Oliver's baptism

Oliver was baptized this past Sunday. It was a lovely day, and a beautiful service. Our priest gave such a wonderful sermon - he had me in tears. He's going to give me a copy of it, and I'll try to remember to post all or part of it here. Oliver was a little fussy leading up to the baptism part, but as soon as he was handed to Fr. Nicholas, he looked up at Nicholas and gave him the most beautiful smile. Then smiled every time the water was poured on his head. We had a lunch/party afterwards, and despite a couple of snafus (cake wasn't ready on time, then the damn deli tray dropped - Safeway replaced it at no charge, and had the new one ready in 15 minutes, great customer service), it was everything we could have hoped for, with our families and friends. Have to give a shout out to my good friend Sylvia too - as she has always done in all the years I've known her, she helped me keep it together. She took me to Safeway to pick up the cake and sandwiches, and helped me get the cake home, then went back to pick up the new tray, and somehow kept me from totally dissolving into a puddle of tears in the process. She rocks.


We were fortunate to have all of Jon's siblings and his mother fly in for the weekend! It was nice to have everyone together. Natalie loved having her aunts (she's Aunt Elizabeth's stalker), uncles and cousin around. She refers to Will (our nephew) as "Cousin Will", and was sad to see him go this morning. We're looking forward to seeing him again soon - he's a cool little dude. He has a wonderful smile and laugh.


Grandma Carol and Aunt Jamie got to see Natalie have a soccer lesson on Saturday, while Elizabeth and I went to Costco to stock up for Saturday night (we had a big BBQ with all of our out-of-town visitors, my parents, and Fr. Nicholas and his partner Rex), then we just played in the pool until cookout time.


I'll be posting pictures after I get this posted. We're heading to the mountains on Thursday, so I probably won't update again until early next week.


Here's Oliver smiling up at Fr. Nicholas.



Oh, and in other happy news... We heard from Sara and Kyle this morning - she is ten weeks pregnant and had an ultrasound this morning. They got a great shot of Baby H, which they shared with us! Nice strong heartbeat, and baby was moving and grooving! Can't wait for April '09, so we can meet the newest member of the family!

Building a strong immune system - one "step" at a time

Lame pun intended.

Me: Natalie - get your shoes - we have to leave for the dentist.
Natalie: I can't
Me: Yes, you can. Just get your Crocs.
Natalie: I can't. Oliver is grabbing my feet.
Me (looking over): You shouldn't have your feet near his face anyway.
Natalie: Well, he needs something to suck on.

*shakes head*

First visit to the dentist!

Natalie had her first dental check-up today, and was a champ. Unlike her mother. I'm phobic about dentists - even ones I trust. I've had a lot of work done, and a very bad experience at the dentist in my early 20s. Luckily, since we moved back to AZ, I was able to take us to my wonderful former dentist, who I found through Mitz (she's a long time patient, thanks for the shitty teeth genes, Mom! :-P) So, as per usual, even for a cleaning they had to gas me. And crank it up as high as it would go - the assistant was incredulous that I needed gas for a cleaning, then once she got underway, she asked me if she should turn it up. :-)

Anyway, when I came out of the lovely gas fog, I asked where Natalie was and if Jon was with her - her appointment was an hour after mine, and it was 45 minutes past her appointment time. Jon came with us because I didn't want her to see me panicking while I was being worked on. They told me she was one cube over, and all by herself! I went in there, and she was lying in the chair, clutching Oliver (her teddy bear) and two stickers, and wearing bright green sunglasses with stars shaped frames, just as cool as a cucumber! They told me she did very well - they got to do everything they needed, minus X-rays (they don't usually do them on the first visit with a young child - too much for the kiddos), and I was there when Dr. Rush examined her - no cavities! I was so proud of her - I can't believe how well she did, and all by herself! Jon offered to go with her, but she wanted to go on her own. The staff, and Dr. Rush were just wonderful with her; I'm so glad her first experience was so positive, and with them!

Let's not even talk about how much work I need done, including three crowns that need to be replaced. Oy. Unfortunately for the kids, this office only uses porcelain for all their work - so they can't even rob my mouth for gold to sell when it comes time for college tuition. :-P

Bunny sheets

Little Miss and I were out running errands yesterday, and we stopped in Ross to see what was there. We were in the sheet aisle, when I noticed that they had a bunch of Playboy brand sheets - another customer and I were cackling over them. I mean really. Playboy sheets?

Then I hear Natalie saying "Mommy, I want some bunny sheets!". Naturally, she was pointing to a set of bronze striped satin sheets, with Playboy written in black script all over them, complete with the PB bunny logo. The lady with whom I'd been laughing started laughing even harder, managed to get out "Good luck with that" and went around the corner. I could hear her laughing two aisles down.

