Friday, January 03, 2003
Man, oh MAN has it been a long time!!
First of all, let me say being without internet has been an eye-opening experience. It was hard at first, being as I had developed some pretty strong friendships online and without a computer, I lost my way to communicate with them ... I stupidly had my father help us upgrade to Windows 2000 without backing up stuff and losing information into the bowels of the computer. Some I've recovered, some I haven't. I will say that giving up the internet is something I had considered for a while before the "crash", and during the holiday season, it was honestly the best thing, I think. But if it had been a choice instead of actually losing our modem, I don't know how successful I would have been.
Don't get me wrong, I do have some self-control, but without friends nearby (read closer that 30 minutes away) and with Parker being as sick as he's been, going to someone's house or having them come here hasn't been too feasible. All in all, I think the break has been good. It has not been as easy to cook (looking through recipe books instead of hopping over to AllRecipes.com hasn't been a highlight) and trying to find immediate answers hasn't been easy either (they need a Google hotline). I think the biggest difference was how lonely I'd get sometimes. With no modem, Jeff had to go into work early and stay late to bid on E-Lance, so I wouldn't even have him in the same house to talk to, to have him watch Parker while I went to the bathroom or showered ... little things.
Luckily we had just purchased a phone card to use for long distance or our phone bill would have been awful. My poor parents. Especially my dad (who often gets home before my mom). They got to listen to me call just to sit on the phone and droll on about the weather or some such. It was bad. Especially when Parker was really sick and would whine all the time ... and then I would be sick too. Speaking of being sick. As I'm sure you are aware if you read Jeff's side, Parker's doctor has decided that he has asthma. If you can't tell, I'm still in denial about the whole thing. I mean, if you've been sick three times in less than 3 months, what do you expect? The last time he got sick still makes me a little angry. We have this playgroup, that I THOUGHT had an unspoken rule of "don't bring sick kids", and I find out afterwards that one of the children was sick, and my child was playing with them. Three days after playgroup, Parker is pretty sick. Hmmmm .... correlation or causation?
Anyhow, I've decided to keep him out of playgroup (sigh) until I know he's been well for a while and we've at least past a month since he's been previously sick. If he does truly have asthma and it is brought on by being sick, how careful must I be about keeping him away from other sick kids? How do I make that determination? I mean, if the first several days of being sick have no symptoms, what then? I can't just keep him out of groups forever. And I really have to wonder if this (asthma) is why he's had several "mini-colds" his first year, enough for me not to take him to playgroup or the post-partum lunches. What would he be like if he were in a daycare environment? Better because he'd be more exposed to germs and would have developed more immunities to them? Worse because he'd have gotten sick more often and one parent would have had to be home with him while he needed breathing treatments thus not working? Asthma. Still can't wrap my brain around it.
Well, although this is my first time back, I have too many thoughts to stay up and write down now. I hope to get some more time soon, but along with not having internet for so long, other things have creeped in and taken precedence over this device, and I make no promises.
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