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House of Pain
On Monday, a day after we all came home from the hospital, Ethan started puking. Twice on Monday night, four more times on Tuesday. We brought him in to be checked out by his pediatrician yesterday afternoon, and the diagnosis was a stomach virus that Ethan must have picked up at the hospital.
Last night it hit Penny and she started puking. This morning it was my turn to puke. My mom—who helped me look after Ethan on Monday while Penny worked—called to say she had the puking disease, too. What a mess. Penny spent the day in bed today and I, by virtue of being marginally less sick, got to take care of Ethan all day.
The good news/bad news is that Ethan seems to be feeling much better. That’s good because it’s great to see him recovering, but bad because it meant I had to keep up with him while battling a stomach bug, aches and pains, naseau, and a phlemy cough.
In other words, this whole experience definitely won’t make the highlight reel of my life.
Fright Night
On Tuesday Ethan came down with a runny nose and watery eyes that we thought were related to allergies, because there was a huge amount of pollen in the air. By Wednesday he’d added a cough and high fever (102.6) to his repetoire, so we started to treat him with some tylenol for the fever. His temperature dropped back down to 100 on Thursday morning, but he wasn’t his usual self the whole day. We took his temp right before putting him down for bed and found that it had spiked to over 103. Even more worrying was his breathing, which was extremely rapid and a litte wheezy.
After a few back-and-forth calls with the triage nurses on call from our pediatrician’s office, we brought him to the ER at Beverly Hospital, where we spent a long and sleepless night. By about 4:30 a.m. they’d come up with a diagnosis: pneumonia. He and I were both battling the same cold, and I felt absolutely miserable so I could only imagine how badly he felt. The only thing is that with Ethan you can really never tell, because even though he was clearly very sick, his personality never changed. He spent the night flirting with the nurses and doctors and trying to run giggling through the ER.
By 7:00 a.m. on Friday we were finally checked into the pediatrics wing, where we spent the next two nights, finally leaving for home Sunday afternoon. It brought back a lot of scary memories from right after Ethan was born, when he spent an extra week at the hospital due to a low body temperature and breathing irregularities. Thankfully the nurses at Beverly are a pretty wonderful bunch and made us all feel comfortable and cared for.
Now Ethan is home, but we need to use a nebulizer on him every few hours to keep his airways clear. In typical Ethan fashion, as soon as we got home he went crazy with excitement—chasing after the kitties, pulling out every single one of his toys and books, and spinning in circles around the living room with a huge grin and a naughty little laugh.
Yep, it feels good to be home—for all of us!
Weekly Word Count # 5: 5,110 words
I logged 1,528 words this week, which makes it my best week in a while, but still not that great. I was writing that many words every day back when I did NaNoWriMo in 2006. Time to up the pace a little. Hopefully I can find the time and energy. I really should have written my opus before Ethan was born. Parenthood is exhausting!
Weekly Weigh-In # 12: 178 lbs.
Excellent. I held steady at 178 pounds, so last week’s loss wasn’t a fluke. Overall that’s 12 pounds down in 12 weeks. I’m halfway to my goal of 165, but I have this nagging feeling that the hardest part is still ahead of me.
Media blackout
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull hits theaters in exactly 30 days! Today I saw my first spoilerish review pop up online. This can only mean one thing: It’s way past time for me to go into a full-scale media blackout. In this age of instant gratification online (no, not that kind of instant gratification—get your mind out of the gutter!) it’s too easy to be lured into reading a spoiler that might impact my enjoyment of the movie one way or another.
That’s perfectly fine for some movies, but not for Indy. I’ve been waiting for this movie since Junior High School, damn it. For the next month, I’m not going anywhere near an article, a link, a trailer, or anything else related to Indy 4. I want to be thrilled or disappointed by the movie itself, not by some idiot troll who’s only joy in life is ruining other people’s fun.
We Are Legend
It was a good, if exhausting, weekend. I spent much of it outside, raking and shoveling mountains of wet leaves into big compost bags, then dragging those compost bags to the car, then driving the car to the Beverly compost heap, then dumping the bags, then returning home to do more of the same. Over and over again.
