Often times I don’t even think to type even the randomest of blurbs here.
March 16th was Slayton’s eighth birthday. On the day before we convinced him that we had a fun day planned for him…of furniture shopping. For a couple weeks before hand, we got him all riled up, telling him all about the entertainment centers and end tables we wished to purchase.
Needless to say he was getting quite upset.
So on the 15th we all piled in the car. The boys brought their Game Boys. Kept their attention away from possible spoilers.
Finally, two hours later, pulled into the parking lot of FunSpot. He didn’t even notice. When he did, he couldn’t stop jumping up and down.
Joining us was our good friends, the Picards, and Slayton’s best friend Quentin. They played a lot of Skee-Ball and gave all the tickets to Slayton.
Ξ November 22nd, 2007 | → 0 Comments | ∇ Family |
Excellent write-up. Going to try this today.
NY Times Link
It’s 6:41am, and we’re getting Slayton ready for his first Cub Scout outing. A Chuck Wagon Derby, held in Jacksonville, VT.
He hasn’t even had a pack/den meeting yet. So today @ 6:00am we put him in his uniform for the first time.
As you can see from this picture, he’s lost yet another front tooth. This one came out at school.
Apologies for the lack of updates. The site has been down since September. The server that hosts it was hacked and had to be rebuilt.
I still continue to feel generally miserable, though I have periods of time where I feel good. I had a period of five minutes - five whole minutes! - about a week ago where I actually felt 100%. It came on suddenly, and just as I realized “hey, I actually feel good right now!” the good feeling started sliding backwards.
Frankly, I just want to know what the pain in my upper left abdomen is. I had it before taking the Cipro, and I’ve got it now. I’ve seen a gastro doc, who performed some tests (that I won’t get into) who couldn’t find anything wrong.
Ξ September 3rd, 2007 | → Comments Off | ∇ Family |
Ξ July 26th, 2007 | → Comments Off | ∇ Family |
Ten minutes ago, Slayton finally had me pull out his loose upper tooth. It’s been loose for over a month.
Tonight we were eating corn-on-the-cob and he was having such a hard time with it. Sarah and I convinced him to just get it over with.
Pictures forthcoming.
For nearly two months now I’ve been plagued with a variety of health issues, with little to no relief. I’ve seen a couple doctors now, and so far nothing seems to have come from it.
I started having this dull ache in my left side, under the rib cage. Went to my GP, she ordered a chest xray, saw nothing, told me it would likely pass.
Week goes by, now I’m having what I can only describe is a ‘cramping’ sensation in the same area. Go back to the Dr, she says it’s likely musculo-skeletal, and to take Aleve, it’ll likely pass on it’s own.
About another week passes, and during that time I start having a pain in my back, ribcage level, on the left. Heavyness in my pelvis. Peeing all the time. My Dr is on vacation, hey…time for a second opinion. He diagnoses ‘prostatitis’ puts me on antibiotics (Doxycycline).
It seems to be working - kinda - on my pelvis discomfort, but the pain in my back is getting worse. Plus the medication is having some really screwy side-effects. I’m having chest pains, and I’m massively photosensitive. I see the ER doctor, he says I’m having a reaction to the antibiotic (well, duh) and gives me a new one, Cipro. Doesn’t answer the questions about my back, and sends me on my way.
Been on this new stuff for nearly a week now, and though I’m no longer photosensitive and having chest pains, the heavy pelvis sensation returned with a vengeance a couple days ago. The back pain seems to be subsiding a bit, but now I have an itch under my arm that I can’t scratch, that wraps around to my back ribcage.
And the cramping sensation, which never completely went away, came back with a vengeance a couple days ago. It comes and goes, but when it’s there it’s a fairly disturbing feeling. It’s like eating a meal and going for a run and getting cramps, without running.
I’m really worried about this “cramping” sensation. Doctors don’t seem to be worried, but they don’t have to LIVE in my body, do they?
As such, I’ve been horribly depressed. I don’t WANT to be. But I can’t help thinking that it’s something very bad.
I’ve started a new forum on this site. It’s for things and places that I’ve had interest in over the years.
This is the direct link: http://www.pealefamily.net/forum
Ξ March 16th, 2007 | → Comments Off | ∇ Family, Website |
Downloaded this new theme. Hated the old one. What does everyone think?
