Things I know, don't know, or just plain want to talk about

I'm better from my venture into kidney stone induced hell but am not fully recovered. I can tell there's more of those little punks in there and they better get out soon.

I don't really know what corned beef is or how to cook it. But I have one doing something involving heat in my crock pot right now. The package said "Great for Crock Pots" then proceeded to include directions for essentially boiling it or roasting it. What's up with that? My wireless keyboard had dead batteries at the time and I couldn't look up suggestions online. I've since stolen camera batteries and included one of the "dead" ones and we seem to be typing now. I don't have the highest hopes for this slab of meat in the kitchen.

I know that money for education has to come somewhere but I wasn't expecting to have to pay a 45.00 "enrollment" charge to enroll my child in public school Kindergarten. Not sure how I feel about that one. Is this the norm for Kansas? Was Oklahoma the exception?

My gigantic child has outgrown almost all of his summer clothing in 3-6 month size and I've been on the look out for a few bigger things to get us through until it cools down. Why is it that not one single store in this entire town has a romper- not a onesie, in 6-9 month size left? There aren't even any ugly ones. There aren't even any that are full price. Daniel reminded me that people around here don't put clothes on their baby in the summer. They prefer the diaper only attire. Since I have seen several cases of this at the neighborhood Walmart I'm beginning to think that's part of it. Good thing we're headed to Wichita on Monday. Hopefully I'll have better luck there.

Have I mentioned that I read the first 2 books in the Twilight series? Well I did and read constantly for about a day and a half. not superior writing but an intriguing story. I'm thinking it's time for #3 even though I've heard reviews that say that #3 and #4 aren't good and are un-realistic. I forgot that vampires were realistic. My bad. It's entertainment people and I need my fix soon.

Kidney Stones=OMG!

I'm no kidney stone newbie. I know what those suckers are all about and I wholeheartedly agree more now than ever with the countless people who say they're worse then labor pains, gun shot wounds(although I can't speak from experience on this one), etc, etc. I had my first stone when I was pregnant with Kate and thought I was going into labor. It came on sudden and strong and was over quickly. My next was stronger but a similar story. The 3rd was even quicker, and the 4th known stone was a cake walk. When I had Aidan my epidural never took on one side and I felt the whole thing. By the time I was pushing the other side wasn't much better and I came to understand the expression "ring of fire" that women talk about during labor. I'd do all those over and have a child totally un-medicated before I want to go through what I went though in the wee hours of the morning Tuesday.

Back in 2007 a urologist did a C/T scan and found I had a large stone in my left kidney. He felt it was fine to leave it alone and said I'd never be able to pass it. Fast forward to 2009 and after being put in touch with a new urologist in town (since we had moved) I found myself once again having a C/T scan to check on the progress. The report came back that the stone had grown and was probably to blame for my random bouts of nausea, back pain, and that oh so lovely feeling of urgency only to produce very little. Every time it moved and blocked the exit out of my kidney I'd get these problems. His recommendation: Lithotripsy. You may remember my post about this procedure which essentially blasts the stones into "fine" grains of sand. Ha!

So this Monday arrived and despite having my surgery rescheduled 3 times I was on for 4:00 p.m.. I'd had my last meal, watched my family eat the world's tastiest french fries in front of me, had the nervous-wreck pangs, and was on my way with Daniel to the surgery center to be there at 2:00 for all the fun pre-surgery crap.

I arrived and got all the papers signed and waited. The lady next to us informed us immediately that she had been there since 7:30 and her daughter just now was getting in for her surgery. Daniel said she didn't look pleased when they called my name right on time and took me back. But as I knew from previous experiences, just because they call your name, doesn't mean the show is about to start. Of course they made Daniel wait until I had the lovely gigantic hospital gown on, IV started, and yet another x-ray completed. How many of those do they really need? Couldn't they just look at the one I had done last week? I got the obligatory "Do you feel safe at home?" and "Is there any chance you might be pregnant?" question to which I responded I would hope not since I have a 3 month old. I'm not sure one of the nurses thought I was that amusing.

