Sunday Afternoon Fun

This is what we do to entertain the little one (and wear her out) on Sunday afternoons...

Lucy's Ear Tubes

Well - it's been a while and I have been meaning to post in forever and have so much catching up to do. My house is an absolute mess and it seems like I have a million other things to do but I finally dug up my camera from the move (cause that is one of the HUGE things that happened since I've been away) and took some pictures! I originally hadn't been taking pictures because I accidentally deleted a bunch from my camera and had meant to try to retrieve them using some computer software or program and you aren't supposed to take new pictures that would take up the old memory but that never happened and I couldn't even remember what I lost so I just decided to forget about.

Anyway, life has been eventful. Today especially. Lucy got a tympanostomy (aka ear tubes). We thought that she might need an adenoidectomy but it ended up that her adenoids were fine. We woke up at 5:00 AM so we could leave by 5:30 AM to get to Riverton Hospital at 6:15 AM to check in for her 7:30 AM surgery. It would have been much more convenient to have had the surgery done at Primary Children's which is much closer to where we live but the ENT surgeon we chose (the father-in-law of Brandon's cousin) practices at different hospitals and we wanted to get it done as soon as possible since Lucy got her seventh ear infection this past Saturday.

So, here is the little patient, all cute in her hospital gown:

She knew something was going on since we were in this new place with all these new people and was very clingy. She was on my lap for this picture, hence, the closeness.

Here she is looking warily at the bed's remote control...

...but she decided it was safe to play with - as long as she had her lovey and blanket.

Look at that giant head of hers!

The nurses left a cute little doll on her bed which had no face but then they gave Lucy markers so she could draw a face on it. She ended up drawing all over herself and had blue marker all over her hands and legs by the time she was going in.

We mostly did a lot of waiting. Lucy got some Tylenol and some Versed to calm her down and they swept her right away from me. I was under the impression that I would be able to carry her into the surgery room and be by her side while they put her mask on with the anesthesia and then when she came out but it was all so fast. Before I knew it, they told me she was coming in and I could hear her hysterical cries coming down the hallway. I couldn't believe how difficult she was to calm down - I thought she would be kinda loopy from the meds but I guess waking up in an unfamiliar place without mom can be a little traumatizing. I was finally able to get her to calm down after several attempts to nurse her. Once comforted, she was back to her cute self, saying "dank uuu" to the nurses with her mouth full of boob. The nurses could barely get enough of her saying thank you and bye bye, in the middle of nursing, no less. I could barely get her to pull away when it was time to leave and had to ask if she wanted to see Angel or George (our cats) or Jiji (her favorite movie, Kiki's Delivery Service). Excitedly, she pulled away and said, "Andel, Doe, Jiji? Opaii (Japanese for breast), aww dun!"

Then the rest of the day, it's as if the surgery didn't even happen - she was just her happy self. Just a little more tired. The surgeon told me that her middle ear was just full of gooey mucus and that her hearing will be much more sensitive because she was probably hearing all muffled before with the mucus affecting 20-30% of her hearing. The downfall of all this is that I need to plug up her ears when she goes swimming or has a bath which is really hard to do and she can still get ear infections, but they just shouldn't be as painful because the pressure will be relieved by the tubes and we can give her a topical antibiotic instead of one that she has to take orally.

Thank goodness for modern medicine and insurance! What in the world did they do in the old days - just let their kids suffer? I've been wary of doing the surgery but after so many sleepless nights (and a Christmas cruise coming up) it was definitely time to do something. Maybe we can actually get a good night of sleep when we are on vacation...

MoCCA, New York: April 10-11th

So what were Brandon and I doing in New York City - MoCCA Festival! No, it is not one of the neighborhoods that you have never heard of but an event. MoCCA stands for Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art which is an organization that hosts a big two day convention for artists and comic book writers to sell their stuff.

