Meeting My Brother For the First Time

29 Years Ago Today, I had the best day of my entire life (up to that point.)

You see, 29 years ago, the school secretary paged my 4th grade classroom to announce the good news. I had a baby brother. We had dropped my mom off the night before at the IU Med Center in preparation for her C-Section May 7, 1979. I had been very quietly nervous, having gone through the baby dance a couple of years before that had ended with a small white coffin - not with a new baby at home.

This time everything was different.

My Uncle George picked me up after school and I went home to to put on clothes to meet my new brother.

My best dress, a lilac dress with a white collar. My black patent Mary Jane's. The best clothes I could think of to meet this new person. At 10, it didn't occur to me that the tiny guy wouldn't be able to see me. It mattered because this was the best day I'd ever had. I didn't know how to express how happy I was.

I couldn't hold him at the hospital, because he was in an incubator. But there he was, blonde hair, tiny little body.

He is no longer tiny. He's a grown man and can probably out cuss a sailor. (I like to think he gets that from me.)

He drives a freight train and sometimes a train full of clowns.

Happy Birthday Baby Brother.

You are still a little boy to me. And I love you very much.

Meeting My Brother For the First Time

29 Years Ago Today, I had the best day of my entire life (up to that point.)

You see, 29 years ago, the school secretary paged my 4th grade classroom to announce the good news. I had a baby brother. We had dropped my mom off the night before at the IU Med Center in preparation for her C-Section May 7, 1979. I had been very quietly nervous, having gone through the baby dance a couple of years before that had ended with a small white coffin - not with a new baby at home.

This time everything was different.

My Uncle George picked me up after school and I went home to to put on clothes to meet my new brother.

My best dress, a lilac dress with a white collar. My black patent Mary Jane's. The best clothes I could think of to meet this new person. At 10, it didn't occur to me that the tiny guy wouldn't be able to see me. It mattered because this was the best day I'd ever had. I didn't know how to express how happy I was.

I couldn't hold him at the hospital, because he was in an incubator. But there he was, blonde hair, tiny little body.

He is no longer tiny. He's a grown man and can probably out cuss a sailor. (I like to think he gets that from me.)

He drives a freight train and sometimes a train full of clowns.

Happy Birthday Baby Brother.

You are still a little boy to me. And I love you very much.

Know What Else Sucks?

Having an itch in the stitches in your gum. And having a job where you talk on the phone for two hours a day.
And then, because your are talking, your gums itch itch itch and you use your tongue to scratch this itch as you don't DARE use a finger.....so you scratch it as it were.

And pop a stitch.

You feel the tug, then the POP and a slight feeling of going fuzzy because it's so freaking revolting.

And then after a drink of soda and a couple of deep breaths, you realize that now you have what feels like a wad of string hanging down. A wad of string with a big old knot in the end. And your gum stings like a mofo.

I really will stop blogging about this tooth at some point.

Of course now it's not longer a tooth. It's just the The Artist Formerly Known as Tooth. Perhaps I'll insist that you refer to it as THE ARTIST.

Know What Else Sucks?

Having an itch in the stitches in your gum. And having a job where you talk on the phone for two hours a day.
And then, because your are talking, your gums itch itch itch and you use your tongue to scratch this itch as you don't DARE use a finger.....so you scratch it as it were.

And pop a stitch.

You feel the tug, then the POP and a slight feeling of going fuzzy because it's so freaking revolting.

And then after a drink of soda and a couple of deep breaths, you realize that now you have what feels like a wad of string hanging down. A wad of string with a big old knot in the end. And your gum stings like a mofo.

I really will stop blogging about this tooth at some point.

Of course now it's not longer a tooth. It's just the The Artist Formerly Known as Tooth. Perhaps I'll insist that you refer to it as THE ARTIST.

Know What Sucks?

Accidentally brushing your stitches instead of your teeth.

Yeah. Back to mashed potatoes for me.

So in the great house hunt of '08 we have a list of contenders, and when we go see some I might post some pics. I'm fairly excited.

In other completely unrelated news, The Husband and I just watched LOVE ME LOVE MY DOLL on BBC America, last night.

Dude. These guys have ISSUES. They all keep talking about how having a REAL DOLL is great because at least they have some female companionship.
Ummm, no you don't.
You have a doll.

I'm sorry. Freak show. You have a doll. And I've got no issue with you and your sex with your doll - I even understand dressing her up to look pretty before you put it to her. But the concept that you think she's your girlfriend, that you talk to her and think she is your companion.....that's actually quite sad.

