A Good Day

Ned took me to -- where else? -- Kaiser yesterday for my weekly butt check. 

The results are good.  They have been measuring the wound and last week it was .6 whatevers and this week it is .5 whatevers.  So it is shrinking.

They did a consult with the nurse practitioner about whether to put silver nitrate on it again, or not, to speed the healing.  I said that my preference would be no, but if they thought they should, fine (the thing stings something fierce).  The NP decided that since it's not hurting as much and continues to shrink, they won't

They asked if I wanted to come back next week and I said no, but would make an appointment if it seems necessary

So my butt is so much better, I may not need medical assistance any more, after only 2-1/2 months.

When I left, I told the nurse that the next time I saw her would be probably next week when I came back for a flu shot, which they are supposed to start giving next week.  She pointed to another nurse, just outside the door and said I could get it today, that they had started giving it a week early, so I got my flu shot and I'm now all good to go.

Walt is walking slowly, sleeping a lot, and sitting gingerly, but he's definitely getting better too.

It was a good day!

Ned finished cleaning the guest bedroom for Caroline, who arrives tomorrow night, he went shopping, got a crock pot dinner going for us, and headed back home after 3 days here.  He will be back today to take me to visit my mother and to wash the kitchen floor.  Whadda guy!

Yesterday was also Lacie's 7th birthday.

and we made a video birthday song to text to her.

Ned and Marta finished their birthday video for her.  Ned started making a video a year for Brianna and made the last one on her 10th birthday (he told her it would be the last one), but they needed to find something to do for Lacie and so they started making a puppet show a year for her.  She has 3 more to look forward to.

She is all excited because she got a new bike for her birthday.

We also bought a bike helmet for her American Girl doll, which was on her wish list.

And so the day passed more or less uneventfully, but happily.  A good day

Conferences

Another day of "mom-stuff."

It started at 10 when we went to Atria to meet Sean, the nurse who does assessments for her long term care insurance company.  Ned came too and was invaluable, keeping her "entertained" with jokes and explaining things to her.  Every time Sean asked me something and I answered him, my mother would mutter to Ned that we were talking about her and not letting her know what was going on.  I would try to explain what I had just told Sean, she would tell Ned she didn't understand a word I said and Ned would explain it to her over and over again. He was very patient and the day would have gone so much worse if he had not been there.

Finally someone has given her a comprehensive mental health evaluation, the results of which didn't surprise me, but I wish it had been done when I first asked for it >10 years ago (and several times since then) so we had a baseline. But this is better than nothing.  Most questions she couldn't answer (including how old she is), and she could not completely copy a simple figure he asked her to copy (two overlapping 5-sided figures.  She drew one.)  She aced the physical part, for balance and that sort of thing, but anything that involved mental calculation was pretty much a disaster.

I had to laugh when he asked her how often she went out of the building and she told him she occasionally went out for walks, sometimes to go shopping.  Since she is afraid of going out of the building, doesn't know where the nearest store is and has no money in her purse..I don't think so!

I had dropped off her meds with the front desk and realized that her Norco, the pain med, says one tablet 2 times a day, but the doctor said to start with half and see how that goes.  Since it seems to be working with just a half, I mentioned that she was only getting half.  They told me that without an order from the doctor, they would follow what was on the bottle.

So I came home and emailed the doctor.  Her nurse called back and said that Atria had also called them and they were faxing over a revised prescription.

Then it was time to go to the conference with Cindy, my dentist, about the exam she did on my mother a couple of weeks ago.  

There are lots of problems, but only one that is dangerous enough that it should be taken care of now (an extraction). Cindy is so good and so understanding.  Given my mother's age, she says that the remaining problems can be on a "watch" basis and if she starts having pain, we can deal with them at that time.  Cindy, like me, wishes she knew how much longer my mother has so she knows which dental problems are important to deal with and which are OK to just let go for now.

So I had the whole rest of the afternoon with no Mom to take care of.  But she has an appointment at 10 am. tomorrow for her EEG, an appointment which is in Sacramento and I should allow an hour to get there, because of rush hour traffic. When they set up the appointment they told me to tell her to stay up late and get up at 3 a.m.  Yeah.  Right.  I kept saying "you understand she has dementia, right?"  I guess the idea is they want her sleepy when she comes in, but since I'm going to have to wake her at about 8:30, that's probably a given.

