Happy Birthday to N!

N. and my dad both had birthdays over the weekend. Happy birthday to both!

To celebrate N.’s birthday we left E. with N.’s mom on Saturday and went to dinner and a movie with friends. We went to an MacCool’s, an pub restaurant because N. had a hankering for pierogis and MacCool’s was the only local place we could find that had them. I had the sheperd’s pie which was quite tasty.

After dinner we went to see Ironman. I enjoyed it. I think Robert Downey Jr.’s performance was good, which was pretty key to the success of the movie. And even though Gwyneth Paltrow didn’t have a lot to do, she was appropriately plucky and likable. The writing was better than I expected. Over all, I would recommend it. If you go, be sure to stay until the end of the credits – we didn’t and we missed a stinger with a cameo by Samuel L. Jackson.

Yesterday we went to N.’s parents house for a birthday dinner. It was fun to see E. and his cousin L. interact. There’s only two months between them. Right now they mostly just look at each other, but it will be fun when they’re old enough to play together.



E. has his 6-month checkup tomorrow and so we’ll see how much he weighs and how tall he is. The eczema on his face has pretty much cleared up, but the cradle cap on his head has gotten worse. Over all his skin is really improving. So goes the war!

May Day Ice Parade

The wonders of spring in Utah continue! We were one of the last houses in our neighborhood to turn on our sprinklers. We finally got around to it last week after having a solid week of temperatures in the 60s and 70s. But a cold front moved in on Wednesday night and yesterday we woke up to an ice-encrusted lawn. It was a pretty incredible sight. So I ran and got out the telephoto lens that N. had given me a couple of years ago and headed out to the backyard in my pajamas to snap some photos.


In other news, E. is doing much better since his dermatologist appointment on Monday. Getting up to the hospital and back was a bit of an ordeal, but my friend Judi graciously volunteered to tag along and I really enjoyed her company. It made the trip a lot more pleasant. Details and pictures of E. (if i get around to taking any this weekend) to follow next week.
I hope you have a good weekend!

Book Tag

I’ve been tagged by Miranda. I’m not really one for these pass-it-along-type of things, but like Mindy, I don’t want to be a party pooper. So here we go.

Rules:
1. Pick up the nearest book (at least 123 pages)
2. Turn to page 123
3. Find the 5th sentence
4. Post the 5th sentence on your blog
5. Tag 5 people

The nearest book was A Feast For Crows, by George R.R. Martin. It’s the fourth and latest book in Martin’s A Song of Fire and Ice series. N. and I both read all of the books in the series last year. I know that some people write off the fantasy genre, but these books are such good reads: well-written, epic, intelligent, and a little bit edgy. (Readers with delicate sensibilities might find some parts objectionable, so don’t say I didn’t warn you!)

So, with all that fanfare, here’s the 5th sentence from page 123:

“Have a swift safe voyage, and take care of her and Aemon and the child.”

(TOTALLY worth all of that build-up, no?)

As for tagging others, if you feel so inclined, consider yourself tagged!

Saith Strikes Again!

N. and I got takeout from a local fresh-mex place, Cafe Rio, over the weekend. There are a couple of different fresh mex chains in Utah, but it seems like Cafe Rio has the most efficient take-out service (which has become more important to me since E.’s birth). When you place your order, they give you an exact time when your food will be ready and also ask for your first name and last initial. When I went to go pick up our orders of shrimp tacos and mahi mahi tacos on Saturday (mahi mahi tacos=good, shrimp tacos=not so much), they had a little bit of trouble finding my order.

Because it was under “Saith U!” As I’ve noted before, people mishear my name over the phone quite often. A surprising number of people seem to think that Saith is a more probable name than Faith. Saith is not a name! And my last initial does not remotely sound like “U.” I guess I really should switch to using my middle name for phone orders. I tried it out a week ago and it worked well. But I felt a little weird doing; like I was being sneaky and trying to get away with something. (My hypersensitive conscience strikes again!) But it’s probably worth it to avoid the confusion.

So watch out for secret agent Saith, going under cover at a take-out restaurant near you!

No one was bowled over…

…by my mad skills. Because, um, I really stank. I guess bowling is not like riding a bicycle. I used to average about 130 back in my bowling class days, but this time I barely scored in the 80s. Oh well, at least it was better than Barack Obama did.

It was fun to see everyone from the office. A lot of people were surprised to see me and the baby, but everyone was very nice and seemed happy to see us.

And you know my boss–the one who sent me flowers a couple of weeks ago? Yeah, E. spit up on her while she was holding him–making friends! She was very sweet about it, though.

