Snow, Church, Tea

I'm sitting at the computer, but have trouble staring at it because snow is falling outside. It's our first snow of the season. They are estimating 1-2 inches, I think. Depends on what radio or TV station you believe/listen to. There may be sleet or freezing rain mixed in later tonight - but hopefully not. So, depending on how things turn out, Lacey may be able to use her snowsuit that I bought her in November. I had to have one b/c she needed to be prepared for snow if it happened on a daycare day. (I can't believe Miss Lisa bundles all those kids up, but she does.)

After many months of missing church, we got our butts motivated this morning and went. First off, we weren't skipping b/c we were lazy. We skipped b/c Lacey couldn't sit still and she hated the nursery. Happily, she's grown up enough that she seems to like the nursery now. We started off with her in the service with us so she could go up for the children's sermon. She liked that, but didn't want to get out of my arms. When we sat back down, she was wanting Rev. Phil's puppet that he used in the children's sermon. So, it was time to try the nursery. She was the only kid to start out. The lady held out her arms and Lacey went right to her. Ahhhh. When we went back in to get her, the lady said she didn't fuss once. Maybe we can get on a roll now. I really do like our church and enjoy Phil's sermons - so does Butch since Phil often uses references to sports during his sermons. Today's big message was about being an "arm waving" person-- to always cheer people on even when they have lost a game or things aren't going well.

I think we're heading over to Dee's for a visit and some yummy soup later today. Buck is making veggie soup and potato soup. Dad is going over there, too (Amazing....he's leaving his house 2 weekends in a row to visit one of his kids?).

Yesterday, I went to a tea at Casey Jones in LaPlata with Dee, Kristin and Susan (a friend of Dee's). It was "interesting". ;-) The tea was good and the dessert was good, but I wasn't very thrilled with the lunch. I am a picky eater (although much better than I was even 10 years ago). I was prepared, though -- I'd eaten lunch before going since the tea wasn't until 1:30.

Last night was a nice hot bath with candles and an early bedtime. I had a head-ache (migraine?) again yesterday, so I was in need of both. I feel MUCH better today.

Lacey is talking non-stop these days. It started right around the 1st of the year. She says most everything we say and she is so much better about saying what she wants rather than whining. I love it.

I've been feeling pretty good through the pregnancy, other than the head-aches and sometimes back aches. (I haven't had back pain since starting back with the chiro, though.) I'm 17 weeks today. Kristin was asking me to convert that to months, so if someone else out there needs me to do that, I'm almost 4 months. I signed up for a pregnancy yoga class that starts March 1. Can't wait. I need some motivation to do some exercise. It's only 5 weeks, but I'm hoping it gets me going.

Quiet Weekends, a visit from PaPa

We've had a few very quiet weekends and for that, I am so grateful. December just flew by and it's been nice not to have many commitments.

Yesterday, Dad came over for a visit. We had invited him for dinner, but he decided just to come over earlier. It had been 4 weeks since we'd seen any of my family. Crazy, since we all live so close. Anyway, Lacey was totally excited for PaPa to be coming over. She always does better with people when there isn't a huge crowd. She was having fun showing him all of her toys and insisted that he read some books to her while she sat on his lap. I know he was enjoying it since she doesn't get like that with him often. But - she usually sees him around big crowds.

I found these cool "tights" for Lacey a few weeks ago. They are really something like leg warmers, but go all the way up the legs. The idea is that it's easier to change diapers than with regular tights. I do really like them. Lacey is a bit obsessed about them. If she sees them, she wants them on.

We're still working on organizing things since clearing so much out of Lacey's future room. I think that's going to take a while. I don't want to put anything in the basement unless/until it's organized b/c I know if we do it will be "lost" forever.

Can't tell you how excited I was to have 24 start back up last night! I love that show! We'll get to see it for 2 more hours tonight and then have to wait an entire week. Blah! Of course, this TV addict will have plenty of other shows recording, so it's not like I'll be in total withdrawal.

