Truth be Told!

Warning: if you haven't visited this site recently ... go back two posts, then read below.

AHHH ... over time the real truth does reveal itself. Remember this all you considering a life in crime. Apparently now, Charlie's head gash was not a "run in" incident with a post but more of a coaster (turned Bat-a-rang) gone awray. I was wondering why it was Jet crying at the plastic surgeons office and not Charlie!

Another note ... I've been pondering why this plastic surgeon was so interested in "what do you do"? I mean really ... why would you ask this in the first 30 seconds. Well my guess is that he's the ultimate sales guy ... looking for the in on why I need my augmentation or botox face or hips sucked. Probably my answer of wiping noses (and other parts) wouldn't justify the cost of the above procedures. It did leave me looking in the mirror though.

I did have one other question coming out of the office. I walked by the surgeons office - who is from the Middle East. He had a pic on his desk of his wife who is obviously Musslim - head covered, very very modestly dressed. In this religion, don't the women cover because vanity is a sin ... so why the hubby in a business that exploits vanity. HMMMM.

I'm sure there's a truth in their somewhere too.

Holy Headache Batman!

Ok, as if a 48 hour EEG wasn't enough head trauma for one week (see post below), Charlie ran into a post and got a gash at the very top of his scalp. This was last night @ 5:30pm .... so Jet is off to neighbors (Chris is in LA) and I'm off to the ER with Charlie. The admitting nurse said it could go either way ... a staple or none. So after three hours of sitting in a full ER lobby surrounded by flu victims, with a 3 year old past his bedtime and pumped up on Hawaiian Punch (bottled water hasn't made it to the vending machine in the La Grange ER), I decide that I'd better check on our status since those coming in behind us are now going ahead of us. Apparently, if you are not bleeding profusely, a fever and moan ranks you higher than an open gash. I was getting hot with the receptionist - yes, this is Jan ... not Chris ... but he's been a good role model. The security guard comes over to see what the issue is, takes a look at Charlie's gash and says, "Oh we had something like that happen too, my son hit my daughter on top of the head with a shovel and it healed just fine. We did nothing. I wouldn't wait if I were you". Well that's all I needed and off we went, frustrated, hungry and pissed off but at least someone gave us advice even if it was the security guard.
So we get up this morning and his cut still looks icky. I packed up Jet and Charlie and off the ER again. This time we got a nurse who at least could give us some direction .... Basically telling us "The ER's fuller than last night. The cut happend over 12 hours ago and they can't suture. Have you checked in with his pediatrician?". So off to the Peds office we go (after a swing through Starbucks for refueling ofcourse). His ped looks at his head and says, "This is pretty good size. Will leave a scar. Since he's Asian he may not have the balding pattern at the crown like Caucasians but if he hits it again before it heals it could really open up and be worse. You could see a Plastic Surgeon to see what he says ... here are two numbers." First call to one in our village and he's willing to see us immediately. Off we go to the PS (this whole time Jet is in his batman gear .... full gear: mask, cape, muscle outfit). The PS nurse takes a look at the cut and says "This isn't that bad". She cleans it and in walks the PS. He literally is in the room for 30 seconds. Here's what transpired. Looked at cut and said "Do nothing. It's fine". "What?" I reply. He says, "Do nothing. It will be fine. You won't see it in a month. What do you do for a living?" I reply, "Wipe noses and other area's". The remaining 25 seconds was discussion about the Korean print on his wall and off we went.
Now after a major time investment, probably major $$ too, I have a major headache!
Ahhh the life with boys!