Remarkably it was his front lower instead of his front upper.
It’s been loose for days. Convinced him last night to do the string-around-the-tooth yank it out thing.
Thought it would pop right out…nope…did loosen it right up, though. Wouldn’t let me touch it after that.
This morning he wanted to try again. Tied the string around the root this time (since it was accessible). I said “you really want me to do this?” and I could see by the look on his face he was having second thoughts, and was about to back away, so before he could think about it I pulled it out.
He didn’t feel a thing. Tooth went flying. Then when the realization hit him what happened the tears started flowing. He got over it about ten seconds later when I handed him his tooth.
The other night we bought ice cream for desert, along with cones as a special treat.
Turn to Slayton and say “If you finish your dinner you can have an ice cream cone afterwards.”
His eyes get big as saucers. “Really? Can I have ice cream in it?”
I admit, it’s just his name, but for a three and a half year old with disabilities, I am seriously impressed.
Came home today, Sarah has the Magna-Doodle. She says “you’ll never believe what your son did today, by himself, with no help.” she turns it around so I can see the face, and sure enough, there’s his name in black and white!
I actually have a picture of it, but I can’t find the cable that goes to the camera for some reason, so I’ll have to post it later.
So day before yesterday I’m leaving for work. I get to the end of the road and my cell phone rings. It’s home! I figure I forgot something.
Sarah’s on the other end, she says “come back home, we have to go to the hospital!” I don’t ask questions, I figure she knows if we need to go to the hospital or not.
I bound up the stairs, hearing Riley screaming. Open the door to see a bloody mouth. Sarah quickly explains that Riley was trying to get between her and the couch, somehow fell, and put his teeth right through his lower lip.
One trip to the ER later, he’s got two stitches holding it together. He screamed the whole time, as he remembered when he had to get blood drawn. He didn’t thrash, though. He pretty much held still.
I will lash you with a wet noodle!
Kiki’s first jaunt into spaghetti.
Snow today. Woke up to find 8″ on the ground. Knew we were getting snow, but expected 4″-6″ and still coming down heavy.
Called work, told them I would play it by ear as to when I might - or might not - be coming in. They’re only 11 miles away as the crow flies, but said they only had three inches (lucky basts).
When I went out about noon to shovel the walk, sidewalk, path to the car down the driveway and the cars, there was total accumulation of ~14″. Pictures of that to come later. Should have taken pictures of the buried cars, but didn’t.
Guys at work called to harass me about 12:30 or so, apparently bored. I was still shovelling when they did, so Sarah shouted their messages to me.
Plow *finally* showed up at 3:00PM and cleared the driveway. Tried to get him to clear everything by moving the cars, but he was just interested in a path to get the cars out. Said a truck would be back later to ‘tidy up’. It’s 7:30PM and I haven’t seen anyone yet. Maybe tomorrow?
Around six took a jaunt to the store and picked up some much needed food. A family of five eats too dogonne much! And they’re still tiny, it’s going to be a nightmare when they’re older.
Got a great deal on chicken breast, so I made chicken parmesean (one of my specialties). Sarah gave Keeks some spaghetti, and you can see the results above.
You ever spill an entire gallon of paint onto your floor?
No?
I’m one up on you, then.
Ξ September 26th, 2005 | → 0 Comments | ∇ Family |
Just before the birth of our second son Riley, Sarah went thru a nesting phase in which she wanted something to take care of. Enter Spike, a parakeet she thought would fill the niche.
Spike was full of personality. Where most birds would shy away from people, he’d get right up close and try and nip your fingers if you weren’t careful.
You’ll also note I’m speaking of Spike in the past tense. Saturday night/Sunday morning, about 1am, Riley wakes up crying (as he often does). Sarah gets up to check on him, then wakes me a few minutes later. “I think there’s something wrong with Spike,” she begins.
“Why would you think that? It’s the middle of the night.”
“Because I have him here in my hand,” she retorts.
Sure enough, he’s sitting quite calmly in her palm, not nipping at her fingers like he normally does, just…sitting there.
Riley comes over to see, and I think that freaked him out a bit. He flew up, and smacked right into a wall.
Then of course the cats decide to see what’s flying around the house, so they rush in. I’m just trying to achive as much damage control as I can, so he doesn’t get hurt.
