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Kadie's didn't pop through until she was six or seven months old. Kelan is four months and one week. Bring on the steak.

It's the bottom middle right for those who are interested.

The Environmental Working Group- a non-profit organization dedicated to consumer health and protection- has published it’s latest edition of the famous “Dirty Dozen�.

These are the foods most contaminated by pesticides, and the ones you should probably buy organic.

This is important. The media is full of articles about why organically food isn’t any more nutritious than conventionally grown food, but these articles- which often “cherry pick� the evidence- are kind of missing the point. We don’t buy organic simply because it has more vitamins or minerals, we buy it because of what it doesn’t have- chemicals and pesticides.

Remember, there are some 80,000 chemicals in existence, and the EPA has only identified a few hundred of them. The true cost to our health of daily exposure to this chemical cocktail has never been determined, so it just makes sense to be prudent and try to limit our exposure if we can. Buying organic is one way to do that.

But organic food tends to be more expensive. That’s why the Environmental Working Group’s list is so important. It helps to know which foods are most likely to be contaminated so you can prioritize and spend your “organic food� dollars wisely. (The EWG also has a list of the “Clean Fifteen�- foods least likely to be contaminated.)

Here’s the updated list of the “Dirty Dozen� as well as the updated list for the “Clean Fifteen�.

The new Environmental Working Group “Dirty Dozen�:

1. Celery. Since celery has no protective skin, you can’t wash off the chemicals. (Sixty-four chemicals have been identified in celery!)
2. Peaches. Sixty-two pesticides have been identified on these fruits!
3. Strawberries. Strawberries have long been on the list as they are one of the most sprayed crops on the planet. The EWG identified 59 pesticides on strawberries!
4. Apples. While most of the 42 different pesticides found in apples are concentrated on the skin, the skin is also the source of an awful lot of the beneficial nutrients in apples, so you really don’t want to peel them. Just buy organic.
5. Blueberries. Unfortunately this wonderful berry made the list for the first time. They’re treated with up to 52 different pesticides.
6. Nectarines. They now rank with apples and peaches as the “dirtiest� of the tree fruits.
7. Bell peppers. These guys are heavily sprayed with insecticides (as many as 49 on sweet bell peppers)
8. Spinach. Another new addition to the list for 2010, they can contain as many as 48 different chemicals, giving spinach the dubious honor of being the dirtiest green leafy vegetable around.
9. Kale. One of the healthiest vegetables on earth, kale also tested as one of the highest in pesticide residue.
10. Cherries. Government testing found 42 different pesticides on cherries, and, sadly, the ones grown in the US seem to have three times more pesticide residue than imported ones.
11. Potatoes. Back on the list after a year’s absence, the popular potato can have as many as 37 different pesticides.
12. Grapes. Imported seem to be the worst, and only imported grapes made the 2010 list. Sorry, but no amount of washing will get rid of the residue. Stick with organic.

The “Clean 15� are those foods with the lowest pesticide residue. The 2010 winners are:

1. Onions
2. Avocado
3. Sweet Corn
4. Pineapple
5. Mango
6. Sweet Peas
7. Asparagus
8. Kiwi
9. Cabbage
10. Eggplant
11. Cantaloupe
12. Watermelon
13. Grapefruit
14. Sweet Potato
15. Honeydew Melon

I remember more than a year ago, before I got pregnant (if I looked through the posts, I could find exactly when b/c I remember posting about it), making the decision to go cold turkey on diet sodas b/c I had gotten so irritated at the fact that I couldn't seem to stop drinking them. Well, here's an interesting bit of news (most of which I already knew, but check out the 4th paragraph in particular - I bolded it - this was posted by Dr. Al Sears):

People are still surprised to learn diet sodas don’t give you what they promise. You may drink them because they have no calories. But diet sodas don’t help you drop weight. They make you fat instead. And you can get hooked on them.

I came across an article in JAMA about just how addicting those diet soft drinks are. When you drink them, changes take place in your brain that make you behave differently.

Your self-control goes out the window. Your body actually becomes addicted to the unnatural sweetness like it’s a drug.

In one study, animals had the choice between cocaine and saccharin. Ninety four percent chose saccharin â€" even if they were already addicted to the cocaine.

Early man had none of the sweet foods you have today. And this is when your taste receptors evolved. So now, when you’re exposed to hyper-sweet artificial sweeteners, your brain is tricked into thinking it’s getting nutrition.

When your drink contains aspartame, sucralose, or any other artificial sweetener, you over-stimulate your sweetness receptors. It changes the way you think about the way things should taste.

You crave high-intensity sweetness. And naturally sweet foods like fruit don’t taste as good to you. Vegetables lose their appeal, because they’re not sweet.

Your gut has sweetness receptors, too. It’s all ready to absorb nutrients, so you get a surge in hormones, like insulin. But when the calories don’t arrive, your body tells your brain to go out and get them.

Your appetite increases, and you get cravings that cause you to overeat. What’s worse, you turn to high-carbohydrate foods and sweets to make up the calorie void.3

But now, the insulin you’ve poured into your blood tells your body to turn whatever you do eat into fat.

I read one study of almost 2,600 people. Those who drank diet sodas had a 47 percent higher body mass index (BMI) than those who didn’t, and their risk of obesity was doubled.

The solution? Go back to the real thing.

When you switch to naturally sweet drinks, your taste receptors adjust and go back to normal. You regain the ability to taste the sweetness found in natural foods and drinks. Your nutrition and the quality of your diet improve.5 And it’s far easier to drop weight.

There are a lot of natural juices at the grocery store. But every one goes through processing and sits on the shelves, losing nutrients quickly. If you must buy them, stick to organic brands in glass bottles such as R.W. Knudsen, Lakewood, or Santa Cruz.

My suggestion is to invest in a juicer or a heavy-duty blender.

Citrus juicers are only for citrus like oranges or grapefruits. Juice extractors are for juicing fruits and vegetables.

A cheaper extractor will handle soft vegetables like cucumbers, tomatoes, and most fruits, but you’ll need a pricier, more powerful model if you want to juice hard vegetables like beets and large carrots.

I like to use a heavy duty, multi-use blender. It keeps the fiber in the drink you make. Throw in bits of vegetables and fruits, add water and ice, blend, and out comes a delicious drink in seconds.

If you blend hard vegetables, you’ll need a strong motor. Get one with as much as 2 hp. Many come with a 7-year warranty.

But there is a world of drinks you can easily make and enjoy without any additional equipment…

* Brew herbal tea and use honey to sweeten it. Cool, add ice, and you’ve got a naturally sweet drink. Look for organic teas like Yogi, Tazo, and Rishi.
* Squeeze lemons and add to filtered water to make lemonade. If it’s too tart, add raw, whole sugar or honey to taste.
* You can make a soda-like drink by blending the pulp of one mango and a slice of lemon and lime with 4 cups filtered water.
* Use cut up organic peaches, strawberries, and grapes in any combination. Add ice, filtered water, and blend.

