Monday, October 31, 2005
Blood Test Results
I finally got T's blood test results from his allergist. His antibody levels went up significantly and it looks like 5 years, maybe more, before we can attempt feeding him anything with dairy again.
This means 5 years of: very little halloween candy. 5 years of boring cooking and baking. 5 years of rarely eating out anywhere but vegan restaurants, asian restaurants and fleishig kosher restaurants with our son. 5 years of making travel complicated. It means a lot of label reading of crackers and bread and cookies and everything else.
And a lot of worry. At his school last week, he sat down at the wrong place at a his halloween party, and there was a cream cheese sandwich on his plate -- that I removed before he ate it. It could have sent him to the hospital. Suddenly, future school options are a little more complicated, too.
Still, I really don't have that much to complain about, my kid could have something really serious like autism or cancer. I'm thankful I have a happy, bright, loving 3-year-old boy so I'm going to stop my whining now.
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Friday, October 28, 2005
More Lumps and Bumps
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Thursday, October 27, 2005
Jeans Shopping
I don't know why I even bother. I tried to go shopping for jeans while my parents were here. We went a bunch of different places, and like most years, nothing ever fits. The jeans all are gappy in the front where I'm lacking a paunch but I can barely get my big thighs through.
You'd think with the multiple names each store gives their jeans, they'd have a huge variety of fits. NOT. And the names that they have for jeans are confusing -- unless you ask a sales attendant you really don't know what the fits are.
One salesperson told me the Tried and True fit is "kind of the Mommy fit". I don't know how to take that, but I suspect it isn't good. They didn't fit anyway. Another store's reverse fit has a high rise and tapered legs... I don't know why they call it reverse fit, they should just call it Women Over 50 fit.
Some stores have ladies' names for the different rises. Like Lindsay or Courtney or whatever. So I guess that Lindsay is a slut because she likes a really low rise, and Courtney is uptight and dresses like an old lady because that is a high rise jean?
They should just label clothes for what they are. Petite's aren't necessarily petite, they are SHORT. Boy Cut should be No Waist.
No where is there a section called Short, with very big thighs and a thin waist who doesn't want to dress like grandma or a hootchie. I am thinking about getting jeans custom made from Land's End. They aren't too expensive, I just have to find a tape measure.
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Monday, October 24, 2005
Weekend Wrap Up
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Saturday, October 22, 2005
Happy Birthday, Big 3-Year-Old Boy
I wanted to write something gushy and sappy along with some pictures, but my head is pounding so this picture will have to suffice for now. I'm going to go down another Cold-eeze.
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Friday, October 21, 2005
Oh No, I'm One Of THEM
Moms are so strange. I like other mothers, I really do, but sometimes I think I am just pretending to be one. I think they think about other things than I do, get joys out of different things than I do. Sometimes I think the name of my blog is kind of a joke. It's a dumb name, and it sounds funny. Especially the thought of me being "Mommy".
When I think of the word "Mommy" I think of a large, dumpy, unkempt woman sitting around in extra-baggy pink sweatpants, knitting (no offense intended to large, dumpy unfashionable people or knitters). It's nice to go out and dress up a little, fix the hair and have a date night out on occasion, like tonight, makes a mother feel less like THAT. I wore a skirt and tights and I didn't feel the least bit dumpy.
I didn't, until I had to go to the ladies room and I heard the following come out of my mouth as I spoke to my husband:
"Honey, I have to go potty now."
And the moment those words sprung from my mouth I realized, damn, I might as well be that large dumpy woman wearing baggy sweatpants.
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Thursday, October 20, 2005
Allergist Visit
I've been so busy with my family visiting I didn't get a chance to mention that T had his yearly allergist appointment this week.
It went well, despite the hour wait in a tiny little cubicle for his doctor. He didn't cry at all when they took his blood (parents -- a little tip -- never say the word "hurt" and your kids will be fine when they get their blood taken or get shots, not even "this won't hurt"!). I love a good phlebotomist
He is now allergic to dust mites, dogs and mold, no big surprise since he is stuffed up and snoring a lot at night.
