Seriously...It Was the Size of a Football.

At around five o'clock Mom was finally wheeled into the surgical ward (for the second time)...this time was for real. We waited in the family room for word, and an hour and half later, the lovely, sweet nurse Lillian came to tell us...they had just started cutting skin...yeah...just starting to cut skin!

So that was at about six-thirty-five. Just under three hours later, the wonderful Dr. Yaffe came to tell us the news of the surgery. Mom is in recovery and everything went well. Aside from the football-sized spleen (he indulged our request to take a picture of it so we saw it!) he didn't see anything else going on in there. She did very well and didn't need any blood transfusions. They are just giving her some platelets.

So we're spending the night again and will head back tomorrow once things smooth out for Mom. We're not exactly sure, but we expect she'll be here for a couple/few more days before they ship her back home for some more recovery time.

We're all tired but very elated with the good news. Thanks again for all your prayers and good wishes!

What's Worse Than Watching Paint Dry?

Waiting for the hospital to get all its ducks in a row for Mom to go in for surgery...

Earlier today, they gave us a time. Two o'clock. Yeah, that was two hours ago. There was some rotten mix-up and they didn't have the proper blood lined up to do a safe surgery. The anaesthetist is a very professional and thorough man, which ROCKS. Apparently they did have Mom's blood-type cross-matched and ready to rock, but I guess in all this waiting, it has expired. Oy.

Soooooo, we had her all the way to the pre-op waiting room. They took her down right in her hospital bed. Down five floors. Down many long hallways. Then they realized the mix-up. Aaaaaaand, since they don't have her type on-site, they had to order it from Canadian Blood Services. Which, thankfully is at least in the neighbourhood, but this latest hiccup takes two hours to get back on track. In the meantime, the surgeon (very nice man) is fitting someone else in between.

Everyone is tired, of course specifically Mom. Tired, worried, stressed, etc. Cindy and I had planned originally to come to Winnipeg, be here before surgery, for surgery, and for recovery. Now it's getting to crunch time for when we planned to head back. Uncle Cliff and Auntie Lurdes are here too, since they were on their way back from Calgary. They really were 'in the neighbourhood' so they stopped by, and have been with us since. Makes my Mom feel better I'm sure with all of us here.

So to sum up, Mom will still hopefully head into surgery this afternoon. I have already arranged to be off work tomorrow, and will either leave late this evening or tomorrow if necessary. Cindy may need to head back since it's way harder for her to make arrangements for work. Uncle Cliff and Auntie Lurdes have offered to take me with them later if Cindy needs to go.

That's about where things are at for now; I'm hoping to blog again soon with details of the surgery. Cindy and I asked the surgeon to take pictures of that massive spleen. (We get our morbid curiosity from our Dad). Thanks everyone for the calls and well-wishes, and Uncle Owen, I had NO idea you were reading my blog! :) Mom was thrilled to receive the beautiful floral arrangement and I will be certain to relay your email message to her!

Huges (huge hugs) to all!

Awaiting Surgery

We're at St. Boniface awaiting surgery for Mom. She's been placed somewhere between elective and emergency so it will hopefully be today but not for sure.

I'm using the cafeteria computer to check email and send out updates as new stuff happens.

Mom is all prepped and ready; they just have to come and get her!

If you would like to contact me by phone, go ahead and call my cell.

It's a Bird...It's a Plane...

That's it...it's a plane!

Mom flew to Winnipeg today. She called this evening and said the pilot really put his foot to the floor and they got there quickly. She's checked in and will be visited by the surgeon in the morning. Then it's a matter of booking the surgery; hopefully soon too. Dad's going up first thing in the morning; Cindy and I will travel together once we find out what's up.

So today was a bit tiring; some anxiety, some stress, and some peace knowing Mom is being looked after and will be helped soon. Dad was looking back at some of Mom's notes and records and she was diagnosed with an enlarged spleen just over a YEAR AGO. Duh. Prior to that she was misdiagnosed with Lupus for over a year. Obviously no one has been in a hurry to help her so far. So it's great to see things moving now. Especially since her spleen, if tanned and laced could double as a bigass football, I'm sure.

So, surprisingly I don't have much to say; I'm tired and can't wait to get there to see Mom and see her get some care from a good bunch of doctors and some long-overdue relief. I've never been sure if I pray 'properly' but I sure know God has been listening to my random ramblings to Him! :)

Whoa, It's a Date!

Well, the ball is definitely rolling now!

Mom will be transported to Winnipeg tomorrow, and once we find out when surgery will be, Cindy and I will go too. Dad will of course travel right away as soon as they get ready to load Mom up on the plane.

They'll prep her for surgery there, including any possible transfusions or further immunizations she might need. I'm so thankful for all the prayers from everyone; it's definitely helped get us to this point where Mom is getting some much-needed help. It's also helped relieve her in the pain department; she's been feeling some relief these past few days so now it's a matter of anxiety over the next few days.

After work I brought the boys with me to see Mom and bring her some stuff, and tonight I ran a few errands to pick up some odds and ends for her and get a couple things for her from home. I went to see her and packed her bag with all her jammies and slippers, undies etc. that she will need for this trip. If she needs anything else, we'll get it when we get there.

I'll post updates whenever I can; this is one of those times when a laptop would come in handy for me! If anyone feels like buying me one I'd like at least a seventeen-inch one with the latest version of PhotoShop pre-loaded! hahahhahaaaaaaaa. Good night!

