Damn you, swine flu!

JM and Mike are not going to Chicago. The more the day has passed, the more I feel like this is the right thing to do. I don't want to worry the whole time nor invest in infant size facemasks. I am pretty sure that JM does NOT have any disease, just a cough, and I'd like to keep it that way. I hate that my family will be apart during this weird outbreak, but I don't want to miss Grandma's tribute, either. Damn you, swine flu!

To go... or not to go... that is the question

Because of the swine flu "outbreak" a good family friend who happens to be a pediatric nurse is urging us not to fly to Chicago with JM to attend Grandma Lu's funeral this weekend. I must admit that I am having a lot of anxiety about it. On one hand, although his rash cleared up, he is still acting cranky and has a cough, now, to boot. On the other hand, not going will mean that we will be unable to share in the love and family togetherness that I was pretty excited about experiencing. He would not get to meet my cousin Patrick, see his adoring great aunt and uncle, etc. It's these tough everyday decisions that I assume may drive me batty for the rest of my life in parenting. The devil is getting inside my head whispering that JM may have swine flu or may be extra exposed with air travel. The person of faith in me is wondering if we could ever completely protect our son from anything, so we should just go and take extra precautions to keep his little hands clean.

Since I tend to sway on the side of anxiety, we are going to see the pediatrician AGAIN this afternoon for his advice on the cough and traveling. Mike and I will make the final call on whether to go or not based on his opinion. Now, to pray afor an end to my anxiety. I will be musing on this for the next few hours:
Philippians 4:6-7
"Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus."

Remembering Grandma Lu

Remembering Grandma Lu
Originally uploaded by our "nut" house

My Grandma Lu died yesterday in her sleep.
She was 87 and passed during her daily afternoon nap.
We are trying to finalize all the travel details, bereavement fares and getting the whole family on one airplane and it's been a slight headache.

My grandma wore the same hairstyle, one popular with Betty White and many grandmas of the age, as long as I knew her. She went to the salon each week and had her hair set in curlers and sprayed with some industrial strength spray. Every night she slept with a sleeping cap so as to preserve the look. Completely embodying a 1950's housewife/Donna Reed, Grandma was very formal and served dinner on fine china, with a tablecloth and even had placecards at family occasions. I never once saw her wearing pants or shorts. Her "uniform" was a long flowy A-line skirt with an elasticized waistband or a dress. She is the only person I knew who did her makeup at a dressing table. She curled her eyelashes and always used Oil of Olay. She and my Grandpa even slept in two separate beds conjoined by a large bedpost. Grandma was famous for her delcious gravy and her orange muffins. She and my Grandpa were very sweet together; never apart until his death in 2003. They both attended church services regularly and were salt of the earth type people. I am so happy she will be joining him now. And, I hope I live to 87 and die taking a nap. What a lovely way to go for a lovely woman....

well, no wonder

parenting is seriously going to send me over the edge.
i am learning that i am not the kind of parent who can accept bumps in the road easily and with grace, specifically when it comes to medical issues.
jm had a fever of 102 last night and again this morning. for the past few days, he's had these weird spots on his genital area, too, so i took him into the doctor this morning and sure enough, the rash looked 10 times worse in the light of the doctor's office. We saw one of the doctors, and she took a look at it then brought in the other doctor even, and they both concluded they have never seen a rash like it and both agreed they think it is a form of foot and mouth disease.

this prognosis immediately sends me into a panic thinking horrible thoughts about my poor son. my heart started racing and the anxious first time mother in me immediately starts thinking worse case scenarios. eg, JM is going to die. JM will never be able to bear children. JM has concocted a rare Amazonian virus a la Michael Crichton novel and will be the first to infect the nation. Boy in the bubble! Cover our house with saran wrap and large oscillating fans! The doctor brought me down to earth. she told me that it's good that it doesn't seem to be bothering him too much (he's been acting whiny this week, as previously posted, but he's not writhing with pain.) she put him on an antibiotic and gave a prescription for a topical, as well. We are going to keep an eye on him over the weekend and see a dermotologist next week. i hope everything is okay! he had some bumps similar to this like a month ago so i hope it's not some awful creepy crud. i guess foot and mouth is more common than you'd think? no wonder the poor little guy has not been himself. ugggghhhhhhhhhhhhh

thank you so much to my awesome mom friends who have been commenting on my previous posts. knowing that other people have "been there" makes me feel so much better. luh you guys!

AC: responsibility

Exhausted

This kid is exhausting me. Yes, that's right, this adorable baby to your left.

