More SNOW today!

Well, we didn't wake up to snow this morning, but we might tomorrow! It keeps alternating between rain and snow, starting and stopping, heavy and light. Right now we have only a dusting on the ground, but Katie is hopeful there will be a lot more when she wakes up tomorrow. Actually though, it would be nice if we don't get any snow tonight since Regina is scheduled to take her Jeep to Bellevue early in the morning for an oil change at the dealership.

Today was a fun day. Regina took Katie to pre-school and then she and I went to Bellevue Square. We walked, talked, shopped, ate lunch out and had a relaxing day together. We ended up later in the afternoon going to the Coach outlet store in North Bend to see if they had any purses Regina liked. I'm happy to report that she found one she liked AND the prices were excellent! She got a $300 purse for only $129! Woo hoo!

Before picking up Katie from pre-school, we decided to drop in and visit with Mel, her Mom and the babies. We hung out with them for a little while and got our "baby-fix" for the day.

Now we're home, ready to settle in for the evening. I felt today about like I felt yesterday. Not bad, but as soon as the pain medicine wore off, I could feel pain in my sinuses. It was good to get out and walk, which is actually something the doctor suggested would help with the healing process.

Day 2 Post Op

Last night I was able to breathe through my nose so I got several hours of uninterrupted sleep (in my bed, not the recliner)! Hooray! However, I woke up with a headache this morning. Even so, it wasn't as painful as most headaches I woke up with before the surgery. A warm saline rinse and pain medicine helped immensely.

It snowed overnight, again. Katie was overjoyed once again to find newly fallen snow when she woke up. She and Regina spent a lot of the morning outside playing in it. They also went to one of our neighborhood parks where Katie said she almost touched the sky in the swings.

While they were outside, I made a batch of whole wheat buttermilk biscuits. For lunch we packed up the biscuits along with the leftover beef stew Regina whipped up last night and we made our way over to Courtney and Mel's to share it with them. Once again, we had a relaxing afternoon hanging out with them, while we ate, visited and held babies. Even though I didn't feel all that great, being with friends and cuddling with a sleeping baby somehow made me forget.

The First 24 Hours After Surgery

Okay, I recently took a pain pill and I feel it kicking in. So, if what I'm about to write isn't completely coherent, that's why.

Let's see, surgery day was yesterday and I couldn't believe the horrible timing of it all when I learned that Regina woke up with a very bad migraine. This was not a good day for her to be sick.

I, on the other hand, woke up feeling surprisingly good. I felt mentally prepared and was relieved that the day had finally come.

I don't know many details about what she accomplished during the surgery, but she'll give me a full report on Friday when I see her for a follow-up. She did tell Regina that the left side of my sinuses are not constructed normally. She couldn't tell if I was just born that way or if the surgeon who fixed my deviated septum years ago did it, but either way, it made her job harder. Therefore, it took a about 30 minutes longer than she anticipated. I was in the operating room for about 2 hours.

When I woke up in recovery, I was pleasantly surprised that I felt NO pain! I fully expected to wake up to the throbbing pain in my face that I'd come to know so well. I was also thrilled when I realized I wasn't nauseous from the general anesthesia AND I could actually breathe through my nose. None of the packing obstructed air passage in my nose! What a wonderful bonus. I had been told I'd have to breathe through my mouth for a while, which I find to be quite miserable.

Well, it wasn't long after waking up that reality settled in and I began to feel significant pain in my sinuses. Fortunately, the nurses took good care of me and throughout recovery they gave me several doses of pain medicine in my IV. And right before leaving, I got a pain pill for the road.

Meanwhile, poor Regina had a full-blown migraine and was sitting there watching them give me all the pain medicine I could possibly need, wishing she too could have a couple doses. She really didn't look good and by the time she met me in recovery, she had already thrown up at least once. People probably looked at the two of us and wondered, "Now, which of you two just had surgery?" I felt so terrible for her having to hang out there for so many hours when she felt so awful. I was actually worried she wouldn't be able to drive us home. We could have taken a cab, I suppose. She was able to drive, though, and we arrived home safely.

Anyway, back to me. Since I wasn't nauseous, I was able to eat and drink everything they gave me. I was actually quite hungry and especially thirsty. By about 2:45pm they were happy with my progress and let us go home. Because Regina felt so awful, we stopped by Katie's pre-school and picked her up early. Regina didn't think she'd be able to go back out later and pick her up when we normally do. That turned out to be a good decision since she didn't start feeling better until after dinnertime.

