7QT: St. Nicholas and the Plague

--1--

We have the plague at our house.  Not the bubonic type, but the respiratory nastiness that everyone seems to be passing around lately.  Unfortunately, with two kids with airway malacias, that means serious stuff for us.  Birdie spiked a fever on Sunday and passed a bad night with respiratory distress, vomiting, horrid coughing and extreme lethargy.  Monday was worse, and I took her and Piglet (who was also home sick and coughing his head off) to the doctor on Monday afternoon.  The doctor decided Piglet was weathering the plague okay without extra intervention (which was my feeling too, but it never hurts to check for secondary pneumonia since we were already concerned about Birdie), but that Birdie needed antibiotics since her lungs were crackling and her fever was pretty high.  Boo has the plague as well, but as with any sickness that makes the rounds, he has the least severe form.  That kid has a seriously sturdy constitution.

--2--

I had barely gotten Birdie's first dose of antibiotics into her when she started in with febrile seizures.  I was okay with that, since she has a history of them, but then she became unresponsive, making a horrible choking noise and her lips turned blue.  At that point, I panicked a little.  Do not pass go, do not collect $100.  I called my husband to come home immediately so I could take her to the ER.  By the time he got home, she had pinked up and seemed okay again, but her vomiting had increased, combined with the blue lips episode and we decided that it was best to go to the ER and have her checked out.

--3--

I arrived at CHOP around 7:15, and the place was an absolute zoo.  I groaned inwardly, thinking we were going to be there all night, and probably get admitted on top of it all.  As it turns out, if you are little, in respiratory distress, and have had febrile seizures with a cyanotic episode, you get bumped to the front of the line.  It took a little time to get triaged, but once they got her symptoms and history, we didn't wait long.  Her O2 sats were good considering her breathing rate was in the low 70s, and everything else looked okay.  We finally got her fever down a bit, and they did a chest x-ray to see how bad her lungs looked (not very, as it turned out).  The resident gave me the option of an overnight stay for observation, but by the time she mentioned it, it was 10:00 p.m., Birdie was looking significantly better and her hydration levels were still okay, and I felt that it would be best for all of us to be home in our own beds.  So we arrived home by 11:00 p.m., not bad considering the zoo at the hospital.  The night passed without further incident.

--4--

A funny aside.  My husband must have repeated my assessment of the waiting room (I said it was a mess) in Piglet's earshot, so on Tuesday when I picked him up from school, he asked me if the doctors had picked up all the mess that everyone had left behind.  I was confused at first, but then realized what he meant.  "That's not exactly what that means." I told him.  But I had to smile at the mental image of ER doctors picking up rubbish in the waiting room!

--5--

Vintage stockings!  (via etsy)  Our first year to have our own stockings!

Tuesday was the eve of St. Nicholas (for those confused, we are Orthodox Christians on the Julian or Old-style calendar, which lags the Western calendar by 13 days).  I put up our Christmas decorations and properly decked the halls this year!  I'm very pleased with how things turned out, although I didn't love spending the first day of a decorated house admonishing the children to stop fussing with stuff.  

The little tree in my second floor office, away from curious fingers.  I put up garland on the built-in bookcases in the living room and hung ornaments on that so that it looks festive, but far away from little hands.

--6--

Presents from St. Nicholas, plus chocolate coins for their shoes.

Wednesday was St. Nicholas Day, so my husband took Piglet to church (Boo had a doctor's appointment in the a.m. that I could not move), and my babysitter stayed home with Birdie, who was sounding worse and was still fevered.  We had a nice day--the kids opened the presents from St. Nicholas before breakfast (mostly vintage Little People stuff), enjoyed the chocolate coins in their shoes, and were generally overexcited about the whole thing all day long.  I baked a vegan blueberry crumb cake for dessert, and we had a nice festal fish meal of salmon tacos.  

