The one thing I never expected as a heart mom was not EVER
getting time off. I'm not talking about time off from my kids or
time away from work, but just a vacation. We haven't had a vacation
since the third week in June of 2007, before we were even pregnant
with McKenzie. Once again, it is the third week of June and we are
not on vacation. Prior to Izzy, I had taken a vacation at Fireside
Inn in Presque Isle, Michigan (between Alpena and Rogers City)
every year since I was four (except the two years where I studied
for the New York and Michigan bar exams respectfully). As it is the
middle of this vacation week and my dad and the rest of my extended
family have been relaxing, swimming, eating pancakes and
frenchtoast for breaskfast, sleeping in, sitting around a fire, and
just having fun for a couple of days now, I'm not only exhausted
from no break for two years, but sad.
Tonight is ham night. The Inn serves ham, scalped potatos, and corn for dinner. The best part is a tradition we started many, many years ago---ham sandwiches at midnight made from the leftovers. (Although midnight has gotten earlier and earlier as the dads have gotten older and older.) The comraderie of "sneaking" into the kitchen, making a sandwich, and talking over them will be truly missed tonight. (Sneaking no longer is required as the owner started ordering extra ham for sandwiches years ago and lays out the stuff to make them.) Teaching my kids of these traditions is missed as well.
I think it is ironic that at the time when we need a vacation more than ever before (who am I kidding, we just need two days to relax and rejuvenate), we don't have the time to take one (or those two days, or even one). We planned to go this year, even put our deposit down for our cabin, but alas Izzy's extended stay post-op ate away any time Dale may have had to take off from work. It was a good thing since both Dale and I missed so much work spending our days (and nights) at the hospital with Izzy's latest 9 day hospital stay that ended a week ago. I guess that is our life now. Any time away from work is spent at the hospital, doctors' appointments, therapy sessions, and getting lab work done.
It is all worth though for weeks like this. Izzy is healthy! She is doing really well and for the first time since her surgery, her lungs are clear. We are giving her breathing treatments daily, asthma meds, and lasix, but it all seems to be working. My little girl is standing more and more and able to pull herself up pretty quickly now. Soon I think she'll be stable enough to even consider taking a step. She is babbling a lot and repeating like crazy. Tonight, she was eating bite size pieces of banana and repeated "banana" at least twice. It was very exciting! Izzy crawls all over the house and when it gets to be too much, she stops to catch her breath. Within seconds though, she is moving again. Hopefully, she will keep this up so next year when it comes time for our vacation, we can actually go!
Mel
Tonight is ham night. The Inn serves ham, scalped potatos, and corn for dinner. The best part is a tradition we started many, many years ago---ham sandwiches at midnight made from the leftovers. (Although midnight has gotten earlier and earlier as the dads have gotten older and older.) The comraderie of "sneaking" into the kitchen, making a sandwich, and talking over them will be truly missed tonight. (Sneaking no longer is required as the owner started ordering extra ham for sandwiches years ago and lays out the stuff to make them.) Teaching my kids of these traditions is missed as well.
I think it is ironic that at the time when we need a vacation more than ever before (who am I kidding, we just need two days to relax and rejuvenate), we don't have the time to take one (or those two days, or even one). We planned to go this year, even put our deposit down for our cabin, but alas Izzy's extended stay post-op ate away any time Dale may have had to take off from work. It was a good thing since both Dale and I missed so much work spending our days (and nights) at the hospital with Izzy's latest 9 day hospital stay that ended a week ago. I guess that is our life now. Any time away from work is spent at the hospital, doctors' appointments, therapy sessions, and getting lab work done.
It is all worth though for weeks like this. Izzy is healthy! She is doing really well and for the first time since her surgery, her lungs are clear. We are giving her breathing treatments daily, asthma meds, and lasix, but it all seems to be working. My little girl is standing more and more and able to pull herself up pretty quickly now. Soon I think she'll be stable enough to even consider taking a step. She is babbling a lot and repeating like crazy. Tonight, she was eating bite size pieces of banana and repeated "banana" at least twice. It was very exciting! Izzy crawls all over the house and when it gets to be too much, she stops to catch her breath. Within seconds though, she is moving again. Hopefully, she will keep this up so next year when it comes time for our vacation, we can actually go!
Mel
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