Casa de los Iguanas Gordos

Christmas is a time for reflection...

2010-12-23T19:55:00.007-05:00

Today I took the kids to my Mommoms grave site. This is something that I've neglected to do since her death in 2005, but to neglect is not the same as to forget. I've never forgotten.

My Grandmother, as I knew her in her mid-life to elderly years, always lived in the same house on Mayfield Avenue. The yard boasts three huge holly trees. Every year during the holidays she would ask me and my sister to "go out and clip some holly for Daddy Cook." We knew what she meant, because we did it year after year. I suppose that when she first instructed us to do this, after my Grandfather died in 1981, we probably had no idea why we were clipping holly for Daddy Cook. But years later as we evolved into teenagers, we knew exactly why. Mommoms made it an annual tradition to visit Daddy Cook's grave and place holly from their home in the heavy metal vase insert. Every year we took a bottle of water, holly clippings, and paper towels-- just in case there were maintenance issues and the headstone needed cleaning.

I woke up this morning with a keen awareness that Mommoms would want holly on the grave site for Christmas. I announced to the children that "we need to clip holly for Mommoms." Just as I responded when I was a child, my children too responded, "o.k." Do they understand fully where we're going? Why it's important? And how this has been a tradition for nearly three decades now? No. But one day, when they have children of their own, they'll feel this sentiment just as I am now.

As fate would have it, my Mother now lives in Mommoms old home. We were able to hop in the car and drive a short two blocks to the Mayfield house to clip holly from the same tree that my sister and I clipped from when we were children. I specifically sought out the branches with many bright red berries, because Mommoms would have liked that.

We headed over to the gravesite. Upon entry into the long winding driveway I felt shame. I wasn't exactly certain where the Cook plot was. After all, I hadn't been there since she died in 2005. How could I let the years pass and not clip the holly? Thankfully my sister and mother filled in the gaps during the years since 2005, but I should have been there too.

It didn't take long to get my bearings. I remembered that the site was along the trees, near the road frontage, but not too near. We strolled briefly looking for the "Cook" headstone. The kids began to complain about it being cold. I thought to myself, it's always cold in a cemetery... but they didn't know that. Ben suggested that we call Grammy to ask where the site is. I scoffed at the idea, I'd only been visiting the site in and out of years since the early 1980's -- of course we would find it.

A short while later we saw "Cook." I struggled with the vase for a bit and was finally able to extract it. I took a stick to clean the mud out from the inside, and then... just as years past... I filled the vase with water and put the holly clippings inside. The tradition was fulfilled... almost.

"There's bird poop on her name" my 7 year old observed. Paper towels. I had forgotten the paper towels. Luckily my dear Grandmother's remains reside under a large pine tree. A pine cone makes an excellent scrub brush... and fallen leaves act as a wonderful buffer. After a few strokes and splashes of water the headstone was clean.

We stood there for a minute contemplating what Mommoms meant to us. I felt peaceful at the reflection of how much I loved her and "knew" her, even though I was only able to see her life as a Grandmother. She lived so many chapters that I never knew, her childhood, her teenage years, her newlywed years, her mothering years. I wish I had known her life more. Even without knowing all of her life's chapters, I knew the person that she had evolved to be. She was my Mommoms, and to me she was simply the best.

Tradition is important, even if it's not always a joyful one. Our trip to the cemetery this morning had a pinch of sadness and want, but mostly I felt a sense of doing what my Mommoms would want me to do. I was happy to please her. I also made a mental note to count the trees, next year I'll know to park right next to tree no. 8. Ben was right, it was cold, and I could do without the searching stroll.

October's Lesson

2010-10-22T17:00:00.002-04:00

Toddlers and Tonsillectomies do not go together like peas and carrots. I'm not sure that I buy into the it's-easier-for-young-kids mantra. I think that adults tell each other this as a means to console themselves for putting their children through such a painful procedure. I also think that we, as parents, fail to realize that it isn't the process that is easier on children, it's merely a child's inability to communicate the level of pain... which ultimately skews our perception. An adult could surely tell you exactly how it feels, but a toddler can only whimper, cry and whine.

