Sunday, June 24, 2007

Oh, my bleeding heart....


Bleeding Hearts, originally uploaded by msbellee.

Yes, I'm still alive. And I apologize for having not written an entry here in so long. But like the picture and the title of this entry, that's how I feel.

Kevin and I returned safely from the mountains two weeks ago, saying goodbye to Granny for a while. Kevin started crying as we were pulling away from mom's and so did I. I haven't stopped crying inside my heart yet. I miss the place and her. Part of me goes numb when I leave there and I get all empty inside. It's like I have since run out of steam and energy to do much of anything. So I concentrate on Kevin and getting him to his summer class. It lasts for two more weeks and perhaps then we can go back to the mountains if just for another few weeks before school starts. Oh, my bleeding heart....

***

The picture above is of my mother's bleeding hearts. They got bitten by frost when they first came out and then they came back with a vengeance at the beginning of June. I've never heard of a bleeding heart blooming so late in zone 6 before, but this year was unusual in its temperature fluctations. Regardless, it bloomed and was gorgeous, and it was bigger and better than ever. I guess the cold did not hurt it at all, but probably helped.

I took so many pictures while at mom's. I haven't even begun to put the last of the good ones on Flickr yet but I will get to it sometime. I did put a few more flowers up on there for you to go see. Just click on the link for the Flickr pictures at the top left and you'll see them. There was this awesome flame azalea at my sister's house as well as a knockout rhododendron. I swear it was that color pink!

flame azalea (wild honeysuckle)

rhododendron


Kevin also lost his second tooth while we were in the mountains. It was very exciting! This time the tooth fairy left him $2.00 instead of $5.00. The first amount was special since it was his first tooth. Now things have calmed down to a more manageable sum!


***


Something strange and disturbing has been happening with Kevin. He has been waking up crying, saying "it hurts, it hurts!" Very disturbing and scary. He did it for the first time about 2 nights ago at 3:00 in the morning. He looked scared and looked at me like "do something, mommy!" He could not tell us where it hurt or what hurt but just kept saying, "it hurts, it hurts." Then he said his mouth hurt. He never did vomit although I thought he was going to.

Then the next morning he woke up the same way and said the same thing again over and over again, crying, again giving me that pleading look. I did not know what to do but hold him. I asked him where it hurt. He said he didn't know. I asked him if it was his ear. He said no. Tummy? No. Head? No. Mouth? No. His answer was 'no' to everything. This time he said he felt 'sideways'. Aha! I thought 'ear'. An ear infection disturbing his balance maybe? Then he was fine again. But his appetite was gone. He did not eat supper the night before, breakfast or lunch that day, and didn't hardly touch his supper last night. (He always eats.)

Again it happened yesterday evening (Friday). I decided that we were going to the emergency clinic since it was after 5:00. When the doctor checked his ears they were fine. His nose was fine. Throat was fine. Everything was fine. He had a low grade fever of 99.1 degrees. Other than that he checked out normal. The doctor said that if it was behind the ear drum he could not see it. He gave us Zyrtec to try. Zyrtec? For this mysterious sideways hurting illness? He said he did it for seasonal allergies that I do know Kevin has and he had been sneezing and coughing just a bit lately. He said that his nose was a tad bit irritated and that if this was something ear related it could not be seen. He also asked Kevin to perform a series of movements like hopping up and down on one foot to test his balance. He passed with flying colors. It's still a mystery.

He took the Zyrtec last night and tonight and he slept through the night without a hitch. He also did not complain today of being sideways or of anything hurting. He ate his breakfast and most of his lunch. Then he ate all his supper. It's 2:47 a.m. Sunday and he hasn't cried out in his sleep yet. I hope it's gone whatever it is/was. I am now thinking it was growing pains. Who knows?

If anyone has any suggestions or experiences similar to this I would love to hear your comments. I don't want Kevin to ever suffer needlessly if I can help it at all as I'm sure any mother doesn't. Has anyone else's child ever had anything like this?


