My sister

My little sister is 30, which is seven years younger than I am. We've never been what you'd call close, not only because of the age difference, but because we're pretty different personalities. I've always been overly responsible- as the oldest child, especially after my parents divorced when I was 12, it was my job to pick C up from daycare after school and bring her home. My brother, B, who is three years younger than I am and had a tendency to be a bit flaky, would make his way home, usually with a friend or two in tow. Once we were all home, I had to call Mom at work to notifiy her we were all home, then get the two of them a snack and oversee them while they played. (B, again, usually had at least one friend with him. His friends seemed to feel that our house was The Hangout. One of the most common visitors was best man in his wedding two years ago and sold me a car last year!) I sometimes also had to start dinner.

When C was 12, I really have no idea what she did- I only know what she didn't do, because Mom would call me at college and complain to me about it. "She doesn't clean her room, she doesn't do this, she doesn't do that..." Um, yeah, she's not my kid, don't complain to me, I always wanted to say. But I am and always have been A Good Girl, so I always listened and commiserated.

The closest I ever came to rebellion was my freshman year of college, first semester- I basically didn't study much at all. I was free to do whatever I wanted, without my mother being all over me, so I went out for pizza and bowling and hung out chatting with friends through all hours. (I was never a drinker, though- growing up with an alcoholic father cured me of that urge rather young.) Yeah, that was great, until I got my report card for that semester, and the hell that was my life at that point cured me of that- I did well for the rest of college. Not great, but well.

My sister rebelled, oh how she rebelled. She drank, smoked, and snuck out of houses at sleepovers with friends to take the bus into NYC. And she got away with it all, even when people found out about it. People made excuses for her, too!

My sister graduated college, to hear Mom tell it, by the skin of her teeth. My mother said they "let C out of school". Whatever. Three months after graduation, she had a decent job with benefits. (It took me, being all responsible and stuff, nearly a year to land a job with benefits. Yeah, me, with my medical history, lived without health insurance for nearly a year. That's a rant for another day, though...)

C quit that job six months later, without another one lined up, because it "sucked". (Yeah, try working an assembly line in a perfume factory, like I did summers while I was in college!! Or two jobs at once, like I did most of that time as well. It could not possibly have sucked more than that.) My father called me and told me to call my sister and "talk some sense into her". I started laughing. "Dad, number one, the deed is done. Number two, she's never listened to me in her entire life- what on earth makes you think she's going to start now???" C worked as a waitress for the next year or so and quit when she had a nervous breakdown. (Side note: just once in my life, I would like to feel like things would be taken care of if I had a nervous breakdown.) She worked another couple of jobs, including one somewhat related to her major at Big Time Clothing Company in NYC, on Fifth Avenue, no less.

She quit that one two years ago and went to grad school, in art therapy. I snorted when I found out. She's started and quit so many things in her life, my first thought was, "She's never going to finish. It'll be too much work for her."

She finished, graduating this past May. I don't know what she's been doing with her summer, but she leaves in nine days to go to Namibia, to do art therapy on a volunteer basis with kids there. (I hope she brings a vat of sunscreen- she's fairer than I am!)

Maybe, at age 30, she is finally growing up? I hope so. All I know is her entire life, she's gotten away with behaviors that would have gotten me reamed out at half the age she was, and people have always made excuses for her. Hell, people still make excuses for her.

And me? I've always done my best to do The Right Thing, and have always been overlooked as a result.

New baby!

One of my friends had her baby on July 29th! She just sent out the birth announcement email today. He was six pounds and some ounces, so, even though he wasn't due until, if I recall correctly, mid-August, he seems to be fine.

Hm, I never heard about a baby shower, now that I think about it...maybe she didn't have one?

Either that or we're not as good friends as I thought we were, because I wasn't invited.

RID Convention

I had a great time! One of my co-workers picked me up at my house Saturday morning and we met the other two co-workers at another house. We left there at about 10:30am, and pulled up in front of our hotel in Philadelphia at about 12:30pm. We were able to check in, even though check-in time is posted as 3pm. (This is my experience with conventions: hotels know when they are hosting one, so they generally try to have everything ready in time for conventioneers who show up early.) It took us a fair bit of doing to get up to our room- the elevators only worked if you inserted your card key into a slot in the elevator, and two of our keys didn't work! We went up, we went down, but we never hit our floor, fifteen. It was very frustrating. Of course, it took us that long for it to dawn on us that, hey, maybe the keys weren't actually working. Once we figured that out, and got new keys, we were able to find our room and get in just fine.

