Three Day Weekend

 

Once a month I get Fridays off, and those 3-day weekends are so priceless to me.  Not that we do anything REALLY fun as a family, but I think that’s what makes them so special.  It’s just time that I use to get caught up with the housework, kids, and of course, I try to work in a nap whenever possible!

Yesterday I took Isaac to school and went to the gym briefly.  I then went to Target, and bought all 3 boys some very cute outfits.  I took Jonny to gymnastics class, and watched him through the 2-way mirror.  It’s so rare that I get to do that, and he has such a good time.  We had lunch, and not too long after that, Jonny and I went to get Isaac at the bus stop.  We took Ben in his stroller.  Ben had a GREAT time looking at all the trees, flowers and cars – we even saw an ambulance come screeching by.

Isaac came home (he has the next week off school.  Had I known that in advance, I would have taken some vacation this week, but it seems I’m always the last to know these things), and declared that it was “Avatar Day”.  Mark painted their faces: Isaac as Aang and Jonny as Zuko, and they had a fine time playing outside.  They had baths, and although the marker claimed to be washable, I can still see their face art today!

Then I took a late, but very welcome nap, and we had leftovers for dinner.  I love leftovers.

Last night we watched Avatar on DVD (we are all big Avatar fans!) and ate popcorn for “Family Movie Night”, and the boys went to bed.  Mark and I watched another movie and went to bed.

This morning all 3 boys watched Saturday morning cartoons together (that’s what they’re doing on the very first picture on this post).  Today we did alot of shopping – Mark bought paint for the dining room, and I bought groceries, and yet more clothes for the boys.  I think I tired poor Jonny out - he fell asleep on his feet this afternoon!

Tonight I made a delicious vegetarian recipe from Cooking Light.  (I am not sure if the link will work if you don’t subscribe to Cooking Light).  We made not-so-light chocolate fondants for dessert after the boys had gone to bed.  But that’s for another post.

I love 3 day weekends!  Why can’t we work 4 days a week all the time????

Another Beautiful Day

 

Yesterday the weather was rather gloomy, but today was gorgeous.  Mark has unfortunately caught my cold from last week and hasn’t been feeling well.  I though I’d give him a bit of a break, so I took the older boys shopping with me this afternoon.  Ben was due to take a nap, and I thought Mark would do the same.  He didn’t – would you believe he did laundry and prepped the dining room walls for painting?

The boys said they enjoyed the shopping expedition, except they complained I spent too long in the craft store. 

When we came home, it was still quite warm (as long as the wind didn’t blow), so we had them go outside for a bit.  Our yard is tiny, but it’s still better to have them play outside than to have them cooped up in the house all weekend.  We brought Ben’s swing outside and he had a good time watching the older boys play.  Isaac and Jonny enjoyed themselves and came inside tired and sweaty for dinner.

If this nice weather keeps up, maybe we can even break out the grill next weekend!

Spring’s Here!

I just saw these beauties outside our back door!

Is Spring Finally Here?

 

We had such a gorgeous day today!  The temperature was up around 70 degrees, and for most of the day it was actually bright and sunny.  And even better – I had a half day off work to enjoy the beautiful weather.  It was such a nice change to have sunshine after having a snowstorm less than one week ago.

Jonny, Mark and Ben had a field trip earlier today to one of the local assisted living facilities for the elderly (that Mark insensitively called an “old folks home”), and then they met me at my office at around noon.  We had lunch together (at Burger King), then headed home in separate cars.  Jonny and I took a detour to our brand new Michaels craft store that just opened today!  (I was excited.  I love Michaels but who are we kidding?  When do I have time to do crafts that aren’t somehow connected with Isaac’s kindergarten projects???)  After that we visited the pet store next door, and Jonny had a great time looking at mice, hamsters, cats and fish.  No, we did not buy any pets, but the kitties looked very cuddly.

We went home, and later in the evening I took Isaac to gymnastics class.  Jonny came along with his soccer ball.  He had fun running around and kicking it for about 15 mintues…and then unfortunately it began to rain.  We went inside and read stories and built puzzles until Isaac was done.

After gymnastics we went to my new favorite store (which will have to wait for another post!)  We bought Jonny a new baseball cap since the one in the picture is actually Isaac’s.  Isaac behaved very badly in the store, but that’s another story.  We came home and ate leftovers.  I love leftovers.

Here is Ben playing with his favorite gym.  I took this picture a couple days ago, but this is exactly what he’s doing right now at almost midnight:

I can’t wait until summer is here!

Geera Pork

 

I’ve been sick with a nasty cold this weekend.  Fortunately, I was able to stay home and rest today, but I did decide to try making some geera pork for dinner.  This is a dish served in my home country of Trinidad and Tobago.  I have never tasted it before since pork hasn’t been served in my parents’ household for years and years, and we generally don’t cook it very often in ours.   The dish was quite good I think, but unfortunately my sense of taste has been diminished to 25% of normal because of my cold.  Mark didn’t complain about it anyway.

“Geera” is the same thing as cumin.  I believe that in Trinidad geera pork is commonly consumed with alcoholic beverages, but we had ours with jasmine rice, potato cakes and curried channa (chick peas), and no rum.  It is also supposed to be very hot and spicy, but I didn’t add any hot peppers because the kids (and Mark) were eating it.  The boys seemed to like the pork OK, but I think they enjoyed the side dishes better.  Jonathan actually requested roti with this meal, but I hadn’t gotten any out of the freezer.

