November 2007 - Angry Julie Monday

Angry Toddler got a haircut!

November 29, 2007

Angry Toddler has this weird hay-like hair. It’s straight as a board and doesn’t lay flat. When it starts to get past an inch, it just looks awful. He never had those cute baby curls. He had this weird hair that grew over his ears and just laid there.

He got his first haircut at about 10-11 months. We’ve been getting them ever since about every 2 months or so. He needs haircuts sooner, but well, it’s a complete nightmare doing it.

We thought we would try a new place closer to our house. We went to an actual barber shop. Of course, they had a toy area set-up in the back, so Caden wanted nothing to do with the rest of us. We tried to put him in the chair, and of course he screamed. We even gave him suckers. Nope, that didn’t work. Cause all he said was, “More suckers peas, more SUCKERS”.

He finally calmed down, but Angry Husband had to sit in the chair and hold Angry Toddler in his lap. One of the other barbers felt bad that AT was crying. He got a tissue and was wiping away his tears. It was soo cute!

The barber spent alot of time on his haircut and did an awesome job. Even AH said that she was worried at first, but it turned out really good.

I was able to take a picture last night when we got home. He was not happy when I took it. The husband had just promised him a bath, and he was anxious to get in the bathroom. He keep saying, “Mama, noo picture, noo picture!”

It’s more of a buzz cut than a hair cut, I know!

Oh, and the best moment of the night. I’m warning you….TMI. The kid pooped in the tub for the second night in a row.. Angry Husband told me that it was my turn to clean it up.

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Bark, Bark, Bark

November 20, 2007

We live in a townhome community. They are re-doing our roofs. This has been going on since last week. I knew that this was going to be a nightmare because of the dogs.

Sure enough, someone is stomping on my roof at 7am. Yes, 7am! Hello, Angry Julie needs her beauty sleep. What happens. Bark, bark, bark!!!!

Both of our dogs, are running around like crazy animals, barking in circles. It is quite obnoxious.

Here are some pictures of them.

Suspect #1: Bruiser, Primary Barker and Almighty White Wimp

Suspect #2: Wolfie, Shrill Barker, Who Won’t Stop

I hope they finish these roofs soon. I couldn’t handle it any more this morning. I had to put a bark collar on Wolfie. I know, I know. It’s not humane. But at least she’s quiet.

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Starbucks Vent Again!

November 18, 2007

I went to Starbucks tonight. If you know me, I don’t drink coffee. Last week I went to Starbucks with my co-worker, Nicole. She got me hooked on Venti Caramel Apple Cider.

For the past two nights, I’ve tried to get myself some Apple Cider. But dammit, they are all sold out. Seriously, Starbucks, pull your head out of your butt, and keep this in stock. You are losing customers, not that you care.

Us, non-coffee drinkers, love when there’s something new we can try. I got all excited tonight, cause I was waiting till like 10pm, to go to Starbucks. I waited in line, and went to order. Only to be told, that they are sold out. “I’m sorry, but we ran out of cider early tonight.” “It’s really not the Holiday Season yet, so we are not fully stocked with it”.

So I didn’t want to look like a total idiot. I ordered a Hot Chocolate, which my stomach did not like. I sometimes tend to ignore my lactose intolerance and it bothers me much much later, like right now at 1am…..

I think I’m going to give up on my quest for cider.

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Angry Toddler Update

November 15, 2007

We were released from Children’s Hospital at 5:15PM, last night.

Angry Toddler had a MRI and EEG yesterday morning. The neurologist came in and spoke with us about 4pm. Everything looked normal. She just told us the same thing that his pediatrician told us. He has seizures due to a spike in his fever, and he will outgrow them.

Angry Husband spent the night, Tuesday through Wednesday, with the Angry Toddler. He said that Angry Toddler slept and he did not. Apparently there was an infant in the room next door that was not allowed to have any food. The baby cried ALL night long according the husband.

This was our second time at Children’s Hospital since he was born. I’m not too impressed with them. I’m sure if your kid had a very serious illness, they would receive excellent care. But unfortunately, the average kid doesn’t get the same treatment. We were pretty much ignored. We never saw nurses, mostly techs. We had to beg, I mean beg for milk for Angry Toddler. We saw two doctors in two days, for about 5 minutes each time.

I cannot wait for the bills to roll in. We have a PPO, so we will have some lovely co-pays.

1. 3 ER Visits
2. 1 Ambulance Ride
3. 3 Different ER doctors
4. Numerous blood tests
5. 1 Chest X-Ray
6. 1 Admitting Doctor at Children’s Hospital
7. 1 Overnight Hospital Stay
8. 1 MRI
9. 1 EEG
10. 1 Neurologist

The Angry Toddler is fine today. He woke up with a tiny cough, thanks sick girl from the hospital. We were going to keep him home from preschool today. But at like 8:15, he asked to go see his friends and to play. He hadn’t coughed since 6am. I grabbed some clothes and promptly dropped him off at preschool.

We have a follow-up appointment at his pediatrician’s office today. I’m sure she will shake her head over all this drama. I don’t even think the hospital contacted her about his history.

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Children’s Hospital Orange County

November 13, 2007

Well, I hate to say this…but he had another seizure at 4:55am, this morning. His temperature was 104 when we left the house for the hospital. We went to the local hospital, they monitored him for about two hours, and then transferred the kid to Children’s Hospital Orange County.

The doctors wanted to get him a better consult since this was his 3rd seizure in 24 hours. Angry Husband rode with Caden in the ambulance to the hospital. The EMT had put an IV in his hand and off they went.

Caden wasn’t at the hospital for more than 30 minutes, when AH said, why is there blood everywhere? Seriously, the blood was all over the floor. Well, you guessed it! Angry Toddler ripped the IV out like I said he would. Idiots! I then gave them the look, don’t you even dare try and put in another IV. He has been taking fluids, needs no IV meds, so don’t you dare! They complied.

