102.7—samantha's temperature last night.
3—days that samantha's had a fever.
81—our forcasted high for today. one last nice day before "cold" october hits!
6—the number of times i've almost forgot to give ryan his medicine.
0151—the alt keyboard shorcut for my new favorite frequently used punctuattion mark—the em dash.
1—the percentage of my house that is clean—i.e. my ceiling. oh wait, scratch that. i see a cobweb...
11—the time samantha got up this morning.
60—the number of peppers on our plants outside. peppers anyone?
0—the number of seizures that ryan has had since last wednesday.
7—days until ryan's EEG. yes, we got bumped up to october 7th!
23—cars strewn about my living room floor.
480—the number of minutes that samantha will probably lay on the couch and watch tv today.
92—days until 2010. can you believe how fast this year is going by?!
5—how many nights ben will get to be home this week. finally—a week where he's not gone 5 nights!
78—things that i need to do today after i post this.
12—things that will probably actually get done!
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Monday, September 28, 2009
not me! monday
so if you've read my blog lately, then you already know what's been happening around here this past week. i was a little too stressed to have many not me! moments that were blog-worthy, so today we're gonna take a walk down memory lane... today i'm NOT gonna admit to some pretty stupid, embarassing, and unknown facts from my childhood days. enjoy...
when i was probably six, i was NOT way more naive than samantha is for her age. i didn't know what any "bad" words were, and even if i did, there's no way i would ever say them in front of my parents. well one night my mom's friend FROM CHURCH came over and we were going to show her our baby chickens. (yes, my family used to raise chickens.) none of them would come out from under their box, so i did NOT decide to call them the A-word. in front of my mom. and her friend. thank God that my dad wasn't there! when my mom asked me what i said i did NOT stammer and say "uh, i called them axes..." this is NOT one of my favorite memories of getting in trouble. probably because my mom was so shocked, and also because she doesn't remember it!
one morning before school, as i had just about gotten my bangs to poof just right, i did NOT decide to curl them one more time before heading out the door. i grabbed the curling iron and stuck it in my hair right next to my scalp. i was NOT horrified when i took it out and my bangs were standing straight up. i did NOT look like cameron diaz in there's something about mary. and my bangs did NOT have a bright red substance in them. after freaking out, i did NOT discover that my curling iron had been resting up against my red candle. it did NOT melt the wax all over my curling iron, and then it did NOT harden in my hair. i did NOT try to brush it out—youch!—and pick out as many pieces that i could on the way to school. i did NOT walk around all day with little pieces of wax in my hair, making me look like i had bad dandruff. and i did NOT throw away that evil candle when i got home.
i have always had a
what have you NOT done this week? or last month? or 20 years ago?!
Thursday, September 24, 2009
scary target
remember how ryan doesn't like going to target? and that he cries and cries when we go by the scaries, or in other words, halloween stuff? well that little bugger is so smart that he figured out a way to avoid it—have a seizure.
last night after i dropped samantha and her friend off at church for awana, i decided to head over to target to grab a couple non-essential items. ryan and i got as far as the greeting cards. i was looking through the cards for a couple minutes and finally successfully picked one out.
*side note: i should SO make greeting cards. i'm sure i could come up with some better stuff than what was there. and even if i couldn't come up with anything, did you know that there was a blank cheap looking card there for over $3?! ridiculous...
anyway, i picked out the card, turned around to put it in the cart and ryan was seizing. his back was arched, his head was tilted way back with his eyes rolled back, and his arms were twitching. i grabbed my phone to check the time, tried to snap him out of it, then decided to jet outta there.
there was some humor to this, too, because i had to decide if i'd push him out in the cart or just grab him and run. i didn't want to carry my suitcase of a purse, and i had a mcdonalds bag in the cart too. so i ditched the card that i was intending to purchase and headed for the doors. but when i got to the door i realized that the envelope was still in there. i was looking around trying to figure out what to do with it and where to put it, and i finally just put it in another cart that was by the door. looking back i should've just shoplifted the envelope and then bought the card today.
anyway, i pushed him in the cart out to the car, called ben (who, thank God, reminded me that children's mercy urgent care was about 5 blocks away), and drove over there all the while watching ryan in the rear view mirror to make sure he was doing all right and to see if he was still seizing. by the time i got there, his seizure had stopped (it lasted about 2.5 minutes) and he had thrown up on himself. i ran into the clinic and they brought him back to a room right away because, as i later found out, the nurse said he was a little blue when i brought him in.
i laid him on the bed and as they took all his vitals (his temp was 99.5—they said this was not a febrile seizure like we suspected his first one to be.) he started responding to me a little bit. i was telling the nurse who was triaging him about his history and his recent MRI, and then i stopped mid-sentence. ryan started shaking, like he was shivering all over, and he wouldn't respond to me or make eye contact anymore. they called the doctor in. that seizure lasted a minute. he came back fairly quick after that seizure and from then on he was fine the rest of the night.
the doctor that was there called the neurologist that was on call that night. he prescribed keppra, and antiepileptic drug, for ryan to start on (if a person has 2 non-febrile seizures, they're pretty much considered epileptic). we also got a drug called diastat to carry with us, which will stop longer seizures FAST if needed.
