Flu Shots, The Flu and Prophylactics

I don't embarrass easily, but I got pretty embarrassed last month.
We just recently found out that Allison was pregnant. It was still early, she hadn't even been to the doctor for her 6 week sonogram.

Anyway, Ben was really sick. We took him to the doctor and it turns out he had the flu. How could he get the flu? He had the flu shot. Allison stayed home with Ben. I didn't really want her near him, you never want a pregnant lady to get sick. So I left work early to spend some time with Ben and keep Allison away from him. I wasn't worried about getting sick. I had a flu shot. Bring it on.

Ben and I had a lot of fun. We watched Toy Story 1 & 2 a lot. We played in his play room and ate ice pops.

Allison and I were worried that she would get sick, so she called the doctor. She left a message, then she had to go to a function for work. When the doctor's office called back, I took the call. Yikes!

I explained the situation. Here's about how the conversation went:
ME: My wife is 4 or 5 weeks pregnant, but my son has the flu. Is there anything she can take or do?
NURSE: Has she been to the doctor yet?
ME: No, she has an appointment for next week.
NURSE: Hmmm, so you say she's pregnant, but she hasn't seen the doctor yet.???
ME: (getting pissed) Yeah! 4 positive pregnancy tests, I'm pretty sure she's pregnant.
NURSE: I will fax a prescription for Tamiflu and keep her away from your son.
ME: OK thanks.
NURSE: I'll fax it over. She has to take this prophylactic until it's finished and make sure she stays confined in a clean room.
ME: Um..wait, what? How does she have to take this medicine?
NURSE: It's a prophylactic, it just means preventative. It's a tablet form. Just take it with a glass of water.
ME: Oh. OK, thank you.

Fast forward to two weeks later. Ben is better and we are at Allison's doctor appointment.
It's a new nurse since Allison's first pregnancy, so we did our introductions. Allison says "We spoke, remember, my son had the flu"

The nurse immediately turns to me and says "YES! I remember talking to you about prophylactics! You gave me a good laugh that day. Prophylactic Man." The rest of the appointment went well. I went to my own doctor's appointment right after that...and it turns out I caught the flu too! Thanks Ben.

Since I was home from work for a few days, I decided to look up the definition of "Prophylactic."  I thought it was a condom. who knew it had another or a real definition. It's been added to the list of words that have thrown me for a loop/embarrassed me. (see: Invalid ME: "What's an invalid motor coach?" Teacher: "You mean In-va-lid?" ME: confused stare.. )


Prophylactic

1. A medicine or course of action used to prevent disease.

2. A condom

What have you been up to?

It's been almost 2 months since the last update, I'm sure your wondering what we've been up to.

Ben has lots of teeth now. He has 4 on top, 4 on bottom and half a molar on bottom. If you look and feel inside his mouth, he has 4 more teeth coming in. Poor little guy has his hands in his mouth most days now, he's a little clingy too, but I'll take that over some of the other teething horror stories I've heard.

Ben has gotten pretty handy with a spoon & fork too. Just this morning, he fed himself a bowl of Cheerios & Milk. 

He tries to dress himself, he's good at putting on shoes (both mine and his), but only slip-on shoes. He hasn't quite grasped the Loop, Swoop & Pull technique yet.

He enjoys spending time with his best friend Molly. He does a dance while screeching when we first get home and then he walks her in the back yard.

 Like his daddy, Ben's favorite food group is ice cream. He's able hold an ice cream cone and eat it all by himself. I think some of it actually goes in his mouth, but a lot of it goes on his face.

 Some of it goes on his shirt too.

He found out how fun it is to play with a roll of toilet paper. Don't play with it too much buddy. You may need to spare a square one day.

During our last playdate, he got to drive a tractor, well he sat in the seat, then he went for a ride on the tractor.

 Most recently he's learned the joys of sidewalk chalk. He has tried to color with crayons and Crayola color magic markers, but he doesn't put enough pressure, so you can't see much. The chalk was gold!

 Is he a righty?

 Or a lefty?

 Either way, he's very messy.

  

 Good boy, he even helps clean up.

Ben takes lots of trips to Disney World with Grammy and Poppy.

Here are some of the best shots of their time and some new friend.

 

Ben says "Hold on Poppy, I'm dropping the hammer" (Days of Thunder...anyone???)

I have so many more pictures and stories, but not a lot of time to put them all here. Check back this weekend. I'll have more stuff posted.

Time to Play Catch Up

It's been a while since I posted anything, but this hiatus was actually planned. I had a secret to keep and I thought it would be too difficult to blog and keep my secret. Well, it's time to let the cat out of the bag and I can start blogging again too.

The big reveal: We're having another baby! That's right Benjamin is going to be a big brother. He's such a great little boy, he's going to be a great big brother.

Allison is 12 weeks pregnant. Her due date is October 5th.
Here are some sonogram pictures of Baby C 2. I have a few posts planned about Ben and some redesigning of the site to do, but let's just start with these pictures.

