April Fools!

Please, do not believe anything you read online today. Possible example, although this one is very believable: http://www.babble.com/CS/blogs/strollerderby/archive/2009/04/01/sesame-street-changes-with-the-times-again.aspx

New Patio

Ok, so enough Death/Dying morbidity...on to happy news...we are getting a new patio soon. I am stoked. Check out some of the cool concrete photos here with the company we are using http://www.jsconcrete.com/default.aspx I had no idea you could do so much with concrete. We are probably going to have a fire pit built into one corner. My goal is it is finished, and it is landscaped around it by Claire's 2nd Bday at the end of July. I think that is workable! They travel all over Indy and the surrounding towns and areas to do concrete work. Yay.

Yes, we AIM chat at home...

joshuagstarr: Grandma died Nov 12?
strwberryjoy: yup
joshuagstarr: 139 days between their deaths.
joshuagstarr: It is a Chen Prime.
joshuagstarr: 139 is the smallest prime before a prime gap of length 10.
strwberryjoy: what does that mean
joshuagstarr: A prime gap is the difference between two successive prime numbers.
joshuagstarr: 139 is neat, because it consists of prime, prime, square.
strwberryjoy: think it is significant?
strwberryjoy: my grandma would have had her birthday on March 23 which was right before he broke his neck
joshuagstarr: She didn't want to celebrate alone.
strwberryjoy: um
joshuagstarr: Hmm 23 is also a prime.
joshuagstarr: Also a good movie named after it.
strwberryjoy: that is Claire's baptismal birthday

Some interesting numbers

My Grandpa was born on a prime number (Feb 11) and died on a prime number, today (Mar 31). Why are prime numbers so cool? Well, because they are one of the building blocks of math. Also, did you know that the number of numbers between 2 square roots is a prime. What a cool natural pattern.

RIP

My Grandpa passed last night about 2:10 AM.

Ironic.

Claire was born at the same time.

Say a Prayer

Ok...this is from an email I wrote for my mom to send out to family and friends...her dad fell and broke his neck about a week ago and is not doing so hot...the latest news of Vernon. He had several rough nights. He was repeatedly rude and belligerent with the nurses. He was in a lot of pain and confused. He hit more than one nurse. He is very angry at himself for falling. My mom stayed the night on Friday night with him. He only let her sleep 3 hours. He has trouble sleeping due to the pain. He would wake up confused and fell on the floor twice since being back at Timbercrest and trying to get out of bed. My mom arranged for someone from Comfort Care to come sit with him Saturday night and help him if he needed company, blankets adjusted, etc. However, he hit the comfort care lady twice and she will not come back. He has even left a large bruise on my mom's arm, which I saw when she came her Sat. afternoon, and that mark clearly says to me he is not in his right state of mind.
He needs more pain medicine. The determination was made today for him to be entered into the Hospice Program. http://www.hospicenet.org/html/faq.html My mom, dad, Winnie, and Bob met with the Hospice intake person. He will be allowed liquid morphine every hour without having to remember to ask for it. He will be made as comfortable as possible. Hopefully, the change in pain medications will help him to not be so angry and belligerent. He can't be hitting anymore nurses or he'll have to be removed to a hospital where they can tie him down Winnie and Bob will be there for a few days, so he will have company for the next few days. He continues to make comments about wanting to join the Good Lord and Mother. I remember him saying he was ready to die since I was 16 (that was in 1996) and probably every visit since then. He would always tell me the average life expectancy for men.
He still says he wishes it would have been him who passed in Nov. instead of Grandma. He needs help to feed himself as well as a catheter/diaper and everything else involving his care. He was getting moved every 2 hours so as not to develop bed sores. He would not cooperate with physical therapy therapists to help him get his strength back from his neck issue. When they did the mental test, he only got 4 or 10 right (who is president, what time of year is it, etc). He has not walked in over 2 years due to his myasthenia gravis http://www.ninds.nih.gov/disorders/myasthenia_gravis/detail_myasthenia_gravis.htm They thought his heart has been doing better lately, and he was having to take fewer nitro.
If you would like to plan to visit him soon, this would probably be a good idea. Or you may just choose to remember him how you wish the last time you saw him. There is no "expectation" on how long he has, but he was really looking forward to Holly's wedding and seeing everyone Easter weekend, but there is no way he'll be able to attend now as it's the weekend after next. When I was there last Saturday he said he wanted to take off his neck brace for the pictures, so I think him not being able to go will really devastate him. It takes 3 people to lift him, so it would really not be possible.
Please keep him on your prayer chains and forward this to anyone I missed.



And now for today...he is quickly declining since stopping his meds for m.g. and his congestive heart failure. He will probably not make it through the night.

I've called and said goodbye and he is with my mom, dad, Winnie and Bob. The pastor from Zion came and said a prayer service for the dying. The Timbercrest Chaplain has been in and out. Diane S. has also visited. Now it's just waiting for the Father to take him home.

Food Show

Here's a photo from our food show on Sat. I'm holding Claire in the pink dress. She showed us how to make 4 meals in 4 minutes. Awesome! I've become addicted to these meals since first trying them through Moms Club in Jan. You throw your meat, spices, and other ingredients in a ziploc bag and "smoosh" it together. Then you can label and freeze a bunch of meals until you're ready to use them. HANDY! Of course everything you buy comes with recipes as well. I like these kinds of shows because it's a good excuse to get together. Claire also had fun playing with kids from LLL, Hancock group, Moms Club, and church!

