Marshmallow

This will be a short one while I sit at work waiting for CP and the kids to pick me up to head to MI for the weekend. Last night I get back from four days away at a work meeting in St. Louis. I happened to get home before CP and the kids get home from daycare, so when I hear Izzy start to open the door I hide and jump out saying "boo!" to scare her. She thought that it was funny and started laughing, Marshmallow on the other hand, did not. I think that maybe she thought that either she was in danger or we were disciplining Cocoa because she lashed out at both me and Izzy with her claws, trying to scratch and bite our ankles. Afterwards she was making a gutteral growling noise and hissing at us. We moved the kids out of the way and ushered the cats behind a door so that she could calm down.

Later I was in the process of trying to get Izzy to put on her pajamas and Marshmallow decided to sneak into her room and hide under Izzy's bed. I told Izzy that we would leave Marshmallow alone so Izzy was loud as she got dressed, but we let Marshmallow have her space. Despite that, as we were leaving the room to go brush teeth in the bathroom, Marshmallow ran out of the room at the same time we did, scratching me yet again on my ankle before running down the stairs.

Unfortunately, she has done this a few other times...mainly right after we have had to spray Cocoa with a water bottle for being up on a kitchen counter. It doesn't happen very often, but twice in one night is unusual and worrisome. She certainly is much more skittish than Cocoa and doesn't love it when the kids are jumping around near her. I don't want to have to worry about what she might do to one of the kids though. CP has never had an aggressive cat so he is also unsure of what to do. Later than evening after the kids went to bed she jumped up on my lap like nothing ever happened.

Any tips or insight? I would feel terrible to split up a mother/son cat duo and other than this, Marshmallow is a great cat. I'm planning on reaching out to our vet to see if he has any ideas as well.

Catching up

I feel like I have no time to blog anymore! This will have to be a short one, mostly with updates.

*I had to push back my neck surgery from June to July because my doctor doesn’t want me traveling for at least two weeks after the surgery. We are scheduled to go camping in Door County, WI for a week less than two weeks after the surgery, so now the surgery will be July 20. 

*CP decided to join Weight Watchers! I was surprised that he was interested but he lost about 15 pounds after he started running a few times a week last year and has since stayed steady. He was getting frustrated that he wasn’t losing any more so this week he joined. He hung out with a work friend on Tuesday night and was shocked to blow through most of his points for the week after three beers, a Reuben sandwich, and fries.  I suspect he will also have an awakening after he starts to seriously track his food intake.

*I was selected to be part of a prestigious leadership program that would have had a few weeks of travel over the next year. A few days before I was scheduled to go, my division’s participation was cancelled by higher ups (no reason given but my boss seems to think it was money-related). To say that I was frustrated would be an understatement. It underscored how unhappy I am at my current job and how, although I have said this before and obviously not followed through, I think that it is time to leave after 10 years here.

*Leaving is not super easy though because I want to leave my industry and move to a new one. So I reached out to friends and contacted two different career counselors to see how they can help and how much money it would cost. I don't just want to jump to any job but I would like to plan out my career a little more. Fingers crossed I can do that with one of these counselors and that it is within our budget.

*Speaking of lots of money, our new patio goes in next week while I am out of town for work. I'm excited to have not only a nice patio but new patio furniture as well! It's actually been warm enough recently where we could eat outside if we had a patio so hopefully we can do that soon.

*Getting older sucks. I have been having trouble with my contacts for a while- blurry vision, dry eyes by the end of the day, etc. so my doctor prescribed some eyelid wipes and a different contact solution. Neither worked so my next step is daily contacts which are more expensive.....and of course the only ones that my eyes will tolerate are the most expensive ones. I also updated my glasses as it has been about 10 years but I wore them all day today and like usual, my nose hurts from not being used to glasses. :-( I should seriously look into LASIK so that I don't have to deal with this anymore.

*My plantar fasciitis has not gone away despite wearing my oh-so-sexy night splint and orthodics every day. This week I made it worse by playing softball with colleagues- running to first base after a hit was painful! The day after was spent working from home, alternating icing my foot and stretching. My next step is to start physical therapy at the end of the month. I've got races to run later this year and I need to start running!

*CP and I were going to spend the weekend mulching but now it is supposed to be cold and rainy all weekend. Then on Mother’s Day I have to drive down to St Louis for a work meeting that starts Monday morning. Booooo. At least I will be out of the office for most of next week.

What is new with you?

Neck surgery

Despite being a fairly healthy person, it looks like I am headed towards a surgery under general anesthesia in June. Remember when I was going to the doctor about the new Adam’s apple that suddenly showed up in my neck? Well after the ultrasound and visit with my pcp, it was determined that it was a cyst that could be removed.

So I made an appointment with a general surgeon to discuss its removal. He spent only a few minutes with me but concluded that he would want me to see an ENT first because it may not be a normal cyst but a thyroglossal duct cyst.  Last week the ENT said she was 95% sure that the special cyst is what I have. :-(

A thyroglossal duct cyst is congenital, so it was something I was born with. Most of the cysts are found while the child is young but in my case, I got sick in January and mine decided to pop out at age 39. :-/ The problem is that now that we know that there is fluid in there, if it gets infected I would need to have quick surgery to remove it.

