Art Museum

This morning, Zac and I filed our taxes, visited Cups for breakfast, then headed to the local library to renew my card and pay off late fees from 2012 (lol). Zac wanted to surprise the kids with a trip to the Planetarium, but there was a private “wine and film” event taking place. Instead, we crossed the street and visited the Mississippi Museum of Art. Neither big kid was excited about looking at “other peoples’ drawings”, but after a few minutes, they didn’t want to leave. Being surrounded by art makes me want to start painting again, but all of my supplies are in a metal cabinet in the garage beneath a very large, very heavy dollhouse. Tomorrow, Zac may help me carefully move it so I can get my brushes and paints out.

A Rough Few Weeks

The past few weeks have been crazy with stress and worry over the youngest in our brood. Zac and I planned a date on the 3rd of this month since Mom offered to watch all the kids as a “thank you” for taking care of Dad. James was in the sunroom keeping an eye on Elias while I was upstairs getting dressed when I heard Elias start screaming. I hurried back down the stairs to check on him and James told me he had tripped and smushed his nose against the wall of his play yard. I picked him up and consoled him, then set him back down. He started screaming again (something not uncommon when he wants to be held). I finished getting ready and decided to hold the baby while I waited for Zac to get home. I tried to let Elias walk around, so I stood him up, but his knees buckled and he started screaming again. I looked at his legs, but didn’t see any swelling, though he’s still got chunky baby fat. Zac came home, so I told him what was going on. Elias wouldn’t walk or stand without collapsing in pain. We decided to cancel our date and head to the emergency room.

After the first ER trip, we were told he had no “bone abnormalities” and we were sent home. Elias was still refusing to stand or put weight on his right foot, wouldn’t let us touch it, and woke up early the next morning in pain. We took him to a different ER for a second opinion and a second x-ray (since the first ER refused to send the previous x-ray over) and were told my three different techs that there were no broken bones, but he did have a sprained ankle. They didn’t wrap his ankle since he’s a toddler and would try to pull it off which would only cause more discomfort. We were told to give him Ibuprofen for two days and follow up with his pediatrician on the 14th.

Dr. Y inspected his ankle at his 18-month checkup this morning and confirmed a sprained ankle, so he’ll be sensitive for a few more weeks. He’s growing on schedule, gaining weight as he should and is 2.5 feet tall. He had his last dose of vaccinations, so we don’t go back for more of those until 2019 (phew!).

Family Outing

Saturdays have been my favorite days lately. Zac’s been getting us out of the house, spending quality time together and with the kids. Today, we hung out in Jackson to check out the Highland Village shopping center. It reminded me of being at Epcot in Disney World as far as the stoned sidewalk and general layout goes. Quite fancy. The kids wanted some treats, so we picked out some gourmet popsicles from Deep South Pops.

We stopped by Petsmart on the way home to check out the fish and furry critters. There were actual scorpions at this location! James wanted us to buy one, but no thank you. We’re probably going to get a Betta fish eventually. I miss having one… I just wonder how Fig will react.

The Circus

It’s been such a nice weekend! The weather has been cool-not-cold and nobody has suffered with allergies. I was picking up dinner from Fernando’s earlier in the week and saw a box of many “Free Child’s Ticket” to the Star Family Circus. I grabbed three and marked the calendar. I have only ever been to one other circus in my life, long ago, and can’t remember much of it. I recall it reminded me of Dumbo, complete with the large, red circus tent and performing wild animals. It bothered me watching elephants and tigers being whipped, so I didn’t want to go again. Clowns also bother me. However, the Star Family Circus only uses trained dogs who are treated with bits of hot dog when they perform.

I gave the big kids some cash so they could buy coloring books and cotton candy (Elias thought the cotton candy was a magical experience). In the beginning of the show, they sat up front for a better view. All in all, it was a fun experience for the kids and us as a family.

Update on Dad

Dad’s been doing not-so-well this week. He spent a few days in the hospital last week because he was yelling in his sleep (something he’s never done). Emily was spending the night, so she took him to the emergency room where a bunch of “doctors” didn’t run any tests or come check the screaming monitor that said my dad had no pulse when he unplugged himself. It was ridiculous. He’s back home, but he’s hallucinating frequently and is almost always disoriented. He wants to walk around, but sways and loses his balance. Last night, he fell about four or five times when trying to get to the bathroom. Mom has been trying to look after him, but she goes into panic mode and doesn’t know what to do and ends up irrationally yelling at all of us or becomes overly emotional. I’m having a hard time dealing with her like this, but I’m trying to be patient.

