That's right, I'm amazing!

This comes from a favorite web comic called xkcd.

So, it's been really nice to stay at home these past couple of weeks. Mostly though, it's been kind of life-saving. What with Amelia's accident and all the other sickness (Felix has now been sick - fever and throwing up - for 3 1/2 days... this is the second time since I quit working), it would have absolutely destroyed us if I had to keep working during it all. As draining as it is to deal with all this, it really is nice to know that I'm really actually needed and appreciated. And not just during crisis.

This pregnancy has been quite different. For one thing, I've felt only the tiniest bits of nausea and heartburn. I've still eaten everything in sight and gained plenty of weight, but I blame part of that on just not following my eating plan I was doing last year. I was dumb to stop.

The biggest symptom I've had to deal with is just exhaustion. A lot of that is from the pregnancy directly, and almost all the rest is from pregnancy indirectly (I sleep worse when I'm pregnant). Mostly though, my clothes fit me differently especially around the middle. I don't know that I actually look pregnant yet. Definitely bigger though.

We do have names picked out, and as soon as the Medicaid kicks in we'll go get an ultrasound and see if baby #3 is an exhibitionist like the first 2 were. Feel free to make suggestions on names though. hahahahaha

Feelin' Groovy (relatively)

Amelia finally started walking again on Friday - one full week after the incident. She's doing great and her foot is starting to look human again. Dr. Freestone said it would still be a couple months before the skin on her foot isn't super tender and easy to tear. Poor kid won't be able to go barefoot till later in the summer. But she doesn't seem to mind all the bandage changing, and yesterday when I took her in the shower she didn't have any trouble with the temperature of the water (I did turn it to basically luke-warm, but it wasn't hard on her body or on her foot).

I feel like I'm finally coming out of this cold business. I'm not sure why nobody else in the family got it, but I'm extremely grateful that they didn't. It has been truly miserable. I can't imagine how tough it would have been if Amelia had been sick as well as injured.

So, the house is a complete wreck (and no, I'm not exaggerating with that description) and I have tons to do in the way of projects. Still working on the lawsuit stuff, as well as the medicaid stuff. I also have a couple of building projects and I will post pics if I ever get started.

On Friday I got together with my friends Michelle and Anne to brainstorm and write and it was extremely productive. I have great ideas and a definite direction. Now I just need to write it all out. This is the project I'm looking most forward to tackling.

We're good. Not perfect, but definitely good.

Update on Amelia - day 3 (caution - scary pics)

So, as requested, we took Amelia to the doc again this morning to change her bandages. Dr. Freestone said it's healing nicely with no sign of infection, but again, it was a difficult experience.

It was much easier than yesterday, but she still screamed. She can't put any kind of pressure on her foot and she won't keep the bandages on her hands. Still, healing well.

You can see Amelia's toes - they're essentially all giant blisters. The pics of the bottom of her foot - what's hanging off is the oily gauze they put over the top of the exposed under skin. First they put on some thick antibiotic ointment, then they cover it in this oily gauze (so it doesn't stick), then they cover it with regular gauze and then a stretchy sock-like thing. The bandage is pretty intense. We're going back on Thursday for another change of bandages.

"In some countries, she'd now be considered a man!"

So, I'm pregnant. Official due date is September 21. We have a boy name picked out and a girl name picked out, but we should be able to find out what we're having in the next few weeks. You're welcome to submit suggestions. :)

After the lawsuit* thing in January and the pregnancy thing right around the same time, life got a bit stressful. We did the calculations once I became eligible for insurance and we figured out that it would actually end up costing us for me to keep working. So last Thursday was my last day.

But the weekend before I got sick. Like really sick. I have no idea what's going on, but it's been over a week and I can still barely talk. I wake up every night coughing up a lung and if I go too long without coughing my throat closes up and I can barely breathe.

Thankfully, I'm the only one. Illnesses as a parent are actually easier to handle when it's just the parents. When it's the parents and the kids it's much worse.

