And these are flowers on the watermelon. If all goes as it should, we may have fruit there too before the summer is over.
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
Proving Conclusively That Any Idiot Can Garden
See what I noticed today?
And these are flowers on the watermelon. If all goes as it should, we may have fruit there too before the summer is over.
And these are flowers on the watermelon. If all goes as it should, we may have fruit there too before the summer is over.
Monday, June 23, 2008
Update: It's Not All That Serious
So, a couple of updates from the last post.
1. My apologies for the profanity. I was really upset (still am, the more I think about it) about that awful nurse/trainee/candy striper/whatever. And it obviously came out in my potty mouth. Or potty keyboard, as the case may be. I just typed what was in my head, and what was in my head was clearly foul language.
2. Caetlin is much better today. I think she just had a random little viral infection. If she were any other kid, she would have thrown up Saturday night, been a little green and glassy and off her feed on Sunday, taken a long nap in the afternoon, and that would have been the end of it. Caetlin being Caetlin, she just does things a little more, ah, dramatically.
Anyway, her temperature was normal all day today, and she played hard in the kiddie pool that she went to with her nanny, and when we got home this evening she was just in a great mood. She ate well and napped well and it was just an all-over good day for her.
She goes to the pediatrician on Wednesday morning, to follow up on the urine culture (which I suspect will be negative, given the lowered fever) and to generally make sure she's okay. But all signs point to her being well on her way to recovered, if not all the way there already.
Thanks for all your prayers and concern.
1. My apologies for the profanity. I was really upset (still am, the more I think about it) about that awful nurse/trainee/candy striper/whatever. And it obviously came out in my potty mouth. Or potty keyboard, as the case may be. I just typed what was in my head, and what was in my head was clearly foul language.
2. Caetlin is much better today. I think she just had a random little viral infection. If she were any other kid, she would have thrown up Saturday night, been a little green and glassy and off her feed on Sunday, taken a long nap in the afternoon, and that would have been the end of it. Caetlin being Caetlin, she just does things a little more, ah, dramatically.
Anyway, her temperature was normal all day today, and she played hard in the kiddie pool that she went to with her nanny, and when we got home this evening she was just in a great mood. She ate well and napped well and it was just an all-over good day for her.
She goes to the pediatrician on Wednesday morning, to follow up on the urine culture (which I suspect will be negative, given the lowered fever) and to generally make sure she's okay. But all signs point to her being well on her way to recovered, if not all the way there already.
Thanks for all your prayers and concern.
Sunday, June 22, 2008
Not the Weekend We Wanted
So, this week has been terribly busy, including a three day trip for me to NY, for a deal that was supposed to close Thursday and has not yet, as of Sunday night, closed, which is horribly anti-climactic. But I will talk about that trip more later. Right now I want to discuss the events of today.
We got up and got Caetlin to her yoga class this morning. Bruce had to be her yogi this morning, as I injured my back a few days ago and remain on the mend and unable to move around too quickly. When Bruce got Caetlin dressed, he noticed that she had vomited at some point during the night, but hadn't cried out enough to wake us. It was all over her jammies and the sheet, but it wasn't in her hair or anything, so apparently she slept in the clean part of the bed after it had happened. Poor kid.
We kind of kept an eye on her during her yoga class, and while she seemed generally normal, we both concluded that she wasn't quite herself. After the class, we went to the mall to walk around- exercise is recommended in healing my back but I'm not supposed to walk on any hills. We thought the mall would work just fine, and with it being closed, if Caetlin wanted to walk around, she could do that too. We popped her in the stroller and started, well, strolling. Caetlin seemed unusually content to hang out in the stroller, rather than asking to walk, but we figured it was part of her not feeling well.
After 2 circuits around the mall, we looked down to check on her in the stroller- she was really being quiet. And that's when we realized she was having a seizure.
Bruce grabbed her and I called 911. We went downstairs to wait for the ambulance with the security guards, and laid her out on a table to try to make her comfortable. She seemed to wake up a little but then was trying to fall asleep, and then she had another small aftershock kind of thing. A random doctor came over to look at her, and he recommended that we cover her up, since she seemed cold, despite her now-apparent fever.
It was all kind of a blur. We've done this before, of course, twice, and I can't say what is worse: holding my burning up 6 month old, or my screaming 9 month old, or my thrashing toddler. Or seeing any of them strapped to the gurney in the ambulance.
