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** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** This is my family updates blog. I'm sorry to say that it's moved to Facebook. If you would like to continue to read about my life, you need to be my Facebook friend.  |
| What a weekend! So busy! Yesterday we went to the mall. We had to test out the new little play area they have outside of JC Penney. It was a great success! Especially since we got there early. Jack was showcasing the best of his climbing skills. He was also attempting balance beam stuff after watching a little girl maybe a year older than him do it. In fact, he followed this girl all over the place to watch how she climbed on stuff. She was clearly older and more nimble...and probably had already been to this play area before. I met my friend Tasha after that. Chris took the boys home, and Tasha and I stayed to stimulate the economy by adding to our spring and summer wardrobe.  It was nice to get out of the house without the guys to worry about, and Tasha is such a good shopping partner.I have also been getting stuff for the guest room. I need to start painting it soon. We have done all the prep work - taping, spackling, sanding. I chose Moonshadow for my color. It's pretty much light gray which I think will look excellent with an art print I got to go in there. http://www.art.com/asp/sp-asp/_/PD--10387850/SP--A/IGID--935781/Portrait_of_Ira.... This morning we went to the zoo! It was the first time we have gone since Jack was 3 mos old, so it's been a while. It was so much fun! We got there early and only stayed the morning - still, we got to see at least a third of it. Jack loved it! He was all excited about each animal. He was very well behaved too. He is turning into such a responsible little dude. He is always trying to help Link. He'll offer his brother toys and he tries to make him feel better when Lincoln's crying. For instance, this evening Link wasn't into the whole bedtime routine and was pretty fussy. I came in to calm him down, but Jack was already giving him his binky. Then he opened the door, escorted me out with a "Go go mama" and closed the door as if he had it all handled. We didn't hear thing more from Lincoln, so he must have fallen asleep after that. We did see Jack again though. We had settled down to eat our chicken curry dinner and watch our TIVO'd episode of Survivor. When I went to put my plate up, there he was just standing there super quiet, watching us. Scared the crap out of me because I didn't expect to see anyone there. LOL Lincoln has a new favorite game. He likes to throw one of the rolly ball and chase after it crawling. He will do this for a good 20 mins straight and go back to it over and over again throughout the course of the day. He can pull up to standing now! And he'll walk if you hold him up. Not even 8 mos! Life is good! But what's the deal with the neighbors?? Next door the husband/father has been coming and going at odd hours. Suddenly he isn't there a lot at night and on the weekends. We're thinking maybe he's suddenly working two jobs because they are having a hard time making ends meet. OR...maybe they are feuding and so he is only there occassionally to help with yard work. It's a mystery! Meanwhile, the guy at the end of the street lost his job and they had to sell the house. It was on the market for all of a week. Now there's an "under contract" sign up in the yard. Nice to know that our neighborhood is still doing well in this housing market.  Gosh, I'm such a horrible gossip!! |
| Wednesday night Jack has one of those night terrors. Not sure what prompted it, but we were watching Steve Erwin wrestle crocodiles on Crocodile Hunter earlier in the evening. Usually Animal Planet is a safe bet, but there were some 17-footers that they needed five guys to wrestle to the ground. I'm having second thoughts about letting my boys watch Steve wrestle crocs and Jeff Corbin shoving his hand into anonymous holes to pull snakes out. Seriously! I read somewhere (don't ask me where) that sometimes night terrors happen when a child is first learning or getting ready for potty training, and that after they go to the bathroom they calm down. I didn't really think much of this because Jack was only a year old when he first starting having these things. But now at two...I'm not so sure. He wasn't wet when it all started, but after he went in his diaper and I changed him he settled down. So I wonder if I offer to take him to the potty next time, if it will help. So Jack was crying off and on for a good two hours, which made for a late night, which made yesterday a special challenge for people like me. And by like me, I mean clumsy and accident-prone. I got a gash trying to close my umbrella.  And then at the cafeteria the Styrofoam bowl I had my oatmeal on split at the bottom. I got oatmeal all over my black pants. I couldn't believe it! It was just one of those days.Today was much better. I was still tired, but it was because I stayed up late writing. I got some really good feedback on my first chapter. Good in that (a) everyone liked it and (b) everyone had some good ideas on how to improve it. Yay!This morning Jack counted to three. It was cool! I have no idea when kids normally start counting, so I don't know if he's ahead of the curve. Still it was cool! Maybe toddlers aren't so scary after all. |
