8 years

It did not occur to me till late tonight that it has been 8 years since my mother passed away.  I still remember that day very well.  I had just returned from a quick trip to Auburn.  My uncle and I were in her room at Providence.  Some pastor from the hospital staff had come to talk to us when she quietly slipped away.  While we knew it was coming, there is never anything that can prepare you.

I miss her everyday.  But I also know that she is looking down on me happy and proud with how my life has gone.  She is a guardian angel watching over all of her wonderful grandchildren.  She wanted to be called Gigi for her grandmother name.  That's how I refer to her with Cooper so that he may come to know her.  I hope I can be as wonderful a mother to Cooper, as she was to my brothers and me.  I love you Mom.

Knives and Oil and Ovens, oh my!

I like to cook for my family... but I am NOT a natural cook by any means.  My mother was not a big cook either.  We had a lot of fast-food and hamburger helper while we were growing up.

I must have a recipe with whatever I cook so I am always flipping through cook books to find good recipes.  And tonight I thought I'd make something different.  I found a recipe for pork fajitas.  Now, some of you may be thinking "fajitas aren't hard to make.  Why do you need a recipe?"  Again, I am not a natural cook.  First, I am afraid of knives and always paranoid I will cut myself.  Most of the time I manage ok, despite this fear.  So I'm cutting up a pepper and I get the stem and seeds out fine.  However, I was a little difficult because I had let the pepper get a little old and flimsy.  Then I start thinking about how I'm also going to have to cut the onion and the hot oil the recipe calls for.  I'm paranoid of hot oil.  It pops sometimes and can burn.  My paranoia of being burned causes me to be a little afraid of ovens also (but it has gotten much better since I started cooking more often).

So, my difficulty with the pepper and worry about cutting the onion, pork, and cooking them in oil left me with one option... asking my husband to cook it instead.  Luckily he obliged and it turned out delicious.  Maybe I'll try to cook it again sometime.  Till then I'll stick with the stuff I know.

Family Vacation

Usually when going on vacation, I strategically plan things out according to the hours they are open and their location in the city.  To those of you that know me... this should come as no surprise!  As I was planning this vacation, I got some advice from my brother who is a father of 3.  He said to allow for plenty of down time.  So instead of my usual vacation timeline, I simply made a list of the places I'd like to go and the area they were in.  We were headed for Washington, D.C. and there was more than enough to do.

I first attempted to view the plethora (thank you Three Amigos for introducing me to that word) of museums, memorials, and many other things to do.  With my list of things to do and their location, my next step was to plan where to go on what day... according to the weather of course!  The memorials were reserved for the best weather day, since they are all outside.

After we made it to our destination we just hung out with family the rest of the afternoon... and I went to an urgent care place to get my ear looked at.  Then on the first day of sightseeing, it took us several hours to get our bag together to be gone all day... we didn't get into D.C. till lunch time.  And when I say "our bag," I really mean Cooper's.  We had to make sure we had:  diapers, wipes, bottles with formula, food, snacks, toys, change of clothes, etc.  The first day we actually forgot his change of clothes.  I was paranoid he was going to have a blowout!

Cooper did amazing the entire vacation.  He got a few short naps each day and was not totally miserable.  I'm not sure if we just got super lucky with Cooper or if all children are more flexible than I thought.

Day 1:  Museum of American History and Natural History
I dressed Cooper in his dinosaur shirt because I knew we would see dinosaurs (yes, I'm a little crazy)

Day 2:  Memorials and White House

Day 3:  Museum of Air and Space and Capital

Day 4:  Arlington and Holocaust Museum

Family Travel

After a crazy 4 months of internship, we all needed a vacation!  I was excited for it, but also nervous about taking our first family vacation with a little one in tow.  How would he do traveling for that long?  How would he do without his usual 2, 2-hour long naps (this kid loves to sleep!)?

When I go on vacation, I like to have things super planned... but more on that in the next post.  First we had to get to our destination... Washington, D. C.

