Antibiotics rule! Antibacterials don't.

N-man and B-man came down with strep throat this week, and scarlet fever.

No surprise, a few days later, I was at the doctor. Strep throat for me too. Wow, that hurts!

Anyway, we're all on antibiotics. The boys are much, much better, and I'm well on my way. How awesome are antibiotics? You hear "scarlet fever" and think of some wicked terrible disease. Turns out it's quite easily treatable and no big deal as long as you get on antibiotics. Who knew?

This got me thinking about one of my pet peeves: the overuse of antibacterial products. I think people are starting to understand why it's dangerous to overuse antibiotics. But what I can't understand is why supermarkets (and to a lesser degree, toy stores) are filled with antibacterial products. Unless someone in the house is immune-compromised, why does anyone need it? Just like with antibiotics, antibacterial products can create resistant strains of bacteria. Here's a good article from the CDC.

It seems to me that companies who sell antibacterial products are really being irresponsible, relying on fear-mongering and misinformation.

Not to mention, triclosan, one of the most commonly used antibacterials, pollutes the water supply and may have potentially dangerous health consequences (check this for more info).

What do you think of things like antibacterial soap or products impregnated with antibacterials? Do you use them in your house? If so, are you aware of the risks? My theory is that most people who buy them think it's a good thing that will protect their family and don't realize they are contributing to the rise of "superbugs", polluting the environment, and potentially contributing to health problems. Now there would be some good truth in advertising: "buy our antibacterial soap! It probably won't help you, but it will screw up the world!"

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Green tip for the day: Unless there's an extremely compelling reason (i.e., an immune compromised family member), just say no to Microban products and cleaners containing antibacterials.

As always, do your own research and/or talk to your doctor if you have any concerns. The internet is filled with nutjobs making wild claims about the dangers of this or that. I tried to include links that contained actual scientific research rather than someone just screaming "antibacterials will kill us alllllllll!" I am not a scientist. However, I do find the research compelling enough that we don't use antibacterial products. Says the person who has a house full of strep throat :)

I knew all that cleaning was dangerous!

So, N-man got another concussion yesterday. He slipped on the wet kitchen floor and banged his head. We were getting ready for showing the house...one hour notice. On Father's Day. Right at dinner time. Convenient, right? Sorry, homemade Father's Day dinner was canceled!

We headed out to dinner instead. N-man wasn't in a great mood since his fall, but didn't seem too bad when we left the house. We got to the restaurant, and he broke down crying and grumping. TK walked around outside with him (in the rain!), but he didn't calm down, so we got our meals packed to go, drove around until the people were out of our house, and were going to eat at home. We finally got the call from our agent that they were done. N-man was whimpering in the backseat by then. We pulled into the garage and ACK! He vomited EVERYWHERE in the van.

I ran inside, called the emergency pediatrician line, and got new clothes for N-man. TK got everything vomit-related out of the van and onto the floor of the garage. (This is on Father's Day, remember? Do we know how to celebrate, or what?) We got N-man in clean clothes, threw the boys into TK's non-vomited on car, and headed to the ER.

Which was packed.

Full of sick people. Have I mentioned I have a touch of hypochondria? And germophobia? And there were sick people all around? I'm getting skeeved out just thinking of it. Last time we went to the ER, it was almost empty, giving us lots of space to stay away from other sickies. Not this time!

We waited, and waited, and waited, and weren't even being seen by the triage nurse or the check-in people. N-man was getting sleepy, I was getting really nervous. Then N-man threw up all over the floor and started shrieking.

Tip for getting seen immediately in the ER: throw up all over the floor and start shrieking.

My poor little guy! We were put back in a room pretty speedily after that. It was still a pretty long wait to see a doctor, but at least we were comfortable and away from all the sick people. And N-man finally started perking up and acting more like himself. By the time the doctor saw him, he was doing much better, and it had been over 4 hours since his head injury (the amount of time they usually like to observe them after a head bump). So they made him eat an ice pop, and since he could keep that down, we were released at 10pm.

The ER doctor wasn't even sure it was a concussion. He said it might have been a very coincidental virus or stomach upset that just happened to hit at exactly the same time as the head bump. That sounds crazy to me, except that N-man had been saying his tummy hurt even before the head bump. (I try not to spend too much time talking about potty stuff on my blog, but N-man has many issues with constipation so complaints about tummy pain are reasonably common here, which is why it didn't register as possibly related to the vomiting). I still suspect it was a concussion since it was so similar to what happened last time, but luckily it was minor enough that we can't even be sure that's what happened.

This morning N-man seems fine. He's eating, running around, playing normally. I'm worn out by the whole thing.

Two more house showings today. Of course right at dinner time. I'm NOT washing the kitchen floor.

