2007 August « leta joy

Archive for August, 2007

Aw, Nuts!

August 30, 2007 at 3:32 pm · Filed under arwyn dae, introspective

A couple of weeks ago we took Arwyn to see an allergist. She has shown signs of being allergic to peanuts since she was a baby and recently the list had grown to include cats and dogs. I wanted to know for certain what exactly we were dealing with and maybe justify my mother’s instinct just a little bit.

After a skin prick test we were informed that she was indeed allergic to peanuts and also tested “close enough” to allergic to tree nuts that we should avoid those as well. We were given a prescription for an EpiPen Jr., told to get some blood work done and report back in a few weeks for a follow up appointment. We are supposed to be reading all food labels and limiting her exposure as much as we can. At the follow up appointment we will find out what the blood work says about the severity of her allergy.

I get so frustrated when friends and family don’t take this seriously or just don’t think about it when she is around. I know they aren’t used to thinking about it, but it is becoming second nature to me (it has to be) and my patience wears thin. As far as we know she isn’t severely allergic. I think I would be a basket case if she were. I already feel like the Crazy Food Mom at her school. She’s never had anything but a skin reaction and we hope it will stay that way. We have the EpiPen just in case. Just in case she stops breathing and someone has to jab a needle into her leg to save her life.

Food shopping has become a new and time consuming experience. You have to read the labels on everything. As far as I can tell, there aren’t really any guidelines. Some companies list possible allergens at the end of the ingredient list and some don’t. A company may change the way it manufactures its products, so you have to check the labels every time, even if you think they are safe. Today I practically danced a jig in the middle of the aisle at the grocery because I found a granola bar without nuts that I thought she would eat. But I am still unsure. Unsure of how vigilant I am supposed to be. Unsure if the buns I bought today are safe for her to eat. Unsure if she will outgrow this or if it will worsen with time.

I know that we are the lucky ones and there are parents out there dealing with this nightmare on a daily basis. I sincerely feel for them. It feels like nothing has changed and yet it has. I already knew she couldn’t have peanuts or peanut butter. But now I have this horrible vision of her not being able to breathe and me not being there to save her. To me there is nothing worse than something awful happening to my child and I cannot image living in constant fear for her life. I realize that we don’t live in a war torn or ravaged country and some people live with much worse fears in their lives. She can’t have nuts, boo hoo. But as the one meant to protect her, it adds a new responsibility to the ever growing list and that doesn’t feel all that great.

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A-Z

August 30, 2007 at 10:22 am · Filed under babes in blogland, leta joy

I just saw this idea for an Encyclopedia of Me Meme over at Bella Dia. I feel like I have been struggling lately to come up with anything “blog worthy”. I’m a little behind in getting started, but I think I will try to play along and see how it goes.

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Working on Most Laid Back Mother of the Year Award

August 28, 2007 at 2:59 pm · Filed under arwyn dae, real moms

Here’s Arwyn eating her supper last night with a pillow from my bed, a pillow from her bed, two pillows from the couch, an old cooler and play doh. Everything one might need for a relaxing evening meal on the kitchen floor. She had already set up her little play station with the play doh and cooler and I really didn’t have the heart or energy to make her clean it all up before supper. So, she ate in the middle of the extremely dirty kitchen floor and … nobody died. Sometimes I just have to put my inner OCD-this-shit-drives-me-crazy persona aside and let it be. Kids don’t really give a crap if the kitchen floor is filthy. It was new, it was different, it was exciting and fun. She had fun and ate 80% of her dinner, lying on the pillows and saying, “Feed me like a little baby!” Now, how to prevent this from becoming a nightly ritual…

