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First off, Happy Birthday G-ma! (in case I forget to call later). I'm still trucking along with my cold. It's better-ish. I feel like I have an ear infection now. :( I'm still coughing up lots of stuff (pretty) and I still have loads of snot. This has been a really awful cold. hmpf! So far Lily hasn't exhibited any signs of it.

I know I haven't written in a few days. I've been really drained. I had some errands to run on Thursday and then met a friend for lunch and Lily and I crashed when we got home and didn't get up until 4:30! Oh well. We're kind of bohemian with our sleeping schedules. Yes, I know, the more I stick to a routine, the better for her. But I do have a bad cold, you know! Not that I'm defensive about it or anything.

So, yeah, onto the macaroons. They kind of made me sick. All that coconut isn't good, apparently. Lily didn't like them. I did like them, but after eating a few of them (over a couple of days, thank you) I got some "eat no more!" signals from my body. The stomach cramps were a sure sign. Sigh. I guess I'll stick with my ginger snaps. :) And, no, the pictures aren't all that exciting but I did recharge the batteries and it does prove that Lily is still alive and kicking and opening up her daddy's deodorant. And that she loves her bracelet that g-ma got her. :)

Let's see, I haven't written in a while so there has to be something else... Oh when I was downtown, I did see someone get attacked! ack! I heard the swearing first and then I saw a younger shorter man pushing an older taller man, whilst swearing. Then he slammed him up against the window of a local gallery. I saw the glass ripple and was very glad it didn't give. Lily and I were in the car and pulling into a garage but I got my cell phone out. By the time I found a spot, the police were on the scene. But it made me feel sick to my stomach to see the violence. There was a woman there too, trying to get the younger man to stop. I heard her screaming when I was trying to find parking, which sort of added to my unease. They must have known each other because if someone started pushing me, I'd be pushing back! Anyway, I hope everyone's okay and back on their medication.

I did weed out the flowerbed today. For 45 minutes! And I burned over 400 calories! I like using the calorie calculator thingie. I know it's not exact but when I'm tired and I know I should go out wash the car. I'll look up the calories I could burn and be all, woohoo! Did that make sense? I took some ibuprofen but my ear is still throbbing. Sigh. I guess I'll be going to the doctor's office this week. :P

Anyway, Lily has become so active and amazing. Oh dear, Lily is stripping... I think she wants to run around the house naked. Nope, just a poop. :)

Macaroons

G-pa likes coconut. G-pa is also the man who has (almost) everything. So we tend to give him coconut macaroons (are there other types of macaroons?) for celebrations. Now, I'm not sure that he likes them, but I've been told that he won't share them with anyone. I tried to get one for Lily the last time we were there, but g-pa held out on us. So fine.

I went to Whole Foods today and bought my own macaroons. I'm not a huge fan of coconut but I do like to expand my culinary horizons. Holy smokes. They are some dense little cookies. The inside of it is almost custardy. No wonder there aren't any sharesies.

Lily cried a lot at the doctor's office. The nurse tried to bribe her with candies and chocolate. Once she left the room, Lily stuffed Goobers down her gullet as fast as she could. :) Oh and Lily hasn't gained any weight. She was such a big baby that I think she's slowing down. I don't know, I can't explain what I mean. I'm still feverish!!! Anyway, it looks like she grew 3 inches. She's just shy of 36".

So no, she's not food deprived and I make sure she eats a varied and (mostly) healthy diet. I mean, really, she ate most of my grapefruit yesterday. hmpf She's active and muscular so I think she's okay. But we go back in 3 months instead of 6, just to make sure. I think she's been the same weight since October of last year. Now trust me, I give her full fat milk and occasionally french fries. I guess it could be worse - she could be losing weight.

Oh and also, I know that the measurements are perfect. Lily was crying and squirming and scales can be off. :) So no stress. She's happy (now that she's home) and healthy and that's all you can ask for. :)

UPDATE: After her bath tonight, I measured Lily against the wall. She's just shy of 34 and a half inches. It's hard to get an accurate reading at the doctor's office when she's squirming and crying.