The surgery itself is a bit more involved than just removing the cyst because if it is not done correctly then the cyst can reoccur. The doctor not only has to remove the cyst but also a part of my neck bone (she assured me that I didn’t need it- HA!). They cut at a crease in your neck as to minimize scarring but I will still have a fairly prominent scar on the front of my neck which sucks. I will probably be out of work for a week or so but could work from home if I feel up to it. Depending on how much they have to move around other parts of my neck I could be in pain and only eating soft foods for a week or so.

I thought about waiting until the fall to get it done but I would rather plan out the surgery, make sure CP is in town (he had a last minute trip to Ireland last week) and that I won’t miss major events at work. So, the surgery is scheduled for Monday, June 18th which is the earliest I could have the surgery...and really the only week that I didn't have major things going on at work until mid July...and that wasn't necessarily ideal because it will be Wes' 2nd birthday on July 15th.

So...getting cut open once again is happening in a month and a half. In the meantime I have an MRI on Thursday and a pre-op appointment at the end of the month. I will need to invest in a large hat for this summer, a lot of suntan lotion to lather up the incision site, and probably some scarves for work so that I don't freak people out. Does anyone have any recommendations on scar-reducing creams? 

21 months

21 months

Here's Wesley!

Height- We checked Wesley's height on our wall chart this past week and he has grown 2.25" since December- wow! Talk about a growth spurt! He is now 34.25".

Weight- 31.5 with clothes on at our house.

Celebrating St Patrick's Day at a friends house

Diapers- Size 5 diapers during the day, Size 6 nighttime diapers.

This month he successfully let us know when he had pooped in his diaper by pointing at his butt. But when asked "Wes do you have poop in your diaper?" he would reply "no." LOL. We are a ways off from potty training this one. :-) He does know to point to his penis when you ask him "Wes, where do you pee?"

Wes got food in his hair at school and his hair was so stiff I could fashion it into a mini-Mowhawk. Reminded me of Cameron Diaz' hair in "There's Something About Mary" LOL

Milestones- Wes is getting better about drinking from an open cup and not spilling. He is now correctly pointing out and saying yellow, orange, blue, red, purple, and black. Can't quite say green yet but will do a "grrr" sound instead.:-) He is also getting better at pointing out shapes- star, heart, oval, and circle.

Wes loves music and started to play the piano at a friend's house

Wes is starting to climb more than Izzy did. He wants to pull himself up on the kitchen counter, he wants to climb the outside of the banister, etc. It might get interesting around here...

Wes is starting to want to do things himself...like push the grocery cart even though he can't see where he is going.

Wes asks to be picked up a whole lot, but will also often ask to "walk" or "run" himself which I am perfectly happy to let him do. While Izzy is riding her tricycle in our neighborhood he loves to run after her while pushing his dinosaur. It's a great workout for him!

Running while pushing dinosaur

Language- Wes seems to learn a new word a day! The most exciting one this month was Wesley. He ends up saying "Wesley's milk" or "Dada's orange" which is something Izzy did right around the same time. He is also saying "Izzy" but it comes out sounding like "sissy" which is pretty cute. Wes recognizes a lot of songs (like the ABC song, Row, Row your Boat, etc.) but will only really sing the "Clean up song." Works for me!

Showing off their "muscles" at the dinner table

Favorite Toy- Honestly, books. The bottom two shelves of the bookcase in our kitchen are full of kids books and every night, Wes pulls a bunch down and looks through them. Sometimes he will read them himself, other times he brings them over and wants you to read them.

Every. Single. Night.

Favorite Book- Recently he has been enjoyed "Those Darn Squirrels" and "Dragons Love Tacos."

Sleep- Wes is a great sleeper from about 7:30pm to 7 or 8am. He is down to one nap a day, generally starting around 12:30 and lasting for about two hours.

Passed out after only a 5 minute drive after the Easter Egg Hunt

Clothes- Solidly in 2T clothing but could see a move to 3T soon because of his growth spurt. Size 7 shoes.

Eating- Wes has been a rockstar with food as he will still try ANYTHING. Last night he tried my cioppino soup that CP made (Izzy tried it and liked it too!), this week he ate Lebanese food (chicken in a sauce with pomegranates, hummus, lentil soup). He actually is helping Izzy become a better trier of foods which is great! He will devour broccoli and cherry tomatoes before eating anything else on his plate. I'll be sad when he gets pickier but I'm sure it will happen soon.

The kids enjoying Soba noodles at a local Japanese restaurant

Wes also learned this month with Easter that he LOVES chocolate. :-)

Pre-friend Easter egg hunt

Excited to get so many eggs!

In-home Easter Egg hunt because it was too cold outside!

Teeth- No new teeth this past month.

Illness- Another ear infection in the other ear. I saw his blue tube in his ear canal one morning (you usually can't see them) and by the afternoon it had fallen out so he only has one ear tube at this point.

Opening Day for the Cubs!

Misc- Wes has a girlfriend at school! Okay not really because he is two, but he loves to say "Emma! Emma!" when he gets home and when we ask about Emma he giggles. The teachers say that they are super cute and Wes wants to hold her hand or have her sit next to him when he is reading a book (he gets sad if she doesn't want to). I ran into her mom during dropoff one day and I guess Emma says Wesley's name a lot at home too. Adorable!

I guess Wes likes to hold hands- he got so excited to hold Izzy's hand....although it's not Izzy's favorite (at least this night)