Thursday, March 27, 2008

yay! and some random thoughts & random pictures of random kids

great birthday today!!!

i'm going to try to hang onto this last year in my 20's really hard!

oh and i used to think that sharing my birthday with quinten tarantino and mariah carey was pretty cool but the evening news just informed me that it's also viagra's birthday. woo hoo. thank god the world has had 10 years of the little blue pill and all those little blue pill jokes. happy bday viagra!
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have you ever played "eye spy" with little kids? here's a tip, don't play in the car. we all like to play and it always seems to be when we're driving somewhere and it goes something like this:

kieran: i spy with my little eye.....something brown.
me or aaron: uh, was it that car way back there?
kieran: yeah!

or it's a building several blocks back or a street light that by the time we guess is long gone.

***

there's nothing like mid-morning T.V. to take me back to days when i would be home sick from school. the price is right + commercials for things like denture adhesive and colonial pen life insurance.

and while we're being nostalgic, i caught a bit of an episode of golden girls. i personally think that if everyone would just take a day or two to catch up on G.G. the world would be a much happier place. in the episode i saw the girls are excited about getting tickets to meet burt reynolds (yee haw!) and in making a weekend out of it they end up finding a really great, inexpensive hotel. well, what do you know-the girls keep getting hit on and suddenly you realize the place is a brothel and they're being mistaken for hookers! go on, picture bea arthur as a hooker for a second and it's even funnier. anyway, you gotta love it.

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here are a couple pictures of kids that aren't mine:



Wednesday, March 26, 2008

birthday

while i will turn 29 tomorrow, today would have been my brother joshua's 30th birthday. it's strange to even call him my brother in a way, as my siblings and i never knew him. he was born to our parents almost exactly nine months from their june wedding (they didn't waste any time!) and what should have been a joyous occasion when he was born turned immediately frightening and sad as doctors discovered that joshua was missing a heart valve. after three weeks in chicago and surgery to give him an artificial valve, he passed away. i can't imagine how devastating it was for my parents and how they moved on from that. but they did, and i was born a year and one day later. i had the cord wrapped around my neck three times and they had to knock my mom out for a c-section but i was otherwise fine and my parents started to rebuild. i don't think about joshua very much, though i'm sure my parents do, but for my siblings and i it was something we weren't around for, like their wedding, and it's not in our realm of thinking. but today when my mother called to ask me to go to breakfast for my birthday she mentioned that joshua would have been 30, hard to believe. as a kid i used to wonder aloud to my mother what he would have been like, at three weeks his dark hair lightened up a bit and he had a cleft chin, like me. i would wistfully say how neat it would be to have an older brother but as i got older i understood when my mother explained that had joshua survived, i would most likely not have been born, as they probably wouldn't have rushed to have a baby so soon otherwise.

i still wonder what he would have been like though, and i still thought it was important to remember his birthday and honor him in a small way.

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Tuesday, March 25, 2008

baby & losing my mind

thanks for all the well wishes out there, we still can't quite believe it ourselves. i'm about 8 weeks along, so still a looooooong way off, i'm due about november 4. i had an appointment today that went well and last week was an ultrasound where we saw the teeniest little baby ever, complete with teeniest little heart beating away. and i just can't keep a secret and it's getting so hard to think about interesting things about me when i get tagged!

it doesn't seem real, though i'm tired, having cravings for certain food, getting queasy, experiencing heartburn, etc. still, i just can't believe we're adding to our family! the kids are really excited, though today andie cried when she heard that she can't hold the baby right now (the 2 inch baby) and it will grow in my tummy-"i don't want it in there!" kieran keeps telling us, "i think it's going to be a boy..........or a girl." safe bet.

***

and while i'm always a bit flakey, i think i'm worse lately. today i went shopping for a few things at a local craft store and locked my keys in the car. the sad thing was that they were my spare set as i was running out the door this morning and didn't feel like digging through my purse for my real set. i arrived at the store, decided not to drag my giant purse in, just took my wallet in, and apparently left my keys in the car IN THE IGNITION! sheesh. i called aaron who wisely told me that he could come and try to get the keys out, leave work, spend an hour trying to get them out, losing out on $75 for the hour of work, or i could call the locksmith and pay the $50. i went the locksmith route and boy, did that guy have them out in under a minute. i paid a lot of attention and now i think if i practice enough i might be able to break into cars :) and you know, in trying to see the glass half full, i got to chat with a really nice pregnant woman at the craft store who i might see later as a photo client and i met a nice burly locksmith guy who's left handed but does everything with his right hand just like me! see, not so bad.

oh, and then later today after my doctor's appointment i drove halfway home before remembering to pick the kids up at a friend's house. lord help me if this gets worse as i progress.

