Life as a Leach

Recently, my parents went on a train trip through the Canadian Rockies.  They had a fantastic time and I've never seen my mom so excited over a vacation!  Amy and I have joked about leaving them with the kids so that we (and our husbands) can go! Here's an Animoto video I made showing some of the highlights of their trip.

The weekend of the Red Shoe Shuffle, we were able to visit Fort McHenry.  For as often as we are in Baltimore and for as much as Caleb loves history, we have never gone there!  Needless to say, he was a happy kid.  There wasn't much for Abby to enjoy, but she liked running around in the open spaces. Cannons Inside the magazine Caleb pretending he's a war captain Signing a document Of course, Abby went right for the broom!   Caleb was pretending to battle on the hill Daddy came up for a sneak attack :)

Enjoy this video of some of our fun times in our backyard!

Shew, the last 5 days have been pretty rough!  I've never felt so useless in my life.  It is SO not like me to lie in bed and watch movies all day!  The pain from the stint more or less felt like knives being driven into your kidney.  I was so proud of myself on Saturday for vacuuming the kitchen....then I had to spend the rest of the day in bed with severe pain for "overdoing it."  Apparently when the doctor said to limit my activity, he meant to do nothing but lie in bed...because that's pretty much all I could do.  Percocet and Motrin have been my lifelines. I pulled the stent out myself this afternoon (actually not as bad as it sounds!) and felt immediate relief!  I was thrilled that the pain was gone...but that was short-lived.  After about an hour, the intense kidney pain returned, along with some other lovely symptoms.  Dr. Google informed me that this is normal for the first 24 hours after stent removal, so I'm going to try to wait ...

I have two pretty different children.  If you have more than one child yourself, I'm sure you can relate!  One is shy around new people and takes a while to trust, while the other loves meeting new people and seems to know everyone!  One has some difficulty controlling anger, and the other is pretty laid back and go-with-the-flow.  One is fearful and timid to try new things, and the other will jump right in!  One is motivated extrensically, while the other has an intrinsic motivation.   Both are wonderful!  But they are different.  So I selected this book to hopefully get some ideas on how to motivate the one who needs an extra push or two... :) The title of the book caught my eye immediately, but I was even more excited when I saw the authors' names.  Last year, I went to a parenting workshop based on their programs, and it was fantastic.  I loved how practical it was, so I was hoping that this book would be the same. ...

Rocky was kicked out of his home inside my body yesterday afternoon.  Turns out, he had made himself quite comfy and had imbedded himself in the wall of the ureter.  He had no plans to go anywhere, so surgery was the only option.  Hearing this afterwards actually made me feel a little better, because I was dreading waking up and hearing that they didn't find anything!  I'm glad this was all necessary and successful. The stone was sent off for analysis so that they can try to figure out what is causing them.  I'll pretty much do anything to avoid repeating this experience!!   A stent was placed to help the ureter heal.  I was told I may have some mild discomfort, but it wasn't too bad.  When i asked if he had ever had one, he smiled sheepishly and said no.  Mm-hmm.   They gave me a dose of Dilaudid after I woke up, on top of all of the anesthesia meds, so I was feeling delightfully loopy.  Then they proceeded to go over a ton of impo...

Rocky's  eviction day is scheduled for next Thursday, the 11th!  Sadly, I can't take any more Motrin because it's an aspirin product.  It's the only think I can take during the daytime that seems to help, so this will be a fun week.  Maybe I'll pass Rocky before next Thursday!  

I've named my kidney stone Rocky.  He's quite comfy in my body and doesn't appear to have any intentions of coming out.  I went to the urologist today (where I was the youngest person in the waiting room by at least 40 years!) and he said I will have to have it removed under general anesthesia and have a stent put in.  Sounds like fun, huh?!  The scheduler is going to call me tomorrow.  In the meanwhile, I'm just trying to drink tons of water and learn how to coexist with my little friend.