March 2007 Archives

Before I begin with the updates, I wanted to apologize to everyone for a lack of posts lately. It's not like nothing's been going on down here in Atlanta. A lot's been happening, as a matter of fact, which may even make some of you mad that I haven't provided an earlier update. Just believe me when I say that we have been busy with a capital "B."

The main cause for my lack of updates has been that my promotion* went into effect a couple of weeks ago, and my workload has slammed me to the ground and stomped on my head. The result is that my normal eight-hour day has been spilling into 10 or even 12-hour shifts. On top of all of that, I've also picked up some freelance work. While profitable, it forces me to spend even more time typing on the computer. Even a geek gets burnt out on that eventually.

Anyway, I apologize for not posting earlier. Now, on to all of the news.

First off, the most important news: Alecia had surgery on Wednesday, and is recovering nicely.

I actually thought I told more people about this, but I guess I didn't. Alecia had been having abdominal pains for the past several months. She underwent a CT-Scan, which supposedly found an unidentifiable mass. That prompted an ultrasound, which found absolutely nothing and made the CT-Scan look stupid. This was followed up by a closer exam from her doctor, who thought there was enough mystery to necessitate a laparoscopy--in other words, investigative surgery. The biggest suspects at the time were either scar tissue from Alecia's c-sections, endometriosis, a fibroid mass or an ovarian cyst. Basically, they had no clue.

The laparoscopy happened on Wednesday morning. The procedure involves making an incision just below the belly button and inserting a probe. They use the probe to find any problems, then make three or four MORE incisions in her abdomen to insert tools they then use to fix the problem. Lasers, scalpels, etc. It's outpatient surgery, performed under total sedation, and the initial recovery time is supposed to be less than a week.

I took the day off on Wednesday to take Alecia in, and her mom came to stay with us from Tuesday night on to take care of the kids. Alecia was absolutely freaking out about the surgery. Apparently, almost every female in her family has had some kind of problem with endometriosis or some similar illness, and almost all of them have had hysterectomies as a result of their problems. Alecia was absolutely certain that the doctor was going to have to remove her uterus and that our decision about whether or not to have more kids would be made for us. The doctor did talk about the possibility of having to remove one ovary, but promised that he was surgically conservative and didn't intend to mess with her uterus. This didn't make her feel any better. She already hadn't been sleeping much due to the abdominal pain, but her fear about this made her sleep even less. She was a wreck.. It was not a fun week leading up to the surgery.

Well, when the doctor performed the surgery, he did find some endometriosis. He lasered it off of her uterus and ovaries, and also removed a small cyst from her left ovary. He then put a coating on the ovary to protect it from any further endometriosis, and he advised us on how we could prevent it from coming back anytime soon. He did say that Alecia may want to have a hysterectomy when she decides she's done with childbirth--in maybe five or ten years--but that there was no need to make that decision now. She was release from the hospital with some pain pills and some really gory pictures taken from inside her abdomen. Ugh.

Like I said, she's recovering nicely. She's still feeling the effects of the main incision. And the fact that it was through her belly button sort of made it worse for her, since she's got some serious belly button issues. But she's getting better gradually. When the incision finally heals, we're hoping that will be the last of her abdominal pain for a while.

Again, sorry I didn't call and tell people about this. I'm sure there are those of you who would've wanted to call her and wish her well, and my delinquency cost her some words of hope. But if you guys could see how much I've been running around like a chicken with my head cut off, you'd understand.

Here's the rest of our highlights and lowlights from the last week. And yes, all of the events below have happened in the last six or seven days:

• We've been unsuccessfully trying to find a second car, which has involved researching, calling and test driving until we're pretty much sick to death of the whole process--made even more difficult by the fact that we only have one car with which to get to the test drives.
  
  
• At least Alecia is no longer working nights, though. With my promotion, we decided it was the right time for her to quit the spa. This means that I will no longer have to rush home to get her to work. And the money lost from her quitting is more than made up for between my raise and the freelance work I've been getting. Without going into detail, let's just say that two hours of freelance per week adds up to more than ten hours of working at the spa. It just wasn't a good equation to have her continue working.
  
  
• We've recently noticed Josie's eyes beginning to cross, meaning we'll need to get the prescription on her glasses changed. It's the saddest thing in the world to see her eyes get all goofy--makes you feel like a failure as a parent, somehow.
  
