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Monday, February 21, 2005

California Dreamin'

Ok, so just the other day, I was remarking to Jeff how this winter has been so much milder than last winter. Last winter, we got a huge snow in early January and it just accumulated & accumulated until it started melting near the end of March. This year, we've gotten little dustings here & there, but nothing huge. Until yesterday. 12 inches in a day. A whole freakin' foot of snow. We had to RAMP out of our driveway this morning. And that was AFTER poor Jeff spent 20 minutes trying to shovel it so we could back out of the garage. This is insane. This is only about halfway into the snowstorm. We had a ski ramp on our front porch. It got about 6 inches higher by the time the snow stopped.





Not that life in California is any easier at this point. More rain & mudslides. Fun fun. I think the snow might be the better of the two. At least Emma will have a blast at school today. They get 30 minutes at the end of class to go outside for recess. Because it's stopped snowing, they should be allowed outside. It's not that cold out, so they should be fine.

I had been hoping for one more big snow before spring so we could get the kids out in it to get some great pictures. But, I wanted them to be able to play in it, not get lost in it.

Sarah's intestinal problems seem to have worked themselves out. Now that she's on baby 2nd foods, I think it's just how she's going to "go" now. It was a big change for her little body, so it's taken a little while for her to adjust. But she seems to be doing better. Now, if only her teeth would hurry up & come in so we could get some sleep. Poor baby. Her body's just getting attacked from all angles.




Friday, February 18, 2005

Nothing new

I don't think I could say my life has been boring, as of late, just routine. Lack of sleep, housework, Emma's school, Jeff always gone because of work/school, PT, playgroup and more lack of sleep. That pretty much sums it up. Oh, Sarah popped another tooth this week, so that's good. Only 3 more to go in this round, that I see. There could me more on the horizon, but they haven't started showing yet. She's being pretty consistent with her sleep routine, though. She'll go down between 9-10pm, and wake up somewhere between 2-4am. I TRY not to feed her, but it really all depends on how well she goes back down. Most of the time, though, I give in, only because of exhaustion. Jeff tried to give me a break and takes the car on Friday mornings, so I don't have to get up with the kids & schlep everyone into the car. That would be great, if only the children didn't get up on their own about the same time as Jeff's leaving. So much for sleeping in. Oh well, it's the thought that counts. We each get a "sleep-in day" on the weekends. Mine's Saturday, most of the time. So, I'm SO looking forward to tomorrow morning.
Survivor started last night. Very cool. We're in a CMU fantasy league, and we conned Jeff's cousin Ashley to join us. She's never watched Survivor, so this should be interesting.
Emma took a tumble at school the other day. If you ask her, she was pushed by a girl at school (who ALWAYS seems to be harassing her, in her opinion), but the teacher said she and another child were running and tripped and she scraped her chin on the concrete. She's got a bump on her nose and a boo-boo on her chin, but she'll be ok. Apparently she was more upset about having to come in from recess in order to get patched up, as she was bleeding everywhere. She doesn't like to miss out on all the action.
Little Miss Sarah aka mon petite fille, had her 9 month well-baby check-up this week. Fortunately, no shots were required, which was nice for her & me. She weighs in at 15 lbs. 3 1/4 oz. and 25 3/4 inches long. I had a rough time emotionally while sitting in the waiting room, as apparently it was "baby" day and there were about 3-4 other babies in there, all roughly Sarah's age. Some even younger, were already crawling & cruising along the furniture. I don't normally get upset when I see other babies, but this just kinda hit home that Sarah IS behind developmentally. It's not that I've been in denial about it, but I haven't been faced with it in such a grand scale. She's doing great and is starting to tolerate being on her hands & knees for longer periods of time. Everyone keeps telling me they think she'll walk before she crawls, as she can pull herself up to standing and seems to love to be in that position. She's starting to take steps when you hold her hands, but not very well.
She started on 2nd foods this past week or so, and she seems to be tolerating it pretty well. Although, she's become a little constipated. Sorry to be so graphic. I think it's a combination of the new texture of food & being on oral antibiotics for 10 days. Poor little thing is in pain. I've never had to deal with this, as Emma always had (and continues to have) a great digestive track. I know, TMI, but this is my life.

