Overheard in Chattanooga

but I would like to un-hear it...

"So, were ya'll having any of that trouble down there with, you know, the immigrants?"

"Oh, I don't know. I mean it's there, but we don't see it."

"Uh huh."

"It's like in New Orleans. It's not really a problem, because it's all, you know, in the ghetto."

Calling all Chattanooga bloggers and/or photogs

Anyone out there with a camera and Flickr stream, but without an antsy toddler in tow, who would be willing to go downtown and take a bunch of pictures of the old EPB building?

Let me know when you post them, um'kay?

Given the opportunity, I would take '07 back and do the whole thing over again, making the one change that would change everything. Instead, we just keep moving further away from that day, taking with us what we've learned, how we've grown, and the blessings that have found us.

Despite everything, Olivia thrives. As difficult as her illness is on her, I have come to realize that she will never in her life be as unaffected by it all as she it right now. Right now, we do the worrying for her. It hurts my heart to know that it won't always be so, but for now, I love that she is such a happy (albeit napless) kid.

Marc and I have weathered storm after storm and have a relatively unscathed marriage. It isn't perfect, but it is stronger.

I continue to miss NYC and fantasize about life in the city, but if we were still there, we wouldn't be here with our families and I honestly don't know what we would do without having so much family so close. It's beyond nice having two grandparents, seven parents, and seven siblings within a day's travel from home. (If you need for me to diagram this for you, just let me know. It's only complicated until you hear the explanation.)

Friends have offered to learn how to care for Olivia so that we can have some time to ourselves; a certain someone has even taken a class. We've made some new connections here in our neighborhood and Olivia loved the weekly playgroup that we went to for several months before the holidays got too hectic.

We have two extremely helpful women in our corner, constantly helping us out with the day to day of diabetes care: our nurse practitioner at the endo's office and our pharmacy tech at the local pharmacy. I can always count on them to go the extra mile and do what they can to make things run smoothly.

All in all, when I think back on this year, these are the things I think about. I am nostalgic for the year that could have been, how different things could be, but I am not sorry for the way that we have dealt with it all. Symbolically, I am glad to see 2007 go, for the feeling of having something new coming up. I hope beyond hope for new advances, for a cure.

So, onward to 2008...

 

Happy New Year!

Marc and I went out together...alone...for the first time in many, many moons last night. We'll call it Date Nite 2007. We're trying to make this happen with a little more frequency, but for now it seems to be an annual event.

We went to Table 2 and I was pleasantly surprised, because I have read some less than stellar stuff about their service. Service last night was fine, the food was great, and the martini was damn near perfect. So that was nice. We went to the theater for a late movie and I think that I could have sat in the lobby for a couple of hours watching all the teen drama going down. The place was so full of free-floating anxiety, angst, and lust...it was well worth the price of admission.

I was prepared to love The Darjeeling Limited as much as I love Wes Anderson's other movies, but I didn't quite and I am not entirely sure why. I just felt too conscious of the experience of it as a Movie. Know what I mean? Instead of being totally captivated by what Anderson had created, I felt sort of annoyed with Owen Wilson and his peacock feathers. It definitely had its moments, especially the very beginning and the scenes with the boys in India, but I felt a bit meh about it. Maybe I'll like it more after I see it again.

(I know, I know...I'm sort of phoning this one in, but it is Sunday.)

I keep sitting down to write and all that comes out is:

IT'S HOT. I'M HOT. BURNING. FLESH HURTS. LUNGS ARE TIRED. TOO HOT.

Perhaps part of the problem is that IT'S HOT. Wait, that's not where I was going with that. I'm not sleeping. Perhaps I will never sleep again. I'm starting to have some serious "Nightmare on Elm Street" type tension about bedtime.

It's not that I can't go to sleep. It's that I can't stay asleep. O's blood sugar fluctuates pretty wildly at night. We might head to bed with a decent blood sugar, then screw it up with a snack and spend the next five hours trying to decide whether or not we should correct. Or she might head to bed with a decent number only to bottom out at 2:00a. I never feel secure in just letting her go through even the better part of the night without checking.

Having Marc get up and do some of the checking is quite frankly not worth my time. He sleeps much more soundly than I do and doesn't wake to an alarm very well. If he is going to get up, nine times out of ten it is going to take me to wake him, and even if I don't have to wake him, I am still going to be awake. What's the point in both of us being up?

Last night O was 90 at 1:00am and would not eat or drink anything, not even a glucose tab, which is usually considered a big treat. I set the alarm for 45 minutes so that I could get up and check her again and give her a snack. The alarm didn't go off and I fell deeply asleep, not waking until 4:00. Of course, by then she had fallen to 51.

Apparently, I can get by on a smaller amount of sleep than I have ever needed or enjoyed in the past. But when I consider this going on and on and on (much like this HEAT we are having. HOT), I get a little antsy. I am afraid of what it is going to do to me over the long haul. Early-onset dementia at the worst and general fogginess and stupidity at best?

We went on our version of a date last night: dinner out with Olivia - the epitome of relaxation. I'm kidding...it was fine, but she is reaching the age where she requires a lot of jazz hands and spirit fingers to keep her entertained. She is always finishing her dinner about the time that ours are arriving.

We walked the Riverwalk over to the Hunter Museum to see the fireworks. I would have taken some pictures, but it is difficult to do so with a two-year-old glommed onto your neck. The first BOOM brought a shriek and a demand to be taken home.

 

2 seconds prior to fireworks - 3 seconds prior to screaming

We retreated a bit and she allowed herself to enjoy the show from there, even coming out with a couple of appreciative, "fireWORKS! fireWORKS!"

 

We went back to Hunter today for some promised toddler activities which, for the most part, did not materialize, but we enjoyed the museum and spent some time relaxing. It was a nice way to spend a day in the middle of the week and kicks off what promises to be an interesting 7 days for us: Paint the House 2007. Marc and I diverge wildly on how we see this venture: I will be amazed if we get everything done. AMAZED. He thinks that everything will be knocked out just in time for him to kick back and watch the Tour de France. We shall see.

 

Anyway, hope that it was a good 4th for all. Here's my obligatory link to the Declaration of Independence, just in case you didn't get a chance to read or hear it read this year.

Went to go see Olivia and Paige over President's day weekend. Besides the flight changes and playing the stand-by gamble, I had a great time. The weather was a little too chilly to go outside and play (so we stayed in and watched curling). Olivia is pointing, waving, crawling backwards (sort-of), standing with support, and shaking her head yes and no. Today is her 10 month birthday. I have 7 1/2 weeks until I move to Chattanooga.
Here's a picture of Moose; this was the way I found him when I got home. Blair must have taken him to see "Get Rich or Die Trying". Moose wants to give a shout-out to his main man, Andy, who got accepted into Harvard's Ph.D program. -m.

Olivia Wilder.
It sucks that I live 900 miles away from her. I'm moving back to Chattanooga in April to finish my pediatrics and elective rotations. 97 days to go. The move will take place a week before her 1st birthday. Hopefully, Paige and Olivia are planning to visit Moose and me in February.