ups and downs at the zoo

This zoo day from yesterday did not end well.

But before I get to that, lemme share some cute photos of my kid.

He loves this pond. He almost didn't want to leave this spot.

I'm afraid I'm gonna have to cut his hair soon. sob. It's a mop though and I can't tame it anymore.

This is also one of his favorite places in the zoo. This kid is hesitant to get into water but boy does he love looking at it.

After I took the above photos, I glanced over at Dave who was sitting on the rock near the stroller. His head was in his hands. I walked over to him and his face was so pale, his lips bloodless. Soon, he started to shiver all over. He didn't feel hot yet but I just knew he would start running a fever any moment. He said he felt like throwing up, but when we tried to walk out of the zoo, he started to lose his vision and hearing, signs that he was about to faint.

I told him to sit down near the bathrooms in the sun while I went with G to find a zoo attendant for help. Eventually, a cart pulled with with a stretcher attached to it - I guess what they use to drive out anyone who gets injured in the park. It had a seat too. They strapped Dave into it and cranked him onto the back of the truck.

Don't think I'm heartless, okay, for taking this pic. Dave told me too! He's all huddled like that because he was in the shade and shivering like crazy.

There are all these back ways of getting out of the zoo, so they shuttled us out a secret exit and I drove us home. Soon after that, Dave started running a high fever and it stayed 102-103 well into the night. We were afraid at one point that we'd have to go to the hospital but a lukewarm bath helped bring it down. His fever broke sometime during the night and his temperature has been steady at 98.6-99.6 today, thank goodness.

We took a good look at his throat and sure enough, there were the tell-tale lesions. Dave has caught Grayson's hand, foot, mouth disease. I was exposed to HFM when I was a kid because my brother got it from daycare, but apparently Dave has never been. Sigh.

I've spent the past two days holding down the fort while Dave sleeps it off and praying I'm actually immune. I won't get my test results back until Wednesday, so I'm nervously feeling my head every five minutes and checking my throat for bumps. I'm not worried about the bumps and sore throat and the aches, but the fever terrifies me. I know a fever, especially in the first trimester, can be fatal for a developing fetus or cause terrible birth defects.

G is almost back to normal with just some leftover red spots on his toes. I'm sure Dave will sprout spots on his hands and feet soon but he would be back to normal by the end of the week in time for G's second birthday party. My baby turns two tomorrow!

Anyway, it was cool to see behind the scenes at the zoo. But getting sick to receive the VIP treatment wasn't worth it!

wordless wednesday: first people into the zoo

I'm going to the ZOOoooooo

I need some giggles, so it's time for a Grayson says.

...

Mama took me to the zoo on Thursday because it was 74 degrees outside! I looooved being outside, and I didn't even want to go to the indoor aquarium area for once.

Come on, mama! Let's go!

I ran around like this. This is my happy strut.

I think there's a monkey over there.

What was I doing?

Oh yeah. Touching this.

I love the meerkats. And their sign. Oh, how I loved that sign.

This bridge near the flamingos was fun. I ran back and forth. And back and forth. And... back and forth again, until mama got tired of watching me and made me keep walking.

I was kinda unamused that she made me leave.

Oh, strike a pose time? Okay.

I love looking at water, so the bamboo trail is one of my favorite places at the zoo. I would point at an animal, complain about it, then go run back to stare at the waterfalls.

 But my favorite part of all? My FAVORITE??

OMG, these ropes? It was kinda love at first touch.

I would move those ropes up and down. Then up and down. Then up and down again!

And sometimes I would pause and laugh about it. These ropes? They were hilarious.

And I would look at mama. Mama? I love these freakin' ropes.

And sometimes, I'd just grab the rope and yell and laugh really loud for no reason.

Best. part. of. my. day.

Afterward, I was so pent up with energy that I helped mama push the stroller.

I hung out on a bench for a while, and after that, I got kinda cranky. Mama put me in the stroller where I hung out happily as we headed out the zoo.

I hope we go back really soon. I'm glad mama brought the stroller this time. Man, the zoo can be exhausting. Especially that rope playground.

I'm 30 going on 50, apparently.

Yesterday, G and I went to the zoo. It was glorious. G walked all over the place, pointing out every sign we passed, stopping to observe people, and generally chatting up a storm. He didn't pay much attention to the animals except the meerkats, like usual, but I'm sure that'll come with age.

We were having a grand ol' time until the zoo started to close, therefore making us have to head back to the car. G pitched the biggest fit when we passed the indoor area and he wanted to go in... again.

"Um, G," says I, "the zoo is closing. We can't go in there."

He points and babbles "dededede."

"Come on, this way." I motion in the other direction. "We have to go home."

G crosses his arms and looks petulant.

I make my voice sterner. "G, Mama said no. We have to go home. Come on."

My little almost 20 month old sits down on the path, firmly planting his butt on the ground. I'm just glad he's not mad enough yet to throw himself backward onto the stones while he's at it.

I resist the urge to roll my eyes. It would all be very cute if I wasn't tired and thirsty and ready to go home. "What is this? Occupy Zoo? Staging a sit-in isn't a valid form of toddler protest." Oh, I crack myself up. I walk over, haul him up by the armpits, and settle his almost 30 pounds onto my hip.

He proceeds to cry for the next minute or so until we get back to the meerkats. "Say bye-bye," I tell him. He waves. All is forgotten, especially once we get back to the car and he has a sippy of water in his hands. He was as tired as I was. I had to haul his butt all the way out of the zoo, and the pains in my uterus are telling me I overdid it.

A few hours later, after I sit on the couch for a bit, I go to stand and I'm rather shocked by the pain in my back and thighs. Oops. Right. I'm pregnant. No more carrying a toddler on my hip for long distances. Next time, mama, bring the stroller.

baby's 2nd Halloween

Unlike Baby's 1st Halloween, which involved dressing G up in various costumes and snapping pics while we laughed at the cuteness, this Halloween we decided to actually do some real celebrating. The Nashville zoo has a fantastic fall fest called Ghouls at Grassmere. Most of the festivities went right over his head, but he still had fun running around like crazy.

G was the dragon, I was the princess (ha), and Dave was the knight. Cute, right? I know it's kind of sick, but we only have a few years to force the kid into whatever costume we want, so we went for it.

He didn't let us put on the hat until later, and those booties had to come off right after we got there. But he was still freakin' adorable.

He was a little unamused on the hay ride. But he loosened up toward the end of it and happily pointed out everything he saw.

How cute is this dragon? I could kiss that face all day long.

I highly recommend Ghouls at Grassmere if you're in middle Tennessee and looking for something to do this Halloween!

G's DADDY pics

I meant to blog about this a long time ago, but I wanted to share the pictures I took of G for the hubs's second Father's Day. It's really his first, since G was tiny at his first Father's Day, and I was still too sick with preeclampsia to celebrate it properly.

I had a frame with six picture slots, some horizontal and some vertical. D-A-D-D-Y is only five pictures, so I just took a pic of G smiling for the final one. We went to the zoo, which I knew would have some great light for me and a big open space. I got the white wooden letters at Michael's.

G cooperated splendidly. I didn't want something perfect, with him just sitting there and smiling the whole time. I think this set of pics suits his personally.