The Croup, Part II

I had just fallen asleep about 11:00 tonight, when I was awoken by a seal-like barking sound coming from the kids room. I then heard Georgie start to cry. I knew right away, from my experience last year with Abby and the very distinctive cough, that it was croup. When I opened the door to his room, I saw that Georgie was sitting up in bed, but not fully awake. I tried to keep the room dark, and stay quiet myself, in hopes that he would easily fall back to sleep. I sat on the side of his bed and he crawled across to me, resting his head in my lap. We sat like this for a few minutes and I sang to him. And as I stroked his face and ran my fingers through his hair, I savored this quiet moment, when he wanted nothing but to be in my arms. I cherish the dewy-eyed moments with my children when they regress just for a moment, long enough for me to cradle them and reconnect to the days when they were dawning infants. Eventually, he looked up at me and let out a contented sigh, crawled back to his pillow and closed his eyes. I waited until I was sure he was asleep, walked very quietly back to my own room, to my own bed, where I now sit knowing I will hardly sleep tonight, worrying and listening for my little boy.

The "Party"

Today was Georgie's birthday "party." Funds are limited this year, not to mention my built-in disorganizational skills, so instead of having a big hullabaloo with all our family and friends, I called Lisa and asked if she would bring the boys over for a more inelaborate celebration. Today was more about satisfying Abby's appetite to celebrate Georgie's birthday, not because I thought a two year old would even notice that we didn't have a big-to-do. Abby has been questioning me for weeks, "When is Georgie's party? He has to have a party!"

It turned out to be a great day for swimming in the pool, eating hot dogs and cupcakes, and just going nuts. The grown-ups had their own agenda as well. We tried to kick back unwind as much as the two argumentative 4-year-olds, two sprightly 2-year-olds, and the cute little 7-week old freeloader would allow.

related topic: georgie's birthday

the return of the migraine

Well, I was too cocky, too confident that my migraines were a thing of the painful past, but they made an unwelcomed return last night. Possibly, there is an explanation: It started when dainty little Norah pooped so much that it escaped from her diaper. It made it's way up her back, and somehow all the way into her hair?! While cleaning disaster number one, little did I know, my remaining two children were downstairs creating a second disaster. Seventeen juice boxes were opened and squeezeed all over our very expensive area rug downstairs. Calculated correctly, that comes to over 120 ounces of various juice flavors clinging tightly to those little strands of wool. I spent over two hours trying to soak up the mess myself, but to no avail... the cleaners are on their way, and will be charging me quite a fee to "attempt" to remove the stains. One-hundred-and-eleven dollars. Should I repeat that? One-hundred-and-eleven dollars!! That's more than one-dollar per ounce to have the juice cleaned out of the carpet. If the cleaners' attempt fails to get out the stain, I can only hope their attempt to charge my credit card fails as well.

Anyway, last night, after the adrenaline from the joy of having children wore off, I wound up with the worst migraine I have had since before two-year-old Georgie was born. Thank God Norah is sleeping through the night, or she would have been introduced to her very first bottle of Similac. I can't imagine why last night was chosen for the grand reminder of what it's like to have an Acme anvil come down and crack apart my tired skull, but I can only hope, and I do pray, that any future visits (if there must be any) from the Mighty Migraine are few and very far between!

Norah!!

Having a third baby has not changed life as drastically as I thought! I'm sure it has a lot to do with just how good Norah is, as far as babies go. She is still sleeping thru the night. (Which I am terrified will become jinxed, and she will once again behave like any other seven week old, and wake every two hours all night long!!) She is fairly quiet during the day unless she is hungry or her diaper needs to be changed. Her one downfall, like all babies, she likes alot of attention. It can be a little stressful at times, but never fear- I have two very anxious children who are just waiting to play with her and hold her all day! Abby and Georgie both love her to bits, and I don't blame them. She is a cutie!!

It's time, once again, to feed three hungry bellies!

M.

Happy Fourth of July! Hooray!! I love fireworks!!

baby face...

Baby face...
You've got the cutest little baby face
There ain't nobody can evah take your place
Ah, you baby face
My poor heart's jumpin'
Ahh... you started somethin'.

Baby face...
Well, I'm in heaven when I'm in your...
Your fond embrace
Yeah... I didn't need no shove
Cuz I just fell... I fell in love

With your pretty, pretty baby face.







The (third) love of my life...








Rasberries...








