Bustin' Out

It took us 18 months, but we finally took a vacation and left Z at home. Vacation has taken on a whole new meaning now that we have a child. I mean, you think that when you get away you'll feel like you used to, free, independent, no worries. But on the contrary, we felt something missing and a longing for our child that caught us off guard at times.

We felt blessed that Z was in great hands with his Nana Gaxiola, who graciously kept him at our house. We left early Thursday morning (before Z woke up), and came back Sunday afternoon, just 4 days, but it felt like 2 weeks!

The reason for the trip... Celine Dion. If you know me. you probably already know that I am a huge fan, and it started long ago. Celine and I go way back to the '90's, and I was fortunate enough to see her concert in Birmingham in 1999, granted, we were in the nosebleeds. Then, the love continued through college and beyond. I have many fond memories of screaming singing Celine at the top of my lungs with my girl friends either in the car (Julie) or in the Chi-O house (much to annoyance of some of our housemates). Her music is like the soundtrack to my life.

The first time she was in Vegas, I was a lowly student, couldn't get away for anything, and the tickets were beyond sold out. We were actually in Vegas in '05 for my sister's wedding, but it still didn't happen. Then her world tour brought her back to Birmingham, for the first time in 10 years! Nick got us amazing seats this time, and it was an unbelievable show!

So, when I found out she was returning to Vegas, I would not let the opportunity pass me by again. A conversation turned into a reality and we planned the trip with my parents. They are Vegas veterans, so naturally they were going to join us.

We stayed at the Aria hotel, and saw three shows: Sinatra, Celine, and Criss Angel with Cirque de Soleil. The Sinatra show was so so, and Celine was amazing as usual. We were so close, it felt like she was singing to us. Within the first 5 minutes, I had already decided we were going to return before she left Vegas again. Criss Angel was really good. Although ever since I saw those shows on how street magic is done, I have lost interest in "magic," the Cirque performers were hilarious and made it worthwhile. We ate, shopped, and played! The only thing we didn't do much of was sleep!

Here we are at the Julian Serrano Restaurant in the Aria on the first day

Outside the Wynn before the Sinatra show

The Bellagio, of course

The wonderful Caesar's Palace, home of the Celine Stage and Forum Shops, the greatest place on earth

Celine's Back!

I may or may not be the proud owner of one overpriced t-shirt that says J'Adore Celine on the front and Celine M'Adore  on the back.... We also may or may not have paid a couple of visits to the Louis Vuitton and Gucci stores. You can't go to Vegas without buying some luxury item, right?!

We were so happy we got to facetime with Z several times and we got several photo updates from Nana. He was clearly having the time of his life!

When we got home, Z ran so hard and fast toward us with the biggest smile on his face that he could barely keep up with himself! It was wonderful! It's great to leave, but even better to return!

Just Another Spring Day

Sunday Nick decided to take Z outside for some good ol' fashioned fun with the water hose. He was unsure at first, but then he was loving it. I'll let the pictures speak for themselves for this post.

Hmm...

I recently printed my first blog book of my first year blogging from blurb.com, so I was looking back and remembered that my first entry was about a little fender bender my mom had in my dad's car. I remember thinking it was kindof a weird occurrence that I wanted to write about, and from there the blog was born. Ironically, we  had a strange incident the same day that book came in the mail that is probably too weird not to document. I'll begin by saying thank God, we are all fine. We were returning to our house from the condo on Friday night and were almost to our turn off of 280, when something came flying off the 18 wheeler in the adjacent lane. Assuming it was a piece of rubber from a tire and that we had just run over it, we didn't give it much thought, until seconds later when our check engine light came on and we saw smoke arising from the hood. Thinking we must be overheating, Nick turned the a/c off and it went away, until about 3 minutes later when we pulled into our driveway and our temperature gauge shot into the red. When we got out of the car this is what we saw.

Yes, that's right, a stake right through the heart of our little car. It was quite a surprise. So, now we're down a car and all that goes along with that until this gets fixed. What are the odds?

Bedtime

Z and I have our own little bedtime thing going. I pick him up from school, come home, get pj's on (me, not him), we play a bit, eat dinner, take a bath (him, not me), brush teeth read books, then Daddy usually gets home, he plays with him a bit then off to bed he goes. Last night, I had a little fun with our routine and took some pics. I never let Z hold the toothbrush for obvious reasons, but last night I gave in. He was loving it.

Then we posed for a few self-portraits. These were taken with the camera on the front of my phone.

Say Ahh!

Cheesy

We like to keep things light in the Gax household. We play, laugh, and generally try to have a good time. Z makes us so happy that we are probably constantly laughing or smiling. You could even say we have cheesy smiles from time to time. Apparently Z has picked up on this, because he now gives the biggest cheesy smile you can imagine in response to one of yours e.g.

I actually took these pictures to illustrate his new activity, which is leaning over the highchair, otherwise known as giving mom and dad a heart attack. Along those lines, here is another new activity.

