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oops. sorry. i was typing a post and guess i got bored.

i can assure you. you haven't missed a lot around here. last week was spring break '08. or you might recall its other names -- Parade of Malls or Five Malls In Five Days.

much to my surprise, we only hit three malls in the five days. we set our expectations high, only to be disappointed. i will say, however, that we were able to spend five days with various close friends, some of whom we don't see on a regular basis. so it was good.

and we may or may not have watched one or twenty-six movies.

and we concluded our week with Easter Weekend. Good Friday was good. the service was a bit of a challenge. when we arrived at church, we realized that the nursery workers were all paid volunteers, not the usuals. maybe you don't know much about big h's personality, but let's just say the out-of-the-ordinary didn't fly so well with our ULTRA STRUCTURED four-year-old.

we took a deep breath and prepped him for going to big church. let me preface by saying big h has been to one big church service. christmas eve of this past year. because the nursery of the church we went to that night was only "accepting" children three and under. don't think i don't still feel miserable about maybe telling a little white lie in church. but to no avail. big h busted me.

but mama, i am POUR!

right. of course you are.

and he did exceptionally well. course, he had buz's blackberry with him. i would do exceptionally well if i had a blackberry.

and the pyromaniac in him loved it all the more.

anyway, we prepped him a lot for the Good Friday service. he did awesome. all things considering. like everyone wearing black. and everyone singing a lot about death. overall, it was a pretty gloomy service. i mean, Jesus dying on the cross is not the most upbeat topic. (luckily, the story doesn't end there.)

but big h's comments were fascinating. during the drama, they were depicting pontius pilate. when he stopped talking, the room went dark and totally silent. it was then that big h decided to speak. loudly.

mama, that man sure isn't nice.

and then at the end of the drama, there was a shadow on the man who was depicting Jesus. and big h's comment?

(said in a very loud but very, very sad voice) mama, all of his priends left him by himself.

priceless.

overall, he did fine. but seems church really wore them out.

sunday rolled around. and i don't know if any of you suffer from something i like to call "holiday expectation."

(k, i know you're rolling your eyes. you are so proud of me for putting my expectation problem out there for the whole world to see.)

for some reason, big h has a tendency to put a bit of a damper on holidays. i don't know if it's because he senses something out of the ordinary. but church was tough. wouldn't tuck his shirt in. wouldn't wear his new summertime church shoes. wanted a mini water bottle that one of the church volunteers had. the list goes on and on.

and then. then, i decide it would be fun to take pictures. insane. this woman i am. insane. he refused. shocker. and the straw that broke the camel's back? goo fell down the stairs at the little park we went to. big (Easter) egg on her forehead. she's definitely our delicate flower.

we did a little Easter egg hunt in the backyard. they both seemed to enjoy it. but there was just a general damper on the day.

can we talk about big h' attire? can we? huh? untucked shirt. the OLD shoes. the coat that is THREE SIZES too small? and the odd look on his face?

and because i'm a perfect mom who always holds her tongue. i may have said something about what a wonderful day it was supposed to be and that a certain someone may have put a damper on the day.

see why i haven't posted lately? :) truly, i've been a ray of sunshine.

school is back in session. goo is sleeping better. and things are generally looking up.

and just to prove how i truly live on the edge...

see look. i take pictures of my children eating cereal.

any suggestions for this unruly hair?

this was big. big h hanging from the monkey bars.

unruly. and not just the hair.

teaching big h the benefits of good lip balm.

telling goo how wonderful apples are. straight from the produce market.

oh, and don't think we didn't make at least one trip to dr. g. i promise you, we are single handedly funding his summer vacation. just one co-pay at a time.

i'm admitting it.

i cheated tonight.

on my date from last saturday.

not only did i cheat. i basically went on the exact same date. movie. popcorn. holding hands and everything.

and they even have the same last name.

only my date tonight didn't sit on my lap.

