I can't believe I almost missed it!

So I just noticed in a stack of Dovi's stuff from camp:

A DVD that said simply "Dovi P"

Now I seriously had no idea what it was. But I had heard that some kids make "Day in the Life" videos at camp-they take a video camera for the day and tape what they did.

Dovi's never done it before, but different counselor means different activities.

I popped it into the DVD player, and sure enough, Raphi and Dovi made "A Day in the Life of Dovi P at CSS"

Here's what I have to say.

It's always shocking to a parent when they realize that their child has a life outside of them. It's like: I know they go to school/camp/whatever, but it's really hard to conceptualize WHAT goes on there. It's almost like they've gone into a black hole of "away from me" but they're not really doing anything of note.

Well I got to see a teeny eensy weensy glimpse of what the boy's life is without me at camp, and I've gotta say it's pretty darn fun.

I got to see him singing with Rabbi Wiggles in learning group, eating his meals (heck I'd like steak for dinner!), paddle boating, learning songs, doing an obstacle course, dancing in the kitchen with some random counselors, watching fireworks, and having the cutest little pajama party in the bunk. Nothing's cuter than 4 little boys with FD piling onto one bed together "dancing" before bedtime.

I've also gotta say that an FD kid with a Yiddish accent is possibly one of the funniest things I've heard in a while.

Also who are all these guys that love my Dovi? I'd really like to meet them all one day.

It's like he's got this whole life that doesn't include me. It's pretty wild.

And rather cool.

Success!

Benjie found tickets to the Monday game.

My wonderful husband, bless his soul, cares SO much for our boys and wants for THEM to be able to go to the Cubs game SO badly that he spent many hours yesterday on Craigslist and successfully found four tickets to the Monday game.

Thank G-d. I was concerned.

I SO ANGRY!

I love it!

Last night, I was forcing putting Dovi to bed. It was 7:15. Yes, he's 10 and goes to bed at 7:15. But when you are 10 and have FD and get up multiple times per night and get on the school bus at 7 am and your body has to work 10 times harder than anyone else, heck, you need the sleep. But I digress.

He wanted to watch the Cubs game that came on at 7:05 pm. I said no. He can watch over the weekend but he needs to go to bed at 7:15. Sorry.

(Picture this)

Sitting in bed, pouting, arms crossed against cute little barrel chest:

BUT I SO ANGRY MOMMY!

I about melted right there. But no, he did not get to watch the Cubs game.

ssshhhh don't tell-Benjie is trying to find tickets for either Sunday or Monday. Anyone have any to sell? We need 4.


As I was tucking him in and hooking up his BiPap, he looked really sad.

"Why are you sad Dovi?"

"I miss Ben. I miss Ezra"

"Do you want to call them tomorrow?"

"Yes. I call them after school tomorrow"

Happiness! All is well in Dovi land. Maybe we'll call his counselor too just for good measure.

More things that make me happy

The fact that my flickr is now working...check out all the pics-scroll down.

And this:

ON



OFF

Shocking, isn't it: lights that go on AND off.

Things that make me happy:

Fresca on sale at Dominicks buy 2 get 3. So what if they upped the price per pack to $6? It's still 5 cases for $12!

Dominicks giving a a coupon for a free venti Starbucks drink....mmmm....passion fruit iced tea....


Things that make me sad:

Realizing that I need to watermark all my photos that I want to put in flickr to make into slideshows for you yoyos to see because I need my settings on public so you all can see my slideshows and I don't want some creepy pedophile to steal my pics of my cute kiddies.....

I'll get on that and the slideshows will return shortly.

So it seems to be working.

So at least I can see the slideshows...let me know if you can.

I got my big boy yesterday at camp. Well truthfully I got him at Newark airport after having to THROW AWAY my yogurt at O'Hare. And my ice pack.

Seriously-yes, I, Sara P, am going to blow up the airplane with a Stonyfield Farms Peach Fat Free yogurt and a rubbermaid ice pack.

Oh well. I resorted to buying a bagel from the Dunkin Donuts in O'Hare that gets its donuts and bagels from the kosher Dunkin Donuts.

Got to the airport, loitered read blogs uploaded photos and checked my email in the terminal for about 45 minutes, and then the bus arrived!

My little torpedo came shooting at me. Have you ever been attacked/hugged by 75 pounds of Dovi love? It's enough to knock you over, or at least bring you to your knees.

"I miss you Mommy. I happy to see you"

What more could you want?

It turns out I was flying home with 2 counselors and 3 campers. Of course I so adore Camp Simcha Special tales that I was pumping the counselors mercilessly. I'm sure all they wanted to do was snooze, and I'm like:

"So-what cool concerts were there?"

"How was the helicopter ride?"

And so on and so forth.

Then I had a conversation with one of them that literally took my breath away.

We were talking about costumes that the counselors wear, and he was telling me about how he stole a Batman costume from another counselor (as in a full body head to toe Batman getup. Worn in camp. as clothing).

Why did he steal it?

