Keeping Track of Lauren & Jack » August 2008 Journal Entries » AboutMyBaby - online baby scrapbooks, photo albums, videos, birth and pregnancy announcements

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Sun, Aug 31, 2008 7:33 PM
Friday felt much better at school. Drop off was surprisingly lacking in drama. The only tricky thing is that drop-off for Jack is in another part of the school, past the cafeteria and it has its own parking lot. I was fine getting over to Lauren's room, but on my way back I realized that the only way back to my car was back through Jack's classroom, (which I really didn't want to do), so I went out in the courtyard where one of the playgrounds are, and realized I was competely locked in! I guess that's good, for security reasons that the whole place is locked down, but it's such a pain for the parents! I had to go knock on the window of the office, and they are going to think about what I should do. I think I'll just have to park closer to the front and walk around.

At pickup Jack was in the same clothing that I dropped him off in, which is a great sign! Ms. Dima said he went on the potty twice, and that he had a good day. He got his homework folder, which was a simple workheet on the letter A, and he seemd thrilled to be having homework just like Sissy.

I was able to leave Jack napping with Mike who was home with a cold, and Lauren was her usual bouncy self when I picked her up. They had cut out big paper bodies which they had traced on the wall and colored a little with crayons, and then they pasted on different body parts which was part of this week's theme. Lauren said she wanted to hang it in her room when we got home. The other thing she was excited about was her name which was on purple paper and was covered in green glitter glue. She kept it by her bed and said good night to it when she went to sleep!

Oh, something I forgot to mention, last week Lauren finally had a visit from the Tooth Fairy. I don't know why we didn't think of it sooner, I guess we were still waiting to see what the dentist said about the other teeth. But there were 4 quarters in a little treasure bag under her pillow in the morning. (I figured that way she could pick something at the dollar bin at Target.) She was so thrilled. She even left a sparkly wand with a star on it for the fairy to use while she was spreading her magic!

Yesterday we went to a 30th birthday party for Matt Bravo, an actor friend of mine from the New Tampa Players, the community theater group I've performed with a few times. It was in the afternoon and childen were welcome, so we all went and the kids were definitley the life of the party. Of course they didn't eat anything except chips and cookies and of course cake, but I guess that's just what parties are for!

Today we had a few potty mishaps, including a few puddles and some poopy underwear. But we also had quite a few sucesses, so we just have to keep going with it. I can tell that he is definitely repsonding to all the positive feedback, especially the praise. Today I got out the special charachter underwear (Spiderman, Buzz Lightyear and Lightning McQueen)to wash, but he can't wear them until he's not peed in his training pants for a week. I'm hoping that will also be a special motivation for him. He still seems very clear that he'll get a monster truck if he poops, but that doesn't seem to be enough for him to do it yet. Oh well, one of these days we'll be diaper free. We are definitely using less pull-ups, so that's something at least!

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Thu, Aug 28, 2008 9:49 PM
Monday at school I brought Jack in some waterproof underwear, hoping that would be the least disruptive for the class. But apparently he wouldn't go anywhere near the bathroom, and since he didn't wet his pants, there was no way for her to know if he was wet. I understand that, but I was not happy about the fact that he had been in this soggy, non breathable underwear all morning. Ms. Devon does not seem pleased, or even willing to help me find a solution. Her only suggestion was maybe he needs to go to another class. Great.

So I went directly to speak to Wendy, the head of the school. She said that her solution was to put him back with the 2 1/2 to 31/2 year olds where there are 2 teachers in the room and they are more set up to change him if needed. I didn't really like the thought of him changing when it's been such a big change already, but I think we need to take the pressure off so that Jack can just do potty training on his own schedule. We went immediately back to visit Ms. Dima who seemed very sweet and who frankly I get a better vibe from. (Ms. Devon just seemed annoyed with me every time I spoke to her.) The good thing is that there is a new class opening in October for the kids transitioning out of that class, so that might just give us the time we need.