Tuesday, February 15, 2005

Living Dead Girl

Sarah is teething and none of us are getting any sleep. Sunday night was the worst. I think Jeff & I got about 3 hours sleep, total. Sarah ended up sleeping (HA, not the right word) in our bed because we were too exhausted to climb up and down the stairs to her room. She's getting all 4 of her top teeth and the poor child apparently can't sleep because of it. She's constantly squirming in her crib, gnawing on her hand & fingers, writhing in pain. I decided to give her Tylenol last night before bed, thinking that would help. It did, until about 3:30am, when it apparently wore off. I couldn't get her calmed down, so I gave her some more medicine and basically had to let her cry it out. I'm desperately trying to stick to my guns about not feeding her at night. But another couple of nights like the past 2 and I might reconsider. But, I think one of the teeth finally broke through her gums, so hopefully we'll all have some relief soon.
Happy Belated Valentine's Day! I was a walking zombie yesterday, we were all lucky we had dinner before midnight. Emma's school doesn't really celebrate anything, but we were told the kids could bring valentines to give to each other, but there wouldn't be any special time. Just put them in each of their cubbies. I decided at the last minute to do something. So while Emma was in school, Sarah & I went grocery shopping and I bought a valentine's kit to hand out. I did all the work and gave them to the teacher to put in the kids' cubbies before they went home. Only 2 other kids brought valentine's but it was still nice.
Emma went to her first real birthday party on Sunday. It was for a little boy who's in the playgroup that Sarah attends. His name is Blaine. He was turning 3. He's the one that follows Emma around like a puppy dog at playgroup. It was a neat party. It was at the Mount Pleasant Country Club (which sounds more glamorous than it is, this IS Mount Pleasant, not San Diego), and they had hired a clown, which was neat for the kids. Emma was mostly interested in when Blaine was going to open his gifts. She LOVES helping to open gifts. She got kind of upset when they weren't allowed to play with the gifts after he opened them, which is what we did at her party. But, she had a blast. She came home with 2 balloon animals and a bag of candy, it was a good day.
Sarah has her 9 month well-baby check-up this afternoon, even though she's almost 10 months old. I think she's getting at least 2 shots, but I'm not sure. I'm anxious to see how long she is. I know she weighs about 15 lb. 5 oz., due to having to take her in on my birthday for the pink eye. She's still such a petite thing. She's starting to get such a personality. She loves playing in the bathtub. She'll splash the water & play with her rubber duckie. She & Emma get along so well. Sarah loves watching her big sister play, even if only to watch for a chance to grab Emma's hair and eat it. I know that Sarah is anxious to be able to move so she can follow Emma around.

Wednesday, February 09, 2005

Medical mix-ups

Ok, so the whole 130 mile round trip drive to Lansing WAS pointless. I could have gotten the same information over the phone from the opthamologist. Stupid people that I spoke to yesterday weren't at the actual doctor's office, it was a message center. Grrr. Oh well, I got Sarah's eyeglass Rx. It's actually pretty strong, a +5.50 with a +1.0 astigmatism. Considering my nearsightedness was about -8.75, it's pretty bad for a baby. I feel so guilty now, knowing how hard it's been for her to see. I'm wondering how much it's held her back from her gross & fine motor skills.
Jeff & I went to get our flu shots yesterday at the health department. We went while Emma was in school, as to minimize our stress. It cost $40 for both shots. We made small talk with the nurse while we were getting them. Jeff had mentioned that he was a Veteran and had been given numerous different shots, including small pox & anthrax vaccines whil in the Navy. We had to wait about 15 minutes after the shot to make sure we didn't have a reaction to it. While we were waiting, the nurse who had administered the shots came back & asked us if Sarah had Down syndrome. Of course, we said yes. She then asked us if we'd been in contact with Children's Special Health care. I told her yes, but that I always ended up forgetting the paperwork before doctor's appointments and that most of the medical costs had been covered by our insurance. But, we went back & spoke to the lady in charge anyways. I'd spoken to her back in September before Sarah's genetic appointment in Lansing. I told her about Sarah needing glasses and she said because it was considered a medical need, that CSHC could probably cover it. But, it would take about 3 weeks to find out yes/no. We decided to go with it, because, what could we lose? While we were talking to her, the nurse came back in and handed us our check that we had given them to pay for the flu shots. She said that the person in charge wanted to thank Jeff for his service to our country & that we didn't need to pay for the shots. We were pleasantly surprised. That's really the first time since Jeff got out of the Navy that we'd experienced anything like that. Talk about a perk!
So, when I got home, I did a little research to find out if I could wait the 3-6 weeks for CSHC to approve/disapprove Sarah's diagnosis for glasses and pay for them. I'm thinking we're going to have to wait & see, because her glasses are going to cost roughly $170. Oh fun. Since we can't sign up for Vision coverage until open enrollment, which I think is in September, we'll just have to wait.
Oh, by the way, Emma got her flu shot on Monday. Not a fun time had by anyone. She hasn't had any shots of any kind since about age 2, so she was not happy about it. I tried to take her mind off it, but she was too freaked out by the needle. I felt so bad, the poor kid was screaming and thrashing around, which probably didn't feel very good when she got poked. Needless to say, she milked attention and extra cuddles from Jeff & I the whole day. But, she had pulled off her band-aid by gymnastics that night, so apparently it wasn't too bad.

