Catching Up.......
Dec. 29th, 2002 03:38 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
senoritafishI hope everyone had a very happy holiday. I meant to post something earlier, but whenever I was able to get on here, LJ would not let me do anything except comment.
Heh, Gareth just climbed in my lap, adamantly stated "I'm not tired," and promptly fell asleep. Angus is watching Wolf Quest, which has been on quite a few times, but i'm suprised I actually like some of the music from. A quiet moment so maybe I catch up a little.......
John is a wreck. A few weeks ago, he pulled something in his right elbow, and it hasn't been healing as well as it should. Over the weekend, he had a coughing fit, and some how managed to break a blood vessel in his right thigh. He acquired a gigantic bruise there, about 5" across, which made it hard to walk. Then on Christmas Day, he was busily preparing dinner, when he saw the neighbor and dashed to the back door to ask him if we needed to move the car so he could have more room. Unfortunately, my dad had spilled some water out of the dispenser in the pantry and negected to clean it up. John stepped in it and twisted his right ankle, so now that's sprained. I was going to work on Thursday, but John needed to keep off his ankle, and he couldn't move his arm at all, so I took the day off,
Luckily, he had a Dr. appointment yesterday. The doctor took a huge needle, drained lfuid off John's elbow, and injected some cortisone, then gave him a shot of Demerol for the pain. Then he looked at the bruise and the ankle, and said "Man, those must have hurt!" and that was about it (I thought he would have at least given him a splint to immobilize it a bit). However, he was concerned that John had gotten so many injuries at once, so he going to do some blood work to see if there isn't something going on that's making John more susceptible to injury.
He was feeling pretty wonky when I called him from work, but by the time John picked me up it had worn off and he was in a lot of pain. However, he insisted on driving home. His elbow hurt every time it moved, but he thoiught if he was driving, he could predict better the movement and be better prepared for it (Rolls eyes - Damn masochistic men!)
Xmas Eve
Christmas was stressful, but mostly fun. My brother invited us up for Christmas Eve, and made us Cornish game hens and roasted veggies. I had Avalon wear the sweater he made her, so he could see what it looked like - it's still a little too big but he was tickled nevertheless. He showed us that Cassandra Peterson (Elvira) had sent him a Christmas card thanking him for the evening bag he made for her. It was pretty funny - it showed her in her Elvira costume with Tammy Faye Baker dressed as an angel, covering up her cleavage with her hand, both with shocked looks on their faces. Dinner was very tasty, but the boys ate hardly anything (as usual) and we forgot the little portable high chair for Avalon, so I had to hold her in my lap.
I love visiting my brother, but with all three kids it's an exercise in endurance. He gave Angus and Gareth stuffed monsters, and the rest of us a CD full of mp3s of old radio shows. John got the old soundtrack to the Haunted Mansion (an LP I remember having as a kid), Dad got BBC shows of Horatio Hornblower and he gave me the Chronicles of Narnia, also by the BBC. I think he got them from www.radiomemory.com. I felt bad we didn't have anything for him, but we'd run out of money by that time and I was planning to get him something in January. He gave me a box of slides and told me if I scanned them for him, that would be present enough. Goody, so I can get copies of some of his pictures.
We watched Mulan on his housemate's Home Theater System; it was pretty awesome. I have a copy of the video, but we had only seen it on our tiny 9" screen in the kitchen. Quite the difference! As we were getting ready to leave, his neighbors knocked on the door. "Can we come in? We've got no power!" - apparently the power was out on only one side of the buliding. They had been to two parties, and come home to find their condo completely dark - whereas Doug's unit had no problem. We didn't get home til after midnight, and since we hadn't wrapped any presents, we used the lazy way of putting everything in bags and stockings. John had said he was going to wrap stuff one evening, but hadn't quite got to it.
Xmas....
