So let's play catch up...

or maybe not? The last five weeks or so are a blur, and I am not sure why. I don't think anything monumental occured. I think it was just the activity of three kids and summer.

July:
* I took Oldest out to Melissa's salon for haircuts. We had a good time - even though we could not find a place to eat dinner afterwards. California Kitchen was packed, Chili's had no room in the parking lot either, King of Prussia mall is overwhelming so we wound up at Ruby Tuesday's. Not what I had envisioned, but it was good and it was about Oldest and I spending time together - not about the food.

* I enrolled Youngest at a new preschool for the coming year. They deal with the IU and that is good since the hearing aid will be in place. I am hoping she will find more friends living close by for more playtime. The big plus is it is only 2 minutes from the house - so much less driving and so much less gas.

August:
* I took the kids back to Virginia Beach to visit my parents. We had a blast. I think each day had a great highlight

1. We (Mom, the girls & I)went to Sandbridge for the day; I realized how much I truly miss living 7 minutes from the ocean - I have to find a way to get closer to the water. Living among the cornfields isn't working for me.



2. We (Mom, Dad, the girls & I) went to Doumar's for lunch. Oh, yum!!! I have loved this place since I was a little girl when Grammy took me. It has limeade that is to die for and BBQ with extra slaw that is scrumptious. We found out while we were there that Guy Fieri from Food Network's Diners, Drive-ins & Dives came to do a story on them. I remembered to watch it once I got back to lovely PA.
After Doumar's, Mom & I took the girls to the Virginia Zoo. We went quite a few times when we lived in VB and now try to go when we go back to visit. Love the zoo. Oh, the girls love the $$$ Pop-Pop gave them for webkinz. The best part of that day for them.






3. Dad, Middle, Youngest & I went shopping at Target. Luckily Dad did not give in and purchase anymore toys for them.

4. Mom took the girls back to school shopping. They came home with new outfits and shoes. Trying out the new yogurt place, The Skinny Dip was a great way to end our shopping excursion.

5. We went out to dinner for Mexican - yummy - and went swimming at my godmother's house.

* Oldest and I took a ride out to Hershey to go to the scrapbook store so that I could get supplies for the family history album I am going to do for Dad. We stopped at Red Robin for a quick bite. Again it was nice to have a little one on one time with my oldest since I don't get to do that as often. She is so busy.

* Aunt Melissa came out to visit and gave both Middle and Youngest a great back to school haircut. Thank you, Melissa. XO!

* Oldest had volleyball try-outs for high school. Nope, didn't make it this year. She is OK with that. She will still be there supporting her friends.

* Oldest went to the Paramore concert in Philly with Melissa then got to stay the night at Mel's.

* Ash picked up her schedule for high school! How the hell did that happen? I just dropped her off in kindergarden. I am sooo not ready for a high schooler. We took a tour of the school and scoped out her classes. She felt pretty ready for the first day.

* Abs had Open House at her new school. WOW!!! The $$ that went into building that school really shows. It is beautiful. Everything is so new and clean and colorful. We are very excited about her teacher, Mrs. M. I think she will be a perfect match for Abs.

* Aud got her hearing aid. A very emotional day for her. Abs did such a nice job of trying to sooth her. Not much worked though except for the promise of the new Webkinz goldfish. We found "Bubbles" after the appointment. It seemed to keep Aud calm for a little while.

* We went to the pool a few other times - but the weathter has been so mild which makes the spring fed pool even chillier.



* We hosted the neighborhood picnic. I think everyone had a fantastic time especially my husband. ;-) The food was fantastic, but the company was even better. We have plans to do neighborhood movie night next.

* Finally school started this past week. Structure is back in our lives. So is homework.

Coming up next...the first day of school

The good part of the visit...

Friday:
Our drive down was fast and uneventful. We left our house at 1:45 PM and made it to Mom and Dad's by 7:00ish. That was the fastest we have ever made the trip. I think it really helped that we did not make the usual stop at Chick-Fil-A for an hour. We only stopped by Wawa for a few food items and drinks. The kids were fantastic and watched movies or listened to the iPod. Had a little dinner after arriving and then set up the bedrooms for the kids.