we were discharged about an hour and a half after we had gotten there and man was ryan happy to go home! after i put him to bed i was all out of sorts. i was confused at what i should do with his meds, overwhelmed by all the "stuff" i needed to educate myself on, overloaded with questions in my head, tired, and totally chocolate deficient. thankfully i was able to go to bed with my mind at ease a little bit. i feel so incredibly blessed by my two friends (who have epileptic children of their own) who were able to encourage me and answer some of my questions. thank you nicole and cheryl!
this morning i took ryan to his first therapy session, which went great! i am going to save that for another post though. you're welcome. and then we went back to the scene of the crime so i could get that card that i picked out at target last night. and as nerve-wracking as that was, you have to get right back on the horse after you fall off, right?! thankfully, ryan didn't have any seizures, and he didn't even cry when we walked by the scaries!
this afternoon i was busy on the phone talking with dr. h, ryan's neurologist at children's mercy hospital here in kansas city and lynn, dr. h's nurse. i got a LOT of information and some questions answered. dr. h told me that she wasn't surprised to hear that ryan had more seizures. she said that with the findings on his MRI, you would expect seizures and she was actually surprised that he had only had one before. we will start ryan on his medication to hopefully prevent him from having any more seizures right now, and we have an EEG tentatively scheduled for late november, although lynn said that it will most likely be bumped up to october or early november.
after all my phone calls today my mouth hurt from talking (not the first time that has happened! haha!) and my head hurt from listening. i had an i-need-to-cry headache. i took a spoon and ate a couple bites right out of the chocolate french silk ice cream carton. i gave samantha a crash course in what to do in case of a seizure. and i cried. samantha asked me what was wrong and i told her i was sad about ryan. and the wise 6-year-old that she is answered me with "mom, he'll be fine. he was fine the first time he had a seizure. and besides, we'll all be healed someday. from Jesus." ohhh, what a blessing she is!
thank you all for your prayers and concerns and encouragement that you offered last night—it means so much to all of us! and also, if you made it to the end of this post, congratulations! i will try not to be as talkative (or would that be typative?) next time!
last night after i dropped samantha and her friend off at church for awana, i decided to head over to target to grab a couple non-essential items. ryan and i got as far as the greeting cards. i was looking through the cards for a couple minutes and finally successfully picked one out.
*side note: i should SO make greeting cards. i'm sure i could come up with some better stuff than what was there. and even if i couldn't come up with anything, did you know that there was a blank cheap looking card there for over $3?! ridiculous...
anyway, i picked out the card, turned around to put it in the cart and ryan was seizing. his back was arched, his head was tilted way back with his eyes rolled back, and his arms were twitching. i grabbed my phone to check the time, tried to snap him out of it, then decided to jet outta there.
there was some humor to this, too, because i had to decide if i'd push him out in the cart or just grab him and run. i didn't want to carry my suitcase of a purse, and i had a mcdonalds bag in the cart too. so i ditched the card that i was intending to purchase and headed for the doors. but when i got to the door i realized that the envelope was still in there. i was looking around trying to figure out what to do with it and where to put it, and i finally just put it in another cart that was by the door. looking back i should've just shoplifted the envelope and then bought the card today.
anyway, i pushed him in the cart out to the car, called ben (who, thank God, reminded me that children's mercy urgent care was about 5 blocks away), and drove over there all the while watching ryan in the rear view mirror to make sure he was doing all right and to see if he was still seizing. by the time i got there, his seizure had stopped (it lasted about 2.5 minutes) and he had thrown up on himself. i ran into the clinic and they brought him back to a room right away because, as i later found out, the nurse said he was a little blue when i brought him in.
i laid him on the bed and as they took all his vitals (his temp was 99.5—they said this was not a febrile seizure like we suspected his first one to be.) he started responding to me a little bit. i was telling the nurse who was triaging him about his history and his recent MRI, and then i stopped mid-sentence. ryan started shaking, like he was shivering all over, and he wouldn't respond to me or make eye contact anymore. they called the doctor in. that seizure lasted a minute. he came back fairly quick after that seizure and from then on he was fine the rest of the night.
the doctor that was there called the neurologist that was on call that night. he prescribed keppra, and antiepileptic drug, for ryan to start on (if a person has 2 non-febrile seizures, they're pretty much considered epileptic). we also got a drug called diastat to carry with us, which will stop longer seizures FAST if needed.
we were discharged about an hour and a half after we had gotten there and man was ryan happy to go home! after i put him to bed i was all out of sorts. i was confused at what i should do with his meds, overwhelmed by all the "stuff" i needed to educate myself on, overloaded with questions in my head, tired, and totally chocolate deficient. thankfully i was able to go to bed with my mind at ease a little bit. i feel so incredibly blessed by my two friends (who have epileptic children of their own) who were able to encourage me and answer some of my questions. thank you nicole and cheryl!
