Let this be a warning: Six-year-old boys get obsessed. OBSESSED. Introduce them to your favorite classic science fiction at your own peril.
Super anti-whine is that I have it on good authority that I'm going to be Princess Leia for Halloween! YAY!
My eight-year-old self approves.
So...
What's up with you this week? Extra bonus prizes for illustrations.
44 comments:
First again. I'm going to pre-emptively whine for Wednesday. Repeat of hearing test for baboo--requires her to be deeply asleep. Yeah, right. She does that at night, which is a huge antiwhine. Not sure how we're going to accomplish this in the morning. Alternative? Sedation. Right. Really not going to happen.
And whine/antiwhine: grandma's coming tomorrow too. Cooking and cleaning and baby-holding. 'Twill be good to see her come, and likely good to see her go on Sunday. I know I sound ungrateful, but it's Wednesday Whining. I know yall can take it.
Yep, we can take it!
Love the Leia picture! May the force be with you.
AW: Went out for ice cream after dinner.
W: About to go have bedtime chat with Snuggly Girl about the fact that, although it was really fun to bring BusStop Friend with us for ice cream, next time she needs to ask us first before issuing an invitation.
AW: The outing went just fine. We'll see how falling asleep goes.
Adorable picture Liz. Just precious. I'm sure MM will be even cuter, to say the least. :)
Whine is that I'm sick with some sort of viral ick. Miss M had it when she arrived Friday, and now I'm sitting at home with 3 kids and 102 degree fever while my husband is doing AV for the Law School Follies. Yeah. I'm so mad I can't see straight, except that I'm so feverish I can't really care. Here's hoping Baby MC and Little Miss S escape the clutches of this virus.
Wah.
Esperanza and DMD are starting off strong today. Sheesh, DMD, he couldn't get someone else to cover AV while you're sick?
Esperanza, I'm thinking of you and hoping that the test goes well.
Liz, we really do need to get together with the kids for a blogger playdate. D and MM would hit it off great.
Whine: N is sick yet again.
Anti-whine: He's an awfully good patient. Says things like "I'm tired now. I think I need a nice sleep."
Whine: I'm getting tired of not having a kitchen.
Anti-whine: They've started to install the new cabinets, and they look great.
Pixies, I need the clue stick this week. Not for myself (my courseload is punishment enough, yo) but for a friend who had to go out of his way to call me in midst of a massive life meltdown (Gordon Ramsey would call it 'shambolic' and that would barely begin to approach the the depths of the torment in his soul. At ten pm. On a Sunday night. While I am trying to finish all manner of final projects for all beeping courses I'm enrolled in this term.
So there goes the rest of my evening and am I thanked, Pixies, for giving him the advice he begged for?
Of course not.
Matter of fact, I think he actually has the temerity to to be upset with the brutal honesty that he demanded.
Feh.
Elizabeth: PLAYDATE PLAYDATE PLAYDATE!!!!
Miranda: Sounds like he needs a double dose of clue stick. We'll see what we can do.
Okay, not *quite* bring bodily fluids to the table, rather bodily...um...gasses. Yes, pixies, I seem to be having persistant, won't go away gas. It may be a combination of my chronic ulcerative colitis (although it's more or less under control) and pregnancy moving all those organs around in there. Anyway, it's bad especially at night and really just a huge pain. I've been drinking peppermint tea a lot but I don't really want to get up in the middle of the night to make myself more tea. Blech!
Oy, Turtlebella, teh pregnancy gas.
It's probably everything getting moved around. I had it bad with MM. And...unfortunately...I've never been the same since. My previous SBD's (silent...but deadly) are now worthy of a Sousa march.
I hope you have better fortune.
Hi Pixies,
Only one major whine this week, and it's a continuing saga whine. The school system. Are asshats. Who need a fireplacing cluestick. Up their nether regions. Now.