Sick of being Sick

I felt positively perky this morning. Compared to how I've felt the last couple of days. But as I set out on my errands I could feel how weak I still am. I kept on dropping things at Whole Foods. I finally just slowed down. People will live if they have to wait an extra second for me to grab my milk! And man, groceries really hit home this week. Price-wise. Rice has gone up, wheat has gone up. What else is there??? I guess I'm going to have to learn how to cook with corn meal. :)

I'm killing time until Lily's doctor appointment. She's snoozing and I'm sure she'll not be too happy to be going there. Sigh. At least it will be a good time to ask the doctor what I can do for Lily should she fall sick. Cuz, I never remember.

Feed a cold

Right? Feed a cold and starve a fever? I have one of the best fed colds, evah. I just had sausage gravy and biscuits for breakfast. mmm mmm I didn't get a lot of sleep again last night. I'm just too miserable to sleep. It's so weird. I even took a Nyquil-wannabe. My nose is plugged solid, my chest is full of phlegm (so it's hard to breathe) and I won't even go into the pressure in my head. I know, I know. There are many other things that could be worse. I just rarely get sick these days, and this is a really intense cold, so I'm feeling rather sorry for myself. Lily was lovely and slept in her crib for about 11 hours straight. :)

I don't think I'm going to take her to playgroup today. I would feel awful if I got other moms or their kids sick. Although Lily will miss her play time. Sigh. And no, there are no new Lily pictures. I don't know where the other batteries for the camera are. Seriously, I need to pay that Peter guy from Clean Sweep to come in here, clean up and get us organized.

Anyway, here's a cute baby picture I found on the internet. I think it's from humorupload (hey I don't want to be sued!)

Okay

Just in case some of you read about the tornadoes in Virginia - we're fine. They happened nowhere near us. And I called and checked and g-ma and g-pa are okay too. They're a little closer to the action. :)

Anyway, I'd like to find the person who gave me this head cold. It is vicious. I have been blowing my nose all day. My nose is raw and still plugged up. Well, alright, I do have one side open now, but it took a lot of effort to get there. hmpf And Lily is snuffling. So culprit person, are you proud of yourself???

not so happy

My throat was really sore last night but it's much worse this morning. The poor thing is red and swollen. Sigh. I'm doing my best to wash my hands and not kiss Lily. I'm pretty sure I don't have strep throat - as I just blew out my nose. :) But it's very painful. I slept for the short period of time that I was covered by my Advil. So it's going to be a pretty low key day around our house.

And this one's for M'Lou.

We did watch the Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou. I thought it was hilarious. I really enjoyed it. Anyway, I think I'd best get ready to go and get soup and some sore throat medicine before I lose my coffee buzz. :)

Biter

I don't think I wrote about Lily biting me. I still have a faint mark on my arm. She leaned over, bit me, and then pulled away with my skin still in her teeth! She stopped when I yelled. I think I gave birth to Hannibal Lecter! I can tell that she's asserting herself more. Or, trying to. This morning she didn't want to come and get her diaper changed because she wanted to watch Shaun the Sheep. So tears ensued but we got her on the bed. Then I tried to put her down, so she could go and watch her show. Another shower of tears. So I snuggled her (because she jammed herself up against me) but I asked her about Shaun the Sheep. She said something that sounded vaguely Shuanish and took off. I mean, Really.

Anyhoo, as hot as it was yesterday, Miss Lily brought me her monster slippers to put on her. It's an interesting look, no? Let's see, today we're going over to G-ma and G-pa's house to celebrate a few birthdays. I'm going to try to get to the gym before we go. I really hate doing cardio. But I know it's probably the only way to lose weight. I've tried eating differently. Eating less doesn't work. When I'm hungry, people's lives could be at steak. Ah hahahahaha! Steak, stake, get it? Whatever. You're wondering who the little munchkin is on the right, right? Well, I'll give you a hint. She's the writer of this blog. And that's the only hint you'll get!