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Romper Time

August 22, 2007 at 4:04 pm · Filed under crafty

Happy Birthday (last week) to our great buddy, Svea (iMollie’s sweet baby girl)! iMollie requested a black t-shirt with a glittery two, but I had a hard time finding a plain black tee (sorry, Mols), so I used this cute romper instead. I want one for myself, only without the age giveaway number. Why don’t they make these in adult sizes? How comfy would that be! You could go to the all-you-can-eat buffet and nobody would be the wiser. Or you would just look pregnant all the time and freak everybody out. I was going to put the number on the upper left of the chest. Bubby thought I should put it on the back (that’s what I get for asking for a professional opinion) so we compromised with bottom of the shorts. Love the little rainbow zipper pull. I might have to get one of these for Miss A. Then she and Svea (Arwyn calls her Spee-uh) can match. We seem to be awfully into “matching” lately. What if she turns out to be (gasp!) … GIRLY?!!?!?!

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Amish Goats and the Park

August 20, 2007 at 3:12 pm · Filed under introspective, we are family

There’s nothing like seeing your 68-year-old father playing ball with your 3-year-old daughter to make you realize that family is good (in small doses). We returned from our trip tired and grumpy, but full of family stories and that warm fuzzy feeling you get when you “go home” and it goes well. With the knowledge that we’ll see everyone again next weekend, the parting wasn’t even that bittersweet. Arwyn and I were both very glad to get home to our Bubby after four days and nights of constant togetherness. I haven’t had that much lack of privacy or sleep since Arwyn was a baby. She needed to know where I was at all times and just what exactly I was doing, especially if I was in the bathroom with the door locked. Then she needed me quite desperately.

We enjoyed many exciting adventures, including visiting two Amish stores with no bathrooms, hanging hot pink shorts out the van window to dry after visiting an Amish store with no bathroom, going to the dollar store and the park, a brief visit with Juju, seeing lots and lots of cows, avoiding at all costs my cousin’s lazy dog that comes up to my parent’s house and lays peacefully in the grass (somehow convincing Arwyn that she wants to bite her face off), watching Grandpa build fence and running Grandma ragged.

It was good to go home and now it is good to be home.

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Mini Vacay

August 15, 2007 at 10:14 am · Filed under arwyn dae

Yesterday my three year old embarked on the first days of her formal education. She had a great time; I went grocery shopping. The best part for me: two hours of quiet and solitude. The best part for her: new Dora backpack. Like any good mother who places a great importance on education, I am not only letting my child skip a day of school the first week but actually encouraging it. We are heading up to my home town to spend a few days with Aunt Banana and my parents. Looks like we might arrive to school a couple of hours early today. I’ve answered “Can we go yet?” approximately forty times in the last thirty minutes. Do you remember what it feels like to be this excited about something (anything)? Counting the minutes, nay seconds. Driving your parents bonkers with your incessant questions. Having that fluttery feeling in your belly. The release of the new mac keyboard just doesn’t quite measure up to staring out the window waiting for your much loved big sister to arrive from out of town for a visit, which is the only thing I can remember being that excited about.

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Pink Bird

August 13, 2007 at 8:47 am · Filed under arwyn dae, crafty

I say its an owl, she says its a penguin, so we’ll just agree on bird. Another freezer paper stencil that I applied to a sweatshirt. It is 99 degrees out and now she is asking to wear her new sweatshirt (which is four sizes too big). I try to explain that it is for wearing when it is really cold outside. We compromise on dragging it around everywhere we go. At least she likes it.

Arwyn’s first day of pre-school is tomorrow and my stomach hurts pretty much continuously. I know it will be fine, I know she will love it and I think I will even be fine after the initial drop off. I’m just nervous. Our school hasn’t given us much direction and I’m not really sure what to expect or what the routine will be, so this is what I freak out about. Where exactly do I take her? Where do I park? Who do I talk to about her allergies? Maybe the panic over minute details covers up my melancholy at yet another milestone passed, sending her off into a world that I have no control over. There was a time when I didn’t think I could make it this far, I couldn’t do this “mom thing”, and surely both of us wouldn’t survive until she was old enough to go to school. Three short years later, here it is staring me in the face. And yes, its only three days a week, its only a few hours on those days, but it somehow still feels like a really big step. Or a really big off-ramp, hurtling us toward the freeway.

