The Exam Has Been Delayed

In school I was the kid who rejoiced when the exam was delayed or an extention was given on a term paper. I have that same feeling today as our addition to our house was supposed to start tomorrow, but the permits took longer than expected, so it likely won't happen until Friday at the earliest and more likely Monday. Yipee!

We were ready for them on the outside of the house, but still have a little ways to go in clearing out the inside. Fortunately it's about 2 weeks after they start before they will need to get inside the house.

What a relief. Now to work on the blog some more :)

Happy Easter

G'parents Wisc. came out for Easter this year. We were mostly packing up the basement and ready-ing the yard for our addition which --gulp--starts in a week!

Got a lot done of course. Grandparents took Eddie and Josie for a walk this afternoon. Apparently Ed fell asleep not long into the walk, so they came home. As a result of his nap, he was a wild man--see the picture below. He also had all of us laying on the floor, everyone holding one or two balloons.

Then he told g'ma to sit on g'pas lap and then he would sit on her lap...

They leave tomorrow and we're trying to make arrangements for our next visit...

Perspective

I've been stressing the last week (and will continue for the next 2 weeks) over a variety of things. They all seem unimportant now with the two things I learned today:

Auntie M reported on her blog about an old man who literately ran over a two-year old with his suitcase. If I were the mother I think I would have attacked the old man. Little girl had a bloddy nose, cuts, wheel-marks the whole bit.

And if that isn't bad enough, I almost don't write this because it's so depressing, a friend of a friend lost her baby the day after her due date and then had to deliver the 11-pound child.

I'm speechless on both accounts, but it sure makes me forget everything that was stressing me out.

I'm going to be a bit further out of commission the next 10 days or so with craziness involved in packing our house for an addition that starts April 1, working on a fundraiser, celebrating a first birthday, and thanking my stars for the two different grandparent visits in two weeks.

Happy Easter everyone.

Anybody Else Have a Blog?

Den doesn't surf the internet much--I surf enough for both of us. But one thing I've been unable to find are the blogs of people I know. I've taken to lurking on the blogs of people that I think are well written or funny, but I'd much prefer to read about people I know (or knew). So anyone?

A Visit To Mommy's Work

Obviously I'm not a fireman, but we went to the same place mommy works to take care of an errand. While there someone gave us a couple firemen/women hats. Everyone called Josie a Firelady.

My favorite picture is actually the one without the hats on, but we sure were causing quite a few comments everywhere we went. I was surprised Josie kept the hat on as much as she did and when we were outside, Eddie kept asking for it 'to keep the sun out of his eyes'.

We were out and about from 9 this morning til 7:30 this evening, coming home only for lunch and a nap for Josie.

Stitches--Gone Baby Gone

Eddie got his 5 stitches out yesterday. He did really well. He did cry and fuss a bit, but I would too. Den went with us. We both marveled at being in and out of a doctor's office in less than one hour.

He now has a ster strip (that thing that holds the skin together and looks like a brown bandaid) for the next couple days. The doctor wants to see him again in 3 weeks.

He was tired and had a rough afternoon. Blood started appearing under the ster strip and I freaked and called the doctor. They said it was fine. Ugh.

How Was Your Week?

The nurse at the plastic surgeon's office today said that Eddie's cut was about a cm long--sure seems a lot longer. The ER Doctor had referred us to this Plastic Surgeon and said to visit on Friday to get the stitches removed.

Eddie and I dutifully took 2 hours and went down only to be told that they wanted to wait until Tuesday to take the stitches out. Is he an active child? Is he the type to jump off the couch? I chuckled as I answered and said that he is also the type to make quick sudden movements and is always bumping into things.

They said even a slight bump could cause things to reopen, so we'll know more on Tuesday. They also corrected our course of treatment slightly, telling us the neosporin would help the stitches just slide out--we were told not to apply it on the day the stitches were to be removed.

We've been following a course of cleaning with a wet-down cotten ball 5-6 times day, followed each time by neosporin. It looks really good, if I do say so myself. The doctor thought he would have some slight scaring because of the direction of the cut. I had told him that the doctor would want to look at and touch his cut, so he was prepped for that, yet he was still perfectly mellow about the whole thing, to the point of kicking off his shoes on the exam table. Guess telling him not to put his shoes on the couch is rubbing in.



So Monday was the ER, Tuesday Josie broke out in a rash and we went to the peds office to find she's got Roseola, which once the fever breaks--which it had on Sunday, she is no longer contagious. At least we got her ears checked out as she had been scratching her ears and head like crazy (has since subsided) AND I got someone to make sure Ed's cut looked okay.

Wed. I had a doctor's visit and then Friday this one. At least I had Thurs. off from doctors visits. Eddie refused to stand next to Josie for a photo and for some reason started plugging his ears. Hmmm.

