Oink.

Why haven't I posted since November 30th? Let me count the reasons...

1) On December 2nd, my dad had total knee replacement surgery. He thought he would walk out of the hospital the next day, but...apparently? TKR is pretty serious? A major procedure, even? Resulting in lots of pain, muscle aches, and requiring a serious regimen of recovery? Yup. My recommendation to all who are considering joint replacement: GO TO THE CLASSES THE DOCTOR RECOMMENDS. It will take away the element of surprise. My dad didn't go, because he was worried the information would make him nervous. Well, for two full weeks my siblings and I tag-teamed to take care of him, because he couldn't get around on his own, even to go to the bathroom. We bullied him into doing the exercises, we comforted him when he was frustrated, we cooked, cleaned, and managed his long list of medications. And now, he's off the meds, driving himself around, going to work, and seems to be doing fine. I think he has more outpatient physical therapy to keep him on the path, but all in all, the tough part is over.

2) As soon as my final turn at Dad's was over, I promptly became sick. After three days of a fever ranging between 101 and 102, I went to my doctor's. I fully expected to be told "Go home. Rest. Drink Gatorade. Take Tylenol." But that would be too un-dramatic, un-exciting, un-Lindsay. My doctor said, "Your heart is beating around 200 beats per minute. I have no idea what's going on, but I'm worried you have an infection in the tissue surrounding your heart. I'm calling an ambulence."

Huh. NOT the same as going home and watching Oprah with a pitcher of water at my side.

So, I got my first ride in an ambulence. Did you know the patient rides backwards in those things? Not the best for someone with a tendency towards motion sickness, let me tell you. The EMTs hooked me up to some oxygen, a heart monitor, and an IV. (My doctor, who has known me since I was 6, said to the EMT, "You know how to put in an IV, right?") I was taken to Maine Medical Center. By the time I reached there -about 20 minutes later - I had taken most of a liter of fluid, and my heart rate was back down to about 115. They wheeled me into a room, and then closed the door. Then the closed the OTHER door. I wondered - "Huh. Two doors. That's strange." And THEN, the phone rang, and my intake interview (you know, name, age, social security, religious preference, emergency contact, etc) was taken remotely. That's when I started repeating, "This is surreal. I am in a QUARANTINED ROOM in the HOSPITAL." That's also when I realized that I had the swine flu.

Yup, H1N1 here. That explained why my entire body had been aching and I couldn't stay hydrated. This thing really had knocked me down over the past few days! My parents, husband and 2 of my brothers wore masks and entertained me in their usual fashion. The nursing staff was cracking up at Tim and Mark standing outside my room, pretending to go up & down in elevators, etc, just to make me smile. I'm so thankful for my family.

Let's see, what else would make this story exciting? Dan had picked Vi up from daycare early that day, because SHE had a fever. He took her to the doctor, and they confirmed that she did not have an ear infection, just something viral. "Go home, rest, lots of fluids, take tylenol," is what they told him. When we got my diagnosis, I had Dan call the pediatrician repeatedly to see if this news changed their recommendation at all.

Oh, the poor goose. She had a fever and wouldn't eat, wouldn't drink, and was refusing Tylenol. We tried fun cups, different beverages, even Capri Sun. She just had no interest in drinking. The last thing I wanted was to see my little girl with an IV in her. I shiver just imagining it. I had to wake up enough to give her a serious talking-to. "Listen, Vi," I said. "You know about germs, right? Well, you have a germ. We want to make the germ go away. The only way to make the germ go away is to drink lots of water and juice. We can feed you like a baby bird if you want - drip the drink in you mouth. How does that sound?" She replied weakly, "tweet, tweet! Go away, Germ!" She let us feed her lots of coconut water mixed with juice like that over the next few days.

She and I doubled up on our probiotics and Vitamin D3, drank lots of water and juices with electrolytes, and took Elderberry syrup in the higher acute-case dosage.

Who need vaccinations that may or may not cause future neurological issues? Not us - we made our own antibodies.

But it really wasn't fun doing it. I don't want to do that again, thank you very much.

Now here I am, December 23rd, back to work to get caught up. I am so thankful that my team at my firm is so strong - I hardly have any catch-up to do. The plates kept spinning. Heck, we got 3 new clients because of my connections while I was out sick! Maybe I'll take more time off...

Family has started arriving today - Noelle & the NJ contingent arrived at noon. Hopefully Tim and Amy will get here tomorrow. JD, Steph and Addie will arrive on Christmas morning. I think we've got Vi's stocking all set, and we're working on our Secret Santa gifts. This is cool - instead of buying presents, we drew names and submitted a "help me with" wish list. Mine included help developing a strength-training regimen, Tim's asked for ideas on places to hike, Noelle wants resources to help improve her (already fantastic) photography skills, and so on. This should be an interesting Christmas!

I asked Vi yesterday what Christmas is all about. She said, "Christmaaaaaaasss....yeah. Yeah. Christmas is....Christmas is eating cookies."

So there you have it. Knee Replacement, Swine Flu, and Cookies. A typical December.

Stop the madness.

Last night I had to show Vi that she had gotten her stubborn streak genetically. From me. And that I had been honing mine for 32 1/2 years.

Vi woke up at 11:30, crying and screaming for me. Dan kindly got up and went into her room, which is literally next to ours. She almost fell back asleep, but woke up in a rage when he got up to leave the room. After 20 minutes of trying, he came and got me.

I tried for the next 2 1/2 hours.

That's right. From 11:48 pm to 2:38 am...okay, that's almost 3 hours...I tried to get Vi to go to sleep.

I started with my usual "I'm too tired to change these habits tonight" technique of laying down with her and snuggling until she was out. As with Dan, when I got up she was NOT happy.

Next, I sat on her bed for a while, holding her hand while she drifted off again. When I stood up to leave, she cranked up the volume again.

I decided then to see if she would "just do it" on her own tonight. I told her, "Vi, I'm not going to sleep in your bed. I'm tired, and I want to sleep in MY bed. You sleep in YOUR bed. Good night."

She started using every trick in the book, every tool in her bag, every word she could use to get her way - sleeping with me, either in The Big Bed as she calls it, or in her Big Girl Bed. Either way, she would be a neck-poking, nose-pinching, elbow-digging bed hog, and I would wake up un-rested with a neck ache. From too much "snuggling."

Lines she tried on me:

• I need a drink of water
• I want some hot milk
• I don't want that blanket
• I need a blanket
• I need a bubba
• I want a different bubba
• I don't want a bubba, I want a Pac-i-fi-er.
• I DON'T WANT THAT BUBBA.

It was becoming clear that the "needs" she expresses every night are just tools to get us to give in and lay down with her or bring her to our bed. She was manipulating us - not in a malicious way, but basically trying to elicit a certain response from her test subjects. And we always gave in, until last night. Well, we equals me at midnight. Dan was already snoring away in The Big Bed, and I made an executive decision to stand my ground and enforce a new policy.