"Well my camper, you know, he really loves Batman. And when I had to give him his enemas two times a day I'd put on the Batman costume, and sometimes another counselor would put on his Superman costume, and we'd have a whole enema party in the bathroom. It made him happy"

So I nod. I say "Cool!"

Meanwhile, I'm literally speechless.

A 20 year old guy is willingly giving an 8 year old an enema. Not once. twice a day. for two weeks. He is not the child's parent. He has a choice here. No one forced him to be a counselor. In fact, guys are lining up to be counselors. How is this possible? How can there be such amazing, selfless guys in this world?

I'd like to think that, given the opportunity, I would've been a CSS counselor. But I'm really not sure. Did I really have it in me, at age 19/20, to completely, selflessly devote myself to a child that was not my own, that needs procedures and medications every day, multiple times a day, that were often uncomfortable? Could I have showered a camper who was literally 3 years older than me? Gotten up every hour to check the feeding pump, oxygen, and diaper of a 10 year old?

Honestly, I'm really not sure.

(Oh wait! I was 20 when Dovi was born. I guess I did have it in me!)

But I thank my lucky stars that there are for Dovi.

ESJ's Birthday Party

Key Lime Cove

As you know, we try and take the kids somewhere that is hard for Dovi when he's at camp. This year we attempted Key Lime Cove, thanks to a lovely birthday gift from David and Rochie.

They had a blast! Seriously fearless! Even Shana-anyone who's gone to Great America can see the water slides at Key Lime Cove from the highway. I'm proud to say that the kids did them themselves!

And now my attempt at another flickr slide show.

Our evening at Millennium Park

So one evening while Dovi was at camp we I decided to take the
kids to Millennium Park. We'd never been there before!

This is my
first attempt at a flickr slideshow so let's see how it goes...

How can this be?

I have first graders! I might need to eat them alive.

Enjoy :)

I have much to blog about/post pictures so check back often today-it's a busy day at work hahahahahahahahha

Ooh ooh look at my new siggy line!

First of all, we had a super fab time at Key Lime Cove. So exhausted though-I'm checking my 238 emails and then going to bed.

And then tomorrow morning

I GO GET DOVI FROM CAMP!!!!

Yay!! I miss him so much.

I do have so much to blog though, so I shall take my laptop to NY and blog at the airport during my 3 hours between landing and me and Dovi coming back home.

In the meantime, just enjoy my fabu new siggy line from Leelou at LeelouBlogs! Doesn't it rock?

Excuses, excuses

I had an experience this weekend that has really gotten me thinking. No, I will not post the details of it because frankly I'm trying to take the high road here.

But I've been thinking about the explanations people give to excuse explain their unacceptable behavior.

So because your sister/mother/child/spouse is sick/lost a job/didn't sleep well you have a right to be awful to another person? To publicly humiliate them? To behave in a way that is so obviously RUDE?

Now lest you all get offended in my behalf, really, it wasn't that bad. I was right. She was wrong. Not much more than that to say about it. But I did do that girly "I'm upset so I'm going to cry/face turns red/can't talk" thing even though she had not moved me to tears.

But we did have a really lovely block party. Perfect weather, THIS, tons of kids running around, bbq, a jumping jack from the city, and good friends. ESJ had their pathetic last minute birthday party (I HATE birthday parties) and enjoyed it even though 5 kids came-that's what you get for calling people on Thursday afternoon for a Sunday afternoon party but whateva.

Honestly, folks. I have a really sick kid. I'm frequently stressed/poor/sleep deprived/pulled in 400 different directions.Does that make it ok for me to abuse people? Obviously not.

But why does it make it ok for others?

On another note, ESJ are SO excited-we're taking them to Key Lime Cove tonight. Frankly, places like this scare the living daylights out of me. But they. cannot. wait. psycho. excited. We have 2 days until we get the D man from camp, and a place like this is sooooo not Dovi friendly. And thanks to David and Rochie and their awesome birthday gift to ESJ, we are off for 24 hours of insane water sliding terrifying-ness fun.

Yay!

He's so talented and the best $50 I've spent in a while

So first we talk about Dovi and then on to me.

A few days ago Dovi's counselor called me to ask me a question about the man (his feedings etc). He then continued:

"Does Dovi have any talents? The talent show is tonight"

So of course the evil me thinks:

Well aside from being able to touch burning hot items and not feel it? Or break bones and continue running around? hahahahahahahaha

I say: "I have it! He can make fluids shoot through the air out of his G-tube!!"

Now in all honesty, this really IS a Camp Simcha Special-worthy talent.

I mean, c'mon folks-can YOU make pedialyte shoot across the room?

If you are giving Dovi pedialyte, and are not careful when he giggles, the force of the air coming out through his g-tube causes the pedialyte to get some pretty good hang time.

So Raphi's like: "Oh yeah! That happened in learning groups yesterday-he can DO that on demand?"

I say: "yep"

Raphi: "excellent"

Later on, I was talking to Benjie and asked him if he could think of any additional talents for the boy. He reminded me of Dovi's dance:

The Mojito.

