Random picture and update on E

Elizabeth is doing better. She came home from the hospital Wednesday, Thursday night she was back in again, and now it looks like she'll come home tomorrow. Her kidneys seem to have finished torturing her for the moment. Cross your fingers.

Talk about your Mondays

This lady is causing trouble.

At 3:00 AM on Monday morning, she called to tell me she was in quite a bit of pain and they were heading to the hospital. Todd and I bundled Micah up and drove over to stay with Daniel. A few hours later, she and her husband came back to report that she probably had a kidney stone, so the doctor sent her home to drink fluids and TAKE TYLENOL.

(Tylenol. For an effing KIDNEY STONE. That's like saying, "Oh, your arm's off? Here, use this duct tape.")

Monday evening, after many many hours of intense pain, they were back at the hospital where she finally received some lovely, wonderful Demerol. Micah and I spent the night with Daniel again. Today they (finally) got confirmation that she has two kidney stones, and tomorrow the doctors will (finally) be Doing Something about it.

Since Todd's out of town again, my mother came down to wrangle the 3-year-old, which means there's a good chance I'll actually get to sleep tonight. IN MY OWN BED. In the meantime, Elizabeth is doing a little better, and after her surgery tomorrow she should be feeling mostly back to normal. Or as normal as a 34-weeks pregnant woman can, I guess. But I'm sure this one ranks pretty high on her list of worst weeks ever.

Clearly I'm not getting any work done today

After reading this article, I had to go and take the National Drivers Test myself.

They said I scored an 90%, but I have to cry foul because one of the questions I missed was about how far ahead of a turn you should put on your signal. I said 50 feet, they said 100 feet, but lo, page 30 of the Tennessee manual says "At least 50 feet before the turn, you must turn on your turn signal light." Seeing as that's where I learned to drive, I'm going to say I nailed that one, ya jerks.

(Although to be fair, in Alabama, where I now live, it actually is 100 feet. I guess I learned something new today.)

So, 95% on remembering the driving laws I was taught, 90% on pertinent state law. That means Todd can't give me any more crap when I bitch about another driver doing something illegal. I KNOW WHAT I'M TALKING ABOUT, DAMMIT.

(Also, I kind of want to print out page 23 of the Alabama Manual - the one with all the diagrams of what lane you're effing SUPPOSED to turn into - and put a copy on every windshield in this entire city.)

Suddenly, SQUAWK! THUMP!

Hey, thanks for your opinions! (Except you, Jeff. Except you.) In the end, b, e, and c won (in that order), so I went ahead and sent in the photos. You can see the album here. The 20 semi-finalists in Micah's age bracket will be selected sometime around July 14th, but since there are currently 55,595 entries, with 33 days left to enter, let's just say I'm not getting my hopes up. ;-)

In other news, I've kind of been on a nostalgic kick lately, and as a result have been looking up books I loved when I was little (The Ordinary Princess, The Castle in the Attic, The Indian in the Cupboard, The Mouse and the Motorcycle, and several baby books). There's one picture book my grandmother used to read to us about a witch and a house with red-checkered curtains and blueberry pancakes. The storyline had been more or less lost to time, although I remembered those few details, and I'd actually forgotten the title until blessed Yahoo dredged it up for me. Old Black Witch! by Wende and Harry Devlin was my favorite, the most requested book on her shelf (besides the one about ballet), and I wanted to get a copy for Micah. And wow, did you know that a new, shiny copy of that book will run you $175? I think perhaps I'll stick with a nice, used copy, THANKS. And that'll still put you out $20 or so. Apparently I'm not the only one who loves that book.

Suddenly, SQUAWK! THUMP! And down from the chimney fell a big, black mess. It was covered with cobwebs and made terrible sounds. It stumbled out of the fireplace into the room. From its long, pointed hat to its long, pointed shoes, it was covered with ashes. It was a fright. It was furious. And it was an old black witch.

