Running Out Of Hands

It’s Stuart McLean on the Vinyl Cafe.  I’m listening to podcasts on my iTouch while jogging

Well, on Sunday morning and this evening at least.  They’re usually almost an hour long, but the last two I listened to (while jogging!) were around half an hour.  So I just jogged until it was about halfway through and started jogging back.  No destination or distance in mind.  I liked it.  My breathing took care of itself (out of habit from jogging before) and I could just listen.  Jogging to music wasn’t really enjoyable – it’s hard to change artists/songs while on the move.  Half an hour of jogging wherever while listening to something interesting, well, I could jog a lot longer!

So I looked foolish laughing out loud while jogging sometimes.  What he says is good and often quite funny!

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(Slight intermission while I lay with K to get him to sleep.  That’s a hole other can of worms to talk about.)
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So I went to Curves Saturday morning (before K broke his finger), jogged Sunday morning, went to Curves Monday evening and jogged this evening.  Cool!  I’m also eating way more veggies & fruit

Did I mention that we got a pair of brown shorts from Costco when we returned the ones too big for me that DH got me for my birthday?  They didn’t have the same size, so we got a jean pair (which fit) and a brown non-jean pair (which didn’t fit – too many bumps being shown as larger then they were).  We were a little lazy in returning them, so after getting back from our eleven days at the cottage (six of which I did a morning jog), I tried them on at home again.  Just out of curiosity.  AND THEY FIT!  They fit great! The jean ones are now feeling loose, and only feel and look right when they’ve been cleaned – the dryer must do it.

The question to ask is this – has Rooh lost any weight?

Sadly, no.  But I’m looking trimmer and fitting into clothes better.

Yay for that part!

Too bad the Vinyl Cafe is only done on a weekly basis.  It’ll be tough at the cottage   Perhaps I’ll listen to (the longer) DNTO.  Definitely Not The Opera.  Another CBC program that they podcast after producing.

Remember this post?  The toy cat one.  Well, I bought the pattern, and they’re supposed to look like this:

I finished one for A, and it doesn’t exactly look the same.  Similar, but different.

This is Jingles:

He/she was hard to sew.  Believe me.  And the creamy gray mouth part is sewn on top with the button stitch, which I wouldn’t do again.  It started to fray right away.  I hand sewed the legs on since my sewing machine barfed every time I tried that way.  The cat was sitting on a table in the basement for months (literally) waiting for me to attach the legs.  In exhaustion yesterday, I actually said “yes” and did it.

But A likes it.  She didn’t want me to sew eyes – she wanted buttons!  She tried a few on, and placed them how she wanted them, and I sewed.  The heart button nose was my idea.  She wanted to draw the mouth on with a red marker (she found it in my little sewing bag) but I explained why that wasn’t a good idea.  She didn’t like that.  So I suggested she draw it on a piece of paper and I sew it like her picture.  It it worked out great!  Actually, that’s my favourite part

There are also little bells on his/her feet.  A named it something else, but I got stuck on Jingles as a name.  She ended up liking that too.  Apparently, “Jingle Bells” is Jingles favourite song

The kind of cool thing is that the belly material is from a flannel night shirt of mine.  Of the button-down variety.  I wore it nursing each of my babes at night, to keep me warm since I sleep in a tank top but got chilly when nursing.  I didn’t want my thin robe, since then I’d be sitting on it.  So I made a toy for my almost six-year old girl with material I wore while I nursed her as a baby.  Awwwww.

Hormones, hormones, you’re the best!
You put my mood right to the test!
You make me bitchy, you make me mad,
You make me want to scream a tad!
Yeeeeeaaaaaaay Hormones!

Hormones, hormones, you’re so fun!
You make me feel like number one! (ie. pissy)
I feel irritated, I feel tired,
But on the other hand – I feel wired!
Yeeeeeaaaaaaay Hormones!

Hormones, hormones, you’re the best!
You make my scattered brain a mess!
Kids get tv, I need quiet,
Can I sedate them so they don’t riot?
Yeeeeeaaaaaaay Hormones!

