Over the river and through the woods

to jefferson city we go! Today i leave work at 2:30, go to day care, freshen up grant and give him a snack (and mama milk of course)and off we trek to pick up daddy from work and then on to kansas city union station. this train traveling is becoming second nature for ol grant and i. this trip is a sin ch being that it is only 3 hours compared to the regular 6 + of our st louis journey.

So at 2:30 im officially on vacation. Wont be back till next tuesday! Visiting with my mom and aunt who are meeting us there for one day. Visiting with grants godparents and aunts, uncles and cousins for the entirety. Visiting with my old friend amy and her 3 year old christian on friday. and then swooosh...daddy is picking us up and we are off to the lake house! we havent been down there since before grant was born!

even though it all does sound fun...i know there is stress on the horizon. non baby proofed places are very tiresome for ol mama. however, i plan to do some babyproofing as i go...but oh...remember the time at my moms...haunts me.

grant is still coughing some..and at times they sound scary...but overall you know i really think he is doing just about as good as the now 12 month old who got it first. T.J. is green snottin and coughing and even wheezing! He has never been labeled asthma. His dr encouraged his mama to use the breathing treatments on him..and she is intermittently. We however...are nebulizer free! Its on hand in case he starts retracting...but for now...he is keeping up with the rest of them! mama is sooo very proud and excited and hopeful! Turns out...colds run into colds i think. they overlap. Be glad if your child is not exposed to other children on a regular basis!

i have a giant secret that i would love to share...but i cannot. holding on to it and not telling ...even when im dying to... has made me realize that by telling someone a secret..that you intend to keep a secret...you are actually doing an injustice to that person. now they have the baggage and must carry it along without telling anyone (as you just indulged in!) its not fair really. true secrets are not told. and its good that way. although i just indulged by telling you i had a secret which is completely selfish and silly. a couple of hints: im not pregnant hehe and its about me not grant. hopefully i can tell you the whole story when i return from jefferson city.

for now i continue to study for the cprp exam . AHHHHH

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

meet me in st loui loui

im the mama of a 1 year old...wierd! he is such a kid now! i peeked out the window this fine evening to see him watering the new ornamental grasses with his dad...he was actually holding the hose..directing it at the grass...it was so cute! didnt get a digital pic of it...was lucky to grab the video cam...anyhoo...he is learning and changing and growing right before our eyes!

words he says: bubble, no, ya, all done, door (doh), mom (mama or mom), dad (dada or dad), baby (beeee), grandma (nana), neal (nene), dog (daugh).

words he understands (a quickie, not complete list i am sure): hi, bye, ride, bite, down, up, dog, door, come here, food, listen, dance, fan, sleep/bed, walk, milk, drink, no, mom, dad, grandma, grandma neals, baby, ball, catch, go get it (i think), grant, look, water, home, ouch, yuck, bath, diaper

im sure there is more but i am in a bit of a hurry see because i am packing for a trip to st louis to visit the fam. grant and i are taking the amtrak tomorrow even at 4:30 and should arrive somewhere abouts 10:30. daddy cant come bc he is working both sat and sun but has plans to enjoy the bachelor type ambience with lots of reclining, game playing, movie watching and otherwise relaxing. we shall miss poppy.

the pic is of grant enjoying the pot..in fact peeing in pot..although not the best pot to pee in ...actually a pan...but you get the idea. he truly yearns to fit inside the pan even though it pains him so. another trend is to bend over to bite on things including food, balls & basically any toy..its pretty cute. he is just exploring his world in every way he can think of!

this week has included his first large black & blue swollen knot on the head (the size of a quarter) that he got at day care...falling onto her hope chest (i cant imagine his injury if it hadnt had rounded corners), itchy red scrotum due to moms grassy assy pic....lord have mercy!, bum rash due to half sour pickles i believe grrrrr....and more than a handful of mr mistys (breathing treatments) due to "hay fever" a.k.a seasonal allergies.the kid does amazingly well considering the hurdles he must jump. for now we are avoiding goats milk(to see if he improves without it...although i must say as of right now it doesnt seem to be the culprit).

next post....wednesday of next week! unless i find an innocent st louis pc to victimize.
peace out

Bananabeef

Life is spectacular in its never ending twists and turns.......a journey of discovery that continues on and on....beyond what we understand...and how fun it is to wonder about the unknown...and to revel in what we are experiencing right this moment....this day...this week...this year..this life. can you tell im kinda high on life? its not always this way...but i am a bit zapped in the present.

soooo...little bear grant (i tend to call him bear more than anything lately) has been an exceptional specimen as usual. he travelled with mama to the big city that is home to our family...st louis...on the train. ahhh does he love the choo choo. we had perfect trips..even arriving early....met delightful folks on both routes...even meeting new friends and exchanging contacts. grant was the star of the show...playing peek a boo around the seats with ladies acting silly back. by the end of each train he had been walked about by staff and passengers alike. he sure does make them smile.

st louis was wonderful. we had a very nice visit with my parents and brother, sister in law, niece and even 2 cousins and 3 aunts! they all poured on the love and grant just soaked it up like the love sponge he is. it was like he was on stage...bc he was just a social butterfly. he loves it when its all about grant...and when isnt it?:)

coming back to work was hard. grant and i had become so in tune ...being together every second of the trip...for over 3 days...and we didnt want it to end. sending him off to day care was a tear jerker...and i know he felt the same way bc he was grumpy on monday. sometimes i want to be a stay at home mom SOOO very badly. i try to figure a way to make it happen...but come up short each time. sure we could sell the house and rent a tiny apartment...but what about insurance? thats the kicker. my employer pays $10,000 a year for our family insurance! Can you believe it? rediculous.

took bear to the dr this morning...a pediatric immunologist at KU med center. it was a pretty good visit actually. it takes a month and a half to get in there...so we had been anticipating the outcome for quite some time. I was suprised when they decided to do allergy testing..since i had heard its not done on babies. The results were even more suprising....bananas and beef...they said it was a strange combo indeed. The good news is we can easily avoid those..and see if it helps! Pretty exciting stuff. Of course im not considering the test to be the end all...but its interesting in the very least...and who knows it may just be the answers we were looking for! They did say that allergens can cause gerd too...and asthma of course...and exema...everything being connected. Im excited about grant outgrowing all this stuff too! Little man has been through so much already.

I am so thankful to be so blessed.

Thanks for visiting our blog!