micropreemie mommy

well… can i just say how thankful i am to be surrounded by such amazing (and eloquent!) people?  we have received so many wonderful thoughts and anecdotes and stories of preemie success since our article ran in the globe yesterday, i will admit it… i am officially overwhelmed (but in a good way).

the writer, bella english, captured our experience so wonderfully and i’m not sure i could have written it any better (wait, let me take that back… i *know* i couldn’t have)

things are good over with the farrell four and are so positive about our girls!

ooh, fun news! it is reported that we are going to be the front page story in the boston globe  tomorrow. neato!  stay tuned!

…randomness… it happens when you think an awesome saturday night consists of pajamas, the couch, the laptop, on-demand, … and patiently awaiting betty white on snl.  i’m pretty excited…

today is day 502… madeline has been in the hospital for 502 days.  i still don’t believe it.

back in january, you may remember that i was on the martha stewart show.  it was *completely* random and a most interesting experience (the green room is actually a brown room and more like a fish bowl… a glorified conference room, if you will… although i will say that they had the most yummy fruit salad (hey, i’ve been trying to eat locally more to save money than anything and i was all about it) and the heaviest silverware)… *anyhow* i digress.  so i was reading this on another blog awhile ago and getting a kick out of it.  i wasn’t getting the martha magazine at the time (oh the horror) so i couldn’t really see what she was saying… i started to get the magazine (why i don’t know) last month and i had a good chuckle when it came in the mail this week… so, martha’s calendar…  it’s typically in the front couple of pages… and seriously, it’s hilarious.  june’s calendar features a today show appearance, plowing the meadow… and baling the hay… all on june 9th!  i mean… i’m a multi-tasker and all but sheesh.  c’mon.  i must admit i promptly closed that magazine.

molly is into e-v-e-r-y-t-h-i-n-g.  she’s pulling to stand, she’s scooting and cruising, she’s eating the tiniest things off the floor (i don’t believe the doctor one bit when he says she’s far-sighted), she’s wanting to climb tall bookshelfs, she’s crawling around dragging all of her medical equipment behind her like a little quasimodo, she’s cutting her seventh and eighth tooth, her hair is growing to the point it’s getting curly…

this was molly last year on this day

as much as i’m a sucker for a reality re-run, reality programming really needs to stop.  it’s not reality if it has a producer.

people who actually make kid’s electronic toys should be forced to stay in a locked room with them for 24 hours (with it stuck ‘on’)… bet you’d think twice about the creepy man’s voice that says, ‘lleeeeeetttt’s explore’ four bajillion times

my tap dance recital (because, you know, in all my spare time i shuffle to buffalo) is june 19th… you’re cordially invited 

how can intervention on a&e tape people using drugs and not turn them in to the police?  isn’t that some sort of crime?  …and moreover, isn’t capitalizing on other people’s misery just plain wrong?  (same with hoarders… i know we’re all curious, but man oh man)

i’m dying to get the new baby jogger city select… it’s a dream… it’s a tandem, but not long and awkward, the seats can face forward or back (perfect for the girls and me being able to see them ripping off/out their various preemie medical fashion) and there is a big arse basket on the bottom.  yes, yes, yes.  love it!  need it!  want it!  better start saving for it!

when do you first buy baby’s real shoes?  i’m totally wanting those little white leather shoes that i used to have as a baby… but is that totally passe?  do they even make those anymore?

family guy, while very funny, went too far last sunday night.

i’ve started up weight watchers again.  i guess it involves a little more than joining… you actually have to follow the program.  who knew?  i’m happy to say there is three pounds less of amy this week… woo hoo!

we started some nursing hours (block nursing) here at the house for molly.  after her last hospital stay, she gained yet another medication and with all of the medical equipment, we qualified.  it’s pretty darn strange having someone in the house, but i’m hoping we’ll all get used to it and we can use it to our advantage for a learning experience… and maybe the occasional break.  we’ll see how it goes.

what is with those local news stations’ intros?  all that drama and duh-duh-duh and crazy graphics… please just read the news.  k, thanks.

next monday through wednesday i’ll be traveling to south and north carolina.  I’ll be going by myself, which is totally weird (and i’ll be pretty far away from the bambinas)… and i’m going for a bzzagent project.  no really.  i’ll tell you more about it when i can, but let’s just it’s cool and i’m pretty stoked.  more to come.

