Nothing much to report, a good thing...

Not too much to report this week. Recovering from the loss of the kitty, training 2 new front desk folks at the office, a bit of drama here and there, but overall things are good.

Tonight we had dinner with 3 families who have kids that were adopted from Guatemala. I loved all of them. What a treat to have grown up time and kid time, and get to meet a group of intelligent, articulate, and interesting folks. I even had a half a glass of wine, which once down the hatch, I realized I desperately needed.

Here are some shots of the gathering.









...and Julian on his princess phone- hand me down from miss Shay.

ooh, it's ringing!



he-llo?


late morning bottle with his dada



more later...

In Memorium

This weekend Jon and I made the most difficult decision to have our almost 18 year old kitty cat Edge put down. She was in heart failure with a strong suspicion of cancer. The cat is allergic to anesthesia so even if we had decided to go for a heroic effort, we couldn't. The decision was made for her not to suffer through her last weeks. Thank you to everyone who emailed with love and good thoughts. We will miss her terribly.

Phew, I made it.

It's Sunday eve and I'm wiped out. It's been a very long week. My 16 year old kitty is in heart failure (on her last leg I'm afraid), I had to hire 2 new people for my front desk, I've been diagnosed with severe anemia (completely out of breath walking across the house with Julian in my arms) and the baby is getting another tooth (#7) which is of course accompanied by a fever. The only up side of all of this is that I get to eat red meat every day without feeling guilty- don't fret though, it's organic.

So amidst all of this, one of my best friends from medical school just came up from SoCal for the weekend with her 6 y/o and 8 y/o boys. Holy tornado! I have no idea how she does it, these kids have boundless energy- it's remarkable. Julian was madly in love especially with the older boy- they would walk around holding hands. Too cute. I hope she has some pics on her camera...Jac?

Also this week (told you it was busy) we went to visit a Spanish immersion school as we are looking for care for J on the days our nanny isn't here. It goes to 3rd grade so we would be able to transition him into more days as he gets older. We loved the school, it was fabulous. Unfortunately it is 20 min from our home without traffic. It took us an hour to get back from our visit at rush hour. The drive not only seems like a headache, but ideologically the commute is problematic for us from an environmental perspective. But on the other hand, there are only a few immersion programs for little ones here and this is supposed to be the best. We are so committed to having J learn Spanish- we feel it is our responsibility, actually. We are very, very torn.

Some photos:

Visiting the school.


Hillary, as you can see, this is not a swim cap but his post bath cap. Cotton, not rubber. Keeps his little head warm in our drafty house.


A little mama love.


And finally, Julian got a doll from my mom.




He carries him around the house and would sleep with him too but it's too distracting so we don't let him do it.

I'm heading off to bed early tonight. Ta.

Tagged.

As most of the folks who are following our blog are not bloggers, i'll give a quick explanation of being "tagged." Someone else on another blog "tags" you to post some sort of themed list. Thankfully this one is about Julian and not me, so I won't be revealing anything too personal.

Anyway, I've been tagged by Gwen and Mia http://everythingmia.blogspot.com/ and the topic is "10 things about me (Julian)."

It is torture for me to write for Julian in the first person, but since this is how the game goes, I'll play. ;)

1. I get really bad eczema on my face from the most basic of foods: rice, corn, dairy, soy- so my diet is a bit limited for the time being. Don't worry though, I get plenty to eat. Once I ate 3 eggs in one sitting (after already having vegetables and half an avocado) I wanted 4 but mom said no.

2. I think it's really funny to put food on my head during meals. My parents think it's funny too but they pretend they don't.

3. It is easiest for me to communicate with sign language. The signs I know are: apple, avocado, banana, milk, water, cracker, tomato, vacuum, phone, belt, jacket, socks, shoes, pajamas, hat, ball, doll, more, all done, please, thank you, sorry, help, dog, cat, horse, frog, bird, fish, boat, car, bicycle, train, bus, hot, cold, hurt, mommy, daddy, grandma, bath, wash hands, and toilet.