She's so smiley!!

my baby boy is two

Happy birthday my baby boy. You're two years old today. I kissed your sweet face tonight while you slept and thought back on these past two years. Seeing everything through your eyes has changed my world forever. How could I have ever known that one day "messy" and "loud" would be the two best words to describe my most treasured moments? How could I have imagined that the birth of my son would open my heart and mind, and fill me with such simple joys? I thank God every day for the silly hopeful grin that never seems to leave your face, and for the endless supply of hugs that bring me so much comfort when I am down-hearted and weary. And for your eyes. How could I forget those beautiful eyes that will eternally tug at my heartstrings. No matter how bad the tantrum, or however big the mess, a simple bat of those long black lashes, and the slate is wiped clean. Tonight you are nestled beside me, and as I listen to your every breath, I think about how you're changing, how you're growing up so fast, and for that, I never want to leave this moment.

3 Pounds?? What?!?!

It was Norah's one month check-up today. I asked her doc if it was ok that she's been sleeping through the night (and I mean a solid eight hours). He asked how much she weighed the day she went home from the hospital. I told him just over six pounds. He said, "Let's weigh her and see how well she's gained."

The scale put her at nine pounds!! She gained three pounds in a month??? I have come to the very obvious conclusion that my breasts are definitely not producing skim, or any other low-fat variety of milk for this baby. He told me, not only could she sleep through the night if she wanted to, but she could sleep straight through the next two days, and she would be fine. She's halfway to doubling her birth-weight already! "Weigh" to go Norah!!

All night already?

She slept through the night. Is that ok?? She seems so tiny and so young to be sleeping 8 hours already... not that I'm complaining a bit!

Baby #3 is a girl!

It's a girl!! (Abby is relieved!) And Norah is her name-o. She was born on Tuesday morning after only 5 minutes of pushing... 6 pounds 5.8 ounces of dimples and soft, warm skin.

This is Norah on day one:

still pregnant...

Oh wow! It has been a long time since I updated!!! I'm still pregnant, even though I wasn't sure how much longer I would be last month. I was having preterm labor and was put on modified bedrest for a couple of weeks, until I hit the 36 week mark. I am now 37 weeks, and according to my exam yesterday, I am 2 cm dilated and 70% effaced. How much longer?? We are all very excited for this one to come! We still have no clue as to whether this one is a boy or girl, but we do have names picked out for both! I'll update more later, as I am too tired right now. I'm going to take advantage of my last few napping moments before baby number three arrives!!!

M.

Horrified Observers of Pedestrian Entertainment

Horrified Observers of Pedestrian Entertainment

23 questions...

1: Grab the book nearest to you, turn to page 18, find line 4. Write down what it says: Janey had never been asked before, and every summer it had been a thorn in her side to know that 100 of the coolest, most talented, and most important people in New York had been invited, and that she was specifically not among them.

2: Stretch your left arm out as far as you can. What do you touch first? A green sippy cup, with an orange lid, filled with milk.

3: What is the last thing you watched on TV? Shrek 2

4: WITHOUT LOOKING, guess what the time is: 6:44

5: Now look at the clock; what is the actual time? 6:30

6: With the exception of the computer, what can you hear? The jingling of Auggie and Sandy's collars, and the kids playing downstairs.

7: When did you last step outside? What were you doing? About an hour ago, to get my makeup out of the car before it froze!

8: Before you came to this website, what did you look at? My email.

9: What are you wearing? My middle school gym shirt, and a pair of blue sweats.

10: Did you dream last night? I did, but I do not remember about what.

11: When did you last laugh? Shrek 2

12: What is on the walls of the room you are in? A phone, and a picture of an outdoor cafe in Italy... I'm in my kitchen.

13: Seen anything weird lately? Does this quiz count?

14: What do you think of this quiz? Is it over yet?? I find it immensely amusing, but it's keeping me from dinner.

15: What is the last film you saw? Shrek 2

16: If you became a multi-millionaire overnight, what would you buy first? Plans to build a new house.

17: Tell me something about you that I don't know. I have an addiction to cereal.

18: If you could change one thing about the world, regardless of guilt or politics, what would you do? I'd like stupidity and thoughtlessness to be painful.

19: Do you like to dance? Not really

20: George Bush: is he a power-crazy nutcase or some one who is finally doing something that has needed to be done for years? A lot of the latter, and a incredibly tiny little bit of the former.

