This Mama Writes | Adventures in Life & Motherhood

Rebecca Thursday 19 January 2012 No responses

not for the faint of heart

Botanical garden, Berkeley, January 2012Let me tell you, having your kid get their tonsils out really sucks.I'm really hoping this is worth it, because last night, when I was awake with a screaming, thrashing, kicking child who refuses to take his medicine in the night, from roughly midnight to 4 a.m., with breaks when he'd fall asleep, then wake up twenty minutes later, hysterical once more, and I felt so helpless and bad for him, and also so frustrated that he wouldn't just swallow the medicine, this simple thing to help himself, I had that thought I knew I would have at least once in the recovery process: This was a really bad idea. A friend of mine recently posted this quote:If we are facing in the right direction, all we have to do is keep on walking. -Buddhist proverbI am hoping that we are facing in the right direction.

Rebecca - Monday 16 January 2012 - No responses

We were told that there's a very distinctive pattern after a T&A surgery. When the kids wake up, they freak out. They feel very bad. Then, during the first few days, they tend to feel better. Then, sometime between Days 3-5, the pain is at its worst. Then it gets better. Days 7-10 are the riskiest in terms of post-op complications: as the scab comes off, there is a risk of bleeding. Bad bleeding means a return trip to the hospital, anaesthesia, re-cauterization of the wounds, re-recovery. It's very rare. ... more

Rebecca - Monday 16 January 2012 - No responses

mil gracias

Botanical gardens, Berkeley, January 2012I want to say thank you for the text messages, emails, phone calls, voicemails, old-fashioned cards, and telepathic messages that have been sent our way over the past week. It's been so nice to feel the support of our community as we deal with this, our first real medical situation with one of our children. (And how lucky we felt, at Children's Hospital, where there are some very sick children, that this was our first -- and still an elective ... more

Rebecca - Thursday 12 January 2012 - No responses

being brave

Elan, Botanical Gardens, January 2012I have to say, my little guy has really been handling the lead-up to his tonsillectomy tomorrow better than I expected.When we first told him, he railed against it. ("No, no, no, I am NOT going to get my tonsils out! You know when I'm going to do it? NEVER!")But within a few hours, he was making peace with the news.This morning, as soon as he was verbal (after the usual morning groaning/fussing session), he told me he was excited ... more

Rebecca - Wednesday 4 January 2012 - No responses

message in the sand

I love coming across other peoples' art on the beach.We are having holiday hangover after two weeks in San Diego with my family. After two weeks of fabulous sunshine, football with the guys, and rolling around in a big kid/dog pile on the ground with my sister's two-year-old, her two Bernese mountain dogs, and my parents' dog, Elan is waking up in the dark, trying to get back to sleep and failing, and telling me he misses his cousin Judah.Here's what holiday hangover looks ... more

Rebecca - Thursday 10 November 2011 - 2 responses

sometimes it goes like this

On the hunt for stuff to get into, October 2011Today, I am sorry to admit, my baby ate his own poop.Need I say more?He has become a total squirmy monkey during diaper changes, and this morning, he almost managed to kick the dirty diaper off the edge of the changing table. I caught it, but a tiny bit of poop must have fallen onto the floor, because after I had cleaned him up and re-diapered him and set him down and washed my hands, ... more

Rebecca - Thursday 27 October 2011 - No responses

sick

Fall spiderweb, Berkeley, September 2011I'm having one of those weeks when a cold turns into laryngitis, turns into a sinus infection that feels like someone's sticking knives into my cheekbones, turns into a night spent alternatively shivering and roasting with fever, turns into the nurse practitioner saying I have the flu on top of the cold/sinus infection, turns into Emry taking Tamiflu preventatively just in case I do have the flu, turns into Mikhail going away for an overnight trip I didn't know he ... more

Rebecca - Monday 10 October 2011 - No responses

to-do list from the deep end

Comfort food in progress, October 20111. When all else fails, cook a brisket. With lots of roasted carrots and potatoes to soak in the briskety juices. Do not expect your 4-going-on-5-year-old, the source of The Trouble, to touch it, but the baby, who still has no teeth yet loves chicken sausage and pesto pasta, might gobble it up.2. Do not allow your husband, plumbing novice, to try to replace the garbage disposal, even though you asked him to do it just last night. Understand ... more

Rebecca - Thursday 6 October 2011 - No responses

a realization while my child screamed at the park

So often, motherhood is about looking bad in public.It's about kneeling in the rough playground sand, the kind that leaves an imprint on your knees in twenty seconds flat, to play tic tac toe, because your kiddo is having a tough afternoon after Day 1 of his new preschool class.It's about getting down on your haunches to try to hold him, even though you're wearing a skirt and you know you're probably showing your polka-dot underwear to the other parents in the park.<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/47587511@N03/6218896048/" ... more

Rebecca - Monday 3 October 2011 - No responses

more on the "how does she do it?" question

Dandelion, Washington, August 2011Some of my favorite friends-who-also-happen-to-be-bloggers have written recently on this question I was exploring yesterday, the how does she do it? question we women tend to ask ourselves about other women who seem to effortlessly and perfectly juggle the balls that we ourselves feel we might currently be dropping.(Yes, I know there's a Sarah Jessica Parker movie with almost that title, but no, I haven't seen it. Movie theaters are not part of my current reality.)I said that I liked to ... more

Rebecca - Sunday 2 October 2011 - No responses

on muddling through

<!--[if ... more

« Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 … 8 Next »

SEARCH

TOPICS

ARCHIVES

READING MATERIAL

CONNECT