I posted last year that Brandon had finished his first comic book and he has been selling it (as well as other art and prints) at conventions and expos all over the country to promote it (and hopefully land a publisher for the next one). Green Monk was self published (with my help, might I add, in scouring local printers for the best price and of course, taking care of our daughter at night so he could work).

We flew out on a Saturday morning on a quick one hour flight from Buffalo to New York City. Of course, one of our bags was lost on JetBlue (don't ask me how - it was a direct flight with no layovers) but fortunately, it was not the bag that had all of our inventory and booth display stuff because that would have been disastrous and made the trip pretty pointless. Unfortunately, the bag that was lost had my breast pump in it. So imagine going from 4 nursings a day to nada. Yeah - you breastfeeding moms can feel me on that. Halfway through the day, I had to go to the bathroom and bend over the toilet and try to hand express for relief so you can imagine how fun that was. There was this cute little couple a few tables down from us exhibiting where the girl was half-Japanese and her husband was white and they had a darling little baby who I was pretty tempted to nurse. They let me hold him but I don't think they would have dug me nursing him...

But anyway, because of the whole luggage issue, we were late for the show. And the subway line that we needed to take to get to where the show was was not running for some reason so we had to take a long way there. It was also freezing that morning. But I got to experience my first geeky comic-y show. I don't think it could compare to something like San Diego Comic-Con (which I have never been to but hear is the ultimate geek-fest where people totally dress up like Star Wars and everything in between) but it was fun.

I have been to New York City several times before but this was such a whirlwind that I didn't really get to enjoy it. I may have hastily judged it because of this in thinking that although I wasn't very intimidated by it, NYC is kinda overwhelming and a little dirty. Maybe because Salt Lake City is such a small, clean city. But it certainly is interesting - just walking down the streets and seeing the variety of people there and different fashions (not all high fashion either like portrayed on television or movies) and different languages and every restaurant imaginable. It's not quite as glamorous as Sex and the City would have you believe, but still fun.

The second day we were there (after having our lost luggage with all our clothes and toiletries delivered at 3 am at our hotel) was the most gorgeous weather ever! The show was right down the street from this park that we walked by and there were these beautiful trees in bloom. My camera doesn't do it much justice but it literally took my breath away in person.
And this time, I even managed to take some pictures from the show.

Here is Brandon at our tiny little table. To save on exhibitor costs, we signed up for only half a table so that gave us a whopping 3 feet to display our wares and one chair to share.

And here I am, giving Brandon a break so he could go to the bathroom or check out other tables and booths. I was glad to be there to help and Brandon hoped that the presence of a pretty girl might help out with the sales to the geeky boys but we really had no way to measure the effectiveness of that.

Here is a picture of our table mate, Thomas Baehr, who is originally from Germany but lives in New York. Really nice guy, but really depressing book. You might guess what it is about by its title, The End is Here. Not exactly my cup of tea but there seemed like there were plenty of people there who really dug it. But his next work sounds really interesting, a collaboration about a Jew that is hiding during the Nazi occupation.

I actually spent way more time browsing around the show to check out all the other stuff than really helping Brandon. I was surprised at how many crappy artists there were there trying to disguise and sell their bad art with what I assumed they hoped was some clever story or humor. Not sure how those people did in terms of revenue but I tell you, even with a husband who is a legitimate artist, it is hard to be profitable at these things. I met some really good artists who just do their art at night while they have some whatever day job to make money and support themselves and families. Those people are passionate. Not that Brandon is not passionate - I think that sometimes he forgets how lucky he is to have a job where he actually gets to do art and improve his artistic skill even though he doesn't have full autonomy since he works for a company. But I know that some of those artists were pretty envious of his position.

