Hannah's Surgery

Hannah had her surgery this morning and came through with flying colors. I knew they said it would be quick but I had no idea it would be that quick. Like 10 minutes.

They told me to let her stay in pj's and bring her comfort things (blanket, stuffed animals) so she packed up the blanket Deb made for her years ago, the blanket Sue gave her years ago (she still sleeps with both blankets!) and a teddy bear. She was thrilled when they gave her bear a hospital bracelet and a hair thing. They even let her take all of it into the OR with her. That was nice.

Like I said, it was 10 minutes after we waved goodbye that they came out and told us that she was done. The doctor came in to talk to us and said that her adenoids, were indeed, huge. He said that everything went really well and he expected her to have a quick recovery.

Mike and I went back to see her and she seemed so groggy but was still her spirited little self. They gave her some apple juice, a popsicle (because she had one of those throat tubes, her throat would be pretty sore today. It was hard to see her with the IV and machines and all, but they unhooked her pretty quickly and we were able to go home.

Now, she's hanging out on the couch with a milkshake, just taking it easy for the rest of the day.


Here's Hannah and her bear before they wheeled her back for her surgery.
The nurse wheels Hannah out to the van when we were ready to go.

Water World

It started raining at about midnight last night. It finally stopped around 9 this morning. When all was said and done, we had almost 9 inches.

Mike woke me up around 6AM to tell me that the basement had about 2 inches of water in it. At some point last night, the sump pump stopped working and water came pouring in.

We've had the plumber come in and replace the sump pump with one with a lifetime warranty. After 20 minutes, the water was out of the tiled places, although the carpet was still pretty soaked. The water removal guys were scheduled to come out and get the rest of the water out. I was feeling okay about the whole thing...it could have been so much worse but the things that are damaged are things that are of little value anyway.

Then, the insurance company called.

Because we don't have the sump pump rider on our policy, nothing is covered. Now, if it was called a "sump pump rider," we would have had the insurance. However, it's called something like a "sewer drain backup rider" and we didn't have it. Now, I wait for the water removal guys to come and tell me the damage. This is making me sick.

To top it off, Hannah's having her ear tubes put in tomorrow and I'm worried about that too. Where the heck are the water guys???!!!???

More Snippets

I couldn't believe how well Daniel and Hannah got along with each other on Sunday after Jacob left for camp. I didn't have to raise my voice once all day Sunday. Even now, they're playing so nicely together and have been getting along so well. They really miss their brother, though.

Mike's been calling a couple of times a day to let me know what's been going on at camp. Sunday, he called to tell me that Jacob passed his swim test and was considered a Level 3 swimmer and had full run of the pool. Awesome considering he's never had a single lesson.

Apparently, the tents sleep two. The adults are in their own tents and the kids are in theirs. Jacob is sharing a tent with his friend Alex and Mike is with George, Alex's dad. Monday morning, Mike goes to wake Jacob and Alex up and when he peeks into the tent, he sees Andrew and thinks he has the wrong tent. He then sees Jacob's blanket and realizes that Andrew and another boy have slept in Jacob and Alex's tent. When asked why, they said that they heard a raccoon outside and got scared. Too cute.

Last night, they were making hamburger bundles over the fire for dinner. Each scout got to make their own and could put whatever they wanted to in it. There was hamburger, carrots, onions, seasonings, potatoes, etc. After they made their thing, they'd bring it to Mike to wrap up and put on the fire. When Jacob brought his to Mike, Mike was not expecting to see the meat and a whole pile of onions. Mike says something like, "Jacob that's awesome! You like onions?" Jacob looks at Mike and says, "No. I hate them. I'm just using them for flavor, like Mom does." I've taught him well.

I had to take Daniel and Hannah with me to jiu jitsu last night, which I hate doing but Stephen and Roxanne's boys are usually there too, so they have playmates. In the middle of class, I look over to the waiting area where the kids are and I see Daniel and Jett playing Daniel's DS and I see Hannah calmly brushing Quinn's hair. She must have brushed that boy's hair for 15 minutes. A little later, Roxanne nudges me and points to the kids. Now Hannah's sitting while Quinn's brushing her hair. Too stinking cute.

