Secular Confessions

[demigraf]

Katy, . I'm so sorry that such a sad and disturbing event had to happen to you and your loved ones this week. I would have made the exact same decision that you did, keeping J away from the center of it all. Everyone needs to process grief in their own way. I can totally see why your MIL would want to have family near her to help process it, but I also hope she'll understand your reasoning, which makes perfect sense to me.

[Suja]

Katy, I'm so sorry.

I've been dealing with a kid who is making me crazy, and not posting much as a consequence. Hope everyone has an amazing long weekend.

[girlwonder]

Thanks for the virtual hugs, all. Xo

[missychrissy]

How is your dh doing Katy? Did you guys have plans for this weekend before that happened? Are you still doing them?

[Bridget]

Thinking of you this morning, Katy. Hoping everyone can properly grieve and start to heal. Big hugs to all of you.

[girlwonder]

DH went to Dallas on Thursday morning and will be staying until late Sunday evening. The memorial service is during the day on Sunday. He is doing okay, but really wants to come home because he has a hard time with his BIL (loud, demanding, toxic, drunk) and they arrived from Georgia on Friday morning and have been awful since. I think he is too much in the midst of things to really grieve right now. His family is all action, no introspection, so the way they deal with this kind of thing is to drown it out with eating, drinking, talking, drinking and more drinking.

I was really excited because I was going to have a mini-vacation - DH was going to leave on Sunday with JoJo to go to Dallas and stay there until Tuesday. I was going to paint the kitchen - a project I just can't tackle with J around because I need one day to tape off and wash the walls and then another day to paint. And paint J's bed white (it has been raw wood for almost a year!) and make curtains for underneath because it is a loft bed. And make a silk charmeuse pillowcase for me and one for JoJo - supposedly the silk keeps your skin from getting dry and wrinkled at night (me) and keeps curls from getting too tangled (JoJo). I'm sure I would have only gotten the painting of the kitchen done. I hope that maybe one weekend this summer or perhaps Labor Day we can try again. Really want to get the kitchen painted. Mom is going to take J overnight tonight so maybe I can make pillowcases. I hesitate to paint her bed because of fumes and I would like it to really get dry before any use.

I am okay really. I liked Wally, but didn't know him so well that I feel anything is missing, kwim? The whole thing is sad and tragic, but the feeling is outside of me. I was more worried about dh and JoJo than anything else. And really, as soon as I found out about the dementia it all made sense to me so I wasn't so haunted by the mystery of why he did it - made sense to me because that was the kind of person he was and somehow the explanation put it to bed for me. I'm sure if I was there I would be more affected by how sad everyone else is.

[missychrissy]

That makes sense Katy. I wish it wasn't so hard for your dh, or he had someone he could hang with and shut the others out so he could properly grieve. Poor guy.

[demigraf]

I'm glad you're feeling ok, Katy. It's still a big strain to be an observer of grief, especially when there's a grisly story behind it. I hope this chapter can be put behind soon and you get your mini vacation, or at least a crafternoon one day soon. I know I'd have been excited about a long project weekend.

We're in L.A. for a reunion of sorts. Bodhi had his first ear infection and is new to amoxicillin. Tonight, he is waking every 2 hrs in a rage. Last night he actually started walloping/kicking me in his sleep and then cried for 2 hrs. He's been generally disagreeable. I'm trying to remember if the same sort of side effect happened to Baby S.

L, was it amoxicillin? It's hard to tell because of other factors like being in a hotel bed tonight rather than his room. Plus DH had him vaccinated for 4 things at the same MD visit on Thursday.

With little sleep and a 6.5 hr drive under our belt, we're a little fried on what was supposed to be a fun, relaxing weekend.

I'm going to see my elderly great aunt today who is in a the residential home for dementia cases. I have been trying to find somewhere up near us that can take her but with no luck. It's awful how lonely she must be, so I am trying to think of creative ways to improve her quality of life. I took out an ad on Craigslist looking for someone local who speaks her language to visit her 2 hrs a week and give her special attention. I also contacted 2 local churches in the same area to see if they could refer someone. Luckily, there's a high concentration of our people in the same town as her facility. Can anyone think of other things I can do to make her life nicer? She sleeps all day and is up all night. I suppose I could call her more often than I do, seeing as how I rise early for meetings in far off time zones all the time anyway.

Ack, will try to go back to sleep now.

