Fever, Cornfest and Cupcakes

What a weekend. 

Friday afternoon started out with us heading to the Endocrinologist to follow up on some blood tests that Niko's Pedi ran to make sure that there wasn't any underlying reason behind his slow weight gain. His thyroid count came back as a little high (actually his Thyroid Stimulating Hormone) so we met with the Endocrinologist to discuss the test. 

Poor Nikos was in quite the mood at the doctor's office. He wasn't feeling well and they took his temperature with a result of 103! He also got weighed in at 17 lbs 13 oz and was 29 inches long. 

To make a long story short, the Dr. wants us to have his blood drawn again to see if the TSH levels have gone up or down. She assured us that if there was one thing that your child have to have she would choose a thyroid issue since it is so easily treatable. We will keep you up to date with the next blood draw and round of tests!

Later that night we tried to keep Nikos and his fever cool with a washcloth on his forehead. What a kid, even smiles for the pictures (gee - can you tell he is related to Maile and Mason!)

Saturday morning, despite a lingering low grade fever, we headed to Baker Beach for our first family photos. Hopefully I will be able to share the link here in a few weeks!

After another fever flare up we stayed in Saturday night. Sunday morning started out well with no fever for Nikos. Wahoo! We decided to celebrate by indulging in a little suburban pleasure known as Brentwood's Cornfest. Yes, Gail and Christian try to get us to come out every year to enjoy the beer garden on Saturday night and this year we finally made it! Of course, we were missing G&C (they were in Monterey) and there was not so much time to be had in the beer garden since it was about 100 degrees and 11am. What - this wouldn't have stopped us before?! I know, in our old age we have become wimps. Anyway, we met up with Mel's family and my Mom and here are a few cute photos.

Taki had to go back to the car to get something so the rest of us scrambled to the shade to wait for him. Maile and Mason gave him a nice warm welcome back by running up to greet him, it was really cute!

The corn was seriously THE BOMB. My parents' friend Debra told my Mom she had to try the Roasted Corn with butter, sour cream, cotija, tabasco and salt. Unfortunately they were out of the sour cream by the time we got there but we opted for one with the works anyway. OMG it was soooo good. Seriously awesome. Nikos has tried his share of spicy (horseradish dip, mustard with wasabi) -- obviously he gets his heat tolerance from his father...I'll give you a second so you can finish choking back your laughter. Yes, in case you have forgotten, Taki is the same person that had sweat drip down his forehead from MILD salsa at Sylvia's in Berkeley (may it rest in peace.) DRIPPING SWEAT, MILD salsa people! Anyway, I hope you have not grossed out too much. Here is a picture of Nikos manning up.

The above photo was taken just before he started developing what we thought was heat rash, or as my Mom called it "Prickly Heat." More on this later.

I was super excited to have Nikos visit his first petting zoo. Here we meet a cute baby goat. I explained to him, "this is a baby goat. Remember, Mommy's friend Gus has a GOATee - see this little goat has one too!" (Although I guess ON a goat it isn't called a goatee.)

This picture was taken right after this little piggy ran all the way home. Ha. Get it? No really, this little piggy just sniffed Niko's foot with a vengeance. Niko, of course, was unfazed because he is used to being practically licked to death by Bosco. Mason is angling his left leg at the piggy and repeating over and over again "Sniff my leg, sniff my leg piggy!"

Maile tries to talk to baby goat into coming home with her.

So I don't know if it was the fact that we still had tokens left that we had to spend (yes, this is one of those events) or the fact that Taki now felt like he had to man up about something, but Vernie challenged Taki to a pitching duel and Taki accepted! Actually, Taki was like "huh, what?" and I said "he'll do it Vernie!" (This was partly due to the fact that I wanted to prove to Taki that Cornfest was fun! - so far he remained unconvinced but I think this is because he didn't get any corn - WHAT?? - and partly because I was the one that insisted we needed to get $10 worth of tokens.)

Vernie clocks in with 54, 56 and 61! 

Taki clocks in at 54, 58 and 61. Taki wins! Taki is the best son-in-law! Wahoo!

Monday I attempted my first cupcakes from the 500 Cupcakes recipe book I bought impulsively at Costco. Mint Chocolate Chip - to quote Cam Hyland - yummers!

Oh, and I almost forgot. As evidenced in this picture (if you look closely), when I went to check in on Nikos on Monday morning I noticed his face was COVERED in red splotches. AAAHH! Running through the culprits in my head - is he allergic to tabasco? is it heat rash - that got 20x worse over night? did he get some weird sort of goat disease? oh god, did he pet the cow - does he have Mad Cow? what about west nile, there have been west nile instances recorded in Contra Costa County! Well, after calling Kaiser we found out it looks like he has Roseola - apparently the high fever was a pre-cursor. Luckily the rash should be gone in 24-48 hours.

Alright, I am going to relax and watch the rest of the All-Star Game - about which, I have these thoughts:

1. Derek Jeter is HOT.
   
2. Who is this guy that looks like Puppy? Taki says it is probably Kerry Wood.
3. Go National League!
4. What is this song they keep play do doo do do, do doo do do. Yes, I know I am not that good at that but do you know the one I am talking about? It is so familiar.
5. I love those Dos Equis commercials. Hysterical. Stay Thirsty, my friends. Also Miller High Life is quite enjoyable too. And did you see that new Bud Light with Lime? Maybe I am just thirsty...
6. Ha - good DHL commercial with Bob Johnson. 
7. 11 innings! Hurry up already.