Boneheads and Bowheads

Well, despite assurances from the administrative staff at the clinic, my doctor did not return my call before end of business on Friday. Monday morning, bright and early, they called and told me that they didn't have the results either.

So, the mystery now is, WHO set up the referral for the surgeon? Determined to find out the answer, I called the referral desk, who said indeed, it was my GP, although he and/or his staff doesn't know it. I suppose the important thing is that I have an appointment, right? By the end of the day they called to let me know that the result was "dysfunctional gallbladder", so they were going to set me up a referral to a surgeon. I told them, "I've already got an appointment -that's the whole reason I'm calling!" The nurses' response: "Boy, I guess we are really on top of things!" Yeah. Right. Whatever!

Tuesday I got the official results on paper in the mail, so I took them along to the surgical consultation today, just in case they didn't have a copy (they did.) Jerry took off work to go with me to the appointment, and I must say, it took forever. We waited in the waiting room a good long time - by the time we left his office we'd been there for two hours, and by the time we got out of the lab (at the hospital) we'd been there almost another hour. I've never had to wait that long before - it's because Jerry went with me!

"So", I'm sure you are wondering, "what did the surgeon say?"

Well, my test results are not conclusive at this point. He says with the results he has now, it's about a 50/50 chance that it's my gallbladder, and he'd like a little more evidence before he decides to remove it. So, tomorrow I go for a gallbladder ultrasound. If they find stones, out it comes. If not, I start taking a medication to help thin my bile. If, after a month, I am getting relief from that, it is most likely my biliary system, and out comes the gallbladder. If not, that's probably not the issue. Long term though, he says that my gallbladder has low function, and eventually, in my lifetime, will probably have to come out. He also put me back on an acid reducer because he wants to have that under control so it doesn't mask any of the symptoms of the gallbladder, since my GI system obviously goes loco under stress. But then, we already knew that!

Since I never intended to have a blog to post about such mundane stuff as my health, here's a little something to lighten the mood:

Gracie came out of the bathroom the other day and said, "Look at me Mommy, aren't I beautiful?" And of course, I sure thought so! Don't you?


Of course, as soon as Maggie saw the picture, she wanted one too, so here's my other beautiful baby girl!

And with a super thanks for all your prayers that have been holding me up this past week, I'll sign off!

The Medical Establishment

Ah, what is easier to rail against in this country than the medical establishment? At this moment, for me, not much.

Since the beginning of the year I have had ample opportunities to visit various medical providers, both for myself and my children, which has also given me ample opportunities to become frustrated with all things medical.

First - The ER. This particular incident wasn't too frustrating. I did find that the way to be seen in the ER pronto is to have something affecting your heart. The frustration in this incident is that I was not in my home city, and therefore getting my test results to my doctors has been a real pain. They should be there now, as the hospital sent them on April 3, but I can't find anyone at my doctor's office that can confirm that.

Second - Flu shots that don't work. Need I say more?

Third - The well-child visit. I got an EOB from the insurance saying that they don't cover the $72 dollars that was billed as a 'vision screening.' Okay - first of all, what we got was Maggie standing at one end of the hall with her hand covering her eye while she read an eye-chart taped to the wall at the other end. Hardly worth $72! They didn't even give her a little spoon thing to cover her eye! How much can the overhead for such a test be? Also, all I asked for was a 'well-child' exam. If an 'vision screening' (which has always been included in previous well-child exams) was a separate line item, shouldn't I have been told before I was charged for it? I could have told them they were having the same exact vision screening at school the next week! I would have declined this test, as I have vision insurance that would cover a REAL eye exam.

Third - my insurance. We knew when we took this new job that we would be paying more money for less coverage, but it's still a shock to see how much health care costs. My cardiologist and I were discussing this and I said, "I don't know how people without insurance do this." His succinct reply - "They don't." Even though it is comparatively less, I am grateful that we have this insurance.

Fourth - Today really takes the cake. I think I mentioned that I had a gall-bladder function test on Monday. I just got a phone call from the referral office of my doctor to schedule me for a visit for a surgeon.

"Um, okay. Can you tell me why?" I ask.