Of course Jack had much succcess that night, going potty 2 or 3 times and keeping his underwear dry. At one point he came in and asked me how to change his pants, and by the time I got to him he had wet his pants, but I think that was the first time he came to me about it, so I think that's incredible progress! He's been sort of on and off since, but I'm not so worried about it now. I'm eagerly awaiting the things I ordered off the internet, including pants that should fit him better (although I did find cotton gerber size 4T at the Baby Depot)and a doll that's anantomically correct that drinks and wets itself. The charts etc are backordered, so I'm making do with one of Lauren's old charts and new stickers.

Tuesday we tried swimming in our pool and the kids got all scraped from the newly installed edge. The new saline was also burning our eyes, but I think that's supposed to balance out in a while. But I was almost wishing we hadn't put in the pavers, if it's going to hurt the kids just getting in and out of the pool. The guys are supposed to come tomorrow, so I hope they can fix it.

Wednesday Jack started out with Ms. Devon but then spent the rest of the day with Ms. Dima and she said he had a good day. She said he wet his pants bit that it was just an accident from while he was on the potty, that he got some pee on them. He seemed pretty content, so we'll drop him off and pick him up in the new classroom from now on. Apparently they worked on the letter A and he had a letter drawn on each hand with a marker. (I wish they wouldn't do that, everywhere they go they get stamps etc and it doesn't come off for days and days!)

Wednesday evening I tried taking them to a new My Gym class which is combined with an older age group, so Lauren could do it too. But the time was changed to 6-7PM and even though they had fun, it was entirely too late. I'm thinking maybe Jack should just do the class on Saturday mornings when Lauren has ballet anyway.

This morning we went to our community pool which was virtually empty. The kids did very well, they're really using a lot of the skills they learned in swim class. I just can't get over how imaginitive Jack is. He was playing all sorts of pretending games, my favorite of which was when he was pretending to be stuck in the mud. Then I had to be "stuck in the mud", and he discovered he could drag me by the arm when he was ran along this step that went all the way around the shallow end, because I'm so weighless in the water. Lauren was busying herself with "painting' with the water on the deck.

Oh yes, and we got the new Little Mermaid dvd called Ariel's Beginning, which is a prequel to the original Little Mermaid. Unfortnately it opens showing how her mother died in an accident with a pirate ship. Not fun! But since my mother is gone, it's not like we've never discussed death, so I'm trying to act like it's OK, Ariel has her father and her sisters to take care of her. I always did wonder what happened to her mother though, so now we know.

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Sun, Aug 24, 2008 11:14 PM
The potty training with Jack is not going well. I think we had 2 or 3 intervals of 20 minutes or so today where he kept his pants dry and also went in the potty. But that's it, otherwise we've had many, MANY pairs of soggy underwear to change. It is so exhausting! After cleaning up something like the 5th puddle I decided to try the watrproof pants, although I don't like them because they are thick plastic on the outside. The problem is that it doesn't seem to bother him when he gets wet. And he doesn't seem to have made the connection of knowing when he's about to go, at least he hasn't communicated that yet. And he is EXTREMELY resistant to sitting on the potty. I mean full on tantrums. So. . . it's been a really long day. I'm not at all sure what to tell them at school tomorrow.

Lauren had been a pretty good sport about being inside all weekend while we worked on potty training Jack. We have been getting some residual bands from Tropical storm Fay, so we probably would be hiding inside anyway, but it's been hard on her too. At least she'll be looking forward to going to school, if not just to get out of the house!

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cousin brandy: Hi guys, you all look so great. can't believe jack is 3 now and lauren so grown up already! adorable. call me when you get a sec on cell. cousin kristen had baby boy carter last week. would love to catch up with you. i saw a new product on tv which may help jack with the potty training issue. love, brandy

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Sat, Aug 23, 2008 10:38 PM
So Friday was a pretty hectic day. I got the kids to school on time and ran errands in the window before picking Jack up. When I asked how things went, Ms Devon said that Jack still has a hard time sitting at circle time and listening. And. . . then there is the whole potty training issue. I had asked her when we met at the ice-cream social on Monday what she wanted me to do, and she said to keep doing what we had been doing (pull-ups) because the first day will be change enough. Well, apparently she's spoken since with the director of the school who has explicitly said she does not want pull-ups. She said there are 4 kids in the class who are potty training and that it takes too much time away from the class to be dealing with changing pull-ups. That I don't understand, because if Jack is in cloth underwear he WILL wet his pants, make puddles, etc. I don't see how changing his underwear and his clothes is going to be less work, not to mention the mess he could make in the classroom for all the other kids. And then there's the diarrhea issue, which is the main reason I hadn't put him in underwear already. I think they're only ready to make the move when they are using the potty consistently and can at tell you when they need to go, (at least some of the time,)neither of which is happening with Jack. But she told me to work on it with him over the weekend and that we'll try underwear on Monday. Ugh.

