Saturday morning with the orchid trees

Zupe and I took off after breakfast to make some photos of the blooming orchid trees. They are gorgeous and something I look forward to each year. In fact, when asked last year about what I'd miss if/when we moved from Australia, my answer was immediate. "Orchid trees."

Poppy dreams

from Roma Street Parkland 2011

Busy, busy, busy week - with a surprise ending

From Zuperfliegen

Zupe had his 3 month sleep study on Monday. We managed to arrive on-time and much to my surprise were free to wander about (= get supper) until 6:30. They were very surprised when I responded to their "bedtime" question with 8 PM. (What would they have said to last night's almost 10 PM turn-in? In our defense, he did have a long and late nap (3+ hours waking after 5 PM) AND we were partying. Partying - that's always an acceptable excuse for a late night, right? There isn't a minimum age for that, is there? I can't see anything that contradicts that in my little yellow baby's first year in Qld book.)

Monday was the sleep study. I tried to get him to bed earlier - but I think it was likely closer to 8:30 before he both drifted off and I could thump him into bed without him waking and staying awake. (It took 2 tries.) He slept well - until the nurse woke him (and me) at 3 AM because he had wet himself and his bed and he was cold and restless. By the time we had him and his bed changed, he was WIDE AWAKE. It took 45 minutes or so of hand watching then nursing then hand watching then... until he was once again sleeping. I spent the rest of the night jumping from dream to dream to dream - mostly about getting results of the sleep study - sometimes good, sometimes bad. Each dream I'd think this is just a dream and then I'd "wake up" to the real result appointment and ...

Tuesday we saw a physical therapist who believes he is delayed a few weeks (4 to 6 is my estimation) that is consistent with the time he spent in the hospital - not eating well, not waking well, and having a limited stimulus environment. She doesn't think he needs therapy only MORE TUMMY TIME. (This will not please the boy.)

Wednesday - after a little "fender-bender" (oh joy) - we saw the chiropractor who noted tightness in the left neck and right hip as well as subluxation in the left occipital bone and left sphenoid. He thought these could affect breathing and made adjustments with his handy, spring-loaded adjuster instrument. Zupe was asleep until the thumping started. He woke, seemed momentarily disturbed, then relaxed and enjoyed the massage. I'm assigned to massage his neck and hips, practice moving his arms and legs - particularly opposing limbs together, and hanging him upside down to allow his spine to stretch out. (We haven't done the latter. That has to be supremely well timed. Too soon after eating and you create a "waterfall". Too far after a feeding and he is likely to become SAD. It was a good experience. I felt positive about having something I could do that might be helpful.

Thursday was the real appointment to get the results of the sleep test. We met with a doctor we had never encountered before who told us the sleep study was PERFECT. The number of apneic episodes was within the normal range for a baby of his age. He was normally saturated both on and off oxygen. Our secret hope was that Zupe would be reduced to only night-time oxygen - but we were discharged. NO MORE OXYGEN!!! Not in the morning, not in the evening, not at night!! I was told to wait for 1 month before returning our oxygen canisters in case we encountered a problem. (That is a bit nerve wracking - waiting to be sure he doesn't crash and burn.)

After, Zupe and I met with a new pediatrician who was fabulous. He spent over an hour discussing my concerns and his: why the oxygen? eczema, developmental delay, plagiocephaly (or my baby has a flat spot on his head), feeding solids... What a difference from ped-one. Wow. Why did I delay?

Then, we headed to the Mater Mother's hospital to visit the special care unit nurses, the midwives on the eleventh floor, and the lactation consultants. By the end Zupe, having not napped all morning and early afternoon, was a sobbing heap and we had to limp away. (Sorry Gail - he is usually a happy boy.)

YES! We are FREE!!

From Zuperfliegen

(First official "I've got no tapes 'cause I don't need 'em" photo!)

Happy Australian Father's Day!

From Zuperfliegen

from your number-one Australian son!

And, his mom!!

I love you, Kevin....I mean, Dad.

This house is under a python watch...

which I think is better than a zombie watch or a plaque watch. Yes. Definitely better.

To tell our story backward, something that is becoming a tradition for this blog, Friday we RETURNED from our "get away" trip to the Gold Coast. (Kevin was actually there working. It was only Zupe and I who were getting away from the rat race of Hibiscus Circuit.) I had this excellent idea that while Kevin was busy Friday morning, I'd bop over to IKEA and pick up two items. I knew exactly what I wanted and where to find them. This was a very good thing.

I arrived about 11:30 giving me just over an hour to shop before I had to drive back south to retrieve Kevin. (I hadn't realized it would take an hour - which is longer than it takes to get to IKEA from our house! - for the trip. I'm pretty terrible at those "its on the way" estimations of just how close things are. Case in point - the Springfield Mall is not "just outside Troy". This estimation skill is also the reason that I once had only one square of a soda cracker to eat between Ashville and Durham NC. But, that's another story.) So, I unloaded the sleeping - now awake - Zupe-man and hurried inside.

