Spring preview

The weather has been gorgeous this week. Absolutely fantastic. It's supposed to change tomorrow, so we are soaking up all the sun we can.

Riveting

In order to get Rick out of the house on his one day off a week, an outing has to be significantly tantalizing. Meaning, it should involve some type of heavy machinery. I had wanted to check out the Rosie the Riveter tribute at the Richmond harbor for some time, and there just so happened to be a WWII exhibit featuring the USS Iowa nearby. It was a beautifully crisp day, so we bundled up and headed out. The USS Iowa exhibit was underwhelming. I also quickly realized how inappropriate it felt to have Sophia pose next to powder kegs and large gun casings.

After a pretty short perusal of the bow of the ship and museum, we headed over to the Rosie the Riveter memorial walkway. Equally underwhelming, we decided to go for a walk along the water--my secret intention all along.

Although the tribute itself to all the women who worked in the shipyards during the war was underwhelming, the history and information was fascinating. I wish there was more to see.

It made me realize I need to get more information from Rick's mom, who was a "Rosie" during that time. She totally downplays the significance, of course. I still have some work to do with her there.

My Valentines

The girls had fun posing for a little photo shoot last week. Ava is obsessed with pulling hair, so she mostly had fun pulling out chunks of her cousin's hair while they, being trained well by their mom, kept a smile plastered on their faces in front of the camera. The other day Sophia asks me, "Mom, how come you don't like Ava?" I was a little taken aback. My first thought was gee I've been trying not to play favorites so much that maybe I'm doing some damage here. That's why Sophia is so good to Ava, she feels sorry for her. I tell Sophia I love Ava so much it hurts. That I love them both more than the world itself. I ask Sophia why she thinks I don't like Ava. She says, "You always call her a Little Monster and a Brute." Ha! So true, I do that all the time! So I explain that those are names given out of love, even though it might seem confusing. But Ava is a Little Monster and she is a Brute! Meant in an endearing way, of course. We were worried that Sophia would be rough with Ava, but in retrospect we should have been teaching Sophia how to fight back. Ava is quick to pull Sophia's hair (as mentioned above), quick to hit and slap if a toy is taken from her, pitches a fit if she doesn't get what she wants, and tries to rip your face off or poke your eyeballs out, while smiling as she does it. Sophia mainly sits there and takes it. Or screams. But she never retaliates. And while I think this is a great Big Sister thing to do, I kind of feel like Ava needs to be put in her place sometimes. That sounds awful coming from a mom, I suppose. And I would never teach her a lesson in that way; instead I try to distract and remove from the situation, firmly telling Ava "No, be gentle." This is one of those nurture/nature moments where Ava's strong will was forged in the womb. She would kick Julia in the head all the time and I would actually poke Ava from the belly and say be gentle. She's a fighter, this one. And a lover. With equal enthusiasm, hugs are given so tightly. She'll throw herself into my arms. She cuddles. She wants her back rubbed, patted. If I stop rubbing, she'll grunt and nudge me to continue. Ava had her 1 year adjusted assessment the other day. Not only is she meeting her milestones, the girl is meeting and exceeding milestones for a 15 month old. I am so proud, so grateful, so relieved. We have another assessment in a few weeks with another program that is also following her development closely. I still get anxiety with these appointments, but I have a lot more confidence that Ava is going to be just fine. My strong little Valentine.

Sophia is so much fun to be around right now. She's at that age where I feel like she's my friend. We share jokes and stories. She's eager to help with chores. She makes sure Daddy is taken care of. She's negotiates now. You can see the wheels spinning in her head. I feel like that distance we had last year when I couldn't be there for her because of the pregnancy, and then the time spent at the NICU, and then the time spent while Ava was so tiny, that distance is gone now. It really pained me to see her go to Rick for comfort, or tell me she wanted Daddy to do it. She'll always be Daddy's girl, but there also seemed to be that I had betrayed her in some way because I wasn't there for her like I wanted to be, or should have been. I could be reading into it way more than I should, because I do plenty of that. But now I feel like we're even in parenting, Rick and I. Of course she wants Daddy, but she wants Mommy too again. I'm sure that's what it felt like when Sophia and Ava were newborns to Rick. But he's the bigger person in the emotions department, and he sees the bigger picture as well. I get so caught up in the moment, that I can't see there will be shifts in the relationships with our children as they grow. Or maybe the truth is that she's just going to the sloppy seconds while Daddy recovers from the poison oak that seems to be an endless pain in the ass around here. When that clears up, maybe the truth will be told!

