I know... I know....

It's been too long since I have last posted. Here's the rundown:

Seuao's surgery was 3 weeks ago, since then we have been bombarded by follow-up appointments, physical therapy appointments (especially annoying when they're 3x/week and FAR away and the patient can't drive), prescriptions and refills - I understand why doctors can't just call in narcotic refills, but seriously, don't they EVER make exceptions??? He is finally getting better but despite his best efforts to carry a chubby baby and use one of his crutches to get a very persistent toddler her "juuk" I am still delegated the chief ice/juice/baby/bottle/snack/diet coke/remote/cell phone/house phone-getter. Oh, and just try to keep crutches, aka WEAPONS, out of tiny hands. That's enough to put anyone over the edge.

Tessa started getting sick right after Seuao's surgery. With babies anything that resembles a runny nose and/or a fever can be any number of things: teething, a cold, ear infections, paranoid mom syndrome.... you get the idea. Finally she decided her mom wasn't paying enough attention to her, and started barfing. I gave in and took (more) time off work to take her to the doctor. Turns out she had a funky strain of pneumonia that was in her ears and her lungs, AND a blister on her eardrum (we won't even venture to guess how that was caused, but I do know a very LOUD toddler who most definitely contributed to the resulting pain!) I went to get her prescriptions, and the pharmacist didn't want to give it to me at full strength. Of course the doctor's office was closed for a holiday weekend and the doctor on-call (who I have no idea who he is) said to lower the dosage. I tried to persuade the pharmacist to give it to me full-strength and told him you haven't seen the size of my baby (23 lbs and barely 5 months), but he was convinced to lower the dosage. Needless to say, over the (long, holiday) weekend, she got worse. Which meant I got less and less sleep. Finally when everyone was back to work we got the dosage straightened out and finally finally finally my sweet baby has returned. Her crazy-loud-screaming super-fussy twin only makes rare appearances now ... phew!

In the meantime I started to get a complex that my Lily needs to get her eyes checked. Just watch that kid for 10 minutes and she will trip on something or run into a wall at least 5 times. I got her an appointment with a pediatric ophthalmologist and waited hours and hours for a 3 minute doctor visit to have him tell me she's just clumsy. Lovely. Oh, and she now has a runny nose and cough and is tugging on one of her ears......

On top of all of this, we had my mom stay with us for a week. Luckily it coincided with one Tessa's sick weeks, and I felt a little less guilty for having to take her out into the cold to the babysitter while I go to work. Mom watched the kids while Lex & Dave went to Florida on a little vacation. We did have a couple of other fun things pop up like Benji's first birthday and Valentines Day. When I ever get around to uploading my pictures I'll post some more...

In the meantime, kids are mostly feeling better, Wow is now driving and mostly off the crutches, and I am finally getting a little sleep (not much, but at least a little), so life is becoming much more manageable.

Thanks for hanging in there with me!

Crossing Paths

On Wednesday Seuao went in to have his ACL reconstructed. The surgery couldn't have gone better. The doctors and nursing staff were great. Now the fun part - recovery! So far he is doing well - just in quite a bit of pain (to be expected), and is getting pretty bored. He starts physical therapy tomorrow, and we'll have a better idea then when he'll be up and around again!

While I was waiting for Seuao's surgery, I started talking to a gal who had brought her 2 1/2 year old in for tubes in his ears. I'm not one to strike up conversations with strangers. I'm just not a real talker.

I don't know what it was, but I had the neatest conversation with this gal. Her husband was in Iraq, and would be coming home the next day. We talked about so many different things - kids, husbands, cultures, religion, politics, parents, in-laws, siblings, jobs, crafties, recipes, books, on and on and on... It wasn't really surface chit-chat either. It was so strange to me to find so much common ground and a bond with a complete stranger.

When the nurse came to tell her that her little boy was awake again, she came over and gave me a hug. She had tears in her eyes (which was foreign to me - I am usually the one that's crying!), and thanked me. I never learned her name, but I couldn't help but think about how paths cross in life.

Some paths we just intersect and keep on going our separate ways (like that day). Other paths we join up with and travel along with for a while, and slowly drift apart. Some paths we criss and cross and circle around, and try to decipher, but the nature of it is just that - undefinable. Yet other paths reconnect after years and years apart.

When Seuao woke up and later that day (still "under the influence") was telling me how much he loved me and appreciated my taking care of him, etc. I was grateful for my path. Grateful for those travelling with me and those whose paths I have crossed.