Elbow Grease

This morning I got up to a new, happy feeling - a real sense of relief from pain I've had in my right elbow early August. There have been days when I would wake up and my elbow hurt less, or hurt more, but today it was a qualitatively different feeling than just a mathematical decrease in pain. I think it's finally getting better 

We got bikes over the summer, calculating a savings cost and health benefits for getting to and from school in the coming months. Meanwhile, to get the kids (and myself) in biking shape we used them to get to and from playdates. One day coming back from picking Gabe up, I lifted the bike quickly over a curb at an awkward angle and felt a sharp, intense pain in my right elbow. 

That was the first injury. I iced it, took Ibuprofen, and tried not to use that arm too much, but it hurt even to try to open a pickle jar, or to scrub a pot while washing dishes. 

Then, about 10 days later, I was foolishly trying out Gabe's hoverboard and fell hard backwards, hitting my head on the low wall of the balcony and also landing on that same right elbow. 

I was truly frightened about possible head injury, because school was just starting, but I was fine as far as that went. 

The elbow, though, was bruised and swollen. Over the next few days it got better, but I was stuck with chronic pain that was exacerbated by knitting, using the mouse, and using the handbrake on my bike. Anything that involved grasping with the thumb and first two fingers on my right hand. 

Physiotherapy was the next step. Turns out that the radius was very slightly dislocated, but the therapist shoved it back in place and gave me a series of exercises to do. That helped, but the pain continued. Less, but still there. 

I went back again and got instructions to prop up my forearm while using the mouse or typing, and I think this has done the trick. It's the ergonomics of it - plus continued careful stretching. 

We're coming to the end of the first quarter of the school year and I finally am feeling some relief - both in reduced stress overall, and relief from this chronic pain. I am so thankful.  

Feel the breeze in my face

Last year we bought a second-hand bike for Gabe, and a new one for Val. During lockdown there were not many opportunities to use them, and then this summer with all the unpredictable travel restrictions we opted not to do our usual grand world tour of places we have lived before and instead invested that money in wheels for the whole family. We upgraded the kids bikes, and bought two more adult sized bikes as well. 

I absolutely LOVE biking. I think the last time I used a bicycle was around 1997 or so, when I rode one around the Yapacaní area in Bolivia. But a combination of factors gave me a lot of lower back pain, which was exacerbated by biking, so I quit and hadn't mounted one since then. So it has been over 20 years. I had forgotten how much fun it is! 

It reminds of how Harry Potter felt the first time he rode a broom:

“He mounted the broom and kicked hard against the ground and up, up he soared; air rushed through his hair, and his robes whipped out behind him- and in a rush of fierce joy he realized he'd found something he could do without being taught- this was easy, this was wonderful." (Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone)

There is another description of how the broom seemed to know what he wanted it to do, how it responded to the lightest touch of his hand. That's how I felt on my bike today, gliding down this bike path (below) to school.  

 The current mayor of Tirana has expanded the bike lanes all over the city, and during lockdown continued to do so. Drivers of vehicles are not very happy about it, as on-street parking has diminished considerably. Public use of the bike lanes is also not ideal - a lot of pedestrians walk in them, and people often stop their vehicles in them to pick up and drop off things or passengers. The traffic lights at major intersections are not terribly well organized. However, it sure beats walking (to me - Terry still prefers to hoof it). 

We are planning to have the kids bike to school, at least we'll try it out. If we manage to bike for 60 days out of the 180 school days in the year, the cost of the bikes will balance out the cost of a taxi. The exercise and renewable energy benefits are superlative. 

But most of all, gliding down the street on my bike is just pure joy. 

Self-Care

At our team retreat last month, we spent some time talking about self-care. It was interesting to me to think about how individualized our thinking about this is; it is my responsibility to know what I need and to talk steps to get those needs met. Which is fine, I'm not saying it isn't my responsibility. But it's also interesting to ask the question, what if we thought about self-care more collectively, more communally? To circle around the most vulnerable or the injured, to ask how are we doing and not just how am I doing?