[3andMe]

Yes, Mylah. S. was in a complete rage for an entire course of amoxicillin. I asked his doctor about it after about a week of S. waking up in the middle of the night screaming and punching at us and saying nothing was wrong and nothing hurt but he was just mad, and his doctor said that he'd never heard of such an effect and that it would be far worse if he'd have to take another stronger antibiotic after this one because he relapsed. I will do everything in my power to keep him off the -cillins in the future. I hope, for your sake, it is just the illness and not the same rage that we experienced. 10 days of rage was very difficult for us. It got worse, also, as he got to feeling less sick and more energetic.

Big sympathy to you.

[missychrissy]

It amazes me how many things happen-like these rages-that people talk about, but they're not listed as official side effects. What has to happen to get a possible side effect listed? Tell me they only ever list the ones that the study groups experienced and never edit it?! :/

When I first started taking Wellbutrin, I suddenly had amazing bruises all over my body. Rich had teasingly grabbed my leg-but not hard at all!-and his full hand print was there for two days. Anything more firm than a light touch left a bruise. I Googled and saw many other people complain about that-specifically with Wellbutrin-but the dr said it wasn't a known side effect. He ran blood work to see if anything else was going on, but it all came back normal. It stopped after a week or two, but was very strange. I don't know for sure that Wellbutrin caused it, but that was the only new thing in my world and the bruising had started within a week of taking it. It did stop after 2-3 weeks even though I had continued the medication.

Besides the cold sore, I've had hoo-ha issues. Last month I had BV for the first time in my life. Not a big deal-it happens. It was curious to me that that happened at 36 for the first time ever, but whatever. It's either back or I have a yeast infection. I'm telling myself it's likely a yeast infection due to the antibiotics I took for the BV. Paranoid me that likes to worry is wondering wtf is going on with my body though. I've only ever had YIs when pregnant. And no, I'm not pregnant! It's not possible, if you catch my drift. I'm falling apart.

In happy news, I'm going with Rich, Conner & Syd to my distant cousin's for a bbq today. Bonnie was my BFF for a long period of time when I was a teenager. She's my mother's cousin, but closer to me in age than my mom. When I was 14, she had a little girl and then 2 years later had another. I babysat them a lot. They're all grown up now and the oldest has 2 kids of her own and the younger girl is pregnant with her first. I'm excited to see them all.

[Bridget]

FML!

http://americanpregnancy.org/forums/...2-Scabies-wwyd

Oh, and also I went to the dr on friday because that spot on my breast that I assumed was impetigo from Sawyer wasn't getting any better. She says it is most definitely not impetigo and she has no idea what it is. She told my to use hydrocortisone cream for 2 wks and if it's not gone or going away I have to come back in and explore the possiblity of inflammatory breast cancer.

What my mom had.

So now I'm looking at it every five minutes hoping it's going away but it's not.
It will though, right?

[3andMe]

Bridget, I looked at the thread in Natural Family Living, and I looked up Neem Oil and I looked up info on Scabies. My sister had it a number of times when we were kids and luckily the rest of the family did not get it, but it is really contagious, so I don't know how we avoided it unless we had some natural immunity or unless she had some natural susceptibility.

The CDC information sheets specifically said that no over-the-counter medications have been tested and approved to treat human scabies. I know that doesn't specifically mean that non-prescription treatment doesn't exist (just that it hasn't been proven in studies), but I would be be more hesitant, especially since in recent years there have been a lot more trials on alternative medicines. Also, this is pretty significant: "symptoms may take as long as 4-6 weeks to begin. It is important to remember that an infested person can spread scabies during this time, even if he/she does not have symptoms yet." I don't know if you need to notify your day care families, but I suspect you may, and your family may all be contagious even if you're not showing symptoms.

Finally, Permethrin is approved for breastfeeding women. "Because less than 2% is absorbed after topical application, rapid metabolism to inactive metabolites and safe application directly on infants' skin, topical permethrin products are acceptable in nursing mothers." And that's saying a lot, because not many drugs are approved for nursing mothers. It is a synthetic drug based on a naturally-occurring insecticide found in chrysanthemum flowers.

Of course, you need to do what you feel comfortable with, but I would rather try to nip it in the mite.

And Bridget, I hope that the spot goes away. Two weeks is a long time to be putting on a cream and worrying. Can't you just get a mammogram asap? I think you are awfully young to be thinking about this, and your mom was much older when she was diagnosed, so it does not seem likely, but I would rather make sure.

