It was June outside today, so we walked to the bakery. Karl was not walking, so he was on my shoulders, and Sanna was not walking, so she was in the wagon. Two kids rode past on bikes when we approached a wet patch of sidewalk. I dodged them and walked around, suddenly finding my feet slipping out from under me like I was on swivel casters. It was like a Steve Martin skit, or that episode of Ellen when she tried to replace the water cooler bottle, only I had a small child on my shoulders, and my grip on his ankles was the only thing preventing his skull from crashing into the pavement.
I skittered and swayed and splayed and remained on my feet until the pavement was dry. Karl was still on my shoulders, except he was upside down, and we were back to back. Brooke and Sanna were still on the other side of the puddle, both of them about to burst into tears.
Brooke was amazed I didn't fall. I figured falling wasn't an option, so I didn't.
Saturday, November 07, 2009
Monday, November 02, 2009
Friday, October 30, 2009
TMBG
1. We still don't have our earnest money back. It's been a month. Actual legal threats are about to be issued.
2. Two weeks ago, on a lovely, sunny Saturday morning, Brooke ran an errand while I cleaned the bathroom while the kids splashed in the tub. Karl, prone to standing, was extracted and diapered, then Sanna, while I finished wiping down the sink. As the toilet is Karl's favorite place to play, I set him on the floor with a toy--this fold out plastic town that includes a magnetic doodle board in a schoolhouse kind of setting. I returned to my bathroom tidying, but Karl was grousing at me, and I knew it was probably time for a nap. In my move to get him dressed, I noticed that the end of the magnetic doodle board pen had come off. It's a 1cm cone of plastic with a small metal tip about the size of an earring post inside. It was gone. Sanna told me he bit it off.
An hour later, Brooke home, we had scoured the floors and not found it. We undressed and redressed him, undiapered and rediapered. No doodler pen tip. Sanna insisted that he bit it off. The Internets said to go to the ER. We packed a bag, fed Brooke and Karl, looked everywhere one more time, and sent them off. I sighed and got ready to take a shower. Water running, undressed, one foot up to step in, and I had one last place to look. Water off, I looked in the magnetic doodle pen holder on the little town, and then I called Brooke. She had made it less than half a block away, and Karl was already asleep in the car.
3. Then we went to the most expensive apple orchard in all of Wisconsin. We had to pay to park in a muddy field. We had to pay extra for everything. They had one option for purchasing apples: a $40 bag. Extra to ride the wagon back in the fields.
4. Insert one day of two adults vomiting here.
5. The actual ER visit was because Karl woke us up with labored breathing early that Tuesday morning. He tested negative for RSV and for influenza A, and just had a low fever with rattly lungs. The chest x-ray was formally negative but showed some signs of potentially being prepneumonia, which resulted in antibiotics being administered, which has resulted in a minor case of thrush for Karl and thus for Brooke. Sanna tonight asked me, "Why does Mama have dirty breasts?" and I had to explain that it's just the gentian violet, a kind of medicine for Karl's mouth.
6. There was some level of pleasantness and normalcy for about a week. There was an apple pie. There was a visit with cousins.
7. I arrived home yesterday to a very panicked Brooke. She had just arrived to find that the diaper sprayer hose attached to the toilet had failed, and the bathroom was flooded, and so was our storage unit in the basement. Brooke was in tears. All I could offer was, "This is what renter's insurance is for! This is why we have insurance!" I walked in to Karl swimming in an inch of water on the bathroom floor and Sanna complaining that her socks were wet. With the water off and the kids drier, I rolled up my pants, changed my shirt, and started wet-vaccing the bathroom while Brooke occupied the kids and ordered pizza. Two giant shopvacs full of water later, the bathroom floor stood a chance of drying out. We spent the rest of the evening (that is, the next five hours) securing a dehumidifier (the last one they had at the big box hardware store t 9:30pm; I didn't care how much it was) and emptying out the storage unit, which inconveniently is carpeted.
