Deanna Rose and Interviews

I pulled Allison out of bed at 7am so that we could make our way back to the Truman Medical Center for round 2 of our rabies shots. She was a little grumpy in the car but when we arrived at the hospital, she saw her Dad and her mood instantly lifted.

We were able to get into the clinic right on time (they were fitting us in so I thought we'd be there for hours) and all three of us got our injections. This time we got the shots in our arms and it felt similar to getting a flu vaccine.

After our shots, we left Nathan to relax at the hosptial. Today was his first interview for his Pulmonary Critical Care Fellowship. The interview was at the hospital he currently works for so he knew the people interviewing him and he said it was low-key and low-stress but KC is where we want to stay so it's a really big deal.

He met with with the program director in the morning, then he had lunch with two potential critical care colleagues (one who we've babysat for, another who we've had Thanksgiving dinner at their house). Next he had a short interview with another head of the CC department. Nathan said it went well and he should know in a few weeks where he stands.

Today is a Mom Group day but I didn't think I'd be able to go since we had our vaccine appointment but since we were in and out so quick, I decided to make the 30 minute drive out to The Deanna Rose Children's Farmstead.
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This is the description on the website:

Designed to depict a family farm, the Farmstead has nearly 200 animals and birds of prey, vegetable and flower gardens, a one-room country schoolhouse, an old-time fishing pond, pony rides and more.
With the Kansas family farm slowly disappearing, the 12-acre "Children's Farmstead" opened in 1978 and was re-named in 1985 to honor Deanna Rose, the first Overland Park police officer killed in the line of duty.

Deanna Rose's legacy was to bring the charm of the farm to children living in the city. Children treasure such memories as bottle feeding baby goats, milking a cow and taking a horse drawn wagon ride through the woods.
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 Allison really enjoyed herself but didn't want to travel with out friends so we spent a couple of hours wandering the park. Allison got to visit the bank and make fake money, pet a goat, ride a tractor, and get an ice cream cone. 

It was a very hot day so the ice cream was necessary. However, on the last bite, Allison bit my finger (holding the cone) really hard and won't let go until I poked her cheek. She was already on the nap border and when she saw that I was hurt, she lost her mind. I finally calmed her and told her she could go play on the playground, but the entire playground was painted black and when she climbed up to the very top and sat down - she burned the back of her thighs. 

So the screaming started up again and I decided it was time to call it a day. She fell asleep in the car at 12:30pm and slept until 5pm.

 

 

 

 

Wreath

I found a square wreath form at Joann's the last time I was there. I loved how different it looked and thought it would make an attractive style. I love the jean blue color of the burlap.

Meteor

We've all been a little sore after getting our shots, and as you can see in the above pictures, Allison is just barely hanging on. She is a trooper and not complaining at all. I can't flex my leg or lie on my right side to sleep because the spot feels so tender but Allison doesn't mind her injection site being touched.

She is acting a little more fussy than usual. She's been getting Tylenol to take her fever down a bit so she's been extra cuddly. Here she is with Nathan getting her bedtime story.

The next three nights are supposed to be prime viewing nights for the Perseids meteors. I wish I was back in Boxall because the city is so bright that I have a hard time getting a dark background. All the websites I read recommend traveling to a dark spot but that spooks me - I don't even like being in my backyard alone, in the dark, at midnight. But I guess it doesn't matter if a wild animal gets me now.

Bat Part II

The bat story was a funny one to tell. People thought it was gross, or scary, or hilarious and I laughed while telling it. But last night I was about to go to bed and was looking at the bat post that I had just put up and read the line about looking back how their were clues that something weird was going on.

And I panicked.

Las Wednesday Allison woke up from her nap complaining of an "ouch" on her foot. We were outside earlier in the day and Allison and I have this game where she says she has an ouch or an itch and we put calamine on it. I blow on it to dry it, then she bounces away. On Wednesday I did this and when I was putting on the lotion, I noticed that the spot seemed a little swollen and that she flinched when I touched the spot. I didn't really think more of it, I thought it was maybe a chigger bite that she had scratched too hard.

On Friday, I noticed that she had two teeny scabs, one right beside the other - but again, she was fine. And then last night, I thought, what if she got bit by the bat. Last week, when I heard rustling, I heard it in the kitchen, so the bat was probably moving throughout the house and could have been in Allison's room.

I didn't sleep much and the first thing I did when I woke up was to call the Health Department. The woman was very nice but gave me a standard answer to all my questions which was basically, better safe than sorry. She told me to go to my nearest emergency room and wait. I was shocked! Emergency room? That seems like a terrible use of resources. I called Nathan in a panic and he went to work on it.