Nobody Likes The Waiting Game

Correction:
I was under the impression that Mom's test information has been reviewed by the 'right' doctors and that she would be on her way to surgery this week. However, the information has been SENT to the right doctors, but being that it was Easter weekend, the right doctors were of course home, presumably eating turkey and chocolate like everyone else ought to be. The hematologist has received the information as well. So now we wait for Mr. Doctor to get, read and decide what he's going to do with the information. The last I spoke with Mom, her doctor was still trying to reach said doctor to get the ball rolling. Oy.

Yesterday was a pretty good day with the boys. I got them ready and took them to Wal-Mart, where I craftily avoided the toy department. I reiterated that since the Easter Bunny was just here over the weekend, that the kids didn't need another thing. I picked up some more spare jammies for Mom (oops I shrunk a pair intending to only put them in the dryer for the last couple minutes...forgetting that the timer on my dryer is shot and subsequently I cooked them a little too long. They're kind of like floods now but they're still okay). I picked up more socks and undies, and some new slippers too. Next stop was Tim Horton's to get a green tea for Mom (and oddly and quite surprisingly I didn't get myself a cappuccino!)

The boys were more reasonably behaved at the hospital, since I kind of corraled them into one corner of the room. They ate some of Mom's lunch and some of her fresh fruit, and we headed out to bring some lunch to Chris. Mom felt like having a muffin so I dashed back to Tim Horton's. While I was at it, I got Chris a sandwich from there. We brought Chris lunch and in the process Cooper fell asleep. I zipped back to the hospital and ran in with a muffin for Mom. By this time both kids were sound asleep. Pure bliss! I drove around a little then decided I could capitalize on the simultaneous naptime and came home. To my surprise and delight, they both stayed asleep once I brought them in and slipped their boots off. I dabbled on the computer a bit then decided I ought to take a nap too.

When Chris came home, he heated all the (awesome!) leftovers from our mini-Easter dinner. Everything was just as awesome as the day before, right down to the Hollandaise sauce. Yum. After supper Carter played on the computer for a while and Cooper snuggled for a bit. Though neither kid went to sleep until well after nine. I'm trying to institute an actual bedtime, not necessarily sleep time, but bed time/quiet time. Wish me luck. We put on the movie, "I Am Legend" and the kids kept peeping in from time to time so we kept pausing it 'cause of the scary creatures in it. All in all I ended up liking the movie; moreso than I expected from the little bit I'd heard about it. Later on, I did have a freaky dream related to the movie. That the mutated freaks were after my family...and for some reason I had quadruplets! Yikes! I'm not sure which part of that would be the scariest! haha

This morning I snoozed as long as possible and got our rears in gear and to the sitter then zipped up to the hospital to find out what is up. And now we're still playing the waiting game.

Breakfast of Champions

Candy for breakfast. I think I'm in for some trouble with these kids today! I'm not sure how we went from Easter being all about Jesus to adding bunnies and candy. Perhaps it has something to do with trying to bribe and occupy kids on a four-day weekend. Well that part works too.

Update on Mom: Mom is still in the hospital but her pain is more manageable lately. Her blood counts aren't optimal, but they are stable, and the CT results have been read by a team of doctors who are apparently preparing to assess Mom this week to remove her spleen. So it will be a roller coaster week but I'm praying this will give Mom some much-needed relief and restore her vigor and zest!

It's been a quiet weekend. Thursday night the four of us went shopping at Wal-Mart. I don't even recall what we came home with but of course we passed the requisite hundred-dollar mark.

Good Friday was...good. It seems like a long time ago, though. We had a quiet day at home. Chris had to work half a day on Saturday then he played outside with Carter for awhile when Cooper was napping. When Carter came in, Cooper went out and I got ready to go shopping. Carter fell asleep. Cooper came in with Chris and I left. I picked up groceries for Easter dinner (no, I won't be and I've never cooked - a turkey.) With Mom still in the hospital and most of the extended family away, Easter will be puny. Chris's Dad and Grandpa and my Dad will be coming over. The menu will consist of chicken breasts, stuffing, asparagus and hollandaise sauce, mashed potatoes and gravy. Cheesecake for dessert.

Each day I've taken turns bring each of the boys to the hospital with me to visit Mom. But they have been getting a bit too rowdy, so last night I went by myself. I brought Mom a few crossword puzzles and some little Easter treats.

The Easter Bunny showed up and set up quite the little egg scramble around here. There were 24 plastic eggs with jelly beans inside them, malted milk eggs with candy coating ALL OVER THE PLACE, the Easter buckets we picked up for the boys were filled with games and toys and candy, and a dozen Cadbury Easter Creme Eggs that were placed up high where Chris could find them. Although he's going to be finding them for a few more days since he hasn't found all of them yet! I even found a few packages of the Reese Peanut Butter Eggs (my favourite!) That Easter Bunny knows us well. :)

Chris has gone fishing for the day today. I ought to be taking the boys to church, but it seems a daunting task since Mom and Dad won't be there; they usually helps bribe and wrangle the boys during mass. So it will be a (hopefully) quiet day of reflection at home today.

I actually did some scrapping this weekend. Carter had the most bizarre snot bubble the other day and it amused me to the point of running for the camera. (Go ahead, insert your sigh of disdain here; I thought it was hilarious!) I used a few kits by Miss Mint. Click HERE for full credits or on the image to enlarge it. For the space layout, I used a picture of Cooper from last year when he was goofing around with the bucket from the Mr. Potato Head toy. I used LaWanna Desjardin's Astronomical kit from Scrapbook-Bytes and the metal-rimmed alpha I made. Click HERE for full credits or on the image to enlarge it.



