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Wednesday, May 31, 2006

My girls hit two with a vengeance

The day of their 2nd birthday (which is almost a month ago now) my girls woke up screaming. Not the normal way for them to wake up. Riley usually jumps up ready to play while Sam likes to cuddle for a bit before getting her play on. We knew this could not bode well, and it hasn't.

My normally happy, playful girls have become miniture fountains of terror spouting words such as no (pronounced gnome by Riley), flinging defiant stares, flowing in directions the polar opposite to which they should be moving, and generally driving their mom (me) crazy. Now many people would say I'm close enough to walk, but even if I weren't this would do it.

I grew up with parents of the depression. You did what your parents asked and didn't think twice about it. Yes, there was yelling sometimes, and yes a few spankings. I can't say that anything was undeserved or overdone, and I am none the worse for wear for it. However, I have made it my goal to parent in a calm, cool, collected manner. OK, pick yourselves up off the floor, stop laughing, and read on. It's taken a mere two years and one month for the girls to break me. Today I actually yelled at my precious Riley. I felt horrible. Will I do it again? Undoubtedly. Will I be proud of that, or happy about it, or even accepting of it? Never. I can only hope that I can curb myself 99% of the time and keep my mouth in check. For that 1% of the time, I will always feel remorseful, embarrassed, saddened, and hopefully renewed in my desire to parent differently.

Tuesday, May 30, 2006

Blogging hiatus epidemic

Ok, I can't help but notice that there is a growing epidemic of non-blogging (and yes, I was the Queen Bee for a bit), but if I can blog so can you folks. ;) Where oh where have Jennie, Cheddah, McJedi, Rich, and the rest of you gone? We need to know. Ok, I need to know. ;)

Monday, Monday

Yes, I know it's not Monday but for most working stiffs it is in essence.

Anyway, the weekend was pretty good. Friday and Saturday worked as usual (actually worked Thursday night as well this week.) Made for a pretty long start to a holiday weekend. Slept most of Sunday, then had Liz, Andrea, and beautiful little Val over for dinner since they were in the neighborhood with Gus. It was a very nice night with some yummy pork chops made by my hubby.

Monday the food fest continued. We got up, had pancakes with the girls (Sammi ate 10!), then played, fed them lunch, cleaned up some toys, did a purge of the nursery, and then had a few people over for a Memorial Day BBQ. Bill made his 50k burger (he should be sending the entry in soon), and experimented with another burger recipe. We inflated the bounce house for the girls, and just had a general good time. After dinner Andrea was nice enough to go get DQ for everyone while the girls refused to go to bed. Hopefully tonight will be better as I have had them back on schedule all day.

That was about it for my weekend, how was yours?

Saturday, May 27, 2006

Oh where, oh where have I gone?

I know not many of you have noticed, but I haven't blogged in over two weeks. "Why is this?", I've asked myself, and you may ask too.

One answer is that as usual I've been very busy. The twins always keep me busy, and during this stretch I also had the birth of little Murrita now known as Valerie, and multiple other little things not worth mentioning.

The bigger answer is that I just haven't been motivated to log on, and take the time to write about the mundane things occurring in my life, and the not so mundane things that are just too big to put into words (like the birth of Valerie.) I will try to rectify this situation by giving small blurbs on what's happened which I guarantee will not do justice to the actual events.

Nearly two weeks ago Liz was induced, and while this is her and Andreas story (and now little Val's) I feel the need to give a small impression of the events. Liz was a trooper throughout the induction, her blog does not do justice to the amount of pain she went through before getting the epidural, and I assure you it was more than the average labor. After many hours the doctor informed her and Andrea that a C-section was needed so they whisked her off, got Andrea garbed up, and off she went to join Liz. I could only sit outside the OR anxiously waiting, pacing, bouncing, pacing some more until finally I heard Valerie cry. It was the best sound I've ever heard outside of my own childrens' births. Shortly thereafter they wheeled little Val out to take her to the nursery and she was so beautiful, right from the start. I admit I cried, and it would not be the first time Val induced this response in me. I have got that under control now however. I couldn't wait to hold her, but I had to since obviously I was not the parent. Once Liz had been in recovery a while, and Val had warmed up sufficiently, they brought her in. Seeing the three of them together was such a beautiful sight. I wish I could put it into words for you. And finally I got to hold her, and yes I cried. (I swear that's under control now.) The rest of the story is that they are living happily ever after and I can't wait to see her again.