As captured by Nicole:

"what would you like for breakfast, kadie?"
"french toast, no butter."
"ok."
"ew, what's that!?"
"i'm mixing up the eggs, silly."
"i don't like eggs on my french toast."
"uhh..."
"just make it the way you ate it last."
"ok..."
a few moments later, with syrupy french toast in her mouth,
"see? it's so much better without eggs."

We have a heat index of 104 today...

Hope you had a good flight and arrived home safely.

Kadie is missing you already.

I found my grapes!!! That's both literal and figurative. Back around Oct 1st, I went grocery shopping and bought a bag of grapes. I distinctly remember bringing them home and putting them on the kitchen counter, but I couldn't find them shortly thereafter. I searched everywhere, including the garbage, but remained grape-less. Keep in mind that I was just entering my 2nd trimester and was starting to deal with the memory loss that many women experience. Well, 2 days ago, Jeff and I were cleaning out the basement and I came across a bag of something. I don't know what clued me in b/c they certainly looked nothing like grapes at this point, but I realized I had finally found my grapes after 8 months...and I've still no idea how they managed to end up in the basement.

btw...for those of you on Facebook (FB), you've probably already seen this post, but Jeff was lamenting the demise of Todnem.com with several of us now posting on FB, and I know not all of you have FB accounts to read of my latest embarrassment, so I'm reposting it here.

For those of you thinking of seeing this movie, you may want to wait to rent it. I'm not a huge fan of Tim Burton, but I have enjoyed several of his other movies, so we took a chance on seeing this one (in actuality, we wanted to see Avatar, but didn't get the chance to while it was in the theater, and Alice took its place on the day that we were available to go). Without going into too many details so as to not ruin it for anyone, it's Burton's own "special" take on the story (keep in mind, he was the mastermind behind Edward Scissorhands, The Nightmare Before Christmas, the Corpse Bride, and Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street). It had some interesting elements, but if I had to sum the entire thing up in one word, it would have to be: slow. I don't think either Jeff or I walked out of there thinking, "Wow! That was a good flick."

Doing some spring cleaning...anyone want some craft stamps and ink? I have several sets from StampinUp!

Kelan is starting to get into a routine at night:

2 hours of screaming, starting around 8 pm
4 hours of sleeping
30 - 90 minutes up for eating
3 hours of sleeping

At this point, there's not enough time for me to go back to sleep before I have to get up to get Kadie ready for school and not enough time for me to get anything useful done, so I normally sit on the couch and drink some tea and read a book.

During the day, he hasn't really gotten into a rhythm. Sometimes he sleeps for hours, sometimes he only cat naps for 5 or 10 minutes at a time and stays up pretty much all day.

He has gotten a lot better at being put down for a while and he's actually finally taken to the swing. Unfortunately, the one we have we purchased used when we had Kadie and the motor appears to have given out on us. It still makes noise, but we have to start the swinging motion and every minute or so we have to give the seat a little push to get it going again, which kind of defeats the purpose of having a swing. So I went to the store and picked up one that looked good, but when I put it together, it was so wobbly that I didn't feel safe putting Kelan in the seat. So I went online to research which would be best and ordered one that had high ratings and goes up to 30 pounds (most only go up to 25 pounds). Unfortunately, it's back ordered and I have to wait 2 to 4 weeks before it's sent out.

We've taken to using the car seat for night time sleeping which isn't so bad as we don't have the crib set up yet. The only bad part is when he leaks through his diaper and wets/soils the car seat cover (I put a burp rag under him to help ward off that problem). So far that's only happened during the day and I was able to clean and dry it before it was time to put him down for the night.

His eyes are still blue.

Apparently, Kelan decided that sleeping is for the birds. He cat napped all last night, which means yours truly didn't get any sleep at all. I finally gave up around 2:30 this morning and stuck him in the broken swing as he tends to fuss less while in that than while I'm trying to rock him in my arms (possibly because the motion is more constant as my arms tire quickly from whatever movement I'm making and I change from rocking to patting to jiggling and back again). Unfortunately, because it's broken, I had to stay up all night, giving it a push every 30 seconds or so to keep it going.

His timing couldn't be worse. One, it's a Monday, so I wasn't depending on having Jeff around to help. Thankfully, Jeff came down at 3:30 when he woke up to get ready and, after discovering my plight, offered to stay home today. Two, I volunteered to help a staff member at Kadie's school set up for an art display. I'm the only one she got involved so it's not like there will be someone for her to fall back on if I welsh on the deal. It's from 12:30 to 2:30 this afternoon, so (best case scenario...if Kelan doesn't go to sleep and I have to wait for Jeff to get back from dropping Kadie off at school), I'll get about 2 hours of sleep this morning before I have to get up and get ready.

More than 10 million Americans have migraines creating a burden of mostly unnecessary suffering.(i) These severe, nearly disabling headaches can occur from once a year to three to four times a week. They can last from hours to days. They are often associated with an aura, light sensitivity, nausea, vomiting, and severe throbbing pain on one or both sides of the head. Migraines are even associated with stroke-like symptoms or paralysis in some cases ...

The cost to society is also enormous. Migraine headaches add $13 billion to $17 billion to our healthcare costs each year. These costs include medications, emergency room visits, hospitalization, physician services (primary care and specialty), laboratory and diagnostic services, and managing the side effects of treatment.

Migraines have indirect costs too. A headache is the most frequent pain-related complaint among workers. Focusing specifically on migraines, one study found that the annual cost to employers exceeded $14.5 billion, of which $7.9 billion was due to absenteeism and $5.4 billion to diminished productivity.(ii)

So this is a HUGE problem -- both to those who suffer and to society as a whole.

Worse, migraines are hard to treat and very difficult to prevent with conventional approaches. There are a host of preventive drugs -- calcium channel blockers, beta-blockers, anti-seizure medications, antidepressants, and more --which work poorly, if at all, and are accompanied by frequent side effects. Some doctors are now even using Botox to paralyze neck muscles in the hopes of easing migraines.

There is also a new class of medication called triptans (like Imitrex, Maxalt, and Zomig) that can stop a migraine once it starts. Though these have made migraine sufferers handle the attacks better, they also have serious potential side effects, including strokes, and are expensive. Still other treatments can lead to addiction or dependence. Not a pretty picture. And for many, none of these treatments work very well or at all.

The problem with migraines is the same one we see so often in medicine: We treat the symptoms, not the cause. We only deal with the effects of something and not the underlying 7 keys to UltraWellness. But using Functional Medicine I have been able to get nearly 100 percent of my patients migraine free within days to weeks!

