Science quiz

I would make my 8th grade science teacher proud...

Wordless Wednesday: We have moved in...

Heh.

Heh. Long time, no post.

What is it about laughing babies? If this don't make you smile, then you must be dead.

Not something you hear every day...

There was an elk alert announced on the radio today.

Because of the cold weather this winter, elk are at a lower elevation this year and there are elk crossing I-84 between Boise and Mountain Home.



Now in the event of an accident, that would be a difficult conversation to have with an insurance company that was based (probably) in Ohio or New York...

"You hit a whaaat...???"

Cursing

Had a note the other day that we needed to speak with E's teacher.

Uh, oh. That is never a good thing.

It turns out that E dropped some blocks and proceeded to say, "Shit. Shit. Shit."

Um. Guess we're gonna have to start watching what we say more.

The worst part is he kept encouraging the other kids to say it too.

My son. The King of Curses.

My New Toy

Here I am playing with my new toy. I am so glad to finally get a decent camera again. I still have my trusy old Pentax, but it is a film camera. And let's face it, film is just soooo last century.

I am hoping to get back into photography like I used to do. I think I used to be pretty good, but I just haven't been doing it much because I simply hate those point-and-shoot cameras. All of the ones I have take so long to take a picture that by the time the shutter clicks, the subjects have all left the scene and are back in the lodge drinking rum toddies.

This picture is straight out of the camera and since I didn't use a flash it is kind of dark, but I just wanted a quick-and-dirty shot.

Why did I buy myself a camera? Because it is my birthday. And no one else will.

Happy birthday to me.

Wordless Wednesday: Whaddya think...

...of the view from the front porch of the house we are buying...?

Of empty arms and bedrooms...

Julie has an interesting discussion on her Redbook site on what did you (or did you not) buy while you were contemplating having children. Some of the entries are terribly sad, women who long for children but still have empty nurseries that have since been turned into offices, guest bedrooms and junk rooms; pregnant women six months along who are afraid to buy a onesie because it might jinx the pregnancy; hand-knitted sweaters and crocheted booties that are hidden away in boxes and closets.

I did not buy much before my son was born. I will admit that in the years we were trying whenever Disney came out with limited-release movies (The Lion King, a re-release of Cinderella, etc.), I bought them for my future children and both of our homes were 4-bedroom homes. We had a nice guestroom, B had an office and I had a sewing room. Other than that I think I bought two onesies when I was about 3 months along and only because they were on sale. And the whole pregnancy, they hid back in a closet because I was afraid to hope that this time there was going to be a real, live baby at the end.

That is all the baby stuff we had before coming home from the hospital with E (except for the things I got at a baby shower given by my Sweet Adeline chorus). During my marathon induction, my in-laws set up a crib and a chest of drawers (hand-me-downs) and unpacked all the hand-me-down clothes that were used by E's cousins. They had bought a baby monitor, bedding, stuffed animals and toys. They were terrific.


Fortunately our story turned out happy. But I will never forget how fearful I was that those Disney movies would remain unwatched and I would be forever saddled with a guestroom that longed to be a kid's room.

B(ee) has returned

25 Things

Found this over at Karen's. Kind of a feel-good post for the first post of the new year.

The 25 things I never get tired of (in no real particular order):

1. Watching my son sleep
2. Great music
3. Long hot bubble baths
4. Good wine
5. Good friends
6. Laughing
7. Spending time with my family
8. Finishing a project
9. Having a massage
10. Room service
11. Fresh sheets and a comfortable bed
12. An unspoiled mountain lake
13. Fresh air and sunshine (is that two??)
14. Listening to a cat purring
15. A clear night sky in the mountains
16. My dog greeting me when I come home
17. Hearing people laugh
18. Finishing a good book
19. Giving a gift to someone I love
20. Playing in the ocean
21. Watching a good movie
22. Hugs
23. Going to a craft or fabric shop (I feel close to my mother there)
24. A truly good cup of coffee
25. Holding my son in my arms

Hey, Look

..what we found in a box by the garbage cans. Outside. In 19 degree weather. Poor little thing was only half alive. But a day in a warm house, some food and water can work miracles.

Can we keep him?

Wordless Wednesday: A Boy and His Presents

Bad Mother

My son has 4 best friends. He plays with them. He talks to them. They sleep with him. He loves them.

They are: Tigger, Floppsy, Pink Bear and Bee (or B as I tease him). Most of these characters are easily recognizable in this picture. Pink Bear is the pink bear. Tigger is the tiger. Floppsy is the floppy-eared dog. And B(ee) is, well, the stuffed Nemo.

When E was small(er), he called all fish b(ee)s. Don't ask me why. He knew what a bee was and he knew what a fish was but he still called fish b(ee)s. He also loved the movie "Finding Nemo" so when I was in Orlando on a business trip I picked up a stuffed Nemo at the Disney Store in the Orlando airport. E christened him 'B(ee)'.

As parents we aren't supposed to have favorites. B(ee) and Pink Bear are his favorites.

