Happy Halloween 2010

Dark Helmet and Princess Vespa

Spaceballs!!

Homestead Farms: Oct 16, 2010

FB..Grrr.

Facebook is being an absolute pill right now as I'm trying to upload photos and the darn thing isn't working.

So... ta da! My blog viewers get to see them instead *lol*

Below are pictures of Bellaboo as a ballerina (the only way I could get her out of her fuzzy blue pajamas she loves):







And here we have Julius showing off his new hair cut, he's so dramatic, I need to get this kid involved in theatre.

kids vs. Daddy and their Pop Pop

Rock on

Today was a great day! The weather was perfect :)
In the early morning Julius had hockey practice. Since it was too early for me to be even remotely functional, Isabella and I stayed home while Josh took our #16 to the rink. Josh also helps out on the ice, so it's a nice bonding time for the two boys.

Isabella and I bonded in our way... coffee for me, some yogurt for her, and lots of books. My favorite is one that Josh's sister had bought for her. It's a Flip-a-face book by someone named Sami.



Isabella always cracks up and we take turns putting our heads in the face opening. It's such a great book. I think every parent should own one.

After books and yogurt we played with blocks and her dolls and then danced around the house.

Julius came home and we all relaxed in the rec room. Julius drew pictures, Isabella played dolls... then we had lunch (pizza!!!!!!!!!! I know, can the day get any better? LOL)

And it gets better... Isabella and I took a 2 hour nap. FABULOUS!!!!!!!!!!!

Then we went to the Halloween store for their costumes and I bought myself a pair of really cute pair of gold boot-like sandals :)

Yay for today!

I probably wouldn't even be able to stand in them... and if I could (surprisingly), I would have no place to wear them... And yet, I still WANT them.



GORGEOUS!!!!!!

As usual, Bells has more style-sense than her mother. She chooses her own outfits... and she has wonderful taste. Hopefully we'll be able to swap clothing when she's older LOL

Meanwhile, Mr. Julius has been invited to try out for the Select team. He is beyond thrilled. We're so proud of our lil' hockey guy!

colors of fall

This season is calling for camel, brown, tan, gray and purple....

And Isabella proves that you can do a lot with purple:



Note the purple furry vest and the purple long sleeved shirt along with the purple Dora crocs... yes, purple is THE color of the season for this Gaga Fashion Baby.

Rubin Family Video.mp4

La Di Da

It's nice when you can cross a concern off your list.
Yesterday, I was able to cross one off: which was FABULOUS...

I spoke to the cardiologist because I was worried about my kids. Josh has a heart murmur, I have cardiomyopathy... should the kids see a cardiologist?!?!

I am happy to say the answer was "no."

Josh's murmur occurred later in life, and my dilated cardiomyopathy is non-ischemic (not coronary disease, not inherited/hypertrophic, etc.) which was more than likely acquired virally and probably postpartum as well.

So unless my lovebugs start showing signs of a cardiac-related issue, there is nothing to worry about.

Very nice :)

sweet summer

Summer is slowly winding down. The days are hot and humid. It's raining a lot: it's as if the season knows it's coming to an end and is hitting us with all she's got before the fall.

I love the fall. The changing leaves and the crisp air always makes me happy. Spring is my second favorite season because of the daffodils. I can't stop smiling when I drive down a road with daffodils lining by the side streets.

I used to love winter. But I think the last snow storm made me a bit sick of the snow LOL

Things are well at home. The kids are happy, which is always important.



I start my new job in a couple of weeks. I'm really excited. Change can be scary, but it's also a somewhat fresh start and I can't wait to jump in with both feet.

Health is the same. I need to call the cardiologist and ask some more questions. Sometimes I think his carefree nature is more of an avoidance, which is generally fine since I like to go with the flow... but then when I start thinking of questions at night, I get annoyed because these are things I SHOULD already know, but don't. But the answer is just a phone call away, so I'll call on Monday.

Tomorrow we're having our family portraits taken. Of course I end up smacking my head against a closet railing as I rummaged for a matching set of shoes... and now I have a painful bruise and bump on my forehead. It reminds me of when my father broke his nose the night before my wedding.

Nothing to stress about, only laugh.

I should plug in my scanner and scan a picture of it.

Well, I suppose I'm done rambling for one evening.

G'night!

good news

In March, when I had my first echocardiogram, my heart function was 30-35%
Then, in May, after taking beta blockers to control my PAC, I had an angiogram that showed an improved heart function of 40%

Last week, I had my second echocardiogram... about/almost six months since my diagnosis of cardiomyopathy.

Good news: My heart function has not decreased.

My heart function is still at 40% which is really good news. It seems the first six months are critical, and considering that my function didn't deteriorate shows that everything is stable.

The cardiologist increased my beta blocker dosage since I'm still having PACs.

But another echocardiogram isn't considered to be necessary for another year.

Seems that 40% heart function is where I'm going to be.

Not too bad.

Better than 30%

And today I was definitely grateful for that 40% function because if it were any less, I would never have been able to carry three boxes into my car and drive them TO MY NEW OFFICE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

August 23rd, baby!! I can't wait to start my new job :)

My amazing little boy

Yesterday:

So Julius wanted to turn our house into a restaurant. So I pulled out some paper and we were all set to make the signs and menu.

Julius wanted to name it "Chef Cook." So I spelled it out for him. He immediately started with a backwards C, but corrected it when I pointed it out to him. He did the same for the C in 'cook,' but happily figured out that COOK ended with a K.

Then he went to write a second sign, and put the first sign next to him to use as a model.

This is what he wrote:

FEHC KOOC.

I looked at it, and then back at him, and I asked, "Does that look the same as the other sign?" And Julius nodded his head and read it back to me, "Chef Cook."

