There have been several changes in our lives since I last wrote except the fact that we are still crazy busy and I don't think that will let up anytime soon...
I recently finished my first full year working an RN and was promoted to my next nursing level which basically means I function as an experienced, competent nurse. I am really enjoying my position for now. I like the patient care, and I have a great working relationship with my two providers. When I say my providers I mean I work in a teamlet that consists of two part time providers, myself as the RN Care Manager, a LPN who does clinic check in and check out and a clerk who does scheduling, faxes, appointment reminders etc. One of the doctors is nerdy guy who played D&D in high school, likes games, history, sci-fi---he reminds me of my brothers = ). He also has young kids so we talk kids often.
We are buying/building a house here in Durham. We've decided to call this place home, at least as long as we are in the US. We love the North Carolina. It's a beautiful state, and we are adverse towards cold weather. I have some friends who are settled in this community and I haven't felt rooted to a place since our home in Amherst.
Soumaila continues to write music, make videos, and does tutoring Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday towards attaining his GED.
Let me try to summarize Nassim and Salif at this moment in time.
Nassim is high energy. Perhaps like any other little boy, perhaps more than your average little boy. Time will tell. I foresee obstacles in his future for learning if he doesn't use up some of his physical energy before the day starts or throughout the day. He also gets extremely frustrated and easily angers when he doesn't get something e.g. we were playing catch with a toy tonight and the times he didn't catch it he would run out of the room huffing and puffing. He's obsessed with superheros firstly Spiderman and secondly Batman. He is going to be Spiderman for Halloween. I will try to take some pictures. Since October hit he can't stop talking about pumpkins wherever we go because...well...they are everywhere we go. He also loves The Nightmare Before Christmas and will stand on the couch singing the songs, talking about Jack crying and how Sally loves him. We passed some candy cane lights in Costco and he said, "Mommy! Look! It's for Jack!" He tells me he doesn't like me a few times a week, and that he loves me every night.
Salif is delightful. He is a happy, easy-going, succulent morsel of baby. Nassim was/is lean and long. Salif takes after me as a baby with rolling thighs and eczema on his ankles. He is 7 1/2 months old. He crawls to me, says ma, ma, ma, ma when he's upset. He sings himself to sleep. He pulls himself up. He smiles for EVERYONE. He has sharp hand eye coordinate and a proficient pincer grasp. He picks up microscopic dust, crumbs, garbage and puts it directly in his mouth. yum.
I hope anyone reads this.
Love,
Annie
Tuesday, October 27, 2015
Friday, September 6, 2013
We are crazy busy.
Soumaila and I are insanely busy these days. Soumaila is working 40-50 hours a week doing strenuous labor weeding and mowing solar panel farms in hot, humid North Carolina. He's also writing new songs, learning to play guitar, and studying for his GED. Oh yes, and he is busy playing with Nassim in the evenings too. Nassim is such a joker. He wakes up in the mornings and pretends to fall down on the bed over and over again saying "oh, no" or "whoa!" He also loves playing chase me games, and just laughing and dancing around the apartment. Of course running outside pretty much tops everything.
Nassim is at a new Spanish immersion daycare. The transition was a little difficult and there is not as much close supervision as I would like outside. However the caregivers are very loving to the children, and Nassim has some good buddies there. It is so funny to hear these little kids squeal, "Nassim! Nassim!" when he comes to daycare. Nassim seems to enjoy his friends, but prefers to follow his own interests. He doesn't mind a friend coming to see what he's doing, but doesn't feel compelled when invited to do something by one of his pals. He also prefers shaking hands to hugging. Some of his friends try to hug him and when he politely declines by sticking his arms out and shaking his head, they have bit him!
