Carleen and Mike » 2007 » September

My body is breaking

Carleen Huxley — Wed, 26 Sep 2007 13:12:28 +0000

Despite all its glory, pregnancy and child bearing can really do a number on a womans body. Since having Liam, I often feel as though my body just isn’t as tough as it used to be. Like it can’t endure as much as it used to. I often have unexplained random pains in places. The skin on my face just looks so tired and patchy all the time. I go through these strange dizzy spells a lot. My eyesight is worse, I sit wearing my glasses on the couch and the subtitles of a movie still look blurry. Last week, many of these symptoms were really starting to annoy me so I decided to look some stuff up on the internet. Now, one of the most important rules you learn in library school is that you should always discourage a patron from trying to self-diagnose themselves according to what they read online. Unfortunately, I self-diagnose all the time and for a short period last week I was convinced I was dying from either a) Addison’s disease or b) a very rare form of cancer known as Adrenal cancer. In fact, the latter is so rare it only makes up 2% of cancer diagnoses each year. Rare or not, I was dying of it.

I was actually in hysterics for about a day over this. Dying before Liam was born wasn’t such a major big deal. We all die sometime. But the thought of dieing before I had seen my son grow into a adulthood was really getting to me. I managed to get into the doctor the next morning. I’ve switched doctors to a lady my dad often goes scuba diving with. She’s a character, sorta of looks like the sort that should be on a ranch in Wyoming ropin’ horses. As I started riddling off all my symptoms she stopped me half way and told me to slow down because she couldn’t write that fast. At that point, I realized what a hypochondriac I sounded like. She was very thorough, something which my dad had already indicated, and I appreciated that. She asked a bunch of questions back and eventually we got around to exercise. “Yes, I run.” “Outside?” “Yes.” “Hello, there it is. With the heat and all, you’re sweatin’ out potassium. Just eat a banana every morning.” So, I’m eating bananas and feeling much better.

However, I am still having some foot problems. There’s something going on with my heel. I called to make an appointment with the podiatrist yesterday but the secretary said that the earliest opening was October 23rd. That’s like a month away. I’m having problems walking here. I can’t wait a month. Can you believe in a town with an estimated forty thousand people, most of them over the age of fifty, we only have one podiatrist?

Anticipating Autumn

Carleen Huxley — Wed, 26 Sep 2007 12:35:17 +0000

I’ve been rather giddy the last few days, not sure why. They came to install our new windows on Monday. They look amazing! Mike took pictures, he just hasn’t uploaded them yet. We’ve both been kind of lazy lately. It’s really hard to get things done around the house when you’re in temporary possession of The Office season three DVD set and Willy Wonka’s secret stash is stocked in your kitchen pantry. Priorities folks. Some things are just more important. I’ve had chocolate everyday since last Wednesday and I’m not aiming to stop soon. It’s amazing what an insane amount of high quality chocolate can do to a womans personality.

I’ve spent a lot of time lately anticipating Fall. I don’t know why I’m so excited about the holiday seasons coming up but I think it has something to do with having a kid. I can’t wait to dress Liam up in Halloween costumes and take him to the pumpkin patch to choose a pumpkin, or put up a xmas tree and see what his reaction is when we have it all decorated and the lights are turned on. As adults, we’re so bad about letting these activities loose their appeal and excitement. Decorating trees and such actually become more of a house chore than anything else. Having Liam around is making me feel like a kid again, I really can’t wait. The weather outside yesterday was much cooler than usual. It rained most of the day and it really felt like Fall weather. I had a very twisted urge to play hookie from work so I could stay at home and watch Anne of Green Gables. There’s just something about that story and that red headed chick that just screams Autumn time.

Kids, roaming, safety vs. stability

Carleen Huxley — Wed, 26 Sep 2007 03:56:52 +0000

Mike and I have always talked about how we would like to settle in the country. Most of the places I’ve lived growing up were in the suburbs. Still my brother and I always managed to find some hidden path somewhere that would take us to some place more remote, open and wooded. I had a rotten habit of following my brother and his friends around. I know they didn’t want me there but I guess they figured out early that it was easier to just let me come with them then it was to tell me to leave since I would surely storm off whining “I’m tellin’ Mom” and that would just ruin everything. Sometimes we didn’t have to go far to find these places. They were usually easy to find in Norway. In fact, my grandmother’s house had a great yard with this really neat area of pine bushes where we would build little huts out of branches and stuff and run around pretending we were elves or warriors or something. In Scotland there was an area behind one of the schools in our neighborhood that we used to go to. I remember we picked blueberries there once.

I often think about my childhood and compare it to what I imagine Liam’s will be like. Like all parents, I want Liam to have a childhood filled with happy memories similar to the ones that I have of my own. But having said that, I can not imagine every letting him roam as far away as we were allowed to roam when we were kids. All I can think about is all the sex offenders and nut jobs out there. I get so upset when I see all the young kids who come to the library after school, just waiting around for their parents to get off work. If you’re fourteen or fifteen, ok, maybe. But we had a kid who was ten at the library the other night. He was there until closing time. He had ridden his bike there. We close at nine. It’s dark outside. This kid was going to bike home. At the age of ten. Downtown. In the dark. Am I wrong to think that’s insane? I’ll get Liam a bike. Bikes are good, exercise, fresh air. Good. But until he’s about fifteen, I’m biking everywhere with him. What about all the crazy drivers out there, what if he gets hit by a car? I’m going with him, that’s all there is too it. That’s not crazy, is it?