Daniel came in, we watched a little TV, the strange anesthesiologist came in and talked to us, as did the Dr. who had apparently grown more of a personality, and by some miracle I was being wheeled back for surgery right at about 4:00. Wait!! Where was my "calming shot?" You know the one they're supposed to give you to make you not care about the fact that you're being put under and might not wake up. The one that makes you an instant comedian. No no. They thought I might enjoy being wheeled into the OR totally lucid and wanted to remember them strapping my arms down onto the table. They made me breathe in some oxygen for a couple minutes since I guess my asthma and history of breathing problems had them a little worried and then I decided to close my eyes and take a little nap.

I woke up in recovery and wasn't really in horrible pain. After some conversations with the nurse I was back to the post-op holding area and they let Daniel come in. I had some scrumptious toast and sprite and then the Dr. came in. Apparently my 1 giant stone was really 2 large stones that looked like they were one on the x-rays and they ended up blasting both of them. "One of them broke up pretty well. The other..." He didn't have to say it. I knew what he was saying with his eyes. "It broke up but not as much." "You may have some trouble as they're passing and sometimes the smaller fragments can clump up and cause a blockage." So essentially you have some extreme pain in your future. Fantastic.

Being the optimist that I am I decided to just drink tons of water and believe that it would all be fine. I left with a prescription for Lortab and was feeling good enough for dinner at IHOP. Oh IHOP. I won't ever be eating smoked sausage again. Let's just say it smells the same coming up as it does going in. Graphic enough?

We get home and... This is where if you're not into descriptions of bodily functions or pain stop reading. I mean it. The pain had begun in my back and I got that feeling that something might be stuck. Then I peed out sand and some smallish pebbles. Seriously- it looked like I'd spent some time in some sand dunes. I felt better but the pain in my back was still persistent. Around 10:00 I took 2 pain pills and hoped for the best. By 1:00 a.m. I was back in a hot bath willing 2:00 a.m. to get here so I could take more pain meds. I took them and the kidney stones basically laughed in their face.

That's where things get fuzzy and thoughts of drowning in the bathtub, not being able to reach my underwear or water, and general feelings that death was coming were the norm. At some point I called out for Daniel to come downstairs and the poor guy stayed down there with me for most of the night. I think I begged him not to leave me because I was dying or at the very least was hyperventilating and thought I would pass out and hurt myself. I remember thinking there was no way I could go to the hospital because that would require moving and riding in a car and then I'd have to actually tell medical personnel what was wrong with me.

At another point the pain was so intense I threw up and felt better for maybe 30 seconds and then the severe pain in my back and side returned. There were moments of sleep I think. Perhaps I had just passed out. Somewhere in the 6:00 a.m. range Aidan woke up and some un-known strength came over me long enough to nurse him because if you've ever breastfed you'll understand that I needed to as much as he did.

Then I must have passed out again after Daniel took him away and the next thing I know Daniel's Mom who was staying with us is asking me if I want toast. I first realized I was better because the pain wasn't there in my back anymore and the thought of eating toast didn't disturb me.

The rest of the day I took it easy and had small bouts of back pain and feeling like I needed to pee- which under normal circumstances would have driven me crazy. But in this case I was glad for the change. Finally by Wednesday morning much of the evilness started coming out and the trouble maker finally made his appearance. He was a good size and it's easy to imagine how that guy might have caused some intense pain. So now essentially every time I go to the bathroom and pee into what they call a "hat" it's like a little treasure hunt. There's countless little shiny jewels coming out all day long. Fun for me!

So I'm currently doing fine and seem to have no ill effects from the actual procedure besides a little red spot on my back. Let's just hope there aren't any more big ones in there. Maybe I should call the ER and have some morphine on stand by just in case.

In the middle of it all

So since Daniel's family was here and his sister and her husband are Aidan's Godparents we had him baptized yesterday. We had a little lunch/party afterwards with sandwiches, rotel, little smokies (it's not a party if you don't have those), mini eclairs, veggies and dip, and the cutest little iced cross cookies again from Cheri's Bakery. I forgot to take a picture but trust me they were cute and tasty.