He flys up again, this time into Kira’s room. He lands on the floor - but on his side. I pick him up. He trembled a bit, and died in my hand.
Slayton and I buried him in the morning. I didn’t think that Riley really knew what was going on, but I’ve got to give the kid more credit, he knew darn well. For the rest of the day, he would go up to Spike’s cage, look in and say ‘bye bye, birdie’ (in Riley-ese, of course).
No one is happy about this (understandably). Parakeets are supposed to live upwards of 15 years. We’d had him for just over three, and he was a baby when we got him. What could we have done differently? Why *did* he die?
Ξ September 11th, 2005 | → 0 Comments | ∇ Family |
Kiki has had a mildly deformed ear since she was born. Pretty much the top of her ear was kind of tucked into the skin behind it.
We didn’t want her going thru life with it like that, so we made an appointment for the 13th to consult with a plastic surgeon on getting it fixed.
Yesterday I was looking at it and thought “I wonder if I can just fold the skin back where it belongs…” and did so. Viola! Her ear is fixed. The true test was seeing if it would hold, and so far, thirty-six hours later it’s remained in place. Time to cancel that appointment!
So we’re out of milk, so I run to the store to get more.
On the way is Staples, and I dumpster dive there regularly to see if they’ve tossed anything nifty.
As I’m driving away, I see a big dirt lump. As I pass it, my brain is still processing the image. Then I realize how much the lump looks like a turtle.
Hit the reverse, and sure enough, looks a lot like a turtle! On closer inspection, it’s a huge freaking snapping turtle!
It’s about a mile from the river, so it must have crawled all that way. It had dug into the dirt trying to cover itself up. It’s really dehydrated, and had some leeches on it (which I pulled off).
The kids, wife and I set him back in the river.
It’s been a fun day all around for the family. Started off with releasing the turtle after a nice breakfast, then we went for a little drive. Earlier in the week we’d tried geocaching, but couldn’t find it. So I checked the site out again for some clues to where it was. We had to do some hiking in the woods, but we found it!
It’s too bad…we got really close when my wife spilled the beans: she’d left the keys in the car, and her purse on the front seat! I was like “you always lock the car when you walk twenty feet from it, why didn’t you do that now?” She was like “well, I didn’t think we were walking that far!”
She walked back, I took the boys the rest of the way (which turned out to be a whopping 100 feet away!).
I’m posting some pictures in the gallery. Check them out!
So the family decided to go to Memorial Park yesterday because the weather has been so nice. Nicer than the previous week anyway - it’s been raining for nearly six days straight.
So Slayton’s torturing some girls on the swings, and Riley’s being picked up by some six year old that is trying to lift him up to the monkey bars (I had to step in and intervene on that one). Meanwhile, Sarah is walking around, and I’m sitting on a bench with Kira.
Suddenly I smelled it: cigarette smoke. I look behind me, and about six feet from me some old guy had come to the park and lit up.
Scenarios fill my mind. In my favourite I walk up to him and say “congratulations!” and of course he says, “for what?” and I say “YOU’RE THE BASTARD THAT LET MY LITTLE GIRL BREATHE HER FIRST SECONDHAND SMOKE, YOU ASSHOLE!” and choke him unto his death.
Of course these are all just flights of mind-fancy. I merely give the guy a dirty look, snuggle Kira a little closer, and take her to the other side of the park, where the trees and shade are, blissfully free of smoke.
Ξ May 8th, 2005 | → Comments Off | ∇ Family |
I just changed my first Kira diaper. I think I have an idea where the writers for The X-Files got their ideas about the black oil aliens.
Last night, at 9:22am, Kira Helen Peale joined our family. Weighing in @ 8lbs, 8oz, and 19-ish inches long.
I’m attempting to get the gallery to accept new pictures, but I’m not having much luck there. Keep checking back, I’ll get it eventually.
Edit: here’s a picture!
Edit: gallery appears to be working again! Thanks, Dave!
It all started Tuesday AM. Riley woke us up as he usually did, crying. As usual, our exasperation at being woken up that way didn’t leave us in a good mood. He climbed into bed with us, and promptly vomited everywhere. Joy!
Since we weren’t going to be getting any sleep, Riley went in the shower, and we stripped down the bed. He seemed much better after, although not ‘right.’
