Monday, February 28, 2011

Ski Weekend

Last weekend we met my brother's family at Liberty Ski resort for some winter fun. Sadly we didn't get many photos. What you see here is pretty much it.It was my third time on the slopes. The first was in high school. I took a ski lesson and just didn't take to it. I tried it again while Drew and I were dating, and again, I didn't really like it or as Drew says, I was whiny. I keep reminding him that our pre-marital ski experience was before he proposed so he knew what he was getting into with me and snow and skis and whatnot.
Last weekend I took a lesson. I had tried to avoid it, but Andrew was insistent (incidentally, he was also insistent that he would not teach him himself). Surprisingly I really enjoyed the lesson and had a lot of fun on the bunny hill afterwards--though I could not keep up with Liz.
Speaking of Liz, it was so, so fun to see her and her cousin Iris heading down the slope together. I also loved to see Iris' little sister, Willa on skis. She was fearless.
The little girls spent the day in the ski patrol room, playing, sleeping, and watching t.v. Next year Laines will join her sister on the slopes, but Ellie has a couple more years to go.

Tuesday, February 22, 2011

Discovery Engineering & MORE VOMIT!

We spent Saturday morning at the "Discover Engineering" Day at the National Building Museum. It was our second year going and as usual parking was a pain and it was so crowded it was hard to maneuver the stroller. Still, I think it was worth going because it is so important to encourage math and science (especially for girls). In the afternoon we went to CiCi's pizza for a late lunch/early dinner and on the way home Alaina threw up. She said her tummy hurt and then a few minutes later I looked back just in time to see her start spewing chunky pink vomit. Ugh. So she's our second girl to throw up this week shortly after eating pizza. Maybe the take home from these experiences should be no more pizza.
Andrew and I alternated between gagging and laughing as we cleaned up Lainey and her carseat at the first gas station we could find. Andrew said, "Oh, yuck! Why do we have kids?!"
Lainey jumped around and played while we wiped up her muck so I thought she was feeling better. She wasn't. She threw up again as we were pulling into our parking lot and then a few more times that evening/night, though by the end she was just dry heaving stomach juices.
Needless to say I kept Laina home from church the next day and I'm happy to say that we have been puke-free since late Saturday night (though we get a little jumpy every time Lainey coughs). Hurray! I didn't want Liz to miss out on church so I sent her with a friend who said what everyone says after some time with Liz, she was well-behaved but she never stopped talking.
Another highlight from the weekend: Lizzie and I went on a mommy-daughter date (dinner and movie while Drew dealt with Alaina's additional pukes). It's been a long time since I've gone out with just Liz. It was nice. I hope to do it more.
And thanks to everyone who shared their Nursemaid Elbow experiences. When I wrote about it I was a little nervous that I would sound like a major child abuser (which is why it was buried in the middle of a post and not a post in and of itself). I'm glad to know that I'm not alone.

Friday, February 18, 2011

Rough Week

I'm glad this week is nearly over. It was rough. No one thing. Just lots of little stuff (mostly sickness) that kind of added up and left me feeling overwhelmed.

Last SATURDAY I felt a sick. The feeling intensified SUNDAY, but I powered through it.
MONDAY I woke up feeling horrible. I'm sure the three hours I spent up with Ellie in the middle of the night (Drew was up for much of this too) only served to worsen my health. I had body aches, a day-long Tylenol-proof headache, and nausea, though mercifully no vomiting. Needless to say, we stayed in and as the time drew near for me to fetch Lizzie from a birthday party I called Drew and asked him to come home early because I felt too dizzy to drive. When Andrew arrived he took over with the little girls and put me to bed. I'd been having cold chills so, as he tucked me in, he also slipped socks on my feet (saying, as he did, "hmmm, I may have already worn these").TUESDAY I felt well enough to take Lainey to dance class, but we didn't get much more done. Much to Lizzie's disappointment I postponed our Valentine celebration yet another day (and it's still postponed). Much to my disappointment I had to miss book club (and I had actually read the book!).Laina loves, loves this puffy blue skirt. She wore it for at least part of every day since Friday and slept in it many nights.WEDNESDAY I started to feel better, but Ellie seemed worse (or maybe I was finally well enough to notice how sick she was). She was wheezing. A lot. The pediatrician prescribed breathing treatments which are beginning to feel routine. THURSDAY started for us around 1 a.m. which is when Lizzie started vomiting--on herself, on Andrew, on our bed (and the sheets I washed two days earlier), on our floor, on a large pile of clean clothes that Andrew had not gotten around to putting away. Ugh. Cue massive amounts of laundry for me, and middle-of-the-night showers for Drew and Liz.