They sent out the new IEP on my daughter. Guess what they forgot? To put in one single word on her learning disability. Oh yeah. Morons. They they put in a bunch of crapola about how MOM refused their recommendations, and MOM refused that recommendation, and MOM refused to listen to them and bow down to their exceedingly more important opinions. Yeah, they did. So MOM refused to sign the IEP, and MOM told them off in no uncertain way that I would not sign anything that vilified me and made me sound like I was unfit because I disagreed with their recommendations. And reminded them that a recommendation is just that. NOT a requirement. I hate them.
So, because they are mad at me, they are punishing my daughter by treating her like a criminal. She can only be on school grounds for her two classes. Not 5 minutes earlier. Not five minutes later. They keep insisting that she take transportation provided (aka the sped bus) that she has consistantly refused. And is NOT in her IEP. If she does not take said Sped Bus, she is not following their recommendations and the can expel her.
I will be making plenty of phone calls tomorrow.
Now, in AntiWhines: flew down to DC and picked up adorable new car. Trip was great, saw the cherry blossoms in full flower and OMG they are gorgeous. The city was packed.
The car drives great, has only 61K on it, and gets 42mpg on the highway. It's small, but runs great. And now I finally have a car!
And, even more wonderful, upon my arrival home yesterday got email from a PR person asking me if my family would like to go FREE to Chicago for a weekend to have the kids do some driving with defensive driving experts at some track. All expenses paid.
Better still, one of my bestest blogging friends was also invited. So party in Chicago on Ford's dime next month. Kids are psyched.
Last little thing isn't a whine per se, but a comment on how sad life treats me at times. Went to podiatrist for the first time today. I am not allowed to wear flip flops and he recommended crocs. Yes, he did.
Yikes, cluestick for Miranda's friend indeed and good, deep sleepy, thoughts for Baboo's hearing test. (We always just opted for the sedation since morning is the time of day when our kids are painfully alert. And in related nosy-ness, I am curious how many weeks premature was the sweet Baboo?)
Bodily fluid whine in terms of leaky G-tube button, but(antiwhine) it does seem to be improving with constant monitoring and more stringent gauze packing.
Whine of illness associated weightloss for Kid1, antiwhine of it returning fairly quickly. If being sick for two weeks involved the loss of 15% of MY body weight, I wouldn't hesitate to contract something otherwise undesirable.
Anti-whine of thunderstorm warning tonight. Thunderstorms=summer weather in my locale, and cheap entertainment value for me.
Additional anti-whine of long awaited mail arriving after many snafus with mail forwarding service, customs and notification of package arrival.
Double votes for Margalit's no flip-flops allowed whine! Oh, the horror! Kudos on school-related advocacy. I volunteer my 3yo to flip them the bird, if necessary.
that mommy--yeah, she's painfully awake in the morning too. Of course, she is un-keep-awake-able right now, 8:34 am, and we're about to leave. One quick breastpump before we go...we're opting against the sedation because of her continued breathing difficulties and need for oxygen. I'm not sure any anesthesiologist would touch her anyway. And, no need to apologize for nosy-ness: Baboo was born at 29 weeks, 4 days.
And, you get a vote for the phrase "leaky G-tube button." If one has to deal with such a thing, at least it should function correctly, you know?
Love the picture Liz!
Hugs and commiseration to all the whining pixies. Stellar whines today (get it? Stellar? As in stars? As in Star Wars? I crack me up.)
Whine: I'm off work until further notice. I hit a wall last Thursday and my Board approved an indefinite leave. I conducted worship Sunday and it was fine until I sobbed through the serving of Communion. Lovely.
Anti-whine: My denomination has an excellent Restorative Care Plan which means I can be off for up to 6 months without losing any pay. Plus, the national church reimburses my congregation 85% of my earnings so they can pay me AND hire someone to replace me while I'm gone. Pretty progressive church, yes?
Anti-whine: I started my first group therapy sessions yesterday. It's going to be a good bunch. It's a combined chronic pain/depression/life skills group so we all have lots in common.
Whine: I am used to facilitating group, not being in it. How did I get here?