The Fight of Brushing Teeth

We usually have to fight Lacey every night to brush her teeth. Normally, I just do it real quick while she cries/screams/whines (whatever she is in the mood for that night). However, we tried a new toothbrush this week. It's one of the ones that uses a battery. She LOVES it. No more fights. In fact, it's more of a fight to get it back from her. I honestly thought she'd be afraid of it, but am thrilled to be wrong.

Lacey's "New" Room

So, with a new baby brother or sister on the way for Lacey, we've (I've) been mentally preparing to decorate Lacey's new bedroom. I'm not planning to move her in immediately, but thought it might be good to get it set up so she gets used to the idea and can play in the room and maybe take a nap in there before we do an official "move" for her.

The first big chore was to clean her "new" room out. You see, it was our office. The plan was initially to put the office in the basement when we finished it, but since we've decided not to finish the basement yet ($$$$), we moved onto Plan B. We moved the computer from that room into the guest bedroom. It's a little snug, but works fine. And I've slowly been clearing other things out. It's amazing how much "stuff" we have. Anyway, I'm hoping to make more progress on cleaning it out this weekend so we can soon start to paint and decorate.

I am pretty sure that I've decided on a bedspread from Pottery Barn Kids. It's yellow with pretty pink flowers. I can even "buy" a gift card for PBK by using my American Express points.

I've gone back & forth on toddler bed versus twin bed, but I think we're going for twin. (Dee, this means we'll need the mattress & box spring back that you guys borrowed.) I'm not even planning to put it on a frame or anything yet so that if she falls, it will be closer to the ground. Yes, we are going to use side rails, but the girl is the most restless sleeper I've ever seen. I'm not sure the rail will keep her in!!!

When we moved into this house, it seemed perfect because the previous owners had a 3 year old daughter and a nursery was already decorated with Winnie the Pooh -- one of my 2 ideas for Lacey's nursery. So, being 4.5 months pregnant or so, it was nice to not have to worry about another thing to do. But, now I feel like I was gipped a little. I'm excited about decorating this room for her!

Welcome 2007!

We had a very boring NYE here. All day I had a head-ache that was wiping me out. The neighbor's were having a NYE party, but it was adults only. They had gotten a babysitter to watch the kids at another house and someone was going to go check every hour or so. But, I thought Lacey was too young for that. Plus, she doesn't really know the other kids well. So, we decided to make Cream of Crab Soup and rent DaVinci Code on Directv. I also made a dessert - the Almond Pound Cake from Tastefully Simple.

Well....the Cream of Crab Soup didn't turn out great. It was okay, but needed a little spice or something. And, it didn't thicken as much as I would have liked. I'm going to do some research on other recipes and see if I can improve upon it. The pound cake was AWESOME. It even smells heavenly, thanks to the almond. The movie started at 8:00 (after L was in bed) and I made it until about 8:40. With the head-ache (migraine?) I thought I needed to just sleep.

So, throughout the night when I woke up (this happens often when you are pregnant), I realized that I still had the head-ache. At around 5:00 a.m., I decided it might be a sinus head-ache, so I found the Tylenol Sinus and took that. It helped a little. Throughout New Year's Day, I still had the freakin' head-ache. By late afternoon, I had decided it must be a migraine. I always thought they were on one side of your head, but maybe not. A head-ache that persists for 36 hours and makes me that miserable must be a migraine.

I started having some migraine symptoms before I got pregnant. A few occasions with "halo" vision and a few occasions with sharp pains on one side. But, they never progressed beyond that. I mentioned it to my OB at my last appt. and he warned me that if I was already have issues before pregnancy, I could expect them to be worse during the 2nd trimester. Lovely. The 1 trimester where you are supposed to feel great and have energy.

Anyway, by the early evening, the head-ache was going away. I was able to finish the movie last night.

