Eleanor - Ready for Broadway

So Eleanor recently told me that when she gets big, she is going to play violin, guitar, and piano, and will sing. Sisterrrr, aka Abigail, will play drums, piano and cello. So I thought I should get you a sneak peak into a recent practice session between the girls. Abbie is the opening band, but when the tacos get more interesting, E takes center stage. Please note her concert costume was of her choice, not mine, and DEFINITELY not taco eating attire!

Did you know...

that Jack Black makes all the triangles in the world in addition to cheese, corn, pears, and other various produce*?
Now you do, so until next time, truth.



*this is according to Eleanor who very sincerely told me this on the way to pick up dinner tonight.

Sawing logs

Sigh...dear readers, I tell you, there is never a dull moment in this house.

You need to know that although she is way ahead of most of her peers in many things, Eleanor does not excell at all when it comes to sleeping. She does okay for the first few hurs, but then the chainsaws come out and she snores like an old man. This combined with apnea events make for a very restless night when you share a space with E. She also has had some NASTY ear infections.

So today, on the advice from Eleanor's beloved Dr. Lawler , we met with the ENT specialist. He did an exam, and she is now scheduled for an Adenoidectomy, a Tonsillectomy, and a possible Right Myringotomy and tube. Everyone a mass of tissue in the back of their noses where the nose and the throat come together, which is the adenoid, and then two more masses on either side of their throat, which are the tonsills.

If either the adenoid or the tonsils are enlarged, it can mean infections. The other thing that an enlarged adnoid can do is block the Eustachian tube, the one that runs from your ear to your throat and then cause ear infections. In Eleanor's case, both of her tonsills and her adnoid are extremely enlarged, which is why she sounds like a Stihl MS 880 when she "sleeps." The doctor thinks this is also why she is having so many ear infections, as the Eustachian tube can't drain properly. So on July 14, our brave little Ellie will go under the knife and come out with far less facial mass than the average human. Hopefully this will solve a miriad of problems for her.

Well that is our health update for the moment. Until next time, sniff.

Heaven, thy name is bubble bath

Yes, dear readers, tonight was a banner night for Monkey and the Bear - their first bubble bath. Needless to say, they ADORED it. See for yourself.

"Ah yes...now THIS rocks!"
Eleanor
"And why exactly have we not done this before?"
Abigail
"It's just so awesome!!!"
Eleanor
"But I don't wanna get out!!!!!"
Abigail

So as you can see, the first bubble bath will probably lead to many more. What can I say, these girls are definitely ours!
Until next time dear readers, bubbles.

Time Flies When You're Having Fun

Or something like that.
Seriously folks, where did it go??? The girls just turned 2. 2!! How did that happen? It seems like just a few days ago that I was a house and now they are running around and saying things like, "Hey, wanna see something amazing?" and asking for money and keys (they seriously do, but it's just to put in their cash register or to "start" the Raggedy Ann bike in the basement.) I remember people telling me to enjoy them because the time goes so fast. At that point, Abbie was still screaming 24 hours a day and neither of us had had a full nights sleep in what seemed like years, so I was totally fine with time fleeting as fast as it could. I guess the moral is to be careful what you wish for!
Along these lines, I am hoping to upload the video I made for their birthday this year. If you were at their awesome birthday extravaganza a few weeks ago, it was the video we had playing in the background. Keep your fingers crossed and pray to whomever that I can get youtube to upload the video rather than make our computer crash, because it's a pretty cool little flick. Yeah, my arm already hurts from patting myself on the back about it.
So off I go now. Be sure to check out our new ticker at the top. Until next time, Fries.

