Saturday, November 20, 2010

I believe in miracles.. and now have been fortunate enough to witness one firsthand

I've always believed in miracles, but always thought the miracle of birth of our son was the closest I would get. This past, short week I have been shown differently and have first hand witness to a miracle.

My husband is alive!

A week ago today my husband had just finished the first 24 hours of a battle for his life after a massive heart attack at age 35. He went into the ER via ambulance but the heart was not the first suspect. Severe ketoacidosis was. Then his oxygen levels went low and they had to intubate him. After that his heart rythms would not stabilize.

45minutes after I got to the ER, probably 60 minutes for him.. with supplemental oxygen being given to him already and a room of no less then 8 hospital dr's, nurses or techs.. he flat lined. I saw the events, I saw the nurse jump on the table and administer CPR. I wasnt sure what was going on for the first 15 seconds.. then it all clicked. He ended up coding twice in the end.

he then an emergency balloon catheterization to locate and then remove a large blood clot in one of the main arteries over the heart.

Satruday morning I was informed his kidneys were shutting down, by Sunday he was on dialysis. Monday we were told he was in multi system organ failure and that realistically his chances of surviving were 2%. They were unable to locate a source of a massive infection. They had an idea and had a surgeon coming in to assess what they thought it was.

They were able to locate the source and drain it. Within 24 hours his many organ failures started to restore function. The last hurdle was to get him to wake up and there was some concern that he had suffered brain damage as he was not responding as expected.

Last night he was finally following commands, simple ones that showed he was in there.

Then this morning the final tubes for ventilator and feeding were removed minutes prior to me being able to go back and see him!

We spent hours talking with him as much as he could. He knows what happened but is still coming to realize how much it was. He remembers everything from that night up until they intubated him which was done under sedation as he was fighting so much. We've since found out the story (if not specific information) has made the rounds of this very large hospital. He is an amazing story. I have informed him it is not to go to his head, lol.

At one point today I just had to laugh. He looked at me with all seriousness and asked what his odds were of living now. I just laughed and told him that yesterday his odds were 98% and that he was stuck with us all.

not bad since last Saturday and Sunday his odds of living were 0%. He should never have made it to his 36th birthday this coming monday. I should technically be classified as a widow today.

I am so deeply grateful for all that sent their prayers or positive thoughts for us as we went thru this. It is the most amazing feeling to sit here sad because I can't stay longer at night with him.. but am able to know that he will be there tomorrow.

He has been given a second chance on life and we have been given a second chance to make our marriage/family the union it should be. We have a long road to go to get there, and counseling for him and for us is part of that.

With what we've just gone thru - I think we can find the strength to make it to the goal. What's another small miracle when you've been blessed by such an incredible one.

Thank you God for giving me back my husband.

Wednesday, November 17, 2010

Improvement with Joe.

It looks like we may very well be getting our miracle that we needed.

Joe had a 0% chance of surviving on Saturday and Sunday. On Monday it was 2%. Yesterday morning it was 3.5%. He's been in MASSIVE systems failure of at least 8 different systems.

However then yesterday small miracles started happening:
His kidneys are functioning again on their own and he put out more then he took in yesterday.
His liver enzymes are off the chart because the liver is in shock and it does that.
His lungs are still filled with fluid, but his oxygen need was decreased from 70% to 40% - HUGE change.

They found the source of the infection on Monday and cut open an area around his ankle and drained an unexpected  amount of infection. That was the catalyst. that had to change first and then his fever went down and his body started to work again. His BP was holding strong with less and less medications... and by 5:30 last night the balloon was out of his heart and the pump is gone! Today they may take him off the dialysis, and IF he continues to make this much improvement, then the ventilator is taken away tomorrow and they are waking him up.

the staff is amazed and you can tell the difference in their demeanor. He is still in a lot of risk though. He has so many IV lines in, and if any of them get infected it will be a different story - however his chances are better. I'll be leaving for the hospital by 10 ( can't really get into CCU before - even for me). Hoping for fabulous news today, but am realistic and know he may be in trouble still.

the hospital staff wants me to talk to one of their social workers because I appear to be handling it all extremely well. The intensivist is afraid I'm going to break badly. I should have my pastor talk to her about the MASSIVE meltdown I had on Monday in the hospital chapel.

not fully out of the woods yet..but maybe we are seeing the trees thinning and are closer to out of the woods then we think.

