Five For Friday

1. San Diego was AMAZING. Though you wouldn't know that, because you haven't seen a single picture or read a single blog post about it yet. My bad. I promise to take care of that in the very near future, so that you can share our grand adventure with us.

2. Max's new word? "Groooosss". As in, poke his finger in whatever he's refusing to eat, push it around his plate, and declare it "Groooossss". As in, lean over and SPIT on the nasty piece of dried bubble gum he discovered on the sidewalk, and declare it "Groooossss". Really? What biological piece of being a boy teaches an almost two year old to SPIT on something?

3. I think potty training may be on our horizon. A far away horizon that you can only see through the fog, but still, you catch glimpses of it. Why? Because Max is trying to wipe himself any time he enters a bathroom. And because he can say poo-poo, and he grabs his crotch and "pretends" like he needs to go to the bathroom. I'm hoping that we can avoid this process until after Max starts sleeping through the night. And not vomiting. I mean, I can only handle so many things at once. But I have a funny feeling that this adventure may be happening sooner rather than later. The horizon is starting to become really clear.

4. BEST. MORNING. EVER. Today. Took Max for a walk downtown. He said "Hi" and "Bye" to the baby chicks/ducks at the Feed and Fuel. Then we sat together on a beautiful sunny patio and had lunch, while listening to a guy play his guitar and sing. Max sat on my lap, leaned back into me, munched on his bread, and just listened to the music. And every few minutes he'd grab my arm and wrap it around his tummy and snuggle in. These are the kind of moments that you dream of when you think about being a mom.

5. Restaurants? With a toddler? Um, yes! Max apparently decided that he would turn over a new leaf while we were traveling. The kind of leaf that sits calmly in a high chair or booster seat and eats an entire meal so that his friends and family can enjoy theirs too. No joke, the morning we ate a monster brunch, Sean and I actually finished before Max did!

So there's your Five for Friday. Keep your fingers crossed for Max to have good naps and good nights, and I'll surely be posting more!

Balancing Act

Want to know what sucks? Spending 5 hours at Children's Hospital yesterday. The 30 minutes that it took for Max to calm down after waking up from anesthesia. The PH probe that they insisted they place and then we insisted that they remove (oh, the nurses were pissed, but you really didn't think that we'd make you take it out after I overheard you say "I need all hands on deck to hold him down while I reposition it"??). Meeting the doctors in the hallway outside of the operating room and hearing them say that they found the same inflammation as last time. And then commenting that figuring it out is still "really tricky". Having a verbal little boy who kinda gets what's going on now, and was screaming "Ma-ma, CHOO CHOO!" (he wanted to go back out to the lobby and play with the big train) during most of the pre-op procedure, because he just knew that something really not fun was about to happen. But here's what's great....

This face.

The 37 second conversation that Sean and I had (mostly with our eyes) while he held a screaming, scared little boy and we agreed to ask them to take the ph probe out. Because we're his parents. And that's our job. The minute that the probe, the IV, the heart monitors, and all of the other random cords were out and off, and holding Max on my lap when he sucked down his first bottle in oh, 10 hours.

What else makes the happy list? Bubbles. The bubbles that the Child Life Specialists brought him when we were waiting for his pre-op meds to take effect. Oh glorious 50cent bubbles. You saved the day. And our sweet doctor, who I know loves Max just by how she looks at him and how she treats him. I wanted to hug her for making me trust her so much. She is a kind, smart woman....and a little "Grey's Anatomy", but in a good way. Also on the list? The anesthesiologist who figured out a way to put Max's IV in AFTER he was sedated. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. And whoever took the umpteen vials of blood while he was sedated? You rock. Because last time, he came out of surgery with two quarter size bruises, one on each hand. Which means that someone tried too many times, in both hands, before they got a vein. And this time, someone got it first try, one hand only. Thank you for knowing that just because my boy is sedated, he is not yours to practice on. What else is on the happy list? Hugging and loving my beautiful Max, the way his sweet swollen face looked when he woke up last night from a long evening nap, his "I have no recollection of what I just went through this morning, but I am ready to PLAY" attitude. The fact that my husband took the whole day off from work to be with us, when I overheard another dad in the waiting room say "OK, can I go see my client now?".

We might not have enough answers yet, but we have this.....

and Max seems to know exactly where we're going.

The Happy List

Years ago, when I journaled with a spiral-bound notebook and a blue pen, lying sprawled across my bed with some good "writing music" on (think angst rock, or chick power music....Heart, anyone?), I kept what I called the "Happy List" in the back of my journal. It was a few pages of random things that made me smile. Things like "the way my new shampoo smells", and "the sound of my baby sister laughing out loud". It would serve as a much-needed antithesis to the drama of my dating days, and I would refer back to it every time I needed a pick-me-up. If I had that list scrawled across the back of this journal, I might add some of the moments that we had this past week. Aunt Katie came to visit, and this girl is WISE. And KIND. And FUNNY. And so poised, and resilient, and beautiful. And DAMN she takes the most amazing photos. She captured Max in all of his "I'm exploring the world and it's my very own Happy List moment" way.... And she helped us to chronicle our adventures....because Mommy isn't usually on this side of the camera...

This little guy is a living, breathing, every second Happy Moment.

And he never stops taking it all in...

Shouldn't we all see the world like this?

Feeling blessed today to have had so much time with my family this past week. And feeling a little sad that there will be more medical tests and doctor things next week for our little soldier. But flipping to the back of the journal all the same, and shining some light on what matters most.

If you'd like, comment away and tell me what your Happy Moment looked like this week....