and i know i've mentioned our babysitter once or twice or twenty-four times. we love the girl. love her. she got here tonight, and buz was still at work. so it was just me. instantly, her red Accord pulled up in front, and big h ran to the door.

and immediately began talking about rocket from little einsteins.

i had dinner ready for the kiddos. but i wanted to prepare sweet J about goo's recent emotional changes.

i think what i said to her was somewhat along the lines of "hey, good luck getting her to sleep." eloquent, i know. i told her it was fine if she didn't want to bathe them. whatever she felt comfortable doing was ok.

her report? (and don't think my palms weren't sweating before we even walked in the door.)

oh yeah. bathed them both. she went right down. hasn't cried once. and big h. we watched two shows and had popcorn. watched one story time theater story. and i read him one story. and he went right to sleep.

miracle worker. surely, i've gone into all of the reasons i love this girl. but let me tell you something overthetop amazing.

she looks good in skinny jeans.

i know.

but you can't hate her. not only does she take the absolute best care of my little people. but she is, by far, the nicest, sweetest, and kindest young girl ever.

and speaking of sweet. want to know what rad thing happened to me today?

you do?

this afternoon we're coming home from our third mall in four days. it's what i like to call Spring Break '08. i get a call from my rad friend.

i don't mind saying that we don't talk on the phone. we're blogging, living-in-the-same-town, going-to-the-same-birthday-parties kind of friends. but i think she's pretty much all that. we met through my buddy weentrab when i was pregnant with big h. she has a son who is about a year older than big h. and recently...since goo was born, we've become buddies. and i dig her.

so to get a phone call from her is a little unusual. but i was excited. her phone call was to make sure we were going to be home this afternoon.

for her to bring us dinner.

i'm sorry. come again?

people. mrs. rad did not just bring us dinner. she brought us dinner. homemade chocolate chip cookies. a 2L of dr. pepper or "Heaven in a plastic bottle." tortilla soup with all the fixins. quesadillas for the kiddos in case they weren't into the soup.

seriously.

and since buz and i had a last minute date night tonight, guess who doesn't have to think about dinner tomorrow night?

sarah, what an incredible random act of kindness. what a wonderful treat for our family. God bless you.

and that about wraps up the day today.

shhh...

someone has slept through the night TWO NIGHTS in a row.

don't let her get word of it, though.

a little ENT update. saw our ENT's partner this morning. no sign of infection in her ears. can i get an amen?

and goo got her hair washed tonight for the first time in *gasp* nine days. seriously. nine days. can i tell you how much that grosses me out? not to mention the fact that she comes from a long line of fine-haired family members. mama included. so you want to talk greasy? but her custom plugs came in this morning. handy. some hot pink numbers. don't think i'm not going to get a picture of both her and big h in their fancy forty dollar custom-fitted ear plugs together in the bathtub.

oh, and she said four words today. on her own. attagirl.

updating

that's all i'm doing. just a little updating.

first of all, seems i made the news the other day. and you know when someone comes over and you haven't cleaned the house or showered? and you SO wish you had? yeah, well sophie herself decided to mention something in her blog the other day. and when people came on over to our little blog, they got this. i mean, how depressing.

but this is life. or it is around here.

tonight, i've decided to be really positive and upbeat.

so this will be a short post. :)

life around here has been tough. i'm being honest, here, folks. tough.

and me? i've been a real pill to be around. just ask buz. or big h. or goo, for that matter. sleep deprivation isn't for wimps.

the reason i'm keeping this short tonight is so that i don't jinx anything. no, i don't really believe it all that. but at this point, i'm not taking any chances.

goo hasn't slept for longer than three-hour increments without crying. it's unbearable as a mama. antibiotics are finished. she had a wonderful weekend.

finally, buz and i got on our knees last night and prayed with honesty. that God would heal our baby. or at least help her sleep.

tomorrow, we're ordering noise machines for everyone.

