No white Christmas two years in a row, but I'm definitely not complaining

Christmas was absolutely wonderful this year. Audrey was obviously more aware of what was going on, which made it even better. She was still overwhelmed, though, especially at Mom's, where she had a pile of presents that was higher than her head. Not to mention two hyperactive cousins:)



Something tells me that Katie likes the Hello Kitty boots we gave her.

On Christmas Eve, we spent the day with just the three of us. We went to the candlelight service at our church, which was beautiful. However, they didn't have childcare, and our preacher did a full-length sermon, which I didn't expect. As we left, David said, "Thank God for childcare" and I had to agree! She was squirming all over the place, except when there was music. She fell and busted her lip during the service, but she didn't make a sound. Nada. She was bleeding, and I asked David to get some toilet paper for the blood. So, I have to give her major props for that.

When the church was filled with nothing but candlelight and music, I felt an incredible peace settle over me. I'm so glad we went. We took these after the service.





Christmas Day was at my mom's. Thankfully, we did it later in the day, so Audrey could have a full-length nap. I know she would have melted down if she hadn't gotten one. She got so many presents that I can't even remember them all, but she especially loved a Mickey Mouse ride-on train (from my brother and family) that makes all kinds of music and loud noise. Hey, I can take the noise if it makes her happy. Most of the time.

We spent the day after Christmas with David's parents, and Audrey got tons of gifts there, too. She got a dollhouse with lots of accessories, and I love that it doesn't have batteries. I like that she'll have to use her imagination to play with it. Although, I have to say, David and I are having fun with it, too.



I got lots of great things, too, but...wait for it...David's parents gave me a Keurig coffee maker! Wow. I was totally shocked. I've been going back and forth about wanting one, especially with the cost of K cups. But David gave me a filter where I could also use regular coffee, which I didn't even know was possible. Absolutely awesome, and I love it! Now I need suggestions as to the tastiest K cups. Hint, hint.

I got David a helicopter that's controlled by an iPad or iPod Touch. I thought he'd like it, but I had no idea how MUCH he'd like it. That calls for an entirely different post, since this one's getting lengthy already.

A merry, merry Christmas, for sure.

I have no words

My brother, Owen, and my ex-SIL, Candy, are trying to reconcile. They've tried this before. It failed miserably.

I...well, I don't know what to think. I know the world doesn't revolve around me, but this comes at a most inconvenient time. My 40th birthday is rapidly approaching and, amazingly, I don't feel depressed about it.

Owen's birthday is this week, so we're celebrating on Saturday. Mom warned me Candy might be there. This took me a few days to accept (okay, to be honest, I haven't really accepted it yet). Then I told Mom that I didn't want her at my birthday celebration, which we're doing the weekend after Owen's.

Although I'm trying to rise above my pettiness, I think I have the right to request that she not be there. I haven't seen her since the last time they tried to reconcile. She treats my nieces like crap. Katie recently told me she's scared of her. So, for her to be there on my birthday would make me absolutely uncomfortable. Not to mention David, who is extremely protective of me and doesn't have a lot of love to spare for Candy.

This birthday is a milestone for me. We're not having an elaborate party, just the family. I do not want my 40th birthday to be uncomfortable, especially when Candy may not be around even 40 days from now.

I'm trying to forgive, because I'm a Christian, and I know that's required of me. But I can't get past this. I understand that she'd be at Owen's birthday and :shudder: Christmas.

You wouldn't think she'd have the nerve to push Owen into pressuring me about this, though. But you'd be wrong. I found out, after Audrey's party, that Owen asked Mom if she could come to it, and he was angry when she said no.

So here's my dilemma. If my brother asks me if she can come to mine, what do I do? Tell him I've decided not to celebrate this year? Lie and say I'm going to Bora Bora? If we had the money, I wouldn't be opposed to dropping everything and going there, if it meant I could avoid her.

The real answer is...I'll have to allow it. Otherwise, there will be hard feelings. If I say I don't want to celebrate, my nieces (not to mention my mom) will not understand. Candy will then tell my nieces that I decided not to celebrate because I didn't want to invite her. No, she's not above that.

