Hand, foot, and mouth disease

I'm sorry to report that my whole family is sick, except for Gabriel. I think we have discovered the culprit...Hand, Foot, and Mouth Disease (not to be confused with the animal disease, Foot and Mouth Disease). Kai got it from somewhere and had a fever on Thursday and Friday. Now he's feeling better but has blisters/bumps on his hands, feet, butt, and tongue. Cyrus and I just started feeling sick yesterday and both have had a fever all weekend. It's been a long time since I've had such a bad fever and I feel horrible. My parents are here and I really don't want to get them sick. From what I read, it's mostly just a short-lived viral infection that usually doesn't cause more problems than what I described above, although it can rarely cause meningitis or encephalitis. We're watching the boys carefully for stiff necks and painful heads. So far, so good.

-Shirin

Storytime and car-buying time

**This is a two-post day for me. Be sure to check out the post below to see pictures of Lisa's new baby girl!**

Today was a big day for us. This morning, Kai, Cyrus, and I went to the Athens-Clarke County Library for Storytime, which is a fun hour or so of songs, books, and nursery rhymes led by a nice librarian for a big room full of young kids and their parents. I've actually gotten to know a few of the moms by sight now and afterwards, we sat and chatted while the kids played and read. The kid's section of the library is full of toys and educational tools (and books, of course), so my boys really enjoy themselves, especially with so many other kids to interact with. At one point I was running down the aisles to catch and stop a running Kai being chased by a running Cyrus. Guess we were all probably breaking library rules with that one!

Afterwards, we met Gabriel for lunch and headed to the Honda and Toyota dealerships for one last look at the inventory. We have already been to these dealerships 2 times each in the last year and a half, but, until now, we haven't really felt totally sure about making such a big purchase. Neither of us like debt, which is unfortunate for us, since we've already got a mortgage and my school loans, but I suppose that's par for the course in our early 30s and our early professional lives. Both dealerships had great deals on their Accords and Camrys (the cars we were interested in), including pre-certification and warranties until 100,000 miles. They also had good deals on their financing as long as we have good credit. Gabriel ended up doing almost all of the shopping and haggling for these cars, because, at first, the boys were napping in the car and I just drove around to let them sleep, and then later because I was playing with the boys in the playroom while Gabriel talked details and finances.

We finally settled on a 2009 Camry LE with 41,000 miles on it. The price was below the Kelly Blue Book price and came with the warranty I mentioned above. As much as I hate to take on another payment, we desperately needed a new, reliable car and now was as good a time as any for us. Our "good car," the blue Ford, is almost 9 years old and our "bad car," the white Mazda, is a whopping 21 years old. So, it was time.

I will be driving the Camry back and forth to work, since it has way better gas mileage than the Ford and is more reliable. Gabriel will continue to drive the blue car as long as he's got children to take care of. We'll swap on Wednesdays like normal. I'm almost scared to drive the new car around, but I really love it and am excited to finally have taken the plunge. If I wasn't fully an adult, tied down and living the dream, before this, I surely am now.

-Shirin

Playing after storytime.

Sharing some quiet time (for about 2 seconds).

Some little boy put sunglasses on Kai and couldn't stop rubbing his soft head. Whatever!

Cool guy.

Who do these precious, chubby toes belong to?

This sleeping, chubby angel-baby.

OK, time to get out of our blue car and see what new car Daddy is going to get us! Cyrus specifically wanted a silver one.

Remember when we first went car shopping at Toyota in April '10? Here Gabriel sits in the exact same cubicle of the exact same salesman (Marcus).

Kai played and walked/sprinted around the entire Toyota dealership as Marcus and Gabriel worked out a deal and executed it.

BOO!

Signing away a little more of our life and money for materialism. What can I say? We need the car.

Kai signing his own contract to be the best baby ever.

Our sweet new ride.

Proud new owners of a (silver) Toyota Camry.

Announcing the arrival of Josie Alyssa Morris

My bestie, Lisa, finally took the plunge with her husband Dan and got pregnant last fall. I was honestly unsure if they would ever really decide to have a baby, but they finally seemed to be ready.

I'm happy to announce that on July 22, 2011, Lisa gave birth to a healthy baby girl named Josie. She weighed 7 lbs 12 oz and was born at 7:57 PM. Since Lisa is like a sister to me, Josie is like my niece. I'm so happy for her and Dan. Josie is the first grandchild for Dan's parents and the fifth grandchild on Lisa's side. Congratulations to the Morris and Crimmins families. Can't wait to meet little Josie (hopefully soon).

