Thursday, June 26, 2008

Boo-Boos, Bites, Band-Aids and Banter

It's been a full-filled and hairy week. Matt left town early Tuesday morning. When Lila woke up a few hours later, she was very cranky. I noticed that she was limping. Knowing she had had no recent trauma, I called the doctor and got her in immediately. He sensed Transient Synovitis (hip pain and internal swelling caused by a virus) and scheduled an ultrasound for the first thing the next morning. Sure enough, she had fluid surrounding her left hip (right hip is fine). Since she had a cold a few weeks ago, it makes the most sense that this is what she has. It usually heals in about 10-days. If it is not better by next week, she'll undergo further testing. Until the other day, I had never heard of this virus and, of course, reading about it online makes me bit nervous. However, worrying won't help the situation. So, we'll just have to wait it out. She's definitely a bit better than Tuesday, so I'm hopeful.


We've spent a couple days this week swimming at a local pool. Olivia's swimming lessons are paying off. Yesterday, when it was time to leave and I asked her to get out of the pool, she replied, "I'm going to dive down under the water and swim so I can't hear you."

Sure enough, that's what she did! She put her head under water, moved her hands and lightly kicked her feet across the kiddie pool. She's been jumping into the pool on her own and going down the slide and right under the water. I'm so excited about this! Lila starts swimming lessons next week, every day, for a week. Olivia has swimming lessons twice a week, ongoing. Lila's getting a little jipped. I'm just too unwilling to give up my Saturday mornings to take Lila to swimming lessons. For her age group, local pools only offer swimming lessons on Saturday's or Sunday's.

At any rate, before we left the pool area, Olivia fell off a Little Tykes slide and smacked the back of her head on the pavement. Ouch! She screamed for quite a long time. So, Lila has a sore hip and Olivia a nasty bump on her head and mosquito bites galore (notice the bite on her face in the pool picture and Dora band aid covering one on her arm). I've only seen a few mosquitoes here or there and they, apparently, have found their way to my daughter. I'm going to have to order some chemical-free, kid-safe bug spray. The poor kid is violently allergic to the nasty buggers! Needless to say, both kids have been a little cranky this week.

The girls watching a little bit of TV, early one morning, this past weekend. Each girl has on- hand her ever present taggie and stuffed toy.

Since Olivia got a bit too much sun yesterday (I applied sunscreen - but didn't pay attention to how often she was drying herself off with a towel), we opted out of a invite to the zoo and stayed home, out of the sun. Olivia spent the morning bossing around our housekeeper. She quickly pulled clothes out of drawers and out of closets mere minutes after Louisa picked up. I've been growing increasingly frustrated as to how quickly the girls can make messes. I've been trying to teach them that they have to pick up what they were playing with before they take out something else. They are a bit young, Lila especially, to understand this, obviously. I shed frequent tears of frustration and disbelief because as I finish cleaning one room, I enter another room, only to find it a disaster. I only have two kids and I can't keep up! For all of you parents who spaced out your children further apart than I (less than two years apart), you are smart!! Seriously, both girls will be in school full-time before our third and final child is born. I don't think I can do it any other way! I'm going crazy as it is!

Daddy returns from Italy in a of couple hours with boo-boo gifts for the girls. They've certainly had a rough week of it! Daddy makes it a point not to bring gifts back for the girls every time he goes away. He's gone far too often for that and he doesn't want the girls to get used to trip-gifts. But, this week, they deserve gifts. Especially after falls, insect bites, doctors appointments and so on.

Olivia is sure to be disappointed when daddy does NOT arrive with a car for her dollhouse. She specifically asked for a doll house car with a car seat and seat belt in it. Daddy told her that that was a tall order. I'm interested to see what he got instead!

Sunday, June 22, 2008

Listening to Books

A few months ago, Olivia began to really like books on CD (gifts from grandparents). Desperate for more toddler distractions in the car, I ripped them onto Itunes and then synced them to my Ipod for use in the car. One afternoon, I found myself browsing Itunes' store for more books for the girls and thought, "Humm, I should buy a book for myself." However, I refrained from the temptation.

On vacation in Germany, I ran into a librarian who told me to borrow books on CD from the library and rip them to Itunes, etc. So, before I left, I hit up the library (on the U.S. Military post) and ripped a couple of books. I finished "Sophie's Choice" as we landed back in Lisbon. I began "The Secret Life of Bees" last week and, sadly (it was so good), finished it the other day. I am hooked. Unfortunately, there is no library (English library) nearby that has books on CD.

I didn't think I could really get into listening to a book. There's something about flipping pages and actually reading the lines and pages of a book. So, I was surprised at how easily I came to really like e-books.

Here's why: As a mother of two toddlers, I cannot sit down to read whenever I want. Often, by the time I get into bed at night, I'm so tired, I read a page and then push myself to finish a chapter through heavy eyelids. It can take me a month to read one book. Since I was a little girl and fell in love with the "Little House on the Prairie" series, and then the "Anne of Green Gables" series, books have topped my list of great life-long loves, stress relievers, etc.

Books on CD (or e-books) have opened up a whole new world to me. I can listen to a book in the car, while grocery shopping, doing the dishes, walking the dog, cooking, etc. My Ipod and, if I can't have ear phones in, my portable Ipod stereo, allow me to listen to a book any time of the day, without having to stop what I'm doing. At night, tucked into bed, I have chosen to read an actual book, saving listening to books only for when I am not able to sit down to open up a book. Now, I am listening to one book and reading another book. Life is good!

The other day, browsing the website of the library I was a member of from childhood until I got married, I noticed they now have an e-library! Score (read: free e-books)!

Not so fast...As I was about to pick up the phone to see if I could renew my membership over the phone or online and sign up for an e-book account, I noticed that library e-books are not compatible with Apple products (read: Ipods). Of course. If Apple isn't going to make money on something, why would they design their products to be compatible with library e-books? Stupid me.

Sorry Apple. While I will not be ditching my Ipod, I will not be purchasing any books from your Itunes store. Instead, when I go home for a visit in August, I'm making a mad dash to the library, where I will inquire as to the ins and outs of their e-library. I will re up my membership. Then, I will purchase a very basic, possibly used, MP3 player that is compatible with e-library books. Even if I have to spend $100 on set-up (MP3 player and some sort of docking/speaker system), it still beats buying e-books online (I could spend $100 on books in a few mere weeks). Oh, how I hope this works with my overseas Internet server! Please let it work!

What do you love? Books? Music? Exercise? Warm baths/showers? What things do you do to relieve stress from work, life with infants/toddlers, etc.?