Lacey was a dream all weekend. She slept through 2 of the 3 nights, had a 3 hour nap on Sunday and a 2.5 hour nap on Monday. Just what a mommy with a migraine needs. ;-) She was all too excited to go see Miss Lisa this morning. Quite cute.

Today, it's back to work.....at home at least. ;-) Sitting at my table in the sunroom looking out into the woods. Very nice.

Dishwasher Drama

I can't believe I forgot to post about the dishwasher drama in my last post!!! On our last morning in Atlanta, the dishwasher needed to be run. Butch got it started. A while later, Butch, Lacey & I were downstairs in the basement and Nancy yelled down for help. The dishwasher was leaking bubbly water all over. First thought was that Butch put too much dish soap in. Wrong. He used the regular dish soap - that you use in the SINK for dishes. So, Nancy ran the rinse cycle a few times to get the soap rinsed out. My poor hubby. (And this is the man that the government thinks needs to be on the Watch List.)

Christmas

We left for Atlanta on Christmas Eve. Everything went so smoothly at the airport. Well, not everything. We tried to check in at curbside, but for some reason, couldn't. So, we went inside to a kiosk and had the same problem. The computer said "see an agent". So, we waited for several minutes until one of the people behind the kiosks decided to help us. It turns out....that my husband is on the watch list. Weird. He has to just wait it out until they decide that he doesn't need to be on the watch list. Ugh.

Anyway, we got boarding passes and headed for the security line...or lack of line...and breezed right through. Lacey decided at that point that she had to be a real traveler and pull her Dora suitcase behind her. Too cute. Wish I had taken a picture, but Butch had taken the batteries out of the camera!!! (Why?) Thankfully, the airport was pretty empty and she wasn't in anyone's way. She was an angel while we waited for the flight to board. I really thought we'd be chasing her around, but she stayed close. She fell asleep as soon as we sat down on the plane and woke up about 45 minutes later crying. I think her ears were hurting.

We got to Steve & Marilee's house around 3:00ish, I think. We had a fabulous lasagna that night. After the girls went to bed, we opened gifts and had cheesecake for Butch's birthday. Marilee also had these great chocolate covered strawberries that she had received from a client or someone at work. Yum-o. Waayyyy too much to eat, but so good.

Steve & Mar got Nancy a cool gift. It's a framed print of the record of arrival for Nancy's ancestors. It's a copy of the actual page -- so cool. We'll have to look into this site for my side of the family, too.

Christmas morning, Lacey woke up around 6:50. And, Sam slept until 9:00! ;-) (Samantha is sick and sleeping well/a lot. I don't know how she does it since I can never sleep well when I'm sick.) So, once everyone was up, we had a breakfast bake, then helped the girls open all of their (too many) gifts. (All the gifts you see under the tree were for the girls.)

Later that day, we had ham, stuffed ham, green bean casserole, potatoes, bread, etc. Followed, of course, by dessert.

The day after Christmas Nancy, Marilee & I snuck out for lunch while all the men stayed home with the little ones. It was nice to get out and be able to talk without wondering what they were doing. We went to a cute little shop while we were out, too.

Lacey & Samantha's interaction was "interesting" and a little stressful for me. Toddlers normally like "parrellel play" at this age and that is what Lacey preferred, but Samantha wanted to play with her a little more. Even though I had read that toddlers don't "get" sharing until they are older, it was still embarrassing! After I got home, I had to do some reading on sharing again....to make sure that I wasn't raising an out of control kid. Luckily for me, she's not. It's not until age 3-4 that they really get it. It's best just to practice sharing with them and not to expect too much when they are around other toddlers. I also checked with Miss Lisa (daycare) about how Lacey is there and she said she is very good for her age. She especially plays well with the older kids. Mary Kate (who is 4 months younger than Lacey) and Lacey don't play well together b/c they both want the same toys. And, apparently, Mary Kate is a "taker". Miss Lisa thinks Lacey has just learned to be very defensive and fight for what she wants to avoid losing things.

