DaisypathAnniversary Years Ticker

Sunday, March 30, 2008

Sickies and clutter... oh my!

We are all sick... its official as of today, we have all fallen. It started with Jacob and gastro, then it was Zach with his flu and coughing and fever, then DH got gastro and the flu (poor soul), then me who fought valiantly against the flu (had my flu shot!) but then the damn virus changed course and turned into a cold, then Kaitlynn with a runny nose ("sa fait mal Maman... quoi, cherrie?... mon nezzzzzzzzz!") and then today, poor Tristan got the fever. Now, I ask, how can this be... its still cold outside, there is still 4 feet of snow... where did these viruses come from? My nose is so raw, I cringe at the though of using a kleenex. I've been using a mix of Salinex and Hydrasense to "unplug", which works kind of well, cause I dislike the over the counter decongestants - they make me high or really low - anyhow, I believe that is why my nose is so raw too. Any home remedies out there to unplug some sinuses and get me back on my feet?

clutter


The flip side is I am so bored, not being able to get on my bike or lift weights (last time I was this sick, I didn't stop exercising... figured I could sweat it out... ended up with pneumonia and on asthma pumps for like a month... not going to do that again), that I have gotten another bug. Its all Oprah's fault really. I watched her two part show last week and it struck a cord in me, I can't tell you. It was about clutter, and this poor woman who has a serious, serious, serious obsession about accumulating stuff. It took them 8 weeks (that's 2 months!) to clean out there home with 100 people helping out. Now, I am not a hoarder by any means, but when we moved in here, I was just recovering from Jacob's birth and I basically just threw stuff wherever it would fit. Then you accumulate stuff, like magazines (my weakness) and you never get around to sifting through stuff. The office I think is the worse, with the accumulation of papers that you think are important (the Oprah hoarder's husband had kept 35 years of bills!), and I have been very slowly going through stuff. Its all organized into boxes and out of the overstuffed filing cabinet. Next step is to start shredding... but I got diverted and started attacking the main floor the other day. I have now cleaned out the main pantry, the liquor cabinet (hick!), the shelf above the microwave (which seemed to be the catch all place), the plastics shelf, and my magazines. I feel lighter all ready! I am also repeating to myself that I will have a garage sale this spring and sell all the baby stuff that is taking up room (except for the high chair, I think, since we still know of some babies that need it when they come over). Amazing what I can accomplish when I have three sick kids at home, I'm sick and can't do much else but sit on a stool and fill a garbage bag!

Stay tuned for my monthly update on my weight loss - the big weigh in is April 2nd!

Wednesday, March 26, 2008

Saturday, March 15, 2008

What a week...

No, I haven't dropped off the face of the earth yet, but boy what a week! Let's see how it started:

birthday

Yes, that's right it was my birthday on Saturday... I am now 14 years old, according to Zach, which makes me very old now (your almost 12 Maman.. then you will be old!). I have made some subtle changes in my appearance (which I continue to work at)... now, I have no make up on and I was rather tired, but for those of you who haven't seen me in a while, I guess I will post this pic of me at my party:




Yes, that's right... my hair is now straight. It takes me about 1 hour to do it, but I have managed to keep it going this way for a bit now. I have also lost 14.2 lbs, and I will continue to work at that for sure (that cake in front of me is an expresso/vanilla cheesecake that my hubby made me from scratch that is on my diet, cause there is no sugar nor carbs in it... what an awesome man I have). I have been consistently working out 3 to 4 times per week for about 2 1/2 hrs per day trying to get all that "pre-toddler" weight off (those chocolate covered almonds prior to LOA/TA really did me in!). I only have another 55 lbs to lose, but I will be happy with 25 lbs in the next 6 months (I'm one of those people that loses 1 lb a week no matter what I do and no matter how hard I work out... very frustrating, but at least I know that I can lose this weight if I stick to the plan).



Everyone in the East experienced this wonderful last snowstorm that dumped more snow onto us. We spent the better part of Sunday digging out the driveway.. when I say "we" I mean all 6 of us. Why else have kids, but to help dig out from a massive snow storm? (said tongue in cheek of course). This is a pic of our backyard. That is a four foot fence around our inground pool. Needless to say that the kids are not allowed to go out back now. We were also worried about the dog "jumping" the fence, but I guess he still sees it as a barrier.

Hearing Test

(Sorry, I hope I haven't offended anyone with this joke... but I typed in "hearing test" for an image search and this came up and just cracked me me).