Friday night we had a movie night with some friends. We invited lots but ended up enjoying the evening with Mike and Bethany and kids. It was incredibly pleasant. I really really really like them.

Saturday morning Felix didn't want to wake up. He was totally listless and mostly asleep all morning and if he did wake up he threw up. About noon we roused him again and he was thirsty. He wanted to get dressed and go out with grandma and grandpa in the yard. Acted 100% so I let him go.

Brent and I took advantage of the grandparents and when Amelia woke from her nap and wanted to go out we let her go too. My parents had been burning old sticks and such to clear out the yard, along with lots of cardboard that had accumulated.

Because Amelia is super quick and super determined, my parents didn't see her when she walked straight through the coals of their bonfire to get to Felix. She got right to the middle of the coals and fell over, and my mom was there almost immediately, but the damage had already been done. This was taken at the emergency room. It was pretty traumatic. They gave her some kind of narcotic which stopped the immediate screaming, till they had to wash off her foot. Tylenol with codeine, in tandem with ibuprofen, was a huge help, and she was walking on her foot very quickly.

Till this morning. We took her to her pediatrician (we adore Phil Freestone in Orem, by the way, if anyone needs a good pediatrician) and although he was very gentle, he still had to do some major work. This is what her foot looked like when the bandages from the ER came off:
This actually wasn't the worst of it. All that white skin on the bottom of her foot had to come off - it wasn't attached anymore. I did take a pic of it, but it didn't come out. And it would have grossed everyone out anyway. Brent came with me, thankfully, and held her down (with my help and that of the nurse) while Doc Freestone pealed and cut. That's a terrible thing for a parent... thank goodness she won't remember any of this.

Doc says there will be scarring and we have to take her again tomorrow. And this evening Felix had a reaction to a tiny amount of pecans. Sigh. It never ends.



*We next heard from the lawyers in February saying they weren't opposed to a settlement or payment arrangements. We figured they saw my response and got afraid so we didn't do anything - just waited for notice of the court date. It didn't come. End of March/beginning of April we got a big official notice from the lawyers saying that because we didn't come to court the judge threw out our response and sided with them. We talked to the courthouse and found that they had filed the "notice of pretrial" in February. We didn't get it - till the day I went to the courthouse to get copies. They had mailed it the day before - April 7. Court was scheduled for March 12. So along with requesting a new hearing, we're thinking of filing a countersuit because they've deliberately sabotaged our efforts to pay and to defend ourselves. I'm angry enough with them (and with their jerk of a legal assistant - she was never less than a complete ass to me on the phone) that I'd love to get someone fired over it. Stay tuned.

Stolen from Miss Cellania thru my friend Lis, who also understands

Toddler Diet

Day One


* Breakfast: One scrambled egg, one piece of toast with grape jelly. Eat 2 bites of egg, using your fingers; dump the rest on the floor. Take 1 bite of toast, then smear the jelly over your face and clothes.
* Lunch: Four crayons (any color), a handful of potato chips, and a glass of milk (3 sips only, then spill the rest).
* Dinner: A dry stick, two pennies and a nickel, 4 sips of flat Pepsi.
* Bedtime snack: Throw a piece of toast on the kitchen floor.

Day Two

* Breakfast: Pick up stale toast from kitchen floor and eat it. Drink half bottle of vanilla extract or one vial of vegetable dye.
* Lunch: Half tube of "Pulsating Pink" lipstick and a handful of Purina Dog Chow (any flavor).One ice cube, if desired.
* Afternoon snack: Lick an all-day sucker until sticky, take outside, drop in dirt. Retrieve and continue slurping until it is clean again. Then bring inside and drop on rug.
* Dinner: A rock or an uncooked bean, which should be thrust up your left nostril. Pour Grape Kool-Aid over mashed potatoes; eat with spoon.