Sunday, November 14, 2010

Update on Joe

I've been at the hospital most of the day. Went in hoping for positive news.

the  kidney dr and intensivist ( intensive care dr ) spoke to me first thing. Joe;s condition was deteriorating as of this morning. His kidneys had worsened and fluid was building in his lungs, bp meds were maxed out and his bp was low 70's/40's.

the dr's both told me age was on his side and that they will do any and everything they can to give him a chance - which to me gives hope. If he was so bad that nothing would work, then I would think they would have talked to me more about keeping him as pain free as possible.

they finally got the continual, and extremely gentle dialysis started mid afternoon. The concern was that the dialysis would lower his blood pressure, but without it he wouldn't have much of a chance. Thankfully his bp has stayed steady. It did drop from last nights normal range. This morning it was 70/40 range, when dialysis started it was 80's/50's by the time I left at 6:30 he'd been on the dialysis for 3 hours and his pressure increased to 90/55. He;s still deeply sedated.

its such a small thing to cling to. Other wise nothing else is any better or any worse. I'm so afraid of mornings for many reasons.. this morning being one of them.. my grandfather going thru this with not good results 20 years ago. I have to go on minute by minute.

the minister that married us came to the hospital today and will keep in touch with me and support  me regardless of how his recovery goes. My mom worked all night and came to the hospital and stayed with me all day.. my best friend watched JP and my boss got off a plane at noon - and came straight up to the hospital and stayed with me for hours. In addition I have been keeping in contact with many many people via text message updates and am so deeply grateful for all the support, prayers and well wishes.

he's so so sick.. and the outlook can;t be determined yet - there is no guarantee that he will pull thru... there is no guarantee that he won't. which is why I'm living minute to minute.

i'm off to bed now to see if I can get some decent sleep - i'm so worn out

Massive heart attack

Friday night I came home from work to see joe on the couch muttering something. I thought he was sleeping and just waking up, then had to go over to him and yell at him 5 or 6 times to get him to repeat himself. He handed me the phone told me he couldn't move and had chest pain.

whats folllowed is a nightmare. Ambulance came and took him so fast that I had to yell to them on where they were taking him ( 3 or 4 local hospitals could have been it ).

got to the ER and couldn't even see him as the room was packed. Had to listen to nurses begging for an ICU room as he was critical.

nurse came out to speak with me and said he was severely ketoacidodic and they also needed to put a breathing tube in. They asked me in briefly to see if I could get him to stop struggling. He could only focus on me for seconds at a time and then his eyes would roll back.

the xray techs came with the portable machine but by then the nurses and dr wouldn't let them in to get the pic as his heart rate was extremely abnormal. my view of the room only allowed me to see his lower body.

then I saw his legs start to convulse and the nurse jump on the bed to administer CPR... Joe's father  was by the door and saw them plunge the epi needle into his heart. That was the first time... we were all in the chapel when it happened again, the cardiologist told us.

cardiologist was waiting for his team to get there and then and IMMEDIATE balloon angioplasty was done. The artery that feeds the front of the heart was 100% blocked. they have a balloon pump in for 3 days and he's heavily sedated to keep him asleep and not fighting him.. also restrained still.

there was the absolute slightest change yesterday in the right direction with his positive response to a bp med that is keeping his blood pressure at a normal level. When they went thru the surgery his BP was 60/20. they had to fight to keep him alive.

he is still in severely critical condition and may still not make it. However last night i went to say good bye when the sedation was lifting slightly and he responded to me ( still has breathing tube in) and was able to squeeze my hand. hoping its the start of a good recovery.

tomorrow or tuesday they should be taking the balloon pump out and i'm nervous about that as that is whats helping his heart not work as hard so it can recover right now.

please pray... thats whats gotten him so far right now... the heart attack is one of several massive issues (kidneys have shut down right now) and its a miracle he's still fighting

Tuesday, September 7, 2010

Strong women need help too

My mom has had a companion for over 20 years. Companion is her word as she doesn't feel comfortable with 'boyfriend' at her age.

He has been ill for several months and in a nursing home. This weekend he took a serious turn for the worse and after 3 days in ICU has finally passed on and is at peace. My mom has shouldered all the responsibility for this alone as his son that used to be in contact with him, has not returned any calls.

