17 posts tagged “grace”

On Thursday I got a call at work that was really unnerving. Jennifer called and you could tell she was upset. Grace was in the background crying, so I knew something bad had happened. Jennifer told me Grace had burned three of her fingers on the stove and wouldn't stop crying. She told me Grace wouldn't let her do anything to her hand. She wouldn't let her put ice on it, clean it, or anything. She called me wondering what she should do, and I didn't have any idea. She had already called the doctor, and they had pretty much told her to put Grace's hand in some water, but there wasn't much more we could do for her. The burn wasn't too bad, so it was just the pain that was bothering Grace. Jennifer was finally able to get Grace to calm down by giving her a pacifier. It was the same thing we did months ago when she had a procedure to remove a cashew she had inhaled from her lung. Other then that time, she hasn't had a pacifier since she was 1. Occasionally she'll grab Logan's and put it in her mouth, but we always take it from her. She just chews on them anyway. Jennifer said once she got Grace calm and focused on something, she took the pacifier away.

I felt bad for Grace getting hurt, because we had snow on Thursday. Not a lot, but enough that she got excited about it. She saw lots of snow while we were in Michigan, but our schedule while we were there made it all but impossible for her to get to play in it much. Besides, the weather was just WAY to cold up there.

Thursday morning, I went in an picked Grace up and opened her Window to show her the snow. She started screaming, "Snow! Snow!". Then she noticed my car was covered and told me I needed to go clean it off. I went to finish getting ready for work, and when I came back out, Grace was missing. She had put her shoes on and was out on the deck (You see, we used to fuss at her for going outside and told her she had to come in because she didn't have any shoes on. Now she puts on her shoes before she goes outside without us knowing. She's clever, that one.). When I went out on the deck to get her, she looked at me, grinned really big, and started bouncing and giggling in the snow. "I like! I like!" she screamed as only a excited toddler can. It was adorable.

Yesterday was Logan's first birthday. It is hard to believe the kid was born a year ago, but then again it almost is since this year has gone by so quickly. Staying at the hospital with Logan is such a blur, because it went so quickly and smoothly. Grace had difficulty passing her hearing test, had difficulty nursing because of a lump of skin in her mouth that was removed while we were in the hospital, and Jennifer had a much harder recovery. Logan popped out, ate fine, pooped fine, and Jennifer was better overnight. We went home much sooner.

I also recall that Jennifer and I were much more relaxed with Logan. With Grace, Jennifer seemed to have this compulsive thing about keeping Grace in the room with us. With Logan, we didn't have a problem pushing him back to the nursery so we could enjoy our dinner in quiet or get a good nights sleep. We knew we'd get plenty of sleepless nights and screaming at home. Boy did we ever. A year in and he's just now starting to wake up once a night.

The party yesterday was hectic, but fun. We had 12 adults and 6 kids (including ours) in this trailer. It was a little cramped at times, but the kids stayed in other rooms playing for the most part so that helped out. We had this Italian dish that Logan really loves. It is chicken, marinara, and polenta. Most everyone seemed to like it. We knew it was a little bit of a different dish, but we figured that it was only weird in name. The taste is very nice. Basically, it is like eating marinara and chicken on top of a cheese sauce.

Logan got a lot of clothes, because that is what we asked for. With is birthday so close to Christmas, it didn't make much sense to get more toys.

Oh, we also managed to get some games of Wii bowling in during the party and I have big news...I went PRO in bowling!!! Finally. Yep, it only took me a year (good grief). Now if I can maintain it. I woke up early this morning and played a few games. I have my pro status up to about 1,049 for the time being. That should give me some wiggle room.

Tonight we went out to eat to Applebee's for my dad and brother's birthdays (they are pretty close together).  Grace was particularly obnoxious for a good portion of the evening.  I got really frustrated with her because she was throwing EVERYTHING in the floor, including her drink. While my grandmother was taking issue with the fact that I said Grace was being a "monster", my dad overheard and said, "Just wait until she's a teenager,"  to which my 16 year old brother said, "Hey, wait a minute."  It was actually pretty funny, and helped put me in a better mood. 