You all know the commercial for Bacardi Rum? I just linked to it-I swear, You Tube has EVERYTHING.

Well Dovi made up his own dance to it. It's seriously hysterical. It involves him snapping his little fingers and wiggling his hips. He looks like a small, chubby, very cute dysautonomic belly dancer. Benjie and I make him do it all the time.

So I called Raphi back and told him about it.

I still have no idea which talent they did:

Launching Pedialyte or The Mojito...hahahahahahahahaha


And now, on to me.

Two nights ago, as I was getting ready to leave for Ravinia to see UB40 (fab), I went down to the basement to get something. large puddle on laundry room floor. dripping. out. of. humidifier.

CRAP!

I called my friend Keren's handy husband and he told me how to turn it off (and the a/c off. Which Benjie was none too happy about). And left for Ravinia. Hey, priorities! Yummy food and a bottle of Moscato were waiting. As were 5 other people.

So I called my friend Rebecca's handyman, Valeri. He came in the morning. I have a new name for him: Inspector Gadget. He went down to my basement with NO TOOLS. 15 minutes later, he came up, and the line from my humidifier was clean and everything was working. He wouldn't tell me how he fixed it. Should I be afraid?

So I arranged for him to come this morning to deal with my dining room light. The timer on it has been broken for...ummmm...a month? two? I have not been able to turn that light off since at the latest, June. I know, Tamar, what was I thinking? That light alone might be responsible for $50 of my $483 electric bill this month. Yikes.

So Benjie went and picked up a new timer last night while I recovered from having my 8 millionth cavity filled in my mouth, when he found another, which might need a root canal or minimally a crown, and we still need to deal with my unexplained pain on my left side, with no cavity present, he might need to pull out the OLD filling and EXCAVATE. And he doesn't use laughing gas. I was literally crying in the dentist's office. I hate genetics. For a multitude of reasons.

This morning Valeri came, and in 15 minutes, changed the darn timer. Then I was like "Hey! Can you look at my ice maker?"

It hasn't been working for like 5 months. We've been buying bags of ice. I know, I know, I am an irresponsible homeowner. But I refused to pay like $100 or something to get my dumb ice maker fixed. But since he was in my house....

So he fiddled for 20 more minutes. Did stuff. Who knows what.

It's fixed.

So in a total of 1 hour, Valeri fixed my lights, my a/c, and my ice maker (making Benjie insanely happy).

Total cost?

$50!

Pictures from camp

Earlier this week, Rabbi Crandall, the head of Chai Lifeline Midwest, went up to camp to see the kids. He took 3 pictures of Dovi. Enjoy!


Dovi, with Ezra of course. I honestly cannot tell you what they are doing. Maybe singing at a meal? They have music and dancing at every meal. Not a clue how the counselors get the energy to dance at breakfast...it's all I can do to not yell at my children and drink my coffee...

Continuation of the previous photo-they ARE holding the microphone so they must be singing :) Wish I could have heard THAT! Notice the glasses at the tip of his nose. Soooooo pointless.

My happy Dovi in front of his cabin. Look! He matches! Excellent.

Stupid Idiotic Cubs Games

That's my entire post for the day.

Read into it what you may.

Sara might be losing her mind (if I haven't already)

Sooooo.....I just had an out of body conversation with the Aviation Mobility Representative.

I have flights for Dovi on two different airlines to and from camp...one way on United and one way on American. Don't ask me why. I didn't book the tickets. Chai Lifeline's travel agent did, so as to make this all as confusing as possible.

Why does this matter at all? Because Dovi flies on oxygen (recall the photo of Dovi on his on his oxygen on the flight out). It's a real PITB (yet another of the hidden costs of Dovi)-

• It costs $100 per segment to RENT the oxygen,which thankfully the insurance does reimburse me for, but we have new insurance so let's see how this plays out
  
• It must be ordered at least 2 weeks in advance
• You MAY NOT bring your own green tank. There are two concentrators which are approved for airline use, but they only give a puff of oxygen in response to an inhaled breath by the user-and that would not work for Dovi.
• He needs to stay on it at all times-one flight he had to go to the bathroom and turned blue on the way back. Dovi's body (remember the autonomic dysfunction loveliness?) does not compensate for the lower oxygen in the air at higher altitudes and breath deeper, hence the need for the oxygen to start with. So we go to the bathroom before the flight and pray he doesn't need to go while we're flying
• Only certain airlines offer oxygen. No low cost ones-so no Southwest or Jet Blue good deals to Florida.
  

I didn't even realize it at first-I actually sent the oxygen request form to United with both flights listed, and they called me back and told me the return was on American. I was like, "Sorry I'm such a flaky spaz. One way then please."

So I called American to book the return. United does theirs in-house via a form, and American outsources it and does it over the phone-like I said, the object being as much confusion as possible.

They took my credit card over the phone and were going to charge me for one way.

Got the receipt a few days ago: $200. Now that's for 2 legs, not one.

