according.to.kim

First day of kindergarten

Sophia had a good first day. When I picked her up from school, her teacher told me that Sophia had said she didn't want to go home. That was really great to hear, especially after a slightly bumpy start...

Sophia was very eager to go to school today, but when it was time for me to leave the classroom, she didn't want me to go. I wasn't surprised at all; that's Sophia. When I tried to leave the first time (when all of the other parents managed to leave!), she started to cry, so the teacher said I should stay for a little while. After about 20 minutes, I said goodbye to Sophia and made a clean getaway. Whew!

A nice coincidence for Sophia is that she is seated at the same table with two of her classmates from preschool. There's at least one other child from preschool in her class too.

After school, I showed Sophia the school bus she'll be taking. We were there when her cousin got on the bus. It's so nice that they'll be together on the bus a couple of times each week.

25.5-hour "flu"

(We all know this stomach thing isn't the flu, right? Just making sure. Sorry -- people confusing the stomach flu with influenza is a pet peeve of mine.) Unfortunately, Madeline continued to be sick throughout the party last evening and into this morning. We kept her little bucket close at hand. Fortunately, she had a good nine-hour break overnight (which was especially nice for me since she was sleeping in my bed).

Madeline was so lethargic and quiet yesterday. She drifted in and out of sleep and barely said a word all day. I'm sure she had a mild fever last evening and overnight. I didn't give her anything for it though; it would have come back up anyway.

This morning, her illness seemed to go as quickly as it came. Not long after her last use of the bucket, Madeline started talking and getting off the couch, and soon after that, she was chattering away practically nonstop and dancing or skipping around instead of walking.

Sick. Not sick. Just like that.

Stomach bug

Madeline is sick today. She's been vomitting once or twice per hour for the past five or six hours. She can't even keep water down. Poor thing. And, as (bad) luck would have it, we've been invited for supper in Avonlea today to celebrate the August birthdays on Neil's side. I hope she'll be over the worst of it by then. We'll just have to take the utmost care in germ control (which I'm already doing, of course). It's either that or stay home. I hope no one minds if we choose the former option. Madeline, in partular, was looking forward to the birthday party tonight. I hate dilemmas like this.

School supplies

First of all, school supplies -- I love 'em. Always have. Who didn't love shopping for school supplies in the basement at the Army & Navy?! Good times. Well, the Army & Navy is gone, but school supplies seem to be available everywhere now.

Sophia (my baby!) starts school on Wednesday. I just finished gathering all of the things she requires for kindergarten. Holy cow -- what a lot of stuff! I'm pretty happy with myself for getting everything together a day ahead of time. Here's the rundown:

• backpack,
• running shoes,
• paint shirt,
• scissors,
• crayons,
• pencil,
• bottle of white glue,
• two glue sticks,
• box of tissues,
• package of wet wipes,
• small box for crayons, etc.,
• large empty box covered with mactac or paper,
• change of clothes within a plastic bag inside backpack,
• photo of child with name and birthdate,
• completed home information sheet, and
• sturdy name tag with address (bus to/from) to be worn all September (Sophia will be taking a bus two days per week until Christmas).

Name clearly marked on everything. Checkity check check. Now I just need to remember to send a snack with her every day -- with her name on it!

On Saturday, I decorated Sophia's paint shirt (an old t-shirt of mine) with fabric paint, and today, she and I stamped bugs on paper to cover her large box. (I knew those stamps would come in handy someday!) Sophia kissed both on her way to bed tonight. Funny girl. She's very excited about going to kindergarten. I'm so glad.

The littlest one

Just thought I'd post a recent picture of Georgia. This is what she does a lot of the time: sits and gnaws on stuff. In this case, the plastic thing that new barrettes and hair do-dads came on. That kept her happy for hours at the farm this weekend. That and the pink plastic tea party set.

Bathroom update

We haven't been able to do much work in the bathroom over the past week since I was sick and then we went to the farm for two days while Neil worked on harvest. There have been a few developments though.

Last Sunday, Neil managed to install the toilet. That small feat alone has improved the quality of our lives. The girls will actually go to the bathroom without our help!