You Gotta Protect the Noggin!

N-man, unfortunately, has inherited my coordination. Or more precisely, my complete lack of coordination. He's even improved upon my clumsiness, if that's possible. You know how in Twilight you go mad with the endless descriptions of Bella's clumsiness? Yeah, well multiply that by 100 and you've got N-man. He's always tripping or bumping or falling.

So last night right before dinner, he fell off the back of the couch, onto a tile floor.

This is not the first time this has happened.

While the kids are already 3.5, we only just took all the zillions of foam pads off the floors, and that was only because we had to make the house look nice to show it. It was really too soon, though, to un-pad the joint.

He screamed and cried, and calmed down while I held him. And fell asleep.

Darn it. Concussion sign number 1. With N-man as your child, believe me, you have concussion signs memorized.

But, having been through all this before, I know not to even start to worry yet. It's surprisingly common for kids to fall asleep after a head bump, and not cause for big concern. As long as you can wake them up. I poked him a bit, and he peeked open his little eyes. He seemed reluctant to wake up, so I broke out the big guns: "N-man, do you want an Oreo?" His eyes flew open and an excited "YES!" was given. He walked over, had his Oreo, and then just sat quietly on the couch until dinner time. If anyone knows the second major sign of a concussion, you'll know right now that an Oreo was a bad, bad idea. But we'll get there.

We started dinner, and N-man didn't want to eat anything. He just curled up in my arms. About halfway through dinner, he started to complain his head was hurting. Poor babe! TK got him some Tylenol. N-man started crying, I started worrying, then N-man threw up. All over ME! Oreo vomit, too, so it was grossly black and crumby. Ack! First, yuck. But second and more importantly, we can now check off "concussion sign number 2". Now it's time to worry.

I rip my clothes off, TK cleans up N-man, and I call the pedi's office. Yep, they're calling ahead to the ER, off we go.

N-man wants me to go, but I know that since I'm pregnant, I'm not going to be able to go in with him if he needs any x-rays done. B-man doesn't want to be left home without N-man. We bundle up the whole family.

By the time we got to the ER, N-man was acting completely fine. I mean, if I hadn't seen him fall and watched him the past hour, I never would have believed he bumped his head. He said nothing was hurting. But no way am I going home without him being checked!

We saw a triage nurse. When she asked N-man how he was feeling, he insisted "I feel PERFECT!" He really didn't want to be in the ER.

So we waited for about an hour before getting taken back to a room, and maybe a half hour in the room before seeing a doctor. Hey, I'm fine with that. I've said it before and I'll say it again: I'd much rather be the least important case in the ER than the case that needs to be seen ASAP!

The doctor agrees that N-man seems fine, but since he'd vomited, she wanted to keep him a few hours for observation. It was after 8 pm by then, but okay. So we just stayed in the ER for a few hours. The local ER is actually pretty nice and has a reasonably good pediatric section. Books, a few toys, and once you're in a room, there's a DVD player and a long list of kids DVDs you can borrow. We watched Aladdin, then approximately 97 hours of The "Best" of Thomas the Train. Okay, fine, it wasn't 97 hours. It just felt like 97 hours. And I added the quotes around "Best". I just have to say, though, that if that was the best, then the worst of Thomas must have been banned by the Geneva Convention as a form of torture.

Can you tell Thomas isn't my favorite? I can take an episode or two. They're thankfully short. But watching 1,000 episodes in a row far exceeds my tolerance level. Oh, did I mention that while they were long on kids entertainment, there was really nothing for parents besides an old issue of Parents Magazine that I'd already read? And I forgot to bring a book to read? (That's how you can tell how worried I was about N-man. I never go anywhere without a book!)

But we all made it. N-man continued to be just fine. Neither TK nor I went insane from Thomas. And B-man and N-man ended up having a great time, getting to stay up late and watch TV and eat ice pops. The boys were home and tucked into bed, snoozing, by 10:30 last night.

So that was our adventure. All's well that end's well, but I swear, that kid is going to give me grey hairs with all the falling on his head he does. Am I allowed to make him wear his bike helmet around the house?

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One more quick N-man story from the ER adventure. He's so suspicious of everyone. When the lady in admissions wanted to put the ID bracelet on his arm, he wouldn't let her. She explained that he needed to wear it so everyone would know who he was.

With his arms still held firmly at his side, he said calmly, and with much authority and a tinge of disdain, "But I'm N-man!" There was very much a VIP tone in his voice, as if to say "those peons might need identification, but EVERYONE should know who I am!" We all burst out laughing!

Recovered (knock wood!)