God help me. And if you made it through this post, God bless you.

"Tis the season...

...for birthdays. There's an onslaught of celebrations in my family. It starts in October with Mom and Katie, skates through November very easily with just Gracie's and one of my friends from high school, but December? Wow. Let's see. First there's my first cousin's, Sonya. Then comes Audrey's, closely followed by Owen's, and then mine rounds out the year. My ex-SIL's was after mine, but we don't have to worry about that anymore:) All these are before Christmas, mind you.

When I was pregnant, I was a little concerned that Audrey would be born on someone else's birthday. She was due on Owen's birthday, and part of me thought it would be kind of cool to have them share a birthday. In the end, though, I'm glad she has her own day. Honestly, I was just terrified that she would be born on ex-SIL's birthday...oh, the horror.

So here are some pics from our fun times. For some reason, Mom wouldn't let me take any pics of her on her birthday, so I'll just post one from the next weekend.



Then Katie's.



Yeah, she was pretty excited about the Talking Woody doll, but it scared the snot out of Audrey. She also got a beanbag, which Audrey seemed to enjoy.



And then The Three Musketeers at Gracie's party.



And no, I don't know what's going on with the expression on Katie's face.

Audrey enjoyed one of Gracie's gifts, too, even though I couldn't get her to smile.



Whew. The first wave is over, and my friend's 40th birthday card is in the mail. I'm preparing for the second wave now.

Punkins

A couple of weeks ago, we visited our local "pumpkin patch". One of the churches around here sponsors it, and they have a pretty large assortment of pumpkins. I've been wanting to go to a real pumpkin patch, with a corn maze and hay rides, but I just don't have the stamina right now.

We had just as much fun at this one, though. Last year, Audrey was seriously afraid of the pumpkins. Of course, she was only 10 months old at the time, and she was scared of lots of things.

This time, though, she went from pumpkin to pumpkin, checking out as many as she could. She especially liked the white pumpkins and the ones with warts, as I call them.



We finally picked out three, in varying sizes, and she plays with the tiniest one at home.

Here are some of the good pics we got that day.



Yes, she wanted one of the biggest ones!








We also did some pumpkin carving with Gracie and Katie, and it was lots of fun. Especially for me, since I didn't do any of the dirty work:) Katie decided to carve a heart on hers, and it turned out really well.



Gracie did a cross, and I was very impressed with her. She had a good-sized pumpkin, and she insisted on cleaning it out and carving it by herself. It took her a looong time, but she did it!



And then David worked diligently on his/ours. It looks great, too.



He also carved Audrey's initials into a smaller pumpkin, which was cool.

Since we're still having some hot days around here (imagine that), we mixed up a potion of vinegar, lemon juice, and water to brush over the carved areas of the pumpkin. We'll see how that works. Alas, the smaller pumpkin is already looking a little pooped, but the bigger one seems to be okay. Fingers crossed that it makes it to Halloween!

Can't they stay out of the ER?

Oh good grief. It's not even summer yet (though you wouldn't know that, seeing as how it's going to be in the 90s all week), and my nieces can't stop getting hurt. They're kicking off the summer with a bang, that's for sure.

Gracie broke her arm a couple of months ago. She got her cast off recently, and a couple of days later, BAM. Katie gets hurt. She was at school, and her class was walking "punishment laps" around the track because some kids were misbehaving. Don't even get me started about the stupidity of punishing an entire class for a few kids' misbehavior...not the best classroom management technique.

Anyway, she was walking along, probably talking a mile a minute to her friends, wasn't paying attention, and slammed right into a stage they'd set up on the track. I think they were having some ceremony celebrating the building of their new school, but I'm not sure.

The point is, she had to get seven stitches on her forehead!



I'm not even going to post the pic of the gash on her head before it was stitched. Holy cow. They took the stitches out just a few days later, which I thought was very soon, but the doctor said it would leave "railroad tracks" on her head if they didn't.

