Hey, just a friendly notification that I don't use my kids' names on here, and I don't advertise exactly where I live either.
After I'd had my blog up for a while, I learned on the news about another mom who had a special needs child that had something unspeakable happen: a child predator read her blog, figured out where she lived, and knew exactly what her kid's name was, how old she was, and what her disabilities were -- I don't remember the details (I've probably blocked them out) but I immediately went into my blog, all the way back to the first post, and changed all names to initial only. This sounds like one of those eternally circulating urban legend e-mails, but this one was unfortunately very true.
Seeing as how A doesn't really talk or communicate well, and seeing as how he is a beautiful kid (as is his sister), and there are a lot of weirdos out there, I acted on the better part of safety.
Call me paranoid, whatever.
But yeah, I don't use my family's names here. I had to delete a recent comment because I couldn't just edit the one word (sorry Mel!) and figured I'd put up a post explaining why. I'm not being a complete wench, just a cautious momma.
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
Seize the Day
Well, tradition holds: no long-distance move is ever complete without a late night trip to the local emergency room, within a week after arriving at our new destination. As an added bonus, Z is currently training halfway across the country and is not home. This time, however, it wasn't me with some rare life-threatening condition (which is what has happened in the past); Miss K is a trooper and took one for the team.
It's funny; I was actually waiting for something to happen and watching for it, and fate* did not let me down.
It would seem that there was some overly exuberant jumping on Mommy and Daddy's air mattress, and K didn't land quite right. Actually, she belly flopped. Hard. And landed on her face before the rest of her body connected to the bed. I was in the room and picked her up immediately, she was screaming and grabbing her neck. Then, one of the worst things a mom can see happened: she stopped screaming, arched her back, and then her eyes rolled up in the back of her head and she had clenched her jaw and was out cold. It lasted less than a minute, but it was not pleasant for either of the adults witnessing this.
Z's mother is staying with us for a couple of weeks, so she stayed at the house with A while I flew to the hospital with K. Flew, as in, I still have out of state tags so I kept one eye on my rearview mirror while driving as quickly as I safely could, but not exactly in keeping with the local speed limit. While we were in the waiting room, K regained her color and started acting perfectly normal. As in, flirting with the cute boys and a toothless old man with a cane, and giving hugs to a 10-yr-old girl waiting with her mother. The old man was very surprised, and said, "She's not scared of much, is she." A statement rather than a question.
Results: K is just fine.
She is perfectly normal on every test they could run, although her pupils are mildly dilated. They also did a CT scan on her that -- bless the techs -- K screamed and fought the entire procedure. She had to be wrapped up like a burrito and held in place because she just would not hold still -- and K still managed to worm her right arm out and start hitting the woman holding her head steady. To say that K was not happy would be a huge, huge understatement. I'm thinking of buying a bunch of earplugs for the techs as a "thank you", just in case they ever get another screamer in there. My ears were ringing after the ordeal was over, so I know theirs had to be as well.
The doctor did ask about her prior history and was very interested when I said the only hospitalization she'd ever had was for a seizure incident right after she turned one. Based on the description, it sounds like she may have had another mini seizure. The doc hastened to say that it is not at all uncommon in small children to have a reaction like that after a trauma event -- the brain and nerves don't know how to handle the strong stimuli and just kind of freeze up, or pause for a few seconds. And landing on her head and neck the way she did, it probably popped those nerves in there pretty hard so there was a tremendous amount of pain going on.
We're watching her. We were discharged with instructions for a concussion and are supposed to note if her pupils change size, she gets a fever, or starts vomiting profusely.
Only my daughter would get a concussion and possibly have a seizure from landing wrong on an air mattress. *sigh*
We got home after midnight, and I brought her in to sleep with me. She had nightmares (probably from the CT scan) every 30-45 minutes....and then my husband called me at 6:24 a.m., just after K had dropped off again from her latest bad dream. I am sooooo not a morning person. I think I need the mug that states "Instant Human: Just Add Coffee". It takes me a good hour after I first "wake up" to really be awake.
