House Proud

These past couple weeks we've done a lot with our pathetic excuse of a yard. First, Marsha pimped her husband Brian to put up a lattice around the base of our large back deck (I had written "help put up," but Eli really helped him while he did all the carpentry magic.) Now we now longer risk having a small child play amongst the construction debris or get carried off by the possums. It also looks so much better.

Inspired by this positive change, I bought some plants to replace the weeds I dug up and Eric came over and planted some of them with me Friday. Then this Saturday -- yup, after staying up with Yelena all night -- Ari came over with a power washer and he and I cleaned the deck. First a serious power rinse, then a deck scrubber, then a power wash over part of it (since he had to get it back to his neighbor) and a rinse of the rest. It looks so much better and the part that was double power washed looks great. I then planted more plants in back and on Sunday Ari came back and he and Eli dug up a portion of our front yard and re-landscaped the front so it looks great. Tonight I did some more digging and planting in the back. It's starting to look downright presentable.

I'm hoping to finish up my plantings this week. It's supposed to cool down by Wednesday, so I can take Yelena outside and get some done during the day. Next weekend I am planning to stain/seal the deck. Eli thinks it will take an insanely long time, I think it is entirely doable. We'll see who is right.

We also tidied up and combed the house. Still no digital camera.

Kiss me, kiss me, kiss me

For a while now Yelena's been giving me kisses. It's evolved past just me putting my cheek up to her mouth. The past few weeks, if I'm lying down next to her while she's sitting, I'll say, "Kiss Mama," and she'll hinge down and give me a big "mwa." Today I said, "Beep Mama's nose," and she grabbed my nose. I interchanged the two instructions in a game and she did the correct one each time. She's also obsessed with poaching my glasses.

Seeing me upside down has been cracking her up lately. Yesterday she was standing holding on to the chair in her room, with me behind her for support, and she'd tilt her head way back and giggle when I made a funny noise or face. She is also highly amused by me bending down to touch the floor with my legs apart.

You Give Me Fever

Poor little lamb had her first Mommy Calling the Pediatrician fever on Friday. When I was changing her after our morning nap she felt a little warm. Not all toasty from a nap warm, but hottish. I took her temperature -- which I've mentioned before she doesn't mind and that I find it peculiar -- and it was a bit over 101. Not a huge deal, she runs typically runs a bit hot, so I figured I'd give her some water and get on our way to meet Eric and Gethsemane (the nursery, not the the garden of temptation). We kept her in the shade but it was clear she was grumpy, glaring at the two of us. Eric went with her to sit in the air conditioned car while I finished up. When I got her home her temperature was up to 102.6! I gave her some Tylenol and thus began the roller coaster temperature ride, down to 101.9, up to 103.3 -- which is when I called the doctor -- and a few more ups and downs. I was told not to worry unless she was inconsolable, vomitting, had dry diapers, anything else particularly bothersome, or the fever lasted more than 3 days.

By mid-day Saturday she was at 99, but it was a rough night. She couldn't sleep and was wimpering, like a pathetic puppy. Everytime she'd drift off she'd suddenly awake, like from a delirium. I wonder what babies dream of when they're feverish. She pretty much nursed all night, with bouts of water, which was the only thing that soothed her enough to sleep even a little bit. At 4:30 she had had enough of the boobie and the sippy cup and the idea of sleeping and my job was keeping her entertained and distracted from her misery. Eli took over and, finally, at about 8:30 she went to sleep. Obviously, my plans to go to the farmers market and shul were thwarted.

She was perky all day today and her appetite for solids is back, so I think she's over her malaise.

That Ol' Devil Mercury

In this post-superstition era, backed by a college education from a reputable university, I know that astrology is bunk. Yet, during this Mercury retrograde cycle I have suffered numerous technological mishaps. First, without warning, our toaster oven konked out. (I love -- rather loved -- my toaster oven and not just for toasting toast, but for toasting nuts, roasting vegtables, the lovely sound of it tick tick ticking.) Then our stereo receiver went on the fritz. It shuts itself off with input from the CD or DVD player. It will let me play WFMT, the classical station, all day but if I try to change the station it will switch off. No joke. Then our car needed some repairs. Finally, and most irritatingly, our digital camera is missing. It grew tiny metalic feet and hopped away. I blame the fairy with the thistle down hair. (Go read Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norell.) Neither of us recall taking it out of the house and, if we did, we didn't open the diaper bag between our house and our car at any point. We've searched high and low and can't find the little bugger. It would be great to take some pictures of our daughter around her 1st birthday with something other than a crappy disposable camera. Have you seen it? We are offering a reward for any information regarding its whereabouts. Alternatively, do you have, say, a thousand dollars you don't need to replace all this stuff? Except the car repairs -- that's normal wear and tear. Everything else is down right creepy crappy timing.

