rain on tulips

(marker. on the walls. and the bed. and the mattress. and her. at least it was easily washed away with a baby wipe!)

Today, it finally happened. That nightmare moment that you spend your entire child-raising life fearing. The day when one of your kids, standing up in the shopping cart, actually takes a header onto the floor.

Oh, yeah, while we were at Target today, we stopped in the big middle aisle for a moment to talk to a friend from church, and I was standing right alongside her, but I didn’t realize she was trying to reach past me to the little girl swimsuits on the rack behind me.

Needless to say, I saw her flip over the side, and smack her forehead onto the floor, followed quickly by the rest of her body flipping down. And I couldn’t grab her before that awful thud.

She took a moment to start crying, but quit again rather quickly. She didn’t seem nearly so hurt as I would have expected, and the only thing she has to show for it is a little bruise and a slight goose-egg on the middle of her forehead at the hairline. (Almost doesn’t show up at all in the photos. I suppose I could try to get it in natural light, but who am I to drag an injured girl away from enjoying Dora the Explorer??)

I called Fuul right away, and reviewed all the head injury things to watch for. She’s not exhibited a single one, including falling asleep with a bottle and cold medicine! I’m pretty sure she’s fine. (As soon as we got home, she took up her favourite seat on the couch and started bouncing back against the cushions, so I’m guessing that her head must not be hurting her at all!)

I suppose that the good part of this was that she absolutely did not try to stand up in the cart again while we checked out and went out to the truck!!

ugh…

Since I didn’t have a recent photo of DS to add yesterday, I thought I’d throw one up from his present-opening and cake last night!

(By the way, I have a new favourite cake now: Crazy Chocolate Cake with Chocolate Sauce with vanilla ice cream, sliced strawberries, and whipped cream!!! *drool!*)

I can’t believe its been nine years already! (And what luck, its falling on a holiday this year, so we got to sleep in — well, some of us who weren’t up playing xbox at the crack of dawn!)

Happy happy birthday, sunshine boy!

I promise I’ve not dropped off the face of the earth… its just been a busy week…

I joined the world of the medicated housewife, and while it seems to help with the panic and anxiety, I still am having the increased ‘rebound’ panic in the evenings. That is supposed to regulate in the first couple of weeks. I suppose we shall see.

The kids all had busy weeks with lots of big projects due; I think all but one were done and turned in on time. DA still owes a book report on Tuesday.

EK had her video eye exam (for the life of me, I can’t recall what the actual test is called, but needless to say, both of us were motion-sick by the end after sitting in the spinning chair while they videoed the motion of her eyes watching different screens, and then spinning the chair. Woohoo). The good news? They got lots of good information for evaluation. The bad news? Well, they got lots of good information for evaluation. All they could tell me prior to evaluation all the data is that her balance issues and vision issues are all neurologically related — brain-based — and it may be there is nothing we can do to make either one better. But I’m trying not to panic (see the above mention of new medications) until I see the results of the reports in about 10 days.

We took the kids (AE, DS, and GC) to see Pirates Saturday morning — loved it!!! Can’t wait to see it again and again! DA and JS stayed home to babysit the little ones while we went, and then I dropped them off with a friend from church to go see it — alone! — at an afternoon show! It was a little strange dropping off my little kids (who aren’t so little anymore!) like that, but I think it worked out well for all of us!

Had to come home from church early today because EK and CC both have colds and couldn’t go to nursery; I decided home and naps was a better choice than chasing them up and down the halls for two hours.

JS gave his first ‘real’ talk in Sacrament today — it always amazes me when he speaks or performs in public; he is such a natural! In the few minutes I was there before bringing the babies home, I was told by no fewer than 6 people what a great job he did! He also had to perform on Friday at school for his music class — sing a song while he accompanied himself on the guitar — and he said he got the highest score possible! I think he has a great future as a performer!

I’ve been busy working on my rib-knit sweater that I restarted; I’ve finished the main body, and have about half of the first sleeve done. I only cast back on a week ago, so I’m not making bad progress.

EK was finally approved for all of her thearapies to be done through her school, so it looks as though we won’t have to add in a lot of time-consuming stuff with the new insurance. Some of her therapies will even be done at home! (They will come to us, rather than the other way around).

