I am happy to report that after 6 very long weeks, Kiki’s cast has finally come off!!  I took her Friday morning to the doctor and after reviewing her x-rays, he decided to remove the cumbersome plaster.  She was a champ as they cut it off with the cast saw.  I think she was in shock when she saw her arm afterward.  She asked me if the kids at school were going to make fun of her once they laid eyes upon her arm.  “Probably, hon, because kids are downright mean!.” “No, honey, I don’t think they’ll make fun of you.” I said.

She is in a splint for the next 2 weeks.  This is nice though because it is removable.  Although the doctor wants her in it the majority of these 2 weeks, she can take it off to shower and to sleep.  We’ll go back in four weeks for our final visit (hopefully).

She is restricted from any real physical activity for the next 4 weeks which means no gym class.  It also means I have to hold off on signing her up for the gymnastics class she wants to take.  I do feel bad for her because she is just so ready for things to return to normal.  We’re getting there, it’s just a SLOW process.

And of course I drop her off at school on Friday after her appointment and about 2 hours later the school nurse calls me to tell me that Kiki’s arm was bumped at recess.  She was fine but the nurse just wanted to give me a heads up.  Then the nurse says to me, “Isn’t this the girl who got stung by a bee at the orientation?’  Yep, that would be her!  “She’s having a tough time so far,” replies the nurse.  Ya think?? But it’s getting better, slowly but surely.

Thanks to everyone who has sent Kiki prayers and kind words throughout this whole broken arm debacle.  It’s nice to know that there are so many caring people not only in our community but in the blogosphere as well!

Thursday was both my husband and my MIL’s birthdays.  It is the tradition to celebrate their birthdays at our annual Labor Day picnic.  Which we did on Monday and had a great time.  This year my husband wanted to continute his birthday celebration by spending a night down in AC.

So Wednesday night he and I headed on down to the Borgata casino while my MIL spent the night at our house to take care of the kids.  We are so glad that she did that for us because as most parents of young children can attest to, we definitely needed a night away!

We arrived around 6 and headed up to our room on the 34th floor!  As we went up in the elevator we had to pop our ears.  I’m not sure you realize this but the 34th floor in a building is pretty high up.  But we had an amazing view!

The room was very nice.  I was amazed by the bathroom so of course we took a picture!

What can I say…it’s the little things!

Anyway, we headed on down to the casino where hubby found himself a nice blackjack table and I hunted for my Monopoly slot machine.  I gravitate toward the slots because they are mindless and that’s right up my alley!!  We also went to their comedy club.  The headliner was one of those comedians that likes to pick on people in the audience.  I was very thankful that we sat far enough back that we were out of his eyesight.  That always makes me uncomfortable and I’m not daring enough to open myself up to that kind of ridicule.

Thursday morning we got up and headed on out.  I was amazed at how many people were gambling away at 9:30 in the morning.  This trip was only my second one to a casino and so I’m still very naive on a lot of what goes on in one.  What an eyeopener!  But the woman who was standing in front of us in line to check in and had clearly urinated in her pants was the shocker of the evening!  That was right when we got there and pretty much put my brain into overload!

But we had a wonderful time!  We’re not millionaires but we didn’t gamble away the house either.  It’s good to have boundaries!  I hope my hubby had a wonderful birthday as well as my MIL who got to spend part of her birthday with the kids.  We ditch the kids for my husband’s birthday which means my MIL gets them for hers.  Funny, isn’t it?

Tumble Dry Low; Remove Promptly

Well, another summer has come and gone and it was back to reality this morning.  Kiki’s first day of second grade has arrived.  This first morning went pretty smoothly.  I woke her up at 7:00am to which she hopped right out of bed, changed into her new clothes and ran downstairs to eat breakfast.  “Mommy, I’m a lot faster now that I’m in second grade.” she told me when we were getting ready.  I’m thinking I can use this against her, say tomorrow, when she is fighting me to get ready for school.

After that she brushed her teeth and hair and was pleading to go to the bus stop.  This was at 7:30 and we do not need to head out the door until 8:00.  I contained her for about 10 minutes and then she was pretty much tearing the door down to get out of the house.  But we took this opportunity to get some pictures.

Notice the size of the backpack.  I have already made arrangements to get her a new one.  We ordered the one in the picture online and didn’t realize that it was bigger than her.  It’s a nice bag and she can use it when she is a little older and bigger.

Once the bus pulled up all the kids got in line to get on, including AJ who is 2.  I run up to grab him out of line which started a temper tantrum.  So here I am holding a screaming toddler while some of the other parents are taking video footage of their children getting on the bus.  Won’t that be nice to watch later on?  Their precious memories from today will be forever tainted by the blood curdling screams of AJ.  They won’t forget us anytime soon, will they?

I’m very anxious to hear all about Kiki’s first day.  I have to get my writing hand ready for the mountain of paperwork that will be coming home with her tonight.  And that callus on my finger was just starting to fade!  I’m hoping the event that happened with AJ this morning will not be an everyday type of thing or poor Kiki will be going to the bus stop solo!

