Archive for the ‘it’s all about me’ Category

Disaster!

Sunday, November 14th, 2010

My house is a total disaster from top to bottom.  I think the only clean, not cluttered spot is in the bathtub, and I intend to spend some quality time there as soon as the there is quiet from the upstairs folk. 

I’m sure everyone mom can agree, that it seems you spend hours cleaning and tiding, just for it to be all destroyed in minutes.  It leaves me rather disheartened.  It like you’ve recovered from one storm, only to have to weather another, right away.  Ugh.  Adam teases me because I am addicted to devices which help me organize more stuff.  I love boxes and bins, but alas, they don’t always solve the clutter.  I think I need to take some of those boxes and put stuff in them and get rid of the box.  heh.  My mother in law gently chides me for bringing too much into the house to begin with.  And I can totally see her point, but I feel that the children constantly need more stuff.  I know I should get rid of their clothes as they outgrow them, but we want more children.  I guess until then, I need to come up with a better organizational system. 

Also I should teach Trixie how to do the dishes.  AND laundry!

Hockey Night in… San Jose?

Sunday, November 14th, 2010

It’s so wrong that there is a hockey team here.  Wrong, wrong, wrong.  After all, there are palm trees just outside of the stadium!  Wrong!  I think that if a city can grow palm trees then that team should automatically start the game with a one point deficit if they’re playing a team who’s city needs a snow plow for part of the year.  That sounds fair, right?

Anyhow tonight Adam and I went to the Sharks vs Flames game, and sadly the Flames lost.  People were pretty good natured about having some Flames fans in the arena, but there were some snide comments when we were leaving from Sharks fans.  Kinda sad really, especially since I bet that they’ve never had a pair of skates on their feet, or built a snowman. 

Also during the national anthems, I pondered my loyalties to Canada (will never fade!) and to the US.  I sang the Canadian national anthem loud and proud (and slightly flat, as always), and I stood politelyduring the Star Spangled Banner, listening to the men standing next to me, belting out the anthem, slightly flat.  I wondered when I should start singing.  My children are American, after all.  We own a house in America, we pay taxes here…. It’s a little mind boggling to me.  I never ever expected that I would ever live in the States, let alone have children with American passports.  I’m not saying I am, or have ever been anti American, but I am CANADIAN! (caps intended)  It’s been on my mind a lot lately how I am becoming more Americanized.  Even so much so that I’m starting to feel cold in the ‘winter’ here.  It’s taken over 4 years, but I’m finally getting acclimatized to the Californian winters.  I guess it’s time that I go up to Canada in the winter, to feel some real cold.  Next thing you’ll know I’ll be wearing a wool coat with a toque, scarf and mitts!  In California!    And I’ll call a toque a woolen hat!  (Hmm, no that will never happen.)  I find that I’m getting used to having singles and not loonies, I can talk about the weather in fahrenheit and not be totally confused, I know what 60mph feels like, and it’s totally normal to think about buying gas in gallons and not litres.  I’m still not used to calling it preschool and not playschool, calling it 6th grade and not grade 6 and not having the Queen on my money.  I suspect that if we stay here longer, this will change too.  (And as of right now, we’re not moving home anytime soon, Adam just got a massive raise.)

Finally, when singing the Canadian national anthem, please do not take liberties with it, like so many do with the Star Spangled Banner.  It sounds horrible with the Canadian anthem. 

Go Flames Go!

Time Change. Benefit?

Sunday, November 7th, 2010

So far today the time change has worked in our benefit.

It started raining in the middle of the night while we were camping, and by 6am, it was a full on pour, so we all got up, stowed the children in the cars and quickly deconstructed our campsite.  Then we went for breakfast in Santa Cruz.  The time change benefited us because we were out of the campground by 7:30am.  I expected the restaurant to be closed, or if we were lucky empty, but it was full of people.  Sigh.  The benefit?  They were all families with young children, so we didn’t get any hairy eyeballs from our crazy lot of children. 

