Tuesday, November 1, 2011

November 1st

It may surprise you to hear this, but today is the first day of November!

Ok, maybe I'm the only one that is surprised. This has been the fastest year ever. And no, of course I don't say that every year. Really. At least not loudly.

Anyway, even though I have all kinds of pictures to upload and stories to tell, I thought I'd try to do that thing where you say something you're thankful for every day in November. I'm thankful for a lot of things every day, but I usually find myself realizing that its November 10th and I haven't posted one thing and I give up before I start. I resolve to be different in 2011!

I expect I won't be thankful for serious things all the time (right now I'm feeling pretty fond of Hulu for instance), but I'm going to start out with the biggie- my family. I'm thankful for my wonderful husband who is loving and kind, considerate, and gorgeous to boot, and who gave me my beautiful girls who are my heart and my sunshine. I'm thankful for my parents who have helped raise our girls while we work, and for my husband's parents who have helped us so often in so many ways. I'm thankful for my sister-in-law who taught my husband not to mind having a bossy female around, and her son who gives my girls someone to look up to.

It might not be a big family, but it's mine and I'm grateful I have it!

Thursday, October 13, 2011

Packing

The girls and I are going with my mom tomorrow to go visit my grandpa!

He's 97, but he's still doing great, although he keeps saying "I never expected to live this long."

We can't wait! Well, Lilli can wait, actually, she hates to fly. She suggested driving, and when I told her that would take too long, she suggested walking. It seems we need to have a talk about how long things actually take. The girls are really excited to see fall leaves and they keep hoping for snow, since they've only ever seen the fake kind at Disney. I don't mind the leaves, but I would happily pass on the snow.

The only tricky part to this packing business is that I realized the Elizabeth was short on long sleeved shirts and all the girls' church dresses are Florida-ish and I had to work hard to figure out what might be appropriate for a Pennsylvania Sunday in October.

Also, my grandpa lives in an assisted living facility. Which means that there's not a lot of entertainment for little kids while we grownups chat. So most of my mom's and my luggage consists of things for them to do. I'm big time grateful for small things that pack a lot of entertainment. The Kindle, the portable DVD player and the DS are TREASURED at this moment. But we've still got puzzles and books and coloring supplies and games and crafts and....right, gotta remember to leave room for my own clothes!

The big down side to this whole trip is that David is staying here, so we won't see him until Monday night and none of us are happy about that. He thought we were coming back Sunday so he wasn't super happy about it either.

I just keep telling him to think of all the unlimited computer time he's going to have.

Wednesday, October 12, 2011

Did I mention that someone turned 6?

Right!

So, Elizabeth had a birthday party almost a whole month ago. Bad mama blogger! Bad!

She wanted to have it at the community pool, and as I was still residually partied out from the Panda Extravaganza in July, I was very supportive!

Just look at that barren table:

Actually, someone must have moved all the snacks around. Because that table did actually have stuff on it besides some sad non-themed cupcakes with crooked candles.

Let's pause to mourn the other half of the cupcakes which got flipped upside down when I delegated responsibility for them elsewhere...

The other half survived though, and at least I made chocolate cupcakes with chocolate icing just like she asked for, so that's something, right? RIGHT?

Poor kid.

I liked this picture of some of the party girls even though Lilli has her eyes shut. The other girls look too cute:

Here's my chocolate covered birthday girl:
She really liked the cupcakes.

I don't normally post present pictures, but her expression was too cute on this not to post:
I especially like how Lilli is in the background hoping she'll hurry it up so she can hand her another present.

It may have been low key and non fancy for a birthday party, but even though I did color coordinate everything, get goodie bags together, and do some decorating at home in case we had to change the location due to lightning, I think its the most relaxed I have ever been on the day of the party, and the most relaxed time I have ever had at one of their parties. I just got to sit on a bench in the shade, baby sit everyone's stuff, and talk to whoever wasn't swimming at the time. It was awesome.

And Elizabeth told me it was the best day of her entire life.

Tuesday, October 11, 2011

Maybe one too many things at once...

I'm busily multi-tasking at the moment. Organizing some photos, playing Pioneerville, watching Terra Nova, crocheting, and posting. Not sure if I've picked too many things to do that don't go together or what, but my head is feeling all full and disjointed at the moment.

I need to download my brain somewhere, but there's nowhere that's truly private. I could write down everything and then erase it, but I know I'll want to re-read it in order to process it, because that's what I do. Obviously the internet is out, desktop journals are viewable to my 6 year old, and I hate writing by hand in a traditional journal now that I've spent so many years typing. I am very lucky to have good friends and a wonderful husband I can and do talk to, but sometimes you just want something to talk to that doesn't formulate any opinion about what you're saying, doesn't offer advice, can listen completely objectively, and can repeat back exactly what you said. And that's never going to be another person.

Ok, that seemed a little melancholy. Which is generally the complete opposite of my personality. Clearly too much busy is getting to me. If I figure out where this magic private recordable brain download station is, I'll let you know.

But you'll have to get in line for it. I think I'll be there a while.

Monday, October 10, 2011

Post hiatus

Hello blog, I've missed you!

I've been a busy girl. I don't even know where to start, that's how busy. But between the crafting, the cupcake baking and the crocheting zillions of granny squares for a service project, my fingers have been too busy for typing. Plus I just got back from Mom's Weekend Away in Orlando, so that took a whole weekend off the table. I'll catch up someday!

Meanwhile, I've been listening to "Stereo Hearts" by Gym Class Heroes a lot lately. For someone who likes to sing as much as I do and lives her life in playlists, it's kind of perfect.

You can decide if you like it as much as I do.

Friday, September 16, 2011

You-lizabeth is 6!

I have had Johnny Cash's "Burnin' Ring of Fire" stuck in my head all day, and of course I'm desperate for some salsa. For some reason that song always does that to me. I want a nice fresh pico de gallo though, not some super hot overly canned thing. My co-worker H makes this amazing beef jerky and he's always trying new versions, and I am a sucker for beef jerky so I am a happy guinea pig, but his latest version is hot hot hot! I need something tomatoey and cool right now. *sigh*

That, however is not why we are here! We are here to celebrate my 6th Momiversary! 6 years ago yesterday I finally became what I'd waited my whole life to be- somebody's mama. I love my amazing Elizabeth ("You-lizabeth" to her sister) so much. She is sweet and super smart and a good helper and she says funny things all the time, and I just adore every bone in her body.

This was her day:

Step one (not pictured): Get woken up by mama singing the happy birthday song. Yay!

