Carpe diem - February 23, 2005 -
Nothing soothes the soul like a day outside in the sunshine. Especially a day spent with my favorite people in the world…..my kids.
Every day is precious. Seize them all.
Mia in her wonderful cherry dress. Thanks, Karen!
I have 4 kids!!!! I still find that so amazing!
Walking…well just about! - February 23, 2005 -
News flash! Mia is taking steps. Like in several of them at once. Like, 5…to me! My baby is walking!
She is also clapping now. When she does something totally adorable, she looks at us and starts clapping her hands, which is, in and of itself, totally adorable.
She also drops Cheerios over the edge of her highchair and says "uh oh".
Words that she speaks are as follows: mama, daddy, bird, turtle, uh-oh, diaper, dolly, bye bye. She even pairs them, such as "bye bye daddy".
Oh, and did I mention that as it grows, it becomes more apparent that her hair is very curly! My curly haired little girl! Quinn finds this wonderful, as do I.
Yes, she is growing up. It is hard to see her gaining such independence, but it is also so exciting. She is a mystery unfolding and each day brings something new. We are all so in love with her!!
A list of 10 - February 22, 2005 -
Oh, I loved Rachels Ten Things I Have Done That I Think You Haven’t, so here is mine:
1. Hiked out to a coral reef in the Sea of Cortez, where the tides fluctuate by as much as 24 feet. This makes it one of the lowest low tides in North America.
2. Popped an oyster off above mentioned reef, pulled Tabasco out of my back pocket, splashed oyster with it, then ate it. Talk about fresh.
3. Placed a herring in my mouth and had a dolphin jump up and take it out and eat it.
4. Was a dolphin/sea lion trainer in Texas and Florida.
5. Swam with sharks.
6. Sunbathed topless in Cozumel, Mexico on vacation with Bill in 1992.
7. Had a chipmunk eat a piece of Power Bar off of my shoe in Utah.
8. Was crew on a sailboat race from Corpus Christi to Galveston.
9. Ate raw octopus in Mexico.
10. Surfed waves in Oahu, Hawaii
Virion reverse transcriptase-feel the love - February 20, 2005 -
Imagine if you will, the viral process at work. The single virus particle, a virion, infects a single host (or hostess) cell. Progeny are produced, the cell lyses, or breaks open, and allows the progeny viruses access to other cells. Naked capsid viruses infect this way.
I want the naked little bastiges to GET THEIR CLOTHES ON AND GET THE HECK OUT OF MY FAMILY.
Actually, influenza doesn’t lyse cells, it is released by budding, but you get the picture.
We are dropping like flies here, man! The hard core flu, the one that we didn’t, then did, have enough vaccines for has officially landed in the jody2ms casa. I can feel the love of replication and budding in my joints and in my head. Even my finger joints ache.
Cory has had it for 2 days now with fever, aches and chills, and God bless her, Mia, is sick a-FREAKING-gain. Poor thing has been perpetually sick since before Christmas. Now Cody started coughing this morning.
I think we need Pretty Rambo here to kick some viral ass.
Spring cleaning - February 15, 2005 -
You might notice, from time to time, that I will write a post, then it disappears a few days later. It is not a web fluke. I have hind-sight delete syndrome. It is a bothersome condition brought on by the little angel on my left shoulder. The little red beast on my right shoulder is responsible for my rants, and for the hand that writes the checks for all of Mia’s "pretties" that I order online (a girl CANNOT have enough clothes).
What happens is, about 5 days before my period comes, I rant about something that happens in my little, tiny town, then I finish my period and have paranoia that I will be "dooced", so I go back and delete.
I do not want to hurt the feelings of anyone I know IRL. I believe strongly in freedom of speech etc, but I know that one day someone from my little town, (that I have not given the link to), will stumble on this site and have their feelings hurt, and that is not okay with me.
What prompted this was my discovery that my page can now be found with ease and added to an SBC Yahoo DSL front page.
So there you have it. I am, therefore I delete….until I learn how to password protect select posts.
This was a public service announcement from jody2ms.typepad.com
Testing, testing, one-two-three or four - February 15, 2005 -
So, my curiosity got the best of me. A digital readout on a pregnancy test? Now this I have to see. So I purchased a box of Clear Blue Easy Digital, and brought it on home.
Pregnancy tests are meant to be obsessed over. You wait for at least 9 days post ovulation, so your curiosity is at an all time high. You purchase the test, get home, rip the package open, and proceed with the instructions. Then you wait….and watch. You take it outside, tilt it just so. You come back in and stare at it. You put it away, and return a bit later to see if the results are still the same. Is that a second line? Hmm. Let me take a digital photo of it and share it with my on-line, fellow obsessives. Then you e-mail it around and discuss its positive possibilities.
