1ST ER TRIP

Ugh. Thursday night I got out of work early cuz I was so tired. I came home did a few things and went to pee before bed. The damn toilet starts over flowing. Its never happened before in all the time Ive lived here. Determined not to wake Steve up, Im trying to take care of this myself but even the plunger isnt working, and now I can hear it leaking to the basement. Great. So while Im cleaning up this mess, I hear Ryan gasping for air and hacking like a cat with a hairball. I go flying up to his room, and I pick him up. Im not even sure he was awake, but he was having trouble breathing. It was so scary. I woke up Steve and at this point Ryan was awake and acting his normal self, happy, playful, no fever, just his breathing was labored. I called the pediatrician and they said sounds like Croup. Give him a steam shower and she would call back in a half hour and check on how he's doing. We did that, and it didnt help. She called back and told us to bring him to the ER for a dose of steroids to open up his airways. So in we go to Hartford Childrens Hospital. We were there until about 4am. Ryan awake this whole time and in good spirits, flirting with all the staff. They diagnosed him with Croup and gave him a steroid. I say that as if it were that quick, we were there for 4 hours! The whole ordeal was just terrifying watching the poor kid have trouble breathing and nothing I can do to help him. It was also so out of the blue. He was fine leading up to this. No cold, flu, fever, runny nose, cough, NOTHING. Not even slugish. His regular normal self, then wakes up and cant breathe. Needless to say last night (Friday) he slept for 14 hours! From 630 pm-830am. Now he seems to have the cold following the Croup. My poor baby! Hopefully thats that last ER visit ever!

HO HO HO!

(Follow the pictures to the story from bottom to top)

Hope everyone had a great holiday! Ours was fabulous. The festivities started at Barbara's house on Sunday, where we celebrated with the Levine side. (See photo of Ryan with the Santa hat and the 2 before.) Then Monday we had Christmas in Somers with the Clark/Kelley/Tetro and Levines. We had a gift swap with the adults that was quite interesting. Im not sure that Ryan has ever been to Uncle Johns house but it tok him no time at all to learn to climb on the famous steps in the living room. I was worried about going over there and being sad, with 2 entire generations being wiped out, but I did ok. it kind of just felt like Uncle John was in the kitchen cooking and Auntie Bet and Aunt Lois we out on the porch having a smoke. It was good to be with my side of the family for a while. Christmas morning we got up just before 7am. Ryans normal time. I took a pic of their expressions seeing the presents for the first time, but I dont have any others of them opening Xmas morning. That's all on video. The kids were very excited. The reactions (mostly from Zachary) were priceless. Among Zacharys favorites were a new PSP, guitar hero 2 &3, a zillion gift cards and a new fancy schmancy watch. Steve got a new tool box, and he was in manly heaven with that. I got a Nintendo! The original that I used to play in jr high. Steve and I got talking about the old games we used to play and then it became like a pregnancy craving but without food. I had to play it NOW. Steve found one with the original games, duck hunt, super Mario Brothers 1,2, and 3. Way cool. Its amazing how it all came back. We haven't played in 20 years but yet we knew exactly where to go, and all the secret passages. Yup, we are dorks! But at least were dorks together! Ryan got a bunch of walking toys and some trucks. Even baby girl got a new dress! Notice it hanging from the tree.

After opening, it was time to start thinking birthday. I was stressing about how well (or disastrous) the cake was going to turn out. It took me all day to frost it and make the Shepards pie Zachary had requested for his birthday dinner. But in the end it was all worth it. It may have been the best cake Ive ever made!I had kept it a secret what kind of cake I was making, and when I finally showed him the end result he said "Mom, you did this?" I impressed myself but more importantly I impressed Zachary! My baby boy is now 12. Sniff sniff...

