Anna Skamarakas

It’s Monday and I should have written lots of stuff like the prep kit I have to take and the clear liquid diet I am on and how great my husband was in taking me out for yet another last meal. I think I had 30 or 40 last meals.

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Jim and I have been talking about taking a trip to Ireland.  It’s a tough thing to plan with three kids, three vastly different ages.  To do a bus tour - the best thing for seeing everything you want to see in the most efficient way - you have to be 8 years old.  That leaves out two of our kids unless I wait 2 years, which still only allows us to bring one more child.  Do we not take any children to be fair and just go ourselves?   That seems harsh - especially to Brighid, who would love nothing more than to go to Ireland.  We’re starting the research now, and we’ll see if this ends up being  a second honeymoon or a family vacation.

Cast - Mom Anna (41); Dad Jim (29 - for the 10th year in a row); DDs Brighid (so close to 15 she can taste it); Eilis (5); and Granuaile (15 months)

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Fulton’s Crab House  June 16th, 2006
Dinner - a bowl of crab and lobster bisque; crab cake entree with vegetables; grilled opah with pineapple glaze and butternut squash; half order of steamed snow crab legs Approximate Price of Entrees: An arm and a Leg ($112.00, with no alcoholic beverages)

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Day 1 will forever be known as “The Day Mommy had her nervous breakdown”. We are scheduled to leave IMMEDIATELY following Brighid’s final - final exam, which ended at 9:45 AM on Thursday.  The deal was we would pack the car and everything up on Wednesday.  I didn’t factor in things like the fact that my husband was in Boston and wouldn’t be able to carry all the stuff out to the car or entertain the baby while I packed stuff.  I didn’t factor in the last minute sleep over Eilis was invited to at Dram’s house (my mother), meaning that Grace would have NO ONE to entertain her for any length of time.  I also forgot to factor in the studying Brighid would need to do.  Wednesday night came, and at midnight, I was still folding clothes
and packing the suitcase.  Having been up the night before with a teething baby, I was running on fumes, and not looking forward to the drive the next day. So, I picked Brighid up from school, I am already stressed that I don’t have everything done, and we head home so we can finish up and be on the road by
11 - I hope.  As it gets closer to 11 and I start to find all the other stuff I haven’t done, I start freaking out.  I am panicked over that DC traffic, and now that it’s summer, I want to be through DC by 2.

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We saw Dr. Nina today for Gracie’s 15 month check up.  I can’t believe she is 15 months old already!

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I have just gotten in from having dinner with my cousin Peggy.  Growing up, my Aunt Franny and Uncle Ricky had two children - Peggy, who is 9 months younger than me; and Rick, who was 11 months younger than Bean.  We lived down the street from my grandparents, and any time Peg and Rick would come, Bean and I would be there.  We played together great as kids, and often had sleep overs at my Aunt Franny’s house as we were growing up.  We put on little shows in my aunt’s basement, and we read comic books together, and we just always enjoyed being in each other’s company.

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Today was the day I met with my primary care doctor, Dr. Heck, to see if I would be medically cleared for surgery.  He said, essentially, that he would give me the clearance, but on the tests that were done, it showed my blood sugars as elevated.  He is having me repeat the test, along with the hgA1c, to get a feeling for how much he should be worried about it.  Then he is faced with the dilemma of either putting me back on the Glucophage to lower the sugars, or wait until after the surgery and see if the weight loss has the effect he expects it to, and my sugars will be lowered with the weight loss.  I see him again next Tuesday, just 3 days prior to the clearance having to be in Dr. Nusbaum’s hands, so hopefully, there won’t be a roadblock when the new blood work comes back.

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Fit I am not.  We joined a gym - the whole lot of us!   Jim, Brighid, me, and my stepmom Ann all joined Royal Fitness last night.  Ann had off from work today, so Brighid and I met her there to do a little exercising.  We all have meetings with the fitness trainers set up so we can get a workout routine going, but today we were just winging it.

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I completed the last of my pre-op testing today with a chest x-ray.  I was scheduled for 11, but arrived a little early after dropping Grace off at my mom’s.  Eilis is already there, spending the week and going to swimming lessons.  They took me right away, and I was back in the car before 11 o’clock
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