is it wrong?

Is it wrong
to fill your
child up with
juice before
you go to the
park so that
when she has to
pee
shortly after you
get there

YOU

can

come

home?



I did that. But I blame my genetics (again) for the inherent disdain I feel for the park. I have no memories of my mother taking me to the park. Clearly, it isn't my fault.

mother's day madness

I had a great Mother's Day. I really did. Here are some of the highlights:

A convo between my two lovely sons as I got ready for church:

Holden: MOM! Tell Jack to stop licking my stuff!

Me (as I straighten my hair up in my room so I have to holler down): Jack! Stop licking Holden's stuff!

Jack: But.... I like licking his stuff.

I love Sunday mornings.
*********************************

A picture of me with my babies before church taken by the man.


Nope....don't like it.



Mmmm... do it again.



Everyone LOOK at dad!!!



Huh????



?????????????



Getting warmer



There you go!
Thanks Mr. Darcy

*************************************

A mani/pedi with the four year old:











She's good!
*************************************************

And the chocolate! Holy crap the chocolate!!!


I told you not to get me chocolate! Whatever, I'll eat em.



Thanks Cicely!



The chocolates that we got at church that the man was in charge of that I may or may not have completely taken over so as to get exactly what I wanted. (My interference put him $42 over budget and he did wrap them but I made 100 little quotes so I feel entitled)



Seriously people!?!?! Have you not seen my bum?? (Okay, I asked for these but that's not the point.)



This is not chocolate, and not the right scent for that matter, but I still love the thought and I will go and get the right scent as soon as I'm done here!
*****************************************

There was also a steak dinner thrown in there somewhere that was delish mostly because I didn't have to make it. (Today I will have to clean a big chunk of the disaster it created but I'll do that with a happy heart because I love the man)
*****************************************

And then there was this.....



....and who wouldn't love being the mother to that little creature?

dead bodies and traffic violations

Last night I took Mr. Darcy on a date. Since we live in Cochrane everything feels so far away so you have to add a couple of hours to everything you do if you need to drive very far into the city. He was late getting home from work, of course, so it was a mad dash to get downtown to see the Body Worlds and the Brain exhibit. For whatever reason I felt compelled to go see this bizzaro exhibit I've been hearing so much about.

The exhibit was, um, interesting. It was so hot in there my fingers were like sausages when we got out. Many dead bodies, stripped of their skin is what welcomed us. I knew that's what it was but still..... They were all posed in different positions with certain organs made visible for our viewing pleasure. There was yoga lady and baseball guy and the ponderer. There were lots of body organs for us to stare at and from what I could see most of us staring were doing it with looks of 'disgust meets fascination' on our faces.

The most interesting part to me was the fetus section. It was sectioned off and very private. It had a bunch of little wee ones whose existence was short lived. They were perched in little beds of black and looked so sweet. The dead pregnant lady was sickly fascinating.

The exhibit, on the whole, was a bit of a let down. I didn't like the way it flowed in the Science centre, it sort of felt like they just crammed it in wherever they could. It was dark and gloomy and so, so hot. It was less than an hour to get through the whole thing and I was hoping that for the price I paid to get us in there would have been more of, I don't know, something. The experience cost $53 for the two of us.

On our way to the restaurant we got pulled over for having an expired license plate. This is slightly annoying to me since I asked the man (and I asked him specifically because his name is on all the registrations) to take care of all the vehicles and their registrations over a month ago. Clearly, he didn't do that. $230 bucks.

We went to Moxies for dinner and their fabulous White Chocolate Brownie. It was delish. $42.

We were driving Memorial to get home and I had a memory of when I was dating Mr. Darcy. I was on Memorial and saw a bright flash of light and then received a speeding ticket in the mail a few short weeks later. I began to reminisce out loud when we saw a bright flash of light. Who knows the price of that one since the vehicle we were driving ISN'T REGISTERED!!! Hmmm, maybe they won't know where to send it. One can hope.

