Sunday, February 13, 2011

Day 170

Thursday February 3, 2011



Nina had a hard night again. Tossing and turning. Nothing was comfortable. Although Teddy seemed to have slept well, he looked fatigued. He did however, smile when I woke him up by calling him "Love bug" and crawling right up next to him for some cuddling. We cuddled for a few minutes before I turned on Suite Life of Zac and Cody on his computer. "Oh ya, good idea mom." I propped him up on his pillows and took his order for breakfast....cinnamon-sugar toast with milk. As silly as it sounds, bringing Teddy breakfast in bed is just my simple way of trying to bring some lightness to his life, now more than ever.

Teddy has always been our puppy and cuddler whereas Nina our cat and short-term cuddler. If Teddy had his way, he'd live in our room and spend all day cuddling. Over this journey, his capacity to love has exploded and that is no more apparent than his affection toward me. On the way to his classroom, he reached for my hand and held it all the way to the hallway right before his room. The only reason he let go was because his buddy Will came pouncing on him. I am so thankful for Teddy's enormous capacity for love. I pray ceaselessly that God protect his sweet gentle spirit.

When I returned home, all three of the girls were there, Larisa, Sharon, and Crystal. Their support has been boundless and I could not have managed without their tender care. Unfortunately, Nina was not having it. She was extremely irritable. She was annoyed that we were talking, that Pink Panther was no too low, that I wasn't sitting close enough. Then she started yelling for the girls to leave, "When are they going to leave?" "Go!!" I tried to get her to be calm but not such luck so the girls left.

The morning was super hard. It was practically impossible to motivate her to get out of bed. Not even the prospect of taking Molly for a walk was motivating. I decided to try giving her a bath. I know my mood changes when I take a long hot shower. She agreed (phew!) and I turned on some gentle music, "Turn it off!!!" Oh well!! As I got her into the tub, I reminded her of the time she sang Rhianna's song "Oh nah-nah what's my name..." while looking at her beautiful bodacious self in the mirror. This made Nina laugh so hard that she tooted in the tub, causing us both to laugh hysterically!!!!!!! Oh the silly simple things in life that make us laugh :)

The bath did do the trick. She enjoyed me pouring the warm water over her shoulders and then giving her a massage once she was towel-dried. Her body has to be aching madly from laying down all the time. Nina was the most active little girl, on par and then some with Teddy, and now she was shackled to a bed. As I rubbed the small of her back she said, "I like that mama!" My precious angel!!!

After our spa treatment, I asked her what she wanted to do and she declared it a Costco Sample Day! Perfect! We dressed Molly in her heart dress (this cracked up Nina!) and went to Costco for some yummy samples. Nina especially loved the chips and salsa. She got seconds and thirds :) When we returned to the car, Nina asked for a hamburger for lunch. Initially she had wanted to stroll over to Kahuna Grill, which is in the Costco shopping center but Thursdays are early dismissal days for Teddy so we didn't have time for a sit down meal. Luckily, she agreed to In-and-Out. Their vanilla shakes always does it for her :)

Teddy was stoked at the delicious smells that welcomed him into the car, "Oh ya, I was starving!" I told him it was Nina's idea and he thanked her profusely! Nina was very nonchalant about his excitement, probably because she was thoroughly enjoying her fries!!!

When we returned home, Teddy took his burger, fries and shake upstairs for some video game time. He has been doing such a good job with his homework that he earned it with plenty of points left to spare. Nina did some art work with me downstairs. This time when I turned on some gentle music (the Tinkerbell soundtrack) she didn't yell at me. Phew!!!

Around 5:45 I left for downtown SB to meet Lynn Koegel, her friend Mer, and a number of graduate students from UCSB for cocktails at Coast Restaurant. Unfortunately, as I was pulling into my parking spot I literally glided up against the parked car next to me!!!!! AGHHH!!!! I totally put a tiny crack into the other person's tail light and slightly dented their bumper. Lucky for me, the poor girl who owned the car walked up shortly there after so I didn't have to spend much time writing a note. My van was now graced with a nice wavy dent on the passenger door. As if my van wasn't ghetto enough!!! At least it was on the side with the tire with no hub cap :) There is always a bright side to things in life.....sometimes you just have to search might hard.

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