Annaliese's art was chosen as a part of the Annual Catholic Schools Art Show for 2009.  If you wish to attend, it will be held at St. Pius X School Gymnasium on 4/24, 4/25, and 4/26 (6-9pm, 9am-7pm, and 9am-4pm respectively). 

Derbiser, did you note the location ;)?  I haven't been back there in years and years and years.

( Then Who Wrote It? )</div>

Annaliese has painful bruised palms on her hands and a hip that hurts too much to move.  She's not walked since the day before yesterday, and spent the whole night on her back.  They wheeled her through the doctor's office yesterday and through the hospital to have an Xray done.

Anyone ever hear of this?

I've been mostly ignoring my upcoming trip to CT so I don't give myself ulcers worrying about all the small details that I can't fix until it's time to go.  So now I'm there... at the point where I need to worry about the details.

I lost my phone, and I NEED a phone while there, so I had to get a new one.  Bad news: we don't qualify for the discounted price (when renewing a contract), so it's mega expensive.  We love our current pricing contract ($15 a month for emergencies, .20 per txt) so I don't want to change carriers.  Good news: I found a "certified" used one, and they are overnight shipping it to me for free.  I just need to program all the stuff in it without the benefit of my old phone.  I know that I will probably find my old phone as soon as the other one gets here.

I'm agonizing over how to lug David around the airport(s) with me and not have too much stuff to carry.  I will have a medium sized rolling suitcase, a carryon bag/diaper bag, and a infant car seat.  I didn't buy David his own seat on the plane, so I have to check the car seat.   No one is picking me up on the other side, I'm renting a car and driving to my brother's place, so pushing a stroller, carrying a diaper bag and a carseat, and pulling a suitcase probably wouldn't work.  I'm thinking that my best chance is to wear David in my Moby wrap and curbside check my suitcase and carseat.  Then all I have to carry is my carry-on.  I was thinking of borrowing Rhonda's awesome stroller/backpack, but I'm afraid that, knowing me, if I add anything else to worry about, my head will explode.  Too much futzing with stuff makes me cranky and loose my shit at inappropriate times.

I still need to pack for both of us.  I want to leave the house clean for Chris, but since he's decided to mostly just take off of work (thanks anyway to Alice and Heidi for offering to babysit Ben... he may take you up on the offer if work explodes without him, but it looks like we mostly won't need you) he can make the house clean for me, right?  Diapers, medications, food, toys, oh my.

I have two giant fears.  What if someone tries to take David?  What if I can't prove he's mine?  And the other one is about getting really really lost.  I asked for a sat nav in the car, but of course they will tell me there's only one availible in a massively upgraded car.  What if it's really snowing badly?  I'll be in unfamiliar territory, lost, in the snow, with a baby. 

Rainbows on the horizon:  I get to see my brother and his new baby, my niece and sister in law.  I will hopefully get to see the ocean (yes!).  It will be a little vacation.  It will be a good exercise in letting go and relaxing for a massve control freak like me. 

His tests came back completely negative to all major allergens, plus a few of the foods we had already introduced him to (rice and oats).  He has a slight sensitivity to wheat (they like to see the "number" under 3.5, his was .5) and where normally this would be a non-issue, in our family he will avoid all wheat foods for a few months to convince his immune system to forget it.

He's just got eczema.  Okey dokey, we can deal with that!  It does look better when we take him off excessive amounts of formula, though, so we'll go with that, minus the worry.  I have no problems with nursing him more.

Now what to worry about?  Oh, yeah.  My thyroid results.  They aren't good... all numbers are dropping which is still indicating a thyroid "burn out".  I guess I insulted it enough and it refuses to play at all anymore.  Fair enough, but just so long as this doesn't disqualify me from my laproscopic surgery next week (getting my tubes tied).   Yesterday at my pre-surgery appointment the nurse joked that I must be really relaxed about my surgery because my blood pressure was 89/60.  Uh, no.  That's because y'all just took 20 vials of blood over three days.  I lost a POUND in blood over that time span. 

Oh, and I wanted to acknowledge the universe's little joke on me:  yes, I've been sanctimonious about my approach to baby-sleep issues.  Yes, I realize that David has slowly but surely made his way into our bed.  Point humbly taken.  Not that I'm going to let it rest, though.

