I just saw the movie Julie and Julia. It was inspiring. It was about cooking, and blogging and marriage. Two out of the three of which I am very familiar. It was exciting to see the perils of a blogger on the widescreen… Julie, the protagonist, had to balance being transparent, yet keeping the intimate details of her marriage private. Finding discreteness on the web must be an oxy moron. Once you it publish, it’s being cached, print-screened or archived by the library of Congress.

The movie was about a real-life blog, about cooking some 500 or so Julia Child recipes in one year. The one thing I did not have in common with the movie, cooking, is something hubby loves to do, oddly enough. In fact, he is a really excellent chef. And I saw chef, because he has the technique, skill, creativity and passion I see on the Food Network. If you know me, you know how picky of an eater I am. I used to create a line of separation between my peas and corn on my plate. If any corn touched my mashed potatoes, the yellow and white mixture remained untouched and uneaten on my plate. Somehow, hubby’s creations and my taste buds have become more and more in sync. A few days ago hubby made some sort of chicken pasta, with fresh basil, cilantro, green peppers, hot peppers and host of vegetables (all mixed together), and I ate it, asked for more pepper, and then had seconds (and no, I’m not pregnant). At times, I think it would be so exciting to cook with hubby. Or better yet, I could just be his sous chef, because he’s the one with all the culinary talent.

Anyhow, loved the movie. You should see it if you have not already. I mentioned cooking and blogging, but the third topic -marriage- the one piece that I want to write more about, I will decline in doing so. You see, blogging becomes complicated when people who you do not want to read your blog read it. Julie, the girl in the movie, wanted to share the ups and downs of marriage with her readers, but she only shared the peaks and never the troughs. Part of why she did that is out of respect. I chuckled when they had an argument and her husband shouted ‘and you’d better not write about this on your blog!’ I’m sure hubby has said those identical words to me. I could identify with her, and for that, I enjoyed the film.

The Lion has a pretty big belly button. Actually, it’s a belly button hernia (the technical term is umbilical hernia). Unfortunately, hubby and I are directly to blame for this because we had them at birth as well. As it turns out, these hernias are more prevalent in blacks as well. Gadget had one, too, but his closed up before he turned two. The Lion’s did not close up, and it appears to be getting bigger. It is so big that when he is watching his brother pee in the bathroom, he holds his belly button as if to go pee with it. Hubby took him to a pediatric surgeon for consultation, and we learned that he has a second hernia even higher up in his abdominal walls. We could see a little bulge, but this hernia poses a higher risk than the umbilical hernia since food could become trapped inside it. According to the Mayo Clinic:

An umbilical hernia occurs when part of the intestine protrudes through an opening in the abdominal muscles. Umbilical hernias are most common in infants, but they can affect adults as well. In an infant, an umbilical hernia may be especially evident when the infant cries, causing the baby’s bellybutton protrude. This is a classic sign of an umbilical hernia.

Most umbilical hernias close on their own by age 1, though some take longer to heal. To prevent complications, umbilical hernias that don’t disappear by age 4 or those that appear during adulthood may need surgical repair.

Umbilical hernia is a common and typically harmless condition.

During pregnancy, the umbilical cord passes through a small opening in the baby’s abdominal muscles. The opening normally closes just before birth. If the muscles don’t join together completely in the midline of the abdomen, this weakness in the abdominal wall may cause an umbilical hernia at birth or later in life.

Well, the Lion’s hernia gets very big when he cries, but it’s big all the time for the most part. So, on Tuesday, the Lion is having two outpatient surgical procedures. As his mom, I have been praying non-stop this weekend for wisdom, patience and God-guided hands for the surgeon, anesthesiologist, nurses and anyone who touches my baby. I pray that the procedure will be complication-free and that his recovery will be swift and painless. I especially feel this way because even though the surgeon felt as though this was a functionally necessary procedure, part of me feels like this is cosmetic surgery, which I believe to be totally unnecessary for the Lion. On the other hand, the hernia is so big that we intentionally cover it up. Other children always focus on it, and we don’t want him to grow up being self-conscious about being shirtless and wondering why we never did anything when he was a baby. Men go bare back all the time in sports, especially swimming and basketball, and I don’t want him to feel awkward because of cruel jokes from insensitive kids.


I took all of these thoughts and feelings to church this morning and gave it to God. I was carrying a spirit of fear, but I prayed this scripture, “For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind,” and now the surgery is in His hands.

Gadget has started taking Jiu-Jitsu. He goes three times a week, which is great, and so far hubby and I have only missed the Wednesday classes for the most part. He did a week of trial classes, and unfortunately he was not as excited about it as we had hoped. In the middle of class he asked the teacher “if it was almost done.” But, he has learned a lot from the class. Subconsciously, he is training his muscles. The other day he was running and fell, but he fell exactly how he was taught to fall in class so as to avoid injury (it’s called a break fall). After we saw this, we decided he would finish the season even though he did not want to. As I mentioned in my Gadget update, he’s got some challenges when it comes to coordination, so we know this class will give him the physical discipline and training his body will quickly retain.

Overall, we are very pleased. The boys run around on the mat before class starts, in which even the Lion can participate. The others boys in the class and the teacher are great, and the instructor’s wife and two young daughters watch the class as well. Gadget is the youngest in the class by far. The next youngest child is six, and the instructor was initially worried that Gadget would only play and not pay attention, but Gadget has pleasantly surprised the instructor. Of course, he has had a day or two where he was more focused on drinking his Gatorade during breaks, but lately he has asked when is his next class. Yay for Gadget and learning something new, and yay for hubby finding the class and getting Gadget set up in his little Jiu-Jitsu gi (we have to roll the sleeves and pant legs and we dry it on high for extra shrink).