Thursday, October 25, 2007

Sick as Dogs

We have had a real problem staying healthy in our house. In years past we've struggled to keep Buddy healthy with his asthma issues, but we finally found a great combo of meds for him back in the spring and he has been doing great ever since. Except for his frequent nosebleeds.

Anyway, G and I have been another story. I had a major outbreak of allergies two months ago. This was no ordinary case, either. First of all, last fall/winter was the first time I really had allergies, but this year was much worse. I had the worst cough and post-nasal drip EVER. I dealt with this for weeks. I went to my incompetent primary care doctor one day and she gave me some nose spray which did nothing to help. Several weeks into the allergy problem I came down with a sinus infection (which I've already blogged about). That lasted for three weeks. I picked a new primary care doctor and went in to see her and she prescribed me some legitimate allergy medication and an antibiotic, which I declined. I'd already been sick so long I figured the fun "infection" I'd get as a result was worse than than having the sinus problems a few more days. Anyway, what I really wanted was some meds to clear up the post-nasal drip, which was causing my problems in the first place.

Meanwhile, G got bronchitis* a couple weeks ago and has been on a whole host of meds for a few weeks including an antibiotic, a few inhalers, and a steroid (which he already blogged about).

*I don't believe G really had bronchitis. I think he had allergies too, like me. But what do I know.

So, I finally start feeling better this past weekend, just around the time G starts feeling bad. By Monday his cold had turned into a sinus infection and low and behold, I get a case of the stomach flu. He was horribly sick and stayed home two days from work, but still, he had to take care of me and Buddy because we all know you just can't function with the flu. Supposedly the flu should only last a day or so, but for some strange reason mine lasted for three days and even today I have no appetite and have bouts with nausea still. I just can't shake this queasy feeling. And G has progressively gotten worse, so he went into the doctor yet again today. And what do you know, he's on an antibiotic again.

G has a "whole medical team," as he puts it. He has three primary care doctors he regularly sees. This is all so hysterical, I told you our entire medical history just so I could tell you this next information about G.

G goes to Doctor #1 (my previous incompetent doctor) if he wants to be written a clean bill of health. For example: He's trying to get life insurance but has had some poor liver enzymes results twice now when they did the lab work to see if he'd qualify. It's been a royal pain the rear to get a decent rate on the insurance with those results, so he finally decided to make himself an appointment with Doctor #1. She promptly cleared his chart and said the results were "no problem." She deemed him perfectly healthy.

G goes to Doctor #2 if he wants to be put on meds. This doctor would be a addict's dream come true. This is the doctor that diagnosed G with bronchitis a few weeks ago and gave him about five different prescriptions to clear it up. Funny thing: at the time G didn't feel sick, hadn't missed a day of work and was still working out at the gym a few times a week.

G goes to Doctor #3 if he's legitimately sick like today and needs results so he can function and get back to work. Needless to say, this is my new primary care doctor.

Does anyone else find that SO funny?

Anyway, the truth of the matter is, I think there might be some wisdom in elliminating stress from our life to improve our immune systems.

***

In semi-related news: We had our dinner with our birth mom and it went really well. We all had a really good time, she enjoyed seeing the crib and all the baby clothes. And if I do say so myself, the roast was the best I've ever made! I'm so glad that's over. Have I mentioned the word STRESS yet in this blog? Buddy and Baby's room is all put together. I just need to hang some things on the walls. The play room is organized, but I still need to take everything out now that she's seen it -- so I can get some paint on the walls. That won't be hard, though.

In un-related news: Buddy went to Ch.uck e. Ch.eese today with a friend. Like any kid, he loves that place, but really hasn't been there since his birthday last year. So it was really exciting for him. Apparently he won a bunch of tickets and cashed them in for these fine "leopard seal teeth." (No, I already tried to remind him about Halloween-they are LEOPARD SEAL TEETH, he says!)



