Of Throats and Hives and Basketball

Life here is back to normal...ish. Olivia can eat again. Her throat is nearly healed. She sleeps very well.

But she's still breaking out in hives. Now we think she may ALSO be allergic to something in her soap. Time to call an allergist, I guess.

*Sigh*

She's back at school this week, and she starts a month-long basketball program at the Y tonight. She is quite excited about this, and I am really looking forward to watching her learn a new sport. Kind of...I mean, they don't REALLY learn basketball at ages 4 and 5 and 6. They learn to shoot and take turns. Whatever.

In other news, it has been raining and dreary and basically JANUARY around here, but it has NOT been snowing. We can ALL be thankful for that and pray that it continues. I really hate snow.

Off and running

Hello, and we are still alive here in Chez Consumed. Christmas nearly ate my brain and now it is January and there are SO. MANY. THINGS. LEFT. UNDONE.

Christmas itself was lovely. Who wouldn't love seven straight days of too much sleep, too much food, and hoardes of family members and little cousins gathered around entertaining my kid so I can relax. Heaven. Olivia was AMAZINGLY well behaved for the whole thing and it was so much less stressful than previous holidays (when she was sleep deprived and ripe ground for multiple tantrums).

But, of course, there are all those things that you tend to put off until after the holidays. I have a stack of bills to attend to. I have some volunteer responsibilities, which involve motivating OTHER volunteers to get stuff done at a time of year when NO ONE wants to have anything added to their list. Yeah, still trying to procrastinate on that one.

And then I volunteered to do research on our family camping weekend IMMEDIATELY so that we can find a place and space available and get everyone together on a weekend that works for all and SERIOUSLY THIS IS IMPOSSIBLE. Have you SEEN my family (probably not). There are eleven adults and eleven small children, six separate households, kids in school and ballet and summer activities, families with OTHER vacations in the works...and I'm trying to find ONE weekend that works for ALL of us. Hmmm...

Also, we have a tonsillectomy on the docket for next week, a family wedding to attend in February, a massive family vacation to save for in June (cruise, not camping) and some pretty light pockets at the moment (I blame Christmas shopping). Oh yeah, and did I mention the tax audit?! On our adoption credit from three years ago?! That came two days before Christmas?!

Yeah, so we've been busy. Now we are back into the swing of things, and I guess back to "normal" for a bit. Except that now the baby I watch has morphed into this army-crawling, pulling-up-on-furniture, stealth little crumb snatcher. She refuses to be confined to anything so babyish as an exersaucer. Oh, no. Put me on the floor, woman! I need to chew up some Barbie shoes and try to stuff that piece of broccoli on the floor from dinner two nights ago into my mouth.

2012 is off to a running start.

Things on a rainy day

This is what Olivia is wearing to her preschool Halloween party today. Her hair kind of disappears in this get-up.
She couldn't decide if she was going to be a wizard or a witch or "spiderella," which was the name on the costume, minus the hat, which we already had. There's a weblike collar thingie that goes on this that she didn't wear in the picture but did take to school. So, whatever. I don't know what to call it. But she's in costume and happy about it.

Today is my "easy" day when I only have three kids, and those three are pretty docile without my kid here to stir up the action. They are happy to play quietly on the floor or stare at PBS programming while I clean the house. I'm happy to let them. There, I said it. PBS is the babysitter's babysitter.

A contractor-guy is coming by with an estimate on our porch project today. We've been trying to get SOMEONE to give us some sort of idea about how much it would cost to turn our screened porch into a weather-proof, all-season room. I've been calling every contractor I can find for the past six weeks, and this guy is the first one to actually come out, do some measurements, take them home and then get back with us with numbers. I'm hoping they look good, because I really don't want to wait months more for additional estimates. I'm tired of tripping over the furniture that is meant to live in our new room as soon as it is finished.

I must call today and get Olivia's birthday party plans underway. We are thinking pony rides and a cowgirl theme. But that's as far as the planning goes thus far. We live within walking distance of a place that offers pony rides, so that should be easily accomplished. I just have to pick up the phone and do it. Now. Go. Gah!

Hope the sun is shining wherever you are, dear readers. Lack of sun is killing my motivation today.

Blog? What blog?

I've been busy. That seems to be a running theme here.

