Even more videos!

I was on-call much of this weekend, but I was lucky and didn't get called in. So, I spent a lot of needed time with my family and mostly just cleaned and cooked all weekend (I seriously feel like a maid, but maybe that's my lot in life). We had a lot of laundry to catch up on and shopping and food prep for the week, so I spent most of my time doing that and playing with Cyrus.

I have one more week of Soft Tissue Surgery (which I'm really enjoying) and then I'm off to the barn for 3 weeks of Large Animal Internal Medicine. I'm told many varied accounts of being in the barn. Some small animal students say it's nice and more slow-paced than the small animal hospital and a relaxing rotation. Some say that it's awful and that they get no help from any techs or clinicians and almost kill themselves working with their patients (exaggerations, I'm sure). But, one thing everyone agrees on is that it's 7 days a week for the entire rotation (3 weeks) and about 14-16 hour days. I've done it before and I can do it again, but I am just so tired already from the previous few rotations that I think this block might just do me in. Luckily, I know the end is in sight. After next block, I have a few rotations outside of the hospital in the vet school's labs (Clin Path, Parasitology, etc), which will allow me more free time and freedom than I've had in months. I'm just pushing through and waiting for the better times to come.

I know I've posted a lot of videos lately, but it's all I feel I have time for and I've been videoing Cyrus a lot lately, because he's been so funny trying to talk. Here are a few more videos of that happening. These will be the last I post for a while.

-Shirin

Pardon the bed head. I had just tried to lie down for a nap when Cyrus decided he didn't want to sleep. So, it was time to cuddle and read in bed together.

Cyrus calls anything round a "ball" and any animal a "doggie." I'm trying to work with him on the different words, but I'm not trying to push him too soon. He's right were he should be at his age.

When we read books together, he surprises me every now and then. In this case, he "mooed" when I asked about the cow, which is something he's never done before. I guess we're getting through to him bit by bit.

Looking at his big animal book and calling everything "doggie."

More videos

A few quick videos

I'm super tired from my days at school, but here are a few cute Cyrus videos from the other night. He's so much fun most nights, and we continue to work with him to be a capable and curious boy, while still maintaining some structure and rules to keep him safe. He's doing pretty well with it.

-Shirin

Weekend with lots of friends.

I really needed a weekend off from school (I'm getting pretty burned out). Luckily, other than one afternoon treatments, I didn't have to go in any other time. So, I got to be home with my family, and we luckily got to see several of our friends around Athens this weekend. David was actually visiting from Rock Hill and we got together with Brendan, Beth, and several other friends. We mostly played games or played with babies. It was a lot of much-needed fun.

Tomorrow starts my 2nd week of soft tissue surgery.
-Shirin

David, Gabriel, Cyrus, and I started out Saturday morning at the Botanical Gardens for a yard sale.

Cyrus playing around the fountatin while Gabriel paid for his yard sale books.

Next, we headed to the Athens Farmer's Market to meet up with my vet school friend Kim and her baby, Solan. Here he is with his two mommies.

Cyrus and Solan got the same thing to eat from us (soysage, egg, and cheese biscuits), but Cyrus still seemed jealous of Solan's food.

Hanging out in front of the music tent while we ate breakfast.

Babies, surrounded by loving admirers. Kim and I love getting Solan and Cyrus together. They are such funny little guys.

Gabriel tried to get Solan to sit on his lap, but Solan did the whole slide-down-and-get-away thing.

Then, back home to meet up with Bren for some games (see the many options on the table). We ended up playing Battlestar Galactica, a present from Bren for G's birthday in June.

After a first intro game with Bren, we played again with Denise and Nowell later that day. It was a complicated game and full of lots of twists and rules. It took us hours and hours to play.

Meanwhile, the two little ones tagged along around our chairs and snacked on cantaloupe and other goodies.

Cailyn is a big photo ham. The second I got the camera out, she started grinning...

...and grinning...

....and grinning.

This morning, our big adventure was to replace our blue car's battery. Luckily, our handy man, David, was here to help us. Gabriel doesn't mind at all letting David be the "man."

Meanwhile, Cyrus and I looked on and watched the car repairs from the shade of our neighbor's stairs.

It appears he wanted me to come somewhere with him.

"C'mon, Mommy!"

This afternoon, Cyrus and I went over to Beth's house to walk the dogs and baby stroller. Cyrus took a nap while Beth and I caught up with one another.

Cyrus thinks Auntie Beth is hilarious and was entertained by her for at least an hour before we headed over to Uncle Bren's house to all watch Big Brother together.

