This is what happens when we feed her....

A small, sad vent

Mila was weighed Friday at the Ped and she has lost more weight. It bothers me so much. I am so tired of the fighting about it. Alex won't admit it but I think it scares him. He's all macho " She's fine, she'll just be little. " While I understand that she really will just be a thin girl, in all likelihood, it worries me at how skinny she has become. You can see and feel all her ribs. Her face is thin. Her arms are like little toothpicks. She’s a plucked chicken, for crying out loud.

It is not that I want the doctors to admit her and put in a feeding tube. Its not that at all. But I do want to figure out why she isn’t eating more, and why she doesn’t seem to be doing as well at the whole “ eating to live “ thing as other children. Other babies eat finger foods by now. Hell, most of them are practically ready to be on whole milk and no purees at all, and I can’t get Mila to eat ANYTHING off a spoon. Not delicious sweet vanilla yogurt, creamy and cool. Not spicy Spanish chicken, or chunks of potato, or cinnamon apple cereal. Nothing. She just will not eat for me. It rather heartens me that she won’t eat for anyone else, either. I’d hate it if she ate for others and not for me. I’d rather she just ate for everyone!

Robby is recovering from the stomach flu very very slowly. He’s lost some weight too, but I’m not at all concerned about him. At last check, he was 34 lbs 8 oz, which puts HIM at the 50%. That’s a great, normal, average number.

Work is still doing okay… I screwed up ROYALLY for Big Yellow Gym’s advertisement – I got BOTH addresses wrong. Big Boss Man hates my January design, which I will attempt to redo tonight, along with corrections for the February design and the Promo Folder from hell.

Alex is wrapping up Holiday Season at the gallery. Coworker is on vacation, so he’s working 6 days a week, but only 10-6 instead of 12-9. I much prefer the 10-6 shift for him.

I baked two sets of cookies, oatmeal raisin and chocolate chip. Now to give them out and get in the holiday mood.

Puke Fest!

Its been a lovely few days!

It started with a girl coming into the centre who hadn't been well... I sent her home with a fever. After work, we headed to the food court cause I was starving! I grabbed my food, paid for it, and turned around to head upstairs...

Mila starts gagging and pukes and pukes. Down my shirt, onto the floor, over and over. And since I had her tied into the MT, I had to lean over and tilt to one side so she could puke on the floor and breathe. It went on and one for so long that someone came and took my McDonalds and Robby over to the bench to wait! She just heaved and heaved, poor thing.

Not exactly my shining hour, see?

We go upstairs and I share my drink with Robby. Then he starts puking. Everywhere. Repeatedly. I zipped over to the washroom, cleaned him up, put him in a blanket, and ran to Zellers since both kids needed new clothes at this point. I bought two pairs of pjs and brought the kids back to the centre to change them. And Robby starts puking in the stroller. And on the floor. I cleaned him up again and got him changed while Alex got Mila changed.

I'm beginning to see a theme here....

Robby gets home, and starts yarfing onto the kitchen floor. No big deal. Cleaned that up and gave him a bowl, which he filled promptly. AT least it was in the bowl. Then Mila starts heaving and I run her to the sink cause I'd WAY rather she puke where I can wash it. ( I have a distaste for being puked on ). I send Robby to bed and Mila to bed.

Robby wakes up with a fever and is terribly thirsty. But I can't let him guzzle because he'll puke. DAmn. So I fill him up a sip cup and he drinks and goes back to sleep. Then Mila gets up. She's running a fever too! I put her back to bed. Robby gets up again. Mila starts to cry, and Alex turns green and runs for the washroom.

See where this is going?

I guess the random stomach and headache this weekend was a virus that didn't bother me that much. Alex is down for the count and Mila is dehydrating. Mila's temp is 101.2 ( 38.4 ) and Alex is 102 ( 38.8 ).

Good times, I tell you, good times!

Pictures

My beautiful kids.... They are so sweet.... And loud, and messy, uncooperative for pictures, and often rather stinky. They were IMPOSSIBLE to get good pictures of this time! Mila kept trying to crawl off the bed ( and we've done THAT before.... ) and Robby couldn't stop moving... though I got some great action pictures.... I'll be editing them a bit for quality, but here are some cute previews!

Trying harder!

Hey, loyal blogland readers... I'm trying so hard to be more frequent with the updates. I'm updating from work right now...

