My Lucky Streak

It started with The Agony and the Ecstasy by Irving Stone.  When I picked it up off the shelf I was reluctant to start reading it.  At 748 pages the fictionalized biography of Michelangelo, a subject I never felt special interest in, intimidated me.  When I finally made my way through it and came to the end, and read the last words, I was more depressed than normal to finish a book.  I wanted it to keep going.  The story is immensely detailed, from artistic techniques in the 1500s to the people Michelangelo consorted with.  I loved every page, even if I did have some trouble with the Italian names.

And no, I haven't watched the movie yet.

I decided after that I need something a little lighter.  So I moved on to Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter by Seth Grahame-Smith.  The strange premise intrigued me: I couldn't help wondering how the author was going to pull it off.  The odd format took a little getting used to.  After the prologue it reads like a biography interspersed with sections from "Lincoln's journals" about his vampire hunting escapades and companions.  In the end, I actually really loved it.  You have to be able to totally suspend belief and put aside what you know about Lincoln's life and just go with it.  The narrative is clever and the book moves quickly.

And I don't know if I will be seeing the movie at all.

I've had a used copy of How the West was Won sitting on my shelf for probably close to two years.  Everyone knows how much I love Western movies.  I wasn't sure what I would think of a Western novel.  Turns out, I liked it quite a bit.  The story follows a family moving out west, how the various members become involved with the people they find there, and how their lives shape the places they live. I love the way Louis L'Amour wove the stories together and kept everything cohesive.

For a change, this book was adapted from a movie--which I haven't seen yet.

I don't really remember what drew me to People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks, other than the cover art was beautiful and the story seemed interesting.  It is historical fiction in a way, following the mid-1990s rediscovery of  an illuminated haggadah in Sarajevo.  A haggadah, I learned, is the book containing the prayers and rituals Jewish families use at the Passover Seder.  This particular haggadah is special because it has illustrations, and dates from the 1400s a time when Jewish people were not illustrating these kinds of books.  Anyway, while that part of the story is true, the rest of it was invented.  The narrative involves a modern manuscript conservator who is consulted about preserving the damaged book.  The story flips back and forth tracing an invented history of the book backwards beginning of course, during the Nazi occupation.  The story is incredibly interesting and entertaining.  I had to check Wikipedia a couple times to sort out the factual parts from the fictional ones.

This has not been made into a movie.

Unfortunately, my lucky streak came to a halt recently.  After finishing People of the Book, I picked up The Hobbit in anticipation of going to see the first movie in December.  I had avoided reading The Hobbit for a long time, and now I know why.  I was so bored that I got to about page 50 when the traveling party was put into sacks by trolls and decided that was as good an ending as any, and put the book down.  I hate quitting a story that way, but I could not muster up the energy to keep going with it.  I'll probably end up seeing the movie anyway.

Findings

I know I haven't posted my normal "ode to September" this year.  It turns out the apple season started early this year, so Nathan has been out at the local orchard on weekends helping out friends of his parents' who own it.  Then, he said his father anticipates starting work to get ready for harvest toward the end of the month.  And that means Nathan will be helping a lot with that as well.  And as much as I know he enjoys pitching in at the orchard and loves harvest, it is hard to have him gone so much.  So, I haven't felt very "pro-September" this year.  Until  today.  Elijah and I went for an afternoon stroll.  We were walking down a north-south street in town when something fell at my feet.

 My very first colored leaf of the season landed right at my feet.  Suddenly, it all hit me.  And I finally feel ready to say, Welcome, September, I've missed you. 

In other news...
Elijah is growing and changing all the time.  He is so close to crawling, and we can tell he really wants to.  He gets on his hands and knees and rocks back and forth, but hasn't quite figured out how to pick his head up at the same time yet.  And he gets very frustrated laying on his tummy and reaching for things.

Today, I was in the kitchen making a bottle; I had left him in the living room sitting in his Boppy and playing with his little letters and shapes farm.  I finished getting the bottle ready and returned to the living room to find this:

I left the tote bag I take to work leaning against the end table and he had twisted around in his Boppy and pulled the bag over.  This is the first time we've caught him going through something he wasn't supposed to.

