Memorial Day Weekend

Well, our weekend has turned out different than we had originally planned. Agnes & Trampas were supposed to come for a visit. But, Trampas ended up having to work. He's an FBI agent and these things come up sometimes. I was looking forward to seeing them, but told Butch we would just have to look on the bright side and take advantage of the sudden "free" time.



So, what have we done?



Friday night I was going to head to a scrapbooking thing, but didn't have the motivation to get my butt in gear, so we just stayed in. Saturday morning, we headed to Shlagel Farms since we didn't make it there Mother's Day weekend. We picked lots and lots of strawberries. Our camera batteries had died, but thankfully we had our cell phones.

Lacey had fun for a short while and then didn't want to stick with us anymore. Butch kept picking and I walked around with her.

Then we headed to the mall to look at patio furniture and bought something at Sears. They were out of stock, so we won't have it until next weekend. Lacey found the toy section while we were there & ended up getting her first Barbie, which she adores.

I thought for sure she'd crash for a long nap once we were home, but HA! She kept going. I could have forced it, but she was being good, so I let her stay up. She ended up crashing around 4:30 and I let her sleep until 6:00......which screwed up her bedtime, so she was up late. Oh well.

Sunday, I made a Pampered Chef breakfast I'd wanted to try - Brunch Pizza (or something like that). The crust is hashbrowns and the topping is eggs (of course), peppers, onions, bacon, etc. Pretty good. We all went to Wawa around lunch so I could get my fix of a fountain diet coke (yes, I have my quirks). No matter what anyone says, there is a big difference in taste of a soda in a can or bottle versus one from the fountain. Lacey didn't even eat lunch...she fell sleep right after we came home and slept for over 3 hours!

Then, we headed to Dad's house for a cookout with everyone. It was still early when we got there, so Butch got in the pool. He was the only adult that was brave enough to get in the cold (76*) water. The rest of us were content to put in our feet. Lacey soon decided the pool wasn't so scary & got in with her daddy. She LOVED it and put up quite the fuss when it was time to get out.

Dinner was delish. Burgers, mac salad, potato salad & strawberry spinach salad. Dee & Buck also brought a Carvel Ice Cream cake to celebrate Mom's birthday. She would have been 65 on Saturday. (Appropriate, by the way, that we went strawberry pickin' on her birthday. She loved to do that before she had her own patch.)

Rick & Kristina (really Jessica) were dog sitting for a cousin and had a little chihuahua named Tink at Dad's house. I have *never* seen a nice chihuahua like that. Lacey & Tink had a ball running in the back yard chasing each other. It was awesome. We have video, but I don't know if there is a way to post video here.

After getting home late, another late bath for Lacey and another late bedtime. Oh well. Summer is here.

Today we are just hanging out. She woke up at 6:15 -- despite the late bedtime -- and is already napping (fell asleep on the floor at 9:45). Butch is doing some work. I'm updating you. Not sure what else we will do.

Butch has a cold. I've threatened him about not getting Lacey or me sick. Even with being sick, he's gotten a lot done around the house/yard. Cut out some more brush out back, trimmed the hedges in the front, etc.

Oh - the a/c upstairs isn't working. I posted about that a while ago - that it wasn't working properly last year and we knew it would need fixed. Well, we turned it on for the first time on Friday night and it wasn't really doing a thing. It's about 85* in our rooms when we go to bed. Blah. So, I'll be calling around tomorrow to get someone out to fix it. We've just turned all of it off (even downstairs). Even though it's supposed to be pretty warm today (upper 80's again), there is a nice breeze and I love to hear the birds.

St. Michael's

Butch & I went to St. Michael's last weekend. It was really nice to get away for a couple of days. We waited until traffic died down on Friday to go, so we didn't get there until about 9:00. But, we had all day Saturday to play. We had a nice breakfast at our inn before heading out to explore. The morning was filled with a lot of walking....about 3 hours worth. We just walked around the town and checked out all of the shops. By lunch, my back/butt was killing me. We had a good lunch at Key Lime Cafe, then headed back to our room to relax before getting massages at 3:00. Ahhhhh. We had dinner at Town Dock and enjoyed the view.