Rocks in My Dryer is hosting a meme in honor of Labor Day about the labor we moms endured to bring our wonderful children into this world.  I thought this was a great idea I just couldn’t pass up.

How long were your labors?

Kiki - about 12 hours and about 5 pushes

AJ - I labored at home throughout the night.  We got to the hospital at 11am and he was born an hour later.

How did you know you were in labor?

Kiki - I was induced so that my ob-gyn could catch his flight for his vacation so it all started in the hospital. I knew it was really starting a few hours after they placed the Cervidil.  Man, did that stuff do the trick for me!

AJ - The contractions started around 10:00pm.  We had just gotten home from some last minute Christmas shopping and I had lost Kiki in Kohl’s.  It was probably about 5 minutes of absolute panic until they called my name over the loud speaker. They had her in Customer Service.  Thank God she was found! And I’m pretty sure that was the catalyst for this labor… no Cervidil needed!!

Where did you deliver?

The hospital both times although with AJ we were very lucky it wasn’t in my husband’s car.

Drugs?

Kiki - Absolutely!!  Although when they first administered the epidural it only worked on my one side.  It was really bizarre because it was like no pain on the right side and a ton of pain on the left side!  They came back with a second dose which did the trick.  It also meant I couldn’t feel my legs for about 7 hours after I had her!

AJ - There wasn’t any time!  I had to tell the nurse there was something between my legs.  To which her response was, “Oh you probably just pooped.”  Well thanks, lady, but why don’t you just check for me.  She takes a peek and says, “OMG, it’s the head!”  Which created pretty much a whirlwind in the room of people just flying around trying to get things ready.  I didn’t even have the IV in yet so in between pushes they were setting up the IV.  Plus I was screaming so loud my poor hubby was backed up against the wall.  Fun times!

C-section?

No for both.

Who delivered?

Kiki - My ob-gyn and he was wonderful.  Although at one point he came to check on my status and said, “I can see her hair.  I’m going to lunch and when I come back you can start pushing.”  Enjoy your lunch, buddy!  His reasoning behind it was that the more she did on her own, the better/easier the actual pushing would be.  And it all worked out but for me who was about to do this for the first time, it was a very long lunch!!

AJ - The nurse had to grab whichever doctor she saw in the hallway.  So a resident came in followed by an ob-gyn named Dr. Brest.  How funny is that?  Obviously not spelled the same but pretty funny nonetheless.  Once AJ was off getting cleaned up the doctor that I talked to that morning, who was not my normal doctor, finally arrived.  He originally told me not to come because he didn’t think I was far enough along.  I told him I was coming in and he informed me that he would send me home if I wasn’t far enough along.  Good thing I went with my instincts, huh??

I want to thank Shannon over at Rocks in My Dryer for this fun meme.  It was a great trip down memory lane.  I have to say that I will not be adding any more labors to this list ever.  I am very blessed with the two I have and that’s perfect for me and my husband.

Happy Labor Day everyone!

Check out what is growing in our mulch.  Not only does it look nasty but is smells funky too.  Any thoughts on what this might be?

I have a confession to make: I am not a good friend. (GASP!)  To all my friends that are reading this right now, I’ll give you a minute to let this settle into your brain.  I don’t mean that in all aspects of friendship.  I won’t run around and trash talk you to others and share your secrets.  But if we run into a scenario where our lives take different paths, I probably won’t keep in touch with you.  I’m truly sorry for this.  It’s not you, it’s me.

Let me show you what I mean.  I talk to 0 people from high school.  And there is no exaggeration in that whatsoever.  I talk to 0 people from my x-ray class.  And the amazing thing is that during those times, I had some great friendships.  Now some of these friendships from my youth I got burned in and so I wouldn’t want to keep any communication open.  But others were great friendships and I just let them fall through the cracks.

But I am trying to improve on this as I get older, not only for myself because I would like to have more than just 5 people at my funeral, but also for my kids.  I want them to understand that friendship is something that you need to work at and that it can be rewarding to have someone, that’s not your husband, to lean on and that understands you.

One of my friendships that I have actually held onto is with my friend Marta.  I met Marta at my first job out of x-ray school back in 2000.  I have since left there and have stopped talking to my friends from there, which is my normal pattern.  Except for Marta.  Marta has also moved out my way, which makes it easier to get together, but for me it goes beyond that.  I actually want to keep in touch with Marta.  In fact, I make it part of my weekly routine to talk to her.  Even with life as busy as it is, both for her and for me, if I haven’t talked to her in a while, I realize it.  This is huge for me.  Normally, out of sight out of mind and I know that’s horrible; but with Marta, it is different for me.  She is an example I can give to my kids about the joys of friendship.  She listens, she gives good advice, she makes me laugh, and she doesn’t care when I call her up and just go into a rant without asking her how life is going.  And actually, at my wedding she was asked if she was my sister.  To which I think she replied, “If I was her sister don’t you think I would be in the wedding?”  Good point!

