Keep Looking Up

This time of year is the worst. The trees are bare and ominous, the ground is dull and lifeless, and the sun is a fickle companion. People need motivation to find joy in all of this funk.

I usually give myself a project that requires a fair amount of time and effort to carry me through. By the time I finish my project, whaddya know?! It's spring! Currently, this is a house hunt. I'll take on any project though, and I often find myself working on other people's projects. I actually like to research and work to find whatever it is that needs finding. (I would have loved being a detective except for the dead or maimed bodies and irrational fear of death at the hands of another.)

I'm also working on potty training my little ray of sunshine. It's been much more fun than I thought it would be. She makes me laugh every time she peers over that little belly to see if she's doing it right. And she finds sitting on the potty and all the noises I make (trying to describe what we should be hearing) pretty hilarious.

Finally, I'm working on planning my future sister-in-love's bridal shower. I get to indulge that other side of the coin where I would have enjoyed being an event planner. How fun!

I'll keep looking up; keep looking ahead and enjoying what I find along the way.

Where Is My Mind

My mother and I are always on the hunt for a new house to fix up - we love it! But it is certainly not me who peeks in every window of houses that are empty. And it's not me who tries every door handle and often finds them open. And appallingly, it is not me who always saunters inside to get a better look!

Now that the weather has warmed up again, it's not me who keeps my little space heater in the bathroom. And it's not me who heats the bathroom up to 90 degrees every time I take a shower. And it really is not me who even turns it on when I'm only going to be 5 minutes.

Finally, it's not me who occasionally re-does my baby's hair after her Nana has done it. Nana likes it "fluffy" and I prefer it curly. But who's to say?

The Healing Room

We were staying in a cabin in the middle of nowhere the first time my baby had a seizure. We had no car and no cell phone reception. I was cradling my child, screaming into the woods for help. Screaming. It was the most terrifying event of my life. And when she finally stopped seizing, I thought she had died. I lost it.

That was in June. Rio has had three seizures since then - all febrile or related to a fever. Because the last one was complex and she had issues with breathing, we all agreed to do some further testing. We had a 48 hour EEG at All Children's last week.

My poor baby had, what seemed like, 800 electrodes glued onto her head. Her head was wrapped like a mummy and she was hooked up to a pack of wires and tethered to a machine. We were told that we had to follow her around carrying the pack of wires behind so they wouldn't become disconnected. Trying to follow a 20 month old around is like trying to catch the RoadRunner! We had to come up with a solution and fast! We got one of those toddler backpacks and the electrode pack fit in just perfectly. Rio was able to move about freely.

So far, the test looks normal and we're happy about that. We're told that she'll probably keep having seizures whenever she spikes a fever and will eventually grow out of it (around age 5.) Back to the bubble for us! Germs are our enemies.

I haven't written about this until now because I don't like to dwell on scary experiences, but I thought I'd reach out into the universe and maybe find someone else who has shared a similar experience who might have some tips for me.

I need some ideas for entertaining a 20 month old that are both fun and stimulating. We cannot go to parks, group events, etc. with all this swine flu hanging around. We read, do flash cards, play with toys, play outside on the play set, go for walks, bike rides, and drives. That eats up a couple of hours....just kidding. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated!

Losin Yo Head

We've been stuck in the house for the last two weeks while Rio slowly gets over a cold. And because it is absolutely freezing outside (when I write freezing, I really mean any temperature less than 68 degrees,) if we venture out, the crisp air makes that little runny nose more of an ooey gooey mess - poor baby!

SO we have been finding creative ways to entertain ourselves indoors. Obviously, Rio is at the end of her creative rope. She's losin' her head.

"We need a little thrill - I can see it in our faces." --Monsters Of Folk