Sunday

Now that Thanksgiving is behind us we can focus on the next big holiday. Oh I know what you're thinking but no, you're wrong. I do not mean Christmas. I am speaking of my birthday. My *ahem* 45th birthday which will take place on December 15th.

How in the world did this happen? Seriously. I have no idea how that snuck up on me. I no longer can check the 40-44 box on those survey questionaires and for some reason, that really bothers me.

Forty-five.

I demand a recount.

New Clothes.....well...not really. :)

I have been having a clothing crisis lately. A crisis as in I have nothing I want to wear. Nothing I feel good about wearing. I'm so tired of the mommy uniform (jeans and a t-shirt) I have worn for most of the past 7.5 years. I find I am struggling against a lot of things that have been defining my life for 7.5 years so I guess it's no surprise that clothes would be included in that. Luckily enough, I have lost enough weight that clothes I haven't taken off a hanger in 4+ years are starting to fit - and rather nicely too, I might add. :)

It's almost like having new clothes. Almost.

And I kind of want to go shopping. I never enjoy clothes shopping but it actually sounds kind of fun right now. I'm sure once I stand in front of a mirror in a fitting room that feeling will evaporate but for now, I like thinking about it. :)

Ho Ho...whatever

The kids and I were going to decorate the house for Christmas today but once the boxes were down from the attic yesterday afternoon a certain little 4 year old started begging to get started right away. I hung up a few easy (and non-child friendly) decorations and then we waited for Kelton to arrive home from school.

As it turns out, we didn't have to wait. The only thing he was interested in unpacking were the nutcrackers. I could have guessed that one.

Kaylen and I worked on the fireplace but I realized as I opened up the boxes that I wasn't really in the mood to pull out everything this year. So I dug through the 6 or so boxes and pulled out about half the stuff and just went ahead and did it all. Decorating normally takes hours (taking into account the children "helping") but this year it was done and the boxes back in the attic in 2 hours. (The tree isn't up yet. That will wait a couple more weeks which is our tradition.)

Am I happy with the result? Eh. Not really. But I don't think that's a reflection on the decorating or the decorations. Something is missing. I don't know what - but something isn't right. The kids seem happy with it and I guess that's all that matters.






In other news, I took the children to Kids Club this morning to let them run wild for a few hours. After they were sweaty, tired messes; I took them to the mall because I knew there was a H1N1 clinic happening and they were immunizing Kelton's age group (Kaiser, for some reason, is not.). The line moved quickly and we were out of there and on our way in less than 20 minutes.

After that, I took them to Build-A-Bear Workshop and they each picked out an outfit for one of their bears who were waiting at home. Kaylen picked out a fairy (complete with wings) outfit and a fishing pole and fish (That's right. I defy you to put this child in a box. She is her own person.) and Kelton picked out a pair of Christmas pajamas and a magician's hat, rabbit and wand.

They were talking with each other and kept saying "This is the best day ever, isn't it? Yep - the best day ever."

Apparently I'm done now because how can you top that? Too bad there are still hours to go before bedtime.

Germ Adventure, Part 10000000

I woke up yesterday feeling just fine. I went about my morning routine and chores and then Kaylen and I headed out to MOMS Club. We were there for about an hour and a half and I swear to you - I felt completely fine.

After we left there I stopped at the post office and then we headed over to the high school where Kaylen attends her preschool class. We were there about 20 minutes early so I returned a call to Dakota and we caught each other up on our mornings.

It was then I noticed it. A not so good feeling in my throat. A bit sore but not too bad. I shrugged it off and walked Kaylen into her class. I drove over to the bookstore to pick up the next book in the Jake Drake series for Kelton and as I searched the shelves I made a note that my throat was getting worse. Hmmmmmmm.

I bought the book and then headed over to Target to pick up mittens and hats for Kelton's Warm Hands Warm Hearts drive at school and a 6' folding banquet table for the PTO (great sale! $32!). I had needed two but they only had one. Oh well. Then I picked up a pair of stretch pants and a shirt for Kaylen. Yes - you read that right. PANTS! She is trying something new this week and I am all about encouraging it. The thing is - we don't really have pants that fit her since I stopped updating that part of her wardrobe when she decided she was anti-pants.

My throat, by the way, was getting more and more sore. By the time I arrived home, 1 hour after dropping off Kaylen, I felt like I was trying to swallow cut glass.