This morning was definitely a coffee morning. Only thing is, Z always makes the coffee and I have no clue how to do it. Combine that with the sleep deprivation from last night, and it makes for a sad situation. I read on the package that you put in one-and-a-half to two tablespoons of coffee per 6 oz cup. I only wanted one cup, so I dutifully put one-and-a-half tablespoons of grounds into the filter basket. I did remember to put a filter in there. Then I filled the pot up to the "6 cup" mark, dumped the water in, and turned it on.
That was the nastiest brew I have ingested in a long time.
Yes, I put in enough grounds for one cup....but put in water for 6 cups. Still, I was definitely awake after taking one sip of that stuff, so it still served its purpose I suppose.
K is acting completely herself today, no indication that she's in any pain anywhere. So we're good. I have a Muppet movie on in the living room -- finally. I had to do a little "percussive maintenance"* on the DVD player to get it to work. It's one of those cheap-o $15 dealies that is several years old, so it's wearing out.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
*Fate is one of those things that is not respectful of a person's social status or age; it gets around to affecting everyone at some point. I've also noticed that "fate" is "fat" with an "e" tacked on to the end of it.
*percussive maintenance is when you beat the snot out of the offending appliance or machine with your hand, shoe, or whatever else is available. I have found that computers respond pretty well to this, despite the delicate nature of their internal electronics.
It's funny; I was actually waiting for something to happen and watching for it, and fate* did not let me down.
It would seem that there was some overly exuberant jumping on Mommy and Daddy's air mattress, and K didn't land quite right. Actually, she belly flopped. Hard. And landed on her face before the rest of her body connected to the bed. I was in the room and picked her up immediately, she was screaming and grabbing her neck. Then, one of the worst things a mom can see happened: she stopped screaming, arched her back, and then her eyes rolled up in the back of her head and she had clenched her jaw and was out cold. It lasted less than a minute, but it was not pleasant for either of the adults witnessing this.
Z's mother is staying with us for a couple of weeks, so she stayed at the house with A while I flew to the hospital with K. Flew, as in, I still have out of state tags so I kept one eye on my rearview mirror while driving as quickly as I safely could, but not exactly in keeping with the local speed limit. While we were in the waiting room, K regained her color and started acting perfectly normal. As in, flirting with the cute boys and a toothless old man with a cane, and giving hugs to a 10-yr-old girl waiting with her mother. The old man was very surprised, and said, "She's not scared of much, is she." A statement rather than a question.
Results: K is just fine.
She is perfectly normal on every test they could run, although her pupils are mildly dilated. They also did a CT scan on her that -- bless the techs -- K screamed and fought the entire procedure. She had to be wrapped up like a burrito and held in place because she just would not hold still -- and K still managed to worm her right arm out and start hitting the woman holding her head steady. To say that K was not happy would be a huge, huge understatement. I'm thinking of buying a bunch of earplugs for the techs as a "thank you", just in case they ever get another screamer in there. My ears were ringing after the ordeal was over, so I know theirs had to be as well.
The doctor did ask about her prior history and was very interested when I said the only hospitalization she'd ever had was for a seizure incident right after she turned one. Based on the description, it sounds like she may have had another mini seizure. The doc hastened to say that it is not at all uncommon in small children to have a reaction like that after a trauma event -- the brain and nerves don't know how to handle the strong stimuli and just kind of freeze up, or pause for a few seconds. And landing on her head and neck the way she did, it probably popped those nerves in there pretty hard so there was a tremendous amount of pain going on.
We're watching her. We were discharged with instructions for a concussion and are supposed to note if her pupils change size, she gets a fever, or starts vomiting profusely.
Only my daughter would get a concussion and possibly have a seizure from landing wrong on an air mattress. *sigh*
We got home after midnight, and I brought her in to sleep with me. She had nightmares (probably from the CT scan) every 30-45 minutes....and then my husband called me at 6:24 a.m., just after K had dropped off again from her latest bad dream. I am sooooo not a morning person. I think I need the mug that states "Instant Human: Just Add Coffee". It takes me a good hour after I first "wake up" to really be awake.
