breakdown

double ear infection (bella)
sinus infection w/a side of strep throat (me)
a new king sized bed from ikea - wednesday
waiting for my review at work
cat vomit
bella points to her eyes, ears, nose, teeth, hair, belly, feet
tiny mimic
blog insecurity
pediatrician runaround
egos
too much talk of a new huge house with one tiny flaw
hormones
exposure to higher management
exposure to mold from neglected humidifier
career insecurity
huge pills
crappy pens
probiotic yogurt vs. antibiotic medicine
idiots - crazy annoying idiots
headache
DVR freakiness
"new" stereo
turn the page
make dinner
crazy antibiotic (bella) doesn't need to be refridgerated
cough medicine
cat and dog stickers
weight gain and weight loss
dreaming of vacation
home equity loan
deck
cat door to the basement
dog poop outside
bleached hair
general malaise
discontentment
dischord
disarray
disposable
dispensation
diss

fracturing

so weird!

so, jen "tagged" me, which I feel stupid even writing. oh well. she did. to say it in jargon, "it is what it is."

anyways. 5 things that are weird about me. and I have to limit it to 5?

okay. I'll start with this one, as it is just so ironic that jen, the space lady, is the one who asked. I am afraid of telescopes. to the extent that I have only gathered the courage to look in one once before, at the franklin institute. after holding someone's hand while taking deep breaths, I looked - and found that because of the time of day and/or angle of things, it was trained on a nearby office building. I saw a copier. I don't know what it is about them, I just get freaked out. I guess it's just that for me, *knowing* that things exist outside of our little earth cocoon and SEEING it are two very different things. I have the same misgivings with microscopes for the same reason, but I guess since it's less heady to accept (at least to me) I am able to put it aside and take a look. but it's always with a deep breath and an accelerated heartbeat. oddly enough, before I became a mother, I was off to college to become a biologist. biology was my favorite subject in high school. go figure. at least it wasn't astronomy.

number 2. I like everything to be straight. I am not OCD, but I am pretty fanatical about things being straight. it's more on my desk than things in my home, (as anyone who has been to my home can attest) but even there I have my issues. I am a big fan of everything in its right place, to the extent that sometimes at work I cannot concentrate if there is something amiss in my immediate surrounding. maybe this is why I hated working from home so much. I just like to have everything organized and STRAIGHT.

number 3. I love infected wounds. I'm not going to go into much detail here, but I think maybe after my midlife crisis in a few years, I may rededicate myself to being some sort of doctor. a doctor that lances boils or digs out ingrown toenails. ask sean. I really do love it. and I love to peel skin. I'm way more fanatical about peeling skin than I am about anything else. if I see someone who is sunburnt and peeling, even if I don't know them, I have to resist the urge to run up to them and start ripping their skin off. seriously. it's a real problem. sean is usually good for a nice burn at least once a summer, and I am all over him like a cheap whore at a banker's convention trying to pick at it until he finally relents and allows me to peel him like a banana. is that weird or just gross? please don't answer that. and please forget I wrote this paragraph.

number 4. I prefer listening to pop music from the 70s to almost all current popular music.

number 5. my biggest "vice" is drinking soda. I don't smoke, I don't drink alcohol, I don't drink coffee. I guess I would probably make a good mormon, except for the sex part. I think I would probably be a huge smoker if I allowed myself to be, and I'd probably become addicted pretty quickly to coffee if I allowed myself to be as well. the alcohol, I don't know. my parents drink nearly every day, but never ever get drunk. like wine or beer with dinner, and that's it. however, they both have alot of alcoholics in their families, including some of their parents. especially on my mom's side. it's more of an addictive personality than anything else, I think. I get addicted to things quite easily, though it's balanced out by my extremely fickle nature.

so I guess I'm kind of a freakish OCD wussy priss. aren't you glad do you don't have to live with me every day?

finally.

