Urgent Care

Wow, what a day. I guess it could have been worse as I was hardly peed on, but boy, was it rough to see my kid cry as hard and as much as she did.

Let me back up.

Riley didn't sleep the best last night, but this happens from time to time so it wasn't really alarming. However, once she got up she vacillated between fine and total break down. We credited this behavior to her sleep last night, but a part of me worried that it was more especially since she refused to go to the bathroom. Mornings are rushed as we all try to get out the door to work and daycare so we, admittedly, might not have been as attentive to what was happening as we should have been. 

We all piled in the car and I turned to my husband and said "I wonder if she has a urinary track infection?". He thought I was making a big jump, but I'd like to think as a woman I have a little better insight into this. We dropped Riley off at daycare, went to work, and with no surprise to me, we got the call from our daycare provider pretty much right away that she thought Riley had a UTI. 

I love my husband, but he has an especially hard time seeing his little girl in pain and it causes a little bit of a breakdown for him. He called me to arrange the doctor appointment, but the appointment wasn't early enough for him so I found urgent care information, but he didn't want to wait an hour to take her in so he decided he would take her to the hospital. We might have snapped at each other during this process - both simply trying to help, but stressed by the discomfort our child was clearly in. 

All the while I was at work trying to decide what to do. I was car-less and any bus I would grab would take at least an hour before I could get home.

Husband called after he left the house with Riley as she had calmed down and now he wasn't sure he should go to the ER. I suggested he pick me and that we go to urgent care together. After all, I was having some mommy guilt for shipping her off to daycare in the first place when I suspected it might be something more than lack of sleep. 

Urgent care went about as well as it could. We were there for about three hours - much of the time trying to get a urine sample from Riley. She refused to go to the bathroom as I am sure it was painful. We were trying to avoid her having to get a catheter, but it felt like we were spending so much time trying to make her do something she really didn't want to do. 

While we were waiting for the doctor Riley started to freak out, asking to go home. So hard to explain to an almost 3 year old why we have to wait, why she needs to try and potty - she just didn't get it. I don't blame her for wanting to be in the safety of her home. So during the freak out Jesse walked her down the hall and out into the waiting room hoping she would calm down while I was going to fill the doctor in. Turns out that while in the waiting room Riley peed all over herself and on Jesse. This, of course, set her off even more. I am sure it was uncomfortable for her, but she was also likely embarrassed.

Urgent care actually decided it would be better for us to see a pediatrician at the clinic (which was in the same building). We moved over there and tried some more to get Riley to pee. Since she had just gone we had to fill her up again, so to speak. She didn't want to drink water, but we convinced her that water would make her feel better. For the remainder of the day she has been diligent about drinking water and would turn to us after taking a sip and proclaim "it makes me feel better" while rubbing her tummy. I wonder if we can ride this buy in wave and convince her that vegetables will also make her feel better?

In the end we had to try to catheter. It was after I left the room to have my own potty break and Riley broke down when I left. When I returned we decided we needed to get something done as waiting for her to go on her own just wasn't going to happen anytime soon. As one of the nurses was trying to insert the catheter, Riley started peeing all over both nurses that were in the room (glad I don't have that job), but through all that we were able to get a sample. Turns out she does have an infection, but not a UTI. Basically, we were told that all that could help were ibuprofen and multiple sitz baths. Luckily, kiddo likes baths since we've given her three since this afternoon. 

Now it was time to head home, but her pants and underwear were unwearable. We happened to have back up undies with us, but no other clothes. Today was pretty frigid out so we had to find something to bundle her up in. Turns out my sweater was a perfect solution.

Sick sweater pants

She's been good since we got home. Good mood, stellar nap, lots of cuddles and smiles... and hopefully she continues to get even better tomorrow. And hopefully, her mom and dad get it together sooner the next time something like this happens.

Happy New Year!