The thing about pain like that is it forces you to stop thinking of other things and makes you live right there. Right in that painful moment. No worries about laundry needing to be folded, no thinking of unloading the dishwasher, no worrying about bills or student loan payments. Nothing besides "How do I make this pain stop? Why is it shooting up into my ears? Oh crap! MAKE IT STOP!"

Have I mentioned before how sore throats are probably the worst thing for me to deal with and considering how much pain I get to live with every single day of my life, that's saying a lot. I'm not sure why or where it comes from my sore throats are really, really awful for me.

The achy-nes in my neck and shoulders arrived before I headed over to pick Kaylen up at school. Perfect. I do not have time for this. No fever though so it's just one of those pesky viruses that need to run its course.

I continued on with the afternoon (like I had a choice) and before long, Kelton was home and it was homework time. Then Dakota arrived home and we got busy making dinner, cleaning up and getting Kelton to karate. Home we came and to bed went to the kids. I popped the Motrin and was soon in bed.

The night was hit and miss on sleeping and when I got up this morning I noticed that the cut glass sensation was gone and I just have a sore throat (so much better than yesterday!). My neck and shoulders are still achy and I don't feel great but at least I can function.

My guess is Kelton's doctor was right. He picked up something and passed it along because Friday Kaylen was saying she had a sore throat (but Tylenol seemed to make her all better and I'm never sure if she really has pain or if she just wants some medicine. Don't ask. We are constantly asking "Are you *sure* you need medicine?"). Now though, I do believe she actually did have a sore throat and I feel bad for not putting much stock in that. *sigh* Now she has a cough and sounds a bit congested (again) so I'm betting that's the road this will take for me too.

I'm beginning to think our house is a toxic zone and we just can't get rid of the germs. I've even opened up the doors and windows in an attempt to get the fresh air in and the germ infested air out.

I've heard from others that this is a bad germ year. I have to say - I'm not so much enjoying it. :(

Fever Land

We are still firmly ensconced in the land of fever. I think Kelton is reaching his limit on how much his body can take and still keep going at his regular pace of frenzied activities. I left the kids in the care of Dakota this morning to I could attend the IEP meeting for Kelton's speech therapy and then have an hour to myself. When I met up with them I heard tales of doing arts and crafts and playing games on the Wii. Ever since arriving home though Kelton has been curled up in a lump on the couch. I think he is hitting his wall.

(Look where I went! Ok - I was only there for about 15 minutes before I went to run a few errands but still....)

His fever? Oh yeah - still there and hanging out at 100.5 this morning. That is higher than it was yesterday morning at the same time. *sigh*

You gotta feel for him. This has to be so hard on his little 7 year old body.

We were able to get Kaylen in her for first of two H1N1 immunizations. Because it won't hurt them to get the shot if they have already had H1N1 and because without testing there is no way to know for sure if that is what she had two weeks ago, we opted to have her immunized. I know people come down on both sides of the debate on whether to do it or not (and I admit I went back and forth lately) but in the end, we decided it was worth it for us. She'll need her second dose the first week of December. Hopefully, when Kelton is finally well, there will be vaccine available for him.

And on that note, I will leave you with some really great photos I took in the backyard yesterday.


I hope you are enjoying the splendor of autumn!

Saying Good Bye....

...to another piece of my childhood kind of sucks and as much as I don't want to do it - it's time.


See this great tray? I've had it since the early 1970's and have loved it. When my parents moved from my childhood home the tray came to live with me and I have really enjoyed having it. It reminds me of being a kid...and my kids have loved being able to use it to eat on the couch or in our bed. It's been used often in the years I've had it. Probably more often than in my entire childhood.

A few months back the tray was covered in food and I was short on time. Thinking nothing of it, I tossed it in the dishwasher. I really, really, really should have thought something of it. Really.

When the dishwasher finished its cycle I opened it to unload the clean dishes and.........found that the heat of the dishwasher has peeled away paint from the tray.

It flaked off freely and if there is one thing I am almost certain of: that paint probably contained lead. It was the early 70's....everything contained lead. I never really worried about it because the kids weren't chewing on it and it wasn't an issue. Until now.

Clearly I couldn't let them use it anymore. But I couldn't stand the thought of throwing it in the trash. It was part of my childhood and I don't have a lot from my childhood.