We Made It!!!

Well, we made it through the big sleepover and everyone seemed to have a good time. I was pleased that most of the boys were asleep by 11:30 and the final three (Jacob included) were down by 11:45. The boys all seemed to get along pretty well, which was nice.

By the time everyone left Saturday morning, I was completely exhausted. Hannah and I both napped in the afternoon.

Last night, we went out to get our final supplies for Webelos Camp. Jacob kept saying that he wasn't looking forward to camp and didn't want to go. I told him that that was the same way he felt about day camp and he ended up loving it. Over and over again we heard that he just didn't want to go. I then told him that going to overnight camp this year and next year will pretty much guarantee he'll get his Arrow of Light Award (think Eagle Scout for Cub Scouts...the only Cub Scout award that transfers to Boy Scouts) when he's a Webelos II...he still didn't care.

This morning, he was so excited that he couldn't eat. He was dressed, complete with hat and shoes, about 1 1/2 hours before it was actually time to go. Mike ended up leaving about 10 minutes before it was time to actually go because of the excitement. I know that the first thing they are going to do after getting settled into camp is swim, so that should be a lot of fun for him.

It's going to be strange to be missing both Mike and Jacob until Tuesday night. I can't wait to hear about the fun they had.

Jacob's Birthday and Broken Washers

Jacob proclaimed this year his best birthday ever. He got to go on a playdate with his friend Matthew and they went swimming for about 2 1/2 hours. We then went to dinner at Cracker Barrel and then saw The Dark Knight. I didn't think it was all that great a movie, but the boys loved it. We got home pretty late but still managed to sneak in cake and a round of Happy Birthday. I'm glad he enjoyed his day.

Jacob wanted to have a sleepover birthday party this year. I thought that was a nice idea since Daniel's turned out so well. We've often had problems with Jacob's parties because kids are on summer vacation and the attendance isn't so good. We decided to invite 10 boys and hope that half could come.

I was a little discouraged for Jacob when the first 2 responses came back no. Then, to my shock and horror, all of the rest of the responses have come back yes. Crap. So, we'll have 8 little boys plus my 3 here on Friday night. Where the heck am I going to put them all!?! I am freaking out a little, but I think it'll be okay since Jacob hangs with a good group of boys. I guess we'll see how I feel at 9am on Saturday morning when all of the boys have left.

Mike did some laundry last night and I noticed that there was water coming out of the bottom of the washer. Ugh. I hate calling people to come fix stuff. I texted Roxanne to see if she knew any good repair guys and she said that they do a lot of that stuff themselves. Ugh again. I randomly called people in the phone book and got someone that could come over today. Cool. He came in and quickly diagnosed the problem. Broken pump. He quoted me a price and went out to his van to get the part. He came back and told me that ours has the super deluxe extra special pump in it that's more than double what he quoted me, but he'll do it for what he said. Nice. He was in and out in about 40 minutes.

The best part is that he fixed the problem of the washer not spinning unless you lift the lid for no charge! Awesome.

Happy Birthday to my Little Man!!!

Today is Jacob's 9th Birthday. How in the world did that happen? It seems like just yesterday he would only sleep in his car carrier and only for 10 minutes at a time. He's turned into such a nice boy with a good head on his shoulders. I don't think I could be any more proud.

Happy Birthday Jacob!!!!

Hannah

Hannah saw the ENT again today. He said that she must have just been having a good day the last time he saw her because her ears are bad again. Sooo, we scheduled her Myringotomy with Tympanostomy Tubes (ear tubes) and Adenoidectomy for July 31st. The ENT said that the tubes should last about 2 years (there are 6 month, 2 and 5 year tubes) and she needs to be seen every 6 months to check her progress. The surprise here is that she has to have her adenoids out. The ENT thinks that those are why her ears are clogged and aren't draining. He also said that it should help considerably with her asthma. She's scared about it all but the ENT told her that she gets to have ice cream after (I thought that was for tonsils!) so she's excited about that.

I hope this works.