In today's blog I am going to explain how I do that. I will tell you the story of one of my patients (a doctor herself) who, after years of suffering from migraines, finally came to me looking for relief. You will learn what I did to help her (as well as many others) and how you can apply the same measures to overcome your migraines. And I will give you 14 tips that will help you identify and treat the real causes of your headaches.

Dozens of Migraine Patients, Dozens of Different Cures

Many of my patients are doctors themselves and are often at the end of their rope. One was a physician from the Mayo Clinic, the Mecca of conventional medicine. This woman had severe, disabling migraines that made it nearly impossible for her to function at work. She depended on oxycodone (a strong morphine-like narcotic) and Zofran (a powerful anti-nausea drug used for chemotherapy patients).

She had seen every specialist at the Mayo Clinic and had traveled far and wide to other top neurology headache centers but never found relief. Unfortunately everyone she saw focused on her headaches, not her other symptoms -- which held all of the clues to her problem.

Migraines are no different from any other disease. It's simply the name we call a set of symptoms that are common in groups of people. This name tells us nothing about the cause of the symptoms, which may be very different depending on the person. In fact, there may be more than 20 different causes of migraine headaches!

My job is to be a medical detective and find these causes. It is not to simply prescribe powerful symptom-suppressive drugs. I remember very well working in the emergency room, treating all the chronic migraine patients with intravenous narcotics and nausea medication. I felt bad for them, but worse that I didn't have a way to prevent them from coming back.

Now I do.

Which leads me back to the doctor who came to see me from the Mayo Clinic who suffered migraines nearly every day for years with no relief. Here is what I did to help her ...

First, I asked her a lot of questions and learned she suffered from many symptoms including palpitations, severe constipation, anxiety, insomnia, muscle cramps, and menstrual cramps -- in addition to her migraines.

All of these symptoms are connected. They told me that her whole system was tight, irritable, and crampy. These symptoms are usually associated with severe magnesium deficiency,(iii) which often results from poor diet, caffeine, sugar, alcohol, and stress.

So I put her on high doses of magnesium and cleaned up her diet. Within a couple of days, she was migraine free and never had another migraine.

She's not the only success story.

Another patient had disabling migraines for 45 years and could not have a social life or plan anything because she spent most of her time in bed with the lights out. She also had an allergy to eggs. When we eliminated the eggs from her diet, her headaches disappeared. No eggs, no migraines. Three months after treatment she felt so good she decided to have an egg and ended up in the hospital with a three-day migraine confirming our original finding.

Another patient always had migraines before her period, along with severe PMS, bloating, sugar cravings, breast tenderness, and irritability. These symptoms are all related to hormonal imbalances.(iv) She had too much estrogen and too little progesterone. Getting her hormones back in balance relieved her of her migraines.

Yet another patient had genetic problems with her mitochondria and energy metabolism and needed high doses of vitamin B2 (v) and coenzyme Q10 (vi) to get relief. And another woman came to see me with persistent abdominal bloating after eating, which told me she had overgrowth of bacteria in her small bowel. When we cleared out these bacteria with a non-absorbed antibiotic, her migraines went away and didn't return.

One patient who lived on Diet Coke didn't get rid of her migraines until she gave up the artificial sweetener aspartame. Another had low blood sugar episodes that triggered migraines, so eating small, frequent meals of whole foods stopped the headaches. And finally, there was the woman who got headaches after exercise in the heat or with dehydration. We made sure she stayed hydrated and her migraines were permanently eliminated.

As you can see, even though these patients all had the same symptoms, their treatment was different in each case. So getting the full story -- with the keys of UltraWellness -- is so important. To heal from migraines you have to locate the causes of your headaches and address these underlying issues if you want to be free of pain.

To help you on that journey, here are the most important causes of migraines, their associated symptoms, tests to help identify problems, and treatments you can start using today.

Finding and Curing the Causes of Your Migraines

Food Allergy/Bowel and Gut Imbalances

• The symptoms: Fatigue, brain fog, bloating, irritable bowel syndrome, joint or muscle pain, postnasal drip and sinus congestion, and more.

• The testing: Check an IgG food allergy (vii) panel and also check a celiac panel because wheat and gluten (viii) are among the biggest causes of headaches and migraines. Stool testing and urine testing for yeast or bacterial imbalances that come from the gut can also be helpful.

• The treatment: An elimination diet -- getting rid of gluten, dairy, eggs, and yeast -- is a good way to start. Corn can also be a common problem. Getting the gut healthy with enzymes, probiotics, and omega-3 fats is also important.

Chemical Triggers

• The causes: A processed-food diet including aspartame, MSG (monosodium glutamate), nitrates (in deli meats), sulfites (found in wine, dried fruit, and food from salad bars) is to blame. Tyramine-containing foods like chocolate and cheese are also triggers.

• The treatment: Get rid of additives, sweeteners, sulfites, and processed food. Eat a diet rich in whole foods and phytonutrients.

Hormonal Imbalances

• The causes: Premenstrual syndrome with bloating, fluid retention, cravings, irritability, breast tenderness, menstrual cramps; use of an oral contraceptive pill or hormone replacement therapy; or even just being pre-menopausal, which leads to too much estrogen and not enough progesterone because of changes in ovulation.

• The testing: Blood or saliva hormone testing looks for menopausal changes or too much estrogen.

• The treatment: Eat a whole-foods, low-glycemic-load, high-phytonutrient diet with flax, soy, and cruciferous vegetables. Use herbs such as Vitex, along with magnesium and B6. Avoid alcohol, caffeine, sugar, and refined carbohydrates. Exercise and stress reduction also help.

Magnesium Deficiency

• The symptoms: Anything that feels tight or crampy like headaches, constipation, anxiety, insomnia, irritability, sensitivity to loud noises, muscle cramps or twitching, and palpitations.

• The testing: Check red blood cell magnesium levels. Even this can be normal in the face of total body deficiency, so treatment with magnesium based on the symptoms is the first choice.

• The treatment: Magnesium glycinate, citrate, or aspartate in doses that relieve symptoms or until you get loose bowels. If you have kidney disease of any kind, do this only with a doctor's supervision.

Mitochondrial Imbalances

• The symptoms: Fatigue, muscle aching, and brain fog, although sometimes the only symptom can be migraines.

• The testing: Checking urinary organic acids can be helpful to assess the function of the mitochondria and energy production.

• The treatment: Taking 400 mg of riboflavin (B2) twice a day and 100 to 400 mg a day of coenzyme Q10 can be helpful, as can as other treatments to support the mitochondria.

Keep in mind that sometimes a combination of treatments is necessary. Other treatments can be helpful in selected cases, such as herbal therapies (like feverfew and butterbur), acupuncture, homeopathy, massage, and osteopathic treatment to fix structural problems.

The bottom line is that this problem -- which affects one in five Americans and costs society $24 billion a year -- is almost entirely preventable, simply by following the principles of Functional Medicine and UltraWellness. So get to the bottom of your symptoms -- and get ready for migraine relief. It's the best way to move toward lifelong vibrant health.