Monday, February 07, 2005

Super Bowl Sunday

Even though our favorite team (the 49ers) or even our second favorite team (the Chargers) weren't in the Super Bowl, Jeff & I still made it a priority to watch it. We love football, it's that simple. I, having gone through high school surrounded by football between friends/boyfriends/cheerleading, still have no clue about certain aspects of the game. I couldn't distinguish a middle line backer from a defensive end. But that doesn't matter to me. Jeff is the one who knows all about football. He played it in high school, he plays Madden, he was even part of a local "Fantasy Football" league this past season. He didn't do so well, but that's because his players got hurt/sucked. It was nice that we had NFL Sunday Ticket this season, as it allowed us to watch the games that we wouldn't get locally.
I had my birthday gift on Saturday. Jeff got me a spa package at a local salon & day spa. I had a facial, massage, manicure & pedicure (both of which I'd never had before). It was really nice. I definitely felt pampered for a few hours. Jeff was home alone with the kids for about 4 1/2 hours. Poor guy had tons of homework to do, but it was kinda hard with the children wanting attention the whole time. He basically spent every waking moment from Saturday afternoon til kickoff yesterday evening finishing it so we could watch the game in peace.
I also got my Valentine's Day gift early yesterday. A few weeks ago, we sent my wedding ring in to be fixed. A diamond had fallen out of it and I've been wearing my Anniversary ring in place of it. It finally came in this week, so we made the drive over to Midland to pick it up. It's nice to be wearing it again. Now Jeff thinks he's racked up"good husband" points and can ask for some frivolous stuff for Valentine's Day (i.e. video game). Apparently a $55 video game is equal to a wedding ring. Whatever, as long as it makes him happy.
I was trying to get out of driving to Lansing tomorrow for Sarah's eye appointment. I already know I want her to get glasses, so I was hoping the doctor could just call or fax her prescription to where I'm getting her glasses. No such luck. Looks like I get to drive 60 miles each way in the snow, yay.
Emma lost another tooth! She was brushing her teeth on Friday and her other bottom tooth fell out. So now she has trouble biting things, like food. She has to use her side teeth to get a good bite of something. I don't see her permanent teeth coming in anytime soon, so looks like she'll be toothless for a little while.

Wednesday, February 02, 2005

Happy Birthday to me

Today's my birthday. I'm 27. Whoo-hoo. Jeff took me out to dinner last night with a couple of friends of ours. We had a last minute babysitting snafu, but we got it worked out. The girls did fine with a new sitter. Emma, of course, had to show her ALL of her toys. Sarah, surprisingly, fell asleep before we got home, but, woke up just as we were going to bed. She's got great timing.
Dinner was great. We went to the Embers, which is the most expensive place in town (practically). They even have real cloth tablecloths & napkins. Trust me, I don't see that very often. They don't have a huge repetoire of entree selections (their menu is only two pages) but it's all really good. I had the Asiago chicken, which is breast of chicken stuffed with herb cream cheese, roasted red & yellow peppers and proscuitto ham, Italian breaded, and served with Asiago cream sauce. YUM!!!! Talk about decadent. Jeff had the one pound pork chop. You could barely see it under all the sweet & sour sauce. The menu says it's marinated for 24 hours before cooked. At the end of the meal, they brought out a dessert cart. Our friend Andrea & I were just drooling over all the choices they had. It was so yummy. Gabe & Andrea got me some "smell-good-stuff" from Bath & Body Works. I can always use that stuff. One of them was bubble bath and she told me that they were discussing whether or not I have time to take a bath, with two kids. I told her I'd make time, if I had bubble bath.
Ok, so we just got back from the pediatrician's office. Sarah has pink eye. What fun. But, that gives me an excuse to not go anywhere & just stay indoors, watching TV with the girls. So she has to take antibiotics for 10 days & eye drops for 4-5 days. This also means I can't go in to take Emma to school. They're going to have to come out to the car & get her and also bring her back. Which is something she's been wanting to do, along with ride the bus to & from school. But I think that's going to wait until after Spring Break, when it gets a bit warmer.
My mom sent me some money for my birthday and I spent it yesterday. I've been hearing all this wonderful stuff about this Bumble & Bumble shampoo. So, I went to the only place that sells it in town. Holy cow, that stuff is expensive. I bought shampoo, conditioner, hair straightening gel and some spray that's also supposed to help straighten. Over $50. I about dropped my purse. This stuff better make my hair look like a supermodel's for that much money. I also bought a hair straightener. You get the idea that I'm tired of curly hair? I also need a haircut, but that might have to wait a little while.
We pushed Sarah's check-up appointment at the opthamologist's office to next Tuesday. Hopefully we can get her prescription and get her glasses soon. I feel so bad that she needs them this early, but I know I can't put it off. She needs to be able to see! We found a cute pair at a local optical shop. They actually remind me of the little glasses that my Cabbage Patch Doll had when I was younger. I almost considered asking my mom to find them & mail them to me, as they'd probably fit her.