Phew!!

Today was one of those days that ends with that real good tired feeling from the tip of my head to the tip of my toes. I won't begin to capture it all here, and it may not be a real exciting read, but somehow it is one of those days that I want to remember. Not just for the mere fact that Kali and I packed a lot into the day... I haven't had a day quite like this since before I went on bed rest almost exactly one year ago. Of course it wasn't like the days previously, since the day was peppered with thoughts and reminders of Nora. Here's a snapshot of the day with a few thoughts mixed in. Read on to get an explanation of Kali's bandaids...

- I started my day with an early morning jog. Despite having just watched the women's marathon in the Olympics, I felt proud of my 2 mile jog and 1 mile walk. And the 2 miles is feeling a little more natural once again. I'm not breaking any records, but I'm at least getting out every few days for some fresh air.

- When I returned home, Kali and Jason were both awake and playing "Trouble." I was already sweaty and really wanted to finish the last stretch of driveway we needed to spread gravel on. As I took the last 5 or so wheelbarrow loads of gravel down our .1-.2 mile driveway, I found myself doing something Jason often does (inventing new things in his mind). I started thinking about what the world would be like if we completely revolutionized the Olympics. What if instead of going to a host country every four years where they have to build a huge infrastructure to support the games, there was some kind of "relief and development Olympics" where the competitions were centered around projects. Okay, so I was pretty tired of hauling gravel and was thinking what good weight lifting exercise it was and I couldn't help myself...

- After a shower, Kali and I headed out for our day of errands. We had quite a list. We left Daddy at home to work on laying bricks on the front walk.

Stop one: Gas in the car

Stop two: Sharp Shopper. Kali's treat: purple liquid soap. She no longer fits well in the cart and exceeds the weight limit on most, so she now pushes the cart and walks. Makes shopping a bit more interesting and complicated and entertaining. She pulled all sorts of things off the shelves to ask me if she needed them. Thankfully she tends to be pretty agreeable (at least on stop two) and we got out of there without too many extras! The 50lb bag of Prairie Gold that just months ago was less than $20 is now approaching $50. That was balanced out by the cheddar cheese for $1.79/pound!!

Stop three: Visitor's Center to get maps/brochures for the new student handbooks I'm very late putting together for orientation which starts MONDAY!! Kali's treat: purple leaflet about the Family Fun Park. We weren't able to get enough bus schedules so hence...

Stop four: Harrisonburg Department of Transportation to pick up bus schedules.

Stop five: Paper and Cardboard Recycling to EMU.

Stop six: Dropped off a box of donations for Gift and Thrift (the crib was overflowing with stuffed animals so Kali and I agreed on some to give away and I also paired down on some of my clothes since we agreed it wasn't fair for just Kali to give away her things).

Stop seven: My office. We spent an hour or so there making some photocopies, distributing mail in mailboxes, answering my voicemails, dropping off the things we had picked up for the handbooks, eating lunch. Kali's treat: last bag of microwave popcorn, which doesn't come in purple.

Stop eight: Artisan's hope for some baby presents for a friend. Of course Kali had her eyes open for a "special treat." Sure enough there was a a little guy with a purple top on a wire bicycle made in Kenya. And it was a good find, as it got us through lots of waiting time in a subsequent stop.

Stop nine: THE DOCTOR for Kali's 5 year check up. She had been anticipating, but not eagerly, this for some days. She did great until the very end. It's easy to remember that she is 44lbs (75th percentile, when compared to other children her age) and 44 inches (90th percentile, if we are comparing). I felt proud as Kali did her first eye exam, working hard to read those funny little letters from far away. We hadn't seen Dr. Nio since last August when I was pregnant and before we knew anything was wrong. So she asked about our new baby... We could only delay the shots for so long. She needed two boosters (MMR and Polio) either this year or at age 6. She chose to get them both over with and they had two nurses come so they could do them at the same time. Sadly she takes after her mother with a strong fear of and distaste for needles. After quite a scene and many tears she endured the shots just fine and stopped crying almost immediately and has been her chipper self ever since. But it was no fun for either of us. We were all brainstorming at dinner that maybe this Fall when Grandma Benner is giving us all flu shots at Thanksgiving she should give Kali hers in her sleep. It struck me that with babies they don't cry about shots before hand and then need comforting afterwards. Somewhere along the way it flip flops and the comforting comes first... That was about an hour and a half ordeal with all the waiting (hence the popularity of the little bicycle guy!).

Stop ten, final one: Martin's for groceries. The last time I was in Martin's I got the call (the joy of cell phones) from UVA that Nora's coronal suture was indeed fused. I had walked around the store, already a bit baffled by its size and the numerous choices, hearing about the likely major surgery Nora would need to go through in order to open the suture back up to avoid gross malformation of her face. It's not a store I'll choose to go to often, but I needed some gluten free products for several upcoming events. Kali's special treat: purple cauliflower (and it stays purple when cooked, but flavor's not great, so if you aren't obsessed with purple don't bother.). Kali ate it but I'm sure if it was white she wouldn't have.

The trip to Martin's also housed another "last time" experience. We used our final WIC checks for milk and juice and I shredded the WIC folder upon our return home, as instructed. Since Kali turned 5 (the upper age to be on the program) and I'm no longer lactating and Nora is no longer with us, we are no longer eligible. It's not that we won't be okay without that assistance or that I even enjoyed so much being on it, it's just another one of those premature endings. They somehow hadn't gotten something straight in their system since I was called the other day to check about my upcoming appointment at the Health Department - "no we will not be keeping that appointment..." Being on WIC has been an eye opening experience both times we have been on and each time I can't help but get really frustrated with so many things but today what was highlighted once again was how it seems that you are just destined to fail to get the exact right thing that you are allowed to get with the coupon. Despite a product having a bright red WIC sign on it with the exact product name on it, it was not allowable unless all the store brand kind was gone (which the sign did not explain). Grrr....

I was glad to get home. Kali quickly busied herself helping Daddy work on the front walk and I got to unloading and putting things away. After dinner together around 7pm, I still had "clean house" left on my to do list. So it is now just after 11pm and I've had my second shower of the day. All the floors in our house have gotten a good scrubbing. My knees might get a little sore, but I have to admit that I really like washing floors (especially when they haven't been washed for a long time). I changed my bucket of water about a 1/2 dozen times in the process.

Below is how Jason spent his day!! Enough for tonight. Janelle