So here are some more pics from the day. Oh and true to tradition- Aidan decided that right as the Baptism was about to start was as good a time as any to poop his pants. I'm telling you if you want this kid to poop just wait until you're at church and it's nice and quiet.

Me, Daniel, Aidan, Stephanie, & Will before the Baptism started

He was probably getting ready to poop right about now

Getting Baptized

Kate & Caroline being cute of course

Us with Daniel's Parents

Birthdays should be tres tres fancy

So I pulled off the Fancy Nancy Soiree. I was pleased with how it all turned out and although my daughter has her Father's anti-excitement gene she seemed to have a fun time.

Daniel's family came and the girls: Me, Kate, Daniel's Mom and Sister, and Kate's cousin Caroline all got fancied up and headed to a little tea room in town. We had a very delicious lunch complete with sorbet, muffins, little sandwiches, a brownie, a strawberry cake, and tea of course. It was all homemade and was very yummy.

Kate later said her favorite part of the tea room was the meat. They had little ham and cheese sandwiches and she apparently thought the meat was excellent. But of course what else would you expect from a tea room? She was begging for everyone's ham and the owner finally brought her a little plate out of just ham. I was thinking we could have saved money and just gotten her a plate of deli ham and said we were having a tea party. I think the rest of us enjoyed everything though.

What follows are ridiculous amounts of photos- there was too much cuteness not to take pics.

Here are Caroline and Kate ready to head to afternoon tea.

It was fun to try and buckle all the layers of skirt up not to mention the ridiculous amounts of feathers and glitter that were flying around.
Having a fantastic time.
Tea Room fun- She's smiling cause she gets more ham.
Our group

Lighting the candle on her cake

After tea outside our house

More fancy ladies

After tea she opened presents

Here is the kids table for our Fancy Nancy dinner party where at Kate's request we served roast, veggies, rolls, and salad
The adult table all ready for dinner
The Fancy Nancy cake complete with the Eiffel Tower, sunglasses, and a tiara. Thank goodness by the way I didn't think now was a good time to try and do something like this on my own. Thanks to Cheri's Bakery my sanity is intact.
You can tell Aidan was impressed with all the glitter and glam. I'm still finding glitter on the poor guy!

Another shot to try and even out the girl power on this post. Plus he's too cute not to post a pic of.

Birthday Party #1: check

I have a moment, an excuse for not getting off the couch so much, and my pain meds are working (so if anything seems off blame it on those guys)- so it's time to play catch-up. More on the pain meds and their neccesity in my life later. Once again let's pretend it's not this week but last week. Got it? OK...

So we traveled down to Oklahoma once more and got to hang out with my whole family. My brother and his wife came into town from Seattle and were impressed that blazing hot Oklahoma had significantly lower temperatures then back home. Apparently Seattle had some record breaking high temps going on and no one has air conditioning over there.

Anywho we hung out, chit-chatted and the like. There was a little late birthday dinner for my Mom at Cheesecake Factory and lots of discussing problems with Internet connections and satellites. Fun was had by all! We made our bi-annual trip into Stride-Rite (since we're not lucky enough to have one of those stores around here) and got Kate some new fancy tennis shoes for school and enjoyed my Parent's new house.

Since we were down there we went ahead and celebrated Kate's birthday Strawberry Shortcake style complete with a strawberry cake. Yummy! She got an easy bake oven from her Aunt and Uncle (did you know they still make those?) and this adorable table from my parents from Pottery Barn Kids. Love that place!

So enjoy some pics from me and some courtesy of my brother that I stole off of Facebook.

Kate ready for some pizza and presents
Fun with the Easy Bake Oven
Enjoying her new bubble wand
Aidan loves the Cheesecake Factory

Friday Five 6.0

Quick Aidan is still asleep and since I'm trying to be a better blogger and have 5 things floating around on my mind here we go...