you think i'm kidding. but i'm not.

lately, big h has either gotten ignored or i've been on his case for basically being four. God love him. i have really been wanting to take him to a movie. just the two of us. i realized the veggie tales movie and the bee movie were both at the dollar theater. so saturday night, i had a date with a hot, young thang. and you know what the best part of my day was that day? holding hands with my date? i got all nervous and had sweaty palms and everything.

today was day one of Spring Break. (i.e. four-year-old does not have anything structured planned for a solid FIVE days.) so we headed to the mall with some friends. i spilled pink lemonade on my green t-shirt. i was so trying to be Mrs. St. Patty's Day hip mom. poor me. so we headed to old navy, where i purchased my high-priced $2.50 green four-leaf clover t-shirt. big spender. that's what they call me. goo had a big day too. she now owns a pair of "buh buh's sooce." (brother's shoes. i.e. crocs. she doesn't really say it that well. that's what big h decided she was saying.) and they say money doesn't buy happiness? today, i begged to disagree. and the highlight of big h's day? was his accident in the nordstrom bathroom. and without going into detail, it wasn't a #1 accident. so little man donned some sweet adidas basketball shorts for a whopping $6.90 and then some small paul underwear. which, by the way, costs more than i will EVER pay for underwear for me or anyone else in my family. how my buddy paired the clearance (way too big) shorts with the 14K gold skivvies, i don't know. heat of the moment, i guess.

anyway, goo is sleeping. follow-up with one of our ENT's partners on wednesday. not sure what i'm hoping he'll say. win win? or lose lose? trust me...i'm trying to stay positive here.

oh, and my sweet little "whatever" girl? not so much anymore. she's got a thing or two to say these days. not in words, of course. that's how the wisners do it. tantrums are our communication of choice. (so glad i wasn't blogging when big h was eighteen months old.)

but we're here and plugging away. thank you for all the prayers and well wishes.

yeah, remember when i said it was almost comical?

i was kidding.

not funny. not funny at all.

i'd like to introduce you to someone...Mrs. Not So Sunshiney At This Point.

goo has had a rough "recovery" since monday. hence, the reason i haven't posted since then. we thought things were going to be ok. but she was up most of the night monday night. hmmm...interesting. the only time goo ever has trouble sleeping is when she has an ear infection. but they fixed that on monday. right?

tuesday -- cranky. tuesday night -- no sleep.

wednesday -- cranky. wednesday night -- no sleep.

wednesday afternoon, mama calls ear doc. nurse calls back and isn't very sympathetic (or nice, for that matter). says there is no way any of goo's "issues" are ear-related. ummm...lovin' that she's using the word "issues." lovin' that.

breathe in. breathe out.

thursday morning. mama is very frustrated at this point. and honestly, goo is too. (or at least that's what we think and can only assume.)

mama takes matters in her own hands and call God himself (aka dr. g).

"bring her in."

off the three of us go this morning. in our jammies.

hang out with dr. g. small talk. looks in her right ear.

YOU'VE GOT TO BE FREAKING KIDDING ME.

goo has a freaking ear infection. in her perfect new tubed ears.

i'd like to think that i am a pretty positive person. always see the good in others. little miss sunshine.

i'm ashamed to admit the tone of my message to the ear doc's nurse this morning.

Dear God, please forgive my motives. forgive all the mean thoughts i had about ear doc's nurse. and please forgive the unkind words i used in my head this morning. thank you for allowing me to not let those words actually come out of my mouth into the ears of my childrens' virgin ears.

oh, and the sentence that actually came out of my mouth this afternoon?

"ummm, big h? today is NOT the day to disobey mama. trust me."

so...no word from ear doc's nurse. we'll see how that goes.

but just another round of antibiotics for my goo. and hopefully a trip to the ENT today.

