So I told myself I wasn't going to let another day go by without getting the blog at least one month closer to being caught up. Those of you reading this as a note on my FB feed may recall our status updates and some amusing photos that were posted from our many visits to medical establishments in the month of March. Let's just say that I drained my healthcare reimbursement account for the year in the span of about 2 weeks.
The month started dramatically. John had a nosebleed just after midnight on the 1st, which he couldn't stop. I eventually convinced him, after I think about an hour and a half, to let me call a friend to drive him to the ER (he wanted to drive himself!). I stayed home and nervously waited with the kids asleep in bed until he returned. Chemical cauterization had it stopped-- but only temporarily, as it turns out. Over the course of the next several days we made several return trips to ERs, and we made the acquaintance of a very nice ENT. John wasted no time becoming a frequent patient of that practice. We moved from the first treatment on to packing, then a few rounds of electrical cauterization, with a couple of balloons mixed in, along with heavy painkillers and a couple of antibiotics to prevent infection. By mid month there were only minor episodes of bleeding.
Probably the worst part of the nosebleed episodes was the Saturday when I had to run home from the mall with Charlie to take John into the ER, and having to explain to him what was happening with his daddy. He had either been asleep or at school for all the episodes up to that point. We are thankful for the friends who helped us watch kids or drive to hospitals during this span of time-- you know who you are!
The rest of the month included a sinus infection for me, and I think an ear infection for Liam. Only Charlie remained healthy the entire month. But we still managed to have some fun.
Mid-month we had a fabulous outing to the Cincinnati International Wine Festival with friends. We once again attended the Saturday afternoon tasting, followed by our traditional meal at Jeff Ruby's for dinner. This year we followed that up with a great James Taylor concert before the night was over. The following week John took Charlie to his first circus. They didn't stay for the whole show, because it ran into Charlie's bedtime, but Charlie seemed to especially like certain things, including the motorcycles. We finished the month by attending Opening Day for the Reds -- this year held on a Thursday. For the first time in a while, the Reds actually won, and in dramatic walk-off home-run fashion.
For the kids, there were of course milestones in March as well. They continued to grow like weeds. I remember glancing across the room and thinking I saw Charlie at the play piano, but it turned out it was Liam. Charlie no longer needed his long pants rolled up, and he nearly mastered buttoning his own shirt. During the first part of the month, Liam started saying "ooooh!" a lot when something excited him. One day, he grabbed his diaper and walked over to a container of wipes-- turns out he had a dirty diaper and we just didn't smell it yet. He did it again about 3 days later. Mid-month we turned Liam's car seat around to face forward in the car, which he loves.
Off to bed I go-- the next update will cover our rainy spring here in Cincinnati.
Tuesday, August 16, 2011
Saturday, July 16, 2011
Catching up- January and February
So here's what I would have written, had I been keeping up with this blog the first two months of the year.....
Liam loves to feed Lucy. He does it on purpose. Charlie would drop food from the high chair, but Liam does it intentionally.
Liam had his 15 month appointment at the pediatrician at the end of January. He was just over 23 pounds (35th%) and 32 inches tall (75th%). Of course, his head remained at the 95th% (He IS a Robenalt.) He was over an inch taller than Charlie was at this age. It's quite apparent that their body shapes are pretty well opposite, like many of their attributes. They're both long in the torso, though, like their father.
During the week of 2/6, Charlie drew his first person-like figure. A blob with long lines coming out of it for arms and legs. Liam started saying "go!" and "row row row" (your boat). Charlie also had a good visit to the dentist.
Later in February, Charlie started using a new phrase... "What the....?" Liam learned how to climb up on the sofa or the La-z-boy by himself. Of course this makes him very proud.
Charlie's pre-school class had a beach party over lunch one day in February. John and I walked over along with many other parents, and we spread out towels in the gross motor room outside the Sunflower classroom for our picnic. I wore my floppy sun hat, and John pretended not to be embarrassed. Charlie was very pleased that we came.