So I called them today to ask that my $100 overpayment be refunded.

They get on the phone: "No, maam, you're flying both segments on American."

I'm like, "umm no...I flew United on my way out"

They're like, "No, you flew American"

I'm like, "Nope, it was United:

They repeat: "No, it was American" And give flight numbers.

At which point I get incredibly confused. I'm like 900% percent positive that Dovi's flying 1 way on each (recall that United confirmed that for me when I tried to book both legs with them).

So I tell them: "Let me check my itinerary when I get home. I'll call you back."

Then I get to thinking: What if I booked oxygen for both flights on American, and one on United? As in: Both Dovi's flights and one of mine? Blue Cross will never reimburse me for oxygen ordered in error for ME!

Yikes! That would be $100 down the tubes (1/3 of my Roomba-that's my greatest wish...or 15x the JTP)

I'm sitting at my desk, heart pounding, calling Benjie-am I nuts?

He's like, no, you're right. Which makes me wonder again if I booked oxygen for myself.

Don't worry. The yoyos at Aviation Mobility called me back. Sure enough, I was right and they were wrong. One way on American, one way on United.

They're refunding my moolah.

It's National Send a Letter to Dovi at Camp Day

OK my faithful readers, now's my shameless plea to get Dovi MORE mail at camp.

Dovi's letter count:

Package from me: in the mail (candy for the counselors-Dovi can't eat it)
Package from my mom: Blokus trigon (want to take votes if it comes back with all the pieces? NOT a chance!)
Letters:
1 from me
1 from Shana
1 from Jacob

I send a letter a day-so he'll get about 8 more from me.

If you have kids who love drawing pictures (or writing stories/letters-it doesn't matter!), won't you please SEND A LETTER TO DOVI!

He loves mail!

Dovi P
c/o Camp Simcha
430 White Rd
Glen Spey, NY 12737

The iced tea story

My wonderful sister in law Tamar has just told me that she never heard the infamous iced tea story.



That shocks me being as it is an EPIC story in the history of Dovi



Think back to the "All About Dovamatic" post. Recall how I wrote that the boy. would. not. eat.



I was 20. I had no idea what I was doing. I just thought: the baby is born. Stick the boob in the mouth. The baby eats. hahahahahahahahahahha



Little did I know the madness that was ensuing with my beautiful 5 pound 1/2 ounce bundle of joy.



When Dovi was 3 days old a home health nurse came to check on him b/c he was so tiny when he was discharged. She noted the orange crystals in his diaper that meant that he was dehydrated.



So we tried to supplement with formula. When he literally had no idea what to do with the bottle, we resorted to a syringe. I put one ounce of formula into a shot glass and we were literally drawing up 5 cc's of formula at a time and squirting it into his mouth. More like squirting it into his lungs, b/c he aspirates all liquids.



So I have set the scene for you.



I was still, however, TRYING valiantly to breastfeed my yet unnamed child.



One time I was sitting in my bed, without a shirt on, with my mom, TRYING to feed him. In walked my wonderful husband holding the aforementioned glass of iced tea, which he held out to me with a smile.



Me: "WHAT IS THAT?"



Benjie: "I thought you might want a glass of iced tea"



Me: "WHAT? WHY would you think I want a glass of iced tea? I DID NOT ask you for a glass of iced tea. WHY WOULD YOU BRING ME A GLASS OF ICED TEA IF I DID NOT ASK FOR IT?"



(Imagine the sound of Benjie retreating to the relative safety of the kitchen: anywhere that I was not)



That, my friends is the iced tea story.



moral of the story:



Never offer unrequested drinks to hormonally charged emotionally distraught wives who are trying unsuccessfully to breastfeed their first child at the age of 20 and the baby is aspirating the breastmilk into his lungs and is going to get an ng tube in the next 3 days.



On second thought, it might have been ice water. Not iced tea.



I'll check with Benjie.



K I just did. He said it was iced tea.

Pictures!!

At the airport waiting for our (delayed) flight

Really pathetic picture on the airplane. Nice oxygen canula. It was an adult size so the prongs were bugging him but I didn't have any scissors so I bit the prongs off to make them smaller!

Dovi and his counselor in the bunk. Notice the large oxygen concentrator over Dovi's right shoulder and the matching nebulizer with his friend Ezra on the shelf above it. Also notice the high ratio of medical supplies to clothing. And the lovely posters Raphi and another person made for him.

Dovi and Ezra on the way from the bunk to dinner, immediately before I was kicked out of camp by D. How freaking cute are they? You can see the beautiful dining room that they are walking to. Also notice that D is not wearing his orthotics. That's a story for another day.

Another yummy pic of them. Seriously. How cute are they?

All About Dovamatic

It has come to my attention that many of my new blog readers don't really know the story of the boy.

Here it is.

Dovi P was born on November 13, 1997 to his very innocent, bright eyes and bushy tailed parents after 8 months of marriage (ha ha all you funny people. He was born 1 month early. I was due 1 month and 1 week after I got married. That you may laugh at). Benjie and I were 20 years old.

