Sunday, June 15, 2008
Tuesday, May 20, 2008
Flying Pumpkin and Rolling Cars
I just had to get this out because it was actually pretty funny, even as I was going through it.
So, today went pretty well. Simon and I had a wonderful morning chilling out and everyone seemed pretty happy when they got home from school in the driving rain. All was pretty calm.
Then out of the blue the phone rang and it was the speech specialist at Project Child calling to schedule the full speech eval for Hazel. We got the appt scheduled and I walked into the kitchen to mark it on the calendar. While I was writing her name on the date in question as she was spelling it for me, Simon decided that now would be a good time to explore the pantry. He loves doing this and it is right next to the calendar so he got to do his favorite, almost naughty, thing right next to me. Bonus!
Since this is one of his preferred activities, I have moved all the stuff that he could dump or damage to the higher shelves that he can't yet reach. Apparently cans of pumpkin now fall into the higher shelf category because he got one out and I guess it was heavier than he expected since it fell with a thud which was followed by excessive screaming.
I thought he had dropped it on his head and quick checked and there was no major bruise forming so I tried talking to him soothingly while trying to get the speech person's phone number. She laughed into the phone when I asked him if he had dropped a can of pumpkin on his head. He was not amused.
So I picked him up whereupon he immediately increased his volume and started shaking his leg violently, which is when a vague thought began to dawn that maybe the can hadn't hit his head. Meanwhile I couldn't hear the poor woman telling me her phone number, so I tried repeating back what I thought I was hearing, but I don't think she could hear me either, so I gave up and said loudly that I would see her at the appt time and hung up. I figured that she works with kids so she would understand.
Then I turned to examine Simon's head again, which was clear and then tried to grab the foot he was shaking and he screamed louder and as I was turning I caught sight of Hazel. She had formed a staircase of sorts with a high Ikea stool as the top step, which she was standing on, and a small yellow plastic ride on car as the lower step. She was carefully lining up the car with her foot to step down on it, clearly thinking this was a brilliant engineering feat. I was just absorbing this scene with it's full ramifications dawning when the phone broke through Simon's screaming.
Was the speech lady calling back immediately because I hung up before she told me something important? I had already grabbed the phone when it told me that it was Jon's cell. Ah Ha he must have just finished his interview and was calling me. So I answered, but didn't say hello. Instead I said (remember this is still over Simon's screams) "Hazel do NOT step on the car. Hazel climb off the stool. Do Not step on the car. {screams and more screams from Simon} Hazel, do NOT step on the......."
SPLAT - with a very loud smacking noise followed by even louder screams. They do not impress Simon who continues right on.
Jon now hears, "Crap! Hazel are you okay? Where does it hurt?" To which I get in response, "AAAAH AHHHH AAAAHHH AAHHH"
So I say, "Jon, are you done? How did it go?" while examining Hazel. She is screaming that her hands hurt and holding her wrists funny, but she can wriggle all her fingers and spin her wrists. No major bruise on her face, although she does get a slight nosebleed later. No blood in her mouth, her teeth seem okay. Mostly she just did a phenomenal belly flop off the car and onto the kitchen tile.
Jon is meanwhile telling me he can call me back later, but I want to know how it went and the kids both seem fine albeit screaming their heads off. It seems somehow the way of the world, that out of an abnormally calm day, and it all went smoothly after this as well, that this would be the scene just as Jon calls. I make him give me the short version; Cambridge is really nice; he would like the job; he's not sure how it went. Then he digresses into something about the personalities that he met and I basically hung up on him. I did say thanks for the info, don't have time for more and then hung up, but it was not really active listening on my part. Sorry Honey.
In the end everyone calmed down. Hazel has a small scrape on one finger that some lidocaine neosporin and a Cinderella bandaid took care off. She was also very impressed with herself for getting a nosebleed and seeing blood on the tissue calmed her down enormously.
Simon was fine once I sat with him and sat with him and sat with him and basically never left his side or took him near the changing table, although that happens even when he hasn't attacked himself with a can of pumpkin. I think we will find some lovely bruise on him tomorrow. I am still betting foot, but I wouldn't be shocked to be wrong.
So that was my afternoon's excitement. What was yours?
So, today went pretty well. Simon and I had a wonderful morning chilling out and everyone seemed pretty happy when they got home from school in the driving rain. All was pretty calm.
Then out of the blue the phone rang and it was the speech specialist at Project Child calling to schedule the full speech eval for Hazel. We got the appt scheduled and I walked into the kitchen to mark it on the calendar. While I was writing her name on the date in question as she was spelling it for me, Simon decided that now would be a good time to explore the pantry. He loves doing this and it is right next to the calendar so he got to do his favorite, almost naughty, thing right next to me. Bonus!
Since this is one of his preferred activities, I have moved all the stuff that he could dump or damage to the higher shelves that he can't yet reach. Apparently cans of pumpkin now fall into the higher shelf category because he got one out and I guess it was heavier than he expected since it fell with a thud which was followed by excessive screaming.
I thought he had dropped it on his head and quick checked and there was no major bruise forming so I tried talking to him soothingly while trying to get the speech person's phone number. She laughed into the phone when I asked him if he had dropped a can of pumpkin on his head. He was not amused.
So I picked him up whereupon he immediately increased his volume and started shaking his leg violently, which is when a vague thought began to dawn that maybe the can hadn't hit his head. Meanwhile I couldn't hear the poor woman telling me her phone number, so I tried repeating back what I thought I was hearing, but I don't think she could hear me either, so I gave up and said loudly that I would see her at the appt time and hung up. I figured that she works with kids so she would understand.
Then I turned to examine Simon's head again, which was clear and then tried to grab the foot he was shaking and he screamed louder and as I was turning I caught sight of Hazel. She had formed a staircase of sorts with a high Ikea stool as the top step, which she was standing on, and a small yellow plastic ride on car as the lower step. She was carefully lining up the car with her foot to step down on it, clearly thinking this was a brilliant engineering feat. I was just absorbing this scene with it's full ramifications dawning when the phone broke through Simon's screaming.
Was the speech lady calling back immediately because I hung up before she told me something important? I had already grabbed the phone when it told me that it was Jon's cell. Ah Ha he must have just finished his interview and was calling me. So I answered, but didn't say hello. Instead I said (remember this is still over Simon's screams) "Hazel do NOT step on the car. Hazel climb off the stool. Do Not step on the car. {screams and more screams from Simon} Hazel, do NOT step on the......."
SPLAT - with a very loud smacking noise followed by even louder screams. They do not impress Simon who continues right on.
Jon now hears, "Crap! Hazel are you okay? Where does it hurt?" To which I get in response, "AAAAH AHHHH AAAAHHH AAHHH"
So I say, "Jon, are you done? How did it go?" while examining Hazel. She is screaming that her hands hurt and holding her wrists funny, but she can wriggle all her fingers and spin her wrists. No major bruise on her face, although she does get a slight nosebleed later. No blood in her mouth, her teeth seem okay. Mostly she just did a phenomenal belly flop off the car and onto the kitchen tile.
Jon is meanwhile telling me he can call me back later, but I want to know how it went and the kids both seem fine albeit screaming their heads off. It seems somehow the way of the world, that out of an abnormally calm day, and it all went smoothly after this as well, that this would be the scene just as Jon calls. I make him give me the short version; Cambridge is really nice; he would like the job; he's not sure how it went. Then he digresses into something about the personalities that he met and I basically hung up on him. I did say thanks for the info, don't have time for more and then hung up, but it was not really active listening on my part. Sorry Honey.
In the end everyone calmed down. Hazel has a small scrape on one finger that some lidocaine neosporin and a Cinderella bandaid took care off. She was also very impressed with herself for getting a nosebleed and seeing blood on the tissue calmed her down enormously.
Simon was fine once I sat with him and sat with him and sat with him and basically never left his side or took him near the changing table, although that happens even when he hasn't attacked himself with a can of pumpkin. I think we will find some lovely bruise on him tomorrow. I am still betting foot, but I wouldn't be shocked to be wrong.
So that was my afternoon's excitement. What was yours?
Stuff
First of all, here is Hazel at 1am doing her middle of the night treatment. Ugh. We were sooo tired by the end of that week. I still am not quite sure how we got through Willa's birthday party. Imagine having grandparents or other slaves, I mean relatives, in the nearby area who could have come over to help set up! Or just take the kids away for a weekend morning so we could catch up on some ZZZZZs. Ah well, only for the lucky few I guess.
And, for the record, she is doing much better now. It was, apparently, a lower respiratory infection that hit her hard.
Second: here is Willa on her actual birthday with her cake. Sadly I did not manage to get pictures of the castle cakes I made for her party before they were devoured. I still own the pan though, so if you come to visit I can always make you your own castle to eat.
Third: Lining up to be hit with water balloons. Who would have thought that would be so appealing?
And finally, Simon enjoying his castle cake, or more truthfully, enjoying the cream that was residing on top of his castle cake.
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
Trainwreck
Sorry everyone that I have been MIA for long. I feel like my life is just a trainwreck at the moment and I haven't felt like I could inject any humour in it and also that no one wants to read about how crappy someone else's life is unless it makes them smile, so I haven't been typing.