Step two: Mom brings Popsicles to school to celebrate the big number 6. Get to stand on a chair to be sung to! Get your "bucket filled" by your classmates saying nice things to you. Have your class make mama's day by first, having your best friend yell out "Wow, Elizabeth! Your mom is really pretty! (that child may need to visit an optometrist, but she's my second favorite person in that class!)", then having the rest of the class amazed and delighted that your mom knows their names so they treat her like a celebrity her whole visit.


Step three: Open a present. Be delighted!

Step four: Be forced to do your homework even though it is your birthday

Step five: Open more presents! Be delighted.

Step six: Unprompted, write in your journal about your birthday. Ask your mama how to spell "Crown"

Step seven: Go to PF Chang's. Eat dumplings!


Step eight: Mourn the last dumpling:

(Grandma and Lilli were there too! Daddy was out of town for work. Boooooo)


Step nine: Be adorably delighted by birthday dessert:


Step 10: Blow out that candle!

Step eleven: Go get ice cream! The ice cream was on the agenda, the dessert at the restaurant was an unexpected perk!
Step 11.5 (applies to Lilli only): Take a MASSIVE bite:

Step 11.75 (still Lilli): Be really pleased with yourself

Step 12: Follow self-created "Birthday Agenda" with stops at the following locations:
A: The Mini Puppy Store. To look at the....mini puppies
B: The Fish Place aka Bass Pro Shoppe. To see the fish and ride the elevator and play in the tents for a REALLY long time
C: Petco. To see the critters. Especially the ferrets. Express fervent desire for a ferret. About 50 times.
D: Target. Ostensibly to buy an appropriately sized screwdriver to put batteries in a birthday present, but also to push all the buttons in the toy aisle. Fall in love with "Sweet Talkin' Ken". Repeatedly tell STK "Elizabeth! You are gorgeous". STK cooperatively tells you: "Elizabeth! You are gorgeous!" in his deeper voice. Sigh all the way to the check out about how you want to go visit STK again. Embarrass mommy by pointing out the reasonably attractive guy two carts behind you and saying (loudly) "Look mommy! He looks like (dreamily) KEN!!!". Make the cashier crack up with the goo goo eyed look on your face. Talk all the way to the car about Ken. Make your mommy worry. Boy craziness hit her at 6 too.

Step 13: Go home to bed and pat yourself on the back for a birthday well celebrated!


I love this girl!!!!

Sunday, September 11, 2011

Another 10 Year Anniversary

10 years ago today I was just getting settled in at my first day of work after returning from my honey moon.

I got a call from a patient who was crying and said she couldn't come in because there had been a plane accident. This sounds horrible, but to be honest, I had heard some interesting excuses for canceling appointments at the last minute and trying to avoid the cancellation fee, and I really thought this was another one. But then more calls came in, and they came in faster, and everyone said get to a tv, something awful is happening. Most of the events are a blur for me, but I know that the doctor I worked with hooked up a tv and in between taking calls I saw the towers fall. One of the things I remember most from that morning was the rumors were flying thick and fast. There was a brief period of time where we all thought the first plane had been an accident. But when the second one hit and it started to be obvious it was more than that, everyone who called into my office was saying that they'd heard that this city or that city was a target. Especially after the Pentagon was hit and the airplane went down in Pennsylvania. I also remember being extremely worried about my friend who was attending Columbia University (the only person I knew in New York at the time), but also being afraid to call her parents because I didn't want to know if she wasn't ok. And most of all I remember watching the news for hours and hours into the early morning of the 12th, watching the planes hit and the towers fall and things burning and people jumping over and over and over. I felt like even though I didn't lose anyone I knew personally that day, that it was just such an awful event that all I could do for anybody was to suffer to some degree along with them. And I did suffer.

So no, I'll won't ever forget.

I always wondered how I would tell my children about this day. We avoided talking to them about death for as long as we could get away with, and we've always talked about it in pretty pleasant terms. We believe in a heaven, and we teach our girls that they will see people who die again someday. We tell them that we are sad when people die because we will miss them until we see them again, not because something bad has happened to them. But we always talk about people dying from old age, sickness or accidents, it's only very recently that we've introduced to them the possibility that one person could hurt another person badly enough that they die. In other words, we talk about death, but we don't talk about murder.

This morning I was watching the 10th anniversary coverage when the girls came out of their rooms. Lilli came out first and asked me what I was watching. I still didn't know what to say, so I told her that some bad men made some buildings fall down and a lot of people died, and we think about them on this day and we remember why it is important to love everyone in the world, and not hate people who are different from us. She was very interested in the memorial, so we were still watching when Elizabeth came out. She asked what we were doing, and I started to tell her my (admittedly sanitized) spiel, and she said "Oh! 9/11! I know all about that, we watched a movie about it at school!" I was taken aback. At the same time I want to teach my children about this, I wasn't quite ready for her to actually see any of the images that are so vividly implanted in my head. So I'm still digesting the fact that someone else took care of telling her about this. She clearly didn't really understand. All the kids made cards for the NYC Police and Firemen, and hers said "Thank you for keeping us safe!" And she drew a picture of a plane hitting a skyscraper. So. There's that.

I'm not sure where I'm going with this post. I just want it known that I haven't forgotten and I won't forget. And eventually I'll figure out how to tell my children and make sure they don't forget either.

Thursday, September 8, 2011

I always want to write while I'm cooking...

In this case, I'm waiting for the brownies I just baked to cool so I can frost them. I'm doing them all weird though. From scratch dark chocolate brownies with milk-chocolate-frosting-from-a-can, and box "milk chocolate" brownies with homemade peanut butter frosting that is so good I shed a little tear.

Unfortunately I was asked to make them for a birthday at work tomorrow so I can't even sneak one bite of the brownies in advance, but I can assure you that I will be licking the bowl of the peanut butter frosting. IT IS SO GOOD OH MY GOOD GRAVY THAT'S HOW GOOD IT IS. It's like sweet creamy peanuty air. ARGH.

The only other thing of interest that happened to me today was that the lobby of the dance studio was delightfully less crowded with dance moms than usual. I only rolled my eyes once while I was waiting for Elizabeth. And that was because I heard one of them say to the other "My husband was watching "Dance Moms" and laughing, so I watched some of it, but I didn't think it was funny and I turned it off. Those are crazy women." It was only one eye roll, but it was a big one.

Tuesday, September 6, 2011

Sometimes I am smart...

...and sometimes I eat waaaay too much watermelon. Which is not so smart. Arghghghghghh.

What can I say? I'm a sucker for a guy on the side of the road selling giant watermelons at 2 for $5. Even when its no longer watermelon season. So now I suffer from a way too stuffed tummy that doesn't seem to know that dinner was over two hours ago.

