In Which I Am Still Shocked I Made It On The Plane

I still can't believe they let me get on that plane.  Here's how things went:

Time of Flight: 7:30 a.m.
Time of Arrival to Airport: 6:30 a.m.

I got to the airport a scant hour before my flight was due to take off (and yes, I know that this is not recommended-- trust me when I say it was not our original plan). It was an early flight, and usually the airport isn't so bad first thing in the morning, but today for whatever reason the stars were not aligned in my favor because things were packed.  I mean the line for the curb check-in was probably about thirty people long.  I called my parents while standing in that line and told them that I was almost positive I was going to miss my flight, but I was going to try and make it anyway.

Time of Arrival at Security Gate: 6:50 a.m.

The Security Gate was insane.  The lines to get to the lines had lines.  That's how bad it was.  My flight had just begun boarding when I got in line, and I was positive there was no way I was getting on the plane.  My hope now was to make it to the desk in time to either change to a later flight or cancel my flight and get my money back, because I was pretty sure if it actually departed without me speaking to someone that would be a no-go.

Time Finished With Security: 7:20 a.m.

My laptop (taken out of its case for the security check) in one hand and my laptop case in the other, I sprinted down the corridor towards my gate.  Luckily it was one relatively close to the security.  I skidded to a stop in front of it and saw, of course, that the sign had already been taken down. 

"I figured I was too late for the San Diego flight," I said in a conversational (albeit rather breathless, due to my earlier sprinting) tone to the flight attendant. 

"That's the gate for the other airlines," she said, pointing across the corridor.  I turned around and dashed over to the (identically numbered) gate, where the attendant was just taking down the sign for my plane. 

"Darn it," I said.  "I was hoping I'd make it."

"Well, the door is still open, so if you're already checked in go for it," she said to my complete and utter shock.  I hurried over to the loading area, where the flight attendant was just reaching for the button to close the door.  I handed her my boarding pass.

And they let me on the plane!

Time of my arrival on the plane: 7:24 a.m.
Time of take off: 7:30 a.m.

I swear I lead a charmed life.

So I made it to La Jolla after all, and incredibly my bag made it there too, and despite all odds I ended up getting to go to the wedding.  It was a fantastic wedding, of course, and I bawled like I usually do at weddings and then made a total idiot out of myself on the dance floor at the reception.  And tomorrow morning I'll fly back to Seattle, via a lovely connection in Albuquerque, New Mexico.  What can I say?  They were last minute tickets.  But I plan on getting to the airport a little earlier this time.

I'm not tempting fate twice.

~Jess

In Which I Cop Out Of Writing You A Good Blog Post

I don't have a whole lot to say about today, other than it was yet another good day for Connor.  I'm being lazy because I still have to finish packing, and my plane leaves at 7:30 in the morning, meaning that we have to be at the airport a heck of a lot earlier than that.

So instead of telling you all about what we did today, I'm going to quote for you from the best of the Engrish spam I've gotten for the blog this week.  You know I secretly collect these things, right?  Because you totally come to this blog to read about spam.  Anyway, here you go.  I've deleted the actual product name and any links, of course, because I don't want to reward this sort of thing, but I can't help but want to share this one, because it is pretty awesome.

People from all during the world comprise acne or ... People from all during the world comprise acne or shell blemishes. This affects men, women, and adolescents. The article offers tips, genius solutions, and a great performing offshoot (Product Name Here).
It's correct that having pimples and blemishes on your standing can be embarrassing. Acne lowers your faith level and this can move your school, lodgings, and control life. You perceive like everyone is looking at your eruption or blemish.

You fondle objective like staying digs!

Acne is known as pimples, lumps, and plugged pores that become visible on the cope with, neck, false impression, shoulders and coffer areas.  There is not undivided main fact that causes acne and it is stimulated during hormones, insistence, nubility, food, and other factors.  The ra can also dreary old hat the outer layer of your pellicle encouraging your sebaceous glands to start producing more oil.  No ditty is immune to excoriate blemishes when the conditions are there.  Medicament has produced divers products to succour rid your acne. They are also degree a only one expected remedies.


Here are some everyday fundamental solutions that may reduce your acne.  Basic you need to start eating haler and a stop to eating foods loaded with sugars, fats, and oils.  Fried bread commitment not solitary locate on the pounds but also may record your acne worse.  Drinking a lot of water will also help. The bath-water will blush the toxins that are causing the acne in sight of your body.  You  you should drink at least 24 ounces per day.


