Happy Father's day!!

I just want to wish all the dads out there a very happy Father's Day. I have been very blessed by having some very great fathers in my life.

Baby Evan and my Dad

My own father was very involved with rearing his children. He is a teacher, so he was there every afternoon after work making sure that we were behaving and cooking dinner for us. He was there to pick us up from after school activities. Naturally he was also very involved with our education and made me dread parent teacher night every year at school. He set the bar very high for my future husband.

My husband and Harry at an aquarium.

My husband is another wonderful father in my life. He is very involved with the boys. He cooks, he cleans, he does laundry and changes diapers when I can trick him into it. I think he is a great father and I am glad that he is around to show our sons what a real man is like.

Harry enjoying some quality movie watching time with my husband's father.

My father-in-law is another example of a wonderful father that I have in my life. He is kind of a quiet guy who has a quirky sense of humor. If you need something built or repaired he is the go to guy. He is an awesome grandfather to the boys.

Six awesome years

Today is the sixth anniversary of my marriage to my husband. Here is how the day went, just in case you were a bit curious. And this is how we met if you were wondering even though I know that each one of my readers has combed my archives for these gems. We will not be having any thrilling or exciting alone time with each other on this special day as I was unable to secure a babysitter. However we will be saving that for later in the month when my parents will be here for a visit. There is nothing better than having a ton of free babysitting.

This is the money shot. I had wanted this exact picture ever since I was a young girl.

Tags: wedding anniversary, marriage

We are back!

This was a snap compared to everything else that Evan has gone through. The new hospital has a play room for the kids so the waiting for the procedure to start was not too irksome. A Child Life specialist even came by and did some medical play with Evan and another kid that was in for a procedure too. Evan still fought the gas mask to put him under and it was hard keeping him on my lap while he went under.

It was a quick procedure only about three hours. He came out with two crowns (one silver and one tooth colored) and two fillings. His cardiologist came by to see how he was doing which was very nice of her since officially he was not really her patient. Evan charmed all the nurses as usual and did not throw up the juice he was allowed to drink. We were home around 1:30, in time for me to get a nice nap after wolfing down lunch at home.

Here is a picture of Evan's new smile. Just kidding!



Evan coloring in his Thomas coloring book. Thomas was the second word out of his mouth upon waking up. the first was cars. I guess I know where I stand is his life right now.

Tags: hospital, dentist, child

Cycles

My life seems to go in cycles. I have periods of quiet where we are able to laze around a bit in the morning and not often have anything in particular to do. Then there are periods of craziness where every day is crammed full of activities. Right now I am in one of those crammed full periods of time.

Evan gets his under anesthesia major mouth overhaul on Thursday. I got a message on my cell politely asking me to call them so that we can discuss how I wish to pay for my portion of the bill. I have decided to give them Harry in exchange for Evan's nice mouth. I would gave them my first born but he is the one needing the dental work and if he was gone then we could not enjoy the dental work in the first place. If they do not take kids in exchange for dental work I guess we will just have to pay them cash. Good thing we have an emergency fund.

This is how I get my reading done after dinner. The kids seem to think that climbing up mommy is a fun game. Note that the book is actually at my feet and not in front of my face so I can actually read it.

Your Blogging Story Carnival

Chilihead wants to know about your blog. She is having a blogging carnival about blogging.

How did I start blogging?

Well I sat down at my computer...... Actually the birth of this blog was not long after the birth of Evan. I was expressing breastmilk for him as he had never had the strength to nurse. That meant a lot of time in front of the computer hooked up the the milking machine (moo!). I had joined a wonderful Yahoo group called PumpMoms where there were women doing the same crazy thing as I was. While there I learned about two members who had these things called blogs. I fell in love with the whole idea. Gretchen and Neno were hilarious (they still are) and were great entertainment while I was hooked up to the milking machine. I then started to check out people from Gretchen's sidebar and then people from those side bars and well you get the point. Eventually I got up the courage to open a blogger account and give it a whirl.

The story behind my blog title is also related to Evan. Shortly before I started my blog we had finally received Evan's home INR test machine. I was super anxious about whether I could do this all on my own or not. I was hugely pregnant and not sure if he would sit still long enough for me to give him a painful poke on his toe. Our first solo test went amazing, I nailed it on the first try. I truly felt awesome! I added the sometimes in because I am a normal person and do not always feel awesome about my mad parenting skilz.

Did you intend to be a blog w/a big following? If so, how did you go about it?

Nope, although I did want to have some people reading be as that is one of the best parts about blogging.

To gain my readership I simply put a link to my blog at the end of my email. I also started commenting on other blogs. That lead kind people like Chichimama (who was my first commenter ever) to my blog. Later on I participated in things like Pediatric Grand Rounds and Change of Shift which exposed my blog to even more readers.


What do you hope to achieve or accomplish with your blog? Have you been successful? If not, do you have a plan to achieve those goals?

One of the reasons I started my blog was to empty my mind before I went to sleep. Sometimes I have a hard time falling asleep because I have so many thoughts running around in my mind. I had hoped that blogging would help clear the cobwebs. The reality has been the opposite. I find myself writing brilliantly witty blog entires in my mind when I should be sleeping. Sadly I never remember them when I finally wake up the next morning.


Has the focus of your blog changed since you started blogging? How?

I think that my focus has essentially remained the same. I blog a lot about my kids and my life as a mother. I also use it to keep family updated on how the kids are growing and how Evan's health is. I have added in some things like the product reviews but I still want to keep this a fun endeavor. I don't want to feel that I have to blog.

What do you know now that you wish you'd known when you started?

I wish that I had a better grasp on HTML. It would be fun to be able to do more on my own with my blog.

Do you make money with your blog?

