Final Video Presentation

Everyone,

Remember when I did this video for Butterfly last year on her birthday? It made my parents cry. It made me cry. Still does. Since we don't have enough happy crying, I thought I'd make another one for Butterfly this year. I have finally finished it (ignoring the 400+ emails I have because I haven't checked my email in almost 3 weeks) and I hope you will like it. Turn on your speakers, get your tissues and maybe a drink. It's over 15 minutes long. I like it but would love your comments. And since last year I got a lot of questions asking about the songs I used, I put little credits in this time. Enjoy!

Make video montages at www.OneTrueMedia.com

I just can't believe how much she has changed from this time last year. Her eyes have definitely changed color (watch that...very cool!) and she has learned to walk, talk, run, jump, give kisses, say NO!, and all the other stuff you learn in a year. We have also been ALL OVER. It looks like that is all we do, travel around. She has been to Gettysburg, Hawaii, Utah, California, Assateague, DC (several times), Annapolis (also, several times), Monticello, and the White House Easter Egg Roll. We stay busy here in our house.

Seriously, I can't believe that she is 2 going on 3. What happened to the tiny baby in the first slide show?

Safire

In Utah

Everyone,

I am loving my very long vacation in Utah. Well, except for the fact that Butterfly isn't sleeping very well and we all got colds because she licked the hand rail at the monorail in Disneyland. But still, I think I have had french fries and fry sauce every day this week, and I've been chowing down on cheddar and sour cream chips since they don't seem to have them in Maryland. Yum!

I'm also enjoying spending time with my mom watching girly movies and hanging out with my best friend Laura and her baby in the mornings. Great times! I have pictures to show you, plus Butterfly's 2 year old video, but that will have to wait till around Memorial Day. Until then, this is a picture of my Dad and Butterfly on a ride in Disneyland. Fun times!

Safire

2 Years Old

Dear Butterfly,

You are so dear to us. You are so sweet, loving, happy, funny, and an all around great gal to be around. Daddy and I often talk about how fun you are, and how smart you are. You know so many things: the words to Twinkle, most body parts, how to turn on and off the CD player, the TV, the computer; how to open the front door, a few letters and numbers, and a few books. I also hope that you know that your Mommy and Daddy love and adore you.

As we watch you blossom into a little person, we wonder where that sweet demanding baby went. Well, you are still very sweet and still very demanding. Most of the time you are also reasonable so we don't have too many tantrums. Daddy keeps saying you got my common sense. It's not a bad thing to have. It will help you in the future.

Every day, I start to recognize myself in you. The way you stick your lower lip out when you are hurt or pouting. The way you turn those big eyes on me and glower. It makes me laugh every time because I've seen pictures of myself with that exact expression. I also see how you have your daddy wrapped around your finger. Isn't he nice to have around?

You are continuing to talk up a storm, and will tell me all about your day all day long. I love how you say, "Cummon guys!" when we are walking to slow behind you. Or "Hold my hand?" when you want to cross the street. It's so sweet to feel your silky little hand in mine. You have started to want to hold my whole hand and not just my finger. You are growing up so fast. Other favorite phrases include: Soot good girl, run fast, run run run, play with friends, play with toys, I found our car!, read books please, No Daddy don't come, dance with me!, you silly/funny Mommy, what wrong Mommy?, I need my Mommy, I need my Sister (last name). This last one is because the kids we babysit call me Sister (last name) and you have picked up on it. It's very cute. The other day we were walking into church and you turned to me and said, "I Sister (last name) too!" Yep, you are. What a smart girl!

You have changed so much this past year. You went from not knowing how to walk, run, climb, or jump to doing everything. You also have gotten so much bigger and longer. You are as tall as the 3 year old we babysit, and fit into 3T-4T clothes. Toys are your biggest draw right now. You love to play with your toys. When Nana told you that she had toys at her house to play with, you got so excited! Now you wander around the house say, "Go on airplane with Mommy. Go see Nana's house. Nana has LOTS of toys!"

For your birthday this year we are going on a trip to California to see Aunt Angela graduate from college, and to go to Disneyland. We are also headed to Utah to see Nana and Grandpa and all of our family and friends. I can't wait to show you off and have everyone tell you how wonderful you are. Because you are. And you have a great family who loves you and is seriously missing out on all the fun. :)

I can't wait to see what this next year is going to bring!

Love, Mommy

2 weeks till 2 years old!

Everyone,

In 2 weeks my baby will be 2 years old. Where does the time go? Juice said that time was just plugging along before we had her, and then suddenly it grew up and got a real job. Now time just races by. I'm doing another picture slide show for her so look for that in about 2 weeks.

She talks up a blue streak, repeating everything I say and then some. She frequently asks to go to Nana's house ("Go Nana's house? Ride airplane! Play toys!") since we are leaving in 2 weeks for a visit to Utah. My mom told her on the phone that she has toys for Butterfly to play with. She asks for them. She also asks to go over to the house where I babysit or over to "Kebin" who is a friend of ours from our church.

Her favorite thing right now is to dance. She knows how to turn on the CD player in my room and will dance fast or slow depending on the music. The slower the music, the more arm movement is involved. Fast music needs some spinning on the ground and lots of bouncing. She wants us to join her and we do sometimes. But if we are the audience (which she says), then we're not even allowed to bob our head. There are rules people and you must follow them.

She has a few favorite stuffed animals (FINALLY) and will sit and chat with them in the mornings. I get a few more minutes in bed and she pretends with her toys. She asks them to "Cummon you guys" and "Drink, both hands". She has a few teddy bears which she calls care bears and has them do the care bear stare. She has a care bear dvd that we watch a lot.

She is also into books lately. She has always been a book worm but now she will sit and turn the pages by herself and explain the pictures to herself. She will often just burst out laughing and say "That funny!" when a picture catches her fancy.

She is a pretty good eater for lunch and dinner, but breakfast is a bit of a chore. She loves loves loves "jelly sandwich peanut butter" and will eat a few half sandwiches through out the day. She is also wanting to drink from regular cups and not sippy cups so I have started giving her small amounts of water at lunch in a small plastic cup. She loves hot dogs, black beans, ice cream, raisins, milk (she still calls it "nup") and meat. She loves meat of any kind. She does okay with green beans if you catch her on a good day, and also loves tomatoes, strawberries (any kind of fruit for that matter), and peas.

My favorite things she does is randomly she will come up to me and hug me and tell me she loves me. She will also ask me "What wrong Mommy?" if I'm trying to sleep or if I'm sad. She also knows she can't go in the street with out holding hands "Hold my hand!" She sings her own version of Twinkle, the Wheels on the Bus, and the Snowman song. She does all the hand actions to about 8 different songs. She also knows a few nursery rhymes like Humpty Dumpty and Hey Diddle Diddle. What I want to know is it too early for the whys to start. I tell her to do something and I get a "Why?" Ugh, it's getting frustrating to do things like dress her or put on shoes because every time I ask her to do something she asks "Why?" back. She does love to pick out her clothes so I've kind of given up on that battle. You want to wear this bright yellow shirt with totally clashing shorts? And different colored socks? Sure. Often she looks like her daddy dressed her, but really it's just her. I do insist on matching stuff when we are going out for a play date or something, but otherwise, she can wear what she wants.