I got a flat tire today!  That's my first flat tire EVER. I was at the daycare and I got everyone loaded into the car and went to drive away and it was driving funny. Of course, it's your typical flat tire scenario - downpour rain, Link started crying, Jack was whining to be let out of the car, and I'm trying to figure out how the jack works.Luckily, a stranded woman trying to change a tire does not go unnoticed for long - not on a military base at least. A nice Army sergeant stopped and changed the tire for me. It was good he did because I don't think I would have had the muscle to undo the nuts on the tire. Through all of that, I was remarkably calm. Totally unflustered. I was very impressed with myself. The rest of the day was work as usual. I'm working on a particularly math-heavy document and I spent a good bit of the afternoon trying to decipher equations. I finally asked one of the mathmaticians to just tell me what he thought would be the best way to work it. Instead of doing that he proceeds to draw me all manner of diagrams. My head was spinning! I don't do math on a regular basis, so trying to remember stuff from college was an exercise in futility. Hehehe...math is hard! Last night I was feeding Link his dinner of baby food, and I left the bowl for a second to stir the pot of stew I was making for the rest of us. Well, Jack comes in the kitchen and sees that I left the bowl and decides he'll feed Lincoln himself. Oh my goodness, the CUTENESS! I was so impressed that (a) he cared that much, (b) he actually got food in his brother's mouth, and (c) I was able to get pictures of it. Thankfully, the camera was right there on the counter. |
| So for the first time since December (I think) Chris and I were able to get out of the house. We went to see a rock concert in DC. I had a lot of fun. I really liked Paramore. They were good at getting the crowd worked up. Jimmy Eat World we had seen before and they were pretty good. They seem much more business-like in front of the crowd. Sort of - we're just here to play the music - type of performances. LOL But as the music was good, I don't fault them for that. Obviously, we're getting old. Chris and I were talking about how uncomfortable is to spend the night standing around...and Chris says his ears are still ringing. Mine are fine. It didn't seem any louder than any other concert I've been to. I think the next concert we want to go to is REM in June. Love REM!! Haven't seen them in concert since 2003 in Atlanta. That was an awesome concert! Our babysitter was awesome!! I want to adopt her. She is perhaps the most responsible 16-year-old I have ever met. When I told her she could use out computer to surf the internet or whatever, she said that she tried to stay away from that sort of thing because she's afraid she would get addicted. After the kids went to bed, she spent the night studying her SAT books. She wants to go to Med School one day. Very composed! We paid her well, so she will come back. Chris and I have both worked with her father, and he wants to hire Chris to program for his company. The money to make there is like ridiculous, so it's very tempting. The kids have been in a good mood. We also took them to the playground with some friends of ours. They're girls are 1 and 3, so it was a good pairing. Jack didn't really play with the girls because they were into the sandbox hard-core and he wanted to just climb on the jungle gym and go down the slides. But he was nice to them and enjoyed riding in their wagon thing on the way back home. Jack is so tall!! I mean, people can't believe he's not even two yet because he is as tall or taller than many 3-year-olds. I'm trying to figure out what we're going to do for his birthday next month. I like the at home birthday as opposed to paying a place to host for you...especially now that we have a nice backyard and a grill. It'll be Memorial Day weekend, so a fun bbq would be cool with some people we know who have small kids his age. At that age they're so easy to satisfy really. No need to spend a bunch of money on the extra stuff. Link is really fast at crawling now. He likes to squirm away when you're changing his diaper and take off crawling across the floor. We have had to put up the baby gates again because for some reason he goes right for the stairs. I started giving him a sippy cup too, which he is pretty good at. He's figured out he can't suck non-stop like you can with a bottle. He's eating some more mushable table foods too.I was looking forward to going out last night for the last month, and now I don't have something coming up to look forward to...except Memorial Day weekend. So I wonder if it will make this week go kinda slow. I guess we'll see. |