I think the whole house is healthy at the moment, though I'm still pretty run down and tired out. Not sure if that's leftover from the sickness, or if it's just normal pregnancy tired, or if it's because I've been cleaning/organizing constantly. I swear, I didn't know our house was such a mess and so disorganized! It looked okay...honest! As long as you didn't open any closets or drawers. Or go into the basement. Or the extra bedroom. Or pay too much attention to the piles of crap on the kitchen counters. Okay, I guess it was a mess.

We're getting there, though there's a lot to still do this week. But if everything goes well, our house will be listed this weekend! Yikes!

So, you know how we celebrated Valentine's Day by moving stuff to a storage space? Yesterday, when we were finally all healthy, we celebrated by...moving more stuff to the storage space. Do we know how to party or what? Super glamorous! I did, of course, wear my Oscar-approved gown for all box moving. So at least there was that.

I got nothin' funny today. Yo, I walk the fine line between sanity and...lack there of...on on daily basis as it is. I'm afraid all this moving stuff has pushed me firmly into the "sane" category. I miss the warm happiness of being just a little nuts.

Off to call a mortgage broker now. Think I should try to tap into my crazy first? I'll try to resist, as I'd like to be approved for more than 3 easy payments of $19.95.

I'll be back...

I'm still around. Of course I caught the stomach bug making the rounds through the house. Feeling slightly better today, though I think I need to go sleep for another 6 or 7 hours.

Anyway, I'm so far behind on reading/commenting on all your blogs...sorry! On the plus side, I can't wait to have so much to read once I'm feeling better!

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And on the other plus side, you do remember Dollhouse is on tonight, right? Yippee!!!

Who's watching with me?

The most (sarcastic) awesome Valentine's Day on record

So, did you all have a nice Valentine's Day? I hope so!

We didn't. Are you ready for a gross story? Here's how mine went:

Well, first I should qualify that I'm not a big fan of the "holiday". We don't really celebrate it. Call us unromantic, but it I'd much rather be kind to one another every day than create some unrealistic demands on a Hallmark holiday.

However, I'd hoped it would go better than this.

We started out our day by...wait for it...renting a storage space. And moving a zillion boxes and furniture! Really, nothing says "Valentine's Day" like a little manual labor.

We got home around lunch time, when B-man started to feel sick. He'd had a stomach bug Thursday night, but hadn't thrown up since then. Turns out he was saving it up for Saturday.

Around dinner time, B-man threw up all over EVERYTHING. I was sitting on the couch with him, and he managed to hit every couch cushion. And a blanket. And me. And N-man. N-man reacted as I wanted to: he ran into the corner, yelling and crying "It's on me! It's on me! Get it OFFFFFFF!" But then running away whenever we tried to get his clothes off.

TK and I started mopping up as best we could the couch and floor, and stripped both boys. TK started a bath and threw the boys in the tub, while I grabbed the blanket, the kids' clothes, and headed down to the laundry. I stripped myself as I was completely covered. I mean, my hair, my shirt, both arms, my watch, my pants, even my socks. It was truly disgusting. I cranked the washer up to hot, and got it going. Then I raced upstairs, completely naked (and still with PUKE in my hair! ACK!)

Now I have a problem, though. What I want more than anything is to turn the shower as hot as it can possibly go, and wash 10,000 times while scalding my skin for about an hour until I finally feel clean. But of course, after the boys' bath, and the hot water washer load, there is almost no hot water left. So I'm forced to shiver in the lukewarm water, desperately washing and washing and washing, hoping frigid water is as good at removing germs as hot.

I went downstairs, and TK and I just stared at the couch. It was pretty disgusting. I finally decided to scrub it with a scrub brush and dishwashing detergent. Probably not the recommended treatment, but it worked.

We got the boys to bed. And that's when TK started to feel sick...

So, I fully realize our Valentine's Day could have been far, far worse. But still, I think that any Valentine's Day that starts out with manual labor and finishes up with half the house covered in vomit deserves a do-over. I hope all of you had a better weekend than we did. And I'm hoping next year we can have a slightly more romantic Valentine's Day!

Ugh, I'm sick!

Okay, we'll start with a whine. I'm sick again. It started hitting pretty hard yesterday (on my birthday! The nerve of these viruses!) I was up half the night coughing. My back and shoulders and chest are sore from all the coughing. Now I'm SO tired. Hopefully I'll be able to sleep tonight.

Whine over. For now.

On to the good part...my birthday, besides being sick, was fun. I got to catch up with a lot of friends which is always nice, though I spent a large portion of the day on the phone, when I normally rarely talk on the phone.

It got me to thinking: TK and I have moved around a bunch. It's been kind of fun, and a little adventurous. We've got to enjoy and discover all new parts of the country, and we've stayed in each place long enough that we've gotten to enjoy the feeling of it being home. But, we live nowhere near any of our family, and we've got friends spread out across the country. Sure, we've made friends here in Boston, and that's awesome, but it's still kind of sad that there are so many people we rarely get to see any more.