This morning was definitely a coffee morning. Only thing is, Z always makes the coffee and I have no clue how to do it. Combine that with the sleep deprivation from last night, and it makes for a sad situation. I read on the package that you put in one-and-a-half to two tablespoons of coffee per 6 oz cup. I only wanted one cup, so I dutifully put one-and-a-half tablespoons of grounds into the filter basket. I did remember to put a filter in there. Then I filled the pot up to the "6 cup" mark, dumped the water in, and turned it on.
That was the nastiest brew I have ingested in a long time.
Yes, I put in enough grounds for one cup....but put in water for 6 cups. Still, I was definitely awake after taking one sip of that stuff, so it still served its purpose I suppose.
K is acting completely herself today, no indication that she's in any pain anywhere. So we're good. I have a Muppet movie on in the living room -- finally. I had to do a little "percussive maintenance"* on the DVD player to get it to work. It's one of those cheap-o $15 dealies that is several years old, so it's wearing out.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
*Fate is one of those things that is not respectful of a person's social status or age; it gets around to affecting everyone at some point. I've also noticed that "fate" is "fat" with an "e" tacked on to the end of it.
*percussive maintenance is when you beat the snot out of the offending appliance or machine with your hand, shoe, or whatever else is available. I have found that computers respond pretty well to this, despite the delicate nature of their internal electronics.
Friday, March 20, 2009
The Land of the Sonics
We're gradually getting our bearings here. No one -- and I mean, no one --apparently has a map of this town, and half the roads aren't on the GPS because they're too new, so every trek is truly explorative in nature.
We did find a fabulous duck pond yesterday, complete with ducks, geese, lots of turtles, and huge goldfish or koi. I don't know the difference between large goldfish or koi but I've been assured that there is one. Um, okay. Scattered around the pond are picnic tables and trees, so we took our lunch out there. Sonic! Yay! Z and I both love being in the land of the Sonics again. The closest one to us in Maryland was over 4 hours away, and neither of us could justify that kind of drive just for a cherry limeade. Although they are quite tasty. : )
For those of you who have not had the pleasure, Sonic is a drive-in restaurant along the lines of the original A&W's. They have good fountain drinks and shakes, and serve a variety of food. You pull into a parking place, put your order in over the intercom, and a carhop brings you your food. In some places, the carhops are actually on rollerskates. (More power to 'em, I'd be likely to dump the cherry limeades all over myself and the customers if I ever tried the skating bit. Shoot, I sometimes spilled things just walking when I had my waitressing job in a cafe, but luckily never on anyone but myself.)
I like the wraps and salads at Sonic, but they also have plenty of meat to satisfy the carnivore in (most of) you, including burgers and "coneys" -- hot dogs that are a foot long. They also serve chili cheese (tater) tots, aka "coronary in a basket" -- and of course my husband ordered those to munch on yesterday. I (being above such things as that) spurned the tots, fries, and burgers and took the high road by ordering a wrap... and a strawberry milkshake -- complete with huge chunks of strawberries that got stuck in the straw several times. Yum. The fat cells in my butt rejoiced, for I was adding to their numbers...
On our meanderings yesterday we also found the planetarium, a proliferation of Chinese restaurants, several shopping centers, and an absolutely gorgeous overlook. In the area we are currently living in, it's relatively flat with few trees and a lot of dead grass. There are some flowers blooming, enough to make my sinuses give me a "Hawaiian good luck sign", but not much else. For those of you that don't know what the Hawaiian good luck sign is, Google is a wonderful thing.
A few miles from our house lies "hill country". There is a new residential development that overlooks the valley and an enormous lake that Z swears was calling to him to go fishing. These homes are not mere houses; they are more like estates, the type of homes you see on TV that are in Beverly Hills, CA. One of those homes that would easily go for $2 million plus back in Maryland, especially in the more tony neighborhoods surrounding our nation's capital. They cost -- wait for it -- $175K to $250K here.