What a wonderful weekend, thanks to my friends and family (and lack of surgery patients!)

Cyrus and Cailyn videos

Most of you readers probably remember that Cailyn is the daughter of my vet school friend Denise, who had her 3 days after I had Cyrus. They have been buddies since they were 1 month old and go to the same babysitter every day. Denise and her husband, Nowell, came over today to play games with us and I took a few videos of the babies playing together. They are both walking and talking and getting so big. It's amazing to think about their first playdate where they couldn't even move an inch, compared to today.

-Shirin

Videos from this evening

It's been a while, but here are some videos of Cyrus doing his thing. Nothing special...just for anyone who misses seeing the little guy.

-Shirin

PS His talking has gotten a little better, but he doesn't do too much of it in these videos and I wasn't in the mood to try to get him talking.

PPS Try to ignore his horrible haircut. I did it myself when he was in the bathtub and it's all crooked and too short. Oh well; it'll grow back.

A few videos.

Here are two videos from us playing outside during the yard sale. There was a lot of down time, in between customers, so we rolled around on the sidewalk together.






This is the only video I took at Monkey Joe's, since I was so hyped up and trying to protect Cyrus from getting whacked by a bigger kid accidentally. It was totally chaotic in there, but I did get a break in the toddler arena, where he got to bounce and fall all over this big crocodile.

Yard sale and lunch date with Mindy

Sorry it's been so long since I posted. You guys know how my life is right now.
I actually got this weekend off, so we had a very successful yard sale Saturday morning and did some reorganizing. I also spent 2 spectacular days with my very happy and well-behaved baby, who I had not seen all week. Somedays, I feel like he does nothing but demand things and I get really tired out, but this weekend he was totally content to play, hug, and "talk," which he's getting better and better at. I sure do love that guy.

I also got to see my friend, Mindy, because Cyrus and I took a road trip to Augusta. She's from SC, so we met in the middle and had lunch with each other and our sons, and then went to a place called Monkey Joe's, full of blow-up toys for kids to play on. It's nice to have a friend that has an older kid, so I can learn from her about what to expect. Her son is three and a half now and a very good boy.

Here are some pics.

-Shirin

Late Friday night, we stayed up organizing and pricing things. This is Gabriel in his element. I've told him before that I love how savvy he is with hagling over prices and knowing what things are worth. What a good skill to have around the house. :)

Bright and early, we got all of our stuff outside. Our first yard-salers came before 7 AM.

Cyrus and I did a lot of sidewalk wrestling and hugging. It was so good to see him again for more than a few minutes a day.

He thought it was hilarious to put his feet in my face...mainly because I tried to keep my face away and couldn't help laughing.

He got his first big boo boo yesterday. He often runs like a wild man and falls on his hands and knees, but he actually hit his forehead while doing it last night. Poor bubsy.

I'm no human doctor, but it didn't seem deep enough to me to warrant stiches, so I just wiped it clean and let it be. I did try to put a bag of frozen peas on it, but Cyrus was an unwilling participant.

Yay! Mindy, Jay, and Cyrus at a Thai restaurant in Augusta. Mindy's new husband doesn't eat Thai with her, so we went there because we both love Thai food.

This was sort of a nightmare for any parent, with so many crazy children racing around and careening down huge slides, but kids seem to love it. Cyrus was mostly just in awe of it at first. He was probably the youngest kid there and just a bit too little for most of the "rides."

Jay, on the other hand, was just the right size for going crazy and bouncing all over the place.

Cyrus was happier in the little golf cart at first.

I eventualy coaxed him into the toddler's section, and he tentatively started bouncing and enjoying himself a little bit.

He came out of his shell at the end and crawled all over this crocodile.

Whee!!