Anyway....we left for the airport on Wednesday morning and arrived about 2 hours before the flight. It's a good thing that we did. By the time we made it through all the lines and went to the bathroom, we only had time to grab something for lunch (to eat on the plane) and board. Insane. I can't believe it took so much time. Lacey was cranky, but after she ate a piece of pizza and had a cup of milk, she was happy. And delerious. The girl stayed awake the entire flight. Decided she'd fall asleep after we'd landed, so she slept for about 10 minutes. She even stayed awake for the drive home.

It was great to see everyone in Atlanta, but it was good to be in our own bed again (with Lacey in a separate room so she could be restless and noisy by herself).

We've already taken the Christmas decorations down. They are so pretty, but it is always good to get the clutter away.

Today, Butch is taking lots of cardboard and our tree to the recycling spot. And, we are planning on a lot of NOTHING for the weekend. The neighbors are having a New Year's Eve party, but it's "no kids" this year, which is unusual for them. I think we'll just have a nice dinner and enjoy a movie.

Daycare Christmas Party

Last Thursday was the daycare Christmas party. All parents were invited at 5:00. Lisa provided dinner, had arranged for Santa to stop by and the kids had all participated in a gift exchange. Lacey had Kyle for a gift and Kyle had Lacey...hehe. Anyway, he got her some cute things that she loves.

Lisa also spoiled them by getting gifts. Lacey got a doll that has a binky & bottle and some peg puzzles.

And, the parents were given a goodie bag of things that the kids had made over the past week or 2. The first is actually a card that Lisa did, but I had to post it to show that Lacey will sit still (and smile) for a picture in the right circumstance. (I am not around and Amanda, Lisa's daughter, is there to make her smile.)

And, finally....cake. Who can resist?

Merry Christmas!

Southern MD Stuffed Ham

If you haven't had it, you really don't know what you are missing. Dad is the pro at making it and does so every Christmas. For several years now, I've wanted to send some to Annie & Steve (in Houston) because I remember her commenting about how much she loved it at our wedding. (Yes, it was a main course at the wedding reception.) I just couldn't figure out how to handle shipping it.

This year, Butch, Lacey & I are flying to Atlanta for Christmas. It would be my first Christmas without stuffed ham. That was enough to get me moving on how to ship it. (Yes, Annie, my own personal issues are what finally got my butt moving.)

Dad did the ham on Wednesday. The plan was to let it cool and to ship 2 boxes on Thursday via UPS. Well....due to the size of the ham and the weight of the ice packs, the cost was $117 to Houston and $101 to Atlanta. Um, no. We regrouped and repacked. I tried to send it through the post office via Express Mail (a.k.a., "sometimes overnight"). However, because both zip codes were too far from the airports, they couldn't guarantee an overnight delivery. So, I drove back to the UPS store and shipped a smaller package of it to Aunt Annie. It wasn't as much as we wanted to send, but it is a nice taste of it and didn't cost $117!!!

We'll be taking a cooler on the plane to Atlanta. We'll have to take the ice packs out and leave them in the car. Then, go through security. Then, get ice at a restaurant/fast food joint once inside security. Delta has assured me this will work fine. (Hopefully security doesn't hassle me.)

The package to Houston arrived safely today and (thankfully) was cold upon arrival, so it should be FINE. Whew.

An Early Christmas at Home

Things have been so busy lately. It feels like we have a huge list of things every week and it just keeps growing. 3 weekends ago was filled with decorating, 2 weekends ago was our party and last weekend was Christmas with my family on Sunday. We also had 2 parties on Saturday, but had to bail because I was feeling to stressed about it all. On top of all of this, I've had to have all Christmas shopping completed b/c of needing to ship things to Atlanta and be ready for my family yesterday. Whew.

