Musings of a Marfan Mom

While I’m at the National Marfan Foundation conference, I thought it would be fun to republish some old posts. This post is from October 17th, 2009.

Hello. My name is Maya, and I have a thing for pumpkin patches.

I suppose “a thing” might be putting it mildly. To me, they are the symbol of fall. They get me in the mood for baking and crafting and cocooning myself in sweatshirts, blankets, and big winter coat until spring. But really, I LOOKED FORWARD TO HAVING A BABY SO I COULD TAKE HIM/HER TO A PUMPKIN PATCH FOR PICTURES.

You can ask Mark. From early on in my pregnancy I would daydream not about baby’s first Christmas or first birthday, but about the first time we’d take him to a pumpkin patch for pictures.

Be honest: are there many cuter things than a little baby in fall clothes with pumpkins?

Exactly.

I carefully chose our outfits for our first family pumpkin patch excursion, so we could use a picture or two for our Christmas card. I even brought an extra outfit for Menininho, to placate Mark. I practically trembled with excitement the entire 45-minute drive. The patch did not disappoint. There were rows of affordable pumpkins of all shapes and color, Indian corn, food booths, hayrides, corn mazes, and a live band.

The best part? Menininho’s obvious love of the pumpkin patch:

While I’m at the National Marfan Foundation conference, I thought it would be fun to republish some old posts. This post is from September 27th, 2009.

Last night, I had the opportunity to see Brad Paisley in concert and let me tell you, he was amazing! As evidence of his love for me and the fact that he’s a patient man, my husband agreed to accompany me. Saying “Mark isn’t a country fan” is kind of like saying “Hugh Jackman isn’t a bad-looking guy”; a gross understatement.

We were able to get to the amphitheatre with enough time to find a decent piece of lawn before the first opening act. Jimmy Wayne (who I’d never heard of) was about as country as Case Western, which I guess is why Mark liked him. I felt bad for the guy…he knew no one was there to see him. Dierks Bentley was the second opener and he was excellent. My only gripe was the length of time it took to clear and re-set the stage between sets.

Now rest assured, we weren’t bored. Because we couldn’t see the stage too well from the lawn, a large screen was erected. During the set changes, a cell phone company sponsoring the concert offered audience members the opportunity to text them and have their texts appear on the screen for everyone to see.

“Hey, give me your phone!” Mark commanded at one point. “I am going to send a text!”

A few minutes later he proudly pointed and read (shouted) aloud as his message ran across the screen:

Yee-haw.

While I’m at the National Marfan Foundation conference, I thought it would be fun to republish some old posts. This one is from February 26th, 2009.

Today was my first official day as a Stay-at-Home-Mom (Mark’s first day back in the office).  Menininho decided to make commemorate the occasion by making me the victim of his first Epic Spit-up. The benefit of this? The mess was so massive I had to (got to!) shower. It was awesome. And since Mark was already up, he decided to commemorate the occasion by making us pancakes. Mmmm!

How did I decide to commemorate this big day? By acting like the first time mother that I am. Mark hadn’t been at work more than an hour when, during Menininho screaming (he had a screaming kind of day today), I saw big white chunks all over Menininho’s tongue. Knowing a little bit about thrush, I became concerned. It had been awhile since he’d eaten, the chunks definitely looked like cottage cheese, and they covered his tongue. So, I called the pediatrician’s office and the nurse who answered said to bring Menininho in. This meant I had to call Mark out of work to come pick us up, since my car won’t arrive until Monday.

Our pediatrician is so busy she pretty much only does well-baby visits, so we saw another pediatrician in the practice (but I knew that’s how it worked before we picked the practice). Anyway, you know that Huggies commercial where the dad is changing his son in the hotel room and the baby boy sprays the ceiling like a fire house? Well, I always thought that was an exaggeration. Until I had Menininho. Changing his diaper on the scale, he got me, himself, the scale, the table, and possibly the nurse. That’s my boy! 😉

Now of course, by the time the doctor came in to see us, the big chunks on Menininho’z tongue were gone. The doctor kindly informed me that 1) thrush is on the sides of the mouth, not the tongue and 2) thrush doesn’t wipe away. Basically, Menininho didn’t swallow some milk after the feeding and a half hour later it had curdled on his tongue. I am really hoping that I did not become the joke of the day for the break room. I also felt terrible for having called Mark out of work for that. At least he was able to go back for the rest of the day.

Moral of the story? Um, I don’t know. I thought it would be Google image illnesses before calling the doctor, but then I Googled “baby thrush” tonight and it looked a lot like the curdled milk sooooo, yah. Oh well.  Chalk one up for experience.