The aversion to spaghetti that Asher went through was just temporary. He is now a big fan which means that he might just have a shot at surviving in this family. Spaghetti is on the menu quite often here.
He's also shown a lot of interest in feeding himself lately, so we are trying to let him practice. Spaghetti is a tough one to master though, even for the most experienced utensil-user. 
I am SO not a bed-maker, but for the last week, I have made it almost everyday. That is huge. I even vacuumed our room AND cleaned the baseboards!?!
I can't wait to see what else I get motivated to clean!
Apparently, Jamie Rives (which rhymes with "fives" and "hives" and "jives") is the most difficult name in the world to pronounce. I can probably count on one hand the number of times someone who reads it for the first time says it correctly. My mother-in-law warned me on my wedding day that from this point on, no one would ever be able to pronounce my last name, and boy was she right!
I usually get "Reeves" or "Rivez." Today I got my favorite--the pronunciation "Hi-May Ree-Vez." I am a girl that is as Euro-looking as they come, but with the name of a hispanic male I guess.
There have been several times, upon reading my name, that customer service people assume I need a Spanish speaking person to talk to. So they call me and begin speaking to me in Spanish, only to find out that "Jay-mee Rye-vz" has a very limited Spanish vocabulary.
Ok--I think that's the end of my rant...adios!
First trip to the E.R.
This is my happy boy on the way to get his poor little gashed-up eye looked at. He fell into the coffee table (which has since been relocated) and cut the area above his eye. The bleeding wasn't profuse, but he was screaming and we couldn't get the bleeding to stop. Kris called his friend Lanny, who is a surgery resident, and he recommended since it was on his face, to take him into the E.R. We didn't want any hacks at the Urgent Care center to ruin his future modeling career, so we loaded him up and headed for the hospital.
As Kris was on the phone with Lanny, Asher began to calm down, but was still upset. I kept having to blot his eye and that was really getting on his nerves. So I did what I would want someone to do for me in this situation--I busted out the Blue Bell Homemade Vanilla. The tears dried up as I began to feed him ice cream. Medicate pain with food--that's what I always say.
So we get to the E.R. and we get "fast-tracked" since Asher didn't require a bed. It only took about 30 minutes of waiting before he was seen by a doctor, who essentially glued his little skin back together. I was really grateful that he didn't need stitches, but we're forking over some serious money for what I could have done at home with some Elmer's. I kid. I was glued back together after my c-section and I will take that over staples or thread any day.
I think the worst part for him was the bracelet that they put on his leg. He did not appreciate that at all and kept trying to rip it off. 
His eye is still pretty swollen, but he is back to his old self. We came home and he ate dinner and played for a little while and then went to bed.
We are so thankful this was a minor injury, but it is still so hard to watch your baby in pain. He is such a trooper and has a pretty high pain tolerance, but each time he gets hurt (which seems to occur more frequntly now that he is upright) I want to make some sort of deal where he never has to hurt again and I just take it all. And I'm a pretty weak and selfish person. Being a mom changes everything though, doesn't it?
I'm at the 31 week mark and my parents are celebrating 31 years of wedded bliss!
In case you were wondering, that's my "uh-oh! Only 9 more weeks--I should pack a bag for the hospital" face. Or maybe it's my "I can't believe that maid forgot to come again. She is so fired" face.
If you'd like to see the growth progression, here is the one other "belly shot" I've taken. I keep forgetting to take them. I guess once every 10 weeks will have to do.
So, getting back to my mom and dad--they have their first ballroom dancing class tonight, but after seeing this video of them, I hardly think they need lessons!
We started out the day fully intending to get Asher his first haircut. His hair isn't completely out of control, but on non-humid days (the humidity makes it very curly and sweet), it tends to take on a bit of a mullet shape (nothing sweet about that.) So I spent the morning taking lots of pictures of his hair. All of a sudden, I felt very overwhelmed by the prospect of cutting that those precious little blonde locks.
He does have really sweet little flip-out pieces right above each ear that sometimes I love and other times looks a little too unkempt. And when he wears a collared shirt, his hair hangs over the back of his collar.
Ugh. Just what I need--one more head of hair to stress out over. Mine keeps me busy enough.
But today was the day. We were going to a place that a friend recommended. We got there and found out we would have to wait about 20 minutes. That gave me way too much time to ponder the whole issue. I called my friend Kelli, who is the only person I know that has deeper issues regarding hair than I do. Hers, as well as her kids, always looks great, but only after making the hair-cutting person crazy. I wanted explicit instructions on what to ask her to do, and more importantly, what not to do. Kelli did not disappoint and gave great advice.
But after waiting, and then talking with Kris about how no one in that shop looked like they had kids (or if they did, would have the same idea of what a good haircut would look like on them), I decided we needed to postpone this whole thing. Kris, who is used to my weirdness, fully supported me--I think because he was in no mood to deal with a traumatized wife if things did not go well.
So we left and walked down to a new mexican food place to eat lunch. We ran into the Wimberlys there so it made the whole haircutting excursion well worth our time. We enjoyed a nice lunch with them and then we came home and Asher took a great nap.
We will attempt the first haircut next weekend...maybe.
ps--Do you ever let your kid make a mess while you are blogging because the 5 minutes it gives you to type is worth the 20 minutes it will take for you to clean up?
yeah, me neither.
