The Other Side of the Scale

It's everywhere: talk of the obesity epidemic in children, campaigns to improve school lunches... even one memorable article I read somewhere where someone was advocating taking obese children away from their parents. So I've felt a bit adrift recently after Ethan's one year pedi appointment where we found out that he had bottomed off the chart where weight is concerned. My reactions have skipped willy-nilly from "They must think I don't feed this kid..." to "What if there's something terribly wrong?" We were drawing blood anyway for the lead test, and so the pediatrician checked a number of things, 98% of which were fine. Low protein and low IGA resulted in a referral to a pediatric gastoenterologist.

That appointment seemed pretty anti-climactic (take a history, and yup - he seems pretty healthy) and resulted in an appointment with a nutritionist. Long story short, we're massively striving to find ways to get extra calories into this kid. I add a teaspoon of canola oil to every meal. Push proteins, fats, dairy, avocado, cheeses, butter - anything I can think of to give his calories a boost. We just had our followup appointments, and yay he gained .7 pounds! If we were pushing calories and he weren't responding we'd have to look at other problems, such as celiac disease. But I think we're headed in the right direction. Honestly, I think he's so busy/active that he doesn't pay attention to food cues. Rather than let him lead I'm going to have to be stricter about plunking him down and insisting that "We're eating now." Still roughly 2 pounds to go to get back on the charts...

Mobile Me, Mobile You

So the little guy is just so, so close to being able to get around to everything on his own. He figured out early on that rolling was a pretty handy way to get from here to there, and I could put him down in the living room and find him steadily making his way to the kitchen (front, back, front, back). Now he can sit, and has a pretty steady push-up going with his arms. He can even do a bit of that modified sort of army, belly crawl using his arms... His little bottom will occasionally scooch in the air, but the front and back ends aren't quite coordinated together yet for actual crawling. I think I need to start baby-proofing soon. As we all know, a 5-year-old's toys usually come with itty-bitty parts (thank you Star Wars figures!).

While Ethan is learning how to be mobile, H suddenly isn't. He threw out his back earlier this week. There was a point where I was debating the need for an ambulance to get him out of the house as he was having trouble getting up from the floor. Prescription painkillers and muscle relaxers later, and he is ouching his way around the house. Not better, but somewhat bearable.

I need to be seen for possible hip bursitis, as my hip pain that started during pregnancy has never exactly left me. So, while us old-timers envy the baby his elastic little body that lets him roll in a ball and nibble on his own toes - Spring may have finally sprung. The trees are painted a delicate green. The farm stands are open. I'm looking forward to being out in it.

Sheesh!

So we had been in the midst of a lovely visit from The Grandparents. On the way back from an excursion to The Butterfly Place I heard those dreaded words: Mommy, my tummy hurts. Now Daniel has been known to get the random cold or fourteen, so hearing this usually means one of two things. My picky eater hasn't eaten enough today, or he has to go to the bathroom.

Usually.

You probably guessed it. The stomach bug. When Grandma and Grandpa flew some 1200 miles for a visit. Luckily five-year-olds bounce pretty quickly, and about a day and a half later he was recovered. Didn't even miss school. And than H got it. And then I got it. The only one not to get it (thank goodness) was Ethan who of course was teething at the time.

I know it's inevitable, especially when you have children. They get sick, you get sick... but man. I have not figured out how to be both Mom and the patient at the same time. Especially at this point - breastfeeding and a stomach virus do not mix well. And I've been playing catch up (at least it feels that way) ever since. Behind on pretty much everything I can point a finger at. But - Hi Everyone! Back on the blog! Hopefully to write much more frequently!

sick, sick, sick

I know it's inevitable, with two kids and a hubby who works outside in all kinds of weather. But I can't help but cringe as one of us starts to get sick. Daniel had a slight cough Saturday night which has morphed into the whole tribe of us sneezing and coughing at all hours. A random fever moves through the house occasionally, but only seems to strike at night.

This is on top of my feeling fairly certain that Ethan has started teething. The kid is gnawing on anything he can get his hands on - and even just his hands if nothing else is available. He's normally so even-tempered and smiley that the crying jag we just had tonight tears at my heart. We have a regularly scheduled doctor's appointment tomorrow, so hopefully I can get some advice. I'm pretty sure I blocked Daniel's teething from my memory...

Mostly Ghostly

I feel like I am haunting my own house these days. We've hit the 36th week mark for this pregnancy, and I lost my ability to sleep through the night quite some time ago. If it's not getting up to pee, it's due to the hip pain or just the uncomfortably huge belly that I'm trying to maneuver and carry around.