--7--

Birdie passed a bad night on Wednesday.  She literally coughed all night long, was running a 102-103 fever, couldn't keep anything down (including tylenol or motrin), breathing in the 70s from 1:00 a.m., and generally making me worried.  At about 5:00 a.m., I decided that she probably needed to be in the hospital for oxygen and fluids, when my husband suggested trying steroids in the nebulizer--we'd given her all the other meds we could think of to try and help.  That calmed her cough enough so we could get motrin in her, and she slept for a few hours.  Her respiration rate dropped into the mid-30s while sleeping, and when she got up, it was in the 60s, which isn't great, but at least isn't crisis-worthy.  She was still fevered, struggling to breathe, and coughing a ton, with some vomiting, so our wonderful pediatrician saw her again yesterday, prescribed a different antibiotic, plus oral steroids, both of which have helped a lot.  She passed a much better night last night, has been keeping fluids down, and while she clearly doesn't feel well, looks a bit better today.  I'm sure I'll be staying home with her this weekend, but at least I don't feel like we are balanced on the knife-edge of crisis any longer.  Sometimes when she is sick like that, but not quite sick enough to be admitted to the hospital, it is so hard for me.  The constant care, the medication schedule, the sleepless nights really get me, because I'm holding my breath, waiting for her to fall over the edge and need professional intervention.  Sometimes I find myself longing for hospitalization, just so someone professional can be in charge for a while. But right now, she is doing better, and hopefully will continue to improve.  

Go see Jen and Co. for more quick takes!

7QT: Cold Water Edition

--1--

I can't believe it is Friday already--this week has just flown by.  It's not even that I was so busy--honestly, I can't really remember what I did all week except sort of sleep walk through it.  Maybe that is why I don't remember!

--2--

The big news of note is that our tankless water heater went kaput on Wednesday.  The igniter stopped working, which means we have no hot water.  Which means our water for showering, dish washing, and everything else is about 40 degrees.  Eek!!  And the technician can't get here until Monday (what is up with THAT??)  I begged, I pleaded, I tried telling her I had three little kids, but to no avail.  I spent yesterday boiling water on the stove for dish washing and my husband and I both took bracing sponge baths while we prayed that Birdie would not start vomiting.  (She has vomited a little this week, but it was minor and did not require a full bath to clean up).  This morning, my hair was beyond dirty, and I just couldn't see waiting until Tuesday or later to wash it (since the technician may or may not be able to install the part on Monday!), so I girded my loins (so to speak) and washed my hair in bracingly cold water.  That will wake you up in the morning!!  Who needs coffee?  

--3--

Being without hot water reminded me of my Moscow days, when the government shuts off the hot water to the city starting in May, and sometimes doesn't turn it back on until October 1st.  (The hot water is used to heat the buildings in the winter, and they have to drain the buildings every spring/summer).  Sometimes the hot water is off for a few weeks, but I remember one year that Nizhni Novgorod was without hot water all summer.  So you boil your wash water, and try not to fill the tub more than a few inches at a time.  Few Russian bathrooms are set up for showers anyway.  The hot water (and the heat) comes back on October 1st regardless of the weather.  I didn't mind the cold water so much in September when it tends to be warmer, but I do remember minding it a little in May, as it can still be quite chilly in May in Moscow!!  

--4--

You can see the banya in the second picture.  The top picture is the yard and outhouse, the bottom picture is the entry way to the house where we stayed.

But nothing compares to a cold banya in Krygzystan in summer.  Before we had children, I did a three week Habitat build in Barskoon, on the edge of Lake Isak-Kyl, near the Chinese border.  We had no running water, unreliable electricity, no modern power tools, just hammers, shovels, manual planers, hand saws, and the like. We made bricks by hand using mud, straw, and a metal form.  

Working with old school tools.

Horses are more common than cars in that part of the world.  (Sheep too!)  It was fantastic.  But then there was the clean up at the end of the day--we had the banya to use for washing our clothes and ourselves, and the first ones back from the job site had bracing cold water to wash in.  I never wanted to wait the several hours it took to heat the water enough for a hot steam because we got so incredibly muddy and dirty at the job site.  (Mud to the brows was not an exaggeration).  And even though it was July, the temps were in the 70s, which is pleasant for sitting, but with cold water for washing, wow, cold!!  

More pictures of the yard/house where we stayed.  This is typical for the area.

--5--

And yes, I know I'm complaining about first world problems.  A broken water heater isn't really that big of a deal--we have a sound roof over our heads, the heater is still working, we have food to eat, and safe places to sleep.  We have more than we need, and have been provided for most abundantly.  And I am grateful.  I'm also grateful for one-day shipping from Amazon.com and $10 hot pots and cheap large thermoses.  Yes, I do have a tea kettle that I can boil water on the stove, but hot pots are a lot faster, and when you are boiling water all day long for dish washing and other washing, speed is handy.  

