An update

We went to the clinic early on Friday and Harry has a bad ear infection - as I suspected. I also have an ear infection on top of a sinus infection and a bronchial thing that has caused me partial laryngitis. That sounds bad, but honestly, the worst part is my plugged ears. My hearing is actually decreased by about 50% because of all the fluid build-up in my ears. The doc says it won't go away for at least 3-4 days. In the meantime, Harry and I are suffering through together, and last night was particularly bad. He was up at 3:30 crying in pain and it took an hour (and Ibuprofen) to calm him down. I'm just waiting for those antibiotics to kick in and heal us! Harry is not in the best mood - crying a lot and not eating much - typical sick kid behavior. I'm just trying to deal with the hearing loss. It sounds as if I am underwater and everything is just muffled. I can't hear the phone, the timer on the oven, or a lot of what Joe says to me. He thinks that's funny, of course. I felt like one of my ears was clearing up last night, but then it was completely plugged when I woke up today. Joe took the girls to Nana's this morning to make gingerbread houses and I stayed with Harry while he slept. I have so much to do around the house and not much energy. I want to get the tree decorated, the laundry done, and get the house somewhat in order. I had planned on Joe helping me while the kids napped today, but he is gone to Mike Yates' house to teach him how to play Axis and Allies - another geek recruit.

The Big Thanksgiving Feast at Gramma's

What a day. Our crazy Thanksgiving dinner was a lot of fun and a bit odd at the same time. It was a mixture of old and new - nostalgic and forging new ground. It was just funky enough that it would have made a great holiday movie. Both my parents were there: Dad and Karin, Mom and Steve (who did the cooking), and all the kids and their significant others including Danielle and Alan, Sarah and Rocky, and even CK and Ryan, who made a late appearance. The most interesting addition to the group was Taylor - our poor displaced cousin. He had nowhere to go this Thanksgiving with his dad and mom both miles away, so he came and stayed with Mom. It was great to see him and hear all about UCLA dental school. He's all grown up now, but still the same old Taylor - making friends wherever he goes and never at a loss for words. The adults ate at Gramma's big dining room table where we used to sit years ago when I was a kid. I can barely remember the last time we ate in there, but it was probably just after my parents split up when I was 11 or 12. After the feast, everyone had a chance to say what they were thankful for this year. Most of us teared up, and Nonnie was mentioned several times. By the end, there wasn't a dry eye in the room. I think only Karin was a bit confused about the purpose of the toast, and said some odd things about my dad's libido - I'm still trying to work that one out. Grandad also seemed confused, but in a much different way. He was fine early on, but then didn't seem to know what was going on later in the evening. The little kids especially seemed to befuddle him. I watched him following them around, picking up after them, and asking who they were. Mom thinks the whole event might have been too much for him. It just makes me sad. I hope we can do it again next year, but I won't hold my breath. Even with the sometimes strange moments, our Thanksgiving was definitely one to remember. With everyone together at the same time, it was truly a wonderful sight and an amazing accomplishment.

Happy Thanksgiving?

Well, today was officially Thanksgiving although not really. Our family celebration is not until tomorrow afternoon out at Gramma and Grandad's, which is something we are definitely looking forward to. The day started out okay. I was still feeling bad, so I slept in. Joe was up with Olivia just after 7:00 and then went out to get donuts for everyone. I woke up and realized Harry was still asleep too - a bit late for him. That should have been the first sign. I did my usual hacking and coughing until I could breathe normally, but now I had a new symptom: my ears were plugged. No matter what I did, I couldn't unplug them. We had breakfast and I started cleaning up while Joe and Lily went to the Rescue Mission to serve food during one of the many Thanksgiving shifts. I managed to get some laundry done, clean up the kitchen, and get the kids some lunch by the time Joe got back from dropping Lily off at her grandparents. I felt all right, just still completely plugged. Everything sounded strange - like I was inside a barrel - and I could hear myself chewing inside my head, which sounds particularly unpleasant. The kids went down for naps and Joe and I started cleaning the living room in preparation for Christmas decorating. We specifically tried to clean the rug - which is a color far too light for any sane person with children to choose for their home. It's supposed to be an off-white with brown flecks, but in places where it's walked on, it just looks dark and gray. It will have to be professionally cleaned to ever look decent again. Just about the time Joe brought in the tree, Olivia woke up. She was so excited to see the tree - "It's Christmas?" she asked excitedly, her eyes lighting up. "It's Christmas!" she cheered, jumping around the living room. Harry was a bit groggy when he woke up but seemed okay. My ears continued to stay plugged and my hearing was decreasing quite a bit. At one point, Joe told me the phone was ringing but I swear I could NOT hear it. I made dinner while Joe worked on a string of lights on the tree that was burned out, but my ears were bothering me more and more. We ate dinner and I began to feel lethargic. "I'm not feeling good," I told Joe. I looked over at Harry, who hadn't touched his food, and realized he was pulling at his ear. That was the second sign. Joe's brother Jeff called shortly after dinner and that's when Harry started crying. I went to get him out of the high chair and realized he was burning up. I took him into the cool shower with me and he just laid his head against me and whimpered. Joe took his temperature afterward and it was 104 degrees - sign number threel! There's no doubt he has an ear infection, which strangely enough, is probably my problem too. We gave him a dose of Ibuprofen and dressed him lightly. Olivia, sensing what was going on, told us: "I need to give Harry a hug," and she did, whether he wanted it or not. "Poor Harry," she lamented.

So now we have to decide whether to go to the ER or wait it out until morning and go to Urgent Care. I can only imagine how many people wind up in the ER on Thanksgiving. I don't think I can subject Harry, or myself, to a crowd right now. Harry seems to have calmed down since his Ibuprofen and is getting sleepy. We will be heading to Urgent Care as soon as it opens tomorrow morning and hopefully still make it for Thanksgiving dinner tomorrow afternoon. To be continued...