Everything is well here. Except the house. The house is a bona fide disaster. I'm so tired of working my tush off to clean it. Won't someone out there just... buy me a maid? Three times a week would suffice, though 4 or 5 times would be even better... I'd even settle for 1x a week?

I've been attempting to clean up more when I get home from work. Of course, the problem with this is fairly easy - Robby has very very delicate skin that isn't doing well in the super dry air. He needs a bath with moisturizing soap followed by lotion EVERY NIGHT to make sure that his skin doesn't chap and crack. The poor little folds under his tush, and his calves & ankles go first. It makes him very uncomfortable, so its really a priority every night. I throw Mila into the bath with him, and its a rather hectic half hour. While the kids are in the bath, I swish & swipe ( www.flylady.net ) the bathroom, but I won't leave the room. After Mila comes out, she bounces in the Jolly Jumper for a few minutes while I attempt to fold laundry.

It makes for a very tiring evening. Mornings aren't any better right now. I pack EVERYONE's lunch. Well, to be honest, right now, I pack for Mila, for Robby, and for myself. Starting tomorrow, I'll be packing for Alex too. I've lost close to 10lbs already, so I KNOW I'm doing the right thing, but I don't actually ENJOY getting up 1/2 an hour early to make food. And we take a LOT of food... Robby gets a string cheese, a yogurt, a pudding, a cream cheese sandwich, chicken nuggets, a fruit bar, and a fruit cup. Mila gets a jar of food, a sip cup of juice, and some finger snacks. I take a soup, bread & butter or hummus, a salad, a power bar, and occasionally, a cookie. Then I bring 2 bottles of water, chocolate milk, and juice for Robby. Usually, the lunch bag goes home empty!!!

Mila is still cruising around the furniture, but not freestanding yet. Robby is enjoying playing at the gym, though I think he needs more sleep. Alex is working like a dog.

Busy, busy life.

I'm sorry

The truth is, I don't usually have a moment to pee in private, much less blog to the whole world about what goes on in the Kagan family.

Things are well here. I'm working full time doing graphics and managing the Kid's Club, schlepping the kids to and from work with rapidity to make deadlines. Dinner, laundry, and the ever present pile of dishes have suffered mightily. I do enjoy it though, and its good for everyone involved. Most especially, good for Robby. His socialization skills were fairly lacking before, and he is getting much needed exposure to other children of multiple ages. He is getting better at sharing, at not hitting, and at playing on his own.

Mila, of course, is getting the same exposure, which translates into her first cold. The poor darling actually ended up in the ER - her coughing and wheezing sounded so bad that I wanted to rule out pnuemonia from aspiration. Its just a viral thing, and now we've call caught it. Unsurprisingly, this has caused Mila to drop some weight. I estimate that she's dropped half a pound or so - clothes that were beginning to be tight are now slightly loose. Three months ago, this weight loss would have bothered me to no end. Now, however, I can see that she's doing okay. She's put on quite a bit of weight in the last few weeks that a loss of 1/2 a pound, while not exactly good, is not the devastating issue it had been. I estimate her to be around 17 lbs right now, which puts her up above that dreaded 10% line. Mila is learning many new tricks these days, and growing up so fast. Its hard to believe in a few short months, she'll be one. But it shows. She's started to cruise the furniture, climb the stairs, and just the other day attempted to climb out of her crib. She has three teeth with a fourth due any day. I can see it, I just don't feel that sharp ridge that means its broken through the skin.

IN other news, the divorce is final. HIP HIP HOOOOOOOORAY! I'm so chuffed about this that I might pee my pants with joy. Its final. Its done. Its OVER. Hopefully, sperm donor ( hereafter referred to as SD ), will still go through with the parent termination.However, there has definitely been a precedant set for my suing him for it, should it come to that. The idea now, of course, is how fast Alex and I can hitch. We're looking quite fondly at the end of February.. Sorry that y'all will have to brave the snow again. We'd like to have the " reception ".. actually a sit down dinner... at a restaurant instead of a big reception hall with dancing, djs, and lots of partying. We're really quite past that right now.The restaurant we love, though, has quoted us a price that we simply cannot afford. It entails them shutting the whole restaurant down for us. Its too bad, the food is awsome and the ambience is lovely. We are supposed to meet with the Rabbi next week as well. Whooohooo!

Anyway, here concludes the 100th post of the blog.