So, all in all, a good night because I got to spend it with the man and I really like the man.... even if this particular evening ends up costing us $500 or more.

chandler

My nephew lives with me. He's 16. He asks the most random questions ALL. DAY. LONG. We'll be watching tv and he'll ask me how much money a certain actor makes a year. Or he'll spew forth some deep philosophical pondering that would take me a year to digest. He's a sharp, quick witted, funny kid that keeps me on my toes.

On our way up the stairs where I am about to fall exhausted into bed he begins this conversation with me:

him: If I step on a nail tomorrow at work and it goes into my foot I am not working anymore.

me: Yes you are. And when you get home I will take you to the ER to get a tetanus shot.

him: What I refuse the shot?

me: You won't

him: What if I do?

me: Then you can get tetanus and die, if that's what you really want (drama is sometimes called for in conversations with children. Scaring them them works..... right?)

him: Would that be suicide?

me: Ummmm.........

Oh Chandler, how many times a day do I say "Oh Chandler"?

genetics

Every night as I load up the dishwasher I am amazed at the amount of cups my family goes through in a day. Today I decided to keep track.



There are 7 people in this house and 21 cups on the counter. I know for a fact that I didn't use one of them and the man only used one when he came home from work. So that leaves 20 cups and 5 children. For some reason this is super irritating to me. It was irritating to my mother as well when I was a kid growing up. She never really nagged about stuff, that I can remember, except the cups. Why did we need so many cups? Why do my kids need so many cups?

I guess irritation runs in the genes.

hearty matters

I have a funny heart. It has a strange beat and has over the past twelve years given me some grief. But not anymore. It started with my first pregnancy. It would race for hours every morning. After many trips to the ER a cardiologist finally decided it was a "hormone conflict" with the baby and would go away with the delivery. Mostly, it did, but when she was about 6 months old I had a terrible episode while taking a golf lesson, I thought I might die. As I reached my peak of panic it stopped racing and I decided to ignore it.

There were no other problems until 3 months after my second was born. One scary morning, while I was alone at home with a 2 year old and a 3 month old it raced so fast I couldn't feel the beat at all. I felt faint and sweaty and panicked that I would die there and it would be hours before Darcy came home and found the babies all alone. I tried to crawl to the phone, it was so far away. When I finally got close I felt blood rush to my head and my senses came back. I counted my heart beat and it was fine. When my mom came over she told me I didn't look well, I sort of retold the story of my morning (trying not scare her) she talked me into the walk-in clinic. Naturally, they were useless.

About a year later, I was at the scrapbook store and it started to race. It was mild but frustrating and sorted itself out quickly. It was then that I decided that if it ever did it again I would seek medical advice. Well, that decision was made for me when a few months later I was working out at the rec centre. Cicely was at play school and Jack was in the little day care they had at the centre. I was stepping off the elliptical after an hour long workout and it started to race. I was already dripping with sweat and my heart beat was already elevated, this just made everything that much more uncomfortable.

I prayed it would stop. I sat on a bench and prayed and prayed. I felt like the responsible thing to do was to tell someone so that Jack would be taken care of if something were to happen. So I went to the front desk and gave them a brief run down of what was happening, gave them Darcy's cell number and explained where my two darling babies were. No matter what, I explained, they need to be taken care of.

A lifeguard came to see me and take my pulse, but there wasn't one. Not one we could find. They called 911. In all my humiliated glory the fire department, the police and the paramedics all came to my rescue. People, in all their tactless ignorance, gathered around to stare, while the paramedics put me on a stretcher with an oxygen mask and tried to figure out what was up. They decided to move me to the ambulance, where it was more private. They were so cute!

My heart rate was over 270 and my blood pressure was 70 over 0. Yes, you read that right 70 over 0. Crazy! Then they gave me the best advice. Bear down. PUSH like you've never pushed before. Push until you think your head will explode. Go, they said. So I pushed and I pushed, for as long as I could. All of a sudden my world went back to normal. My heart stopped racing, my blood pressure came back up. My lips turned from blue to pink and so did my cheeks. My two cute paramedics high fived each other. Yes they did.

