Not Excited

When I got sick with nausea for four days back at the end of April, I told Nerdstar I had a suspicion it was gallstones. My Mom, and come to find out, my grandmother both had them at a younger age than I am now. I got an ultrasound done a couple of weeks ago, and sure enough, there they were. Not very many, and not currently causing any problems. I met with a general surgeon just over a week ago and he said it was pretty much up to me when to get the surgery done. I asked if I could wait up to a year, and he said sure.

It was kind of a hard call to go ahead and get the surgery done when I'm not having any symptoms at all. But, my folks were already planning to be here for a few days at the end of next month for Noah's birthday, so that seemed like a good time. I figure it's better to get it done before things get worse.

That said, I can't say I'm thrilled about it. I've never had any kind of surgery. I know this is a relatively minor one, but you never know.

So. Yep. That's the fun news lately.

Couldn't Imagine

How funny, I'm not doing the non-challenge of 30 days of blog posts, but yesterday on FB I wrote, "It's amazing the things about being a parent you really can't imagine before being one." which is one of the topics. A friend asked "such as?"

So far I've come up with that there's not only the way my heart grows with love for him, the joy of hearing him laugh, watching him grow and learn and change.

But there's also the abject terror that something awful will happen to them. I started worrying about him the minute we saw the positive sign on the pregnancy test. That worrying is like a constant white noise, it's not bad, just always there.

There's also how it's a 24/7 gig. Even if he's asleep, and now that he shows up in my dreams, even if I'm asleep, there's still a part of my brain that's devoted to him.

Nerdstar said she hasn't been surprised by any of it. I spent a lot of years avoiding thinking about actually having kids because I was so afraid it would never happen. I'm so glad it did!

Nicknames and Books

Apparently, the nicknames I have for Noah that have stuck are Handsome, Shorty, and Sweetness.

I realized the other day I've done more reading since he's been born than in a few years before him. I sit and read while he plays. I got through 85% of Laura Bush's biography. It kept making me cry when I'd read about 9/11, or 9/11 families, or women in Afghanistan. It's a good read though. I read the Hunger Games trilogy. I'm a little surprised at kids reading them. Hope the movies are good. I re-read Anne Lamott's Operating Instructions. It was refreshingly honest about her son's first year. I just finished The Lottery and 24 other short stories by Shirley Jackson. They were written in the mid-40s and that, more than anything made them interesting, but mostly, I felt like I was missing the point. I'm just starting The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters. I enjoyed her other books.

Not often, but sometimes, I'll read out loud to Noah while he plays. He likes to pick up his books, lay on his back, and at least appear to pretend to read. He likes The Hungry Caterpillar book.

Noah Eating Oranges

It's a shame he's so aware of the camera. We were trying to capture the jekel/hyde aspect of feeding him - the hysterics before we can get a bite into his mouth, and the joy after. It's still a darn cute video of our darn cute boy!

Happy 10th. month, Noah Maxx!

Happy 10 months old, Noah Maxx! You can now sit up pretty well, and also crawl really fast in your frogman like crawl. Your skin is still a mess but we are trying the best we can with both Eastern and Western medicine.

You're still the funniest baby ever as you crawl into the kitchen to check out what we are cooking or washing. I've got to say that your stubborn streak is now showing and I wonder where you got that from? :-)

I love spending time with you and speaking in "ba's and blah's" with you! You yell at me a lot at times because I haven't been feeding you fast enough.

In two more months, you'll be one year old, wow does time fly or what? It seems like every other day you'll do or "say" something that's really neat! You are crawling so fast, it makes me think that you'll be running before you start walking!

Stay sweet, and your mamas love you so very much!

That's Our Boy

Nerdstar was in the kitchen putting up groceries. Noah and I were in the living area that's connected. He made a beeline for the fridge. We put him back in the living area and he took off again - as fast as he could move.

2 New Pics

I call him "monkey boy" because he's always using his foot to help hold his bottle.


He's still got a few rough places on his scalp from the eczema, and his hair was getting a bit wild, so for the third time in under a year, we shaved his head. I think it makes him look a little like a baby monk.