Everything's coming up uh-oh

Maya's new saying is "uh-oh." Sometimes, she uses this word correctly:

She (intentionally) drops her cup on the floor — uh-oh!
She "accidentally" drops her dinner on the dog — uh-oh!

But more often than not, the phrase is her response to any situation:

We put her coat on — uh-oh!
She opens her toy box — uh-oh!
We change her diaper — uh-oh! (Well, sometimes that's an appropriate response).

But used correctly or not, it's pretty exciting to hear her communicate. "Uh-oh" joins her already extensive vocabulary of:

Ak (which refers to her cousin "Jack," or any photo of a boy)
Ba (when looking up, she means "balloon." Any other time, it means "book.")
Nana (Banana)
Eeeew (which means "moo," as in, the sound her stuffed animal cow makes — and sometimes, she's decided, her stuffed animal monkey, too.)
Da (Everything else)

Illnesses, things, etc.

Well hello there. It's been a while. So what possible excuse do I have this time? Oh it's a good one.

Last Wednesday was like any other. We took Maya to daycare, went to work, then came home. Except when we walked in the door Wednesday evening, we immediately knew something was up. There was a stench in the air, and having been down this road before, we knew what would be waiting for us upstairs.

Sure enough, we walked into the kitchen and dining room to find doggie diarrhea everywhere.

This has happened before with Rosie. She eats something outside or something doesn't sit right with her, and it's poop city. The remedy is usually having her fast for 24 hours, then start her on a bland diet for 24 hours, then back to normal food. Unfortunately, during the first 12 or so hours of this process, Rosie usually has to go out every 15 minutes.

So that evening, I was repeatedly awoken by a poor doggie begging to go outside. But in addition to Rosie's cries, Maya was also up sick. She had been battling a cold for a few days, and was up coughing and crying. So Chris and I took turns letting the dog out, comforting the sick baby and trying to sleep.

On Thursday morning, we went back to our normal routine, hoping Rosie wouldn't have any more surprises waiting for us at home. Except this time, Maya gave us the surprise.

About an hour or so after dropping Maya off at daycare, Chris got a call that she was breathing rapidly and probably needed to go to the doctor. Chris left work, picked her up and took her to the doctor, while I stayed at work, thinking Maya just had a really bad cold. When Chris got to the doctor, he sent Maya straight to the emergency room to receive oxygen. Chris called me, and I rushed to the hospital.

Turns out Maya (most likely) had RSV, which is a really bad chest infection that can lead to things like croup (something I had repeatedly when I was baby). Fortunately, her case wasn't too extreme, but she still had to receive multiple oxygen and steroid treatments. Maya and I stayed overnight at the hospital, while Chris stayed home to take care of a still-sick Rosie.

Maya was discharged the next morning and spent last weekend recuperating at home. Mostly, she was just like her normal self, except her naps were significantly longer, and she slept about 14 hours each night.

And because we had no plans to leave the house much over the weekend while caring for our sick girls, I suddenly had all kinds of time to devote to some much-needed chores. So in addition to cleaning the house from top to bottom, I also had time to get back to my Things project. However, with Maya spending most of her time sleeping in the same room I was attempting to clean out, I had to move my focus to another room. And I finally decided to bit the bullet and attack the office — the very room that prompted this whole project in the first place.

But to even begin sorting through the Things in the office, I needed to organize other Things. For example, my filing cabinets are so stuffed I can't fit anything else in them. Hence, a giant stack of bills that need to be filed. So, I started there.

And here's the part where I once again prove what a big dork I am. I save ALL my bills, ALL my credit card statements, ALL my paycheck stubs and whole lot of my receipts. Combine my propensity toward hoarding with reading, writing and editing a few articles on identity theft, and well, I have files and files devoted to financial stuff.

I decided to start with one section: any credit card statements at least seven years old, and any expired balance transfer checks (by the way, it really pisses me off that these get mailed to me, despite the fact that I NEVER use them, and that I've opted for online-only statement for all my accounts).

Thing 133

From 365 things

I gathered all these documents and started shredding. Well, actually, Chris did most of the shredding. He also took the time to read each statement before shredding it, make fun of where ever I chose to spend my money seven years ago ("You charged $3.40 at Country Kitchen!?" "Why did you go to Dillard's three time on the same day?") and repeatedly remind me that over the past seven years we have moved five times, twice halfway across the country, and each time I moved these effin' documents with me.

What can I say? I like to save things. I like to play it safe. And honestly, I really enjoy filing documents.

But you know what I'm not looking forward to filing? The effin' hospital bill we're about to get.