Cancer

Fucking colon cancer

FUCK

Oh dear, where do I begin?

I came to the ER at around 9 am on Christmas morning with a fever and severe abdominal pains. I'd been having pains on and off for almost two weeks but on Christmas Eve it was really unbearable so I stuck it out for the gift unwrapping then headed to the hospital.

An X-ray, cat scan, and other assessments led to an initial diagnosis of...drum roll...constipation. Bad girl, eat more fiber. So they checked me in for four liters of oral laxatives (not kidding) and, oh joy, continuous enemas. Plus some crud by IV to stir up my stomach a little more. This regimin led to almost continous vomiting and no results on the other side. So they figured I just wasn't cooperating and stuck an NG tube up my nose and down into my stomach. Turns out I can vomit even with a tube in to suction out the contents of my stomach.

After about 48 hours of this chaos where I felt like I was on death's doorstep, they sent me for a colonoscope which showed that I have a complete obstruction in my colon. We're waiting for the biopsy results, but given my age and the sudden onset, they feel it's unlikely to be a malignancy.

Most likely scenario is Chrone's disease (I'm not sure on spelling, can't google well from the blackberry). Right now they don't think I'm in imminent danger of rupturing my colon. I've been without food or water since Christmas Eve so they put in a central line today and should start pumping me with some nutritional muck tomorrow.

We tentatively have surgery scheduled for Friday morning (surgeon on vacation till then) to resect the closed off portion of my colon. They aren't fond of doing the surgery when the colon is full of you-know-what, but we don't have a whole lot of options since my system doesn't have any way of clearing itself out right now. So they may or may not be able to put the pieces back together again which could leave me with a temporary colostomy for 3-6 months. But unless I rupture or it's cancer, they've indicated that a permanent colostomy is unlikely.

So what can I say? I'm scared, praying it's not cancer. Praying that I don't become septic. Praying that I can go home to my sweet babies who I miss so dearly. I probably shouldn't spill my dirty medical problems to the internet, but I know many of you care and I ask you to pray the same prayers with me.

Things are fine at home. My mom is arranging for a personal leave to help out at the house so Sean can continue to be here bt my side. Sean's mom was a trooper watching all 3 kids the last five days. I'll try to post a brief update here if there's news, but just be optimistic and assume no news is good news.

Oh, and whenever I finish up with all this silly business, apparently I have a hernia that needs surgery and some lesions on my liver that need an MRI. Thank God I look so stunning in a hospital gown.

One year ago today...

A light came into the world...
And the world has made another trip around the sun...

And that little light has gotten bigger and brighter...Today it shines bright enough to light up all of our lives...

Happy birthday baby girl!

For those of you who like horror movies:

Here is the gruesome shot of poor Trevor's mouth. No, those teeth weren't in that position before the ride down the stairs. Check back in a few weeks and they may not be there at all. He can't bite with those teeth for two weeks in an effort to allow them to heal and firm up. At least one has 80% mobility according to the dentist. Which means hanging by a thin thread.

But he's not due for his permanent teeth for another 3-4 YEARS! So I'm thinking a crooked smile is better than no smile. So I think I'm hoping for the teeth to hang in there. Although I do think that if they turn black that would be gross. I'd prefer no teeth to black crooked teeth.

If you still haven't backed out, you can click on the picture to enlarge. And yes, that is dried blood all over his mouth. Nice touch, eh?

Hooray for small victories!

Just sent my Christmas card order to the printer. With any luck, they'll arrive here Wednesday (Thursday at the latest). I can have the envelopes all addressed and ready and maybe they'll arrive at their destinations before Dec 25th.

Now we just need a tree, presents, a birthday party for a little girl...like I said, it was a small victory.

Experience...

Y'know, you can tell your kids something a hundred times, but there are certain things they're determined to learn for themselves. Like when you say "Don't tip back in your chair, you'll fall." You can say that forever, but until they crack their head on the floor, your words will fall on deaf ears.

But certain times, I'm remiss for not warning my kids. Like I never said to Trevor, "Don't sit on that toy firetruck and try to ride it down a flight of wooden stairs". Not that he would have listened, but I didn't say those exact words. But I'm guessing the firsthand experience was enough for him to not do it again.

Pictures to follow...

Hang your head in shame...

Just one short month ago, watching a certain president-elect give his election night victory speech in Grant Park, I was proud to be from the great state of Illinois. Still probably nowhere near the Texas pride I see every day, but I had a warmth in my heart for the Land of Lincoln.

