The Marion County Fair

Last week was the Baxter County fair. Jake was working crazy long hours, though, and we didn't manage to make it to the fair until after 7 pm on the last night. And, of course, as we are pulling out of the driveway it starts to sprinkle. Spence got to ride 2 rides and Jake and I got to eat some fair food before it started raining enough that we decided to leave. It was about as much fun as you can have in roughly 20 minutes.

Jake called yesterday to say the Marion County fair was going on this weekend, did I want to go? Marion County is sparsely populated and the fair was to take place in Yellville, which is about 20 minutes away, but I figured the fair would be at least halfway decent if the Baxter County fair was decent.

Wrong.

When we arrived at the fairgrounds, we saw horses. Lots of horses. Now, I'm not opposed to the equine portion of any fair, and goodness knows my child loves the livestock, but this was different. There were no rides, no game booths, no vendors selling funnel cakes or corn dogs. Beyond the horses you could see about 5 big, inflatable jump houses (or so I call them) and that was it. All. Finito. Horses and jump houses.

Needless to say, at this point I was happy that Spencer had fallen asleep in the backseat. This fair was LAME and I didn't want to waste what little cash I brought on it. A moment of spontaneity seized me and I turned to Jake and said, "Let's go to Branson." He said, "We need to go get some gas."

We very rarely do things on a whim, so when he obliged me I was thrilled. I hadn't been to Branson since I was a little girl (and it turns out Jake hadn't been in forever either) and it is not what I remember.

We went with the intention of eating at Joe's Crab Shack. They've been running commercials here forever and my mouth waters at the sight of their crab legs, but the closest one is up in Branson. As we were trying to figure out where it was, Jake mentioned Greek food and we had an immediate change of plans. One of the biggest things we miss about living in the Little Rock area is going out for Greek food, so now that we were among civilization, we were certain to find some.

Jake found a review on his iPhone for a place called Zoey's and we set off to find it.

It was very "hole in the wall"-ish. It stood alone, on a dark road, away from the Branson strip. But we walked in to be met with the wonderful smell of wonderful food.

We almost choked when we saw the price tags, but decided to stay and eat anyway. Jake got the moussaka, I got a roasted leg of lamb, and Spencer got the kid's spaghetti. And, man, YUMMY! Well worth the $60 (*choke*) price tag. It wasn't the Greek food we were used to, which is mainly Greek salads and gyros, but I think it was much more authentic Mediterranean food.

Afterwards we told Spencer we'd go play games, so we made the slow trek back up the strip to a kiddie ride place. Which, of course, was closed (it was 8:30!). We went across the way to the go-kart place, very nervously, because we'd promised Spencer we would do something fun and I was almost certain he'd be too small to ride with daddy on a go-kart.

I was wrong. Thank goodness. One hour and $20.50 later, Spencer and Jake were happy campers, which made me a happy camper, so we left. We swung by Coldstone Creamery on the way to Hwy. 65 and grabbed some ice cream and then were on our way home.

It was the most fun I've had with my boys in a while.

How Dare You?

Once upon a time, I was able to stay up late. And when I did so, I almost always watched The Daily Show with Jon Stewart and The Colbert Report. Sometimes I feel like they are able to call out the BS better than anyone else.

A friend of mine posted this on a message board and, wow, it really resonated with me.

Enjoy.

http://www.comedycentral.com/videos/index.jhtml?videoId=184928

Premature Blessings

I am a member of a message board for mothers of toddlers who were premature at birth. Most of us met on the Preemie Parenting board at Baby Center and most of our kids were born between late 2004 and early 2006.

I am constantly amazed and awed by these women. Some of our children have little to no residual effects of their prematurity. If I didn't tell you Spencer was premature at birth, you probably wouldn't guess on your own. Some of our children have moderate to severe disabilities that are an effect of prematurity. We have children with CP, IVHs, and PVL. Children who are deaf or blind (or both). Children who, still, are in and out of the hospital on a bi-weekly basis.

As I was reading the blogs of one of these women, gratitude swept over me. How many times did Spencer (and I) dodge a bullet in the NICU?

In the beginning, they weren't expecting his lungs to have developed. They thought he would have lungs that were, literally, hard, and therefore unable to expand. This would have been fatal.

Next, they had a hard time getting his blood gasses to stabilize and had to put him on a gas called nitric oxide (different from the nitrous oxide you get at the dentist). Nitric oxide can cause brain bleeds, so the less time a baby spends on it, the better. Brain bleeds (or IVHs) can range from a level I, which resolves on its own, usually without consequence, to a level IV, which causes brain damage. Spencer spent days on nitric oxide and never showed a hint of a brain bleed.

Then, I received the middle of the night phone call that every NICU parent dreads. Spencer was having a problem (NEC, they said) that was going to require a transfer to a different hospital and surgery. NEC can be mild, fatal, or somewhere in between (with the in between requiring an ostomy and a second surgery). Turns out it was a "simple" hole in his stomach, put there by the nurse who inserted his feeding tube. I was so grateful that it wasn't NEC that it never occurred at me to be angry with that nurse (well, at least until much later).

The potential for Spencer to be disabled was there, and yet he's not. He's an outgoing, beautiful, amazing, perfectly normal little boy. And, thank you, thank you God, I am so grateful for that. I'm grateful that he lived. I'm grateful that he's thriving. I'm grateful.