Neither of us slept very well while we were there....I think it was the bed. So, we ended up waking up before 7:00 on Sunday morning even though we could have slept in. Since we were up, and nothing in town was open, we headed out.

That afternoon, we went to DC for the Closing Ceremonies of the Avon Breast Cancer Walk. Kristin & her friend Jill walked it --- they made it 32 of the 39 miles (in 2 days).

Lacey stayed at Dee & Buck's house while we were out of town and did really well. Apparently, when she saw our van leaving Dee's, she said "uh-oh....what happened?". We laughed at that most of the weekend. Crazy girl. And, when we returned, she was running in circles, screaming "mommy, mommy, mommy". Dee picked her up b/c she was afraid Lacey would fall & get hurt.

Mother's Day and general update

Happy Mother's Day to all of you momma's! When I picked Lacey up at daycare on Friday, she had a nice little gift bag for me. They "made" bookmarks and flower pots (with violets). The bookmarks have a flower on them and the petals and leaves are from Lacey's finger prints. Very cute. The flower pot has an insert that she colored on. Of course, when she saw the flower pot, she said "Mine!" and I told her we would share. Butch got me lots of Burt's Bees things and some chocolate (he knows me well).

It's been a pretty nice day. Lacey has been a complete joy all weekend. Friday night she slept for 12 hours. Bliss. Last night was only about 9.5 hours, but she woke up happy and has been really good playing on her own. She is still in her crib, and I think we're going to leave her there for a while. I wanted to transition her to a bed before Leah's arrival, but when she is sleeping so good, I don't want to mess with a good thing!!! Most advice suggests keeping them in a crib until they are closer to 3 years old, anyway.

utch has been doing a lot of house cleaning today.....God love him. With my low back issues, vacuuming kills me, so he's taken over.

We are thinking about going to Shlagel Farms to pick strawberries later if she'll go down for a nap early enough. Little stinker is still running around with tons of energy right now.

I'm 33 weeks today. It's really hard to believe I only have about 7 weeks to go. Crazy. All is still going well with the pregnancy (other than my back complaints). Dr. Aron assures me that I'm measuring on target....even though I feel HUGE. My weight is about the same as it was with Lacey at this same time.

We're hoping to clean the carpet in the nursery yet today so we can start organizing in there over the next few weeks. We shouldn't need to get much, but I hate feeling disorganized.

Oh - about the yard projects, they are temporarily on hold because I remembered 2 more important things we have to get done. The roof above the garage needs repaired. And, the a/c unit for the upstairs had a leak last year and needs repaired. So, for now the money is going there. I'm still hopeful that we can at least level off a very small area to put in a swingset this year. It shouldn't be that difficult since it's not a big area and I doubt a "professional" would do it since it's such a tiny job.

I hear Butch asking Lacey if she's tired, so I'm off to check on her.

House and Yard Projects

Well, now that Spring is here, we've come back to talking about all of the projects we'd like to do around here.

For those of you that don't know, we got an estimate on having the basement finished (and turned into a walkout) about a year ago. But, we really wanted to buy the minivan and the minivan won. The other project we've talked about a lot for inside the house is tearing out the wet bar (dry bar.....plumbing was never installed by the previous owners) that is in the living room. We'd either replace it with built in book shelves, or something along those lines.

As far as yard projects go, we have drainage issues that we need to fix. When it rains, it takes days for the front yard to dry out. So, Dad & Rick have some ideas of how to fix that and we are hoping to get that done soon.

Our side yard is pretty level, but there is only an upstairs window that overlooks it, so it's not a good play area for little kids. The backyard has lots of windows overlooking it and it's fenced in. But, it is pretty sloped. We can't use it for a swing set or patio furniture or anything. It's sort of wasted space. If we were going to do the basement project, they would be leveling out the yard in order to make the walkout. Now we are considering other options.