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Chrissy, I hope you have a good time at your bbq. I'm glad you're doing something as a family.

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Mandy, how are you doing?

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DH came back from his week away and has been cranky, cranky, cranky. I have been telling him I had such an easy time with the kids that I could do it again and he could go out and take some time for himself. No really. Please do! He has not done so. Example? I told him it looked like he got some sun while he was up there. He bit my head off and said no, his cheeks are pink for some inexplicable reason and I'm the third person who told him and he's sick and tired of people commenting about it and he doesn't want to hear another word about it. Everything I say is the wrong thing. We are supposed to go out tonight. Our first time out together in the evening ever since the twins were born. And I'm kind of not looking forward to it. Sigh.
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I hope everyone else's weekends are going well. It's unseasonable cold and windy here. We're all wearing jackets and glad we didn't plan to go camping or anything.

[Bridget]

So Lydia, what do you think about nursing him while I'm actually doing the treatment? It says to cover your entire body but I'm thinking I could leave it off my nipples. I just don't know how we would ever make it through the night without nursing.

I am so torn on using the medicine or not. I am sick about it. Really can't think of anything else.

I don't think a mammogram can detect inflammatory breast cancer. I could be wrong but my mom had yearly mammograms that never detected it. He breast became red, hot, swollen and that's what brought her in. I'm leaning toward mine being something like a skin infection/irritation since it is in the spot where Sawyer is always pinching and scratching me while he nurses.

[Gwenn]

It's unseasonably cold here, too -which means 80's. I'm enjoying it.

I'm not having the greatest weekend. I've been feeling like my pants are too tight and finally decided to buy some summer shorts cheap at Target. I bought a size larger than I currently wear without trying them on. Got home, and not only were they too small, but I think they were smaller than the ones I was replacing. I had to exchange them for 2 sizes up. So I'm feeling bad about wearing a size 8 for the first time in my life, and apparently I'm taking out my resentment by eating candy and potato chips. Somehow there's a disconnect here.

On the positive side (sort of), my dog has been really arthritic and since our house has stairs at every entrance, he's having a really hard time getting in and out. He's fallen down the stairs more than once and now won't go outside without DH by his side to stabilize him. So we asked my dad to make a dog ramp for the back stairs, which he did but there was no traction on the wood and it was even harder for Nero to get down it. Yesterday DH and I went and got some carpet remnant at Home Depot and covered the ramp. Nero can now get in and out easily and he's so happy! It's adorable. I'll post a pic if you like.

[Gwenn]

Here is Nero on his new dog ramp. Doesn't he look proud of himself?

[missychrissy]

Nero is adorable and I just love your family for being so thought of him! I'm sure independence is just as important for dogs as it is for humans.

L. I'd want dh to go away too. I hope he gets over it quick and you manage to have a good time.

And Bridget-my heart sank when I read your post. How did they dx your mom? Can they run tests? Do a biopsy? I agree with L that you're very young to be worrying about that, but still...2 weeks is a very long time. I don't think there's any way to not worry about it so if there's a way to get tested now, I'd just as soon do that if I were you.

[Gwenn]

Bridget, I agree with Chrissy. I think it's very unlikely, but I would still want to get it checked out for peace of mind.

[Bridget]

My mom started to notice that her left breast was very red and her dr told her it was nothing. Then it started to swell and was very hot so she went to see a different dr and that dr knew right away. I belive they did an mri. Inflammatory is a newer cancer that they don't know much about and is not like the others in that it does not present itself as a lump. The dr reassured me that it wasn't showing some of the red flags that she looks for, one being the hotness. She also asked if I had any nipple discharge or pain in the area and when I said no she said that was good. If it doesn't show improvement by mid-week I will go back. I remember when my mom had the testing to see if her cancer was genetic or environmental and she was so relieved to tell me and her sisters that it was not genetic. I didn't say anything at the time but I couldn't understand how that was necessarily a relief since we were all in the same environments for very long but different times in her life. Anyway.

I just took a hydrogen peroxide bath. Lydia, I am so not wanting to use that medicine. So many people online are saying it did not even work for them. I also called all my daycare parents and they were thankfully very understanding but none of us knows wtf to do from this point on because who knows if someone else in the family will get it or if it's hanging out on my furniture that I've vacuumed about 80 times this weekend. Excuse me while I walk around my house spraying bleach.