We have discovered the joys of 2 minutes. Say if she doesn't want to go inside and will scream and cry and carry on if I make her, I ask her if she wants to go in now or in 2 minutes. Almost always she picks two minutes. And when I say the 2 minutes is up, she happily follows me inside. Or to get her diaper changed, or to take a nap. Sometimes she will even come up to me and say "2 minutes up!" before they are and we go do whatever it is we should have done.

I can't believe she is going to be 2 years old!

Safire

Spring Dresses

Everyone,

Just for my mom, I thought I'd post pictures of Butterfly in her spring/summer dresses. She is just so adorable and such a big girl!

Thanks Mom for the bottom dress. She looks so cute in it!




Safire

A trip to the ER

Everyone,

On Friday, we took Juice out to get his hair cut. Butterfly and I went to go get food. And about an hour later we returned to the house. Totting hot burritos and a lot less hair.

I got into the house first and let Soot out of the kitchen where we keep her when we are gone. She is jumpy and happy as always. I just noticed something red on her foot. I didn't even bother to look at it closely right at first. I figured it was some kind of sticker that was stuck. Then I wondered, "What has she gotten into that a big red sticker would be on her foot?" So I took a closer look.

No sticker. Blood. And lots of it. And a huge gaping wound about 2 inches long and open about a quarter inch. So I scoop up the dog and run outside to Juice and Butterfly, and say we need to go to the doggy hospital. I showed him her leg, and called our regular vet to see if we go there or what. They were closing, so they sent us to the doggy ER about 20 minutes from our house. Address and phone number in hand, we ran off to the ER eating our food as we went.

Can I just say that it's a great thing to have a doggy ER but boy are they sad places. We got there and hung out for about 20 minutes in the waiting room while more emergency cases were moved to the back. It was a small waiting room, and there was a very chatty lady in there with her teenage daughter. Her dog was in because she had a fever for days and antibiotics weren't taking it down. A few other people came with nasty cuts, a dog fight victim, a loud pathetic sounding cat, and a dog they were putting down for reasons unknown to us.

We were there almost 2 hours. Butterfly was a great little girl. The loud cat entertained her to no end. First the kitty was talking to her, and then the kitty was singing so she danced around. Then the kitty was whistling (no idea where that one came from). We rearranged all the fliers they have, and read a few of the free magazines. The whole time she was asking, "Where Soot?" or popping up with "Soot has owie." She is so cute. Towards the end, we had to take her outside where she ran up and down the wheelchair ramp. I didn't even think to grab her any toys when we left so it's nice to know that she can be entertained with what they have in the office.

Soot ended up with 3 staples in her leg, and a huge pink bandage and a lovely for her head. She is SO FUNNY with this cone on. She keeps running into corners and just stopping because she can't figure out why she is not going anywhere. She doesn't really fit through her doggy door so we have to make sure she gets outside.

A few days later, we took her to her regular vet who pronounced her 90% healed and put a smaller bandage on her. She promptly got it off, so we just left it off. They shaved her down a lot and she looks a little funny still but she is healing. We have to carry her up and down the stairs and she is restricted to short walks around the 'block' until next week when they take the staples out.

Poor thing. We don't even know how she did it.

Safire

Easter Egg Roll 2007

Everyone,

Okay, that camping out bit, SO worth it to go to the Egg Roll. It was so much fun. We got there and they gave us free breakfast (eggs in tortillas, juice and fruit) and a free juicer and a free CD from sunkist. They also had a little stage where they were playing some music.

Once we got into our tent to wait for the Egg roll, we saw all of our friends from church and said hello. But once we were on the White House lawn, I think we saw them once more and that was it. There was SO much to do, and not just whacking eggs with a spoon down a slope. We of course, did that first because that's what we came here to do. They actually take real spoons and stuff from the WH kitchen and had over 10,000 colored eggs for the day. Imagine the chickens that could have made!

There was face painting, coloring, story nooks, 4 different entertainment stages, an animal stop, an egg hut, a bunny fitness trail, and more.

I had the most fun with the egg roll and the animal stop. Mainly because the monkey fell in love with Juice and wouldn't let him leave. It was even pushing off of it's handler to get Juice to pick him up. What can I say, Juice is loved by all. I also loved the animal stop because where else will Butterfly get to touch a snake, an alligator, a monkey and see a porcupine eat a bottle? It was seriously cool.

We skipped the face painting because by the time we got there, the line was huge. We also skipped the free professional pictures because no one but me wanted to do it. Kind of bummed about that one and if we end up going again, that will be my first stop. We did meet the speedy delivery guy from Mr. Rogers and Butterfly got a signed picture of him. Having never watched Mr. Rogers really, I was unimpressed. But Juice got a kick out of it.

Butterfly also took the egg dying seriously and died her egg deep pink. She flipped over a white spot that it had, so we stuck a sticker over it (a butterfly, of course) and she carried it around the rest of the time.

We got so much free stuff there, beyond the food they had there. Coloring books, special egg dying kits made just for this event, candy, diapers, a poster, and the coveted wooden egg signed by the president and first lady. Butterfly got a purple one. She enjoys pointing it out on our shelf every now and then.

We had the greatest day. I think I would love to do it again.

Safire

Ticket Campout

Everyone,

All I can say is that this Egg Roll thing better be worth it. It turns out that all the ladies from my church that I was supposed to go with kind of chickened out because of the snow. They sent their husbands instead. I would have but my good friend, Lea, really wanted to go and her husband works nights. So we went.

We hauled all of our stuff down there on the Metro and walked 2 blocks to the White House. Everyone kept looking at us and averting their eyes like we were homeless. We did look pretty scruffy...old jeans, a tent, bags.

When we finally reached the Ellipse, we dropped our stuff and went in search of dinner. Did you know that practically all the restaurants near the White House close at 7pm? We must have tried 3 different places before we found one that was just closing and agreed to make us some gyros.

And then, the waiting. Oh, the waiting. We sat and chatted with the husbands for a few hours. 2 of them are doctors so that was pretty interesting. And then I got tired so I went and laid down in my freezing cold tent. Because, of course, it was like 20 degrees outside and all I had brought was a sleeping bag. Granted, this sleeping bag will go to -20 so I was still okay. But man it was cold! And I kept waking up to cars going past, and people playing Apples to Apples right next to the tent. I do think I managed to doze off because when my alarm when off to go get the tickets, Lea was in the tent.

My friend Ra, who kind of organized the thing, said that they typically pass out vouchers for the tickets between midnight and 3am. So I set my alarm for midnight, and we proceed to sit out in the cold and wait. Boy did we wait. And while we waited, it started to snow. I had taken my sleeping bag out there with me, propped 2 chairs up and promptly fell asleep. I think I slept for close to an hour when Lea woke me up and said she was going back to the tent because it was snowing too much for her. So back to the tent we go.

