Whoops

Missed a sort of big one: Micah's 2nd Adoption Anniversary. July 9th or 10th, depending on whether one bases it on physical custody (the 9th) or the actual signing of papers (the 10th), the anniversary completely blew by us. Ooops. He is clueless at present, about adoption that is. Hard to believe that two years ago we were just getting home from our post-China beach week and we had a baby in the house whose only word was "Up!" Now, two years, three trips to the Emergency Room, one toilet later, quite a few people have asked us, 'Does he ever shut up?' And there are times I wish he could be a little quieter, he probably never will shut up - too many people have invested too much time and effort to get him this chatty. So chatty, he even talks in his sleep, which amazes me.


Got his pre-op clearance appointment made for next week, got to get him to the lab for a blood draw. Sigh, that will not be fun. His doctor is lucky because I've completed a good bit of the paperwork.

I'll have to circle September 6th on the calendar, it will be the 5th anniversary of Thea's adoption - and she does understand quite a bit more than Micah about being adopted, and I don't want to forget it in the hoopla and preparation of schools' starting (on the 8th (Micah, I think) and 9th (Thea, again not sure), I just want to make it through August and Scarlett O'Hara the rest for now.

CPR

I thought my CPR certification expired in May of this year - it's good for two years, so it's easy to forget about. And this time I really did it. It had expired back in February, oops. Score another point for mommy-brain.

Thanks to my wonderful assistant, Meghan, who did all the leg work to register both me and the other NP I work with (who had a much, much better reason for letting her CPR card expire), tonight was the night to get legal as far as BLS goes. Thanks to the office for paying for it . In my mind, suffering DOES NOT build character, especially when one has to pay for one's own torture.

Thank you to the instructor, who made it practically painless - except for a little stress on the knees kneeling over the Resusci-Annie to do the chest compressions, and wonderfully short.

Another piece of bureaucratic minutiae, the State of New Jersey actually processed my CDS license in record time. A CDS is a controlled/dangerous substance license, which is a ridiculous $20 annual fee and the time it takes to go on-line and answer the questions, plug in the Visa card number and print the receipt. Why this is necessary when I already have a DEA license (which is federal, good for three years, and costs a about $350 more than the CDS license), I have no idea. It probably costs NJ more than $20 to maintain the record, send out the renewals and process the document. Or maybe I'm just cynical. Me? Cynical? Never.

1,000 ! ! ! !

The little 'hit' counter that I put on the blog almost 15 months after I started writing registered it's one-thousandth hit today. Proof that a watched pot does not boil, I checked in yesterday three or four times only to see 998 each time.

I'm probably more excited than one should be under the circumstances.

In the Aisle at the Grocery Store. . .

. . .I wrote about going to the grocery store, but forgot about the most interesting part. As we were cruising the soup/canned goods aisle, Thea hanging off the front of the cart, Micah in the kid seat, groceries piling up, a lady comes over to us and says, "He has the same thing I have!" and pulls back the hair behind her ear to show us her BAHA on an implanted post. Yikes, attack of the BAHA lady! She is clearly thrilled to meet another person with BAHAs, Micah who is usually incredibly sociable, doesn't quite know what to make of this lady, who is now joined by her husband and two kids. Her microtia is not quite as severe as Micah's, and she said she had auditory canal surgery (though was still using her BAHAs and I couln't really see her canals clearly. It made her day, but the kids were just as happy to move on to the next aisle.

We had a funny exchange about who made her aids . When I asked if she had Cochlear BAHAs, she said, no. They were made in Sweden (where Cochlear's HQ is.) It was one of those you had to be there moments, straight out of "Who's on First?"

Some days I think I might actually prefer those who make stupid comments or stare better than those who come up to you oozing enthusiasm and energy. At least on those days when I don't get to hit the Dunkin Donuts before I hit the grocery store.

Sunday

Today was our last full day as a threesome. No specific goals, just hanging out.

