pa-jammy
At our company’s Grand Meetup every year, we have to give a short (max 4 minutes) talk on anything we want. I basically repurposed an old blog post for this year’s.
Also, someone should tell me to not move around so much while I’m talking.
Here’s a link to the video I played for last year’s flash talk.
And it’s only Thursday? Argh.
Monday was possibly the worst, with sickness of the human and canine variety, but Tuesday came in a close second. I drove the kids to school (each trip is about an hour round trip – longer during rush hour, maybe a little shorter when it’s not) in the morning. And then a couple of hours later, I got a call from the school nurse. No, not Linus. This time it was Oliver.
I was in the middle of the first of two interviews I had scheduled, so I asked if he could hang out in the nurse’s office until I was free. She said okay, so around lunchtime, I made the trek to get Oliver.
He just needed a little medicine and a breathing treatment, but before too long, he was fine. Whew.
And then two hours later, we had to make the trip again, this time in afternoon rush hour, to pick up from school. (I don’t usually drive in the mornings, only when Mary Catherine travels for work, which fortunately isn’t that often. And it’s fine because I travel for work too.)
Okay, driving to school three times in a day probably didn’t warrant four paragraphs. I’m being overly dramatic.
Wednesday was fine. No one was sick. Ziggy’s digestive system is definitely responding to his meds and disgusting wet food. Yay! Finally got my correct Christmas cards in the mail (from the other family, not Minted) so now I just have to go stand in a very long line to get postcard stamps.
I did write a scathing (well, for me) review on google of the place the boys had their party at last weekend. I’m not ready to think about that yet, much less blog about it.
But how in the world is it only Thursday?
Tomorrow will be good. I don’t have to drive to school at all! Ziggy has a vet appointment, and fingers crossed he gets the all-clear and his vaccinations so we can start going on walks again!
In other news, happy birthday to my mom! Since we gave her her birthday gift last weekend (a giant framed copy of this), now I can share:
My mom’s birthday gift 7 years ago was an engagement ring from Larry. So glad she said yes, and not just because we got a free cruise. Ha!
I feel like the past four months have been nothing but illness around here. Our next door neighbor is a pediatrician and she opened her own practice a couple of months back and I’m fairly sure we must be her best patients. I remember telling her before her practice opened that we’d probably hardly ever be there because the boys hardly ever get sick.
And then they proceeded to be sick constantly. Last week they were all coughing and having a touch of asthma, but Linus just couldn’t shake it. We got him on steroids last week, he was okay over the weekend, and then this morning, he woke up wheezing bad again. So back to the doctor today. The kid hasn’t been at school since Wednesday.
In fact, I just got a call from my friend Alicia, because her daughters were so worried about Linus (he’s their favorite.) Anyway, he’ll be back at school tomorrow, whew.
The Zigster is another matter. He has been having digestive issues since before we got him. We thought they were resolved, but apparently not. So I took him to the vet near us today and it turns out he has hookworm. I was having nightmare visions of surgery to remove a lego or something, so I’m quite relieved it’s treatable.
The vet thinks he might also have IBS of some sort (irritable bowel syndrome) which would mean having him on bland food for a while. For now we have him on this wet food that is so disgustingly repulsive. I swear, I was able to bring a sample of really gross stuff (I won’t go into detail) without gagging but opening that can of food almost had me barfing everywhere. Yuck.
He won’t be able to go on long walks until he’s better (plus, we don’t know if he’s been vaccinated) but at least we reinforced the iron fence this weekend so he can’t get out.
Pics!
The boys hate staying still for pictures, but Ziggy loves it! Well, I might be projecting.
Linus is home sick today so they’re just chillin on the sofa.
Ziggy got here last night, and it went surprisingly well, especially after I moved his crate into the bedroom so he wasn’t alone. I feel like I just brought home a newborn for the first time. I guess it was almost 8 years ago exactly that Oliver came home…
Anyway. Expect lots of pictures. Lots.
Meet Ziggy (I think.)
That face. I could not resist. You know I am not a dog person. But I kind of figured that it was inevitable that we would get one, one day. I knew it would be good for the boys. Linus even said the other day that he wanted a puppy for Christmas.
Let me back up a little.
A few weeks ago, my coworker (who lives here) mentioned that his roommate had found a dog wandering around in the street. They took him in, tried to find his owner, took him to the vet, and advertised, to no avail. No one claimed the dog. I saw a picture and said, “aw, cute.” My coworker said, “you want him?” I said, “no friggin way.” (They couldn’t keep the dog for various reasons, but not because of the dog, if that makes sense.)
Actually, I’m not sure what happened after that. I guess he mentioned the dog again here and there. I saw a few more pictures. I asked a few questions. I talked to George. I asked more questions. And it all culminated in my coworker and his roommate bringing the dog to our house last night.