this morning i took ryan to his first therapy session, which went great! i am going to save that for another post though. you're welcome. and then we went back to the scene of the crime so i could get that card that i picked out at target last night. and as nerve-wracking as that was, you have to get right back on the horse after you fall off, right?! thankfully, ryan didn't have any seizures, and he didn't even cry when we walked by the scaries!
this afternoon i was busy on the phone talking with dr. h, ryan's neurologist at children's mercy hospital here in kansas city and lynn, dr. h's nurse. i got a LOT of information and some questions answered. dr. h told me that she wasn't surprised to hear that ryan had more seizures. she said that with the findings on his MRI, you would expect seizures and she was actually surprised that he had only had one before. we will start ryan on his medication to hopefully prevent him from having any more seizures right now, and we have an EEG tentatively scheduled for late november, although lynn said that it will most likely be bumped up to october or early november.
after all my phone calls today my mouth hurt from talking (not the first time that has happened! haha!) and my head hurt from listening. i had an i-need-to-cry headache. i took a spoon and ate a couple bites right out of the chocolate french silk ice cream carton. i gave samantha a crash course in what to do in case of a seizure. and i cried. samantha asked me what was wrong and i told her i was sad about ryan. and the wise 6-year-old that she is answered me with "mom, he'll be fine. he was fine the first time he had a seizure. and besides, we'll all be healed someday. from Jesus." ohhh, what a blessing she is!
thank you all for your prayers and concerns and encouragement that you offered last night—it means so much to all of us! and also, if you made it to the end of this post, congratulations! i will try not to be as talkative (or would that be typative?) next time!
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
because you learned this when you were a toddler...
how to walk.
how to use utensils when you eat.
how to dress yourself.
how to drink out of a cup.
life is not very complicated as a toddler. it is not rocket science, these simple life skills that are learned at an early age. but as evidenced recently, some people need a little refresher course on one particular developmental milestone. and this is probably something that is repeatedly drilled into a toddler/young child's head: wash your hands with soap after you go potty!!!
seriously, you don't see adults crawling around, shoveling food into their face with their hands, and drinking out of a sippy cup. so for the love of mike (or bob. or jim.), please tell me why are there grown people that act like babies when it comes to common bathroom etiquette?!?
yesterday at one of my frequently visited one-stop-shopping-centers, samantha needed to use the restroom so i accompanied her and waited patiently outside the stall. i thoughtlessly sized up the bathroom situation while waiting for samantha: two other stalls were occupied. samantha exited her stall. and even though she would know to do this in her sleep, i reminded her to wash her hands.
a toiled flushed and a woman around 65-70 years old vacated her stall, walked over to the automatic sink, placed her fingertips under the water for half of a second, glanced around for the towels, then proceeded to ask me where they were.
now i have respect for my elders, so naturally i did not say what was going through my head. but come on, what would her mom have said if she was there?! i'm sure she was taught to wash her hands, right? and you'd think older people would wash their hands to avoid getting sick, right? right?!
i will have to admit that thankfully the woman was thoughtful enough to portray that she was actually washing her hands. because i can't tell you how many times i've been in a public restroom and people have flushed the toilet, walked out of the stall, and exited the bathroom without even a glance toward the sink. really people?! i don't care what your bathroom routine is at home, but please have the courtesy and take 10 seconds to wash your hands as if it's an everyday habit.
even if i go into the bathroom stall with samantha and don't actually use the toilet or touch anything, i will still wash my hands upon departure. because in all reality, i don't want to be the guest subject of any bathroom etiquette blog post!
and while we're on the subject, i have another bathroom story from our vacation this summer. our whole family went camping together, and one of the best parts about camping is the little gas station nearby that sells ice cream cones. it's a daily (if not bi-daily) occurrence for us to venture down to the gas station for some ice cream, or tea cream, as it's more commonly known in our family.
this gas station also has a washing machine and dryer, so one day i went there to do a load of stinky, skanky, smoke-ridden clothes. after getting quarters from the lone employee sitting behind the counter, i decided i'd do my hair and make up in the bathroom right down the hall in order to pass the time. just as my beautification process was about done, said employee entered the restroom, went in the stall, quickly emptied her bladder, flushed the toilet, exited the stall, and walked right out the door.
i'm sure shock was written all over my face as i couldn't believe that happened. sure, i know she didn't want to leave the store unattended for a long time, but what could've happened in the 20 seconds it would've taken her to wash her hands?! i just don't get how people can do that with witnesses present... thinking it couldn't get any worse, about 30 minutes later i went to pay for some firewood and there she was, scooping up ice cream for some poor unsuspecting family... i went back to the campsite and told the story to my equally shocked family. we didn't get ice cream from her that day...
so... have you ever experienced this kind of bathroom behavior? do you wash your hands?! do you have an interesting public restroom misconduct story? do tell! although, if you don't wash your hands, please keep that to yourself. otherwise i just might blog about you!