Last night I was able to successfully manage my pain with the medicines prescribed to me, although I was no longer able to breathe through my nose. Ugh. I was bleeding (which is normal) and it eventually obstructed air passage. I was so disappointed because that made sleeping last night quite miserable. I started out in bed, propped up on a pile of pillows, but that didn't last long. I just wasn't able to get comfortable enough to actually fall asleep, not to mention the extreme dry mouth that kept me awake because I was constantly taking sips of water. I eventually moved from the bed to a recliner where I still had the dry mouth issue to contend with, but for some reason I was able to sleep for a little bit. I might have gotten 1 solid hour of sleep while the rest was just a series of episodes where I dozed off until the dry mouth irritation woke me up. Not a fun night.

Early this morning I did a saline rinse which cleaned out the nasal passages and eventually allowed me to breathe through my nose again! I took advantage of it and napped for a bit later in the morning. I wanted to do the saline rinse so badly before bed last night, but I was given instructions not to. I was also fighting the urge to blow my nose, since I could feel drainage accumulating. But, it's no-go on the nose-blow for a little while. I taped gauze just below my nostrils to catch anything that drained all the way out. Today, the bleeding has stopped and I'm no longer wearing my gauze mustache.

So fortunately, right this moment I feel pretty good. Actually a whole lot better than I expected I would. Regina is also feeling good now. That's a relief. Now I feel like I can relax knowing she's at full capacity to take care of things while I recover.

Katie in the Snow!

Regina snapped this shot of Katie sitting on the snowball she just made. I stayed inside to nap!

Snowy Spring Morning

Katie is so excited this morning because while she slept, it snowed! What a magical thing it is for a kid! Even though it's not much at all. Barely enough to make a few snowballs or to swish out a snow angel or two, but doesn't seem to matter. We'll all go out later, I imagine. Katie will see to it.

Yikes, Surgery Tomorrow!

Today was good. Regina worked from home. I heard her on the phone most of the time when I was here. I spent the afternoon at Mel and Courtney's holding one baby or the other. Courtney is back at work now so Mel's going solo with the twins during the weekdays. I want to go over and help out as much as she'll have me, so I hung out this afternoon and did what I could. I got to give Jack a bottle today! That was the first opportunity for me, since Mel is primarily nursing both of them. Also, it's been 4 years since I've changed the clothes of a newborn, but I got the chance to see if it would come back to me when I changed each of them into a new outfit. I was telling Mel that when Katie was newborn, I used to pay special attention to her fingers and thumbs as I was pushing the sleeve down over her hands and arm. I worried that one of her fingers would get caught in the sleeve and pushed in the wrong direction. I'm happy to report that it never did happen when I was dressing Katie and it didn't happen today with Avery and Jack. It's just one of those million little things you worry about that will probably never, ever happen, but still, it stuck in my head.

I also refused to have an area run in Katie's room because one time I imagined that I was carrying little, newborn Katie and I tripped on the edge of the rug, and fell and dropped her, etc... It never happened, nor did it even come close to happening, but once I had that image in my head, I just couldn't have an area rug in her room!

Okay, so I'm getting mentally prepared for my long awaited sinus surgery tomorrow morning at 9:15. We have to be there at 7:45 which means poor Katie will be dropped off at her pre-school at about 7am! She's never been there that early before!

Because this is outpatient surgery, we should be home early to mid afternoon. Perhaps even earlier. It's hard to say for sure. I'm sure Regina will post an update as soon as she can.

And, if you're interested in browsing, here's my ENT's web site: Dr. Lisa Mulligan

Corporate Logo Quiz

Check this out, it's fun:

http://money.aol.com/special/corporate-logos-quiz

The Most Obnoxious Pain Pounding Without Mercy

Regina got home last night around 10pm from her business trip to NYC. This morning she woke up with a headache and eventually ended up taking an Imitrex, which worked. She had a productive day working from home today.

I also woke up with a headache today. I knew I would because every time I changed position during the night, I could feel the most obnoxious pain pounding without mercy between my eyes and just below my eyes, behind the cheeks. After taking numerous medicines upon waking, I finally felt pretty good around 1-2pm. I fear the same thing will happen tomorrow, but am hopeful it won't. Just one more day until sinus surgery. I am soooo looking forward to the relief it's supposed to bring. Not immediately, I know, but once I am healed.

We ate dinner tonight at Los Cabos in North Bend near the outlet mall. We recently discovered it and have yet to order something we don't like. I'm happy as long as they offer shredded beef burritos, which they do. After dinner we headed out to visit with Mel, Courtney and the babies. They are all doing well.

Moist Bran Muffins

INGREDIENTS:

1/2 cup butter or margarine,softened
1 cup packed brown sugar
1 tablespoon molasses
1-1/3 cups and 1 tablespoon whole wheat pastry flour
3/4 cup wheat bran
1 teaspoon baking powder 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 eggs
1 cup buttermilk
1 cup semisweet mini chocolate chips or raisins

DIRECTIONS:

1. In a mixing bowl, cream butter and brown sugar. Add molasses; mix well. Combine the dry ingredients. Combine eggs and buttermilk; add to creamed mixture alternately with dry ingredients. Stir in chocolate chips.

