We go back two weeks from today for the great uncasting. The orthopedist said he's almost ready, and if he hadn't had an infected bone before the break it would probably be off today, but he wanted to give it two more weeks, just to be on the safe side.
I appreciate the safe side, I really do. But two more weeks? Well, it stinks.
Monday, January 28, 2008
Friday, January 25, 2008
Trying not to get my hopes up...
(sorry for the crying on the video, Maren was, of course, trying to take the camera away from me)
Isaac goes back to the doctor on Monday. When he broke his leg, the doctors told us he'd be in the cast for 6-8 weeks. Monday will be 6 weeks and five days. He's been such a good sport about the whole thing. In fact, whenever we talk to him about getting it off, he says he wants it to stay on so he can spin. My boy loves his spinning.
I, on the other hand, am not feeling so laid-back about the potential uncasting. Yep, you know me, and I want it off now, for the following reasons:
- The boy has not had a good bath in seven weeks. He's not potty-trained at night either. Lately, more often than not, he decides to quietly poop while wearing a diaper rather than alerting us and going through the whole rigamarole of pooping in a bedpan. Just imagine the funk and you'd probably be about halfway there.
- We have watched SO much tv in the last three months. As soon as he gets his strength back, we are going on a hard-core tv fast for at least two weeks. I know the schedules for Nick Jr, Nick 2, Noggin and PBS Kids by heart. He's happiest right now watching tv, but enough is definitely enough.
- "Play with me." I hear it about a hundred times a day. And I can't just put forth a halfhearted attempt at doing a little bit of business with some action figures. When he says "play with me," he means an involved creative session with me being some kind of bad guy. I feel bad for him, but I'm also eager for him to become a little bit more self-directed.
- My bed. Isaac always went to bed easily, in his own bed, in the dark, by himself. He slept all night there. Eddie took pity on Isaac early on in the saga and started letting him fall asleep at night in our bed, with Eddie, with the lights on. It's become a habit that has stuck, and is particularly hard to manage on the nights when Eddie is at work, and I'm left to nurse Maren to sleep, then lie down with Isaac, while trying to keep the bigger kids occupied and quiet. To complicate matters further, Isaac now wakes up every night between 12-1 o'clock, screaming to come into our bed. But there's not room in our bed for two adults, a child, and a spica cast, so I end up sleeping in his bed. This often results in Eddie turning off my alarm without waking me, and me spending the morning in a pissy panic as I try to rush around and get everyone to school on time. Also, he sleeps on my side. If you think back to my first item on the list, you can understand why I no longer consider sleeping there to be a pleasant experience.
- When Maren was born, we decided against buying a double stroller, figuring that when we really needed strolling space for two kids, we'd use the jogger. However, as I've previously mentioned, Isaac doesn't fit in the jogger right now. Three months ago, it wasn't too hard to stick Maren in the baby bjorn or the sling and put Isaac in the stroller. Now that she's very mobile and too wiggly for the sling, going anywhere with the two of them is next to impossible.
- I miss preschool. And the gym daycare. And church. And going anywhere without looking like a circus freakshow. If I thought traveling with four kids was enough to make people stare, try traveling with four kids, one of whom is wearing a bright blue cast the size of his whole body and another one is running away at full speed, as fast as her 9" legs will carry her.
Monday cannot come soon enough. Isaac has been the greatest little trooper about the whole ordeal, but I'm really ready for it to be over and real life to start again. If the cast doesn't come off, it won't be Isaac who will be crying-- it will be me.
Thursday, January 24, 2008
A stage of babyhood our parents never had to endure...
If you've called my house lately and gotten sent straight to voice mail, chances are that the phone is off the hook. Maren is fascinated with all telephones, remotes, cameras and other small electronic devices. I've been writing some copy for our school yearbook, and can only do that (and my blogging) during her naptime, because otherwise she sits on my lap and bangs on the keyboard. She's also called her grandparents numerous times
It must have been easier when I was a baby back in the 1970s, when phones were attached to the wall with a cord, cameras weighed too much for the average American toddler to carry, children served as remote controls, and personal computers were still about ten years in the future.
Here's a series of pictures of my tech-savvy baby:
I don't want to be in the pictures, lady-- I want to take the pictures!
"Oh yes, Mimi, I am quite the artist!"
Call me M.C. Miner. I mix the tunes, switching from High School Musical to Eminem with ease.
Looking for the home row.
Am I woman enough to handle two phones at once?
It must have been easier when I was a baby back in the 1970s, when phones were attached to the wall with a cord, cameras weighed too much for the average American toddler to carry, children served as remote controls, and personal computers were still about ten years in the future.
Here's a series of pictures of my tech-savvy baby:
I don't want to be in the pictures, lady-- I want to take the pictures!
"Oh yes, Mimi, I am quite the artist!"