Whine: Not sure who I am when I'm not someone's minister. This is harder than I thought it would be.
((Sue))
Good luck to the baboo.
Whine #1: hemorrhoids, bleeding.
Whine #2: a husband who thinks he could "fix" our daughter's eating and anxiety problems if he just had a week with her to himself without my interference.
i'm not sure which one is a bigger pain in my a$$ right now.
esperanza, hope the test goes well.
miranda, sign me up for the cluestick brigade.
hugs for that mommy, sue, margalit, and amy. maybe a cluestick for amy's hubby, too.
Involuntary commitment.
Lithium shakes that make it appear as if I am experiences DT shakes.
Enough said.
(((( ccw ))))) xoxoxoxoxoxo
whines: vet visit today, with my lame feral kitten -- assuming i can trick him into the carrier. dental visit tomorrow; need the bridge, hate the drilling.
antiwhine: new income source, coming soon!
mixed and cryptic news: someone who done a lot of people wrong is getting a cluesticking. this is deeply satisfying, but i feel bad at what prompted this to happen at long last, and a little icky about my joy in someone's downfall. still, crossing fingers it is really a downfall.
(((ccw))))
Mononucleosis.
a.k.a. Epstein-Barr. I don't know whether it's a new development, or if it's the chronic version and we've discovered a root cause of the chronic fatigue syndrome.
All I know is that I can barely get out of bed.
Antiwhine: Lots of church people/family/friends volunteering to help out. Bless them.
((CCW))
Turtlebella, have you tried probiotics yet?
Amy, would it be a bad idea to take a 1-week vacation and leave the H to deal with the DD by himself for a week? Might be a good cluestick experience for him. :)
Sue, hugs but I'm so glad you have the option to take time off without losing pay.
Esperanza, you'll update us when you get back, yes?
Cluesticks for miranda, margalit and Kathy A to wield.
I hereby rescind the pre-emptive whine. My sweet baboo was a little angel, sleeping right on cue. And, results were great--normal auditory function in brain, perhaps a bit of fluid remaining, but it's not affecting her hearing any more.
I've only rescinded one other whine, the week I found out I was pregnant, despite my pessimistic attitude.
Votes for Sue and ccw and p_k and all their families, too.
((( PK )))
yay, esperanza!
spot's very bad no good day: baby cat and i are back from the vet. he is indeed lame, and "runty." he got poked and prodded, blood drawn twice and a nasty pill stuffed down his throat. referral to a specialist, too. he hates my guts, and sang it loud and strong in a voice i never heard before. consider this a teensy whine.
Probiotics...I dunno even what they are, so haven't tried. Worthwhile? Where do I get them??? Okay for pregnant women???? I am so willing to try anything! My GI doc and midwife are somewhat unhelpful ... they each just tell me to ask the other one.
Cluesticks up all that there relevant parts for the school system of Margalit's. They seem kinda vindictive. Bunch of yahoos...mutter mutter mutter... Sorry you have to deal with that.
YAY! that the hearing test went well for esperanza's baboo!!! yippee. How lovely to rescind a whine.
Restful hugs for p_k!!!
Oh I do have an anti-whine: tomorrow I go to Mexico for my cousin's wedding. It's like 85 degrees there...WARMTH! Heaven!!!! Spending time with my husband, the sqvirrel, without all our daily obligations-- truly heaven!!!
Oh and I did want to say (((sue)))-- hang in there! I'm so glad the church is progressive.
@turtlebella:
i buy my daughter Kefir yogurt smoothies (organic of some sort or another) and it contains probiotics. i don't really know much about them, but i can say that they're showing up more and more in regular grocery stores. good luck to you!