4. When someone tells me "no" I sometimes bonk myself in the head so that person will kiss me to make it feel "all better."

5. I love my kitty more than anything but it is still hard not to get too rough with her...today she bit me 'cause I kept poking her.

6. Dancing is in my soul. Sometimes I close my eyes so I can really feel the beat of the music.

7. My daddy sleeps with me on a futon on the floor. I've never slept in a crib.

8. In swim class I go underwater (see blog title photo and last post.)

9. Other than my signing video and the Superbowl, I haven't seen any TV since we left Guatemala.

10. When I laugh, my mommy's heart melts.

Bad Blogger! Oh, and 1 1/2 today.

OK I had no idea that it had been so long since my last post. Jon reminded me to update, and considering how much time he spends trying to get my sorry ass OFF of the computer I knew it must be too long. My new commitment will be to at the very least get a photo or two of the captain up every week by Sunday night, even if I am not able to muster up a witty diatribe about my life, family, or friends.

So since my last post...my mom and sister came for a visit, Z and Steph came by again, I have a boat load of staff turnover happening at my office (my heart starts beating irregularly just to think about this), and the weather has gone from sunny and 60 degrees to snowing within a week. I have pretty much accepted that my sense of humor will be on leave for the time being so please bear with me.

Here are some recent snaps for the addicts.

Think the kid likes his bottle?




Hugging G'ma BB


J loves cleaning. Just like his Mama.


2 of Julian's favorite things...milk and the vacuum.


Yes, he is swimming under water.


His third favorite...the phone.
Note the multi-tasking. Again, just like his Mama.


Feeding a 'nanana' to his dolly. Nice mess.


J and Z.


And ta-da, strike a pose.


Off to curl up with babycakes for the end of his nap. Mmmmm.....

I love my husband sooooo much.

I have the most fabulous husband in the world. He is sweet, funny, kind, attentive, loving, and supportive under just about every circumstance- and I am no walk in the park to be married to...trust me on that one.

That said, I have 4 fun shares for you today about my dear, sweet husband.

1. The Sponge.

Julian usually eats in his high chair in the kitchen while we cook. It turns out that cleaning thrown, spit, and mutilated food off of the kitchen floor is easier than cleaning it off of the dining room floor (which is cork, and was a perfect material choice for us prior to the addition of the Captain to the family.)

So- the other day I turn around and Jon was wiping Julian's high chair tray with the sponge that we use to clean the counters. He then proceeded to swiftly and briefly wipe the baby's face with it. I very gently said "Jon, it's best not to use the sponge to wipe the baby's face." OK, that's a lie. I actually yelled "Jonathan WHAT ARE YOU DOING? DO NOT WIPE THE BABY'S FACE WITH THAT SPONGE! IT'S FULL OF BACTERIA, WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" I scared the crap out of the baby and Jon just got dead silent. I really didn't mean to yell but c'mon...hasn't everyone read about how nasty kitchen sponges are? They are supposed to often be more bacteria laden than the toilet. I shudder just to think of it. I apologized regardless.

Reenactment with Jon stepping in for Julian as Julian is currently asleep:



2. Driving to the Restaurant.

Last weekend Sharon and Jeff, Jon, Julian and I are going to brunch to meet a group of our friends. Jon is driving with Jeff up front, and the rest of us are in back. Jon gets off of the highway and turns left. "Aren't you going the wrong way?" This time I actually did say it nicely. "Yes," Jon replies snarkily, "I'm going the wrong way." I couldn't see him roll his eyes, but I'm pretty sure he did. I shrug happily and continue playing with the baby. Why happily, you may ask? Because I knew full well Jon was going the wrong way and I knew also I'd get all kinds of mileage out of it. Sure enough a few minutes later Jon asks "Where the hell am I?" Sweet.

3. The Pantry Project.

I've mentioned on the blog before that we have a house rule about projects. Jon can do whatever he wants and if/when he stalls (time frame varies on the project) I can hire someone to wrap it up.