This past weekend, Joe and I and another couple led another Engaged Encounter weekend here, and it was fabulous. There's this whole new outline, and while it was a pain in the arse to re-write EVERYTHING and re-work the schedule, props, visual aids, etc, it did seem to flow better and relate better to the couples. Plus, a whole weekend away with my sweetie, who really steps up to the challenge and shows his brilliance on these weekends. I am blessed beyond measure.

So. That's finally over. Great weekend, lots of prep work. Good to be finished with that. Time to move on...

My house is a wreck. I may have ignored certain (all) housekeeping duties for the past, oh, four weeks or more. Time to start a list of projects. Having a list not only keeps me focused, but it helps the time move more quickly as we anticipate...

THE CRUISE! Joe and I are taking a cruise - sort of a work thing for him - in October. Olivia is staying home with grandparents. I am a little bit excited about this. We haven't been on a vacation alone for a good long while. It is time. I am looking forward to a week of relaxing, sleeping, eating, sunning, and generally not worrying about small, loud, messy, needy people. Oh yes. I am looking forward to this.

Spring Break

Last week was Spring Break, and we took a little 3-day vacation to get away from home. Not that there's anything wrong with home, but if we don't leave we end up doing housework and yardwork all week and ignoring Olivia's need for fun. So we went away. Olivia was excited.

Vacation! Yes!

We went to Nashville, Tennessee. The weather was beyond perfect...70s and sunny every day.

Olivia even got pretty good at riding in the car (not her strong suit). The ipod helped a lot, as did a few free magazines we picked up.

We did many things that were geared toward her. But her favorite activity? Bowling. Figures...the one thing we can find anywhere is exactly what she wants to do on vacation.

The downside was that I caught Olivia's demon-cold exactly the moment we arrived, so I spent all of vacation (and every day since) struggling to breathe through the congestion. Also, the weather here was perfect until the exact moment we came home. And then it snowed. Yes, folks. 70s on Wednesday, snowing on Friday. I was not amused.

Also last week, I took Olivia for a preschool visit to pre-register and see how she did sitting in on a class. SHE LOVED IT. She stood in line and followed instructions and participated in group activities. I think she is SOOOO ready. She'll start in the Fall, but I'm sure she'll be talking about it until then.

We are back to our babysitting routine today and getting back into the swing of things. April is going to be a busy, busy month.

Spring Break!

I'm watching a new little boy...the son of a friend...today as a favor for her. She's also considering sending both of her kids to me next year, so it's a good test to see how her little guy does. Well, apparently we shocked the bejeebers out of him because he was asleep when he got here and woke up to a strange house and strange people and has been silently sobbing ever since. I tried to get him to play, but he just wants to sit on my lap and feel sorry for himself. So I took the "let's sit at the computer until you are bored out of your skull and want to get down and play" tactic. Thus, the blogging.

All of my babysitting kids are on Spring break next week, which means we are on Spring break! We have such plans. Tonight, we were invited to enjoy Princesses on Ice, courtesy of a friend who won tickets on the radio or something. Olivia is beyond excited. She gets to dress up like a princess AND spend time with one of her little pals. I'm excited because I get to spend time with my friend, her little pal's Mommy, so we all win!

Sunday, we are heading to Nashville for a few days, where we will hunt down child-friendly activities and (here's Olivia's favorite part) stay in a HOTEL that has a POOL. Seriously, the excitement is hard for her to contain.

Then it's back home for a preschool tour on Thursday and fun with local friends on Friday. Full week.

The wee one is starting to show interest in playing. I think we'll go sit on the floor and see what happens.

Post-illness re-training

The stomach-virus-from-hell finally departed our poor child on Sunday, which was the first day that she felt like playing and being off the couch. Six straight days of nausea and whining demands from her couch position...it was exhausting for all of us. And now she's back to her normal self. The end.

The babysitting kids are all back this week, which has been good and bad. The boys are typically a delight. They have their moments, but for the most part they are instruct-able when they get out of line.

Olivia, of course, has her issues. She's a high maintenance kid and always has been, so I've always had to take a pretty hard line on discipline and make sure to remain consistent all the time. She knows what kind of behavior is tolerated and what is not, and when she misbehaves or gives me attitude, she can't go back to playing until she corrects the behavior...or the attitude. Pouting is not allowed.