But I feel like I should give a small update on some things that have been going on.
First of all Simon and Jude had their appt with the urologist about a week ago. Simon was a-okay (whew) and as far as Jude is concerned, apparently urological thinking has come full circle in the last 5 years and unless/until he ever gets a UTI, which is very unlikely at this point, he will be treated by the medical community as a normal person regardless. So no more going in for every minor fever and antibiotics 'just in case.' We finally get to close the book on that thank goodness. And for similar reasons they no longer see any reason to subject Simon to a VCUG unless/until he gets a UTI, so the lucky little man gets to be the only kid in the family to avoid that horrible test so far.
Then this week Hazel got some bug that went straight to her lungs. Yesterday was very yucky and she is now on oral prednilisone and albuterol in a nebulizer every 6 hours until Friday when we go in for a follow up appt. The first time we did the nebulizer at home, it scared Willa so much she cried and Jude asked Hazel if she felt like she was going to die. ahhhh.
Since then they have come around and don't think it is so wierd to see her masked up at the dinner table. They call her the green elephant since her mask is green.
Willa seems to have caught the same thing, but so far her asthma hasn't really kicked in. She has had to use her inhaler a couple of times, but no retracting so far. Maybe the Singulair is keeping it all under control? We hope it keeps up and she is better by her birthday!
Also as an information note. Jon was knocked back by J&J yesterday and hasn't heard why yet. He has one maybe two interviews coming up in Cambridge, MA and RTP. We'll see what happens.
But I feel like I should give a small update on some things that have been going on.
First of all Simon and Jude had their appt with the urologist about a week ago. Simon was a-okay (whew) and as far as Jude is concerned, apparently urological thinking has come full circle in the last 5 years and unless/until he ever gets a UTI, which is very unlikely at this point, he will be treated by the medical community as a normal person regardless. So no more going in for every minor fever and antibiotics 'just in case.' We finally get to close the book on that thank goodness. And for similar reasons they no longer see any reason to subject Simon to a VCUG unless/until he gets a UTI, so the lucky little man gets to be the only kid in the family to avoid that horrible test so far.
Then this week Hazel got some bug that went straight to her lungs. Yesterday was very yucky and she is now on oral prednilisone and albuterol in a nebulizer every 6 hours until Friday when we go in for a follow up appt. The first time we did the nebulizer at home, it scared Willa so much she cried and Jude asked Hazel if she felt like she was going to die. ahhhh.
Since then they have come around and don't think it is so wierd to see her masked up at the dinner table. They call her the green elephant since her mask is green.
Willa seems to have caught the same thing, but so far her asthma hasn't really kicked in. She has had to use her inhaler a couple of times, but no retracting so far. Maybe the Singulair is keeping it all under control? We hope it keeps up and she is better by her birthday!
Also as an information note. Jon was knocked back by J&J yesterday and hasn't heard why yet. He has one maybe two interviews coming up in Cambridge, MA and RTP. We'll see what happens.
Monday, April 28, 2008
Birthday Update
I survived! And Jon didn't get sick until Sunday! Actually he is still in the getting worse phase and thinking that he is going to escape the worst of it. Hahahahaha. We'll see how he feels tomorrow. He looked pretty green at Jude's physical this morning and all he had to do was sit there really.Anywho, the party went quite well. Because of this illness that has been going through Jude's class, only 4 of the 7 yeses actually made it, but it was really fun and very calm.
Simon did not follow party protocol and sleep through the main events, but he made up for it by being incredibly cute. He very quickly understood that the aim of a treasure hunt is to run after all the kids shouting 'Yay!' at the top of your voice whenever one person figures out the clue. He never found the treasure, but the thought the treasure hunt was way cool.
Jude had a very good time. No major meltdowns and he was passably polite (just) when receiving his presents and saying goodbye. Willa managed to get through it without feeling too disappointed that it was all about someone else. All in all a good day and a good haul.
Saturday, April 26, 2008
Illness and Aloneness
Ugh. I have been sick. So I'll do a brief synopsis of the past week to catch you all up.
Friday night, the kids lasted in the tent for about 5 mins and then all came in to pee and never quite made it back into their sleeping bags so were tucked up in their own beds by 8pm.
Then on Sat we went to a seder a a friend's house. A marvelous time was had by all and we left very very late and spent Sunday in a post party stupor. Then Monday Willa came down with Jude's thing from last week and was home Tuesday and Weds. Tuesday I got it and was in bed for most of Thurs and Fri except when I got up to make cupcakes and cake for Jude's school snack and party. From what I saw of it, Jude seemed to have a pretty good birthday. Certainly he seemed pretty happy. Now we just have to get through his party. Jon is just starting to get sick and I am just hitting recovery, so hopefully between us we will manage to survive for the hour and a half.
So yesterday as I was sitting in the armchair in my 101F fever stupor, I started thinking about how lucky I was that Jon is unemployed right now. If he weren't, I never would have been able to get anything done. We would have had to cancel the party. And I was thinking about my love hate relationship with connecting to people on our big event days, like birthdays. I love hearing from people, but it also reinforces how alone I feel. Throw in being sick on top of that and having no one to call on for help outside our immediate family and I feel really really alone.
Two stories from our recent past keep flashing through my head.
One was in Nov when we were in the UK just before we moved over here. We met some friends we hadn't seen in years at a pub garden so we could meet each other's kids and just chat and catch up. Jon's sister dropped us off and said she would come back to get us at around 2pm. So we had lunch and let the kids play. It was really nice. But then Hazel pooped in her pants. Fine, I had spare clothes for her, so we changed her and carried on. Then she peed in her new clothes and I was out of spares. So I put her in one of Simon's diapers which barely fit and let her run around in just that, but it was Nov in the UK and a bit cold for just a t-shirt and a diaper, but I didn't really know what else to do. Our ride wasn't due for at least 40 mins.
After watching me send Hazel back to play in the cold and sit down and watch her worriedly, our friend gently suggested to me that maybe now might be a good time to call Jon's sister and have her pick us up early. I remember just looking at her in shock. Of course! For once I wasn't actually stuck in a horrible situation. There was help within calling distance! So we called her and in 10 mins we were bundled up in a warm car heading toward clean clothes.
I have often wondered what these friends made of us in that pub garden. I suppose to normal people it would seem fantastic that it wouldn't occur to us to call for help, but it is so rare that we have anyone to call when we get into a tight space. More normal for us is what happened when I was due with Simon.
I used to lie awake at night and panic about what would happen if I went into premature labor and had to go to the hospital to deliver him. You might think that I had a homebirth because I am a granola crunchie natural child birth proponent, but you would be wrong. Now I did have precipitate labors so drugs were never an option for me, regardless of what I might have preferred. As for the home thing, there was no one to watch the other kids. We could never figure out how to make the hospital birth thing work in France. Jon would just drop me off at the door and say good luck? Then pick me up a few days later? I know from previous experience that my ability to use foreign vocabulary, be it French or just British terms I normally use without thinking, disappears during labor. So just hope that the people in the maternite spoke enough English to understand me, without anyone there who knew me and my history to help me? The thought was terrifying.
But a homebirth only answered some of my fears. What if I needed to be transferred? Precipitate labors as well as women giving birth many times are at a higher risk, although still quite low, of hemmorhage. My midwife was quite worried for me with all the stress I had anyway. So what if I needed to be transferred in the middle of the night? What would we have done with the other kids? Leave them home alone for the 40 mins that Jon was gone and hope for the best? What if there was something wrong with the baby? I would be stuck in the maternite by myself, without Jon or any other support, having to make potentially major medical decisions on my own?
Like I said, it kept me awake at night. And, even if we weren't already done having kids, just the memory of that fear would be enough to keep me from ever getting pregnant again. But there was no one we could call. No one who could come and help us. That is my normal. We were all very relieved when it was all over and had gone okay.
But of course things like that crop up all the time. You don't have to be pregnant to lie awake at night worrying about the consequences of being completely alone.
On May 9 we have our appointment for Simon and Jude at the urologist. Jude just to update on his bladder reflux and Simon to check out a potentially undescended testicle. Neither of these things are really monumental, but my mind can't help but worry. What if Simon does have an undescended testicle? What if he needs surgery to correct it? Not major surgery my any means, but I wouldn't want to be sitting at home with the other kids while he went through it at the hospital with Jon. And I wouldn't want to be at the hospital sitting in a waiting room by myself and not have Jon there to hold hands with because he was at home with the other kids. But what else could we do? Unlike that day in the pub garden, this is our regular life. We are on our own.
I guess I should just go back to being sick and getting ready for Jude's party. I need to stop the stress spiral. I have a treasure hunt to plan.
Friday night, the kids lasted in the tent for about 5 mins and then all came in to pee and never quite made it back into their sleeping bags so were tucked up in their own beds by 8pm.
Then on Sat we went to a seder a a friend's house. A marvelous time was had by all and we left very very late and spent Sunday in a post party stupor. Then Monday Willa came down with Jude's thing from last week and was home Tuesday and Weds. Tuesday I got it and was in bed for most of Thurs and Fri except when I got up to make cupcakes and cake for Jude's school snack and party. From what I saw of it, Jude seemed to have a pretty good birthday. Certainly he seemed pretty happy. Now we just have to get through his party. Jon is just starting to get sick and I am just hitting recovery, so hopefully between us we will manage to survive for the hour and a half.
