A walk with Lucy

A math problem

What do you get when you mix: 1. hardly any sleep 2. an already spirited 2 yr old 3. albuterol (aka speed) and 4. prednisolone (aka 'roid rage)

the answer will come when this momma recovers from aforementioned math situation that is currently happening at this house ...

Organ organ organ organ

Thanks to an amazing donor my Uncle Bruce is healing in a hospital chillin' with his new KIDNEY!!!! The operation went well. Initially he was doing great, later in the evening we received a very short update that he developed an irregular heartbeat and was transferred to ICU. I am hoping for a better update this morning. If all goes as planned Bruce-poo and his kidney-roo will be having a truly joyful spring and for this we all shout "THANK YOU DONOR MAN!!!!!!!"

NOT MY DOG

This is not my dog. If it was my dog I would be really happy and probably Lucy wouldn't get so sick so often and CERTAINLY the war in Iraq would end right away. If this was my dog I would name her Eileen or Delilah. If this was my dog, probably daisies would sprout up all over my yard and the sun would shine. Alas, this is not my dog. Isn't she cute though?

4 Days

Four more work days until SPRING BREAK!!! I am so excited. I mean, I am sooooo freakn' excited. You might think with all this excitement that maybe I have some fantabulous trip to Mexico or Florida or something planned. I do not have any such plans. My plans are actually quite lame. Keeping Lucy in daycare Wednesday - Friday. I plan on spending Thursday preparing for a garage sale (that will happen later this spring). Part of Wednesday and Friday will be spent spring cleaning my home and if I get super energized perhaps my kitchen will get painted.

I am just excited to be away from work for a solid week. Have a long weekend with my girl ... then get some of my projects done. The perfect combination.

The photo is from Easter 2006

Too much sugar for us!

Saturday

The titles to my last couple posts are as clever as I am feeling at the moment. So life isn't exactly exciting right now. I wish I had some HUGE GINORMOUS announcement... I could announce the arrival of more freakn snow, or the washing and drying of another load of laundry, how about finding 6 pair of Lucy's socks in the castle in our living room (she hates socks, and most clothes) but really life is rolling along with lots of more of the sames.

Lucy sat and watched about 40 minutes of The Sound of Music tonight. If I try hard enough I can turn her into a musical loving geek like myself!

Tomorrow is Easter. Aside from the obvious, this day means that I will have to explain to Lucy why we are NOT going to swimming lessons. The girl knows her days of the weeks: Tuesday=Grandpa and Sunday = swimming.

Look how long her hair is! This is after I trimmed about 1/2" off the ends. My goodness. She likes the "ropes" and spends a lot of time swinging her head around to feel the hair whipping her face.

Friday

On account of exhaustion I shall only post a photo.

Long weekend!

I am happy to report that I don't work today! Happy happy happy. Lucy has 1/2 day of daycare and I am using it. I have exciting plans for scrubbing the kitchen walls. I believe it shall be a great weekend. We had a fun evening last night Lucy was in a pretty easy-going mood. We were babysitting Morgan and made a party of it by inviting our friends Andrea, Maia (7) and Ben (4) to play and have spagetti. Lucy and Morgan enjoyed having a "big sister" to follow around. All of the kids ate a good dinner. Maia and Morgan played in the living room while Lucy and Ben enjoyed art activities at the table. After our friends went home Lucy, Morgan and I went for a walk/wagon ride around the 'hood.

One of those days ...

Yesterday was one of those days where Lucy's behavior almost brought me to my knees. I am sorry Lucy, as hopefully one day you'll go back reading this detailed account of your early child hood but whew you can be a real BRAT sometimes!

It was my birthday. We were at the boys house and had Morgan with us. With three little boys and one little girl in the house you would THINK that one of the little boys would be the most violent, the most active, the most obstinate and the most oppositional. NOPE it was the cute little girl in braids.

I was stumped. I could not respond at one point. Both the big boys got hit with train tracks. Lucy did everything she was asked NOT to do. She went around the table intentionally drinking everyone's drink. She spilled a can of soda. She went up stairs when I wanted her to stay down, she went down when I wanted her up. I refused to let her eat cake or ice cream with us, she didn't care.

Sometimes I want to stay under my covers or get a second shift somewhere just for a stinking break.

vent over. I am certain there shall be more positive Lucy posts after this!

2001 VS 2008

March 17th - 18th 2001:

Location: Dublin Ireland

Players: me, cousin Jen, friend Sara, various drunken Irish people and other travellers

Event: St Patricks Day and Ushering my 30th birthday

Goings ons: Started drinking around 10am at the Guiness Brewery ... give me my free pint lass! Napped at the hotel. Continued drinking at various bars. Slightly bummed the parade was cancelled due to hoof and mouth disease, drowned sorrows in Guiness in IRELAND. Had to keep drinking through to the next day which was my birthday.

Birthday morning: A giant birthday HoHo (this sounds bad ... it was a CAKE people!). Couldn't really enjoy it because of the Guiness.


