Krazy Kids....

Burp and Diva have been playing "house" for a week now. So far they have 5 children... 3 bears, 1 monkey, and a baby doll.
We've been joking for months about how they fight like an old married couple. They'll rage and scream at each other, then stomp off to their separate rooms and cry over it.
The other day, they had a big blow up. They were at Diva's house and got into an argument over the "family dog", one of Diva's stuffed animals. It ended with Burp screaming, "I'm leaving, and you'll never see Junior again!" As he made for the door, Diva screamed, "Fine! Leave! I HATE YOU!" as she threw toys at him.

Burp came home enraged, yelling at me about the fight. Diva's mom texted me, in hysterics after having witnessed the whole thing.
"Psam, I think divorce court is next."
"Do we have to jump to divorce?" I asked. "Can't we try marriage counseling?"
We snickered back and forth for quite awhile.
Two hours later, they were one big happy family again. Kids!

Yikes....

Funny how times just slips by.

Mom, I'm alive and well. Sorry I've been lazy about my blogging....

Updates, updates....

School is out. Burp spent the first few days pissed at me about the summer homework I've assigned. One full page of math and copying a page from the Kid's Encyclopedia. The first two days he bitched and argued, and the whole thing took him 2 hours and 25 minutes..... The next time he discovered that if he quit complaining the whole thing would take just barely over a half hour.. hahaha... he's one of those that always seems to have to learn the hard way. God I can't wait till the teen years.

Diva's Neurologist put her on an oral med to reduce the pressure in her brain. Our fingers are crossed. He said our best indicator of her progress would be the intensity and frequency of her headaches, which seem to be doing better. The best thing of all was that he apologized for just assuming that she'd been getting better... No more assumptions, which makes me say "Yay!" She has another appointment with the Eye Doc next week, and the Neuro Guy the next day. He did say that in the next few weeks Diva will have to go back in for another lumbar puncture, as that is the best diagnostic test for if she's truly getting better. If not, then it's off to Portland for surgery.

One of my bestest friends in the whole world is 32 weeks pregnant in Australia... Stuck in the hospital because of stupid contractions. Her Yammy Doc says she'll prob have to stay there until she delivers. That BLOWS!! I hate being half a world away. If I were there, I'd cook for your hubby and come play games with you!!! We could play Rummy to like a million!!! And poor Simon will probably only eat chili for the next 8 weeks.. lol Hang in there Xander! (I wanna see the otters too!)

As a matter of fact, it seems just about everyone I know is getting pregnant. Ash, one of my scouting friends, is about 6 weeks preg- which was a huge shocker.. Her hubby had testicular cancer a year ago and they told her his swimmers wouldn't we swimming for 2 years. Oops. One of Ben's friend's mom is preggers... and a few other ppl I know.... All of them are sick as shit, so I'm not TOO jealous. lol The wife of one of the Doctors I work with is preg with her 6th. (and they've adopted 2) They'll have 4 kids under the age of 4... He was so embarrassed, he didn't tell anyone she was preg again until she was 8 months... lol I might have contributed a name to this one. Camden. All of their kids have one name that is a town, city, whatever. I think I'd be happy not having more kids if I could just name a bunch. hahaha

Anyway, I'll try to get caught up on my Talk Thursdays and such later. I have to go for now. It's the K9 competition today... I gotta get moving!

Luvz

Diva's 7th Birthday

I know, I should be working on my Talk Thursday... but to be honest, every time I think of Fuzzy Navels... I just think of belly buttons. AND... I'm almost a week late on this.

Last Thursday was Diva's 7th birthday. Due to a shitty economy, her parents really couldn't afford to do much to celebrate. She really, really wanted a birthday party at a local pizza place, but it just wasn't an option for them. When Diva heard this, she was crushed... so I gave her a choice.. Maybe we could do another pizza and movie night at my house, and let all the kids make their own pizzas like last time. Instead, she wanted an ice cream party. OMG!!! It was so much fun!

I made cupcakes (cuz it isn't a birthday without some sort of cake) and then I bought several different kinds of ice cream and tons of toppings, ie. cans of aerosol whip cream, chopped nuts, sprinkles, chocolate syrup, and I even whipped up some fresh strawberries in glaze (yum). The parents thought I was crazy, but each kid got to put as much as they wanted of whatever they wanted on their ice cream. They had a blast! (because I throw the BEST kid parties EVER!!!)

She loved the gift from my mom, Burp, and I....

Mom, you have no idea how hard it was to find decals that would fit her tiny little nails, but I found them. Cute little butterflies in pink, silver, fuchsia, and sparkley.

It was a good day.

Yesterday, Diva helped me make ice cream sandwiches to take to Cub Scouts with Burp. I did a little spin on a treat my mom used to make when I was a kid. I mixed Cool Whip with strawberry yogurt and added some diced strawberries and wiched it between Snickerdoodle cookies. The kids taste-tested them at home... cuz, you know, we can't take poisoned treats to Cub Scouts. Needless to say, no one died, and they were, in fact, a big hit at home and at Scouts.... Unfortunately, people seemed to think that because they had yogurt, they were a "healthy" alternative.... WHATEVER!!

Yesterday, I went with Diva and her mother to her eye check up. She asked me to go because I'm not intimidated by doctors, I'll ask the good questions, and her husband is a schmuck. The eye doctor said the swelling of her ocular nerve was just as bad as it ever was and there is now a macular star, and hemorrhaging. The official diagnosis for what she has is papilledema. Hers seems to be idiopathic.
This is very similar to what the inside of her eye looks like.