Well, that's a wrap as far as Easter Sunday morning...Easter blessings to all!

Edited to add: I totally forgot to post these pictures...Carter and I put together the Easter crown the other day. I made another one for Cooper but sadly nobody is wearing them! Which is possibly a good thing; this way they won't be instantly destroyed!

The products and idea are from Miss Mint's blog and store.

Seventeen Bucks

Today was the day Mom went for an ambulance ride to the CT scan appointment. Apparently they pumped the drugs in through IV for the trip so she managed well. When we stopped in (all four of us) to visit after work today she was the best I'd seen her all week, eating all her supper, sitting up looking more comfortable. Now that could have been the drugs, but it was nice to see her looking better. Auntie Lurdes was there too and Auntie Josie stopped in when we were leaving, since the kids were getting a little rowdy.

Now we have to wait for results and decisions of what is next. I hope that phase doesn't take long, but I also hope they keep Mom until all of whatever happens. On our way home Chris decided he wanted pizza for supper. Having this new Dominos in town is a baaaaaaaaaad thing for us! I hope the novelty wears off. And soon! We came home and I changed and went to pick up the pizzas. I came home and scarfed a couple pieces and headed out to Bingo with Kelly.

That lucky girl...she won tonight! It was an early bird game and she won thirty-four bucks. My half nearly took care of the pizza for supper! hahahaha. There were several winners around us and we were so close to winning several times but we didn't quite make it. It was very very warm in there and we were both getting tired and loopy by the time it was all over.

Everyone was asleep when I got home. I'm going to print a couple sudoku puzzles and head for bed.

What Am I Doing Still Up?

It's still Tuesday night to me but I'm posting this way past midnight. I fully intended to go to bed early tonight. I actually did a work project at home to save me some time at the office. While I did it, I printed some stuff to do a 'hybrid' project for Carter and possibly his whole class if it works out. Click HERE to see the details on Miss Mint's blog.

I went to visit Mom at lunchtime today. She was having another particularly bad episode of pain and I rang for the nurse, who gave Mom some meds. The pain never ever completely subsides where it hurts most, but at least it calms her enough to be able to get more comfortable. Thank God she goes for the CT tomorrow; hopefully things will get rolling to help her more.

I invited Dad over for supper tonight; he's been bach-ing it all week, doing a great job, however I thought it would be good to visit. He hadn't seen Bee Movie yet, so he watched that with the boys while I got supper ready. After supper Chris came with me to go see Mom and we brought Cooper. Carter opted to stay home with Grandpa to finish watching the movie.

Mom was feeling rough again and the nurse came in to give her more meds. My Mom hates taking anything and has a massively humongous tolerance to pain. So this just sucks bigtime to see her suffering so much. I pray they fix her up because she is so fit and healthy aside from this stuff! And I want to give a shout-out to Angie to say thanks so much for keeping Mom in your prayers, especially with your church. We need all the prayer possible to help Mom get through this rough time. Hugs to you all!

When we came home Carter was zonked and Dad was just starting to doze off too. He left to go see Mom before going home. I started doing a couple projects and now I'm ready to go crash. Perhaps a sudoku or two first...

CAT Scan Fever

Yeah, another lame attempt at a pseudo song title. Since my last post Mom has spent a few days in the hospital waiting to be taken to the nearest CT Scan equipment.

On Friday night Kelly and her friend Shawna and I attempted to go on an impromptu Bingo date. We drove all the way there (toting our Dominos pizzas!) only to find it was canceled. We headed back to town, disappointed that our plans for the evening were dashed. Shawna suggested we go to Warehouse One, a clothing store that, surprisingly, was still open! We all bought a few items. Mine were a nice pair of shorts and two matching shirts for Chris, a hooded zipper sweatshirt with nice fuzzy stuff on the inside and a brown shirt to match it.

We went to Kelly's for a bit and had a visit before going home, still much earlier than I was expected to return. Chris was pleasantly surprised; for one that he didn't have to wrangle the kids all evening by himself, and two that I came home bearing gifts!

Saturday Chris worked 'til noon and I had an eyebrow wax appointment after one o'clock. I came home and Chris took Carter fishing at Mom & Dad's. I stayed home with Cooper and worked on some birthday invitations for a coworker's son. Apparently Carter had a blast and did NOT want to get off the snowmobile. I talked to Mom late in the afternoon and she was having the same recurring awful pain she'd been suffering with all week, and it was getting unmanageable again. Dad called me after supper to say he was taking her up to the hospital again. I finished up with my hair, since I was dying it when he called, and I dressed and did my hair and face before heading up. Chris and Carter weren't home yet, so I was getting Cooper ready to go up to the hospital for a visit when Dad called to say Mom was feeling better and was going home.

That was shortlived, since as soon as Mom moved to get dressed she was instantly in agony again. So they've finally started really paying attention to everything that is happening with her and have arranged for a CT scan. Since she is an inpatient, she can make the trip to the scan via ambulance, which will be far less agonizing than traveling sitting upright in a car. Thank God. So she's been there so far since Saturday and will be there a couple more days at least. Thankfully she has a private room, which makes it more bearable. They are managing her pain and though she NEVER SLEEPS, she is getting some much-needed rest.

