*James has been full-on potty-trained with peeing. Yay for pee in the potty! He wears underwears (the "s" is there on purpose) all day long and even when we go out. So far, though, we have not visited a potty while out. So, he's had mostly familiar toilets to visit.
*Natalie has been doing so so good. I am in such awe..scratch that..WE are in such of awe of this little kid words can't quite express it. She has been using less and less Ibuprofen throughout the day, takes 2 really good stretches of "no air" time (no oxygen) and does great. This is allowed, in case I forgot to mention. The rule is that she has to be up and about, playing and all. If she wants to sit and watch a movie, for example, the "air" goes back on. She rarely has purple spells while we do that and when we catch it, it goes back on regardless of the screaming. Natalie has been sleeping well this week, has pretty much given up naps for good we think (sob), but hey, she's not a baby anymore and soon to be 3. It has to happen at some point.
*Natalie is also on one dose of lasix a day now instead of two. We were told to start this during this week but gave it a shot last Saturday. She has done very very well. We started it a bit earlier since she kept waking up at night soaked in ..well..you know.
*Natalie is also SCAB FREE. This is huge. HUGE. She now only has new, purple/pink scars on all 3 tube sites and chest. Absolutely amazing.
*The kids both had colds last week but we really lucked out. Seriously, someone up there is looking out for us.. the colds were small head colds with a little congestion. No biggie. As a precaution, I took Nat to see the pediatrician to be sure everything was okay and she was just fine. "Lungs are nice and clear" they said. And that was awesome. Rick and I have yet to catch yet. I honestly don't think we will.
*We've been getting out of the apartment more and more now. Oh my gosh..it really does lift the mood. There's nothing like having cabin fever when it's 50 degrees and sunny out. We went to the playground today and James even rode his tricycle the whole way and back. Natalie had the chance to swing and slide down (with me holding her) down the slides. It's exactly what we needed. Yesterday we played in the 2 INCHES OF SNOW OHMYGOD. Seriously, you mid-Atlantic(ers?).. it was 2 inches of pure hell. ha....ha....
*Everyone we know and keep in touch with on the East Coast seem to be doing really well dealing with the "SNOWMAGGEDON 2010" (said in my most deep voice "movie preview style") Not since weather record keeping has begun has the that area of the world seen that much white stuff. Caaarazy.
*Seriously, what is up with us moving to Denver at the most perfect time? Of course, as I type that, I should knock on wood.
*We are getting back enough with our tax returns to afford our bankruptcy. Very bittersweet that situation. But at least we can afford to go bankrupt. Now we're searching for good attorneys who specialize in our type situation.
*We get to move out of our crappy apartment in 3 months!!!! I've actually begun saving boxes already. Oh it feels good to type that.
Now that's out of the way let's mention some of the bad (just not as good) stuff:
*James absolutely positively most annoyingly refuses to put a turd in the potty.
I swear, no amount of bribing, attempts at our excitement of the idea, or reminders of the acquiring of "the" prize (the big boy bike) has made him think differently. He, at least, tells us when he's saved his prize for us in his pull-up. And he'll wait all day long to do it too..just in time for his night time pull-up...and just as annoying, just in time for the night time wrap-up of our routine. After the bath of course.
*Natalie has been super clingy since the surgery. Now, hear me out: we expected this. We aren't mad. We aren't upset. We're just tired. I barely remember much else of all last week. Total sleepy blur. I do remember The Screaming. And tired of the screaming when we go a split second away from her eyesight to do anything. It has to be on her terms when she leaves the room and is away from us. Part of it is the 2 year attitude where most things result in screams and tears, but the other part of it is sheer anxiety for the poor kid. I spoke to her coordinator today for her physical progress and even she agrees with me: that Natalie just may need time to adjust and time to be reminded that everything is okay. We agree that it may be too early to tell if there is a full-fledge anxiety issue. It's a watch and wait situation, where if things aren't improving by her 3rd well checkup in a few months, I'll bring it up again and have her see a therapist.
*Last week was a hard week. A week full of no one sleeping well. The colds didn't help but for some reason, despite the sleepy effects of Benadryl, more bribing, and me praying outloud, Natalie just wouldn't sleep. We were lucky to get her to have a 7-8 hour period of night rest and she would still refuse her nap. But this week has been off to a great start, so bringing this up may not even matter.
*James has been ...ugh... kind of acting a bit like a jerk on most days. After getting some advice on this, and me getting my head out of my butt, we came to the conclusion that James just misses school. He begins again next Tuesday.
*Getting James to and from school has been an issue since he began. The school he goes to is about 5 miles away and with one car and a bus line for me to sort out, we spend at least 2 hours a day (Natalie and I mostly) going back and forth for his 3 hours of schooling. This runs us about $8 a day, $32 a week..so I'm in the process of trying to beg someone to at least get him there or pick him up, to cut down the bus travel. This location wasn't our first pick and we have a preschool, I kid you not, a few blocks away from our apartment. In walking distance. Because that particular "city" is different, but yet in the same county as us, he can't attend that one. Very crazy. But we'll just take this one week at a time. "If" we have to pull him out do to the distance issue, and with us probably moving to that "city" in the spring, we can probably get he and Natalie signed in for that preschool. If we get an apartment where we're thinking of, the school is across the street. LOL You just can't get any better than that.
..and now I realize that this section of "bad stuff" isn't too bad. Hmm..
Alrighty..the "meh" stuff (and yes, I like "quotes"..I'll get help someday:
*James has a very vivid imagination. As I've mentioned many time before. And now his latest thing is to tell me a story about "My brother..." and "When I went to see my big brother...." I asked him what he means, he just on and on about a story of him and his big brother doing something fun, etc. I asked him if he wants a little brother and he says "yes" but honestly, I think he just wants a big brother.
James, sweetie... I can't help you with that. Especially the big brother part. Like I said, he misses school. And also, the baby factory is closed for good now, so he's really not going to like that.
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