We’re still in the process of switching the new cell phones. Fuul’s has still not arrived. On speaking with the rep, it seems they were over-ordered, and his shipped out Thursday. Unfortunately, with the holiday weekend, we are looking at at least Tuesday before it will arrive and we can get all the numbers ported over. In the meantime, my new cell phone freezes up, so I’ll have to get a new-new replacement. And hope that I can get all my video and pictures off of it before I have to change it out. (I’ve tried to connect it with the USB, and it just hasn’t worked yet. *sigh*)

Anyway… I’m still here. I’m trying to figure out what to do for DS’s birthday (he’ll be 9 tomorrow!), trying to figure out if the rain will let up so we can barbecue tomorrow, and starting to watch the Buffy the Vampire Slayer series. (No I’ve never seen it before. Yes, I know thats a sad statement, there!)

Only a month left of the kids being in school (well, except for EK; her program runs til the end of July). We will unfortunately be missing the family get-togethers in Utah this summer — M&M in June, and the BGT reunion in August. I just can’t figure out how to fit both in, plus Disneyland in September (and that is an absolute).

Oh. And because I’m a glutton for punishment, I’ve gone ahead and registered for ScriptFrenzy for June… a spinoff of NaNoWriMo, only for script-writing, and it can be done in collaboration with another writer — so I’ve conned Fuul into helping me out with it. Or something. It only requires 20,000 words in 30 days, so I’m hoping its doable. And with the kids still in school, I might have a few extra hours to figure it out!

OK. Enough. A week in one post is a bit excessive. Or something. I’ll try not to be so lost in the future!

That’s about all I’ve got to show for the concert tonight, but it certainly was fun! I’ll try to get some of the (not great!) photos — and maybe video clips?? — up tomorrow, when I’ve not been on my feet, and I’ve gotten some food and some rest!

I just wanted to post real quick tonight and say it was a great concert, and…

M!!! I’m so sorry I called you… but I thought you would be the only one I know who might appreciate it! (Tho listening to the sound quality on the vid clips, I’m not sure you could even tell what it was, and for that I’m sorry!) ‘Night!

That’s how many years its been that I’ve been married to my bestest friend… we’re going out to a concert tonight… I’ll see if my new phone can’t get a couple good pictures of the band while we’re there! LOL

(Just posting this before I go ahead and frog the whole thing. Bleh.)

Object: Ribbed and Cabled Raglan
Start date: 4 May 2007
Finish date: Quit working on it 15 May 2007
Yarn: Lion Brand Wool-Ease worsted (wool 20%/acrylic 80%), color Chestnut Heather
Needles: US7 29″ circular
Size: 24″ scoop-neckline (by gauge)
Pattern: based on The Incredible, Custom-fit Raglan Sweater Pattern
Modefications: I didn’t like how high the back neckline was, so I started the project in two pieces, curving the back neckline down in a similar manner to the front neckline, then joining the two shoulder pieces when it had reached the appropriate curve. I made a deep scoop neck on the front as well.

I wanted the sweater to be gently form-fitting, so went with a k4p1 rib pattern, but I think I didn’t make enough of a stitch reduction in my pattern planning, because when I took the whole thing off the needles (as seen in the photos, with the temporary yarn holding stitches on the sleeves and the body) it was too big. By a couple of inches across the front. I think the back worked, but the front was just too wide. I thought about simply pulling stitches back to the point where I joined the two sides in the front, but I don’t know that I want to fight getting so many ribbed stitches back onto the needles at that point, not to mention having to figure out where the stitch markers would need to be replaced to maintain the raglan increases… or something.

Two full skeins of yarn are in that one piece of sweater. I tell Fuul that it was a learning experience. I learned a lot about raglan shaping, and about gauge importance. I learned that I need to be more generous in my stitch subtraction if working in a rib-stitch.

I’ve since started swatching for gauge again… same yarn, different needles, playing around with the idea of going with a patterned sweater (maybe this one?), or maybe I’ll just refigure all my ease on a ribbed sweater, and try it again. I’ve taken a couple of days off knitting, trying to get past the disappointment. At least I didn’t get the whole thing done only to find out then that it wasn’t going to work, right? Right!?

On to the next project!

Its been a week, now, since CC has thrown up last. I suppose the question of the day is:

Should I try him back on milk/formula mixes rather than the formula/rice milk he’s been drinking?

(He’s had incidental milk on cold cereal this week, and I think he got EK’s bottle once. He’s never had even any suspected reaction to any other dairy products except for milk.)

*shrug* I guess I ought to give it a go, while we are mostly at home today.

Lloyd Alexander, 1925-2007

And so they lived many happy years, and the promised tasks were accomplished. Yet long afterward, when all had passed away into distant memory, there were many who wondered whether [they]… and their companions had indeed walked the earth, or whether they had been no more than dreams in a tale set down to beguile children. And, in time, only the bards knew the truth of it.

Lloyd Alexander, beloved author, passed away yesterday.

I am incredibly saddened by this.

(News found via Jaquandor.)