I spent too much of this past Labor Day weekend....laboring. We, as I mentioned before, suddenly found ourselves with all our belongings piled up in the half of the garage in which I used to park. I had just gotten used to being able to park in a garage, it was delightful, and now I miss it! So I went through a lot of boxes this weekend. I get the whole concept of the trash/sell or donate/keep piles, but what am I supposed to do with the stuff I want to keep? And why do I want to keep it so bad? I was able to part with the cheesy and crumbling Christmas Caroler I made in third grade from a light bulb and construction paper, simply by taking a picture of it. But for some reason I can't get rid of a tiny little bell I got from the Land of Little Horses in Maryland when I was 7. I mean the LoLH was awesome and all, but I don't get it. So I have these things I am not ready to get rid of, and maybe I never will be, but what am I supposed to do in the meantime? Since we do have the goal for me to park in the garage again someday, we have exactly two shelving units that we can fill, plus a shady shelf-less cabinet (I actually refuse to open it, I was just told that there aren't any shelves) that came with this house out there in the garage, and that's it. We have other storage spaces in the house, but they are in a pleasant non-cluttered state with designated items that they store and I want to keep it that way. David's closet has plenty of room, but he's told me its off limits to my childhood mementos. And there's no way I'm going up in the attic, even if it actually has pull down stairs to get to it. There could be bugs up there. They could touch me.

I guess I have to do more paring down. *SIGH*

Saturday, September 3, 2011

We should never ask the children what they think...

And the reason we should not ask the kids' opinions on where to have dinner on a Saturday night, is because of course they never agree. And since the parents couldn't really agree either tonight, instead of forcing 2 of us to come around to the preference of the other 2, we split up. David and Elizabeth went to Buffalo Wild Wings on one end of the shopping center, and Lilli and I went to the Five Guys on the other end. We really should do the one on one parent/child thing sometimes anyway, and everybody was happy. David had tons of TV screens, I had a decent burger. Elizabeth had access to smiley fries, Lilli got the hot dog she was desperate for.

I don't know what all went down at what we call "B-Dubs" (not sure why we call it that), although I suspect David and Elizabeth spent their time in silent mesmerization by the televisions, but I had a very entertaining time with Lilli.

First, she talked the entire time we were there in a very loud (and typically high pitched) voice, with the exception of the few seconds it took her to swallow each bite. After expressing brief annoyance with the fact that her hot dog had been cut in half the long ways, she spent significant energy trying to line up the two pieces of bun even with her bites, after somehow managing to consistently eat more of the bottom bun than the top one with every bite. Then, she refused to eat any of the "brown parts" of her fries (those brown parts were potato skin), but was quite willing to eat them after I bit off the offending portions. Ewwww. And she was chucking down the peanuts as fast as I could shell them. And the reason I offered to shell them was because she was trying to open them by bashing them with the face of this little Barbie and the Nutcracker Happy Meal toy Ken doll I found for her today while going through boxes. She was convinced that the "Nutcracker" should be able to get those peanuts open for her. After I explained to her that he couldn't open the nuts because his enchantment had been broken and he was now a prince, she gave him a look of total disgust, but at least stopped trying to disfigure him.

Ahhhh. Good times with Lilli.

Thursday, September 1, 2011

My To Do list is a mile long...

...but here I sit on the computer listening to my Frente! channel on Pandora and doodling around the internet. It's pretty nice.

I got a full night's sleep last night and then some. It didn't stop me from feeling like the walking dead today though. I'm not as young as I used to be. All nighters just don't work out for me any more. I said it before, and I'll say it again, staying up all night just isn't any kind of fun unless its Black Friday. After Black Friday I still pay for my foolishness, but at least I have great deals and good stories to show for it. I'll be heading to bed soon!

Lilli had her 4 year check up today! I still can't believe that she's that old. She's super healthy and right on or ahead on all her developmental milestones. She is in the 50th percentile for weight and the 75th for height (41 inches tall). I guess her days of being a 99th by 99th percentile butter ball are over. She had to get her boosters today and she did great. Luckily they had the combined vaccines in stock, so she only needed two pokes instead of 4, and then a little finger poke. My poor baby. She was a trooper though. A few tears and a "Owwwwww. That really hurt!" There was new stuffed friend waiting for her at home, and he totally changed her sad face to a happy one.

Guess I'll go pack Elizabeth's lunch for school so I can cross one thing off my list.

But first I'll listen to a little more Frente! It bums me out that iTunes doesn't have it, but it keeps me listening to Pandora.

Wednesday, August 31, 2011

Still August

I may have taken a few days off for Anniversary celebrations, but August isn't over until midnight, and I can squeeze one more post in for the month.

Look what I made this morning!

Spaghetti and Meatball Cupcakes!

And when I say "this morning" I am not kidding. I was piping the "spaghetti" at 4 am. I won't go into the details of exactly why David and I didn't get any sleep last night. The nutshell version is that the storage option we were using for a bunch- a BIG bunch- of the stuff we have accumulated in the last 10 years suddenly became unavailable at 6 last night. It took us all night long making multiple car and Jeep trips to bring everything over here. Sadly I can't park in the garage any more. But I have big organizational plans for Labor Day weekend, so maybe by next week I'll be back there. Anyway, I couldn't let unexpectedly being up all night affect my plans for my friend L's birthday today, so there I was piping away at 4am on no sleep and with no arm strength for piping chilled frosting (to maintain the noodle shape better) thanks to lifting so many boxes.

To explain the cupcake thing, its a simple Devil's Food Cake recipe sized for 2 dozen cupcakes, topped with piped vanilla icing (straight out of a Betty Crocker can. My favorite!) to mimic spaghetti, a Ferrero Rocher candy standing in for the meatball, and slightly thinned strawberry jam standing in for the sauce.

They may look a little weird, but (admittedly tooting my own horn), they were pretty darn delicious.
Oh yeah. Why did I make my friend L "Spaghetti and Meatball" cupcakes? Simple. Because she's a girl who prefers savory things over sweet (although she does appreciate my cupcakes!), but cupcakes are what I do. So at least they look like they're savory. Also, I've discovered that I enjoy making foods that imitate other kinds of food. Last summer I made a sushi cake for one of my friends. Well, technically it was supposed to look like a giant piece of spicy tuna roll, and it even included green cookie dough "wasabi" and Hershey's syrup "soy sauce" for dipping.

Maybe I can develop some weird little baking niche.

Thursday, August 25, 2011

10, TEN, the big 1-0

Happy Anniversary to my gorgeous husband!

He is a wonderful husband to me and daddy to our girls, and I am very lucky!


So, in case we ever lose track of just how many years we've been married, we have this:

It was actually a wedding present from my mom, and each year we take a picture on our anniversary, and add it to the book along with some notes on where we're living and what we've been up to that year.

One thing I've noticed in this book is that my husband has been consistently photogenic for the last 10 years, and my appearance...varies.

It's a good thing he loves me flaws and all!