(do you see my white flag waving? is this the most pitiful post yet?)

done. finished. complete.

that is what this day is.

whew. i think it's safe to say we're done with the whole going to a medical facility for a social outing. buz and i are spent. well, buz is playing ncaa basketball on his playstation. which means he is "winding down." (do any of your husbands have "wind down time?" and as for me? i am pooped.

let's talk for a minute. and to those who work outside the home (k, i'm thinking about you in particular), please overlook this next sissy of a comment.

i am not used to getting up before, say, GOD.

that's how early we got up this morning. and She Who Does Not Rise Before The Sun did not look like a beacon of light.

i mean, the crusties in my eyes were almost painful due to the sheer number of them.

not that it was about me today or anything.

this was our third medical facility to go to. and i'll be honest, we weren't as impressed. waiting room. beautiful. lovely receptionists at the front. too young and peppy even for the ungodly hour of the morning. patient pager system. cool and high tech.

other side of the pre-op/OR doors? not so impressive. granted, this wasn't a pediatric facility. so clearly no murals of sunshines or rainbows painted on the walls or anything. but nurse upon nurse. doc after doc. staff everywhere. and more beds in the given square footage than we had seen other than on grey's anatomy or ER.

we just happened to get the nurse-in-training. no problem. i mean, i had a clinical rotation in grad school. so i know what it's like to be introduced as the intern. but as of today, being the mom and all, i would have preferred that they withheld the truth. not that that would've been ethical or anything. but hearing "fiona's just learning the ropes today" wasn't so comforting when my daughter was starting to realize the whole "hmmm...everyone's in surgical attire" game.




mom pretending to look so calm. goo making the decision not to fake it.


cartoon momentarily occupying goo's attention.


mama getting to love on her baby.

they had cartoons on. but nothing that really caught goo's eye or attention. i will say that the anesthesiologist and his nurse were FREAKING AWESOME! they were so informative and made sure that they knew anything specific about goo. especially pink blanket. and they did inquire about the monogramming. :)

this was goo's first experience with versed. big h had it with his tubes. but goo didn't experience such delirium with her eyes or CT.

i realize a lot of you have had experience with this. so don't let me insult you if you already know all of this.

today, i caught of glimpse of what goo would look like mildly to moderately intoxicated.

she was so limp. not too limp to not want to be held by daddy. (let's all give out an 'oh, poor buz.') but limp, she was. and all she kept doing was open mouth kissing me over and over again. "mmmm...wah. mmmm...wah." 'll admit it. i was LOVING being loved on. LOVING it. and you want to talk glazed over eyes?

when they came to take her to the OR, the nurse took her from me and surprisingly, she resisted quite a bit. even on the meds. she wanted her pink blankie, her green blankie (from her bed), and the remote from the pre-op room that she had been using as her own personal cell phone.

literally, we were in the waiting room long enough to pray together and make some vending machine coffee.

the ENT came out and said everything had gone well and that there was a LOT to clean out. i'll spare you the details.

the wake up? not so pleasant. let's just leave it at that. so i can end this post positively. tough day overall for the goo. big h didn't know the difference. and now, the day has ended.

and the strange thing is how amazed we are at how at peace we were today. we knew so many of you were praying for us and our little family. God is so good to us. He is so sovereign over our little goo.

have i mentioned what a hoss she is?

hoss.

and with that, buz and i are off to eat kettle corn and watch "bachelor: where are they now?" because we're on top of the hollywood scene.

tomorrow morning

my baby will have her some new and improved ears. we are so pumped. big h has been telling his teachers at school that his stister (not misspelled) is getting new ears and that he got to pick out her ear plugs all by himself. is it sick and twisted that we are all a little excited around here?

oh, and the irony? took her in on thursday for her pre-op. got her ear plug molds made. got her hearing screened. checked for fluid and pressure. and basically went over a bunch of logistics with the doc. first...due to her ear infections, she has developed moderate hearing loss. poor goo. no wonder she looks at us like we're speaking in a different language. and second? she had an ear infection.