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Saturday, March 22, 2008

tagged

my pal donita tagged me a while ago for 5 interesting things about me. i have no idea what to write so it will be kind of stream-of consciousness, here goes:

5) i have nightmares about kittens. this probably deserves its very own post someday, but in a nutshell, i have recurring dreams that either entail opening a box and seeing a cute little kitten which then proceeds to become demonic in some way. or one dream where i enter a room filled with tiny kittens who then attack me! clawing and biting, it's horrible! when i was three years old my grandparents' evil cat max bit me and i've had a slight cat phobia ever since. i'm okay with cats now though my "recovery" was nearly compromised when in high school i was sleeping in a sleeping bag at my aunt and uncle's house and awoke in the night to find their cat simon curled up ON MY HEAD and purring loudly in my ear! cats just have this way about them, aaron says that cats look at you as if they're thinking "if i were bigger, i would eat you". anyway, i have kitten nightmares still.

4) i also have dreams where my teeth fall out. this too is a recurrent subject in my dreams. often i'm in the middle of doing something and they just crumble out of my head. it's always alarming and very realistic. i wake up thankful i can still chew but wondering if maybe i'm clenching my jaw in my sleep???

3) i like naming things. when i was a kid it was often me who insisted on the names for our dogs: sparky, cody, & skippy. did i mention i was also a bit overbearing...? anyway, for my sister i also decided she should be named "Juliette" not just julie, complete with en extra 'T' and 'E'. later i simply called her "chowderhead" and nothing else. one day a woman at the pool was talking to my mother and then said to julie, "and i think i know your name, it's chowderhead, right?" as she had heard me talking to julie there on another occasion. my brother i called "boy", nice and simple and it stuck for quite a while. in some circles i think he's still known that way, right boy?

2) i crack my knuckles. i've done it since i was young and have never stopped. i thrill when i read studies or reports that say this does not cause arthritis. i try not to do it all the time but sometimes i can't help it. sometimes i crack my back but i'm not one of those people who cracks everything.

1) i'm expecting our third baby.

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Monday, March 17, 2008

make yourself useful

my sister told me about this website and recently i was reminded of it again: www.freerice.com where you can test your vocabulary and donate rice to those who need it in the process. i just donated 800 in about 15 minutes (okay, maybe i'm bragging a little but whatever gets you moving!)

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7

yay, more celebrating, it's our anniversary today. while we were just talking about it last night, when my mother called to wish us a happy anniversary this morning i had totally forgotten and she caught me off guard. then later in the morning i kept wondering why everyone was wearing green and then it dawned on me it was st. patrick's day. sometimes i'm just really slow.

anyway, seven years and going strong. woo hoo :)

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Sunday, March 16, 2008

shoot

well, this is the first in our "andie is 3" series. i'm still trying to find one where she's not making a goofy face but even if i don't, this is pretty much her!

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Saturday, March 15, 2008

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!

yay, today andie is three years old!!!

i was looking through some pictures of her during her first year and thought it would be fun to share them. soon i'll have a fun three year old picture of her to share :)

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day one:

6 days old:

9 days old:

14 days old:

2 months old:

4 months old:

5 months old:

6 months old:



7 months old:


8 months old:



9 months old:

10 months old:

11 months old:




one year old:

Friday, March 07, 2008

sickness, technology, & marriage

well, it would seem i did indeed speak a bit too soon. as a good friend had told me, days three and four post-surgery might be the most challenging. kieran is definitely more sore and is complaining about his ears hurting, though this isn't most likely the result of the tubes in there, but of the tonsil and adenoid removal. it wouldn't be as bad if he would take the pain medication, but because it hurts to swallow he really resists it.....we're hoping the weekend will be good for him. and he was glad just to have his sister off school today to have someone to play with, poor kid is so bored.

anyway, otherwise things are going okay, though i've had more than my share of technical difficulties these days. a little over a week ago my laptop when berserk and kept starting and restarting. in a nutshell i've had to reinstall all my programs and luckily seem to have retained most of my existing data and images, but like anything, i'm slowly learning about small things that are missing. one thing i know i'm going to miss big time is my bookmarks. i had hundreds if not thousands of bookmarked sites that are now a distant memory. of course the super important ones stick in my memory and i can get them back, but there are soooooooo many that i bookmarked as an occasional resource that i'm mourning the loss of now. i know, way too melodramatic but i'm feeling some sadness. i'm trying to regroup and move on, utilizing del.icio.us in order to avoid this next time. i'm hoping there isn't a next time but just hoping certainly doesn't seem to do the trick.