Day Three

* Breakfast: Two pancakes with plenty of syrup, eat one with fingers, rub in hair. Glass of milk; drink half, stuff other pancake in glass. After breakfast, pick up yesterdays sucker from rug, lick off fuzz, put it on the cushion of best chair.
* Lunch: Three matches, peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Spit several bites onto the floor. Pour glass of milk on table and slurp up
* Dinner: Dish of ice cream, handful of potato chips, some red punch. Try to laugh some punch through your nose, if possible.

Final Day

* Breakfast: A quarter tube of toothpaste (any flavor), bit of soap, an olive. Pour a glass of milk over bowl of cornflakes, add half a cup of sugar. Once cereal is soggy, drink milk and feed cereal to dog.
* Lunch: Eat bread crumbs off kitchen floor and dining room carpet. Find that sucker and finish eating it.
* Dinner: A glass of spaghetti and chocolate milk. Leave meatball on plate. Stick of mascara for dessert.

Start over with day one.

Long week

This has been kind of a tough week. On Monday morning I finally made it to water aerobics. I decided I could run home after to change my shirt (it wasn't quite as clean as I thought it was) and pick up my water bottle, but on the way I got in an accident.

Very happily, it wasn't my fault. I did feel sorry for the teenager who hit me because she was taking her little brother and sister to school and just didn't look both ways before pulling out of the cul-de-sac and into the side of my car. There wasn't nearly as much damage as there could have been - as there would have been if I'd been driving a smaller car. As it was, the impact tore a hole in my front passenger tire, ripped my bumper and fender, and displaced a couple of things. A very nice man living nearby changed that tire for me so I didn't need to get towed. Especially nice since it was very cold (30-ish?) and I had no idea how to release the spare.

I got everything taken care of with insurance (her insurance admitted fault/blame immediately) and took my car to the shop on Tuesday. I got a rental through insurance. They were going to upgrade me to an SUV, but they started me out with a 2009 Chrysler Town & Country (fancy schmancy minivan). I called later to ask about the final estimate and they said it was just under $3000 and it should be done end of next week. Happily - nice rental for the meantime.

In sadder news, my back and neck have been pretty sore. I went to see a doc yesterday and besides cracking my back (which felt great for at least a little while) he recommended physical therapy. I've been needing a heating pad so I can sit for any length of time. I haven't taken much of the pain killer that I got though. I hate extra drowsy, especially since I'm already not sleeping well.

Anyway, Felix's eye looks great. Amelia is finally starting to walk (with some coaxing). Felix is finally getting excited about potty training (I think he's just happy to wear underwear) and has even talked about sleeping in his own bed (woo hoo!!!!!).

Brent and I have been seriously sleep-deprived for a while now so that's been tough, but the kids continually surprise and entertain us. Life is tough, but very good.

What trumped my brownies

I made brownies tonight. Didn't get to eat them. Felix was running around upstairs with one of his cousins. As he went through the kitchen he slipped and fell, catching his eyelid on the corner of the piano bench that someone had moved into the room.

Poor kid started bleeding all over the place so I ran him to the emergency room. Brent stayed home with Amelia, who had a little emergency of her own. She apparently is allergic to peanut butter.

Felix was a champ. His cut had stopped bleeding by the time we got in the car but it was pretty big. An inch maybe but it looked deep and the skin was separated quite a bit. The doc and the nurses were pretty good with him. Very patient and explained things well.

The doc decided to put him out because he didn't want Felix to struggle when he got scared. Ever heard of Ketamine? It has some weird effects on people. The doctor did warn me though so I wasn't too bothered. 8 stitches and two hours later we got home, and Felix threw up on me. Like everything in his belly. That wasn't very pleasant, but I've had worse.

So it's 11 pm and I should have been in bed an hour ago. I still haven't gotten my brownies but I think I deserve a big helping. Don't you agree? I'd share with Felix but he's zonked. Poor kid.