Where he began crying.

Retire to parents' room. Change baby. Nurse baby. Load baby into stroller.

I now have 30 minutes.

Hit the sales floor.

Baby starts screaming.

Find another parents' room, prepare a bottle, and encourage speed slurping. Burp baby, load him up, and while he's not happy, he's a bit quieter.

Ten minutes left.

I really tried to buzz through the living room and child's room sections, but every person and his grandmother were there. And, grandmothers do not walk quickly. Nor do they make easily passable objects what with the way they are linked arm and arm across the walkway with random child/grandchild. Even the siren of Zupe in distress could not part those seas.

Still, I found the sofa cushions - but the style I had seen before - granted, it was years ago - was no longer sold. Nor could I find any teething rails in the child's section. (Maybe they never existed.)

****Now, if you are Kevin, and you probably are, you're asking me "When are you getting to the pythons? How much longer?" I give you a quiet, puzzled and slightly hurt look, become a bit jangled and confused and my story telling slows WAY down.*****

Zupe did settle down once back in the car. Me, I have a headache. We arrive back in Broadbeach with enough time to buy a hamburger in McDonald's drivethru and pick up Kevin.

Traffic.

Home around 3:30. Take pain medication. Supper at 5. Maybe eating will help my head. I call for Chinese but can't find my car keys and must borrow Kevin's. (He doesn't understand how I can misplace my keys and be rather unconcerned. I know they'll turn up. They're in the house amongst all the bags we've unpacked. Somewhere.)

I take Zupe into Kevin's room to watch "thirtysomething" and nurse him. Six-ish. Maybe six-thirty-ish. I now am feeling a bit nauseated and lights make me feel worse.

Kevin comes in and tells me that Zelda has eaten a diaper. Or, at least torn it to bits. I have no two brain cells to rub together so I tell him to call the Pet ER. (I try to call Rob to ask him to think...but his phone isn't talking to my phone. I don't know where my keys are anyway.)

Kevin replaces Zupe's oxygen tapes. (Well done!) and carries him out to the car. I take Zelda and the diaper bag. Oh, and the bucket in case I vomit in the car.

To the ER. They take Zelda to the back. Kevin and Zupe sit on the bench. I check out where the bathroom is then go outside to sit where it is cool and dark. And, where I could discretely vomit in a bush in a hurry.

I don't vomit. Zelda does. (She had a little chemical persuasion.)

They find only a little of the paper/plastic and not the fluffy absorbent (= obstructive) inside material. They offer to admit her with IV fluids but we decline.

Everybody and bucket back into the car. I keep my eyes closed and the window open.

We arrive back home to find the front doors standing open. Both doors. Wide open. From the backseat I can see my computer and my camera on my desk - so I'm pretty, pretty, pretty sure there's been no theft. Kevin goes in first. "Hello". Checks every room. Checks behind every door. No one in the house. Nothing missing.

It is pretty obvious that I simply "forgot" to close the doors on my way out of the house. It has been open for close to 90 minutes. Plenty of time for a big-ass PYTHON (there it is!) to slither into the house!!

Hence - a python watch.

Now, practically, I think it is highly unlikely that a python would have come inside. I don't think they'd be out traveling in the cool evening. I think they'd all be holed up and watching TV. Dingoes, on the other hand....

Another one bites the dust...

From Singles 2011

This photo appears in my photoblog. I shot it the day I unpacked my new kettle in mid June. I'm in that photo as is Zupe.

Today, I tossed that kettle into the "bin". Yep. It died. Without ever boiling it dry or dropping it from the roof or running over it with the car. It's a curse. Please tell Kevin it's not my fault.

I'm considering going back to the whistling kettle on the stove variety. They aren't as fast or as energy efficient, but they have a much longer shelf-life.

Argh!

The Living Dead

From Singles 2011

Loving my new book of short (zombie) stories. I'm very tempted to post the entire story "When the Zombies Win". It is more a poem. Truly a beautiful piece.

"Living with the Dead" by Molly Brown

The first thing that happens when the dead start waking is not that they go on a rampage like you wee in the movies, it's that you find out all your insurance policies are worthless. Sam Jenkins had a life insurance policy with his wife as the beneficiary, but the insurance company refused to pay out because they said Sam didn't meet their definition of dead.
Then Alic's mother got a huge bill from the hospital because her daughter -- being officially deceased -- was no longer covered by her health insurance.

She tried giving them vegetables, but the dead won't touch them. If you ask her, she'll tell you that no matter how hard she tries, she cannot get the dead to eat broccoli.

