books 25 - 32

Here’s a list of what I’ve read since posting last with a yes, no, or meh (good for the beach, but nothing very satisfying) rating:

Lord John & The Brotherhood of the Blade – Diana Gabaldon: Yes
Lord John & The Hand of Devils – Diana Gabaldon: Yes
Lord John & The Private Matter – Diana Gabaldon: Yes

Keep A Little Secret – Dorothy Garlock: Meh

Solomon’s Oak – JoAnn Mapson: YES (more emphatic when I use all CAPS, right?)
Blue Rodeo – JoAnn Mapson: Yes
The Wilder Sisters – JoAnn Mapson: Yes

The Poisonwood Bible – Barbara Kingsolver: YES YES

I realize I’m probably the last person on earth who hadn’t read The Poisonwood Bible.  I have no idea why I resisted for so long!  It was a phenomenal book.  Hey, did I ever tell you guys that once my in-laws were in the Unclaimed Baggage store in Alabama (where all lost/unclaimed/misplaced airline baggage and freight goes to die), and in their book area, they found a copy of The Poisonwood Bible right up there on the rack with all the other Bibles for sale?  That story will always make me laugh, just like this comic I saw recently:

And these quotations from my children may amuse you, too:

Timon: Why don’t you go do one of your puzzles?
Henry: No, I have greater plans.

Maria (after draining her cup): Now, I want some more water and I said the magic word already.

books 7-10

Hey all.  It’s been a while since I’ve had a chance to update my books, but rest assured, I have several to tell you about now.  But I think I’ll save you the time and quickly tell you if you should bother reading these or not.

7. Wideacre, by Philippa Gregory.  Meh.  Not as good as her other books.  Plus it’s got kind of a smutty element, more so than her other books.  However, you might want to read it in order to better understand book 10 below.

8. A Reliable Wife, by Robert Goolrick.  Awesome.  Dark and intense.  Read it.

9. The Help, by Kathryn Stockett.  Very, very good.  Read it.

10. The Favored Child, by Philippa Gregory.  This is book 2 in the Wideacre trilogy, and it’s much better than the first book.  I really liked this and finished it this afternoon. 

It’s Saturday night and Maria just went to bed.  Henry’s reading on our bed, with no tv for the night because he had a hard time listening this afternoon.  My man is (NO LIE) watching Lawrence Welk and I’m wishing I could eat what we had for dinner every night.  [Chicken coated in french-fried onions, roasted carrots, wild rice]  I had rehearsal this morning, and then played with the kids and read and napped with Timon.  We are expert nappers.  Church tomorrow, then more relaxing.  Next weekend Timon and I head out with the youth group on a retreat and the kids will spend the weekend with their surrogate grandparents.  For now I’m just soaking up and relishing this time with the kids and with Timon.

book 6

Earlier this week I finished the novel Everything by Kevin Canty.  The story revolves mainly around two people, RL and June, friends who are grieving the loss of Taylor, June’s husband and RL’s best friend.  It takes place in Montana and the scenery is gorgeous in its descriptions.  This book was kind of “meh.”  It definitely rambles all over the place. And, Canty doesn’t use quotation marks to set off speech, a practice which drives me totally bonkers.  There are only a few books I’ve started and not completed (coughDombey&Soncough), but that’s exactly what led me not to finish Cold Mountain.  I really enjoyed the movie and had heard that the book was just phenomenal.  I couldn’t get past the first few chapters due to the lack of quotation marks.  I know, it’s a style choice, but BLEH.

Henry had a random stomach virus which woke us up at 2:30am Tuesday.  That was fun.  Fortunately he kept that gift to himself.  He had no school Monday from the holiday, and has no school tomorrow for teacher in-service, so he only went 2 days this week.  It was the easiest green week he ever had.  Tonight at dinner he stated (with great force) “I need a DRINK!”  Son, after that night of sick, you don’t even know how many times I thought that in my own head.

