25 May 2011

In which both Lleyton and Timothy have birthdays...

...and I didn't even mention it. Actually, there have been LOTS of birthdays and in my "I'll get to it later after all a blog is for life, not just for Christmas" stupor, I rationalized I'd get it done sooner or later.

Welcome to "later". I swear, I'll be late to my own funeral. And no, I didn't get that idea from Liz Taylor. I had it first and if she was alive, I'd take her to task for getting the credit for the idea. At least I'M married to my FIRST husband.

So, missed birthdays include:

My mom. On tax day. Which is an easy way to remember it, except for THIS year when, for some reason, tax deadline was the 18th instead of the 15th. But I more than made up for it with several days of surprises, pieces of coconut cream pie and eating out. So either I'm good for the next few years or maybe, just maybe, I've made up for the past. Only my hairdresser knows for sure. And she ain't telling. (I'm a GREAT tipper!)

Timothy. 30 years old on 5/15. He's finally "all growed up!" Actually, he's been grown up for some time but between turning 30 and the realization that my middle child is NOW THIRTY, the fact hit me smack on the head. He's like a fine, sharp cheddar - mellow with a nice bite, best at room temperature and goes with a LOT of good things.

Jenjer. 28 years old on 5/17. Probably a strange birthday for her since it's the first "single" birthday in many years and Mirai is down here. She'll get to see her soon when we go down for a long weekend soon. Two years from thirty - or should I say, ONE year from her FIRST 29th birthday??

Lleyton. 4 years old on 4/30. We had intended to join the entire Tim Drennon clan at the San Antonio Zoo on his birthday but some family medical emergencies with Mike's mom came up and we headed north instead of west that weekend. We did get to San Antonio in time to meet at Pei Wei and have dinner and present our gifts to him so not all was lost. But I hate that we missed it. As a rule, I have tried religiously to be present at every single grandchild's birthday for as long as I can (and they'll let me and not roll their eyes - those days be comin' soon!) so missing the bulk of this one was an "ouchy".

Kati. My sister, on 4/26. Now, she lives in Canada. And I've lived (insert name of one of 12 different locations throughout the world the past 34 years since I left Lubbock) so it's obvious we don't see each other very often. But, as we get older, more and more I remember our childhood days, when we all lived in Lubbock, and wish we could see each other more often. I'll protect her dignity by NOT saying what her age is or that she is older than me by two years and that my age has been previously mentioned in other blog posts (as well as listed below). I have standards, you know.

Luke. His birthday is tomorrow. He will be four. The Class of 07 is turning 4 right now. First Lleyton, then Luke. Mirai will round out the trio on 7/2 with her birthday. We won't get to see him on his actual day but will be able to go to his party on another day. He's our not-so-little future quarterback/soccer player/fill-in-the-name sports enthusiast. He's built for sports. He's a natural. And I may finally have to learn the rules of some of those games if I'm going to keep up.

And then there was MY birthday back in March. March 12th. Put it on your calendars folks so you will know it's time to humiliate me, send me cards about how old I am and generally make me glad when it's over. I turned 54. I am not afraid of the number. It's just a number. Like my weight. Oh wait, I AM afraid of THAT number...

But it was a greater birthday in that all my children and grands and Mike were up in Keller to help me celebrate, complete with a big dinner out and a cake with a few token candles (didn't want to break any fire codes in a public place you know). Mike actually. did. shopping. On his own. Without any input. At a DAVID YURMAN STORE!! After I came to, I thanked him profusely in the hopes of giving positive reinforcement since I've heard that THAT can cause a person to repeat a desired behavior. Yes, putting those great parenting skills to work in my marriage as well! Not that I'm treating Mike like a child - far from it! I'm treating him like a responsible adult who GOES TO A DAVID YURMAN STORE TO BUY BIRTHDAY GIFTS ON HIS OWN!! That's all.

So enough of the fun and frivolity in our household. After a drought of no writing, the keys are fairly flying with two posts on one day. Anymore and my computer might start smoking or something (finally got it off drugs...) so I won't push my luck.

Take care peeps and I'll see if I can do another post before another month has passed. I can't very well get onto people whose blogs I read to keep posting if I'm not willing to share too. The blogger's mantra: "I'll post mine if you'll post yours".

I can hear my mom sighing...

Untitled...but still the dot, dot, dot...

Noticed it's been a month and a day since my last post. This could be for one of two reasons: (1) either nothing is going on her or (2) there is SO MUCH going on that I don't have a) time, b) energy, c) brain power and d) enough hours in the day to check in and update.

I'll go with Option 2. Doing otherwise would make me sound like a total loser and a lazy slob. Must salvage what little reputation I still have.

So, we have been in Katy an unprecedented eight, count 'em, E-I-G-H-T weeks! Mike had one trip (a shorty - one week) during that time and one blessedly cancelled trip. I'm in my own personal Nirvana. I had decided to stay home the month of May anyway so Mirai could be present for all the remaining days of school. We almost achieved that - we missed the LAST most FUNNEST day of school (Splash Party! Treats!! Seeing friends before the summer!!!) - thanks, strep. Yup, the girl woke up the day before the last school day with a 103 temp UNDER HER ARM. Now, if I was a first time mommy instead of a 54 "back in the trenches-mighty experienced-not prone to hysterics unless a flying roach is involved" (grand)mom, I would have made haste to my local ER and demanded immediate attention. But I dosed her with Motrin and patted myself on the back for my calm, cool, collected, informed approach to fevers in a three year old. She didn't want to eat but she did drink - a lot. By afternoon, when two doses of Motrin hadn't even dented the fever, I decided a trip to the pediatrician was in order - just to be on the safe side. They had an appointment (yeah!) and we got in the car.

By the time we got there, she was pretty listless and wanted me to hold her. This has never happened at the doctor. Even they noticed it and got her in right away. Tests for flu and strep were done in short order with strep being the culprit. So a Tylenol/Motrin rotation, every 3 hours, started once we got home (after a massive, hair-curling-scream-induced penicillin shot was administered at the doc's) and we spent the next 6 days in "fever land". It took that long for her to finally get the fever below 100, feel like eating and have any enthusiasm for anything besides watching Blues Clues, sleeping and (thankfully) drinking lots of fluids. We even had to cancel our trip to Pflugerville we had on the books so we wouldn't chance infecting Kennedy and Lleyton. (It was Tim's call but I'm glad he made it because Saturday and Sunday BOTH were fever days after a low-fever Friday.) I was about to take her back to the doc a week later when, lo, and behold, the girl woke up without a fever, demanded her breakfast and, quick as you can say "Strep be GONE", she was back to her old self. Albeit 2 lbs lighter self - which, when you started out at only 32 lbs to begin with is a HUGE weight loss! She's put it all back on now as her appetite has returned.

But Episode Strep left us with several days of an unwanted side effect that I shall call "Little Princess Syndrome". Little Miss Thang got used to being waited on hand and foot and did NOT understand why SHE should put her shoes on/put her trash away/eat at the table/put her own clothes on/etc. It took about 4 days and lots of tears for her to realize that her perceived New World Order had only been a figment of her fever-induced delirium. Hard life lessons. Yup, that's what we're all about folks. Kill you with kindness then put you back on the road to reality.

She lived. And so did we. Fortunately, strep did not...