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May 8, 2003
5.8.03:
the $500 Barbie outfit…
Rachel is full of questions these days. And she loves to hear stories about when I was a little girl. “Mommy, when you were a little girl, did you play with Barbie dolls? did you wear your hair in a pony tail? did you have a pink room?” and so on. She asked me what kind of clothes my Barbie dolls had and I told her that my mom often sewed Barbie outfits for my Barbie dolls. My mom was a talented seamstress and made plenty of clothes for me and my sister. Sometimes she’d make us matching dresses and head scarves for special occasions. She would use the scraps of material to make Barbie clothes for me. I don’t remember my sister playing with Barbie dolls that much. This got Rachel’s mind wondering why I didn’t sew Barbie clothes for her. I told her that my sewing machine doesn’t work. I bought it 20 years ago, right out of high school. I wanted to make a baby quilt for my best friend and that’s the first and last time I ever used it. When my MIL visited last, she tried to use my machine to repair some clothing and found the motor was frozen in place. We moved it to the garage and I haven’t given it much thought since then, except when I find myself needing it to mend something. About a week after our initial talk about the Barbie clothes that my mom sewed for me, Rachel and I were in the car driving to school. Out of the blue, she accused, “Mommy, you never sew Barbie clothes for me!” I wanted to laugh at her, but she had such serious expression on her face. I didn’t want to insult her. I told her that my sewing machine was broken. She told me I need to buy a sewing machine and make her some Barbie clothes. I reminded her that she would not be scarred for life over this event, but she still wanted some Barbie clothes. She got out her play cell phone and said she was going to call her Grandma Orma and tell her about this event. She meant business. I told Jerry about it later and asked him to let her call her Grandma on the way to the circus. Jerry’s mom is also a gifted seamstress. She takes quilting classes and works on sewing projects in her spare time. She’s sewn clothes for all of her 5 children, including her only son (Jerry). She made him a leisure suit back in the days when those things were stylish, and everyone still talks about it. Over the years, she made special occasion dresses for her granddaughters and she’s made baby quilts for all the grandchildren. I think Rachel would have better results if she asked Grandma Orma to sew her some Barbie clothes, but I’m not totally hopeless. I started looking for a modestly priced sewing machine and searching for patterns for Barbie clothes. I may take a basic sewing course to refresh my rusty fingers. I can sew a straight line. It can’t be that difficult. I can experiment with some curtains, pillows, place mats, and (darn it) I will try to make some Barbie clothes. I may even have to sew them by hand. Those outfits are tiny and seem complicated, but I’ll try. I told Jerry the first outfit will end up costing $500 after buying the machine, taking a sewing class, and buying patterns and supplies. Ha!
House of Sickness...
Rachel was not feeling well the day after Easter. She had a deep, wet, barky cough. She had a fever. Unable to sleep, she coughed, tossed & turned all night long. On Tuesday, she woke up in poor shape. She was very lethargic. On the drive to the doctor’s office, I kept checking on her in the rearview mirror and, at one point, she appeared to pass out and was unresponsive. I kept shaking her knee and squeezing her foot to make sure she was alert. The doctor examined her and ordered a throat culture. She was diagnosed with strep throat, an ear infection and the croup. The doctor wrote out prescriptions for Amoxicillin (her favorite because it is pink) and a heavy duty cough medicine. We dropped off the prescriptions at Walgreen’s and had 90 minutes to kill before picking them up. We went to the library and she picked out a stack of Arthur books (her favorites) and then went to McDonald’s for some lunch. She was upset because she couldn’t play at McDonald’s but I couldn’t let her spread her germs. We headed home and I got her started on her medicines and then she played with her watercolors at the kitchen table. On Wednesday, she seemed to snap back to her normal self, but on Thursday she was down for the count again. On Friday, she seemed much better. I stayed home with her all week.
Picture People...