  
• We've temporarily solved the rodent problem, but only by boarding up any possible means of entry into our pantry. The darned thing doesn't seem to be dead, though, despite traps, glue traps, poison, etc. Whatever it is--squirrel, rat, mouse, wombat--seemed to have disappeared for a while, but chewed through the plaster I put over his old hole last week, prompting the use of big boards to keep him out.
  
  
• We got a nail in our tire, not even a week after getting new tires. Yay! I went to change the bad tire, only to find out that we somehow LOST OUR JACK. Nobody seems to know what happened to it, but we're now jackless. I eventually borrowed one to change the tire.
  
  
• Unfortunately, two days after changing that tire (and before I had a chance to get the bad tire fixed or replaced), another tire went bad. Yay again! Being without a jack and without a spare, this was not a good situation. We got it all resolved (buying a new pair of tires this morning, not three weeks after buying a pair for the front tires), but it made for a rough day and a half.
  
  
• Speaking of rough, we may be in for a rough few weeks after finding out that we've been the apparent victim of credit fraud. Yesterday morning, I discovered a $900 hold on my debit account. When I called in to the bank, they said it was a purchase at Wal-Mart made on a day when neither of us left the house. I immediately canceled my card and am in the process of starting the investigation and trying to get my money back. Fun stuff, huh? Made even more fun by the fact that we use an online bank with no local branches, meaning that without an ATM card, I have no access to my own money except through checks. I did take out some cash before canceling the card (on their advice), and we can survive on credit for as long as this takes, but it still sucks.
  
  
• The Wal-Mart scam, by the way, may've started when I used my debit card there to buy some plumbing supplies a week ago. Yep, only a few weeks after having someone out to fix the dishwasher, our kitchen sink began leaking. Apparently, it wasn't attached correctly when installed, and was being held together with just plumber's putty that recently came unstuck. The expense of fixing it wasn't so bad, but the timing could've been better.
  
  
• Speaking of timing, what's worse than getting beat badly in your soccer playoff game? Getting your butt kicked and then having to spend the rest of the day at kids' birthday parties. I'm almost thinking that Alecia scheduled her surgery last week just so she wouldn't have to spend all day Sunday eating cake with toddlers and preschoolers at Kangazoom and Little Gym. Needless to say, after getting up at 7:30am for my game and then spending all day doing the kids' stuff, I was one tired puppy on Sunday night.
  
  
• Finally, although soccer just ended for me, opening up my Sundays until the next season starts, Maddie's activities are still going strong. She's picked up her energy in soccer this season, even scoring four goals in one game (she kept count of each one). The only problem now is trying to do everything with one car since Maddie's got ballet (at 5:15) and soccer (at 6pm) on Tuesdays, and I just started a volleyball league with games starting at 6:20. We NEED that second car, which brings this full-circle, back to the top item on the list. Funny how it all ties together, huh?

I'm sure I'm leaving something off of this list. There's so much happening right now that it's impossible to keep track of it all. It's like living in the eye of a twister sometimes. But just like everything in life, it all ebbs and flows. So while it seems crazy now, we've surely got some leisure time ahead of us, when we'll find we have nothing on our schedule. Or is this just how it is once you have kids--non-stop action? I guess we'll find out.

If I think of anything else, I'll try to post another update. But don't hold your breath waiting for it. :)

* Some of you already know this, but I was recently promoted to Editorial Director for TBS/TNT, adding another network and several more people to my list of responsibilities. I won't begin to pretend it was much-deserved, but it was a much-desired change, even if I am drowning in the doubled workload and people management right now.

Artists at work.

- All of our colds are pretty much over... and replaced with allergy symptoms. Everyone has runny noses and scratchy eyes - even myself! I have never had seasonal allergies before, but now that I've been in Atlanta for 7 years I guess I had it coming. The problem with Atlanta is that it has grown and developed so much in the past 10 years that the pollen count has gotten way out of control. Instead of deciduous and pine trees, subdivisions have been tearing out regional trees and replacing them with flowering trees. Beautiful in the springtime, but also annoying.

- Attending the Ballet with Maddie. We had a great Mommy and Maddie day where we got to see The Georgia Ballet perform in Coppelia. She was amazed during the entire show. She absolutely loved the "Princess" but then got completely shy when we got the chance to meet her and get a picture afterwards. They played music just before the show started and Maddie kept saying, "Where are the ballerinas?" Then the lights went dim and she asked again. Then the lights went out and she asked again. Finally the curtain rose and I got a little teary-eyed seeing her face in reaction to it. It was just such a moving moment for me to be there with her.

- I took the girls to get an Easter/Spring picture taken today and it turned out completely adorable. It's so hard to get them to smile at the same time, or not get silly and jump around. We got one good one where they're holding hands (I LOVE that they like to do that) and smiling very sweetly. (However, I feel like I should draw in little devil horns on their heads).

- I am extremely grateful to Bill for helping me prepare to sell some things in the consignment sale this weekend. I was pushed for time on Monday because (1) I ran out of hangers and (2) I ran out of bobby pins to pin the clothes to the hangers and (3) I ran out of time because I had a friend over for the afternoon and didn't get a chance to work on the stuff until 5pm. I was due to turn them in at 7:45pm. Bill got home from work and helped me in a mad rush to print the ticket labels and pin them and the clothes to the hangers. I ended up not getting around to my final bin of clothes, but Bill very sweetly took them in on the following morning for me (they allowed me to turn the rest in late). It was sad to go through all the baby clothes, but at the same time it was good to purge and get rid of things we are not using right now. I'm hoping to use the proceeds towards a few home improvements.

- Getting to shop at the consignment sale early because I was a seller. I went last night to the presale and stocked up on clothes for the girls for summer. I spent $55.50 and got 28 items, a few of which were complete outfits. The girls also got two pairs of sandals each (2 of which were brand new). Oh, and Josie's Easter dress for the pictures today was $2. Yeah, baby! Bill didn't understand the thrill of the bargain, but he doesn't usually shop for clothes for the girls so he has no idea. Josie was already set for summer, having all of Maddie's hand-me-downs, but Maddie had almost nothing to wear. She's had a growth spurt in the past couple of months so everything is starting to get too tight on her. Now she has her summer wardrobe. You can tell this is a house full of girls because I came home with the bag full of clothes last night and both girls immediately went through it trying on clothes and shoes and prancing around the house. Poor Bill just sat there, completely unmoved by the whole thing.

- Maddie tried to put her My Little Pony bandaid on me today. She said I needed it for my "booboo" (ie. pimple)

- Red fruit punch should be outlawed for children under the age of 5 years.
Red punch + new white shirt = very unhappy mommy.

- It's not a good idea to let your kids finger paint when they have colds. They'll inevitably try to wipe their noses with their hands, getting paint all over their faces and in their eyes.

- After explaining breastfeeding to Maddie this morning:
Mommy, when I get big boobies, I'll make chocolate milk too. And have little babies. But I'm a big girl now and I don't have boobies. But I can still drink chocolate milk, right?

Congrats to Emily, whose baby girl was born on Monday, March 5th at 8:24 pm. She weighed 7lbs 8oz. and is 20 inches long. Her name is Bella Erin and we can't wait to meet her (and see pictures!)

Backyard Safari

- Maddie's first soccer game. It was her first time on the field this season so she got a little upset when someone kicked the ball away from her. She also didn't want to talk to anyone, even Coach Carter. By the practice on Wednesday, though, she was much better (and following Coach Carter around like a puppy). She's actually getting much better at dribbling the ball down the field. It's so interesting to see how much all the kids have grown in the past couple of months. Also there are lots of new siblings and new siblings-to-be.

- Finally, our big announcement: Bill got a promotion! After 7 years with Turner, he's been promoted to Director. It's such a wonderful thing for him and our family. We've sort of known about it for a couple of weeks, but couldn't say anything until now. For a while he was considering taking an offer from another company that was wooing him, but in the end he decided to stay with Turner. He gets to work on a few new exciting projects as well as oversee not only one but two networks (TBS and TNT). I'm so excited for and proud of him. I know that he's worked very hard for this and it's so nice to see him get some appreciation for all his hard work (even those late late nights). This means big changes for us in the coming year.