Saturday:
The girls spent the morning in the IT center (otherwise known as the dining room.) We went to MacArthur Center for a little family time. Dad could get his walk in and the rest of us got out of the house. Mom wound up doing a little shopping at Ann Taylor and J. Jill. I found her a great jean skirt and cute shirt and was totally thrilled when she bought them. Middle and Youngest got new Webkinz - a Chihuahua for Middle and a Bulldog for Youngest. They loved them. Oldest and J hit up the Apple store.
Saturday night we cooked out since we didn't get to on July 4th. Dinner was great and easy clean-up.













Sunday:
Since we spent most of the day at the Urgent Care and the ER, dinner was great. Neither J or I had any lunch and nothing at the ER so we were famished. Mom had ordered an entire turkey, dressing and gravy from the club since we couldn't go there to eat. Eric and T came up and brought Ben for us to meet. He is a cutie. Dinner was soooo good. Thanksgiving in July.

Monday:
Ash spent the day hanging out with Amanda and Sam. They went to see Hancock at the movies and then hung out for a while. Ash then spent the night at Amanda's which was fantastic cause it gave her a break out of the sick house. Audrey hung out with J and Pop-Pop since I had to take Abs back to CHKD for a check-up. Abs got a new Webkinz (again) since we promised her with all of the tests and shots she got from her ER visit. The great part was that the Webkinz of the Month was free with the purchase of Abs horse so Aud got a new one too - a Cheeky Monkey.

Tuesday:
Ash spent the day with Amanda hanging out and watching movies. J took Audrey to the Virginia Aquarium (that name sounds so unfamiliar as it was always the Virginia Marine and Science Museum.) They had a blast and even took a boat ride in the inlet. That made me nervous as another storm was rolling thru. J said he also rode by the old house and neighborhood. Our old house is 8 years old now; apparently the landscaping has really grown and looks great. We ate turkey dinner again - always good.

Wednesday:
J. left this morning to go to Nashville. Mom was great and took him to the airport so I didn't have to get up early since I had been up half of the night again with Abs. Aunt T came up with Ben again and spent the day with us. She made the girls spaghetti for lunch and Abs ate some - which was fantastic. Mom was able to come home early since Dad went into work for a while. Aud performed another piano concerto for everyone. Ash went to the mall with Sam and then over to his house to hang out. Eric came over, so we all had dinner together. We cooked out again which was another quick easy meal. YUM!

Catching Up - Past

OK - pinky swear aside - I did mean to catch up the other day. Life, it got in the way again.

December:
Christmas was fantastic. Oldest loved the cell phone and was blown away that she got one. So far, so good with it.

Mom and Dad were able to make the drive up to visit. They stayed for a few days - we hit up Target and both outlets (Tanger and Rockvale.) Mom did pretty well with the shopping especially since she hates to go.

January:
1st - Middle and I ran in the New Year together. Yes, my 6 year old made it to midnight and actually even later. She realized that it was AM and thought she should just stay up. Yeah, that didn't happen.

3rd - made a road trip with Youngest to Timonium, Maryland to hit up the Recollections Scrapbook store since it was closing. We had a good time, and she was a huge help with picking out new supplies. She was great for throwing Memory Makers paint in my basket - everyone had to have their own color.

5th - Middle's first basketball game, and Daddy is the coach. She did OK - a little 'tude, but it worked out overall. The I had a date with J to Panera Bread that night. Oldest watched the younger two so we could go out for an hour. It was sooooo nice to eat by ourselves and just talk. We went over to the Kirkland Outlet and the Restoration Hardward Outlet, but didn't buy a thing.

6th - the sickness came....Middle was throwing up in the bathroom @ 1 AM. Oh, my gracious - NASTY!!! I don't know what she picked up, but it was B-A-D.

7th - Youngest failed her second hearing test. We now have the referral to the ENT doctor. Make an appt. with Dr. Tom of CHoP. He is suppose to be very good.

11th - Oldest has a tooth pulled to make the braces work this time. They better for 4 freakin' thousand dollars.

12th - went to Julia's crop in Maryland for the day. Oh, how nice to have a little time for myself. J is fantastic about that.

14th - Oldest gets the rest of the braces on. She picks pink - who knew? Last year she despised pink. Teenagers.

19th - Middle scores her first basket in basketball. Way to go, girl!! She was so proud of herself.

20th - decide it might be time to move since the new house next too us is in our front yard. Yeah - that SUCKS!!!! We are so very pissed off at our builder. Talks with him are ongoing to try to rectify this situation. We went to look at a few new houses today - but we were not blown away by any.