Monday, September 21, 2009
not me! monday
good morning and welcome to not me! monday!! hop on over to mckmama's blog for some more hillarious not me! monday confessions (but right after you read mine, of course!)
i did NOT blog about treating our house for fleas, and then blog a few days later about how i don't clean my house. i did NOT realize that this would make us sound like sloppy, messy, white trashy people. and while i can assure you that we're not, i will admit that we're simply NOT a little disorganized! (and our house doesn't look that bad anymore...!)'
samantha did NOT finally start school last tuesday only to have wednesday off because her friend came over. we are only a few weeks behind now and i did NOT just order the rest of her curriculum on saturday...!
while ben and samantha were gone all day saturday, i did NOT decide to go to target with ryan. and when we were walking towards the entrance ryan did NOT start saying "scary, scary." (all because we went to target a couple weeks ago and ryan bawled his head off because he was terrified when we walked past the halloween aisles.) after we made it through the store with only a few tears and $50 spent, i did NOT decide to go to another target for a repeat performance. hello, my name is erin, and i am NOT addicted to target!
i did NOT take a pregnancy test last monday after thinking that there was aslight huge possibility i might be pregnant. it was NOT negative. (although really, it was negative!) and as the week went on and on i did NOT get more and more nervous that the test was wrong. i did NOT resolve that i would take yet another test this morning, until finally last night my aunt flo did NOT show up eight days late! i did NOT breathe a sigh of relief and silently say thank you Jesus! because even though we do NOT want to have more kids, we're not quite ready to pursue that venture right now—sorry auntie di and gramma! (oh, and sorry dad if that was a little too much information!!)
on friday, i did NOT whack my head on the washing machine whilst bending over to pick up ryan. it still does NOT hurt. yesterday ben did NOT throw out his neck while he was clearing his throat. and this morning, i did NOT wake up to a thud when samantha fell off of her ladder. i am NOT wondering when and how ryan will hurt himself. might as well make this a family affair, right?!
happy monday, y'all. have a blessed day!
i did NOT blog about treating our house for fleas, and then blog a few days later about how i don't clean my house. i did NOT realize that this would make us sound like sloppy, messy, white trashy people. and while i can assure you that we're not, i will admit that we're simply NOT a little disorganized! (and our house doesn't look that bad anymore...!)'
samantha did NOT finally start school last tuesday only to have wednesday off because her friend came over. we are only a few weeks behind now and i did NOT just order the rest of her curriculum on saturday...!
while ben and samantha were gone all day saturday, i did NOT decide to go to target with ryan. and when we were walking towards the entrance ryan did NOT start saying "scary, scary." (all because we went to target a couple weeks ago and ryan bawled his head off because he was terrified when we walked past the halloween aisles.) after we made it through the store with only a few tears and $50 spent, i did NOT decide to go to another target for a repeat performance. hello, my name is erin, and i am NOT addicted to target!
i did NOT take a pregnancy test last monday after thinking that there was a
on friday, i did NOT whack my head on the washing machine whilst bending over to pick up ryan. it still does NOT hurt. yesterday ben did NOT throw out his neck while he was clearing his throat. and this morning, i did NOT wake up to a thud when samantha fell off of her ladder. i am NOT wondering when and how ryan will hurt himself. might as well make this a family affair, right?!
happy monday, y'all. have a blessed day!
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
i felt like a 1950's houswife.
today i got a visit from someone i figured was long extinct. there was an unexpected knock at the door, and when i answered it, there standing in front of me was a door-to-door salesman selling household cleaner. i never knew door-to-door salesmen still existed. i had only ever seen them in old episodes of classic tv shows like i love lucy and such.
so for a minute i felt like june cleaver. until i looked down and realized i wasn't wearing a dress and high-heeled shoes. and then i glanced back at my unkempt children and my messy house and i swiftly came back to reality!
our conversation was quite interesting, as i'm not usually very good at dismissing an unsolicited sales pitch. that, and if you've ever seen my house, you know that i'm not really in the market for cleaning supplies. so i thought i'd share our banter...
me: "hello?"
man: "hello ma'am, how are you? my name is james and i'm with the blah blah blah company."
me: "hi james, how are you today?"
james**: "fine thanks."
**names have not been changed to protect the innocent.
and then the conversation turned to the little spray bottle he was holding. he mentioned that this cleaner was non-toxic, didn't have harmful chemicals, and was great for people who are going green. *gag me*
james: "so what is your hardest cleaning job that you have here at home?"
me: "um.... i don't really do a whole lot of cleaning..."
james: "now you have kids right? because i know your feet aren't that small!" *he said as he glanced at samantha's shoes that were sitting on the front steps.*
me: "yes."
james: "have you ever gotten marker get on your carpet?" *he digs out his white rag and sharpie and scribbles black magic marker all over it.* "have you ever seen anything get out magic marker?"
me: "yep!"
james: "really? what?"
me: "alcohol."
james: "you're supposed to drink that! but really? alcohol? like rubbing alcohol?"
me: "yep."
james: "well have you ever seen it come out this fast?" *as he sprays his product on the marker and rubs it out. then he went on to another question:* "so who does the cleaning here at your home? you? your husband?"
me: "um.... well, none of us, really!"
james: "well what about cleaning your car? this stuff takes bugs off the front of your car just great!" *points to our car about 15 feet away.* "do you see all those bugs on the front of your car?"
