September 19th, 2011 by Busy Mommy

About a month or so ago a friend asked me to babysit her 2 kiddos for a bit- I thought it might be a nice time to make a day of it and take all 3 kids to the Los Altos Rancho San Antonio Open Space Preserve- a short 1 mile “hike” in leads you to a cute little farm with animals and an open barn to eat lunch in.  We had just started our hike:when about a quarter mile into Nolan all of sudden threw up- it was this slow spilling up of thick…..okay I’ll stop there but I’ll just finish by saying I had no idea so much could come out of such a small person- anyway- it came out of nowhere- I didn’t know what was going on- the only time Nolan has ever thrown up was when he was about 1 month old.  We trudged in the heat back to the car to change his clothes and see how he was doing.He looked a little peaked and was a bit subdued but after I changed his clothes he seemed pretty perky so we decided to continue on.  I thought maybe something in the granola bar he’d just eaten hadn’t agreed with him or something.  We had a lovely time walking to the farm and took some fun pics along the way.

After this jaunt we started to head over to a sister’s house in Los Altos who has a saltwater pool.  Nolan threw up again while we were driving- again, went everywhere- his clothes, his carseat- uggggh.  We stopped the car and after I cleaned up Nolan I took him out of the car so I could clean the seat.  He started running around and acting totally normal.  I though maybe he’s getting car sick or something?  We continued on to the pool since his behavior was still peppy and normal. Finally we just had to finish the day with a stop at the ice creamery.  How can you not end a day like that with ice-cream?He threw up again that night and then I started thinking hmmmm….maybe he has the flu.  He did.  He threw up several more times in the ensuing week and he hardly ate anything during that time.  He lost a full pound and it was 10 days before he returned to normal.  After that it was like he became this voracious dinosaur eater- I could seem to feed him fast enough- every 5 minutes he was “hungry” and wanted a “snack”.

May 5th, 2011 by Busy Mommy

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h2-UpUEV0vE[/youtube]

Nolan and I had our first hike together in at least a few months recently.  We had a great time- he actually did a little of the hiking himself, and after a climb up 2 switchbacks at different intervals, he was pretty pooped and fell asleep almost instantly on my back for the rest of the hike. I can tell you- he is HEAVIER than when we last went.  And even though I’m now 27 lbs lighter than our last hike, it still felt HEAVIER.  And it certainly couldn’t be even partially due to my being out of shape could it???  It has to be all Nolan’s fault.

December 14th, 2010 by Busy Mommy

I always seem to get lost in Tilden park and never figure out where all the hiking trails are, even though I’m constantly consulting the park map, but that isn’t too surprising because Tilden is 2,079 acres, with a million windy driving roads. Today I managed to find a few!  Trails that is.  The loop I did today was fairly short, about 2.4 miles, and starts right behind the Brazilian Room (where, I might add, I was supposed to have my wedding until a tree brazenly decided to fall and cut off all the power…but that story’s for another post).  The trail starts out as Sibley Trail, and then I went right onto Wildcat Gorge Trail which meanders down aways and then alongside a picturesque stream and crosses two quaint bridges.  In no time at all you are hiking along Anza Lake (which I never knew existed till today) where you can apparently take your kids swimming in the summer.  Watch out though- there is a sign apologizing for “Swimmers itch” people sometimes get at Lake Anza.  Causes involve 2 key words- larvae and snails…didn’t get all the details but that was enough for me- they say it’s only uncomfortable, not dangerous, but seems a bit icky to me for the moment. I always keep hoping Nolan will get a full nap on my back, but usually he sleeps at most 20-30 minutes before waking up to be a nature observer along with me.  He was fascinated by all the ducks on Anza Lake and almost learned to say it!  Duck sounds remarkably like Dat so just a little stretch.  By the time we were almost done hiking he was finally pretty pooped and fell asleep.  I laid him down in the back of the car and drove off….just kidding!!!  I hung out, read, and ate my “after workout meal” while he napped for an hour.  That’s why I’m just loving my car these days- I keep the 2 left backseats down and it creates this little car-home where Nolan and I can hang out and where he is content to play when breaks are needed between errands and hikes.