A Tough Weekend

Lacey had a cold for nearly 2 weeks and she had been on Benadryl at night the entire time. We only gave a full dose 1 or 2 nights. Most of the other nights, we only gave a 1/2 dose. I hate giving her that stuff, but we all need sleep. She has a hard time coming off of it since she's used to having drugs to help her sleep. On Saturday night, we agreed that no matter what we would not give her Benadryl. We got her to bed around her normal time (8:15ish) and she cried. And she cried. And cried some more. We decided just to play and read with her until she was ready to crash. So, finally at 10:20, she fell asleep in my arms and slept through the night. Of course, this didn't mean that she slept later than normal. She was still up at 6:00ish. Ugh.

On Sunday she took a very early nap, but no longer than usual. She slept well on Sunday night. On Monday, she was driving me insane. I was trying to clean and do things aroung the house, but she would scream when I left the room. I finally had a breakdown. I don't think I've done that since she was a newborn. Then, I felt bad because she kept saying "mama cry...why mama cry". BECAUSE YOU ARE DRIVING ME NUTS! Thankfully I have a husband that doesn't mind cleaning, so he took over everything I was doing and I just hung out with her. She ended up going down for a nap around 9:30.......it's normally not until 1:30. She was just exhausted still. So, then I felt bad about not realizing that.

Anyway, she was a different kid when she woke up. She & I went to the pottery painting place that afternoon (our tradition for her birthday) and she painted a dinner plate and a tile to hang on her wall. It's amazing what a little sleep can do for a kid.

Annoying Cold, L's birthday, visit from a friend

On Sunday, I started feeling a cold coming on. You know the feeling....sore throat....just not quite "right". But, I was hopeful that it would go away. That's happened to me twice this season. Maybe because of the prenatal vitamins. Or maybe because I am a huge fan of acidophilus now. (For those of you that don't know, it's the good stuff that is in yogurt. The good bacteria. Lots of health benefits. And, I take a capsule everyday.)

Unfortunately, this cold has decided to stick. My luck has run out. I've had a sore throat since Sunday and it's really swollen. Tylenol seems to be helping, though. The other problem is that I feel really tired/groggy. Usually I blame that on cold meds, but I'm not taking any. I'm debating on taking some sick time tomorrow (if I still feel this way) to just rest. We'll see how I feel. I may at least work at home tomorrow so I don't have to get dressed nice & drive in.

Chuck & Nancy are arriving on Friday afternoon to spend a long weekend with us. Lacey's birthday is on Friday and her party is on Saturday. Just sticking to family again this year. We really only know 1 other family that has a kid Lacey's age and that's the one that Lacey isn't crazy about (code name: The Taker). I don't think it would be smart to invite her to the party. ;-)

Aunt Annie's gifts arrived yesterday and Lacey saw me unpack them from the box. She wanted them. Now. I didn't have the heart to say "no" b/c I would have wanted them now, too. Hehe. I let her open 1 (a book) and she immediately said "more!". So, she opened the others, too.

A good friend is coming to town this weekend for some conference on breast cancer. She was diagnosed at a very young age (in her 30's) and has battled not only that, but the side effects of chemo (heart issues), etc. She is a fighter and she inspires me. We used to work together, but she & her family moved to FL several years ago. Anyway, I'm not sure about the conference, but she has apparently gotten very involved in the fight against breast cancer. A few of us are meeting her for dinner in Old Town Alexandria tomorrow night. It will be so good to see her.

Can't think of much else!

A busy weekend

The main accomplishment was getting Lacey's new bedroom painted. I asked Butch if he wanted to do it or if I should and his response was "you are better at it". Which is true. But, I really didn't feel like doing all that work. ;-) I started on Saturday during Lacey's nap, but only got 1 coat on 1 wall because my darling husband bought 1 quart. Only 1 quart. To do a whole bedroom. Good thing I love him. Anyway, he was also able to get most of the trim work done (1 coat) with that 1 quart. So, early Sunday, he headed back to Lowe's to get more paint. And, I got started around 9:30. At around noon, I took a break for lunch. Then when Lacey napped, I was able to finish the 2nd coat on the walls and be done. Of course, my back ached like crazy last night, so I had the heating pad out. And, I'm sore all over today. But, we love the color (scotch butter) and it's DONE. Lacey even seemed to like the color. It was quite cute - when she saw it all painted, she just kept smiling and looking at the walls.

Dee & Buck brought the twin bed back. (They had borrowed it since Kyle always had so many kids staying the night.) They picked up Dad on the way, so it was a nice visit and Lacey was happy to see everyone. It's sad to say, but Dee & Buck hadn't seen Lacey since our Christmas celebration (a week before Christmas). How we live so close, but don't get together more often is beyond me.