Anyway here's the last 10 years of August 25th


2001

2002


2003


2004


2005 (Elizabeth is in this one also. Any guess where she's hiding?)


2006 (5 year anniversary weekend on Captiva)


2007 (a month and a half after Lilli's birth)


2008


2009 (the first anniversary to be blogged about)


2010


Annnnnnnnd.......2011!

It's been a wonderful 10 years!

2 states, 2 apartments, 2 houses, 2 girls!

Not bad.

Wednesday, August 24, 2011

For David

I've said it before, and I'm sure I'll say it again at some point, but I have at least one song, if not an entire playlist that I associate with almost every person that I have ever met.

In honor of our anniversary tomorrow, this one is David's.

Here are my disclaimers:

1) I'm not going to give you the liner notes (unless you're David), you'll have to guess if you're wondering which parts of the songs fit and which don't.

2) For the most part I just picked whichever video wasn't obscene and would let me embed it. I realize videos go up and down on You Tube a lot, so I've shown the titles so you can check out the songs on your own if the links break

3) I always encourage people to go buy the song if they like it. I own a copy of all of these.


Disclaimers are done, here is David's playlist!

Can I Have this Dance- High School Musical 3



Mario Kart Love Song- Sam Hart (posted this one before, but I like it)




Lollipop- Sophie Green




Chosen Family- Leona Naess (only the first 3 or so minutes of the below)




Don't Let Me Fall- Lenka




Hold Me- Jamie Grace (feat. Toby Mac)




The Heat- Anjulie




Paradise- Ana Serrano van der Laan





Arms- Christina Perri




You & I- Ingrid Michaelson





Baby- Zeep




(Just Like) Starting Over- John Lennon




Lucky- Jason Mraz (feat. Colbie Caillat)- I recommend watching the official video, but the official video won't let you embed it. grumble.





The End of the World- Lenka (one note on this video, I picked the Sims version because I was entertained. Feel free to head to You Tube and pick a different one)




There. Those are some songs that make me think of my honey.

Ten years!!!!



Tuesday, August 23, 2011

Weird Day

What a day!

First I overslept, and after having to pack two lunches and figure out my breakfast, barely made it to work on time, but then forgot to clock in. Fortunately (or unfortunately) it isn't the first time I have forgotten, and whenever this happens I get an IM around 8 am that says "ARE YOU HERE?" I am lucky.

Then, I can't shake this cold, so I spent my lunch hour comparing supplements. I figure I clearly need some more vitamins or what have you.

Sometime after lunch there was this huge WHOMP!!!! that shook the whole third floor. It was kind of freaky until we figured out that a cubicle wall, a HEAVY cubicle wall had just...fallen over. It was mostly freaky because the last time a big WHOMP shook my building there were rumors around here that there had been some sort of covert military operation or there's been an explosion or... nobody knew. Eventually there was some sort of statement saying it was a sonic boom from a military flyover. Anyway, I heard that WHOMP and I ducked. Then I went to investigate. It wasn't until I was on my way home and heard reports of the 5.8 or 9 earthquake that hit the east coast today that I wondered if my office building had somehow felt a bit of that even though we are so far from the epicenter. Cubicle walls don't usually just fall over.

Then I got home and my mom said to me "Lilli has something to tell you and I told her that YOU WILL NOT BE MAD AT HER". Turns out that while Lilli was supposed to be resting for her quiet time that she was playing with spare change she'd gotten a hold of. Well, despite being a big girl supposedly, she can't keep stuff out of her mouth. Except her fingers or a binkie back in the days when I was trying to prevent SIDS by giving her something to suck on. Those she wants nothing to do with. Anyway, my mom and Elizabeth were out in the living room reading when Lilli came out crying hysterically. It seems that she'd managed to lodge a quarter in her throat long enough that she started to panic because she couldn't breathe. Instead of running for help though, she was apparently self-possessed enough to REACH DOWN HER THROAT WITH HER TINY FINGERS AND GET THE QUARTER OUT. She was badly scared but otherwise unharmed. She didn't even throw up. And thank heavens she got it out on her own. I was furious (and had to work really hard at "NOT BEING MAD AT HER") but also really thankful and kissed her a whole lot tonight.

Despite her trauma she was pumped up for her violin lesson this evening, and I'm patting myself on the back because it went extra well. Her violin is a 1/8th size instrument. That's pretty tiny. And while she's a champ at the fingering and reading the music and pizzicato, she's really been struggling with holding the violin properly while she uses the bow. Her teacher said last week that he thinks the 1/8th size violin is still actually too big for her and that he thought she needed a 1/16th size. Well, I really don't feel the need to pay for an even tinier violin (can't find one to rent) so I assessed the situation. I decided that the problem was actually with her shoulder rest (too tall) not letting the violin fit under her chin properly, and after messing around with it for a while tossed it to the side. Well, in today's lesson we debuted what we have been practicing with- a kitchen sponge rubber-banded to the violin. It works perfectly. She can hold the violin properly so her arm doesn't get as tired, and her bow use improved dramatically. Ahhhhhh. Also, the sponge was less than a dollar. A 1/16th size violin? At least $60 for a low quality one, up to over $200.

THEN, after dinner and snuggles and stuff, the best part of the evening. Only it involves me bragging about Elizabeth a bit, so just skip this next paragraph if that bores you.

Still here?

Ok, so Elizabeth has a GREAT kindergarten teacher. She's new to Elizabeth's school, but not new to teaching, and she's super high energy, and she's not letting the kids get bored for a second, even this early in the year. She's got systems and plans, and all kinds of awesome activities and I adore her even though I've only met her twice. So, long story short on how and why we set this up, but tonight she came over to our house to talk about Elizabeth. Actually, we thought we were going to decide on a plan for E, but the teacher came over already prepared with a great one, so we are happy to go along with that. First, she showed us Elizabeth's reading assessment. We don't get to keep a copy, which is kind of a bummer, because I would splash that thing all over everywhere. I might frame it. She basically aced it. Perfect on everything, and she is super fast and accurate at reading. She got a score of 2.7, which places her at reading at the same level as a child in the 7th month of second grade. If you know me at all, you know how important it is to me that my children read, read well, read fast, and love it. Another reason why David is an awesome daddy is because he's taught both the girls to read. At any rate, I'm proud of her. She is smart in other areas, and she has a memory like a steel trap, but reading is her...specialty or whatever. So I am really happy to have her skill known. Her teacher asked the reading specialist person at the school what she would recommend for Elizabeth, and her suggestion was to move her to 1st grade. Well, that is nice to hear, but David and I and the teacher are all on the same page that she isn't ready for first grade socially, and I'd much rather have her be the oldest kid in class than the youngest. The part I want to brag about though is that her teacher said that she has referred her to the gifted program (where they apparently learn French and chess among other things- gotta love an Arts school!). She said that she never refers children before Christmas break, and this is only the third week of school! I am proud of my big girl and her brain. It may have funny wiring, but there's no doubt that she's a smarty pants! Her whole class is smart though, so she isn't going to be bored. They're all doing first grade work in a lot of areas, they're the only class that is doing vocabulary (glimmer! frantic! comforting! linger! intimidated! I'M INTIMIDATED), and they're the only kindergarten class that is doing addition. Like addition in the vertical style like big people have to do. Kindergarten is way harder than it used to be!