So yesterday as I was sitting in the armchair in my 101F fever stupor, I started thinking about how lucky I was that Jon is unemployed right now. If he weren't, I never would have been able to get anything done. We would have had to cancel the party. And I was thinking about my love hate relationship with connecting to people on our big event days, like birthdays. I love hearing from people, but it also reinforces how alone I feel. Throw in being sick on top of that and having no one to call on for help outside our immediate family and I feel really really alone.
Two stories from our recent past keep flashing through my head.
One was in Nov when we were in the UK just before we moved over here. We met some friends we hadn't seen in years at a pub garden so we could meet each other's kids and just chat and catch up. Jon's sister dropped us off and said she would come back to get us at around 2pm. So we had lunch and let the kids play. It was really nice. But then Hazel pooped in her pants. Fine, I had spare clothes for her, so we changed her and carried on. Then she peed in her new clothes and I was out of spares. So I put her in one of Simon's diapers which barely fit and let her run around in just that, but it was Nov in the UK and a bit cold for just a t-shirt and a diaper, but I didn't really know what else to do. Our ride wasn't due for at least 40 mins.
After watching me send Hazel back to play in the cold and sit down and watch her worriedly, our friend gently suggested to me that maybe now might be a good time to call Jon's sister and have her pick us up early. I remember just looking at her in shock. Of course! For once I wasn't actually stuck in a horrible situation. There was help within calling distance! So we called her and in 10 mins we were bundled up in a warm car heading toward clean clothes.
I have often wondered what these friends made of us in that pub garden. I suppose to normal people it would seem fantastic that it wouldn't occur to us to call for help, but it is so rare that we have anyone to call when we get into a tight space. More normal for us is what happened when I was due with Simon.
I used to lie awake at night and panic about what would happen if I went into premature labor and had to go to the hospital to deliver him. You might think that I had a homebirth because I am a granola crunchie natural child birth proponent, but you would be wrong. Now I did have precipitate labors so drugs were never an option for me, regardless of what I might have preferred. As for the home thing, there was no one to watch the other kids. We could never figure out how to make the hospital birth thing work in France. Jon would just drop me off at the door and say good luck? Then pick me up a few days later? I know from previous experience that my ability to use foreign vocabulary, be it French or just British terms I normally use without thinking, disappears during labor. So just hope that the people in the maternite spoke enough English to understand me, without anyone there who knew me and my history to help me? The thought was terrifying.
But a homebirth only answered some of my fears. What if I needed to be transferred? Precipitate labors as well as women giving birth many times are at a higher risk, although still quite low, of hemmorhage. My midwife was quite worried for me with all the stress I had anyway. So what if I needed to be transferred in the middle of the night? What would we have done with the other kids? Leave them home alone for the 40 mins that Jon was gone and hope for the best? What if there was something wrong with the baby? I would be stuck in the maternite by myself, without Jon or any other support, having to make potentially major medical decisions on my own?
Like I said, it kept me awake at night. And, even if we weren't already done having kids, just the memory of that fear would be enough to keep me from ever getting pregnant again. But there was no one we could call. No one who could come and help us. That is my normal. We were all very relieved when it was all over and had gone okay.
But of course things like that crop up all the time. You don't have to be pregnant to lie awake at night worrying about the consequences of being completely alone.
On May 9 we have our appointment for Simon and Jude at the urologist. Jude just to update on his bladder reflux and Simon to check out a potentially undescended testicle. Neither of these things are really monumental, but my mind can't help but worry. What if Simon does have an undescended testicle? What if he needs surgery to correct it? Not major surgery my any means, but I wouldn't want to be sitting at home with the other kids while he went through it at the hospital with Jon. And I wouldn't want to be at the hospital sitting in a waiting room by myself and not have Jon there to hold hands with because he was at home with the other kids. But what else could we do? Unlike that day in the pub garden, this is our regular life. We are on our own.
I guess I should just go back to being sick and getting ready for Jude's party. I need to stop the stress spiral. I have a treasure hunt to plan.
Friday, April 18, 2008
After School Today
Yes, this is all in our backyard and bit down the creek into our neighbor's yard. It is really too bad that this house floods eh?
And no pictures of Willa because she was stuck inside doing homework for her French class tomorrow. Enjoy.
It's a sucker fish, although one of the neighbor kids did catch a 6 inch rainbow trout as well. We threw them all back. There were a lot more than what you see.
The back view of the tent.
Well they are all in there. In the '2 Man' bedroom. We'll see if any sleeping goes on. Otherwise it is real beds by 8pm.
And no pictures of Willa because she was stuck inside doing homework for her French class tomorrow. Enjoy.
It's a sucker fish, although one of the neighbor kids did catch a 6 inch rainbow trout as well. We threw them all back. There were a lot more than what you see.
The back view of the tent.
Well they are all in there. In the '2 Man' bedroom. We'll see if any sleeping goes on. Otherwise it is real beds by 8pm.
The Tent
Yes, we finally set up our home away from home. And yes, it is as big as it looks. No, actually, it is probably bigger. Very very exciting I must say. Now as long as we can find campsites big enough we are very much looking forward to setting up camp and then staying put for a good week or more. The only real downside is that it is too heavy to take on a plane so we can't take it with us to CA and use it in some meadow on the side of a mountain. It would be a gorgeous tent for getting packed in with mules though. It really wouldn't matter if it were raining since there is so much space inside for clowning around and playing games; assuming that we haven't pitched it in a drainage culvert.
The tent as you see it from the outside is really just a giant rain fly with a main room and three outcropping sections. In each section hangs a little internal two person tent, making three little bedrooms with a giant living area in between. There is a perfect sized square tarp for the main room with clips on the corners so that it always lies perfectly straight and flat. Ahhhhhh.
There are also lots of openings and, as you can see, the front door is huge. We bought the one with all the screening so we can shut out the bugs if we want/need to.And finally to give you a bit of perspective on the size, here is Jon standing in the middle of the main room:
And again lying in one of the two man bedrooms. Note: In Europe when they say two man tent they mean two full grown people plus all their gear can fit. Unlike in the US where two man tent means if you like sharing a single sleeping bag with someone then two people can fit in it and screw your stuff. I think most American campers would call a European two man tent closer to an American 3/4 person tent.
And finally collapsed after the surprisingly not so hard set up in the hot sun, Jon gives you some perspective on the size of the main room.
Now we just need to get a regulator sorted for our camp stove and we are off!! Of course the tent is 2 ft wider than the tent platforms at Virginia State parks, but where there is a will there is a way! I wonder what the kids will think when they get home from school this afternoon. Do you think we will end up sleeping in the back yard tonight?
Tuesday, April 15, 2008
Dumpster Diving Diva
Okay maybe not so much diving into a dumpster. Maybe Curbside Collecting Coolmom.
Yesterday, when driving to pick up Hazel. Yes, driving because Jude has had some up and down fever thing for going on 5 days now and Jon was in PA at a job interview so school pick up was a PITA and in a car. Yucko.
Anyway, while driving to go get Hazel we passed all the recycling that people had put out for collection yesterday. I must say before I get to the meat of the matter, that it often surprises me to live in such a high average income (or at least high average spending) neighborhood. There are constant little reminders that never fail to surprise me when I notice them. Like going to a neighbors house to drop something off and being greeted by the cleaner. Not that all of our neighbors (and us!) didn't have cleaners in France, but they were gov't subsidized. Here we just live in mess. Still it did make me feel better about not being able to clean my house, when clearly they find their own overwhelming too.
Then there was the day I popped over to talk to the mom of one of Jude's friends and her laundry was in bags on the doorstep waiting for pick up. Now I am all for sending laundry out when lives are busy, but this is a house with a 9 yo and a 6 yo (and that's it) and a stay at home mom. To be fair we are often inundated with clean unput-away laundry, but that wouldn't change if I sent it out. It would still have to be put away when clean, and somehow even with 4 kids I don't seem to have a problem keeping up with the dirty stuff.
And now, it is spring. The trees are blooming, allergies are flairing and the grass is ready for it's first spring cut. Fortunately a lawn mower came with our house because we couldn't borrow one from any of the neighbors. They all have lawn services. Actually the same lawn service. Their truck, much to Simon's delight, has been working on a different house around us everyday for about a week. We are the lone house to escape treatment. We better get out there and mow the lawn or it will be more obvious that we are the lowbrows bringing the neighborhood down.
As you can tell, I am somewhat ambivalent about all this. I would LOVE a cleaning service and, in a house that we are not going to stay in over the summer, we would LOVE a yard service as well. So the green goo sets in a bit when I see all this happening in houses that cost a minimum of $800k for about the same space as ours in NC. But the schools are amazing and the neighbors are very friendly and yesterday we scored big time from the inhabitants of the giant house up the street from us.
