Bittersweet Day

Today my Little Man turns 2 years old. His birthdays have been difficult so far for us. We have the joy of celebrating the most wonderful little boy I have ever met - but remembering the day of his birth is hard. That day holds some of the worst days memories for Unlabeled Daddy and myself. Our wonderful son was born at 3:33 in the afternoon gray and unresponsive. If you are familiar with the APGAR scale (a perfect baby, i.e. crying, pink etc is 10) he was born a 1. His heart was beating and that was it. They intubated him and worked on him for over an hour while I was across the room trying to figure out if my baby was okay or even alive. My poor husband was told to touch him and talk to him and he says the first time he laid his hands on him our Little Man just wasn't there. He felt him start breathing as he begged and coaxed him to life. I remember hearing Daddy crying as he told him how much we loved him over and over. Once he started breathing he wouldn't stay breathing without help so they called for a helicopter to airlift him to the nearest NICU (an hour drive away). Watching my newborn son being put in an incubator and wheeled away from me was one of the hardest things I've gone through. They discharged me right away so Daddy and I could follow him and Little Man and I spent 6 days in the NICU (well, I slept in the tiny sleep room they provided me) but I got to hold him nearly all day for his first week and I appreciated every moment of it. Now he's a perfect, defiant, mischievous, loving, cuddly, active little boy and we are so blessed! I hope as he gets older his birthdays won't always be overshadowed by his birth - but I will tell you this - we hug him very tight and appreciate every moment we have with him.

My silly Birthday Boy with his new Buzz Lightyear from Mama and Daddy!

Make it go away!

It has now been over a week of sick people in this house. Last Tuesday I canceled Little Man's speech therapy because he wasn't feeling well, then I had to cancel the next Tuesday's as well. It is now the following Thursday and he, The Girl, Daddy and I are all still dealing with stuffed and draining sinus' and trying not to hack up a lung. I am so tired of coughing, but there is nothing worse then hearing your little boy laying in his crib coughing and coughing through the night. I am so ready for this illness to move on!

Memories of a young foodie

I come from a family of foodies. All family gatherings revolve around food whether it's a holiday, birthday or just a quick stop at my grandmother's house. "Can I get you a sandwich? Something to drink?" "No Grandma, I'm fine." "No, really, I can fry you an egg!" You laugh, but I've had this actual conversation! From Grandma we get yummy, comfort food - she makes the most amazing mancotti with homemade crepes! My mom went to to culinary school and owns her own cafe/bakery/coffee shop. My mom can be adventurous with her meals, she serves a lot of vegan and ethnic food. She makes wonderful soups, homemade bao, delicious sushi and sweet potato quesadillas! Yum, now I'm really hungry!

Today a friend of mine posted about grocery shopping and exploring new food with her sons in her blog (<-- check it out!). It made me think of all the wonderful times I had with my mom and grandma visiting Dekalb Farmer's Market in Atlanta. You could get ANYTHING there! We would look through the grocery section and then move on to the produce there was things none of us had ever heard of and anytime we found something new my mom would always buy one or two for us to try. Purple Peruvian Potatoes are quite good! Then we would meander through the bread and bakery section. I would always get some fresh bagels and sometimes they had knishes. We would stop in the Seafood section and stare at the big tanks of live fish available. Mom usually picked up squid and tuna - huge favorites among my siblings and I! The many types of cheeses and meats fascinated me and grossed me out when I found out what Rocky Mountain oysters were! We usually ended in the freezer section were my lactose intolerant brother would get to pick out a soy ice cream of his choice. We would spend hours there browsing. It was always our main stop and we would pack the coolers full in the van before heading the almost 3 hours back to our little town. Then we would eat like kings for a week or two as we went through all the goodies we got. I can't wait until my children are old enough to be able to take the trip!