| Rigaroo - that's what my husband likes to call the crawling-squirming-bouncing faze Lincoln is in right now. He can crawl pretty good now, and he's trying to pull up on everything. He's really quite mobile. I guess whatever bad mood he was in is better now because he's been all smiles this week. He has even been going to bed and getting up on time! When he does cry it's the mama cry. That's a cry that sounds like MA MA MA MA MA...etc...you get the idea! It makes you wonder if he knows what mama means. Jack never did that. |
| I'm working tonight in an effort to make up time lost last week, but it's a never-ending battle to stay ahead of the curve. Tomorrow I have to take the afternoon off to take Jack to the allergist and Thursday is the spaghetti luncheon at daycare. I finally talked to my boss about taking leave without pay. I told him I would prefer to do that than to work extra hours. The time with my kids is more important to me than a little money. He was very understanding. Working late is kind of creepy. The office is so quiet and dark. I never thought about cubicles as being haunted, but I really wouldn't be surprised if I got a visit from the office ghost today. Hmm...I'm hungry too because it's past time for dinner. And I didn't get to read a bedtime story to the kids and that's kind of depressing. I'm definitely not going to make a habit of this. Actually, work talk makes me think of the twins I work with at my new office. Doug and Tony - separated at birth. They actually aren't twins, but they have the same sense of humor and provide a hilarious running commentary throughout the day, feeding off of one another. I actually have a lot of experience with this since my husband and his brothers do it all the time too, so I quite frequently throw stuff into the mix as well. This has prompted them to speculate whether we were all triplets, whether I may be their long-lost sister.  |
| Cheeky Baby Thing of the Day: Link can crawl but won't crawl to me when he's upset. He'll wait for me to scoot over two feet to get him. And while he's waiting, he's screaming at the top of his lungs. He's going through a screaming faze, I think. Might be teething or clingness or god knows what. He's going along just fine and then something happens to upset him and he gets unhinged and doesn't know how to calm himself down. He also doesn't want to go to bed at bedtime and naptime...even when he's tired. So there's that too! The good news is...we got a babysitter for Saturday!! YAY!! I can't tell you how happy this makes me as we have tickets to see a concert and we haven't been out in FOREVER!!! OMG, it's going to rock! Yesterday Jack looked me right in the eye and said "mama poo poo." Then he went to his corner for a few minutes and came out with a poopy diaper. I am thinking, this is great! Next time he says "mama poo poo" I can plunk him down on his potty and see what he makes of that. Of course, I haven't seen him do it since. |
| It got into the 80s today and yesterday. Chris filled a kiddie pool up for Jack and Link to splash around in. They had so much fun!! Link loves to splash now. In his bathtub he will splash nearly half of his water out. I got some good pictures of them splashing each other. Link was having fun today despite a Spring cold which he has been nursing all week. He has been running a fever off and on with a running nose etc. I thought he might of had an ear infection, but the doctor said not the case. Because the baby was sick, though, we got kind of side-tracked. I had to take a day off work - so did Chris. I'm really hurting for paid time off. I'm -30 hours. LOL Chris is doing a bit better, in that he's on the plus side. It makes me nervous that I don't have time to take, but what can you do? I told my manager, but he doesn't seem to think it's a problem. Work was much better this week. I've been griping about it a lot lately because I have to do the collection management stuff now, and they're not bringing me as much tech writing. What gets me is the meetings where everyone is so excited about this stuff, and I'm just like eh... But like I said, this week was different. It's better than most jobs out there. And I got to do a lot more writing than just the typical going to meetings crap. |