So, Santa came last Saturday night and left Lacey some of her big things that he didn't want us to bring back from Atlanta. She got a table & chair set, a doll & stroller, a Dora sit & spin and a Dora suitcase. She adored the doll & stroller from the start and spent a good part fo the day coloring at her table. Since then, she's insisting on having her meals there. (It's sitting in the sunroom, next to our table, so it works.) Everyone arrived at the house for brunch by around 10:45 or so (except the "kids".....Kristin, Kyle, Jessica....who were late b/c of celebrating Kyle's 21st birthday). We had a WONDERFUL brunch. I love breakfast food. We had an egg & sausage casserole, an egg & ham roll-up, Grand Manier french toast, home fries and fruit. Mmmmm. And, for every one not pregnant (everyone but me) there were Mimosa's!

Lacey was tired and cranky for the gift exchange, but that's okay. She enjoyed everything later, after a nearly 3 hour nap.

Leaving a toddler unattended

Lacey was happily playing in my room the other day. I went to check some things on the computer, then came back after a few to check on her. This is what I found.

Any thoughts on what it is?

Lipstick! She'd gotten into my purse. It was all over her face and hands, but luckily, not on the carpet or bedspread. When I talked about her being a mess, she kept looking at her hands - no clue it was on her face. So, I had to take her to the mirror, where she just grinned.

Christmas Party

We had our "annual" Christmas party on Saturday. Just after Thanksgiving, I started putting up decorations. The weekend before the party we got the tree. We scaled back on the number of people invited because it was a bit overwhelming last year (probably about 50 people). We weren't really able to talk to everyone. There were probably about 30 adults and a few kids this year. Just right.

There was TONS of food...too much despite trying to cut back from last year. Meatballs, hanky panks, veggies, crab dip, fiesta dip, cucumber sandwiches (pampered chef), buffalo chicken dip, etc., etc. Yum-o. And, of course, lots of sweets. (I had a migraine on Sunday from eating too many of the leftover sweets.)

The drink of the evening was Frostini's. I must admit that I had a taste. I had to. With Bailey's and Godiva Liquor?! Dee & Kristin already had a glass of wine when I started making them, but that didn't stop them.

Lacey was an angel the whole time. It amazed me how easily she handled all those people being in her house. To start the night, she played with Britney (neighbor who is about 7) and they drug every last toy out of the toy box. Even with Britney leaving, Lacey went on playing. She lasted until 9:00 and probably would have stayed up if we'd let her.

Now that the party is done, we can focus on all of the other Christmas projects. I've got to finish up shopping this week. Anything for Butch's family (and Lacey) needs to be shipped to Atlanta since we'll be there for Christmas. And, everything for my family needs to be done because we are having brunch on Sunday to celebrate since we leave the following weekend.

I managed to get Christmas cards done for my work peeps yesterday, so I can mark that off my list. I still need to address all of our personal ones. Another thing to be done this week. Ugh. So much to do.

On top of all of the holiday preparations, our office is moving on Friday. Same building, same floor, just a new spot. So, I spent the entire day yesterday packing my office. (I have cuts on my hand to prove it.) I still have a few boxes left to do tomorrow. (I'm working at home today.) Thursday is our dept. holiday lunch and Friday is the floor holiday lunch. Whew.

Today, I have a doctor's appt. and have to do the Gestational Diabetes test. Hate that. The stuff I have to drink is yucky. (Speaking of, I need to get that in the fridge so it tastes a little better.) And, last time I failed it and had to go for the 3 hour test....drinking that stuff several times and sitting in the waiting area of a lab for 3 hours.

And, despite that test this afternoon, I'm having a hard time staying away from all of those sweets today. I have to wait until after the test!!!

Here's a funny story: Butch took leftovers for lunch to work yesterday. Put the meatballs into the microwave and couldn't figure out what the smell was. He had taken peanut butter balls instead of meatballs! So, they were melted all over the place.

Okay...better get some work done.