Nope. I do get the occasional free thing, but I really do not want to clutter my blog up with ads on a daily basis. This is very much a hobby for me and I do not want to turn it in to a business.

Does your immediate or extended family know about your blog? If so, do they read it? If not, why?

My kids are probably aware of the blog but they don't read it since they can't read yet (slackers!).

My husband knows (although I did not tell him right away about it) and reads it while he should be working.

All of my extended family that has even the slightest interest in computers know. It is how they keep updated on the kids (yes I am really that lazy). My mother and one sister eventually started blogs too but my sister seems to have forgotten about her blog.

What two pieces of advice would you give to a new blogger?

Find your own voice with your writing. Be you and not someone else.

Try and write well. Put paragraphs in. Use complete sentences. Follow the rules of writing as best you can. No one likes reading a blog that is hard to read because it looks like it was written by an ignorant teenager.

Guess what I am doing right now

I am hiding out from the kids... well actually one child specifically. His name is Harry and he is a huge momma's boy. They are outside playing with my husband while I am making pizza with home made crust. Right now the dough is resting from the exhaustion that occurred while I was kneading it.

I had thought that by now Harry would be more accepting of my husband than he is. When he was a baby he would not even eat for my husband. He would shriek and cry if my husband even looked at him. Harry will still cry if I make him take a diaper over to daddy so that daddy will change him. You would think it was the end of the world the way Harry cries.

My husband has to make dinner often. Harry will throw massive temper tantrums if he is the least bit tired at dinner time. It gets so you can't even hear yourself think. We changed our dinner time to 5:30 and that has helped a lot even though we hate having to eat so early.

The kicker is that he is great with daddy as long as he does not know there is an alternative. If he were to hear my voice or see me the waterworks would start. He would be most upset that I am not waiting on him hand and foot. Harry has even been know to try and shove Evan out of my lap. Crud, I hear them coming back in, I had better hide!

Tags: kids, momma's boy

Random picture time

I have been playing with a photo editing program. Here is what Harry would look like if he had been born as an elf.

Playing with a flash light in his den of darkness (aka a tent that was covered in blankets).

My cute little man. I love dressing him in baby blue, he is so cute!

Fun with a bucket of water.

Evan's favorite hang out. He likes to put leaves and sticks in the grate.

What a difference six months make

Today Evan had his big semiannual cardiology work up. The hospital where he gets his heart stuff done is a bit odd in that it is actually three different hospitals with the same name. They recently moved all the kid stuff (birthing and the NICU which were already in the one building and pediatric sub specialties plus the PICU and pediatric hospital rooms which were not) into one building. Now it is like a children's hospital with out being an official children's hospital. This was our first time at the new place and it was a bit strange at first but it was nice being in a shiny new examining room.

The biggest thing I noticed was that while driving there I did not have to go up the terror inducing hills that are very common in San Francisco. These are hills that you do not want to be driving a standard transmission on. These are hills that you break into a cold sweat if you see a person ahead of you on the hill because that means when they stop at the top of the hill for the four way stop you will be stuck behind them only partially up the hill, praying that you do not slide further down. These are hills that have sidewalk stairs for pedestrians. These are hills that make you thank Heavenly Father every time you successfully make it up them.

The appointment went so much better than I had expected. Previous to this Evan has been quite squirmy and very angry when he had to have his pace maker interrogated. All it involved was holding a large computer mouse like device over the spot where his pacemaker was. It did not even have to touch the skin, but having it hover near him just pissed him off worse than me holding him down and putting it against his shirt.

This time around he quietly accepted the pacemaker thing on his stomach with out a peep. You could have knocked me over with a feather. I was all tensed up for a fight to the finish with him. He was entranced with the screen of the computer and thought it was cool that he could see the squiggly lines of his heart beat. I told him that it was his heart beating and he kept asking to see more heart.

The even bigger surprise was to come. He had to have an echocardiogram and for the most part he stayed absolutely still. Again, in the past it had been a bit of a struggle to get him to be still and not cranky about the whole procedure. I had to bribe him with candy so they could get decent pictures with out having to resort to sedating him. I think I could have done this one with out the candy at all.

Everything is looking good with his heart. He charmed the heck out of everyone as usual, he loves his cardiologist since she has never actually given him a shot or done anything at all painful to him. Even the pacemaker guy was falling for him. We go back in another six months.

My son's pediatrician knows I listen to Weird Al

I brought my iPod with me last visit to the pediatrician's office. I knew that Evan would have a freak out and was hoping that the novelty of being able to play with mommy's much coveted toy would keep him distracted. It did not work for more than five seconds for Evan but Harry was entranced enough that he only threatened to pass out once.

While I was getting Harry dressed again (he is average for weight, has a huge head and is 25% for height so he is a shortie) the good doctor asked if he could look at my iPod. He had bought them for his kids but they were not good at sharing (typical teenagers). He wanted to see what all the buzz was about. He tried out the earphones and noted that he could not hear Evan sobbing any more. I guess that is why iPods are so popular with parents, they are good at drowning out the sounds of a screeching child.

He handed it back and then much to my chagrin started to discuss the song that had been playing. In my haste to entertain the kids I had pushed play on my Wierd Al play list. Had I known that someone else was going to listen I would have picked something a bit cooler. Although, quite honestly, I am not sure I really have any "cool" music. Even if I had, it could have been lost on the good doctor any way. He grew up in India and I have a feeling that his taste in music is quite different than mine is.

Smells

I am a sucker for really nice smelling things. I have a rather large collection of scented hand lotions and soaps. I was very excited to review the new Sweetleaf Baby Collection, because most kids stuff smells too overwhelming and the scents are not very nice. One bubble bath I bought for the boys made them smell like grape bubble gum and I hated that.

