02.27.08

reward

Posted in Uncategorized at 2:07 pm by Anne

tulip

Originally uploaded by Dux

Three girls have visited the doctor three separate times in less than three weeks. And they are all on antibiotics for their matching ear infections as of this morning.

The one positive from all this is the doctor’s office finally knows me. we chat. we share. we crack jokes. if this leads to free samples in my future i won’t complain.

Lily’s meds cost 75 more dollars today! so to reward myself I bought these pretty tulips. nothing says ‘you are a broke mothah!’ like fresh flowers.

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02.26.08

Is today monday?

Posted in Uncategorized at 9:39 pm by Anne

Yeah so whoops…Piper is sicker than sick. Not only is she wheezing but she has a double freaking ear infection. That’s right, both ears are totally hosed up. This explains the incessant crying, and her inability to sleep for more than a few minutes at a time, the watery eyes, the endless stream of goop draining from her nose. But you know, I guess it could be worse. At least she doesn’t have diarhhea..that particular joy will show up once her tiny body metabolizes the augmentin. Huzzah!

So antibiotics twice daily and the nubulizer steroids three times a day. And before you start bitching to me about healthcare or worse, bragging to me about your two cent co-pay and basic FREE services, I had to plunk down $175 dollars for her meds this afternoon. That’s what you get when you don’t work for the man…spanked in the hindquarters over and over and over again.

You know how that eats into my fun money. No more bubble gum or mp3s for a few months.

If she is not better and I mean considerably better in a few days I may need to hire a replacement Mommy. Two kids on antibiotics and the ‘healthy’ third kid had a fever of 104 last night. zzZZZZzzzzzz.

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02.25.08

Going to pot.

Posted in Uncategorized at 5:12 pm by Anne

pottery affects

Originally uploaded by Dux

What is up with this weather? 80 degrees in winter? Please Texas, give me a frosty break already.

The good news is that Pipes’ virus seems somewhat benign, in that, I don’t think there is any wheezing going on. There is still plenty of hacking and snotting and basic anger over the indignity of this illness but nothing super unpleasant. at least, not yet.

I was all ready to take the girls to dance class when Emma calls out “Mommy, Piper slipped in the cranberry juice!” There are some things you just don’t want to hear and I am adding that one to my personal list. I walk into the kitchen and find a lagoon of juice spilled by the table, Piper sitting in it, and Emma haphazardly trying to mop it up with napkins.

That was when I decided we would play hooky today.

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anyone else?

Posted in Uncategorized at 12:28 pm by Anne

Over breakfast Shan commented,” I put a load of laundry in the the wash today that was all pink.”

Whites, darks, towels, and jean loads. You have a lot of daughters when you can devote a washing to the almighty pinks.

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02.23.08

Piper McPipersteen

Posted in Uncategorized at 10:52 am by Anne

Question 1: Is there anything worse than waking up to a kitchen sink FULL of sloppy pizza, salad dressing dried on plates, and inumerable filthy cups, glasses, and bottles?

Answer: Yes. Waking up to a dirty sink after not sleeping through the night because your baby had a 102 degree fever AND a croupy cough AND labored breathing…and then getting diagnosed with RSV is considerably worse.

Welcome to my world people, welcome to my world.

Sorry for the sickness, Pipes. I hope it wasn’t because of the dirty tissue fondling.

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02.22.08

An unfortunate smell.

Posted in Uncategorized at 8:37 am by Anne

The drawer I keep water bottles and children’s cups in has been a little smelly lately. I’d thought it was because of 1) offgassing plastic or 2) children droppping food in the drawer, and just got in the habit of rinsing whichever vessel out prior to filling with water.

The other night, as I pulled out a large tumbler I mentioned it to Shan.

Me: Did you leave any gluetraps in this cabinet?
Him: No.
Me: Are you sure? Because now that I think about it, I feel that maybe you did.
Him: No. I did not. but if you are so worried, why don’t you pull the drawer out and look?

So I pulled the drawer completely out, bent down, and peeked to the very back dark crevices of the cabinet.

Me: Oh Good Good! (shuddering) There may be two on there!!
Shan: Hm. Well, I’m not going to pull it out. That’s nasty.
Me: Oh really? Well me either.

(insert mexican standoff) And we stood there for a good minute or two as the decomposing rodent’s putrescence filled the air.

Me: Let’s just do it together.
Shan: I’ll get the trashbag.
Me: (sigh) I’ll get the chopsticks.

The good news is that I think we got the little bastards.

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02.20.08

Deliver Me

Posted in Parenting at 12:20 pm by Anne

The setting:
A frazzled woman and her three antsy children wait in line at the pediatricians office.

office lady: Has your insurance changed?
frazzled woman: Yes, but I don’t have the usual card, the insurance company gave me this keychain card. (she hands it through the window.)