!!!!!!!!!!!!
Definitely threw both Z and I for a loop....the price we paid for our brown fixer-upper cinderblock home in Maryland, built in 1960, was the same price some of the brand new custom built lower-priced homes with the view here -- and it was appraised at $240K when we bought it. Now that's insane. Everything costs less here -- groceries, clothing, whatever. The tax is higher, when you combine the state, county, and city but things are still cheaper here overall than they were back home. I mean, in Maryland.
Boy, that's going to take some adjustment to quit saying that.
We did find a fabulous duck pond yesterday, complete with ducks, geese, lots of turtles, and huge goldfish or koi. I don't know the difference between large goldfish or koi but I've been assured that there is one. Um, okay. Scattered around the pond are picnic tables and trees, so we took our lunch out there. Sonic! Yay! Z and I both love being in the land of the Sonics again. The closest one to us in Maryland was over 4 hours away, and neither of us could justify that kind of drive just for a cherry limeade. Although they are quite tasty. : )
For those of you who have not had the pleasure, Sonic is a drive-in restaurant along the lines of the original A&W's. They have good fountain drinks and shakes, and serve a variety of food. You pull into a parking place, put your order in over the intercom, and a carhop brings you your food. In some places, the carhops are actually on rollerskates. (More power to 'em, I'd be likely to dump the cherry limeades all over myself and the customers if I ever tried the skating bit. Shoot, I sometimes spilled things just walking when I had my waitressing job in a cafe, but luckily never on anyone but myself.)
I like the wraps and salads at Sonic, but they also have plenty of meat to satisfy the carnivore in (most of) you, including burgers and "coneys" -- hot dogs that are a foot long. They also serve chili cheese (tater) tots, aka "coronary in a basket" -- and of course my husband ordered those to munch on yesterday. I (being above such things as that) spurned the tots, fries, and burgers and took the high road by ordering a wrap... and a strawberry milkshake -- complete with huge chunks of strawberries that got stuck in the straw several times. Yum. The fat cells in my butt rejoiced, for I was adding to their numbers...
On our meanderings yesterday we also found the planetarium, a proliferation of Chinese restaurants, several shopping centers, and an absolutely gorgeous overlook. In the area we are currently living in, it's relatively flat with few trees and a lot of dead grass. There are some flowers blooming, enough to make my sinuses give me a "Hawaiian good luck sign", but not much else. For those of you that don't know what the Hawaiian good luck sign is, Google is a wonderful thing.
A few miles from our house lies "hill country". There is a new residential development that overlooks the valley and an enormous lake that Z swears was calling to him to go fishing. These homes are not mere houses; they are more like estates, the type of homes you see on TV that are in Beverly Hills, CA. One of those homes that would easily go for $2 million plus back in Maryland, especially in the more tony neighborhoods surrounding our nation's capital. They cost -- wait for it -- $175K to $250K here.
!!!!!!!!!!!!
Definitely threw both Z and I for a loop....the price we paid for our brown fixer-upper cinderblock home in Maryland, built in 1960, was the same price some of the brand new custom built lower-priced homes with the view here -- and it was appraised at $240K when we bought it. Now that's insane. Everything costs less here -- groceries, clothing, whatever. The tax is higher, when you combine the state, county, and city but things are still cheaper here overall than they were back home. I mean, in Maryland.
Boy, that's going to take some adjustment to quit saying that.
Thursday, March 19, 2009
Transition
Whew!
Well, we're here in the great state of Texas. Our mantra for about the last week in Maryland and during the 1500+ mile drive down here was pretty much: Eat. Sleep. Texas (the goal).
We survived the yard sale and actually sold or gave away most everything but the couch...which didn't weigh that much, honestly, so it wasn't such a big deal to load onto the truck. We were trying to keep our weight down because we were paying movers to move us this time, and they charge you based on weight. Z's back and my hip just can't handle the loading and unloading process -- although we could have packed it all up ourselves.