Today, not so much. Two governors in a row ousted for corruption? The transcripts of this guy's phone calls read like a bad movie script. Can somebody find me a governor I can respect. Alaska? Um...NO! Texas? Does anybody remember the commercial from the last campaign where they had Perry trying to talk himself out of a traffic ticket? What a clown. But he's no Rod Blogojevich, that's for sure.

Nice way to represent for the home team Rod.

Lists...

Mama T is a self-proclaimed list person. I admire that. Me? I'm anti-list. Why do I need to look at the top 10 things I didn't get done today that should have gotten done yesterday. If I had a list, it would look like this:

Presents purchases: ZERO
Gift ideas: ZERO
Christmas cards designed and ordered for other people: FOUR
Christmas cards designed and ordered for self: ZERO
Photo shoots edited for other families: ??20??
Photo shoots edited for my family: ZERO
1st birthday party invitations designed and ordered: ONE (Yay!)
Adorable 1st birthday outfits ordered after begging the woman to please, please accept my order even though it's past the holiday cutoff: ONE (Yay! Again)
Sense of impending doom as the birthday and holiday approach: PRICELESS

If you're reading this, just remind yourself that this blog is my personal gift to you and you couldn't ask for anything more. :-)

Swing shift...

Wednesday-up at 3 am
Thursday-up till 3 am

If anyone tells me I look younger than my age today, I'll know they're lying.

Oh, that caffeine is shouting my name and I'm playing earmuffs so I don't hear its' profane seductive call.

Yum!

I had a salted caramel signature hot chocolate at Starbuck's today. First of all, I never go to Starbucks and all their fancy drinks and weird sizes confuse me. Secondly, it makes me sick to pay almost $4 for a hot chocolate.

But, seriously now, it was soooooo delicious. Like run out and get yourself one right now. And go another 6 months without a haircut so you can afford one at least once a week.

Caught a flight home 2 hours earlier than originally scheduled. SWEET!

Love/Hate

I have a love/hate relationship with 6 am flights. I love being able to get to a 9 am mtg without having to fly out the day before and stay overnight. I HATE waking up at 3:15 to get ready and make it to the airport. I mean, really, that's just an obscene hour. Even Juliette isn't rude enough to disturb my sleep at that hour.

But the guy at security spent a while looking at my license before he finally said "You look a lot younger". Maybe he says that to everyone...maybe he was joking...but he sounded sincere. And it got a smile out of me at 5 am, which isn't easy.

'Tis the season...

Yesterday, the boys went to the Thanksgiving parade downtown before we enjoyed a lovely meal at home (I can say it was lovely even if I cooked it, right?) Then we made our quasi-annual trip to the Uptown Lighting ceremony and fireworks near the Galleria.

The boys got some nifty new toys to make their own lightshows:


Juliette watched the fireworks with Grandma Denise and welcomed the official opening of the Christmas season...

Then we enjoyed a leisurely afternoon at the park the day after Thanksgiving. No shopping for us, thank you very much. Juliette knew it must be fall still because she found a leaf on the ground.

The boys knew it was almost Christmas because they opened the outdoor ice skating rink at Discovery Green. However, they opted for other diversions...

Yeah, 85°F on the day after Thanksgiving...welcome to Christmas season in Texas...let's put on our bathing suits and play in the fountains at the park.

One to check off the list...

I don't have the ingredients for our Thanksgiving dinner, but I did manage to get the kids to the mall for the annual Santa picture. Here they were in the car on the way to the mall.

Juliette didn't know what she was getting into...
Hayden scowled at me, until I told him Santa doesn't bring presents to boys who make mean faces at their mother.

Trevor was a little pumped up this year. A nice change from the frightened screaming of yesteryear.

How adorable are these two?

Hayden loves Santa.

Here was the shot from the mall people:

And this was mine.

All in all, not a bad Santa visit. Not a cryer in the bunch.

Forgot to mention...
Someone turned 11 months old today. Ooh la la!

For Anna, who wanted to see the whole outfit...

And expressed a special interest in these cute shoes...

Delinquent...

Got a letter today from a collections agency. They're after me for some overdue library books. I got the notice a while ago but didn't want to pay since they said they'd reverse the charge on the books if I returned the books. And I kept meaning to return the books but didn't get around to it.

How wrong is it that I ruin a near-perfect credit rating by hijacking three books on bed-wetting? I mean, if you're going to go down in flames, shouldn't it at least be over something more fun?

The itch...