The makers of Clear Blue Easy digital really don’t get the whole obsessive, ritualness of the 2nd line hunt. They have made it cut and dry. If you are pregnant, the test says just that, "Pregnant". If you are not, well, it says rather bluntly and insensitively, "Not Pregnant". No squinting or tilting needed. It is either a Big Fat Positive, or nothing at all. No faint positives allowed, which is bad, because contrary to popular belief, you can be just a little bit pregnant. It has happened to me, but that is another story.
CBE, in spite of its new age digitalness, is a dinosaur in regards to when you can test. One must wait until the first day of your missed period to test. First Response Early Results can detect a pregnancy 5 days before your missed period. Hmm, decisions, decisions….. digital readout? testing 5 days earlier? What to do! Well, in my world, the world of a spontaneous recurrent aborter, finding out early gives me the ability to start my nettle leaf and such to give the baby every chance to burrow in and stay put. It can mean the difference between a full term pregnancy and a miscarried one.
But, as I said, curiosity got the better of me. I did snag a two pack of FRER in addition to the new age sticks, just in case, and I tested today at 14 days post ovulation. "Not pregnant" on CBE was confirmed by one pink line on a FRER. No new news for me, as I had tested with a FRER on 9dpo and it was negative, even outside, while being tilted….but only after some fun obsessing as I looked for a second pink line.
Let them be little - February 14, 2005 -
Happy Valentines Day from my family to yours! Love your family from the very depth of your souls. Turn up the volume, click on the title below and don’t forget to let them sleep in the middle tonight.
I can remember when you fit in the palm of my hand
Felt so good in it, no bigger than a minute
How it amazes me, you’re changing with every blink
Faster than a flower blooms they grow up all too soon
So let them be little ’cause they’re only that way for a while
Give them hope, give them praise, give them love every day
Let them cry, let them giggle, let them sleep in the middle
Oh just let them be little
I’ve never felt so much in one little tender touch
I live for those kisses, prayers and your wishes
Now that you’re teaching me things only a child can see
Every night while we’re on our knees all I ask is please
Let them be little ’cause they’re only that way for a while
Give them hope, give them praise, give them love every day
Let them cry, let them giggle, let them sleep in the middle
Oh just let them be little
So innocent, a precious soul, you turn around
It’s time to let them go
So let them be little ’cause they’re only that way for a while
Give them hope, give them praise, give them love every day
Let them cry, let them giggle, let them sleep in the middle
Oh just let them be little
Let them be little
I can remember when you fit in the palm of my hand
Felt so good in it, no bigger than a minute
How it amazes me, you’re changing with every blink
Faster than a flower blooms they grow up all too soon
So let them be little ’cause they’re only that way for a while
Give them hope, give them praise, give them love every day
Let them cry, let them giggle, let them sleep in the middle
Oh just let them be little
I’ve never felt so much in one little tender touch
I live for those kisses, prayers and your wishes
Now that you’re teaching me things only a child can see
Every night while we’re on our knees all I ask is please
Let them be little ’cause they’re only that way for a while
Give them hope, give them praise, give them love every day
Let them cry, let them giggle, let them sleep in the middle
Oh just let them be little
So innocent, a precious soul, you turn around
It’s time to let them go
So let them be little ’cause they’re only that way for a while
Give them hope, give them praise, give them love every day
Let them cry, let them giggle, let them sleep in the middle
Oh just let them be little
Let them be little
Can I tell-ya, it wan’t yell-a? - February 11, 2005 -
Just a fly by post.
Mama Mia got some diarrhea. It wasn’t yella, like paella, I can tell ya. It was kiwi colored. But that would be due to the fact that she ate kiwi fruit and THEN had Cefdinir induced diarrhea. Did you know that kiwi seeds can pass straight through a digestive tract without being altered in the least? No, really! Mia’s bottom has been exfoliated with those seeds during clean ups…sort of like apricot facial scrub. TMI?? Okay, I’ll stop. But you get the picture.
Now, I must get back to my family. The boys had a half day of school today, so we are planning to make Valentines today. I ‘heart’ my kids!
To Fujisawa Pharmaceutical Co. and Abbott Laboratories - February 8, 2005 -
Antibiotics are on board now, and my sweet baby is recovering. She has had 2 doses, and it is amazing how much better she is. Her fever broke, she slept last night and she smiled.
I swear, praise God for drug companies. I don’t care how much I have to pay for them. You can’t put a price on your childs health. I am not one to take meds. I don’t even like to take Tylenol. But, when your child is in pain, and nothing else is working, it is time to go for the antiobiotics. Mia’s ear drum was bulging and infected. She was so sick. What kept running through my mind was, how did the pioneers do it? When their kids got sick, they had NOTHING in which to sooth their ill children. No antibiotics, no Tylenol, no Motrin, no humidifiers. No electricity. No central air or heating. No wonder so many babies died.
