New Things To Do

I got The Boy a play kitchen a few weeks ago. It's made of wood and is small enough to fit between the baby-gate to our kitchen and our china hutch. It looks like this.

My initial thoughts on purchasing it were that it would give The Boy something to do with the sliceable wooden fruit my sister-in-law got him and the wooden pots and pans my parents-in-law got him for Christmas, and that he could "cook" with me instead of hanging off of the gate whenever I'm doing anything in the kitchen. I also harbored grand thoughts of doing my part for feminism by raising a boy who was man enough to play in the kitchen.

Nearly one month in and he really does love it - the buzzer on the timer freaks him out, but he generally finds it pretty fun. He puts the pots in the fridge and would rather dump the fruit behind his kitchen than chop it up or wash it, but it's all good. Oh, and he assuaged any latent fears I might have had(I didn't) about the possible feminizing effects of him pretending to cook and clean by yanking the firmly attached refrigerator door off by its screwed in hinges. Yeah, he's a bruiser.

And while I'm on the topic of hobbies and learning new things, I have decided that I really need a decent camera. I mean, my camera is a decent camera, but not for inside shots and moving toddlers. An example of this can be found when we went to LA MOCA the other weekend and the only shot I could get of my boys perusing the art was this:

Boooooo! Stupid no-flash-allowing museums!

Oh well, at least I was able to document The Boy's first trip to LA institution Philippe's.

Mmmm... Beef Dip.

Anyhoo, the goal for February is for The Boy to put his fruit in his pots and his pots on the burners. For me it's to investigate cameras that will better serve our needs - our running around, often inside and possessing no photographic skills needs.

The Boy's Big Boy Room

I have a confession to make; The Boy still sleeps in our room. When we made the big move from Vancouver back to my native Southern California when I was 5 months pregnant we went out of our way to get a two bedroom place, because there would soon be three of us - 4 if you count the cat - in our household.

In the nearly 2 years that have passed The Boy has remained in our room and his room has gone from being a nursery to a guest room to a junk room, then back to a guest room and back to a junk room again.

So, The Boy may not sleep in our bed anymore, but his crib still occupies too much of our bedroom and Hubs is thinking we need to move the baby to his own room lest we be accused of being hippies.

So, with that in mind I found a dresser at a thrift store last weekend, sanded it and primed it. All that's left is for me to paint it and get new hardware for it.

Once that's done I'm hoping to get this bedding from Serena and Lily:

I like it because it's got more longevity than stuff with robots or teddy bears but seems more baby-appropriate than some of the stuff that's made for kids but looks like it's for adults.

I still can't believe my kid is, well, a kid. I can't believe that we're thisclose to moving him into his own room and letting him sleep in a bed, and not a crib.

Time for tea, but first I'll kiss his chubby cheek and hope I don't wake him.

I hurt

Not in the emotional, "my heart hurts" sort of way, but in the, "my whole body aches" sort of way. One week into taking my "disease modifying" injection of goodness thrice weekly and the flu-like symptoms it promises to yield are kicking my butt. Giving myself the shots has come fairly easily, but my muscles feel pummeled and my skin feels like it's on fire.

During the many, many years that I took my meds in the past I was occasionally beat down by these God-awful side effects, but only every once in a while and never when I was in charge of caring for the walking, talking sweetness that is The Boy.

So crap. I'll sit here and say it's all worth it if further disability is staved off, but really I'll be wanting to curl up under a blanket and eat cookie dough. In lieu of that - I am busy, after all - I think I'll take the golden opportunity afforded by The Boy's nap time to have a quick cup of tea and read the news before cleaning up from the hurricane that seems to have swept through my living room.

Two and A Half Years

At the beginning of August 2008 I went off my "disease modifying drug" to prepare my body to make a baby.

Two and a half years later I've got this to show for my efforts.

Last night I sucked it up and gave myself a shot for the first time since trying to conceive, being pregnant, giving birth to and becoming a mother to my sweet, sweet boy.

I'm a bit sore today(stupid "flu-like symptoms,") and The Boy is going through an awesome kicking whilst having his diaper changed and refusing to nap without "bop" phase, but all-in-all I'd have too say I'm pretty proud of us.

I hope everyone else is being at least moderately successful with their resolutions.

::The Not a Hipster Dictionary says that "bop" is Boy for nursing::

New year, new me!

So I finished up '10 with several days of a steroid infusion and the promise of going back on a disease modifying drug to stave off my further deterioration from MS. The good news is that the steroids must have reduced some of the de-myelinating, MS-bringing inflammation because my symptoms have improved. That means I am still relapsing-remitting. Woohoo!!! The bad news is that I have to go back to giving myself shots thrice weekly. Crappity crap!

But so all that means that I'm finally looking after my disease activity - that's resolution number 1.

I have also resolved to read more - so far so good.

Exercise, eat better and lose some weight - so far I've only been successful with eating better, but that's a start, right?

Happy New Year!

In honor of 2011, here is a glimpse of our last 2 New Year's Eves.

Yup, our big party plans for both NYE's revolved around bath time, and I wouldn't have it any other way. Besides, it gives us an opportunity to see how much The Boy has grown and changed over the past year.

And we've all started out 2011 on the right foot by going to a contemporary art museum this past weekend and getting The Boy sized for new shoes.

I also moved forward with some treatment for my MS, but I'll save that for another post.

In any event, it's shaping up to be a fantastic year.