7 Videos Later...

E came down with a fever yesterday that turned into croup last night. It was a long night. Her temperature spiked to 103.2, she was up crying, and gasping for air every hour. And that cough. If you've never been around a child with croup you can liken the sound of their cough to a barking seal, followed by them gasping frantically for air. The whole episode is a vicious circle, because they're upset and panicking with every cough, which makes the constriction in their air passages worse. And on top of it all she was complaining that her throat really hurt, she winced and kicked her little legs every time she swallowed her own saliva. It takes a lot to stay calm yourself, much less let yourself doze off until the next round. D and I took turns rocking her, and trying our best to soothe her, gently coaxing her back to sleep. I stared blurry-eyed at the computer screen searching for the signs of when to take her to the ER. We had the humidifier going full blast, vapo-rub out and I dabbed away at her hot little body with a cool washcloth all night long, all the while administering alternating doses of Tylenol and Motrin.

We made it through the night, barely. I called the pediatrician's office this morning, and we were seen right away. Because this wasn't the first time E's had croup this year the on-call doctor suggested that we give her an oral steroid to relieve her airways. This has done wonders, although the proof will be tonight, as croup typically gets worse at night and usually the 2nd and 3rd nights are worse than the 1st. We are hopeful that because we rarely give her medication that her body will respond to this well, and everything will be over soon.

In the mean time we spent most of today in front of the TV. As soon as we got home from the doctor's office, I made a quick trip to the library swiping up every possible video I thought E would watch (at one point I think I psyched out an 8 year old kid that was browsing next to me, we reached for the same colorful case at the same time and she quickly pulled back her hand sensing my intensity or insanity). So 7 videos later, here I am waiting for evening to fall and wondering what the next 24 hours will bring. Will she sleep unfettered, or sporadic, or will I make that dreaded trip to the ER?

Medical Update (2)

Everything is going just as it should according to my doctor. I feel like my medication has made my situation a tad better. I am having trouble sleeping at night though; if I fall asleep before Dave comes to bed and he wakes me, I'm then up for hours tossing and turning. But my throat seems to be less trouble in general, not as constricted. And hey, I even lost 3 pounds in the last 6 weeks, so healthier, right? Next appointment is in 3 months.

New Family

My brother's getting married. My brother is getting MA-RRIED. Gloria and he met in Reno. That's where she's from, and that's where the wedding will be. She's sweet, and seems to make Bennett happy. I haven't spent too much time with her, but am looking forward having a new sister. And hey, she's a pediatric nurse! Gloria and her dad met us for dinner tonight on the Edmonds' waterfront, it was a leisurely meal of seafood and light conversation over-looking the marina on Puget Sound.

The Graduate

So after 4 weeks of the Parent/Tot class at our local pool, E has graduated to the (as we call it) Big Girl Swim Class. 5 kids, and as luck would have it our beloved Casey as the instructor. It's a laugh riot watching all these kids work up the courage to plunge their face in the water, or try and completely relax their bodies for back floats. She's doing great and loving every minute of it. She regularly turns around to beam at me for recognition on a job well done. The best part is, I don't have to get in the water! This was especially great yesterday when it was raining and the wind was kicking up clouds of steam from the pool. All the kids were shivering and blue-lipped but laughing and carrying on as if it were 80 degrees instead of the chilly 64 it was. This was in deep contrast to the grumpy parents that were gathering under the sun umbrellas or flopping towels over their heads to duck out of the constant drizzle.

