Roodle

I just love that Faith is as excited as she is to watch "Roodle" tonight. I used to look forward to that extra special reindeer every year, too. (Except I called him something else. . .)

Happy 68th, Daddy!

And because I love him sooooo much, I just have to tease him a little about our conversation this morning.

I called at 7:30 to wish him a happy birthday and realized the phone was ringing, and ringing, and ringings some more. I thought, "Wow, that's taking him a while to pick up, I'll just leave a voice mail and try again later."

Finally he answered, laughing. He said, "I thought that was Bonnie's phone (manager at Grease Monkey) I kept telling her, 'your phone is ringing, answer your phone, Bonnie!' Then I realized it was mine."

I told that sixty-eight year old man he is officially old.

Also, today is my last day at Decatur. I've been working at this clinic since 2003. This is it. This morning Dad said to me, "Everything comes full circle. Your last day at Decatur is my birthday and my last day at Sony was yours." I guess I didn't realize that.

"Just like Uncle Bob and Rick," I said.
"Yes, just like Uncle Bob and Ricky. But I like our way better," He replied.

(On Uncle Bob and Rick, for those of you who don't remember: It was June of 2004 when my cousin Rick's body was found. He had died of a drug overdose of some body-building, something-or-another formula. His funeral was on June 19th, Uncle Bob's birthday. Later that same year on September 16, we lost Uncle Bob to brain cancer. It was Rick's birthday.)

The Nutcracker

Matt called a few weeks ago to see if Faith would like to go to to The Nutcracker with Mackenzie and Madeline. Of course she would! Saturday afternoon Mom and Dad drove up to Danville, picked up Faith and me and we all drove downtown to meet Matt's family. Here are three excited girls prior to the ballet. Rules inside the theater strictly state no photography is allowed. However, when I saw other people taking pictures before the show I just had to sneak a picture of the girls. And while I'm at it, the stage.
I was a little worried about Faith, but in my biased mother's opinion I think she did great for a four-year-old. She kept her voice down, she payed attention (for the most part) and she kept in her seat. I did have a touch of trouble keeping her from dancing in her seat, but other than that, good times.

And the ballet? It was spectacular.

Update on Gracie

July 15, 2010: Lymphoma, small cell type, low grade. . . Depending on the therapeutic options selected, a guarded to poor prognosis is justified.

November 25, 2010: Reactive lymphoid hyperplasia. . . The numbers of lymphoblasts are too low, and the lymphoid population is too heterogeneous for a diagnosis of lymphoma.

So what does all this mean? It means Gracie has inflammation in her lymph nodes, but no cancer cells are seen. In July, it was everywhere and now it is gone (or hiding.) She has fought off a terminal cancer, I did not believe she would survive a week past her diagnosis (she nearly didn't,) inflammation doesn't surprise me. This is spectacular, I'll just let the lab reports speak for themselves.

Her owner reports she is healthier, more energetic and happier than she has ever been in the five years he has owned her.

The lymphoma? It will be back someday, and we will fight it.

However, I will point out one thing: I find it interesting that this first big victory, the first patient I snatched from certain death with this new found means of healing. . . her name is "Grace."

Thankful At Home

Artwork, by Madeline:

What a great holiday! It's my very favorite, as I told you the other day - I consider it the anniversary of the day our "family was born," if you will. Not that DJ and I weren't a family when it was just the two of us (because we absolutely were.) It's more like Thanksgiving was when we realized there'd be more than just us two.

When DJ and I got married we decided to alternate every major holiday between his family and mine. It worked out well until the kids were born. Then we decided to alternate Thanksgiving but allow the kids to have Christmas and Easter at home (that was one of our best decisions yet.) Anyone who wishes to visit us for Christmas and Easter are always welcome, but we are doing it here.

This year was the Misterka's turn for Thanksgiving. I asked Mom a few weeks ago if we should do it at my house or hers. Without a moment's hesitation she said we'd do it at my house. She was forced to travel for holiday's as a child, remembers how much she hated it, kept us kids home for holidays in years past, and now tries to make things as easy as possible for her grandkids.

Eva points, "Look! It's Santa!"

Faith, watching Santa in the Parade. She's looking a little scared, as she should. This child (love her dearly) has a tendency to be a touch disobedient.

Cawood!