We are doing a little re-training this week because of all the allowances made during sick week, where we catered to her every pitiful need. She's adjusting to re-training fairly well, if a little slowly.

And then there's the other little girl in my charge. She is only here two or three days a week, and when there's a weekend (or a sick week), sometimes she also requires a bit of re-training. Her issue is pouting or crying when she doesn't get her way. As with all pouting and crying, I demand that she has to remove herself from the group until she can give me a good attitude. For her, it is REALLY hard and usually requires at least a half hour of screaming at the top of her lungs before she settles down.

As you can imagine, such screaming is disruptive to the rest of the household and more than my nerves can take. So once she commences screaming, she is moved to the nap room where she must stay by herself until she calms down.

You'd think that, after a few such scream sessions, she'd figure out that all she has to do to return to playing is to stop screaming and apologize/play nicely/stop pouting. But it doesn't seem to be sinking in. It makes me wonder what she gets away with at home.

So. That is what we are dealing with today. Thank goodness the sun is out and we managed to get out in it for an hour. I needed the Vitamin D and mood boost.

Changes

Well. After spending most of yesterday morning with a perpetual feeling of motion sickness, I called the doctor to see if it was normal and also OK for me to live with these symptoms for the duration of the antibiotics (3 weeks). He said it was not. We might try something different next cycle, but for now I'm getting my taste buds back. Slowly. I'm realizing this because I ate an apple from a bag that I had all but given up as disgusting, and it tasted good. All other apples I've eaten from this bag (bought after starting the pills) tasted awful. So maybe it wasn't the apples.

A couple of weeks ago, we opened a new bank account at a new bank. Our bank, with whom we have banked (individually, and then later as a couple) for DECADES, decided to drop their free checking option and start charging people fees if their checking account dropped below $500. FIVE HUNDRED DOLLARS! I think that's unreasonable. If I'm going to let that much money sit anywhere, it's going to be in a savings account or some other interest-bearing account that is meant for piling up cash. (Our checking account WAS interest bearing, and we would have totally switched it to not interest bearing to get free checking, but there was no option for that. Come on, people. A checking account is for MONEY THAT YOU INTEND TO SPEND. Duh.)

Anyway, after a few months of shifting money around so as to avoid the evil fee snatchers, we decided we'd had enough of that nonsense and switched banks. Almost. We are in the process of switching bills and deposits and automatic stuff over and OMG I never knew how much work it is to switch accounts. Ugh. But worth it.

Take THAT, mean old bank.

In the meantime, we decided to buy a new (to us) car. We traded in our always-needs-a-repair van for another car, which I think I may come to regret in the cargo category. But my husband insists that we can trade the other car in for the van I actually WANT in about two years. Something to look forward to...

Buying a car when half of your money is in a new account where you can't actually access any of it easily because you haven't yet received your checks and debit cards and the other half of the money is in the account that is currently paying all of your OTHER bills...well, it was not exactly smart timing.

We finally figured out all the financial issues and had money transferred into the bill-handling account (old bank) where it still sits, today, a full ten days after giving our debit card number for the deposit and a full week after arriving with a check for the difference and driving away with the car. I'm not really sure what to make of that. Perhaps they don't want our money?

That, indeed, would be a welcome change.

More thoughts on VBS

It seems that my frustration over my very badly-behaved child may have caused me to overestimate her height. In a room of preschoolers, she's taller than about a third. Some of these kids are five years old, and some are almost three, so it's a good range of ages. But she SEEMS taller. Maybe it's her aggressiveness.

Olivia did a lot better on Monday and then not so well again on Tuesday. But I noticed something. While all of the kids were pretty well behaved (except Olivia) on Sunday, at least half of them are pushing each other and melting down by the time we reach the final quarter of the evening on Monday and Tuesday. I guess the newness of the activity kept them all interested on Sunday, but now they've reverted back to their normal, which is that they are all little kids who get overtired and overstimulated and cranky by 7:00 p.m.

Thankfully, a very talented preschool teacher joined our adult leader group on Monday, and she has been AMAZING with the kids. It has helped A LOT.

I'm feeling a little better about Olivia's ability to fit into a crowd. However, it seems that we need to keep the activity going...any lull leads to misbehavior, defiance, and general frustration. So, how to deal with this...?