"When the Zombies Win" by Karina Sumner-Smith

When the zombies win, they will not fear. They will not laugh or rejoice, they will not regret, they will not mourn. And the world will turn and turn, seasons burning and freezing across the landscape, the sun flashing through the sky, and they will continue.
When the zombies win, they will not stop. They will still moan and cry and whisper, on and on until the lips rot from their faces, their vocal cords slide away...
One by one they will stop moving, flesh and bone and brain too broken to do anything more. And in that silence and stillness they will struggle--trapped and ruined, they will still yearn, still hunger, always reaching for that which was taken from them. That which they granted to so many of us, in such great numbers.
To stop. To sleep. To rest, just rest, and let the darkness come.

Thanks Mom!

From Singles 2011

My mother does not have cable TV. She has never had cable TV. She lives in a tiny little town in the middle of a corn field, alone, and watches programs from the 3 major networks and PBS. Well, actually, since the arrival of digital television, those few channels have expanded in number and so she gets some odd "Ohio" channel where she can watch, apparently any time of year, the highlights from the Ohio State Fair. (I myself on a recent visit got to watch both some dog agility trials AND a sheep shearing competition featuring both local Ohio and INTERNATIONAL shearers!)

This is not because she COULD NOT have cable TV. She just chooses not to. Too expensive. She's investing in Smucker's Seedless Black Raspberry Jelly. A person needs to know her priorities.

So, as a consequence, she watches a lot of public television. And, since she is home alone now, she is known to watch some TV during the DAY. (Don't let her know that I told you this!) One of the "new" programs that she's particularly fond of is "America's Test Kitchen". (I think she's like me. She enjoys eating and watching other people cook. Probably in that order.) Because she had some question about a recipe at one point, I went to their website. I tried to access the information, but you have to be a member. I signed up for the newsletter - but that wasn't enough. So, she never got that particular recipe.

I, however, just learned a VERY IMPORTANT LIFE LESSON.

If you store tomatoes upside down (with their stem and shoulders on the counter top), they will ripen without dehydrating so much. OBVIOUSLY, I learned this JUST A LITTLE TOO LATE. But, such is the way with IMPORTANT LIFE LESSONS!

This is how much I hate doing taxes!

From Singles 2011

Kevin is off watching "Conan the Barbarian". I am supposed to be doing our US taxes. This has been my number one priority since the first of August. That's why there have been NO blog entries. Must focus.

And, I will get them done! I will!

Right after lunch.

Living alone I created my "dish to plate" ratio for meals. Maximum 2:1. Maximum. Otherwise, you're doing too many dishes.

Dishwashing, however, beats taxes. Rock smashes scissors. Paper crushes rock.

A musical interlude

Wish these photos were mine. (And, I could play guitar like this.)

50 Reasons I Love You #37

From Singles 2012

"Go Team Venture!"

Hasn't too much time passed

From Singles 2011

without featuring Zelda??

That's what she says!

She also wants everyone to know that she is a model dog who doesn't mind being kicked by little feet and is patiently waiting for the "food dropping" phase of this project to begin. (That's how we sold the idea to her.)

She isn't getting enough walks.

She is, however, getting plenty of naps

From Singles 2011

Docs and crocs

From Singles 2011

Friday morning I spent in a doctor's waiting room - not that unusual place for Zupe and me. Silly me, I forgot to bring my (new zombie) book. Fortunately, among the notorious Australian women's magazines I found a National Geographic and there, on an early page, was a feature on unusual signs.

My first thought - everyone should see this! It is from South Africa and is found in some sort of park. Some sort of hilly park with crocodiles.

My second thought - OK. I didn't have a second thought.

Well, maybe this: It did remind me of a longstanding joke between Kevin and me about him and my young, hot nurse pushing my hospital bed down a steep incline at a seaside cliff when they took me out touring. Oops.

It's even better with a crocodile.

But, then again, what isn't?

Don't smile.

Never.



Thank you to :http://blog.ncpad.org/2011/03/22/12-what-were-they-thinking-accessibility-signs/ from whom I pinched the sign.

50 Reasons I Love You #45

You are a giving, sharing person.

"The unnecessoiree"

Since I find myself needing to sit for an hour, sometimes more, at a time feeding the baby, I've been watching way too much bad TV. (Here you might say something like, "But, Ann, there is plenty of good TV, even great TV, that you've not seen yet. And, movies, Ann. Good movies."

Ann responds, "Dear friend. You forget that I live with a man I love very much who has designs to watch that good TV with me.")

So, "True Blood" sits on the shelf and I'm watching "Shit My Dad Says", "Life on Mars", and "Running Wilde".

All this brings me to the title of this entry.