Ultimately, I want to dig out the yard to level it off (and have it ready for a walkout when the time comes). But, we are also considering putting a 2nd, lower deck at the bottom of the stairs from the existing deck. That will give us a lot of level space.

And, we were talking yesterday about just leveling off a portion of the yard to have a good space for a play area. Since it would be such a small area, we should be able to do that ourselves. Then we can get a swing set for little miss. I know she'd love it. It would be great to get that part of the project done before Leah's arrival. We'll see how it goes.

Work, Easter, Travel, Visits, etc., etc.

Wow, I can't believe it's been about 3 weeks since I posted. I guess it's been busier than I realized.

Work has been pretty busy. I took on another client, so I've had more work with that. And, knowing that I have less than 10 weeks until my due date, I'm feeling a bit stressed about getting lots done with work anyway.

I was so disappointed about the weather on Easter weekend! I didn't even bother putting Lacey in a dress b/c it was so cold. And, we missed church. We normally go to 8:30 service, but didn't have our act together. Lacey really doesn't like (to say the least) the lady that does nursery at 9:45. We thought we'd make the 11:00, but Lacey fell asleep before 10:00 and snoozed for 3 hours. Oh well. We went to Dee & Buck's for dinner. Other than Dee's family, it was just us, Dad and Calvin (Buck's dad). So, a quiet day.

Butch went to Atlanta for a conference April 14-16. He was supposed to stay until the 17th, but Ryken (his school) wanted him back for a meeting on the 17th. Then, I left on the 18th for Boston for a conference and was there until Friday night (20th). I was supposed to stay until Saturday morning, but was sleeping horribly due to a bed that was way too soft. And, traveling when pregnant isn't "fun" anyway. If I'm not pregnant, I like to go out and explore the city, but at the end of 10 hour days, I just wanted to hang out. That was boring in a hotel room. I thought it would be nice to have the time to myself, but I was just bored. Anyway, I was able to get a flight out after my meetings on Friday and get home at 10:45. Nice.

Tonya (best friend that lives in Charlotte, NC) came into town on Saturday. She works for my company again and had some meetings scheduled on Monday in my office. So, we picked her up at the airport, went to lunch and then did a whole lot of nothing all weekend. That's what's so nice about her visits. She doesn't need to be entertained. ;-) On Tuesday, we both took vacation time and went to lunch, shopped and got mani/pedi's.

Lacey absolutely adored Tonya. It was so cute. She calls her "tona". Anything that Lacey wouldn't do for us (get her face washed, for example), she'd do happily for "Tona". I think she had a crush on her. Hehe.

I had a doc appt. yesterday. All is fine. I've gained the same amount as I did with Lacey at this same point (30 weeks). But, I feel HUGE. Dr. Aron said that is very common. He thinks I look a little more swollen than with Lacey (just what a girl likes to hear), but is contributing that to the weather.

I've been feeling good other than the back/butt issues. My chiro pretty much confirmed I'll just deal with it to some extent through the pregnancy. And, even just doing yoga seems to aggrivate it a little. Blah.

Lacey is doing really well. She was still dealing with constipation a few weeks ago, so I called Dr. Jill. She suggested giving her Milk of Magnesia every day for 6-8 weeks. Yikes. She needs to be cleaned out and also have a chance to forget that it can hurt to poop. Dr. Jill said that many times, they think it's going to hurt so much that they hold it and that just makes it worse. So, it's been about 2.5 weeks and she's doing well. We're changing a lot of dirty diapers, but that's okay. She is SO MUCH happier. And, she's sleeping better. And....she's not fighting baths.

Miss Lisa filled Leah's daycare spot temporarily, so we don't have to pay the holding fee for about 8 weeks. It will be nice to have that savings for a while.

Oh - Miss Lisa also let me know about the tantrums Lacey was having at daycare. (Welcome terrible 2's.) Mainly, they seem to be associated with food. If she doesn't get one of her favorite things at lunch, she screams. But, Lisa said she ignores it and Lacey ends up eating. Lisa was really sweet about it when she told me -- made sure that I knew she wasn't complaining -- just that she likes to keep parents informed.

