The Pet Store Requires Supervision

I was a little nervous yesterday to see the puppy what Andy, Kate and Sam would bring home from the pet store they visited yesterday while I was in class.

It turns out I was right to be suspicious, because when I came home, I found three of these. In my bedroom.

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Andy and Kate had set up a pack n’ play for them to sleep in, complete with blankets and pillows and they had already pooped everywhere and I was panicking about exactly how much of our stuff they were going to have to eat before I could rightfully give them to the nearest farmer without being Monster Mommy and breaking my little girl’s heart.

And then I woke up.

And I remembered that this was what they actually brought home.
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A little betta fish.

As a side note, did you know that at festivals now, instead of taking the gold fish you won home with you, they give you a pet store gift certificate to go get one? Yeah, I think it’s a conspiracy because they know that if you actually bother to go redeem the gift certificate, you’re also going to spend $32.18 on the required accessories for said free fish. When Kate won the gift certificate, I said “Oh good! You can go pick out a fish for Daddy’s classroom!” However, I did not outsmart my four-year-old – she just made sure that Daddy was the one who took her to the store. And spent $32.18 on the required accessories.

Anyway, after I remembered that they got a fish and not three goats, I also remembered the dream I had had earlier in the night, in which we were sitting in our car watching a giant tsunami wave come toward us.

I’m not sure which dream was worse.

This is apparently what happens when one eats Cookie Crisp before bed. Consider yourself warned.

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Kate’s famous!

Or perhaps “notorious” would be a more apt description.

Back in June, I wrote a post about Kate’s obsession with her belly button, complete with pictures. Somewhat in jest, I wrote this:
“Today I was actually contemplating calling the pediatrician to see if it’s possible for her to do permanent damage to her body, but I just couldn’t bring myself to pick up the phone and say “Um hi, I was just wondering if it’s possible for my daughter to untie her belly button… what? No, this is not a prank call! Why do I care if your refrigerator is running? Hello????” So I guess I will just wait and see and call 911 if she draws blood.”

Well, it turns out that I do need to call the pediatrician!

Our good friend and faithful commenter Karen suggested I email my question to her husband, Dr. Mike of Pediacast.org, and see what he thought. In this morning’s edition of his podcast, he answered my question (although he made it clear that he can’t diagnose Kate based on a blog post!).

Dr. Mike said that she might either currently have or had at some point had an umbilical hernia, which is usually not a problem but can sometimes become one. And since I have this
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“A Hypochondriac’s Key to Worst-Case Scenarios” hanging up in my cubicle at work, needless to say I am a tad bit freaked out!

So I guess we will need to get this checked out – here I thought it was just a manifestation of one of the many neuroses she no doubt inherited from me and her father, but it could really be a medical condition! Actually now that I think about it, I’m not sure if that’s bad news after all!

A big thanks to Dr. Mike for taking time out of his busy schedule (busy as in moving-across-the-country-in-a-few-days busy) to read my crazy ramblings and alert me to this situation. And in a wondeful coincidence, the segment on the podcast immediately preceeding Kate’s belly button was his take on the Ferber method. It brought tears of relief to my eyes, and I am not even kidding. I can’t tell you how much I needed to hear it.

And now I am off to call the pediatrician to tell her that Kate is unbuttoning her belly button.

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Sending out an S.O.S.

Because yesterday, I was in dire straights!

Last week, I mentioned that I’m taking a graduate course this semester. It sounded like a good idea at the time, but yesterday I was seriously second-guessing myself.

You see, it had been pretty easy… class once a week, I can handle that. But this week is where I ran into trouble… because I actually had work to do. And not enough time to do it in.

Add this to the fact that Sammy has now shared his cold with the rest of us, he’s still not sleeping well, and that things are crazy at work… let’s just say I was frazzled. And my lunch hour is no longer a leisurely time of noshing with my friends, but is now an exercise in productivity. Yesterday during lunch alone I pumped, made a pediatrician appointment, got my oil changed and read part of my text book (while watching some awful soap opera out of the corner of my eye as I waited for my car).

Then last night, after dinner and dishes and putting the kids to bed and cleaning up (ok so really Andy did the dishes and the cleaning up parts), I sat down and tried to do my homework.

But first I had to google half of the words on the syllabus just to figure out what exactly I was supposed to do. And then I sent this direct message to Jenny on Twitter:

“I’ll post tomorrow if humanly possible.Drowning over here, which will probably be the topic at hand. Expect much whining and little insight”

Then I sent out a few S.O.S. messages on Twitter, and as is typically the case, received a few positive and motivating responses. It sounds kind of silly, but it really made me feel better. (For those of you who are holding out, you should really join in the Twitter fun. Click on the links in the upper left corner to follow me and Jenny!)

Anyway, after I finally got started, it didn’t seem as bad as I had thought. Eventually, I kind of found my groove. I got some things done, and although I still have plenty left to do (like read the last four fifths of my text book. Before tomorrow.), I went to bed last night with the feeling that maybe, just maybe, I can pull this thing off.

But expect much more whining in the meantime.

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