But I've also been asking myself this question: what would be different in my life if I actually believed that it's okay for me to feel good, to be happy, to enjoy life? That I'm allowed to enjoy good things without feeling guilty or like I'm stealing from the cosmic company? And I realized that one of the corollaries of that belief would be taking better care of myself: sleep, exercise, eating well, hobbies.

I've been enjoying these Dreamscope photo filters so, so much. I also decided to take half-days once a week, Wednesdays (my supervisor has been urging me to do this for a long time). So far, it's been great.

Random Thoughts

This sick, whatever it is, is unrelenting. After 50+ hours of being fine, Gabe threw up last night - again - with explosive diarrhea. The kids had no school yesterday so I could have taken him to the doctor them, but he was fine then. Val seems to be ok though. Tomorrow is Saturday. I had thought to do something fun with them tomorrow but may spend the day instead collecting stool samples.

~::~

As we approach our last circle around the sun in this city, I'm starting to think about how to leave well. One thing I don't know how to do is leave our pets. The birds might be easier to give away, but the guinea pigs are a little dearer to Valerie's heart. We don't play with them very much but she worries about them when we travel. She still hasn't keyed into the idea that we will have to leave them here though. I imagine we might give them away to someone who lives in the country. Actually the directors of their school might be interested as they have a country home just outside the city where they spend every weekend, and where the kids go on field trips to plant corn and trees. We'll cross that bridge when we come to it.

~::~

Yesterday I had a little time to play with this app called Dreamscope where you can modify your own photos in fun ways. Here's a few I made:

How to be artsy in 15 minutes or less...

House of Sick

I haven't been posting much because since last weekend either Gabe or Valerie or both has/have been sick. Seems like a virus kind of thing has been going around, causing tummy troubles; Gabe started out with stomach cramps last Friday evening (just as we were on our way out the door to a weekend workshop outside of town). He ended up missing several days of school last week, and now it is V's turn. Terry has been traveling, and in the midst of all of this we celebrated V's birthday with the requisite cake(s) which I'm sure didn't help matters much. Last night we finally managed to all sleep soundly and well all through the night, without anyone throwing up or having explosive bowel movements in the middle of the night (always preceded by groaning and tossing and turning for an hour or more...) So I'm pretty tired. Fortunately work hasn't been too much, although we did have five interns arrive (on four different days), and then two of them got sick as well.

It's all part of life. I'm really thankful for the many helpful people around me, especially on our team. It makes all the difference in the world.

Some Words

I tend to build posts around photos, which makes the "photos" label a little redundant, but since my camera cable is at the office and I'm at home, I'll just write a bit instead today.

We're having a quiet holiday at home; it's Ascension Day (39 days after Easter) and a national holiday in this most Catholic of countries. For those keeping track, Colombia has 18 national holidays a year, and often they are observed on a Monday or Friday - called "puentes," or bridges - in order to create long weekends. I think there are only one or two months in the year that have no holidays, and June has three. (Terry complains about this all the time because he finds the office more restful than being at home. And we never go places because traffic is about 3x worse than normal on holiday weekends, and normal here is pretty obnoxious.)

Anyway, it's been really nice to have this day off because I was sick as a dog yesterday, and Gabriel was recovering from a 5-day bout with some stomach bug. I was glad to have only one day of it and I feel pretty much back to normal today, a little light-headed but basically fine. Poor G. was in bad shape though - stomach cramps, throwing up, diarrhea... glad he's back to normal too.

Friday we celebrated Valerie's birthday with a few friends, although three of the four kids we invited weren't able to come so it was a small group. But we had balloons and presents and cake and pizza and she was happy. She's thrilled to be seven now and Gabe is just counting the days until his birthday.

Wednesday I'm going to the States for my PhD graduation, just a quick there-and-back-again trip. It feels like a real celebration and I'm very happy to be able to go!

Food --> Health

Three months ago I changed my diet and my life. (Yes, I'm going to talk about food again...!)

At the meetings we went to in Guatemala in April, I had bronchitis, I was exhausted, I was miserable, and as part of a reflective exercise I said something about how I wanted to change our family's diet because I thought we wouldn't get sick so much. We'd all had intermittent colds from when we moved to Bogota in November, and pretty much constant colds from February on (when the kids started school), culminating in my case of bronchitis. 