Grace started behaving once our food got to the table.  That is one reason it is such a pain going out to eat with my whole family.  There are about 12 of us, so it takes forever to get our drinks, food, whatever.  Grace just doesn't have the patience for waiting, and I don't have the patience for Grace when she starts screaming because I won't let her saw her hand off with a steak knife.  I really didn't know what to do with her tonight.  I didn't want to take her to the car, because I was hungry and I think Grace would see that as a victory (she likes being in the car, usually).  At the same time, I couldn't let her keep screaming.  Fortunately, she straightened up and I was able to enjoy my dinner.

As we were leaving the resturaunt, I saw the stragest scene.  There was a very well dressed man and woman sitting at a table.  The guy was decked out in a suit and tie and his wife was in her Sunday best, which really seemed out of place for Applebee's, but that wasn't even the strangest part.  As I walked by, I noticed him eating a nice steak with green beans (or asparagus) and some other side item.  His wife sat staring at him as he ate, with no food in front of her.  I couldn't help but think, "It's not her turn."  I am hoping the poor woman wasn't hungry or was waiting on her food to be brought out.  All I know is she didn't appear to be too happy about the situation, whatever it was.

It has been another few weeks since my last post.  You can get an update of what has been going on over at Jennifer's blog.  She is actually been better about blogging than me lately. 

Everything is getting back to normal around here (knock on wood).  The memory of Grace's hospital stay will stay with us, but continues to feel more and more like a bad dream.  Grace is doing great.  As I tell everyone, she got over it much more quickly than we did. 

With everything going on, my diet and exercise have suffered, but I am pleased to say that it hasn't had the affect I thought it would.  Since my last post, I have lost 5 more pounds but put 2 pounds back on.  I got on the scale the other day and was a little nervous about what I would see, but was happy to see I had only gained a couple of pounds.  With everything going on, we have depended on fast food and carry out to keep us fed, so I was pleased that I hadn't gained more.  I have been managing to make to the gym at least 2-3 times in between the trips to doctors and hospitals, so I am sure that kept me from gaining more.

Anyway, I am actually looking forward to getting back into my routine and enjoying some of Jenny's home cooking.

EDIT -

Also, I may not be commenting much lately, but I am still listening.  I have an RSS Reader setup that shows me the most recent post from my neighborhood.  I use that almost exclusively now to read what is happening in my neighborhood.  Just thought I would let everyone know I am still around.

Today was a pretty rotten day.  It wasn't the worst day, but there wasn’t much fun about it.  Today I was supposed to get off of work around 12pm so we could leave for a college graduation in West Virginia.  I received a phone call around 11am.  It was Jennifer, and she was obviously upset.  She informed me that she had suddenly been hit with horrible back pain.  After a short conversation, we hung up.  I felt awful about the situation, but she wanted to try and manage it.  It was probably less than 10 minutes before she called back and told me I needed to come home.  She said she could barely move and she wasn’t able to pick our son up off of the chair he was lying in.  I left for home as soon as I got off the phone.

When I got home, Jennifer and Grace were huddled around the recliner Logan was lying in.  Jennifer was standing there, unable to pick him up, but positioned in such a way that he couldn’t role off the chair.  It was remarkably calm.  Both Grace and Logan were quiet, though you could tell Grace didn’t know what to think about everything that was happening.  Jennifer had also called my mom and she arrived at our house not long after I got there.  Once my mom was settled in, I got Jennifer to my car and we left for the Emergency Room.  

When we got to the hospital, I helped Jennifer through the ER doors.  I offered to get a wheelchair for her to get into as soon as she got out of my car, but she said she wanted me to stay with her.  When we got inside, she wasn’t shy at all about me grabbing the only wheelchair in site.  It made getting around MUCH easier.

At one point, this elderly lady walked in with an older man I assume was her husband.  Though they both moved a little slowly, they didn’t seem to have much trouble getting around.  The elderly woman was making quite a fuss about there not being a wheelchair around for her husband to use.  When Jennifer heard this, she started to try and get out of her wheelchair so I could give it to them.  Though it may have been a kind gesture, it would have been completely unfair.  Besides, I am sure they eventually got the guy a wheelchair.  I wouldn’t know.  As luck would have it, a nurse called us back while this scene was unfolding, and that quickly put an end to Jennifer trying to get out of the chair.  Although, when I slammed the wheelchair into the narrow doorway on the way into the nurse’s office, she probably wished she had given up the chair.  After we finished talking with the nurse, she made it clear that I wasn’t to push her anymore.

