He reminds me of.....

A little old drunk man, the way Forrest toddles around everywhere, with his favorite toy, a beer bottle his mom or dad has just finished with, (and no this isn't an every day, or even every week occurrence, and only happens under adult supervision.) It just makes him so happy though, the beer bottle that is. He grabs it up and you would have thought it cost mucho bucks. But yet this simple, (but potentially dangerous and influentially bad, yes I know, I know,) toy occupies his time for at LEAST 45 minutes.
So, to Forrest, when you turn 16ish, I'm sure these pictures will come up again. Maybe they'll even go on your wall. But I do want to remind you my dear, you enjoyed these beer bottles EMPTY! And eagerily allowed your parents to do the consuming. If only life stayed so simple...
so innocent....

and was always full of dirt, bugs, sticks, and mud...
and the occasional beer bottle or two!

Hamster Wheel

5:45 am, wake up from Forrest. Breast feed, put him down, take a shower as my alarm is set to go off at 6:05 anyways.
6:20-7:00 Collect Forrest's things for day care, sneak in a cup of coffee, make Forrest's food for the day including breakfast for the car, talk with the hubby.
7:20: Forrest wakes back up...happy baby! Get him dressed for the day, load him in the carseat. It's breakfast on the road for us. Anwser call as I'm still on call for work.
7:35-Out the door. Run over our dog's foot on the way out. Already an eventful day....more on that later. Ugggh.
7:35-8:45 Drive into town, drop Forrest off to his 2nd day EVER at day care. Chat, visit, enjoy the 3 other kiddies giving him love and saying hi, make my exit at 9:00

9:05-Step into office 5 minutes late, (as usual.) Start seeing patients. Hernias, gallbladders, hospital calls, varicose veins, ER calls, post-surgical patients, fellow employees with earaches, you name it, we got it.
11ish...sometime in this hour get another cup of coffee, pee, briefly think about my lack of water consumption, but is all lost with the chatter box vein patient, and my little lady with a cold pulse less foot. Coffee is never consumed. Manage to fill out lunch order for a salad and cheeseless personal veggie and chicken pizza, ( to counteract my COMPLETE lack of exercise this week, does this work...I think not).
12-2-no lunch, continue seeing patients. Manage to inhale the pizza while waiting on hold for a radiologist. Briefly think of Forrest and how he is doing, and about my poor dog's foot...and about pumping, that never happens today...
2-5:09-More paitents, some sent for urgent CT scans, more surgery scheduled, more phone calls, more urgent add ons, my morning coffee finally gets consumed with some oh so healthy Swedish Fish and a Reeses peanutbutter cup, more vein treatment, more pus, more admits, and thankfully more discharges over the phone. And on to the hospital to see our little lady with a bowel obstruction ripping out her IV. Calm talking. A sense of reason. A dash out the hospital to get to Forrest by 5:15.
5:17-A little boy happy to see his mama. And also super super TIRED.
5:25-5:40-Drive around the block, Forrest falls asleep. Go back to office, talk and see patient with a DVT. reassure.
6:00-Check on Forrest, still asleep
6-6:45- Call patients, pharmacies, doctors. Load up charts in car for people I saw on tues/thurs to dictate over the weekend. Worry about patient I have getting CT at hospital. Haven't gotten a call back. Check Forrest twice, still asleep, exhausted little guy.
6:45-7:50-Drive home. Talk on phone majority of the way to Dr. P, pharmacy, patient at hospital, give CT results, put on antibiotics, pain meds. Discuss with radiologist, call hospital to give orders.
Get gas, almost on empty. Forrest wakes up. Give him his juice and feed him cheerios. Try to breath and clear my head. Almost home.
8:00 -9:00-Home sweet home. Kiss husband who is still working on project. Find dinner for little boy who's schedule is TOTALLY WACKED by his crazy mama,, make some DELICIOUS spinach grilled cheese sandwiches with apple sauce on the side. Give him his dose of antibiotics for his ear infection. He sucks it down like the champ he is. Put him down to sleep. 30 minutes later, sucess, thanks to the hubby.
breath
breath
wine
Ugggh.
I can't say a day like today is good for one's health....
P.S.- Steele, our elderly dog, I think is okay. Alex has told me he is using his hind leg ever so much, but with a huge limp. Double ugggh.......

Dear ears...

This is Forrest Fulton, your owner. You may not understand me when I say, "BBBAAAA daaaa, ggooouuugh da da da, ahhhhhhhheeehhhhhhhhhh!!!!" But what I mean when I say that is that you ears are HURTING ME! I stick my fingers in you and pull on you because you hurt. I hit my head with my hands where it hurts, but it only helps a little. My mama keeps sticking this thing with a light on the end in my ears, I let her only if she lets me play with it later. It makes my finger light up and my mama is weird and keeps saying "Like E.T. Forrest!"
Please, ears, stop hurting! I do like to play with you and my mama and dad keep calling me Dumbo or Yoda, but you are hurting so much! Mama kept saying she was waiting to start me on something called antibiotics as sometimes you ears stop hurting without that stuff, and today she gave me a pink yummy tasting liquid! MMMmmmm. That is good stuff! Almost as good as avocado.
Anyways ears, please just give me a break. I don't know why you are on my head anyways, but I would really like to sleep....
Sincerely,
Forrest G.

A picture speaks volumes

So this pretty much sums up our week....
Note the 4 teeth, snot bubbles, and unhappy baby.
Yep, Forrest has caught his first cold. And this is a particularly nasty virus, one that was vile and virulent enough to cause his mama to get her SECOND, (yep, 2nd,) cold of this year...and this year is only a whopping 23 days old.
Hmmm, I hope this isn't a sign about our prospects for good ole 2010.
Between work, and an extremely tired and sick mama and dad, (cheers for dad who has had to deal with the brunt of it and NOT crash plates over his head....), this household is ready for a break!
Now chime our violins please....