"What do you mean?" the girl says.

"Well, I had a test on Monday on my gallbladder, but no one has called me with the results yet." I answer.

"Oh. . . I guess they didn't think I'd get your referral done so fast. Sorry about that. It's just a consult, there's no procedures scheduled. Would you like the number for your doctor's office so you can call them?"

Let me think about that. Yes, yes, I think I would.

I hang up the phone and holler in frustration.

I call the doctor's office. They are seeing patients right now, so I leave a message.

And so I wait. . .

Woosh!

Well, that was the sound of April passing me by! Where does all the time go? As a Star Trek fan, I can't help but wonder sometimes if there is something about my space-time continuum that I'm missing, but if I'm truthful, I can figure it out pretty quickly.

Lots of things have happened this month. . .

• I finally made it to the photography museum to see the Pulitzer prize winning photo exhibit. A very few of those photos are of joyful moments. It was a sobering exhibit.


• I worked with Gracie's Brownie troop on their scrapbooking try-it. We'll get to finish up at a later meeting - trying to keep 23 6-year olds focused is a lot like herding cats.


• Maggie had her 2nd grade field trip - to a Henry and Mudge play.


• We got our season passes for the local aquatic center. This was a bit of a sly move on my part. The passes are only offered to city residents, and you have to bring your utility bill to prove your residency. Our new house is not in the city limits, so we won't be able to do this next year, but this year we will enjoy that benefit!


• We paid our taxes. UGH!!!


• Gracie was a star in her first grade production of "Pooh's Clues" and even got her picture in the local newspaper!


• We had muffins for mom at the girls school. This just means that the girls brought me to school with them, and we ate muffins and then snuggled up with a book and read until it was time for school to start. A friend sent this, which I found amusing:
  

  If you give a mom a muffin, she'll want a cup of coffee to go with it. She'll pour herself some. Her three-year-old will spill the coffee. She'll wipe it up. Wiping the floor, she will find dirty socks. She'll remember she has to do laundry. When she puts the laundry in the washer, she'll trip over boots and bump into the freezer. Bumping into the freezer will remind her she has to plan supper. She will get out a pound of hamburger. She'll look for her cookbook. (101 Things To Make With A Pound Of Hamburger.) The cookbook is sitting under a pile of mail. She will see the phone bill, which is due tomorrow. She will look for her checkbook. The checkbook is in her purse that is being dumped out by her two-year-old. She'll smell something funny. She'll change the two-year-old. While she is changing the two-year-old the phone will ring. Her five-year-old will answer and hang up. She'll remember that she wants to phone a friend to come for coffee. Thinking of coffee will remind her that she was going to have a cup. She will pour herself some. And chances are, if she has a cup of coffee, her kids will have eaten the muffin that went with it.
  by Kathy Fictorie, based on "If you Give a Mouse a Cookie by Laura Numeroff

• Gracie's Girl Scout troop visited and made a donation to the local Ronald McDonald House.


• I got to sit and watch kids take standardized tests for three days. I'm not complaining - they asked us to bring something quiet to occupy us, so I took Maggie's Christmas Stocking - I'm so close to being done!


• I actually invited someone over into the abyss that is my craft room and we scrapped!


• And we enjoyed the proximity of family - my in-laws came to pick up the girls for the weekend, so Jerry and I enjoyed a quiet weekend to ourselves!

Also, since my last post, I've been rather, shall we say, preoccupied with my health.

After the whole heart racing episode I got referred to a cardiologist. Looking at my overall heath picture he decided that he didn't want to sentence me to a chronic medication if what I had was a truly random episode, so he scheduled me a treadmill test to see if we could make my heart race again. My test was April 1 (I briefly thought about falling down clutching my chest while doing the test, then popping up and saying, "April Fools!", but with my luck they'd hit me with those electrified paddles before I could get up!) and I did pretty well, all things considered. I asked my technician if I was going to have to run, and warned him that these days, the only time I run is if one of my kids is in danger. He said we'd have to see how long I lasted. I did get up to a run before it was over, and did just fine on the test.

