Last Sunday, the Driver family went to the Oregon Zoo. One day a week at OHSU, I work in the Hemophilia Clinic, and once a year, the Hemophilia Foundation of Oregon puts on a family day at the Zoo to get other hemophiliac families together for a fun day. You could say I “worked” a little bit on Sunday at the Zoo. I stood at our little table and talked to a few families about their kids issues. Anyway, it has been a long time since we’ve been to any zoo. It was a beautiful Sunday, and it will be one of the last sunny days we will have in Portland until it rains for the next 6 months. Just kidding, it doesn’t rain for six months, but it feels like it when we are in the middle of February. Anyway, the zoo animals look so sad in their cage. They look like they want to hide from everyone and just be in their wild kingdom. Some people say that supporting (or going to) the zoo is wrong because all of these animals are held in captivity and that they should be out in the wild. Others say that the zoo is a great place because the zoo offers the animals with veterinary care that they would not have received if in the wild. Miles got pretty freaked out on the train ride. Not sure what was going on with him because riding the train was all he could talk about. I guess once he got on the train, it wasn’t what he thought it was going to be. Beats me, and I’m the child psychologist!
Lila says, “Miles, pay attention to teacher daddy!”
Lila continues to says, “Miles, stop goofing off! We gotta learn our A B C’s!”
We recently took the kids to Ikea to buy a few “school” supplies. Miles loves coloring butterflies and choo choo trains, and he’ s been coloring on the hardwood floor lately. But our our poor backs are breaking hunching over on the floor coloring with Miles, so we decided to buy a table and chair set and an easel. Miles and Lila LOVE it.
The first picture of Miss Lila is a little funny with her chubby thighs sticking out of her outfit. We recently took her to her 4-month well-baby check-up. Lila is now 14.5 pounds and is 25 inches long. She’s in the 50th percentile for height and weight, but in the 75th percentile for head circumference! I guess she’s got a big noggin’. They gave her 3 shots that day- Hep B, Diphtheria, Tetanus, Pertussis, Influenza, pneumococcal conjugate, and Polio vaccines. Thank goodness the pharmaceutical companies bundle these vaccines (3 vaccines in 1 shot), but boy oh boy (girl oh girl, I should say), is it really necessary to get so many vaccines at once? I heard a recent research that stated that a child can receive as many as 36 vaccines by the time they are 2 years old. WOW! That’s crazy. Luckily, the side effects of vaccines are pretty low. Both Miles and Lila get a high fever for about 36 hours and Miles throws up at least once.
Several days later…the girls were off to the Bay Area. How did I solve my dilemma about ‘What to do about Miss Lila?” Many of you gave me some great suggestions; some were very funny and most were helpful. Let’s see…the grandparents suggested that I FedEx Lila to Seattle or Arkansas, one friend volunteered to drive up from Fresno to help me with Lila, and most said to pack light and take Lila with me…and so I did…I packed light and took Lila with me and I’m so glad I did. Overall, Lila did great on the trip. The only night she fussed was the night of the wedding. It was pretty loud and crowded at the reception. For me, it was great seeing my old friends from graduate school. Being in the Bay Area this weekend reminded me how much I love and miss this place- perfect weather and great restaurants and shops.
The wedding was beautiful. Katherine, the bride, was stunning and the groom looked handsome. Selfishly, I am so excited that Katherine and Yee-Min are married because it’s one step closer to having children. YAY! I don’t know Yee-Min very well, but I plan to get to know him better. Katherine is my old roommate from grad school- about 10 years ago. Katherine is one of those people who is incredibly smart, but she is not arrogant about it. I swear, Katherine can study for a test the night before and still get an A+. She also has a great memory. I never challenge her on anything because she can remember things down to what I was wearing! What I really love about Katherine is that she is a true friend. She has been there for me for almost every important step in my life. Katherine was at my bachelorette party, my wedding, Miles baby shower, and most recently, she came to visit us in Portland a few months ago while I was pregnant with Lila. Friends like Katherine are very hard to find. I’m blessed to have her in my life. It may sound silly, but Katherine is a gem and I hope Yee Min knows it. He must, he did ask for her hand in marriage.
It’s apple and blackberry season in the Pacific Northwest. This morning, we are going to pick some fruit for our breakfast…right in our own front yard.
We finally got around to finishing Lila’s room this past weekend. We bought her a crib and other essential nursery stuff. Miles picked out Lila’s butterfly-print bumper. He loves it so much that he wants to be in Lila’s crib now! Lila has been sleeping with us since she was a newborn. It was just easier to have Lila in our bed when I am nursing her, so we weren’t in a hurry to get her room done. I remember with Miles, we had his nursery done when I was around 27 weeks pregnant, but he didn’t actually sleep in his own room until he was about 4 months old. Anyway, Lila’s new room is so sweet. Her wall is purple colored with a Hello Kitty (of course!) wallpaper border. So the idea over the next few weeks is to transition Lila into her own bedroom. Jason and I are excited to get our king size bed back to ourselves. It’s hard having Lila in our bed because we have to sleep still. We are afraid that we may roll over her. I mean, it’s never happened with Miles or Lila, but you never know. Since Lila was three weeks old, she would wake up only once to nurse, but lately, Lila’s been waking up almost every two hours to eat! I am so tired at night that I don’t argue with her (well, it would only be a one sided argument anyway) and just give in to her whimpering. But then, during the day, she doesn’t eat because she ate all night long. I am hoping that by transitioning her to her room, she’ll sleep better (hopefully going back to sleeping through the night) and so will we. It sounds silly, but the other part of me is sad that she is transitioning into her own room. It just means that she is no longer a newborn and won’t be sleeping next to me. On the 4th of September, Lila will be four months old. I feel like she is growing up faster than Miles. I guess it helps that Lila is such an easy baby.