We were instructed to bring the kids in bathing suits and towels tonight. I'm hoping that a chance to get wet keeps all of the kids interested and engaged for longer tonight. Olivia obviously enjoys Bible School overall. She'd just enjoy it more if I ignored her and let her run off to join the older group for kickball or go back to the craft room to squirt some more glue. Ah, rules, structure, schedules...these things are lost on her.

This might kill me

Yesterday evening, Olivia and I attended the first of five vacation Bible school classes. I have made the following observations about this particular program and how my child fits into it.

1. In a room full of three- and four-year-olds, my child (aged 2 years and eight months) is taller than 85%. And heavier. And stronger. And has half the attention span.

2. This VBS program was not designed with three- and four-year-olds in mind. It has five different activities: Crafts, Music, Snack, Games and Story Time. Each age group cycles to a different activity every 20 minutes or so. We found out quickly that, for most activities, 20 minutes was WAY TOO MUCH TIME FOR THIS AGE GROUP. We'd spend 8-10 minutes doing the activity. The remainder of the time we'd either be herding twenty impatient children into a very small classroom to color the same picture AGAIN, or we'd be chasing them down as they tried to run around the building or parking lot. I can understand why there are something like 15 adult volunteers to handle JUST THIS ROOM. Still, it's not quite enough.

3. Our group did the activities in the order listed above. Snack was well timed...right in the middle. But everything else was a little wacky. Especially games and story time. The game started with a demonstration of different types of soil (rocky, weedy, etc) since the lesson for the day was the parable of the sower and seed. But since we hadn't yet heard the lesson in story time, the kids didn't get it and spent all the time plunging their hands into buckets of sand and dirt. And then they were put in two lines to "compete" in a relay race wherein they would each run to each of the four buckets and "plant" (drop) some seeds in, run back and tag the next person on their team. This seemed kind of stupid to me because it was strangely disconnected from the story. Why on earth would I bother putting seeds in this weedy bucket if they aren't going to grow? I wouldn't have blamed any one of those kids if they had run straight to the bucket of potting soil, threw all of their seeds in, and then ran back to their team. Except they wouldn't have done that because none of them knew the point of the story yet.

4. Also, have you TRIED to get three- and four-year-olds to stand still in line and wait their turn? And get them to stand still AGAIN after they get back from their turn. Yeah. It doesn't work so well.

5. And whose bright idea was it to give the youngest group the LAST story time? By the time they finished all of those other activities, they were too fried to pay any attention to the story. I felt sorry for the lady reading and trying to get the kids to focus. And I tried not to laugh at the futile effort as I chased my kid around the parking lot (where story time was held) for the entire duration of the story.

6. Evening wouldn't have been my preference for VBS, at least for this age group. We meet from 5:30 - 8:15 p.m. I know it's more convenient for working parents, but trying to get little ones to work as a group this late in the day? Not so easy.

7. AND!! TWO HOURS AND FORTY-FIVE MINUTES? ARE YOU KIDDING ME?


It was apparent to me, too, that Olivia is more...shall we say, high spirited...than ALL OF THE OTHER KIDS. I'm starting to really think that she may need some help learning to focus before we approach the idea of school. Anyone have any recommendations about how we might go about having her evaluated?

Oh yes, it was hard.

OK, so I wrote a post several days ago about vacation with the family, and then I deleted it before posting because...well, it just vented all of my disappointments and frustrations, and you don't want to read that. Let's just say that vacation was hard. There were fun parts. But spending a week together with Joe's family was better in theory than in reality. They don't really get along so well under usual circumstances, and here we all were in a cabin together for a week. So you can imagine. There was an underlying tension, too, surrounding our handling of Olivia because all of the other grandkids are teenagers and, well, everyone had advice. Because THEY could do it better. And, well, you can imagine how well that went over.

Needless to say, we probably won't be doing THAT again anytime soon. Ahem.

We've been so off schedule this week, but being home is so good. We are going here and there and doing summer stuff and taking teeny naps and staying up late. And the weekend is going to be more of the same. And I am surprisingly OK with that. It's just nice to relax and be US again. No pressure.

Hope you have a very nice holiday weekend!

Family day at the park

On Saturday, we spent a lovely day at the Local Theme Park with another couple and their family. This couple adopted their first child six months before Olivia came along, and we've bonded with them on issues of adoption, politics, religion, etc.

