Baby Faire

Mike was at a Triathlon Expo all day, so I decided to take the kids down to Foxboro for the Baby Faire. A bit of an ambitious undertaking as it was, I decided to complicate things with a stop at the scrapbook store down there.

On the drive down, the Tumbleweed had a Night Terror. Fortunately she was strapped into her car seat. Not much I could do for her as we were headed down 495, and it was very hard to drive not knowing when she would stop screaming. Eventually she went back to sleep... what a strange thing.

We had a pretty successful trip to the scrapbook store (nothing broken & a few good finds), and headed to our final destination.

I decided to take the kids in the double stroller since I didn't want the Tumbleweed walking away from us. I fear she is not going to be willing to ride much longer and I don't know what I will do then. Not long into our trip I new I was crazy. No one else would have brought their kids alone. Way to much to see and do. But we managed.

The Dandilion didn't really crawl for the Diaper Derby, but I entered him so he could 'race' just like the Tumbleweed had 2 years ago. The Tumbleweed got to see Jasmine, Aladdin and the Genie and have her face painted like a butterfly. All in all not too bad. Still a crazy idea.

Check-ups

The kids had their check-ups today --- 9 months for the Dandilion and 3 years for the Tumbleweed. They were both in the 10th percentile for weight - surprisingly. The Tumbleweed was in the 25th for height and the Dandilion the 50th.

The main topic with the doctor was sleep for the Dandilion and the ongoing yeast infection & stress related to the ER visit for the Tumbleweed. Nothing Earth-shattering resulted. Wish it had, maybe I could get some sleep.

Waste of money?

So I have decided I am destined to miss most of my group personal training sessions. The Dandilion is too sick to take to Child Watch, so I will yet again be missing my Group Personal Training session. I alsready know I am going to miss next week, so that will mean making 2 of the first 6. Not getting much out of the workout if I can't manage to make it to class - and it isn't like I am getting any other workout time either. Spending the money was supposed to be the motivation to workout. I hope I make it to the last 2 classes.

Easter and the ER

The Dandilion was sick for his first Easter. He woke up in the middle of the night burning up and I knew it wasn't going to be a good day. We gave him some Tylenol and went to church, hoping that maybe it was just a teething related fever. Not so. We returned, hunted for baskets & eggs and had breakfast, but it was clear -- he didn't feel good.

More medicine and a nap in the car, we hoped it would improve at Nana and Papa's. Not so. By the end of dinner I decided to call the doctor and see what to do. Of course they wanted him to be seen -- on a Sunday, a holiday -- so we were headed back to the ER. We did decide to drive home first, since it would be a long night.

The Dandilion won't remember his ER visit as much as the Tumbleweed, thankfully. He went through the same things she did, but he didn't take everything so personally. In the end, he "Just has the flu." A long night for nothing.

Creepy Crawler

The Dandilion is on the move. Yes, he is crawling at just under 9 months. Right now it is a funny little crawl using a knee (left) and a foot (right). Whatever works I guess.

He seems to enjoy his new freedom, especially when he gets into something he shouldn't. I guess I better figure out how to keep the place baby proofed with the Tumbleweed sabotaging me everytime I turn around. How do you get a 3-year-old to understand that her brother can choke her stickers, crayons, puzzle pieces, balloons, doll shoes, etc?

Stalagbite

The Dandilion has a new tooth peeking though on the top. I guess he gave Nana and Daddy some trouble while I was away, but it finally came though after I was home. Maybe that was why he wanted to chew on all of the bottles rather than drink them.

Now we just have to endure a little more teething whining until the other one breaks through.

Gym time?

As the Olympics apporach again I am really missing being around a gym. With Mike's new job I was thinking it might be a good idea to approach the idea of going back to coaching... but alas I still don't think time will permit.

Odd as it sounds, I think I miss the smell of stale chalk in the summer. At least for a few minutes. I know I miss the enthusiasm that the Olympics bring to a gym. Maybe I will pull out some tapes and watch them the next time it rains. I hope we still have a VCR hooked up!

Back to Reality

I hate coming back after a trip. In high school I always came home from a meet weekend and tried to figure out a way to stay home sick. I can't do that these days. Despite the long night of delayed flights and a late drive home, I still had to get up at night with the Dandilion and be up in the morning to take the Tumbleweed to dance class.

The Eagle is exhausted, and will probably need a week to recover. He managed the long weekend, but had some help from Nana and Papa as he had a last minute interview on Thursday and had to go out of town for the day. He took the kids to New Hampshire for skiing. He convinced the Dandilion to start taking bottles and let him try Cheerios. The Tumbleweed got to go skiing again and got to try popcorn.

My trip was great - I had lots of fun, got a little extra sleep (even though I was at crops until midnight), made some new friends, and finished a whole lot of scrapbooking projects!