We decided to make a cabinet into a pantry a few weeks ago. Our contractor is very busy and since he didn't have time to do it right now he dropped by a box with a plexiglass template for drilling peg holes and a special drill bit that centers the hole. I told Jon I really didn't want him to do it because I knew something would go wrong and it would turn into some kind of fiasco. Well, go figure, the drill bit broke. Spent the afternoon driving around town looking for a new drill bit. Found it. Cabinet done. And the shelves are only slightly catawampus.





4. The Vacuum Attachment.

I am cleaning the kitchen and Jon says to me "Can I tell you something that will get you mad but that is really funny?" My first answer is "No, I don't think so." He prods "C'mon..."
I know better..."OK" I say.

He proceeds excitedly "Well, today Julian was pointing at the vacuum attachment and I gave it to him, then we were on the computer and I looked down and he was sucking on it, like this!" Jon shows me how the baby was sucking on the vacuum attachment and laughs. I am clearly not amused...and here we go with take 7,492 of my baby safety and health lecture.

Another reenactment:



Ok, enough with the stories...here are a few photos for all y'all.

Julian signing "kitty." He sometimes wakes up and does this first thing (otherwise he will say "book!")



And here are some photos of Jon getting our baby ready for his first bike ride.



I love this photo of Julian post bath time.



Showing off his broccoli.



Not ready for potty training yet (I hate the word "potty" just for the record) but last weekend I got Julian his own toilet so when I have to bring him to the bathroom with me, he can sit on his own seat instead of trying to stuff an entire roll of TP between my legs (yes, that's my little helper!)



I think he likes it!



And in honor of my dad...Julian putting his spork in his nose. Now that is serious business.



-S

On the road to recovery.

As you can see Julian is back to his normal spirits.







He is still wheezing a bit so we're continuing to do albuterol treatments every 4 hours. My fingers are crossed that this is an isolated incident and not a new state of affairs around here.

My sister and brother-in-law are visiting for the weekend and Julian was hugging and cuddling with my sister within minutes. It is amazing...we've had this with our cats for our entire lives, that my cat took to Sharon and her cats have taken to me. I was still shocked to see it with Julian. Is it our looks? Our voices? Or just our general energy and vibe?



Zinnia and Steph stopped by to say hi on their way home.





It looks like they'll be back with greater frequency in the near future because they rented a place here so they can get some more city time in addition to their country time. Ooh, remember Country Time? We used to eat the powder straight out of the can at summer camp. I wonder if they still make that?

Anyway, life is on its way back to normal, whatever that means.

Here are a few more photos from today.

Julian eating his salmon dipped in berry flavored fish oil. Mmmmm.



And on that note, I forgot to mention when we were in the hospital, the floor secretary noted J's food allergies (rice, corn, soy and dairy to start) and brought us to the food closet to show us what options there were. I told her I stopped home to get food for him so not to worry about it, and she asked what he eats as a rule. After explaining to her open mouthed awe that he eats cereal and greens or eggs for breakfast, sauteed veggies and chicken or fish most other meals, and fruit for snacks, she proceeded to tell anyone we passed, "you wouldn't believe what this lady feeds her baby...tell 'em!, tell 'em!" I felt like a circus freak. Why is it so weird to feed your child actual food?

Here's a pic of Julian watching his signing video, which he loves.



Please note the close-up below of his slack jaw and glazed look.



This is why so far, no TV- only this signing video. I'm sure one day we'll cave with some classics like Plaza Sesamo and The Jungle Book. For now though, it's only the signing video (Lori talked me into it) and as he is indeed learning the signs, I'm ok with it, mostly.

As for this last shot, I hope that we can count on Kyle and G to teach Julian to skateboard and surf, because we have no idea, and from the look on his face after he turned over the tray to his high chair and started to ride, I suspect it will be in his future.



Thanks again for all the calls and notes about Julian. I appreciate your thoughts and love.