A Hodge Update

Susan and I took the babies to the theater this morning. They show free (older) movies for kids on tues/weds mornings to help get kids used to theaters. We watched some movie I never heard of called "Space Chimps" and after initially being scared of how loud and dark it was, Lucas sat quietly on my lap with his grapes, crackers and water and payed attention to a whole hour of this dumb movie! I was proud of him and thinking when John comes home in 2 weeks, we will take him to this:

We went out and saw the fountain, which Lucas saw as a pool and whined to get into it lol. We left soonafter--it was already humid.


Then he had his 18 mo appt. He had 2 shots according to his 1983 schedule. He is in the 95th percentile for weight to height ratio. Healthy and wasn't as scared of the doctor this time. He was a good boy even after his shots, which he screamed during and looked at me like "get them off me!" But he recovered quickly and is fine.

There have been some changes going on in our house and I haven't really thought about them til tonight. John left yesterday for 2 weeks, so I keep busy with readying the house for rental, and packing our things. I take care of the babies with pretty much the same routine daily, but I realize I treat them both as if they aren't getting any older. Olivia is half a year old...I treat her the same as when she was 3 months lol. But she is strong and alert and interested. And smart---it takes brains to realize how funny it is when Lucas dances or falls or babbles. She is also turning over both from tummy to back and back to tummy. She laughs and smiles and puts her sharp tongue out at me all day, in between her still-annoying cries for food or attention. She is pushing in the walker some too. She and Lucas take their baths together nightly and she is entertained by him and all the toys.


Olivia had her 6 month appt last friday and at 18 lbs, she is in the 80th percentile for weight. She's healthy and strong. She had 2 shots according to the 1983 schedule she is on. She cried a little, but bounced right back to smiles pretty quickly. At the appt, I told the Dr (who is also my dr) that I came to him 2 months ago with flank pain and that I did in fact end up having multiple stones---he initially wanted to send me home to drink water...I insisted on a CT which he consented to. He said, "oh yeah, i saw that you had a stent put in." I am wondering why he didn't call or anything being my primary dr...and why he acted like he was right all along, when BOTH doctors doubted my pain was my kidneys as I said. ("there's like a 5% chance this pain is a stone..." then after the 7 mm stone was found, "your pain has to be musculoskeletal, not your kidneys.." "there's a 50/50 chance it will pass.." then after they did the cystoscopy, "that stone never would've passed--it was embedded in your ureter.." ) So I asked him if he would at least get me the results of my stone sample taken during surgery to tell me what is causing them...he says "sure"..well, there is no test results to be found because they never took a sample... Great--thats why my urologist never returned my calls...because they didn't even do what they were supposed to. Even he gave me a pamphlet on what diet to go on according to your stone composition...So disappointing to be paying more to see civilian drs (instead of military) and to get such crappy care.


Anyway, back to the babies. I put the travel crib up in Lucas' room and for the past 2 nights have had Olivia sleep in the travel crib in Lucas room, across from his crib where he sleeps. They surprisingly have done well--even when she gets up for a bottle at night, Lucas has stayed asleep. They get up a little earlier, and I had to bring Olivia back in my room late last night, but for the most part it works and I don't have to be so quiet when I go to bed or even turn over in bed. I am thankful for them to be growing up and adjusting to each other's constant company so well.


Lucas is getting so big and smart, despite not fully forming words yet. He I think senses that when Dada leaves, it's for a while. He notices a pattern and has withdrawals like me. Yesterday morning he took Olivia's blankie and pacifier and put it in his mouth! Then all day today he kept crawling in her bouncy chair. He wants to be babied too. I had 2 contractors come over to give estimates on some renovations we have to have done in the downstairs bath (in order to be rented) and Lucas was so excited to have these men over! He wasn't as shy as usual--big smiles and saying 'hi' and 'bye'.


Although recently I have lost my temper a lot with the babies, I am very happy to be home with them and to share the job of raising them with the man I love. It's feeling less and less appropriate to call them 'the babies'...they are getting older and demand more and more attention and interaction to stimulate their growing brains. And their freaking diapers and getting fuller too! I am praying for the patience to keep them happy and healthy and to be able to balance all the house/move prepping with the mommy duties I have. This house has to be on the market for rent in 4 months...this transition is going to be so much more complicated since we have babies...and everything depends on unknown things. Like I always say though, in 8 months, it won't matter because we will always be together :)


Speaking of which, I was helping John put together a resume highlighting his Navy experience and we sent it to this agency I would like to reccommend for ex-military. It's called "Bradly Morris Inc" and they basically work for Fortune 500 companies in finding candidates with valuable military experience to interview for them. Their services are free. We submitted his resume and references so we hope to hear from some companies soon. There are opportunities all across the U.S., so we put in our preferences. One of John's friends who has had the same amount of experience as a Nuclear electrician, was hired through Bradley Morris by a company called Airproducts, and they offered him $74,000 starting right off the bat, without any schooling etc. And that doesn't include overtime, which a fellow employee said amounted to >$120,000 for him his first year! We are hopeful for a good job, but scared of the unknown that is getting out of the military. John is soooo excited to get a real job and to interview-- I am proud of him already. I am so unsure of how the next year will look, but I fully trust in John to provide for us. Thank you John. *