Chez Thomas pour pour le dîner et le divertissement

Yes, I gave Miles feta cheese.  And yes, he ate a crumb or two.  Though Greek Salad is what hung my moon, I am willing to share with the little man.  We're still following a gluten-free diet, but we're giving another shot at dairy.  Those "albino worms" which Jesse refers to are shreds of mozzarella cheese.  The fluffy green piles are field greens, and the green logs are asparagus tips.  The red disks are tomato slices, and the red logs are red peppers.  Kernels of corn are also splayed about the tray.  Of this bright and interesting foods presented, Miles swallowed about 4%.  The albino worms were the clear winner.  Obviously, with a name like that, how could any kid resist it?  The undisputed loser, corn.  It was used as bait for the dogs.  Miles would drop a piece or two to lure his fur siblings over, and then he'd try to snatch their ears.  Resourceful little guy.      

Peut-être si je lui servais la nourriture normale, il pourrait manger plus. Je m'inquiète qu'il meure de faim si le weirdness continue à apparaître sur son plateau… Quoi qu'il en soit, bonne nuit! 

So much to say, not enough dadada's to cover it.

Pre-bath time jollies.  You may notice that my son can be quite loud.  Very, very loud.  

And you thought I was weird before...

Miles is doing great today.  The incision site is beautiful, though I think it's a bit on the tender side.  He was fussier than usual, and he kept swatting at his bandages.  I told him that those wild arm actions would only make him madder.  But did he listen to me?  Noooooooo...

Now for something completely different- I just spent 15 minutes on Ben & Jerry's website making up new favor suggestions.  I wound up there as a result of a husband and wife "discussion" on whether or not B&J ever made a plum flavored ice cream.  Wife ate crow and continued to research bizarre flavors.  Found out they tried to market a sour cream and onion flavored ice cream with potato chip bits added.  My submitted suggestions were way tamer and (maybe) more appetizing.  Here's just a few of more ideas:

1.  Sunset Smoothie: pineapple, orange, and raspberry sorbet swirl

2. The Baby Boomer: chocolate malt ice cream, peanuts, marshmallow bits, and caramel swirl

-optional formula includes chocolate bits shaped like Neil Armstrong and Jacqueline Susann 

3. The Ten Pin: vanilla ice cream and chocolate balls...like a bowling alley in your mouth (though that sounds a bit gross but it won't smell like cigarette smoke and nachos)

4. The Preggers: (I seriously submitted this, and I would totally try it) peanut butter ice cream with bacon bits/ pickle topping optional (and I included the bit about the pickles)

-I'm fairly certain that my grandmother (50/50 shot you'll guess which one) used to feed me peanut butter and bacon bit sandwiches- and I really dug them if memory serves me correctly. However, this could be a stemming from a sodium-induced hallucination, which would have resulted from eating said sandwiches over a short period of time.  This probably sounds like the grossest combo ever, but I swear to all things salty and artificially colored it tastes great (and it's less filling).  That's unless I've been PB 'n' BB coma for the past 23 years, and I am not actually typing right now.  It's like Descartes meets a Stuckey's truck stop- or Channel designs an orthopedic shoe.  Ignore me, it's the bacon bits talking...  

I am now going to dedicate a minimum of 15% of my waking hours (unless I am not actually awake due to the childhood diet of peanut butter and bacon bits) to craft new and ridiculous Ben & Jerry's flavors.  What this world really needs is a heaping scoopful of Frank Sinatra's Super Scotch Swirl or the CIA (crazins in amaretto ice cream).  Wait, I'm on a roll...

-the chocolate-covered Beatles

-Mama Cass' ham 'n' cheese surprise

-The Apocalypse Now or Laters- a fruity blend of sour and sweet with a side of Martin Sheen

-The NPR/PBS: Nougat, Peanuts, Raisins, Pecans, and Brownie Sundae- sprinkled with hard-earned sweat crystals from the tireless pledge drive volunteers

I really should have gone to bed 47 minutes ago.

Mommy 'n' Miles

Under wraps- Little Man with his new bandages

Happy Birthday Dada!

Golly Gee- Guess Who's 33?  It's Dada, and he still plays with toys!  Forever young... if only we were all so lucky!

If only I could hand out merit badges for eating my food...

To know me is to know my flaws.  A) I can't cut hair.  Just ask my bangs.  B) I couldn't cook my way out of a crock pot.  Even Oodles of Noodles turns into a culinary ropes course, a course where my laces are tied and my eyes are covered.  C) I will run out of letters during this self-deprecating exercise if I am honest.  

