wait...wait...yup, there it is....New Year's Eve headache. Oh, and look...my ibuprofen expires 01/10. Time to chow down! (kidding)   maybe it's because I spent (wasted?) hours trying to, let's say, "address" my office space. I hate seeing how out of control that mess (my life?) is buried in piles of paper.   Would like to say I resolve to stay organized, on top of the mail, and simplify...but yeah, I don't like to set goals I know I won't reach. Not this year.   At least I found a couple of holiday cards that didn't make it into the mail (I must have run out of stamps at the time) and I found a bill before it got lost in the shuffle, and thumbing through Emily's projects made me smile. Love the "alien" drawings and caterpillars and rainbows.   Time to scrape together a very rough budget, unless I skip that and chill for 15 minutes before getting the kiddos.   Goodbye '09, here's looking at you, 2010

things that made me smile this week...rockin' out (in my car) to Susannah's Christmas mix CD - totally awsome fun!!! finally asked the mister how to get the CD player to work (it uses the tape-1 input, why???) and now I can rock out at home!!! elle loves music and emily loves Jingle Bells...   had a (very) short week and wrapped it up having saki shot into my mouth at a team lunch, now that's entertainment.   bought some fancy ribbons tonight, hoping to put a little dazzle on the "fair" wrapping job I did. I found red ribbon with white polka dots! i think i love polka dots, there's something about polka dots that's whimsical and orderly at the same time. love it.   emily got a candy bracelet from school and doesn't realize it's candy (and we're not telling her) hahahahah....   "happiness isn't the absence of conflict, it's the ability to cope with it" ...from fortune cookie   wishing I spent more time with family and friends, but grateful for the good times we've had this year and looking ahead to more!

maybe a piece of chocolate will help get me going... instead of drifing off into a nap   OR...I could sleep all afternoon, hang out tonight, set my alarm for 5:30 am and clean tomorrow morning!!!

haven't finished shopping. sick of wrapping, I'm decidely NOT a good wrapper and it takes me for freaking ever to do wrap anything. nothing I bought this year was boxed, except books. would love to know how to tie beautiful, fluffy bows.   I'm not exaggerating when I say we live in squalor. This place is ri-dic-u-lous. seriously.   I thought I got a head start by cleaning the upstairs last weekend, but that needs a do-over and the downstairs is just... a crap explosion everywhere I look. the picking up is the part I hate most. once all the shit is put away, the actual CLEANING is a breeze in comparison.   emily's class is making cookies at school today, I wish I could have a sneak peek at them doing that. we brought in some awesome red, green, and white round, chocolate-filled decorations. not sure how they'll stick to cookies, but the picture of the decorated cupcake looked so cool.   I guess I have to at least clean up all my wrapping evidence...and have some lunch.

funny I somehow negelcted to mentio my best (shopping) deal of the year here....last week I snagged a grey/purple plaid wool coat for $19....or so I thought until I looked at the receipt the other day and noticed it was only $12 with the coupon I had used. CHING!!!   Saturday was a complete disaster. I should have known the day would be just "off" when the mister slept in until 9 am. That's unheard of, and there were hungry birds and not much in the way of breakfast. They were ok with my pancake attempt but were asking for snacks 20 minutes later. Sure felt like someone needed food all damn day, like a waitressing shift that just wouldn't stop (and nobody was tipping either). I tried making risotto for the first time, with roasted butternut squash, and literally had to get the job done while the baby was screaming non-stop because she was gated out of the kitchen while I was cooking. Then Emily couldn't stand the screaming any longer and SHE started wailing. Seriously, I couldn't get a single moment of peace yesterday. Today better not be a repeat, so help me. My fantasy today would be nothing more than an EMPTY house so I could CLEAN. What's wrong with this picture?? Ok then, so downstairs we go. Thank god tomorrow is MONDAY. and I can go to WORK.

we opened a package from grandma this morning (as instructed) and emily was halfway to heaven with a stack of decorations to stick on the windows and shiny red shoes to wear, but the best thing (I thought) was a construction paper chain, red and green, with the dates labeled on them. Every night emily can tear off one chain and that's how she'll know how many days are left until christmas. Emily's at the perfect age to do this...what a neat little thing to do.

We

I have to say, the Christmas tree looked mighty fine in the front windows tonight. Of course, we have next to no ornaments on it, I need to go look for some non-breakable, not too small, FELT ones, fer the love of PETE. Emily's already managed to break a few heavy wood-ish ones. (Well, I thought they were wood, turns out they were just some kind of plastic.)   emily (referring to a pile of unrolled toilet paper on the bathroom floor): who made all this mess? me (knowing full well who did it): I don't know, did YOU do it? emily: NO. No, I didn't. I didn't do it. me: Are you sure? I didn't do it! emily: It wasn't me. Maybe it was daddy? me: I don't think it was daddy. emily: Did ella do it? me: Yes, ella made this mess while I was using the hair dryer this morning. emily: "Kids."

the tree is up. the lights are on, as well as some ornaments. i was content to just sit in the chair and hand out hooked ornaments to emily. snowflakes came down just as we were finishing the lights. it was nice.   miss elle is driving me nuts. she's been a small bear to get to bed the past few days. and when she cries, she can get worked up enough to upchuck whatever she had for dinner and her last bottle of milk. not what I feel like cleaning up at night. she's not sick or teething as far as I know, so I wonder if she's in that clingy-you-cant-be-out-of-my-sight toddler phase.   can't believe tomorrow's monday. i really need to finish all the loose holiday ends and relax next week. I think I've someone agreed to having 6-10 people over Christmas night for dinner. Sigh. I'd better give the girl a rock in the rocking chair before she hurls.

