November 26, 2008 at 4:03 pm · Filed under Uncategorized
Margot’s dad’s house in Brooklyn is going to go on the market anyday now and I’m shocked that there’s no for sale sign outside. Maybe it’s the fact that they’re asking around two million for the house…
If it were me and I needed to sale in this crappy economy I’d make sure to have digital signage outside!
You just never know when the next millionaire might be driving around your dead end road looking to pick up a new house.
November 22, 2008 at 11:04 pm · Filed under Cancer
So much has happened over the past 24 hours.
Yesterday Margot’s brother arrived at around 5pm. We all packed into the minivan and went for our favorite - Indian food.
Afterwards we came home, washed the kids, put them to bed and the adults hung out and played Wii Rockband. We had an excellent time. By 10pm we were all exhausted and scattered to our respective sleep areas. I slept on the couch because Emmy was in the playpen and I didn’t want to leave her by herself, Dennis went to the spare bedroom, and Margot went upstairs to sleep with Graem in our bed.
At 1:30am I heard Dennis upstairs talking on the phone and when I got up they shared the news that their dad was found on the bathroom floor unresponsive.
Margot’s dad’s girlfriend called EMT and they said “it doesn’t look good” and that Manny was only having 6 respirations per minute. They asked for a DNR (Do no resisitate) order. Of course, noone knows if there is one.
After about an hour we call the hospital to get an update and basically find out that Margot’s dad has been intubated and is in critical condition. No other news is available.
So of course, we’re all just sitting in the bed upstairs surrounded by sleeping children and crying. Margot’s dad has had stage 4 colon cancer for around 2 years now. He’s had surgery to remove the cancer, survived it, and is now undergoing chemo after having it reoccur.
I’m saddest for Margot and Dennis because they’re in their early thirties and that just seems way too young to lose both of your parents. It makes me sad that Grammy and Emmy are so young. However, I’m glad that they at least were able to meet him.
It also makes me sad that after all of the tough years that Manny has gone through with drug addiction and depression and dealing with Margot’s mother — he finally was leading a somewhat healthy life and then was hit with cancer.
Margot and Dennis left this morning to head to New York City. We decided that it’d be best if I stayed home with the kids because they really don’t need to be in a hospital and because Margot and Dennis need to make some serious decisions and it’s going to be stressful enough without a crazy almost-4-year-old and a naughty baby.
When Margot and Den got to the hospital they found their father blue and he looked absolutely horrible. He was hooked up to machines and I don’t think they expected to see him look like that.
They have had various doctors come in and they all concur that the situation is grim. However, they are giving Manny antibiotics, blood transfusions, and keeping him intubated for the time being. At this point they’re buying time for family to make it from out of town.
In the same token, his body could completely fail and there’s not machine that could keep him alive. To some extent…that might be the best case scenario because not one person would have to make the decision to “pull the plug.”
I hope and pray that both Margot and Dennis find peace. I can’t imagine losing a parent and know it’s one of the hardest situations they will ever have to face. I’m sad that they’ve had to do it twice.
We’ve told Graem that Grandpa’s sick and she understands. We also explained to her that grandpa is dying and we think she understands that too. One thing that we’re going to try and be aware of is having conversations in front of her. For a few minutes today she had to confirm that it was Grandpa that was dying and not mommy.
Then she said with tears in her eyes “I miss grandpa and mommy.”
We miss grandpa too.


November 20, 2008 at 10:28 pm · Filed under Actual posts about being moms, Milestones
Yesterday was a milestone day for both girls: Emmy outgrew her bucket seat and officially moved into the rear-facing Britax; Grammy got invited to her first big girl playdate, where we stay home; then Grammy finally willingly slept somewhere other than our bed.
It’s hard to believe that the little girl who started off in the NICU and wasn’t gaining enough weight is now in a big-girl carseat. We’re relieved, because carrying that bucket was getting to be a drag! She was quite a bit heavier than Grammy was when she outgrew it–Graem was 3 months old when she exceeded the length limit.
One of Graem’s friends from school invited her over for a playdate on Saturday. And her mom said, why don’t you just drop her off and pick her up at noon? When Shawna told me this I was flabbergasted–you mean we just walk away?
Then to top off the night, Graem decides she wants to sleep in her tent, complete with her Pablo sleeping bag and flower pillow. I put up the tent on a whim, to see if she’d take–which she did. She slept the entire night til around 6 AM. She didn’t even want to snuggle before she went to sleep! The last time this kid slept somewhere other than our bed was when she was just about a year old–we spent about 3 or 4 days of letting her cry it out in the crib. And she’d only stay there until about 2 AM.
These kids are growing up too fast!
November 20, 2008 at 12:48 pm · Filed under Uncategorized
that there are people that live in Las Vegas.
When we visited it seemed like there were so many tourists but the reality is that there are people that own property there and actually call Las Vegas their home.
I wonder what Las Vegas resumes look like? I can imagine most people probably work at the casinos or the local university.