Jonah was showing symptoms of an ear infection last night and Guinevere has been coughing. I sooooo hope they are not getting sick again! I am still on the Augmenten, and I almost feel normal again.

Jonah had ear issues the night after the memorial service for my grandma, and we put some olive oil and garlic into his ears. Then my brother-in-law, Paul, ran to the store to get him some infant tylenol. Thanks to those, he slept well enough on Saturday night. Sunday we flew back to Sacramento and drove my dad's car home. Paul was the one almost late for his flight. My sister forgot the tickets, and since he is in the Navy, and had a special ticket, he needed the paper ticket to get on the plane. Luckily we were only 15 minutes from the airport, and I got the bright idea to call my uncle to bring the ticket instead of my mom going, getting it, and bringing it back. Great idea, except my uncle decided to stop for gas on the way! The lady who he checked in with believed him, and so he got on the plane ok. If he had had to wait he wouldn't have made it. We got the ticket to the counter and showed her about 2 minutes before the plane took off!

Because Paul is in the Navy, my sister and parents got to go to the gate, and stayed with me until the plane boarded. Paul was deployed the next day, so he had to be back!

I got home ok, with one pit stop for gas and to nurse Jonah. He was not happy with the car seat. I was so pleased that he slept almost the whole flight home, and had no problems with his ears. I think the problems came on the ride home, though, because he cried almost the whole way.

The next evening my parents got into town -- they drove home with my sister -- and my dad took the car home. IT did not make the 20 minute drive -- the transmission went out halfway there. I was so thankful that it made it all the way from Sacramento with me driving!

Jonah is pulling himself up already! Pretty soon he will be cruising, and then walking will follow. I can't believe he is growing up so fast! He is also taking to solid food much more than Guinevere. His nipple-pickiness has also returned. He usually refuses the bottle at daycare. Today he actually drank some, but I think it's because he was a little under the weather and wanted the comfort, even if it was plastic. Since he will be my last (that I know of), it is kind of bittersweet. But I will have my sisters' babies to look forward to also.

Speaking of Jonah being my last, Chad is going in for his first consultation with the doctor to get snipped. We love both children, and wouldn't trade them for anything, but we are now done, and feel our little family is complete.

I was feeling better this morning, but I still have a hoarse voice. Now I have sudden explosive coughs due to tickles in my throat -- probably my least favorite cold symptom. I had to go get Jonah yesterday because he had a fever. So when I went to the doctor (and got Augmenten...woo hoo!), I asked her to check his ears. They were fine, which made me so glad. And his fever pretty much went away yesterday evening. Unfortunately, when Chad took the kids to daycare they wouldn't take him because the fever has to be gone for 24 hours. Good thing I stayed home anyway. Now we are just chillin'.

My grandma's memorial service was so nice. There were some nice songs, a pastor talked a little bit, and my mom got up and shared some memories that my grandma had written in a journal about when she was young. It showed me a side to her I had never seen before. She was a wild child!

Afterward we went to the grave site and the pastor read Psalm 23 (I think) -- The Lord is my shepherd... My mom and her siblings were seated next to the casket. It was rainy and cold, so most people who came out didn't stay long. The siblings stayed until she was buried. I didn't realize that they put the casket into a "vault" before putting it into the ground. The rest of the afternoon was spent with relatives, remembering the good times. It was a really nice day.

gwendolyn77's Halloween party:

_shawdie dressed as Moltar.
baby_tales dressed as Madonna.
brite dressed as Barney Gumble.
browneyeddream dressed as Optimus Prime.
caliban78 gets drunk, strips naked, and somehow emerges dressed as a new superhero: Elasti- Android.
doryfish426 dressed as something drunk, but what, specifically, you can't tell.
joshkasmommy dressed as an external hard drive.
lalicopa dressed as Karl Rove.
lewlec dressed as Ashlee Simpson riding a camel.
milk_maker dressed as Al Pacino, though it looked more like a new superhero: Snow -wave.
mummygeorgie dressed as the Duke of West NotusCity.
onehotmoma dressed as Captain Kirk from "Star Trek".
roundandround2 dressed as the spirit of their dead grandmother Kelley.
sandienotsandy dressed as a 1990's grunge child.
second_guess_me dressed as a character from "Duck Soup".
siobhan_snape dressed as a zombie.
taraw226 dressed as a junior corporate spy department janitor.
thistleberry dressed as the love child of Tom Cruise and Janet Reno.
villareality dressed as a character from Harry Potter and the Dwarf of Darkness, and it suited them all too well.
wiccanmaiden dressed as a bottle of Reprooft.
Leave it to my husband to get drunk and strip...sheesh! lol
Throw your own party at the Hallomeme!
Created with phpNonsense

I think I finally got the nasty bug that I hoped to avoid. I am actually quite surprised it took so long, with Jonah, Guin, and Chad all sick. It is most definitely in my sinuses, so I am not uncomfortable, and even feel that I should be at work. But I am constantly coughing and have a nasty sounding voice thanks to the post-nasal drip. I am going to the doctor's at 3 today, and will probably end up with Amoxicillin or Augmenten. Yay for me.

My dad and I, with Jonah in tow, went to the airport on Friday, and somehow totally underestimated how much time it would take to get there. We got to the airport a little before 2, and our flight left at 2:20. As nice as the airport personnel were, we just didn't make it. The one casualty was my bag of liquids, as I misunderstood and packed them in a gallon ziploc instead of a quart. We had no time to pick through it, so it all went away. And we missed the plane anyway! When we went back to try to retrieve it, we learned that it was already in a dumpster somewhere. Oh well. The only thing I was truly sorry about was my spare pair of contacts.

Then we managed to get a flight at 5:30 that turned out to be from Portland to Sacramento instead of the other way around. We ended up waiting until 7:00 for the correct flight. We did get to see a bunch of soldiers come home from Iraq after a year and a half. I felt so grateful to them as I watched them pass by. My dad even went up to a few and thanked them, as so many other people were doing.

Jonah was such a wonderful baby the whole time. No fussing at all. I think he was happy to be with mama and grandpa for that long.

I went to my Grandma's funeral this weekend. My dad and I flew up on Friday, and I flew back today. We missed our flight on Friday and ended up waiting at the airport for 5 hours to get on a later flight. I will probably tell more about that later.

The service was really nice. It was surreal to see her (she looked so different and yet the same) and know she is gone, but not always remember that. I kept expecting to see her when I was at her house.

My mom and her brothers and sister will begin the slow delicate process of going through her things and deciding who wants what and who gets what. One of my sisters and her husband were there and she and I got to look around to see what we wanted to remember her by. I found some clothes and a cute little pig figurine (she loved pigs, and there must be a couple hundred of them there). I also asked for the Christmas Cactus, since I have been wanting one, and I would have a living reminder of her that way.

I got to meet some relatives I hadn't met before. I am starting to realize that I know my dad's family much more than my mom's.

I need to go now, but more will come later.

My grandma passed away on Sunday at 1:40 pm. My mom had just flown back up there on Saturday, and so got to spend her last night with her. She is doing pretty well. I am flying up on Friday with my dad and Jonah to go to the funeral on Saturday, then I will fly back home on Sunday. My parents are driving down on Monday, but I have to be back at work on Monday.

Jonah finally had his 6 month appointment today, and tomorrow he turns 7 months. He got his shots, which he wasn't happy about, but had a great afternoon back at daycare, and seems none the worse for wear. Now he and Guinevere will get their catch-up shots together.

When I go up to the funeral, this will be the first time Guinevere and I will be apart for that long at a time. I am sure she will be ok with Daddy though, and maybe she will be weaned by the time I get back. Not that I want her to be -- I like nursing her once or twice a day. It keeps me from feeling she is growing up too fast.

EDIT: I forgot to mention that Jonah finally has a tooth! And he is 17 lbs 10 oz, and 26".

