Concentrate already!

My brain is so scattered.  I walk upstairs with the intent on uploading pictures, or was it blogging, or was it working on the bumper pad I'm making?  I decide to walk over the scraps of fabric and upload pictures.  While they are uploading, I log into Shutterfly to see my progress on a photo book I'm making.  I also sign in to Facebook, Hotmail and Blogger.  Each time I sign in, I flip to another tab while that one is loading or refreshing.  I then remember that I still have a tab open with the rest of the latest episode from Flash Foward (which I was watching earlier because I missed it on Thursday).  I watch the last three minutes, and then go back to all the other open tabs.  Then I remember the pictures, and decide to organize them.  After I name all of them and put the videos in the right place, I think again about buying a video editing program so that I can make a home video of all the little videos I've taken.  I then think about our poor video camera that no longer works, and I wonder if that would be a good gift idea.  I am about to go to Amazon.com, and then remember about blogging.  And then I remember that I have not finished organizing the pictures.  I always put copies of the best ones in a "best of" folder.  After this I plan to blog - if I can think of anything to write.  Then I remember it is the end of the month, and I should check my bank - no make that banks because we have two now.  I really need to get online access to the second.  I need to finish the budget, and start the next one.  Oh, and it is the end of October, and I don't have Halloween candy. 

Okay, make a list - from my stream of thought... 
Blog post
upload pictures
organize pictures
download pictures
(do the last four in the opposite order)
finish October budget
start November budget
upload pictures to Facebook
upload pictures to Shutterfly
work on photo book
work on Christmas gifts
look at the budget for Christmas gifts
weed the garden one last time
scrape and repaint the outside windows
sweep and mop - the floors are BAD
scrub the tub
bathroom in general
make quilt sqares for bumper pad
buy drill bits for the new drill which I can't use yet
put up safety gear around the house with the drill and bits
figure out if the steam cleaner works
(someone help me stop!)
decide on paint colors for every room in the house
make a new quilt
sign up for that last class I need for the add on license
Call Michigan's goverment and find out what happened to my renewal license

...or watch a movie. 


When I started this post, I figured all I would have to write about would be how Nathan fought the bottle for a half an hour.  I finally gave in and he fell asleep.  Hmm, that would have been only two sentences.  Oh, and the dinner I made was expensive and exotic, and a flop.

Here's the picture I wanted to show you.  Nathan sat by himself today!  And he only fell over and hit his head on the entertainment center once!

I get the feeling I wrote this blog post out of order, like the ending was first.  But since that is how my brain is working, I'll leave it like that. 

Doctor Visit

Yesterday was Nathan's 4 month check-up appointment.  We were in the well-children's waiting room, and like a typical Monday morning, it was busy.  I gave myself plenty of space from the other moms and kids, probably for the sake of germs.  As I sat there, I heard one mom complaining about a headache, feeling achy and not feeling good. Another lady told her it was probably H1N1 as her toddler was running back and forth between her and the toy station. Another mom came in who had the most uptight demeanor about her. She looked anxiously around at number of people in the room, and sat her two kids down in chairs as far away from others as possible. Her two year old jumped up to play with the toy station with the other kids. The mom clearly disapproved, but didn't say no to her child. Instead, she hovered by the toys, watching each child. When the mom in the corner complained again about not feeling good, her eyebrows shot up and she looked around to see if anyone else was concerned. I was amused, but keenly aware that I would probably be that mom if Nathan was old enough to be running around. The whole vaccine issue, especially the H1N1, has us talking and we still don't know what to do.

Well, Nathan was happy and standing on my legs and cooing at teenage girls in the room. He had them charmed. The poor kid had a rough day after that, however. They weighed him – he is now 16 lbs, 3 oz! That puts him in the 95^th percentile for his age! I understand from my mom that Aaron, Nathan's cousin, now weighs 16 lbs, and is in the 5^th percentile for his age (9 months). He is a big boy.

I asked the doctor all sorts of questions, and he looked him over. There was a fold of skin (on an area that we won't talk about) that we had been concerned about, and the doctor said that it had started to fuse together. Quickly, he pealed the layers apart, which caused Nathan to go from a happy cooing child, to a shocked and then betrayed unhappy one.

Then it was time for the vaccines. Up until now, he has not had any. I was going to wait to start until he was 6 months. I've been reading and reading about this, and decided to start a few of the more important vaccines now. (Pc and HIB) I wanted to avoid having more than one vaccine with aluminum given in any one visit. This was based on recommendations or suggestions from a couple sources, including Dr. Sears. There was a combo vaccine, Pentacel that I asked not be given with Pc, and they found a HIB only vaccine for me. So, when the time came, I stood by Nathan's head as the needle went in. It hurt my heart to see him in so much distress, so I only sort of noticed that the doctor paused and did not push the liquid in. He pulled out the needle, and put the other needle in. After this, he said he hadn't given him the first one because it was Pentacel. Not that this would have killed him, but it was upsetting. I think he realized I was upset before I did, because he was very gentle in explaining what had happened and asked if I was okay. Nathan got the HIB vaccine in the other leg, so just when he was getting over the first two, he went through it again. Trauma.