I stopped by one table that caught my eye, mostly because the subject matter was Japanese in nature (and Brandon accuses me of being a Japanophile but my defense is that I am allowed because it is my culture). The artist was David Mack and his comic is called Kabuki which has a pretty big following. I guess he is kinda a big deal and has won all sorts of awards including the Eisner Award which is equivalent to the Academy or Grammy Award for comics. I had no idea at the time when I was just perusing all his books at his table and a total fanboy was talking his ear off. But I got pretty embarrassed when this fanboy pointed out that I totally looked like I could be one of his characters in his comic and that I should model and started asking me to take my hair down! It was pretty awkward and I just blushed, not really sure what I should do because my vanity was telling me that this might be my chance to be some awesome comic book heroine (or villain, whatever)! But Mr. Mack was pretty gracious even though that fanboy seemed pretty obnoxious to me and then gave me a bunch of his books for free. So I brought him a copy of Green Monk as a thank you (it's pretty common for artists to just trade work at these shows instead of buying each other's stuff) and then he gave me a bunch more of his books for free! It wasn't until I got home and googled him that I realized he was kinda a big deal. I'm mostly glad that I got one of Brandon's books into his hands (in case it gets passes on to some publisher) but I guess it was cool to get some of his books for free (cause everyone knows that I like free!).

But pretty much, these shows are a tiny bit boring. I'm mostly glad to spend time with my husband but it's pretty exhausting. And when you are trying to be profitable by keeping your expenses low, it doesn't give you a ton of freedom to do the touristy things and eat at yummy restaurants (I will admit to eating at McDonalds but only because we were so hungry and on a budget and too tired to think of another place to eat).

The timing of our flight home required us to leave the show a little bit early but packing up everything from our table took more time than anticipated. And trying to be as frugal as possible, we took the subway instead of a taxi but that same stupid line that was not running from the day before to and from the airport still wasn't running. So we got off at some random stop and this really nice Puerto Rican guy called a cab for us so we wouldn't be late for our flight. I just forget that when you are asking for directions to the airport in NYC, you can't just say, "How do I get to the airport?" because they immediately question back, "Which one?" So weird being in a city with two airports. But we made it to the right airport, on time and made our way back to Buffalo.

But it would be just a few short weeks until I was back in the Big Apple...

Leaving Once, Leaving Twice

Our tickets to leave Buffalo to go back to Utah for this trip were actually for early on a Tuesday morning. Although the airport is only about 10 minutes away, we dreaded the early morning wake-up so we switched our flight to early afternoon (thank you, Southwest!). However, when we got to the airport for our 12:45 PM flight, running a little bit late, we realized that we were actually very late because we had read the itinerary wrong and our flight was scheduled to leave at 12:15 PM. So long story short, we missed our flight.

Fortunately, we were able to book a flight for just a couple hours later although we would be arriving in Salt Lake City much later than we wanted to. So right as my mother-in-law was arriving home, we called her to come back and pick us up from the airport so we could kill a couple of hours. We did it by doing this:

I think that this was actually Lucy's first time on a swing by herself and she was loving it. If you're wondering why she is so stylin' in her purple number, it was because her mom thoughtfully packed away all her jackets and hoodies in the suitcase in anticipation of a stuffy plane ride and said suitcase was left at the airport waiting for the next flight. So her grandma graciously let her borrow her fancy wrap.

Brandon thought she needed a companion to swing with but Lucy did not take too kindly to the metal duck that Brandon found for her.

We finally did make it out of Buffalo and during our layover in Las Vegas, an exhausted Lucy ended up like this in my lap:
We got lots of really cute stares from people. And then we realized what the date was - April 13th. Happy Birthday little Lucy. Sorry we forgot about your first birthday all day long!

Stately Dayton Manor

This is the bed and breakfast that we stayed at while in Buffalo.
Just kidding - it is actually a bed, breakfast, lunch, & dinner because it is really my in-laws' house. Before accepting a position as chief of surgery at University of Buffalo back in 2003, Brandon's parents and the majority of both sides of their family lived in Utah. But with such a career opportunity, they (bravely if you ask me), packed up and moved away from it all just as grandkids were being born. I don't think that my father-in-law is quite ready to retire but we look forward to them moving back to Utah someday so we can be closer than a day's flight. We think it will happen eventually so I thought that I would document their lovely Buffalo home for memories. Their sons have nicknamed it the Stately Dayton Manor - I think it's an appropriate moniker.
This is the view into the living room from the front entry.