So it was a weird day, but it ended happy!

Monday, August 22, 2011

Sick

It's just a head cold.

It's nothing really. I've had worse.

But have I mentioned how much I hate head colds? I hate that almost burning constant twinge in the back of my nose, the raw throat, the headache in my left frontal lobe, the stab behind my eye, the general exhaustion. I especially hate that I wasted all the years of my youth when I could have lounged around in bed all day being coddled by my mom (major only child perk) by hardly ever getting sick. The sum total of my childhood illnesses that sent me to my bed was 8. That includes 1 bout of mono, 4 bouts of stomach flu, 1 case of chicken pox, and 2 regular flus. That was it. Since Lilli was born and took my entire immune system with her, I have not been the same. And now I'm grown up and have all these responsibilities. And I don't get to lounge around in bed unless I'm so ill I can't walk (and thanks to Lilli, its happened more than once in the last 4 years). So if I can walk I have to buck up. And eat soup in the lunch room and bring an extra box of tissues.

So most of all I hate staring at spreadsheets while I have a head cold.

Sunday, August 21, 2011

Doooooooom

Ok, that may be an exaggeration, but Tropical Storm/Hurricane Irene might be coming this way later in the week, so you never know.

Anyway, I had thought of several (ok, three) possible explanations for my recent combination of exhaustion, irritability, and stomach upset. The only one I didn't think of was suggested to me when I woke up this morning feeling like I swallowed glass. Stupid sore throat! After a day of feeling progressively worse, I am not very happy with Kindergarten and Preschool germs. And I'm not looking forward to Monday at all.

ARGH!!!!!

Saturday, August 20, 2011

I heart Zumba

Today I participated in my first Zumba-thon!

It wasn't the first time I've done Zumba, I used to do it regularly and loved it. But this was the first time in a long time (It actually caused damage to my knee back then, and the doctor told me "no more of that!"), and I had really forgotten just how much I love it. It is super intense, but I love the music and the dancing is so much fun that you kind of don't mind the pain or the sweat dripping off you (boy does it drip) and burning your eyes. And it teaches you some mooooooves. I actually have a hard time not smiling the entire time which probably looks a little weird.

This was a 3 hour session to benefit the Alzheimer's Association, and based on the number of people there at $10 each, I think they did quite well! I did not make it the whole three hours, I only made it an hour and 45 minutes, but since I've never done more than an hour before and haven't done it for a couple years, I think that is fantastic. My poor two friends I was there with had never done it before and had no idea what they were in for. I looked back at my friend R about a minute into the very first song, and the look of horror on her face was awesome. They made it through the entire first hour, and I think they could have gone longer, but they reeeally didn't want to. They may not have adored every second like I did. For sure we will all be sore tomorrow. Heck, I'm pretty ouchy right this second. I can't think of a muscle in the body this doesn't work.

So I'm thinking I might have to take it up again. My knee was fine today, it didn't even give me a twinge, and both the gym I belong to and the girls' dance studio offer classes. I think as long as I'm careful on the turns I won't have a problem. Yes, I know that there is Zumba for the Wii, I looked at it tonight when we were at Target, and I'm thinking about it, but I think part of the fun is being in the group environment with everyone cheering each other on while we shake our backsides as fast as we possibly can.

Dancing makes me so happy! The exercise is just a bonus.

Who wants to come with me?

Thursday, August 18, 2011

Most of the time I'm as sweet as pie...

...sometimes I'm not.

Conversation between me and occupants of giant SUV in the dance class parking lot that had parked so close to me that the only way to get the back door open enough to get Elizabeth in was to rest my door on their (giant) tire/wheel well:

Lady in the SUV: Excuse me, your door is hitting my car

Me: You're parked kind of close

Lady: I'm in the line (she was, but only barely, while I was perfectly centered in my space) and you need to be more careful.

Me: My daughter needs to be able to get into her car seat. And while my door is touching your tire, I did not "hit" your car.

Lady: (wisely backing off) Ok

Me: (Not letting it go) Next time you park, you might want to make sure there is actually enough room for your vehicle.

Was that super rude? No, not really. I don't curse at people, I didn't even glare. But I didn't exactly turn the other cheek. I could have been apologetic, it wouldn't have hurt me any. But I've been pretty cranky lately, and at the time I thought it was quite generous of me not give her an evil glare or hit her door with my door when it was my turn to get in. It must be getting time to break out the chocolate.

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In other news, the invincible Lilli was struck down by a tummy bug. She has not thrown up for a couple of years (bless her for taking after me! We both hate throwing up!), and she threw up twice today. She actually was sent home from preschool, and it is a good thing because time number one would have happened right in the classroom. I think it would have made pick up time pretty awful. She must be feeling better already though because she was hungry before she went to bed and mad at me for not letting her eat. Also her fever was up to 102.7, and its back down to a tolerable 100. Yay for quick illnesses! I'm hoping she has a good night.

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In still other news, I'm kind of sad I've gotten away from sharing Anniversary Anecdotes! That is what business and sleepiness will do to a girl. So here's a quick one, that has nothing to do with how we met, got together, got married or any of the rest of it. Saturday is normally my day to sleep in and Sunday is David's day. By "sleep in" I mean 8:30, so we aren't talking anything crazy, but it's necessary for two night owls and delightful. Well, due to various commitments I haven't gotten to take my day in a couple months. He'd get up with the girls, but I would have to be up also, and usually heading out the door by 8 or earlier. So last Sunday he let me take his day and I had some glorious badly needed extra hours of snoozing. I adore it when he's thoughtful like that!

Tuesday, August 16, 2011

This Little Missy Went to Preschool...

...and her Mama got to stay home!

Can I tell you what a wonderful day I had?

I think today was the most jealous I have ever been of my SaHM friends.

Of course I realize the life of a stay at home mom is not all sunshine and lollipops, especially when the kids are really little. I just don't get to do it very often, so I have always adored every second. Just usually I am off work for a reason that is causing me to run all over town all day long. But that was not the case today, and you would not believe the things I got done! Do you know what a joy it is to vacuum and steam mop the house on a weekday in the daylight? It is WONDERFUL. I get really tired of cramming my housekeeping into the hours after 8pm and the weekends. We clean the bathrooms every weekend, but today I polished the fixtures! They are so shiny! Ahhhhhhhhhhhh.

I got to do this of course, because Miss Lilli went to preschool today for the first time ever.

She was so happy to have a lunchbox of her very own:
And yes, it had Buddy Fruit in it.

This picture is kind of an inside joke with myself, only it isn't really that funny and I'm telling you about it so that kills the inside thing:
When we got to preschool the maintenance man was in the process of putting a new door on the place. This was the door we took Elizabeth's picture in front of last year, so I figured we should get Lilli's picture in front of it too. We also took one with my mom like we did last year, we were just missing Elizabeth who we'd already dropped off at Kindergarten.

Here she is getting to play with play-doh while waiting for the rest of the kids to arrive.
She climbed OVER the table to get to the play-doh so she could grab the pink before anyone else could. Stinker. She looks a little shifty don't you think?

After I dropped her off I went home and HAD TIME TO MYSELF!!

I tidied, I organized, I cleaned extensively, I let in the guy who was here to measure our windows for hurricane shutters, I went to the grocery store, I made myself a nice chicken salad for lunch, I even played Frontierville, and that was all between 9 and 1:15. I love productivity.

Then I picked Lilli up. She had a wonderful day too, her two complaints were that she couldn't remember the name of her new friend, although it might be Corina, and that she didn't have time to eat her cookie at lunch. That second one is a valid complaint if you ask me, because it was a chocolate chip cookie, and I made it, and I, if nothing else in my life, can bake.

Then we headed over to the elementary to pick up Elizabeth. We got there shortly after 1:30. We were the 17th car in line, and school doesn't get out until 2:15. It still took until 2:32 to get her into the car. My mom is a saint and a martyr to deal with that Parent Pick Up line every day. It was hideously boring. I ran out of things to do after the first 20 minutes. And I had brought both girls school handbooks to read through to make sure I knew everything I needed to know, plus I had Lilli's entire preschool folder to go through. By the way, after the gate opened at 1:45, we were able to pull up around the circle all the way to here:
That means nothing to you, but it means we did our waiting on the front end. The later you get into the line, the later it is before you can pick up your kid. So yeah, it took an hour, but our hour was from 1:30 to 2:30, not 2-3. I like that.

When the girls got home from school we had snack, homework for both of them, and then quiet time for both of them, and I HAD MORE TIME TO MYSELF. More gloriously productive minutes.

Of course all the relaxation and joyousness degenerated into my usual Tuesday night madness of violin lesson (35 minutes away), dinner, and visiting a lady from my church, all packed into a very short space of time, but I STILL HAD A COMPLETELY AWESOME DAY. Ahhhhhhh.

And of course more importantly, so did Lilli!

Monday, August 15, 2011

Preschool Eve: Is that even a thing?

So, there's this miss Sassy Pants with her hey there mama, you thought you'd take a sweet little picture of me in my sun dress, but I look all old and stuff face.

She starts preschool tomorrow. There should be a law against this growing up thing.

Is she experiencing one twinge of nervousness? NOOOOOOO. She can't wait. I've been treated to several run on sentences at top decibel, all about how excited she is and how she's going to make new friends and play outside and have a snack AND EAT LUNCH FROM MY HELLO KITTY LUNCHBOX, AND YOU WILL PUT A BUDDY FRUIT IN THERE, RIGHT MAMA????

I took the day off again. I figure I only have a shot at these milestones once, right? At least once per kid.

Speaking of kids, get a load of these two!

Back before we had children we used to go on these things called "dates". Ok technically we still go on dates, but rarely is there public cuddling and boutonnieres. Oh yes, and since we were in college still in the above picture, this seems to have been taken prior to the "Bradley/Patterson Spring Semi-Formal." In other words, it was before a dorm dance. Except not at the dorms. And with fancy dinners out and stuff.

Ok, only if you call Joe's Crab Shack fancy.

I may not call it fancy, but I do call it delicious.

Anyway, we actually attended 3 of them (that would be the Springs of my Sophomore, Junior and Senior years for anyone counting), and it wasn't until the last one that I looked older than about 10 in the pictures. I maaaay have pulled off a convincing 14 or 15.

Ten years of marriage (plus 2.5 years of dating) later, and I've got a few gray (actually metallic blonde, we could pretend I have weird highlights) hairs, and he's getting some smile lines. But from the comments we constantly get about how we "must have started young" (in regard to having children) it's pretty clear that we might get quite a bit farther along before we actually start to look our ages.

Thursday, August 11, 2011

I get a pass...

...on blogging tonight because I just got back from Cirque Du Soleil: Alegria.

It was amazing!

And even better, thanks to wonderful friends, it was free!

And the best part? It was a date. And on a school night too.

Wednesday, August 10, 2011

Anniversary Anecdote Number I don't know it's late...

So this one time while we were dating we went to the Columbus Zoo.

I think it might have been the spring of my junior year at OSU so we were definitely in loooooove and stuff, and it was a double date so we had someone available to take my favorite kind of picture:

I grew up in Columbus so I'd been to the zoo many many times, but I'm pretty sure that trip was the first time I ever made out with anybody at a zoo.

It gave me a whole new perspective on that place.

Sadly, the couple we were there with didn't make it to the end of the school year, but you can't blame the zoo!

Good times.

Tuesday, August 9, 2011

The Tuesday that feels like a Monday

Having Monday off always throws me out of whack. I have all the Monday headaches at work, but since it's Tuesday I'm one day closer to my deadlines, so AAAAAAAIIIIIEEEEEE.

As I say all the time, it's a good thing it's always worth the punishment I seem to suffer for having time off.

Hey! Guess what! I didn't go beat up some elementary aged children for harassing my kindergartner while she was waiting for her Grandma to pick her up from school today. Granted I had no idea who these kids were who thought it would be fun to keep hitting the back of Elizabeth's back pack even after she asked them to stop, but David and I both considered finding out and finding them and... You will be happy to hear that we've decided violence isn't the answer. Probably.

This was tonight's homework- "sort silverware, sort laundry". I understand that sorting is a beginning math skill (although I feel the need to point out that both of my girls are already quite proficient at addition and subtraction. Elizabeth can just use bigger numbers than Lilli can. Tear of happiness!). However it seems like kindergarten is also going to encourage Elizabeth to learn more household chores, so I am liking school big time!

I was kind of worried that after almost a month off violin lessons due to vacations and double booking (on my part), and admittedly insufficient practice (I'm busy and I don't trust my newly turned 4 year old alone with her violin) that we'd be set back to the beginning of this process. I do pay for these lessons after all. Happily Lilli learned the notes of the A string without any issue, and seems to be finally getting proficient with her bow, so my worries were for nothing. We'll see how she does next week when her lesson is on her first day of preschool. I predict a complete lack of attention span!