I was given the shampoo and instant hand cleanser to try. The baby wash/shampoo smelt so, well the best way I can describe it is baby. I wanted to scoop my boys up and snuggle them all evening so I could smell their hair. Sadly they are very wiggly and were wanting to play instead of letting mommy smell them. It would be heaven to use this on a young baby that would be more than happy to let you hold them and smell their sweet babyness while they snoozed in your arms.

The hand cleanser had a nice smell and did not dry my hands out at all. The scent did not drive me as wild as the baby wash/shampoo but it was a nice clean scent that did not overpower me. It comes in a nice sized bottle that is not so small that it will disappear at the bottom of your diaper bag but small enough that it will not take up a huge amount of space either.

The biggest drawback to this lovely collection is the price. I am not the richest person and being a stay at home mother means we have to watch every penny. I would not use this every day on my kids, but I would give it as a gift to a special mother to be or I would buy it myself for a splurge to be used now and then.

Pediatric Grand Rounds 2:4

This has been a very sobering week. A prolific and very much admired blogger, Flea, was unmasked in a very public way during his malpractice trial. There is a lot of talk going around on the medical and law blogs about this, most people agree that blogging about an ongoing trial is not a great idea no matter how anonymous you think you are. To me the saddest part of the whole thing is that there are two grieving parents who have a dead son and there is a Dr. Rob who could possibly loose his practice because he made a mistake (a definite blogging mistake and a possible medical mistake). It just does not seem fair to me that the lawyers are the only winners in this whole thing, they get to collect their paychecks and go on with life as usual.

The loss of Flea is a huge loss to the medical blogging community. He wrote out many evidence based posts on things that were being widely discussed about children's health. His series of posts on vaccinations are treasures that may never be replaced. His looks at alternative therapies and possible causes for Autism were also reoccurring themes in his blog. I especially loved how tried to empower parents by teaching them to take care of simple illnesses at home, keeping sick kids out of the doctor's office. I will never look at Neosporin the same way again.

Flea, you are gone and very much missed. Dr. Rob, I hope that you and your family are able to recover from this and hope that some day, some how we will be able to hear more from you.

Now on to Pediatric Grand Rounds!

Editor's picks

First off we have a new submitter, Dr Mike who blogs some but also has a great podcast called Pediacast that he produces weekly. He takes a critical look at some of the latest research and also answers listener questions. He gives us some summer water safety tips in Swimming: Fun Exercise or Dangerous Diversion? You decide!

Bryan Vartabedian at Parenting Solved tells of one of the many lengths that parents will go to to help a child with colic sleep,The Colic Kabuki Dance.

Ben Goldacre at Bad Science gives us a chilling tale of how television shows are really not all that into scientific facts and prefer to just scare people with mumbo jumbo. Here is a very simple diagram of the problem at hand.

The best of the rest

Judy tells us about a code she attended. It is sobering example of why drinking and teenagers do not mix, IV Therapy Escapades - Part V.

The Midlife Midwife gives us a story of a pregnant teenager that is not quite ready to fall into the teenage mother stereotype, I'm not stupid.

Is everything the way it appears to be when you are trying to diagnose a patient? Not all the time, as Clark Bartram points out in On Judging Book Covers.....

Flu does not always work alone, sometimes there are other diseases helping to kill patients. This is one reason why getting a flu shot is important. When Children Die From the Flu.

Dr Scott faces difficult choices where the treatment should be simple, Easy or Hard?. You decide.

Bigger is better when it comes to some things like the NICU. Dr. Gwen discuses the new findings, Having a baby? Think big.

Medgaget has an article about a child that went through treatment to help with his sensory processing dysfunction, Hacking My Kid's Brain: A Report at Wired . It truly is amazing how the brain is so very plastic in young children.

Laura discusses some of the down sides to letting older siblings into the NICU, good-bye and hello again. Also included is a little story about why children of people working in the medical field might not want to press for too many details of what that parents is doing while at work.

Autism is a a hot topic in pediatric medicine. It has now escalated to a new level, parents of children with Autism are heading to the courts to attempt to get some compensation for the "vaccine injury" caused by the mercury in vaccines. Orc goes over the details of the case in The mercury militia go to court.

Do'C (Dad of Cameron) dissects an article that was put out by an "Autism expert" written in response to an article in Slate magazine about the trial mentioned above. You Got Nothing

Advocates of chelation therapy are starting to change their tune as more parents become wise to their spurious claims. Prometheus wonders how parents can get the help they need with out being taken advantage of by quacks, The Next Revolution.

The HPV vaccine is another hot topic in the news. Arthur Allen shows how some groups are trying to find harm where there was none, Vaers and Veritas

Sandy Szwarc busts some ancient myths about sugar,Science of sweets . I must admit I had my mind blown when I read this one, it goes to show that the vast majority of the dieting gurus have no idea what the heck they are talking about. She follows up the post with some simple advice let your kid be a kid, Remembering what it’s like to be a child. She also has some great thoughts about the state of oral health. Some people are claiming that parents are rotting kid's teeth out by giving them too many sweet foods, the science says otherwise: It will rot your teeth out!

Shinga (with out whom this PGR would have been impossible) has a link to some animated educational videos about BrainPOP and Educational Films About Asthma, Allergies and the Immune System. She also searches for decent coverage of allergies in the media, R4's Allergic Reactions Was Spotty and Irritating in Parts.

Adding in because I completely forgot to put this one in: Sarah gives an interesting account of her son's surgery to have his squinty eye repaired. Eyes Right

That does it for this edition of PGR. I want to thank all those that submitted articles. PGR 2:5 will be hosted by Mousetrapper at Med Journal Watch. Submit here:

http://medjournalwatch.blogspot.com/2007/06/pediatric-grand-rounds-call-for.html

Clark is looking for hosts for future editions of PGR so come on and step up to the plate. The only way that this can continue to be as great as it has been in the past is if we all help out.