coming home to an oddly empty house....SWEET

tired and cranky.   the wee one made up for a few peaceful nights by waking up multiple times last night, for nothing more than some hugs in the rocking chair. I never really got any sleep and am pretty sour.   hoping to shop with friends or get a tree to snap out of it.   emily had a fever last night, really hoping it's just a passing cold and nothing that drags into next week.   had better rouse that wee bird so she's good and tired tonight and get myself some tea. that will make everything nice. no cold for me!

a bit of random... emily keeps calling me "shannon" (one of her best friends at preschool) it's so cute and funny, but a little annoying at the same time   I also hear this almost every day, "Mom. You will be Dora, and I will be Boots, and Daddy will be Tico and Ella will be Isa."   and then she goes on to call me "Dora" and I have to call her "Boots" -- I'm tired of this game.   a lot of the snow we got ended up melting by evening   elle ate a bunch of my roasted vegetables tonight, it's nice to see someone so excited about vegetables. wonder how long that'll last. emily refused them, so she had (a lot of) bread for dinner. oh well. the bread was good!

shaped up to be a very low stress, peaceful, quiet day. found emily's snowsuit in a pile of laundry and she didn't actually miss going outside yesterday, it was a reminder to have snowpants for today's weather.   didn't waste half the day commuting in bad weather. didn't try to catch up on household chores. stopped to eat lunch and enjoy a cup of tea. conversations with friends and family.   I just love it when everything is white with fresh snow, even when it means it takes twice as long to get out the door or get anywhere.

snow it goes. good thing it was just a snow drill and not a fire drill. it's almost 11 AM and I'm just ready to login now.

S-N-O-W   MUST find emily's snowpants. she couldn't play outside yesterday because she didn't have any, and I know I packed them in her cubby a couple of weeks ago.

from last night...as much as I can remember after being up so late -again-   I'm a bad santa.   I was browsing online for TOYS and emily had her nose right on top of the laptop, looking at everything and commenting how she wanted almost every single thing that popped up (the pictures of all the toys as I was scrolling around). I hope the surprise on Chirstmas won't be totally ruined.   anyway, I said we need money to get the toy. and she said, "well how much money do we need?"   and I said, "well...this toy is $16." so she asked me if I had $16. And I asked her how do we get money...?   she didn't know (except for the coins she finds around the house), so I told her I get money when I do my job at work   and then she asked me again if I had $16 and asked how much money do I have? I said I really didn't know and that I had to ask my bank, and she said, "where's your bank?"   "west virginia," I said. And then she goes, "well, ...we can go together, mommy. I'll go to west virginia with you! to your bank!"   she has no idea what or where west virginia is...but we'll go there together!

so the lights are up. the porch looks nice, I love the random twinkle lights. but I did a terrible job on the bushes. seriously, I could have just thrown the whole wad of lights in the general direction of the landscaping and probably would have gotten better results. oh well. but I scored three wreaths, one for each door, and that makes it feel a bit more christmas-sy.   still avoid "santa" talk. just can't bring myself to outright start the big santa scam, but I expect emily will eventually pick that up from school. so far, I guess she just thinks that all the presents on christmas come from us and her grandparents. I'm ok with that. it's pretty fun to see her reaction. she's still so enthusiastic about even the most mundane things....like that I washed all her clothes, and put them away. I get a big, "wow mom, thanks for washing my heart underwear!!"   no big gifts planned this year, although I just stumbled on a rocking horse while browsing, so now I'm considering that for little e. but it's not like we don't already have the zebra thing that emily loves and the bee ride on, so I'm not sure we need another large/bulky thing in the house.   so much for keeping the post short. midnight. must stop and sleep.

busted. ok, so maybe I shouldn't be browsing online for TOYS with emily looking over my shoulder and commenting over each and every thing. was nice to hear her chime in on what she likes...but that was on just about every-thing, even the baby toys I was looking at for bella.

waking up to first snow (ok, not exactly 'first' snow, but first snow that covered the ground and trees). sun is up today, and emily said there's no snow on the sun because the sun is yellow.   figures. her boots are at school, but we have some handed-downs she could waddle in just for today.   tea or hot cider? toast with apple butter. breakfast for girls, put up the lights and get a second light timer for chrisssakes I am not going to plug and unplug half the lights again this year.    mull over holiday what-nots before addressing the laundry. i just don't feel like doing laundry this weekend. shopping? maybe, would just like to be done with it so I can putter in the kitchen and decorate...wreaths today? that's easy.   the snow sure is pretty...just enough to cover the massive piles of leaves I left raked in the middle of the yard.

have more relatives than holiday cards. maybe one of these years, I'll actually plan ahead. maybe??   wondering if the snow will accumulate overnight and if tomorrow will be nice enough to put up the lights outside. it's about time we deck the halls around here. no tree yet, next weekend...   i think the tea is keeping me up, I should be sleeping (or shopping). NO clue about what to get elle & em.

why can't I get just TEN minutes of peace around here?!?!!

trying to resist the urge to shop (for myself)....holidays. must focus. on OTHERS.

thankful I still have a job today. need to get fired up and get this holiday thing going. but not feeling it now, especially not today.

Whywhywhy is the C&B web site so godawfully S-L-O-O-O-W???? PAINFUL.

the mom in me has recruited emily to put the stamps on our holiday cards.   the perfectionist in me is freaking out at the rather haphazard placement of the stamps in the vicinity of the upper right corner

got some things done (good) but still so much more to do...and yeah, totally feeling pressured by each and every last "hurry! holiday shopping sale!!!" email   aaaaahhhh!!!!

I took today off and I have NO PLAN. This is a disaster. I'm not dressed and I'll end up wasting the whole damn day if I don't figure out what to do! Car maintenance? Holiday planning? (yeah the actual shopping would be good, but I don't even have a list yet.) I can tell you I will not be cooking or cleaning today. So, "Clean my office" just got bumped off the list.

