Videos of Cyrus and Kai

A long video of the boys playing and Kai WALKING!!!



The boys playing in RH.



Cyrus learning how to ride a bike with Baba.



Kai walking some more in RH.



Gabriel playing with Kai.

Home safely and mostly healthy

Hello all. We had a long 7 hr+ drive home yesterday from Raleigh to Athens, with a pit stop in Rock Hill to eat some tofu dogs with my parents and pick up Cyrus. Everything went pretty smoothly, but we are both exhausted today and going to bed way early, if I can ever get all the cleaning done that needs to get done.

I had to work today, while Gabriel was off and home with the kids. He had a good time, but seems to be getting a little head cold and is feeling under the weather. I, on the other hand, felt a bit dizzy (vertigo?) Sunday morning when I woke up and was doped up on Meclizine last night. When I woke up this morning, I was barely able to open my eyes and seriously felt my head was in a cloud until about 11 AM this morning. Blah. We need a good ol' fashioned full-night's-rest to make us feel better.

We had a great time this weekend in Raleigh, and I'll post more pictures of our time with my college buds soon.

-Shirin

Most of us (with Gabriel behind the camera). From left, Sarah, Deena, Chris, me, Saskia, and Sohail. Barney had to stay in DC to pack, move, and dog-sit. Sarah was a champ and came without him. I'm so glad we're all making the effort to see each other at least once a year.

On the way home, Cyrus, Kai and I all slept. Cyrus fell asleep within 3 minutes of leaving my parent's house...he must have played hard all day. You can see some pictures of his weekend on my mom's blog posts here, here, and here (including his very own first blog post!)

Today, they had a good time with their daddy at the mall.

Hanging out in Raleigh with Deena and Chris

We're having a great time so far in Raleigh, with one of my best college friends and former roomies, Deena. Our other good friends, Saskia (with hubby Sohail) and Sarah, are driving down from DC today to join us. It was a long trip, but I'm glad we made it.
-Shirin

Deena working hard this morning (starting when Kai woke her up at 6:30 AM).

Poor Deena. She's got her preliminary defense for her Ph.D coming up in the next week, but is trying to take off most of this weekend to hang out with us.

Chris getting to know Kai.

Kai checking out the big screen.

Auntie Deena giving Kai her old Blackberry to play with.

Layover in RH en route to Raleigh

We're on our way to Raleigh to hang out with my college girlfriends this weekend, but we stopped over halfway last night in Rock Hill. We spent most of the day here and me, Gabriel, and Kai are about to head up through all the thunderstorms to try to get to Deena's house tonight. Wish us luck.

Cyrus is staying behind with his Nama and Baba for a fun weekend of playing, reading, puzzles, and Persian food. It will be a break for us to only have one kid and we know Cyrus will be in good hands.

-Shirin

Holding down the fort.

Trying out his new bike.

Snuggling on the deck.

Love that naked baby.

Going...

...going...

...gone!

Busy vet mom has no time for blogging

I think about blogging often, but rarely find time for it these days. I leave at 7 AM every morning and return around 7 PM (or later) every evening to nurse Kai to sleep, bathe Cyrus before bed, and then eat and collapse into bed myself. Things are going well, but time is definitely limited.

One new development is that Kai is finally starting to really walk instead of just taking a few steps. Gabriel sees it more than I do, because by the time I get home, Kai just wants to snuggle, nurse, and sleep. It's so cool when I do see it as he walks from one place to the next.

I switched my day off this week, from Wed to Fri, so I have been working all week so far. We head to RH on Thursday night to stay with my parents and then Gabriel, Kai, and I will head up to Raleigh on Friday to spend the weekend with my college friends. It'll be a long weekend, but we are trying to all get together at least once a year. Cyrus is staying with his Nama and Baba for the weekend. Hope they are ready to do some playing!

I still love my job, although I feel so busy all the time and never seem to get anything done that I want to. I'm still working on folding the laundry I washed last week. How am I ever going to get ahead?

-Shirin

Take your family to work Sunday

Since I wanted to go back in to work this morning to check on my hospital patients, Gabriel had the brilliant idea for me to bring him and the kids along for the ride. He'd never seen my clinic before and I wanted to spend as much time with them as possible.