- My last day at the spa. Actually, I'm grateful for my time working there the last year and half. It's been so much fun and, by far, the easiest job I've ever had. I'll miss the perks, but I never really took advantage of them much anyway. (I'm hoping to get a massage soon, before I'm officially taken off the payroll!) Bill and I talked about it and, with his new job duties, he's not going to be able to get home early so I can go in to work at 6pm. The spa closes at 9pm, so it's pointless for me to go in any later than 6pm. We could get a babysitter for those few overlapping hours, but considering that our babysitter charges almost what I make per hour, it really doesn't make sense in the end. I'm excited that we'll have more time and dinners together as a family. I'm also looking forward to getting the girls on a more consistent dinner and bedtime schedule (right now it alternates between mommy or daddy putting them to bed.) I'm sure there will be nights where I'll wish I was working so I could just get away for a few hours, but I know Bill is understanding about that already (and fortunately Barnes and Noble is open until 11pm). ;)

- We haven't gotten it yet, but we're shopping for a 2nd car this weekend. We're hoping to get a small commuter car for Bill to take to work so I can have the CRV to use during the day with the girls. It will mean that we'll be able to do more things out during the day, and not having to fit all activities and errands in on the few days that I use the car now. It's a little bittersweet because I've actually been proud of the fact that we've been a little eco-aware the past few years. On the other hand I do think it will help with gas mileage after all. There will be another car to put gas in, but right now I take Bill to work and pick him up if I use our car during the day and that extra commute takes up enough gas on its own (not to mention the traffic at rush hour with two hungry toddlers in the backseat).

- Absolutely, downright gorgeous weather. I wish Atlanta could always be the way it was this week. Perfect sunny 70s with a little wind. I kept the girls outside as much as possible during the days, and it made for great naptimes and bedtimes. I already dread the approaching summer temps. It gets so hot and humid and muggy that you hate going outside. I remember keeping the girls in last year to avoid them getting too hot -- it might as well be snowing outside if I'm going to do that! Among other things, Atlanta temps are what motivate us to move elsewhere. However, with Bill's promotion it looks like the plan to leave Atlanta will be a few years off anyway.

And yours?

So we had this little problem with a rodent in our house. It started with our broken dishwasher, where we realized something had chewed through the sump, costing us $200 in labor for a $20 part to be replaced. Bill set regular traps and we checked daily for any signs that the little guy had been caught. Nothing.

Then we found a brand new gigantic bag of pancake mix (recently bought from Sams Club) with a hole chewed in it in our pantry. Apparently he worked himself up so much chewing up our dishwasher that he needed a snack. We set more traps in the pantry and waited and waited. Nothing, although he did eat the peanut butter from the traps without setting them off. And for extra insult, he ate the peanut butter part of the Peter Pan Crunchy Peanut Butter and left the nuts behind for us. Grrrr.

I later found that the little guy had been in my bathroom too. I keep tons of lotions and stuff under the sink vanity. I don't go there that often, but when I looked in it recently I saw piles of what looked like black dirt everywhere. I finally realized it was charcoal and filling from some heating pads I had there. He had chewed them up. I also realized there was a big hole in the back of the wall, leading directly into the space between our bathroom and kitchen walls (and most likely with direct access to our dishwasher.)

Bill and I talked about finding another humane way to get rid of it. We went out and got some sticky traps. We set them out, one directly beside the opened bag. For days we had nothing until I went in one morning to find the trap with little gray hairs stuck in it. Apparently the little guy had gotten stuck but then got himself loose.

More sticky traps and no luck. Although now we've gone through another bag of pancake mix, a couple of sandwich bags, a bag of Lime Tostidos, two big bags of rotini pasta, and a small bag of Cheetos. Time for the hard-core stuff.

Bill went and bought some poison last week. We hated to do it, but there seemed like no other choice and this guy was just too smart. We set it out behind the dryer where it wouldn't be touched by us or the kids or the pets. We weren't sure anything was working until yesterday morning. I woke up to find the most awful smell in our bedroom. Bill said he'd heard some scurrying between the walls the night before when he came to bed. We're pretty sure Mr. Squirrel has moved on. Unfortunately for us, it looks like his soul left this world, but his body stayed in the walls of our bedroom. The smell has gotten to where I literally hold my nose to go in the room. Last night I turned on the strongest room freshener we had. It's starting to fade a little, which is good. Hopefully not much longer. We had a raccoon die in our fireplace in the den last year and it smelled pretty much the same way, so we're pretty sure that's what it is. Fortunately, we could close the doors to the den and stay out of there for a few days. We haven't been able to do that with our bedroom. Just pray that the weather doesn't get too hot in the next few days. Cooler weather would be best for us all.