When I bought new carseats for the two littles last year*, I thought I had made the best choices: a convertible carseat for CC, and a carseat-to-booster-to-backless-booster for EK. And then I started using EK’s seat.

It seems that, while her seat was fantabulous (yes, its a word!), perfect, would last forever! in the store — well, it wasn’t great for her. She never did sit up quite right in it: she looked slouched, her head pushed forward, her back curving at an uncomfortable point.

We tried everything — changing the angle of the seat, putting it in different positions in the truck, putting the head pillow behind her lower back, but nothing ever seemed to fix it. Don’t get me wrong: she never really complained about it. But it wasn’t looking good.

So, finally after nearly a year! of going back and forth with myself in my head, I finally broke down today and went carseat shopping again.

And imagine my surprise when I got to the store and started comparing seats, and found that EK now qualifies for the ‘5-point-harness to booster’ version of carseats: they run significantly cheaper, and move about oh-so-much easier! (Well, not so much in the 5-point-harness configuration, but I digress).

We brought home our new purchase, assembled and installed it while we waited for GC to get home from school, and were on our way!

The fantabulous (still a word!) news: EK sits up straighter, isn’t squished by the configuration, can still see out the window, and the seat sits lower over the top of the bench seat, so it doesn’t block kids’ views from the back-back seat. I’ve not decided if I want to try attaching the ‘outboard’ features (cup holder, snack cup, storage/book holder) yet. I don’t know if they will fit between/against CC’s carseat and/or the outer door. But the more important part is that she is sitting in a better, more supportive, comfortable carseat!

(And, lest anyone assume the I’d throw something away — though I wish I could bring myself to do it at least part of the time! — I measured kids today, and found out that DS is not 4-foot-nine yet; honestly, I just assumed that he was. JS and AE each barely clear that mark with shoes on. Live and learn, I suppose. Now, all the laws I can find are a little ambiguous on the point of eight years old and/or 4′9″ tall. DS is well beyond 8 years — his birthday is in just over a week! — but is several inches below that mark. I told him today that he needed to be in a booster, and set up EK’s old seat (with the removable back so it becomes a backless booster) in the truck. Let’s just say he’s not pleased. I suppose that, since I’m The Mom^TM, he’ll put up with it, but it would be nice if I knew absolutely on which side to fall where his needing the booster is concerned. *shrug* Never the easy way out, huh?)

*Wow! Its been a year! I don’t feel so bad about splurging again ’so soon’!

When Fuul started his new — long wished for, long-awaited — job, we were so excited, because one of the perks was a huge improvement in the insurance coverage.

Now I’m sitting in the middle of the downside of all that great insurance: EK is going on most of a month with no therapy outside of her preschool program, because we can’t see her old therapists without having to pay out-of-pocket, and the new therapists can’t schedule her in until all the paperwork and records and history get to them from the old therapists. The old insurance is dragging their feet on that on, by the way.

So. A month with no therapy.

She’s started babbling in the last week or two, and I don’t know how to encourage that, or direct it, or what to do with it.

Her speed is up on her walking; her balance is falling behind (no pun intended). Her gait is getting worse, and I’m afraid she needs new splints or other orthotics to address it. But I can’t talk to anyone about it until they get all the records transferred.

Her vision seems to be worsening — more head-bouncing even when she’s just reading a book. We are scheduled with two eye specialists, but not yet. One is next week (but they won’t do regular eye tests at that one), and the other is the end of June. Such a long way away. They did call to offer us a cancellation, but it was for the same day and time as the appointment next week.

I finally got a referral to the genetics clinic at the hospital, and still need to try and get her scheduled in there as well.

None of it is as bad as it seems. Most of it is just me suffering through some anxiety and not enough sleep. Of course, the appointment I was supposed to have with a doctor this week wasn’t really this week; its next week. Of course, I didn’t realize that until after I’d already driven down to the office stressing about the appointment the entire time.

Yeah. Maybe some more sleep would fix it all. If I could only get the little kids to agree to that, and quit tag-teaming awake from 2 to 5 every morning!!

Update: Called Genetics. Left a message. Called the therapist coordinator. Left a message. Don’t know if they will call back today, as its already 3. But at least I’ve tried.

Was hoping that the new phones we ordered on Monday would arrive, but so far no luck. Yes, Mom: we’re switching providers. The deal the offered Fuul for Data and mobile internet was too good to pass up. Hope that doesn’t effect your bill too harshly.