And one more question: Did anyone that reads this blog rake our leaves? We have a big tree out front that has dumped a very large amount of leaves all over the sidewalk and our lawn. Either someone raked them for us, or they blew away. I can't imagine either scenario, to be honest with you. There's still a few out there, but the majority are gone. So if you did rake them for us, THANK YOU! And fess up so I can return the favor.

Friday, October 19, 2007

Pumpkin Cookies

Why on earth would G rather have cookies from a tub... when there are currently warm pumpkin cookies on the counter? And why would Buddy rather have a treat from the "parade bag" (the bag of candy leftover from our small-town parade back in July) today when I bribed him to practice his songs and speaking part for the Primary program on Sunday.

I give up.

Updating

When I proposed the idea to M that we create a blog, it took her a little while to get sold on the idea. Now, she posts more than I do. She loves it. I was told by other bloggers that I would run out of stuff to say and that I wouldn't be able to update all that often. What I have come to find is that I have plenty to say, but I've been too lazy to update. Anyways, in the same vein as M, here are some random comments about things.

1. Vacation. As M mentioned, our trip to Idaho/Utah was fun. But, I do not understand the mentality of Idaho and Utah drivers. How can they drive so bad? Now I'm not saying that Oregonians are the world's greatest drivers. In fact most Oregonians are clueless to what is going on around them and the damn hippies will not speed. They seem to be in no hurry to get anywhere. However, most Oregonians are courteous on the road. In Idaho and Utah, they drive recklessly, pull stupid maneuvers, and refuse to let anyone in. They seem to want to fight with everyone on the road. Lame.

On a different note, I cannot tell you how proud I am of the boy for hanging on to the back of the quad while we climbed up mountains in Idaho, all the while with a huge smile on his face. The kid is a thrill seeker and it warms my heart.

2. TV. I like TV. Probably the best new show this season is Chuck. If you're not watching Chuck, you suck. 'Nuff said.

3. Cookies. I've begun to realize that as I get older, I tend to pay for convenience. I would have never have thought a few years ago that I would buy (or actually have Michelle buy) a tub of pre-made cookie dough because it is expensive and unnecessary. However, that is the point I have reached. I gotta tell ya that I am addicted to Nestle Toll House cookies coming right out of the tub and into the oven. They are so good. I believe I ate 6 the other night.

4. Medication. I went to the doctor a few weeks ago because I had an annoying cough that wouldn't go away. There are few things that I hate more than the sound of coughing, no matter who it is coming from. I was put on a steroid called Prednisone to open up my chest. I was warned that it may make me hyper and I have seen this effect on my son when he's been on it for asthma. The stuff made me super wired, shaky and gave me an insatiable appetite. I could not believe how hungry I was all the time. I couldn't pass a convenience store without stopping to get something to eat. Ultimately, the drug worked to get rid of my cough, but since my stomach got stretched out, I still get pretty hungry.

Thursday, October 18, 2007

A Few Random Comments

I wish I had more time to Blog. I have a lot on my mind, so I have a lot to say... but just have no time. So, here are a few brief comments. Hopefully I'll get a chance to update something more enjoyable soon. In the meantime, please let me update for my journal's sake. (And for any of you that didn't appreciate how long my last post was, that was for my journal's sake as well. Heck, most of what I write here is. Sorry!)

First: How is it possible The Office just gets more and more clever each episode? I remember watching the first few episodes a few years ago and I even said to G, "This is hysterical, but how can they possibly keep this humor/awkwardness up more than just a few episodes." Oh my.... it gets funnier and funnier.

Second: I think I'm nesting. I've got about seven bags of stuff by the door to be donated to DI today. I've got paint swatches on the spare room wall. I'm going through baby clothes later today. I built a shelf and reorganized the spare room yesterday. I've got a list of things for G to accomplish tonight while I go to the temple, including moving the "big boy bed" into Buddy's room. I won't tell you where he's been sleeping up until this point... I hope Buddy's not mad when he grows up and realizes he didn't get moved to a big bed until he was almost four. Please don't anybody tell him!

