Toofless No More!

My little mouse has actually, and finally, sprung a tooth ~ maybe she figured she had better get those things coming on through so she can gnaw on the candy she scores trick or treating tonight! She has had a bulge for several weeks now, but the other day I noticed that there appeared to be something working on coming through, and today when I stuck my finger in there I felt the sharp little point! She has been in a pretty good mood considering there in something pointy currently working its way through her little virgin gums ~ Hunter was a good teether so maybe she will follow right along his path (I can dream can't I?). She is 10 1/2 months now and the first tooth is just now arriving ~ Hunter got his first one about 2 days before he was 9 months ~ this whole late teething thing obviously comes from my gene pool. There is a picture of Scott somewhere and the back says he is 8 months old and the kid has a mouth FULL of teeth ~ he may very well have already had his 2 year molars! His sister's son is 2 months younger than Hunter and I remember when he was cutting his first tooth (at 5 months) she called and asked what we had done about the pain associated with teething ~ we told her we hadn't done anything because Hunter didn't have any teeth yet. Obviously the early teething gene exists on the other side of the family tree, not mine!


We are heading over to a friend's tonight for a Halloween gathering ~ the last several years those of us with little kids have all congregated here in our cul-de-sac, pulled a grill around front to cook burgers and hang out drinking beer and passing out candy. This year we are going to buck tradition and head across the parkway to the posh side of the hood ~ I wonder if they give out better candy on that side? Maisie is going as a ballerina, and Hunter is going as a policeman, again. He was a policeman last year and I must say that I have certainly gotten my moneys worth from that costume ~ he has played dress up with since last Halloween! I had actually purchased him a new costume this year that he was convinced he wanted to be ~ it is some scary gross guy that he saw in a costume magazine and announced that it was "the one". Now normally I just haul him in to Party City where they have this HUGE board of all of the costumes they have and tell him which section he can choose from (it is divided by sizes) and he picks one. So this year he had seen that costume in the magazine, so when I hauled him in there he was looking for it and most unfortunately they had it, so he selected it. He has already been Trick or Treating 2 times this month ~ once at Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party and again at the family camp out a couple of weeks ago ~ so he has worn it twice, but he decided today that he doesn't want to be the gross scary guy anymore, instead he was going back to the policeman costume. Whatever, works for me. In all honesty I think the gross scary guy kind of scared him ~ after we got back from Disney he became deathly afraid of the dark, afraid to the point that he wouldn't even go to the bathroom by himself, he wanted someone to go with him and also all of the sudden decided that is room was scary too (mama don't play that game). He seems to have gotten over it, for now at least which is good ~ hopefully nothing happens tonight to change that!

We went to MGM to have his face painted

before Mickey's Halloween party.

The "gross scary guy" formerly know as Hunter!

A Hunting He Will Go...NOT!

Have I ever told you that I hate hurricanes? I especially hate hurricanes that come to our area and knock down so many trees that you can't see far enough to have a clear shot at an unsuspecting deer, or even a deer stand to sit in! Most unfortunately the ranch where Scott hunts sustained a lot of tree damage ~ 5X more than what they got when Rita rolled in 3 years ago ~ they had just finished getting all of the trees cleared from that storm over the summer and now they get to start all over again. So it not only sucks that we have no meat left in the freezer compliments of Ike ~ fortunately there was only a few pounds of deer meat left ~ but the worst part is I don't get to live my "hunting widow" fantasy life this season! I told Scott he would still need to be travelling out to the ranch to work and earn his keep ~ and get out of my hair ~ and maybe, just maybe, they can get enough done before the end of the season to have a chance at restocking our deep freeze! I have actually had to buy beef at the grocery store since the hurricane and I must say that I am just appalled at the price ~ I have really gotten accustomed to not having to pay that! So once again I say, damn you Ike, damn you!

Your Three Words

Here is the "Your Three Words" segment for today ~ Enjoy!

How Clean is a Dog's Mouth?

Just a quick one for humors sake! Tonight we were having pork tenderloin for dinner ~ a pork tenderloin that was being cooked on the grill outside. The gas grill lives on the back porch which can be seen from our living room windows, why is this important you ask? Scott had come inside and was in the kitchen at the sink when all of the sudden I hear him yell "Timon!" who quickly came running back inside licking his lips ~ I asked him why he was yelling at him and he said because he was licking the tongs! On the front of the grill there are a couple of hook things where you can hang your BBQ tools ~ after Scott had put the meat on the grill he hung the tongs on said hooks ~ apparently Timon just couldn't resist the temptation and was out there cleaning them off ~ blah! I told Scott it was a good thing he had witnessed this tong & tongue encounter otherwise he would have known no different and used them on the meat again! Although I am going to bet that this was not his first run in with the tongs ~ I have a sneaking suspicion that he has been up to no good for sometime and we were just unaware of it ~ yuck, dog germs!