as I mentioned, our first stop on our vegas trip was to the Travelodge South Strip. and what a hotel it was!

here are our lovely accommodations. (help me to remain sane by ignoring the orb.)



what a view!



the view out of the bathroom was impressive, as well. (it was not raining.)



state of the art heating and cooling.



and the extras! take a look at the spa quality hospitality basket in the bathroom. specially labelled so you know what to use where!



now, we fast forward to the best part of the trip, meeting the utahnians! I'm angry I didn't take more pictures. I thought I had, but lo and behold, no. especially of kodi, since there's only one of her. sorry, kods! (can I call you kods?)

rebecca, aka missuzj, checks out bella for the first time.



a sean's eye view of the table. and this proves I really like rebecca because I'm posting this picture despite how awful it makes my arms look.



it's katy!



the lone picture of kodi. sorry!



katy, bella, trent



missuzj outside with bella



katy outside with bella



the UTAH CONTINGENT



kiri and the copper man - check that face out. she clearly hates him.



but look, she's a good sport.





sadly, that's all I have of the festivities. these are all just random pictures of the rest of our visit.

a guy took this picture of us and didn't use the flash. whatev.



kodi, becca, et al - this is for you. state of the art karaoke machine at FAO Schwartz.



this is for nicole. remember when we were at jen's pollyanna thingie and you got the stuffed whatchamahicky? it has a name. anyways, this is the huge floor-cushion version.



bella at the fashion show mall behind treasure island.



vegas, baby!



crayon head. (it's not a vein. it's blue crayon from planet hollywood.)



gonna gitcha!



sunrise, caught on film as sean was busy puking his lungs up in the bathroom.




well, now that you sat through like 25 pictures, I hope you're still alive and able to scroll.

molar express

bella has been a snot factory lately, with snot pouring out of her nose and now out of her eyes, too. it's all snot all the time. and the crankiness...oh the crankiness. I was afraid that perhaps she has another ear infection, but then she bonked her head on the table. as she was screaming on my lap, I got an opportunity to see into her mouth. lo and behold, even though she only has 4 other teeth, she's getting a molar.

of course, my first thought was that she is only going to have those 4 front teeth (two on bottom, two up top) and molars. and how we'd have to find money to get fake teeth for her, and we already have to get a new heater and I really wanted to move to a bigger house and I guess we won't be going on vacation ever again and et cetera et cetera. then I calmed down and reminded myself that teeth don't come in on schedule and it's nothing to be worried about. and so, of course, I am still worried and will continue to be until other teeth come in.

and how weird would it be to have only molars and 4 front teeth? you know how people's mouths look when they have no teeth, how their lips are all sunken in and stuff? would you look like that? or would the front teeth be able to support the lips? hm.

at any rate, I filled bella up proper with ibuprofen and even though she's still cranky as hell and snotty and doesn't sleep, at least it's not for no good reason. 2 points of the molar have come through so far, and hopefully the rest will come in quickly or at least with less pain that the other two.

in other news, all of my laundry is done - seriously, all but what I wore yesterday - and yet this morning, when I got dressed, I still couldn't find anything to wear. what is my problem? I can't even fit all my clothes into my drawers and closet and yet nothing seems like it's quite right. I know all the ladeez can relate. what I really need is to find someone my exact same size with my exact same style and swap clothes with her every once in a while.

today, I really really want to remember to download pictures. again, I don't know what my problem is. it's not like going into the basement is walking across hot coals or is forty million miles away. well, there is some peril. there are sometimes these gigantic spiders (they are so big that the first time I saw one, I thought someone had left a halloween spider ring on the floor) and sometimes these big ugly grubs down there. I don't know how the grubs get in (AND I DON'T WANT TO KNOW) or why they and the spiders only come out sometimes, but needless to say, if I don't have to go down there, I don't go. and sean doesn't know how to download the pictures. it wouldn't be hard to tell him, but then there's my naming convention and the deleting of pictures and the uploading to snapfish that has to occur, and I quite honestly don't feel like relaying all that info either. so due to no one's fault but my own, I am the only one who can do it.