| It seems like Link just learned to crawl, and already he's trying to pull himself up and cruise. That's just crazy! But he sees Jack running around, so he wants to get in on that action. He gets really excited when Jack is close to him playing on the floor. Now that he can sit up he does it at night in bed, and then he forgets how to go back to sleep. I remember Jack doing this also. I think he may be starting a new round of teething again too, so that doesn't help. Yesterday was gorgeous! It was the perfect April day - warm, sunny, but with a bit of rain too. We spent the morning walking around the lake. Nature was out and about. There were a good number of turtles. Jack enjoyed splashing in all the mud puddles. Inspired by the nice weather and my improved bike-riding skills, I ran over to the bike shop and got my own bicycle. I love it! I love it much more than Chris's bike. They fitted it to my size, so it feels a lot better when I'm riding this one. I took it for a test ride after dinner tonight. I think my muscle tone is finally starting to return after being pregnant for so long. The hills weren't nearly as hard as they were the first time I went out. For the most part I have been doing good with exercising lately. I don't want to go to work tomorrow, although it shouldn't be too bad. I have a few documents to work on, and that will be a lovely change. |
| Link has the funniest noises. He could probably learn Spanish super east cause he rolls his tongue a lot. It's super funny to listen to him. We really want to record him one of these nights as he's going to town with his toys. He shrieks and whistles and clicks his tongue. Funniest thing I ever heard! |
| Monday I went shopping with my new friend Tasha. It's scary how similar we are. We dress the same, we like the same music, we are both ridiculously clumsy. We had a great time just bumming around the mall, looking for clothes and gossiping about the other people we work with. LOL I have been working on getting my GI Bill set up so I can take those Chatham University classes. Technical writing isn't exactly something you get a degree for, but it definitely couldn't hurt. Wednesday was Chris's birthday! We celebrated by ordering some food and having a bit of cake. It was pretty low-key, but that's what he wanted. I got him a cord that goes from his piano keyboard to the MacBook. He had been looking for something like that for a while, so he could record the songs he composes. Jack started saying "thank you." I was shocked. I underestimate my kids so much that when they start doing something new, it's like "OMG what just happened." It's fascinating. This is what I tell Olivia, a lady I work with, who doesn't see any reason to have kids. I mean, she said in a nice way but still...what are you supposed to think when someone says something like that? She pretty much said, "Wow, having kids, what a dumb decision!" It doesn't really bother me because Olivia says stuff like that all the time. She has no filter between her brain and her mouth.Anyway, Jack says "thank you." We took him to the mall yesterday to get him some new shoes. He really enjoyed that, especially stomping and jumping in his new shoes. Link is still working on the crawling. He was doing it today with me helping him hold his body up. His favorite thing to do (other than tasting all of his toys) is to take a box of something and dump it out. I give him cans and boxes and bins of toys and he just has a heck of a time taking everything out and spreading it around...with as much noise as possible. Our backyard has become a prime bird hangout spot...despite the fact that our cats monitor the comings and goings from our deck. The red-winged blackbirds have returned and the bluebirds and bluejays. I still haven't seen any orioles yet. I brought out my trusty binoculars for better bird watching. One bird came down our chimney today. We heard it flapping around, but it must have left because it's been silent since this afternoon. I have tried a number of recipes out lately. I tried a chicken pasta dish that was super simple - chicken, rosemary, parmesan in a broth over noodles. Super good! For the first time ever I attempted a chicken curry, which was to die for!!!! I was so happy with myself! Tonight I made herb-crusted (rosemary and thyme) lamb chops. A very spring-like dish and also very good. I was a bit disappointed they didn't have fresh mint at the store, but it still turned out great. I started National Poetry Month and resolved to write a poem for each day in April. Documented here:
My novel is going okay. I rented On the Waterfront which inspired me to work on the mob subplot a bit more. All in all a good week! |