What do you think? Marta is on the left and I’m on the right.

But like I said earlier, I am getting better with this whole friendship thing.  There are a lot of people now, especially here in my own neighborhood, that I know I would keep in touch with if our paths left one another.  And I hope that there are people out there that would say that about me, especially Marta since I pretty much just dedicated this whole post to her!

My BIL - what a creeper!

I can’t believe it’s time again for “What’s on your Nightstand?” held by 5 Minutes for Books.  This month has flown by!

On last month’s post I had just started reading Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides.  My thoughts on the book were up in the air and I wasn’t sure I could read it in it’s entirety.  Well, I’m proud to say I persevered to the end but it took me a month to do so.  I just finished it last week.  The story is about a family from Greece that migrated to the United States in 1922.  There is a family secret that manifests itself a couple of generations later in the birth of Calliope.  Once Calliope hits puberty she starts to realize that she is not like other girls and eventually the discovery is made that Calliope is a hermaphrodite.  Calliope becomes Cal and the reader follows her life after that decision is made.

The story of the grandparents held my attention.  The story of Calliope’s birth and childhood is fairly boring and there were many times I just about stopped reading the story.  After we learn she is a hermaphrodite and is taken to a specialist the book becomes somewhat interesting again.  Enough to get me to the end of it anyway.  And there were some plot surprises near the end that I didn’t see coming which made it worth hanging in until the end.  I’m proud of myself for finishing the book but I couldn’t wait to dive into another.

I dove into Change of Heart by Jodi Picoult.  I picked this book for two reasons.  1) I really enjoy her writing and 2) I am meeting her on September 11th at the Scottish RIte Cathedral in Reading and I can’t wait!!  It’s basically a Meet the Author session.  I haven’t read one of her books in a while so I wanted to familiarize myself again with her writing style before I go.  Her books usually pull me in from the beginning and this one proves to be the same.  I like how each chapter continues the story from another character’s perspective which helps to create a connection between the reader and each character.

However, her writing has also made me realize that I can not read the same author back to back.  I did that with two of her books and I became frustrated because there were many similarities between the stories.  While I enjoy her books, I need to throw some other authors in the mix to break the monotony.

I’m not that far into Change of Heart yet so I have provided the synopsis from inside the cover.

Can we save ourselves, or do we rely on others to do it? Is what we believe always the truth? One moment June Nealon was happily looking forward to years full of laughter and adventure with her family, and the next, she was staring into a future that was as empty as her heart. Now her life is a waiting game. Waiting for time to heal her wounds, waiting for justice. In short, waiting for a miracle to happen. For Shay Bourne, life holds no more surprises. The world has given him nothing, and he has nothing to offer the world. In a heartbeat, though, something happens that changes everything for him. Now, he has one last chance for salvation, and it lies with June’s eleven-year-old daughter, Claire. But between Shay and Claire stretches an ocean of bitter regrets, past crimes, and the rage of a mother who has lost her child. Would you give up your vengeance against someone you hate if it meant saving someone you love? Would you want your dreams to come true if it meant granting your enemy’s dying wish? Once again, Jodi Picoult mesmerizes and enthralls readers with this story of redemption, justice, and love.

Sounds pretty good, doesn’t it?  So hopefully for next’s month “What’s on your Nightstand” post I’ll be able to tell you about my evening with Jodi Picoult!!

My first born turned 7 yesterday and for those of you who don’t know me, I’m a very emotional person.  Especially when it comes to my kids!  As much as I love seeing them grow, I’m also a little sad because I just can’t believe how fast time is passing.  Yesterday I kept saying to everyone, “7 years ago at this time, my doctor checked on my labor progression.  At one point he told me that he could see her hair, that he was going to go to lunch and when he got back I would push.”  His logic was the more she did on her own, the better.  But to someone going through such a thing as LABOR for the first time, that’s pretty much not what you want to hear!

Anyway, we started out the day with 8 of her friends at a little boutique in West Chester called Bling It On.  They picked out one item from a huge selection, picked 2 bags of crystals and began the blinging process.  Kiki picked a little bank disguised as a ladybug.  Some of the other girls picked headbands, journals, necklaces, and other piggy banks.  The owner of the boutique even put a little bling on Kiki’s cast.

They had a cupcake tower for her and gave the girls little gift bags with additional bling.  I was impressed and I think the girls had a good time.  I know Kiki did!

Then it was time for the family party back home.  The men put up a tent in the backyard that we borrowed from one of our neighbors.  That was a process and a half but in the end it worked out great.

Kiki opened her gifts and she stood there and read everyone of her cards out loud.  This was a little emotional for me because she was reading so well and yet again, I just can’t believe how far we have come.

So once the party wrapped up last night, I straightened up a little and went to bed.  Even the cup of coffee I had at about 8:30 at night couldn’t keep me away from my slumber.

To my daughter: We wish you a wonderful birthday and a wonderful year (without broken limbs and allergic reactions and so on.)