I took Jack home and fed him lunch and he had a brief nap before we had to go pick up Lauren. We went home and had a snack and then I took Jack to ge this hair-cut at my salon. I still think he cut it too short, but I think it will grow into a better shape than it was before. But as soon as we got home I put him on the potty and then into underwear. And 15 minutes later. . . he wet his shorts.

So, we've been in full-on potty training mode ever since. I quickly realized that we need to use the thicker Gerber cotton training pants, because wetting his pants doesn't seem to be much of an issue for Jack. It's so frustrating, because he either sits on the potty and screams that he doesn't have to go, followed by going in his pants a few minutes later, or we miss getting him back on the potty by a minute or two and he wets his pants. We've gone through all the training pants we have, and even used some of Lauren's pink ones. I went to get more this evening, and I also got some waterproof ones, but the problem is that they're just about too small. I need to order some online. Jack has been responding to the Elmo Potty DVD that I got through Netflix, so that's encouraging. I plan to get a doll that wets itself and charts to use with reward stickers, and many more training pants. I think it's going too be a very long next few weeks.

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Thu, Aug 21, 2008 11:28 PM
Today we had a follow up visit at the dentist and they took another x-ray. I was a little concerend about all the xrays she's had in the past week, but they assured me that the new digital x rays they use have about 1/5 of the radiation that the traditional x-rays had. I still don't like having her 3 in one week! But they said it's healing nicely and that the teeth have tightened up a bit. I guess she's still in constant danger of knocking out the teeth either side of the one that's gone. Jack remembered a specific toy they had there from months ago, which surprised me. The moment I said we're going to the dentist, he started taling about a space ship, and sure enough there was a wooden space shuttle in the exam area. I gotta watch that kid, he remembers everything!

Then we went to get Lauren some new ballet slippers and tights. Last week we had to use her old ratty tights and some shoes that a neighbor gave us from her daughter from 20 years ago. They happened to fit but were sort of stiff! I was glad to see that they're selling some of these ballet supplies at a shoe store closer to home and we didn't have to go all the way to the actual dance store, because if we did, I just know Lauren would talk me into getting a lot of unnecesary accessories!

The doctor called about Lauren's chest x-ray and she's showing a slight bronchitis, which is what the doctor had said and what we're treating her for with the antibiotics. I think she is improving but she does still cough here and there. He said if she isn't better by Monday he might refer us to a pulmonologist. I really hope it doesn't come to that!

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Wed, Aug 20, 2008 8:46 PM
We got through the first day of school! I got up at 6AM so I could shower, got the kids up at 6:45, and we were out the door before 8 and actually arrived on time. I decided to drop Lauren off first because I knew it would be the easier transition, but Jack was really quite impatient to get to his room, so I may try dropping him first tomorrow. He didn't seem concerend about me leaving him there, but he didn't want to sit at the table and color like Ms. Devon wanted him to, he wanted to go play with the cars. But Ms. Devon had a plan to trace everyone's hands, so she started with Jack, and since I had already said good-bye I took that opportunity to sneak out. I went around to the back and peeked in and he seemed fine, so off I went back to an empty house which was very VERY odd!

Soon enough it was almost 11 and time to go pick Jack up by 11:30. When I got there he was sitting at table with 5 other kids, happily gluing little pieces of paper to another paper with a glue stick. When I asked how things went, Ms. Devon got this sort of weary look on her face and said "It . . . was the first day." When I asked for more info later she said that he had trouble leaving the play areas to do any structured activity, which did not surprise me in the least. Apparently he agreed to sit on the potty twice but did not pee, but his pull-up was very wet. I guess she won't change it, which may be a problem and he may wet his pants because those pull-ups aren't that absorbant. First off, Jack didn't want me to change his pull-up. Then he didn't to leave the room because he wanted to play with the cars. Then he wanted to go to the playground. So I guess I should take it as a good sign that he doesn't want to leave, but it didn't make him very easy to get into the car. When I asked him what his favorite thing that he did today, he said "glitter", so I guess I'll have to wait and see what creation came out of the glitter-fest!

