(no subject)

[the_rck]

Well, this is frustrating... Our internet connection went out about five hours ago, during an intense rain storm (there was some thunder but not a lot, at least not locally). I need to e-mail some people to discuss whether or not they're coming over tonight to watch anime, and I simply can't. I don't have work phone numbers for them (and wouldn't feel comfortable making such calls anyway). For that matter, I'm not even sure if lunargeography is in this state or if she's already at Origins. I asked her Monday to let me know because it affects the anime plans considerably (we have to watch something different if she's not coming, and I'd rather have a chance to plan for that), but she never responded. I hope she actually got the message.

There's an electrician working in the kitchen right now. He's putting in two outlets on one new circuit and something for the dishwasher to plug into on another circuit. We'd originally thought to have all three on the same circuit, but apparently that's not to code for our city. Dishwashers are supposed to be on a separate circuit without other stuff. The work's a bit noisier than I'd like, given that I've got Delia down for a nap (not that she's actually showing any signs of falling asleep), but this was the time the company had unless we wanted to wait another three weeks. Since these folks come well recommended by other people on the Arbor parents Yahoo list, we thought the tradeoff was worth it. Toddler naps are such iffy things anyway.

Delia spent a couple of hours with evalerie again today. She seemed happy enough to go which is both heartening and sort of depressing. Heartening because it lets me know that we're reaching a point where she knows she can do without me and depressing for much the same reason. I'm not used to thinking of there being much in her life that isn't also mine. For the last two years (longer if you count the pregnancy), she and I have come as a unit. Sure, there've been times when Scott took her out to do things (most weekend mornings while I napped), and there have been times when I've gone out for an hour or two, mostly for doctors appointments, leaving her with Scott's mother or someone else like that, but... Those things never felt like they really counted. This does.

I think that this illness has been good for us in some ways (It's been sheer misery, really, but I'm looking for the silver lining). Delia's gone for walks with friends, played outside with those same friends, people like cherydactyl and her daughters, lunargeography, booniverse and her man, and my parents and Scott's mother. Delia's learned that she can go out to play and that I'll still be here when she comes back, that she can safely have fun out in the backyard or walking around the neighborhood with adults other than me and Scott, and I've learned that I can let her go.

My parents should be in France by now. They're staying with a former exchange student of theirs and his wife. (I've lost track of how many exchange students they hosted, but I know that this one's the only one they're still consistently in touch with. My parents, at one point, got labeled by AFS as good hosts for difficult to place students, so they had a string of... challenging kids. I was only around for two of them. This guy they're visiting now is the one they got when my mother said, "Give us a good one or we're never hosting again.") They're going to be in Europe till the 19th, mostly in France, but the last week will be in Scotland so my step-father can attend a conference.

Mom's promised to pick up more footed, cotton PJs for Delia while they're there. (We simply can't fine any such thing around here.) She needs them desperately because she's outgrown the current sets we've got to the point that she's starting to put holes in the toes. We just don't dare put her to bed in anything that she can take off herself (I do *not* want to wake up some morning to discover that she's gotten creative with the contents of her diaper again), so we need one piece outfits that snap on. Scott's mother found some two piece outfits that snap together at the waist that work fairly well, but we've only got two sets (at least until we get a chance to visit the store where she found them. That'll be a few weeks, I'm afraid. Though I plan to see if they have an online catalog once I can get online again).

I'm still feeling pretty generally awful. I'd truly love to take a nap now, but there was no way to make that work. I'm not really feeling much worse than I did the first time I went to the doctor for this, the visit that led to the treadmill stress test and much confusion about whether or not I should be using my asthma inhaler. I'm less scared than I was then because I at least know what's going on. I've got three more days of prednisone before I'm clear of that medication. I hope that the weight I've gained from it disappears quickly. I stepped on the scale today and had gained five pounds. Very depressing.

We don't know yet if Scott's going to have to work on the weekend. It's almost certain that the plant will be running on Saturday and possibly on Sunday, too. Given that he took vacation, he'll be near the top of the list of people they'll tap for overtime. He's working a twelve hour shift today in hopes of gaining a little advantage toward avoiding the weekend hours. The extra money in the paycheck from overtime is nice, but it really doesn't pay for the time away, especially not time away that's scheduled with no more than twenty-four hours notice.

Still no internet. If I were more technologically enlightened, I'd go poke at the machines in the study to see if the problem's ours or Earthlink's, but I can't tell one thing from another, so pushing buttons would be a random thing and not very useful. Maybe I should text message Scott and ask him to call... He can walk me through it next time he has a break.