A visit to Santa

On Thursday, daycare was closed. (In my opinion, one of the only downfalls of in-home daycare -- it's only 1 caregiver and she DOES deserve some time off.) Anyway, Lacey stayed home with me and I had the day off. So, after a nap, we headed for the mall....and a visit to Santa. Normally, Lacey is not a fan of the stoller, but she got in without a fight. She was an angel for me - not complaining once as we stood in line at NY & Company. After we finished, we went to find Santa. In line, she stayed in her stroller and was just checking everyone out. She would point to Santa and say "Santy!" with delight. When we were next in line, he waved at her. The nerve. She just just turned her back. I let her out of the stroller and she walked through the entrance with me, but walked in the other direction....away from that scary man with a beard and hat. What was momma thinking, walking toward him? So, as any good mother would do, I picked her up & plopped her on his lap (after trying to calmly get her on his lap). She screamed. I told them just to take the pic. They took 4. There were 2 where she screamed so much her eyes were closed. Anyway, she recovered a few seconds after I picked her up and we have this wonderful picture to share. ;-)

Thanksgiving

Chuck & Nancy arrived on the Tues. before Thanksgiving. Lacey stayed home from daycare on Wednesday so they could spend more time with her. Butch & I took advantage of having them here & we went Christmas shopping for Lacey. It was good to get some things done!

We had a fabulous crab quiche (if I do say so myself) on Thanksgiving morning and then got to work preparing our contributions for Thanksgiving dinner. Nancy made sweet potato casserole and a reuben dip; and I made a crab dip and corn pudding (Kyle's fav). Yum-o. We headed over to Dee & Buck's around 1:00ish to spend the day.

There was a pretty good crowd at Dee's house....Dee, Buck, Kristin, Kyle, Rick, Kristina, Jess, Justin, Dad, Linda (Buck's mom), Ed (her husband), Wally (Buck's bro), Chuck, Nancy, Butch, Lacey & me.


I had gotten Lacey the most adorable outfit to try to get some good pictures, but she wouldn't cooperate, which is the norm these days. She is just way to busy to sit still for a picture.














Our big news for the day was announced.....that I'm pregnant! We hadn't told anyone in the family yet, so it was a good time to do it with almost everyone there.


We didn't do much else during the weekend, but it was good to have some time around the house. I can't tell you how hard it was to get up on Monday morning. Lacey may not let us sleep in, but at least I didn't have to shower & get going right away.

PS3

I was listening to my favorite morning radio show this morning.....Elliott in the Morning. I absolutely love this show. He's goofy and childish at times, but such a nice way to pass the time when I'm sitting in traffic.

Anyway, when I started listening, they were talking about some special things that ebay is doing with all the sales of Playstation 3. I didn't really catch all of that part of the story. However, Elliott is one of the obsessed fans of Playstation & is so giddy with excitement about it coming out. He is not one of the crazily obsessed fans that is camping out in front of Circuit City for 2 days, though. Thank God. Or I would really think less of him. It is insane. I can't imagine literally camping out for something like that. It's raining. And windy. And, their is a tornado watch. I don't get it.

When I talked to Dee, she said I would get it when Lacey is older & wants something that is in high demand. Perhaps so. However -- and maybe I'm wrong -- but I think a lot of the people that are trying to get this thing are buying it for themselves. As adults. To me that is extremely sad. They don't have anything better to do with their time?

I also believe that many of them are buying them to sell on ebay. The "buy now" price on ebay for many of these is $3000-6000. I'll say it again...insane. I just don't get it.

"To each his own" is true, but that won't keep me from calling these people morons. Maybe the ones that are selling them online for a huge profit are laughing at me all the way to the bank.

I just remembered that a friend of mine bought some of the TMX Elmos this year. She sold 2 on ebay for $600. I sure hope Lacey doesn't think I'll go that far for something she wants!!!

While I'm still on this tangent, shame on Sony for this, too. They know what the demand is. How could they not make more in time for Christmas???