Hopefully this is the path that will lead to proper treatment of her monstrous spleen. I've been taking turns taking the boys up to see her and on my lunch break today I stopped in. She was in need of more jammies, so I gave her a pair that I had bought for Cindy for her birthday next week. I've had these pajamas since my Bublé trip in January; it was a long-since plan to give them to Cindy, but as soon as Mom needed them they were reappropriated. (oh yeah? well if it wasn't a word before, it is now). Cindy thought that was pretty funny when I told her that, because she is going away for her birthday so when she was over the other day I offered to give her her birthday present. She said no, just wait until she comes back from her trip. Well, those jammies could have been hers but she missed that boat! Now I'm back to the drawing board on what to get HER! But Mom loved them.

This evening I went to Wal-Mart to get Mom another pair of jammies and some socks and stuff. I went to visit her and she had a shower and washed her hair and I dried and ironed it for her. Then she was feeling awful after that; I think it took a lot out of her walking to the shower room and sitting up while I did her hair. They gave her some meds and I left her to rest after visiting with her and Dad for awhile.

I came home and both boys were still going strong. I thought for sure at least Carter would be asleep since he didn't nap today and he was pretty sleepy when we came home after work. Now Cooper is asleep beside me and hopefully Carter has fallen asleep watching Bee Movie for the umpteenth time. Y'know, (as Beth's daughter puts it), the movie about a bee that falls in love with a human, where they never even address the fact that they're from different species! Beth, that's basically the synopsis of the movie. Add a little Seinfeldian humour and that's a wrap!

And that's a wrap for me, but not before sharing a couple layouts I did over the weekend. YES, I scrapped again. Finally! Christy came out with a new kit called By the Sea available at Sophia Sarducci Designs.



I'm hoping this means I have my scrapping mojo back and I'll be cranking out some more!

The Latest Buzz

Yesterday after work I picked up the kiddies and dropped off the print project I'd been slaving over for the past few days. I took both kids to Wal-Mart, promising them we could get Bee Movie that came out on DVD on Tuesday. They were excited, and were soooooo well behaved in Wal-Mart! I ought to remember they're much better behaved in public than at home and should take them out more!

We came home and we were going to have meatloaf but there were too many whines from Carter. He just wanted to eat the cookies I promised for dessert (if they ate a good supper). So I had decided to try them on Hamburger Helper. Whoa! I never usually buy pre-made kind of stuff like that, but they went for it! Chris really liked it too; it was the lasagne variation. We'll have to try that again soon!

After supper we started watching Bee Movie. It was cute and kept Carter amused but Cooper was running willy-nilly all over causing annoyance to his brother. Then they clobbered each other a bit. After the movie, I put it on in their bedroom and Carter went to bed to watch it. Cooper was still monkeying around even after a couple attempts to get him to join his brother. Dad lent us the movie No Country for Old Men (I think that was the title). There was a totally cr-zazy guy in there just running around killing people. That's about what I got out of the parts I saw. Carter came out and asked me to go to sleep with him. So I snuggled up with him and I fell asleep in no time. I woke up a couple hours later and Carter was gone to his own bed, asleep.

I hadn't meant to fall asleep, but Carter had outlasted me. So I got up and drafted a birthday invitation I was supposed to have done in the evening. Then I crawled back into bed and to my delight everyone slept through to this morning. It's been that way for at least a week and has been heavenly! I hope the boys continue this new trend!

This morning I don't know if I pressed snooze too many times or actually shut off the alarm in error, or if I forgot to set it. But I woke up at quarter after seven, which is cutting it close for me to get myself and the boys ready on time. We made it. The kids were so good this morning it was hard to believe they were the same two that were clobbering each other last night! I let them take their new movie to the sitter's house. When I asked the boys to get their coats on, I heard this conversation, and wondered what planet I'd been taken to:

Carter: "Here's your jacket, Cooper."
Cooper: "Thank you."
Carter: "You're welcome."

I almost fainted.

Spleen Spleen Go Away!

Not long after I blogged last night I got a call from Mom. She was headed up to the hospital in great pain. Mom is always in great pain, and handles it like she's made of steel (you would never know it if you saw her), but this was by far the worst to date. I met up with her and Dad at the hospital and waited for the doctor to see her. Thankfully for her, she phoned ahead to let them know what was up and the doctor read her chart in advance of her visit.

He had no big ideas for helping; he was ASSuming and presuming that with the condition she has that possibly there was some pressure happening in there due to the enlarged spleen. They kept her for observation and gave her some meds and planned on blood tests and ultrasound for the morning. I hung out for a couple hours and came home, hoping she'd get some rest.

I slept a few hours and got up to get ready for work. Before the boys woke up I went back up to the hospital to see if there was any progress yet. They had just drawn blood and she had to still wait for the ultrasound. She barely slept of course with all the hustle and bustle around her so she continued to try to get comfortable and get some rest. I went home and got the boys ready and took them to the sitter. I was pretty wiped out and came home for a bit again, since her wait was still going to be longer. I slept for awhile and got up and headed up there again. Cindy was there too this time and Dad had popped in a couple times. It was crowded in the little curtain area and there weren't enough chairs. Dad headed home for a shower and a coffee.

Cindy and I hung out for quite awhile and they finally took Mom for an ultrasound. Although, not all the right people knew she had gone for the ultrasound, so it was a long wait for someone to read the results. I decided I would go in to work for the afternoon, and have Cindy call me if anything else came up. Only a moment after I returned to work Cindy called and said that other than the spleen they didn't see anything else unusual and Cindy took her home, still quite uncomfortable, yet with some pain medication.