Apparently their children have grown up a bit and are done with the playthings of their early youth. Thus a small basketball hoop and two, yes two, Little Tykes playhouses were on the curb yesterday just waiting for us to take them away. Actually we left the basketball hoop and took the house we liked the best. Jude pushed Simon in the stroller and Willa pulled the wagon and Hazel oohed and aahed over the lovely blue roof and green shutters. I have a gorgeous bruise on my shoulder where the darn thing fell on me (twice!) as I maneuvered it up onto the patio. Those houses are heavy!
It was a bit dirty so we sprayed it with the hose and Simon got a 'bit' wet. He thought that was brilliant. Then he and Hazel spent a good hour going in and out, just with the joy of having a door that Simon could open and close himself. Hazel insisted that I come in, "It's very big Mommy!" When I stood next to it and pointed out that I was, in fact, taller than the roof, her jaw nearly hit the patio and then her face fell completely. I guess I haven't been as bad as I thought of talking to her at her level since apparently until yesterday afternoon she had never fully realized how much bigger I am than she.
So I told her I was a giant and everyone ran screaming into the house except Willa, who was doing her homework while watching and yelling, "Shut the shutters! Shut the shutters, or she'll get you!" and I tried to be appropriately giantlike and scary.
Later Willa asked me why the house up the street had had two houses. I said I didn't know and suggested that maybe they had twin girls and wanted to be fair. She gave me a blank look and said, "Why girls?" Fair point. Then she said,"And why get two of the same? Wouldn't it be more fun to have two different ones?" I didn't know how to answer that one without getting into sibling rivalry and trying to appear to be fair and whether or not it's okay to force kids to share, so I shrugged.
I am sure she was thinking the same as I was really. If they had gotten two different ones, we could have taken both and had a village! How Cool! As it is we have a little house that we never ever thought we would find. They are way more than we pay for kid's things when new, and they go like hotcakes at garage and consignment sales. I refuse get up early enough to end up as the lucky purchaser at those events. And now I don't have too!
I also saw a really nice teapot the other day on top on a bag that I almost took. While I might sometimes feel weird about living here and being in a different economic state to my neighbors, I think I am very much looking forward to what the rest of spring cleaning will bring us.
Yesterday, when driving to pick up Hazel. Yes, driving because Jude has had some up and down fever thing for going on 5 days now and Jon was in PA at a job interview so school pick up was a PITA and in a car. Yucko.
Anyway, while driving to go get Hazel we passed all the recycling that people had put out for collection yesterday. I must say before I get to the meat of the matter, that it often surprises me to live in such a high average income (or at least high average spending) neighborhood. There are constant little reminders that never fail to surprise me when I notice them. Like going to a neighbors house to drop something off and being greeted by the cleaner. Not that all of our neighbors (and us!) didn't have cleaners in France, but they were gov't subsidized. Here we just live in mess. Still it did make me feel better about not being able to clean my house, when clearly they find their own overwhelming too.
Then there was the day I popped over to talk to the mom of one of Jude's friends and her laundry was in bags on the doorstep waiting for pick up. Now I am all for sending laundry out when lives are busy, but this is a house with a 9 yo and a 6 yo (and that's it) and a stay at home mom. To be fair we are often inundated with clean unput-away laundry, but that wouldn't change if I sent it out. It would still have to be put away when clean, and somehow even with 4 kids I don't seem to have a problem keeping up with the dirty stuff.
And now, it is spring. The trees are blooming, allergies are flairing and the grass is ready for it's first spring cut. Fortunately a lawn mower came with our house because we couldn't borrow one from any of the neighbors. They all have lawn services. Actually the same lawn service. Their truck, much to Simon's delight, has been working on a different house around us everyday for about a week. We are the lone house to escape treatment. We better get out there and mow the lawn or it will be more obvious that we are the lowbrows bringing the neighborhood down.
As you can tell, I am somewhat ambivalent about all this. I would LOVE a cleaning service and, in a house that we are not going to stay in over the summer, we would LOVE a yard service as well. So the green goo sets in a bit when I see all this happening in houses that cost a minimum of $800k for about the same space as ours in NC. But the schools are amazing and the neighbors are very friendly and yesterday we scored big time from the inhabitants of the giant house up the street from us.
Apparently their children have grown up a bit and are done with the playthings of their early youth. Thus a small basketball hoop and two, yes two, Little Tykes playhouses were on the curb yesterday just waiting for us to take them away. Actually we left the basketball hoop and took the house we liked the best. Jude pushed Simon in the stroller and Willa pulled the wagon and Hazel oohed and aahed over the lovely blue roof and green shutters. I have a gorgeous bruise on my shoulder where the darn thing fell on me (twice!) as I maneuvered it up onto the patio. Those houses are heavy!
It was a bit dirty so we sprayed it with the hose and Simon got a 'bit' wet. He thought that was brilliant. Then he and Hazel spent a good hour going in and out, just with the joy of having a door that Simon could open and close himself. Hazel insisted that I come in, "It's very big Mommy!" When I stood next to it and pointed out that I was, in fact, taller than the roof, her jaw nearly hit the patio and then her face fell completely. I guess I haven't been as bad as I thought of talking to her at her level since apparently until yesterday afternoon she had never fully realized how much bigger I am than she.
So I told her I was a giant and everyone ran screaming into the house except Willa, who was doing her homework while watching and yelling, "Shut the shutters! Shut the shutters, or she'll get you!" and I tried to be appropriately giantlike and scary.
Later Willa asked me why the house up the street had had two houses. I said I didn't know and suggested that maybe they had twin girls and wanted to be fair. She gave me a blank look and said, "Why girls?" Fair point. Then she said,"And why get two of the same? Wouldn't it be more fun to have two different ones?" I didn't know how to answer that one without getting into sibling rivalry and trying to appear to be fair and whether or not it's okay to force kids to share, so I shrugged.
I am sure she was thinking the same as I was really. If they had gotten two different ones, we could have taken both and had a village! How Cool! As it is we have a little house that we never ever thought we would find. They are way more than we pay for kid's things when new, and they go like hotcakes at garage and consignment sales. I refuse get up early enough to end up as the lucky purchaser at those events. And now I don't have too!
I also saw a really nice teapot the other day on top on a bag that I almost took. While I might sometimes feel weird about living here and being in a different economic state to my neighbors, I think I am very much looking forward to what the rest of spring cleaning will bring us.
Friday, April 11, 2008
Look! I figured out pictures!! So now you will all get a mini photo history of Hazel's trip to the allergist yesterday. Ooh exciting! I can see you all shaking in your boots.
First of all we hung out in the exam room. Everyone was pretty happy. There was talk of prickles, but no one seemed overly concerned. And of course there is always the pride that you, yes you, are the reason for the visit. How exciting to the be the center of attention! Who cares what the reason might be!
Then the lovely nurse came in and listened to breath sounds and checked pulse rate and generally got a good baseline. Hazel thought all the this was marvelous. Took it very seriously until the nurse starting writing numbers on her back. Then she couldn't stop giggling. It tickled!
Then the prickles started. They were not fun at all.
And then even after the nurse had wiped off the allergens so that Daddy didn't have to hold Hazel's hair any more, it wasn't any better because her back itched and was sore.
I don't know how well you can see the weals, but the big one on the right is Hazelnut and another to the left is Walnut. She was eating Hazelnuts in October, but now they are out, along with Pecans, Walnuts and Brazilnuts. Almonds and Cashews were okay both with the blood and skin prick, but Hazel needs to avoid them because of possible cross-contamination at the processing factory. However we can have them in the house. So we can still eat Dundee cake and marzipan as long as Hazel doesn't eat it.
You might notice some big weals on the bottom row as well. Lobster was positive and with her history, all crustaceans are now out. I think we will probably just avoid all shellfish. Why risk it when corn chowder is as good as clam?
After 15 mins the nurse measured the weals and noted them down and they went in the file. Then some benedryl gel and a purple and green pinwheel and all was well.
Finally you all get a photo of Hazel with her new allergist. He thinks that she has reached an age where we should pretty much stop seeing new allergies (fingers crossed) and we have crossed the point where we need to worry about wheat, corn, soy or dairy popping up. We hope so, but as I was saying, she was eating hazelnuts in Oct. We now have two new epipens since the Dr was worried about Americans getting confused by the French anipens. Whatever. Now we have 4 in total so they will be easier to spread around. And Jon needs to start remembering to carry the manpurse he bought in France so he has a means of carrying something that big with him all the time.
Now when we come visit you all get to share our joy as you clear out your house of all nuts and crustaceans.
Wednesday, April 9, 2008
Parent Teacher Conferences
Look at that...... A post that doesn't involve throw up. Of course we aren't really disease free. We have been steadily passing pink eye throughout the family. I'm on my third go around. Hazel is on number two. We actually cleared out the Target pharmacy's entire supply of antibiotic eyedrops. But at least there isn't any smelly clean up!
Yesterday the big two got out early for parent teacher conferences. It was pretty exciting. Now that the weather is warmer we have been biking to and from school. So yesterday we had everybody except Hazel, who was still at school until 3:15 per usual, on bikes and Simon in the trailer. Our conferences were yesterday from 1:30-2:30 so we just hung out on the playground until it was time to go in. Willa read the book she had just won in the Book Week Raffle. Jude and Jon played rugby on the grass and Simon ran around giggling hysterically that he was free, FREE to run around giggling hysterically.