Kaitlynn went for her hearing test, and great news: the tubes make a big difference. She was rated at 40 dB, and she is now in the normal spectrum of 15 dB. There was 1 funky sound at the end which she didn't react too, but supposedly it was a such a weird noise that most 2 year olds don't get it.... who would have thought?

oysters

Mollusks are not in my near future: finally, after 25 years of waiting, its looking more and more like I am allergic to mollusks only, but not fish nor crustaceans. I had another skin test this week, and while I thought I was going to toss my cookies again, only my skin started to itch when he put the scallop on my arm (yes, that's right the doctor put a piece of scallop on my arm). The test was not a conclusive "yes, you are allergic" but the next step is to have a blood test done where they put actual scallops in my drawn blood to see what it does... who would have thought that is how you get a definitive answer? DH is excited... he wants me to eat sushi with him. That is going to take a while to get too, me thinks.



Then, Jacob had his first dentist appointment and was a real champ. He got to hold all the instruments and help the dentist do his thing. I completely forgot that he needed to have preventative antibiotics (he has a PDA, or in lay terms, a small hole in his heart) before he had his teeth cleaned... so afterwards, we ran to the pharmacy to only wait about 30 minutes to get two pills into him (the pharmacist didn't believe me when I told her he weighed 28 lbs... I had to go and get him out of the car with DH and Kaitlynn waiting, and bring him in to weigh him. At least the pharmacist apologized for doubting me - I know two things about my kids at all times: their weight and their shoe size. Crazy I know, but I can't tell you how many times I am at a store thinking I need to get this one shoes or boots, and I need their shoe size; the same goes for weight, as all medication is done by weight... well at least in our household it is, since my kids are above average or below average size for their ages).



Today saw the end of hockey season for the two older boys. Zach played against St-Hubert (no score... just for fun), and Tristan's team played against the parents. I got on the ice, and shocked a lot of people, shall we say, when they realized that I was no push over when it comes to skating (I initially was the only Mom on the ice, and was later joined by another Mom, among a sea of Dad's). The coaches had the parents do the warm up exercises, while the kids watched... I don't think they realized that I could do it and do it well - I had the coaches attention shall we say. I got a goal during the game, much to my surprise, and I got to face off with my kid a couple of times. I also played defense to Tristan's offensive plays a couple of times and gave him a run for his money. He has a lot more respect for me now that he realizes we can play together, I think. Now, I am not going to toot my own horn here, but it was quite the feeling walking into the arena with my bag of gear on my shoulder, my borrowed hockey stick in hand, watching the mens' reactions to my approach. My DH believed it ran along the lines of: "Oh man... she's good looking and she plays hockey... mama mia!" Tee hee... its nice to know that I can have that effect on some people even at the ripe old age of 14.

Friday, March 7, 2008

Good news!

Well, the prayers worked! Thank you to everyone for keeping Kaitlynn in your thoughts and prayers - she does not need surgery again... well, at least for the fistula. Its small enough that it will repair itself it seems. Its about 2 mm, as I thought, and it seems that its small enough that it can knit itself back together. Who would have thought....

We have a follow up appointment in 1 month with Dr. Williams, and she still needs to be a on a soft diet for another week or so but otherwise everything is good. She can even start swimming lessons at the end of the month! Daycare is out, though - we were offered a part time spot starting next week - as I don't think she is strong enough yet, from an immunity perspective. She lost a lot of blood during surgery and it will take time to build her hemoglobins back up again, so I will take the risk of refusing the part time spot in the hope that her full time spot in September will still be open to her (she is a priority as she has a brother in the daycare and I put her on the waiting list when we first signed up with Formons... in other words, 2 1/2 years on the waiting list for a daycare spot! Sound familiar to anyone?). She misses everyone when they are gone, but I think she needs a little more TLC at home first before I send her off into the regiments of daycare.

Wednesday, March 5, 2008

Update on Fistula

We are going to see Dr. Williams on Friday morning, in between two surgeries (I told them not to rush the surgery on our account... the Resident had a good chuckle at that one). I'm panicking less now that I have had some breathing room (thank heaven's for nap time), but I am hoping her muscles in her palate will stay together and not rip apart completely by then.

Say a little prayer to the angels of palates that her's will be fine.

Damn it, damn it, damn it

I would use much stronger language (like the f-bomb) if there weren't young ones who read this but I know there are so I am being very circumspect. She has a damn fistula, damn it. Of course it happens in between her follow up appointment last night at 5:15 pm and this morning at 7ish am. DH saw it first, then I took a good look and there it was. Its a big black hole about 2-3 mm big right at the margin of her soft palate and the flap that they put on her hard palate (a fistula is basically a tear in the incision. She has a piece of suture hanging down in the middle of her mouth, and this hole... or fistula). Damn it... at least the Resident called me right back after he was paged and told me that there is really nothing we can do yet. He is going to go talk to her surgeon, Dr. Williams, and get a plan together as to what we do. Hopefully, he will see us on Friday between cases. Till then, we sit tight.

Damn it.