A couple of days after the test though, I had a quick sharp chest pain, and then some lingering discomfort for several days. A call to the cardiologist got me set up for a couple of more tests - a heart CT scan to check for plaque (it was normal) and a leg ultrasound (not done yet) to check for any deep vein blood clots. I also saw my regular doctor, and he wanted to check on some non-cardiac things, so he wanted to schedule a gallbladder function test. What the heck - at this point I'm WAY past my deductible, so let's find out what this thing is/was.

The gallbladder function test was today. From my reading on the Internet, I thought I was going to have to chug down something called a "fatty meal replacement" - ugh! Sounded like they want me to pound down the contents of my grease can - gross! Can't I just bring in a side of Outback Cheesy Fries and eat them? Well, today I was relieved to find out it was something they injected, not ingested. The test seemed to go fine, but it will be several days before my doctor gets the results.

All in all, I feel pretty good, except for being so out of shape. That's probably half my problem right there, and the other half is not getting enough sleep and/or too much (self-induced) stress. So, that's what I'll be working on for now! Here's to a relaxing May - may it go by slower!

Thud!

Did you hear that? That was the sound of me falling off the "Mommy is perfect" pedestal.

Now, for some time now I have known better than to take Maggie shopping with me when I purchase clothing. The last time I took her with me to Coldwater Creek I was looking for a simple, long-sleeved shirt. I took four or five into the changing room with us, and as I tried them on I found various flaws either with the shirt or with my appearance in the shirt and put them in the discard pile. Each of the shirts got the same response from Maggie though - I'd put it on, give it the once over and turn around, at which point Maggie would say, "Oh Mommy, you're BEAUTIFUL!!!" While good for the ego, it didn't help much in the shirt-buying process.

Apparently, I should have taken Gracie.

Last night the church had a parent's night out - drop off the kids for a fun time at the church and have a few hours of date time. I decided that I wanted to do something different - anything - with my hair, which seems like it has been in the awful growing-it-out-in-between stage forever. So, I pulled out the hot rollers and dusted them off and curled my hair. After I brushed it out, it was. . . well . . . curly and unmanageable instead of the usual straight and unmanageable, so I guess I achieved the desired results. I went into the room where the girls were playing to tell them to pick up and get ready to go, and Gracie says,

"Mommy. . . You look (long pause) funny."

I head back to the mirror, where I fuss with it some more and debate pulling it back. Eventually I tame the curls a little bit and I go back to where the girls are putting on their shoes and say,

"Okay, how does it look now?"

Gracie looks at me carefully and says, "Maybe you should get a hat."

Ouch! I say, "Oh, come on! It's not that bad, is it?"

And Maggie says, "No, it's not." But after the shirt trying-on episode, do I trust her judgement of my appearance?

I decide I didn't care - at least it's not as lifeless as it is every other day of the week, and off we go.

Next time though, Gracie gets to help me shop.

I Need A Vacation From My Vacation!

Yes, it's been awhile since I've been heard from, but I have a good excuse - I went on a vacation (kind of.)

See, we had our spring break a week ago. We had planned for awhile that I would go see my sister and new niece in Houston, dropping off the girls at Nana and Granddaddy's house on the way, so that I could go help my sister during her recovery from her c-section. So, that's what we did, basically. I spent one very long day driving to Fort Worth where I met up with my in-laws for the child-exchange, and then drove on to Houston. The drive was actually not too bad, even though I arrived in Houston right about five o'clock. I had Jerry's iPod transmitter, so I was in full voice on the second half of the drive - something I rarely get to do anymore since I'm hardly ever alone in the car for any length of time!

I spent the next week getting to walk in another mom's shoes, kind of. Mostly my job was to keep Will occupied while Amy nursed the baby, tried to catch up on sleep, nursed the baby, took a shower, nursed the baby, etc. etc. etc. (MOO!) I had a great time, and I really want to be close to my nephew and niece, so I was glad that I had this opportunity to be with them. When Will was born we were in New Mexico, and it was too far to travel to help out when he was born. He was five months old before we got to make a trip out for a real visit, and that was just too long! Now we get to see each other more often, and I think it's a good thing - although after this week Will may disagree!

