A Very General Update

Not much has really been happening around here. The girls both had colds that started about a week ago. I kept Lacey home from daycare the Friday before MLK Day because she was so congested. Saturday, Lacey had a mild fever....which she still had on Monday, so I took her to Dr. Jill. It never got above 100.5, but I still thought that after 3 days, she needed to be checked. It turned out that she had an ear infection. She hadn't complained at all, so it must have been just starting. She still has a few days left of the antibiotics, but her cold is almost completely gone.

Leah had a cold, too, but never got a fever. Her 18 month well visit was scheduled for Friday, so it was good to at least have her checked out. By then, her cold was about gone, too. She had a great doctor's visit - she is so easy. Dr. Jill always comments about it being her easiest visit of the day. She is 24 lbs, 4 oz. (50th percentile) and 32.5 inches long (75th percentile). I find the length kind of funny....I know it was accurate because she was really good with being still. But...I always think of her as short. The 18-24 mo. clothing from Old Navy and Gymboree; and the 18 mo. clothing from Carters are all long on her. Anyway....she got only 1 shot that day and handled it well. Not even a flinch.

I worked from home on Tuesday - Inauguration Day. Unbelieveable, but our DC office did not close. Apparently there is 1 person from one of our companies that lives very near the office & was being stubborn about it. So, my dept./division (15-20 people tops) was given the choice to work @ home or take the day off. The 2 administrative women were given "free" days off since they aren't able to work from home.

Butch & I watched the ceremony with happiness since the person we supported had won this year. I had chills watching him take the long walk out for the swearing in. By himself, in his thoughts. You have to wonder what's going through his mind at that point. Perhaps it was "don't let Justice Roberts mess up the words". :-) Truly an amazing day when you think of how far we've come with race issues. I don't believe that 30 years ago anyone other than a white man could have made it this far. I'm proud of how people are changing.

That day was also Winnie the Pooh day (I know because daycare celebrated it). So, I wasn't sure that they would talk about Inauguration Day. But, Lacey came home with this (held upside down):

And, she said that they watched the ceremony, too. I asked her if she had a good time watching it and she said - very enthusiastically - "I had fun!". She already knows who "Barack Obama" is....I'm working on the "President" part with her now.

We bought a new toy box/storage thing that Butch put together last weekend. Here are Lacey & Butch showing it off. It's got 3 bins, so we can attempt to organize the toys. Yeah, right. I'm the only one in the house that sees the point of that.


Yesterday, I took Lacey to see The Little Mermaid at the College of Southern MD. It was the children's theater, so lots of kids were in it. Certainly no Port Tobacco Player's presentation, but it was pretty good and Lacey loved it! What was strange is that the mermaid wasn't "Ariel". Her name was "Anemone". Many of the names were different - the prince was Theodore (instead of Eric). I'm not sure if this was an earlier, pre-Disney story, or if it's because of copywrite issues.

Not much is planned for today. Lacey is still asleep (7:30) and Leah cried around 6:30 - Butch went to her & she's been resting in his arms in the rocking chair ever since. This is how I've found some time to post here!

It isn't often that I get a picture of the 2 girls together...at least not a decent picture. So, here is a lucky shot.

Happy New Year!

So, what else has happened since Christmas?

One of the days after Christmas, we (Nancy, Butch, Lacey, Leah & I) went to the Baltimore Aquarium. The girls had very little interest in the fish. But, then we went to the dolphin show. Lacey loved the show! They are so amazing to watch. Leah fell asleep a few minutes before we went in and slept the entire show. After the show, we went to the 4-D Experience of The Polar Express....that was awesome! Too bad it was only 15 minutes. If you have a chance to see something in 4-D, you should.

We headed for a quick lunch at Panera before heading home.

