San Diego - Day 1

We took a little mini-vaca last week, just because it sounded like a ton of fun to take a sick baby and a sick mama and spend days outside sweltering in the hot, hot summer sun.  I'm sure somewhere out there, someone thinks it's a good idea to "bake" a cold out of you, right? (didn't work) (but we had fun)

So, Day 1 was Sea World. I've never been, so it was a new experience for me, and I had more fun than I expected. I hope we get the chance to go back sometime, and spend more time there. We were only there for a few hours, due in part to the sweltering heat, and due in other parts to the non-napping sick baby. :o)

The only show we saw was the Shamu show, at 11:00, where the entire stadium (is that the word?) is in direct sunlight (sigh), but I spied, with  my little eyes, a sliver of shade next to a big, metal box protecting a big fan of some sort. It was WAY at the top of the stadium, like in the very last row, so we didn't have the best view, but I think I would have had a hard time seeing with my eyes closed trying to block out the bright sun! :o)  So Mookie and I sat in the shade-sliver for the show, and Dave sat next to us in the sun. It was fun! Maybe next time we'll sit in the Splash Zone. :o)

 

(see the water waaaaaay down there?)

And after the show,  we spent a little time looking at the starfish (there's a touch-and-feel pond) and Mookie was quite interested in the fish that swim with fins :o).

 

Here is one of the only family shots we took all weekend (shame on us!).

 

Next we went into the little aquarium at Sea World, and it had some, um, inviting, user-friendly ledges in front of the glass where Mookie could get up close and personal with Grandpa Grouper. 

Dave had a ticket for a free game at Coco Loco (the ring-toss) game at their arcade area, so he threw the rings to his heart's content. I threw a few. Mookie chewed on a couple. :o)  And even though the odds are stacked against you, Dave hit one of the bottles, and they gave us our choice of any of the stuffed animals hanging overhead. We chose the HUGE pink whale.  Sadly, I am ashamed to admit that I didn't get a picture of Pinkie atop Dave's head. Nor riding in the stroller. Terribly, terribly sorry. We could re-inact them in the grocery store parking lot down the street, if you'd like. :o)

Next we headed to the Sesame Street Bay of Play area. If you go to Sea World San Diego with small children, I suggest you start here. And end here. And spend all day here. Especially if it's 198 degrees outside. :o) There are some water sprayers (no photos -- too busy getting sprayed), and shade, and shaded play areas, and air conditioned shops, and, oh, yeah, Sesame Street characters wandering around.

Mookie has learned to say "block" recently, so we spent a good bit of time in the block area. Plus, it was shaded. And there were bench-seats for the adults. And she was HAPPY!

 

 

And then, it was 2:00, and some little girlie hit melt-down mode. So we headed back to the car. And that same little girlie was asleep in the stroller before we got to the car. And that was pretty much the only nap she took all day because when we got to the hotel to take a proper nap, she decided that puking up the contents of her stomach (watermelon and fruit punch) would be more fun.

Our hotel room looked like a crime scene.

Getting Better... (ETA: or, not)

Thanks to all for asking how Sweet Mookie has been doing since Monday. She's mostly better, today was the first vomit-free day since Sunday (hallelujah!). She's got a good, hearty cold now, though, so she's coughing a lot (which has contributed to her puking), and now has lost her little baby-babble voice. :-(  It's so sad to hear her laryngitic cries.  (And it's funny to hear her talk with laryngitis!) :o)

We have an appointment with her GI doc in mid-September, and hopefully he'll have all the results from the tests then, and will have some good news.

We're spending some good, quality time together as a family, and really enjoying ourselves. Mookie's mostest favoritest thing to do each morning is to sign and say "Papa" while looking for Dave. It's so sweet.  I'm not sure what she's going to do next week when he goes back to work!! :o)

Hope you have a great weekend!

Update (Friday night): I think I jinxed myself. What didn't come up on Thursday, came up twice on Friday. Tracy, I am sorry to report that she doused the white capris that you're letting me borrow. I will bring out the big, stain-fighting guns tomorrow. And hope she doesn't have a repeat performance.

How Was Your Day?

...an excerpt from an email I sent about an hour ago...

(Background info -- Mookie had a fever Sunday and was tres miserable all day long. Also, she has this thing, this mysterious thing, that makes her vomit often, so we're in the process of visiting doctors and having tests run to see if we can figure it out and STOP THE PUKING already.)

This day blows. Blew. Sucked. Craptacular.