I am in clinical and class about 26 hours a week now, and starting October that will go up to 38 hours a week, and that doesn't include any outside work or studying. I am studying to be an internationally certified lactation consultant through the school of public health here at UNC. This training program is one of only 12 in the country, and ours will be the first accredited program in the country. This program is one of three pathways to becoming an IBCLC and includes a minimum of 90 didactic hours and 200 clinical hours followed by an international exam. I can't say enough about how much I love this program. Everything I learn is fascinating and heartening. We talk about really cool research in breastfeeding and I could go on for hours about this miraculous stuff! To name two things I think are particularly amazing are Lactoferrin which is involved with helping iron bind to the hemoglobin, and with bone mineralization. Also, HAMLET cells in breastmilk which KILL tumor cells while leaving normal cells unaffected. Crazy.
I have my first exam next week, so I better get to studying or get to bed!
Nassim is at a new Spanish immersion daycare. The transition was a little difficult and there is not as much close supervision as I would like outside. However the caregivers are very loving to the children, and Nassim has some good buddies there. It is so funny to hear these little kids squeal, "Nassim! Nassim!" when he comes to daycare. Nassim seems to enjoy his friends, but prefers to follow his own interests. He doesn't mind a friend coming to see what he's doing, but doesn't feel compelled when invited to do something by one of his pals. He also prefers shaking hands to hugging. Some of his friends try to hug him and when he politely declines by sticking his arms out and shaking his head, they have bit him!
I am in clinical and class about 26 hours a week now, and starting October that will go up to 38 hours a week, and that doesn't include any outside work or studying. I am studying to be an internationally certified lactation consultant through the school of public health here at UNC. This training program is one of only 12 in the country, and ours will be the first accredited program in the country. This program is one of three pathways to becoming an IBCLC and includes a minimum of 90 didactic hours and 200 clinical hours followed by an international exam. I can't say enough about how much I love this program. Everything I learn is fascinating and heartening. We talk about really cool research in breastfeeding and I could go on for hours about this miraculous stuff! To name two things I think are particularly amazing are Lactoferrin which is involved with helping iron bind to the hemoglobin, and with bone mineralization. Also, HAMLET cells in breastmilk which KILL tumor cells while leaving normal cells unaffected. Crazy.
I have my first exam next week, so I better get to studying or get to bed!
Wednesday, June 26, 2013
Sharing with Those Who Care
One thing that I have been focusing my attention in this summer is home improvements and health improvements for our family. Of course we all think being healthy is important, but I feel certain obligation to walk the walk I will be telling patients about day in and day out as RN and hopefully one day a midwife.
I'm pretty proud of some of the dietary changes I've made for my family lately. Really they are just small choices that start amounting to something more meaningful. For example my family loves Indian food. Particularly Ismael and I love Indian food and Nassim loves rice. We used to indulge this love by going to Indian buffets for lunch almost weekly only to feel like lead after we finished eating. Then feeling the need to sleep the rest of the afternoon. For money and for health I figured I could make some of the things we like myself so I started making a recipe for Chicken Tikka Masala which seems to be one of the Western version Indian food staples. My first recipe was essentially butter, cream, chicken, tomato sauce and spices. We were both quite pleased with the taste and decided to integrate into our "meals we like to cook." Since the first time I made that dish maybe in March of 2012 I have altered the recipe to use chicken and a significant amount of green beans sometimes using less chicken and large pieces of sweet potato instead. I added corn to the rice. I substituted the cream for coconut milk, and white rice for brown rice. I suppose my final change will be to use coconut oil instead of butter. However I will always use and love butter, which makes me recall Rebecca saying, "Buttered toast is one of the finest foods." I couldn't agree more.
Other changes I've made is finding ways to cook foods I know are good but have never had a taste for. Since the summer has begun I've prepared Swiss chard with onions and garlic and I have roasted beets with sweet potatoes. I have what I would call a mid-conscious mental block about eating many healthy foods. Intellectually I am all for eating diverse and dark colors of fruits and vegetables. As for the taste, I prepare these foods in ways I will enjoy them. The only problem seems to be that somewhere in this brain of mine I'm thinking eating vegetables is a chore that I need to get over with and in a way I force myself to eat them without savoring the taste I really do enjoy. It's strange, but I figure I am combating 18 years of no vegetables and all high sodium instant foods. I ask myself frequently if all kids would like vegetables if they were prepared in a more palatable way?
