Your Daddy's Birthday

Eliza,

Today was your dada's birthday, and we had a wonderful day together as a family.  I wanted to write about it so I won't ever forget how wonderful it was.  We are a very lucky family of three, aren't we?

You are still feeling a little under the weather, so last night was a bit rough (so rough that your daddy slept on the couch and let us have the big bed all to ourselves! But that's okay, he was happy to do it for you :).  You slept until 6:00am today and then you and I cuddled in bed and watched Caillou for the first time (you seemed to like it!) while your daddy slept in until 7:00.  Then we took dada to breakfast for his birthday - your dada LOVES to go out to breakfast.  It is his favorite meal to eat out (it has never been my favorite, I'm a simple cereal or PB toast kind of girl), so we let him choose and he chose the new Caribbean restaurant that we have been going to lately.  It was scrumptious.  You had oatmeal with mango and pineapple, and shared some of my eggs benedict with spinach, sweet potato, and curried chick peas.  You liked my food better, I think.  You have very adult taste!

After breakfast we went to the Farmer's Market.  It was the opening day of market season and it was only 50 degrees and raining, but we went anyway.  Your daddy and I love the Farmer's Market.  We go a lot during the summer months, so I'm sure you will become quite used to the sights and sounds there.  Two summers ago, I waddled around the aisles in the late summer months with my big belly, and last summer we proudly brought you there as a baby.  This year you are big enough to run around, and you had a great time exploring.  We bought soap, some yummy strawberry jam, and your dada bought that stinky cheese that he loves.  Yuck!!

Then we went home and gave dada one of his presents - a Duplo set with all the zoo animals in it.  It was from you!  I thought it would be a nice thing for you and dada to play with together (he is serious about his legos, even at age 32!!).  He loved it, and you and he played with it a bit before nap.

After nap we played around the house, and after a while we noticed that the SUN came out!  It has been raining for about a week straight, so we jumped on the chance to play outside.  We brought out your sidewalk chalk and bubbles, and we played in the front yard.  Then we walked around to the back and played in the backyard.  You had a great time running around, going down the slide, and playing in your sandbox.  Daddy had some gardening to do (he was planting his hops), and you were very interested in what he was doing.  He introduced you to your first earth worm, too :)

Later, we came inside and sang Happy Birthday to dada and had some cake (yes, you had a little taste too - yes, your mama is careful about how many sweets you eat, but you can always have a little cake at birthday parties).  Then we gave dada his "real" presents.  You helped him open them, you were very helpful.

He had a wonderful day - did you know he told me that all he wanted for his birthday was to spend the whole day with you?  He got just what he wanted.  You are his favorite girl in the whole wide world.

Parenting a Sick Kid 101

Today, I got schooled.

I feel like I've been through some sort of rite of passage of parenthood.

Parenting a sick kid.  Like, the most miserable I've ever seen the poor girl.

Diagnosis?  Croup.  She'll be fine, it's nothing serious, and so I am counting my blessings.  It could be a lot worse.

We noticed a runny nose yesterday morning, and it progressed into a bad cough by evening.  By the time she went to bed last night, it was so bad that she couldn't sleep.  Each cough woke her up and she would cry the most sad, grumpy cry I've ever heard.  It was so sad.  It was obvious that the cough hurt her.  She would sleep for maybe 30-45 minutes at a time before waking up crying and coughing.  She really didn't even want to nurse, she was so upset.  She was up three times between 7:30 and 9:30, so at the 9:30 wake-up, I just went ahead and brought her into bed with us then - not that it helped her sleep better...I think hubby and I slept maybe 4 hours, and Eliza probably slept like 8, interrupted.

She woke up at 5:45am and walked around the house howling and clearly unhappy - not even her favorite toys or books could distract her or perk her up.  At around 7:00 she was sitting in my lap on the couch whimpering, and I asked her "Eliza, do you want to go back to sleep?" and she said, very clearly, "yesh".  Oh, my heart just broke!  It was both cute and sad at the same time.  My poor bubby.  We both went back to bed and slept until 8:45.

As soon as we woke up I called and made her an appointment and they had an opening at 9:30, so off we went.  Our fantastic PNP was so kind and gentle with Eliza.  She said it sounded like croup, so she sent us off with a prescription for steroids. (Oh, and btw Eliza weighed 29 lbs 2 ozs this morning, just thought I'd throw that in there!).

So we picked up the Rx - a red, sweet-smelling liquid (ick).  I gave Eliza the first dose.  She gagged and promptly thew it up all over herself and me.  So, I called the pharmacist (who, btw, has got to be like 22 years old) and he told me to mix it with chocolate pudding because "chocolate masks bad tastes best".  Uh-huh.  After Eliza's stellar 45-minute nap, we run back to the pharmacy to get the stupid pudding, and also to get a replacement for the medicine we lost.