We have NOTHING planned this weekend.....very nice. Time for yard work and things like that. Then, next weekend (May 4-6), Butch & I are heading to St. Michael's. Lacey will be stayin with Dee & Buck.

Better run.....lots to do.

Cherry Blossoms...a love/hate sort of thing

A couple of weeks ago, the cherry blossoms were at peak in DC. They are absolutely beautiful. Yes, you can see them elsewhere, but when there are so many together in one spot and they have the backdrop of national monuments.....you can't beat it. I took my camera with me to work one day so I could take some pictures on my drive home. I drive right by the tidal basin...where there are so many.

However....the downside is that tourists invade the city. Tour buses block (stop in) lanes they aren't supposed to be in. Traffic backs up way worse than normal. So, on the 2 days that I was in the office that week (that were wonderful, warm days.....bringing out more people), it took me FORever to get home. Normally, my drive home is 75-90 minutes. (It's a 45 mile drive.) On those 2 days, it took me that long just to go the first 10 miles & get out of the city. No exaggeration at all.

Weekend, Pregnancy, Misc.

Not sure where to start since it's been a while since I've done a "normal" post.

We had a good weekend last weekend. We went to dinner on Friday night at Bert's (local diner). Lacey loved it. Of course, she didn't stay in her seat. There were way too many other things to take her interest away.

Saturday, we did a lot of house and yard work, which was good. The tulips are blooming.....azaleas are close.....very nice.

Sunday we attempted church again. The week before, we didn't get out of the house early enough for 8:30 service, so we went to 9:45. I completely forgot that Lacey doesn't like (to say the least) the nursery person for that service. So, she wouldn't stay. I ended up sitting in the car with her. Anyway....this week we made it to 8:30 and she went to the nursery. She wasn't happy about it and was held the whole time by someone, but she went. Not sure how we'll handle Easter service. I'd like us all to go, but will be irritated if she doesn't handle the nursery well again.

Sunday afternoon, I met some girlfriends from college for lunch, shopping and ice cream. It's always good to do that - I just wish we could more often. They are all about an hour or more from where we live.

Lacey was truly back to her fun self, too. She was so much fun. (Of course, the terrible 2's are here and there are tantrums here & there.) I'm so glad she's 100% now.

What else?

I'm almost 28 weeks pregnant now. Strange. Only 12 (or so) weeks until we have another sweet baby. I'm now going to the doc every other week. Last week was my 2nd Gestational Diabetes test and I was worried about it, but heard today that all is good. Whew. No 3 hour test to deal with now. And, sweets are fine. ;-)

I've felt good for the most part, except for my low back issues. I haven't been happy with the chiropractor that I have been seeing nearby. Whether I'm pregnant or not; and no matter what pain I'm complaining of, it seems like he always does the same adjustments. So, I got a recommendation for a new one from my massage therapists office. I am SO GLAD that I changed. I went to see the new guy yesterday and he spent more time with me and listened to what I was saying.

What I have is piriformis syndrome. The piriformis is the muscle that is around the sciatic nerve. Because of the weight I'm carrying up front (and probably from lugging Lacey around when she was sick), the bone near that muscle had to adjust to compensate.....and the muscle got inflamed. So, I'm going back tomorrow for another adjustment and he's going to show me some stretches that will help, too. When the massage therapist and the old chiro couldn't help before, I found the pigeon pose in my Yoga for Pregnancy book and it has been the only thing that's helped.

Butch starts spring break on Thursday. Lucky duck. He's off through all of next week. He has a long list of things to do around the house and for his business.

My wireless card on my laptop (work) is broken and because it's under warranty, we had to send the whole freakin' thing to IBM in Atlanta for repair. Blah. So, as of today, I have no access to work email or anything else. It should be back by Fri. or Mon. For now, I'm using my personal email account and also working like in the olden days.....you know, with the phone. ;-) I much prefer email.