My little boy is not so little

I think that one of the best things about being a parent is the chance to watch a small human being change from a sluggish floppy infant into an actual person. Lately Evan has really been surprising me (like he usually does).

He can recognize his name when he sees it written. I know that right now he is just recognizing the pattern the letters make and it not truly reading yet, but it is a start. He can also recognize the number five and gets excited when he sees it on the digital clock in the living room. Why only the number five? Who knows? It has spurred me on to work a bit harder with number and letter recognition. It is also making me think that if I did take the plunge and home school it would not be quite as hard as I had feared. It also relieves my mind that his long term low oxygen saturation levels that he endured until six months ago did not have a horribly bad impact on his brain development.

We recently bought a toy at a yard sale. It has two rows of cages with keys that match the color of the cage door. I locked some of his beloved trains in it to help keep him interested in learning how to unlock the cages. He managed to become a cage unlocking pro in about two weeks. I was also using the cages as a way to keep track of the trains, so when I locked Thomas up last night hoping to keep him put away I was amazed when Evan just sat down, matched the key color to the door Thomas was locked behind and freed Thomas from his jail in five seconds flat.

Evan has also made another leap in his drawing ability. He can draw wheels now. The circles are not perfect but they are there and very intentional. Before I know it he is going to be painting full pictures that are museum quality and selling them for millions of dollars.

What things have your kids been doing lately that has surprised you?

Awesome Mom is new and improved!

It was brought to my attention that I did not have a site feed enabled. My lovely web guru Chelle fixed that right up and now you can subscribe to Awesome Mom and find out when new posts are up. This is how I now read blogs and it used to save me a lot of time until I started to subscribing to more and more blogs. Be warned! lol!

On another note, the mystery behind the disappearance of one of my favorite medical bloggers Flea has been solved. It really goes to show that you really have to be careful if you wish to maintain your secret blogging identity and you can't write about sensitive things assuming that no one knows who you are. The ease of discovery is the biggest reason why I hardly mention anything about my husband's work. I would hate to be the one that gets him fired because I can't keep my big mouth shut. Just something to think about. At least we now know that Flea was who he claimed to be on his blog.

Beach

When most people hear the word beach they think of something like this:

When I hear the word beach I think of something more along the lines of this:

My sisters decided that they would like to visit the beach today so we all bundled up and went to play in the sand. It was the first time in a while and Harry was very uncertain about the whole walking in sand thing. In fact most of the time he was positively grumpy and would not play in the sand unless coaxed. Evan had a blast and ended up getting wet when a rogue wave tripped him while he was trying to run away from it in horror. That ended the day because mommy, who thought she had brought everything except the kitchen sink, had not brought a change of clothing for the kids. Silly mommy!

Evan trying out the hole that they dug. He tried to fill it in while he was still in it.

Harry giving his auntie a kiss while she was buried in the hole.

Going to check out the waves.

A sad little boy. He was mad that I left his side to take pictures of Evan. He also wanted me to open the cheese for him.

Remember

Today is a day of remembrance. Most people think of today as a fun day off of work and it is, but it is also a day to remember those that have helped keep this country free.

Just this week I met my mother's half brother for the first time in probably about 20 years. He is in the same branch of the military as my husband. He came down to my husband's base for some training and we met up with him. It was a very interesting encounter. He had been a reservist for a great many years. After September 11th he was being called up so much that he eventually decided to become active duty military. He served in the Persian Gulf several times and he also helped out after Hurricane Katrina.

Meeting him again kind of drove home the fact that despite what we may think about the war that is happening right now, the people that are serving over there truly need our support. The military is filled with a lot of good people trying to keep the world safe for their family. They want to make an honest living doing something that will make a difference. They have to deal with crazy bosses and odd coworkers just like people in the civilian world. It just kills me when I read about people vilifying our military and the people serving in it.

Please take a moment today to remember why you have this day off of work. Please look beyond the hype in the media about what is happening over there.

I also want to wish my sister E (now officially dubbed Annie Pompom by Evan) a happy birthday. She and my sister L have come over for a visit which is why my blogging had been a bit spotty.

Weekend fun

Have you ever wondered how to predict if you child will do well on the SATs? Just measure their fingers. There is a lot of fun to be had with knitting. Have you ever wanted your own ninja? I have. Here is a fun game to play, What is your best score?

We have a winner!!

......Summer is the Queen of Poop! Email me with your address, so I can get you your prize. I want to send a big thank you to all the participants with their really crappy (tee hee) stories.

If you want to have another chance to win something head over to Karen's blog PediScribe. She is running a very easy and fun contest for an amazon gift certificate. Karen took over the blog from her husband (a pediatrician and podcaster extrodinare) a few months ago and has really added new life to it. He still posts now and then on topics of interest to parents but mostly is is all her (except for that brief time where her cat took over the blog while the humans were on vacation). I consider her a very good blog friend and one of the many bloggers I would love to meet in real life some day. Go forth and win!

Who is the queen of poop (revised)

We had a couple of late entries and they were just too funny to pass up. I am going to start voting over again to include these stories.

The first story is by Vicky. She tells an amusing story of her husband changing her first son's diaper while they were still in the hospital. Guinevere tells us of the peril of leaving your child diaper less. I learned that lesson well. Finally we have Summer who writes about an unfortunate combination of a power outage and a massive diaper leakage. Next up is Damselfly with a tale of horror (her mother's). What happens when you have a husband with a weak stomach? Jessica knows.

Vote using the poll

With every fiber of my being (A contest)

Scroll down for new posts.

A mother's obsession with poop starts early. As her digestive system slows during pregnancy an unfortunate side effect is irregularity. Then, once the tiny infant is in your arms, your obsession kicks into high gear and never seems to entirely leave you. That is why I jumped at the chance to review two new Metamucil products that now out in stores.

