Thursday, August 28, 2008

picnic weekend

I was very much looking forward to the picnic and seeing my family again. unfortunately, most of the weekend was spoiled with tension and animosity. the good news is my marriage is intact. the rest is not so good.

anyway, the kids did have fun at the picnic, and i enjoyed seeing my cousins. especially phil with his 3 carbon-copy kids and the other one, who is also adorable.




i also got a chance to see nana, who is steadily declining. dad insisted on bringing her for dinner, even though we (his immediate family) felt that it would be more stressful than enjoyable for her. she doesn't know who the people are, where she is, or why. she's constantly concerned with getting back before she gets in trouble or getting to work. the older aunts wanted to see her, though, and so he brought her.

at least we got a pretty nice group shot, as we all pretended not to be mad at each other for the 10 minutes it took jason to get (most of) us looking the same direction without the sun blinding us.

Wednesday, August 27, 2008

on the lake

so there we were: (forgotten name) lake in hillsdale, bathing suits, fishing poles, 75 degrees, sunshine, and a giant tupperware full of oblatney to share.

at the end of the day we had accomplished: bug swimming nude in a diaper instead of the swimmers i bought specifically for this weekend; pooka wading up to her neck knees in the lake while constantly being yelled at to keep her chest dry; catching 2 fish (pooka), feeding the fish (me); futilely pedaling a boat in circles due to a broken rudder; eating disgusting amounts of food, including most of my own treats.




in a word: success.

oh, and i totally did two L-seats on the swingset still rings.

Sunday, August 24, 2008

camp casey 2008

i thought this was going to be a beautiful day. i wore a tank top to show off my guns get some color on my arms. i obviously missed the weather forecast that called for winds, afternoon showers, and a high of only 70. duh. fortunately, we got the riding taken care of before the yuckiness set in. i ended up permanently borrowing a camp casey t-shirt to try and keep warm. it didn't help that much, but i appreciate it nonetheless. thanks, molly!

bug and pooka actually rode the same horse. i don't know if that was planning on the wranglers' part or just chance. pooka looked a little silly on the tiny horse. last year she was on the stately sjigborn. i would have been disappointed, myself, to be on such a pacific specimen, but i think the wranglers like them that way. and pooka just likes being on any horse. (she still pretends to remove the tack from and brush the horse at the grocery store after a ride.)

they had a balloon twister man at this session. it was fascinating watching him create such a variety of creatures. i have never seen some of the things he was doing. a balloon bracelet? too cool. i wanted a ladybug one for bug, but he had a sign prominently displayed that stated no balloons for under 3, and i felt that it would be wrong to ask for one for me.


sadly, this video is kinda crappy, but you can get a glimpse of how she was enjoying the ride before she started getting antsy. they pulled her off the horse before she could start screeching and send the other kids' mounts galloping in terror get really upset.

Saturday, August 23, 2008

cool chick

these were too cute to resist at the store. i didn't know if she'd tolerate them, but i thought i'd give it a shot. i put them on, and after a few seconds she pulls them off.but then she asks me to put them back on and this time she waits a couple seconds longer before she pulls them off. progress, toddler-style.





Friday, August 22, 2008

dunkaroo




bug had a blast swimming at uncle kevin's house. i knew she would love the pool because she loves the bath so much, but i didn't know how she would tolerate going under water. to this day, pooka is still very afraid of going under, even though she knows she can practically stand up straight and keep her nose clear of the water.

in my infinite wisdom (HA!) i didn't buy swim diapers because i didn't think we would have the opportunity to use an entire package's worth by the end of the summer. although she is not growing that fast, i'm pretty sure they wouldn't fit by next summer. so we just used the regular diapers. have you ever seen a regular diaper so full of liquid it's liable to burst? know what? if it's at that point and you try to wring the water out of it, it will burst! and you will have slimy gel stuff all over you, the baby, and the deck, which will require much rinsing so that the brainless dogs don't eat it and end up with some kind of fatal bowel obstruction.

but in the meantime, it looks incredibly funny. she looked like the bug she's called. the poofy diaper made her look like a cartoon ant walking on its rear legs.





Thursday, August 21, 2008

what's on the menu?

pooka has the first grade pack of brain quest cards and periodically we go through a few. tonight we couldn't find them and so kisu and i had to improvise our own.

it's harder than it sounds. what specifically is a first grader expected to know? the math ones are easy to come up with, but the 'folk' knowledge category and the grammar ones are more difficult.

kisu came up with a good one, though. "which animal is a carnivore? giraffe, horse, lion, cow." pooka claimed not to know what a carnivore is, although we have discussed it before. so we backed up and asked what each of the choices eats. cow: grass; giraffe: leaves; horses: apples; lions: people.

wait, what?

well, regardless, that still makes it a carnivore.