Some of these guys didn't SEEM like bad guys.

Maybe if they didn't expect women to act like Barbies and have no brains they might actually meet one and have a real relationship. With a woman whose tongue you don't have to remove and clean.

If you haven't seen the Real Doll Repair site.....it's a hoot. And now, I realize that this is actually helpful info for some people.

After having reviewed this site again......don't the dolls have buttholes? How sad...

Know What Sucks?

Accidentally brushing your stitches instead of your teeth.

Yeah. Back to mashed potatoes for me.

So in the great house hunt of '08 we have a list of contenders, and when we go see some I might post some pics. I'm fairly excited.

In other completely unrelated news, The Husband and I just watched LOVE ME LOVE MY DOLL on BBC America, last night.

Dude. These guys have ISSUES. They all keep talking about how having a REAL DOLL is great because at least they have some female companionship.
Ummm, no you don't.
You have a doll.

I'm sorry. Freak show. You have a doll. And I've got no issue with you and your sex with your doll - I even understand dressing her up to look pretty before you put it to her. But the concept that you think she's your girlfriend, that you talk to her and think she is your companion.....that's actually quite sad.

Some of these guys didn't SEEM like bad guys.

Maybe if they didn't expect women to act like Barbies and have no brains they might actually meet one and have a real relationship. With a woman whose tongue you don't have to remove and clean.

If you haven't seen the Real Doll Repair site.....it's a hoot. And now, I realize that this is actually helpful info for some people.

After having reviewed this site again......don't the dolls have buttholes? How sad...

I Will Survive

Yeah. Truly. I think I was way more keyed up with stress about the extraction than ended up being warranted.

But some Vicodin, some sleep, and lotsa love from the family - and I'm all good.

Drinking a beer.

Getting ready to eat some Cocoa Pebbles.

We spent the day looking for our new house.

Things are looking up.

I Will Survive

Yeah. Truly. I think I was way more keyed up with stress about the extraction than ended up being warranted.

But some Vicodin, some sleep, and lotsa love from the family - and I'm all good.

Drinking a beer.

Getting ready to eat some Cocoa Pebbles.

We spent the day looking for our new house.

Things are looking up.

I'm in Stitches

I feel rather ok today. Not perfect, sort of - off kilter. But the pain is minimal...nothing like the crawling fingers of searing agony that were threatening to get a firm hold on my jaw yesterday.
I kept them at bay with the Kryptonite of searing agony - Vicodin.
I hurt, but mostly I just feel.....heavy.
And not just because I'm a big old fat person.

I just feel rather off, too heavy, too slow, clearly this is why you should not operate heavy machinery. I haven't HAD a Vicodin since last night at about 9pm. The nurse assistant had said that I would probably need one every 4 hours for the first 24hours. So I'm pretty happy not to need one this morning.

At least not yet.

I slept like 16 hours all told in the last day.

A brief PSA for how wonderful my husband is. I had to eat only soft foods yesterday. So that I would not feel left out, he made an entire dinner of only soft foods for everyone. Soup,mashed potatoes, corn souffle, spinach souffle. It was so wonderful.
He was so understanding when I needed a Vicodin in the middle of dinner and then about 20 minutes later just excused myself and went to bed for the night. Even though he had wrangled the kids solo all day he took care of them for the night and let me sleep like the dead.

I love him so.

I'm in Stitches

I feel rather ok today. Not perfect, sort of - off kilter. But the pain is minimal...nothing like the crawling fingers of searing agony that were threatening to get a firm hold on my jaw yesterday.
I kept them at bay with the Kryptonite of searing agony - Vicodin.
I hurt, but mostly I just feel.....heavy.
And not just because I'm a big old fat person.

I just feel rather off, too heavy, too slow, clearly this is why you should not operate heavy machinery. I haven't HAD a Vicodin since last night at about 9pm. The nurse assistant had said that I would probably need one every 4 hours for the first 24hours. So I'm pretty happy not to need one this morning.

At least not yet.

I slept like 16 hours all told in the last day.

A brief PSA for how wonderful my husband is. I had to eat only soft foods yesterday. So that I would not feel left out, he made an entire dinner of only soft foods for everyone. Soup,mashed potatoes, corn souffle, spinach souffle. It was so wonderful.
He was so understanding when I needed a Vicodin in the middle of dinner and then about 20 minutes later just excused myself and went to bed for the night. Even though he had wrangled the kids solo all day he took care of them for the night and let me sleep like the dead.

I love him so.