I've literally been trying to sit down to write every night for over a week, but have been too exhausted by the time I get the children to bed and/or finish the housework. Now I have to try to remember everything that has happened, when it would have been much easier to write it as it happened! So let's see ...
K passed his board exam, and I was thrilled that my days of single parenting were over with all the study days behind us. Then he started working longer hours.
He did get one weekend off, and we used the 80 degree sunny day to go to the park with a huge pile of duck bread, only to see signs everywhere that said we couldn't feed the fowl. Layth figured that didn't count, since it wasn't fowl we were trying to feed, it was ducks. We used the 40 degree rainy day to go on a
duck tour. We rode in a bus driven by a very energetic tour guide around Seattle, then the bus drove right into Lake Union and sailed around while we looked at houseboats and floating houses, and learned the difference between the two. We also finally rode Seattle's monorail, which the children loved.
Rayan had an EEG on Wednesday, and no one (myself included) could believe how good he was. Del, the pink-haired tech, came to get us from the waiting room and led us into the small hospital room where there were two other people (another tech and a student) waiting for us. I had an inexplicable sense of forboding when I walked into the room and a sense of panic that I fortunately quelled with my sense of reason. I realized later during the test when all was quiet that it had been very similar to walking into a small hospital room with three people waiting for me when I learned with certainty that Mina and Layla had died. I actually felt better knowing where the panic had come from and that it wasn't necessary in this situation.
Fortunately, there was a TV in the room and it just so happened that one of Rayan's favorites,
Curious George, was on, which, along with Bunny and a little thumb-sucking, helped keep him still and quiet. He was there for a total of one hour and fifteen minutes getting his scalp cleansed, electrodes attached, head wrapped, test performed, head unwrapped, electrodes removed, and head scrubbed. He was so good!! We don't expect anything other than a normal result, which we should get on Tuesday. We're just trying to rule out reasons for his delayed speech.
I've been to a pulmonologist a couple of times for this unrelenting cough and we're trying to beat it, but no luck yet. My gag reflex is overly sensitive since I'm pregnant, and though I've had no morning sickness, per se, the violent fits of coughing have often brought up my last meal, sometimes in very embarrassing situations. I've taken to carrying a little bag around with me in my purse and trying not to go out in public for very long.
We're trying to get Layth to stop pooping in his pants, and after lots of input from lots of sources, we're currently treating it as chronic constipation and feeding him lots of fiber, fruits, and juices. Sounds like the wrong plan for stopping poop, but it seems to be helping so far, so we'll see. Apparently with chronic constipation, small soft bits can slip past the hard blocking bits unchecked, so by ending the constipation, we end the leaks as well. At least that's the hope.
I realize these last two topics may be too much information for many of you. On to more pleasant things.
Babies! I definitely get all soft and mushy when I see tiny babies now, but I still don't feel like I'm really going to have one. I don't know if this is some kind of defense mechanism preparing me for all the bad things the genetic counselors tell me could happen at my age, or if it is just taking an abnormally long time to sink in, or if I'm just too scared to think about trying to handle four by myself with K working so much. I'm looking forward to feeling the first little butterfly kicks, because I think that will help!
After our 80 degree day last weekend, many people here were disconcerted to see snow last night and today, but I love it, of course. We caught snowflakes on our tongues on our way to breakfast this morning. I love that the weather can change so much, and that I don't have to have blinding sun all the time! There's a lot more of it in the summer, of course, but hopefully I can hide out in my shady, air-conditioned cave for the most part.
We'll be heading back to visit Texas for the Mina and Layla Butterfly Festival at the Dallas Zoo on Mother's Day weekend. Any readers in the area are welcome to come!
There are a couple of things I've noticed about Seattle that I've never seen anywhere else: the weather reports here make frequent mention of "sun breaks," which is like scattered sun in a day otherwise filled with rain, and signs on some sections of the highway that say "Apple Maggot Quarantine Area/Please do not transport home-grown tree fruit." Nice!
