Gray's new suit

Brain Caps

We participated in a cognitive development study at UCSD last week. We had to wear special devices on our hands , as well as sensors on our eyes and ears (to track movements) plus the lovely EEG caps. Each of those little holes gets gel injected into it with a big syringe...Ecco almost lost it, until they gave her a big bowl of goldfish crackers.

Gray la la la

Ecco's new pants

John spent 25% of his birthday gift card on these very exciting pants for Ecco:

My birthday is only 2 short months away...

Can you imagine a better gift?



Click here to see what it is:

http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.geeksdiy.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/07/final-button-code-entry.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.geeksdiy.com/&usg=___DXvZn1yPrXVhN4mH82DKV4Aq2c=&h=300&w=450&sz=16&hl=en&start=36&um=1&tbnid=uatb_1SjuaAOVM:&tbnh=85&tbnw=127&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dhome%2Bdoor%2Bbutton%2Bentry%26ndsp%3D21%26hl%3Den%26client%3Dfirefox-a%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla:en-US:official%26sa%3DN%26start%3D21%26um%3D1

Vote for your favorite blog gadget

I'm just learning about gadgets thanks, in large part, to help from my cousin Evan. I knew that I could add features to my blog from a list provided by the blog host (like calendars and clocks and weather information) but now I know what to do with the HTML I've gathered from other websites.

For example, Flickr.com provides HTML which allows me to post a slideshow of all my photos OR something called a badge which is a rectangle with a bunch of tiny thumbnails of my photos onto my blog.

Right now I have one of each on the right side of the page.

So here's my question to you: Which do you prefer?

I've titled them "more photos1" and more photos2" for the time being so you can send me a comment to let me know which you prefer. You don't have to say why, but if you have an extra minute to write it out I'd love to know!

ABCs or OOOs?

Her version:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/evenovak/3910885989/

The lip/dance sync:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/evenovak/3910190258/?addedcomment=1#comment72157622339076308

Nuk-meistress

My Aunt Marilyn takes pride in her ability to convince babies to take pacifiers, and she has succeeded yet again!
Gray shows big signs of being a thumb-sucker, which is worrisome to me, so a pacifier looks like a great option.
It was really nice for Ecco (who stopped using it just last week) and not hard to get rid of when we finally decided it was time, so we tried with Gray. Gray wasn't having it! We tried several different pacifiers at several different times, and all he did was gag and push it out of his mouth.

Then along comes Marilyn...

Splashy little bath

Check out the way he tries to sneak a sip halfway through.

Houseface

Ecco says this house has teeth

I think it looks like happy Japanese anime

Tonight, I tried to outsmart a migraine headache

Otherwise known as: Don't try this trick at home!
Well, maybe...

If you know me, you know that I have a migraine problem.

I'm more fortunate than many migraine sufferers because I have medicine (however dangerous) that works for me (a class of drugs called triptans - I usually take one called Imitrex).  Unfortunately, while I can calmly slip in the words "however dangerous" when talking about risks to myself, I'm afraid I cannot do the same where my kids are concerned.

The risk of harm to nursing infants seems too little understood for me to take safety for granted, so I worked VERY HARD to outsmart this migraine without Triptans today.  I've done it before with these new stretches that a really good massage therapist taught me, but today stretches alone didn't work.  In addition to the stretches, I tried tylenol and advil and massaging/cracking my back by getting down on the floor and rolling on tennis balls, I took meditative breaths, I walked around, I drank water, I took naps, I thought good thoughts, but alas 6 hours later I still wound up taking Imitrex.

Before I took the medicine I pumped some good milk for Gray, then after taking the medicine I pumped some milk to throw away (always a sad thing for me) but I'm still a little concerned about what might be in my system ... or his!

I gave it my best shot, which is a really hard thing to do while suffering, so I'm proud of myself.  During migraines I experience a lot more than pain.  I also feel a tense kind of unhappiness and I feel both hyper-critical and unable to think.  It took me a while to figure out that these symptoms were part of the migraine ( I've had them since I was 6 years old or longer) but now that I know, I work hard to protect myself and others from my misguided emotions.  I take a lot of deep breaths and remind myself that I won't feel this way once the headache is over.  I haven't figured out how to make confident decisions when I have a migraine so that makes it very difficult to decide how far to go with my experiments with non-triptan solutions.

There were several times when I wanted to throw in the hat, but I'm glad I kept trying because I'm never sure whether the amount of triptans I take will cause long-term harm.  There have been many weeks and months in my life when I have taken quite a bit more than is recommended by the manufacturer.

I still haven't learned when alternative methods will work, so I'm sure this isn't the last time that I beat my head against the wall to cure a headache [sic].  I wish there was an easy way to tell if things weren't going to be resolved, but I'm not sure there is.  I try to pay attention to my mood and my pain level, but I always have to consider other things too like whether I am able to effectively care for my kids. 

I'm super happy that effective migraine drugs exist, but I'll continue my quest for the exact combination of activities and lower toxicity medicine that may eventually allow me to be Imitrex free.


I'm open to suggestion!