Would you like to know what I had for dinner? Since I went straight from work to taking Lilli to violin to visiting a lady from my church, I was forced to have a tuna sandwich. Fortunately it was delicious since I made it the proper way: tuna, plus miracle whip (NOT MAYO), plus green olives, plus crumbled Doritos. In a wrap. YUM.

For today's Anniversary Month Item, I would like to dedicate the following (oldish-2008) song to my husband (if I did this correctly), as it sums up our relationship in several ways:



This Randomosity was brought to you by nobody in particular this week, it's just what you do on Tuesdays in my circles.

Monday, August 8, 2011

First Day

This little cutie pie went to Kindergarten today:

She nicely posed with her sister (who seems to have grown a few more inches while I wasn't looking) before we left for school. Which just for the record, is about 2 minutes from our house. That was MAJOR attraction of this house. Besides the fact that we love it I mean. Anyway, sisters:

We were able to park the car (long story, but we didn't know if we could) and walk her to her classroom. She was in a big hurry even though it was a bit of a hike:

After a quick (begrudging!) kiss, she was off into her room without a look back:
Not sure you can tell from the photo, but this is the kind of school that instead of having one big building with internal hallways (like I had back in Ohio) has blocks of classrooms connected by covered walk ways. This picture was taking at the exterior door, and if you look through the opposite door you can see through the teacher workroom on into another classroom. I kind of like the set up which is why I mentioned it.

After we dropped Elizabeth off at school and David had some breakfast (he chose a bit more sleep over breakfast when the girls and I had it), we ran a couple quick errands and took Lilli to Pump it Up. So if she looks like she's in a giant bounce house getting tickled by daddy, she is:

We took Lilli to lunch (Moe's, one of her favorites), made a brief stop at Target to pick up more of my new obsession- Ciao Bella blood orange sorbet (No! Not pregnant! Just hadn't had that flavor before and now can't stop), and then went to pick up Elizabeth.

Her day ends at 2:15, we were in the Parent Pick Up line at 2:10. And then we didn't move. When we finally started moving it was slowwwwww. When we actually got to the turn into the school (the winding road in back of the school actually), this is what it looked like ahead of us:

This is what it looked like behind us:

We didn't get her in the car until 2:50!

Despite thinking we were maybe not coming back for her, she greeted us with "I HAD THE BEST DAY OF SCHOOL EVER!!!!"
She told us all about her great day (which apparently included playing freeze dance- I knew I liked this school!), we went home, she had a snack (one of the blueberry muffins I made her this morning that she was too excited to eat) and she buckled down to her homework- 20 minutes of reading (to or with someone or independently) and her name written "creatively". The is a "school for the arts" after all. She ended up writing her name with bits of ribbon that she cut to size and glued onto paper. That works and it was cute.

Hopefully day 2 is just as great for her!

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Did you think I'd forgotten my Anniversary Anecdotes?

The only reason I have such familiarity with the Atlantic Ocean is thanks to David. I had been to the Gulf of Mexico in 8th grade (Galveston, TX visiting a friend), but I'd never seen the ocean. His family started vacationing on Hilton Head when he was about 8. First they did time shares, and they were still doing that when I met David, then they bought a condo, and then eventually his parents retired there to a beautiful home they built on a piece of property they bought either their first or second visit to the Island. At any rate, they were used to going for Spring Break, 2 weeks in summer and a week at Christmas every year, and friends were welcome. And, that first summer after we started dating, as the Most Serious Girlfriend so far, I was definitely invited. I fell in love with the Island on the spot and fell even more in love with the guy who'd taken me there.

If you can see past the horrible quality of the below photo, ignore that we look like 10 year old kiddos playing dress up, AND ignore whatever the heck was going on with my hair, you might be able to see that we'd cleaned up alright for a fancy pants dress up date to a really nice restaurant during that first trip.

It should be no surprise that is where we decided to Honeymoon.

Sunday, August 7, 2011

On the Eve of Kindergarten...

...Someone is super excited!

Today started out great for Elizabeth, because yesterday she let me pull out her (second) loose tooth and so last night the tooth fairy came.

And all the rest of the day she has been sooooo excited to go to school tomorrow.

I'm not sure I'm quite as excited as she is(my baby! *sniff*), I'm actually feeling just a touch overwhelmed. David and I both took tomorrow off to be there to drop her off and pick her up from her first day, and to spend the morning with just Lilli (which doesn't happen very often), so that's good, but for some reason I'm all nervous that we'll over sleep or that I'll forget her lunch, or SOMETHING.

This is a big milestone though, so yay!

But also kind of blech.

Saturday, August 6, 2011

Vacation: The final post, aka, the one about Mini-Golf

You probably thought you'd gotten to the end of the vacation posts. Not so, friend, not so! I just had better things to do with my Friday night. But Saturday night is a whole different ball game, especially at 11.

While we were on vacation we decided that the girls were old enough to go play mini-golf for the first time. No offense to our friends who took their 2 and 3 year-olds to play, but we actually find mini-golf kind of boring and we don't find small children with golf clubs adorable enough to wait for them to run around all over the putting area, not listen at all, whack their balls into the water hazards repeatedly, and throw a hissy if you try to move them to the next hole. A 4 year old and a 5 year old may not get the lowest score their first time holding a club, but they will follow directions and don't throw themselves down on the ground in despair if they can't get the ball in the hole right away.

Even though it was boiling hot and muggy beyond belief, they were quite cheerful the whole time.

Here's Elizabeth looking cheerful with Nana and Papa:
She was really happy about that green ball.

Here's miss Lilli:
No surprises, her ball is pink.

As the youngest member of the group, she did really well. The first hole took her a bit, but once she got it she got it. Sure, she got plenty of 4s and 5s, but she was on or under par on several holes.

And then there's Elizabeth.

Her first 4 holes were nothing special. I think she got 4s on all of them. But then we got to hole five, and I had screamed and hollered for Lilli who only took two shots and made it. And Elizabeth walked up, lined up her ball and got a hole in one. All three of us wahooed and jumped up and down, and celebrated. Then David and his parents, who were still at the last hole for the moment of triumph, caught up and Elizabeth said "I GOT A HOLE IN ONE I GOT A HOLE IN ONE I GOT A HOLE IN ONE! WATCH!!!!"

And she did it again.

Here she is after her success, apparently giving credit to the ball:

And by the way, on hole 7, she did it again.

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Sorry to leave you hanging about the MRI! I am happy to report that it was normal.

I'm actually more than happy to report that, I'm outright over joyed. It means that her issue is a pure wiring issue, and not something with a physical cause like a stroke. Or a brain tumor. So on the advice of her neurologist, we started her right up on medication last night.