Back home, I mixed the medicine into the pudding.  I gave one tiny spoonful to Eliza and again, she instantly gagged and thew up.  WHAT THE?  So I taste it.  Oh. My. Good. Lord.  It is quite possibly the worst thing I have EVER tasted.  I make mental note to save it in case someone needs to throw up something in the future - seriously, the reaction was immediate and physical, like your body is telling you GET IT OUT!  ABORT MISSION!  NOOOO!!!  The chocolate pudding did nothing to dull the gag-inducing flavor.  Poor thing - why didn't I taste it earlier, like BEFORE giving it to my child?  Rookie mistake.  New rule!

I call the man-child-pharmacist.  Sorry, no other options, he tells me.  Hmmm... I don't believe you, Doogie Howser, PharmD.  I call our PNP and she says that YES, in fact there is a pill version that she can prescribe that we can crush and add it to liquid or food and give it to her that way, though she can't promise that the pill will taste any better.  Sign us up, it's worth a shot.

Call hubby.  Ask him to please come home - sick baby, tired mama, rainy day, and I really don't want to drag baby back out to the pharmacy for the THIRD time today.  So he picks it up on the way home, along with some ice cream.  I chastise him for buying the full-fat ice cream (the horror!).  Then, five minutes later I thank him because it was the perfect vehicle to get the crushed-up pill into our dear girl. She gobbles it down.  I bet it felt soothing to her throat, too.  And, it was B&J's Cherry Garcia, so she got her first taste of her mama and daddy's favorite ice cream (we used to buy pints of Cherry Garcia in college - now the taste of that ice cream reminds me of those days!!).

Then, we all cuddled up on the couch and watched some Thomas the Tank on Net.flix instant.  She usually doesn't get to just sit on the couch and watch TV with mom and dad, so it was a special treat.  I felt guilty about it at first (and about the ice cream, too), but then I was reminded that when you're sick, it's nice to get special treats from mom and dad.  I will always remember getting special treatment when I was sick as a kid and it made the day a little brighter when I felt otherwise crappy.  So, I just reminded myself that now I get to do that for Eliza.  Now I'm the mom who says "it's going to be okay" and will bring ice cream and popsicles and ginger ale to my girl when she's not feeling well (er, in the future... she's not getting popsicles or ginger ale quite yet ;), and cuddles her on the couch while we watch movies together.  It's weird, especially when I can so vividly remembering being the sick kid on the couch, my mom and dad taking care of me...

Anyway.

That was our day.  Most of it.  The end part was the same as always, just an hour earlier for the tired girl - dinner, bath, bed.  She's woken up once since she fell asleep at 6:45, so already we're doing better than last night.

It was not an easy day, but we made it, and there will be many days like it in my future so I guess I better get used to it.  It comes with the territory.  But MAN, no one ever tells you about how awful it is when your baby is sick.  You feel so so bad for them (and for yourself a little bit, too, if I'm being honest).  All you can do is hold them, tell them it will be better tomorrow and... feed them ice cream.

But, I'm still new at this parenting thing, so don't quote me on that last one..

Easter Quickie

I am totally bogged down with grading for the week (100 papers left to be graded by Friday... could be worse, but it's pretty bad!!), but I couldn't not post a couple of photos from Eliza in her Easter dress from yesterday.  She was the cutest one in the church (and outside the church, which is where we spent most of the mass...)!  I am totally in love with her dress... I am currently looking for an excuse to put her in it again!

We had a great weekend - more to come!

Wordless Wednesday: Our Tuesday

Ads & Blogs

So you may have noticed that I monetized my blog.  There are now ads between each post and one long "skyscraper" ad on the sidebar.  At first I felt like I sold out somehow... and THEN.  Then I woke up and realized that I am stupid for having waited so long to do it.  I should have done it when I started blogging.  I mean, why not, right?  I'd suggest all you bloggers out there do this if you haven't already.  It's really easy to do if you are a Blogger user - they use Google AdSense - and I think you can still sign up for the service even if you aren't a Blogger user.  You don't earn a ton of money, of course, but at least it's something.  The more hits/clicks you get, the more money you earn (duh, I guess that's obvious as that's how ads work!).  The rules are that I can't legally ask my readers to click on the ads, and I'm not supposed to click on them (so I don't, I'm honest like that).  Just thought I would bring it up since SOMEBODY (or Nobody) commented about it recently ;)  Heh.

I also wanted to take a moment to point out a few blogs.  First, one of my BFFs, Ashley, has started blogging!  Well, actually, she started blogging a while ago, so I'm a little late to the party, but you know that I sat and read through her entire history, oh yes I did! :)  She's a newlywed and she and her husband live in San Francisco - they are who we visited when we went there in March.  She is witty, smart and a great writer.  I'm so glad she started a blog so I can keep up with her day-to-day life - I miss her so much!  Go check out her blog, The Official and Authoritative Blog of Jeffery and Ashley.