Almost immediately, we knew something was up. The baby. would. not. eat.

Which brings to mind the infamous "iced tea" story. If you ask nicely I might tell.

We were at the pediatrician at 4 days old, and she immediately sent us to a neurologist.

Within 2 months, Dovi was diagnosed with Familial Dysautonomia.

It is one crappy disease. It's one of the Jewish Genetic Diseases. His autonomic nervous system in underdeveloped. The autonomic nervous system is what controls everything our bodies do automatically.

So....Dovi's symptoms are:

Low muscle tone
Diminished sense of heat, cold, and pain (ie when he broke his tibia for the 3rd time he didn't feel it all all)
Unstable blood pressure
Unstable temperature
Lacks overflow tears
Scoliosis
Developmental delay
Speech Delay
Aspirates all liquids
Oral incoordination
Blotching of skin, esp for Dovi when he eats or is tired
Poor balance, unstable gait
Lack of taste buds
Dysautonomic Crisis

It's really rather crappy.

Because of FD, Dovi got a g-tube when he was 4 months old (on my and Benji's 1st anniversary-we ate cold Chinese food in the Evanston Hospital ISCU parent's room), and has multiple surgeries, notably cataract surgery at age 4 and scoliosis surgery two times in 2005.

Dovi has every single one of the FD symptoms. But he is a remarkably happy (if not healthy) kid.

So that's Dovi in a nutshell!

Dovi is at camp! (LONG!!)

Tired. So. Tired. Head. Spinning.

Yesterday, Dovi and I left for the airport at 6:30am. Benjie followed behind in his car to help us with luggage-b/c as I predicted, there was a lot of HEAVY bags (3 to be exact) plus the BiPap and Pulse Ox which both need to be carried on, plus the boy in his very large, very heavy Convaid stroller:So after him turning around to get my camera and me stopping for money (who the heck knew how much they were going to charge me for the overweight), we set off.

The extremely nice curbside woman let us leave the van out in front for a minute while Benjie pushed the luggage and I pushed the boy in to check in. Miracle of miracles, they did not charge us for either the extra bag (we had 3, and United only gives you one free bag now and charges $25 for the second) or the fact that the bags seriously weighed 150 pounds each. They first told me that if ALL the medical supplies were in 1 bag then they wouldn't have to charge me but b/c there was clothing also they would.

So I said "Well I'd be happy to consolidate all 4 cases of formula and 2 cases of pedialyte and the IV pole and the neb and the 5 bags of diapers and the 1 bag of chux into one bag-but that bag would weigh like 400 pounds. I was trying to distribute the weight to make it easier for you guys."

They were like, "Umm just keep it how it is."

Dovs was fab on the plane-he's such a trooper what with the oxygen and the eye drops every 10 minutes. But he watched Over the Hedge and that was that. Of course our flight was delayed about an hour but what else is new.

Got to Newark, Raphi (Dovi's new counselor) met us at the gate-how he pulled that off I don't know. We went to baggage claim, and of course only 2 of D's bags came out. One of the body bag sized duffels was missing. Turned out it was on the next flight. So we mosied over to the rental car rental place with the 2 bags, got the car rental. I made the mistake of prepaying for an entire tank of gas but whatever. Then we went to get our car. It was this:

I felt like a 85 year old grandpa. I was unable to drive the beast. So I made Raphi drive us up to camp :)

Swung around back to baggage claim, grabbed the 3rd bag which came on the flight it was supposed to (shocking!), and off to camp we went.

Dovi must have asked 400 times on the way there: "When we get to camp?" but we persevered and got there.

He refused to be met by singing and dancing, although he had promised he would let them-mostly b/c all he wanted to do was go to his cabin and find his BFF, EZRA. Which he did. Much hugging ensued. Pictures to follow. I'm at work and don't have my cord thingie to get the pics onto my putey, but I promise they will be worth the wait. They are tear worthy. They were sooooo yummy, chatting in there little FD voices together, comparing their medical supplies-

YES! They have the same nebulizers! WOOHOO!! Differnet oxygen tanks!! Different pumps! Cracked me up in a pathetic kind of way.

D was literally dragging his luggage across the cabin and flinging his stuff onto the shelves.

Then I spent 2 hours freaking Raphi out with all D's crapola. Seriously, the child has a lot of equipment. Raphi has done FD kids before, but that kid didn't use a G-tube, so we had to start from scratch. Took a while, so I'm glad I went. My OCD-ness paid off. Although they mocked me for my psycho notes. We also had to change all the times for Dovi's schedule. Camp schedule is....slightly.....different.....than the rest of the year. Dovi stays up just a skotch later at camp. Who am I kidding? the kid goes to bed after 10 every night. So we had to change the times.

Then they went to dinner at 6, Dovi basically kicked me out. I ate some meatballs and potato kugel (why were they serving potato kugel for dinner on a Thur? Who cares-it was YUM!) and was on my way. Well first I went (ventured over) from the family area of the dining room to the slightly more anarchy-filled area of the campers. Seriously a bit bananas over there. Hugged the D, and he pushed me out. See ya!