--6--

And now for something completely different.

--7--

And my card for today:

This is tweaked from someone else's design, but I really loved the texture and the super quick and dirty watercoloring.  Took about 3 minutes to color.  I'm still working on cards for From Our Hearts--I'm using up a lot of designer series paper!!  I've used up all the retired stuff I had hanging around, plus have made my way through my neglected Twitterpated pack, plus most of the Orchard Harvest pack from the current holiday catalog.  I've got some scraps to use up, but then on to Comfort Cafe and Fan Fair!!  I'm enjoying the challenge of using up a pack of dsp at a time and keeping the designs simple but interesting.  I also made teacher gifts yesterday--I decorated our kraft boxes and made gift card holders with the petite pockets die (love it!) using Comfort Cafe--who says Christmas gifts have to look Christmas-y?  I love that paper, and it looks so nice as gift packaging!

Alright, enough nonsense for today--go see Jen and Co. for more Quick Takes!

7QT: Wham Bam Edition

 --1--

These are going to be super fast, as I seem to be having a lot of days lately where I either have nothing to do or 10,000 things to do.  Today is a 10,000 things day.  For starters, I have to make a brunch casserole for our Philly Inker's gathering tomorrow, I have to finish prepping my shoebox swap, I have to get myself to the dermatologist this morning to follow up about the spot on my hip (it is benign), and also start tackling teacher gifts.  Monday is even worse, so I won't bore you with the details.

--2--

This week also found me in the position of having to be in two places at the same time with two different kids for two different medical appointments IN THE SAME DEPARTMENT.  Their scheduler, not mine.  The idiot I talked to on the phone (nearly in tears with frustration at this impossible situation) could not understand why I couldn't work this out.  I tried to explain, Piglet is having surgery with your department at this time, and Boo is scheduled for an office visit at this time.  I have a sitter at home for Birdie, and my husband works all the time, and just isn't available.  THERE ISN'T ANYONE ELSE!!  Finally, I just gave up trying to talk sense to her and hung up.  The doctor called me a few days later to talk through Piglet's procedure and I explained the problem, and bless her, she said she could squeeze Boo in on a later day without us having to go to the back of the line and wait another three months for an appointment.

--3--

Wednesday found me almost in tears again as I realized that Birdie had physical therapy at 8:00, my sitter was off for the day, Piglet had to be to school before 8:45, and my husband (who normally brings Piglet to school) had left for Washington DC early that morning to sit second chair at the Chaffin Supreme Court hearing.  Usually in this sort of situation our neighbor (whose daughter goes to school with Piglet) will bring him, but I neglected to set it up beforehand because my brain was elsewhere.  After some frantic e-mailing and phone calls, I did get in touch and they were gracious enough to take Piglet to school and save me another stress ball of a day.

--4--

Piglet had his bronchoscopy and endoscopy/sigmoidoscopy on Tuesday morning and everything went very well.  He was dopey and out of it the rest of the day, but he bounced out of bed on Wednesday morning and went to school.  He has seemed fine ever since.  Nothing earth-shattering was discovered, except to confirm the tracheomalacia that we suspected.  He is on the same medicine as Birdie for the condition, and now we are trying to find an efficacious dose.  We are still waiting on the results of the biopsies and cultures, which may reveal more about what is going on with him.

--5--

Mostly I just want my kids to stop being sick all.the.time.  Piglet and Birdie are prone to respiratory infection because of the underlying airway malacias, and it is just so hard for them to clear any infection.  Boo is pretty hardy, but his behavior issues trump everything lately and just make me so tired.

--6--

And I want to stop being sick myself.  My husband and I have been passing a nasty respiratory virus back and forth for over a month now, and I'm so over it. Enough already.  I think we've been punished enough.

--7--

I decided this year not to yield to my Scrooge McDuck husband on Christmas decorations (he doesn't want to see them until January 2nd at the earliest) and am going to decorate sometime this coming week.  We can't put a tree up because of the children and the layout of our house, but I ordered some nice garlands to hang from our big built in bookcases in the living room and will hang the ornaments from that.  I think it will look very festive.