What a Birthday

Mike called this afternoon to tell me he'd be late to TKD because his weekly basketball game had been moved from tomorrow to today. I told him that was fine...have fun, after all, it is his birthday and who am I to take away a stress relieving game of basketball with the people he works with?

We decided to have the kids do the 6:15 class because Mike had TKD at 7 and I had jiu jitsu at 7:45. That would mean the kids wouldn't be ferried around so much. At 5:50, I was getting the kids into the van to go when my cell rings. It's a number I didn't recognize but, being a Virginia number, it could have been anyone.

Me: Hello?
Caller: Hi, umm, this is Michael and I was playing basketball with Mike.
Me: Okay.
Michael: He was a little dizzy and, umm, we think he's okay but we thought we should call you.
Me: Okaaaay.
Michael: I mean, he's fine and all and the paramedics say that his EKG was good.
Me: Wait...what?
Michael: The ambulance is going to take him to the hospital but you don't need to speed or anything to get here.
Me: Hospital? The ambulance is there?
Michael: Yeah they're taking him to St Luke's. He was just kind of dizzy and you don't need to break any traffic laws or anything. We're all going to follow. Just meet us in Emergency. We haven't even left yet so don't go too fast or anything.
Me: Ummm...okay

I hang up and kind of freak out a little. I called TKD and told them we wouldn't be there. Master Dave told me to keep them informed. I called Dad who wanted to hop into the car and come in. I told him to wait until we knew more. At this point, Peter (Mike's boss' boss) calls to let me know they've arrived. Good timing, I tell him, because I was just pulling into the parking lot. I'm greeted at the ER doors by Josh, Mike's boss, who directs me to the nice lady at admitting. I fill out the paperwork, Josh and Michael take the kids and I head back to see Mike.

He's not hooked up to anything and the fact that he hadn't been seen by a doctor made me feel a little better...because if there had been a ton of people around, something would have been really wrong. Anyway, I sign some stuff for the paramedic and head back out to give the guys an update (which was really nothing).

Peter offered to run to McDonald's to get dinner for the kids and a soda for me (which was so nice of him) and Josh and Michael offered to stay to watch the kids for me. I thanked them all and headed back with the kids so that they could see that he was okay. At this point the doctor comes in and tells us that he probably had Hyperventilation Syndrome and not a heart attack. They ran a few more tests just to be sure.

I went back to the waiting room to give the guys an update and to make some calls. The guys go back to check on Mike while I sit for a minute and Hannah tells me that I need to get up because I was sitting in Josh's seat. Nice. Josh thought it was funny.

When I go back to check on Mike again, the doctor is discharging him. Oh. Well that's good. We walk out into the waiting room and the kids are eating the nuggets Peter brought them. Mike sits for a few minutes and they all talk for a while. When we left, they decided to wheel Mike out to the car in a wheelchair while Josh and everyone else were taking pictures.

It was even nicer than expected to come home and share Mike's birthday cake with him. Of course, all of this didn't do anything for my anxiety when answering the phone.

I Wanted To Post This Yesterday

But I couldn't because Mike would have had an idea of what he got for his birthday.

The kids and I headed to the comic book store to get Mike a gift for his birthday. They were adamant that he got something superhero related, so off we went. I've never much cared for comic book stores. It's like a big super secret club that you are allowed into but are never fully welcome until you prove your vast superhero knowledge (which I do not have).

When I walk into a comic book store (without Mike), one of two things usually happens.
1. I'm completely ignored because I'm a girl and what could I possibly know about comic books
2. I'm followed around the store because I'm a girl and what could I possibly know about comic books

This time, #2 occurred. The guy behind the counter asked me what I was looking for as soon as I opened the door.

Me: a gift for my superhero loving husband's birthday.
Comic Book Guy: Do I know him? (apparently, comic book guys know their regulars really well)
Me: No, I don't think so.
Comic Book Guy: That's going to make it harder, what does he like?
Me: I know his favorite is Nightwing.
Comic Book Guy: I have this Batman sculpture that just came in today.
Me: Batman's not Nightwing
Comic Book Guy: (rolling his eyes) I know but I think he might like this. Especially if he likes Nightwing. (I know he's thinking I'm a complete idiot because Nightwing comes out of Batman so there is a connection, but come on! Nightwing is not Batman!!!)
Me: Ummm...but it's Batman.
Comic Book Guy: Alright, fine. I do have this big Nightwing 13-inch poseable figure.
Kids: YAY!!!!
Me: I guess that's the winner.
Comic Book Guy: Okay. Let's ring you up.
Me: I think the kids want to look around a little.
Comic Book Guy: Oh. Ummm...okay.