I took Charlie to a Cyclones hockey game where the CBA put on a broomball exhibition during intermission. He ate cotton candy and got a new souvenir hockey stick. We stayed for almost the whole game. After the game, Charlie asked, "Can I learn to play hockey?"
Margie and Morgan also came to visit us for a couple of hours, and Charlie and Liam had a great time with them.
February ended dramatically, as you'll (hopefully) read soon in my March update!
Liam loves to feed Lucy. He does it on purpose. Charlie would drop food from the high chair, but Liam does it intentionally.
Liam had his 15 month appointment at the pediatrician at the end of January. He was just over 23 pounds (35th%) and 32 inches tall (75th%). Of course, his head remained at the 95th% (He IS a Robenalt.) He was over an inch taller than Charlie was at this age. It's quite apparent that their body shapes are pretty well opposite, like many of their attributes. They're both long in the torso, though, like their father.
During the week of 2/6, Charlie drew his first person-like figure. A blob with long lines coming out of it for arms and legs. Liam started saying "go!" and "row row row" (your boat). Charlie also had a good visit to the dentist.
Later in February, Charlie started using a new phrase... "What the....?" Liam learned how to climb up on the sofa or the La-z-boy by himself. Of course this makes him very proud.
Charlie's pre-school class had a beach party over lunch one day in February. John and I walked over along with many other parents, and we spread out towels in the gross motor room outside the Sunflower classroom for our picnic. I wore my floppy sun hat, and John pretended not to be embarrassed. Charlie was very pleased that we came.
I took Charlie to a Cyclones hockey game where the CBA put on a broomball exhibition during intermission. He ate cotton candy and got a new souvenir hockey stick. We stayed for almost the whole game. After the game, Charlie asked, "Can I learn to play hockey?"
Margie and Morgan also came to visit us for a couple of hours, and Charlie and Liam had a great time with them.
February ended dramatically, as you'll (hopefully) read soon in my March update!
Don't Take Me Out to the Ballgame
I used to wait anxiously for my Cardinals to come to Cincinnati two or three times each summer so that I could go see them play in person. For some reason, maybe the proximity of the cities and their similarity, the stands always had plenty of fellow fans for me to smile at and nod to. There would be a fair amount of joking around with Reds fans. The people sitting next to me might say "Eww, I have to sit next to you?" But they would smile, and after a little baseball talk, maybe a debate about whether Pujols was one of the greatest players they've ever seen, or oohing and aahing over a great play by one of the Reds, we'd depart as friends.
And then, Molina (my favorite Cardinal) and Phillips (who I like pretty well) got into that altercation last year. While I still like them both as players, I sure wish that had never happened.
In April in St. Louis, I witnessed my fellow St. Louis fans actually boo a player like I've never heard them before. My town I was so proud of for being good fans of the game, appreciative of good players from whatever team they represented, let me down. In May, we went to see the Cardinals here with the boys, and the atmosphere was a little less friendly than I remember it.
Then came last night. It was an exciting game in the end, though the first 6 innings were not much to look at, other than a couple of Heisey homeruns. The 7th was spectacular (on both sides), and the Reds and the Cardinals spent the rest of the game duking it out. I didn't even mind when in the end, my Cardinals lost due to a walk-off homerun by (of all people) Brandon Phillips. You see, I'm used to witnessing the Cardinals lose in Cincinnati. For a while, it was sort of a running joke that if I wore my number 5 t-shirt to the game, it was guaranteed they would lose. I've rarely been to a game where they won here, but I come to see them play-- win or lose.
But the whole experience of the evening was enough to make me think that next year, I'll just wait until we make our annual trip to St. Louis to go see them play. Sure, I still saw a lot of Cardinals tshirts and jerseys in the stands and walking around. But there was no friendly joking with the other fans. And on the way to the stadium, a guy yelled at me about how the Cardinals F***ing Suck (twice), and then called me a F***ing B****h, just because I was wearing my jersey. I had to watch as John ran off to defend my honor, wondering if he would end up walking into the game with bloody nose or a broken hand. After the game, waiting by myself in a crowded area for John to come out of the restroom, I was jostled and pushed by fans making several unfriendly comments about the Cards. I was feeling claustrophobic and just wanted to get the heck out of there.
