I’ve started a new diet, officially, today.  Not going to talk too much about that I think, don’t wanna jinx it!  But here it is Friday and I’ve been such a good girl… NO, absolutely NO soda since Sunday when I said ok, cold turkey again, have to.  This time it’s gonna have to stay, at least until I reach my goal.  Only then, maybe, can I treat myself every once in a while.  Of course, getting caffeine completely out of my system and having one later may put me on overload.

I’ve also started trying to get this house whipped into shape.  It’s taking longer than I wanted it to.  I blame that on my kids.  I spent all day re-organizing their room and the very next day, Kayleigh totally trashed it.  Dumped out all the toys, even pulling drawers out and dumping them.  But I did get the living room re-organized and it looks pretty good, still gets covered in toys but not nearly as many as before.  The center room is next and that’s going pretty slow.  I also spent a lot of time putting up these adorable chalkboard decals on the kids’ door and some sweet animals on the empty wall after dismantling the crib last week… only to have to take them all down the very next day.  Turned out they terrified Kayleigh.  Who would have known??

So, yes, the crib, she is gone.  Stored in pieces, temporarily, in the garage as I’m not sure what to do with it.  I wonder if our trash men would take it away.  It’s the kind of crib that they are outlawing so I couldn’t and wouldn’t try to resell it and my kids damaged it so you have to permanently have the side up, so a lot of people wouldn’t like that anyway.  It’s just so big…  But the transition was MUCH easier than I thought it would be.  The first night I put Kayleigh in her Big Girl bed (aka bottom of the bunk bed) and she got up once so I put her back in the crib, she cried a bit then went to sleep.  The next night she got up from her bed and I put her back then she went to sleep, same thing the night after that.  The next day I removed the crib because I was sick of it.  That night was trickier because she was still scared of the decals but I put her in bed, shut the light and the door really fast, then she stayed in bed.  Since then, when I’ve been putting her to bed, she’s been staying.  I can hardly believe it.  However, this also means largely no naps.  We’re only getting naps out of her if we happen to be driving at the right time or she falls asleep somewhere in the living room.  So far she’s slept on the little trampoline and on the floor between the couch and love seat.  I actually did just put her in for a nap, we’ll see if she sleeps or not.  She was trying to fall asleep in her high chair.

Also because of Kayleigh’s new found freedom, I’ve had to buy a gate.  I got this extended width walk-through gate for between the living room and the rest of the house.  She gets free reign of the living room and their bedroom and I don’t have to worry about her sticking her hands in the toilet or trying to leave the house.  She could probably climb over the gate if she really tried to, but so far, we’re good.  Best $60 I ever spent.

As for me, I have been having these weird headaches for a while now.  They were every day for a week though when I went to the doctor on Monday.  We are hoping it’s just my sinuses and not something serious.  ’Cause to tell you the truth, they feel so weird they freak me out.  He put me on some antibiotics and my sinuses did start draining and I’m not feeling constant headaches like before but it still hurts in that strange way on the top and sides of my head when I lay down.  So falling asleep is no fun right now.  I’m going to carry the antibiotics through and if it continues will go back to the doctor again.  He said if my sinuses wouldn’t clear, the next step is cat scan to see how they look.  I may end up with one either way.  We’ll see.

Weddings wear us out.  At first I thought it was just me, just my fault, being out of shape, overweight, etc., but then I talked to other people who do or did wedding photography and they all swear that no, that’s just the way it is.  It just takes a lot out of you.  However, after this last wedding, I noticed I was less tired and in less pain than normal, in both my back and my feet.  By the time I went to bed that night, I was totally beat, but I’d also stayed up to something like 1am.  So of course I should have been tired.  But I wasn’t as drop down dead as I’ve been with a lot of the others.  Sarah suggested that maybe I’m getting used to it, and I guess that could be part of it, but I think largely it’s the massages.  When the therapist first looked at me, she said that one half of my pelvis was pointed forward, the other backward.  I know exactly why that was, it was caused by how I was sleeping… on my side with the bottom leg straight and the top leg bent, my body actually turned half on my side, half on my stomach… twisted.  So since I’ve hurt my back and recovered, I’ve been making a point of having better posture when sleeping and with my feet when standing.  If I sleep on my side, which I do for the most part now, I’m supposed to have my legs in the same position (both bent, or both straight, not going opposite ways) and when I’m standing, my feet are supposed to be both pointing forward, straight (historically it’s always been more comfortable to have my toes pointed outward and that’s apparently a no-no).