Our office closes on Friday at noon for Good Friday. That will be nice. Oh - speaking of benefits from my company, they announced a couple of weeks ago that they are adding 2 weeks of "paid parental leave" to our benefits. That means for maternity leave, I get 6 weeks disability, plus 2 weeks paid leave....before I even have to touch my vacation. Nice extra. Quite happy about that.

What's New?

Chuck & Nancy came into town on Tuesday. I thought they were coming on Wednesday - based on earlier conversations, but Butch & they were on the same page. They are back again so soon for a visit because of all the missed time from work that Butch & I had due to Lacey's illness....and the fact that daycare is closed 3/14 through 3/19 for Lisa to take a mini-vacation. While I have the vacation time, I couldn't imagine missing more work and getting further behind. Thankfully, they were happy to come help and visit the munchkin.

I called the doctor's office yesterday about the constipation issues that L is having. My favorite nurse was there and she agreed we are fine to continue with Milk of Mag. for another few days and then start to wean her off of it. She's much happier since she's taking that and she's drinking more fluids, which will help the issues.

The weather here has been fabulous for days. Yesterday was 81*! Today should be around 70*......and tomorrow.....in the 30's. BLAH! Maybe even a wintry mix. Oh well, spring will be here soon.

I have yoga tonight. Hope I can do it okay. My back is still hurting. A visit to the massage therapist and chiropractor didn't help much. The stretches that I think would help the most, I can't do because of my growing belly.

Butch & I are hoping to go to St. Michael's sometime in May and leaving Lacey with ....????....Dee? Kristina? Kristin? ;-) I know it will be much harder to have an overnight trip away once we have 2. Anyone been to St. Michael's? I'm trying to decide on where to stay.

Can't think of much else. We're still trying to catch up on things with Lacey having been under the weather for so long. Life is getting back to normal.

Lacey's 2nd Birthday

At long last.....a post about her birthday celebrations.

The weekend before her birthday was President's Day w/e. I took her to the pottery painting place on Monday.....our mommy/daughter "tradition". She painted a plate in the same colors as our dinnerware. It looks a little "camaflauge-ish", but still cute. She also painted a tile to hang in her room that has her handprint on it. I think she had fun with it.

Her actual birthday was on a Friday and they had a little party at daycare that morning - complete with chocolate cupcakes baked by me. (Man, I love licking that batter.) I was going to go, but was afraid she'd just want to leave with me, so I decided against that.

We had her party on Saturday. No kids. Just family. I thought about inviting Mary Kate (from daycare), but since she is a "taker", I didn't think that would help Lacey enjoy her day. Chuck & Nancy had arrived on Friday. Dad, Frankie, Dee, Buck, Kristin, Rick, Kristina, Jess & Justin were all there. Kyle was the only one missing since he is away at college and couldn't make it home that weekend.

We had salad, spaghetti (complete with a homeade crockpot sauce) and bread for dinner. Mmmmm. Lacey had no interest in that, so she went with yogurt & a spinach pocket. It was her birthday - she can have what she wants. ;-)

We'd kept all the gifts hidden since I knew she'd want to open them immediately after seeing them. After dinner, we brought them into the family room and she didn't even notice until they were all piled on the table. Complete and total joy all over her face when she realized they were all for her. Squeals of delight. She did pretty good with opening them for herself, until she decided it was just time to play and she was done opening new things. I think Aunt Dee's gift was her favorite - a set of things for her baby dolls. It has a highchair/swing, baby bed, stroller, etc. She loves to put her doll in the chair and feed her.

After gifts, we had cake and ice cream. Elmo was the theme and she really liked it. She was still talking about "birthday cake" long after the party and wanted some when she was sick the following week. (Which, of course, I said "no" to.)

A very good 2nd birthday, I think. I just wish she'd stayed healthy afterwards!

Yea for Improvement! And more..