I'm starting to get the itch to buy a new camera. My shutter has been acting a little sketchy and I don't have a back-up camera. And the new Nikon D700 has some nifty features that could bring some real improvements to my shooting.

BUT...the old camera is still working...and I'd need a pricey new lens to go with the new camera (my #1 lens isn't fully compatible with the D700...and I'd have to book, I don't know, 30 shoots, to pay for the camera and lens.

So I can't really justify the new camera completely. And these things tend to get cheaper/more sophisticated the longer you wait. So maybe I should wait.

But I really really want it NOW.

Perhaps a bad sign...

When the dog gets haircuts more frequently than I do. I'm the shaggiest one in the house.

Skinny jeans...

When I see those two words together, I think on those one-size too small jeans we all have in our closet, waiting for the day that 15 lbs miraculously disappears from our waist/bum/hips/thighs. But don't set foot in the Gap, new land of "skinny jeans" which apparently means the early 80s fitting jeans that are skin tight from waist to ankle. Now I must ask, is that a good look for anyone? I mean even if you're 5'10" and 110 lbs I think skinny jeans look ridiculous. Of course, the fact that I'm shorter and heavier than those dimensions may influence my thinking. But seriously, were they watching when Stacy and Clinton passed out the rules on "What not to Wear"?

In other news, I got sick on Saturday night and had to cancel 2 photo shoots for Sunday. Which means I'll have 5 shoots the following weekend which really exceeds my ability to process in a timely manner. So you may not be hearing from me for while since I'll be in solitary confinement with my BFF Photoshop for a while.

Stylist, please?

I've been taking pictures of one family after the next for the upcoming holidays. And every family I meet shows up looking effortlessly lovely. Which never ceases to amaze me since outfitting the family for holiday pics is the bane of my existing. Every year it takes me longer and longer (perhaps due to the continued expansion of the clan).

This year I decided we're going with a more relaxed look so we're going to wear jeans. Which means I only need to buy tops. That's a no brainer, right? Not so much. Trying to look coordinated but not outright matchy-matchy is beyond my abilities, apparently. I spent two hours looking for a top for myself to end up with one purchase that still doesn't inspire me. I still don't have a decent pair of jeans, but I've got a Gap coupon so I'm optimistic.

I've been looking online for Juliette because I can't find anything in the store that's a dark color, not too dressy, and no wild patterns. I found something online but can't stomach paying $100 for an outfit that will be unlikely to fit in two months. I did find a dress I kind of liked online for $50. Then I found the same dress in a store for $110 but it was super cute when I tried it on her. So I spent 1.5 hours online trying to find it for $50 again. No luck.

I took all 3 kids to the mall today to try to find outfits for the boys. The only things that kept me from killing them were 1)threats of telling the mall Santa about their misbehavior (why is Santa there before Thanksgiving?) 2) the TVs in 2 of the stores we visited and 3) the promise of cookies. So I got a few options for them which is progress. Another 5 hours of frustrated shopping and I might wrap this year's shopping up. Which is ridiculous. Who spends this long to look so "effortlessly casual"? Nobody.

So if you wonder why I didn't send that perfect baby/birthday/Christmas gift...this is why. I can't shop. Get paralyzed by the decision-making. No inspiration. Looking around at the vast mountains of choices just makes me dizzy.

But with any luck, I might get it together enough to get the family pic done, put together a card, and send it to you. If I work on it every waking hour between now and Dec 25th.

Breakfast...

Normally, I take Hayden to school at around 7:25 and wait outside with him till the first bell rings at 7:35 am. This will usually get me to my office right around 8 am. But they offer breakfast in the cafeteria at school and once in a blue moon, if I need to be at work before 8, I drop him in the cafeteria at 7:10 am. So this week he announces that he'd rather just have me drop him at the curb so he can eat breakfast at school every day.

Sniff. Sniff. Big boy. So it's more convenient for me certainly, but am I a bad mom for it? Is the free breakfast at school just for the kids who can't get a decent breakfast at home? Should I be spending quality time with my kid over a nutritious breakfast at home? Or if he'd rather be in the cafeteria and I could benefit from getting to work earlier, is it a win-win?

Almost missed it...

Miss J. Has been doing the combat crawl for 2+ months now. She's continued to slither around on her belly like a snake despite moving onto other physical milestones like getting herself into a sitting position, getting up on her knees, and pulling up to stand. For some reason, I dusted off the video camera late last week to capture her sweet slithering crawl.

And what do you know, I came home yesterday and found her crawling on her hands and knees like a big girl.

