My Kind of Town

So here I am in Chicago. I'm at a communication conference for school. Before I left, my heart was breaking. I couldn't imagine being away from the family for even 2 days. Especially since I'm still breastfeeding Oliver -- we really do have a special physical bond. I really do like this conference, though, so I knew that once I got here it would be okay. I love to fly, especially alone. Isn't that weird? I guess it makes me feel like a grown up. And it gives me a chance to veg out and do whatever I want. I love hotels, too. We are staying in the Hilton, which is sooo nice. Although I hate giving even a dime to the Hilton empire, because in my mind, it all ends up being funneled to Paris and her dog Tinkerbell. Really, for all of the money that family has, they should just let us all stay here for free. But if we have to pay, it is kind of worth it. The bed is so soft -- even the carpets are ridiculously plush. And in what is the coolest thing ever (especially given my recent and growing obsession) the downstairs bar turns into a Starbucks in the morning!!

The conference itself is also pretty good. There are tons and tons of "sessions" to go to in which 3-4 people present papers that they have written. Each session is, of course, centered around a theme. You can just go through the program and put together a schedule of pretty interesting stuff. You can also make sure that you go to sessions of people whose work you have read for research or in class. Really cool in a geeky kind of way. The conference is also a really good time to catch up with friends that I don't get to see very often. It has been really great seeing everyone that I miss for the other 51 weeks of the year. And I'm getting used to presenting papers, too. I co-presented yesterday and it went pretty well. I'm even having drinks -- woo hoo! And there are parties to go to. And a job fair for those of us desperately in need of a job -- I even have an interview set up for this morning. All in all, it's a combination of fun and work packed into a very short window of time.

However, all of my mom instincts are not gone. I'm pumping breastmilk like crazy -- I am truly a woman obsessed. So even though I am drinking, I weigh each drink carefully, just so that I don't have to dump too much milk. And I'm locking myself in the hotel room for a while this afternoon just so that I can get work done on my dissertation. No use wasting time having fun -- if I have 3 hours without distraction, I need to use it for work!

My Daughter the Comedianne

It turns out that kids really do say the funniest thing. And Mackensie has been on a role.

I may have mentioned in the past that dealing with a 2 year old brings out more lying, cajoling, and bargaining than any self-respecting adult should really deal in. I'm not proud to say it, but when Mac is being completely intractable, we take away toys. The other day, Tim came up with a new threat: calling Santa to tell him to take a toy off of Mac's list. So we actually get out the cell phone and have a full conversation with Santa while she stands there. I'm not crazy about this because I've wanted to minimize any mention of Santa. I don't really like Santa for 2 reasons: 1 -- Santa is not what the holiday is about at all and 2 -- it's a lie that really has no purpose. Why can't she just know that we bring the gifts? Of course, nobody else agrees with me, so she thinks there is a Santa Claus.

So after an especially difficult trip to the library in which Mac ran around the entire perimeter while I chased her with Oliver's car seat in tow, I decided to pull the Santa card. I called Santa and told him to take 2 toys off of her list (I was really pissed). This was in the library parking lot. We got into the car, drove to the mall, and came home about 2 hours later. While we were in the kitchen getting ready for dinner, I saw her on one of her "phones." I didn't pay attention until I heard her say Santa. She was calling Santa. I thought she was telling on herself (she's at that age where she will still tell you that she did something bad), but then I heard her say "mommy" and "she hit me." It was then I realized that she called Santa on me. And she was lying. I didn't hit her! She continued to stand there and have a conversation with Santa, full with pauses for him to respond, in which she told on me. Even though it was frustrating, I thought it was pretty funny and clever. And, of course, picture her doing all of this with a summer dress over her sweatsuit, because even though it is 50 degrees, she won't go anywhere without a "pretty dress."

Meanwhile, Oliver is doing well! He had an appointment with neurosurgery and they confirmed that he still doesn't need a shunt. And for the first time, they actually said "Maybe he will be one of the few who doesn't need one." This is huge, because the last two times they warned me that even though he didn't need one yet, he would probably need one in the long run. And he only has one more casting session before his surgery in December. I'm not really looking forward to that, but I guess it is better to get it out of the way when he won't remember it. He also started his in-home physical therapy this week. It was pretty cool -- he had some tummy time and was able to boost himself up on his little arms. It was really great to see him making such good progress. And he is just such a pleasure -- he smiles and coos all the time! Poor guy has some gas issues, but I'll just say he gets that from daddy.

My Favorites Are Gone!

