or paying bills or doing any number of important things but instead I am blogging. I need to watch Lost tonight anyway so there's no sense in getting started doing something. 

It is windy as all hell right now. I suppose it is March but it's been so cold and winter-like, it's odd hearing so much wind. Perhaps spring is on its way. 

I just broke my caps lock key. Crap. Wait, No! I fixed it! Ha. 

Clearly I am going crazy. Luckily Vader is coming home tomorrow. He is leaving tomorrow morning so he should be home by the afternoon. I asked him if he was planning on going in to work tomorrow when he gets home and let him know what the acceptable response to that question was... so I should get a break tomorrow afternoon/evening. If I don't, I'm going to let SkyWalker wipe his snot all over his toothbrush. That's right. I'm hardcore.

2 comments Tags: sick, small world, meetups

It continues

I went to bed at 9:30 and was asleep before 10. 

At 10:30 SkyWalker woke me up crying. Took care of him, got back to sleep. 
At 12:30 the Princess woke me up crying. Gave her ibuprofen this time and that seemed to work better. Went back to sleep. 
At 2:30 SkyWalker woke me up crying, proceeded to SCREAM while in the bathroom saying he needed Mommy and gagging and making me think he was going to vomit. He finally calmed down. Went back to sleep
At 5:45 my alarm went off to take my morning temp. I went back to sleep, determined to let the kids sleep late.
At 7 SkyWalker woke up needing Mommy. He woke the Princess up. I took care of him, gave him tylenol to try to get him to go back to sleep. I fed the Princess, put her back down and she actually fell asleep at 7:30 and is still sleeping now (9 am). SkyWalker did not go back to sleep. He came downstairs and laid with me in my bed but he did not sleep. A couple of times he snuggled up to me but mostly he played with his flashlight. Then he got out of bed, went in my closet, took his clothes off and made a mess. At 8:30 the dogs couldn't stand it anymore and told me to get out of bed. 

Vader will probably be home tomorrow, I have no idea when, so I will have another night of this. Then I will have to work on Saturday. Then we have Easter on Sunday. Then Vader will go back to work on Monday. And I will never sleep again. 

I'm going to take them to the doctor today. I'm sure she has an ear infection and if it's interrupting her sleep now then it must be painful. I don't think there's anything I can do for SkyWalker unless he too has an ear infection. I think he just has a cold and has to tough it out, but he's being a big sissy instead. 

It is raining and gloomy and the poor dogs are sleeping on the kitchen floor instead of being a pain in the neck. Even they must be tired from last night's shenanigans. It would be a perfect day to stay in bed and read a book. Instead I will wipe snot and take temperatures and try to forget that I need someone to take care of me too. 

Post a comment Tags: sick, sleep

Day 3

Day 3 of no Daddy. I don't know how people do this all the time. Granted, their kids aren't sick all the time, and they probably don't have 2 dogs, but still. 


I have been trying to get my kids to sleep for an hour now. It started out okay--the Princess was asleep by 6:50 (her choice, not mine). At 7 she was screaming. I put SkyWalker down at 7:15, comforted the Princess and left. She cried off and on. At 7:40 I went up there and SkyWalker was peering into her room saying "Don't cry." He claimed his nose hurt and he needed saline solution. We took care of that, I went and fed the Princess as a last resort, and SkyWalker decided the tag in his diaper was bothering him so he took it off. There are no tags in diapers. I put the Princess down, put a pull up on SkyWalker and put him back in bed. The Princess continued to cry. I went downstairs and looked up ear infections and the proper dosage of tylenol. The Princess continued to cry. At 8, all was quiet. And then I heard "I pooped!". I walked up there and SkyWalker was sitting on the potty. (We leave his gate open now so he can go to the bathroom.) I took care of him and hoped the Princess would not wake up. At 8:10 I see the light is on in the bathroom again. He has the saline solution ... and the Princess's nose-snot-sucker and has it up his nose. I got his and said "You want me to suck the snot out of your nose?" and he said yes. So I did it. I just put him back in bed. It is now 8:20 and the Princess has just started crying again. There is nothing more I can do for her. I've fed her. Given her tylenol. Wiped her nose. She has a slight fever and has been pulling on her ear as well as the snot-nose, so I'm pretty sure we're headed to the doc tomorrow for an ear infection. 

Good frickin times. 

Tonight I was a sneaky chef and hid pureed sweet potatoes in the macaroni and tomato soup we had for dinner. SkyWalker ate it right up. So did I. I decided I'm going to trick myself with this stuff too! Ha! That'll teach me.

8:23 and SkyWalker has just walked in to the bathroom. The Princess is still crying. Good times man. Good times.