Climbing up on his chair and leaning over the back or side. I think it's still a bit early for the chair (probably because I wanted to largest one they had). Although, he does like to point to the letters in his name and pretend he's reading them, which is pretty funny. He points and says "a-da... da... da... doh, then claps.

Sometimes his smiles are open mouth

Check out those tonsils!

Whoa! I'm wiped from all this cheesin'

I Need an Interpretor

It is day 6 in the Gax household of dry nose, healthy appetite, funny, sweet baby love. To clarify Z has been back to his old tricks for almost a whole week, and amazingly for the first time in months, he has not had a runny nose for more than 2 days. Praise the Lord, and now it'll probably start back up again.

The doctor visit went fine. I saw one of the senior doctors in the practice, and he found a little residual fluid in Z's left ear, but said since he is acting normal (which he was in the office, in fact, he was quite pleasant even though we had to wait a while) that we didn't need to treat it with antibiotics. Great! I said, believe me, I didn't come here to get more antibiotics. I was trying to show him that I'm one of them, you know the anti antibiotic people that think that every time someone uses antibiotics that he or she is perpetuating superbugs like MRSA.

In other news, he gained a whole pound since his last checkup! The only way I can explain how he gained a pound in 3 weeks, when for 2 weeks and 5 days he would barely eat anything is that he stayed with my mom for the other 2 days. That woman is a monster when it comes to feeding Z. This time, I'm not complaining because I don't want my kid to be scrawny!

I made a point to mention the no call episode, which the doctor denied and blamed it on poor cell reception, really, dude it ain't the 90's. NO ONE CALLED, deal with it. It's all good though, as I say, all's well that ends well.

Z has been cracking us up on a daily basis. Whether it's new words, his new cheesy smile, or his special Z language, we are constantly entertained. 

Here's a video of said language I took the other day at bathtime. PLEASE excuse the fact that one or both hands are keeping a firm grip on the family jewels. It's beyond help at this point.

Last Weekend

I don't even know where to start this post today. We had a pretty rough weekend. I could start with the pitiful way Z looked and acted all weekend as the fever consumed his little body. I could talk about guilt, which is what I felt all weekend as I realized I both had lots of choices and none, at the same time. I could spend a long time talking about my frustration with (apparently all) pediatric practices. Instead, I'll just start at the beginning.

Our new doc found Z's first ear infection 2 weeks ago at his checkup. He took (the disgusting) Augmentin for the prescribed 10 days, and by day 11/12, he was feeling great. His nose was not running for the first time in what felt like forever. So, I (not wanting to waste time on my day with Z, and remembering that the doc said if his nose cleared up, it would be a good sign that the infection cleared) canceled my follow-up appointment for that Friday earlier in the week. Then, Friday he wakes up with a fever. I call the doctor and leave a very detailed message explaining my dilemma and requesting a callback from a nurse to help me decide what to do. Of course, babies get fevers all the time, including mine, so I was not worried at that point, I was just looking for a little guidance. NOONE CALLED ME BACK! The whole day passed, and I had my phone right by my side (like even took it to the bathroom with me) and got nothin. Okay, now I know I have previously commented on my feelings about hostile policies in pediatric practices, but my last doctor ALWAYS CALLED BACK. I guess you get rid of one problem and you take on another. We attempted to go on as usual with tylenol and such, and he seemed to be okay at that point.

Friday night was miserable for all of us... I was up with my own congestion/allergy troubles and checked on Z, who was breathing rapidly. Well, that made me nervous so I went in and he was burning up. I dosed him up some more ibuprofen and he went back to sleep (I did not). Then, he was up again crying and whining early that morning. It was probably close to 6 when he finally fell asleep, and he stayed asleep until 12:30 IN THE AFTERNOON! When did he turn into a teenager? When he finally woke up, he was a little disoriented (as you might imagine), but the fever had gone down. So, we decided to try and make something of the day.

To break from the negativity: We went to the zoo for the first time, and he perked up a little, but the mood was still a little somber that day. He started saying "duck," which was really cute.

Nick took him around and there was a lot of this:

A fair amount of this:

Then this, once Nick made the genius decision to let him ride around on his shoulders

 

I love how he's got a hold of Nick's ear here

 

After some TLC from mom and dad, he started feeling a little better

 

This was the best pic I had with him (not saying much)

Unfortunately, Saturday night was not much better. He woke up again, got some medicine and went right back to sleep. He woke up at 9, but was back asleep by 10:30. He didn't get up until 3, when I had to wake him up. At this point, I have had it with this fever thing. Then, the fever was gone. It wasn't until a couple of hours later that he got his appetite and energy back, but we finally saw him turn the corner.

He slept all night Sunday night and had more TLC with his grandma on Monday. Then, today he woke up in the morning crying inconsolably. He finally got over that after a lot of comforting (and after I let him play with my makeup bag, which he likes for some unknown reason). I'm not sure this story has ended, but for right now, everything is semi-normal. 

We are going to the doctor (once and for all) on Friday, so we can get some peace and maybe a couple of answers.