It has been sitting in the cabinet, unused, ever since.

It's time to throw it out. And it makes me sad. Probably more than it should.

Another Sunday

It's Sunday. The last "officially summer" Sunday of the year. The neighborhood is alive with noises of people working. I have laundry going and the kids are happily playing. I've tossed around the idea of going to feed the ducks but since they are happy and quiet - I think I'll save that for another time.....or for 20 minutes down the road when they *aren't* playing nicely. :)

Yesterday was a rainy strange day so after grocery shopping we rented a couple movies, put a pile of blankets and pillows in the floor and snuggled up to hang out, eat candy, popcorn and nachos as we watched Space Chimps and Hotel for Dogs.

They were cute movies and it was a good way to spend a family day. Way better than paying bills, doing laundry, washing dishes or looking into an auto insurance quote.

Kaylen was positively certain she would "hate" the movies. Certain enough that throwing a fit in front of the Red Box seemed like a perfectly good thing to do. As it turns out, she loved both movies and is still talking about them. I will admit that Hotel for Dogs was a bit intense for her (though it ended happily so that was good) but she still loved it. (And umm...we didn't realize before hand that it was rated PG. Oops! Bad parenting on our part.)

Kelton loved them both. Which was no surprise. As it turns out, his surprise came on Friday when we watched "The Parent Trap" during our Friday Night Movie and Pizza Night. A huge fit on his end before the movie ended with him saying how much he LOVED the movie about 30 minutes into it.

Kids. They really do need to trust us a bit more when it comes to movies we think they will like.

When it is kids finally think their parents know more than they do? Oh right. When they are grown ups with children of their own. Guess I have a ways to go for that to happen. :)

Fall Clean Up

It's that time of year. Time to start cleaning up the yard and getting it ready for winter. We still have our pools leaning against the side of the house (though honestly it's 84 today and it still could technically be pool weather. I'm kind of over it for this year but I'm just saying - it still *could* be. :)) we have plants that are dying off and desperately need to be cut back. The lawn could use a mowing. The leaves are falling faster every day.

I can no longer hear the cricket at night (though between you and me, I think the poor thing drown in the big rains we had a few weeks ago) and the neighbor has cleaned out his pond filters and drained the pond.

And yet - it's hard to buckle down and get to the fall clean up when it's supposed to be in the 90's next week. So umm...maybe I'll wait another week. :)

Sunday Afternoon

After spending time at Target on Sunday (see below) we started to head home but the last thing I really wanted to do was just hang out at home so as our exit approached I said "I don't want to go home."

Out came the GPS and we devised a destination: Battleground Lake. We stopped at a grocery store and picked up the makings of a picnic lunch and then headed out of town.

It was nice to get out of regular life for a few hours. I definitely need more getting out of regular life.

The Update

It's been *how* long since last Thursday? A lifetime, you say? Yeah - that feels about right.

So - where was I? Oh right - going up to see my dad.

We left here bright and early and got to Everett 4 hours later. The kids were good in the car although little missy is definitely turning into a chatterbox. She talked and talked and talked while her brother played about 3 hours worth of Pokemon on his Game Boy. We stopped for lunch at McDonalds before I called to let people know we were in town. My dad was still in the hospital but was awaiting transfer to the rehab center since the hospital had done all they could. After all that happened there, we were all relieved and ready for the transfer.

The break in his cervical spine will go without intervention, for which I am very grateful. It means a cervical collar (Miami style for 12-16 weeks) instead of surgery and a halo brace. His leg, a tib-fib break will require 12-16 weeks of him being non-weight bearing - which will prove interesting since he has left sided weakness from a stroke years ago.

Thursday night brought us new information alerting us to the fact that he has a pseudoaneurysm which will need to be addressed at a later date. I don't have enough information to share on that fun little twist but they have decided it was not a result of the accident.

Anyway - when we arrived at the hospital to see him, the transport team was there waiting to move him to the rehab place. The guys were the same two who, as they put it, "scrapped him off the pavement" a few days before and where happy to chat all about it - which my dad actually enjoyed.

The kids said their hellos and then as my brother and I loaded up balloons, plants and cards and my dad was wheeled out of the hospital, Dakota took Kelton and Kaylen to the local children's museum to play. I went with James and we met my dad in his new room and get him all set up.

My sister met us as soon as she could and Cara was not far behind. We all hung out until my dad was ready for us to leave him so he could rest.