In May, I had my blood pressure crisis, was told very sternly to cut out all salt (when I asked how to do that the doctor said "eat fruits, vegetables, and steamed white meat like chicken and fish") and I actually did. I had been wanting to incorporate fruit and veg smoothies into my diet for a long time - and this was the push (well, the shove, really) I needed. And I have not been sick one day in the last three months. 

Well, caveat: I did catch a cold while we were in Albania - precisely when I went off this diet. Even though I loaded up on fresh fruits, I also went back to eating all the no-nos - and boy did that food taste AMAZING - sausage, cheese, pizza, olive bread - and boy did I feel like crap. 

I'm so happy and thankful to have been able to change my diet, my life, my health like this. I'm so happy that Terry is doing the diet (more or less) with me. I figure that around 70% of what I eat is raw fresh fruits and vegetables, and unsalted nuts. The other 30% is unsalted rice, beans, stir-fry, chicken breast, eggs. (If it were all free-range and organic then I think I would probably turn into a unicorn or something mythical and magical like that.) I feel so good that I don't even miss cheese. I know I'd never be able to do it if I didn't have doctor's orders and Terry's support. 

I'd love to make dramatic changes in the kids' eating habits as well. It's such a battleground though. Gabriel will sip at my smoothies sometimes, and Valerie is opening up to more new flavors. Recently Luz was inspired to create a play kitchen for the kids in one corner of our apartment so that she can through play get them to try tasting more vegetables. So I'm hopeful. They have constant coughs and runny noses here and I think a better diet would help with that too.

(fruit stand in Tirana)

Here is my basic smoothie recipe for those who are interested:

- a handful of almonds

- a chunk of fresh ginger root, diced

- something sweet (strawberries, apples, bananas, mango, papaya)

- something tart (plum, kiwi, green apple)

- something crunchy (apple, pear, cucumber)

- something smooth (avocado, banana, papaya - usually 2 of the 3)

- something surprising (winter squash, raw beet, spinach)

- yoghurt or milk

There are endless variations you can do - I've learned that if you add spinach, a dollop of honey is good; if you add cucumber, it adds a lot of water and you can add less yoghurt/milk. Mixing colors results in something muddy-brown and visually unappealing but can still taste amazing. I never, ever skip the ginger because I love it so much - but one time I did use too much and it was very strong! I've learned to always peel the cucumber, and to use only a small slice of beet (too much and it tastes weird). There are so many other things you could add - Anita like watermelon and basil; I've heard pineapple and celery leaves make a nice combination! It comes out different every time and so good. I often have a boiled egg along with the smoothie for protein so I don't get hungry too soon. 

Happy eating!

Fooooooooood.....

Right now I'm drinking a delicious smoothie made up of apple, plum, banana, cucumber, avocado, almonds, and fresh ginger root. Oh, and peach yoghurt. Next time I'll make sure to add in some dark leafy greens.

But I don't have a photo of that right now :-)

Instead, I give you Three Roots of Life Tomato Sauce (see previous post):

And a salt-free bean dish I made another day:

I am LOVING my new salt-free diet. I am feeling so, so much better - and at my last check-up, my blood pressure was 110/80! The doctor did a little jig and shook my hand.

Resilience

Last month, we traveled as a family to Guatemala City for a week of meetings with other MCC reps from the Latin American and Caribbean region. Despite being sick most of the time, and despite the kids eating next to nothing, it was a really good time. Aside from regular business, we also had a series of workshops on the theme of resilience.

It was a great theme. We talked about self-care, about work/life balance, about reframing how we think about things to maintain long-term perspective. We talked about the importance of spirituality and strong social support.

I keep thinking how since moving here I feel like I'm in "survival mode" much of the time. One of the things that has taken bottom-level priority has been cooking. We eat out for lunch every day (fixed-menu restaurants for about $3), then the other two meals I'm mostly thinking about what the kids are going to eat, and I eat the leftovers or something. We get take-out rotisserie chicken or order in pizza because it's fast and easy. We've been getting cold after cold, and I've been thinking that if we ate better (which we did to a certain extent when the two pairs of grandparents were here helping out!) we wouldn't get sick so much.
 
