Allergic Reaction

I was eating walnuts and Addison wanted to try one, so I gave her just a tiny little piece of walnut.  She really liked it and stuck her hand back in the bag to get more.  Then with the hand that she stuck in the bag, she started rubbing her eyes and this is what happened!  **Please note that this picture was taken 3 hours AFTER the fact and she had already taken a bath. (We didn't know what to do, so we gave Addison her prescription Zyrtec and stuck her in the bath to wash all the walnut dust off her.)

She was such a happy little camper once she got out of the bath.  She is even saying "cheese" in these pictures!

Words of Wisdom From a 5 Year Old

I know I am supposed to be on vacation, but my niece, nephew and I were having a conversation this evening as I was getting Addison ready for bed that I just had to post. Let me just set the stage. Addison had just gotten out of the bath, so I was putting her lotion on her, cleaning her ears, combing her hair and putting her pajamas on her. She was pretty tired and was crying because she wanted her daddy and to go "night, night".

Me to Addison: "We go through this routine every night. Now just hold still and when we get finished you can go find your daddy."

Madeleine: "Why does she like her daddy so much?"

Me: "I don't know. Maybe he is nicer to her than I am."

Thomas: "He's not nicer to her. He's mean."

Me: "Randy is mean to her? You've seen him be mean to her?"

Thomas: "Uh huh. He won't let her have the Wii remote."

I couldn't help but laugh!!!

Are We There Yet???

Addison FINALLY got her daddy to take a vacation! We'll see you soon!!!

What Did You Do All Day?

I recently read an article in the Washington Post about stay at home mothers and what we do all day.  If you would like to read the original article, please click here.

Carolyn:

What do stay-at-home moms do all day? Please no lists of library, grocery store, dry cleaners...I do all those things, too, and I don't do them EVERYDAY. I guess what I'm asking is: What is a typical day and why don't moms have time for a call or e-mail? I work and am away from home nine hours a day (plus a few late work events) and I manage to get it all done. I'm feeling like the kid is an excuse to relax and enjoy -- not a bad thing at all -- but if so, why won't my friend just tell me the truth? Is this a peeing contest ("My life is so much harder than yours")? What's the deal? I've got friends with and without kids and all us child-free folks get the same story and have the same questions.

Tacoma, Wash.

Relax and enjoy.  You're funny. Or you're lying about having friends with kids. Or you're taking them at their word that they actually have kids, because you haven't personally been in the same room with them.

I keep wavering between giving you a straight answer and giving my forehead some keyboard. To claim you want to understand while in the same breath implying that the only logical conclusions are that your mom-friends are either lying or competing with you, is disingenuous indeed.

So, since it's validation that you seem to want, the real answer is what you get.  In list form.  When you have young kids, your typical day is: constant attention, from getting them out of bed, fed, clean, dressed; to keeping them out of harm's way; to answering their coos, cries, questions; to having two arms and carrying one kid, one set of car keys, and supplies for even the quickest trips, including the latest-to-be-declared-essential piece of molded plastic gear; to keeping them from unshelving books at the library; to enforcing rest times; to staying one step ahead of them lest the get too hungry, tired or bored, any one of which produces the kind of checkout-line screaming that gets the checkout line shaking its head. 

It's needing 45 minutes to do what takes others 15.

It's constant vigilance, constant touch, constant use of your voice, constant relegation of your needs to the second tier.

It's constant scrutiny and second-guessing from family and friends, well-meaning and otherwise.  It's resisting constant temptation to seek short-term relief at every one's long-term expense.

It's doing all this while concurrently teaching virtually everything -- language, manners, safety, resourcefulness, discipline, curiosity, creativity, empathy... EVERYTHING. 

It's also a a choice, yes. And a joy. But if you spent all day, every day, with this brand of joy, and then, when you got your first 10 minutes to yourself, wanted to be alone with your thoughts instead of calling a good friend. A good friend wouldn't judge you, complain about you to mutual friends, or marvel how much more productively she uses her time. 

Either make a sincere effort to understand or keep you snit to yourself.

Poor Little Girl!!!