Audrey and I spent the day after it happened with Katie and my mom, who took off work to take care of her. She described what happened, pointing out that one of the little girls in her class was the first to get to her. I can't remember her name, so I'll call her Ashton. Actually, I think that was her name.

So Katie ran into the stage, fell down, and blacked out for a few seconds. Ashton said, "Katie, we've got to get you to the nurse." Katie asked why, and Ashton said, "Because you're bleeding." I can only imagine what the little girl was thinking, seeing that gash on her head. Katie said, "I'm not bleeding", reaching up to feel the side of her forehead. Ashton said, "The other side", and Katie reached her hand up and came back with lots of blood. Wow.

So, Katie had been jealous of all the attention Gracie was getting about her arm, and now she's got it all. I think she's realizing it's so not worth it.

The "D" word

There they are, the Three Musketeers. Excuse my daughter's unlady-like posture (hey, she's just a child!) and Katie's very fake smile. In fact, Gracie's the only one who's looking great in this pic.

We were over at Mom's yesterday, and I started talking to Gracie. When there's 8 people in the house, and a lot of those people are very loud, it's kind of hard to have a private conversation.

But Gracie wanted to lie on the couch with me, snuggling up like we used to do. She wasn't in the greatest of moods, but she's had a tough few weeks. She broke her arm, and then last week, we found out she has MRSA. Yep, you read that correctly.

Her oh-so-wise mother allowed her to visit two children who had just been released from the hospital for being treated for MRSA. My brother begged her not to do allow it, but that didn't make a difference.

So, we were all supposed to be together for Mother's Day on the Saturday before, but we couldn't because of Gracie's illness. She's on some strong medicine that messes up her stomach, gives her heartburn and rashes...I can't even remember what else it does.

Her principal said it was fine for her to come to school, as long as the areas were covered (I was very surprised by this). The following week, she had to take part in our state's high-stakes annual testing. You know, the one that forces teachers to "teach to the test" all year, instead of being given the creativity they and the students deserve.

Well, stress doesn't do much to help recover from MRSA (although I understand you never really recover, that you'll always be a carrier). She said she wasn't stressed, but I know better. Gracie pushes herself; she's a high achiever who can't stand it when she does badly.

And now, her parents' court date for the final divorce is tomorrow. She gets her cast off in the morning, then it's off to family court. I asked her if she was sad about it, and she just gave me a little nod. We talked briefly, I told her I was praying for her, and that she could call me any time she wanted to talk.

But it wasn't enough. Divorce is a nasty, nasty thing. Even when it's the right thing to do.

Wrestling gone wrong

Not a good day yesterday. I felt awful, so I was pretty much ready to go back to bed shortly after I got up. We did have some fun snuggling, the three of us, in bed. Okay, I guess you could say we weren't really snuggling, since Audrey doesn't stay still for more than 30 seconds.

After Audrey went down for a nap, Matt decided to cut the grass and I decided to dive back into bed. I was awakened by a phone call at 2:45, with my mom saying they were on the way to the hospital. Elizabeth and her cousins were trying out some wrestling moves on a trampoline, and let's just say it didn't end well...she broke her arm.

The EMS came to get her, and we had some tense moments while they decided whether or not Elizabeth needed surgery. In the past, I would've been there with her, but I was waiting at home for updates. That's the most helpless feeling.

She didn't have to have surgery after all, thank goodness. But Mom sent me a pic of the X-ray, and I felt like I was going to vomit. Both the bones in her forearm are broken, and they were bent at an angle that would make anyone sick to their stomach.

There were some funny things that happened in the ER, and I wish I'd been there to witness it. Elizabeth had to be sedated for them to set her arm (this after 3 shots of morphine in the ambulance), and when she was waking up, she did some crazy things. Mom said she'd be lying there, and then all of a sudden, she'd sit up straight in the bed and yell, "I'm hungry" and then lay back down again. And yes, my brother did get some video of that.

I wanted to strangle her cousin for slamming her on the trampoline like that. Mom reassured me that "Kids will be kids", and then she said we'd be dealing with that sort of thing with Audrey one day. Thanks, Mom.

Cake and the F-bomb

So, it's been a great week. Matt's been at home on spring break, and we've been doing lots of stuff I couldn't normally do with Audrey, because of my health. We went to Hobby Lobby to look for Easter baskets and some other things.

Matt and I bought cake decorating supplies. Elizabeth and Nichole recently earned straight A's on their report cards, despite all the upheaval in their lives. So we decided to make them a special cake, while trying out our cake decorating skills. One of my favorite shows is Cake Boss, so I'm a little obsessed with that right now.

Well, it didn't turn out like one of Buddy's creations (big surprise), but it still looked great. Better yet, it tasted like sin. Chocolate on chocolate...let's just say half of it was gone at our family get-together last night, and the sheet cake from Publix was barely touched. Even Noah admitted that it was rich, and he's a hard-core sugar addict. Elizabeth asked for a second piece, and when I handed Nichole her plate, she said, "It's three layers!"

Back to Hobby Lobby. Matt was pushing Audrey around in the stroller, and suddenly I heard her little voice saying something I did not want to hear. Yep, this little angel



...was dropping the F-bomb over and over again. In an overtly Christian store, mind you. Now, I know what you're thinking. That she heard it from us. And although I fully admit that was a word I used a lot when I was frustrated before Audrey was born, neither I nor Matt have said it around her. It's just that she's experimenting with sounds, you know, truck, duck, puck...you get the picture. We tried not to react because, if we acted all crazy about it, she'd get the attention and use it even more. Thank God we were on our way out; otherwise, they might have kicked us to the curb.

Ah...the joys of parenthood.

Girls' Night

This past weekend was utter madness. It was like one of those times when you got really drunk and woke up the next morning, asking things like, "How did that popcorn get on the garage floor?"

Matt was out of town on Friday and Saturday, so I decided that we'd have a girls' night...just Mom, my nieces, and (possibly) my SIL. And of course, Audrey. I was looking forward to it. I imagined us painting each other's toenails, watching a movie, and snuggling in bed.

And parts of it were fun. Or at least I think they were. Here's a picture of everyone on the swing:


That's Elizabeth on the left, Mom, Audrey, and Nichole. Actually, you know what I had to say to get those smiles? I think it was something like, "Pretend like you're happy."

But seriously, there were some good times. Here's Elizabeth reading to Audrey:


And yes, Audrey does have her hand stuck down her pants, like a guy relaxing on the couch after a big meal. At least that's what I've seen in movies.

But it was fun, under the circumstances. A neighbor of Mom's (for 42 years) passed away last Wednesday, and her funeral was on Saturday. And Noah and crazy SIL, who have been trying to reconcile, broke up on Friday. More on that later, maybe.

All I can say is, I'm still exhausted. I feel like I could sleep for three days. And I hope our next girls' night goes much better.

Why won't my baby play with toys?

Okay, I'm not going to say Audrey never plays with her toys, but she definitely has a curiosity for things that definitely don't fall into the toy category. Like today, when I found her in the kitchen.

Yes, she's playing with my grabber! That's what I call it, anyway. I'm not sure what the official term is, but my mom gave it to me when my FMS was so bad that I couldn't even pick things up off the floor.

And now, I use it on my bad days, but it's also very useful for picking up toys at the end of the day and putting them away. Seriously, I think the manufacturer should re-package it and sell it at Babies R Us as a toy picker-upper. Yeah, I can't think of a snazzy name for it right now, but people would definitely register for it.

But what is this fascination with things she can't have? Here are some items she goes after on a regular basis:

1) my cell phone, which is TEEMING with germs, according to what I've read,

2) the power cord for the Apple laptop, which she can now pull down even from the top of our "big chair". She proceeds to stick it directly in her mouth, every time.

3) my keys (see #1 for reference to germs)

4) the camera

5) the laptop itself.

And today, she crawled over to the Blu Ray player and turned it on. Her Baby Einstein video came on, and she just smiled. Unbelievable!

