Cyrus still loves to dance and Kai knows his Star Wars trivia

Tita's visit for Nowruz

It's been a while since I've been able to post.  Sorry.  It's between sleeping vs blogging, or cleaning vs blogging, or watching the Walking Dead vs blogging, and blogging seems to lose every time!

Well, anyway, Tita came to visit last week for Nowruz and my mom's birthday.  We picked her up in Atlanta; actually, Amy picked her up early from the airport (she's a true friend) and I met them at her house a couple hours later.  The boys love both those ladies and we had a nice morning playing, cooking, and talking.  We stayed for lunch, and then headed over to Cyrus' ophthalmologist for his first check up after glasses and patching.  

After picking up some Chinese food (vegetarian, of course), we headed home to see Gabriel and the kitties.  I had to work on Thursday and Friday, so Tita stayed home with Kai and picked Cyrus up from school.  She did such a good job with them: cooking, reading, going to the library, playing with action figures, etc.  Poor girl, she comes on the Red Eye and is always EXHAUSTED, but she gets up at 7 AM to be the kids when I leave for work.  What a good auntie!

On Friday night, we met in Commerce and all squished into the Camry for our drive home.  We spent a wonderful weekend with my whole family for Persian New Year and my mom's birthday.  There are lots of pictures below.  Enjoy!

-Shirin

Tita reading Kai a book almost as soon as we arrived.

Amy starting our delicious meal of fried rice and Vietnamese greens.

Having a lovely lunch together.

Our lunch.

I'm happy to announce that Amy is due with a baby girl on August 9.  

Playing Dixit with Amy, Tita, and Cyrus.

Cyrus getting his eyes checked.  He's improved a lot.

His right eye is still fine.  His left eye has gone from 20/100 to 20/50!  It's way better!  Sadly, we will still have to patch his right eye until he's nine, because his brain will regress without patching until his vision is set at age nine.  I'm not looking forward to that (and the extra patching the doctor has now recommended: 6 hours a day instead of 4.  We are actually doing 3 hours during the week and ALL weekend days so he doesn't have to patch at school).  But, I'm relieved his eyesight is so much better.

Back home with Auntie Tita, reading MORE books.  She must have been sick of reading by the time she left GA.

Playing a memory game on their Pooh phone.

I got this cute picture texted to me while I was at work.  SOOO cute!

On our way to RH.  We didn't want to drive two cars or have to pay for a bigger rental car, so we turned Kai's car seat back into the reverse position so I could squeeze in the back middle.  I didn't love it back there, but I survived.

Dressed up for Nowruz.  I loved this new little suit Cyrus got from his Grandma (Gabriel's mom).  He looked very dapper.

In front of the Haft Sin table.

Cute little quarter-Persian boys.

Having a big breakfast at Ihop on Saturday morning.  We made the boys wait hours for breakfast and they were starving, as you can tell.

My first family.

Back home to light the candles and get the Eidee (money).

 Getting Eidee from Baba.

Tita reading more books to the boys.

 

Kai loves his auntie.

Sunday morning breakfast: ash e sabzi (Persian bean stew).  Maybe this explains why I don't like breakfast foods for breakfast.

What Gabriel did much of Saturday and Sunday.  Must be nice to be a man.  (In his defense, I did fall asleep last night at 8 PM and sleep straight through until 7:30 AM this morning).

Getting ready to surprise my mom for her birthday.  

Flowers, cake, and presents for the best mom in the world.

Checking out her cake.

Tita's handiwork.

Thinking of a wish.

Singing "Happy Birthday" to Nama.

 Excited about cake.

On Sunday, for lunch, we went out to a great Vietnamese restaurant.  Ricardo (on the left) lives in Charlotte and was able to join us.

Gabriel's crispy noodle with stir-fried tofu and veggies.

My amazing vermicelli salad.

My mom's lemongrass tofu.

A yellow tofu and bean sprout pancake for the kids.  Strange but tasty.

Cyrus snuggling with his Nama before heading back home for Athens.

Tita's visit and Nowruz (Persian New Year)

Just a quick word to let you know we are doing well, flu-free, and had a great weekend in Rock Hill with my parents and Tita.  She came on Wednesday and spent several days with the boys while I was at work, and then we all went to Rock Hill to celebrate Nowruz and my mom's birthday.
I'll post more on this later.  As it is almost 12 midnight on Sunday, I am heading to bed after an uneventful drive home.  Eide Nawruz Mobarak!
-Shirin

Shirin has the flu

Yep.  I've got the flu.  Influenza B, to be exact.  I got the intranasal flu vaccine (nose spray) in the fall, like a dedicated anti-flu citizen, but according to my doctor, it only covered two strains of A and one strain of B (I think?)  Maybe no strains of B.  Influenza A ran rampant last fall, but this spring it's been Influenza B.  Anyway, we all know that the flu vaccines only contain a few strains of the most prevalent Influenza strains from last year and aren't going to cover all of this year's strains, but I really didn't expect the diagnosis of flu when I went to the doctor on Wednesday.  I had started feeling terrible on Tuesday at work and Wednesday I felt like I'd been hit by a bus.  I found out why when I got to Dr Martin's office and my ear temperature was 101.5 F.  That explained why I couldn't move, could barely open my eyes to drive to her office, and why I had NO appetite at all (literally all I had "eaten" that day was some Gatorade).  The nurse, Ivy, took one look at my temperature and said, "You've probably got the flu."  NO!  I couldn't believe it, but after two minutes of waiting, the test was already positive for Influenza B.  Darn.