From day 1 of Georgie's surgery it took a solid 11 days to recover. Days 1 and 2 were very difficult, with hourly bouts of sobbing mixed in with dozing off (thanks to the meds). Days 3, 4 and 5'ish seemed like progress. She was a bit more lively, I cut back to regular tylenol versus the hydrocodone meds, and she was drinking her fluids on a predictable schedule. Days 6, 7 and 8 were the WORST. I had read about this being a difficult impasse given that the scabs fall off during this time, and everything I read was spot on. Her fluid intake dropped, her overall disposition spiraled, and I was doling out the hydrocodone like a methadone clinic.

As is often the case, there was sun after the storm. By day 11 Georgie seemed fully recovered. She was back to her normal self, and off of all pain medication. Her sleep apnea issues seem to be completely gone. I haven't detected her snoring or gasping during the night at all. Prior to the surgery this was a nightly occurrence, sometimes several times per night.

We head back to the Doc's on Nov. 11th and then we'll learn the details of her next surgery and op date. Until then, it's good to see her bossing the Barbies around again and frolicking in the yard with the hens.

Inspired

2010-10-11T14:21:00.008-04:00

I've been inspired to blog again thanks to my daughter's unfortunate speech problems. GG has Velopharyngeal Insufficiency, also known as VPI or VPD. It's a condition that greatly affects her speech intelligibility. She cannot produce any pressure-consonant sounds (i.e. "d" "f" "g" "h", etc.) She gets by on vowel sounds and a few nasal consonants (such as "m" and "n").

Despite working with the fine folks at Johns Hopkins Dept. of Otolaryngology I continue to be frustrated by the lack of information online regarding VPI, and specifically post-operative before and after audio demonstrative results of corrective surgery. For those of you familiar with this dysfunction, I should make it clear that GG does not have a cleft palate nor does she have any underlying genetic conditions. If anyone has any experience with surgeries related to VPI correction, like velopharyngeal sphincteroplasty or sphincter pharyngoplasty, I would love to know more about your first hand account.

My daughter is currently recovering from a tonsillectomy and partial adnoidectomy --procedures that weren't entirely needed based on the the function and/or obstruction of the parts themselves. Nevertheless, we were advised to have this procedure done as a precursor to upcoming surgeries to correct the VPI.

I've attached a video which demonstrates her current speech trends. She started counting to 10, then backwards, and then up to 20 :)

Indoor Entertainment

2010-02-13T13:12:00.005-05:00

With a week of epic snowfall we've been entertaining ourselves in many new ways.

Onto November

2009-11-24T09:28:00.005-05:00

Jim at the Kaaterskill Falls precipice

View of the falls from our off-trail hike

Me at the rocky creek just before the falls

North South Lake

November has been a real mixed bag for us. We continue to get over the flu and Its lingering ailments. I had a cough that just wouldn't stop, after 4 weeks of that nonsense I was prescribed an antibiotic and now it has finally gone away. Jim developed pneumonia after his bout with the flu, and now he's finally getting over that. Georgie and Ben continue to have some coughing issues as well, but theirs seems mostly controlled with zyrtec and Mommy kisses. I hope all of this flu nonsense that we've battled since early October clears us for a healthy winter ahead.

Onto better news, I had a wonderful birthday weekend in Washington D.C. earlier this month. Jim had a slew of Hilton Honors points that we happily redeemed for a free night in Old Town Alexandria. Washington is such an "everything" city, for little kids and big kids. We spent the first day of our trip riding the train all around town -- which is an adventure in and of itself for Ben and Georgie. Georgie squealed with joy every time a train rolled up to the platform, it was quite cute. We went to the Air & Space museum, strolled the gardens, and ended the day at the Old Ebbit Grill, which turned out to be the perfect dining destination for our family with young children. The evening and following morning was mostly spent at the hotel's indoor pool, the kids were in their glory. Georgie literally threw a tantrum the two times that we left the pool, I'd never seen her behave like that. Both of the kids are truly water babies.