Eva with Grandma. Eva's shirt reads "Grandma's Little Pie Taster." I couldn't get a good photo of her shirt.

Faith and Ray's dog Bella:

Eva and Bella. I need to get these kids a dog. Any ideas on convincing DJ?

Eva was very concerned about Bella resting her head on our cold, hard floor. She brought Bella Cawood's Pillow Pet. Notice she brought Cawood's Pillow Pet, along with Faith's Pillow Pet. Faith's is the purple unicorn resting in the corner. Eva's Pillow Pet was still safe upstairs.

Madeline and Bella. Somehow Mackenzie managed to sneak in and out of my house without me capturing her on camera.
Twins are ready! Too bad they aren't eating at the adult table - away you go children! To the kitchen!

Cawood with his Godparents: Aunt Miki and Ray.

Wow. I do believe the holiday Thanksgiving itself exploded in my kitchen.

Do you want to know what DJ was thankful for? DJ was thankful to stay home. After all was said and done, guests gone home and twins in bed, DJ came to me and said, "We should have every holiday here."

Eva's Ready!

I admit I've been lax with the twins and potty training. We pulled out the potty a few months ago (on schedule with Faith's development,) both twins told me they weren't interested (Eva screamed, Cawood refused to sit) and I put it away again. That was that.

Eva's been telling us for a few weeks now when she needs a new diaper. Specifically she'll say, "Poo." We change her; no big deal. Until today.

Just a few minutes ago Eva came to me and said, "Poo." I asked her if she pooped and she smiled at me. I carried the sweet girl upstairs and changed her diaper, expecting a load. Not so much. Instead, she was a little wet. I told her, "You peed!" She smiled, nodded, and said, "Pee."

Not five minutes later she came to me again and this time I could smell her. So I changed her, told her what a good, smart girl she is, and put her on the potty (too late.) She sat on the potty, smiled and then stood up. No tears, no fighting.

Yay! Do you know what this means?!?! It means Eva is now telling us when she has to go to the potty. It's time for our sweet girl to start training.

Cawood, not so much. I put him on the potty just because of the Eva situation. He wasn't happy about it. So we'll potty train the twins one at a time, each on their own schedule - as has always been my plan for raising them altogether.

My Favorite Day

This day, the day before Thanksgiving, is my favorite day. It was this day, in 2005 that we learned that Faith, finally (finally) was coming. She took forever. We saw other children conceived, born and start walking before this day. We waited, and waited, and waited some more. Because we couldn't do anything but wait, and pray, and push our doctors for answers and treatments and anything, please anything.

I remember taking a pregnancy test every 8-12 hours for a week or more before this day. It was too early to test positive and my doctors told me as much. Well, actually that's not true - initially I *was* testing positive but it was a false positive, a side effect from my treatments that I understood completely. I knew the false positives from the true positives and I was watching, waiting and testing two or three times a day (a technique my medical brain created and proved effective for both pregnancies.) But after the hormones they used for my treatments washed from my system, I had been testing true negative. I was testing far too frequently and I'd had several days of negative tests.

That Wednesday morning in 2005, I had given up hope. I was done. "We'll try again after the New Year," I thought. I did not test in the morning. Instead I went out and ran some errands. Afterwards, I was just sooo sleepy and I didn't feel right - I felt different than I ever had before. So before I crawled into bed, I tested. And I saw two lines. True positive.

I tested a second time, because that test had to be wrong - *I* could not have children. But that second test, of a different brand, said the same thing. Faith was coming. And yes, in those days I had a drawer full of pregnancy tests, of various brands. Also, my doctor hated that I used them, advised me to never, ever take one, and rely on her blood tests alone.

I waited for DJ to come home and showed him the first test. I remember he didn't believe that first test either, until I pulled out the second test I had hidden behind a magazine on the kitchen table. He smiled.

At this moment she sits in my lap and watches me type. All I can say is: I'm so thankful.

I love this day. It is Faith's day.

Internet Access

So maybe I made a little mistake. I set an innocent learn-to-read website as a favorite on our computer and taught Faith to use it. I was naive enough to believe that she wouldn't learn to navigate the Internet until someone actually taught her. Someone certainly had to teach me. I thought if I told her to "click the star," (the marker for her reading readiness website) that was all she would know how to do. Not so much. She's gaining Internet skill with lightening speed, I don't know she's doing it but I do know we have to pull her in.

