Anyone who is pondering the "nature versus nurture" question with regard to gender roles should definitely try checking out my 10 month old. He's all boy. His father and I have done nothing to make this happen. He just came out this way. Of course, this is particularly thrilling to my husband.
Not so thrilling to my husband? The fact that 'Gilmore Girls' is one of my all time favorite shows, and as such, I TiVo old episodes I've never seen on ABC Family and watch them...and as a result, my son now knows the theme song enough so that he pauses whenever he hears the opening strain, and cranes his neck toward the screen. To me? Adorable and hilarious.
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
Thursday, August 21, 2008
There Is Magic
Obviously, life is full of ups and downs. That's just the way it goes. And the downs make you appreciate the ups, don't they? I think so. Coming through a rough patch and into a good stretch is one of the best feelings there is. And it makes you feel like there really is magic in the world. Or when you've really been hoping and praying for something - whether it's for yourself or someone else - when it comes to pass, it feels like magic. Just a thought for today.
Wednesday, August 20, 2008
Eureka!
We may have had a breakthrough with B's breathing issues. Today, we went to the pediatrician for the follow up to his latest hospital stay. We discussed a lot of things, including a maintenance plan to avoid flare ups, potential ideas for pinpointing triggers, etc. At one point, the NP said, "Have you ever tried soy formula with him?" I told her that we hadn't. She said, "Well, several of my kids had a very tough time with milk and milk-based formulas. It made them wheeze, even if I had milk while breastfeeding." And it was like a lightbulb went off. I mean...I'm lactose intolerant. B's cousin had to drink soy formula beause he couldn't take the milk-based, AND most importantly (perhaps), his allergy symptoms definitely started to flare up right around the time we introduced formula. I mean, it wasn't immediate enough that it's definitely the cause, because I think if it had been, we all would've picked up on it immediately. But it wasn't the first time that the formula connection entered my head, either. And when I told my Mom about it, she told me it'd occurred to her, too. So, we're trying soy formula today and we'll see whether it makes a difference. I have a feeling it will. So...next time, I'll listen more closely to my mother's intuition.
Tuesday, August 19, 2008
Adventures, Both Fun and...Less Fun
It was a really interesting weekend. We had a wedding in Rochester, NY. Since that is a six and a half hour drive from here, we decided to leave B with my parents, since that's a really long car ride, even for a really good baby. We dropped him off on Friday morning and set out. We arrived in Rochester in the early evening, and went out for a nice, outdoor dinner. We had wings (of course) and beer (of course) on a deck, and enjoyed some grown up time. We laughed at ourselves because we missed B so much that we were looking at pictures of him on E's iPhone by the end of dinner. It was a great, fun night, though. We hadn't had a night like that in a long time.
Saturday was the wedding. We did our wedding ritual of going out to breakfast before getting ready. We got ready, met up with some friends and headed to the church. The reception was outdoors in a wedding tent, by a lake. It was really pretty, and the weather was absolutely perfect. We had such a blast at the wedding. We had a good bit to drink, since we figured this was our chance! I think we poured ourselves into bed at around 1:30 or so.
At 3:45, E's phone rang. I was still half asleep, so figured it was one of his drunken friends calling. But then I realized that he was really rather serious. I heard him say something about a fax, and all I could think was, "WHY would someone from work be calling him at 4 am on a Sunday?!" E put the phone down, and by the look on his face, I knew it was my Mom calling. I frantically asked him what was wrong. He was trying to calm me down before telling me - NOT an effective way of calming me down. Finally, he told me that B was having some trouble breathing again, and that my Mom was calling because she was thinking of taking him to the hospital, and wanted to call us beforehand. The faxing they were talking about was in case they needed a consent form to get B treatment. I got on the phone and my Mom explained that he was okay, and not as bad as he was last time, but that she didn't want to risk it getting that bad, so she was planing to take him in as a precaution. She said that my sister was on the way to her house, and that she would call me back when they had the fax number (my brother in law's) for me to fax a permission.