me: "no."
james: *goes over to our vehicle, sprays his cleaner on the front fender and starts scrubbing.* "did you know that if you leave bugs on your car too long there's an acid in them that starts eating the paint chips?"
me: "no." *thinking to myself, good—then it will match the chunk of paint that has been scratched off for 3 years...*
james: "well, your husband probably knows that." *moves over to the tire and starts cleaning the hubcaps.* "this also cleans brake dust off of your hubcaps and protects them for 4-6 weeks."
me: *laughing* "sorry, we don't get that detailed!"
james: "well this also gets off fingerprints and scratches under your door handle."
me: *?! does this man really not realize that i don't clean? let alone UNDER the car door handles?*
james: "i work with the company out in california. where are you from?"
me: *?! that's random. wouldn't he assume i'm from...* "here..."
james: "do you have any spots in your car on your upholstery that have been hard to get out?"
me: "sure, try this one."
james: "is that a stain from a beverage?
me: "no, i think it's just mud from the winter."
james: *cleans the spot on the floor and shows me all the dirt. then proceeds to spray my seat and clean it. wipes it up and shows me the rag that hardly has any dirt on it!* "well, the cleaner comes in a bottle and it is sealed. it's a concentrate and it will last you for about a year and a half."
me: *a year and a half? try about 6 years for me then!* "well i don't think i'll buy any right now, but can you leave me with any information?"
james: "all i have to leave you with is the bottle. a quart is only $48. and next time you order you'll call the 800 number and you'll get ten dollars off and free shipping."
me: "sorry, i can't spend $48 today without talking with my husband. and we just got new tires on yesterday so that cost quite a bit of money. if we want some in the future i'll just look you up online."
james: "well you won't get the $10 off or free shipping."
me: "that's okay, thank you!"
james: "it will also get rust spots off of your railing up by your door."
me: *walking up to the house, um... we don't have rust spots on our railing..!* "thank you for stopping by..."
me: *walked inside, googled the product, read the reviews and found out that it really isn't that great of a cleaning product!*
so now, friends, i want to hear your stories—have you ever had an experience with a door-to-door salesman? have you ever bought $48 cleaner only to realize that the off brand dollar store stuff works better? do you clean your hubcaps?!
so for a minute i felt like june cleaver. until i looked down and realized i wasn't wearing a dress and high-heeled shoes. and then i glanced back at my unkempt children and my messy house and i swiftly came back to reality!
our conversation was quite interesting, as i'm not usually very good at dismissing an unsolicited sales pitch. that, and if you've ever seen my house, you know that i'm not really in the market for cleaning supplies. so i thought i'd share our banter...
me: "hello?"
man: "hello ma'am, how are you? my name is james and i'm with the blah blah blah company."
me: "hi james, how are you today?"
james**: "fine thanks."
**names have not been changed to protect the innocent.
and then the conversation turned to the little spray bottle he was holding. he mentioned that this cleaner was non-toxic, didn't have harmful chemicals, and was great for people who are going green. *gag me*
james: "so what is your hardest cleaning job that you have here at home?"
me: "um.... i don't really do a whole lot of cleaning..."
james: "now you have kids right? because i know your feet aren't that small!" *he said as he glanced at samantha's shoes that were sitting on the front steps.*
me: "yes."
james: "have you ever gotten marker get on your carpet?" *he digs out his white rag and sharpie and scribbles black magic marker all over it.* "have you ever seen anything get out magic marker?"
me: "yep!"
james: "really? what?"
me: "alcohol."
james: "you're supposed to drink that! but really? alcohol? like rubbing alcohol?"
me: "yep."
james: "well have you ever seen it come out this fast?" *as he sprays his product on the marker and rubs it out. then he went on to another question:* "so who does the cleaning here at your home? you? your husband?"
me: "um.... well, none of us, really!"
james: "well what about cleaning your car? this stuff takes bugs off the front of your car just great!" *points to our car about 15 feet away.* "do you see all those bugs on the front of your car?"
me: "no."
james: *goes over to our vehicle, sprays his cleaner on the front fender and starts scrubbing.* "did you know that if you leave bugs on your car too long there's an acid in them that starts eating the paint chips?"
me: "no." *thinking to myself, good—then it will match the chunk of paint that has been scratched off for 3 years...*
james: "well, your husband probably knows that." *moves over to the tire and starts cleaning the hubcaps.* "this also cleans brake dust off of your hubcaps and protects them for 4-6 weeks."
me: *laughing* "sorry, we don't get that detailed!"
james: "well this also gets off fingerprints and scratches under your door handle."
me: *?! does this man really not realize that i don't clean? let alone UNDER the car door handles?*
james: "i work with the company out in california. where are you from?"
me: *?! that's random. wouldn't he assume i'm from...* "here..."
james: "do you have any spots in your car on your upholstery that have been hard to get out?"
me: "sure, try this one."
james: "is that a stain from a beverage?
me: "no, i think it's just mud from the winter."