Long day

Just a quick note that I haven't forgotten about blogging; I simply have not had time to do it. I even have some Cyrus videos stored up, but I don't have 20 minutes free for posting them. I am writing this after a 16 hour day in the hospital and I still have a SOAP to write about a very complicated patient with IMHA (immune-mediated hemolytic anemia). I picked up another patient, as well, that came in on emergency for probable Cushing's disease and a host of other problems, and did 10 PM night treatments on all the Onco, Neuro, and Medicine dogs with Beth. I am spread beyond my capacity as a vet student, let alone a mother, daughter, sister, friend, or wife. If I don't call you, don't feel bad. I saw Cyrus for literally 5 minutes this morning as I left around 6:30 AM to do my treatments and he has now been asleep for hours before I came home. I did get to hear him laughing over the phone when I called Gabriel tonight, which was really nice. Girls, all I can say is if you want to be a career woman, marry a good man who wants to be a father. I could never do this without Gabriel's dedicated parenting.
Overall, I've LOVED my Internal Medicine rotation. So far, if I had to pick one topic I'd like to do a residency in, it would be Medicine. They have all the very complicated and cool cases that dogs and cats present with all the time: hyper(hypo)thyroidism, diabetes, Addison's disease, immune-mediated diseases, infectious diseases, and gastrointestinal problems. There are so many examples of these every week and it really helps me learn how to manage these guys out in practice. I wish I could take this rotation again, but I can't handle the work load and lack of sleep. I'm heading to bed soon, for a few hours of sleep before tomorrow starts a new day with more patients and more SOAPs.
-Shirin

Hello grandparents & bye bye Uncle Tio

Gabriel's parents visited for several days at the end of last week and this weekend. I tried to get away from the hospital as much as possible to see them and we had a great time. Cyrus has an ear infection (his first one) and he wasn't in the best of spirits, but he was happy to see his grandma and pap pap.
Another piece of news is that Brendan officially moved out this weekend. He got his own place about 2 miles away and has a roommate he met from his program. We're sad to see him go, but it's a good thing to have Cyrus' room back and for him to have some more space all to himself. He's invited back for family dinners any time.
-Shirin

Pap Pap got Cyrus a new book that came with Elmo. He loved it.

Gabriel and Brendan checking out Gene's iPhone. It's so awesome.

Leaving us forever...sniff, sniff.

Bren's truck all packed up.

Cyrus, the mama's boy.

A bachelor pad before...

...and a baby's room after.

After Bren left, we played with Iggit the neighborhood kitty outside.

Even though Cyrus called her a "doggie," he really loved petting her.

Chasing the "doggie."

Getting nice rubs from Iggit.

Fuzz therapy is so nice.

We're working on the gentle part with petting animals. He's doing pretty well.

Now, time to wash off in the hose.

Grabbing water.

Getting ready for bed with my old teddie bear Buttercup.

Too much to do, too little sleep

After spending 13 hours at the clinic, I now have to read an article about diagnosing lung worms for rounds tomorrow, as well as having to SOAP two patients, one complicated and one not. I love this rotation, but not all the "homework" I have. It seems unfair to work all day with no time to eat and then to go home and not be allowed to sleep. I anticipate going to bed after midnight and waking up before 5 AM. Sigh...
-Shirin

A visit from Baba and Grammy

As you can tell, since I always change their names, my parents are still trying to figure out what they are going to be called by Cyrus. We're back to Baba for my dad and...who knows for my mom. I guess, she's usually just Grandma or Grammy. We'll just have to let Cyrus decide.

Well, August is Cyrus' lucky month, because he's going to get to see both sets of grandparents! This weekend, my parents were here, and next weekend Gabriel's parents will be here. They are actually coming to help Brendan move into his new place (about 1-2 miles away from us), but I'm sure they will also get in some hugs and kisses for their middle grandson.

Yesterday, I met my parents in Atlanta with Cyrus (and left Gabriel home to do some work on his final computer project). We ate at my mom and dad's favorite Bangladeshi restaurant and then went to the Persian store. The food was really yummy (similar to Indian), and we picked up some goodies at the Persian store for this morning's breakfast. We mostly just played with Cyrus, talked, and played board games, but we enjoyed the visit a lot. Of course, we also ate a lot too...something we Modaresis are all very good at.

I didn't bring my camera today when we went to the playground or zoo, so you'll have to see my mom's blog in a few days for those pictures. We saw lots of wildlife and did some sliding and swinging on the playground.

-Shirin

Cyrus is like a bull in a china shop these days. But, he is distractable...

Here is my dad checking out my arrangement with Cyrus to make him behave himself.

I love all the nuts, fruits, and spices in these bins.

It reminds me of pictures of bazaars I've seen from Iran.

My parents like going to the Persian store in Atlanta whenever they are there so they can stock up on some items they don't get in Charlotte.

Back home to get comfy and read some stories.

Cyrus says "duckie" to this stuffed animal and loves making it "laugh" by squeezing its foot.

What a fierce and independent spirit he has (JK).

"Hola, Mami. Que pasa?"

Very happy with himself for climbing onto the piano bench.

So happy.

This morning, enjoying our big, Persian breakfast.

Yum!