There was a lunar eclipse tonight. We went to dinner as the sun was setting, so we kept getting up to go outside to see if it was visible yet (it only lasted for about 45 minutes, starting at about 6pm). Bill said he had seen it, so I took Maddie out so we could take a look ourselves.

Maddie: "Are we going to see the nib-nits?"

Alecia: "You mean the eclipse?"

Maddie: "Yeah, the clips."

We saw it just as it was ending and a sliver of the moon could be seen again. I showed Maddie the little bit and we went back inside.

Once dinner was over we came back outside to see that more of the moon was visible, almost all of it. Bill commented that it was almost a full moon when Maddie said,

"The moon ate too much food and now it's a full moon!"

Maddie walked up to me in the kitchen yesterday and asked,

Mommy, can we make sock puppets?

We haven't made them before, but I thought it sounded good so I went to hunt for a sock to use.

Don't forget the buttons for the eyes!

Oh, ok. Where did she find out about this?

We make the puppet which includes three eyes, a nose, and purple feathers for hair. Afterwards she tells me,

Now we need the curtain. Can you go get the one with the blue stars?

Huh? I have no idea what she's talking about, but I try to set up the kitchen table so she can duck down and put on a show for me.

She stopped halfway through her show because she realized she didn't have a "friend" for her puppet to talk to. We then worked on the other one.

She just cracks me up with the things she says. Bill and I can only guess that she learned the whole sock puppet thing from the little bit of Shirley and Lambchop show he was flipping through on the TV the other night.

- Planning a birthday for Bill that he actually enjoyed. Sleeping in, followed by gifts, followed by some nice time outside in beautiful weather, followed by dinner at Maddy's Ribs and Blues with Todd and Amanda, then dessert at One Hot Cookie. He got a little teary-eyed over one of his gifts, so I consider it a victory for me.

- A good appointment for Josie's 2-year checkup. She's doing great! Allergies are under control - for the most part. She's right on target for weight and height (both 66%). Her speech is improving, and she's doing really well keeping her glasses on. She was such a big girl, wanting to stand on the scale and have the nurse put the thermometer in her mouth instead of under her arm (she saw Maddie do that a couple of weeks ago at the doctor's office).

- Josie is potty-training herself. I can't believe it. I wasn't even going to start yet, but one day I heard Maddie say, "Mommy, Josie went pee pee!!" I went in the bathroom to find that Maddie had helped Jo take off her diaper, sat her on the little potty, and then helped her wipe afterwards. Now she lets us know every time she has to go. It's been about 2 weeks now. The only time she has accidents is when she's actually wearing panties. Bare-bottomed and she doesn't have any. I'm still trying to figure out how to get her to wear something so we can actually take her out without a diaper. After the struggle with Maddie, I deserve this!

- Maddie first soccer game of the season tomorrow. Almost all of the same kids are on her team again, so it will be good for her to have some familiar faces. Oh yeah, and Coach Carter is her coach again. She LOVES him.

- Drew's 6th birthday. He's that old already, Julie?

- An adult night out with Bill. A friend of ours was performing in an amateur night at a comedy club. There were about 16 different comedians. We got to see most of them before we had to rush home so the high school babysitter wouldn't be out too late. As it was, I still apologized to her mom profusely. We had a chance to go with some other friends of ours whom we haven't seen in a while. They lead the most amazing lives, so it's always fun to hear what they've been up to and where they've traveled lately.

- Beautiful beautiful weather, except for the day of thunderstorms and tornadoes. I just read that some people died locally in a tornado so it's bittersweet that we have such good weather again a day later.

- The good health of everyone in the family now. Yay!

- The upcoming birth of Emily's daughter. We're excited to meet the little one, who, apparently is taking her dear sweet time coming out. :)

Here's a little video of the girls dancing on stage at the restaurant on Bill's birthday. They decided to take over before the band got there. After that, they danced next to the stage.

And what would you like to add?

A very happy birthday to Drew! We love you and hope you have a great day!