Another change is I've reduced the amount of meat we are eating, particularly red meat. There will never ever be a replacement for how flavorful fatty lamb shoulders are in a sauce or rice, but instead of trying to make the dish without the lamb or trying a substitution I think we will just have it less often instead of trying to modify it.
I spent a lot of time trying to make food my family would like to eat and less about all the contents of the food, but now that I have thoroughly established my ability to cook and please my family it's given me the confidence to make decisions for the family about our health. Less "What would you like to eat?" and more, "This is what I'm making tonight."
Lastly I want to note that I'm fully aware that diet is not even half the battle to our family being healthier, but I MUST find a way to exercise. Fortunate for Soumaila he is able to go to the gym on a regular basis and the more he works out the more energy he seems to have...energy to do dishes no less! As for myself, we just got a hold of child carrier bike seat for the back of my bike. Nassim is crazy about it, just like his Mom was when she was young. I have such fond memories of riding on the back of Chris' bike and eating a turkey sandwich and then loosing that turkey sandwich.
I'm pretty proud of some of the dietary changes I've made for my family lately. Really they are just small choices that start amounting to something more meaningful. For example my family loves Indian food. Particularly Ismael and I love Indian food and Nassim loves rice. We used to indulge this love by going to Indian buffets for lunch almost weekly only to feel like lead after we finished eating. Then feeling the need to sleep the rest of the afternoon. For money and for health I figured I could make some of the things we like myself so I started making a recipe for Chicken Tikka Masala which seems to be one of the Western version Indian food staples. My first recipe was essentially butter, cream, chicken, tomato sauce and spices. We were both quite pleased with the taste and decided to integrate into our "meals we like to cook." Since the first time I made that dish maybe in March of 2012 I have altered the recipe to use chicken and a significant amount of green beans sometimes using less chicken and large pieces of sweet potato instead. I added corn to the rice. I substituted the cream for coconut milk, and white rice for brown rice. I suppose my final change will be to use coconut oil instead of butter. However I will always use and love butter, which makes me recall Rebecca saying, "Buttered toast is one of the finest foods." I couldn't agree more.
Other changes I've made is finding ways to cook foods I know are good but have never had a taste for. Since the summer has begun I've prepared Swiss chard with onions and garlic and I have roasted beets with sweet potatoes. I have what I would call a mid-conscious mental block about eating many healthy foods. Intellectually I am all for eating diverse and dark colors of fruits and vegetables. As for the taste, I prepare these foods in ways I will enjoy them. The only problem seems to be that somewhere in this brain of mine I'm thinking eating vegetables is a chore that I need to get over with and in a way I force myself to eat them without savoring the taste I really do enjoy. It's strange, but I figure I am combating 18 years of no vegetables and all high sodium instant foods. I ask myself frequently if all kids would like vegetables if they were prepared in a more palatable way?
Another change is I've reduced the amount of meat we are eating, particularly red meat. There will never ever be a replacement for how flavorful fatty lamb shoulders are in a sauce or rice, but instead of trying to make the dish without the lamb or trying a substitution I think we will just have it less often instead of trying to modify it.
I spent a lot of time trying to make food my family would like to eat and less about all the contents of the food, but now that I have thoroughly established my ability to cook and please my family it's given me the confidence to make decisions for the family about our health. Less "What would you like to eat?" and more, "This is what I'm making tonight."
Lastly I want to note that I'm fully aware that diet is not even half the battle to our family being healthier, but I MUST find a way to exercise. Fortunate for Soumaila he is able to go to the gym on a regular basis and the more he works out the more energy he seems to have...energy to do dishes no less! As for myself, we just got a hold of child carrier bike seat for the back of my bike. Nassim is crazy about it, just like his Mom was when she was young. I have such fond memories of riding on the back of Chris' bike and eating a turkey sandwich and then loosing that turkey sandwich.
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