and while i'm whining about such seemingly trivial issues as losing my bookmarks, i was also quite shocked to find several e-mails that should have long ago found their way to my Inbox languishing in the near trash-like abyss of my Bulk mail folder. what??? why???? e-mails from friends, in some cases responses to e-mails i'd sent to them long ago and assumed i should take a hint from the lack of reciprocal communication. but no, there they were, one click away from being deleted without a thought. recently i was alerted by a friend that i should have received an e-mail from her and decided to wade through the 2000 spam e-mails to see if it might be there and-alleluia! there it was along with others from over a month ago that i'm in the process of responding to. i heart technology.

hmmm....what else can a whine about. i guess i'll leave it at that for now.

***

the other day my mom had andie over for the afternoon while i was hanging out with kieran and when she dropped her off she told me andie had been telling her that kieran " is really sick. he's really sick and he needs to get over himself."

***

i heard from a girlfriend yesterday that her daughter is planning to marry kieran. they're in the same class and have grown up together. apparently, the girl gets to make the decision as to who she wants to marry and the boy has no choice. it's just a matter of getting to him before the other girls to ask him first, otherwise you have to have a back-up choice. gosh, i wish real life worked that way. i would have totally called dibs on tom petty long ago.

***

Tuesday, March 04, 2008

great

well, i might regret these words tomorrow or later in the week, but kieran is doing great. he stayed in recovery at the hospital for a couple hours and wasn't thrilled about taking pain medicine but we convinced him it was the only way to go home--something he was very eager for. as soon as we got home a little after lunch time he was in greats spirits and immediately ate three jello cups and two yogurt tubes. his grandparents couldn't believe he'd even had surgery, he was chatting a playing and explaining all the star wars characters to me (yes, i know, it's crazy that i've never seen those movies, i know!) only hours later he was having some bread and cookies! the doctor said he's fine to do whatever he's comfortable with so we'll go with it. we were surprised he wasn't more tired but maybe tomorrow that'll happen and he says his throat doesn't even hurt.

the doctor had said his adenoids weren't too bad but his tonsils were pretty big and his ears had lots of junk in them. he already seems to be hearing a bit better and once he heals we'll be curious to see if he breathes out of his nose now!

thanks so much for all the well wishes, keep your fingers crossed that things continue to go so smoothly. so far we're so glad to have done this and hope that weeks from now it's a distant memory!

phone post update

all is well, we're in the recovery room. Kieran is pretty drowsy & wants to go home. they're keeping him a little lon

Monday, March 03, 2008

kieran gets a tune up

it's been so busy these days. sigh. but it's high time i check in and let you know we're alive and well!

tomorrow kieran's having surgery to remove his tonsils and adnoids and he's getting tubes in his ears. like most kids he's been sick pretty much all winter and it stinks. but we've been concerned for a while about him even when he's healthy, he has always been a "mouth breather" and he snores at night, things we've mentioned to the pediatrician. she never considered it an issue and despite some asthma and allergies, we weren't going to make an issue of it. but when he's sick it's much worse and not only can we hear him snoring down the hall, he stops breathing constantly throughout the night. so, about a week and a half ago we finally see an ENT (i guess snoring in and of itself doesn't merit the referral but the apnea did). he checked him out and we told him we were concerned about his adnoids and a lot of people in my family seems to have adnoid issues. apparently it doesn't really matter about the adnoids, the doctor said his tonsils are huge and barely allow air through them, at night the tissue collapses into his throat-so they're definitely out and the adnoids will go with them. kieran also had a hearing screening and we discovered that he has a lot of fluid in his ears and the doctor pronounced his results "not good" when he returned. he has conductive hearing loss and the eardrums didn't register reflexively at all. luckily, tubes should help and he should regain full hearing. we had no idea, although for over a year i was suspicious after two different basic hearing screenings when he simply stopped indicating he was hearing certain tones, but he was said to be fine. likewise, his doctor and any others that have seen him when he was sick have never mentioned his tonsils being too big.

so, tomorrow is the big day--the "grand slam" as the consulting doctor described it. we'll be waking him up early and the procedure should last 1/2 hour-1 hour. kieran is handling it well but i'm nervous about the recovery. it's an outpatient procedure and we're hoping to keep him pretty doped up when he gets out. one of the hardest things for kieran will be not eating when he wakes up before surgery tomorrow, but at least he's been promised lots of ice cream later!

think happy thoughts for us, we're not worried about the procedure itself, we know the doctor very well who's performing it and have no doubts about his skill.

i'll post an update when it's over!


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