A road trip in pictures

So this is what day one looked like:

We literally drove right into the storm.  Started out with sun in Durango, ended with 8 inches of snow and ice covering our wheel wells in Denver.  Thankfully there was a Red Lobster across the parking lot from the hotel - I wasn't driving any more last night!  The hotel had a special bed for Nina's American Girl doll waiting for us, along with a certificate for dessert and milk.  So while she enjoyed her drink and the chocolate peanut butter cupcake, Mommy had her own dessert...

Today we met with the GI specialist.  Nina has had 3 episodes of very intense, lower right side abdominal pain since May.  These episodes come on very suddenly, are very debilitating for her, and are usually accompanied by a low fever and general unwillingness to do anything that involves movement.  We had exhausted our resources in Durango, so her docs felt it was time to call in the big guns.  

Words cannot express how impressed I am by our doctor here.  He is patient, thorough, caring, sweet, gentle, loving... everything you hope for in a doc.  

And funny.  And slightly ADD.  Which meant he got along fabulously with us.

After our appointment we cruised up to the Museum of Nature and Science.  Seriously, if you're ever in Denver, you HAVE to visit this museum.  It's incredible.  They have a temporary mastodon and mammoth exhibit that we really wanted to see, and it did not dissapoint.  

After the mandatory mall break, we headed back to the hotel for some swim time and Face Time with the crew back home. Oh how I miss those precious faces! I know they are having fun, but it just feels weird to be apart. But I do love how technology can join this family of five together even when we are hundreds of miles apart.

Tomorrow afternoon we begin the "clean out" for her colonoscopy on Wednesday. Yes, my afternoon and evening will be poo. Lots and lots of poo. I'm really looking forward to that...

Here We Go Again

I'm sure someone will be mad I haven't talked about this trip before now.   But maybe I just didn't want to admit it was happening again.  Nina and I are in a hotel off I-70 in Denver, watching the Oscars and slowly relaxing.

Tomorrow we meet with a GI specialist.  Nina has had three episodes since May of very intense abdominal pain.  It's not her migraines.  She will tell you that this pain is very different.  And I (and her favorite ER doc) can tell that this pain is different.  We couldn't figure it out at home, so they have sent us to Denver in search of answers.

A part of me has an incredible sense of deja-vu.  Weren't we just here, trying to figure out why she was in pain?  Oh yeah, we were.  Three years ago, this month.

I wish I could take this pain away from her.  I wish I could look into her eyes and understand the cause.

I wish I had her strength.

But I do know this week will create some precious memories for my sweet girl, even if it's interspersed with yuck.

Science

This is what science looks like when you homeschool.


Madison was studying volcanoes, Katrina was learning about pH levels, acids, and bases.


A $10 kit from Wal-Mart allowed Madi to build her own volcano, complete with glow-in-the-dark lava.


A boiled and strained head of purple cabbage allowed Kat to play mad scientist for a bit, discovering which household items would turn the cabbage juice red (acid), and which would turn it blue (base).


Both of them were happy to discuss their "experiments" over dinner with Daddy, who finally figured out why I had so closely guarded the cabbage in the fridge for so long.


And Mama got to show them that science can be fun.  That learning can be fun.  And that we could do it together.

Mom's helper

I've been doing a lot of knitting with my looms lately.  It's something I can do while the hubs and I are watching TV at night, and usually the projects don't take too long.  That is a requirement for me.  I do not have the patience for the month-long, work 2 hours every day, kind of craft.


The girls all requested blankies, and picked out their own yarn for me to make them with.  I think someone is a bit jealous that he didn't get to pick a color, though.

The minions are schooling me...

Ok peoples.  I had the whole heartwarming, back to blogging post all done, then $#@&! Blogger decided to not save it.  All my sentimental verbage mysteriously removed from cyberspace.


So now you get snarky.


Congratulations.


I realized that teaching 3 girls who are using 3 different grade levels was going to be interesting this year.  I did not realize how much one-on-one time Madi would require.  Nina is fairly self-sufficient with her math, english, writing, and spelling - all the subjects she tackles while I work with the littles.  Violet is officially doing kindergarden this year, which requires lots of singing and silliness on my part.  Little did I know there would be wailing and gnashing of teeth over learning to read from Madi.  Thus, the requirement for one-on-one teaching.


Well, if Violet is left to her own devices for longer than, say, a minute, she finds something to occupy her mind.  Which usually annoys one or both big sisters.  In order to keep the sanity, I settled upon the electronic schooling method.  I downloaded a bunch of grade-level educational games for the ipad, and while I'm working with Madi, Violet gets to play school games.  When Madi is done, she gets the ipad and I work with Violet.  Brilliant, right?


Until I go to download pics from the ipad a few days later.  And I find these:

I may have a problem...

... I think I'm addicted to the humor section on Pinterest.  Because I find things like this:

And this:

And this:

...extremely hilarious. As in snorting and whacking the hubby so he'll look hilarious. As in saving the pic and texting it to a friend:

... and now you know where I've been the last few months...

Things I've realized... St. Poopicus Returns!

Apparently, when you have a 45-minute FB conversation with the illustrious Mr. Daddy, you realize just how much time has passed since you really blogged about life.  To rectify the situation (pun intended), I've decided to grace you all with our latest poop-related adventure.  Aren't you all lucky?


Don't answer that.


I was downstairs a few weeks ago, sewing Christmas presents like a mad woman.  I had a thought that went something like this, "Self, you've haven't seen Toby cat in a few days." Toby cat is our giant, fluffy, grumpy old man cat.  He hangs out in the basement most of the time, hissing at the dog and making a pest of himself during school time.

I found Captain Grumpy Pants in his usual spot, curled up on my fabric bins in the closet.  I thought he seemed a little under the weather, so I brought some food and water from upstairs and tried to get him to eat.  That was not acceptable to Toby, so he headed back to his spot...


...dripping blood and puss from his behind the entire way.


Reason #625374882 I'm grateful for my new basement flooring.


The next 45 minutes were a blur of panicked phone calls to Super Realtor Man, my mother, and the vet.  I got all kids up from naps, dressed, out the door in under 5 minutes.  I had no idea what was going on, but I knew enough to know that BLOOD AND PUSS SHOULD NOT COME OUT OF A CAT'S RUMP!!!!!!


Did you know cats have two anal glands, one on either side of their butthole?  And that those glands are what give kitty poo its distinct smell?  And that those glands can get chunks of poo in them?  And that poo will cause said glands to get infected?  And that if the infection isn't caught right away, the glands can rupture, causing a giant mess and an even bigger infection?


Can you guess who now knows all this exciting information?


Can you guess who got to give a cat 3 different prescription medications over the course of 2 weeks?


Can you guess who got to take said cat back into the vet so his behind could get rechecked for any lingering infection?


Have you ever seen a cat's face when someone is shoving their finger up their rootie-poo?


I'll leave you with that mental image.