Mookie woke up tired, but didn't have a fever, so I hoped it would be a normal day. Haha. Right. She threw up her breakfast before her 2 hour fast prior to her Upper GI, so she went with an extra empty tummy. She did NOT like the barium (they mixed it with "vanilla" -- it looked like chalk). She drank enough for them to see that her anatomy is fine (stomach not rotated, etc), but they wanted her to drink more to see if she has reflux, but she wasn't having any of that craziness, and ended up throwing THAT up all over me. So we gave up, I gave her a snack of yogurt and milk, and headed home. She fell asleep in the car, and Dave had to stop at the pharmacy to get a prescription. While he was inside, she woke up and started puking again. I used up all the wipes I had in the car (mental note: refill wipes in car), and changed her clothes. We got home, chilled out, napped, hung out, played, etc. I made cheese toast for her for dinner, she was more interested in the cereal she could see on the floor, so I gave her some of that (not off the floor, thankyouverymuch), and some yogurt, and about 6 bites in, she started gagging and puking again. Outfit #4 for her for the day. We got out of all that, and headed straight for the bathtub. And when we put her in bed, she fell asleep within minutes. With literally NOTHING in her stomach all day. And not much yesterday, either.
And now, not surprisingly, I'm not feeling well, either.
But I will say that it is a lovely evening. I'm sitting out on the back porch typing, I can hear the music of the cars as they go by on the main road below our house. I can see the crescent moon. I can hear the neighbor's water as it's hitting the lawn. If I thought I could stomach a glass of wine, I'd have one. :o)

Hopefully her GI doc will say that he doesn't need us to go and repeat the Upper GI. That would seriously suck.

And that was my day. No pictures of a smiling baby. No delicious dinner for Dave. Just laundry and leftover Chinese.

I sure hope your Monday was better than mine.

Here's Da Mama

...according to tink, Da Mama has disappeared from the front of the camera.

True.

Seriously, folks. Mookie is SO MUCH CUTER than I am.

Here's a close-up of my forehead and that deep ravine between my eyes. And if your eyes aren't burning, there's a sweet little girlie in the picture that you should focus on -- it'll make your eyes feel better.

The Joy-Bringer

I'm not going to say anything. Just play it.



You're welcome.

Wonder If It'll Still Fit!

Last summer, Dave's mom and I started to make a dress for Mookie. We had the pattern, and we found adorable (and adorably coordinating) fabric. We decided to make the 12-month size, just in case we needed to shelve the project while I was learning how to be a new mama, and all. We cut the fabric according to the pattern. We unfolded the instructions and.we.were.stumped.

Stumped.

Claudia makes beautiful quilts, and home decor. Me? Well, I can sew a mostly straight line.

But to follow a DRESS PATTERN??? Ummm...notsomuch, no.

You'd think we were two aliens on a foreign planet trying to decipher the code to unlock the door to the bathroom, or something. It seemed like we would take two steps forward, and three steps back.

It hurt my brain.

So, on Claudia's last day, we folded it up and put it away. For when I had time. You know, that thing that eludes you when you are waking up to feed the new baby every 2 hours. Time. Hahaha.

Fast forward a year, and Claudia came back. And I dusted off the bag-of-doom, and we tried again. This time we got about 2 steps farther. We even consulted with a very knowledgeable lady at Joann's. We knew we were getting there. We could finish this. Before Mookie outgrew it!

But then, we had stuff to do, and parties to throw, and sewing on the dress was not a priority. But the idea of the unfinished dress still hung over my head and plagued my creative thoughts. Made me feel guilty for doing other crafts. Do your unfinished projects do that to you, or am I the only one? :o)

Finally, I decided I either had to FINISH the dadgum thing, or pay someone to do it for me. :o) Hee hee...you were thinking that about 5 paragraphs ago, weren't you?!

So, I asked around, and one of my neighbors said she made a lot of these types of dresses for her daughter, and would be more than happy to guide, facilitate, lead, teach, coddle me through this arduous process. And I do mean arduous. Sewing from a pattern is easy for millions of people. When they've been taught what everything on the pattern means. Facing? Baste? Pull to gather? Yeah...easy if you have already done it. Not so easy if you are used to sewing a bunch of squares together and calling it a blanket! :o)

And, yet, here we are, I am sewing one slow stitch after slow stitch. The skirt and bodice are gathered, but my next step is to (gasp) line the bodice. Every step takes me closer to success, but the steps are SLOW. Not wanting to screw up, but desperately wanting to finish it.

This summer.



Good thing summer lasts till October here!

Banzai!!!

A couple of weeks ago, one of the moms in our Mom's Group invited us all over for a play date. She had an infant-friendly splash pool and lemonade. Need I say more? :o)

It was a warm, California day -- perfect for splashing around in the back yard! Mookie thoroughly enjoyed herself. So much so, that we have now purchased a Bonzai splash pool for our own backyard! And I know Kelly has done the same.

MAAMMAAA!!!!!! This is AWESOME!!!

I can't believe Mama wants me to wear a hat and sunglasses. She's totally over-protective.

Did Emily bring out MORE watermelon? Yummy!

Catch a wave, 'cuz I'm sittin' on top of the world!!

Splish. Splash. Splish. Splash.

This thing is perfect! Mama can we get one?

I wonder if I can get that sparkley ball away from Robbie...

This will be a God-send her come September and October when it actually gets, you know, HOT here! :o)