---

But with all this dementia business, the bright spot in the day is that Lacie turned 5 years old yesterday.

Apparently, Lacie is developing a love of cooking, which is not surprising since Tom is a great cook and he has always had the girls help him.  Laurel told me recently that Brianna has started timing  Lacie when she cooks because she's convinced her sister will end up on Chopped some day.

Her parents gave her a doll's kitchen, which they gave her before Tom left on a business trip. 

For Christmas, the girls each received American Girl dolls and so I bought her a complete Chef's Doll clothing set, which included hat, bandana, baker's jacket, pants and shoes for her doll.

Too bad we don't have the outfit that a friend made for Tom for some show the kids were doing.  He was supposed to be a baker and she made him a jacket with "Baker" written in big letters on it and then I think there was also a chef's hat.

In truth, it looked a little silly and the director was furious because that was not what she wanted, but the seamstress was so proud of her work and so Tom wore it in the show...and probably stuck out like a sore thumb.

I'll have to see if I can find the pictures to send to Lacie.

Her party is being held at a restaurant that has kids' parties, where the kids get to use the kitchen and make stuff.  I'm anxious to get a report from Walt, who is flying down for the party (we can't both go because I don't want to ask Ashley, who is still settling in with newborn Gabe, to dog sit yet, so either one of us has to stay home with the dogs, or I have to kill Polly (who would freak out if we tried to board her). Walt is going for the party and I will drive down in a couple of weeks to watch the girls play soccer.

Where is the Bouncy House?

What if you invited 10-15 four year olds, their parents and their siblings to a party at which the bouncy house was one of the main attractions...and the bouncy house did not show up? That was the situation facing Tom and Laurel when it got to after 11 a.m., the invite time, little kids started arriving and there was no bouncy house...and not only that, but the company they hired was not answering their phone.

To keep the kids occupied at this Finding Nemo themed party, they fired up the movie on the outdoor TV and the kids started watching, but Amazon instant video was having problems and there would be 25 seconds of movie and 15 seconds of buffering. Over and over again. Things were not looking good for the party, though Lacie was too excited to notice.

Fortunately they had also hired a face painting lady and she showed up and everyone lined up to get their face painted.

Finally the bouncy house arrived and it was set up in no time.  I was amused to notice that they had velcro signs that they attached to the front when it was set up, with a Little Mermaid theme.  Presumably had this been a Superman theme, there would be a superhero velcro sign affixed!

It was an afternoon of mayhem and fun, the most fun watching all those painted faces get together, especially during a tense moment of the movie.

I loved Bri watching with her best friend from school.

Somewhere in there, a mountain of pizzas was delivered, including dairy free and gluten free choices.

I missed the cake cutting and candle blowing because I didn't know it was happening and by the time I realized it was, there were 40 billion people with cameras in front of me.  Presumably eventually one of those photos will be posted on Facebook.

A professional grade snow cone maker had come with the bouncy house, so after the kids finished cake, Tom was making snow cones for whoever wanted one...and it was a good thing, since it was so hot that the ice felt good, even after cone making was done and snowball fights started!

The kids had been asked not to bring gifts.  Some brought flowers or balloons. The only ones who brought gifts were the kids of long-time friends of Tom and Laurel, which Lacie opened after most of the kids left.  There was still a pile to get through. Laurel's mother had given her a Little Mermaid nightgown and when she opened it, she was very excited and said "I've been wanting this for years!" Then we had given her a Frozen nightgown and after she opened it she took both nightgowns into her room to put them away before she finished opening packages. The kid's not a Virgo, but darn near!

And then, because this is the computer age, there was a Facetime call to her other grandfather so he could watch her open the gifts he sent.

After she opened her gifts, she took the phone outside to show him the bouncy house.

So, despite a rocky start, the day was a big success and Lacie had a wonderful time.  So did everyone else. Her grandparents were worn out.

Lacie's Turn

If yesterday was all about Brianna, today was all about Lacie...and she seemed to know it.   Her christening was held at the Lutheran Church in which Laurel was raised and Lacie was at her very best.  Not so much as a frown out of her through the whole christening itself, and then the Sunday service which followed.

