Better

I am much better today. After three nights of insomnia due to sickness, I was able to sleep last night. Except for the FOUR TIMES Audrey woke up to nurse. I don't know what her problem was, since she usually only wakes up once or twice. She better be back to normal tonight.

Despite that, I feel much improved today and expect to feel even better tomorrow. I still don't have much of a voice, which does make it hard to deal with the girls at times. I can't yell at Maggie or sing to Audrey, two things I've discovered are important for maintaining sanity around here.

Pharyngitis

Robert has pointed out that I don't actually have a sinus infection; I was diagnosed with pharyngitis, which is an infecition of the phayrnx and/or tonsils. My throat feels much better today and my sinus congestion is improved, but my cough is worse and I feel terrible--weak and sleepy and useless. My mom has been doing almost all the childcare for me.

Girl likes to eat!

Today was only her third time trying solid food, but Audrey showed a lot of enthusiasm for her cereal today. She craned her head forward for each bite, slurped the cereal from the spoon, made happy smacking noises, and then made impatient noises when I wasn't fast enough with the next spoonful. She also liked holding the spoon herself.

Misery, part 2

I am slightly less miserable today. Mainly it's because I have hope. I went to Urgent Care yesterday and was diagnosed with a sinus infection and given a prescription for antibiotics. I am very hopeful that they'll kick in today or tomorrow and make me feel much better.

In the meantime, the misery continues. I have almost completely lost my voice, which makes it hard (impossible) to do normal things like read to Maggie or tell her to stop yanking on Audrey's feet. Luckily my mom came over for a while this morning, and now I have both girls asleep (huzzah!), and my mom is coming back this afternoon.

Misery

I am a ball of misery. Misery is my first, middle and last name. If you looked up misery in the dictionary, you'd find a picture of me surrounded by crumpled tissues and cough drop wrappers.

The girls seem to be doing better today, but I'm worse. I kept running a fever last night (up to 102), which kept me from sleeping. I never can sleep when I need it most. I probably only got 2 hours last night. Today I'm dragging around the house with a horribly sore throat, congestion, sore ears, chest cough, chills and sweats, and additional sundry signs of MISERY.

Audrey is 5 months old

I may be sick, but I'm never too sick to dress up my baby in a pretty outfit and take pictures! Happy 5-month birthday to Audrey Elizabeth!

Sniff, cough, bleah

What started as a sneeze and a sniffle has developed into a full-blown miserable cold for Maggie, Audrey and me. Maggie has been running a fever off and on, but no other symptoms. Audrey has been congested and coughing. I'm congested with a sore throat, and I ran a fever last night and couldn't sleep. Super fun! As usual, Robert was congested for five minutes and then felt fine.

The only thing saving me is my Taylor's of Harrogate loose leaf Scottish Breakfast tea. A big cup of that and I feel almost human.

Yesterday I managed to get up a few Christmas decorations before I started feeling terrible. I really want to get the rest up today. It's going to take a lot of tea and Sudafed to get the job done.

Success!

Our Thanksgiving was a joyful one. It is Robert's favorite holiday, so he pulled out all the stops with his turkey-dinner-hat and carving skills. I managed to successfully roast the turkey...and okay, I admit it...it was easy. No complaining next year, I promise!


You can see the rest of the photos on Shutterfly.

Best of all, if I do say so myself, was my scrumptious apple pie with fresh whipped cream. Yum.

But best of all was gathering together with family and friends to give thanks and enjoy the abundance of food and good company. Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Where's the candy?

For the first time since Halloween, which was what--more than three weeks ago?--Maggie peered into her pumpkin bucket (sitting in her toy cabinet all this time) and asked "Where candy?" I said "It's all gone." Then she got frantic: "Where candy go? Where Maggie candy??" She thought about it for a second, and said "Ryan candy. Ryan the candy." I'm not sure if this meant "Ryan took my candy" or maybe "Ryan didn't get his candy either," but it seemed to settle the issue.

