My life, courtesy of Nabisco

So I've been hearing NBC's evening news promoting their series on adults caring for their parents. The latest installment seems to be about those of us who are caring not only for our parents but our children as well. (I remembered this as I carried Dad's pills up for his last round tonight but stopped by my room to give Sara her bottle first: Vicodin and steroids in one hand, warm milk in the other.)

"The sandwich generation" is what came to mind. I'm sure I didn't coin the term -- I'm not that original -- but it is appropos. I imagined myself as an Oreo cookie -- the white goo in the middle holding the two outside pieces together.

And then I realized that I, personally, would be a Double Stuf. Cause you know, there's a lot of me to love.

Smooth

Classes were cancelled at IUPUI today so Rob and I went out for a Valentine's Day dinner. I decided to live a little and ordered a Raspberry Lemondrop.

Mmmmmm.

Next time I will forgo the raspberry; I thought it actually made it too sweet. But still -- oh, so good.

The week in review

Falls: 3 (one for Dad, two for Sara)

Home care visits: 1.5 (the first lady didn't go up to see him, so I'll only give her a .5)

ER visits: 1

Sleepless nights: 8 (two for each of us: Nancy, Rob, Amy and Sara)

Days of work missed: 2

Bed changes: 3. So far.

Loads of laundry: 8? 10? I've lost track.

Arguments: More than I care to admit to.

Deaths: None. But the cars are still a little dicey.... we're definitely on borrowed time.

The way of things

Dad: Fell today. Seems a little less alert to me and a bit more confused. I'm just going with whatever comes our way. I'm not sure what else I think I can do about it anyway.

Sara: Nearly got frostbite yesterday (see below -- and no, I'm not kidding). Then she took a header off of the changing table and landed on her face. Her right cheek is purple and swollen. And, as usual, she's not sleeping well.

Rob: Also having sleeping troubles. This happens to him from time to time. It's rough on all of us. Plus he's the designated Dad picker-upper who just happens to have a bad back. And he's the resident "mechanic" who's fighting a losing battle (again, see below).

Cars: They're all dying. I'm not kidding: yesterday we got five minutes into the drive to work when we turned around because the self-destruct alarm on Dad's minivan went off and never stopped. Sara was freezing and screaming from the cold. I felt like such a good mom. Today the fan on the Mazda started to go. There are four vehicles between these two houses and not one of them is really appropriate to drive right now. I believe God is trying to tell us something. Problem is, He's not footing the bill...

Weather: Um, snowy. And cold. Yes, indeed -- there is ice on the window.

Me: Tired. Resigned. Waiting to see what happens next. I've stopped believing that there's an end in sight. There's no end. It's just a really long, bumpy road.

Amy Harrison inspired me

I have fun watching her avatar change, so I went to Yahoo! and played around with my own. It's kind of addictive.

Check out the real me over on the side bar. Pete even made the scene!