4 comments Tags: sick, sleep, sneaky chef

Bah!

I was supposed to be having my first meet-up right now. Instead I am home with 2 sick children and 2 barking dogs. SkyWalker was up at midnight and again at 1 and it was clear that he both needed to sleep late and not be around other children. But more importantly, *I* feel worse than yesterday. I was all headachy and nauseous this morning and just not up to getting us all out of the house by 9:30. So I cancelled the meet-up. 


I've gotten yesterday's laundry folded and a new load in today and I just finished the dishes but other than that this house is a MESS. I am completely unprepared for Easter. No egg dye. I don't even have a basket for the Princess. I think I have an extra one, but I haven't done any inventory to see what I actually have and don't have. I'm completely unprepared for everything. We have no bread. I think we will just have soup for the rest of the week because that's all I can muster up. 

Once again I am reminded by how crappy the timing is in my life. We should really get flood insurance because it seems like whenever it rains for us, it pours.

Post a comment Tags: sick, meetups

The wedding wrap-up

This is taken from e-mail because I am too tired to do otherwise:

Friday:
We got in late, after 8, so we missed the dinner festivities. They told us our room was on the second floor, but the number written down was 425. We went up to the 4th floor (with luggage and kids) and it was not our room. We went back to the 2nd floor and tried 245, but that was not our room. We had to call and finally they directed us to 240. WTF?

Vader put the kids to bed (after watching inappropriate TV) and I joined the bachelorette party, had my first alcoholic beverage in over a year, drank it quickly, and started to tingle. Good times. I went to bed late but the kids slept well and we let each other sleep past 8. 

Saturday Day:
We went to breakfast at Friendly's, saw hollychrome and husband (and FantasyLibrarian I think) as they left. The Princess STARED at hollychrome's husband. I decided it was all the hair. She's not used to hair, unless it's on her Mama's arms. 

The boys went to the dinosaur museum. I tried to get the Princess to nap in the hotel room and she told me no. I put her in the stroller and intended to walk to the mall. Vader called saying he couldn't figure out the directions to the museum. So I met him at the front desk and we figured it out. He dropped us off at Barnes and Noble. I got the Princess her Easter gift and then we started to walk to the mall. Food/Crafts/Books Girl's husband spotted us and despite having just walked back from the mall himself he escorted us to the mall so I wouldn't have to walk with the stroller alone. Very nice.

Met Mrs. Dude, Librarian Amy, fauxmiddlechild and medlibrarygirl at the mall. Bought shoes for my sister's wedding. My mom didn't sound happy when I said they were flat. Groan. We left the mall, me and the Princess on foot and everyone else driving. The Princess and I got splashed by some bitch driving by.* We made it back to Friendly's and had lunch with the girls and various spouses. 

The boys got back, Vader and the Princess took a nap, SkyWalker and I played air hockey. I got back to the room shortly before 4 and Vader was still napping. I told him he had to get up and get going. He did not. We rushed around and didn't have enough time to take pictures of the kids. I left with my hair still wet. But we made it to the wedding on time.

Saturday evening:
We made to the wedding right on time. Sat in the back right in front of  yarnlibrarian and FantasyLibrarian. The kids started out okay, and then the Princess very clearly pooped. Vader took her out. SkyWalker sat on my lap and it was clear that he NEEDED to poop as he was dropping bombs left and right and squirming all over. He also STUNK to high heaven. I finally took him out to Vader and went back in alone. Vader stayed out with the kids the rest of the wedding. He is VERY upset that he couldn't say Mazel Tov. I didn't know it meant that much to him, I would have called him in. But he didn't tell me. 

The Princess had her dinner during the cocktail hour. I had to boob-feed her in the bathroom and hoped no one would walk in. SkyWalker ate lots of watermelon and cantelope (good--he wound up pooping at the hotel). By the time dinner was served they were both getting cranky and ready for bed. Granted to everyone else they probably looked fine, but you know I have high standards. Vader ate his duck and my pasta. I ate SkyWalker's chicken fingers and fries, the Princess ate some of her chicken fingers, I ate her fries. Vader took them back to the hotel and I stayed and danced. 

I took the 11:30 shuttle with hollychrome and lazylibrarian. Good times. I walked in the door and SkyWalker was in the bathroom hysterical. He had just thrown up. He spent the rest of the night waking up crying every hour or so. He got in bed with me and slept, but I was afraid he was going to fall off the bed so I didn't sleep. I finally got some sleep (2 hours?) when he switched beds and slept with Vader. 

I have wiped more snot in the past few days than I thought possible. But relatively speaking I think the kids did well and didn't really embarrass me. 

*The bitch was Librarian Amy! HA!

1 comment Tags: friends, weddings