Luckily Sara was able to come today so she put Jack down for his nap while I went back to pick up Lauren by 2:30. Yup, 3 trips out there (1/2 hour each way, total of 3 hours of travel time today!) But Lauren was a whole different story. She was dressed in her change of clothes, apparently due to yogurt all down the front of her dress. Hmm, I guess that means no more yogurt tubes for lunch! But she seemed very happy and her teacher, Ms Tish, said she did very well, no problems. So that was a relief after all the shenanigans with Jack. When I asked her what her favorite thing was from today she said "princesses". I gathered that she saw Taylor (who's in another class) during recess and they played princess and also dinosaur. Later she told me that in her class they talked about everyone's eye color and she said no-one in her class had blue eyes! I asked her if she made any friends, if she liked the girls, and she said yes, they were very nice. There's a new SuperTarget near her school, so I decided to reward her good behavior by looking for a new back-pack. I thought both their old back-packs would be fine, but they are a little small for all the stuff we need to put in there, so I got them each a new one. She picked out a princess one for herself, (big surpirse)and then she insisted I get Jack a Cars/Lightning McQueen one.

When we got home we discovered that Jack had not napped at all. Ugh. He is such a little bear when he doesn't nap! But he was thrilled with his backpack and ran around the house with it on (empty)and refused to take it off. They both had a snack and were very happy to see Sara. Sara may be more available this semester than I thought, so that's good news.

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Mon, Aug 18, 2008 10:48 PM
When we saw the doctor on Thursday he said that if Lauren's cough wasn't better by Monday that we should take her for chest x-ray. Her cough is a lot better, but it's still lingering. She doesn't cough as often, but when she does, the intensity seems to have increased. So this morning we went to the radiology place for the x-ray. It didn't take too long, but I guess we have to wait to speak to the pediatrician to get the results. I'm a little nervous about what they'll tell us. Even though Lauren's cough has never really seemed that bad, it's been very persistent and seems to keep coming back.

Then this afternoon we went to Hand in Hand Academy, (Lauren's 1st preschool) in their new and improved location for the ice cream social. It was just a chance to meet the teachers and some of the other students and their parents and see the classroms etc. Mike had never seen the new school, so I was glad he was able to come and see where they will both be spending a lot of their time. The classrooms are much bigger, there are a few different playgrounds, and they have a full gym/cafeteria with a real stage at one end. Jack had fun peeking behind the curtain! Lauren saw a lot of her old pals and there was much gleeful running around the gym once the sugar from the ice-cream kicked in. I think they're both going to be happy there.

I got a pretty god vibe from both teachers. Lauren has Ms. Tish, who seems really nice, but a no-nonsense sort of woman, which I think will be great for Lauren when she starts with "I can't" instead of "I'll try." I don't know if I mentioned that her ballet instructor said that was something we needed to work on with her. Jack has Ms. Devon, who seemed very sweet, and has 2 kids under 3 herself, and seems to have the patience of a saint! Jack made himself right at home at the train table and was also checking out the kitchen. In fact, we sort of had to drag him out of there to go get ice cream, which I take as a good sign. Of course, I haven't left him there yet, so we'll see how it goes on Wednesday, but he may just surprise us and not be too bothered about it at all. Lauren was fine and showed an interest in the other girls, all of whom were twirling around, so I think she felt right at home! I know all the driving is going to be an adjustment for me, but I think it was a good decision to go back there.

