Everyone is sick but me. Again. September 17, 2007
Do you ever feel like you have a guardian angel (GA) nearby ministering to you. I do. A dear friend of mine, who was the maid of honor at my wedding, can relate. She calls her GA Bruno. Apparently he is exceedingly competent. She has had her share of “brushes with death”. Getting caught up in a rock slide on the side of a mountain, going cross country skiing for thirty or so miles by herself and almost collapsing eight miles before her destination, etc, etc. Well, I don’t have a name for my GA, who rivals Kimb’s GA in competency, but he has not had a boring job watching over me.
In some regards I am pretty fearless (or was, after having two children I would say I am the complete opposite). I have been bungy jumping, caving, traveled Europe alone, had two children in less than fourteen months. These things alone have probably caused my GA to request a job transfer. Well, before I was married, and had any sense I decided to go treeplanting in the Northern Canadian wilderness. For those of you who don’t watch the National Geographic channel, I will tell you, there is a lot of wildlife in Northern Canada. The population of Grizzly or Brown bears was particularly dense in one place where we were planting trees on an old clearcut. From the moment I set foot on this piece of land, I knew this was prime country for Grizzlies. There was a glacial river running along the back part of the land, there was a lot of brush which bears like because of the shade and plentiful food. On the third or fourth day I was teaming up with another treeplanter and talking about our line (where we should plant our trees), when I heard the most horrendous, terrible voice yell “Candace and Andy move back to the landing there is a grizzly bear right behind you”. My feet felt like cement on the ground and my knees like rubber. It was exactly like your worst nightmare where you can’t move but need to in the worst way. Andy grabbed my wrist and pulled me in the direction of the landing, but my rubber knees did not comply. They buckled and Andy pulled me up, and we heard a shot. We knew our foreman and his brother had shotguns and were somewhere nearby shooting in our direction. Andy dragged me back to the landing without an encounter with the bear, and our foreman met us there in his truck. He told us that the bear was about twenty five feet away from us stalking us, and when he yelled the bear started to charge us. When he shot his shotgun, from about two hundred yards away (apparently shotguns are not that accurate) the bear changed course. My GA pulled through. After hearing my foreman’s story I thought that there must have been a force field surrounding me.
There was also the time I got a blood infection. I had a hemo-cath line directly into my artery that got infected. I had a fever of 105. Since all major organs and tissues rely on good clean blood, this was not good. I was put in a room one other person with our own nurse. I believe this was the place you go before they put you in ICU or just after you come out of ICU. Once again my GA came through. I was put on the strongest anti-biotic available and was better in a week.
I guess the last most profound “brush with death” was while I was engaged to Zac. I was sick with some digestive problems that stumped all the Dr.’s. I couldn’t eat, and when I did, well, let’s just say, I lost a lot of weight. One week I was down to 89 lbs. I was skin and bones. One Friday evening and I recall laying in bed with no energy thinking that this was the day I was going to die. Zac did too. He was coming to visit and I was despairing because I didn’t want him to see my skeletal self. Just at the moment I had that thought my roomate came along with bottles and bottles of Gatorade and made me drink all weekend. Soon I went to the Dr. and demanded that a certain immuno-suppressant be replaced. He did. Within days my appetite returned. The next few weeks were some of the best weeks of my life (besides getting married and childbirth of course). I was on a mission to gain twenty pounds. I ate indiscriminately in regards to calories. It wasn’t hard either as it was the holiday season. Before my beloved arrived in Saskatoon I was twenty pounds heavier, still pretty waif-like, but not skeletal. Thank you GA. Thank you Jesus.
By now you are probably wondering what the content of this post has to do with the title. Well, no less amazing than all of the above, God has kept me insanely healthy over the last three years. After my transplant I went on a bunch of immuno suppressants which are supposed to make me more vulnerable to illness and disease. The nurses and Dr.’s had me thinking I would be a walking viral magnet and that I should avoid crowded places and hospitals. Since having children I have had a hint of a sore throat one time and that is it. No flu, no colds, no nothing. Once again my GA has pulled through. Keep up the good work, but maybe you could let up for just a milli-second and let one harmless virus slip through. I am not complaining. Not really. I mean, it would be nice to just lay in bed for a day, wiping my nose with puffs plus and throwing them on the floor, watching movies, and eating chicken noodle soup. In the meantime I will wipe noses, read countless books to, bring drinks to, and make some chicken noodle soup for my three babies.
Potty training 101 September 6, 2007
Warning: If you do not have children this post will be Boring with a capital B. I promise though, once you have children it will be imminently important and interesting.
I thought I would share all of my potty training wisdom here since I have seemingly successfully potty trained Sophia in just two days.
Rule # 1: Bribe your child with lots of sugery snacks. We went to the store and bought some mini lolipops (which I don’t recommend) and some mini candy bars (of which I only give her half), and we already had some gum on hand, courtesy of grandma. Of course this tactic will not work if your child is already accustomed to lots of sugery snacks. If this is the case, phase them out and then reintroduce them in exchange for a number one or two on the potty. Remember to brush his/her teeth at least two times a day and give plenty of water to drink to rinse the sugar off his/her teeth. Oh, and a good recommended snack would be M&M’s. Thatta way you don’t have to feed them copious amounts of sugar in one day. That is our one big mistake, buying snacks that are too large. And don’t worry too much about them being addicted to sugar. You are the parent. After they are trained simply limit their sugar intake again and just say NO. Oh, and they will not always ask for a snack after they go, so the collateral sugar damage isn’t always so bad.
Rule #2: Ask your child casually but often if they need to go #1 or #2.
Rule # 3: Surround the potty with lots of his/her favorite books.
Rule # 4: Your gonna have to stay home for a few days. (We still haven’t figured out what to do when we go out so maybe someone could comment on this. Perhaps that is a point for the next section Potty Training 232, which also covers “staying dry overnight”)
Rule # 5: Start talking about using the potty months and months before you actually put your little stinker on the throne.
Rule # 6: This method may not work for you, but it worked for us (at least so far).
In all seriousness, Sophia has done all her business in the potty chair over the last two days. She tells me when she has to go and she sits, goes, cleans up, and is done in less than a minute. Oh, and the candy bit won’t work for you if your child prefers carrots and zucchinni (Isaac), so offer him those things instead, and the rest of us will stare in awe and wonder at a toddler doing tricks for vegetables.
Busy, busy, busy September 1, 2007
After taking the girls out for a walk in their double stroller which has one flat tire, I have resolved to have a work-a-bee night and sew up some garments for my first e-bay sale. To answer your question, those two things are related. I figure if this old body has the stamina to push a stroller with fifty pounds of babies 2 miles with a flat tire, than I can certainly tackle a few piles of fabric and come up with something spectacular, and hopefully worth at least $100 to somebody.
Check back in for the outcome. If you have to harass me to get ‘er done, as they say, and post some photos.
