Ursula wrote this letter to her teacher yesterday. The end has been erased several times as she’s decided to add on to it. Now that it is 2 full pages, I *think* it is complete. I am so proud. And by “proud” I mean “mortified”. Way to make a great impression – “we let Ursula watch terrifying Animal Planet shows ALL DAY!” We don’t – only *most* of the day. She and Dan went out for several hours in the afternoon.
Translation:
Dear Mrs. G____
I was watching TV on Sunday. The channel I was watching was Animal Planet and I was watching a show called River Monsters and on a episode I learned that there is a kind of fish on earth that is called a alligator gar. A alligator gar has sharp teeth. I also learned about a killer cat fish and I learned about a bull shark. I like the show River Monsters. My dad told me that one time his mom
(page break)
went fishing and she catched a catfish but it accidentally hit daddy on the head and on the ending of the episode with the alligator gar at the ending they said that the alligator gar could be nice because the regular gar is nice. On a show called Planet’s Funniest Animals I saw a cougar swimming in a pool and I also saw a cat under a table on its back holding on the chair legs moving around under the table.
Love, Ursula
Also, I discovered this on the chalkboard behind her desk:
Looks pretty accurate:
Preserving that guy’s identity made him look a bit creepier than intended. Oops.
Oops – I forgot to post…
My procedure on Thursday went *very* well. It was fast, it was pain free, and my stone is GONE. I felt great after the procedure and probably overdid it a bit, so I was wiped out on Friday. I haven’t had any pain meds (except for a couple Tylenol) since Thursday night.
However, I do have to have a stent for 15 days. It runs between my kidney and bladder. It was very irritating Friday and Saturday, but I mostly don’t feel it now (totally normal). It is a weird sensation – it causes some kidney reflux. But it’s better than a kidney stone!
I go back the end of next week (2w 1d after procedure). They’ll give me the path report on the stone as well as any dietary changes. I do not EVER want another kidney stone. EVER.
I had a super busy, super fun Saturday. We got home around 8 and I noticed my back and hip were starting to hurt a little. I tried my heating pad and naproxen – didn’t help. I tried a bath – didn’t help. Around 10:15 I decided to go to bed – I just couldn’t get comfortable. That lasted about 20 minutes. I got back up, tried the bath again. I started to feel queasy from the pain. And then started throwing up.
After an IM consult with Lisa, we decided to go to the ER. Dan took Ursula over there, I got ready (read “lined a trash can with bags for puke”). We got to the hospital just after midnight. Thankfully, no car or waiting room vomitting. The hospital did my check in and triage very fast (there was puking in triage). Then I had to wait in this waiting room – being in a waiting room with other people when you are a 9 on the pain scale and puking is not fun. Especially when it’s 1am and there are two groups who are at odds with each other and security has to come it. Thankfully, I was probably only there for 20-30 minutes.
Once in my room, they checked my urine and were pretty sure it was a kidney stone. They gave me pain and anti-nausea meds (yay!), then a CT scan. I have a lovely 5mm x 6mm stone on my right side. It seems to be stuck near the entrance to my bladder.
Since then, I have been on non-stop pain meds, plus anti nausea meds, antibiotics and even prostate meds (Flomax is supposed to relax things and help pass the stone). I saw a urologist Monday – they gave me a 30-40% chance of passing the stone and scheduled a procedure for Thursday morning if I hadn’t passed it by then. That’s 10 hours from now, so it looks like I’ll be having a cystoscopy in the morning. I am not a big fan of being anesthetized, but I will be SO happy to have this over with. I am tired, bored and cranky!
First grade is underway! Ursula has had an excellent first two days – she really likes her teacher, she has sweet kids in her class and there is just all sorts of “grader” excitement. There are 7 kids from her K class in her new class (out of 20ish). Her classroom has a smartboard and they have a student teacher through Thanksgiving (very exciting since 1st grade classes only have shared assistants).
