Are you there readers? It’s me, Cat. February 7, 2011

So how long do I have to abandon you guys for before I win the Worst Blogger Ever award? Does nearly two months do it? It is hard, in a Facebook and Twitter world, to get back in this groove, even though I miss it. There is lots to update…

We put our house back on the market in the beginning of January. We had patched the holes in the garage wall, paved the driveway, and updated our bathrooms. Then we put it on at a price that made it by far the best value on the market and wound up with three offers in four days. PHEW! Next was looking for a new house. I’d had my eye on the market for the past year and within a few weeks we’d come to terms on our new house. It’s in a town with great schools, which was the whole point. It’s a house we love that’s even a bit of an upgrade on our current one. I am particularly looking forward to having a master bathroom, though I’m guessing we’re still a few years away from any real privacy. But it will be nice to have a bathroom that is not right on top of the kids’ rooms and therefore the ability to get up without waking them up. The downside is a very steep driveway (and we don’t have 4wd cars) and a somewhat remote location. Really it’s within 10 minutes of two very cute towns, though. 40 minutes to work without traffic (which means never) and 50 minutes on back roads. It could be worse.

In the midst of all this, I took a business trip to Dublin, the highlight of which was falling asleep right in front of my big boss. In my defense, it was following an overnight flight and I’d also taken a Vicoden, which I’ll get to in a minute. I was in the office, basically, from 8:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. every night and failed utterly to see Dublin in daylight other than out the window of the taxi on the way to the office, but so it goes.

Oh, and also in the midst of all this, I had more debilitating back pain, which migrated to my leg, which led to an MRI (which led to nearly hitting my $3K health plan deductible in the first week of January), which led to the information that yet another piece of my disc had broken free from its apparently not so happy home in between my vertebrae. As this one was causing lots of pain but not damaging a nerve, I am living with it for now. Apparently the body can dissolve these things, though it takes six to eight months to do so. I saw an integrated pain management specialist who combined acupuncture and herbs (did you know ginger and turmeric reduce inflammation?) with NSAIDS and muscle relaxants and now I have more good days than bad days. The surgeon said it is okay for me to take Gatito skiing in a few weeks, believe it or not.

Gatito is doing great. We’ve been taking him to this ski place an hour away from here for the past month. He has a 90 minute lesson and we are home by lunch. By the third lesson, he’d graduated from the learning hill and was up on the chairlift. Apparently all the kids do this and I think it’s amazing. The goal is for him to be able to ski with me for a couple of days over his winter break. We’re staying with my aunt, I’m borrowing skis, and his lift ticket is only $5, so we’re doing this as cheaply as humanly possible!

He’s had this break-through in viola where he really likes to play and volunteers to practice on his own. His strong point is playing in tune, to which I say, thank the lord. I can deal with scratchiness and not keeping the rhythm but playing out of tune just kills me. He had a recital a couple of weeks ago and did great. His reading continues to advance and now he reads silently to himself, which I think is just so cool. Of course, he won’t tell me what he read so I can’t confirm, but it would be out of character for him to be reading and not understanding. He’s an orange belt in karate now and enjoying that as well. He’s generally happy and has gained so much confidence over the last year. I am really proud of and happy for him. This is not to say that he is not frequently extremely difficult, but I’d honestly prefer not to document that stuff.

Ella is 17 months now and a real little person. Oh god, you guys, she’s just the cutest thing. She’s so affectionate and free with the hugs and kisses for her family. She loves the cat (“mow mow!”) and kisses him, too. She’s incredibly verbal, with more words than I can count and a creative way of getting her meaning across. One day, she was asking for her boots and I misunderstood and started picking out a book. So off she went and returned with my boots. Another day, she  she told her nanny, “butterfly! cheese!” and Pow was able to figure out that she wanted her picture taken while climbing on a butterfly in a playspace. It does seem like a lot of what she talks about, though, is her boots, or a dress, or that something is pretty. Well, that and her bottle. And she loves to take a bath. To run the water (even for myself) is to see her little head climbing up the stairs crying, “baff! baff!”

Her hair is growing in, but it’s a mess and I am trying not to be my mom and constantly talk about it or try to fix it. She has unfortunately inherited my habit of playing with her hair. She does it when she drinks her bottle or goes to sleep. Or if I’m holding her, she plays with my hair while she drinks her bottle, which I absolutely love. She loves singing and dancing and she loves her big brother, though she’s jealous when anyone pays attention to him. She’s actually pretty noisy and demanding that way. Oh, and she loves swimming. I swear she’s a natural. She’ll hold onto this floating barbell thing and kick while I support her hips only, and she’ll happily jump (well, step) in off the side into my arms. She enjoys the aquarium and the playground, too. It is kind of a delight to have a kid who loves doing all the things kids are “supposed” to enjoy, without anxiety.

Oh, and the cat! I was practically ready to put him to sleep after a couple of instances where he peed on the bed while I was in it (not to mention any chance he got when I wasn’t and other generally aggressive behavior), but there was no way I could really do that. We ended up giving Prozac another try, and suddenly I remember why I love cats in general and this one in particular! No peeing in the past few weeks, no waking us up twelve times/night and just general calmness. We even ordered in sushi and, though he perched attentively nearby, he did not jump on the table even once. It was a Prozac miracle!

So, that gets those of you who still care up-to-speed on all things Galloping Cats. Mostly all good, except for my back, but I keep reminding myself how minor that is in the scheme of health problems.

How are you guys?

Advertisement