We have probably 2 hours of video of Hayden attempting to crawl, pull up, etc. At least we won't have to do as much editing on Juliette's early years. Although the soundtrack could use some work, mostly the dogs barking and the boys fighting. Such is life in our house.

I came home and something was missing...

Sean and I went out to a play on Saturday night and my mother watched the kids. We apparently missed a big event in our house. What's missing from this picture?
Who needs to move in for a closer look?

Please note, this was not due to an all-night Halloween candy-eating binge. A few weeks ago, Hayden took a shot to the mouth in a soccer game. There was a little blood and the tooth has been getting gradually looser since then. He could not have been more excited about having that tooth come out...I think it was the tooth fairy that made him so pumped up.

By the way, the tooth fairy has upped the ante these days. I used to get a quarter growing up. Hayden's mouth is going to cost the tooth fairy $100 before we're all said and done.

Get out and vote today!

I'm standing in line waiting to vote and I'm more excited than I thought I'd be. I already got choked up this morning talking to Hayden in the car about how we'll read in the newspaper tomorrow who our new president is. And now I'm feeling so energized and the anticipation really has me quite emotional. So get out there and vote and share the energy.

#3

Wouldn't we love to say that we treat all our children equally? It isn't even close to being true. Hayden got all the undivided attention of a first child. Is it any wonder he's such an early reader? We must have read to him 2 hours a day. Poor Trevor probably only knows 2 letters right now (T I'm sure of, maybe H). Hopefully he'll pick it all up in preschool.

And Miss J? She's on her own entirely. Still don't have any video of her crawling...but she's been at it for months. Now she's pulling herself up to stand...without an audience of clapping, adoring fans. She tried to pull herself up on my leg in the kitchen last night but only succeeded in pulling down my pants. She's a do-it-herself kind of gal, way ahead of where the boys were on gross motor development at the same age. But I think it's by necessity. As much as I absolutely and truly adore her, I can't lay on the floor to play with her for a minute without the wild boys clawing at us. So she gets to explore and try to stand, and fall, all on her own. No safety net of hands ready to catch her. I think she'll be our adventurous one--jumping out of planes and traveling the world with only a backpack.

Birth order isn't everything, but it sure seems to make a difference in our house.

The problem...

I went to return a pair of shoes at lunch today. When I bought Juliette an outfit for her 10 month pictures (yes, she got a new outfit just for pictures, don't lecture me yet) I bought the shoes in two different sizes, because I wasn't sure which ones would fit. So today I went to return the ones that were too big. There you go, $14 back in the bank.

Until I saw this hat. I mean, if your name is Juliette Claire and you are 12.5% French, you must have a beret, oui?

And you can't wear that beret without these shoes, can you?

And those shoes practically demand this blouse if you ask me...

And what the heck, if we're going nuts, we'd better finish the outfit with this skirt...

And that, my friends, is the problem in a nutshell. I may have waited my whole life for this little girl, but I really should have been saving my whole life for this little girl.

But since she doesn't need a college fund (on account of being cute and intending to marry rich), I guess it's OK, right?

He's redeemed himself...

You may or may not know that my friend Vito is a stay-at-home dad. I know that's a big important job and not something to make fun of. But he does seem to have a more than ample allotment of web-surfing time every day. Lately, he's been sending me lots of links to web-trash. I'm talking the worst of the worst videos of dubbed Transformer cartoons and Mario Brothers humor. I'd almost given up clicking on the links he sends, but then comes this gem...

See more Ron Howard videos at Funny or Die

Vito says it's funny no matter how you plan to vote. I can't vouch for that, but it's sure funny if you plan to vote the way I'm voting.

Hijacked...

I tried to check my blog from a coworker's computer today to show her the soccer picture. I typed in my address and instead of this blog, up popped some blog in German about GUNS! Pictures of my sweet children replaced by pictures of GUNS. I was sure I typed the address right, but just in case, I googled myself and clicked on the link from Google. Once again, GUNS! It was very disturbing. I checked again 15 min later from my own computer and it was back to normal. But what in the world???

Anyways, feeling some mom-guilt for rarely posting pics of the big boys, so here...

Oh, and since I can't get enough of this one...

My new hairbows for Miss J arrived in the mail today. I am beyond excited. I was getting tired of the one little plaid bow, but couldn't stomach any more $9 itty bitty bows. But I scored a bunch from a cute Ebay shop for only $2 each. Y'see, when we wear the hairbows, we can get away with colors other than pink and avoid being called a boy. And mommy is tired of people calling her little flower a boy.

