2011 - it's only just begun

Nintendogs has entered this almost-3 year old's life. She's completely self-sufficient with this game. I fear I'll never get my DS back.

What has happened in the last month or so?

1. We all eventually recovered from the stomach plague. It took a lot longer than I thought it would. We didn't regain normal activity and eating until 2 weeks after it struck.

2. Now that I've paid for my registration, I shall announce it to the intarwebz: I am training for a sprint triathlon in July. There's more to the story of why I'm doing it and I will share that as the training progresses.

3. Because of #2 (heh...), I have been working out almost every day. And I enjoy it.

...

No really, I do! I think it's because I love our gym - great facility, great atmosphere, great people.

4. A gluten-free store and cafe opened up over the summer. I didn't realize their true significance to my life until I found they do carry out and take-and-bake pizzas. Tried our first ones on New Year's Eve. Heaven help me.

Yes, it's a good thing I enjoy my gym so much.

5. Our family Christmas present this year is a dishwasher. We are finally getting around to picking one out. I now know way more about dishwashers than I ever thought possible.

6. Speaking of Christmas, it was fantastic. There was a moment - a few days beforehand - that we thought my in-laws would be trapped in Nairobi for the holidays (due to terrible weather in Amsterdam that they needed to connect in), but they made it back safe and sound. Slight panic ensued when we heard there was a bombing at a bus station while they were supposedly still there. They left the day before.

7. At some point this month, I got so frustrated looking at our terribly inefficient, standard reach-in closet that I tore it apart to make a new one. I had every intention of making this a "me" project - showing that anyone can build their own custom closet (Califor.nia Closets be damned!), but ShankRabbit (and Peanut for a while) was intrigued and offered help. Projects are so much quicker when you have help.

I will have a post up when all is completed. Here's a sneak peek:


Before (ugh)


Current state (still in progress). Can you see the double closet rods on each side?


8. Got the chance to attend both Bears playoff games. At one point during the second one, we noticed a couple of F-16 fighter pilots* sitting at a table near us in the United Club. I told ShankRabbit, "hey, we should go over and say hi. I'd like to meet them." So, he tells me to follow him, taps their shoulders and says, "Hi. My wife has a thing for guys in uniform...can she take a picture with you?"

(Enter completely mortified expression and bright red face)

One of the guys responds with, "well, how can we say no to that?"

So, this picture was taken:


Pretty eventful December/January. A little scared and excited to see what February brings.

_____________
* - Despite what my husband said, I really wanted to meet them because what they do is so friggin' cool! Thanks to the power of the internet, here is the information on the fighter pilots that did the flyover after the National Anthem. I believe I met the two that coordinated the timing from the ground.

Of sickness and the power of Christmas

The one time I pledge to do a daily posting commitment like #reverb10 and our household comes down with the stomach plague*. I will be back to my regularly scheduled reverb-ness, once I get this past weekend/week out of my system.

Don't worry, none of the gory TMI details about the plague will be shared. I'm just going to tell you how pathetic we were all weekend.

Peanut kicked off the happy fun sickness party! for us on Friday night (on our way to visit a family I haven't seen in 3+ yrs...uh, yeah, trip was instantly cancelled), ShankRabbit was stricken by Saturday night (the night of the big snowstorm. Needless to say no snow got cleared), and by Sunday night I thought I should join in! Oh joy! By Monday we were all dehydrated, delusional, and downright diseased.

Around 4am on Monday morning, I was trying to grab a few moments of rest with Peanut on the couch. She was proped up on a couple pillows, looking just as tired as I sure felt (and probably looked, too). She insisted I turn on the Christmas tree and sing her Christmas songs** while she tried to sleep.

I wanted to cry for two different reasons:
1) This was the first night of the plague for me (and by far the worst) and I was running on no sleep 2) Peanut wanted me to comfort her by singing. She usually says "mama...no!" when I sing to her. Ok, so maybe I get all vaudeville with it most of the time, but it is common knowledge that she'd rather have her dada sing. And with his voice, I don't blame her.

As I quietly sang every Christmas song I could think of and petted her hair, my daughter - looking angelic in the glow of the tree - drifted off to sleep. *sob*

- -

We were worried we'd have to take her to urgent care that day because she was becoming seriously dehydrated...but after a regimen of 2 sips of watered down juice every 10 minutes, she kept it all down and started to perk up.

