No nephew yet, but...

Ok y'all, my nephew decided to take.it.slow. He has not arrived, and my cute sister and her husband continue to walk miles around the hospital in Florence. She had so hoped for a Halloween baby, but when that day passed, we thought, Ok, November 1. How wonderfully alliterative and neat is 11/1!! Indeed, Elia's water broke this morning, but then no dice, and so 11/2 it likely will be. Via FaceTime, I attempted to sell Elia and her hubs on the marvelous mathematical nature of 11/2 because, obviously, 1+1=2. They were like, "Seriamente, sorella. Tu sei pazza." Ok, ok. Maybe it's just me because my birthday, 4/16, is so mathematically neat too. 4x4=16!! This is as mathematically adept as I get, so it could be that limitation too.

I pushed a bit, and Elia was like, "Man, November 2 is The Day of the Dead in Italy. Like, people walk around with bouquets of flowers to lay at their relatives' graves." Hmm. Ok, I can still work with this I thought.

We said goodbye, and T and I then tried to find a list of famous people born on November 2 because perhaps a great celebrity coincidence would make 11/2 seem beyond grand. If, for example, Benedict and I shared a birthday, that would be A-MAZing. We don't. He was born in July for the love.

Anyway, famous people. We really struck out in this pursuit. Marie Antoinette and Daniel Boone are decent, but she was guillotined and kind of a wench, and he is fairly forgettable. All in all, they're B-list at best.

So what about important events? Wonderful happenings? Some of those would be swell.

The best we could find was that BBC TV was rolled out on 11/2 in 1936. On that very same day in the very same year, however, Mussolini proclaimed the Rome-Berlin axis, so that's really a wash at best, yes? Later on 11/2, the South Vietnamese president was assassinated, and later still, David Schwimmer was born.

So.... moral of the story is: the day is yours, my darling nephew. It is wide the eff open just for you. I dare say that by virtue of being a fabulous Ital0americani boy you will surpass all the rest. We can't wait to meet you!

Mono

Ol has mono, y'all. Mono. Poor guy. He feels like a giant pile of feverish ass and can't return to school this week. We are hoping for Monday. In and around finding this out, purchasing enormous quantities of ice cream, feeding said ice cream to him, sinking a small fortune into Magna-Tiles (admittedly a terrific toy) and attempting to keep medicine in him long enough before he puked so that it could take some effect, I made some bread and that is all. It's still rising. Because of this, I'm having leftover fruit salad for dinner and think that otherwise today is a wrap. My sister is due tomorrow. Send healthy birthing vibes her way!!

Day 5 of sick Ol

Last Thursday, the boys and I each received a Flu Mist. I have a hate-hate relationship with flu vaccines and had sworn off getting one this year, but while at the pediatrician with the boys, I felt guilty saying "No" when offered one. On the way home, the three of us took bets on who would stay the most well. Jack was certain he would "win" and win he most definitely has. He and Tom seem impervious to anti-flu treatments. Shot, Mist, whatever... Doesn't affect them. I, on the other hand, get sick every damn year from this attempt at responsibility, hence my swearing off of one this fall. Fortunately, I was not struck with the vicious fever and chills (that left me sore!) that plagued me last year, but I have felt low-grade cold-like since Thursday. I am not getting a flu vaccine next year. You heard it here first.

This has not been made better by the fact that on Friday, Oliver developed a fever and still has it. A high one. He feels like ass, missed a long-anticipated playdate on Sunday and has stayed home from school for the past two days. I suspect we'll be hanging out again here at home tomorrow. My poor guy has been riddled with spiky fevers in the middle of every night which, if you do the simple math, means neither of us have slept worth a damn.

In fact, round about 2am this morning, Ol toddled in to say, "I have something I weally need to ask you." "Oliver," I said, "are you sure it needs to be asked now?" "Yes! When can I have a playdate with that boy from my Lego camp class last summer? I fink his name was Caleb?" Ohmahgah.

Cat is still peeing red but is improving. Tom is an excellent dispenser of pills to cats, so I'm grateful. I am blowing my nose to beat sixty which is exceedingly ironic given that it also feels tightly packed with rolls of gauze and actually toted a box of Kleenex to both parent-teacher conferences T and I had today.

We did have a successful little Halloween party full of friends, cookies, a piñata and crafts. Ol was on a real up when he and Jack discovered my "cake decorations" box while I was walking a friend to the door. Eight pounds of black sugar later and I hustled them into a bath which immediately turned gray. Ah well. Happy kids.