Later... It's now been nine hours with no internet. I'm very frustrated. At least Scott's home now. He's testing things to see if he can figure out what's wrong before he calls Earthlink to complain. Earlier, he walked me through a few tests over the phone, and those got us nowhere.

And now we're back online. Nine and a half hours.

Comments

[evalerie.livejournal.com]

I know what you mean about going around with your baby all the time, and then suddenly the baby is able to go do things on its own. It is a very strange feeling, and definitely takes some getting used to.

On another topic: I've had good luck in the past at finding very specific out-of-season or otherwise hard to find kids' clothing items on eBay.

[the_rck]

I just have to remind myself of how awful it would be if Delia *weren't* growing up... I mean, one of the great joys of having a child, I think, is seeing it become ever so much more itself. I look forward to finding out what Delia thinks of the world. I just... It's change.

Maybe I'll start finding time for myself again. I'll miss the massive amounts of cuddling, though, so I better enjoy that while I still can.

BTW, do you have any recommendations for dealing with/preventing heat rash? Delia's had it for days. I'm letting her run around in just her diaper now, but that's not a good solution long term given her desire to remove her diaper at inopportune moments.

[evalerie.livejournal.com]

Hm. Neither of my kids has ever had a problem with heat rash. I don't remember if you have air conditioning at your house. We do at my house, which is probably why we haven't had heat rash.

[the_rck]

We have air conditioning. My fear is that Delia's inherited Scott's skin condition (which would mean it's not heat rash but proto-acne of some sort). She's got these scattered little pinprick bumps over her torso that look to me like they match the description of heat rash. They don't seem to bother her at all. ::shrugs:: Oh, well. There's not much I can do but push fluids and try not to let her get too hot. I'm not going to keep her inside over it or anything.

I just thought I'd appeal to your superior parenting experience. ::grins::

[evalerie.livejournal.com]

Hahaha!

For whatever it's worth... Kendra gets little bumps like those that seem to be either a reaction to her sunscreen or something to do with her issues with gluten. Using baby sunscreen (which I think you already do) seems to help. Kendra doesn't have it this year, and I'm not sure why not.

[the_rck]

A reaction to the sunscreen actually seems quite possible. Maybe there's something in the one we're using that makes it not quite such a happy thing for her skin when I put clothes on on top (I do put sunscreen on parts of her body that will be covered by clothes. The SPF from a cotton onesie does not inspire confidence in me). Hm... We've got two brands of sunscreen, and which we use depends on which is ready to hand at the moment. I should probably try to be a bit more scientific about it to see if one or the other is better.

[clachan.livejournal.com]

Wahay for the return of internet! Did Scott actually figure out what was wrong?

The mother-child bond is a very powerful one, and I can understand it feeling strange when you realise that she can cope with being apart from you. I'm now at the stage where I realise that CF will be leaving home to go to university in a couple of years, and a large part of me wants to cling to him because I know I'm going to miss him dreadfully when he goes, but I know the important thing is to make sure that I put his future first and fully support him in his choices. (Knowing CF, he will have thoroughly researched his options to make sure he's made the right decision about which university and which course(s)!)

Hopefully Delia getting creative with the contents of her diaper will be a short-lived phase!! It apparently was with me, thankfully! *Cringes with embarrasment*

Sorry you're still feeling pretty awful, and discovering you've gained five pounds isn't exactly going to make you feel over the moon, either!

Please give lunargeography a hug from me when you next see her.

[the_rck]

Scott's still not sure what went wrong with our connection. He just tried restarting everything one more time and had the connection reset itself properly in the process. Since it was about the third time we'd done that... Well.

In terms of the weight gain, I know that part of it is water from the steriods, and part of it is also cyclical because I'm heading toward my period (judging by how my body's acting, it'll start in the next 3-4 days), and this is the time when I'm always 2-3 pounds heavier. I'll just have to wait a week till my period's over and I'm off the prednisone and hope that the weight goes away. It's more depressing because I'd just managed to drop below 200 pounds for the first time since my pregnancy. I was hoping not to bump up above that magic line again.

I'll give lunargeography a hug for you when next I see her. I think she's at Origins now because I didn't see or hear from her yesterday.

I think I'll get used to Delia's increasing independence. It's just going to be hard because, while I love seeing who she's becoming, I'm missing who she was. I *like* having her cuddle up on my lap.