This year was filled with losses, growth, new traditions, laughter... Let's look back at the year together:

January was filled with me turning the big 4.0. Jesse and Riley put together a celebration that was just up my alley. Unfortunately, January was still cold and (as usual) I have yet to accept that I will have to spend every birthday freezing my butt off.

In February my daughter and my parents turned another year older. We celebrated with a book themed party for Riley and big family party at my mom's memory care facility. It was still cold.

March was the beginning of the photo a day project. This project actually helped me look at the world in a whole new way which I miss since I decided to put the project on hold in November. I also cooked up a ton of freezer meals for myself and a friend (note to self: time to do this again!). 

In April Riley got her first haircut and I won tickets to my first Twins game in their new stadium. Seeing we didn't really do a lot of non-kid things that were out of the norm getting to go to this game was huge. Plus, I got to skip out of work early. Yipee. Oh, plus... spring and warmer weather! And Jesse and I celebrated three years of marriage. *fist bump*

May brought the passing of my step-mom, Ann, from a heart attack days after my dad had a pacemaker put in. 

In June we FINALLY threw a wine and cheese party. We'd only been talking about it for 6 years. Hopefully, it is the start of many more. We also celebrated Father's Day and took in the wonderful days of summer.

July saw the start of the 'what do you do and why' series - an effort to learn more about why people choose the career/life paths that they do and how they got there. We continued to enjoy the summer weather even if it got a little too hot at times. 

August found us taking Riley on her first camping trip with mixed success. It probably would have gone way better if it didn't rain and our tent didn't leak, but Riley was great. We continued to enjoy the summer with many trips to the zoo, playing outside at local parks and a trip to the farm with grandpa Frank.

In September we attempted our second camping trip (again with mixed success) and joined the gym after a long hiatus (and we are still going strong with working out on a regular basis!). 

October brought us another house - a play house that is. And one that I played with as a child. I'm so glad that Riley will get to make her own memories in something I enjoyed so much of as a kid. October also signaled fall weather, and apple orchard visit, and Halloween. 

Perhaps some of the most exciting things happened in November... Jesse's birthday, Riley's potty training, and Thanksgiving. Really, if I had to say what the best moment of the year was I might say it was how well Riley took to potty training. I never would have thought this based on her objection to it in the months before. 

December, what can I say? You were filled with Christmas related activities. Besides a book review I only had one non Christmas related post this month. Riley embraced Christmas fully this year and it was so fun to see how excited she was.

Overall, it was a good year. Some sad and frustrating moments, but so much to be thankful for. To underscore all the wonderful things that happen during the year we are starting a new tradition - The 'Feel Good' jar. We plan to write down all those good moments that occur throughout the year and review them at the end of the year. I can't wait to see what the year brings!

Here's looking forward to 2013!

Christmas 2012

The weekend before Christmas Riley and I made cookies for Santa. I tried to make the process as simple as possible, such as buying sugar cookie dough, so that Riley was left with the fun stuff like decorating.

Do they make belts for 2 year olds? - because this girl needs some help.

Riley decided to add her own little flair to many of the cookies, but mostly wanted me to let her play with the sprinkles that are behind her. They included Christmas sprinkle favorites such as cows, dolphins, and dinosaurs.

This was after eating half a cookie - total zombie face. I don't think she even finished eating the cookie, but I had two. 

Finished product

On Christmas Eve, we headed over to my side of the family to celebrate. My brother, John, and his wife, Jodi, hosted once again. As mentioned in my last post, my dad didn't attend (and a few others were missing), but we had a pretty good turn out. 

Jesse asked me to delete the above picture, but seeing it's the only one of me that I could find over the two days I decided to keep it.

While I was busy snapping pictures and laughing with my family, my child was crying because the cat scared her. I was totally oblivious to it when I took this picture, but she made sure I knew that she was upset and then insisted that we find the cat. Actually, she became obsessed with finding the cat. Luckily, Nemo and Uncle Chuck were able to distract her for much of the evening. 