I rode with her in the ambulance, and after they ministered to her (vitals and a Tylenol suppository), she slept, worn out from her spiking fever and the seizure. She woke up when we got to the hospital; Bruce met us there in the car. There was poking and prodding and screaming, and the doctor saw us pretty quickly. We all agreed that the seizure was a febrile seizure, and that we were more concerned with finding the underlying cause of the fever. A nurse catheterized her long enough to take a urine sample, and it took forever to get her calmed down from that.
Finally, they left us, and she screamed and cried, trying to sleep and lacking pacifier and blanket. Bruce went home to get these necessaries, and she ended up putting herself to sleep sometime later before he got back. We waited and waited, and finally they let us go with an admonishment to treat the fever, see the pediatrician in a couple of days and follow up on the urine culture. Her ears and throat were clear, so the main concern is a urinary tract infection. This is especially bad news for her, because she's on prophylactic antibiotics specifically to prevent a UTI. She may need surgery if she has a UTI now, breaking through the antibiotics. We'll know in a couple of days.
She came home and fell asleep for almost three hours and woke up smiling and laughing and with a huge appetite, having not had proper breakfast or lunch today. She went back to sleep two hours later, after a bath and some stories.
It was awful, and scary, and even worse because it came so out of the blue. She seems okay now, but I grow to hate the hospital, with its cheerful bright paint colors and its Elmo videos on TVs that have no sound.
My biggest complaint, after we calmed down a bit and the adrenaline drained out, was the nurse (trainee?) who came in after we were waiting for her urinalysis results, and after Caetlin had fallen asleep. She needed to take Caetlin's vital signs, and damn the torpedoes, full steam ahead, she was going to wake the baby. And wake her she did, with a cold stethoscope against the poor sleeping baby's back. Caetlin of course started to scream, and began asking for water. We asked the nurse (?) if she could have some, and the nurse (?) said she would have to ask Caetlin's head nurse. And then she calmly continued attempting to take vitals, while my child sobbed for water, and she assured us that she was about to ask, and about to ask, all the while fucking around with the goddamned underarm thermometer. Finally Bruce said, "Who do I need to ask? I'll do it," and tore out and got immediate permission. The nurse(?) seemed to realize she had maybe done something wrong; she was all, "I hate to be mean, but I have to take care of this."
I was too nice to her; I told her I understood that she has a job to do. But in reality I was furious. I still am. Her fucking respiration and temperature could have waited. It could have waited until she woke up, and if she had to wake her up, she could have had the decency to go find out whether the poor kid could have the water she was so pitifully begging for, instead of just plodding along putting the cover on the thermometer like a fucking cow.
I get that vitals need to be charted. I really, really do. My mom was a nurse for many years, and it is a process with which I am familiar. It just seemed like a little later might have done. And to ignore the poor child's requests for water- what kind of brainless twit do you have to be? The nurse was 20 feet outside the door, not half a mile away.
So that was my day, today. My child sleeps soundly in her bed now, with her jammies on and a full belly. It was not exactly the Sunday I had hoped for.
We got up and got Caetlin to her yoga class this morning. Bruce had to be her yogi this morning, as I injured my back a few days ago and remain on the mend and unable to move around too quickly. When Bruce got Caetlin dressed, he noticed that she had vomited at some point during the night, but hadn't cried out enough to wake us. It was all over her jammies and the sheet, but it wasn't in her hair or anything, so apparently she slept in the clean part of the bed after it had happened. Poor kid.
We kind of kept an eye on her during her yoga class, and while she seemed generally normal, we both concluded that she wasn't quite herself. After the class, we went to the mall to walk around- exercise is recommended in healing my back but I'm not supposed to walk on any hills. We thought the mall would work just fine, and with it being closed, if Caetlin wanted to walk around, she could do that too. We popped her in the stroller and started, well, strolling. Caetlin seemed unusually content to hang out in the stroller, rather than asking to walk, but we figured it was part of her not feeling well.
After 2 circuits around the mall, we looked down to check on her in the stroller- she was really being quiet. And that's when we realized she was having a seizure.
Bruce grabbed her and I called 911. We went downstairs to wait for the ambulance with the security guards, and laid her out on a table to try to make her comfortable. She seemed to wake up a little but then was trying to fall asleep, and then she had another small aftershock kind of thing. A random doctor came over to look at her, and he recommended that we cover her up, since she seemed cold, despite her now-apparent fever.
It was all kind of a blur. We've done this before, of course, twice, and I can't say what is worse: holding my burning up 6 month old, or my screaming 9 month old, or my thrashing toddler. Or seeing any of them strapped to the gurney in the ambulance.