I know he wanted me out of that store. I hate going into there. Maybe next time I'll just get him a gift certificate. LOL!

Happy Birthday Mike!!!

Just wanted to wish Mike a big

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!!

We love you!

Snippets

Sunday, Daniel comes inside after being out with some friends. He's excited because his friend, Matt, has given him a gift. He brings it over to me. I see that it is a package of rattlesnake eggs. After thoroughly looking over the packaging, Daniel tells me to open it and check out the eggs. I open the envelope and it starts buzzing and shaking. I scream as I throw the envelope across the room. Daniel's laughing hysterically as he shows me a rubber band thing inside the envelope. The boy got me and he got me good.

Jiu Jitsu class has begun 4 nights a week now. After two nights in a row, I'm so sore that I can hardly bend over. And I get to do it all over again tonight!

Mike stayed long enough on Monday night to see Roxanne and me begin our practice. After Roxanne took me down and finished the move, Mike poked his head in and quietly said, "that was hot!" He had enough presence of mind to leave, pretty much, immediately.

Daisy thinks she's a cat. She follows Guillermo around and even tried eating some of Guillermo's food last night. I even caught the two of them all curled up together. After making sure Guillermo was only cleaning Daisy and not eating her, I left them alone. Daisy's a strange bunny, that's for sure.

We got our letter about the first day of school today. Now I really feel like the summer is over.

Interesting Article

This article appeared in our newspaper today: Stolen Torahs Stun Congregations... It ran on the front page. The reason I was drawn to the article is that the rabbi in the picture is one from our synagogue. They also quoted our Executive Director in the article.

After reading the article, it made me wonder why anyone would steal a Torah. I don't understand why someone would be so hateful. Stuff like this (and vandalizing cemeteries...don't get me started) makes me so mad.

Sports!

We went to TKD last night (Jacob was thrilled since he hasn't been since Monday) and found out that Master Dave had changed the schedule...effective next Monday. He's shortened the classes to 45 minutes but has changed the classes so that the kids can stay for two (90 minutes total) if they want to. He also added a Saturday class for them. Doubtful that we'll be making that one but they will probably want to do an extra class a week. The biggest change is the addition of two more adult classes TKD (great for Mike) and two more Jiu Jitsu classes. I'm excited because I can do my class four times a week. This schedule will also allow for a little more flexibility during the school year, which is always a good thing.

While sitting at TKD last night, Tammy (another mom there) says to me, "hey Barb, I signed Evan up for fall football. They have more sign up dates coming up if you want to sign Daniel up too." Ugh. After a little discussion, Mike and I decided to let Daniel try football. I don't hold much hope for it since almost every sport he's tried, he's hated. Baseball, soccer, basketball...all flops. I just hope this season isn't as miserable as baseball season was. Daniel's incredibly excited. I do have to say that this is the first sport he's asked to play. Who knows...maybe he's the next Peyton Manning! LOL!

Hannah keeps asking when she gets to play softball. I really think she's going to be my little jock. She wants to do it all. Soccer, gymnastics, softball, basketball, TKD. She's even mentioned tennis. I'd love to see her play soccer (yep...I'd be playing vicariously through her!) but the soccer season's so strange that there is no other sport season it doesn't overlap with. I may be crazy but I'm not insane!!! LOL!

Oh, I forgot to mention that in second grade, they start tackle football.

Jacob's Diagnosis

I really thought that the pediatrician would tell me that Jacob had a cold and that it would work itself out. Nope. He's got strep...again. That makes four times this year. I wonder what the threshold is for getting tonsils out nowadays. He was happy, though, because it meant that he couldn't go to baseball tonight. So, his baseball career seems to be over. It's a shame that he's ended it with such a hatred of the sport. Oh well. I have a funny feeling we may be doing this all over again next year.