@purple:
i have given some thought to actually leaving the two of them for a week, but i don't know where i'd go. i have to work, and honestly my heart aches at the thought of all the crying there'd be (on her part) and yelling (on his part). i don't want a child with a broken spirit, though i do want her to learn to eat like an average to healthy kid. and i love the man dearly, but at his core, he is turning into a very traditional, American 50's era father: do as i say, when i say it, no questions, no griping. this is particularly true when it comes to frustrating issues.
also, whereas most of the common parenting thinking today lands somewhere near "choose your battles" and/or "don't make ____ a control struggle", he believes in taking up every battle and control struggle with the intention of winning.
had i known this about him (to this depth of understanding) before having kids, i think i would have thought twice about it. and that is a sad thing to say, especially given that i'm currently pregnant with number 2.
i guess i should add that we've been working with an infant mental health/fussy eater specialist for over a year and a half. my daughter is about to graduate out of the program due to her age, but our clinician suggested occupational therapy at a place i know and am comfortable with.
(for reference, see http://thetextureofthings.com/?cat=16)
my husband, on the other hand, thinks my approach is all bunk because mental illness (like anxiety and depression) is a load of hooey. hilarious, coming from a man whose wife has panic disorder with agoraphobic tendencies, hmm?
oh, amy. many, many hugs. there are so many food/tactile/whatever issues with a lot of little kids. i don't think a single one has ever been talked out of one of those issues by the do-as-i-say approach. but i could be wrong.
Amy, maybe your little girl would do better if your HUSBAND went away for a week.
PK, Sue, CCW, what can I say that I haven't said in your comments? Hugs to you three in abundance.
Esperanza, YAY!!!
hugs to your kitty, Kathy A.
Oh, amy . . . hugs. Would reading some gentle parenting books or talking to a pediatrician have any effect, do you think?
turtlebella, probiotics are safe during pregnancy . . . in fact, there have been studies suggesting that taking them during pregnancy may reduce the chance of the baby having allergies/intolerances and maybe some other problems.
The baby gets their intestinal bacteria from you, so it's a very good idea to make sure you have a healthy balance of good bacteria yourself. I suspect this played a part in Baby E's issues.
You can get probiotics in capsule form or in raw lacto-fermented foods like yogurt, kefir, raw sauerkraut (It's Alive! is my favorite brand), kimchee, tempeh, and other lacto-fermented foods and beverages (make sure they are raw and not pasteurized, or were pasteurized before culturing and contain active live cultures).
Homemade yogurt (cultured longer--up to 24 hours) and kefir made from kefir grains instead of powdered starter are much higher in the good stuff than the commercial brands.
Look for the lactobacillus, bifidus and streptococcus strains listed on the label if you're buying a commercial product. The lactic acid itself is also beneficial.
Kombucha tea is another great probiotic, but you want to be careful with it because (a) it can kill both bad and good bacteria due to (I think) the high amounts of lactic acid in it, so you want to make sure you're also including other forms of probiotics in your diet to restock the good guys. And (b) it's a strong detoxifier, so it can release toxins in your body that might end up going to your unborn or nursing baby, so you want to be cautious about starting taking it during pregnancy/nursing, and if you choose to do that you'll want to start very slowly. (If you've been drinking it for a long time before becoming pregnant it's not so much of a concern).
Sugar and simple (refined) carbohydrates feed the bad bacterias, BTW.
Um, that ended up pretty long. Sorry about hijacking the thread, everyone.
An addition to my whine: (ha! and you thought I was actually going to have a SHORT whine for once?)
I need the doctor to run the tests to find out whether this mono thing is new or chronic. For at least one part of the test, some sources I've checked say there's basically a 4-week window from onset of symptoms in order for one of the indicators of a recent infection to be present.
The initial blood test was about 2 weeks after I think the symptoms first hit, if this is a new infection.
My doctor sent me a letter bascially saying the monospot test was positive and to have a nice life, and call if I have any questions.
Then DH lost the letter--or, rather, buried it among the bills because he assumed (without actually OPENING it) that a thin letter from my doctor's office must of course be a bill. Even though I kept wondering aloud why I hadn't heard from the doctor, and asking him if I'd gotten a letter.
So by the time I got the letter it was Friday night, 3 weeks after I suspect initial infection. I called first thing this week and left a message for the doctor asking about the EBV antibody testing.