It's like the Reds finally pulled themselves out of the bottom half of the NL Central for a couple of years, won the Division once, and their fans think they're the Yankees all of a sudden. They still can't fill the ballpark with fans on a regular basis, but the fans who come seem to have an awfully nasty attitude.
When I went to see the Bengals play the Jets on their turf in November, sure, there was the guy a few rows in front of us who turned to flip us off every time the Jets made a first down. But most of the people around us joked with us about how bad the Bengals were (we fully admitted that) and admired our tiger face paint. We at least got compliments for showing our colors. We all laughed at the trash talk and I never felt threatened or scared.
I'm a Reds fan for most of the season. I'll go to plenty of Reds games. I've lived here now almost as long as I lived in St. Louis. My kids will be Reds fans, and I dress them in Reds gear all the time. But when the Reds play the Cardinals at Great American next year, I may not be in the stands. Because I can't go see the Cards play without showing my colors. As big of a fan as I am, I'm not going to get in a fistfight with someone over it. And I'm certainly not going to let my kids see that sort of bully behavior. They can be Reds fans, but I want them to be fans most of all of the sport itself, like my dad and my grandfather taught me to be.
And then, Molina (my favorite Cardinal) and Phillips (who I like pretty well) got into that altercation last year. While I still like them both as players, I sure wish that had never happened.
In April in St. Louis, I witnessed my fellow St. Louis fans actually boo a player like I've never heard them before. My town I was so proud of for being good fans of the game, appreciative of good players from whatever team they represented, let me down. In May, we went to see the Cardinals here with the boys, and the atmosphere was a little less friendly than I remember it.
Then came last night. It was an exciting game in the end, though the first 6 innings were not much to look at, other than a couple of Heisey homeruns. The 7th was spectacular (on both sides), and the Reds and the Cardinals spent the rest of the game duking it out. I didn't even mind when in the end, my Cardinals lost due to a walk-off homerun by (of all people) Brandon Phillips. You see, I'm used to witnessing the Cardinals lose in Cincinnati. For a while, it was sort of a running joke that if I wore my number 5 t-shirt to the game, it was guaranteed they would lose. I've rarely been to a game where they won here, but I come to see them play-- win or lose.
But the whole experience of the evening was enough to make me think that next year, I'll just wait until we make our annual trip to St. Louis to go see them play. Sure, I still saw a lot of Cardinals tshirts and jerseys in the stands and walking around. But there was no friendly joking with the other fans. And on the way to the stadium, a guy yelled at me about how the Cardinals F***ing Suck (twice), and then called me a F***ing B****h, just because I was wearing my jersey. I had to watch as John ran off to defend my honor, wondering if he would end up walking into the game with bloody nose or a broken hand. After the game, waiting by myself in a crowded area for John to come out of the restroom, I was jostled and pushed by fans making several unfriendly comments about the Cards. I was feeling claustrophobic and just wanted to get the heck out of there.
It's like the Reds finally pulled themselves out of the bottom half of the NL Central for a couple of years, won the Division once, and their fans think they're the Yankees all of a sudden. They still can't fill the ballpark with fans on a regular basis, but the fans who come seem to have an awfully nasty attitude.
When I went to see the Bengals play the Jets on their turf in November, sure, there was the guy a few rows in front of us who turned to flip us off every time the Jets made a first down. But most of the people around us joked with us about how bad the Bengals were (we fully admitted that) and admired our tiger face paint. We at least got compliments for showing our colors. We all laughed at the trash talk and I never felt threatened or scared.