I figured the bulk of my day would be spent doing laundry and breathing treatments, but in the end there was much more. The pediatrician couldn't find anything wrong with Liz, but she suggested I keep her home from school just to make sure (after puking Lizzie had started crying that she didn't want to miss school). We ran to Walmart for the components of the BRAT diet and carpet cleaner, then headed home. The girls are pictured below in the pediatrician's waiting room.
Back at the apartment, Alaina refused to walk up the stairs, preferring instead to play in the dirt. I had Ellie under one arm so I half carried, half pushed Laines up the two flights of stairs. Once inside I noticed that Alaina wasn't using her arm. She cried when I tried to move it and whimpered when jostled. I panicked. I had picked her up by her arm just like I knew I wasn't supposed to, but had done dozens of times with her and with Liz with no issues. I called Drew and through his questioning it became clear that he thought maybe I had managed to dislocate Lainey's arm. I dissolved into tears and Drew raced home. He later told me that I needed to learn to "keep it together" better so I can actually help during emergencies.
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Once home Andrew quickly ascertained that Laina's shoulder was just fine, but that something was definitely wrong with her lower arm so he splinted her and we all headed to the ER (I didn't want to wait for an appointment at our regular docs).
I felt lower than dirt when I had to explain to the ER intake people what happened. Things got better when we got back to the nurses and doctors. Our nurse explained that it was probably Nursemaid Elbow. Turns out it was. It is also not uncommon. The nurse even explained that she had done the same thing to her toddler which made me feel a little less awful.
I felt less awful still when the doctor said he saw several of these a day and quickly fixed Lainey's arm. But first he complimented Andrew on his excellent splint which the doc had already heard about from his colleges. Seriously every medical personnel that we ran into was impressed and wanted to know what Drew did for a living. One nurse even left the room and brought back another nurse just to see the splint and the doctor said it was the best splint he had ever seen anyone come in with.
TODAY my goal was to take advantage of the unseasonably warm weather and have fun with my kids. In the morning I took the little ones to the zoo. After school we met up with a bunch of Lizzie's classmates at a local park.
Over-bundled on top and bare-foot on bottom. That evens out, right?

Monday, February 7, 2011

Some goings on

Last weekend my mom called and asked why I hadn't posted yet. I haven't posted because I was busy "house hunting." Here's some of what we were up to these last couple weeks:

Alaina made her usual messes.We had to find creative ways to keep the girls entertained/occupied during snow, sick, and teacher prep days.My two youngest reminded me of the importance of baby proofing. Below you can see what happens when your toddler wedges a nickle betwen a plug and an outlet (the plug & nickle now have melt marks).
We made DIY snowglobes with baby food jars, baby oil, glitter, and superglue. Turns out I'm really bad at applying superglue. I consistently glued jewels to my fingers and had to rip them off. Ouch.
We went sledding last Monday.
By we, I mean Liz was on the sled and Alaina and I watched from the bottom of the hill (and Gabby slept in the van).
We made melting snowman cookies.
They didn't look nearly as good as Julie's and, while I'd like to pretend it's because I let Lizzie do the decorating, I did some myself and they didn't look much different.
Alaina attended and loved dance class, though I'm pretty sure this move is frowned upon.
An update on Lizzie and her issue from the previous post: She and her "BFF" (whose name Liz has yet to remember) made up. And, as Liz explained me, she and her friend talked and decided that although their religons have different names, they really they are the same religion. Obviously we need to talk a little more about the difference between a general religious belief system and a specific denomination, but I'm glad the girls are getting along again.

Wednesday, February 2, 2011

Sad Kiss 'n Ride

Today when I picked Liz up from school she was super sad. She said that one of her "kiss 'n ride friends" doesn't want to be her friend anymore because Liz told the girl that she's Mormon. Lizzie was so hurt. She said, "Now she's not my one of my BFF's anymore" (and then immediately defined "BFF"--I'm not that old kiddo).

I felt horrible for Liz. I've certainly encountered negative responses to my religion, but not at such a young age. As I tried to empathize and comfort her, I told her about the time a man hit my friends and I as we crossed a Chicago street because he knew we were Mormon. She said, "You've told me about that before and that doesn't hurt as much as losing a friend." I'm sure there's a lot of truth to that.

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