I had every intention of going to a workshop that afternoon, I really did. But my three coworkers were talking about going sightseeing, and, even though I've been to Philly several times before (it isn't that far from north Jersey), I blew off the workshop and went sightseeing! We went to the Art Museum, but didn't go in. The museum is famous for its front steps- Rocky Balboa ran up them during a sequence in Rocky. There's even a bronze statue of Rocky waving his hands in the air at the base of the steps. People line up to get their pictures taken with Rocky. (I did not stand in line; I just took a picture with two random dudes in it.) We also saw a wedding party getting their pictures taken in front of the museum. It's really quite pretty, and I could see why they'd choose that. (Heck, when Darrel and I went to London, we saw a wedding party getting pictures taken at the Tower of London! Yeah, nothing like starting out your married life at a place notorious for its executions.)

We also went and wandered around a bit near Independence Hall, and we went inside the new structure and saw the Liberty Bell. Two of my coworkers had never seen it before.

We ate most meals while in Philly at Reading Terminal Market, an indoor marketplace with all kinds of eateries. They were pretty cheap, too!

Weird thing that happened Saturday night: at 1:41am (yes, I blearily looked at the clock), someone knocked on the door. W got up and went to the door and looked through the peephole. "Who is it?" she snapped.

"Room service," came the reply.

"We didn't order room service. Go away!" W snapped. The thought blearily crossed my mind that maybe we should call the front desk and tell them, but we didn't. Yes, I know, stupid. The next morning, W went to the front desk and told them.

Room service ends at 10pm.

Apparently this is part of a scam- people sneak into the hotel and try to break into rooms this way. Scary, and I keep trying to reassure myself that if I were the one to go to the door, no way I would have opened it, but I'm honestly not sure. W gave a description of the guy, and they do have security cameras, but I really don't expect them to find him. W told the front desk we were scared: "He knows there's women in the room now, what if he comes back? We want more security on our floor." They did provide that- I saw the guys in uniforms wandering around.

As for how did he get up to our floor in the first place, when you can only work the elevator if you have a key? I bet he just wandered on an elevator with someone else who had a key. I saw plenty of people doing that.

Sunday, we were up early and at our first workshop at 8:30am. We had a lunch break 11am-12pm, and then back into the same workshop until 2:30pm. Break again, then workshop 4:30pm-6pm.

Monday, there was a business meeting 8-12, which I had no intention of going to, so I met my college friend, G, for brunch. He picked me up on the corner nearest the hotel and we headed for a diner nearby. The diner turned out to be closed, like grass growing through the broken pavement and vines creeping up the sides of the building closed, so we ended up at a Friday's for lunch, at 11am. It was good to see him; we don't get to hang out nearly often enough. Back to the hotel for workshop 2-5pm, then dinner at Maggliano's, across the street from the hotel.

I bought a shirt for Frank from one of the exhibitors- I got it specially made for him. It says his name in fingerspelling on the front, and has a soccer ball, basketball, and a football picture under his name. On the back, it has the manual alphabet. :) It's a bit big for him, but hey, he'll grow. ;)

Tuesday, another business meeting 8-12 (how can business take up eight solid hours???), so coworker P1 and I went sightseeing while W and P2 stayed at the hotel to relax for a while. P1 and I walked towards Independence Hall and split up there- she went to the Jewish Museum and then back to the Art Museum, this time to go inside, while I went to the relatively new Constituion Center. It's a museum devoted solely to the Constituion. I spent about two hours there, and could have spent longer! It is a history geek's fantasy come to life, seriously. I bought Darrel a shot glass there, and some post cards for one of my loyal readers. *waves at Deb* I wandered around that area a bit, and headed back to the hotel for workshops 2-5pm, and 6:30-8pm.

Wednesday was our last day. We were up early and packed, and in our final workshop at 8:30am. When we broke for lunch at 11am, we ran back to the hotel, got a luggage cart, and handed it all over to the bellhop and we checked out. The bellhop labeled it for us and put it somewhere it'd all be safe. We ran to Reading Market, grabbed something quick, and ran back to the workshop, which finished at 2:30pm. After that, we went back to Reading Market again to wander around a bit more, then back to the hotel, got P2's car, loaded it up, and left at 3:15pm. Dropped off P1 at her house, then drove to P2's house, where W and I got W's car. W then drove me back to my house and headed west to her house. I walked in the door at 6:15pm. Frank smiled at me. "Hi, Mommy!" he said. "Dragontales is on!" I can see he was traumatized by my absence.

