Again.

I got a call yesterday from the school nurse. Again. This woman is suddenly my best friend. Someone thought they saw a bug in Emily's hair. Again. We did the whole treatment. Again.
Emily went back to school today. Again. I got a call from the school nurse today. Again. Emily threw up in class. Again.
We trecked to the doctor. Again. It's not lice. Again. It's a virus. Again.
I wouldn't mind something new. Just for a change.
Like I fall and hurt myself. Again.
Like Brian gets sick. Again.
My one boss is recently engaged. He and his other half are talking about children. But after what's been going on with mine, he's thinking twice about it.
Mommy needs a break.
Any one want to buy me a spa?

Emily's Choice in clothing and Daddy

Emily and Brian stayed home yesterday. I was at work. I talked to Brian a few times during the day. The last time was to see if he wanted to come to work and get my paycheck and take it to the bank. He and Emily show up. I was dying to see what outfit Brian and Emily had come up with for her to wear.
I have to say this. Brian can dress himself, usually pretty well. But when it comes to dressing his little girl, that's another story. The day he took her to the doctor, he called me and asked me what tights when with the dress she wanted to wear.
So yesterday, they come into the facility and I could tell right away that she had suckered him into wearing somthing inappropiate. She was wearing her black and gold Christmas dress.
I keep looking for the SUCKER tattoo that Emily had inscribed on her father, but I can't find it. He calls her his princess and lets her dress that way too. I guess I need to pick my battles with that.
And lets not talk about what he does with her hair.

When it rains.... can I borrow your umbrella?

The adage is true. When it rains it pours. At least in this house.
I came home from work early Tuesday sick. Rarely do I do something like that. Usually when I leave work it's beacuse someone else is sick. But I went home with a lovely stomach thing and fever. Yeah me.
I got up the next morning, feeling... well... death would have been an improvement. I decided not to go to work.... again something I only do when someone else is sick. I got Em ready for school and she and Brian left me to my misery and my bed.
I think I heard the phone ring. I was asleep. But my cell phone that was next to my head woke me up. (Brian has to patch the hole in the ceiling now.) It was the school. Emily was acting weird. Long story short, I had to get my sick butt out of bed, go and get her from school and bring her home.
She had another seizure.
I had to call the sitter, the doctor, work, the pharmacy, argue with the insurance company about paying for her medication, Brian. All this while trying not to throw up or well just be sick in general.
Then tonight, when I think it's all good. She's asleep. Brian is out at his friend's playing video games or at the strip club or something. It's just quiet Mommy time. Yeah right.
I'm on the phone with my sister in law, just catching up, shooting the breeze when I heard the cough. No, more of a bark.
Just what I needed. Emily to come down with something else.
My shoulders are starting to hurt from all this weight. My umbrella is starting to leak.
Anyone got a Valium salt lick for Mommy?

Teaching the young

This past Friday we got a fair amount of snow and ice. They had orignially just postponed school for two hours and then cancelled it.
Emily goes to the baby sitter in the morning, who puts her on the bus then back to Danielle's in the afternoon for an hour.
Danielle calls me while I was at work to tell me that Emily was having a very difficult time because they closed school. (I know, right! A child who WANTS to go to school).
So, this morning, Saturday, Danielle called me to let me know that with Martin Luther King Jr's birthday being Monday, she was going to close. Emily asked me who was on the phone and we were talking about it. She wanted to know, very upset, why there was no school on Monday.
Now, think about this. We as adults, most of us being children of baby boomers, have a very good understanding of who Martin Luther King Jr was. Of his mission in life. His struggle for social equality for all races. But, we have been trying to raise Emily without the idea that color of skin is any kind of issue. So, how do you explain to a child who Martin Luther King Jr was? Without opening a whole other can of worms?
So, this was my explaination.
Martin Luther King Jr was a pastor. This she got. She loves church and understands who a pastor is. Then I told her that MLK jr was upset by the way his church member were being treated by other people. That he wanted better things for them. And he fought for everyone to have a happy and good life. So, because he was such a good man, thinking of others, we celebrate his birthday.
With Emily, it's hard to talk about death. It turns into a day long disertation on angels, death, who has died, why they died, where they are and more theology than most ministers deal with in a month. So, I really didn't mention the tragic day in Memphis 50ish years ago. She wouldn't even begin to understand it.
But, when it comes to teaching Emily history, I stop for a minute and think about how I would explain it to an alien or maybe Jesus Himself. It helps a bit.