Finally, I saw this on Pinterest the other day and immediately called Nathan into the room to see it.  I don't know why, but we both laughed the same way at it: that kind of start low and then the more you think about it really start laughing type laugh.  We would so put it on Elijah if we had one.

Have I Told You Lately...

...how much I hate driving, and cars?  Because if I haven't, let me assure you, it hasn't diminished at all.  If anything, it's gotten worse.

Take yesterday and this morning for example.  I got in my car to come home from work last night and the minute the ignition was turned, the car started shuddering, really seriously, shuddering, the whole car.

I sighed, decided it would probably work itself out as I drove, and turned into the dark night time streets.  As I headed out into the country between where I work and where I live, my check engine light, which is usually on, started flashing.  I realized it had been a while since I got my oil changed and decided that was probably the issue.

This morning, I got Elijah fed, napped, and ready to go and we headed up to Dekalb for an oil change and lunch with Nathan.  As we were leaving Wal-Mart, where we got the oil changed, the car was still shuddering, check engine light still flashing.

After lunch with Nathan, he got in so he could drive it and see how it handled and of course, of course, it was perfect.  Grrr...All this does is reinforce my desire to live somewhere with an extensive public transportation system, so that I can forget I ever learned how to drive.

To my car's credit, it is 12 years old and has been driven hard in those years, it used to belong to my grandparents, and they drove it to Texas and back once or twice. It has also been inadvertently beaten up a little bit.

However, when we do have to replace my car, this is what I want:

A candy blue new model Ford Fiesta.  It's roomier than it looks and surprisingly nice.  Not that this will make me want to drive.

7 Quick Takes

one

Everyone in our house: all bipeds, quadrupeds, and face-scooters are mostly back to full health.  I'm healed up quite nicely and my bruises are even starting to fade.  Hyperion is back to himself as well.  He has his last round of medications today.  Thank God! 

two

The week after we got home with Elijah in February, I went to my church's rectory to talk to the priest about having the baby baptized.  I found out that priests individually decide if they want to baptize adopted children when they come home or when the adoption is final.  Father decided he wanted to wait until everything was done and dusted.  I told him that would be in early August and he checked in with me every couple weeks for the next six months.  I was very happy when I got to call the rectory last week, I waited until after the cath, and tell him everything was ready.

I'm even happier to say, Elijah is going to be baptized into the Catholic Church on Sunday, September 23!

three

Tomorrow is shift change at work.  I am effected only a little. I stay on second shift but my weekends change to Tuesday/Wednesday.  Shift bid for next year is right around the corner and thanks to some retirements and relocations, I am a couple rungs farther up the seniority ladder than I was last year.  I will have a little more choice about what I shifts I pick and what weekends I take.  I'm looking forward to it!

four

Am I the only one who gets really excited thinking that in one week it will be September?  I'm almost giddy about it.  I'm feeling that way about all of the next four upcoming months.  It'll  be Elijah's first September, his first Halloween (I can't wait for that!!); his first Thanksgiving, and then Christmas.  Nathan keeps reminding me that he won't remember this Christmas, so I shouldn't go too crazy with presents.  That's going to be difficult.

five

It's no fun living far away from the other babies in your life.  My mom told me my 17 month old nephew has started trying to say 'Elijah.'  When my brother or sister-in-law says to him, "Brian, who's your cousin?" he says, "Eeiyah!"  Too cute.  Miss that little guy.

six

Does anyone have any sippy cup training pointers?  We have two kinds, one with a straw and one with two handles and the sippy nub-like-thing.  I gave him the straw one first and he seemed to do okay with it in the beginning, but then he started chewing on the bottom or using it to just chew on the straw.  The other kind he doesn't get at all, even when put it in his mouth and tip it up.  He just chews on the nub part.  Then he turns the cup upside down and gets himself thoroughly wet.

 seven

 For more 7 Quick Takes visit Conversion Diary.

Ignitum Today

My very good friend Bonnie, who is a wonderful writer and blogs over at Learningtobeanewlywed, also is a regular contributor to Ignitum Today a website which posts articles on religion, family life, political issues, and relationships written by and for young Catholics: the JP2 and B16 generations.  Recently, the editors at the website announced they were going to look for guest contributors and Bonnie mentioned me to the editors.  She wanted me to write about our adoption story.  And I did.  It was neat to be writing for someone else to publish again.  But, I will admit, especially now, I work much better when I have deadlines.