21st - took Oldest to see 27 Dresses and out to dinner at Macaroni Grill for a Girls' Day Out. She seemed to have a great time hanging out with Mom. The movie was good - it is a total Chix Flix.

22nd - Middle to the peds because enough is enough with this mess. I am tired of her being so sick. Not much to do but let it run its course.

23rd - took Middle out to breakfast since the "issue" seems to be subsiding. Just to be safe, she sticks with the BRAT diet. We went over to see J at school. Middle took a picture to him that she had colored at breakfast. Went to look at a house tonight in a neighborhood with tons of kids, but it was a no go. The backyard was not workable since it was straight down. The basement; however, was clean enough to eat off of.

24th - Youngest sick again

25th - Youngest too sick to sing in Winterfest.

26th - Middle - peds again. HIVES. Ugh... a side effect of the virus she has been fighting for three weeks

28th - meet with the real estate agents about selling the house. We might lose 3 - 4% due to the placement of the house next door. We are PISSED OFF to say the least. Oh, and I do NOT want to pay them $20,000 as their commission to sell my house. Ridiculous. I've never paid anyone that amount to sell my house - won't start now.

29th - take Youngest to Wal-Mart to pick up some groceries and stuff for Oldest's BD Party - find a big ol' nail in the tire. The tire is going "SSSSSSSS" and going down. High tail it back in the car and go over to H&F to get it fixed. Of course, it is also raining and freaking cold. Figures.

31st - Youngest's first appt. with Dr. Tom. Tests with the audiologist. Nothing conclusive except that she has a conductive middle ear hearing loss. At the point the cause is unknown. CT Scan is the next step. Schedule that for February 6th in King of Prussia.

February:
1st - Oldest's BD Sleepover. She seems to have a good time, and they were asleep by 11 PM. What is up with that? They are 14!! It's OK - I'll take it.

2nd - Oldest's 14th Birthday. How the hell did that happen? I was just taking her to her first day of kindergarten the other day. Crazy, crazy, crazy how time is flying.
We went rollerskating as a family. This was a first and tons of fun!! Willow Street sponsored it. Youngest did a better job than Middle - and then Youngest promptly threw a fit when it was time to leave. I had a fantastic time - I haven't skated in years, but picked it up again easily. I even went BACKWARDS!!!

4th - started my One in 48 class with Hillary Heidelberg's NYCScraps. Great sketches to work with and color schemes.

5th - Middle's 100 Days of School Celebration. She had to dress as a 100 year old woman. Yeah, she wasn't too into it, but some of the other kids were. Very original costumes.
Oldest had High School pre-registration. OMG! Stop growing up so damn fast.

That is it for the PAST. Now onto the Present....

Updates

Our trip to Virginia Beach was anything but what I imagined. The trip took 6+ hours due to potty stops and lunch, but we finally arrived about 4:30 pm just in time for my dad's heart attack. WTF? He knew something wasn't right that day and looking back now he knows that something wasn't right for about a week. Dad said he did not want to go to the doctor or the ER because the girls and I were on the way. He is damn lucky nothing else happened. I am soooo not ready to be dealing with my parents and illnesses. He is only 65 - still has a LOT of life left. Hear that, Dad????

So I drive into the driveway and cautioned the girls not to go running into the backyard because: 1. the brick sidewalk is askew due to the roots under it and 2. I don't know if Dad is awake or asleep. We walk back and go on the porch. Of course, he is awake, and his neighbor, Doug, is there too. (Doug has been a god send playing nurse to Dad as he has recuperated from three, yes, three surgeries in the past 5 months.) Doug grabs me and says, "Your dad isn't feeling well and won't call the doctor. Something isn't right."

I got Dad into the house and started going thru the papers on the various drugs he has to take. The drug pamphlet for Naproxen says in BIG BOLD letters to watch for heart attack signs. Um, yeah - that would be what he has. I called the dr. and left a message cause, of course, it is after hours. The nurse/dr. returns my call and says, "Go to the ER." OK, Dad. We are taking a little trip (this is now 5:30 pm) so he goes to change his clothes. Meanwhile Mom has arrived from work. Let her know I am taking him in. I think she was in total shock as she did not fight me to take him in. Load Dad into his Explorer and off we go to the new Princess Anne ER. I was a nervous wreck driving to the ER even though it was only 10 minutes from their house. I don't do medical situations well AT ALL.