I wasn't one of those "desperate to escape my hometown" people, but I never really expected to stay, either. But every once in a while, I get a little jealous of those people who have family living all around, and friends they've known since birth around the corner. Sometimes I wish we had stayed, and not moved around.

Then I think about the people we've met, how much I love it here in Boston, and how many fun experiences we had living in Georgia. I don't know. What do you think? Are you a home-towner or a transplant? I guess there's good things on both sides. What I'd really like best is if all my family and friends moved to Massachusetts. That'd be the best...why can't I convince anyone? :)

Ugh, I keep getting turned away!

Okay, I'm getting a complex.

I get sick. A lot. But luckily, rarely seriously (knock wood!). Especially with twins in preschool, though, I catch a lot of minor colds.

What does that mean, besides that I'm constantly just a little bit sick? Well, I found out a few weeks ago it means I can't donate blood, even if it's just a runny nose.

More annoyingly, today I got turned away at the flu clinic. The nurse heard me coughing in line, and she said, "No flu shot for you!"

When am I supposed to get a flu shot, then? If I can't get a flu shot when I have a cold, isn't November a little late to have the very first (and only) flu shot clinic? Granted, I've been sick on and off since mid-September, and that probably would have been pretty early to get a flu shot, but come one! Doesn't everyone have a cold by the time November rolls around? Shouldn't they have let the "normal" folks get flu shots last month, instead of only offering them to "high risk" patients?

I swear, next year I'm arguing that having kids in preschool should qualify me for the "high risk" group.

What a pain in the patootie. If it's so important to get a flu shot (and I agree that it is), why do doctor's offices always make it so inconvenient to get one? I told the nurse today that I had to get my flu shot, even though I was sick, because I wasn't going to risk the flu this year. Luckily, she said once I was better, I could call and make an appointment to get a shot; she didn't think there'd be a flu shot shortage this year. So now I just have to hope that I can shake this cold before I catch the next. And that she wasn't kidding about them not running out of flu shots.

Have you gotten your flu shot?

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Current NaNo Word Count: 15374

Current NaNo Attitude: I have a headache. Oh, that has nothing to do with my novel. It's just feeling more like work today, maybe because it's a weekend. Luckily, my awesome husband is taking the boys to the zoo after lunch, so I'll get an hour or two to focus.

Somewhat promising news on the allergy front

I got a phone call yesterday (yep, on a Saturday) from B-man's allergist. I was pretty excited, and nervous all at once when I saw the caller ID. See, he was only going to call if B-man's results were far different from the expected. So I knew things were much better, or much worse.

And you know what? We lucked out and got much better results! I mean, he's still testing firmly in the "allergic" category for his tree nut allergies, but instead of "insanely allergic", he's now just testing "pretty allergic". Okay, fine, that's not the official designation of his results, but it gives you the gist.

But you know what the really exciting news was? His blood work showed only a MILD peanut allergy. Mild, I tell you! Oh, the allergist was quick to tell us that even a mild peanut allergy can still cause anaphylaxis, but still, a mild allergy is much more likely to be outgrown! Maybe he won't have to deal with a peanut allergy his whole life!

What does this mean for us? Nothing. We still have to avoid all nuts for the next year, when he'll go back for a retest. But at least there's some hope now!

In the meantime, I'll enjoy my illicit Halloween peanut butter cups. Mmmm, forbidden peanuts.

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Current NaNo word count (as of bedtime Nov 1): 2,103.

Current novel-ing attitude: rockin'.

Allergy follow-up

B-man had his 1 year follow-up appointment for his food allergies. I've been kind of dreading it, because the scratch test is pretty horrific, and that's just watching it. I can't imagine what it's like having to be in the body that is being tortured as such.

We went to the appointment, with stickers and toys and crayons and all manner of distractions. And then the allergist (who we love), said he wasn't going to recommend doing the scratch test this year. Yay! But the reason: B-man's reaction was so severe last year, it's unlikely he's outgrown his allergies. And there's no reason to put a child through such a harrowing experience when it's not likely to produce meaningful results. Last year, his wheal from the pistachio testing covered about a fourth of his back!

So I'm glad that B-man didn't have to go through that, but sad that things are so bad that there's little hope for good news. He did run a blood test, and said if things come back looking really good, we'll have to come back in for scratch testing to confirm good results. So I guess now I have to start hoping we *will* have to go back for the scratch test.

The doctor also said it wouldn't shock him if B-man has developed allergies to additional tree nuts. Not that it really matters: while he's only allergic to pistachios, cashews, and chestnuts, we avoid all tree nuts. But still, it's just annoying.

Ah well. As I always think with these allergies, it could be worse. Far, far worse. I guess I'll take food allergies any day of the week.