The talking and crying continued:

• I don't want to go to sleep
• I want to get in the big bed
• Mommy? Wanna come back in my room? Wanna lay down, with meeee? (sweet, sweet, sweetly spoken.)

I almost gave in. Her words! She was speaking so clearly, being polite, inviting, and sweet. How sweet! She just wants to snuggle. What's the harm? If I won't snuggle with her now, years from now I'll regret it, I started to tell myself. I may have been thinking out loud at this point - who knows. Unfortunately, this all happened on a Tuesday night (into Wednesday morning, for you sticklers) so Adam and Dylan were upstairs sleeping in our guest room. Dylan wasn't disturbed, but poor Adam was kept awake by the Sleep Summit of 2009.

I realized, though, that I had to stick to my guns. I had been strong in the new policy for over 45 minutes. (Well, just at 45 minutes I went into the bedroom and told Dan I was going to, and this is a direct quote, "chuck her out the fucking window." When he started snoring again instead of talking, I decided to kill him in his sleep after I got a drink of water.)

So, back to me being strong and awesome. I knew that there was no turning back at this point. If I gave in after such a long fight, then the next time I tried would be even worse. She couldn't win this one, or else I would really pay for it. I could out-stubborn a mule.

I stood in her doorway, speaking softly, telling her "Good night. It's nighttime, it's time for sleeping. Lay down and go to sleep." She would reply, "No." Just that - a firm, sour "No." In between requests like:

• I wanna hug your neck
• I want to take off my jammies
• I need a new diaper (she didn't)

she would cry and scream at a ridiculous level. In these moments, I was glad to have company - I reminded her that there were people sleeping, and to use her quiet voice so she wouldn't wake up Dylan.

I stepped outside her room, and leaned on the hallway wall. More claims:

• I pooped (she hadn't)
• Ow, Ow, OW!
• Mommy? Lay down, mommy. Lay down with meeee. (again resorting to nearly irresistible sweetness.)

I stepped further down the hall, and stood in my bedroom doorway. I got a pillow and sat on the floor. She asked me "Where are you, Mommy? What you doing, Mommy?" several times. The final half hour or so was the most painful. She was crying intermittently, kneeling in her bed, occasionally folding forward to rest her head on the pillow. Then up again, crying and screaming, saying over and over again, "I wanna snuggle my Daddy in the big bed, Mommy. I wanna snuggle my Daddy." This was definitely the most heart-breaking part for me - at first. I remembered all the other "tools" she had been using, and what her goal was. Her goal wasn't to snuggle with Dan. Once in The Big Bed, she would - and I know this in every inch of my body - wrap her arms around my neck and keep me from breathing like a healthy human being. I had to keep telling myself this - I wasn't denying her something she needed, and that all three of us need to start getting regular, dependable, recuperative sleep. I told her, out loud, "I know, honey. I know you do. It's hard when we can't do everything we want to do. It's nighttime, though, and it's time for you to sleep all alone in your bed. You're a big girl, and I know you can do it. I love you." I must have said, "I know, I know," forty times. I opted for "I know" rather than "It's okay; you're fine," because that would just be a lie.

Her words got softer, and the time between cries got longer. After 20 minutes of silence, I covered her in cozy blankets and crawled into The Big Bed.

I was completely wound up, cold from sitting on the floor, stressed about a full day of work ahead on so little sleep, and Dan was snoring like a wookie. But, I knew I had taken a step in the right direction. My kid will learn some independence, some self-soothing, and some boundaries. And, hopefully...I'll get some sleep.

My sleep problems guru, Dr. Sears has suggestions for parents on his website. Actually, it's not just "him." The awesome thing about Dr. Sears is that it's him, his RN wife, and his gaggle of genious kids who are also MDs. He's, like, 5 doctors, so he's, like, 5 times as helpful.
http://www.askdrsears.com/html/7/T070100.asp

New words!

Vi is still surprising (and confusing) us with her language development. Every day there are new, distinct words that she just starts using. For instance:
Girl
Puppy
Paint
Playdough
Hello (Hai-looooo)
George (as in Curious OR the collie who lives in our neighborhood)
Cream of Wheat
Milk
Book
Wash
Sit (or as she says it, Sit, sit, sit, sit.)
Turtle

She is also requesting more specific activities - she does The Monkey while saying "Do, do, do" as a request for music and dancing. She says "ay-eee-ay-eee-ay" as a request for me to sing Old MacDonald. And she says "See? See? See?" when she wants to go look at something. Her "yes" is still "yessssh," and her Riley is still "baaa-neeee." She knows groups of people - if I mention Grammy, she nods and says "Papou?" and if I mention Dylan she nods and says "Ah-dee!" for Dylan's daddy, Adam. She is still randomly exclaiming "Noni!" and "Ky!" although I realized yesterday she may be saying Noodles and Climb rather than Noa and Kyle. Still, when I ask if she can say Adrianne (Noa's mom and Kyle's wife and my good friend, owner of www.turtlelovecommittee.com) she nods her head yes. Like, "Yes, I can say that three-syllable word, but I choose not to."

In other news:

Dan is in his third week of truck-driving school. He really likes it! He's driving with his instructor out on the open road...he's a STUDENT DRIVER all over again. IN A VERY LARGE TRUCK.

Grandma is not doing well. She had a stroke and a seizure in the last week. Her language and other occupational skills are depleted to a 5-year-old level. All systems are functioning, but she's not really there. My aunt is so sad to see her like this every day, and my mother is planning on heading back in a couple of weeks.

Tax season is almost over! I have one more year-end financial package to prepare by tomorrow, one that is finished and needs to be sent off, and another client on extension that we're doing a few special projects on before finalizing their reports.

I've made the assumption that my readers know where I work and what I do, but that may not be the case. I am on LinkedIn, and you can see my profile and the information about my firm at http://www.linkedin.com/in/lindsaywalsh. I provide bookkeeping services to businesses of all sizes, customized to meet your needs, using Peachtree, QuickBooks, and Microsoft Dynamics GP. Services include but are not limited to: bank account reconciliation, financial statement preparation, payables and receivables management, quarterly and annual financial reviews, sales and payroll tax filing. My specialties include Financial review, annotation and reconciliation of financial statements for tax preparation, payroll, sales tax, payables, receivables, monthly write-up, Peachtree support and training.

Right now I'm working on a QuickBooks seminar , inventory valuation, payroll and bill-payment, and marketing our firm to the Southern Maine area...among other things. I keep busy. I work here full-time, and I am fortunate to say that I really love my job. I have great co-workers, clients, and the firm has a mission I enjoy upholding.

And...

I'm accepting new clients. Leads are welcome!