I had planned to surprise Jerry with Easter pictures of the kids, but our “Bad Friday” changed those plans. Without telling Jerry, I rescheduled our appointment to Friday morning. Jerry thought we were going to Katy Mills to ride the carousel and walk around. The kids woke up and we had breakfast together which is something I really enjoy doing. I bathed and dressed them and we headed over to Picture People. They were a little behind in their appointments, but not much. It was not as crowded as it is on the weekends. Rachel wanted to ride the white horse, but Mitch wanted nothing to do with that horse. He agreed to get in the red wagon and smiled for the camera. He seemed really anxious and didn’t like me standing over by the photographer. Oh, the things we will do to make our kids smile. I’m sure passersby got a good laugh when they saw us flapping our arms and making faces at the kids. Anything for a smile. Mitch kept reaching out his arms to me and a few times he just got up and walked to me. It’s hard to get a good picture with both kids smiling at the same time. The next time I need to remember that I don’t like the white background. It never turns out well. The photographer automatically starts posing the kids and snapping away. After the pictures were taken, we had an hour to kill. We ate in the food court and Rachel wanted to call daddy on the cell phone. He seemed surprised that we were not at Katy Mills. We invited him to join us, but he had just stopped at home, thinking he would surprise us. Ha! I took the kids over to the Disney store. Rachel needed a new swimsuit. She picked out an Ariel bathing suit and matching beach robe. The kids picked out toy phones: a Winnie the Pooh for Mitch and Sleeping Beauty for Rachel. They each got a magic wash cloth. They love those things. The are folded into tiny white squares and have pictures of the Disney characters on them. When they put them in the tub, the little squares seem to blossom before their eyes and turn into washcloths. We picked up our pictures and headed home. Mitch needed a nap and Rachel wanted to lie down in the TV room with a movie. I put the pictures in frames and had them up on the walls on the stairway and the foyer table. I wanted to see how long it would take Jerry to notice them when he got home. He was very happy and seemed genuinely surprised.
the zoo…
The following week, Jerry had a week of vacation. He was able to get some things done around the house. To my delight, he installed a new pendant lamp over our kitchen table. It made such a difference in the appearance and in the brightness of the room. He took Rachel to the zoo on Thursday. He said every school kid in the Houston area must have been there. There were a zillion buses in the parking lot, the kids’ zoo was packed with kids swarming the rope bridge and play areas. Rachel picked out a giraffe hat and they called me on the cell phone while they were riding the train. I could hear Rachel giggling and it just made my day. I can see the zoo from my office window, and, oh, I wish I could have joined them.
Mitch…
I picked Mitch up after work that night and he looked really ill. His cheeks were flushed and his eyes were watering. His temperature was over 100, but he seemed warmer than that to me. He just dropped his head on my shoulder and rubbed his eyes. We gave him some Motrin to lower his fever and after his bath, he was out like a light. Jerry took him to the doctor on Friday morning and he had an ear infection. Here we go again. The weird thing was that he had been on an antibiotic since Bad Friday, so I was surprised that he would have an ear infection while on an antibiotic. He was given a different antibiotic this time as well as a prescription for the heavy duty Dimetapp cough medicine. This made him really drowsy and he slept for 13 hours overnight and took long naps in the afternoon.
the Shriner’s Circus…
We had 4 tickets to the Shriner’s circus on Saturday. We didn’t want to take Mitch because it didn’t seem right to make him go to such a large, crowded, noisy event when he was not feeling well. He should be at home where he can sleep in peace and enjoy the comfort of his own bed. I stayed with Mitch and studied for finals while he napped. Jerry took Rachel to the circus and they had a great time. It was held at the Reliant Arena beside the new stadium. Although she could not fully appreciate all the complicated acrobatic maneuvers and some of the fancy footwork performed by the horses, she really enjoyed the elephants and tigers and clowns. She loves to say, “ladies and gentlemen!” During intermission, Rachel rode the train in the middle of the arena. She rode a pony and jumped around in the moon walk balloon bounce. Jerry said the only time he was concerned was when she came out of the moon walk and said she had to go to the potty. The potty was a great distance away through a big crowd of people, but they made it to the bathroom and she had time to go back inside the moon walk and bounce around some more before the second half of the show.