Two weeks later (and without kids) we kept the trip train rolling by heading to the Hunter Mountain area of the Catskills for our ten year anniversary. This destination is keeping in theme ("The Great Outdoors") with our past anniversary celebrations -- which have included the Grand Canyon, the Shenandoah Valley, Catalina Island, and Yosemite. Our mission on this trip, other than to catch up on much needed sleep, was to hike the Upper and Lower Kaaterskill Falls. We're not particularly athletic, but we do enjoy a challenge. The Upper Falls hike was a breeze. In fact, we decided to challenge ourselves by hiking off the trail and around the gorge for bit. Luckily the forest here, unlike Shenandoah Valley, didn't have much underbrush, which made traipsing through the woods much easier. We would toil through the trees a bit, and then find an outcropping along the gorge to view the Falls from. We did this for nearly an hour when I started to feel like we might be lost. Jim cooly explained that it's impossible to get lost when we have the gorge and waterfall to guide us. I knew he was right, but there is still something eerie and about being alone in the woods. We decided to head upward, away from the gorge, and much to my relief I saw a clearing ahead of us. We headed to the clearing and were pleased to see that it was actually the parking lot -- we had hiked a wide semi-circle back to our starting point. Perfect.

The lower falls hike was much rockier and steeper. Ben could have probably hiked it, but we would have worried about him slipping on the rocks the whole time. What a magnificent prize at the end though -- the falls were just beautiful. The area seemed relatively untouched, compared to much of Yosemite. There weren't any trash cans, rails, or platforms at the falls, it all felt very natural.

We also walked the path around North South Lake during our trip. This is a man made mountain top lake. In the summer it is the site of a campground and beach area. The kids would just love it here. Each camp site is large, with a stone fireplace and grill, either lake front or creek front.

We really enjoyed our trip to the mountains, and we came back feeling rejuvenated and well-rested.

As November winds down there isn't much else to report. Thanksgiving will be spent at Grandma and Grandpa's this year, they live a stone's throw away in Northern Virginia. I'm sure it will be a gobblin' good time :)

October Happenings

2009-11-09T20:19:00.004-05:00

October was a busy month for us. We all had to be sidelined with the flu, which was no fun at all... and which we all continue to struggle with even into November. I also helped chaperon/plan Ben's 1st grade class Halloween party. I must admit, this was great fun. I came up with two games, the "cupcake walk" and "pin the nose on the jack-o-lantern." I scored loot from the local dollar store for prizes, and made a few huge cut-outs... add glitter pens and duct tape and VOILA party! The kids seemed to have a great time, and it truly was a breeze to pull off.

The real challenge came with the neighborhood's "Haunted Playground." It became slightly more elaborate than my initial vision (probably because Jim got involved and more or less took the point.) By the time it was all over our local playground had blacklight tunnels, skeleton children on swings, a disco ball and DJ bubble area, flying spiders and bats, and much much more. Jim headed out to set up the playground at 9 am on Halloween morn. I don't think he left the playground until 9pm. It was so much work -- but on the upside, the neighborhood raved about it.

We gave away over 1000 pieces of candy on Halloween. Ben thoroughly enjoyed his stint as Darth Vader, and if Georgie hadn't fallen asleep at Grammy's she would have been Princess Leia. Oh well, I think the costume will fit her next year.

November isn't shaping up to be any less hectic. It's a month full of family birthdays, our ten year anniversary (can you believe?!?!), Thanksgiving, and much more. The good times keep rolling -- if only the Sandman would keep up... we're feeling sleep deprived these days.

I'm an award winning poet!

2009-10-27T17:47:00.005-04:00

.... or at least I wrote a poem that won an award.

I won our local neighborhood poetry contest! The poem is posted below. Hey, the poem might be cheesy but the $50 certificate to a nice neighborhood restaurant is not :)

The Grind

Bean beginning
Grind, spin, soften, separate
Scoop, sprinkle, saturate
Brew, steam, drip

Stainless crib

Fill, steam, warmth

Carton, cold, milky-white
Pour, blend, rise
Stir, sweeten, cool
Sip, swallow, sigh

It Continues...