To your good health,

Mark Hyman, M.D.

References

(i) Tepper SJ. A pivotal moment in 50 years of headache history: the first American Migraine Study. Headache. 2008 May;48(5):730-1; discussion 732.

(ii) Thomson Medstat, The Thomson Corporation, "New Data Estimate Migraine Headaches Cost U.S. Employers more than $24 Billion Annually," Press Release, 27 June 2006, http://www.medstat.com/news/newsdetail.aspx?id=545 (Accessed 2 August 2006).

(iii) Sun-Edelstein C, Mauskop A. Role of magnesium in the pathogenesis and treatment of migraine. Expert Rev Neurother. 2009 Mar;9(3):369-79. Review.

(iv) Martin VT, Lipton RB. Epidemiology and biology of menstrual migraine. Headache. 2008 Nov-Dec;48 Suppl 3:S124-30. Review.

(v) Schoenen J, Jacquy J, Lenaerts M. Effectiveness of high-dose riboflavin in migraine prophylaxis. A randomized controlled trial. Neurology. 1998 Feb;50(2):466-70.

(vi) Sándor PS, Di Clemente L, Coppola G, Saenger U, Fumal A, Magis D, Seidel L, Agosti RM, Schoenen J. Efficacy of coenzyme Q10 in migraine prophylaxis: a randomized controlled trial. Neurology. 2005 Feb 22;64(4):713-5.

(vii) Arroyave Hernández CM, Echevarría Pinto M, Hernández Montiel HL. Food allergy mediated by IgG antibodies associated with migraine in adults. Rev Alerg Mex. 2007 Sep-Oct;54(5):162-8.

(ix) Bürk K, Farecki ML, Lamprecht G, Roth G, Decker P, Weller M, Rammensee HG, Oertel W. Neurological symptoms in patients with biopsy proven celiac disease. Mov Disord. 2009 Dec 15;24(16):2358-62.

Kadie's doing a great job as a big sister. She likes to show him off to everyone when she gets a chance, tries to calm him when he's fussy, and helps to get things for us when we're busy with him.

She was having some attitude problems at school, but she's doing a lot better. I think a lot of it was because she wasn't getting as much attention as she was used to and Jeff and I started to focus on changing that. She still has a problem with focus/attention and we're now working on her apparent idea that she is on equal terms with adults, but we're getting there one day at a time.

We got a report from the school that we need to take Kadie in for an eye exam. According to them, she's got 20/100, but as far as we can tell, she doesn't seem to be having any problems.

I just booked her 7th birthday party. It's at one of those places that has several moon bounces and the party "package" includes face painting and balloon animals (along with the normal pizza, drinks, cake, and ice cream). She wanted an Alvin The Squeakquel theme, but I couldn't find anything for the first movie, much less the second one, so she settled for the Camp Rock theme the party place offered, even though she's never seen that movie. I showed her a couple of the songs from the movie that were on YouTube and she went for it. She's really into chicks rocking out to power ballads.

We've been having problems getting Kelan to sleep (both for naps and at night) and his constant need to be held is causing me great difficulty in getting things done (including taking a shower). Several times Jeff has said, "Kadie was never like this."

I've been doing a bit more research and have come across what might be a good description of what we've been dealing with: a "high needs baby" as described by Dr. Sears. Kelan fits the description to a "T". He is very intense, prefers to be held at all times, feeds frequently, is demanding, unpredictable, etc. Keeping this in mind, I've been able to "deal" better with him the past few days, though I'd still like more time to get a daily shower in.

btw...I do have a Baby Bjorn and a Molly wrap to carry Kelan around in, but there are still a lot of things that I can't do with him like that as I still have to use one hand to support his head.

And his sleep patterns are part of the unpredictability I just mentioned. For a few days there, he seemed to be getting better at sleeping for longer periods, but he's back to only sleeping 1 to 2 hours at a time and he frequently stays up for hours (from 5 to a record of 9), drifting off for 5 or 10 minutes every so often, but waking up either on his own or immediately if put down. Much to Jeff's concern (for my health), I don't believe in the "let them cry it out" philosophy as I think that causes more problems in both the short and long term. Besides, the stress it causes me to hear Kelan cry probably does just as much, if not more, damage to my health as the lack of sleep does.

With more breastfeeding, my milk supply is getting better, but I think Kelan's stomach isn't feeling good today as he's not feeding well and has urped up quite a lot after each feeding. I'm hoping it's not something in/about the breast milk that's causing it (I haven't changed my diet any).

Anyway, there's good reason it's common for people to say that God gives you the easy baby first, otherwise the second baby would never happen. I'm hoping that things get exponentially better in the next six weeks before I return to work or it's going to be really rough.

I stumped the general practitioner, too. I had an appointment with her this afternoon and I could tell she didn't have a clue as to what the problem may be. She covered the basics (and her you-know-what) by testing another urine sample for infection, even though my OB/GYN confirmed with me yesterday afternoon that the urine cultures they took at the hospital were negative, confirming that the kidney infection was a misdiagnosis. She did, however, order a renal/bladder/pelvic ultrasound to look for any left over pieces and/or visual clues as to what's going on. I have that scheduled for tomorrow at 3:45. I'm supposed to drink 32 oz of liquid 1 hour before that...guess I should have stopped to pick up some Depends on the way home tonight, just in case of leaks - cause we all know how well those muscles work (especially under that amount of pressure) so soon after having a baby, right?

Currently, my fever has been gone since about mid- to late-day Sunday (took the Cipro about two days to kick that) and the aches are mostly gone, though my pelvic/hip joints are rather achy again today. I haven't taken any pain meds since Sunday night though. I'm still not eating much (and what I do doesn't stay with me long) so I'm feeling pretty weak, but I'm trying to keep the fluids up at least.

Jeff has been wonderful in helping out with the kids. He did the night shifts over the weekend and, since he stayed home today to go to an in-class observation at Kadie's school, he volunteered to come with me to the doctor's appointment to look after Kelan.

Kelan, btw, is doing great. His color is completely normal and he's put on a couple of pounds. He weighed in at 10 pounds, 4 oz (75th percentile) and I can't remember what the nurse said his length was (I want to say 29 inches, but that sounds too long), but he's in the 90th percentile for that measurement. I'm still trying to pump, though my production is close to nil at this point, so we can return to breast feeding once I'm off all the meds, but he's been doing a great job with the bottles and formula. I guess it's time to buy a few more bottles (I only got a three pack to try out the nipple to make sure he'd take to it).

Hopefully, they will see something tomorrow and that something will be easy and quick to fix. Since I'm still not feeling 100 percent while on the second round of antibiotics, I fear that, come Friday when I finish them, I'll be back at square one: in pain and burning up, and quite frankly, I'm tired of that game.

Kadie just lost her second (right) upper central incisor.

