Papa was a rollin' stone...

And, as it turns out, so are my kidneys.

On Monday morning i was minding my own business, playing with Reese on the floor when i was struck by the wrath of what turned out to be kidney stones.

It came on SO quickly i didn't even know what was happening. First my back hurt, then it started shooting into the lower right portion of my stomach. HOLY MOTHER OF GOD. The pain was ridunkulous. Seriously.

I said to Nate "Ugh - my back really, really hurts." He just kinda looked at me like "Yeah - what do you want me to do?!?" In his defense, i didn't want to make a big deal out of it, since i didn't know what was going on. Then, while he ran to the restroom to brush his teeth, Reese started whining and reaching for me so i went to pick her up. I literally was hunched over carrying her down the hall to Nate - and once i handed her off I feel right to my knees. At that point i said "call an ambulance!' which is crazy to me because never, have i ever, taken a ride in an ambulance or (thankfully) felt that i was in enough pain/danger to need to. But this, oh yes, this was different.

In the meantime Nate called John who drove right over and ended up taking me to the ER. It's right around the corner from our house so he got me there way faster then the ambulance would have. Of course this also had to be the morning where Reese had another doctors appointment since she had yet another ear infection.

Fast forward to the first round of pain meds that didn't do a damn thing, then the morphine (ahhh), then the cat scan, xray and blood work. 8 hours later, and convincing them to not make me stay overnight, and i was on my way home.

And that's where I've been ever since, straining my urine, waiting to catch my pet rock.

Reese is nursing her second ear infection in two weeks, but thankfully the meds seem to be helping so far.

So, in a nutshell, it's been a great week at the Albano household...and it's only Wednesday. Ahhh...how i only hope the rest of the week can be just as exciting.

And have i mentioned that I'm over this whole work gig? Shame on me - since the unemployment rate is currently at it's highest in years. But it's not about that - it's about wanting to be home with my daughter. The daughter who now claps her hands after she does anything at all. And guess who taught her that? Kathi. Not me. Kathi.

Sucks.

It was bound to happen

Well, for the first time in her 6 1/2 months of life Reese is sick. The poor thing has had a runny nose for about 10 days now. Why the hell didn't i bring her to the doctor sooner, you might ask? The answer - I don't know!

Every day she woke up with it running like the dickens, but by mid day it would stop and just form that delicious crust around her nose. Aside from that she didn't seem too bothered by anything. The one thing that definitely changed was her nap routine - or her lack there of. She was barely sleeping during the day but i chalked it up to that infamous "6 month phase" that the doctor, and everyone else I've talked to, has mentioned.

BUT, in my defense, each day that the runny nose continued to rear its ugly head and her napping continued to disappear more and more, i kept saying "something just isn't right." Finally, this morning, i called Kathi while Nate was on his way to drop her off and told her that i wanted to take her to the doctor today since whatever she seemed to be fighting wouldn't leave her alone. When i went to pick her up Kathi told me that she had no interest in even eating which just reinforced my decision to take her in.

We arrived about 10 minutes late (anyone who knows me is aware that i HATE to be late) - and they called us right in. Of course the one time we weren't surrounded by sick, sneezing, coughing little varmints there wasn't a wait. Anyway...i striped her down to her diaper and in came the doctor. She listened to her chest, back and then looked into her ears and bingo! An ear infection.

SO...i guess that cute little move she's been doing lately where she shrugs her right shoulder against her ear isn't a new skill. It was more of a message: "Hey you dumb biatch! My ear hurts!"

Oh well. Now i know the signs.

Now she's on antibiotics for 10 days, is getting nose drops so she can breath and eat at the same time, and I'm running the humidifier at night. Hopefully after 24 hours or so she'll feel much better and start to fall into some kind of nap schedule again.

I guess this Mom gig takes continuous practice.