Some Sad News

It is with a heavy heart and weepy eyes that I write to you today, Dear Readers. As some of you know, my beautiful kitty Frank has been losing weight, especially recently and simply hasn't been himself. I finally got up enough courage to bring him in earlier this week. At his peak, he was 16 pounds. On Tuesday, he weighed 8.9 pounds. He had a urine test, which came back teaming with infection and lots of blood. He also had blood tests for, among other things, cancer and Feline Infectious Peritonitis (FIP). Yesterday we found out the sad, yet somehow expected news. Frankie has a plethora of protein in his blood, which, most likely indicates Multiple Myeloma or cancer. The prognosis is extremely poor even with aggressive treatment. So therefore, tomorrow at 5, Franklin and I will be going to the vet one last time. As anyone who has had a furry child knows, this is an extremely tough decision to make. Please keep him in your thoughts. He was a good kitty and he saw me through some really tough times. I will miss his poofy tail and his larger than life purr. Godspeed my little Franko. I will miss you more than you could know.

Kids Say the Darndest Things, part 2

Seriously, I need a 24 hour nanny cam or FBI bugging devices to catch all these.

Poop and Boogies:
Chris was home with the girls today. Ellie was digging in her diaper and got poop on her hand. Apparently she freaked out, and most of the day she has been saying that she has poop on her hand, even though it was thoroughly washed. So when they came to pick me up at work, Chris relayed the story to me, and he said something to Ellie about it, but rather than Ellie responding, Abbie said, "Ellie do you have poop-hands?" Ellie said, "YEAH!"

Starting them Young:
Ellie was in the basement playing with our new mop. When I asked her what she was doing, she said, "Cleanin up cat puke."

Day Late and a Dollar Short:
A few days ago, we were coming home from the babysitters and had to stop at a stoplight by a convenience store. There was a minivan wanting to pull out, so I was nice and let him out. (Yes, write it down, I was nice to a minivan driver.) What I didn't realize was that he wanted to pull all the way across and make a left turn at the actual light which was only about 2 car lengths from us. Apparently the guy next to me didn't intuitively know this either as the minivan cut him off and abruptly stopped at the light to turn. So the guy next to me starts honking and gesturing at the minivan. Abbie, who was on that side, asked me why that car was honking and I told her that the person in the other car was mad at him for pulling out in front of him. Apparently she understood the word mad and said, "Ellie, did you see that?? Did you see that Ellie? Did you hear the honking?" Ellie was intently looking out her window and didn't acknowledge Abbie at all. By this time, the light has turned green and we are going through the intersection. Abbie continues questioning Sister about the incident, "Did you see that Sistah?" and she's getting more upset at the situation. Ellie is still quietly looking out her window, not saying a word. Finally about a block from the site of the incident and as Abbie is getting louder and louder, Ellie finally chimes in a very sympathetic and equally exasperated, "Yeah!"

All I Have to do is Dream:
So I will admit it: Eleanor spends almost every night sleeping with us. Last night, (actually more like this morning, but who's counting) she shouts out in her sleep, "Bottle and French fries!!!!!" I would love to know what that dream was about.

Never a dull moment here at Casa de Gato y Ninas. I have to go now as I hear Abbie asking Eleanor to help her with something. That's never a good sign.
Until next time, patience.

Kids say the darndest things

Especially Abbie. Seriously, that girl is funny without knowing it. I wish I could record her nighttime routine for you. Maybe I will work on a way to do that, because that it classic comedy right there.
OH! And btw, Yoda is just fine. The vet was shocked that she is as old as she is. She has a few small cataracts, but she thinks the peeing incident was due to holding it way too long. Phew.
Anyway, back to Abigail. Below are a few choice quotes for your reading pleasure.


Exasperation:
The girls were playing in the basement a few weeks ago, and Abbie had one of their brooms. She was wielding it over her head like sword and shouting, "SWEEP, SWEEP!" After a few close calls with a shelf of knickknacks, I told her to be careful where she was swinging her broom. She loudly sighed and announced, "I can't do ANYthing," put down the broom and went on to pout and torture a cat.

Revelations:
It's no secret that pizza is a Gacek's favorite food. Abigail particularly loves it. After a few week drought of "restaurant" pizza, we ordered one from Davannis. Abigail saw the box and started clapping and wanted up into her chair immediately. After a few minutes of total silence (which, if you have been at our house during dinner NEVER happens), Miss A exclaims, "This is so GOOD!" She then turned her attention to the canned Nibblet corn pile and said, "mmmmm, delicious!"

Revelations pt 2:
Every morning, the girls watch Sesame Street on Sprout (PBS Kid channel on Directv). Judging by the Maria's hair and Luis's lack of wrinkles, I am guessing that these are all from right around 1998 or so. So on this particular day, n*Sync was on performing their song "Believe in Yourself," which I am sure was written just for the Street. As the camera pans the group, Abigail notices Justin Timberlake and the really awful bucket hat he is wearing. "Who's thaaat," she asked very dreamily. The girls have bucket hats that they just adore, and frequently will point out when others wear these same hats, so it's no surprise that Justy was singled out here, although the tone was a little disarming. I told her, "Justin Timberlake and the group is n*Sync." To which she breathily responded, "Ohhhhh, Justin." Apparently Justin isn't just a teen heartthrob-he's also big with the toddler set.

Depot Love
Yesterday, my parents were watching the girls and decided to do some shopping. As they were driving, the passed a Home Depot. Abbie excitedly shrieked, "DEPOT!! I see the Depot! MY DEPOT!! Can we go there??" Some kids have Toys R Us, Abbie has home improvement stores.

Confusion
Last weekend we were in Trader Joe's. If you have ever been, you will know that their employees are annoyingly upbeat and kinda in your face. So the Bear and I are going through the dairy section, and I am handing her some raisins, just as a worker passes us. He loudly announces, "Raisins?! I love raisins!!" And then he walked away. Abbie raised her eyebrow, looked at me and said, "What just happened?" I wish I knew, Baby.

Piece de Resistance
First rule, always save the best for last: every nite, A goes through a list of things that are wrong, "I have a hair (in my mouth). I have a fingernail (hangnail). My bottle tipped over! It's dripping! It's dripping! I have poopies." and on and on. Well, on this particular night I told her, "Wow Abbie. Do you have issues?" To which she said, "I have no issues, I wear boots."


Out of the mouths of babes, dear readers. I hope all is well and until next time, persistance.

May the Force be with You

Yoda the cat is sick. She isn't quite 900, but at almost 17, we think, it's probably pretty close in cat years.

She's always the canary in the coal mine whereas the sandbox is concerned, but even so, in the almost 5 years that I have known her, she has intentionally peed outside the box maybe 3 times. Well, make that 4 or 5. Last week, the box was bad, but the downstairs family room smelled horrible. So I let my nose do the walking and found 3 huge puddles of neon yellow, thick pee right in the spot where the girls run. This is classic Yoda. She usually will pick a spot where we will find it, although it's usually by Chris's things.

Anyway, I cleaned it up with all the special stink no more stuff, but I could still smell it, almost stronger. Moving some toys and heading west, I found it in the girls' play tunnel. Suffice it to say that if you were looking for a present for them, a new tunnel would be a good thing as the existing one is toast.

So why, do you ask, do I think it's Yods and not one of the other 3? Well, the a fore mentioned canary bit, and then a wholy cat behavior that I witnessed yesterday have pretty much sealed it. If any of you have had cats, especially more than one at a time, and one is sick or weaker, the dominant ones will shun it. In our brood, Frank is the alpha. So yesterday, the girls and I are in the basement playing and Yoda comes limping over (she's got some arthritis, probably from when she fell off the deck a few years ago). At the same time, Frank walked past and loudly hissed at her. Now Frank is not a hisser. I have only heard him hiss at Guiseppi when he is really ticking Frank off, or, back in the day when I had Lily and he felt she was the weakes link.

So she goes in tonight for the once over. Keep her in your thoughts. 16 is really old for a kitty and Yoda is a pretty special one. May the force be with you, Yods.

How I spent my Christmas Vacation

Yes, dear readers, the ring master had a whole week off over Christmas and New Years. Although I had many ambitious ideas of how to spend my time, the weather had other ideas for me. In the end, I only got one accomplished, but it was a big 'un!
Behold the fruit of my labor:
Yes, that's right friends, slowly but surely the monotone flesh colored walls are disappearing. And if this green looks familiar, it should. It is the same color as the living room at the old house. Chris and I combined forces to do this, too:


This is the pass-through room which we use as an office. We have also done the hallway and downstairs stairwell in a greenish khaki. Next up is the girls' room, which is going to be yellow, then the kitchen (the same color yellow as our old house living room), and our bedroom (in a lovely terra cotta). Our goal is to have a whole new palate by the time the girls' birthday party rolls around (which is scheduled for March 21-be there or be square).

A Most Humbling Target Experience

**Author's warning: this entry contains a graphic description last night's Target run...reader discretion advised. In other words, don't read this on your lunch break**

So here's a shocker: the girls had the stomach flu. I swear they NEVER get colds. I could put them naked in the snow for 40 minutes and they wouldn't get so much as a sniffle (Please note this is theoretical-I would never put them naked into the snow, so don't call Child Protection!).

Abigail started dry heaving at 2 in the morning Tuesday - I DID warn you - and was full-on sick by 6. But then after a few quick purges and a long morning nap, it seemed she had kicked the bug and was ready to run in circles and shove Sister with all her might. They both ate dinner like troopers, although understandably so, Abigail picked at her food a little more than normal.

We thought we were all good to take the weekly trek to Target for supplies. So we headed the roughly 5 blocks down and 9 blocks over to the local Super-store where we each grabbed our respective girl (I took Abbie, Chris took Ellie-this is a pattern that is almost a constant in every aspect of our lives) and a cart and negotiated through the aisles with our list.

Back at Casa de Gato y Ninas, we had promised the girls that we would look through the toy section if they were good. I wanted to hit the clearance aisles in clothing, as I had heard good things. We also wanted to take an inventory of toys as the girls' birthday is fast approaching and we wanted to sound intelligent, hip, and generally with it when people asked us what they could use in the entertainment area of their lives. Both girls did really well letting go of the Yo Gabba toys and the dolls and bike helmets that accumulated as we traversed the section.

Our main goals accomplished, we decided it was time to hit the checkouts and get home. So, Eleanor and Chris headed off down the main aisle with Abigail and I. We got about one aisle away from toys when I heard 3 things: SPLAT, expletive from Chris, and then Eleanor crying hysterically. I started to say, "What happened?" Chris loudly said, "STOP!" As I tried to stop, I started to slip and then finally looked down to notice that I was standing in a pile of puke. Abbie deftly said, "Uh-oh. Sister's crying. What's wrong Sistah? Oh. OOPS!"

The next few minutes were a blur, but I know I did call the operator. She didn't seem to be getting that "sick" equals ralphed all over your floor and snappy red cart, just in a gentler way. Finally, light dawned on darkened skies as she said, "OH! You mean she...vomited?" Apparently vomited is one of those words that like cancer and polyps, must be whispered so it doesn't affect you. Anyway, a red-shirted girl appeared almost instantly with a huge walkie talkie. We were, of course very apologetic to her, because every parent plans and hopes for A) their child to blow chunks in public and B) to have apologize profusely to the 16 year old kid who has to clean it up.

At this point, we switched babies and the still crying E and I headed for the bathroom and Abbie and Chris went to pay for our stuff. Well, after a difficult 3 minutes of gagging and wretching, I gave up trying to clean the poor girl up. As we exited the family restroom, I ran into the sullen kid who was sent to mop the floor in aisle 68, gave him our nasty cart and pretty much booked out of the store.

So there you have it Dear Readers, every parent's worst nightmare. Well, at least it's right up there with your dear child either swearing loudly or uttering family secrets in public. To be honest, I think I'd gladly take the F-bomb in church over public vomiting. Hopefully we never have to do that experience again, but knowing our luck, we probably will. Let's just hope that Tyler the cart attendant is off that night.