(some Christmas cards I made this year)

--Bonus--

 

I am in the market for a Star Trek style replicator, to use on myself.  Does anyone have one for sale?  All offers considered.

Go see Jen for more Quick takes!

7QT: Card Parade Edition (aka Lazy Bones Edition)

So this week has chewed me up and spit me out, and I just don't have the mental or emotional energy to write about it, so I'm going to do a card parade!! I've been making a lot of cards for From Our Hearts these last weeks, and I wanted to show a few as they are super simple designs that are easy to replicate, but still look nice.  See you next week for real quick takes (at least, I hope...)

--1--

I mostly tried to let the designer series paper guide my designs, and let the pattern of the paper shine.

--2--

I also tried to be efficient about using up the scraps.

--3--

I pulled out sets I'd never used, or only used once or twice and made sure to incorporate them!

--4--

I tried to keep the designs very simple and easy to reproduce.

--5--

Sometimes, the best way to let the paper shine was to use a simple sentiment on a paper flag with a small embellishment.  Easy and elegant!

--6--

I'm really digging all the framelits this year!!  I hardly make a card anymore without pulling them out.  I especially like the windows framelits and the apothecary accents (as you can see...)  And while I didn't think I'd love the coordinating framelit/stamp bundles, I'm actually finding them pretty nifty.

--7--

Although this little image (Friendship, yes please) had to be cut out by hand.  Since I only had a few cards that used it, it wasn't a big deal!

Go see Jen for more Quick Takes!

7QT: Thanksgiving Edition

--1--

I almost wasn't going to post this week because, well, it is Thanksgiving, I've got my father-in-law staying with us, and well, I still feel lousy.  But then I started reading other posts from the other Quick Takers (is that even a phrase?) and then felt like a total slacker, so here you go.  Yesterday was Thanksgiving, of course.  We ate, we were thankful, no one threw up.  'Nuff said.

--2--

Miss Birdie continues to cut teeth, so our nights have been utterly horrendous.  Between the upper and lower respiratory infection that continues to plague me and the night wakings, I'm seriously tired, and not a little overwhelmed.

--3--

Since Piglet has been home since 1:00 on Wednesday, that means that the boys have pretty much been fighting non-stop since then and it is only 3:16 on Friday afternoon.  Still two more days until Monday morning.  Send help!!

--4--

Somehow I got myself back into making my Christmas cards by hand this year--the last two years I've done them using the My Digital Studio software, which I love, but I was scheduled to participate in a vendor event for Christmas stuff, and made a ton of Christmas cards to sell, then was too sick to attend, so now I have all these cards and no justification to spend more on digital designs.  I still have about half my cards to make, but that is fairly manageable, I suppose.

--5--

I also have to write our annual Christmas letter because I am one of THOSE people.  The last few years my letters have tended toward the snarky/funny end of the spectrum, and now I feel all this PRESSURE to perform.  I'm not sure this year's letter is going to live up to expectations, but whatever.  It is what it is.

--6--

I've also spent the last few years avoiding shopping venues on Black Friday just on principle.  I get sensoried out easily, especially in crowded places, and I don't enjoy shopping that much to begin with.  We don't spend much on Christmas gifts, and our Christmas is so much later than the West (January 7) that it doesn't really make sense to do Christmas shopping this early.  I'd rather shop online and have it delivered right to my door because I'm creepy like that.  But today, I took Piglet to see the holiday show at the Comcast Center, and then we braved the crowds to go to H&M to get a few clothing items for Birdie.  In and out in 15 minutes, so not too bad.  The show was fun as it always is, and I'm hoping to get both boys to the Macy's show sometime this season.

--7--

And my card:

 I've been trying to make a dent in the retired designer series paper I have lying around, so I've been making simple cards for From Our Hearts like a madwoman in my spare time.  This uses the retired Mocha Morning Specialty paper, and while it is hard to see on the photo, the black parts are flocked, which is a nice dimension to the card.  I love the simplicity of this card. 

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving to all!  We've had a lovely day at home, with beef roast (poultry allergies abound around here), mashed potatoes, stuffing, roasted vegetables, cranberry sauce, and of course, pumpkin pie!  (With Cool Whip, of course.  All else is OUTRAGE!)

We're waiting to skype with family spread far and wide and wish you all the best for today.