On the way to my boat/car, a guy came running over to me (now all you NY'ers who go up to the mountains will find this HYSTERICAL):

"Are you going to South Fallsburg?"

"I'm going to Teaneck-will that help you?"

He looked at me with a look of utter shock on his face.

"Umm no. Thanks anyway".

It turns out they are in OPPOSITE directions. Completely :)

Got back to NJ at about 8ish, after taking multiple wrong turns in Teaneck-I was literally 5 minutes from my brother's house, but there are no streetlights, the signage is awful, and my GPS was getting pissy with me. So I had a nice tour of Teaneck.

By about 11:00, I was literally incoherent and went to bed.

Got up at 4:10 in the morning for my freaking 5:45 flight. Got to the airport. THE FLIGHT WAS DELAYED UNTIL NOON!!

I got in the line with every other person who was supposed to be on that flight. We were one tired, crabby bunch. And the line. was. not. moving.

Finally (here's where I'm one smart cookie) I called United reservations WHILE IN LINE and got them to put me on the 9 am flight-the 7:30 was completely full so the best I could do was 9.

Got my boarding pass and got through security, behind some man eating a garlic sandwich-I swear-at 5:45 in the morning. Got to my gate. Bought a $5 container of Honey Nut Cheerios and milk and settled down with my book and my cereal for my 3 hour wait for my flight. Which was a 9.

Then it started.

A boy PLAYING. HIS. GUITAR. AT. 6 AM

WHY????? I wanted to punch him in the face. It's 6 am, dude! I know that you're hoping that a talent scout will be walking through the airport at 6 am and declare you the next American Idol, but could you please NOT play your guitar in the airport at 6am? Everyone else here is tired and crabby. He finally stopped.

Got to work at 11:30 in the morning, and have been sipping my Dunkin Donuts ice coffee ever since.

I realize that I have been up for over 8 hours and it's only 1 pm.

I fear this afternoon will be a very Wii afternoon for E, S, and J

Thank G-d the weekend is coming. I hope to be in bed by 7:30 tonight, but I fear what my house looks like. Benjie-I will say I have the most lovely well meaning husband in the world. He tries. He really does-but his version of neat and clean and my version of neat and clean are two vastly different animals.

So the boy is happy at camp and I am tired and at home. Pics will follow this afternoon.

What's left to do, hustled by a 10 year old, and the P children are anti doping

What's left to do before Dovi leaves for camp tomorrow:

1. Hit Target at lunch for the last minute items: toiletries, a deck of cards, disposable camera, and my fun idea to send this year: window markers for them to decorate their cabin-yeeha!
2. Finish ironing name tapes onto socks (yes, I have issues)
3. Transfer heap of clothing from hamper to suitcase-as I folded (truthfully Benjie folded 95%) of the post-9-days laundry, it occurred to me that I should not even bother to take it upstairs, so it has resided in my den in a hamper for the past 2 days.
4. Make Mt. St. Medical Supplies in the living room (please G-d make my mental inventory of the medical supplies be correct and may I not need to pay $800 to overnight Dovi some forgotten item overnight, Saturday delivery. When they don't even have Saturday delivery up in the mountains of upstate NY)
5. Transfer Mt. St. Medical Supplies (not to be confused with Mt. St. Laundry post-9-days) from living room floor to suitcase
   
6. Take Dovi to the Boys'-Clothing-Store-In-The-Basement lady to buy new Shabbos pants. Note to self: am very bad pant hemmer.
   
7. Weigh suitcases.
8. Cry at the extreme overweight
9. Say screw it-he needs his formula and all his other crap, hopefully the check in guy is nice-as opposed to the Snoop Dog look alike of our winter trip.
   
10. Play Wii with the children. Which brings me to:

HOW I WAS HUSTLED BY MY TEN YEAR OLD

So as you all know, yesterday was ESJ's 6th birthday (boohoo I still cannot believe it). We decided that instead of buying them a whole bunch of crap to add to our home already overflowing with their flotsam and jetsam, we, with my mom, would buy them a Wii. Benjie of course was ALL FOR this idea-he's been lobbying for a Wii for some time.

The kids were thrilled and would like to move into the den and play Wii all day. Forget the great outdoors and their bikes. Play baseball? In real life? Why when you can play it on the WII!

So we gave ESJ priority in the Wii over Dovi last night, b/c after all, it was their birthday gift. So when Benjie took them upstairs to go to bed, he instructed me to play a game of Wii Bowling with our disabled child.
"I hope he can do it" said Benjie.

I said "Dovi, have you played Wii before?"

"Nope" he said.

Then he proceeded to beat me in Wii bowling something like 123 to 78 (yes, I suck)

Benjie and I were like, "Wow Dovi, you're a natural"

To which he gave his sneaky little cackle. Which should have been slightly suspicious to me.

As Benjie was putting Dovi to bed, he asked D again:

"D, have you played Wii before tonight"

"No (insert cackle)"

"Are you telling the truth?"