Wow, has it been that long?

I just saw that my last post was Oct 11th...I shouldn't even be posting though because I'm so far behind on everything else. I'm still working on editing the wedding I shot on Oct 11th and then I have 3 other photo sessions to wade through.

And yet, here I am, shopping on-line for Halloween costumes and looking through pics of my own cuties. Here are a few updates...

This edible little morsel turned 10 months old today.
She had to demonstrate her new skills...

The sun sets on another month and I'm overjoyed and sad at the same time. She almost isn't a baby anymore.

Speaking of skills, what's wrong with this picture of the Sharks' soccer game yesterday? I've noted for your reference #1) the ball which is in play #2) David pointing to tell Logan where to go #3) Trevor running around the field with his jersey pulled over his head and #4) Logan blissfully unaware of where the action is. Gotta love 3-year old soccer.

And finally, we had another milestone around here yesterday. Someone had a little birthday cake with two #4 candles on it. Care to guess who that might be?

I'd say I'll post again when I get caught up with everything else, but that will probably never happen.

On the road...

To Louisiana. I miss Louisiana. Wish I could get there a little more frequently.

Whew!

Despite more wrong turns than any one person should be able to make in a single day, I made it to my meeting on time this morning. And despite my ability to turn a 30 mile trip to the airport into a 60 mile trip (one really wrong turn that took me 15 miles to figure out), I'm boarding my flight as we speak after a madcap dash through the airport. Remember the old commercials with OJ sprinting through the airport dodging obstacles? That was totally me. Without the future life of crime, I hope.

Maybe I'll make it to soccer practice tonight. Yay!

By the way, passed a restaurant called the Beef Connection. Is it possible that Louisiana is less vegetarian than Texas? My lunch at the meeting would suggest the answer is yes. Green beans? Yum, but not with pork. Pasta? Double yum, but not with seafood. Chicken? Not even a half-yum in my book. Oh well, leftover breakfast doughnuts and pound cake are a balanced meal for me these days.

In case you're curious, I'm still caffeine free. I almost caved in during a particularly scintillating presentation today, since my 3:30 alarm was coming back to haunt me, but I stood strong. Oops, doors closing. Signing off.

Got up at 3:30 am...

So I could get to the airport by 5 am so I could catch a 6 am flight to Louisiana so I could attend a 9 am meeting. And then catch a 4 pm flight back to Houston so I can get to bed early so we can get on the road Saturday morning to drive to Louisiana.

Sitting on the plane waiting for takeoff, wondering if your life keeps going in circles too?

Just spent $150. Remember when you used to get exciting stuff when you went shopping. I got diapers, wipes, and batteries. Doesn't get much more exciting than that folks.

Don't open Quicken...

It's just depressing. Sean has it set up to update all the stock prices automatically and the little net worth box in the corner is looking sad. That's what you get when 90% of your net worth is invested in stock. Just repeat after me: we're in it for the long haul, we're nowhere near retirement, the kids have years before they need their college funds, the market always recovers...it's all just a wonderful opportunity to buy more at bargain prices. And don't look at the numbers 'cause there isn't a darn thing you can do about it.

My brother would say...at least Juliette is cute, she can just marry well and not worry about needing a college fund.

GOOOOOOOOOOAL!!!!

Times 4 for Hayden yesterday...

Think he's a little bit excited???

Trevor's game was a little more low key, but at least we got him out on the field this week. Sean promised to high-5 him for each time he kicked the ball. So every time his foot touched the ball, he would run off the field to find Sean for a high-5.

3-year old logic

We saw a woman on crutches at McDonald's this morning...yeah, nothing but the best nutrition for me and my kids...but not the point...

Trevor: "Why does that woman have those things Mommy?"
Me: "Because her foot is hurt and those things help her walk, they're called crutches."
Trevor: "How did her foot get hurt Mommy?"
Me: "I really don't know Trevor."
Trevor: "Maybe a policeman ran over her foot with his police car Mommy."
Me: "Yeah Trev, that's probably what happened."

Things to do...

1) Sort through pics for digital picture frame gift.
2) Make t-shirts that were for Art's 2006 Xmas gift.
3) Wedding album for Shelley.
4) Halloween costumes x3
5) Family Xmas pics/cards.
6) Family photo album update (hint: Juliette doesn't exist in our albums)

When will I find the time to get it all done? Already starting to get booked for Xmas pictures. In the midst of soccer season. Maybe it's good that I don't have internet to distract me.

Back to school...