***


Now for the jewelry portion of this entry....

I have been making a few new things lately for my shop (and a lot of custom orders for my family), and I actually sold the first necklace of a new series I'm planning using some cool laser cut wooden filigree pieces. I was very excited about that sale as it was my first one to someone other than family in over a month. Here is another pair of earrings and a necklace I made with some of the wooden shapes. And there will be more coming soon!

Sol

Fandango


There have been several treasury lists I've appeared in the past few weeks and I actually created my second treasury list the other day. I featured a lot of you in it! I hope you all had fun. I did.

Between Kevin's class and driving back and forth to it, I'm not getting as much done as I'd like. But I gave myself a goal to reach by buying an Etsy showcase spot for July 12th. This is only the third one I have ever had. The first time I did it for two days back in February. Zero sales. I said I'd never do it again. But for $7.00 I thought I might as well try it again and see what happens. It gets my butt in gear to make new stuff if nothing else! I want to fill up my shop as much as I can with new and different things. I learned to handknot, so I have a new handknotted necklace that I just listed Saturday night. Go see it! It may not be a Stephanie's, Katie's or Kathy's, but I'll try! I want to be among the handful on Etsy who handknots. I really liked doing it too. It was a lot of fun.

Well, I suppose I'd better go for now. I promise to come visit you all soon and catch up on your blogs. I promise! Expect to see me there very soon!

Until next time....

8 comments:

Unknown said...

Hi Ginger! I see you're on here too. I'll be bookmarking your blog :)

Kirsten said...

My daughter has had so many mystery aches, pains, and itches in her life. For a long time she couldn't express where it hurt. Now she can at least tell me. I have no idea what has caused them. Sometimes tylenol worked. Sometimes a massage.

At one point she did have something called post-strep arthritis, even though the strep was treated with antibiotics.

Steph said...

I am sorry to hear about that scary ordeal with Kevin. My daughter often has growing pains, but she has always told me her legs hurt. I hope you are out of the woods and you have no more mystery pain!

I love, love, love your new wooden pieces. And your knotted necklace is terrific!

BellaColle said...

oh, so glad your back safely! I know how it is coming home from someone's you love dearly...Love the plants!
It must have been a scary thing with Kevin! I get allergies like that! sometime I'm afraid I'm going to fall or something... I've had enough sinus stuff to know OOps, better get the sudafed. My #2 son gets stomach aches sometimes ... and of course there are the growing pains. Hope the meds work for him! Its no fun being dizzy. Take care!
oh, looove the new stuff! beautiful as ever.:)

SilverMonk said...

Love the wooden earrings! It could be the new tooth try to come out and cause some pain! He will be fine!

Unknown said...

Oh, Ms Belle!

I missed you but I see now...

I am so sorry you have been going through such a difficult season.

Your personal heartache for home and family, Kevin's mysterious pain, slow sales, it's too much!

I hope you have found a solution with the medicine and I hope the other things work out too.

Thoughts and prayers to you and yours.

Unknown said...

Ginger,
I hope you feel better soon. I know how your heart aches when you are away from people you love.

I love all the flower pictures, keep them coming.

I learned handknotting a couple of summers ago, and I love it. That style is my biggest seller at the Museum.

{{{Hugs}}} to you.

I am thinking about you.

AnnieRoso said...

That's wood? Cool!

I know what you mean about leaving your mother. When I used to leave my parents' home, I would frequently get a stomache ache. I was leaving my safe haven. Nothing bad ever happens when your mom & dad (or just mom) are there to protect you. I still get stomache aches from time to time, even though my parents now live only 30 minutes away!

Sorry to hear about what's been happening w/ Kevin! Nothing worse than your child hurting and you standing by feeling utterly helpless. :-( I haven't had any experiences like that since Ellie got better at communicating (though it still can take some guesswork: "my swallowing hurts" means she has a sort throat), so I don't know what to tell you! Let us know how he's doing -- maybe Zyrtec was the answer?