We've been Road-Tripping

Well, I never thought my life was interesting until I started trying to write and take pictures of a lot of it. Well you get a fraction of it. Last Sunday I headed up to Ft. Wayne to see my Grandpa Vernon in the hospital. Then I went to Valpo....then on up to Grand Haven, MI to see Josh's family! I know, I'm crazy! But the weather was really surprisingly decent! I also stopped at a family friends in South Haven, MI. (Yeah, Lillie, your mom rocks and totally understands why my 1 and 1/2 year old still NEEDS her nummies!) I had the gown I'm wearing for Holly's wedding altered for nursing Claire. Mainly because this way she can lap-nap. I call "Lap-Naps" the naps that Claire gets when we won't be around a nice comfy bed. Thank heavens for nursing her to sleep in my arms anywhere! :) This way we can also stay later at the wedding and she can crash out earlier if she needs to. My gown also has a little jacket to be a little more discreet while nursing. Believe it or not, I really don't like nursing in public. I'm ok if I'm wearing the right clothes, but some clothes just don't cover you up right. And yeah..um.. a blanket...right... But I know from Kristin's wedding there is a really nice bride's room at Aberdeen with comfy chairs where I can go nurse her, but who knows...we'll just have to play it by ear! I was really glad to be home Wed. I always suffer from computer withdrawl when I visit my parents. I still get on, but not as much!

Here are 2 videos I took in Grand Haven. Sadly, our memory card in the camera got fried and I lost some of the still pictures I took!

Snuggles and Yoda

We used to have 2 kitties. Here is Snuggles starting at a squirrel outside our 17th Street place in TH. Snuggles was a behemoth of a cat who weighed like 25 pounds...wait...that's still more than Claire! HAHA. This article Josh emailed me http://articles.latimes.com/2009/mar/27/nation/na-pet-falls27?tn=sn reminded me I meant to post something about them in Jan. upon their one year "anniversary" of their "re-homing" AKA...we gave them away to our college friend Cindy...and they are doing sooo well there! Thanks Cindy!


Ok, and this one is of Yoda on the treadmill...haha...Snuggles is the one that should have been on there. I think Yoda liked to get on there because it would be warm after I walked on it. It's not even plugged in for this photo...no worries!

I miss them sometimes, but not that catbox or tripping over them! :)

ANOTHER CONTEST

(Begin shameless plug:)
What? Free Food?

Yeah, FREE FOOD!?! Where? My place! This Saturday! Please don't feel like you have to buy anything! It's just an excuse to get-together and EAT and for the kids to PLAY! I am making 5 new recipes with their products for the show so there will be lots and lots of yummy stuff to taste! PLUS She will be demonstrating 4 other recipes that I get to keep (haha...that's why I booked a show to have her cook those meals for me!) You will learn how to make 4 meals in 4 minutes!

On Saturday, March 28, from 3-5pm, I am hosting a Home Made Gourmet Party. Kids are welcome here too, of course! http://www.homemadegourmet.com/HG-redesign-index.aspx If you want to order but can't make it there is the site, just let me know you placed an order for the show credit. And if you are watching out for certain ingredients here is a list of allergies, etc: https://www.homemadegourmet.com/VirtualOfficeImages/Documents/FoodAllergyandIntoleranceGuide.pdf

Please email me at my hotmail acct or leave a comment to RSVP! We live in a newish subdivision. Please call or email for directions. Your GPS will not get you here correctly, nor will any of the online mapping sites. The developer changed a few road names after starting building, so it's pretty confusing if you don't get them from me!

OH AND FOR THE CONTEST...I love contests. I love participating in them, so I'll start having some! And we only had 2 commenters last time, so they both got a prize! Josh and Mr. Alex, I hope you enjoy your books! :) So to enter, just leave a comment with your FAVORITE FOOD! Contest will end NEXT Sat. April 4 at 10 pm EST. And you win a mix from the food show! :) I'll share some of my free product with you basically! ;)


Thanks and Take Care!

Maria

Un-weaning

I read this cool article in MOTHERING. It's even cooler to see someone else blogging about "un-weaning!" Yay http://www.babble.com/CS/blogs/strollerderby/archive/2009/03/26/unweaning-it-happens.aspx What a great way to re-connect!

Dinner and a Walk with Aaron

Ok, here are two videos for you of our Saturday evening with Aaron. We ate at Yats and then went on a walk downtown. I actually have make-up on as I went to a neighbor's Mary Kay party earlier on Saturday! :)

Mommy and Me Swimming Video

Claire and I enjoyed going to Mommy and Me swimming lessons. I am pretty pumped about my new from sling from this site http://wallababy.com/ It is mesh so I can use it around pools and beaches. PLUS it has an SPF factor, which I am pretty excited about.

Crashed-out Claire

Claire is normally a great car-sleeper. Sunday fussiness was a total fluke. See:
And we had to turn her carseat around a few months ago because she was just too cramped! Look how far her legs hang over the carseat end! She is actually wearing long pants. She just likes to pull them up and pat her knees. Then she'll say "Knee! Two Knee!" She is really into body parts! She also says "neck" and "elbow" in addition to some of the ones she already has been saying like head, hand, eye, no(s)e, etc. She can't say the "s" very well. Like "snack" is just "nack" which she calls anything she can eat!

Regret

I think as parents we often regret many choices we make. For example, this past Sunday, when I headed up to Ft. Wayne I thought I'd go ahead and go to church, then drive up during Claire's usual afternoon nap time so she'd sleep the whole way. Bad plan. She cried and fussed, and I had to stop 3 times. Argh. I ran across this interesting blog posting on regretting weaning that was linked from another blog. Check it out if it interests you: http://www.blisstree.com/breastfeeding123/friday-five-top-five-times-i-regret-weaning/