Will is a very headstrong little boy. He is also very particular about who he wants to do what, for instance, if he wanted a drink, it went something like this:

Will: I tirsty.
Suzy: I'll get you some juice.
Will: No! MOMMY get juice!!!!!

This conversation was repeated about one hundred times a day, just substitute in any action or object for juice. And if Aunt Suzy dared to try to hand the juice to him, he would become quite distraught. We worked around this by me surreptitiously giving the juice to Amy, and then she'd hand it to him, or better yet, we'd make him think the thing he didn't want to do in the first place was his choice:

Suzy: Will, do you want Aunt Suzy to wipe your face, or Mommy?
Will: Mommy wipe my face!
Suzy: Well, here, give her the washcloth and tell her to wipe your face.
Will: (Trotting off with dreaded washcloth) Here Mommy, Wipe my face!

So we got through the week with a minimum of fuss. It was just so different from life with my girls when they were two. They were so compliant compared to Will. I wonder if I had a boy, if he would have been so strong-willed. It's the age old question - how much is nature and how much is nurture? For instance, one day when Amy hadn't slept well, I took Will to the mall to play on the play structures there so the house would be quiet for Carissa and Amy. Will was very unhappy that I had put him in his car seat (No, Mommy buckle me!), taken him out of the car seat (No, Mommy unbuckle me!) and taken him to the mall. I figured though, when we got there we'd be okay. I carried him to the mall, and we walked in. He saw the strollers that are shaped like cars, and he wanted to ride in one. I said no, we were there to play, and he began to get upset, so I picked him up and carried him to the play area, figuring that when he saw the play area, he would forget all about the strollers. I set him down in front of the play area, and he went boneless. Just laid on the tile floor and looked at me. So, I picked him up and set him about six feet inside the play area to get him out of everyone's way. He rolled back out, I put him back in, he rolled back out.

At this point I was seriously debating what else I could do with him, as taking him back home would not result in the quite atmosphere we were looking to provide for Amy. I decided that it was worth the $5 stroller to get this play date moving along, so we went and got change and picked a stroller. From that moment on, he was happy and compliant. We motored down the mall and back, and then he was ready to play. We put away the stroller and played on the play area for 45 minutes. Next we had lunch, which he ate with gusto. We played on the coin-operated rides, walked back to the car and went home. He was being an angel. I was feeling like I'd made a dent in my Evil Aunt Suzy image! But then, we pulled into the garage, I opened the door and reached to unbuckle him and he said, "No. Mommy unbuckle." Sigh. . . Oh well.

We spent quite a bit of time trying to get a picture of Carissa for her announcement, although we never did get just the right shot. Once, after we had put her in the boppy for a photo shoot, when we picked her up, will climbed on the boppy for his turn at a photo session:




Here's a few parting shots of the weekend -

This is the only shot of me and Carissa together. The one with Amy and Will we took on a walk through their neighborhood.

At the end of the week I drove the back roads up to North Texas to pick up the girls. It was the never ending drive. I just don't like driving. My mom has such a huge road-tripping gene, I don't know how I missed out on that, but I did. I picked up the girls and we headed home to see Jerry. He missed us so much - he quelled his sorrow with retail therapy. I got to see quite a fashion show when I got home - two pants, two pair of shoes, 4 t-shirts, 4 henleys, 8 dress shirts - when is Jerry's next trip out of town so I can have a turn? He also cleaned the house while we were gone - even did the floors! We walked in and the house was straight, the floors clean - it was so nice! I might have to leave more often. . . Last night though, Jerry walked in and noted that the house was not so clean anymore - he said, "You guys have been home less than a week and look at this place!" I just looked at him and told him, "Yeah, your preaching to the choir, honey!"


We dyed eggs when we got home, and the next morning, we had an Easter egg hunt.

The bunny hid 24 (plastic) eggs, but we only found 23. We still don't know where the last one is! We went to a local church for their Easter service, and they had a special program for the kids that included a clown. Apparently Gracie got to help him with one of his tricks - that was all she could talk about for the next few days.

