Not-A-Mother Day

Hmmm. I posted on the first day of May and now I am posting on the last day of May. Not-so-good. I need to do better.

There was a lot going on in May! Jon started interviewing and receiving job offers. We went to the March Air Show party at Scott and Leslie's. The washing maching broke. Boy, did it break! You should've seen the shards of metal and the giant circle-shaped hole that just, well, blew out! Now I have a new washing machine (and dryer, because Jon likes to have a matched set). We went to the LLU Spring Banquet and got an award for, wait for it, "cutest couple." We're definitely cute but "cutest couple" seems more like a high school award than a graduate school award. We made soup. This may not seem like a big deal but we're not a cooking couple and the soup turned out great so it was notable. I took the train and subway to visit Robin Ann in Culver City (I am a huge fan of the train and subway). I helped Ann make flowers for a wedding (they were amazing).

But, for me, surviving another Mother's Day was a big part of May. When you're not a mom and you want to be a mom, Mother's Day can be difficult. So Jon and I have a deal. We honor our mothers on the day before Mother's Day. And then on Mother's Day, itself, we run away. We don't go to church (arrrgh, the passing out of the carnations for all the moms in the congregation!) and we try to do something outdoorsy. If we meet any moms and kids on a hiking trail, well, they're usually sweaty and grumpy so it's not so bad for me.

This year I finally got Jon to go to the Santa Rosa Plateau with me. He'd been resisting and I have no idea why. It's beautiful: vernal pools, adobe ruins, wildflowers, tons and tons of trails, etc. You would think he'd be all over that and, after we got there, he was. So we had a beautiful day hiking around and looking at flowers and caterpillars and the views.

It turned out to be a really great not-a-mother day.

Happy National Scrapbooking Day!

Ok, it's not a hobby that gets a lot of respect. And spouses seem to think it takes up too much room. And time. And, really, the only person who looks at the final product much is, well, the scrapbooker herself. But I love it.



And I've never been too worried about being cool.

CSHA 2010

Last weekend I was in Monterey, California, which is probably one of the most beautiful cities in the country. Today I'm typing at my desk in So Cal, having just finished weeding the backyard. I wish I were back in Monterey.

We went up for CSHA, which we usually don't do when it's in No Cal because it is expensive! We drove instead of flying which kept the cost down somewhat, but still. CSHA is the state convention for speech-language pathologists and it's where SLPs get most of the CEUs needed to renew the state license, national certification, and teaching credential. Basically, SLPs have to maintain a lot of paperwork in order to practice.

Anyway, Jon's graduating this year so we decided to go so he could check out the job fair and make some contacts. I went because I can always use the CEUs and, hey, any excuse to go to Monterey is a good excuse.

The weather was gorgeous! Two days later it would be freezing cold and pouring rain but while we were there it was beautiful. We did two full days of sessions and overall they were pretty good. I actually attended one excellent session! Like any other conference, the sessions typically range from poor to good with lots of fair. This year I attended one excellent, one good, one fair, and one poor. Honestly, that's not bad.

We managed to squeeze in some fun, too. On the way up to Monterey, we stopped in Cambria to revisit Moonstone Beach. Jon proposed to me on that beach, so I have a soft-spot for it. A few miles up the coast, we checked out Elephant Seal Beach. You think you've found the beach and you go, "Awww, look at those three seals; they're so cute." And then you look to the south and, well, it's all elephant seals as far as the eye can see. They're squished together and lying on top of each other and it's a little crazy.

After the sessions on Friday, Jon took me for a romantic dinner at Cibo. We chose their prix fixe menu and it was delicious! Then we saw "The Joneses," which we both really enjoyed. On Saturday we had another full day of sessions and then we drove to Pacific Grove to take the 17-Mile Drive. We've driven it before but it really is worth the money. That is some unbelievable coastline, including the Lone Cypress and the Ghost Tree. Part of the coast was temporarily blocked off because it was seal calving season. Fine with me, new mothers deserve their privacy!

On Sunday, we got up and packed, did a little shopping, and then drove home. I've got to admit, everytime we're up there I find myself checking out job opportunities and home prices and wishing we could stay forever....

Family-Wide Fire Alarm Day

They call it "Easter" but for us it was "Family-Wide Fire Alarm Day." Let me just say that finding yourself in the middle of "Family-Wide Fire Alarm Day" when you were expecting "Easter" is kind of disconcerting.

It went something like this.

Jon decided that we should host his mom for Easter lunch, which was great because I love his mom, but he decided kind of late. No big deal. After much discussion, we ended up deciding to go with a roast, oven potatoes, and various sides. Ok, I can do this. I wanted to go for easy, so I bought a Costco tri-tip roast (it comes in a bag, it's pre-seasoned, it is so easy) from my sister. She has a Costco membership and I don't and she always stocks important food items like Costco tri-tip roasts. Cool, we were good to go.

