Really? Every morning?

We live in an apartment building here in Rome. Unlike some Americans posted here, we are in a stand-alone building that does not house any other Americans. We are the only non-Italians...aside from the maids, nannies and cooks of other families who live here. On a side note, our maid/nanny/cook is American. She is also a teacher. She is also the mother to the kids, the wife to the husband and makes nothing for her hard work...except the smiles of her children. ;)
Anyway, every morning, some one in our building decides to eat tuna for breakfast. More specifically, it smells like a toasted tuna melt. Enough to make me gag. Why would they want tuna for breakfast? And why every morning?

It was a Valentine's Miracle

I am a believer in global warming. I think it is a real phenomenom and we will only understand and appreciate its truth in coming decades. However, even the most ardent of Al Gore fans would have had a run for their money yesterday in Bella Roma...
As our school week ended and we approached the much-anticipated settimana bianca (white week), when the city empties as people go skiing, Rome faced its own mini-catastrophe. Snow. Accumulating snow. As I understand, it has been 25 years since it snowed here. That means that all of the students at school had never seen snow in their town, and some international kids had never seen snow at all. It was mayhem!!!
Those of you who have trod the cobbled streets of Rome know that you must be extremely careful when crossing streets, lest you get smacked by a typical Roman driver. Not known for their safety, their law abiding nature, hesitancy to use their horn, or their cautiousness, Roman drivers are more known for their.......efficiency, lets call it. This means that they will even cut off old ladies crossing the street with a shopping bag in order to get to the light first. It means they will line up 6 deep in a three lane intersection. It means that a family of four, their dog, and their new plasma TV will pile on to a motorino (scooter, or Vespa) to get places faster. All while talking on their mobile phone and smoking a cigarette-yes, even the operators of the motorini. Driving in Rome is not for the faint of heart.
That's why school let out early. As poor as the drivers are here, at least they know it. Or at least they know that others are poor drivers (it could never be them, you know). So school released at 1:00 instead of 3:30. The snow had all melted by 2:30 or so.
But when in Rome...

What a Difference a Verb Makes...

Let me start off by saying that the title of this blog was thought up by Chris. He deserves credit for this because it is rare (and I am being generous by even saying it is rare) that he makes any kind of statement about grammar. Unless, of course, he is talking about how he quit writing me love notes because I always returned them with corrections. This is not true. I am sure, however, that if I had ever received a love note from him there would have been corrections to make. But I digress.
Maddie, at present, seems to be the resident ham at our house. She frequently says funny things and acts inappropriately almost all the time. I guess that is the joy of being four. I fail to believe that anyone would think it was cute if I lifted my dress so that all you could see was my underwear and pink boots. Maddie, however, garners fans with such antics.
Last night Chris summoned the girls to the family room because he knew that they were in Jameson's room when they should not be. Once Maddie finally made it to the family room, Chris inquired, "Where are you?" I immediately knew that he would not get the answer he wanted. Maddie looked around the room, her face reading something like, is this a trick question? She finally answered, "I'm right here." I admit it, I laughed...hard. Chris, with all of his government agent skills followed his first question with, "Well, where did you just come from?" To this question he got the answer, "I don't know. I guess the hallway." If possible, I laughed even harder. Difficult to quell the honestly of a child. :)
We are enjoying our last week of break here in Rome. Tomorrow is epiphany, which is a national holiday here. Chris does not work and the schools wait to reopen until it has passed. There is also a tradition, La Befana, where an old lady character from Italian folklore brings presents to children on Epiphany Eve. I have two days of inservice on Thursday and Friday, but school begins again on Monday.
Bring it on!!!
Happy New Year!

We May Put Him Out to Pasture...

I ask of you, "What exactly have I done to anger the barnyard population?" We, the Fitzpatricks, have had a particularly spotty, shall we call it, relationship with those favoring the pastoral life this fall. And I frankly have no idea why.
It began in October when Maddie was having trouble sleeping one night and we discovered, to our shock, dismay, and, if I may admit it, digust, that she had acquired pinworms. And when I say worms, I mean worms. While most moms know that pinworms are super common in little kids, especially in ones that put their hand in their mouths - as does thumb sucking Maddie - it was no less disconcerting to see those suckers at midnight. Jameson also seemed to have a small case, so the entire family was treated. With something called Vermox. Doesn't that sound like an inocuolation for a goat?
Jump forward to November when we apparently struggled with the swine flu. I know, I know, it's called H1N1, but let's call it what it is. The big fat fault of the pigs! That really sent us to the edge. Jameson wound up in the hospital for 6 days, Maddie was sick at home with fever for 8, as was Katie.
Now we enter December. I am finally feeling good about everything. All 3 kids are back at school. Life seems to be returning to normal. Then Jameson starts getting blisters on his hands and feet and one or two on his face. Hand, foot and mouth disease (referred to as hoof and mouth in the animal community). Again, another popular childhood ailment, but another one attached to farms??????? It is running its course...but not without other possible victims. It seems that some blisters are showing up on Chris' hands and maybe feet. I am thinking he may be paranoid, but don't tell him that. Irregardless, if it is hoof and mouth, I'm just going to put him in the yard.
Now if I could just do something about the bovine I see when I look in the mirror.....
Happy Holidays to you all!