"(Cackle again) OK Abba. I play Wii at Aunti Rochie (hahahahahahahaha)"


Hustled by my 10 year old. Nice.


And now:How Elisha and Jacob are decidedly anti doping.

As they were getting dressed:

E:"Mommy, what's the shot that you can take to be really fast?"
Me: "Elisha, that's steroids. Very bad"
J: "They take a shot to be fast?"
Me:"Yes. And it's cheating"
E: "Like Barry Bonds?"
Me: "Yes. He made a bad choice"
E: "I will never take a shot to go fast. That's cheating and it's bad"
J: "Me either."

Excellent.
Could I make this stuff up?

Dovi's post for today

Dovi, after one hour in Nordy's came away with two pairs of shoes:

1. Nikes, in size 3 to go over the SMO (supramalleolar orthotic for all you inquiring minds). In real life, he wears a size 13/1, but we had to size up.
2. a pair of BRIGHT YELLOW Crocs. He adores them-and looks sooooo cute in them-he couldn't really wear his Crocs before b/c they gave no support-but with the SMO? The sky's the limit!

We were unable to find him a pair of dress shoes that fit over the orthotic. So the options are (a) he doesn't wear the orthotic on Shabbos or (b) this, or (c) (yes these are awful, I know) this

Opinions please!!

Now for my rant of the week:

As you, my loyal readers now, Dovi had a sleep study in July. I received, in the mail, the Explanation of Benefits from Blue Cross Blue Shield (BCBS).

Total Charges: $10,423.13 (for one night-man, my boy is pricey)
Discount for BCBS: $5680.60
Total Benefits Approved: $4742.53

So that means that BCBS pays less than half of what a uninsured person would pay FOR THE VERY SAME SERVICE.

How is that fair? There has been recent legislation in some states to limit this practice. But until it becomes a federal law, millions of people will be out millions, if not billions of dollars.

How is this fair or ethical?

Don't forget to vote on the shoe issue.

Look How Far They've Come

Elisha as a newborn

Shana as a newborn

Jakie as a newborn

A little story time (J,E,S)

E,S,J...Look at that smile!

Right before their first birthday

My babies are 6!!!

How has this happened? I blinked, and Elisha, Shoshana, and Jacob are six years old today. It feels like just yesterday I was hanging out at Evanston Hospital, eating Philly Cheesecake Bars (which BTW they no longer make and it really bums me out) while watching many hours of Trading Spaces, trying to keep the little stinkers cooking a little longer.

Alas, as Elisha is, he was impatient, and busted out at 8:50 am on August 12, 2002, weighing a whopping 2 lb 15 oz. Princess Shana followed at 8:55 am, with a matching weight. My big lover boy Jacob brought up the rear at 9 am with the impressive weight of 3 lb 3 oz.

I always say that they are G-d's gift to me after Dovi. Even though they were born over ten weeks early, no one was intubated, they were breathing room air within a week, and home within a month. The doctors were flabbergasted by how well they did. Frankly, Benjie and I were not the least bit surprised. I was 100% confident in the health of the babies the whole way through-I knew that G-d would not put me through it again.

People would always ask me if it was soooooo hard with three babies. I told them that three babies that I could feed, vs. one baby that I couldn't? Three babies waaaay easier.

So I'm feeling all nostalgic today-how can I be the mother of an almost 11 year old and 3 6 year olds? I don't feel so old (as you know, it's all about me-who cares about how they feel :) )

Yesterday evening, Elisha and I were sitting on the glider with him cuddled in my lap. I said to him,

"Fishy, can you believe it? You're going to be 6 tomorrow! You're going to be a BIG boy-not a little boy anymore"

He was quiet. Didn't respond. So I said to him:

"Fishy, are you going to be a big boy, a little boy, or a middle boy"

He said "I think I'm going to be a middle boy for a little longer"

Don't grow up too fast, my darlings.

Sara P: Coolest Aunt, Most Hated Sister In Law

Today is my beautiful niece Miri's birthday. She's 8! It's also my lovely bil and sil David and Rochie's 12th anniversary. Yes, their daughter was born on their anniversary.

The topic that I have been nagging Benjie for the past day and a half: what to get Miri for her birthday. Thankfully, Miri lacks for nothing.

I was going to get her a Wii game, but frankly, that was one pathetic gift.

As I was driving to Marshalls for an "I'm bored and it's lunch" outing..it came to me:

SWEET AND SASSY!!!

For those of you soooooo uncool people, click the hyperlink and be afraid. Be very afraid.

This high class establishment is located conveniently off the Kennedy at Fullerton-poifect for a Mommy-and-Miri outing the week before camp and school. It is sick-making for moms and heaven for girls.

Enjoy your day, Miriam!!

And on to Dovi info:

He needs new sneaks. His new SMO's, while lovely and supportive,

do. not. fit. his. current. shoes.

He has the blisters, and I have the skin rubbed off my thumbs, to prove it.

