Talkin' turkey

Well, Thanksgiving plans changed and we ended up at the Gordon's house here in Stuart with deep fried turkey. I have to admit that while I was pretty skeptical about the whole deep fry thing, it was delicious! Not the greasy mess that I feared, our friend Richard really did a fine job.

I still did NO cooking. Hah!

Perhaps I spoke too soon?

Ok ladies, what is scary, sounds awful, and rhymes with poop? CROUP! I woke up friday night at 2 am and had to briefly remind myself that I don't own a dog. Poor Avah, she really sounded (and felt) awful. So I got her into the bathroom and ran the shower and within 15 minutes most of the sound was gone and she had stopped crying. That makes for a pretty vicious circle....Crying exacerbates the Croup sound, and the sound scares her and makes her cry more. Her Ped. told me that if the steam works and as long as she was not having trouble inhaling that there was not much reason to bring her in.  So it was off to Walmart (man I hate that place but the prices are good) for a vaporizer. She's doing better now. 

I am going to love this Turkey day. Why? NO cooking! Rupert will take time off (unheard of for him) and off we go to Miami to see some friends of ours who moved to Honduras 2 years ago. This is going to be a wonderful little break for me and I hope Avah is on her usual good behavior. 

Benefits of breastfeeding...amazing

Ok, we all know that this time honored practice is a great way to bond with your baby and offers superior nutrition. And of course we all have read about the benefits to the babies immune system. Well, this past week has been a true testament to what breast feeding can do to prevent a baby from getting sick.

Cold and flu season is just about here and it seems everyone I know is ill, I mean dropping like flies. Myself included! I had a nasty head cold all week, my sister Kristine had the Flu when Avah and I were up north, you name it. Is she sick? Hell no! Not even a sniffle after being exposed to a dozen or so sick people. AND air travel. Now that's all the proof I need to convince me to keep whipping out the old boob until her first birthday. 

Avah is 5 months old

Good heavens, where does the time go? It seems like just yesterday that I was bringing her home from the hospital and trying to take care of her while recovering from a c-section. Thank God for supportive friends like Mary, Hidy, the Gordon's and Vicki.

She is trying to crawl and it will be only a matter of time until she does. So I've started to "baby proof" the condo already. It's amazing how dangerous my home really is for a soon-to-be toddler. Infact, just the other day she scooted herself along the floor and grabbed the strap on my camera and nearly pulled it down on her head (it was sitting on the coffee table).. OK NOW I KNOW!

Rice cereal and the inevitable

OMG, who knew that such a seemingly innocuous product could bring such a messy disaster? I have been supplementing Avah's breast feeding with a bit of rice cereal here and there, and she really likes it. It's a great tool for when you need  your child to have a stomach that stays fuller for a longer period of time, like when you are traveling. 

However, the poopy diapers may come to a screeching halt! So for 4 days, nothing. Being concerned, I took a friend's advice and fed her another baby food...apples. Little did I know what storm was brewing in my little angel's belly. Once she got going, oh man, what a mess. Poop was flowing out of her diaper like lava, we're talking Mt. St. Helens here. In my haste to get her into the bath I failed to make sure she was "done" and the baby bath got poop bombed as well. So, we went to the other bathroom and used the "big people's tub" because by then we were both a friggin mess. 

In light of this hilarious event, I've decided to breast feed Avah until grade school.....just kidding.

First Halloween

Equipped with a nice pumpkin costume from my step sister's 6 year old daughter (thanks Parker!) I took Avah to my friend Lisa's house, where her two boys were dressed up in cute outfits that had spiders all over them. Trying to get Avah to keep the pumpkin hat on was hard at first, but once she realized that every time she yanked it off of her head that I was just going to put it back on, she gave up and just fixed me with the hairy eyeball.

The festivities where short lived and for kids under 5--that's probably for the best. It was about 7 pm when I heard that familiar cry for "dinner" and once again the hat came off and was tossed to the ground, this time with major attitude. So after nursing for a bit we left, and Avah and I were treated to dinner on the grill, compliments of Rupert, who couldn't wait to see his little pumpkin.

Now it's Saturday morning and just us girls having a lazy time in our bath robes...yippie!