but...I will wear heavy shoes and do it tonight. I think.

the best medicine

so things haven't exactly been paradise in our house lately, as I've been reporting. sometimes you have to find things to laugh about.

sean loves this jethro tull song "locomotive breath" (which sean calls "locomotor breath" and I like that better, but oh well.) he's a big fan of the jazz flute in any song, and especially this one. he gets so into music, and I love seeing how his brain works. he was talking about it in the car on the way to or from one of the many places we had to visit this weekend, and he said, very seriously, "you know, it just sounds like a train! chug chug chug chug chug chug, you know? it's...it's... it's like a train with flutes flying out of it." oh how I laughed.

I quite often call sean a dork. it sounds awful, I know, but it's a term of endearment. (we often use inappropriate words to describe how we feel about things we love, sean and I. including loving our dog so much we want to bash her head in. things like that. you just have to know that's the way we are.) I called sean a dork in the car (we spent alot of time in the car this weekend) and he said, "no I'm not." and we went back and forth until sean said "I'm no dork!" so then trent says "I didn't know there was a 'no' dork." oh, the kid, he's funny.

and then there's baby bella, who, while not quite a comedienne yet, has us always giggling. she's learned how to do shhhhh, and always does it with this smile like she's hiding something. and she's taken to shaking her head back and forth and making herself laugh hysterically.

but while laughter is the best medicine, I think the two things that made me feel the most human and the least unhappy were seeing bella catching site of trent and breaking out into a gigantic smile, and watching sean see bella do something cute and seeing his eyes get moist because he just loves her so much.

bracing for the red tide

yesterday, I was so incensed by something stupid that happened at work that I was about to burst into my boss' boss' office to scream about inequity and storm out after I resigned. and instead, when jarrett came over to ask me if I wanted to hit up the vending machine, my focus instantly changed to bursting into a candy bar and storming a bag of chips. I hate when the fucking cliches are true. nothing irritates me more than someone saying that I seem irrational so my period must be coming - nothing except someone saying that and it being fucking true.

it really seems lately like I have one good week out of the month. or cycle, if you will. it used to be that the week before and week of my period were bad, but now it's 2 weeks before and the week of. which leaves the week after as the only week where nothing is bloated, no one is going to be killed, and everything isn't completely falling to shit (and why don't we just pack a few things up and move and start over since there's no hope here.) it's getting ridiculous.

there's the mental stuff, and there's the physical stuff. I'm off all forms of caffeine and chocolate and dairy and fried goodness. I always wondered if I could hack it being a diabetic because I hate restricting myself, but pain and the idea of something causing a severe physical reaction makes that alot easier. not that I'm as bad as a diabetic - hell no. what I'm saying is that normally I couldn't stop myself from drinking a soda or eating some chocolate, but when I know it's going to make me double over in pain and chain me to the bathroom, it's much much easier to pass it up. as I mentioned before, my gynecologist says the pain is from endometriosis that is growing outside my colon and intestines (diagnosed with his magical psychic powers, negating the necessity for an actual internal exam or any tests whatsoever). and as I may have mentioned, he also said that chocolate and caffeine have nothing to do with that, and shouldn't have any effect on my, ahem, bowels. poppycock!

when sean had food poisoning, or "dehydration" as they like to call it (saves time and lawyer's fees!), the clinic thoughtfully gave him flyers on how to treat nausea and how to treat diarrhea. the diarrhea one says specifically that he should not eat things that stimulate the bowel, such as CHOCOLATE AND CAFFEINE.

so. because I have to be my own pathologic health sleuth, I have these pieces of evidence: my IBS is much worse and pronounced after ovulation and during my period. things that make the condition worse are typical things that stimulate the bowel. the symptoms subsided by at least 80% when I was pregnant and nursing heavily, or in other words, when I didn't get my period. so the triggers are more IBS related and the timeline is hormonal. add to the physical stuff the fact that I seem to have some level of depression which gets worse around my period, but never really goes away. these aren't crazy symptoms and not at all unique, so how is it that it's been years and no one has been able to suggest anything to me besides getting pregnant again or eating more bran?

