We have had a lot of rain over the past couple days. It has rained so much that the small city park near us was completely flooded!
While I slept today, Sam said there was torrential rains. When I got up, I could see that the backyard was flooded.
I have to give credit where credit is due – my wife is the “fun” parent. I really don’t think that I would have been the one to say, “Let’s put on your rainboots and go jump in the puddles!” to the kids. She did! Ella lit up! She couldn’t wait to get outside. Andrew was just as excited.
So we all went out and the two of them jumped and splashed! It was really fun to watch.
It was 70 degrees with a slight breeze and the kids loved every minute of it! The smiles and laughter were worth every ounce of mud they brought back in the house!
Andrew was walking by out and you could hear the water sloshing in his boots. Both kids had a cup or more of water in each boot, so the boots came off.
They had a blast jumping and splashing. Oh, to be a kid again!
The wind started to pick up a bit and the sun went away, so it was time to come inside. Neither kid wanted to come in! Despite the chattering teeth, they still wanted to play in the puddles. Sam had gone in and started a bath for them. There was some major coaxing by me and they finally (and sadly) walked inside.
I wish I had gotten a picture of them when they came in. Two wet kids, with mud in the hair, and noses! The warm bath cleaned them up and wonderful memories made – all thanks to Sam’s playful suggestion!
It’s been a crazy past few days. On Friday, we took Andrew to the ENT to discuss the results of his sleep study. He has severe sleep apnea. Usually, this means that the tonsils or the adenoids need to come out to open up the airway. The doc took a look at his and said his tonsils were not too big and he didn’t think his adenoids were a problem either. So he did a scope in the office to look further.
The scope showed that he has laryngomalacia. This is something we are seeing more and more of in the sleep lab. Basically, there is extra tissue in the larynx.
This explains why his sleep is so crappy!! When he falls asleep, that floppy tissue blocks the airway.
Lateral view of child’s face showing blocked air flow caused by laryngomalacia.
So it looks like he will have some surgery to correct this in the near future. It will also mean 24-48 hours in the hospital. This will not be fun at all, as he loves to be on the go. I’m sure sitting in a room all day is not going to be pleasant at all! We are waiting on the hospital to call and schedule the surgery.
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My Godmother/cousin recently had a stroke. She is currently in hospice. I was able to see her over the weekend to say goodbye. It is never an easy thing to do. There were many people in the room, so I kept it pretty simple.
I’m not sure if it is just in Italian families or what, but at some point there was a stretch of years where certain members of the family didn’t speak to each other. I have no idea what it was about but I am sure that it was just stupid. Life is too short to lose that much time. This hits home a lot with my Godmother.
For years, I didn’t see her because of an argument that I wasn’t even a part of! Shortly after my grandmother passed away, my dad began to reach out to cousins that we hadn’t talk to. Thankfully, the peace was restored and I was reunited with my cousins.
I remember seeing her for the first time in forever and just hugging on her! I was so happy to see her. We spent a long time catching up. So many years lost to ridiculousness. So many things we both missed out on.
I am kicking myself because a week before, I was thinking about her and meant to call her and catch up. I never did. I regret that. I am grateful to have had a moment with her this weekend to tell her how much I love her.
My Godmother and me at Ella’s baby shower
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I’m not trying to make excuses, but I am an emotional eater. When I get stressed or worry – I snack. I made a lot of mistakes on my diet this week. I found myself grabbing goldfish crackers and “estimating” how many I had. We hadn’t gone grocery shopping, so almost all of the veggies were gone, so I snacked on crackers and stuff I shouldn’t have. I was completely ready to see a gain on the scale, but actually lost a pound this week. This brings my 10 week total weight loss to 30 pounds.
The heat and rain didn’t help much. It was hard to get my daily walks in last week.
30 pounds is progress and I am back on track. Sunday and Monday we got to go out and walk the neighborhood! Ella is making it a bit more difficult as she wants to walk instead of being in the stroller/wagon. He being out, does make it easy to get pictures, but she walks a LOT slower than I am used to.
A ray of morning sunshine
He puppy friend, Louie, was so excited to see her the other day he “ran” to the fence to say hello!
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I went to the store on Sunday and bought some new sand for Ella’s sandbox. We moved it to another part of the yard because where we had it, the sun beat down on it. We moved it to a shadier spot and both kids are playing in it. Andrew really doesn’t understand that the sand is not for eating … one would think that after the third time putting it in your mouth, you’d stop, right?!
The sandbox is just another example of how my kids will grow up to be best buddies. I love to watch them play together. I hope it stays warm for a while longer. I’m not sure just how they are going to handle being cooped up in the house all day in the winter.
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The range of emotions experienced this weekend was overwhelming. I’m hoping that things slow down and return to normal – whatever normal is!
I shared this on my Facebook page today, and thought it worthy to share as a short blog entry.
I had a doctor appointment this morning. There were some sprinkles and rain showers on the drive there, but they had pretty much stopped when I arrived. They must have been busy, as I didn’t end up leaving my 9:45 appointment until around 11:30am.
As I exit the waiting room, I looked outside and could see that it was a full blown thunderstorm and that it was pouring rain. As I walked out the main door, I stood under the huge awning protected from the rain. There are about four or five people all standing there pondering what they are going to do.
There were older people are sitting on benches saying there’s no way they are walking to their cars in it. One husband said he would go get the car and pull it up for his wife, but she insisted he stay. This led to him saying he wasn’t “going to melt.” There were a couple people my age debating whether to make a break for it, and discussing it with the older people, who encouraged them to wait for it to let up.
As I am observing this, a young mom with two girls about 4-5 years old walk out and the girls are squealing in delight. They are thrilled that it is raining cats and dogs. They both yell, “Yay! It’s raining!” They are not wearing raincoats and have no umbrella. There mom looked at them playfully and says, “Here we go,” and they run out into the parking lot holding hands splashing and laughing together.
My car wasn’t parked to far that a little rain would hurt me, so I followed their lead and rain in the heavy rain to the car. The parking lot was full of puddles and my shoes and socks were soaked by the time I got into the car. For 10-15 seconds, I was 5 years old running in the rain! “Yay! Rain!”
Various Ramblings of a Nostalgic Italian 