Well, I guess I should go and get ready for my day. I really appreciated Lily waking up at 6 this morning. It's only Saturday. Sigh. I might have to have a nap on the way down today. I honestly wake up every few hours to make sure Lily's still on the bed. She and I have been closer since I left. Well, more like, she doesn't want me to leave her sight and refuses to go to sleep without me. She's so cute. When I get home from the gym, she grabs her blankets and makes her way to the bedroom. And yes, that's my mom in the picture. I think this was at the old house, which they sold when I was around 6 months so I was probably that age or a little younger. Doesn't my mom look good for a chick that just gave birth? I'm still working off my baby spare tire.

Enjoy your weekend!

Ugh

I'm still not feeling hot. I think it's allergies but I don't want to pay the specialist to find out! I've been eating local honey and that's helped my headache go away. But apparently I need to eat it several months in advance of the pollen to get some real help. I swear that I can smell the pollen in the air. Sigh. Lily seems a little not herself as well. She rubs her nose like crazy. Sorry kid! I took her to the gym this morning and she started to cry as soon as she saw the building. Sigh. I still took her in and worked out for a whole 5 minutes. I told her I was going away for 5 minutes and then I sneaked back to see if she was still crying. Which she was. I guess I'll not take her for a month to see if she settles down a bit. Pedro and I are trying to work out a way for me to get my time in at the gym without disrupting Lily.

I know that some people might think I'm spoiling her but they can go pound sand. She's my child and I'm raising her the best way that I see fit. I didn't want to have a child, just to tell people I have one, while I'm out bar hopping. I want to be the best parent I can be. And I know there will be some tough lessons she needs to learn (and she's learning some now) about not getting everything she wants and doing the things that mommy and daddy say, I still feel that I should give her the love and attention I think she needs, and not feel guilty about it. Run on sentence, much? :)

Since the gym thing didn't work today, you may have been able to gather that I took Lily to the park instead. She had a pretty good time. I got her to climb up some big kid stairs and go through a tunnel. :) This was her on the drive home. She crashed when I got her down for a nap. :)

Progress = sadness

I'm a little not happy with how things are going in my hood these days. A few acres of trees have been torn down to make way for "villa homes", whatever they are, by the main gate. Pedro and I still can't get used to the bareness. I know that sounds weird but the ground looks naked. Where'd the forest go??? Anyway, so there are other subdivisions going up, the traffic is getting worse, and finally, my favorite pharmacy is closing. I knew a CVS was opening but I was determined to shop at the old place. It's a little more down home country, kind of a thing. Plus I have never had a good experience at CVS. So, I'm kind of wondering if it's still worth it to live out here. There's a 30 minute drive into town, and there's going to be less and less of the peacefulness that drew me here. Pedro and I have started to talk about moving into Charlottesville. I'd have to ask my city peeps about quiet areas. We're not ready to move anytime soon but we're liking this area, less and less.

Although, we are getting a Papa John's pizza soon, and if we could just get a good, GOOD, Chinese restaurant that DELIVERS! I might be able to stay. I heard a few people today talking about how they don't like what's going on either. I know the county is probably thinking about the revenues but I'm worried about the traffic (several people a year die on the local roads), and the infrastructure. We had cutbacks last year because of an almost drought. Can we really afford to put in three or four more subdivisions? How about to take care of the people already living here??? My cats' vet is on the council. He's getting an earful next time I see him!

Too much coffee!

I'm a bit of a caffeine junkie today. I even stopped for a cup on the way to Lily's play group. Which I promptly spilled on myself. Maybe that's why the other mom's liked me better today. I smelled like coffee! ha! I've noticed Lily being a little more clingy since I got back from Canada. And that's okay. So I held her this morning and let her warm up on her own. It didn't take long before she was running around the gym again. It's been so rainy that I wanted to get her out of the house to play, but didn't have so many options.