My girls, as per their usual, amuse me and make me laugh all the time. Riley's response to the new baby was, "My baby." That said it all for her. Both of them love giving her kisses, and are fascinated by Liz nursing Val. It seems to have cured them of trying to get me to nurse them - I think that they are thinking it's just for babies now.

Sam did the most amazing thing the other day - she actually performed simple addition. Since just before they turned two we started trying to teach them how to show two with their fingers so when people ask how old they are they could say, "Two" and hold up the appropriate fingers. Sam would hold up two fingers on each hand, and I kept telling her, "That's four. See, two and two is four. One, two, three, four." I never thought this was sinking in, and had no illusions that it would at this young age. Boy was I wrong. When we went to see Liz, Andrea, and Val we were talking about their 4 dogs. Sam pops up with her two fingers on each hand and says, "Two and two is four." I thought it was a fluke, and that she didn't really get it, and I thought no one would ever believe it, but then she repeated it later that day with her Dad. I am so proud. My little mathematician.

I have found out that I don't have just one math genious, but two. Riley has already learned to count to 5 both verbally and using her fingers. Three and four are difficult for her to do, but she loves five. It's so fun to put your whole hand up at the end of counting.

Well this post is long enough, and the rest of the stuff is just not as exciting, so I will let you all move on to other more exciting blogs.

Thursday, May 11, 2006

Twins Auction

Nope, not auctioning off the twins, but I did go to an auction for my twins group last night. The group is a non-profit group that not only supports it's members, but does a lot of philanthropic work as well.

Anyway, I didn't bid on anything (actually I did, but was out bid), but I did buy some raffle tickets. Ended up with a pretty good haul from that. I received 3 prizes totalling $615. Not bad, huh?

Afterwards, the board (yes, I'm on the board) went to a bar and watched the OT in the Sharks game last night. Such a disappointing outcome, but the company and the Lemon Drop (my new favorite drink) were great.

Wednesday, May 10, 2006

Cuteness abounds...at least to me.

Since very early on I began calling Riley, Riley-roo, and Sam has been Sam-sam for some time now. Today I was talking to Sam and I called for Riley using her Riley-roo name. Sam immediately echoed me by calling Ry-ee-roo (she can't say that middle L). It was so cute.

Because Heather and Cheddah care

5 nicknames you have or had:
Shorty
Shitwick
Suzie-Q
Snowflake
Spaz

5 sweet treats you like to eat:
Saboyon
Ice Cream (mint chip is my favorite)
Mint Oreos
Girl Scout Thin Mints (are you seeing a pattern here?)
I think I need to bend the rules like Bubbles and add a drink - Toffee Crack.

5 things people would be surprised you have:
Hockey Gear (other than those of you who know me here)
A motorcycle
guns
Beanie Babies
A treadle sewing machine

5 fabulous celebrations:
My wedding
The births of my children (that counts for 3)
Multiple theme parties we've had here at the house (that counts for another half dozen)

5 things you'd like to have:
My own home
Heathers pool transplanted to the backyard of said new home
A convertible
Endless ability to help my family and friends
A quilting machine (complete with it's own studio)

5 cool presents you've received:
My hockey stick (it was a birthday gift from my hubby, and I scored my first goal with it, on my birthday none-the-less.)
Disneyland tickets (Thanks L and A, ya nutcases)
Various pieces of jewelry from my hubby including his heart and the key to it.
Power tools
I'm sure there are many more, but right now I'm stumped.

5 books you've read in the past 5 years:
You're kidding me, right? I think I've read 1 1/2 which is sad because I use to voraciously consume books. The last 5 years however were taken up with trying to get my oldest through high school, trying to get pregnant, getting pregnant, and now trying to manage the twins from said pregnancy. Someday I will read more than just a magazine article again.

5 slang terms you use regularly:
Crap
Darnit
Shut up (not really slang, but qualifies depending on useage)
doh
seriously (again, depends on useage)

5 people you'd like to tap for this:
I think evernyone has already been tapped since I am a late comer to the show this week. I guess I could go with the 0 is a multiple of 5 answer like a few of you have. ;)

The bad, bad, bad and the good, good, good

Ok, it's been over a week since I've been able to post, but a lot has happened in that time. I will try to keep this as brief as possible so as not to bore everyone to tears, but at least document the events in some sort of chronological order.

