my bro's rock band

My brother is in a band called Cubicle, and their music video Wall Street Polka made it on an CNN international Ireport. My brother, Mark, is the serious looking drummer.

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving everyone. Our thanksgiving was fine; we ordered our feast from an Italian Deli recommended by a friend. Some of the items were good, but some were quite bland. But it is always good to have turkey, stuffing and cranberry sauce. And I'm glad I didn't have to cook since I've had a weird throat/neck cold this week.

We took Raffi to the park when the sun came out and it was drier (it rained all day tues/wed). He is quite the swing junkie. He could swing for hours. Raffi liked the turkey, so that was fun to feed him his first thanksgiving meal, however small it was.

Raffi's cold was not letting up, so off to the Doc's office we went (Monday). and Low and behold he had ear infections in both ears. I figured he would be super fussy for ear infections. Our little guy certainly has his daddy's tolerance of pain.

Also this week, Raffi's top 2 first molars are coming in. So he has been a little fussy here and there, gnawing on just about everything.

Colds not slowing him down.

Raffi's cold is now in it's third week. Last week, I thought he was all better but he had a couple days of a low-grade fever and then the nose running works really started kicking in. Poor guy and may I also whine that poor me. He wakes up in the middle of the night for hours at a time because he can't breathe through his nose. The funny thing that happened today as a result of us wiping his nose hundreds of times: Raffi pulled a tissue out of the tissue box and wiped his own nose. Doug and I were floored!. Sometime this little guy just scares me(in a good way).

Last week, my yoga moms group went to Sonoma and stayed over night and yes with babies. One of the mom's family has some houses that we were able to stay in. We went wine tasting, going to a total of 6 in two days. With toddlers in tow, that is quite an accomplishment. We got lots of looks, and surprisingly most were complimentary.

While at the Sonoma house, Raffi was playing with a floor fan (that wasn't plugged in) and he tried to plug into the electric outlet. If the prongs were set up correctly he would've actually done it. Talk about another Raffi Brain moment!

Other developments: Raffi is consistently waving bye-bye, clapping unprompted and mimicking words more. He used his ride-on bus as a step stool to play with the door knob and try to turn the light switch. He is putting the phone to his ear and puts Doug's blackberry to his ear like he knows what you are supposed to do with it. It is so much fun to watch him grow up.

Lions and Tigers and Astronauts?

1. This past week: Raffi is sleeping through the night. (I nurse him to sleep and for a nap; so 2-3 times a 24 hour period.) Sometimes he does wake up at night, I rub his back and most of the time he goes right back to sleep.

2. Last Friday: I went out for my first mom's night out (after 7pm). It was the first time I'd been out without the baby past 7pm. It is weird driving in the dark. I don't do it that often. It was great. Doug was able to get Raffi down with no problem. Yeh!!!

3. Halloween was tons of fun. Raffi was an astronaut and looked super cute in his so professional looking costume. (Thanks for picking it out Sam!) We went to 2 Halloween playdates (One I dressed up as an Egyptian Mummy...from space) and did a little 10am trick or treating at a local little town main street. I'm looking forward to next year when it will be a little more interactive for him.

4. Mid October: Raffi and I went down to So. Cal for a visit with family and friends. It went well logisitically and Raffi had a great time. He started repeating words more often including: Thank You, Turtle, nite nite, fish, bye bye and other random words which he never repeats.

Got by me.

I've actually had lots to talk about the last couple of weeks. But I didn't.

I'll at least get in the noticeables for today. A pic at the park, he was having a great time in the swing. He also learned how to go down the slide staying seated up. Before he sort of fell back and slid on his back. He also seemed to get the rocking horse.

So to some highlights:
Two Fridays ago, I had my mother meltdown moment. At my church moms group, Raffi was crying too much so they called me to take him. (it was only like 30 min into the program.) I felt like the childcare people just gave up on him and the manager said she "needed her caregivers in the room with the kids" not strolling around crying babies. I almost left and cried in the car, but a mom at my table stopped me and told me to just hang around with Raffi. Which turn to be a little difficult because he wanted to run around. Later that day, Raffi deliberately kept doing a no-no, while looking at me. I didn't know that it (disciplining) would start so early. Now when I look back at that day, it doesn't seem that bad. But mentally, I was not in a happy place.

Raffi had his NICU follow-up meeting with a developmental specialist and a social worker. After Raffi got over his shyness he did very well. There was some speech recognition that we are keeping an eye on. But overall he is doing great. The social worker started going on this tangent that at 20lbs he was so underweight that we should start fortifying his milk and feeding him extra butter! After I got off the ceiling, I calmed down, and realized later that our pediatrician thinks he is doing fine and that trying to force extra calories won't translate to weight gain.

We still have been doing the usual music classes, playgroups, and park time. Lots of fun.

Oh and this last Friday, we went to MOPS, the church moms group. I talked with the caregivers and told them to work with him, and not to call me unless he was ill. So Raffi pretty much cried the entire 2 hours, but he was more mad than upset. I just hope at some point he will get over it before his 8th birthday. I know he will, but there is just that fear (with so many things about parenting).

So badly needing an update

Playing around.

Hosting a Playdate.

Grandparent Fun

The Grandparents (plus one great-grandparent) was a success. I know they had a great time and enjoyed experiencing Raffi in person, instead of over a web cam. My father and I played a little par 3 golf, while my mom babysat. On Saturday, Doug and I had a date and saw the latest Batman movie. We came home to Raffi taking a nap on my mom, it was so cute. I sadly didn't take as many pictures as I have on previous visits. Of course, there was a lot of eating of food and dessert, especially chocolate cakes (from various restaurants.)




My parents could probably better describe their visit, but Raffi had a blast for sure. He was going a mile a minute talking and running around. He always kept an eye to make sure someone was paying attention to him and loved to play peek-a-boo with the grandparents. Raffi also had some amazing conversations with my 92 year old grandma Audrey. I'm not sure this week can compare with the last, with his favorite audience gone.