21: Imagine your first/next child is a girl, what do you call her? Kimberly

22: Imagine your first/next child is a boy, what do you call him? Benjamin

23: Would you ever consider living abroad? Certainly before kids, now... maybe not.

A Bumblebee and a Flower

A Bumblebee and a Flower.

by Abby


A Bumblebee and a Flower 

Baby #3 on 12/22/04 (head is on the right) 

an update for the month...

Well, hooray, hooray!! School ended last month for me until next September!! I'm not taking any classes this semester due to the circumstance of pregnancy! Classes end too close to my due date. I was a little worried about my English final. I had to write a five-hundred word essay from memory - no notes or outlines allowed during the final- on one of three controversial topics. The first topic was about anti-Semitism and why Jew-haters hate Jews, which I was not about to even attempt, being that my teacher is Jewish. The second was on the differences between the Protestant and Catholic religions, and the beef between the two groups. The third was about what blacks and whites hate about each other, and the long time battle between the two races. Eesh! I wrote mine on the latter of the three. Anywho, it turns out I was worried over nothing! My grades came in the mail... turns out I got an A in Sociology and an A in English, leaving my current GPA intact at a 4.0!! Hip hip hooray for me! It took alot of studying and neglecting my children for those grades, lol!

Christmas was fun this year! Abby was so much more involved this year, more than any other year and was so excited. We emailed Santa her wishlist, and she even put one together for Georgie! (I know, emailing Santa! Who knew?) Anyway, she got her exercise Care Bear, and many other toys... Georgie got the train set that Abby said he wanted. She left cookies and chocolate milk for Santa, which I'm sure he enjoyed very much... no regular milk at this house!

Georgie is talking more... his current words are: dad(dy), mom(my), Abby, baby, ba-ba, yea!, yeah, no, eat, go, ball, football, yum, hello, bye-bye, and during Sunday's Eagles game, he kept saying: "Go, go Eagles!" (if I think of any more, I will add them in later.)

We had about a foot of snow come down over the weekend, which Abby loved! (Georgie, not so much.) I spent the longest two-and-a-half hours of my life freezing in the cold while she played in the snow, making snow angels, snow pillows to sleep on(?), and she was digging and digging forever. The pictures are on our photo website, if you're interested.


sleeping in the snow?! 


That's all for updating now... I have to make something for dinner. Hopefully the only thing I will be making is a phone call for take-out. I'm too tired to cook!

By the way, here's a picture of the ultrsound we had done three days before x-mas (and no, we still don't know if it's a boy/girl! I'm looking forward to being surprised!)


"Baby #3" (head is on the right) 

M.

chain letters of 2004

GOOD BYE TO 2004!

I want to thank all of you who have taken the time and trouble to send me your chain letters over the past year. Thank you for making me feel safe, secure, blessed, and wealthy.

Because of your concern...

I no longer can drink Coca Cola because it can remove toilet stains.

I no longer drink Pepsi or Dr Pepper since the people who make these products are atheists who refuse to put "Under God" on their cans.

I no longer drink anything out of a can because I will get sick from the rat feces and urine.

I no longer use cancer-causing deodorants even though I smell like a water buffalo on a hot day.

I no longer go to shopping malls because someone will drug me with a perfume sample and rob me.

I no longer answer the phone because someone will ask me to dial a stupid number for which I will get the phone bill from hell with calls to Jamaica, Uganda, Singapore, and Uzbekistan.

I no longer eat KFC because their chickens are actually horrible mutant freaks with no eyes or feathers.

I no longer date the opposite sex because they will take my kidneys and leave me taking a nap in a bathtub full of ice.

I no longer buy expensive cookies from Neiman Marcus since I now have their recipe.

Thanks to you, I have learned that God only answers my prayers if I forward an email to seven of my friends and make a wish within five minutes. (Jeeze, the Bible did *not* mention it works that way!)

I no longer have any savings because I gave it to a sick girl who is about to die in the hospital (for the 1,387,258th time).

I no longer have any money at all, but that will change once I receive the $15,000 that Microsoft and AOL are sending me for participating in their special e-mail program.

Yes, I want to thank all of you soooooooo much for looking out for me!

I will now return the favor. If you don't send this in an e-mail to at least 1200 people in the next 60 seconds, a large bird with diarrhea will crap on your head at 5:00 pm this afternoon and the fleas of a thousand camels will infest your armpits.

I know this will occur because it actually happened to a friend of a friend of a friend's neighbor's cousin twice removed.

HOPE YOU'RE HAVING A HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!