Meeting her teachers on Monday:
She and I both have summer colds, so these pics are not great. They barely look like Ursula…
First day of school!
Backpack
Stuffy and sleepy at traditional IHOP breakfast
Dan is also feeling awake
Posing at school – we went straight from IHOP to school and got there early. Which meant – photos!
She rode the bus for the first time (ever) today. She is wearing clean clothes – she has two of those dresses.
Waiting with Trixie.
Bus!!!!
The bus was 15min. late today (which is apparently typical for the first week), but she was unable to tell me if the bus got to school before or after the tardy bell. It was definitely before OR after – we just don’t know which.
Not to be outdone by her big sister’s pediatrician visit last week, Trixie had a vet visit today. Where I learned that Ursula is not the only Curlin to have a huge growth spurt this year… In the last 6 months, Trixie has gained about 3 pounds. Depending on which weight check we believe (she was weighed on multiple scales at the vet), she’s gained 2.7-3lbs. In case this doesn’t sound dramatic, I will point out that in January she weighed 12.7 pounds. So it’s not “just” 3 pounds – it’s like 20%+ of her body weight. Aside from that, she is super healthy and doing well, so that is great. I just need to brush her teeth more. UGH.
I can’t remember if I have blogged about this, but I have changed Trixie’s diet twice this year, plus added some raw. I guess I wasn’t very careful about switching formulas – I kept amounts the same by volume without really thinking about calories. Plus adding in the raw. For a bigger dog, that probably wouldn’t be an issue. But, she’s not big so here we are…
Yesterday afternoon (Friday), I took Ursula to McDonald’s for lunch. The oh-so-fabulous McDonald’s closest to our house happens to be attached to a gas station. It is known for frequently being out of things and having an Obey sticker on the drive through menu, but at least it’s close. And has the aforementioned Obey sticker.
Anyway, while we were waiting (forever) for our food (because it is a crappy McDonald’s), we noticed a news van setting up filming in the parking lot. The giant antenna was up, so it was definitely a live update, not some taped fluff piece (also, what taped fluff would be at gas station McDonald’s?). As we were leaving, we passed a competing news van headed that way so something was definitely up.
This morning, I saw an article in the paper – apparently, the neighboring Wendy’s had been burglarized very early Friday morning. He was apprehended and the neighborhood is safe.
M: I found out why we saw those news people – Wendy’s was robbed. But they caught the bad guy, so it is safe.
U: Why didn’t he rob McDonald’s too?
M: Because they caught him and McDonald’s harder to rob because it has the gas station attached, so there are more people around.
U: But there is more money because it is a gas station AND McDonald’s!
There is a mouse inside my house.
The mouse is disliked by my spouse.
I want the mouse to go outside,
I fear Dan wants the mouse to die.
So, yes, a mouse. Affectionately known as House Mouse. Maybe 6 weeks ago, I saw *something* scurry out of the corner of my eye. Came out – ran back. This happened a few times, always late at night. I told Dan who said he thought it was a bug. Some sort of mystery giant bug that would see me and flee. Um – okay? But I looked around and didn’t see any evidence of a rodent, so I sort of forgot about it.
Then, Dan was away the whole week before Ursula’s birthday and I saw House Mouse for the first time. Once I saw House Mouse once, I saw him all.the.time – even during the day. U had a camp that week and with Dan away I guess it was just a very quiet week so House Mouse felt okay with coming out. (Note – Trixie is *completely* oblivious to all of this).
I was not really up for mouse removal, then it was Ursula’s birthday, then I stopped seeing the mouse. So I *thought* he went to find a new home. (Yes, laugh!). Then 2 nights ago – House Mouse was BACK.
So – yesterday we went and bought a trap. A no-kill, traps mice so you can free them trap. Which so far, is not at all appealing to House Mouse… I guess I need better bait?
On the plus side, I haven’t seen House Mouse since the trap has been out – maybe he decided to leave on his own.