I can deal with Jonah waking up in the middle of the night, and I can deal with Guinevere waking up, but it's hard to deal with one of them waking the other up. We were up for 2-3 hours last night, and Chad finally took Jonah for a drive. I couldn't leave Guin's side or she would start crying. But Jonah wanted me to hold him at the same time. Her crying kept him up until he was wide awake and ready to go. So, off the two men went to drive around town a little.

On a different note, I have come to the realization that my lovely Medela pump (that I got after my First Years pump broke) isn't actually not as helpful for me. I just need a larger breastshield. As far as which size, I have no idea. The website isn't particularly helpful either. I am bidding on a 27 mm one on eBay, so if I get that one I will see if it works. Good thing I wasn't quite to the desperate stage yet. I do remember that pumping for Guin was hard -- probably for the same reason, because I had a Medela pump. It just didn't occur to me that the shields could come in different sizes.

I just got my copy of the 10th anniversary edition of the BBC Pride & Prejudice. The first thing I noticed is that they apparently airbrushed Colin Firth's hair, because it looks totally different than it does on the other version I had. I liked it better before.

Jonah started crawling on Saturday and hasn't looked back! I took him to the doctor this morning and found out that he has ear infections in both ears. Chad went to the doctor and found out that he has ear infections in both ears too.

I am the only one not on Augmenten.

Oh my goodness! So much has happened I don't even know where to start. Something had to give, so it was email and livejournal (the two main things I do online). I just checked my email last night for the first time since Tuesday. I couldn't believe it had need that long! I am still catching up on livejournal, so just because I didn't comment doesn't mean I don't know what's going on and am not praying for you.

Jessica is still in the hospital because she can't eat yet. She is on a morphine drip, and apparently morphine makes you nauseous on an empty stomach, so it's a vicious circle. They also had to take the iv out of her second arm and put it into her ankle due to swelling and infection. My mom is thinking she might be allergic to the iv itself. The baby is still fine. She is still having problems at the site of the spinal tap also.

My mom, after some soul searching and advice-seeking from friends and family, has decided to stay down here to help Jessica even though her mom seems to be in her last days. She (my grandma) is refusing meds and food because her throat hurts, and is getting more and more moody -- we are guessing it's from the high levels of ammonia.

Guinevere went to the doctor on Thursday and we found out that the amoxicillin did not fully eradicate the bacteria, so she is on augmenten now. It's an ear infection this time, but there is still yuckiness in her sinuses too.

Jonah probably has an ear infection now, too. I tried to make an appointment yesterday, knowing that I could be at the hospital at 3:30 again this morning, but they didn't have anything until Monday morning. Now I am hoping he does well enough until then to not have to go to the hospital. Last night was a little rough, but he did sleep most of the night. I think his cold went away with the amoxicillin, but Guinevere being sick got him sick again.

Chad is sick too. He started feeling bad on Thursday, and stayed home yesterday. I hope I am not next.

I am now the purchasing and customer service manager at work. We worked out something monetarily that makes childcare possible. Jonah and Guinevere are now also both full time at the same place, which is great!

Wow...that's all I can think of for now, but I'm sure there is more to come later!

First she had the flu -- a really nasty strain, too. Then she went to the hospital (again) last night and found out she has viral meningitis. Not fun while 4 months pregnant. The baby looked great at the ultrasound they did today, and she is staying overnight to make sure everything is good. Good thing my mom was already home so she can help this week. It takes about 2-4 weeks to feel like yourself again, apparently.

Jonah is in love with his little jars of food. He gives them his little bird call instead of me. He is already growing up. *sigh*

We just started feeding him in earnest last week, and he can't get enough. He likes almost everything we give him. So far he has had rice cereal, bananas, peaches, pears, goat milk yogurt, peas, sweet potatoes, and applesauce. He's not crazy about plain yogurt -- too sour for him, I guess.

He is practically crawling -- he moves one hand forward, but not the other.