So, yes, looking forward to another massage.  I need to get Stacey to make us some appointments together.  She watched my kiddos for both of the last ones, the first time she took them grocery shopping and the second time she took them to play at the park while they waited for me.  We’ve talked about going one after another, she’s claimed the second massage – watch my kiddos for an  hour then get her massage.  That’s perfect for me – she can wear them out at the park then I’ll make them sit in the Jeep and take a nap while we wait for her.  HAHA.

I’ve also been wearing those Sketcher Shape-Ups shoes for many moons now.  I didn’t get them so much for the “shape-up” aspect (though that would be a plus) as much as because their soles are uber thick and I have that plantar fasciitis issue (caused by stupid martial arts on a gym floor).  In a nutshell, when I’m off my feet, even for a few minutes, the tendon on the bottom of the foot tightens up and when I stand and try to walk… pain!  …until it stretches back out.  And it’s rough other times, too, if I have to be on my feet for a long time, etc.  I used to run around in flip-flops as much as possible but now I need major arch support.  Something happened right around the time Stacey and I shot our first wedding together (go figure) in April 2010, and it’s sucked ever since.  I’ve had to go to wearing tennis shoe types since then.  The Shape-Ups, though, have been great.  Yes, they cost way more than I was used to paying for shoes but I guess that’s part of the reason I’m in the shape I’m in now.  The first day I got them, it hurt my back incredibly because I didn’t bother to read that you’re supposed to start with only 15 minutes of the day.  But I think they’ve helped my posture, the back pain was gone the next day.  In June, after my back hurt horribly all day during a wedding (which was a longer day than some), I got some dressier black Shape-Ups for weddings and those are helping now, too.

So we’re getting there.  Getting older and trying to take better care of myself.  Can’t just keep running like I’m still 18…

This morning, it was even higher at 101.4. So we called the doctor. Of course, our pediatrician is on vacation! Nothing against her (oh my, I love her like I’ve never loved a doctor), everyone needs a vacation! However, it just figures! The last time E and I were sick, our doctor was out, too!

However, they made an appointment for us to come in at 11:45. That only gave us an hour and forty minutes to get ready and get there, and we ended up being 17 minutes late. So we got to wait, some more.

Oh, yes, this is where parents everywhere are gasping that we bothered to take her to the doctor at this point. Let me explain. She had no other symptoms that we could see, so with someone with her kidney and bladder issues? She needs to be checked right away for infections in those areas. I honestly can’t remember the temperature limit we were told for bringing her in for this but when talking to the on-call nurse she said we should take K in. I think the limit is somewhere around 100 or 101. Oh, and this is K’s FIRST fever. I don’t even remember her having any in the NICU and she has, in her 15 months, not been sick.

It ended up taking all of our day to drop E off with Grandma and Grandpa, go to the doctor, finally get lunch around 2:30, get through the store, and pick E up again. E already hates going with us to K’s appointments and he’s not very accommodating so as soon as I heard they were going to need to give K a catheter, for a urine sample, I knew he had to go somewhere else.

Poor baby, it was no fun for her either. Since Steve had to hold her for her shots last week, I guess it was my turn to hold her to get her cath. I swear, she was mad at me for the next half an hour. It was no fun. Thankfully it was over rather quickly.