I'm Your Mom

I haven't posted in a week because I've been busy, but nothing scintillating is going on, so you haven't missed anything.

Yelena World All's well in babyland. She's been vocal lately, although she still doesn't dwell on most consonants. On numerous occasions when I've entered a room she's already in or when we're cuddling and she wants to nurse she says something that sounds a lot like "Mama," but she never does it when Eli's around so it could just be a figment of my imagination. When I make a request of her, like "kiss Mama" or "clap Mama's hand" she'll do it often enough so I think she knows what I mean, but not every time, so there is room for doubt (and, again, not often when Eli's around). Of course, living with cats I know that understanding and doing are not equivalent.

She's getting better about holding her sippy cup, but we're doing it without a valve so it can get rather messy. Whenever I drink from a glass she is mesmerized, so today I offered her some water from my pint glass and she eagerly drank. I am going to break out some more child friendly plastic cups tomorrow. She's still not so into the self feeding, although she'll pick stuff up in a pincer grasp she's more interested in tranferring it to her other hand, squishing it around or dropping it all the while opening her mouth and looking to me to put something in it. Ditto the spoon. She'll grab at it but when I give it to her and try to help her feed herself she prefers to wave it around and see how far the food will fly.

Her three teeth are pretty much out and she's still getting used to them. She grinds them. The sound is a bit nerve racking -- it makes Eli crawl up the walls -- but apparently it doesn't bother her. It looks like the teeth on either side of her bottom teeth are working their way out, but no sign of the other front tooth on top. Of course, there wasn't any sign that I could see for the other top tooth so it could spring out at any moment. These teeth are like hydras. Hydrae?

No movement. Her balance is getting better and she love to practice standing. But man, her head is so big. It's always been in a way-high percentile but I swear it is outpacing the rest of her in growth. And her feet are itsy bitsy. I now look at the feet of every baby I see and hers are crazy petite. If she were a Chinese courtesan she wouldn't even have to get her feet bound.

Cherubino's World He's looking better and, somehow, bigger. Our appointment with the oncologist was moved to Thursday, since our car was in the shop Monday, so we have to wait a few days for the vet's opinion. He's certainly put on weight and is feistier.

Mila's World I have an existence other than serving Yelena and Cherubino? Squeezed in between feedings feline and baby I've tackled a number of overdue household projects, including re-tiling part of the shower (done!) and clearing the bush that has overtaken our yard. Digging out weeds, I discovered a very long, jagged, rusted metal spike. Talk about taking out an eye! It was over a foot into the ground and I have no idea what it was, except for an old fence post or a vampire trap , but it is safely removed.

I also had to clear off the dust from my resume as an opportunity for some part time real estate work presented itself. And I finally posted and printed Yelena pictures from March through June.

Even though I've been up past midnight every night for Cheru's feeding, I haven't gotten much reading done, since I've been dealing with the aforementioned plus household chores and following the news from Israel. Since last literary post, I have read 1000 White Women for bookgroup (crap), the new Philip Roth (short, obsessed with mortality), Coraline (short, not as good as I had hoped), What Jane Austen Ate and Charles Dickens Knew (thanks Mom, now I know all about whist, the rankings of landed gentry and black pudding), As A Driven Leaf (excellent, keeping me up way past Cherubino's feeding) and I am still inching through The Botany of Desire (enjoying, but not engrossed).

Sunday I went to see the movie I'm Your Man, about a Leonard Cohen tribute concert, with bits from the bard himself interspersed. Highly recommended. All of the performances were good, with some down right spine tingling and eye watering. I love Nick Cave and have never seen him live -- he always seems to be in Chicago when it's Rosh Hashana or I have a newborn -- but after his two numbers I swear I will never miss him if he's in town again. I have a love-hate relationship with Rufus Wainwright but when he is on he is so on, and he was very very on with his three numbers. There is also a very funny bit where Mr. Cohen (I can't bring myself to call him Leonard) reads his introduction to a translation of Beautiful Losers into Mandarin; his opinion of it is pretty close to my own. A sun stroke of a book indeed.