I'm thinking, for her birthday and Christmas, we should just wrap a bunch of empty boxes and let her tear the paper off and play with them. I remember the year that my nieces, after unwrapping all their gifts, pushed everything but the boxes and bubble wrap aside. The packaging was a huge hit, and I have a great picture of the two of them jumping up and down on the bubble wrap.

It would definitely save us some money. It might be a bit embarrassing at her birthday party, though.

Labor Day Weekend

This weekend was fabulous. I probably wouldn't change one thing about it.

Okay, I might change Nichole's meltdown on Sunday, but hey, if that's the worst thing that happens...

On Saturday, we finally took Audrey downtown to the park for a picnic. I guess it wasn't much of a picnic, though; Matt had his NutriSystem food, I had my Wendy's salad, and Audrey had a bottle. Oh well, we still ate together, right?

We spread out a blanket under some trees, with a fantastic view of the waterfall, and just hung out. IT WAS BLISS. I love being outside...it just makes me feel better, even though it does NOT make my allergies happy. But I was willing to sacrifice.

We've been wanting to take Audrey downtown for a while, but it's just been too darn hot. Heat indexes of over 100 do not equal a fun day in the park. Not for my hot-natured child (and husband). So it was such a relief to get outside and "enjoy the nature", as Nichole says.

Everyone was enchanted by Audrey. She'll smile at anyone, and her smile lights up her face like Christmas. People can't help but come closer, almost as if they're drawn to her. And she was certainly in her element on Saturday.



She really loves dogs, and there were two women in front of us who had a cute one. They asked if he (she?) could come over and "meet" her, and I told them to go ahead. Audrey started giggling like mad, and everybody was laughing and smiling. It seemed like everyone we saw was having a great time, and I can't even explain how much I enjoyed it. I'm stuck in the house WAY too much these days.

On Sunday, we went to my parents' house, and we got to see Nichole and Elizabeth. We had the grand idea to bring Scrabble, since Elizabeth loves playing games. Well, I hate to say it, but Elizabeth (9 years old) beat Matt and me at Scrabble. And she'd never played the game before. Yes, she's a genius.

Matt argues that he technically won, and that may be true, but it's only because Elizabeth got bored at the end and quit the game to go outside and play. Wow. Talk about humility. I mean, I have a degree in English. You would think I could beat a nine-year-old at Scrabble. But you would be wrong.

We spent Monday with Matt's family; they came over here, since it's so much easier for Audrey to get good naps in her own crib. We ate outside, since the weather was still cooperating. Lovely! However, I got "unplugged" (my term for when FMS gets the best of me) and I had to lie down for the rest of the afternoon. This is what I look like when FMS catches up with me. Not a pretty sight.

Unplugged

At least Matt had plenty of help with the baby. I guess all the activities of the weekend finally caught up with me.

I can't be too bitter about it, though, since not too long ago, I wouldn't have been able to go to the park at all because of the walking involved.

Like I said, there was only one scene when Nichole rediscovered her love for Webkinz (after going under Audrey's account and playing with her giraffe) and decided she must have one THAT DAY. I talked to her, though, and she was placated when I agreed to paint window sun-catchers with her. I love doing crafts, so believe me, it wasn't a sacrifice.

I love that the weather was cooler, but we're back up to past 90 for the rest of this week. That's okay. I've gotten a glimpse of fall, and me likey.

Loser

My ex-SIL is a loser. I've written two posts about her, part 1 and part 2, if you're interested. I never continued the saga, because I found out that she put my nieces in danger, not just once, but several times. I'm done with her. But not with my nieces, of course. I've been a big part of their lives since they were born, and that's not going to change just because Marie sucks. Here are my adorable nieces:



That's my mom, Audrey, Nichole, then Elizabeth on the right. (By the way, my mom would kill me for posting this. For the record, she DOES NOT have a receding hairline; she just hates looking at the camera).

So, Marie decided, after the separation from my brother Noah was barely final, she was going to move in with her boyfriend, Shane. Yeah. They're living in a single-wide trailer with no air conditioning. We live in the SOUTH, where the heat index is frequently over 100 degrees. That's four people in a small trailer, along with Shane's two boys, who will be there every other weekend. Nice set-up, huh?