We kept all the bedroom furniture, just for some continuity for the kids, especially A. We did sell the Thomas the Train toddler bed because Miss K turns 3 on Sunday and it's time for a "big girl" bed. Oh, she could still fit in the toddler bed; she'd probably still fit in it three years from now, she's so small. But the hassle of trying to move that thing combined with her birthday, we just decided to ditch the cumbersome plastic ungirly bed and get her something that will last her a bit longer. Like, through high school.
So in the meantime we're "camping out" on air mattresses and a love seat the previous owners left in the house we're renting here in Texas. I'm hoping the air mattresses hold up until the furniture gets here, because my darling K loves to bounce and jump on the "bouncy beds!".
Everything has come together beautifully! We survived the drive down here, during which Mother Nature threw nearly everything in her arsenal at us: snow, sleet, freezing rain, regular unfrozen rain, and some hail that skirted just north of us that we didn't have to drive through (yay). At least there were no tornados or hurricanes. I suppose we could say that the state of Texas hailed us on the way in....or maybe it was just warning us of the storms to come as it heats up.
I had to drive the Dodge with the kids, and Z drove his newly fixed old Honda down. The whole trip. The kids were actually pretty super about the whole thing, though the trek could be summed up with that old poem:
There was a little girl
Who had a little curl
Right in the middle of her forehead;
And when she was good,
She was very, very good...
And when she was bad, she was horrid!
A is so well behaved. He had one fit on the second day, about 2 hours before we stopped, but that was it. His temperamental energetic sister, on the other hand, had tantrums about, oh, every 2 hours -- the entire trip -- because she was bored and couldn't run around 28 hours at a time like she generally does. God Bless whoever invented those car DVD players. I strapped those suckers to the headrests and started a movie if the howling got really bad. Technology, sanity savers, whatever. I love 'em.
We were "pounded" by the church when we arrived here. For those unfamiliar with the term, that does not mean we got a beat-down for a welcome. "Welcome to Texas! Let me introduce you to my sweet left hook!" Rather, it means various people supplied our pantry with a pound of sugar, a pound of flour, that sort of thing, and stocked us up with toilet paper and paper towels too. Everyone is very nice, which is a relief. There is a lady here that is a cross between Tricia Hill in TN and April Brady in MD, so she is going to be a lot of fun.
Kids are adjusting. K already has 2 new best friends at church and has enjoyed running around the building, pastor's yard, and local restaurants with them. Yes, they ran around the back sitting area of a mom-and-pop Italian restaurant on Sunday, much to the chagrin of 3 sets of parents. Fabulous food, by the way.
A has not adjusted as well. Any change in his "normal" routine can cause issues, and we just changed everything. His school, church, home, therapies -- everything. We have no real furniture in the new house, so he can't even see something he recognizes other than his immediate family members. A had a couple of meltdowns on Sunday -- and by "meltdown", I mean crying, howling, and kicking and hitting whoever was next to him. Curiously, he has stopped spitting on people -- which, of course, is great.
We have noticed a HUGE increase in A's stimming -- flapping his hands, pacing and hopping, and even some spinning in circles again. He hasn't done that for a very, very long time -- almost 2 years -- so this made Z and I sit up and take notice. A has also had to go off by himself a lot, both at the business meeting Sunday evening and at Bible study last night. He just needed to get away from the crowd of unfamiliar people, I guess, and observe for a while where it was a little quieter.
Well, I have to go and get my keys from the pastor's wife. Karl and Karen took us around town today showing us various things, and apparently I lost my keys in their van. Thank God, because if the keys were anywhere else I'd have no clue how to get back to all the places we went today.
Well, we're here in the great state of Texas. Our mantra for about the last week in Maryland and during the 1500+ mile drive down here was pretty much: Eat. Sleep. Texas (the goal).