No sense of adventure.  Psst…

When Jennifer was examined by the doctor, she explained that she was sure it wasn’t a bone issue, and that an X-Ray would be a waste of time and money.  It was most likely a muscle/tissue issue such as a slipped disc or pinched nerve.  She mentioned that she was going to give Jennifer a shot to provide immediate relief as well as a prescription to help at home.  In the middle of talking to us, there was this dramatic moment where the intercom started blaring some gibberish and a nurse came up to the doctor and said something to her like, “Code red.”   The doctor looked at us and said, “Excuse Me.”  She ran off and I half expected her to rip off her scrubs to reveal she was, in fact, Wonder Woman.

After 20-30 minutes, a nurse finally showed up to discharge us and had the prescription.  She didn’t seem to know anything about the shot the doctor mentioned.  All she said was, “The percocet will last longer.”  Jennifer wasn’t happy about not getting the shot, so after the nurse left, she told me to ask to speak with the doctor.  Long story made short, the nurse came back in after a few minutes and told us the doctor did want Jennifer to have the shot.  Jennifer was happy about that.

When we got home, my mom took Grace home with her to spend the night so it has just been Jennifer, Logan, and myself at home this evening.  Fortunately, Logan has been a very good boy.  Jennifer slept most of the evening, and her drugs are keeping her pretty drowsy, but she is doing better. 

Clearly, there will not be a trip to West Virginia this weekend.  I’m just thankful this didn’t happen up in West Virginia.  I think the scene would have gone something like this:

Last night we had a major break through on potty training.  When I got home from work, I was determined to get Grace to use the potty.  Up to this point, it has been an extremely trying process.  Grace would sit on her potty until she had to pee.  Once she had to pee, she would get up and start screaming to have a diaper put on.  

To try and get her to stay on her potty, I came up with an idea.  I put on Finding Nemo and told her to sit on her potty.  Whenever she got off of it, I would turn off Nemo and tell her to get back on it if she wanted to keep watching.  This went very smoothly and worked like a charm.  She never whined about getting back on her potty.  She would happily sit back on it and I would turn the movie back on.  After a while, she started to think it was a game, which was what I hoped would happen.

I was thinking if I could get her to stay on her potty and focus on Nemo, she might pee in the potty without thinking about it.  We could then praise her and reward her for peeing in her potty.  So, my goal was just to get her to stay on the potty until she peed.

After she had held her pee for 3 hours (I didn’t even know toddlers could hold it that long), I decided to get her a cup of warm water to put her hand in.  Yes, as rediculous as it sounds, I thought that maybe if she played in the warm water it might make her go.  The problem was she had no interest in playing in it.  She rarely gets to drink from a normal cup, so she was much more interested in drinking the water.  I figured it couldn’t hurt.  It would just make her have to pee worse.  

Not long after she got the cup, she started saying, “Ow.”  She was clenching her legs together and got off her potty and starting whining.  It was obvious the poor child had to pee BAD.  I tried to get her back on her potty, but she wanted nothing to do with it, as usual.  I said, “Let’s go to the big potty.”  So, Grace, still clenching her cup of water, runs with me to the bathroom.  I put her seat on the toilet, sat her on it, and she started to pee.  At first, she whined a little, but it quickly turned to a grin when I praised her for what she was doing.  She was very excited and wiped herself a dozen times before she finally got off and washed her hands. 

We put her in her high chair, gave her a fudge bar, and let her watch her favorite cartoon, Jojo's Circus.  Not long after she finished the fudge bar, she started saying, “Pada.”  That’s her word for potty.  We took her back to the bathroom and she peed again.  She clapped and giggled this time as she peed.  She had finally figured out it was a good thing to pee in the potty.  This time we let her eat some juice treats, but she came back while she was eating them and peed a third time.  We praised her again, and that was the last trip to the “pada” before bedtime.