Maisie's 1st Trip to the ER

Okay, so once again I haven't fallen off the face of the earth, just been so incredibly crazy busy that I haven't had a chance to scratch, much less sit down and type anything worthwhile! I am now however caught up to some extent, so I plan to try and sit down every day (okay maybe realistically more like every other day) and catch up on what all has been going on in this crazy house!

As you can see by the title of this entry we had a trip in to the ER on Sunday for my poor sick little mouse. I really feel like a failure in the mothering department on this one too. Why? Maisie has been running a low grade fever between 99.2 and 99.6 for about a week, and maybe sporadically for the week before that ~ I attributed this to her finally cutting some teeth so I thought nothing of it. Now had this been my first rodeo I most certainly would have called the pediatrician on about day 2 of this low grade fever, at which point they would have had me bring her in to check her for an ear infection only to say that she didn't have one that it was something viral, and to just let it run its course ~ now of course somebody with some form of a communicable disease would have breathed on her in the process and she would return home with a sickness that she didn't have upon arrival. But, since this is my second go round I find myself to be much more at ease with the whole mystery fever thing ~ unfortunately that came back to bite me in the ass this time! On Saturday I hosted a baby shower and Maisie was a bit fussy and clingy, but not at all warm so I didn't give it much thought. Saturday night the boys went on a camping adventure here in the neighborhood so it was just Maisie and I enjoying the silence of the night. I put her to bed about 7:00 and then I worked on some things until I was ready to go to bed about 10:30 ~ I went in to check on my mouse and she was just on fire! I took her temp and it was 102.8 ~ yikes! I know they say that in kids that is not a high fever, but I just find that entire over 102 degree thing a little unnerving. I gave her some Tylenol and put a call in to the nurse who said that she would need to go in within 24 hours to be evaluated, and since the pediatrician's office was not open on Sunday that meant an urgent care clinic or the ER. I gave the Tylenol time to kick in and checked her temp again which had come down to 101.5 so I decided that I would wait until the daylight hours to haul her anywhere ~ you know people are packed in those places like sardines once the sun goes down! The next morning her temp was back up to 102.8 so Scott called Texas Children's to see what the ER was looking like ~ it was amazingly empty, so I loaded up the mouse and off we went for our germ filled adventure.

Upon our arrival in germ hell, I swear when I say this there is no exaggeration, we had literally just walked through the door and a kid barfed on the floor! It was all I could do not to run out of there screaming and covering Maisie so that she couldn't possibly be invaded by any germs! Fortunately we were in the actual ER part for only about 10 minutes ~ had been through Triage and admissions in record time I think ~ thank heavens! They have a Fast Track unit that is staffed with Pediatric Nurse Practitioners that they send you to I guess if you are not in danger of dying at any given minute ~ fortunately she was not in danger of dying so off to the Fast Track unit we went. This was much more like a doctors office setting ~ there was NOBODY in the waiting room, which we were only in for about 3 minutes, before they put us into a room where we stayed until we left. They checked her ears which were perfectly fine, no infection, so the next thought was a urinary tract infection ~ they took a tiny little catheter to get a urine sample which was apparently just ripe with bacteria ~ BINGO problem solved! She got a super duty antibiotic shot while we were there to get her started on the road to recovery and is also taking an antibiotic for the next 10 days. So far today she is fever free, but she was yesterday until mid afternoon, so we will see if she remains that way all day or not. I just really feel terrible about the whole thing ~ here she was sick for an entire week and I didn't do anything about it. I guess I shouldn't beat myself up over it though since every mother I have talked to said they would have written the low grade fever off to teething as well and also would have done nothing about it. Had it been the first baby I would have most certainly hauled her in sooner, but at that stage in the game nothing would have been done anyway and it would have just been a wasted trip ~ although that wasted trip would have helped with the guilt I am currently feeling knowing that I had tried to help make her better. So, on that note I am done dwelling on what I didn't do and moving on to making sure she gets better.

Let There Be Light

This time it's for real! We ACTUALLY have electricity being delivered to our lovely little abode via the power lines! WOO HOO! Apparently Centerpoint was busy getting our neighborhood lit up last night as the entire thing seems to have it now! Being that the whole joint now has power that means the MUD pump stations do too ~ no more poo bubbling out of the ground ~ YIPPEE! You couldn't even imagine how excited I am to get to be heading home! Scott is already on his way to get us and should be here about lunch time, and then we will load up, turn around, and head back. I know Cindy was relieved to hear that the lights were on ~ now her life can get back to normal too! Of course the kids had their well child exams scheduled for today which I had to cancel ~ they are now rescheduled for Nov. 3 ~ goodness! Oh well, they weren't supposed to be getting any shots except for the flu shot which I will haul them in for on Monday ~ I know they will be thrilled.