(kicking her little heart out)

Orderly

David's parents just left after about a week long visit. I keep a clean home, it's not always neat, but it's clean. Well, you know how when your relatives come the house must be cleaned AND neat, even if they don't care, it enables you to relax and enjoy their visit all the more. Well, for this particular visit all the common areas were tidied. The kitchen and bathroom scoured, the carpets vacuumed and all other surfaces dusted and scrubbed. However, I didn't quite make it to our room and the office (our dumping grounds) before they arrived. So yesterday during naptime I recruited Dave to help in the bedroom. So much stuff had accumulated; toys, piles of clean folded laundry that hadn't been put away, the books were all askew on the shelves, Dave's tour luggage was heaped in a corner, even (dare I say) various paraphernalia from a wedding I was in this last March was still out on my dresser. Yikes! Well, yesterday we cleaned, tossed, organized and it feels so good! I can walk from the side of my bed to the door without tripping on a Lego tower, or the leaning tower of folded laundry! This task has been nagging at me for weeks and weeks and in only an hour we were liberated. Now, onto the office...

Lavender

(summer 2004 pregnant @ purple haze)

(summer 2005 itty-bitty @ purple haze)

This spring I ordered 6, 4" lavender plants from Purple Haze. I have visited this farm many summers running and thought I'd like to have a little here on this side of the water. Well my plants love their new home and have produced and grown more than expected. We cut our first harvest this morning, and placed them in a vase by our front door. Heavenly.

(summer 2007 helper @ home)

Goodbye Pedro Van

We waved a relieved, but nostalgic goodbye this cool and rainy morning as our broken down van was hauled away from our side yard. I'm sure our neighbors are happy to see it go, and we finally have our yard back! It had been sitting in that spot for almost one year, and slowly growing that green moss all over (inside and out). It served us well though, we'd logged thousands of miles on that odometer from the many cross country tours over the last few years. And we never rented a moving truck for our last move, just loaded up it's belly a bunch of times. In fact E graduated from a rear facing carseat to a front facing one in that van. Lot's of memories, a lot of you probably rode in it or drove it too. Goodbye old gray van.

CPR

Just a little reminder for those/us with children. Re-familiarize yourself with your CPR and Child Safety training, and if you haven't taken anything I would recommend it.

Today while I was at the Green Lake wadding pool with another mom friend of mine and her two girls (2 yrs and 11 mos) her youngest started choking on a small piece of watermelon. Lisa (mom) panicked and froze, screaming for me to help poor Kate who was quickly turning purple and clearly panicked herself. I jumped up, scanned my brain for the correct positioning for an infant and was able to dislodge the food. Scary stuff you guys, and it could easily happen to any one of us. Especially with this summery weather it's easy for us to get distracted and I think we get lax about having our kids sit while they're eating. Take the time/spend the money to take a class, it saves lives. I haven't taken a class in 5 years or so, but this stuff sticks with you.

The Red Cross offers classes all over the US, and you can get certified in one day, usually they offer evening classes too.

Weekend Consumers

This Saturday was filled with, well, shopping (all before noon, I might add). We started out the morning as usual down at our coffee shop for caffeine and treats, wandered around the Edmonds Farmer's Market and grabbed some amazing apricots. Then we were off to the mall. I had some weddings to buy for, um let's see, 4 in the next 6 weeks (3 on the same day right in the middle of our camping trip, 2 that I think we'll actually be able to pull off). Then over to Nordstrom to check out their selection of Crocs. I have been holding out for the last few years, but the mary janes, so cute. And I got E a matching pair. Now the Bazan's are fully outfitted in Crocs. Dave bought some earlier in the week, and E's been sporting a knock-off pair all summer but has practically worn a hole through the bottoms. I was originally complaining about spending $30 on shoes that she'll grow out of so quickly, but the anti-microbial and odor resistant material is enough to drop the cash on shoes she can get on and off by herself all summer long (and maybe next too).


Enough of the commercial.

After our quick mall excursion we called up the bike shop and found out E's bicycle was in. About a week ago we decided it was time for E to have a bike. We don't own one, but she's a whiz at the trike, and we decided to just bypass that, and go strait for the training wheels. D has turned into quite the bicycling enthusiast lately. He's logged tons of hours on the computer surfing between sites on internal hubs and whatnot, and this last week decided on one, and brought it home. Now he bikes to and from his studio that's about 12 miles away. Crazy I know. Anyhow what's so funny about E's bicycle choice is that she didn't want the classic pink or purple girly bike with the white tires, streamers and basket. She asked if they had a red one, the sales clerk gave her an approving nod and special ordered it for her. She's now got a matching helmet, red squeaky horn, and orange flag for the back. She's getting the hang of peddling, but at this point is more into punching at her horn or taking the flag off and waving it around...All in all, a good day.