This morning, Jennifer called and told me Grace had gone again.  Apparently, Jennifer couldn’t get Grace on the potty all morning.  Finally, Jennifer decided she would try giving Grace a cup of water to see what happened.  As soon as Grace got the water, she ran back to the potty, hopped on, and peed.  How cute is that?  I don’t even care that it is a little odd.  She is peeing in the toilet!!!   

Oh, the one other thing we are dealing with now.  She won’t wear her training pants or the panties we bought her.   She seems to want to go commando.  We have some pull-ups and she seems to wear those a little, but we’re concerned she’ll just pee in them.  I told Jennifer not to stress about the underwear thing.  We’ll focus on one thing at a time.  Besides, after months of telling her to keep her clothes on, we’ve shown her it is ok to take them off.  I think she’s just confused.  We have to teach her when it is OK to take of your clothes and when it isn’t, but we are just going to focus on the potty training at the moment.  I don’t want to overwhelm the poor child or jeopardize the progress we made simply because some people would freak out if they knew we let our daughter run around bare bottom.

I actually typed most of this back on Monday, but never got around to posting it.  It is an overview of what went on last week.

I promised a post about last week, so I guess I'd better get started.  First, last weekend Jennifer and I went on a date.  It was great.  I forgot how much fun dates could be.  It wasn't anything extravagant.  We went to TGI Fridays and a movie.  Before and after the movie, we did some shopping.  Mostly we bought clothes for the kids, but we also stopped by a few other places.  I forgot how enjoyable shopping can be when you don't have a two year old constantly demanding food, juice, balloons, or whatever else has caught her eye at the moment.

Over the weekend, my throat started to feel scratchy.  By Sunday night, it was obvious I had a cold.  I decided to go to work on Monday and feel like I spent the whole day just staring at my monitor.  My mind wasn't there, and I wasn't feeling good at all.  After Monday, I decided to take Tuesday off to get better.  Meanwhile, Grace and Jennifer weren't feeling good either.  Grace was VERY grouchy.

On Monday evening, Grace was in bed and we were sitting in the living room watching TV.  Suddenly, we heard a crash and Grace started screaming.  She had gotten out of her crib and landed face first on one of her toys.  The rail to her crib was down, but we're not sure if we left it down or if she managed to shake it to the point it dropped (she can be pretty rough).   Her poor face had several cuts on it.  We brought her out to the living room and she sat in my lap for about a half hour and watched TV.  She's OK now.  She doesn't seem to jump in her bed as much, but other than that, she was unscathed by the event.

Jennifer was kind enough to let me lie in bed and rest for the first half of Tuesday.  I was feeling a bit better around lunch time, so I offered to go pick us up lunch so she wouldn't have to worry about making anything, and the rest of the day I helped out with the kids where I could.

By Tuesday evening I was feeling so much better that I decided to undertake a project I have been meaning to do.  Remove Linux from my computer.  When I first got my new computer, I was on a Linux kick and was convinced I could give up Windows.  The problem I ran into was how much time I had to spend to get things to work.  Simply installing Firefox 2.0 was a chore.  I was spending hours researching and trying to do things that I could do in minutes in Windows.  While a single guy with nothing better to do might have that sort of time on their hands, I don't.  I eventually set Windows as my default operating system, and Linux has been sitting on my hard drive with no use for 9 months or so.

Getting Linux off was the easy part, but my computer wouldn't boot up after I removed it (which was expected).  I tried doing a repair install of Windows XP to fix the problem, which didn't accomplish anything but to screw up my installation of Windows.   I finally got my computer booting again and then the process of fixing my screwed up installation of Windows started.  I had my computer working normally again by the weekend.

So that about explains my week.  From Tuesday on I was pretty much working on my computer when I could, so there wasn't much time for blogging.  Fortunately, everything seems to be back to normal now. 

I just got back from putting Grace in bed.  Jennifer isn't here so its just me, the kids, and the dog.  Jennifer has run out to do our "big" shopping.  That is what we call the shopping trip we make every 3 weeks to Wal-Mart to stock up on food, diapers, and health care products.  Of course, many things don't last the full 3 weeks, but generally we do pretty good about avoiding the store until the next "big" trip.