Today we all took a nice long nap together, and when we woke up it wasn’t as late as we thought, benefit!

I’m still trying to figure out the last benefit, I’m tired and there’s a lot to be done.  I always ask for more hours in a day though.  So I guess I get one now.  Benefit?

And now benefit is a total nonsensical word to me from having thought it too many time.

benefit.

:)

17 inches!

Thursday, November 4th, 2010

Today while I was working out with Jeff the trainer, the other girls and I were talking about calf sizes and I mentioned that mine were 17 inches.  Jeff, as caring and sensitive as ever pointed out that 17 inches is the size of a big man’s neck.  So with my confidence soaring I continued to do the leg press on a trying level for me, but killer for the other ladies, all the while cursing my 17 inch calves. 

You see I’ve been working my ass off, quite literally to fit smaller jeans.  And sure enough, I’ve been successful, I’ve lost oodles of inches from my waist, hips, chest and arms, but not my calves.  So at this point I think I’m going to own my calves, because despite their enormity, they’re solid.  I’ll wear them with pride.  And it helps to know that there are rain boots out there that I can fit into.  (yay for Target!)

Hormonal Much?

Thursday, August 13th, 2009

Just a leeetle bit perhaps.
In my Internet wandering today a few blogs have rubbed me the wrong way, and I need to tell the whole world about it, yet still be vague.
I read this one person, who is rather negative and it drives me batty. She’s a great writer, but she whines about how horrible her life is, a lot. I should take her off of my favourites, shouldn’t I? (I did take her off of my Facebook friend’s list though.) Anyhow she’s seeing a therapist and was given a diagnosis which she disagrees with, and yet still takes the drugs. It confuses me.
Someone in one of my online groups suggested that Trixie isn’t counting, when she clearly is. (touching something and making and saying the corresponding number? Sounds like counting to me!)
In my real life…
I went to a movie tonight and there was no parking. I cursed a lot at all of the well dressed pedestrians and vowed to never return to the soul sucking place with no parking.

In other news, my pregnancy is going well. Although I shouldn’t be shocked really, I had a perfect pregnancy with Trixie right until the day they induced me. I heard the heartbeat today, confirming that this baby does indeed have a heart and it beats, making noise. YAY. Trixie wasn’t amused by this. She was at this point glowering at me for leaving her in her stroller.

Oh and if you’re a girl and you like food, you should see Julie and Julia. It was really good. I wish the ending was a little sappier, ’cause you know, the hormones and all.

(tiny spoiler)

at one point Julia finds out her sister is having a baby and she loses it a little. I sympathized so hard with her that I nearly sprouted a couple of tears of my own. I’ve been there, trying so hard and everyone else around me seems to get pregnant. It sucks, a lot. There was no poetic licence taken with that scene.

Would be Facebook Updates

Thursday, July 30th, 2009

I had a lot to say today, but I don’t like to update my facebook status too much in one day. I’ll lay them out here instead:
*Trixie signed eat then cheese, I love how she’s stringing signs together. She also says cheese, it sounds like “shchee”.
*I’m really homesick for Canada. I would like to move to Vancouver post haste.
*I’m a socialist.
*Trixie has a killer diaper rash, so we’re diaperless today. She signed potty so I sat her on the toilet, she struggled to get down then peed on the floor. 2X.
*I’m making beets for dinner with a cucumber salad.
*Perinatologist appointment today, looks like a homebirth is off the table, but a VABC isn’t, yet.
*I bought Trixie pre cut watermelon and other melon chunks at Whole Foods, they are so yummy I want to eat them all up myself.
*I need more shoes.

T minus 6 hours

Saturday, November 15th, 2008

Until we board a plane for 13 hours, with a baby.
hmmmm doesn’t Benadryl help babies to sleep?
Heh.