On Monday morning, the guy came to fix the window. It's level and plumb now. Certainly not too much to ask. He told Neil that they installed windows like that (out of whack) in an entire house and the homeowner decided to leave them that way. Big mistake in my opinion. Think resale. Someone's going to notice.

Later on Monday, I noticed that the new toilet seemed to be leaking a bit. Since our toilet in the basement has been leaking for sometime now, we decided to call a plumber. He came that afternoon. On the new toilet, he just tightened things up a bit and everything was fine. Downstairs, he took the toilet off and found that we had installed the wrong type of flange three plus years ago. We only have ourselves to blame for so many things!

The plumber then had to go searching for the correct flange and couldn't install it until Tuesday. Even so, we haven't bothered to put the toilet back in because we have to do something with the water-damaged wall behind the toilet first. We had two toilets for less than 24 hours. For the past week, we've had a toilet but no sink upstairs and a sink but no toilet downstairs. Peachy.

Things are looking up though. Neil is installing the vanity and sink right now and he'll be finished shortly. It's going to be great! (Except there seems to be a problem with the brass fittings that came with the faucet... of course.)

What next? We'll work on tiling whenever there's a break in harvest and then all of those finishing details. That's all we can do. I still have no idea when we'll be able to use the tub. Thank goodness there's much less harvest to do this year. 

A little overwhelmed

Sometimes there are too many things to...
do, remember, choose, clean, pick up, put away, throw away, purge, sort, organize, read, fix, find, pack, prepare, buy, wash, fold, finish...

There's no end. {I know I'm not alone.} That's life.

Pneumonia update

My fever and headache have subsided, thank goodness. I think my coughing has increased a little but I'm sure it's because my lungs need to clear out. My lower ribs ache a bit from coughing even though I don't cough very much or very hard. My appetite is returning to normal. I'm trying to rest but it's not easy; I don't like resting, I like doing.

My doctor's office called today and said I need to go for another urinalysis when I feel better (perhaps I'll go tomorrow). I wonder what she's looking for. At the same time, I'm not sure I want to know; the whole thing makes me uneasy. I also need to see my doctor again in two weeks to make sure the pneumonia is gone.

Georgia's checkup

Neil took Georgia to see Dr. Ruthnum, her pediatrician, this morning for a routine checkup. Everything is good. Her heart rate was fine (for her), her hemangioma (lower left eyelid) hasn't changed, and her chest was clear (even though she's had a rough-sounding cough for a couple of weeks). Her weight was 7.5 kg or 16.5 lbs, and her length was 66 cm or 26 inches.

In other Georgia news...

• Her second tooth poked through yesterday, just over two weeks from the first one. They didn't seem to bother her at all.
• We started feeding her solid food (cereal, fruits, and vegetables) three times a day on August 17. She loves her baby food. We also introduced unsalted brown rice cakes last week.
• Today was Georgia's third day of going to sleep on her own in her crib for both naptime and bedtime. Just 10 to 15 minutes of fussing at naptime and about 30 minutes at bedtime, and she cries hard for only a fraction of that time. I think she's doing very well.
• Now that she goes to sleep on her own, it seems her preferred position is on her tummy. Last night, I tried to turn her over and she just turned right back to her tummy without waking up.
• Added Aug 23: (I forgot to mention...) Since Georgia turned seven months, she's babbling much more often and making more sounds. Cute cute baby sounds.

Feeling better

Still feeling unwell, but much much better. I'm amazed. Yesterday was brutal.

My doctor ordered blood and urine tests for various things including West Nile virus (though unlikely), but she suspected pneumonia, so ordered a chest x-ray as well. I had all of that done last evening. She also prescribed an antibiotic for me in case it is pneumonia, so I could start taking it right away rather than wait for the chest x-ray results. I'm glad she did that. I think the antibiotics are working.

Also, she said I could take up to twice as much ibuprofen as I had been taking. The bottle says not to exceed 1200 mg (6 pills) in a 24-hour period, and she said I could take up to 2400 mg in 24 hours and three pills at once if necessary. I could also try taking Tylenol at the same time. I took three Advil at once last evening and it made a huge difference.