| I think women started growing their nails long so they could deal with the hard flecks that stick to everything. I just finished scrubbing my floors and encountered a number of these - flecks that look like they can be swept up but are really stuck on there good and hard. Floor scrubbing is the kind of task that I find extremely cathartic. It always puts me in a good mood. I think about it whenever I see commercials for the Swifter wet jet thing. I look at that and think, "yeah, but it will never be as good as just getting down on your knees and really scrubbing the hell out of it." Of course, after you scrub your floors, you want to put a moratorium on anyone walking across them. This is never realized and always a great source of anxiety for the first few hours until I get over it and come to terms with the fact that it will just get dirty again. And of course, this is okay because it affords me another scrubbing opportunity later down the road. For the first time today Jack came up to me, pointed to his diaper, and said "Icky." He then allowed me to lay him down to get his poopy diaper changed. I am thinking, "perhaps this is a revelation!!" Perhaps he will be ready to potty train. Perhaps he has finally realized that poopy diapers are in fact ICKY. Jack's caregiver at daycare likes to say how smart he is. I wonder what they say to the toddlers that are dumb as bricks. I wonder if Jack really is smart or is she just saying that. If he is smart, I wonder if he isn't just too smart for his own good. I wonder if the caregiver was as excited about his smarts when he taught all the other toddlers how to open the doors in the room. LOL They have child locks on the doors now because Jack is obsessed with opening and closing them. He does this at home too, but we're fine with it. We don't mind if he spends 30 mins opening and closing a door. At least he is entertaining himself. Jack and Link actually went home from daycare early yesterday because Link had a fever. It was just teething though. He is fine today, maybe a little cranky. His two bottom teeth are cutting at the same time. It doesn't look like it feels good. At work I have gotten to be good friends with one of the analysts Tasha. She isn't on my collection management team, but we always go to get coffee together in the mornings. The rest of my team is made up of men who are practically retired. They already have their Florida houses picked out and are talking about how they will pimp out their golf carts. LOL They crack me up so much!!! It's a riot working with them. Bonus - the head of the team has come up with a couple tech writing projects for me. Yes!! It's amazing how people don't know how much they need a writer until they can see what they can do. Everyone is excited about my novel. I thought of a cool romance novelist pen name - Gazelle DeCoy. Sup!! LOLz Tasha liked it. I was explaining to someone else at work about what my novel was about and they were like, That sounds a little cliche. Ha ha ha Oh yeah! It's totally cliche. I own it though! I know it and I own it. It would be so funny if it was actually published. People would be like "damn I read this crap. what a waste!" If only I could get the publisher to write "sucker" on the last page. That would be sweet!I read a short story in The New Yorker today that made me wonder if I was a sucker. I was like, this could be really profound or really dumb and I don't know which. It probably didn't help that it had an element of astrophysics that was hard to wrap my head around at 0900 on a Saturday morning while the boys were playing and making noise around me. But even if the story really only aspires to be profound, I figure that's part of the author's job - fool them long enough to get them to buy the book and maybe read all of it. |
| Jack dying Easter eggs is like a mad-science mixing chemicals and producing monsters. Jack routinely dipped eggs in more than one color, with mixed results. Some were beautiful combinations of purple and blue. Others were more or less brown with some speckles of color here and there. After he got tired of the eggs, he just started mixing the dyes themselves. It was a good time! The finding of the Easter eggs was an effort of patience because we kind of had to explain to him what was going on and how to do it. We had to get him in the right area and then prompt him to look around. I am sure that if we had left them out indefinitely he would have found them on his own, but I was afraid to do that since they were hard-boiled eggs that presumably would spoil if left out too long. Perhaps next year I'll get the plastic kind and put stuff in them. Then it's a real surprise and pleasure to find them. The other problem with that, though, is what to put in them since most milk chocolate candy is off-limits to Jack. (Perhaps if we hadn't had such a hard time with the flu earlier this month, I would have been more prepared.) We didn't end up going to church. I wish we had. But I really wanted it to be a family thing with all of us, and Chris didn't seem interested. I'm not sure how to get him interested because he is suspicious of religion. I keep trying to emphasize the community involvement and outreach, which to me is the best reason to go to church. But the problem with that is - (1) personally I wasn't inspired by the list of outreach programs this church has