So far so good!

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I also didn't mean to skip a night of Anniversary Anecdotes, but I was spending time with the subject of those anecdotes and figured that was the higher priority.

For my 20th birthday, David threw me a surprise party. At Chuck E. Cheese. Now that I have children I have kind of grown to hate Chuck (although I do love his "every game 1 token" schtick), but I loved it when I was a kid. And I still loved the thought of it when I was 20 even though it had been years. And my sweet hubby knew that I would. So he set it all up and, while he's not so great at keeping secrets, so I knew something was up, I was not expecting that AT ALL, and I was thrilled. I'm not sure that the staff was so thrilled about having a birthday party group with about twenty-five 19 and 20-year-olds, or about having to bring out the mouse to wish me a happy birthday, but it was an awesome party, and I'm kind of bummed I didn't repeat it for my 30th. But, as I mentioned, C.E.C's isn't quite as much fun as it used to be.

Probably because I'm following around a small person and handing her tokens instead of playing Skee Ball myself!

Thursday, August 4, 2011

Vacation: Cousins

Well hello there internet!

Have you noticed that I'm stretching out my vacation for a whole extra week? It's meant to distract me from all the other craziness in my life this week, and it kind of works.

Anyway, tonight's vacation topic, Cousins:

The girls have exactly one cousin (I am an only child, and David has only one sister who has only one child), and his name is Kai. He is 10 months older than Elizabeth, and although the kids haven't spent much time together for cousins (he was born in Australia, lived there until he was 3 or so, and now lives in North Carolina), they are really fond of each other. He is not always the best example in my opinion, but the girls think he is amazing.

No really, I listened to Elizabeth say several times (in a very dreamy voice I might add), "Kaaaaaai, you're amaaaaaazing."

Anyway, here's some cousin pics for you.

Elizabeth and Kai with Gary Maurer, the magician whose show they were in:
Oh yeah, and Kai is crazy tall. Elizabeth is tall for her age, but Kai has both 10 months and practically 10 inches on her. He's got a super tall dad that he takes after.


Digging a hole:

Cousins hard at work:

Cousins in the bath:
I am a total party pooper and made everybody wear their swimsuits. My girls are not naturally modest, they like to be naked and they are completely uninhibited, but I do draw the line at being naked with their almost 7 year old cousin. Gotta draw the line somewhere after all.

And then I'm giving you three of the "officially posed" cousin pictures.

First, Lilli looks adoringly at Kai:

Second, nice smiles on everybody:
Did you see how much my girls look like Kai? To everybody who says Lilli looks like me, here's your proof that she gets her face just as much from David's side of the family.

Aaaaand, cousin hug! It kind of looks like it hurts:
I'm glad they got to visit!

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Next on my agenda, EEG and MRI updates.

We didn't get the best news this morning, Elizabeth's EEG was abnormal.

I was pretty much expecting that, so it wasn't a shock, but of course I was still hoping it would be normal. Of course if it was normal there would have been some other explanation for her "episodes", and that could have been worse. Now her neurologist thinks that the fainting might not have been just fainting after all, and might be related to what he is now definitely considering a seizure. He actually wants her to start medication pretty much immediately. David and I still have some talking to do, but I think we'll go for it. It's a very safe medication, they main side effect is that it can alter a child's mood, but I'd rather have a cranky non-seizing Elizabeth, then a happy Elizabeth who has a seizure that causes her to walk out into traffic or something. I'll have to give you more updates as I get them. The neurologist told me a lot of things, and I took notes, but they're pretty much a blur at the moment as it has been a really long day.

So, the MRI.

I think I was more nervous than she was about the IV stick. They had the obligatory child life specialist (Caroline this time) come in to talk to her about her "medicine straw", only this time they gave her a little "straw", a length of tubing, and a syringe and let her squirt all the nurses (and David and I) with water. Oh yeah and she got to take that apparatus home. Grrrrrreat. But she loved that. And she got to watch Sponge Bob, which is not on her approved list here at home, so she was actually in 7th heaven for a while, at least while the numbing patches were doing their thing. Because the ER had such a hard time getting in the IV, the sedation team put patches on both her wrist and inner arm in case one spot didn't work, and these were heavy duty patches that actually seemed to help this time. Oh, she screamed plenty (as my mom and I clutched each other off in the corner and daddy held her hand), but her nurse (Rachel! High five for awesome Rachels!) got the IV in on the first try. When Elizabeth was all hooked up I asked Nurse Rachel if she accepted hugs from strangers and hugged her without waiting for a reply. Totally invaded her personal space. Hah! But she didn't seem to mind.

Anyway, Elizabeth, even while screaming, had held her arm still, and I had told her if she did she could squirt me with her syringe thingy IN MY FACE. So I made good on that, and she was delighted. Shortly afterwards they hooked up the sedative and moved her bed down to the MRI unit. She was practically out by the time we got there, and it didn't take long after we arrived before she was completely sedated. David had to go back to work, but my mom waited with me. The pediatric intensivist who was leading the sedation team came to talk to me a couple times, and the time went by pretty quickly. They ended up giving her an additional sedative because the original one puts you to actual sleep, like nighttime sleep, and it turns out that she tics in her sleep. And also talks. And also moves around a lot. So she needed to be deeper under than they originally thought. But she did great, her vital signs stayed perfect the whole time, they got all the pictures of her brain they needed, and although she's in bed now she hasn't seemed to have had any problems with after effects of the sedatives other than being really sleepy and having a bit of a stomach ache (a side effect of the second sedative). The doctor said that although he isn't a radiologist he sees a lot of MRIs and there did not appear to be any kind of large mass in her brain, so that's a good thing. I have to say that the way he was phrasing things did lead me to believe that there might be small abnormalities with this scan too, so I'm looking forward to talking to Elizabeth's neurologist again tomorrow.

Oh yeah, her hospital booty? A stuffed bear, a stuffed snoopy, a bouncy ball from the "prize tower", the syringe and tubing thingy, apple juice, teddy grahams, and her name bracelet. She was a happy girl. And she got the movie she has been asking for for the last 6 months (Thomas the Tank Engine Misty Island Rescue) from me. There was a happy girl on my couch tonight eating popsicles (clear liquid) and watching her movie while cuddling her new friends.

Love that big girl of mine!

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Do you mind if I mostly skip my Anniversary Anecdote tonight? I'm wiped. I will say though, that David is an awesome daddy. He did what he had to do today to be there for Elizabeth when they put her to sleep, even though he thought he wasn't going to be able to leave work. I know it's pretty much a general good daddy thing to be willing to walk through fire, drop anything, throw yourself in front of a bullet for your kid, but he would, and I love that about him.