Tails up

A week ago I left the door to what is now known as Cherubino's Room open for a bit before a feeding, while he was in the puke safety zone. I heard some crunching coming from the room. I went in, ready to shoo Theo away only to find Cheru munching away at his dry food! I was so happy I actually cried.

We had to board the Ru while we were in Tahoe. I felt guilty about that, but there was no way we could have someone come by three times per day, plus the possibility of letting any puke fester (although his puking was winding down, it seemed like a particularly stinky risk). At the hospital, he allegedly did very well, not throwing up and eating on his own a bit.

Since I picked him up Monday he has continued to flourish. I've got him almost up to 90 cc of food per feeding and I've caught him eating on his own a few times. He hasn't thrown up once since he's been back and -- the details those of you with scatalogical inclinations are just dying to know -- he's been peeing and pooping, too. He's looking and acting a lot more like Cheru and a lot less like a sick sad kitty. His eyes are brighter and he's grooming again. When I came in for his afternoon feeding he was giving himself a pedicure.

The PEG tube feedings have gotten easier with experience. I now seem to administer the food at the right speed and without making a mess. The feedings do take a while -- about 15 minutes, plus the time of loading up the syringes -- which is complicated by having a baby. I can plop Yelena in her crib for a few minutes while giving Cheru his medicine a half-hour before feedings, but I have to figure out what to do with her for the morning and, if Eli is not home early, afternoon feedings. So far I've been putting her in the exersaucer, but she's technically outgrown it and I probably ought to stop. I'd bring her into the room to play while I feed, but she's going through a particularly screechy phase right now and cats aren't too into high pitched/high decibel sounds as it is, let alone a convalescing cat. A surgeon friend of mine is going to hook me up with additional syringes, so at least I can load up a bunch at night while Yelena slumbers.

Dealing with this has been trying, emotionally and financially. Through all of this we thought we were doing the right thing, but there's always the nagging feeling that we were going to extreme measures, even though this is the prescribed treatment for hepatic lipidosis and has a 70% success rate. If at any point Cheru had gotten mean and surly, we probably wouldn't have gone through with it. Looking into his beautiful blue eyes and knowing that he'd be dead right now if we didn't put in the PEG tube reassures me that we definitely did the right thing. He has a visit with the oncologist on Monday to check him out and get him back on chemo, only a different scheme, probably without the prednisone.

Teeth, Teeth and More Teeth

Last Wednesday night Yelena went to bed as usual, without notable fuss or protest, around 8:30. At 8:50 she woke up wailing. We calmed down the tears, but couldn't get her back to sleep. We tag-teamed (tagged-team? someone help me out with the grammar here) Yelena soporific duty while packing for Tahoe until midnight. Yup, 3.5 hours later she finally fell asleep on the bed with Daddy - I came in and they were both snoring.

We figured the tandem tooth next to her sole emerged tooth was working its way out. Thursday, on the plane, she tilted her head back while giggling to show not just the icecap of that tooth but one on the top as well!

From the way she's gnawing her hand it looks like she might be ready to cut a few more jagged pearls. Those suckers are serated! She slept like crap while we were in Tahoe -- probably partly teething and partly being in a new environment -- but she woke up only once last night, so I hope she gets the sleep reserves back up this week.

This weekend she devoured her first pancakes. Yum. No syrup needed.

Quick Encatulation

This past week with Cheru has had its challenges. Compared to a week ago -- and especially compared to when we took him in to the hospital -- he looks and acts a lot more like himself. The tube feedings aren't actually that bad, mostly time consuming, and certainly a lot easier than popping pills down his throat ever was. The bad part is if he throws up afterwards (which is getting more under control). Because of this, he is quarantined in the guest room, although we'll take him downstairs to cuddle if we watch a movie and there's a solid time gap since his last feeding.

Prescription A/D smells like andouiette. It may even smell worse coming back up.

Elevenses

Happy eleven month birthday to Yelena today! Oh, and happy Independence Day although right about now I think I'd prefer the British Empire to the current regime.

Yelena's balance while standing is getting better every day. If she didn't have such a big head and such tiny feet (she could've been a contender!) she'd probably be standing on her own by now.

As of Friday she is eating bread. I gave her a piece of challah and the rest is history. She ate more on Saturday and on Sunday she had the house bread in the Greek restaurant where we celebrate Kenny's birthday every year. Yesterday we gave her some whole wheat bread and today she had her first melted cheese. Say, "Cheese!"