Feed Your Kids

Aren’t these cute? I made them!

Just drill a small hole into the corks (don’t go all the way through). Cut some lengths of cording and wrap some transparent tape around the ends to keep it from fraying. Put a bit of hot glue inside the holes of the corks and insert the cord ends. They can be any color you like, with the cord as long or short as you like. Some of you may see these under the Christmas tree, so act surprised!

Hubby’s subtle protest.

VERY sorry for the delayed absence (again!). Spring just always seems to be a SUPER busy time for me. For some reason, every extracurricular event, elective class, or sports activity that the children are involved in seems to require some end-of-year culminating event, performance or open house. It’s a fun time of year, but yikes…musicals and field trips and recitals, oh my!

So here’s what we’ve been up to:

We had a recent health scare with Girl. She was having persistent pain just below her left knee. When it didn’t go away after a couple of weeks, we took her into the pediatrician, who said it would likely go away in a couple more weeks and to let her know if it didn’t. Well, it didn’t, so the pediatrician ordered an X-ray. When she called back with the results, she said that the radiologist saw something called Slipped Capital Femoral Epiphysis (SCFE). I had no idea what that was, but I knew that the pediatrician wanted us to see an orthopedic surgeon (RIGHT AWAY). When I called the orthopedist (the same office that fixed Boy’s broken arm last year) and told them the diagnosis, they told me to bring Girl over right away and don’t give her anything to eat, in case she ended up having surgery that afternoon. When I heard that, I almost passed out. And then I googled. That was a big mistake, because when you read things like this….

“Almost all children with the condition have surgical treatment, and most do well. Some, however, develop problems due to the disease. One foot might point outward more than the other, or one leg may be slightly longer than the other. Blood may stop flowing to the top part of the thighbone. Children’s hips may be stiff, and they may be more likely to develop arthritis at an early age.”

…you tend to panic, but we got her to the orthopedist, who said that the radiologist had been overly cautious, not wanting to miss anything (SCFE can be a side effect of a medication that Girl takes, so the radiologist knew to look for it, or the pediatrician had told him to look for it, I guess). It turns out that she did NOT have SCFE, thank goodness, but just has a specific type of tendinitis (Osgood-Schlatter) in her knee that will require rest, ice, Motrin and physical therapy for a few weeks. She is already doing much better, so we are VERY relieved. Something that can be cured with Motrin and ice doesn’t scare me. MUCH better than surgery. She has two roles (Napthali and Judah) in her school’s upcoming production of “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat”. I’m in charge of costumes. She also recently helped me paint the laundry room:

(She has gotten contact lenses since this photo was taken.)

More news:

Boy has BRACES! He’s had just these front brackets on for a couple of weeks and will get a “palatal expander” tomorrow. He’ll have that for about 3 months. I’ve heard it’s painful and has to be tightened with a little key every day, but I haven’t told Boy that yet. If any of you parents have had experience with one these things and have any food suggestions (seems like EVERYTHING would get caught in there!) or pain relief tips, please let me know. After the expander, he’ll have full braces for about 2 years. Poor kid. He actually likes them, though, and his buddies are now calling him “Bling Man”. He also recently competed in a “Math Pentathlon” and has started playing the guitar. He can already do a VERY basic version of the Rolling Stones’ “Paint It Black”. His grandfather is so proud (and so are we).

We also had a visit over Spring Break from our very best friends. They have a daughter Girl’s age (12 – they’ve been buddies since preschool), a son Boy’s age (10 – they’ve known each other since they were in diapers) and their youngest daughter (also one of Girl’s very best friends) is 9. We took them here:

and here:

Also:
My grandparents have moved to town! We have been asking/inviting/pleading/begging them to come to Austin for a while now, and they finally found the right place and jumped on it. They are about 15 minutes from where we live now (they were previously about 4 hours away) and 5 minutes from where my parents live, so we have been helping them get settled: setting up bed frames and assembling computer desks (a new computer, too!) and getting them established with new doctors, etc. Their new home is lovely and has wonderful amenities. We are THRILLED to have them so close by and we are really enjoying our frequent visits.

So, that’s a “catch-up”. I have been cooking and taking photos this whole time and will be uploading new photos and posts soon.

1. Girl’s cat has very long hair. Long hair that gets tangled. And matted. And greasy. Cat grooming costs $150. And involves a 20-minute car ride with a cat that HATES car rides.

2. THIS is our current “entertainment center”.

No, really!

3. I had something more like THIS in mind. But something like that costs as much as my first car. No, really!

So, since every penny that crosses my palm for the foreseeable future is already spoken for, I decided that I could bear to wash a cat to enable myself to get rid of all of those ugly cords (or at least hide them). It really wasn’t THAT bad. She quit making the “I am in fear for my mortal soul” noises after the first couple of minutes and I only have a couple of scratches on one wrist. I did worry that the checker at Costco thought I was a “cutter” when she saw them today, but, of course not! I’m perfectly normal: I’m not a cutter, I’m just a cat bather! Oh, wait…

The great thing is that we got this photo:

This is what she normally looks like: