I'm Now a Mom to Septuplets!

Not septuplet humans, thank goodness, but septuplet puppies. Yes, Pandora did have 8, but for some unknown reason she decided she no longer wanted to be a mother and bit one of her pups on Thanksgiving evening. Off to the ER veterinary hospital in town went Blue Boy, O, and I where we learned that he would be fine and would just need some antibiotics to prevent infection. Unfortunately, while we were there Pandora killed one of the boys, and we promptly took all the puppies away from her. Why she did this, we can only speculate- she has come down with a doggie cold, and possibly her not feeling well convinced her that she could not care for a litter of pups.

So now they are my puppies, and I find myself bottle feeding them every 3 hours or so around the clock. Add in washing them up, cleaning up after them, and my usual responsibilities, and I am working my bum off! But, the pups are so cute and sweet to hold, that it is a small trouble to care for them. Add in the fact that they will not be on bottles longer than another 4-5 weeks, max, and I can handle it.

In other news, we are knocking on wood that strep has moved out of our house and not spread to anyone else. A few more days and I will breathe a sigh of relief!

The Local Playground

This morning I took the youngest two kids and our dog, Pandora, to the local playground. It has been under construction for a while now, and is pretty much finished. At least it is finished enough that we can go play on it. I figured I would post some pics of our time there.

Two kids that love the swings:
(Notice the landscapers in the back finishing the decorative walls!)

Pandora had a good time too:


The slide was a big hit as well:

I even had a little science lesson:

Is this abuse? You decide.

I have seen stories in the news where parents have locked their kids in closets, cages, basements, you name it. And it is always child abuse according to the courts. But when your child asks to be locked up? And then looks like this-
Is it a crime? I don't think so.

Oh No You Didn't

Shortly after E started school, she brought a letter home from the school nurse stating that she needed to get the varicella vaccine. The deadline for getting it was September 19th, so I promptly got on the phone to schedule her an appointment with a pediatrician. Much to my shock, though, I could not find a pediatrician that could see her before November, much less by the 19th. So I had to call the Public Health Department and get an appointment with them, which was still not until the 25th (today.) I went into E's school and spoke with the nurse, and they said it would be fine to be a few days late.

Last week we got another letter from the nurse stating that she must bring in her proof of vaccination by the 26th or she would not be able to return to school. Who knew NM was so anal about this sort of thing?!

Anyhow, fast forward to today. I took both kids out of school to go (I figured if E needed the shot so did O), and spent a long time in an empty waiting room at the Health Department. M and G were their usual ornery selves, so by the time we were called in I was a bit of a mess. Except- we weren't called in. The nurse came out to tell me that E did not need a varicella shot, that she had already had one. Duh, I knew that, but the school nurse said she needed another one. Turns out she didn't, so after 2 hours of wasted time we returned to E's school for me to talk with the nurse there.

I came prepared with the official vaccination requirements for the State of New Mexico to show the school nurse in the hope that they would not try and tell me again that she needed another shot. The school nurse pulled up E's file, and said, "Oops- looks like we didn't enter her varicella vaccination. Sorry about that, she is all clear."

Um, right? You managed to hand write two notices for her to bring home, but couldn't manage to properly enter her vaccination records into the computer?

Riiiiight.

All Partied Out

This is what happens when you OD on Goldfish crackers:



Notice the broken crackers all over the floor and on his face. The poor kid can't hold his carbs.

Our Blended Family, Dietetically Speaking

For many people, planning dinners and going to the grocery store is anything from tedious to joyous, depending on one's point of view. It's filled with the usual challenges of balancing nutrition with food preferences of each family member, what the cook likes to make, how much things cost, and sometimes special circumstances like allergies or intolerances are factors for the planner. Luckily for me, in my house allergies and intolerances aren't an issue. However, we do have an interesting set of parameters that I follow when doing meal planning in our house.

As many of you know, Nate is vegan. Strict vegan, in the purest sense of the term- no animal products of any kind, including honey, and nothing like sodium caseinate that is derived from milk sources. I have to scrutinize labels of all products that are pre-made, like bread and pastas. Because of this, we have shifted more towards a whole food diet and staying away from most processed foods. This is a good thing, one that I am completely excited about and in support of.

However, the other level of challenges that I face in meal planning is the fact that Nate is the only one in our house that is vegan. About 98% of the time, I am vegetarian. The occasional piece of bacon or some chicken enters my diet when we eat out, but at home I eat vegetarian. The kids are omnivores, and not happy about avoiding certain foods during dinner. They miss butter, and milk, and cheese, on top of missing things like my meatloaf and meat lasagna and grilled chicken. I cook vegan meals for the family, with every dish being free from all animal products. Although I am a fairly good cook (if I do say so myself, and I do), it still feels like a difficult challenge to make tasty meals that satisfy all members of the family.