The kid's gift exchange was supposed to happen at 7:30, which was the time we planned to leave, so we didn't bring anything for Riley to open. Guess we won't make that mistake again since they decided the kids should open gifts at 6:30 instead. I distracted Riley by taking her into the basement to find the cat, but when we came back upstairs she got to try on the cowboy stuff that her cousin's James and Alex received. She seemed pretty delighted with it. 

EDIT: My sister provided me with another picture of me:

Yehaw!

 

Before we left, my sister, Judy, gave Riley and her cousin, Rocky, each a gift. Judy said she thought she might have mislabeled them and wanted to make sure they received the right one so we opened them while we were still there. Riley and Rocky each received the very same silver 'R' ornament. Oh, Judy.

Once we got home we selected 4 cookies to put out for Santa. I later found the cookie plate like this...

Christmas morning we opened gifts at our house. And when I say 'we' I mean Riley. Jesse and I decided to not exchange gifts this year so this was all her.

I took a video of her first view of the tree, but it's on the video camera I can't pull off of so you will just have to imagine the look of shock when she saw the tree with all the gifts. The initial expression of shock seemed to be focused on the very large giraffe her aunt and uncle bought her, but it soon changed to excitement when she saw the doll house we had all set up for her. 

One of two harmonicas she got from Santa

Oh my gosh... so many big things from other people. I had totally intended on following the "want, need, wear, read" rule of buying gifts this year, but Jesse did all the shopping on Amazon one day so most of her gifts fell into the want and read area.

After Riley opened all her gifts we headed to my in-laws house. I had a hand me down dress all picked out for Riley, but gave her the choice between that and staying in her new Christmas Jammies. She, of course, selected the pajamas and I might have too if mine were in better shape.

While these Mr. Potato Heads came home with us, several other gifts stayed at grandma and grandpas. We are going to have to do another toy and book purge to accommodate all the presents she received this year. And to think that her birthday is just over a month away. 

After spending the morning watching some cheesy Christmas movie about dogs that wasn't about dogs at all we headed home to put Riley down for her nap and I went to my dad's for the afternoon to round out the holiday celebration. It was another year filled with good times with our families and reminders of how fortunate we are.

Happy Holidays to all!

Ho ho ho bah

Well, Christmas is over and I am back to work already. For while it seemed like Christmas was never going to come, but that's probably because I was seeing it through the eyes of my kid and we were doing more 'Christmasy' things which felt like it prolonged the season. But once it got here it was two days of celebration and then *bam* back to work. I'll talk more in a future post about our family celebrations we attended, but I wanted to talk a little bit more here about my crappy mood.

Happy Holidays, ya'll! Yeah. Just spreading the joy.

I love Christmas (as I've expressed before), but I am in a funk that I can't seem to shake. Sure, part of it has to do with having to be at work today when my husband and kid are at home (and only 7 other people were on my bus today - obviously approximately 75% of the downtown work force is not working today). Plus, I have to work on Saturday. Bah.

But it's more than that. Christmas isn't quite the same as it used to be. There are some small things (we can't stay to exchange gifts on Christmas Eve since it's past Riley's bedtime), but there is a significant change that started a few years ago - my dad has opted out of Christmas. It started not long after we moved Christmas from his house to my brothers. He stated he'd rather it be that way, but then he stopped coming. He gave away his decorations, and he stayed home declining any invitation that came his way.

2008 - The last Christmas Eve spent with the family

As I said, this has been going on for at least a few years, but this year seemed more difficult for me to stomach. Maybe it was knowing that my step-mom, Ann, died in May so my dad wouldn't even be visiting her at her memory care facility. Maybe it's because my dad has had a lot of health issues this year and I'm scared that our years to celebrate might be limited. This past year alone my dad had surgery on his eyes, got a pacemaker, had surgery for carpel tunnel (and another one planned in 2013). Plus, there are the thyroid checks, the eye infection, the cancerous moles... he even had a doctor's appointment on Christmas Eve.