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In semi-related news, last Tuesday B-man and N-man got flu shots. N-man freaked out and wanted his bandaid off immediately. I made him wait until we got to the parking lot. To be completely different, B-man fell in love with his bandaid and won't let us touch it. I mean, the first thing he thinks of when we start to change his shirt is "Don't touch my bandaid". When he takes a bath, he tell us, "Don't get water on my bandaid". So, it's been a week and a half, and do you know that stupid bandaid is still holding strong? How long will this bandaid say on? What do they make the adhesive from? Super glue? And now he's got another bandaid from his blood draw today. I swear, sometime around Christmas I'm going to be yanking these off in his sleep!

Join the Rebel Alliance!

Be a rebel and read a banned book. Did you know it's Banned Books Week? Well, I know Three Under Two knows!

Ronnica over at the Book Nook posted a link to a list of the most commonly banned books, and listed the ones she's read. I thought it was interesting, so I'm playing along, too. Here's a link to the list of the Top 100 most challenged books from 1990 to 2000. And here's what I've read, along with some brief comments:

1. Scary Stories (Series) by Alvin Schwartz (I remember reading one of these books when I was in Elementary school. I think I thought it was pretty silly, if I remember correctly.)

5. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain (Loved it!)

7. Harry Potter (Series) by J.K. Rowling (Really enjoyed these.)

8. Forever by Judy Blume (Really liked this book, and surprise, surprise, it didn't make me run out and have sex, which I assume is the normal reason for this to be banned. I do, however, remember when all of us gals were reading it in middle school and talking about it quite a bit!)

9. Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson (What a wonderful and sad book. I must have read it a thousand times when I was in 4th and 5th grade.)

13. The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger (Okay, don't really get what all the hoopla is about this book.)

14. The Giver by Lois Lowry (Absolutely loved this book!)

16. Goosebumps (Series) by R.L. Stine (I read a few of these when I was working with kids, and they just weren't good books. While I'd never ban a book for being poorly written, I'd be hard-pressed to actually recommend these to anyone. Maybe people I didn't like :)

22. A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle (Glorious book. So interesting, and one of the books that instilled a love of sci-fi in me.)

26. The Stupids (Series) by Harry Allard (Read some of these in one of my children's lit classes. Didn't really enjoy them.)

37. The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood (One of my all-time favorite books.)

39. The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison (Great book. I actually read this on my honeymoon, if you care to hear a random fact about me.)

41. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee (Okay, but didn't really capture me.)

42. Beloved by Toni Morrison (Good.)

43. The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton (Loved, loved, loved this book. I used to be able to quote from it I'd read it so many times. In fact, I still bust out with a "nothing gold can stay" from time to time. Okay, technically that's Robert Frost, but it so embodied the book for me. Now I want to reread this!)

47. Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes (Another terrific book.)

51. A Light in the Attic by Shel Silverstein (Loved this as a kid, now I have it for my kids.)

52. Brave New World by Aldous Huxley (Another one of my favorite books.)

53. Sleeping Beauty Trilogy by A.N. Roquelaure (Anne Rice) (I'm kind of embarrassed I've read these. Hey, I'm an Anne Rice fan, what can I say? My problem with these books isn't that it's erotica, but that it's kind of boring, poorly written erotica.)

55. Cujo by Stephen King (Not one of his better novels, although I do have a ridiculous fear of rabies to this very day).

56. James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl (Good, but not one of my favorite kid's books.)

62. Are You There, God? It's Me, Margaret by Judy Blume (I was addicted to Judy Blume books as a 5th grader.)

69. Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut (As stated in my post over at The Book Nook, this is one of my favorite novels by one of my favorite authors).

70. Lord of the Flies by William Golding (Okay. One of those read it for English class books that was okay but nothing really exciting.)

77. Carrie by Stephen King (Is there really anyone who *hasn't* read this book? Once again, good, but not his best.)

83. The Dead Zone by Stephen King (I liked this one better than Cujo or Carrie, but it still doesn't top my list of Stephen King books.)

84. The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain (Good, although I like Huck Finn better.)

85. Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison (Good.)

87. Private Parts by Howard Stern (Boy, this one is a little embarrassing to admit!)

88. Where's Waldo? by Martin Hanford (I remember searching for Waldo, and I didn't even know there was a topless lady to be found!)


Wow, only 31 of the top 100. So, what do you think? Any of the "banned" books that you've read and enjoyed? Or hated? Or want to ban? If you're feeling up to it, blog your own "banned books" list!

Speaking of reading, I'm trapped in The Memory Keeper's Daughter. It's just not capturing my attention, and I don't find myself wanting to read. Has anyone read this? Does it get better? I'm about 1/3 of the way through it...

