Toothus Eruptus...

So this morning, Miss thing woke up crying at 4:30 am. That's four.thirty.in.the.morning. We let her fuss for a bit, and Narda said, you know, she might be teething. So up we go, diaper change, snuggling and a bit of tylenol. Back into crib. More crying. In we go, bring her into bed with us, and I put my finger in her mouth, and WOAH! There's a sharp thing in there! On the bottom of her gums!

It's a tooth folks, Malka has officially broken through with her first tooth. Now the poor bugger has to wiggle and worm its way up, but it's on the move, and it's SHARP! That would hurt me, too if it was trying to come out of my gums, no wonder the poor thing was uncomfortable and woke up early. The tylenol helped, and she slept snuggled with us for about an hour more, and woke up happy as a clam.

I spent the next hour before leaving for work trying to get a picture of said toothus eruptus, and I did manage to get a slightly blurry shot of it. It's the white bump on the left side of her mouth, not the glistening white blob in the middle. It looks small, but it's SHARP!





She'll be asking for keys to the car next week.

Sigh.

Movin' on up...

I've finally joined the "masses," and procured one of these:



I'm terribly excited, as it can hold video AND pictures - That means Malka on the move! They also tell me that I can make "playlists" and therefore have a set of songs to work out to, a set of songs for Malka, a set of songs to drink wine to, etc. I will now become one of those people you see on the subway with white headphones. Except that instead of being blasted by today's top 40 hits, I'll be blasting my neighbor with show tunes! Muhahahahahaha!

I'll probably need to get a set of ipod speakers. Hopefully the .99 cent store has some, as any reserves I had were just spent on the ipod itself. heh.

Next on my "things I MUST have" list - a new camera (I love my little digital elph, but its lens cap is broken, and a few things are way outdated on it, sadly). I'm leaning towards a digital SLR, and am open to ideas. The Nikon D-50 sounds dreamy, but yikes on the price tag!

Feel free to share your camera brand, style, price and recommendations below.

Thanks.

Rainbow - Photo Friday

Rainbow - Photo Friday, originally uploaded by shellipsm.

This is for Photo Friday - the theme is rainbows.

Pride in NYC wil be happening this coming weekend, and I'm sure I'll get TONS more rainbow pictures then, but I wanted to make the deadline.

I like this lone flag in the window.

It's in Chelsea, NYC.

Biopsy...

So at this morning's dermatological appointment for the lovely Malka (who had a FANTABULOUS time with Jen, Cait and Natalie, and also got to meet the ever lovely MsBri - will write more on those fun meetings later) they decided to do a skin biopsy on her back, as they DIDN'T KNOW WHAT WAS WRONG WITH MY CHILD'S SKIN. The big, clinical professor and his gaggle of interns with horrid bedside manners didn't know what was wrong with my baby, so they wanted to do a skin biopsy. With her propensity for infection, we were nervous, so we called her Ped., and they said to go ahead with it. So we did.

I was sitting in the room, and Narda was holding Malka. As soon as they touched her back with bacitracin, she started crying. So I left the room. She started screaming, and I started crying, too. I walked far down the hall, and I could still hear my baby cry. There is truly NO worse sound in the entire universe than hearing your baby cry in pain.

We'll know in about a week what's wrong with her.

I did a bit of research, and I *think* it's Pityriasis Rosea, but I'm obviously not a doctor, and I don't know for certian, but I like this one a lot, so I'll hang onto that until we are told otherwise.

Birth mom visits, Tinea, playdates and more!

I KNOW i'm WAY lame in my updating. And I'm sorry oh blogosphere. My hit counter has never been so low, and here I am on the PRECIPICE of 100,000 hits! (zoink, zowie and all of that)! SEE, lookie there! WOW.

And I thank you for reading, I really do. And because you've been reading, or at least "hitting," I feel that I owe some updates. But it's kinda hard when one has a full time job AND a very "smooshable" baby at home, AND a very "smooshable" partner at home, AND two senior citizen cats that need medication and a watchfull eye, AND a spastic 3 year old cat that need stimulation, AND an apartment that needs cleaning and de-cluttering due to said "smooshable" baby.

So due to complete lack of time, here's the "cliff's notes" of the above mentioned items:

-Our meeting with Malka' birth mom was FANTASTIC! She held her, told us how great we are doing, shared that Malka's eczema was the same as her other daughter's (which, bless her heart, it's not, because it's a fungus, and not eczema) but that's OK, gave us some clothes for her, and we hung out for about an hour and a half. We agreed to hang out again in December, and it was at the agency, so that's good. We aren't sure how we ultimately want this relationship to develop, but we DO want her to be a part of Malka's life. We refer to her with Malka as "Birth mama V____" We got lots of great pictures, as well.

