Weekend With Umbrello

A child will laugh at exactly the same joke thirtyseven million times. So this weekend Jacob was feeling particularly silly and called my Dad "Umbrello" (instead of Abuelo) the whole time he was visiting. Jacob thought this was HILARIOUS and would say it over and over and then collapse into a puddle of giggling.

On Saturday we visited The Big New House and marked all the fix-its with blue tape. My Dad is very knowledgeable about all aspects of carpentry, cabinetry, etc and was able to help us catch some things we might otherwise have missed. Thanks Dad!

Today, we went into Houston to visit the Minil Collection.
Unlike dealing with the Museum District, the Minil is easy to get to, has free admission, free parking, ample outdoor space to let kids picnic and run around and really icy cold air conditioning. A bit of the art contains some nudity but it was totally a non-event, Jacob stopped, looked and then commented blandly "that's a hiney and some boobs Mommy". Another funny thing he said was "When I get big then I will have a lot of art in my house and just live with it". We were in and out in an hour and a half and saw Picasso, Magritte, Warhol, Matisse and much more. Highly reccomend! Note: The Manil doesn't have a diaper changing station - they do however have a brown upholstered bench in the ladies room that will suffice in a bind.

Hair Cut

I got Layers!!!! OK, if you are a guy then you will totally not get why this would be news but the ladies will understand. I haven't had a change in like practically forever so this is a big deal. OK, that is all.

It's Almost Official...

First off Bella is doing much better. She is still wheezing a bit, but we are doing nebulizer treatments which are helping greatly.

Our other big news of the day is that we have a closing date for the new house. We will officially own it, Lord willing on July 11th. Here's a picture that shows that the kitchen is all done and the appliances are in. And below, a shot of the backyard, this time with grass!

x-ray results

Just came back and they are negative - no foreign objects in the throat or lungs and no pneumonia - so that's good news! He said one possibility is that she has swallowed whatever it was and therefore we are going to keep an eye out on the other end :)

Update on Bella (see previous post)

This morning I took Bella to the pediatrician, he said she does seem to be having some respiratory irritation (slight wheezing) and we are going to do some breathing treatments, he doesn't see any signs of infection, so no antibiotics and she's not contagious. He was concerned about the gagging and sent us back to Kingwood Hospital to get chest x-rays. This was mostly precautionary, while she is not her usual happy self, but certainly isn't seriously ill either. He told me my motherly instincts were good - that it is always best to check out the throat and lungs if a child this age is gagging and choking - things most commonly aspirated/swallowed are legos, coins and cockroaches (EW! No I mean really. EWWWW!). The x-ray technician "broke the rules" and told me that he himself didn't see anything on her x-rays but of course we will wait until the Dr. calls us back to be sure. Bella was a little trooper through all of this, only crying a bit when we had to tilt her chin back to get a good shot of her throat.

Bella's First Trip to the ER

Well sort of. Something is wrong with Bella but I don't know what it is, she is making this kind of gagging sound and spitting up clear fluid, like she just has excess salivia or something. No fever, and she is eating and sleeping and acting very happy. But she just is making this gurgling sounds and spitting up. I first noticed all this when we picked her up from daycare and it worried me so we rushed to the pediatrician's (which is just around the coner from daycare) but they were closed. So then I took her to the Urgent Care Clinic and they tell me they won't take her because she is a new patient and they don't take new patients after 6:30 (it was 6:36!) so I resort to begging and they tell me, well she probably has a bit of food stuck in her throat and needs x-rays and the doctor here really doesn't care to do x-rays on babies so just take her to the ER. And I'm asking, you mean he won't even see her? And they are all on cell phones making plans for after work and the doctor wouldn't come out and you could just tell they all felt like, it's closing time on Friday night and too bad for you and your gagging baby. So I had a few choice words for them and left. I drive her up to Kingwood hospital to go to the ER. The ER is not a happy place. A man came in that had cut his face terribly and he flung blood everywhere and then there was a girl with a puncture wound and the lady with a wasp bite that was illeriterate and needed me to fill out all her paperwork for her and the older lady from Colombia that only spoke Spanish and needed me to explain that her 3 week old grandchild wasn't breathing and the boy with a broken leg bawling left all by himself because his mother was outside chain smoking and the homeless drug addict waiting for a detox bed and Oh Lord, it was just awful. I waited about 2 hours and the whole time Bella is smiling and laughing and waving at people and showing zero signs of any problem whatsoever. So I ended up deciding around 9 PM that if puncture wound girl had been there since 4PM and chest pain guy had been there since 6PM that there was little to no chance that my smiling happy laughing child was making it to the top of the list anytime this decade and so we came home. I will take her to the pediatrician first thing in the morning because I really do think maybe there is a cheerio that went down the wrong way or something. Right now she is asleep and I'm headed that way myself. I've felt just about every emotion there is tonight - fear, panic, anger, compassion, exasperation, heartbreak and in the end I am only left feeling one thing. An abiding, bone deep gratefulness for the health and financial blessings in our life - and most of all that the three humans that are the very reason for my existence are all here in this house with me - safe, breathing, and whole.

Random Cuteness

Back Yard Fun

The back patio of the rent house has a sort of step down into the backyard. Bella enjoys sitting there and it is low and wide so it makes a safe place for her to sit and check out whatever her big brother Jacob is doing.



What Jacob likes doing is playing with his Dora the Explorer sprinkler.



Bella is not so sure about the water spraying on her face -

And now for a quick video clip. My digital camera takes video but only 12 seconds worth at a time so that is why it cuts off, usually right when they finally start to do whatever it was I wanted to get on film. All of which is made all the more annoying because we have a perfectly great regular video camera..somewhere.

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com