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.
Thursday, September 25, 2008
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
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.
Notice the broken crackers all over the floor and on his face. The poor kid can't hold his carbs.
Sunday, September 21, 2008
I Love Sundays!
This morning we decided to celebrate the imminent arrival of Fall with a special breakfast. I got up early and started pumpkin pancakes and bacon, plus oatmeal for Nate the Vegan. Nate took O to Starbucks for a Sunday paper, coffee, milks for the kids, and chai (extra pump, please) for me. I tried out a new recipe for pumpkin pancakes and it was fantastic- thick pancakes yet light and fluffy with that perfect combination of spices and pumpkin-y goodness. I made the bacon in the oven, which is the second-best way to make bacon (the absolute best is on the George Foreman grill, but the cleanup is a pain in the patookis). Then we all sat down to enjoy breakfast together before starting our day.
I have to say this whole eating-together-at-the-table thing is awesome. We eat dinner together 7 nights a week, and then add in at least one breakfast or lunch on the weekend. The time our family spends gathered around the table has become my favorite part of our move. What I took for granted as a child, meals done family style, is now a cherished part of my life as a mother. I have a new appreciation for all my mom did in making meals for us and getting us to the table at the same time. So thanks, Mom, for laying such firm groundwork for me to build on with my own family.
I have to say this whole eating-together-at-the-table thing is awesome. We eat dinner together 7 nights a week, and then add in at least one breakfast or lunch on the weekend. The time our family spends gathered around the table has become my favorite part of our move. What I took for granted as a child, meals done family style, is now a cherished part of my life as a mother. I have a new appreciation for all my mom did in making meals for us and getting us to the table at the same time. So thanks, Mom, for laying such firm groundwork for me to build on with my own family.
Saturday, September 20, 2008
My Eyes! My Eyes!
E and I made a trip to Target this morning to pick up a birthday gift for a friend of hers. E will be going to her party later in the day at ABQ Jump, and is rather excited about it.
While comfortably ensconced in the welcoming atmosphere of my second favorite store (anyone want to make a guess what my #1 favorite store is?), E and I decided to wander the aisles and do a little perusing. First off came the make-up section, followed quickly by the kitchen supply area. This took quite a while, since my kitchen is my favorite room in the house and I am a sucker for more stuff for it. (I picked up two large square-ish red melamine bowls to add to the red theme in my kitchen, woohoo! Love Target!) After that came a stroll through clothing, baby, sporting goods, and finally the Halloween section.
Ah, Halloween. That Pagan holiday that has become the second most-decorated holiday after Christmas, of course (anyone find that ironic?). Target has an entire corner of the store dedicated to Halloween. Skulls and pumpkins mingle with headless statues and severed hands in gory bliss, tempting people to turn their homes into mini haunted mansions for the next month. I like Halloween as much as the next person, but I am a bit turned off by the sheer repulsiveness of many of the decorations. Cute pumpkins: good. Oozing masks and screaming toys: bad. Packages of candy wrapped in shades of orange, black, and purple: good. Food shaped like severed fingers and bloody eyeballs: really bad.
My perplexity and yes, nausea at the scope of decorations available was not what inspired this blog entry. It was what lay behind the grinning masks of death and spooky trees that had my eyes burning in shock and pain. There, on the back wall of Target was a sizable collection of Christmas decorations. Yes, Christmas decorations, in September. Technically speaking, it is still Summer and yet people can buy Christmas lights and yard ornaments. There I stood surrounded by orange and black and doom and gloom, and up on the wall presiding over the madness and mayhem was a collection of jolly Santas and smiling snowmen. Seen from my perspective, they no longer seemed filled with holiday cheer but more of a maniacal glee at the scene below.
I may never look at Christmas yard statues without seeing witches and bats and blood again.
While comfortably ensconced in the welcoming atmosphere of my second favorite store (anyone want to make a guess what my #1 favorite store is?), E and I decided to wander the aisles and do a little perusing. First off came the make-up section, followed quickly by the kitchen supply area. This took quite a while, since my kitchen is my favorite room in the house and I am a sucker for more stuff for it. (I picked up two large square-ish red melamine bowls to add to the red theme in my kitchen, woohoo! Love Target!) After that came a stroll through clothing, baby, sporting goods, and finally the Halloween section.
Ah, Halloween. That Pagan holiday that has become the second most-decorated holiday after Christmas, of course (anyone find that ironic?). Target has an entire corner of the store dedicated to Halloween. Skulls and pumpkins mingle with headless statues and severed hands in gory bliss, tempting people to turn their homes into mini haunted mansions for the next month. I like Halloween as much as the next person, but I am a bit turned off by the sheer repulsiveness of many of the decorations. Cute pumpkins: good. Oozing masks and screaming toys: bad. Packages of candy wrapped in shades of orange, black, and purple: good. Food shaped like severed fingers and bloody eyeballs: really bad.
My perplexity and yes, nausea at the scope of decorations available was not what inspired this blog entry. It was what lay behind the grinning masks of death and spooky trees that had my eyes burning in shock and pain. There, on the back wall of Target was a sizable collection of Christmas decorations. Yes, Christmas decorations, in September. Technically speaking, it is still Summer and yet people can buy Christmas lights and yard ornaments. There I stood surrounded by orange and black and doom and gloom, and up on the wall presiding over the madness and mayhem was a collection of jolly Santas and smiling snowmen. Seen from my perspective, they no longer seemed filled with holiday cheer but more of a maniacal glee at the scene below.
I may never look at Christmas yard statues without seeing witches and bats and blood again.
Thursday, September 18, 2008
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.
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.
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
Our Super-Safe Neighborhood
Sadly, ABQ is known for it's high crime rate. And of course it's DWI/DUI rate too. When one thinks of a safe place to raise kids, one does not usually think of ABQ. However, generalizing an entire city by the terrible statistics of a few parts of it is unfair and in this case, not appropriate. We live in the Westside of town (yes, they call it the Westside, no, it isn't like the Westside in LA, thank goodness!), on the very edge of ABQ proper. Behind us is the Petroglyph National Monument, and the heart of ABQ is a wee bit of a drive away on I40.
Our neighborhood has a low crime rate, which is to be expected in a new neighborhood full of houses with alarm systems and lots of construction still going on. But the safety of our neighborhood has little to do with that- it has a lot more to do with it's residents. So far we know of 3 Albuquerque Police Officers that live here (oh, and they get to keep their squad car all of the time, so they are parked on the street or in their driveways when they are at home), one Bernallilo Country Sheriff (also in possession of his squad car all the time), a state police trooper (again with the car), and an FBI agent. And they all have kids, which they all let ride around the neighborhood on their bikes and spend their time out of doors. What cop would let their kids do that if they knew the area was bad, I ask you?
Our neighborhood has a low crime rate, which is to be expected in a new neighborhood full of houses with alarm systems and lots of construction still going on. But the safety of our neighborhood has little to do with that- it has a lot more to do with it's residents. So far we know of 3 Albuquerque Police Officers that live here (oh, and they get to keep their squad car all of the time, so they are parked on the street or in their driveways when they are at home), one Bernallilo Country Sheriff (also in possession of his squad car all the time), a state police trooper (again with the car), and an FBI agent. And they all have kids, which they all let ride around the neighborhood on their bikes and spend their time out of doors. What cop would let their kids do that if they knew the area was bad, I ask you?
Sunday, September 14, 2008
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.
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.
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