Category: family

  • Hidden Blessings

    One of the only good things about having a really slow metabolism is that pain killers stay in my system for a very long time. Ok, maybe that’s not a good thing. I’m feeling the pain, but I’m still loopy. Writing code while high may work for some folks, but it doesn’t work for me, especially with my constant interruptions (and they are constant – why do you think I’m a winner at AIM Fight).\
    The MRI went pretty well yesterday. I looked at the films and I can see the break, and nickel sized chunk of bone hanging out. Well, I could see it before through the skin (it looks like a second ankle down and forward from my “real” ankle). I have a lot of pain on the outside of the ankle, and I couldn’t see anything broken there, but what do I know? I’m no doctor (but I’ve seen enough of my own x-rays, and played enough games with Max to know what’s broken). Oh yeah, and I either have really flat feet, or the bones in my foot are seriously out of place now.\
    I can’t wait to see what the good doctor has to say on Monday (and I may try to scan in the best MRI shot so you can see the break before the doctor takes them away from me… it’s cool-lookin’).

  • I almost forgot!

    Eight years ago today, Kevin and I became engaged. Happy Engagement Day! Each year we celebrate it in some way. This year though, I didn’t even remember until 10:30 at night and I think Kevin still hasn’t remembered. I guess that is what happens after 8 years, 2 kids, dealing with a broken ankle, and sink full of dirty dishes.\
    Last year’s celebration wasn’t a success either. As we were getting ready to leave for a romantic date alone (Brian was only 3 months old and this was to be our first time out), my back went out in a very embarrassing and painful way. I did get to ride in a fancy ambulance, and the first set of paramedics had to call in extra reserves, so I felt super special. I spent the afternoon in the ER followed by 3 days of drugged up bliss. Every six hours I had to nurse Brian. Other than that, Kevin took 100% care of Brian including bottle feedings, diaper changes, rocking in the middle of the night. Honestly, it was the most rest I had gotten in the three months since Brian was born.\
    The past 8 years together have been great. We’ve had a lot of successes and very few failures (let’s keep that streak going, ok?) I love him more each day and I know that I absolutely cannot live without him. He is the best husband in the world, better than I thought possible (and I had high expectations) and better than I deserve. He has made all of my dreams come true and supports me wholeheartedly. Three cheers for Kev! And now, I am going to go tell him how much I love him.

  • Brian, Being Cute

    He can’t help it, he just is. I love this age. He’s not old enough to talk back, but is old enough to play. He’s so happy most of the time, whether we’re rolling the ball, playing peek-a-boo, he’s chasing Max around the basement, or we’re wrestling (watch out for his flying elbow, it’s a killer). Everything is new, interesting, and unfortunately, usually gets eaten.

  • My Foot Is Busterated

    I love waiting when I know what the outcome’s going to be. I have to have surgery to repair the navicular bone (near the ankle). Well, not really “repair”, more like “remove”. Then they’ll reinforce the tendon. It’s “serious”, according to my doctor. He told me, “You’re about to do something very difficult.” Yeah, that’s exactly what I want to hear from a doctor.\
    Now, I’m waiting around for my insurance company to approve an MRI so we can find out how “difficult” this is going to be. After the MRI, I get to wait a week, then I see the doctor, then I get cut on. Oh, then the fun begins. I’ll be short a bone in my foot, in a cast for a while, then in physical therapy for who knows how long.\
    And herein lies the silence. It’s hard to walk in the boot. It’s hard to drive. It’s hard to sit at a computer. It’s hard to sleep. And it’s only going to get harder.\
    So, I write my presentations, I help my people, I talk to folks and I take a lot of ibuprofen. Oh, and redesign this site, read up on Ruby and thinking of building something worth trying Rails for. Oh, and I’m working on my very own microformat.\
    And tomorrow, it’s time to compile all the comments on the big CSS Question, sort them and start coming up with some concrete proposals.