My dad will be 85 in February. I know he could live many years yet, but this was the year the health issues ramped up and the year Ann died. It seems different. I know my dad knows it too, but he doesn't talk about it. That's not like him, whether it's his generation, gender, or just him. Sometimes I wish he would open up to me about these things and then I think I'd probably rather not know. I worry enough as it is.

Through this all my dad doesn't seem depressed or anything (there have been times in the past I've been worried about that). He is still active and engages in other family events (sometimes a little prompting is needed). He's sort of an old curmudgeon, but that's been holding pretty steady for 20 some years. Nothing new there.

So he might not have attended a family Christmas, but I made a point to go see him after visiting with my in-laws on Christmas Day. With Riley down for her nap, I headed over to my dad's with a couple packages from family that I picked up on Christmas Eve. My dad is at that age where he says he needs nothing so we all buy or make him food. Soup is a big item for him this time of year. I made meatloaf and cookies (with Riley's assistance, of course).

And each year I make a family calendar. It really started out for him so he could remember everyone's birthday, but he always displayed it at Ann's facility. I started making two, but he still wouldn't use his to write on. If anything, I think he enjoys being able to see the pictures from the last year.

This year I got him one more gift. Something I have been working on for years and finally decided to complete. Years ago, my dad gave me an old Huber beer box filled mostly with pictures from when he was in the Army during the Korean War. He was drafted to build bridges in Germany - bridges that were destroyed during World War II. I put most of the pictures in a couple albums, but never finished until recently (ok, I still have a few more pages to complete, but it's almost done). I brought these over to my dad's and got to listen to my dad share some stories of that time that I had never heard before.

I now know how to use a bayonet to find a land mine and that his company (company A) lost a couple "Indians to them because they didn't like to listen to directions" (yeesh, dad).

I know that the ship engine broke down on the way home from Europe during a huge storm. They were told to prepare to abandon ship, but weren't sure that would help them based on the size of the waves. My dad made a point to share how much the boat smelled from all the guys getting sick. Luckily, they got the ship up and running and returned all the soldiers stateside safe and sound if not a little woozy.

I got to learn about the other guys in the service. This one hated it. That one loved it, but was a huge drinker. My dad expressed  regret over the pictures he didn't get (like the big guy who didn't make it through basic training), but was more surprised at the number of pictures he did take.

My dad, Frank, is on the right.

There are pictures of him and the guys with artillery draped  over their shoulders, of them hanging out at their camp near Hamburg, of the travels they made to Italy, France, Holland... There are postcards from the 1950's and other trinkets.

I love when my dad talks about these moments. Not only does the topic interest me, but I see him light up a little. Some of the curmudgeon disappears. I forget for a moment that I am hanging out alone with my dad on Christmas day when just a few years ago 30 + people would fill his house with holiday cheer. I think "at least I still have this". I have my dad right now. He might not be around forever, but I am going to take advantage of the time I have with him... curmudgeon and all.

Book Review - Following Daisies

Following Daisies by Heather Pardon

Heather Pardon decides to sell her home, give up her job, and gets rid of most of her belonging to travel across Canada in an RV. Always a lover of large trucks, this adventure fulfilled many dreams of hers. She shares her journey of how she came upon the decision, the signs she looked for to confirm her path, and the stories she comes upon along the way.

It's a great story about finding the right path for your self...for learning to let go and take the road least traveled... about acquiring items based on need vs want... and about trying to live life to the fullest, among other things. So it might be surprising to learn that I almost didn't finish reading this book.

Heather attempts to be witty and engaging (and sometimes is), but it felt strained - like she was trying to hard. She likes daisies. A lot. She ends up using the word 'daisy' far too often, and 'Nanaimo Bar'. It didn't help that there were random grammar issues and misspellings. Plus, I read it on my iPad and the author's name or title of the book would be randomly placed in the middle of a sentence (I don't blame the author on this, but just found it to be a slight annoyance).

However cheesy her writing is, I decided to keep reading because she did have a good message to share, and perhaps one that I really needed to hear right now. No worries though; I don't plan on giving up everything to RV it across America. At least not yet.