Before we'd left on Saturday, Darrel had commented to me, "Driving down and rooming with three coworkers? This could end really well or really badly." I am pleased to say that it ended really well- we got along great the whole time! We were even polite when we saw Toxic Former Coworker during a few of the workshops.

I'm looking forward to the Region 1 convention in Albany next summer, and the national convention in 2011 in Atlanta. :)

Pictures will, of course, be forthcoming. We are getting a new computer, and I am waiting for the new computer before I upload all my new pictures. Hopefully Darrel will have time soon to put it all together and set it up!

Wedding video

Check this site out:

http://www.jkweddingdance.com/?562033c0

The happy couple is taking their popularity and channeling it towards a worthy cause- prevention of domestic violence. So, check the site and the video out!

RID Convention!

The Registry of Interpreters for the Deaf (RID) is having their biannual national convention, starting tomorrow. For the first time in an almost ten-year career as an interpreter, I am going. It's in Philadelphia this year. Three coworkers and I are driving down together and rooming together. We figure we'll all become each others' bestest buddies or be ready to kill each other by the time we come home Wednesday night.

I'm really excited about it. I get really energized by conferences, workshops, or conventions. I guess it's because I love what I do? Or maybe it's just being around a whole bunch of other people who do the same thing I do, which, I admit, is somewhat out of the ordinary; we tell jokes that only other interpreters (or deaf people) would get, and when we swap work stories, they don't have to be prefaced with a huge explanation beforehand to explain why the story is funny or whatever. I just know I always come back totally gung ho to get back into the classroom.

I amalso looking forward to not having to carry around a diaper bag for FIVE WHOLE DAYS. I won't need to worry about packing enough for Mr Picky, or making sure there's enough wipes, or what do I pack for him to drink. I won't need to change a diaper for FIVE WHOLE DAYS. I won't need to make chicken nuggets and cut them up for FIVE WHOLE DAYS.

I'm really excited.

Stuff

Okay, first off, if you haven't yet watched this video, watch it now:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NbxnfGvEojg&feature=related

I've watched it several times, and each time, it makes me smile. Everyone just looks so incredibly happy, which is how a wedding should be. I mentioned it to my favorite deacon, a 70-year-old woman, today at church, and she beamed. "Oh, I saw that on the news! I haven't seen the whole thing, but what I saw, I loved! All weddings should be that happy!" When I got home, I emailed her the link for the whole video.

Frank is doing well. Thursday we stayed home all day, and my mother in law came over. She stayed for dinner and overnight, leaving Friday at 12:30pm, when I put Frank in for a nap. By Friday, he was acting a bit more cranky, which eventually I figured out was because the kid was bored, so I took him to the library and to a couple of stores after his nap. That improved his mood a great deal. Over the weekend, he's been fine, too, except when we had to give him his medication (an antibiotic- preventatively, and ear drops). He hates them both, and cries the whole time I put the ear drops in. Fortunately, yesterday was the last day for the drops, and tomorrow is the last time for the pink medicine.

I'm watching a show right now entitled "I Didn't Know I was Pregnant". I wish my pregnancy had been so easy that I didn't know I was pregnant!

Saturday I leave for Phildelphia for five days, for the national conference of the Registry of Interpreters for the Deaf (RID). I'm driving down with three coworkers, and rooming with them, and I can't wait! It's going to be so much fun. Oh, and I think I can get all the CEUs I need for the entire year in five day, too. :) I'm meeting a friend of ours from college, G, for brunch on Monday morning. He lives in NJ, just outside Philly.

I've been trying to weed, and get an hour here and an hour there done, but it's hard- number one, herding Frank at the same time makes it somewhat unproductive, so I have to wait until he's in for a nap, and number two, the mosquitoes are TERRIBLE this year! I have so many bites, and I think a couple of them got infected. I scar very easily, too, so it doubly sucks.

We finally got the deck furniture this week we ordered from Target in early May, and got it up today. It looks nice. Things are finally starting to look put together around here!

Surgery

Frank's surgery was this morning, at 9:30am. I wasn't terribly nervous about it until I got the phone call on Monday telling me the time it was slated for. I've been reading a couple of books to him about hospitals the past few days- Curious George Goes to the Hospital and Harry Goes to the Hospital. I've been talking the past few days about how, "Wednesday, we'll all go to the hospital. You'll go to sleep and the doctor will fix your ears, and when you wake up, Mommy and Daddy will be there." I'm honestly not sure how much of that he got, really.