Baby's napping upstairs. Kitchen is clean. Emily's having lunch. Laundy's (mostly) done.   It is good.   A bit too blustery outside to do much outside. The leaves that are left are all in our yard. Since it rained the past four? days, I'm not sure we're gonna move em at this point.   don't I have anything else besides the laundry status to say here??    might be a good time to do something with the leftover turkey. hmmm...

It is done. Thanksgiving, that is. We had a full day of cooking and eating and general yammering in the kitchen from noon 'til just about midnight. Was so glad I made a few things ahead of time. And even more glad that the turkey came out just fine. "It's just a big chicken. You can DO this."   today is grey again. light rain. loads of laundry to do. and an itch to make one more batch of gravy and roast the squash that didn't get made yesterday.

emily wants a rainbow for christmas. actually, I think she said "rainbows" with an "esss". yeesh. i'm so hosed. she also mentioned pink or white bunny slippers, at least I should be able to pull that off.   this morning I heard, "mommy, you have a big, big, big, big, DIN-O-SAUR BUTT!!!" I told emily that she had a little mouse butt.

Not much going on here in the land of mama dragonfly. Overspent (smack!) before holiday shopping has even begun but can't shake the shopping bug. Thinking of ways to change or improve the day-to-day household chaos. Contemplated scheduling a monthly or bi-monthly day off to clean, pay bills, shop, or cook....but then quickly realized that even one day a month would be more than two weeks vacation! So, make peace with the chaos, mama D.   emily wants a puppy (in general) but I don't think she necessarily mean a real one.   more than half-expected crappy organizational changes at work today but nothing happened. Maybe tomorrow.   how is it thanksgiving week already? and christmas. didn't we just have christmas??

Went "LOFT-ing" tonight, fully planning to spend $100 to get 30% off. But only ended up with two layering tees for $30.

still on hook for work. people deliver babies in less time than this release. laundry's almost done! so nice. fresh. non-pukey baby clothes. emily seems fine today, too.   the girls are soooo cute playing together. and soooo aggravating when they're fighting!

let's see...day 6 of the sleepless nights marathon. teething baby. work. baby puking. emily threw up in the middle of the night. and work continues. and so does the laundry.

Mmmm...chicken corn chowder with bacon bits. And laundry has started, it's nice not to have to contemplate going to the laundromat in this soggy weather.

steady rain. empty house. roasting chicken. green tea. nutella on toast. hot shower.   it's all good.

Friday the 13th...so far bribed emily to sit still long enough for me to smush a glop of ointment in her eyes. She got one chocolate bar for each eye. before breakfast.   but since she has to get the goop 3x/day for the next week, I think I'll get something smaller, like hershey's kisses. I really wanted the last twix bar :(   wondering how picture day at daycare is going. no, my kids aren't in cute coordinating or even remotely matching outfits. Hand-me-down overalls on maddie and emily's wearing the same sweater she was sent home in from Wednesday.   feeling relieved to be at work right now.

and the washer is in! Haven't tried it out yet but expect I'll be doing nothing but laundry this weekend. whoop.   emily couldn't go to preschool today but was allowed to go to the dentist. Unfortunately, she wasn't terribly cooperative and we just barely got a quick oral exam done sans cleaning. oh well. She didn't leave empty-handed, however. She trotted out with a "goodie bag" full of stickers, a prize and toothbrushes...and we squeezed in a haircut, lunch at home, and I ran into the office for an afternoon meeting.   which reminds me, in addition to laundry I'll be working on and off all weekend. gah.   maddie's latest bottom tooth is finally cutting through and I'm really hoping she'll quit waking up at 1, 2, 3, 4 and 6 in the morning. that's so not cool.

...and today Emily was sent home with conjunctivitis. I didn't see anything in her eyes this morning (not that I was looking for anything). So here's to a week of goop in her eyes three times a day! Yay. And she has to be home tomorrow.   We got a new washing machine today! Sort of. It's not hooked up and the water's turned off in the downstairs bathroom. And the utility shelf was removed so all the detergent and "stuff" was moved elsewhere (i.e. bathroom sink, hallway, office). And the plumber had to come and remove the old lines. Now it needs some drain part, who knows. But it looks great! It's very shiny sitting there in the middle of the bathroom.    Emily keeps asking me what the "pink animal" is from "The Backyardigans" and I'm not sure what to tell her. Not sure if she's referring to Austin or Uniqua.

Think I just fell head over heels for shoes.com....FREE shipping, reasonable prices, and had all the styles AND sizes I've been hunting down for months! I reeeeeally want to get myself something but just. can't. pull the trigger. Did I mention they have a more than generous return policy, too? I just love free shipping.

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I am convinced the floors in the house are splitting, sagging, and that the whole place is gonna cave. Would be so relieved to have someone tell me I'm just a crazy old bird. But the floors give way when they never used to...and I practically tip toe from room to room!

sesame street's on sprout at 4:30 am...SWEET   yeah, been up since 3:00-3:30 am. baby. me. baby again. gave up and here we are. having stale O's on the floor with tea (me)   yesterday it was about noon before I noticed I the pants I was wearing still had the tags on. nice. (dork)

at just like that it's november. NOVEMBER.   going to keep it short and try to get back into this.   did I tell you guys that Emily wrote her name in black marker all over the upstairs hallway and her bedroom??? think that was early October. I can still see the faint outline of "E...M...y" on one of her walls. I tried very hard to be serious and stern (instead of running to grab the video camera but we're out of tape anyway)   so much for short.   work is glum. but keeping me busy.   maddie blows kisses and toddles around waving and saying "hi"   not liking the state of my throat...ever so slightly scratchy. and listening to Emily playing upstairs through baby monitor I forgot to turn off. I should record this somehow.   must wash bottle. get rest. would be nice not to run late again tomorrow.