-Malka has (or at least they "think" she has) Tinea. When they did a culture for fungus at her ped's office (ring worm) it came back negative. (PHEW - again another cat issue that we are safe from)! But her Ped STILL thought it was "a-typical" eczema, and that it looked fungal. So off to the allergist we went. She's allergic to NOTHING. NADA. ZILCH, ZIP. (Baruch Ha'Shem)! So we went off to the Dermatologist. Our Ped. decided to send us to an "academic" dermatologist, instead of a "botox and acne" dermatologist, which is good. But she forgot to mention that Malka would be seen by a gaggle of interms who were more fascinated with diagnosing her than by her. Malka just kept giggling at them all, and elicited a grin or two from some of the on-lookers, and the actual dermatologist was more keen on us holding her down so he could scrape her for a microscopic slide than he was on alleviating our fears. He just kept saying that it wasn't hurting her, that she just didn't like being held down. (DUH). So after the gaggle of interms peered at Malka, they came up with "tinea." (although I will admit that at least ONE of the interns was smitten with her cuteness, and couldn't help cooing at her...)

Malka is on a new prescription anti-fungal cream once a day, at bedtime, slathered all over her body. She is on hycortisone for her facial "hyperpigmentation" (body's stress reaction to the eczema is to produce more pigment) three times per week, and a clear caladryl on her little neck folds to clear up the heat rash. We are now ONLY to use Cetaphil to bathe her, and we don't have to be so aggressive with the aquaphor. Although it had kept the fungus at bay so that it didn't flare up completely. It bothers me a bit that now that we aren't slathering her with moisturizer so much, that the fungus is looking more dry-skin and scaley, but she has a follow up with the *oh so friendly* Dermatologist on Tuesday. They did another culture that takes a month or so to develop, and that's for the tinea, but they all suspect that that is indeed what it is.

I am relieved to actually know what is happening to my poor baby, although, to be honest, she doesn't seem the least bit bothered by any of it, thank goodness. I'm just frustrated that there is no magic "poof and it's all better" button for her. We have to endure a few weeks of this new cream, and watch the fungus get worse before it gets better. I just hope it will continue not to bother her.

At least we KNOW it's not really contagious, as we touch her ALL over, ALL the time (see above "smooshable" comment) and seem to be fungal-free, again, Baruch Ha'Shem.

-On the bright and exciting part of the title of today's post, Malka will have a fun, yet exhausing, I'm sure, weekend with none other than Natalie from Addition Problems!. The last time we saw Jen and Cait, we were all still waiting for our babies to arrive. And now they get to meet, and we're terribly excited. We also get to see another old F*rtility Fri*nd pal from way back, and their son, who is a full fledged walker by now. It will be a very fun weekend, and if we can get six lesbian moms to agree on a few select pictures, you'll be sure to see them here soon.

So much for the "Cliff's notes," I never was good at the short version of things.

Questions, everyone has questions!

At long last - the interview questions - SORRY it took so dang long, folks - there's a lot going on at the house of Hydrangeas. Good, fun, hard and tough times, but all so good in the end.

I owe updates on the awesome meeting with "birth mama V" and about all of this work I have to do on myself, and my resignation that the only way for me to lose this weight is to go back to OA, which I'll do on Tuesday - I'm excited and scared. It was MUCH MUCH easier to lose the weight at 28 years old and while smoking, but now, here I am at the tail end of my next Saturn return at 35 years old, and the weight is the fulcrum of so much that is going on in my life. So back to basics I go...

So um yeah, I have to blog about all of that.

But for now, the interviews:

Just remember to include this at the end:

If you want to play too, leave me a comment saying "interview me." The first five commenters will be the participants.

* I will respond by asking you five questions.
* You will update your blog/site with the answers to the questions.
* You will include this explanation and an offer to interview someone else in the same post.
* When others comment asking to be interviewed, you will ask them five questions.

First is for:
SO THERE

1) What is it like being a Military wife?
2) Core, or Points?
3) Who is the music behind your blog?
4) How is the job going?
5) Your poetry is beautiful. What inspires you?

Next up is Kerryn

1) When did you start sewing, and what is the coolest thing you've made? (besides the ADORABLE outfit for Malka, of course!)
2) How was your endo originally diagnosed?
3) Where do things stand currently with DP, DS and the new housing situation?
4) If you could create a dream job scenario, what would it be?
5) Which way does the water in your toilet bowl spin?

Next up is:Rhi

1) Are you from Portland, or a transplant? (and if FROM - what high school did you go to?)
2) What was the coolest toy at the Toy Hall of Fame in Rochester?
3) How was your NYC Trip? And why didn't you call me!
4) What's the best and worst part about being an auntie?
5) If YOU could be on a Reality TV show, which one would it be, and why?