Josie has started to drink out of Eddie's 'straw' cups. It's pretty funny. So I guess we can start moving her off the bottle.

And in other house training behaviors, Eddie routinely asks that a coaster be placed under his sippy cup. I'm not kidding.

Tonight, Eddie kept throwing his ball around his room. We'd told him repeatedly to stop throwing the ball. The next time was going to be a time out. Well, he knocked the lamp in Josie's room over with the ball, runs into his room, puts his hands on the wall for a time out. Hard not to laugh at that.

I'm just happy we're all just about healthy again after 2 weeks of illness and no sleep. Den and I are ready for bed.

My Favorite Things

Eddie loves going to the grocery store--well, really he loves the balloon he gets as we leave the grocery store. After that, he truly does love unpacking all the groceries. It's pretty funny, as he pulls things out of the bags, announcing the product. Like me, he tends to get hungry for everything he unpacks--all at the same time.

This time, I handed him the fruit bowl and told him to put all the fruit away. He spent several minutes arranging and re-arrangin the fruit. I think he moved it around both before and after I took this photo.



Josie is doing one of her favorite things--looking at books. If you try to read the books, she typically looses interest. It's kind of odd.

Eddie got to try marshmellows this winter. And not just any marshmellows, but colored ones. He thought this was the greatest.

How's this for a random memory. In mid-February, Eddie, Josie and I are driving down the road when Eddie says, "do g'parents Ohio have a blue car with a lid/top that flips up"? I don't know if he saw a convertable or what, but it sure astounded me. They haven't had it out our way since Sept.

G'parents Ohio

Now we're talking ancient history, but g'parents Ohio came in early February to help out while Den was gone for his boys ski weekend.

As usual, it was a huge help to have them around.
Eddie started wearing jeans after g'pa's visit (previously he refused to wear any of the half-dozen pair in his dresser). And he wanted to wear shirts like g'pa. It was cute.

G'ma has really gotten into diapering and after a blow out diaper is now sure to put them on good and tight--just like a pro.

My Case for a Minivan

This is Exhibit A for why I need a minivan. Not sure I have a photo of it, but G'pa Wisc. has been known to have a similar pose--crawling out of our thrid row seat.

I really do wish we'd bought a minivan. Especially after 2 trips in the last 6 months during which we rented minivans. Sexy, no, practical and loaded with cool, family-friendly features, yes. Plus some get about the same gas milage I do in my hybrid, but don't get me started.

Now if we can just get through our addition in one piece, I can get Den to spring for one in a couple years.

10 and 11 month updates

On the 'meaning to write' list are Josie's updates.
So here we go, starting with 10 months--that would be during the month of January, as she turned 10 months Feb. 3.



Kind of wild to think back that far as so much as changed. Will try and stick to just 9/10 months though:

eating broccoli. Early in January she was pushing through her second tooth and Cookie taughter her to dance-- 'bila, bila, bila' as she claps and Josie moves around. During January, Josie's night time schedule got more condensed and on Jan. 8 she made it from 8 to 5am. Just 8 months ahead of Eddie on this accomplishment. In addition to dancing, she was standing on her own and clapping (now of course she is just about ready to walk).

While in FLA she was consistently 'free-standing' for several seconds. and by the end of the trip, she was up to 20 seconds like this. Walking, we thought was imminent.



She was also starting to rely almost entirely on table food for her meals. She refused to be spoon fed for the first time.Then there is her second ear infection in a month--are we headed for tubes?



She was starting to outgrow her larger 6-month clothes at the end of January.



For his part during this time, Eddie began setting the table. Instead of Cheerios, he said 'Cheer-nose'. Cracked us up--still does. They are both cheerios and fruit puffs freaks. Occupies and entertains them both throughout the entire meal.



Eddie offically entered the "watch this!" phase. I think this phase will never end. But he actually said 'watch this!' as he drove his remote controlled car off a stool. Eddie was still wearing 2T without a problem, but I knew he'd need 3T before winter weather ended, so we started that transition.



The top pikkie is just before Den went out west on Feb. 6. I have no photo of her on Feb. 3.



The bottom 2 pictures were taken this past Monday, when she was offically 11 months. In fact they were taken a short time before her brother slammed into the garage.



We introduced yogart on Feb. 5 and on the 6th she broke out in hives--come to find she is allergic to the family of Amoxicillian/Penacillian, etc. Did I mention that I also got a flat tire that day and Den left for a 6 day trip? She broke out in hives while I was feeding her on Den's next trip and then we ultimately learned she also has a mild dairy allergy when she broke out in even worse hives after being fed yogart It's 2 out of a scale of 6, so the doctor said she has a good chance of outgrowing it, but we are to transition her to soy milk (the doc also tested for carrots and soy--which were fine) when turns one year.

