The most wonderful little girl

I know all mothers think that their children are the greatest, but all the others are just sadly mistaken. (Kind of like when I was little, I pitied all the other kids I knew, because I though it was sad that their moms weren't as good as mine. I knew some had ones that were better than most, but I knew I had the best). I really do have the most wonderful little girl. She is so funny and cute and comical and precious.

And what a girl she is with all her accessories now! Yesterday, we were at the mall (shocking!) and Rebecca had a wonderful time walking around in the ladies' department. She looked at so many social event dresses and analyzed all the details of sequins, beading, buttons, etc. In Baby Gap the other day, she picked out a dress that she liked. We weren't even looking at it, but she grabbed it, hanger and all and started checking out every detail of the flowers on it, fingering the buttons, turning it over and ooohing over it.

Ramy found out on Wednesday that he is going to be transferred to Pomona Felonies - YAY! As of May 19, he won't be driving 115 miles a day anymore. Instead, he'll be 5 minutes from work again. (He says he is going to tell them it is a hardship for him because I'm going to be working in Pomona and will be wanting him to have lunch with me all the time. ha ha ha, so funny).

We had a great visit with my mom. She arrived a little later than expected on Wednesday night, but we still made it to the Cheesecake Factory for dinner. Rebecca spotted her coming down the escalator and was reaching for her within seconds. She was attached to her like a little spider monkey for much of Grammy's visit. Thursday morning, Rebecca, my mom, and I had breakfast at Mimi's and visited our cousin Linda in Redlands and had lunch with her. We stopped by Gymboree for open gym on the way home. Ramy grilled steaks for us that night, and I roasted potatoes, and we watched Juno. Friday morning we went to Rebecca's Gymboree class and then picked up Ramy and headed into L.A. to go to the zoo. Rebecca loved it! The flamingos might have been her favorite, but she loved pointing at everything:



We ate at one of my favorite Italian places for a late lunch - Louise's Trattoria - and then had a late dinner with a very hyper toddler at Red Robin. Rebecca was wild with excitement and was running around and showing off...until she crashed and fell asleep on my shoulder! Saturday, Ramy took my car to get a new remote keyless key done for it (a royal ripoff, because both my keyless entry keys broke, as did my mom's to her Accord). Then he took the truck to be serviced, and we picked him up and had brunch in Claremont and walked around there for a bit. We went shopping and hung out at Victoria Gardens and had dinner at California Pizza Kitchen. Sunday morning, we went to mass and then to breakfast at Mimi's and to dinner at Black Angus (or Black Anus as my so-couth husband calls it). Yesterday, my mom and I took Rebecca to the doctor for her ever-worsening allergies. They put her on Zyrtec and are going to recheck her in 2 weeks and will then probably refer her to an allergist for allergy testing. Last night, we had dinner at BJ's, and then I took my mom to the airport this morning for her flight back. Rebecca cried when we left this morning, which is unusual for her - she is usually as happy as a clam with Nanny Rebecca. I think she knew my mom was leaving, and Rebecca is so attached to her Grammy. Rebecca shows so much love and affection - she gives kisses and hugs and pats faces spontaneously with the most adoring and affectionate look on her face. So, so sweet, and her Grammy is most assuredly one of her favorite people.

So it was back to the grind today. Next week is my last week at Chaffey. I have three more weeks at UofR, and then I'll be finished with my college counseling center stints. I have really enjoyed these sites, and I will miss them. Hopefully I'll be back at a university counseling center for internship though! I am looking forward to being done with my supervision for Chaffey after next week. My supervisor is known for crucifying people on their end of the year evals, so I don't know what to expect from her, particularly since I think she is annoyed I am not staying. Oh well. I have a meeting with my research advisor and the director of the UofR counseling center next week to nail down some details for my dissertation. I'm hoping it is going to turn out to be an even simpler project than I had thought, but we'll see! Even though I'll be finished with my Tuesday stuff next week, Nanny Rebecca will still keep coming, and I'll start devoting that day to my dissertation. I've gotta get my comp written and then get my proposal and IRB proposals done.

That's my long update for the last few days. My little precious girl is trying to decide whether her Zyrtec is making her sleepy or not. I'm voting for yes, but she isn't as convinced!

Please dahling, no pictures

Rebecca has a new love of accessories. In addition to her love of purses and bracelets, she also loves sunglasses and hats. A girl can never have too many accoutrements to any outfit!

