No Pants
I have no pants. That is, I've been wearing the same pants for the last three days, not only that but I might have to do the same tomorrow. Sheesh… I’m a real stinker. That’s what happens when you don’t do laundry. But this time, it’s not our usual laziness or tiredness. We have a really good excuse; we’re out of laundry detergent. Ok, so it’s not a REALLY good excuse but it will have to do since I’m too lazy to think of another one. Anyway, today we finally did some serious grocery shopping and got the detergent. Only thing left to do is the laundry. What am I doing here? The laundry is waiting.
Update: We didn't get a stain remover that we're also out of. Amazingly no stains on this load of laundry.
Three firsts
While raising a baby, there are many firsts. Some are more significant than others, but it’s always wondrous to see them discover the world around them and watch them do things for the first time.
Today was one of the busy first time days. Actually, three of them. So today:
1. He climbed a ladder all by himself for first time.
2. He discovered and played with his shadow
3. And ummm… damnit, I’ll have to update it later. It was funny and admirable, anyone have a memory pill?
I had a dream
A couple of mornings ago I woke up with the memory of a dream I had during the night. Actually it was only bits and pieces of it but that’s more than my usual blank memory.
The dream was kind of melancholic. It was sometime during the night, everything was very dark without any bright colors. I was in some kind of army, wearing very dark green uniform. We (me and my platoon) were setting everything to go on some kind of a live drill. We left the barracks on big Rio trucks driving over rough dirt road. I was sitting in the back of the truck with my fellow platoon members, crowded with our equipment. I don’t remember any specific face from the other people sitting in the truck with me; it’s all very vague. The trip was very short, taking only several minutes until we arrived at some shapeless structure. As soon as the trucks stopped we quickly got all inside. The rooms were all empty beside several two-story beds scattered around. I laid on one of them looking outside through the window in a sharpshooter position. Not more than a few minutes later I realized I forgot something back at the barracks so I just got up and went away back to the barracks. Alone…
That’s all I remember. Strange, very strange. I wonder where the whole army theme came from.
The Hulk
It’s been a while since I’ve been to the movies (or a movie theater to be precise). Mostly because I think most movies do not need the big screen to tell their story. Does When Harry met Sally or Sleepless in Seattle need a big screen? They can perfectly tell the same story on my home TV screen. Watching them on the big screen does not enhance the experience. This begs the question, why would I go sit with a bunch of strangers in a huge dark room when I can lay on my own couch, hold my own popcorn and enjoy it in the comfort of my own home? That’s it, I won’t, I won’t go to the movie theater unless it’s really worth it. The worth it department includes films like Lord of the rings, Braveheart, Alexander (no I didn’t see it and probably won’t), you get the picture.
Last week, I saw
The Hulk. This is the kind of movie I would go to see in a movie theater, or so I thought. It turned out to be nothing like what I expected. You hear The Hulk, you think Spiderman, X-Man, Batman and so forth, not so.
The Hulk movie is comics turned into serious drama. No problem so far, many movies I saw turned out to be different than what I expected and still were very good films. The problem is, it’s not a good dramatic film.
One of the problems is that the movie is too long, much of the movie is a complete drag; either nothing is happening, or the Hulk is jumping around while the army vainly try to kill him. There isn’t much fun in watching people futilely attempt to destruct the indestructible. Another problem is that it lacks any emotional weight; after all it is a dramatic film. It’s hard to root for a big green monster who runs around destroying so much though doesn’t kill anyone (what is it the A-team???). The movie is not a total-loss, there are some good parts, like the cast, the CGI rendering of the hulk and San Francisco :-) . Good thing I didn't go to see it when it came out to theaters.
Buses
I like riding the buses. No really, I do.
In the last seven or eight years I never went by bus more than two days in a row. In the rare occasions that I did use the bus, it was to watch special events in the city, like the pride parade or other major celebrations where the whole world and his wife showed up. So this week, when I had to go to work by bus for almost the entire week, on the account of my son being sick, It felt nice. When going by car you just get in your car, closed in a metal box with your music and the AC on, and no interaction with anyone whatsoever. You hardly walk outside (unless walking from the building entrance to the rare/side of the building where the parking lot is considered walking) and you hardly meet strangers. I’m not even talking about reading a newspaper or a book while someone else is doing the driving.
You’re probably reading this and thinking, this guy has gone mad, he WANTS to go by bus? But I assure you this is the least of the reasons why I might be considered mad (there are plenty of others). And I can tell you that I would choose to use the car over the bus any day of the week. There is however some favorable interaction in public transportation that does not exist in the privacy of your own car. When I was younger, I met people on buses. People that I had umm… relationships with. Sure, 99.99999999% of the people you see on buses do not care about you and nor do you about them but still.
After marching last night through the gusting winds and frozen rain to the bus stop and waiting for 20 minutes for it to arrive. I thought to myself that it happens sometimes. But after being jammed between a guy who didn’t bath for a week and don’t know what a deodorant is, an old lady who had to hold her shopping bag up in the air with the same hand that holds the rail so the bag would bang against my head every time the bus stopped or started moving or turn or do any kind of movement (I tell you these old ladies are strong, don’t mess with them) and another huge guy who probably didn’t brush his teeth since Monday. I think I’ll give up the buses for another while.