That's all from me today. It's a sunny and blustery day here, my tulips, daffodils and crocuses have poked their little heads up out of the dirt, and the 21st is just around the corner. I'm dreaming of Spring...

On the road again...

Dan has his first truck-day today. Mondays and Tuesdays are classroom time, and Wednesdays-Fridays are half-days for practice. I imagine he's somewhere, tootling around in a parking lot right now. His permit test is on Monday, and Gargamel (that's what we're having Vi call Dan's dad, Greg...he didn't want a real "grandpa" name, so we picked one for him. She says Gro-Gro) has offered to help him study. Very exciting!

I think I'll try to make an iPod playlist for him. What songs are good driving songs? Not just trucking songs - a la "On the Road Again," "Pickup Man," or, as my brother-in-law suggested, the theme from "BJ and The Bear" - but real, good music for road trips. There's a chance that Dan's first job will be an over-the-road, long-haul sort of job, so he'll need podcasts and songs and books-on-tape. Post a comment below with your suggestions!

Posting!

I'm going to try to post more often, as this site is a source of revenue for my family. If you don't know what I mean, I'm not really allowed to tell you what to do. I just know that I'm not allowed to click on my own ads, ever. CHECK THIS OUT:

http://ask.metafilter.com/24986/What-to-do-when-Google-suspends-you

A friend of mine said, "Sounds like you're having a fantastic week!" And that was only Tuesday. As most of you know, my husband lost his job on January 31st. I'm not going to waste too much space here, but I will tell you that Dan WAS the bread-winner, and his employment provided us with health, dental, vision and FSA benefits. All of those went away immediately on January 31st. We need to bring in money as soon as possible, and reduce spending NOW.

Here's what we've been doing:

1) Looking at EVERY way we spend money and figuring out how to reduce it.
2) Eating everything we already have, including the emergency tuna.
3) Taking fewer and shorter showers. I had never thought about my water consumption from an economic perspective before, just an environmental one. We are blessed to live in an area with no water shortage, and with good, clean water. I just never thought about how much we get charged to flush the toilet or wash our dishes before.
4) Unplugging energy-suckers! We have a clock-radio in Vi's room for no reason at all. Unplugged. We keep our coffee maker plugged in all day. No more. All of those little plugs with (what are they called? transformers? that can't be right) box-thingies on them suck energy all day. Who knew? (Probably lots of you did. Hmph.)
5) Driving less.
6) We withdrew Vi from daycare, since Dan is home all the time. That was a no-brainer. It is one of the saddest parts, for me, since I had such a long, drawn-out struggle with child care. We had finally found the *perfect* place, and now she's losing her spot in the program.
7) Dan applied for unemployment. This will be a rather long process, as the system is flooded with applications right now. In Maine, the unemployment rate is around 7% right now. I have a friend who applied over three weeks ago and still hasn't received a check.
8) Dan applied for a few jobs, posted his resume, and is calling on all contacts for ideas. He has a list of his former customers with whom he had a good, long-term relationship, and will be contacting them for suggestions, thoughts, prayers, and brainstorming. He is in touch with a long-ago customer, from his coffee shop days, who works as a truck-driving instructor. He may have his Class B trucking license in a few weeks - I'll keep you posted.
9) We are working on the health insurance issue. My biggest fear is, of course, for Vi, who is just getting over pneumonia. Her course of anti-biotics will be done tomorrow, and I worry that the infection will come back. Dan points out that keeping her out of day care will avoid "kennel cough." :-)

Most of all, we have been laughing. Don't get me wrong - we are terrified and I am still having bawling fits. But, Vi is at this age - 18 months, now - where she is a total ham. Everything she does is cute, silly, funny, goofy or intriguing. She has really kept us from crawling into bed and hiding. With an active toddler, that's not an option at all.

We've been doing a lot of brainstorming and long-term planning. Dan is still interested in going to college, but says "I can't wait two or four years for a paycheck." Being an apprentice for an electrician piqued his interest. 2nd shift jobs are a realistic, short-term possibility.

So, my question to all of you is, what should Dan do? Please let us know if you have any ideas for him, for us. Anything at all - no idea is stupid.

Thanks for all your support as we navigate this time in our lives!!

Christmas and December 2008 in review...

It's hard to believe the year is almost over. I do believe 2008 has been one of the most challenging and rewarding years of my life (so far.) I'm sure I'll have to take some "time to reflect" before New Year's Eve. For now, though, here's what we did in the past couple of weeks.



Many of you know that Maine was hit hard with an ice storm recently. We were without electricity for just over 24 hours at our house, but family members were without power for 3 and 4 days. Others in the state suffered for almost a week!



We heat our home with oil...our, I should say heatED. This summer Dan refurbished the boat and sold it, making enough money to install a chimney, hearth and wood-burning stove, plus buy enough wood for this winter and possibly next. The installation has been a struggle to say the least. We had a contractor lined up to do the whole project - he had great references, a good price, and Dan really liked him. He showed up with rusty, used parts that were not even the right size to meet code. There was no negotiating to happen with this guy, so he left and wouldn't return our calls. Thank goodness we hadn't given him any money. It was another month before we had someone else lined up, and he was a total administrative nightmare...he wrote down our information as Stan Welch, and kept getting our street name and family names mixed up...I actually told him that I was Stan's wife at one point...ha! When it was all said and done, he did a great job in little time for a great price.



Dan decided to build the hearth himself, which was a big leap of faith for me. Half-way through that piece of the project, our neighbor offered some advice, training, and help. In the end, he built the entire hearth in exchange for driveway snow-blowing for the winter! What a deal. The hearth was useable but not beautiful JUST in time for our power outtage, so we were toasty warm. We cooked on the stove, heated up water for baths, and dried hand-washed clothes on racks in the living room. We felt like frontier-folk. We were *almost* sad when the power returned.

Popps decided to do his physical rehab here in Maine, so he arrived shortly after Thanksgiving to a nursing home about 20 minutes North of us. We've been visiting him a lot, and he's been making great progress. He's using a walker and a wheelchair, doing his exercises, and seems to have made peace with his PT after a rocky start. He's hoping to return to NY soon.

Vi has had an action-packed month. Between OMT for last month's ear infection, eczema, and a tummy bug, she's been in and out of the doctors' offices too many times to count. Her ears are all cleared up, and she started a growth spurt just after a four-day BRAT diet. The eczema still hasn't cleared up, so we visited the homeopathic doctor last week. She thinks that it's not an allergy, but a wrecked gut...from the antibiotics last month for her ear infection and the tummy bug. She is helping us cure this from the inside out with Cod Liver Oil, ProBiotics, and a homepathic remedy for her general constitution to help her immune system get balanced. Plus, she's having us eliminate dairy and soy for a bit, just to help along the process. (Goat and Buffalo are fine...we're sticking with Goat's milk, since Buffalo milk sounds revolting and wrong.)