Kadie FINALLY lost her upper left central incisor. That puppy has been dangling by one side for weeks now. We've been able to see a hole above the tooth on one side for quite some time and were beginning to wonder if the other half of the root was tangled around the right central incisor, but, this morning, as Kadie bit into her peanut butter toast, we heard, "My tooth came out!" This is her fourth. She's lost three of the lower incisors, though only two of them (I believe both the central ones) have grown back in.

The puppy also has been losing teeth, evidenced by copious amounts of blood on his chew toys, but we've only found two of them. Kadie wanted to bring all the lost teeth into show-and-tell today and a classmate told her that she can place all the teeth under her pillow tonight to get a little extra cash...punk!

For those of you who are not still dealing with dial-up, you might want to check out YouTube if you're interested in getting some free meditations (both guided and not). I looked up several over this weekend to help me in relaxing and found many that I enjoyed. And the best part is that they're free. You don't have to buy a full meditation CD and hope that you're getting something that you'll enjoy (especially with guided meditation, you always run the risk of getting a recording of someone who's voice or speech pattern drives you nuts). I found one of ocean waves (one of the most soothing sounds in the world to me) that came with a video and a nice, gentle guided relaxation that ran for a full 10 minutes. There are even some with binaural beats (you still need stereo headphones) if you want to check out that technology (which I highly recommend).

It's like a complete 180 with Kadie. She has been having such a terrific week! It's a little early to claim that the sit down on Friday sunk in and Kadie "got it" as I know that all kids have good days and bad days, but whatever it is, she's really stepped up to the plate. She's done an awesome job in the mornings at getting ready for school on time and not showing any attitude, even when she doesn't get what she's asking for. She's done an equally awesome job in the evenings with Jeff, getting her homework done, playing nicely, and keeping a positive attitude (evenings have, historically, been harder for her).

At school, she had the crawling incident on Monday and the teacher had to talk to her on Tuesday about disturbing another student while she was working, but on Wednesday, Kadie's notebook came home with a note saying that she had an absolutely great day with no incidents.

Yesterday, Kadie took her math facts quiz (it's a sheet of 40 addition problems that's timed) in a conference room after school. She was able to complete the whole sheet in just a minute over the expected time limit. In the past, she's been several minutes over and hasn't finished, even then. While waiting for her to finish, Jeff was talking to the teacher and related the story of when he was placed in the hallway (2nd grade, I believe), surrounded by a big sheet of cardboard, because he was disturbing other students, and made a joke similar to "like father, like daughter." He may have something there...I know Kadie can't be singled out her entire school career to focus on things like this, but if it helps her for now, it's nice to know that the school is willing to do it for her.

Jeff and I have been very focused on our attitudes towards her as well (which I know adds to Kadie's success). We're trying to be a little more patient, a little more responsive, and explain things a little better to her, including our expectations.

All in all, we're both very proud of how she's been behaving this week and hope that the trend continues.

What are your first thoughts upon waking?

Either:

1. A variation of "Good grief, another day."

2. A quick calculation of how long until I can go back to sleep.

3. A running list of things I need to do that day.

Lately, I've added:

4. Which way should I roll to make it easiest to get up?

What is your all time favorite board game?

Clue

How have you changed in the past year?

I've gotten a lot fatter, but that should start changing again soon.

I'm starting to think we may have to cut our losses (or I may have to) and sell the puppy. I made the decision to get him while we still had someone at home to take care of him during the day and help me with the potty training, but those circumstances have changed, and I have spent the last several days cleaning poop and pee out of his crate and giving him a daily bath.

He goes outside and does his thing and then comes right back in and does it again...in his "den" where he's not supposed to want to go. I have made the crate small enough with a cardboard box that he doesn't have an area to go in and an area to sleep in, so he goes and then steps, sits, and lays in it.

He wasn't doing this before, so I'm wondering what the change is. I'd blame the recent snow, but it's gotten to the point where I have to go outside and drag him in because he enjoys playing out in it so much, so I know it's not the fact that he doesn't want to "go" outside in this weather.

Waking up to this every morning really starts me off in a foul mood, which isn't helpful or nice for the rest of the family, and I'm going to have to start getting up early just to clean out his crate and give him a bath before I leave for work. Sleep deprivation is already a problem - not keen on adding to it.

I realize he's only four months old, but he seems to be regressing from what little progress we had made, and not having any issues with doing exactly what all the experts say he's not supposed to do. My frustration grows daily and I'm left with leaving him in the crate all day and night, except for when he's outside, because I can't trust him not to poop or pee all over my carpets, even when he has literally just gone. It can't be much fun for him and we're certainly not benefiting from having the company of a dog when he's locked away in a crate all day.

I'm beginning to wonder if we're really cut out for animals. Except for Kadie's fish, they all seem to do fine for a bit, and then they set out on a path of destruction against us.

I've made the suggestion to Kadie (in a moment of frustration and anger) that we may have to get rid of the dog, which, of course, upset her, so I know she has developed an attachment to him. Besides, what kind of message does that send to her? "If you can't behave, we won't tolerate you and you're out the door..." This was supposed to be a learning experience for her, too - and that's not really the message that I was going for.

The 3 to 9 inches of predicted snow has now become 10 to 20 inches (that's on top of the 2 feet we already have that hasn't yet melted but an inch, if that). The storm watch is from noon tomorrow until 7 pm Wednesday. Kadie's school has been closed since 11:20 am on Friday, tomorrow is definitely off, and Wednesday is looking to be off as well. I'm getting a little sick of this. I think all three of us are feeling a bit cooped up. Maybe we'll venture out early tomorrow to get some breakfast and an angel food cake mix and whipped cream. I bought 2 pints of strawberries for Kadie's Valentine Day party that's supposed to happen on the 10th...but it's looking like that's going to be postponed, so I need to use up the strawberries.

We are under about 2 feet of wet, heavy snow and they're predicting another 3 to 9 inches Tuesday evening/Wednesday morning. Jeff has spent a great deal of time shoveling a path down to the trees for the dog to pee/poop and creating a path to drive at least one of the cars out to the adjoining "shared" driveway that the neighbors have nicely cleared about 2/3 of with a snow blower.

We have been busy pulling things out from storage to see what we have to buy for baby, and I've been washing all cloth items and cleaning all metal/plastic portions of things like the swing, the bassinet, the car seat, the stroller, and the bouncy chair. I thought having a clean car seat was a higher priority, so next on the list will be washing the baby toys we kept.

Thankfully, we either kept, or I was able to get second-hand again, all the big ticket items except for a breast pump (I'm not sure they sell those second-hand and, even if they did, I'm not sure I'd want to use a used one). I'm pulling out the gender-neutral clothing, but I don't have much from Kadie - thankfully, I was able to get a bundle of used items for a fairly good price that will probably take us up through the first 3 to 6 months without having to add much. While I'm on maternity leave, I plan to go through the bins of clothing and will try to sell as much as possible on Craig's list (my way of contributing to the bill paying during those months, if you will).

