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shannanmartin
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Name: Shannan
Location: Elkhart, Indiana, United States
Birthday: 6/18/1976
Gender: Female
Interests: Reading, decorating (with white paint!), cooking, watching movies with my friends and tv shows with Cory, watching my kids grow.
Expertise: Buying stuff on ebay.
Occupation: Researcher
Industry: Government
Message: message me
Member Since:
1/7/2006
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| From now on, you can find me at:
http://flowerpatchfarmgirl.blogspot.com/
Stop by and say hello!
-Shannan
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| It's almost impossible to believe, but tomorrow is my 3 year blogiversary! Sure, I've been sporadic at times, but lately I think I've found my groove. For some reason, documenting the minutiae of my life has been quite gratifying. And it ensures that I'm taking plenty of pictures, which I'm often too lazy to do when I think they serve no purpose.
I like the fact that I am able to keep an account of my kids as they grow and a record of our life together.
I especially like that I have a handful of faithful readers. So, thank you, faithful ones! I'm sure I have induced eye-rolls aplenty, but you keep coming back for more.
I don't know, truth be told, I'm just feeling....a little cramped? A little stifled? A little outdated? I guess I can't exactly put my finger on it.
It's starting to make me feel a little like this:
Hold on a minute.....Let's try something.
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| We got the party started right this year, with Calvin singing the Doxology at our church's Christmas Eve program.
He was so pumped about this new necktie that Daddy helped him tie.
Here he is in rehearsal.
He did such a great job!! He was pretty nervous, but not as nervous as Mommy and Daddy.
The next morning we had our little Christmas.
Calvin could not believe his luck at receiving this guy, who he remembered seeing at Ikea back in July.
Along with it, he received his main gift, which was a box full of art supplies. He promptly set forth to create.
I am in love with Ruby's new 'do! After beating my head against a wall twice daily over her mop, I summoned the courage and called a local Great Clips, asking first if they took appointments or walk-ins and then saying, "OK, I have a strange question...do you have any African American stylists?" Yes, they did. So we trucked in on Christmas Eve and waited our turn. The sweet stylist was so helpful! She trimmed off the ragged ends and taught me how to do this. Unfortunately, Ruby's hair isn't the exact texture that holds this style for more than a day, but it's very quick and easy to tidy it up in the morning. A Christmas miracle!
She's pretty happy with it, too.
Blast chronological order...I'm doing a miserable job right now of lining all of this up. Let's go back in time, to where we were before I let loose with the Hair story...
Here we are on Christmas day, la di da, it's such a lovely day....
We headed out to Nana and Papa's house to spend the evening. A personal highlight was dominating a lightening round of Couples Trivial Pursuit. And by dominate, what I mean is that we won by one point. Let's just say that my vast bank of Supermodel knowledge is not for naught. Thank you very much, Kate Moss. On the flip side, Cory and I still thump one another in the forehead daily for missing the question about Dan Quayle. Our prize was a $25 gift card to Target! It's been a while since I've had a gift card in my hands...I like how it feels.
Ruby scored a chest filled with princess costumes, complete with tiaras and jewels.
That's Calvin's new electronic drum set off in the lower right hand corner.
All of the grandkids were gifted with matching jammies from Nana.
This was the best group shot they could muster.
Here's the whole gang...
And my mom and dad were even able to join us, crutches and all.
Our Christmas was low-key and kinda lazy, just the way we like it. We ate yummy food and spent time with our favorite people.
And we remembered why we were celebrating.
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| I thought I'd better squeeze in any last Christmas pictures I've been holding on to.
I've acquired a real "thing" for gold this season. I've always fancied myself as more of a silver gal, but I'm mixing it up a little this year. I'm drawn more and more to a little bit of warmth to contrast with all of my cool colors and white, and I guess Christmas is no exception.
Have you ever seen a more angelic angel? Calvin has been disappointed at our lack of a star topper, but the one I have doesn't stay on the tree and I looked at a couple of stores and didn't see anything I liked. I was very content to have an untopped tree...and then he made this in Sunday School a couple of weeks ago.
I hope it lasts forever. It's my favorite thing on the tree.
This is my second favorite. My ode to the raspberry.
Oddly enough, it is not at all vintage. It's the only Christmas ornament that I have specifically bought for my tree...at least since I've been somewhat serious about decorating. I found it in a little shop in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania several years ago. They had every ornament under the sun, but this is the one that caught my eye. I do love raspberries. And I especially love that someone, somewhere thought they should make a Christmas ornament raspberry. Complete with glitter.
The raspberry Christmas ornament shop also had the best tuna melt and vegetable soup I've ever had. I still dream of it and plot pretend schemes to call them up and ask for the recipe.
Sarah gifted me with these last year (Joy, Hope, Wish) and they are a charming addition this year. They satisfy my need for typography/text/whatnot.
Holy cow! I need to stop yammering on about raspberries and tuna melts and go wrap some presents.
Every year I find wrapping paper that I like (this year from TJ Maxx) and then head off to Michael's to the dollar bins. You never know what you'll find, but I was pleased this year, as always. I grabbed anything that would remotely work. The other 80% of the dollar ribbon consisted of neon colors and gingham.
