A tale of two liters...

(Here's a picture from holding Flara yesterday... she was in a daze from her cuddle time!)

Today. Where do I begin?

I survived my 6 week postpartum checkup today. =) So glad it's over. I was glad to go home and see Mike for 5 minutes before he left for work. He didn't get to go with me to the appointment because he had to appear in court. So, I hurried home to say 'hi' and 'bye.' I also needed to feed the very hungry Noël and myself. While feeding Noël, I made a monster pot of soup for myself... wild rice & mushroom with chicken. As I finished getting Noël out of her chair when she was done, I grabbed a new 2L of coke and poured myself a glass. Because it was brand new, it fizzed up on the ice. So, I set the 2L on the counter and waited for the fizz to settle to top off my glass. While waiting, I proceeded to grab some of the groceries still sitting on the floor from my WalMart run last night. As I reached up into the cabinet to put away some gluten free pasta, I felt a strange pull on my beloved bathrobe... followed by a 'fzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz' sound... although much longer.

Confused, I stood not moving. My hand was still half-way reaching as I listened in horror and tried to understand the sound I was hearing, as well as try to understand why my face was dripping wet. So, too, was my hair. I slowly turned my head to see the culprit... my beloved bathrobe had become ensnared in the grips of the new opened 2L of coke, sending it off the counter. It hit the ground and became a fizzing, spinning coke bomb. My senses were thrown, so it took me a few seconds to process what was happening and stop the bomb. It kept spinning, spewing fizzy pop EVERYWHERE. I grabbed it and stopped the hosing. Basically, the entire bottle was gone!

I slowly turned around my kitchen and surveyed the damages. Literally every single cabinet was hosed and dripping from ceiling to floor, the fridge was dripping, my counters were dripping... I opened the cabinets, including the one I had just cleaned out due to the unattached drain... pop standing in there, too. Coke was in everything, on everything, and I had one major spray of pop from the top of my head, down my robe, on my just-washed jeans, and soaked through my socks. My floors... pretty much a pool of pop. My rugs. Soaked. It even sprayed out of the kitchen and all over my carpets. I let out a big sigh and wanted to sit down in the mess and cry.

Just as I was thinking I needed to cry, I realized my little Noël was excitedly rounding the corner. I had to snap out of my pity party and react. I ran and grabbed towels, I grabbed a mop, heck, I even threw down my bathrobe to soak up the mess. Noël appeared and was pleased. =) She splashed around in the mess. I began soaking pop as quickly as I could and then carried my dripping towels to the wash...

And, there it was... in the midst of the 'explosion' of pop, my poor epileptic dog peed himself. Great. I had a big ole puddle of pee in the hallway, as well as a trail where he ran scared away into the living room, followed by another squirt. Ahhh... so thrilled. I cleaned that up, booted the dog out the door, proceeded back to the kitchen and commenced to clean again.

The aftermath: three good hours of cleaning. Noël? Waaay late on her nap. I realized as I was getting her ready that her beloved 'bubbles' blankie was sopping wet, too. Rats. I tried to sneak Bubbles to the laundry. I was caught. Noël proceeded to produce massive tears and wail. I couldn't console the poor girl. She went to her room and cried more. I tried loving on her again. No, she didn't want Mommy. Defeated, I told her she just had to take her nap sans Bubbles. I gave her an alternative. That didn't work. She wailed and wailed, very forlornly, from her crib. Poor girl. It really broke my heart. Eventually, she fell asleep.

I returned to the kitchen. Brain triggered... soup on the stove. Double rats. In the chaos of the mess and bubbles and dog pee, I forgot my pot of soup. I burned the bottom. I did my best to scrape out the burns, then poured myself a bowl. Three hours late for lunch... oh, well.

My next thought was, 'why is my life such a joke sometimes?' Really, I feel like the butt of a really bad joke. I know it's not true, but, I swear, I could write a book on the antics of my daily life! At least it's all settled. For now.

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Flara news (because we all need a little positive!):

Flara had a rage of fury night before last and ripped off her nasal-SIMV mask, tape, and all of her feeding tubes. She was over it! Just as they were beginning to replace it, her nurse asked if she could just leave it off and try her on high flow oxygen. They did, and so far, she's still making it! She was at 4 liters of flow first, and is now on 3 liters. We are so thrilled! When I walked into her room the morning after it happened, I saw a fuzzy little head of hair... I quickly wheeled around because I thought I was in the wrong place. Nope! That was my little girl! We praise God that she's progressing!

She also had a good report with her head ultrasound. Her head bleed was now called a 'diminishing clot.' We are so thrilled to hear that it's beginning to go away.

Flara also had a repeat on her eyes. She is still without disease, and the doctor was able to say that she also does not have cataracts.

One area to really pray for is her head growth. On the charts, she is lagging in her growth. However, she has had a hat to hold her oxygen source on her head for a month now. Where her head was a perfect round little head at first, it now looks more like it has grown upwards rather than outwards. Although the nutritionist mentioned concern, her primary nurse and I aren't too worried. We'll just keep praying, though.

Noël has just began talking in her room, so I need to go rescue my little girl before she gets too upset. Thank goodness she did take a nap.

Oh, and one last thing... Flara is 33 weeks today, and Noël is 21 months today. =)