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Friday, September 28, 2007

Update:

Katie's surgery went well. I was told repeatedly that the wait to be called back was going to take longer than the actual surgery. They were right. We got there at 7:30 and did the initial pre-surgery questions. We then sat there until about 8:15 and we called back, where we were asked another series of questions (all repeated by 3-4 people). I changed her into her little hospital gown & hospital pants and then they took her back right at 8:30. I went out to the waiting room, put on my iPod and started doing a Sudoku puzzle. No joke, less than 15 minutes later they're calling me to speak with the ENT. He came in & said everything went well, gave me some drops to put in her ears, and said she'd be out in a few. 10 minutes later, I got called back again, because she was waking up. She was still groggy & crying, so I sat with her in a comfy chair & tried to comfort her. This, of course, is the kid who cried for over an hour after she was born. It takes a lot to comfort her. After a bit, they asked if she wanted something to drink. They filled her sippy cup with some apple juice and got her some graham crackers. She was instantly content, lol. I offered her a cracker and the poor thing was still so groggy that she's not really able to take a bite. It's like her mouth forgot how to bite & chew. It was so cute. After about 15 minutes, she was wide awake & happily eating all the crackers & sucking down the juice. Then the nurses wrote up her discharge papers & we were outta there! Less than 2 hours.

She's taking a nap now, but doesn't seem to be in any pain, which is good. Now we just have to be careful with not letting water get into her ears. So this means that we have to put plugs in her ears when she gets a bath. That should be interesting.

Thursday, September 27, 2007

Katie's Surgery

Katie's having tubes put in her ears tomorrow. I just called the hospital to confirm what time we have to be there. They moved her surgery from 9:30 to 8:30, so we have to be there at 7:30am. They said the actual surgery only takes about 30 minutes, and once she wakes up from the anesthesia and she's coherant & drinking something, they'll let us go home. So hopefully we'll only be gone a couple hours.

So, no food or drink (even water) for Miss Katie-baby after midnight. She's gonna be one cranky kid tomorrow. This kid loves her food & juice lately. But, thank goodness the surgery is early in the day. Now let's hope they don't get backed up for some reason.

Wednesday, September 26, 2007

Baby Speak

I think we can officially say that Katie has 2 words: mama & bye. She pronouces bye "a-bai" which is so cute with her dainty little voice. She babbles all the time, and I think I'm hearing snippets of other words, but I can't say for sure. I've heard "dada" & "Sa-wah", but I can't get her to repeat those to me. It's so cool listening to her speech slowly develop. I think that Katie's still at that age where she & Sarah can understand each other. It's neat to watch them play & interact with one another. They have such a fun time.

SIDE NOTE: After I put Katie down for a nap today, Sarah & I came downstairs. She wanted to watch a movie. I already knew it would be a VeggielTales one, as they are her favorite. So, I layed them all out for her to ponder, and she picked "Lyle the Kindly Viking". She very clearly said "Eye-al" when she pointed. So we're making speech strides every where we turn!!

Tuesday, September 25, 2007

Prepping for Halloween

Yes, I know it's not even October yet, but when you have a picky 7 year old, you learn to get things done early.

Back during the summer, Emma told me she already knew what she wanted to be for Halloween. Seeing as how it was 90 degrees outside with 90% humidity, Halloween was the last thing on my mind. But, she was insistant. She wanted to be the pink chick from "Power Rangers Mystic Force". That's all fine & good, but SHE HAS NEVER SEEN THIS SHOW. We haven't had cable for a few months, and I KNOW she never watched it before then. Where in the world did she come up with this?? I can only guess that it was something she got from her friends at day camp. I would catch little snippets about her day that had something to do with Power rangers. What's sad is she KNEW which one it was, so it's not like I could just buy any old pink Power Ranger-ish looking thing & say "Here you go!" No, of course not. I started looking on eBay and I said, ok how's this one? She frowned and said, No mom, that mask doesn't have a butterfly on it. I said, but it's PINK, and it says right here "POWER RANGER". She says, NO mom, that's a different show. That's not Mystic Force. ????? How would she know?? So I add "Mystic Force" to my search and there we go! The delux pink Power Rangers Mystic Force costume, complete with the butterfly mask.

So, I checked back for the cheapest ones over the next week or so, and I finally got a good deal. The original price for retail was supposed to be $39, and I got it for $28 (that included S & H), so not bad. It arrived in the mail yesterday, and Emma got a nice surprise when she came home from school. She, of course, wanted to wear it immediately. I told her she could try it on to make sure it fit, but afterwards it was going in the closet until Halloween.