The conferences were good too. Willa's was first. We dropped the big two off in the school library where they were offering 'childcare'. The ' ' because you had to be old enough to entertain yourself in the library to get signed in. So, yes, Simon was banned. That made the whole paying attention to the teacher during the conference thing interesting to say the least.
We traded off. I paid attention to the teacher in Willa's classrom and chased Simon in and out of Jude's. Jon did the reverse. You might be wondering why we were both there, and in fact we sometimes wonder that ourselves. But we tell ourselves that at least during the recap of the meeting by the parent who was theoretically paying attention, the Simon watching parent has the odd memory of the teacher's comment to boost the telling as compared to me just doing it all myself and then telling Jon later. Plus everyone else seems to be feel that both parents should be there, so we would be failing in the perfect parenting department if we succumbed to the fact that we have no support network and no one but ourselves to watch any of kids ever, even for a parent teacher conference. We can't do less than people who have in-laws and parents and friends living within 200 miles! So we only half pay attention instead. Good thing our kids are above average eh? And everyone thinks Simon is very cute.
Anyway, back to Willa. She is doing well academically, especially on her own and in small groups. However, it is apparently hard for her to focus when in big groups. She wants to interact with her classmates too much. She finally fell apart in class last Friday and told her teacher that she didn't feel like she belonged in the class. Miss R. was very surprised because Willa seemed to just slot right in. She was very glad to be told and is going to work on helping Willa with the social stuff a little more now. We knew as soon as she met Eva in France that the next move was going to be very hard. You just don't meet soulmates like that everywhere you go, but Willa pretty much expects it now and watching the kids in her class that have known each other for years relating to each other is very hard for her.
Miss R. also really works in 2nd grade with getting the kids to learn to take responsibility for their own learning and Willa is struggling a bit with the extra freedom esp compared to the real strictness of her classroom in France which she craves. Lots of stuff to work on, but at least we all know more about what goes on in both places, home and school. And Miss R. knows that we may not be staying after June. On that note, it turns out that if we stay in Princeton Regional Schools but end up out of the Littlebrook catchment area, we can petition to have the kids stay at Littlebrook for continuity. Miss R. thinks that with Willa's history of frequent school changes the district would be very likely to let her stay at Littlebrook. I hadn't realized what a weight trying to stay in Littlebrook was until the pressure was lifted. So if we stay, the kids won't change schools. Ahhhhhhh.
Now for Jude. Let's see. His reading teacher (he gets pulled out a couple of times a week for reading with the literacy specialist) is reading the Nate the Great series with him. He really likes it and his work with Mrs. L. is having a big effect on his ability to read and see the joy in reading rather than just doing it because Willa does. He is picking up books now and actually finishing them with understanding and is eager to try longer books and perservere with them now that he knows about characters and plots and such like. Mrs. L. wants to work to get his handwriting to better match his reading and writing (thought process part of writing) ability. That all sounds good to us. His kindergarten teacher, Mrs O'D. is mostly working with him on social stuff since everything else is pretty much in hand. She really understands him and handles his tantrums really well. He has only had one or two in the new year so far so that is very good.
Digression: Can you tell that I wasn't paying as much attention in Jude's conference? I could tell you in much better detail what Simon was doing. He really liked the kitchen corner, and the lunch wagon in the hall.
I forgot to tell Mrs O'D. that we might be moving. Ah well. I guess she'll find out from Miss R. I hope that isn't a terrible parental faux pas. Too late now...
The best part of Jude's conference was his books. Every few weeks Mrs. O'D. has the kids write little books. They draw pictures above the one or two lines they write and they are about 4-5 pages long. Jude's 1st and 5th were pretty normal (finally something kindergartenlike jokes Mrs O'D.), but 2-4 were, "The Story of the Wii #1," " The Story of the Wii #2" and "The Story of the Wii #3" They were hilarious. As Jon said, "In our house Dav Pilkey has a lot to answer for." Certainly we are all now sure, as if we didn't already know, where Jude's loyalties lie.
So all in all it was a nice ego boost to know that the kids are doing pretty well, both easily above grade level, and that where they need extra help, people are working with them. Now if only we knew we would be as well placed in Sept.
And finally so we don't leave anyone completely out: Hazel is riding her bike to and from school everyday as well. She very proudly parks it at school with the grown up bikes where it looks incredibly dinky. She has started talking more comprehensibly at school as well. Her teacher is very happy with her progress. And I promise I will figure out pictures soon!
Yesterday the big two got out early for parent teacher conferences. It was pretty exciting. Now that the weather is warmer we have been biking to and from school. So yesterday we had everybody except Hazel, who was still at school until 3:15 per usual, on bikes and Simon in the trailer. Our conferences were yesterday from 1:30-2:30 so we just hung out on the playground until it was time to go in. Willa read the book she had just won in the Book Week Raffle. Jude and Jon played rugby on the grass and Simon ran around giggling hysterically that he was free, FREE to run around giggling hysterically.
The conferences were good too. Willa's was first. We dropped the big two off in the school library where they were offering 'childcare'. The ' ' because you had to be old enough to entertain yourself in the library to get signed in. So, yes, Simon was banned. That made the whole paying attention to the teacher during the conference thing interesting to say the least.
We traded off. I paid attention to the teacher in Willa's classrom and chased Simon in and out of Jude's. Jon did the reverse. You might be wondering why we were both there, and in fact we sometimes wonder that ourselves. But we tell ourselves that at least during the recap of the meeting by the parent who was theoretically paying attention, the Simon watching parent has the odd memory of the teacher's comment to boost the telling as compared to me just doing it all myself and then telling Jon later. Plus everyone else seems to be feel that both parents should be there, so we would be failing in the perfect parenting department if we succumbed to the fact that we have no support network and no one but ourselves to watch any of kids ever, even for a parent teacher conference. We can't do less than people who have in-laws and parents and friends living within 200 miles! So we only half pay attention instead. Good thing our kids are above average eh? And everyone thinks Simon is very cute.
Anyway, back to Willa. She is doing well academically, especially on her own and in small groups. However, it is apparently hard for her to focus when in big groups. She wants to interact with her classmates too much. She finally fell apart in class last Friday and told her teacher that she didn't feel like she belonged in the class. Miss R. was very surprised because Willa seemed to just slot right in. She was very glad to be told and is going to work on helping Willa with the social stuff a little more now. We knew as soon as she met Eva in France that the next move was going to be very hard. You just don't meet soulmates like that everywhere you go, but Willa pretty much expects it now and watching the kids in her class that have known each other for years relating to each other is very hard for her.
Miss R. also really works in 2nd grade with getting the kids to learn to take responsibility for their own learning and Willa is struggling a bit with the extra freedom esp compared to the real strictness of her classroom in France which she craves. Lots of stuff to work on, but at least we all know more about what goes on in both places, home and school. And Miss R. knows that we may not be staying after June. On that note, it turns out that if we stay in Princeton Regional Schools but end up out of the Littlebrook catchment area, we can petition to have the kids stay at Littlebrook for continuity. Miss R. thinks that with Willa's history of frequent school changes the district would be very likely to let her stay at Littlebrook. I hadn't realized what a weight trying to stay in Littlebrook was until the pressure was lifted. So if we stay, the kids won't change schools. Ahhhhhhh.
Now for Jude. Let's see. His reading teacher (he gets pulled out a couple of times a week for reading with the literacy specialist) is reading the Nate the Great series with him. He really likes it and his work with Mrs. L. is having a big effect on his ability to read and see the joy in reading rather than just doing it because Willa does. He is picking up books now and actually finishing them with understanding and is eager to try longer books and perservere with them now that he knows about characters and plots and such like. Mrs. L. wants to work to get his handwriting to better match his reading and writing (thought process part of writing) ability. That all sounds good to us. His kindergarten teacher, Mrs O'D. is mostly working with him on social stuff since everything else is pretty much in hand. She really understands him and handles his tantrums really well. He has only had one or two in the new year so far so that is very good.
Digression: Can you tell that I wasn't paying as much attention in Jude's conference? I could tell you in much better detail what Simon was doing. He really liked the kitchen corner, and the lunch wagon in the hall.
I forgot to tell Mrs O'D. that we might be moving. Ah well. I guess she'll find out from Miss R. I hope that isn't a terrible parental faux pas. Too late now...
The best part of Jude's conference was his books. Every few weeks Mrs. O'D. has the kids write little books. They draw pictures above the one or two lines they write and they are about 4-5 pages long. Jude's 1st and 5th were pretty normal (finally something kindergartenlike jokes Mrs O'D.), but 2-4 were, "The Story of the Wii #1," " The Story of the Wii #2" and "The Story of the Wii #3" They were hilarious. As Jon said, "In our house Dav Pilkey has a lot to answer for." Certainly we are all now sure, as if we didn't already know, where Jude's loyalties lie.
So all in all it was a nice ego boost to know that the kids are doing pretty well, both easily above grade level, and that where they need extra help, people are working with them. Now if only we knew we would be as well placed in Sept.
