WEEKEND RECAP

The babies watching TV together while I was at Trader Joe's

So it's been kind of a crazy weekend, packed with good and bad things. Very New Yorkish of it. (you know, how I always find lots of good things/feelings with lots of bad things/feelings). Anyhow, I started off Saturday morning by taking the subway by myself to Trader Joe's. I've wanted to do this since we've gotten here, so it felt really good to cross this off my list and to have a freezer stocked full of yummy dinners :)  (Just so you know my new ingenious philosophy for eating/cooking in NY with my small, no appliances/utensils kitchen is frozen dinners!)

After nap time we ventured over to the Museum of Natural History. I don't have to much to say about this museum. I really liked the displays that showed how past cultures used to live, but could take or leave the numerous displays of stuffed animals, dried out sea creatures and the life-size model of a the male malaria mosquito (wait, actually that one was pretty interesting--see photo below).

This is what Penny thought of the dinosaur bones

After that we headed over to the Shake Shack, which could have arguably been the high-light of my day. A burger/shake joint that is soooo delicious with root beer on tap. Not quite sure if that's what makes it as good as it was, but it was goood.

We went home got the babes ready for bed and enjoyed a fun visit from my friend, Monica, who was in town looking for a place to live. (Her and her family will start working full-time for Amex in July).

I came home from getting some Pinkberry and Phil and Penny were just doing some reading :)

We got thrown for a loop however, when Phil and I were in the middle of our Saturday-night movie when Ryder woke up with what seems to be a neck strain that was swollen and red. Weird. It seemed to really be hurting him and so we gave him some Tylenol and put him to down to sleep for 20 minute increments the rest of the night. I think a huge part of his problem was that it was hot. But he woke up with a mild (100.5) fever. A little Motirin took it down and we still decided to go to church.


I'm very grateful we did. There were tons of newbies just like ourselves and we were able to see  and meet lots of couples who were either in our same situation or lived close by us. The mother's lounge was packed when I went to feed Penny and was able to get loads of good advice for NYC living. In RS, I sat by Monica who was previously acquainted with the ward last summer and pointed out that someone in the presidency was a pediatrician. I shamelessly went up and talked to her after church and asked her for recommendations and told her about Ryder's situation. She even sat down and took a look at him. Can we say heaven sent?! Tender mercys abound?! I will forever love this lady.

She told me it was most likely wasn't meningitis becasue the hurt neck came before the fever, but said it could possibly be an infected lymphnode, which would explain the fever. Or just a pulled neck. Either way she gave me great advice as to where to take him and specific perameters to monitor him by. So thankful we went to church. :)

We also ran into an old college friend of mine, who just happened to marry someone who also worked at Amex, so that was fun. They were kind enough to invite us to a delicious dinner, where we were able to do some more mingling.


As for now Ryder is in good spirits and easily keeping his fever down with some Motrin every 4-6 hours. His neck is still red and hot to the touch, so that's a bit worrisome. I'm just waiting it out until morning to see if everything has died down or if I'll need to spend the day figuring out how to get him to a pediatrician.

On a positive note, after talking to Monica and other ladies in our ward (who have so many pearls of NY city living), I'm more motivated to do the subway solo. I may just even attempt it this week. We shall see!