2. Fill greased or paper-lined muffin cups three-fourths full. Bake at 375 degrees F for 18-22 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool 5 minutes before removing from pans to wire racks. Yields 12 muffins.

Printed from Allrecipes.com 3/26/2008

Too much chocolate... Is that even possible?

Apparently so. I baked a couple of bran muffins today and tested one before trying it out on Katie. I didn't mind it, but it was, well, bran and it tasted like bran. I thought for sure Katie wouldn't eat it, so a little while ago I baked a couple more and put mini chocolate chips in them. I didn't really know how many to put into just two muffins, but apparently I put too many! Katie said she liked the muffins, but she didn't eat much because they had too much chocolate in them! Well, I have to admit I agreed with her. I couldn't stand more than a couple of bites! Okay, lesson learned. I'll probably try it again tomorrow morning, but with fewer chips.

Katie and Goofy

The Easter Bunny brought Katie this Goofy toy because she's been doing such a good job on the potty. As you can see, she's keeping up with her vow to wear tights everyday forever and ever! The poses she comes up with when I get the camera out crack me up sometimes. All I ask her to do is give me a nice smile, not too big, and this is how she translates that request!

Regina flew to NYC today for work and will return Tuesday evening late. She'll stay here and work from home on Wednesday and Thursday since it would be silly to drive back to Portland for those two days only to drive back up here on Thursday evening for my sinus surgery on Friday. I have to be at the hospital first thing on Friday, 7:45am, I think. Regina is taking next week off to be here for me since I won't be feeling so great. I'm getting nervous about how awful I will feel right afterward. I'm imagining it will be just one big horrible sinus headache. I just hope the pain medication works well, or knocks me out so I sleep through it.

Today I'm beginning the process of organizing things so Regina can easily find whatever she needs while I'm out of it next week. In particular, I need to have the pantry stocked and the refrigerator purged of expired food. I found several containers of yogurt that expired back in November!

Katie is outgrowing her clothes and many of the things in her dresser no longer fit. I need to get those out of there so Regina won't have to worry about remembering which fit and which don't.

Also today I want to try this recipe I have for bran muffins. I'm hoping Katie will like them for breakfast. I'm looking for ways to get her to do poopies in the morning before going to school so we reduce the risk of her having messes waiting for us when we pick her up in the afternoon. She had a great potty weekend, mostly though because we were diligent about making sure she sat on the potty several times throughout the day. At school however, they aren't always able to remind her with the same regularity that we do. So, if I can get her to go in the morning before school, we have less chances for messes in the undies!

Easter 2008

Okay, all I need is a few minutes to myself so I can get this post done, but it's not sounding good. I just overheard Regina downstairs talking about some sort of mess Katie just made, something's ruined and Mommy's not going to be happy. Hmm, I think I'll stay up here for a while...

Anyway, Easter this year started off not so great. Both Regina and I woke up with headaches, although she seemed to be handling hers much better than I was. It took me about an hour or more to feel like participating. Meanwhile, Katie found her Easter basket left by the Easter bunny and she was thrilled with her treats. Chocolate for breakfast this morning!

Of course, it was raining today, as predicted, so we did an egg hunt inside the house. I took a little bit of video, but doubt it will be very good due to poor lighting inside. Oh well. Maybe next year.

This afternoon, Katie attended a birthday party for one of her classmates. It was held at My Gym in Bellevue and was a great way for the kids to work out all the "crazies" from all the Easter candy! She had a great time.

Okay well, sounds like I should go downstairs and see what the mess is all about. Ugh.

Happy Birthday Bonnie!

Phish Food Fridays

Lately we've begun a fun family tradition where the three of us share a pint of Ben and Jerry's Phish Food on Friday after dinner. We don't even need bowls - just three spoons! Yum! Have you tried it?

Gardener for a Day

Oh dear God! What was I thinking? Planting and transplanting shrubs is hard work! Now I know why I don't do it very often, if at all. Okay fine, I've never done it before, I admit it. It's always been Regina who has done this type of work around the house, not me. I don't even offer to help her! Even so, I had this grand idea that today I could do it.

I went to a nursery in Issaquah this morning and bought three shrubs that should do well in the soggier locations in our yard, to replace the shrubs (Skip Laurels) originally planted there not doing well because they need well-drained soil. The folks at the nursery gave me several recommendations and I picked one. They also gave me instructions on how to plant them.

You know what though, I didn't even think about what I was going to do with the dying bushes, once I dug them up. We don't pay for the trash company to take away yard waste, so I ended up transplanting them on the side of the house (where potential buyers won't immediately see them...) but I think the soil there is well-drained. What have I got to lose? If they die, they were dying anyway. It'll be a miracle if they actually make it. But, you never know. I did notice some new growth on them, so maybe there is hope.