Here's our family Easter photo:

As you might imagine, this 'vacation' was exhausting. When Jerry went to work on Monday and the girls went to school, I breathed a sigh of relief, but this week has been so hectic trying to catch up. Someone tell me again - when exactly do Mom's get vacation?

Laundry as a Legacy

You know, I've always known that I'd leave a legacy - something I'd be remembered for, but this week, I'm afraid that my legacy will be . . . laundry.

Laundry has been brought to the forefront this month with the arrival of the April issue of Real Simple Magazine, which I subscribed to this year when the girls fundraiser came around. It's been an enjoyable diversion, but this month's issue's cover story was laundry.

The first thing that caught my eye was that the average family does 400 loads of laundry per year. I tell you, I have never felt so above-average before. Every week we have a minimum of six loads - towels, whites, darks, in-betweens, jeans and an entire load devoted to pink and red clothing. Lots of times I have multiples of one or more of these, just because, plus all the other miscellaneous sheets, jackets, etc. I'm sure every mother in the country can sympathize.

But now for the clincher - The girls open house for school was last night. Gracie had very proudly displayed a large heart on her desk that contained a poem about the love she has for her family. It read:

I Love Somebody

I Love Somebody.

Yes I do!

I Love somebody and

I'm going to tell you!

I love my Mom.

Yes I do.

Mom tucks me in at night.

Mom does the laundry.

Mom takes me to the park.

Yes I do!

I Love my Daddy.

Yes I do!

Daddy chases me around the house.

Daddy wrestles me.

I Love my Daddy.

Yes I do.

I Love my sister.

Yes, I do Maggie.

Maggie plays with me

Maggie has three webkins

Maggie likes to paint

Yes I do.

I Love my family

my family Is fun.

'Nuff said.

March Already!

Wow - looking at the calendar today, I realize that today was the original day that Carissa was supposed to be born - so happy 1 week old birthday, baby Carissa!

Things are certainly happening around here. Let's take it subject by subject:

Birthday Party!

Sunday was the official Have Friends Over birthday party. As I look at the effort that was put into this party, I wonder when I lost the over-eager, super-planner party mom tendencies. We had the party at Pump-It-Up, at Maggie's request. Our house is just way too small to try and have any number of people come for a function. I had the party place cater the pizza, rather than trying to make food (although I did buy a bag of baby carrots to serve with it.) We got an ice-cream cake from Baskin-Robbins rather than me make a cake, even though I even took the Wilton Cake Decorating course many moons ago so I could be the uber-cake-mom. We bought fancy plates for the cake, but for the rest of the food we just used plain white provided by the party place. And you know what - no one - and I mean no one noticed anything wrong. Everyone had just a fine and dandy time with the exception at the last minute of Gracie, who's balloon got blown away in the Oklahoma wind. (All my fault - and I made restitution, so she had a happy time after all.) Anyway - it makes me think - What's the thing I remember most from my birthday parties? I'd have to say some of the most memorable things are not the things that went well, but the things that went wrong - like the time my dollhouse cake fell over into the green-tinted coconut grass a few minutes before the guests were supposed to arrive. Don't get me wrong - I remember it not because I was upset, but because it was funny, even at the tender age of 11 or so. So please - use the comment function and tell me what thing you remember most from your childhood birthday celebrations. I'd really like to know.

Health Front -

Well, I've met my new doctor and he seems nice. He didn't rush me at all, and listened to the whole medical history for clues that would help solve this latest issue. I really feel too young to have 'issues', but here I am. I had a heart monitor that I had to wear around part of this week. Of course, nothing really spectacular happened while I wore it - but nothing really spectacular has happened since the ER visit, which is how we like it. Anyway, the day I got the monitor I showed it to the girls when they got home - 7 electrodes on my chest and abdomen, and what seemed like two miles of wires that were bundled and taped to my belly before going into a data recorder that I kept in my pocket. I showed them the wire, and then, to be funny, I did Papaw's little bit of "I am a robot" humor that the girls always think is so funny. Well, Maggie apparently thought I had been turned into a robot, and she got upset - very upset. It really caught me by surprise. I reassured her that I was the same mommy I had always been, and that they were just stickers that would come off in a few days. She calmed down, and anxiously awaited the day when I would be back to normal mommy. All that adhesive was a real mess - I itched constantly for two days, and then after I took them off, it took two more days and a bottle of goo-gone to get the sticky residue off. Nothing for your self-esteem like having to get the goop off your flab.