Restless nights, awake, asleep, awake at all hours and days spent trying to keep ahead of a four year old as well as get something done around this place. Riding in or driving a car is an adventure in fidgeting as I try to get comfortable. And this whole thing is fast becoming an exercise in frustration as I want to spend time with the people I care about, friends and family, and get prepared for this new little addition to our family. And all my body wants to do is have me flop on my side on a bed or a couch (at least until the hip pain kicks in again).

On the flip side, the last ultrasound showed everything is going wonderfully. Our little man is 6 pounds 9 ounces, and head down rather than trying to poke out my ribs as much. I'm trying to ride this out, knowing that this is all good in the end, and that the end (July 24th) is in sight. Updates here have been farther between as I don't like to hear myself complain, and wind up feeling like you'd like to hear about something else as well. Hope to be - no, know I will be in a better swing of things soon as we head into an exciting new chapter for our family.

Well, this doesn't feel new...

My cough is back. Sigh. Somehow every little bug winds up hitting me with a nasal drip/cough thing, and I spend the wee hours of the night - hacking. It feels as though I've tried every remedy over the years, and very little seems to have a calming effect on the cough allowing me to get some sleep.

Off to find something else to sip - hot chocolate? If there is one saving grace, Daniel listened to me cough so much in utero that it doesn't seem to faze him at all. He is currently sleeping away in the next room.

Zumba!

Simply put, I'm a bit of a couch potato.

No, I take that back. I don't shy away from active things, but I prefer them to be activities themselves. I grew up water skiing and swimming, riding bikes and ice skating, playing softball... one of my favorite Christmas memories is the year the entire family got cross-country skis and that became a family activity for awhile.

Even though I know I need to exercise, talk to me about going to the gym or running or something and I can feel my shoulders go into an automatic shrug. It's just not all that appealing. (H, on the other hand, gets grouchy if he can't work out at least every other day.) So I was a little bit surprised to find myself at a local dance studio recently with a few friends to give Zumba a try.

I was even more surprised to find - I think I like it! Latin and international music, combined with (mostly) easy to follow moves - Zumba keeps my heart rate up. I feel good and energized when the hour is over. Even better, our energetic instructor is low-key and very adaptable and encouraging. I like the reassurance that if I'm having trouble with a move to, "Just shake it! Move to the beat! Have fun!"

Me and my lack of rhythm may have actually found a workout routine. Yay!

Boo

So first my Yahoo email address got hacked. Highly embarrassing, and many apologies to anyone who has had any email contact with me whatsoever.

Now in the midst of this past week of single parenting with H out of town, I come down with yet again The Cough That Won't Quit. I was checking out at a store this morning and could hardly get a breath for the coughing. The poor clerk was sympathetic, but I have visions of her sanitizing everything as soon as I walked out the door.

Sigh.

This week has been hard. I'm off to hug my pillow and fantasize about ghost cupcakes landing on my doorstep.

Disconnect

So I was reading something online the other day that pretty much said that 15 of the last 22 days around here have involved rain. It's damp when I get up, wet when I go out, drippy when I go to sleep. Throw in some general overcast gloominess that has me turning on the lights in the middle of the day and I feel like I'm frantically paddling to get my mood upstream at the moment.

This was not helped by landing in the hospital again last Friday/Saturday. Part of this was planned. During my last emergency visit in early May they left a stent behind. This endoscopic procedure was to remove the stent, and darn near everyone assured me I was going home. One of the first things to make it through my fluttery, coming-out-of-anesthesia brain was the little tidbit that they were keeping me until Saturday.

Apparently they found more pieces of the gallstone, did a balloon sweep to get those out, incisions to widen the duct further... all of which necessitated my sticking around to be watched. I remember just crumpling. It was suggested I treat it as a rest break, and I tried. But reality is sharing a room, sharing a bathroom, curling up in bed with an IV in my arm. I just wanted home and family.

Daniel seems to take these interruptions in stride. He asks after me, but they keep putting me up in the pediatric ward which has a toy room - which is quite naturally pretty interesting to a 3.5 year old.

I'm now home - bruised up and sore, but doing OK. No food/diet or activity restrictions. And so very ready to be done with this whole thing. Sunshine is coming, I know it is.

The Stones Strike Back

Where I've been. Let's see.

There was that little matter two years ago of finding out that my year and a half of intestinal distress was being caused by gallstones. I had them take that gallbladder out, surgery, recovery, and things have been trucking along mostly fine.

Flash forward two years and minor pain last Saturday plus major pain last Sunday equals one trip to the emergency room.

Did you know that you can have stones stuck in a duct, even minus your gallbladder? Yup, new one for me too.

