Ever since I’ve had kids I’ve been one of those moms that would say, if pressed, that one of the reasons I make it work staying at home is because I just don’t want to miss any of my kids’ “moments”. Well, I realized today, that there are moments that I’ll miss and do, now that I’m working a few days a week. Furthermore, I will relish in the fact that I am blessedly able to miss these moments and can leave them for my totally awesome and adored sitter, Lauren.
Lauren had all three at the pool today and Finn pooped right on the deck near the water. A nice green log dropped right out of the leg of his trunks. (What’s up with the ineffective mesh thing inside??) She rushed him into the shower and when she came out, a life guard was picking it up. She is mortified. I feel terrible for her, especially because a guy she knows works there. (I may be old, but I remember those days!!) But if I’m being honest, all I’m really thinking is, “Hot Damn! That is money well spent!”
End of summer = Big tip for Lauren
Monday, June 22, 2009
Monday, June 15, 2009
Can I bum a smoke?
I should be working right now. I was - and then I stopped. With all the bizarre situations I have been in, this might take the cake. As my hands shake, shoulders ache and I taste nicotine in my mouth, I have to wonder…. Could this be right?
As many of my close friends and family know, I have been in an ongoing battle with a condition called ulcerative colitis since I was pregnant with Logan. I was blessed to go into remission after her birth and my symptoms didn’t resurface until October of 2007 – what a reprieve! Following the advice of my doctor, I discontinued one of my meds in December of 2006 and that likely led to my problems nearly a year later. Now, almost twenty-one months since then, I am up to sixteen pills a day combined with a few other not-so-pleasant drugs and my symptoms, although better, still persist. I’ve managed to enlist the services of the inflammatory bowel disease guru at the University of Chicago, who helped me get back to normal years ago and plan to keep him as my primary GI doctor now. Let me just say that the university environment has thrown me into a world of the unexpected – which is where I am at this very moment.
Since I started back at U of C, the specialists there have been suggesting that I start smoking, just five cigarettes a day. Apparently, it is very rare for a smoker to have the disease and when you compare cancer rates of the general public, light smokers and ulcerative colitis patients; colon cancer from UC wins, hands down. The Mayo Clinic has done extensive studies on this and they concur that it is successful for an overwhelming number of ulcerative colitis patients. I just can’t deal with actually smoking and I’ve been trying other things since March, but as of my visit last week, I agreed to give the nicotine patch a go.
Now consider this: most, well, all people who use the patch are quitting smoking. They already have loads of nicotine swimming around in their veins. I don’t, so I went from zero to sixty in minutes. I smoked a bit in my partying days, but not since the nineties. So here I sit, at my desk, with my babysitter and three kids swirling around me. I have shaky hands and a huge nicotine buzz. I feel revved up and relaxed at the same time and I taste and smell cigarettes. My leg, where I affixed the patch, aches. I feel like I should be sitting out on my porch with some good old Florida friends and could really go for a beer.
Seriously, what kind of alternate universe am I living in? I hope this damn thing works.
As many of my close friends and family know, I have been in an ongoing battle with a condition called ulcerative colitis since I was pregnant with Logan. I was blessed to go into remission after her birth and my symptoms didn’t resurface until October of 2007 – what a reprieve! Following the advice of my doctor, I discontinued one of my meds in December of 2006 and that likely led to my problems nearly a year later. Now, almost twenty-one months since then, I am up to sixteen pills a day combined with a few other not-so-pleasant drugs and my symptoms, although better, still persist. I’ve managed to enlist the services of the inflammatory bowel disease guru at the University of Chicago, who helped me get back to normal years ago and plan to keep him as my primary GI doctor now. Let me just say that the university environment has thrown me into a world of the unexpected – which is where I am at this very moment.
Since I started back at U of C, the specialists there have been suggesting that I start smoking, just five cigarettes a day. Apparently, it is very rare for a smoker to have the disease and when you compare cancer rates of the general public, light smokers and ulcerative colitis patients; colon cancer from UC wins, hands down. The Mayo Clinic has done extensive studies on this and they concur that it is successful for an overwhelming number of ulcerative colitis patients. I just can’t deal with actually smoking and I’ve been trying other things since March, but as of my visit last week, I agreed to give the nicotine patch a go.
Now consider this: most, well, all people who use the patch are quitting smoking. They already have loads of nicotine swimming around in their veins. I don’t, so I went from zero to sixty in minutes. I smoked a bit in my partying days, but not since the nineties. So here I sit, at my desk, with my babysitter and three kids swirling around me. I have shaky hands and a huge nicotine buzz. I feel revved up and relaxed at the same time and I taste and smell cigarettes. My leg, where I affixed the patch, aches. I feel like I should be sitting out on my porch with some good old Florida friends and could really go for a beer.
Seriously, what kind of alternate universe am I living in? I hope this damn thing works.
Thursday, June 11, 2009
Times Like These
With all the planning and effort that goes into all that we do, it’s ironic how life boils down to tiny moments of clarity; times when you realize that you’re exactly where you should be. I am so grateful, that right in the middle of each day’s frenetic chaos, I am still able to find these moments and savor them. I wouldn’t have expected one to occur at Just Tires on Tuesday. Nope, I had no desire to go get my tire patched with three kids along for the ride, at all. The four of us sat waiting in Adirondack chairs on a sidewalk facing the parking lot at 3 p.m. on a seventy degree sunny day. We joked and played chair hokey pokey, practiced bubble blowing, took goofy pictures and laughed like crazy. It took this moment of making the best out of something none of us wanted to do to remind me how blessed I truly am, that I like these three people better than anyone else in the whole world and that I can’t imagine my life any other way. Well, I guess I could do without the whining and potty on the floor, but it’s all worth it for times like these. 
Sunday, June 7, 2009
It's a wrap!
The end of May and beginning of June have brought a ton of events our way. Here are just a few shots from the big doings in our neck of the woods….
Finn's 3rd Birthday
Riley and her soccer coach!
Mommy and Daughter Brownie Tea
Off to Kindergarten!
On to Second Grade..... summer officially begins!
So what's on the docket now? Summer is already packed with loads of fun: our annual trip to North Carolina (Logan is heading out a week early for some sailing and alone time with Grandmom and Granddad), gymnastics and pool time, baseball games and block parties and Girl Scout camp and even Great America. Most of all I'm looking forward to a different routine for a few months... we need it!
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