Recital

The recital went really well, if really long. We didn't get home until about 10:30. Maybe next year's recital can be on a Saturday afternoon instead of a Friday night?

Both girls' performances were fine, though you could see Lauren looking up at the lights and some of the people backstage. Sarah's hat fell in her face, but she just pushed it up and kept on dancing.

At intermission, my mom took Jeff home--he had been sitting in one position for too long and really needed to go, but was glad he got to see them.

After the big finale, I made my way up to the stage to get the girls (younger kids had to wait up there), but it took a few minutes. When I got there, I saw Lauren, eyes red and very upset. When she saw me, she ran up, and clung to me when I picked her up. I think she thought she'd been abandoned, poor thing. And the first words out of her mouth were: "Did you bring me any flowers?" Heh, I bet she saw some other girl get flowers and tried to horn in, and got rebuffed. I told her that of course we had flowers for her, and that Grammy & Grandpa had them down by the seats. We found Sarah, calmly sitting and waiting for us. Sadly, I didn't have my camera to get pictures right there (cameras are big time verboten during performances), but I got a few once we got home.

Dance

Tonight is the Dance Recital. Finally. This week has been so crazy, with rehearsals and pictures and all. I'm glad we're almost done. Both girls want to continue--Lauren is made for Tap, and Sarah wants to try Hawaiian (Jami, you can come and give us some tips!)

Sarah's song is Perfect Isn't Easy from the movie Oliver & Co. Lauren has Rubber Duckie. Yesterday was Dress Rehearsal, and Sarah's went smoothly (although they started the wrong music for a second). Lauren knows her routine well, and her song was going fine, too--until she noticed a lost bobby pin on the stage and picked it up to return it to the teacher. After that, they had to start over from the beginning. And even then, Lauren was so distracted, she was all over the place. I'm curious to see how she does tonight, but if she's remembered as the comic relief, that's fine, too.

He's home!

Yay!

I picked him up from the hospital last night after dinner. How odd is it that he'd been on a liquid diet for two meals, and for his first meal on solids, his choices were:

1. a hamburger
2. mostaccioli
3. cottage cheese & fruit

He still isn't eating much, nor sleeping enough, but he feels a lot better, now that he's home. He has a boatload of drugs, mostly antibiotics, to take for the next couple weeks, and there's no telling when he'll go back to work.

I so don't care--I'm so happy and relieved to have him home!

Evil, the thing about appendicitis is this: usually, you get a little warning. There is pain that is manageble at first, and gets worse. If you catch it in time, the appendix can be removed laproscopically, through the belly button, before it perforates. Jeff's pain was quite severe right away, and by the time the surgeon got there, his appendix had ruptured. There was a hole in his lower intestine, so to speak and some nasty stuff was coming out of it. This is the point where you get peritonitis, an infection of the peritoneal cavity. It's very severe and it had gotten to that point with him. That's also why they had to make a regular incision, and why his recovery is taking as long as it is.

Priorities

While we were all at the ER Friday, waiting for Jeff to be seen, I kept thinking, "I have to be out of here by no later than 4PM in order to get to dance class on time." If it had been a regular class, I wouldn't have cared, but this was the Finale Rehearsal, and it's been drummed into us that it is mandatory--miss this, and you don't dance in the recital.

We did make it in time, and some of the other moms were teasing me about Dance being more important than Dad (at this point, there was still hope that it was not his appendix, just an extreme case of the stomach flu). This is how the imaginary monologue conversation went:

"Honestly, hon, I'd be rather be here with you the whole time, but we can't miss Dance. No, of course you're more important than Dance class. It's just the one time we can't miss. Well, and pictures next Tuesday for Lauren. And pictures Wednesday for Sarah. And Dress Rehearsal on Thursday. And of course, the recital on Friday. Any time other than those, and you're at the top of the list. Really."

The real kicker of all this is that Jeff had been asking if he had to stay through the entire recital. "We have to sit through the whole thing? We can't cut out at intermission, once our kids are done?" My stepdad is already getting ready to tease him about the extremes to which he'll go in order to avoid sitting through two hours of dancing, heh.

In medical news, Jeff is feeling better, although that's still a relative term. We're hoping he can come home in a few more days.

Since I'm awake anyway . . .

I might as well blog about why I'm awake.

I got home from the hospital about 45 minutes ago--Jeff just had his appendix out. It had perforated, and the surgeon said it was pretty ugly. He'll be in the hospital at least three or four days, maybe longer. His total recovery might be as long as a month.

My awesome in laws picked up the kids for a sleepover, so I could be at the hospital without worrying about a babysitter having to sleep on the couch.

I really do need to go to bed.

Garage Sale Weekend

Clean House, it ain't. Honestly, I would love for Miss Niecy to come and deal with all my "foolishness" and bring a crew to get rid of all my crap.

Short of that, we are having our own yard sale. Yesterday went well enough, to the tune of about $150 and a sunburn for me. I realized that I needed to get all the utterly adorable baby clothes that no one is interested in off the table so that people realize that the table itself is also for sale. But what to do with the clothes? I fear that putting them on a blanket on the ground will only make them less appealing, if that's even possible.

Eh, whatever doesn't sell gets donated, although I'll probably cull the best of the clothes for my niece anyway.

Sarah also has a dance performance this afternoon, and then a birthday party, which means that she & Daddy will have to make a trip to Toys R Us this morning.

Summer

Stolen from Snapper

Cookie Monster is probably my favorite Muppet, after Grover.

You Are Cookie Monster

Misunderstood as a primal monster, you're a true hedonist with a huge sweet tooth. You are usually feeling: Hungry. Cookies are preferred, but you'll eat anything if cookies aren't around. You are famous for: Your slightly crazy eyes and usual way of speaking How you life your life: In the moment. "Me want COOKIE!"

The Sesame Street Personality Quiz