Yesterday we went to the office for the morning, where not much of anything was happening - warm weather and blue sky tends to keep people occupied. So I worked on my lab letters, clearing out my in-box and getting things organized. The children were occupied by Earla, and the DVD player and Leapster that we brought along.

We invited Earla out to lunch - I'd promised Thea that we'd go to Tiger Noodles. It was nice to have another person along since Micah is not one to sit still and stay in his chair for long. We offered her a ride to Diamond Nation in Flemington where her daughter was playing in a softball tournament. Love that GPS, it got us home via the back roads (once on Route 31 through the Flemington Circle, one of Satan's best creations being quite enough.) I put up the rectangular pool and the kids went in for awhile - which turned to more of a refereeing job for me. Until I yanked Micah out when his lips turned purplish blue. Thea, who has a thicker layer of protective padding, stayed in, paddling back and forth wedged in her swimming ring for another 40 minutes.

After dinner we went for a walk (me) and bike ride (the kids) which made me realize we have got to get Thea a bigger bike. I got her bike in 2007 shortly before we went to China; it was all of $20 at a consignment shop where I was buying the Stand-n-Stroll double stroller that we took along when we picked up Micah. It fits Micah now, though he can be just as happy tooling along on his tricycle.

The ride/walk landed us at the neighborhood park, where Thea showed me she can now hang upside down without holding on - great, don't do it in front of your brother, if he does it, he'll fall on his head.

Home for ice cream, baths, bedtime reading and sleep. Micah and I read "Llama, Llama, Red Pajama" and "Bathtime for Biscuit."

Micah, who has been asleep by 8:30 pm for the last few nights, was up at 6:30 am today. Love the early bedtime, hate the consequences.

After breakfast, we headed for ShopRite. My intention was to dump the dynamic duo in Scrunchy's Playhouse so I could zip through the shopping list, their intention was to stick to me like ticks.

Then we headed to Panera (Thea's request), which turned out to be a brilliant idea because of the plaza with the fountain (which isn't really a fountain). It's a series of about eight to ten paired water spouts coming out of the cement at varying intervals and varying heights.

Thea's played in it almost every summer, but Micah's managed to miss out until today. It took him exactly thirty seconds before he was soaked from head to toe and just squealing with utter delight at this amazing thing. Thea managed to run through it, play in it, stomp on the spouts, barely getting a drop on her.

I sat on a bench, taking pictures, enjoying the sunshine and the joy of my children. Until a dripping Micah, who is in a tighty-whitey and shorts and has been doing remarkably well with the whole potty-training thing, comes up to me and says "Mommy, I have to pee, NOW." Great, it's not like I can just bop back into Panera with a child who is making puddles of one sort or another.

Fortunately it's a hot day, no one was nearby and the puddle dried quickly.

Once Thea had had enough, we headed for the car and were just about to cross the parking lot when Thea sounded the potty alarm. Fortunately she's got better control and knew the way back to the restroom at Panera. I threw Micah in to a Michael's cart and rolled him to the door at Panera's closest to the restroom.

His clothes were cold, so a stripped him down, and while we were waiting for Thea, he sounds another alarm for the bathroom. Oh joy, naked boy, pile of wet clothes, shopping cart, purse.

We went in. And after settling his little butt on the toilet and checking on Thea, he promptly jumps off, locks the stall and says "I need PRIVACY, Mommy." Crap, crap, crap. He's naked, in public and is telling me that he needs his privacy.

And since he was in the water, his BAHAs are in my purse, not on his head. Damn, damn, damn. The only way he's going to hear me is if I'm banging out 70 decibels, which is almost as good as broadcasting to the entire restaurant.

Finally we got out of the bathroom, back to the shopping cart (great camoflage) and out to the parking lot and Micah into a pull-up and on the way home. Micah was asleep before we were even out of the parking lot.

