Woot! I really wanted to write some tonight, and though it looks like it is happening under less than ideal circumstances (Amelia refuses to go to bed so we are all up being bleary-eyed), it is happening. Woo?
Wii!
Among significant news, we did get our Wii, and we are playing it fairly often. I've decided that, at least for now, a Wii is a better fit for our family than computer games are. Why? Well, you've got your bigger screen, for one, which makes it way easier for your hyper kid to inspect your gaming skills. You've got your extra controller, so your hyper kid can pretend to play with you, or even actually play with you. And our Wii is situated in the playroom with all the hyper kid's toys, so it has turned out to be a more family-friendly alternative to computer games in our family.
Thanks, Mom and Dad, for the Christmas money. We definitely spent it before it arrived (and it did arrive), but thanks, thanks, thanks. We are having a blast.
I have spent most of my Wii time playing Mariokart, and I get so dang excited whenever I accomplish something I've deemed a worthy achievement. Like getting gold medals! Then star ranks! Then double star ranks! I've never gotten a triple star rank yet, but I'm getting there... And I want to tell the world every time I unlock a new character. I got Rosalina and I was super excited. I most recently got Birdo and Toadette and Dry Bones... YAY. You all should be super proud of me for NOT posting an exultation on Facebook every single time I unlock something. Super proud. ... Also you should be proud of me for unlocking all the things. :)
Pertussis! Eep!
Many of you know that I have had a cough for roughly two and a half months. And I really wish I could tell you for sure, but unfortunately, I can only guess. I *think* it is pertussis. If you look at the CDC's website on the signs and symptoms of pertussis, it's like reading a description of exactly what's going on with me... minus the actual "whoop" sound, which is less common in vaccinated people, like me. (And, thankfully, minus the rare complication of coughing so hard that you break a rib... Eep!)
But I am pretty convinced at this point that the bug I caught was pertussis. Everything fits. The rapid-fire coughing in bursts that leave me nearly unable to breathe. The vomiting from coughing so hard. The exhaustion. The fact that I still am coughing three months later. And that every time I go to the doctor, he or she raises his or her eyebrows, rubs his or her chin, and says, "That sounds an awful lot like pertussis..." Unfortunately, the bacteria has long been gone from my system, and I have antibodies for pertussis from the vaccine anyway, so there really is no way to confirm the theory at this point. Boo.
If it *is* pertussis, though, boy, do I just need to say a prayer of thanks that Dragon is still alive! He got it, too. He's been coughing and such, but not a whole ton. The biggest issue with babies and pertussis, though, isn't the cough, it's that they simply stop breathing. So yeah. I am happy the baby is still breathing! I am grateful now that he got some antibodies from me during pregnancy and from the breastmilk after I caught the disease.
And a little angry that I caught pertussis. Ugh. Don't talk to me about anti-vaxxers right now. My brain gets upset if I think too much about it, particularly if I go down the "well, what if Dragon had died from pertussis" issue. It helps, though, to remember that the CDC thinks that the recent pertussis outbreaks aren't the anti-vaxxers' faults. There are other reasons happening here, apparently.
The good news is, I can tell that coughing fits are happening less, so maybe it will all be over soon! "Soon" meaning in like... two more weeks? I hope! Man, I can't WAIT to stop coughing. It really has been nearly three months. Worst cough of my life...
Hypospadias
David finally has an appointment in early March with a pediatric urologist to check out the hypospadias issue.That is a relief for me. If he does need a surgery, and I have a gut feeling that he might, it will probably be when he's six months old, which would be in April. I'm starting to feel a bit better and have been stressing about it so much lately.
The Scary Future!
So over Christmas break, James' dad gave us both priesthood blessings that made it sound like the next half-year to a year would be extremely stressful for both of us. James came out of it so nervous that he told me that he'd be happy if it turned out to be anything better (i.e. less stressful) than not finding a job after he graduates AND also finding out we're pregnant with triplets. Lol.
