C vs. Spaghetti Squash

The other day we had spaghetti squash for lunch and I assumed that C wouldn't really be able to handle it well enough to eat it.

Apparently, she thought otherwise and squealed and wiggled and fussed in her seat until I tossed some onto her tray.

The girl tore it up. 

 She alternated between trying to cram it into her mouth as fast as she could and trying to figure out why it was stuck all over her.

And of course I took pictures.  Apparently, lots of parents take pictures of their kids' first experiences with spaghetti.  We didn't have spaghetti, but these pictures get the same feel, I think.

She cracks me up.

Hey Germs, GO AWAY!

I am sick to death of winter.

And I want to punch a germ in the head.

We are coming out of one of the worst bouts of sickness we've had around here.  And it was only one person.  Bean woke up on Thursday night at about 1am wheezing and coughing and saying, "Mommy, I can't BREATHE!  My chest hurts!" 

Um, can we say scary?

It was insane.  Luckily, we had some medicine from the last bout of bronchiolitis that she ended up with and that helped a bit.  It was still hairy though...  the medicine wasn't working for as long so she was up more often. 

Anyway, we rushed right to the doctor's first thing in the morning and he diagnosed her with a severe case of bronchiolitis and an ear infection.  The poor kid had more meds than I knew what to do with.  But they knocked out her chest congestion and the ear infection and she's on the mend.

Thankfully.  Because the combination of some of her medicine and an extreme lack of sleep made for a very, very difficult kid.  And that?  That made for a very crazy mommy.  (Yes, people... crazier than normal).  Usually, when she's sick, I have more patience than the average duck because when you're sick?  It's pretty crummy.  And you're not usually feeling your most cooperative.  But this?  This was preschooler gone wrong.  It was awful.  So I'm glad my sunny girl is back.  I don't know if the Crazy made me appreciate the good kid more, but these last two days with her have been awesome.  She's a fun kid :)

Anyway, the long and short of it?  Germs stink.  And I will be back to my regular posting craziness sometime tomorrow. 

Happy Tuesday :)

Question...

So...  I have a question...

How on earth do you stay organized and keep your houses relatively neat in the day to day? 

Maybe it's me being dead tired with two small kids and one on the way that makes it so darn difficult to keep my life in order, but whatever it is, it's frustrating the heck out of me not being able to get things done.

And I know that when this new one comes, it's not going to get easier. 

So, that's where you guys come in!  Help a woman out and give me your best tips to keeping things neat and organized.  It doesn't matter if you have kids or not.  Or for that matter, it definitely doesn't matter if you're neat.  I know everyone has ways to keep some aspect of their lives somewhat organized.  My hope is that perhaps, maybe, um, possibly I can compile enough great tips that I'll make progress.

Because some progress is better than no progress.  

Help!

CJ

I'm working on a post from our outing to the park the other day and came across this picture.

It's not the world's greatest picture or anything and I wish I could have gotten an angle to really light up her blue eyes, but I love it all the same.  It's so very, very... well... her!

And since I can't resist... here are a few more from the same spot:

 

  

Maybe, just maybe, this will make up for the embarrassing lack of pictures from her 9 month update.  

While the spring weather was short lived, I think it was enough to jump start me back into life for awhile.  

It's The Little Things

Like 70 degree weather in February.

Or grocery store trips with a toddler who insists on wearing her cowboy hat.  Sideways.

 

And staying in the car in front of the grocery store for a full 10 minutes just to crack up with C who erupted in giggles every time Bean hiccuped.

Or getting down on the floor and pretending to be a monster while chasing both kids and cracking up in a pile when we're all worn out.

Or dinner time with a baby who is inevitably getting a bath anyway, so who cares what she ends up "wearing"

  

 It's naps with the breeze floating through the open window.

It's green grapes fresh from the fridge.  

It's snuggles from a cranky baby who's still cute despite the crankiness.

 

 It's the little things that make the big difference.