Today, things, although not the carpet, are drier, and it's clear we we won't have to file a claim. Our tents are spread out across the basement, and we'll have to pick through our Christmas ornaments later this weekend, but all of our coats, luggage, car seats, and baby gear are either dryably damp or made it through unscathed. A giant bin of camping gear was actually open and literally completely full of water, and I imagine that saved us from considerable damage.
In an impressive act of compassion, I refrained from asking Brooke to put on Flood for us while we cleaned.
8. My children are dragons for Halloween.
2. Two weeks ago, on a lovely, sunny Saturday morning, Brooke ran an errand while I cleaned the bathroom while the kids splashed in the tub. Karl, prone to standing, was extracted and diapered, then Sanna, while I finished wiping down the sink. As the toilet is Karl's favorite place to play, I set him on the floor with a toy--this fold out plastic town that includes a magnetic doodle board in a schoolhouse kind of setting. I returned to my bathroom tidying, but Karl was grousing at me, and I knew it was probably time for a nap. In my move to get him dressed, I noticed that the end of the magnetic doodle board pen had come off. It's a 1cm cone of plastic with a small metal tip about the size of an earring post inside. It was gone. Sanna told me he bit it off.
An hour later, Brooke home, we had scoured the floors and not found it. We undressed and redressed him, undiapered and rediapered. No doodler pen tip. Sanna insisted that he bit it off. The Internets said to go to the ER. We packed a bag, fed Brooke and Karl, looked everywhere one more time, and sent them off. I sighed and got ready to take a shower. Water running, undressed, one foot up to step in, and I had one last place to look. Water off, I looked in the magnetic doodle pen holder on the little town, and then I called Brooke. She had made it less than half a block away, and Karl was already asleep in the car.
3. Then we went to the most expensive apple orchard in all of Wisconsin. We had to pay to park in a muddy field. We had to pay extra for everything. They had one option for purchasing apples: a $40 bag. Extra to ride the wagon back in the fields.
4. Insert one day of two adults vomiting here.
5. The actual ER visit was because Karl woke us up with labored breathing early that Tuesday morning. He tested negative for RSV and for influenza A, and just had a low fever with rattly lungs. The chest x-ray was formally negative but showed some signs of potentially being prepneumonia, which resulted in antibiotics being administered, which has resulted in a minor case of thrush for Karl and thus for Brooke. Sanna tonight asked me, "Why does Mama have dirty breasts?" and I had to explain that it's just the gentian violet, a kind of medicine for Karl's mouth.
6. There was some level of pleasantness and normalcy for about a week. There was an apple pie. There was a visit with cousins.
7. I arrived home yesterday to a very panicked Brooke. She had just arrived to find that the diaper sprayer hose attached to the toilet had failed, and the bathroom was flooded, and so was our storage unit in the basement. Brooke was in tears. All I could offer was, "This is what renter's insurance is for! This is why we have insurance!" I walked in to Karl swimming in an inch of water on the bathroom floor and Sanna complaining that her socks were wet. With the water off and the kids drier, I rolled up my pants, changed my shirt, and started wet-vaccing the bathroom while Brooke occupied the kids and ordered pizza. Two giant shopvacs full of water later, the bathroom floor stood a chance of drying out. We spent the rest of the evening (that is, the next five hours) securing a dehumidifier (the last one they had at the big box hardware store t 9:30pm; I didn't care how much it was) and emptying out the storage unit, which inconveniently is carpeted.
Today, things, although not the carpet, are drier, and it's clear we we won't have to file a claim. Our tents are spread out across the basement, and we'll have to pick through our Christmas ornaments later this weekend, but all of our coats, luggage, car seats, and baby gear are either dryably damp or made it through unscathed. A giant bin of camping gear was actually open and literally completely full of water, and I imagine that saved us from considerable damage.
In an impressive act of compassion, I refrained from asking Brooke to put on Flood for us while we cleaned.
8. My children are dragons for Halloween.
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
SMD
Today, we celebrate Sanna-Mama Day, the recognition of Brooke's adoption of Sanna. Sanna has determined that they are going to Trader Joe's to get a balloon and push around a kid-sized cart.
"You can pick out some treats and snacks for home, too," we told her.