They took me to the hospital where they proceeded to tell everyone how awesome they were when they saved my life. They were young and cute, who was I to begrudge them their glory?

After some tests I was diagnosed with SVT: Supraventricular Tachycardia..... a racing heart. I have three options: daily medication that will inevitably give me osteoporosis, surgery, or go to the ER during an episode where they will administer adenosine to stop it. I chose number three.

When I was 11 weeks pregnant with my third baby I had an episode I couldn't stop myself with the pushing (Vagal maneuvers). I went to the hospital where I had to wait exactly 0 seconds for medical attention (if you ever want to be seen quickly tell them you are pregnant and having an episode of SVT - they work FAST!)

After two rounds of adenosine (nightmare all on it's own) and no success things got hairy around there. They needed to shock me but doing that in the first trimester would abort the baby, most likely. There was only one other choice. A new medication that would work but may be harmful to the baby - no one knew. I had been there about 5 hours and I was feeling terrible and uncomfortable. Two cardiologists told me to take the meds. I just didn't know what to do. I was so upset. All I could think about was that my heart may stop racing on it's own and then it would be fine but if I take the meds I might harm or kill my baby. After some contemplation and a whole lot of tears a woman doctor came and sat with me and held my hand. She said that my heart was a muscle and eventually, when muscles get tired they just quit. She said, if it were her, she'd take the medication. She said my two other babies needed me, she was right. I stared at the little paper cup with those 6 pills in it and couldn't believe that this was so unknown in this day and age. Why couldn't anyone tell me I would be fine and so would my baby?

I took the pills.

One hour later my heart stopped racing and they discharged me. Good luck they said. We hope everything is all right.

Six months later everything WAS all right when Holden was born at 9 pounds and 5 ounces and perfectly beautiful. Relief.

Nine months later I had the surgery (also a nightmare). It went well, the bad beat box was zapped and I was cured.

Fast forward almost 6 years to the end of 2009. My heart starts beating funny again. Not racing and not all the time but strange uneven beats that make me feel weird. Tingly arms, heaviness in my chest, shortness of breath, disconcerted mind. I told my doctor. Before long I was at the hospital getting a Holter put on (a portable heart machine that gave me the worst rash). Not long after that I was in the ER (again, no waiting) getting an ECG because the beating was so severe. And not long after that I was sitting in a room with my new cardiologist. She was nice and told me she was 99% certain there was nothing wrong but she needed to be sure and an ultrasound was the only way. April 2010 I had the ultrasound. My heart is lovely and healthy but chooses to beat funny every now and then. Everyone has these funny beats but for whatever reason mine are extreme. "Sorry about your luck but you'll be fine," she says. I'll take it! She told me that if the SVT hasn't come back by now it never will but I can live a normal happy life with a funny heart beat. It could have been so much worse so I am happy with the outcome.

Funny thing is, it hasn't beat strange since the last ER trip. Silly heart.

sleepy mondays

What did I do this weekend? Hmmm......

Had dinner with my parents. We gossiped.
I vacuumed, but not under the couches.
I made itty bitty cupcakes.
I sent the kids outside and listened to them shoot each other with guns that were really hockey sticks. BANG, BANG!!!
I cleaned a bathroom, but not well.
I washed sheets and made beds for visiting guests.
I ordered pizza.
I bought some new lipstick.
I went to my sisters for girls night and it was nice to get out.
I went to church, I love going to church now that there are no more babies and I love that I love to go to church again.
I went to my nephew's Priest ordination. His dad ordained him and it was awesome.
I made 15 baked potatoes and forgot to have one. I also forgot to put the bacon bits out for the rest of the people.
I made Dip. So much dip it was gross and it almost all got eaten.
I hung around with my family and talked and talked and talked.
I kissed all my nieces and nephews except Claire because she's afraid of me.
I stayed up way too late Sunday night talking to my honey and woke up Monday morning haggard.

Had a good weekend. Love good weekends.