Emily is going to be staying with us for a few nights to keep an eye on Dad. I want to be able to do more, but having the kids (especially a baby) makes it  difficult. I make sure to cook and get Dad something to eat, though, so part of me feels like I’m at least doing something. Mom’s debating the possibility of having a swing bed service look after him. I agree that he needs professionals looking after him, but I feel guilty all the same because he’s my dad and I don’t want him to feel like we’re trying to get rid of him.

Green Hair, Don’t Care

I dyed my hair blonde (accidentally) for the first time in centuries, as blonde makes my face look pink. One of my resolutions is to change my hair color frequently and vibrantly this year, or for at least six months. My bathroom lighting makes colors looks strange, so while my hair looks orange in the picture, it was much lighter in real life. I used Splat’s Lightening Bleach kit to rid my hair of the faded burgundy, then put a generic platinum blonde over it.

I went to Sally’s Beauty Salon and picked up some Argan Oil Perfect Intensity Semi-Permanent Vibrant Color in emerald green.

So far, I’m loving the color. It’s supposed to last six to eight washes, which is perfect as I plan to change the colors once a month. The color was simple to apply as my hair is short, but it spread around easily. I’m thinking I’ll try an Argan Oil blue shade next month.

Christmas 2016 – New Year’s 2017

Christmas Day

Christmas Eve and Day was amazing, in spite of Dad’s accident. On Christmas Eve, the kiddos opened their traditional matching pajama sets from Gymboree, which I managed to snag a picture of before letting Elias sample the cookies and make a chocolatey mess all over himself. Emily came over and we decorated a Wilton’s pre-baked gingerbread mini house party kit (phew, that’s a mouthful!) and I baked chocolate chip cookies for Santa. I found a Santa-Tracker app on my phone, so it was fun showing the kids where Santa was located and when he’d arrive at our house. It was exciting for them as they hurried to bed. James swears he heard sleigh bells, so they hurried to bed before midnight.

Christmas Day was relaxing that morning. Everyone basically got what they wanted, plus some cool extra stuff. Santa only drops off one thing for each kid now (so much easier), so Zac and I buy whatever else. This year the big kids wanted robots. I blame cable TV in Dad’s room for all the commercials. So James only wanted an interactive R2D2 and Leah wanted a Zoomer cat. Santa brought her a Meowzie (Zoomer kitten) and she was disappointed that it didn’t roll, despite having wheels. She’s come to like it, though. And Elias has been glued to his new rocking horse.

 

We went to Sean’s for New Year’s. We arrived early enough for the kids to play for a little while before having to go to bed. Sean introduced us to his lady-friend, Erica, who Leah just loved to pieces. Erica is into Minecraft on a level similar to James’ so they’re all basically BFFs. Mom had bought tickets for the Polar Express train ride in New Orleans prior to Dad’s accident, so since they couldn’t go, we brought Marie and Francesca. It was such a fun experience. The kids loved it and it was nice going with Zac’s family.

Jessie invited us over to watch fireworks, but it rained all weekend. We hung out and she dolled me up all fancy while Zac picked up a pizza. She even baked some chocolate macarons, O.M.G. They were delicious. The big kids played with Orrin and his super cool Millennium Falcon hovercraft while us grownups enjoyed coffee and conversation. Elias was on such great behavior, we kinda forgot he was around, haha.

It was a great weekend, even in the rain. Karen came to stay with us for a few days to help watch Dad since it’s difficult for me to give him 100% attention when I’ve got kids to worry about.

We had our first snow of the year. I say snow, but it’s really ice. Cold, slippery ice. The kids are loving it, though, even without shoes.

Ducks

Emily came over, so we picked up some lunch from Burger King and headed to the park with the kids. It was cooler than we anticipated. I had told the kiddos not to worry about bringing their sweaters as the weather said 70s, but alas, it was in the 60s when we got to the park. Oh, well. I pushed Elias in the baby swing while the big kids ran around chasing each other, but decided to leave as the sun was setting and the temperature was dropping. We headed to Walmart so I could buy some new shoes and socks for Elias. He’s outgrowing everything so fast, it’s ridiculous. Then, we went to the pond to see the ducks for a little while. Zac and I used to bring James and Leah to this same pond often when they were little. Over the years, the water has been slowly becoming more shallow, so the pond was drained, made deeper, and refilled.

Dad

Note: Our Christmas story will be in a separate post.

Christmas morning started off perfectly. Everybody sat downstairs in the sun room, I played holiday music on my phone via Pandora and we passed around and opened gifts with my parents while the cinnamon rolls baked.