In a catastrophic turn of events, my computer crashed. I tried to start it up and it just stared back at me blankly. While my computer is not as important as, say, my kids, it is pretty darn important. Even though I knew I had my two most important sets of documents (dissertation and class lectures) backed up, I was pretty upset to potentially lose the rest of the work I've done over the past two and a half years. So I started to shop around and wound up taking it to the Geek Squad. Begrudgingly, I might add, since I am sure that they are a huge rip off. Their stupid user friendly logo and set-up just screams "we are ripping you off because you are computer illiterate and have no other choice, but we are putting it in a pretty package so you don't mind paying the money."But, it seems as if they have recovered my hard drive and reinstalled my operating system in a days time, so I can't really complain. Too much. I just started my computer for the first time and the first time and saw the username is "Tim." Now I know some couples share an e-mail address, but Tim and I don't even share a computer. My computer is like my personal space. So the computer's name is supposed to be "Mommy." Okay, I can deal. I'll figure out how to change it back. But then I went to the Internet, and saw that all of my favorites are gone. I know I should have expected it, just like I should have realized that my background picture would be wiped, but I didn't. I feel blindsided -- a little violated. I had no idea how important having my computer set up my way is. And I don't know enough about computers to get them back! How do I get the Internet Explorer Icon in my bottom left corner? How do I replace my desktop shortcuts? Really, this sucks.

And in what is a continuing obsession that I am really trying to curb, I had to get a latte from Starbucks since they are in the same strip mall. Another rip-off -- $4.00 for a cup of coffee. $4.23 really. But I can't stop. I swear they must put crack or something in there (of course, for me, caffeine is like crack, so maybe that's it). Honestly, I just bleated like a little sheep all the way out of my cozy suburban strip mall paying way too much for stuff I "need".

Bbaaahh.

Oh, and Mackensie is still wearing her halloween costume. She slept in it and hasn't taken it off yet. I'll upload pictures when I find the F%^$#^g disk that goes with my photo softwear and reinstall it.

The $64,000 question...

How much is a 10 day stay in the NICU at CHOP? Literally, $64,038.23. I'm not sure that even includes Oliver's surgery or any of the diagnostics (ultrasounds, MRI, etc.). I've been waiting for this Explanation of Benefits from my insurance company and it finally came. And in what is a true praise to God, they paid for it. I knew it was going to be high, but I really had no idea.

Ironically, I spent a good deal of time today trying to sort through charges that the insurance company did not pay. It turns out bills just need to be resubmitted and they will take care of it. But just when I was low on liking my insurance company, they really pulled through.

I just had to share.

Just an update from yesterday: Oliver has bronchitis like Mac. Poor little guy. We had to get chest x-rays to rule out pneumonia, which we did. So now he's just layin low and getting lots of love from mommy (not to mention the nebulizer treatments).

Really, my insurance company must hate me.

Another day, another doctor...

It's gotten to the point where I'm embarrased to call the pediatrician's office. But each time I go in, the kids really need it.

The week started off with a visit to the office for Mac. I didn't take her with me Friday and she wound up getting a worse cough over the weekend. So I took her in Monday and found out that she had a bronchial infection. Because she loves her little brother sooo much, she decided to share it with him. It started a little bit yesterday, but today it is full-fledged. The little man sounds like he smokes 5 packs a day. It's really heart breaking to hear. So as soon as the doctor opens today I have to get him an appointment.

Yesterday was a pretty exciting day. Middlesex county services came out to evaluate Oliver, and he qualifies for a program that provides in-home care as often as I like. It will be physical therapy for now, and can include other types of therapy (speech, etc.) if he needs it. I'd like to brag for a second here -- although he was delayed in fine and gross motor skills, his attention and communication skills were at or above age level. Yes, the comparisons start already! I do realize that it is ridiculous to get giddy about a 2 month old being at or above age level, since that doesn't mean much at 2 months old, but it made me soo happy. Such a dork. But anyway, what they found was that he has soft muscle tone in his trunk. We never even thought about that since we are so focused on his legs. They said that this could be contributing to the reflux, because the muscles aren't tight enough to really push/keep down the food. Interesting, right? So now I have some exercises to strengthen his midline, too. This is going to be one strong guy!

Went to CHOP for casting yesterday and waited for almost 4 hours. But I didn't even get upset -- I just expect it now. I took some research for work and read for a couple of the hours, and when Oliver woke up, we played. So it was actually productive. And even better, we met another baby with spina bifida. Whenever I'm in the waiting room, I kind of eye up all of the other patients trying to figure out if anyone has spina bifida. Now when I'm in spina bifida clinic, it's pretty easy, although they share a waiting room with other clinics, so nothing is a given. But in orthopedics, i think it is a pretty safe bet that any babies with casted legs also have spina bifida. I'm also starting to recognize some repeats. I had never seen this particular baby before, but the grandfather was carrying him around and came over and started conversation with me. It turns out his lesion was the same level as Oliver's and his feeling level is the same. The only difference seems to be that he had a shunt put in at three weeks. He was there getting his casts off from the surgery that Oliver is set to have in December. It was cool to talk to someone else in the same position. The mother looked young. She said that this is her first baby. I have to think that spina bifida is even more overwhelming in your first child -- not only do you have to learn how to be a parent, but you also have to deal with all of the extras.

Some exciting baby news:
Oliver slept through the night 2 nights in a row. Yay -- hopefully this is the beginning of a trend.

Something that will surpriste no one:
Sniper jumped into the pack n play and peed in it twice. Really I almost killed her.