We headed out to pick up various things that he would need from his apartment and the store and then we met up with Dakota and the kids at my sister's house. We all had dinner and then we headed up to James' house where we would be staying.

The next day James, Cara and I left Dakota and the kids to enjoy their "vacation" (playing on the trampoline, going in the hot tub, playing Wii and having lunch) and headed down to the rehab center where we stayed for hours before my dad kicked us out so he could nap. We left to have a late lunch and then James and Cara wanted to go to the wedding expo for a short go around. Ummm....fun? Being held captive the nice person that I am, I went along. We met up with Cara's mom and checked the place out. I even got to witness Cara trying on her first, second and third wedding dresses. She didn't find "the one" there but still - it was fun to see her in the dresses.

We were out of there in no time and Cara went off with her mom to go look at more dresses and James and I headed over to my dad's apartment to pick up even more stuff. when we arrived back at my dad's room he was still semi-sleeping and asked that he leave him be for a bit longer. We went to the day room and hung out there until Lannon, Dakota and the kids arrived.

We visited a while more, stayed through his dinner and then said our good nights.

James, Cara, Dakota, the kids and I went to dinner where James amazed Kelton with his "pulling money from people's ears" trick. We were all laughing as hard as Kelton as we watched him run around the table trying to find his own stash of ear money. :) When James pulled a $20 from Kaylen's ear I had her say "My ear, my money!" which was pretty darn funny! (And no, she didn't get to keep the money.)

The next morning (Sunday) we packed up and headed down to the rehab center to see my dad before heading out of town. We hung out for about an hour, grabbed lunch at McDonald's (which brought us full circle for the weekend) and then started the long drive home.

I talked with my dad yesterday morning and then James in the afternoon. My dad is requesting only Tylenol (though he does have pain meds available should he request them) and did well at therapy. James outlined the goals set up by the doctor and filled me in on the auto insurance piece of all this....get this; as of yesterday, the guy who hit my dad has yet to contact his insurance carrier (which was listed on the police report; the same report which lists the guy as being 100% at fault). SERIOUSLY?????

I don't know about you but if I were to hit someone (especially a pedestrian!) I would call my insurance company ASAP but definitely by day 2 (Hey - I'm willing to concede that he was too shook up to think clearly the first day.). We're a week plus one day into this and still......he hasn't filed a claim.

I find that unbelievable and honestly, unforgivable as well.

Here are a couple pictures:

Update On My Dad

We're going to be going up to see my dad this weekend. I was going to fly up, spend some time and fly back but Dakota thought it would be good for her and the kids to go up as well so we'll head out Friday morning and come back on Sunday. It's a long drive and flying sounded kind of nice but it will be good to have them all there with me. The kids and Dakota will probably spend most of their time hanging out at my sister's house since hospital rooms aren't that accommodating for children with short attention spans and the need for space. Her house is closer to where my dad is so the kids can go in, say hello and give him the cute stuffed animals and card they bought for him as get better presents and then go somewhere to be kids while I hang out and visit.

Bad news for today though...as it turns out, my dad also fractured C2. We aren't sure how it was missed the day of the accident but yesterday he complained greatly about his neck hurting. Still complaining of pain today, they decided to x-ray his neck but didn't get good films. Off for a scan he went and the news came back of the fracture.

So - he's now up to a broken left tibia (broken clean through - not just fractured), a laceration in his head requiring 5 staples and a fractured C2. Poor guy!!!

Tomorrow we hope to have a game plan for what the docs are thinking. Clearly he can't go home and care for himself at this point. And there is the question of a possible surgery for his neck (though given that I have had spine surgery before I am advocating hard for at least one other opinion - maybe two. It doesn't sound like it's unstable (since they are waiting until tomorrow to talk with the attending) and I say why go through a surgery unless it is absolutely necessary.

The guy who hit him was cited for failure to yield to a pedestrian and all the witnesses state clearly that my dad was crossing with the light and in the crosswalk. Of course - being in the right sure doesn't fix his broken body.

Are You Kidding Me??

I was sitting down to have dinner with the kids tonight when the phone rang. It was my brother and I could sense an edge to his voice.

(Are you sitting down because you are never going to believe this - I mean seriously, after the last two weeks...this is just too unbelievable. Ready?)

My dad got hit by a car this morning while crossing a street. And yes, I'm serious.