Bye Bye hair

I tried and tried to get all of the hatched egg sacks out of her hair. I was the hardest thing I have ever done. The school wouldn't let her back until they found her hair completely clean. I worked for two hours last night, and that was after my mother had worked on it for a while during the day.

We had no choice. Em's long hair was becoming a huge problem, just too long to deal with. Mom tried to take her to our hairdresser yesterday and have her cut it. They wouldn't touch it. So, I had an appointment for Saturday to have my color touched up. Laura, our hairdresser said to cut it myself and she would fix it on Saturday.

That's what I did. I cut it off.

I love it!

I've been trying to get Emily to cut her hair for years, but she wouldn't agree to it. But it's so darn cute!

I got home from work today, and there was a message from my hairdresser. She cancelled my appointment for Saturday. She said she wouldn't see us for at least another week.

Here's the problem.

Laura only works one day a week and she books up six weeks in advance.

I'm going to try and get Emily in with another person at the salon to fix the hair, and maybe see if someone can fix my color. I can't go too much longer without looking like a stripped mess.

But on another front,

Brian has a younger cousin who's son was diagnosised this past fall with cancer. Please check out his website and say a prayer for this brave 4 year old.
http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/tylercoppola

I'm itchy

Emily has had a rash since she was in the hospital Christmas night. We thought it was a reaction from the EEG she had.
But it hasn't gone away.
The school nurse, an RN looked at her scalp and agreed with me that it was some sort or skin rash.
I took her to the doctor, and she was examined there by the doctor and a nurse.
Just a rash. Benadryl and keep our eyes on it.
Well, it was getting worse. Em kept scratching her head. So, yesterday, I bought Benadryl spray and was going through her hair and spraying the areas that itched her the most.
That's when I saw it.
A little bug.
Then another.
And another.
Emily had head lice.
Who knows where it came from.
Doesn't matter.
She's had her hair washed with chemicals a lot in the last 24 hours, as have I and Brian too.
Everything her head touched in the last three weeks has been subjected to hot, hot water and hot hot dryer time.
You don't realize how much stuff you put your head on until you have to wash it all at once.
Well, this morning, we are bug free. A few dead ones come out every time I comb her hair again. But nothing alive.
And my skin just keeps itching and itching.
I slept poorly, kept waking up to think that something was crawling on me.
And I had to tell my sister in law, the baby sitter and school about it too. That added more phone calls.
So, I don't think that there is anyone in Kingston that doesn't know about it.
But, I'm still itchy.

Somedays it goes too fast, others....well you know

Emily is in first grade. I can't believe it. The school and the photo lab lost our school pictures. Well, I finally got them this week.
When Brian and I got married, a good friend of ours Aaron gave us a beautiful glass picture frame, one you might find at Macy's with a picture of a bride in it.
I have been using the frame for seven years for the 8x10 picture I get with most of the formal packages of pictures of Em. It's great.
When, when I got the pictures the other night, I updated the frame with the school picture for this 2007-2008 year.
I had left a few years of pictures in the frame, one behind the other. I laid the three pictures, side by side on the coffee table. 2007-2008, 2006-2007, & 2005-2006. I can't believe how much she has changed.
You see the difference in the baby pictures, but even in a year, you see the difference.
She looks more like a big girl all the time.
I can't believe how fast the time is going.
I remember when I was younger people would tell me that time would go faster as I got older and I would dismiss it. But I see it every day now.
I can't believe my baby will be seven next month.
But, there are the days...
Those days that it can't be bed time fast enough.
You know those days.

Loving the Job, hating the work

I took a new job in October, being the head of medicine for a new Independant Living facility, right down the street from us. I love my job, no really I do. They two young men I work for are great. Residents are residents. But it's a lot easier physically than any job that I have ever had.
But there are some draw backs.
I have been in charge before. However, I had a supervisor or director of nursing to help with things like policy, procedures and repermandation.
That's all different now.
I'm the one making policies, procedures and telling my staff when they have done something worng and that they could loose their job over it.
Today was one of those days. I already had a full plate and when I got to work, I discovered that someone didn't follow the correct procedure. I hated having to tell the owners that something was wrong... again. It's been a problem. So...... I had to use a write up and enforce the policy.
I have this thing in my head where I need people I work with to like me. And now... well, the person who messed up doesn't like me too much.
It's been hard to deal with.
But maybe a glass of wine will help.
Or the bottle.

