ratatat

Addiction

February 26, 2008

I will confess I play Spider Solitaire entirely too often. I keep thinking that if I'd just master it, I'd quit. I think that may be a sign of a problem.

Can you hear me now?

February 21, 2008

Miranda had her surgery to have tubes put in her ears. She did very well: no fussing, no whining, no crying. She had darling lamb slippers that made every nurse in the surgery center swoon. It was all very quick, in the scheme of surgery. But a long two hours at the pseudo-hospital. The surgery center is a very interesting thing. All of the upside of surgery and none of those pesky overnight patients. Brilliant. Whoever thought of it must be quite rich.

Birthday Bonanza!

February 20, 2008

Happy Birth to new baby E, can't wait to meet you.

Happy Birthday E, now 5 years old. How can that be?

And Happy Birthday to my cousin S. This day is getting as full as Rob's birthday.

So far today

February 19, 2008

Days like this will break me:

8:35am Take Miranda to school
Realize I forgot my gloves, drive home, get gloves
8:50am Take Henry to preschool
9am Go to Miranda's school to volunteer
9:50 Take Miranda to the doctor for a pre-op visit
10:10am Ushered into the room
10:35am The doctor arrives
10:45am wait at the lab to get Miranda's blood drawn. Reassure her.
11am Realize I must leave to get Henry at preschool. Leave without getting blood drawn
11:15am Pick up henry
11:30am Feed the extremely hungry children lunch. Lunch out was supposed to be the reward for having blood drawn.
12pm Head back to the doctors office for blood work
12:15pm Get into the lab. It takes three attempts and and nine recitations by me of the alphabet song. But she didn't kick, hit, or scream. The phlebotomist does not realize what she has avoided.
12:30pm Convince Miranda to go back to school, rather than head home for her (forgotten this morning) Brownie vest. I promise to iron on the missing decal
12:45pm Head to the Town Hall to vote. Register. Vote. Say goodbye to all of Henry's new poll worker friends.

It is now 1:45. I have yet to go:

Iron on that decal
Pick Miranda up from school and drive her to the Brownie meeting.
Make appropriate apologies small talk with the sweet mom who I now realize I have not had time to call/write to visit since the last Brownie meeting a month ago.
Hope that someone will be home and that I am not taking Henry with me to the school pick up and Brownie meeting
Make dinner?
Pick Miranda up from Brownies
Eat dinner.
Can i go to bed, please?

A long time home

February 17, 2008

I was disenfranchised 4 years ago today, when the nurses at St Joe's wouldn't let me leave to vote and come back. And soon, we'll vote in a far more exciting contest.

I am so incredibly tired. The weekend was exhausting. If only a weekend had more hours. Or less to do.

Happy Birthday Henry

February 14, 2008

And Happy Valentine's to you too, if you don't just celebrate Henry's birthday :)

He makes 4 look easy :)

Happy Birth!

February 11, 2008

I am technically past midnight, but for posterity's sake, Happy Birthday to L! We can't wait to meet you.

Below Zero All Day

February 10, 2008

It is unbelievably cold. It is crazy cold. So as much as my dear pregnant friends are waiting to meet their bundles of joy, I am glad I didn't meet them in the freezing cold. A good omen for your birth--be born on a day that was above freezing for at least 6 hours.

It is definitely a slow news week. It is cold. Henry's birthday is imminent. I need to wrap his gifts.

In other news, Miranda had her hearing tested on Thursday. It tested in the normal range, but showed the marked pattern of someone with recurrent fluid behind the eardrum. She has about a 15 decibel hearing loss. So we saw an ENT on Friday. Luckily, this loss isn't permanent. She will be getting tubes in her ears in the near future. She is terrified of the whole thing. I have been trying to explain that with anesthesia, she won't feel anything, she won't be bored, she won't remember it. The conversation took a weird turn when she realized that anesthesia was not the nurse who helped the doctor. I guess I would be scared if a person seemed to have the power to stop time (I used the example that she would count backward from 10 and then it would feel like a few seconds later and she would wake up).

I think she or I may need a Xanax to get us through the required pre-op blood draw. And as much as I perceive IV sedation as safer, I sort of hope she gets the mask. Kicking your doctor is considered bad form.

Miranda is not convinced we need to do any of this. I offered/threatened that the another alternative would be a hearing aid, if she loses more hearing. She thought that might be a a better solution. Remind me not to get a job in sales. Or fright-mongering.

Snow Day

February 5, 2008

Two Wednesdays in a row with the snow day. Kind of strange, but snow days aren't terrible things. Miranda again had a hard day. And the drama continues because we're going to the audiologist tomorrow morning and so that will screw up the delicate balance of her day. I am actually considering taking her to school only to pick her up 20 minutes later.

Henry ran a fever for the morning. And he had a headache. Like all good WebMD symptom checkers, I was worried about meningitis. Just a little. But his headache was in the wrong place, according to my mom. And she has been away from nursing for 30 years, but I don't think meningitis has changed that much. After a few hours, his fever responded to Tylenol and he was perky by the end of the day so I think it was a virus. It is waning. Of course, sleeping for 2-3 hours while NInja Warrior played meant he had no interest in bedtime. He ran on full power and talking mode on high until 10:30. To not disturb Miranda, we were lying in my bed. We have a projection clock that displays the temperature. He asked me to repeat the time and temperature over and over. After I caught on, I stopped. And he slept.

A picture not from today's snow day, but still entertaining:

window

Believe it or not, the window paint did come off with only 3 applications of Windex.

February?

February 4, 2008

Of all the years of our standing Superbowl bet, I really thought this year, the Patriots would get me dinner. (I always get the AFC, Rob always gets the NFC.) But no, the Giants had to end the perfect season. PAN had the most apt commentary.

Everyone was a tad bit sick today. Miranda has tummy problems. Rob was asleep most of the day. I had indigestion. And Henry was sick of our moaning.

rip

RIP old lamp

We have been reinventing the living room. New furniture. new paint on the wall. New end tables on order. And this lamp was on the hit list. But "hit" as in "remove to charity," not be knocked over accidentally by my dad in a fit of home improvement. This lamp is older than I am. It has a new shade, but the base has been with my parents since their marriage. It used to have a twin. My grandfather knocked it over and it broke into several pieces. And considering my grandfather died in 1988, this lamp has been flying solo for a long time. You were never my favorite color or pattern, but you were a nice size and a reliable source of light. I'll miss you orange lamp.