And then we have: Artificially Sweetened

1) What is the hardest thing about living with diabetes?
2) Have you two "picked" which gender you prefer? Can you just say "the youngest one you've got?"
3) Can you share your thesis with us in 25 words or less?
4) Could you start a recipe blog, please? Your food pictures make.me.drool!
5) As far as the embryos - can you do a "natural transfer" cycle - just stick um in, and add progesterone, and call it a day. ALL the while you are focuing on adoption? (We did 3 or 4 more cycles all up until our homestudy was complete...)

Last but not least: When do I get teh Toaster

1) Besides tea, what other things would be nice to “magically appear” for you?
2) What is the best and worst thing about being a soccer "mum?"
3) Now that KD has said he can no longer go through with it, what is your next step - will you go with a new KD, or with frozen?
4) Would you care to talk more about the pink elephant - aka - the tumor and the meds?
5) Describe your fantasy wedding with Gaye.

OK folks - just let me know when you've answered, so that I can go back and read what you wrote!


And in exciting Malka news - she started solids this week, and so far LOVES her cereal. We have figured out that cereal is fun ONLY after a bottle - otherwise, she's just too hungry to enjoy the process. But she's starting that whole open mouth and swallow thing - wow. I have some fun pictures. She's also doing prune juice shots to counter balance the cereal, as she was generally constipated before, and NOW, well, poor thing. She's getting better at drinking it, and it helps. A lot.

But there's something to be said for a gummy grin full of cereal. We'll just have to teach her a wee later on that it's not nice to laugh with a mouth ful of food. For now, we'll just enjoy the cuteness.

It was HUGE!

So Narda, Malka and I had a great meeting with Malka's birth mother today, and I'll write more about that later...

But we came home, and as I'm un-hooking Malka from the stroller, Narda screams from the bedroom, "great, there's feces on our bedroom floor." I go in to investigate, as the chief litter box scooper, I'm familiar with each cat's er, um, "product." So I go into the bedroom, and I say "WOAH." That's NOT a dookie, THAT'S THE BIGGEST HAIRBALL THIS SIDE OF THE MISSISSIPPI!"

It was HUGE, people.

And I basically said, "OK, whichever cat looks the MOST relieved, it's theirs!"

I have thus concluded it was Cougie's. Since I had given him petromalt the other day, and he was looking a little ill, and now he looks JUST.FINE...

I was tempted to take a picture, but decided against it. Let's just say, Narda had gotten it confused with cat dookies - and Cougie's are unusually LARGE...

So um, yeah. BIG hair ball at our house today. But happy cats.

And again, I promise to write more about the meeting, but I need to stop procrastinating loading the dishwasher by watching the Apprentice...

Roly Poly Malka

In honor of , Blogging for LGBT Families, Malka rolled over from tummy to back this am - BY HERSELF.

Narda was holding her on the sofa, and I sat down at the table to eat my grits that I made for breakfast (YUM), and I open the magazine sitting on the table, and Narda says: "She just rolled over." Apparantly, Narda had put Malka down on the carpet for a moment, and she just.rolled.over.

I run and grab my camera, and get the whole thing once again - she did get a little more frustrated at our frequent attempts to encourage her, after all it takes a LOT of energy and muscle to move a 21.4 pound baby from tummy to back! But she did it again.and.again.

Yea Malka!

We are SO screwed!

PS - Happy 6 years, Narda - you are the love of my life, and I'm so glad we can get frustrated and blissful together, sometimes even at the same time. You mean the world to me; I love you.

The cats can stay!

Malka's vist to the allergist this am showed that she is NOT allergic to ANYTHING! Now granted, the allergist said that skin tests can be false. We need to bring her back in 6 months to follow up with blood tests, but for now, the kitties can stay! (I'm crying with relief!)

We were also told to NOT introduce the "normal eczema triggers" when we start solids - which is FINE with me - so NO wheat, eggs, fish, eggs, nuts, tomatoes, etc. (yes, I just spelled it with an E - I'm a bit of an Anglo-phile, so sue me...)

Our next stop is a baby dermatologist, and we'll take it from there.

Thanks for all of the positive thoughts, I was a nervous wreck with thoughts of horrible things happening to our furry brood.

Now that I can focus again, and have stopped (oh so slightly) wigging out, I can focus on other tasks - formerly - the interview questions - I will try to get to them over the weekend, and have something posted by Monday.

In the meantime - please send some love to Mamma Mo - her father in law passed away last night...

And go share some love with Persephone. Her twin BOYS arrived yesterday!

And I'm very excited as Narda and I have a date for Saturday night, to help eclebrate our 6 year anniversary, which is tomorrow...