I'm a Reds fan for most of the season. I'll go to plenty of Reds games. I've lived here now almost as long as I lived in St. Louis. My kids will be Reds fans, and I dress them in Reds gear all the time. But when the Reds play the Cardinals at Great American next year, I may not be in the stands. Because I can't go see the Cards play without showing my colors. As big of a fan as I am, I'm not going to get in a fistfight with someone over it. And I'm certainly not going to let my kids see that sort of bully behavior. They can be Reds fans, but I want them to be fans most of all of the sport itself, like my dad and my grandfather taught me to be.
Wednesday, July 6, 2011
88 Weeks
I received one of those emails today, the ones generated based on some web form I completed long ago, listing my baby's due date and my email address, in order to get some formula rebate or coupons for diapers or the like. The title read "Your baby at 88 weeks." 88 weeks! That number (what seemed a rather large one) stuck in my head. '88 was the year I graduated high school. Could it be that my little guy is speeding toward adolescence before I've even gotten to enjoy him as a baby?
With Charlie, I guess things seemed to move slower, with only one child in the house. And I always figured (hoped, anyway) that another child would come along to round out our family, and I'd get to go through these moments all over again. I never panicked at how big he was getting-- I was just proud and excited at all the new things he was doing.
With Liam, I feel like everything is moving too quickly. Weeks go by and all of a sudden I'm struck by how big his feet are, or the fact that his head hits the kitchen table when he tries to walk under it. I don't take nearly as many videos of Liam as I did of Charlie, and I know it. I have to make an effort to remember the camera. It's not that I don't take photos or video-- I just shoot more on my Blackberry because it's so much faster to communicate and send those photos to family via email or Facebook in an instant. I'm two years behind on editing the videos I have taken as it is, so the only way for Grandma and Grandpa to see the kids' latest trick is to shoot it on the phone and email it instantly.
And now you're thinking..... but what about the blog? Yes, it's been more than 6 months now since I updated this site. I haven't forgotten about my readers-- ask my poor husband who hears me moan about how behind I am all the time. Trust me, I have the notes-- the first time Liam climbed into a chair by himself, the madness of March 2011, the heights and weights from each doctor visit, how Charlie celebrated his fourth birthday. I just need to sit down, with the TV off, the kids asleep (or out of the house), and no sporting event on TV to tug at my attention for an hour or two.
Now that I've broken my long silence, I'm hoping I can soon go back and catch up on all those moments I missed so far in 2011, and maybe in the process I can make time seem to go by a little more slowly for a while. For now, I need to get some sleep. Goodnight all.
With Charlie, I guess things seemed to move slower, with only one child in the house. And I always figured (hoped, anyway) that another child would come along to round out our family, and I'd get to go through these moments all over again. I never panicked at how big he was getting-- I was just proud and excited at all the new things he was doing.
With Liam, I feel like everything is moving too quickly. Weeks go by and all of a sudden I'm struck by how big his feet are, or the fact that his head hits the kitchen table when he tries to walk under it. I don't take nearly as many videos of Liam as I did of Charlie, and I know it. I have to make an effort to remember the camera. It's not that I don't take photos or video-- I just shoot more on my Blackberry because it's so much faster to communicate and send those photos to family via email or Facebook in an instant. I'm two years behind on editing the videos I have taken as it is, so the only way for Grandma and Grandpa to see the kids' latest trick is to shoot it on the phone and email it instantly.
And now you're thinking..... but what about the blog? Yes, it's been more than 6 months now since I updated this site. I haven't forgotten about my readers-- ask my poor husband who hears me moan about how behind I am all the time. Trust me, I have the notes-- the first time Liam climbed into a chair by himself, the madness of March 2011, the heights and weights from each doctor visit, how Charlie celebrated his fourth birthday. I just need to sit down, with the TV off, the kids asleep (or out of the house), and no sporting event on TV to tug at my attention for an hour or two.
Now that I've broken my long silence, I'm hoping I can soon go back and catch up on all those moments I missed so far in 2011, and maybe in the process I can make time seem to go by a little more slowly for a while. For now, I need to get some sleep. Goodnight all.
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