The big plan: Buddy and Baby will sleep together eventually (Once Baby is sleeping through the night. Hopefully that's much sooner than later, if you get what I'm saying). All the toys and books will be in the "play room" (aka spare room).

All this has been happening. Meanwhile, our birth mom and her mom and step-dad are coming over for dinner to meet my parents on Sunday. SO, I've been trying to get the house in order (which is awfully hard when I'm moving stuff around and pulling bins and bins and bins from the attic). Her step-dad is an ultra clean freak (he irons his sheets), plus I want to make a good impression, so my own OCD is coming to the surface. I want the house to be perfect. I also want to show her the crib, some of our baby stuff, the paint choices, so I've got to have that organized as well.

Plus, I'm mildly worried about getting everything for the Baby in order so far ahead of time. This is an adoption, afterall, and lots of things could change. We didn't do anything to get ready for Buddy. I just couldn't. But, I'm doing this all for the birth mom. Hopefully she'll see how "prepared" and excited we are and that will make an impression. Not that I'm overly worried about her "changing her mind." Because I really think this is for real.

Then there's the meal we're serving. We're making my specialty meal: roast, gravy, G's famous mashed potatoes, roasted green beans, artisan bread, and peach/blueberry cobbler. Wouldn't that just figure that the bread won't rise (although my dad is bringing a second loaf) or the roast dries out. Ahhh... This better be good because I've been bragging to her a little bit about my love of cooking. Her and her mom love cooking too.

Third: Pirate music. Strykerlove asked what pirate music is. Buddy's friends are all really into pirates. Buddy likes pirates quite a bit (although not as much as knights and dragons) but he's completely OBSESSED with pirate MUSIC.

We have accumulated quite a little collection, including: Captain Boggs and Salty (Greg and Buddy went to one of their 'concerts' at a pirate festival about a month ago and heard them live. They're a local pirate band and sing some pretty clever kid songs. Buddy's first live show...). Buddy also likes the "Swashbuckling Sea Songs," which is music you hear at the Disn.ey.land ride, like "Yo Ho" and songs like that. His ultimate favorite, though, is the soundtrack from the first Pirates movie. We listen to it at least three times every day. And I have to admit, it isn't half bad. It's all instrumental, so Buddy acts out the movie while he listens. The coolest thing about that CD, though, is that the first time Buddy heard it, he knew exactly what was happening in the movie during each song on the CD. It was pretty incredible how well he remembers and internalizes music. G is hopeing that'll come in handy when he forms his own punk band some day.

Thursday, October 11, 2007

Getting Together To Be Together

We just returned from a rare relaxing vacation. We got together with my family at a cabin in Idaho. We haven't been all together very much since I left home, but the few times we have, it's been a harried Christmas or somebody's wedding. So, it was me and G, my sister (Myndi) and her husband (Luke), my brother (Jordan) and his wife (Tahsha) and my parents -- and then Buddy, the lone kid in the group. Needless to say, Buddy got a LOT of attention. And was extremely pleasant to be around as a result.


We stayed at an old house in the very rural community of Mink Creek, Idaho (just north of Preston, home of Napoleon Dynomite). I can see why my sister has been suggesting a trip like this for a few years. Her husband's family owns the property -- several hundred acres in the most spectacular scenery I've seen in a long time. I'm not usually one to rave about Idaho (in fact, before Buddy was born there, I suggested we just knock it right out of the union. It would make the drive to Utah a lot more bearable). But, I've changed my mind. This part at least was gorgeous. The trees had all changed colors, but the leaves hadn't started to fall yet, so everywhere you looked were brilliant fall colors.


We had a really fun time together as a family too. No one fought, and even though about half of us were pretty sick, we were all in a really good mood. We talked, ate, and pretty much laughed the entire time. It made me so thankful for the great people I call family. And this trip made me realize where I got my charm and good sense of humor.