The first one is called Berry Burst and it supposed to be a delicious drink that is a tasty way to keep you regular and in theory helps reduce your cholesterol. I will not even go in to the cholesterol claims, the science behind these claims are becoming a bit shaky. The delicious drink part of the equation is just not there at all. I am not even sure how this product made it to market. First off there is the artificial sweetener taste to get over. I hate artificial sweetener and the awful aftertaste but still decided to give this drink a fair try. The packaging claimed that the drink had a smooth texture and I agreed, if you compare drinking dirt to drinking this it is smooth. However, if you are a drinker of beverages like water or juice you will find it very gritty. The fiber also has an aftertaste all it's own that when combined with the artificial sweetener aftertaste makes this drink undrinkable if you are the owner of a set of taste buds. Don't buy it, you will be wasting your money.

The next product is called Fibersure. Essentially it is very much like Benefibre. Mixes well in liquids, lives up to it's claims of having no discernible taste and works like a charm. If you are worried that your kids are not getting the fiber they need from their diet of chicken nuggets and cheese it is a snap to sneak this into their milk or any other kind of drink they like. They will never know the difference. It is a bit tricky mixing this in cold liquids, you have to stir a lot, but it is worth it in the end (tee hee).

Now for the contest. I was going to give away your very own set of these products but since I was less than thrilled with the first one I will not be giving fiber away. Instead you are vying for a $20 iTunes gift card(which you don't have to have an iPod to use, you can download iTunes and listen to the music on your computer). All I want from you is for you to blog about your best (or most horrific depending on how you look at it) kid poop story (this child does not even have to be related to you). Link to this contest (so that we can spread the word) and then put the link to your post in the comment section of this post. You have until Wednesday to write your post. Then I will pick the top three and you will get to vote on which one you like best and that person will be the winner. Go forth and write!

Harry took a shine to the fiber containers. He actually took this one upstairs with him for his nap. I wish I could have gotten to my camera in time to show you a picture of him laying down with his little arm wrapped tenderly around that container. It was cute and very hilarious. He did not let me take it away from him until bed time and even then he was quite cranky about having to leave it behind.

Ten things that make life grand for me

I was tagged to do this meme by Laura. These are not going to be the obvious things like my husband and kids, but little things that I think make life a little nicer.

1. Homemade apple crisp with ice cream on top. That was the dessert Evan requested for Family Home Evening dessert. It was very yummy!
2. A very gripping series of books that I am reading. I have to finish all three books in less than two weeks (our library has newer books on a time limit, so more people can read them and of course the last book in the series is the two weeker so I have to read all three in that time limit) which is a very fun challenge for me.
   
3. The nice weather that has been happening these last few days. It has been warm but not oppressively so.
4. Evan finally starting to express himself more and more. He took so long to start the whole talking thing that I was starting to get worried. It is nice to see him catching up with his peers.
5. My sisters coming for a visit this weekend. They enjoy spoiling the boys and it is fun to have visitors to change the routine.
   
6. My kids sleeping in until a luxurious (I am being sarcastic here) 7:30. It beats them waking up at 6am by a long shot though.
7. Bedding fresh from the dryer.
8. Nap time.
9. A day in which I do not have to change a poopy diaper. This is a vary rare occurrence but very welcome.
10. The Fridays my husband is able to come home early from work. It is nice to be able to get a bit of a head start on the weekend.
    

Community

We have lived off base and have for my husband's entire career. This has left us somewhat disconnected with the community that is the military. When ever we do attend a military function I am always amazed at the sense of family I feel.

Today we attended a Luau/fishing derby on base. I also needed a new I.D., so we were killing two birds with one stone. My husband took Evan up with him to the grill while I stayed back with Harry trying to keep him entertained until food came so that his hungry maw could be stuffed. There were two guys chatting at the table. One saw that Harry was eying his hot dog and offered up some of it for him. He then proceeded to engage me in conversation. I don't think that there are many instances in the "real world" where perfect strangers would be this kind or genuinely interested in perfect strangers. I am not sure that many civilian work places would have the same camaraderie that the military seems to have in great abundance.

On a different note, I hate my I.D. picture with a passion. They always seem to turn out horrible, but this one tops all the others. My hair looks crappy, I have a zit on my chin and my smile looks awful. Hopefully my husband will make rank soon so I can get a new one done. Next time I am going to plan ahead and have someone go my makeup and hair. That will take care of the two worst offenders.

Thomas is in da house!!!

I have finally decided that the boy's room is done enough to put pictures up. I now remember why I was not all that sad about not having a sewing machine. Sewing makes my back hurt and makes me swear. I am an ok seamstress (I am no Martha Stewart) and can make an ok product but it takes a lot of work to get that ok product. I am planning on putting up a nice soft wall hanging with some embroidered Thomas patterns on it but that is going to take me awhile. Instead I put a poster up as a place holder. I would have liked to put up a wall paper boarder but since it is very likely that we will be moving in a year I wanted to keep every thing easy to take down. So enjoy the photos.

Answers

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Originally uploaded by awesome_mom2061.

Evan goes upstairs to go to bed for his nap. Why he says apple juice instead of upstairs I have no idea.

He likes it when mommy tickles his feet. He will actually ask me to tickle him, it is too funny.

An octopus is an animal and so is a llama.

He likes to vacuum the kitchen. This one was an easy one I threw in.

One of his favorite trains is named Mavis.

He likes to wear sandals outside.

Another cute Evanisim that did not make it to the list is the name of his physical therapist. He calls her Yaya.

The picture is of a bunny. I am sure that you could have figured it out eventually. Click on the photo to see my notes on which parts are where.

Evanisims

See if you can guess the meanings of these Evanisims.

Evan goes apple juice to go to bed for his nap.