I was still tired but the afternoon was busy and went by quickly. After work I picked up the boys and came home. Chris hurt his back the other day and had spent the day at home again. Hopefully he'll be all mended tomorrow. Unfortunately due to Mom's condition, she wasn't able to go out to Bingo, but I still went along with Kelly and her friend Sabrina. Uh, no. We didn't win. There was a woman there who sat with us since she'd never gone before. She bought WAYYYY too many cards for a beginner, and Kelly spent much of her time helping. It was fun and funny, but sort of like extra work! Kelly should have gotten a prize just for all her extra effort! (So Mom you didn't miss anything... I almost wish I stayed home and went to bed early!)

I came in and all the boys were crashed on the couches. I scooped up Cooper and he snuggled right in and I put him to bed. Carter is beside me and I'm going to haul him away next, and go zonk out myself!

Mom, I hope you're feeling better; I'll call tomorrow to check up on you! Love you!

Date Night!!!

No, not a Bingo date with Mom and Kelly (but we're likely going tomorrow)...Chris (MY HUSBAND) and I went on a DATE TONIGHT! Quite an impromptu event. I think we can count on one hand how many times we've been out together without the kids. Thanks to Mom and Dad... :)

We dropped off the kids and went to see a movie, Fool's Gold with Matthew McConaughey (yum) and Kate Hudson. (Though Mr. McConaughey was all scruffy and unshaven through the whole thing, his sixpack made up for it!) Great date movie, cute story, happy ending - an all around good chick flick! And nice to get out of the house with my hubby for a change too!

We picked up the boys and they were in their matching Spidey jammies zonked out on the couch. (Which means Mom worked her Grandma magic on them.) We came home and Cooper is still wide awake. Carter barely opened his eyes and I tucked him in his bed. Cooper found his leftover hamburger still on the table and started eating the bun...picking the onions out of the ketchuppy part (yeah, that's a word) and eating them. Ew. Now he's still wide awake watching Shark Tale in his bed. We'll see how long he stays down.

I'm back to printing, printing and more printing; hopefully I'll be done this project by tomorrow evening barring any unforeseen printer disasters!

Catchy-Uppy

The weekend...a family one. Nice. Quiet. Relaxing.

Friday was a great workday; Diane came back to help Donna in her department; always nice to have her back! We went for a Chinese buffet for lunch with Silvia and I ran off to take Carter to school. Carter won a prize in his school's prize auction. A book and a bath puppet. Fun stuff!

After work I was pooooooped. So stuffy in the head. I picked up the boys and came home and kind of melted onto the couch. Chris had stayed at work to fix his truck and by the time he came home I ordered pizzas (OMGDOMINOESPIZZAISMYNEWFAVOURITE!!!) Cindy and family arrived just before the pizza did and we pigged out. We had a visit with them and Carter had fallen asleep at five o'clock. He didn't even wake the whole time they visited. HE SLEPT UNTIL FIVE-THIRTY THE NEXT MORNING! The kid must be going through a growth spurt or something!

Saturday Chris had a first aid course to attend. I suited up the boys in the morning and we headed to Tim Horton's. I fulfilled my French vanilla craving and got the boys blueberry muffins and a French vanilla each too. We came home and they devoured their muffins (the tops at least) and Cooper was the sole Roll-Up-The-Rim-To-Win winner; he won a donut! We had leftover pasta Cindy brought over. It was awesome. Bonus that I didn't have to cook, too! After supper we went to Cindy's for a visit. We hung out for awhile with their family and came home around nine or so. The boys went to sleep shortly after. So did I. Edited to add: On the way home from Cindy's house, I swear we saw a UFO...Chris of course mocked me but there was an unusual low-flying object that was standing still in the sky that began moving very slowly...call me crazy? Maybe we've been watching E.T. too many times? Hmmmmm.

Sunday Chris had the second half of his course to go to. He was done by about lunchtime and went out fishing. I was a bit messed up with the time change. Some things change themselves such as the computer and the cable box. Anything else of course had to be changed manually. Fortunately Chris woke up before he needed to, since we'd gone to bed so early and forgot all about daylight savings time!

Sunday evening held an even earlier bedtime for us all. We were watching E.T. in the boys' room and Chris zonked out in there. I came back out to the living room to do a bit more printing and soon the boys joined me, since Chris was snoring loudly enough to interfere with their movie-watching. We left Chris in there contorted into Carter's bed and the boys came and crashed on my bed with me. Surprisingly they settled very quickly and I was able to go to sleep early again!

Today was a lightning-fast workday. Diane was in again and there were five of us that went out for lunch. I had my current favourite of chicken fingers with honey mustard sauce and a Greek salad. Not sure if I've mentioned before how much I hate all condiments, particularly mustard and any variation of it. But this honey mustard sauce ROCKS. It was an especially relaxing lunch since I didn't have to run off and take Carter to school (Three Cheers for March Break!) The afternoon flew by much like the morning did. Next thing I knew it was already time to pick up the boys.

Still feeling like I'd just eaten lunch because the afternoon went by so fast, I picked up Happy Meals for the boys and headed home. Chris had spent the day at home so he was here when we arrived. I've got some more printing to do this evening so I'm hoping to stay awake for a few more hours!

Spouting Foliage - EDITED!!!