This is why I blog

In addition to the cute stories and photos of the girls, sometimes there are random incidents that beg to be described. Today my mom came over to babysit and I went out for a precious two hours by myself. I went to Old Town (for out-of-towners, this is the strip of Pasadena where the Rose Parade marches through) to get my nails done and hit a couple shops. I observed several interesting moments:

• A young couple walking by. The girl said to the guy, "You know who has really big boobs? Your mom." The guy said, "Yeah."
  
• Twice I saw what appeared to be a teenage girl from behind. Fit body, funky hair, sparse and trendy clothes. Both times I was horrified when I caught a view of the face and realized they were actually 50-something women with suntanned wrinkles and a palpable air of desperation. Pasadena is insulated from much of L.A.'s ridiculousness, but sometimes it does creep in.
• I went to Crate & Barrel with the express purpose of buying one $3 item. I somehow walked out with $70 worth of stuff. Lesson learned: Don't go to Crate & Barrel when I have cooking/entertaining on my mind.
• I was walking past the side door of the new Tiffany store just as the Brinks truck pulled up and two guards got out to drop off money or diamonds or something. When they saw I was going to cross their path, they froze and put their hands on their guns, and watched me suspiciously until I walked past. I felt very important.
  
• As I was leaving the parking structure, the attendant who took my $2 was reading a book called "How to Write for Television." Again, L.A. seeps in.

Hanging out

Another quiet (s l o w) morning at home. I haven't had much luck restricting TV today. Maggie has been throwing tantrums every time a show ends. I've succeeded in distracting her a couple of times, but I've given in a couple times too. I know, I know, bad parenting. Ugh. It would probably help to leave the house, but it takes so much energy to take both of them out. Maybe I should take them to McDonald's for lunch, and trade one parenting sin for another.

While not watching TV or throwing tantrums, the girls have been playing with these big shiny leaves that Laurel sent.

TV guilt

We are making a concerted effort to cut back on Maggie's TV viewing. I am too embarrassed to admit how much she normally watches. Partially it's because she loves it so much and it's hard to deny her something she begs for. Partially it's because it gives me precious time to take care of Audrey or clean or blog. But also partially it happens because I'm tired and lazy.

So far today, I've succeeded in distracting her away from the TV several times. The hard part is that other activities go by so quickly! We did a craft project, sang songs, read all the Christmas books, talked endlessly about Santa Claus and Baby Jesus, played with Audrey, did laundry, ate second-breakfast at the table...and still only half the morning was gone. I guess I need more ideas for how to occupy the hours. If you have suggestions, post them here. If you want to assure me that TV won't rot my children's brains, I'd like to hear that too.

In the meantime, enjoy some Audrey:

Enough with the heat!

It's Thanksgiving week and it's 89 degrees today in Pasadena. Come on! I like it sunny, but this is ridiculous. I had to get out our summer clothes to find something to wear to the Doo Dah Parade in Old Town. Sadly the parade was a bit of a disappointment. We stood in the sun for almost two hours just to see a few goofy entries walk by. Audrey fell asleep in the bjorn and Maggie was falling asleep in Robert's arms, so we left before the parade was over.

Talking turkey

There is a frozen 17-pound turkey in my refrigerator. I am normally not an anxious person, but I am building up an unhealthy dose of anxiety about this beast. I've never cooked a turkey before. In previous years I have either ordered a pre-cooked turkey from Bristol Farms or Whole Foods, or let my brother Bob do the roasting.

Please don't bother telling me how "easy" it is to roast a turkey. I made the mistake of asking around for advice, and kept hearing variations on a theme:

"The turkey is sooo easy! First, I brine it in a mixture of salt, brown sugar and 12 secret spices for 48 hours before cooking. I use a special brining pail. It won't fit in my fridge, so I put it in a cooler and keep adding ice. Nothing could be simpler!"

"The turkey is sooo easy! First, I stuff it. I just use box stuffing! Well, first I saute onions, celery and apples to add to the stuffing along with extra spices. Then I stuff the turkey and rub it with butter and olive oil. Then I roast it at a high temperature for 15 minutes, then I lower the temperature and turn the bird over. Then I just baste it every so often with herb-infused butter. After roasting, I remove the turkey from the pan, scrape up the bits and mix up a roux with homemade stock for gravy. Nothing could be simpler!"