I have a three-page paper to write (due tomorrow) on Imperialism in the US...not a huge fan of the idea, but it shouldn't take me more than a couple of hours if I can get quiet ones. I have three more weeks of this class, another 5-week class, and my "final project" class (also 5 weeks long) left and I'll be completely done with my degree. If I work through the rest of the pregnancy, delivery, and postpartum, I'll be done by 10 May. I haven't decided if that's what I'm going to do though. If I make it through the rest of this class without going into labor, I just may postpone the next class until a few weeks after the birth.

What sound can't you stand?

Whining...'nuff said.

Whatever hit us, hit us hard and fast. Both Kadie and I seem to have some sort of cold or upper respiratory infection. I started feeling all clogged up with a sore throat yesterday morning and Kadie started coughing and breathing like a 50-year-old smoker about the same time. We're both feeling pretty miserable today after a night of little to no sleep, and there's nothing worse than dealing with a 6-year-old who's bored and feeling badly (wow - can we say crabby and just a little obnoxious?).

Unfortunately, it's also 37 degrees and rainy, and the puppy still needs an attendent when he goes outside, so we're trying to bundle up and make the trips quick. He's also suffering from lack of attention since neither Kadie nor I feel much like romping around on the floor at the moment.

Thankfully, tomorrow is a holiday for all of us, so we have an extra day to get over this before we have to make it through a day of school/work. So far, we've made it through the first half of the 20th season of Simpsons and I've started a load of laundry...the debate is still on whether or not that load will be followed by another, or even if that first load will get dried and/or folded.

I've been suffering from leg cramps at night - the kind that wake you up and make you feel sore the next day (like I need any more physical issues to make me limp around right now). I know pregnancy increases my odds for getting these, but there's more to this story...

For quite some time, I've been taking magnesium at night to help keep migraines at bay as it has purported muscle relaxant properties. About one week ago, I ran out of the pills and haven't gotten around to getting more. It's been the last three or four nights that I've been dealing with the cramps...coincidence?

I bought a couple of bananas this morning to try to help ward off more cramps tonight, but I'm also ordering another big bottle of magnesium.

“Life is just a chance to grow a soul.�

â€"A. Powell Davies
(1902-1957); minister

I took my first pregnancy (from either one) spill yesterday. I took Diego out for a potty break and slipped on the slope down to the trees where we take him, which still has some snow and ice on it. I landed squarely on my butt. I sat for a few minutes, trying to gauge any pains, but the only ones I found were coming from the rear. There hasn't been any bleeding, cramping, nausea, etc. and baby is still as active as ever, so we're good to go. I'm going to be extra diligent with assessing any twinges for another couple of days though. Meanwhile, I have thoroughly bruised my tailbone which, if you've ever done it, you realize is quite painful, especially when you have a desk job and a 2-hour commute every day.

The good news is that the pain from the bruised tailbone has caused me to shift the way I'm walking and standing enough to relieve some of the pain that I've been dealing with for the past two months with the pelvic girdle pain.

There's something to be said about cultures where extended families live together, with the younger females (who can physically take bearing and delivering children) having the kids, and the older females (who have the experience and patience) raising the kids.

Diego arrived late Monday night and was absolutely terrified. He refused to even look at us, much less respond to us the first night. I gave him a quick, warm bath and wrapped him in a towel (he'd been in the same crate for about 10 hours) and he fell asleep in my arms. We cleaned up the crate and put him back in and he didn't make a peep all night.

The next day, he was still cowing a bit, but he did start romping around like a puppy and Kadie got some good play time in, but she was having a hard time understanding that he needed rest. We took him to the vet and got him checked out (he's healthy and good to go at 6.6 pounds). He's working on potty training - we've had a couple of accidents, but he's doing a good job at going outside when we all get together on the same page. It could certainly be a little warmer for this business, but at least we're not tromping through several feet of snow to get to the potty spot.

This morning Jeff went downstairs to find Diego in the middle of the living room with a couple of piles around him (the crate's door apparently needs to be jiggled a bit to be sure it's locked securely). There was one very small yellow spot (the other messes were dried poop), and when I took him outside, he immediately squatted to pee, so I think he did try his best to hold the liquid.

He was very excited to see us this morning and was jumping around, wagging his tail, giving kisses, and talking a little (he hasn't been very vocal yet), so I think he's settling in to his new home and family. Kadie was very surprised to find him (she has been telling everyone that he's two days early), was having fun with him yesterday, and was up early again today to play. Jeff keeps calling him "scrawny" and complaining that there's nothing to pet but skin and bones, but even he seems taken with him.

We finally came to an agreement and are expecting a 3-1/2 month old male miniature schnauzer puppy on the 14th. I've posted a picture of him that the seller sent me in the Images section. He's considered a dark salt-and-pepper (note the silver around her nose and on his legs) and should grow to be about 14 or 15 pounds. Kadie seems to prefer Diego as a name, and I'm not against it, so unless she or I comes up with something better, that will probably be what we call him. We're having to wait a little longer so that the seller can get him fixed (on our request), but we've started the preps for when he arrives.

We had also deemed Java (our cat) worthy of chance number 3 after our neighbor returned her from a snow drift in their yard the day after the big snow storm. Since she had been outside for so long, I didn't want her in the main portion of the house until we had taken her in to get her groomed and checked for fleas, ticks, and other nasties, so we had her in the mud/laundry room with her food, water, a litter box, and a nice big towel for her to sleep on. Unfortunately, due to timing of the holidays, the first appointment we could get for her was this coming Tuesday.

She was doing fine and Kadie was enjoying having her back in the house (even if she was contained to one room) until yesterday. Kadie went in to play with her as she had been doing several times each day and she came back out rather quickly to tell me that it looked like Java had peed on her towel. Jeff and I found (and still find) this very weird. From everything we've ever heard about most cats and dogs, they will not mess the bed in which they sleep - yet, this is exactly where she peed...not in a corner, not on the floor mat, (thankfully) not right in front of the door where we would have stepped in it. Unfortunately for Java, this was the one condition under which we had agreed to let her back in the house. Neither Jeff nor I are willing to tolerate an inside cat that doesn't use the litter box.

Thankfully, when Jeff let her out, she happily ran out the door and started bounding around the yard. It would appear that she is happier out there, and as she is a Maine Coon (bred for colder climates), she seems to do quite well. She still has her nicely padded cat house on the front porch and we continue to feed and water her each day, and though she doesn't get nearly the amount of attention she would get if she were back inside the house (especially in the winter), she seems content.

What is your personal motto?

I'm sure you all know I have these tattooed on my wrist, but they're worth repeating:

Live Consciously
Practice Patience
Just Breathe

When I'm able to add more, I will be adding:

Choose

As in "choose how you handle this situation - whatever it may be."