My mom will have an appointment today with the funeral home for the paperwork part (Joe and I have been in touch with the funeral home all weekend so she didn't have to be) and she thought she'd just go alone. Hah!  I stayed home and away from the hospital to take care of things otherwise for her that needed doing, but I will not let her go to this alone. I asked her if she would let me go alone and she said NO WAY.. of course, I then asked why she thought  I would let her go alone. I told her that she has 2 choices.. either she meets me here and we go from my job, or I meet her there and thats that.

Monday, September 6, 2010

The warm fuzzy feeling

Our previous home was a joy in the cooler months. Added to that was Joe's reticense on paying for enough fuel (oil or wood) to heat the home properly. We tended to live like polar bears .. or at least it felt like that. I won my battles with the wood stove regularly to make sure  we were warm enough. It also was so drafty that as soon as it got cooler, we started bundling up. The 'master bedroom' generally leveled out around 55 degrees without the space heater. Brrrrrrr. We had gotten used to it, but our parents worried about us. JP was always kept warm. if we had a time with really cold house temps we put on the space heaters as well.

One of the things we looked for in a new place was heat included, which we found. Our new landlords keep the temp at 70 degrees in a locked thermostat, which is fine by me. Last night the temps dipped to a chilly 44 degrees outside. In our bedroom we had one window partially open ( an inch or so) and a window fan in the other window. I woke up this morning and it was 65 degrees in the bedroom - yay! finally a house that will keep us warm!

Wednesday, September 1, 2010

Peanu't Weekly Wednesday - Ahhhh room to hide...errrr I mean move

So the new place is pretty awesome. My first night there Mom will tell you I actually pranced down the hallway.. yes I can prance. I love that I have so much room and if I need some time to myself, well there are plenty of places to  go. My favorite is under the end table in the living room. Quiet, and out of the way of that cat and JP.

Now I do have one complaint. The neighbors.. the 4 legged ones. I think every home in our little 'commune' has at least one dog. First off this means I can't be free roaming...sigh, not happy about that. Second are the 'chatty' ones. Especially our non-commune neighbor to the left of our house. EVERY morning between 6-6:15AM they let him out. EVERY morning, he starts barking at NOTHING right away.

I of course bark back to tell him to be quiet... I'm slowly learning that this is not considered polite by Mom who doesn't appreciate my alarm clock tendencies. I think I need to sleep with puppy earphones.. do they make them in Corgi size?

Saturday, August 28, 2010

Settling in

Have to admit I'm quite tired of unpacking. Seems as if it will never end lately, lol. However things are going so well here.

Our last home was in the middle of 2 hay fields with close neighbors, but not on top of us. For the last year or so 2 of those houses were essentially empty as they were being sold, so we more or less lived alone out there. Odd to think we had as many problems as we did there.

Thursday Joe went to remove the last of the trash and pick up a few remaining large items, one of which was our new grill. Would you believe the day ended with Joe calling the cops because someone stole our grill sometime btwn Sunday and Thursday?! Thankfully one of the neighbors in one of the houses being sold was there.. the cops questioned him and he all of a sudden remembered that there was a new grill in the garage that morning next to the lawnmower.. uh huh. We can't press charges as we got the grill back. Still not quite sure of the logic of that as the cop had to go and question this guy so that he 'remembered' the new grill out of nowhere. Ehh whatever.. it's safe with us now.

So far the new place is a completely different scenario. First off we're in close proximity to 3 other houses and I think there is a total of 5 or 6 families all together. Great thing though is the kids. JP had an absolute blast last night playing outside with them all. Joe was supervising, but thats ok.. gave me time to clean the kitchen without everyone underfoot. Today we had a problem with a truck Joe borrowed to do the last of the work on Thursday. It wouldn't start. Well one of the neighbors rebuilds cars and sells them so he was helping Joe get it started. First they thought it was battery cables being loose - nope, then the starter was the problem. Well our one neighbor gets under the truck and starts hammering at the starter I guess while telling Joe to turn the engine over. Brave, trusting man, lol. However while doing this he sees sparks and they realized the starter isn't shot.. its got loose wires... off this guy who barely knows us goes and gets what he needs to fix it.

heck in the old place I couldn't even get them to replace a washer on a faucet that was too tight for me to loosen.

Tomorrow I'm quite excited to go shopping with my mom for my dining room and living room drapes.. hoping they absorb some of the echo sounds we have from the hardwood floors, lol. I'll eventually post pics.. once the boxes are gone I think.

