Ainsley's second trip to the ER

When Ainsley was about 1 and 1/2 she loved climbing over the arm of the sofa. I mean L-O-V-E-D, loved. She would spend hours pulling herself up and over it, giggling, climbing off the front, and heading back up the side. One morning, she fell off. I heard the thud from the kitchen. Then nothing. I ran in to scoop up her silent body. She wasn't breathing, wouldn't look at me. Then half of her body went stiff and the other half started convulsing. I ran with her to the phone to call 911 and my mom screamed for my dad. Then, Ainsley started crying. And I started crying. Our house filled with tall, strong men, pouring off of trucks with sirens. By the time we got to the ER, she seemed totally herself. And after checking for blood in her ears and doing a CT and EEG, the doctor gave us the all clear. Then my dad told me she was really OK, and I was OK.

When I met the kids in the library after school yesterday, Ains told me her tummy hurt. Half way through her reading test, she said her tummy really hurt. So all moms know what a tummy ache during a reading test means. Nothing. But by the time we were headed home, she was complaining about pains in her left side. Assuming she wasn't born with her appendix on the wrong side, I got her home, took her temp, sat her on the couch, and handed her a bowl of blueberries and some green tea. No fever. Gas pains I thought. An hour later, I noticed she was holding her side and her breath. So of course I called my dad. He said call the doctor. At 4:45, they sent me to Urgent Care, who scheduled a 7:45 appointment and told me to call the Tallahassee Hospital Urgent Care, who told me they don't take abdominal pain and sent me to the ER. I packed up Hawthorne, homework, books, magazines, and my emergency cash stash, and headed to the ER. An hour into the ER visit, Ainsley says, "My stomach doesn't hurt anymore. Can we go get Mexican food." Sigh.

That trip was so much better.

Happy 2011.

Is it just me or does the female football coach on Glee look a hell of a lot like Matthew McConaughey?! I giggle a little every time I see her. Glee is my new show. Love it! I so wish I could share it with Ainsley, but she'll have to stick with Victorious for now because the Glee content is so not appropriate for anyone remotely close to her age. Mainly, I love the music scenes. I'm a sucker for the power of a group performance. It doesn't even have to be music; I love scenes in cop shows where the cops are all walking in a line looking all tough. There's power in numbers that I seem to get a kick out of. I really hope both of the kids play a team sport or are in the band or orchestra or dance group... anything where they can feel the rhythm of the group. I miss that some times, so I'll have to live vicariously.

They're both actually participating in such things now. Hawthorne started basketball last week, and Ainsley's piano and dance classes started this week. She's taking a jazz/hip hop class that she's super pumped about.The activities sometimes keep us a little busier in the afternoon than I'd like to be, but it's worth it. Of course I didn't feel that way so much when Hawthorne and I were at the kitchen table this morning finishing a Costa Rica project that's due today. This is a project that we've spent hours on at home, and it's supposed to be a "school" project. Never assigned for homework. When did third grade get so complicated?!

I'll write about Christmas and remodeling later; gotta get to my Wednesday conditioning class. I'm determined to get in shape before I turn 40. I'm not aiming for marathon or string bikini shape, just everything toned and limber enough so that my body doesn't feel like I'm 40 when I get out of bed in the morning.

Happy New Year!

T-Day

Our little family has a tradition of eating out for Thanksgiving and then going out of town for the weekend. Last year we added the Tallahassee Turkey Trot to our routine. This seemed completely harmless because we had a 5 and 7 year old, so participating in the 1-mile Fun Run pretty much meant a stroll in the park. The kids upped the ante this year though. Ains actually made me run the Fun Run, and Hawthorne pulled Carter into the 5K. I'm a little worried about next year. Considering how horrible a runner I am, I should probably start training right now!

We had a great Turkey Day: Turkey Trot, Gumbo's turkey trot, lunch at Chez Pierre (my first vegetarian t-day), and goofing off around the house. We canceled our travel plans to put a dent in the work we need to do to move our bathroom reno along. (Oh, the bathroom reno. I forgot to tell you about that. Next time.) But today we'll play tennis and then head up to Thomasville, Georgia, to enjoy fried seafood and shopping for the perfect coffee table for our bedroom. It's actually more fun than it sounds because it's a cute little town with lots of interesting shops, a book store for Carter, a blingy store for Ains, and railroad tracks for Hawthorne.