Also, Marie's uncle, who Marie claims tried to "touch" her when she was little, has a grandson who's been hanging out around my nieces. He told my youngest niece, Nichole, that he wanted to rape her. That's right. I'D LIKE TO RIP THAT KID TO PIECES.

I cannot stand Marie. My anger for her knows no bounds, even though I know I'm not supposed to harbor anger towards anyone. Now, I get the news today that the girls will be going to their third school in nine months. I was a teacher for 11 years, so I know what kind of cruelty can be dished out to the "new kids". This is just too much, TOO MUCH CHANGE for these little girls.

I'm so disgusted, I can't even write any more.

Girl, you are crazy (SIL part 2)

http://goodbadandugly2.files.wordpress.com/2008/10/crazy-peeps.jpg


In this post, I started telling you about my insane SIL. I know you're all waiting with bated breath for the continuing saga, so here we go...

I was 38 weeks pregnant, and SIL had just left my brother. Fine, okay, I could deal with this. Except for the fact that, instead of getting a place to live near my family (where we could help her with babysitting, picking up the girls from school, etc.), she decided to move near her family. Very, very odd, considering they've done practically nothing for her over the years. They wouldn't even come visit their granddaughters because they said it was too far away (about 30 minutes...I know, that's a long way. Pack an overnight bag). Puh-leeze.

Chaos ensued. Since Noah was not happy with SIL's parents even babysitting my nieces (from now on, I'll just call her parents the Insane Ones because it's more fitting), you can imagine what kind of hell broke loose. Seriously, not only do these people smoke around Elizabeth and Nichole, they have always left their ashtrays with smoking cigarettes in reach of the girls, ever since they were babies. And did I mention that Nichole has asthma? Yeah.

Many tears ensued, mostly on the part of my mom. You see, SIL had promised Mom many times that, if she and Noah were to separate, she would never, ever move near her parents because of the influences of The Insane Ones and the rest of their family.

I was caught in the middle, with my due date looming. I am prone to panic attacks, which is not good when you're trying to reach your due date. Let's just say I did lots and lots of yoga breathing.

So we dealt with it as best we could, but Thanksgiving was a sober occasion, as you can well imagine. SIL's empty chair seemed twice as big as it actually was. Total suckfest.

Meanwhile, SIL never called me, not even to check on my pregnancy. This was strange, since we'd talked at least once a day (sometimes half a dozen times) for the last nine months. To be fair, I didn't call her either, since I was in complete shock.

Fast-forward a couple of weeks to December 4, when we received news that my grandpa was dying. He was 91, so it wasn't a complete surprise, but still extremely upsetting. I dragged my 40 weeks' pregnant butt to his assisted living facility, knowing that this was the end. Did SIL show up? Nope, even though the rest of the family did. And even though she was pretty close to my grandpa.

After we got home, at about 10:00 that night, Matt's phone rang. I picked up, since he was already in bed. It was Michael, my step-dad. He told me that Grandpa had just passed away.

I immediately went to the nursery and sat in the glider. I'm not sure why, but Audrey's room has always been a comfort and place of peace for me. I cried and cried, but I didn't wake up Matt, as it had been a long, trying day, and I knew he needed his sleep.

Two hours later, guess what happened? I went into labor. Yes, you read that correctly.


to be continued...

The last few days have been hell

Audrey has been so, so sick. We've never experienced anything like this stomach virus before, and it's horrible. Before now, she's only had thrush and an ear infection, and those were nothing compared to this.

Our niece, Nichole, spent the night with us on Thursday, and we all went to the pool that evening. Here's Nichole:



Isn't she cute? (And yes, she IS holding duplicate cut-out copies of the Jonas Brothers on either side of her head. And her favorite brother is the oldest one...kind of strange).