The boys went back to school yesterday, FINALLY! It's like starting over to get them back into the routine after two+ weeks off. Hayden is actually doing better than before, no tears at drop off either day and I didn't have to shove him into the classroom and run either day.

Trevor is struggling despite my best efforts. I went into work late yesterday and today so I could drop him off myself but there was still sobbing upon my departure. Actually, he's kind of funny first. I say "It's time for mommy to go." And he says "It's time for Trevor to go too". His teacher is so sweet though, holding him and loving him through the transition. Reports were that he had a good day despite the initial tears.

Still no internet at home. I've almost given up. I used to come home and turn on the computer and check if the internet was working. Now I don't even bother. Comcast is like that boyfriend who stopped calling suddenly. At first you would check your messages and caller ID to see if he called. Then you try calling him. Then you just give up because that piece of crap loser isn't going to call. You're on your own now, you don't need him. But you still kind of miss him and you'd take him back. So screw you Comcast, we're done. Unless, of course, you want to get back together.

Decaf

The whole food poisoning episode started Tuesday mid-day. Felt queasy in the morning and then was doubled over with sharp intestinal pain by lunch. Still ate some pizza and salad which I promptly donated back to the city of San Antonio's waste treatment system. Wednesday started OK, ate a few crackers in the office but they came right back up. So now I couldn't keep anything down, including my daily diet dr. Pepper fix. Incredible nauseau compounded by a splitting headache now for a 4 hour drive with the kids from San Antonio back to Houston. Thank goodness my mom was driving.

Got too dehydrated by Thurs and had to go to ER for IV fluids and was quickly settled on the road to recovery.

In the midst of it all, survived the caffeine detox/withdrawal since I couldn't keep any fluids down. So I'm free, right? Except that caffeine, she's a seductive little minx. I feel like she's calling my name every time I put my quarters in the machine to buy another bottle of water. "Come back to me...you need me..." She says.

Forget about crack, it's caffeine and the internet that are going to bring me down.

Back to work...

Ahh, the internet, I've missed you my love. I know we only have a few precious hours together every day now, but I cherish them dearly.

I now have access to all the really important information. Like this. Wham! was #28 on the greatest songs of the 80s, George Michael solo was #74. I think a lot of the ranking are pretty debatable, but then again, I'm not a big fan of pop metal (guns -n- roses, whitesnake, etc.). Although, I have turned to volume up on Def Leppard more than once. Saw them at the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo a few years ago. Doesn't that seem like a strange venue for Def Leppard? I was happy to find Rob Base & DJ EZ Rock at #80. Just downloaded that one from Amazon a few weeks ago. Trevor made a funny face while I played it and danced around the living room.

Oh, and when I don't have the internet, I can't share this precious piece of 9-month old loveliness.

The things you're not supposed to say out loud...

I know we should be counting our blessings right now...and we are, really. Our home is undamaged. We've had electricity for days, we've got gas in the cars, food in the fridge, my nasty bout of food poisoning is past (don't even get me started on that), the kids are a little less stir crazy...

But I miss the internet.

There...I said it...

Was laying sick in bed watching VH1's top 100 songs of the '80s on and off the other day. Didn't catch Wham! or George Michael. Was desperate to get on the net to know where they placed. Sigh...the really important stuff like that. Darn Comcast.

Checking in...

All is well for me and Miss J in Chicago (actually Wisconsin right now). The boys and Grandma Denise rode out the storm in Houston. They lost power and water, but the house stayed dry due to Sean's all night efforts keeping the drains clear of debris so water didn't back up. The power came back today and they've got enough water for a few days. My flight home has been cancelled but I should be able to get out Monday afternoon. Hope all is well with all of you.

Where do you blog?

On a plane with a baby waiting for people to board.

On my way...

Out of town tomorrow for a business trip/visit to Chicago. I'm taking Juliette with me. It will be her first airplane flight, first trip anywhere other than a day trip to visit Grandma in Louisiana. Should be fun. If only I could get around to packing. Yeah, that would be nice.

Anyways, the new photography website is officially up and running. So I'm adding it to my links. Comments and suggestions for improvement are always welcome.

Finally, here's a pic of Juliette from last week. She went from 2 teeth to 5 last week, yet still is only being fed mush (prunes here). She's getting great at the combat crawl, mostly using her arms to pull herself along. But she can definitely get into trouble. She executed a 1 second triple roll off the king size bed last night and was on the floor before I could jump across the bed to grab her. Oh well, she survived, hopefully we will too.

Mobile Blogging...