Sorry but I was just trying to find a nice way to say I'm still honkin' out green stuff. Ugh. I feel fine but my head is still congested. I had a great day at work today though.

(Aside from my arrival when I went to plug in the Jeep and my dear sweet husband had put the block heater cord under the hood AGAIN!!!) Dude...it's still WINTER. He's done this a few times already and we have plenty of winter left. It's not like I CAN'T get the cord out myself, but it's damn cold out and I parked too close to the snowbank to get in front of the Jeep (in my shoes) and retrieve it. I was ticked!!!) Rant over...now back to your regularly-scheduled blog reading...

Anyhoo, at lunchtime I did some grocery shopping before I took Carter to school. When I got back to work I discovered I'd left my cell phone sitting on the desk and I'd missed a call from Mom to invite me out to lunch. Sorry I missed the call, but I did get some much-needed shopping done.

Edited to add: (for your amusement) When I returned to the office from lunch, I fished the block heater cord out from under the hood and plugged in the Jeep... Later in the afternoon I needed to run a work errand. I hopped in the Jeep and backed away from the building, only remembering I'd plugged it in AFTER the cord was pulled from the outlet. Thankfully I didn't break anything. I got out of the Jeep and yanked the cord out from under the Jeep. It was sort of stuck under the tire so I yanked and pulled for a second, feeling quite sheepish. I unplugged it from the Jeep end of things and got in the Jeep. I returned from the errand and my dear sweet Kelly, whose office window faces the parking area had enjoyed a big laugh at my expense, watching all my embarrassing antics!!!

I picked up Carter from school and brought him to the office for a little while. He loves to go there and plays so nicely and quietly by himself. Now if Cooper were there too? That would be another story! Now I don't mean Cooper's bad, but trying to occupy two of them and not have them fighting or running around would be a bigger challenge. It would have to be one or the other, but not both.

After work, Carter and I went to pick up Cooper and we popped by to visit Mom and Dad. Mom had just made some homemade tapioca pudding. I swear I was just looking at the tapioca on the grocery store shelf today trying to remember the last time I had some. After we visited for awhile we came home. I brought in all the grocery stuffs. Chris stayed at work to fix the heater on his truck.

This evening I helped my friend Kat get her blog going again. I've been challenging people at NDISB to blog (since I am a confessed rabid blogger!) and Ms. Kat hadn't blogged since 2006. I redid the template and included a cool header and background. We were chatting on Hello and once I finally gave her the okay to go look, she loved it! Click HERE to see Mummakat's newfangled blog!

Well I'm glad I managed to stay up a couple hours later than I did last night but I'm starting to fade again! I might be able to keep my eyes open long enough to squeeze in a sudoku puzzle!

My Fair Share of Winks

Well, that was plenty more than forty winks I slept last night. I think (or dreamed?) that I heard Cooper around his usual time of three a.m. but things quieted down immediately and I was back to sleep in no time. I remember Chris getting up and I think I heard the door shut on his way out. I pressed snooze a couple more times and got out of bed by six-thirty.

I'm still very congested in the face but I'm well-rested at least! And ready to face the day...

Losing Steam

I'm going to bed...before nine o'clock.
One of these two things will happen
1) I will sleep like a baby all night
2) I will sleep until somebody wakes me and wants something
3) I will get up in a couple hours and finish what I started on the computer.
Yes, I see that became three things. That's just how tired I am.

What a Snotface!

Me. What a snotface. My nose will not stop running. Apparently somewhere along the way during our trip to the clinic on Friday and our three-hour visit to the emergency room on Saturday, I seem to have caught whatever ick that some or all of the sickos in the waiting rooms had. Ick. Plenty of sneezing and nose-blowing.

Sunday night I did end up doing laundry so I'd have something to wear this week. But there are quite a few things I don't like to put in the dryer so I draped them all over the dining room chairs and various other furniture anywhere near the furnace vents.

Yesterday was a brutal, stereotypical Monday. Busy day! In the evening we had a work meeting for our union, then I rented a movie, Feast of Love. There was nothing else I wanted to see, and I was on the lookout for a chick flick. While I was at the video store, (no, the movie nazi was actually NOT there!) I found a bin of old VHS movies that were on sale for two bucks each. Plus they were buy two, get two free. So I grabbed four for four bucks! I chose E.T. (my favourite childhood movie...I had an E.T. doll that I adored), Jumanji, Air Bud, and Balto. Carter seemed most interested in E.T. so I put it on his room and we started watching Feast of Love. (Greg Kinnear, Morgan Freeman). It was okayyyy but definitely a 'B' movie. Not a bad story but plenty of gratuitous nudity. Speaking of 'B' movies, Bee Movie is coming out next week. I predict that will be our next chain-watching (similar in principle to chain smoking except less deadly) movie that we get. I'll probably buy it.

Today was another nutso day at the office. I can't seem to find the surface of my desk again these days. I vow to tomorrow to get there. I brought Chris lunch today before taking Carter to school. He was so excited to wear his new TMNT shirt and new running shoes today. After work I picked up the boys and Carter was tired and cranky. He's been falling asleep before supper and then staying up too late so he's a zombie by the time he's done school.

We came home and we did the medicine wrestling portion of the evening. Carter takes some psyching up, but he does it himself, knowing he gets a drink of pop after. With Cooper I'm still fish-hooking him and it's working. My favourite part is the icky-face Carter makes and he gets this twitchy-shiver after. Yes, I find it funny, and yes, I know I'm mean.