james: *cleans the spot on the floor and shows me all the dirt. then proceeds to spray my seat and clean it. wipes it up and shows me the rag that hardly has any dirt on it!* "well, the cleaner comes in a bottle and it is sealed. it's a concentrate and it will last you for about a year and a half."
me: *a year and a half? try about 6 years for me then!* "well i don't think i'll buy any right now, but can you leave me with any information?"
james: "all i have to leave you with is the bottle. a quart is only $48. and next time you order you'll call the 800 number and you'll get ten dollars off and free shipping."
me: "sorry, i can't spend $48 today without talking with my husband. and we just got new tires on yesterday so that cost quite a bit of money. if we want some in the future i'll just look you up online."
james: "well you won't get the $10 off or free shipping."
me: "that's okay, thank you!"
james: "it will also get rust spots off of your railing up by your door."
me: *walking up to the house, um... we don't have rust spots on our railing..!* "thank you for stopping by..."
me: *walked inside, googled the product, read the reviews and found out that it really isn't that great of a cleaning product!*
so now, friends, i want to hear your stories—have you ever had an experience with a door-to-door salesman? have you ever bought $48 cleaner only to realize that the off brand dollar store stuff works better? do you clean your hubcaps?!
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
the results are in
and this year's best female video goes to...
ok. just kidding.
i heard from ryan's neurologist yesterday evening and she gave me the results from his MRI. we got a good report—better than what was originally suspected!
ryan did not have a stroke at birth, nor does he have a cyst on his brain. however the MRI did show an abnormality on one side of his brain. dr. h said that he has a developmental abnormality in which one side of his brain didn't develop all the way and is therefore behind. now i'm not sure if this is referring to his brain development when he was inside the womb or after he was born. if his brain didn't fully develop inside the womb i guess it kind of explains the "something" on his CT scan at birth.
this is something that may or may not be genetic. [insert erin is abnormal jokes here.] we could possibly get a blood test done on him and see a geneticist, but the only reason it would be recommended that we find out is the fact that our future kids may or may not have a similar problem. which would mean that if i got pregnant the doctors would probably want to do tests to see if there was anything wrong with my baby and to give me "options." sorry, but if we have more children, i'm not going to deny my child a chance at life because he or she may have a developmental abnormality!!!!
ok. thanks for letting me rant there!
back to ry: dr. h also told me that he's at a higher risk for seizures and if we notice any symptoms like staring or twitching that he'll need to be seen again and have an EEG. again, some unknowns—i don't know if he's at a higher risk because of his brain abnormality or because he's already had a febrile seizure.
there are some questions we don't and probably won't have the answers to—dr. h isn't sure how this will affect him in life. she doesn't know if the one side of his brain will always be developmentally behind or if, with therapy, he will be able to develop that side of his brain more and catch up.
with all thatsaid typed, our plan of action is to get ryan into therapy to develop his motor skills on the right side of his body. he'll have physical and occupational therapy starting a week from thursday. from what we can tell right now, ryan's delays seem to be mainly with his motor skills. intellectually he's very smart. he talks up a two-year-old storm, loves to sing, knows his abc's, and can count to 10.
other than therapy, there is nothing else that needs to be done with him right now. if we so choose, we can have a follow up appointment with dr. h to go over the results and see the mri. but as for right now i don't think that will be necessary.
thank you all so much for your prayers! all your sweet and caring comments were greatly appreciated! now go celebrate the good results with some ice cream!
ok. just kidding.
i heard from ryan's neurologist yesterday evening and she gave me the results from his MRI. we got a good report—better than what was originally suspected!
ryan did not have a stroke at birth, nor does he have a cyst on his brain. however the MRI did show an abnormality on one side of his brain. dr. h said that he has a developmental abnormality in which one side of his brain didn't develop all the way and is therefore behind. now i'm not sure if this is referring to his brain development when he was inside the womb or after he was born. if his brain didn't fully develop inside the womb i guess it kind of explains the "something" on his CT scan at birth.
this is something that may or may not be genetic. [insert erin is abnormal jokes here.] we could possibly get a blood test done on him and see a geneticist, but the only reason it would be recommended that we find out is the fact that our future kids may or may not have a similar problem. which would mean that if i got pregnant the doctors would probably want to do tests to see if there was anything wrong with my baby and to give me "options." sorry, but if we have more children, i'm not going to deny my child a chance at life because he or she may have a developmental abnormality!!!!
ok. thanks for letting me rant there!
back to ry: dr. h also told me that he's at a higher risk for seizures and if we notice any symptoms like staring or twitching that he'll need to be seen again and have an EEG. again, some unknowns—i don't know if he's at a higher risk because of his brain abnormality or because he's already had a febrile seizure.
there are some questions we don't and probably won't have the answers to—dr. h isn't sure how this will affect him in life. she doesn't know if the one side of his brain will always be developmentally behind or if, with therapy, he will be able to develop that side of his brain more and catch up.
with all that
other than therapy, there is nothing else that needs to be done with him right now. if we so choose, we can have a follow up appointment with dr. h to go over the results and see the mri. but as for right now i don't think that will be necessary.
thank you all so much for your prayers! all your sweet and caring comments were greatly appreciated! now go celebrate the good results with some ice cream!