We survived the yard sale and actually sold or gave away most everything but the couch...which didn't weigh that much, honestly, so it wasn't such a big deal to load onto the truck. We were trying to keep our weight down because we were paying movers to move us this time, and they charge you based on weight. Z's back and my hip just can't handle the loading and unloading process -- although we could have packed it all up ourselves.
We kept all the bedroom furniture, just for some continuity for the kids, especially A. We did sell the Thomas the Train toddler bed because Miss K turns 3 on Sunday and it's time for a "big girl" bed. Oh, she could still fit in the toddler bed; she'd probably still fit in it three years from now, she's so small. But the hassle of trying to move that thing combined with her birthday, we just decided to ditch the cumbersome plastic ungirly bed and get her something that will last her a bit longer. Like, through high school.
So in the meantime we're "camping out" on air mattresses and a love seat the previous owners left in the house we're renting here in Texas. I'm hoping the air mattresses hold up until the furniture gets here, because my darling K loves to bounce and jump on the "bouncy beds!".
Everything has come together beautifully! We survived the drive down here, during which Mother Nature threw nearly everything in her arsenal at us: snow, sleet, freezing rain, regular unfrozen rain, and some hail that skirted just north of us that we didn't have to drive through (yay). At least there were no tornados or hurricanes. I suppose we could say that the state of Texas hailed us on the way in....or maybe it was just warning us of the storms to come as it heats up.
I had to drive the Dodge with the kids, and Z drove his newly fixed old Honda down. The whole trip. The kids were actually pretty super about the whole thing, though the trek could be summed up with that old poem:
There was a little girl
Who had a little curl
Right in the middle of her forehead;
And when she was good,
She was very, very good...
And when she was bad, she was horrid!
A is so well behaved. He had one fit on the second day, about 2 hours before we stopped, but that was it. His temperamental energetic sister, on the other hand, had tantrums about, oh, every 2 hours -- the entire trip -- because she was bored and couldn't run around 28 hours at a time like she generally does. God Bless whoever invented those car DVD players. I strapped those suckers to the headrests and started a movie if the howling got really bad. Technology, sanity savers, whatever. I love 'em.
We were "pounded" by the church when we arrived here. For those unfamiliar with the term, that does not mean we got a beat-down for a welcome. "Welcome to Texas! Let me introduce you to my sweet left hook!" Rather, it means various people supplied our pantry with a pound of sugar, a pound of flour, that sort of thing, and stocked us up with toilet paper and paper towels too. Everyone is very nice, which is a relief. There is a lady here that is a cross between Tricia Hill in TN and April Brady in MD, so she is going to be a lot of fun.
Kids are adjusting. K already has 2 new best friends at church and has enjoyed running around the building, pastor's yard, and local restaurants with them. Yes, they ran around the back sitting area of a mom-and-pop Italian restaurant on Sunday, much to the chagrin of 3 sets of parents. Fabulous food, by the way.
A has not adjusted as well. Any change in his "normal" routine can cause issues, and we just changed everything. His school, church, home, therapies -- everything. We have no real furniture in the new house, so he can't even see something he recognizes other than his immediate family members. A had a couple of meltdowns on Sunday -- and by "meltdown", I mean crying, howling, and kicking and hitting whoever was next to him. Curiously, he has stopped spitting on people -- which, of course, is great.
We have noticed a HUGE increase in A's stimming -- flapping his hands, pacing and hopping, and even some spinning in circles again. He hasn't done that for a very, very long time -- almost 2 years -- so this made Z and I sit up and take notice. A has also had to go off by himself a lot, both at the business meeting Sunday evening and at Bible study last night. He just needed to get away from the crowd of unfamiliar people, I guess, and observe for a while where it was a little quieter.
Well, I have to go and get my keys from the pastor's wife. Karl and Karen took us around town today showing us various things, and apparently I lost my keys in their van. Thank God, because if the keys were anywhere else I'd have no clue how to get back to all the places we went today.
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