I started making spaghetti for supper and I wanted to go out to Cindy's to bring Bob a birthday card but they were going to be out for the evening. I called Mom and Dad to see if we could go visit and they hadn't had supper yet so they zoomed over and had spaghetti and garlic bread with us and the boys. We hung out and visited for awhile then Mom and Dad went home. I hung out online at NDISB and got some scrapping inspiration in the gallery there. I should be back up and scrapping in no time.

Oh and I signed Carter up for youth soccer yesterday! My kid's first sporting event! I sure hope he enjoys it! Well, I'm off to bed, but I might so searching the cupboard for some sort of decongestant so I don't wake up in the morning with a sandpaper tongue from having to breathe through my mouth all night!

Ninety-four Cents!!!

This morning, quite oddly, I got up before anyone else. I could hear the boys but they weren't after me yet. Shortly after arising, I put on my running shoes and started puttering. The kitchen was my target zone today. Unfortunately I did a lot of unnoticeable stuff. Stuff inside cupboards. I made room for all the cans and faced them all label-side-out and grouped them by category. Obsess much? Yes. When I do it, I do it well. I cleaned out the plate/cups shelf. There was quite an assortment of crap up there with the dishes including a mittful of coins, candy, pieces of various sippy-cup lids and medicine droppers. I chucked a lot of junk.

I swept and mopped the floor (twice) and moved the dining table back into the dining room area. I liked it where it was, but it's always nice for a change. I moved all the kids' crap out of the dining room (i.e. little picnic table and easel). Carter was willing to help so I gave him his very own Clorox wipe and got him to wipe down the dining chairs. He didn't get very far but at least he offered to help! (And I sure didn't want to discourage that!)

I emptied and filled and ran the dishwasher and at some point I had a very startling realization that I had totally forgotten Carter had a birthday party to go to today! Eeeeeeeeeeeek! The party was in twenty minutes. I got Carter into his swimsuit and with a track suit over top. Coat and hat on, grabbed towels, out the door we went. Ran to Wal-Mart to pick up a card and a gift card (I'd have loved to buy a cute pink girly gift but there was no time to wade through all the Polly Pockets and Doras and Princess Barbies!!!) So I quickly settled for a princess gift card so she can buy whatever she wants. We actually made it to the party only about seven minutes late.

Carter really didn't want to go swimming at first. He HATES getting water in his face. But once he saw all the kids having fun, he opted to try out the hot tub first. (Or the Gramma pool as Jill's Carter says!) He was very tentative, but liked the warm water. By this time I was wishing I were more prepared and shaven and had my swimsuit! Thankfully there were a couple other parents swimming and one of them helped Carter and even lent him a lifejacket afterward. He was even getting used to paddling around a little by the time the swim portion of the party was over.

The party moved from the swimming area to the hotel meeting room, which was festively decorated like a fiesta! I took plenty of pictures, but since I have no permission to share anyone else's, I'll just show the ones of Carter. He had a great time and was VERY well-behaved! I can't wait 'til the next time there's a birthday party! I already have some big ideas for his party, coming up in just a couple months! Yikes my baby's gonna be five soon too!
After the party I did a quick Timmy's run (it was way too swamped there before the party). I brought Chris a coffee and got myself a French vanilla cappuccino. I came home and Chris got ready to go fishing. The weather was crrrrrrapppy today. Freezing rain, snow, blowing snow, cold wind. Ick. Silly man. At least he brought home a couple fish! And hey, he helped cook supper! He barbecued a couple chicken burgers and they were gooooooood! I've so missed barbecued food; makes me really crave summer!

After Chris left for fishing, I gave the boys their next dose of antibiotics. Carter remembered the bitter taste and wasn't thrilled about having it until I bribed him. I think I've mastered the fishhook-finger-in-the-lip trick with Cooper. Boy he gets MAD! Mission accomplished!

Just before we ate I wanted to run to the store to get some chips or something to go with the chicken burgers. It was just past six o'clock, I drove to Safeway and it was closed. Shopper's Drug Mart (which says on their sign OPEN UNTIL TEN) was closed. Grrr. I didn't feel like going to 7-11 so I ventured to Extra Foods. Thank God it was still open! One of the other moms at the birthday party was telling me about some deals she got there. On my way to the chip aisle, I grabbed a pair of TMNT (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles) runners for Carter, a shirt for Carter and one for Cooper, and two pairs of Spiderman pajamas. Seriously, I could NOT resist. Each item was either ninety-four cents or a dollar and ninety-four cents.

Seriously saved me a ton of money. I might go back for one more pair of running shoes. The regular price on them is eighteen bucks! I did eventually remember to buy chips and I hurried home. The boys took a few bites and Cooper was being a little monster at the table. I actually let them both have a little bit of Coke to drink with supper. Carter does his best to belch (and adds a so-insincere 'excuuuuse meeeeee' after), and Cooper was either spitting out chewed food or throwing chips and food on the floor. Yeah, the floor that I actually swept and mopped today!

After supper they were psyched about putting on their new pajamas and cavorted around like crazy animals until Cooper crashed into Chris's computer chair with his face. That slowed him down for about ohhhhhh I'd say half a minute and he was off and running again. His next wipeout he bonked the top of his head on the bottom of the TV stand when he zoomed his little trike into the wall. Crazy!

Carter fell asleep first, as usual, and Cooper wound down a little more slowly. His latest trick is one he learned from Carter. He lies down beside me on the couch and says, ''Rub my feeeeeeet." Now I've created TWO monsters. But hey if it helps them sleep, I'm all for it.