Except that the doctor who saw me (the one we were cluesticking last week) is out of the office until Friday. And the doctor who is filling in for her is not willing to order the tests--just said my doctor will probably want to order them and wait until she gets back.
That will be 4 weeks from when I think the symptoms started. And what if she doesn't call me until Friday evening, too late to go into the lab until Monday?
I would just really, really like to know if I've had mono since I started having fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue symptoms at age 18, or if this is something new, you know? Maybe it's not a big deal to the doctors, but it's important to me just to know.
I want some answers. I don't know if a test more than 4 weeks after the initial infection can give me those answers or not.
Antiwhine: DH got me a new type of Vitamin C yesterday (sodium ascorbate), and I started taking it every few hours, and also remembered to take my other supplements and probiotics. It seems to be helping significantly with my symptoms, combined with the fact that I got a good night's sleep last night. I'm still really tired, but I'm feeling a lot closer to my normal levels of pain and fatigue and less like I'm going to pass out or something. I've been a lot more functional today, although I'm ready to crash again now--hopefully I can get Baby E to nap.
Yay esperanza for the sweet baboo!
Oh amy, I'm so sorry.
Hugs to PK and Kathya and the kitteh. I wish I had some wisdom to share with you turtlebella, but back in teh day when I was pregnant, I mostly had trouble with heartburn.
Yay for esperanza and her baboo.
Hugs for Amy and ccw, and PK.
Late breaking whine that seems pretty minor by comparison: Our contractors put the recessed lights in the wrong place (e.g. one of them is partially behind a cabinet). Fixing this will probably require undoing a good chunk of the work they've done over the past two weeks...
Anti-whine: The cabinets are lovely.
Pictures to go with both whine and anti-whine are at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/elizabethlb/sets/72157604435186307/
Ooh! Illustrations!
D'oh! What a pain in the ass that mistake is. Yipes!
The cabinets are truly lovely.
PK, are you telling me that AFTER having ALREADY failed to give you two letters from the doctor, DH neglected to give you the third one? Yeesh. Good thing he's terrific in other ways, eh?
No, Liz . . . there were just the two letters. One that just said my vit D was normal, and the other summarizing the bulk of my test results and saying, "Your mononucleosis was positive, it may explained [sic] why you were so tired . . . call if you have any questions. Best wishes."
She wrote it the day after my appointment, but I didn't get it until DH unburied it this past Friday night.
Then this week there were three or four phone calls back and forth between nurses without my actually getting to talk to a doctor--any doctor, since Dr. "Best Wishes" was out of the office all week.
I know; I'm even confusing myself.
About DH losing the letters: Really, it's hard to be too mad at a guy who sweetly and graciously has been getting up to get the kids ready for the day and feed them breakfast, coming home in the middle of the day to help with lunch and/or let me nap, and then coming home tired after work to fix dinner, do dishes and laundry, and put the kids to bed.
All the while thanking me repeatedly for taking care of myself and telling me to just take it easy.
Yeah, "terrific in other ways" is an understatement.
He's totally terrific, I was just getting hbp thinking about a possible third letter. Sorry, PK's husband! I maligned you unfairly!
I hope that you get to see the doctor in time to get better information, PK.
((ccw)) ((amy)) ((pk)) ((sue)) ((kathy a.))
Hooray for the Baboo!
Lovely(if slightly botched) kitchen reno, Elizabeth!
Cluestick for amy's hubby.
Update:
Yesterday, before I whined, I emailed the whole business to our clinician to tell her how frustrated I am. She wrote back late last night to tell me how incredibly right I am (very validating), and I wanted to share that with you all because her tone revealed she agrees with all you all.
So, 27 Whiners Agree: my husband is wrong about this.
Thanks everybody.
amy, that's wonderful your clinician got back to you in such a validating way! xoxo
Elizabeth, those are lovely cabinets! Unfortunate about the light. Still - very beautiful kitchen happening there.
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