He is doing ok though he has a broken leg, 5 staples in his head and various road rashes. He'll be in the hospital for a few days and then, because he had a serious stroke 15 years ago and was left impaired he may need some sort of transitional care until he is ok enough to go back to his retirement center apartment.

SERIOUSLY 2009! THIS IS ENOUGH!!!!!! We're 12 days in and I have had it.

My poor dad. :( He was in the ER for hours, had CT and MRI scans, etc and no one called my brother (clearly listed as his contact) until tonight. He was hit at 7:45 this morning!!! They are all 4 hours away from me and with all that is going on down here, I can't exactly pack up and go up, nor do I know how helpful the kids and I would be. But wow. I'm just so sad for my dad. :(

Waiting for the Ceiling to Cave In

And I mean that literally.

Remember that water leak issue I mentioned in my last post? The one where I said "the snow pack was higher than the flashing and it just got past that and into the attic...." Yeah. Turns out that may have been the case. Or not.

We now have a wet and ever growing water mark our ceiling which is much larger than the original one (which frankly I thought was big enough). It's in a different place, of course.

We have no snow but do have lots of rain.

Our roof is only 8 years old so we called the roof guy and he graciously came out yesterday afternoon free of charge to see what is happening. He crawled on top the roof and inside the attic and the verdict is: the roof is not leaking. Damn. That would have an easy fix.

While the guy was up of the roof he found several areas of concern with the siding installation - the biggie being they didn't cap the chimney which may, or may not, be allowing the water to get in. Why now? It's been 11 months, right? He doesn't really know. It could have been happening in a lesser degree for a while or it could be that the extreme cold temps changed the way the siding sits on the house. Also the siding apparently isn't supposed to be touching the roof desk and it does around the chimney.

Given the day I had yesterday up to that point, I just stood there and listened as the tears filled my eyes. He asked if I would like him to call the company who installed the siding. I did - and he did. Someone from the company will be out this afternoon.

The roof guy said that even if those aren't the sources of the leaking, they need to be fixed. If that doesn't end the leak, then the siding company will need to remove the siding from the chimney, the roof guy will replace all the flashing and then the siding company can reinstall (properly, we hope) the siding.

Fine. Whatever. So we live with a growing wet spot and the possibility of the ceiling crashing in on us in that area. In the long run, I know it can be fixed. In the short run - it's stressful as all get out.

Add to that......

Kelton.

For those of you on Facebook, you already have a good idea of what is happening. Short little sentences were all I could manage lately but I know some of you don't do Facebook and I know others who are in FB are asking for more information. More information I really do not have at this point but here is the short version.

Kelton is losing weight. He has dropped about 10% of his total body weight since a Sept. 27th doctor visit. We have noticed how skinny he has become and other people have commented on it as well. We (stupidly) figured it was growing taller, not adding weight and naturally thinning out and losing his baby look. I was nervous about it but tried to shake it off. But too many people started to say things to not wonder and then Dakota plopped him on a scale. Yikes.

I had to take him in on December 31st for something unrelated (? Maybe.) to his weight lose so I was able to address the weight lose then instead of waiting a few weeks for a regular appointment.

The end result is the doctor is concerned and asked to begin weekly weigh ins to be sure he doesn't lose anymore. If he did lose, then she would run some tests.

I took him in yesterday morning for his first weigh in and even after a week of shoving food at the boy and him doing his part of eating just about everything - he still lost half a pound. With all the food we were putting in him, there is no way he should have lost. He was crushed and I was without words.

They got us in to see the doctor within 30 minutes. after another examination and lots more questions, we were off to the lab to have NINE(!) vials of blood drawn. My amazing child was a trooper! Not a whine or a cry. He stuck out his arm, did what they asked of him and walked away with 4 stickers for his bravery. I was so proud of him!

The doctor said she was "throwing out a broad net" hoping to figure out what is going on but more importantly to rule out things that are not the problem.

And now - the waiting. Which is complete torture.

The urinalysis came back quickly as did a glucose result (I assume from the urine sample). They are fine.

It could be up to a week for all the results to come back.

In the mean time, I'm completely falling apart while working so hard to keep it together for the kids and Dakota is barely keeping it together. This is not good. Whatever it is, is not good. We just have to hope it's a simple fix.

So that ceiling problem? Quite the metaphor for life right now.