So .... bikes. We got emily her first bike (she never even had a tricycle) last weekend. We trekked out to Chelmsford and then out to Leominster and didn't come home empty-handed. I am head over heels about this bike! Metallic purple and dragonflies!!! It was fate. But alas, more than I wanted to spend. Gearworks was a very cool shop, excellent service but they didn't have the same models. Instead, they had a different line of kids bikes...and emily really didn't care about the dragonflies, she just wanted purple. So this is the bike we took home (in purple). On, and a purple helmet with poodles. None of us really cares for poodles, but it was a nice shade of purple, fit well, and that was the only style in stock. So poodles it was. Although we got a good deal on the bike, the total was the same amount we would have spent on the dragonfly bike anyway, but I keep telling myself that it's not *my* bike.
Since it was late Sunday afternoon and a thunderstorm blew in, she only had five minutes to get her first skinned knee. Bust we had a really nice afternoon at the park today, which has a large, smooth, flat area that's a skating rink in winter all to ourselves to ride through a few puddles. She does well, I was so impressed how she just took off in the tiny little rows at the stores. She just needs practice braking and then she won't need me hovering.


It only took a patch of dandelions to get her off cause she can't pass up a flower; she *loves* picking flowers. And we spent a good couple of hours just playing at the park. Saw a froggy hiding in the waterlogged woodchips at the swings. Not a bad day.

Feeling a bit frayed. Still irritated over yesterday's work since if I had remembered one thing it probably would have saved about two hours wasted on troubleshooting. Irks me. Can't just let it go. Baby's teething is making us both miserable. I think I slept from 10-12:30 am and from 3-6:30 am. Not feeling very nice today. From not a one tooth, to four in one month. Might go to the bike store for Emily, since it seems like she's the only kid in her class that doesn't have a bike or trike. So tired and just counting the weeks to vacation. Let's end with something positive. The baby sprinted a few steps while the mister was holding onto her hands. Sprinted. Not a few timid little steps, oh no. Her legs spun as fast as they could. I'm doomed.

Cause it's only been one week (or has it?) and the baby was sent home yesterday with a fever. Luckily, the mister was able to pick her up or else I would have had a total meltdown. As it was, I stayed home with her today and actually got a full day's work done, too. Time to wrap it up since we're switching shifts tomorrow and I've got to leave super early tomorrow. Let's just hope little miss sleeps well tonight. Last night was not so pleasant. I'm convinced I see a toothbud on her bottom gum, cause I just need something to blame for this latest fever.

YAY Clearance!!! Scored a very cute pink butterfly bathing suit for Emily; even if it's been too cold to think about swimming so far, I'm still hopeful for our vacation week next month. Gotta love that all the summer things are on clearance now. I'm tempted to go back and buy a second suit a size or two larger for next year. And mini-splurged on a too cute to put down silly ruffle suit for Ella bella. Two hours strolling through the mall with a quiet baby was a nice little escape. No test results yet, but the baby seems much better this afternoon; maybe all that coughing is a morning clear-out-the head thing. No fever, either. Amen.

Today's pot luck lunch...watermelon, brown rice pasta, grated cheddar cheese, and O's - her favorite cereal. And carrots from the baby food jar, everything is orange!

And one "butt" shot from quarantine week, then I must go make a hungry baby some dinner!

Ella Madeline's nicknames...Ella Maddie, Maddie pants, Ella bella, Ya-Ya, Ya-Ya Gitchee, Gitchee, Giddy, Giddy pants, Giddy cakes

Home again. Again. Workday number 6 of this round of cough & cold. The little one just got checked out by the doc, and we're awaiting results from her little swabbed nose to find out whether she has "the" flu or just "a" cold. She's been coughing and draining gobs of yucky stuff from her nose, but of course didn't cough once at the doctor's office. No fever, either. Maybe all this mess is just from her first three teeth?? I'm not sure what to do today. I officially filed for vacation this afternoon, but I feel pretty confined to the house. And no, I don't really feel like cleaning after doing the vacuuming, laundry, and whittling through the stacks of paper on my desk. I really must convert to all this online billing and statements thing before I'm completely overrun with paper. Well, at least it's dare I say gorgeous outside and the windows are wide open.

Who wouldn't want to clean up an entire bottle of balsamic vinegar that smashed on the floor???

It's Saturday. And I've already had a popsicle before 9 am. Now what?

Window shopping online...and just saw a rather "pretty" pair of Teva's! Teva Kayenta Sandals.

Friday. And not even a rare sunny afternoon makes me feel any better. Emily's recovered and just has an occasional productive cough, my head is still draining out, the baby's escaped the week without any cold or flu symptoms. Odd. With any luck, I will find a way to escape for a few hours of solitude this weekend before I go completely mad.

Good gracious, what a week. Where to begin? Monday, Emily gets called home and has the flu. "THE" flu, from what I understand, although I never confirmed that with the doctor's office. She was no worse off than any other cold we've had, so I guess we're lucky and grateful for that. The mister had the same thing so he was not terribly helpful this week. The wee one is the only one who hasn't come down with anything besides three top teeth! I've had a head cold all week, a grumpy mood to boot, a mole removed leaving some stitches on my back, and took a rock in my front windshield driving home Monday night. I've been trying to work from home all week, until my throat was on the fritz today and I caved. A short rest (naturally, I couldn't actually fall asleep) helped a bit, or at least enough to keep up with the two girls the rest of the day. Emily was much better by Wednesday, so much so that she's driving me a little crazy. Daycare refused the baby today, so she's required most of my attention and just wants to play, play, play. I think we're stuck in this routine until Tuesday, when Emily and the baby should be free and clear to go back to daycare and I can drag myself back to work. So far, this has been the most miserable summer in recent memory.

Another recent gem from Emily as we read one of her books,

"...all those piggies on their computer screams."

On Sunday Emily shouted,

"HAPPY FATHER'S DAY, MOMMY!!"

