Halloween

We've had a great Halloween week! I'm feeling much better, my father was released from the hospital late Wednesday, and we've been Halloween party fools! Micah was dressed up as a dragon for Halloween (we had a hand-me-down costume from our friends Jen and Dave). We kicked off Halloween with a parade and party at Micah's daycare:

After the daycare party, we went to Kidville for a Halloween party and Little Maestros concert! Micah had a ton of fun dancing and clapping.

Today, we went to celebrate my niece's 2nd birthday. Unfortunately, Micah was a bit cranky, and we forgot to take pictures of him in his Jack-o-Lantern shirt. We made a chocolate peanut butter Mickey Mouse cake for Peyton, and it was a big hit! What could be bad about Mickey, balloons and peanut butter?

After my niece's party, Micah took a long nap in the car. We decided to swing by Micah's friend Zach's birthday party. I had also made a birthday cake for him - ELMO!!

We arrived quite late (and had to wait for Micah to wake up from his nap), so we missed the Little Maestro's performance, but he still had fun playing with all the gym equipment.

Tonight, Elliot took Micah out trick or treating for a bit. We had a mad rush of kids, so it was a good thing they went out - without their treats, we would have run out of candy for the kids coming by! As Elliot says, reduce, reuse, recycle!

Micah is now quietly tucked away in bed. We're exhausted, and I have to pack and get ready for ANOTHER business trip tomorrow. I'm off to Minneapolis - I hear it is FREEZING there.

Whistle Down the Wind

Okay - the title may not be totally appropriate for this post, but, hey, I thought the Broadway reference would entertain my father when he gets out of the hospital (hopefully today). You see, today I have movie references and my Grandma "Cookie" on my mind. Do you ever think that some habits/actions of lost loved ones are somehow...reincarnated in our children? Perhaps it signals as a reminder from those who are gone.

You see, Grandma "Cookie" could not whistle. There is no judgment in that - neither Elliot nor I can whistle either, so clearly, it would be a genetic challenge for Micah to acquire the whistling acuity of HIS grammy (my mother). Cannot whistle, you say? Well, why didn't she just put her lips together...and blow? (Are you smiling, Dad?) Funny thing is, she did. All the time. Mostly unconsciously. It was actually quite an annoying habit. If you asked her to stop whistling, she would tell you that she could not whistle. It started to become so awful her last few years that we would sit around and mimic her. Often when she wasn't with us, one of us would start making that infertnal...blowing...noise. Even now that she is gone, every once in a while, one of us will still do that as we smile and fondly remember Grandma "Cookie."

Why am I reminiscing about Grandma "Cookie" today? Naturally, it is because of Micah. You see, regardless of ability, he too, likes to sit and "whistle." He puts his lips together and makes that same awful noise. He sometimes does it incessantly! This morning, for example. He was sitting in his high chair, absentmindedly...."whistling." And I thought about Grandma "Cookie." I hope she is smiling.

Craziness

All I can say is "What a week." On Thursday, Micah and I went to our gym class. There is a part of the class where we have the babies all stand up, and we let go. Micah stood on his own for 15 seconds!! He sat down, and looked a little scared afterwards, but I was amazed - that is the longest I've seen him hold a stand on his own so far. I'm pretty sure he'll be walking before he is one year old.

Lately, Micah is obsessed with his Daddy. He howls and runs to the door and bangs on the screen door screaming "Dad" or "Dada" when he steps out. It is kind of adorable. He also has a new trick - he likes to feed mommy food from his tray and he laughs hysterically as I "gobble" it up. We tried catching it tonight, but Micah tends to find the camera a bit of a distraction and prefers to "mug" for the camera.

Here is another recent video of a few of Micah's "tricks":

And Micah playing peek-a-boo:

So...onto the crazy part. Micah and Elliot had a private night together on Friday - while I went out for a girls' night for my friend Stacy's birthday. I made her a cake - we bought her a mah jongg set for her birthday, so mah jongg was the theme! We went out to an Indian restaurant that was more like a Moroccan restaurant. They had a Bollywood/belly dancer, and we sat on cushions low to the floor and shared big plates of food (with no silverware). We had so much fun!