Now Maria’s got a nice head cold.  I wrote on FB earlier today about how I defied the AAP’s restrictions on giving cold/cough medicines to children under age 6.  I think the claim that they are not effective is doubtful, considering she went from completely lethargic, feverish, and mopey with no appetite back to nearly her normal self within an hour of getting 1/2 tsp of Robitussin and 1 tsp of ibuprofen.  See, parents can be trusted use their judgment and to give their children an appropriate dose.  No need to take the products off the shelves in hysteria, AAP.

xix

After rearranging the kids’ room last week to include the new dresser, I discovered a bag of cold-weather clothing in the back of the closet that I’d meant to take to the consignment store a while ago and never got around to.  I took it today to our favorite place and ended up with a bunch of store credit, and as a result, Maria now needs only a coat and hat/gloves for this “winter.”   She’s got pajamas, tights, pants, long-sleeve shirts, and socks.  Sadly, clothes for 6-year-old boys don’t often survive in saleable condition long enough to make it to the consignment, and there were no deals to be found for Henry.  His jeans are juuuuust a bit too short (I’m still researching why that is, but it may have something to do with the fact that he grew 3 inches in the last 12 months) and I’m trying to decide if he can wait until Christmas for more pants, or should I attempt some online Black Friday sales?  He needs at least 4 pairs of pants (one khaki, the rest can be jeans), 3 long sleeve shirts, and jammies.  I planned ahead last year and bought a coat one size too big that will still fit this year.  If they would just stop growing up, this whole clothing thing would be so much easier. 

I honestly do not have a clue as to what kind of consequence we will hand down to Henry if he comes home with an orange again today.  I’ve got 30 minutes to figure it out. 

xviii

This is one of those afternoons when the thought of adding any more children into this home makes me want to crawl into my bed and put my head under the pillow.  And so I have Henry at the table with his homework and Maria in her room with a book, (neither of these things was achieved without much wailing and gnashing of teeth) and here I sit to post.  Before I began, I decided it was time to listen to Peter, Paul, & Mary’s A Holiday Celebration album.  And then that makes me wish my sister was here to sing along, loudly, and in harmony.  Henry may have gotten a green day at school, but he surely has earned at least a yellow here at home this afternoon.  I probably have earned a red.  When is the principal coming to take me out of this class?  :)

to my daughter on her 2nd birthday

Dear sweet baby girl Maria,

I’m sorry, but I’m afraid that it’s impossible for you to be two years old.  It was just minutes ago, after all, that you came flying into the world, in your own way, in your own time, whether or not anybody was around to catch you.  I’m glad I was laying sideways on a bed, instead of on my back, feet in stirrups, with no bed underneath to support you on your way into the outside.

There is something so different in parenting you, my daughter.  I tend to be a softie with you.  Your sweet little grin and sparkly blue eyes make it awfully hard to be as consistent with you as we should.  But I still think you’re turning out ok.

Potty learning is underway and you seem to be catching on.  The princess unders seem to help a bit – you nearly always insist on wearing them instead of a diaper.  You (and I’ll take the risk of jinxing things here by telling the internets) have begun eating nearly everything with gusto.  We measured your height tonight before bed and you’ve grown an inch and a half since March.

Your speech is becoming clearer and clearer.  It’s way more advanced than your brother’s at this age, but I chalk that up to having him chattering away every minute of every day.  You must make yourself understood so that you can hold your own with him.  Fortunately you still seem to get along with each other well.  Sharing a room still works out ok.

 

Darling Maria, I love you so. 
Love,
Mama

1st day of 1st grade

Henry and Maria enjoyed a breakfast of cereal this morning, after Henry rejected my offer of pancakes.  WHO IS THIS CHILD?

Then Henry posed for the obligatory front-of-the-door-first-day-of-school photo (this is the goofy version, at his request):

And then I had to placate Maria by taking her photo through the window.  Before I know it they’ll both be out in front of the door.  Ay yi yi.

 

1st day reports, though scarce (seriously, he’s clamming up about school ALREADY?  I thought I had a few more years before that started.) seem positive and upbeat.  He came home with a green spot in his agenda (the date book they give all students to help keep track of things), which means he didn’t mouth off straight away.  Who could ask for more?

meh, I’m not really into this movie.

Timon just put on Green Zone, with Matt Damon.  Now, I LOVE Matt Damon, but it’s all a little shooty and yelly for me.  So, I figure I’ll do a little post.  Look at me, acting like I actually still blog anymore.  (Well, to be fair, I have faithfully updated the photo blog every day this year, and that takes a lot out of me.)

Timon: He has just gotten a new show in the theatre.  He is (thankfully) still bearded and just today did an awesome job mopping all the floors in the house.  When the kids and I were in Connecticut last weekend, he mailed us a card that said he missed us.  Now, come on.  That’s pretty fantastic!  We just celebrated 9 years of marriage on the 7th.