Just thinking that these videos are already two months old and outdated. Must take something of the baby pulling up and wobbling around before that becomes old news. Anyway, here's a sneak peek going back to April.

(April 18) Seven months and growling, turn up the volume so you can hear it. This one growled a lot between 6-9 months, we still hear it once in a while but she's currently into a "b-b-ba-ba" phase.



(April 20) Seven months and loving the new exersaucer from Jack that was originally Sammy's. Thanks guys!

Oh good gracious, Sunday was my worst day. Particularly in the evening. Spiked a fever with chills, aches, sore throat, the works. Both girls were stupid giggly until damn near 10:00 pm. I took two ibuprofen at bedtime and woke up this morning feeling much, much better. Just sneezy and head draining now. My ear's still plugged up which is slightly annoying, but I'll take it. It feels nice to not be saddled with a miserable cold. Now if the eczema that's taken over my hand will just pick up and leave, I'd start dancing. Not likely. It's been beating me for probably six months now. I threw in the towel last month, saw a dermatologist, and was prescribed an ointment that seems to do wonders. However, I can't find the time of day when I can put it on and not use my hand. Anyway, whine, whine, whine...I unloaded both girls at daycare today and am using some sick time to rest, drink tea, wash my clothes and pull myself together for work this afternoon. I wish I had snapped a picture of the yellow playdoh people (heads) that Emily made for me yesterday. She's really been into drawing faces with arms and legs, and then made faces with playdoh yesterday. All very much the same, but she has to draw or make them over, and over, and over, and over. And with each one, I say with the freshest sincerity, "Oh, I just love it!"

Other random funny thing Emily says:

"I need to get my dressed on"

Crashed and burned. I am sick. Yes, promptly around 8:00 pm Friday night I felt my throat tightening. Nose, throat and overall blah. Figures that I was fine all last week when I had to stay home, and there's no way I'm taking a sick day tomorrow with major production changes scheduled. And in the 1.5 days that I've "slowed down" the house has completely become a joke. It's not even funny. If anyone wonders why we don't invite anybody over, that's pretty much why. This place is an utter disaster. And so, with the mister and baby out for a few hours and Emily right under my arm I think I'll give up on the computer. Gah.

Thank goodness this week's over. What a scramble and a stretch. The mister and I covered the little one all week long and both girls today while working the majority of the week. By day three, I wasn't quite sure what day it was. It was dark and cool and rainy (until just now) which made the week seem even longer. It wasn't a total flop, yesterday I got to come home early, and nap on the couch with the baby sleeping soundly curled up on my shoulder. And the baby was fever-free by Tuesday, so it wasn't like having to watch over a fussy-sick wee one. But we are silly tired. And my speedometer didn't work this morning, and the mister popped something in his ankle and is limping around grumbling. Nothing too serious at the moment. Emily seems to be coming down with something or fighting off a bug. I really, really, really hope she doesn't get a fever come Sunday because she'd have to be out for 7 days due to new flu-like illness policies and I cannot do this again next week. I think lack of sleep is finally catching up with me...off I go to snooze before the baby wakes up and somebody else needs something.

Worm Girl



Finding the worm a new home



The peanut gallery



So there goes the month of May. It's been a busy few weeks here with extra company and lots to do. The beautiful weather prompted a couple days off of work to go to Davis Farmland and just hang out at home. This month the baby has not only switched from crawling backwards to forwards, but insists on pulling herself up to standing. I'm sure she'll be a full-blown cruiser in another month. She crawls a few "steps" rolls back on her butt and claps while displaying a huge (still toothless) smile. This baby says "ma ma" instead of the more common "da da" so I especially dig that. She seems to have a preference for plain oatmeal or rice cereal and makes some serious "yuck" faces on all other fruits and veggies.

Emily saw the town's Memorial Day parade and thought the drums were too loud, she had loads of special grandparent time and trips to the zoo, the park, the farm, and restaurants. It's been a nice break from the usual day-in day-out routine and she was really excited to tell her teachers about each adventure and show them her newest treasures.

Yesterday, the girls and I went to the town's local spring fair while the mister was out of town for the day and we ended up having a blast. Emily saw a classmate or two there, but it took her most of the day to warm up before she'd go on any of the rides. I couldn't ride with her this year, since someone had to stay with the baby (grin), but once she started I couldn't get her to stop. She spent at least an hour and almost all of our tickets in the "Sand castle" which was a tunnel/ball pit/rope ladder/bridge/slide thing, and then she was ready for the bouncy house; then she was ready for a train ride, and finally, she was ready to ride the horses (merry-go-round). We were there for almost four hours and I knew it was time to go home when I had to literally drag her by the arm from the carousel. We barely avoided a serious meltdown and got home for a cold drink and popsicle, and afterward Emily totally zonked on the couch.

A quick note since I don't really have time to post or upload fun pictures. I just had to relocate the laptop to print out forms to bring to Emily's first dentist appointment today. So maybe I just don't feel like filling out pages and pages of form and would rather blog about it than get it done. Gah.

Has it really been two weeks since my last update?? So many good things to say but it is 8:30 pm and with laundry still going and two girls needing to get put to bed, I've got to call it quits for today. We had a lovely Patriots Day at Casa Reilly, it was a perfect outing for us and all the kids got along so well. I only wish I could see them more often. Buenos noches!

A random Monday morning before preschool and dayare, shortly before drop-off. Okay, so it's just an excuse to try embedding a video on the blog. Sigh, how can it be after 4:30 already?? I wish I had made mac & cheese earlier today; I'm not sure I feel like starting that now. Shopping and lunch was definitely the highlight of the day. I guess it's a good day off when you wish it wasn't over yet, kind of like vacation or holidays. Of course, what have I been doing the past two hours? Just sitting on the computer looking at pictures of the girls. Did I mention that the baby started growling this weekend? It's absolutely hysterical! I'm desparately trying to get a good clip of that but haven't grabbed it yet. So here's a peek at our morning today:

It's either post some recent pics to the blog or empty the dishwasher and mull over "what's for dinner tonight" ... so here are a couple of pics from last week. I had to get a picture of Ella-Bella-Maddie-Pants aka "Ya-Ya" in her little bucket hat.