Dad called last night just to check on my whereabouts ~ I told him that I would be returning today since the lights had come back on. I offered them a room at our house which they declined. He said they weren't exactly roughing it since they do have A/C compliments of the generator and window units and color TV; he figures they will survive until their power is restored. The Port has power which means they should too, but they found out the reason they don't is a blown transformer. Hopefully they will have that fixed soon and then hey can move back into the big house. They had 2 crews out yesterday clearing trees ~ mom said that when they are done there won't be a tree standing in the yard ~ what a shame. All of those trees were HUGE and provided so much shade ~ mom is going to have to re-do her flower beds for sun loving plants now instead of shade lovers. It's going to take some time, but eventually life will get back to normal ~ as normal as it ever is around there at least! I guess once power is restored and mom and dad can move back into the big house Bryan and Pam will take up roost in the garage apartment ~ if you know my dad and Bryan you know this scenario will make for MANY hysterical blog entries!

The Aftermath Part IV

Yesterday Scott sends me a text that read "And then he said let there be light" I was so excited I almost peed in my pants thinking he meant the power had come back on ~ I immediately texted him back (cell service is still very shotty, but text go through without a problem) and said "so you are going to get up early and come retrieve us right?". Not too terribly long after sending that my phone rang and he informed me not to get too excited as he was referring to generator power, not power coming from the pole ~ damn it man! I was sooooo excited thinking I was actually going to get to head home and start tackling the mountain of things waiting for me. Don't get me wrong, I am so very grateful that Cindy has taken this heard in and even given up her bedroom so the kids and I can stay in there, but I am just ready to go. Things to do! Although Cindy says we are welcome to stay until the lights are back on, I know she is secretly wishing that we would hurry up and leave so her life can get back to normal. She lives by herself with her dog normally, and now she comes home from work to another grown up, 2 kids, and 3 additional dogs! She does rather enjoy having "her bitch" here with dinner waiting upon her arrival though! Scott's friend Charlie came over yesterday and they wired the generator into the breaker box so there are truly some overhead lights working now ~ not everything in the house, certain rooms ~ he said it was every other breaker that is live, one of which is Hunter's room so that is where he has moved camp to so he can open the window AND have a fan ~ what a novel idea! So, still no electricity, and according to the map we SHOULD have it back by Monday night, but maybe "beyond Monday" ~ ugh! I am contemplating having him come retrieve us on Sunday in hopes that the lights will be back on by Monday night, but I know my luck and just as soon as I arrange that we will be without power indefinitely. I don't know what to do! The only thing I do know is that I left some baby shower invitations sitting on the desk that needed to go on the mail today ~ unfortunately I am not finished with them so it's not like Scott can take care of that for me ~ I thought about bringing them with me to finish while I was up here, but since we were so short on room I left them behind figuring I would be home by Monday at the latest ~ boy was I wrong! I was supposed to be hosting another baby shower this weekend ~ obviously that one has to be rescheduled ~ hope those babies stay within until after their soiree! Hunter's rescheduled birthday party also has to once again be rescheduled because the pools are now closed for the season ~ moving on to Plan C. There are also 10 bows waiting to be made for a lady in the neighborhood, and the list just goes on and on! I must say that I have thoroughly enjoyed actually getting to just "sit" since I've been here ~ not that I don't do anything, but there is not nearly as much to do here as at my house. I'm not sure when the last time I just sat was? I would venture to say it was before Hunter was born! After Cindy gets back from work today I get to go to the grocery store ~ I'm so excited! An actual outing that doesn't involve little people! She had thought that she would just go on her way home, but then decided that I might like to go and get out of here ~ I jumped on the opportunity ~ it's my only chance for solitude at home too! My dad called yesterday just to make sure I hadn't slipped back into town ~ he calls every other day just to check my whereabouts. He informed me that I needed to keep his grandchildren away from this ~ that if Cindy got tired of me I needed to go to a hotel and if I couldn't afford one he would pay for it. Scott asked if he was going to pay for the dog's hotel too? Scott said the sewage is still bubbling up around the corner, but hasn't come into our yard yet ~ there have been pump trucks out there for 2 days and yet it still keeps on coming! Gross! He went to get the mail yesterday ~ which is close to where the sewage is bubbling up ~ and said as soon as you round the corner it slaps you in the face! How would you like to be living in that house with no electricity and needing to open the windows? I guess all of the hair would eventually burn out of your nose and you would no longer be able to smell it! Yuck!

No news on my parent's today ~ so they either killed each other ( my money is on mom commiting the murder) or there is nothing new to report. Mom said there was a crew coming in today to start removing all of the trees that fell in the yard.