Sunday, August 22, 2010

New home, new start, old routines

August has been...interesting. In mid July we were told our home ( we rented) was finally being sold and that the closing was on 9/30/10. Ok no biggie and the new home process was started. Then, on July 31 we rcvd a letter stating the new owners wanted us out in 30 days. Nice. I thought that couldn't happen until the closing? Funny part is the closer we got to leaving the worse the house was getting fast. Almost like our things were holding it up? lol. I know the new owners are going to do a lot of modifications.. i hope they are really prepared for that house.. as far as I know there was never an inspection... and I think an inspection would all but condemn it.

It really was not a hardship to leave that house of horrors. The only reason we stayed so long was to improve our credit score before searching, so that we would have good options. So much for waiting for a better time, lol. After 2 very long and argumentative weeks we did find a place we both liked. For the last week I've been doing the bulk of moving while working as well. I'm not surprised that I'm so tired, lol.

The new place is bigger and to my joy.. has a dining room! Yay!!!! no more 3foot sq kitchen 'table' where you only had room for plates and cups. I also have a kitchen and bathroom circa 1950's complete with avocado green oven and pink tub and sink, lol. No more carpets, all hardwood floors and just nicely laid out and roomy. JP can run in circles from living room - to kitchen- to dining room - to living room and he's loving it, lol. His room is huge and I'm loving it as ALLLLL his toys except the train table will be in there.

It's also only a few miles from my mom... instead of being 30 minutes or so.. I'm now only about 6 minutes. She's alone now as her companion is having a lot of serious health issues and he's now in a nursing home. I like that I'm closer ..just in case. After last years huge snowstorms, I hated being so far away and not able to help... being this close ( i drive by on my way to and from work) makes me feel better.

In a previous life, many years ago, I had a small apartment with a dining room... and at the time was well known for calling people up and saying 'hey! I made some new recipes, c'mon over". Never huge parties, but frequent entertaining. I've missed that with the old house. It was just not easy to entertain with more then 1-2 extra people making it feel over crowded.

The new place is currently decorated in Early American Box.. but I knew I'd be doing an official 'Sunday Dinner' tonight, even if just for us. I had found a gorgeous dining table on craigslist and was set to go. We had my IL's up and they wanted to give us more time to settle in, but I told them I'd be making dinner anyway and there was more then enough. It was so nice to entertain again, lol...although I did forget to turn the oven off for a bit and couldn't figure out why the kitchen was still so hot, lol.

Thats another nice thing about this apartment. Heat and hot water are included- yippee! in the old house I all but stopped cooking because the hot water leak in the bathtub drained the propane ( water heater was a propane heated version). Our monthly bill was about $150 a month for propane. Now I can cook all I want with the propane.

oh and for any that know my stories about the kitchen in the old place? there is NO CARPETING in this kitchen! I have a normal kitchen floor again and its great :)

tonight I made:
an appetizer tray of:celery and blue cheese dressing/assorted olives/tomato and feta bruschetta
main course was:
lasagna
tossed salad
peas and onions with prosciutto
dessert was brownies and cookies provided by my MIL

it was a very nice dinner and Joe enjoyed it so much he suggested his parents come up every Sunday - yeaaaah.. both his mom and I looked at him and told him he was nuts, lol. I do however plan to have a nice Sunday dinner each week unless we are invited out otherwise, lol.

my meal plan for next Sunday is in progress.... right now it's:
Crusted Salmon with mustard

and that's about it at the moment, lol. I want to avoid stopping for any additional ingredients so thats part of my challenge. I think my side dish will be a basic tossed salad with another pasta salad of some sort. I tossed the rice I had at the old place... but rice is inexpensive. Oh wait! I have a seasoned tube of wild rice! that's a perfect compliment to salmon. I've invite my mom over for next week and think I'll also ask my SIL and niece. The piece of salmon i have is huge, so thats not a problem. there is a farmers market down the road on thurs evenings...maybe i'll find an inexpensive veggie side dish idea.