Now my mission, if I choose to accept it, is to find a toddler sized, non-gawdy, Little Bo Peep costume for Sarah. Again, you'd think this would be easy, but people want $50 for a costume!! Uh, no thanks. Not for something that's going to get dirty, possibly ripped, and covered in candy. Katie's costume is easy. She's going to be the sheep for Bo Peep. We already have that costume in the closet. It's Sarah's old one. Speaking of which, I should probably have her try it on, otherwise I might be scouring eBay for a "sheep" costume at the last minute.

UPDATE: Sheep costume fits Katie, but just barely, lol. Good thing Halloween isn't in December, otherwise we might not be so lucky.

Tuesday, September 18, 2007

Under Construction

I just recently changed my blogger background, and I'm not sure I like it. :\ I love Monet and I think the colors are beautiful, but I don't like how the pictures I post are translucent, and the background shows through them. Makes them look weird. If I'm doing something wrong, and there is a way to make pictures and other images I post completely solid, please let me know. Otherwise, I'll be on the hunt for a new blogger layout....

Friday, September 14, 2007

The beauty of sleep

I have stayed up WAY too late for the past 4 or 5 days, barely getting 6 hours of sleep at night. When you're by yourself, with 3 kids, doing everything alone, that's not nearly enough. Last night the fatigue hit me like a truck. I came downstairs to read a book with Sarah before her bedtime and after we were done, I reclined the chair I was in and almost fell asleep instantly. 20 minutes went by & I realized it was past Sarah's bedtime, so I put her to bed. I was having a hard time keeping my eyes open. So, at 9pm, when Emma went to bed, I did, too. I slept from 9pm until 6:30am. It was awesome! I only had a few interruptions (such as Sarah having a nightmare at 1am and coming to sleep in my bed, and the times when Sarah would toss & turn and kick me in the head). I still felt when I woke up that I could use another nap, but thank goodness today's Friday so we don't have the morning rush tomorrow. Now if I could just get Katie to sleep past 7am.

Wednesday, September 12, 2007

Hi-ho, hi-ho, it's off to the ENT we go

Soooo, after thinking I had Katie's fever/crankiness/rash figured out, she threw me another curveball last night and spiked an 102 degree temp. /sigh I took her to the Pedi this morning, HOPING that something was actually wrong so we could get it fixed. I know that's probably terrible, but when your child is miserable & there's no known cause, it can get extremely frustrating. Anyhow, good news: she's gaining weight! Not much, but it's a little. Bad news: another ear infection. 5th one since the end of April. Almost all in the left ear. So we're having a pattern. We're being referred to the local ENT, whom I'm assuming will probably recommend putting tubes in. I just don't want what happened to Emma to happen to Katie. I want to nip this in the bud right now. She also thought that Katie didn't have roseola, but another random virus that's going around, which would explain the fever AFTER the rash appeared. So we're on Omnicef for 10 days (I think), along with Tylenol/Motrin and Benadryl. Call me Mrs. Pharmacutical.

Tuesday, September 11, 2007

Sigh...sick kid #2

The nurse at Emma's school called me about 9:30 this morning, telling me that Emma had come in, looking very pale, complaining that she hurt all over, but mostly her stomach. By the time she had gotten ahold of me, the nurse said she looked better. So I asked Emma if she could try to stick it out. She said she would. But, right after Sarah got home from preschool, I got another call. So, I went & picked her up. She doesn't have a fever, but isn't feeling good. She's now cuddled up on the couch watching "The Little Mermaid".

How to get a 3 year old to take a nap



Send her to preschool for 2 1/2 hours.



This kid almost never naps. But since she started preschool last week, she's taken a small cat-nap almost every day. Thank you Preschool Teachers!!

The mystery of illness

Don't you just love how your child(ren) can pick up every bug that seems to be floating around? Katie has had a fever for 5 days. We took her in, thinking it might be another ear infection, or strep again. Nope, everything came back fine, they even did a chest x-ray to rule out pneumonia. They said it was probably just a virus and would have to work itself out. Well, this fever didn't want to go away. It ranged from 99-almost 102. The poor kiddo was miserable. Well, this morning I noticed she had broken out in a nice little rash.




Ok, now I get it. Roseola. That weird, freakish bug that shows up out of nowhere and leaves you wondering "Where the heck did THIS come from?". So, while she didn't have the "normal" roseola cycle, I'm pretty sure that's what this is. The fever seems to be gone (thank goodness) and the spots will soon be gone. Just in time for one of my other kids to get this.