[demigraf]

Chrissy, I'm sorry to hear about the latest infection you're experiencing, which sounds to me like something stress-induced. I wonder if you can take advantage of having your own place and ask Rich to take all the kids one night while you soak in the tub/relax etc. Even if it's not related to stress, a quiet night at home can only do you good. ;)

I meant to ask, where are your dogs staying? Are they with you at your pad?

Mandy, Nero is cute, cute, cute. It made me miss my own dogs
who are with their sitter this weekend while we're away. And don't worry about changing sizes. If all goes well and as hoped, you'll be changing a whole lot of sizes. You will be able to make a concerted effort whenever you're ready if you really want to go back down in size. I'm sure you still look wonderful. Size 8 is something a lot of women would set as a goal.

Bridget, I'm sorry to hear your latest. I put the monkey pack in the mail for you last Friday. If I'd known you'd be combing garden centers for it, I could have also included neem oil in the box to at least let you try it. I've only ever used it to control white fly in the yard, but would give it a shot for scabies. Also, I wonder if pyrethrum - a natural form of pyrethin - can be used with less risk and still be effective. Everyone calls everything "natural" these days, which is why I'm still wary of the idea of a "natural insecticide", especially used topically. I hope you get reliable answers. Do you have a naturopath in your area whom you can consult about this?

And I hope the doctors quickly rule out inflammatory breast cancer. I suppose that the more obvious culprits for a breast feeding mom have been ruled out, like plugged ducts and mastitis?

L, sorry to hear that J reacted over-sensitively to your comment. You didn't deserve your head getting bitten off. I sometimes snap at DH unnecessarily, and it points to pressure from some other aspect in my life. I try to apologize 100% of the time for snapping. I hope J eventually came to and said something like, "I'm sorry. I realize you were paying me a compliment and I shouldn't have been cross about that." I also hope he made it up to you on your date night by now.

Thanks, also for sharing your antibiotics story again. Thankfully tomorrow morning is his last dose. We are ready for Bodhi's rages to be over. Here's hoping that tomorrow brings the end to all the "-cilliness". ;)

We went to look at the road that fell into the ocean today while visiting our house in L.A. It was eerie and sad.

[AmeriBrit]

Bridget, I didn't even know what scabies was til just now! I found this on the NHS's site about it:

Malathion lotion has no known affects on women who are pregnant or breastfeeding. However, you should also seek advice from your GP or pharmacist before using malathion lotion. Children who are six years old and under should be medically supervised while being treated with malathion. Could you ask your doctor for something like that?

I hope the breast issue turns out to be something simple and just goes away on its own; I know you must be so unnerved with your family history with cancer. (Hugs). Sending you lots of healing vibes today.

L, I hope your date night turned out ok even though your hubby was being a grumpalump. I know that during our cruise, my husband actually ruined a few days of our holiday from being ridiculously moody. Ugh.

Mandy, your doggy is soooo cute! I keep daydreaming about one day getting a dog.

We have had proper summer weather here for the past week and it has been GLORIOUS! It felt like winter up until last week and it was really getting me down; this turn of weather has improved my mood by a million percent! The kids are enjoying it as well; Travis' favorite thing to do is to run around our backyard naked playing in the paddling pool and watering all the shrubs and plants at the same time. LOL.

[AbbeysMom]

Myles, Abbey acted manic and out of control about 4-5 days post vax after she got Hep A and Dtap at her last visit. A personality change like that is really unlike her. She almost always has had major reactions to vaccinations (including ER-worthy temperature spikes when she was a baby). Hoping Bohdi is back to normal soon no matter what the cause! ... and what is "the road that fell into the ocean"?

Bridget. I hope the spot goes away on it's own ASAP. How scary and disconcerting, I can't imagine being able to focus on much else when a doctor brings something like that up.

As far as the scabies issue, I know when we had fleas I steam cleaned the carpets then treated the whole house with Borax powder (carpets and cloth furniture) and then vacuumed. They haven't been back, but I honestly felt like burning my house down for a little while. I'm hoping that the rash that Savana has isn't scabies at all and goes away without incident, but I would be worried about using a pesticide on her too.

Mandy, your pup does look proud in that pic, lol. And what a sweet furbaby mam you are to help him out like that. I know you are pessimistic about this month's cycle but I'm still thinking of you and hoping you get you much-deserved BFP this month.

Where's Erin? I miss her posts!