My poor patients are hanging in there, and I got to introduce Cyrus to some medical things, which he loves. Kai just sat with his Daddy and ate a bunch of food--that's his new favorite thing to do.

-Shirin

Our clinic animals

Since I was wearing gloves...

...Cyrus wanted to wear some too.

A little big, but he didn't mind.

Since I was giving animals shots and taking blood, Cyrus wanted a syringe too. My nice tech found him one without a needle on it that he could practice with.

And practice he did. Here's Jax, our other clinic cat, getting a "shot."

Watch out, Daddy. You're about to get a shot!

Cyrus said, "A little pinch. Ow! OK, here a treat." (He just went through this on Wednesday himself).

He also wanted to wear a stethoscope too.

Meanwhile, I was actually checking my patients, repeating bloodwork, and calling their owners. They are stable, but I think the very sick cat isn't going to be a good outcome. Poor little guy.

Kickball cookout with Bren and friends

Gabriel and I were invited to go to Bishop Park this afternoon by Brendan and his friend Melissa. They were playing kickball and then having a cookout. I had to work this morning til noon (which actually ended up being until 3 PM), so I had to meet Gabriel and the boys there.

The game was a blast and then we all got hot and tired. Our water break just turned into a permanent cookout/eating-fest. Everyone brought something and it was delicious. The crowd was a bunch of people we'd never met, but I liked everyone a lot. There were a ton of Ph.D students there, so Gabriel and I had such interesting conversations with everyone. Hope we get to do it again soon!

-Shirin

The kickball field was behind them and down the hill.

Kai enjoying when Brendan tried a little eye-gouging move on him. You can see how he was leaning into it instead of avoiding his fingers. Baby thing, I guess?

Melissa and her friends had made a ton of home-made salads and salsa, and they also grilled shrimp and corn. Brendan brought hummus, but Kai ate the entire bowl by himself! (Along with banana, pasta salad, egg salad, and watermelon).

Cyrus enjoyed finding rocks and throwing them. He did not enjoy all the gnats. (He said, "Daddy, I'm covered in bees.")

We came home with a very sleepy baby.

Poor Gabriel injured his leg sliding to catch a ball, so I had to bandage him up. It's the most pain I ever saw him in (even when he had appendicitis).

Luckily, Cyrus was there to cheer him up.

Being silly to distract from the pain. (I should say I'm so glad I was the one to have babies, since I think I do better experiencing the pain myself than watching a loved one have it).

Videos from LEAF

Check out the new post below these videos.
-Shirin

Cyrus' 3 year check-up and strawberry picking

I'm tired after a long, full day at work and I don't any time for chit chat. But, I'm trying to keep up my blogging, so I am posting photos from Wednesday, when I stayed home with my bubsies. I sure do love them.

-Shirin

Cyrus and Kai in the waiting room of their pediatrician's office. Kai will be back in 1 month for his 1 year check-up!

Cyrus weighed 36.6 lbs. He's been that weight for forever. That puts him in the 90th percentile for weight.

He was 38.5 inches. So, 2.5 inches over 3 feet. She said that was in the 75th percentile.

We were really proud of Cyrus for cooperating so well. Seriously, we had practiced at home and everything, because if you blind-side a three year old with a bunch of poking and prodding, there will be hell to pay (at least with 3-year old Cyrus). But, he made us proud and did great.

He was a little more hesitant with Dr Martin when she tried to see if he could jump up and down.

He did draw a circle and a cross for her, with much prompting (and the promise of a Lar-a-bar at the end).

She checked him out and said he was doing great.

How cute is this?

Then, we had some lunch at Earth Fare, dropped Gabriel back off at work, and headed to Washington Farms to pick strawberries.

The plants were gorgeous. I bet my mother in law knows how to make jam or preserves. Wanna come show me some time, Rita? These were the best strawberries I've ever tasted, but they go bad quickly.

Cyrus and Kai ate more than they helped, but they were only allowed to eat the "broken" ones. I think Cyrus squished more than a few just so he could pop them into his mouth.

Kai just got sticky with strawberry juice and then caked with dirt. Hope it helps his immune system!

"This one is broken."

Mmmm.

What a dirty baby.

We'll be back, Washington Farms, especially when blueberry season comes along.

And, totally unrelated, I had to post the two pictures Gabriel e-mailed me while I was still at work tonight. They were at Waffle House eating grits and tomatoes.