Author: Faith

A little TOO quiet

We are going over to some friends’ house tomorrow for Thanksgiving. We’re in charge of bringing the stuffing and pies and so this morning I was looking at different stuffing recipes online. Our computer is in our living room which is also where we keep E’s toys. We have a play yard set up that allows us to close off the main area of the living room to keep E contained and away from the fireplace and bookshelves.

So while I was on the computer E was playing by himself with his toys. But suddenly I noticed the absence of the electronic (he still loves playing with that table), jingly, or clacking noises he usually makes when playing. Things are just a little too quiet. So I stand up and peer over the couch.

And I see this:


The little stinker!

E gets a haircut

E has needed a haircut for at least a couple of months. But N and I both thought his hair was really cute and so we’ve been putting it off. I loved the way his shaggy baby hair fell over his ears and across his forehead–so cute! But then E’s bangs got too long and started getting into his eyes and bothering him. I was too chicken to cut it myself and so on Saturday we too him to one of those places that specializes in haircuts for kids.

Even though he was tired, E was a trooper. He sat in a little toy police car (which, when I strapped him in I noticed had a surprisingly low back to it …more on this later) and didn’t cry while the stylist wet down his hair and went at it with scissors. He did start to get a little fussy but then the stylist gave him a lollipop which kept him pretty distracted. The only time he got really freaked out was when he decided to fling himself backwards out of his seat. He almost fell but was saved by his seat belt. It took a little bit of work to calm him down after that but we did and the stylist finished up. It was pretty awesome to watch her work so quickly and so well with such a squirmy client.


I think the results turned out pretty well. I know it’s not a huge difference, but E suddenly looks older to me: more toddler than baby. *Sigh.* When did he get so big?


Belated Birthday Photos

Not actually photos from a belated birthday but belated pictures from a birthday. (You know, just in case you were wondering…ahem. Carry on.)

The hat, predictably, did not stay on for long.

E’s cousins were more obliging about the hat-wearing.

E in the traditional hanbok my aunt in Korea sent him.

And the requisite shot of the birthday boy eating (vegan) cake.

Thank you, food poisoning!

My weight-watching efforts have been sadly neglected for the last month or so. Ever since E and I got back from our trip to Seattle things have been pretty crazy around here with E getting a stomach bug, the basement repair job, work, Halloween, E’s birthday, etc… Things were just hectic enough that I didn’t feel too badly letting Weight Watchers slip from my schedule. But, ever the repentant prodigal child, I slunk into the office on Saturday to get weighed…and found out I had lost 5.6 lbs!

Thank you, food poisoning! Even though I know there’s a good chance I’ll gain it back as my body adjusts back to normal I have to admit it was exciting to hear that number. It brings my total loss to 20.8 lbs so far. (Yay!)

So I am recommitting myself (again) to exercising and eating better. I need to get in the habit of eating better now so when I finish weaning E I don’t go scarily overboard on the dairy (I’m looking at you, ice cream, cheese, pastries (a new Kneaders just opened by my house), and creamy salad dressings!).

Weight-loss aside, I am really looking forward to this week. For the first time in too long I don’t have anything urgent or high maintenance on my plate. I’m looking forward to just cleaning up the house, grocery shopping, maybe having lunch with some friends, and taking E for a few walks…you know, a nice, slightly productive, relaxing week.

…but there’s good news

I took E to the allergist yesterday. Yesterday morning I had a funny feeling that something was wrong with our appointment and so I called the office to confirm the time. But I was on hold for so long that I gave up and just took E to the office at our scheduled time. Well, my intuiton was right. It turns our that one of the secretaries had cancelled our appointment! I have no idea why and apparently neither did she. But she talked to the doctor and they squeezed us in; we did have to wait for an hour though. It was a good thing I didn’t talk to the office before we got there. If we had they would have made us reschedule for who knows how many months later.

So the allergist confirmed that E is “genetically a very allergic little guy.” The blood test he had done showed high levels of allergies to milk, eggs, peanuts and nuts. (His cashew level was at 100!) The nut-thing came as a little bit of a surprise to me since at his last appointment we only knew that he was allergic to milk. They just wanted me to avoid eggs and nuts with him as a precaution. But now that he has confirmed allergies to eggs AND peanuts AND tree nuts AND milk…well, it’s kind of daunting. I felt like crying when the doctor told me. The doctor said that it would be dangerous for E if someone who had been eating nuts kissed him on the face or changed his diaper without washing their hands (!) Also, he’s almost definitely going to have hay fever and there’s at least a 50% chance that he’ll have asthma. It’s a good thing that N and I are nerds because it doesn’t look like E is going to be the brawny captain of the football team. (Or is it because N and I are nerds that E won the genetic lottery that he did…discuss!)

