First Trip To Urgent Care

Last week we had to make our first trip to an Urgent Care clinic. I really thought I would have had to make the trip prior to now, since our kids are now 6 (and a half) and 2 (and a half). (the “and a half” is added because we are always reminded by our little Moo that she is officially “six-and-a-half” now that we have passed through September. “Because there are 12 months in a year, and I was born in March, which is the 3rd month, and since September is the 9th month, it’s past 6 months, which is half of 12 months, so I’m six-and-a-half now!” Can’t fault her logic. :-)

So, back to the Urgent Care trip. Neither of our offspring are overly graceful. But I would say they are as clumsy as average 6 and 2 year olds are, depending on the activity and the day or the moment or... I just thought I would have had to take Moo before I’d be taking Bean for some sort of injury. See, Moo can be a little dramatic. (just a tad!) She has a tendency to OVEREXAGGERATE little things. Something like catching a toe on a rug that for most people would be a little hop to catch your balance, for R1 will turn into a stumble-scramble-WOOAAHHH-arms flailing-falling-down-on-the-floor-is-everyone-watching-me-now kind of catastrophe. (those of you that know her, know this is very true) I was making dinner in the kitchen and the kids were watching a video in our bedroom. Well, Moo was watching the video, Bean was having fun making the dog go crazy around the room because the dog was chasing the little red dot from the laser pointer that Bean was controlling, while standing on the bed. Bean must have caught a toe (or something) in the bedding, because the next thing I know, the laughter turned into screaming, and Moo comes running into the kitchen, pale-faced, and tells me screams at me to come quick, “THERE’S BLOOD!”. He’d fallen and hit his head on the dresser.

I go into the bedroom and find Bean laying on the bed with half of his face covered in blood. Thankfully whatever it is that moms have that enable them to function rationally in a crisis situation kicked in, and I very calmly picked him up and took him to the kitchen. With one hand I turned on the water and grabbed a wash cloth so I could clean the blood away to see where it was all coming from, and with the other arm got him tilted back and relaxed so we could assess the situation. The poor little guy had a pretty deep, but not all that long gash above his right eye. I think to myself “Stitches…I think he might need stitches.” Then I think “Superglue. If I had some superglue and a couple of butterfly bandages, I might be able to make it stay closed.” Then comes the “I should still take him in…it’s on his face…what if it gets infected…and he probably does need stitches.” So I get J, (who was outside doing yard work) and have him come in to keep an eye on Moo and finish up dinner so I can take Bean to the Urgent Care center for a couple of stitches in his forehead. Bean has now calmed down and is ready to go “bye-bye” happy as can be. Which then makes me go back to the superglue and bandage thought, but second guess myself again.

We get to the Urgent Care where the Dr. takes a look at his forehead and tells me that it’s a judgement call on the stitches. The cut is deep enough for stitches, but only long enough for a couple, so perhaps these little steri-strip doo-dads would do the trick. It would be less traumatic for Bean, and easier to do. So with a little assistance from the nurse and mom the Dr. applies a few of the strips to pull together the cut and keep it closed. We head for home with a patched forehead and a couple of “I was a good patient” stickers to make it all better.

Things were good until we put him to bed that night. Bean likes to sleep on his tummy, which also means he sleeps on his face. At some point between 9pm when we laid him down and 11pm when I went to go check on him, the strips had loosened and he was bleeding again. Now comes the superglue and butterfly bandages! Momma sent daddy to the store at 11:30 to gather a collection of First aid supplies. (the Snoopy bandages in the medicine cabinet just wouldn’t do for this job!) Daddy held him still and Momma pulled the cut closed and slapped a couple of butterfly bandages across it to keep it together. Viola! It stayed shut. No more blood!

This fix lasted for about 3 days…until he fell again, this time on the kitchen floor, causing the cut to pop wide open and start bleeding all over again.