Sunday, August 17, 2008

camp quality pick-up

ahhh, i've waited too long to write this and now i've forgotten what happened. (see description of blog.)

kisu was very anxious and impatient. he didn't like the fact that they wouldn't let us see the kids right off the bat, but made us wait while they paraded them in for a slideshow that recapped the week.

i was just excited to see her and to hear about the exciting things she did at camp. i wished that she would have as good a time at camp as i did when i was young. i anticipated that she would have grown a bit. a few days without being coddled by mommy and daddy, of not having a kitchen cater to her, of having the opportunity to try some new and exciting activities. i hoped there would be less whining and more self-direction.

perhaps that was too much to expect after one short week.

she did get some new experiences and new friends. we also established a new relationship with the camp quality people which looks like it's going to provide us with many rewarding adventures in the future. pooka's companion, jane, really took to pooka and has expressed a desire to stay in touch. she obviously doesn't know me and my utter disregard for returning correspondence. she would like to be pooka's companion again next year if pooka decides to attend again (we'll probably force her to, again.) maybe before then we can convince her that kisu's name is not steve.

the one activity we heard the most about was making human sundaes. a few of the companions (oddly enough, the young ones. the older ones wouldn't deign to get gooey.) volunteered to have sundae toppings poured over the heads and bodies. there was chocolate, strawberry, and i think some whipped cream. ewwww. fortunately, organizers had the foresight to plan this event on the beach so that the desserts could simply wade into the water to wash up after the humiliation.

with much time to observe any character development spurred by her stay at camp, i think i can safely say uh, it didn't. but she had fun and that was the most important thing. that and the fact that she didn't pitch a complete hissy fit because she was homesick. can't wait til next year.

Wednesday, August 13, 2008

organic girl

this is no longer embedded in my daughter's chest. she is 100% organic materials again, well, excusing the junk she consumes from mickey d's.

the surgery was today and, despite kisu's unfounded sense of dread, it went very well.
as per usual, pooka whined incessantly about being hungry. man, i'm glad we don't have any more days of npo.

we had to go to the clinic before surgery and we played some games on the wall-mounted monitors. we also broke out our new dice game. the 'go anywhere' game has gone everywhere with us and had yet to be played. although it's not terribly exciting, expecially with only three players, it does make a very good diversion and travels very well, obviously. pooka then made up her own game, the money game. depending on the roll of the dice we would earn chips which we could then use to buy items from her. she didn't have anything to sell, so ransacked kisu's backpack and tried to sell him his own bottle of pop. i said that i would like to use my chips to buy minutes of no whining, but pooka wasn't selling any of those.

we finally got to pre-op, where pooka spent the time watching a movie on the laptop. when they wheeled her off to surgery, kisu and i headed for the family waiting room whereupon i promptly searched for some food. kisu has a sweet, although somewhat misguided, tendency to not eat when pooka is not allowed to eat. i, on the other hand, cannot survive that, besides which one of the parents needs to be able to function properly and not be on edge from hunger. when i returned from the food run, kisu was ensconced in the corner playing on the laptop. (thank you children's hospital for the free wi-fi!) i read and, predictably, took a nap, waking just in time for the notice that pooka was in recovery.

we arrived just as she did and were relieved to see that she was our beloved pooka: demanding food.

the surgeon gave us the port, for what purpose i have no idea. elena suggested using it for a bookmark, but um, eww. i don't think the library would particularly appreciate that. i don't think the surgeon sanitized the thing.

in a few days, we'll find out the results of the immunoglobulin tests which will tell us two things: one, we can discontinue the bactrim and two, she can start catching up on her immunizations, which will make her school happy.

we made it! wahoo!

Friday, August 1, 2008

narcissistic much?

weight loss is a common topic in our office. from the aging art director who suddenly realized he'd been growing rounder and rounder, to the copywriter who has struggled with her weight all her life, to the other people who just want to stay fit, we frequently discuss eating habits, exercise plans, and the frustration of it all. the writer has not seen much progress, but the art director has shed some 50 pounds in roughly the last 9 months.

a woman on another floor actually went on a hospital-supervised shake-only diet. this was a pretty radical plan that produced a striking result. she lost a little more than 100 pounds, i believe, and literally looked like a different person. it may have been even more pronounced in my eyes because it happened while i was on maternity leave.

i couldn't stick to a shake-only plan while trying to provide normal/proper nutrition for my family, and by the same token, my eating/exercising schedule wouldn't necessarily work for other people. however, i was proud to hear that she marveled at my dedication to losing weight and my ability to maintain what i have done so far.

it's nice to have my hard work appreciated. i marvel at myself sometimes, and i like to hear people comment on my dedication when i'm heading to the gym as they're heading to a fast food restaurant. it's motivating and rewarding all at the same time. and not in a 'holier-than-thou' way.

kisu is especially appreciative of what i've accomplished, although possibly not as much as i am myself. like my idol, the divine miss m, i will randomly pop up and declare, "i look good!"

this is turning into a joke around the house. one night kisu and pooka were waiting for me and when they discovered that i was in the bathroom, kisu said that i was flexing in front of the mirror. in that particular instance it was not true, but it was darn close and i couldn't help but laugh which made him think that it was true.

i like to flex my muscles. i like to see my muscles in the mirror. i admit i even... fondle my muscles--just the arms, though!

i can't help it. i am in the best shape of my life (barring the year prior to earning my black belt--and i've had 2! kids since then) and i love the way it feels. i even find ways to sneak in exercise when we're out and about, like hoisting bug onto my shoulders and walking on my tiptoes. kisu has started calling me the fitness nazi. i don't think that applies, though, if you're only pushing yourself.

anyway, i don't care what he calls me, i am going to continue working. i don't consider a trip to the gym obligatory, i consider it a privilege and an enjoyable way to spend an hour. even if i have to put up with some old curmudgeons while i'm there.