I got my recipe from the Naparima Girls’ Trinidad cookbook.  For the recipe click below.  Since this was my first attempt, any suggestions for improving the recipe would be welcomed!  (Noelia, you said Andrew made a good geera pork…)

Scarlet Fever

 

Jonathan hasn’t been feeling well for a couple of days.  He was feverish the last two nights and didn’t sleep well.  Last night he awoke Mark complaining of feeling very itchy.  I found them both sleeping on the couch this morning.  Jonny ran a fever during the day today as well.

Today when I got home from work, we had dinner (a wonderful beef chilli that Mark made), and then I got the boys ready for a bath.  It was then that I noticed the fine, red rash over most of Jonny’s chest and back.  Even though he wasn’t complaining of a sore throat, his tonsils did look red and swollen.  A rapid strep test was positive.

We were able to get him started on some antibiotics tonight, and he won’t be going to school tomorrow.  He should be (hopefully) back to his normal self within a day or two.  I just hope nobody else has caught it from him.

“Nine month” Checkup (March Blog Challenge)

 

Ben finally had his nine month well child visit yesterday at the pediatrician’s office, although he is technically 10 months old.  He arrived for his appointment in a great mood and cooing up a storm.  Jonny was with us, but Isaac was in school.

Ben weighs 11 lbs 9.5 oz, which is good; he is still right around the 50th percentile for both height and weight for a baby boy with CdLS.  Below is a picture of the nurse weighing him.  Note the strategically placed tissue.  I guess she has weighed more than a few baby boys in her time!

Developmentally he is around the level of a 4 month old.  He smiles, laughs, reaches for toys with both arms, makes fair eye contact and is just starting to roll from side to side.  He is progressing, albeit slowly.  Today he started reaching his feet and toes out to play with toys as well.  He does have one special skill that my 3 and 6 year olds haven’t yet mastered: sleeping through the night!

Overall Ben has done very well.  When we first brought him home, we feared that he would be chronically ill and plagued with frequent hospital admissions.  So far, his only hospitalization since the NICU was a 3-day stay at 5 months old to have his G-tube/Nissen surgery.  I am happy to say he has been very healthy except for the usual colds and the occasional ear infection that one would expect with any child.  I hope that Ben continues to have good health as he gets older.

Most of the time Ben is an amazingly placid, happy little guy, except when his big brothers  keep bothering him!   Even though having a child who has special needs has been challenging at times, I am so glad that we have Ben.

Again??!?

 

I’m so ready for summer!!

Isaac was off school again.  I went in to work this morning at 9 am, and the roads were snowy, slushy and treacherous.  I ended up leaving at 3 pm, and fortunately by then things had thawed quite a bit.

The boys really are getting some good use out of their snowsuits this year; last year I think they only wore them once.

Mark made Chicken Marsala for dinner, which was quite tasty, but not spicy enough for my Caribbean palate.  I thought about adding some hot pepper sauce, but I didn’t think it would go well with the angel hair pasta.

We got a brand new toy for Ben.  Mark hates when I bring things like this home from work! 

Just Your Average Weekend

 

It hasn’t been particularly interesting around here lately…

I spent most of Saturday grocery shopping.  Ben came with me to the grocery store.  Mark assured me that he usually loves being out, but he slept for most of the trip, and when he finally awakened, he complained until we got home!

There was a lot of video game playing by the two older boys.  The above photo is of Jonny begging to play with the Game Boy.  If you look closely, you’ll notice he has a bruise on his left cheek.  He got it the same night I took that cute picture of him and Isaac together in their bed.  He tumbled out of bed and smacked his cheek on the open nightstand drawer.  Ouch!  He screamed bloody murder but I didn’t notice the bruise until the following morning.  Poor little guy.  I’ve fussed over that cheek so much that he now tells me sternly, “Don’t ask me about my face!”

Ben is loving his Bumbo seat and his toys lately.  His hearing aids have begun falling out again and the ear molds probably need to be resized.  He’s been “talking” alot and has starting saying what sounds to me like “mama”!!! 

Isaac seems to be coming down with something and has run a fever 2 nights in a row.  I don’t think he’ll be going to school tomorrow.  He was well enough today to watch alot of TV.  He and I watched Avatar on Nickelodeon which I find strangely entertaining.  We have a “How to Draw Veggie Tales” DVD we got out for the first time, and the boys enjoyed that.  We are reading Isaac’s 10-chapter Magic Schoolhouse library book from school.  Sometimes I wish he would borrow shorter books from the library (at least until he can read them all by himself), but I am glad he enjoys books so much. 

Mark has made some great headway with the dining room walls.  He has finally got the hang of the wallpaper steamer, and things are starting to move along a little more quickly.  I will be so glad when we can finally paint the room a more cheerful color.  I hate wallpaper.

I made a new recipe for Tandoori Chicken which I loved, but Mark likes the old way better.  The boys seem to like them equally well and cleaned their plates.

So our weekend is now over.  We start off with a bang tomorrow: we need to take the van to be repaired.  It seems that my previous report about Mark’s little accident was overly optimistic.  I just hope the repairs won’t be too expensive.