* * * * *

Last night was the first real meal we all had. We had been eating small bits of plain rice, toast, and the like when we could handle it, but we ate CHICKEN SOUP last night. Such a colorful and flavorful meal after so many days of blahness. Ah, food heaven.

So, now that we are almost healthy, I will get back to that #reverb10 thing I was working on. And maybe get some humor back into my life, too. That'd be nice.

___________________
* Every time we get a major sickness in our house, I hear "yeah, it's just that nasty bug going around." Is this just a canned answer or are people seriously all sick at the same time? Do these bugs travel like frickin' Santa Claus? I swear someone on the East Coast can have the exact same symptoms as we do in the Midwest. How is that possible?!

** Funny moment - after a particular awful "spilling" (a.k.a. vomiting, to Peanut) episode, she looks at me and starts singing "simply having a wonderful Christmas time!" If it wasn't so sad, I probably would been on the floor laughing.

I'm baaaaack!

I'm finally shaking the lazy dust off from the holidays. My last day at work was the 28th and I was as lazy as I could be* until this past Monday. ShankRabbit threw a curve ball at me on Friday when he got such a bad headache that he spent all day and night Friday and most of Saturday holed up in our room with the shades drawn and the door shut.
He rarely gets headaches - and never had a migraine before - so I am ordering him to the doctor (under the guise of him needing a physical anyway. If it was an appointment just for this headache he would never go).

* * * * *

It's official - we will be (hopefully**) buying our first home in a couple months. I've been looking at houses online for months now, but this is the real deal. You know, with loan people and real estate agents and such.

So...wish us luck!

* * * * *

I'm sure it comes as no surprise that Peanut is continuing to grow like a weed - both physically and developmentally. My favorite at the moment: she grabs my hand and says " 'mon...go walk?" [translation: C'mon. Let's go for a walk] and leads me to whatever she wants at the moment. 90% of the time it's for a cookie or cracker. Ah, she's so my child.

* * * * *

We're supposed to get 6-10 inches of snow on Thursday. I don't have much money to offer, but I'd be willing to make some awesome baked goods for anyone that would like to shovel / snow blow our driveway for me (ShankRabbit will not be here to do it). Any takers?

* * * * *

Time for coffee, y'all. I'm not making any promises, but I'm hoping my blog posts become a regular thing again. Wouldn't that be nice?
____________________
* - I'm the mom of a toddler. "Lazy" doesn't have the same definition as it did when I was single.
** - I'm sure things will go as planned, but I don't like to assume...lest Fate punches me in the face.

Dust is a good thing, right?

It comes as no surprise to me that my last post was almost a month ago. The last month has been crazy, lovely, stressful, fun, emotionally trying, tiresome...you know, the usual.

Happenings in our household:

• Lots and lots of sickness for everyone
• Work. Work. And more work.
• Trying to handle the ever-changing mood of Peanut - teeth, major routine change, and missing daddy and mommy create chaos of the unfun variety.
• Doubting decisions one minute, then fulling embracing them the next.
  

I'm hoping to have some Halloween photos posted soon, but the child is having a dance party right now. I never pass up a dance party.

Medical Mystery Tour

I'm a pretty open person. I will not hesitate to talk about my past, especially if I know the person(s) I am speaking with may benefit in some way from hearing my story. However, talking about medical stuff - especially when I (or any doctors, for that matter) don't have concrete answers - isn't something I do. I try to make it seem like everything is OK, when in reality my brain is going a million miles a minute. And because medical professionals can't give me the answers I'm looking for (without further testing - which does not guarantee an answer anyway), I'm stuck.

I hate that I'm writing this to the blogosphere right now. As silly as it sounds, I'm comfortable admitting imperfections in parenting and my craptastic ability to handle relationships with family/friends, but not with something I can't control - my health.

Now, before you get all worry-wart on me...whatever is going on doesn't seem to be serious at all. It's just a bunch of unanswered questions.

So, I am off to an MRI today. I was instructed to remove any piercings (I have 50...I'm hardcore like that) and wear comfortable clothing. I guess I'll put the Manolos aside for another day.
(sad attempt at humor...moving on)

Test results will be discussed Tuesday afternoon. Let's hope they have a better answer than "um...we're not really sure what that is..." as the radiologist told me after my ultrasound a couple weeks ago.