Late that evening, Slayton said he wasn’t feeling well, and sure enough, Wednesday early AM (say…1AM) he got up crying, ran to the bathroom…you guessed it…upchuck.
He was the worst of the bunch. Every half hour or so he would yawn again, but since his stomach was emtpy, it was nothing but dry-heave. Poor kid, it was really tragic. Riley was still jetting stomach contents, but not at the rate Sly was. Thank goodness, Sarah decided to take the day off and help clean up after the kids with me.
About ten that night, I started feeling that tell-tale rumble in my gut too. So I knew I’d be waking up to something rather…unpleasant. Sure enough, 5AM came, and I ran for the bathroom. Didn’t *puke*, though. Sarah took off another day, and I spent the day in bed, just laying there, doing my dogonned-est not to follow in my son’s pukesteps. I didn’t want to end up like Sly, dry heaving every half hour.
About ten that night, I was doing much better. And almost exactly that time, Sarah said “looks like I’ll be taking another day off from work tomorrow…” Come 2AM, she was bowing before the porcelian god herself. Being pregnant, and in a rather delicate position, she called the doc the next morning. He ordered her right to the ER for an IV.
Thank goodness…by Saturday, everyone was feeling at least 89% better. And I didn’t hurl, miracle of miracles!
Ξ February 12th, 2005 | → 0 Comments | ∇ Family |
Took the kids sledding today, first time for both. Sad when you take into account that we’ve always lived in Vermont, and Slayton is almost FIVE.
We went to Memorial Park, which has a decent sized hill. The snow was well packed, which made the sledding excellent. The bottom of the hill, however, was glare ice.
Took Sly up about 3/4 up the hill. He got in the front, I got in the back. Problem was that the sled was really only built for one. We got about five feet before I tumbled out. Sly went down the hill at breakneck speed. Since there wasn’t anything at the bottom, I wasn’t worried about him hitting anything, but I was worried about him losing balance and cratering into the snow. I was shouting to him, “hold on tight, buddy!”
He doesn’t crater; instead he ends up at the bottom of the hill in one piece. Then the crying starts. I guess the trip down scared him.
Riley? He’s about halfway up the hill. We weren’t watching, he grabs the sled on the next trip, and goes down the hill on his belly. He does take a dive, and splits his lip a little, but guess what? He’s laughing. He grabs the sled and starts heading up the hill again.
Sly goes again, but this time from only a little ways up the hill.
Ry goes again, and when he hits the bottom he starts screaming. It’s only when I get there that I realize he’s not screaming because he’s hurt or scared - he’s screaming because the sled stopped moving! As soon as I start pushing it, he’s laughing again.
Because of the amount of ice (and the fact that Sarah is seven months pregnant) we decided to call it a day. Picked up Ry and he starts screaming again. He’s holding his arms out to another sled he saw on the ground.
Physically they’re so different. Riley is always the adventurous one, climbing, rough-and-tumble. Very coordinated. Slayton? Trips on flat surfaces. Rough and tumble, but if things don’t go his way he cries.
It’ll be interesting watching them grow up, to be sure.
Ξ November 25th, 2004 | → 0 Comments | ∇ Family |
Happy Thanksgiving! Or what’s left of it, anyway…
Children were unusually hyperactive today. Probably excited to have Mom home all day.
One of the kids left a blanket in the living room, on the floor. I picked it up, and there was a mouse underneath! It ran over my leg. I jumped about six feet in the air. I’m not afraid of mice, just getting bit by one of the little beasties. It’s the second one I’ve seen in six months. Why aren’t the cats doing their jobs?
Sarah hasn’t been feeling well. A couple days ago she had to have blood drawn, and since her veins are very deep and small, it’s always a chore. They had to put on a blood pressure cuff, cut off her circulation completely, and draw the blood that way. Since then, she’s complained of a burning sensation in her arm (which passed) and every time she bends her arm at the elbow, there’s a slight ‘popping’ sensation in her forearm, a few inches from where she had the blood drawn. Coincidentally, where the burning sensation was.
Dinner was pleasant: turkey breast, mashed potatoes & gravy, candied carrots, stuffing. For dessert: pumpkin roll (which was *excellent*) or peanut butter cream pie. I had a little of both. 