Expiration Dates

(08 OCT 79)

(15 JUN 78)

(09 JAN 83)

H2O (a running theme)

It was record-breaking hot today in Seattle, 97. I just checked and it's 83.4 right now inside our house (yes, at quarter to 10pm). It makes me want to curl up on the floor in our garage. We have every window open, fans ablazing, it took El an hour and a half to fall asleep. She actually at one point got out of bed, made her way downstairs to slip her shoes on (all under Dave's radar as he was in the office on the computer), opened the front door to come and find me in the backyard (only wearing underwear and Croc's...her, not me) where I was watering the plants. She snuck up behind me and blurted out, "I'm done sleeping, I want to wake up and be with you out here." We're feeling it, us Northwesterners aren't cut out for this. I had her wadding pool filled, the sprinkler on, and she was slurping a popcicle by 9:30 this morning! Listen to me, it's one day, and I'm at my wits end! The only sane part of my day was getting into the pool with El for her lesson.

I need help remembering to drink water on these days (I can spend all day out in the yard tending to my flora and fauna, or shoving water cups in El's face, but for me, no), my fingers and ankles swell up, it's pathetic. At any rate, I was told long ago a good formula for how much water each of us should drink on an average day (obviously more on days like today).

Take your weight, say it's 100 (don't we wish)
Then divide in half, 50
That's how many fluid ounces of water a 100 pound person should intake each day (coffee, tea don't count, and soda further dehydrates you for heavens sake!).

Bottom's Up! And fingers crossed it's cooler tomorrow!

buyolimpia.com

I've been buying stuff from these guys for years now, and they're finally having a sale! Check it out!

Stick a Pin in it...

I mentioned before that I love summertime because you can hang your clothes outside after washing them instead of the dryer (which is usually one of the biggest consumers of energy in your home). They end up a bit stiff and slightly wrinkled, but smell great, and you save quite a bit of money. Another couple cool hints are: a) the combination of sun and the gas released by grass actually gets your whites whiter and b) your new summer clothes last longer (you know the ones you had to buy this year, because those darn capri's from last year just won't button...) because they aren't introduced to all that friction in the dryer! Here's to Summer!

A French Guest

We have made many dear friends via D's line of work, and Josselin is one. He hails from Toulouse, France and we met him in 2003 on Pedro's first European tour as he was the promoter of the show in his home town. He kindly put us up in his quaint flat for a few days, and his personality endeared us to him. So much so that we have kept in contact over these last 4 years. We were so happy to reciprocate the hospitality last Spring when he and his girlfriend, Sophie came to stay with us for a week or so. I love taking visitors around my beloved city, and we made some great memories! They kindly gave E a pair of rubber rain boots with red cherries on them and we talk about Jos and Sophie every time she wears them:

me - "What do Sophie and Josselin say to you?"
E - "Bonjour E!"


Anyhow, we were pleased to once again get a visit from our dear friend this weekend. We hopefully afforded him some time to relax and spend with this relatively quiet family, as he was taking a break from his 1 1/2 month college exchange program at Berkley.

Happy Independence Day

(outside Nama's)

(at our local 4th of July parade, photo by Ryan)

Take a Bow

Farewell to one of the better shows on television this season. Dave and I don't have TV reception here at the house, so we watch a lot of DVD's and anything we're really into we pay for on iTunes. NBC's Studio 60 was one such show. Although it only ran for 1 year, the plots were good, script was smart, and cast was, well, besides beautiful, the cast was well chosen. Really bummed it's over.