April 2013 – Our Family Adventure

Growth spurt and crawling!

Ms. Noomi is clearly in a growth spurt. Something clicked and she has not only mastered the pincher grasp, but she is now eating almost anything you can put in front of her – she has been eating pancakes, waffles, cheerios, and white bean and chicken soup (which was also one of Ajax’s favorite first meals). She is also getting to the age where she wants whatever you are eating and angrily demands a bite. It is adorable. We will phase out the purees (which I of course have a ton of) and start introducing various finger foods. I’m pretty excited as I hate having to buy those little tubs of food. She is also getting a sippy cup, but also refuses to hold her bottle, lol.

Noomi also now knows how to crawl!! She really started moving on 04/20 (Sat), though she isn’t in too much of a hurry. She hasn’t quite gotten the hang of pulling herself up on things, but we certainly need to get a child gate for the stairs now. Our little girl is getting so big!

Ajax’s first real bike ride. He did great!

First trip to the ER

On Sunday morning Ajax woke up at 7 am and we noticed he had a few red blotches/hives on his face. He said they didn’t hurt, but as the morning went on we noticed a prickly rash break out over his chest, stomach, back and arms (with large red spots on his forearms). We then watched as he ears began to swell and his face became redder. Dave and I got dressed and by 10 am we were out the door for the Urgent Care. Luckily Dara had stayed the night and was able to stay home with Noomi. We went to the Urgent Care in Okemos because it was the closest to our home.

Ajax now weighs in at a whopping 34.2 lbs. The PA checked his air passage and lungs and Ajax said he wasn’t in any pain. They did a swab of his throat which came back negative for strep. The PA then said it was most likely measles. Dave and I both did a double take and said, WHAT? Yes, the PA said, measles, nothing to be worried about etc. The PA recommended blood work to confirm the diagnosis. Neither Dave nor I wanted that, but we had just had a birthday party the day before with a bunch of little kids and if it was measles we had a lot of phone calls to make. So we reluctantly agreed. This was of course the wrong decision as the nurse had clearly never drawn blood from a child and the whole incident left Ajax, myself, and the nurse in tears. To top it they didn’t get enough blood and gave us a script for blood work.

We left the Urgent Care and went straight to Sparrow Hospital for a second opinion (our level of concern at this point being fairly high). We met with a wonderful Peds Doctor who said, no not measles, and most likely not an allergy. Most likely a viral rash, and virus symptoms would probably follow (runny nose, sore throat, etc). They then gave us referrals to Urgent Cares in the area that specialized in peds. Overall, this was our entire day as we did not get home until 3 pm. Ajax was exhausted and irritable and annoyed and just wanted to ride his new bike and play with his new toys. Dave and I were cursing the PA and the poor diagnosis (when we were at the Urgent Care, Dave texted Dara who immediately said, he does not have measles).

We picked up a late lunch on the way home and after eating took Ajax on a bike ride around the neighborhood. Which he loved. He ended his day after I tucked him in, saying he had a great day. I did not argue with him, but it didn’t look so great from my end. Poor little guy.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle birthday party!

Ajax: I want a Ninja Turtle birthday party.

Me: What? NO. You said you wanted a dragon party.

Ajax: Well, I want a Turtle party now.

Me: Absolutely not.

10 minutes later…

Me: Fine! Fine! But this is it buddy, no more changing your mind!

* * * * *

This year I decided I wanted to go all out for Ajax’s fourth birthday. By all out, I mean as all out as a noncrafty, working full time, gotta snag ideas from pinterest, type of party I could muster. And as we are now in a larger house, it meant we could invite more people and not be sitting in each others laps. Which of course added to the overall pressure of party planning.

I took Friday off to prep for the party and bake cupcakes. I made way to many and now my coworkers are going to be very excited on Monday for TMNT cupcakes I’m sure. I kept decorations pretty simple, again taking ideas from pinterest and more crafty persons. Dave and my mother in law were on slime detail Friday night (which we gave out as favors, I used the Borax recipe, but to do over I would have used the non-Borax recipe for little ones). We did a lot of the setting up on Friday night, which was wonderful, as Ajax had his first soccer practice Saturday morning (the party was at 2 pm).

This was the night before. This was also the most organized I’ve been for a family function. Normally I’m still in the kitchen when guests arrive and this time I did not want to be chained to a stove. That’s why we embraced the KISS principle and kept it very simple- chips, dip, apples slices, carrots, pizza (open a bag and go).

Instead of buying helium balloons, this was my modification for table decorations. Ajax thought they were pretty cool.

How awesome are these cupcakes? Yes, a little amateur, but they are the first I have ever attempted and was quite proud. The frosting, however, kept running and the white frosting bag busted, so everyone got blacks eyes.

For an activity, I set up the table with crayons, TMNT print offs, stickers (random, cheap stickers from the dollar store that the kids LOVED), and little paper bag books. Plus, twizzlers in Mason jars, which the adults kept eating before the party, lol.

Green slime with instructions for people to take home.

Ajax did very well this time around when everyone sang happy birthday. He was so cute.

He did a double take when Dave brought out the bike and has been riding it around the house.

Skyping Papa after the party as he unfortunately couldn’t make it down for the party. Ajax loved showing him all his presents.

Overall, Ajax had a great birthday party. He had a ton of fun with his friends and cousins, he ran and played and was an excellent host. He thanked everyone that came and gave big hugs when people left.