I woke up this morning to a beautiful bouquet of red roses. They always remind me of when Rick and I were first dating. And although it wasn't Valentine's Day, I think about this story every year on Valentine's Day. We had gone out for a drink at the local bar down the road. A woman walks in carrying a bucket filled with roses, hoping that some guy will feel pressured into buying a rose for the girl he's with, or maybe hoping some guy will take the bait and buy a rose to try to get lucky. Yes, I'm cynical. What does Rick do? Rick bought the entire bucket and gives them to me. He says, "Now that woman doesn't have to work all night trying to sell roses and she can bring the money back to her family and maybe buy a nice dinner for them all and spend time with them." That was the sweetest thing ever! I am not kidding you, 5 minutes later that same lady walks back in with a new bucket filled with roses. We laughed so hard, we were crying. And this is just one of the reasons I love this man.

XOXO

The house of ridiculous funk

If I actually took the time to elaborate on the events that took place in the past week, I would be sitting here typing for hours. So I'll cut the chase and hand over the meat of the story. You remember that little cold Sophia got the day of the dance? Well that little cold was caught by one Ava. I figured it would last as long as Sophia's, it being so brief and not at all slowing Sophia down. But that cold turned into the infamous RSV. The very same RSV that we were so terrified of Ava contracting last year, that we spent thousands of dollars in a series of shots that lasted the duration of RSV season. RSV isn't contagious, it's actually an innocent common cold that goes sinister in children under 2 years of age or those with a compromised immune system. Just like with the common cold, you have to let RSV run its course. Let me tell you, I know now why RSV is no joke. I completely understand why the girl's pediatrician timed her pregnancy and birth of her children around it. Why she said, "Oh good, you are having your baby after RSV season" when we had our initial consult before Sophia was born, and why she said, "You're expecting during RSV season" when I told her the girl's due date.

Oh right, this was supposed to be the short version.

I took Ava into the pediatrician's office early Wednesday morning because I knew she had an ear infection and she had also started wheezing and breathing funny during breakfast. Her funny breathing turned into struggling for breathing. I was sent home with a nebulizer that steams steroid into her lungs to allow her to breathe, treatments to be performed every 4 hours. On the drive home, I thought to myself I can do this. I brought her home when she was still having brady's for crying out loud. Nothing was scarier than that. I can do this. I was also hopped up on crazy pregnancy hormones back then, which I contribute to how capable I was of tackling just about anything with superhuman strength. Now? No hormones of that kind to be found. Can those things be prescribed? Because that was some good shit.

Right, I'm keeping this story short.

So we get home, and my sister in-law is there with Sophia and the home visit vet, called in because our dog also seemed to be under the weather. I was told it could be a number of things wrong with him, but here is some medication that he needs 2 times a day, to be fed on an empty stomach, in combo with OTC Pepcid AC that needs to be given 2 hours after the other medicine...and I still hadn't gone to the pharmacy to fill Ava's prescription for antibiotics and steroid treatments. I started feeling a little over overwhelmed. So off to the pharmacy I run, mentally calculating the chart I will have to make to keep this mess straight. When I returned home, Ava's breathing started getting bad again, I hadn't figured out the doses, the machine, or anything. I panicked and called my mom. My mom heard my panic and packed her bags. My mother in-law must have felt my panic because she called and came over right away. What is it about grandma's arms? Ava fell asleep immediately in Noni's arms and I got my freaking freak-out contained. Oh, did I mention we were up all night the night before because Ava was sick. Oh and Rick came down with the cold too. So I was just getting things under control with my mom running interference, when the vet tells us that she believes the dog has liver cancer. Or an ulcer. But 95% sure it's liver cancer. But he's really lived his life expectancy, and really we just want to make him comfortable.

And then Friday happens. Sophia tells us she has a stomach ache. And then she starts to puke. Nonstop. Until 1am. And then Rick gets hit with it on Saturday. And then I get hit with it on Sunday. And then poor Ava, recovering from RSV and still on antibiotics, gets it on Sunday evening. I wanted to sleep, I wanted to puke, and I wanted my babies to get better. I'm not good with impossible situations, but I'm determined. So we got through it, Rick and I rallying together.

And then Monday happens. Rick has poison oak from head to toe. But he has an appointment anyway to see a dermatologist for some suspected skin cancer this week, so hopefully this will get resolved. Seriously. This was our week.

Sophia cracked me up during this whole thing. She kept rolling her eyes and saying, "Will this torment ever cease?!" It's a line from a book I read her at night. I was pretty impressed at her ability to put such big words to work in an unbelievably perfect scenario for its use.