Idaho or Bust!

Jury duty is finally over - what a relief!
We will see most of you this weekend

Ta-Da!

Zain just started pulling himself up in his big crib this morning - he also took his diaper off and soaked all the sheets - So he is in the mini-crib, which is already lower, (and dry.) I think I will just take the big crib apart for the move, and lower it when it gets put back together. He seems thrilled to be able to stand up to see what is going on.

"I quit"

So, Ezri has been saying some funny things. She told me her chewable Claritin "Tastes Awesome!"
Then, while we were eating KFC at our indoor picnic dinner "This is AMAZING!"
She told Zain, "You look gorgeous!"
And my favorite - she was mad at Christian for some reason, so she went and got a towel, then threw it at him, and yelled, "I quit!" literally, throwing in the towel, I guess.
It's just funny the vocabulary she is picking up.
When I walked in the door today, she asked, "Mom, where have you been?"
"At the court for Jury Duty," I told her.
"Oh, that's great."

Big man Zain is having some serious separation issues lately. He is very sensitive. Scared to go in the swings at the park - terrified to sit bare-legged on the grass, traumatized by running the shower if he is in the bath - and forget about bouncing him on your knee. He really gets frightened. He can drag the whole jump-a-roo across the living room, but despite his tough-guy appearance, he is a real mamaa's boy.

Sibling fun

Winner Winner Chicken Dinner

Guess who gets Jury Duty?
Yay! Me!

What could be more fun - packing up and moving, with Jury duty right before. AWESOME!

It's not a tumor . . . oh, wait, well, technically it IS a tumor

AH-ha! I knew it!
http://www.missionforvisionusa.org/anatomy/2006/06/what-is-conjunctival-hemangioma.html

The good news is that I was right. "Eye birthmark," or conjunctival hemangioma is what is on Zain's eye. It's pretty rare - and Zain's hemangioma is actually under the conjunctiva, in the next layer of the eye - but since the conjunctiva is clear, it looks about the same as the picture... however, Zain's is (luckily) under his upper eyelid - so nobody has seen it, except for me, and the doctors. The eye doctors were impressed with Zain's size and strength, and resilience. He didn't like having his eyelids pulled on, but stopped crying as soon as they were done checking him out.

The doctor said, "While 1 in 7 babies are born with some sort of birth defect, this one is a rare anomaly."
"You want to see an anomaly - check out his mega-toe!" I blurted out. I am happy that his visible birth defect is one that I think is cool, and the one that would look scary, is hidden under his eyelid.
He said there is no reason to biopsy it. Hallelujah! And it is not putting pressure on his eye, so no need for injections or other treatments right now. So really, it's no big deal. We will just keep checking on it every 3 to 6 months.

Not that I would ignore potential health problems in my children, but I am smiling and walking around thinking, "See, I told you so . . . sometimes, mom's just know"
I didn't know that it might just go away. The doctor said it's good that it hasn't seemed to change or get bigger since birth, and it might start to get smaller, and eventually dissappear.

So, about a week ago, I went through the local attractions, and filled out our calendar with all of the days that area parks and museums offer free admission. Since Ezri and Zain have had fevers, and colds, we missed the Exploritorium, and the De Young Museum this week. Today, I was determined to get them out to the Discovery Museum again. I figured, most of it is outside, anyway, so who cares if they are a little sniffley... and the weather is awesome this weekend!

Well, we walked up, and the back gate was locked - "uh, oh," I told Christian, "if it's not free, I guess we can go for a hike and check out the water...."
We went to the front, and they hostess lady said it wasn't the free day. "Oh, I thought it was the second Saturday," I said. I mean, I had just checked the website last week -

She waved her hand and brushed that comment off, "Oh, like, months ago we did that . . . now it's on Wednesdays..."
"Yeah, months ago, like LAST month?" I questioned.

"Well, maybe, sometimes, when there is a festival - or, like, tommorrow, for Mother's Day, it's free...."
I was about to say we could just come back tommorrow, when she said, "We aren't going to turn you away - "

So, we went in without paying addmission. I thought that was very nice. Maybe we will still go tommorrow. Ezri loves it. I can't imagine paying ten bucks a piece to get into what is basically, a playground for toddlers. I think that is why I never signed up for Gymboree. Just pay your taxes, and take your kid to the neighborhood park.
I suppose, if you were only in town for a few days, and had little kids, it would be worth it. There are cool things there. Very pre-K friendly. Enough to keep busy for 2 or 3 hours, and that's as long as my kids last, anyway.

Not the swine flu...

...just a cold.

And not even a very bad one.
Just sick enough for me not to want to take pictures for a couple of days.

I am sneaking Tylenol into Ezri's apple juice - since it is "tooo icky and gross!"

Here is a picture of Zain just doing his regular Zain stuff.