I rode with her in the ambulance, and after they ministered to her (vitals and a Tylenol suppository), she slept, worn out from her spiking fever and the seizure. She woke up when we got to the hospital; Bruce met us there in the car. There was poking and prodding and screaming, and the doctor saw us pretty quickly. We all agreed that the seizure was a febrile seizure, and that we were more concerned with finding the underlying cause of the fever. A nurse catheterized her long enough to take a urine sample, and it took forever to get her calmed down from that.
Finally, they left us, and she screamed and cried, trying to sleep and lacking pacifier and blanket. Bruce went home to get these necessaries, and she ended up putting herself to sleep sometime later before he got back. We waited and waited, and finally they let us go with an admonishment to treat the fever, see the pediatrician in a couple of days and follow up on the urine culture. Her ears and throat were clear, so the main concern is a urinary tract infection. This is especially bad news for her, because she's on prophylactic antibiotics specifically to prevent a UTI. She may need surgery if she has a UTI now, breaking through the antibiotics. We'll know in a couple of days.
She came home and fell asleep for almost three hours and woke up smiling and laughing and with a huge appetite, having not had proper breakfast or lunch today. She went back to sleep two hours later, after a bath and some stories.
It was awful, and scary, and even worse because it came so out of the blue. She seems okay now, but I grow to hate the hospital, with its cheerful bright paint colors and its Elmo videos on TVs that have no sound.
My biggest complaint, after we calmed down a bit and the adrenaline drained out, was the nurse (trainee?) who came in after we were waiting for her urinalysis results, and after Caetlin had fallen asleep. She needed to take Caetlin's vital signs, and damn the torpedoes, full steam ahead, she was going to wake the baby. And wake her she did, with a cold stethoscope against the poor sleeping baby's back. Caetlin of course started to scream, and began asking for water. We asked the nurse (?) if she could have some, and the nurse (?) said she would have to ask Caetlin's head nurse. And then she calmly continued attempting to take vitals, while my child sobbed for water, and she assured us that she was about to ask, and about to ask, all the while fucking around with the goddamned underarm thermometer. Finally Bruce said, "Who do I need to ask? I'll do it," and tore out and got immediate permission. The nurse(?) seemed to realize she had maybe done something wrong; she was all, "I hate to be mean, but I have to take care of this."
I was too nice to her; I told her I understood that she has a job to do. But in reality I was furious. I still am. Her fucking respiration and temperature could have waited. It could have waited until she woke up, and if she had to wake her up, she could have had the decency to go find out whether the poor kid could have the water she was so pitifully begging for, instead of just plodding along putting the cover on the thermometer like a fucking cow.
I get that vitals need to be charted. I really, really do. My mom was a nurse for many years, and it is a process with which I am familiar. It just seemed like a little later might have done. And to ignore the poor child's requests for water- what kind of brainless twit do you have to be? The nurse was 20 feet outside the door, not half a mile away.
So that was my day, today. My child sleeps soundly in her bed now, with her jammies on and a full belly. It was not exactly the Sunday I had hoped for.
Sunday, June 15, 2008
Booty...Kicked
Today, we three went for a local hike, around and on Stone Mountain. We had intended to do the easier, longer hike around the base of the rock, but we ran out of time and had to take the Cherokee Trail back to the theme park area. The Cherokee Trail crosses over the side of the mountain, and crosses the walk-up trail to the top at an elevation of 1165 feet (it is 1685 feet to the top of the rock). We basically walked over the heel of the mountain, and about a third of the trail is over more or less bare rock. It was a little scary doing that with Caetlin on my back, as the footing wasn't bad, but the rock is pretty steep. Also, it rained over the weekend and there was plenty of runoff, making the rocks slippery. Bruce helped me when I needed it, though, and it certainly was an interesting trek (it wasn't that crazy of a trail- I would have been fine without 30 extra pounds on my back that I constantly worried about falling and hurting). We worked ourselves quite hard in the heat, which was noticeably greater on the bare rock than it was in the forest. This time we actually remembered to bring snacks for Caetlin and enough water for all of us, so our physical needs were pretty well met (Caetlin hung out on my back and chowed down on dried apricots and cheese crackers).
It was quite hot today so when we got home we were all wrung out. We put Caetlin down and I went immediately to lay some compost in the garden and just do some general maintenance. I figured if I was already needing a shower from the hiking, I might as well dig in the dirt a little bit as well. I actually owe you some pictures of my little garden:
It's alive! The little orange pot at the end is the mint, the sad little spearmint and the other kind of mint that I was convinced I had killed.