It's weird, with the amox, the doc said the allergy doesn't necessarily show up with the first course of drugs, so when she had an allergic reaction 2 weeks after we had introduced yogart, I was almost positive it was the culprit.

J actively uses teething rings and rattles (whereas Eddie wasn't really interested). In a rather unremarkable way, Josie was weaned last month. I didn't exactly mean for it to happen, but I wasn't as upset as I was when it happened with Eddie. Both kids I nursed til 10 months and I feel good about that. I always had 6 months as my goal and I exceeded it in both cases. It just gets to the point where they are eating so many solids that somehow I feel like I'm not making as much milk.

Josie now will pull the high chair towards her, which is cute. Pretty much beginning in February Josie began sleeping solidly through til 6:30 or so--yipee! A couple times she has almost taken a step--often she'll step/lunge forward and reach for something in the same motion. She'll walk holding onto items and people's hands. She doesn't seem to like to walk for very long periods though.

During February she just about completely outgrew her 9 month clothes. She definitely had a growth spurt as even I notice that she seems larger. She consistently waves 'bye-bye' which is might cute. True she waves for other things too that aren't bye-bye, but she waves on command. Cookie thinks she is already doing pretend play, which I think is a stretch., but she definitely seems like a sharp kid.

Quick Update

I'm so excited to report that since Tuesday (the day after) was beautiful, we were outside for most of it. Eddie not only asked to ride his tricycle, but also wanted to go running down the driveway with his ball, so he didn't seem overly traumatized. Oddly he thought that if he rode his bike down the driveway backwards, then it would be okay (that riding it foward was what caused this accident). Cracked me up as I tried to tell him there was no playing in the driveway.

Now I'm just stressed about getting the stitches out on Friday--how in the world do I prep him for that without freaking him out? I'm running out of bribes.

Dear Ed

I'm going to 'borrow' the format a friend of mine uses ocassionally on her blog. It's extremely long, but then I'm extremely traumatized:

Dear Eddie,

You recently turned 3 and it felt for me like an adult changing into the next age demographic category. How could three years have passed and you became this little person, sure of his opinions, sure of his place in our family and in our world. But today you really blew my mind. Today was as yet probably the hardest day I've had as a mom, worse than the chicken pox, which I 'shared' with you when you were just 7 months old, worse than anything I can think of. Today, as I realized that Cookie was calling for help something took over in me. I became a robot of sorts, going through what seemed like the right thing to do, not completely in myself.

I could hear Cookie yelling, 'noooo Eddie' and I just figured you were running towards the street or something and she was trying to stop you (not insignificant, but we don't exactly live on the freeway). Then, when I peeked out the front door, just to make sure everything was okay and I saw Cookie struggling up the driveway, trying to half carry you and with Josie on the other arm, I just ran.

I don't remember the first words out of Cookie's mouth, but all I could say to you was that you'd be okay. I was really trying to tell myself that I too would be okay. It wasn't a major gash, but it was the worst thing I'd seen happen to you--ever --and I could think of nothing than to repeat that you'd be okay over and over as if it would make you stop crying and that everything would be okay. I remember Cookie telling me that I needed to take you to the doctor and me wondering only briefly if she meant the ER or just your pediatrician. I remember my own mother rushing me to the doc-in-a-box (remember those?) when I was bitten by a dog at age 5.

Should I change out of my grubby sweats I'd been wearing around the house? It wasn't like blood was shooting out of your head, but I wanted to get someone to see you immediately. First I told Coookie to come and bring Josie, better to be there with someone else. The clearer thinking Cookie reminded me that we'd be there a while. I was hopeful as we left the garage (apparently with the door to the house wide open), that it would be a quick ER visit. All I could hear was you sobbing and I wondered if I should just hold you until you stopped crying, but then I worried about how long it would be before you stopped crying. Should I get us lunch or snacks?

I was a bit spastic at the hospital. They were doing construction and I pulled in the pay lot, then exited immediately deciding that it would cost a lot and was about the furtherest parking lot available. When I got to the free lot, I must have pulled in and out of 4 or 5 spots, whipping you around in your carseat as I tried to find one I felt comfortable parking in (they were so narrow). It felt like an emergency because you were hurt and crying, but it wasn't the kind of call the ambulance hurt.

I had called daddy on the way, telling him it wasn't that bad, but bad enough we needed to be seen. I purposefully hadn't called anyone else--no need to send them into panic mode until I knew something and no need to listen to my cell phone ring in the ER, but not be able to answer it as there is no cell phone coverage in the ER.