New words that she's trying out: help, hot, down, cup, sit, ball, eyeball and all gone. All gone is a good one - it comes out sounding like the Law & Order chime - Ga-gong!

Her "receptive" language is still thriving - she seems to understand more than we realize. She is also using her signs as much as ever. New signs include train and rabbit. She can point to her body parts, too, so we're singing a lot of "head, shoulders, knees and toes" lately. We've been asking her lots of questions and trying to improve her ability to constructively use all of these tools. So, lots of fun stories are to come, including:

My brother's family was in town for the holiday, and poor baby Addie has started teething. There was a lot of crying in the past couple of days. (Which made Dan and me realize that a baby's cry is loudest to the baby's parents. Funny what perspective does.) Recently, Addie gave up the pacifier/Nuk/binky/bubba. I asked Vi if Addie had told her what she needed. (I sort of think the little ones actually understand each other...any research to prove that? I'd love to read it.) Vi nodded her head and said, "Yeh." I asked her, "What does baby Addie need?" Vi responded, enthusiastically and unprompted, "Bubba!"

This is one of those stories that's hard to tell without sounding judgemental, so I want to be clear that Addie's doing great without the bubba, does not need one, and I'm not suggesting they try to give her one! The Bub is one of those areas each parent has to make their own choices about, and I know how much I dislike uninvited advice. JD and I were comiserating about strangers giving us advice in public...so strange. That's the easy advice to shirk. Intra-family advice is harder because the advisors are witnesses to your choices. It can be hard to not take it personally, when parenting methods are not the same. I know we have different rules about bubbas and TV than my sister's family, and that sleep and slings are big differences between me and my brother's family...but you know what? It doesn't matter. I mean, of course it matters that one parents mindfully and makes these decisions with the overall health of all the family members being a priority, but it doesn't matter that we do it differently. These kids are all growing up loved and taken care of, with a great big family that loves them. That's all that matters.

Another word that Vi definitely understands is "scream." If you say the word, she willingly demonstrates. How can such little lungs make so much noise?

Christmas was great. We did our usual multi-family run-around - three families in one day. Vi got lots of new books, a table & chairs set, an emperor penguin, clothes, shoes, and money for college. I got clothes, a Kitchenaid mixer, slippers, and lots of sleep. Dan got a leather jacket, books, iTunes gift cards, and gift certificates for shoes and a wood-carrier. We got money for our oil bill, too, which is great...we'll have hardly spent any of our own money on oil this year! With a bunch of gift certificates combined, we also got a new camera. (RIP our Sony.)

My sister was here with her kids, and we got to go sledding, watch Prince Caspian, play with the electric train, draw and decorate cookies. The kids all did some disco-diva dancing at my dad's house that evening. I am hoping we have some video to post, because it was pretty hilarious. There will definitely be lots of great pictures coming from Noelle.

And, today, it's back to work. Just a 3-day work week for me, so I should really be plowing through my to-dos rather than writing in my diary...

Happy New Year to all of you!

P.S. 8 days until Birthday.

Talking!

We've joked for a while that when Vi starts talking, she'd be using full sentences. It might not be more than one word at a time, but today Vi decided to start using multiple words:

1) Mama
2) Dada
3) Cheese
4) Boo
5) Clap



We were doing a round of "Who's that?" which is usually a pointing game, when Vi announced that I am Mama and Dan is Dada. Later in the day, we were taking pictures with Auntie Boo, and when asked to smile & say "cheese," Vi complied. The later "Who's that?" game included Boo, and Vi repeated the name. Throughout the day, when babbling to herself and clapping, Vi kept saying something that sounded like "clap, clap, clap."

So, here we go...she'll be saying "Merry Christmas" to you all this year, I'm sure. :-)

Sleep, sweet sleep!

Here is the (current) winning combination for getting Vi to sleep through the night:


1) Magic blanket, aka Halo's sleep sack

2) Foxy - the stuffed animal that lights up when squeezed, to show the way to the bubba

3) Warm fitted sheet from Pottery Barn

4) Blanket sleeper PJs

5) Vicks humidifier



We're going on 3 nights...my body is in a state of shock from all the rest!

(EVERYBODY: Knock on wood.)

First day of day care

Vi had her first day of day care last Wednesday, and she loved it. Her teacher sent us this picture:
On her daily report (the piece of paper which tells us if she ate, pooped, slept, or learned anything new each day), it said "Vi had fun Playing with Cassy (the dog)."

This isn't going to be so hard, after all. Now I know the hard part will be the separation...for ME. I am going to miss so much of her development; I'll have to find a way to deal with the incongruity between my ideals as a mother, a feminist, and someone who can't afford to not work.

Post 101

Today was a perfect, wonderful day.


Preceded, of course, by a delightully long night of sleep, gifted to me by my precious daughter who went 7 (SEVEN!!) hours without needing us.

It's getting cold here, in Maine. Dan and I have been using a blanket and two comforters at night to stay warm - which has been, I admit, overkill to the point that we kick the top comforter off in a sweaty fit around 2 am. Still, it's cold enough that we THINK we need two comforters. Vi, like most babies, I'm told, kicks her blankets off. Dan's theory is that she's waking up cold. So, we purchased a "sleep sack" last night. Here is a picture of someone else's baby sleeping soundly in the sack.

You already know that Vi's first night in a sleep sack went very well.

This morning, Dan went to the kitchen to make cofee around 7:30, and took Vi with him. They snuggled and read books while the coffee brewed and I snoozed. We had warm beverages in bed together, snuggled, giggled, and loved the pets. When we were ready to get up (read: Vi started climbing down from the bed on her own), we all padded around in PJs and Dan made buckwheat pancakes.

**IS THAT NOT THE PERFECT START TO A DAY? Coffee/Bottle in bed, DaddyCakes in PJs. PERFECT.**

We then went about our typical morning routine of books and percussion instruments, intermingled with dog-kissing and shrieking. We ran a few errands, then headed up to Wolfe's Neck Farm for a pumpkin hay ride. We saw chickens, turkeys, sheep, and cows. We even saw what one woman described as a "bunny mixed with a bison," but in reality was just an extremely ugly and fuzzy rabbit. The hay ride was on a big wagon pulled by a tractor (I was hoping for horses), and we went by the cow's pastures and past a wonderful view of Casco Bay. Today was a crystal-clear, warm yet crisp, blue-sky Autumn day. We ate apples and picked pumpkins and ended up watching brand-new baby cow learning to walk by its mother.

We went to Brunswick to have lunch with my dad and help him move some heavy stuff around the house, then came home for work/naptime. Vi slept for a good two hours while Dan and I took care of housework/work-work. I made the best pizza ever, talked to my grandmother on the phone, then sent Vi off to bed happily.