Around 4am, they finally came around to pass out the vouchers. I was #104, and I owe that all to Ra's sister who came down at 2pm to set up chairs. Vouchers received, sleep needed. Back to the tent for more fitful sleep.

Then, at 7am, they started coming around and asking everyone to fold their tent. After brushing the inch or so snow off the tent, we did. And then more waiting. But this time hauling all of our stuff around with us. We do not have a light tent. And I couldn't get it back into the bag. I am not the master packer that Juice is.

Finally, we got the tickets. 10:15 am for Monday. This better be worth it.

Safire

Snow

Everyone,

It's April. And it's snowing. And it's supposed to snow tomorrow night while I am camping out. Feeling a little crazy but I am going!!

Safire

Happy Birthday Juice!

Everyone,

So I know I haven't written in awhile. In my defence, Juice and Butterfly are sick so it takes up ALL of my energy to deal with them. And then the weather changed and I just couldn't be inside. But now that it's rainy and cold, I might actually do some more typing. We'll see.

Juice turned 28 last weekend. He had a great low key birthday where we ordered our favorite restaurant to go and spent the evening playing with his birthday presents. Butterfly and I got him a usb rocket launcher and he tried to hit poor Soot, even though it says in the instruction booklet not to aim it at pets. Once I read that, he tried to aim it at me. He said that it didn't say anything about wives. Lucky for him, it has a short range and makes a loud popping noise before it goes off. Kind of like the flame spurt in "The Princess Bride".

He also got a new card game called Killer Bunnies. So hilarious! We played it a few times but we need more people. Anyone want to come over for a night of card game playing? We promise to provide snacks. The purpose of this game is to keep your bunnies alive and to avoid things like the eboli virus and being abducted by aliens.

This weekend I am braving the cold and camping out on the Ellipse of the White House for their Easter Egg Roll celebration. It's supposed to be in the 30s. I am so excited to have a night out. This will be my first night away from my house without Butterfly. In almost 2 years. I think I'm due for it, don't you? Granted, I would have rather gone someplace like Florida or something for this but camping out with all my gal pals is just as fun.

Safire

Learning about Maryland

Everyone,

This weekend marks the 373 birthday of the state of Maryland. So, since we live here, I thought I'd let you know a few things about the state.

1- The state sport is jousting. Yes, jousting. As in men covered in metal on huge horses hurtling towards each other and trying to knock the other off their horse. The state team sport is lacrosse.

2- Maryland is known as a border state because it exhibits both Northern and Southern characteristics. The more rural areas of Maryland are more southern, while the cities are more northern.

3- Maryland is the second richest state in the Nation. New Jersey is the first.

4- State symbols:

bird: Baltimore Oriole
boat: skipjack
cat: calico
crustacean: blue crab
dinosaur: Astrodon johnstoni (looks like a mini t-rex)
dog: Chesapeake Bay Retriever
drink: milk
fish: striped bass
flower: black-eyed Susan
folk dance: square dance
fossil: Ecphora gardnerae gardnerae (it's a snail)
gem: Patuxent River Stone
horse: thoroughbred
insect: Baltimore Checkerspot Butterfly
nicknames: "The Old Line State" and "The Free State" (which I wonder about because aren't all the states free?)
reptile: diamondback terrapin (it's a turtle)
song: "Maryland, My Maryland"
tree: white oak

5- Maryland is 42nd is size. It is 12,417 square miles. It is also 21% water.

6- It is 19th in population density, with close to 6 million people in 2000. It is the 5th in population density per square mile, with 542 people per square mile. Or so. I am surprised at how packed the cities are, and how open the country is.

7- Highest point is Hove Crest at 3360 feet above sea level. Lowest point is the Atlantic Ocean.


Happy Birthday Maryland!

Safire

Spring, maybe?

Everyone,

Spring is trying it's hardest to make an appearance here. We had a few really great days. They were sunny, warm, and the flowers really seemed to spring up. I even realized that I had NO short sleeve shirts for Butterfly. Luckily, my mom was still in town and we went shopping for a few things.

And then, it hit. We got rain all day on Friday, which turned to sleet half way through the day, and then snow by 7pm. We probably got about an inch of ice under the snow again. But luckily, it's so warm that it didn't stay at all. I think we have seen the last of the snow, but I could be wrong. The weather has been so wacky. It's like winter got a late start and now spring is too.

I'm writing my parents' visit but it's just not done yet. I will post it as soon as it is. Not a whole lot to say about our lives here. They thought about sending Juice to New Mexico tomorrow and I'm glad they didn't because I would have had to cancel my Mom's Night Out with my mom's group. And I did NOT want to do that! (Especially since they moved it from Thursday to Wednesday night so I could make it when I started being in charge of the teenagers' activities at my church.)

Still babysitting, but it's coming to a close. I've decided not to continue when The Mom goes back to school in the fall. The money has been nice, the time out of my own house has been nice, but I think it's time to have my Mondays and Tuesdays back to my self.

Safire

Dear Monticello

Dear Monticello,

The house is beautiful. The grounds, lovely. Thank you for keeping it up so that we can get a glimpse of what Thomas Jefferson's life and the life of his family was like. I loved seeing the huge tree that was there when he was, and also the dumb waiter and the alcove beds.

However, I did not appreciate you asking me to leave with my 2 year old because she was a little loud. I did not appreciate your worker telling us very rudely that she had to stop jumping in the entry way. I did not appreciate the fact that when your tour guide was telling us about the room where Jefferson enjoyed his children and grandchildren, we were asked to leave.

If you are not going to be child friendly, and by that I mean the under 5 year old set, please let us know BEFORE we step into your house and get reprimanded by strangers. That way you wouldn't have had to ask us to leave. We would have taken shifts and been content. Or perhaps you could have a tour for those parents of small children.

I'm sorry to say that that act left me and my party with a bad taste in our mouth about the plantation, and we will not be coming back.

Thank you,
yours, etc....

Jelly Face

Everyone,

How much pb&j can one little girl eat? At least 6 half sandwiches yesterday. That's all she ever wants to eat, and while I don't mind that she's eating, a little variety might be good for her. She did eat 3 tacos for dinner last night too, along with a jelly sandwich. She is a bottomless pit.

We have a lot of visitors coming in today. My aunt, uncle, and their 3 youngest kids have driven from Utah to pick up their son who was on a mission for our church in Philly. They are supposed to drive from Philly to here today and do downtown this afternoon with me. (It's 11am and I still haven't heard from them so I have no idea if that will happen.) Then, my parents get in tonight to spend a week with us. I'm excited, but exhausted from cleaning my house.

But man does it look good. ;)

Safire

Okay, March? Where did Feb go?

Everyone,

I didn't realize how long it has been since I've posted. We've been keeping really busy and I've been really tired so my normal posting time (before bed) gets cut out. And tonight will be short. Here are some highlights:

Juice finally beat, as in fought the last battle, his game he's had for 2 years. Wow, is all I can say. Does he know how to make things last or what?

My brother, MusicMan, celebrated a birthday last Friday. We had a nice chat and his wife surprised him which was great. You can read more here.