and (2) with two babies we are limited as to how much time we can devote to those things anyway. We did spend a lot of time outside, so I feel like at the very least we were celebrating the arrival of Spring. Things are starting to come up out of the ground, and as this is the first Spring in our new house, that is rather exciting. I got some sort of bulb flower surfacing in the front yard. Could they be lilies or irises?? I love irises! That would be lovely! Chris got a bicycle last weekend, and I tried it out. I don't think I have ridden a bike in 10 years...not since college for sure...probably not since before that! I was a little wobbly to tell you the truth and actually scared by the hills. I don't remember being scared of my bike when I was little. Perhaps that's because you fear nothing then. But the second time I took the bike out, I was much better. I went much faster. I think I might try it again this afternoon, so we'll see how far I can get. Chris is talking about getting me a bike and then a kid carrier to pull behind one of them...presumably his.Link is going through a week where he's having a bit of some trouble sleeping. He's teething, plus he's squirming a lot too. So he gets into a position that he doesn't like and forgets how to get back to where he was. At least when he wakes up he goes right back to sleep. Nothing more you can do, just something he has to grow out of. Anyway, back to work here... |
| Wow, it's been a while since I updated my blog. It's been nice to get back to normal now that we're all better - for the most part. Yay! I have had some good projects this week at work that have kept me busy. I haven't been super motivated to work on my writing at home because I got the Sims2 Freetime expansion, which ironically has taken up most of my freetime. Hehehe... I still maintain that video games are a legitimate hobby. I'm still getting integrated into my new office, and that always takes time. I am usually pretty good at finding projects for myself. But that comes after a couple months of learning who everyone is and what they do and where I can help. So like I said, it takes time. Already I can see some places where I can really improve things, but again you still want to give it time. Jumping on things too early can mean stepping on toes and then you're really just shooting yourself in the foot when it comes to getting things done later. Link is really a pro at sitting now. I had to get a high chair for him last night because we had been feeding him in the bouncy chair, but with those you have to lean back so much. Link is having none of that now that he can sit on his own. Besides, he is pretty much too big for it now anyway. He keeps leaning forward and getting in the crawling position too, so he's on track for getting mobile here pretty soon. He can move around just scooting on his belly or rolling around. He enjoys being able to reach for things. He has a lot of determination which I remember being the same when Jack was the same age. Jack has a habit of swiping whatever Lincoln is playing with. We keep trying to tell him about sharing, but it falls on deaf ears. It might be easier if Link got upset and Jack saw that his actions were making his brother mad, but 9 times out of 10 Link just goes for a different toy. He's so laid-back. Among Jack's favorite hobbies right now - jumping, running, and climbing. That is 80% of his day right now. He may sit for a book or two - he may even sit through the whole book. He may play with one toy or another for 5 minutes. But most of the time he just wants to run around, crawl around, climb on the couch, jump off the bottom steps, and dance. I hear that boys are like that. Hehehe... |
| Lincoln came home yesterday. They ended up diagnosing him with viral pneumonia and keeping him three nights. Apparently, he was spending so much energy breathing, he didn't have any energy left over to actually get better. So the hospital kept him on oxygen and kept giving him the nebulizer treatments. It definitely paid off. By Sunday he was looking and sounding like his old self. They wanted to make sure his oxygen levels stayed up without the oxygen. It was so awesome to have him back home yesterday. It was a rough weekend. I kept getting sicker and sicker, and of course, I had to take care of Jack because Chris was at the hospital with Link. We went to visit them like twice every day to drop off supplies and food. Jack was just so dang healthy! He has the super immunities! I was like hacking and sniffling, and he was jumping and running around. LOL I felt bad for him having to stay inside with me and I wasn't much for doing much of anything. It's good he can kind of amuse himself now. As of just a few minutes ago I actually do not have a fever. Yay!! And my nose has cleared up, and I just need to clear my chest a bit and I'll be good. I might actually get to go to work tomorrow. I just can't believe how sick I have been. It's been a while since I have had the flu...at least that bad. After you have been sick, there's always that sense of "ok, what was I doing?" So yeah, I guess I'll have to figure that out tomorrow. |
