Six Random Updates and Observations

I realize a blog post is supposed to be about only one topic. This post would receive a failing grade by that standard. You've been warned.

1. Last Monday I took Ian with me (Nadia was napping while Paul was working on installing the sump pump) to the Toyota dealership so that I could have an oil change, tire rotation, etc. for my car. Ian had a blast walking around the show room. What fun to go from vehicle to vehicle! It was very different from our usual trip to the park, but I still did walk for an hour.

2. The EleCare arrived today. The good news is that Ian likes it! No NG tube for him! PTL! The bad news is that this stuff is more expensive than I thought it was. These cans are SMALL even though they cost a fortune. I'm hoping after we determine what he's allergic to there will be something else we can give him to drink. We'll see a nutritionist after we get the results from the Allergist. Every time I feed him solid foods he's getting fruit + veggies + baby cereal, but he still lost 6 more ounces in the past 7 days, which means he lost exactly one pound in the past 13 days. He woke up at 5:45 today, and I really think it was because he was hungry since he hadn't kept anything down since his 12pm meal on Sunday. I'm hoping he doesn't wake up as early tomorrow. If he does, I'm thinking we need to make his room darker. We put a bedsheet over his blinds a couple of months ago. Jennifer, how was the food protein allergy diagnosed? I'll ask the Allergist about that tomorrow. Thanks for sharing! What did your daughter drink after she had that diagnosis?

I included this picture (at right) because it cracked me up that Nadia put on her rain boots and Sunday hat with that short outfit. The colors actually did all go together, lol!

3. My mom was suprised when someone asked me at Kohl's last week if Nadia and Ian were twins. When I said "no they're 17 months apart:," the woman said, "you must get that all the time." My mom was even more surprised to hear me say "yes." I wasn't being polite. To prove that point, it happened again today when I went to an Amish market to buy some flowers. I wonder at what age this will stop happening? As a side note, I let Nadia pick out some of the flowers we bought today. She favors yellow and orange ones, whereas I favor pink, purple, and white ones. We had fun planting a few of them together. That was a first for Miss Nadia!

4. My camera arrived today! Thanks for the recommendation, Sheila! I bought a Canon T2i. I read lots of positive reviews of Canon Rebels, and my sister helped me decide which model to get. Unfortunately I didn't learn my lesson in handling camera companies. You'd think after my last experience I would have learned to just say NO, NO, NO if they call me the next day. I thought I agreed to an increase of about $40 for an additional (longer lasting) battery, but somehow the bill went up $200 from what the original email had said. I was livid! I called them and they came down $54, which is better than nothing, but I have learned my lesson. I am not sure if this happens with any other types of purchases. I've only had it happen with cameras. Hopefully I won't be buying a camera for many more years so I won't need to put my lesson learned to practice any time soon. I am excited about learning to use my camera, and I still got a better deal than if I had bought it on Amazon. I'm trying to remind myself of that when I get frustrated that I agreed to anything more than what I had originally paid for.

5. It can take a very long time to mow our lawn. Normally if I mow the entire lawn it takes me 75 minutes including the time it takes to get the lawn mower out, fill it with gas, and put it back in the shed. Because we've been getting SO much rain lately I've been mowing every 5 days. I heard on the radio this morning that from March 1 to yesterday we had received 12 inches more than we usually do during that time period which is causing problems for the farmers around here. Due to our trip to MD, it had been 7 days since I had mowed. Yesterday Paul used the weed whacker for the first time this year so that created more stuff to mow. He also removed all the extra hoses (which we used with the extra pumps in our basement), and I hadn't been able to mow around them over the past month. Put all that together and it took me more than twice as long to mow. I mowed last night until it was so dark I couldn't see, and I mowed again this evening. Normally I can mow the whole lawn with one tank of gas, but it took 2.5 tanks of gas this time. I don't think I'll let it get that long again any time soon!

6. Nadia's first dentist appointment was supposed to be tomorrow, but I had to call to reschedule in light of Ian's allergist appointment that's now scheduled for tomorrow afternoon. Her appointment is now scheduled for Thursday. I told them I am concerned about one of her top front teeth (right in the middle) as a few days ago I noticed it had turned grey in color. They said that probably she fell or ran into something and the nerve died in that tooth. They said it won't cause any problems for the permanent tooth. I wish I had her 3 year old pictures taken before this happened. I'm going to ask them on Thursday if there's anything I can do to restore the color of that tooth. Anyone else have experience with this?