Weekend review

We are back and made it through Saturday. Fortunately, Mother Nature was smiling on us and we got a 70+ degree day with lots of sunshine. For a Midwest April, this is amazing (Sunday was 45 and rainy, if that says anything)!

For my reference, a few important notes for next year:

1. Don't do favors
2. If your child touches your face with cake hands, make sure husband checks your face before pictures are taken (after reviewing our photos, it looks like I have chocolate snot. Greeeeat...I'm sure several other people got the same shot).
3. Make sure the time of the party doesn't interfere with nap time...especially with a sick child. She wasn't miserable - but not her usual smiling self.



I am not amused.

This little bundle of teething sickness decided that the day of her first birthday (Sunday) was the perfect time to start walking and feeding herself with a spoon. However, the continuation of doing either of these is on her OWN time...no amount of coaxing can get her to do it when you want her to (good thing we got the first steps on video).

* * * * *

Dance Party Time!
(Have no idea what I'm referring to?...read the bottom of this post)

Artist/Band: The Pointer Sisters
Song Title: Jump
Kid-friendly?: Yes

And here is a great scene of Hugh Grant dancing to this song (as the Prime Minister in the movie "Love Actually." If you haven't seen this movie. Go watch it right now. Seriously)

Sickness. It's what's for breakfast.

Nothing is worse than having a sick family member in your household. This time Peanut is the victim - fever, sneezing, coughing...not fun. Let's hope whatever this is (we're thinking it's teething-related. Man, do I hope s0) clears up by her party on Saturday.

Though there is nothing funny about being sick...we did have a funny moment this morning. During breakfast, Peanut sneezed and cleared every last Rice Krispie off her high chair tray. Good thing she was pretty much done.

* * * * *

Wish us luck for Saturday's party. Looking at the list of things that have to be done...we're gonna need it!

I'm back

I finally dusted off my keyboard today. If you didn't read in ShankRabbit's blog, I was struck Sunday night with a sudden, random bout of a stomach flu and it knocked me out hardcore. Thank goodness ShankRabbit is who he is and was able to deal with the crying pathetic whimpering sicky me. I'm a sad case when I'm sick.

Fun story about Saturday night...

We stayed at the in-laws on Saturday so we wouldn't have to travel too far for church the next day. Lots of fun to be had with the family.
Peanut decided at 12am - after 4 hours of sleep - she was done. I don't know if she was too hot (changed her jammies), still hungry (tried another bottle), not liking her surroundings (not home), or whathaveyou, but she was awake. Bouncing in her bed, smiling...which turned into whining...then crying. It took 2 1/2 hours, lots of cuddling and back-breaking rocking (on a twin size bed...no rocking chair in this room) before she finally passed out. ShankRabbit was in the other twin size bed trying to make it work with his adult size frame. Heh - I wish I could convey in words how funny this was, but you'll just have to take my word for it.
(Sorry, hun...I'm not laughing at you. Ok, maybe I am. But you'd laugh as well if you saw it from my perspective)
I am about to settle in for the night when I feel a little pinch on my leg. I pull back the covers and find an Asian ladybug - beetle - whatever those dang things are that infest every household.* Upon further inspection, I find another under my pillow. Since my bed was the closest to the window, I got to enjoy the bedmates. Fan-freakin-tastic.

I was done.

I packed up my pillow (sans bug) and a spare blanket and kissed ShankRabbit goodnight before retreating to the downstairs couch. It's not remotely close to any windows, so the chances of being attacked were slim. I settled in and finally a bit of sleep.

Fortunately, Saturday night's crib rave had no ill effect on Peanut the next day - thank goodness. She was just as charming as always...and that combined with family time, coffee and fantastic pastries made my Easter morning way better than anticipated.

And what are the morals to my story?
1. Bugs don't make good bedmates
2. Babies, no matter what they do, will always win with their cuteness. Every time.
3. Forget dogs - coffee is man's woman's best friend
________________

* - Harmonia axyridis, the Asian lady beetle. I contemplated posting a picture, but this blog is the only place I have left where I don't have to deal with them. So, click the link for photos and information.

Where'd I go?

ShankRabbit decided to get sick this weekend...so I was busy keeping him fed, hydrated and medicated so he'd return to tip-top shape. Well, he may not be 100% just yet, but he's much better.

Due to "sick patrol," I didn't get a chance to read everyone's blog posts this weekend. Expect comments on old posts, because that's how I roll.