Now, once I'm done posting these photos, Dan and I are going to watch Miami Vice. Ooh. Not a great date movie, but hopefully it will be fun in some way. Here are some photos from the last few weeks.

(Oh, you may notice that Vi now has bangs. I got tired of the losing battle with barrettes.)

http://picasaweb.google.com/linzwalsh/October2008#

Quick update!

Vi is walking - a bit. A few steps at a time.

Vi has her first pair of shoes. Although she removes them within minutes, she eventually finds them and holds them up to me, with a frantic look in her eye and a loud request from her mouth to have them put back on.

She's pointing with intention, not just to see how her finger feels in that position. We've had to hide certain foods from her - teething biscuits, mostly - to keep her diet varied.

She's trying out new dance moves all the time. I'll try to get some video clips of it to post.

My sister Noelle was in New England over the weekend for our sister-in-law's baby shower. In addition to photo-journaling the party, she took several beautiful pictures of Vi. I'll post them when I can.

I had more to say, specific stories to post, but I can't seem to remember any of them. Plus, I'm at work, and should 'focus, pocus' as my new dear friend Adrianne would remind me.

What a day! (And not in a good way)

Poor Baby Vi has been sick all week. We thought she was getting a little fever on Sunday night due to teething, but it kept going up and up. She hasn't wanted to eat, she's had weird diapers (and we'll just leave it at that), and she's been pale, shy and anti-social. Even people who rarely see her said she must not be feeling well, just by the looks of her.

(By the way - I'm feeling a bit exhausted, which you'll understand by the end of this post, so I'm not going to worry about grammar so much. There will be paragraphs that just run on and on...oh, well. Read another blog if it bothers you.)

I decided today, when she wouldn't really let me take her temperature in her ear, to get her in to see the doctor. Her usual doctor is on vacation, so I accepted an appointment with the NP on staff. I tend to like Nurse Practicioners quite a bit, and this one turned out to be great. (Karen Weiss, UHC for Kids. Hurray, Karen!) What I didn't expect was a student to be shadowing her, which meant that Vi had to have everything done twice. I('m usually open to meeting with a student, but by the end of round two, I'm a little frustrated that I've had to repeat myself. Sometimes I get a bit paranoid, like the student DID tell the teacher everything, but the teacher is trying to catch me with an inconsistency. "Psycho-somatic! I'm giving you some Prozac!" I imagine them yelling at me. But that's just crazy old me...) In any case, the student was great, just a little hesitant with Vi, but very nice. They ruled out everything but a urinary tract infection, so we decided to get a urine sample! No, I didn't have to chase her around with a cup trying to catch pee. They have these little plastic bags that look just like vacuum bags - you know how vacuum bags have the hose-attachment hole, with the cardboard around it? It looked just like that, but with a u-shaped sponge around the hole, and weak, band-aid-like adhesive on the outside to stick onto her Va-jay-jay, as my Aunt Raylene would say. So, we stuck it on and waited for her to fill it. And waited. And waited.

She didn't "void" while at the doctor's office, so we came home, hoping she'd sleep a bit, as she'd been refusing a nap all day. She fell asleep on the way home, then woke up the second we walked through the door. Grammy was there, so Vi wanted to get up and be cute and giggle and act like she was well for a few moments, before collapsing into a sweaty, fussy mess. She finally peed around 12:30, then fell asleep for an hour or so. Grammy hung out with her while I took the sample to the lab, and ran an errand for work.

(Oh, yeah. Work! Right. I work for a living. I had, oh, seven or eight very important things to do today, some of which involve a marketing event I'm coordinating for Friday. Day-after-tomorrow Friday. Picking up collateral from two different printers. Dropping of freebie-logo items at the event site, introducing myself to the host and surveying the site, etc. Plus it's payroll tax week - quarterlies and monthlies due at the same time. Sales tax week - all due Tuesday. Year-end for two clients. And those are only the out-of-the-ordinary tasks for this week!)

I got to the lab with the sample, and no paperwork. I had to wait at the lab for the pediatrician to fax the labwork request, then rush to the event site to meet with the host.

Did you notice that I used the word rush? What do you think happened next? What could make this day even more awesome?

That's right. I got pulled over for speeding. I haven't been pulled over in 11 years!! Between my squeaky-clean driving record and the fact that noone dares screw with a Mama whose baby is sick, I got off with just a warning.

After all was done, errands and tasks delegated to my WONDERFUL CO-WORKERS Mark and Diana, Vi and I came home and I tried to get her down for a nap. Just as she was drifting off to sleep, Dan came through the front door and said "I got tired of so I came home." Sick baby. Sick husband.

I skipped a part about both print jobs getting screwed up, and the host of the event not even being available to meet with me.

It's 82 degrees Farenheit inside my house, my brain is melting, and needless to say it doesn't smell good in here.

So, how was YOUR day? If you thought it was a bad one, just think of me and feel a bit better. There's always someone who had a worse day, isn't there?

Long time, no write!

It's been a very long time since I had a spare moment, and chose to use it writing here. So much has happened!

Vi is crawling and cruising (for you laypeople - that means pulling herself up into standing, and sort of walking around while holding onto furniture). She is babbling, still. As you can see below, she is pointing. At everything. All the time. Sometimes, she points up with both hands, then cocks her head to the side and shrugs. Talk about cute!! When she's crawling away from me, I say, "Excuse me, Miss?" and she stops, turns, giggles, then continues along her way. As if to say, "Yeah? You talkin' to me? Talk to my taillights, 'cuz I'm outta here." She still emits a loud, crystal-shattering shriek whenever Mitten saunters into eyesight. (She also made this noise at an airline stewardess mid-flight. Almost made her spill my tomato juice.)

We drove to Westwood, MA for a bridal shower two weeks ago. Vi slept the entire way there and back, and was great at the party. She oohed and aahed as Haley opened her gifts. She flipped through her ABC board book. One of the games at the shower was for the bride to answer 'trivia' questions about the groom. One question was "what book is Jared currently reading?" The correct answer was, "He's not reading anything right now." Someone piped up and said, "That baby's reading more than your fiance'!" Okay...you had to be there. Funnier in the moment.

She really IS reading a lot...if you put a pile of toys and a pile of books in front of her, she will paw through the books first.

One thing she's not doing is sleeping well. Not napping for me during the day (she napped for a brand-new babysitter the other day, but for me? No.) and certainly not sleeping through the night. Not "sleeping like a baby" at all. Whoever came up with that phrase is an idiot. We've tried the go-to-sleep routine. We've tried the let-her-cry for just-a-minute routine. We've tried keeping her in bed. She just won't give us a real pattern to follow, or try to adapt! When one starts to emerge, so do four new teeth, so she's up in pain. Or she'll get a cold. Or a vaccination. I know how tired I am - I haven't had more than a dozen full nights of sleep in 18 months! She must be pretty tired, too. Not sure where she gets all of her giggling and crawling energy from.