| Get your flu shot!! That should be my lesson of the year. Ya know, you think you're too busy and it's not going to matter. And then BAM you catch the flu from your baby. Yeah, poor Lincoln! That bronchitis was apparently caused by the flu. He went back to the doctor today because he wasn't getting any better. She sent us over to the hospital where he still is. They have been giving him nebulizer treatments every hour to make it easier for him to breathe, plus IV fluids, and medicine. When I went to take Chris some dinner, I just wanted to cry for him because he had all sorts of tubes coming out of him. I'm at home with Jack. Chris was smart and got his flu shot, so he's no feeling sick at all, while I'm hacking up all sorts of phlegm. Jack is coughing too, but I'm holding out hope he will withstand the infection. He had the flu late last year, so maybe he has some immunity left. He's not able to get the flu shot because of his egg allergy. So I went to bed at 7:30pm last night and pretty much stayed there with my baby until 9:30am this morning when Chris took Link to the doctor. The rest was nice, but I still needed a bunch of meds to stay conscious when I had to get up around noon to go to the hospital. My mother-in-law emailed me to say March has come in like the lion for us. How true!! Hoping the lamb days are soon to come! |
| I noticed the robins are out and about now. One of our cats has decided to bring home birds now - dead ones. She paws on the back door with these poor finches in her mouth. She's always so proud of them. Link seems to be doing a little better today. His fever isn't that high. I think he's teething too, which only adds to the misery. Not a good day to be a baby. Jack also had a rough night after slamming his thumb in the back door. He did get a good sized cut, but it wasn't life-threatening or anything. I think it's the first time he actually got a bad cut, and he wasn't sure what to do about it...other than cry and suck a binky. The blood seemed to freak him out, but he wouldn't let me put a bandaid on it. Oh well... I kept trying to tell him it would get better, but it's hard to explain these things to them when they're so young. I feel better about the changes in my job today. I had a heart-to-heart with my boss, and he promised me that he wasn't trying to pigeon hole me in one position. He told me to try it and let him know if I hate it and he'll help me find something else. So he pretty much said what I wanted him to say. Hehehe... I guess there's a chance he didn't mean what he said, but I still feel better. Next week I get my six-month assessment. That should be interesting....hehehe... It either be very good or awful awful awful. At least they're taking me out to lunch. |
| Link has bronchitis. We thought he just had a cold and perhaps that's how it started, but by late Sunday we realized he was much sicker than we thought. And last night he started doing this scary wheezing. So I took him to the doctor today and yep...bronchitis. They had to give him a nebulizer to open up his lungs. He didn't like it, but it definitely took care of the wheezing. He's on asthma medication and an antibiotic because he has an ear infection too. Poor guy! So he's staying home with Chris tomorrow, and hopefully it will help set him to rights. I was really enjoying staying at home today. I was a little upset on Monday because I found out my boss is moving me away from Technical Writing and back to Collection Management, which is what I did in the Navy. I guess it's something I am good at, and I suppose it's nice to be needed - "No one can do what you do, Becky." Seriously, he said that. That's flattering but total BS. And besides, I'm 10X happier doing my reports and papers than I was doing collection management. What really makes me mad is I told them I wanted to go 50/50 on each. And he didn't just come out and tell me that he wasn't going to let me do that. I had to find out in the middle of a meeting and then I look foolish because I was left in the dark. I was pissed! Tomorrow I get to meet the rest of the team I'll be working with. A couple of them I have worked with a little bit in the past. I'm hoping they're cool because I'm seriously thinking about finding a different more writing-centric job. Although it would most like mean a pay cut...BITE! Speaking of new jobs, Chris interviewed with the Agency for some cool projects, but their offer is WAY below what he makes now so he'll probably hold out on them until they get a clue. |