The very grand stairway just barely to the right.

Just a little bit more to the right is the dining room view from the entry.

Dining room view from the kitchen.

Taken from the entry, this is opposite from the dining room. I'm not sure what to call this room - parlor? Piano room?

Closer view of the living room which actually has huge vaulted ceilings that the picture doesn't show. You can actually see the living room from the second floor after you go up the staircase.

Another view of the living room as you approach the kitchen. You kinda get a sense of scale by the windows in this picture.

The office is just to the left of the living room.

And then the kitchen is to the right of the living room and opens to the dining room in front. That's my mother-in-law on the phone sitting at the kitchen table and I think that Lucy is on the floor playing with all those toys in the open cabinet.

I didn't even bother with all the bathrooms (2 on the first floor, 3 on the second floor, one in the basement) and bedrooms (5 huge ones on the second floor) and the gigantic basement. The funny thing is that it is only the two of them. But, they do quite a bit of hosting of events for the surgery residents from work and church stuff and family that comes to visit to see the church sites or Niagara Falls and such. I think that they definitely enjoy having the space to entertain and accommodate all their sons and their families. I've been out there four times since we have been married and we will be heading out there in just a week for another family vacation. More good memories to come!

In the Buff - April 9-13

Buffalo, New York that is. That is where these guys live:
Brandon's parents (this picture snagged from my MIL's blog - not the actual trip)

Brandon's brother and wife, Adrian and Natalie and their son Taylor
(Snagged this from their facebook because of course, I never take pictures...of anything it seems. So it is a little outdated...but I like to illustrate my posts with pictures of people)

It was actually a really short trip. We left on a Friday afternoon (meaning that we didn't actually get into Buffalo until late evening) and returned home on a Tuesday evening. So lose two days to travel and we were really only there from Saturday to Monday. And two days we spent in New York City.

Anyway, Lucy had flown twice before - to Boston around 3 months and to Japan about a month later. But it is a little different flying when your baby is much more mobile although Lucy wasn't quite walking at this point, but cruising proficiently. And although I was (and am) still nursing her, she doesn't nurse to sleep anymore unless we are lying in bed. But fortunately, she did some of this on the plane:
I had my Beco baby carrier (best carrier ever, if you ask me) and strapped her to my back when she was getting tired and fussy and just walked up and down the aisle of the plane until she fell asleep. As I was walking, I would get these comments from other passengers saying, "She's almost out," "Just a couple more laps," and thumbs up to accompany them. I think that they were just so grateful that they didn't have to deal with a screaming baby on the plane.

Second half of the plane ride and deep into what should have been her bedtime, she was a little less cooperative with sleeping...More interested in playing with the light, checking other passengers out, and playing with her dad's iPhone. After arriving late in the evening and getting into bed, Brandon and I left our little girl the next morning for two whole days while we took a quick flight to New York City. It was our first time leaving her overnight!

My mother-in-law was pretty sick (what we found out just a week or so later was the return of her cancer) but fortunately, it was the weekend so Brandon's dad was there to help as was Adrian and Natalie. Lucy's Saturday nap was spent crying herself to sleep in her grandfather's arms but he claimed that he loved it once she was asleep, just holding her while he watched television. She gravitated strongly towards her grandmother but once she met her Aunt Natalie, gravitated even more strongly towards her. Here she is with her Aunt and cousin on a Sunday afternoon walk:
For the overnight part, she woke up crying. I didn't pump much milk before I left, only bringing one bag since she was days away from being 12 months so I figured that she could just have cow's milk. But my mother-in-law was smart enough to have an extra bottle on hand (I only packed a sippy cup) and saved my breastmilk for what she anticipated might be a hard night. With mommy's milk in bottle in hand, she fell right back asleep.