And the watermelon, which has positively taken off lately:
Here's a picture of the spearmint. I think I wrote that I didn't pot it quite soon enough and I had thought I had killed it entirely. You can see here the new growth coming out of the sad dead strings. Somehow it soldiers on:
And then there was the other kind of mint, the one that potting seemed to kill. It looks so sad, so lifeless:
Somehow the roots apparently stayed alive, even if the stems and leaves died. It's growing slowly, but I added some compost today that should help it along.
It was quite hot today so when we got home we were all wrung out. We put Caetlin down and I went immediately to lay some compost in the garden and just do some general maintenance. I figured if I was already needing a shower from the hiking, I might as well dig in the dirt a little bit as well. I actually owe you some pictures of my little garden:
It's alive! The little orange pot at the end is the mint, the sad little spearmint and the other kind of mint that I was convinced I had killed.
Here's a close up of the tomatoes and peppers:
Here's another tomato plant, pepper plant, and then on the right is the basil. The basil is positively thriving:
And the watermelon, which has positively taken off lately:Here's a picture of the spearmint. I think I wrote that I didn't pot it quite soon enough and I had thought I had killed it entirely. You can see here the new growth coming out of the sad dead strings. Somehow it soldiers on:
And then there was the other kind of mint, the one that potting seemed to kill. It looks so sad, so lifeless:
But wait! What's that? Look closely:
Somehow the roots apparently stayed alive, even if the stems and leaves died. It's growing slowly, but I added some compost today that should help it along.
Tonight was actually a neat milestone for me and my garden- I harvested from it for the first time. I grabbed some basil- it smelled so amazing!- and put it into my veggie frittata that I made tonight. This was my dinner for this evening:
Isn't it lovely? It tasted quite nice as well. It's just eggs, basil, salt, pepper, red peppers, tomatoes and zucchini. It was such a nice feeling, eating something that I grew myself. And it was the best tasting basil I have ever had. Caetlin was eating her dinner at the time and I stuck the handful of leaves under her nose, telling her to smell it. After she did, she demanded one of the leaves from me and continued to hold it under her nose. I guess she liked it.
Anyway, we got her to bed and I've written this. I'm off to bed myself now- it's a little early, but I'm exhausted. Hope you all had a good weekend too!
Thursday, June 5, 2008
Roundup
A plethora of random recent facts about life generally:
1. I've lost 11.5 pounds as of Tuesday! That's so awesome, I can't even tell you. I'm fitting into clothes I haven't worn since before I got pregnant with Caetlin. It's opened up a whole new (huge!) segment of my wardrobe to me; somehow I now have far too many clothes than I can wear. I'm due for a good closet cleaning and rearranging just to figure out what are my "fat" clothes, what can I wear now, what can I wear if I lose the planned additional 10 pounds, what I no longer like, etc. One fantastic effect of losing this weight is that my boobs are smaller than they have been since I was in college. Caetlin and then the weight had inflated them a cup size and a half, and now they are back to a manageable size, especially for button-down shirts.
2. Garden update- I haven't yet put up pictures of the plants in the ground, but I can report that, to my surprise, nothing has died yet that went into the bed in the ground. The basil is thriving, and it smells awesome. We have blossoms on one of the pepper plants and two of the tomato plants, so hopefully we'll actually have a harvest! I'm even pleased to report that the pepper plant that Caetlin stepped on and broke the stem of the day I planted it seems to have made a full recovery and has put on new growth (I just kind of propped the broken stem together with dirt, and hoped for the best). The two mint plants that were to be potted separately haven't fared as well, I'm afraid. They dried out more quickly than the plants in the ground, and my extra watering efforts didn't do much to help them. I finally got them in a nice big pot a couple of days ago, and to my surprise, the hardier of the mint plants seems to be dying as a result of the transplant, while the spearmint that I had given up for lost seems to have put on some new growth. You never know. Still, so far the garden appears to be a success.
3. I played in a softball league for the firm last night. We got absolutely killed, I'm sad to say, but I acquitted myself about as well as everyone else who played, and better than some. I made a couple of plays, though not quite as well as I wish I had, and the couple of plays I flubbed weren't awful. We all played terribly as a team, so while no one would consider me a ringer, in the field I think I'm actually an asset. My only time at bat I got a decent hit, though I was thrown out at first. It was a bad pitch that I shouldn't have swung at, but I hate standing there to be walked (or worse, strike out with the bat on my shoulder!). We were at a disadvantage last night, and I imagine most upcoming games will be the same, in that the teams can be co-ed, but don't have to be. So we fielded three or four women, against all men. It's hard to say how much that hurt us; none of us played all that well. But I had a great time, and it was a nice way to spend the evening. Bruce was at some dinner or other, but he'll come out and play next week.