I actually did a scrapbooking page today, but it's of the birthday party (to give to the birthday girl) with pictures I took at the party. It turned out pretty cute. Maybe I'll ask the parents if I can post it. Considering it's the only thing I've scrapped in AGES.

Well, I'd better check if I have any clean clothes to wear to work tomorrow. My cleaning binge was cut short so obviously I never got to any laundry! But as long as I wash a couple pairs of black pants and some shirts I'm good for a few days.

The First Dose is the Meanest

(Angie, only for you...pretend it's a song. I know you know what I'm thinkin'.)

Well, I left Cooper snoozing on the couch and Chris on the other couch and went to bed at about nine-thirty. In what seemed like five seconds later, (I think I might have slept twenty minutes) Chris woke me up to ask me to give Cooper some Tylenol since he was all warmed up again. I said he couldn't have another thing until I got that first dose of antibiotics in him.

Chris was all set to give him a cup of warm milk, so I went in with the syringe (and some paper towels). Oh and Chris bolted for the door so he wouldn't have to witness the ordeal. He refused to help force the meds.

This time, I held him tight, much like I have to to give him Tylenol, and kind of fish-hooked his lip with my finger. I put the syringe along the side of his cheek and squirted a little bit in there. He was some pissed off at me but he did swallow it, presumably since it was already that far back in his mouth. I squirted in a little more that he tried to spit out, and we lost a couple drops that way. I managed to get the rest in like the first squirt. Poor guy. I immediately gave him the warm milk. Now THAT was a big hit!

There was still the issue of the fever, so when he asked for more milk, I loaded up another syringe with Tylenol and went back. He was much more receptive (though apprehensive at first) to the Tylenol, and he took it like a champ. He had some more milk and cuddled me until he started to fall asleep again. He got squirmy and wanted to take a bath. So I let him have a nice warm bubble bath and managed to rinse all the sticky medicine from the first try out of his hair. I got him in his jammies and now he's tucked in bed.

I haven't gone back to bed yet; seems every time my head hits the pillow these days someone is coming after me for something or at the very least whining and crying and waking me up. ::Sigh:: I'm fully expecting Carter to get up for a couple hours since he went to sleep so early this evening. I just printed a couple sudoku puzzles so I'm going to try to go to bed.

The Afternoon Killer

Yesterday was a BUSY day at work. Cooper's doctor appointment was uneventful; looks like we just have to avoid dairy for him. That'll be a challenge. I took both kids and the doctor had a peek in Cooper's ears and nose and throat, and in Carter's ears too so he wouldn't feel left out. The boys sat so patiently waiting over an hour before going in to see the doctor.

I took them back to the sitter and went back to work. Kelly and I went out for a quick lunch with her friend Shawna. I had my recent favourite; chicken fingers with honey mustard sauce and a Greek salad. I am a total mustard HATER but at this place, the honey mustard sauce does not resemble mustard aside from the fact that it is yellow. And it's odd to me that I like feta cheese; Greek salad is one of my favourite things now (except for the green peppers). I ate and ran to pick up Carter to take him to school.

The afternoon was busy too; I was covering a lot of stuff as well as answering the phone a squillion times and finishing up month-end. After work I picked up the boys and Kelly came with us to the pharmacy so I could get some 'Lacteeze' pills for Cooper, hoping it will help with his lactose issue.

Chris's Dad brought over some pizza and we had supper; first opportunity to try the enzyme pills for Cooper. He ended up having a very rough night. Now I'm not sure if it had to do with the pizza (even though he had one of the pills) or from the ear infection and fever. Both boys were up on a regular basis through the night.

They dozed off an on this morning too, and by the time Chris was home from work at noon, I got them ready to go to the hospital, since Carter started screeching about a sore ear. We went to the hospital around one o'clock. We were seen by the triage nurse quickly, then we waited. And we waited. Then we were eventually taken into an exam room and we waited a bit more. The young doctor was nice and examined both boys, immediately determining that each has an ear infection. Carter's left and Cooper's right. He didn't get a very good peek into Cooper's mouth but since he was already going to be prescribed antibiotics he didn't bother using the tongue depressor.

We packed them up and headed for Wal-Mart to get their prescriptions and some groceries, including more Tylenol and Motrin. We left Wal-Mart at five-thirty. Talk about a long afternoon! We stopped at McDonald's drive-thru on the way home. Both boys requested McNugget Happy Meals. When we got home I drew up the new medicine and Carter took his all by himself.

Cooper, on the other hand is at the lovely stage of spitting out the medicine. I sort of don't blame him; he's had plenty of medicine this week and this antibiotic tastes very bitter. I tried to squirt the (less than a teaspoon) in his mouth all at once, and he just let it ooze out all down his face, neck and even into his ear. Ick. Then his mouth was watering like crazy and he kept spitting since he had such a bad taste in his mouth.

Poor kid. I tried again, this time trying just a little bit but the same thing happened. I'm not sure what I'm going to do yet; I just don't remember what I did with Carter when he started doing that. Carter has been on antibiotics many times and he did this too a few years ago. If I can't get any in him by tomorrow I'll have to call the doctor or pharmacist to ask for another option. Cooper fell asleep and is beside me on the couch. Carter fell asleep at about six-thirty. And I think I'm going to have a pretty early night myself, until these kids get up and start yelling at me. Wish me luck!