March 17- 18th 2008

Location: Minneapolis, Roseville, St. Paul MN - work, home, Chili's

Players: work people, Lucy, Mel, Morgan (later in the evening, a drunk Jen [some things never change])

Event: drs appointment, work, Lucy chiropactor, chasing Lucy, dinner at Chili's and cleaning the toilet

Goings ons: Shopped at Once Upon a Child for used kids clothes, let Lucy play in the ball pit, listened to Lucy say "i no like you momma not EVER" every time I said no. Scrubbed the bathroom and removed vinyl St. Patricks day tablecloth from table. Took tylenol pm so I can sleep better tonight.

Birthday plans: Drive Lucy to alternative child-care in St. Paul, work coverage at my agency, go home early, babysit Morgan, take Lucy and Morgan back to St. Paul for Mac and Cheese with cauliflower hidden inside and hopefully happy play time with Isaac and Nathan.

2001 was a lot of fun but 2008 is pretty great!!!

OUTSIDE!!!!!!

What a nice weekend. Friday night I had an evening out with a good friend and Lucy had fun with the boys and their mom. Saturday we went to Como Zoo with the Ethiopian Kids Community Engage. Lucy walked and walked and walked and walked. It was so nice being outside, and Lucy had fun splashing in the puddles of melting snow. Sunday it was swimming, nap and then outside play at the park with the boys. It was wonderful to feel the sun on my face. Lucy's shoes are soaking wet, the girl loves her muddy puddles, she loves them ...

10 things about Lucy

Lucy was tagged by MP ... Here are 10 things about Lucy:

1. She has a feather phobia. Instead of baby gates I could just put a line of feathers in the doorway and she'd stand back screaming: "eeeeeuuuuu momma, icky poo, get that momma"

2. Paint her toenails and you're her friend for life.

3. When she's mad, she'll try to hit with her left hand, then her right hand, and if you hold both hands, watch out for that head butt ...

4. If she wasn't the cause of another child's tears, she is incredibly sweet and tries hard to stop the tears.

5. Her coming home routine: Jacket off, shoes off, pants off, silk nightie on, music on.

6. She's the master of the double nostril nose pick (anyone have any advice on ending nose picking?)

7. Night time routine: lotion, pj's, bed, 2 books (good night moon and another), I put olive oil on her cheeks, she puts it on mine, kiss kiss, night night.

8. Favorite foods at the moment: spaghetti with tomato sauce, chicken, ketchup, homemade pizza, grapes, smoked salmon, Ritz crackers with cream cheese

9. Has oral fixation

10. When asked "where are you going?" more often then not she'll reply "to Vegas"

Good Buddies

After a week off, we got to see our boys tonight. It was so much fun to see them actually play together (most of the night). At one point, all on their own, Lucy and Isaac were playing then they started hugging and they brought the hug to the kitchen to show me. It was genuine and precious. I asked them to turn it fakey and "hold that hug" so I could dig out my camera and capture the moment. Upon hearing the word "picture", Nathan asked if he could be in the hug too. So there they were ... the three of them hugging and it was so dang cute! It wasn't as funny as the other time I tried to capture the three of them but it sure is a wonderful memory.

Random facts and habits...

Random facts and habits...10 of them (not 4 or 7 or 8...10...that's the rule):

I was tagged by Nancy ... so here goes (I can't think of anyone available to tag)

1. When I was young I used to pretend that my little cousin Jen was my sister. Now that I am older I consider her my sister and Lucy considers her her auntie. Since Jen and I are only children, this system works out!

2. When I was around 10 I wrote a "future" section of my autobiography. According to my 10 yr old self, when I turned 30 I would "live in the country with my husband and our 5 children and our horses. We would both be doctors". I am almost 37 and haven't quite made it to the "dream"

3. I get seriously distressed when: I don't get a coffee fixed before I have to parent, I am low on diet coke, I think about paperwork.

4. Once in college I accidentally took a geology class instead of geography. I was confused and it took me several classes to figure out that I would never have an exam where I had to memorize countries and their capitals.

5. My cousins and I built a log cabin in my grandpas woods. We built it really high out of fallen trees. We were unable to utilize the cabin for some time because we didn't factor in a door.

6. In college, I once had a professor tell me I should sue the University of Minnesota because he didn't see why I "made it this far without failing" ... I thought he was an ass, I took the terms "rough draft" a little too seriously I guess. That dude gave me a B+ in that class.

7. I don't sleep well most nights. I take tylenol pm almost every night and still take a LONG time to fall asleep. I wake up often. During the day however, I feel like I can fall asleep anywhere, anytime.

8. I often have a very strong desire to move to a different state or country. Lately I've been thinking of: New Mexico (Sante Fe), Upper west coast, NYC, Colorado and Hawaii.

9. I feel anxious in a group of people, I have a hard time navigating conversations between more then two people.

10. Unless it's out of my control I am always on time or early.

Tuesday

Today was a perfect day. Lucy woke up happy and peaceful. She spent the day with auntie Jen and had a great time. Work was semi-productive, at least for a few hours in the morning. The weather was beautiful. Snow and ice melting ... drip drip drip. I got home before Lucy did and cleaned like mad for a half hour. After dinner, thanks to auntie Jen I had another 1/2 hour to clean. My house is feeling peaceful. I had all the windows open for a couple of hours. We have NEW AIR in our house. Lucy was in a fantastic mood. She was so sweet and lovely, it was a pleasure to be around her. The only thing missing was our Morgan.