Daddy's girl....

*heart*

Natalie and I had the following conversation today:

I heard her moving around in her room this morning, and went up to investigate. She had rearranged all of her framed pictures in a line on her dresser, which was fine, and put a little bottle with colored sand in it next to the line of pictures. Then she picked up this little card my mom gave me at my baby shower, with her name and its meaning on it. She started "reading" it to me, imagine her smacking her lips every other word too, for emphasis.

"Dear pictures, I love you. You are going to get a lollipop. Yes, a lollipop."

Me - trying not laugh

Natalie - "Don't laugh Mommy"

"Then you are going to get treats because you make me so happy, like, Cheetos, candy, Goldfish, another lollipop, fruit, and a beer. Yes, a beer". (at this point I lost it, and we were both laughing). Points to the bottle - "this is my beer, mommy, you like it?"

Ahoy, mateys!

Oliver wanted to celebrate International Talk Like a Pirate day. We were happy to oblige. :-P




Shiver me timbers!

And if you look really, really closely, you can humor me and pretend you see his new teeth! I see them!

Holy moly

Oliver weighs 20 pounds! I think Natalie was just 16 at this age. I took him for some shots today (we're getting monthly shots, and no more than two per visit) and had them check his weight. He gained two pounds in the last month! If he keeps this up, next month he'll be half Natalie's weight - she's been holding steady at just about 42 pounds this year. Buy stock in Similac, he's not even a teen and he's eating us out of house and home. Skeezix has the most delicious rolls, and I had to laugh today. Jon had him up on his shoulder, asleep. Skeezix's shirt rode up, and all you saw was a big tummy bulge, with a roll at the end. Delicious!

First note sent home from school

Natalie had a note from her teachers in her backpack today. It said:

To: Natalie
From: Mrs. B and Mrs. S

You made me happy today when: you were a good friend to our new student. *heart*

I saw Mrs. S. when I picked Natalie up, and she told me that Natalie had been very sweet and helpful to the new girl. The note in her backpack was a pleasant surprise! That's going in her baby book! I'm so proud of my girl!

Open apology to fellow patrons at Obsession Nail Spa this afternoon

My mom and I just can't behave. We try, but something always goes awry. So even though our fellow patrons from this afternoon will likely never read this, we apologize for interrupting your relaxing nail treatments.

Mitz very kindly lent me her toenail polish, as I was tired of mine. Her generosity didn't come without strings though. She decided to write on both of my feet with hot pink polish. Phrases that should not be repeated in polite company, big letters. We took pictures with my phone, but I'm not sure I'm going to share them. Suffice to say, she had me laughing so hard, I was crying and almost wet my pants. Of course she blames it on me daring her to do it (I really didn't think she would). I pointed out that she doesn't have to do everything I tell her (sound familiar, moms?), but if that were the case, I'm telling her to vote for Obama. That got a big, fat no. I'll keep working on her. *evil grin*

I got home and told Jon, and he started laughing, shook his head, and told me that we are both a-holes. :-) Nothing fazes him anymore.

Two-fer toofer

While watching Natalie at soccer today, Oliver was chomping on my thumb, as usual. This time though, I swore I felt something sharp. Had Jon check, he agreed, so then I held his mouth open.

Two teeth! *tears* His bottom lateral incisors (I only know the real names thanks to his baby book chart) came in sometime overnight - both are clearly through the gum, and completely through. We went out to dinner with Mitz and Pops last night, and they weren't in then - he was alternately chewing on my thumb and Mitz's. He had a couple of screaming fits at the pub, which threw us off, but we didn't think his teeth were actually breaking through!

I'm so excited for this milestone, but at the same time it is bittersweet. To me, there's something so endearingly sweet about toothless grins in infants, and since we're "two and through", I wasn't in a rush for Oliver to get teeth. Now, of course the jack o' lantern grins are every bit as sweet; there's just something about that milestone that really drives home to me that he isn't going to be a baby forever. And Natalie is quickly closing in on four. It doesn't make me regret our decision to stop at two, it's more like I wish (most times, haha!) the two I have would just slow down a little.

I also promise not to become freaky-deaky like the mother in the kid's book Love You Forever. If I do though, please do us all a favor and put us out of my misery. :-P Seriously, there's something just wrong about a book that has a woman driving across town, climbing into her grown son's bedroom window and rocking him. If anyone reading this actually likes this book, no offense intended, different strokes and all that. :-)

Oh, no pictures of the teeth either. I have to hold his mouth open, and hold his tongue down to get a one second peek at his pearly whites - forget trying to snap a picture!