Anyway, I've told you that Faith loves to window shop on amazon, and that may be a good thing or a bad thing. See, the deal is, amazon is really, truly teaching that girl to read/spell/type - better than every effort I've ever made. She can actually find things on amazon with total competency. And sometimes she'll find things on YouTube too (I have NO idea how she's doing that - I'm guessing a google search finds the videos.)

When I arrived home from work tonight my camera was out of place. I didn't think much of it. After dinner, I went to upload some pictures of the twins eating yogurt for the blog and found about ten photos Faith had taken of these penguins she's been begging for.

How is she doing this?!?! I can't understand how she intuitively knows how to navigate the Internet, nor how to spell well enough to get results. But she does know, and she was so excited that she took pictures with my camera to prove it. She's so excited! And it looks like her sister was involved - this absolutely happened today as Eva was wearing this shirt when I arrived home from work. And a picture of Cawood eating yogurt. Anyone know how to convince him to use a spoon?
My good boy, judging from the photographic evidence, had nothing to do with the Internet escapade. And no. She is absolutely, positively not getting the stupid penguin for Christmas. Negative.

Three Kids In A Tub

Just because I haven't thrown up any pictures in a few days.

Tomorrow: Day trip to Kentucky.

Ballet

Just the other day Madeline gave Faith three or four bags of hand-me-down clothes including a bag full of leotards. Faith found the leotards tonight and had to try one on. Which of course meant Eva had to try on on as well.


I can't show you a picture of Eva without showing one of Cawood. And Faith's in both pictures because she insists on being in every photo I take. Camera-happy, she is.

No Deal

Faith and I were sitting in the basement when she said to me, "Mommy, can you go upstairs and lay down on the couch?"

Me: Why?
Faith: I need to do something bad so I need you need to go upstairs.
Me: You want me to go upstairs so you can do something bad without me seeing?
Faith: Yes.

He Told Me

Long story short: At bedtime tonight Cawood screamed and yelled and fought long enough that I let him out of his crib. I carried him to Faith's bed and told him, "You may watch TV with Faith. Do not get out of bed."

15 mintues later I heard him moving around in Faith's room. I walked into the room and told him, "Cawood! BED!"

That boy ran to his sister's bed (well, he ran as well as one can run while wearing a bag,) jumped in, raised one hand in a wave toward me and said, "baaah." (bye)

Edited to add: 20 minutes later I returned to check on Faith and Cawood. The good part of my boy kept him in the bed. The naughty part: jumping.

I Forgot To Show You

The afternoon we went to see the house where we'll run the new practice, we stopped in at our next-door neighbor's gun shop. He happens to own the house I showed you the other day and offered it to us for the practice. Anyway, Faith oh-so-carefully maneuvered herself around that gun shop - until she found the flashlights. I have to admit, we had gobs of fun playing with the super-cool gun-guy's flashlights.

And when we went to bed that night, she asked me why I wasn't going to work with the animals anymore. "Of course I'm going to work with the animals!," I told her. "I would NEVER leave the animals. I love them!"

She replied, "I thought you were going to go sell the guns."

HA! Can you imagine?!? Me, selling guns.
I don't think there's a single other career out there for which I am less qualified.

Junk Food

I drafted this last night but didn't get around to posting. I find it interesting just how very motivated my child is to get in her daily five servings of . . . junk food.

For dinner I made some tilapia, rice and one of those "steam in the bag," one pound bags of broccoli.

Faith, as usual, refused to eat her dinner (she refused to even *try* it, for that matter) so I covered it up and told her she didn't have to eat it now but she was not eating anything else until she ate some of her dinner.

An hour later she was hungry.
Me: do you want me to heat up your dinner?
Faith: (moving toward pantry) No, that's ok. I'll just have junk food.
Me: You absolutely will not!
Faith: But Eva and Cawood are eating junk food! (True. Eva was snacking on a fruit roll up, Cawood some pretzels.)
Me: Eva and Cawood ate their dinners.
Faith: (big protests, demanding junk food.)
Me: just eat some broccoli and I'll give you the junk food. (I moved to heat it up, but she dived in.)