Butterfly is doing well. She is eating us out of jelly, bread, and peanut butter. That girl can put away food! And oh the diapers...

Me, I've been enjoying my latest duds.

I am so excited for this year's renn faire now that we all can go dressed up. I got this dress custom made from HERE. The owner is a good friend of Juice's from college. She did a great job!

I will be busy this week as my parents are coming for a week starting on Thursday. We've got a full week scheduled and I'm really looking forward to seeing them. And going on a date with Juice before baby bedtime. And watching girly movies with my mom. Should be fun!

Until next time,

Safire

All better!

Everyone,

Finally, Butterfly is well! No cold + no cough + no puking = wonderful! She stopped throwing up on Saturday and stopped having diarrhea on Monday so it's been much better here. We've had a full week.

On Wednesday, I went down to the University of Maryland for their Infant Studies program again. This time I went to the linguistics department. They showed her a short video about talking, and she got to take a book home. No big deal. They did have a little baby face that laughed in between segments of the video and she LOVED it. The researcher said that she kind of got a sad look on her face when the baby would go away. They had me fill out what she says from a sheet of 638 words. Final tally was 304, plus she says some words that aren't on the sheet like purple. They said typically they don't see that many words until kids are 2-2 1/2. So we officially have a talker. :)

One exciting event on campus was that I almost got a ticket. I was parked in their parking space waiting for someone to come down and give me a parking sticker so I could legally park there. Butterfly was playing in a near by grassy area. The campus police pulled up, and started checking out my car. I told them it was mine and they looked at me, glanced around the car for Butterfly, and went away. I never knew having a child could save you from a parking ticket. :)

Thursday I babysat because I didn't on Monday and Tuesday (my regular days). Monday the dad stayed home, and Tuesday the Mom stayed home. She had a make up class on Thursday so I did my normally thing at her house. Butterfly was so happy to get out of the house and play with Miss Long Hair. And both girls were very good and helpful that day. It was nice.

Then today we ventured out to the Swedish box store and had a great time wandering around. We had lunch there (where she ate half of my meatballs and an entire pb&j plus half a lingon berry tart and milk and a fruit cup...think she has her appetite back?) and I only spent 60 dollars which is amazing for me. I also found the bed I want to get her for her big girl bed. (No, I didn't buy it.) It's an expandable bed and has rails that go right onto the bed itself. It's serviceable and basic looking. But we can dress it up by painting butterflies on it or something.

Well, Juice is home from work early and Butterfly is still napping so I'm going to help Juice throw the ball for Soot. Bye!

Safire

Still sick...

Everyone,

Sorry I have been MIA but Butterfly is still sick. She has finally stopped throwing up (Saturday at our friend's father's funeral was the last time) but she still has major diarrhea and is very lethargic. Doc says not to worry about her rash, it's probably just dry skin. Poor thing. And poor us! She wants to be held all day long. She is slowly starting to eat a few things, but doesn't want anything but milk to drink which I've banned her from since she's puked it up so much. She doesn't even want a Popsicle. I am drained.

So, since I have no energy, click HERE and read an article about my cousin and his business in the UK. Kind of cool to see a member of my family in print. The most I remember about him was that when he came to visit us he was so excited to eat pizza with his hands. And he loved Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, which tells you how old we were. I am on much better terms with Ben's sister, Charlotte, because we pen pal-ed it when we were younger and saw her a few years ago when she came for a visit on her round the world trip. Still, fun to see where they are in their lives. If you don't read the article, look at the pictures at least. These are my relatives! :)

Safire

Snow and Ice

Everyone,

I started this entry to tell you about the snow and ice that we have been blessed with for the past two days (by started I mean I typed in the title). But, bigger news!

Butterfly is puking. I am feeling very queasy. Butterfly woke up early this morning after puking all over her bed and stuffed animals. While Juice held her, I cleaned that all up and bathed Butterfly so Juice could get ready for work. Now, it's been every 20 minutes of puking and crying and screaming because I'm sticking a bowl in her face to catch the puke. I think I've changed her clothes 4 times and it's almost 11am. Hopefully she'll go down for a nap soon and be okay.

I'm slightly annoyed at the people I babysit. Miss Long Hair was telling me on Monday that she had been sick, throwing up and diarrhea. Her mom said something as she was walking out the door that she wasn't sick anymore. Yeah, not sick but still contagious. I'm annoyed that she didn't tell me when I first walked in and could have taken Butterfly home. I refuse to go to any one's house that has been graced with an intestinal bug for 48 hours.

This of course has put a major damper in our weekend plans. Juice has tomorrow off, and we were going to go big girl bed shopping for Butterfly. We were going to go to the big Swedish store and have meatballs. We were actually going to go out on a date. Now, I don't think we can do any of it. Poor thing.

Okay, it has taken me all day to write this post. Butterfly is asleep for the night (hopefully) and is holding down 8 oz of pedia-juice and 8 oz of milk. We'll see how long that lasts. She has a fever off and on, and a rash all down both of her arms and on her cheeks. After googling it, I swear she has Fiths Disease. What got me was all the pictures of kids with this rash look just like Butterfly's rash. I will be calling the doctor in the morning, just to have her checked out. And it could just be the flu. But a rash on her arms and face plus the vomiting? Time to check it out.

In other news, I'm feeling better after drinking gallons of ginger ale and resting all day with Butterfly. Also, I got a belated Christmas present in the mail today! Pictures tomorrow.

Safire

Sick and Alone

Everyone,

Butterfly has a cold. A cold I'm sure she got from the girls I babysit. The first day I went back, Miss Long Hair (3 years old) had a nasty cough and the older girl, Miss Wild Hair, had a runny nose. Tuesday, Butterfly started acting cranky and snuffly. I thought it was just because it was freaking cold and we had spent some time outside that day. Nope, Wednesday she woke up with a fever and huge amounts of cloudy snot. Yum.


Also on Wednesday, Juice's work decided he needed to go to St. Louis to fix a problem. So he left on Thursday and will be back tomorrow. He said his hotel is right across from the famous arch, and he's really enjoying it (minus the smoking in the bars his co-workers are taking him to). It's a short trip, but a hard one for me because Butterfly is sick.

Because she is sick, we've had to cancel all sorts of getmommyoutofthehouse plans. Like yoga on Thursday. Since I can't take her into class with me and they won't take her into the daycare (smart, I'm glad) no yoga for me. Also no spinning on Saturday because again, more snot. My mom's group was skipped so not to infect our friends, and I had to take Butterfly to my young woman's program at church last night. We didn't get home until 9pm, and Butterfly was up bright and early at 7am. Also, I may skip out on a baby shower I was planning on going to tomorrow morning as well. I'm not sure if the new mom cares to be shown how rambunctious toddlers can be.

So in a nut shell I'm feeling a little stir crazy and bored. But, I am making progress in my scrapbook. My goal is to get done with 2005 before my parents come in less than a month. I think I'm at October 2005 so I've got a ways to go.

Ah, I hear Butterfly waking up.