Squash meets with his approval

So much for holding steady with cereal for a while. The boy just wants to eat, and he wants some variety. We've had him on baby oatmeal for a week now, and today I tried squash for lunch. He loved it! So, solids.... Here we come!
I have a video, but it's from our new camera, and blogspot can't recognize the file. Damnit. I'll see if I can do something else with it.

Oliver is 5 months old today!

Happy 5 month "birthday", Skeezix! We couldn't imagine life without you, and nor would we want to!

He's growing like a weed. In some ways, I wish he'd slow down. Time passes so fast, and I'm so proud of every new thing he learns, but I'm also in no rush for him to grow up either. Natalie is almost four, and I just can't believe it.

He's rolling all over the place now - he will often roll himself across the floor to get somewhere, much like Herself did. He sleeps in the funniest positions - his favorite seems to be a backwards C curve - can't see how that's comfortable, but he sure seems to think so! He LOVES baby oatmeal - we can't shovel it in fast enough, and is still working on his bottom teeth. He's rashing on his cheeks and nose, so I think it won't be long until those teeth come in (he chomped on my arm so hard and for so long this afternoon, he gave me a hickey!). Oliver is a jumper, again like big sis - he loves the Jumperoo, and will jump in your lap. He has the best laugh - just an unabashed delighted squeal - and Natalie can really get him going! He loves to watch her, and if she's nearby, he always reaches out for her. O loves when you go in just below his ear, where his jaw meets his neck and either nibble loudly, or give lots of kisses - that almost never fails to get a belly laugh. He reaches out for toys all the time now, and is really showing quite the interest in everything around him.

Here's our guy!

Compliments

Had to go to Safeway the other day to pick up some prescriptions for Natalie (no, she's not sick, it's time to start phasing out her old, unused Epi-pens). As I was leaving, some guy of questionable looking character yelled "GodDAMN homegirl, you SMOKIN'". Looked around, and I was the only female out there.

5 years ago I would have flipped him the bird, said something smart, or ignored him. But you know, being 35, the mother of two (and only being 5 months PP with the belly flab to prove it), I'm not going to lie. That put a bounce in my step.

And I couldn't wait to get home to tell Jon how hot I am.

:-P

Youder, youder!

Natalie speak for "louder, louder".

Sometimes the drive home from pre-school can be so entertaining! Today, Natalie was in a dancing mood, and the radio cooperated. She had me blare "You're the One that I Want" and "Wooly Bully", and rocked out in the backseat. At one point we were stopped, and she had the car shaking! I will say, I could have done without having to blare "The Long Way Home". The child has some odd musical tastes. :-P

Weekend stuff

I haven't updated in a couple of days, not too much has gone on, but here's the latest.

Natalie contracted pinworms at pre-school. Gross, but I guess it's just the first in a long line of fun stuff she brings home from school! When I took her to the doctor, she noticed this rash that Natalie has had on her rear for a while. Since she has so many skin issues, we thought it was due to still having to wear nighttime diaper-type pants to bed, but apparently it is Folliculitis. Teens get it a lot too - it's a contact/sweat type thing. She was given Keflex for it, and I swear that shit is made by Satan. She has been markedly different since taking it - so bad that we stopped it today and I'll be calling her pediatrician tomorrow. When she gets a dose, shortly after the poor kid is just out of control. All over the place, can't sit still, can't concentrate on anything, she's a hot mess at bedtime. I asked her how her medicine made her feel, and interestingly, she told me it made her feel like this: - she started jumping all over the place, shaking her arms and legs out. She's still having some trouble today, but not quite as bad, so hopefully it will get out of her system soon. I read online that an adverse effect is agitation.

Yesterday I attended my first ECW (Episcopalian Church Women) meeting at our church. It was nice getting to know some of the other women, meeting those who attend the 8:00 service - we go at 10, and learning more about what the ECW does. It reminded me quite a bit of the old American Legion meetings that I used to go to as a kid - my family was heavily involved in the AL. Our priest joked to me today that I brought the average age in their ECW group way down - our parish is just starting to get some younger families in.

Today our church launched their new Children's Ministry - Sunday School starts next week. I've been helping the director, and will continue to help with crafts and corralling children during class, and in other capacities as needed. Our church has been without a children's program for a while, due to there being no families with little kids, but that's changing! The Sunday School program will be great for the kids, and I'm very excited to be a part of it. All of the families and CM helpers processed in this morning, and the whole service was very kid-oriented. During his sermon, Fr. Nicholas had all the children come up and sit with him while he spoke about children in the church, then he showed them around the altar, the baptismal font and other things. It was really nice for the kids, and very welcoming. He told a little story about Natalie too. We had him and his partner over for dinner a couple of months ago, and when we told Natalie that Fr. Nicholas was coming for dinner, she asked us if he was "bringing God with him", so he used that in his sermon.