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B-man wasn't feeling well today. Or, techincally, he hardly slept at all last night as his asthma/coughing kept waking him up. Since he was falling asleep at breakfast, and had a temperature of 100.2, we kept him home from preschool. N-man went to preschool. It was weird, having one and not the other. I think they both missed each other. B-man kept talking about N-man this morning.

B-man slept in my arms for an hour, and has been much better since then. Hopefully he'll be breathing easier tonight and will sleep well as I am TIRED from being up with him last night.

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Replies to comments on People Really Are Reading!:

Gio: No, I'm not a famous blogger by a long shot! I'd guess we have very similar readerships. I'd guess we have most of the same readers in fact :)

LauraC: It actually doesn't bother me if people don't comment, though I love the comments. Yes, I agree, sometimes I post and don't get a lot of comments and then start second guessing my post. Ah well...

Ronnica: I'm lucky to have a lot of real life friends who do comment. Hi all you real life friends!

Melodie: I agree, it's a little weird to get used to a rectangular screen. One day I'll be telling the grandkids, "Back in my day, our TVs were square, and we liked 'em that way!"

Daav: Oh, don't get me going about the ridiculous apartment-sized wall oven in our house. I wish we had the money to redo the oven as well as the counter-top stove!

Nancy: Psst! I read your blog, too!

And so it begins...

As most of you know, I love winter. I love autumn. I love when the weather turns cold, and there's nothing better than a beautiful snowy day.

Having said that, I've had a shocking amount of fear about this winter. I've really not been looking forward to the end of summer. The problem is: germs. And my boys' ability to catch all of them. For the past two winters, we've had a tough run from about November until May, with all of us catching lots of colds, and croup, and ear infections, and pneumonia, and other yuckies. And that's with the boys home with me, without even having the exposure to a day care or other group of children germ factory.

But this year my boys are in preschool. Needless to say, I've been worrying about how bad the winter will be. The boys made it a week and a half, but today I didn't send them to school. On Friday afternoon, their noses started running, and it's continued all weekend. They definitely have colds, that they've since passed along to me. It's not a bad one. No fevers, not much coughing, pretty happy demeanor despite the cold. Just some stuffiness and lots of calls of "Mommy! I have BOOGERS!"

So while I'm glad this cold is mild, I'm still feeling a bit conflicted about this winter. I'm trying to hope for the best, and not borrow trouble, but I can't help but be worried about what this winter holds. I hope my fears prove groundless!

As an aside, for all you more experienced moms, when do you send your kids back to school? I kind of think my boys were probably okay to send today, even though their noses are a bit runny. But really, their noses could be runny for the next week or so, and with B-man's asthma, he'll probably develop a cough that hangs on for quite some time. So what's the rule on when to send kids back after a cold?

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Replies to comments on You're Not Going To Believe This!:
BrendaJean: I seem to have the same power to turn scratch tickets into losers!
Jongirl (or jongir, if you so desire): Yes, it is a weird tradition to exchange lottery tickets for Christmas. Fun, but you're still weird!

Replies to comments on Why do I need an Ipod?:
Wow, did I get mixed reviews! I guess it confirmed my belief that we don't *need* an ipod. Having said that, I can see how it would be fun, as long as I managed to load my music on it. Yesterday, N-man was in a mood where he kept asking for songs from different CDs, so we had to play DJ for him. And I was like, "Hey, we need an MP3 player with a kids' songlist!" Who knows what we'll ultimately decide. We just may decide to get one of for Christmas/Hanukkah! Thank you all for sharing your opinions!

Replies to comments on Arrr!:
Giovanna: How awesome are the Backyardigans? I must admit, *I'm* a little obsessed, too!
Bridget: I've never even heard of Lazy Town! I'll have to keep an eye out for it!
LauraC: Aw, cute pirates! And no worries about Firefly, although I still contend you're missing one of the best shows ever! Maybe you just want to watch Dr. Horrible's Sing-along Blog online. Odder than Firefly, but no western themes. Well, except some brief singing cowboys. Very brief.
Juli Smith: Thanks for stopping by! I visited your blog, and it made me wish I was at all crafty. A pirate themed party must have been fun!

The Mathematics of Being Sick

How does a 10 minute ear check turn into 3 hours of hell? Well, let me tell you the math of it:

1 child (B-man)
+ 1 followup appointment
+ 102.6 degree fever that came out of no where
+ No ear infections

==EQUALS==

1 throat swab to test for strep (result tomorrow)
1 vial of bloodwork for a CBC (showed high white blood cell count)
1 vial of bloodwork to check immune system (results tomorrow)
1 vial of bloodwork to do a lead test (just so he doesn't need another blood draw at 3 years.)
1 chest X-Ray to rule out pneumonia (negative)
1 nose swab to test for the flu (negative)
1 catheter to get a urine sample to test for a UTI (negative)
2 shots of antibiotics

Oh, and I was by myself with both kids, because I thought it would just be a ten minutes ear check. And it was right during their nap time so neither of them napped. And it ran well past dinner time and we had no food with us.