I'm also getting geared up to get Lily in the other playgroup (as this one is ending soon for the season). It's a Moms Club. They have a mom's night out once a month. There's even a spa night! woot! I tried to take pictures of Lily today with my cell phone but someone was faster than my camera phone. That's okay. :) There was this one little girl who kept on going around stealing the other kids' snacks. I mean, she was brazen about it. She'd grab the crackers and run and hide. She even tried to get Lily's sippy cup, but I don't play that. Although, I did have an extra box of raisins that I gave to a nice little boy (after asking his mom if it was okay!). :)

It's really amazing to watch Lily. Other kids take her toys and she looks around like, hmpf, but she doesn't cry. She tries to share her toys with other kids. The other moms tell me how sweet she is. No, I'm not taking credit. I try to treat her with the respect with which I would like to be treated. Maybe that's brushed off on her, but I think she came out of the baby oven sweet. :) That didn't sound right. More coffee!

Snooze

Both Lily and her daddy are napping right now. I was good and did some tidying up. I also called today to make sure that Revenue Canada got my tax return. They did. whew Hopefully, they agree with my return and send me lots of money back!

It's kind of a "nice" day today. It's about 20 degrees cooler than yesterday. It rained last night so the air is nice and fresh. :) I just don't like it when summer seems to start in April. I remember when I was pregnant and we had a heatwave. I can't remember if the high was 110 or 115F. 104F is around 40C so it was hot. Although, when I was in Vancouver we had the heater set to 19 or 20C and I slept with two feather comforters on me! Last night the house was set to 76F and I still had to sleep with a blanket. :) I think, after nine years, I've finally acclimated! Here's some more cupcake fun.

Cupcake Queen

Well, Betsey Booms was right. Watching a toddler eat a cupcake is pretty entertaining. I finally made it to Chandler's Bakery yesterday. I bought myself a napolean. Then proceeded to make an unholy mess in the car. :) I waited to get home before giving Lily her cupcake. She started slowly. In fact, she made sure that she got every sprinkle that dropped off the top. :) Is it possible to be messy and meticulous?? Just curious. Lily even got a pretty plastic ring on her cupcake. Chandler's rocks.

I like this next pic because if you look closely (click to embiggen!) you can see Pedro snarfing down a Klondike bar. Should I also mention that Pedro's been getting us up at 6:30am? Regardless of whether it's a weekend or weekday? I think I almost liked it better when he'd stay up until 2am. Sigh. I did plead for mercy and I got to sleep in until 8. hmmm I know I had some other stuff to blog about...

Oh yeah, I have been finding it tricky to get back into a routine here. My auntie spoiled me a bit in Vancouver. We'd take turns going to Starbucks in the morning. Then we'd either have a massage and go for lunch, or go for lunch and then have a massage. We didn't go everyday but I did have three treatments in five days so... Anyway, it was nice and it's hard to get back to the grind. So thank you auntie for spoiling me a bit. And then of course, there was martini hour.... I'm kind of surprised I made it back. :)

Lily's been waking me up at night the last two nights. We have been taking her to the park but the way she's thrashing her legs around makes me think she might be having growing pains. It seems to take her quite a while to get comfy and then she starts kicking again. Any thoughts? And I know some of you are reading but not commenting. M'Lou gets a pass cuz she's on the road but come on G-ma!

What Pedro said to me, 45 seconds ago, "You're pulling on the fart muscle." Say what???

Life - a comment

I know the US is going through some rough financial times. Have we agreed it's a recession? I don't know enough about it to comment. I do know that groceries have gone up! I've started buying the store brand if I can, or I'm switching brands if other things are on sale. I went to Burger King (I know, I know) for lunch yesterday and it was over $6. I was a little shocked. So much for a money saving combo meal. And then gas. At some stations it's $3.41 a gallon. It was around $3.26 when I left for Vancouver. What happened, y'all?

I've decided that I really don't want to work when I'm in school, so I'm trying to put aside money to pay for gas. I think that 16 hours of class, plus looking after Lily and trying to get to the gym, is enough to concentrate on. I guess if I have to find a job I will but I'd really rather not, and I think I can squeak by without it.