This is one of those rare times I could use a 2nd Child

We only have one child. The Princess. It's not medically possible to have a second child. Plus we are content.
Brian's father has never been a well man and he's been getting worse and worse. Emily has a few girlfriends, whos Grandmother is a good friend of my mothers.
Last weekend, Em was sick, with the flu. (FUN FUN) We were supposed to go to Brian's parents, so Brian could do a few things around the house for his mother and so that they could see their granddaughter (I don't count for too much). But Em was sick, so we cancelled.
We are planning on going out this weekend.
My mom calls me yesterday to tell me that Em has been invited to one of her little girl friends birthday parties, a bit of a ways away on Sunday.
Brian's father was back in the ER this morning ( he's fine.... long story). So, now Brian and I feel that it's more important that we get Emily out to see her Pop-pops this weekend.
But we still have this birthday party.....
By, the way, did I mention that this little girl has never invited us to a birthday party before and she always comes up for Emily's parties?
If I had two children, we could split the load. One with Dad to Pop-pops and one with Mom to the birthday party.
I wonder how much my in-laws would enjoy spending time with the American Girl daughter Molly?

The child who never sleeps

Ask anyone who knows Emily, and they will tell you she hasn't slept since she was conceived. She sleeps in little chunks,any where from four hours to ten hours a night and regretfully not all at once. We have tried everything from good old Benadryl to Melatonin. It workd for a while, but needless to say, it doesn't work for any length of time.
Which means I haven't slept a good night since.... well.... since college I guess. Even when I can convince a set of grandparents to take Em over night, I sleep poorly, too trained from listening for her to wake up every night and asking me to ..... do something for her.
My parents and Brian's parents bought Emily a new bed for Christmas and her birthday. It's a beautiful sleigh shaped solid oak wooden day bed. With the trudle for when I get brave enough to let her have sleep over. (Right now it's being used by her American Girl Doll and my other daughter Molly!)
Well, Emily also has a fasination with pens. Some how, she ended up with a pen in her room.... a BIG NONO in our house. She woke up one night and I didn't know it. The next morning Daddy got her ready for school, dropped her off as usual and called me at work.
Emily took her pen and wrote her name on her new bed. When questioned why, she told her father is was so that no one would forget that it was her bed. And that no one else could use it.
Now..... if she only would use it.....

Early Morning Toilet Woes

Yesterday, my husband Brian came to me and stated that the weirdest thing had happened to him while he was in the bath room.
He was getting ready after a shower and some how managed to knock the electric razor off of the shelf that is over the toilet at the exact same moment that he had flushed the toilet. The razor disappeared.
Me, being the skeptic that I am when it comes to things Brian and Emily tell me, went up and looked around the potty to make sure the razor hadn't fallen behind the porcelin god or in the trash. It wasn't found.
Emily got sick last night and when I went to flush away the mess, it didn't go away quite right. So, this morning.... when she got sick again, I insisted that Brian drag his butt out of bed and fix the problem he managed to cause.
Emily and I were snuggled in my bed watching her movies and listening to Brian curse and sputter in the bathroom. He asks me to help him and I went into the bathroom to find that he had moved beyond the plunger to taking the toilet up off of the floor.
There was water every where!
He was trying reach his hand up the bottom of the toilet and pull out the razor that he is convinced is lodged in the joints.
So.... what happened?
Well, currently at 9:30 on Sunday Morning, Brian is at Lowes buying a new toilet and Emily and I will have to hold it for a while.
Why Me?
Can I use your bathroom?

Six and 3/4 going on sixteen

Emily lives in her own little world, loving the idea of being a princess. For Christmas she had her heart set on this $90 dress from American Girl. But no one in the family, neither myself, Nana or Grandma was willing spend this kind of money on a dress that she was going to wear twice.
My mother, being very handy with a needle and thread offered to make it for her and... well, after a bit of convincing, it was a great hit. Em loved it.
Thursday night she came home from school and the sitters and said to me that she needed to wear her ball gown to school the next day. I explained that she had gym the next day and there for needed to wear pants. Besides the fact that it has been in the single digits here in NY and Ball gowns just aren't practical in NY in the winter. Emily insited that she promised her friends she would wear her ball gown to school and that she could wear her pants under it. Mommy won.
The next day, I was checking my email at work, and there was one from her teacher. Mrs. F. told me that Em was having a bad morning, lots of tears and that Em was blaming me for it. She told her teacher that I wouldn't let her wear her ball gown and that "Mommy just doesn't understand me"!
If that's the case now.... anyone want to take her for her teenage years?