Call me M.C. Miner. I mix the tunes, switching from High School Musical to Eminem with ease.
Looking for the home row.
Am I woman enough to handle two phones at once?
I wish I could blame her for sending Eddie's cell phone through the wash today. Unfortunately, that blame lies squarely on me.
Book #7: The God of Animals
Author: Aryn Kyle
Twelve year-old Alice and her father try to hold together their failing horse ranch during the hottest summer in fifteen years. Over the course of the year, Alice learns about selflessness and betrayal and friendship.
I liken The God of Animals to a more modern, more western, less drawly version of To Kill A Mockingbird. In The God of Animals, an adult version of Alice, like Scout, looks back on the year of her childhood where she lost her innocence and jumped over the divide into adulthood. The God of Animals is beautifully-written and engrossing (I read it in two days), despite, or maybe because of, its familiarity. Language might prevent it from being a good book group book in the more prissy circles, but it's a book that women should read and discuss.
Book #6: Born Standing Up: A Comic's Life
Title: Born Standing Up: A Comic's Life
Author: Steve Martin
Steve Martin looks back on his childhood and his career as a stand-up comedian, focusing mainly on the 1960s and 1970s.
I like Steve Martin. I mean, who doesn't like Steve Martin. There was a lady in line in front of me at Borders the other day buying this book and gushing enthusiastically to the salesperson about how excited her husband would be to have this book in his hot little hands. I learned a lot about what Disneyland was like in the 1960s (Martin worked there from age 10 to 18), what it takes to perfect a magic act, what it feels like to be a successful stand-up comedian (isolating, apparently), and how a cold and unfriendly father can damage a son's psyche forever. The book was interesting and well-written, but not funny. From a stand-up comedian, I sort of expected a little bit more funny. I'll bet the lady's husband did too.
Steve Martin looks back on his childhood and his career as a stand-up comedian, focusing mainly on the 1960s and 1970s.
I like Steve Martin. I mean, who doesn't like Steve Martin. There was a lady in line in front of me at Borders the other day buying this book and gushing enthusiastically to the salesperson about how excited her husband would be to have this book in his hot little hands. I learned a lot about what Disneyland was like in the 1960s (Martin worked there from age 10 to 18), what it takes to perfect a magic act, what it feels like to be a successful stand-up comedian (isolating, apparently), and how a cold and unfriendly father can damage a son's psyche forever. The book was interesting and well-written, but not funny. From a stand-up comedian, I sort of expected a little bit more funny. I'll bet the lady's husband did too.
Book #5: The Good Earth
Title: The Good Earth
Author: Pearl S. Buck
Do you really need a synopsis for this one? If so, Wang Lung comes of age as a simple peasant farmer in 19th-century China, and finds his life complicated as he prospers.
Anyone else see The Good Earth as an melding of The Book of Mormon and King Lear? At the beginning, Wang Lung is poor and happy. He and O-Lan work hard and are prospered (if you can count stealing gems as a blessing from heaven, lol). Anyway, once they gain wealth, he gets bored, proud and materialistic. Instead of being happy, like he was when he and O-Lan worked hard in the fields together, he spends his days worrying. His kids fight and don't know how to work themselves. And as he ages, they discuss how they're going to split up the goods once he's gone.
I've probably read The Good Earth five times. I always dread starting it, thinking it's not going to have any power for me on the third or fourth or fifth reading. But every time, I'm sad when I'm done. This time, I was sad and a little bit scared. For our entire marriage, Eddie and I have either struggled as he went to school, or eked by as he's done his training. But in a little more than a year, he's going to have a good job. We've always dreamed about how cool it will be to have money, but if our lives are anything like Wang Lung's (and since we're human, I have a feeling that they are) I'm guessing that while the money will be good, it will bring its own set of challenges for us too.
Do you really need a synopsis for this one? If so, Wang Lung comes of age as a simple peasant farmer in 19th-century China, and finds his life complicated as he prospers.
Anyone else see The Good Earth as an melding of The Book of Mormon and King Lear? At the beginning, Wang Lung is poor and happy. He and O-Lan work hard and are prospered (if you can count stealing gems as a blessing from heaven, lol). Anyway, once they gain wealth, he gets bored, proud and materialistic. Instead of being happy, like he was when he and O-Lan worked hard in the fields together, he spends his days worrying. His kids fight and don't know how to work themselves. And as he ages, they discuss how they're going to split up the goods once he's gone.
I've probably read The Good Earth five times. I always dread starting it, thinking it's not going to have any power for me on the third or fourth or fifth reading. But every time, I'm sad when I'm done. This time, I was sad and a little bit scared. For our entire marriage, Eddie and I have either struggled as he went to school, or eked by as he's done his training. But in a little more than a year, he's going to have a good job. We've always dreamed about how cool it will be to have money, but if our lives are anything like Wang Lung's (and since we're human, I have a feeling that they are) I'm guessing that while the money will be good, it will bring its own set of challenges for us too.