Guinevere has her grandma home for a little while, and she loves it. She says more every day. Today is Ella (her cousin), grandma, and bad dog.

Guin just had the last of her medicine last night, and Jonah is working on finishing his up. They sure did make the kids better fast, but poor Jonah has diarrhea now. I can't wait until it is over! He is almost sleeping through the night again. It is amazing how long it takes to get back to "normal." He was in his crib until 6:30 this morning, and probably would have slept all night if Guin hadn't thrown a tantrum in the middle of the night and woken him up.

I am doing research on local day-cares because now that I have taken the purchasing manager position my boss wants to know if there are any less pricey options than where we are now. While I completely understand (since they are paying for it, they want the best deal), I don't really want to leave this one. We might try to make it work where they pay us a lower amount and we make up the difference, but I don't know if we can swing that either. It is so frustrating! I don't know how people pay for daycare on their own, and I can totally see why some people decide to get by on one income so they don't have to pay for daycare. It is expensive!

On a happier note, Jonah is so close to crawling we can taste it. He gets around pretty well now; inch-worming his way around. He has started saying dadadadadada, which is so cute! His 6 month appointment won't be until the day before he turns 7 months, which is a little irritating, but at least I got his stats when I went to WIC.

I took the kids to WIC yesterday where they were weighed and measured. Jonah, at a week shy of 6 months, was 16 lbs 10 oz and 26". Guin, at 26 1/2 months, was 31 lbs and 35". He was right at the 50th percentile.

The person I've been training quit today, so they offered me the job again. This time, though, they told me to tell them what it would take for me to take the job. I am seriously thinking about it.

Informationi

gwendolyn77 is a restricted area. Authorised personel only

Username:

From Go-Quiz.com


I wasn't going to post it, but it was just too funny!

Guin and Jonah are both sick. Guin coughs at night, waking herself and us up. Jonah has a stuffy nose, which makes nursing difficult. I think they both have sore throats. We didn't get very much sleep last night. Both babies ended up in bed with us more than once, and we even had some awake time there.

Jonah has started eating solid foods. He was lunging for my food, so I decided to start. He had some rice cereal mixed with breast-milk 4 or 5 times, and tonight he had applesauce. He loved it -- made the suck-the-food-in noise, then blew raspberries and some of it came back out. Then we had a nice bath -- the first one where he just chilled in the tub without being concerned about where he was. I didn't want to take him out, but he was getting cold.

We rearranged the living room a little -- just switched the couch and tv to opposite sides, but it has really opened up the room. The dining room table fits better into its space too. I am so excited to have a 3-day weekend! And my mom is home until the 10th! It is so nice to see her. My grandma is hanging in there, and my mom is getting worn out between taking care of her and wanting to be here with her grand-babies. My grandma might get moved to Hospice soon.

My sister is finally getting over the worst of her morning sickness, but still has some exhaustion she is dealing with.

My wonderful breast pump decided to break on me. The motor randomly cuts out or won't start. I had to return it to the company so they could replace it. They already replaced the cord thinking that was it, to no avail. So, I called WIC, having remembered that they let clients borrow pumps. I have this huge old pump that is actually quieter than mine. The only downside is that I have to hold both sides. My pump had a piece that connected both sides so I had one hand free.

I used it for the first time this morning, and was rather concerned at the (lack of) results. I only got 3 oz, where I usually get 5 or 6. But my other 2 pumps today went about as well as they normally do, so I was heartened at that.

My neck has been having problems for about a week. First I had a pinched nerve on the left side. Then I had one on the right. Now they switch back and forth, and sometimes both sides hurt. I can barely turn my head some days. I think it might be my pillow. I got a gift certificate for a local spa, and I will definitely be using part of it for a massage to try to help with that.

Guin and Jonah are doing very well at daycare. Guin is back at her regular place, and is really blossoming. Jonah was there on Monday and Tuesday, and went to the other daycare (where Guin went last week) yesterday and today. He is just pleased as punch to be anywhere. He is such a flirt, and smiles at anyone who will pay any attention to him. They are both so sweet.