And another one, uncropped, but still adorable. She just loves her big sister, even when she's jumping in front of the camera like a monkey.

I shouldn't have....but I did. Took the day off and miserable head cold be damned, went to Panera for vegetable soup, bread, and hot tea with the mister. Talks of buying the house are in the air and maybe we'll find a way to pull it off this year and cash in on that tax credit. We also mentioned vacation plans and then, the mister actually followed me shopping (gasp) at the mall (double gasp). I really try not to buy things at the mall, but I just don't have time for a run to the outlets these days. I scored Easter goodies at Target, not a lot of candy since I'm sure she'll end up with extra treats from preschool and relatives, but a few things to fill a basket and make it fun. Then I dragged the mister through a few kiddie stores and pulled a some cute tops, daisy jeans, socks and even a dress and tights from the Gymboree sales racks. Finally, I did a last minute rush through a mommy clothing store and left with three work-appropriate-yet-casual shirts, in patterns even. I don't think I wear many patterns, so I hope these aren't too frightening on me. Back at the house, it's a cold, rainy afternoon and I have another hot tea to sip while I call my bro to wish him a happy birthday.

(Finally) took down the calendar from 2008 yesterday and hung up a recent "spring" project from Emily. I regret not finishing and ordering a family (kid) photo calendar this year.

The days are brighter, warmer and even the chilly mornings have lost their cold winter bite.

Thinking about renewing friendships, writing thank you's long past due, and what the hell am I going to make for Emily's lunch tomorrow??

Listening to the baby screech, squawk, and gabble.

Guess I'm trying to capture a week's worth of fleeting thoughts before they vanish. One more post before I really stop to go clean while the baby naps. Emily has always been rather fond of collecting rocks. There are usually a few rocks sitting in her cubby at preschool, in my coat pocket, on the floor in the den, and in her purse. However, this week I was actually startled to find her purse practically filled .... with rocks. Oddly or interestingly enough, there were basically two sizes, small and medium. I guess those are the sizes in season. And she sorted these rocks on the floor of the upstairs bathroom one night this week. A pile of smalls and a line of the mediums, and her "baby wolf" stuffed animal was helping to "Save the roocks" (think Wonderpets theme song). Now, I'm sure there are worse things she could play with, and as long as pieces of glass or other crap from outside doesn't find it's way into her collection I suppose I'm okay with the rocks. I think she likens finding rocks to collecting sea shells at the beach. Maybe I just need to find a special container for them, the rocks are a little out of hand. In fact, the mister told me this morning that after he dropped Emily off with his folks that he ate the last of the cereal from her cup including ... a rock.

Finally, the pics you've all been waiting for...first veggie shots!

She has more fun being in the high chair seeing what everyone's doing at the table. Here's her sweet potato face.

I'm not sure how much actually got (or stayed) in her mouth. This weekend is first fruit weekend, I think we'll try bananas.

I've only reset my password at least three times and it's not like I can't remember passwords; I remember passwords to dozens of systems at work. At least I should be good for now thanks to "remember me" functionality.

Getting off to a slow start at chez dragonfly today, if you don't count that I was up with the little one from roughly 3 am to 6 am or so....night two of even less sleep than normal. I think I'd like to attribute it to her six month shots, but maybe it was our stuffy noses or coincdidence. It seems to me that when you're craving sleep the most is precisely when you just can't get it.

And I didn't hear anything from Emily this morning, when her dad got her up early to take her to her grandparents' house. She's going on an adventure today - taking the train into the big city and going to the aquarium. I wonder if she'll remember it from our visit when she was 2-ish. Probably not. I remember we "found Nemo and Dory" just as we were leaving the aquarium last time, and it made the day. As the kids get older and we have more and more memories, I wonder how many of these early ones I'll forget.

Speaking of which, miss Emily's done or said a few things to crack me up lately. Sometimes, if she prances around saying that she has to go to the bathroom I tell her, "Well, go." Meaning, don't wait for me, just go if you need to. And so last weekend we were getting ready for bedtime and I needed to go downstairs to bring up some laundry and I just wanted to run down and get it without Emily coming downstairs again. So I kept saying that I needed to get the laundry and I'd be right back, and finally Emily said, "Well go."

I think I might post more often if I could remember my freaking password!

Sweet potatoes all the way, but I'm too tired to transfer and upload the pics of her little orange mugshot. The poor little thing did a nice face plant on the gymini a short while ago; she wasn't surrounded by pillows and toppled head first onto the mat. Ouch. If I lay her down, she rolls over. If she sitting, she eventually falls over...more forwards lately than backwards. She's a good sitter but still flops over.

Gazing across the dining room table and wondering when the little table Christmas tree will be put away. Yes, that's right, Christmas tree. Wanting nothing more than to curl up in bed and sleep, but my better judgement was no where around today to stop me from washing the comforter. And it probably won't be dry for hours since the spin cycle wasn't doing a great job with it. Will I ever learn not to cram stuff in Sunday nights??

I'm so not ready for work this week.

Let's think about summer vacation instead. What to do, what to do ....

Tired. So Very.

And why is it that when I have to get up early all week and wake the kids up, on Saturday morning after a sleepless night, I get nothing but 20 minutes before icy feet land on me, followed by a loud sneeze and, "Mommy?? I have boogers."

"Go ask Daddy for a tissue," I growled. It seems that both girls have a little head cold this weekend.

Yesterday I had some car maintenance and repairs done, which was a relief to cross off the list, but it was more than double the time and money I was planning to spend. So it goes, but if I had known I'd be stuck at the dealership for the day I probably would have made better plans instead of shifting my gaze between daytime TV and the window.