Wow, finally a free moment (make that minutes because this is being written in intervals)

Wow, it's been a busy couple of weeks and I finally have a free moment to put down some updates. Well, let's start with Jet since it was his birthday this last week. He had two shindigs. His birthday was officially on Tuesday (19th) but since Chris was heading to Austin that day, we celebrated on Monday. We then followed up with a party on Saturday inviting the 5 preschool boys in his class. Who knew that 5, four to five year old boys could cause so much commotion for 2 hours. Fortunately for me, I had the foresight to pay two sitters to help me command this event (Chris ran an errand to get money from the ATM and reappearred about an hour later ... hmmmm). Christmas was all about Spiderman .... this birthday was all about Batman. Charlie came as "Mr Freeze" since he was having a 48 hour EEG this weekend (More to follow). He was a trooper and mixed it up, right in there with the older boys (headwrap and all). I'm going to have to explain to his neurologist that the large blips and spikes that she sees on his read-out from 1-3pm on Saturday were a result from a severe sugar buzz spiked with 5 year old adrenaline. At one time, I caught him with two suckers in his mouth (suckers are Charlie's crack!). Anyways, Jet asked me if since he had two birthday events ... if he was now 6. "uh, no, you were just lucky enough to get two cakes". That was a good thing for Jet because the first cake eaten on Monday tasted, well, like cardboard, "Mom this cake is no good. It's not sweet!" Never mind the 2 cups of sugar that I put in that one. So I learned. Off to the grocery bakery for the party and not one complaint from the bunch. Thanks to those who sent email, cards and wishes. Jet loved them!

Alright, Charlie, our trooper, had a 48 hour EEG this last weekend. He may be having seizures. He opens his eyes, sobs or moans a bit then goes into a full out body tremble (head to toe). It lasts about 30-40 seconds until he comes fully awake. We're hoping that these are just really icky night terrors. It's happened 4 times since January 1. His neurologist said that about 30% of kids that develop atypically have seizures so thus the testing. We had an EEG last year when Charlie went to sleep at the DR. office with the leads on then was woken up. Everything was normal for that one. SOOO take a look at the pictures. They attached 18 leads to Charlie's head. Connected the leads to a box which sat on top of Charlie's head, wrapped his head and connected everything to a fanny pack that he wore 24 hours. On top of all this, we had to video him at night. I'll be honest, I didn't think that we would make it through the appointment (but a portable DVD player and Leap Frog video saved the day) nor have Charlie keep all this on even for the ride home. It was all secured by the gauze underneath his chin. Fortuantely, we had bought Charlie/Jet a marble run (think Easter bunny). We bribed the daylights out of the boy telling him if he kept the hat on, the marble run was his (and his bro's). It worked and miraculously, Sunday morning it all came off. Actually by Saturday, Charlie was used to the stuff and it didn't even bother him (even with the start of a nasty cold).

Last week was a big week for Charlie. He started Tae Kwon Do and has already earned a stripe on his belt. He's so focussed in the class and just cute with his gear on. Big Brother Jet watches out for him and is THRILLED that Charlie has joined him classes. Charlie had his monthly ABA (Therapy) update last week. Looks like this is Charlie's last year in Special Ed preschool. His preschool teacher attended the session and he's defintely going to be graduated out. SOOO now I'm on the hunt for a preschool for him. I think we've found one that will fit (very academically based). I just need to understand better who the teacher is and how many kids are in the class. Charlie also saw a new Family Practice MD last week who specializes in Eastern medicine. We've now got Charlie on a new diet (no milk, limited processed foods) and a regime of probiotics and herbs. I've seen this regime work wonders on my good friend Tracy, so we're giving it a go. Today is day one ... decided against starting this weekend ... too much change while he was hooked up to the EEG. I must say she is the first MD that made any sense about Charlie's allergies and excema. He is definitely sensitive to mold. She believes that Charlie is not allergic to peanuts/soy per say ... but to the mold that these legumes carry. This makes total sense since he's only tested positive once for peanuts and never for soy ... but if he eats them ... watch out for the other end ... really icky. Same for yogurt and tropical fruits. So we'll see. I'll keep you posted.

The weekend of 2/16 & 2/17, my cousin Mike and his crew came into Chicago for the car show and stayed Saturday night with us. I'm not sure that they were used to our early risers - uh that would not be Chris and I by the way. We may never get another visit from them again. Mike's wife Gabriella is from Peru and cooked us a Peruvian meal that was out of this world. I now am in possession of great Peruvian recipes and can share if there is a request.