She smiled and charmed everybody.

Brianna, taking a back seat today, managed to find her own way of getting attention.

It was a nice, brief ceremony.  Lacie's godparents are "Happy Steve," who officiated at Tom and Laurel's wedding back in 2003, and his wife Melinda.  Laurel's mother and stepfather were also on the altar during the ceremony.

After the ceremony was over, we took pictures outside of Lacie with her godparents.

It was a very windy day!

A reception was held at Laurel's mother's house in Nipomo, which is about an hour and a half north of Santa Barbara.  Lacie was glad to get out of her christening finery and be a regular little toddler again.

We headed home around 2 and were home by 7:30.  On the way we finished the audio book, "The Sixth Man" by David Baldacci, which is an interesting book to listen to when you fade in and out of consciousness (me, not Walt!).

It's good to be home and I am about to gratefully climb onto the couch and get some real sleep!

The Torch Has Been Passed

It's official.  The future is in the hands of the next generation.  Today I taught Brianna how to make clam dip.

You have to understand that clam dip is rather sacrosanct around here and it is a Very Big Deal to pass the secret recipe along to Brianna (not that there is anything magical--take 8 oz of cream cheese, drain a small can of minced clams, add clams to cream cheese and stir, adding bits of drained clam juice until it is the desired consistency.  Voila.  Clam dip.)  I don't kid myself that she will remember it, but by golly...we made clam dip together.

We made clam dip and then we made fruit salad.  She did the melon balls.

While they were doing that, Walt was learning how to use Laurel's iPad so he could read instructions to Tom for making a watermelon whale.

We were preparing for Lacie's first birthday party, to be held at a nearby park.  Laurel was in the back of the house trying desperately to help Lacie get a little sleep before the party (unsuccessfully).

We finally went to the park and helped set up, while Laurel let Lacie sleep in the car for a little while. 

The other grandma ("Ama," I think they call her), who used to teach kindergarten had set up a craft table and Brianna and her best friend Ella, were making pictures with paint and stencils.

Ella is, I think, Bri's first BFF who is a girl.  It was so cute watching them be inseparable all afternoon.

When Laurel and Lacie finally arrived, Lacie was a bit groggy for awhile and dazed by all the people and confusion.

Laurel brought the birthday cake she had decorated for Lacie, matching the "under the sea" theme

and young Connor was quite taken with Tom's whale.

But I think these were my favorite kids.

I never got their names, nor the name of their parents, but they sat at the chip bowl for about 15 minutes and the great thing about them was that the boy would take one chip...he reminded me of Frasier...and eat it in several bites, no matter how small it was.  His sister, on the other hand, would get as many as she could get into her fist and jam the whole bunch into her mouth, using both hands to push them in.  They did this over and over and over again.  I was fascinated!

Lacie finally warmed up and was full of smiles.

Laurel finally put her in the high chair with a bunch of balloons before they gave her her cake.  This is a link to the only video I took today (of Lacie enjoying the balloons).  The cake was her first "sweet," and Laurel had to find a special recipe to compensate for all of Lacie's food allergies, but she did a beautiful job.

After there were presents (which Lacie could care less about) and more play in the bouncy house.

Then people started going home.  Lacie about this time had discovered dirt and was having a marvelous time.

A great time was had by all and now that Lacie is walking, she can step confidently into her second year.

Earthquakes and Pizza

I had eight hours sleep last night.  I can't remember when that last happened. Walt and I lazed around the house until Tom called, around 9:30, after which we packed up and went to Tom & Laurel's.  We watched Tom and Bri having races:

Tom fixed lunch for us all and then we packed up and went to the Santa Barbara farmers market.

Several fruit stand were selling something called "donut peaches," which looked like...well...donuts made of peaches.  I had to buy a couple to taste.  They were delicious.

After we got back from the market, Walt got busy playing with Bri and her table train set.

I decided it must be a Romney train, since the dog seemed to ride on top!