Kadie lost her third tooth this afternoon. She lost her first tooth the day before we all came back west for a visit in September, and her second tooth the Wednesday we were there. They were the bottom front two - the third tooth is the bottom one to her left of those two (the permanent ones still being only about half to two-thirds in). I have put "find a children's orthodontist" on my to-do list as the first two are coming in very crooked (not quite sideways, but nowhere near straight) and there doesn't appear to be any room at all for the third to appear except either in front of the first two or seriously sideways itself. I know there's an apparatus they use to widen the upper palate on children, starting around seven years of age, but I'm not sure if they have an equivalent procedure for the bottom.

Since I spent the majority of Kadie's short life in braces (she has several times now told me that she prefers how I looked with the braces on), she is actually quite eager to get braces herself. I have tried to explain that she needs most of her permanent teeth in before she can get braces, but she doesn't seem to care much for the details of the matter.

CAUTION: NO EYES YOUNGER THAN TEN SHOULD READ BELOW!

Anyways, I now have to wait until a certain little girl (who's been off-schedule due to the holidays) to fall asleep before I can go to bed, so that I can creep in and switch out her tooth for a dollar. You know, parents have only themselves to blame...if we stopped lying to our kids, we wouldn't be in the position of losing sleep several times a year to play Tooth Fairy and Jolly Old Nick.

It was a balmy 16 degrees this morning as Kadie and I headed out to church - the same as it has been the past two days. Yesterday and today, due to the 40 to 50 mph gusts of wind, I'm sure it spent the majority of the day "feeling like" single digits. I'm dreading our electric bill this month. They're calling for possible snow showers tomorrow and Friday and temps right around 30 all week.

btw...for anyone looking for a good kids' movie, I highly recommend both Alvin and the Chipmunks: the Squeakquel and The Princess and the Frog. We saw the first on Christmas Eve and went to the second today. Both were chuckle worthy, even for an adult, but if you can only see one, I'd choose the Princess movie. Both captured Kadie's interest almost 100 percent - a noteworthy accomplishment.

I am seriously considering Kadie's long-standing request for a puppy at the moment, but never really realized the implications of breed characteristics when it's more than just me I'm thinking about. I found a very good web site that lists pros and cons for each breed, and I'm steering towards the miniature schnauzer both because of the reviews and the memories of Hanz and Tina.

One of their biggest pluses is that they shed very little (more like a human sheds hair) and they're energetic without being overly demanding like some of the bigger, working dogs breeds.

Mom - before I fork over the hefty price tag on a miniature schnauzer, am I romanticizing the breed? I remember both dogs being very good, very well-mannered, very trainable, very good around kids, etc., but I was a kid myself for most of the time we had them.

Jeff's biggest concerns are: barking, chewing, house training, and looks (he's already told me that he doesn't much care for the looks of a miniature schnauzer, but that may take a back seat, depending on the other characteristics).

We've been doing this just for the kids for quite some time, but if one of the bigger kids has a particular need, don't hesitate to bring it up.

Remember to list specifics if you have them (clothing sizes, color preferences, etc.).

Kadie
Amazon wish list (Search on Kadie Todnem)
We're set on clothes and we have all the movies she can use.

Violet

Zachary: Zachary is always easy...trains, cars, leggos and lately Bakugan, although I am not really certain what those are. The Fisher Price trains for his set seem to have doubled in price, at least on Amazon...maybe elsewhere for less???

Brianna: Bri really likes projects and things that keep her creating and busy. Beads, project items (glue, shapes, sparkles, macaroni's etc). Things to trace, make jewelry. She also wants a barbie lunchbox?? Barbie dolls are good I think...also books that have school work kind of things in them. She loves doing homework. Beginning reading, basic math...I am guessing kinder to first grade levels...she is relatively advanced for kinder. She really wants to learn Spanish too!

1. Our huge deployment at work is over (at least the biggest part of it is). I still have a lot of paperwork to do to document everything.

2. Kadie is now in her first big-girl bed. She's been sleeping in the same toddler bed since she was about 18 months old. This one is a twin, captain's-style bed with 6 drawers underneath. With the extra thick mattress that we got (do they make them thinner than 12 inches now days?), the top of her bed is higher than ours. She fell out the second night in it, but it wasn't serious and there haven't been any other mishaps. She's been enjoying it and the drawers put all her clothes down at a level where she can easily take them out and put them away all on her own.

UPATED: Jeff just told me she fell out last night. Still no major injuries - just not a pleasant way to wake up.

3. Kadie also got her first real haircut the Saturday before Thanksgiving. Other than trims and two chunks that Kadie, herself, removed when she was a toddler, she hasn't had a real cut. We walked into Walmart the other week and she stopped by the hair cutting place and said, "Mommy, I want my hair cut like yours." I knew Daddy wouldn't like quite that drastic a cut, so I convinced her to look at some of the books they had and she picked out a cute cut that comes to her shoulders, rounded up a little as it comes around the sides. It has a little bit of layering to make the ends curl and bounce. She told me afterwards that the cut:
-made her look cuter.
-made her sing better.

4. I FINALLY got my braces off! Three and a half years and a lot of pain...I go in next week to get my retainers. There's a small gap between my top front two teeth, but they're shaping the retainer in a way to help close that. It's so nice to not have my cheeks and lips constantly ripping and tearing, and I even ate a carrot today.

5. We got our first snow of the season today, and unlike the last two years, it was a decent one. Of course, they're calling for sun for the next three days and then a day of rain, so it will be all gone extremely soon, but we're up to about 5 inches tonight. It was pretty wet and heavy, so good for snowmen and snowballs, but not so great for sledding, though Kadie and Jeff gave it a good couple of attempts. They built an alien snowman, which Kadie named Sam and is currently lamenting his impending doom, and pelted each other with snowballs for a while.

6. Baby Todnem is healthy and kicking...fiercely and constantly. I have a little edema in my ankles and feet, but the worst thing right now is the fairly consistent heart burn. I found it's really hard to find antacids that aren't made with artificial sugars. I'm big enough for preggie clothes now and the belly makes sleeping uncomfortable. Still, I'm healthy - no flu or cold, etc. - and all seems to be going well.

If you had to go on a two-week vacation with any celebrity, who would you pick as your traveling companion and where would you go?

The first thing that came to mind when I read that was a vacation with Hugh Jackman to Australia. I've heard he's one of the nicest celebrities you can hope to find and he's very down to earth and friendly. And, what better way to explore Australia, which I've always wanted to do, then with a local? Of course, Hugh's good looks have nothing to do with the idea...really.

Hope you have a great day!