Urgent Care pt. 2 – A second Dr. looks at his head and tells me they stitches can only be done if they are done within the first 8 hrs of the injury. Ah. Ok. So…what do we do with his head? We apply more strips. This time they applied strips all across the cut to make a large patch over the whole thing. She tells me “I kind of overdid it…this way, if he bumps it again, hopefully they will hold.” Gee…thanks! Turns out, this time, they did. We removed the last of Bean’s “strips” last night after a bath.

As I was cleaning up some of the remaining adhesive from around the area and preparing to put some Vitamin E oil on the scar to help minimize scarring in the long term, Bean looks up at me and tells me “Chic’s dig scars.”

Let’s hope they do, buddy, let’s hope they do. Something tells me we’re not done with Urgent Care just yet.

First Loves and Trains

Tap…tap…tap. Are you still there? I know, I know, it’s been a long time. I even had trouble remembering my log in information to post this. Sorry!

I’ve been thinking a lot about posting something up here again. And I’ve spent some time considering what it is that you’d like to read about. Do you want stories about the kids, stories about the hubby, stories about me? Sometimes I just feel like rambling in general about things that are on my mind, but I’m not sure you’d really want to know. I suppose I could post it, and then you could stop reading anytime you wanted. How about you finish reading this, and then let me know what you like best about the blog. Then it’ll give me some more things to consider, and when I decide to post again (6 months to a year from now J) you may be able to come back to something you find interesting.

For now I’ll just put up a quick summary of the holidays and let you know that we are still alive and kicking.

Moo has encountered her first love. His name is Mario. He likes to wear overalls, and he and his brother have a successful plumbing business. Have you figured out if you know him yet? It’s Mario. You know, from the video game “Mario Brothers”. She has Mario games on the Wii. She has Mario games on the DS. Santa even got her the special Mario edition DSi (the one with the camera) for Christmas. It’s GREEN! (her favorite color)

I know some people frown about kids playing video games. I, as a parent of an addicted child, can see their point. However, this addiction also gives me, the parent, a much needed tool…LEVERAGE! Anytime Moo varies from her “angel” self, the threat of not getting to see Mario for an undisclosed amount of time is usually enough to get her to cooperate and put the halo back on her head.

I’ll let you know another little secret, when she sits down to play her game, it also gives me some of that much needed “me” time that every parenting magazine and website tells you that you need to take, but always feel guilty about scheduling. This is “me” time that’s unscheduled and sporadic and it’s YUMMY! Hey- I’ll take it when I can get it.

Our little R2, or as we have fondly named him our little “Bean”, isn’t all that little anymore. He’s walking, talking (some), and has quite the personality. He thinks he can do everything his big sister can do, and will try to prove it! Our sitter swears he’s destined to be an engineer. He is very observant and loves to figure out how things work. He’s not as verbal as his sister was at this age, but he’s very good at getting his point across and understands most everything we say. One of these days he’ll just start a dissertation about trains and we’ll not be surprised at all.

Trains…I did mention trains, didn’t I? It’s become the latest obsession in our house. We have been inundated with trains, and somehow it still doesn’t seem like we have enough. Our “Tuu-Chu’s” are everywhere, and they all have a different function and place. Bean is borderline OCD with his trains and other toys. They all have to be placed just so, or you have to start all over. It’s very entertaining to simply watch him position everything when he plays.

We had a very Merry Christmas and a very good New Years. We all survived and had wonderful gatherings with friends and family.


I’ll try to do better about updating the blog more frequently.

*Hugs!*
-A

She Was Just Born Yesterday...Right?

I swear, and I’m not kidding, it was yesterday that I was in the hospital giving birth to my daughter, wasn’t it? I mean, I can remember it all like it just happened yesterday. There’s no way this much time could have passed without me realizing it, or at least the events of that day getting the slightest bit foggy, right? Then how is it that she starts kindergarten tomorrow? This isn’t right, it can’t be here this soon. She can’t be starting kindergarten tomorrow if she was just born yesterday, can she? Yesterday, she looked like this…
I remember checking into the hospital, not knowing what to expect. I remember them hooking me up to all the monitors so we could hear her heartbeat while she was still inside. I remember them telling me it was time, and to get ready to push. I remember holding her in my arms for the first time and being completely overwhelmed with love I didn’t know was possible. I remember looking into her eyes for the first time and feeling completely at peace with the world, knowing that I helped to create a miracle. I still swear that was yesterday.