After injuring my neck/shoulder playing hockey, one of the babies was climbing on me and pulled on something which seems to have completed the injury. I have been unable to sleep due to the excruciating pain. I had xrays done which show that nothing is fractured which is good. I'm currently waiting for an MRI to check the rest.

Sam, Riley and I had been sick for a few days at this point, and when I arrived back home from my xrays and ultrasound Sam had taken a definite turn for the worse. This was Tuesday. The previous week she had spiked a temp of 103.3 and this was after she had Tylenol. Since her symptoms were mild and viral like, they said to keep her home and try to keep her hydrated (she wasn't vomiting or plagued with diarrhea at this point.) Monday came and she had been vomiting all weekend, and the diarrhea had set in. I took her to the docs (my regular one was out) who re-iterated the take her home and keep her hydrated advice despite the fact that I felt she was showing definite signs of dehydration, and she wasn't able to keep down even a sip of water. (When my regular doc found out, she was furious because as she pointed out, not only am I a Mom who knows her child well, but I am a pediatric nurse used to dealing with this kind of thing.) Anyway, against my better judgement we went home again to wait it out and try to hydrate despite the vomiting, etc.

Tuesday arrived and Sam was a bit tired, wanted to stay in bed (what nearly 2 year old wants to stay in bed?), and was now dry heaving since there was nothing left in her poor little body. I had my sister come watch her while I went for my xrays and ultrasound, and by the time I got back about an hour and a half later, she had definitely taken a turn for the worse. Her temp was now 104.9, she was totally lethargic, and so dehydrated she couldn't even cry. Off to the ER we went. After being there for about 3 hours they decided they were going to send her home (ARRRRRHHHHHH!!!!!) against my wishes. She had perked up a little with some pedialyte pops they were able to get down her, but she still wasn't ready for home. On cue, and as if she knew, she threw up all over me, the bed, and the exam room floor. There was green in it (she hadn't had anything green, and yes this is bad), so they decided to do a few more studies, start an IV and admit her.

The long and short of it is that she spent 3 days in the hospital, 2 1/2 of those hooked up to an IV. Initially she was very tired and just wanted to sleep with me in her bed (this was very painful for me because of my shoulder) After a couple of days, she perked up, her results came back (she had rotovirus, and it seems it was stacked on top of another viral infection which is why she got so sick.) Part of the illness caused her to be unable to urinate, so her bladder stretched to the size of an adults and she had to be catheterized several times. Finally the healing started and she could urinate on her own again. Riley had a much more mild version of the rotovirus and it was totally treatable at home.

The third bad thing is that just before going to the hospital, our washing machine broke down AGAIN! So, we had a house full of linens and clothing that had been puked, peed, or poooped on and no way to wash them, me in pain and my girls sick. My sister really came to the rescue here. She came over and took loads of stinky laundry to her house and washed them for me - what a saint. She continued this and brought us clean clothes while we were in the hospital. The new washer arrived on day two of the hospital stay, so now nearly all the laundry in my house is clean again. If only it would fold the laundry now.

That kind of sequed into the good. Cathy was a saint with the laundry, but she was also great support in the hospital as were my Dad, Liz, and Andrea. They all were very supportive, and helpful for Bill and I. It would have been a much more difficult stay without them. Thanks to each of you.

Because of the hospitalization we cancelled the girls birthday party, but did have a few family over on Saturday to celebrate, so the birthday would not be totally missed. We plan to have the big birthday party the first Saturday in June and team it with Bill's birthday.

Moving into this week, Sam is very healthy. You would never know that she was such a sick little girl a week ago.

Riley had her follow up VCUG yesterday (this is the test where they put a catheter into your bladder, drain it, and then fill it with radio-opaque dye so they can check the function. As you may/may not recall Riley has had a condition which causes her bladder to back up into her kidney on the right side. This is dangerous as it leads to infection, delay or cessation of kidney growth, and quite often can require surgery to repair. They usually wait until the child is 3 or 4 to do the surgery unless the condition gets really bad before then. Riley had a 2+ reflux (on a scale of 1 to 3). Yes, you read that right - had a 2+ reflux. Sometimes kids can outgrow this condition which is why they wait until they're older for the surgery. We got the best news possible yesterday in that they didn't see any reflux, not even a trickle. Now we can stop the prophalactic antibiotics, and cease the worry that came with the condition and the medications.

I think that's about it. Lots more small stuff happened, but this post is already too long. I hope your weeks are going well, and know that we care about each of you that has touched our lives, and helped us through all that we go through each day. I only hope that we are there for you in the same way.