We took him for a walk. The boys walked him. They got him to sit. We took him to our friend Steph’s house to see how he acted around other dogs (this is important, since our friends get together with dogs all the time.) On the way, we passed the pub, and the dog went right up to the door, eager to go in. I think George was won over at that moment.
We got to Steph’s, and our friends that really know dogs checked him out. They played with him, held him, observed him around the other dogs. And he passed their tests with flying colors. So we asked my coworker and his roommate if we passed the test. We did!
We need a few days to get the house (and ourselves) ready for a dog, so we’re going to get him on Thursday and bring him home.
I know there are people who are going to think I’m crazy. Especially anyone who knew me as a child (I was absolutely terrified of dogs.) But this dog is kind of perfect for us. And I do want the boys to grow up with a dog. So here we go!
They were positively giddy this morning. Birthdays are awesome. 🙂
My sweet boys, I can’t believe you’re 8 years old! This seems absurd.
I should talk here about what they’re like at the ripe old age of 8, but honestly, isn’t that why I have this blog? You probably already know that they love Pokemon and soccer and have just started reading chapter books. They’re homebodies who’d rather stay home. They love chocolate, ice cream, hot dogs, chicken nuggets, and pizza. (Such cliches!)
Anyway, I have loved every age more and more (since they turned 4) and I hope 8 follows the same trend.
Happy birthday, my bunnies!
(Monthly pic to come later.)
Okay, sit down, this is gonna be a long one.
Sunday, November 22
Stephanie drove us to the cruise terminal, so we were able to avoid paying for parking or a taxi. The boys were so excited. I was proud of my minimal packing skills. Though later I will have wished for more clothes. We waited in several lines to get on the ship, but finally, we were on!
I can’t believe it’s December 1. Three days from my babies’ birthday. Yikes. We kind of skipped over Thanksgiving so I’m just realizing how much I have to do now.
Birthday shopping, Christmas shopping, Christmas tree! Christmas cards! Decorating! Advent calendar (whew, remembered to pull that out today)! Etc, etc. Oh god. The elf. Can’t forget the elf. He can come after the boys’ birthday.
I used to get really nostalgic at this time of the year for when I was in the hospital for that week and a half before the boys were born. But as the years have gone by, I have forgotten that November 25 was at one point a monumental day (the day I was admitted.) I used to be able to tell you what happened on each day leading up to the 4th. Well, I mean, thanks to my blog, I can still do that. But I don’t feel compelled to relive each of those days and mentally slap myself for begging the doctor to deliver them.
I’m actually glad that I’m not using precious brain space to think about stuff that I can’t change. Nor am I storing the details of their infancy that don’t matter (I used to be able to rattle off the ounces of formula they ate, the brands of diapers we used, etc. No more!)
Anyway. Happy December 1!
We just got home today from a week-long cruise with the whole family, and while I will be writing up a very detailed post with pics and stuff, I wanted to jot down a few things before I forget.
I am still a little dizzy. I didn’t get seasick or anything, but getting your land legs back is a real thing. My body is adjusting to being still for once.
I am terrified of getting on a scale. There’s just so much food. And it was good. And rich. Oh, right, and we had the unlimited beverage package. So there was that too. I think I’m going to try to detox for a week or so, and then see how bad the damage is.
The boys were kind of celebrities on the ship. By the end of the cruise, if I just had one of them with me, random people would say, “you lost two!”
It was really awesome to hang out with my siblings and their kids and spouses. We don’t get together often enough. No wonder since we’re spread out all over the place.
The boys are now all eating new foods. Oliver ordered PB&J at every meal, they all scarfed down calamari (okay, we told them it was shrimp), and Miles stole half of my lamb at last night’s dinner.
And they ate so much food. I mean, the ice cream alone – Miles ate about 8 cones a day. Not even exaggerating. Their breakfast plates were piled high with bacon, sausage, pancakes, cereal, toast, etc. And then we’d have lunch, and at dinner, they’d order two or three entrees each. And eat them all.
More to come…
My nieces are in town! (So is my nephew, but he was running in circles so no picture at the moment.)
Quite the change from 8 years ago…
Oh I mean also their parents. Miles adores Uncle Evan.
Well, his Apple watch, anyway.
Soccer is over! It was fine – not a huge time commitment, and the boys loved it. Well, unless they were losing. But whatever. I’m just glad it’s over because the mosquitoes were getting seriously dangerous and huge at practice. Stupid global warming.
Anyhoo, they did great! Well, Oliver wasn’t feeling well, so he didn’t play too much. But Miles and Linus both scored! More than once! So that was fun.
They got medals at the end.
Team pic!
and Grandee and Larry came to watch!
Until Spring, maybe? Only if they can still play in the recreational league. We’ll see.
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