They tested it there and didn’t find anything that would be telling of an infection but sent off a culture in the lab. If I don’t hear from the office by Friday, I’m supposed to call. In the meantime, we’re just supposed to keep an eye on her fever. If nothing comes back from the lab, they’re just going to chalk it up to an otherwise symptomless fever. (I am pretty positive she’s not teething, the doctor didn’t see anything else wrong such as an ear infection, and it’s been too long since the shots for them to be the cause.)

We had lunch at a rather new place called Oriental Buffet and when we were finished, Steve went to pay while I took K in search of a changing table in the bathroom. Their restrooms are off a hallway that you have to go through a door to get to. Right in front of that door, my feet just went right out from under me and I went down. Thankfully, I landed on my left knee and, I believe, my right foot was still planted where it started. A Chinese man was on break and he came running when he saw me go down and helped me up. The floor was really slick there, I guess it could have been water, but it seemed to greasy for water. There were no wet floor signs out. I went on into the bathroom and, not finding a changing table, headed back out. Three of the ladies that worked there were hovering around the door. “Are you ok, are you ok?!” I said I was fine, but now my knee hurts. Boo. My back, too, but I think that’s from tensing up when I fell, making sure I didn’t drop K and such. She was completely fine, thankfully.

I’m not sure I mentioned this, but this is actually the second time I’ve fallen with her… in a month. Unreal. I think I tripped once with E when he was little and it wasn’t a big deal because we both landed on the couch. The last time with K, I was stepping off our patio onto the stepping stones. I misjudged the step and landed partially off the stone, into wet grass. That set me off balance and I went down to the left. I was carrying her in the left arm, and now I see it in slow motion, I was able to pull her close so her head didn’t crash into the concrete patio. That freaked me out big time. This time was not that bad.

Steve said I should watch my step better but I swear, this time it was not my fault!

First was the ophthalmologist on Monday. It was a bit disheartening that I had to pay $40 in co-pays, but we do what we have to do. For K, of course, there wasn’t really anything to do but take a look. This time… she was MAD about it, too. But things there still look good and it occurred to me that I haven’t seen her nystagmus in quite a while, probably not since maybe 2 weeks after her last appointment. While I’m a bit ashamed I didn’t notice before, I guess I have a case of “out of sight, out of mind,” but it’s great that we haven’t seen it in so long. The doctor says she’s also still doing a bit of the tilting of her head when looking at something, but I personally haven’t been noticing that as much, either, so hopefully it’s on the way out the door, too.

As for E’s eyes, he shows a very slight improvement. Rather, as for his eye, since the problem is only in the left eye. Having given glasses a two week trial, we now have to start patching his right eye. He has to start with a half an hour daily increasing to a couple of hours. He HATES it, though. So far, we’ve only done it 3 times and he’s willingly taken it, but starts to complain within the first 5 minutes. The doctor said he should watch TV or play a video game while wearing the patch. I’m really not sure why those are the activities to try during that time, but I think, in part, it has to do with his concentration. If I can get him to watch something he’s interested in, he’s less apt to complain about the patch… until a commercial!

On Tuesday, K went to the pediatrician for a check-up. She is now 17 lbs and 4 oz! The doctor said she was hoping she would get to 20 lbs by the time she’s 2 years old. She said something about it being a low goal to meet but, still, it had both of us thinking “whoa!” I am SURE she can gain those less than 3 lbs before April! It would be nice if she could do it by her next check-up in October, but I’m not sure she will, maybe by the end of the year, though. So her height and head circumference are on the “regular” charts (ie for kids who match her actual age, not adjusted) but her weight still is not. On one hand, we are not surprised, on the other, we are because she eats nearly constantly. We have also been giving her a lot of this Banana Apple Yogurt stuff from Beechnut because it has 120 calories per 4 oz jar and is the highest so far. We are in the process of transitioning her to whole milk, too, so I believe that should help. She’s up to half milk, half formula now. But in no way is this girl too little. She is SOLID and, at times, feels heavy to me. She’s strong, too. It’s hilarious to watch her try to lift things that should be too heavy for her, such as a half a bag of diapers. She held that thing up for several seconds, grunting, and her arm turning red, fist white, until she finally let go. She’s determined, too!

