The Week in Review

This week certainly was a full one. With Sophie's allergic reaction, my registering her for Kindergarten and my sister Peg's successful surprise bday party in PA, there was a lot going on. We didn't make it up for the party, but Peg did call me about an hour after her big surprise to fill me in. I could hear all the Maier's (Mary and Mom in particular, imagine that?) in the background having a great time. A very happy big 5-0 to my sister Peg. She is young at heart, and truely the embodiement of "50 being the new 30".

Registering Sophie for Kindergarten, that was something. It is hard for me to believe that she will go off into that BIG elementary school next year, fully cutting the cord, and being influenced so much more by her peers than her mean ole Mommy. I also had her last conference at Preschool. Mrs. Garrett's synopsis: she will take grade K by storm, and all the teachers will fight over her for 1st grade. The only item she might have an issue with..."can listen without interrupting when teacher reads to class". (again, imagine that?) Mrs. Garrett said she has gotten a lot better about this since the beginning of the year, and it isn't that she is being rude, she just has SO much to share. Here are some pics of our week:

Sophie completes the read a thon at school with 600 minutes read, and $90.00 raised. And they make rabbit ears for their Easter Egg hunt on Friday.

Emily discovers Sophie's wooden shoes and decides she would really like to try them on....

or at least move them to a better spot in the kitchen.

Michael learns to climb up the playset ladder all by himself, and wants to go down the slide the same way.

Mission accomplished, pollen boy!

Not the Pox

This morning at about 2am I was on my way back to bed after giving Michael some Motrin. (Will the molar madness ever end??) Even though I was trying not to fully awaken, I couldn't miss the form of Sophie on the floor in her doorway. When I asked her what was wrong, she told me her foot was "itching like crazy, Mom", so we turned on the light to get a better look. It looked like mosquito bites, so I applied some Benedryl gel and tucked her back in. She was up again at 5:30, and this time went down to the twins room where Terry was getting Emily back to sleep. (She has a cold and keeps waking herself up b/c she can't suck on her paci and breathe at the same time.) I heard her tell him her whole body itched and his reply was, "Let's go show Mommy." At that hour, with little sleep behind us, we were sure it was chicken pox. After I spent the morning keeping her away from her brother and sister, we got in to see the dr. Turns out it is an allergic reaction to the amoxicillin she started 8 days ago for her sinus infection. The rash is profound, over every inch of her body, in her hair, even b/t her fingers and toes. And itchy!! The dr advised me to stop the antibiotic and put her on orapred. Orapred works fast; it is a low dose steroid and should knock out the rash in 24-48 hrs. It should stop the itch much sooner than that. The downside is one of the main side effects, which is your child is usually bouncing off the walls after taking it. Luckily, it is a smaller dose than normal, and I am able to give her Benadryl along with it. She had no problem falling asleep tonight. She wants to go to school tomorrow, but doesn't want anyone to make fun of her spots...hearing that brought a tear to my eye. Tomorrow is Kindergarten registration, so if she doesn't make it to preschool, she will be able to come with me to see her new school.

And also in the rash department, it seems that Michael has prickly heat, another similarity between him and his Uncle Mike, (see his somewhat curly hair in the pics) whom I always remember having it when we were kids. Before all this rashiness set in, we enjoyed a GREAT weekend with the warm weather. Spring has arrived with summerlike temps, and we were able have fun with bubbles on the deck, and even a dip in the pool. Here are some pics:

The Ick

The past week has been action packed with fevers, coughs, runny noses, diarrhea, you name it, we've seen it. On Friday Michael woke up from his nap just burning up. He had a fever the day before, but seemed better after the Motrin. But this was different, he was totally lethargic, and sat in my lap for a good 30 minutes. Very unlike our little man.

We happened to have the camera in their room, and Terry took a picture, since this is a rarity. I took his temp and it was 104.2, and that was rectal. Off to the pediatrician we went. As usual, my dr is off on Fridays, and my kids only ever have sick visits on Fridays. The dr we did see took a CBC and it came back negative for bacterial infection, but positive for viral infection. She diagnosed most likely a stomach bug, (due to his diarrhea and lack of appetite) said to keep an eye on Emily, and let her know if his fever continued. By the next day, he was much better, his normal energetic self.

Sophie had been dragging with a cold for over a week. She couldn't seem to shake it and her cough was really getting bad. She alsohad NO appetite. So on Monday we stayed home from dance (that was painful, believe me) and had an afternoon dr appnt. She couldn't understand why she had to stay home from dance. Take a look and see what you think:

By the afternoon Michael was covered in a rash, which I guessed was roseola. Given his sudden high fever, it made sense to me. Mind you, he was happy as a clam, just covered in tiny bumps. So he went with me and Sophie. Dr Harrison examined Sophie and pronounced a sinus infection. Then he looked at Michael and said it was roseola. Nothing to do for it, but Emily would most likely get it as well. Sophie is immune at her age. Sophie is now on amoxicillin, which has helped her tremendously. Michael is fine and back to his normal self. And Emily, well, she was never affected by either of their illnesses. While Michael was burning up with fever last Friday, here she was, trying on a new hat with Daddy....

Everyone is in much better spirits this week. Sophie feels and looks much better. She protests the amoxicillin, but that's not a big surprise. Ironically enough, Noah has a sinus infection too, and is on the same stuff. She told me he doesn't like his either.

Today was a beautiful day, 77 and sunny. This weekend it is supposed to hit 80. Will have to break out the shorts and the sunscreen. Happy Spring!

