Like Old Times.

Today we biked.

We biked from our house to the river levee, then uptown to Magazine and through Audubon Park where we stopped for Cassidy to play on the playground and have a snack. From there we went back towards the riverbend where we stopped for lunch at the Louisiana Pizza Kitchen, our favorite pizza joint. Then it was back to the river levee to head home.

We were gone about 4 hours total and did a total of 15.5 miles!

Cassidy did great and enjoyed waving to everyone we passed on our bikes, and blowing kisses to a lucky few! On the way home she was getting a bit restless, so we played games finding things while we biked... like red cars, or blue trucks, or birds, etc.

It was just like our old times of weekends spent biking, only better because Cassidy was with us! This reassured me once again that life doesn't have to come to a grinding halt because we have a child. In fact, our lives are pretty close to the same as before we had Cassidy. It takes a little more effort, planning, and a lot more flexibility (only 4 hours on the bikes so we could be home for nap time), but it's totally worth it! Maybe we're just lucky and it's still possible because we only have 1 child who pretty much just rolls with whatever it is we are doing. Maybe she just rolls with it because we've been taking her with us to experience new things all along. Either way, it makes me happy.

It makes me happy that we haven't lost our identities to our roles as parents;

we've just added to them!

Rainy Sunday Entertainment

Cassidy ended up making a trip to the doctor this week after all. 10.5 weeks between visits is the new record.

Diagnosis: Sinus infection. The great news is that her lungs and ears were clear. We got a prescription for 5 days of azithromycin which we started Wednesday.

Here's a look at our "sick" girl the rainy Sunday before we went to the doctor.

(When we started bike riding with Cassidy, I would count 1-2-3-GO! before I'd start riding which would distract her from her initial hesitance at being in the bike seat, which she now loves. Whenever we count now, Cassidy seems to think that "go!" is the number that follows 3. In fact, when she tries to count by herself, no matter what she's counting, she usually only makes it to 2 before joyously yelling "GO!")

You're probably sitting there saying, why on earth would you take this child to the doctor and say she's sick? Her cough continued to get worse until she was coughing every 10-20 seconds for over an hour in the middle of Sunday night (she never woke up, but I laid there listening to her cough and gag, and then had to get up to check if she was still breathing when she was finally quiet) and the first hour or two she was awake on Monday and Tuesday was spent gagging and coughing a disgustingly juicy cough.

(She's been saying "boppy" or "bobby" or something that sounds like that a lot lately. Sometimes she's asking us for whatever it is, other times just saying the word. I can't figure out what it is she's saying or what she wants, but on Sunday she spent at least 10 minutes running through the house shouting it. I'm hoping "Bobby" isn't the name of that little boy that kissed her at the park.)

So Tuesday Jeff had a marathon afternoon of doctor's appointments with Cassidy since she had an eye doctor appointment also. (She was screened for eye problems at daycare and it was recommended that we see an opthamologist). She's got an astigmatism in her left eye, which isn't horrible as long as she doesn't start favoring her other eye. We have another appointment in 3 months, and in the mean time, we are supposed to cover her right eye with a patch for 30 minutes a day. Haven't tried yet, but I have pretty low expectations for how that's going to go. I'm thinking we'll have to spend 30 minutes finger painting, eating chocolate, or doing something of the sort that Cassidy loves.

I also went to the doctor today.

Diagnosis: Sinus Infection.

Prescription: 5 days of Azithromycin

Hmm ... That's the last time I steal a drink from Cassidy's sippy cup when I'm thirsty while driving in the car. Though I suppose it could also have been the many times she sneezed in my face, stuck her fingers in my mouth to look at my teeth and tongue, or wiped her snotty nose all over my arm.

"Booo-burries": Cassidy Goes to Pollock

Earlier this month, we decided to take a short weekend trip to Pollock to visit my boss's parents, Arthur and Lovejoy.

You may recall that their home in Pollock is our hurricane sanctuary. However, we've never visited during stress-free, hurricane-free times. We knew it would be fun to hang out with Lovejoy and Arthur without the tension of possible home destruction hanging over us and we wanted them to get to know Cassidy now that she's developing into her own little person. So we drove up on Friday afternoon and stayed until Sunday afternoon.

The word of the weekend was Blueberries. There were still blueberries on the bushes up there, and we spent quite a bit of time picking them (one of us spent her time eating them right off the bush, with no more than 2 blueberries ever making it into her collection cup at any one time!). Lovejoy's homecooked meals were delicious, but Cassidy's continuous mealtime request was "Mo Boo0-burries." In fact, every time we went outside, she marched in the direction of those blueberry bushes to pick and eat more.

Sleeping friday night was a bit of a challenge, with me sleeping on the couch for part of the night, Cassidy sleeping in bed with Jeff from 1:30 until 4:30, when Cassidy decided it was morning. After reading several books, Cassidy and I hit the road for a stroller ride at 5:45, where she fell back asleep, and then I dozed on the porch after we got back.

Saturday night went much better, with a full night of sleep from 8pm until 6am!

We had two short outings to a park next to Arthur and Lovejoy's church, where Cassidy caused a Sunday morning commotion in her first church attendance. After going up to the alter to participate in the children's part of the service, Cassidy thought it was great fun to be in front of everyone rather than in the back row where we were sitting. She wanted no part in that anymore (until that point, she had been pretty well behaved). So Jeff took her into the "crying room" to entertain her. As the end of the service neared, we heard the pitter-patter of little feet making a dash up the center isle, calculator in hand, without Jeff. She had made a quick get away before Jeff could stand up while he thought they were having fun coloring. She stopped about half way to the alter, turned around and grinned at everyone. After a minute she, saw Jeff in the doorway, and marched back down the isle to him while I stood hesitantly in the pew, wondering if I should try to chase her down or just let her be. Everyone seemed rather entertained by it, and hopefully Arthur and Lovejoy weren't too embarrassed by our mischievous little girl.

Here's a short video at the park. I've been trying to catch Cassidy's little strut for a while now. This isn't as good as it gets ... sometimes she really gets that little bottom swinging back and forth, but it's pretty close.

Arthur and Lovejoy, Thank you for a wonderful weekend! We hope you enjoyed our visit as much as we did!