On New Year's Eve, we got Leah to bed, then headed to our neighbor's house for their annual party. It was nice to be able to go and not worry about coming home to put kids to bed since Chuck & Nancy were still here. I enjoyed the party, but in all honesty....staying home and hanging out would have been fine, too.
Chuck & Nancy left on New Year's day and it was back to work for Butch & I on Monday. The girls have had minor colds....and I have had it a little worse. It was a little rough for a few days and is now improving. Poor Leah seems to be getting a bit worse.

Butch is in Delaware this weekend for a volleyball tournament. He left early this a.m. and will get back tomorrow morning sometime. The day is going fairly smooth here.....although Leah wouldn't nap in her crib, so I was in her rocking chair for about 90 minutes. Most likely that was due to her cold. She's not usually like that. Luckily, Lacey was really good and played well on her own.

Christmas Continued....

Christmas Eve was interesting for us at church. Both girls were in total mommy mode and wanting to be on, or at least next to me. But, mostly on me. They were both a bit grumpy, too. Leah wanted to be active and wasn't happy to be stuck in a pew. I'm not sure what Lacey's issue was. Luckily, it was the "family/children's" service, so there were lots of other noisy kids. Of course, mine seemed to be the loudest, but that might be that I was right there with them. Maybe the other parents felt the same about their kids. I'll hope, anyway. And, as with all the services since the "new" pastor (18 months ago) came to Mt. Zion, this was longer than it used to be. It was about 30-40 minutes with Pastor Phil, but it was an hour this year.

We drove 2 cars and after church, Butch & Chuck were stopping to pick up Ledo's pizza. Sadly, Ledo's had closed at 5:00. Church was over at 6:00. So, plan B was Pizza Hotline, which was also closed. Plan C was Domino's. It worked. After pizza, we had ice cream cake to celebrate Butch's 46th birthday! Then, we let the girls open 2 gifts each - PJs and an ornament. Lacey's ornament was a daddy bear and daughter bear (in a tutu) dancing. Leah's was a little girl decorating her dog with ribbon.

And, I got one for Butch this year, too. If I ask him what he wants for any occasion (birthday, Christmas, etc.), he sometimes says "world peace". Which, I can't provide. But, there was a beautiful ornament this year that was called "A Wish For Peace". I thought it was perfect.

Eventually it was off to bed for the girls. We stayed up & watched Narnia while Santa worked on stockings and things.

Leah woke at 7:00. We thought about taking her to the (unfinished) basement to play a bit so Lacey (really....Chuck & Nancy) could sleep in a bit longer, but didn't think that she would last long down there. (In our defense, we do have toys down there. And, the treadmill, a TV, etc.) So, I went to wake up Lacey, who was quite grumpy at first....until I said "Santa came!" and she replied "is he here?"!? She woke up Grandma & Poppy and was quite patient to wait while they cleaned up & got robes on. I'm sure that patience will disappear as the years progress.

Both girls were thrilled with the pink kitchen that Santa brought. You saw some pictures of this on the last post. Leah was thrilled when she realized there was a new puzzle for her under the tree....so sweet. And, Lacey loved the new Barbie (yes, another one). Lots of other wonderful gifts....some clothes, books, etc.

Rick & Kristina hosted Christmas dinner. We headed to their house after Leah's nap (around 3:00?).
Dinner was Yum-o! All the normal things....stuffed ham, the wonderful casseroles, plus roast beef and strawberry spinach salad. (Jess is peaking around Dad here....proud to be doing dishes!)
We do gifts only for the generation of our nieces & nephews, so they all opened gifts after dinner. Speaking of that generation, we try to do a picture of them all each year, too. This is the "goofy face" picture. I'm hoping Dee or Kristina got a good "regular" one for me since Kyle closed his eyes in the one I took. :-)
Dad announced around 5:30 that he was leaving to go to another party. Busy man. He & Frankie were heading out with some friends. So, we had to hurry & have him open gifts so he could leave.

We didn't last long after that since we had to get Leah home & ready for bed. But, Leah had other ideas when we got home. That pink kitchen was calling her name and she was right back to it! Eventually she gave in.....