UnHappy Feet

Do you know what AARP stands for? I thought their membership began at 50, not 40. Nonetheless, I got an application from them yesterday. It went immediately in the trash. Maybe they were listening in last week when I needed to put on my reading glasses to remove a splinter. Or maybe they heard Sophie tell Emily to climb up the stairs, Mommy couldn't carry her because it "makes her back hurt." To top it off I finally went to see the podiatrist this morning. Not only do I have plantar fasciitis in my right foot, but I have heel spurs in both feet, and I am heading toward bunion surgery. Both bunions are mild, but he wants to watch them, and will probably have to do surgery on at least the left foot within the next few years.

So, today I am feeling like my body is failing me. The good news is the podiatrist did say that I could use the eliptical machine at the Y, just not the treadmill. And he showed me how to tape my foot to get some relief. He taped it this morning, and what a difference it has made. He is ordering a night splint, I was fitted for orthotics, and he gave me some exercises to stretch with in the morning. All these things should alleviate the pain. So, enough bitching about me...here are some pictures to put a smile on your face:

Emily is making great progress with using a spoon.....

Although, sometimes it is just more fun to put the whole bowl on your head.

As for Michael, I think he better stick with being a mechanic, fashion does not seem to be his strong suit.

He has taken a liking to this plastic strainer, and other kitchen tools, like the potato masher, so maybe he will end up being a great cook like his Uncle Mike. His mother sure would like that!

Girls Night In

My friends and I started a new tradition last year; we now celebrate each other's birthday's at one of our homes. After all the time and effort we put into our combined 11 children's birthdays, we figured we needed some celebrating of our own! It works out well, we all bring an appetizer (or buy one at Trader Joe's) and one of us makes desert ( or buys it at Trader Joe's). There is lots of conversation, and none of it is interrupted by a child needing something, anything. That alone is worth gold! Rebekah was the latest to have a birthday, it was her big 30. We all gave her a hard time, as she is youngest of our group. Yours truely is the oldest at 41, the rest are all somewhere in between. We went to Paula's new home to celebrate, and had a great time.

Kathleen, Holly and Rebekah sample the cocktails. I had my first cosmopolitan at the party, but I pretty quickly switched back to red wine....it was delicious, but went down way too easily.

Kathleen "helping" Paula made the drinks. Using that shaker really made Paula look like a pro!

I took this picture of the pantry because I am so jealous of it!! Yes, I covet her walk in pantry. And it is organized to boot.

The birthday girl. Did you know that when you put candles into Lava Cakes, they melt?

I tried to find the link on the Trader Joe site to the Lava Cake to adequately describe it, but no luck. Suffice it to say, it is very rich, very chocolate-y, and probably 15 pts each!

Happy Birthday.....

to the Cat in the Hat! The 50th anniversary of the book by Theodor Geisel was on Monday. This was a big deal at Sophie's preschool, where each class did different activities to celebrate. Her class decided to wear funny hats to school for the day. Here is a picture of her and Noah leaving for school.

Kathleen told me when they walked into school, hand in hand, a few of the teachers started calling them Thurston Howell and his wife, I think her name was Lovey? Sophie also informed me that if Dr. Seuss was alive today, he would be three one hundred years old. Actually, he would be 103 years old, but she was close.

Why We Love Peachtree City

First of all, because Grandma and Grandpa Gould, plus Grandma Yoko live there. I think Sophie's favorite part about visiting PTC is that she sometimes gets to stay there overnight, all by herself, no siblings competing for attention for 2 days. Who wouldn't love that? She stayed there last weekend, and on Sunday Terry and I took Michael and Emily down to pick her up. They had been in the nursery at Mass that morning, so it was a quiet ride down.



Grandpa has a golf cart, and within minutes from his house are several ponds with ducks, playgrounds and miles of golf cart path complete with tunnels and woods. It is very scenic and I always find myself relaxing when out for a ride. If they wanted to, they could take the golf cart to the grocery store, out to lunch, etc. Here is a picture of us leaving the playground. This trip was Michael and Emily's first time on the golf cart, and they loved it.

On the way home from the playground we stopped at the neighbor's house to see their koi pond. We had seen it last year when it was first installed, and the koi were tiny, now they are roughly 5-8 lbs. I never made it over to the pond, as Michael was checking out the wheels on the golf cart. This is his new obsession: wheels on cars. As soon as he gets outside, he heads to any parked vehicle to check them out. Pam and I think he may become a mechanic, he sure looks like he knows what he's doing:

After our outing, Grandpa treated us to dinner at a local Japanese restaurant. It was hibachi style, Mike and Em's first time. They really enjoyed it. Sophie was in her usual "I've been at Grandma's all weekend, and now Mom and Dad are here, so I am going to see how much I can whine" mood. Happens every time she spends the night anywhere, either at my parent's or Terry's. I know it is normal; she was good as gold for her grandparents, but Mom and Dad are a different story. Her mantra during the chef cooking for us "Is he going to do the fire?" "Don't let him do the fire, Mommy!" Luckily, our chef only did a small fire, avoiding a total meltdown from her. She did enjoy some tempura chicken and had fun using her chopsticks to eat the fried rice. Here's a shot of Sophie and her grandmas:

Michael enjoying some carrots from Dad's salad:

And Emily enjoying the lemon from my water. Was it Carly who used to suck lemons as a child? I also remember my sisters Mary and Peg fighting over the lemon from the iced tea, guess it's in the genes.

The kids did really well, staying in their highchairs for over an hour without complaint. Although Michael hit his limit the moment all my food hit the plate, so I did take him outside to walk around. I had a Rice Crispy Treat in my diaper bag, must have been an errant school snack for Sophie, I pulled that out and gave it to them while we ate. Definitely not something they eat on a regular basis, but desperate times call for desperate measures! The last shot is of 3 generations of Gould men:

Thanks again to Gerry, Pam and Yoko for having Sophie stay for the weekend. She had a great time, and wants to know when she can go back. Apparently, life is better at Grandma's, and that's the way it should be!