Another clarification is to pal apricot vitality on your pretence in behalf of at least 10 minutes a day. This normal effect on cure unambiguous your incrustation of pimples.


Toothpaste is also a cyclopean way to fall rid of shell blemishes. You should hammer away the toothpaste into the effected areas and leave it atop of night. Then sweep is cancelled in the morning.
If the natural mixing does not post there are a ton of products on the market.


Inseparable spin-off that seems to allude to b support in the sky the tea is (Insert Product Name Here).  The (Insert Product Name Here) care products put up for sale a three degree modus operandi to lustrous your skin.  It is nearby online or at your village retail store. There are varied celebrities who vouchsafe nearby the product.  (Product Name) Deciphering is also more low-cost compared to other less imaginative products.



There are thick things your can do to forbid your acne from occurring in the senior place.  In perpetuity be docile with your face. Still water that is too steaming or stone-cold can trigger your sebaceous glands to through yield oil and clog up your skin.  You should leave your face at least twice a lifetime to keep the bacteria levels to a minimum.  Do not match your face. The hands bear the most bacteria and you do not to place the bacteria here.  You should also move your hands innumerable times a day. This will supporter obey the bacteria levels not up to par in case you drink your face.  As a replacement for women who function makeup sport grease sovereign or hypo-allergenic makeup by reason of susceptible skin.


Men should make use of antiseptic products representing razor long that are designed to empty remove the pores and moisturize the skin.

To conclude men, women, and adolescents can suffer from assurance destroying acne and shell blemishes. There are common remedies and a inordinate effect called (Insert Product Name Here) that can remarkably help keep your acne to a minimum. There are also things you can do to avoid acne. Conquest your acne and face the mankind again!  

That's right.  Acne is caused by nubility and makes you lose your faith.  To get rid of it, drink large quantities of bathwater and hammer toothpaste into your face.  Sounds like a good plan to me!
 
I will blog tomorrow (my laptop is coming with me), so expect a return to your regularly scheduled programming, albeit sans Connor, then.  In the meantime, make sure not to match your face!
 
~Jess

In Which Connor Has A Good Day

Connor had a good day today.  No seizures. 

We visited a random pediatrician in the hospital today, as Connor is not currently assigned to one due to an insurance snafoo, and dumped all of the school paperwork on her.  This is like thirty pages of paperwork she has to fill out.  Also we asked her to make three referrals for us and e-mail Connor's urologist.  And to update Connor's medical file with all his recent hospitalizations and medication changes.  Also she'd never seen Connor before, ever.  And did I mention that the hour-long appointment we were supposed to have with her ended up being overbooked, so instead we had twenty minutes?  The poor woman. Connor does not do twenty-minute appointments.  We walked out of there about forty-five minutes later, no doubt throwing her schedule off for the rest of the day.

I felt really bad about dumping all of that on her, but that's kind of the way it goes around here when we don't have an assigned pediatrician. 

Connor continues to improve in regards to his temperament and energy levels; I had no idea just how lethargic and unhappy he'd become until we switched him back off the Tegretol and the difference in mood became clear.  Today he was just one cute bundle of wiggly joy.  It's great to have my happy little guy back!

We'll be starting up his new medication sometime in the next few days-- once the pharmacy has it in stock.  Because of some of the risks involved with this new medication, the doctor plans to build Connor up to a therapeutic dose extremely slowly; he'll be stepping up onto this medicine over a twelve-week period.  It should be interesting to see how this goes.

I'm going to be packing on the sly tomorrow, as I leave Saturday morning for the wedding.  This will be one of the first times I've been the parent to go on a trip (and not Jeremy) so hopefully Connor won't freak out to much.  Every time I start trying to talk to him about it he freaks out and I have to change the subject.  I'm hoping Jeremy will not be dealing with The Saddest Boy In The World, but I have a feeling it won't be an issue once Connor understands that Daddy, also known as The Favorite Parent, is not going anywhere. 

Guess we'll find out on Saturday, huh?

~Jess

In Which Connor Will Not Sleep

So Connor decided that his new wake up time this morning was going to be 0300.  I was not terribly thrilled with this development, especially since I'd stayed up way too late playing eating chocolate and playing Sims 3 on my computer.  I mean, um, Writing.  Writing A Lot.  About Very Important Things. 

Yes. 