I think the solution is clear. I need to get a sex change.

afternoon delight

as in, a quickie.

I've still not really caught up on my reading, but I'm getting there. vegas seems like such a distant memory now, as do the holidays. speaking of, we had sean's company holiday party this past friday night. I know. yeah. it was weird, seeing festive decorations and tree ornaments when I'm so totally over it. the head of sean's area sounded so lame when he wished us all a "happy holiday season" during his little speech. dude - really - we know it's no longer the holidays. it's okay to acknowledge it.

this weekend, we visited nicole's mom's house, even though she wasn't there. I still remember the roads to her house like the back of my hand, and still had flashbacks of high school while trying to explain to mark and sean that carol's walk-in closet used to be nicole's room. in fact, we had a closet party, where the kids pulled out shoes and clinique and sucked on bath and body works spray while we sat on the floor surrounded by color-coordinated clothes (and the largest rack of business jackets I've ever seen outside of a store) reminiscing and jibba jabbin. we seriously spent like an hour in the closet. it was hyper neat.

on monday, I scheduled a much-needed massage, after waking up yet again to an extremely painful back. I say it like I have a back problem, when really, I have a bed problem. or bed occupant problem. as it's getting cold again, and as bella's getting belligerent again, our bed inhabitants include a large husband, a cranky scream machine, a dog that likes to sleep only on my side of the bed sideways, and a cat that takes up any room the dog leaves. and I try to contort my body in such a way that I am still under the covers and technically on the bed, however mangled my form is. so naturally I wake up feeling like I just slept in the south strip travelodge all night.

so instead of a gift certificate to a spa massage place, sean got me (last MAY for chrissakes) a gc for the massage therapy place near our house. and let me tell you something - the knots may be gone, but holy shit. I feel like someone grabbed me and beat the shit out of me, only they insisted I face away from them. I am SORE. in a good way, I guess, because the knots are gone. and who knew it would hurt so bad to get the (previously undiscovered) knots out of my forearms? holy shiza. stine, is this what you do when you massage people? is it supposed to hurt so good?

anyway, refreshed from my massage and feeling good, albeit sore, I walked out of the massage therapy place and immediately hurt my back by missing the very first step out of the door. fucking DUH. seriously, it was like "wow I feel so go-WHOOOOOOAAAAA shit fuck ouch" and not to mention I looked like a fool on one of the busiest streets in town. oh well. it never lasts.

remember me?

I remember you.

so much to say. (that now makes 3 song titles in a row used in this post.)

let's start at the very beginning, as I hear it is the very best place to start. friday, I left work early, and finished packing. we wanted to leave ourselves enough time to stop at nicole's to pick up the stroller, get to the parking thingie, and have plenty of time in the airport to check in and go through security, and hopefully to eat something, since they don't serve food on planes anymore. we had expected some traffic, as we were heading into the city on friday night at around rush hour. and we did get stuck in traffic for a half hour - ABOUT 5 MINS AWAY FROM OUR HOUSE. so of course, I started to panic. but we got there in good time, we picked up the stroller, we parked in the lot, and we made it to the airport on time. they couldn't find our tickets, which was panic-inducing for the 10 or so minutes it took to get things straightened out. we ate in a stupid restaurant in the terminal that didn't have room for luggage (duh! you're a restaurant in an airport terminal!!! you need room for people's carryon luggage!!!) and got on the plane first, due to bella. however, we sat on the runway for an hour...but bella was pretty good about it. she slept for most of the flight, on the floor, under the seat in front of me, like luggage.