We could have just bagged the leaves and put them out with the trash, but then they’d just get tossed into a landfill with all the other junk and, apparently, never actually decompose, or biodegrade, or whatever the proper term is. We (and by we I mean Penny) are too environmentally conscious to do that. So, the theme of the weekend was yard work.
Also this weekend: Cleaning out the garage (still a work-in-progress), getting Ethan’s one-year photo taken (he’s so damn cute), watching the Bruins (they won!), and a new tradition, Movie Night. In the pre-Ethan days, we used to go to the movies about once a month, but now the term “new release” refers mostly to DVDs. Thus, it wasn’t until Saturday night that we finally got around to seeing last summer’s big summer blockbuster, I Am Legend. My ten-word-or-less review: A good, entertaining 90 minutes, but nothing special.
(If you really want to see a great post-apocalyptic, fast-zombies flick, rent 28 Days Later instead.)
Last, but not least, I got a little more writing done. Thanks to the magical red font, I bagged another 1,200 words on Coven Hill tonight. They’re almost all crap, but they’re my crap, and underneath all that crap are the bones of what may actually be something kind of cool. Apparently that’s the point of the first draft. And who am I to argue when it may actually be working?
Weekly Word Count # 4: 3,582 words
Well, it’s progress, anyway. Not as much as I’d hoped for, but given the severe lack of actual writing time these days, I suppose a 1,500-word week isn’t terrible. Speaking of writing time, Penny is going out with some friends tonight, which means if I’m ambitious I could use the three or four hours after I put Ethan down for bed to work on my novel. Or, I could watch the SpikeTV version of Revenge of the Sith that’s been languishing on my DVR for the last few weeks. Decisions, decisions.
Weekly Weigh-In # 11: 178 lbs.
Now that’s what I’m talking about. Still more work (read: starvation) to be done, though, and the real test will be maintaining or even losing another pound or two of blubber next week.
Fall TV report card, part two: Best In Show
It seems like forever ago that I gave my first impressions of the new fall TV shows. Then a little something called the writer’s strike happened (solidarity!) and screwed up my whole plan to give midterm and final grades for the new and returning shows alike. Turns out that plan was probably more ambitious than I actually am, anyway. But nevertheless, I’m back at it with a quick rundown of the “Best In Show” of the fall 2007/spring 2008 television season. *
BEST NEW SHOW: Reaper
I gave Reaper a B+ when it debuted in October, calling it “surprisingly not terrible.” Nearly a full season later, I’m in love with it, and it just keeps getting better every week. And that can only mean one thing: It’s on the bubble for renewal. (Runners up: Eli Stone, Chuck)
BEST SITCOM: The Office
It’s both the most excruciating 30 minutes of my week (that’s what she said!) and, often, a spot-on representation of the American workplace. This is my favorite show to talk about (and quote) the next day. Can’t-miss TV. (Runner up: How I Met Your Mother)
BEST DRAMA: Lost
By the middle of last season, I just wasn’t that into Lost anymore. I still watched it, but it wasn’t grabbing me like it did in the early days. But this season has been great, and I’m happy to put it back in its rightful place as the best 60-minute show around. (Runner up: Jericho)
BEST SHOW NOBODY WATCHED: Jericho
Jericho came back from the dead and gave us seven powerful episodes about my favorite post-apocalyptic Kansas town. A third season would have taken a miracle, but this abbreviated season left me wanting more. I’m sorry to see it go. (Runner up: Reaper)
BEST CONCEPT GONE HORRIBLY WRONG: Bionic Woman
How did they manage to screw this one up? Secret identities, government conspiracies, and super-powered heroines are a recipe for geek success, but Bionic Woman never knew what it wanted to be. I wasn’t at all sad to see it go. (Runner up: New Amsterdam)
BEST NEWS EVER: Joss Whedon is returning to television!
(Runner up: He’s bringing Eliza Dushku with him!)
* – I watch Battlestar Galactica and Doctor Who, two perennial geek favorites, on DVD, so I’m a few seasons behind on both. But man, that David Tennant makes a great Doctor!