I thought I'd give you a few highlights and low-lights from the trip.

The Low-Lights:
* The drive to Utah and back. It's SO painfully long and boring. We even made it in pretty good time (12 hours there and 11.5 hours back -- a record for us). We didn't have any weather issues (unlike last Christmas when it took 16 hours of driving in a blizzard to get there) -- but still.
* What is the matter with Idaho/Utah drivers? They're almost too predicable to be for real. The exact moment we crossed the border from Oregon to Idaho (and the same thing when we were coming home) people began driving erratically. When I lived in Utah it always amazed me how inconsiderate and crazy people were on the road and every time I leave the good state of Oregon now, I'm reminded of that. Seriously, most of the people on the road were a danger. It was bad.
* Along the same lines, why is the road quality so poor in Idaho? Driving through Boise I thought I was having a seizure the road was so bumpy. And it was like that on and off pretty much the entire time.
* I had a sinus infection. I've been battling a wicked case of allergies for about two months now. First of all, who gets allergies at my age? I've never had them until last year. And who gets them this bad? Just like last year, my allergies led to a sinus infection. I wasn't feeling very well before we left, but I didn't really have much time to dwell on it. But the night before we left it hit me. Thankfully I never felt miserable on the trip. However, I have a feeling I made everyone else feel miserable -- since I was blowing my nose constantly. Sorry guys.
* The smell driving through Jerome, Idaho. Keep in mind, I had a raging sinus infection and it didn't in the least mask the horrific smell. Imagine the smell of outhouses while camping -- with a strong odor of rotten fish. That's what it was like for a good ten miles.
* We stopped to eat in Burley, Idaho. We've stopped there on previous trips and it just amazes me how that town seems to be stuck in a time warp. We ate at a fastfood joint and it was like being in the twilight zone. The woman who took our order had hair and makeup straight out of the 70's. I really wanted to take a picture because there is no way to describe it, but I thought that would be rude. There were three different families with children who had NO shoes or socks on. Is that bizarre to anyone else?
* But believe it or not, our return trip dinner was even worse. We stopped to eat in a town called Stanfield, Oregon. I've made the drive to Utah lots of times before and have never noticed this town before. First of all, there were only two fastfood joints to choose from (and they shared a building) and pretty much every farmer and trucker from around those parts were there for dinner. That's fine, but there were other characters there that made me, well, very uneasy. Let's put it this way: When Buddy announced that he had to go poop halfway through dinner, I was MORE than happy to be the one to take him. There was no way I was going to sit there alone at the table. It was THAT bad.
* We spent several hours down by the river one day. A few people went fishing, people rode the 4-wheeler, we built a big campfire and roasted marshmallows and hotdogs, and we took some walks. And Buddy had his first experiencing pooping on a log. Thankfully I had a few Kleenexes with me because of my infection. But still... It was a little traumatic for both of us.

The Highlights:
* I already mentioned how much fun it was to be with my family.
* While we were at the cabin we didn't have cell or Internet service, so G wasn't able to do any work. Now that's a vacation!
* Buddy is a fabulous roadtrip kid. He doesn't complain and is capable of occupying himself for hours in the car with stickers, DVD boxes, crayons, etc. It's so nice and I promise to never take that for granted. However, he talks a lot and so when we needed a break, I gave him my iPod and he listened to pirate music for hours. Thank goodness for technology.
* We had the bright idea of taking a family picture. My brother suggested we wear hoodies and jeans, since that's kind of our family's style. This should have been a low-stress experience. I mean, we were out in nature having a good time. No fancy clothes, no studio, no annoying photographer, no wrestling with hairdos. But still, something about taking a family picture sends people from happy to crabby in about two seconds. It didn't help that three out of the four cameras we had with us all had battery issues. Still, we had fun, and were able to laugh about the chaos after we were all done.