Enthusiasm

Rebecca does *everything* with great enthusiasm, whether it is taking a bath, watching one of the dogs eat its dog food, or pulling all of the items of clothing out of a dresser drawer. As I type this, she is sitting at my feet and is surrounded by the stack of Ramy's business cards that she has somehow absconded. A few minutes ago, she came out of the guest bathroom carrying the (thankfully empty) wastebasket. She presented it to me with enormous pleasure (and I rewarded it by exclaiming, "Thank you!" and she trotted off with a huge grin to find something else to get into.

Grammy's coming!

This weekend went by so quickly! Friday morning, Rebecca and I went to Gymboree. She had a great time and finally participated in the log rolling activity. She had so much fun and was so excited by the bubble activity and the parachute activities. She was jumping up and down and clapping her hands, and then she ran over to me an d gave me a hug. It was the sweetest thing. I did load after load of laundry while Rebecca took a very nice nap. Friday night, Ramy grilled skirt steak, and I made homemade chimichurri sauce, and we had steak fajitas. Awesome!

Saturday morning, Ramy hired someone to come weed our backyard. So now the hill is free of weeds. Saturday night, we ate at a new BBQ place, which was pretty good. Yesterday, we went to 7:30 mass and then to Walmart. We got breakfast at Coffee Bean. Ramy cleaned out my car, which desperately needed it. Then he took Rebecca to visit his mom, while I cleaned the guest room and bathroom. When they came back, Rebecca and I went to the mall for a bit, so Ramy could finish cleaning the house. Ramy grilled hamburgers for us last night, and then we watched Walk the Line.

Rebecca has discovered bracelets. There were 2 plastic bracelets that came with her Fisher Price purse. She hadn't paid much attention to them until Thursday or Friday, when she put the yellow one on her arm. Saturday, howver, she had fallen in love with the pink bracelet. She picks it up and puts it right on her wrist and holds up her wrist to look at it. She had to wear it dinner with us Saturday night and out and about with Ramy on Sunday. She has also re-discovered her love of pears. Now she loves eating slices of pears, whereas she used to love her pear puree. She also made an enormously disgusting mess out of some mango yesterday. This child eats more than you can possibly imagine she can hold.

This morning, she has been a busy little bee. She watched Little Einsteins (I love that show - anything that talks about Guiseppe Verdi as though toddlers know him personally and teaches them about music notes has to be ok for 15 minutes worth of tv) while I showered. Then she ate a whole regular-sized pancake (whole grain, made with mixed berry puree) and some cottage cheese. Now she is playing with Lambie and singing to him. Someone is coming at 11 to buy her exersaucer. I listed it on Craigslist, because she doesn't really play with it any more, and I don't want to try to store it in our garage. By the time we have another child, we'll be living in Tennessee, and it definitely isn't worth trying to store it and move it. It will free up space in the living room too.

My mom comes for a visit this Wednesday evening. I actually don't have to go to Chaffey tomorrow, because the Health Center is closed. So I'm going to Loma Linda to do some more testing on my neuropsych case and to work on my dissertation. U of R is off this week between their spring semester and May term. So it will be an easy week for me.

I don't wanna

I don't want to go to Chaffey this morning! The good thing is that I only have four weeks left there before they're out for the summer. U of R has finals this week, is out next week, and then they have three weeks of a May term. So my college counseling center days are numbered (at least for this year). It will probably be crazy from now until the end - lots of test anxiety people come in, plus those who have held it together until they are out of energy, time, and coping skills. Not to mention that the Axis II (borderlines, narcissits, etc) seem to come out of the woodwork this time of year too.

Chillin' on a Sunday afternoon

It has been a GORGEOUS weekend here in Southern California. HOT! Yesterday and today, we had highs in the mid-90s! However, tomorrow will be back in the mid-80s, Tuesday's high will be 70, and then by Thursday, we're in the lower 60s again. So we had a brief taste of summer and then we're going back to early spring. Hopefully it will be nice when my mom comes to visit. I can't believe we're already midway through April - I know my CPA friends and family are relieved.

Friday afternoon, we decided to appreciate the warm weather by heading over to Rancho Cucamonga to the outdoor mall. We thought Rebecca might want to try out her Ergo carrier and go around on daddy's back, but no, she wanted to walk. I redeemed some more of my Gymbucks at Gymboree, got Rebecca's feet measured at Stride Rite and bought her some sandals there, bought a couple of things for myself, and met up with Ramy and Rebecca, who had met Brent and Matthew and had been riding around on the kiddie train together. Jinnie joined us for dinner at California Pizza Kitchen, and then we had dessert at some weird place named Beard Papa's that makes fresh cream puffs.