Book #4: Amsterdam
Author: Ian McEwan
Following the funeral of a close friend, Vernon, a London newspaper publisher, and Clive, a composer, enter into a pact that will have consequences neither man could have imagined.
I've loved other books by Ian McEwan (both Saturday and Atonement rank high on my list of best reads ever). I did some scouting on Amazon and knew that this was both his Booker Prize-winning novel, and the novel which had received the most unfavorable reviews. The novel, at 196 pages, takes us into the work-related inner struggles that both Vernon and Clive face. And maybe I'm dense, but I wasn't prepared for the end (which I won't reveal, since, at least to me, was a total shocker). I just didn't feel that the characters McEwan drew in the first 90% of the novel (both very self-absorbed) would think broadly (and crazily) enough for what took place in the last 10%. My advice, if you're new to McEwan, cut your teeth on Saturday, and then dig into Atonement. This one might appeal to dedicated readers, but it might turn off a newbie.
Following the funeral of a close friend, Vernon, a London newspaper publisher, and Clive, a composer, enter into a pact that will have consequences neither man could have imagined.
I've loved other books by Ian McEwan (both Saturday and Atonement rank high on my list of best reads ever). I did some scouting on Amazon and knew that this was both his Booker Prize-winning novel, and the novel which had received the most unfavorable reviews. The novel, at 196 pages, takes us into the work-related inner struggles that both Vernon and Clive face. And maybe I'm dense, but I wasn't prepared for the end (which I won't reveal, since, at least to me, was a total shocker). I just didn't feel that the characters McEwan drew in the first 90% of the novel (both very self-absorbed) would think broadly (and crazily) enough for what took place in the last 10%. My advice, if you're new to McEwan, cut your teeth on Saturday, and then dig into Atonement. This one might appeal to dedicated readers, but it might turn off a newbie.
Monday, January 21, 2008
A college crush I can't get out of my mind....
According to the officially-sanctioned version of how Eddie and Shelah met, we hooked up at the very beginning of freshman year and dated the entire year. For the most part, that's the truth, but there was a week or two after I arrived in Provo and before I came down one night to the dorm lounge while he was flirting with another girl to ask him why he never bothered to call me. And in that week, I had a crush on another guy. A guy in my freshman orientation group. A guy, who incidentially, did not have a crush on me. A guy who has been on television a lot lately.
Do you recognize this guy? He bears quite a resemblance to his father. And I swear that every time I turn on CNN or Eddie leaves FoxNews on (which is totally against the rules around here), I see him. Usually standing in the background, behind Mitt, or else moving in a pack of other semi-official, good-looking thirtysomething Romneys.
I'm totally and completely happy in my marriage and with my husband. I know that I made the right decision (and since Josh never looked twice in my direction, it wasn't an issue). I hadn't even thought about Josh Romney for at least ten years before his dad decided to run for president. But over the last year I've found myself thinking that I could have been in those waterskiing videos, I could be the one who couldn't toast a marshmallow to save her life. I'm glad I'm not-- I'm just sayin-- it would be easier not to imagine "what if" if I didn't have to see the guy five times a day.
I think Eddie is now changing his support to Obama.
Saturday, January 19, 2008
I'm on a spinner's high
This morning I had a fourteen mile run on the training schedule, and I was just too scared to do it. My knee hasn't been great, and I really don't want to screw it up further. Besides, it's all messy and puddly here after several days of nonstop rain, and I didn't want to sully my brand-new shoes. So I headed to the gym to run a couple of miles to feel out my knee, then take a spinning class.
The first two miles were fast (.75mi at 9mph, followed by .25mi at 10mph, repeated twice). The spin class felt awesome. So I decided to do it again. Another fast mile, followed by another spin class. My knee feels fantastic, and for the first time since the marathon, I've gotten that endorphin rush I crave from exercise. I also feel like my speed is coming back, which really excites me! So Arlynda, I really do think cycling (and cross training in general) combined with the core classes I've been taking, are doing their job to strengthen my knee. When Isaac got sick, I stopped going to the gym at all. I either ran at home on the treadmill or pushing the stroller. I quit all of my cross-training (which had been two spinning classes a week). I quit working on my core (I'd also been taking two core classes a week). I was doing the minimum amount of training possible because the rest of my life was just too complicated. Now that I've been injured and Eddie has had a more flexible schedule, I've incorporated those back into my workouts (especially since the running has sucked) and I think it's going to help me be a better athlete overall.
By next week at this time, I really hope to be hitting the pavement for a good long run. But if I'm still not there yet, I'm so glad to know that the alternative is pretty great too.
