kcobweb

galagan and I decided a long time ago that we were only going to have one child. We like our little family of three, and frankly, I is not good with infants and can't imagine doing that again (huge props to those of you who do so!). Last year, I gave away all my pregnancy books - it was a way of saying to myself "Hey, I'm not doing that again, so I don't need these." Today was even bigger: I sold our crib to a friend with a new baby. I'm not wistful exactly, or sad either..... but it felt momentous, carrying the pieces of the crib out to her car and putting them in back. When I told her about it, Elena agreed that Baby N will put the crib to good use.

To add to that, last night

galagan bought a booster seat for E, because she is growing out of her car-seat. The booster seat just works with the regular seatbelt and puts the child and the belt in good position in relation to each other. How did my girl get so big? This seat is for 30-100 pounds. She could be sitting on this till she's ready for college.

She's been using bigger and bigger words lately, sometimes with hilarious results. She has used the word "appropriations" several times recently - at least that's what it sounds like. But it's always in a context where her meaning is quite vague. The best definition I've been able to get from her seems to be akin to "frustration". She has also used the word "processes" a few times, and "properties" (as in, the properties of this item are blah blah blah).

When I dropped her off at school this morning, her best friend A came over to say hi. Then Elena went over to.... um, A2 (the other girl in their class), and gave her a big hug. A2 pulled A into a three-way hug. Awww.

In other news, my eye hurts, my back hurts a little too, I got a summons today for jury duty (I've never served!) in April, and I don't think I understand one of my homework assignments at ALL. It's too early in the quarter to be confused!!!!!

To sum up:

* We got everyone sick for Christmas! Whee! For Christmas breakfast, everyone had various quickbreads and a glass of Emergen-C.

* Elena was also sick for Christmas - had a rough night, didn't want to get up even for PRESENTS, and then was totally overwhelmed and overstimulated. She got a lot of great stuff though.

* On Boxing Day we saw a couple of friends, and then everyone slept (see above, re: SICK).

* We made all our flights yesterday, but only with the traditional breakneck-heartpounding-run-through-O'Hare (I never *see* anything in that airport - just lights flashing by), which was made all the more lovely by my collapsing at the gate in a Very Special Coughing Fit. Then we found out that the flight attendants for the Albany flight were coming from.... the plane we'd just been on, so we should have had no need to run.

* Elena slept for a huge portion of the day.

* Of course, my baggage did not make it on that flight, but the box of Christmas presents did arrive with us (barely surviving the trip, actually).

* And then I was up half the night coughing again.

* Today is officially a lazy day - we all slept in till 10 (Elena didn't even get to bed till 1, and we were later than that), and there will be many naps and cups of tea. And waiting for baggage. Period.

* The word "wrecked" has been used to describe how I feel all too often for the past 3 weeks. MAKE IT STOP.

* Very happy to be home. Yay.

ETA: United now claims that my bag will be delivered sometime tonight! Wooo! (Do we believe them? *grin*)

So, I was going to spend this past week after I turned in all my schoolwork doing some fun projects and none of that happened, thanks to my cold. However, last night I actually slept in my own bed the whole night through (instead of moving to the guest bed so I wouldn't wake up

galagan with all the coughing in the middle of the night).

And now - it's time for everyone's favorite thing: holiday travel! I'm very hopeful that the snow will be over and cleared out of the way in time for an airplane to take off from Albany tomorrow at 10 a.m. Hopefully tomorrow won't be too much of a nightmare for us. Elena's getting better and better about travel, so I have my fingers crossed.

I should be packing - her school is closing early, so I have to pick her up in just a hour. Gah.

So, since my last post, I've been sick. Yup, that's pretty much it. To add insult to injury (i.e. my nasty cold) I have a sore and bloodshot eye and so have not worn my contacts in 48 hours (E and D both had something like this last week, so it isn't really out of the blue). It's amazing how wearing my glasses makes me feel even more like a slacker who hasn't showered or brushed my teeth in DAYS. (Just a function of what I'm used to, I know - but it's bizarre.) Anyway. Bad eye, runny nose, terrible cough, occasional headache, very tired..... I have not been a fun person lately. But last night

galagan came home - YAY! And today I took a half-nap on the couch and then sat up and looked at the TV and suddenly the numbers on the screen snapped into clearer focus - and then I went and looked, and my left eye is now white as the right. Yay. Contacts tomorrow (a new pair, just in case)!

And with the clearing of my eye, all of a sudden I feel so much better, even though I'm still coughing a bit. I think the two things (cold and eye) piled on each other, combined with the bad timing of

galagan's absence just knocked me over. I'm so happy to be feeling On The Mend, I can't even tell you.