Extra bonus: we get to go back tomorrow!

I'm a little worried. That seemed like a lot of testing on a kid who just didn't seem that sick. We met a friend and her daughter for coffee this morning and he was running around and in good spirits. He ate breakfast and lunch. I guess I'll wait until tomorrow.

That's a total lie. Of course I asked Dr. Google, and looked up the immune system deficiency I had as a child. It sounds a lot like what B-man has...a propensity to upper respiratory infections (hmm, just like his mommy). Two researchers have also noted a correlation between this immune system problem and atopic diseases, such as food allergies and asthma (double hmm, he has both of those). Well, I'll see what an actual doctor says tomorrow. Hopefully it'll be "just another cold".

If only reading was a workout!

I've been continuing to go to the gym in the wee-hours of the morning. No rational person should be up so early. So of course I have to worry about the zillion other people at the gym, because clearly they are irrational and not to be trusted.

Anyway, I've been continuing to tell myself that I feel good...more energetic and healthy. You would think with all the lying to myself I do that I'd be better at it by now. But, I persist. The past two gym visits, however, my subconscious mind has had different plans. As I was driving by the library, both times I nearly turned into the parking lot. Blinker on, starting to turn the wheel, when it suddenly occurred to me I was not going to the library and that I had to continue on down the road to the gym.

But how I wish I was going to the library instead. Why doesn't the library open at 5:30am? I think I could trust people up that early if they were up to read. And why doesn't reading improve my physical health like it does my mental health?

Random unrelated thought: We've been listening to Laurie Berkner and Dan Zanes all afternoon and while they are certainly the more enjoyable of the kids' CDs, I was starting to lose my mind. There are only so many songs about snack food one can listen to. So I just put on Regina Spektor. B-man is singing along. N-man is playing guitar. I guess there is some hope for their musical tastes.

Oh dear, that wasn't pretty

I went this morning at 6am to workout after the previous fiasco at the gym daycare. In theory, it's going to work very well I think. I'm a morning person, so this shouldn't be too bad. However, there were a few problems.

First, I got the best elliptical this morning...the one right in front of the window so I can look out onto the world. I don't have headphones, so I can't listen to music or TV. If I don't get the elliptical looking out the window, I have to spend my time staring at a blank wall. Which is fine, but the window is better. So, I was pretty excited this morning. For about 10 seconds. Until I realized that since it was pitch black outside, the window was effectively a mirror. Staring at myself working out is far, far worse than staring at a blank wall.

Now I know.

And to make matters worse, I'm slow. So I look like death 5 minutes into the workout, and I'm not even going fast. It took me a little over ten minutes to go half a mile. How can that be? I used to run track in high school, and the half-mile was one of my main races. I was pretty much always under 3 minutes for a half mile. Yes, I've had knee injuries since then. Yes, I'm 15 years older. Yes, I wasn't sprinting. Yes, I'm out of shape. But still, that seems awfully slow.

Then, I went to do the weight circuit. I was right behind aging super-guy. I mean, this guy had to be over 50 years old, and he looked slight. But he was lifting at least quadruple what I was at each circuit. Okay, fine, I'm not trying to bulk up, just tone, so I lift lighter weights. But still...it made me feel like a big wimp.

All in all, it wasn't my best self-esteem morning. I came home and put on a big sweater. Because it's cold out. Sure, that's my story.

On the plus side, I do feel pretty good.

Random unrelated thought: The boys and I made some carrot oatmeal chocolate chip cookies. It took nearly two hours to make the dough since I had two little helpers. I can't believe they stayed interested for so long. B-man was especially into it, while N-man was kind of popping in and out as time went on. The cookies turned out delicious, but I have to learn to check recipe quantities before I start cooking. This recipe makes 6 dozen cookies. What are we going to do with 6 dozen cookies? I have to look up to see if I can freeze some of the dough since it's just sitting in the fridge at the moment. Oh well, they are yummy! I think I'll be sending some in to work with TK...

A Pint's a Pound

Yesterday, I went to a blood drive, to volunteer and to give blood. It was a rockin' good time. Okay, maybe not, but it's a relatively painless way to do good, and I'd been meaning to get back to donating blood for quite some time now.

As I was leaving, I joked with the two woman checking people in that I felt lighter. Well, that left us wondering: what does a pint of blood weigh? Did I really lose weight just by donating blood? I'm not an idiot (okay, that statement may be up for debate)...I realize that you can't PERMANENTLY lose weight by donating blood. I'll drink some water, and my body will get to work replenishing those blood cells. But, did I temporarily lose weight? I highly doubted there would be any discernible difference on my scale.