It surprises me that I may have pneumonia. I mean, where and/or how the heck did I get that? It just seems odd.

In response to K :)'s comment... Dedication is one thing, but aside from laying in bed, blogging was one of the more restful things I did yesterday! I really did rest a lot yesterday, but I also did a few things like smoothing some caulking in the bathroom. I thought I was living a nightmare at that moment.

P.S. 4:15 p.m. I started feeling ill on Saturday night, but yesterday was the worst. I'm so glad I went to the doctor rather than trying to tough it out.

Update 4:25 p.m. Just received a call from my doctor. I do have pneumonia. Again, what's up with that?!

P.P.S. 6:15 p.m. I was just reading about pneumonia and how contagious it is (not very), and now realize that the question is not where or how, but WHY did I get pneumonia? Is my immune system weak? Just what I need.

I am sick

Fever, cough, and the worst headache I've ever had. It's similar to a migraine in that it's a throbbing pain on one side of my head. Sleep seems to be the only real pain relief I can get and unfortunately I can't sleep 24 hours a day -- especially in this house. I've been taking ibuprofen, but it just takes the edge off for a little awhile. If it wasn't for this cough, I might suspect West Nile. On the other hand, my whole family has been coughing for awhile, so maybe I have two viruses.

There's never a good time to get sick, but I'm especially choked about it right now. I don't have time to be sick. There's so much to do. We're still working on our bathroom as well.

I'm also very worried that Georgia is going to get this. She's always touching my face and putting her hands in her mouth. I may have inadvertantly coughed on her too. It's so hard not to share germs with your baby.

I'm going to see my doctor at 6:10 p.m. today. I don't expect that she'll be able to do much for me, but I'd like to know if I can take something stronger or higher doses of ibuprofin or acetaminophen while I'm nursing.

Every single time

This summer, whenever I'm out with the girls in the evening and they all fall asleep on the way home (like tonight; we were visiting L & B while Neil's at the Rider game), Sophia and Georgia will both wake up when we get home or shortly after -- yes, just when I think (i.e., desperately hope) they're all going to stay asleep. Madeline's not an issue; she doesn't wake up easily. Sophia and Georgia, on the other hand, are two peas in a pod when it comes to sleep. Neither seems to need a lot of sleep, nor do they sleep well. (Georgia is a mini Sophia in other ways too.)

It doesn't bother me so much that Georgia wakes up; I know I can get her back to sleep with relative ease. But Sophia. Oy! Part of the problem is that I can't physically get her out of the back seat of the van and into bed without waking her up. Well fine, but can't she just roll over and go back to sleep in her cozy bed like a normal person?! I beg her to do that, but oh no. She has a tantrum right then and there (with Madeline sleeping just inches away) when I refuse to turn on the light and read her stories. It's late, you're tired, and for heaven's sake, you were already sleeping!!! And don't wake up Madeline too, or I'm going to lose my mind! I realize that begging is not effective at this point, but sometimes it's all I've got. And it never works with Sophia, so what's the point?

This has happened several times with various outcomes. Fortunately, Madeline stayed asleep this time. After all was said and done, I finally got Georgia back to sleep about 45 minutes later and Sophia about 75 minutes later. Grrrr.

Final thought for the day: Don't bother with the side salad at McDonald's. Just get the damn fries.

What's goin' on

We had our new bathroom window installed on Monday morning and 10 minutes after the installer left, I noticed the window frame was not level. Not even close. I called the company right away and the installer came back that afternoon. He determined that the window was defective. How annoying. Neil and I agreed we wouldn't be happy with the crooked window (especially since we're tiling up to it) and said we'd like a new one even though it would be a major pain in the butt to wait another six to seven weeks to have one manufactured. Anywho, I received a call this morning and they're sending someone out on Monday to take the window out, try to fix it, and put it back in. I hope it works.

On Tuesday morning, I grouted the wall tiles we put up last week (one wall of the shower area and behind the toilet and sink). That was more challenging than I expected (of course), but it turned out okay I guess. Neil went to his first Phase II (Residential Real Estate) class in the afternoon.