* Please not that this is sarcasm only.  This is not intended for actual cheerleading practices.  Anyone who uses this for cheerleading practice may cause themselves bodily harm – those annoyingly cute cheerleaders might go hormonal.

** You may now go back to your regularly scheduled programming.

So.  As it happens, wee Mister K has had a broken arm for just about two weeks.  And I didn’t know.  None of us knew, since he was still climbing out of a playpen (at the cottage) and his crib (at home), as well as doing his usual busy little guy stuff.

Our only clue was that his left wrist was a bit bigger (ie. swollen) compared to his right, and this was noticed on Thursday early evening.  He’s fallen a few times and cried, but then gone on to play.  Occasionally saying “ow” and “boo boo” and kissing his wrist.  I figured it was sprained.  I checked it every few days and nothing looked or felt broken.  But, based on the swollenness, I took him in to the walk-in clinic up the road Friday morning and they prescribed an x-ray (to be taken on the third floor of the same building).  Getting there, I realize that A and R have to wait in the hallway outside of the x-ray room.  Er, okay.  The lady that was next after us offered to watch them.  Phew!  Then, in the room, the tech asks me if I’m pregnant.  I stare at her.  I tell her that I have no idea, but there’s a very very very very very … VERY small chance that I could be.  So I can’t be in the room with K.  Crap.  So out we go and talk to the doc back downstairs at the walk-in (no waiting this time).

Thankfully, DH is able to come home early to get the x-ray done and see the doc again, before both facilities close for the night.  Good thing too, because it would have been a zoo on the weekend!  As it was, he didn’t get back until 9:30 pm with K.  At least the little guy did have a nap that day.  DH took some pics on his Blackberry, and hopefully he can figure out how to get them off of it.

The little guy has a cast on his arm, including his palm.  He had the electrode thingies on his belly (five of them) that I got to pull off.  Those things are sticky!  And get this – he giggled while I did it.

The nurses loved him since he was so mellow about it all.  He apparently has a very high pain tolerance/threshold, so that could perhaps be something to worry about.  In the pic to the left, he’s on our change table after I got him ready for bed.  He was so tired, he got the sillies.  What a sweetheart!  So while he can’t really use his left arm, he can at least use the fingers of his left hand.

But wait.  There’s more.  That should have been past tense – he could at least use the fingers of his left hand.  He can’t now.  Why?  Well, because yesterday morning, at 11:30 am, he was being silly in the kitchen.  And crunched his cast against the wall.  No biggie, except his first finger was in the way, and … drum roll … he broke his finger.

Sigh.

So DH took him back to the hospital right away and didn’t get back until 5 pm.  So K napped from 5 – 6 pm (!).  I was at a BBQ at a DnD buddies house with A and R, so I didn’t see K until we got back.  He has two fingers taped together (his first and middle fingers) and a cast applied around them, and then casting at the top to attach to his original cast.  Make sense?  Well, I might get a picture of it at some point today.

On top of that (yes, there’s more).  A may have broken her left little toe at the BBQ, when she fell in the trampoline they have and R landed on her.  Twice.  Since I’ve broken a middle toe (three places on one toe at the same time – ow), I’m not too worried.  They can’t do much about a toe, except tape it to it’s mates for a while.

And now I have an appointment with the Fracture Clinic at the hospital for K at 10:45 am (his finger) and 11:15 am (his arm).  We’re hoping for a fibreglass cast, even if we have to pay for it, since it’s lighter and it can get wet.

We’re leaving for the cottage this Friday, for two weeks.

Poor wee Mister K …

And what a nut he is!

I think A is now getting a little too winey.  She wants this, she wants that, she wants someone over, she wants to play outside, she wants tv, she wants the computer.  She doesn’t understand that neighbour NS and her brother NK like talking to an adult more than with her sometimes.  That they don’t always want to play her games, like where she’s the cat and NS is her owner.  She doesn’t understand that while I’ve been doing things with them, I haven’t been able to tidy/vacuum/clean etc. so therefore I’m not comfortable with her having a friend inside.
 