Halloween and other updates

Lacey was a sock-hop girl for Halloween. Very, very cute. However, she was NOT in a good mood for trick or treating. As it turns out, she had a diaper rash and a wet diaper was irritating it. And, I just kept thinking she was teething and being grumpy from that. Poor girl. Bad mommy. Can you believe we took NO pictures Halloween night? Butch was in charge of the camera since I had Miss Grumpy hanging off of me. He swears he took some. But there are nowhere.

Anyway, we went to 3 houses in our 'hood. Then hopped in the car and went to Dad's and Rick's. Even with feeling bad, Lacey was polite and said "thank you" to everyone that gave her treats. Too cute.

The Sat. before Halloween, we went to a party at the library. She had NO interest in storytime or the party, but had fun wandering around the library.

Butch & I celebrated our 3 year anniversary on 10/23. Hard to believe. We went to The Melting Pot on Saturday night and ate way too much, but YUM-O! I love that place. Dee & Buck babysat for us. In Dee's words "she was a perfect angel". She'd been a turd off & on all day for us....but for Aunt Dee, "an angel". Ha! Typical, though, huh? At least she had fun. We didn't get back until about 8:40 -- late for Lacey. But, it was the night that time changed, and I wanted to keep her up later anyway. It worked, too. She's done great with the time change.

Butch has SATs last Saturday, until about 2:00. But he came home & planted lots of tulips. Can't wait to see them in the Spring.

On Sunday, we went to Dee's to watch the Redskins...wow what a game! I never counted on them winning. What a great surprise.

Bird Feeders & Squirrels

We have a bird feeding station in our front yard and I love to see all the birds that come to eat. We have a baffel on it to keep the pesky (a.k.a. piggy) squirrels away. This worked from the time we moved in (Sept. 2004) until a few months ago when some smart squirrel figured out a way to get to the feeders. I had been wanting to catch them in the act for a while now. I have even started to think about setting up our video camera. Well....a couple of weeks ago, I got lucky. After seeing one helping himself to some feed, I knocked on the window and he jumped off. But, he came back. And, I was there to watch. They have been climbing up the pole, then jumping from the pole over the the finch feeder (the bottom of it was only an inch or 2 above the baffle). Caught in the act! So, we lowered the baffle about an inch or so and it seems to have been just enough to keep them from jumping to the finch feeder.

Cold & Flu Season is Back!

Lacey got her first cold in August - as soon as she went back to daycare. She's already had and recovered from a 2nd. And, has had her 3rd for nearly 2 weeks. Blah! On Monday night, she woke up crying around 9:15 and when I went in, I found a feverish toddler. 100.9. Of course, I immediately thought, "here we go again with ear infections". I took Tuesday off & got her to the doctor as early as we could (even though she didn't have a fever at this point) and was very happily surprised to hear that her ears looked good. I can't tell you how happy that made me. But, since she'd had a cold for 10 days and a fever the night before, she got some antibiotics to help her fight it off.

Now, of course, I understand why she needed her binky back. (Did I post about that? She slept horribly on Sat. night and was starting the same way Sun. night, so we gave it back. All for good sleep.) Now, even with those binks she isn't sleeping well. Which means Mommy isn't either. Ugh.

Pumpkin Farm

We went to a local pumpkin farm yesterday & had lots of fun playing outdoors. The weather was perfect (low 60's and sunny). We did walk out with several pumpkins and some huge apples, but only after letting Lacey run around (while we ran after her).



Lacey was obsessed with climbing the stairs to be the face of a scarecrow. And, once she got over her fear, she loved the "tunnels", too.

Update on LJ's Bink

Wow. We took the binkies out of the crib last night just to see what would happen when we put her in there. She whimpered a tiny bit and that was it!!! Wow. She slept from 7:30 to 5:15. Unfortunately, she decided it was time to get up then. Hopefully that was a fluke.