Yeah, she looks sick, doesn't she?

Sunday, September 09, 2007

A Glimpse from CA


Jeff sent me this picture in an e-mail earlier today. When he left he didn't have a camera phone. But he does now. In the form of an iPhone. This is his brother & his girlfriend.

Girl Power

Jeff is gone to CA for the next week, so it's just me & my girls. I can already see the difference in not having daddy around, and he only left yesterday morning. I love a clean house as much as the next person, but I also only have so much energy and patience. When Jeff isn't around to help me, my standards definitely get lowered for a few days. For example, I don't care if the kids stay in their pj's all day, as long as it's not a school day; dinners are low-key and not always healthy (we had leftover pizza last night); and if I don't have anywhere to be, I probably won't shower until I have to go somewhere. Not that I don't like to be clean, it's just that I can't always find a good time, aside from midnight, when all the children are finally asleep. It's not helping that we are all feeling a bit icky. Katie's had a fever for 3 days. I would have been willing to put money on it being an ear infection, but I took her in Friday night, and they couldn't find anything. They even did a chest x-ray to check for pneumonia, and that came back clear. So, apparently it's just a viral thing that has to work itself out. Sure, tell that to the miserable baby.
I'm still fighting off a cold/sinus infection/nastiness. I've been coughing up things that look like they belong in a biology lab. Sarah has a runny nose & Emma had a cough. If we're all sick, it must be Tuesday. I swear this family has waves of illnesses. I'm going to work very hard not to have the flu/bronchitis epidemic we had last year.
But, I know that in a couple days I'll get back on track & clean the house. You can only trip over clothes & toys for so long before it gets annoying.

Friday, September 07, 2007

Cell phone picture

My cell phone that I'd had for almost 2 years died on me in June. Well, actually, it got dropped one too many times on the concrete, if you want to get technical. Thank you kids, lol. Anyhow, I got a new cell phone. It's still a basic phone, but it has a camera on it. It takes decent pictures, not the best quality. Emma LOVES to take pictures with it. But, I end up with 50 pictures of the TV, the back of the seat in the car, and close-ups of everyone's noses. So, every couple of days, I go through & delete all the weird random ones. But, every once in awhile, I come across a really good one. Emma took this of her & Sarah.



It looks very dreamy, I just love it!

Thursday, September 06, 2007

It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year

Does anyone remember that Staples (I think it was Staples) commercial about 10 years ago? They played that song (which envokes thoughts of Christmas) and showed a grown man dancing through the school supply aisle at the store, while his children drug their feet behind him & looked solemn. It was an hilarious commercial. I can now completely relate to it. Emma started 2nd grade on Tuesday and Sarah started Preschool yesterday. Yes, I was sad because each "1st day of school" is one less "first" that we have with our kids. But, they also drive me up the wall when they're home for days on end & are bored to tears so they invent new games to slowly push me toward the padded room that they have on hold for me somewhere. Both Emma & Sarah LOVE school & were excited to go back. That being said, I'm now kinda spooked at the quiet that has engulfed my house in the last 2 days.

Emma's first day went great. There's only 1 2nd grade class this year, so she's back together with all her friends from K & 1st grade. It's a bigger class than she's used to: 23 kids. Her K class had 12, and her 1st grade class had 17. But, she's sitting next to one of her best friends, and they all have their lockers next to each other. They're "The Emma's", Emma F.. Emma K. and Emma W. Yes, they've all been in the same class, for 3 years.

Sarah was sooo sad when she couldn't join Emma in her class when we dropped her off the first day. So, the next day when it was HER first day of school, she was off & running. She wouldn't even let me take very many pictures of her because she just wanted to get in there & have fun. She hugged her teacher and then she had to explore. This is the same teacher, with mostly the same aids as last year, but it's in a new place. There are also a few new kids in her class. This is technically the "Special Needs" class, so there are a couple kids with Autism and one other child who has T21 (he's 6 months older than Sarah). It's on the university campus, so they have access to a lot of help from students who are getting ECE degrees, as well as going into a form of therapy (PT, ST, OT). They also have their own playground, which is gated (Sarah's a runner, lol), and they also have their own transportation, which we will be utilizing. Sarah actually took the bus this morning. At first she was all for it. She let the aid buckle her into the seat (specially made for the busses) and then she realized I wasn't coming with her. I had to get off the bus before I snagged her out of the seat & took her back into the house, lol. They said she did fine once she got to school. When she got home, I think it hit her, ok this is how it works. We'll see how she does tomorrow.