After my post yesterday, Lacey took another nap from 3:00 to 5:30. Butch had to wake her up. (I was at yoga.) When I called after yoga, Butch said she'd been pretty good, but had ups and downs. But, when I got home, I never saw and "downs". ;-) She ate and ate and ate. And, had apple juice and water. Took a fun bath. We didn't want to force her to go to bed since she'd had 2 naps totaling 5 hours and the last one ended so late. So, finally, at 9:45, she got into her crib. Butch was planning to let her sleep in and just head to work a little late, but she woke on her own at 6:20 (normal time). Back to her normal self this morning. Horray!

Yoga last night was good. It's a prenatal yoga class at one of the local hospitals. I missed last week b/c of Lacey being sick, so this was my first class. It was good and very much needed. I needed to be out of the house and doing something for me. The stretches felt great.

Unfortunately, my back hurts today. I'm guessing that lugging 26-28 pounds around for over a week caught up with me. And, doing some exercises after NONE for so long. But, I have heat on it and am hoping it improves soon.

We don't have anything big planned for the weekend. Butch has to work on Saturday (SATs). Other than that, I'm hoping we can catch up around here....on sleep, rest, laundry, cleaning, etc.

Ugh...when does it end?

Lacey stayed home AGAIN today. Lisa had to hold her all day yesterday. She went to bed at 8:00 last night, but cried in her sleep from 10:45 to 12:45. Then, woke up screaming at 5:30....completely inconsolable. After dealing with diarrhea, now we are dealing with constipation. She won't drink anything except for milk....and dairy is constipating. She wanted to go bye-bye at around 9:50 and I was hoping to take her to Lisa's. But, she fell asleep in the car after 5 min. and knowing how tired she is, I decided to just drive. And drive. And drive. All over. For more than 2 hours. 1/2 tank of gas.

After we'd been home for a bit, I decided to give her Milk of Magnesia and it worked after a couple of hours. She's still constipated, but is a little happier. We played outside in puddles and goofed off in here. And, I even managed to get her to drink a little bit of apple juice.

Needing Prayers for a Friend

One of the girls that I know from my online mommies group just had her 2nd baby. She's known for weeks now that Aubrey (baby) had a heart defect. Aubrey was born this week and is in the NICU currently and surgery will be on Friday. Please keep Erinn, JJ, Bayne & Aubrey in your prayers.

Here is a link to her website/journal.
http://www.caringbridge.org/cb/inputSiteName.do?method=search&siteName=aubreyjackson

The long road to recovery

Lacey is doing a LOT better. But, she is still home from daycare. She can't go back until the diarrhea is completely gone. Butch stayed home Monday & today. I'll do my best to work from home with her tomorrow and then hope she can go back on Thursday.

Yesterday was a pretty good day for her. No real diarrhea until the end of the day. She ate and drank fairly well. She really wanted her bath at 6:00, too. She doesn't normally get one so early, but I think she wants her routine back. ;-) She (and I) went to bed around 7:45, but she woke up after about 30 min. with a very full diaper and bad rash. Screamed through the whole diaper change. Back to bed at 8:45 and not a peep until 4:45. Thank God. I really needed that....as did she.

We think she is really getting cabin fever. She wants to go "bye-bye" all the time. Butch took her to the library this morning just to get out of the house and have a doc appt. tomorrow morning that she'll come to.

On top of all this time off, Miss Lisa is taking 4 days vacation time starting late next week. That wouldn't have been an issue if we hadn't missed all of this time from work already. Ugh. Chuck & Nancy may be coming down to help out so that Butch & I don't fall further behind at work. (Thank you Grandma and Poppy.) It's strange that I have so much family in the area, but in this situation, really no help. Everyone works full-time or is in college. Oh well.

Back to work. Just thought I'd catch you up really quick. I promise to do a post on Lacey's birthday soon....maybe this weekend.

A very nasty stomach virus

Wow, what a week it has been. On Wednesday at 9:50 a.m., Miss Lisa called me at work to tell me Lacey had thrown up twice. I left work to go get her. She had thrown up again before I got there. And, again in the car on the way home. Once we got home, she actually seemed okay for a few minutes and played, but throughout the day continued to vomit until there was nothing left.