Monday, September 14, 2009
not me! monday
this week...
i did NOT almost put my foot in my mouth at ryan's mri appointment when i almost told one of the doctors that nurses are better than doctors!!
and speaking of his mri, i did NOT forget all about it this weekend and totally forget to call today to find out the results until ben phoned me to see if i heard anything! i am now NOT waiting patiently for dr. h to call me with the results.
we did NOT have a bug scare this weekend and have NOT taken precautionary measures and treated our cars and our house for, ahem, fleas... (that our car picked up somewhere else). my washing machine has NOT been running non-stop and my carpets have NOT ever been vacuumed this many times in one weekend!
because of the flea scare, we did NOT decide to royally clean out ben's work car. we did NOT fill over six garbage bags of trash and ben did NOT find something that he got from a job over a year ago!!
yesterday we were minus samantha, so we decided to try out a new to us hole-in-the-wall mexican restaurant. i did NOT have fajitas for the first time ever. (go ahead and judge, people.) they were NOT incredibly YUMM-Y! (why hasn't anyone ever told me how good they are?!) and we did NOT have the cutest little waiter. he did NOT remind me of a latino elmer fudd!
i cleaned out my pantry today (yea me!) and did NOT find a few items that were over 3 years expired. and i also did NOT find a sinful amount of cereal. and jello. any guesses as to how many boxes?!
you can find more not me! fun at mckmama's blog. happy monday!
Friday, September 11, 2009
happy happy
this is the face...
...of a boy—a happy boy...
...a happy boy who had a 6 hour nap!
...of a boy—a happy boy...
...a happy boy who had a 6 hour nap!
———————————————————————
things went exceptionally well yesterday for ryan's MRI. he was only the slightest bit crabby due to no breakfast and no lunch. we got to the hospital at 12:30, got signed in and registered, and then ryan went to get his IV put in his hand for his sedation.
that went great too, considering we had to wait 40 minutes after he got the IV in for him to be put under. he wasn't very fond of the big "owie" in his hand, so he kept kissing it to try and make it better!
ryan finally went back for his MRI, which lasted about 50 minutes, and was just waking up when i got to his sedation recovery room afterwards. in the 5 minutes that he was awake, he made sure the nurse took his owie off of his hand, whined about the blood pressure cuff on his leg, refused anything to drink, and then zonked out in my arms.
when we got home i cuddled with my sleepy baby for a few minutes, then I put him in his crib where he was beyond conked out until I decided to wake him up at 7:30pm. as i was forwarned, he was quite tipsy from his sedation hangover when I got him up. he stumbled around the living room like a newborn foal trying to stand and even after a couple hours he still didn’t have his sea legs back. but that stand in the way of his appetite—he ate a good dinner and was ready for bed!
all in all it was a successful day. thank you all for your prayers—i will definitely post when i hear the results next week!
———————————————————————
what's that? you want to see some more happy happy pictures? why certainly...!
Wednesday, September 9, 2009
wordless wednesday and more
wordless wednesday (scroll down for the more!):
the more:
and now for the news on ryan. if you remember, a little over a week ago i blogged that we had a neurology appointment for ryan. the reason for this was that he is and has always been extremely left-sided. not only does he possess strength in his left side, but he lacks strength in the right side of his body. we always thought this was an outcome of swaddling him for 8 months (the neurologist assured me that it wasn't from swaddling) and that he would eventually gain gross and fine motor skills on the right side of his body.
remember when he started walking? did you watch the videos? he would drag his right leg when he started walking, and when he'd clap, he'd bring his left hand to his right hand instead of clapping with his right hand. he's always been physically delayed as far as sitting up, crawling, and of course walking. and since he's turned two and still can not pick up any given object with his right hand, we thought it was time to make sure everything was a-okay with him.
oh, and when he was born he was in the NICU for a week with breathing and apnea problems. he had a CT scan and the neonatologist told me that there was "something" on one side of his brain (yeah, i can't remember exactly what he said. i was a sleep deprived, hormonally whacked out mama.) but that it was probably nothing and he didn't think there was anything to be worried about. minor detail, right?!
we met with a neurologist, dr. h, about two weeks ago (sorry i didn't blog about this sooner. it's been a little crazy!). after assessing ryan and asking us gobs of questions, she came to the assumption that ryan may have had a stroke right before, during, or right after birth. hmmm... makes a little sense. there is also a possibility that he could have a cyst on his brain. and the only way to confirm that is with an MRI.
the good news is that dr. h doesn't seem too concerned about this since it hasn't progressively gotten worse—ryan's walking has improved tremendously and he can now pick up certain things with his right hand, although awkwardly. and if the results of the MRI conclude that he indeed had a stroke at birth, 98% of infants go unaffected later in life
tomorrow afternoon ryan will be having the MRI. since he'll have to be still for about 45 minutes, he will be sedated for it. so he cannot eat solid foods past 6:30am and cannot have liquids after 10:30am. please pray that tomorrow isn't too crazy for him. the boy loves his food!! and no breakfast and no lunch should make for a fun day
we won't get results for a few days, but i will try to update via twitter tomorrow.