The teachers at Kris' school threw a little shower for us today. It was so sweet and we got lots of goodies! Asher had a blast of course because he had a new audience to perform for. 
Big brother Asher with the button to prove it!
That's the death toll right now in the wake of the cyclones in Myanmar. Ashamedly, I had no idea of the magnitude of this disaster.
As usual, Pastor John Piper has some incredible words of admonishment and encouragement that give us some direction in a time like this. I found this on the Desiring God blog.
6 Ways to React to the Cyclone
May 6, 2008 By: John Piper
Category: Commentary
As the carnage from Cyclone Nargis moves toward 50,000 dead and beyond, there is a way to pray and act:
1. Be softened to the pain nearby.
The Good Samaritan knew nothing of the calamities in first century Burma, but was commended by the Lord for mercies at hand (Luke 10:25-37).
2. Pray for the followers of Christ in Myanmar:
That they would be still and know that God is God (Psalm 46:10; 100:3).
That they would be awakened from the illusion that this life is long or sure or the main point of eternal existence (James 4:14).
That they would be given a new vision of the supreme value of Christ who promises his followers that famine, nakedness, and death will not separate them from his love (Romans 8:35).
That God would meet their needs according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus, so that they might have to give to those in need (Philippians 4:19; Ephesians 4:28).
3. Pray for the millions of unbelievers near the calamity and far from it:
That they would see the helplessness of man before the Power that rules the world and fly to Christ who alone delivers from the final cyclone of God’s wrath (1 Thessalonians 1:10).
That they would not respond like the people in Revelation (9:20; 16:9, 11) who did not repent at the devastation but cursed God.
That they would hear the best news in all the world—not the news of health, wealth, and prosperity in this world, but the news that Christ became a curse for us (Galatians 3:13) so that in him we can be more than conquerors in every calamity of life (Romans 8:37).
4. Pray for those of us who live in the seeming security and prosperity of America:
That we would see what is about to break over us in due time—either collectively as God removes the hand of his providential restraint, or individually as one by one we are whisked to the hospital, then wheeled to the nursing home, and then carried to the funeral home (Hebrews 9:27).
That millions would be made to see this and repent from the adultery of treasuring anything more than Christ (James 4:4).
5. Give money to replenish the coffers of compassion “since you also are in the body” (Hebrews 13:3).
6. Muster a team from your church, and when the doors are open, be ready to go.
This kind of going always has the promise of a special, “I will be with you to the end of the age” (Matthew 28:20).
I love these cutting boards! I have major cross-contamination fears and, assuming the dividers really keep the boards separate, this could solve my problem. If I wanted to pay $85 for a solved problem.
I don't, by the way.
This is not a fun "first" though...first ear infection :(
Poor little A started running fever on Wednesday night. I assumed he was teething because he was also drooling a lot and his temperature was only about 100. So I gave him some Tylenol and he went to sleep. We kept hearing him wake up every hour or so and kind of fuss a little, but always stopped and fell back to sleep. But around 11:00 pm, he was crying. We went in to get him and he was just laying there, looking pretty listless and pitiful. I picked him up and he was burning up. We took his temp and it was 104. And he was shivering. We could tell he was miserable.
We put him in the bath for a little bit to try to get his fever down, which he hated! Then we got him out and took him outside to calm him down. His current passion right now is airplanes so living below the flight path for a major airport is actually a plus for our family. This took his mind of his hurting and gave the Tylenol we had just given him a chance to work its magic.
So at around 11:30pm, Kris, diaper-clad Asher, and I are sitting on a blanket in our front yard looking at planes. His fever went way down and he was chatting and pointing at the planes and was once again his usual happy self. We came back in and he went to bed.
But all day yesterday, the fever never completely went away. It stayed around 100-101 and would go down with Tylenol, but always came back. He wasn't too hungry during the day, but still drank lots of water (thankfully he still doesn't know about juice!) and ate some fruit--and of course crackers--a major staple in his life. He ate lots at dinner though and his temp was down so we thought maybe it was just a 24 hour virus and in the morning he would be all better.
But once again, he wakes up during the night burning up, this time with about 104.5. We gave him more Tylenol but stayed inside this time. It was much later and he seemed to feel even worse than the previous night. He fell asleep on me as I laid with him on the couch. Apparently Jude did not appreciate the extra 25 pounds on top of him because he kept kicking me. One asleep, one awake--a little something to look forward to. Asher slept for about an hour at a time the rest of the night and then from about 6-8:30.
I took him to the doctor this morning and we discovered that he has a double ear infection. I didn't think it was his ears because he never pulled at them and didn't seem uncomfortable when he sucked on his sippy cup. But I did notice he was very unstabel walking--even more so than usual. He could only take about 3 steps without losing his balance.
So we start the medicine and hopefully he will be as good as new in a few days. I hate that he feels bad, but it has been nice getting to hold him more than he usually lets me these days. And the reminder of what it feels like to go with very little sleep has been helpful, too--those days are soon approaching again!
I know there is so much wrong with our healthcare system, but I am always humbled as I walk out of the doctors office with a diagnosis and a prescription because there are so many mamas around the world who just watch their babies hurt and have no way to help them. Yes, there are lot of things that need to be fixed (but not your way, Hillary), but the fact that I have access to doctors and medicine and healthy food is a blessing I am truly grateful for.
Posts
All Comments