I've been reading lots of books too. And making feeble attempts at online Christmas shopping. We leave for a holiday week in Montana on Saturday! That's so soon!!!

kassrachel?

kouredios? Guess what I got in the mail today? I fortuitously just finished my last book, and so I will jump right in to this. When I'm done, you guys can each have a turn. :)

My cold is kicking my butt a little bit. Twice this week I was going to see cute little babies, and the germs kept me away both times. So sad. Hopefully by next week my head will stop exploding and I can hold Someone Else's Babies.

I'm sure I have many other things to say that would be either wildly intelligent or wildly funny, but no, they are all gone. So I guess I have to go play internet games for 20 minutes before going to pick up my child from school. Alas.

Between the nasty nasty awful cold I've got and

allthatjazmyne's death - I've just been thrown for a loop this week. I have had 3 full days of truly bad coughing. Fortunately, I have a doctor's appointment in the morning (just an annual checkup) - so I guess I'll see then if there's anything that can be done. I'm also hoping that my cholesterol levels have dropped just a little since last year.... Just a little would be enough to make me very very happy.

If my brain were on right, I could probably dredge up some cute Elena stories for you. In the last few days, whenever I ask her just about anything, her response (when she isn't upset/screaming) is to chirp "Okay, Mommy!" (And she usually means it too.) Somehow, it cracks me up.

Today, we were outside blowing bubbles, and my jar of bubble solution was running very low - so actual bubble production was iffy. So every time I managed to get a bubble, she'd yell "You blowed three bubbles! You blowed two bubbles!" But every time I blew and it didn't work, she'd turn to me and say (in a voice of great concern), "You having trouble?" Every.Time.

She's really obsessed right now with a Caillou video from the library (it's a PBS show) - and I think one of her favorite parts is the FBI warning. She always announces, "FBI!" at the beginning when it comes on.

Speaking of the library - I just love volunteering there. Yay.

* Elena is being just dreadful today. I am the mean mean mean mommy who shouts and hisses and wants to slam doors. The little dear has simply *got* to learn that her actions have consequences, and if you yell and scream for X, that means you're damn well not getting X, as far as I'm concerned.

* That said, we did have a minor success this morning. Last week,

galagan had a dentist appointment, and we thought we'd bring Elena along just so she could see what the dentist is all about. Didn't work: we got to the door of the reception area, and she took one look inside and screamed her fool head off. After liberal applications of ~~propaganda~~ books and videos from the library, we tried again (daddy had a cavity and had to go back). She protested again, but

galagan told her there was a cool toy in the waiting area, and she consented to go see. She was willing to play with that, and she eventually approached the hygienist close enough to pick out a new toothbrush, but did not want to go see the cool dentist chair. She did meet the dentist briefly there in the waiting area, and he nicely said hi to her. We all agreed that just getting her that far was a rousing success.

* I had my first volunteer shift at the public library yesterday! Woohoo, shelving books! Dewey! I quite enjoyed it, actually. I brought a cart of new books down to the fiction area, ready to be shelved and they said "Oh, take any that you want. That's one of the perks of working here - we get first dibs." Oh gods, I'm so doomed. :)

* Someone just told me I really need to join ravelry.com - do I? I wish it weren't so yarn-centric - I'd like something more general-crafts. I don't know. Hmmm. Opinions/thoughts?

* I bought some nail polish the other day, because I liked the color and why not? Within just a couple of hours, there were already several chips. After a few days, I look like someone has been chewing on my fingers.... well, even more than usual. It's a mess. Bite me, Sally Hansen - you suck.

* We have a playdate this afternoon, assuming Elena cooperates post-nap, in her already-crabby state. Fortunately, just saying this kid's name is usually enough to get compliance.

On the night of his birthday,

galagan started feeling a little *off*. Thursday he was just blah all day, and that night felt sicker. Friday he worked all day in bed. Saturday was a lazy day, and he slept a lot. Occasional flashes of fever, but then it would come right back down.

So yesterday we went ahead with our plan for the day, which was to drive to Albany - we did some random driving around (Schenectady is surprisingly attractive in spots), wandered through a mall (look! retail consumerist culture! wow!) and ate at a chain restaurant. The joys (for us) of visiting the relatively-big city. :) It was a really gorgeous day, and I enjoyed myself. (And then I got to see many many people at

sylvantechie's birthday gathering! Yay!)

Except we came home, and he felt kind of icky again. And today he looks absolutely *terrible*. His temperature was up to 101.8F a little while ago. He's shaky and looks sort of green. He's got a nasty cough, and winces every time he coughs because his throat hurts so much.

