I’ve been postponing to write about diaper’s issue because I did once and things didn’t worked out.

I can tell now that for 3 weeks, Catherine is not using night diaper. I tried last year but it didn’t work out because she continued to wet the diaper at least 2 or 3 times a week. I didn’t worry at all. Dani wore night diaper until the age of 4 so I was just waiting for her timing (she’ll be 4 this month).

Three weeks ago, due the suspicion of a urinary infection that fortunately was false alarm, I decided to give it a try and no more night diapers.

During the first week, at about 1am, I used to take her to the bathroom to pee but than I stopped doing that and in three weeks, I can say, we had no wet bed.

I guess this is it…no more diapers in the house, well…only baby dolls are allowed to wear them.

Dani, was always a very “undefined” boy regarding his choices specially Sport ones.

He quited Judo, quited Kempo and until yesterday he was only attending swimming classes with school. I think he gets tired of sports, not because he wants to be still or quiet but he loses interest in the sport itself.

He plays a lot, runs a lots, he’s never still, so I guess that’s also a sport…Sometimes I feel I should insist more with him to join a team, but I also think he must practice what he likes not just because I want him to. Sports are good…even better if we like them.

For a few years he has been talking about joining a soccer team. Several friends and classmates attend soccer classes but I always avoided that choice. Probably I shouldn’t have.

You might ask: why doesn’t his mother want him to play soccer? Well, it’s a very demanding sport when it comes to training and games. The whole family is going to be involved. Why?

During the week he has training classes that will last until 8pm or 8.30pm which, I think, it’s too late for a nine years old boy that has school the next day. After the training class he comes home, takes a bath, eats dinner, and that’s it, he will be leaving the house at 8.30am and arriving at 8.45pm two days a week.

Then we have the games that will take place usually on Saturday morning, DH is at work so I’ll be the one taking him and supporting him on the games WITH Catherine. Games don’t have a fixed place, meaning they can be in a near place or far from the city. Some places I never heard of them.

If my life is already busy it will be much complicated.

These last couples of weeks he has been insisting in attending the classes, so…I’m a good mother right…I insisted with DH (that was a little reluctant to accept) and YESTERDAY IT WAS HIS FIRST SOCCER TRAINING CLASS.

Yesterday and tomorrow will be “test training” as the coach wants to see how he plays, but for sure he will be accepted. Saturday the team has a game, but, has he is not in the team yet, he’s not attending it.

He’s so happy to be in the team. Today while I was driving him to school, he told me the name of the other team players, some are from his school others he only met yesterday but he already knows their names. He even was excited because the couch asked him to help out delimiting the field with some plastic markers. He was released from training about half an hour before the others because they had to train for Saturday’s game but that didn’t demotivate him.

He really wanted to join soccer team, already in past years, but with Catherine so little I always refused. I guess it’s time to give it a try. Catherine will be four next month, she will go with me to the games, we’ll meet new places and I’ll take with me games or books so that she doesn’t get bored.

Most mothers and fathers complaint about the “soccer life” because it is so demanding in schedule and trips to far towns and villages, so let’s see how it works for me.

I know this will bring me two extra bills per month, I have to pay for classes and transportation from daycare to the stadium - once I’m working at that time, besides the money I will spend with trips to the games outside the city.

One thing I’m sure, if he’s happy, I’ll be happy too. Will Soccer be the right Sport for him? Time will tell…

Thursday Catherine started feeling down, and by down I mean, tired, complaining about everything, wanting to be on my lap, complaining about tummy ache, ear ache, leg pain, well…only her hair was not aching.

Friday morning she cried a lot because she didn’t want to go to school and wanted to stay home with mom. She broke my heart. She went to school, no phone calls during the day so I thought everything was fine. It was DH that picked them up at daycare at the end of the day and he was told that she had been complaining with pain all over her body. When I arrived home I checked her and she told me her right ear was really hurting so I took her to doctor’s appointment and the result was: everything is fine.