and since it's late and i'm tired and my creative juices are not flowing and i don't really know how to wrap this post up, how about another gander at my little ry! and yes, that is a princess pull-up!
the more:
and now for the news on ryan. if you remember, a little over a week ago i blogged that we had a neurology appointment for ryan. the reason for this was that he is and has always been extremely left-sided. not only does he possess strength in his left side, but he lacks strength in the right side of his body. we always thought this was an outcome of swaddling him for 8 months (the neurologist assured me that it wasn't from swaddling) and that he would eventually gain gross and fine motor skills on the right side of his body.
remember when he started walking? did you watch the videos? he would drag his right leg when he started walking, and when he'd clap, he'd bring his left hand to his right hand instead of clapping with his right hand. he's always been physically delayed as far as sitting up, crawling, and of course walking. and since he's turned two and still can not pick up any given object with his right hand, we thought it was time to make sure everything was a-okay with him.
oh, and when he was born he was in the NICU for a week with breathing and apnea problems. he had a CT scan and the neonatologist told me that there was "something" on one side of his brain (yeah, i can't remember exactly what he said. i was a sleep deprived, hormonally whacked out mama.) but that it was probably nothing and he didn't think there was anything to be worried about. minor detail, right?!
we met with a neurologist, dr. h, about two weeks ago (sorry i didn't blog about this sooner. it's been a little crazy!). after assessing ryan and asking us gobs of questions, she came to the assumption that ryan may have had a stroke right before, during, or right after birth. hmmm... makes a little sense. there is also a possibility that he could have a cyst on his brain. and the only way to confirm that is with an MRI.
the good news is that dr. h doesn't seem too concerned about this since it hasn't progressively gotten worse—ryan's walking has improved tremendously and he can now pick up certain things with his right hand, although awkwardly. and if the results of the MRI conclude that he indeed had a stroke at birth, 98% of infants go unaffected later in life
tomorrow afternoon ryan will be having the MRI. since he'll have to be still for about 45 minutes, he will be sedated for it. so he cannot eat solid foods past 6:30am and cannot have liquids after 10:30am. please pray that tomorrow isn't too crazy for him. the boy loves his food!! and no breakfast and no lunch should make for a fun day
we won't get results for a few days, but i will try to update via twitter tomorrow.
and since it's late and i'm tired and my creative juices are not flowing and i don't really know how to wrap this post up, how about another gander at my little ry! and yes, that is a princess pull-up!
Thursday, September 3, 2009
new mercies
rewind 8 days ago.
i had a bad day.
like really really really (really really) bad.
i was sad. i was scared. i was confused. i felt hurt. i was shocked. i felt crazy. i couldn't focus. i was tired. i felt alone.
*note: before you go assuming what happened, no one died, our marriage is perfectly fine, the kids are great, etc. etc.* :-)
the night before, tuesday night, i found out something about myself that i didn't know. which brought me few hours of sleep followed by a crazy wacked out couple days.
my husband came home from work wednesday night with a sad look on his face and said, "i couldn't wait to come home and see you and make sure you were okay. i've had this sick feeling all day for you."
awwww....
and later that night, as i was sobbing and having a heart to heart conversation with ben, he held me. then he prayed for me.
now the only reason i'm telling you this is because this is what i'm thankful for today. at the time i could've sworn to you that this would never make a thankful thursday. but through this bump in the road which rattled me for a few days, ben and i felt a rejuvenated love for each other that was different than either of us had ever experienced.
but at the same time it was oh so familiar.
i realized that every morning i experience the novelty of God's great love for me. His mercy and compassion are new for me each and every day!
and that, dear friends, is definitely something to be thankful about!!
i had a bad day.
like really really really (really really) bad.
i was sad. i was scared. i was confused. i felt hurt. i was shocked. i felt crazy. i couldn't focus. i was tired. i felt alone.
*note: before you go assuming what happened, no one died, our marriage is perfectly fine, the kids are great, etc. etc.* :-)
the night before, tuesday night, i found out something about myself that i didn't know. which brought me few hours of sleep followed by a crazy wacked out couple days.
my husband came home from work wednesday night with a sad look on his face and said, "i couldn't wait to come home and see you and make sure you were okay. i've had this sick feeling all day for you."
awwww....
and later that night, as i was sobbing and having a heart to heart conversation with ben, he held me. then he prayed for me.
now the only reason i'm telling you this is because this is what i'm thankful for today. at the time i could've sworn to you that this would never make a thankful thursday. but through this bump in the road which rattled me for a few days, ben and i felt a rejuvenated love for each other that was different than either of us had ever experienced.
but at the same time it was oh so familiar.
i realized that every morning i experience the novelty of God's great love for me. His mercy and compassion are new for me each and every day!
Because of the LORD's great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.and so, i may still be a slight bit sad, a tad confused, and a lot crazy(!), but tomorrow morning i will wake up to a brand new day and soak up all the refreshed love that God has for me!Lamentations 3:22-23
and that, dear friends, is definitely something to be thankful about!!
Tuesday, September 1, 2009
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