when weeks had passed and it seemed like my children were ginormous compared to their suite-mates in the nicu i began hearing things like "he is too big to still be here" or "you are still here?" then k. decided to kick the nicu like a bad habit. we cranked up the heat to 85 degrees in our house and lived in a giant incubator for fear we would end up back in the hospital for low temperature issues.
but m. was stubborn, he couldn't kick the habit. we later learned that it was because he had a love affair going on with one of the amazing nicu nurses. she would visit him first thing each shift to talk to him and take him to rounds and just snuggle him. once i got wind of this affair, i had a little talk with m. told him i didnt approve of "that hussy" and that it was time to join his family at home.
lately it seems like he is conjuring memories of his long lost love and is trying anything and everything to land himself back in the hospital. today, for the second time in as many weeks - he split his bottom lip wide open. and boy was it bloody - the kind that makes you vomit a little in your mouth when you see the spurt of blood land on your own shirt, but then you swallow and forget all about that because its your little baby standing in front of you spewing blood out of his lip and screaming his head off. i am fairly certain if i could have translated the shrieks it would have been something like, "please mama, i love her, i just want to see her one more time!!"
Sunday, July 27, 2008
Thursday, July 24, 2008
controlled chaos
yesterday the masses descended and it was controlled chaos.
all day long i am at home with children, always outnumbered. yesterday, m & k had some friends over to play and for dinner. even though 5 adults (and one mothers helper) were in attendance, we were really outnumbered with 11 children. two siblings did not make it because of prior engagements - so it would have been 13 kids. i was a little stressed yesterday wondering what i was getting myself into. but i think it worked out great - controlled chaos sort of describes it to a T. the kids played their little hearts out in the heat and humidity, then we came inside for a little indoor picnic - which was surprisingly tame. see for yourself...
j. came home from work and i think he expected to see kids swinging from ceiling fans and spilling out into the street. this was not the case - everyone was happily eating what was on their neighbors plate! however, j. is now convinced that our house is big enough to contain our own children. i have informed him that he is sadly mistaken and we will be putting our house back on the market come fall. i hope to be ringing the new year in under a new roof!
all day long i am at home with children, always outnumbered. yesterday, m & k had some friends over to play and for dinner. even though 5 adults (and one mothers helper) were in attendance, we were really outnumbered with 11 children. two siblings did not make it because of prior engagements - so it would have been 13 kids. i was a little stressed yesterday wondering what i was getting myself into. but i think it worked out great - controlled chaos sort of describes it to a T. the kids played their little hearts out in the heat and humidity, then we came inside for a little indoor picnic - which was surprisingly tame. see for yourself...
j. came home from work and i think he expected to see kids swinging from ceiling fans and spilling out into the street. this was not the case - everyone was happily eating what was on their neighbors plate! however, j. is now convinced that our house is big enough to contain our own children. i have informed him that he is sadly mistaken and we will be putting our house back on the market come fall. i hope to be ringing the new year in under a new roof!
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
another first
motherhood is soo much fun - today i made my first call to poison control!
m. was playing with a bouncy ball that belonged* to his older brother (pictured below). it has a liquid inside and a "floating" pirate head. it used to light up when you bounced the ball. like most 19 month old boys, m. thought it a good idea to put this ball in his mouth and bite down. turns out that is all it took to spring a leak of a "kerosene-like substance" into his mouth (as confirmed by poison control, whose number is listed below). oh great - who on earth decided kerosene was an ideal substance with which to make a child's toy?!?!?! turns out since he only had a tiny amount in his mouth we were instructed to rinse out his mouth the best we could until we no longer detected the odor and then allow him to drink some milk. i dont even want to think about what would have happened if i had to answer "yes" to the question posed to me by the poison control expert of "do you think he ingested more than a few mouthfuls?"
*note the past tense, as this ball now belongs to some proud landfill!
m. was playing with a bouncy ball that belonged* to his older brother (pictured below). it has a liquid inside and a "floating" pirate head. it used to light up when you bounced the ball. like most 19 month old boys, m. thought it a good idea to put this ball in his mouth and bite down. turns out that is all it took to spring a leak of a "kerosene-like substance" into his mouth (as confirmed by poison control, whose number is listed below). oh great - who on earth decided kerosene was an ideal substance with which to make a child's toy?!?!?! turns out since he only had a tiny amount in his mouth we were instructed to rinse out his mouth the best we could until we no longer detected the odor and then allow him to drink some milk. i dont even want to think about what would have happened if i had to answer "yes" to the question posed to me by the poison control expert of "do you think he ingested more than a few mouthfuls?"
*note the past tense, as this ball now belongs to some proud landfill!
