H1N1 = No Fun

Dear H1N1:

I laughed in your face (see recent post where I advertised to you that we were NOT sick) and now you've got us. 1 of us. The most vulnerable of us. But you will not get the rest of us!

Meena, mercifully, is not sick and is staying with M/FIL until T-Mobile is not contagious. FH and I are wearing the CDC recommended masks, washing our hands constantly and going through hand sanitizer like it's water. We are getting as much sleep as you, via T-Mobile, will allow.

And, you should know, there is a silver lining! Several, actually:

• In our haste to get Meena away from T-Mobile this weekend, I got to take her out to breakfast. Just us girls. We had a ball, watching the cars outside, people inside and dissecting the Halloween decorations, 1 plastic spider at a time
• T-Mobile woke up and said "Mama" when he saw me this morning
• T-Mobile started walking behind the push-truck last night...there's no stopping this kid

Take that, stupid flu.

You may have slowed us down a bit, but haven't stopped us in our tracks. Please leave...you have worn out your welcome.

Sincerely,

JoAnne

Perspective

Maternity leave is GREAT! And it's HARD. In all caps. H-A-R-D. Especially when the weather is all rain all the time. And I have 2 kids under 3 (which was totally my choice and I really shouldn't whine about it). Who both wear diapers. And are mobile. Who think the only thing more fun than playing with the dog's dishes is playing with the toilet. And, yesterday it was really getting to me.

Enter MIL who babysat both my kids for 2 hours, during which I washed my car, vacuumed it out, ran to the bank, ran to the vet, stopped at Home Depot...all very quickly and easily. Oh, how I loved the break! I drank coffee and listened to the radio...on loud because I could. I came home a new person; re-energized and happy!

MIL adored the time with my kids. She raved about how cute everyone was and sat wide-eyed, watching them to see what amazing, funny, unbelievably cute thing they would do next. She couldn't wait to tell FIL all about it and took pictures. She reminded me how LUCKY (in all caps) I am. And how great and fun and beautiful my kids are.

Amelia can't quite say Amelia yet, so she calls herself Meena. She's so proud! She started saying thank you and you're welcome. She pretend-cut my hair last night. And pretend-checked my ears with a little flashlight.

T-Mobile splashed away happily in his bath this morning. And giggled his way through Target with me. And looked around wide-eyed as we walked the dog between the raindrops. He crinkles his nose when he smiles, just like I do. He loves carrots and giggles when I feed them to him.

I LOVE my life. In all caps. L-O-V-E

These are the people in my neighborhood...

What a gorgeous fall day! I took T-Mobile (our new nickname since Taebin can crawl and cruise and effectively chase his sister) and Jazzmine for a walk today. It's one of my favorite days, where the leaves are falling like snow, only it's NOT snow and it's warm and sunny. Kind of like in spring when the crabapple trees drop their petals and it smells heavenly and the sun's out and winter's officially over.

Anyway, we saw some monks in the park, deep in conversation across a picnic table from each other. I love having monks living in our neighborhood. The only thing better would be having nuns in the neighborhood. Because of the nun bubble.

Fabulous Husband and I were driving behind a nun once. She was driving a big ol' Buick and was in the right turn lane. Only she didn't turn, and her lane ended, turning into gravel shoulder. She didn't seem to notice and incredibly, the rest of the traffic, which was heavy and going about 60 mph did not hit her. Oh, it was close, and we're not sure how she escaped injury. The only explanation is that nuns have a (well deserved) protective bubble around them. They've got connections.

Our World

Amelia's World

It's so fun to "pretend" with Amelia. Last night, she started taking her wooden blocks out of their box and putting them under the exersaucer, which was occupied by her brother. I asked her what she was doing and she explained she was baking cookies. She said I should back up so I didn't get burned by the oven (exersaucer). Once the "cookies" were all in the "oven", we had to steer clear because it was hot. Apparently, Taebin is immune to ovens.

Then, about an hour later during her bedtime snack, Amelia announced the cookies were done. We took them out using oven mitts and put them into a basket for "eating".

Taebin's World

Taebin has started babbling, eating "real" food (chunks) and is cruising along the furniture. He's put on 2lbs in the 5 weeks since he came home and continues to smile and laugh a lot. He is mesmerised by his sister. He's sleeping much better...amazing the difference a month makes! He's ready to start visiting other people now, and we were thrilled to see a lot of family yesterday.

My World

Cynical today. Taebin got shots today and little circle Bandaids on his chunky little thighs. The nurse drew smiley faces on them. Smiley faces. Seriously? Like there's anything happy about shots. Oh, except the knowledge that my baby is protected from yucky, debilitating, potentially fatal diseases and the seasonal flu (TC was right...I needed to be patient). That's something to smile about!

We are Not Sick

By all accounts, we should be sick:

• Everyone around us is sick (friends, family, fellow bloggers)
• The only one who gets any sleep around here is Amelia who can sleep through expensive fireworks going off next door...although starting to turn a corner in this area
• Amelia is in daycare
• It's cold, it's warm, it's snowing, it's 60...
• Only 2 of us have gotten a flu shot (although, I hear from the pediatrician that seasonal flu is juuuust getting going). I will not vent my frustration here...there will be plenty to go around
• Taebin is teething (which may or may not have any impact, depending on who you're talking to, but thought I'd throw it in)

But we're not. I'm sure it's due to my domestic goddess-ness and all the nutritionally rich, organic, from-scratch food I make my family. Which will stop when I go back to work.

The Blue Zones

I read "The Blue Zones" by Dan Buettner a year or 2 ago and it changed my life. If you haven't read it, Dan Buettner (who works for National Geographic, which means he has a budget) studies regions of the world with an exceptional number of centenarians. He finds 9 similarities among these populations (taken from the website):

1. Move (find ways to move mindlessly, make moving unavoidable)

2. Plan de Vida (know your purpose in life)

3. Down Shift (work less, slow down, rest, take vacation)

4. 80% Rule (stop eating when you're 80% full)

5. Plant-Power (more veggies, less protein and processed foods)

6. Red Wine (consistency and moderation)

7. Belong (create a healthy social network)

8. Beliefs (spiritual or religious participation)

9. Your Tribe (make family a priority)

After reading this book, I decided that Fabulous Husband and I should target being married for 80 years, which means we need to live to be 108. I've made significant progress in some of these areas (especially plant based nutrition), but I struggle with my purpose. My clear purpose right now is to raise my children to be happy, healthy, kind, compassionate people. But, what happens when they've moved out? It seems like a "life purpose" should be bigger than that. I look around me and see inspiring people, like BZ who is a pillar at The Courage Center; now he's got a purpose!

Or, maybe your purpose changes throughout life. I used to spend lots of my time feeding the hungry and felt that my small contributions made a difference. Then I got married and had kids and now I am lucky if I have 5 minutes to spend on someone besides the kids!

So, maybe my solution is to raise my kids to be compassionate, kind people who feed the hungry with their mom. 2 purposes, from different points in my life, wrapped into one.

Shameless Bragging About my Kid

So, the University called today and they're studying language development in 26-month-olds and they'd like Amelia to participate. (cool!) And, they're using ASL as a "foreign language" to see how fast the kids can pick it up. (double cool!) They were all set to sign Amelia up when I mentioned that she already knows some signs. As we spoke further, they said Amelia is overqualified because she knows too many signs already.

She's a prodigy.