Nothing To Complain About

Sometimes my life gets too overwhelming. I have my fair share of challenges.

I'm a bald woman. I'm allergic to sun. I'm allergic to cold. I have an easily-injured back due to instability caused by an extra vertabrae in my lumbar spine. My oldest son doesn't like to eat. My youngest son has GERD. [sob] [sob] [sob]

This amazing Kate's story is yet another reason I have nothing to complain about. Nothing.

Did You Know That Goldfish Crackers Play Peek-a-Boo?

Neither did I. I guess it's just one of those little-known facts...but Zander discovered it today.

Let me preface this story by telling you a little bit about peek-a-boo in our house. Long ago, when Zander was only a few months old, hubby and I shortened the name of the game from peek-a-boo to peek...not sure why. I think we got more of a reaction from Zander when we yelled a quick "Peek!", versus the full name. Anyway, since Zander's speech has taken off he has started to play peek-a-boo with Logan....but he has a different name for the game. For some reason he has decided, since mommy and daddy say "peek", that he would use the long-forgotten end of the name....he says "a-boo", with his little voice lilting upwards at the end of the word as if he's asking a question. Cute doesn't even describe it!

So the story goes like this. I was feeding Logan lunch, and Zander had found the jar of pears that was to be Logan's dessert. He started playing with it, even though I warned him not to. Well, as if to prove that mommies are always right, he dropped the jar on his foot....and started to scream.

Mommy: Zander, what happened? Did you hurt your foot?
Zander: Ma toe hur'!
Mommy: Do you want mommy to kiss your toe better for you?
Zander: (nodding) Ya...ma be'er.

Zander climbed onto my lap, and I kissed his toes better (what a mother will do for her children!)

Mommy: How's that?
Zander: All be'er!
Mommy: Do you want to help mommy feed Logan his lunch? Or do you want a snack?
Zander: Cracka!
Mommy: You want a Goldfish cracker?
Zander: (nodding with excitement) Cracka!
Mommy: What do you say?
Zander: Pwease!

I handed him the foil-lined paper bag of Goldfish crackers. He took the bag, unrolled the top and opened it. And instead of reaching into the bag for a cracker, do you know what my beautiful, funny little boy did?

Zander: (peering down into the bag of Goldfish crackers) A-Boo?

Priceless, no?

Wordpress vs. Blogger

So....I've officially been sent on a Wordpress reconnaissance mission by Brillig the Great....and no one says "No" to Brillig the Great (yup....you twisted my arm!). I created a Wordpress account for myself, and started getting my hands dirty with Wordpress themes and widgets.

Since I am just starting to dabble in the world of Wordpress, there isn't much to report yet. I will post when I have garnered enough Wordpressy knowledge to give a detailed and informative review....'cause it sounds like some of you might be interested in what I find out!

Wish me luck!

F*ckin' Blogger!

Blogger is pissing me off....

I've read in the past that Blogger users, like Jennifer, Brillig and Jenny, have been having bloggy problems such as disappearing posts and the like. It seems Blogger snatched them away and banished them to the Blogospheric black hole never to be seen again. I have been hoping that wouldn't happen to me.

Well...it hasn't....yet. But I fear that it won't be long. Blogger seems to be in a state of cluster-fuckness, and I'm growing weary of it.

Blogger recently added an autosave glitch bug feature. Now it seems that I have problems saving. When I click the little blue "Save Now" button, I get a message telling me that my request to save cannot be processed. It happens with ever. single. post. This is a problem. You see...as the mom of 1 and 2 year old walking crawling bringers of disaster little boys, it is rare that I can finish writing a post in one shot. I find it easier to write it a bit at a time over a couple of hours, saving as a draft in between.

But if Blogger doesn't save, Cate doesn't have a draft of her post to continue writing later. This makes for a cranky Cate.

I also had a rather strange thing happen to my blog the other day. After posting Seeing Red, I thought I would show my hubby. Upon loading the page, we noticed something odd. All of the Blogger text (for example, the names of the months in the Blog Archive widget) appeared to be in Italian rather than English. Umm.....what the fuck? Last time I checked, I didn't speak Italian...

The ever-so talented Jennifer of Playgroups are No Place for Children fame was thinking of moving to Wordpress, but found it too complicated, so I had given up on that idea. I'm wondering if I should reconsider. I mean, what's worse....lost posts, or the complexity of using Wordpress? I'm not sure. According to a post I read on BlogMommas.com yesterday, the new version of Wordpress allows you to import from the new Blogger.