I cannot force his feet into those sneakers again. So off we go to Nordy's this afternoon. Hopefully we find something and I don't need to go with this...

WHO ARE YOU PEOPLE?

OK so there were 202 hits on this lovely blog on Thursday. Which to some of the fancy blogs I read with over 5 million hits that's like 15 minutes of blog activity. But to me, it's huge!

Who are you people?

Is it the same four devoted people (my mom, sister, Shosh, and Steph) each visiting 50 times per day?

Or lots and lots of people?

Show yourselves!

Send me a comment. Pretty please :)

YOUR BIRTHDAY PARTY IS NOT THE BLOCK PARTY

I swear. I don't know how this happened.

Two years ago, when ESJ turned 4, we made their birthday party the same day as the block party. We thought we were HIGHLY clever-we scheduled the party for a two hour block during the three hour block that the Jumping Jack was scheduled to come, thus ensuring free entertainment.

Of course, the JJ came the exact moment the party ENDED, thus forcing David (my bil of the baseball uni fame) to run a very long, very painful game of freeze dance while I stressed out in the kitchen and Benjie comforted children who had been traumatized by the "Officer Friendly" who came with his "police dog" but was more like "Officer Scary with his terrifying ATTACK DOG". Whatever. I digress.

Either way, since then, ESJ cannot understand that the block party IS NOT their birthday party.

I swear. I have told them umpteen times. But every time I mention their impending birthday party (which I'd really get on the planning b/c....ummmm....I'm planning on it next Sunday and maybe invitations would be helpful?) they INEVITABLY TALK ABOUT THE BLOCK PARTY. This has been going on for TWO YEARS.

I have told them nicely. I have yelled in exasperation. WHY OH WHY do they think that they are one and the same?

Although the confusion might reach a fevered level this summer b/c being as I have not even done the freaking invitations for the Fancy Nancy/Baseball Bashes (at seperate times, don't you fear), I AM considering moving their birthday party to the next weekend.

The weekend of the block party.

Observations at Target (alternatively The Hidden Cost of Dovi)

I went to Target during my "lunch hour" (hahahahahahahaha) here at work.

Observed at Target:

1. Husband and Wife with very newborn baby, abandoning FULL cart b/c said tiny baby crying. Cute baby. Admirable that they attempted outing. Reminded me of a simpler time in my life. One cute baby. Heck. It was never simple. I walked through Target with Dovi in the carseat holding his bolus feeding with one hand, grabbing stuff with the other. I have a friend who could drive with one hand and suction her trached daughter with the other. Backwards.
   
2. Full nicely organized school supply section. As opposed to the school supply section at the Target near my house that looks like it's been pillaged.
3. In reference to the school supply section: I am such a pleaser that although I have 8 boxes of ROSEART crayons in my house from Wal-Mart ($.17 each as per my previous posting) I felt compelled to purchase 8 additional boxes of CRAYOLA crayons. For $.22 each. I'm a big spenda.
   
4. My cart full of product. For the children. Of all the crap I bought (shampoo, toothpaste, body wash, bandaids) , only $2.54 was for me: my Kashi bars. Which brings me to
   
5. THE HIDDEN COST OF DOVI

I spent $65. I will not save that receipt after entering it into my checkbook at home. So I will forget forever what it was that I purchased. However, 1/4 of the bill was directly related to Dovi's FD:

Eye Drops
and
Canker sore medicine b/c he does not feel pain and thus continuously rubs his cute little lips across his braces without feeling it, thus forming canker sores of enormous proportions.

Those two lovely items cost over $20.

And since I am not as organized as I should be and do not save every Dovi-related receipt in one handy dandy folder, preferably with a nice Excel Spreadsheet (ooh good idea I might have to consider doing that starting 2009), these expenditures will be absorbed into my rapidly shrinking checking account.

And then I wonder why I have no money in my account.

Next time, all I need to do is re-read this post.

Of course

I figured out how to remove those silly labels.
All's well.

That's what you get

For letting your non-blog-knowledgable hubby mess with your blog. Aack! How do I make those labels go away? Anyone?

Pictures from last night 5

Of course I figured out how to add more than 5 at a time so here ya go.

No, I have no idea who everyone is. I'll have Benjie guest blog it and put captions

Benjie and Kerry Wood :)
Len Kasper
Rich Harden
G bowling with Jeff Samardizja
D bowling with Jeff Samardizja
Jim Edmonds
Kosuke Fukodome
Kosuke Fukodome

Mike Fontenot
Kerry Wood signing G's soon to be framed jersey
Mark DeRosa
Derrek Lee
Mark Cuban (do you want to buy any jewelery multi billionare who wants to buy the Cubs?)
Geovany Soto
G and D with Alfonso Soriono

Mark DeRosa

Pictures from last night 4

Pictures from last night 3

Chad Gaudin
Chad Gaudin
Ronny Cedeno
Mike Fontenot
Ted Lilly
Now I'm sure there is a snazzier way to add more than 5 at a time but you'll all have to cope with me.