There had to have been close to a half-pound of cold broccoli still sitting on the kitchen table. She ate it in three minutes flat. Still chewing the last bite she said, "Cheese pretzels."

Red and Gray

DJ and Mom have been bugging me to get a logo together but nothing seemed right. I've been somewhat thinking about it for a month or more but mostly I turned it over to God, like everything else in this whole process. I woke up this morning with the logo in my head. It's gray and red. And that's that.

And the house. . . It must be gray (not white) with red shutters and doors. I don't know why. Well, I understand part of why, but not big-scheme-of-things why.

Gray and red. I never would have chosen those two colors myself, but there they are: my colors.

The Next Big Thing. . .

Can you believe that for the first time, just today, DJ and I went inside the house where we'll be opening the new business? We've known for a month or more that we would be doing this here, we had simply never been inside. Don't ask . . . you wouldn't believe me if I told you anyway.

So the outside. . . yeah, it's a fixer upper. DJ was at first hesitant but not me. Even after a drive by and after I saw how much work needs done, I knew this house was jumping in our path for a reason. I just knew it was right. It needs a lot, and I do mean A LOT of work - on the outside.

I'm seeing some fresh, white paint on the siding with bright red windows and doors. . .

The inside is just perfect. It feels like home, which is exactly the feel I want my new practice to have. I'm done with the cold, sterile feel of hospitals and institutions. Not that they are bad, by any means, but because I'm doing this different. All the way around, this practice of mine is going to be different from anything anyone has seen in a long while. Starting with the old-fashioned feel of an old-fashioned home.

This room will be the lobby. It's the first room you see after entering the front door (which is located at the base of the stairs.) And the exam/treatment room. I'll have cabinets installed and and exam table, but most of my treatments will be done on the floor. I'll have lots of big, plush pet beds with removable, washable covers and I'll just get down on the floor with my patients. This room is huge! If I get enough business that I need more than one exam room at a time, I can easily throw up some walls and turn this single room into four.

To the right is a door leading to the kitchen, bathroom, and full basement. This is the one thing I love the most: the upstairs. There are three big bedrooms just like the one below, room for a kitchenette, and a full bathroom. It's going to be a perfect little apartment this fall. One room will be a study, one a lounge/living room and one a bedroom complete with two little twin beds. . .

When we lose Jessy (nanny) to Purdue and when Faith goes off to kindergarten, I'll start bringing the twins to work with me. I'll have someone with me to help out with them, but I'll get to spend a ton more time with them. When Faith was a baby I only worked half-time so I could be with her more. I've missed out on a lot of that with the twins but now I'll get the chance to make it up.

We have a lot of work ahead of us, believe me, we know. And if you know DJ, you know it'll be done to perfection. (Except the outside may need to wait for March or April . . . we aren't sure we'll be able to paint in January.)

Play

Eva found herself in time out this morning after a particularly nasty tantrum. When I went to rescue her I asked, "Eva, would you like to eat or take a nap?"

And she replied, "Play."

Toddler Bed: Almost

The past four nights have been absolutely horrible for Cawood. Literally, a nightmare. He Will. Not. Go. To. Sleep. He just screams for hours and hours in his crib. I've been checking on him every 20 minutes or so, changing his diaper, offering water, bananas (our go-to middle-of-the-night snack,) sometimes I'll take him to Faith's bed for snuggle time, whatever I can think of. And still he screamed. This morning I didn't get him to fall asleep until 5 AM!! It was out of control and nothing helped.

Finally, I thought I'd convert his crib to a toddler bed. He's 20 months, a boy. . . "Maybe it's time, Maybe he's frustrated," I thought. He tosses everything from his bed during the fits and then when he wants a drink or a stuffed animal, it's out of reach on the floor. I knew this may backfire, but it was an idea. It was something. I had every intent of converting his crib before his afternoon nap.

Problem was: I am a lover of cribs. I love knowing that the twins are safe in their cribs. I use the cribs for time-out (which usually leads to a nap,) and I don't want them wandering the house in the middle of the night. It's a safe place. My goal for all three kids was to keep them in the crib until three. Faith made it to 25 months. Cawood is almost 21 months right now.

9am. I woke Cawood up (I'm not letting him sleep until noon because he stayed up all night - that's just going to throw off his schedule and make things worse.) Anyway, I found a snot-covered toddler. It was everywhere. I've never been so relieved to see one of my kids sick.