 I borrowed this image from nature.com
The white arrow is a hemorrhage, hers is about 4 times that size and the green arrow indicates the macular star.
Actually, this seems like a good explanation of what's going on. In a nutshell, her brain is acting like she has a tumor and if we can't get it under control medicinally with in the next 6 weeks, she will have to have surgery. That surgery will have to take place up at OHSU. They will have to cut windows in the dura of her optic nerve sheath to relieve the pressure, or else she will go blind. Blindness usually starts at about 3 months after symptom onset. We're at the 2 month mark now.

Because this is so rarely seen in children, in fact her doctor said he'd never had a case of it before, they have no idea of lasting affects. Because she's so young, it's too hard to even gauge how much her sight is already being affected.

Today I took them back to the doctor to have special pictures taken of her eye. Tomorrow I'm taking them to see the pediatric neurologist.

We thought everything was getting better. It seems she's just getting used to the pain or the pressure has drastically increased. I'm glad she doesn't have a tumor, but it's still scary.

Update: Diva

Tumor? Blood clot?......... Apparently, just fluid on her brain causing intracranial pressure and swelling of her optic nerve. This was determined by the lumbar puncture and second MRI.

Originally, about a month ago, Diva had a really, really bad ear infection. She ran a fever, vomited nonstop, and slept about 20 hours a day for at least a week. After 3 days, her mom took her to the doctor and they put her on antibiotics. Every three days thereafter, her mother took her back to the doctor when her symptoms didn't improve. Each time the doctor changed her antibiotic and said it was just a bad ear infection. Then she developed the eye pain and headaches. After the 5th visit they discovered that she also had a massive sinus infection that they believed had spread to her ocular cavity and was causing her eye to disalign, giving her double vision and a headache. They changed her antibiotic again.
At this point, I started wondering about meningitis, which can be caused by ear and sinus infections. I even told her mom she should request a lumbar puncture. The doctor brushed her off. The infection was going down, so they sent her to the eye doctor. Then the tumor scare...

I can't say "Hahaha, I was right," because I have no idea what kind of fluid build up she has, but it frustrates me that I was in the ball park and it took the doctors so long to get a clue. Then there's the fact that they bounced around so much in their theories, I just hope that they're right this time.

Now Diva's feeling a bit better, though she's mad at her Daddy for signing her up to get a needle in her back (like he just volunteered her for a random torture session)(which she was asleep for).

Thank you for your prayers and kind thoughts on her behalf.

Cracked Skull and True LOVE

I missed Idol. *sigh*

After swim tonight, Burp ran into the shower and slipped and busted open his head. I'm out by the pool talking to his instructor then wander out to wait by the locker room doors. A girl comes from the other direction, "Are you waiting for a boy?"
Ummm, no. I just stand outside men's locker rooms in my free time..
"Yeah"
"He fell and cracked open his head. Could you come with me please?"
Then she led me to the office to wait for him cuz he was still in the locker room with a staff member. That was a shitty 5 minutes. Finally he came out. He wasn't too bad. Burp has a high tolerance for pain, low for blood. So he was just a little freaked out.
Sooooo, instead of watching American Idol, I got to go watch his head being stapled. Good times.
Afterward we took Diva and her mom chocolate shakes at the other hospital. The doctor determined that she didn't have a tumor, but now thinks she might have a blood clot in her brain. In the morning she'll have a lumbar puncture and another MRI. Poor thing. We're not sure how long she's going to be there. We don't know if IV therapy or surgery is required. We know nothing.
As we were leaving Burp gave Diva a light noogie and said, "See ya tomorrow cutie."
And she was like "Don't call me that!"
Her mom walked us outside and Burp was all butt-hurt, "Diva doesn't like me anymore."
Diva's mom laughed, "Girls are meanest to the boys they like the most. She still likes you."
Burp jumped up and down. "Wooohooo. She must really love me! She's always mean to me!"

LMAO.

Disgusted!

I had a boyfriend once who threw around the phrase "white trash" all the time. I didn't even realize that I'd picked it up, until my mom threw it back at me one day. Lesson learned.

I have this "friend". She uses the phrase often when talking about another friend of mine and her children. She won't let her son play with them and she wrinkles her nose when she talks about them. For the most part, I let it go. It does cause problems because my son plays with the "forbidden" kids every day, and her son whines about not being able to play... but I don't allow ditching one friend for another. Though I feel bad for the kid, it makes it a bit easier for me because I no longer have to force other kids to play with him. (He whines and cries if he doesn't get enough attention or if things don't go the way he wants and being that he looks older than he is or acts, the other kids often don't know how to deal with him.) Our boys play well one on one, but her son just doesn't do well in groups.

My "friends" don't have to be friends and I don't have to agree with her. Sure the "white trash" family has it's issues. But the kids are sweet kids and mom tries her best to be a good mom. You do the best with what you've got. The name-caller friend, truthfully, should look in the mirror before she starts pointing fingers.

So today, I got devastating news from the so-called white trash friend. The eye doctor thinks her 7-year old daughter has a brain tumor. Mom is scared. She won't know anything more until Friday when the daughter has an MRI. I comforted and was supportive, and when she went home - I bawled. Looking for my own shoulder to cry on, I went to the name-caller friend.
I told her.
Her response? "That sucks.... So I think I found a sugar daddy. He's older, but he's black so he doesn't look it. We're negotiating $500 a month for one visit a week."
I was stunned. I mean, yeah... she ALWAYS tells me about her different conquests, and by her own admission, is a slut... but "That sucks" is not quite what I needed to hear.
I fired back, "You're talking about whoring yourself." Yeah... a little judgmental. Normally I would have tried my best to hide my thoughts and stuck with an, "Ohh, really?"
She shrugged, "Yeah, but I'm not going to get that kind of money any where else, and my kid needs braces."


My first thought was, who pays for their kid's braces with their vagina? Quickly followed by, "if it were my kid that possibly had a tumor, is this how you'd respond?" WTF?