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A Post Not About Cooking

August 10, 2007 at 10:49 pm · Filed under crafty

Did I mention its been hot? Like 100 degrees hot and I’m not even exaggerating one tiny bit. So we’re still indoors quite a bit, unless a certain short someone who lives in our house decides to wake up one-and-one-half hours before their normal waking time. In that instance, then we are outdoors immediately following breakfast. What do you mean these long boiling days are hard enough to get through as it is and why am I awake so flipping early and how are we going to fill this many hours of daylight? The sun is awake, isn’t it? [To all my friends who get up at the crack of dawn every single day with their children, I'm really, REALLY sorry.]

Anywho, we’ve been crafting a lot. Gluing, painting, markering, coloring, you name it. On this particular day we made the following “cravs”, no wait “crabs” uh, she’s not really sure how you say it, but we made some stuff: kitty, dog, rabbit, turtle, caterpillar, baby crab, daddy crab, mommy crab, baby elephant, mommy elephant. Basically, whatever animal she came up with, I cut out some pieces of paper that may or may not closely resemble that animal (she’s three, she doesn’t critique my style. yet.). She glued them together and I drew in a few details. This activity took up over an hour, which is golden, unless your hand starts cramping from all that cutting. Then you are screwed, until you come up with the fabulous idea to make all of the noises that the animals make, in which case what noise does a crab make? Pinch! Pinch!

After all that kiddy crafting it was time for a little crafting of my own. I whipped up a little punk-rock owl freezer paper stencil for a t-shirt that was feeling lonely.

Tomorrow, we swim!

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Dog Days

August 7, 2007 at 8:46 am · Filed under arwyn dae

I know now why they are called the dog days of summer. Well, mainly because I looked it up. But also because all you can do on days like these are lay around like an old, lazy, worn out dawg. It is too hot to play outside (plus heat advisories and ozone warnings), it might even be too hot to swim. That is sad, my friends. Aren’t kids supposed to play outside every day all summer long? Yesterday I lasted for 30 minutes in the backyard before I melted into a puddle of sweat. And all I was doing was sitting in a chair in the shade reading the paper. Arwyn’s face was beet red, I’m sure mine was just as lovely. Last night we tried to venture back out after supper, only to be attacked by killer mosquitoes. Nature is against us.

In light of these recent weather events, we have been doing a lot of inside activities and dreaming of crisp, cool fall breezes. We have gone to the library, played with play doh, painted, colored with markers, watched movies, played games on the computer, gone to the library, played with blocks, dressed up like a princess, read a bazillion books, rearranged Arwyn’s room, made treats, eaten 400 popsicles, did I mention we went to the library?

Pre-school starts next week, hallelujah. Only a few more days of full time cruise director duty. Until then, I bought a few workbooks to see us through. I found Let’s Color and Let’s Cut Paper at Target, along with My First Book of Uppercase Letters. They carried some geared towards older kids as well. Looks like Amazon carries the line also. These look like a lot of fun and something I would have loved when I was a kid. Let’s hope my little one agrees. If your child won’t sit still long enough to do something like this, may I suggest the video store?

Come out, come out wherever you are, Sirius!

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Sous Chef

August 3, 2007 at 10:27 am · Filed under cookin' it up, recipes

Have I been doing anything lately but cooking? Yes, I have, but nothing very exciting I’m afraid. We’re all big fans of pancakes ’round here and usually one weekend morning I can be found mixing some batter up. This particular morning I had a helper. She “cooked” the smokey links with the tongs and spatula that came with her play grill set.

I normally use a maple sour cream Bisquick recipe for my flapjacks, but this week I tried a new one from Martha. They turned out well. They were a little thinner than the Bizquick variety, but they looked like “real” pancakes. They made very nice little silver dollars, reminding me of the one’s Juju’s mom made when we were kids. I froze the remaining cakes according to the recipe, so we’ll see how that turns out.

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