drug-resistant bacteria are great...

oh boy, this is fun. had to take reily to the MD today because she had a little boo-boo that become a huge pus-filled, weeping open wound on her labia. no idea how it got there but apparently she has an MRSA skin infection (nasty staph infection). it was the damnedest thing; a little sore that i thought was a mild fungal infection (like the ones she got as an infant) practically looks like an attack of the flesh-eating virus. poor little trooper, had to hold her down so that we could culture it and get the pus out. she is doing much better but it still makes me wonder....WHERE DO OUR KIDS GET THESE THINGS ?!?!?!
off to medicate a 5 yr old....wish me luck...

kri

Names...

Kri...out of your list I like Emerson the best!! If I remember right you had that as well as Monroe on your list last time. I think it's a good name for a professional and when she's little you can call her "Em" or "Emmie" which are both cute nicknames. I like Monroe, but would not choose it personally because there is a street in Spokane called Monroe and it's not the best part of town so it has a negative geographical association for me. I like the name Tyler for a girl and tried to get Eli to go for it with Allie, but he was having no part of it.

Anyone heard from MaryStarr? She was posting daily there and then they got hit with the flu or something and we haven't heard a peep out of her...hope everyone is OK!!

Personally things have been crazy. My dad has not been feeling well for a while and my brother called me Sunday afternoon saying he had just gotten off the phone with my mom and it sounded like Dad was really bad. We headed over and within 5 minutes of our arrival Eli was yelling out to have my mom call an ambulence (I was out in the car with the girls because we weren't really sure what was wrong with him and I didn't want them exposed). Come to find out he has Type 2 diabetes and was in shock. He has a severe kidney infection and his blood is infected. His temp was up to 104 by the time we got to my parents house...it was pretty crazy stuff. He's been in the hospital since Sunday afternoon and is doing much better now. We have to wear HASMAT suits in the room with him though becuase they don't have the culture match yet for his blood infection. I'm hopeful he will be home by the weekend. I'm just happy they figured out what was wrong with him so we can start a lifestyle change and treatment plan for him. My parents don't have insurance, but there is a social worker trying to get my dad set up on Medicaid or Medicare or something so that will be helpful.

Well...that's what's new with me...we're excited for Halloween on Saturday. Lizzy is going to be Sleeping Beauty and Allie is going to be a monkey. I think I'm going to take some of the HASMAT gear from the hospital and put that on.

Happy day everyone!!

Maig

Names...

Here are a few names that were on my lists when pregnant:

Beatrice
Danika
Jacqueline
Magdalene

Funny note with the name Charlotte, while I love it I could never bring myself to use it. It never made it through our first round of cutting names. I could not get away from Charlotte the Harlot (the name given to the Harlot from the book of Revelations by the band Iron Maiden).

No offense intended to anyone named Charlotte or would use Charlotte as a name.

names ?!?!?!

oh my ladies...we need help with names. nothing is *clicking* yet. i have monroe, emerson, and harper on my list....dan has charlotte. charlotte has been vetoed (it's my MIL's name)- especially since it would open up my daughter to being called charlie brown !! any suggestions ? thoughts ?
xoxo
kri

ANOTHER GIRL ?

Wow, and I have a friend who is only having boys....

Congratualtions sweetheart :)

Are ya gonna keep working ?

Congratulation on another girl Kri!

estrogen world...

it's an estrogen world and i am an estrogen girl......we've got another lil lady on the way ! i thought that dan was going to drop when he heard. he was praying for a boy..i tried to warn him that the pregnancy gods have a sick sense of humor. right now i'm about 18wks 4days with a due date of march 12th. everything looks good and healthy. maybe we'll finally get a raven-haired beauty to go along with my little blondes :)
xoxo
kri

October - Sick kids, and fall colours

I just back to work from 1 week home with Cedrik, who had HAND FOOT AND MOUTH: bleeding canker sores all over his mouth, fever... Couldn't eat (nor sleep) for DAYS !

Erika loves school (kg), though I believe she finds it too slow of a pace... but she is doing marvelous...

I gotta catch-up on some work, missed a lot while I was away.