I'm still trying to figure out how I'm going to manage Jack's nap time with Lauren's pick-up before we start car-pooling. I'll pick him up at 11:30, take him home, give him lunch and put him down for his nap. But I have to leave no later than 2PM to go get Lauren, so it's going to be tight. Otherwise he'll have to come with me, and he could nap in the car (unlikely) or he could nap after we get home, about 3:15 which is getting sort of late. This Wednesday, the first day of school, Sara is going to be here, but she's starting her new job on Friday, and her University classes start next week, and then she'll be relatively unavailable. I've been sort of in denial about this upcoming change. I've wondered if we should hire someone new, but I'm williing to give it a try and see if we can do without a regular nanny. I think it will be fine unless I have to go to an audition in Orlando, and that's when Mike's flexible schedule is going to come in handy. But I don't go to that many auditions, so I'm thinking it may be time to go it alone and just get occaisional babysitting. I've been realizing how fast the time is going by. I mean, in 2 short years they're both going to be in school all day, 5 days a week. Then we'll be stuck in the school schedule for 13 years! So, I intend to enjoy the precious time we have left. I'm getting passes to Disney and I'm committed to going at least once a month!

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Sun, Aug 17, 2008 3:29 PM
So we survived the trip to California! It was a long time to be away and we were glad to finally be back in our own beds (more about that later). Our trip out to San Francisco was long, plus we were delayed, so I was indeed glad to have the double stoller. It was so cold in the city! We stayed with my college pal Lucia who has an entire in-law apartment in her basement. it was neat to see our two interacting with her two kids. Her son Kai is about 8 and Claire is just a few months younger than Lauren. Our first full day we went to a fabuous playground in a park that had an incredible view of the city. We also went to have dinner that day at Ocean beach and the kids had fun running around the windmill which is at the end of Golden Gate park. This poor couple were getting engaged and our kids were running around screaming like banshees, ruining their romantic moment!

The next day we had a brunch at Lucia's house and it was so good to see everyone; My childhood friend Lisa and her daughter Rachel, my high school friend Veronique and her kids whom I'd never met, Kayla and Caleb. And then there was my acting friend Jan, and I think that was it.

We spent the rest of the week visitng with friends, and we got ro see a lot of people, We walked with Patty near her home in Marin, swam with Lisa and her kids Rachel and Parker in Moraga. We took the bus through Chinatown to have lunch with Loretta dowtown at the Embarcadero center and the kids enjoyed running around the fountain down by the Ferry building. We had lunch with Joan Tabb-Waisbein,her mom Marilyn, and her son Daniel. That day we also went and paid our respects at the gravesite of my parents. It was tricky trying to explain how we were visiting them but they weren't really there, and that the kids had never met them. It's not a scary place, the gravestones all lay flat so it just looks like a park in the rolling hills above Half Moon bay. It's really a very peaceful place to go to remember them. We brought some flowers, but I tried really hard not be somber and the kids mostly frolicked around in the windy sunshine.

We got to see Veronique and her husband Rad and their kids up in San Rafael, and managed to have dinner with Lande and David and their kids Christopher, Andrew and Allie. I have to say, I think our kids did very well meeting so many new people and going to all these new places. They're very socialble and they rolled with the puches pretty well, I was proud of them.

Then we headed to LA and to our hotel in Anaheim which was indeed across the street from Disneyland. Our room had bunk beds which didn't seem too high, so I agreed to let Lauren sleep up there, but she just could'nt settle down and sleep. Finally she admitted she was too scared to sleep up there, so I was relieved to have the aero-bed which really does inflate in a minute. I ended up putting Jack in that bed since he's a more fitful sleeper and Lauren went into the bottom bunk.

Mike was pretty busy with his conference, so we spent most of our time with Aunti Tati who lives about an hour away in Santa Monica. I decided I did not want to go to Disneyland and stand around in the lines when we can go to Disney World anytime we want in the off-season. The first day we went to Griffith Park where therewas the train museum and a great carousel and playground. That night we had dinner in Hollywood and my grad school friend Austin showed up, who is one of the only working actors I know. The next day we went to the beach which is mere blocks from Tatiana's apartment. That night we all headed back to Ananheim and had dinner with Mike for his Birthday at the Rainforest Cafe. We were thrilled to be seated right next to a huge aquarium and some large fake elephants, up until we realized that the elephants were animatronic and Jack was terrified every time they made any noise. It did sound like they were charging, and there was also thunder sounds to make it sound like a rainstorm. I haven't seen him that scared in a long time. But we did manage to get Mike a molten lava chocolate cake whith ice-cream running down the sides. That was pretty yummy!