This lovely couple now has quite a brood in tow. Between our two families, there were five kids under three. Two "big kids", two toddlers, one baby. Two mixed-race children, two caucasian children, one African-American child. Three adopted children (our one, their two), two foster children. All five are girls. Two double strollers and one single stroller. Four adults enjoying some conversation where they could, while also making sure this child didn't leap out of her stroller and that one didn't steal her sister's sippy.

I'm sure we drew some interested stares...we did make an interesting bunch. But what I enjoyed the most was just being with all the kids together. I held this one or that one while keeping an eye on mine and sometimes another one running around in the spray park or the pool. I bonded with one of their foster children, who wanted me to hold or play with her for much of the afternoon. My husband really enjoyed holding the baby, who was calm and sweet and not squirmy and impatient as Olivia was when she was that age. I loved watching Olivia share hugs with the other girls and adopt them as her newest favorite playmates.

It was chaos, but it was an absolutely delightful day. Exhausting, but beautiful.

This is where the title would go, if this post had enough continuity to pick one

Today is a gloriously beautiful day...the very essence of Spring perfection when it comes to weather. I took the kids outside and ENJOYED it...no sneezing, wheezing or other pollen-related misery. The cold is also gone and I feel like a new person.

I also got on the elliptical machine for the first time in five weeks today. I can finally breathe. It felt very good to be back to "normal".

I got a call today from the Institute where I'm going to have surgery and other diagnostic procedures in a few weeks. The office that handles various dealings with insurance companies discovered that both the doctor and hospital are out-of-network for our insurance (not news to us). They were calling to let me know that they are drafting a letter to our insurance company explaining why Dr. Hilgers is different (and does surgery differently) than the dozens of other GYN surgeons in our network and is, therefore, the best possible option for our very unique case. They are arguing to be considered in-network for these procedures. I didn't even ask them to do this! Can I just say that they are totally awesome?! Whether it works or not, I think this is an AWESOME business practice.

The baby I watch is now eating baby food, and his mom has been sending these glass jars for about a week. I've been saving them and will be doing this with the kids tomorrow. I've been looking for an easy crafty Mother's Day gift that the kids could make for their moms this week, and I think this is perfect.

Happy Wednesday!

Sounds and sufferings of Spring

You know how sounds and songs can evoke memories? I woke up this morning to sounds that always make me think of camping in the woods. Not that I've been camping all that many times, but once upon a time I used to go to 4-H camp every year and wake up in our stuffy, buggy cabins to the delightful sounds of nature outside. Birds chirping, wind rustling the many trees around... Now, when the weather is nice enough to leave the windows open, I can wake up to these delightful sounds. That's the benefit of living in a wooded area with minimal traffic noise. Except now I'm in my non-buggy house and my oh-so-comfy bed. And, oh, I would lay in that comfy bed and drift around in that half-conscious state listening to those nature sounds for a long, long time if given the chance.

Today is the essence of a perfect Spring day. The temps are warm with a cool breeze, the skies are clear blue and the sun is out. Our tree has sprouted just enough leaves to provide our play area with adequate shade. It's barefoot weather but not yet swimsuit weather. In my book...perfection.

And yet, while the children nap, I sit here and type. Instead of sitting in the shade with a good book, I am inclined to spend naptime listening to the birds through my open windows. Why? ALLERGIES.

It appears that pollen and I are not friends. Dust and I don't get along either (it gives me headaches), but that's a problem I deal with any time of the year. It is only at this time of the year, when the trees are blossoming and the flowering bushes bloom and everything is coming back to life after the long, depressing winter that I am plagued by itchy nose, throat and ears and the constant attack of the sneezes.

Oh, we get outside. It's too gorgeous NOT to go outside. I took the kids out twice this morning for short bursts. Olivia got a new bouncy house from her grandparents and the kids are breaking it in this week.

Bouncy house = Pure kid bliss

So we went out and had a wonderful time in our bare feet and short sleeves. And then we came in and I spent the next half hour sneezing and blowing my nose.

*Big Heavy Sigh*

It is supposed to rain tomorrow. Perhaps that will calm the pollen itchies for a few days. Regardless, I'm determined to enjoy this delightfully warm Spring weather, allergies or not.

The kind of joy that can't be contained

Happy Easter! As I've mentioned before, Holy Week is one of my fave times of the year to go to Church. There's just so much richness in the ritual and liturgies.

