Danny’s Blog

Hello everyone….Saed here!!  During the course of my busy day at work I am responsible for searching the internet tirelessly in search of stupid videos to forward to my friends and co-workers.  As you already know, Tropical Storm Fay made landfall in Southwest Florida early this morning.  Some resident made a wise decision and evacuated the coast.  Others decided it would be a good idea to stay and try to kite surf.   The attached video link shows the consequences of being an idiot and deciding to go to the beach instead.  I guess it is a good idea that Nada’s parents trip was postponed since they were supposed to be in Miami this week.

Click the link below to see the video

http://www.weather.com/multimedia/videoplayer.html?clip=11768&from=hp_video_4

Another week…

Picking up the piles of stuff that have accumulated during the past three weeks. Working on organizing cabinets around the house. Keeping the laundry going. Thinking about drawing and working with fabric and painting. Considering a garage sale. Have so much stuff that we don’t use and just takes up space.

I spent a good deal of time this past weekend cleaning up and clearing out all over the house. Are you ever surprised at how much accumulates over time in the craziest places like under the bathroom sink? Do I really need four different bottles of body lotion? 

When I get to this point where I am really wanting to simplify I tend to re-read some of Leo’s posts from Zen Habits Now if you have seen my office you know I am not even close to living in modern minimalism. But I like the idea of it. I like the idea of having space and room to breathe and less things to clutter & clog my mind, leaving me open for more creative thoughts + actions. And sometimes there are things we want that just aren’t going to happen…

Such is life. I’m okay with that.

So here’s my organizing goal: no shuffling stuff around or moving things from one pile to another. Make a decision, give it a home (or put it in a box: charity, garage sale, recycle, etc), and move on to the next thing that needs to be rescued from a pile. Even this is easier said than done.

Looking back.

Going through old photos today I came across this gem of Danny in our downstairs bathroom in the summer of 2006. This is one of my all-time favorites. Sarah was blow drying her hair and Danny (being her shadow, following her everywhere she went) was fascinated by what she was doing. She was messing with him and put her hair clip on his hair and he let her. I took a ton of pictures but this one in particular really captured a moment. And the shadows complete the story…almost foreshadowing the boy he is becoming. Cool. Well, you can’t really see the shadow… I fixed that… oops..

And now I would like to present my new official rule on Danny-portraits:

they MUST include a toilet !

And we are watching tropical storm Fay very closely. It seems like it’s gaining strength and may be turning into a hurricane. From the looks of things it seems like we are going to be having one hell of a week weather wise…. On the plus side, we need the rain…

Here’s the path of the storm:

 ETA: It’s all about the bus these days. This is what Danny brought home from school on Friday. I’m amazed the teacher was able to take a good picture of him!

Today I am trying to be very positive about my parents being able to come to visit.

Today I am thankful for having my sister Sarah with me and being able to spend time with her.

Today I am organizing stuff around the house.

Today I am purging things that have been collecting dust.

Today I am looking forward to a weekend at home with Saed, Danny, Sarah and Doodles.

And speaking of Sarah, she came back from Vegas Thursday night after Danny was fast asleep. And he didn’t see her Friday morning before going to school because she was sleeping. So I told her to go outside with me to get him when he got off the school bus to see his reaction.

Oh my gosh, he saw her while he was still on the bus and his eyes grew so big like he couldn’t believe his eyes. He flung himself at her and she carried him into the house. He was soooo happy to see her.

Guess who is undressing himself?

Really and truly: underwear + pants + socks (still working on the shirt).

(Here’s a hint…it is not Saed…he is already pretty skilled at doing it on his own…including doing his own laundry)

Last night he took off his clothes right before bathtime without assistance (alright, there was one little hint from mommy on the arm not going out through the head-hole).

 It rocked.

He is getting there. He will actually pull up his pants and underwear too when I prompt him to. He is just an awesome little boy.The bus driver gave him a little yellow school bus toy for being so good on the bus.

And what does he do the minute he gets home from school? Asks for his milk and gulps it down! OH FOR CUTE!