Update: The therapist coordinator called me back. She’s not sure where the lapse happened, but the therapists at EK’s school have all agreed that they are going to do one hour of PT/OT during class and ½ hour of speech during class. This is just for a start. If we feel like she’s not getting enough input, then they will see about getting outside therapies going. I will let her try it out for a bit, and see if there is any improvement, or if its just not enough. We’ll see. I still want them to address the sign language, as well. See if there isn’t some way we can get a signing tutor or something for her. shrug

Quick recap:

• All the kids but one were back to school Friday (AE — the last to get truly sick — was still under the weather on friday)



• I managed to get out Friday afternoon and get EK and CC new shoes — hate spending that kind of money on toddler shoes, but EK’s legs align so much better when I do, and CC’s ped suggested that brand so his shoes would quit leaving red marks on his pudgy tootsies!
• Saturday EK, CC and I went to a birthday party for a little boy from EK’s class at school: they had beautiful property with play equipment, bubbles, a bbq, and lots of games for the kids
• While we partied, Fuul took the other kids to see Spiderman 3. They all loved it, and insist that I need to see it. Sometime, I suppose!
• Fuul and I went out grocery shopping after we dropped all the kids at home, and he bought me my mother’s day gift: Tetris Evolution
• We spent more than an hour playing Tetris after the kids went to bed! Oops!
• Sunday morning CC threw up again. I stayed home from church since Fuul had to teach and to say the opening prayer in Sacrament Meeting.
• Made a nice spaghetti dinner for lunch after church…
• Which I didn’t get to eat because — bad mommy! — I forgot that GC had been invited to a friends birthday party to go on pony rides!
• Spent the afternoon watching GC running around with pink-cowboy-hat-clad six-year-olds… but got to talk with another mom of a ’special needs’ little girl in GC’s class, and got a lot of good socializing in there.
• Made Hamburger Skillet Dinner for dinner, and got to watch all three hours of the Survivor Finale mostly uninterrupted! (Yeah for ReplayTV! Waahhhh! Yao-Man lost…)
• Got to eat ice cream, got kids to go to bed at reasonable hours, got to sleep most the night uninterrupted except for one little boy who wanted to come in my bed at 3. But no one was sick!
• Today started back up with the regular Fuul dropoff/EK school/Grocery shopping crazies, and doesn’t look to be letting up soon. Fuul is supposed to be calling me to let me know what the plan is on replacing our cell phones — he broke his this last week, and his new employer gets great discounts through companies we aren’t with, so we are going to be switching. Soon I hope, because I hate not being able to reach Fuul when he is between buildings/on the shuttle/away from me. Yeah, I’m spoiled!

So. Busy weekend. Hope it is slowing back to a normal, hectic pace. And I hope to not disappear again, at least not for such oogie reasons!

A blogger whose work I’ve been reading for several years now, Jaquandor of Byzantium’s Shores, posted a request for some good thoughts or prayers or anything you can spare…

For those wondering where on Earth I’ve been, the answer is that I’ve been spending most of my time at The Wife’s side as she reclines in a hospital bed where she is confined for the time being. There she rests because right now, only gravity and luck are keeping what we had hoped would be our second healthy child inside her womb.

The news is particularly wrenching, as he and his wife lost their son just 18 months ago to complications of cerebral palsy.

I know that all the thoughts and prayers I can spare are quickly winging their way eastward….

Jaquandor is accepting ‘tip jar’ donations in the sidebar on his blog, to aid in covering the costs that an extended hospital stay and possible NICU stay will acrue. If you can, please consider helping them out.

EK was sick on Tuesday — made me feel less guilty for not trying to take her on her school field trip to a farm. When more than 24 hours had passed, and no one else showed signs of illness, I began to have a glimmer of hope that maybe hers was an isolated case.

Wednesday, JS called home sick from school. But then got home and seemed fine, and claimed it must have been because of the heat at recess after lunch. Mildly plausible story. I was tempted to buy into it.

The evening passed. No further illnesses. The ’sickies’ seemed to be on the mend.

I should have run screaming then!

At 10:30, JS was back up, full-on sick again. Blah. But one is ok.

Twenty minutes later, DS was running down the hall, sick as well.

I’m so not in the mood. And so I kept telling Fuul. “I can’t do this anymore!”

And Fuul? Well, he utters those infamous words. Those words that cursed us. Its the only explanation.

He said…

“Maybe they’ll all be sick at once and we can get it over with.”

What. Was. He. Thinking????

Let’s just say that this morning, all the kids are home from school. AE is the only one who’s not been sick yet, but Fuul took the truck, so I didn’t dare send her to school because if she got sick, there’s no way I could get her home again. I’m just waiting for the inevitable.

Seven out of seven.

(Sounds kind of lucky, don’t you think?)

_{If you don’t hear from me, it may be that I’ve run away from home for real this time… really and for truly!}