The next day we went to the LaBrea Tar Pits and to the Farmer's market for lunch. We tried to get Jack to nap that day, but missed the window. I should have just let him stay sleeping in the car because he never transfers! Eventually we got up and went to the Santa Monica Pier where the kids went on tons of rides. The only ride I went on was the ferris wheel, which gave us a fabulous view of the ocean at sunset. That night the kids fell asleep on the way home and I was so glad to have the double stroller, otherwise I never would have been able to get them up to the room all by myself.

Our last day we went to the beach and finally got Jack to take a decent nap, then we headed back to Anaheim for Mike's NYU alumni dinner. There weren't too many kids there, and certainly not ones as young a ours, but they did pretty well. Tatiana came back with us, and we met up with another grad-school pal Tiffany all too briefly. The highlight of the evening was that we were close enough to see the Disney fireworks from the balcony of the restaurant. I'm glad we saw that since we missed them on the 4th of July.

So we got all the way back home without incident. Our air conditioner was making some wierd noises righ outside Jack's window, and both kids were screaming that they were too scared to sleep alone. So I made the fateful decision to put them both to sleep in Lauren's bed, with Jack on the inside since he's the more fitful sleeper. Lauren's bed does not have any rails since it's in a corner and against the wall. Well, at 3AM we awake to Lauren's terrified screams. I run in there to see she's fallen out of bed and knocked her tooth out(the one that was loose) and her whole mouth is full of blood. I was so scared, and really thought we should tke her to the ER, but after a few minutes the bleeding stopped and she seemed OK. I gave her some Motrin (which turns out NOT to be so great for blood-clotting) and she said she wanted to go back to sleep. I then had to move Jack, who had somehow slept throught he entire ordeal, back into his own bed. Now he was awake and hysterical, so Mike had to go sleep with him and I insisted on sleeping with Lauren to watch over her.

Everyone slept in, but I took Lauren to the dentist straight away as soon as she woke up. He said that he was a bit worried about the smaller tooth next to the one she knocked out which is now loose. He told me he also wanted her to see the pedatrician to see what he thought of her cuts inside her moth and on her lower lip. So then we headed to the Pediatrician who didn't think she needed anthing for her cuts, but he did prescribe some anti-biotics for her cough which seems to keep re-occuring all summer.

So Lauren is fine, we just have to keep her on softer foods for a while. Then we go back to the dentist the next day, and he asks which antibiotic she's on. Well, it turns out it's amoxicillan, which she's not suppod to have since she's had an allergic reaction once. So I call the doctor, but he said that if she hasn't had a reation in the next 24 hours that she's probably grown out of it. And she's fine, so I guess that's a relief since it's such a common medecine to treat so many things. But I'm upset that the doctor would amke a slip up like that. You really have to watch it, even with someone who seems to know what they're doing.

To add to all the chaos, we're having pavers put in around the pool in thhe back, so it's like a war-zone out there, and also I had a flat tire on my new minivan! Urgh!

Mike did put together our new shelves for the playroom, and the compass rug arrived, so it's all coming together in there. We need to get some new wood blinds for the windows and some harware to hang the valances, and then we should be just about done. I'm trying to decide if we should put a new table in there since they've outgrown the other one. I don't want to make the mistake of putting too much furniture back in there, but otherwise they use the kitchen table and it gets cluttered very quickly!

I got Lauren signed up for ballet, but I missed the soccer sign-ups, so I'm bummed we'll miss that for this season. Still not sure if it's going to work out with Music Together and MyGym with the new schedule, and playgroups are changing too. So there will be a lot of things to juggle in the coming weeks.

Pre-school starts on Wednesday and I'm in denial about the potty training situation. we seem to be losing Sara due to her new schedule. I've also been in denial about the fact that she won't be available and I'm not sure how to manage Jack's nap with picking Lauren up at 2:30. Eventually we'll get a car-pool worked out, but for the first week or so I'll want to go pick her up and see how its going with her new teacher.

Sorry for such a long blog, but there was a lot to catch up on! If that wasn't all enough to recover from, it seems a hurricane is headed our way, due to hit Tuesday. Boy, will I be glad when hurricane season is over!

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