Baby update
I promised an update on my son’s situation, so here I go. On our last visit to the doctor, she told us that when he will be able to hold food in, we should not give him the regular similac formula but the non-dairy one.
When I got home on Monday he was already sleeping. Tired from a day without eating. I didn’t stay for long before I went to the pharmacy to get him a soy-based formula and grab a pizza since we were both too tired to cook.
After leaving behind only two slices of a family sized pizza on the table, we went to bed. Just at that moment the little president woke up crying. He didn’t want to eat nor drink, he was tired and not feeling well, but wouldn’t go back to sleep. As in the last few nights he ended up with us in our bed.
At a round 3:00am he woke up again calling “amy, amy” (the non official baby-talk to English translation means: “I’m hungry feed me, I’m hungry feed me). So I handed him a bottle with the new
Isomil formula and crossed my fingers.
Please keep it in I thought to myself, if it comes back out again, there is no choice but to go to the hospital. He ate half a bottle and fell asleep again. I was nervous but fell asleep right after him.
I heard sounds. I opened my eyes and there he was sitting in between us. I felt with my hand everything around me, everything is dry, no vomiting this time, what a relief. He was hungry again so I went for another batch of formula. This time he almost finished the entire bottle. It was a good sign.
Though the vomiting stopped he still had diarrhea. But now, with some food and fluids, we know he will be ok. Yesterday he started eating some rice and mashed potatoes, not as he used to but enough to get him through this.
This morning we took some samples to the lab to find out if it might be worse than the every-now-and-than stomach virus.
Dyslexic
I’m dyslexic. I found out about it only when I was in college. Truth is, I didn’t know much about it before than. I had some problems during elementary and high school but I guess no one in our incredible schooling system knew about it either (or care to). Let’s say I wasn’t a bright student most of the times (I had my good years though). Some of my high-school or non-high-school tales may find their way here one day (wink, wink).
Anyway, my dyslexia is kind of mixed, sometimes I may mean one thing and write something similar but different as it was in my previous post where I wrote “feather” instead of “fever”. Sometimes I will write something totally different like “truck” instead of “schoolbag” or something along those lines. The more common mistake however is when my brain is not synched with my hands. Obviously our brain works much faster than our hands (in most people at least) but they are synched so what we write (or anything else we do) will work in a timely manner.
Well, with me, sometimes my brains runs way faster, and when I type, I miss words, sometimes whole sentences. When I read it back to myself, I wonder where that great sentence had gone. One of the most common problems is when I mean to write “can’t” but write “can” instead. Now, I’m used to read everything I write before I do anything with it, not always, but most of the times. I caught myself writing things that look stupid because I miss letters or words.
Not that I need to comfort myself, but I just remembered that I read somewhere that on a grand scale, dyslexics are on average smarter than the non-dyslexics. So tongue out to all of you.
My boy is sick
It all started on Saturday, he wasn’t feeling very well and we stayed home with him (it was a crappy grayish day anyway). He had fever and was agitated most of the day. Yesterday during the day it got a little better, the fever went away, he was happier and seemed more alive. We even took him out during the evening when we went to get some new curtains for our bedroom (which were on sale). Things started to get worse when we got back home. He was hot again, though it wasn’t fever yet, and he started vomiting. Once, twice, third and fourth times in 20-30 minute intervals. He was very tired and fallen asleep while I was holding him. We hopped he would wake in a better shape.
The hopes shattered when I heard coughing and crying from his room. I ran over and there he was sitting in his bed after vomiting again all over the bed and himself. I looked at him sitting there crying, his hand over his face, I was heart broken. It was almost 3am and we felt so helpless. We called a doctor for a night visit. By the time she got there he vomited two more times.
The doctor concluded he had a virus and that we need to give him fluids in small portions. If he will continue vomiting we should take him to the doctor in the morning and they will decide what to do. At around 5am we went back to sleep. He was sleeping in between us in our bed. So pure, so beautiful.
At 7am he woke us up as he was making vomiting motions but almost nothing came out. His stomach was empty, there was nothing left in there to come out. After that he was playful and alert, we hoped he would be feeling better and we will put it behind us. He was obviously hungry calling “amy, amy” which means he wants to eat. We gave him a bottle and hope for the best.
It wasn’t even 8am when he shot everything he ate just before out of his mouth and onto our bed and pillows. This time we took him to have a bath. There was no choice, we had to go to the doctor again. The good thing about the clinic that we use is that most of the time you don’t have to set an appointment to see the doctor. Simply because there aren’t many people going there, so we just go over wait 10-20 minutes and we’re in, doesn’t matter if it’s the family doctor or a pediatrician.