Saturday morning, we slept LATE! Ramy cleaned the floors while Rebecca and I played upstairs. I made Rebecca's and my travel arrangements to come to Tennessee at the end of May. Then in the afternoon, Vincent came out and met us and we ate dinner at Islands last night. Then we hung out at Borders, where my daughter thoroughly enjoyed being able to walk around and pull things off lower shelves. This morning, we went to 7:30 mass, got groceries, made breakfast at home, and hung out and read the paper. Ramy and Rebecca are downstairs watching the Lakers game, and I'm trying to get some words flowing on my comp paper. We're going to be grilling steaks and corn on the cob tonight - a sure sign that spring has arrived for us. This week, I'm making Ramy a Hawaiian Seafood Stew, and we'll also be having chicken fettucine alfredo (with homemade fettucine and alfredo sauce), fried pork chops with herbed potatoes, and chicken breasts stuffed with mozzarella cheese, sundried tomatoes, and pesto.

I got it!

On Tuesday, I got an early offer to work at Casa Colina next year. I was pretty excited just to get the offer (because let's face it, if there's going to be rejection going on, I want to be the one doing the rejecting, not being rejected). Although the uniform notification day isn't until next Monday, some sites will make an early offer to their top picks as a way of trying to ensure they get who they want. I like to have my ego stroked that way. But I still wasn't sure whether I'd be going there, because I was only going to take it if it was few enough hours and on the days I wanted. So I emailed the director, told her the limitations I had, and she was fine with it, so I accepted. So I'll be doing neuropsychological testing at Casa Colina next year. I'm psyched, because it is just 10 minutes from my house, including a stop at Starbucks. I'll be close to home (and Rebecca) and maybe even in the same city as Ramy when he gets transferred (Casa Colina is in Pomona, which is a neighboring city to Chino Hills, where we live). I've still got a couple of classes to take at Loma Linda, but mostly I'll just be also working on my dissertation. Hopefully, this will still give me a whole day to work on my dissertation where we have Nanny Rebecca taking care of Rebecca but I'm not working officially. So yay.

Today is Ramy's 9/80 day, so we're enjoying a long weekend home together. This morning, Ramy went with us to Rebecca's Gymboree class. True to form, she was a little slow to warm up, but then she loved it and didn't want to leave. She loves the slides, the parachute activities, the bubble activities, and the balls. She won't have anything to do with the activities where they are supposed to push a giant ball or a big rubber log, and she's also not a fan of the games in which they are supposed to run around in a circle.

After leaving Gymboree, we went to visit Ramy's dad, but when we got there, we learned that he was under contact precations, because he has been infected with c-diff. No way was I going to let Rebecca anywhere around that (and it isn't like we can gown and mask her anyway), so Ramy gowned and gloved up and visited his dad and then Rebecca and I came home. His mom came, so she dropped Ramy off at our house. Now, Ramy is taking a nap and Rebecca is playing, playing, playing. Hopefully, he will wake up soon with all kinds of exciting things in mind for us to do! It's finally warm! In fact, we're at 90 degrees right now! Apparently, we skipped spring entirely, because I was freezing at work this week in a regular long-sleeved shirt. We skipped the 70s and 80s and went straight to summer.

Sometime this weekend, I have to get to the mall to redeem my Gymbucks. After all, my child just doesn't have enough clothes. Ha ha ha ha ha. I also have to make Rebecca's and my plane reservations for our trip to Tennessee for my birthday. That's right, folks, I'll be celebrating the big 3-0 in Fayetteville, so anyone who wants to help me celebrate, come up with some great ideas!

Crazy baby

Sunday night

We had a really nice weekend together. Friday night, we went to Costco and ate pizza and then shopped at Best Buy, came home and watched a movie, etc. Saturday morning, I got up on the productive side of the bed and cleaned out my and Rebecca's walk-in closets and completely reorganized everything. Woo hoo! Ramy took Rebecca to visit his dad. His dad has been doing much better lately - he was trying to get out of his wheelchair, so they have re-started his physical therapy. So that's great news. After they came home, I bought Ramy some hot wings and we watched the UCLA-Memphis game. Then we went to Costco and bought all the staples we needed, and then last night we went to Rancho Cucamonga and ate at an Italian restaurant called Sisily (it really is spelled that way - I'm not misspelling Sicily). Ramy had a sweet sausage and pepper panini, I had pesto pasta and chicken, and Rebecca had ravioli. This morning, we made it to 7:30 mass and then went to Super Walmart and stocked up on the rest of the things we needed. Going so early, it wasn't that bad. I have many times sworn off Super Walmart here, because it is so crowded, poorly stocked, and the lines are so long. It's cheap, but just not worth it. Well today the store wasn't crowded yet and the line wasn't bad, but their produce still was pretty craptacular. I made scrambled eggs when we got home, and then we all took naps and I watched a marathon of Barefoot Contessa on Food Network. This evening, we had dinner at Ramy's cousin Jasmine's house. Jasmine and her husband Mark have a 6 year old daughter and a daughter who was born the same day as Rebecca. They had a good time playing together.