Daily blogging is good for the soul

It's so easy to forget the day to day little things that make life with kids such a joy. Especially for me - someone who forgets EVERYTHING! What did I eat for breakfast today? Ummm...not sure, maybe a muffin? Forget what I did a month ago - or even a week ago! It just escapes me like the metaphorical sand through my fingers. So in an effort to remember more clearly, I'm going to trying to start daily blogging (fingers crossed). That means my blog posts will probably be full of mundane, routine stuff that goes from day to day in the Rachal household. But better a little dull than nothing at all, right? I watch my kids grow and suddenly can't remember them being younger than they are today. Where did the time go? I ask myself. I see pictures of Olivia and Harry as babies and can't remember the way they felt in my arms when they were so small. And forget trying to remember Lily as a baby...that's ancient history! I think Nonnie's passing has also made me want to remember more. It's made me realize how precious the moments are - as cliche as that sounds. But when I think of Nonnie, I remember moments..small things that left an impression on my mind and in my heart. I don't know if writing down the daily events of our lives will help, but it certainly can't hurt. I am a teacher of writing who encourages her students to keep journals to write down their thoughts and spread their feelings thickly across the page - like peanut butter on a blank piece of bread. I remind them how important it is to think on paper - to let go of things by writing them down, hash things out, celebrate life. So if nothing else, I need to practice what I preach.

Sick Day

Today is Monday...a good day to start. Unfortunately, on this particular Monday, I am sick. I have contracted some viral thing that started out as a sore throat and ended up in my chest. Now my head and lungs are congested and I feel like a dull, throbbing version of myself. I took Joe's prescription cough syrup an hour ago and it's beginning to kick in. The edges of things are getting fuzzy and I won't be able to type much longer.

I slept in because I was feeling cruddy, but got up and fed Harry breakfast before falling asleep on the couch again. He was watching PBS and eating his muffin and drinking his milk, so he was happy. I shudder to think how many episodes of Curious George and Clifford he's watched this past year. The muffin, by the way, is a low-fat version of a banana chocolate chip muffin. I found a great cookbook called "Mom's Makeovers" that takes yummy, high-fat, high calorie, recipes we all love and makes them healthier. These muffins have no butter, only a little canola oil, and are made with whole wheat flour. The chocolate chips, I tell those who look at me skeptically, are there for the antioxidants!

When I woke up, I took Harry into the shower with me and tried to wake up a little. I kept coughing up the most disgusting stuff - Good, I thought, get out of there! The worst part is my voice - once the cold goes to my chest, I start to sound like a chain-smoking Demi Moore. Usually I pick up Olivia from ChristKids around 1:00, but Joe was sweet and picked her up for me and we had some soup for lunch. Olivia is so sweet and concerned when anyone is sick. She's already a nurturer. Daddy told her I was sick on their way home, so she came up to me and looked at me sympathetically with those big brown eyes and said, "You not feeling good, mommy?" I shook my head and she began touching my face and feeling my ears, the way I do when I check her for a fever. "You feel hot." she tells me seriously. The kids took naps and I laid down again for a little while, but my coughing kept waking me up. Lily came home at 4:30 - late again. I was getting ready for work and the kids were awake, so it was crunch time. I was out the door to teach at 5:00.

Talk,Talk

Watching Harry play on the floor today, I listened carefully to his babbling. He is now 2 years and 3 months old, and although he babbles a lot, he says very few decipherable words. "Tra" is truck - one of his favorite things, "Choo-choo" for train, "Kee" is kitty, "Joo" is juice. Basic everyday words with the endings left off. He also leaves the beginning sounds of some words off like "No," which comes out as "Oh" while he's shaking his head. But then he also says some phrases like "Where'd he go?" and "Gonna get you!" which sound very clear to me. I have been worried for awhile that he is speech delayed even though Dr. Nagatani says he's fine. I read more child-related articles than I should, and most of them state that Harry should have a much larger vocabulary by now. But I try not to worry about it. We read to him, talk to him all the time - I'm not sure what else we could be doing to further his speech development. Olivia was talking up a storm at this same age, but of course, she's a girl and I know that girls are different. There's also the fact that Harry is techinically the "baby" of the family and the older kids can talk for him. I'm just going to keep working with him and see if he can continue to expand his vocabulary. I know he understands what I'm saying, which is a good thing. If I tell him to go get his cup, he does it. If I say we're going bye-bye, he runs to the front door.

The Little Gym

Harry is even beginning to follow some simple instructions, which is something that just happened at our new Monday morning class at The Little Gym. The first week we were there, Harry just ran around screaming and laughing like a lunatic - he was so excited to be in there with all that cool STUFF! He was so keyed up, I couldn't grab his attention. But we're supposed to encourage them to join the circle and clap, sing, walk together - things he just doesn't have time for. I'm always happily relieved when I see some other mom chasing her kid around the gym because he's not the least bit interested in structured "circle time." But last week, during our third class, Harry joined in the circle for awhile and clapped, ran with the other kids, and then stopped - putting his hand out wide - when the teacher shouted "Freeze!" I was shocked - he actually knew what he was supposed to do! And the teacher, Miss Audrey, was impressed - "Great job, Harry, wow!" she praised him. I found out that Miss Audrey has two girls and a boy too, so she gets it. "They're like wild animals," I told her, and she nodded in agreement. "Absolutely! My son seems so aggressive." Hearing that again reassured me that Harry is indeed a normal little boy - fearless and full of testosterone. As far as the speech thing goes, I'm sure it's just a matter of time before he's quoting lines from Cars and singing "Jingle Bells" at the top of his lungs and we wish he'd just be quiet.