So my new thing is to blog from my Blackberry while I'm pumping at work. Yes, blogging on the blackberry is slow and half the time my posts get lost, but the other options are to stare at the wall or flip thru 5 year old magazines.

I had lunch with Hayden at the elementary school today. It is a bit of a challenge to get out of work, pick up some lunch, get checked in at the office at his school, and down to the cafeteria by 10:57 am, but it was totally worth it. He was so excited and I was like a rock star at his table. All the kids were clamoring to tell me stuff. The other mom who looks kinda pregnant but I wasn't sure and didn't want to ask...her daughter confirmed that they do indeed have baby#4 on the way. Hayden was super talkative, much better than at the end of the day. So if you want the real scoop on life in kindergarten, go to lunch.

The one thing that shocked me was that they have about 150 kids eating lunch at the same time and only 2 adults monitoring. Hayden's teacher was there at the start to help open bags, etc., but after that the kids were just left to eat with a few roaming monitors to make sure nobody acted up. Definitely a situation ripe for mutiny. If those kids were organized enough, they could totally overthrow the monitors and run wild. Talk about an insufficient adult to child ratio...

I went to the cardiologist Monday. He had me wear a 24 hour continuous EKG. Should get the results next week. I'm guessing it will show a few palpitations here and there but nothing serious. The doctor didn't seem concerned about the SVT. He sees much worse all the time (could have guessed that by the lobby full of 80 year olds in wheelchairs). He said I'm young and healthy and my heart can handle a few extra beats a few times a year. If I start having SVT every week, maybe we'll do something. He said he'd medicate me if my blood pressure wasn't so darned low. He took it 3 times to convince himself it was really 90/60. All the drugs they could give me would have a side effect of lowering my blood pressure and he said that with my regular pressure so low, I'd be passing out if it got any lower. So on we go...

It takes a lot...

A lot of stuff to keep our family of 5 going each week. Fruit, vegetables, 3 loaves of bread (wheat, white, cinnamon), ravioli, sauce, meat, fish, yogurt, crackers, cheese, vitamins, cereal, paper towels, baby food, wipes, etc. It makes for a really full cart at the grocery store. And a really ridiculously high bill - $300 last week.

Which makes it all the more embarrassing when you're all checked out with all the groceries sacked up and you kid munching on his new licorice and you realize you left your wallet at home.

Something, anything...

OK, I've been busy trying to sort through the pictures from the first week of school to share plus I'm working on a re-design of my "business" website. Neither is complete, but it's kept me from posting. If you want a sneak peek at the website redesign, it resides here temporarily until I finish it up and go live.

If you need something to read, there's a blog that I've been reading which really makes me stop and think every day. Start here, then you can read recent posts here. It's written by a dad with a daughter about Juliette's age, so I guess that's why I connect to it. Her mom was on bed rest for several weeks before she was born, just like I was. That's where our paths diverge, and reading it makes me count my blessings...and realize how abundant they truly are.

Oh, and as long as I'm posting completely random information, don't you think my fingers look FREAKISHLY long in the baby picture a few posts down? People always tell me I have long fingers, but they look creepy-long to me in that picture.

SVT...

Supraventricular Tachycardia. That sounds like fun, eh? I've probably had about a half dozen episodes in my lifetime, the last when I was pregnant with Juliette. But I've always been with another adult before.

Today I was in the drive-thru at Chik-Fil-A when it happened. It's always sudden onset, just sitting there, la-de-dah, and all of a sudden my heart is beating out of my chest and I can barely catch my breath. I try to take my pulse, but can't count that fast. So I finish ordering lunch for the kids (priorities people, priorities!) and drive home, now more annoyed than ever at the construction on my street. I try to call Sean, but big surprise, his cell phone is turned off. So I call my mother who is fortunately not working today and tell her to come over right away.

So I'm sitting, waiting, explaining to Hayden how to call 911 if mommy "falls asleep and can't wake up". The kids don't take me seriously at all, by the way. I wonder what the ambulance people would do if I called them...would they bring the kids with? Should I drive myself to the hospital? What would they do with 3 kids if I showed up at the ER? Sean calls, he's on his way now, but that's still 30 minutes at least.

Juliette's hungry, so I let her nurse. Can't make things worse, I figure, and I don't think there's any milk in the fridge so if I go to the hospital she'll lose her meal ticket.

I beg the boys to put their shoes on so we can be ready to go when grandma arrives. They're still unimpressed with mommy saying she doesn't feel well. Trevor doesn't want Hayden to help with his shoes. I cry a little, that works wonders, remember this for future reference.