Safire

Butterfly Sayings

Everyone,

Butterfly has been mimicing everything anyone says lately. From, "Good Morning!" to "But I didn't want to go outside!". She has said two very cute things yesterday and today. I will be brief so she can "play game!" (Click here to see which one she is talking about.)

Yesterday I was carrying her in her room which is very dark. I tripped over something and stumbled. She said, "Careful Mommy!" She sounded just like me. It was scary. Come to think of it, she also says "I so tired." sounding just like me too. She even draws her hand across her eyes like I do. It's weird to see myself disembodied like this.

The second cute thing she says is "juice apple". She wants a juice apple! Any guesses to what that could be? An orange. Very observant.

She also asks me to sing "hot potat" and dances the monkey while I do it. She is so so cute! (And speaking in sentances 5 and 6 words long. She is a word fiend.)

Safire

Yoga

Everyone,

I have started going to a yoga class on Thursdays at my new gym. It's not just a regular yoga class, it's a power yoga class. That really should have been my first clue. I have never done yoga before. And I want to do power yoga? Am I crazy?

The first time I think I was just ignorant as to what the yoga class would be like. Basically they use different yoga positions in rapid succession (for yoga) to raise your heart rate. I feel kind of silly doing things named downward dog and cobra. It also made me think of the Native Americans because a lot of the names were warrior-like or had eagles or what not in them. I actually had a pretty good time the first class. I felt very limber and figured I'd go again.

And then the day after came. My arms, my neck, my feet were so so sore. I could barely move. Juice made fun of me all day for going to power yoga.

I must have forgotten how much I was sore because I went back. Yesterday we did a lot of deep stretching in our legs and back. This morning, I can barely walk. Mostly it's my lower back, my shoulders and backs of my legs.

But I go because I feel like I am very stiff and I'd like to be a little more limber. This will either limber me up or make me more stiff. I'd like to believe all the hype about yoga so I'll try and continue to go. Now to shuffle off to the couch and nurse my back.

Safire

Mythbusters sink car

Everyone,

Juice and I love to watch Mythbusters (on the Discovery Channel...no idea what time because I use the DVR with reckless abandonment). If you are familiar with Adam and Jamie, you will know that they take myths and try to prove or disprove them. This past week's myth was a sinking car. Well, I can explain it or you can just watch it for yourself. It horrified me. Just see:



Okay, so what's the problem you ask? Well, these guys are notorious for taking things, say a car, and destroying it. So they tend to get things that people don't want anymore. Or they are old. Take that car in the video for example, a 1991 Ford Taurus.

Yes, I know the year and the make and model of this car. Why? Because that's MY car. The Mythbusters sank MY car. Juice says they probably got it at a good deal and that's why they decided to destroy it. Yeah...what does that say about our car, hmmm?

That's what I thought.

Safire

Babysitting Wildlife

Everyone,

With the start up of Jeff back in school, I have started babysitting 2 days a week at a friend's house while she goes back to school. Honestly, it's not my favorite thing to do. But Butterfly loves these girls and it's fun for her to get out of the house. One nice thing about it is they live out in the country and have a huge yard (plus I believe 100 acres...they rent the old farm house) so Butterfly gets a taste of country life.

They have huge windows all over the house with no blinds (no need, their closest neighbor is across the street about a block away) and I love to watch the wildlife. There are deer galore, geese, crows, birds, raccoons, foxes, ladybugs, and hawks. This morning, I saw one of these:


It was so beautiful and so big. I never imagined that woodpeckers could get this big. Apparently, this is a Pileated Woodpecker. The Pileated Woodpecker is the second largest woodpecker in the United States. They normally live in mature coniferous and deciduous forests, valley woodlots and remote mountain territory. My friends have a wood lot behind their house (which the girls call the Hundred Acre Woods...cute!) so I imagine the woodpecker lives there.

One day, Miss Long Hair started yelling about an animal in their backyard. Now I know they have a ground hog that lives out there (much to the parents' dismay) so I thought that's what she was yelling about. Nope, turned out to be two of these:



They were so beautiful, and got close enough to the house that I could make out their whiskers. Sadly, I saw one of them on the road the next morning. But I have never seen a wild one and it was stunning.

I need to start bringing my camera.

I have thought about getting a book on birding at the library so when the kids are sleeping, I can sit at their window and make note of the kinds of birds I see. So far I know I've seen crows (there are murders of them...love that phrase...murders), geese, the woodpecker, cardinals (my favorite bird), and orioles (pretty little yellow things).

One bad thing about living in the country: the amount of ladybugs they get in the house. I have never seen so many inside, let alone outside.

Safire

Snow! Actual snow!

Everyone,

It actually snowed! Real, cold, white stuff fell from the sky. I honestly thought that this would be our first winter without seeing any snow at all. Juice was a little upset about it, but we got about an inch on Sunday. We of course had to take Butterfly out in it to show her the joys of snow. She was unimpressed. She kept saying, "It's cold!" and trying to get the stuff off her hands. Since the girl won't wear gloves, her hands got cold fast. But she did throw her first snowball.

While the snow was coming down, she informed us that "it's raining!". Just goes to show you what we get here. Rain, not snow.


I think we only spent a few minutes out in it because Butterfly's hands were just so cold and she broke down. I get the feeling that she doesn't like snow. That's to bad because Juice and I love the snow. I think we can turn her around. Hopefully.

Safire

"See? I cute."

Everyone,

Butterfly says such cute things lately. Today alone she said 2 cute things. Cute enough to share with the internet. She was dancing and I was trying to take a video of her. When I was done, she was watching it on the camera. Juice came in and she went running over to him, camera in hand. "See? I cute!" Yes, yes Butterfly, you are. Super cute.

Juice sat down to put on his shoes. She launched at him from across the room yelling, "Daddy, hold me!" He did.

A new phrase she says all the time is "I need it." Not 'I want it' or 'please may I have it'. Oh no. She needs it. Like Juice needs snow in winter. Like Juice needs sleep when he's sick. Like she needs raisins in the morning. Uh huh. It's a need.

The last cute thing she said was when she was hanging out in the bathroom with Juice. I hear her playing and talking to him, and then I hear something fall in the bathtub. It was her dolly. "Uh oh! Mommy, I have problem." I had to save Dolly from the porcelain reaches of the tub. And then she promptly climbed into the tub herself, laid Dolly down, and got back out. You have a problem baby? Maybe it's Mommy that has the problem. When did she get so big and where have I been that I missed it?


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Safire

Photo Friday

Everyone,

Since Butterfly is taking her afternoon nap, I thought it might be fun to share a couple of pictures.

I was trying to get a picture of this outfit that my mom sent her. The only way she would be far enough away from the camera was if I asked her to show Nana the penny she has in her hand. Apparently, my mom lives in the camera because she immediately backed up and held up her hand. She then said, "I have shiny penny. I like penny."