Is this a sign that now is the time to move? I'm not sure. All I know is that the next straw might just be the last one.

So....Wordpress users....Blogger users....what are your thoughts?

I'm Gonna Miss The Potato Chip Burps

Before Logan was diagnosed with GERD, he was diagnosed with a suspected cow's milk allergy. Because of this, he has been on soy formula since he was 3.5 weeks old (I was unable to breastfeed).

It was difficult to bond with him for the first few months. The GERD made him scream non-stop...even when he was on medication. It wasn't until he was prescribed Prevacid in addition to the Zantac he was already on that he started to get better.

But in that difficult pre-Prevacid time, there was one thing about Logan that I found so strangely and oddly endearing...the soy formula made his burps smell like potato chips. And I loved this. No matter how much he screamed, bucked and thrashed, I always had the potato chip burps. Odd...isn't it...what us moms love about our babies? Those special little things....

Apparently milk allergy/intolerance is common in GERD babies, but is not always permanent. Often they grow out of it by 1 year of age.

At 10 months old, his doctor gave us the go-ahead to start adding cow's milk into his diet. At first we started making his bottles with 2 scoops of soy and 1 scoop of cow's milk formula. He did fine with that....there was hope! A week ago we started with 2 scoops cow's milk and 1 scoop soy formula. So far so good! Yay!

But one thing is making me sad...one strangely and oddly endearing thing...Logan's potato chip burps are gone.

Hello to an easier time for Logan and the rest of us....goodbye potato chip burps. You will be strangely and oddly missed.

Seeing Red

I'm seeing red this morning. Not because I'm angry. Because my 1 year old got his pudgy little hands on one of his big brother's red markers. So perhaps "Caught Red Handed" would have been a wittier title...?

I was just getting ready to feed Logan his cereal, when he crawled into the room....looking like this. Hint: the red looks so much more vibrant if you click on the photos to get an enlarged view!



And his brand spanking new birthday shorts were looking like this.



After frantically searching for the source of the red stains, we found the culprit hiding amongst the mess of toys currently on our floor(don't judge...it was a busy weekend!).



We are usually very good at making sure that all of Zander's crayons and markers are well out of Logan's reach. It seems with all of the birthday madness this weekend, a single red marker managed to elude us. You would think I would have heeded the warning of Queen Heather's carpet incident. Well...the lesson is definitely learned now.

Fortunately for us and Logan's new shorts, it was a washable marker. The boy has been washed off, the shorts have been scrubbed, and I am happy to tell you that the only reminder of this marker fiasco is the unnaturally pink palm of Logan's right hand. Other than that, all traces of red are gone.

If only the red on Logan's face was washable too....unfortunately eczema doesn't wipe off so easily.

Chicken Little

My boy ate chicken for dinner tonight. A lot of chicken. Like, most of a breast of chicken. And he didn't gag or vomit all over himself. I'm so blown away....I think I'm in shock.

It was the usual dinner....pureed vegetables (otherwise he would normal not eat anything!), and some of what mommy and daddy are having for dinner. We always try to entice him by making mmmm...yummy sounds and raving about how good our dinner tastes...but he normal doesn't bite (pardon the unintentional pun!).

Tonight we were having the Grilled Herb Chicken from Supperworks. He decided that he was going to feed his chicken to mommy, since she seemed to like it so much. As he was feeding mommy her 4th piece of his chicken, with a huge open-mouthed smile on his face, daddy took the opportunity to quickly shove a bit into Zander's mouth.

At first we thought we were in for a second day in a row of puke. But then he started chewing, and the look of disgust on his face quickly disappeared and was replaced by a surprised look of delight. We waited to see what would happen when he was done with his first piece of chicken....and to our bewilderment he asked for more...and more...and more....and more...

I've never seen this kid eat like that. Never. Ever. It was amazing. I was giddy with pride, and I think I caught a glimpse of the light that everyone keeps telling me is at the end of the Zander-feeding tunnel.

I'm sure I've jinxed myself by writing this post, but I couldn't help myself. I just had to tell someone. And if it was a one-time deal, at least is was recorded for posterity.

I would love to post pics of my little boy eating something that isn't pureed....but I was afraid if I pulled out the camera, it would break the chicken-lovin' spell!