Here are a few pics from the Turkey Trot. Notice the short sleeves! It's too damn hot for November.

Me and Ains lining up with the 1,055 1-milers.
More than 5,000 people participated in all the races.

We came in 421st and 422nd out of 1055. Not bad considering how far back in the pack we started.

We always look like giants when the kids take our picture.

I missed taking pictures of them warming up, so I made them do it again. Aren't they cute.

Carter and Hawthorne came in 1575th and 1576th out of 2,859. Not bad for HF's first 5K.
He said he's going to start training in May for next year.

The finish line. See Carter and HF?
The 5K winner was from University of Florida. He finished in 14 minutes. Wow!

Birds

On the way to school each morning we pass one of our favorite neighborhood lakes. It's a fun lake because it's full of turtles, has several families of Canadian Geese, and has a huge green field next to it that's perfect for playing ball (or was until Hawthorne started hitting so hard). In the spring we like to go there to feed all the fuzzy, chirpy baby geese, and the neighborhood association shoots fireworks off there on July 4, but the fall really is the most fun because that's when all the birds come. I stopped today to take pictures for y'all. They aren't the prettiest pics because the lake is low (no summer hurricanes) and it's seriously foggy today, but they'll give you the general idea of how cool the birds are.

They all look similar, but there are storks, great egrets, and at least one great blue heron mixed in there.
Around the curve to the left there were a bunch of Canadian geese and several different types of ducks.
The white birds were so impressive that I forgot to take a picture of all the others.

If you look carefully, you can see a flock of Canadian Geese flying overhead.
I wish I could add sound effects because they were really loud!
They're in the first picture too but are even harder to see because of the trees.

This hawk was circling the gray sky just above all the other birds. He was the cool loner.

The whole village thing.

When I was "deciding" to quit my job (quotes because I really had already decided, I just needed a little backup info to make it look like it wasn't an insane decision), I talked with a couple at-home moms about financial issues because giving up all that money was (insert your best Dracula voice here) very scary. I got the same thing from all of them: you clean your own house, you save money on clothes and dry cleaning and gas and lunches out and after school childcare, and you just figure it out as you go. I'm now spending more time with these women, and here's what I've discovered. They're either in denial or they're big fat liars. You want to know how they make it work? Money from their families. They get free trips, free furniture, gift certificates for their kids' school wardrobes, great hand-me-downs, and free babysitting. One of my friends even got a free car. Well, not totally free because the strings attached were two high-maintenance cats, but still. None of us do it alone. My sister-in-law just sent Ainsley a kick ass keyboard and some seriously cute skirts and my parents just brought me a packed-to-the-ceiling truck load of stuff. And when they brought the truckload, they stayed and took care of my kids and cooked and built new gates and stocked the kitchen and bought Halloween costume and party supplies and took me shopping! We can't do it alone. And it's not just a financial thing. Where would we be without our family and friends and all the volunteers that make our kids' schools work?

I'm a worrier. It's genetic, and it's worse without medication (which I recently stopped taking, why oh why). On top of that, emotions flow out of me like the Columbia River. Powerful and fast. I laugh a lot and cry a lot, and when I'm pissed, oh my god, stay out of the way. So when I get myself worked up about something, it takes some serious intervention to change the current. But here's what I know. I have a safety net. I know who to call if there's a medical emergency in the middle of the night and who would be there for me if something happened to Carter or if (how can I even type this) something happened to both me and Carter. But here's what I need: the friend to hang with. Because the ones who talked about how great it is to be an at-home mom are all going back to work. Damn it. So I must start building my village, which just sounds a little daunting.  Actually, it sounds downright painful.

You know those women's mag articles that talk about how you need all these different types of friends because no one person can be all that you need. You need the friend who can give you a kick in the ass when you need it, the one whose shoulder you can cry on... Mainly I need the one who is free for lunch, likes to shop, and can give good home decorating advice. Where does one find these people? Carter and I have joked about starting a church for non-church people, but seriously that's what I need. A place, like college and church and tennis leagues, where everyone already has at least one big thing in common. I'm guessing all these potential friends are going to be tied to the kids' school, but they aren't the obvious moms because those moms already have their friends: the other moms who spend all day helping at the school and then lead a girl scouts troop and participate in a zillion church activities in their free time. The moms I want are stealthy. I'm going to have to really seek them out. Yuck. But a village must be built because sexual favors will only get Carter into so many antique stores.

Sugar.