The doctor gave us this powder (I can’t remember it’s name), which we should mix with water and feed him. This should supply enough nutrition to hold him until he can take normal food. We drove to my workplace, said our goodbyes, and off he went with his mom home and I went up to the office.
As of the last report I got from home. He is not very happy with this strange liquid he is given and not drinking much of it. The problem is, if he doesn’t drink and hold it in, we can’t give him any other food. I hope he will start taking it soon or this will turn into a bigger problem we don’t want to face.
I’ll keep you posted.
Sorry cow
Here’s one thing I bet you don’t know about me (whoever you are). I’m a vegetarian since birth. (Yes, I never tried meat, chicken or fish). What else can I say about it, umm… Well, I eat everything beside that.
Anyway maybe it’s time you carnivores or omnivores, or whatever you are, apologies to our cow friends who give us so much and get short miserable life in return. You don't have to, but still, don't you think it will be a nice gesture for the holidays? Especially before you jump on the steak, meat casserole or your other holiday dinner “delights”.
Just another long day at the office.
Yesterday started just fine. I woke up at around 7:45am. My son woke only minutes later, all wet (what’s up Huggies? Your “new system” suck!). I went to work, late, as usual lately (though there is no real late or early where I’m employed, there is only work and lots of it). As soon as I got to my desk, I remembered what was bugging me going up the elevator. Milk. I forgot to buy milk. Luckily my co-worker, who I share a room with, did not. We had coffee and ate all through the day. It’s the Jewish holyday Hanukah and the office is full of sweets. Strangely at around 2:00pm I was hungry as if I didn’t munch all day.
So things went just as they did at any other day. Until 4pm. At 4pm I got a message that something was wrong with the last patch of our system (yes, I’m in the IT industry). Some recently made changes affected my part of the system and I had to fix it ASAP. This usually means “it should have been done yesterday”. No one could find out the problem at 9am, they had to wait to 4pm for that, damnit. In any case, I started the mini project on the spot only to find another issue three hours later. Though things progressed pretty nicely, I decided to order in dinner at around 9pm as I was putting the finishing touches and getting ready for some quick testing. At quarter to 11 the delivery guy arrived (one hour later than he was suppose to), just as I was getting ready to leave. Great, thanks a lot. I picked up the dinner (
Pad Thai – Yummy) and went home with it. At least I’ll eat it at the comfort of my own home.
Hours later when I was under the blankets on the edge of falling asleep, I remembered I forgot to add some crucial part to my fix. Not that I forgot to fix it, I just forgot to move this specific file to the right place. I ran to my computer and sent a quick e-mail to let the guys know about it and help them find the right file.
Just another long day at the office.
Of ducks and babies
Finally, after many gray and rainy days the sun decided to come out again. Like all good parents who’s son just started walking, we went to the park. The little president was running about in such a cute manner we were overcome by joy. As soon as we reached the lake we decided to sit down for his lunch. However, he was so excited that lunch was as far from his mind as we could imagine. Instead he was running in between the ducks and cats, which were gathering around us at the smell of his lunch. Since we did not want to hand them our dear son’s meal, I took out a loaf of bread we bought just before. The crowed of three ducks and two cats became ten times as large after the first few pieces of bread were thrown around. Minutes later we were feeding the ducks from our own hands. The president (our little boy) was so excited he was “running” in circles in between them almost falling occasionally. There, in between the ducks, we met another baby of about the same age taking his first assisted steps. There is nothing like being a proud parent showing off your baby boy. There is nothing in my life I was more proud of than my adorable son. We took some pictures during this whole “event” but again unfortunately, did not take the camcorder.
However, when we went to the marina yesterday, we did take the camcorder. Now we finally have live proof of the little president striding on two feet.
We managed to take full advantage of this nice sunny weekend before the clouds come back to cover the skies.
Houston, we have shoes
After our previous failure to buy shoes for our little president, we went last evening to try again. The first store we visited yielded the same results as our previous attempt. Very bright red shoes, not much different than the ones we saw before. Again they didn’t have other models from the brand we wanted. I must say it was a little strange experience, I’m used to having problems buying shoes for myself since I’m a large size and many stores don’t have shoes up to my size.
We went on to a second store up the street. This one was one of the older specialty stores that’s probably in the same place from before I was born, well, almost. Not a minute later the-president was well on his way to have his first pair of shoes. Measure here, check there, and he was striding across the store with his new pair of blue shoes in no time. Oh the joy…
We left the store walking. The three of us!!! On the street!!! Walking!!! My little baby boy is walking the streets. Just a few months back he was hardly sitting up in his bed and now he’s walking beside me. I’m still excited!!!
Boring? Children? You must be kidding
I’m becoming one of those boring people who only talk about their children. But, who cares! If you don’t have children you don’t understand, you can’t understand, you live in a different world than the ones who do. I have friends who have children, I have friends who don’t, but want to and friends who simply don’t or are not at that stage yet. If you’re over 30 and still don’t feel ready for children that’s ok, but if you’re still in the “I ain’t never gonna have children” thinking mode, you’re in trouble or were left behind somewhere along the way.