I'll do it again anyday.

AGP

or American Girl Place... Aunt Kasey and I went to check it out while I was visiting in Chicago. It is pretty awesome and they are building an even better one! We are going to take the Tumbleweed after the family reunion this summer. Maybe by then she will actually be interested in dressing her dolls up... right now she mostly just dresses herself up. I suppose she might play with the dolls more if she didn't have so much to dress herself up in. Whatever, as long as she's having fun!

Off to Chicago

I am off to my scrapbooking getaway in Chicago today. I have no idea how they will survive without me - yes, I'd like to think I am that important. I know they will manage somehow. I expect that the Dandilion will decide to take a bottle at some point. And I expect that the Eagle won't get much sleep. I hope the busy schedule on Thursday shows just how much we do in a day.

Aside from worrying about what is going on at home, I am also worrying about my trip. I am not one to travel alone, and haven't done much (aside from some long drives home). I still don't know how I am getting to the hotel from the airport, and I can only hope that I can manage to carry all of my stuff.

I am looking forward to a hotel room all to myself and a weekend dedicated to me... It will all be worth it.

Cabinets - Check!

Our family room cabinet project is finally finished, thanks to my dad. In the midst of all of the birthday happenings he was able to make our false front & cover for the heater to complete our cabinets. The look just how I had hoped! It only took us 20 months :)

Pretty Pretty Princesses

We had a busy, but fun birthday weekend! My parents were in town - thank goodness - or we would never have managed everything.

Highlights from the weekend included:

~Grandma got to photograph the Tumbleweed at a makeup dance class on Saturday morning (I never have enough hands, never mind the photography experience to get good shots)

~A rectangular Belle cake with purple & pink flowers and strawberries for the family party. The whole family, even Aunt Kasey, was able to come.

~A new leotard and teddy bear for dance class (she is "Dancin' with her Teddy Bear" for the recital)

~All of her friends, dressed as princesses, were able to attend a lunch-time party on her big day! Friends from past and present were able to make it. Thankfully Grandma and Grandpa were able to manage the Dandilion during the party as he was very grumpy.

Everyone's gone & I'm exhausted.

Three is around the corner!

I can't believe it is almost the Tumbleweed's 3rd birthday! Fortunately she has been on antibiotics long enough to go on with the festivities this weekend. Now, I just have to get everything ready. My To Do list always seems unmanageable before a party, even more when we have house guests. A cake & cupcakes to make, presents to wrap, sheets to wash for guests, goodie bags to assemble... oh, I am sure I forgot something.

Another Setback

Well, the ER trip has really had an impact on life. The Tumbleweed seems forever scarred by the catheter experience. In retrospect, I should have told the nurses to let her pee in a cup. Now she is protesting any help wiping, and totally panicks if anyone comes near with the intention of cleaning her bottom.

So, now she has a yeast infection! How am I supposed to help her with that if she won't let me near her?

Yet another challenge in the bumpy road of parenting.

The Biggest Loser

I never thought I would get into this show. I hate the name. But for some reason, the Eagle started watching it this season and now we watch every week. I always miss the first hour because of dance class, but somehow that hasn't kept me from getting into it. It is truly amazing how fast these people can drop weight when they leave their life behind... I would like to think that I could do the same if I wasn't busy living life. Someday I will figure out how to do both.

Pneumonia and the ER

We made our first trip to the ER today. The Tumbleweed has been running a high fever since Saturday morning. There didn't seem to be much in the way of otehr symptoms, but with such a high fever I called the doctor anyway. We had a 3:00 appointment, the doctor examined her and said "It is probably just the flu, but we will run some bloodwork anyway."

The bloodwork came back with a high white cell count... which apparently means that it could be pneumonia. So... we were sent to the ER for chest X-rays. It was not that simple, though.

After the Eagle took the Dandilion home, we were left to wait...and wait... finally, we were seen. Again, nothing looked wrong, but they did a full work up... yup, not just X-rays, the full deal. I spent two hours listening to "I all done. Go home NOW!" at the top of her lungs, and there was nothing I could do.

A catheter, an X-ray, 2 attempts to draw blood, IV antibiotics and two hours later, I was left convincing them that we should be allowed to go home. They were going to admit her to spend the night! How was I going to manage that? The Dandilion was still nursing, and I was already feeling the pain of being away from him.

In the end they let us leave. Thank goodness I made it home in time to be up all night with Cameron.

It is going to be a long week.

Dead arms

I thought I lost the use of my arms. I have never felt so bad after a workout in my life, and the workout was two days before it hit me. Apperently I overdid my first group personal training class so much that my muscles quit on me. I knew I was reaching my limit when I was doing it, but being the competitor that I am I didn't want to stop in the middle of a set. I guess I should have. I won't make that mistake again.