2009-10-23T07:45:00.005-04:00

The flu continues to take our house by storm. I'm trying my best to manage the symptoms and read the kids' body language. Ben is on Day 7 now. He continues to have a roaring, sometimes uncontrollable, cough, but otherwise he seems better. He is no longer lethargic and he is eating a little here and there.

Georgie is coughing, watery-eyed, and slightly lethargic. She started Tamiflu yesterday in an effort to head off the inevitability that she will catch the bug from Ben. I really hope it works.

Given the media coverage of H1N1 I've obviously questioned whether or not that is what Ben has. I asked our Pediatrician about testing and he said that it really wasn't necessary unless Ben had to be hospitalized. He said that at the hospitals he has privileges at most flu cases are H1N1. My guess is that this is what Ben has.

Ben has had seasonal flu before, and this is different in a few ways. This virus seems to have a way of easing for a window of time, and then coming back worse than before. There have been a few times over the past week where I've thought oh, he's getting better; and four hours later I'm questioning whether or not to take him to the hospital.

In addition to the trips to the Doctor's office, I've also called my Pediatrician on his cell phone twice throughout this bout with pig flu. Each time he stressed that home care is best, if the symptoms can be controlled and if Ben is otherwise responsive. I agree, and I certainly wasn't eager to take him to a sick tent at the hospital. I ended up converting our kitchen pass-thru window to a medical station with all of my Mom Nurse needs.

Here are the items in my flu survival kit:

Children's Motrin

Children's Tylenol

Cheratussin AC (script, for the coughing)

Albuterol

Stethoscope

Thermometer

Cough Drops

Multi-Vitamin

Medicine Time/Dosage chart

Motrin is definitely my fever reducer of choice, but when I had to break a persistent high fever I use Tylenol as the alt medicine every two hours. Having Albuterol on hand is important in my world view. Ben had a prescription for seasonal allergy/asthma issues, and I've found that it comes in handy during respiratory illness too. A hit off of the Albuterol can really ease a coughing fit, use sparingly though. We've had a stethoscope in the house for a long time. We primarily bought it for Jim's blood pressure issues, but I've learned that it's good to know the sound of your child's lungs too. Luckily I know what their healthy lung sounds are, so it's easier for me to tell if something sounds off. Ben has had pneumonia three times before, so I try to be vigilant by observing his chest noises for congestion. Invest in a good thermometer. There's nothing worse than feeling a hot head and having the temp come up 96.2. I bought a pricey ear thermometer last year which has served me well this week. Ben started to complain that it was hurting his ear, but I think that was just his overall irritability talking. Keeping a medicine/dosage chart is really important too. When you're serving up multiple meds to two kids it can get confusing. One thing that I've learned as a mom in my mid-thirties is that my memory is not what it used to be. Write it down.

Off to do my rounds!

A Ray of Joy in my Week of Gloom

2009-10-22T12:25:00.004-04:00

This has been a really rough week, I'll write more about our battle with probable pig flu later, but here is some exciting news...((((((drumroll)))))))

I'm an award winning poet! kinda

This article below is from our community website. Note: some of this has been paraphrased, my poem is titled "Grind"

Announcing a winner to the Lizette Reese Poetry Contest! The votes are in from our panel. Here are their comments.

1. A Michigan friend who publishes a poetry blog said, “Tuscan Lady” had some interesting imagery but “Grind” was the best of the bunch, very condensed & evocative.

3. I immediately liked “Grind”. I was struck by the spareness of the language & the familiarity of the feelings & experience described.

4. They were taken by the concreteness of “Grind” but spent a lot of time discussing the imagery of “Tuscan Lady”.

5. was impressed by the images in “Tuscan Lady” but was very taken by the condensed language ( almost haiku-like) & the universality of “Grind”.

6. “The Grind” was the my pick.

The “Grind” takes First Prize and wins dinner for two.