we got to vegas okay, albeit very late. we took a cab to the travelodge, and please believe me when I tell you that you should never EVER stay at the vegas south strip travelodge. the rule was that the kids were not allowed on the carpet without their socks on.

saturday, we hit the strip early. so early, in fact, that nothing was really going on. we had breakfast at some america cafe, that had a big giant 3D map of the US. apparently, nevada is only known for reno and vegas, and pennsylvania is known for pittsburgh, the liberty bell, and washington's crossing. (iowa had like tumbleweeds, I think, and this really weird circus looking thing. what the hell is that?) I can't remember what utah had but I do know it wasn't polygamists, to my surprise. and texas had a whole mess of stuff. anyways.

trent and sean rode the manhattan express roller coaster at ny ny, we played video games, we walked all the way up the strip from ny ny to past treasure island and the wynn. it was a looooong walk and a lonnnnnnnnnnng day. we rested at the travelodge for a millisecond and then headed to fremont street for dinner. we ate in a hokey old timey casino's steakhouse with all the rest of the senior citizens. the food was eh. we watched a stirring americana something or other (complete with ear-splitting piercing eagle cry) on the big overhead arch thingie and then paid the $20 cab fare back to the 'lodge to sleep.

sunday, I had an interview for work, and while I did that, sean moved us out of the 'lodge and into the paris hotel and casino. I will say this for the travelodge - it made the hotel at the paris seem like staying at the four seasons. "look! nothing weird in the tub!! the water in the sink turns off! there's no weird stains on the bed! the TV has a remote!!"

of course, the highlight of sunday was meeting the utah contingent. the place rebecca picked was not near the strip, which was great. it was good to see that real people live in las vegas. when we arrived, they were already nestled into a big table in an alcove, and they had ordered a huge plate of fried stuff for us to eat. I know missuzj already said it, but meeting them felt easy and natural. they were just as I thought they'd be (except I hadn't seen a picture of kodi that did her justice) and we had great conversation. katy was amazing with bella, holding her and helping wrangle her, and she has this really great laugh. rebecca has a really sing-song voice that is soothing, and her hair is just as excellent as it looks on her blog. kodi was super cool and kiri was really pretty. we had lunch and just bullshitted for a while, then they waited for our cab to arrive, and we all headed back to the paris. we walked through the shops, stopping in a baby store to look at things that were all really ridiculously priced, and then when we got to bally's, sean, trent, kiri, and katy took bella and window shopped while kodi, becca and I gambled for like 15 minutes. it was great. we watched becca win $100ish while I lost every goddamn penny I put into a machine, and kodi taught me the wonder that is wheel of fortune, slot style. I was so sad to see them go. I didn't really have a reason to go back to vegas again before I met them - now sean and I both want to go again and hang with them.

monday was the first day of my conference, and sean took the kids to circus circus' indoor amusement park, which I suppose was amusing. not much for bella to do, poor kid. although sean reported that she got bum rushed by some kid named austin. after the conference, we went to dinner at the paris buffet. we are not really buffet people, but we wanted something quick so we didn't have to wrangle bella as much. after dinner, we took bella and trent up to the room, put away all harmful things, and let trent babysit while we went down to finally gamble together. when we got downstairs, we miraculously ran into nicole's mom carol and her friend claudia. they invited us to breakfast, and we got to gambling. sean played some online blackjack and we both did slots. we were down a bit of money before going back up to rescue trent from the bella monster.

then the fun really began.

at 3am, I woke up to a weird sound. it was like muffled yelling or something. the light was on in the bathroom and sean wasn't in bed. I went into the bathroom to see him praying to the porcelain goddess, vomiting like I have never heard or seen him vomit. he was ashen and shaky. he'd been in there a few times already, apparently. I did what I could, he got sick some more, and he went back to bed. he woke up a few more times violently ill, and by 6am, I knew I had to get him some water. I called nicole (it was 9am there) and asked her to look up symptoms for food poisoning, and he had all of them. I went to get him the water downstairs and talked to the concierge to tell them what happened. they sent up a security guard, who took a report from sean. he offered to have sean sent to a medical facility to be checked, but he was feeling better. he downed a gatorade and some water after the guard left, only to violently throw it up about an hour later. he was so shaky and faint and so sick that I called back down to the concierge and asked them to send the guard back up to take sean to the medical facility - and told them I wanted them to bring a wheelchair, since I didn't think sean would make it on his feet.