I just wrote this in an email and it pretty much sums up our day so far:
"He is into everything. EVERYTHING! Toilet paper. Windowsills. Curtains. Electrical outlets. Fans. Stairs. Cabinets. Toilets. The washing machine. There is no place “sacred” in this whole house! It’s pretty much a comedy routine. I put away or block one bad thing and he is two seconds later into the next. He will find something bad to play with in every room!" A room full of toys? Why play with those when you can try to turn on the fan plugged into the wall and see how fast mama comes running before you stick your finger in the slots? (fan put away, now, btw)

Did I mention that he is also whiny? I don't know what it is but our normally super happy guy is irritable and cries easily for about a week now. Temper tantrums even. Please be teeth! I hope this isn't his new personality. He is napping super long naps during the day, sleeping well at night and doesn't seem to be sick, so I have no idea what's going on. I tried today to give him a sippy cup full of milk instead of our usual bottle to start transitioning to "big boy" ways and he freaked out like it was poison, big crocodile tears and back arching. Then when I put it in a bottle, he was pleased as punch. Hmmmm.... He loves drinking water from a cup normally. What was the deal? I hope I can get him to take milk from one.

So anyway, this is a picture of him from our hike up the bluff by the 360 bridge last weekend. He loves drinking out of mama's water bottle! Here is also a lovely picture of one of his favorite activities. Pounding on the inside of the washing machine. Thank goodness God makes them adorable, as they are certainly a lot of work at this age!

AC: clarity

Earth Day, Every Day

Happy Earth Day!
This weekend I was looking out our front windows at the trees blowing in the morning sunshine after two days of rain and marveling at God's beauty. Last week in our Shack study we were talking about the "wastefulness of creation" that is, that God created this magnificent earth full of beautiful things that aren't permanent, such as a beautiful orchid that will quickly wither and die. I thought of this, as Sunday I witnessed the leaves actually sparkling in the sun like diamonds! It makes me so sad to think of how we Earthlings have abused our beautiful planet. For much of my life I thought little to nothing about where something went when I tossed it, anything from a plastic bag in the garbage bin to a cigarette butt out the car window(back in the day I actually thought it was FUNNY to say "earth day, every day!" as i did this. isn't that AWFUL!? i am so embarrassed to admit this.) It was almost as if I believed that my individual contribution to waste on this earth did not matter.

I am now older, somewhat wiser and have the greatest hope in my heart that individuals CAN make a difference in protecting our natural beauty. For the sake of my son, I am trying harder to be more aware and do my own little things to conserve. I am no earth mother, yet, but I am trying... it feels good to do it.

11 months old!

Good God! Our son is almost a year old.
He is so much fun. He is into ev.ery.thing! He no longer lets me hold him. He wants down. Even when I try to feed him a bottle, he is on the move after a few minutes. He tries to climb the stairs at least 20 times a day. We need to get a gate, I know. So far, I am never not with him so it's been okay.

He can cruise on the furniture with ease. He is still speed crawling. No walking, yet.

He can say mama, dada, baba (bottle), bella, uh oh... and the cutest thing ever, is his newest trick, which is if you ask him to point to your nose, he will grab it and say "doooooh."

He has slowed down on the eating, some. We are still doing 4 bottles a day, 8 oz at waking and bedtime; 6 oz at 11 and 4.

He is sleeping consistently (knock on wood) from 7-6:45. He naps around 2 hours, at 9:30 and at 2:30.

Plans are underway for his birthday party. It will be a small family gathering. No ponies this year. Tonight we got out his new little hippo kiddie pool from Wal Mart and grilled out with the J's and the Q's, then Johnny came by with his kids and his mom for the Mavs game. Go Mavs!

My facebook experiment

Over Lent, I gave up Facebook. Here is what I learned:
Prior to Lent, I was pretty much refreshing my 'home' page on facebook multiple times, okay at least 30 times (who am I kidding?) a day, looking at random people's pictures and statuses.

During Lent I realized a very valuable lesson. The initial sting from not logging on to FB in early Lent hurt, but in the 40 days that I gave it up I honestly did not feel like I was missing ANYTHING. I felt more present and more productive in my family... with the people living right here in my house, in particular.

I am back on FB now that Lent is over and it has kind of lost its appeal to me. Don't get me wrong. I still log on every day and do have a special spot in my heart for procrastinating by doing a top 5 list or by keeping in touch with some people but overall, I've realized that the people that I want to talk to from over the years are the same people who've I've always stayed in touch with in some other way. Facebook is just for fun. It's not my life anymore. Hopefully, I am cured.

jm walks with pushtoy 11mo

jm walks with pushtoy 11mo
Originally uploaded by our "nut" house

we were at my friend celeste's for a playdate this afternoon and JM started pushing this toy around (they have the same one we have at home, but he's never done it on his own at our house). Of course I didn't have the camera, so when we got home I got out our pushtoy to see if he'd do it again. Sure enough, he can push push push all over the house. I guess he'll be walking soon! holy cats!