I've also been trying to cutback on our electricity and water usage. In Vancouver, M'Lou would tell me to shut off the engine cuz I have a habit of leaving it running until I leave the car. It's hot in VA, y'all would do the same thing. :) Anyhoo, at the grocery store yesterday, I heard a loud engine running as I was passing a pickup truck. There was a pretty hound in the back of it but I didn't see anyone in the front. There was no one in that vehicle while it was running! I thought M'Lou would would go postal! (if she were there) So there's a lot that people could do to cutback on certain resources. (white pickup truck owner, I'm looking at you!)

Lastly, I've been having dreams of bad spirits. For two nights in a row now! I did much better last night. I told it to get lost. It's weird because I feel like the thing with my dad is over. I don't think I have any lingering whatever. Maybe I should do some smudging. After cleaning out my desk, I found my sage!

18 months!

Well, we made it to 18 months. Lily is well on her way to becoming a little girl. Of course, we have to get through the terrible twos. I'm trying really hard to be sensitive and pick up on her clues, but it's hard. Our relationship is always changing. I mean, duh, I'll always be her mom but the things that she wants to do and how she wants to do them are always evolving and so my duties change as well. Today she really wanted to eat her afternoon snack in her highchair. She used to not like the highchair so much but whatever, I put her in there. She happily ate her yogurt while I washed her sippy cups and cleaned up the kitchen. I used to have to put off doing dishes until nighttime because I didn't want to leave her unattended for that long. So awesome, we have a new thing that we can do. :)

The above pic is Lily watching Shaun the Sheep. You have to have a good hold on her because she starts to dance once the music comes on. :) Lily and I went to Old Navy today to get her a couple of sun hats. I ran into an old friend today and we chatted outside for 15 minutes or more. I could feel the sun on me and I'm sure Lily was broiling. It is 90F right now!!! That's about 32C. I mean, REALLY. It's only April. I shudder to think what August will be like. Anyhoo, I wanted to get her some hats to help shade her. Well, of course, I got some other things too. Yes, I know. Her hat and shorts match. The polo shirt also matches. Sigh. Well, you know what that means, right? ATTENTION LILY SHOPPERS: We need some blue or white shoes!

I know, I'm incorrigible. I love how the back of the shirt is cut. Is that a racing back?? I think it's very flattering. And no, I'm not going to get the same thing in my size. And no, I won't deny that I thought about it. :) I have been impressed with the change in Pedro. He's much better at dealing with Lily. Although, he admitted that he didn't have much of a choice while I was gone. But he did have a choice and it looks like he made the right one. I now get lectured on taking care of Lily, which as the survivor of sleep deprivation for many months, I don't fully appreciate.

I also got Lily a little sundress. It's a little mu mu looking to me but I think it's all cotton and it looks really light and comfortable. I just cannot get over how much she changed in a week. She definitely had a growth spurt. Her feet look huge! :) I'm not put out by the change - I'm rather charmed by it. I feel like we're getting glimpses of the stunning chick she will become. :) Oh dear, I just remembered that I should go to the gym tonight. I've been quite run down and I've talked myself out of going but I don't want to get too comfortable being a lazy so and so. Plus I have Klondike bars in the freezer. Seriously, I thought the bars were twice as big as they actually are, so when I read that they have 250 calories I thought that's pretty good. Then I pulled one out. I keep it in the freezer and take a bite when I want something sweet and cool. :)

Oh yeah, and one more thing...

Jive Talking

Yes I have that BG's song in my head right now. I managed to capture Miss Lily "talking" on the phone! It's actually the unplugged fax machine. I'm not sure she knows the difference. shhhhh I just remembered that the videos can take a while to load. I guess we'll go finish our lunch. Mac & cheese & cheese with apple slices, thanks for asking. :P

Oh no. I keep on playing the video for Lily and she seems to be taking orders from her video self. She just ran to the phone and yelled "A, A, A, T!". Oh to be a kid again. Right? At least she knows more letters of the alphabet. :) Which also reminds me that I need to make a list of questions for her pediatrician visit. They always ask stuff like, how many words can they say, etc. I want to know what kind of bug spray I can use on her. Oh poop. I actually have a few questions. I'd better get going.