Last weekend we went to a national park to hike. I bought the national park passport while we were in Assateague. I have been dragging Juice and Butterfly all over the area to one of the 96 national parks (including at least 35 down town). I still have about 10 more to get down town, and about 50 more in the area. One at a time, one at a time. Last weekend was a trip to Greenbelt park. We took a lovely mile long hike, where Butterfly insisted that she walk Soot most of the way. We also had a picnic and saw a lot of trees. We had a great time.

Juice decided to put on his renn faire costume for no apparent reason. That warranted a picture. Drop. Your. Sword. Doesn't he look dashing? The sword, the gloves, and the mask are new additions since Christmas.

Safire

New Year, New Gym

Everyone,

I have decided to give up my membership at the Y and go to a new gym. It's closer, cheeper, and has more classes. I don't exersize on my own. I have to go to class or have a buddy. So this new gym has classes I would consider taking at least 3 times a day. The Y, once or twice a week. Plus, at the Y you had to pay an additional fee for some of the classes. Not here. It's a better move for me for sure.

We went to see the new gym today and I took a spin class in the mid morning. It was pretty good. Although I missed my old spin teacher (he moved to NY, sigh...) this class was good and challenging. Everyone was so friendly, and I even saw a few people from my church working out. This is great because now Butterfly can go to 'gym care' with the same kids she goes to nursery with.

Not a whole lot going on this week. We're just plugging along. Juice starts school up again next week. He is taking a computer aided drafting class to beef up his resume. It's only a month long and 2 nights a week. I also start back into babysitting on Mondays and Tuesdays. We'll see how that goes. I'm trying to save up for a trip to Southern California with my parents mid-May.

Oh, and that trip I was going to take to Utah to visit? Cancelled. Juice's trip is cancelled indefinitely so we're all coming out in May. Should be fun!

Safire

PS- Family night on Monday was a lesson about baptism, and more ice cream. Yum!

20 Months Old

Everyone,

I got an email the other day telling me all about my 20 month old. I seriously thought it was wrong. She can't possibly be 20 months old! That means she is only 4 short months away from being 2. But the email is right. She is 20 months old!

Butterfly loves Soot right now. She asks for her first thing when she wakes up. She follows that poor dog around the house, and if she drops food, she'll call for Soot. Periodically through out the day, she has to find Soot. "Where Soot? Where Soot? I found Soot!" It's very cute.

She has taken a liking to the phone. Today she brought it to me and said, "Call Nana." Okay! So I helped her dial the number (with her saying, "Two two tree five ten!" the whole time) and she must have talked to my mom for 2 or 3 minutes. She will nod her head in response to questions, and laughs the whole time. It's very cute. She got a toy phone from her Grandma for Christmas and she always sits down and says, "I call. I call. I call [enter name here, most of the time it's Daddy but sometimes Soot or Nana too.]"

We have a chatter box on our hands. She talks all day long. Here is a list of some things she says:

I don't want it.

I don't want [shoes, socks, coat, etc.]

shirt

pants

tights

dress

bow

hair

teeth

comb

brush

burrito

read

I see you.

I ready to go.

outside

come

heel

speak

shake (can you tell she loves to give commands to Soot?)

don't

feed Soot

Soot eat water.

milk (which she calls nup)

One more time.

snap

One more snap.

Up we go! (This is how she asks to be picked up.)

Up me! (If we don't respond to the very cute up we go.)

Jumpy jumpy jumpy.

Smell flowers.

I hungry.

Purple coat/shoes.

cream (either ice or diaper)

diaper

I change. (for a diaper change, and yes, she does tell me when she needs one.)

package

open package

I love [mommy, daddy, soot, cheese, etc.]

Hi Daddy.

Daddy work.

Daddy at work.

Call Daddy at work.

Okay.

Nope.

Uh-huh.

Super cute.

Cute!

Baby

bunny

cook

ouch, hot!

More cereal please.

berries

There are tons more but this is long enough. There is a chart of milestones that kids this age should be doing. • Will pretend to feed a doll. Check. This is the only way I got her to eat dinner tonight. We have a very small mechanical raptor that we call Bunny. She had a great time feeding Bunny, and then eating Bunny's bites. • Can take off own clothes with help. Or without help, like she does pretty much every day. I'm waiting for the diaper to come off as well. • Will dump an object in imitation, such as throwing garbage away. This is a favorite pastime of Butterfly's. I have to check the garbage periodically to see if she has thrown toys away. • Learns words at a rate of 10 or more a day. Yes, Juice can tell you that she now says "Dang it!" because he kept saying it over our crashed computer. Dang it! • Can walk up (but probably not down) stairs. Up and down, but she's been doing that since forever is seems. She is tall enough to reach the hand rail on our stairs, and can even go down one or two without holding on to anything. • Searches for hidden objects. See above story about Soot. You can substitute Soot for her dolly, blocks, anything. She loves searching games. • Names several body parts. Nose, head, hair, chin, eye, ear, shoulder, knee, elbow, arm, hand, foot, toes (she calls them piggies), leg, finger nails, cheeks, lips, mouth, teeth. I'm running out of body parts to tell her!

At the end of the day, I often feel drained trying to keep up with the leaps and bounds that she is making. She is also starting to get slightly bossy and tells me how to make her cereal in the morning. Bowl, spoon, cereal in bowl, nup and I have to do it in that order or life as we know it is over. We have read all of her books so many times she has a few memorized and gets upset if you miss a word or a page. She has also started to like to sing, and will just wander around singing to herself.

I am so interested in what she is going to do when she is 2!

Safire

Chicken and Ice Cream

Everyone,

Tonight's family night resulted in 2 very cute things.

1- Butterfly learned a new word and a new phrase. We talked about temples, and she kept wandering around the house saying it. "Templlll...templlll..." I was telling Juice that I thought her outfit was super cute (thanks mom!) and she piped up, "Super cute! Super cute! Templll...super cute!"

2- Since Juice was in charge of the activity part of FHE, we went to get ice cream. We were talking about it at dinner, and Butterfly kept saying "Cream!" and nodding her head vigorously. Her hair flopping around punctuating how earnest she is in having ice cream. She would not eat her chicken. She did not want her beloved green beans. We thought we shouldn't go get ice cream if she wasn't going to eat anything else. So we told her. "Butterfly, if you eat some chicken, we will go get ice cream." She instantly looked at her plate, picked out the smallest piece of chicken on it and shoved it in her mouth. She didn't even have her hand half way down when she said "Cream?" And when we didn't produce said ice cream she spit out the chicken. Monkey.

She did eat something eventually and we did get ice cream. Yum!

Safire

Juice's Family is Sucked In!

Everyone,

10pm, the phone rings. My first thought is who is calling? And then, what's wrong?! It can only be our family in the west that calls this late. It's not late for them. But late for us.

So, the phone is ringing. I see it's Juice's sister, Nawa. "I'm on 45!" she says.
"The real 45?" Juice asks.
"I don't know. How do you tell?"
"Have you done a 45 once already?"
"No..." she says.
"Then it's not the real one." Juice answers.

It goes on like this for quite awhile. There's some kid talk in between code and mentions of web forums. If you are looking to get sucked into something (and I do mean sucked in, as in can't leave your computer screen for days and think about it day and night. Your children will go hungry. Your job will suffer. You will sit at your computer in your pjs muttering, "NURLO...NURLO.") check out Weff Riddles.