As you can imagine, having the flu is sucky enough by itself.  What is even worse is that this weekend was supposed to be the Ides of March, a long weekend we always arrange in FL with Gabriel's family to celebrate a sort of half-Thanksgiving (like a half-birthday, get it?)  Anyway, it's one of the most fun weekends of our year and one of the very few vacations I take.  I believe in work-life balance, but right now I definitely work more than I play.  So, even with my terrible diagnosis and symptoms, I was still convincing myself that I could get on Tamiflu, rest a lot, and get better enough to go down to FL a day later (on Friday instead of Thursday) and not ruin our whole vacation.  But, my doctor had warned me about being contagious even after my fever abated and that it would be dangerous to be around very young or very old people.  Gabriel's wonderful grandmother is about 95, and she definitely qualifies in the latter category.  I just couldn't bring the flu to her.

So, we're staying home.  Gabriel also has a TON of work to do with his software development and felt like he needed to stay and work all weekend (whoo hoo--great vacation!), so unfortunately, we've had to postpone Ides until a later date.  What a bummer.  My other concern is if or when my kids will come down with the flu.  I've not let them touch me for 2 days, but I've been coughing/hacking/blowing my nose (and one time vomiting) in the same house where they spend all their time.  But, what can I do?  I just have to wait and see.

At least I'm on Tamiflu, which is supposed to shorten the course of my symptoms by about a day and I could always start the kids or Gabriel on it if they showed symptoms.  Kai has had a bit of a runny nose and cough for about a week, but he's not been feverish or sick-acting and Gabriel has had a bit of a sore throat for the last 4 days, but he has felt fine.  Let's hope I've succeeded in containing my germs.  The other bit of good news is that Influenza B is thought to last a little less time than Influenza A, about five days instead of seven.  With Tamiflu, I guess that means it'll hopefully be over in four days...just in time for me to go back to work!

-Shirin

Feeling miserable and trying not to be infectious.  I looked up the duration that the flu virus can live on objects (called fomites), and it lives about 2-8 hours, definitely long enough to transfer to little hands that will then go into little mouths.  I've made them wash hands a lot, but who knows?

There's nothing better than a soft warm kitty on your lap as you shiver and suffer with a fever.  Satin has been my sick bed buddy all the while.  At least he won't get my flu!

Cyrus' work interview (by Gabriel)

Beth's Baby Shower

Have I mentioned that Beth is having a baby?  Well, she is.  It's a girl, and she's due on May 1st, just 4 days before my due date with Cyrus.  I am hoping for a late baby to be born on Cyrus' birthday, May 9!

Anyway, I went to one of her baby showers today, which was being thrown by her boyfriend's family.  I really liked them a lot and enjoyed meeting them.  David's mom has seven brothers and sisters, so his family is huge.  I still can't keep track of who was related to who.

-Shirin

Lots of presents.

 Trying to ignore the girl with the camera.

Beth's sister, Jenna, is on the right in pink and her mom is the lady in green on the couch.  They were the only two people I knew besides Beth.

There was a ton of good food!

David's little sister is the girl on the right.  She's studying graphic design and drew lots of really cute pictures on cards for her.  I loved her artsy-ness.

Beth opening her presents with her neice Averi's help.

Molly is going to be well provided for when she arrives after this baby shower!

Some cute videos of my bubsies

If you can only watch one, watch the Star Wars trivia contest between Brendan and the kids. :) (But, if you have more time, I recommend them all!) -Shirin 

 Cyrus and Kai boxing each other after watching Bren's match (Tita told me this would happpen!)

Kai and Cyrus singing.  

A long video for only the most stalwart Kai fans. He's such an avid drawer that I wanted to record him in all his glory, drawing like crazy and talking about all the things going on in his art.  

 Brendan vs the kids at Star Wars trivia.

Bulldawg Brawl pictures

Two weekends ago, Brendan fought in his first boxing match.  It was amateur, although the guys in the matches were all super fit and buff.  The Bulldawg Brawl is an annual boxing event to raise money for an organization that helps children with HIV.  

Sadly, Brendan lost by decision (meaning by points).  He had a very good opponent who got a few more punches in, although I thought Bren fought very well and was definitely the aggressor most of the time.  We were very proud of him.

Along for the ride, Gabriel and I brought Beth and the boys.  It wasn't too late at night and the kids enjoyed seeing their uncle fighting and being tough.  This was Beth's first boxing match (as it was for me too), so it was a new experience for both of us.  I had a great time, except for being nervous while watching someone I loved in a fight!

-Shirin

At Transmetropolitan before the match.

Cyrus took these pics and told us to look silly.

Being silly himself.

On our way from dinner to get frozen yogurt before the boxing match, guess who we ran into? 

The boxing ring.  There were about 10 matches, plus 1 women's boxing match.

Kai and Beth watching another fight before Bren's.

Beth's lap was a popular place.

Watching the ladies' boxing match from Gabriel's shoulders.

We sat on the balcony and had a great view.

 After the match, the kids tried out their boxing skills. (Just pretend-hitting, mostly).

Discussing the match afterwards.  Gabriel thought Bren won in points in the second round and lost in the first round, so it was the third round that must've decided it.  Darn, I wish he'd won them all, but I guess that's unrealistic.

Brendan HATES to lose, but he tried to have a good attitude about it.  He really did fight well and the other guy was quite good.  Maybe next year, Bren!  We're proud of you!

This was one of the official pictures taken during the match.

Black eyes the next day but doing OK.