I know Micah's just a bit young now, but I'm trying to grab up all the good books before they vanish. I'm hoping and betting he'll have the same love of reading as I do, and while I'm sure he'll find his own favorites, I want to have a few things sitting around for him to stumble across. Also, it gives me the chance to go back and read-read them myself. WIN!

(Ooooh! Ooooh! I just found another one - Miss Suzy. I remember that book!)

Halp!

I'm toying around wtih the idea of submitting Micah for the Parents magazine cover photo contest. To do so, I need up to six current photos taken by me within one month of entry.

The judging goes like this:

34% based on overall appearance of the child as shown in the photo(s)
33% based on personality of child as expressed through the photo(s)
33% based on quality of photo(s)

So, if I were to do such a thing, I'm trying to decide which photos I'd use. The problem is, I haven't taken many photos in the last month that I think are particuarly good by the sorts of standards we're talking about here (bad color, bad lighting, poor focus, etc). This is where I'd like your opinion.

Here are the ones I'm pretty sure I'd like to include:



And here are the ones I'm debating:

a) b) c) d)

e) f) g)

So, if you had to pick three additional photos (or replacements), which ones would you submit, keeping in mind the judging criteria?

Go go go

Hokay, so, Saturday I hosted a baby shower for my sister. I think it was fun, everyone said they had fun, but for me, it's kind of a blur of dealing with a fussy baby while simultaneously fretting over being a good hostess and trying to snap a few pictures here and there. I'll say it was definitely a lot of fun toplan.

(Side Note: Thank you thank you thank you to my mother, Jessica, and Todd for all their help cooking, cleaning, and all that stuff. I seriously couldn't have done it without you, NO LIE.)

I think the part I was the most pleased with was the bit where I had fabric markers and plain white onesies in three different sizes for people to decorate for the baby. All during the shower people were in there drawing away, and at the end, the baby had several super cute, totally original outfits. WIN!

Sunday, Todd and I drove down to see Todd's grandfather at the UAB ICU. I was unhappy to learn that the term "visiting hours" really means "a visiting half-hour, a large portion of which you spend in line for hand sanitizer." We did get to see him, but he'd just been sedated and wasn't really awake or talking. Because the visiting times are three hours apart, we had to leave before the next one, so we'll be heading back down there for a little while next weekend. I think Micah cheered everyone up a good bit, though.

Now it's Monday, and I'm up against at least three critical deadlines with work crap, probably more like four or five by the end of the week. If you need me, I'll be over here in the corner, breathing into a paper bag.

At least I have a cute baby, right?

Bathtime

Gratuitous baby photo Thursday!

Whirlwind

On Wednesday, I took Micah back to his pediatrician to follow up on the most recent incarnation of the ear infection we've been fighting since JANUARY. On Thursday, we went in to see the ENT. And early Friday morning, Micah had tubes put in both ears.

It was, needless to say, kind of a crazy week.

On the upside, Todd plays hockey with both the ENT and the anesthesiologist who took care of Micah, which went a long way towards helping me climb down off the ceiling. They both did a great job, and Micah was in and out in about 15 minutes. He was mightily pissed off by the anesthesia and continues to be super clingy, but overall, I think he's doing much better.

This coming Saturday I'm hosting a baby shower for my sister. In preparation, Todd and I spent some time this weekend doing small bits of painting we've been putting off since before Micah was born, so I no longer develop a nervous tic just walking out of the kitchen. I THINK I've got everything planned out, my parents are coming down Friday afternoon to help me finish everything up, and HOLY CRAP, I just might be able to pull this off!

In other news, I finally got my new lens. I haven't had much time to play with it yet (I WONDER WHY), but I kind of think I love it. It's taking some serious getting used to, but I'm looking forward to putting it to use.

Worst daycare mom EVER

It's Teacher Appreciation Week? And they expect gifts and cards and stuff that, like, shows appreciation? OH SHIT.

Okay, so, I guess we're busting out the quick-whip-something-up-in-Photoshop photocard thing? WE SURE ARE.