Mmm. Pass the Baby Food!

Spices, herbs, and seasonings are my friends. I hate bland foods and love to try exotic new flavors. Knowing that babies supposedly like bland foods I used to make David special baby food sans seasoning, but he turned his nose up at all of it. Then I discovered he actually likes his food to taste good (amazing, huh). Strained carrots or peas? No way! But panang curry, black bean enchiladas, or chicken tikka masala and he's begging for more. A pretty good rule of thumb is that if it sounds like something I would like then David probably will too.

Yeah, I know that soon his tastebuds will probably change and he'll start demanding the disgusting foods that all kids seem to love so much like fish sticks and fries. For now though he's loving the pitas slathered with forty spice humus and olive tapenade or some lemon pesto ravioli and so am I!

The Strategy of Indoor Play

Whew! I'm glad to report that we're all once again healthy and resuming normal life. Since it's the first weekend in awhile that we've all felt well we decided to get out and have some fun together. With the weather cooling off I've been trying to think of activities where David can get out of the house and explore but are still indoors. Our community center has a nice indoor pool he loves to go to, but it can be a hassle when you factor in getting everything packed, inflating his pool float, bathing and showering afterward, plus washing and drying all the suits and towels. It's very fun, but not the kind of thing we have time for every day.

On Saturday we decided to check out Ogden's Treehouse Children's Museum and were not disappointed. David thought he was in Heaven! Of course he was too young to appreciate many of the exhibits, but there was still plenty to hold his attention. He got to spin colorful gears, ride a giant stuffed pony, play all kinds of musical instruments, crawl around tee-pees, and much more. We had so much fun that we decided to get him a very reasonably priced membership. I plan on taking him a lot in the upcoming weeks so hopefully I will get some better pictures, but for now enjoy the one of him playing on the giant chess board (that's a sign of future genius right?).

Sick of Being Sick

Some of you may have noticed my absence from the blogging community and wondered where I have been. I would now love to inform you all that we have been taking a thoroughly enjoyable exotic vacation and that I will soon have some lovely pictures to post. Unfortunately that is not the case.

The truth is that we have all been sick and there will be no pictures coming because 1) I have been too ill to take any and 2) It hasn't been pretty. David was the first one to get sick a couple weeks back. A few days later Derek came down with it and then finally I did. I was definitely the most severe case, but after a few days it seemed like we were all on the mend although I still felt fairly weak and shakey and Derek and David still have a lingering cough.

Then on Thursday I felt a bit worse. An hour later I felt a lot worse. By the time afternoon rolled around I had a fever of 104, was hallucinating, had chest pains, and was gasping for air. Somehow I managed to get David into his crib so I could crawl into bed and call Derek. I hated hearing David scream (it wasn't naptime) to be let out, but I could hardly move. Derek came home and took me to the Dr where in addition to collapsing in the middle of the hallway (not embarrassing) I had labs, chest x-rays, and a couple liters of IV fluids pumped into me. The diagnosis was H1N1 plus a nasty case of pneumonia. I got to go home on the condition that if I got any worse I would go right to the hospital and they recommended that David be sent to my mom's until my fevers started to come down to prevent him from getting pneumonia too.

The last few days aren't something I particularly want to remember much. David was a pirate for halloween and I'm sure he was incredibly cute. I wouldn't know though because at the time my fevers were still around 102 and I was mostly confined to bed. Yesterday was the first day I was able to spend a significant portion of the day out of bed (and also get David back!) and today I was even well enough to care for David for several hours while Derek worked. So I am getting better. Thanks to everyone who has been concerned and sent their thoughts and prayers. Hopefully this will all be over soon.