We had a 2 hour drive to the airport and that was no problem; Cooper slept during most of it.  Since we were traveling with a baby, we needed to bring a stroller and a carseat.  After some research we found that Delta will let you check both for free!  But it was a little difficult getting a stroller, carseat, baby, 2 suitcases, 3 carry-ons and ourselves from the car to the terminal.  Scotty and I haven't flown since our honeymoon about 5 years ago so neither of us were sure how to proceed once we made it into the airport.  We got our luggage checked and the carseat, then we had to get through security.  We took Cooper's food and formula bag and his medicine bag out so they could inspect them.  Then I had to take Cooper out and put the stroller through the scanner and we got to skip the body scanner.  I guess they trust a woman and her baby.

Once we make it through security, we realize Cooper has had an inevitable blow out!  There goes his cute travel outfit including a shirt that says "are we there yet?".  We make it on the plane finally!  Cooper got wings and a note from the captain, because it was his first flight.  After some exploring Cooper slept through most of both flights!  We made it in one piece... mostly.  I ruptured my ear drum during landing.  But we made it!

Cooper exploring the plane

Snoozin' on the plane

Penicillin Allergy

In case you were wondering...

This is what a penicillin allergy looks like.  And this is actually slightly improved than from when he first woke up.

He looks 100% normal again, thank goodness!  Never again will he get penicillin based antibiotics.  And there is a slight chance that he may be allergic to eggs now.  We'll have to test that out see what happens.

Coming soon:  Our first family vacation!  I love to travel... and traveling with a baby is a whole new experience!

Traveling

I love to travel. In a few hours we will be leaving for our first major family vacation! Here's what my packing looks like now... With a baby... On a king size bed

Scariest Mommy Moment... thus far

When Cooper was first born, I was never a paranoid mommy.  I didn't think he was going to stop breathing in his sleep and he was out of our room by 5 weeks old (who knew little babies were so noisy!).  Something I read on my OB's facebook page has been a constant faithful reminder that God would take care of my child.

Let me preface my story with the fact that he is totally ok now.  However, I was scared for my child's life this morning.

Wednesday night I noticed he had some small bumps on his body.  He had been on an antibiotic since Friday night and my first thought was... he's allergic to that (penicillin).  I called the nurse at our pediatrician's office and asked what we should do.  She didn't think it was the medicine, since it had been several days since he started taking the medicine but she said to stop it just in case.  We also were instructed to give him some Benadryl.  The next morning he had hives all over.  We took him to the doctor, they said it was a reaction to the infection that caused his snot and ear infection (the reason for the antibiotic in the first place).  We were given a prescription for Prednisone and told to give him Benadryl.

I think we're in the clear... and Cooper and I went shopping, despite his scary looking appearance.

Friday morning... swollen face, lips, tongue.  Me as soon as I saw Cooper:  "We need to go the emergency room now, I'm not even kidding."  We get there and get to a room right away.  They said exactly what I thought on Wednesday... allergic reaction to penicillin.  Poor baby has to get an IV... and they couldn't get a vein on the first arm they tried, so he was poked twice!  Finally we get some Benadryl and a steroid.  Slowly he starts to look like more like a baby again than a puffy monster.

The hives are way faded and are already starting to look like bruises.  He is napping and feeling much better as we speak I type.  Thank goodness!  Oh, and while all this is happening one of my dog's face is also swollen (allergic reaction to bug bite).  Freak coincidence right!  So I have been to the emergency room and the vets office today.

Drinks tonight?  Yes, please.

What was your intuition/ mother's intuition right about?

Running again!

I was keeping track of my running in March and noticed that the last time I ran was March 12.  Then I finally got to run again last night!  I made it 15 minutes running outside before stopping.  Then I had to walk a little bit.  I have decided I am going to find a 10k at the end of July and I am just going to sign up for it.  I don't care how much I have to walk.  I made a commitment to myself to do a 10k by the end of 2013 and I'm going to stick with it.  And hopefully it will also help in my quest to lose the rest of that baby weight.

Yes, it is 10 months since having a baby and I still have some of that weight.  I am totally ok with it... but I'm ok if I can lose it too.  The biggest pain is having to buy new clothes.  I am not a shopper.  And I'm having a hard time giving away the 2 boxes of clothes I hoped to fit into again.

But back to the running.  Before I gained weight with the pregnancy, I was running a) because I enjoyed it and b) so I didn't have to worry as much about what I ate.

Tonight I ran more for reason b.  I laughed at myself.  After running I came home and had a bowl of ice-cream... and a beer.  I'm just telling myself I'm still celebrating the end of my internship.

Comment if you've done anything similar... I don't think I'm alone!