As usual, not much to post. Off to reference the ol' baby books for all that first feeding stuff. Debating whether to move forward with first veggies as planned or wait until this cold passes.

And just like that, the first feeding is behind us. I'm not sure how much food made it into her mouth, but she got a taste of something new. She was very interested in the high chair and loved seeing everything (and everyone) in the kitchen. I don't think it'll take her long to get the hang of this food thing.

Thank goodness it's Saturday and I opted not to schedule work for today. Work was ridiculously busy this week and there's no slow down in sight. Hoping to take a breather this weekend and recover by Monday. At home, have to catch up on the usual...the girls have been so good. I'd like to drag out the high chair and see if little Miss Maddie is interested in rice cereal. If I actually get her in the highchair, there will be a picture posted.

The little one is almost a "sitter" but she's still likely to slump over or take a nose dive so she's surrounded by pillows and cushions to soften the blow. She was all dressed up for Saturday's visit with family, shoes too! This past weekend was too short, but I got a box of rice cereal ready so maybe this weekend we'll resurrect the old high chair for her first bit of grub.

Month three of the 2009 rat race...and what's with the Monday snow two weeks in a row?? It wasn't enough to bail on the commute but it made for a long, slow drive into work. I have to say, though, the heavy white snow was quite beautiful tonight. Winding down the road to home, I swear I could have been in Vermont somewhere.... anyway, I haven't checked in because I'm generally cranky, can't remember my password and get tired of resetting it, and should probably be doing any number of things that don't involve sitting in front of the computer.

Before the snow today, we enjoyed a warm, sunny weekend and it truly felt spring-like. It even felt like I was leaving work early since it was still light outside.

Work is, well, exactly that... it's work. My head spins between the details to process for every little question and tasks to manage for each project to the never-ending backlog waiting at home. But we are lucky, this stuff is just everyday slush. I'm hoping the warmer days ahead will give me a little boost of energy to socialize again. Until then, thank your stars that you haven't crossed paths with my grouchy old shadow.

I really suck at this blogging thing, so here's the random rundown: Saturday I mailed off our tax info (big to-do crossed off the list) and will now wait to hear what the damage is....maybe the new dependent will give us a break this year. I made meatballs which turned out great in the end, as I was trying to turn them in the beginning, I wasn't sure I'd end up with anything more than meat sauce a la frustration. The meatballs were sticking to the pan in spite of the generous smattering of oil I had in there, but they held up. Emily didn't even try one...not even when I tried to pass them off as "hamburger balls." Today, I spent a very productive hour cleaning the den, including moving the couch out to vacuum everything and steam mopped dried juice and spilled snacks off the rest of the floor. It's obvious that we really need to restrict eating to the kitchen. Eeew. An otherwise quiet day here, listening to the laundry rumble and tumble and waiting for this snow storm to fall. Wondering if it'll be a work remotely day or a long, sloppy commute in the morning. The little one is so close to being a "sitter" but she still takes a nose dive here and there. Thinking of making fruit juice jello with Emily and maybe more meatballs tonight and still leave time for baths, and more laundy, of course.

How ridiculous is it that I'm laying down a picnic blanket on the floor so that Maddie has a clean place to play??

Where to begin, I'm not sure I can go back and recount the week. I'm in a rut; it feels like lying when friends ask how you're doing and the reflex is, "Good." The headcold I picked up this week isn't entirely to blame but isn't helping, either. I'm a mean old bear when I'm sick...even more so than usual. The highlight of the month was today's birthday celebration for Sammy. Emily had a great time, exploring and trying new things and seeing friendly kiddie faces. She really enjoyed the ice cream and cake (who doesn't) and has been toting around her balloon and goodie bag all afternoon. I need to rest and recover in time for Monday but it's hard when the house is so gross. And it's damn near impossible to sit and think when I hear the baby wailing upstairs. Off I go.

I only have a minute, but wanted to blurt out something about Emily. When she scraped her heel earlier this (or last?) week she said she "had red" on it and I told her that was her blood. So now she's been referring to "her blood" all week... when I shove her boots on, it's, "Don't touch my blood, Mom!" And the other day as I sat in the chair in her room pulling out clothes for her to wear, she stopped and put her hands on my cheeks, stood inches from my nose looking intently at my eyes, and said, "Mommy, you have blood, too." Then she kissed both my eyes, and it wasn't until a moment later that I realized my eyes must have been pretty bloodshot. "There. Is that better now," she asked. If only. I also had to tell her that you don't really put bandaids on eyes or (chapped) lips.

Tomorrow is the preschool's "Friendship lunch" for Valentine's Day...so their having a special lunch and making their own cookies and exchanging Valentine cards. We received a card from Emily & Madie today, but I haven't opened them yet.

And it's another pair of shoes for Emily time; I hate buying her shoes because I just can't figure out where her damn toes are, if the shoes are too big or big enough. Oh, let me stop before I really start whining.

Still here. Have been feeling overextended, overtired and have let the day-to-day get the best of me. Received more awful news from friends that just breaks my heart over and over. Certainly makes us feel lucky but I just wish terrible things didn't have to happen to kids. It's not fair. And yeah, I know, "life's not fair." Here's hoping for the best, but things don't sound good. There were layoffs at work this week which just added to the general gloom and doom feeling. So, I have to focus on the brighter spots here because if you wanted to be depressed, you'd be watching the news instead of visiting here. Happier things going on: nobody's got a cold this week, the snow is melting and only some leaked into my office, we're into what I consider the last month of winter, a birthday celebration later this month, and Valentine's day preparations for the Preschool's friendship lunch on Friday. Household chores will likely take a back seat today even though the house is screaming at me for a thorough scrub down. Ella Madeline...the baby I don't know what to call...isn't mobile yet but looks like she'll be hell on all fours. She's interested in everything, and everything goes into the mouth in a way that seems different from Emily. She seems captivated by Emily's every word and action, much more so than anything I do. But hey, I'm just a boring old grown up who literally wants to sit still for hours doing absolutely nothing.

