Saturday, July 5, 2008

To the 4th of July...and beyond!

After I posted the other day we had another scare- Liel woke up about 2 hours later in a screaming panic and couldn't draw a normal breath. The hospital had given her a dose of penicillin (had I been thinking clearly I would have refused it- the plastic surgeon said she did not need antibiotics) and one allergic reaction to it is difficulty breathing. I got dressed and prepared to take her to the hospital again, which upset her even more. I'd tried talking to her about it before but tried again, explaining why I thought she might need to go, her difficulty breathing etc., and suggested she try to be calm, and sit with me and see what happened. Eventually she did calm down enough to slow her breathing and so we decided not to go. She wanted me to sleep with her and I didn't want to leave her alone in case it started again- our disagreement was about where to sleep. I wanted her to come to my big bed, and she insisted on her twin bed. She won. I dozed a bit until 430am when I crept back to my room and lay awake for 20 minutes feeling guilty and anxious (what if she woke up and was scared? Or her breathing (which had been perfect) got bad again?) and then I slept.

At 10am we had Zion's schoolmates who were still in town over for a playdate. I'd made hummus and bought cherries and blueberries the day before, so we finished cleaning up, sent Robert to Target for more children's Advil (her nose was bothering her a fair bit) and made pita bread. We had a great group of kids and parents over for a few hours and it was fun, even though we were tired!

In the evening we went over to Craig and Vivienne and Valentina's house for a BBQ. It was yummy and fun, and we could see the fireworks (not perfectly but well!) from their yard. It was the first year we'd seen the Nyack fireworks since we usually go to Manhattan. The Nyack ones were about what you'd expect for a little village- nice, but nothing to write home about.

So imagine our surprise when we started home! The village streets were PACKED. Traffic was at a standstill, lights turned green and red and green again and we didn't move at all. Most annoyingly there I didn't see a single cop helping with the traffic, which really, really needed help. Robert and I were cursing our decision to drive to the V's house. We normally walk (it's about 1.5 miles) but had driven since we'd be out late and wanted to get the kids home quickly. Yeah. It took us 45 minutes to get home, and I drove over two sidewalks to facilitate that process. It blew.

Anyway, Liel is in fine spirits. Her nose and the forehead about it is swollen, but she is cheerful and wonderful as always. This evening Mr. Faux and Kaori are coming up and having dinner and we are giving them our crib and other baby things for their little one (due in a couple of weeks!). Menu: hummus with snap peas and carrots, Israeli style pilau with nuts and currants, green salad, and Indian-Jewish spice cake (it has cashews and almonds and raisins in it! I've never made it before- hope it's good. It SMELLS good.).

4 comments:

the main stitch upholstery said...

you could have walked home faster than the traffic allowed you to drive. i would have been upset with that as well. i hope liel gets better soon, so sad to see hurt short people. i always want to give them big squishes to make them better, hugs cure everything. and yes, it was the right decison to sleep in her bed. i have to do it sometimes too, although they usually want to get in mine.

Unknown said...

I think the universe needs to schedule you for a day of rest.

The cake sounds yummy. Please let us know how it turned out...and the recipe.

Melany said...

Poor Liel and poor Momma and Daddy! What a night! Hope the rest of the weekend went a little smoother.

BirdEtt said...

yes, the recipe for the jewish spice cake please. the pilau too... but i probably have that or something similar stashed away somewhere.
driving sucks. phoenix... gross for that sort of thing.