And finally so we don't leave anyone completely out: Hazel is riding her bike to and from school everyday as well. She very proudly parks it at school with the grown up bikes where it looks incredibly dinky. She has started talking more comprehensibly at school as well. Her teacher is very happy with her progress. And I promise I will figure out pictures soon!
Friday, April 4, 2008
Allergy Update
We got the results back from Hazel's most recent blood work this week. As far as pecan and hazelnut we were right. A new allergy has appeared and also to walnut which she has never eaten so we didn't know about that. The Cap Rast for those tree nuts, which have always been negative in the past for blood, skin prick and oral challenge, ranged from 1.5 -2.9.
Peanut has changed too. At 15 months the skin prick was neg, failed oral challenge and the RAST was 1.6
At 2.5 the skin prick was very positive and the RAST was 16.4 and most recently the RAST was 44. We are doing skin pricks for a bunch of stuff next week. I don't know if 44 is too high to risk a skin prick or not.
All the other stuff they tested, almonds and other tree nuts, shrimp, crab, soy, and few other things were still negative, although frankly, I am not sure how long that will be for. I am sure we will skin prick most of those as well and see, since shrimp has come up positive in a skin prick before, but never on the RAST.
Cats are worse again and allergic asthma, possibly to seasonal stuff or dust mites has definitely started as well.
Willa still reacts pretty strongly to dogs and cats and dust, but Singulair and occasional albuterol seems to be the magic wand for her. The boys seem to have avoided everything so far.
Peanut has changed too. At 15 months the skin prick was neg, failed oral challenge and the RAST was 1.6
At 2.5 the skin prick was very positive and the RAST was 16.4 and most recently the RAST was 44. We are doing skin pricks for a bunch of stuff next week. I don't know if 44 is too high to risk a skin prick or not.
All the other stuff they tested, almonds and other tree nuts, shrimp, crab, soy, and few other things were still negative, although frankly, I am not sure how long that will be for. I am sure we will skin prick most of those as well and see, since shrimp has come up positive in a skin prick before, but never on the RAST.
Cats are worse again and allergic asthma, possibly to seasonal stuff or dust mites has definitely started as well.
Willa still reacts pretty strongly to dogs and cats and dust, but Singulair and occasional albuterol seems to be the magic wand for her. The boys seem to have avoided everything so far.
Here We Go Again
One of my goals in starting this blog was to force myself to write about the good things and not focus so much on the yuckier parts of my life, as well as sharing all of our adventures with everyone. To that end I promised myself that I would post at least one thing every week.
So this week as I was recovering from the gastric fun on Monday I kept saying that as soon as I feel better I will post about how awesome it was that Jon managed to get home Monday night instead of Tuesday morning (it was awesome) or how nice it was that he was home when the gastric bug hit me, so I could lie in bed on Weds morning and groan while he ran the kids to school.
Somehow though, between lying on the bed and groaning and trying to deal with Willa and her run ins with a girl in her class (how can this be starting already?!) I never really had the time to type. So I figured that Fri morning (right now in fact) I would make time to type while all the big kids were at school and Simon was napping. I figured I could talk about party plans and how messy the house is (truly scary, verging on unsanitary). Instead I made the very big mistake of eating dinner last night.
It was pretty inocuous, baked chicken, rice and broccoli, but somehow mixed with my insides, it produced enough gas to run our furnace for an hour or two. Gas, which did not want to stay inside me. So I suffered through until about 10:30pm by which time I was too tired to care and went to bed. And let me say that Jon should be very very grateful he was not sharing a room with me last night.
Oh wait, did you catch that? Yes, Jon was not home last night. Is not going to be home until Sat. afternoon in fact. So what does that mean for me? Well, frankly, the usual. At 2am Hazel called out to me in a panic. She had thrown up in her bed. Fortunately it was more like catsick than regular kids' vomit so relatively easy to clean up. I threw her in the shower, her sheets in the washing machine and set up a sleeping bag, but which time she was vehemently opposed to where the sleeping bag was located (on her bed) and screamed bloody murder, which Simon thought was the 'call to milk'.
So I fed him and put her on the floor and went back to bed, but Hazel was having trouble settling down after all that excitment and kept getting up to go pee or get me or just call to me. Everytime I put her back to bed, Simon would pop up. You could see it on his face, "Cool! The milk wagon is here again!" By the fourth time of seeing me with no milk forthcoming he decided to scream bloody murder and didn't stop until I fed him again. By the time everyone was back in bed and falling asleep it was 4:15am.
I got up with the alarm at 6:30am and got in a shower. I figured I would drive everyone to school (it was raining again) and then stop at the supermarket on the way home to get milk and pull ups. Willa and Jude got up feeling okay and had breakfast. Simon woke up in a fantastic mood. He is clearly feeling better.
Then Hazel woke up, all smiles, and came into the dining room, looked at Willa and Jude eating and threw up all over her feet. It was down hill from there. She kept trying to sneak food, while looking sicker and sicker. By the time we left for school 15 minutes later, I had to carry her to the car. We did get milk and pull ups and pedialyte freezer pops on the way home and Hazel looks terrible.
She is lying on the couch in a sleeping bag staring at Dora the Explorer. Watching would be too active a verb for what she is doing. No fever, but she is sick sick sick. I am wondering if I should take her in.
Ah well, we have about 24 hours before Jon gets back. I'm sure it will get worse before it gets better. Gotta run, Simon just caught his finger in the screen door.
back again: In the interest of remembering the positive, I wanted to point out that when Willa and Jude watched Hazel puke all over herself and then not be allowed to eat while clearly getting sicker, they got out their markers and sat down and made her cards before they went to school. They made envelopes for them and everything. The cards are sitting on the dining table waiting for Hazel to feel a little bit better so we can read them together.
So this week as I was recovering from the gastric fun on Monday I kept saying that as soon as I feel better I will post about how awesome it was that Jon managed to get home Monday night instead of Tuesday morning (it was awesome) or how nice it was that he was home when the gastric bug hit me, so I could lie in bed on Weds morning and groan while he ran the kids to school.
Somehow though, between lying on the bed and groaning and trying to deal with Willa and her run ins with a girl in her class (how can this be starting already?!) I never really had the time to type. So I figured that Fri morning (right now in fact) I would make time to type while all the big kids were at school and Simon was napping. I figured I could talk about party plans and how messy the house is (truly scary, verging on unsanitary). Instead I made the very big mistake of eating dinner last night.
It was pretty inocuous, baked chicken, rice and broccoli, but somehow mixed with my insides, it produced enough gas to run our furnace for an hour or two. Gas, which did not want to stay inside me. So I suffered through until about 10:30pm by which time I was too tired to care and went to bed. And let me say that Jon should be very very grateful he was not sharing a room with me last night.
Oh wait, did you catch that? Yes, Jon was not home last night. Is not going to be home until Sat. afternoon in fact. So what does that mean for me? Well, frankly, the usual. At 2am Hazel called out to me in a panic. She had thrown up in her bed. Fortunately it was more like catsick than regular kids' vomit so relatively easy to clean up. I threw her in the shower, her sheets in the washing machine and set up a sleeping bag, but which time she was vehemently opposed to where the sleeping bag was located (on her bed) and screamed bloody murder, which Simon thought was the 'call to milk'.
So I fed him and put her on the floor and went back to bed, but Hazel was having trouble settling down after all that excitment and kept getting up to go pee or get me or just call to me. Everytime I put her back to bed, Simon would pop up. You could see it on his face, "Cool! The milk wagon is here again!" By the fourth time of seeing me with no milk forthcoming he decided to scream bloody murder and didn't stop until I fed him again. By the time everyone was back in bed and falling asleep it was 4:15am.
I got up with the alarm at 6:30am and got in a shower. I figured I would drive everyone to school (it was raining again) and then stop at the supermarket on the way home to get milk and pull ups. Willa and Jude got up feeling okay and had breakfast. Simon woke up in a fantastic mood. He is clearly feeling better.
Then Hazel woke up, all smiles, and came into the dining room, looked at Willa and Jude eating and threw up all over her feet. It was down hill from there. She kept trying to sneak food, while looking sicker and sicker. By the time we left for school 15 minutes later, I had to carry her to the car. We did get milk and pull ups and pedialyte freezer pops on the way home and Hazel looks terrible.
She is lying on the couch in a sleeping bag staring at Dora the Explorer. Watching would be too active a verb for what she is doing. No fever, but she is sick sick sick. I am wondering if I should take her in.
Ah well, we have about 24 hours before Jon gets back. I'm sure it will get worse before it gets better. Gotta run, Simon just caught his finger in the screen door.
back again: In the interest of remembering the positive, I wanted to point out that when Willa and Jude watched Hazel puke all over herself and then not be allowed to eat while clearly getting sicker, they got out their markers and sat down and made her cards before they went to school. They made envelopes for them and everything. The cards are sitting on the dining table waiting for Hazel to feel a little bit better so we can read them together.
Monday, March 31, 2008
Reality Bites
We had a frenetic, though lovely, weekend. Despite Jon's back we set out at about 10am on Friday morning for NC. The drive was pretty straightforward, eight hours from door to door and the kids were great. Jon survived sitting for that long and, thanks to the pain in his back, never fell asleep so that was great for me. Normally he falls asleep within about 5 minutes of being a passenger and then I get to drive and deal with the kids and/or waking him up to deal with the kids. Really not fun. But this drive was great. Maybe I should buy a voodoo doll and mess with his back before all long road trips instead of having him drive all the time.