Friday!

So here we are at another weekend. It's been a good week for all of us, although I've had some really intense sessions with almost all of my regular clients this week, which left me pretty drained. The anniversary of my dad's death is tomorrow, and of course that is a sad thing to remember. Ironically though, it is more of a reminder of how much he had gone through the last months of his life, and I can't be sad that he doesn't have to go through all those things anymore. No complicated medication regimens, pain, skin tears, delicate balances of insulin, anti-rejection drugs, heart/lungs/kidneys, etc. But of course I also miss him so very much and wish that Rebecca would have been able to know him. There have been a few strange incidences with my dad's picture that make me think that, in some way, she does know him. And he definitely does live on in her! She has a lot of her Grandpa in her, but I feel so sad that Rebecca was cheated out of her Grandpa. Actually, she was cheated out of both her grandfathers, since Ramy's dad is still alive but not really the Grandpa he would have liked to be also.

The lady in the blog I mentioned in my last update had a successful transplant, so now she is beginning the process of recovery and living her life with her new lungs. I am reminded of my friend Stacey, her incredible faith throughout having CF and her brave battle to the end. I pray that Tricia will stay infection and rejection free and that she and Baby Gwyneth will get to go home soon. Their family is certainly inspiring. I felt very guilty about all the posts where I jokingly complain about our boring weekends and such. I should never take for granted how precious the mundane is, and I'm completely guilty of it. I am truly grateful to have my sweet wonderful Ramy, who I always say (jokingly but in sincerity) is a saint, and who seems to enjoy nothing more than hanging out with me and Rebecca. And Rebecca is absolutely the greatest gift who ever existed. She's so beautiful, smart, funny, and amazingly complicated and perfect. I'm so thankful she is healthy and thriving. I'm so blessed to have been surrounded by love all my life. My mom is such an amazing person, and I'm so blessed to have a great relationship with her and so much support from her. I am also incredibly grateful for my fabulous circle of friends. Although I'm an only child, I have the sisters of my heart who I don't think I could love more if they were my blood relations. And they're completely crazy and love and understand my craziness!

Wow am I waxing philosophical today or what?

I had an interview on Wednesday for a training site I may consider going to next year. I think the interview went well, although I have no idea how tough the competition is. We've never had an LLU student there before, and it isn't a captive site for us. Also, the only reason I interviewed there was because it is a good neuropsych site and it is like 10 minutes from my house! If I get the offer, then I will have to see how flexible it is, how many hours they want, etc. Mostly next year, I have to focus on getting my dissertation done, because I really don't need the hours to be competitive for internship, although I would like more neuropsych assessment experience. If I don't get it, then I won't be too disappointed - more time at home with Rebecca! And if it works out, it would be pretty cool to be in the same city as Ramy (planning that he is going to be transferred to hopefully Pomona this summer) and both of us be 5 miles from home and Rebecca!

Rebecca and I went to Gymboree this morning, and she has been sleeping since we got in the car! It wipes her out! She has a lot of fun there though. This afternoon, we're getting our new bundled digital cable/phone/internet thing installed. We're saving a lot of money to get more services, so that's pretty cool. If they come early, then we may go back to Gymboree for Open Play Gym. I'm sure Ramy will be home early and then we'll see what the weekend holds!

Prayers for an amazing family

I regularly read the Blog of a guy in North Carolina whose wife has Cystic Fibrosis. They have a precious tiny baby who was born at 25 weeks gestation (15 weeks early!) twelve weeks ago and who is still in the NICU at Duke. His wife has been on the transplant list for some time and at this very minute, is in the OR receiving a double lung transplant at Duke. As everyone who knows me knows, organ donation is a subject near and dear to my family's heart, and I also have a special place in my heart for CF patients, and I also feel a lot of empathy for any family going through a long medical ordeal. Having been both a patient in one of those ordeals and a family members during one of those ordeals, I can say that I think it is a harder thing to be the family than the patient. My heart really goes out to this guy Nate as he watches both his wife and baby girl go through such struggles. This family has an amazing love for each other and an unbelievable faith. So if you're reading this tonight, please send up some prayers for Tricia, Nate, and Baby Gwyneth, as well as all the medical people at Duke taking care of them.

If you want to read the blog I'm talking about, here's the link:

Confessions of a CF Husband