As sometimes happens with 4 year olds, Brianna got too excited with all the play and she decided to be "cute" and tore the whole complicated train set up apart...she said there had been an earthquake (actually, I think I said it first).  Daddy was not too happy about the earthquake story and decided that it was time to pack up the train set for a week and turn the table back into a drawing table.  Needless to say, this did not go over too well with Ms. Bri.

Grandpa came to the rescue and, with the help of Bri...and the complicated plans for laying out the track, order was restored.

We figured everybody needed a time out, so we came home for a couple of hours to allow peace to be restored at Tom's and the girls to get some rest.  We returned in 2-1/2 hrs to join Bri and Tom in helping to make pizzas. I am killing myself for accidentally deleting the video of Tom showing Bri how to roll out and toss pizza dough...

I found software that for a mere $40 can restore it from the card, but it wasn't THAT great of a video...just cute.  But I did get this picture of Tom teaching Bri how to sprinkle cheese on the pizza instead of just tossing it in a handful.

When it was all cooked, Ms. Bri pronounced it delicious.

Lacie had her bath while we were eating our pizza and was happy to join us afterwards, though she did not get the pizza she thought she wanted.

After watching Tom, Laurel and Bri chase the rabbit Savannah around to get her in her cage for the night (they are fostering her for the moment...probably their last rabbit foster, to hear Tom tell it), we packed up our stuff and came home. 

A very good, fun day with the grandkids.

A Good Day After All

Well, it was a crazy day today!  When I went to sleep last night I had written my journal entry, but not my Titanic review.  I knew that Walt would be heading off to the hospital in the morning to see Norm and I would have all day to work on it.

Then around quarter to 9, he reached his sister-in-law, who said that Norm was doing well and was going to be released from the hospital some time today, which meant he wouldn't be there when Walt showed up.

Walt asked if I still wanted to go to Santa Barbara and I told him I did.  I didn't think we had prayer of getting there in time to have dinner with Tom's family, but we would just head out as soon as we could and decide what we were going to be doing along the way.  It was 10:30 when we left.

I was originally making notes of how long it takes to get from point A to point B (1 hour to Danville, 1 hour from Danville to Gilroy, 30 min from Gilroy to the Burger Queen.)

(that's our fancy red rented Chrysler!)

After lunch at the Burger Queen, I took over driving and so I stopped keeping my little log.  I drove until I started feeling sleepy and then Walt drove the rest of the way.  We were listening to a David Baldacci book en route and I could not believe it when we pulled up in front of Tom & Laurel's house at 5:30, just in time for dinner.

It was so good to see the girls again.  Lacie has grown so much and is now all smiles.

And I was happy to see that Daddy is continuing the tradition with daughter #2.

(Lacie doesn't seem to enjoy it quite as much as Bri did at this age, but she still has the body strength to hold herself up on Daddy's hand).

Walt and Bri played in the puppet theater while Lacie sat in my lap and watched, and then Walt read the book we had brought Bri to her and then showed her the "this is the church, this is the steeple" thing, which was a bit too advanced for her.

I was pleased to see that Lacie eats much better than Bri did at her age, though she had some reservations about avocado.

Bri helped toss the salad and when Walt held the phone to her ear so she could talk to Uncle Norm, she told him she couldn't talk because she was cooking dinner.

In conversations with Bri before and after dinner, I learned some interesting things.  Big elephants live in the zoo but little elephants live in your refrigerator and leave footprints in the butter.  They also smash food, like carrots, so that it can be fed to babies.  I also learned that an elephant was the father of a little sheep and when I asked who the sheep's mother was, she told me it was the bear.  Funny, but the sheep didn't resemble either of its parents.

We played a little with her Calico Critters playhouse.  

 

 There were four cars parked outside the playhouse, which she explained were for trash, recycle, bottles, and paper.

We had given her a bedroom set for the house for her birthday and oddly enough, the bedroom set came with a clarinet, I guess for those people who like to play the clarinet in bed.  She had one of the characters, who was not wearing clothes, play the clarinet and when I commented that the character had no clothes on and let her know that Aunt Jeri doesn't play the clarinet without clothes. Bri wants to know why.

I trust Jeri will write and let her know why one puts on clothes before playing the clarinet.

Such a fun day it turned out to be, ultimately.  I'm glad we are here, even if it's very, very briefly.