  • Note to Self

    If a baby is allowed to run around naked while trying to air out diaper rash and then poops, the baby will try to eat the poop.

  • The Boot Is Not Made For Walking

    Here’s an unfortunate India story for you.\
    Our first day of work in India, someone had forgotten to tell the driver that we needed to be picked up, so we took a cab. The cab let us off across the street from the office, which meant we had to run for our lives across the chaotic three lanes (approximate… they do not believe in lanes in Bangalore) of traffic. Wait, that’s six lanes because it was three lanes going each way. There was a grassy median in the middle of the street offering some sanctuary to the poor bastards (those bastards being us) who couldn’t run fast enough to make it across all six lanes during one red light (which maybe Carl Lewis could do, but I don’t think I’ve seen anyone else do it).\
    You had to wait for a red light before trying to make the dash, and the red lights are short. We waited for the left-hand turning people to go, the right turn folks, and then had about 15 seconds to cross the three lanes before the go-straight folks took off in a rush of dust, fumes, and most importantly, heavy machinery. I almost didn’t make it. In order to dodge the first intrepid motor rickshaw that was about to run me down, I jumped onto the sidewalk…\
    And right into a pothole. I rolled my ankle inward, so I could see the bottom of my shoe when I looked down. I stumbled, caught myself and then swore. It didn’t hurt all that much, but it was definitely weird. It had that wooden feeling of a freshly sprained ankle. It didn’t swell up, and the bruising was minimal, but it felt sprained all week.\
    I spent the next week putting two or three extra socks on it, and walking carefully. By the end of the week, it didn’t hurt too bad, but still felt weird, and I had a noticeable limp. Then I came home. The first week, it started hurting. The second, my limp got worse, as did the pain. I went to see the doctor who ordered x-rays. This morning, I went to the same practice that fixed my ACL five years ago, and they said that definitely something is weird. I have an inflamed tendon that’s pulling a bone out of place (and that really hurts. On top of that, I have (before now undiagnosed) plantar fasciitis which is just now coming out because it’s being aggravated by this other thing. And, all of that is aggravating me.\
    So, to sum up: I’m stuck in a boot that I can’t take off except when I’m driving, which I’m supposed to limit, for four weeks. If I’m not all better in four weeks, I spent four more weeks in the boot. After that, if it’s not better, I get to have surgery. Have a happy summer everyone!

  • Bite Me!

    Brian, the cutie that he is, is a biter. Ouch. I don’t know how to get him to stop. Whenever I try, he just giggles. I understand that he thinks we are playing a game and he is doing it for the fun and attention. Max laughs heartily in the background and that doesn’t help the situation. So, if any of you have suggestions on how to get him to stop, I would appreciate you sharing them with us.

  • Jen Joins The Fun

    Now that I’ve kind of got Jen to join the fun here, I figured I needed to find a way to show when a post was written by Jen, and one that was written by me. I’ve always had the “posted by Kevin” thing at the bottom, but that’s at the bottom. So, I’ve added a class to the entry body, so posts by Jen are orange, and posts by me are blue. I may change that, and do it in a less-obtrusive way (I don’t really like background colors other than white for text, but I’m going to try this out for a little while).\
    In other news, avoid malaria pills and the typhoid oral vaccine if you can. I don’t know which one is to blame (and it could be something else entirely), but I’m not feeling so hot at the moment. I’ll spare you the details.

  • More New Photos

    It was a busy couple days at Chez Lawver. We had Max’s preschool graduation and then, yesteday, we went to the Natural History Museum. It’s almost easier being back at work (although not as much fun).

  • Guess Who’s One!

    Guess Who’s One!

    Happy birthday, little man (well, one day late). Having two kids is harder than having one, but not because of anything Brian’s done. He’s a delightful kid. He’s almost always happy, and even when he’s not, he’s no terror. And that punim!! Can you get enough of that punim?! I think not.

    The photos are all up now