Participation is not, however, quite as rich or meditative or spiritual with a toddler in tow. For me. Or for anyone else who happens to be in attendance.

Holy Thursday's Mass begins at 7:30 p.m. Too close to bedtime. Also, not morning (which is really the only time she has much chance of behaving at Mass). Our Good Friday service begins at 3:00 p.m. Also afternoon, and a little too close to the end of nap. And also, LONG SERVICE.

Don't even get me started on Easter Vigil! Why on earth did I think THAT was a good idea?

She still takes a good picture at 9:30 p.m.
But don't expect her to fall asleep on the way home
just because it's a couple of hours past bedtime.
Or for two hours after THAT. Geez.

And yet, we attended all three. So, "A" for effort, but "C-" for actual experience.

I showed up every time armed with crayons and stickers and a big activity book. These worked fairly well in terms of keeping her occupied enough to stay in the pew. She was NOT quiet, though. She decided that whispering was beneath her and insisted on narrating everything she was doing or thinking for part of one of those services (I can't remember which, just like I can't remember anything that actually happened in the liturgies either).

Certain parts of each liturgy fascinated her. The washing of the feet. The incense. The candles. We had a few scary near-encounters with flame during the vigil service (and again, WHY DID I THINK THAT WAS A GOOD IDEA?). I let her hold her own candle. WHY?

But she had her moments. My favorite was her obsession with the "holy smoke". At the vigil, we were standing outside for the blessing of the Easter candle and Olivia saw Daddy (who was MC for the triduum) holding the incense and broke the reverent silence by practically shouting, "Holy Smoke! Daddy has the holy smoke!" She got a few chuckles for that one.

What struck me, though, was at the Good Friday service when everyone was supposed to be all solemn and reflecting and Olivia kept bouncing around and saying things like, "Look at Jesus! Can I kiss him?" Or waving at the (silent) procession and saying, "Hi Father! Hi Daddy!" It occurred to me that she's so full of life and joy and (at two years old) can't possibly understand the meaning and significance of Good Friday. All she really understands is the joy of Easter. And that's the joy she was expressing throughout all of the triduum.

Someday she'll get it. She'll understand the story and be able to sit and reflect on its profound significance. But for now, I am satisfied in knowing that she loves Jesus and knows that He loves her, and she's joyful about that. And she's relatively content to be in Church and participating with us every week.

But I think we might skip some of the triduum services next year. No matter how packed, it would have been easier for all of us if we would have just gone to the Easter Sunday Mass at our regularly scheduled time. It's all about the schedule. Why can't I remember that?

Spring Break recap

Spring Break was wonderful, but exhausting. We spent the first few days at home, running errands and playing outside.
Olivia learned to pedal her bike. She was so cute and confident in her abilities. I see some skinned knees in her future, but she did really well for her first time out.


On Wednesday, we took a road trip to visit cousins. Olivia tried her hand at tee ball.

After a couple of fun and exhausting days with cousins, we met up with Daddy and did some family stuff. First was the Children's Museum, where Olivia discovered all sorts of exciting things.
She discovered her passion for scooping ice cream in a pint-sized ice cream shoppe.

Then she arranged some blown "glass" into her own little sculpture.


We all spent Friday night in a hotel. Olivia decided to brush her hair and Mommy's. This was the result. Mommy's hair fared a little better under the brush than Olivia's did.

Saturday we went to the "animal zoo," as Olivia calls it. Here is the "shark petting" area.

And the baby giraffe.

And the elephant.

We were all exhausted when we got home. Olivia slept 13 hours on Saturday night and then took a long nap on Sunday. After her nap, we painted eggs. Holy Week is pretty busy around here, so we colored our eggs this weekend and will store them in the fridge until next week.

As it turns out, egg painting is a good activity for a 2-year-old. She LOVED it and was pretty good at keeping the paint where it belonged. She is looking forward to showing off her creations to Grandparents later in the week.

In the midst of all this Spring Break fun, we also managed to mulch all of our flower beds and get some cleaning done in the house. So, I guess it was productive and fun...just not all that relaxing.

We start to get back to normal tomorrow. We have half of the babysitting crew back this week (the other half is still on Spring Break for another week).

Happy Holy Week!

Weekend updates

Things are looking brighter around here. And not just because the sun has been glaring off the snow all day.