Ok, it is crazy. In fact, there are plenty of studies out there indicating that “hyperprotective parenting” could leave children at risk for more anxiety. I mean, Liam will never want to go outside or go anywhere on his own if I’m constantly scaring him about the potential “boogy man” lingering on the street corner or all the crazed drivers behind the wheel. I really have no idea how I’m going to balance this because there are so many legitimate reasons to be scared to let my son out of my sight yet, I’m going to have to eventually. Then there’s the whole nature thing. Part of the reason I don’t like living in suburban neighborhoods is the whole “pretty garden” stuff. I mean, I like pretty gardens. I want some prettyness to my garden but I also want a yard where my child can play without having to worry about accidently trampling the petunias. I want a garden of potted plants. The rest just needs to be open space with green grass and trees. With a rocking chair on the front porch and a picket fence in front. Wait a minute, nevermind. I’m thinking of that country song.

I’m an aunt!

Carleen Huxley — Tue, 25 Sep 2007 11:43:09 +0000

And Mike’s an uncle. Sydney Teresa was born last Friday, 6lbs 10oz (I think that’s right). Mom, Dad and baby are doing well.

Here’s Grandma Pat holding her. I love this picture. She looks so peaceful…and you can see her cute little nose.

Liam eating Norwegian cookie

Carleen Huxley — Fri, 21 Sep 2007 04:43:09 +0000

When my brother and I were little living in Norway we used to eat a cookie that was the shape of a man..kind of like a gingerbread man but not with ginger, more like a sugar cookie. My mom sent some from Norway for us and here’s Liam eating it. He giggled when I first gave him the whole thing, after which he proceeded to tear off the heads and arms. Didn’t eat much of it but certainly enjoyed playing with it.

Candy!

Carleen Huxley — Wed, 19 Sep 2007 20:15:09 +0000

This is a scant half (!) of the candy that was brought back by Carl, from Norway. Siri is still there, so I’m suspecting that more will be on the way.

iSight chat from three different countries

Carleen Huxley — Mon, 17 Sep 2007 04:24:46 +0000

So, I totally missed the fun because I was at work but last week Liam got to chat on iSight with my parents (in Norway) and Mitch (in Korea). Technology is freakin sweet!

the happy skill

Carleen Huxley — Mon, 17 Sep 2007 03:59:38 +0000

I’m catching up on blog reading and I just got to Chrissy’s post about “perfection” and dealing with the “lulls” in life. She just recently finished her MLIS too (in addition to several other accomplishments). I like how she questions “well, what’s next? Is this it?” because I’ve done a lot of this myself lately. We spend a lot of time trying to accomplish things and despite how rewarding the achievement may feel there’s this initial coming down period afterwards. It kind of reminds you that the best part is often the process, not the result. I think sometimes we grow up thinking that happiness is a state of being. Something that just happens but only after a certain mixture of ingredients or specific variables have been combined. The media certainly makes us feels this way. Buy this, be this, look like this. Maybe it’s better not to think about happiness as a state, but as a learned skill that has to be practiced. Continuously. Not that I’m an expert on this but it would seem to make more sense if we thought of it that way more often so we’re not constantly looking for something external to create that specific state of being. On the other hand, it’s also very likely that it’s almost midnight and I should probably go to bed. Either that or waaaaay to many of those Buddhist focused self-help books.

Sign this!

Carleen Huxley — Mon, 17 Sep 2007 03:33:53 +0000

We’re trying to teach Liam sign language. Although he hasn’t done them on a repeated basis, he has signed “dog” and “bird”, also “milk”, however I don’t think he really understands that he can use these signs to communicate with us. He just copies. I think he just sees it as playing. He has, however, created his own sign. We have a DVD of nursery rhyme songs that he loves to watch. His favorite is Wheels on the Bus. Whenever we pass by the DVD player or he’s playing around it he’ll do the “swish swish” motion for the wind shield wipers. I got him another DVD for his birthday of animal cartoons…all based on famous children’s books. But he won’t sit still for those, I think, because there’s no music.

Liam’s new thing nowadays is getting into the pantry and pouring cheerios on the floor. He then proceeds to eat the cheerios off the floor until the dogs come running…the dogs love Liam. They follow him virtually everywhere, especially during and after feeding times. He’s great at sharing, constantly dropping pieces of his own food onto the floor for the dogs to enjoy. We’ve had a lot of trouble getting Turbo to eat his meals here lately…for obvious reasons, who wants dried kibbles when you can have pumpkin and applesauce, or chicken and rice.

In other happy news, this time next week I’m going to be an aunt for the first time. Mikes sister, Kim, is due on Friday. She’s having a girl. They’ve chosen a really snazzy name…I love it. Syndey Theresa…I have no idea if I spelled that correctly but hopefully Kim will correct me. Mike is getting real excited about this too. It’ll be so neat for Liam to have a cousin around his age.

Maps…ugh.

Carleen Huxley — Mon, 17 Sep 2007 03:33:20 +0000

I had to go to OSU Stillwater for a workshop on Friday. I prepared meticulously for this trip, printed out three different maps, two to get me to Stillwater and another of the campus. I got lost. Twice. Once on my way to Stillwater and again on campus. Didn’t help that there was construction everywhere and nowhere to park that didn’t require a permit. I felt pretty traumatized by the time I made it home. I am hopeless when it comes to reading maps and following directions. On the first day of our honeymoon, it was Mike who got us from our hotel in Oslo to the port to catch the boat to the island where the Viking Ship Museum was supposed to be. This would be a city I have visited a total of three times in my life. Mike had never even been in the country before. And it’s not like finding the port in Oslo is all that difficult. You can see it in the distance, you can smell it. Just follow your nose…I just don’t understand how I get so disoriented. I think it’s just the map thing. I do a lot better when people just give me landmarks and tell me “right” or “left”.