I am just so grateful that she is better. One funny thing….I used to be a research assistant for an infectious disease doctor. We did antibiotic studies. Drug companies gave us grants to conduct studies on their drugs to see if they were effective against certain bacteria and safe for use. I can personnally testify how expensive a drug study can be on just one organism. Thousands of studies are done on each antibiotic, and the least expensive ones are about $30,000. So, when I see people rant about the evils of drug companies, I know how little they know about the cost of producing each drug. One study that I did was "The Comparitive analysis of Cefdinir vs Nafcillin in the treatment of Staphylococcus aureus osteomyelitis in a rabbit model." I know those drugs inside and out. Well, when my husband gave me the bag of meds for Mia, he opened it and said "Check out the name"…..it was Cefdinir. I laughed and said "Well, I know that that drug rocks, so thank you".
Mia thanked her daddy this morning by waking up with a smile.
Thank you Fujisawa Pharmaceutical Co. and Abbott Laboratories. Thank you for producing drugs that keep my children alive and healthy.
Runners take your mark…. - February 7, 2005 -
It is marathon time here at Chateau Jody2ms.
You might ask, "Oh, are you training for a marathon?"
Well, the answer to that would be a rather blank stare from me, followed by a gawumpf and a sneer.
No, the marathons we are experiencing are much more endurance building than a puny old running marathon.
First, we have Mia’s feverathon. It started on Friday and ranges from 102-104 degrees. It resists Tylenol, and only succumbs to Motrin, which makes Mia agitated, which leads us to the next marathon.
The Insomniathon. Yes, we have gone for THREE FULL NIGHTS with little or no sleep. The start of this endurance building event begins with the appropriate physician recommended dose of Motrin. Back arching, foot kicking, and general agitation kick off this event. Anything that resembles sleep is only an illusion, as her body is in constant motion even with her eyes closed. When sleep finally does come, it is time for our next event….
The coughathon. This begins at the end of the Motrin high, when she finally drifts off and you place her in a horizontal position, because that is how sleep occurs, usually, you know, when you lie down. The coughing lasts until she gets a dose of some other insomnia inducing medication, indicated for coughing and general stuffiness.
After no sleep, torked up on meds, and in a general miserable state, we now enter the next phase of endurance…..yes, you got it………..
The SCREAMATHON!!!! This is the most conditioning of all the athons together. It works both the mind AND the body. The SCREAMATHON is something that only well seasoned athletes can handle. Runners experience something similar to it after running great distances; it is called a runners high. After enduring 6 hours of a SCREAMATHON, with no intermission, one experiences something similar to a runners high, but without the "high". The mind becomes numb, and you yell, or should I say, scream, things like "Freaking virus!" and to your Physician assistant husband "Find something wrong with her!" and "GET HER ANTIBIOTICS NOW".
We are experiencing all of the above. I hurt for my daughter.
He can walk, run, jump and dance with joy - February 3, 2005 -
First, if you are coming to this site in search of clubfoot information, please feel free to e-mail me and I can tell you about my son, Quinn, who has left clubfoot. I would love to help out in any way that I can.
When we first found out that Quinn had severe clubfoot and had made the decision to utilize the French Physiotherapy method, I was living in stress-city. Our insurance company had unofficially denied coverage for FP, so we were facing over $40,000 in physical therapy bills for just the first 6 months. I remember calling the doctors office and freaking out. The office billing clerk said to me "Mrs. Jody2ms, take a deep breath", I did, and waited. She then said the most insightful words I could imagine at that point, in my 9 day post partum delirium. She said "Mrs. 2ms, I know this is all very upsetting, but I want you to know…..your son WILL walk. Dr. W goes to Haiti on mission trips to surgically correct clubfoot there, and the children’s clubfeet are so bad, they come down from the mountains walking on the tops of their feet to get to the clinics. Their feet get corrected. Your son’s will too." It was then that I sat down on my kitchen floor and started crying. I am a nurse, and I know clubfoot is not life threatening, but I was so scared for my tiny baby, and this woman spoke kindness to me.
So, my words to you are, your child will walk. He/she will run, jump and dance. You just have to decide what method of correction you chose to use. If I can assist in directing you to Ponsetti, FP or a doc in your area who utilizes a non-surgical method for clubfoot correction, please e-mail me and I would be more than happy to help. I am getting anywhere from 3-5 hits each day from people searching for clubfoot information.
In other news, my left ovary saluted, and I am officially in the 2ww. Please send good vibes, as this will be a stressful time for me given my miscarriage history and the fact that we have a full size bed and we co-sleep. I can assure you we WILL be getting the California King of my dreams if I am pregnant, as we are already full to the brim with Mia, Bill, Quinn and I in the full.
Carry on.
