September 2007 Archives

I woke up on Saturday with Pink Eye. I haven't had it since I was a kid and I have no idea where I got it since the girls aren't in school, and neither they nor their friends have it. I went to the doc and he immediately prescribed some drops. I came home and emailed everyone I'd seen in the last couple of days to let them know. Luckily, the doc said I really hadn't been contagious at all up until this point. So far Bill doesn't have it either.

Yes, it kind of put a damper on our weekend, but there's one big reason that it was a bummer. We had a family portrait scheduled for Saturday afternoon. It was taken me over 2 years to get Bill to agree to having one. We'd put down a deposit and everything. He hates having his picture taken, and I'd finally persuaded him. Then I end up with Pink Eye! Luckily, we didn't lose our deposit and they agreed to just let us reschedule. However, if you're reading this Bill, that still means we have to go get one!

Josie was talking in the car the other day and suddenly said "Aunt Julie is my mommy." No, sweetie, I'm your mommy. Aunt Julie is your aunt. "No, I a boy and Aunt Julie my mommy." No, silly goose. You are a girl and I'm your mommy! "Nooooooo, mommy. You my mommy I a girl. Aunt Julie my mommy I a BOY!" Apprarently, Julie gives birth to all boys in the world. She must be tired! ;)

You may have noticed some major design changes on this site. You may also have noticed a bunch of weirdness in the form of random links to the top and the right that make no sense and lead nowhere. Please ignore all of this randomness. I'm trying to install a new design that Alecia did, but it's a slow process. Bit by bit, you'll see all of this randomness replaced by actual links.

It's been a while since we posted. Things have been pretty busy and I never got around to writing last week's Grateful Friday post so this week it's a "Friday Update" instead.



- Sindri is doing really well. We did have a few days where he would wake up and immediately start yelping/screaming. The vet said it was because he was trying to move those same muscles in his arm that are now sewn together. The poor thing would wake up and forget that he didn't have that leg and just freak out a little. He's doing better now and hasn't had that happen in almost a week. He's been kind of depressed all week, which we've read is normal. Right now you're probably thinking "depressed dog???" and thinking of the movie Best in Show where the dog has to see the therapist... What we really mean is that he pretty much refuses to get out of his cage. He'll get out occasionally to get his food (though he's barely eaten anything except for a few scraps I fed him) but otherwise he doesn't like to hang out with us. This weekend we took him out for ice cream (they give free sundaes to dogs) and a walk around the duck pond. He LOVED the ice cream and all the attention he got. We put a t-shirt on him to both protect his stitches and spare anyone from the gross site of the incision. Once we were at the duck pond, we let him off his leash a little. First, he went down and chased the ducks and started wading in the shallow water. Then, we got to the other side of the pond, which is pretty much a swamp. He immediately ran down the hill and fell face first into the mud. He got out on his own, but he was still a muddy mess. We were really lucky he was wearing the ti-shirt, though, as he didn't get any on his stitches at all. He gets them removed tomorrow. He was running and having so much fun.



- We visited Sun Valley Beach this weekend. It's basically a gigantic acre-sized pool surrounded by sand. The pool ranges from about 1' to 12' deep and has lots of kids' areas as well as adult slides. The girls loved it and spent a lot of time playing in the sand too. It was nice to get outside and relax a little in the water. Bill and I have talked about how unfortunate it is that we don't have regular access to a pool (the community one closed a month ago -- why so early? I ask myself the same). If we did, the girls might be a little more comfortable in the water and might even be starting to learn to swim. They'll definitely be taking swim lessons next summer.



- The girls and I visited the High Museum for their "Toddler Thursdays." They have a really wonderful children's area, full of information about sculptors and artists and lots of hands-on activities. I went with some friends and we stayed there for about 45 minutes before checking out the rest of the museum. The kids' areas are great, but my real reason for visiting was to see the Annie Liebovitz exhibit. Last week was the last week it would be here in Atlanta, so it was my last chance. Unfortunately, we decided to take the kids to the exhibit (read, adult area) after they'd been playing for about an hour. They did NOT want to be quiet and look at pictures. Eventually my friend and I got kicked out of the exhibit because the kids were going nuts. Her 9 month old was screaming and Maddie and Josie just did not want to stop running and giggling. In retrospect, I would have taken them to the adult areas first and followed it up with the play area. Oh well. Hindsight...

- I attended a craft class with the kids. A woman I know through my new mom's group is incredibly talented and has started offering sewing/arts classes at her house. She has a daughter Maddie's age and they get to play together in their play area while she and a few other moms and I work on projects. Last week I made sign for each of the girls with wooden letters to spell their names. I painted and then decoupaged the letters and nailed them together. The signs are now hanging over their beds and I have to admit that I did pretty well. I'm not usually a crafts person, but it was fun and I can't wait for the next class (sewing!! Maybe I'll finally be able to learn what to do with my machines.)



- Our neighbor's son's birthday party. It was a "Superhero/Fairy Princess" party, so Maddie and Josie got the chance to dress in their finest. I'm lucky I made them wear clothes underneath their princess dresses because it was hot out and they immediately stripped down to their clothes soon after we got there.



- We've spent a lot of time at the bookstore recently. In fact, I think they're pretty sick of us. It's just so nice to go there in the evenings after we pick up Bill from work. The kids can read or play with the trainset, and Bill and I get a chance to check out some books or magazines ourselves. Add Starbucks to the mix and I'm in heaven.



- The girls started their first ballet class of the season yesterday. This time Josie got to be in the same class as Maddie. That means I was sitting outside the room by myself. I've always been keeping Josie entertained while Maddie was in ballet or soccer, but now I didn't even know what to do with myself. At one point, I wanted to ask my friend if I could hold her baby, if only because I wasn't sure what to do with my hands!! The girls loved the class and Josie's first words to me afterwards were, "I didn't cry!!!" We had a talk beforehand about how she had to be a big girl and not cry all the time. The teachers said she did a great job and followed instructions and wasn't at all intimidated. They also told me that they could see such a difference between Maddie and Josie. To quote one of them, "Maddie is all about 'Look at me!' while Josie just hangs back and watches and does everything quietly." Yep, those are my girls exactly.

- Only a little over 3 weeks until our trip to Disney World!!!