I'm sorry, I just like attractive gifts under the tree. So sue me.
And give me another year or two and you'll probably find Santa nonsense and re-used snowmen paper.
For now, I'm enjoying the silver and gold combo.
Do you remember believing that mixing silver and gold was almost a mortal sin? I do.
I also used to feel that way about red/pink. Now I dress Ruby in that cheery combo whenever I'm able.
Cutest gift ever and my love for surprises means that I did not take even a tiny peek.
I wonder what in the world is in there?
Happy Eve of Christmas Eve, my friends!
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| Having a sick kid has become such a part of my life that I have to consciously remember that not every mom deals with this sort of thing on a regular basis.
For instance, I'm assuming most of you do not have a kitchen cabinet designated solely to your child's prescription meds. And Pillsbury frosting.
We visit this cabinet every morning and every evening. In the morning he takes 3 oral meds. He can correctly say all of the names of the meds and can identify them all by taste and the bottle they are in. At night he takes two oral meds along with an ointment and a solution for the skin issues that his auto-immune junk predisposes him to.
Then, every two weeks, we load 'em up and head to Memorial Hospital, Pediatric Hematology/Oncology unit. During particularly funky times (the months of May through October, for example) we go every week.
Before we head out the door, we slather up both arms with Magic Cream. This numbs both potential sites for his blood draw. There have been times that we have also numbed up the tops of both hands, because Calvin has very sneaky veins. On a somewhat regular basis, he requires more than one stick. Ick.
He drinks a full cup of juice on the way, so he's nice and hydrated, and by the time we arrive, he's good and numb. This Magic Cream notoriously leaks out on the way, too, causing Calvin much consternation.
In a stroke of good fortune, each floor of the parking garage is identified by a specific musical instrument. We usually find a spot on Piano or Violin, but today we arrived earlier than usual, and had to go all the way up to Trumpet. In the Summer, I sometimes make a surprise trip up to..ta-da! Drum. It's on the roof though, so only when it's warm and sunny out.
After the long trek from the garage up to the unit, we get checked in and head to our room.
Within seconds, various people are sticking their heads in the door to say Hi to Calvin and to bring he and Ruby random toys. Sometimes they have to give me a bag to haul everything home.
Then the nurse comes in and the official routine begins.
I'll pause here for an anecdote that you probably all know, since all five of my faithful readers know pretty much everything about my life. It was Fourth of July, 2007. We were at a party with some friends whose son was having a birthday the next day or so. Calvin, who was two months shy of two-and-a-half, started to say that it was also going to be his birthday. I laughed and said, "No, you already had your birthday!" He responded, "March seventeen oh-five." I nearly fell off of my lawn chair. I had no idea that he knew this information. But I quickly realized that he has heard me confirm his dob hundreds of times. I think they make me confirm it at least three times at each of these visits. Say what you want about 'em, but they are thorough people. (For the record, we have nothing but amazing things to say about all of them.)
This is usally how my conversation goes with the nurse:
Nurse: How is Calvin feeling?
Me: Good.
Nurse: Nothing different going on?
Me: Nope. He's doing great.
The worst it ever gets is:
Nurse: How is Calvin feeling?
Me: Ok.
Nurse: Has he been sick or had a fever?
Me: No, no fever. He's had a runny nose and a cough at night.
This is to illustrate the very strange world in which we live. Our kid never acts sick and very rarely actually gets sick. Yet....he's sick. And sometimes, he's quite sick. We wait for these visits to tell us if he's sick or well, or getting better or getting sicker, etc... Nothing physically changes with him. We are always just waiting on those magical numbers from the doctor.
On to the vitals.
He used to cry for the blood pressure and temperature.
And don't even think about looking in his ears.
Today he was especially brave. Although he never cries for this anymore, he usually wants me to hold his other hand during this cruel and unusual punishment.
Sue searches for the right spot in his armpit.
(Have a look at that tummy! As most of you know, round/puffy face and large tummy are consequences of the steroid he's been on for most of his life.)
 
And time to make sure he's still growing. Of course, Ruby usually likes to join in for the easy stuff.
And yes, he is still growing, but his growth is being stunted by those danged steroids.
It's now time for the main event.
First they wipe off all of his Magic Cream.
No pics of this next step, because I was too busy holding him and trying to keep him calm. He got three sticks today before they struck gold, so calm is not a word I would use to describe him.
And the REALLY exciting part...What bandaid to choose?
Looking for the bright side, 3 sticks means that you can sample 3 bandaids, which makes the decision process much easier. He also insisted on a Barbie bandaid for Ruby.
I think we have Dora here.
We go back and wait for the Doc to arrive with The Numbers.
Good news.....He's the healthiest he's been in nearly a year today! His doctor decides that it's time to try to get him off the prednisone. !!!!!!!! We've been waiting many months to hear this.
He gives me new dosages for all of his meds and tells us to be back in two weeks.
Finally, time to head home.
But first, some McDonalds for my very brave boy and his cute sidekick.
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