On Saturday, we were supposed to go to a birthday party, but the weather was lousy and it was canceled. Saturday night, we went out to our friends Hirsch and Lisa's annual Sahmain Soiree - a "Black tie potluck" event. We got all dressed up, and my parents came to sit with Micah for an hour or two while we went out. When we got home, my Dad was complaining that he had the chills. I took his temperature, and it said 101. I immediately suspected he had swine flu, and I sent them off to the hospital. Needless to say, I was worried for him and for Micah. After a long wait, and a CT scan of his sinuses and a chest xray, they decided he had pneumonia. No cough at all, just fever and chills. They admitted him to the hospital and put him on IV antibiotics. Unfortunately, he does not seem to be responding, so they added more antibiotics - he is now on 3 of them. I'm hoping he starts to respond better by tomorrow. If all is well with the bloodwork tomorrow, they'll release him.

I also think I have a sinus infection - so sickness seems to be going around. My mom's friend Mona was in town today, so she came by to see Micah. We went for a long walk, and I was exhausted. I crashed for an hour, but then Micah woke up, and I was back to mommy duty.

Just wanted to say, feel better, Daddy!

ETA - I decided to take myself to the hospital tonight, too. I seem to have developed a case of bronchitis, and I thought I should hurry up and get antibiotics. Mostly, I was starting to worry it could be the same pneumonia my dad had, so I figured it was better to be safe than sorry. After the doctor was incredibly rude to me (and informed me that they don't treat bronchitis with antibiotics - they just call it h1n1 and give people Tamiflu), she finally wrote me the script for antibiotics (and a prescription for Tamiflu). I mean, seriously? I'll take the Tamiflu if I develop flu symptoms - but I just have a low-grade fever, my chest hurts, and I *know* that I have a sinus infection/bronchitis. It is the same thing that happens all the time to me. I had a mild cold last week, so a secondary infection following a cold is par for the course for me. Ridiculous! Oh, and according to this lovely doctor, they no longer prescribe antibiotics for bronchitis or sinus infections. Um, hello - maybe they wait a few weeks for most people, but that is NOT a good idea with asthmatics and people with chronic sinusitis. She didn't look up my nose, or at my throat or my ears, she didn't listen to my chest, and she didn't feel my glands. I found the whole experience annoying and off-putting - but I'm glad I have my antibiotics now.

Swine Flu and Baking

It is official - we have a case of swine flu in Micah's daycare class. Apparently, a child went home sick on Friday, and he and his parent have been diagnosed with swine flu. I'm hoping that since we have shown no signs or symptoms yet means we have passed the incubation period and all is well. To make matters worse (as if I'm not already freaking out about germs), the caretaker in Micah's class had a cold yesterday. Yes, a cold. I went to pick Micah up, and she was all stuffed up, coughing, and well...sick. I'm sure it isn't the flu, but really - did she HAVE to expose Micah to her cold? He just got over being sick last month! And I certainly don't need to be sick with all of the traveling I'm doing. I do not need my lungs compromised in any way if there is a chance I could catch the flu!

I hate all this fear about flu. I've never worried about the flu before - in my life, I've only had it 2 times. It has never been a big deal. It is funny - I catch everything else, but I've been relatively flu-free most of my life. I've never gotten the flu vaccine either. I am still not concerned about the seasonal flu, and to be honest, I am just not that excited about H1N1. For whatever reason, if I catch it, I just do not think it will be a big deal. Perhaps I should, but I feel like I'll go to the doctor, get Tamiflu, go on antibiotics if I get a lung infection, and all will be well.

In the midst of all of this, the H1N1 vaccinations have arrived at our pediatrician's office. Both Micah and I cold get vaccinated, but they do not yet have the thimerosal-free (and squalene-free) version yet. So - do I give Micah the vaccine now, or wait an extra month for the safer vaccine? I hate these kind of decisions! I am currently leaning towards waiting. Most of the cases of swine flu seem to be no worse than regular flu. Not that I wish flu on either one of us, but part of me feels that getting the flu might be safer than taking the vaccine. I am also not certain that Micah did not already have swine flu last month when he was sick (although, I suppose Elliot and I would have caught it, too, if it was swine flu).

This morning I called to schedule his second dosage of the regular flu shot - and was told I should call back in November. I am so frustrated by all of this! They would not give me information about which version of the H1N1 vaccine they are currently using, or when they expect to get the thimerosal-free version. I cannot get good information about what to do. The CDC recommends vaccinating, but declines to comment on either thimerosal or squalene at this time. While they will not approve these ingredients in other vaccines, the FDA has suspended most of the guidelines for the H1N1 vaccine for the next six months. I'm sorry - if something was unsafe last month, and it will be unsafe again in six months, isn't it unsafe now?