House Front:

We looked at a house I liked last week, and this past week we made an offer, and it was accepted. We have inspections this week, and if everything goes well we will close on a four-bed, two-bath, three-car garage, 8 person storm shelter at the end of May. I'm guardedly optimistic about the whole thing, and now that we've made an offer, Jerry has though about a million things that maybe we should have asked for, should have though about, etc. After 11 years, I should be used to this phase, but it still makes me crazy. Ah, love. . .

At School:

This week was the first ever Sock Hop at the girls school. They did a very nice job, with a live band some of the time, a DJ some of the time, and an Elvis impersonator some of the time. Gracie dragged a 50's costume out of the dress up stuff, and Maggie wanted something to wear, so with only an hour before the function started, we headed to Goodwill, bought a skirt, and went to Hobby Lobby for some felt, and slapped a poodle on it with a glue gun. There were some really elaborate costumes there, but Maggie was happy with her skirt. They'll be doing another one next year, so I see some real poodle skirts in our future. The girls were excited to see the Elvis impersonator, but the real celebrity they had to have their picture with was the Chick-fil-a cow. They catered the dinner, and he made a couple of appearances. Gracie said "Everyone loves him because he has the best restaurant ever!" Way to go Cow!

Welcome Carissa!

Brad and Amy welcomed my newest niece last night.

Carissa Kate arrived via c-section at 6:50pm on Wednesday, 2/27/2008.
She weighed 7 lbs. 13oz. and is 20 inches long.

Welcome to the world baby Carissa!

Natural Processes of Aging

It's funny, isn't it - when we are young, birthdays take forever to get here, and we certainly look forward to them - whereas now, I just feel old. Maggie had certainly been looking forward to her birthday forever before it got here last week. We've had three celebrations so far, and the biggie - the one with her friends will be here this weekend.

For the big day, Jerry took off so we could have all day to concentrate on Maggie (although she had school, so he and I also ran around looking at houses and having the car serviced.) We started out by loading up in the car and heading to the donut shop, where we picked up 31 donuts with sprinkles and delivered the birthday girl and donuts to her classroom, where she shared them with her classmates. After the girls got home and did their homework we headed to the restaurant of the birthday girl's choice - Cici's Pizza. Then we headed home for the yellow cake with chocolate frosting that Maggie had requested. Since it was a plain cake, we used special candles that spelled "Happy Birthday!". This caused a funny moment when Nana and Granddaddy called. Maggie was telling Nana about the cake, and Nana asked, "How many candles were on your cake?" And we all answered - "Fourteen!" There was a long pause before we explained that we lit only the correct number. Here's our birthday girl:

Our next event on the birthday list turned out to be a bit different that we planned it. This past weekend we took the 100+ boxes of Girl Scout cookies that we sold to people in DFW and headed down the road. Both Grandma and Nana decided that since we were there, they wanted to have a small party for Miss Maggie, so the Saturday Plan was:

1. Have a party at GGma's with cousin Korbin
2. Zip to Granbury to deliver cookies to Mimi and Pepaw
3. Back to Nana's where we'd have another party with our friends the White's and Moudy's in attendance.

However, what happened was:

1. Arrive at GGma's and get the table set for the party
2. Spend two hours at the Harris Methodist Emergency Room for my racing heart that wouldn't slow down
3. Back to Nana's where we had another party with our friends the White's and the Moudy's in attendance.

Definitely not what I'd had in mind when I started my day.

