Perfect Moment Monday — Can You Hear Me Now?

I Capture Perfect Moments.

Can you believe the little speck a doctor put inside me is now this six month old chunky monkey? Seeing her so happy is sheer mommy bliss.

Photo Friday: The Night

In the absence of time and energy to write a proper post, I thought I'd participate in Cali's Photo Friday. This week's theme is The Night. I browsed through my photo folders and and pulled out a bunch. The first is taken right in front of my apartment building. The rest are travel photos. The travel photos make me itch for a trip, but with the upcoming moving expenses and the scary thought of travelling alone with a baby, travel is just not in the cards right now. Anyway, enjoy the night.

 In front of my apartment.

 Jackson Square, New Orleans on a stormy night.

Spooky French Quarter churchyard.

A quiet night on Bourbon Street. Really!

Amsterdam canals.

Do You Know Nate? I Neeeeeeeed Him!

Nate Berkus, that is. Oprah’s favorite interior designer. He getting to own show, set to start airing in the Fall. I’ve been searching online for production info and can’t find any. So I thought I’d run it by the interwebz.

Sunshine and I would be so perfect for the show. It’s going to be based in NYC and Nate loves kids. (He did an episode of Oprah where he took care of a toddler for a day and rocked it. Although, he said he felt like he was hit by a truck afterwards.) Okay, let me explain why we need Nate. We are currently in my one bedroom apartment. It’s tight. It’s a three room apartment, no dining room, small kitchen with no room for a table. Sunshine's dresser and changing pad (and diaper pail of course) are in the living room. The four room apartment next door has become available. I mean RIGHT NEXT DOOR, as in we share a wall. The owner has accepted my offer. Now it’s a matter of formalities with the coop board and selling my apartment.

This apartment is PERFECT for us! It’s what’s referred to in NYC real estate terms as a junior four. A four room apartment where the dining room is usually used as a second bedroom. (There is already a small closet that was built in that room, although I want to have a bigger closet built all along that wall.) The kitchen is about three times as big as my current kitchen. Totally enough room to put a nice sized table and chairs. But boy, does it need work! And after dealing with the purchase price (minus the sale of my current one), there isn’t much money for fixing it up. Oh, but the potential!

So, Nate, are you out there????? Single mom, very photogenic baby, landmark NYC (Queens) apartment, with some wonderful original architectural details. Original doors and transoms, French doors, etc. And the interesting challenge of making it look great and baby proofing at the same time. Great TV!

Nate, we need you! Email me, okay?

Poisoned!

 Warning: Vomity TMI

At least that's how it felt. I've been sick since Sunday night. I thought it was food poisoning. We went to a Mexican restaurant Sunday evening with my sister and niece. Now as I hear from so many other people that have been hit, I think it's a bad stomach virus. I don't think I've ever been this sick. Still not feeling great, but making myself eat some plain food, because I think at this point some of my wobbly feeling is from not eating.

I truly felt as if someone had poisoned me. Was feeling queasy when I woke up to nurse Sunshine at 2:45am. Thankfully, she went back to sleep soundly after her late night snack. The hurling began at 3. Other end around 4:30. The weird part was the horrible hip pain. I was diagnosed with bursitis in both hips last week, and had cortisone shots in both. By Saturday it was kicking in and I was feeling better, but as soon as I started spewing, they started hurting. BAD! So I'm lying in bed, moaning in misery, unable to find a comfortable position. After the third run to the bathroom with my mouth filling, I stationed a bucket by the bed. Water would not stay down. But I kept drinking, trying to keep somewhat hydrated, and to avoid the dry heaves and vomiting bile.

When Sunshine woke at around 6, I felt so overwhelmed. Couldn't handle nursing, also probably didn't have much milk, since I was definitely dehydrated by then. Hallelujah, there was a premixed 3 oz bottle of formula and a disposable nipple in the diaper bag by the bed. Fed her this with her lying next to me, while I was flat on my back. Ran my options through my head. My mother and her husband were out of town for the weekend. Knew they were coming back that day, but were pretty far away. My next door neighbor adores Sunshine, but she's in her 80s (I think). Upstairs neighbor has offered to help, but I don't know her well. Ah! A friend in the neighborhood who has been so generous with hand me downs from her daughter. Not just clothes, but major baby equipment. She told me if I ever needed anything I should call. I didn't know what time she leaves for work, so a little after 6:30 I called, explained the situation, and asked if she could come by and bring Sunshine to daycare. She immediately said she could. What a lifesaver!

So Sunshine is babbling away next to me in bed, but I can tell she has a load in her diaper. The changing stuff is in the other room. Damn! I could have changed her right there with stuff from the diaper bag, but I had a feeling it was a major poopy load, and didn't want to risk getting anything on the bed. Carried her to the other room. Needed to sit down and rest first. Changed the loaded diaper. (Just the thing when you're nauseous. NOT!) Needed to sit down and rest again. Brought her clothes back to the bedroom, got the onesie she slept in off, but then I was spent. Lying in bed with a nakey baby in just a diaper. Her clothes on the bed next to us. I kept apologizing to her. My angel/friend arrived! I thanked her and apologized that I didn't have Sunshine ready. Not a problem. Her daughter is almost 13 months older, so I think she enjoyed dressing my little one. Then off they went.

