Melancholy

I'm feeling a bit melancholy today.

A couple of things happened, including a heartbreaking loss on the football field by Curly's team. It's hard to believe that for most of us, the football season is over. Only Taco's team won their game today and they will be advancing to the finals next week.

Cheering a few weeks ago

That means cheer is over for my cute Baby Doll as well. She cried this morning when I told her she wouldn't be able to go to the football game because she had Nutcracker rehearsal. Her cheer coach has promised to help her with more tumbling in the future, but it is not the same.

The Dog Walker had the day off for the ward party tonight so he could help with the setup. Attendance was light and somewhat disappointing for all of us. Our ward is different. We have new blood in part of it, but  my street is mostly empty-nesters and even those keep leaving us and moving out. It's not like the good ol' days when we moved in and there were so many kids you could hardly make your way through the gym to the dessert table.

Most notably missing was Puppy Lover, Dog Walker's wife. She has been struggling and felt that maybe she needed to spend a little time with her own family. The Dog Walker is pragmatic and although he misses her, he insists that they love each other and this is simply a chance for her to feel better and she will be home with us soon. Her parents are still driving her all this way so she doesn't lose her job, and that is encouraging. She has been gone for a little over a week now and we are all feeling the winds of change.

Hopefully November will bring us all a little more stability.... and basketball...

Guest Blogger: Another Amazing Display by Dog Walker

I don't know what to say on this blog. You all pretty much know that I have been making this display every Halloween and all the neighbors love seeing it. I'm hoping that on Halloween, a lot of the children from different neighborhoods would come trick-or-treating at our house and let them go around it. Happy Halloween!

Moments in the NICU: Baby Beluga by Bossy

Did you see that article about the mama killer whale in Seattle who carried her baby for 17 days after it died shortly after delivery?  It made national headlines on day two of her carrying the corpse and that is when I realized Skittles was our little white whale. 

If you recall, Skittles was large for a preemie, 7lbs 13 oz.  And the photos Gamer took of him at delivery make him look closer to 18 lbs. That is because both Skittles and I gained a dangerous amount of water weight during the third trimester.  I hadn’t realized just how bad my swelling was until I lost most of the water weight and felt like a normal human. 

I tend to cowgirl up and power through pain or discomfort.  So the signs of pre-eclampsia were unnoticed and my blood pressure always appeared normal at the doctor’s office.  The delivery pictures of Skittles are a testament to how much I need to pay better attention to my body. 

Well before the blog, my kids have an animal nickname assigned to them. When Mom started her blog, I didn’t want to use those family nick names. Taco is my monkey because he would stick his toes in my ribs during the pregnancy and he always turned himself upside down to hang off the couch as a baby. Burrito became monster (I think Gamer assigned that because of his colic). When Cat Woman joined us it was natural that she was our kitten. Bean Dip has always been a hairy Gorilla. Even Chips (Shark) and Salsa (Lion) were assigned animals when they joined. Calder became our Caldersaurus.
 
One thing each of my kids has is an Usbourne “That’s not my ____” book that is their animal. (Except for Chips and Bean Dip, please Osbourne, I need a shark, gorilla, and a whale book.) Holding Skittles, crying over a mourning mama killer whale, I began to miss my Calder, Chips and Salsa. I starting thinking about Salsa and how much he loved to sing Baby Beluga he learned at preschool. In that moment I thought Skittles really looked like a little white whale in his post-delivery pictures. 

I looked down at my now tiny, normal looking baby and began to sign Baby Beluga to him.  He snuggled deeper into my chest.  This was the start of both the NICU singing and the beginning of singing Baby Beluga to Skittles as a lullaby to get him to go to sleep. The next night, Gamer joined me on speaker phone singing to his son. I wish Salsa was around to sing to Skittles. I know he would have loved being a big brother.

Happy (really late!) Birthday, Baby Doll

I have a story for you. So way back before Baby Doll and Curly went off track in September, I gave her a stack of invitations for her birthday party on September 25. Sadly, she got nervous and only managed to hand out one of them to one of her two best friends before all of the kids went home to spend 3 weeks with their families.

I was not happy. I already had things bought for her party favor bags and games planned. We almost didn't have a party at all!

But then I remembered how important it was to turn 8, and I relented. After off track was over, we took the already printed invitations and added a sticker with the new date of October 23 (almost a whole month later!). Then I visited her school and together we invited her entire class to her birthday party that is now the week before Halloween.

The end of summer party we had planned had to be changed! Fortunately for me, Teach had a class party last week and they played some super fun fall party games. The treat bags had to stay the same, but we changed out all the games. And even though we had a rainout right in the middle of the party, and we brought everyone inside, the kids had a great time and more importantly, Baby Doll was happy.

So Baby Doll, one last time and two weeks late, Happy Birthday!!