Here are the Halloween costumes and loot and an exhausted Gumbo (who spent hours guarding the house from all the creatures of the night). Ainsley was an ocean princess, but really all that meant to her was that she needed to have as much blue and green sparkly stuff on as possible. This is a really good thing because I suck at costumes, but I can so do glitter and jewels. Hawthorne was a baseball player—again. I couldn't even get him to wear his new baseball pants and belt. He insisted on the too-short and clay-stained baseball pants from last spring. I'm glad they were in the dark most of the time!

The kids had a blast walking the neighborhood with the Stults family and their friend, Erin, from next door. I stayed home and tried to hand out more candy than I ate, but Carter kind of set me up by buying caramel-filled Dove chocolates for the trick-or-treaters. How could I not eat those?! I was supposed to be detoxing after a beignet and lemon drop martini filled trip to New Orleans last weekend, but I just can't say no to chocolate. Actually, today's sugar hangover may go a long way to strengthening my resolve.

The New Orleans trip was our first non-kid weekend getaway ever. We were celebrating college friends' 40th birthday, and the invitation said no kids, so I was coerced. I thought I'd be super nervous, but I knew the kids were in good hands with my parents. I think what made it so easy for me was that the kids were in their element and we weren't getting on a plane. I always like the security of being the one behind the wheel. Never mind that I never know how to get where I'm going. That's why I have my handsome handy-dandy navigator riding shotgun or, in a pinch, a son who is obsessed with maps.

Even without the kids, our trip was very different than past New Orleans trips. Morning runs, no hangovers, more sophisticated food and drinks, happy hours spent exchanging family photos and stories. There's something to be said for getting older. We had such a blast, and it was so nice to spend time with old friends who knew us when we were just becoming "us." Maybe we should start planning our 40th birthday celebration. It really doesn't even seem painful that it's only 6 months away for Carter and 9 months for me. Wow! I think we should all meet at the beach!

Pass the veggies.

I was a little worried about how the kids would react to me becoming a vegetarian—especially Hawthorne who thinks that bacon is one of life's greatest pleasures. They've been great sports about it though. Of course, Hawthorne still gets to eat bacon, but we usually have vegetarian dinners that are a little more creative than our meals used to be. Tonight we had eggplant sandwiches. They were super yummy. The kids gobbled them up and went back for more. Ainsley took a picture of Carter's sandwich because he had the most left when it dawned on me to take a picture for our blog.

Here's the recipe in case you want to try it too.
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Eggplant Sandwich

1/2 cup all-purpose flour
2 large eggs, beaten
1 cup panko bread crumbs
1 medium eggplant cut into eight 1/2-inch rounds
1/2 cup canola oil, split
Kosher salt
lettuce
2 medium tomatoes sliced
4 ounces goat cheese crumbled or sliced
vinaigrette dressing

Place the flour, eggs, and bread crumbs in separate shallow bowls. Dip the eggplant slices in the flour, then the eggs, then the breadcrumbs, pressing gently to help them stick.

Heat 1/4 cup of oil over medium-high heat. Cook half the eggplant until golden brown and crisp, 2-3 minutes per side. Transfer to paper towel-lined plate. Wipe out the skillet and repeat with the remaining oil and eggplant. Sprinkle hot eggplant with 1/2 teaspoon salt.

Layer the eggplant, lettuce, tomatoes, goat cheese, and dressing to form sandwiches with the eggplant as the bread. Enjoy!
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The kids also really liked the eggplant dipped in ketchup, of course. Anything fried and dipped in ketchup is seriously good stuff.

You know what's not good stuff? All the dead and dying animals that Lucy keeps bringing in the house. We were home all day Saturday, so she brought us lots of presents. I think the final count was 1 snake, 2 moles, 4 lizards, 1 baby frog, and various yucky bugs. I appreciated having Carter and Hawthorne around to save me from having to round up and get rid of everything. I'll rise to the occasion when necessary, but I prefer it not being necessary.

Lucy's need for new stimulation is scaring me. Today she crossed the street. When Carter and I both went running out of the house after her, I think she realized what she had done wasn't a good idea. We got a little help from a very noisy scooter to reinforce the fear of the street lesson. Oh that cat! Here she is at the top of the trellis that is supposed to hide the neighbor's garage from sight. I think I'm going to have to get her a battery powered mouse to keep her entertained in the winter. Otherwise, who knows what she'll do in search of her next adrenaline rush!