The photos of Lucy's pea festival. I discovered that peas, when offered as a snack or in a can, are considered to be quite yummy. They are often overlooked on the dinner plate.

Lucy reads to her baby

Make photo slide shows at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Again with Sunday ....

Why is it that Sunday night seems to be here ALL THE TIME, whereas Saturdays, hardly ever see um. I know that I have a lot to learn about grammar and punctuation. We had another good weekend. We had a vomit scare on Thursday morning. I didn't blog about it because I was afraid of jinxing things with the blogger whisperer. Lucy was sent home from daycare Thursday morning after throwing up. For a couple hours she complained about a tummy ache but never threw up again. With the blessings of the daycare director I was able to send her back to daycare Friday morning and we had no further incidents.

I tried hard to muster a good old fashioned Sunday night clean-up tonight. I failed miserably.

Holy boring. My blog is boring. Crap. I will make it my goal to do something interesting with Lucy tomorrow evening so that I have something to keep you all coming back!

Injera with Ketchup

Lucy's new favorite food 'opia bread (aka injera, aka I is for Injera a bread eaten a lot) rolled up with ketchup. I think she is very multicultural. I am a little sad that she won't try any other Ethiopian food but I am pretty sure she'll outgrow the refusal.

We had a busy day. Drove up to see Lucy's great-grandma in Wisconsin. Now that I am back I am upset that we forgot to go to the Burnett Co. Dairy for cheese, and we also forgot to stop at this other cheese shop for odd other things like Buffalo meat and visiting the gigantic mouse. I might sound random but these are actually things I am feeling a little resentful about having forgot at this point. Sheesh, I also forgot to reintroduce Lucy to Big Gus the talking gigantic man statue in town. I am a looser of a "tradition" keeper.

We also went out for injera with ketchup along with Mel, Morgan and their family. Then I decided it was ok to put Lucy down for bed early tonight since we are springing ahead at some point tonight.

The entire pool of Sunday morning 9:30 am swimmers and their families will be glad to know that I took advantage of the early bed time and shaved my legs.

Since I can't think or write in a straight line tonight, it might be time to find a photo and go to bed!

Some things about a 2-yr-old

I am having a hard time coming to grips with the reality that in a couple short months my baby will turn three. Three sounds really old to me. Three doesn't sound like a baby at all. I might have to resort to calling her by months now. Oh Lucy, yeah she's 95 months old.

Lucy is growing in so many ways. She is pretty much potty trained. Any problems that she has in the pottying department are directly related to the laziness of her mother. I put a pull-up on her anytime we leave the house. She seldom has a wet pull-up. It's still hard to get her to stop playing and take a potty break but she's pretty damn good.

Lucy isn't quite as picky of an eater. She's expanded her horizons. She seems to go in waves. For example, for the past several months Lucy was pro protein and anti carbs (except for spagetti). The child would not eat bread, pancakes, muffins etc. Now all of a sudden she's turing her nose up on chicken and sausage and asking for pancakes, toast, injera ('opia bread). Well, somehow through the years maybe it'll add up to a balanced diet.

Lucy still loves music. She has an amazing memory for songs and will usually remember what song comes next even on cd's that have been buried for months. She is so cute when she sings. I'll have to try to covertly video her once, she tends to clam up or get silly in front of the camera.

Lucy is pretty perfect at going to bed these days. She'll sometimes cry or argue about going to her room for bed but once there she'll climb into bed, then it's two books (sometimes three) and I can leave. I would love to see it be 7:00 or later for wake up on a consistent, reliable basis.

Enough for now ...

CELEBRATION

I have been following a couple blogs written by women who have been in Guatemala fostering their daughters while waiting for the systems to do whatever they have to do to get them OUT. I can't believe what these families have been through/are going through. A month ago, the Guatemala side FINALLY did their thing and gave full legal custody to one of the families. Then wouldn't you know it ... the US side messed with them and now FINALLY they are GOING HOME!!!! Here is the link to their blog. I warn you ... it's a little addicting. Now if only this family could get some good news.

Tuesday again ...

I will try to focus on the positive. Lucy never got a full-blown fever. The little fever she had stayed put and her cold doesn't seem any worse. I hope that it's a good sign. I am not naive though ... she has a sick auntie, a sick grandma and a runny nose friend Morgan. Come on immune system. It was another Morgan Tuesday and the kids did well together. I have implemented a new time-out system for Lucy and so far have seen fairly impressive results. I have used time-outs in the past but now, at home I have found what seems to be a good location. She can see us all but she can not join in ... tonight the first time out (for sitting on Morgan) resulted in a hall way time out, two minutes. When I enforced the two-minutes, I got spit at. This increased the time out by one minute. After the second time-out (hitting) in the hall-way, the hitting, sitting and spitting seemed to die down. She stopped herself twice that I could see. I just hope this works. Just want to see her show some self-control even just a little tiny bit.