Also on the gall bladder news. I have a surgery date! I’ve suggested we call it the plop and drop date, as in they will plop it out of me and drop it into some receptacle. Hopefully… unless there is too much scar tissue then I will get a big ol’ cut, above the bikini line. Which will ruin any chances I’d ever had to wear a Princess Leia gold bikini and be convincing. Oh well.

The Gall! (bladder)

Thursday, November 13th, 2008

Hey did you notice the post from yesterday, kinda lame, eh? I know that Adam wrote it, from his phone in the ER, and I’m totally not judging his writing. In fact I am so happy he posted, helps with the one a day, ya know. Anyhow there’s totally a story.

Since I’ve had Trixie I’ve had these excruciatingly bad pains in my abdomen and I thought that they were gas pains, so I went with that, gas pains. I took Gas-X like it was candy and complained and moaned that I was going to die, waiting for the pain to pass. At first it did in a couple of hours, and during that time I was still able to function, so it wasn’t much of an issue. But each episode would get worse and worse and finally when I would have “the pain” I would be layed up in bed quietly dying… although I’m sure Adam would say I wasn’t so quiet. (so painful!) Before I went to Canada the last time I had “the pain” again and it lasted 3 days, which also included me being on a plane with Trixie. Lets say I was less than amused. It sucked. I’m not sure how I survived. While in Canada I had “the pain” two more times, for a shorter time, but so much more intense. Anyhow can you see where this is going?
I keep getting gas pains, they are getting worse and worse and more frequent. I don’t see a doctor, eat Gas X like it’s candy and it does nothing. I suffer, Adam gets little sleep.
Then I get the mother of all of the episodes last Saturday night and it’s so painful that I throw up, several times, which wears my throat raw and makes me have bloody puke. On Monday Adam tells me to call the doctor, and she tries to prescribe me antacids. I refuse because I want to know why this is happening, and not just mask it with drugs, because I would like to get pregnant soon and I don’t want to be reliant on scary drugs. My doctor gets exasperated with me and sends me to a allergist who pokes me many times for a skin test which proves I have no allergies (yay I can drink milk again!) I have many blood tests and I am not pregnant, no allergic to wheat and have no issues with any of the organs she tested. (she didn’t test my liver….) Then last night “the pains” start again. So I rush to take an over the counter antacid and a handful of tums all washed down with some strong peppermint tea. I wait. There is still a lot of pain. Adam comes home and finds me crying from the pain (seriously as bad as labour pain, but with no breaks) so I call an advise nurse who tells me to go to the hospital NOW! We pack up the baby and go. We fill out forms, have my blood pressure checked and temperature checked (high- duh!, normal) and we wait. While we wait Trixie makes eyes at everyone she sees and they all coo over her, I try not to bite off the heads of random strangers in a hospital who are touching my baby, and I practice the breathing techniques I learned in my birth class. (they worked!) Finally I am called in and placed in a small room. I am asked a lot of questions, over and over. (why don’t they read each other’s notes?) Finally after a lot of breathing exercises, a couple tears and many doctors and nurses I have more blood drawn and am promised pain killers. The Big Burly Nurse comes in and he prepares an IV, (in my elbow!) and prepares to give me morphine, which I’m allergic to. (seriously, read the notes….) So he bustles off to find some other narcotic to inject me with, and comes back. It goes like this: inject, me freak out because I am immediately dizzy, BBN says it will pass in a minute and to breathe, I have no pain, but still dizzy. (and was until today)
The first doctor who I saw in the hospital comes in again and I can talk normally and not be gasping in pain, she tells me that I have the classic, albeit more intense, symptoms of passing a gall stone. She asks if I’ve ever been checked for gall stones -no. Ever had an abdominal ultrasound (not baby ultrasound) -no. Ever had blood tests to check for gall stones -no. So apparently my regular doctor who wanted to prescribe antacids is an idiot, and this isn’t the first time she’s totally screwed up… not the 2nd either. (new doc search commences when I get back from New Zealand) Anyhow the hospital doc says that she’ll come back with the blood test results. Then BBN comes in and says I need to pee in a cup, which I hate. I do though, and one would guess I am so dehydrated that my pee would be consistency of syrup. (it wasn’t) I later mention this to the doctor and she is convinced it’s my gall bladder since dark urine is a classic symptom. The doctor comes back and tells me that my liver is behaving like the liver of someone who is a heavy drinker, except I don’t drink, so it’s a surefire sign that I have gall bladder issues. I am told that they are keeping me over night and I will get an ultrasound in the morning. If my gall bladder is infected or inflamed they will remove it. Which would mean that I would have to postpone our trip to New Zealand. Adam and Trixie go home since it’s 2 in the morning, Adam was dead tired and Trixie was sleeping on me after having charmed the pants off of everyone until 1 am. I am left alone in the small ER room, listening to the chaos that is an ER. Adam and Trixie come back at 8:30 am, Adam’s eyes are all red and Trixie launches herself at me, in the cute way that she does. (Trixie woke up several times, so Adam didn’t get much sleep.) We sit around and wait and wait and wait. Then I am moved to the part of the ER where they keep people who have to stay over night. “It has a TV!” woo. Finally I am taken for an ultrasound. We come back to my new room. We wait, again, a lot. A new doctor comes in and… wait for it… I have gall stones! My gall bladder isn’t inflamed or infected so I will have to make appointments with surgery and book an appointment to have it removed.
So YAY I get to go to New Zealand on time, but it looks like we might have to postpone trying to get pregnant, and hopefully we won’t have to postpone it so much that I will have to redo the other surgeries I had earlier this summer.
Oh I was also prescribed vicodine… in case “the pain” returns.
So how was your night?

