Mommy's Little Valentine

Happy Valentine's Day everyone! You'd think that Valentine's Day was a Kodak holiday instead of a Hallmark one considering how many pictures I have to post today.

A had to have some blood drawn this morning as a part of his immunization study. I was soooo dreading it, as I dread every doctor's appointment that involves my baby being stuck with needles (or anyone else, for that matter. When I was a kid, I used to cry when my brother and sister had to get shots.) Our nurses are fab, so I knew they would make it as easy on all of us as possible. Nurse Tiffany tightened a giant rubber band around his biceps and poked around at each of his arms to look for veins. She said that he had teeny tiny veins, but that the vein in his left arm was slightly less teeny than the one in his right, so that would be the unlucky arm of choice.

Nurse Tiffany smeared numbing cream on the injection site and gave it some time to sink in while she and Nurse Jennifer went to fetch the rest of the blood drawing paraphernalia. Minutes later, the two of them came in toting some odd, baby-sized backboard/papoose contraption that they use to strap him down in case he tries to move around. Oh Lord, they have to strap him down. I don't think my heart can take this. Possibly recognizing the pre-panic attack expression on my face, Nurse Tiffany assured me that it would be quick, that she and Nurse Jennifer have done this many times, that they will cuddle him and sing to him as they attempt to stab his teeny, tiny vein with that giant javelin of a needle, and that, on many occasions, the kid doesn't even cry.

I held my breath and held back tears as they strapped him down. As if that image wasn't torturous enough, Alex kept looking up at me with that darn furrowed brow of his, as if to say, Mommy, what the...? Oh, woe was me. I tried to avert my eyes as they unwrapped the needle and located his vein, but it was something like a train wreck and I couldn't stop looking. As Nurse Jennifer started a round of "The Wheels on the Bus", Nurse Tiffany moved the needle towards Alex's baby soft skin and I braced myself for the screaming and the crying and the WHY MOMMY WHY?

But...nothing. No screams, no cries, no bewildered or pained expressions. Just the sound of Nurse Jennifer's wheels on the bus going round and round. Alex remained perfectly still, staring at the nurses hovering above him until they had all the blood they needed and slid the needle back out. Oh, my big, brave boy! Not a tear shed! Apparently that numbing cream had done the trick (and I had to bite my tongue because the rude and socially inappropriate part of me wanted to scream, "WHY THE BLEEP DON'T YOU USE THAT STUFF EVERY TIME YOU STICK MY POOR LITTLE BABY WITH A BIG, POINTY NEEDLE?!!")

He got a big boy band-aid, mad props for being so agreeable, and, get this, a check for 50 big ones! I had forgotten that the study includes fifty bucks per blood draw, so it was a pleasant surprise, and Timothy and I had a laugh at the realization that Alex has now made more money this month than both of his parents combined. Yes, our seven month old is the bread winner in this family.

So after a busy and stressful morning (for me, anyway), we dropped Timothy off at school and Alex and I went home to have lunch and a nap.

In addition to fifty smackeroos, A scored a few other cool things for Valentine's Day. Grandma and Grampa B sent a package earlier in the week. A is always excited to get packages, although I don't think he really understands that there is something in them.

But there was something in this one. It was a journal that has a series of questions that you are to ask your child four times a year for the first eighteen years of his life. Questions like, what is your favorite color? What is your favorite food? What do you want to be when you grow up? Essentially, the concept is to interview your child throughout his childhood and document how his answers change over the years. Very cool and very me and I can't wait until his first birthday so I can fill some of the answers in (the first couple of years can be ghostwritten by the parents if the kid can't talk).

A second package from Grammy and Poppa arrived later in the week. This one was a box with fancy stickers on it and A had a good time opening and closing the flaps (completely oblivious to the fact that the gift was in the box, not the box itself). Grammy had sent a card, some cute pj's and a fuzzy pink dragon (with delicious wings) for Alex, some red "power" ties for Timothy and a home made Valentine box - including original 23 year old Valentines - from kindergarten, an awesome red necklace for me, and some chocolates for all of us to share.

When Timothy got home from school, he and Alex surprised me with cards and chocolate, a very sweet gesture that made me feel like a heel as I did precisely squat for either of them. I even made poor Timothy eat leftovers for dinner that he wasn't crazy about the first time around. I could blame it on being sick and having a young child to deal with, but...No, yeah, I'm just gonna blame it on that. I'll have to make it up to them somehow...

We spent the rest of the afternoon in mismatched shirts and pants, entertaining ourselves with sheets and toy boxes. We discovered that Alex loves to play in piles of sheets, but you'd never know it by the look on his face (although he might've been mad about the mismatched shirt and pants)...

We also discovered that he fits perfectly inside his toy box...

...that he's not claustrophobic when you put one on top of the other...


...and that Murphy likes playing in toy boxes, too...

...or maybe he was bribed with a treat to get in the box and "stay", a deal that becomes null and void if Alex tries to touch him.