So Jesse already knows that I stink worse than garlic when positioned behind a spatula.  Miles, as my loving and devoted son, has tried to keep his taste buds open.  However, we've reached then end of the road...

"You want me to eat what!?!"
"Okay, mommy.  For you, I'll try anything."

"That meal is a deal breaker.  Get me outta here!"

Momma's little tough guy

Sometimes I feel like this kid can't catch a break, medically speaking.  Today, we had a very quickly scheduled visit to a pediatric dermatologist.  Miles had a bothersome, rapidly budding growth on his forehead.  Two weeks ago, his pediatrician diagnosed it as a cherry angioma.  However, this weekend on an impromptu visit for strep throat and heat rash, a different pediatrician diagnosed the bump as a pyogenic granuloma, which I'll call PG from here on out because that name is way too hard to keep retyping.  Unlike a cherry angioma, a PG will not leave on its own- it must be removed and done quickly.  The PG, not a day after its correct identification, changed colors and continued to leap in sized.  So in just a day, we were able to schedule an appointment for its removal- amazing.  

This morning Miles floored all present when he calmly endured the entire appointment with only local anesthesia.  That is not my kid- my son needed four arms and forty-five minutes for a sloppy hair cut.  Today, he barely flinched during the (traumatic for mom) procedure.  From the needles to the blades to the cauterization- Miles was cool and collected.  I, however, flashed every shade of queasy green known in the color spectrum.   

We now watch the site for bleeding, which should be too bad because he was zapped closed, gross but effective.  Also, the bump was sent off to the pathology lab.  PG's aren't typically cancerous, but it's best to be certain.  I'm keeping only one set of fingers crossed- for negative path results  and for keeping the PG form reoccurring.  If the bump, which is actually a rebellious blood vessel, does show up- then we go back to the same doc for the same procedure.  I will remember to look away next time.  

So far, his bandage looks fantastic.  We won't have to change it until the morning as long as it keeps looking this good.  

Second Servings

Should I be concerned that he's house hunting without my consent?  That looks way out of our price range.  Perhaps the wee one has a part-time job he's kept on the sly.  

I couldn't resist.  He took down the last bits like a puppy.  Lord knows he's got two great role models for learning the ins and outs of food lapping.  I'm willing to bet that his first real word is going to be "Woof!"  

Lazy Sunday

If you recognize "The Last Word," then you've definitely been stuck behind a car doing 10 mph down Jamestown Road.  And you've probably ordered extra house dressing to go with your bread ends.   

As promised, Jell-O-Stravaganza

A family that Jell-O wrestles together stays together.  Isn't that what they always say?  And by "they" I guess I mean frat guys.  Regardless, Saturday night was a sticky and sweet adventure in refrigerated desserts.  The only side-effect to the full immersion technique was that Miles' feet were tinted red, even after the scrub down which he and the tub were given.  

Instead of spending time in my on-line class...

...I have found a much better use for the computer!  Sometimes when Miles seems like he can't get any cuter, he does something like this, and my heart melts all over again.  This is just a tiny, microscopic slice of our lives- so multiply his smile by a thousand, and you'll have his typical day.  Ahhhh, I adore this child.  

Just wait until I post the Jell-O (first ever encounter with the wiggly-giggly treat) pictures from tonight.  Absolutely insane- he had to eat it in the tub.  His "exploration" was even too much for me to handle! Another first was also had tonight- the shower spray.  I had to hose little man in order to remove all of the Jell-O.  If I hadn't he would have stuck to his crib sheets.  : )       

Good Vibes request

If you've got ten seconds to spare tonight, please send some good vibes my way.  I've got a meeting tomorrow that will pretty much decide my career path for the immediate future.  Sometimes being an adult really stinks.  I'd trade all my chicken nuggets for a weekend of blissful teenage angst.  And I thought life was hard when I was 16- ha!  

(However, I wasn't a mommy then.  And being a mommy is the best thing that has ever happened to me.  So once again, Miles is my platinum lining. Ahhhh...)  

Boys and their toys...