As a parent I am halfway through my fifth year of preschool, this time with Ben.  Each kid was very different in his/her approach and reaction to schooling, but for some reason Ben worried me.  I was afraid he wasn't ready, that he needed more time at home with Mommy and his new brother.  In my experience, preschool has nothing to do with academics in the sense of ABC's, numbers, shapes and colors.  I've yet to meet a 3 year old (or indeed, most 2 year olds) who doesn't excell in those areas.  I knew Ben had them down pat... I was afraid he'd be like me in preschool (I still remember this) and feel slightly lost, like everyone else knew what was going on and forgot to tell me.  I still have my "report cards" from back then, and they all say "spacey" on them.  I floated around in my own little cloud.  I dunno, maybe I wasn't ready to let him go yet, and had some mommy guilt for having a baby.  I have been spying on him, to see how he's interacting in a school setting (which IS what preschool is about, exploring within certain perameters).  At first I noticed he mostly watched, at the edges of the group.  I almost yanked him out three times before Halloween.  He was having a hard time deciding to potty train, even though he mastered the technique long ago.  He didn't want to talk about it or think about it, so at the recommendation of our Ped we dropped the subject.  I chatted with his teacher weekly about how he was doing, and she kept begging me to give him a chance and keep him in.  I guess he wasn't a hardship on them :).  He's so easy to have at home, too, when the other kids are gone. 

So I guess my fears were mostly unfounded.  I find one of my most used mantras as a mom is "Wait and see.  Give him/her a chance to show you s/he can do it."    Over Christmas break,  he completely potty trained.  We still have had one or two "waited too long" accidents, but by and large he has taken control of his own potty habits.  And I got his progress report today, and I am very proud of my Silly Goose!  He's following classroom routines, showing self-control (a HUGE skill to master), awesome attention span, shares well, willingness to explore activities, and is participaing more and more every week.  Big sigh of relief.  So much worry off the shoulders.

Now back to worrying about Davi'd's potential allergies.

The summer Chris and I started dating (1994):

I have an aloe vera plant that is currently attempting to rule the world.  It has made two copies of itself and I think they need a home.  Would anyone like a free aloe vera plant?  Let me know and we can find a time to execute Operation Separation... I can provide soil if you can provide a medium-sized pot.( Picture behind the cut because it's big and I don't feel like resizing... )

Andrew's Menu for Thanksgiving (2nd Grade):

Drinks:
Rootbeer Float
Sprite
Root Beer
Milk

Side Dishes:
Chips and Dip
Popcorn
Soup
Potatos
Corn on A Cob

Main Course:
Lobster Legs
Shrimp
Eggs
Turkey

Desserts:
Funnel Cake and Icecream

And, in language arts Andrew was asked what the purpose of [animal] camouflage was, his answer was:  "So we can less exstinkt anamlls."

Yanked from everyone.

If you saw me in a police car, what would you think I got arrested for? Answer, then if you want, post to your own journal and see how many crimes you get accused of.

(Try to post yours without looking at other comments first.)

Cat Hat!

From BBC America:

"Forty years ago President Kennedy was quoted as saying that in forty years America would have grown enough to have a black president."

Alice mentioned that one of her userpics is from googling her first and last name in images.   So I gave it a try, and came up with two images side-by-side.  The first is me, from my Facebook account.  The second one is not me, but eerily similar in form...

I want to send out a big fat thank you to the campaign people for letting me know my phone works.  Every. fifteen. minutes.  Thank you.  I was worried, but the 23 phone calls I've gotten today ~ and every day this week~ have put my mind at ease.

Ben and I were having a conversation at lunch today that ended with his conclusion that I am, as a girl, white and saucy just like his 'collage' cheese. 

Also, a plea to the Mammary Gods not to take my milk yet.  I have a smiling ball of fat and warm to feed, and if they could see way he flops around like a fish at the anticipation of nursing (and baths) they'd surely let me have back what they've taken.  Any tips out there to up a supply that have worked for you?  I'm trying constant nursing/pumping, fluids, and blessed thistle capsules.  I'm down to pumping about 2 or so ounces, a third of what he needs.  Assuming he is more efficient at extraction, he's getting twice that, so we're uping our nursings to double of what we were before.