All four of us are on amoxicillin for the next week or so. When Travis got so sick last week with apparently the same thing I had, he went to the doctor and got a strep diagnosis. So I went, thinking maybe I was still carrying it, and I was positive too! We got the girls checked, and while they never actually got sick (Emily had no fever, but her glands were swollen to the point that the doctor was impressed that she wasn't complaining about them) they were both carriers, too. SO! A round of meds for all, and new toothbrushes, too. Why not? This was a particularly nasty germ - my mom had it, my brother, and my sister and her girls all had it. I guess that means I must hang out with my family of origin quite a bit!
We were going to go up to the VEISHEA parade today, but we thought that taking the girls out in 40-degree weather with a 25 mph wind might not be the guarantee of a good time. So, another quiet weekend at home for us!
I am most excited about the video I took of Emily singing along with the piano the other night.
Immediately after we recorded it, she turned to me and said, "I don't want to do that again." :) I guess that was my cue to tone down the stagemom-like pride that welled up in me upon hearing her sing! The craziest thing about this is that Audrey is matching pitch, too! Although her regular babble is pretty lyrical, there's definitely a difference between that and her singing, and if I sing while I'm holding her, she can match pitch -- IF I'm not paying attention. She's such a stinker. :) If you try to interactively do it with her, she just looks at you with her big blue eyes, waiting for you to go back to something else so she can practice without an audience.
Another nice surprise yesterday - Emily called to me from the other room, exclaiming that she had just written her name! Neither Trav nor I have been working with her on writing letters, except that I knew she could do an "E" and copy letters for Mom and Dad pretty nicely. So I was quite surprised to see her whole name spelled out on the magnadoodle! When Trav got home from work, she wrote it out again for him, except she started with the Y and worked backwards. :) So she's not totally there yet, but boy is she proud of herself.
I sure like bragging about my kids. Nice that I have a truly appreciative audience for this blog!
Saturday, April 16, 2011
Sunday, April 10, 2011
Spring spring spring!
Ahhhh how glad I am that it's finally, really, truly spring!! Green grass under my toes, warm breeze on my face, and as Emily says, "No coats!!" The girls were outside all morning today, playing on swings and slides and the sandbox and looking at flowers... it's great!
The downer of the weekend: Travis got sick today. He's going to go to the doctor tomorrow, rather than suffer for several days like I did, to see if it's strep, since that's what my sister and her girls had. And if it's positive, I might get the rest of our family checked anyway to see if me or one of the girls is a carrier. I feel bad for Trav, because if he's got what I had, it's really awful! And he's got allergies besides, which makes it hard for him to sleep. And just when it's finally blooming and wonderful outside, and it seems like we can actually go out and do stuff, he's set back.
We had a really nice weekend up until he hit his wall, though. Relaxing, not much going on. The house is a disaster but i just can't bring myself to change it because it'll just be a disaster again as soon as I turn around. I did a bit of spring cleaning upstairs today, which seems better because it isn't being actively "undone" as soon as I turn around. Which reminds me of something funny: Audrey likes to get ahold of Trav's car keys that he keeps in his top nightstand drawer. The girls and I were upstairs one day, and Trav was downstairs when he heard the car out in the garage start up -- since it has remote start!! Funny girl!
The supper that I made tonight was really awesome. I haven't googled yet to see if it was truly an original recipe, but it was fantastic. Sausage, apples, onions, peppers, corn, and fried potatoes. Simple, but so good. I think that I could write recipes the way I could write music: somewhat basic themes, actually quite lovely sounding/tasting, somewhat original but mostly just a pleasant variation on something that someone else has done before. And, I enjoy it but I'm noncomittal enough about it that I really don't care to share the results with anyone outside my immediate circle of trusted parties.
I think I'm out of my post-vacation funk, finally. The girls seem to be doing better too. Emily napped on Friday, which was great because we ended up staying out late (8:45! ha!) with friends and although Audrey was on my lap with a blanket when she got tired, Emily just kept going full steam. But, they're both really back in the normal routine, which makes everyday stuff better. I'm solidly back on Iowa time, and so far I've successfully fought back my gloomy funk from earlier in the week. Today, I made a list of stuff to do next week, which means I'm really back and ready to dig in!!
The downer of the weekend: Travis got sick today. He's going to go to the doctor tomorrow, rather than suffer for several days like I did, to see if it's strep, since that's what my sister and her girls had. And if it's positive, I might get the rest of our family checked anyway to see if me or one of the girls is a carrier. I feel bad for Trav, because if he's got what I had, it's really awful! And he's got allergies besides, which makes it hard for him to sleep. And just when it's finally blooming and wonderful outside, and it seems like we can actually go out and do stuff, he's set back.
We had a really nice weekend up until he hit his wall, though. Relaxing, not much going on. The house is a disaster but i just can't bring myself to change it because it'll just be a disaster again as soon as I turn around. I did a bit of spring cleaning upstairs today, which seems better because it isn't being actively "undone" as soon as I turn around. Which reminds me of something funny: Audrey likes to get ahold of Trav's car keys that he keeps in his top nightstand drawer. The girls and I were upstairs one day, and Trav was downstairs when he heard the car out in the garage start up -- since it has remote start!! Funny girl!