All of that is small potatoes, because we are still waiting on the blood test results to let us know when he will outgrow his milk allergy. A friend of T's antibody level went from a 16 (outgrow it in a few years) to 73 (may not outgrow it at all) within a year. So, we are crossing our fingers for Tendai.So soon I will know how many more years I have to continue the boring dairy-free cooking cooking and baking.
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Tuesday, October 18, 2005
It Wasn't Me, I Swear
It was just someone that looked like me, who fell off her seat and onto the floor while holding her son at the One World Café this evening...
Really.
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Monday, October 17, 2005
Apples Don't Fall Far
Today my mother (who is visiting from out of town), T and I went for a walk in the neighborhood to burn off some of the kid's steam. I forgot I needed to make a phonecall, so before we left for our walk I went back in the house.
When I came back, my mother was talking to one of our neighbors she didn't know. In the short period I'd gone in the house, my mother had told our entire family's life story (not exactly, but she was talking about T's visit to the allergist today).
That's typical for my mother -- actually, for both my parents. They'll talk to just about anyone about anything, anywhere. They are very friendly.
When I was younger it used to bother me when we'd be in a store trying on clothes, and the salesperson would listen and smile patiently as my mother told her where they were from, why they were here, where I was from, where I went to school, where I lived, etcetera. Amazing she didn't sit down right there and pull out the family album.
But, at my current age, it bothers me much less. Why?
Because I've turned into that person. That person who knows the all the checkers at the grocery store and tells them little tidbits.
And that's not the only thing I do now, that once embarrassed me when my parents did it:
-I talk too much about my digestive system (from my father).
-I wear comfort shoes rather than fashionable ones (Mom).
-I lecture my friends about the health value of certain foods (dad). God, I think I've heard about the benefits of olive oil about 5 times already this visit.
-I get a little bit sick and worry that I have some grave illness and am on death's door (both mom and dad)
-I wear the same pair of pants several days in a row (both).
See what happens - you turn into your parents whether you like it or not. I'm lucky I like them. And hopefully T when he is old enough will find some way to forgive me for embarrassing him.
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Saturday, October 15, 2005
Making a Switch
This past week I noticed some "interesting" hits coming to my site, referred from a "interesting" message board. After doing a little research, I found that those hits were due to a pretty (thankfully) innocuous post on a somewhat racy message board. I'm not exactly certain if the message board was for, but it had something to do with an getting "escorts". Possibly a parody site but not sure. So if people want escorts, fine with me. Whatever.
Anyhow, this brings me to my point of, who reads my site. I get plenty of hits on subjects that are more than the generic kinkyness that I find to be more than a bit gross (And it really does take a lot to gross me out). I'm all for the unusual, but there are certain things that just fall out of the healthy range.
And, there are things that I would feel comfortable posting about on a blog that is password protected. I don't feel it is smart to post every little detail of your life to broadcast to everyone. Just yesterday I wrote another post that got saved to draft, again.
So, I will be moving to Wordpress so I can password protect the posts I want to protect. I know someone who uses e-rice.net and they are pretty cheap. I may loose some traffic but -- so what. I don't get that many hits anyhow.
Of course I'm a horrible procrastinator and I talk about things months before I get around to doing them so who knows how long it will take me to do this. I've still to install my LAN and maybe I'll get that done before next year.
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Friday, October 14, 2005
Crazy
I wonder if she had an epidural all 16 times. (Actually, all 14 times. She's had 2 sets of twins)
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Tuesday, October 11, 2005
Birthday Obsession
A bit of advice to those who have kids older than two:
Never mention a soon-up-and-coming birthday. At all. Just -- suddenly have the birthday appear out of nowhere. Or else, you will be getting a list of "requests" (demands).
Requests for a cake. A pink cake, no less. With candles. And a party. And presents like a guitar and a drumset.
Oh well, the barn door is open and the horse is gone.