He likes it when mommy pickles his feet.

An optapas is an animal and so is a llula.

He likes to baccume the ketchin.

One of his favorite trains is named Beebis.

He likes to wear mammals outside.

You will get the grand prize if you can guess what this picture is of. I was there when he drew it in nursery and I can assure you that he had a clear plan in mind as to what he was drawing. The entire time he was telling me what parts were what.

Surgery Day

You wake up early in the morning. It is still dark out and your body rebells at having to leave the comfort of your bed. You did not sleep well last night, you were too anxious. You and your husband decide not to have breakfast since you both are really too nervous to eat. You would probably throw up on the drive to the hospital any way. Eating at the hospital will provide a much needed distraction. The awfulness of the food will give you something to talk about besides the surgery.

Waking your child is no easy feat. He too rebells at getting up so early. You all quickly walk out into the morning chill and put all the bags into the car. There is one for him, filled with special toys that you got especially for the surgery. The other one is for you. There is a change of clothing and also things for you to do while you wait. Today there will be a lot of waiting and you know that you will quickly tire of the many things in there. Your mind will be with your child in the operating room.

Traffic is light. You make it in plenty of time and have no trouble finding parking. In the waiting room your child proceeds to charm all the older people there. He is the only child and he milks all the attention that his youth and cuteness gets him. His name is called and you are taken back to a room where they prepare him for the surgery. Height weight and vitals are all taken. The anesthesiologist comes by to ask you if you have any questions. Your child's surgeon comes by to answer any last second questions.

Then you wait. Your child is getting cranky from the lack of sleep and hunger. You are told that the surgery is delayed due to an organ transplant. You try and keep your child entertained grateful that you have a little more time with him before the surgery, but you also would just like to get the whole thing over with. Too soon it is surgery time.

You are all taken to the OR. You wait in a tiny room while they are getting everything set up. Only one parent is allowed back to hold the child during the anesthesia induction. As the mother you claim that right and are given a zip up suit to wear along with a hair net looking hat. Your child starts to get anxious the instant you enter the OR. He remembers it somehow from the previous times that he has been in there. You try and comfort him as best you can while you lay him on the operating table. He cries as the mask is placed on his face but soon he gets sleepy and is limp. The nurses promise to update you and your child's surgeon pats your back telling you that he will do his best to give your child the best outcome possible. As you leave you take one last look, praying that you will get to hold your child again.

Gabe and Zoe are having heart surgery this week. Gabe's is May 15th and Zoe's is May16th. Please take a little time and say a little prayer for both the children and the parents. They need all the strength that they can get in this trying time.

Happy Mother's Day

I want to send a happy mother's day out there to all the mothers (that includes everyone adoptive mothers, foster mothers and so on) out there.

I can remember the exact moment that I really started to understand and feel a special kinship with her. It had been an especially rough few days. The night before I had called home sobbing in frustration at Evan still being in the hospital. He had taken a few steps back with his eating and I had come back from some time home only to see him with an NG tube in his nose. I got a phone call in the morning from my mother. She told me not to be mad at her and before she could finish I knew in that instant that she was either int he city or would be shortly on her way. I was right and while I had been resisting the thought that I needed help, I really did need some help. I knew that she was feeling all the same worries and concern for me that I was feeling for Evan. The visit was something that I really needed. My husband while an excellent husband and father was not a very good hospital person. He paced like a caged tiger so it was relief when he had to go back to work. The nurses and doctors were nice but they had jobs to do, they could not sit with me the way I needed. My mom was calming influence who was able to keep me company in just the way I needed.

I also want to give a special shout out to my mother in law. She has been the best mother in law a girl could ask for. She does not resent me for taking her boy away from her (actually I think she would have payed me to take him (just kidding)). She does not meddle in our parenting decisions in any way. I have see the way she is non critical even though some of her grandkids are not nearly as well behaved as Evan and Harry. That same family has made several financial decisions that have been very questionable, yet not a word of criticism is uttered even when that family is not near to hear. She is also not one for unwanted advice. She will only offer it if asked. Go on and hate me for my great mother in law, I think I can take it.

I hope that everyone can have a great special day and reflect on the wonderful influence mothers and mother like people can have on lives.

Nurses Day

Today is Nurses Day, in honor of that I am posting a tribute to my favorite of all the nurses that has cared for Evan. Alice is the nurse practitioner that works with Evan's cardiologist.

I can't remember the first time I met Alice. She was one of many people that came to check on Evan on a regular basis. I was tired, scared and overwhelmed. Alice soon distinguished herself from everyone else by her kindness. She was a mother too and was very understanding about what I was going through. She was especially good about explaining every thing that was going on, never making me feel like I was asking a silly question.

Through the years she has always been there for us, helping make sure that Evan was getting the best health care possible. She is the one that did all the leg work to get Evan his home INR testing machine. Whenever I have a question she is very prompt in answering, I never have to spend days waiting for answers. When we need something taken care of there are no worries once Alice is on the job.

When we go in for appointments I am happy to see her smiling face. Evan is also very excited to see her and show off his new developments for her. It is great to know that we have someone like Alice looking out for Evan's health. Nurses are awesome!!!

Figured it out

Well I now know where Harry got his mouth virus from. I was right that it came from a kid in nursery. He is looking better but he still has some spots that are still healing. I am debating if we should keep him home on Sunday or not. The virus also spread to his thumb and finger which he had been chewing on extensively before I taped a sock to it to let it heal. It will be nice when this is over and he is a lot less cranky.

Good Mail

When I was a child I used to think it was so cool that my parents seemed to get a mail box full of mail every day. My mother tired to tell me that it was mostly bills and junk mail but I thought any kind of mail was cool. Now that I am all grown up I realize the enormous annoyance of junk mail. I know that those bills will have to be payed. The mountains and mountains of mail we get telling us how much the insurance company is paying out for Evan's health care is downright scary at times. Often my only exciting mail is stuff I send to myself by ordering something online.

