38th Street Commune visit

Here we are....back from our trip home. 4 days and 4 nights of twilight zone type fun. The 38th street commune as i call it...is 3 houses in a row on 38th street of course...that are basically a commune although they dont know it. they share everything except partners! Truly it was a great trip and I wouldnt trade it...however...it did come with a fare share of stress and misery hehe.

Friday afternoon, Dave took us to Union Station. We had a while to enjoy the fountain (pic). Then we hung out in the station itself and grant loved having that much open space to run and play donut catch with dave (where you roll a donut toy and grant goes and finds it). He looked soooo tiny in that huge place. The pic is entitled "to scale". Then the clock turned 4:15 and we walked the bridge to the awaiting train. Good byes to daddy and then vwhooosh...we were off. Grant was a bit clingy and cuddly...i guess being in a different place (although this is his 3rd train trip). So he quickly went off to dream world in a state of nursing bliss (whats new). Upon waking he was a bossy, loud, walking, running, adventure seaking 1 year old who stressed his mama out. There were good times...there were bad times..but overall...it was tolerable.

We arrived in St Louis 1 hour late, but it was great to see the parental unit. Grant was exhausted...as he didnt rest after that first nap. He was crabby so being the self sacrificing mother that i am...I contorted in the back seat and nursed him all the way home (25 minutes). We collasped into bed dirty, tired & excited.

Saturday was spent walking grand avenue in my old hood. We visited with my moms hairdressers (all the ladies in the commune go there and are like family themselves), had a fabulous lunch at Chimichangas (OMG the best chimis in the midwest! seriously), shopped till we dropped at the consignment shop "its new to me" where grant loaded up on clothes & a few new toys (for grandmas only). One of the toys is an old xylophone...which after purchasing i realized may have be dangerous...so i am looking into that. Lastly we popped into my moms nail salon (yes its true). We acted quickly so as not to be asphixiated from the fumes. They all said the baby was adorable and we left. The rest of the day was spent napping and prepping for sundays open house. That evening mom did make a delicious dinner and Elly (my other mother, grant's grandma lo & my mom's neighbor for 35 years) visited with us.

Sunday we had the open house. It was so nice to see friends and family. Aunt Bonnie, cousin Sandy, Grandma Burkemper and Aunt Rita, my moms friends Barbara, Mary & Vera, cousin Ann and my friend Jayna, her son Eli & Grandma Lo came. We had lots of snacks and enjoyed the ambiance of my mothers gardens. It was a lovely afternoon. I appreciate everyone coming.

Sunday evening we caught a concert at the park. They were playing covers like "we are family" and "at last" and "dancing in the street"...and grant and i boogied hard. It was SOOOO much fun! Grant has become quite the dancer and he was even cheered on by the vocalist. It was so nice to be at what i consider my home park...carondelet. Such fond memories going all the way back to toddling around the lake with my brothers. My dad still fishes there EVERYDAY!!!! seriously


Monday we stayed at home for the most part. I took Grant on a walk around the hood. IT was wild seeing all the old haunts. I told grant all about them and he really enjoyed it. City living is SO different from where I live now. I can see how it is fun because there is always something going on, always interesting, and of course convenient....but its also congested, dirty & dangerous. That evening we caught another concert in the park...different park...overlooking the Mississippi river. A quartet playing bluegrass entertained us as grant played in the grass and on the slide. It was there we saw his new teeth for the first time! Such a great memory. St Louis at its finest.

Tuesday we went to Union Station and had a luxurious lobster meal courtesy of my parents. It was DELICIOUS. We walked the station before catching the train back west.

Sounds perfect and peaceful right? Well like i started off with saying...it was great and fun...yet not without stress. Grant's cough progressively worsened till we were giving mr mistys every 4 hours...and one day/night he couldnt sleep bc he just kept coughing. Also...my parents house is everything but babyproof...so he got into everything and danger was everywhere...including her yard which has gardens and lots of rocks, metal things and concrete. he hit his head really hard on the concrete first thing. from then on i was on edge. we slept upstairs (in my old bedroom) and even though we had a babygate for the stairs...it didnt fit right so i was always chasing him to the stairs or running up during his naps to make sure i got to him before he tried them himself! grant wouldnt hardly eat the whole trip...prolly a combo of travel jitters/stress/chaos and teething...but it was troublesome to constantly have him reject food when he normally eats so good. thank god for breastfeeding! i always know he is getting that. then right before we left for the train..my mom lost a piece of his nebulizer mask..so we spent a good half hour combing the house for a critical piece..that we never found...so then we went to 3 pharamacies before finally going to teh childrens hospital ER to get one. turns out you need a presciption to get them!!!!!!!!!! how rediculous!!!! besides that the pharmacies order them with the meds. so anyhoo...by the time we got to the hospital i as completely frayed. grant needed a treatment on the train. he would have survived...but it would help him breathe and be more comfortable (he had been wheezing for days). THANK GOD that they were good to me! And after the receptionist scared me by saying we would prolly have to be admitted to the er to get one...and then i cried..and then she got the respiratory therapist..and she was an ANGEL. i love her so much. seriously..want to bring her home with me. she talked with me then brought out a few FREE nebulizer masks/med holder mister thingys. i hugged her and thanked her profusely. so then we had our peace of mind and went to enjoy our elaborate lobster dinner...knowing that grant could have his treatment on the train. which he did...and he barely coughed the whole trip!

on the trip home...at first i was holed up with a bunch of stuffy peeps....in business class...in fact the one dude said "oh no" when he saw me sit down (great thanks buddy ole pal)..it was quiet as a mouse in there and pretty full too...i knew that loud grant would piss em all off...but luckily? the air conditioning was not working very good so by jeff city we moved back to coach where i met another mommy (with 3 yes 3 kids by herself) and we set up train day care and had a hoot the rest of the trip (pic)

so now we are back home...settling back into our routines (which by the way i realized we have an awesome, stable routine that grant enjoys!...im proud of that). grant is back to eating like a horse and sleeping better. he is still on breathing treatments 5 -6 times a day...but is holding his own. as long as he doesnt get worse we are good. its great to be home! daddy missed us and we missed him and its good to all be in bed together once again.

peace out