Right now I'm thinking... new books for his My First Leappad, a tool set (since he has been pretending to "screw" into the wall with his popcorn popper toy, that one is easy to figure out), more bristle blocks, or playmobil stuff, ... or maybe, just maybe, a toy guitar.
I don't know if I am up for the toy drumset just yet, or if our neighbors are up for it, or where we'd put it.
I'd love to hear your recommendations for toys for a 3 year old boy whose favorite interests are: banging, building and destroying, and vehicles (he has too many trucks but he loves them so). Perhaps there's a hot new toy that every 3 year old must have that I am unaware of. But please, I want things that don't take up much room.
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Monday, October 10, 2005
Lumpy Bumpy Kid, Again
T woke up yesterday covered in welty bumps. Totally covered -- it looked like we'd left him naked outside in July on Asseteague island for the mosquitoes to devour him.
My first thought was chicken pox, because even though he was vaccinated, kids can still get it. After talking to the Dr. on call, we figured he didn't have that. So we took him in on a Sunday.
Turns out he had Erythema Multiforme. And what the heck is that? In his case, it was like an allergic reaction to a microbe -- from an infection he had. Turns out the little cough when he was lying down was a bronchial infection. He's on his first antibiotic now.
It's wierd how many strange things kids can get. Things that have odd names like Foot and Mouth disease and Kawasaki disease. Most of them aren't anything major, but some are... It's amazing we live to adulthood at all. I remember reading that in the 19th century, one in six children didn't live to adulthood.
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Friday, October 07, 2005
Picture Of The Two Of Us At Cylburn Arboretum
This is a picture from Cylburn Arboretum, one of my favorite places in Baltimore City. Click on it to enlarge.
(In case you needed to know, Firefox 1.0.7 for the Mac doesn't work with Blogger images, but Safari does.)
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Kid Update
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Thursday, October 06, 2005
Cookie Dough Pusher
I just read the fundraising packet that came home with my son from his preschool.
It's a catalogue for gourmet cookie dough, pizza kits, and dessert items. And let me tell you, this stuff is no box of Girl Scout cookies. The minimum price that these things sell for is 12 bucks! And up to $25. Pricey, huh! And we have been asked to sell or buy 5 of them.
I am no good at this thing. I hated selling Girl Scout cookies when I was a Brownie, and those were pretty easy to push (even though I didn't like them much). And, there is no way I am buying all this stuff. The poster-size, glossy pictures of the cakes and pies look like... food porn. I would eat myself sick on the stuff. I have no self-control if I bring things like this in the house. Plus, T is unable to have a bite of this stuff.
So, one of the parents asked how much the school makes on each purchase - it's about 5 bucks. The flyer mentioned we could also donate instead. I'm thinking that is the best option. I think the whole school might benefit from this plan (at least, everyone's arteries might).
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Wednesday, October 05, 2005
The Emperor Wears No Cheap Clothes, Apparently
Look what Jcrew is selling.
Would you pay $155 bucks for Jeans with paint splatters and rips in them?
I guess without knowing it, I have a closet full of fashionable jeans from my glamourous housepainting life.
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Sunday, October 02, 2005
What I Should Have Said To My Alumni Association Telemarketer
I'm sorry, I have no money to give you.
I'm not interested in building big glass buildings for the graphic design department.
Also, I've noticed that tuition is about twice as much as when I went there. Aren't you making enough money from THAT?
And why should I give you money just so you can send out more fancy shmancy fliers in the mail to solicit more money from me? God that paper and the printing process looks expensive, for all the promotion you do.
Had your career development class adaquately prepared me for my working life as a fine artist, I might reconsider. But then again, I might not.
...Oh, and "Jessica", you sound like this is the first call you've ever made in your life. Practice, Practice, Practice. You'll never get anyone to give you money if you read off your cue card like that. If you are a student trying to make a little money: perhaps, instead, you should go work at the bookstore.
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Saturday, October 01, 2005
Song Sung By My Son In The Bathtub This Morning
Throw Up,
Throw Up,
Throw Up,
I'm singing the Throw Up Song,
Throw Up,
Throw Up...
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