Grace has been running a fever the last two days.  The funny thing is she isn't really having any other symptoms.  Just the fever.  We'll probably take her to the doctor tomorrow, if she still has it.  Jennifer called them today and they recommended we give it another day before bringing her in.  Anyway, I had her watching Finding Momo Nemo to keep her entertained this evening.  That is her favorite movie.  She'll practically watch the entire thing from beginning to end, and she is only 2.  What can I say?  She loves sish fish.

Yesterday, her birthday present got here.  Only 3 weeks late, I might add.  To be fair, we did get a toy for her on her birthday, but we knew we wanted to get her a bouncy cage for her room, and were still looking at them when her B-day rolled around.  We wound up ordering a bouncy castle from Toys R Us.  She seems to love the thing.  She was bouncing away in it last night and this morning.  The only problem we ran into is she immediately started calling it a bed.

There used to be a bed where the new toy is.  Grace's room has been doubling as our guest room, but we finally got the bed out of there when the castle got here.  So, last night when it was time for bed, Grace went and laid down in her castle.  I knew that wasn't going to work.  It would have been less than a minute before we heard her bouncing in the thing.  So, I picked her up and put her in the real bed.  She was NOT happy.

She even thought this was fun

The Castle

Last night Jennifer and I decided to setup an appointment to go look at a couple of houses with a realtor.  We weren't sure if we're ready to buy a house, but we were ready to explore the option.  We went to look at 2 new constructions that were reasonably priced. It was sort of a gross evening to be out.  It was raining, but fortunately, it wasn't too cold.

Grace loved looking at the houses.  I think she loved the fact that there was no furniture in them at all.  She ran around like only a child can.  She would spin around and shout, "Wow!" and listen to her echo.  It was precious.

There was a bit of an embarrassing moment.  It was more embarrassing for my wife, to be honest.  We were standing there, talking to the realtor, when Grace runs up with no pants on.  The realtor thought it was funny.  We put the pants back on, but they were back off in about 5 minutes.  I decided she wanted her diaper changed.  She left her pants on after that.

When we left the first house, Grace didn't seem to care, but leaving the second house was different.  The poor kid started screaming like she wanted to stay.  I'm sure this thrilled the realtor.  

Anyway, about the house purchase, Jennifer and I spoke on the way home.  I think we have some financial goals we want to meet before we take that plunge, so it will probably be another year or two, but it sure was fun to dream.

I can’t believe it has been 6 days since I blogged something.  It doesn’t seem like it has been that long. 

The reason for my absence is pretty simple: family.  Jennifer, Grace, and Logan have been consuming all my time lately.  I am not complaining though, because that’s how it should be.  God forbid I neglect my family to blog.

Our precious little Logan.  As I’ve mentioned, he is a demanding baby.  He has been requiring one of us hold him almost constantly.  It was a bit better yesterday, but up until then, I’ve been doing my part to hold him when I get home.  Jennifer needs the break so she can get stuff done and eat her dinner without him in her lap.

Grace has been a toddler.  She needs a lot of attention and is coming to terms with the fact that we’re not running a freakin’ Burger King!  She can’t have it her way, at least, not all the time.  Lately her thing has been eating a light dinner and wanting her snacks immediately after she finishes.  Of course, she doesn’t like it when we insist she eat her dinner instead of her favorite crackers.  So, there’s been a lot of whaling and gnashing of teeth over that issue. 

Jennifer hasn’t been taking up a lot of time, but I have to make sure I don’t neglect my time with her.  I don’t know why it is so hard to make time to spend with her.  I always feel guilty when I don’t.  Just seems that when I finally have a few moments of time that I can spend on something of my choice, I get wrapped up in it and suddenly an hour or two has flown by.  That's when the guilt sets in.

So, there hasn’t been a lot of time for blogging.  There hasn’t been a lot of time for much of anything.  My Wii is still packed in a bag from where I took it to my parent’s house this weekend.  Between taking care of our two kids and doing the things that life demands, it feels my whole life is on rails and screaming down tracks at break neck speed lately.