Thursday, July 22, 2010

Peanuts's Overdue Weekly Wednesday - Vet visit

I went to the Dr today for a 'checkup'. Blah. Made my point clear to all that I was not a happy puppy about being at the dr.

the good: overall I'm in good shape... well my shape is round, but other then that I;m in overall apparent good health.

the bad: I have Lyme's disease. Which explains my grouchiness and more achy feeling of late. I'm on a month long antibiotic and probiotic regimen. The test showed a very VERY faint positive (sort of like a pregnancy test) so the dr said I've probably only had it for a few weeks and that I'll make an easy and full recovery. At least mom bought me some yummy treat like things to 'hide' the antibiotic in.

now i'm off for a nap .....

Wednesday, June 2, 2010

Day 2-21 of detox

Moving my detox posts to a new blog that I'm hoping to expand into a well functioning raw food resource:

Live Well with Raw Foods



Tuesday, June 1, 2010

Day 1 of the 21 Day Detox

Mid Morning-
It has been pretty much 4 years since I had a positive pregnancy test... and probably 4.25 years since my last detox, and I feel it. Our office does a fall and a spring detox program, but I wasn't fully thrilled with the last version we had switched to. The product was good, but was marketed as a MML and I just don't like that. My boss recently completed a new program and I am now going thru it. I love this program, the nutritional support behind it (shakes and supplements) are from a phenomenal company, and the foods that are recommended are living (or raw) foods. Being a Raw Foods Lifestyle Coach (who's been sorely slacking in that department) this is ideal for me.

I actually started the program last night to let the first round of nutrition work its way thru my system as I slept. Woke up with a headache which I expected as its generally a constant detox sign for me. Its mild today and easily ignored. I have an odd day as we have expanded hours at work and my partner in crime is also off today.. I need to better plan my mornings to  get everything in right away. I'm not far off but am still working on my first shake and haven't taken my cleanse tablets that I need to take 3 times per day. I did however make a delicious green tea/ginger/lime drink that surprised me. I do not care for ginger and i could drink this tea all day. I need to run out at lunch actually and get more limes, lol. So far I am not irritable, but that could change easily, lol. I am pleased though that either thru mind over matter, or sheer luck, that I am happily functioning without coffee this morning. I'm not a huge coffee drinker but do have the office habit of a cup in the morning either on the way or once at the office. The shake is ok, definitely not something I would crave. rather bland actually, doesn't really taste like anything. hardest part for me of course is the grittiness that is a apart of pretty much every detox shake I've used. The cleanse supplement is interesting, but primarily because it has some cayenne pepper in it and I tend to repeat certain things, lol. I'm hoping the detox corrects that as well, lol. I am allowed unlimited fruits and veggies (should be a 1:2 ratio) but as of yet haven't eaten anything due to trying to get the shake taken while at work. I'm not often hungry first thing in the morning though so its not surprising.

My most difficult times will be the evenings, I must remember that I'm primarily doing this to feel better and have more energy.. and to fit into a cute pair of denim capri's and be able to breathe while sitting, lol.

Side note: I may switch these posts to a different blog dedicated to the detox and raw foods, haven't quite decided yet.

Saturday, May 29, 2010

the consequences of ones actions, lol

Ahhh yes.. well It seems I've fallen off of my Weekly Wednesday reports. In fact this is Saturday, but let's just pretend ok?

For several months now I've been afforded an occasional freedom. I am allowed, under certain rules, to roam free as long as I behave. Or until I'm caught not behaving. This week I had 2 transgressions. The first was on Thursday about 6:30am. I decided to check out the pine trees across the road. On the neighbors property. Amelia (cat) encouraged me, which should have clued me in. Darn cat can move faster then greased lightning when we are about to get into trouble. Apparently mom was looking out the front window not realizing I had made an escape. She told me... with oddly clenched teeth.. that at first she was merely curious and trying to figure out what new animal was running across the yard. Until she realized the gold and white tail-less animal was me. I was on probation all day.

Now Friday is Dad's day with us.. and he's ... more relaxed with us. Since I was not being monitored I once again listened to Amelia tell me that deer droppings were ok to roll in and that mom wouldn't mind.

Apparently she did.. as you can see in these pics. yes I have paid for my transgression..and can only hope that I've learned my lesson and that I am a reformed dropping roller.



          

Sunday, May 23, 2010

Just some silly spring time pics

After buying a new battery and new memory card I needed to test my camera. So far none of the weird problems I've had for the last week. Got a couple of pics that are just too cute.. at least to a mom's eye, lol. First one is naptime with Amelia the flying cat. Amelia and I are getting along MUCH better these days. The other are JP with his new $1 water toy. After each pic he had to come over and see how it looked. Took 4 or 5 tries to get the last shot, lol.