Anyway, we got back and I went to the doctor and confirmed that I had bronchitis. Just when I was finishing up my antibiotic treatment and beginning to feel a little better, I developed a crippling headache that didn't quit. Terry was traveling with some visiting project funders, and I was solo parenting and covering for both of us at the office. At the end of the second day, when sleep and Advil did absolutely nothing to touch the headache, I asked a couple team members to watch the kids for me and went to a walk-in clinic where I learned that my blood pressure was 170/120.

So now I'm on a beta blocker and no-sodium diet, and I feel soooooooo much better! It took about 12 hours before the headache abated, and my BP is still around 140/110, but I have my energy and happiness back. I've had to be creative figuring what to eat that has no salt in it. I'm not even supposed to have bread. This morning Terry made me pancakes with no salt and they tasted great! I don't really mind the taste aspect of it, it's the work of preparing food that is a little daunting. But yesterday afternoon I was home with the kids and enjoyed cooking some dishes I used to make before Valerie was born, just without adding salt!

Three Roots of Life Tomato Sauce

- Chop up a large onion and sautee in olive oil with cumin to taste

- as it browns, add chopped up garlic (to taste) and about 1/4 cup grated carrot

- add 3 big chopped up tomatoes

- and diced fresh ginger root and simmer until the tomatoes are soft

- pile on spinach leaves torn into small pieces

- when spinach is wilted, EAT!

I'm gathering a cornucopia of fresh produce into the house. Change is coming.

Home, Sick

Well, I'm back in Bogota, with some kind of bug - sore throat and bone-tired. Hit the ground running but then took the day off yesterday to just be at home with the kids. It was good. And only coincidence that it was Thanksgiving! We ate noodles, canned beans, peanut butter and jelly, yoghurt. It was a quiet and peaceful day that I think we all needed.

This morning we walked to a private preschool nearby where we're thinking of enrolling Valerie for the coming school year, which starts in January. I have to meet with the director soon to learn more. After that I took the kids with me to the office for the weekly Bogota-staff lunch we share together. It was fun for them, and apparently the whole adventure wore them out because they both fell asleep around 7 p.m.! Amazing.

Off to bed myself.

Lasts

I have butterflies in my stomach today - our last full week in Albania. 

Trying to cram everything in as the days slip by like water.

Saturday we rented a car and drove to Dajti

since Valerie refuses to get on the cable car anymore.

It was perfect - cool, quiet, sunlit, breezy, fun.

We totally wore the kids out - both of them fell asleep in the car on the way home.

(I think this white horse was pregnant. I felt bad!)

 I know, I know, no helmets. What can I say. 

We're treating G. for giardia. V. probably has it too, but no symptoms. She's not eating anything except pizza and milk, but that seems to be due to something in her mouth since she'll only chew on the left side. Wish we could get a good look. Otherwise we're doing pretty well, all things considered! Down to the wire!

Thursday was a holiday, and we were planning for Terry to take Friday off as well so we could go to Berat or Gjirokastra or someplace not too far away that I haven't been yet. I haven't left the city since the end of September! There is much of Albania I haven't seen yet, much less the surrounding area ... I still hope to make it to Greece, Italy, and Croatia before we leave the region.

Anyway, I'd read about Albania's "museum cities" where historic religious buildings were preserved during the communist era but I've only been vaguely near one of them - Gjirokastra (see blurry picture taken from the bus).

Alas, Tuesday night I developed a sore throat that continued all day Wednesday. Thursday I felt worse, so it was a blessing Terry was off that day and could take the kids out while I rested. I don't think I changed out of my pajamas all day! Today I feel a lot better, so maybe we'll still do an overnight away Sat/Sun.

My little couch potatoes. What did parents do before YouTube???

Oh yeah. "When I was your age, television was called books!"

(That line is from one of my favorite all time movies, The Princess Bride)

Catching up, and other sundries

So my mom left Thursday before dawn, and I’m feeling her absence. Last night after I went to bed I found myself thinking about little things to tell her in the morning and then I remembered she’s not here. You know, those random little stories that form the fabric of daily life but aren’t realy worth the trouble of writing a whole e-mail about them.

That’s why we have blogs, right?

