Gametes In Love

This week’s Foto Friday is dedicated to crying… and G’s first tear. Yeah, yeah, his eyes have been getting wet for quite a while now, but this is the first time that there’s been enough moisture to roll off his eye.

And yes, I’m a mean mamma: running for the camera instead of kissing the tear away.

Other notable milestones this week? G laughed. I can’t make him do it on demand (yet) or take a picture so you’ll have to trust me on that one 🙂

Bears, monkeys, tigers, oh my!

On Monday, K (S’ sister), G and I went to the SF Zoo. I hadn’t been there in well over a decade, and it was a first-time experience for my two partners in crime.

G announced his presence to the animals as soon as we walked through the gate, but after a diaper change and a snack he quieted down and just fell asleep.

Yep, most of his pictures are:
– Here’s G sleeping by the polar bears,
– And here’s G sleeping by the Hippo,
– And here is G napping by the tigers

None-the-less, I had a very good time and I can’t wait to do it again when G can waddle around on his own and point at the animals.

Here are some of the sights we witnessed:

The Vidal Sassoon lion
Yep, this dude had mane supermodels would be jealous of. Check out that volume and bounce

The tanning bear
I didn’t have the heart to tell him that he was never going to become George Hamilton. He does a great bear rug impersonation though.

The Silverback in the dog-house
In the Gorilla habitat the male and female we sitting quite a bit apart, with arms crossed, facing away from each other. Occasionally he’d look back at her as if asking “Baby, you still mad? You know I didn’t mean it!” Ever wonder who settles domestic disputes between gorillas?

In many ways I have the dietary preferences of a 5yr old: pizza, pasta, chocolate… yum! If it’s loaded with carbs, it’s probably on my “favorites” list. Salads? Not so much. S on the other hand can make a whole meal out of a salad. Finding a salad I enjoy comes few and far between. Finding a “compatible veggies” salad to make us both happy is on the cusp of impossible. However, we don’t have to worry about this for awhile. Why, you might ask?

Reflux!

G has it. He’s now on Zantac twice a day, and his mommy is heading down the road of dietary restriction. This means that caffeine, chocolate, dairy, leafy and cruciferous veggies are now on my avoid list. This is joyous news in terms of turning down Brussels sprouts and salads, but also a sad day since two of my favorite food groups (chocolate and dairy) are also on the list. It’s a sorrowful day around here, but knowing that it could take 3 days for agitating food to clear G’s system makes me question if a couple of BJ’s slices of pizza are worth his (and by association ours) prolonged misery.

So that’s the news around these here parts. If by the end of Thu, G is no happier, his doc will be switching his meds. We’ll go from G’s post-minty-flavored-Zantec disgust face, to strawberry-flavored-Prevacid reactions. Meanwhile we are also trying elevated sleeping, elevated nursing positions, sitting upright after feedings, and minimized burping. I’m even considering visits to a chiropractor. If you have any other suggestions, though, we’re all ears.

I’ve been tagged by All Things Ordinary to list 7 random/weird facts about myself.

1. I am still scared of the dark. I wasn’t as a child, but I “grew into” it when I was about 12. Yeah, we like working backwards around here.
2. I don’t like being in open waters. I’m not a strong swimmer and I generally dislike participating in activities that make me part of the food chain.
3. I had a porcupine as a pet (for a whole evening before it ran away)
4. I participated in an archaeological dig when I was 8 and helped dig up bones. Funnest summer I can remember.
5. My chem partner and I caused our 10th grade Chem class to be evacuated due to an experiment turned bad. But man, did it make a cool mushroom cloud as it exploded
6. I can’t stand peanut-butter… unless it’s in a Reese’s Peanut Butter cup
7. I stopped believing in Santa when I was 5. I figured it out when I realized it was my Grandpa dressing up as Santa.

I won’t single out anyone to play. It’s an open call. If you want to, join the party.

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I have a cold (my first since I can’t remember when), and a child treated for reflux. These may not seem related to you, but strangely they are.
You see, in situations like these as soon as my throat starts to tickle I OD on Vitamin C, gulp OJ like there’s no tomorrow and do a visit to Jamba Juice for a Cold Buster with an extra Immunity Boost. Unless I’ve caught something really nasty, I am usually fine the next day.

But now with G, my personal cures aren’t applicable. Since I am his sole food source, I don’t know the impacts of each of the smoothie supplements, and OJ is evil for reflux.

So I am here drowning myself in chamomile-fenugreek tea and water and generally feeling sorry for myself. I’m scared that G will get my cold, which is even worse. So to rephrase my question above, do I go for the juice making G suffer the acidity pain, or do I risk him suffering a cold?

Luckily, S’ sis is in town and is awesome in caring for G. At least this way we can minimize his exposure to his germy mommy!

Have I mentioned I hate being sick? Something tells me I’ll hate caring for a sick kid even more.

You remember the first infertility clinic that we worked with? The one that had the brilliant business practice of separating their doctors and lab into two separate entities so that clients would have to pay out of pocket for all the procedures? The one that told us we should seek care elsewhere if we didn’t like how they ran their business. The one that caused perhaps the biggest argument in S and mines relationship?

Well they’re back!

They’ve apparently decided that they haven’t tormented us enough and they sent us a bill.

That’s right, they billed our insurance company for our two Dr. visits and my preliminary tests, and since the insurance company only pays a negotiated (with them) rate, they’ve decided to bill us the difference… A FULL YEAR LATER!!! For $349.

I’m pissed! A negotiated rate is negotiated for a reason, not so you can bill your patients what you believe you should be paid. If our insurance company only paid a percentage, and we were liable for the remainder that would be one thing, but this is not.

I refuse to pay it! Moreover I am so mad, I can’t even bring myself up to deal with them. S will be placing that call come Monday. Since their CFO called us to apologize for how we were treated, he’ll be talking directly to her. He’ll also be calling our contact at Aetna.

It’s just ridiculous.

G in his “big boy” chair 🙂

We woke up today to a different world; and one that is sadly the same

Barak Obama is our President Elect, which is good news; and the passing of CA Proposition 8 (Eliminates Right of Same-Sex Couples to Marry), which is not.

I am a peaceful and optimistic person by nature. I will insist on seeing the good in a person until they disappoint me. I want to believe in the good in humanity, and measures such as this just hurt me in a deep place.

S and I have talked about our feelings if G comes out as a homosexual man down the line. I admitted to my husband that it would make me sad. Not sad because he’d like other boys, but sad at the difficulty, prejudice and possible violence he would face during his life. No parent wants this for their child. I had hoped that Prop 8 would show me that the world we live in was tolerant, accepting and loving. Today I saw the opposite. It makes me very, very sad. I love my child and whom he decides to share his first kiss with will have no impact on that love.

I had just wished that others would feel the same.