ick

i'm sick.


i don't know if i'll make it off the couch. and sadly, yesterday was worse. by afternoon i was miserable, body aches, tingly, and a chest-burning cough that came from out of nowhere. PTL (that's 'praise the Lord' for you that are not in-the-know, as i was until erika so sagely informed me) for my neighbor and buddy, erika, who took my children for several hours so that i could rest without venturing to fill cups, find lost toys, put on movies, make snacks and overall care for them myself. not only does she inform me of all the cool web-lingo kids these days use, she parents my children on a moment's notice with no thought to her wee, healthy six-month-old 'oxer' or kieran's BFF aidan.

everyone needs an erika. another friend rang me up this morning and as i croaked, "hello?" she croaked in response. luckily, she is mostly over-tired from being up all night with her sick daughter and isn't too sick herself really (honestly, can you call that lucky?) but she too said that if i had been in a bind i was more than welcome to drop my kids with her for a day. awwww. it's times like these that moms rally, they cook meals for another when one has a new baby, they offer babysitting when someone is sick. just yesterday a mother from my moms group lamented the fact that while her husband hasn't been feeling well in the morning so he got a little extra sleep. meanwhile, she toted her 3 boys to the youngest's 4-month check-up, one of whom has special needs and tends to run away from her. sheeeeeesh. as she tells me this we commiserate over the lack of "sick days" moms get and how hard it is to balance it all (meanwhile she's feeding the baby and someone informs her that she is needed in the bathroom for another assistance with an older boy. aaahhhhhh!)

anyway, back to erika and my lovely friends. i am so fortunate to have such a network of women who come through in a crisis. my mother was insanely busy, as always, but gave me more than the requisite amount of mommy sympathy-stopping just short of offering to take potentially germ-riddled children to her house. i didn't eat yesterday and developed a migraine on top of it all, but as weak and exhausted as i feel today, i think i'm actually in the up-swing.

so, to conclude, i'd like to publicly thank erika for having my children all afternoon and then letting aaron and the kids eat at their house for the evening, it certainly saved me a bit of sanity and i think i'm a little less croaky because of it :)

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a holiday family photo from happier (healthier) days:

andie's bed

andie's doing really well with her twin bed, we took these pictures right after we set it up. it's a little...distressed, but cute.

excuse the pink cast to the pictures, her room indeed is quite bright pink.

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randomness

* another nice weekend, this one was spent getting andie into a big girl bed, as she's been in her crib until now. she was a little apprehensive when it was time to lay down in it but she did it sunday night and she slept the whole night in it. she was in the middle of the bed and backwards, but she slept. the bed is a cute white four poster bed we got at a friend's garage sale but it's a bit rickety and needs a new coat of paint. and with her new mattress and box spring she sleeps 36 inches off the ground, so we're looking into our furniture alternatives. sadly, everything is pretty pricey and there aren't a lot to choose from around here. anyway, i'll have to post a couple pictures of andie and kieran checking out her new bed.

* i went to volunteer at kieran's school last friday, as i do every friday. it's so sweet watching the kids and a big part of me wishes kieran could stay in kindergarten forever. i would watch the kids as they listened to their teacher and when she would ask a question their little hands would go up and sometimes long after she had called on someone else and moved on, a kid's hand would still be up as he was staring off into space, or distracted by something on the wall. they're so funny, so wiggly and easily distracted. and i love how kieran and the other boys in his class can still give each other hugs.

* saw juno with erika and some other girls this weekend. totally awesome. loved it. never a dull moment, it was so good. go see it.

* i'm suddenly really into holiday decorations. kind of crazy since they're over,but it's almost as if now that the chaos has lifted, i can actually devote some attention to some cute christmas wreath ideas and craft projects. i guess i could start some things for next year but that seems goofy and being as organized as i am (not) i will most likely lose them and not be able to find them next year. this year we had no hanging stockings as we had squished a lot of our junk out of the way to start framing our basement. i looked all over for our stockings before xmas and in the end we bought cheap discount ones on christmas eve. of course, the day after xmas i find out stockings in the basement, quite accessible and in view under that stairs. oh well.

* today was awesome, didn't even need a jacket for most of the day. how can it be about 6 degrees one day and in the 60's the next??? i don't know, i don't care, and i don't want it to end.

well, that's enough random stuff i guess :)

08

the children are back in school and all is right with the world.

being the new year and all, it would seem wise to have a resolution or something. hmmmmm. of course i have all the same old standbys as every year: get organized. tame my muffin top. eat healthier. try to get over my eternal love for tom petty. put myself first once in a while. visit friends we haven't seen in ages. finally defeat the laundry monster.

but man, i have no willpower. and while there is something motivating to having a public blog and putting it out there, it still doesn't last long for me. and then there's something really crappy about making a big show of it all and then within weeks admitting the closet i finally "properly" organized is in danger of swallowing me when i open it or i haven't made it to the gym since '07.

so, i'm not resolving anything. because i don't want to feel guilty when it doesn't work out. i'll have a few small goals i can keep to myself and that way maybe i can pleasantly surprise myself when i reach one of them, but otherwise it seems so futile.

because seriously-get over tom petty? ain't never gonna happen.

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