1.) Although we had a rough week with waking up in the middle of the night again and being a little more grumpy then usual, my little punkin seems to have returned to his normal self. Last night he slept 9 hours! Yippee for him! I think he had a little virus or something last week and we're over it. He's peacefully napping now like a normal baby. Check out these pictures of his cuteness.

2.) I'm feeling at peace now over all my birthday related to-dos. We've got invitations sent out, all our table stuff aquired, the balloons will wait until the big day, cake is ordered, tea party reservations made, and menu is planned. We should be good to go. Now I just have to get my house in order. Anyone want to be hired to come take care of that? Anyone?

3.) We're headed back down to the land of waving wheat sweeping down the plains tomorrow. Aren't we already there? I guess Rodgers and Hammerstein couldn't come up with a good story about Kansas and "You're doin' fine Kansas, Kansas, OK" doesn't have the same ring to it. We'll have our little Strawberry Shortcake party and see these 2 strangers. I'm excited I haven't seen them since Christmas and they've never met Aidan. In case you don't know they're my brother and sister-in-law. They're living it up in Seattle and are just about to move into their first house. Hooray for them!

4.) All of Kate's summer fun classes are over. :-( for her and :-( for me. I kind of liked that time to run around and get stuff done without having to haul 2 kids in and out of places. But she'll be in Kindergarten before we know it and she won't be telling me all day how she doesn't want to eat or sleep because it's not so fun or is boring. She's a social butterfly and she needs someone to flutter around with besides Mom and a little monkey. But we'll enjoy our last month before she's a big girl and goes off to school all day. That really is :-(.

5.) Have I mentioned I want to go on a vacation? I'm thinking here...

Birthday craziness

So I've been busy this week planning Kate's birthday parties. Yes parties- as in we're sort of having 3 of them. Up first is the Strawberry Shortcake themed party at my Parent's house. Then we're doing it up fancy at our house with Daniel's family and are doing a Fancy Nancy themed party. Then on her ACTUAL birthday we're just having a low keyed party with the 4 of us. At Kate's request we're headed to a Japanese Steakhouse. Her choice not ours.

So in preparation for this Fancy Nancy extravaganza I've been obsessed with making it perfect. It has been stressing me out much more than it should and has occupied far too much time. Thank goodness the party at my Parent's house will be low-key. After much deliberation I realized that despite my desire to be a cake decorating genius- I don't need to tackle a 3-tier cake for the first time for my kid's 5th birthday. Therefore a quick call to a bakery in the city with a nice website and voila! One problem solved.

So next I decided that if you're going to have a fancy dinner party as part of your birthday celebration then you need fancy dishes. So again despite my desire to have loads of money and the ability to just go out and buy perfect dishes- I opted for the thrift store approach. Why not use what you have you might ask? Because somehow I don't have 8 of one kind of plate that doesn't have green leaves on it. Not exactly a match for a party with pink and purple as the predominant colors. So there we are in what we refer to as a garage sale within the mall and I find 8 of this little gem.

The plate on the top stack had a sticker that said $9.00 each but none of the other plates had a tag. Some other stack of plates had a price tag on each plate. So I ask the teenage kid who's working and clearly doesn't care if it's really supposed to be $9.00 for the set. He guesses it is and I'm out the door plates in tow and the junk store is $9.00 richer. Apparently they should have been that price at least per dish. We did a little searching and discovered they're real bone china and have a real platinum trim. I'd say not too shabby of a deal.

I also found some really pretty and kind of old looking glasses at the Salvation Army. They were only $6.00 for 8 and after some re-arranging have found a new home in my china cabinet where they'll stay for safe keeping until the party. I'm guessing I didn't get as good of a deal on them but they'll do.

I finished up her invitation today- not that we really needed one since it's just family. Here it is...

I also found her a perfect birthday outfit to wear- assuming it gets here in time. After all this drama I started thinking about birthday parties when I was a kid. It surely couldn't have seemed like as big of an ordeal to my Mom and Dad as it seems to me every year for her parties. I blame the Internet.