Mom called last night to see how we were doing since there was a hurricane in the area, but, true to our news-free nature, we were oblivious to that fact. We have been getting a lot of rain lately, but we've had a pretty wet year all-around, so we just thought it was more of the same. Of course, today is sunny and 70 degrees. Kadie's outside right now, playing in capris and a t-shirt and we've opened some of the windows in the house to air it out. Gotta love Maryland weather.

BTW...it's November. Being that I've been so swamped at work, and so dead tired once I get home, I've let a lot of things slip recently, one of which is Christmas shopping. Once again, I reiterate that Amazon has a great wish list function, which I make full use of for Kadie (and I've created a short one for baby now, too). You don't have to buy off Amazon (though they often run deals where you get free shipping for purchases of 25 dollars or more which is a GREAT thing considering the price of postage these days), but it will at least give you an idea of the kinds of things the kids are asking for.

If you do buy off the list, but not through Amazon, just remember to email the associated parent and let them know to update the list so your kid doesn't get two of the same thing.

For those of you who have had a gift request that cannot be found on Amazon, or just have general gift ideas, I'll do what I did last year and start a post that family members can edit.

Now I'm off to finish the laundry, clean the kitchen, cook some dinner, and write my college paper. Who said being grown up wasn't fun?

Long story short: baby is A-okay.

The concern turned out to be a bright spot on the heart which was a calcification of the heart muscle. In and of itself it's not a problem. It's seen on 2 to 5 percent of all sonograms and usually disappears by the time the baby is born. They've also followed children with the spot and have found that it doesn't affect them at all.

The research has, however, shown an extremely weak link between the spot and Down's Syndrome. So, the second sonogram was to search for other markers, none of which were found. According to all measurements, baby Todnem is extremely healthy and growing according to all norms. We also verified the money shot and are fairly positive the pink stuff can be donated.

In the end, I have a 0.03 percent chance of having a baby with Down's Syndrome simply because of my age at delivery. The one soft marker they found (the spot) increases that risk to 0.06. In a more positive light, there is a 99.4 percent chance that baby Todnem will be perfectly healthy.

I promised both the doctor and Jeff that I wouldn't dwell on this, so I will only post about this once and "move on." Last week's sonogram showed a "shadow" on baby's heart. The doctor assured me that she's positive that it's just that - a shadow, not an indication of something more serious. However, to be certain, we have an appointment at Sinai Hospital in Baltimore on Tuesday at 1100 with a sonographer who specializes in fetal heart monitoring.

I am forcing myself to push all worries to the back of mind at this point, but I would like to request some extra well wishes and prayers for now - both for baby's health and for my general well being, which is even more important right now.

Other than that, baby seems to be doing well. I can't remember how long he measured, but the doctor did say, "He's gonna be a big one." I could have told her that. This past week, baby's feet have been permanently lodged under my right-side rib cage and he frequently stretches his full length. He's a lot more active than I remember Kadie being, but then I know better now what it (fetal movement) feels like, so I'm more conscious of when it occurs.

We will, of course, let everyone know the results of Tuesday's appointment. We were told that we'd know the score before we left the hospital, so we don't have to wait for anyone to read and evaluate anything.

Nitty gritty details:

This coming Tuesday marks 20 weeks and my due date is still mid-March.

Now looking into matching a middle name to our chosen first and separating all the pink clothes from the rest. Will keep the pink ones around for now - family history has proven these things are somewhat debatable, but the picture was pretty clear to even an untrained (our) eye.

Kadie doesn't seem as disappointed as I thought she would be - she's (at this point) just excited to be a big sister.

I'm starting to really get the baby pooch (though most people still can't see it). It's getting harder to bend over and breathe at the same time (I carried Kadie "internally" and this one appears to be doing the same).

Trying desperately to ignore the massive amounts of stress from work and just now getting back to normal life at home (two weekends were spent on the trip west, the next was in North Carolina, and the fourth was in Vermont) - we still haven't fully unpacked.

I'm sitting here at my desk, typing one-handed, as I am holding a portable fan in the other - directed up my shirt. We stopped for breakfast this morning and I ordered a large tea which, unbeknown to me, had a nice little drippy hole in the bottom. Those of you who know the wonderful staining properties of tea can well understand my desire to wash out the spots as soon as I could. So there I am, standing in the women's bathroom with my face plastered to the mirror so that I can get the front of my shirt far enough into the little sink to wash out the tea. Of course, we don't have hand dryers in our bathrooms, so I threw on a sweater to make it back to my desk and am currently enduring sub-zero temperatures as the fan makes a desperate attempt to dry my shirt from the inside-out.

Who says Mondays have all the fun?

Anyone attending the little family reunion this weekend/week, please bring your cameras. Jeff left ours in the FJ when he took it down to North Carolina, so we don't have one for the trip. We'll probably pick up a disposable one, but their quality is questionable and you can't just delete the fuzzy pics.

Looking forward to seeing everyone tomorrow (or, in our case, Sunday).

Fall is upon us! The weather is cooler, the breezes are blowing, the windows are open, the noses are sneezing, and the holiday spirit has hit. I made moon cheese salad and pumpkin pies this weekend and chastised myself for not picking up a turkey.

Today was Kadie's first day of 1st grade. She's still in her old school until October, but, regardless, she's excited about being a junior this year.

We have less than two weeks before our flight out. I'm dreading the flight out a little since we'll be landing in Portland around 1:30 am our time, so I'm sure we'll be rather exhausted, but I hope all are able to bounce back quickly enough.

Hope everyone is well.

What question do you hate being asked?

The same one I just answered.

Basically, if you ask me a question and I give you an answer, don't reword it and re-ask it, just to make sure I'm sure - my answer's not gonna change. If I'm unsure of an answer, I'll let you know that when I give it to you the first time.

If you had a private jet for just one night, where would you go?

Can you get to New Zealand in one night?

Suzie - It's a few days late, but I hope you had a great birthday and did something fun and/or relaxing...or maybe just a bit crazy! Love and hugs!

Don't give swine flu drugs to children under-12
BMJ. 2009;339:b3172.

Researchers found that antivirals were no 'magic bullet'.

Children under the age of 12 should not be given Tamiflu or Relenza, the two antiviral drugs that form the cornerstone of the government's fight against swine flu, because their side-effects outweigh any benefits, Oxford University researchers said yesterday.

A study by Dr Matthew Thompson, a clinical scientist, and Dr Carl Heneghan, a clinical lecturer, found that antivirals were no "magic bullet" and only led to a minor reduction in the length of time that a child with mild sickness was ill or the chance of their spreading the disease.

The research, to be published in the British Medical Journal, said that Tamiflu caused vomiting in 5% of children, which could lead to dehydration and complications. The Oxford researchers, both GPs, said children with mild symptoms should be treated in the same way as if they had any other mild flu - with drinks to cool high temperatures and rest - and there was no need for children who were otherwise healthy to be taking Tamiflu or Relenza.

They called on the government to be clear about the limitations of the two drugs.