She's eating a lot, too. Avocado, carrots, potatoes. Pears, apples, blueberries. Oatmeal, barley, rice. Bread, Pirate's Booty, Cheerios. She has days when she insists on self-feeding, and others when the spoon can't get from mouth to bowl to mouth fast enough. She has six teeth - four on top, two on the bottom. Her toothy grin keeps getting cuter. She was "kissing" Dan last night (this involves a lot of drool and a slimy baby tongue on your cheek) and decided to chomp down on his cheek. He has a big red mark from it! And yes, I'm still breastfeeding. No injuries to report.

Grammy (my mom) is back to feeling herself, and has been coming to watch Vi twice a week for the past couple of weeks. She'll continue doing one day a week, and may stick to two if she wants to. Vi crawls towards her, screeching and smiling, every time she arrives.

Other family news:

Dad had a 1.6 cm kidney stone lithotripsied-out two weeks ago. Suddenly his back doesn't hurt anymore. :-)

Steph is showing and glowing, as she should be! I forget how beautiful a pregnant woman can be!
They'll be moving back to NYC after the baby comes - JD first, for work, then Steph to follow.

Ben has started T-Ball, and Noelle is the coach. (Co-coaching with Mr. McHotty.)

Noelle broke/sprained her foot the other day.

I broke a toe the next day in sympathy.

Dan is super-busy with work again. It's that time of year - he works in retail, for a marine supplier. His weeks have gone from a standard 45 hours to about 60+ hours. He doesn't get paid overtime, and there are days when he leaves so early and gets home so late that he doesn't see Vi at all. I know it's a good job, but it seems like other people would do this "paying your dues" thing for a couple of years to get ahead...and we just keep paying and paying and paying, and getting further behind. And we miss him. It's hard being a single mom for a few hours each day - I can't imagine doing it full-time.

After a long search full of FRUIT LOOPS, LUNATICS, and FLAKES...we finally found a mother's helper/babysitter to come watch Vi on my work-at-home days. She's got a great attitude, is super-helpful, has great instincts with Vi, and Vi loves her. Feet-kicking, screeching and pointing when she arrives. :-)
Work has finally levelled off for me...funny how childcare has helped me get caught up, eh?

Spring is finally here - the lilacs are in bloom, my tulips are all up (well, the ones that remain after the squirrel pillaging), the sun is shining..! Springtime in Maine is the best. We got our inaugural ice cream cone a couple of weeks ago. It's so nice to get out, too. Even a quick stroll around the block, or just sitting on a blanket in the grass, is such a much-needed change of pace. Summer will be here soon, and it's a busy one. We have four weddings (well, 3 weddings and one Civil Union) to attend, seven family birthdays, one anniversary, several friends' and babies' birthdays, lots of fish to catch, squash to grill, weeds to pull, and grass-stains to get. I'm dying to get Vi into a pool somewhere, too. She has a couple of swim suits already...yes, I'll post some pictures. :-)

She's still asleep, so I should really be getting some work done, some laundry folded, some dishes washed...something.

Thanks for reading my ramblings. Looking forward to seeing some of you as you come to Maine this summer!!!

A few pictures to hold you over...

...until I have time to write some updates!
http://picasaweb.google.com/linzwalsh/March242008/photo#s5181466220382011250

Updates to include:
- pre-crawling
- teething
- solid foods
- sound experimentation
- cousins

She'll be eight months old next week. Hard to believe.

Emails from friends

A sweet email from a dear friend, loaded with "how are you" questions, prompted me to STOP for a moment and write about our busy lives. Here's my reply...

How is Vi? What’s she up to?
Vi is great. She’s up to lots…sucking on her toes, pushing herself up on her knees when in tummy time, NOT rolling over very much, talking up a storm, pooping a LOT, loving avocados and apples and pears and rice cereal but HATING (squished-up-face, hands-in-front-of-mouth, moaning and frowning and ducking the oncoming spoon) squash. I don’t blame her – it smells horrible. She had her 6 month checkup yesterday – she’s 28 ½ inches tall/long, 16 pounds, 1 ounce…109th percentile for height, 50th for weight, and 75th for head…they kept saying she must have a lot of brains in there. Doc said it’s okay that she’s not rolling over very much…since she’s able to, but not doing it, maybe she doesn’t LIKE rolling over. Hmm. Leah said Hannah doesn’t roll over, either. I’m all, “BUT SHE’S NEVER GOING TO LEARN TO READ IF SHE CAN’T ROLL OVER!!!!!!” which is apparently not true.

How’s Mom?
Mom’s…okay. Thanks for asking. She’s really down…so much going on, so much to think about, not much to DO, though. I’m hoping she finds some way to get her body’s energy flowing better. I'm anxious for her to get back to her energetic, silly self.

Is Dan enjoying his time at the Gaylord in Florida?
Dan really liked the Gaylord Palm. His room had a computer with free internet, he had his good buddy Lucas as a roommate (they’re so funny…when the registration form comes out, they both put down each others’ names as their 1st, 2nd and 3rd choice for roommate!). The food was not great…I guess they had spaghetti for dinner the first night, a single egg sandwich for breakfast. He sounded exhausted this morning when we spoke. He’s supposed to touch down at PWM at 3:40 today…weather permitting. I hope they’re able to get here…I’m tired of being a single mom!!! I can’t imagine doing this on an ongoing basis.

How’s tax preparation time coming along?
Tax prep…yuck! I am so, so, so busy at work. Vi comes with me most days, which is great and fun and stressful all at the same time. I’m making very slow progress on my projects. I’m hoping to get in some extra work next week and wrap up a few things.

Who do you think will be the next president?
I’m thinking it’s going to be an Obama-Edwards ticket, winning out over McCain and whoever is crazy enough to accept the VP invitation. I’m really bummed that Edwards pulled out…he was the only one who really spoke to me on any issues. I can’t see any of the Republicans winning, but I’m really concerned that people will get the Bradley effect in the polling stations in November…and vote for White Guy instead of Black Guy or Woman. I hope a Dem. wins…not just because I identify more with that party than the Republicans, being a Green, but also because it’s so exciting to think we’ll get to see the first African-American or female president. What an inspiration to our kids.

Had any lavender custard lately?
Ooh! Lavender custard!!!!! That sounds amazing. Maybe I’ll borrow my mom’s ice cream maker and whip some up.

Any-who... that's the news from the Walsh household. It's been a rather lonely winter here...with me working so much and sleeping so little, it's left very little time for socializing. I'd love to hear from any of you...how are YOU? What are you and yours up to? Keep in touch.

Love,
Linz

2008 so far

This year can only get better.