On Thursday, the fever started. Butch stayed home with us to help out (thankfully). We went to the docs that morning and her temp was 102.9* at that point. They said it was going around and to focus on keeping her hydrated as much as we could. Butch went on to work around 1:00....he had something that evening, so he had to go.

Well, through the day, the fever got worse. The highest was about 104.3*. For kids her age, I think 105* is the really awful number, so we weren't far off. They had told us to avoid Motrin b/c of her upset stomach, but Tylenol wasn't cutting it. So, the nurse gave the okay to alternate Motrin & Tylenol. With that, I could get her fever down to about 102.7*....no lower. I had been putting cold rags on her head, but started on her neck, too. I called the doc via her beeper around 6:00 and she said we were getting close to an ER visit and it might be better to go then rather than wait until midnight. Her concern was mainly that the fever wasn't budging. I called Butch in tears and he came home early. We kept hoping to get the fever down, but at 9:30 decided to head to the ER.

When we signed in, there were 7 people ahead of us. While we were there, we dealt with annoying loud people - very frustrating when you have a sick and exhausted toddler. About 2.5 hours after we got there, her fever started coming down. And, the diarrhea started. Lovely. All over her pants. All over my pants. All over my shirt. Since she hadn't had vomiting in a while and no diarrhea, we hadn't brought a change of clothes. Oh well. Since her fever broke, I called Dr. Jill again and she said we could go home since the fever had broke. (When we checked out - 3 hours after arrival - there were still 5 people ahead of us.)

She slept for 5 hours straight that night, but Friday brought more issues. She didn't want to drink anything. She & I rested a lot. And, I walked her a lot. Up & down the stairs. Around the house.

Friday night, we called Dr. Jill again. She said we really need to push pedialyte since L wasn't drinking voluntarily. (Dad & Rick even brought a slurpie that day, which she had no interest in.) So, we gave a dropper of it every 10 minutes or so for about an hour. Then, we let her sleep. She slept for 2.5 hours, then when she woke was thirsty & had some water and a couple of crackers. Slept again for a couple of hours, and we were back to pacing around the house.

Saturday morning, she was crying out in pain - I guess abdominal cramping and gas. We called the docs' office again. They sent us to the ER b/c she just wasn't getting enough fluid (still refusing to drink). We tried Calvert Hospital this time. Much nicer waiting room - with comfy couches. And, they weren't as busy. We still waited 2.5 hours to be called back. During the time in the waiting room, Lacey really picked up quite a bit. She was talking and smiling some. Still not drinking, though.

Once we were called back, the doc came in to check her out. We were in that room for about 3 hours. He didn't want to rush into an IV since it can be so traumatic with a child. She still refused to drink...no apple juice, no popscicle, no water, no ginger ale. Nothing. But, in the end, we decided against an IV. The doc thought she was starting the road to recovery and she was still making tears and fighting back, so not dehydrated yet. If we didn't push her too much, she might drink on her own. So, we left the ER around 4:00 and headed home. She had some water in the car. Last night, she & I fell asleep in the chair at 7:00 and at 7:30, I put her in her crib. She (and I) slept until 2:00. Then, she woke up wanting water & to watch Lazytown (her newest TV obsession). We watched a couple of episodes, drank water, and talked until 3:00. Then, back to bed until 6:30.

She's been off & on today. Throughout the day, we've had about 2-3 good hours with her playing happily. Her bad spells aren't as bad as they were. She's been drinking some milk. (Dairy is a no-no with diarrhea, but the ER doc said to try skim since it's less fatty, if that is what she was really wanting. And, Butch bought Lactaid at the grocery store today, too.)

Butch is staying home with her tomorrow and probably on Tuesday. She can't go back to daycare until the diarrhea has finished. Maybe she'll go back by Wednesday.

I can't believe that Butch & I have stayed healthy, but I'm thinking she must have rotavirus, which is something that almost all kids will get before age 5 and then your immunity is pretty high for it. Nasty stuff. They now have a vaccine, so baby girl will absolutely be getting that.

She has just been so sad. It breaks your heart to see her this way. I can't wait to have my happy, healthy toddler back.

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!