The supper that I made tonight was really awesome. I haven't googled yet to see if it was truly an original recipe, but it was fantastic. Sausage, apples, onions, peppers, corn, and fried potatoes. Simple, but so good. I think that I could write recipes the way I could write music: somewhat basic themes, actually quite lovely sounding/tasting, somewhat original but mostly just a pleasant variation on something that someone else has done before. And, I enjoy it but I'm noncomittal enough about it that I really don't care to share the results with anyone outside my immediate circle of trusted parties.
I think I'm out of my post-vacation funk, finally. The girls seem to be doing better too. Emily napped on Friday, which was great because we ended up staying out late (8:45! ha!) with friends and although Audrey was on my lap with a blanket when she got tired, Emily just kept going full steam. But, they're both really back in the normal routine, which makes everyday stuff better. I'm solidly back on Iowa time, and so far I've successfully fought back my gloomy funk from earlier in the week. Today, I made a list of stuff to do next week, which means I'm really back and ready to dig in!!
Wednesday, April 6, 2011
San Francisco
I did it. I went on vacation without my children!!!
Trav and I left Friday morning for San Francisco, and left Emily and Audrey with his mom for the weekend. They went up to my sister's house in Ames on Saturday for Julie's birthday party, had a great time, then spent the rest of the weekend in Barnum. All parties, though exhausted, agreed it was a lot of fun and are willing to go for repeat circumstances on a future weekend.
Emily and I are outside as I write this, while Audrey naps. Emily is on her newly constructed swingset, learning how to pump her legs to make herself go. It's a beautiful day, and I just killed a wasp out on my porch, so I'm feeling pretty pumped up myself. It's been hard getting back in the routine of things, though. I remember wondering why my sister, after 4 days of Ragbrai, was so sluggish to get back into Mom-mode, and now I am living it. It's hard! I feel bad that the girls are having a bit of a tough time too, remembering what the rules of the house used to be and are again. Emily sat in the corner 3 times yesterday and once today. But, I've forgotten just how frequently they need to eat, so now that we've gotten a good lunch in her tummy, things are better. And I'll be more consistent with things, once I remember how. It obviously was a good vacation!!
We stayed with my college roommate Rachel for Friday night and Saturday night, eating fabulous food at local restaurants and drinking good wine, laughing about ridiculous stuff and feeling young again. I like knowing that the interesting people that I knew when I was young are still interesting, and therefore I must have been interesting at one point, too. On Sunday, we met up with Travis's cousin Kari and her daughter Allison, and they took us to Muir Park and over the Golden Gate Bridge. It was really, really fun. Allison is 2, and by that point, I was missing my girls so much that it was hard to not just "mother" her in spite of myself. I kept it together, except for one very snuggley hug that got a little out of hand. :) I took Tuesday off from work, even though we were back on Monday night, and I'm glad I did because the girls and I needed to ease back into our routine a bit.
I'm so glad it's finally spring. The porch is easily warm enough every day that it's sunny, and the girls are loving to be outside. The basement is done now, too, so we've got loads of room for these two little girls. If we just keep things picked up a bit, it'll continue to feel spacious. But again, I'm still not quite back up to full steam after vacation, so I just try not to step on things and break them. :)
Trav and I left Friday morning for San Francisco, and left Emily and Audrey with his mom for the weekend. They went up to my sister's house in Ames on Saturday for Julie's birthday party, had a great time, then spent the rest of the weekend in Barnum. All parties, though exhausted, agreed it was a lot of fun and are willing to go for repeat circumstances on a future weekend.
Emily and I are outside as I write this, while Audrey naps. Emily is on her newly constructed swingset, learning how to pump her legs to make herself go. It's a beautiful day, and I just killed a wasp out on my porch, so I'm feeling pretty pumped up myself. It's been hard getting back in the routine of things, though. I remember wondering why my sister, after 4 days of Ragbrai, was so sluggish to get back into Mom-mode, and now I am living it. It's hard! I feel bad that the girls are having a bit of a tough time too, remembering what the rules of the house used to be and are again. Emily sat in the corner 3 times yesterday and once today. But, I've forgotten just how frequently they need to eat, so now that we've gotten a good lunch in her tummy, things are better. And I'll be more consistent with things, once I remember how. It obviously was a good vacation!!
We stayed with my college roommate Rachel for Friday night and Saturday night, eating fabulous food at local restaurants and drinking good wine, laughing about ridiculous stuff and feeling young again. I like knowing that the interesting people that I knew when I was young are still interesting, and therefore I must have been interesting at one point, too. On Sunday, we met up with Travis's cousin Kari and her daughter Allison, and they took us to Muir Park and over the Golden Gate Bridge. It was really, really fun. Allison is 2, and by that point, I was missing my girls so much that it was hard to not just "mother" her in spite of myself. I kept it together, except for one very snuggley hug that got a little out of hand. :) I took Tuesday off from work, even though we were back on Monday night, and I'm glad I did because the girls and I needed to ease back into our routine a bit.
I'm so glad it's finally spring. The porch is easily warm enough every day that it's sunny, and the girls are loving to be outside. The basement is done now, too, so we've got loads of room for these two little girls. If we just keep things picked up a bit, it'll continue to feel spacious. But again, I'm still not quite back up to full steam after vacation, so I just try not to step on things and break them. :)
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