There has been the beginnings of a movement in blog land to change this. Damselfly has a contest going that involves the sending of nice letters. Annie has taken things a step further and actually set up a blog that contains other mommy blogger's addresses so that we can all send each other some good mail. I have started things off on my end by sending out three little notes. I hope the recipients are excited when they see my note in the mail in a few days. Maybe someone will send some to me before long (hint, hint). Go forth and hand write some letters!!! You never know how much you will brighten someones day until you try it.

Exciting news!

I just got the great news that my youngest sister L is engaged. I am very excited that I will no longer be the only married one among my sisters and that my boys will eventually have some cousins to play with a few years down the road(not that they don't have cousins on my husband's side of the family). This will be the first wedding I have attended since my own.

Random picture time

What the heck happened to spring? It seemed like yesterday I was needing coats for the boys in the morning and long pants were still not too hot in the afternoon. Now it is shorts in the morning and redneck diaper kids in the afternoon. Evan and Harry had the first swim of the season. We bought a cheap blow up pool for our paved patio area. The nice giant pool that we put in the graveled area last summer lost it's space so that some of our potted plants could get better sunlight.


Here is a fun one of Evan having fun with a whoopee cushion. Note that he is getting both hands in on the action. His physical therapy is really starting to pay off.

Harry after he passed out during breakfast. You have to click on the picture to see it at it's best. Very funny!

Evan kissing Harry's baby doll. Very cute!!


This is Harry sitting in the rocking chair that my parents bought for me when I was that age. It is a very popular chair but had to be banished to the garage due to Harry's inability to actually sit in it. He prefers to stand in it and will stand in it any chance he gets.


I think that Little Tykes should invent a working vacuum for toddlers. My floor would be spotless right now. We picked this beauty up at a rummage sale on Saturday. It has been wildly popular and Evan literally begs to vacuum the kitchen. He spends hours in the kitchen vacuuming.

Review the Queue- Earth 2

Earth 2 is about a group of humans who break away for the ultra controlling Earth government to attempt to colonize a planet. They are so desperate because they are the parents of kids that are sick because of the lack of illnesses in the sterile space stations where the majority of humanity lives.

The story has good bones but lacked good writers. Often it borders on cheesiness. Often I found myself wondering how people who supposedly were from space stations knew how to survive on a desolate planet so well. The ending was horribly abrupt and annoying since there is no real sense of closure.

The big reason for me watching it was to see if it was as good as I remembered it being. I was devastated when the show was canceled. I even had a silly teen nerd crush on the character John Danziger (who, by the way, was a minor character on Lost). I was so into the show that I actually wrote some very awful and beyond hideous fan fiction based on the show. Looking back on the show with older eyes I can see why it was canceled. It was not even remotely as good as Firefly and defiantly did not deserve a wrap up movie but it was not painfully horrible if you don't have anything better to do with your time.

Poor Evan and Poor Harry

We made a quick and unexpected trip to the pediatrician's office this morning. Harry had some white gunk in his mouth that alarmed me by growing quite a bit over night. I thought it might be thrush, but apparently it is some harmless virus that will eventually disappear on it's own. I guess that is why our pediatrician gets the big bucks and Google is just a simple search engine.

While we were there Evan was freaking out thinking that he was here for another shot. I reassured him that he was not going to get a shot. The doctor reassured him that he was not going to get a shot. Then the doctor mentioned that the AAP had decided to recommend routine Hepatitis A vaccination and wondered if I would like to have my kids get it right now since he had the time. I said yes and Evan's fears were confirmed since he did get a shot.

I wish that I had at the very least only had Harry given the shot. I feel like I lied to Evan even though it was entirely unintentional. It could have waited, it is not like we are never in the pediatrician's office, although visits of late have become rarer. The shot also came soon after I did Evan's INR (which was finally with in range after three long weeks of being high) so he ended up with two pokes this morning.

I am going to have to go and disinfect the toys in the nursery closet. That is most likely where Harry for the mouth virus thingy from and even if it was not, it is smeared all over the toys now. It is a good thing that there is a lot of germaphobic people out there so that there are plenty of easy to use products out there for me to use.

Ten more things about Awesome Mom

If you want to read a few more things about me my mom put up a few things on her blog.

The man eating plant one needs a bit of explanation. I took the term man eating quite literally and thought that only males had to worry about being eaten by it. The reality was that it was just a giant weed in a field. My mom called my dad up at work and had him explain that there was no such thing as a man eating plant.

10 Things About Awesome Mom

I got tagged twice to tell you ten things about me (who happens to be one of my favorite people). So, here goes:

1. I sleep with an eye mask (no, I will not post pictures of that). I got in the habit when I was working nights (the year before I got hitched to my hubbie). It is a bit addicting and I have been using the eyes mask off and on ever since.
2. My favorite color is blue.
3. I used to bite my nails when I was a little kid. One time I was gnawing away when my Uncle (my mother's eldest brother who was a doctor) told me that biting your nails was a great way to get sick due to the germs living under your finger nails. I stopped biting them right then and there. I think I was only really biting my nails because I was seeing my mother do it.
4. I met Jerry Cantrell when I was in high school. Oddly enough my sister and I met him at a Pearl Jam concert. I was the envy of my friends. A side note: He went to the same high school that I went to (not at the same time though since I am a lot younger than he is). My chemistry teacher had him as a student.
5. My favorite rose is Peace.
6. I can pick up things with my feet. This talent is quite handy (or maybe I should use footy) when I am pregnant. I don't have to bend down to get something off of the floor, instead I pick it up with my feet and bring it up to my waiting hand.
7. I like to read the newspaper every day. I am not always able to, but I try. The first section I head for is the comics.
8. I used to have bangs. I kept them for much longer than I really wanted them because I was afraid that my forehead was too high to look good with out them. One day when I was in college I just got tired of messing with them and put a head band on so I could grow them out.
   
