10/6/09

Friday night, we went to the halloween store to get costumes for the girls. We didn't end up with one for Kiersten, but we got Kara's, and mine. Kara had to pee while we were there, but they don't have a public restroom. Ben was asking one of the employees where the nearest place was that would have one, and she took one look at Kara, and said we could use their employee bathroom. On the way back there, a zombie was crawling across the floor and lunging at Kara. I don't think I've ever seen her so terrified. It was hard to catch her, but I did. She calmed down after I picked her up, but after that she just wanted out of the store. I have to say, I can see why they don't usually let customers use that bathroom. It was a pretty scary experience as well. Then we went to dinner at Ruby tuesday, and had barely any leftovers for once.
Saturday, I made Ben clean out the garage, while I packed away all of Kiersten's 12 month clothing, and Kara's 3T clothing. I also packed up more than half of their baby blankets. They still have around 15 that I left out for them, but we were getting sick of having blankets strewn everywhere, so hopefully it will be easier to contain them now. Then I had to go to the post office, and I had a load of things to donate to goodwill, then I stopped at the store for some things. I came home and made some banana bread, and got some items cleaned up to get posted on craigslist. The garage is looking really great now.
Sunday, Ben and Kiersten stayed home to watch football and cartoons, while I took Kara out and about. I haven't had much one on one time with her since she started preschool. First we went to lunch, and then we went shopping at the mall. I needed new pants, since I'm getting sick of wearing skirts and shorts all the time. I only had one pair of pants that fit, because I had given away all my "skinny pants" to good will after I had Kiersten, thinking I'd never get that small again. I found some great deals, and was happy with what I got, while actually sticking to a budget for once. Kara wanted to get something too, so I let her get one dress. I was tempted to let her get more stuff, but I was determined not to overspend. After we left the mall, I talked Kara into getting her hair trimmed. When she heard me mention it to Ben earlier that morning, I called it a haircut, and she freaked out. She started crying and saying she didn't want to get her hair cut off. After changing the term to "hair trim", and explaining to her how little would actually be coming off, she agreed, and actually got excited about it. She did become a bit hesitant when we got there and she saw scissors, but I reminded her that she was just getting a trim. It was a 20 minute wait, and she had to go to the bathroom, so I took her over to fred meyer to go. I also let her pick out a treat, and told her we would open it after her hair was done. When I told the stylist it was her first haircut, she wanted me to stand right next to the chair. After she got started, she realized Kara was not going to melt down, and said I could go sit. I heard parts of their conversation, and I could tell Kara was driving it. They talked about her bee sting, her school, and the upcoming trip to the pumpkin patch, and Kiersten. The stylist was very impressed with Kara for doing so well. Kara is thrilled about her trim. She doesn't realize it basically looks the same as before, just a little cleaner and straighter. Afterward, we went to wal-mart to get a movie that ben called and requested I buy, then we headed home. I got dinner made and cleaned out my car before we put the girls to bed. We watched the movie Changeling. Ben didn't think I would like it, and he was right. I was up all night thinking of the different oppurtunities someone might have to kidnap one of my kids.
Yesterday I took Kara to school, then came home and played with Kiersten until it was time to go to the gym. I was working out with one of the trainers, so of course I was late. I got stuck on the way there, waiting for a train. I've never once seen a train on those tracks before, and even wondered if they were still used. So I was a few minutes late, but I still had a little time for a warm up. I decided only to stay for the training session, and not work out another hour since I was there later than usual, and I didn't want Kiersten to be getting hungry. After lunch and nap time, we picked Kara up from school. She started crying and said she never wanted to go back. So I called the teacher to see if she knew what had happened, because I couldn't get an answer out of Kara. Mrs. Wright said the only thing she could think of, was when they were supposed to be practicing marching in line, Kara kept stopping up the line and then running forward and pushing the girl in front of her, so she had to sit out the rest of the time. But that had happened earlier in the day, and she said Kara had seemed to get over it. I couldn't get Kara to talk right then, and we needed to hurry to pick Ben up from his Dr.'s office. Of course Kara had to go potty, so I had to pull off the freeway for that. It took forever to get back on, but we got there around the time his surgery was to be finished. As I walked in the door, my phone rang, and I was trying to answer it while holding a thrashing Kiersten, and trying to hold Kara's hand, who also wanted to be held, and was whining about it. I dropped my phone and had to call ben back. I told him I was there, and would be up in a minute. I dragged the kids upstairs, and by the time I got there, he was calling me again. I guess he was anxious to leave, but we still ended up waiting for the doctor to come speak to us for another 15 minutes. They took 4 biopsies from his throat. They confirmed again that he has eosinophilic esophagitis, and also a hiatus hernia. He has a new prescription that he will be on indefinitely, and to make sure he actually remembers to take it, I am supposed to get him one of those grandpa pill cases with the days of the week. We'll have the biopsy results in about a week or so. He still needs to follow up with the allergy doctor as well. The Dr. dilated his throat again, but said if he starts having any trouble swallowing, they'll need to do it again. The only problem is that he never notices he has trouble swallowing until food is stuck in his throat. Hopefully the new prescription will help. We finally got Kara to talk about getting in trouble at school. She also told us how much fun she had, so she decided she does want to go to school. We reminded her that she needs to listen to the teacher, and when she gets in trouble, it's because she needs to learn. She said she will not push the other kids again. We stopped and got dinner, and then went home. Ben and Kiersten both crashed on the couch, so I just cleaned up the house, and let Kara play. A lady came to buy my diaper genie I put on craigslist. She actually paid me with 4 dollar bills and 10 dimes. I was glad she got it for such a great deal. she had 2 boys the same ages as my girls, and they were an obvioius handful for her, just trying to get from her car to my door. She said she thought her little boy was potty trained and gave hers away. but it turns out, he isn't quite potty trained and her hubby didn't want her buying another one brand new. After a while, Kara got bored and asked to make cookies, so I figured that was a good thing to do. She picked chocolate chip, and I was glad she picked an easy cookie. I clipped coupons while she watched the cookies bake through the little window on the oven door. By the time all the batches were done, it was time for bed, so I woke up Ben and sent him upstairs, and brought the girls up to bed too.
This morning I had to wake up early to take Ben to get his car from the Dr.'s office parking lot. His throat is still hurting, but he felt fine to drive to work. The girls both took early naps, and I'm just working on laundry. I am really sore from my workout yesterday. I can barely get up and down the stairs. But it's a good kind of sore, like the soreness of fat being burned away, ha!