i know.

i'm serious.

so instead of MORE antibiotics to heal her ears for the next five days, the doc recommended keeping her pain-free until monday. when he would "get in there and really clean those guys out." yes, that's what he said. love this guy. loved him with big h. still love him. so goo has been doped up for five days, and tomorrow homegirl is getting a true spa treatment. a deep cleaning, if you will. well, that and some more anesthesia. she loves herself some anesthesia.

praying for you, goo.

will update you tomorrow night. after we've done a lot of resting and tv-watching and pizza-ordering.

quick update

for you praying people out there...goo's surgery postponed to monday morning instead of this friday. insurance issues.

they say...

...if you don't like the weather in texas, wait five minutes, and it will change.

so true.

we went to church on sunday morning, and i'll admit it. i was crabby. because i had on a short-sleeved shirt, and i was warm. like sweaty "oh no, summer is coming" warm. and has been documented before, summer janet. she's not pleasant.

and this morning, we woke to snow. freaking SNOW. seriously. the white stuff that falls from the sky when it's COLD. i know.

big h LOVED it. loved every minute of it. (never mind that we had to use our neighbor's yard because our enormous trees blocked our yard.)

who knew my little man could throw such a mean snowball?

and he was determined to make a snow angel. or seventeen.

this snow thing is not for sissies.

to help you with a reference point for this monster of a snowman. no bigger than his boot.

as for goo and the beautiful white stuff that falls from the sky when it's cold outside. not so much. touched it and decided that was enough.

"wow, i really wish my intelligent mom had gotten me some mittens. she got big h some and not me. interesting."

"seriously? this is fun for you?"

"can we go inside now?"

and big surprise to me...hot chocolate actually tastes pretty good in a sippy cup. two rave reviews.

tough day at the office

this is what buz is thinking about today.

we love you, brett. we'll miss you. thanks for what you brought to the game.

follow the sequence

and then ooh and ahh. at all the cuteness and whatnot.

goo finally mustering up enough courage to brave her biggest fear. the slide of doom.

looks nervous. but getting up the slide.

more courage. but still unsure.

sees big brother at the bottom and starting to relax a little.

oh dear, point of no return. can't go back down the steps. don't want to be a chicken.

his perspective. "c'mon, goo. you can do it. i'm right here. i'm right here."

"i hunch my shoulders when i'm nervous. big h, can you see my shoulders? they're hunched."

"wow. that wasn't so bad after all. i should probably do it again. and again. and again."

until my brother is sick of the whole "catch me because i'm your scared little sis" excuse.

and really. wouldn't you feel safer if this was who was waiting for you at the bottom?

or not.

it's starting to get comical

we have come to the conclusion that the goo is becoming quite a little glamour queen.

first, she had her ears done.

then, she wanted head shots. for God knows who or what? who is she trying to impress? what agency is she sending these to? i mean, she's already won over dr. g, big h, papa, grandpa, and daddy. you know...the important ones.

and clearly, she's just not satisfied. now, she wants her ears done.

and because we're enablers by nature, we're answering her every request. she's so spoiled. she wants her ears done? she'll have her ears done.

this friday. march 7.

i would ask for lots of prayers because of my nerves and worrying attitude and all. but at this point, we are so confident in our pediatric medical community and in the way God lays His hand on our hoss of a daughter. i mean, i'm not asking you to NOT pray, by any means. but the plea is not as desperate. think of goo at 730am (praise the Lord, it's not in the afternoon). lift her up in prayer. pray for her doctor. pray for the staff. pray for big h, who will be totally oblivious due to his prior school commitments. (the boy has a fast-paced social circuit.) and pray for buz. while he brings home the bacon. and pray for me, as i love on my little peanut.

but really? what's next? implants? fuller lips? firmer abs?

oh, and the reason we're giving in to her every whim? because this is how she's been feeling for a while now.