Case in point: This morning Gabriel saw a helicopter flying by in the near distance – it was bright red, so it stood out well against the pale blue morning sky – he was so fascinated by it. Every now and then he would point out the window and go “Bzhzhzhzzz! Copt! Copt!” with a look of wide-eyed seriousness on his face. As soon as Terry got up, Gabe had to tell Dada all about it too. Adorable.

So much happened in the last two weeks, I don’t even know where to start in trying to record at least the highlights. I can easily tell you the lowlights! (That’s why my nickname is Eeyore! You can also call me Puddleglum!)

1. Gabriel suddenly discovered that he can choose to stay awake and play instead of going right to sleep when put down for the night. This has turned bedtime into a prolonged ordeal, from my perspective, and cut a deep hole into my night sleeping hours. Thus, time I used to spend blogging I’ve now consigned to trying to nap.
2. Valerie had a 24-hour stomach bug (or perhaps food poisoning, although we can’t figure out from what) wherein she threw up five times between naptime and bedtime, and then three more times during the night. The cutest moment during all of that was when she was holding a little blue pitcher on her lap, looking into it, and said “all that yuck will come out your mouth and jump into the pitcher. Jump jump jump! And then we will throw it in the potty.” Poor little Pooh was so, so sick. It was nice, though, that she’s reached the point where she can anticipate the need to throw up and ask for a bucket.
3. Gabriel was sick, too, with a brief fever in the night followed by diarrhea and vomiting in the morning. I don’t know if it was the same thing Valerie had or somethig different. He only threw up once, and she didn’t have a fever, so I’m suspecting different. I’m very glad they both recovered quickly.
4. I’ve been dealing with plugged ducts for the first time with nursing Gabriel. I used to get this a lot more with Valerie for some reason (possibly less experience nursing?) It’s very painful but I think getting better.
5. The weather was pretty icky the whole time my mom was here, save a few partly-sunny days that weren’t too cold to go out. So we spent a lot of time indoors, which was not bad in and of itself, but I was disappointed we didn’t get to show her more of Albania or even the environs outside Tirana.

I think for me some of the highlights of her visit were going out to lunch together just the two of us after my Albanian lesson, and steam-baking coffee cakes one afternoon. Valerie loved the cake and has been asking continually for more! Mom's last day here was kind of a nice day out, so we took the bus to Tirana International Hotel and then walked back around Skenderbeg Square (more like an oval) to the Millenium Café on the pedestrian mall that we in our family refer to as the “rainbow walk.” The café was empty but for a gardener and a cat, and the kids had a blast playing in the empty playground. We got popcorn and juice at the cinema that is part of the complex, then walked down to the taxi stand and bought some roasted chestnuts there before heading home.

(if you look closely, you can see my mom in a red jacket taking a photo of the square,

while Valerie runs up the steps towards her)

As when my sister visited, I was struck by how much the kids absorb our attention and energy and how hard it is to actually sit down and have a conversation since we’re constantly being interrupted. We have a fairly child-centered approach to parenting although we do try to set some boundaries around parental needs too.

On the other hand, Valerie is really and truly learning to read right now! It’s totally amazing to me. She’s not even four! She can recognize, sound out, and spell around 30 words right now. She loves using her letter blocks or alphabet puzzle to make words (stuff like cat, hat, big, pig, fox, box, but also frog and goat!). I want to get her some Dick and Jane books, I think she’d master those pretty quickly.

Gabriel is talking more and more, adding new words – or at least approximations of them – all the time (cf. “copt” for helicopter).

So that’s my update; I just remembered there was also the birthday party we all went to, and that I forgot to take my camera to, that was a lot of fun and a further little glimpse into life in Tirana. So stay tuned!

Ouch

The bad news is that G has been sick with stomatitis - Valerie had it at about the same age, which helped me recognize what it was even after the doctor told us it was probably a respiratory infection (at that point he had a fever but the cold sores hadn't really fully developed on his tongue yet). It's kind of interesting to compare, actually - I don't recall that she ever had much of a fever, although her outbreaks looked much, much worse (bleeding gums, ugh), and she also didn't seem to be in as much pain - she ate a lot better than he has been.

