Birthday Follow-Up

Three sets of grandparents. One card.

The party is not until tomorrow, so you know, don't expect a lot of hoo-ha here. However, here are some of the highlights of Kate's Birthday Actual. She received a bike from mom and dad and she and Sarah (OK, all of us) received a shared gift of a Wii from Grandma Margie.

At the precise moment we were lighting a candle on her cupcake (the real cake will be ready for the party) and beginning to sing Happy Birthday, the Miami Druekes called. Since we were dealing with fire we didn't answer and instead they sang happy birthday as a group on the answering machine while we sang it in the dining room. How's that for serendipity?



Sarah got Kate the princess Wii game, but so far the girls only want to play boxing. I love those kids.

Kate Sprints Towards 5, Arrives All Outta Breath

Last year for Kate's birthday we did this. This year we were one day early, but we still had the opportunity to enjoy the hospitality of our local ER. Kate has a cold. Sounds pretty innocuous, doesn't it? She's been coughing for a couple days and really, that's her only symptom.

Yesterday we sent her to daycare despite the fact that her cough was accompanied by a wheeze. "She seems fine" we both agreed. Daycare called Jeremiah around 10AM asking if Kate has asthma. "Nope, she's fine, tell her to buck up" is our standard response. Right as I was finishing up for the day I got a call from daycare. "Kate's breathing is extremely rapid and shallow and she can't complete sentences, she's just too out of breath to talk." I didn't panic until they said she wasn't talking. Something is definitely wrong when she stops talking.

There was a line of severe storms moving through our area at that precise moment so I sat in rain-induced traffic for over an hour while I worked my way the 13 miles to daycare. By the time I arrived she was fine. So we headed home where the girls were thrilled to find Grammy Margie awaiting them. Everything seemed so normal; if the amount chatter in our household came across a wiretap we'd have been at a level red terrorist alert.

Then I found Kate lying on the guest bed, ashen gray, unable to get air. Her little chest was heaving rapidly and she couldn't hold her head up. Jeremiah was nearly home, so I called him and told him to be ready to turn right around again. It's a little unsettling to watch one's child not draw breath so I also called 911. They put me on hold. When I finally spoke to someone I explained that we were going to take her in but she can't breathe and should they send a unit? She told me she can't give me advice. It was all so soothing. Then Jeremiah arrived and we left the still road-weary Margie alone with Sarah and no clear info as to what was going on. Welcome to Atlanta!

The extremely nice staff at Eggleston fixed Kate right up with some oral steroids and a breathing treatment. She began immediately to bounce off the walls. We have to give her this stuff for the next two days, should be a hyper good time. She answered all the questions people were asking us (they were about her after all) and she introduced herself to everyone and said "tomorrow is my birthday! I'm going to be 5!" She left with stickers, crayons, coloring pages, a brand new doll and about 20 new friends sometime around 10PM. For someone who couldn't even draw breath a few hours ago, she was certainly able to turn it on at the hospital. I think she might really be a princess, because they treated her like royalty.

As we sat watching her giggle through her breathing treatment Jeremiah lamented the fact we hadn't brought the camera. How could I have forgotten such a thing, I wondered aloud.

Today we are exhausted and somewhat shakey but mostly I'm just thrilled that a pink-cheeked Kate ran around the house this morning in search of birthday gifts. Happy birthday Katherine Louise!

Kate Says

[Sigh] The clouds are awesome. I wish I could collect the clouds.

You'll Just Have To Take My Word For It

We went to Tybee Island Thursday through Sunday. The girls were like little puppies in the surf. They ran themselves silly and then passed out like drunken sailors back at the "adorable!" cottage we'd rented. They flew kites. And ate ice cream. We cooked fresh shrimp that were so freakin' good it caused me to start viewing other large bugs in a new, potentially culinary, light. Jeremiah and I enjoyed an evening exploring Savannah because Steve and Joy watched the kids for us. We took over 300 pictures.

On the way home Jeremiah said "wouldn't it be funny if you didn't post any of this on your blog?" He proposed my next post - "We went to the beach last weekend. So anyway, here's something hilarious that happened at work..."

Then we got home and discovered that the long cable hanging from the street in the middle of our front yard was indeed the one that causes there to be internet in our home. So, because I can't get my photos on my work laptop, I can't post them here right now. Trust me, the sweetness of those photos would give you a cavity. So anyway, this hilarious thing happened at work...

**In other astonishing news, Kate will be FIVE YEARS OLD this very Friday. She is still nowhere near outgrowing her princess phase. There is some speculation she never will, and we've gone ahead and started calling her Miss Yvonne. We joked that she ended up being born by c-section because she was crowning, literally.**

Welcome All Little Pastel Birdies

We've spent huge swaths of time neglecting the children while working on our yard. Sorry kids, we've found a new favorite hobby, the raising-small-children one was just too expensive. Now we've moved on to the only slightly less expensive gardening. Although we've spent many, many hours on it, for some reason we have very little to show for our efforts. (We've found this to be the case with child-rearing, too.) However, I do think the tiny portion of mud between the wall of the shed and the retaining wall is looking mighty cute. Here's how it was:
And here's how it is today:
We've planted a couple butterfly bushes, siskiyou, tiny ground coverings of various ilks to see which one we like the best and a lot of mulch. I would really like it if the mulch would grow and spread... Below the retaining wall, where there are still great hunks of bumpy concrete carelessly left by the makers of said wall and the patio, we've planted the beginnings of our herb garden. Rosemary, mint, parsley, sage and basil. Oh, and a rose bush for Kate, who earned it by being very well behaved at Lowes. Sarah was also very good at Lowes but didn't give a rat's ass about getting some stupid plant. Now we know.
The bird houses were the girls' Christmas gifts from Uncle Steve and Aunt Jo Jo last Christmas. We've lacked a good spot for them until now. The wall seemed to be begging for them. Hopefully, gaging the rapid growth of butterfly bushes below, some nice bird families will move in. I'll keep you posted, of course.

Ack!!!

We came upstairs to check on the kids before calling it a night. This is where/how we found young Sarah.

Hooray, a Bithday Party!

It's another birthday for the handsome and winsome (not to be confused with flotsam and jetsam) Jeremiah - man of my dreams, man who sometimes interrupts my dreams with noisy snoring, especially during allergy season...

Last night we enjoyed a beer dinner at The Porter celebrating the arrival of the very delicious Bell's beers to Georgia (Anni, you can come back now, we won't be asking you to pack bottles of the stuff in your carry-on anymore!). Today we've taken the day off work and are about to take a bikeride to the breakfast joint of the birthday boy's choosing. The rain had better hold off. Oh, the rain. First drought now days and days and days of rain. Seriously, it's enough already.

I hid all of his gifts in and around the house and made him find them. He's got one left. More than anything, the girls really enjoyed that and isn't that what really matters? I wrapped one of them in a princess gift bag. That might have been going too far, I don't know. So today we'll see the new Star Trek movie and end with a cook-out and of course, cake and ice cream. Not bad for a Wednesday. Happy birthday Jeremiah! Love ya, mean it!