Then the telephone begins ringing off the hook and every time the office lady hangs up, it rings again. Frazzled lady sees that her oldest daughter has lined the doctor’s office business cards up and is drawing on them with the available pens. Her middle child (feverish and ill) circles about her, periodically holding her hands up wanting to be held. The youngest is toddling around the office barefoot. seven minutes pass, when…

office lady: (in a flat tone) This card is totally different from the numbers we have for your insurance. (hands it back.)
woman: Um. Ok. Well, I’ll bring the new card next time.
office lady: please do. We’ll call you when we’re ready to see your daughter.

The tired woman, asks her oldest to pick up the business cards and sit in a chair, as she stoops down to pick up the sick child. When it occurs to her to look for the youngest, she discovers the baby has found the trash can. used tissues litter the floor as the baby gleefully clutches contaminated kleenex in her grubby hands. Used tissues in a doctor’s office. Awesome.

The woman realizes sadly that this is not her day to shine.

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02.18.08

nightfall

Posted in Uncategorized at 12:06 pm by Anne

Am I the only one whose thoughts wax to death while laying in bed waiting for sleep to take me? Sometimes it feels like I am trying to reconcile myself with the absolute knowledge that everyone is going to die. I find myself praying to outlive my children and yet if I do not, I wonder, who will go first? Emma? Lily? Piper? And then, without fail I recall something an uncle said after losing his daughter, “I always knew God would take her whenever He wanted.” There is some comfort in that although not alot.

Last night as these thoughts actually prevented me from drifting off I remembered a terrible rainstorm in Austin some 17 years ago. Two friends of mine had decided to go to a movie. They came to a low water crossing and being know-nothing teenagers, made a poor decision and drove through the stream. The water lifted up the car and they went hurtling down the swollen river. The driver survived by jumping out the window, shedding her clothes and clinging to a tree but the passenger did not. My friend was lost.

The next morning, a group of us got together and converged along the river. We walked up and down, through towering trees and marshy grass, whispering to one another, “Do you think she is in the water still?” I cannot imagine what it might have been like if any of us had actually found her but in our youthful blindness, our combined sadness and confusion drove us to do something, anything. We spent most of the day out there but wound up quitting wet and cold and muddy, at precisely the location she was found the following day as the waters receded.

It happened the winter after graduating from highschool. I remember walking into the viewing and being overtaken with the thick sadness in the air, of being frightened at the occasional laughter that would break out above the low rumble of conversation as someone remembered a funny moment with Susannah. At one point, my friend’s mother walked up to me and said, “You must be Anne. Susannah spoke of what a wonderful summer you had together. It is very nice to finally meet you.” It was heartbreaking. And we were all kids, we didn’t know how to behave at a funeral, or how to sympathize with grieving parents, or even how to sympathize with each other. I wish I had been more brave and more thoughtful. I would have told her mother how lucky I was to have had a few moments with her daughter and what a bright gift she was to me and the others who knew her; how I will never be the same again and how I would never forget her. Because I cannot forget her.

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02.15.08

mice chronicles part trois

Posted in Uncategorized at 9:50 am by Anne

Again with the mice. Again. I should have known for sure that the GD things were in the house when I stooped to grab the saltines and a tablespoon of droppings rattled around the bottom of the box. Yeah, they weren’t actually eating the crackers, apparently they just wanted to make the box a rat shithouse.

So after I found the box I went through a search and destroy mission but came up empty. There were no mouse signs in the usual areas. “Hmmm.” I thought. “Could it be a mouse dropping anomaly?” or “Maybe this happened at SAM’s where I purchased these once delectable wafers.” And I let it go last week.

This morning Shan woke me by rubbing my shoulders. He bent down close to my head, his whiskers brushing against and tickling my ear, and he whispered, “We have another mouse.”

The story is as he was making his usual breakfast of toast and tea, a very small, tiny even, dare I say miniscule(there, I’ve said it) rodent kinda lazily walked past him on its way under the oven. If it had held up its microscopic paw and said “Morning Dude, save some for me!” I might have believed it.

Now I am pissed. and more hateful than usual. I hope this mouse and whatever little friends it may have enjoyed their Valentine’s Day because I am about to begin a scorched earth campaign. Bye Bye mousie, Bye bye.

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02.14.08

Of course you may not.

Posted in Uncategorized at 1:32 pm by Anne

lemon tart

Originally uploaded by Dux

Happy Valentine’s Day ya’ll! I don’t care if Hallmark pushes this holiday on everyone, hearts are fun!

Now excuse me as I run to my girls’ preschool parties. And hands off the tarts, these are for the grandparents.

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