Monday morning Terry woke me up saying G felt kind of hot and might have a fever. He was burning up. By the late afternoon the fever went up to 102, and Tuesday evening went up to 103. It would go down in the day but then up in the early evening. And he was miiiiiiiiserable. All day Tuesday, all he wanted to do was lie in my arms and nurse. He didn't want to eat anything, and on Wednesday I realized that he was having difficulty swallowing. The front of his clothes were drenched in drool (so at first we thought it was teething pain). He wanted food, he would point to it and go "eh eh" in this pitiful voice but one bite, and then he'd spit it out crying in pain.

Sooooo heartbreaking.

Thursday I took him to the clinic and they said the back of his throat looked red. I'd noticed his gums were getting red, too, but the doctor didn't think much of that. She said it wasn't strep, but to watch for blisters on his hands and feet. Otherwise she was pretty sure it would turn out to be a respiratory tract thing.

But Shpresa and I both noticed little sores on his tongue later that day, and when I got a good look at them I recognized stomatitis.

Since he couldn't eat food, we've been giving him herbal tea with honey in it, and what clear broths he could manage. Plus breastfeeding of course, his preferred food. He could sometimes take a few spoonfuls of very milky oatmeal. But he hasn't pooped since Friday.

The good news is that he seems to be on the upswing now. He ate a good deal of actual noodle soup yesterday, and this morning woke up a little more bright eyed and bushy tailed (in the immortal words of my father) :-) with actual smiles, and the fun-loving look in his eyes was back. He hasn't had a fever since what, Friday? I think? He's drooling less and I can hear him swallowing his saliva from time to time.

The other good news is that since it's a virus that Valerie has already had, I don't have to worry about him giving it to her. In fact she very well might have given it to him!

I'm worn out, though. His sleep at night has been terrible due to the pain in his mouth. Think about how much a cold sore hurts and then imagine having them all over your gums and three on your tongue. Terry's been away on a work trip for two nights. I think we coped really well the past two days all things considered, but I'm ready for a nap!!!

spending a lot of time in the bathroom lately...

Sorry for the slow-down in posting. Last Tuesday I got sick - well, I guess it started Sunday with a sore throat, followed by a sore tongue (weirdest symptom ever) and everything tasted odd. Then couldn't keep anything down for about 24 hours, just small sips of water or diluted juice. Also, euphemistically speaking, GI "issues." By Thursday I felt fine but Valerie was sick. All day Friday, all she wanted to do was lie down. Poor sickie. Thing is, I'd been building up momentum for another potty-training push that was supposed to start Thursday. But between me being sick and her being sick, it didn't happen. But she kept talking about it once she felt better (basically back to normal by Sunday afternoon) and this morning she turned down a diaper and.... (drum roll)... wanted to sit on the potty! This was a huge step forward for us so I decided to go with it, ditched my plans for the day, and spent all day setting the timer on our iTouch to go off every 20 minutes with a duck sound for the alarm. "When you hear the duck," she kept saying all day, "time to go sit on the potty!" We had two hits and three misses, but I'm just so happy that we're moving in the right direction at last. We'll see what tomorrow brings...

This is a detail of a dress I bought (second-hand, $15) to attend a wedding next month!

Cilantro growing in our flower-pot!

My and Valerie's toes

quick

Sorry I haven't really posted anything this week - I'll let Valerie tell you about it:

"Val-Val all wet, throw up in bed, Val-Val so sick. Poor Val-Val. Eat food Mama Dada on couch.* All that yucky."

Four times in ten days.

Terry finally persuaded me to take her to the doctor, who confirmed my suspicion that she has a virus, post-nasal drip --> coughing at night --> triggers throwing up sometimes. All we can do is wait it out and give her herbal tea with honey in it at bedtime (which she rejected last night). However, she went on to sleep soundly for 12 hours! With very little coughing! So that was a huge improvement. Gabriel is sleeping a little better too, after two weeks of waking every 2 hours (give or take an hour) through the night.

I'm just resigned to feeling mind-numbingly tired for, oh, another year or so, probably.

*When she asked for food after the second episode, we gave her bread and water. It was 11 p.m. and we kept the lights low so it made a big impression on her mind.

Running Behind - Gabriel 8 months!