Me:  I survived traveling with both children once more on the airplane to Connecticut.  They were far better behaved than the couple who got on last and were forced to sit apart (open seating).  I wanted to shove a bag of peanuts down his throat, and then tape the airsick bag over her mouth, but I couldn’t use my left arm since she dropped what felt like a sack of 25 rolls of quarters on me as she was stowing her junk in the overhead bin.  This was after we departed an hour late.  Anyhoo, my life is essentially the same as usual.

Henry:  This kid can read all day long, particularly if you stick a Garfield comic book in his hand.  Quotation of the week: “Talking cats are funny!”  He had the best time of his life on vacation with his cousins.  It was so awesome to see him enjoying their rowdy company.  He loves summer vacation.  He kept me company in the lazy river at our local waterpark last week.  He likes waterslides and pancakes.  Another quotation for you: “In this circumstance, I would like some milk.”

Maria:  She has 3 new obsessions: Her cousin Julia, her cousin Emmett, and nail files.  She talks a LOT, and is very silly.  She helped me tell Henry to go to his room yesterday.  She answers her own question of where Julia is by saying “House.  Mama.”, meaning Julia is at her house with her Mama.  Any baby is Emmett now.  She likes to put her hands in shallow water and let her legs float up behind her.  Pirate’s Booty is her favorite food, with grapes as a close second.

(at my Gram’s house, in her yard on the sledding/rolling hill)

in which I pay untold sums of money for a pinwheel, part two

Read part one here.

I took Maria and her very expensive pinwheel over to our new children’s hospital outpatient clinic for her x-ray.  On the way there I called Timon asking him to bring another diaper to me, along with her ssn.  We got checked in and Maria enjoyed the very thoughtfully designed waiting room.  Before Timon could even get there and park, we’d been brought back and had the x-ray done.  Maria only got a little upset, probably because she was shirtless and had her legs strapped down with me holding her hands above her head.  I haven’t had an x-ray in a very, very long time, and I was amazed at how things have changed – it was so quick!

A few hours later Maria’s pediatrician called with the results of the x-ray.  She has a cloudy area on her right lung, and the doctor wanted to start treating her with antibiotics and continue the nebulizer.  We were to call back Thursday (today) if she still had fever. 

Wednesday night she had a nebulizer treatment and a bath, and had a 104* temp, along with a racing heartrate and jittery behavior.  It wasn’t pretty.

She woke up this morning with 103* temp.  This time when we took her to the doctor we were smart enough to bring our own stinkin’ nebulizer and mask so that we wouldn’t get charged for yet another one, since our insurance is so very wonderful.  The doctor took her pulse ox, using a device Timon marveled at repeatedly.  She also listened to Maria’s chest for quite a while, and Maria cooperated much more helpfully than she had Tuesday.  Dr. Lisa still hears rattling and crackling in Maria’s lungs, even after an in-office nebulizer.  She gave her a shot in the rear of antibiotics and we’re supposed to watch her and call tomorrow to let her know how the fever is. 

So, that’s where we are.  Currently Maria is whiny but walking around with her blanket and Curious George doll.  We’ll see what happens next.

in which I pay untold sums of money for a pinwheel, part one

Sunday I bragged to people that I’d never had reason to take my kids to the hospital or ER, other than whilst in-utero in the process of being evicted from my innards.  Let me tell you how that’s all turned out.

Soooo, Maria’s pretty sick.  She had low fever Saturday that I attributed to the fact that she’s always got her fingers in her mouth these days – so when are you gonna get those canine teeth, sweet girl?  Sunday morning we didn’t check her temp – she didn’t seem super feverish.  After her nap, though, she was burning up.  As in ONE HUNDRED AND FOUR POINT TWO DEGREES burning up.  And then I called Jen to cancel our farewell visit. *sob*

Monday I stayed home with mah baybee, hoping she would snap out of it.  Alas, when she woke up from a nap with 103* (let’s just assume the asterisk after a number in a post about fevers means the same thing as that little superscript circle we all learned in 4th grade, hmmm, shall we?) fever I called the pediatrician to get us in first thing Tuesday morning.  Well, not first thing, you all can fairly assume that I showered, dressed, and had Henry ready and dropped off to school before we went to the doctor.  We were whisked into an exam room before our appointed time (LOVE) and Maria stood on a big person’s scale for the first time – 24lbs.  The doctor came in and Maria got a little squirrely, but she was able to check her ears, throat, and listen to her chest.  Ears: clear.  Throat: red.  Lungs: rattling.  (“Mr. Bones feels rattlin’!  Ha, ha, that’s a good one.  Tell a little story, Mr. Bones!  A funny little story, Mr. Bones!”  NAME THE MOVIE) I agree to a strep test, a urine test, and a nebulizer treatment.  Strep: negative.  Urine: not great, but not abnormal for a person with a fever.  Nebulizer: not unlike wrestling a sackfull of bobcats.  Lungs: still rattling.  The doctor chooses her words carefully to tell me she thinks Maria needs a chest x-ray.  Before that though, she wants to see if Maria will blow a pinwheel while she listens with a stethoscope so that she can more thoroughly assess her lung function.  Not a chance, Maria thinks.  Of course, I’d love to drop some sweet cash on some more medical tests, Maresi thinks.