[AbbeysMom]

So tomorrow we'll be heading out to buy a new car. My car battery died last week leaving Abbey and I stranded (a friend drove us home), and DH determined the fog lights were mysteriously on so he disabled the fuse. Fine, but we still needed to look at cars because this one is 11 years old and won't fit both an infant seat and Abbey's carseat.

After looking at cars Saturday morning and planning on going back in the afternoon to talk trade-ins and price, the air conditioner begin to go off in my old car intermittently. We both thought that was odd, but drove to a dealer anyway to continue car-shopping (about 30 minutes away). They checked out my car there as a trade-in and said when they turned it on none of the electronics worked. They offered $1000 for it, for parts. We opted to get it looked at by a mechanic but that meant driving it home in 90 degree heat with no air conditioning and no way to roll down the powered windows. And I'm pregnant. I felt very sorry for myself and Abbey too, but not at all sorry for DH, since he's the one who said we should keep fixing my car because "what else could go wrong with it?", lol.

[3andMe]

Molly, good luck with car shopping. I hope you find something you like. Do you know what you want?

Bridget, sometimes mammograms can show IBC, but if not, ultrasound could be a first step, or biopsy. I can see why you might want to wait a week if the alternative is biopsy, though.

My night out was awesome. DH was a bummer to be around all day. He suggested that I might not want him to go out, but when he did, it was too late to call mom and cancel her. He said he didn't want me looking at him and wondering how he was going to behave the whole time. Then I found out he's been tapering off his antidepressant, but hadn't told me because he didn't want me to attribute his moodiness to that. I guess he would rather I just think he's being a jerk for no reason at all. Anyway, my friend bought a bar in downtown San Francisco and I have never been to it. A group of us old friends met up there last night. One is a friend from high school, others friends from the past 15 or so years. There were about 20 of us in this bar. Most of them I haven't seen in at least a year or two years. It was great to talk to them. I tried to get my high school friend to dance on the tables, but it was more from the unfamiliar freedom than any amount of drinking I was doing. My sister and I danced. Not on the tables. DH was sociable and got to catch up with people also, which is not very like him, even on the best of days. So we both had a good time.

This was the first night out we've had without kids since the twins were born. We got home at 10 and my mom said they went to bed without a fuss and were wonderful for her. Hmm, maybe she will do this again sometime.

Mandy, Nero looks adorable! And I know the unpleasant feeling of having to buy clothes that are a size or two bigger than one would ever consider. Hopefully soon you will be buying bigger clothes for pleasant reasons.

This is the last day of our 3-day weekend, and it is still cold and gloomy. I have no idea what to do today except turn up the heat.

[girlwonder]

Bridget - hugs for both afflictions. I hope they resolve quickly and undramatically for you.

Chrissy - I'm sorry. My first thought was that it has to be stress related. But who knows.

Good luck with car shopping, Molly!

L - so glad you had a night out to feel free. That is so important.

I'm sure I am missing people.

DH came home from Dallas last night. We picked him up from the airport at 7:30. I cannot understand how he even got on the flight as he was so drunk. It was really distressing. The memorial was Sunday from 1 to 3, and he was assigned bartender duty along with the BIL who he can't stand. So he just drank a lot over the course of the afternoon. I was really taken aback at that for some reason, but I guess when I am that sad the last thing I want to do is drink but of course many other people drink to drown sorrow so I shouldn't be so surprised. Anyway, he was crying all the way home and intermittently throughout the evening. I felt so sad for him. Later that night after he had eaten a bit of food and started to feel better he said that half of why he was feeling so weepy was from relief of being home. It was a really hard time there and he had to keep it together for everyone else and he was just so glad to not be there anymore. This morning he told me that W also shot his dog before he shot himself. It just gets sadder and weirder every time I hear a new detail.

[Cosmosmom]

Oh big hugs Bridget! I don't have access to all my usual resources being a weekend and not being at work but I did find the same stuff L did....and honestly I really would use the drug they prescribed. I agree that it takes a lot for them to say a drug is ok in pregnant or nursing moms and this one definitely does. And being a topical, I wouldn't be as concerned either as something that was taken orally. I would just want it cleared up as quickly as possible and get them killed before spreading more....and getting a secondary infection from itching.

Is the red spot more than 1/3 of the breast? I know we all would worry after hearing that but I think that it's definitely a good sign that it's not hot to the touch.