What amazed me, after you stopped crying was how calm and just like normal, happy, easy Eddie you were. Never mind I was freaking out when they gave a mask to the person checking in before us, saying that 'in case' she was diagnosed with TB. And then after being there 2 hours, when they took us out of our first 10x10 'holding' room where I was channel flipping to keep you from seeing soap operas, probably driving the other 3 patients crazy, the nurse says to us, as we walked back to the ER, sorry you were in there so long, you shouldn't have been with all those 'sick' people. Great.

We got a chair in the hall, because the ER was so slammed. I was trying to tell you what to expect without freaking out. That the Doctor would talk to you and want you to answer. You were pretty traumatized, as you didn't want to talk about it with even me. I wonder what your first time running down the driveway or riding your tricycle will be like for you after losing control of your trike on the driveway and careening into the corner of the garage when you shouldn't have been on the driveway to begin with.

We sat a while longer and I cringed everytime I saw someone cough a sick person cough, wondering what we'd go home with. Then I saw a very pregnant nurse and started to feel better. The doctor came and tried to clean your wound. While we had been waiting you would only let me dab at the drops of blood that started to roll down your forehead and sometimes brush your hair out of your face and away from the cut. The doctor didn't have to get very far in cleaning your wound before she said it would need stitches (she thought between 6 and 8).

She said we could try having a gel applied to the cut that would numb it only if left in place for 30 min. If that didn't work, they'd use a needle to numb the area. I am happy to report you left the gel in place. I was kind of going crazy by this point as everyone who saw us had something to say, or an 'ohhhhhh' poor baby voice. That, and all this talk about your 'boo-boo'.

They got us a room where they could do the stiches and the doctor asked me if I thought I'd be able to hold your head still while she stitched you up. I can only imagine the look on my face and I felt the color leave my face as I hesitated. Would it be better for me to be the one holding him, or would I pass out? Thankfully she made the decision for me that I didn't seem like I could do that (I had told her that the wrong parent was at the ER).

It turned out to be a wise decision as they wrapped you in a straight jacket like a burrito (which you thought was funny)--right up to when they drapped a large square paper with a circle in the middle over your face. Then you lost it. Your face turned brick red and you cried so much you had pools of tears. Finally the Doctor removed the paper and you did a little better. Previously the nurse was saying you were doing a great job and that he hadn't needed to hold your head yet. By by this point, I was trying to hold your hand, but my own palms were sweating, so it was probably good you were wrapped in sheets. I just wanted to let your legs or something out. I really think the worst part was seeing you all wrapped like that and you saying that you were done, that you didn't want to be there any longer.

I kept asking you if anything hurt and the doctor kep telling me you were feeling nothing. She stopped this little exchange after I told her for my c-sections I had been concerned about wether I'd feel something. I could tolerate you being upset because you were restrained, but not because you were in pain. I tried EVERY distractionary tactic I could think of and finally when she was almost done, I started counting, with the assurance that when I got to 10 in both Spanish and English, she would be done. Not wanting to rush her, I counted about as slowly as I possibly could.

Both the Doctor and nurse said you had done super well. I always wonder if people are just blowing smoke when they compliment you, but then I realize when things don't go well with a child, it's more of a 'well, see you later kind of thing'. She really was effusive of how well you did. And I managed to watch her do the stitches without passing out, so mom did well too.

Now, to wake you every 3 hours. At least Daddy is home, so we can switch off waking up.

One other thing that is so cute, I hope I remember it always. I had promised you balloons and ice cream. So we went to the grocery store that has free balloons and went to the pay counter to ask what colors they had. The clerk must have laid out 10 different colors and you picked just 4 that you wanted. I wanted to make sure that was all you wanted and it was. You had decided in the ER exactly what color balloons you wanted and I told you that you could have them as long as they were available. They even had a $10 Thomas the Tank Engine balloon, but you were focused, saying you didn't want that balloon. That blew my mind. I basically would have bought you just about any balloons in that store and you just wanted those four. The clerk was astounded. She was asking how long ago you'd turned 3 and said I did a good job as a parent. I could only tell her that you had a great personality.

I feel like a credit card commercial, but for less than $4 you were happy with your purchases. Course another grocery store clerk had a story about his 4 year old hitting the glass coffee table, but by this point, I was tired of talking to people about it. I just wanted to get back to our normal day.

What a day. The normal four-hour ER visit...

Last FLA Post

I have some family in FLA (and this is just the group I seem to see most often).
There was a great park just a block or so from where we stayed...wish we'd asked about it earlier in our stay. Course Den was a little nervous because the surface was almost all sand and we were getting on a plane in a couple hours...

Flamingo Gardens in January

Still posting about FLA (well, I do have one post from Friday night that is 'current'). We just crack up about Josie using Den's ears as reigns.
Check out these turtles. That one is just hurling dirt, digging to China, I guess.

I think this little display is from the 60s, it was cute and Eddie liked the flamingo.

Gotta get one of these :)