While they were there, Lacey made sure to show Aunt Dee her new bedspread. I'm hoping her excitement at all of this stuff will mean a decent transition for her when the time comes. We should be able to have her room completly set up by next weekend. We still need to clean the carpet before doing anything else.

Hmmm....what else has been going on?

On Thursday, I had to attend a gala for a client. It's actually a nice event honoring teachers. It's just LONG. It starts around 6:30 with a reception and isn't done until around 10:45. It's in DC, so then I have over an hour drive home. And, it was COLD. I didn't wear a coat (stupid) because I didn't think about standing outside waiting for my car from valet. Stupid. It was probably single digits and I was in a sleeveless dress with a wrap. A wonderfully nice man gave me his coat while we waited. Bless him.

I had a doc appt. last week and Dr. Aron (whom I adore) said as I was leaving "you're looking great - keep up the good work". Now you know why I adore him. Not a peep about gaining too much weight or anything. Love him. I think I've gained about what I had with Lacey at this point - about 16 pounds or so.

Three colleagues from our Des Moines office are coming in this afternoon. One of them is actually my very good friend (that lived with me for a while before moving back to Des Moines), so I'm going out to dinner with them. We are supposed to have a meeting tomorrow from 9:00 to 1:00 and it should be interesting to see what happens.....because they are calling for a winter storm. Starting as snow sometime after midnight....turning to sleet.....turning to freezing rain. I hope the freezing rain holds off until well after the meeting.

Ultrasound

Okay, so most of you readers already know that we had an ultrasound on February 1. We went back to the specialists in Annapolis -- where we went for other testing in December. (You, know...since I'm "old".) Baby looks perfectly healthy. I'm sure most of you also already know that we are expecting another girl! Thought I'd post one of the pictures for you here. The first one is of her face with her hand in front (Lacey always did this during ultrasounds, too) and the next one is the bottom of her 2 feet.

My dad is being a pain again about the gender and doesn't want to know. So, if any of you talk to him, please make sure not to mention it! ;-)

Daycare for Baby

Normally Butch drops off and picks up Lacey since he doesn't have a LONG commute and since the daycare is on the way for him. But, I'm trying to pick her up once a week so Lisa & I can chat.

One day last week, I picked up Lacey and Lisa let me know that she is going to have an opening in a few weeks. Alex's mom has decided to stay home. Lisa ALWAYS has a waiting list. If we want to hold that spot, she charges 1/2 price ($75/week) until we start to use it. It's frustrating and a lot of people have commented on how ridiculous that is. But, think about it from a business standpoint. Of course, she wants some money. She could have someone else paying $150 a week for that spot through all of these weeks.

I have said all along that if this happens, we are not paying, but we'll take a chance. However. There is no guarantee that there will be a spot for Baby in September if we don't pay her.

Zachery is starting all day kindergarten next school year. With his 2 older siblings, his parents pulled them out of Lisa's when they started all day. But, Lisa asked the other day and they aren't sure. They are leaning toward taking him out. Lisa's gut feeling is that they will take him out. But no guarantees. So, then we'd end up either having to move Lacey (which I will not do) or having to go to 2 different daycares for an undetermined amount of time. There aren't a lot of infant spots available in daycares......I know from our past searches. I don't want to have to deal with that stress. And, we love and trust Lisa.

So......I've just emailed Lisa to say "yes, we will hold that spot". Yes, we will pay you approximately $2100 over 28 weeks for peace of mind. (And, Zach will be taken out and we will be irritated b/c we could have just had that spot.)

Dee had a good thought, though and I did ask Lisa about it. As soon as she knows that Zach is being taken out, she could let us know. Then, assuming she can fill a spot (she always has a waiting list....did I mention that), then we could stop paying and take Zach's spot. Maybe we'll only have to pay $1950 instead of $2100. (Hehe)

Snow

Normally, I am the person defending our area about school closings to people that grew up or live in areas like MN, IA, PA....where they get snow all the time. My argument is typically two-fold. 1) We don't get enough snow to invest in the equipment necessary to clean the roads quickly. 2) We close schools by county. But in many states that get lots of snow, they close by district. If you close by county, perhaps it doesn't look so bad outside your window, but the counties are BIG and there can be a big difference 30 miles away.

We had a VERY SMALL snow fall last night. Schools were closed. I can't defend it. From what we heard, everyone had a dusting to 2 inches. Open 2 hours late and get things cleaned up. Give me a break.

On the other hand, Butch got the day off and is cleaning the house and doing some painting. And, I had an easy drive to work since traffic volume was light. I guess I can't complain!