Oh Mandy I feel you on that. So I was probably a size 20 or 22 depending when I first started with the infertility clinic. I was told to lose weight (though I do ovulate just fine and do not have pcos). I got so upset by that since a few years before that one of the main reasons I had the gastric bypass was to lose weight and I lost a lot and that was one of the smallest sizes I had been (smallest was an 18). I definitely took out my resentment...not candy since it's not my thing and chips make me sick.....but pasta, more pasta, some wine, some brandy.....not good. Now I'm up 2-3 sizes and working on losing that again to get back into those old clothes. Doesn't help any having the thyroid problems but I know it was my fault and feel stupid for letting it go so long. Last check though and I was down 6 lbs so far.

[Cosmosmom]

Oh and I loved the ramp for Nero! He definitely looks very proud and happy with that!


I'm kind of concerned with Cosmo right now. She was squinting her eye this morning and it had an eye booger and looks more red than normal. She's on prednisone drops for the sceleritis and that helps a lot. But they said that it makes her a lot more prone to infection if she gets a scratch and to not do drops if she is squinting or it looks like it hurts her to get them and to bring her in. Of course it's a holiday weekend and her vet isn't an option until next week. If necessary we will try MIL or my parents vets. But I think that we will skip drops tonight and hope that it's just from not getting her usual 18 hours of sleep and that grass pollen is very high right now and it's in the 90's and the air isn't really running well so we have a lot of fans going so maybe it's just dry. Oh and MIL smokes but has mostly done that outside.

DH and his mom are at the casino right now and I'm afraid to move from the kitchen table as all three dogs are quiet and sleeping. At least I have something to drink, my laptop and a good book!

[Gwenn]

Katy, I'm so sorry for your DH and the rough time he had at the funeral. So sad about the dog! I hope your DH has some time to relax and recover a bit now he's home.

L, I'm glad you had a good night out! Is your DH going to go back on his antidepressants? I hope for both your sakes he finds a solution.

I had a baby dream last night. I have mentioned before, I'm rarely aware of my dreams but last IUI cycle with my m/c I dreamed all the way through. I've had about 3 vivid dreams since this IUI which was less than a week ago. Two nights ago, I dreamed that I had to take a bunch of final exams for classes I had never attended. Boy, was I relieved to wake up and realize I wasn't enrolled in any classes! Last night, I had another baby dream and it was another little boy. I wonder if there is anything to dreaming as an indicator of pregnancy. I didn't dream at all last month.

Jennifer, I hope Cosmo's eye is doing okay. Sounds like you have all you need with your drink, laptop, and book! What else could you need for the short term?

Molly, how frustrating about your car. I hope you're okay after that drive and I hope you can get the car dealt with quickly.

[Bridget]

Lydia I am so happy to hear you had a good night.
Love Nero's ramp. Sorry I was too self absorbed to comment on that before. I think he looks like he thinks he's cool. I love it when animals and babies think they are cool.

Ok. So I am pretty sure Savana does not have it. Her bites looked really different than mine and they are gone while mine are spreading. Hers looked like mosquito bites and there are not "trails" like I have where the female moves along and lays her eggs. (GAG)
So I have decided that I will treat myself tonight all except my left breast and I will wear a long sleeve shirt and cut a hole for my nipple so I can still nurse Sawyer without any chance of him ingesting the medicine. I have covered all of the living room furniture and my bed and Sawyers crib mattress (side carred to my bed) with plastic. I'm washing all articles of clothing and then putting them into plastic bags where they will remain until thursday. We each have 2 outfits that will go directly into the washing machine at the end of the day. In the meantime I am vacuuming and cleaning with a bleach solution several times a day. Luckily we have no carpet in the upstairs.

Dbf is gone for a few days so I may actually see if I can get a professional cleaning company to come in while he is gone. Not that he would "forbid" it but I know he wouldn't think it was practical. I would just feel better having some help with this.

[Gwenn]

That sounds exhausting, having to clean all that. I hope you do call in a cleaning company, just to take some of the burden off you. Good luck with it!

And Nero definitely thinks he's cool! LOL

[AmeriBrit]

L, I'm so glad you had a great time! Dang, you waited a long time to go on a date night! DH and I had our first away night from Travis when he was 4 months old! We went to a local castle that had been turned in to a fancy hotel/restaurant. It was such a good night. DH's parents are so good to us; we get out for a date night once a month usually. We're going out tomorrow to watch The Dictator because DH got cheap tickets from work.