When we arrived back from New York City, Lucy was already asleep but must have had a sixth sense that we had arrived cause she woke up crying. We later realized when we returned home to Salt Lake City that the reason she had been so fussy those few days in Buffalo was because a tooth had just broken through. It's nice to know that she missed us but also nice to know that she is capable of handling being without us for a few days. Hopefully, we can plan a real vacation without kids sometime close in the future.

Once back in Buffalo, we really only had one full day to spend with family. We visited Adrian and Natalie's house to play with Taylor (more blurry iPhone pictures - although I have to say, it can be hard to capture pictures of Taylor because he is such a ball of energy).
Then we went out to eat dinner with them and Brandon's dad (his mom being too sick to join us). I can't remember where we ate or what I ordered but I remember it was delish!

Lucy deals with traveling like a champ so hopefully, having a baby won't deter us from taking any trips. Brandon always claims that life hasn't changed that much - we just have a baby along for the ride.

Catching Up

I feel like I haven't posted on here in forever. I have events that I've been meaning to document since April but haven't gotten around to. But I also accidentally deleted a bunch of pictures from my camera so I haven't taken any new pictures while I am trying to figure out how to recover lost pictures from stupid camera. Note to self - buy a new, better camera one of these days.

Anyway, this upcoming stuff is kinda old hat but I mostly blog for me own personal record cause I seem to have a terrible memory since I became a mother. And it's fun to remember...

Happy Dada Day!

Since Lucy doesn't quite know how to say father, we'll leave it at Dada.

She sure loves this guy!

Even though this picture doesn't appropriately convey that feeling.

But we're a pretty lucky family to have him as wonderful husband and awesome dad.

Happy Father's Day to all the awesome dads!

Car Seat Envy

I don't get it.

Lately, Lucy has occasionally been fighting me when I try to put her in her car seat. Even though she is over 12 months now, she is still in a rear facing car seat because with how little she weighs, she hasn't yet outgrown it. Maybe this fighting is a sign of a fierce, independent spirit we might have - I will have to SQUASH that before she gets into her terrible twos and temper tantrums (totally kidding about that - I love an independent spirit!). But for some reason, as much as she fights about her own car seat, she certainly seems to love other people's car seats.

Case #1:
Cousin, Olive has the same exact brand car seat, but I guess because it is a different color and new, she's all for it. Or maybe she loves it because she can actually play in it and not be strapped in it.

Case #2:
I don't have any photos to document this but the other day at church during Sunday school class, Lucy took it upon herself to mosy on over to another couple with a 4 month old baby and make herself at home in the empty car seat on the ground and continue to just relax there, foot dangling off the end and smiling at everyone around her.

I try not to be a helicopter mom so Lucy may fall on the side of "free range" kid. But at least at church, I just can't seem to keep a hold of her so I just let her off to explore. Which means that she is off pulling herself up on everyone's knees, getting into every purse and diaper bag on the floor, stealing toys, snacks, bottles, and sippy cups away from other babies. I bring her own toys, books, snacks, and drinks to church but she's not interested. Why, when there is this plethora of new and exciting things that don't belong to you? I try to be sensitive that other people in church may get annoyed with her (cause I also try not to be one of those moms that thinks that her kid is the greatest and that everyone must love her) but I figure that they can pick up their purses and bags from off the floor and shoot me a dirty look. I have gotten some looks I can't read so maybe I should count those in the "annoyed" category.

But despite some of the looks, I'll take my social butterfly any day. The thing is, she would probably make more of a scene if I'm constantly trying to keep her in my lap. Thank goodness church is full of such gracious mothers and babies who are already learning to share with a slightly pushy, independent, social butterfly.