Baby C 2 - 6 weeks

 Baby C 2 - 12 Weeks

Disney World Day with Dad

My in-laws are my babysitters two days a week. They took a vacation so I needed to take two days off of work to look after him. Ask me how upset I was about that. (really not upset at all. I wish I could do it everyday)

On Monday it rained, so I took Ben for a haircut, then we watched some movies and played some games inside.

On Tuesday I took Ben to Disney's Hollywood Studios. It was a great day. The sun was out. It was about 70 degrees with a light breeze. That's winter in FL ladies and gentlemen.

We started off at the Little Mermaid show, then we ran across to the Playhouse Disney Live on Stage show, then we went to meet Mickey Mouse, then we had a pretzel and a Mickey bar, THEN we did some other stuff. It was a busy day.

Ben made a friend. A girl friend. A girlfriend! I'll tell you about it, but first I need to get something off my chest. What's the deal with Brazil? Does anybody work or go to school there?

I've had passes to Disney World 3 out of the 5 years we've lived in FL. EVERY TIME I go to Disney World, I see multiple groups of kids and chaperons from Brazil. EVERY TIME!

Anyway, back to Ben and his girlfriend. Ben was doing people watching from his stroller. All day he was looking around quietly. While we were waiting on line to buy a Mickey Bar, Ben saw a group of girls from Brazil. He started pointing to her, smiling and screeching. She came over and pinched his cheeks. Ben smiled and got bashful.

She was a little too old for Ben and a little too young for me. But I compliment Ben on his taste in women. Brazilian girls are....ok....I better stop now, take a look at the pictures of Ben below.

Top 10 songs of 2010

Every year since 2006 I have been keeping track of the number of plays each song on my iPod gets. At the end of each year, I turn the top 40 songs into a playlist. Last year and this year's list got burned to a CD so I can play them for Ben when he gets older.

This brings me to another topic. There are so many songs on my iPod with curses in them, it's ridiculous. I initially noticed this when I made a playlist for his birthday party. It wasn't a big deal, I found enough songs for a 3 hour party. But now that I pick him up from the sitter's house 4 days a week, I play a lot music for him, so it's becoming an issue.

Ben tries to sing along. He dances and most recently we taught him how to fist pump, so he does that too. He's not talking yet, but I'm afraid he'll hear an F-Bomb or other curse words in one of the songs and repeat it. So anytime a song with curse words come on, I skip to the next one. I do a lot of skipping.

Oh also...there are sometimes curse words in other languages in music. Here's a tip. If you don't know what the words mean, don't post them as your Facebook status. (a la - Girls, Girls Girls - Jay-Z: see below)

Anyway, here is my top 10 of 2010 for your enjoyment. What songs are in your top 10?

10. New York State of Mind - Billy Joel
If you're from NY, you have to like Billy Joel. I think there's something in the water.




9. Say Goodbye - Dave Matthews Band
DMB is awesome. This is one of my favorite songs by them. I still can't believe I've never seen him in concert. How is that possible?




8. Fix You - Coldplay
I used to think Coldplay was stupid, but then I saw them in concert and now I think they are awesome. This song is great.




7. New York, New York - Frank Sinatra
Another song about New York. Yankees fan or not, you grow up in NY, you know this song. It was played at my wedding and a lot this year in my car and office.




6. Girls, Girls, Girls - Jay-Z
I love girls, girls, girls, girls...I wanted to enter to this song at the wedding reception, but it was quickly vetoed. Still a great song though.




5. I Can Transform Ya - Chris Brown
Personally, I think Chris Brown is an a-hole. But he still makes good music. this was on my running playlist. It will get your energy up quickly.




4. Wonderwall - Oasis
Another favorite from the 90s. Funny story, I didn't like this song when it first came out. It took me a few months. Then I really got into their songs.




3. Mo Money, Mo Problems - Notorious B.I.G.
This song never gets old. Great since the 90s.




2. Welcome to the Black Parade - My Chemical Romance
This has been one of my favorite songs since it came out in 2006. It has been #1 in 2006, 2007, 2008. #2 in 2009 and #3 this year.




1. Empire State of Mind - Jay-Z & Alicia Keys
Yet ANOTHER song about NY. I loved this song since the first time they performed it at the MTV awards.




Honorable Mention: You're The Best - Joe Esposito
That's right. The fight theme from The Karate Kid. I put it on my running playlist. It made me laugh everytime it came on and kept me running again when I was thinking about stopping. Doubt me? Try it. You'll laugh, then pick it up a notch.

I LOVE my new chair!

And he also loves Toy Story 2. He did not love Wheezy though (penguin toy) turned away and got upset anytime he was onscreen.

He's laughing at Woody playing with the dog. It's so crazy that he can watch something and react to it now. He's not a baby anymore, he's a real live boy.

Show Mommy How the Piggies Eat

We had mini-strawberry shortcakes for dessert last night. Ben didn't want the cake or the Cool Whip. He only wanted the strawberries. And he wanted to eat them in a most peculiar way.