I have lost B(ee). E is devastated. B(ee) has been missing for about 3 weeks. E asks daily where is B(ee). I have looked everywhere in the house and I can only guess that E left him somewhere. Poor B(ee). He survived being dropped in mud puddles. He survived trips through the washing machine. He survived being laid on, kissed, and hugged. He even survived losing a fin (I sewed it back on). But now he is gone.

I went to the Disney Store and ordered a stuffed Nemo (doesn't it look the same? I thought it was the same). When it arrived, it was much larger than the original B(ee) and a different color (more reddish-orange than the yellow-orange that is B(ee)). I hid it in a closet (anyone want it?).

So I searched for a new stuffed Nemo.

And found this. I found it on e-Bay and paid an extra $10 to get it ASAP (does this look the same? Please tell me this looks the same).

I can't bear looking into that sweet face and saying his beloved B(ee) is gone forever.

For Unto You is Born...

At 6:30 the next morning, the nurse said I could start...

What?

Yes.

I slept through labor.

I woke up on Thursday, December 12, 2002 at about 6 AM. The nurse checked my cervix and said I could start pushing. For about 20 minutes I pushed. Then I was told to stop because there was apparently a 'lip' that the poor little guy was whacking his head against. The nurse said she would dial back the epidural a bit and we would try a little later.

"Dial back the epidural a bit" was what she said. Ummm, yeah. If anyone ever says this to you, I advise you to claw their eyes out and run away. Run away fast, machines, tubes, and all. Especially if this is an induction because as I understand it, the labor pains in an induction are quite a bit worse than in a 'natural' labor.

After the fateful 'dialing back', I took my blood pressure meds (which I hadn't taken since the morning before). A (very) short time after that...Oh, my fucking God!!! Yeah, 'dial it back a bit.' Pain. More pain. Then, nausea. Whimpering, crying, oh, the humanity.

B, after seeing me crying and whimpering for 5 minutes or so, then went in search of a nurse.

Let me pause a minute to tell you how, um, forceful B can be. I am glad he was on my side because within minutes of his search I had 2 nurses and an anesthesiologist in my room.

"I am going to throw up." Good thing the nurse was there because, yes, I did. Thank god for the anesthesiologist because he dialed me back in and...ahhh.

About 9:30 AM I started pushing again.

At 10:10 AM, this beautiful boy was placed on my chest.

They lie to you when they tell you that 'you forget all about the pain' because no, I haven't forgotten about the pain. But I look at this wonderful boy and say 'Yes, it was worth it.'

Happy birthday, my wonderful little boy. I love you more than I have words to express. I will love you forever and ever.

5 Years Ago, Today

It was a Wednesday. I had been in the hospital since Monday noon. A week and a half prior I had had an amniocentesis to check on my son's lung function which turned out to be fully developed. We were told "more bad than good can happen from here on."

I have chronic hypertension (high blood pressure) that I have been taking medication for since I was in my 30s. My first obstetrician did not expect that I would get past Thanksgiving without going pre-eclamptic. I did. The next one (we had moved to California) did not expect that I would get past 34 weeks. I did.

We scheduled the induction at 37 weeks, 3 days (after the above test for lung function). We arrived at the hospital Emergency Room at noon and I was wheeled up to the L&D (labor & delivery) ward. They hooked up a belly band and then took 4 stabs in my right hand followed by another two in my left to get the drip set up (ouch!). I got some stuff stuck up my cooter to soften my cervix and then we proceeded to wait.

And wait.

And wait. Oh, sure, they tossed stuff into the line going into my bruised and battered hand. They shoved more stuff up my wazoo. You could see the contractions on the miles and miles of tape. But really, we just...

Waited.

Until Wednesday. About 2 o'clock. I was sitting in the chair by the bed, alone, eating my lunch. B was out...somewhere. Suddenly...

"Ummm...", she says after pressing the 'Call' Button. "I think my water just broke." Boy, nothing gets by me.

The nurse comes in and ascertains that it is, indeed, amniotic fluid and not that I have completely lost control of my bowel function. I call B and tell him that it could be getting interesting soon. Forty-five minutes later he arrives and we proceed to...

Wait. At least now though, I start to feel the contractions. Hey! This isn't so bad. By 6 o'clock, that had changed. Whoa! This hurts! By 7 o'clock, I was asking for drugs. I wasn't dilated enough for an epidural, so they gave me something that they said they could only give me twice.

Yes. Please. Anything.

Okay, whatever it is made me sleepy. But it didn't really take away the pain. So what we had was me dozing off and then five minutes later I was hanging onto the side of the bed whimpering. This went on for an hour or so. They then checked me again and, hallejulah!, I could get an epidural. The anesthesiologist could be an hour away. Fortunately he arrived in less than 20 minutes with my blessed, blessed epidural.

He proceeds to do his job. B starts asking him questions. I scream to myself, Shut up! Shut up! Shut up! Let him do his job! Don't distract him! Meh.

By 9 PM the blessed, blessed epidural had done its job and I was no longer whimpering in pain. We continued watching bad TV until 11 PM, when I was...

Asleep.

To be Continued...