Gabriel and Valerie in church nursery

An elusive sleeping photo (usually the room is too dark - this was in the Elbasan hotel)

I'm so behind on my blogging! We all seem to have colds AGAIN - bleah - poor G has a fever that comes and goes, but I took him to the clinic to check for ear infections and he's clear. So just another annoying virus. I'm all stuffed up in my head and glad we elected not to go back to Elbasan with Terry again this week (speaking of Elbasan, I have lots more to say about that trip but it will have to wait for another day).

Meanwhile, I missed Gabriel's 8-month mark on Monday. His latest accomplishment just about 10 days ago was getting up on hands and knees! Getting ready to crawl, so look out world! This post is woefully inadequate to express how much fun he is - you'll just have to use your imaginations :-)

Echo

My sickies - we are still feeling pretty rotten, especially Terry and Valerie. Trying to get enough sleep and stay on an even keel emotionally. Thankfully it's Monday, although I skipped my Shqip lesson to stay home with V. She is eating next to nothing but at least she napped well today. I actually got a bunch of work done on dissertation stuff. Terry went to work on the premise that it's more restful than staying home to help with the kids!

The rest of this is a post I was working on in draft form; I'm sure I'll have more to add to it shortly!

I was wondering what Valerie would pick up from me next that I say all the time without realizing it. Here are some recent revelations:

• "Shhhh Val-Val" - which she says right after shrieking, nearly every time, sometimes followed by "no gleam [scream]".
• "Okay" (pronounced "ow-key")
• "Thanks, Val-Val!"

It's kind of hilarious when Valerie mis-hears something - or re-interprets a new word within her own lexicon. E.g.:

• On her Curious George video when they go into space, she touches her cheek and says "Val-Val's face!"
• In her Itsy Bitsy Spider book when one of the spiders skips up the waterspout, she slips off the couch.
• In the same book, when one of the spiders is on a skate-board weaving in and out, she starts waving her hand. (She likes acting out the story.)

Oh, Happy Valentine's Day, everybody! I forgot to mention last week on Gabriel's 7-month post that he has now lived in Albania for TWICE as long as he did in the US! Diali është Shqiptar!

Sitting Baby

Gabriel's been a little slower than Valerie to sit up on his own, possibly because he spends a lot of time rolling around on the rug or hanging out in the Bjorn. Someone here offered us their walker but we haven't figured out the logistics of getting it from their place to ours yet. But a couple days ago I hit on the idea of sticking him in the laundry basket - he loved it! It was great sitting practice; after his third nap today, all of a sudden he did it - sat up on my lap for a really long time with great balance.

He's still got a bit of a cough but his affect and appetite are back to normal. Which is nice, since the rest of us are now miserably sick. Poor Valerie threw up this afternoon after four hours of NOT napping, and then promptly fell asleep (after we cleaned her up). It's totally off schedule but I'm kind of thinking (hoping, praying) she's going to segue right into her night sleep since she didn't have a nap yesterday afternoon and slept very poorly last night as well.

Terry and I are both feeling pretty wretched ourselves but there's no rest to be had when the little ones aren't feeling well. We're really, really looking forward to the day when we're all back to normal.

I keep replaying the scene in my mind - two weeks ago at church, Gabriel was lying in the pack-n-play in the nursery when a little boy about 3 years old leaned in and said "that's a big baby!" and then promptly coughed right into his face. I could hear the rattle of the phlegm in the boy's throat and thought "oh boy, well, I guess we'll all catch colds in a few days." Little did I know just how rotten this particular cold virus was going to be.

Sunday

Gabriel is still sick; I don't think he's worse than yesterday but he's not better either. Coughing, runny nose, weepy eyes. No fever, thankfully. I think his teeth are bothering him too, poor little guy. The last 2 nights I've slept in the room with him as he coughs himself awake and then wants to be rocked back to sleep. Sometimes it takes a long time - half an hour or more - before I can lay him down again. He does NOT want to lie down in the bed with me, I've tried again and again but he gets really annoyed. He's had one more episode of vomiting but overall is eating ok. I keep reminding myself, he WILL get better, he WILL get better. Every hour takes us closer to the time when he will be better.