summer's slow simmer

now that summer is past it's boiling point and sitting at more of a slow simmer, i really need to follow through with my poor efforts in blogging. being that so much has happened in the month-plus that's passed me by, i think i may have to jump from past to present a bit just for time's sake.

let's start with the top of the list, and a small amount of anxiety, my new job. so, sufficed to stay that it's been a long time coming that i have needed to take on a part time job so that i can help contribute to our growing family and expenses. after months of searching, applying, and being rejected, i finally landed a part time kitchen position at the local and self-sufficient vegetarian restaurant, chase's daily. being that it's been about five... okay, six years since i have worked in a kitchen or restaurant, i am hoping that it truly is like riding a bike. let's be honest, i ride a bike pretty poorly, but multitasking and learning a new job when being thrown in head first i do well. so, here's hoping for the best. the anxiety part really kicks in when i realize that two or three days a week i will be at chase's for about eight hours and leaving behind my roll as 'mom.' to quell that anxiety, though, is the reality of a paycheck and our easing financial obligations.

our wee wren is no longer so little as he has now surpassed nine months old and is currently sporting four and a quarter teeth, crawling, standing, cruising around furniture, thinking about walking on his own, saying (not consistently, but at whim) 'mama,' 'dadda,' 'bah bah (bottle),' 'duhdk (duck),' 'kiikk (kitty),' and various combinations of sounds. two days ago, e taught him how to nod his head 'yes' and shake his head 'no,' which i am not convinced is a good thing just yet... but he seems to find it more funny than anything. yesterday i witnessed him playing a game by himself that involved crawling quickly to one end to the living room, stopping, abruptly changing directions while squealing, and crawling quickly to another destination in the room... over and over and over again! it had me in stitches, to say the least! i am even starting to plot his first birthday party with the knowledge that three months is going to fly by faster than i am ready for!

update one: the camping trip and a rash of trouble.

being that it's been nearly a month since i have updated, i will try to stack together some of the finer and more memorable moments of our summer.

c is now sporting four teeth, his top happen to have the most charming large gap, and babbling on and on about things that sound like 'gah gah', 'mamma', 'bah bah', and 'kkkkk'. he's been pulling himself to standing, but now seems determined to do such things as skirting around furniture and letting go with one hand to test his balance before deciding he is just not quite ready to take that step.

we did take him camping for the first time a few weeks ago. by we, i mean my parents and myself as e had to unfortunately work and could not take the time. it was a fun experience in total, but the timing was poor. my little wren had already been away from home for a few days on his monthly sleepover at grammy & grampy's house before we went. i noticed he was running a mild fever and chewing his fingers a lot, which i contributed to more teething. i asked my mom if she thought he had a fever and she said she didn't think he was too hot, so, without my thermometer to confirm or disprove it, we decided to suck it up and go anyway. while there he had a wonderful time playing on the beach and in the screen tent, eating hamburger, potato, and stewed tomato from grampy's plate. but once night fell he slept fitfully in his portable crib and eventually ended up in bed with me, where we snuggled into my sleeping bag. unfortunately, snuggling wasn't making him feel any better and by 2:00 a.m. he was in full meltdown mode which continued until 5:00. the hardest part about camping with an 8 month old who is clearly upset is that you cannot just get up and wander downstairs, and find some sort of distraction. nope. so here we were, in our tent, in the wind and rain, in the dark, with little c screaming at the top of his lungs and me with no escape. at about 4:30 my dad got up and offered to make him a bottle, which was devoured before we managed to catch an hour of sleep. at 6:30 a.m., c was up and screaming again. it became pretty clear to me that he was miserable and rather than risk another sleepless night for everyone, we decided it was time for the two of us to heave-ho. my dad boated us back to the car and we headed home. once home, i checked his fever and realized he was running 102. out of our tylenol stash, e ran to the store and picked some up so that we could administer some before bed. overly cranky and hot, i put him to sleep at 8:00 p.m. and he went down without a fight. an hour later i checked his temperature again and noticed he was sweating and his fever had dropped back to a normal 98.6. phew! the following day, however, brought the final light bulb moment as to what was causing all of this: a rash!! head to toe, c was covered in little blotchy red spots. then it dawned on me... ROSEOLA. somehow, and i still can't even imagine where, he had picked up roseola (also known as the baby measles), and was now covered in a telltale rash. unfortunately, there is no real treatment for roseola other than breaking the fever and soothing the rash. so after an oatmeal bath, the following day the rash had begun to dissipate. no wonder he was having such a hard time camping-- the poor babe was sick! next time i will follow my gut and pass on camping if i suspect fever!