Home again and chickened out. January has felt like one long sick month. I kicked it off with a stomach bug, Emily stepped up the next week with a fever and cold with cough, the baby avoided a fever from Emily's cold but came down with a fever the following week after her immunizations and topped it off with a stuffy, snotty nose and cough Friday. So, I'm home again puttering around and monitoring the baby, hoping that none of these colds turn into anything worse. So far, we've been lucky with just regular colds and nothing serious.

Lunchtime. I've had it with chicken. Last week was chicken stew (think pot pie filling) topped with biscuits, chicken noodle soup and chicken salad for sandwhiches. Oh my god, I didn't eat it all myself but I wouldn't want to have a cholesterol test this week. So it's on to pasta. Emily and I made rice krispy treats and fruit juice finger jello over the weekend, which was fun and easy and they'll make for special treats in her lunches this week. Since the baby slept a good deal over the weekend, I also got in some playtime with Emily...we did indoor bowling and hockey and she made pretend lunches and we played with Dora and the dollhouse. We were both pretty tired by the end of the day. It'll be a relief to have the baby be a playmate some day. There were a couple of accidents, too, from Emily laughing so hard that she peed her pants and then, surprised, ran off to the bathroom sobbing. I tried not to laugh, she felt so bad about it. Of course, the main puddle was in the middle of the rather newish ragg rug, and although I figured it was not the best thing to machine wash it, I took a chance. That was probably something I wouldn't do again, some loops have come undone and the rug didn't hold up all that well. But, it's a clean, pee-free rug. I'd like to get the next larger size anyway, but have reservations about it for exactly this reason. Spills and puddles will be abundant these next few years. The other accident involved a stool (I think) and she bit her tongue pretty hard when she fell. It happened of course, during the five minutes the mister was in the kitchen and I was upstairs. No weekend is complete without a little blood to show for it, eh?

Just scarffed down a bunch of roasted asparagus with freshly grated parmesean. Oh my. Goodness. What I didn't eat made it into a bowl of bowtie pasta followed by quickly sauteed grape tomatoes with olive oil and minced garlic, fresh squirts of lemon and lemon zest, sprinkles of kosher salt, pepper and a handful of that grated parmesean cheese. Oh, and some basil. Here's hoping it tastes as good for lunch tomorrow after sitting around a day. I'd have some now, but I just filled up on all that asparagus and melted cheese. I was literally scraping off the crunchy metled parmesean bits from the bottom of the pan. Yummy.

Baby has been sleeping in the swing since about 10:30 and it's now 2:30, so she ought to be getting hungry soon. I don't feel inclined to do much anything else until she wakes up. The couch beckons....

Here's our little cutie, she might not be stainless but she's four months and had a tough day after getting immunizations yesterday, so we spent the day taking it easy-ish. TGIF, here's looking forward to the weekend and hoping the baby doesn't come down with a new bug from the doctor's office.

Other than the typical day-to-day ramblings...the baby is such a doll. She's a butt-scooter now, and rolls over and doesn't seem to mind spending time on her tummy when she rolls herself over. She's never in the same spot where I left her on the gymini and I have to make sure there aren't any little things lying around nearby because this kid's a mouther. Everything goes into the mouth. Emily must have done the same thing, but I don't remember her putting -every-thing into her mouth. It's hard to believe in a few short months we'll be pulling out the jumperoo and highchair again. And I put away all the sweet 3 month jammie suits last weekend, wondering if they'll see another baby in this house or if that's the last time I'd be using them. Once she starts talking I wonder how many times a day I'll hear, "Mom!"

Oh my gosh, I don't even know where to begin. Just a bunch of little things, but I won't remember now. I managed to complete a whole 5-day workweek last week but Emily was up with a fever Sunday night so she's been home all week with just a cold it seems, but a fever that comes and goes, so no preschool for her this week. I've been trying to work half-days from home in between trips to the potty, juice requests, snack requests, eating pretend food, nose blows, butt wipes, little "puke" cleanups that are just unfortunate gag-reflex type puddles when she happens to cough right after eating, washing sheets that didn't make it through the night, and washing dishes by hand since the dishwasher is filthy again. But Emily's not scary sick, she saw the doctor yesterday and her ears, lungs, throat are all fine. Just some cold and she's in a generally good mood, so that makes things easier. I'm actually more worried about the baby getting a fever, but so far she's managed to just get by with the snotty nose and a cough. So the baby's at daycare which is so nice. So aside from trying to work and just juggling the weekdays, not too much has gone on around here since the holidays. We have tons to be thankful for around here, so I'm just hoping to get through a few colds until the snow melts and the days get brighter. Stay well out there, it's cold outside!

Friday was a delightful day to work. The mister dropped the girls off at daycare, there was absolutely no traffic and I spent a good two and a half hours at the mall with a friend shopping and lunching. Just the perfect mix for a happy and productive day. Yesterday, I scooted back to the mall for exchanges and enjoyed a whole three hours kid-free. Today was pancake day, and the laundry has started. I need to finish this wee cup of coffee and try to remember what else I wanted to get done today. Huh, maybe I should just look around and start cleaning. I think a little vacuuming would make me feel immensely better. That's pathetic, eh? The bathrooms got a good scrub Monday, so ... like anyone really cares. Guess I'm just mumbling now.

Big sigh. It's been a glum start to the New Year around this house. I've been in a sour, pissy mood all day and just hate it. Tomorrow is a workday, so there's that. My head's a mess of incomplete thoughts, to-do's, and aggravations. If only I could rewind to when I had everything under control and life was simple.