But don't say I didn't warn you.

Safire

Juice adds: Oh come on, I would never let my daughter go hungry!

(Notice all the other stuff he didn't deny....)

2007 Goals

Everyone,

I've thought of a list of a few goals I would like to do this year. I wrote them in the back of my planner as I thought them out, and now I'm annoyed because they no longer sell refills for this planner and I have to buy another one. And move all of my notes and addresses over to the other one. Stupid calender makers!

1. Have weekly family nights. My church encourages us to have family home evening (FHE) every Monday night. While we say we're doing it (as in, "What do you want to do for family night?" "I dunno, take Soot for a walk I guess." Which is what we do every night anyway.) So last night, being the first Monday of the year, we actually had FHE. We had a prayer, a lesson, an activity and a song. We read a very short story about a boy who was sad there is no snow and then made snowflakes. We really had a good time, and Butterfly oohed and ahhed over the snowflakes. A success!
2. Write in my paper journal more. I wrote about 20 pages last year, which is very unusual for me. I typically go through at least 300 pages a year. Of course, that was before Butterfly. But I'd like to at least get a page a day.
3. Exercise more than once a week. My spin teacher moved back to New York so they are cancelling my spin class. In turn, I cancelled my membership and am going to try a new gym. A friend of mine goes there a few days a week with her kids so I think I may join up with her. It's always nice to have an exercise buddy.

I think that is about all I'm willing to share. I have other personal goals but those are, well, personal. I hope that 2007 will be a good year for us.

Oh, and it looks like we are tentatively planning a trip to Utah sometime this month. Juice has a business trip to St. Louis this month and I'm not sticking it out here alone again. Being alone out here is actually pretty fun. I get to eat take out food all week and watch girly movies. But my dad offered to fly us out so he can see his granddaughter. Free plane ticket! A week with my friends and parents! Take out food and girly movies with my Mom! I'll take it! :) Juice will join us for the weekend, and then we'll all fly home together. Should be a lot of fun. I'm really looking forward to it!

Safire

Photo/Video Friday

Everyone,

We've been a lot of fun places this week, and gotten a few cute pictures of Butterfly. I thought you'd like to see them.

Butterfly on one of her Christmas presents, Christmas morning. She got a few more things (okay, lots of things) but this was an early favorite. I like it too. I used to have one when I was her age.

She loves to pull out Juice's engineering text books and go through them when I change her diaper. I swear this girl is going to do something special with her life!We went downtown to just hang out (our second trip this week...Juice has had the whole week off!) and we went to the World War 2 Memorial. It's very nice, very peaceful. Butterfly loved running around and desperately wanted to swim in the pools. I like that right now, they have all the grassy areas fenced off. It basically makes a tunnel for Butterfly to walk down. She had a great time, and she didn't run all over the place!

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We've basically had a really great week and it's going to be hard for Juice to go back to work on Tuesday.

Safire

My best Christmas Present

Everyone,

About a week before Christmas, my washer died. If you are long time readers, you remember last year at this time we had the great dryer fix. The washer going out was just the last straw. I had been running to the laundry mat for essentials, and Juice kept telling me to wait on the washer...he'll take care of it.

Boy did he ever! This is what I found under the tree.

And then it came today!

I am so not sorry to see this one go. Good bye and good riddance!!!

Safire

PS- Sorry about the pictures being sideways, I can't figure out how to change them.

Merry Christmas!

Everyone,

Have a very Merry Christmas!

Love,

Juice, Safire, Butterfly and Soot

Answers to your questions...

Everyone,

Part of the counter I have at the bottom of the page is the ability to see who is coming to my page and what they are looking at. Or for. I thought I would address some of these queries, and we can all wonder how they got to this blog.

1. girls in white keds pics (AOL search). Hmmm...why white keds? Butterfly has pink keds.

2. baby swimming class maryland (Google). This I can help with. If you are looking for a baby swimming class in Maryland, check your local YMCA. They had great classes! Or there is always your local pool, or country club. I highly recommend swim classes. Besides, the babies look so cute in those swim suits!

3. keds shoes hole in toe (Google). Not sure why we're looking for holes in the toes of keds. And who knew that Butterfly's pink pair would get me so much traffic on this site!

4. tushy video sharing (Google) Hi pervy googlers! No tushy sharing here. In fact, Butterfly screams bloody murder if you even mention her tushy lately. Poor baby has flaming diaper rash, again.

5. daylight hours - baltimore md (Google) I wonder are they looking for exactly how long Baltimore has daylight hours? Because tomorrow the sun is supposed to rise at
7:24 AM and set at 4:48 PM. The day will be 9h 24m 04s long. If you are looking for something to do in the daylight hours in Baltimore, the National Aquarium is fabulous. I believe that is open during daylight hours, and probably a few hours after (considering a quarter to 5 sunset is a little early for them to close). There is also Fort McHenry, which played a roll in the writing of our National Anthem. Francis Scott Key watched the flag wave above this fort during the 1814 Battle of Baltimore and was moved to write his tribute to the Stars and Stripes. The place is awash with history and culture. There are also a lot of things to do after daylight hours, if you're interested.

Periodically I will post a series of searches on here. At least, I hope to remember to.

Safire

2006 In Review, Blog Style

Everyone,

I saw this on another blog, and thought I would copy it. Here is the first line of the first post each month this year.

2005 was a year of change for us.

Butterfly turned 9 months old on Friday.

This is a test of my abilities to put a video on this page.

The cherry blossoms are out in peak right now.

Butterfly is babbling up a storm.

Now that my company has all gone, and I've spent a few days recovering and not sleeping (another tooth...sigh...) I thought I'd update you on all of the fun we had with the grandparents.

On Friday morning, my favorite radio station was giving out free pancakes and prizes at the local diner.

This passed weekend my Dad was here to visit.

One of the joys of living on the east coast is these great storms and hurricanes that occasionally go through our area.

Suddenly it seems like our life has exploded in activities.

Today starts the 30 days of posting from me.

Turns out my writing gig is going to stop.

There are a whole lot of highlights that were missed. Butterfly's first birthday, Hawaii, first word, walking, Juice's graduation, and all the other little things that go on in a year. We've had a busy one. I hope next year is just as busy and fun! Come on 2007!

Safire

Butterfly-isms

Everyone,

Butterfly is just so funny. She really is making connections at an amazing rate. Here are a few talking stories.

The other day we were listening to Christmas music while I folded laundry. Jingle Bell Rock came up, and she started running around the room yelling, "Rock! Rock!"
"Yes, baby! Rock! It's the jingle bell rock! Are you dancing?"
"Nooo. Rock!" And she ran out of the room. I finished the laundry and went to go find her. She was in our rocking chair, rocking away. "Rock! Rock!" So smart.