Like DJ said, "At least we know what's been bothering him."

And the crib stays.


***********
Times two. Eva just came and wiped her snotty little nose on me.

Great Idea, Faith

Faith had the great idea to "make cupcakes" earlier tonight. I didn't have any cake mix but I had two boxes of muffin mix. Good enough!

We made cranberry orange mini muffins and blueberry mini muffins. And they are FABULOUS! I really didn't expect her to be able to spoon that muffin batter into the tins all that well but she surprised me and did a wonderful job.

Hmmm. . . I had put two sleepy, grouchy toddlers in their cribs a good hour before we baked. Once those muffin smells started filling our house I heard Cawood in his crib yelling, "EEEEAT!" It might have just been because he wasn't interested in dinner and was likely hungry or, maybe he wanted in on some of that goodness.

Eva? Still she sleeps. We can't wake that kid up for anything.

Funny Faces . . . And Showing Off Four Little Eyes

Did you see my post from earlier today?

I wonder who taught him to make funny faces. Imagine my surprise to see this staring at me during tonight's bath. I had no idea he knew how. Nor that he knew it was funny.Eva's not quite as enthusiastic as Cawood:

I Love 90%

I once read that one way to give your kids a magical childhood is to decorate, really decorate, for every major holiday. I thought, "That's a great idea!" and I vowed to accumulate a ton, a ton, of holiday decorations for these kids.

Target has a very predictable clearance schedule. The day after a holiday (except Christmas,) merchandise goes to 50% for three days, then 75% for three days, then 90% for two days. 90% began today. I was so excited I woke up at 5am, just bursting with excitement to get to Target at 8am.

Guess what? I forgot we "fell back" and we arrived just after 7am. Oops. Faith and I drove across the street for breakfast at Panera. No harm, no foul.

Ten minutes to eight, we were waiting in the parking lot, fooling around: I told Faith, "Anything you want in the Halloween section, anything at all, you may have." She chose this mask (among other things.) Throw it in the cart, kid.Guess what? For the low, low price of $66, all this could be yours too. Make a beeline to Target. Now, I say.

(Faith's looking a little pained because I wouldn't go back through the line a second time to buy her some Littlest Pet Shop trading cards she found on the way out.)

Princess Belle's Bath

DJ asked me earlier tonight, "Why do I hear water running?

Hmmmm. . . I wasn't sure. I went looking and here's what I found. Cawood had dragged the UK step stool to the bathroom sink and was giving a princess doll a bath in the sink.

Also, if you look close you'll see he gave Belle a bath toy. Good thinking, Little Man.

Mashed Potatoes

At dinnertime.

Faith: I don't like mashed potatoes.
Me: Yes you do, try them.
Faith: NO! They are yucky.
Me: You love mashed potatoes.
Faith: No I don't!
Me: Faith, you must take one bite.
Faith: NO! I don't like them!
Me: If you don't try the mashed potatoes, I will make you go to bed right after your bath tonight. I will not let you play on amazon. (Faith's favorite thing to do right now is "window shop" for toys on amazon.)
Faith: All right. (reluctantly eats the half spoonful I'm offering her. . . Pause.) Can I have some on my plate?

About five minutes later she says, "Can you make mashed potatoes every night? They're my favorite."

Election Night

Election night. I was this close (II) to falling asleep watching election results, Faith tucked neatly at my side. Then, someone on TV had to say the phrase, "Tea Party." Of course, the four-year-old demanded I make her tea. In the teapot. With sugar. And the cat needed a cup too

Eva's First Haircut

When Faith was little I used to take her out all the time, just Faith and Mommy. Sadly, it doesn't happen much with the twins individually. I've been thinking for a few months that I need to have Eva's hair cut, but I've been dreading the day. Today, finally, we did it. Just me and Eva. The back of her head prior to the cut - looking a little frazzled.

I expected this: Eva will not tolerate hair bands or hair clips and so her hair is forever in her face. The picture up top? She had that barrette in there only long enough to take a picture. I had planned on having the stylist cut in bangs but the stylist said her hair would still fall in her face. It's just how her hair grows. So we did light swoopy bangs instead. It's better, but I'll still be brushing her hair away from her eyes.
And Eva cried. She's a bit of a crier.