Drive in Movie fun - think the adults had more fun then the kids

Sadly I don't have any pictures. I didn't take my camera as it's been acting up. I'm hoping the new card and new battery resolve the issue. I also didn't grab the cell phone as I was too busy making sure JP didn't either go swimming in the puddles or stood in the way of driving vehicles. Thankfully he learned after the first time on that one.

Our original plans were for the group that was going, was to come to our place, eat pizza, and head off for the movies after that. Due to a few unforeseen incidents we ended up loading up the pizza's and going. This drive in does not forbid food, but reminds you that they make a profit from concession stand sales. With 6 kids total I knew we'd be at the concession stand no matter how stuffed the kids were, lol.

The kids and adults all had a great time. The kids ran around the 3 cars and played tag, ate pizza, and just had fun. The adults also had fun watching them...and just relaxing. Although there was this one incident with one person (ah-hem!) generously offering chips to the other friend.. and moving the bag so that it became an acrobatic act, lol. The chips were crab flavored chips and I told her it was worse then alaskan crab fishing, lol.  This drive in also allows adult beverages as long as you do NOT sell (duh) and you do NOT become a problem (also DUH). None of the drivers went near this and those that did did not overdo..but well lets say crab chip fishing was not helped by this, lol. Oh and the other person that put the wine on top of their van? sigh... all I can say is men and their lack of discretion, lol.

The movie finally started to the great enjoyment of the kids seated in the back of our van. Next time the adults ( and teens) have chose to be smart and take chairs, lol. However btwn the 2 vans and the 1 car everyone was fairly comfy. After JP relaxed from running around I went to stand with some of the other adults and that of course was a bad choice as we had to be careful to not get laughing too hard. Oh and we went to see the last Shrek film... but Robin Hood was playing on the other screen and we kept trying to watch the more interesting scenes over there.. sometimes no sound is needed, lol.

one of the BEST kids moments was near the end of Shrek. I'm still laughing over it today. Friend #1 has a son JP's age and he came back over to us coughing. Friend#1 asked if he was ok and why he was coughing, but he didn't explain much and just wandered back to where the kids were btwn the vans. he wasn't coughing hard so none of us thought much about it. I went over to for some reason or another and realized what half the kids had done that resulted in the coughing. We had margarita salt in a paper plate on top of a cooler - the drink mix itself was sealed in the cooler. The kids had been tasting the salt! Thats why they were all coughing/gagging. I went back over to Friends 1,2,3 and told them what was going on while trying not to laugh!! We all got laughing then and so did the kids when we asked why on earth they were tasting what they knew was salt, lol.

Just got a call from one of the friends saying how much fun they all had. We are now planning on June 26th for our next monthly outing.. which will be the drive in again for Toy Story3. yay!

now to make the must have drive -in checklist of things we wish had or had done differently, lol





Thursday, May 20, 2010

and so it begins

Potty Training boot camp that is.

Today is Day 1 of my 4 day weekend. I am armed with 14 pair of undies and an empty washer. Potty seat on the big toilet as well as the smaller potty seat we bought for the van for travel emergencies. So far I am being told No when asking if there's a wetness situation going on.

Oh please let this go somewhat smoothly!

2.5 hours later and 3 pairs of undies. Things are not going well. Potty is now an evil word, when as of yesterday it was a fun place to go and sit and stare.



Sunday, May 16, 2010

Friends with benefits

Now, now get your mind out of the gutter...not THAT kind of friend with benefits.

My best friend has a relative who has done very well in her career. As a result they have several homes. One of them is on the New England coastline and they let family use it free of charge often. This weekend we were offered the use of the house while planning a trip to go to a local "Day out with Thomas the Train"

My friend, her sister and hubby and our assorted 6 kids (ages 1.5 - 15yrs) went up Friday night. What a hardship it is to stay in this 'cottage'. 3 floors decorated in perfect 'cottage charm'. Warm, welcoming, inviting and shared without more then a second thought or two with our assorted toddlers. JP and I stayed in a wonderful corner room on the 3rd floor (not my choice and oh are my legs aching, lol). How terrible to have to stay in a home like this and wake up to the cries of shore birds in the morning as you look out the window to the ocean that is one row of homes away. It was really hard to 'rough it' in such 'tough' conditions. Especially since the weather was 'awful' - mid to upper 70's and bright sunshine... sigh the things we suffered thru to save an hour or so of driving up on Saturday morning, lol.