Tomorrow is Black Friday, one of the biggest shopping days of the year. I’ll be getting up @ 5:30am to get to Wal-Mart, where they’re having some DVDs on sale @ $3.88 each. The titles shown in the flyer look promising.
Ξ September 22nd, 2004 | → 0 Comments | ∇ Family |
Have been receiving calls from the “Dove Foundation.” Read this site for some rather unpleasant experiences, like mine.
http://www.familyfirst.com/archives/006153.html
Ξ September 11th, 2004 | → 0 Comments | ∇ Family |
The month of August has been a very busy one. We’re now in September, and it’s getting a *little* easier, but not by much.
Near the end of August, Sarah and I were suprised that we were going to be a family of FIVE. That’s right, we’re having another baby. May I just say, we do not recommend the patch as a method of birth control. The baby is due somewhere around May third. Still thinking of names. Kyra for a girl, and Connor for a boy? Time will tell.
Since we had absolutely no plans to have any more children, we either sold or gave away all out baby items. So we’ve been scouring all kinds of sources, from eBay to yard sales, trying to do this on the cheap.
Me? I’m hoping for a boy, if only to pass down the massive amount of clothes we already have from two boys. A girl would be nice too, since we already have two boys. I’ll just be happy if (s)he’s healthy.
Sarah took the last week off for vacation. Her idea was to switch the boys room for ours. Ours is/was a pretty large bedroom, and now it’s barely big enough to fit the bed and two bureaus in, with a bit of walking room around. Makes sense, though, that when the kid comes three in that tiny room would be extra cramped.
Who knows…maybe we’ll win the lottery, and be able to afford a house and each of them could have their *own* room. Of course, you have to play to win…
We’ve discussed selling the children many times. This week the eldest came pretty darn close to being given to the Gypsies.
My youngest has a problem keeping his clothes on. One second he’s fully clothed, turn your back and he’ll be out of them in no time flat. Consequently when he does this he pees on the carpet. Luckily he doesn’t do that very often.
So rewind a week; there is a wet spot on the carpet in their room. I sniff it to make sure it’s pee (there’s a fishtank in their room too, I wanted to make sure it hadn’t sprung a leak) put a towel on it, and clean it as best as I can.
The spot *never* dried. In fact, it started getting wetter. I couldn’t explain it, especially since the youngest was dressed all week. I kept checking the fishtank.
So on Friday my wife calls me on the phone, and as we’re talking I walk into the next room. There’s my eldest son, pants down, willie out, PEEING ON MY LIVING ROOM CARPET.
Then he tried to blame it on his brother.
So yesterday we went to the store and bought a carpet cleaner. It’s a middle of the line, and does a good job. We were going to rent, but justified the purchase like this: if we use it just five times, it’s paid for itself ($20 a pop to rent x 5)
We’re baffled; what would make him do something like that? We suspect it’s because his brother does it, and he sees that we don’t punish him (he’s only 20 months old) and thinks he can get away with it.
Ξ April 15th, 2004 | → Comments Off | ∇ Family |
I just realized that this software automatically puts smileys in posts that I make!
So, if something pleases me: 
If something displeases me: 
If I want to be sly about something:
If something disgusts me: 
(this one I just installed)
Ξ February 13th, 2004 | → 0 Comments | ∇ Family |
Last night was interesting. Kids are chasing each other around, and we keep telling them to knock it off.
Suddenly, from their room we hear *whack* followed by Riley’s crying. Then Slayton saying “Riley’s bleeding!” I went in, expecting to find a scratch or something, only to find him bleeding all over Slayton’s bed!
Aparently, Riley fell and smacked his head on the corner of a small bookshelf by Slayton’s bed. It has a pretty sharp corner. It’s fairly recessed, so we didn’t think anyone would be falling on it. Well, I guess when you consider a bed a trampoline…
We take Riley to the bathroom to get him cleaned up and do a damage accessment. Slayton is crying, saying “Oh, no, oh no! I love him! I love my brother so much!” We tell him Riley is going to be okay, and he calms down.
Riley is still crying up until we take a wet washcloth and wipe away the blood. He grabs it and starts wiping his own head. It was kind of funny, yet tragic. His bleeding stopped very shortly after that. I’m glad kids heal quickly!
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