* * * * *

The heat just kicked on and Peanut is on all fours over the floor vent. She's having a great time letting the air blow the hair out of her face and laughing.

Such simple things amuse us - kids and adults alike.

* * * * *

One of the coolest things I witnessed this weekend was ShankRabbit, B.C. (before the cold) and my brother-in-law, playing their guitars in the backyard while Peanut crawled around. I love warmer weather.

* * * * *

I seriously messed up my knee cap on Saturday night. I won't go into specifics, but I will tell you that a metal-framed doorway + one klutz = a lot of pain. Let's hope it's only bruised and nothing more serious.

* * * * *

I just said the following to my daughter, "Let me see what's in your mouth...stop trying to swallow it!...Plastic is NOT for eating!"
Why must she clamp her mouth shut and attempt to bite me at the same time when I'm fishing for something in her mouth? I could have sworn I gave birth to a human being, not a puppy.

Now I will try to find the source of said plastic.

* * * * *

Dance Party Time!
(Have no idea what I'm referring to?...read the bottom of this post)

Artist/Band: The Bangles
Song Title: Walk Like An Egyptian
Kid-friendly?: Yep

Ugh.

Me, sick + hubby, sick = baby, sick

baby, sick = horrible sleeper

That's the story of our life right now.

Gotta go comfort the screecher.

I should buy stock in Kleenex

Here I thought I would make a great "welcome back to blog life" post, after being gone for a bit...but I find myself with another sickness. This time a head cold - complete with fever, chills, constant headache, and a nose that is so drippy I have been walking around all day with a tissue hanging out of it. I wish I was kidding.

Peanut's first tooth made an appearance on Tuesday, followed shortly thereafter by tooth #2. She also started full-on crawling and standing every chance she gets (with the help of people and objects). So, not only is she not feeling well with this whole teething thing...but she's super-mobile now.

This sickness couldn't come at a better time. Really.

The white stuff

I'm sure you were all crazy with anticipation for my post yesterday.

Riiiight...

I was not feeling well. And before you say, "well, don't eat so much sugar and you'll be fine," I have to tell you it had nothing to do with the baking from Tuesday. I, along with our best friend/nanny, had a serious stomach flu. It was rough, but I'm recovering just fine. I'm just hoping that a) "Nanny McPhee" gets better soon (she's about 5 months pregnant) and b) Peanut doesn't get sick again. Potty training is only days away, right?

* * *
Last night, it snowed. It snowed and snowed and snowed. We have about a foot or more of new snow accumulation. Our area is almost completely shut down. So, I didn't have to go to work today and ShankRabbit is working from home (those programmer types...they can work from anywhere).

You know, back in my young'n days, I would have bundled up and taken advantage of all this snow. Snowball fight, snowman...maybe a snow angel or two.

Oh, who am I kidding - we made a snowman was last winter. ShankRabbit and I were in the process of moving and were inspired to leave our apartment complex a snowman. The two little girls in our building loved it. They even added some things to him later on.


If Peanut wasn't so little, we'd all be out there by lunchtime.

A much needed break

The last 24+ hours have been crazy in this household. Top off all the things I had to do with one clingy/ teething / possibly sick baby, and it just gets crazier.

I'm the master of one-handing tasks, though. I spent 2.5 hours in our church's office labeling offering envelopes...with one hand...while cradling a half-sleeping baby.

I rock.

So, what's wrong with Peanut, you ask? Well, I don't know.


Caution: if you're squeamish when it comes to reading about baby poo, turn away now...


She's not really sick (no fever, no cough, no sneezing...), but I can safely guess she has pooped her weight over the last 24 hours. I'm thinking it might be because she's teething...I hope. I hope this is not a precursor to some strange stomach flu. Fortunately, she didn't have any *ahem* issues while we were at church (thank goodness!).

As I wrote that last sentence, I heard a loud, ominous rumble from Peanut's diaper. I now have a few more items to throw in the washer, including a futon cover...

But she's as happy as can be...so I'm stumped.

* * *
My darling, wonderful husband just came home and said, "I'm taking Peanut with me for an hour. Go have some 'you' time."

I spent a good portion of my day elbow-deep in poopy diapers and I hear this right when he gets home from work.

I think it's time for a long, hot bath.


Have I mentioned how much I love this man?