Well, Audrey seemed fine at the pool; she floated around in her little duck float, and this time (unlike at the beach), she was able to hold herself up in it. Last time we swam, one of us would have to hold her little tushie so she wouldn't sink into the water. Like this:



Anyway, she seemed fine at the pool. She was kicking her legs around, as if she was actually swimming. So when she was a little lethargic on Friday, I just thought she was worn out from the pool. It always tires out my nieces, that's for sure. Which is why we take them swimming when they spend the night;)

But no. It was (and is) a big, nasty stomach virus. She's had so much diarrhea since Friday that I don't even know how many diapers we've changed. A LOT.  Matt called the doctor once on Friday, and they told us to give her .8 ml of Tylenol and some Pedialyte. We were going to take her in on Saturday morning, but her temperature was only 97.7. I was hoping it was just some kind of 24-hour thing.

It was not. Matt ended up phoning and talking to the on-call nurse twice on Saturday, which was the day her temp went up to 102.6 and she projectile-vomited all over the floor. It even splashed up onto the end table. Nice. I have to give Matt credit, though, because he actually held his hand out to catch the vomit. Ugh.

Saturday was absolute torture. Audrey cried in pain all day long, and it's horrible to hear your child in pain. This is the first time I've had to do that, and let me tell you, I would've taken that pain on myself in a second to spare her.

The nurse said, the second time Matt talked to her, that if she threw up again we'd have to go to the children's ER. I was NOT down with that. I would have gone if she needed it, but I really didn't want to spend hours in the ER with Audrey in so much pain, when she was at least getting some sleep here at home.

My mom came and spent the night on the air mattress in Audrey's room Saturday night, thank goodness. Matt and I still had the monitors on in our room, of course (we love you, AngelCare!), but it was nice to have a third pair of hands.

On Sunday night, just when Mom was about to leave, I was giving Audrey another dose of Tylenol when she vomited up everything in her stomach. I was practically in tears, thinking this was going to mean a trip to the ER and another dose of these:



http://bestdoctorpharmacy.com/images/prodimg/mediumthumbs/klonopin.JPG

which are Klonopin, by the way, a really kick-butt anti-anxiety and insomnia pill. But thankfully, another call to the nurse revealed that we just needed to keep doing what we were doing.

Needless to say, we took Audrey to the doctor on Monday morning. The pedi said there was a bad stomach virus going around. And then I thought, that's where she probably got it! We went in last week for a re-check on her ear infection. Aaaaarrrrgggghhhhh.

So, there's really nothing we can do but encourage her to keep eating and change her ASAP after her bouts with diarrhea. There's nothing worse than seeing spasms of pain cross your daughter's face as the stomach cramps take over.

Now I understand what Mom meant, all those times she'd tell me she'd take my pain from me if she could. I get it now. And that's one of the hardest parts of being a mom.

I think I just wrote a children's book...

Yeah, I know. Weird. I've wanted to write one for a long time, ever since my nieces were born. After reading some of their books, I thought, I can do that. And I actually tried writing one about Beth, but I never finished it. I think I have the rough draft of it around here somewhere. It just never quite came together.

But this morning, I had a fabulous idea. It came to me after walking through the yard with Matt and Audrey yesterday. I'm not going to tell you the subject because you'll just steal it; I know you people;)

Here's a hint:

http://www.wildmanstevebrill.com/JPEG%27S/Plant%20Web%20Images/DandelionSeedhead.jpg

Intrigued? I would be. It's still a rough draft and not finished, but I'm excited. I could have it bound and printed for Audrey. It's something I could leave behind, you know? Which has suddenly become very important for me, to leave something, a legacy of some kind.

Well, the babe needs to be soothed to sleep, so gotta go. More on the book later, I promise.

So proud!

Watched my niece compete last night in a district-wide math competition, and I am so flipping happy for her. She's a genius, of course (no bias here). Oh, you don't know her yet, that's right. Well, get acquainted, since she'll be mentioned A LOT.

Beth is nine years old and I love her to pieces. I'm especially proud of her competing because I was always so horrible at math. And I totally blame most of my previous math teachers (you know who you are).

She was soooo nervous and it affected her performance, but she was wonderful. Hey, public speaking is the #1 fear, right? Even before death? Yeah, I get it.

You go, girl!