Luckily, I had just happened to have weighed myself that morning. I went home, got back on the scale, and was shocked to see it registered two pounds less! Okay, that's amazing. Now I'm really curious: how much does a pint of blood weigh?

In asking around, it turns out I may be the only person on earth not to know that saying "A pint's a pound the whole world 'round". That's talking about water, a pint of which weighs one pound. Who knew?

But, I'm more OCD than that. Blood, while it may be primarily water, is not *exactly* water and therefore probably weighs a slightly different amount than water. Also, how much faith am I going to put in some random folk-ism? Is a pint really a pound, or is that just an approximation? (Turns out, a US pint weighs 1.04375 lbs).

I'm not google-impared, but I couldn't really find an answer to how much a pint of blood weighs. Thankfully, someone just as obsessive as I am, and much more weights-and-measures conversion savvy than I, calculated that a pint of blood weighs approximately 1.1 pounds. That makes sense, based on this information that blood is slightly more dense than water.

So what does this prove? First, that I'm insane enough to keep researching this...I just couldn't be happy with an answer of "oh, about a pound". Second, the fact that I lost two pounds (still off today, despite the two packs of cookies I had post-donation) I can attribute to nothing except the good karma from donating blood. Sure, a 1.1 pound loss would be explainable, but that extra 0.9 pounds I'm chalking up as a cosmic good-deed thank you. Or, you know, some random event.

Random unrelated though, What I'm Reading Edition: I just finished Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See and found it to be a thoroughly enjoyable book. Interesting, believable, engaging: All that My Sister's [idiotic] Keeper was not. I mean, it's not on my "greatest book ever" list, but I'm glad I read it and would certainly recommend it. It also spurred me to spend over an hour researching foot-binding on the internet. When TK saw what I was doing, he was relatively unfazed. It's fair to say that neither food-binding nor the weight of blood have been the first things I've obsessively researched. I think I've broken TK of being surprised by whatever odd topic is pulled up on a browser!

Now I'm reading Kafka on the Shore by Haruki Murakami. I'm not too far into it, but am totally loving it, which is good since it's my book club selection. Only google search it has spurred so far: the surprisingly boring definition of duralumin.

GASP!

I'm not one to blame my parents for all the things wrong in my life. They did a pretty good job, I think, and the bad decisions I've made....yeah, they were pretty much all my fault. But, there is one thing I've always blamed on my parents: my asthma. Both of my parents are smokers. They would always smoke around us kids. No one in my close or extended family has asthma, just me, and I wasn't diagnosed until I was in high school. It's not bad, and it's gotten better since I moved out of my parent's house. Well, except when I lived in Atlanta. Reason 412 why I hated living in Atlanta: crap air quality. But I digress. Back to my point...I've always assumed that my asthma was caused by my exposure to second-hand smoke. So, I wasn't that worried about passing asthma along to my kids. Bad eyesight, sure, but breathing problems? Not from me!

Now I have to reevaluate where my asthma came from because it's official: B-man has asthma. Last winter, he had a lot of upper respiratory infections: colds, croup, even two cases of pneumonia. They'd linger, he'd need nebulizer treatments, but his pediatrician was always careful to clarify that he had reactive airway disease, not asthma as asthma cannot be diagnosed in children this young.

Well, B-man got a cold, and all of a sudden on day two of the cold, he was gasping and wheezing and coughing non-stop. I took him right in to the doctor's office, pretty sure we'd be sent to the hospital. It was THAT BAD. But, he was given a few breathing treatments, and we were sent home with steroids and antibiotics and albuterol.

It's been rough for the past few days as he's been coughing near constantly, and was obviously tired and sick. He hasn't slept in days, and therefore I haven't slept in days. I think the breathing treatments are finally starting to work, though, and I hope to get at least a few hours of sleep tonight in my own bed. We'll see.

So, I give an official "I'm sorry" to B-man if it was my junky genes I passed along to him, and to my parents for blaming them all these years for my asthma. Oh, who am I kidding? I'm going to believe it's just a coincidence B-man has asthma and still hold my asthma over my parents' heads as proof of how stupid they are to smoke.

Random unrelated thought: I got to escape from the house for twenty minutes today when I went to go buy some bagels for everyone. Well, like a total idiot, I left the boys' Laurie Berkner CD playing in the car. I'm finally by myself for a minute, and I waste it by listening to kids' music?? I could have been listening to Regina Spektor or Ani DiFranco, and not even skipping over the songs with swear words. I'm such a dope. Laurie Berkner is surprisingly catchy, though...