"Running Wilde" is NO ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT. But, there are comic gems strewn about, in numbers FAR EXCEEDING "Shit...." (which had 2.... Count them. One - William Shatner leaving a message on an answering machine and sounding like Captain Kirk and Two - William Shatner doing karaoke "I'm too sexy for my shirt".) My favorite - from the episode "The Party" - though Fa-ad being bombed by his falcons was amusing - better start again.... My favorite was the word and concept of "the unnecessoiree"....a party for no reason.

This blog entry is really just a record for myself so that I remember this word so that someday I, too, may throw my own unnecessoiree. Don't worry...you're invited.

The Living Dead

From Singles 2011

I have finally finished a book! The first since Zuperfliegen was born!! !! !! I think I only succeeded because it is a book of short stories and I can find a few minutes on random days - enough to read a shortish story. Yay!! Yay!!

The mothers at my mother's group were talking about all the books they're reading. Books about getting your baby to sleep. Or, understanding their cries. About schedules and milestones and...

I'm reading about zombies.

Everyone has her own priorities.

Kevin read this first and made notes about which stories he found to be "good" (14/31). In general, I agreed that the stories he liked were likable. But, as he'll be the first to tell you, I'm easy. I found several more to be worthy (20/31). Kevin didn't like the "alternate zombie" stories - like the Haitian zombies. I, on the other hand, enjoyed the broad array of undead - Ann can not live by shambling, flesh-eating zombies alone! And, I really appreciate a zombie story with a sense of humor. (OH MY GOD! I almost put a (2nd) "u" in humor!!!! Speaking of zombies...)

"Some Zombie Contingency Plans" by Kelly Link. (Kelly, I don't understand this story but it has some fabulous lines.)

When Soap got tired of thinking about art, he thought about zombies. He worked on his zombie contingency plan. Thinking about zombies was less tiring than thinking about art. Here's what Soap knew about zombies:

Zombies were not about sex.

Zombies were not interested in art.

Zombies weren't complicated... Vampires, for example, were middle/upper-middle management of the supernatural world. Some people thought of vampires as rock stars, but really they were more like Martha Stewart...

Zombies didn't discriminate...

There was something about clowns that was worse than zombies.

"Death and Suffrage" by Dale Bailey

You could just see that they were dead. It was every zombie movie you ever saw, and then some...

"My God," I said again, when I finally manged to unlock my brain. "What do they want?"

"They want to vote," said Lewis.

"Almost The Last Story By Almost the Last Man" by Scott Edelman

Zombies are a force of nature, and forces of nature do not come equipped with morals. Forces of nature do not come packaged with a purpose, a message, or a reason. They just are.

"She's Taking Her Tits To The Grave" by Catherine Cheek (Very funny. I love this zombie! Four quotes...almost the entire story!

"What are you doing here?" Larry finally said. "I thought you were dead."

"I am." She pushed her way into the condo, irritated. For that, she didn't slip her pumps off and line them up next to his five pairs of shoes on the tile, but tracked grave dirt across his white carpet.




It was easier to go without a soul than a car in this town. She felt her skirt for keys which weren't there, since they don't bury you with car keys, and muttered some unladylike words. They don't bury you with a purse, either, no matter if it was Prada and went very well with the shoes.





By the time she staggered up the pavement in front of their house, the lacquered layer of hairspray on her professionally dyed hair was starting to flake off, she was getting a little squishy around the eyes, and the flies kept landing on her, especially her eyes and mouth. She tired to wave them off, but her coordination wasn't what it should have been, so she kept smacking her boobs.





She took the crow's path, cutting across lawns and parking lots and once over a chain-link fence despite a "No Trespassing" sign. What was the point of following city ordinances when you weren't even obeying the laws of nature?

Little Orley and the Haunted House

	Lumpy Brannum - Little Orley and the Haunted House .mp3
	Found at bee mp3 search engine

I've been singing a lot of songs I haven't sung for a long, long time lately. Current favorites - "I Love Trash", "Puff the Magic Dragon", and "What Do You Do With a Drunken Sailor?" I also tried to recite this poem - but get lost when Orley finds the Haunted House.

In case YOU don't know the story, have a listen. It will give you a new appreciation for discarded instruments and Mr. GreenJeans.

Define: Xenogenic

From Zuperfliegen

Xenogenic \zen-uh-JEN-ik\, adjective:

1. To be completely different from either parent, or from the source of an object's creation.
2. In biology, originating outside the organism or from a foreign substance introduced into the organism.
3. Zuperfliegen Baadasssss

Meanwhile, on Channel Zupe....

July 13 - Anniversary of the Big Defrosting!
This is the day, just one year ago, that we picked up Zuperfliegen from the Baby Freezer Section. He was actually...

The wait
We were assigned two wait dates as we were leaving...

Remembering the belly
An inventory of what I miss and what I don't miss about...

Just in case you are interested. All you need to do is to click on the colored type (aka the link!). Should be painless.

50 Reasons I Love You #11

From Art in the 21st Century

You are good at analyzing art and stories.