After an hour or so, Mom decided to head to bed. She was upstairs in the kitchen, so Zac and I decided to start picking up the wrapping paper scraps and neatening up. Dad grabbed an arm load of goodies and started heading up the stairs. There are only eight steps that lead up to the kitchen. Not like the 18-20 that lead to the bedrooms. I happened to look up at the moment my dad was falling, straight back onto the floor from the 5th step. The thud still haunts me. He landed so hard that the floor shook and he slid a few inches. I don’t remember anything but the way his voice sounded – quiet, rhythmic moans with his breathing. I screamed, “Dad!” and Mom hurried downstairs and was shouting. Dad wouldn’t look at us, wouldn’t respond to our voices. His hand was grasping at the floor while I put a shirt under his head. Then we saw a small area of blood on the carpet. A small trickle of blood was coming from the side of his head somewhere, but I didn’t want to move his head around. He started saying “Yes” over and over, quietly, while trying to sit up. I didn’t see blood from his ears, but he had a deep gash near his left eye. Mom called 911 and we had to keep Dad from sitting up. He kept trying to push himself up to sit, but kept dropping back down. He managed to roll over onto his other side, so I sat and talked to him. Mom hurried to get dressed and the paramedics arrived. They asked him questions about what happened, but Dad had no memory of the morning or of falling. He didn’t know what month is was, what day, or even which holiday. He kept asking, “What’s all the commotion about?” and was just so lost and confused. The ambulance took him away with Mom.

Emily came over not long after they left and I told her what happened. She had passed the ambulance on our street, but didn’t expect it to be carrying Dad. Zac cleaned up the blood for me. We wasted time while waiting for updates. When Dad landed, he hit his left side, then his head. I think his glasses cut his face, unless it was the impact. He developed a subdural hematoma, which can absorb on its own, but not in every case. He also had a seizure and suffered a mild concussion. He threw up in the ambulance, which isn’t a good sign. The doctors transferred him from one hospital to another and hooked him up to monitors and machines in the ICU. Emily and I packed a bag for Mom and decided to exchange gifts and hang around until Mom needed us to go to her.

When Emily and I arrived at the hospital, only one at a time were allowed back, so I went first and of course burst into tears when I saw him just laying there. It reminded me of his heart attack when I was little. He thought it was silly, but told me he felt fine, just tired. Luckily, a room became available, so he was able to move to a private space with a more comfortable bed. Mom and Emily were able to visit along with me once Dad was settled. I hugged him and told him not to go yet. He spent the first night in his own room and did great. Tonight he’s being moved to a recovery room. Hopefully he can come home soon. From what I know, his heart rate lowered too much when he was climbing the stairs, which lead to him blacking out. I don’t remember him trying to catch himself, he just went backward. I can’t get the image out of my head… it was like a slow motion movie and I was frozen. Poor James and Leah saw him fall. Leah freaked out and started screaming, James was in shock, and Elias started crying. It was just a horrible experience all around.

Tattoos, crochet, and holidays

I’ve got my voice back, though I’m stuck with an annoying cough. But at least I’m feeling better and it hasn’t spread to any of the kiddos.

Most of the month has been spent crocheting Christmas stockings and getting last-minute gifts purchased and put away. We’ve put all the wrapped gifts in the sun room instead of in the den by the big tree. I just don’t want the cat getting into the paper as he’s been getting into the tree. He’s quite the asshole brat.

Zac and I made a trip to Louisiana to visit some friends and family. Our original plan was to pick up Amber and bring her home so I could take care of her until she passed. Unfortunately, I was informed she had died back in August. I was devastated to say the least. She was 16 and I wanted to be there, but had no idea the whole time that she was already gone. Apparently, Zac’s aunt posted it on Facebook, but neither Zac nor I check Facebook… I don’t think I’m even friends with that aunt. I’m still sad, but getting through it. Having no closure is really taking a toll on me. So, there’s that. I hate that she’s gone.

Being in Louisiana was nice, aside from no cat. We stayed with Sean as always and were able to visit Zac’s family. Mawmaw is doing well. Her hair is growing back since losing it from the chemo. We visited with Marie and the kids played with Francesca. Marie had an edible craft ready to make, so the kids made hot chocolate mugs out of marshmallows and other candy before exchanging gifts.

We headed across the lake to see Jessie to get matching scorpion tattoos, which was also Zac’s first tattoo ever. Together, they make a heart. Zac had doodled the idea years ago when we were dating, so in celebration of our ten years of marriage, it was time to do something special. I love them.