Since we got home so late the night before, mercifully the kids didn't wake up too early. They were playing with the ambulance and paramedic trucks my dad had given them. I got up and started coffee, and we watched while they dug through their bags. Angus was very happy with his Hot Shot Transformer. Although the TV series doesn't do much for me (nor did it when it was firston in the 80's) I have to say I find him rather fascinating myself - I got rather hypnotized and changed him back and forth from a sports car to a robot several times before Angus demanded him back. We'd been playing with him mor more than an hour before I read the instructions properly and we discovered he has a little missle that shoots out of his rear axle (On rereading that last sentence, I realize it sounds really weird. So, before you get any scatological notions, that rear axle is over his head when he's in robot form). He also came with a little guy who transforms into a helicopter (named Jolt), and activates the missle mechanism when he's attached. It's suprising how well articulated they are.
John got a copy of " The Worse Case Scenario Handbook," (not much I know, I need to get him something else too), which he's wanted for a while, and he gave me a glass candleholder shaped like a fish (which I love, but candles set off his asthma), and a Harmony Kingdom treasure jest. I've been collecting these thingies since we got married and he found one that's retired! Titled "Catch a Lot" it's apparently a comment on the whaling industry. I love these things, they are so detailed (a fish and a bottle floating in the water, a sign on the door of the wheelhouse saying "No Milk"). Each one has a mouse sculptured on it somewhere, and it's always fun to try and find them on first glance. This mouse on this one was so tiny I had a hard time finding it. I have six of them so far. I'm thinking I will get John this one because he loves penguins.
As usual, I was behind on cleaning, and wasn’t done when John’s mom and sister-in-law arrived. I felt really depressed it was in such a state. Helen initially thought I was mad at her - now why would I be mad at her?
But they both hugged me, and told me, Look, we’re family, and we don’t care what your house looks like. John’s mom really thinks its John’s responsibility for the housework, since he’s at home the most, but I know that just watching the kids doesn’t leave a lot of time for home maintenance. I don’t know how other people with kids under five do it. It’s a full time job just picking up - and of course my father is quick to point out what lousy housekeepers we are, though he doesn’t do much himself, except load the dishwasher.
John’s mom suggested going to the L.A. Zoo over the weekend or next Monday or Tuesday, when I have the day off. That sounds like fun - the last time we were there was the day after the 4th of July, when I was pregnant with Gareth. It was about 100° and we had to carry around a water spray bottle for Angus, because he kept getting overheated. Should be much nicer when it’s cooler, although I don’t know how well John will be able to get around. Maybe we can rent him a wheelchair (Ha!, like he'll go for that!).
Heh, Gareth just climbed in my lap, adamantly stated "I'm not tired," and promptly fell asleep. Angus is watching Wolf Quest, which has been on quite a few times, but i'm suprised I actually like some of the music from. A quiet moment so maybe I catch up a little.......
John is a wreck. A few weeks ago, he pulled something in his right elbow, and it hasn't been healing as well as it should. Over the weekend, he had a coughing fit, and some how managed to break a blood vessel in his right thigh. He acquired a gigantic bruise there, about 5" across, which made it hard to walk. Then on Christmas Day, he was busily preparing dinner, when he saw the neighbor and dashed to the back door to ask him if we needed to move the car so he could have more room. Unfortunately, my dad had spilled some water out of the dispenser in the pantry and negected to clean it up. John stepped in it and twisted his right ankle, so now that's sprained. I was going to work on Thursday, but John needed to keep off his ankle, and he couldn't move his arm at all, so I took the day off,
Luckily, he had a Dr. appointment yesterday. The doctor took a huge needle, drained lfuid off John's elbow, and injected some cortisone, then gave him a shot of Demerol for the pain. Then he looked at the bruise and the ankle, and said "Man, those must have hurt!" and that was about it (I thought he would have at least given him a splint to immobilize it a bit). However, he was concerned that John had gotten so many injuries at once, so he going to do some blood work to see if there isn't something going on that's making John more susceptible to injury.
He was feeling pretty wonky when I called him from work, but by the time John picked me up it had worn off and he was in a lot of pain. However, he insisted on driving home. His elbow hurt every time it moved, but he thoiught if he was driving, he could predict better the movement and be better prepared for it (Rolls eyes - Damn masochistic men!)