(Me? I have a slight cough - just enough to keep me up at night a bit - but I'm mostly fine. Elena didn't have a fever this morning, but she's eaten hardly anything in the last 2 days - this cold seems to start with a severe loss of appetite - and she crashed hard at naptime, which is unusual. Hopefully she'll follow my line of symptoms rather than his.)

We did call the doctor - his insurance recently switched, so he hasn't been to see this doctor yet, so he's a new patient. They'll see him Wednesday morning. Hopefully his fever will break soon and he'll be all better by then. Poor boo!

ETA: Elena woke up from her nap with a temp of 102, but she seems to feel okay, so she's ensconced on the couch watching "bideos" (she mixes up her Bs and Vs still) - because when you're sick you get to watch as much bad TV as you want! I think she's okay.

galagan looks better too.

* Elena and I are surviving

galagan's absence. Usually,

galagan and I kind of take turns (as much as possible/feasible) whenever the other person is running out of patience. So single-parenting for me means..... drawing on the depths of one's patience reserves for several days running. So far, so good.

She did wake me up multiple times last night (3 times?) which sucks when I can't make anyone else go to see what's up. :P

* Wow, Spitzer. I'm a little fascinated by the whole thing (and eager to hear the buzz on the Albany NPR station in the morning).

* I am back on an exercise push. I do this, periodically: try to get myself into the habit of actually exercising on a semi-regular basis. Spring (or impending-spring) seems like a good time to do this, because I can tell myself that soon I'll be able to go for walks outside. I'm trying to do at least a little something everyday - even 5 minutes is better than nothing. Just a few days in, but I'm mostly managing to do something *longer* than 5 minutes. (Tiny victories.) So far, so good.

* I'm reading such a good book right now. So I think I'll go read it now. :)

--I looooove food catalogs. I love browsing through them, in a window-shopping kind of way. I never buy anything from them. We had a Harry & David catalog the other day; today's mail brought a Wolferman's catalog. I used to be on Dean and Deluca's mailing list - all those cured meats and fancy cheeses! Yum, food porn. I find myself especially drawn to the basket o' varied goodies that these places do. Those things just look like yummy fun.

--I am having great difficulties with automated systems this week, but I think I finally got everything straightened out. I hope.

--I am recuperating from my admittedly minor cold, but everyone else in the house is coughing a lot now. Elena is majorly crabby.

galagan is running a *marathon* in less than a week, and needs his health and his full lung capacity, please.

--Yes, a marathon. A full bloody 26 miles. In Seattle on Sunday. Is he crazy? You decide.

--I am finally learning how to knit, and am doing enough to make it stick in my brain. I like to learn by doing, and I have to figure it out myself (who's stubborn? whatever do you mean?). Because I'm stoopid, I'm using sub-par yarn with too-big needles, but I like the way it looks, and so I'll tell everyone that I meant for that to happen. :) Sub-par yarn is because it's recycled from an ugly child's sweater vest that I didn't want to put on Elena - so I unraveled it. Because it's unraveled, the plies are all coming untwisted and all that. Whatever. Like I said, I like the way it looks, so that's okay. And I'm just making a simple scarf, because I figured that if I knitted a million rows over and over that would be good practice for the general form. I've got knitting down, but haven't figured out how to hold the needles and the yarn and do everything at once while I'm purling, without a handy-dandy third hand. I can never hold things the way books tell you to. :)

--I have cubes of bread drying in the kitchen. I'm making stuffing from *scratch* this year! Woohoo!

--I will also be making green bean casserole, because that is our do-or-die Thanksgiving dish here. Tomorrow happens to be the.... 11th anniversary of our first date, which in 1996 was a Friday. Thanksgiving was the following Thursday, and

galagan showed up at our door with a green bean casserole. He and I have had it every year since. :)

I am coming down with a slight cold - currently treating with heavy doses of tea and sucky things and cough syrup. I hope Elena isn't coming down with it, because she was, um, kind of nasty after waking up from her nap today (45 minutes of near-constant screaming).

I discovered this pattern and tutorial yesterday, and have been obsessing over it ever since. So cute! And soooo easy!

So - I realized that Thanksgiving is sneaking up on me. Anyone not have plans? Wanna do something? Otherwise, we'll just have a quiet day at home - I'll make one or two of my favorite dishes, one or two of

galagan's, and we'll call it good. That would be okay too. :)

Thanksgiving is (for me) the traditional start of the holiday season. Since I'm hosting my first Christmas this year, I'm already thinking a lot about this - making ornaments, as above (though I've been working on some other ornaments since high summer), planning holiday cards already (I want to get them out early this year), pondering food options (always fun)...... I think Christmas may end up like I just described our potential Thanksgiving - a few of everyone's favorite dishes.