Anyway, so he woke up way too early and then was disgustingly cheerful until around ten or so, when he slumped over in the middle of playing the Worst Keyboard That Ever There Was and had about a three minute seizure.  When he woke up (after I resuscitated him for about a minute and a half) instead of doing his usual get-really-grumpy-and-then-fall-asleep thing, he just asked for More Keyboard.  Because that is the pull that this keyboard has.  I may have to give in and get him a really fancy one like this because he loves it so much, but I'm not sure my eardrums will be able to stand it.

Then he refused to take a nap.  And when I left the house at around 7:00 in the evening to go write at one of our local coffee shops (which I try to do once a week or so) he was lying in bed still going strong, happily shrieking away and probably asking for More Keyboard.  I swear the child has decided that sleep is optional.

Hopefully he won't keep this up, because I have the wedding to go to this weekend and I don't want my relatives mistaking me for a zombie.

~Jess

In Which Connor Rocks Out

We are never, ever doing a "Fun With Music" weekly theme ever again.

I'm not sure I will still retain my sanity by the time the week is out. This is because Connor has decided that the super-fancy keyboard, which came in the Theme Box of The Week, is his favorite toy ever in the history of the universe. Basically he has decided that he loves it more than any other toy in the world, and my increasingly frantic attempts to replace it with something else that is less annoying have met with complete and utter failure.

I mean, it's really cute, for the first twenty minutes or so. Cute in a loud and extremely violent fashion, anyway. The first thing he does is turn one of the percussion buttons on; you know, the kind that is labeled "salsa" or "funk" and that is supposed to provide a background beat for the music you play. Then he starts smashing the keys with his hands and (if he wants more precision) his elbows. Finally he begins emitting ear-piercing shrieks of excitement at pitches that at the lower volumes make the glasses in our kitchen vibrate and at the higher volumes also vibrate my teeth. When it becomes too much work to smash the keys down, he picks two notes, usually in the highest register and right next to one another, and leans on them for about five minutes. Then after taking this refreshing break, he smashes his elbows down on random buttons near the percussion area until he gets a new rhythm to emerge.  This inspires more incredibly enthusiastic musical carnage. Rinse and repeat. For hours.

Yes, I know that I am his parent, and about 8 times bigger than him and also equipped with functional opposable thumbs and limbs that all operate in the manner originally intended, so I could easily take it away from him and make him play with another toy. But he's so darn happy and excited about the thing, and I've been dealing with a lethargic, grumpy, attempting-to-die-on-me child for the past two weeks, so I don't really have the heart to do it. Yes, I also know that I'm probably spoiling him horribly-- not to mention running the risk of possibly shattering my eardrums, glassware, and tooth enamel-- but I'm just so thrilled that he's actually vocalizing and acting like his usual happy self again that I can't help but give in. So I'll suffer through his epic, multi-hour "concerts" with a grin on my face for the week, and then at the end of it I'll take the box back to the library and save checking it out only for very, very special occasions like when someone else is watching him and I am far, far away. Preferably in Bermuda. With chocolate.

Anyway, I'll try and get some video tomorrow, so you can see part of the adorable, nails-on-chalkboard performance!


~Jess

In Which Our Day Is Exponentially Better Than Most Of Last Month

Today it was back to business as usual! 

We did hear from the neurologist this morning, and he's got a new medication he wants to try Connor on.  However, the medication level has to be upped very slowly because the body has to get used to metabolizing it.  If it's upped it too quickly it can make all your skin fall off and die.  Um, ow.  So Connor will be building up to a therapeutic dose of this medication over an eight week period, while slowly weaning down off the Trileptal.  I don't want to get the name of the stuff wrong and we haven't received orders for it yet, so I'll wait to tell you the name of the new medication until it's sitting in my hot little hand.  I also spent three hours on the phone with the insurance company, because they are convinced that our pediatrician who moved away over two months ago (I believe she is currently in another country now, so that's about as far out of pocket as you can get) is still Connor's primary care manager even though she doesn't have any appointments available and obviously is not commuting to the hospital.  That would be a long commute.  So they won't assign us another one until we can prove that she is no longer here.  And we have at least three appointments we need to make with specialists, which require referrals from said pediatrician.  Also we have eight billion pieces of paperwork we need signed, also by said pediatrician, for school.  And did I mention that school starts in a month?  Glorious.

So anyway, to cheer me up after all of the hoops I had to jump through, we went to the library today and I let Connor pick out a new theme box for the week from a couple of choices.  He pounced on the "Fun With Music" box, and when I started pulling things out of it at the library to make sure they were all there before checking it out, he got really mad that I wouldn't let him play with the super-fancy keyboard (which I discovered when we got home is the Loudest Keyboard In The World) immediately.  So he started shrieking at the top of his lungs.  Still in the library. 