Except that we were going to church on Easter (not just because it was Easter, we're church-going folks) and I couldn't figure out when to cook the thing. I didn't want to throw it in the slow-cooker and I hadn't planned to throw it in the slow-cooker so it became a time crunch issue because we would be going to my parents for Easter dinner. Best idea seemed to be to cook the thing before church and then throw it in the slow-cooker just to keep it warm while we were in church.

Which seemed like a genius idea until, at 8AM on Easter morning, the fire alarm was screaming its head off at my house. Not just any fire alarm, the one that's at the tippy-top of my cathedral ceiling. And Jon was in the shower. Arrrgh! Opened all the doors and windows. Jon got out of the shower, threw on some clothes, and went up the ladder to quiet the alarm. Yeah, I bet the neighbors weren't expecting that on Easter, make that Family-Wide Fire Alarm Day. Bet they weren't expecting it to go off a second time either. Into the slow-cooker went the roast and I did my best to convince myself that Easter was not the best day to develop a serious swearing habit.

Off to church. Lunch with Mom Pilgrim. Off to my parents' house. Where my mom was cooking, wait for it, a Costco tri-tip roast! With oven potatoes! Huh? Seriously? We all thought that was weird enough until, yes, the fire alarm went off at my parents' house. Multiple times. Jon was upstairs entertaining Luke who was complaining that the sound hurt his ears (well, yeah) but finally we had to bring him downstairs because he was the only one who could quiet the alarm. And keep it quiet.

Maybe it wasn't Easter or Family-Wide Fire Alarm Day. Maybe it was "Groundhog Day." At least the Easter egg hunt went as planned.

Here

Sometimes just being really happily married is enough for any given day.

Fooled

Me: Ok, girls, pretzels or goldfish?

[Pretzels or goldfish is the good-job-in-speech-therapy snack since the governor took candy out of the schools.]

C & L: Pretzels.

Me: Here you go; have a great day!

L: You, too.

C: Hey, you gave me five.

[Four pretzels or goldfish is the allotment of good-job-in-speech-therapy snacks.]

Me: Oh, ok. Here, L, have another pretzel; now you both have five.

C: April Fool's!

Me: Huh?

[Yes, not always quick on the up-take; that would be me.]

C: You only gave me four!

Me: Ok, here's another one for you, C, now you both really have five. And, you know what? That was pretty funny!

That was the only April Fool's Day prank pulled on me this April 1st. And I really did think it was pretty clever.

Dysphagia 1 feeding

Well, not really, but a dysphagia 1 diet consists of pureed foods and that's exactly what early baby foods are: puree.

So, after he took the Praxis, Jon came back for some hang time with the nephews. I got to take Luke for the non-existent whoopie pies and he got to feed Zac.

The last time Jon fed a baby, he was in the NICU at St. Bernardine's, feeding preemies from a bottle. This is not as easy as it sounds. You would think, "Hey, feeding a baby; no big deal. And, hey, feeding a really small baby; even less of a big deal. Because the baby is, you know, smaller. And probably less feisty." But no.

Bottle feeding a preemie involves teaching the baby how to swallow. Early preemies are born before the swallow reflex has developed, which is why they are tube-fed until they are old enough to learn to swallow. Plus, preemies are already medically-fragile and have compromised respiratory systems. One of the easiest ways to really mess with a respiratory system is to allow someone with any kind of swallowing disorder (including not yet knowing how to swallow) to eat. If you don't swallow correctly (and this involves timing and laryngeal elevation and coordination with the respiratory system and the ability to cough to clear if all else fails), then you can aspirate and end up with food in the lungs. Let me assure you, this is not good.

Preemies who don't know how to swallow have to be taught. You have to stroke the palate to get the tongue moving. You have to stroke the cheek to encourage them to root. You have to position them correctly (generally, in front of you, head in your hand, body on your forearm, at a steep upward angle). You have to check the monitors to make sure the O2 sats don't fall to low. Preemies will often find feeding so new and challenging that they, well, for lack of a better term, forget to breathe!

After you feed them, you must burp them. They must burp! Upright! This is crucial because, again, they don't really know how to swallow and if they burp in a supine position, they are likely to aspirate. After all that, you'll probably have to change their diaper. Jon changed his first diapers in the NICU (talk about a pressure situation but the nurses and his supervisor all found it very amusing).

Feeding preemies is definitely not for the faint of heart. But feeding Zac? Piece of cake. The kid loves to eat. And he knows how to swallow. The worst thing that can happen with this little guy is that he will start to get fussy if the spoon arrives at his lips too slowly. He should be working his way up to a dysphagia 2 diet (minced) before we know it.