I hung up the phone and basically went on auto-pilot, packing up the room. E went down and checked out, and then packed most of our stuff in the car. At around 4:30, I hadn't heard back from my Mom, so I called back. She told me that they'd spoken to B's doctor, who agreed with the decision to bring him in and told them that they didn't need the fax - that a phone permission would be fine. They'd gotten B in the car and that he was smiling and flirting with my sister, which they thought was a good sign (he has a major thing for his Auntie K). I told them that we were getting in the car and would be there as soon as possible.
I called back from the road and spoke to a woman at the hospital, who took my insurance information. After that, the ride is kind of a blur of moments of snoozing, moments of road whizzing by, and moments of wondering WHY we'd gone somewhere six and a half hours away from B.
We got to the hospital around 11:15 Sunday morning. B was in an exam room in the ER, resting on his Papa's lap, smiling and laughing. He was definitely "tugging" (the term for the movement of the abdomenal muscles when someone is in asthmatic distress) but seemed in good spirits. They moved him to a private room around noon, and were doing nebulizer treatments every two hours. This time, he was still able to do bottles, so he didn't need an IV or oxygen, which was reassuring. The treatments continued through the night. I stayed with B at the hospital and sent E to my parents' house to get some sleep, since he hadn't been able to nap in the car.
By yestereday morning, he'd improved. The doctor said that if we could keep the nebulizer treatments at every four hours, he could go home at 4:00, which we did. We are still doing nebs every four hours, so I'm still completely exhausted, but at least our little adventure is coming to a close.
For anyone who's wondering, the 4 am phone call about your child really does suck as much as you imagine, and every horrible scenario really does flash through your head.
Saturday was the wedding. We did our wedding ritual of going out to breakfast before getting ready. We got ready, met up with some friends and headed to the church. The reception was outdoors in a wedding tent, by a lake. It was really pretty, and the weather was absolutely perfect. We had such a blast at the wedding. We had a good bit to drink, since we figured this was our chance! I think we poured ourselves into bed at around 1:30 or so.
At 3:45, E's phone rang. I was still half asleep, so figured it was one of his drunken friends calling. But then I realized that he was really rather serious. I heard him say something about a fax, and all I could think was, "WHY would someone from work be calling him at 4 am on a Sunday?!" E put the phone down, and by the look on his face, I knew it was my Mom calling. I frantically asked him what was wrong. He was trying to calm me down before telling me - NOT an effective way of calming me down. Finally, he told me that B was having some trouble breathing again, and that my Mom was calling because she was thinking of taking him to the hospital, and wanted to call us beforehand. The faxing they were talking about was in case they needed a consent form to get B treatment. I got on the phone and my Mom explained that he was okay, and not as bad as he was last time, but that she didn't want to risk it getting that bad, so she was planing to take him in as a precaution. She said that my sister was on the way to her house, and that she would call me back when they had the fax number (my brother in law's) for me to fax a permission.
I hung up the phone and basically went on auto-pilot, packing up the room. E went down and checked out, and then packed most of our stuff in the car. At around 4:30, I hadn't heard back from my Mom, so I called back. She told me that they'd spoken to B's doctor, who agreed with the decision to bring him in and told them that they didn't need the fax - that a phone permission would be fine. They'd gotten B in the car and that he was smiling and flirting with my sister, which they thought was a good sign (he has a major thing for his Auntie K). I told them that we were getting in the car and would be there as soon as possible.
I called back from the road and spoke to a woman at the hospital, who took my insurance information. After that, the ride is kind of a blur of moments of snoozing, moments of road whizzing by, and moments of wondering WHY we'd gone somewhere six and a half hours away from B.
