call it a whim

Friday, April 28, 2006

BIG news!


No, I am not pregnant again (I need to get that out of the way as to avoid any calls form a certain sister in law who thinks I am pregnant every time we say we have news). I have just been waiting to share this until I was fairly certain I would not jinx us. Grady is sleeping through the night AND taking good naps!!!!! He has been doing so ever since we moved in to the new house, but like I said, I did not want to share and then jinx it. But I think it's going to stick. Of course, I say that, but we are going to SC next week for my little brother's graduation from college and we may royally screw him up. I am just hoping he will be a little trooper and we can keep him fairly close to on schedule!

Tuesday, April 25, 2006

"This is Emily, she may have Polio"

There are many things I do as a parent that are probably not in the best interest of my child. He has eaten cake, and hot dogs, and if I had had a lollipop with me at Easter Mass, I would have had it in his mouth faster than you can say "Amen". I do not always respond ASAP when he cries, as long as I know he is not hurt, hungry or wet. Sometimes babies cry. There are many parents who would look down on me for that. That's ok. I do not feel I am hurting him or anyone else by teaching him that there are other people in the world and he is not the center of everyone's universe (just ours).
Recently, I have met several parents both online and IRL (that's "in real life" for you, Mrs. Azar) who do not vaccinate their children. Now, while my feeding my child a hot dog can only harm him, I would never give a hot dog to another child without asking their parents permission. I know that some people eat or-gan-ic (I think that's what it's called ;)) foods, and the thought of a hot dog on their precious little one's lips is like willingly jabbing cactus in their eye. Why, then, is it ok for people to pass diseases like polio, measels, and rubella around like it's applesauce (organic, of course). I am well aware of the recent studies that are trying to link vaccines and the autism epidemic. They have not found ANY solid evidence to link the two. There is, however, proof that polio and rubella are pretty crappy things to catch. That is why they invented the vaccines. Now, if your child has a serious egg allergy and you know that the MMR shot contains trace amounts of egg, I could perhaps see the reasoning behind choosing not to vaccinate. In that case, the risk of an allergic reaction is greater than the risk of becoming infected with polio. Fine. What I dont get is the folks that simply don't vaccinate because they feel it's not the right choice for their child. Ok, then quarantine your child. Don't bring them to playdates at the mall where they can get tons of illnesses and pass them on to babies, like my son, who are not fully immune yet. The common cold is one thing, Mumps is quite another.
I am simply baffled at this. I know it is not illegal not to vaccinate, and so there is nothing I can do but keep Grady up on his shots and pray that little "Meadow" and "River", the healthy food kids, don't pass diptheria on while stealing a bite of the white bread Grady has for lunch.

Monday, April 24, 2006

Fishy Subjects

I go to Wal-Mart, on average, three times a week. I know, I could probably put together a big list and do everything at once, but Grady does better with smaller trips. Anyway, on the way home from the superstore, there is a trailor with a sign that says "Fawn's Tanning, Hair and Nails." Now, I am pretty sure that whoever made the sign forgot to add some things. I think it might be good if after "Hair and Nails" they were to put "Meth lab and House of Prostitution". I am not saying that someone should be prohibited from opening a friendly beauty salon in a small trailor, however, Fawn's is obviously not the welcoming, cutesy, southern style place depicted in such movies as Steel Magnolias. This place NEVER has any customers, yet it is always open. What does that say to me???? Something fishy is afoot. I am pretty sure that if the police drove by a few times they might notice a slightly funny smell and maybe a few people running for cover.
On that note, I learned recently that druggies are using baby formula to cut meth and other types of inhaled intoxicants. WHAT? Well, at least they're getting plenty of Iron and DHA along with their daily high.
Here's a completely different train of thought. Some 78 year old man in South Florida was going around with a medical bag to apartment complexes claiming to be a representative from a local hospital. He told women that he was there to offer a free breast and pelvic exam as part of a program the hospital was running. Now, you gotta give him credit for being inventive, but had he come to my house, I would have politely declined and immediately called 911. Actually, I wouldn't have ever opened the door. However, TWO women allowed him into their home and let him do a breast and pelvic exam on them. Again, WHAT? Now, I am all about being sympathetic toward victims of sexual assault. It is an issue that hits extremely close to home, having dealt with it on a personal level, but this is just INSANE. What kind of person willingly lets a guy they don't know, who has no credentials other than an old medical bag, into their home to do a pelvic exam????? I can only hope they had just left Fawn's Tanning, Hair, Nails, Meth lab, and House of Prostitution, and were a bit confused.

Tuesday, April 18, 2006

And you thought Priests and teachers were bad.

My sweet baby son did something this weekend. We went to Easter dinner at a nice restaurant with Chris' parents and sister. There was a waitor. He was a teensy bit flamboyant. My 9 month old reached back and grabbed his crotch while he was attempting to take our order. We laughed. Grady also enjoys watching the girls at Hooters. We find this amusing. We are in trouble, dear friends. Serious trouble.