Now tomorrow, I’m supposed to send her into a building made of brick that looks like a school, with a gymnasium that smells like a gym is supposed to smell, and a cafeteria that looks like a cafeteria is supposed to look, along with 600ish other children and a handful of teachers, none of whom I know anything about, and walk away without shedding a tear? Not a chance. There will be tears, and they won’t be hers.

I wouldn’t put it past my over-confident first born (newborn) to stroll into that building like she owns the place, without even a second look back at mom and dad. Knowing her, she probably will own the place soon. Or at least think she owns it. Her attitude gets her into (and out of) interesting situations all the time. But then, yesterday she couldn’t talk yet.

I still can’t believe that I just finished writing her name on what seems like 15,000 different back to school items, carefully putting them all in her backpack in preparation for tomorrow when it was just yesterday we were trying to decide what her name would be.

Tomorrow she starts kindergarten. Tomorrow she starts her school career. Tomorrow I will cry. Tomorrow I will smile and be proud of my daughter. Tomorrow will be the start of another chapter. But yesterday, she was my baby.

Fishing Stories

Well, once again I seem to have dropped the ball when it comes to blogging. Darnit. I’m sorry. This raising kids thing takes up more time than I thought it would when I decided to dip my foot in the childbearing pool. Please forgive me, and try to understand… (Facebook doesn’t help either…that takes a lot of time to update as well.)

July is almost upon us, and we now have 3 camping weekends under our belts for the summer. We’ve managed to get the camper out at least once a month since April and finally feel like we have the set up and tear down orchestrated into a fine tuned and efficient performance.

On the latest trip R1 was allowed to use live bait on her fishing pole for the first time. Last year we practiced casting with only a weight on the end of her line. This year was a different story altogether.

Ryan, Dad, Len and R1 all went down to the lake to fish. R1 was borrowing a Barbie Princess fishing pole from Ryan’s “collection” of fishing poles. They baited her hook and she cast out her line. Not 2 minutes go by and she ends up with the catch of the day. Her first Bass.

Since we weren’t sure of the limits on size, we put the fish back, just to be safe, but she will forever remember her first fish!

With her imagination and luck, she’ll be telling fishing stories with the best of them very soon. Keep checking the blog for updates!

-A

Rodents and Roatan

Wow. Sorry. It’s been awhile since the last post. I always promise to do better, and then life gets in the way. Let’s see…what have we been up to that I can sum up in one neat little package called a blog post?

Today, being Groundhog Day, the media has been obsessed with discussing the mental state and hallucinations of some silly rodent in Philadelphia. So what if it saw a shadow because today, after almost forgetting what the thing is called because it hasn’t been visible for 8 weeks, the silly sun decides to shine. So we’ll base our spirits on the news that the overgrown rat saw its shadow, which somehow scientifically affects the weather and will make it cold and snowy for at least 8 more weeks. We’ve already had one of the snowiest winters on record, so what’s 8 more weeks of the depressing white cover that quickly turns into disgusting sludge along the side of the roads and under the car? (and inevitably ends up as splatter on the back of my pants when I'm trying my best to tiptoe through it in the parking lots...grrr)

My mind is taking me back to the first week of December. I was in a much happier place then. See folks, our family decided to head south. (and I’m not talking within the U.S.) When we go south, we really go south. We went on a cruise (again) to the Caribbean. The weather was WARM (what’s that like) and while Omaha was getting slammed with the first 12” of snow for they year, we were on a beautiful sunny beach in Roatan. My biggest complaint of that day was I forgot to reapply sun block after my massage on the beach. Oh what I’d give to go back there again now.

R1 is now officially a seasoned cruiser. She thinks any vacation begins once you set foot on a boat. Deuce travelled very well also. He enjoyed the sunshine and played some in the water. His favorite part was watching the ocean go by while sitting on mom’s lap on the balcony of our room. It’s in those moments that all was right with the world. (for both of us)





(Or maybe it was this moment, when he napped on the beach after his beach massage...)