Um...yeah.

Never a dull moment

An odd side effect of being a busy parent is forgetting to do the most basic things, like drink water. I tend to go long stretches without drinking anything, then suddenly become overcome with terrible thirst. It doesn't help that I'm producing upwards of 32 ounces of breastmilk a day for the big, hungry, spitting-up Audrey.

Anyway, I was hit with a mountain of thirst a few minutes ago, spied a glass of water sitting on the counter, grabbed it and started gulping. Then I saw THE ANTS. The ants all over the glass, inside and out. I ran to the sink to spit out what was in my mouth and frantically started rinsing my mouth and face. I tried not to focus on the little ant bodies that actually came out of my own mouth.

Meanwhile Maggie laughed hysterically, this fabulous deep belly laugh, and kept saying "silly mommy! silly mommy!"

Christmastime is (almost) here

Margaret is obsessed with Christmas. It's my own fault--I wanted to get her excited about it and start educating her about the important points, so we got out a few books and started talking about what Christmas means and the ways people celebrate. Now all she wants to do is read her Christmas books over and over and talk about Santa Claus and Rudolph and Baby Jesus. Anyone who knows me knows I LOVE Christmas, so this is not exactly a hardship. If I can replace Dora with Rudolph and Little People with Christmas carols for a while, I'll be happy!

Maggie and Ryan, sittin' in a tree...

Legoland

I finally got the photos uploaded so I can share the pictorial of our trip to Legoland yesterday. It was awesome! Maggie was able to ride a bunch of great little rides, and even Audrey was able to do a few (in the bjorn). Maggie didn't have a nervous bone in her body. She loved every ride, including a helicopter ride that went pretty high. Robert admitted that he was a little nervous being that high, but Maggie was thrilled. Now I am seriously excited about taking her to Disneyland! We need to plan a trip soon.

Below are a sample of photos. You can see the rest on Shutterfly.




The blog world has entered the real world. A long-time online fan of the girls, Vanessa, spotted us at Legoland! (See comments on the blonde-deborah post.) She and I have exchanged a couple emails marvelling over the coincidence. It's a small world after all. I guess it makes sense that it would happen at a place where Manhattan is only 30 feet wide.

Playing in the backyard.

Life is good.

So is the weather. We're having 70-degree sunny days here.

Will I have more fun? Will gentlemen prefer me?

Cuties

Maggie & Ryan, thick as thieves:

Audrey, Maggie & Ryan, taking a TV and finger-sucking break:

Cuteness of the day

Maggie stood on our bathroom scale this morning, studied the numbers, and then said to me, "Mommy, I measure my feet!"

Less is...less

Yesterday during my shopping spree, I was lured in by a kiosk at the mall selling ceramic hair straightening irons. The salesgirl, May, offered to straighten my hair. I accepted. As she started sectioning my hair and running the iron along the strands, she said something that sounded like "Your hair is blessed." I thought it a curious thing to say, yet kind of nice. Maybe the manager told her to compliment every customer's hair, and she got tired of words like "pretty" and "clean"? Maybe she's a spiritual person and she detected something special about my hair? Maybe she was straightening my hair in the sign of the cross?

Not being sure how to respond, I tried the all-purpose "Pardon me?" She said in a louder voice, "Your hair is less. You have less hair."

I should have quit while I was ahead. It was so pleasant when she was blessing my hair instead of insulting it.

Oddly, I bought the iron. My hair may be less, but it's really really straight.

Shop till you drop (or spit up)

Maggie spent the day with my inlaws, so Audrey and I had a full day on our own. We left the house at 9:30 and didn't get home till almost 6. I can't do an entire day out with Maggie, so it was kind of fun for a change.

First we went to the MOMS Club meeting, then out to lunch, then to the mall to shop, and finally a quick stop at Ross to check for things I can't afford not to buy. Many purchases were made, much walking was done, and of course, much spitting up occurred as well. But Audrey had a great time and did a lot of giggling and squealing up at me from her comfortable stroller seat.