Jameson's New Do...It's a Turkey!

Chris decided that Jameson needed a hair cut. In all honesty, he did. I was out of the house and came home to a very shorn little boy. I must say, however, that he looks pretty cute. And much too old. My baby is growing up too fast. While I do not want to go through the exhaustion of an infant again, I want to savor every last moment of his infancy. Bittersweet.

Well, Thanksgiving greeted us with sickness again this year, just like last. While Jameson and Maddie are finally feeling better (knock on wood), Katie is now going on day 8 of a fever. She did 3 days of Tamiflu, with no positive response. They switched her to antibiotics, as they felt that it had crossed the lines to a bacterial infection. She is on day 2 of zithromax and I am ready for the fever to break. It has been so long (November 5) since all 3 kids were at school. We are hoping it breaks today.

Jameson's latest round of blood results show that his liver levels are finally going down. Our doc here is still trying to figure out exactly what happened with him and is running some viral testing on his blood. She is also doing some allergy testing and a test for celiac disease, I think. Hopefully we'll know something soon. We are having him tested for allergies since Katie has a nut allergy and seasonal allergies.

We had a nice Thanksgiving here. We ate chicken, potatoes, stuffing, green beans, corn and strawberry cake. All in all, quite nice. Today the kids are enjoying a Disney Movie Marathon on Armed Forces Network (the military TV station) - Wall-E, Bolt, and High School Musicals 1, 2, &3. Chris is headed to Tuscany today for a weekend golf tournament. I have two weeks of grading to do and final exams to start writing. It never seems to end.

While November has been a looooooooooooooong month for us, we have much to be thankful for. It is a blessing that Jameson is okay and out of the hospital. A guardian angel was certainly watching over him. We hope you are all as blessed. Much love, M.

Those %#@* Pigs

In an effort to be PC (but do we really care about the feelings of pigs???) I guess that I should state that I do not directly blame the pigs for the swine flu; but who else can I blame??? Certainly not the letters H and N and the number 1, so I digress...
Well, Jameson is home. It is so good to have him here and hear him cry and laugh and make a mess at the table. Mess is bliss. All tests have shown that he does not have diabetes, as so many seemed certain. Our best guess for what happened last Friday is that he either had a febrile seizure or that he had a hyperglycemic response to the virus (note that no pigs were mentioned...). The doctors at the hospital do not like that answer, but our family doctor here told me the day that it happened that she did not think he was diabetic and that she felt it was probably a response to illness. Anyway, it is so good to have him here.
Maddie is still fighting this flu. It is a difficult fever to manage, but when she is medicated, she feels pretty good. She does get a little loopy at times, like last night when she told me she did not know where her egg was. At this point I checked her temp and dosed her with Motrin and yogurt (because all moms know that you can't do Motrin on an empty stomach...). I am hopeful that it will taper off over today and she will be on the mend. I am also hopeful that Katie, Chris and myself do not get it. Katie has been home from school all week, too. It (note again that no pigs were mentioned) is making its way around the elementary school and since she was most likely exposed, we thought it prudent to bore her to tears and keep her in the confines of the apartment. MEAN PARENTS!
Thanks to all of you for your well wishes. At this time of year it seems that we have even more to be thankful for...and perhaps I will cook ham this Thanksgiving. After all, the turkeys are CERTAINLY not responsible...
much love, m

...and so it goes

Well, a trip to the Health Unit this morning left us with doses of Tamiflu for the entire family. Maddie and Katie are both running temps, and they started Maddie on the medicine this morning. I am to hold off on Katie until tonight to see if her fever persists. The doses for Chris and myself are just in case. Jameson is already past the time when he could take it, but he is still on the antibiotics at the hospital.
That being said, Jameson's blood sugar is holding in the upper 70s, which seems to be good. He is not eating a whole lot - probably a combination of feeling a little yucky and the marginal hospital food he is being fed. We should know the results of his H1N1 today, not that it will make a big difference at this point. It seems that it is more likely that he is NOT diabetic, which makes up very happy, obviously. Chris is staying with him today, as we felt I should just keep the girls still and quiet at home. We will probably swap tomorrow.
Oh, and by the way, Maddie puked in the car on the way home. It has been a rough several days. Please keep up in your prayers.
marsha