Saturday, April 15, 2006

They say our love won't pay the rent

Well, tax season is almost over, and I could not be more excited. Had you asked me 4 years ago if I thought I would ever count the days until taxes were due, I would have thought you were nuts. On thinking about the past few months, though, I just have to share that I have the best husband in the world. He has been getting up at 4:30 for work and often does not return home until nearly 7 at night. Many men, after a day like that, would plop in front of the TV and let a beer and hockey work them into a mind numbing stupor. Not Chris. The second he walks in the door Grady goes NUTS. He can't get enough of his daddy. And even when Chris has had a rough day and would just like to crawl into bed, he grabs Grady up and plays with him. After dinner, he helps with dishes, trash, whatever needs to be done. Then we go for our nightly stroll around the neighborhood. Many times I have told Chris I will take Grady out for our walk by myself so he can rest, but he wants to spend time with us. The past week he has been sick and he still works all day and comes home and plays with Grady. I have met many people in real life and even in online forums who's husbands wouldn't think of changing diapers, or who slept through every late night feeding. I am just so lucky, because Chris changed the very first diaper and was awake every time I was. It makes me wish we were independently wealthy so we could just spend all our time watching Grady grow up together. But believe me, if we can't win the lotto, I won't trade a thing.

Thursday, April 13, 2006

And I swore I'd never

Right now Grady is watching...wait for it....you may need to sit down...seriously, because he is watching Telletubbies. I told you it was bad. I am making dinner and he was screaming and recently we have noticed that Telletubbies comes on at 6 pm. Against my better judgement, he has watched it every night for the past week. I am well aware of the "gay" controversy that surrounded Telletubbies when they first came out. I do not have any problem with that. I am very open-minded on that subject. What concerns me is the fact that they are weird and freaky and I can't tell what they are saying. How is that supposed to help my child learn? But he adores them. He stops crying the moment he sees the little hill house they live in. He talks to the little babyface sun and sings when the Tubbies dance. Meanwhile they are giving me nightmares. Honestly they're just strange, but whatever works at this time of night, I am open to. Sigh.

Monday, April 10, 2006

Vote for Grady

I know I have you voting a lot, but hey, it gives you something fun to do, right. Grady is entered in a photo contest at urbanbabyrunway.com. You can vote once every 14 hours from any given IP address. Go there this week, a few times, and vote for G!!!!

http://www.urbanbabyrunway.com/?page_id=40

Sunday, April 09, 2006

A little more Rock and Roll

Ok, so I wanted to get Grady a cool shirt for his first birthday. That day we will be flying to New Jersey for Chris' family reunion, and I want everyone on that plane to know it's my boy's birthday. All the ones I can find have teddy bears and puppies and balloons on them. Eeeh. Not so much. Now I know his birthday is not until July, but I am the queen of planning ahead. So I am going to make one myself with iron on transfers. I have 2 good ideas, but I can't choose one. They're both from RENT, so if you don't "get" them you had better rent the movie or buy the cd or find it playing off Broadway! You vote!
Option one:
525,600 minutes and counting
Option two:
How do you measure a year?


Both of them would say "I am one today" on the back.

Grady goes punk....or as punk as we get!



Wednesday, April 05, 2006

Grady and I just cried together. And just wait until I tell you why. Ready? Katie Couric made her big official announcement on the Today show. She is leaving at the end of May to work for CBS evening news and 60 minutes. Don't ask me why, but when she started getting a little misty, I burst into tears. Grady took one look at mommy crying and began to wail. I have always been a fan of Katie Couric, but it has become a ritual since Grady was born. We wake up and flip on Today we watch Katie Couric and eat breakfast. I am sad she will no longer be a part of our morning routine, and I have just enough hormones left in my body to cry about it.


Here's a pic of Grady trying to get a good glimpse of Today from his excersaucer one morning.

Tuesday, April 04, 2006

Not much...

Well, after being sick most of last week (rotavirus, if you have kids, you know it sucks) I am back. I don't have much to say really. I can't think of any funny stories or anecdotes. Tax season is only two more weeks, thank the Lord, and then I have my husband back from the clutches of wealthy taxpayers. Daylight Savings Time has been a huge blessing in disguise for us. Grady can now stay up until 8 pm and wakes up at 7:30 am and doesn't know the difference. This allows us sooooo much more time together as a family. It also makes it possible for me to get up and shower before Grady begins to stir. Not that I did that today, but I went to the gym this morning, so I figured a shower before was kind of superfluous. What else, what else??? Well, things on the job front for Chris are stirring. I can't write too many details now, because we still aren't sure what's going on, but I may have news to blog on soon. Ahhhh, what do I do when I don't know what else to write???? Throw in a cute pic of the boy...that'll work. Be back later! Now was that really worth harassing me, Katie?