But the good news is that E isn’t allergic to soy. (Yay!) Now he is free to enjoy the wondrous world of soy-based products. I’m actually quite excited. They now make soy-based cheese and yogurt and things; it will be nice to have some more options to give him. And if you haven’t tasted real cheese, then you wouldn’t know how lame soy cheese is, right? The allergist gave the okay to start him on soy formula which will maybe help him put on some weight and which hopefully he’ll like better than the Nutramigen formula. I’m still breastfeeding him but my supply is dwindling and E isn’t that interested in it any more and so once he’s established on the soy formula I’m going to wean him.

And then I’m going to enjoy me some dairy goodness.

Down for the Count: Parent Edition

N and I ate some leftovers last night that were apparently past their prime. We were both up most of the night and the fun times continued all day. It was/is horrible. Even now my stomach is churning.

In other news, E has his follow-up with the allergist tomorrow. I’m hoping that he’ll be able to start on soy milk. Details to follow on Friday.

So I guess we’re THAT family

The ugly side of autumn hit us this last week. Until then we enjoyed a gorgeous abnormally warm autumn. The colorful leaves lingered on the trees much longer than usual. But then the temperatures dropped, the leaves fell, and we got about 3 inches of snow. There’s a line of trees in our backyard that overhang the fence and when the temperature fell they dropped their leaves seemingly overnight. With the basement guys being here this last week, it getting darker so much earlier, and the several inches of snow we didn’t get around to raking the leaves this week.

But Saturday was warmer and it was apparently Official Neighborhood Leaf Raking Day. But it was also the day we had a small birthday dinner for E over at my sister’s house (ours being all torn up still from the basement repair) and so I was busy helping set it up most of the day. While I was away N and E (in the Baby Bjorn) worked on raking some leaves, but they didn’t get to the ones on the sidewalk.

On our way to Jan’s house we saw some teenage neighbor girls raking the leaves our trees had dropped over the fence onto the sidewalk. I was so embarrassed! When we came home we saw that they had piled all the leaves into a huge mound on the side of the road. I rolled our trash can out to the pile, cringing at the unearthly loud racket it made in the quiet night, and stuffed it full of leaves. But there were still at least 2 more trashcans worth left over. *Sigh* The evidence of our lax home maintenance was still there this morning. (I was kind of hoping they might have blown away in the night.)

Oh well, there goes the neighborhood!

Letter: Month Twelve

Dear E,

You turned one year old this week. It’s trite, but I can’t believe how fast this year has gone. I’ll admit that the first few months were kind of difficult; taking care of you was a big adjustment. In those early days I often keenly felt my lack of experience. But now that I have a year of being a mom under my belt I have to say that being a mother is even better than I had thought it would be.

Don’t get me wrong; sometimes it’s really hard. Last week you had a nasty viral bug. You had a high fever AND you threw up multiple times every day for a week. It was hard to see you so miserable; you basically just wanted to be held against my shoulder and cuddled. But now that you feel better you’re back to your cheerful friendly self.

You definitely are a friendly little guy. This past week we’ve had a crew tearing up our basement floor and installing drains and a pump so the basement won’t flood anymore. And every time you saw one of the guys you would give them a huge smile and totally charm them. They would return your grin and, unprompted, tell me about their own kids.

That’s something that I’ve noticed; the experience of being a parent connects you to others. It has more closely linked me to the world around me. When I see tiny babies I smile because I remember how soft and little you were at that age. And when I heard about how thousands of babies in China were harmed and others died because of tainted baby formula I cried for their parents. It is because you are my world that I know that their children are their worlds. It is because of you that I feel more invested in bettering the world around us.

Your first Halloween was this last month. You were actually due last Halloween but were quite content where you were and not ready to leave yet. It seems like it was such a short time ago that you were born and yet it also feels like you’ve always been a part of our family. We are so that happy you’re here.

Love,

Mama