They stuck in a room with a little girl with bronchitis. Cough, cough, cough!!! Doctors, um my kid is prone to asthma, bronchitis, and upper respiratory infections. Helloooooo!!! Apparently, they are thinking/waiting/who knows on a neurology consult for him. They then said that he would be there overnight.

The kid is in FULL Angry Toddler mode right now. They stuck him in one of those jails, prisons cribs. He was screaming like a caged animal.

I came home to grab some things and then I gotta go back and relieve Angry Husband. Hopefully, we will find out what is wrong with him and get freed from the coop soon!!!

Thanks to everyone who sent their positive thoughts!!!

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Seizures….

November 13, 2007

I’ve been blogging about myself lately. So I guess I will blog about the Angry Toddler tonight…

The toddler has had some slight sniffles and a cough for the past two weeks. He’s adjusting to a new preschool, so we knew this was going to happen. We’ve been giving him Tylenol, Cold Meds, and Breathing Treatments off and on during this time. It looked like he was going to fight his way through this.

At 5:55AM, this morning, yea that’s right, a little over 2 hours after I went to bed, the kid was crying and screaming. This wasn’t his normal, I had a bad nightmare scream. This was the omg, it hurts, something is wrong scream. I got off my couch bed and went to his room. Meanwhile the snorer husband was also going to the toddler’s room. Angry Husband picked him out of bed. He told me, he’s had a seizure, I can tell. The husband moved him to our bed and laid him down. We immediately took off the toddler’s clothes and started cooling him down. The toddler still didn’t look right, he wouldn’t open his eyes and he was grinding his teeth. I made the executive decision and called 911. The paramedics came in full force. As they arrived at our house, AT opened his eyes, and started to look normal.

We advised the medics that AT had a history of Febrile Seizures. This was his 8th or 9th one since he was 16 months old. The medics said that he still looked lethargic and decided to transport him to the hospital.

A febrile seizure, also known as a fever fit or febrile convulsion is a generalized convulsion caused by elevated body temperature. They most commonly occur in children below the age of three and should not be diagnosed in children under the age of 6 months or over the age of 6 years. In many cases, the first sign of fever is the onset of the seizure. It has been theorized that the seizure is triggered by the rapidity of the rise in temperature, rather than the actual temperature reached.

Febrile seizures represent the meeting point between a low seizure threshold (genetically and age determined) – some children have a greater tendency to have a seizure under certain circumstances – and a trigger: fever. The genetic causes of febrile seizures are still being researched.

We then went to the hospital. They checked him out and his temperature was 101 degrees. We do not know what his temperature was at the time of seizure, cause panic had set in. They observed him for a couple of hours; ruled out any illnesses, ear infections, etc, and released us after about an hour.

Good news!!! One of my best friends from Jr. High and High School is a nurse in the ER. I’m very excited and we are going to lunch soon. I had to throw in a little happiness for my day. Now back to the original story.

So we went home and proceeded to eat lunch, nap, and do all the other normal things that we do. We gave AT some Tylenol and Motrin, alternating every couple of hours.

At about 5pm, Angry Husband shouted at me. He’s having another seizure. AH felt his forehead and it was extremely hot. I ran and got the ear thermometer. It was all jacked up. WE couldn’t get a right temperature reading. So after everything calmed down, we put AT in the car and drove back to the hospital.

We were greeted by the same friendly nurses from this morning. Good thing, I have an awesome working relationship with this hospital, due to me being in there for work all the time. They promptly grabbed a TV and some videos for the AT. They took his temperature at the Hospital and it was 103.5 degrees this time. They do a full blood count, and chest x-ray while we were there. They said that most likely he has a viral infection, due to some spots on his tongue. We were told to follow-up with his doctor and then we were discharged.

AH and I are both really tired. The toddler is now sound asleep, poor little guy. AH and I both called in sick for work today, not that we really missed anything. Although, I ran into a co-worker at the hospital tonight.

We still do not know what is going on with these seizures. I need to make an appointment with the Pediatric Neurologist just to make sure everything is alright. Everyone keeps saying that he will outgrow all of this, I hope so.

I just wanted to type this all out, because all of my friends are asking what happened today. I felt it was easier to do a blog post, then tell the same story via text message 100 times today.

All is well now. I’m going to go watch some TV and enjoy the rest of my work free Monday night!

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Rhett Butler’s People

November 12, 2007

I am a huge, huge fan of Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell. I’ve read the book over ten times. I first read the book in sixth grade. I think that’s when my love of reading truly started.

But lately, I’ve been reading alot of chick lit type books. I try and stay away from the crime dramas, due to my job. I really get sick of crime, sometimes….

But, I was sooo giddy when I saw that there was a new authorized sequel to GWTW coming out. Rhett’s Butler’s People came out on Tuesday. The book begins twelve years before the Gone with the Wind timeframe.

I reserved the book online Friday night, and picked it up last night. I rarely read hardback books, so this was a moment for me. I decided to take my lunch at Panera Bread, and hide in a booth.

As I was hiding in my booth, I couldn’t help but listen to a conversation going on next to me. I admit it, I’m a truly nosey person by nature. Well it appeared that these people were on a blind date. They were in the early 50’s. The woman would say, “Oh I love red wine”, and then the man would say, “Oh I don’t drink nor do I eat red meat”. It was hysterical. I felt bad for this woman. She was all done up, make-up, hair, and all. The guy was a total geek. She had this look on her face like she wanted to run away.

I think I got to page two in the book. I will save it for a later day. I’m going to try and relax more this week. It’s the week of my 32nd Birthday and I want to enjoy it a little.

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