He was in a great mood when we woke him up this morning, and was singing "Bob the Builder" the entire way to the hospital. This can get quite grating after a minute or so, because he only really knows the "Bob the Builder/Can we fix it/Bob the builder/yes we can!" part. He mumbles his way through the rest of it, and then sings nice and loud again for the chorus...and insists that whoever is in the car sings with him.

We got to the hospital at 8:20am, signed in, and I filled out paperwork while Darrel entertained Frank. At 9:15am, they took us back in, and we had more paperwork. We got Frank into his PJ bottoms and the blue hospital gown top. He sat there and cried the whole time. Once we identified to the nurse that I was the parent who was going into the OR with him, she gave me an outfit to put on over my clothes; as Darrel put it, "Look, Frank- Mommy looks like she's ready to go clean up a toxic waste dump!" It was a one piece white (disposable) jumpsuit, booties of the same material, and a hat. (If you've seen ER, then you know what kind of hat I am talking about.) The jumpsuit zipped up the front.

We then went to another waiting area, this one with some toys, which cheered Frank up a bit. Oh, and the nurse gave him stickers, too, which are always a winner. We met with the anesthesiologist there, and Dr G came in to talk to us for a few minutes. Darrel had never met Dr G before, so I introduced them, (Darrel's comment later: "Boy, their styles [both ENT doctors] really are very different!") Once that whole thing was over, it was time. We took Frank's shoes off, and I followed Dr G and carried him into the OR. The OR looked exactly like the one in the Curious George book, a fact I pointed out to Frank...who was not at all impressed by it, mostly because he'd been crying constantly since we took his shoes off.

I sat him down on the table, and the anesthesiologist moved him towards the pillow/head area, so that he was sitting there, looking at me, with his back to her. She gently placed the mask on his face, and held him and the mask firmly. He didn't fight- he just sat there crying, looking utterly defeated. I gently held his hands, told him I loved him, he was doing a great job, and when he woke up, Daddy and I would be there. In less than a minute, he was completely limp- it took me by surprise as to how quickly it happened, truthfully. And it was a bit creepy seeing it happen, and seeing him so limp like that, more limp than when he's sleeping, even!

Dr G escorted me out of the OR and pointed me back towards where Darrel was waiting. He also complimented me on how well I'd done. "Yeah, we get some parents in here...they get very emotional, which obviously doesn't do the kids any good. You did a great job and so did he."

Darrel and I went back out to the waiting room. 45 minutes later, Dr G came out- everything went fine, Frank was in recovery, and when he woke up, someone would get us. 15 minutes after that, we were informed that he was awake. We hurried back, and he was sitting on a full-size gurney, looking so tiny...and crying. As I approached him, he sobbed, "Can you pick me up?" We maneuvered the IV lines and pulse ox monitor, and I picked him up and held him. They wheeled the gurney out and a recliner chair in, and I sat on that, holding him. He lay his head on my shoulder again and fell asleep almost immediately, and stayed asleep for another hour, when we were moved to the secondary recovery area. He woke up enough at that point to indicate something of an interest in a Teletubbies video they had there...and threw up, twice. It was pretty much all blood and mucus the first time, and it wasn't much- apparently that'll happen because it gets into his stomach during the surgery. The scond time, it was applesauce and "Grover juice" (white grape juice, so called because there's a picture of Grover on it).

We left at close to 1pm. He fell asleep in the car almost before we left the parking lot. As I told my mother later, "It was like he was narcoleptic- he was crying, 'Waaaa-'. I looked back at him, and he was snoring!" He slept the whole way home, waking up when I undid his carseat. We tried to get him to drink or something, and he drank a few sips of Grover juice...and yakked all over one of our couches and himself and me. *sigh* (Side note: I think I need a new couch, it's that bad.) However, once I was changing his clothes after this fiasco, he looked up at me and announced in a clear voice, "I feel all better now!!" *giggles*

A short while later, he said his belly was hurting again. I took a chance because he wasn't being whiney about it (With him, whiney + "my belly hurts" usually = vomit soon; statement of fact about belly hurting usually means extreme hunger.) and gave him half a bagel...which he tore into like a freaking animal, he was so hungry!! I cautioned him to go slowly, but he kept tearing into it. He kept that down, drank a full Grover juice, ate a few bites of applesauce, and two chicken nuggets between 4pm and 7:30pm. I think he'll be fine. ;)

Side note: His voice is really high pitched now. It sounds like he's been sucking on helium. (They had told me this could happen, and should clear in a few days.) It's freaking hilarious. I have to work to keep from giggling each time the kid talks!