C - 9.5 Month Update

Dear C,

Best news ever:  You're finally, finally growing.  Between your 8 month weigh in at the doctor's and the 9 month checkup, you gained a pound and 6 ounces.  That officially puts you back onto the percentile charts at a whopping 10%.  Woot!

Seriously though, I cared very little about where you fit in relation to every other 9 month old in the world, but I did care a lot about making sure you gained some chunk.

And happily, you did.

That's not without its own bittersweet points though.  In order to get you to start eating more, I stopped nursing you and switched you to a bottle.  We came to the conclusion that you were most likely nursing only long enough to take the edge off of your hunger and then wanting to get down and play again.  Even if we were in total silence in a dark room, you'd sense that something was going on somewhere in the world and with your face pressed into me, you weren't seeing it.  So you'd pull off, grin at me, and try to roll away.  You're still ridiculously hard to feed with a bottle, but at least I can follow your mouth and get some calories into you.

But I miss nursing.  You were a champ from the get-go, nursing right away and with vigor.  You grew steadily for many, many months and continued to thrive.  And then you realized there was a world going on behind your back and you struggled through wanting to be part of it and wanting to... well, you know, eat.  I think we've hit the best of both worlds.  I still get lots of snuggles while giving a bottle, and you finally get the food you need.

It's been hard, though... sorting through the feelings that I was in some way at fault for your crazy weight issues of the last month.  I know that there are a million factors at play and it was never like I refused to do what was best for you on the basis of what I wanted at the time.  But it's still hard.

However, you're not only growing, you're blossoming.  Your personality, which was already pretty sweet and funny, is gaining more depth.  You know how to work a room and can casually start smiling and waving until you have everyone's attention.  Then you'll laugh or coo or make some noise to let us all know it was absolutely on purpose.  Cracks me up.

You're crawling everywhere.  EVERYWHERE.  I love walking out of a room, (when you're in a good mood), and hearing you snuffle and babble as you shuffle towards me.  Every once an awhile, you'll look up with a huge grin as if to say, "Try and stop me!"   Don't worry, I won't when you're coming my way.  It's when you're headed to the kitchen to attack the dog bowl or the trash can that I use my handy-dandy relocating arms to scoop you up.  If I can't get to you right away, I'll call you and say "No, no C!"  And you grin, shake your head no, and head right back to what you were doing.  But at least I can get you to stall.

I guess I'm so used to you being one particular size that now that you're growing, I'm unable to appropriately estimate how far to put things to keep them out of your reach.  Which is how I ended up with a full glass of ice water on my lap last night.  Nice.

You're regularly say "Mama" and "Baba"  (Which alternately means bottle and bye-bye), and have started saying "Dog!"  I think you're far more focused on trying to get into things than you are about naming them.  I love the difference.  (Well... I love that you're different... you sure keep me busy otherwise).

Anyway, may you keep growing and getting into mischief.  I wouldn't trade it for anything.

Love you, my little munchkin,

Mama

P.S.  I have NO pics of this month.  Nada.  None.  Because every time I went to get my camera, I'd forget that I'd forgotten that I didn't charge the battery.  Situation remedied.  I'll make up for it, I swear.

A New Layout Shoutout

By the way, if you're digging my new three column layout, it's definitely not of my doing.  I sat down to try to get it to work and an hour and a half later, I had pulled out some of my hair, shouted strange things at space, and gone nearly cross-eyed from the effort. 

My lovely and hilarious friend Amy from Flexible Dreams took over my blog one night and whipped it into shape.  The blog now calls her "Master."  Seriously.

I have some tweaks to do with the photos, especially in the sidebar, where the only semi-recent photo of me is of my bowling face, which is more funny than anything.  And the pic of Bean in the snow?  Not really all that spring-like.  And hello, if we're not getting snow, winter can kiss my toe.

Ahem.  Moving along now. 

Thanks Amy!  You're the best!