-Shirin

Dan and his new baby getting acquainted.

Sleepy eyes looking at the camera. I think she looks like Dan in this picture.

I hope she's a good sleeper like her mama. Lisa is breastfeeding, so I hope she'll get some rest at night between feedings (unlike me at first).

Josie's first smile...she looks like her grandma, Irysse, in this picture.

Already fashionable at 4 days of age.

Lots of pictures from July

Here are some of the last pictures from Casey and Morgan's visit, along with some more recent pictures of me and the kids. This is just a quick post before I hit the hay. I'm off tomorrow and can't wait to spend it at the library and pool with the boys and (maybe) buying a car with Gabriel. Eek.

-Shirin

This was Thursday night after we had Mexican food at our neighborhood restaurant. The boys were hard at play in this tub full of toys.

It's good luck to kiss a baby's head.

SMOOCH!

Then, back to stacking boxes, looking at letters, and chewing on turtles.

All washed and clean, staying up late to watch Big Brother with the family.

Quiet time with Uncle Bren.

Don't they look so peaceful? Just wait...

AARRGGHH!. Well, at least the boys still look peaceful.

I still nurse Kai in the morning around 5 AM and at night before bed. He's not done, so neither am I.

Casey explaining lots of details about Big Brother that I didn't understand before.

Playing outside recently after work. This is Emilio's scooter that Kai co-opted.

Kai watched Cyrus using it and climbed aboard as if he had a plan to just go scooting off. It went better with my help.

Scooting about slowly.

Playing with Uncle Casey's leftover bubble wands.

I think I enjoy blowing bubbles as much as the kids do.

Catching bubbles.

Moby Dick, climbing aboard his whale.

Reach it....reach it!

Nothing like finishing up your day by sitting on your floor naked, reading an upside down version of Goldilocks.

I forsee another book worm in the works.

At least he has it upright now.

Busy bees

Sorry for the lack of blogging. I have lots of pictures and even quotes from Cyrus (in my head) but I just am racing around in the rat race and can't find much time for blogging. I miss it and will try to post some things soon. Just in case you don't see my pictures on Facebook, we are all doing OK, we are all happy, and me and Gabriel are tired but successful in our jobs and as parents. Does that sum it up? Oh, and I think we might try to buy a new car soon. Exciting!

-Shirin

Kind of like a plastic surgeon

My normal surgeries are spays and neuters, with occasional tumor removals or extraction of bad teeth. Today, I got to be a plastic surgeon, of sorts, doing an ennucleation (removal of the eye) and an aural hematoma surgery (draining a swollen ear and suturing it open). It was slow going since I don't do these surgeries as often, but I really enjoyed the experience.

-Shirin

Poor little pug's eye popped out and was replaced at an emergency clinic. It didn't heal well, though, and appears to have ruptured and gotten infected at some point. So, it needed to come out.

First I cut around the eye to loosen the connection to the conjunctiva (pink membrane around the globe of the eye).

It's not difficult but one has to be a bit meticulous.

When you finally get to the globe of the eye, you cut all the eyeball muscles off of it (they are the ones that move eyes all over the place to look around).

Then, you clamp the optic nerve at the back of the eye and ligate it (tie it off). Then snip! Off comes the eye.

Goodbye, eye.

Then, I flushed and cleaned up the area and cut off the edges of the lids and the third eyelid so tear production doesn't continue.

Then, I sutured it closed. Voila! His face looks much better.

I sent him home on antibiotics and pain medication today. He was a great little patient.

This poor guy had an aural hematoma (burst blood vessel in his ear that filled it up with blood due to shaking his head because of an ear infection). This is the worst one I've ever seen.

The treatment is pretty simple: make an incision to drain all the blood and fibrinous clots from inside the ear...

...and then put a bunch of tiny sutures in the ear to keep it from puffing back up. It wasn't a hard surgery either, but pretty rewarding.

I didn't have time to take a picture of the finished product, but I probably put 25 stitches in that ear by the end of it. Whew! My hands and shoulders were so tired after that.

His bad ear is wrapped under this bandage for now. I'll take it off tomorrow to check his incision and sutures. Until then, he gets to wear a little head bandage to keep him from shaking it.