* I don't love being dirty, but I also am not a fan of getting ready in the morning. This trip was perfect -- we got a hot shower every morning, but didn't have to wear makeup. How great is that?
* There is few things as enjoyable as watching a little boy having so much fun. Buddy had a ball playing with everybody. He especially loved riding the 4-wheeler and helping Luke catch and gut a fish.


* Many hands make light work. That's especially true with my family. I think I've taken it for granted that every member of my family is a hard worker -- especially Luke. No one is lazy. No one stands around. It was amazing to see how quickly tasks got done. The morning we left the cabin, I hopped in the shower and in the 20 minutes it took me to bath myself and Noah and then get dressed, most of the cabin was packed and cleaned from top to bottom. We can thank mom for teaching us that -- and for making it so important that we all married hardworkers too.
* Why does Utah have so many cheap and delicious restaurants? Cafe Rio. Mmm... When G finished up law school and we finally moved from Utah, we took pictures of us in front of our favorite restaurants. I know, it sounds kind of lame. But if you've eaten at Cafe Rio and Stans and Tucanos, you realize how sad it was to leave them behind.
* The trip was so relaxing, we didn't need another vacation when we came home. Ahhh... can't wait to do it again.

Tuesday, October 2, 2007

Playing Dress-Up

I've been wanting to post some of these pictures for a long time. Buddy LOVES to dress up, as most kids his age do. His little female friends and his cousin, Aly, are all princesses. Buddy and his little boy friends are all pirates or superheroes. We really don't have many cool costumes at our house. Buddy will probably get some for his birthday here in a few months, but for now, he just makes do with whatever supplies he has on hand. His imagination is so incredible, it's almost sad that soon he'll have "real" costumes and won't have to invent his own. Let me show you what I mean:


When we took our road trip to Reno a little while ago, Buddy sat quiet and patient in the backseat dressed up like Captain Jack Sparrow the ENTIRE ride (10 hours there and 9.5 hours back). Notice the "dreadlocks," "earring," and hook. He stared at the papers from the "Pirates of the Caribbean" DVD boxes and apparently recounted the movies in his mind several times over. For any of you that know Buddy, he doesn't normally sit still (or sit quietly), so we were just amazed he -- or anyone -- would be able to experience the movies quietly in his mind.

While were in Reno, grandma tied a blue piece of fabric around his neck and that became his "cape." For the past month, he's worn it almost constantly. He "flies" all around the house and jumps off all the furniture. There are few things as funny as watching your little boy run as fast as he can, meanwhile looking backwards to watch his cape "flapping in the wind" behind him.



Apparently on this occasion Buddy couldn't decide if he was a pirate or a superhero. He's sporting the dreadlocks, earring, pirate belt, sword, hook, eye patch, AND the cape. What you can't see in the picture is the fine attitude that accompanies him when he's in character...





And then I got this turtle costume free a couple of weeks ago. It's been too hot to wear it until just recently. Buddy thinks it's really "cool," but he said it wouldn't work because it didn't have a "mask" with it. You know how Ninja Turtles have the masks over their eyes? So Buddy decided to make do with his rooster mask he made at preschool. Is it just me or that hilarious?



And one more anecdote: We were at the gym the other day and G finished up before I did. They have small TV monitors, so you can watch what's happening in the kids' area. The screens are so small you can barely find your own child, not to mention see what's actually happening. But, on this occasion, Buddy was pretty easy to spot. He was the kid running back and forth around the room with somebody's pink blanket tied around his neck like a cape. As soon as I finished my class, G told me to watch the monitor to see how long it would take to find Buddy. It took about two seconds. All the other kids are standing around... and then there was our little boy with a pink blanket trailing behind him -- criss-crossing the monitor so fast it almost became blurry. We asked him about it later and he swore up and down that he had "asked permission" before he confiscated the child's blanket.



I wished I'd thought to check the monitor for a poor little child sobbing in the corner because "Superman" had stole her blanket.