9/22/09

we had a really good weekend. On saturday we took the girls mini golfing at a course near our house. It was really fun for Kara, but Kiersten didn't like it as much. Kara won the game and even got a hole in one. Afterward, we went and bought a new bed for Kiersten. It will be here thursday. I think she will like that a lot better than the toddler bed. Then we went to lunch at our favorite mexican restaurant, La Palma. It was tasty. Ben ran into game stop before we left to get a new DS game that he wanted, but I haven't had a chance to get for him yet. The girls took naps when we got home, and since Ben was busy playing his game, I decided to read. There is a book I started before Kiersten was born called, A Feast in Exile. The beginning was a little boring, so I hadn't ever gotten past the second chapter. I ended up reading it the rest of the night and a good part of the next day until I finally finished it. It was a pretty good book, but I didn't love the ending. Anyway, if you're a fan of late 1300's historical fiction, you'll proably like it. The rest of the day was pretty laid back. We watched lots of football, and just stayed home with the girls. Ben even made lunch for them while I was reading. Monday was a typical day. I have switched Kara from going to school on tuesday, wednesday, friday, to going monday, wednesday, friday. I think it will be better, and this way she wont be missing out on all the monday field trips. Kiersten has figured out that when we take Kara to school, that means she will be gone all day. So she gets a little upset when we are leaving. hopefully she'll get used to it though. At the gym, there were 2 other little kids who usually have an older sibling with them, who is in school now instead. So the babysitter there was making sure to help them all adjust. She's really good with Kiersten. I got all of the laundry finished yesterday, while Kara was at school, and later while Ben was watching football. so today I just have to worry about grocery shopping. Ben had an appt. today to follow up on his throat issue. the doctor had thought this might be happening as a result of an allergy, so he was referred to another doctor for allergy testing. They tested him for 120 allergies! I guess they don't usually do that many, but since it's an internal reaction, it was hard for them to be able to narrow down the culprits. After all of the pokes in his arm, their computer went down, so he is going to have to go back for another appt. Some of the things they were able to determine he is most allergic to before he left are, spinach, (surprising, because we eat it a lot) sagebrush, (he said he had a huge welt on his arm from it) dogs a little, cats even more, and horses even more. So that explains a lot of his problems when we visit Idaho. He already knew he was allergic to something there, but now he has a better idea what to avoid. The dr. gave him an inhaler to use if he is going to be around those animals. They said he has asthma, but it is brought on by his allergies, so he doesn't need to treat the asthma, just the allergies. We will know more when he goes back in if there are other things he should avoid. Also, they may start giving him allergy shots, although who knows when he would have time to go in for them. He has been missing so much work this month, it's just gonna be hard to catch up. He will be staying late tonight, and probably lots of other nights in the future. He goes in the first week of october to get his throat enlarged, and they also might do a biopsy at that time. So that is what we are all up to lately. I have been terrible about taking pictures this week, so I don't have any new ones to share of the girls.