Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas!

We just finished opening our gifts. I think that everyone is happy :) It's been such a great holiday so far. On Christmas Eve, it is our tradition to get together with my grandma, aunt, uncle and cousins. We do this with my mom, since it is her side of the family. This year we went up there (we take turns). It was so much fun -- everything was perfect. Dinner was great, and we had fondue for dessert. That is a new tradition that I hope we keep up from now on. Anyway, we all got great gifts, but Mac really got a lot of cool stuff. She was so excited that when she woke up this morning, she asked for her new dolls first thing. She wanted her gifts, but I don't think she understood that she actually got new gifts today. So when she realized that she got new gifts here, too, she was really excited. Even Oliver seemed excited by the teething ring in his stocking.

Another Big Day

So Oliver had another big day yesterday --spina bifida clinic at CHOP. SB clinic is a day where we go down and he sees everybody -- neursurgery, clinic nurse, pediatrician, physical therapist, social worker, and orthopedics. Whew. Grandma made the trip down with us, so we had some good company to get us through the day. We saw neurosurgery first, becasue his home pediatrician thought that he saw sundowning of Oliver's eyes at his 4 month check-up on Monday. Sundowning is when the eyes slide down, leaving a lot of white showing at the top. This is one of the signs of hydrocephelus, which would indicate the need for a shunt. I didn't really see it, but was still pretty nervous. After he was evaluated by neuro, they said that they didn't see anything wrong, and that any sign, especially sundowning, would be much more pronounced. One of those things that you can't mistake for anything else. So we got a thumbs-up from neuro.

We bopped around to the rest of the doctors after that. The pediatrician was someone we hadn't seen before and was very nice. The clinic nurse and physical therapist hardly spent any time with us at all - I guess there wasn't much to say. In orthopedics, he got fitted for his braces. After January 2, Oliver will be out of casts and will wear his new braces indefinitely. At first, he got fitted for very cumbersome casts -- there were two sandals joined by a bar. So his legs would actually be attached to each other. I was soo upset. But when we saw the doctor, he said that he'd ordered the wrong kind, and that his braces would actually just be plastic sleeves that hold the feet in position, much like his casts do. I was much happier after that.

When all was said and done, we were there from 10 am to 6:30 pm. A long but fulfilling day. Oliver seemed no worse for the wear. I, on the other hand, was pretty tired.

Speaking of a big day, I'm going out to happy hour for the first time in, um, I actaully don't know how long. I used to be the happy hour queen! Ages 22-27 basically were happy hour. In all honesty, my friend Lynn and I shared the title. We could turn happy hour into happy 7 hours. Aah, the good old days; it's a shame I don't remember all of them that clearly. Lynn is coming home for a visit from her posh new LA digs and we're going to hit the bar with our other friends from the Jewish News. It will be like old times, except for the fact that I can't drink that much because I'm breastfeeding and I have to be home by 9. But other than that, really, just like old times.

My Policy on Monsters

I have to decide on my monster policy. Mac is newly obsessed and sees them everywhere. So I ask:

Is there no such thing as monsters or do monsters exist but are fundamentally nice and don't hurt children?

I can't decide which is the better route to take. Do I deny childhood imagination in an attempt to nip this in the bud, or indulge but create a whole system in which monsters are nice and won't hurt her? And of course if there are nice monsters, that leaves room for evil, child-eating ones, as well. Tim says we should go with the former, but Mac seems wholly unconvinced when I tell her that and continues to point them out to me ("Do you see it over there -- the blue monster?"). I've tried to dodge it altogether until I decide which is the better tact to take.

Not that Mac couldn't kick the ass of any monster that came after her. Seriously, if she only knew how formidable she really is, we'd all be in trouble.

Actually, I suspect she knows...

It's official...

I'm one of those people. I actually got up this morning at 6 a.m. to go wait in line at Target for a Wii system. What a dumbass. But I got one! I hate the whole process of buying into this season's hottest gift -- it smacks of unoriginality and blatant consumerism. But I knew it was the perfect gift for Tim and I've been wanting to get it for quite some time now. Luckily there was no pushing and shoving, and I kind of bonded with the other people in line. It actually wasn't that bad. And I feel so good that most of my Christmas shopping is now done. But I still can't help feeling just a little bit dirty and used by the whole experience.

Of course, the second I got home I yelled at Tim for not having his phone on (I needed to get in touch with him and couldn't, as usual). Kind of defeats the purpose of getting up and doing something nice for him.

Please Pray with Me...

For my online friend Katie. Her 7 year old son is going through a slow process of illness that will likely soon end in his death. Please pray for his easy passing and the family's peace. Here is her amazing story if you are interested: http://ramblingmomtomany.blogspot.com/. We both have kids born in February 2005 and met on our baby board on Babycenter. She is a really great person and it is so sad to see what she is going through.