So Elena woke up at 9:20, 10:40 and 12:45, but after that slept until 6:45. So that's better than I expected, actually. She is a snot-factory today, so we are not going out (no library story hour for us, *sad frowny-face*). Goal: a nice quiet day with a minimum of screaming, and trying to attack the fountain of snot. Also: trying not to get sick myself. Argh.

I started a quilt project at 1:00 p.m., when Elena went down for her nap.

A conversation just now:
me: (waving a block in the air) Look! I'm already on the last one! This goes so fast when you're using the sewing machine!
galagan: (kissing the top of my head) Welcome to the 20th century.
me: .....actually, the sewing machine was invented around 1850.

This is even more amazing when I realize that I have been *planning* this quilt in my head since at least the year 2001. Yeah, I'm slow.

* * * * * * * * *

The last two days have been stunningly gorgeous and yet cool and breezy. Just how I like my summers. Un-sweaty. And we had the most beautiful drive yesterday through parts of Western Mass -

galagan would not let me navigate, and just played at taking roads that headed generally west and north, so it was slightly random. Aaahhhhh, back roads. And Elena enjoyed all but about 15 minutes of the trip. We're raising her up right! :)

* * * * * * * * *

I thought earlier today I was going to die shortly (random leg pain = BIG warning sign on hormonal birth control = blood clot that might travel to your lung and kill you) - but I have since decided that it was just a sore muscle. Most likely. Don't worry - I'm not stupid. If it continues to hurt, I will call the doc and have him tell me it's nothing.

* * * * * * * * *

How'd it get to be July?

* * * * * * * * *

I feel random and non-sequitur-y today. And boingy.

But now I can hear my dear sweet (also boingy) child jumping up and down in her crib (that would be the signal to come get her - it's better than crying, anyway).

Can I have a yay for the dentist! Yay for my teeth!

Yesterday was the doctor; today was the dentist (get it all over with at once).

The first 20 years of my life, I had miserable teeth and bad dental (and orthodontal) experiences consistently. I dealt with that by.... *not* going to the dentist for the next 7 years. (What? Denial is a *great* way to handle stuff.) When I went back, 5 or 6 years ago, I resolved to turn over a new leaf, and I actually started regularly flossing and stuff. And I was rewarded with good results - it was the first time in my life I could go to the dentist, and NOT need follow-up appointments for fillings and drillings and whatnot. They would chirp "See you in 6 months!" and wave me out the door.

With all our moves, it's been almost 2 years now since my last cleaning..... AND MY FLOSSING IS STILL PAYING OFF!!! I have one teency tiny cavity they aren't going to do anything to, and otherwise, they said my teeth look great. SOMEONE PROFESSIONAL THINKS MY TEETH LOOK GREAT. I'm still amazed by these things.

So, there is hope for all of you out there, even if you are a rabid anti-dentite.

Current Mood: chipper

Someone came to our door today and when I answered, said "Hi, is your mom or dad home?"
Me: *dumbfounded look*
Him: "Oh, are you the owner of the house?"

It must be my youthful visage. Or a sign that I still dress like a teenager. *looks down at my cut-off shorts and T-shirt* Huh.

******************************

I just got back from a doctor's appointment, and the good news is that, compared to 3 years ago, my overall cholesterol is down. The bad news is, my HDL (that's the good cholesterol) is down too.
Doctor to me: That means.... exercise!
Me: *groooooan*

Theoretically, as a SAHM, I have all the free time in the world, but I just don't know how to fit this in. I mean, I guess I do, but I just don't like any of those answers. Suck.

*****************************

The rest of the appointment was fine, but it's weird (to me) to do these things at a regular doctor's office - I've spent too many years in family planning/women's health, and got used to the clinic setting and those attitudes and ways of doing things. He made a big deal of leaving the room and coming back with the nurse for the breast exam and pap smear, which I guess is a good thing, but felt a little silly to me. When setting up this appointment, he assured me that they have women doctors there who could do it, and I'm like No, whatever, it's not a big deal, I can handle it. The implication was almost that *he* couldn't. Handle it, I mean. I don't know, it felt weirdly like that was singled out as the Big Fucking Deal and then I feel so odd about that. I mean, it doesn't bother me any, and it's an important part of my healthcare just as much as listening to my heart and lungs.... I don't get it. I guess if I were a nervous teenager, maybe I'd feel differently.

