Kadiera's Playground Cute but Evil - it averages out

Alex is doing fabulously on the vent, and they're working on getting him down to the point where the vent doesn't breathe at all unless he breathes deeply enough to trigger it. He's so much happier it's hard to explain.

My mom has been in the hospital twice in the last month with heart issues. First her heart beat was too fast, then apparently the meds for that worked too well, and her heart rate dropped way too low. She's supposed to have a catheterization next week, along with wearing a monitor to check the electrical action.

Lexapro helps. It's not perfect, but it's manageable this way, and I'm not a zombie.

I really don't understand what it is you're trying to prove this year.

So, quit sitting on your hands and do what you should have been doing all along, or quit putting your nose in where it shouldn't be and leave us alone, and give me back my family.

All of them.

Whole, healthy, and happy.

No exceptions.

Because seriously, you're really getting on my nerves here, and we all know that making me really pissed off is a bad idea.

kthanxbye!

no love,

me

Barry was hit by a car this morning and had surgery to fix his broken leg. H's not allowed to put weight on it for 8 weeks.

Like we needed more to deal with

I find the ongoing swirl of competition and drama from Alexander's grandparents to be rather odd. Not that I didn't expect him to have their full attention - even before he was conceived, it was obvious that they'd all want their "fair share" of him, whatever that means.

I spent very little time as a kid with my mother's family. Part of that was that they were so terribly disfunctional that it was probably best that we didn't spend a lot of time with them.

But the bigger part was that they all lived far away, and my dad seems to honestly have believed that "we" (mom and me and my brothers) didn't need that side of the family, because all his family was right there near us, so we had a family and didn't need another.

....family members who continue to engage in passive aggressive bullshit will be beaten with a wet noodle.

When I was a small child, maybe four or five, I was told by one of my grandmothers (some of you will likely figure out who was the instigator here) that I needed to learn to hold in my tummy, frequently accompanied by a flick of the fingers at my belly button as a reminder that I wasn't holding it in well enough.

First: Chocolate reduces likelihood of preeclampsia - so, apparently eating dark chocolate is still good for you, and those who had 5 servings a week had a 69% less chance of the high blood pressure spikes of preeclampsia, which is a pretty serious complication in pregnancy.

*makes mental note to go in search of more chocolate to replenish the stashe at work*

*********

What's with people driving 15 mph below the speed limit in the center lane of a multi-lane interstate during rush hour?

*********

No phone calls from the family, so I'm going to take that as a positive sign for my uncle.

*********

this afternoon, both my mother and my brother have called to tell me that my uncle is in the hospital.

He has 8 broken ribs, some with multiple fractures, due to a fall. He's not that old either - younger than my mom, so I'd guess he's in his late 40's.

At any rate, apparently breaking a rib bruises your lungs. The more you break, the more bruising, and thus the more swelling. The more swelling, the harder it is to breathe.

Needless to say, at 8 ribs with multiple fractures, the risk of complications is quite large. My uncle was taken to the hospital this weekend due to difficulties breathing; they ended up putting him on a ventilator and jacking the O2 sat up pretty far.

Migraines suck, especially when there's nothing over-the-counter that one can take for them. Luckily an impromptu trip to my favorite massage therapist helped greatly, though I hurt like hell today after yesterday's massage.

My head is still a bit fuzzy today, and my blood sugar keeps crashing, but I think I will be ok.

Note to self: ask the OB for a script for something safe to take; this is the second migraine I've missed work for in the last 3 months, and it wasn't pleasant.

*****

Off to a wedding shower tomorrow afternoon. Don't really want to go, but it's for the daughter of some of Barry's cousins who've always been really good to us.

*****

Growing up, a salad was a bowl with a handful of torn iceberg lettuce, a torn-up slice of American cheese, home made French dressing, and if we were lucky, either croûtons or crispy chow mein noodles.

Typical salads at our house now are romaine lettuce (sometimes with other greens), tomatoes, shredded cheddar (and sometimes a nice sprinkle of shredded Parmesan), pecans, dried cherries, croûtons, and a much better home made French dressing.

Just strikes me as a really odd thing to think about, but it's the little things that make life now what it is.