Dear Mr. Morning Challenge,

Although I have thoroughly “enjoyed” your company the past three mornings, I would like to invite you to move on now. I much prefer a calm morning routine to the protests and the full-on screams when I say it is time to put on clothes and get ready for school. 

As usual, I “welcome” your challenge and am currently devising a way to overcome you if you choose not to leave on your own accord.

Thank you for your time,

Nada (aka mommy)

Just sitting here thinking about how crazy first week of school is. Danny’s been having a hard time waking up in the morning and he gets all grumpy when I finally get him dressed and ready to go…

So this week has been a little bit of everything so far…

A little early: Some degree of grump for the past three mornings.

A little chaotic: It’s going to take some time to get into the swing of things in the classroom - especially in regards to what comes first and expectations (this is where picture schedules come in so handy + giving him direction and purpose right away).

A little nerve-racking for the mama: Breathing in & out. He is going to be just fine. They won’t lose him. He will eat something. He is excited to be there. They will get him on the right bus. So much trust goes into this whole process.

A little wonderful: Actually, a lot wonderful. Big steps for a little boy. So far there has been no crying! Just hugs for me and daddy.

A little structure: It feels good to be getting back into a regular schedule. I am definitely not lacking in projects and stuff to work on around here. And the structure is good for him - 

The coffee is on. The day begins. The waiting begins. More to come.

Today was Danny’s first day riding the school bus.

I was a nervous wreck!

I kept thinking of my little sister and her first ride and the school bus. She cried for months…

It really didn’t go down as I envisioned it. I thought this will for sure result in a major meltdown. I guess me being a first-timer at this whole ride-the-bus home thing, I just wasn’t sure how things would go…

And Susan, his teacher, called me right after she put Danny on the bus to report that he was very happy and seemed to be excited to be on the bus. He even waved good-bye to his teachers she said. When she called I was already outside waiting for him with phone and camera in hand. Longest 8 minutes in my life waiting for that bus to pull up on our street.

Finally this:

And a smily, sparkly little guy peeked at me from the window:

Bus driver told me he was happy and didn’t cry. I guess he’ll be taking the school bus home everyday! I cannot be any happier right now!

Finally, a normal day… well sort of…

School… what an awesome thing… Danny is back in school today… 7:30 - 11 am… can I hear an AMEN?!?!

I had a hard time waking him up this morning. He just didn’t want to get out of bed! But we made it to the school and he got all excited when he saw his teacher and went in the building with no problems.

We are starting the whole school bus thing this year. Tommorrow will be his first day on the bus. I will still drop him off in the mornings but he will get on the bus to get home at the end of the school day. So I will keep you posted as to how that goes. I may just be following that bus for the 5 minute drive to get home… :)

And so I dropped him off at school this morning and I was grocery shopping just before 8am. Came back home and tidied up and ate breakfast. Then left to get a pedicure. and then I picked him up from school. He was waiting for me with his lead teacher and her assistant and the speech language pathologist. Isn’t that cool. He is the only child in his pre-school classroom for now. But I know that will not last long. So you bet we will be taking advantage of it while it lasts. He will get his teachers’ undivided attention and he will be spending some time across the hallway with the regular pre-K class. His teacher told me they were planning on integrating him as much as possible… music to my ears!

And here is a picture of my baby being silly wearing his underwear on his head:

Last weekend we had Falafel cravings so Saed, Danny, and I went to Whole Foods and picked up a Falafel mix. It was so yummy… It kind of reminded me of my aunt’s falafel that she used to make from scratch. Those were the bomb Samsura!

And Sarah left to Vegas this morning! I really wish I was with her!

Right! That’s it for now…

Happy Monday!

Where is Nada?

ok, ok…so I have been slacking on my blog posts. I even got a few friendly reminders (LOL, you people crack me up! thanks for keeping me on my toes.)

I have been chillin’ and enjoying my sister’s company. And getting things done. I cleaned out Danny’s out-of-control closet. I wish I took some pictures of the before. It really was a major disaster zone.