Probably the Flu

2009-10-18T16:54:00.006-04:00

The title says it all. I think we've got the flu, although I'm not sure if it's the H1N1 variety or not. Ben started with a gentle cough late last week, and by Saturday morning he had a temperature of 102. Since then he's flip-flopped between fever and chills, vomiting and nausea, sleepiness and crankiness, and lots of cough, cough, coughing. We're about 48 hours into it and I feel that it's relatively controlled. I'm taking his temperature often, and every 4-6 hours it goes up again and we hit the motrin or tylenol again. He's taking cough drops to control the coughing, and he's watching way more Spongebob Squarepants than I would ever normally allow.

He seemed to need a pick-me-up so I broke out my facepainting kit and drew this peacock on his face. He loves peacocks. Ever since we saw them at the San Diego zoo, where they free roam, he's been enamored with the beautiful bird.

I hope that we can make it through this virus without getting Georgie sick. She's fine so far, and she recently recovered from a minor cold herself. Jim and I are doing our best at keeping them in separate areas of the house at all times. I've also gone a little crazy with the sanitizing Lysol spray and the Clorox wipes. I really can't stand the smell -- but it's a necessary unpleasantry.

This has pretty much consumed our weekend, and there isn't much else to report. Here are a few sideline notes:

-I'm bummed that the Ravens lost against the Vikings today -- Stover would have made that kick!

-I'm annoyed that Yoplait requires you to mail in your pink yogurt lids in order to contribute to the Komen Breast Cancer research fund. Surely there is a way that they could contribute by simply tracking the amount of yogurt purchased right? I have to spend 40+ cents on a stamp for your 10 cent contribution?? If a competing yogurt advertised that they would donate simply based on you buying their yogurt (and not having to send something in), then I would gladly purchase that yogurt. And yes, I'll still mail the pink lids in.

- Here is another head scratcher, on Friday the specialist hospital called to confirm Georgie's developmental pediatrician eval for next Tuesday. I told her that I would unfortunately have to cancel the appointment while we sort out the insurance coverage -- to which she told me that I'd have to call another number/department in order to cancel. Whaa??? You're calling to confirm yet I can't cancel with you? Silly.

Wigs

2009-10-11T22:18:00.005-04:00

Here is a picture of Georgie, trying on one of my Halloween wigs. I picked up 3 wigs this weekend -- as props for my facepainting stand next week at the neighborhood block party. Georgie looks so precious, as always. She is such a delightful child.

Mish Mesh

2009-10-03T14:06:00.005-04:00

I. Speechless

Georgie has beefed up her speech therapy routine. We still have the in-home therapist every Wednesday, and now we've added a clinical visit at a nearby Children's hospital every Friday. Luckily the clinical visit is covered by insurance, if it weren't, it would cost $312 per session. Can you believe? Absurd. With all of this professional therapy, and her family prompting her to speak non-stop, you'd think that she'd have more than five or six words by now right? Nope. Well, not unless you count animal sounds. She pretty much only says three words unprompted -- they are "uh-oh" "hot" and "yes." The thing is, the way that she says "hot" and "yes" is so distorted that a casual listener would never understand her. An interesting piece of this puzzle is that she failed her middle ear hearing test in both ears. This is the test that measures the flow of air behind the ear drum. An average reading is 1000, her reading was -265 -- she had the exact same reading in both ears. We go for a second hearing test in two weeks and to an ENT specialist in one month.

Despite her expressive speech woes, she is a very jovial, alert, engaged, and intelligent child. She started preschool in early September and just loves it. She goes in all smiles and comes out all smiles. Her preschool teacher told me that "Georgie is just the happiest little student I've ever had." We have noticed that she attempts to communicate more now that preschool has started, and I hope this continues.

II. Adjusted & Determined

Ben is doing well adjusting to his new school. The jump from K to 1st has been a big one. The kids are doing "real work" (his words) and this teacher will not be swayed or charmed by his blue eyes. His school work has been excellent, he usually scores 100% on his papers, every now and then he'll miss an answer, but overall I'm pleasantly surprised at how well he has taken to this style of learning. This school, unlike his former school, does not have a play-based approach. For a kid like Ben, that's a good thing. He thrives on structure, routine, and solid expectations.