| So I decided to go ahead and run the light cues for the community theater production of the Odd Couple. It's fun to get out of the house and do something different for a change. The lights are pretty much up and down at the end of the scene, so it's a no-brainer. The Odd Couple...hmm...never seen the play before, but I like it. Now it seems a bit cliche, but I can tell it would have been a riot back in the day. So really I've been at rehearsal or the show every night this last week except for Tuesday. Thank god Chris is one of those helpful husbands otherwise I wouldn't be able to do any of this kind of thing at all. Today Link is sick. Coughing, sneezing, fever sick! Poor Panda! He's had such a good week otherwise. Still sitting and talking a LOT. A lot of people say 2nd-borns don't talk as much because the 1st-borns talk for them. I don't think Link is going to be like that. He jabbers way more than Jack ever did at the same age, and I wouldn't call Jack a talker now either. I mean, he's a good mimic, but he's not making sentences or anything. He still has a hard time telling us what he wants and usually resorts to pointing. We got Jack a potty last Sunday and he has been trying it out occasionally. At least he knows what it is and all because the kids at daycare use them. When I explained to him about it, he tried taking his pants off and sitting on it...to no result. But hey, that's a good first step. I got some seeds that I was going to start today, but I have been taking care of a sick baby today, so it didn't happen. An interesting discovery though - we may have daffodils coming up in our yard. Hmm... It would definitely be the time of year for them. Jack had an interesting day yesterday. I finally couldn't take his shaggy hair, so we took him to get his 1st hair cut at the Kids Cuts place at the mall. He did really well. He just had to hold on tight to me when they did the little buzzer. In the end he was happy because he got a sucker. Plus he got to see the puppies at the pet store. Plus he got to ride the carousel. It was a good morning. He was an angel at the mall. I guess all that got him all excited because he had a barely-there nap and was cranky the rest of the day. LOL That's life with a toddler, I suppose. Up one minute, down the next. Speak of the devil...I hear him jumping on his bed. I guess nap time is over. |
| This summer is going to rock. In June we're going to Missouri for my cousin's wedding. Then in July we're going to Washington to visit family there and take an Alaskan cruise. Then in August we're going to Maine to visit Chris's grandfather up there. I've never been to Maine before. I hear it's beautiful in the Summertime. It's going to be way better than last year when we just went to Ocean City for a couple of days. Link is sitting on his own now, at least for a little bit before tipping over. It's awesome! He really gets into playing with toys now and gets upset if you take it away. Usually, it's Jack taking his toy away actually, a habit I'm finding hard to break him of. You know, Link has it so it must automatically be better than what Jack's playing with. Not much action around here. February weather in Maryland is very iffy. We've had like three ice storms in the last week or two. Makes for a gloomy day. We're all looking forward to warmer weather, so we can actually get out and do some stuff. Our friend Sterling's son is a couple weeks younger than Jack, and we have a plan for all of us to go to the National Zoo as soon as the weather takes a turn for the better. I can't believe it's been more than a week since I have written anything here. I'm not usually that bad. I guess no great action to put down. Valentine's Day was pretty cool. We made a special steak and potatoes dinner with some wine. Chris brought home flowers and balloons. The balloons in particular were a big hit all around. I got Jack some little dinosaur figures and he runs around the house with them shouting "ROAR!" He cracks me up.My writing group started meeting again, which is nice because I need some motivation to sit down and work on my novel more. It's still such a mess! I already have ideas for another novel, but Chris is like "finish the first one." And he's right! I like my group. It's neat to get together with artsy people because they're so different from people I work with. One guy is showing his photography at a local studio, and he invited all of us to come take a look. Another lady is directing a play for the local community theater, and asked me to help her since I know how to do the lights. Sounds cool! I might stop by a couple nights to see what it's like. It's been ages since I've done anything with theater. That's the bulk of it! Laterz...! |
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But I am happy about those Cardinals! The same Cardinals that I'd written off as possibly the worst playoff contestant in history just three weeks ago. Now look at 'em! I'll be pulling for them in the Big Game!
Stupid Ravens.