Other than that, not too much else. Mom and I got out for a couple of hours yesterday. Jon did yardwork this afternoon - I can't wait until we kill the grass and get rock. Seriously. Grass in the desert is just asinine. Not to mention, our lawnmower broke, so I'm especially bitter. :-P

Pops is home!

Pops was discharged this afternoon. He needs to take it easy, and will have many doctors appointments for the time being. We're glad he's out of the hospital!

Mini-me

Jon's out of town on business, which makes dinner and bedtimes kind of hairy at times. Tonight was no exception. I was trying to get dinner going to where I could leave it simmer, then feed Oliver. He was having none of it, and was carrying on in his piano/exersaucer thing. I turned around to find Natalie, hands on her hips, lecturing him.

N - "You are screaming. You don't scream in this house" (yeah, she got that one from me)
O - *screech*
N - "That's 1"
O - *screech*
N - "That's 2"
O - *screech*
N - "That's 3. You get a time-out".

If only she practiced what she preaches!

And then at dinner (tacos, so messy night), she looked at me at one point and out of the blue said "Little girls make big messes. That's what little girls do".

It's amazing what she comes up with!

Lots o' stuff

Natalie's bloodwork came back - checking for blood disorders that could possibly be causing her nosebleeds (hasn't had one in a week though *knocks wood*). Everything is normal, so it's most likely the heat and/or dry climate causing them.

We also met her new allergist yesterday, and like her a lot! She told us that 20% of children outgrow peanut allergies by age 6, and she means completely outgrow - clear on the RAST and skin tests, do fine with peanut challenges. Since Natalie just reacted to peanuts, either by inhalation or coming in contact with a tiny amount, that doesn't bode well for her outgrowing them, but it doesn't rule it out either. We'll keep our fingers crossed! Her doctor also feels that we didn't necessarily need to remove shellfish from her diet - she tested very low on those and that could just mean that she's sensitized to them, but won't necessarily react - and given that she never had reacted, we probably could have kept giving her crab. Since we stopped giving it to her six months ago, we run the risk of shocking her system since we stopped her steady exposure. So, in a couple of weeks, we are going to go back to the allergist's office and do a shellfish challenge there. We'll start with a gram of crab, watch for 15 minutes, if no reaction, we'll keep upping the amount until she has a full serving. They have a challenge room, with a TV for her to watch while we wait, and they'll obviously be able to quickly help her if there is a reaction - which makes me feel better. That's not something I'm really willing to attempt at home. Small thing, but she does love crab, and knowing how much I love it, it killed me to take it out of her diet. She doesn't know what's she's missing with peanuts.

Oliver seems to object to rice cereal, period. The stinker. Not that I blame him - that shit's nasty in its blandness. I think Natalie wasn't fond of it either. We were at the hospital visiting Pops last night, and Natalie wanted to eat dinner at the cafeteria there. I think she just likes being able to load up a tray with all kinds of stuff (wait 'til she's old enough for Vegas, and the buffets there!). Anyway.... We were sitting eating dinner, and Oliver got angry. I grabbed a tiny bit of Mitz's mashed potatoes and fed them to him. He was in love, and no problem with the spoon. I couldn't get them in him quickly enough - every time my hand came near him, he'd grab it and shove the spoon into his mouth. It was so funny! We finally had to cut him off.

Pops is hanging in there. He may be home tomorrow! He has a long road ahead of him - multiple doctor visits a week, probably light duty at work, but we'll just be happy to have him home!

Latest on Pops

We took the kids to see Pops today. He looks and sounds so much better. Once we fed the Tyrant, and got her in a better mood, she and Pops had some nice time together. She brought her copy of The Little Engine That Could to the hospital - if only she knew how appropriate that choice was - and "read" it to him, and also went on a walk around the floor with Mitz and Pops. We had to laugh when Pops told us that one doctor asked him if he had any pain, and his answer was "Yes, hunger pains". Unfortunately on the CardioPulmonary floor, he has no choice of menu, and everything is "perfectly" portioned.

Despite how good he looks and sounds, his condition is still serious. He was told today that he still has massive clots in his lungs, and we still don't know where they are coming from and why they aren't going away. I know many people are keeping him in their thoughts and prayers, so please continue to do so. He needs them, and we need him!

Love you Pops.