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ick.  ugh.  yuck.  blech.  any one of those words pretty much sums up the last two weeks or so for my household.  it all started with out dear ms. madeline catching the bug going around on her floor at franciscans.  it’s the nature of the beast in a place like that where the kids are all seen by the same doctors and nurses and therapists and attend playgroup together.  it’s like a medical day care and we all know how those places are virtual petri dishes… ick.  i got a call about two weeks ago saying that mad had, well, um, the poop-adee-doop-allees… really, really bad.  it was the sickness du jour and they didn’t seem too concerned.  over that night it turned to a little more nausea than it reached its grand finale with both.

now… i love my madeline to death, but at that moment we couldn’t chance getting sick.  we quarantined molly from visiting and both pete and i pretty much said hi over the phone.  a day later i went to give her some loving and she seemed better.  oh dear flu bug, the tricks you play. i felt fine on monday morning and even was making plans to meet up the following day with my friend jods and her cutsy tootsy ellie.  less than an hour later, i’m laying on the couch with molly destroying the place and me unable to do anything about it.  for the next week, i was down for the count…  molly was herded to the grandparents and i was left to rot (i mean recuperate) on the couch…

over the weekend, i went nuts cleaning and washing and deodorizing and sanitizing every single surface in the darn place …and now… my husband goes and gets sick.  how dare he!  (and for the record, i love him, but he is worse than the girls when sick… i’m just glad we don’t have one of those little dinner bells)

one of the upsides to being deathly ill (other than a reason to stay in pajamas for days at a time) is the ability to watch daytime tv… now there’s not a ton to choose from, but I love a couple of the morning talk shows.  who doesn’t love ellen?  … and the view?  love it.  catfighting?  l-o-v-e it.  controversy?  all over it.  … and guess what?  i was selected to be a brand ambassador for the view on mom central!  yay!  what does that mean for me?  well… I get a bit of a sneak peek on some upcoming guests and topics and have an excuse to blog about the “hot topics.”  what does that mean for you?  i hope it means that you’ll join me in some watching of “the view” so we can have some fruitful discussion.  sound like fun?  thought so.  stay tuned and we’ll see what happens next!

so, as part of my family’s commitment to eating better and getting back on the proverbial health wagon (see post below about my random ‘martha experience’) we (meaning i) decided to join a csa which is a great way to 1) eat more veggies and fruit and 2) discover some new and interesting veggies.

i grew up in a strictly meat and potatoes family where pepper was the only spice and gravy was used liberally.  the menu was typically on a two week rotating basis and included spaghetti and meatballs, chicken with potatoes, beef stew … and the dreaded meatloaf  (i’m sorry, but disguising ground beef in a bread shaped mold just doesn’t make it taste better) …so, finding things to do with dino kale and celeriac (not knocking any of them… but poor, poor celeriac… so ugly and with a disease-sounding name) has been a bit of a challenge.  i have found some great recipes (many of which are soups… just because they’re so darn easy), including this (we’ve received a *lot* of potatoes and root vegetables) and this page, which helped a lot with the celeriac.

anyhow, i check the website of our csa, which is heavens harvest farm (highly recommended and delivers to many points throughout ma) and discover this week that i’m receiving beets (dwight shrute would love me) and rutabaga.  upon getting it all home, my husband takes a look at the rutabagas and insists they are turnips.  I leave you with two pictures, one rutabaga and one turnip.  Can you tell the difference?

does anyone else wish that these long-winded speeches were 1) not full of rhetoric and 2) more succinct? i’m all for change and hope and whatever the politicos brainwash us with, but i need some real ideas, some real meat in front of me… guess that makes me a political carnivore. what did you think of it?

after fuddling with blogger for a year or so, i’m on to try the much-touted wordpress… apparently i’m very ‘2001′ in the tech department.  onward and upward i say… alright, it’s a lateral move, but whatever.  it’s easier for me and frankly (see post below) i’m darn happy to have a minute to myself these days.

the, “seriously ma?” faces have already begun…