The ER was great - only one person ahead of us. Great staff and doctor. ER dr. doesn't think he is having cardiac issues, but maybe a P.E. (pulmonary embolism) due to the chest pain. Nope, the blood work says "Cardiac Episode" - what a nice way to say HEART ATTACK. So the indigestion and sweating Dad had at 3 AM that morning was the heart attack itself. Ugh.... now we are gonna be transferred to Sentara Leigh cause they have the heart cath lab. At 11:30 PM he is finally transferred to Leigh. Fun part - the Virginia Beach Amphitheater is right behind the hospital and had a concert that night. Yeah - all the concert goers are leaving at the same time we are. Oh, the joy! I traded places with Mom - she went to Leigh, and I went to their house to stay with the girls. No sleep for me. I laid down about 2 am and Youngest woke up at 5:30 am. Oh, thank God for caffeine.

Oh, my gracious. I think I went into overdrive (as Patti called it) cause I wasn't emotional at all. That is EXTREMELY unlike me. I don't do medical problems very well (did I tell you that?), but damn if I didn't keep it together for my parents.

Wednesday was the cath lab, angiogram, and angioplasty. The Obtuse Marginal (??) is a sub-artery in the back of the heart. It was 90% blocked, so it was ballooned and then a stent was inserted. Dad was an absolute bear after because he was in so much pain from his back/neck where the laminectomy was and the oxycodone withdrawl. This coming from a man who is usually so laid back and gracious. Two hours in the cath recovery then off to another room for more intensive nursing. By Thursday morning he looked and acted so much better. The doctor was helping him eliminate the oxy by giving him Ativan for the anxiety. I was happy it was working really well cause he needed to come off the oxy. What an addicting drug!

Friday morning Dad was released to come home - but the dr. barely gave him an indications as to what kind of damage was done by the heart attack, what to do as far as exercise or eating, or his meds. We were even sure about wearing the bone stimulator for his neck. We took matters into our own hands and started calling and researching. Gracious - you would think that the doctor would be a little more concerned about the next 2.5 weeks until the follow-up appt. I am not too impressed with the discharge. The dr. who did the discharge even forgot to tell Dad to take the baby aspirin every day. OMG - that needs to be taken with the Plavix everyday. A blood clot could develop around the stent otherwise. Moron!!!

My poor girls got the brunt of this. My sister-in-law, Thierry or "T", came up from Carolina and kinda took over the younger two. They had lots of fun making Barbie clothes, going to Aunt T's house and playing, and getting new Barbie furniture. She was a blessing. Ashley was OK on the computer or hanging out. She finally got to spend some time with Sam too - they hung out at his house, and I took them to the skate park at Mt. Trashmore so Sam could teach her to skateboard. Sam's family was great to her while we were in VB. Very accommodating about having her over and spending time with them.

Once Dad was home, Mom became a not so nice person to be around. I think all of her emotions over the way this year has been really came to the surface. I know she is mad, scared, frustrated, disappointed, and any other negative emotion. Taking care of Dad so intensively is not what she bargained for in addition to running the business. The heart attack was kinda the final straw. I really hope that for both of their sakes that Mom will come to terms with Dad's physical issues and be more compassionate. I know she logically knows he did not do anything to cause his injuries, but I believe she is very angry at Dad for how it has affected her life. She is such a Type A personality and likes control over everything - which isn't going to help in this situation. Dad needs someone who is motivating and gentle. Not the steamroller she can be. But with all of this said, she did "brag" to her best friend how Thierry and I took over the meals, laundry, cleaning, etc. so she didn't have to do anything while Dad was in the hospital. I just wish she had told Thierry and I this instead of telling us we were doing stuff wrong.

I did get Dad to take a walk on Sunday; however, I think he pushed it way too much and told him so. He walked too far, so today he walked just around the court and then worked on the rehab exercises for his knee and neck. Much better. Mom was in a better mood when I talked to her tonight. Hopefully it will last.

OK - I think this is most of the heart attack info. I will edit if I remember more. God, what a week. Not fun. I am not ready to deal with this yet - my parents are still too damn young to be pulling this mess. Straighten up!

My dad had a heart attack

I am beyond tired so this will be short. I brought the girls down to my parents' home for a visit. Drove over 6 hours from PA to Virginia Beach. Got here at 4:30. By 6 I was in the ER with my dad. This sucks!!!!!!!!