The only explanation I have, the teacher has and the daycare director has is that: Catherine misses her mom, yeap…me.

She misses being at home with me and she tries to catch my attention by saying she is in pain. The truth is that she has been very “babyish” lately, crying a lot even if it is for a small think just to catch my attention. As soon as I’m near her he just calms down and changes her behavior.

There are a few attitudes and actions I might have to take but right now spending more time with her, playing or just be next to her while she watches TV is a priority. She only sees me 3-4 hours a day and most of that time is split among her, her brother, cooking, laundry, etc., she sure misses me, I’m aware of that and it hurts.

Lack of time if one of my issues all the time, I just have to convince myself that “this is it”, that’s my life and although I would like to change it, I can’t so I just have to make it work. Quality time instead of quantity time.

My daughter found this potato chip inside a chips bag. She immediately said: Mom, look, it’s an heart.

Thanks Lay’s for the Valentine’s Gift

I found a great and simple site where my daughter (nearly 4) can do what she really likes: coloring.

Coloring is a very simple site where you can find a lot of interesting and beautiful drawings to color. Coloring is done by choosing the color we want and then pressing the area we want to color. It’s excelent for small kids because the coloring area is already defined and at a distance of one click.

Although I don’t want her to spend too much time only due to her young age, I let her color once in a while. She already has control of the mouse and can change the color of a zone if she doesn’t like to result.

Since Catherine’s surgery that we have the Sound of Silence around the house. The snoring and the apnea is gone. The awful snoring sound around the house at night is gone forever. She can now sleep quietly, breath without effort and silently.

I remember this feeling from when my son came out of surgery almost 6 years ago, for the same reason. I would get up several times a night to check if he was breathing. Catherine has been sleeping in my bed since surgery, it was a couple’s decision to check more closely on her recovery, and sometimes, I wake up in the middle of the night just to check the Sound of Silence.

Right now, she is here next to me sleeping and the air just flows freely through her nose.

I’m writing this post from a birthday party. This is the first time I get my laptop out of the house and there is no internet connection over here. I’m writing offline and I’ll post later.

This is a birthday party my daughter is attending as well as a neighbor girl that came with me. My son stayed at home with my neighbor boy that has the syndrome and wasn’t able to attend this party. This party is being held in a activity center that is not suitable for the efforts my neighbor can make.

My daughter is now waiting in line to get her face painted and I have my camera prepared to take a picture.

Someone just asked me how can I be in the computer while everybody is watching the kids playing. Well, they are playing and as I usually never have time for myself, I’m having it now. Everybody is chatting, the music is too loud, my head ….

That was it; this was the post I wrote there. Yes there, because I’m already home. A friend approached the table where I was and started chatting with me and I wasn’t able to continue to write.

Of course it’s always good to catch up with friends the problem is…we always end up talking about diseases and sick people. Although it’s nice a good conversation the subject is not the appropriate one.

Regarding the party, Catherine got half of a butterfly painted on her face because when she was being painted it was time to sing “Happy Birthday”.

The girls had a wonderful time and that was the objective, so mission accomplished.

**This post was written yesterday but due to internet problems, is only being published today. As you can see I can’t make plans, everything goes the wrong way. Even the camera was against me and the flash didn’t work.

Yesterday at the end of the afternoon we went to the checkup surgery appointment and we had the good news that Catherine has recovered just fine, everything is all right with her nose and throat and she can start eating everything.Guess what dinner was??? Hamburger and fried potatoes. Pizza for me and brother. It felt so good being able to eat without limitations again. Once I was with her at home since surgery, I didn’t eat what she couldn’t eat so I lost weight.

I know…some of you are willing to lose weight but I’m already underweight, I can’t even give blood because of my weight. So losing a 3 pounds in less than 2 weeks, and I was already anemic, it’s not good…not at all. I have to gain some soon or I’ll get really sick. I’m still taking the supplements for the anemia but that’s not enough.