We didn't see as many people as we would have liked to in our 26 hours in NC, but the time we did spend with the friends we did get to see was lovely. The kids also relaxed more completely than they have in months. So we felt pretty good as we set off again at 8:30pm Sat night. Once again everyone did pretty well and Jon slept early on so that he could be awake for the wee hours to help me stay awake. All in all when we arrived at 3:30am we felt it was time well spent.
Then yesterday Jon took the kids to the park for the afternoon so I could get a break before he left. They all seemed to have a lovely time. Dinner was good, bedtime went well. All was good.
Then Jon left.
It appears that the universe thinks that times when I am on my own are a good time to test my mettle. Some of the following is my fault, some not.
First of all, being the first night that I have spent alone in this house, which still feels pretty new and unfamiliar, I locked the door to the garage. I told myself that I must remember I had done that so that I didn't just walk out in the morning and lock myself out. This might have even been a possible feat for my memory had Simon not woken up in a puddle of vomit.
Actually he didn't so much wake up in the puddle of vomit as sleep in it. I walked in the kids' room this morning to get Willa up and smelled barf. I looked everywhere and couldn't find it. Simon was out cold on his tummy. Then he rolled slightly and underneath him was a nice dried puddle of throw up. So I woke him up with a bath and hair wash, which he thought was extremely unfair and mean.
Meanwhile Jude was complaining again about the headache he has had off and on for the last three days and umming and awing about not wanting to go to school and Willa tells me that he tummy hurts, but she wants to go to school. So I get her breakfast ready. As I am dealing with still screaming Simon, Hazel refuses to get dressed, although there is no school for her today. I must remember to find out when she goes back.
Anyway, just as everyone is about ready to leave, Jude decides that in fact a day at home in bed with no tv, computer or wii, does not sound so appealing and that he wants to go to school. So we have 15 minutes for him to get dressed and fed and get to school before the big two get slapped with tardy passes. Hazel is now eating finally and Simon has some milk and then steals one of Hazel's slices of cantaloupe (I will pay for that later, you'll see).
We do actually manage to get out of the door in the nick of time with no yelling, but I am still waiting for the inevitable call from the nurse saying that I need to pick up one or the other for throwing up at school.
Then we drive home and open the garage door and....... did you remember?.........we are locked out. Thank goodness I threw my purse in the car and I have my phone, but I don't have the landlady's phone number. So I call Jon, who has it on his phone. I know he is in the middle of an interview, but being stuck outside in the rainy cold with a barfing kid in his pjs constitutes the right sort of emergency right? But some strange man answers Jon's phone and asks who I am. I figure I have the wrong number, tell him so and hang up, but my phone says that I dialled the right number. So I call back, get voicemail and leave a message. I wonder if I should go across the street and beg to hang out in their warm home, but we don't really know them that well yet. Only enough to know that they are major germophobes, so I figure my barfing baby won't be so welcome.
I decide that I must put aside any thoughts/worries about what happened in Boston and find another way to get the phone number of the landlady, so I spend $10 calling information and get it that way. Fortunately her husband is home and has a spare key so I drive over and get it.
I come home and Simon smells of sulfur so I change him and the diarrhea has started, but only a little. I think I am safe and put him in another cloth diaper. Why do I persist in being optimistic about these things? 15 minutes later he is back in the bath covered in nasty brown liquid that filled the diaper and ran down the legs of his pjs. Volumes and volumes. I put him in his third pair of pjs for the day, this time with a disposable diaper, but after that last one, I am not really holding out high hopes for the pampers to work any better than the bumkins.
So much for doing any grocery shopping today. I am now wondering; should I hope for everyone to get this so that I don't have to find some kind of dinner in the bare pantry?
Oh yes and Hazel decided to pee her pants while I was hosing Simon down and I broke my non yelling streak. Perfect timing eh? Oh well, I knew I wasn't up for any mother of week, month or year awards.
Now I need to go clean up breakfast.
We didn't see as many people as we would have liked to in our 26 hours in NC, but the time we did spend with the friends we did get to see was lovely. The kids also relaxed more completely than they have in months. So we felt pretty good as we set off again at 8:30pm Sat night. Once again everyone did pretty well and Jon slept early on so that he could be awake for the wee hours to help me stay awake. All in all when we arrived at 3:30am we felt it was time well spent.
Then yesterday Jon took the kids to the park for the afternoon so I could get a break before he left. They all seemed to have a lovely time. Dinner was good, bedtime went well. All was good.
Then Jon left.
It appears that the universe thinks that times when I am on my own are a good time to test my mettle. Some of the following is my fault, some not.
First of all, being the first night that I have spent alone in this house, which still feels pretty new and unfamiliar, I locked the door to the garage. I told myself that I must remember I had done that so that I didn't just walk out in the morning and lock myself out. This might have even been a possible feat for my memory had Simon not woken up in a puddle of vomit.
Actually he didn't so much wake up in the puddle of vomit as sleep in it. I walked in the kids' room this morning to get Willa up and smelled barf. I looked everywhere and couldn't find it. Simon was out cold on his tummy. Then he rolled slightly and underneath him was a nice dried puddle of throw up. So I woke him up with a bath and hair wash, which he thought was extremely unfair and mean.
Meanwhile Jude was complaining again about the headache he has had off and on for the last three days and umming and awing about not wanting to go to school and Willa tells me that he tummy hurts, but she wants to go to school. So I get her breakfast ready. As I am dealing with still screaming Simon, Hazel refuses to get dressed, although there is no school for her today. I must remember to find out when she goes back.
Anyway, just as everyone is about ready to leave, Jude decides that in fact a day at home in bed with no tv, computer or wii, does not sound so appealing and that he wants to go to school. So we have 15 minutes for him to get dressed and fed and get to school before the big two get slapped with tardy passes. Hazel is now eating finally and Simon has some milk and then steals one of Hazel's slices of cantaloupe (I will pay for that later, you'll see).
We do actually manage to get out of the door in the nick of time with no yelling, but I am still waiting for the inevitable call from the nurse saying that I need to pick up one or the other for throwing up at school.
Then we drive home and open the garage door and....... did you remember?.........we are locked out. Thank goodness I threw my purse in the car and I have my phone, but I don't have the landlady's phone number. So I call Jon, who has it on his phone. I know he is in the middle of an interview, but being stuck outside in the rainy cold with a barfing kid in his pjs constitutes the right sort of emergency right? But some strange man answers Jon's phone and asks who I am. I figure I have the wrong number, tell him so and hang up, but my phone says that I dialled the right number. So I call back, get voicemail and leave a message. I wonder if I should go across the street and beg to hang out in their warm home, but we don't really know them that well yet. Only enough to know that they are major germophobes, so I figure my barfing baby won't be so welcome.
I decide that I must put aside any thoughts/worries about what happened in Boston and find another way to get the phone number of the landlady, so I spend $10 calling information and get it that way. Fortunately her husband is home and has a spare key so I drive over and get it.
I come home and Simon smells of sulfur so I change him and the diarrhea has started, but only a little. I think I am safe and put him in another cloth diaper. Why do I persist in being optimistic about these things? 15 minutes later he is back in the bath covered in nasty brown liquid that filled the diaper and ran down the legs of his pjs. Volumes and volumes. I put him in his third pair of pjs for the day, this time with a disposable diaper, but after that last one, I am not really holding out high hopes for the pampers to work any better than the bumkins.
So much for doing any grocery shopping today. I am now wondering; should I hope for everyone to get this so that I don't have to find some kind of dinner in the bare pantry?
Oh yes and Hazel decided to pee her pants while I was hosing Simon down and I broke my non yelling streak. Perfect timing eh? Oh well, I knew I wasn't up for any mother of week, month or year awards.
Now I need to go clean up breakfast.
Thursday, March 27, 2008
Going Camping
There are certain things in our lives, which despite our best intentions and strong desire, never seem to actually happen. One of these is camping. Another is eating fondue, but that will have to be covered in another post.
This week we were supposed to go camping in Virginia and meet friends at the campsite over the weekend. Unfortunately the weather in the blue ridge was not in our favor. Plus Jon was worried about getting ready for his interview on Monday, for which he will be leaving on Sunday evening. Then there was the problem of finding a regulator for our stove, which is from the UK, where apparently they don't use propane in the same way. The campsite we found in warmer climes also had tent pads that were 2.6ft too narrow for our giant tent. However we had come up with a menu that circumvented any stove requirement. Virginia state parks also provide electrical hook ups so we could just bring our kettle for hot morning tea. And we figured we could just hang a bedroom off the edge of the tent pad.
We were ready to camp by the seat of out pants, so to speak.
But then, just as Jon was putting on his jeans this morning he fell suddenly to the floor. I thought he had twisted his ankle or something. But, when the pain subsided enough for him to speak, he managed to let me know that something in his lower back had suddenly gone and could I please just leave him to cry in peace.
Actually he wasn't really crying, but as Jude noted upon walking in, he really really wanted to.