Olivia's stomach bug turned out to be just a 24-hour thing...less than that, in fact. By the time she woke up on Friday morning, her stomach was not bothering her anymore. By evening, she was pretty much back to normal (except for her lack of appetite, which she still doesn't have back). I think part of her quick recovery was the 4.5 hour nap she had in the afternoon. AND she went to bed at a reasonable hour, even after the marathon nap. Which leads me to...

Bedtime. So much better than I could have imagined. Last night was day four in the saga of teaching the toddler to fall asleep by herself. Day one was a ninety minute exercise in frustration during which Olivia jumped out of bed at least a hundred and thirty-seven times. But eventually she did fall asleep. On day two, she fell asleep in a half-hour, with only a couple dozen reprimands for getting out of bed. Day three was about the same amount of time, and we diagnosed a fear of monsters, which was remedied by turning on the hall light. Day four (last night), she did not get out of bed and did not make a peep. She just stayed quietly in her bed and fingered her blankie until she fell asleep. It took about 40 minutes, but the point is that she did it, without argument, while I sat on the couch in view of her open bedroom door and read a book.

I think she's starting to accept this process as the "new normal". And the angels sang for joy!

I'm sure we'll have setbacks, but I can see a light at the end of the tunnel. And I'm kicking myself for not trying this sooner.

Is it Spring yet?

Apparently not.

She's already bored with the white stuff.

A bad bug

It all started out so well.

The bedtime routine last night went so smoothly. It took only about 30 minutes for Olivia to fall asleep by herself in bed and after only about a half-dozen attempts to get out of bed.

Two hours later, she appeared in our bedroom covered in the former contents of her stomach.

The poor thing. She didn't cry much. She just looked at me with that look of confusion and trust that says, "I don't know why I feel so yucky, but Mommy will make it better." I had to strip her down and put her in the tub, where she shivered through the whole bathing process. She was such a mess. Even more so after we tried to get her shirt up over her head, leaving a lot of the mess behind in her hair. There is nothing more difficult and disgusting than trying to comb bits of partially-digested food out of tight curls.

I spent the rest of the night in Olivia's bed with her. We had to put new sheets on the bed and then (smartly) lined them with bath towels. Olivia was up about once an hour until 4:30, gagging and retching unproductively since there was nothing left in her stomach. She was finally able to keep some Tylenol and water down at that point and slept until 7:15, when she woke up as her bouncy little self.

I was not so bouncy. For every hour she slept, I slept about 20 minutes. Joe was able to take the morning off so I could catch up on a little sleep, but I still feel wiped out.

I think Olivia will recover quickly. It seems to have been a bug that just attacks the digestive system because she never had a fever. It also sounds suspiciously like the bug that kept Addie home on Monday and Jake home a couple of weeks ago. I blame the dang plastic play food that the kids keep putting in their mouths and then passing around. They don't get the concept of "pretend eating".

I feel like I should be doing something...

The girls are asleep. The boys are not here today on account of illness. I am wired from too much morning caffeine. And I know I should be doing something during this nap window, but I can't for the life of me figure out exactly what it is.

This weekend, I finished up most of our homestudy paperwork. Yep, we have to update our homestudy...it's been a year, so we have to repeat most of the paperwork, have a visit from our social worker, and have the whole thing rewritten. Oh, and pay for an update, which is much cheaper than a first-time homestudy, but still. This week, we both have to get TB tests, send off a medical report form to each of our doctors for their signatures, get a county criminal history limited check and send off for the state criminal history checks. Oh, and get our fingerprints done electronically. You'd think, since fingerprints never change, that we wouldn't have to do this every freakin' year. But you'd be wrong. *Sigh*

The good news is that all of the homestudy paperwork (on our end) should be finished by the end of the week. Then we can check THAT off of our to-do list.

It's getting warmer here. Not warm, by any means, but above freezing, which feels pretty warm after the cold spell we'd been having. We decided to get a little fresh air this weekend by taking a couple of short walks. Olivia enjoyed exploring, finding wonder and amazement in the smallest things. "Look...a rock! See the bird? There's some water down there!" It reminded me how much we miss during the cold months when we are stuck inside. She is so observant and is learning so much about the world when we are outside.

"Look, Mommy. The corn is gone! The birds ate it all. That's so sad..."

Happy Martin Luther King, Jr. Day!