9. If I was an animal I would be a cat. They get to nap a lot, they are very self sufficient and can live with out humans and they have cool eyes.
10. I have always wanted to have fangs. I think they would make my smile just a little bit more menacing.

I am not tagging anyone just so I can be contrary, but if you want to do it consider yourself tagged.

Gingivitis (updated)

Evan started having foul breath and pain while eating this weekend. I scheduled an appointment with the dentist that is going to be doing his massive mouth overhaul in June since I was worried that he had an infected tooth or something. It turns out it was bad gingivitis (I had also noticed the gums bleeding but had attributed it to a high INR since his levels have been high for three weeks). He is going to have a strong antibacterial mouth wash painted in his mouth after brushing (fun times).

We are using a dental school for this major tooth undertaking (don't worry a real dentist will be doing his work) because I felt it would be best to have the option of Evan's cardiologist being around and this place is the only one that works at the hospital Evan goes to. The school deals with a lot of lower educated folk that need the cheaper services of a dental school. What bothers me though is that they just assumed that I had no idea about basic dental care.

Yes, I know that Evan has several bad cavities. Yes, I know it may on the surface look like I was being a horrible mother since his mouth ended up so bad, but really I am not. No, he does not eat a lot of candy. No, I do not give him juice all day. No, I never gave him a bottle to take to bed. Yes, I know a healthy diet means fruits and veggies. Flossing is important, I know. It is just really hard if he is not very willing. Yes I brush his teeth myself, if I let him do it he would only chew on the brush a bit.

Another creepy thing was the real dentist talking with the student dentist right in front of me and telling the student dentist to go over brushing with me. I wanted to raise my hand and let her know that I was listening and understanding what she was saying right in front of me. It was not like I was speaking a different language and could not understand her (not that it would excuse that). i guess I know how little kids feel sometimes. I am just happy that once this is all over we can go back to our really nice pediatric dentist that is near home.

Laura's comment reminded me of something that I forgot to write about. Real dentist took the time to explain to little ol' me why were were putting him under general anesthesia. She explained that it would be very traumatic to him if they had tried to simply restrain him while they were working on his teeth. I was shocked with that one. Does she really think that I would have preferred the cheaper option of tyeing down my son letting him scream an cry for several house while they worked on him. How sadistic did she think I was? If they had not offered the option of knocking him out I would have insisted on it plain and simple. Maybe if he was a lot older I would have told him to buck up and inhale laughing gas (my first few fillings I had to have it since I was so anxious about the process too) but a three year old just does not have that kind of understanding.

Evan the artist

One of the really fun things about this age is seeing old things become new again, like crayons and coloring books. When Evan was first introduced to the whole concept of coloring he would take a few swipes with his crayons and then be done with his masterpiece. In the last few months he has really started to get into coloring and will badger me almost every day to do some sort of coloring. Today Evan got to explore the fun of sidewalk chalk. Harry is forever banned from it since he ate several large bites out of it (yuck!).

Trees are fair game to color on

So are irrigation hoses

This was done very sneakily while mommy was briefly inside to change Harry's diaper

Mommy's foot is fun to color on

Evan also did actually color a little bit on the sidewalk

Coloring is fun!

Mother's Day gift Product Review

Some people (like me) prefer to receive cute gifts made by the kids. Some people like to get something a little more fun and possibly more useful. Best Buy will be selling a lovely gift package that has all your bases covered. It contains a 4GB iPod nano in your choice of pink or silver. It also has some very tasty (for milk chocolate) and a 10% coupon for an iPod accessory of your choice. The price is a bit on the high side, it will cost you $214.99 but if you want something a special for a special mom in your life this would make a great gift.

The iPod nano is a super easy to use mp3 player. Apple products are very intuitive and all it takes is a little exploring to figure out every thing that this little player has to offer. The nano is also perfect for mothers because it has a flash drive powering it. They are more robust when accidentally dropped and much less likely to break than the larger iPods. The small size is perfect for your purse or diaper bag yet it is still big enough that it will not disappear so you will have to dig for it.

If you have the money in hand and want a special something for a special someone in your life then starting May 6th these will be in stores.

I was planning on doing a super fun give away, but since I am a good wife I ended up giving away my lovely silver one (the one I got for Christmas) to my husband (who really wanted an iPod bad) and took the pink one for me. Sorry!!!

30 days with only one channel on TV

At the beginning of April our cable TV was stopped. We live in a bit of a podunk area, so that was pretty much the only way to get anything besides the local PBS station. It has been liberating not having so much TV in our lives. I found myself watching it just because it was on rather than a desire to see any particular show. I have already powered through a bunch of books and I am working on several craft projects. It is nice that I have "found" so much more free time.

I think that one of the best things about this is that the kids are not going to be as exposed to some of the junk that is out there. They don't mind a bit any way. They are happy watching the same five videos over and over again. They get their Sesame Street and Mr. Rodgers fix from the PBS station we get and sometimes we will not even turn on the TV all day. The silence in the house is amazing.

We did change our Netflix account around a bit. Since the kids were not at all picky about the videos we cut them out of the mix. We then added another disk to our subscription giving us each two DVDs out at a time. That way we both can have something at home the majority of the time. There is also TV online. I watch my beloved Lost online and am thinking about catching up on some other shows that way instead of waiting for the current season to come out in DVD.

So, dear readers if nothing else I hope this post will make you consider (even if it is for only a moment) cutting back on your own TV watching. You are probably watching more than you even think about and there are a lot of fun things that you could be doing with that time.