After about 30 mins on the freezing floor he managed (with Bradley pain management techniques, showing that you just never know when reading all those natural childbirth books will finally come in handy) to get himself into the bed.
An hour or so later and he could stand and wander ever so little. Now several hours later he can squat to reach something on the floor with barely noticeable hissing.
Needless to say, we did not pack the car this morning, and we are still in NJ.
However, we decided that it was sad to let all that camping prep go to waste. So we popped open our 2 person tent in the living room and roasted hotdogs and s'mores in the fireplace and the kids are now trying to pretend that really they will (cross their dear little hearts) eventually fall asleep in the tent.
It all went surprisingly well. Simon has decided that S'mores are really REALLLY good. When I asked him if he wanted 's'more' I thought his head might get dislocated he was nodding so vehemently. I would have taken a picture, but there was already a small mountain of marshmallow goo and melted chocolate sinking into the carpet (hooray for that carpet cleaner stuff from Target!) and Simon was ready to crawl into the fireplace to get more of anything. And Jon obviously wasn't in any condition to jump up and grab the camera, so I will have to leave the vision of Simon covered in s'more innards to your imagination.
Tomorrow we are heading out in the wee hours to spend about 48 hours in North Carolina. I am going to drive and we are hoping Jon will make it with plenty of back stops because we could really use some time with friends.
So here's hoping that our first outdoor camping experience will be as much fun as our latest indoor camping experience. And that the universe will actually let us go outdoor camping. Should we make it, I think I will have to serve fondue in celebration.
This week we were supposed to go camping in Virginia and meet friends at the campsite over the weekend. Unfortunately the weather in the blue ridge was not in our favor. Plus Jon was worried about getting ready for his interview on Monday, for which he will be leaving on Sunday evening. Then there was the problem of finding a regulator for our stove, which is from the UK, where apparently they don't use propane in the same way. The campsite we found in warmer climes also had tent pads that were 2.6ft too narrow for our giant tent. However we had come up with a menu that circumvented any stove requirement. Virginia state parks also provide electrical hook ups so we could just bring our kettle for hot morning tea. And we figured we could just hang a bedroom off the edge of the tent pad.
We were ready to camp by the seat of out pants, so to speak.
But then, just as Jon was putting on his jeans this morning he fell suddenly to the floor. I thought he had twisted his ankle or something. But, when the pain subsided enough for him to speak, he managed to let me know that something in his lower back had suddenly gone and could I please just leave him to cry in peace.
Actually he wasn't really crying, but as Jude noted upon walking in, he really really wanted to.
After about 30 mins on the freezing floor he managed (with Bradley pain management techniques, showing that you just never know when reading all those natural childbirth books will finally come in handy) to get himself into the bed.
An hour or so later and he could stand and wander ever so little. Now several hours later he can squat to reach something on the floor with barely noticeable hissing.
Needless to say, we did not pack the car this morning, and we are still in NJ.
However, we decided that it was sad to let all that camping prep go to waste. So we popped open our 2 person tent in the living room and roasted hotdogs and s'mores in the fireplace and the kids are now trying to pretend that really they will (cross their dear little hearts) eventually fall asleep in the tent.
It all went surprisingly well. Simon has decided that S'mores are really REALLLY good. When I asked him if he wanted 's'more' I thought his head might get dislocated he was nodding so vehemently. I would have taken a picture, but there was already a small mountain of marshmallow goo and melted chocolate sinking into the carpet (hooray for that carpet cleaner stuff from Target!) and Simon was ready to crawl into the fireplace to get more of anything. And Jon obviously wasn't in any condition to jump up and grab the camera, so I will have to leave the vision of Simon covered in s'more innards to your imagination.
Tomorrow we are heading out in the wee hours to spend about 48 hours in North Carolina. I am going to drive and we are hoping Jon will make it with plenty of back stops because we could really use some time with friends.
So here's hoping that our first outdoor camping experience will be as much fun as our latest indoor camping experience. And that the universe will actually let us go outdoor camping. Should we make it, I think I will have to serve fondue in celebration.
Wednesday, March 26, 2008
It All Begins - For Real
So now that I have posted that great long thing, I am not sure I really have that much to say. We got in to see an allergist for Hazel yesterday and are doing all new bloods today to see if, as we suspect, she is now reacting to tree nuts as well as peanuts. Goodbye christmas cake and dundee cake and pecan pie. Ah well.
Uh Oh the time for typing is all used up. Simon is awake again. Hopefully the next post will be juicier than the disclaimer was.
Love to all.
Uh Oh the time for typing is all used up. Simon is awake again. Hopefully the next post will be juicier than the disclaimer was.
Love to all.
It All Begins - The Disclaimer
It might seem odd to start a blog with a disclaimer, but they say to remember your audience when you write and that caused a bit of a brain blockage over here. In case you don't know or don't remember correctly. There are 4 children in this family and that doesn't leave me a lot of time for typing really. So there can only be one blog. But then, who should be the audience, my future readership?
Since the blog is set to private, it won't be the great cyber unwashed, so anonymity is out. If I choose friends then I can complain and groan about the idiosyncracies and just plain annoying bits in all of our relations, but the grandparents might get upset about not getting access to all the up to date info and photos and I certainly don't want to have to post them twice.
If I choose family, then I have to be more careful about what I say in order to preserve relationships with people who would not normally choose to be within my friend circle, and no, my chosen friends, they would probably not like you either, so that throws a bit of a kink in the works really.
In the end it seemed best to just invite everybody and write what I want to write with a nice disclaimer at the beginning. So here it is:
Please remember that no matter much I might love and/or appreciate you, sometimes you will still annoy the pants off of me. Even you, my darling husband. So when a small complaint appears that you feel might be directed at you, so it may be, but please do not take large offense. You have probably been annoying me in these small ways for years and hopefully we still get along fine. Take a deep breath and move on. I might even be talking about someone else!
You might find that something from what you feel is long ago has reared it head, quite unneccessarily, again. Two points:
a: I might be elaborating for the newer people in my circle who may not have the whole history at their fingertips and I want to get the whole sordid tale out for them to help them understand the way I feel now. This telling may not be unbiased, but hey, it's my blog, what, really, do you expect, journalism?
b: It might be that unbeknownst to you, what you consider old news, long buried, might still in fact be a bit raw for me/us. If you never realized before, that is because I do try to smooth things over when I can. This blog, unfortunately, allows things to be recorded so that people can read them over and over. Sometimes my better judgment gets away from me and I vent a bit. This does not mean that I hate you or that I am always walking around harboring resentment and muttering evil things about you. Just that sometimes I want to let it all out. If it is bothering you, skip that post. It was clearly meant for a target group that you are not a member of.
Always remember you are still part of the select group that gets to read my cyberdiary (tee hee, twitter, twitter) and I am trying to be fair to everyone while I am writing, as much as I am able.
Finally if it all gets to be too much for you and you can't take it anymore, please stop reading. The photos are clearly not worth it for you. Preserve our relationship in whatever way you can! We are worth it in real life if not on the computer screen!
Lots of Love to you all.
Since the blog is set to private, it won't be the great cyber unwashed, so anonymity is out. If I choose friends then I can complain and groan about the idiosyncracies and just plain annoying bits in all of our relations, but the grandparents might get upset about not getting access to all the up to date info and photos and I certainly don't want to have to post them twice.
If I choose family, then I have to be more careful about what I say in order to preserve relationships with people who would not normally choose to be within my friend circle, and no, my chosen friends, they would probably not like you either, so that throws a bit of a kink in the works really.
In the end it seemed best to just invite everybody and write what I want to write with a nice disclaimer at the beginning. So here it is:
Please remember that no matter much I might love and/or appreciate you, sometimes you will still annoy the pants off of me. Even you, my darling husband. So when a small complaint appears that you feel might be directed at you, so it may be, but please do not take large offense. You have probably been annoying me in these small ways for years and hopefully we still get along fine. Take a deep breath and move on. I might even be talking about someone else!
You might find that something from what you feel is long ago has reared it head, quite unneccessarily, again. Two points:
a: I might be elaborating for the newer people in my circle who may not have the whole history at their fingertips and I want to get the whole sordid tale out for them to help them understand the way I feel now. This telling may not be unbiased, but hey, it's my blog, what, really, do you expect, journalism?
b: It might be that unbeknownst to you, what you consider old news, long buried, might still in fact be a bit raw for me/us. If you never realized before, that is because I do try to smooth things over when I can. This blog, unfortunately, allows things to be recorded so that people can read them over and over. Sometimes my better judgment gets away from me and I vent a bit. This does not mean that I hate you or that I am always walking around harboring resentment and muttering evil things about you. Just that sometimes I want to let it all out. If it is bothering you, skip that post. It was clearly meant for a target group that you are not a member of.
Always remember you are still part of the select group that gets to read my cyberdiary (tee hee, twitter, twitter) and I am trying to be fair to everyone while I am writing, as much as I am able.
Finally if it all gets to be too much for you and you can't take it anymore, please stop reading. The photos are clearly not worth it for you. Preserve our relationship in whatever way you can! We are worth it in real life if not on the computer screen!
Lots of Love to you all.
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