******************************

So - who here thinks doctors or nurses notice whether you shave your legs? I always hear women talking about how they need to shave because they have a pap coming up, and they don't want the clinician to see them looking "like that". (Then there are the stories of 9-month-pregnant women getting a Brazilian wax so everything will look "okay" down there for delivery. WTF?) Anyway - my opinion has always been that medical professionals have seen it all, and generally don't care, if they notice at all. What do you think? :)

Well, if I can't have a snow day, I'm gonna have a sick day. If it were a gorgeous sunny day out, I could maybe wrap my head around the notion of going out; as it is, the weather and my New Cold (barely over the last one) are joining forces to get me to say NO WAY.

The freezing rain all last night certainly didn't help. Little icy "proink"s against the glass *all night* - they made a lot of noise and it was a little hard to sleep.

Okay. Tea, books and blankets. Perhaps soup later.

Note to self: when feeling nauseous, try cranking up the AC in the car to full blast. You may end up shivering, but it should help with the nausea.

Another way to get over nausea: try driving 25 miles in white-knuckle conditions, dark with driving wind and rain and lightning, precipitating hard enough that you can barely see the road. Either the fear or the adrenalin may help you to ignore and forget your stomach. By the time you get to your town and have to turn around twice to avoid two different flooded roads, you'll feel fine.

Yeah, it was a *fun* evening. I did feel better after that, though I still didn't eat dinner.

This morning I was starving, because I hadn't had a real substantial meal in, oh, 21 hours.

galagan was being dorky/jerky and got between me and my breakfast, and I threatened him with a butter knife.

I have had a headache for 3 days now. I never get headaches. I'm also crabby and irritable. Some of this is due to the fact that the EB has been whining for two days straight. (I *think* that my headache preceded the whining, but cannot be sure.) I'm really really hoping I'm just pre-menstrual, but since *that* hasn't happened in a long long looooooong time, it's hard to know. Meanwhile, I'm going to find a caffeine source and some chocolate and drive around town for a while to lull her to sleep so that I can maybe have a better afternoon.

Otherwise, life is pretty good, thanks for asking. :)

I went to the eye doctor today and while there, asked about LASIK! I realized this fall that I have been wearing contact lenses for *20 years*. If you do the math - and subtract 100 for sick days or lazy days (plus the 6 weeks when I had a cast and couldn't reach my face with both hands) - that comes to about 7200 days of putting little floppy pieces of plastic into my eyes. I've had it. I'm sick of it. I'm just done.

The good news is, based on the tests he did today, I appear to be a viable candidate! The bad news is, they won't do it until several months after I stop breastfeeding, because of hormonal changes. (My current arbitrary goal is to make it to her first birthday.)

So.... I ordered another box of contact lenses for each eye. Late spring, early summer, perhaps - I can think about it some more.

Meanwhile, it's really unbelievably cold here. Maybe I *do* want to move to California!!

Other good news: I got my copy (from the library) of A Feast for Crows today. Woohoo!

It's been a lovely couple of days. Not really. Sunday night

galagan and I both came down with a stomach virus. IT'S NO FUN TO BE SICK AND TAKE CARE OF A BABY!!!! The EB may have gotten it first and given it to us (though, where the hell did she get it? It's not like she's been out partying with her friends) because she had symptoms on Saturday. We're all fine now, but getting sick on top of ongoing sleep deprivation really wiped both of us adults out, and we spent Monday sleeping and whining and drinking ginger ale. It was highly contagious too, because we gave it to my mother as well. Anyway, all better now. Food once again looks appealing and good.

Plus it's snowing massively. There are downed branches everywhere from yesterday, and this is supposed to continue through today. I don't think I'll leave the house. I made a nice pot of lentil barley stew which turned out nicely (yay for recipes that can be fixed from the existing contents of one's pantry!), and I think I'll just curl up with my book and enjoy. And finish my laundry and write more thank you notes.

New place I want to visit: The Orkney Islands. Yeah. Just 'cause.

Profile

kcobweb

April 2017

S	M	T	W	T	F	S
						1
2	3	4	5	6	7	8
9	10	11	12	13	14	15
16	17	18	19	20	21	22
23	24	25	26	27	28	29
30

Syndicate

Page Summary

Style Credit

Style: by timeasmymeasure

Expand Cut Tags

No cut tags

Page generated Jul. 6th, 2025 10:02 pm

Entries tagged with health

(no subject)

(no subject)

(no subject)

(no subject)

(no subject)

(no subject)

List

(no subject)

Minutiae

Items

(no subject)

(no subject)

Call me "sheepish but gleeful"

In which we see that health care week continues

(no subject)

(no subject)

(no subject)

(no subject)

(no subject)

(no subject)

Profile

April 2017

Syndicate

Most Popular Tags

Page Summary

Style Credit

Expand Cut Tags