New Year's Eve - in bed with The Cold
January 3rd - in bed with Bronchitis
January 6th - my mother had a heart attack, and was in Maine Med until the 11th
January 12th - Vi got her first cold

And now, suddenly, January is over next week (which means Vi will be 6 months old!!!), so for a member of the bookkeeping and accounting world, I'm screwed due to all the lost time I've had this month, my loss of my Friday child care, and the annoying little fact that there are only 24 hours in a day.

A few good things - Vi is enjoying experimenting with solid foods, she may very well cut a tooth this month, and her New! Colorful! Exersaucer! is so much fun.

We had a friend who used to say all the time to her little boy, "It's a good thing you're so cute." We thought it was a horrible thing to say at the time. Since Vi is my one true source of joy - I think I finally understand that friend. In my most difficult moments, I just look at her, and it's impossible not to smile.

Quick, overdue update

Thought I'd take a minute (that I don't have) to write - for me, for you, for the sake of writing. I need a break from trying to focus on my work.

SINCE I LAST POSTED with real words, sentences, paragraphs....

• Vi: Vi is almost 5 months old - able to roll around some, sit up some, stand up with help, and full - FULL - of smiles. She's still not "sleeping through the night," which, by definition, is a 5-hour stretch, but sometimes she'll do 4. (Those are nice nights for Mommy.) I'm actually not sure if it counts as sleeping if she starts grunting in her sleep, I take her out of bed, feed her, put her back into her bed, and she remains mostly asleep throughout the process...If that DOES count as sleeping, then she sleeps from 8-5 most nights, eating every 2 hours. (Yup, I'm tired.)
• Dan: Dan has developed a new passion for business-process and motivational information. He's listening to Zig Zigler and Jim Roan, reading "Unstuck," along with a Macroeconomics text and a marketing book. He's also reading a biography on Napoleon, that book "The World Without Us," and a guide to gas engines. ALL FOR FUN. He is reading ALL THE TIME lately, which I think is really cool. This is partly due to the low-volume aspect of this activity, and partly due to the fact that we cancelled cable. I'm not sure we'll turn the TV on again until American Idol starts up. (Okay...I just took what seemed to be an intellectual revolution and ruined it by admitting that we're AI junkies. We can't help it-sorry.) Back to Dan. He's still working very hard, his store is going through some major changes, he is being motivated heavily by his boss to succeed, and he's feeling pretty capable and positive. He continues to amaze me with his skills at his job, as well as his instincts at fatherhood. Dan's such an amazing dad to our little Vi, and I've never seen a grown man become such a puddle of sweetness before. *sigh*
• Me: I left my job, re-joining my step-father's bookkeeping and accounting firm as a Senior Consultant. I provide bookkeeping and consulting services to a widely varied clientele in Maine, performing an also-widely varied set of services. I get to keep my some-at-home and some-away-from-home schedule, which is key. I'm working about 30 hours a week right now, trying to increase that bit by bit. Vi is up and alert and in need of play-time more every day, so we will probably be needing a "mother's helper" on my at-home days. All in all, it's really nice to be back at my old job, doing what I love, and being able to keep my family life as my #1 priority.

Other stuff:

• We celebrated Thanksgiving with the Cape Elizabeth contingent for the first half of the day, and the Cumberland gang the second half.
• Random family news: Jasper is back at sea, somewhere in the Pacific. Jamie is back from Italy. JD and Steph are moving back to New England. Tim and Amy got a bird.
• We bought a video camera and started filming Vi as she grows and changes.
• We have emptied & re-filled her bureau with larger clothes, since she keeps gettin taller! She's wearing 9-month outfits already.
• We put up a beautiful Christmas tree in the back of the kitchen, and watched Vi become all wide-eyed at the pretty lights.
• We've been enjoying the incredibly snowy December!
• Christmas - we did our usual thing, spreading ourselves rather thinly and paying for it in energy. To Cape Elizabeth, to Cumberland, to South Portland on Christmas Eve and Christmas day. Vi was a bit fussy for Christmas Eve in CE, but slept through most of the evening in Cumbie. Christmas Day she was a wonder-baby--happy, cooing, laughing, napping amongst us, and just being cute-cute-cute. She was especially funny with my sister, snickering and hunching over to giggle as they played. Her cousing-the-dog Lucy really liked her, and she got to see all of her aunts & uncs and most of her grandparents. She even got to meet her great-grandfather, Popps, who is 92. Dan drove to & from NY to pick him up on Sunday, and is bringing him home (right now). Everyone was so generous with gifts for Vi. She has so many new clothes now! They are so adorable, too. Plus, she has quite a few new toys. My sister brought home boxes of hand-me-downs and toys for her, so her bureau is full, her toy box is full, AND we still have to go through the brand-new clothes she received yesterday. She's a very fortunate little girl.

Things are good, as you can see. We're all very tired, but I can honestly say that I'm happier than I've ever been in my life. And this whole "motherhood" thing is so much better than I expected.

Oh, and 12 days until Birthday. :-)

Home again, home again! Jiggety-jig!

We made it home safely today. Having made the longer (against the headwinds) trip TO Nevada on Monday made the slightly shorter (with the headwinds, no delays, less of a layover) trip back HOME! to MAINE! even easier. Vi was, once again, Wonder Baby on the plane - hardly any fussing at all, lots of giggles, and plenty of compliments from the other passengers. Dan and I were remarking on how we feel so accomplished, successful-so CAPABLE, after making this trip. Like, we flew across the country with an infant without killing each other; therfore, we can do ANYTHING.

(Not that we will. We're pretty beat.)

We had the best Welcome Home ever. My mother picked us up at the airport, and my stepfather was at our house cooking us dinner. They helped us unload the car, change the baby, get settled; they fed us, did the dishes, then left. It was great. Coming home to a warm house, lit-up, with a fresh-cooked meal aroma floating through the house, and having two extra sets of hands to help us come home.

Plus, Riley was full of H&K (Hugs and Kisses) for both of us. When Vi saw him, she smiled so widely, and kicked her feet. THAT was cool. Apparently she knows Riley and enjoys his silliness and stinky kisses.

Right now, she is swaddled up (albeit in her smoky-smelling swaddle blanket), in her swing, sighing as she sleeps quite soundly.

We had a great time in Vegas. It was so nice to get away, especially to a warmer place, just as the weather here is turning frigid.

But it is always, always nice to come home to Maine. We live here by choice, and every time we go somewhere else, we reaffirm that choice. Maine is simply the BEST place to live, and we are so glad to be home.

Busy, busy, busy.

I just wanted to take minute - while I have one - to actually WRITE on this thing. This blog started out as a way to communicate to my loved ones about this wonderful, amazing, huge thing that was happening to Dan and me - the beginning of our family. Lately, there have been fewer and fewer stories posted...mostly just lame captions for the pictures. And today, I feel the need to write, just for the sake of writing.