I don’t think E. has ever been in such a noisy situation before. It was pretty loud with all of the pins clattering around and so many people cheering and yelling. But he was a trooper and even fell asleep in his stroller for a while. All and all, it was a pretty fun time for me and I think a somewhat bewildering experience for E.

Dramatic results as promised

E. is continuing to recover from his infection. The results of the new medication were actually quite dramatic as the doctor said it would be. E. started on the meds on Thursday and by Saturday he looked as good as he does today. E. was so cute over the weekend. You could tell that he felt a lot better. He woke up happy as opposed to writhing around in his crib trying to scratch his face. And he was so giggly and cheerful. He’s taken lately to “talking” lately to himself or us and makes these funny groaning and cooing sounds, sometimes for 10 minutes or more. It really cracks N. and me up.

It seems like the eczema on his chin might have hit the limit of what this medication is going to do for it; today it looks a little worse than it did yesterday. I think I’m still going to take him up to Salt Lake see the dermatologist on Monday.

I stopped by my old office yesterday to pick some things up and was amazed by some of the changes. During the 5 years I was there, we didn’t have a break room where you could eat your lunch; you had to eat at your desk. But now there’s a break room AND it has air hockey and foosball tables–no fair! And it seems like they’re trying to go more team building activities now, too. They’re having an office bowling tournament tomorrow which they were nice enough to invite me to even though I’m just a contractor now. I’m a little nervous because even though I took a bowling class in college (best P.E. class ever!), I’m still pretty rusty. I think it’s been over two years since I last bowled. And I have to take E. and I didn’t know what to do with him during my turn bowling. But a couple of my friends from the office are going to go but not bowl, so they said that they would hold E. while I bowled. So he can hang out with his aunties while I embarass myself in front of my coworkers and friends.

Anyway, wish me luck. I just hope I break 100!

Project Update: Armoire Completed!

I want to say ‘thanks’ to several people who helped me with this project. The biggest help was N, of course. He was so supportive and cheerfully spent the last 10 Wednesday nights at home with E. while I’ve been at class. I’ve really enjoyed becoming a mom and staying home with E. while working part time from home, and I think one of the things that has made the transition easier is that for one evening a week I was able work on a hobby I enjoy and to relax by myself. N. was very encouraging about me taking the class, which I really appreciated.

My instructor was a HUGE help. I’ve taken the class on and off again for about 5 years and I think that sometimes he gives me a little special treatment. This time I needed about 3 extra hours to be able to get the armoire finished and so he let me come in on Tuesday morning during one of the degree program classes to work on the shop.

My mom (who was visiting my sister Jan this week) and Jan watched E. on Tuesday morning so I could go work in the shop.

My in-laws were also a big help. My mother-in-law came over a couple of times to watch E. while I went to the lumberyard for supplies and my father-in-law helped me (as he often does) bring home the armoire in his SUV.

So, here are some pictures of the finished (still need to add handles!) armoire:




Well, that’s it! Overall, I’m pleased with how it turned out. I felt like my woodworking skills improved noticeably this semester. I used some tools I hadn’t used before and was more comfortable with ones I’ve used before.

Below is a slideshow of pictures I took during the course of building the armoire.

Dramatic Results

E.’s doctor’s appointment yesterday was very productive. I went and saw the doctor that started the large group practice we go to. He seemed really competent. He said that calling E.’s rash impetigo is a bit of a cop-out because it trivializes what is really going on, which is that E. has severe eczema with a secondary infection.

The doctor also said that the oral antibiotic that the previous doctor had proscribed isn’t super effective for skin infections and he prescribed cephalexin which is specifically for skin infections. He also prescribed Desonide, a mild steroid cream. The doctor said that the most important thing is to get moisture into E.’s skin and so I need to give him two baths a day and let him soak for a while (no scrubbing of his face is necessary, just getting it wet and some mild washing) and then slather his face in the Desonide cream, the topical antibiotic the other doctor prescribed, and Cetaphil. And I’m supposed to use a stronger topical steroid ointment on any patches of ezcema E. has on his body and then put Cetaphil all over him too.

It’s quite a regimen, but the doctor said that we should see dramatic results and it should be almost all gone in a week. He said that if it wasn’t, it would be good to take him to a dermatologist, and so I’m going to hang on to my appointment until the end of next week and see. I liked this doctor quite lot. It seemed like he knew more about skin infections than the first doctor I saw.

I gave E. a bath last night and again this morning and applied all of his creams and ointments and such and I think he’s beginning to look the tiniest bit better already. His skin’s still inflamed but it’s not as flaky and dry.

We brought the armoire home yesterday with the help of my father-in-law and his SUV. I’ve got to run because Miranda’s coming over for lunch, but I’ll take and post some pictures on Monday. It’s exciting to have it home.

Anyway, have a good weekend!