Everything is relative. Being with one girl seems so easy compared to being with both. It makes me wonder how I ever felt tired/grumpy/stressed when I only had one kid! Robert likes to remind me that when we have three children, I'll look back on these halcyon days of only two little ones and think I had it sooo easy. I'm sure he's right.

Why?

Why does Audrey spit up more than seems humanly possible?

Why does she keep spitting up on her playmat and then rolling her face in it?

Why does my kitchen smell weird, even though I keep cleaning it and throwing away stuff from the fridge?

Why doesn't the Little People DVD have a "continuous play" option?

Why, when it's three weeks till Thanksgiving, am I starting to stress about Christmas?

Why do I keep wondering how I would look as a blonde?

Sunday

Maggie was so proud to put on her Hello Kitty pack-back this morning for church. It was stocked with a spare diaper and a sippy cup full of water, which I strongly suspect the nursery attendants promptly pour out and replace with straight apple juice. The attendants are great and love Maggie, and they always bribe her with Goldfish, juice and painting. Today she even cried when it was time to go home!


Audrey on the other hand has entered the no-baby's land of being a little too young for the nursery (in my opinion anyway) and a little too old to sit quietly through church. We sat in the back pew as usual, and I nursed her as usual, but she still managed to scream during (1) The sermon (2) The affirmation of faith and (3) A hymn. Finally Robert took her to the nursery for the last part of the service.

Haircut & playground

The other day, I got my hair cut for the first time in five months. It cost me $68, but if you only get your hair cut twice a year that's not bad. I just wish I could style it the way my hairdresser Nora does. Sadly, I'm a moron with a round brush. I always take photos of myself after a haircut so I can refer back to them next time I'm due for a cut. Maggie thought it was funny that Mommy was smiling like a dork and taking pictures of herself, so I grabbed her for this self portrait.



Yesterday was "Park Day" for MOMS Club, so I took the girls to the playground and met up with a bunch of other moms and kids. I lugged Audrey in the bjorn and chased Maggie up and down the equipment for over two hours. Maggie LOVES the slides--there are at least 6 slides at this playground and she did all of them multiple times. I slid down a couple times with Audrey in the bjorn, and I think she liked it.

The Mask of Zorro

We're on a roll! There's another new review over at Reviews of Movies I Didn't See.

Lakers

Robert and I went to the Lakers' first home game last night at the Staples Center. We are now the proud owner of season tickets (shared with three other couples). Some fair weather fans (Gina) have mocked us for wanting the tickets. Sure, we can all feel nostalgic for the old Jackson/Bryant(pre-felony)/O'Neill/Fox(especially when he kept his hair nice and short)/Fisher days, but the Lakers need us now more than ever. Plus, we've been on the waiting list a couple years and the spot finally opened up. Gotta get in there now so we can start moving down from the nosebleed seats as we build up seniority.


It was fun. We drank $10 plastic cups of beer, joked around with the people sitting next to us, made fun of a couple we smugly noticed were more uptight than we were, and tried to start a new trend of not just boo-ing when the opposing team makes foul shots, but also hissing, vaudeville style.

Things for you to look at today

If you want to see MORE of what Maggie and Audrey have been up to, here are 40 photos from the month of October.

And, there's a new review for Chicken Little up on Reviews of Movies I Didn't See. It's a good one.

Compare the Hair

Audrey seems to have slightly more hair at this age than Maggie did. What do you think?

Maggie, 4 months old:

Audrey, 4 months old:

Pretend

I love observing Margaret's pretend play. I didn't expect to see so much of it at this young age. She especially does a lot of pretending with her Little People toys. During one session this morning, she had the people take turns to ride on the train; when one person fell off a building, she comforted him; she announced when it was time for people to go to sleep and put them to bed in the farm; she had several animals gather round a tiny table for a birthday party, announced "Happy birthday Horse!" and then said they were all "drawing and painting."

When I sit on the floor to play or read with Maggie, I often have Audrey sit in my lap so she can watch everything. She loves watching her big sister play, and she's starting to seem more interested in books too. Maggie is pretty good about sharing her toys with Audrey. When I encourage her, she will bring a few toys over for Audrey to hold and look at.