spring fever

Eleanor is doing great, it is sunny and 58 degrees outside, I am baking Irish soda bread. Pretty much, all is right with the world.



My friend brought over these beautiful daffodils on Monday for Eleanor. They are so sunny and cheerful and they smell amazing. I feel like I have a little springtime meadow on my table - I just want to dive into it every time I walk past.


And the plum tree in our backyard looks like this right now:

For those of you still winterbound, don't fret - I'm sure spring is just around the corner for you, too!

in which our patient recovers

Now that we are home and Eleanor is watching her fourth movie of the day, I thought I'd steal a few minutes and report on her surgery this morning.

The morning started early, waking Eve and Eleanor up at 6:30 so I could get one ready for school and the other ready for the doctor. A huge thanks to my sweet friend Ginny for also dragging her kids out of bed before dark to come to my house, put Eve on the school bus, feed and dress Sam, and generally take care of everything. Originally, we had planned for Jared to stay home and for me to go with Nora, but I was so glad to have Jared there with me. It's easier to be brave with two.

Eleanor was very chipper and brave. Her confidence began to falter a bit at the end of the excrutiatingly long prep process when she had to change into her little gown and surgical cap. That's kind of when my confidence faltered too. It does not do a mommy heart any good to see their child dressed for surgery. At the surgery center, they wheel the kids into OR in this little red wagon which I'm sure is meant to be cute and playful. I find it a little sick and morbid watching my child being wheeled into surgery in a Radio Flyer. "Come for a ride on my red wagon, little girl... heh, heh, heh...." But Eleanor liked it, so hooray!

Jared and I waited for half an hour before the surgeon came to report to us. Apparently, she really did need this second shot at tubes. Her ears were massively packed with thick nasty goop so she should hear much better now (again.) And her adenoids were gigantic, so it was good to have had them removed as well. And they said she was a real trooper and didn't cry at all in the OR, which is good to hear but a little horrifying to hear that crying scared children in the OR is expected. Sad. :(

The really hard part was coming out of the anesthesia. Last time was bad enough, but we had her calmed down within 10 minutes or so. It took nearly an hour today. A grueling, exhausting hour, I tell you! I was ready to break down and cry by the end. Her throat hurt from the breathing tube and the adenoid removal, which wasn't helping her general sense of disorientation. And fury. A friend told me that how you come out of anesthesia reflects your true colors, but I sincerely hope not! If that's true, Nora definitely has some anger management classes in her future. I kept telling the nurse, "She's usually a very pleasant child, I promise!"

Finally she calmed down enough to have her IV removed and we were able to take a very bedraggled, worn out Eleanor home. She took up residence on the couch, ate about 15 Costco potstickers (her absolute favorite) and watched movies for the rest of the day. And she's doing great.

I just wanted to say thank you to all my wonderful friends who have helped so much today. My dear friends Ginny and Aimee are bringing dinner tonight (Eleanor's favorite - spaghetti and meatballs), my friend Tricia rushed over a movie she knew Eleanor wanted while we were down at the surgery, I ran into my friend Jeri at Target while picking up Eleanor's prescription and she listened to me tell her my sob story and then offered to bring me cheesecake tomorrow, several other friends have called to see how we are doing. And we so appreciated everyone's thoughts and prayers.

I know it was just a small procedure but it's always hard to watch your children go through something hard. And I think I have been permanently scarred by her coming out of anesthetic. So thank you to everyone - we feel very loved and taken care of.

Now, I need to go check on our patient and make sure her stash of popsicles is holding out...

lend her your ears

No, seriously. Lend Eleanor your ears! You may remember that Eleanor had surgery to have tubes put in her ears last December because of chronic fluid problems in her ear canal.

Guess what?

We get to do it again! And this time she is having her adenoids removed, as well. Apparently, the original tubes are blocked and her ears are filled up again. We started noticing in January when she went deaf as a post again. And apparently removing her adenoids will solve the problem. We hope. For many reasons, I really don't want to do this again.

Jared and I broke the news to Nora this morning after waiting a couple of weeks. And she took it okay. At first, her little face crumpled and she said, "But I don't want to do that again!" (She and the anesthesia weren't the best of friends last time.) But we assured her she would hear better and her ears wouldn't hurt anymore. And that she would get another teddy bear and a popsicle. That closed the deal for her. Who wouldn't be excited for a $1000 popsicle?!

So please think of us on Monday morning at 6:30 and keep Eleanor in your thoughts and prayers. And maybe me, too -I could use the help!

ashland chocolate festival

While the Ashland Springs Hotel didn't look exactly like the Chocolate Room from Willy Wonka's factory, it was good enough for me!

An afternoon spent with friends, trying numerous samples of chocolate, was a perfect break from nursing sick kids. (A big thanks to Jared who stepped in and nursed sick kids while I ran around Ashland with chocolate smeared on my face!) Fun to see all these local boutique bakeries and chocolatiers that I had no idea existed.

My favorite was the very first booth we hit: Dagoba Chocolates. (Not to be confused with the Dagobah system, home of Yoda. I found this very confusing, but I think I may have been the only one.) They are an organic chocolate company in Ashland that makes the most delicious 74% cacao dark chocolate, plus a few other tasty flavors, like Lemon Ginger.