And you HAVE to tune into the Olympics Opening Ceremonies… Amazing.. it’s LONG, but when there are 204 delegates or something like that, it takes time!

And where did the summer go? Wow, it’s hard to believe but Danny starts school again on Monday! How crazy is that. Sarah and I took him to school this morning to see his teacher and her assistant. Danny will be riding the school bus twice a week this year. So it will be interesting to see how that goes.

In other news: a tree fell over our house in College Park during the crazy thunder storm that went through the south part of town. And our new tenants lost power… good times.

Here’s a visual:

And I finally got some pictures of Maya’s twin boys:

They are just adorable!

Hopefully, I will go back to posting regularly once Danny is back in school and we settle into our normal schedule again!

I really can’t wait for Fall!

Let me just start by saying that Danny is doing great today. He is a little tired and sleepy but all in all he is doing fine. We are all still very tired and emotionally drained but I guess that is only to be expected.

Everything went well. The surgeon made the decision to give him general anesthesia right off the bat after he saw Danny. And after it was all said and done he came back and told us that the PDA (hole) was really tiny and that they used a coil to close it up. And amazingly, Danny’s oxygen saturation level immediately went up to 99% ! WhooooooHooooo!

It was a loooooong day! We were up at 3:30 am. On our way to the hospital by 6am. Saed dropped Sarah, Danny, and I off and he went to get some coffee and something to eat. I went to the admissions office to fill out all the paper work while Sarah played with Danny in the lobby. And off we went to the pediatric cardiology surgical services on the second floor.

They checked him and hooked him up to a monitor and he cried and was bored out of his mind as we had to wait for a few hours before he was taken away. He was the second case of the day. And the poor baby kept asking for milk and we couldn’t give him any. Finally just after 10:30am they started prepping him. First he was given some type of a sedative to calm him down. And it was almost instantaneous. He was in his Daddy’s arms and he started to feel so heavy and had this glazed look in his eyes… He was still somewhat awake but out of it when the OR nurse wheeled him away. That was probably the hardest thing for me when they took him away…

This is him with Sarah right after we went to his room:

We kept him entertained with our little portable DVD player watching Noddy:

Then we read books:

Then daddy blew bubbles for Danny:

Then he watched more Noddy sitting in Daddy’s lap:

Then he fell asleep:

This is what he looked like 2 minutes after taking the sedative:

And this is him right before he was taken away:

And then we waited and waited and the nurses did a wonderful job of giving us updates. After it was all done, he was taken into recovery for a little bit and this what he looked like when we were finally allowed to see him again:

And he slept for a good bit after that:

Then he woke up totally miserable and wanted to pull off all the tubes and the I.V. And this was probably the most difficult time. He was kept in the hospital for 4 hours under observation. He drank a little water at first. Then some milk. He took 2 spoon-fulls of mashed potato and some chicken broth.

And so at around 5pm they took the I.V. out and we were told to go home. Finally…

Thank you to everyone who called and sent TXT messages. We all had zero cell phone reception at the hospital so it was hard to give updates but we felt the love coming from everyone. Thank you again for everything! And a big huge thank you to Mo for sending that awesome toy to Danny!

Well it’s August!

5:15 am Atlanta time. Will be leaving for the hospital shortly.

Please send all your positive thoughts this way…

Will try to post updates later on today.

So I just got off the phone with the cardiac nurse at Egleston Children’s Hospital a little while ago. We are good to go for tomorrow. We need to be at the cardiac outpatient services at 6:30 am. He hopefully won’t need to stay for the night but the nurse said to pack an overnight bag  just in case.

My neighbor Nancy’s three kids just knocked on our door a little while ago. They brought brownies and the cutest cards (which they made) to wish Danny good luck and a speedy recovery. Those kids are just crazy about Sponge Bob! They are so cute!

So once again, and wherever you are in the world, please say a little prayer for my DannyDoony tomorrow.

Here’s hoping that all goes well …

It’s 9:40 pm Atlanta time. And true to my word, I’m posting the videos we took of Danny at Monkey Joe’s today.

