I’ll be starting the official Thursday Weigh-Ins next week. I’m not posting my weight, but I will be posting how much I’ve lost or gained each Thursday. I took my base weight this morning, you see. I want to lose about 25-30 pounds or howevr much it takes to fit comfortably in my nonpreg clothes.

I never have trouble losing pregnancy weight. With tandem nursing it should come off even faster in theory, but I don’t think it will make much difference. I’ve noticed that the weight doesn’t really budge until all my pregnancy metabolic changes go back to normal which is easy to tell because I start losing all the hair that wasn’t shed while pregnant. (Note to self: get haircut before pp hairloss begins to avoid 2-foot long hairs all over the house.) That hasn’t happened yet so I expect to stay about the same weight until it does.

This time I want to get in shape (a shape other than ’round’) as well. My abdominal muscles are sad, folks. My thoughts lean towards yoga, tai chi, bellydancing (Sean would like that one best I bet.) I need suggestions for a good kid-friendly workout DVD because they’ll want to do it with me, I’m sure.

So there. The end of my completely self-centered non-post.

I just found out there’s a new Pigeon book!

It will be mine, my precious.

This world, I tell you.

First I discovered Cute Overload, and thought that must be the pinnacle.

But lo! What I have discovered tonight!

An entire site just for photographs of Stuff On Cats. You must click! MUST. Check out the Best of 2005 category as well.

I never get any computer time these days because the three olders use it or I’m nursing one of the babies and who wants to type long posts one-handed.

But. Here is a slight update.

Thrush is almost gone. I didn’t try to call the clinic back and get in to be seen again or anything because it was a huge hassle the first time and would only be moreso the second time… plus taking Trixie to a doctor’s waiting room again is just asking for sickness. The grapefruit seed extract is clearing it up nicely. I’m taking 500mg/day.

Trixie’s baptism is up over at Sean’s blog, with more pictures. Go look! (And here’s Gilbert’s baptism in October of 2004, with pictures of the outside of the chapel.)

Bede is talking so much more! He’s still not at typical production levels but he has made HUGE strides in that area recently. Go Bede!

Faith has been writing stories again which I am glad to see. This time she’s focused more on a single character, “Mara”, and seems to be chronicling her life from birth onwards. It’s pretty fun to watch. Sean’s assisting with the illustration.

Abby told me today that her favorite thing about me was that I am “a very kind person.” What a sweet kid! She still spends most of her time making up elaborate stories about animal families.

Gilbert has gained weight this month on mama’s milk. He’s a chubster! So nice to see. He’s also talking and will imitate anything anyone else in the family does. As you might guess that can be both good and bad.

That’s all you get for now, I gotta go to bed.

Google “[your name] was arrested” and pick the best sentence to post.

Phoebe was arrested for pushing her (in actuality, the fall was accidental), but while she was behind bars, she figured out that her hubby was no good.

via Lauren

It’s definitely not cellulitis. If I would have followed that doctor’s advice (and he wanted to give me a shot of abx right there at the clinic) I would be so very much worse now. As it is, with care when she latches on it’s only wincingly painful, not stabbing like it was yesterday.

What bugs me about the whole stupid visit is how he tried to scare me about cellulitis while simultaneously showing how little he actually knew about breast infections. Here’s a sample of the conversation.

Me: Hi, I have all the classic symptoms of ductal thrush. I’m very prone to yeast infections and I’m nursing a newborn who also has a yeasty diaper rash. I’d like some Diflucan.

Doctor: Hmm. Let me see. (looks at my breast) Well, this isn’t thrush. You see, yeast rashes always have a classic appearance…

Me: (thinking to myself) Oh hell.

Doctor: …that this does not have. This is cellulitis.

Me: Cellulitis?!

Doctor: Yes. And it will double in size in 24 hours so I’ll need to give you an antibiotic shot.

Me: Uh… I don’t think I’ll be getting a shot today. I…

Doctor: Well, if you start the antibiotics today I suppose that might be okay…

Me: Doctor M**** I don’t think I have cellulitis. I’m sure this isn’t bacterial, why, I have shooting pain on letdown which is usually a dead giveaway and….

Doctor: (condescendingly now) But you see there is no way for the yeast to get inside the nipple. I have been an ER physician for sixteen years and I have seen many yeast infections and there is always a very specific rash. The immune system will keep the yeast from getting inside the breast, there is no way, it is cellulitis.

Me: …

So. Anyway. Obviously I wasn’t going to get my Diflucan and at that point I gave up. On the off chance he was right (ha) I filled the abx and stuck the bottle in the fridge. I monitored the slight redness and it has not grown at all in 24 hours, let alone doubled. (ETA: and if I had begun the antibiotic the redness likely would have grown, as the bacteria who are fighting the yeast would have been killed. Antibiotics + fungal infection = bad, bad scene)

My mother came with me to pay for the whole shebang and hold Trixie and she’s now out $65 for nothing. How irritating.

At least now I have a nice broad-spectrum antibiotic should we need any.

Trixie and I both have thrush. She has the classic rash in the diaper area as well as a patch on her left cheek by her eye, and I have it in the ducts of my left breast. In 5 kids this is my first experience with anything beyond a mild case and my first experience with it myself.

Help. This hurts like hell.

What have you folks done for this?

UPDATE: I went to the walk-in clinic and the examining physician told me I have cellulitis. I remain unconvinced. If I do have that, it will be pretty obvious pretty quick. I filled the Keflex scrip he gave me, but I won’t take it until tomorrow - and only if the redness has gotten bigger. (I’ve marked it with a Sharpie so I can see if it grows. It looks silly.)

The reason I doubt the doctor is he really had no idea what ductal thrush was, and kept insisting that a yeast infection of the breast would always be a rash on the skin… and then he gave me some line about how it was impossible to get yeast inside the breast because the immune system would fight it off. None of that is true. At that point I stopped talking and just waited for him to finish talking so I could leave.

UPDATED UPDATE: I’m going to get some grapefruit seed extract tomorrow, per Dr. Jack Newman’s advice.

Trixie was baptized yesterday! I have here a few pictures, but really want to leave this post to Sean. She made a funny face when Father Remski put the blessed salt in her mouth and she wiggled when the water was poured on her forehead but other than that she was completely calm.

She wore the same gown that all our children have worn, made by my mother, and she looked lovely.

Welcome to the Church Militant, my beautiful child.

Our original plan was to be at a lovely little park nearby, but it rained for the first time in months. Of course. So, we had it at McDonalds.

Our friends Renee and Charles with their children Samantha and Zakary:

Two of my brother’s kids, T.J. and Sophia:

Gilbert eats french fries:

Bede momentarily worn out:

After McDonalds we headed to our house to open presents and eat cake.

Bede and Gilbert lick the candles, with help from my brother’s youngest, Audrey:

Abby wonders where her cake is:

Faith with some of her gifts:

Bede with one of his gifts:

Whew! Let’s do it again in a year, okay?

We’ve had a birthday party and a baptism this weekend, and now we have a full camera and utterly exhausted Gleesons. Except Bede, who isn’t really human, we’ve decided, but is actually some form of land otter on meth. He’s full of energy.

Pictures and more coherent posts soon! I’s pooped!