Oh the superintendent is soooo getting hate mail from me. They didn't cancel school like they did in every other town. They instead gave the kids an early dismissal to be dismissed at 12:50. This was announced on the news early this morning. It starts snowing early so I call the hot line just to make sure. Yup, early dismissal at 12:50. At 12:14 I get an automated call from the school saying the kids are being dismissed at 12:15! WTH? Zachary is a walker. So on good weather days he rides his bike and in bad weather we drive him. So now I have 1 minute, to pack the baby up and my pregnant self and trek out in the snow, the roads are terrible my SUV sliding all over my street, so he wont have to walk a mile home in this weather. So now Im fuming. Too add insult to injury, at 12:17 they call my cell phone and leave the same message.
They have NO regard for the kids who walk, or the parents who have made alternate arraignments in preparation for an early dismissal. 1 minutes notice! I understand they cant call everyone at the same time and there are a lot of parents to call, but geez, couldn't they have just cancelled for one lousy day just like the other schools? Nope, our superintendent isn't that smart apparently.

RYAN AT 11 MONTHS

Wow, time flies! Do I say that every month? Lets see, he's got 7 teeth now, and is eating mostly table foods. He's taken a few steps and seems to want to walk, but of course crawling is easier. Don't let the angelic face fool you, he has already developed a mischievous side to him. If he gets into something he knows he shouldn't, he's always looking over his shoulder to see if we are watching, and then gives us a sly grin as he knows he's trying to get away with something. He babbles a blue streak and he does say Mama, Dada and up.Still loves his big brother more than anything in the world. He's very attached to a stuffed kitty that Zachary gave him when he was born. Cant sleep without it. Its so cute, he hugs it and kisses it and when its time to sleep, he looks for it. The other day it was in the dryer and he was MAD AT ME! Godforbid kitty is not there with him!

THE CURSE CONTINUES

Why would I expect any different? With every baby that Suzie or I have brings a death in the same gender as the baby. I was pregnant with Zachary when my grandfather died (11 days before he was born). Suzie was pregnant with Paige when mom died (found out the day of her funeral). Suzie was pregnant with Joshua and Uncle Brian died, and then Ally when Aunt Lois died. While I already had Ryan, Uncle John died just a few short months after he was born. (The cancer diagnosis was while I was pregnant and he didn't even last 6 months).Now, pregnant with a girl, our aunt Joanne (Uncle Bobs wife) died in her sleep and no one has a clue even why. I dont know her exact age, but Im guessing she is in her late 50's or very early 60's. 4 out of 6 of these deaths are untimely. My mom and Uncle Brian being the youngest at 51. I swear aside from the Kennedy's, I don't know anyone else who has been to so many funerals in such a short time. (Not that I'm wishing this on anyone else.) And I'm only mentioning the ones who have passed during a pregnancy or a birth. Not to mention everyone else in between..Auntie Bet, and Juanita (my mother in law) are among the few, and those two women were very important presences in my life. Its gotten so common that whenever one of us gets pregnant were immediately wondering who is going to die. And its never like a distant cousin who's 100 and has lived a long life. Well, maybe Papa. Its always a close relative and either tragic, untimely or both. Even Aunt Lois who was old it was still completely unexpected and the circumstances surrounding it (me being the one to find her) made it tragic. Kim is now the oldest women on moms side of the family and she's in her 40's. And the oldest man? Moms cousin, whos in his 60's. Have I got that right Suz? I think I do. I just dont get it! Im a huge believer of "everything happens for a reason" but what the reason for us creating a life if someone else has to sacrifice theirs? Good thing this is the last pregnancy for both of us. Just let baby girl finish cooking and all will be well. We will probably all live to 100.

UNBELIEVEABLE

I know I have blogged many a times in the past 2 years about stupid comments people make to pregnant women. But this one by far takes the cake. This came from a young girl in the class I'm teaching. "Sally, you are my inspiration, (pause, long pause, and I start thinking, awww she's so sweet before I even know what she's going to say) for NEVER HAVING KIDS. DAMN YOU LOOK TIRED!"..Um thanks. Love it. Your so nice. Keep em coming.
I really should write a book on what not to say to a pregnant women. Maybe that's our ticket to millions. Lord knows, Ive got enough material! I told Steve this absurd comment and he got mad and said he is fully prepared for someone to say something like that in front of him. He's got my back. Thats why I love the guy!

I cant believe this. We have no delay today! 161 towns in the state and there are 140 delays due to the ice storm, and Windsors not one of them! UGH! I feel bad for Z.