On the way home we called Thea's friend Emily's to see if a backyard pool date was in the cards for the afternoon. Fortunately they were looking to get out of the house, even if it was just to come over to our inflatable pool and swampy backyard. Emily is the the perfect friend because she comes with a little brother who is about six months younger than Micah. Micah spent the first part of the playdate comatose on my chair, and then he had no interest in the pool.

The other three stayed out until they were thoroughly chilled, and then the playdate moved inside. Micah and Nate mostly wanted to follow their older siblings around, and the girls just wanted to play without the interference of little brothers. The kids had dinner and more playing. Then after their friends went home, Thea wanted to swim some more, and Micah decided that he wanted to join her.

They did really well - even though both wanted the swim ring, with the help of the microwave timer set for five minutes each time, they managed to share.

Micah stayed out until his teeth were chattering and the lips were blue, so he came in to get tossed in the tub. Thea stayed out for another 30 minutes paddling around with the swim ring until it was her turn for the tub.

Good timing, a thunderstorm was brewing and really started kicking up - enough to knock out the DishTV (bye, bye True Blood and Entourage).

Flying Solo

I'm on my own with the kids until Monday. So far, so good. Everyone was in bed by 9 pm, teeth brushed, and minimal nagging.

Thea is sleeping in her orange YWCA camp t-shirt. She looks like a traffic cone. Today was supposed to be a trip to the Shore, but it got changed to a visit to the movies, and deja vu of Ice Age 3D. She went over to her friend's house again after camp, Micah and I went to Target during rush hour which was not the smartest move.

Because Thea is wearing an orange t-shirt, Micah is in his orange Summit School shirt. He's back to his shameless adoration and copying of his older sibling, which I am using to my advantage by having her model the behavior I want him to do. In this way, I got both of them to eat their broccoli tonight without dawdling. Watching him sit next to her at dinner, aping her every move was a hoot. Thea picks up her hot dog, takes a bite, Micah does the same, she dips it in ketchup (sick! mustard is for hot dogs), he does the same, and on and on.

Now I just need to pull off getting him, up fed and on the van and then take Thea to camp and I get a day to myself.

Once Upon an Aching Knee. . . .

Two days ago, at lunch, I was trying to be nice by going around the table to sit closer to the drug rep who had brought lunch to hear about her products, and in doing so I hit my left upper thigh against the corner of the window sill.

Which was bad enough, I whacked it hard enough to break the skin and got a nice egg-sized bruise. But that pain passed quickly and my right knee soon began to scream at me. My right foot must have been firmly planted on the floor, so the jolt against the sill jarred the knee. Within minutes it swelled up so that the neoprene sleeve I wearing became painfully tight.

And I left the lunch room to go back to my office to whimper and whine.

The knee that had been seeming to improve to the point where I was taking less and less of the medication feels like it's back to square one.

One step closer to going for an MRI. One of these days, when I have a spare moment.

This past Sunday Thea and Micah got to spend the afternoon with Tesh, and Mary (Tesh's daughter), and Jesse (the practice administrator's son) while Steve and I went to the wedding of one of the doctors who used to be at the practice. They got to go see Ice Age 3D, visit the cats and play mini-golf while we got to hang out with grown-ups. The bride's grandmother lives in a house on the Delaware River, and the family must've bribed the weather gods because they had a perfect day. Sunny, bright, a few clouds in the sky, sailboats bobbing at the docks. During the time between the ceremony and reception, Steve and I went with Monique (one of the NPs at the practice who moved on to greener pastures in retail health) and Charlie to a dockside bar on the river for a drink.

The reception was an food fest, from the cocktail hour to the dinner, to the dessert bar. So we were stuffed like ticks and slightly liquored up. So much so that Monique actually stayed for most of the reception despite her 'weddings give me a rash' attitude. And as a bonus, we snagged an invitation to her pool in a couple of weeks.


Thea is having fun at the YWCA's Adventure Camp, a two-week break from YingHua. Her friend Emily is in the same group (the Lions), and she gets to go swimming every day. Micah is doing well in school and the calendar is gradually creeping closer to the surgery date as summer rolls on. . . .