I stayed in the hotel room with the kids while sean was waiting to be seen at the clinic. finally, they saw him and told him they'd give him IV fluids. I took the kids out to caesar's so we didn't go nuts in the room, and after nearly 2 hours of fluids and 2 prescription medicines for nausea and diarrhea, they sent sean back to the hotel. I met up with him and he assured me that he could watch the kids while I tried to catch the second half of the day at the convention. by evening, he was still quite weak and tired, so I took the kids out to dinner and shopping at the aladdin. there's more to this story, which I'll tell you later.

wednesday, we woke up and went to the airport for breakfast and our flight. bella fell asleep before the flight took off at 11am pacific, and she stayed asleep for the first half of the flight, on the floor again under the seats. then she woke up and wanted to explore the plane. she walked up and down the aisle, touching people's legs and arms lightly as she went. some people thought it was cute, and some clearly were annoyed. whatever, bitches.

our luggage made it to the baggage claim an hour and a half late, and our shuttle took forever. we didn't get home until after 10 eastern, not having had any real lunch or dinner. so we ate and went to bed. thursday, I called out sick - I was exhausted and bella hardly slept.

sean is feeling better now and is eating normally. bella, however, is not feeling well again and still has fluid in her ears, though it isn't infected.

lady luck must have been on vacation while we were in vegas, but at least I can say that I met the smith sisters and kodiri...that was totally worth it.

pictures soon, promise. god, it's good to be back.

toot toot, tootsie

not much to do today. nothing much going on. pretty boring friday. I feel like going somewhere, though. maybe I'll go out tonight.

nothing much going on this weekend, either. another boring weekend in front of the tube, I guess. maybe I'll try to clean the basement. then again, maybe I'll go out. stay over somewhere. who knows.









annnnyways, while I'm gone, ellis will become a real live boy, and stine will be recuperating. will you all be able to carry on without me? humor me for a second and say "it'll be hard, I'm not sure if we can."

moving right along

we leave tomorrow. (that's for you, jen!) I am doing a little better with regards to the freaking out, and we are mostly packed. everything is packed but my stuff, actually, and the stuff that we use daily. I have an airport parking thingie picked out (which was a source of paranoia in that I have never parked for an extended period of time before and I had no idea how it worked) and we have the pets covered. I think I have learned all I can about travelling with an infant - now I just have to go ahead and do it.

we take bella back to the doctor today to see if she's getting any of the medicine (she's actually doing much better now that we have a new dropper, oddly) and if she's cleared for takeoff. tonight, I finish packing. tomorrow, I have a half day, and then I go home to pack up the car with all our stuff. sean will get home at about 3pm, and trent at 3:25, and I want to be on the road by 4pm. we have to stop at nicole's to pick up the stroller on the way, and then we need to leave ourselves a half hour or so to do the parking thingie. as you can see, I'm sort of thinking out loud here. it calms me down.

and now, xmas/new year's pictures, tiny to save space. a few notes - the guy on the couch with my dog is my mom's husband, the famed robert e. lee. we hang our stockings from the banister as we have no fireplace. everyone gets a stocking, including the pets. we go from biggest to smallest, so kitchen is at the top and sean is at the bottom. the presents under the tree are mostly for other people, but it did look full, didn't it? and the penguin picture is for lonna - bella got march of the penguins for christmas.

viva et al

I can't believe how stealthily it snuck up on us, but we leave for las vegas the day after tomorrow. friday. insane.