I took the girls to Yellow Grass on Wednesday and we stayed overnight. My aunt Janet was visiting from Ottawa. It was great to see her as well as my YG family (except Robyn who's in San Antonio with her mom). In the afternoon, we went to my parents' farm to see the bison. This is one of the bulls.

Neil was at the farm (at Avonlea) harvesting all day Wednesday, Thursday, and today. He just got home a few minutes ago. I'm pleased to report that I managed to get all three girls to sleep last night and tonight fairly early and without any major problems. I find that so exhausting! Also, I never know how it's going to go. Neil is better at getting the girls to sleep, especially Sophia and Georgia. Unfortunately, I have to do it solo again tomorrow because there's a Rider home game. Ah, but I'm going to a Stampin' Up! party Sunday evening and Neil will be on his own. I'm SO looking forward to that party! And not just because it's an evening out, but because I have so much fun stamping with this group.

We're going to try to get more bathroom work done tomorrow. We hope to apply sealer to the floor and wall grout and work on toilet plumbing. Can't wait to have a toilet up here!

I have a really sore neck and back right now. Guess I should try to see my chiropractor tomorrow too.

Attention on AIDS

My sister-in-law, Laurel, had her photo in the Leader-Post today on the front page of the City section. The caption says, "Laurel Stang hangs a flag in Wascana Centre Sunday as part of the Community Action on Aids project." Here's a link to the article: Attention on AIDS.

Laurel is a Public Health Nurse at the STD Clinic in Regina. She's a very special person to do the type of work she does and to deal with the situations she encounters on a daily basis. No doubt about it.

In support of the fight against AIDS, I also want to mention the following campaign to increase awareness among youth. Check it out and spread the word. There are many ways to "make some noise" about AIDS -->
(To post a banner on your site, go to the website, mouse over "SPEAK", then click on "Make some noise".)
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{P.S. Speaking of nurses... I must say that I think nurses are exceptional people in general and I'm so thankful for them! They do difficult and important work. I'm proud of Laurel and of all the nurses in our family, including my mom!}

I'm not small

I just completed this page. The text reads:

Today, out of the blue, you came to me with a very sad look on your face and said, "Everyone thinks I'm small, but I'm not."

I said, "No, you're not small, you're a big girl." And with that, you walked away a little happier, uttering, "Yeah, I'm a big girl."

Well, Madeline, you may have come in a slightly smaller package than others, but you really are a big girl in many ways. You have a big beautiful heart and the light you shine on our lives is HUGE.

August 7, 2006

The photos were taken in April and May.

Free advertising

I'm now advertising my antique sewing machines in/on:

• The Bargain Hunter, a weekly paper publication (Regina-Moose Jaw edition),
• ForSaleForRent.com (Used Saskatchewan),
• Kijiji (Regina), and
• UsedRegina.com.

They all offer free classifieds for this area. I'm not willing to pay for advertising and I won't bother with eBay because the sewing machines are so huge.

I wonder how long I should advertise them before I call 1-800-GOT-JUNK or offer 'em up on Freecycle?

So how did I come to own two treadle sewing machines? I think my dad acquired the Singer more than 30 years ago. My parents may have used it in their leather-crafting business in the 70s (Mom? was it Prairie Leathercraft?). I took it because I like antiques and thought I might use it as a table. The Eldredge "B" was given to us by a friend when he was downsizing his possessions several years ago. Unfortunately, I've never really had a good place to put them and I realized a few years ago that I never will. My tastes have changed.

Perhaps I'm being greedy asking for $50 each since I didn't pay for them myself. I do think they have some value though. Most people and antique dealers ask far more for treadle sewing machines (but who knows if they ever receive so much). I guess if someone I knew actually wanted one, I'd give it to them for free, but I don't feel like giving antiques away to strangers. Not yet anyway. Nevertheless, I am more than ready to part with these relics.

Seven-month photo

Monthly pic with the bear. Look closely (click the photo to enlarge) and you will see Georgia's first tooth!