4. Things have picked up at work again (I seriously should be working right now instead of doing this). Hooray! Sadly, it seems as if it is feast or famine around here, though, in that I foresee a couple of late nights and early mornings and some work over the weekend coming.
5. Caetlin seems to be going through some kind of language growth spurt, and apparently she's talking up a storm at her Kindermusik camp that she's going to all week. She's somehow sounding much more like a little kid lately. I think it's the addition of "no" as a staple in her vocabulary, but it's (mostly) not your average toddler, "NO!" She's very matter-of-fact about it. I wish I could convey the businesslike way she tells me no. It's very deceiving, too, because you never know if she actually means it, but it always sounds like she means it because it's so blunt and lacking in theatrics.
That's about it around here. Posting to be probably non-existent until next week, I'm afraid, unless something really momentous happens. I can't even think what that might be.
1. I've lost 11.5 pounds as of Tuesday! That's so awesome, I can't even tell you. I'm fitting into clothes I haven't worn since before I got pregnant with Caetlin. It's opened up a whole new (huge!) segment of my wardrobe to me; somehow I now have far too many clothes than I can wear. I'm due for a good closet cleaning and rearranging just to figure out what are my "fat" clothes, what can I wear now, what can I wear if I lose the planned additional 10 pounds, what I no longer like, etc. One fantastic effect of losing this weight is that my boobs are smaller than they have been since I was in college. Caetlin and then the weight had inflated them a cup size and a half, and now they are back to a manageable size, especially for button-down shirts.
2. Garden update- I haven't yet put up pictures of the plants in the ground, but I can report that, to my surprise, nothing has died yet that went into the bed in the ground. The basil is thriving, and it smells awesome. We have blossoms on one of the pepper plants and two of the tomato plants, so hopefully we'll actually have a harvest! I'm even pleased to report that the pepper plant that Caetlin stepped on and broke the stem of the day I planted it seems to have made a full recovery and has put on new growth (I just kind of propped the broken stem together with dirt, and hoped for the best). The two mint plants that were to be potted separately haven't fared as well, I'm afraid. They dried out more quickly than the plants in the ground, and my extra watering efforts didn't do much to help them. I finally got them in a nice big pot a couple of days ago, and to my surprise, the hardier of the mint plants seems to be dying as a result of the transplant, while the spearmint that I had given up for lost seems to have put on some new growth. You never know. Still, so far the garden appears to be a success.
3. I played in a softball league for the firm last night. We got absolutely killed, I'm sad to say, but I acquitted myself about as well as everyone else who played, and better than some. I made a couple of plays, though not quite as well as I wish I had, and the couple of plays I flubbed weren't awful. We all played terribly as a team, so while no one would consider me a ringer, in the field I think I'm actually an asset. My only time at bat I got a decent hit, though I was thrown out at first. It was a bad pitch that I shouldn't have swung at, but I hate standing there to be walked (or worse, strike out with the bat on my shoulder!). We were at a disadvantage last night, and I imagine most upcoming games will be the same, in that the teams can be co-ed, but don't have to be. So we fielded three or four women, against all men. It's hard to say how much that hurt us; none of us played all that well. But I had a great time, and it was a nice way to spend the evening. Bruce was at some dinner or other, but he'll come out and play next week.
4. Things have picked up at work again (I seriously should be working right now instead of doing this). Hooray! Sadly, it seems as if it is feast or famine around here, though, in that I foresee a couple of late nights and early mornings and some work over the weekend coming.
5. Caetlin seems to be going through some kind of language growth spurt, and apparently she's talking up a storm at her Kindermusik camp that she's going to all week. She's somehow sounding much more like a little kid lately. I think it's the addition of "no" as a staple in her vocabulary, but it's (mostly) not your average toddler, "NO!" She's very matter-of-fact about it. I wish I could convey the businesslike way she tells me no. It's very deceiving, too, because you never know if she actually means it, but it always sounds like she means it because it's so blunt and lacking in theatrics.
That's about it around here. Posting to be probably non-existent until next week, I'm afraid, unless something really momentous happens. I can't even think what that might be.
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