Xmas Eve
Christmas was stressful, but mostly fun. My brother invited us up for Christmas Eve, and made us Cornish game hens and roasted veggies. I had Avalon wear the sweater he made her, so he could see what it looked like - it's still a little too big but he was tickled nevertheless. He showed us that Cassandra Peterson (Elvira) had sent him a Christmas card thanking him for the evening bag he made for her. It was pretty funny - it showed her in her Elvira costume with Tammy Faye Baker dressed as an angel, covering up her cleavage with her hand, both with shocked looks on their faces. Dinner was very tasty, but the boys ate hardly anything (as usual) and we forgot the little portable high chair for Avalon, so I had to hold her in my lap.
I love visiting my brother, but with all three kids it's an exercise in endurance. He gave Angus and Gareth stuffed monsters, and the rest of us a CD full of mp3s of old radio shows. John got the old soundtrack to the Haunted Mansion (an LP I remember having as a kid), Dad got BBC shows of Horatio Hornblower and he gave me the Chronicles of Narnia, also by the BBC. I think he got them from www.radiomemory.com. I felt bad we didn't have anything for him, but we'd run out of money by that time and I was planning to get him something in January. He gave me a box of slides and told me if I scanned them for him, that would be present enough. Goody, so I can get copies of some of his pictures.
We watched Mulan on his housemate's Home Theater System; it was pretty awesome. I have a copy of the video, but we had only seen it on our tiny 9" screen in the kitchen. Quite the difference! As we were getting ready to leave, his neighbors knocked on the door. "Can we come in? We've got no power!" - apparently the power was out on only one side of the buliding. They had been to two parties, and come home to find their condo completely dark - whereas Doug's unit had no problem. We didn't get home til after midnight, and since we hadn't wrapped any presents, we used the lazy way of putting everything in bags and stockings. John had said he was going to wrap stuff one evening, but hadn't quite got to it.
Xmas....
Since we got home so late the night before, mercifully the kids didn't wake up too early. They were playing with the ambulance and paramedic trucks my dad had given them. I got up and started coffee, and we watched while they dug through their bags. Angus was very happy with his Hot Shot Transformer. Although the TV series doesn't do much for me (nor did it when it was firston in the 80's) I have to say I find him rather fascinating myself - I got rather hypnotized and changed him back and forth from a sports car to a robot several times before Angus demanded him back. We'd been playing with him mor more than an hour before I read the instructions properly and we discovered he has a little missle that shoots out of his rear axle (On rereading that last sentence, I realize it sounds really weird. So, before you get any scatological notions, that rear axle is over his head when he's in robot form). He also came with a little guy who transforms into a helicopter (named Jolt), and activates the missle mechanism when he's attached. It's suprising how well articulated they are.
John got a copy of " The Worse Case Scenario Handbook," (not much I know, I need to get him something else too), which he's wanted for a while, and he gave me a glass candleholder shaped like a fish (which I love, but candles set off his asthma), and a Harmony Kingdom treasure jest. I've been collecting these thingies since we got married and he found one that's retired! Titled "Catch a Lot" it's apparently a comment on the whaling industry. I love these things, they are so detailed (a fish and a bottle floating in the water, a sign on the door of the wheelhouse saying "No Milk"). Each one has a mouse sculptured on it somewhere, and it's always fun to try and find them on first glance. This mouse on this one was so tiny I had a hard time finding it. I have six of them so far. I'm thinking I will get John this one because he loves penguins.
As usual, I was behind on cleaning, and wasn’t done when John’s mom and sister-in-law arrived. I felt really depressed it was in such a state. Helen initially thought I was mad at her - now why would I be mad at her?
But they both hugged me, and told me, Look, we’re family, and we don’t care what your house looks like. John’s mom really thinks its John’s responsibility for the housework, since he’s at home the most, but I know that just watching the kids doesn’t leave a lot of time for home maintenance. I don’t know how other people with kids under five do it. It’s a full time job just picking up - and of course my father is quick to point out what lousy housekeepers we are, though he doesn’t do much himself, except load the dishwasher.
John’s mom suggested going to the L.A. Zoo over the weekend or next Monday or Tuesday, when I have the day off. That sounds like fun - the last time we were there was the day after the 4th of July, when I was pregnant with Gareth. It was about 100° and we had to carry around a water spray bottle for Angus, because he kept getting overheated. Should be much nicer when it’s cooler, although I don’t know how well John will be able to get around. Maybe we can rent him a wheelchair (Ha!, like he'll go for that!).