But, oh my God! Something else I didn't take into account was that digging up the Skip Laurels would be such back-breaking activity! Beneath the quarter inch of mulch, the ground is totally saturated, wet clay, I discovered. I swear, it weighed a ton. But really, I wouldn't be surprised if what I dug up weighed 100 lbs or more. I thought I would never get them out of the ground, let alone moved to another location in the yard. A wheelbarrow would have been helpful, but all I had at my disposal was a moving dolly. In the end I was able to do it, but boy was it heavy.

So now, I have two new shrubs in place of two of the dying shrubs. I have one more to do, but that'll have to wait. After I was done with those two, I collapsed on the back steps and spent some time admiring my work (like I always do after I've completed something) and it was almost as if I actually expected the new plants to start growing and sprout leaves right in front of me. When I realized I wasn't going to get that kind of instant gratification (duh), I cleaned up and came inside.

Mel, I am definitely calling you when I do this again, since I'm not done! If you weren't having company arrive today, I think I would have summoned you over here today! Next time though, for sure.

But, the best part of the day for me was lunch with Mel, Courtney and the babies at Red Robin. Thank you so much for inviting me! I would drop anything I'm doing in an instant to be with you guys.

Tights, skirts and dresses, forever!

Katie wants to wear tights every day, she tells me. So yesterday on the way home from Mel and Courtney's, I stopped at the North Bend outlet mall and looked for tights and skirts or dresses. I found four pair of tights at the Children's Place along with several skirts there and at Gymboree. She was so excited and of course had to wear one of the new outfits today to school.

This morning after dropping Katie off at school I went over to Ritz Camera and placed an order for a couple of photo enlargements. I arrived about 10 minutes before they opened, so ventured into REI next door to kill some time. On the clearance rack I found such an adorable sweater, the last one, in MY size, regularly priced at $48, marked down to EIGHT bucks! Well, I can't pass that up. Woo hoo! What a RUSH!

Visited with Mel, Courtney and Babies Today

Snapped these shots on my way home from visiting with Mel, Courtney and the babies. It's so beautiful here. ~ Sigh ~ I can't believe we have to move!

Anyway, Mel, Courtney and both babies are doing well. I could tell the babies have grown since I last saw them a week ago. And Mel's belly is almost gone after only two weeks. Good grief! MY belly isn't gone yet and it's been over 4 years! I guess I can no longer blame it on the pregnancy, can I?

Chicken Ham Casserole (this is the one Katie loved)

1 package (6 ozs.) long grain and wild rice mix
2 cups cubed, cooked chicken
1 cup cubed, cooked ham
1 can (10 3/4 ozs.) condensed cream of chicken soup, undiluted
1 can (12 ozs.) evaporated milk
1 cup (4 ozs.) shredded Colby cheese
1/8 tsp ground black pepper
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Cook rice mix according to package directions. Transfer to a greased 2-quart baking dish. Top with chicken and ham. In a bowl, combine the soup, milk, Colby cheese and pepper; pour over chicken mixture. Sprinkle with the Parmesan. Bake, uncovered at 350 for 25-30 minutes or until bubbly.

Visiting the Oregon Zoo in Portland

Here's a short video of our trip to the zoo in Portland over the weekend.



Music by Machete Avenue - Instrumental

Back from Portland

Katie and I are home. Got here yesterday evening and brought the kitties with us. Katie is so pleased to have them here, as am I. It was lonely without them.

They seem to recognize the place as their home and have been at ease since we got here. Today they followed me around a lot and therefore got a lot of my attention.

Last night I found Katie on the couch in the family room, watching TV, with Hudson in her lap. She was about as happy as she could be.




This afternoon I found them napping in the rocker in Katie's bedroom. I'd never seen them nap there before, so I guess they're exploring.

Yesterday we did end up going to the zoo in Portland and hopefully tonight or tomorrow morning I'll post a short video of that.



Here is a picture of Katie having a good time in the petting zoo. She and I spent a good amount of time in there, which she enjoyed so much she didn't want to leave. She loves animals, that's for sure.

Oh, and I am shocked to report that this evening, for the first time in Katie's 4 years of life, I heard her say, and I quote, "Mom, thanks for making such a great dinner tonight. I loved it and want to eat it every day, forever! I'm so glad I tried it." Well, I thought I would NEVER hear her say anything even remotely close to that! She is such a picky eater and usually refuses to try new things, which makes meal planning frustrating and well, quite frankly, boring. But, I went out on a limb tonight and made something new and I'm still in shock over her response. I'll post the recipe later. It's a very easy-to-make casserole.