Monkey Joe’s 1

Monkey Joe’s 2

Monkey Joe’s 3

Monkey Joes 4

Monkey Joe’s 5

I love watching Saed and Danny play like that. It makes my heart very very happy. They played and played until they were both exhausted. Danny came back home, ate lunch and immediately fell asleep.

However, on a more serious note, Danny is having the hole in his heart closed on this coming Friday. It’s a one-day procedure where they go in through his groin (like a cardiac cath) and close the PDA with a coil. I was told that he would be heavily sedated for this procedure because he needs to be very very still and if you know Danny, that is one thing he is absolutely NOT capable of. It’s either the sedation or general anesthesia so we’ll see. And he also has to take it easy for a week after the procedure so no therapy for a week. The timing of this thing is just right too because he goes back to school on the 11th.

So once more please keep him in your thoughts and prayers this week and wish him a speedy recovery. And if you are the praying kind please take some time on this coming Friday to say a little prayer for this brave little boy and his parents and his aunt.

I hope everyone has a peaceful night!

ETA: We noticed that our blog is running slower than normal and we’re guessing it’s because of all the videos that I’ve been posting lately. So instead of embedding the videos I’m just going to link them. Please click on the links and it will take you to the videos. I hope this resolves the loading time issue

I’m riding the blogging waves. They ebb and they flow.

And before I go on to post pictures (which is all you really want!) I just want to let everyone know that my potted flowers and hanging baskets are exploding on my back deck. This is especially important because I was never really a “gardening” type of girl before this year. And I am looooving it!

So can you guess where the following picture was taken?

Why it’s IHOP of course! We went there for breakfast today and totally stuffed ourselves! It was soooo good!

And Danny had a ball with his aunt and entertained us and pretty much everyone at the restaurant with his playfulness!

And click on the following links to see the videos we took at IHOP:

We went back home to pick up a few things and then we were off again to Monkey Joe’s.

This is him in the car:

He, as always, had a blast at MJ’s! But that is an entirely different post! I will upload the videos and post them either later tonight or tomorrow.

 And please be assured that this blog continues to be a big day of my everyday life.

I am riding the waves. Ebbing and flowing and being open…

We just got back from the park. Saed, Danny, and I. It was a spur of the moment thing. We had gone out to Sonic to get some corn dogs (been wanting to have one for a while now) and on our way back we decided to go so that Danny can run around and play.

Anyway, after a quick bath and dinner, he’s all set to go down for the night. And here I am blogging again… I feel like I lost my blogging mojo somewhere along the way… has anyone seen my mojo? If you do, will you please tell it to come back… LOL!

Sarah went to D.C. on Saturday to see some of her friends. She’s planning on coming back on Monday. Let’s see how Danny reacts when he sees her. Last time when she was gone for barely a day, he totally gave her the silent treatment/cold shoulder when she got back! He was so mad at her for leaving and he was punishing her… How cute is that?

As you can see I finally painted our kitchen ceiling this past week. Painting is definitely not my favorite thing to do and it’s so tiring but at least it’s finally DONE! Yay! My next big painting project is our bedroom. Not looking forward to that. But it has to be done.

So who is the hunk on the bike you ask?

That’s my Saed ladies and gentlemen. That’s my sexy babe right there! That’s him on his new motorcycle! He loves that thing. And so far so good. He is being a very responsible driver. Life’s good!

Danny invited two of his friends (from Kids Creek Therapy) to come play with him on Friday. The boy in the orange T-shirt is Robert. He is 4 1/2. He looks a lot like Danny. The cute girl is his sister Rachel. She’s 2 1/2. And the boy in the blue T-shirt is A.J.

They are all so cute. Both Robert and A.J. have Downs Syndrome. Saed and I agree (that in itself is nothing short of a miracle) that Danny should have all kinds of friends including kids with Downs. This was our first play-date with them and it went really really well! He had so much fun!

Here’s Danny and A.J.

A.J. loved Danny’s ball pit and didn’t want to get out! He spent most of his time in there. So cute!