We got to the hospital around 11:15 Sunday morning. B was in an exam room in the ER, resting on his Papa's lap, smiling and laughing. He was definitely "tugging" (the term for the movement of the abdomenal muscles when someone is in asthmatic distress) but seemed in good spirits. They moved him to a private room around noon, and were doing nebulizer treatments every two hours. This time, he was still able to do bottles, so he didn't need an IV or oxygen, which was reassuring. The treatments continued through the night. I stayed with B at the hospital and sent E to my parents' house to get some sleep, since he hadn't been able to nap in the car.
By yestereday morning, he'd improved. The doctor said that if we could keep the nebulizer treatments at every four hours, he could go home at 4:00, which we did. We are still doing nebs every four hours, so I'm still completely exhausted, but at least our little adventure is coming to a close.
For anyone who's wondering, the 4 am phone call about your child really does suck as much as you imagine, and every horrible scenario really does flash through your head.
Tuesday, August 12, 2008
I Just...
I was on vacation half of last week. (That's the main reason for my lack of updates.) I was supposed to be on vacation all week, but events at work dictated that I only take half the week. I was agonizing over whether to cancel the entire vacation, but...something happened at work on Monday that made me realize it was best that I take the time. I won't even get into it, but it was ridiculous. Then, I worked from home (or, more specifically, from my parents' house) on Tuesday, and was off Wednesday-Friday. I stayed at my parents' house for the week. My husband was away for work, and my Mom seemed to think it was a good opportunity for some baby hogging, which is her favorite activity. It was really a great week. It was so nice to have so much time with B and with my parents. I missed E terribly, but he came home on Thursday and stayed at my parents' house with us. I really just especially loved having that time to focus on B, without distractions. We had such a blast together. My work from home days aren't like that - I'm frazzled and being pulled in a million directions between work and B and housework. Last week, I was able to just enjoy my little boy, and it was completely awesome. He is such a fun little person. He loves to laugh and he's starting to talk now. It made going back to work this week even worse than coming back from vacation normally is, because in addition to the regular coming back from vacation nonsense, I also missed him so, so much - it was really pathetic. It's just that I could just snuggle with him and play with him all the livelong day and be perfectly happy!
Sunday, August 3, 2008
BOO to Not Sleeping
Insomnia strikes again. 3:54 a.m. and I've been up for the past hour and a half. Since B has been getting up anywhere between 4:30 and 6:00 lately, it's barely even worth trying to get back to sleep at this point. My husband is also leaving for a business trip at 5:30 (He's got an 8:00 a.m. flight. On a Sunday. Yes, I do love his company SO MUCH, why do you ask?), so I'm not holding out hope for much more sleep tonight.
Earlier today, or yesterday, or whatever, I had what I like to call an emotional reboot (TM, people!)...Basically, a meltdown. But a necessary meltdown. The kind where, you kind of get to the end of your rope about someting, and lose it for a minute, and then when it's over, you feel like you're in a place where you can face things again in effective way. This one was about moving. We're trying to get our condo ready to sell. This is tricky when we both work so far away and we have a nine month old and our weekends are largely booked. I know we can and will do it. But occasionally, the process is overwhelming to me, particularly because I'm not the most patient person on the planet. But it was really cathartic to just LOSE it for a few minutes. When I was done, we actually got down to business and got some stuff done and it felt great. My husband is the best, man. I'm going to miss him the next few days.
Earlier today, or yesterday, or whatever, I had what I like to call an emotional reboot (TM, people!)...Basically, a meltdown. But a necessary meltdown. The kind where, you kind of get to the end of your rope about someting, and lose it for a minute, and then when it's over, you feel like you're in a place where you can face things again in effective way. This one was about moving. We're trying to get our condo ready to sell. This is tricky when we both work so far away and we have a nine month old and our weekends are largely booked. I know we can and will do it. But occasionally, the process is overwhelming to me, particularly because I'm not the most patient person on the planet. But it was really cathartic to just LOSE it for a few minutes. When I was done, we actually got down to business and got some stuff done and it felt great. My husband is the best, man. I'm going to miss him the next few days.
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