Eventually all of these rubber snakes will lead to one fantastic home theater system.  Until then, I must watch my beloved husband battle the endless yards of brightly colored "strings."  Pulling wire is an art form.  In our house, it has turned into an abstract art form.  Entangled above is a true perfectionist.  To his credit, I will post the gloriously organized, well-trimmed, and neatly tucked final product.  Additionally, I look forward to chin drool puddling in my lap as I soak in HD Bravo! via digital cable.  Until then, I can snicker at the infinite electronic stress test which is living in our closet.  Luckily, the door is high enough for me to slide snacks under for Jesse.  He's been trapped in there for over a week.  (Luckily, R. Kelly is trapped in there, too.  He's been pitching in.)     

A small slice of weird- my gift to you : )

This doesn't count as an official post, and I owe you many lovely updates- including the sweetest Mother's Day with little man and Dada.  However, I've got three minutes before I am officially late, so I will share a three minute story.

So, I've got this really cool iPod alarm clock, which is on strike.  It's hit or miss these days as to whether it will go off.  I'm chalking this problem up to operator error; perhaps the device is out of my approved coolness zone.  Strong possibility.

Anyways, the only reason I woke up only 20 minutes later is because I was dreaming that I was going into labor.  Real, things are moving and stretching labor.  Turns out I drank too much water at 2 am, and this was my body's way of getting me moving.  It worked!

And in true Anna Thomas dream fashion- it was chock full of weird details.  Apparently, I was out obscure magnet shopping, during which I found a magnet of a cheetah wearing John Travolta's white disco suit, when the pains struck.  At that point, my belly ballooned, and I rushed to the nearest Italian restaurant.  Seemed like a good place to have a baby.  This was a classy place- they tied the end of all the rolls of toilet paper into bows.  I think I had a conversation about this with my mother.  We decided that I should go to the hospital, that I wouldn't make it back home.  We were somewhere in central Florida- a very rural setting with only obscure magnets, an Italian restaurant, and a near-by hospital with dental chairs and not beds.  Whew!  

I'm now 4 minutes late, but I just had to share this dream with you.  And the cautionary tale here is... don't drink a bottle of water at two am unless you are using your bladder as a back-up alarm system.  If this is the case, then chug-a-lug and brace yourself for weird dreams.  

Snip. Snip.

Of all the moments to document with the camera, I didn't photograph Miles' first haircut.  I couldn't; there weren't enough arms in the house.  And I certainly couldn't entrust the dogs to cut in a straight line.  Sadly, they might have done a better job than me, aka Mommy Scissorhands.  There was no nicking or nipping, but one ear gets a lot more air than the other one.  

The snipping happened late yesterday afternoon.  We started on the front porch but were chased away by a sudden rainstorm.  The session ended in the bathroom, with Jesse holding Miles in a pretzel lock, and me, twisted in the opposite direction, doing by best to freehand a bowl cut.  

When tussled, his new 'do isn't bad.  It's one of those styles that requires "product."  In this case, "product" is either spray-in de-tangler or water droplets.  And my souvenir of the experience, a sandwich baggie with a few tiny tendrils which are splayed out in a static cling frenzy.  I don't even have a large lock which to tie a satin blue ribbon around; isn't that the tradition?  The best snips were caught in the rainy breeze and sent to pad some lucky bird's nest.  I hope that bird appreciates the 14 months of tender shampooing, combing, and brushing his new siding received prior to its delivery.

Miles is looking older.  Now that he got the hair cut, guess he's off to get a job.  Luckily, we know that he's going to be a donut tycoon.  Remember the shirt prediction?  If only those shirts came in my size; I could use a little career direction right about now... obviously, we can rule out baby hair stylist.  You'll see why soon enough.       

Beth & Nick's Big Day

Jesse and I spent our first weekend away from Miles; we were just outside of Richmond for Beth, my first ever friend (26 years and counting) and Nick's wedding.  Beth is more like a sister than just a friend.  Her parents had a large part in raising me, and we determined that I was a "spirited" child when I was younger.  Not bad, just spirited.  Anyways, it was an absolutely gorgeous location, set against the Swift Creek Reservoir.  Rain was scattered throughout the morning, but it wandered off right before the ceremony.  You can see the clouds leaving in the first pic.
The wedding party- Beth and Nick in the center.  Beth's sister Rebeca is to her right, and her brother Brian is to the far left.  I'm 3rd from Beth's right, in between two other longtime friends, Kristen and Lisa.
The Beautiful Bride's beautiful hair.  
Beth's bouquet- pink and black were the colors for the wedding.
A final group shot.  Beth, I promise I will make copies for you!!!  Scout's honor.  See you soon!