Sunday afternoon

Luca woke up devoid of fever, so we decided it was time for a public outing. We had planned on doing some holiday shopping at an arts festival that was going on, but they were rained out.





So - we broke out the umbrellas and Luca's rain gear and took a walk downtown to find some lunch. And some puddles.



I made fun of Lori's umbrella. You would have too.



Luca had fun splashing around and waving to the tourists on passing trolleys.





After a bite to eat at a local seafood place, we walked over to our favorite coffee shop.



It's a cool old building that started out as a silversmith's shop, and dates back to the 1700's.



Ida proved her love for Luca by letting him lick the fresh whipped cream off of her Americano.






It was a nice mid-day respite. Otherwise - it's been tantrum central today. He's testing us A LOT lately. Pushing limits, acting out and being much more difficult than usual. It has me worried, but a part of me knows that it's just his was of dealing with a baby on the way. I know we'll all get over this hump, but it leaves us emotionally and physically exhausted by the end of the day. Now that he's feeling better, I plan on getting us outside a lot this week. Fresh air, vitamin D and exercise will do us both some good.

The Day After

Luca's fever shot up to 104.9 on Thanksgiving night, so we stuck close to home on Friday.

He woke up fever-free and spent some time in the backyard, wandering around aimlessly in someone else's Crocs.







Then he retired to the sickie sofa and watched more episodes of Caillou and Dragon Tales than I care to admit.





He had a great Friday.

Turkey Day

We woke up and whipped up a couple of pies. Pumpkin. And, the usual, chocolate tofu.



We also made a sweet potato/pecan/brown sugar/maple syrup casserole. Big on calories AND yumminess.



Jr. still had a fever, but it was getting lower and staying that way for longer periods. We dosed him with Motrin just as we left for dinner at Lori and Ida's.



Dinner was just coming out of the oven when we arrived.




It was "serve yourself" this year.



And, the weather was nice enough to eat outside.







Debbie ate her annual bite of turkey. She's been a vegetarian for the past eight years or so - but has one bite of turkey every Thanksgiving. Always a momentous event.




After dinner, there were various attempts at digesting...





...including a tickle-fest with Lori's brother Mike and his kids...



...followed by mass zoning out, in front of the television.



I swear, if they had asked - Luca would have gone home with Mike and his family.



He started getting warm towards the end of the evening, which was our signal to head home. His fever flared that night, but he was happy that we went. So were we.

Word

Never, ever go back for Thanksgiving seconds if you are eight and a half months pregnant. Ouch.

Gobble, gobble.

Luca is on the fourth day of a fever. I hate these things. He recovers with motrin or tylenol for a bit - but, after three days straight, I am almost more of afraid of giving him too many meds than I am of the fever. We're on the sixth hour of this morning's dose and it's climbing again - but we are going to try to hold off for a bit and let the fever do it's job. In the late afternoon and the middle of the night, it climbs to 104.5 plus. We were all up at 3am this morning - a lukewarm bath, cold drinks and cool compresses. We let him watch an episode of Dragon Tales in the middle of it all - so he and I ate popcorn and watched his show while I plied him with liquids and damp wash cloths in the middle of the night. Hope he doesn't remember that one.

We debated about going to Lori and Ida's today - but we are going to go for it. We've been homebound for the last three days and we all need to get out. We've packed a bag with his sickie accessories - his stuffed jaguar, jammies, a few toys, movies, thermometer, motrin and cold drink concoctions. I don't think this thing is contagious and, once we dose him again, he's fine for quite a long stretch. I hope we are making the right decision.

My First Time Tagged

I've been tagged by my friend Susanna at I Find Myself a Mother.

Here's what I have to do...
1) Choose the 4th picture folder on my computer
2) Choose the 4th picture
3) Explain the picture
4) Tag 4 other people

I have a Mac - so I am going into my fourth "events" folder in iPhoto.



Pre-Luca, I worked pretty consistently with a wonderful company - Banyan Productions. I was with them for the better part of ten years as a location and studio producer for several different shows they produced. In this shot, I am on the set of The Travel Channel's Epicurious. That's the host - Chef Michael Lomonaco - in the background (presumably about to shake hands with the segment guest). It was the Hawaii show, I am pretty sure. I think this may have been a coffee segment, or a drink segment, or something. That's me, plugging stuff into the secret outlets behind the kitchen island on set. I was very pregnant with Luca at the time and I had just come back from shooting in Puerto Rico where an unfriendly flight attendant accused me of going into labor because I got up so many times to use the bathroom.

Okay - so - I tag...

Melissa from Vegas Baby - Oh, And A Toddler, Too.
Bleu from Soulbliss
Steph from All For the Love of You
Cecily from Uppercase Woman

Playground Monday

We got to the park really early this morning. At first, Luca was upset that his friends weren't there yet - but he changed his tune when he realized he would have the slide all to himself for awhile...