seven quick takes friday - ed. 18

1. There's nothing like being woken up at 2am to the sound of your three-year-old wailing that she just threw up in her bed. And then to find the situation repeated twice more in the next two hours. Oh, and not just any old vomit either-- partially-digested tomato vomit, so it obligingly stains the sheets, the quilt, the pillow, the pillowcase, the toddler pajamas, the mommy pajamas, and the rug. Yeah, I did a lot of laundry scrubbing this morning.

Hopefully you weren't eating when you started reading this. Or at least not eating tomatoes.

2. When my niece Jane (now a mature 9-year-old) was 3-- and still went by "Janey"-- she was a happy thumb-sucker who loved the color yellow. I remember once she told me gleefully, "Do you know what my thumb tastes like?? Lemons! Because lemons are yellow!!"

Janey, way back when.

Faith is also an avowed thumb-sucker (nowadays mostly just when she's tired or stressed), and now that she's at an age where she can actually carry on conversations, I decided to ask her what her thumb tastes like.

Yesterday she told me it tasted like rice. Today it tastes like pizza. Not as logical as Janey's (well, as 3-year-old logic goes), but ya gotta admire the creativity.

3. I don't blog much about work, despite a pediatrician's office being fertile ground for good stories, because, y'know, HIPAA. But let me just say this. I do know that scabies, though contagious, isn't I'll-catch-it-if-you-breathe-on-me contagious. But even armed with this knowledge, after seeing enough cases of scabies in one 2-week period, you start to get paranoid about every little itch.

This is a scabies mite. Ew. 

4. Speaking of the Woes Of The Medical Profession, I always feel awkward about describing my symptoms when I'm the patient. Do I use medical terminology or not? If I say "epigastric" or "vasovagal" does it sound like I'm trying to overstep my bounds as a patient and diagnose myself? Or would it be helpful, since those really are the most accurate descriptions?

I'm probably way overthinking this, right?

5. I realized recently that I almost never wear woven (as opposed to knit) tops. Even if they're in my closet, I don't wear them. This is something of an epiphany for me, because I really like them in theory. Tailored button-downs look so crisp and put-together! But I hate the way they look and feel on me. So! With this newfound awareness, a more effective wardrobe I shall have!

Nope.

6. This is a good article: Ten Medical Tests or Treatments You Should Question as a Parent.

7. And now, a velociraptor in a wedding invitation:

Head over to Conversion Diary for more quick takes!

theme thursday: remember

I'm not super into scrapbooking, but here's what I've got. The blue one is our wedding scrapbook-- we were broke med students, so I did it myself instead of getting the professional one like all the kids do these days.

Head over to Clan Donaldson for more remember-themed photos! (I'll post the link once there is one.)

radio silence, ended

Sorry for my absence. When I feel like I'm falling behind on everything in my life (clutter, laundry, email, etc.), updating the blog is apparently one of the first things to be sacrificed. I learn something new about myself every day. THE MORE YOU KNOW!!

Do you ever find yourself picturing some future version of yourself who is effortlessly on top of everything? This happens to me all. The. Time. I think it's a vestige of childhood, when I thought (no, knew) that grown-ups were calm and capable and all-knowing. And despite the fact that I am now decidedly a grown-up, who will in a few short weeks be turning coughthirtycough, I still find myself, in moments when I feel overwhelmed and incompetent, thinking something like, "Well, when I grow up this will be easy."

Not in so many words, of course. It's more of a mental image of my ideal grown-up self-- sort of a cross between Martha Stewart and Ramona Quimby's mother and my fifth-grade teacher. Someone whose house is always clean (despite the fact that I never imagine her scrubbing behind toilets on her hands and knees while cursing under her breath), who hosts dinner parties, whose wardrobe is classic and stain-free, who takes her well-behaved kids on fun and wholesome adventures like picnics every weekend in the summer (with no bugs, of course) and sledding every weekend in the winter (with homemade hot chocolate sipped from thermoses), and whose garden actually grows tomatoes, instead of an abundance of basil with no other plants surviving. (She's also in great shape despite the fact that she never gets sweaty.)

I still have trouble believing that this is my grown-up life. Not that I don't like it! I love it, actually-- it's just that I don't feel grown-up. Or at least, I don't feel the way I imagined my grown-up self would feel.

But then again, I suppose Mrs. Quimby didn't, either.

seven quick takes friday - ed. 17

1. Faith composed this song while (surprise, surprise) jumping on the bed:

Jumpin' on the bed!

On the, on the,

Jumpin' on the bed!

And oh, and oh,

Jumpin' on the bed!

Oh, what! Oh, what!

In the moon-a-light,

Oh what a sight!

Jumpin' on the bed!

We should sign her with a record label immediately, right?

2. This is pretty cool: 28 Mind-Blowing Facts That Will Completely Change Your Perception of Time. They are pretty mind-blowing.

3. It seems as though every parent I see in my clinic since coming to Guam has no idea that tea contains caffeine. Preschoolers are guzzling iced tea by the bottle in my office... is it any wonder bedtime doesn't go smoothly?

4. Look at this! Remember last year when the news was all over that baby who was seemingly cured of HIV? Well, it looks like there might be another one!

5. Only on Guam... the ER doesn't have the capability to swab patients for strep throat.

6. I'm working on culling all the monthly photos I've taken of Josie so far. It's funny, you don't feel like they're changing that much from day-to-day, but when you look back, it's crazy!

 
7. Aaaaaand that's all I've got. And I'm STILL cheating and pretending I'm on EST so I can post this late.

Head over to Conversion Diary for more quick takes!

theme thurday: dirt

Aaaaand again with my using the time-difference excuse to publish my Theme Thursday post on Friday morning. 

This is a decidedly embarrassing view of the space under the bookshelf. (Well, one of the bookshelves. We have, um [goes off to count] seven, not counting the kids' three sling bookshelves in the playroom. And still short on room for books.) 

Clearly I need to spend less time reading and more time vacuuming.

Click over to Clan Donaldson for more pictures of dirt!

random on a weekend

Here, have a Doctor Who Pac-Man Game.

You're welcome.

And that's the end of 7 Posts in 7 Days! Whew!

scenes

Whoops. Looks like I have to use the "time difference" thing to justify this counting as my Saturday post for the 7 Posts in 7 Days challenge.

Here are a few scenes from our life here lately:

***

Faith has been composing her own songs lately. Here's her latest:

"Jumpin' on the bed!
On the, on the,
Jumpin' on the bed!
And oh, and oh,
Jumpin' on the bed!
Oh, what! Oh, what!
In the moon-a-light,
Oh, what a sight!
Jumpin' on the bed!"

***

Yesterday Faith was being particularly whiny before dinner, so when we sat down to eat, Jack told me to pour myself some wine-- which I was happy to do. As I brought my wine glass and my mug of tea that I was still finishing over to my seat, I reflected that those two drinks are the perfect combination for relaxation. Right?

***

Jack is "on duty" this week-- which means that he's in charge of all pediatric patients admitted to the hospital, ER consults, parent phone calls, etc. He has his cell phone set so that whenever he gets a call from work, it yells at him in a Dalek voice, "Your mobile is ringing! Answer! Answer!! Or you will be exterminated!!!" We get a kick out of it, though he does allow that it's kind of embarrassing when it rings while he's in a patient's room.

***

Faith and Josie took a bath together for the first time last night. When I poured water over Josie's head to rinse out the shampoo, Faith started shrieking and crying, "Josie sad!!! Josie got water on a face!!!! Josie cry!!!!" Josie, meanwhile, was blinking placidly. Think someone is projecting her own fears, much?