And I do know, this too will pass......

The Big 10!

That's right, the little Forrest man is 10 months! Where did time go? He is already into the double digits. And walking( with some new kicks which I hope you notice!), talking baby garble, drooling, and cutting teeth like a little boy ready to grow up! He is a whopping 21.5 pounds, and is an incredible active dude. Walking, talking, popping three teeth, (with the fourth on it's way and crawling for the in between times he can't quite pull himself up. And has never been sick a day in his young life! Ain't that amazing! I had an awful cold 2 weeks ago and was sure he would catch the little virus's swimming along as I breastfed him, bathed him, and played with him. But no! He escaped AND Alex did as well! Makes me wonder how much the stress of my job is a factor in my sickliness, despite it's rarity.
All in all Forrest is as thriving baby, loving interaction, food, and friends! ( I know that sounds cheesy but it is the truth!) He starts a new daycare situation next week with 4 new friends that sounds fabulous! Wish us luck with these double digit months!

New Year's Resolutions.....

but....everyone needs some self improvement, so here we go....

1) Start riding my BIKE again...Finally! It's been too long. I'm currently a flabby weakling. That needs to change.
2) Complete a century ride with my dad in May, and do our local Tour of the Unknown Coast ride, also in May....though whether this will be 63 or 100 miles I am not going to say. That 100 miles is TOUGH. And frankly time spent training for that one is time away from my family. So...we'll just aim for the above for now.
3) No internet/blog/facebook time during my work days. There's just not enough time in my life for these things during the week. Especially if I need to get on my bike more. I really should give it up all together, but I do enjoy these things and with us choosing not to watch TV, it is my little entertainment outlet, so, during the week, bye bye.
4) Be the best mom, wife, and friend I know how to be.

That's it. I think all the above will make me happier overall and give me more time for family, for health...mental and physical, and therfore be better mama :-) Becuase that is what it truly is all about right now....

The 9 month cycle

9 Months....the time it takes to grow a baby, give or take a few weeks. And, this very important increment of time is how long I believe it took for Forrest to grow from a baby to a little boy. Sure, he's still very baby like in many ways, loves to cuddle, still breast feeding. But, he's more like a little boy. He explores like a little boy, plays with his toy cars and seems infatuated with how the wheels turn like a little kid, and interacts like a little boy.
This length of time has also tied us closer with friends of ours. The week they gave birth to their first son Rio, Alex and I conceived Forrest. And when Forrest was born 9 months later, they conceived their second little child, a girl. And this little baby girl was born just 2 weeks ago, around Forrest's 9 month birthday. So we have this cycle, three children born, who will very likely remain friends their entire young lives, all 9 months apart, yet Tina and I did not spend one day being pregnant together.
Now they say it's my turn again, my time to conceive my second to keep the cycle going.
And....
I say....
we're gonna wait on that. Let the cycle lengthen a bit...or a lot....Hopefully mother nature doesn't intervene...
:-)

A Glimpse of summer....

The other day, in the middle of rain storms, we took a hike down to the river and I let Forrest tromp around a bit, his first tromp on our beach since he became Mr. Mobile baby and started crawling and walking.
He had a ball...and gave me an inkling of what it will be like to have a mobile baby on the beach this coming summer.
Lots of sand playing, water splashing.....and.....lots and lots of life jacket wearing, parental attentiveness, and hopefully NO babies floating down the river...unattended!
In the depths of winter, the 100 degree heat of summer with river floats, a sandy beach, and toddler getting into all sorts of fun sounds pretty sweet!

The decade of changes

When I think of this past decade, and all that has happened in my life, it makes me exhausted...and proud...and again exhausted....
Many people have called this decade a bad one, one they are glad to see close. I guess it shows it takes all kinds of people to make this world go 'round because this decade...the decade of my 20's....was completely amazing.
Yes, it was filled with sadness, passing of close family members, and times I would rather forget. The decade started with the 20th year of my life, a back surgery that was huge, and even huger for a 20 year old who felt she was invincible. It then progressed with graduating from college, choosing a career path, attending PA school, and then starting my career. It included meeting the love of my life, marrying him, building a fantastic home on a beautiful ranch, and then, amazingly, having the most perfect little boy imaginable.
And this is just the big stuff.
It's really the small stuff that counts though.
The FAMILY that has been with me, loved me, supported me, every step of the way, through tests, financial struggle, sickness, and happiness. The FRIENDS who have amazingly taught me so much. Those friends at UCSB, who I rowed with, laughed with, felt sleep deprived with, and WON RACES with! And those friends I studied with, learned from, stressed with, and enjoyed life with. Those individuals are have made this decade a great one. I have moved around a ton these past 10 years. I have spent my 20's getting to know California in a great way, and have thankfully, made some lifelong friends along the way as well. Without all my friends and family, this last decade, the decade of my 20's, the decade where I can decidedly say I grew up, attacked life, at times got beaten down by life, and really found my happiness, would not have been one FRACTION of the greatness it is.
Not even close.
What an awsome year, and a terrific set of 10 years.
Thank you to all of you, my family, friends, colleagues, and everyone in between....
And to my 30's....to begin THIS year....
I welcome you! I am hopefull you will be a bit more stable....full of adventures....and a bit less stressful....and full of love, life lessons, and fun!
Happy New Year!

"All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth...."

....oh....and to crawl, and to walk.....and to really start reminding my parents I'm becoming less like a baby and more like a little boy EVERY DAY! And I want all this to happen within 4 days all near my first Christmas.
Baby success.
A first tooth has, (finally) come through. The first steps have come and gone, and crawling is now a favorite activity instead of a exasperating event....all at 9months.
Let the good times roll......