She doesn’t want to do the things I ask her to do (“Why do I always have to do that?!”, “Why should I pick it up, I didn’t play with it!”).  She doesn’t want to help.  She doesn’t seem that fun to be around, and it’s hard to react nicely to her.  I’m not being mean, trust me.
 
I just needed to vent.  Perhaps we’ll go to Zellers (despite the protests) so I can use the gift card my parents gave my for my birthday.  I’d like some new eyeliner and mascara, and if they have any nice bathing suits, I might get one.  We’ve been invited to a pool party tomorrow (sans kids) and I’d like to have something that looks nice.  I don’t really want to go.  I won’t know most of the people.

That reminds me.  I’ve noticed I have this chip on my shoulder/defence mechanism.  Since people know we kinda sorta want a fourth child, they are expecting us to announce that we’re expecting.  Except we’re not.  So at my birthday dinner (which was the day it happened, I might add, in June), I had wine.  At a kids birthday get-together at the cottage, I noticed one lady glancing at my (not so slim) belly.  I had wine.  At a friends house, I did handstands and cartwheels with the kids.  If we go tomorrow, I’m going to bring coolers for myself.  See a pattern?  Other than the one time, I’ve had something to drink.  Alcoholic.  Because I don’t want to be asked, and I don’t want people looking at my belly expectantly or with a twinkle in their eye.  I want to shut them up by doing something that I’d never do pregnant – like drink.  Or do handstands with kids.

I just don’t want the questioning looks, and I don’t want to get into answering.  Because even saying “yes, we’re probably going to have one more” is hard to say.  Since I would have been about four months pregnant by now.

It’s like being passive agressive.  And right now, I don’t care.

So there.

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Sheesh – what a grumpy post THAT turned into!

I’m not sure where the days went this week!  Perhaps it’s the cottaging mentality that spilled over to our home life.  Hey, I’m not complaining

Monday – groceries (pretty much all Monday’s), R’s soccer in the evening which DH is coaching

Tuesday – play and lunch at a park with a neighbour and her girl, along with cake for K’s second birthday (that day), backyard kiddie pool play in the afternoon

Wednesday – splashpad play and lunch with a neighbour and her two boys, backyard kiddie pool play in the afternoon, A’s soccer in the evening

Thursday – at home, but still playing outside: I put up my old tent, we played in the kiddie pool, we told stories in the tent (I’ll have to post them here – they’re on my iTouch right now), dentist appointment for me at 7:30 pm and Curves right after (awesome workout, btw)

Friday – well, here’s the thing.  K’s wrist has been bothering him for quite some time.  Poor fella.  We’ve been monitoring it (he’s been kissing his “boo boo” whenever it hurts) and while he keeps hurting it when he falls, it hasn’t looked bad or anything.  Except last night … well … it started looking swollen.  So today we (me and my entourage) went to the walk-in clinic and got a script for an x-ray on the third floor.  Lots of waiting, but with quite patient kids.  Only …  Only I couldn’t get it done.  K wouldn’t stand on his own (he’s only 2 years and 3 days old), and there is a very, very slight change that I could be, you know.  We did it once since the miscarriage.  Once.  But if being in the room with the x-ray stuff caused problems because I am, well … I’d never forgive myself.  Odds are that we’re not, but I’d rather not take that chance, thank you very much.

The x-ray place closes at 5 pm, so DH is going to try to be home for 4:30 pm and whisk K over there.  Hopefully they can do it and he can go back down and see a doctor at the walk-in with the results.  If K needs a splint/cast/whatever, then it could be done then.  If all is okay, well, then that’s great.  We’d rather not go back on the weekend, because the walk-in is FULL of people then.  Crazy full!

But back to the week.  Either I’m more relaxed from all of us being at the cottage, or it’s not having to rush a lot of mornings to get breakfast down and A off to the bus stop.  It’s been a great week!  Perhaps me eating a lot more fruit & veggies, but less carbs (crackers, meat) is part of it too.  Hey, I’m still eating the odd cookie, but not like before.  I’m just choosing to eat less, but up the veg and fruits.

We have a busy weekend coming up too.  Which reminds me, I need to call my mom and see if she can be here tomorrow between 2:30 and 5 pm …

We were at the cottage from June 30th (the evening, really) until last night.  It was great

I sort of got in the habit of going for a jog in the morning and jumping in the lake right after.  I wore my bathing suit under my shorts and tank top.  And let me tell you … jumping into a lake after a jog is absolutely wonderful!  I ended up doing it for the swim more than for the jog   Plus, the first morning I did it the water was 69 F … by the end of our stay, it was 80 F in the morning!  One day it got up to 87 F in the afternoon

And yes, I do air temps by Celcius and water temps by Fahrenheit.  I’m a child of the changeover here in Canada.  I also get kids looking at me funny when I have a hard time picturing how many metres tall they are when they tell me, because I’m used to feet and inches.  Yet I can judge distances by kilometres.  Go figure …

The kids had fun, the days were hot and sticky, and we had only one (one!) rainy day.  Which worked out perfectly since we needed our kids to be out of the sun and more still (instead of running around) for a day to calm their moods.  We went into town, had a great deliciously huge lunch, watched a wicked thunderstorm from inside the restaurant, and took our time getting home.

I didn’t take many pictures.  That’s probably a good thing, in a way, since it means I was out and about and having fun.  I’m glad I did take a few though – they’ll be good to trigger the memories of the other fun things we did that I didn’t photograph.

That’s about it, I guess.  For now

What happened before, happened.  It haunts me a bit now and then (like when I was at a cloth diaper store in Perth and the conversation turned to those kinds of things) and can hit hard out of the blue.  But otherwise life has taken its hold of me and is pulling me forward.  So are A, R and K!

K was funny last night. Well, sort of.

He’s gotten into this bad habit of getting out of bed at bedtime and wanting to be with us. He climbs out of the playpen and onto the bed. Then he gets of the bed and comes out to see us. So he’s been getting to sleep late. Like 10 pm.

Last night I gave up waiting for him to fall asleep and went to bed with him. Him I his bed, me in mine. He climbed out of the playpen, over me, and proceeded to make himself comfy beside me. He fussed and wiggled and just couldn’t get comfy. I told him he’d have to go back to his bed if he didn’t go to sleep. Well, eventually he climbed back over me and slid down into the playpen. He made himself comfortable and went to sleep.

Silly fella.

We go home tomorrow evening

I’m not quite ready to leave.

Neighbours of ours from home are coming up here for a week, starting this Sunday. DH hopes they get here before 4 pm so we can leave our kids for a quick jaunt to the property we bought. He really wants me to walk it and show me what’s there, and we can’t take ours kids with us.

We need a plan – a better plan – for the next time we come up. We always spend too much money, and we’re up for two weeks next time. Starting from the 23rd. Okay, I bought two more Flip diaper covers ($2 cheaper at the store in Perth than the place near home) and some shoes for $50.

But … nothing extravagant. Groceries are plain old more expensive here. And this trip, we went through mire food than planned because we had an extra person. She, er, also doesn’t contribute the way she used to. She used to pay for one of the grocery trips, and one o the gas purchases. Her concept of money has changed. Dishes often aren’t washed properly when she does them. I’m no saying it to be mean – it’s just the truth. She’s older. That’s all. But she’s here, a place she loves, and our kids get to spend a nice time with their Grandma H.

Returning home might be challenging. Not getting there, being there. Our kids are used to two adults for attention. Then again, it’s more structured at home, and the toys will seem a bit like new.

But hey, it’s two weeks – less than that, really – until we come back

More swimming for me!

R is currently saying he wishes he had a kangaroo. He’s also told us he wants a pet dog, a pet fish (of his own), a pet cat, a pet skunk, a pet chipmunk, a pet frog … Not all at the same time. I think. He changes daily.