It was very odd. Mom and I had just set the table, and I was throwing away the packaging from the paper goods, and my heart just started going very fast - like I'd just run up several flights of stairs. I sat down, but it didn't slow down, so Mom and Grandma had me lie down on the bed and they called my Aunt Mary (a RN.) They were on their way, and when they got there a few minutes later, it still hadn't slowed down, so Mary sent us on to the ER. When we got there it was still going pretty fast, and they called me in very quickly. It was zooming along at 148 beats per minute, so they hooked me up to an EKG machine, and took a bunch of blood, and a chest x-ray, but then it stopped as quickly as it started. All of my test came back normal, so they gave me a diagnosis of SVT and a beta-blocker to keep everything on an even keel, told me I wasn't going to die today, but that I needed to go see my regular doctor in a timely manner for follow up.

We headed back to GGma's, and Mimi met us there since I was in no shape to drive to Granbury, and we did cake and ice cream. The girls had a good time playing with their cousin Korbin, and didn't seem too concerned about my little episode. Maggie had come in when I was laying down and asked why I was lying down, and I told her that my heart was beating very fast and put her hand on my chest. She said, "Wow, that's fast," and skipped off to play.

After cake and ice cream we headed back to Nana and Granddaddy's house for our third and final party. I was a bit fatigued - after all, my heart had just run a 5K even if I hadn't, but Nana took care of everything and I took it easy. It was good for the girls to play with their old friends. We had a good time chatting with everyone. Here's our group:

That's Sammy, Miranda, Gracie, Olivia, Maggie and Elliot on the couch.

One of the cards Maggie got on a gift was one that played music - the "Once Upon A Dream" waltz from Sleeping Beauty. She kept opening it and dancing around the room, so I grabbed her and did a waltz, with her holding her dress in true princess fashion. Elliot wanted a turn with the princess, so I showed him how to put his hand on her waist, and they waltzed around the kitchen. It was too cute. When it was time to say good-bye though, and everyone was giving out hugs, Maggie dragged Elliot around the corner to give him his hug goodbye. I was peeking through the kitchen pass-through to see what this was about, and I asked her later why she needed to go to the other room. She said she wanted PRIVACY! I explained that she was not at the age where she would need privacy with a boy - that doesn't happen until you are 30 at least!!!

The next morning we got up and headed back to Oklahoma. When we got home I got a stern look, a "How dare you!" and an "I don't like it" from Jerry - as if I did it on purpose or liked it! I spent the entire day Monday calling doctors offices and finally found one that took new patients and was willing to see me quickly - this Thursday in fact. I'm telling you, this part of getting older is a real drag!

We did go to Maggie's well-child appointment today, where, when asked about eating nutritious food, Maggie told the doctor that "I like sugar!" and informed the doctor that she didn't brush her teeth last night. Yea. Once again, the position of mother of the year is up for grabs. She is officially 48 pounds and 49 inches tall.

Also on the medical front, my sister saw her doctor this morning and was in labor, so baby niece Simcik should be here any minute! Can't wait to meet her!

Another Tooth Bites the Big One

Well, it's a little sooner than we expected, but Maggie has lost her second front tooth already, thanks to her sister. Here's the happy pair, although it didn't start out all smiles. . .

I was on the phone with my sister, saying good-bye when I saw Maggie dart through my peripheral vision. Nothing too unusual about that, but as I was hanging up, I heard her start shrieking hysterically from her bathroom. I high-tailed it in there, and she was holding up a Kleenex covered in blood from her mouth. I figured she must have hit her mouth on something and her loose tooth was bleeding - it happens, but no, the tooth was completely gone and Maggie was crying about Gracie's shoe hitting her in the mouth. We rinsed out her mouth and got a piece of gauze to press on her gum, and I headed into the office, where the incident occurred. Gracie looked up at me and said in a matter of fact way, "I said I was sorry!" And I said, "I'm sure you were - where's Maggie's tooth?" She looked at me like I was nuts and said, "In her mouth." I said, "No, you knocked it out - we need to look for it." Then Gracie started getting upset about hurting her sister. In between comforting her, I found the tooth and headed back to the bathroom, where Maggie was ready to admire her gap. I asked her if it hurt less when Gracie kicked her or when Daddy pulled the tooth, and she said it hurt less when Gracie kicked her - but she didn't seem to sure she wanted to use that as a method of future tooth extraction!