Well, nothing has blown up in our faces yet. James didn't get a prestigious NSF fellowship/grant thing that would have guaranteed him a job, but there isn't really anything else that's gone wrong yet. And I'm not even pregnant. Things are going pretty well...
So what's coming? I have no idea.
Though, if you want a little laugh, I was just telling God this morning I did not envision Him making a minivan materialize for free and out of nowhere for us, so therefore twins and triplets were definitely NOT in our future. Because we couldn't fit any more than three children into the car we currently have, and it would totally be impossible at this point to buy a minivan, even used. Thus, I could justify the assumption that we will only get one child out of our third pregnancy whenever it happens. So, I told God, I'm just going to stop thinking about the possibility of multiples.
I now imagine that He heard me say all that, and He cackled.
Tonight when I was talking to my dad, he just happened to mention that maybe he could somehow fix the minivan that's just been sitting in his driveway unused and in need of repair and then somehow give/sell (or something?) to us if we wanted/needed. And I didn't even bring up the subject.
I didn't tell my dad at the time, but I was just imagining Heavenly Father cackling in glee, "See? I can do whatever I want to. I can totally make twins or triplets work out." Yeah, yeah, but, but! Sputter, sputter! We'd still need way more diapers! And like, a gajillion more car seats! And, and. "Hey. I can get you a minivan. I can get you anything." Touché, God. Touché. ... "You are a funny child, Jenna." He is totally teasing me.
So, I will at least admit that it's possible that we might end up with a divinely-arranged multiple birth, but I don't know what is coming. I don't think I'll know until it happens. Ha. Until something explodes, things are going pretty well. I hope the thing that explodes is not my uterus.
Love,
Jenna and the familia
P.S. Mom and Dad, I know you wanted to actually get items for Amelia and David for Christmas, rather than sending money. I also know I was supposed to give you a list of ideas because you've been stumped. Oops, sorry. You being stumped is probably partly my fault. I don't want a lot of things, so when we do want or need something, I'm usually pretty quick to just get it, and then I don't want or need anything any more.
So. The results of my efforts to come up with a long list of ideas didn't get very far. I tried, though.
Here are my ideas for Dragon. First, I have been seriously considering using some of Dragon's Christmas money to buy a Sophie the Giraffe (or even BOTH Sophies, the first two listings on that page). They are apparently the most popular teething toys in the world, despite the price that makes me squirm... and although Amelia was never really into teething toys, I have this notion that Dragon is WAY more into chewing on stuff than she ever was, and that he would happily chew a Sophie to death. I'm also feeling a little silly admitting it, but part of me wants a Sophie because practically everybody I know with a baby in the Eugene area has a Sophie and nearly all of them are like, "DO IT. GET A SOPHIE. YOUR BABY WILL LOVE IT." So I'm intrigued. The only other ideas I had were a super nerdy thing like... a Star Trek uniform onesie from ThinkGeek (best bet on size would be 12 months). Actually, practically anything for babies or kids from ThinkGeek would be a welcome surprise for anyone in the family. And then I had the idea of a pull-along toy. Or maybe something that stacks or nests?
Okay, so, Amelia. Uh. Gosh. This is hard. Well, um, she desperately wants her very own Wii remote. I know, weird. Uh. Books, she likes. She is starting to be okay with "big kid" books, i.e. books that are not board books, but actually have paper pages. If You Give a Mouse a Cookie was a big hit. Um. Any LEGO DUPLO blocks would be welcome. Uh. Princess dresses. Anything My Little Pony. And remember this old wishlist from Amazon? Most of those things are still great ideas.
And, um, if you're short $8.79 for Amazon's $35 requirement for free shipping, you should totally get us this exact waterproof protector for her car seat. We're potty training. Heh heh. We are going to buy that. I *hate* cleaning the car seat that much. Heck, I might buy two.
Hope you grandparental units find something to satisfy your gifting needs. :)
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