The weekend of Feb 9th, we had our local adoption network party at our parks and rec department. It was fun and the turnout was great. This weekend we have another party for Chicago Area Families for Adoption ... I sit on the board of this group. Same place and probably even a bigger turnout. In between all this, Chris has been to Vegas, Austin, Seattle and is currently on a plane to LA. There have been 2 or 3 bday parties for the boys' friends. I'm hoping that we get some relief in March. I hated being this busy especially last weekend. I had planned to go to MSP to see my good friend Tracy who was in from India but knew that Chris wouldn't survive the EEG and Jet's friends on his own (sorry honey! but I couldn't either).

I promise Tracy ... when you guys come in next time, we're booking flights and going!

I'll try to post more. Please keep checking.

Living Ground Hog Day ... still snowing!

Wow, We got socked again last night. Unfortunately Chris was at the superbowl so I was stuck with the driveway. As luck would have it ... I did get the snowblower started and finished the job like an expert in under 30 mintues. I didn't even plow the snow onto my neighbor's driveway like last time. The damn snowplow driver though has it in for us. He made sure that there was 3ft of snow at the end of our driveway. Unfortunately, our snowblower is little more than a glorified snow broom and the engine cuts out on anything over 1 ft. My back is still recovering. After putting Charlie on the bus, Jet and I went about the business of making Frosty - the valentine snowman. Here's a picture of our result.

Poor Chris ... he spent the whole day trying to get from Arizona to England in time for a meeting tomorrow. Last I heard, he was on his way to Toronto because going through Chicago just wasn't an option today ... between fog and last nights snow. If he can't get to London, then hopefully he'll get home before the next snow dump which starts tomorrow afternoon with another 5-10 inches. Just to prove that he was really at this game ... wow what a game, here's a picture of what the game looked like from his seat.

Well he just called and he's in Toronto ... not going to England, trying to get his wireless going and contemplating a 3 am conference call to the meeting in England. I'm not sure the Super Bowl trip is feeling so great after this travel day.

Yipee ... I finished the knitted crowns for Charlie's class (Feb is royalty month) and I sent them on the bus with Charlie this morning. I was so glad to be done with this project until I got the phone call around noon that there was a new kid starting at preschool and did I have an extra crown around. No I didn't but I'll make one more! They sure are cute ... here's pictures on how they turned out.

Well at least I snuck in two hostess gift washclothes before starting crown #20.

We have another busy week. Charlie's teacher and a school therapist are coming to visit on Wednesday. We have Jet's "invite your special people to preschool" after Charlie's teachers leave. Charlie and I are Jet's special guests. Thursday morning, coffee with moms from Charlie's class and Thursday night, I'm hosting book club. Friday afternoon, I'm off to the local Tax assessors office to try to figure out why my two certified letters with my application for my homeowners exemption have become lost! OK - just for the record ... you need a PHD to understand the taxation process in Chicago. It's exhausting.

SOOOO ... probably not another post until this weekend ... if there is anybody out there listening ... is there????

Digging Out

Wow ... it snowed for 24hrs! So 10 inches later, it was fun time for the boys! I thought we'd post some pictures for all of our family and friends in the tropics (which even St. Louis qualifies right now). 2 snowblower episodes and two shovel events later ... the driveway is clear. THANK GOD ... because it's time to get two boys to the Parks & Rec Dept Fitness Fun class. Oh you in the tropics ... do you think a lousy 10 inches would shut us down ... No way! School's are in, businesses are going and by god ... these boys are going to their class ... even if there were another 5 inches ... they are going to their class.

PS: For those of you in the tropics sucking on your margarita's tonight ... well we here in Chicago don't have to pull out a blender to make ours ... so there! OK, that really didn't make me feel any better about freezing my begibies off.