It's Tuesday

Jacob's come down with some illness. He was complaining of a headache on Sunday and yesterday his throat began hurting and he was running a fever. He went to TKD last night and stayed during my jiu jitsu class. While the other kids were running around like crazy children, he sat in his chair, kind of in a ball. Today, he's just curled up on the couch. He looks miserable. I scheduled a doctor's appointment for him for this afternoon. He will probably get his wish of missing his last baseball game. If he weren't running a fever, I'd certainly think he was faking so that he wouldn't have to go, but it's pretty hard to fake a fever. At least I was never able to get that down! LOL!

Daniel has decided he'd like to play football. He told me this yesterday. Just walked up to me and said he wanted to play football. Can you imagine that little peanut playing football? Honestly, I don't think I can add anything to our schedule for the fall. Cub Scouts will be starting, Hannah wants to do Daisy Girl Scouts, TKD, Gymnastics, Jiu Jitsu, and Jacob wants to join the orchestra and play the violin (granted that's during the school day, but still)...I don't want to be running around like a crazy woman. Okay, so I'll still be running around like a crazy woman but I don't need to add football on top of it. I'm going to let it go and hope he doesn't bring it up again.

10 Books to Read...

AOL posted their 10 Books to Read Before You Die. I've read some on the list (one I got almost all of the way through and was inadvertently told the ending so I stopped reading in disgust.) and others I have no interest in. Here's the list (I've bolded the ones I've read):

1. Gone with the Wind Margaret Mitchell
2. Lord of the Rings series JRR Tolkien
3. Harry Potter series JK Rowling
4. The Stand Stephen King
5. The DaVinci Code Dan Brown
6. To Kill a Mockingbird Harper Lee
7. Angels and Demons Dan Brown
8. Atlas Shrugged Ayn Rand (this is the one I almost made it through!)
9. Catcher in the Rye JD Salinger
10. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy Douglas Adams

I don't think this is a good list. Partly because #'s 2 and 3 don't interest me even a little. I don't like fantasy fiction. Maybe The DaVinci Code (great book) should be on there but Angels and Demons (okay book)? I think The Color Purple should be on there but it's not. I also think Angela's Ashes and Memoirs of a Geisha should be there too. What about 1984 or Brave New World? This list did remind me that I need to read Gone with the Wind, though.

Do you agree with this list? What books do you think should have made the list but didn't?

It's Been A While (800th Post!)

Sorry about the lack of new posts...we've been continuing to recover from camp. Well, there's that and the fact that there really hasn't been anything of note happening around here.

Jacob only has one more baseball game left and he couldn't be happier. This team has really sucked all of the fun out of playing for him. It didn't help when he ran into a bunch of his friends that are all on another team last night. Like Jacob told me yesterday, the boys on his team are all too worried about being "cool." Wow. I don't remember that starting until at least 5th or 6th grade.

We're trying our hand at making root beer. Daniel doesn't get that you have to let it sit for a few days for it to come together. It should be ready Saturday. I'm pretty scared. LOL!

Yesterday, we got the invite to the neighborhood block party that will be in August. Amy and Dave (neighbors that set this up every year) have booked a Jimmy Buffet cover band to play this year. It should be a lot of fun. Anyway, Amy knocked on my door this morning asking if we support the block party. I told her that we absolutely do, why? She told me that she went down to the city offices this morning to get our permits and someone on our street has already lodged a complaint trying to block it from happening. The "on our street" part surprised me. I know that a couple of people from the street behind us called the police but they're not the ones with the complaint (yet). Amy suspects it's a family up the street that doesn't allow their kids to play with any of the other kids (which is a shame because they have 6 kids, 5 of which are boys around Jacob and Daniel's age). That family also didn't' participate in the party last year. Amy told me that the lady with the city told her that if she could get the majority of the residents on our street to sign a petition in favor of the party, she'd issue the permits. I can't imagine it'll be a problem but she really wants to get more than just the simple majority and several families are out of town this week.

It's a shame that one family can suck the fun out of having a block party. I'm pretty sure it'll happen as scheduled, though.