Also, Dawn, over at Can You Imagine? has started dipping her toes back in the blogosphere after a hiatus.  I was so glad to see that she posted something recently saying she's coming back.  She welcomed a daughter just after I did and I can't wait to hear all about the little cutie and how mommyhood has been.  Welcome back, Dawn!

Lastly, Alyssa has been blogging over at Apple Pie and the Universe for a while now about her adorable son Evan and life in general.  But I just have to point out her post from today, which is about a very important subject that is near and dear to my heart... both literally and figuratively... BRA FITTING!  Heheh, yup, it's true.  It's a serious issue ladies, and she has an excellent PSA about the importance of a well-fitting bra.  I highly recommend you go check it out.

Hope everyone had a great weekend!

Spring Craftiness

I used to be crafty.  I suppose I probably still AM crafty, I just haven't utilized my craftiness in a while.  School and baby have taken priority... but now that Eliza is getting a little more independent and I've got summer ahead of me, I'm starting to think about things to do to work out my crafty muscles again.  I can't wait until Eliza is old enough to do little crafty projects with me.

So I thought I would start off with a couple of easy Easter projects... (now, whether or not I actually DO these is another matter, but a girl can hope - and plan!).

First, look at this cute Easter egg garland made with paint color samples.  What a great idea!  Seems simple enough... right?

DIY Paint Chip Easter Garland

The next one is a little more involved, but totally cute and would be so much fun to give away for a little Easter treat to friends and family - they are real eggs that you hollow out (by cutting a hold at the bottom of the egg, the only iffy part IMO), sterilize, color, and then fill with candy.  Then you glue them - hole side down - to a little muffin cup.  So what you get is a sweet little candy-filled egg that the recipient gets to crack open.  How cute is that?

Easter Surprise Eggs

Anyone else have any fun little spring project ideas? 

Diary of a Sunday

This morning we let Dada sleep in (it was his turn - I got to sleep in until 10:15 yesterday morning!!  It was every bit as good as I remembered it...).  Eliza and I had a quick, (mostly) quiet breakfast, and then went to Dunn Bros with grandma.  I didn't bring my camera so I don't have any photos, but we had fun - we sipped lattes, watched Eliza run around, and I helped my mom set up her very own grandma blog (isn't that neat?!).  We like to go to this Dunn Bros often as they are pretty kid-friendly and family-owned.  Afterwards, since we hadn't yet heard from the sleepy husband/daddy, we went back to my parents' house and Eliza played with/gnawed on a half a loaf of bread my mom had baked.  She also charmed Grandpa, as usual :)

The bond between a girl and her bread is strong.

She's pretending that her little monkey is eating the bread. 

Time for her weekly Sunday drive.

Grandpa's rolling down the window and she thinks it is HILARIOUS.

Uhhh, note to self: next time, don't give the baby the loaf of bread on the drive home...

Modeling her new t-shirt.  Isn't it adorable??  I want to get one for myself!

Here is the Etsy site link.

Later, hubby and I went on a Sundate (heheh).  We had brunch at a yummy fancy shmancy restaurant (gift certificate ;) and then went to see a neat little play at a local theater.  It was a wonderful afternoon, and afterwards we got to come home to the smiling face of our girl.  We are so lucky.  And, I swear, she grew and learned like three new words while we were gone!

Tomorrow is Monday and it's back to the school grind for this mama.  This weekend was so nice, I managed to almost forget that it's the end of the semester and I'm crazy busy and stressed... *sigh*.  FIVE WEEKS LEFT!

A Seriously Serious Topic

Thank you to everyone who commented on my last post!  I loved hearing what you all think about your own child spacing and adding-to-the-family decisions.  This is why I love blogging so :)  As long as I'm on a roll with helpful advice and people leaving comments...

I have a really SERIOUS question for you.

I know that most of you, dear readers, are female.  So I'm going to throw out a question that only other females can answer.

You see, I have an issue with my underwear.  It's always... sagging.  There, I said it.  I have saggy underwear.  *shameface*  I guess that's the right word.  It just doesn't stay up!  It drives. me. crazy.  Now, in the interest of honesty, I have to say this: I have no butt.  I really don't.  I wasn't born with a booty and I'll never have one, so I am sure that is contributing to this issue.  But it's also the underwear.

Does anyone else share this problem?  What kind of underwear is good at staying up?  Maybe I am wearing the wrong size?

So let me hear your favorite brands/types/etc.  I'm in need of some serious help here!

I'm usually a bikini cut girl.  Oh, and I have a friend who swears by wearing thongs every day (you know who you are!!), but I can't do it.  Just can't do it.  Sorry, no way, no how!

Thanks ladies!