I had a panic moment today when I tried to envision me, sean, trent, bella in her carseat, our giant suitcase, our carry ons, and our full sized stroller in my car. it simply wouldn't work. I don't want to bring our umbrella stroller because it's going to be cold and that thin nylon isn't going to help keep bella's body heat in at all. in came nicole to the rescue, allowing us to use her super cool fold up jobby that will allow us to still fit all our luggage in the car. (it was either that, or strap sean to the roof.) I also checked with everyone I know who has ever flown with a baby about gate-checking strollers, changing tables, and on-board ettiquette (yes, we will be walking the aisle of the plane with bella because, well, it's either that, or hear her crying.) I even had a chat session with our airline about whether or not we'd have a problem with trent because his last name is different than mine and because sean is his stepfather. we had a hell of a time with him at the canadian border and I didn't want a repeat. so I think we're all set.

now we just have to pack, get the dog to kkkathy's house, and...that's it. I may have to take a tranquilizer because I'm sure I'm going to be freaking out. which may be good, since I'll be nursing bella on the plane and it'll pass through the milk.

I alternate between thinking that this is a supremely bad idea and thinking it's all going to be okay. of course I have to go with the being okay scenario, I'm not that much of a sadist.

good news - I won (finally) our department's football suicide pool after a grueling 12 week showdown. $400ish smackers. that at least pays for some of the plane ticket debacle, or our shittyass inflated hotel for friday and saturday nights.

as it relates to the blogosphere, I am sad that I won't be online when baby ellis is born. however, I am HYPER NEATLY thrilled that I will be meeting becca, katy, and kodi (and hopefully soph and kiri?) for lunch on either saturday or sunday. how fucking cool is that. you meet strangers online, you talk for months, and then you get to see them. in the flesh. because they are real people, not just typed comments in a blog. it is so exciting.

caution - bitterness ahead

it's a new year. time to let bygones be bygones. make some resolutions. be a better person. look at the bright side.

in order to find the bright side, we'll do process of elimination. these things I am quite sure are not the bright side to 2006:

we need a new heater. our boiler is so old that the one tiny part that is leaking disgusting water all over our basement is no longer made. so, we need to replace the whole thing. our home warranty covers the boiler...unless it's over $1500. and - it is over $1500. more like $3500. looks like we'll be putting off doing the countertops and getting a new storm door.

bella is sick. she had a fever on friday and I took her directly to the doctor's from daycare, and lo and behold, she has 2 "whoppers" in each ear - meaning ear infections. and the kid HATES medicine. I had to call the pediatrician today to find out if there's anything we can do about the fact that she is not getting any of her medicine - and now we have to go back on thursday (the day before we leave for vegas) to see if the ears have gotten any better. the next step is a super antibiotic, something in the sulfur family, which is only taken once a day, but tastes much worse than the non sulfurs. which...if she won't take medicine that doesn't takes as bad as that, what difference does it make if it's one dose or two?? and then tubes in her ears. fanfuckingtastic. and all this ear trouble RIGHT BEFORE we get her on a plane for the first time.

and jo-anne, sean's mother, is no longer speaking to us. she and sean really went at it, and the outcome was jo-anne refusing to read any more of sean's emails, and telling him "remember, you only have one mother. I have 3 other sons." all this over a hat and scarf she doesn't like. I can't even believe it. she did say something not malicious, but certainly telling of her thoughts regarding trent - when she was talking about how she always tries to get people gifts that they like (unlike me), she said that she "even" gets trent a few things so he doesn't feel left out. because, as you know, trent is not a part of her family, just a kid that hangs out with us and who we can't leave home when we go visit for christmas. I can forgive all the I hate the hat comments, but not that one. trent won't be going to her house for holidays anymore.

so. bright sides. hm. as nicole points out, I do have my whole body and am not living with anyone with a debilitating illness of a physical or mental variety. unless you count me; obviously, I am insane.