Gen xxxx

guilt

yup. Ava has had such a hard with having a new sibling, although she seems to be on an upward cycle lately. It is nice to see them developing an independent relationship... sometimes I come upon her talking to him and it is so sweet and genuine, not like the frantic and intense way she does it when we are watching. I took her to see the musical south pacific last week, a special date just her and I. I realized it was the first time we had done something like that since Wilder was born. It was really fun. Amazing. She was like her old self again. You are right Kri, they just need time with us one on one.

One of my clients said to me this week, don't worry about the baby... as long as someone warm is holding them and they are fed and cuddled, it doesn't really matter who does it. Give your time to your older child. The baby will not remember this time, but your older child will. They will always remember, and they need you more personally. That really struck me. Because we have this inclination to think that our baby won't bond to us or whatever if we let someone else care for them sometimes, but they will. I am planning to have a special date with Ava every week now. She said "Mama, I have a great idea! We should have a date every week, just you and I, where we go out and do something REALLY fun... like see a play or a dance performance or go to a museum." Bowl me over, ain't she ever my girl?

Amy, what you are facing as a parent is an incredible challenge. You are doing a great job at the hardest job in the world. My nephew, who is adopted from ethiopia, has a number of challenges (behavioral, motor, developmental) that seem to be very clearly placing him on the autism spectrum. He has other issues too, with agression and behavioral/psychological stuff that is not just from the spectrum disorder, but it is such a hard road for my sister and her family. They are loving and great as parents, but this has challenged them tremendously. My other nephew said to Ava the other day 'it's nice to have a cousin who's normal. I wish my brother were normal like you'. Its awful but it's how he really feels sometimes. When you wrote what Vivian said about Samuel it just sounded so resonant of that same feeling. I wish I had some advice to offer, but I think you are doing everything the best you possibly can. Just questioning yourself and looking deeper at how you can handle things better and see Vivian more and give her more attention are signs that you are doing the best you can. I am sending you my love. You ever and always impress me, my friend.

xo

MaryStarr

Oops, I see my picture is upside down.
Well, the one photo is his profile (just like riley's profile) and the other pic is of his face. if you turn your head sideways you can see his face....lol;

Hi guys!!!!!!!! Little Frog is growing well.

All my critters here are doing well. Riley did have a little sinus stuff a couple weeks back, but I think it was from school starting.

Riley got her flu shot (seasonal flu, not H1N1), and the big kids will get theirs next week.

I declined the flu shot at work. I will be out on leave of absence from November to Feb, so I will miss most of it.....

Riley is loving Kindergarten. She is learning how to read and is doing great on the school work part.....but she has a bit of a hard time "listening"....LOL!!!!
She's had several days where her behavior was "S" (satisfactory) instead of "E" (excellent) because, as the teacher says, "not listening during instruction.....or off task during instruction"....
The way I see it, she's making A's so who cares. :) It's freaking Kindergarten.

:) Fall is here and I love the weather.
Forgive me as my brain is mush right now....

I'm 27 weeks.....counting down the days!!!

Easier Said Than Done...

So...I was all gung-ho on the flu shots for this year and I called my doctor yesterday to set up appointments for the entire family to get poked only to find out they are not offering the H1N1 shots AND they are only giving seasonal flu shots to high risk patients...!!! I think it's great that people who need the shots get the shots first, BUT I would like to know what the rest of us are supposed to do. They said the After Hours clinic is giving the H1N1 shot and I should be able to get the kids both shots at the same time there. I called the After Hours and they don't give shots to children!! GRRRRRRR. I then called back to our regular office and ended up talking to 3 different people who didn't have any answers. In the end I decided to just set up Lizzy for her 5 year well child visit and I will pow wow with our family doc at that time to figure out what to do about the whole flu shot issues at that time. This is all very frustrating. I don't take Lizzy in for her visit until Tuesday. I guess I shall have be patient.

guilt

amy-
i'm right there with you on the guilt front. it's hard when you have more than one child because you can feel torn between them. reily is my sensitive one and avery is my independent one but they both demand a lot of work-just in different ways. i've come to accept guilt and lovehandles as part of the "mommy package". i just try to single them out for little things when it will just be me + one child. sometimes it's only for 15 min and it means that i pick up avery first from school and let her pick out the special treat; sometimes i color with reily while avery is napping. it isn't much and it isn't often but i think the one-on-one time is the most important bonding time. i do believe, however, that i am preaching to the choir since you are definitely up for Mommy of the Year award.
xoxo
kri