We were eating dinner and still had the blinds open to our sliding glass door. Butterfly starts pointing and babbling at the door, gets off of her chair and looks outside for awhile. Juice and I were amused, but didn't think much of it. Then Butterfly turned to me, said very clearly, "Dark outside!" and pointed. Holy cow, yes, it's dark outside. She is so smart!

She has started to voice a preference towards her clothes. Her favorite things to wear are her purple coat, and her purple shoes. She will ask for these by name. "Puple coat! Puple shoe!" It's really really cute and I love that she is starting to learn her colors and other things.

In other news, we tried to get a picture of Butterfly and Soot. No such luck. I was really frustrated last night, and pretty disappointed. We went to the local kiddie picture place and they usually are very good. The photographer we had just stood there. No noises, no peek a boo to try and get her to look at the camera, nothing. Butterfly is crying, Soot is terrified, and Juice and I are frustrated. We ended up leaving without any pictures being taken. I'm going to see if I can try again, maybe on Saturday or next week.

I'm determined to get this picture and if we have to try for weeks, we'll get it.

Safire

Butterfly Videos

Everyone,

Butterfly asks for these videos over and over, so I thought I'd share. I clicked on them first because I like horses. Now she sees horses ALL OVER. It's so cute.

HERE and HERE

Safire

Library Adventure

Everyone,

So remember a few days ago how I brought Butterfly to bed with me because she wouldn't sleep and I was just so tired? Yeah, should have sucked it up, been tired, and made her sleep in her crib. Because now she won't sleep without me. Oh sure, Juice is fine after 15-20 minutes of screaming for Mamamamama! But she WILL NOT sleep in her crib. She goes down fine, and then within an hour, is up screaming. Juice slept in her room last night (in his clothes, didn't even knew he fell asleep till I went and woke him up this morning) and she fell asleep in my bed this morning and woke up angry. It's an angry day! I'm feeling slightly frazzled and pulled out. And all I want it the baby to SLEEP.

In an attempt to get out of the house, I took Butterfly and Miss Long Hair (the girl I babysit) to the local library for tot story time. I've been to a few of these before with my mom's group, and they sing songs, do games, read a few books out loud, play with toys, etc. It takes Butterfly awhile to warm up so by the time we are all putting things away she's ready to play! So yesterday I decided to go a little bit early and wander in the children's section and see if she wouldn't warm up a little sooner.

We were there maybe 5 minutes, enough for me to read a book to Miss Long Hair, and Butterfly had that serious "I'm pooping" face on. I wait, she says, "I change!" and tries to start pulling her diaper off. I grab her hand, and we march off to the bathroom. (Miss Long Hair along for the ride, of course.) I get to the bathroom, get all set up to change Butterfly's diaper, and put her on the changing table.

That's when I noticed it. The bright green splotch on her shoe. What the...?

Further exploring lead to a very disgusting realization. Butterfly has diarrhea. And that poopy diaper? It was more like soup which ran down her leg, coated her pants and socks, and filled her shoe.

All together now: Ewwwww.

After much cleaning up and cursing the fact that I had no other clothes for Butterfly, we left. Poor Miss Long Hair was looking forward to some story time but we had to go. I'll try story time again. Maybe.

Safire

The Creeping Crud

Everyone,

Juice is sick. It could be because the baby threw up in his face the other day. He spent the night puking and is now achy and cold on the couch. Poor guy. I seem to be doing a lot better. I can eat, and sit up for long periods of time. Butterfly is still throwing up, but is also eating so this is a good sign.

I had a very rough night. I was having some dream about my Nana and her new ring on a tea cup (all I remember...) when I was jolted awake by Juice bounding out of bed. Poor guy. I got him some water, he made some yarrow tea, and I got him a blanket for the couch. Just as I had gotten settled in and was almost asleep, I hear the unmistakable sounds of Butterfly puking in her bed. I rushed in there, saw her covered from head to toe and scooped her up for a wash down and change. She then screamed in Juice's arms so I could wash down her entire crib, get her sheets (I had put a double layer of sheets and water proof pads down for this reason), and clean the dripped stuff on the floor.

For the next 2 hours I tried to get her to go back to sleep in her crib. No luck. I think it was around 4:30am when I finally gave up and brought her to bed with me. I had been up since 1:30am. I'm tired today.

And all night long while I was cleaning up everything, I kept thinking I want my Mommy. Sometimes it's hard being so far away from family that could help.

Safire

More sickness

Everyone,

So, what's worse than a sick mommy and daddy? A sick baby and daddy. Butterfly seems to have caught up with my flu. Yuck. It started yesterday around 3:30 when she puked on the floor and looked up at me and said, "Uh oh..." I didn't see her puke, so I thought maybe the dog had done it. As I'm bending down to get a better view, more comes out. On my head. Trying not to gross out, I sweep her up as she pukes down my clothes, and rush her into the kitchen to the sink. On the way, she puked all over herself (some how getting it into her hair...not sure how, unless it dripped from my hair to hers) and puking all over the kitchen floor. Lovely.

Once she seems finished puking, she insisted on being held (puke side in, of course) and rubbing snot and tears all over the one clean shoulder I had. Tub time. I strip her down, and wash her up. She is screaming and begging to be held. Once she is dry, I change and get her ready for bed. Then we went back downstairs and I tried to convince her to let me clean up the puky carpet.

Juice came home, and he got her to drink a little ginger ale (yes, soda...bad for her I know). She fell asleep while I showered and cleaned. Somehow our house still smells sickly.

She slept for a good 2 hours, and woke up puking again. This time all over Juice's face and down his clothes. And he's the only one that hasn't caught it yet. At least it was just water puke, and not the chunky puke I got.

She went down pretty easily, and woke up at 1, 2, 4, and 5. She didn't puke but I think she was just feeling unhappy. Poor thing.

She's happy and eating today. But I have changed at least 4 poopy diapers already. She is on her second 2 hour nap of the day, and she has a temp. But if she's anything like me, she'll be completely better by tomorrow.

We can only pray.

Safire

Sickness

Everyone,

Why is it when you have a child you are sick more often. Or maybe it's because you notice how sick you are when you have someone depending on you for their every need. Add a sick husband to the mix and what do you have? One very sick Mommy.

This time I am sicker than Juice. He did not spend all night puking his guts out. I did. He just has a cold. He can manage. And he did very nicely. He stayed home from work yesterday to take care of Butterfly. I was so sick I could barely get out of bed. I'm feeling better today, and I bet by tomorrow I'll be fine. But still, I hate being sick. And worse, I hate throwing up. It's the worst thing that could happen to me. I just hope Butterfly doesn't get it. That would be bad.

She was very good for him yesterday. And freaked out this morning when he left for work without her. How could he leave her with this women who hasn't showered or done anything for her all day yesterday?! She got over it, but is still wandering around the house saying "Daddy bye bye!"

I hate being sick.

Safire

Bad news

Everyone,

Turns out my writing gig is going to stop. They are going in a different direction and will no longer be paying me. BUMMER! I was so enjoying the extra money a month, and not to mention the fact that people ask me what I do and I say I'm a writer! I loved that. Looks like I will just have to start looking around for another writing gig.

An all around bad day today.

Safire