JP had a blast on Saturday when we went to see Thomas at the railyard. He was so excited he was actually shaking at one point. Sad to say it was hard for him to be good the entire time with so much overload, but we did ok in the end. JP's other love is water. He LOVES to play in water which makes me nervous sometimes, but we're very watchful over him. After we went back to the beach house we wallked down to the beach. This is the first that JP's seen anything like the ocean and he was amazed. he loved it! I thought he'd find and bring home tons of rocks but he was having a blast just throwing them back in the water. this beach is actually very rocky with smaller rocks as opposed to sand.. we could all care less and I think JP was trying to clean up the beach.. but he had a blast, lol. Saturday night was a rough moment for JP though. Everyone but my friend and I had gone to bed. We were on the first floor enjoying a glass of wine when we heard crying and little footsteps. JP is used to walking out of his room and around the corner from ours in the middle of the night.. Poor baby was up on the 3rd floor and wanted me. My other friends hubby walked JP down (they were staying in the room across from JP and I) and I went back  up with JP. Poor baby  :(  .

Sunday we all were leaving by mid day and went back to the beach in the morning. JP went back to rock throwing until we figured out the way to make him sit down and take a break.. someone had brought down tortilla chips and that was it. They won out over rocks, lol. We also eventually wandered down to a large rock outcropping with tidal pools. Which of course JP walked right into, lol. Better that then the ocean as he tried to do that on Saturday and he and I had quite the argument over that.

all in all it was a great weekend.. even with the defiant 3yr old that has been present in my life as of late. And while words can describe the weekend.. aren't pics even better? Oh and the dog belongs to none of us.. she just kept coming to the house and to the beach to find us...we think for food, lol















Monday, April 5, 2010

The sad saga of Quax the duck

Once upon an Easter time there was a little yellow chocolate duck named Quax...



Quax lived happily in a little shelf with his cholcolate duck family, patiently waiting for the right family to adopt him. The day that he was taken off the shelf was so exciting! He was told by a very nice lady that he was going to a new home with a young boy named JP who would love him. Quax saw a bright future ahead and was happy. Several days pass and Quax was told that he would meet his new family at a local park that night. How sad he was when the car left without him. However he had faith that soon he would meet the mysterious boy named JP. The very next day he was tended carefully in climate controlled vehicles and a law office. At noon he was to be given to JP's mom to take care of him till he met JP. How exciting it was that things were moving quickly.  In the middle of the day, which was unseasonably warm, Quax was taken to a new office and was handed to JP's mom who was by her car as she needed to run errands. the nice lady that found Quax on the shelf and brought him to JP"s mom did talk about how she was careful not to leave him in the car in the heat.. and JP's mom promised to be careful with him as well. Quax and JP's mom soon were off in a warmer, but bearable car. They had to make 2 stops. Quax was tired at the first stop and asked to lie down take a nap and assured JP's mom that the car was fine and comfy and he would be fine. He was snoring when she was done so she did not check him. On the way back she stopped at another store for longer then expected due to a problem at the register. She did ask Quax if he was still ok.. and he assured her he was still fine.

However, lets remember that Quax is a hollow duck and well.. rather empty headed.

On the way back to her office, JP's mom picked up Quax to see how he was doing as he had fallen oddly silent.... turns out that Quax had underestimated his ability to stay full of life in the heat.



JP's mom wondered what to do as Quax was no longer able to help.. he was also hard to understand and mumbled everything at this point... Well it turns out that there is a Hollow Chocolate Duckie hospital called Rite Aid. the next day Quax was miraculously revived...


However... lets also remember that Quax is a chocolate duck... and although revived enough to meet JP finally... the love that JP had for him... was because he was chocolate....




Sunday, April 4, 2010

give me a 2 year old over a 3 year old anyday

I love my son, honestly, deeply love him...

But can we just move over this defiant, non listening, argumentative, stubborn stage soon? Today is Easter. A day of rejoice, glory, the celebration of rebirth....and chocolate. I've spent the majority of time warning my child or putting him in time out. It even included one massive meltdown with him telling me to leave and then crying for me if I took a step away.

I'm grateful for bedtime today, lol