We checked out really quickly.  Connor trumps the keyboard in both the volume and the nails-on-chalkboard categories.

Then Connor and I sat down together outside and had what was probably a totally ineffectual conversation on appropriate behavior in the library.  And then we went on the swings, because they were there and about halfway through my lecture he stopped paying attention and started asking for swings instead.  I am completely incapable of denying my child something if he goes to all the trouble of asking for it, even if it is during my lecture about playing The Loudest Keyboard That Ever There Was in the middle of the library (though I guess I did deny him the keyboard, so maybe I just thought going on the swings sounded like a good idea).  Oh well.  He had a great time on the swings and burned off some energy, and then as a result I was able to actually go sit down with him in Central Perk-- one of my local haunts-- and read one of the random books I'd managed to grab off the library shelf as I rushed past with my firetruck-imitating child towards the check-out station.  It probably helped that I stuffed the kid half-full of gooey warm brownie as I was reading. 

Yes, I was a virtual paragon of fantastic parenting today. 

Anyway, then we went home and surveyed the sheer awesomeness that is now our front lawn, which put me in the best mood ever-- even a better mood than I was already in from the swings and the reading and the brownie and whatnot.  See, when we bought this house it was for three reasons:

1) It was in the Puyallup school district.
2) It was a rambler.
3) It had a bathroom that could be converted for wheelchair access.

That was it.  We didn't buy it because it was in a good neighborhood or had a layout we were particularly pleased with.  It was one of two houses we had to choose from in our price range that fit the criteria above in the entire city of Puyallup when we needed to buy, and nothing else-- even whether or not we liked the house-- had anything to do with our purchase.  Which is a really weird way to buy a house, if you think about it.

So anyway, we totally lucked out, because not only is our house now the most awesome house in the world and quite possibly the universe thanks to these people, and also these people, as well as all of these people, but our neighbors are also awesome.  I'm not just talking about neighbors who will wave at you when you go by in your car, stop on the sidewalk to talk to you, invite you over for dinner and barbecues, and even do a bunch of weeding and take your yard waste to the dump for you.  They do all of that awesome stuff, of course.  But these are neighbors that are so incredibly awesome that when they find out what an unbelievably horrible month you've been having and that you're having trouble keeping up with the front yard because you are spending all of your free time attempting to use massive amounts of chocolate to induce an amnesic state or possibly a coma as a defense mechanism instead of doing chores, they have people come in and clean up and mow and mulch and weed and trim and put new stone down at the curb and make your yard look about 8,000 times more awesome than it has since you moved in, and possibly better than it ever has in the history if its existence.  Yes, we're talking that awesome.  And then they refuse to let you pay for anything.  See how awesome our neighbors are?  I believe they are off the scale.  I would take pictures of it for you so that you can see just how amazing it looks right now, but then there would be pictures of the front of my house on the Internet.  So you'll just have to imagine the awesomeness.

So anyway, how's that for a fantastic day?  It involved the library, swings, a coffee shop, brownies, seriously awesome neighbors, a great looking front yard, and, maybe best of all, a happy, relaxed, seizure-free child.

Things are looking up!

~Jess

In Which Things Are Much Improved

Oh, today was so much better.

No seizures.  No hospital trips.  Our lethargic, crabby child was replaced with an energetic, happy one.  We had respite care and worked on the deck.  I got a massage.  I consumed massive amounts of chocolate. 

Really, I'm not sure the day could possibly have been improved upon, unless maybe it included unicorns.  Because unicorns are awesome.

But I digress.  So Connor is back on the one-seizure-a-week instead of three-seizures-a-day medication until we can get a new medication, one that will hopefully involve no-seizures-a-week, figured out.  With any luck this figuring out will happen tomorrow; we'll just have to see.  In the meantime I'll be getting us back to our usual routine, albeit slightly curtailed (no trips more than 40 minutes away or so) instead of holing up in the house and hovering over Connor freaking out if he doesn't move for more than five seconds, which is what I have been doing for the past two weeks. 

So I think we've reached our drama quota for the next six months or so.  Seriously.  I'd like to go back to writing about, um, bunnies.  Or carrots.  Or very small rocks.  Or basically any nice, sedate thing that isn't going to involve me having to breathe for a small human being who keeps trying very hard to die on me at random moments.  Because I've been writing way, way too much about that lately, and frankly the topic is getting old.

So thank goodness for the quiet, very-small-rock-contemplating sort of day we had today.  We needed it.

~Jess