I haven't taken a sick day in a while. It was kind of nice to just hang around the house with Jonah today, even though I felt awful -- still do. My head hurts when I move, and I keep putting my chin to my chest just to make sure I still can. I think Jonah might be coming down with it. He put himself to sleep in the crib this morning and slept for 2 hours. He hasn't slept that long at a time during the day for a long time. He is still sweet as ever, though.

We found out about an emergency nursery/daycare we can take the kids to next week when their regular one is closed. My cousin was going to do it, but she is having marital issues, and we thought this would be a good alternate so that she didn't need to come down if she wanted to try to work things out. Now I find out that they had a huge fight and she is coming down today. Maybe we will send Guin there and Nancy can watch Jonah. Or maybe she can go back up there if she needs to without having to worry about watching our kids.

I watched the 1st 2 episodes of the 2nd season of Weeds today. That show just keeps getting better and better. There are few shows we watch regularly, and Monk, Weeds, and Psych (just me) are the top 3. We have also managed to catch the Who Wants to Be a Superhero show, which is pretty interesting. Tonight is Monk and Psych night.

My mom says that my grandma's condition is up and down -- she'll have some really good days, then she starts saying nonsensical things, which apparently means her ammonia levels are up too high. I continue to pray for all of them up there.

I woke up ok, but got chills and then a fever today. It just came out of nowhere. I probably won't go to work tomorrow. Yay.

Guinevere has figured out that when she goes to daycare we leave. As a result she has been very reluctant to let us go in the mornings. She is fine once we leave, though. Jonah is still waking up in the middle of the night, but now I am wondering if it has to do with teething.

My breast pump is kind of broken. A couple of mornings ago it stopped and started again near the end of my 10 minutes, so I called the company. They said to try with batteries so they could determine what part needed to be replaced. It works fine on batteries, so they are replacing the cord. I have been using the batteries instead of the cord until we get the new one, and was wondering why my supply suddenly went way down. I finally figured out today that it's not me; it's the pump. The batteries just don't produce enough oomph to suck the milk out, so I had to turn it almost all the way up to get any results. I think I will try my luck with the cord from now on.

Guin slept through the night last night...yay!

My sister is too sick to watch Jonah, so my grandma is helping this week, and I am going to ask my cousin if her friend can come with her next week so Jonah can be with them. My mom might be coming home for a little while too, if my other grandma keeps doing ok like she has been. Some days are good and some are bad, but she is hanging in there.

Jonah has been getting himself to sleep more with the help of the binky. What a sweet little man he is. Yesterday he guzzled 28 oz of milk at daycare, plus nursing from me in the morning, at lunchtime, and after work, and hardly slept at all. Today he drank hardly anything and slept a lot. I'm thinking growth spurt.

We are in Danville right now. Guinevere's whole routine disappeared yesterday, and she wasn't very happy about it. We got to daycare yesterday and everyone was outside instead of in the room with the fan. She didn't want me to leave for the first time since she started going on Monday.

Then we picked her up early to get going before rush hour, which she was very ok with. She was up from her nap, and happy with life. We drove down 5 and went through Tracy; stopping at the outlet mall of course. We got to my friends' house at 7. Guinevere was great the whole way down, and very sociable with Karin. As soon as she saw Jake, it all changed. She cries every time she sees him. I guess that since she is taken care of by women at the daycare she has become more used to them, but is still scared of men, especially men she doesn't know very well.

We brought the porta-crib for Jonah and Guin's mattress for her, since Karin and Jake have a full bed, which doesn't bode well for a family of four. Since they are used to sleeping in their own beds, it went fairly well. Jonah actually woke up a few times, however, probably because he was in a different bed in a different place. I was up every 2 hours between him and her. Chad woke up at 12:30 when Guin did, and couldn't get back to sleep until 3:30.

Wireless internet connection is great! We can just use whatever wireless router happens to be around and get online.