"Yeah! And a balloon and a cart!"
Simple pleasures.
"You can pick out some treats and snacks for home, too," we told her.
"Yeah! And a balloon and a cart!"
Simple pleasures.
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
Weak, numbers
3 or 4 weeks of illness
4 pairs of cases of pink eye
a dozen temperatures taken
3 batches of brownies
1 new-used car (Escape Hybrid) traded for 1 old car (1997 Camry)
1 trip to the DMV
17 days in October before the landlord turned the heat on
50F on the coldest day
1 near-ER visit
1 actual ER visit
1 incredible grandma who took the midnight train here and the red eye train back
2 blissful days a preschooler was home with her grandma
8 barf bags used
2 prescriptions for 1 wheezing baby
$5 to park in the mud at the really expensive apple orchard
4 bodies in 1 bed
=
a really wonderful family (who, God willing, is on the mend for the season)
4 pairs of cases of pink eye
a dozen temperatures taken
3 batches of brownies
1 new-used car (Escape Hybrid) traded for 1 old car (1997 Camry)
1 trip to the DMV
17 days in October before the landlord turned the heat on
50F on the coldest day
1 near-ER visit
1 actual ER visit
1 incredible grandma who took the midnight train here and the red eye train back
2 blissful days a preschooler was home with her grandma
8 barf bags used
2 prescriptions for 1 wheezing baby
$5 to park in the mud at the really expensive apple orchard
4 bodies in 1 bed
=
a really wonderful family (who, God willing, is on the mend for the season)
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
Perks and breasts
How about working to PREVENT cancer during this Breast Cancer awareness month?
Army of Women
Select "Vespa Contest" and enter my email address as your referral, and if I recruit the most people, I'll give you a ride on my Vespa.
Love,
emilin who emails with gmail
P.S. I did a study through them in the spring. As a breastfeeding woman who has had a breast biopsy while breastfeeding, I gave researchers with UMass Amherst breastmilk samples and a copy of the pathology report. It was easy, and they gave me cash.
Army of Women
Select "Vespa Contest" and enter my email address as your referral, and if I recruit the most people, I'll give you a ride on my Vespa.
Love,
emilin who emails with gmail
P.S. I did a study through them in the spring. As a breastfeeding woman who has had a breast biopsy while breastfeeding, I gave researchers with UMass Amherst breastmilk samples and a copy of the pathology report. It was easy, and they gave me cash.
Tuesday, October 06, 2009
One year of boy
Karl is 28 inches, 23 pounds, with a 19 inch head circumference. That makes him short, of medium weight, and with a giant noggin, just like every other time he's been evaluated.
So why does he seem so darn big? It must be the smiles. Or the silly. He's becoming more graceful and can walk most of the length of the apartment while carrying something. At which point I groan and remember the disaster that our house was when Sanna was this age and a little older, strewing recycling and tupper things faster than anyone could pick it up and chuck it over the baby gate.
Sanna wrote her last name yesterday. Totally unprompted. Totally correctly. A few days after we rearranged the furniture in a few rooms, she started asking to sleep in the twin bed in the guest/kid room again. It's surprising that it took as long as it did to make the change back to her own space, but as with everything else in parenting, it was just when I was starting to worry about it that the necessary change took place. The last thing I want is to have to kick her out of my bedroom, since that would be traumatic for everyone.
So why does he seem so darn big? It must be the smiles. Or the silly. He's becoming more graceful and can walk most of the length of the apartment while carrying something. At which point I groan and remember the disaster that our house was when Sanna was this age and a little older, strewing recycling and tupper things faster than anyone could pick it up and chuck it over the baby gate.
Sanna wrote her last name yesterday. Totally unprompted. Totally correctly. A few days after we rearranged the furniture in a few rooms, she started asking to sleep in the twin bed in the guest/kid room again. It's surprising that it took as long as it did to make the change back to her own space, but as with everything else in parenting, it was just when I was starting to worry about it that the necessary change took place. The last thing I want is to have to kick her out of my bedroom, since that would be traumatic for everyone.
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