The vomiting didn't let up until mid-afternoon. Still felt horrible. Very weak. Got hold of my mother. They were on their way back, but it would be a while. My friend had offered to pick up Sunshine as well, and either bring her to me or bring her to her place. I called and asked if she could pick her up and watch her until my mother arrived. I am so lucky! She and her husband and daughter enjoyed my smiley girl for a couple of hours. They brought her home about 10 minutes before my mother got there. And with a shopping bag full of hand me down clothes! (Sunshine rocks the hand me downs!) I missed my girl, but I still felt like crap.  My mother was a help, but of course she wanted to play with the baybeee. Said babe finally fell asleep 2 hours later than usual when my mother (AKA The Distraction) left the room for a few minutes. I had a piece of toast and a little bit of chicken soup.

Tuesday morning my mother took Sunshine to daycare and went home. I had actually been planning to take this day as a personal day for a follow up with the foot surgeon. Called their office as soon as it opened and changed the appt from 9am to 12:30. Dozed a little before I had to leave for the appt. (Surgeon said foot is healing on schedule (it still hurts), and that it should feel better in another 2-3 months.) Of course I had to wait for the dr. It was a little after 2pm that I was seen for my 12:30 appt. Rushed home so I could try to get more rest before picking up Sunshine. Passed out! Woke up 15 minutes before the daycare center closes. Oh, fuck! Threw on my clothes and ran the 10 minutes over there. All I ate Tuesday was some chicken soup.

Yesterday I made it to work. Only lasted until 11:45 before I told my boss I needed to go home. Had a decent nap before getting Sunshine. It was over 90° yesterday. That didn't help. What did help is that my delightful daughter slept 8 hours straight! All I ate yesterday was a plain roll and some more chicken soup.

Which brings us to today. At work. I'm eating, even though food is still very unappealing, as I think the lack of fuel is contributing to my feeling wonky.

There's got to be a better way to lose the IVF/baby weight!

So how's your week going?

City Girl

Hi Everyone! It’s me, Squeaker. Mommy says since Elizabeth gets to blog, so can I! Oh, yeah, Mommy says I need a new nickname. She says I don’t squeak anymore, I squeal. For some reason, she says Squealer isn’t a good nickname. She tells me I am her Sunshine. So you can call me Sunshine, too.

We had such a fun time last weekend. On Saturday Mommy and I snuggled in bed for a while. I had some of the yummy milk Mommy has and we cuddled and went back to sleep. Then we got dressed and went to our music and dance class. It’s so much fun. We look at the other babies and go in circles and play music. Here’s a picture of me making music with sticks. Mommy says no one should buy me a drum set. Why not?

I was very tired after class, so I went to sleep while Mommy pushed me in the stroller. Then later we had a nice visit with Mommy’s friend and her big girl. It was a great day!

Sunday was even busier! We woke up earlier. I wanted to laugh and play, so we didn’t stay in bed. I had a bath. I love to splash with my feet. Mommy put my robe on me after my bath. She said she didn’t want me to get my clothes dirty before we went out. Huh? Then I had some milk and took a little nap. Mommy says I look like I’m having a spa day in my robe.

Then we took the subway to Manhattan. I like the subway! It moves fast, and all the people smile at me and talk to me.

We went to a restaurant with Mommy’s friend and her big boy. He can walk and eat food with a spoon. It looks like lots of fun. Can I have some please?

After the restaurant, we took a walk. It was very sunny, so I had to wear my sunhat. Do you like it?

It was such a busy and exciting day. When we got home Mommy said I was overtired. I don’t know what she means. I still wanted to play. I didn’t want to go to sleep. So Mommy gave me my favorite toy to play with.

I guess I was a little tired.

The Celebratory Society

Please forgive my slacker blogging. I caught the baby's cold, and now my allergies are bothering me on top of the cold. Add in sleep deprivation and working full time, and it's hard to put my thoughts together for a coherent post. It's even hard to keep up with all my blog reading, but I try, and I try to leave comments when I can. So I thought Mel's latest project would be a good incentive for me to write more than quick, one sentence comments and a way for me to soak up some of the love from the most loving gang on the net.

Think of this as the most interesting delurking project you'll ever participate in. After giving back to others at the Celebratory Society, I have decided to participate in it myself. You can understand the project in full by clicking here, but in brief, the Celebratory Society is an online festschrift for a blogger--a way for you to tell me what my blog or actions mean to you. But this isn't about me--this is about you too. And I would love it if you returned to your own blog, started your own Celebratory Society post, added it to the main project list, and gave me the opportunity to tell you about...you.

I'm Such a Bad Blogger

I know, I know. I owe you all a major update. I'm tired. Really tired. Squeaker has bronchitis. Poor baby. First time she's been sick. It hurts my chest when she coughs. :-(

I will try to write a proper post soon. Really wanted to join Project IF. Might write a post anyway.

Here's some cuteness from last weekend to tide you over. Can you believe my girl is over 5 months old!?!