There were tests, calls to the GI (No, your symptoms aren't consistent with a stone...) only to have a CAT Scan say that yup, indeedy I was carrying around a boulder and my body had had enough. The endoscopic procedure uncovered a stone large enough that the doctor was very surprised that I had had no trouble before now. They pretty much had to crush it up, and put in a stent to help keep everything cleaned out and moving.

I didn't get to eat or drink until Tuesday. Can I just say that you never see more food commercials on TV than when you can't have anything yourself?

I'm on the mend, and getting back into the swing of things. I'm due back in a few weeks to have the stent taken out, and hopefully that will be the end of my intestinal saga.

Just to make sure the weekend was very interesting, we got the phone call while I was in the hospital that my nephew was in a very serious car accident on Sunday, the same day that I was admitted. Please join us in prayers for his speedy and complete recovery.

Always an Adventure

It was a Happy Easter Sunday! We got to church for a beautiful service, and stopped for a visit with my mother in law and Daniel's Aunt and Uncles and Cousin.

Then came Daniel's encounter with Uncle Bruce's cactus plant. Actually, he was a trooper. After screeching and sniffling and waving his fingers at me he sat and let his fingers be soaked. Then Dr. Mom went to work with a magnifying glass and tweezers. It was one of those dastardly plants where the spines are so thin and fine that they are almost fuzzy. Many TLC band aids later we seem to be on the mend. Hopefully no plant-phobias are going to result!

Vortex

We can't seem to get away from the "sicknesses" at the moment. First it was the stomach bug that swept through the household. Now the 3.5 year old has a stuffy/runny nose with the associated horrid cough that is keeping him up nights. He's annoying the heck out of himself (and anyone within a decent radius) with the midnight coughing and periodic rising to bleat like a distressed baby goat every few hours. I feel badly that he's sick, and feeling miserable and all, but the lack of sleep is starting to take a toll. The only solution thus far has been a dose of Tylenol, and my crashing with him on the couch. Virtually guaranteeing that I'm next on the list for the runny nose/cough convention.

And in probably unrelated news. I cannot figure out how the remote control to our VCR has disappeared for MONTHS. We live in a condo. How many places could it be?? And I am now missing a library book. Not a skinny children's book, which always seems to slide under the sofa with amazing speed. This is one of mine, in the hundreds of pages. I just renewed it, so I've got two weeks to find and read the darn thing.

Ick

There's a wicked virus making the rounds right now. It felled me over a week ago, and took several days to pass. I thought we were in the clear, and then I was strolling the aisles of Wal-mart with Daniel last Sunday when I heard the ominous: My tummy hurts.

Uh-oh.

The kid's, shall we say choosy palate was working against us in finding something his system could tolerate while sick. And the only liquid he was willing to down at all was a juice that, while I questioned its value at least kept him hydrated. All in all, he soldiered through his first real stomach bug fairly well, and I think we're finally seeing the other side.

H woke up this morning fairly green, and I'm trying to work out strategies to keep Daniel away from Daddy. I guess not having everyone sick at exactly the same time makes it a bit more manageable... but exhaustion is starting to set in. And I'm just praying that this is the same bug I started with, because if I have to have another go round of this I am really going to cry foul.

Interlude

The fever started Monday evening, he was uncomfortable and wanted into our bed, then back in his own bed - and we wound up falling asleep in the living room: me on the sofa, and him on his own Superman sofa - with the Noggin channel on for distraction. I dosed him with Tylenol, to which his response was: Mommy, you shouldn't do that. And we got through the evening.

He's my baby, my honey, my little Energizer Bunny, my little blond Tasmanian Devil. So seeing Daniel feverish, with no energy - just poured on the couch watching videos and napping and drowning his sorrows in juice is a bit of a change in routine.

Today he's more up and around. It's Mommy with the run-down appearance, the semi-sore throat and the cough. H's job has pretty much said that they are cracking down on anyone using their sick time. Can you believe it? I'm sure he's wishing for a hermetically sealed room for when he gets home this evening. Makes me want to sneak into the manager's office at his work and lick all the office supplies or something, I mean really!

Here's hoping this virus is as kind to parents as it seems to be to my kiddo so far...

Well, this has been fun...

H woke me around 4:30am last Friday to let me know that our power was out. Really out - as was the rest of the area. To further add to the complications he had left his car at the mechanic the night before to have it looked at... If he went to work I was facing no electricity (no heat, no cooking) and with no way to leave, having no car. With a three year old.

Needless to say, H called in to work and we drove out to find a town with power to grab something to eat. Stopped at Gram's to meet her new kitties, and headed back home. Rather disheartening to have the power still out when we arrived. You know those shows like Survivorman? Adventure expert gets dropped into the wilds with a Swiss Army Knife and is expected to make it out alive? I would so be toast.