Addison has been sick since Friday.  She woke up Friday morning with a cough and as the day progressed, so did a fever. Saturday brought a cough, congestion, fever and vomit! Her fever would go anywhere from 99* to 103* and back again. Sunday was not much better. However, we were able to leave the house for a bit without any throwing up. (Yay!) Monday was not fun at all. I think Addison's little body finally figured out that she was sick. She has been lethargic all day with little bits of energy here and there. Addison woke up with a fever of 102.8*, so I thought it was high time we get her into the doctor.  

Our doctors appointment was for 1:00 PM. Addison's fever was 103.8* at 12:30 when she woke up from her nap. So I rushed over to the doctor's office hoping that if I were there early, they could get us in sooner.  We got there, filled out the necessary paperwork and went back to our room. 50 (FIFTY) minutes later the doctor finally walked in. While we were waiting for the doctor, Addison decided that it was time to go home.  She would walk over to the door and say "bye bye" and then cry because I would tell her that we needed to wait. Since there wasn't a whole lot that I could do, I decided I would do what every other good mother in my position would do.  I pulled out my camera!

Can you see how sick she looks?  Her face is all red and flush because of the high fever. 

This one is my favorite of the bunch. It just screams "Look how sad I look!"  My poor, sweet baby!

Once the doctor came into the room, Addison wouldn't stop crying.  The doctor checked her ears, her heart, her mouth, her stomach and then listened to her breathing...or tried to! He tried really hard in fact.  After about 3 minutes of listening to a little girl screaming in his stethoscope, he turned to me and said we needed to get a chest X-Ray to know for sure what is going on.  He said he could hear something going on in her chest, but with all the screaming, it was too hard to tell.  

So, Addison and I had to go to the hospital to get the chest X-Ray.  There we waited another 45 minutes.  As soon as we walked back to the X-Ray room, Addison started to cry. This was not her first time at the rodeo, and she knew all about the child's chest X-Ray contraption.  If you have never seen the device for a child's X-Ray, then you are not missing out. It looks like a torture device.  There are plexy glass walls that surround the baby and make them stick their arms straight up. They then sit on a piece of wood with holes for their legs to go through. Then they are strapped in with leather straps. This device totally reminds me of somthing straight out of Silence of the Lambs. 

Once we got done with the X-Rays, we went back to the doctors office to find out what is wrong with Addison. Again, we had to wait, this time for only about 20 minutes.  The doctor came in and told me that Addison has an ear infection in her left ear and mycoplasma pneumonia. I was not surprised with the ear infection, because Addison had just gotten off anti-biotics on Tuesday for an ear infection and she usually needs two 10 day doses to fully get rid of an infection. I was however, surprised by the pneumonia diagnosis.  What? When? Where? and Who?  I still don't understand how she got it, but hopefully with this diagnosis and anti-biotic she will get back to her normal, energized, never taking a break or slowing down self soon!

Josie Morris's Cabin

Ever since we moved to Vernal, Randy has wanted to find Josie Morris's cabin. So yesterday, we took our weekly drive and decided to find the elusive (elusive to us) cabin.  We had to take a road up by Dinosaur National Monument. It was pretty neat. Josie was born in the early 1870's and in 1916 she homesteaded Cub Creek. She lived their until her death in 1964.  The cabin still stands as does her chicken coop. Considering that the cabin is in the general area of Dinosaur Monument, I would have expected they would keep the cabin in better shape than it was. 

(If you click on the picture below, it should pop up in another window large enough for you to read the plaque.)

I think Josie was a very strong brave woman. I don't know that I could live without my world-ly belongings. At least not by my own choosing.  Randy, however, wanted to move in that afternoon!

Josie's Cabin 

Chicken Coop

Can you tell that I love pictures with Randy walking with his baby girl?  

I had to take a picture of Randy's shoes.  We went on a little hike (Addison was sick, so we didn't get too far) and when we were on our way back, I looked down and started to laugh.  These are Randy's house slippers!

The Slide

I had a moment at the park the other day.  It was one of those moments when you realize that your kid isn't going to need you forever.  

Addison was off playing in the snow (or what is left of the snow) and I was chatting with some friends.  The next thing I know, I look over and there is my little baby going down the slide ALL BY HERSELF!!!  I had to hurry and grab my camera because Addison is literally growing up before my eyes! I like the sense of independence that she has, but come on!  This is too much!!!