By the time I got home, I was agitated, and frustrated. I should have checked the needles, and package insert. I should have asked for the lot number and written it down before it happened. I just forgot in the moment. I am thankful that the doctor caught it. I talked to Jon who told me to take a deep breath, and my mom who told me it was going to be okay. I knew that, but it was still a difficult day with Nathan crying because his legs hurt, as well as the sensitive skin that had been re-exposed. I joked with my mom in asking if I should take his temperature every hour, or half an hour, - but in reality I did check it often. After hours of fussiness and crying, I called the doctor to see if there was anything I could do for him. They suggested infant Tylenol, so we went to the store.

The medicine did not really go down, because I gave it to him directly, instead of in the bottle (which he won't take). He tasted it and then pushed most of it back out, but I think a little went down. It didn't seem to help much, but as long as we didn't touch his legs, or make him stand on them, he was calm. Nathan has such a serious expression at times anyway, but last night he looked as if all the good times in life were over. He sat there and looked at us every once in awhile giving a halfway smile. Poor poor kid.

Bottles and food

Okay, it's been awhile.  Every time I try to sit down and write, Nathan wakes up.  He just fell asleep after crying for an hour while I tried to encourage a bottle.  He just plain hates it.  We're on our third type of bottle, and this one looks funny.  The whole bottle is like the nipple, and then the base has a place to unscrew to put in the milk with the bottle upside down.  It allows for a more pliable nipple.  This new one is much more authentic-feeling, but he knows the difference.  He wants to nurse.  This is fine, except it really limits the ability to get a babysitter.  So we suffer through bottle practice about once a day.  Some days are better than today - I'm not sure he even swallowed half an ounce (or 20 mL).  He was tired and just wanted to nurse to fall asleep.  It wasn't time for him to be really hungry yet. 

Let's see, this last week I've been working on Christmas gifts - making some, and buying others.  I'm so excited about Christmas this year, more so than I have in quite some time.  I think part of it is that it is Nathan's first.  I will also see my family, and it seems like it has been a long time.  It has been a year since I've seen David and Kate, and I haven't met Aaron yet! 

I am looking forward to Christmas cooking too.  We were cracking nuts last night to make apple dumplings - a very fall thing to do.  I now know why we (in my family) never made them.  They are incredibly frustrating to make  - at least the crust part.  The first one looked something like it was supposed to, and then the crust kept breaking apart when I folded it, so that in the end I was just smooshing it to the apple.  Yummy though. Now I will start on the pumpkins.  Pumpkin bread is first, then maybe muffins and pie. 

 My mind is on food, I guess.  I have this baby food book that has recipes for the first year and beyond.  This author is way out there on the health nut scale, however.  I've never heard of kombu (a type of seaweed) which this author suggests adding to cereals such as millet, kamut and quinoa.  Well, we'll see.  Anyway we'll start foods in December.

Okay and he's awake, and in my lap, and bored, so I'll stop typing one handed.  Here are some more cute pictures. (The last one is of Jon on his birthday wearing my mom's gift to him - a Dr. Who scarf!)

Smiles!

This last weekend, my mother-in-law came to visit. We wanted to go to a wedding on Saturday, and asked if she would want to come. In retrospect, however, she likely would have declined if she had known how unhappy he would be while we were gone. Not only does he act like he's teething lately, but he still refuses to take a bottle or pacifier. At the beginning, he did better with the bottle, so I honestly thought that if he got hungry enough, he would take the bottle. Wrong there. (The wedding was so much fun though!)

He recovered, though. To prove that we didn't permanently damage him or starve him, here are some pictures we took when it was so pretty outside and Nathan was beside himself with smiles.

Apple Picking

On September 29th, Jon took the day off of work. He told me the day before, and I felt such relief. I hadn't realized how much I had wanted to avoid being alone that day. It marked two years since my two youngest brothers, Josh and Timothy had been killed in a car accident. Last year I was with my family, and we went to the grave together. I remember thinking that that day wasn't as hard as I had expected it to be. It was almost as if the 28th had been harder. This year, again, the actual 29th was not as awful as I feared. I couldn't be with my family in Michigan, but we spend the day together as our new little family. It was good to mark the day with something. I can't talk much more about that at the moment though.

So here is what we did.

Jon researched and found an apple orchard in the mountains. It started off as a chilly, but pretty day. We dressed Nathan up warmly, and then took off!

I've noticed that we do not have many family pictures. I took this picture at the orchard, and rested it on the hood of the car. The original was quite squee-hawed, but I fixed it here. (he he he, there's a story to that word.)

As you can see, Nathan was very impressed with the trees.

It looks like the patterns on my jacket sleeve were more interesting than the view.

Jon, incidentally doesn't like apples - raw anyway. He likes them in pies. So this trip was certainly more for my benefit than his. But you should have seen his face light up when the person at the orchard gave us directions to a certain kind of apples. He asked us if we had four wheel drive. Jon loved that part!



None of the trees were beautiful. In fact they were quite ugly. They weren't what I had in mind with the Garden of Eden (if that was even an apple anyway). I also had Anne of Avonlea in my head where Anne and that strict headmistress lady are picking apples. That was a pretty tree. The fruit was not shiny and spotless like at the store either. It made me think about they days when kids would bring shiny big apples for their teacher. The reason that was special was because those used to be rather rare!

So those were my deep apple ponderings.