The first two miles were fast (.75mi at 9mph, followed by .25mi at 10mph, repeated twice). The spin class felt awesome. So I decided to do it again. Another fast mile, followed by another spin class. My knee feels fantastic, and for the first time since the marathon, I've gotten that endorphin rush I crave from exercise. I also feel like my speed is coming back, which really excites me! So Arlynda, I really do think cycling (and cross training in general) combined with the core classes I've been taking, are doing their job to strengthen my knee. When Isaac got sick, I stopped going to the gym at all. I either ran at home on the treadmill or pushing the stroller. I quit all of my cross-training (which had been two spinning classes a week). I quit working on my core (I'd also been taking two core classes a week). I was doing the minimum amount of training possible because the rest of my life was just too complicated. Now that I've been injured and Eddie has had a more flexible schedule, I've incorporated those back into my workouts (especially since the running has sucked) and I think it's going to help me be a better athlete overall.
By next week at this time, I really hope to be hitting the pavement for a good long run. But if I'm still not there yet, I'm so glad to know that the alternative is pretty great too.
Thursday, January 17, 2008
Thursday thoughts...
First of all, the weather. It was about fifty here today. If I closed my eyes really tightly, it almost, sort of, felt a little bit like winter. Not quite cold enough, in my opinion, to wear a coat, but still, undeniably chilly.
I went to have lunch with the kids at school today. Bryce's class goes to recess directly from the cafeteria, and as the kids were lining up, I overheard the teachers talking about how they had been instructed to have recess inside today because it was "too cold" to play outside. Annie said that their gym class didn't go outside either. When we lived in Minnesota and there was a foot of snow on the ground, and the temperature was below zero, my preschoolers sent 30 minutes every day on the playground. Also, when I went to pick up the kids after school, I was talking to one of the moms who was wearing a Lands' End parka. I remarked to her that it must be nice to have a chilly day so she could break out the heavy-duty winter wear (as I'm standing there wearing nothing but a sweatshirt). "Oh this? she asked. "I wear this all winter." Texans are wussies.
Secondly, I got chewed out by a librarian today. If you notice the book list on my sidebar, you'll probably see it's quite a bit more ample than usual. I did some book scouting over the weekend, and then reserved a whole bunch of books at the library. When I went to pick them up today, I had a pile of ten. When she brought over my pile (practically collapsing under its weight), I said something to the effect that I was surprised that all of the reserves had come in at once. She told me that it would be much better for me to just make a list and reserve one or two at a time than get all of them at once. Now I'm determined to read them all and prove her wrong. And besides, what else am I supposed to do in the evenings during the writers' strike?
Finally, any runners out there with a surefire cure for runner's knee? My left knee has been bugging me since the marathon. It hurt really, really badly for about a week, and it's been getting slowly better, but now that I've resumed my normal pace and distance (30-40 miles a week), I'm starting to worry that it will never fully heal. I did get some rocking new shoes yesterday (the Asics GT-2130s) and I'm hoping that wearing running shoes that don't have 900+ road miles on them will help too. I'm getting scared that my running schedule for the next few months, with another half and another full marathon on the horizon, may be a little bit too much work for my poor knee.
I went to have lunch with the kids at school today. Bryce's class goes to recess directly from the cafeteria, and as the kids were lining up, I overheard the teachers talking about how they had been instructed to have recess inside today because it was "too cold" to play outside. Annie said that their gym class didn't go outside either. When we lived in Minnesota and there was a foot of snow on the ground, and the temperature was below zero, my preschoolers sent 30 minutes every day on the playground. Also, when I went to pick up the kids after school, I was talking to one of the moms who was wearing a Lands' End parka. I remarked to her that it must be nice to have a chilly day so she could break out the heavy-duty winter wear (as I'm standing there wearing nothing but a sweatshirt). "Oh this? she asked. "I wear this all winter." Texans are wussies.
Secondly, I got chewed out by a librarian today. If you notice the book list on my sidebar, you'll probably see it's quite a bit more ample than usual. I did some book scouting over the weekend, and then reserved a whole bunch of books at the library. When I went to pick them up today, I had a pile of ten. When she brought over my pile (practically collapsing under its weight), I said something to the effect that I was surprised that all of the reserves had come in at once. She told me that it would be much better for me to just make a list and reserve one or two at a time than get all of them at once. Now I'm determined to read them all and prove her wrong. And besides, what else am I supposed to do in the evenings during the writers' strike?
Finally, any runners out there with a surefire cure for runner's knee? My left knee has been bugging me since the marathon. It hurt really, really badly for about a week, and it's been getting slowly better, but now that I've resumed my normal pace and distance (30-40 miles a week), I'm starting to worry that it will never fully heal. I did get some rocking new shoes yesterday (the Asics GT-2130s) and I'm hoping that wearing running shoes that don't have 900+ road miles on them will help too. I'm getting scared that my running schedule for the next few months, with another half and another full marathon on the horizon, may be a little bit too much work for my poor knee.
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