Jankers

OK, it’s been a month. I guess it’s time to post! First, here’s a cute picture of Nora.

It’s been a busy month. We had a few exciting weekends. My Dad’s side of the family had their holiday get together. Cousins, aunts, uncles, etc. Here’s a pic of my Dad and all his girls.

Mike and I went to his work holiday party at Dave and Busters the following weekend. That was pretty cool. My parents babysat. The party involved a buffet dinner with a murder mystery show. Sort of entertaining, but somewhat embarrasing. The acting and plot left a lot to be desired. I was called up for a “strip search” along with Mike’s co-worker’s wife. Also somewhat embarrassing! (for those who are wondering, there was no stripping involved!) We ended the night with fun in the game room. Mike played the driving games and Ms. Pac Man. I played trivia and Deal or No Deal (which I won the biggest amount possible!). We also had our pictures taken so we could get a glimpse of our future son, who we named Buster. I was imagining a Conan O’Brien “if they mated” product, but this kid is cute.

As always, life with Nora is getting more exciting. She’s getting stronger and closer to doing something. Maybe crawling or maybe walking along furniture. I don’t know if she’ll ever learn to crawl. She’s much more interested in standing. It takes a lot more supervision with a standing baby than it did with a sitting baby. So Mike started surrounding her with furniture. A chair, an ottoman, and the couch. It occupies her for a while She’s just happy standing there. She’s moving her feet a little, but doesn’t really get the alternating motion yet. If she sees her toy out of her arm’s reach, she’ll just lean for it with her feet planted. Or with one foot planted leaning over like a ballerina. That’s when the supervision come into play. I’ve also found out that supervision’s needed with things going in the mouth. Cardboard coasters are a little flimsier than I thought. The other day I saw Nora holding up a coaster with a huge chunk out of it, all soft and wet. She didn’t really swallow it, but for second I thought she had. Oops! Here’s the standing wonder.

Illness has hit the Jankers home. Nora had her first urgent doctor’s visit this weekend. I got home Saturday morning after working the night shift Friday night and heard Nora honking like a duck. She sounded awful! Every inhale and exhale was this loud honking noise. All I could think was that her throat was closing in. We ran the hot shower and Mike sat with her in the bathroom while I called the doctor’s office. The nurse said it sounded like Croup. Well, Nora quieted down pretty quickly and by the time she had her appointment, the doctor said it was only a cold. Phew! It turned out to be more than a cold. Nora vomitted a few times Saturday night and still has the cold now. But she’s definitely getting better. I was also sick Saturday night and Sunday. Mike’s sick now. I’m so glad that it wasn’t more than it was. I think I’m usually calm about things, but for a minute there I had images of ambulances and emergency airways. What a scare! To feel so out of control.

We have a few friends that had babies this month. My friend Rena that I grew up with had a little boy named Lincoln. And our friends Jen and Nathan from Phinney Ridge Lutheran in Seattle had a little boy named Luke. Congrats to both of them. It leads me to think more about this current phase of life that I’m in. Married with a baby. Most of my friends are parents or becoming parents. Last week when I was driving home from the night shift I felt like it was an opening scene from a movie. In front of me was a neighbor’s son-in-law just getting out of the car, dropping of the baby for the day to be watched by grandma. Then another neighbor was packing her kids in the car to take to day-care. Then my next door neighbor was packing in his kids to go to school. It was so odd to me. We have neighbor kids coming by selling home-made jewelry, that I of course buy. We have a blue soccer ball sitting in the bushes in our front yard. I have no idea whose it is. Last week I sat with Nora on the curb keeping score for a kickball game. I feel pretty blessed by our current spot in life, but how weird. A few years ago I never would’ve guessed.

Does this make up for a month without posts? I hope! Oh, my New Year’s Resolution was to start reading more. Thirty minutes a day, which I havent done. But I have been reading. So far I’ve read The Glass Castle, which I loved, and I Know This Much Is True, which I also loved. I started a third book last night, Angela’s Ashes. So far, so good. If anyone has a book recommendation for me, I’d love to hear it. I hope you are all somewhat succeeding with your own resolutions.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, February 5th, 2008 at 10:57 pm and is filed under General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.