2013 is a year that I am happy to be done with. Many amazing things happened. We became home owners. The kids grew so much, see video above. I learned a whole new skill set at work. We got to see Kathryn and Erena. Licia did her marathon. I got to see my favorite author. We went to the White House Easter Egg Roll. Aunt Pammy started gestating new baby Kaleb!
On the other hand it was a year of stress and MRSA and abscesses and panic attacks and frightening painful medical procedures and conditions. It was a year of loss, of Alzheimer's and of funerals. It was a year of scary job layoffs and friends in trouble and family with cancer scares. I hope never to have a year like it again.
The video above was created automatically by google for me, by combing through my back-up pictures. It makes me feel better about the year as a whole. Mostly I feel a bit brutalized by 2013 though.
I didn't do a proper Christmas post.
It was a great Christmas for the kids but I have been so sick lately that it was a little bit of a blur for me.
They loved all their presents with a sweet sincerity that illustrates the Christmas is for kids idiom perfectly.
Shortly after Christmas Kiernan had his final dental procedure. This one was to clean up the last cavity and to put in a spacer in the spot where they removed his tooth in the first visit. We weren't expecting it to be a big deal. The extraction had been painless and smooth and the fillings there after had been no problem at all. In fact, he likes his dentist so much and we do too, that we were looking forward to it...sort of.
Apparently we were foolish to blow this one off as a nothing appointment. putting in that spacer was horrible. He cried out and struggled in a heartbreaking way. They kept talking to him and he was so good and so obedient but also clearly in pain and fear.
He was disoriented and unhappy when they finished. As soon as they left the room he let down his tiny manly stoicism and cried like his heart was broken. These were big wracking sobs and clinging that lasted for an hour and a half.
My poor poor boy.
He is fine now but the spacer bothered him for several days and he told me that he doesn't want to be a cyborg anymore. We have been referring to his silver tooth as a cyborg tooth and he feels that dentistry is no longer an adventure to be cherished.
As you can see from the pictures his hair was getting a bit shaggy so as part of our lets get out of the house in this cold weather routine, I decided to take the kids to cartoon cuts. Megan's hair wants to tangle all of the time and Kiernan usually prefers his hair short.
I wasn't sure about getting her a hair cut because her curls are just so cute but she needed her bangs out of her eyes one way or another.
They loved their haircuts and they loved their lollipops.
Here is Mr. Fauxhawk illustrating for me what exactly is so wonderful about his father. There is something about this picture that screams primal animal parenting.
Speaking of good dad pictures. Here is a shout out to Mr. Yoshi teaching his girl to get around!
Throughout the holidays my anxiety levels were very high especially when I tried to eat. My stomach was upset and I was dizzy and every time I swallowed I felt like gagging. It sucked!
I went to the Dr. because I was feeling so faint and sick and had dropped steadily in weight to 114 lbs.
I am happy to say that I was able to see the Dr. who originally saw me for the panic attack back in October. She struck me even then as very sympathetic. I wanted to ask her, 'Please just help me." , and in effect that is what I did.
She told me that I was severely dehydrated. My heart rate went from 76 lying down to 112 standing up and my faintness and some of my dizziness was coming from that. She told me to go get some electrolyte drinks and to drink at least 8 oz and hour for the next 6 hours. She said if I didn't feel better by then to go to an urgent care center or an emergency room for IV fluids. She also upped my Prozac dose to knock down the anxiety.
On the way home I grabbed a bunch of pedialyte. I drank lots and lots and felt slightly better so I tried the higher dose of the Prozac too. That evening was New Years Eve and we set off some fireworks and wore party hats and hit a pinata.
I felt dreadful. I went to the ER and drove around their parking lot thinking about how crowded ERs get on New Years and about how I didn't feel justified in taking a bed. I went back home and tried to get some sleep.
I slept not a wink. Every time I closed my eyes the room started spinning and I couldn't keep anything down not even ginger ale. So in the morning off to the ER I went.
2 Liters of IV fluids later I went home.
A big thank you to Chris and Pammy for coming up to hang out with the kids on no notice on New Years day to cover for us!
I drank all day and felt a bit better again and tried cutting back on the Prozac again and taking it in the evenings, on the advice of the Internet. This was supposed to help me sleep through the side effects but unfortunately meant another night of no sleep and dizziness.
When I went back to the Dr. she put on my chart "cannot tolerate Prozac" she asked what I wanted to do next. I said that I would like to try no medication. She asked me to see a counselor and a gerontologist and to keep her informed about how I was doing. I will see them this week but since getting off the meds I have gained weight and felt so much better. I am still pushing fluids because She said I am still dehydrated but much less so. Progress progress everywhere. I am very happy with my Dr. and I am nervous about how the therapist thing will go.
Meanwhile back at the lake...
I didn't go to work last week. I was too sick and too in the ER and finally on Friday when I was feeling a bit better the kids got sick. So instead we concentrated on calm home things.
We made masks and read stories.
We painted and cleaned and worked more on Megan's room.
Check out these shoes!
I took mom to the re-store and she found some great cabinets for only 25$ each. I also found some flooring that I really like.
Behold Megan's new chair and big girl bed.
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On Saturday night as we were watching Sherlock Holmes with Judy we heard a terrific bang. We thought it might be Megan falling out of bed but when I went to check she was cuddled in just fine.
The next morning however Kiernan came down the stairs on his butt and scooted along the floor telling me his knee hurt and he couldn't walk.
I hoped he was playacting but by 2-3 hours and a big breakfast later.. and having to be carried to and helped in the bathroom we knew that he was not playing around.
We decided to take him to the Urgent care center for an exam of his knee. We knew it was going to be icy and rainy but we had no idea how treacherous the driveway would get.
In the center of this photo is Kiernan's phone. Can you see it? This is the result of the crash of David onto Kiernan on the driveway. David killed his wrist and poor Kiernan got landed on and his head banged into the driveway.
On the other hand look at this healthy happy knee with no break.
My theory now is that the bang was Kiernan kicking/kneeing the wall in his sleep.
The Dr. said it was a deep tissue thing and to give him ibuprofen. I am happy to report that our big boy walked down the stairs this morning and said that his knee felt much better.
In other good news.
Check it out back up to 120 yesterday!!!!
Wish me continued luck and progress!
Happy New Year and welcome 2014!
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