Up next should be another renal scan for K this fall, amongst a few other tests. It’s not been scheduled yet, but when the day comes, it is NOT going to be good. She’s going to have to be sedated this time – last time she was only 5 months actual (not quite 3 months adjusted) and once the initial terror of the IV and catheter insertions were over, she fell asleep. This time it will not be so easy. One of the things they do, once they are in place with all their tubes and wires, is to strap them down so they can’t move. After all, the x-ray machine has to do it’s job. K will absolutely HATE that and so, sedation, here we come. Not to mention, the doctor has ordered a blood test to be done the same day. We don’t have to do it the same day, but the hospital is approximately a 50 mile drive one way. (I had to look that up, I’m actually surprised, I thought it was farther.) We do have a hospital here and there’s another one yet between us and the Children’s hospital, but for blood draws the doctor recommends Children’s since they’re used to working on tiny veins. Of course, the place where she was in the NICU for those 3 months is awesome, too, but once you’re out of the NICU and into outpatient lab, it’s another story. Plus, again, we’ll already be at the Children’s hospital. Either way, it’s going to be a very long and tiring day. Sedation is NOT fun, as we discovered in March with the MRI…

The first step is to try glasses. We ordered them that same day and hopefully they will be in early this next week. Since the lenses are going to be super thick, they are using the thinnest kind possible, which is quite expensive. But to save us money, since the right eye doesn’t need much correction at all, they’re just using “normal” lenses in that side. The doctor seemed to say that contacts would be better, but because E is only 6, we’re not going to do those now. I’d end up being the one having to put them in and I don’t even put them in my own eyes. I don’t think I can do it and even if I could, I think he’d fight me too much. When he gets older, he can get some if he wants – as it seems he’s going to have to have correction forever. The doctor gives the chances of his eye catching up with the other one as “fair to poor.”

It’s just another unwanted thing we have going on right now. It’s crazy how much is going on right now. Of course, I am happy it’s not something untreatable or terminal, it’s just eyesight in one eye, but still…

So we will see how this goes. Most likely he’s also going to have to start wearing a patch. The doctor wants to see him again in July after he’s had some time with the glasses. So we’ll see…

It just seems that one thing after another is staring me in the face and I’m absolutely swamped. I have about a billion websites I’m supposed to be working on, several photo shoots that need to be processed and sent to the proper people, a couple of books I’m supposed to be making, lots of crochet projects… then there’s the every day stuff.

Well, one thing at a time. I’m only even sitting here at 2 am because I’m waiting for a very large batch of photos to upload. I finally got through all the photos my friend and I shot at my brother-in-law’s wedding 2 weeks ago. I did not give myself enough time to get through this, on the cards we gave out that told people when and where they could find photos. Next time I’ll remember to give myself more time! On the other hand, I had no idea that we were going to shoot 1900 pictures, either… We got a lot of good stuff though and I’m also going to upload some to Facebook, but that’s going to have to wait until tomorrow… er… later today.

In fact, I’m such a busy idiot that I double booked us this coming week for doctor’s appointments! K currently has an appointment in one hospital for a kidney ultrasound then consultation with the doctor at the same time she has an appointment in another hospital (30-60 min apart depending on traffic) for a follow up with the lung doctor and then the pediatric ophthalmologist, E is seeing the ophthalmologist, too! The lung and eye stuff was set first, back in December, which would be apparently why I didn’t have it in mind when I said “yes” to the other appointment which was set in March. So first thing Monday morning I get to change the kidney appointments, I think it will be easier to move those than the others. Ugh I’m just frustrated with myself.