Grade: C+

Books read since the beginning of 2012: 25

Countdown to Christmas

As Riley approaches the age of three her awareness of the holidays has astounded me. Sure, she doesn't quite get what Christmas really means. I don't totally blame her because 1. she's a little kid and 2. we don't talk a whole lot about religion. Even so, I've recently been reading her the story of Baby Jesus. In the end I don't want her to think this holiday is all about getting gifts. And in the future I really want to teach her the value of giving (and not just at Christmas, of course). But for now it is pretty fun to see how excited she is about the whole holiday.

Since she has been so focused on when Santa is going to bring her some presents I figured we needed to create a visual to help her understand. "Tomorrow", "next week", and so on are still concepts that she doesn't quite get. Once again, other bloggers have inspired me to make a paper chain to demonstrate the number of days we have until Christmas.

I took a snowman that she made at daycare and added the chain, and each day we take off one link of the chain to show that we are one day closer to Christmas.

Riley loves being able to take a link of the chain off each day. At first she wanted to take all the links off, but finally seems to understand that we only take one off today and have to wait until after we go to sleep and wake up the next morning to take off another.

Riley has really been into Christmas lights as well. Car rides at night include her yelling from the back seat "LIGHTS. THERE'S LIGHTS. AND THERE. MOMMY, I SEE LIGHTS. LIGHTS. LIGHTS.LIGHTS".

One night as I was walking home from the bus I noticed that quite a few houses on the next block are now lit up and a couple of them have some unique decorations that Riley might enjoy. We had been intending to go to Macy's Santaland last week, but it's amazing how a 4:00 am wake up can ruin your plans for the whole day (and a day I specifically took off of work). I was determined to do something related to the holiday season so I suggested we go out for a walk before Riley's bedtime. And hey, it was snowing! It was going to be sooo picturesque!

Yeah, not so much.

It was cold. And Riley did not like the snow in her eyes. And those 'unique' decorations? They moved and things that move seem to freak my kid out (with some exceptions). She wanted to be held much of the time, which was incredibly difficult to do (slippery winter coat against slippery winter coat just doesn't work). We did a loop so that we could see a couple blocks worth, but it wasn't as awesome as I hoped it would be. I guess next time we'll just stay in the car.

Yes, that's a couple of penguins on a igloo canon. Yeah, I don't get it either. It moved, but was behind a fence so Riley tolerated it.

I thought Riley would love this, but she made us carry her as we walked past it. It didn't move, but it was quite big and swayed a bit as the air swirled around in it.

Begging to be picked up.

Ok, so I know this is a terrible picture (at least worse than the others), but Riley made a cute comment when we walked past this house. When the deer's head bobbed up and down, Riley stopped to watch him and then proclaimed "that deer has the hiccups". Ah, out of the mouth of kids.

This weekend we did make it to Macy's Santaland. As I child, my mom took me each year so we started this tradition last year with Riley. The display has been the same for a few years, but it was still new to Riley since she doesn't quite have that long term memory thing down yet. Since Riley has the opportunity to see Santa at a family Christmas party we skip the part of having Riley sit on Santa's lap which is fine with me as the line for that is usually long.

Waiting in line. Accessories chosen by Riley.

As expected this place was packed, but we were still able to get some pictures without other people in them.  

Riley started to lose it a little about here. She's not really a fan of animatronics - especially if they are big and close by. We walked through the rest of the display fairly fast, checked out the gift shop and then got out of there.

It seems like a lot of work to head downtown, pay for parking, wait in line with a crowd for this display - especially when I am unsure how much Riley likes it. She seems interested, and then overwhelmed. Perhaps I am doing it more for me than for her, but it's hard to tell at this age. I hope that she likes it in the future, and if not, I hope I know when to honor her wishes to not go (and not push my agenda).

In the end we headed back to the skyway where Riley could run around freely, which apparently, was where the real fun was at.