I also really liked the truffles from Coastal Mist and the chocolate sauces from Two Brothers in Portland. There was also a vendor who was toasting his homemade chocolate marshmellows over a little camp stove for samples. And one who was sprinkling his homemade chocolate toffee over scoops of icecream.

And there were these fantastic salted caramels from Sweet in Ashland. Not chocolate, but they were toe-curling good! I love salty and sweet together.

I didn't bring my camera, but luckily my friend Kathlene did, so I will steal some pics from her blog:

My personal chef toasting a marshmellow for me.

The cutest plate of meringue mushrooms.


This delightful bakery was sampling pound cake with white chocolate and Cointreau sauce. I resisted temptation and tried it with the lemon curd instead. *sigh* I was not tempted by all the wine vendors, but there were enough chocolates with liqueurs there to make one rather tipsy. Or so I would imagine.

My favorite part of the day was when I turned to my friend and we both noticed our palms were sticky with little smears of chocolate. That's how you know you are at a first rate chocolate festival, my friends!

I think this Saturday of complete indulgence should become an annual tradition. What do you think, ladies?

sweet, sweet escape

Eleanor and the stomach flu all day yesterday. Sam up with croup all night long last night.

Thanks heavens I'm going here today.

In my head, I imagine it will look like this....

...but that's probably just the sleep deprivation talking.

eleanor's birthday, part I

Eleanor has the stomach flu today. She has thrown up eight times since 5pm yesterday. Our family is slowly and painfully working its way through this stomach bug (remember how I had it two weeks ago?) and so far Sam is the only one untouched. I saw him drinking out of Eleanor's water cup earlier today, though, so it's only a matter of time.

So let's pretend I don't have a child vomitting and turn our thoughts toward a happier, simpler time: last Sunday. May I present Eleanor Turning Five, in photos:

Eleanor's requested Barbie cake. I saran wrapped Barbie's legs (kinky!) before I stuck her in the cake, so I could just pull her out and present her to Eleanor. Way more fun than just unwrapping a new Barbie!

Wahoo! Presents!

Eleanor had her heart set on a Razor scooter for her birthday. I thought I had kept it a big surprise, but Nora was all, "When can we open presents? I want to ride my scooter!" Oh well.

Twirling in the new pettiskirt my sister sent. So far Eleanor has requested to wear it to bed, to preschool, to church, and to dance class. It is a hit, Miranda!

It was hard to figure out how to put candles in this cake. I like how Barbie has her arms raised in alarm.

Sam is confused about why his scooter is pink. And why we gave it to Eleanor.

And a cute picture of Eve.

Coming soon: pics of Eleanor's friend party. I don't have a ton, but what few there are are trapped on my camera which the computer still doesn't recognize. In the mean time, here is one from Jared's:

You can tell that Eleanor is about to say something totally bossy, with that finger all raised and stuff. Well, even if she wasn't cute, the party sure was!

killing time

So what I am really desperate to do is blog about Eleanor's birthday. She turned five over the weekend and we had a great little family bash on Sunday, followed by her very first "friend party" on Monday. A good time was had by all (except for perhaps a few meltdowns from the birthday girl at her party, but that's expected... it's her party and she can cry if she wants to, right?)

But on Monday, Jared decided he absolutely had to install Windows 7. Right now! And, like all installations, it takes many steps. So Nora's party photos are trapped on the camera until he installs the right drivers.

So. Here we are. But can't you tell how pretty everything is in Windows 7? So shiny and new? Or perhaps you can't enjoy it so much from your end. You'll have to take my word for it.

While I'm not blogging about Nora's birthday, I will mention a few other slightly-less-blogworthy items.

• Sam likes to sleep with matchbox cars. He is doing so right now. He clutches one in each fist and tucks them under his chin. I like this little boy.
  
• My friend stopped by today with a sushi tray for us to share for lunch. Isn't that the best kind of surprise? Good friends who know when you need a visit and a snack? Thanks, Tricia! My tummy is happily full of California rolls.
  
• I can't wait for my night of NBC comedy! I have done four loads of laundry so I have an excuse to sit in front of the TV all night while I fold and match up zillions of tiny socks. My burning question: what will Jim and Pam's baby look like? And will the show be better than the Murphy Brown baby episode? I am in happy anticipation.
• I spent all of Tuesday reading Catching Fire, the sequel to Hunger Games. I like nerdy teen books that you can read in one day. I was only #17 on hold at the library (after 4 months of waiting) so my friend Angela - she was higher up on the hold list - let me borrow it when she was done. My family had leftovers for dinner that night. Sacrifices must be made!
• I talked to my brother for a little bit today. I have really great siblings. And siblings in law. I wish we lived closer to them all, but hopefully I'll be able to visit more of them this year.
  
  
• Another friend called to invite Eleanor to her daughter's 5th birthday tomorrow. They plan on seeing the new Alice in Wonderland. Am I an uptight mom for saying that Eleanor probably couldn't go? I've seen the previews and I think Helena Bonham Carter's forehead is terrifying!

Our new fancy keyboard feels like satin, but it keeps making me type the wrong letters. Hopefully I will return soon with birthday pics.