Speaking of structure and routine, he's doing well with his Taekwondo also. He may even test for his Orange Belt this month. We practice the forms together at home, and I must say, I'm a quick study. I've even considered signing up for the adult classes... we'll see.

III. Confession

I'm so ashamed of myself, I've managed to gain 10 lbs. since summertime. Early in the summer, as I began training for the fall half-marathon, I began feeling dizzy and short-of-breath during my exercise time. I went to my Doctor about it and ended up getting an echocardiogram. The test revealed that I had an enlarged heart valve. I was told that it wasn't anything "major" but to follow-up with a cardiologist within the next year. So noted. I pretty much stopped exercising during all of this, and despite the fact that I'm not an extreme over-eater, not exercising has really affected my physical being.

I decided to turn this nonsense around this week. I signed up for Weight Watchers again and started exercising regularly. I really felt like I was on a roll (...with getting rid of rolls) when lo' and behold guess who comes galloping down the stairs at the end of school with a tall chocolate cake in his hands? Ben was just thrilled, he won the cake raffle at the school's bake sale. Great. Just when I felt some momentum going, I got sidetracked by mounds of chocolate sugar. Nonetheless, I still feel committed... and I have a few days until my "weigh-in day" to make up for it.

IV. Travel Time

We have some trips coming up that I'm really excited for. First of all, thanks to Jim's Hilton rewards, we'll be staying (for free!) at the Hilton in D.C. for my birthday. I've even opted to take the kids -- amazing! We're planning a fun day of museum tours and sight-seeing, followed by dinner in Old Alexandria. It will be a great way to celebrate with the family.

We're also planning a mountain getaway for our 10 year anniversary. TEN YEARS! I can hardly believe how quickly years fly by... and I imagine this phenomenon only gets more accelerated as I age. We'll be away for three glorious nights -- and forget the nights -- three glorious MORNINGS of waking up on our timeline. It will be so nice. I don't care if we don't do anything but sleep. Ahhh, bliss.

V. Pictures

My camera's battery door is busted, no new pictures until I get it fixed.

Hanging up my housecoat...

2009-09-21T12:43:00.007-04:00

I don't think that I've committed quite the fashion crimes that Mrs. Roper was famous for, but being a stay-at-home Mom has certainly desensitized my perception of acceptable fashions. My modern day housecoat consists of ill-fitting jeans and one of three shirts, two of which are black.

I've become acutely aware of friends and acquaintances that always look "nice". By nice I mean a combination, or all, of the following: a pretty blouse, earrings, ironed pants, hair styled, and shoes that you could wear to church. There's this one woman especially, a single Mom of two, who always looks fantastic. Every time I'm in her company I admire how nicely she "puts herself together" so to speak. Although I will admit it is kind of irritating being in her company because my mind will drift to my personal to-do's: I should have my nails done, I bet my eyebrows look awful, I should at least put some lip gloss on.

I've become very aware of this over the past few months, but I justify my lack of hairstyle and pitiful wardrobe by the fact that I'm a stay-at-home Mom. Life is hectic and hurried, I don't have time for primping.

One day last week I went to Starbucks for my morning java. I was standing in a line of about 10 people, most of them dressed as though they were on their way to work. There was one customer that stood out, but not because she looked nice, she stood out because she was utterly frumpy. She wore pink crocs, what appeared to be pajama pants, and a jersey style faded t-shirt. As I was judging the frump factor of this woman I saw my reflection in the muffin case. Here I was, purple crocs, gray sweat pants, faded black t-shirt, and uncombed hair pulled back in a ponytail. Talk about frumpy! I was the queen of frump in that line! In that moment I decided NO MORE. I took my cappuccino and headed to Kohl's.

I am now on day 5 of frump free living, and it isn't that difficult at all. I've worn a nice blouse every day, earrings, hair combed and curled, heels, and lip gloss. And you know what? I feel worlds better! Off and tweezing!