Today it is my last day of freedom, Monday I’ll be in hell again, I’ll be in the office ((((crying)))), I really don’t miss the office, at all. Just thinking I’ll get back to work on Monday makes me lose a few more pounds.

If someone has an online job available with a regular income, contact me, I’ll quit my job. :)

I thought it would be easier to blog while at home, but I was wrong. As soon as my daughter wakes up I have to be all hers. She follows me all over the house, and when I’m not at sight she calls me.

I needed to take care of laundry so I had to keep her busy. Some coloring and collages did the trick and I was able to iron all my clothes and fill four laundry machines with clothes especially towels and sheets.

She’s recovering just fine, almost no pain and I’m not using the pain killers anymore. My biggest problem is the food. She wants to eat several food that she can’t but she understands the situation and doesn’t insist. Today she was so hungry that I just heated a little (a small little) her food (that she must eat cold) and ate rice very well cooked and soft and soup. I’m sure it won’t do her any harm. She drinks a lot of cold (from the freezer) water and yogurts but she doesn’t want ice cream, at least the ones we have at home.

Due to the fact that she’s at home all day with me, she’s getting the “baby speech” again, but I know that by the time she gets back to pre-school she’ll get her normal speech. For now I have my baby back.

I still have some posts to write about the Christmas presents we received and that we have been testing, as usual time is my enemy.

I have five more days to be a SAHM then…I’ll get back to work, arhhh.

The hospital team is fantastic. I just received a phone call from a nurse asking how Catherine reacted on the way home, if she slept well, if she had fever, etc etc. They were and are fantastic.

We’re home and well.

Yesterday we left home at 5.30am for a 2 hours drive to Lisbon so that Catherine could have her surgery (tonsils and adenoids removed). We did the trick but as soon as the doctor started checking her up, she coughed. My heart just…fell on the floor.

Once it was the second time she was there for the surgery (first time she was sent home because of expectoration), she was the first to be called. I told the anesthetist that she was on antibiotic and that I had talked with the otorrino and I guess that was why she got her into surgery. That cough almost ruin everything.

She was the first to get in the surgery room, I had to dress a green special suit and I entered into the surgery room where I could stay with her until she fell asleep. It was 15 seconds, amazing. One second she was watching me a few seconds later she was complete away. I kissed her and left the room

15 minutes later she was already in the recovery room, crying, screaming all normal things. One hour later she was moved to the room itself. She went crying a little but she also slept a lot. Painkillers were given twice and at 6pm we where discharged. At 8pm we where home.

She slept all night, no pain, no complaints. Only in the morning when she woke up she said her throat was hurting but a pain killer solved the problem.

The problem, the big problem is, she wants to eat everything she can’t. Today only ice cream, yogurts, water, ice tea, milk, all from the refrigerator to help healing the wounds in her throat. What she wants to eat: hot dog, sandwiches, fried potatoes, etc. etc.

She has to keep a special diet for 12 days, the same days she can’t go to pre-school, meaning, I won’t be working until January 21st. Although this means less money at the end of the month, I need these days out of work to put my things in order at home and Internet, treat my anemia, debility and regain the strength to get back to work . Of course my priority is my daughter.

She’s taking a nap now and the amazing thing is that she’s not snoring anymore and is breathing nice and calmly.

Although there are noticeable improvements in Catherine’s health, we went to see the doctor to have the final, specialized word.

He said she was really better, the yellowish mucus is already crystal, meaning it is normal. The little cough she does in the morning is due to the few mucus that appears in her throat during the night. This was what made her not been under surgery back in November.

The trick, we can call it a trick, is to get rid of the morning mucus she has. We have to keep her awake some time before the surgery (we have to be there at 8am), keep her moving even if it is inside the car while we wait to enter the hospital so that the mucus can free itself and she coughs a little to remove it.

We hope when she is checked by the anesthetist she is already free of the mucus and surgery happens.