On the one hand, the studies show there is no connection between thimerosal and autism. Fine - I believe that. HOWEVER, we are encouraged NOT to feed children fish with mercury because even the low doses have been shown to affect brain development. Okay. I can accept that. Then how is thimerosal in the H1N1 vaccine safe? To make matters worse, due to the shortage of vaccinations, there are adjuvants that contain squalene in this version of the H1N1 vaccination. Apparently, there is some relatively new and untested research that indicates that adjuvants *might* cause autoimmune disorders in both adults and children. Until better research is done, how can I comfortably give such a vaccine to Micah? Several states have banned doctors from administering the H1N1 vaccine to pregnant women and children under 3. Moreover, this vaccination has been rushed to market prior to FDA approval and without testing. It is presumed the vaccine will do no harm because it was developed with the same techniques as the regular seasonal flu vaccine. But, with different ingredients in the vaccine, how can they be sure?

In other news, I'm busy cake-baking. I have a cake to do for a friend (I'm making a pumpkin chocolate chip cake) and next weekend I have a cake for my niece's second birthday, and my friend's son's first birthday. I'll be baking my pants off this week in order to get everything finished on time! The good news is that it appears my edible image printer should be back in order! We purchased a new printer head, so tonight I will attempt to replace it and hope that it starts working again. I'm not sure how I will get through the next week without it. I'll post cake pictures soon.

Happy Birthday, Elliot!

Today was Elliot's birthday - his first one as a Daddy. I'm sure I don't ever say this often enough, but Elliot is a wonderful husband and father. He is absolutely one of the kindest people I know, and it is clear to everyone how much he adores Micah. We always manage to have fun together, and I am so glad to be sharing my life with him!

Unfortunately, I think today was a bit of a disappointment, though - it was an entirely underwhelming birthday. A lot of that was my fault - it has been crazy around here, so I did not plan anything really big or special for today. I was having a hard time coming up with a gift idea, so I finally just asked him what he wanted and told him I'll order it later this week. I've been racking my brains trying to think of a good idea, and he always goes so far out for me, and I feel awful. I was toying with taking him out to dinner tonight just the three of us, but we decided to reschedule family dinner for my mom's birthday (and Elliot's) to tonight. So, we braved horrible rush hour traffic to meet my parents, Jen, Jeremy, Paige and Peyton halfway in Columbia at the Olive Garden. Fancy dinner, right? We needed a good family restaurant, so it really was perfect. Micah enjoyed breadsticks, pasta, minestrone soup and pizza. I love watching him eat real food! The girls were adorable, and we had a fun night.

I think Elliot also got a bit short-changed on the cake. I had grand intentions of making him a Bugs Bunny cake this year, but with my edible image printer broken, I just don't seem to have the bandwidth to freehand the bunny. Since we were also sharing the celebration with my mom, Elliot didn't even get his own cake - it was a joint cake with my mom! (I guess my mom was short-changed, too - she had to share the cake with Elliot!) I just made a very simple cake - a delicious chocolate truffle cake decorated simply with buttercream icing and chocolate icing. I made some pretty fondant stars on wire and had them spraying out from the cake. It tasted yummy.

In better news, we do have a fun night planned for date night - we are going to a nice Indian restaurant for dinner, and we'll wander around for dessert and enjoy the beautiful weather. Perhaps we'll also grab a movie if there is time. I did come up with one good idea that did not exactly pan out as I had hoped. We've been wanting to go eat at Volt (for those of you who are watching Top Chef, it is Bryan Voltaggio's place), so I called and made reservations. Unfortunately, the first available Thursday night reservations were not until October 29, so I took those and plan to take Elliot to part two of his birthday celebration there. When I mentioned this to Elliot, he said he'd rather go in November and celebrate our anniversary there, so perhaps my fun birthday surprise will become an anniversary gift instead.

In Micah news, we have entered the world of diaper acrobatics. Trying to change Micah's diaper is a major undertaking. He flips over, climbs up the walls, stands - pretty much anything to make diapering impossible. Half of the time, we diaper him while he is standing! The diapers are never on properly, and it is a constant struggle while he complains loudly and fights us. We've tried toys (for some reason, he seems to enjoy playing with the thermometer the most), but those no longer seem to be holding his interest. I think I'm ready for potty training!