I find the whole way he processes words to be incredibly fascinating. Georgetown University is doing a study on reading disorders. I've contacted them to see if Julius is eligible to be part of the study. http://csl.georgetown.edu/functional_mri/

As for Julius, the way I've explained it to him is that he has an incredibly cool brain. That it's so cool he can see things in ways that most other people can't. And that having an awesome brain is going to help him when he's older, but now, since he's little, he's going to need to work extra hard in having to teach his brain to read and write and spell the way most other kids do. And that it doesn't sound fair, but it's going to help him do well in school if everyone else can understand what he writes. He seemed to accept that. He's always liked to help people, so by making it seem that his brain is just so awesome and because of his superpowers he needs to HELP others, it motivated him to write "Chef Cook" the right way.

tomorrow

Tomorrow I have my second echocardiogram. I'll find out the results next week.
Honestly, I don't know how I feel... if I've been feeling better or not.

Seriously, I am constantly tired, always. But that isn't new. Maybe I'm more tired... but is it because I'm a mother of two children who refuse to sleep through the night and I work M-F from 8 until 3:30 and then come home to job #2 as Mommy? I mean, that can make anyone exhausted.

And the shortness of breath and chest pains... well, it's been insanely hot. So it could just be because we've been living under CODE RED for awhile.

So am I feeling better? I really don't know.



I guess I'll have to wait and see what the echocardiogram says.

July weekend 2010 083.MOV

Julius has decided to be a "graphic artist." His first "job" was to make a Dr. Fate movie.

rambling cobblestone moi

Sometimes my husband can be absolutely spontaneous. I love when he gets that way... he's all happy and goofy: it makes me smile and I suddenly feel like a kid being told I can buy as much candy as I want at the candy store.

It's such a stress-free and relaxing feeling.

In any case, today was one of these days. I was chatting on the phone with him while driving to a home-visit (because I drive better when I'm multi-tasking LOL) and he surprises me by saying "Let's drive to the beach tomorrow."

I was so surprised that I missed my turn. Thankfully, we have this thing called "3-point turns", so it was all okay.

So now Josh and Julius are at the movies and I have the task of... packing.

I'm not a fan of packing, but I know that if I don't do it (and let Josh do it) he'll forget half of everything we need.

No offense to him. I just know him well enough to do all the packing myself.

So once Isabella went to sleep, I decided to set the clothing out on the bed... and then I came to a horrible realization.

Well, two horrible realizations actually.

1. I cannot find Julius' bathing trunks ANYWHERE. Now the kid has TWO trunks and both are gone. GONE! I checked the hamper, I checked the bathroom floor, I even checked the guest bathroom's tub... I checked the laundry room, under the beds, in the beds, in the closets... where did it go?

And then I came to another horrible and quite BIZARRE realization.

2. I have 3 bikini tops, one tankini top... and no bottoms. Where the hell did the bottoms go?! Again, I checked the hamper, I checked the bathroom floor, I even checked the guest bathroom's tub... I checked the laundry room, under the beds, in the beds, in the closets... where did it go?

I have Isabella's bathing suit.. two of them. I have Josh's trunks. I have extra clothing... the towels are in the washing machine...

but how can we go without all the attire?

Must we really stop by Target on the way to the beach?

Well, if you insist.

In other news this heat has been DISGUSTING. I have to catch my breath just going to my car in a parking lot. It's insane. Ugh. Of course I then remember complaining about all the snow and the cold and the snow and the snow and the snow and the snow and the snow from last winter... so maybe this is payback for all the bitching we all did?

No one said "Payback" was nice.

I heard it might rain tomorrow. Yes, I'm back on the 'beach topic,' Try to keep up, okay? And that is truly bumming me out because all of Josh's spontaneity would have been for nothing. And then what? What will we do on a rainy Saturday?

I still say we should go to Target though *GRIN*

I really like that store :)

tomorrow...

My little boy is turning six years old!

Whoa.


.............

Always be your own advocate

Always be an advocate:
not only for your self,
but for your children.

It's amazing how many people will take the easy road when they think you don't know the information.

It's amazing how many people will contradict themselves when they realize you know your shit.

And sadly, it's amazing how many people just let it all happen.

I'm not one of those people.

Sure, I go with the flow with a lot of things, but not when it comes to my family.

Not when it comes to my children.

And if I become "THAT parent," you know the one I'm talking about... so be it.

I will rather be "THAT parent" that nags and nudges and demands, than "THAT OTHER parent" that lets everyone else run the show.

And it's sad that even with my best intentions and all my resources and all my knowledge.... I'm still going to end up paying out of pocket for something that should be free because there are some PEOPLE WHO REFUSE TO DO THEIR JOB, WELL.

Comprehensive should mean comprehensive.

** eye roll **

blah blah

Do you know sucks about having a heart condition?

Not knowing if your chest pain is something serious, or just your average chest pain.

Like, is it:
allergy-induced chest pain?
muscle pulled chest pain?
heart condition-something amiss chest pain?

and if it's 'heart condition chest pain'.... then how bad does it have to get to be considered serious?

See how complicated something as trivial as a pain in your heart can be?

It's obnoxious.

And then, of course, the whole thing leads to the next question:
Call doctor?
Don't call doctor?
Go to sleep?
Go the the ER?

Ridiculous.
I think we all just need some sort of body-scan machinery: something small, like a cell phone, or something similar in size, and just point it to ourselves and CLICK! A screen will pop up and tell us what's going on.

I'm sure an invention like this is already in the works. It just needs to be developed and shared faster. And can it be slightly on the inexpensive side? Hockey is an expensive sport and we just mailed out the checks for Julius' fall season.