A few Easter pics

DSC00078
Originally uploaded by our "nut" house

we forgot the camera at the lake this weekend. Goodness knows how long it will take for the grandparents to forward pictures, so here are a few from our camcorder.

we spent Easter weekend at the lake house with Mimi, Grandpa, Chris, Cheryl and the kids. It was fun to see JM around his cousins. Evan, in particular, is really cute with his first boy cousin.

JM continues to be really fun to be around. He slept great at the lakehouse, ate with his usual enthusiasm, didn't cry, did cute things and was good in church. We couldn't ask for more!

Thai Peanut Turkey Burgers

YUM! These were GOOOOOOOOOOOD! I will definitely add these to the menu rotation.

Source: Cara's Cravings

8oz ground turkey
1 medium carrot, shredded
1 large scallion, minced
1/4 tsp sesame oil
1 tsp chili garlic sauce
2 tbsp natural peanut butter
freshly ground salt & pepper
1/2 tsp ground ginger

2 tbsp light mayonnaise
handful of cilantro, finely minced
1-2 tsp chili garlic sauce

hamburger buns of your choice
mixed greens

Combine burger ingredients a mixing bowl and combine thoroughly. Heat a skillet over medium-high heat. Form the turkey mixture into two patties. Cook for about 7-10 minutes per side, until cooked through. Serve on buns with cilantro-chili mayo and greens.

home sweet home

We had a fabulous trip and I am sorry I've not been blogging the past week. Between our trip and Easter, I am way behind on everything and only today am getting caught up.

Trip rundown:
I missed JM REALLY badly the first day and the last day, but the time in the middle I remained in a blissful mojito haze. Yes, the cuban sugar and mint concoction has made its way to the Mayan Riviera and I feel bad for those poor bartenders grinding the sugar and mint all.day.long. They must be cursing the island of Cuba. We stayed at the RIU Palace Mexico and it was overall pretty great. I am not a huge all-inclusive fan, but we had nice facilities, top shelf liquor, perfect weather and the food was quite good. For a first trip away from our son, it was perfect not to have to worry about anything. You would never have thought the world economy was on the brink of shambles. There were tons of Europeans, many of whom were overtly topless, such as the elderly woman wearing a neon yellow thong feeding the seagulls. Lots of Americans, too. For some reason, there were a ton of Midwesterners at our hotel. These nice people from Illinois introduced us to something called the dirty monkey, a frozen concoction they were drinking out of large portable coffee cups. We didn't drink any, but loved hearing about them.

JM was great for Mimi and Grandpa and between the weaning, flights, transportation, hotel stay, etc. it was SO seamless and easy. He didn't even seem to miss us too much, which made me sad, but I was happy knowing he was good for his grandparents. I am so happy we went!

So as for goals:
My goals for our trip were:
1. Do not get killed by Mexican drug lords. DONE- it felt safe to us!
2. Read 5 fluffy beach novels. Done!
Breaking Dawn- Stephanie Meyer Loved it!
Cocktails for Three- Madeleine Wickham (Sophie Kinsella) Hated it! Read about 40p
Something Borrowed- Emily Giffin Loved it!
The Last Great Dance on Earth and Mistress of the Sun- Sandra Gulland (2nd and 3rd book in the awesome Josephine B. series- historical fiction)- Loved! Still working on the 2nd one
Good in Bed- Jennifer Weiner (add on)- Loved it! Read in one day

3. Do not wear clothing with anything other than an elasticized waistband. DONE
4. Do not call home more than once a day. DONE- remarkable only called Mimi and Grandpa twice
5. Responsible day drinking. Make it past 10pm each night and SLEEP IN! DONE
6. Speak in Spanish. Si!
7. Eat guacamole once a day. At least once! DONE!
8. Go dancing and teach Mike to salsa. Didn't do so hot on this one...
9. Wear copious amounts of sunscreen and possibly sun hat. Am no longer 24. Especially avoid burning already wrinkled chest area. Didn't do so hot on this one either! It's hard to break away from sun worshipping. Botox, here I come, I guess.
10. Sport bikini 60% of the trip. I did not wear my one peice at all. DONE
11. ENJOY! Very much so! I am proud of us for doing this. We really had a blast!