Name Game

Saturday, October 4th, 2008

Deadra is the #3443 most common female first name

0.001% of females in the US are named Deadra.

Around 1225 US females are named Deadra!

source: namestatistics.com

Adam is the #69 most common male first name

0.259% of males in the US are named Adam.

Around 317275 US males are named Adam!

source: namestatistics.com

Beatrix is a very rare female first name

Very few female first names in the US are Beatrix

Be proud of your unique first name!

source: namestatistics.com

C-Sections suck!

Wednesday, August 13th, 2008

Remember this? My famous last words in an attempt to be an optimist were, “Hopefully it isn’t anything serious…”; and so… I should have let my inner pessimist out to play!
Okay it’s not that bad, but I do have to go in for another surgery, this time a little more complicated one involving scissors. Which makes me remember this post; especially this line: “I’m pretty sure security is tight so no scissors were admitted without my approval…”, and now I have to admit some scissors! (And a camera and a little vacuum!) Sounds like a great way to spend an afternoon, doesn’t it?
Okay so why do c-sections suck? The infertility doctor figures that the crazy amounts of scarring I have are related to my c-section! Now please explain to me again why people willingly sign up for these? And, seriously if I hear to avoid tearing I might whip down my pants and show them my ugly c-section scar!

Okay lets talk about my uterus since I’ve told the internets everything else.
A normal uterus is like a triangle standing on it’s point with the wide part at the top. My uterus looks like a heart. The top is rounded out from scar tissue and there is something in the middle making it heart shaped, could be a polyp or just a lot of scarring, the doctor isn’t quite sure at this time. We know that the scarring is related to the c-section and pregnancy because we have images from April 2007 of my uterus and it was a perfect triangle, and now it’s not. The scarring is in a strange place since the slicing and dicing for baby extraction is done at the bottom of the uterus, but apparently it’s still all related.
So it looks like that this is the birth that keeps on giving! (answer me again, why do people sign up for c-sections?*)

*I mean elective c-sections, not emergency ones. I know that I am being a little harsh for judging people for not wanting small tears in their perineum instead opting for a 6 inch gash across their bikini line, but it doesn’t make any sense to me at all.