A few things are contributing to that. You might have noticed that the posting dropped off when Vi was born, then took another dive when I went back to work. I can't describe how busy I have been for the last three months...only those who have been through it can truly understand. It's not just working 30-plus hours a week. It's not just feeding, changing, swaddling, putting to sleep a miniature person. It's not just doing laundry, dishes, sanitizing bottles, sweeping up new-animal-sized furballs from the floor. It's not just trying to find some time to sit quietly with my husband to look at each other - really, truly look at each other in the eyes and remember how this all got started, let alone hear about each other's day. It's so much more than that. It's the most exhausting and rewarding experience I've ever had.

Now, don't get me wrong. I don't actually DO all of those things I just listed! I think about them, though. I have always had a constant "To Do" list running through my head. Maybe it's some sort of anxiety disorder, maybe I'm just domestically ambitious. Who knows. Things that Must Be Done - dishes, laundry, grocery shopping - get done by Dan and/or me. Sometimes by both of us, but that's usually not a good scenario. It's less like teamwork than a battle of wits. And, since we are both quite sleep-deprived, our wits are in short supply lately.

What's my typical day like? Well, I feel like it starts at night, actually. When I finally climb in bed, the work begins. Vi is still up frequently at night (not an invitation for sleep-training advice, thank you very much), needing to eat. She'll usually sleep four hours for the first stretch, the first hour of which I most often spend getting ready for bed - brushing teeth, washing face, taking vitamins, loading the dishwasher. Then I get in bed and sleep for about 3 hours until I hear her stirring in the bassinet next to our bed.

Sidenote: This is the same bassinet I slept in as a baby. I think that' so cool.

She'll eat for about 20 minutes, without truly waking up. Back to the bassinet she goes, and I try to fall back asleep. This is usually 1 or 2 am. She'll be up again by 4 am, hungry. I'll feed her again (or elbow Dan until he gets up and gives her a bottle). She stirs around 5, then 6. I'll usually bring her into bed at this point, and just let her eat and sleep as she pleases, snuggled up next to me, side-lying. Now, I'm trying to sleep at this point, but it is impossible to get any real recuperative sleep with someone nibbling on your person, and mumbling the whole time. "Mmm, mmm, mmm," she says. Plus she looks so sweet all snuggled up in bed with me

Dan will usually get up and change her diaper at 6 or 6:30, leaving me in bed for a "power nap." Yes, I get three hours, then two hours, then 20 minutes of sleep a night right now. I had no idea how true sleep deprivation felt before. I used to get an annual bout of insomnia, every January, for about two weeks. That doesn't hold a candle to this. And if it did, I'd blow it out and yell, "Can't you see we're trying to sleep here!!! LIGHTS OUT!!!"

Morning is tag-team with the babe. Between the two of us, the animals get fed and let out, breakfast and coffee gets made (decaf for me), we both get a shower (on my public days...on my work-at-home days I might smell a bit, but my office-mate doesn't seem to mind), our bags get packed (I look like a pack animal most days - laptop, lunch bag, briefcase, breast pump), Vi gets fed again, another diaper change, and out the door for one of us.

We're very fortunate that our work schedules allow the last part of that run-on sentence: "one of us." Vi is either with me, Dan, or Grammy every day. I work 20 hours in-office (MWF), 10 hours at home (T, TH). Dan has Mondays off, so I work a long day. Wednesdays we each work a half day and literally tag-team. When I get home at 1, Vi needs to eat, Dan has made me lunch, we do the "when did she last poop-pee-eat-sleep" run-down, then tag, I'm it...wait, don't forget to kiss me good-bye. We do try to not forget that step; it's an important one. Fridays Grammy comes to the house and works from our kitchen table while taking care of Vi.

How cool is that? I wish I had the chance to hang out with my grandmother every week. I got to talk to my paternal grandmother at least once a week, which was so nice. I'll put some stories about her up eventually. After all, Vi is her namesake. (That's right - Vi is named after her, therefore Vi is my grandmother's namesake. It's not backwards. Look it up.)

On my three in-office days, I drive to work, listening to music, singing along, usually in a hurry because it took longer than expected to get out of the house. I get the mail, then head into the office to work as a bookkeeper-marketing director-technical consultant. I really enjoy what I do, especially the bookkeeping piece. It's a nice, small company, and I like the people with whom I work. Still, it's hard to leave Vi to go there. I can't imagine how hard it is for women who hate their jobs to leave their children in child-care. I'm very fortunate to have the ability to work from home some, to have Vi with family the rest of the time.

On my at-home days, I work about 5 or 6 hours over a 7-hour stretch, breaking to take care of Vi. We usually have a doctor's appointment or somewhere to be in the afternoon, and if we don't we'll take a nice long walk together after I'm all done with work. IT IS DELIGHTFUL. My breaks aren't interruptions of my work, they are welcome moments of time spent, just my daughter and me.

Well, she's waking up, in need of some Mama time, and I've probably bored you enough. Just know that I would love to be telling you all of her funny stories, all of the cool things she's doing every day. I'll try to find more time to do that in the future! I hope I can, because she is very sweet and funny and ever-changing.

3 Months Old on Halloween

Vi turned 3 months yesterday! I can hardly believe that much time has gone by. It's now been a year since this whole thing got started.

Our little flower girl at the "Blossoming Little Monsters" party. Some of the girls from the new mothers' class (Blossoming Newborns) got together with the babes last night. We left (one of us was melting down) before the group photo. Hopefully I'll get a copy so I can post it.

Child #2

(He's an angel)

Child # 1

(No explanation needed, especially if you've ever been graced by Mitten's charm)

Am I done yet? Please?

Naked baby, bustin' out of her swaddle.

Nothin' like a little naked time followed by a snuggly swaddle to calm a fussy baby.

Vi dressed up as a cat for Halloween.
Pretty convincing costume, eh?

Okay, it's Mitten, Child #1, wearing some of Vi's summer clothes that she never got to wear. She out-grew so many outfits, plus it got colder, earlier than I expected. I couldn't bear to put all of the unworn outfits (hand-me-downs included) without seeing how cute one of my daughters looked in them.

Tummy time!

Bright eyes. So sweet.

She's been laughing a lot lately, especially in the morning. How is it possible that I gave birth to a morning person?!? I think Dan must be sneaking her caffeine.

The big news in our world is that we're going to Las Vegas! Dan won a sales contest at work, and gets to represent his district on a mostly-leisure trip next week. It's a trip for two, so I finally get to visit Sin City! Vi is coming with us, as a good luck charm. We're staying at the Monte Carlo for the company portion of the trip, then crashing at Dan's sister's house in the area. This will - believe it or not - be the first time she and I have met!

We're hoping that Vi will bring us luck, and we'll be able to turn our $20 gambling budget into enough money to be stay-at-home parents.

Or, at least, enough to buy more diapers.