Thursday, August 24, 2006

i can make an impact

So I was browsing J's elementary school website when I found this. The first 2 weeks of Kindergarten last year our J was lost twice because there was chaos at arrival and dismissal time around the open gates. What good is a gated Kindergarten wing when there is no enforced procedure? Any scary Joe off the street could have walked in there and led a kid away and the teacher standing near the gate (which happened to be J's teacher!) would look the other way. Needless to say there was no procedure or direction given to parents to drop off and pick up their children safely. Heck, another kid was lost the same day as J.

I had one futile conversation with the principal and wrote a firm letter to said principal and the superintendant of schools. See Dad, I did learn something from you. Namely, you can accomplish a lot with a strong letter! :) Too little, too late for us but it feels good to see that the school is formally doing something about the problem this year.

back in the shoes again

So Mom and I have been walking Lake Elizabeth religiously since..... oh, at least April. We both had dresses to get into for Dan's wedding. It was time for the summer slimdown. Dragging the chillies out every MWF at 7 AM was necessary to shed some weight and feel better. Some days I had to talk the offspring into it- sometimes not.

Well, the wedding is over. and J got sick the week after that (couldn't in good conscious drag her to the lake that way). then Mom was gone the next week. then I was camping the week after that. then Mom was gone to Girl's Camp the next week. then J goes and sabotages this week by messing up her lip (see post below). And all this translates into the fact that I haven't raised my heartbeat for longer than 10 minutes in weeks. I feel soft and flabby again. I learned it's a lot harder for me to get 3 chillies out the door by 7:30 am if there is no one at the lake to meet us. Heck, it's impossible because I didn't do it once while Mom was gone.

So in exactly five hours I'm going to lace up the running shoes and try again. J feels well enough to ride the scooter again and my friend Jen is coming with us. I will pick up where I left off and finally shed some weight FOR GOOD.

With that I am going to bed. Five hours sleep is really not enough.

Tuesday, August 22, 2006

our brave girl

****Warning- picture below might scare babies and young children!;)*****

Sweet Jessie cut her face open yesterday and we spent 4 hours in the ER getting it stitched up. The chillies and I were almost ready to walk Lake Elizabeth with Gramma Evie at 8:30 AM. Jessie and TJ had helmets on and scooters ready. Logan was exploring on the grass and riding J's scooter with her. I was just packing up the diaper bag in the car when Jessie let out a panicked cry that I instantly knew meant trouble. I turned around to see her face gushing blood from a huge gash right above her mouth. She had lowered her handle bars to let Logan ride her scooter and then tried to ride it with the bars low. She lost her balance and hit the edge of the bar on her way to the ground. After a minute putting pressure on her cut with a napkin it was obvious J needed stitches. I told J we had to go to the hospital to get the cut stitched up. She looked at me and said, "Does that mean we can't go around the Lake?" :( Gramma Evie pulled up and we were off to the ER. J and I stayed while Grammy took the boys to her house.

We sat in the waiting room for 45 minutes to get a bed. Then we waited for the ER Doc. Then we waited for the plastic surgeon who was in surgery. I read stories to J and she colored to pass the time. Finally, the plastic surgeon came in and took a look at J's cut. He explained what he was going to do and went off to get supplies. I tried to explain further to J what was going to happen; there would be a sharp pinch when the Dr. put sleepy juice in the cut and then she wouldn't feel anything while he stitched her up. As long as J knows what is coming she is a trooper in dealing with any pain or discomfort. Unfortunately, both Dr. and I negelected to mention that he would have to shoot her up more than once. Watching J struggle and cry under nurse Karen and my hands was almost heartbreaking. I whispered to her to "be still" and it would be over faster and she did. She layed there and took the last couple shots like a trooper. Towards the end of the procedure J almost fell asleep (although she did ask several times if he was done yet.)

It was pretty amazing to watch Dr. stitch her up. I'm so glad we waited all that time for a plastic surgeon because his work was so clean that J should have little scarring after it fades. Twenty stitches later and we were off to ice her quickly swelling face and chill out the rest of the day. Good thing we had no plans.

J chillin' on the couch at Grammy Evie's with Jamba Juice for lunch. We spent Family Night eating dinner and watching Nanny McPhee (super cute movie) since J didn't feel well.