One Shot Down, One Booster To Go

I decided to have the Prince vaccinated against the H1N1 flu virus. Initially I had some reservations regarding the safety of the vaccine (it seemed to me that they really rushed it out), but our family doctor recommended getting it. Besides, she's the one who went to medical school, not me. I trust her judgement.

Yesterday was vaccination day at the Prince's school. I was told to send him to school in a short sleeved shirt because they didn't know whether they were getting the injection or the nasal mist. I was hoping for the nasal mist because I wasn't sure how the Prince would take to getting an injection.

When I picked him up from school, he walked up to me and proudly showed me his sticker and then he took off his jacket and showed me his band-aid. "I was brave and I didn't cry", he told me as we walked to the car. I guess they got the injection.

Now I have to wait one month and get his booster, and then at the end of next month LP will be old enough to receive the vaccine too. I hope we can stay well until then.

Autumn

One of the things I missed the most when I lived in Florida was the Fall colors. Palm trees don't turn pretty colors, they're just all sharp and pointy and harbor huge insects. I took these pictures two weeks ago when I visited Allerton for the first time. I fell in love with the place and I plan to visit again in the Spring.

Halloween 2009

Halloween at our house was a little chaotic this year. We had a birthday party at the Orpheum Children's Museum for the Prince in the morning. It was fun, but the guest list was quite diminished due to that damn swine flu. The Prince was very occupied playing with all his gifts and by the time trick-or-treat time came along, he was kind of like, eh whatever.

And by the way, who is the genius that decided trick-or-treat should be from 5 to 7 this year? Um, hello, it was still light out at 5. That made it very hard to tell who was giving out candy and who wasn't because no one had their porch lights on yet. Did anyone else have this problem or was it just us?

As you can see, the Prince was Jango Fett and LP was a skunk. LP was a cranky pants and cried the whole time until he fell asleep. I think it was a combination of being really tired and coming down with something. I am sick with a bad cold, right now I have no voice whatsoever and a hacking cough that makes me sound like a sea lion. Fun. Today LP's cheeks look like someone slapped them (no fever yet) and he had a really disgusting diaper before. Double fun.

A man in one of the houses in our neighborhood had this totally awesome Yeti costume. His house was decorated to the hilt. He had this motion sensor skull thing by his doorbell that made the Prince jump and then when the man came to the door in this costume he scared the Prince so bad that he took off running! If only I had a video camera. The King and I were hysterical laughing! I would have sent it in to America's Funniest Home Videos.

Tomorrow I get to take down all the decorations and my house will look incredibly bare. At least until I decorate for Christmas.

Ghost Train

This past weekend we decided to go to the train museum in Monticello since we'd never been there. They were doing a Ghost Train ride. The Prince was so excited he was vibrating. It was kind of disappointing, the train just went into the woods where they had a few Halloween scenes set up and some carved jack o'lanterns. That was it. Then the train pulled back into the station. When I complained to the King, he said what did I expect for six bucks? I guess he was right. Anyway, here's some pictures from the train. God, I'm fat!

As you can see, the motion of the train was sucking LP's will to live.

Mouse Hand

Did something ever bother you so much that you thought about it for days on end and then when you finally come up with the answer it is so simple that you feel incredibly stupid? That just happened to me. My right hand and wrist has been hurting me for a while now. It is this dull ache that will at times become a sharp pain, like it does that just to remind me that it's there. For a week I've been trying to think of what I did to my hand and I've come up blank. I didn't fall on it, bang it, mash it, smash it or twist it. I didn't feel any pain when I picked up the baby. My husband doesn't abuse me. What, what, what could it be?

I was just browsing the interwebz and I scrolled down with the mouse and holy cow, ouch! I think I have been sitting on this computer too much. I have Mouse Hand (not a technical term.) This is my body's way of telling me to get off the damn computer and go do something else.

Right now.

This One's Mostly About LP

I have quite a bit of energy today despite being woken up at 4:45 this morning by LP. He was hungry (there's a surprise) and he needed to be changed. He will usually gobble down a bottle and go right back to sleep, but for some reason he was UP, like he's had a double shot of espresso in his bottle. I figured I'd just let him play in his crib while I went back to sleep, but no, the universe conspired against me. LP wanted to practice rolling over. While he can roll from back to tummy with virtually no effort what so ever, going from tummy to back is giving him some trouble. He can do it, I've seen him do it, but sometimes this move throws him for a loop. And then he screeches. I wouldn't call it a full out scream, it's kind of a cross between a goat and that sound my cat makes when I accidentally step on his tail. Instead of waking up the rest of the house with that strange noise, I took LP down to the family room and let him roll his little heart out. I then made a rather large pot of coffee. I guess practice makes perfect because a couple of hours later he rolled across the room. No kidding. I put him down, went to the bathroom and when I came back he was on the other side of the room. I know what I'm doing tomorrow. Childproofing.

LP will be four months old on Saturday. Already. All in all, he's been a pretty easy baby. We had some gas/formula issues in the beginning, but that's resolved itself. He's not super fussy the was the Prince was. He eats. He sleeps. He poops. He smiles. He rolls over. I couldn't ask for a better baby. I'm wondering if it's all going to go to Hell when he starts teething? Honestly, I don't remember much of the Prince's infancy because I was pretty much out of my mind with post-partum depression. I'm trying to take it all in this time and enjoy mah baby. We took more pictures of the Prince though. I've heard that's how it is with number two. You don't take as many pictures, you don't finish the baby book, etc. I'm definitely guilty of that.

On a completely different topic, is anyone planning on having their kids vaccinated for swine flu? I usually get the seasonal flu shot every year. I did this year and I had the Prince vaccinated too. It just makes me a little edgy because it seems like they rushed the vaccine out so fast and I'm wondering if they studied the side effects enough before shipping it out. Thoughts?

Jam On It

Spontaneous breakdancing Saturday night.