Monthly Archives: September 2008

National Book Festival

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We went to the National Book Festival on the mall in DC today. It was a fun day even though the weather wasn’t the best. It wasn’t especially hot, but it was very humid.

We rode into DC on the Metro. Sometimes I think that’s the highlight of any trip to DC for our kids! It was Adrian’s first time on the Metro. The other three have ridden on it loads of times.

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Ani reading The Onion newspaper and pretending to look all studious doing it.
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The Magic School Bus was there! The inside was pretty cool. Fritz loved it because there were so many things right at his level to look at.
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I figured I’d better take a picture of the big kids getting onto the Magic School Bus. It may be my only chance to get a picture of them climbing on a bus!
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Fritz was less than thrilled being next to Ord from DragonTales. He couldn’t figure out just why we wanted him to stand next to the big blue dragon.
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Ani and Cameron (particularly Cameron) were both very excited to meet WordGirl. The event staffers took pictures of the kids with the characters and gave them to us for free.
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They got balloons from DC’s booth in the states pavilion. While I exercised my right to nurse in public on any federal property my child and I are authorized to be on, the kids played on one of the sections of the grass.
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We spent a long time in the states pavilion collecting stamps on the kids’ maps and getting things about each state to use in school in a few years.
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And, of course, the trip home on the Metro was another highlight of the day for the kids.
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Well, maybe not for Adrian. He was just sleepy.
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Jamie has sleep apnea

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This diagnosis is not a surprise. I’ve been bugging him to go to the doctor about it for months. He finally went to the doctor who referred him to a sleep doctor who sent him to the sleep clinic. After a sleep study Tuesday night he was told he has sleep apnea and will need to come back to be fitted for a CPAP or BiPAP machine.

I could have saved our insurance company a few hundred dollars and given them a diagnosis right off. After all, I’m the one spending my nights kicking and hitting Jamie and telling him to breathe.

It’s funny. I have two bed partners. My baby and my husband. My baby wakes me up once, sometimes twice, a night demanding to be fed. It’s my husband who makes me lose the most sleep, though, with his snoring and lack of breathing.

I’m looking forward to us both getting better sleep once he has that machine!

A Composition by Ani

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Today’s writing assignment for Ani was to write a story about a coin. She had the option of telling the story from the point of view of the coin. She chose to do that and to make the story in the form of a journal entry. Here is what she wrote:

History: A mom has a quarter. She needs to buy food for her family. Here is the quarter’s story.*

Hi! I am a quarter in a mom’s purse. I am on my way to the store. Her family is very hungry and she needs to buy food. Okay. So we’re at the store. Oh! She’s buying bread, cheese, and milk. It all costs a quarter. I hope she uses me. Wheeee! She is using me. I’m so excited! The end.

*She actually wrote the history just to be sure I could understand her story was from the quarter’s point of view.

Daddy’s surgery update

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Daddy’s surgery went very well. The doctor said he didn’t feel anything (like a lump) in his prostate and felt nothing in his lymph nodes (which he also removed). That’s great news. Although we won’t know for sure if/that he is cancer-free until he’s has some follow-up PSAs done, chances are very good the cancer is now completely gone!

The C-Word

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My father has prostate cancer. One of my grandfathers died of lung cancer. An aunt died of breast cancer. A great-grandmother died of (I think) liver cancer. But my father having cancer is different somehow. I guess it’s because he’s my Daddy.

He’s having surgery today to have his prostate removed. We’ve been waiting for this day to come for what seems like forever and what seems like not long at all. He was diagnosed right around the time Adrian was born. I think it was the day after, so almost 3 months ago now.

My little Adrian’s middle name is Lloyd after my father’s first name (which isn’t the name he goes by, but I really like the name).

Chances are everything will be fine. After all, prostate cancer is both extremely common and extremely curable. But it is still nerve-wracking. Cancer is scary no matter how good the odds are.

Belly Laughs

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For reasons known only to my 8 year old, Ani started hitting herself over the head repeatedly and saying “Ow!” This caught Adrian’s attention. He thought it was the funniest thing ever apparently and started laughing. Full out, deep down, belly laughs!
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