Every so often the kids and I get to live it up and make a non-vegan meal. This happened the other evening when Nate went in to work late and stayed late. I made homemade macaroni and cheese (five kinds of cheese, no lie), carrots glazed with honey and butter, parker house rolls, and for dessert- peach pie with double vanilla ice cream. It was a lovely meal, and the kids were in ecstasy with each bite, exclaiming how much they loved butter and cheese and honey and how un-vegan it all was. There was enough left over that we got to eat it for dinner a second night in a row while Nate scrounged his own dinner. And then tonight it was back to vegan food, with quinoa, spelt, vegan crumbles, lots of veggies, and seasonings like rice vinegar and Bragg's, with roasted asparagus on the side. Good, but not macaroni and cheese.

Kids Being Kids

One of the major reasons why we chose to move to ABQ in general and to this neighborhood in particular was to provide our kids with a bit more freedom. When we were children, Nate and I ran loose in the neighborhood with all of the other kids, riding bikes and just being kids. In CA, our neighborhood was not safe for the kids to ride their bikes around or even play in the front yard by themselves. Traffic was dangerous and it wasn't exactly the safest area to raise kids.

Here in ABQ, our community is perfect for the kids to run around in and play without worry. Although it is not a gated community, it is fairly enclosed with no traffic driving through on their way to other places. The streets have sidewalks and streetlights, little to no traffic for hours on end, and lots of places for the kids to play and explore. There are parks and playgrounds, hills and paths, and plenty of neat stuff in between. O and E have been enjoying exploring the area and making friends while they are at it.

Speaking of friends, they both had sleepovers last night. O had his friend 'I' spend the night, and E went to her friend C's house. Luckily for us, I and C are brother and sister, so the four of them can get along as well. They all stayed up late, slept in, and are now going in and out of both houses and through the neighborhood riding bikes and in general being kids.

I am so happy to see my kids have parts of their childhood be as carefree as mine was. I love seeing them ride off on their bikes and come home an hour later dirty and happy. I like hearing their voices and their friends' voices calling through the house, and knowing that they are enjoying their new lives here in Duke City.

Geeks R Us

As many of you know, Nate and I are a bit nerdish. He is more nerdy than I, of course. But our geekiness has been something that we have embraced and even worked hard to pass on to our children. It appears that in the case of our oldest son, O, we may have been a bit more successful than we had anticipated. Not only did O try out for band and get accepted, but his instrument of choice is the Baritone. I suppose it could have been worse- it could have been the tuba.

Update on E's Eyes

Real quick- she does not need glasses! Her vision is off a touch, but not bad enough to merit glasses for even part-time usage, especially since she has no trouble seeing. E was quite relieved to learn that she does not need to join her Dad and older brother in the four-eyed club. At least not yet. ;)

A Real Candidate for Change, Plus Ramblings

I propose a truly different sort of candidate for President, one that is so completely out of the political spectrum that change is a given:


In other news, O is getting used to his school and is enjoying it! He likes the small size, the small classes, and the involved teachers. For those of you not aware of what school he is going to, it is 21st Century Public Academy. It's a charter school and has high ratings; higher than the average Albuquerque school and much higher than the average New Mexico school. It's perfect for him. He is getting ready for his first OSI (Out of School Instruction), which is an overnight trip to Hummingbird Music Camp that starts tomorrow. It is a bonding trip for the 6th grade and their teachers, giving them all a chance to get to know one another better and enjoy their course work outside of the classroom.

M has been having a bit of trouble adjusting to school. She loves it, of course; that's not the issue. It's more that she is not following the rules all that well- yelling at the other kids, doing a bit of pushing or pulling on clothes when the kids aren't doing what she wants, that sort of thing. Luckily the teacher has been working with us to correct this behavior and get M back into the good student she normally is. She had a very good day on Friday and was commended by every member of the family.

E is doing terrific at school and is making a lot of friends. She has decided that her teacher is very nice and that she likes being in an indoor school. She has also been spending a lot of time out in the neighborhood riding her bike and playing some of the other kids.

Last but not least, G made the first mess on the carpet. He has been sick with a cold, and it went straight into his chest as usual. Yesterday morning he started coughing and began to choke, and puked his strawberry breakfast bar all over the floor upstairs. Poor kid. He's fine; we dosed him with some expectorant and put a humidifier in his room, and he is much better today. Fortunately, my carpet recovered as well after some elbow grease application.