We travelled with both sets of our parents as well as some friends. All together (counting the kids) there were 14 of us in our group. We danced, dined and dove the week away. It was beautiful and fantastic. We made memories that will last a lifetime. It was one of the best Christmas gifts we could have possibly given each other. Who knows, it may become a tradition. Let me know when you want me to start planning for next year! It’s only 10 months away!!

You know you live in Nebraska when...

…in the span of one month you have had high’s in the 80’s and high’s (yes, I said high’s) in the 30’s.

You know you live in Nebraska when…
…in the span of one month you have experienced the following weather phenomenon: Thunderstorms, flurries, snowstorms and rain, all within a few days of each other.

You know you live in Nebraska when…
…in the span of one month you get to see green leaves on trees, red leaves on trees, yellow leaves on trees, brown leaves on trees, then there’s no leaves on trees…

You know you live in Nebraska when…
…in the span of one day, you go from the temperature in the morning (when it’s still dark outside) of 62 degrees to the temperature when you drive home (while it’s still light outside) of 42 degrees.

You know you live in Nebraska when…
…the weatherman tells you the forecast is for possible snow flurries and you end up waking up to this…

You know you live in Nebraska when…
…your daughter walks out of the house in the morning and tells you “Mommy, it smells like snow out here!” (and then a few days later, it snows)

For the record, I love living in Nebraska.

What do you know, Bo?

Yeah, yeah, I know, it’s been awhile since I’ve update all of you on the happenings over at our place. Please understand, life has been very busy for us this summer.

A couple of months ago, our beloved dog, Ozzy, got very sick and we had to make the difficult decision to put him down. This was a very hard day for our family. Ozzy was our “test” child and he was a TERRIFIC dog. He is buried out on Grandma’s farm under a tree in the field. Rest in Peace Ozzy.

For about a week, things were very quiet after Ozzy’s passing. Then, the first night J wasn’t able to come home after work due to having to work the soundboard at the Omaha Royals Baseball game and I found myself alone with the kids at home, I decided that we needed another set of K9 eyes and ears around. There’s just something very comforting about having a dog around to see and hear things that are out of place. So I began my quest to find the next perfect dog.

We found Bo on an add on Craigslist. He was in a small town in Nebraska about a 2 hour drive from Omaha, but he was just what we were looking for. He is a German Shepherd pup mixed with Rottweiler and Brussels Griffin Terrier. He was about 2 ½ months old when we “adopted” him and has grown like a weed so far. And most importantly, he was free.

So far, Bo has been adapting well to life with us. His biggest problem is he has an unlimited supply of puppy energy. He seems to do very well in his kennel and has not had an accident while in it. (We have had a few accidents in the house, but they are becoming less frequent) He is learning to sit and lay down, although he seems to think that if he does the command for only one second that it counts. We are still working on “stay”. That one seems very hard for him to comprehend, although, I shouldn’t be surprised, he doesn’t really ever stop moving, so that command will probably be the most difficult for him to learn.

J took him out for a little target practice the other day to find out if he was at all gun-shy. Bo passed that test with flying colors. J now wants me to research how to train him to be a hunting dog in the hopes that one day he’ll be able to take him pheasant hunting or something of the sort. (one of the commands he’ll need to learn for that is “stay” so we’ll see.) It may be a bit early to start his training on that, but in the meantime we’ll keep letting him hang around when J does his target practice and see what develops.

Eerily, Bo looks a lot like Ozzy did with similar markings and coloring. He does seem to be much more “leggy” than Oz, but lacks a lot of the bulk Oz had. I’m not expecting him to get quite as big as Oz was (Oz was over 100lbs.) but I estimate he’ll get into the 80lb. range give or take 5lbs. or so. He’s got rather large feet, and doesn’t seem to be able to do anything with anything that resembles grace. We’ll see if he gets less clumsy once he grows into those feet.

So, in closing, welcome to the family, Bo. You’ve got some mighty big paws to fill.