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In other news, Neil was at the farm swathing all day Wednesday and Thursday, and yesterday we did some more tiling. Have I mentioned that renovating a bathroom is NOT fun?! Still lots to do (tiling, plumbing, trim, sink and toilet installation), but I can see the end. The new window is to be installed on Monday.

Yesterday and today

Two glorious days off from the bathroom renovation! As much as I just want to get it done, it's unbelievably sweet to take a break from it. I had no choice anyway. Neil was busy yesterday and today with harvest and his Phase I exam (he wrote it this evening and said it went well).

Yesterday, the girls and I found THE best swing in the city. Sophia and Madeline LOVED it, and their non-stop giggling was music to my ears. Even after falling off and getting a mouth full of sand, Madeline was eager to get back on! We were at that park for over an hour in the late afternoon yesterday (a bright, sunny, holiday Monday) and there was no one else there the entire time. Weird.

Last night, I reposted my ads for an antique wooden wall phone and two treadle sewing machines on UsedRegina.com, and today someone came and bought the wall phone. Yay! Now, if someone would only take these sewing machines off my hands! I'm only asking a measly 50 bucks each. There are two other ads for 1949 Singer sewing machines and they're asking $500 and $1000! No kidding.

Georgia has started scooting on her bum! Neil witnessed it. I haven't, but I did see her sitting a good foot away from where she was placed on the floor. Also, Georgia had the best nap today. She slept for two whole hours! I can't even remember the last time she slept for two hours during the day.

Bronwyn's betta fish, Rainbow, who lived at our house since November, died today of unknown causes. Rainbow (a.k.a. Fishy) lived for over three years which I understand is pretty long for this type of fish. It was Neil who discovered Rainbow's passing (not surprising since he's the only one who fed the fish -- and he did feed it faithfully). I told Sophia about Rainbow's death after I picked her up at Sharon's house, and when we got home, we all went out and buried him in the pansy garden. Sophia was pretty upset about it, but I think it was good for her to experience this loss as we all know there'll be others to deal with in the future. Unfortunately, Bronwyn couldn't be here to say goodbye too, but Sophia talked to her on the phone and said she was sorry that her fishy died.

This evening while Neil was writing his exam, I took the girls to a park near Laurel's new house which is under construction. It was still pretty hot 'n' humid out after today's high of 33 degrees C (humidex 39). Afterwards, Laurel gave us our first tour of her house and then we went to Darren & Ali's so the kids could have a much-needed bath. I bathed them twice at the farm in the past week too. I'm so tired of not having a tub!

Just because

Photo taken August 1.

Seven months on August 7

Georgia, during your seventh month, you:

• started eating solid foods (rice, barley, and oatmeal cereal; green beans, winter squash, and peas);
• gobbled up your baby cereal (especially when it was mixed with breast milk), but did not like your veggies that much;
• enjoyed sitting on the floor in the living room with a big box of baby toys tipped over in front of you;
• became very good at picking up objects;
• loved to study and explore objects with your hands, eyes, and mouth;
• had lots of new hair growing on your head (there's no longer any sign of those shaved patches);
• had lots of leaky diapers;
• were very active and wiggly;
• loved jumping in your Jolly Jumper;
• didn't sleep very much during the day (but we know it's not really your fault);
• had many of your cat naps in your mom's or dad's arms;
• started looking like you'll have grey eyes like Madeline;
• would light up with a huge smile when you saw your sisters, especially Sophia;
• put up with Sophia picking you up and rolling around on the floor with you;
• decided that you don't like being stuck in your car seat for very long;
• spent more time in Home Depot than any baby should ever have to;
• liked playing with the musical toy attached to your crib;
• learned to sit very well on your own, but still flopped over occasionally (usually when reaching for a toy);
• had one bottle of breast milk and drank it all up without a problem;
• woke up every night (except once) and then got to go to bed with your mom for the rest of the night;
• were very happy to have your vitamin D drops each day (or whenever mom remembered);
• got your first tooth the day before you turned seven months (that's today!);
• were absolutely delightful and adorable; and
• reminded me every day of what a precious gift you are.