Saturday, July 19, 2008
mars vs. venus
j. accepted a new position, with a new agency. as part of the hiring process he has to go through a background check, which included a screening for the use of illicit drugs. what i am about to share will clearly outline the difference between j. (a man) and myself (a mother of 3).
friday was j.'s regular day off. f. was off to camp early and the rest of us decided to accompany j. to the urgent care clinic so he could leave his pee for them to test. this should take what - 15 minutes?! being generous, lets say, i assumed it would take 35 minutes or so. not too outrageous of an outing, during which m. and k. would be strapped into their stroller. then we would be off to have some fun. so we packed up the car with the boys in tow and finally locate the place in one of the seedier neighborhoods outside of baltimore. when we got inside, i quickly realized my generous estimate was laughable. we were going to be here for at least an hour.
so i set out about entertaining the wee ones while we waited what seemed like a ridiculous amount of time. it quickly became clear that the only thing that urgently occurred in this facility were the smoke breaks that the staff took. so finally after an hour, j.'s name is called.
i was so excited i almost peed right there myself! mostly i was just glad because my arsenal of entertainment tricks had dwindled to letting the boys chew each of my credit cards to see which one they liked best and playing all the ring tones on my cell phone to let them stroller dance along to their favorite. clearly i was desperate! another 10 minutes or so pass and j. finally emerges.
i quickly exit my seat and exclaim "thank god!" i am swiftly defeated when j. says "i am not done, i couldn't go" to which i reply "what?!?!what do you mean you couldnt go?did you pee before we left the house?you drank a large iced mccoffee that has got to be at least worth one specimen full!!i am so going to be blogging about this!!!" and then he is all "why don't you take the boys outside and check back in about 15 minutes?" begrudgingly i exit the building into the nine-thousand degree heat with about twelve-thousand percent humidity and quickly exhaust the joys of the great outdoors. [this is when i discovered the favored smoke break area]
i finally decide to load the boys in the car, because, clearly it couldnt take him more than a few minutes to get up the urge to pee, right?! wrong!! 45 minutes later, i pull the car into the ambulance bay (because who are we kidding the last time an ambulance came here its patient was clearly being transported to the morgue and the driver was just stopping to ask directions) and began politely honking my horn. j. emerges and mutters something about how this is too much pressure and that i should just take the boys to lunch and come back. umm, hello - this is where i start to have issues. who goes to a pee test and cant pee? clearly not a women - and absolutely not a mother of three. a mother of three can pee at will - sometimes even against her own will (i'm just saying). filling a cup to a certain line has never been a problem for me!
after another 20 minutes, he finally emerges with a smile on his face, like he just accomplished the unthinkable and says "ready babe?" since it was now lunch time, we proceeded directly to the restaurant where he quietly left the table three times to pee. i guess the pressure was off!
friday was j.'s regular day off. f. was off to camp early and the rest of us decided to accompany j. to the urgent care clinic so he could leave his pee for them to test. this should take what - 15 minutes?! being generous, lets say, i assumed it would take 35 minutes or so. not too outrageous of an outing, during which m. and k. would be strapped into their stroller. then we would be off to have some fun. so we packed up the car with the boys in tow and finally locate the place in one of the seedier neighborhoods outside of baltimore. when we got inside, i quickly realized my generous estimate was laughable. we were going to be here for at least an hour.
so i set out about entertaining the wee ones while we waited what seemed like a ridiculous amount of time. it quickly became clear that the only thing that urgently occurred in this facility were the smoke breaks that the staff took. so finally after an hour, j.'s name is called.
i was so excited i almost peed right there myself! mostly i was just glad because my arsenal of entertainment tricks had dwindled to letting the boys chew each of my credit cards to see which one they liked best and playing all the ring tones on my cell phone to let them stroller dance along to their favorite. clearly i was desperate! another 10 minutes or so pass and j. finally emerges.
i quickly exit my seat and exclaim "thank god!" i am swiftly defeated when j. says "i am not done, i couldn't go" to which i reply "what?!?!what do you mean you couldnt go?did you pee before we left the house?you drank a large iced mccoffee that has got to be at least worth one specimen full!!i am so going to be blogging about this!!!" and then he is all "why don't you take the boys outside and check back in about 15 minutes?" begrudgingly i exit the building into the nine-thousand degree heat with about twelve-thousand percent humidity and quickly exhaust the joys of the great outdoors. [this is when i discovered the favored smoke break area]
i finally decide to load the boys in the car, because, clearly it couldnt take him more than a few minutes to get up the urge to pee, right?! wrong!! 45 minutes later, i pull the car into the ambulance bay (because who are we kidding the last time an ambulance came here its patient was clearly being transported to the morgue and the driver was just stopping to ask directions) and began politely honking my horn. j. emerges and mutters something about how this is too much pressure and that i should just take the boys to lunch and come back. umm, hello - this is where i start to have issues. who goes to a pee test and cant pee? clearly not a women - and absolutely not a mother of three. a mother of three can pee at will - sometimes even against her own will (i'm just saying). filling a cup to a certain line has never been a problem for me!
after another 20 minutes, he finally emerges with a smile on his face, like he just accomplished the unthinkable and says "ready babe?" since it was now lunch time, we proceeded directly to the restaurant where he quietly left the table three times to pee. i guess the pressure was off!
Thursday, July 17, 2008
remember me by lizzie palmer
my dad forwarded this to me. now normally, i delete all the gagillion forwards that my dad sends - (sorry dad - i still love you), but for some reason i opened this one. this was put together by a 15 year old - very insightful young woman.
Monday, July 14, 2008
Sunday, July 13, 2008
michael phelps has nothing on him...
ok, this might not look like much to just the average viewer, but i promise you i am almost in tears each time i see him swim on his own! i am so proud of him for going outside of his comfort zone!
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