Nathan called some people he knows in the Infectious Disease sector and they said to come in and get the shots - especially if Allison got bit. Nathan was able to get us appointments that morning with our former family doctor who moved out of family practice into hospital medicine. I'd never been to the hospital and it's a very different demographic than the country club hospital Nathan has been working for the last few months but it was a wonderful hospital.

Nathan was waiting for us when we arrived and he took Allison to get her shot in the kid clinic while I got mine. The dosage is 2 shots, 4 visits, 2 weeks. The dosage is by weight and while Nathan was stunned at the HUGE needle the nurse pulled out "it's enough to take down a horse" Nathan said, I'm the only who had to deal with the pain. The needles were so big that they had finger grippers (the rings on each side of the syringe). The nurse, who was training and visible nervous to give me the shots,  did a great job but it was awful. I had one shot in each upper/side thigh and each vaccine was so thick, it took about 30 seconds to administer (which is a long time to see a huge needle poking out of you).

Here I am before the pain began.

I was glad I didn't have to be in the room while Allison got hers. Nathan said that she was a real trooper and after a few seconds of screaming, she bounced back.

After we finished with the shots, Nathan showed us around for a few minutes. I could tell that Nathan loved to show Allison off and introduce her to his colleagues. Everyone said how beautiful she was and how much she looked like Nathan. More than one nurse/doctor stopped me to tell me how great Nathan was/ how he was a keeper/ one of the good ones/ and that I should be so proud.

I am so thankful that Nathan was able to facilitate our care today. I would have been so lost without his connections and assurance that we were doing the right thing by getting the shots.

Allison only made it through half her cookie on the way home before she passed out.

It was another chaotic day, and we'll have to do it again on Thursday, then Monday, then the next Monday but I feel good knowing we're taking the best care of Allison we can. I am so grateful for vaccines and modern medicine.

Here we are - all in our grey, ready for bed after this long day.

Bat

Last night Nathan was on an overnight shift. I don't like it when Nathan works nights because I don't sleep well. I stay up too late, I sleep lightly, and I startle at every noise.  I finally felt tired enough to sleep around 1am but woke up with a start at 4:15am. There was a rustling sound in the curtain that was right beside my head.

I found mouse poop at the foot of our bed on Friday so I had a bad feeling that the mice weren't just in the kitchen. I turned on my bedside lamp, and smacked the curtain, thinking it would scare it, but out popped a big, black, BAT! It freaked out and started doing circles over my bed. I hit the floor and ran out of my room. I was freaking out because I was still disoriented, I was in major heebie-geebie mode, and then I realized that my phone was still on my nightstand. The bat was flying like a maniac - especially when I turned the light on. I shut the door and paced back and forth for about 10 minutes. I had no idea what to do. And this is the second time I've woke up with a bat in my bedroom. The first was on Saba 6 years ago.

I decided I needed to call Nathan. I put on my winter coat (because it had a hood, my work boots, and my gardening gloves and slowly opened the door. I snuck across the floor - no sign of bat.

As I reached for the phone, I saw that he was perched on the curtains beside my nightstand. He saw me at the same time, and as I grabbed my phone and ran out of the room, again he took flight.

I googled "how to get a bat out of your house" but it only had scary information:

The first line (on every site I checked) said the same thing, if the bat has been in a room where someone has been sleeping or has had any possible contact with a child who cannot communicate their interaction with the bat, the bat must be captured, and each person given a rabies shot.

Other scary information is that if you have a bat, most likely you have an infestation, less likely that the nest is nearby, and rare that it randomly flew into your home.

Also this little tidbit. Bats have a difficult time taking flight from the ground. If you can knock the bat to the ground with a broom or towel, it will be slower moving and vulnerable. Usually a bat on the ground will try and crawl (very slowly) to a wall, then climb up the wall. Its ideal way to take flight is to drop from its perch a few feet to gain airspeed.

A dead bat can still be tested for rabies, provided the head is intact.

At this point, I shut the door, pushed a towel under the bottom and watched Netflix until Nathan got home at 8am.

He saw the bat in the front window of the house as he walked up the driveway.

 The original idea was to seal it to the window and let it starve to death but there is no way I could go back in that room with the bat still there. While he was putting up the tape he noticed that the bat was frail and that he could most likely trap it. Nathan used a plastic tub to catch him after he knocked it off of the window.

 Here is the bat in the tub. As soon as the top was lifted, it flew to a nearby bush and I took these photos. It saw me taking photos and turned it's nasty head to hiss at me.