The three of us were cuddled under a mound of blankets on the sofa, candles lit, listening to Christmas music on a battery-powered radio and musing about our limited dinner options when poof! Power back on. It had been a total of 12/13 hours for us. I'm very aware that we were pretty lucky and many people went much longer with no power. I'm saying many small prayers about the approaching snowstorm.

Following our no-electricity adventure very closely was my developing a rather nasty sinus infection. Antibiotics seem to be kicking in, and this is the first day that I feel like my head isn't going to come rolling off my shoulders anytime I bend over to do something. I have started to realize that there is a lot of bending involved in the daily life of chasing a three year old around.
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Stay tuned over at Relishing the Dirt for a giveaway!

Apologies

...to my downstairs neighbor for the late night clothes washing noise. It feels like there are few alternatives when the little guy barfs on the blankie that he can't sleep without.

Mama's New Challenge

We went to a small barbecue yesterday afternoon, hosted by a friend at her parents' place. Everyone had a grand time, especially Daniel. Our friend's parents have grandkids of their own, so it was a new space full of all-new toys and even a yard to explore. There was good company, and hamburgers and hot dogs never taste better than hot off a grill.

I love that Daniel is a sociable kid. When he wasn't occupying himself with all the new trucks and cars he was getting pushed on the swing by our friend's father or hopping up on the porch swing to sit next to her grandmother or showing her fiance something in a book.

Unfortunately his habit of removing his shoes at every possible opportunity has caught up with him: splinters in his feet. We got home late last night and he was completely exhausted. Any attempt at removal of the splinters only got me a shrieking, thrashing kid. I finally left it alone, and he crashed in his bed. I'm off to try a warm bath (for him, although I may need one later...) and another attempt. Wish me luck!

Everythings rockin' - me - I'm just tryin' to roll...

We had grand plans to get down to the Cape this Saturday to see my sister-in-law sing. If you're ever in the area, check her out - The Somers-Frost Band rocks!

Unfortunately this ended with two parents on the, um, ill side of the street. (Ack! Not the flu! NO!). Ever try to drive hours back home with a 2.5 year old and two feeling pretty punk parents? There was a moment of serious contemplation of paying for an extra hotel room night. It's a good thing we crawled our way home, as the saga ain't over yet. And I've officially lost track of being under the weather this season, which is extremely exasperating. Both H and I hope to get further than two feet from the bathroom soon. Here's hoping you have all managed to stay that way. Because this, is miserable.

Cough, Round 237

Ugh. It's back. The cough. It's driven H to sleep in the baby's room, driven me to sleepless nights and I've driven myself to the doctor's office to plead for some codeine relief. Nothing works.

And on the nothing works front, we awoke to some veery interesting noises coming from our heating unit this morning. Short answer is that sucker is slowly dying. To the tune of lots of dough, since the builders in the early 80s in their infinite wisdom wedged a large heating system into a tight closet, leaving no room for said units to become obsolete and need to be replaced by bigger/different sized things. Such is the way my Thursday is going. This day can't end soon enough.

Hubbub-bub

The days of Christmas around here have been sort of a merry melee. Daniel and I were blessed with a cold each (a re-blessing for me, harumph). H worked Christmas eve - day, and then that evening we traveled out to his mother's house to spend some time with her, an auntie, a cousin and another uncle. A crank on his home turf, the change of scenery did Daniel some good. He bopped around the house looking for the trucks that his uncle keeps stashed away for just such an occasion.

We tried to gift H with the opportunity to sleep in on Christmas morn, as the sleeping in thing doesn't happen much these days. Daniel still hasn't quite copped to this whole presents / celebration thing... his reactions were pretty funny at times. What? More presents? For me? Cool!!! I hope H enjoyed the sleeping-in thing because I thoroughly anticipate that Daniel will be into the pre-Christmas buildup next year and that probably won't be happening again!

Another trip to the mother-in-law's house on Christmas Day resulted in a nice meal, twice as many people in her little house, and yep, more presents! (We have doubled our car collection, including a ride-on dump truck, among many other nice things.)

I got a big giggle out of Daniel sitting side-by-side with his three year old cousin Nicholas in their Gram's rocker watching Shrek the Third. Nicholas spilled some water, and his auntie popped off his shirt to haul it off to the dryer. Daniel thought that looked pretty cool, so despite being pretty dry he insisted that his shirt had to come off as well. Two blond shirtless monkeys giggling and watching movies was a cute picture indeed.

We're in cold recovery, and trying to keep H well. And trying to get back on a schedule again.

Reporting in, and wishing you all a Merry Christmas.