Stay tuned for part two.

dresses

I’ve been making some dresses lately… I bought a pattern on Etsy (LOVE LOVE LOVE) and it’s so easy even an inept and only occasional sewer like me can handle it.  I put an album up on FB of pictures of the ones I’ve made for Maria and for her cousin Julia (coming tomorrow!  Along with Emmett!  YIPPEE!) and jokingly said “anyone want one?”… so apparently people do want them.  I can’t sell them, since I agreed not to when I purchased the pattern – but I will have people pay for fabric & shipping and make them for whoever.  In fact a girl I knew in elementary and high school had me make one for her daughter (the blue & green one in the photo). BIZARRE.

last day

Maria's last day with her wonderful amazing loving kind flexible affordable convenient daycare was today.  I'm so sad.  Her providers have always been great - they clearly love Maria and she was so comfortable there - AND they've been happy to use the cloth diapers. Sadly, his mother is aging and ill... and lives in Barbados.  So they are packing up their lives (along with a 2 year old and a 12 year old), closing their business, renting out their house and moving to the flipping West Indies. 

 Fortunately, we have another great friend who is a hospice nurse who only works weekends.  She also loves Maria (let's face it, who doesn't?) and has graciously stepped in to care for her 3 days a week, and our children's surrogate grandparents will watch Maria on Tuesday.  She'll stay with me on Fridays, as normal.  We are so blessed to have people who love our family.  Being away from all of our relatives makes it hard sometimes, but God has provided people to fill the gap - and for that we're so thankful.

maria lately

  

i heart faces

iheartfaces is having a birthday… the category this week is “your best face.”  I haven’t had many faces better than this one lately!

still here

I know I’ve spent most of my blogging attention on the photoblog (which you should totally check out, if only to click on the links to other people’s 365 projects.  They are so awesome!) but I will still post here also.  Today I finally took down our Christmas tree and am truly sad about it.  We have actually gotten some winter-like weather here in the past 2 weeks and I was just starting to get in the Christmas spirit!  I really should get some kind of indoor plant to decorate for each holiday, but let’s not kid ourselves… it would surely die under my care.

Here’s Maria, just being her normal sweet self. 

second child

I don’t want Maria to feel neglected on the old blog… the other night after Henry’s Christmas program we decorated the Christmas tree. She thought it was really pretty, and in fact will say “pih-ee” when she’s grabbing at gently enjoying the lights and ornaments.

And this is from our Christmas card photo-shoot, which I did without assistance and will never do that way again if I can possibly help it. This is one rare photo where she’s actually smiling.

twenty-third

 
Didn’t I tell you she’d do something adorable?

Now, come ON, Turkey!  Put your mother out of her misery already.  I’m looking at YOU, too, Armadillo!

eighteenth

It's been kind of a DAY around Casa de SICKO, what with Maria getting pink eye, an ear infection, and mild bronchiolitis over the last couple of days. We've had to juggle trading her care off between the two of us as she obviously hasn't been well enough for daycare. She'll have to hang with me again tomorrow and we'll see how that goes while I'm at work.

It's just been a DAY altogether. Some changes are afoot at work (not bad ones, just some new added duties) and are coming sooner than expected, so that's consumed a lot of my thinking today, whenever my mind hasn't been occupied with concern for the four of us and how on earth we're going to keep things from going berserk with all the SICK SICK SICK. I tweeted earlier that I'd really appreciate it if Farah or Amy would go ahead and have their babies so that we could have some good news. The request still stands, for as far as I know neither of them have been NICE ENOUGH TO OBLIGE. How rude. :o)

sixteenth

I'm so tired today, and I have a headache... you can blame this all on the fact that Maria barely slept last night due to her sudden development of a cough. And now I have fulfilled my daily posting requirement. Sorry for the cop-out post.

third

Sorry for the crappy cell phone pic.  I make no apologies for the outfit.