 Looking back there have been signs of the bat in the house. I've heard rustling, but I thought it was another mouse. I don't think we have an infestation, I think the bat came in on the rainy day. The window in our bedroom - the one I had open for Allison during the rain (last Tuesday), well it opens from the top and the bottom, and while the bottom has a screen, the top doesn't. And unless you prop up the window, the top can slide down a little. I had the window open all day to air out the house, so the bat had plenty of time to sneak in. But that means it's been in our house/bedroom since TUESDAY.

I need to go wash everything in my room.

Birthday Party

Today we were invited to the first birthday party of our little friend Lucy. Lucy is the daughter of our friend's Kyle and Lisa. The party was at a local park and although the day started with thunder and lightning, by 11am, it was sunny and hot.

It was the perfect spot for a party because there was a playground and a miniature town for all the kids to play in. We had pizza, watermelon, and cupcakes and Allison ate everything. 

Her favorite thing was the bubble wands so she took two. The party was the perfect way to visit with our friends and Kyle and Lisa's family who we have met several time, and let Allison see her buddies.

 

 

 We all had a great time.

Governor Stumpy

It's been a long, hot week, and tonight we had plans to meet our friends Danny and Katie (and their three kids) at the Prairie Village Pool for a picnic and swimming since the rates are lower after 5:30pm. After some back and forth, we decided not to go (Nathan wouldn't be home until well after 6pm) and instead we were invited to Governor Stumpy's for dinner. It's a small dive bar style restaurant that is only a block from D & K's house.

I was so nervous to take Allison because she has a hard time sitting still but it was very kid friendly and Allison did well - except that she would only eat french fries and once she got a taste of my Pepsi she wouldn't stop hounding me for a "sip!sip!"

Even though we added (more) chaos to their dinner, D&K picked up our tab! It was really generous and we had a great time. I don't know that I'm in a rush to take Allison out again but I felt it erased (some) of the bad feelings about our last trip to a restaurant when she lost it before we even received our drinks.

Nathan was finishing work as we were leaving the restaurant so he met us at D &K's and we visited until Allison's bedtime. Allison loved going through the new toys. She especially loves that there is a fridge with a water dispenser on the outside so she can get her own drinks. Once, she went through their dirty dishwasher, found a cup, filled it, and was drinking in the corner before anyone noticed...but it's ok 'cause it's D &K.

Allison is starting to imitate me - which shows me exactly what my flaws are (especially the bad words).

This is a plate that was broken when she wanted to sit at the table like I did (rather than in her highchair). She used a fork and pretended to eat, all the while talking away and then, WHAM! "MESS!MESS!" She yelled.

After an eye shattering experience trying on bathing suits at Old Navy, I've brought out my exercise mat. Allison loves to copy my yoga poses (when she's not using my poses are bridges)

Last Pool Day

 Today was our last day for Tot Time at the Mission Pool. In KC, school is back in session next week, so all the high school age life guards will be back to their classes. We've loved spending mornings at the pool - sometimes 3 days a week. Allison has become a little fish and we will miss having a reprieve from the heat.

After pool time, Lindsey, Eleanor, April, the kids, and I went to the park that is on the same grounds as the pool for a picnic and playtime.

Allison ran herself out chasing Griffin around.

 

 I feel bad for Griffin because Allison has latched onto him as her cool, older friend. She laughs hysterically when he's just standing there, she is always in his face and watching him. I know he gets frustrated (I would too) but he puts up with her craziness. Today he even gave her a hug. I was able to capture it and Allison was pretty happy about it.

 This is a weird music/game thing that's at the park. It's really hard to understand but it plays some pretty cool music when you touch the sensors on each of the pods. I was checking it out with a another mom (a stranger) and we were trying to figure out how to play. We managed to figure out on game and suddenly we were playing against each other. It was fun.

Here we are having a dance party before we all headed home for naps.

Rain Rain

 We've had really dry weather these past weeks. I've been watering every other day but I'm not able to keep up. We finally got some rain and Allison sat for a long time (for her), just watching the rain come down.

I was thankful to have the day off watering because it is a huge pain to try to get any work done with Allison. She is either trying to take the hose from me, spray me with the hose, wanting me to push her on the swing, trying to get back in the house, trying to take her clothes off to swim in her kiddie pool, or swimming fully clothed in her kiddie pool.

Weekend

 Nathan's schedule has him away from the house for long hours during the day, but he's had most weekends off. It's such a relief to get some family time and help with Allison. Nathan usually only gets one day off per week and he always tries to arrange to have Sundays off - but after church, then lunch, then nap..it's 4pm! And every other week we have our small group so the days fly by. I'm thankful for some extra time together so that we can enjoy the gorgeous weather with our gorgeous girl.