sick again…
On Saturday night, Jerry was getting Mitch ready for bed. He was just about to give him his medicine when Mitch vomited all over the place. He gave him his medicine and he vomited again. We bathed him and he fell asleep. I checked on him 30 minutes later and when I opened the door to his room, it smelled like vomit. Jerry came up to hold Mitch while I changed the bedding and Mitch continued to vomit every 30 minutes until there was nothing left to vomit. Then he dry-heaved for several hours. We were really worried about him, especially fearful of dehydration. It’s funny. When our kids get sick, we seem to argue over who gets to hold him. Jerry held him and then I did for a while and then Jerry held him and rocked him away into the night. He put Mitch in his bed and then Jerry slept on the floor beside Mitch’s bed, rising to hold and comfort him each time he dry-heaved. (Did I mention how much I love my husband and what a great dad he is?) In the morning, Jerry’s eyes were bloodshot and he did not complain, he was up before everyone else and made breakfast. Mitch was at the table at 9 a.m. He sucked down two glasses of ice water and devoured his pancakes. He was back to himself that afternoon playing in the yard.
sick yet again…
Monday afternoon, I was at my desk working. I got a call from the preschool saying that, “your daughter is vomiting all over the place, can you come right now and get her?” She had thrown up while napping, and her teacher happened to be looking at her when she did it. I left work immediately. When I arrived, Rachel was lying in the sick bed, which is a private area away from everyone else. She had thrown up again, it was on her face, her hair, and the sheets. I scooped her up and we drove home. She lied down on the kitchen floor and vomited on the carpet. She apologized for that, and I told her not to worry about the carpet. She walked a few steps to the next area rug and fell down and vomited on it. I carried her upstairs and bathed her. She wanted to play in the tub with her Polly Pockets. She dry-heaved for several hours and that evening was crying and pleading for a drink of juice. I tried to explain that her tummy was sick and she just couldn’t have juice. She asked for water, so I compromised and let her suck on an ice cube. Soon, that came up too. We tried again in an hour and she was able to suck on 3 ice cubes before they came back up. It’s really hard to see my child *this* sick, I want to lie down in her place and take on the sickness for myself. Rachel cried and said she was so thirsty, “could I please have some ice water, mommy, I promise to be a good girl, I promise not to vomit again.” I hated hearing those words, because she thought I was withholding water as punishment because she was vomiting. I prayed that her bedtime would come soon so she could fall asleep from exhaustion. And, as if that wasn’t enough sickness, Jerry came home with Mitch and his eyes were bloodshot, he could barely speak, and he just fell on the couch and curled up. I asked him to please go upstairs and lie down in our room, so I could keep the kids separate downstairs. Rachel was lying down in the living room in front of a video. I entertained Mitch in the play room and we played trains at the kitchen table and did some coloring. The Easter Bunny brought him a pack of washable chunky crayons and he just loves them. He has a large art pad, and I tear off a sheet of paper, tape it to the table, and he is totally delighted as he colors his heart out. We color together in his Bob the Builder coloring book. He loves the yellow crayon and we color the yellow hard hats together.
Rachel and Jerry stayed home together on Tuesday, they were both very ill, tired, and not able to eat. Rachel vomited a few times on Tuesday, but she was much improved by the evening and was able to keep down her dinner and seemed more like her animated self. I had my final exams on Tuesday and Wednesday. I was so happy when I walked out of class.
father and son shirts…
I bought a couple of Hawaiian shirts for Mitch from Old Navy. He looks so cute in them, especially when he wears his sandals. Jerry said it reminds him of his Jimmy Buffet days and he wants to find matching father-and-son Hawaiian shirts for them to wear. They don’t have to be exactly matched, but Jerry has always loved Hawaiian shirts. We got our latest Disney magazine and they have a set of red Hawaiian-style shirts, but the sizes for the son are for boys, not 2-year-olds. The hunt continues.
A high school friend of mine emailed me this week. He asked if I had any special plans for Mother’s Day. I paused before replying. Every year that I’ve been a mom, I’ve chosen going to the zoo with my family as my special plan for the day. Since Jerry took Rachel to the zoo last Thursday, I doubt that we will go again so soon. But, it doesn’t matter. I emailed my friend and said what I truly felt, that “every day is mother’s day to me.”
Warmly,
Megan
I updated the web page: http://www.babiesonline.com/babies/m/millimaki/
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