My mom arrives and drives us to the hospital. Heart problems give you a free pass at the ER, no waiting. They put me on an EKG and say "SVT". Sean arrives, they put me in a room, start an IV, doctors huddle a bit, they try the vasovagal maneuvers (I tried them at home, no success), then decide to move on to the adenosine. This part sucks, they basically jack you with a chemical really fast and it stops your heart with the assumption that it will restart itself in a normal rhythm (crash cart standing by, just in case). In the meantime, when your heart stops, it feels like you're dying, even when you know it's going to happen, it's creepy. Last time the nice cardiologist held my hand. This time they all watched the monitors...success, normal sinus rhythm...everyone cheers, high fives.

I'm resting tonight, no housework or diaper changing they said. I asked all the important questions: Can I drive myself to the hospital next time? Answer: it could cause you to faint, but since you didn't faint this time, you probably won't next time, so it's probably OK. Can I bring the kids to the ER? Yes, definitely, plenty of people to watch them (not those creepy guys in the lobby, right?).

Will it happen again? My cardiologist said yes after the last time. Some type of electrical abnormality in my heart. They can do something called ablation, where they burn out the malfunctioning part, but if they burn too much, I could need a pacemaker, so that would suck. So as long as the episodes aren't too frequent, we just pack it in and head to the ER. Thanks for that $100 co-pay, see you again next time.

Sorry this post is so long, just a stream of consciousness...hopefully you still notice the post below begging for comments.

Show me some love people...

OK, we're going on 20 posts and over 2 months without a single comment. So it must mean nobody reads the blog, so I should just abandon it, right?

Look familiar?
I don't have a whole bunch of baby pictures of me (second child, y'know how it goes), but I thought this one looked a little like Miss J. Whadda ya think? By the way, note the edge of my brother's face cropped out of the picture. So the only baby pictures I have of me have him in them too.

It's actually the opposite here. I have more pictures of Juliette than either of the boys. I only went digital when Trevor was ~3 months old. Even though I was really over-zealous with the film, I've shot way more pics of Juliette, probably averaging 200 a week or something insane. So no complaints baby girl, OK?

Juliette & Malik...

I tried to take some pictures of Juliette yesterday because she was being super sweet for me. I got a few decent shots, but something kept getting in the way...and so I thought you might enjoy seeing some of the nuisances we deal with during our photo sessions and everyday life...

Here's a normal shot...

Isn't she delicious? Couldn't you just eat her up? Apparently, I'm not the only one with this thought...

For the full-size slideshow, click here. The close-ups work much better on a bigger screen.

#2...
Juliette found another tooth in her mouth today. More pictures here...obviously another productive day.

And in other news, I handed my paycheck to the plumbers who make more in 6 hours than I do in 2 weeks. Why did I go to college for 6 years??? Oh, that's right, I was getting paid while I took the picture above and the plumber has to dig in my sewer pipe to get paid. OK, maybe that's fair, but I'm so tired of spending money fixing things around this house and having no visible improvement. Oooh, a new hot water heater...the dangerous leaking gas valves replaced...the gas valves at floor level that the crawling baby can open capped off...YEAH, YEAH, it's all important, but not as exciting as some curtains or furniture.

The electrician is next...GFCI's...YAY! Now that's a party waiting to happen.

Tropical Storm Edouard?

We laugh in the face of tropical storms. Ha! Until we fall on the concrete and cut our knee. Then we cry. And the bad mommy feels guilty for encouraging the jumping.

Goodbye, hello...

It seems we've come full circle. This blog has actually outlived our fish Barnaby. If you've been a reader from the beginning, you might recall when we thought our fish Sammy died a few years ago. Then he actually died. Then we mourned. Then we brought Barnaby home.

Well, it was flush-time for Barnaby this morning. Rest in peace, little friend. All drains lead to the ocean kid.

And this afternoon, we welcomed GoGurt to the household. He's a zippy little fellow and hopefully will enjoy a long healthy life. Maybe I'll even change the water in his bowl occasionally. Maybe he'll live long enough for Hayden to be able to do it himself.

The new baby...

No, he's not really ours. He's Erika's new puppy that has been coming to work with her the past few days. Pippen and Trevor are quite fond of him, but Juliette's in a battle for reign over the toys and blankets. And Malik? The big bully has stolen the poor little guy's crate.

Juliette's Loves Live Sporting Events...

Could somebody make this child stop looking at me so I can get something done other than taking her picture?