Click here to read my contribution.

What a week

This last week and a half, starting on Monday 8/13, has been kind of a rough one for just about every member of our little family, including the four-legged variety.

Hyperion
On Saturday we noticed Hyperion wasn't feeling too well.  He tried to go to the litter box, then came out and laid under the end table yowling loudly.  He's done this before and it usually passes after an hour or so.  This time, not so much.  I looked up the name and information of an emergency vet in our area and then I had to go to work.  Nathan felt that if we watched Hyperion on Saturday and he wasn't better the next day, we could take him to the vet. 

I wasn't at work an hour when a co-worker told me Nathan was on the phone.  He was at the e-vet in Aurora with Hyperion (having dropped Elijah off at his parents' house).  He told me he had watched Hyperion try to use the litter box again, and the poor little guy fell over.  We found out Hyperion had a blocked urinary system, which apparently is common in male cats.  Unfortunately, the sure-fire fix cost much more than we were comfortable spending on the cat.  Instead, they catheterized him and sent Nathan home with a bunch of medications for this week including an IV bag for subcutaneous fluid injections.

It's been kind of dicey on whether or not we thought he was going to make it through the week. On Monday night, Nathan even made the comment "If he makes it to tomorrow..."  But today he seems much better.  He's been walking around with his tail up and eating and even got into a little trouble.


Hecate
One of the only family members having a good week is Hecate.  Hyperion's illness means we've been leaving canned food out for him to try to get some fluid into him.  They have also been accessible to her.  Also, we felt bad that we've been keeping them closed downstairs for the summer so we could keep the nursery door open.  So on Saturday night, we closed the nursery door and opened the stair door.  She has been enjoying the opportunity to sleep on our bed again.


Me
Last Monday Nathan and I woke up bright and early and drove down to Chicago.  Unfortunately, we were not going there to enjoy ourselves.  I was scheduled to have a cardiac catheterization.   Basically, the doctors make small incisions in the femoral artery and slip a tube in and run it up to the heart so they can watch the blood flow around and measure pressures and things.  I've had this procedure many, many times before and it is probably my least favorite.

To make it worse, everyone at the hospital seemed confused about what kind of cath I was having.  They kept saying "right heart cath" but all my paperwork said "bilateral," meaning they were going in on both sides and not just the right.  After the procedure I had to stay flat for six hours so I didn't rupture the closures over the incision sites.


We got home around 9 pm Monday night.  Thankfully Tuesday my mother and in-laws were all free.  I was so sick I had to spend the whole day in bed.  And someone had to look after Elijah.  Poor Elijah, I was not allowed to pick him up for three days after the procedure.  It was fine on Tuesday, because the grandparents were there.  Wednesday and Thursday were not so fun...


Elijah
Really, he was kind of a lucky little guy because he got to spend a lot of time with his grandparents.  My dad and mom watched him while we were in Chicago, and then of course he had everyone's attention on Tuesday.  Wednesday I took the day off work, and since wasn't allowed to carry him around we spent the whole day playing on the floor in the nursery.  Eventually, he got very bored.  Thursday he was having teething pain from his second tooth.  All he wants when his gums hurt is for Mama to hold him and walk around, but of course, I couldn't do that.  It was the most heart-breaking thing ever to stand up and have him reach up his little arms, screaming to be picked up and cuddled, and know I couldn't do it.  Friday, and every day since then have been better.

Nathan
Probably the busiest of all of us has been Nathan.  First he had to sit with me in that boring cath lab waiting/recovery room, then he had to take care of me.  Then he was the one home when Hyperion got sick.  On Monday he had to come home at lunch and help me give Hyperion his medications, because medicating a cat is not easy.

Hopefully this coming week will be easier/less stressful/healthier.
 

Special Delivery

Yesterday, when I got home from work I checked the mail.  One of the envelopes I pulled out of the mailbox contained an important packet of paper.  The last line on the last page went something like this:

"It is ordered  that the child's name be, and is hereby changed to 'Elijah Nathan Rice.'"  The adoption is final!

(Before this we had to use Birthmother's last name for him.)