Wo Wunk

2010-02-08T20:51:00.002-06:00

Okay so in preparation for the big blog move I need a banner. I could sit down and make a really lame one with my geriatric, graphic skills or I could ask you guys to make one for me. I would probably display it, give credit and what else could I do get someone to do this for me? A could have a contest! Yeah! If I got three submissions, I could put it forth to a vote and then give the winner (or maybe even all three contenders) a prize! It would be something really cool too ... like .... uh.... I could make you something native american-y. Yeah! Like maybe a pair of hand made moccasins for your kid, an awesome beaded keychain, a necklace, or beaded earrings...all hand made by the real deal.

Mission: Make a banner(s) for Wazika

Those are the 4 most common sizes for wordpress.
125x125 is generally in the side bar
300x300 is a side bar
250x250 is generally in the post toward the top
468x60 fits across the bottom or across the top of a post.

Submissions due by Feb. 23rd.
Email to hadjare at gmail.com

And of course, if I don't get anyone willing to help a sister out, then I'll just use the randomizer flicker plugin. Which, you know, is a total cop out.

2010-02-07T14:01:00.003-06:00

Athena at 6 Months

--Wow that sure went fast. I have a 1/2 year old now. Yowza!

EDITED TO ADD: Here is the link to see the month by month progression: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=167734&id=627848828&l=011737b781

2010-02-04T08:47:00.002-06:00

I was up at 6:30 morning to relieve a very grumpy Tim from Daddy duty because Morella was up complaining about being hungry. This after she went to bed at 9 or something. On the bright side, I got Neeners down for an early nap and Morella is distracted with Sesame Street...so here are some pictures from the last week.

Here we have a class BEFORE picture. I tried to look as infomercial as possible.

And this is pretty much the best I can offer for an after shot. I am having issues with how a hair cut doesn't always fix the rest of you. Wait, can I still claim "I just had a baby" factor? I also, I like Athena's expression in this photo. We match.

Pretty much how it is to be Athena with Morella as her big sister.

My friend Lowen who helped me organize all of Morella and Athena's toys. She really is good at that!

I found a baby bonnet I had gotten for Morella because babies in bonnets are incredibly cute. I put it on Athena for the afternoon. I think she'll be too big for it by the time summer/spring is here.

Athena and her grandmother. She was not a happy baby when we were gone watching a movie. Neeners knows how to drag a party down.

Once again, Morella in action....

Tim and the girls

Morella insisted "Morella's Turn" (a very fancy way of saying MINE! -- which incidentally she learned because at play group and what not, when someone would take a toy she was playing with the parent always says "Let Morella have a turn...." or "It's Morella's turn with that toy." ) She fit both of her chicken legs in one side. I think she looks like she really is in her office (which is what we used to call the exersaucer ... as I am sure a billion of other people do as well).

Morella and Athena at my friend's house.

My friend Rebekah just has a baby 12 days prior to this photo. Both baby and Mom look amazing and I wish I had a smattering of those genes.

Rebekah and Nova

Morella played with Rebekahs' daughters toys while we were there. Here at home she only has one barbie -- but I am almost positive that tide will change in the upcoming years.

2010-02-03T21:21:00.003-06:00

I got an email from blogger telling me that they will be discontinuing their ftp publishing tool. Apparently I am one of the .5% of bloggers that use this tool, thereby hogging most of bloggers IT resources. I have until March 26 to move my crap over to a Blogger managed URL or kiss it all good bye.

For a long time I have thought about moving my website. I started with blogger back in 2000 when it was still new and shiny. Before that I had run a blog the old fashioned way by updating a website every couple of days with html. Being able to use a dashboard and have just type text and have it automatically update a website was a great idea. It still is. However, there are somethings I just don't feel like blogger can do for me -- one of them is comment management. I'll admit. I didn't even attach the comment feature to my blog for years and years after it became available for the sole reason that I didn't want people telling me how much they loved me on a posty basis. To be far, it was in the infancy of bloggdom when lots of people responded with "I love you!" and "Lol" and "so funny!" or even just " :) ". All of which I hated and was a total waste of time and resources. I mean, I didn't need to be validated by this.

Along the way I got a livejournal account. I needed one for the all the private angsty stuff I was going through regarding infertility that I could lock and no one would be able to see it except personally approved friends. I also started it so that I could join IF, TTC and likeminded communities. Over the years I gained a great collection of smart, interesting women from all over the world. All women and most with children. It was through this that I realized the value of comments had evolved over the years and grown up. Now they really do contribute to a more community feel.

The problem I have had with bloggers comments features is that they do not email the person back or in any way reflect that I have responded to a comment. The only way the commenter can tell if I responded is to check that very blog post, click on comments and scroll down. It has always sorted of bothered me that there was no continuity. I read all comments, however I dont' always respond because it's kind of buried. In general I end up responding in a post, but then again that isn't very professional.

Comments aside, I need something a little more stable. Part of the problem I have had with Blogger, especially over the past two or three years is that they have problems with their FTP program every time they make an update. I realize that this is exactly the kind of thing that they are talking about, and every time it happened I vowed that I would switch. Except, you know, switching is hard. It's a lot of stuff move over and start anew.

I also want to change www.wazika.net to be the page that my blog starts on instead of right now where it's just a link. I also want to eliminate the whole 'quatschen' part. I had originally started this journal with a friend and she had given it's name. I have long since parted ways with this friend but kept the name because that it what it was named and I had already had followers. Then the name of this journal is actually wo-wunk but that just doesn't make any sense now does it. What is it -- quatschen, wazika or wo wunk? Make up your mind!

Here is my chance to resolve all of these issues. Oh, and one more, I want to be able to easily add on to the list of blogs that I read because there are so many other great blogs I have found by merely following the blog roll.

I have a deadline now. I dared my husband to help me with this transition. I wrote him an email that pretty much said something to the effect of "you know how important blogging is to me...help me obe wan keno0b tim ... you are my only hope!" He is now researching the how and why of moving my blog to word press and started over as I have already mentioned. We expect some glitches along the way, there will be a redirect URL but eventually you will and probably should update your links to just www.wazika.net or whatever.

I thought I would be sadder about the end of this website -- but you know I built it all, did my own graphics and blah blah blah. My knowledge is outdated now and I just don't have the hours to devote to relearning it all and doing it myself when it be done much easier. I may have that time in the future ... but yeah. You know how it is with two kids under three.

2010-02-01T22:49:00.002-06:00

So I got a hair cut. It's pretty short and I'm getting used to it faster than I though. I expect though that it will take a while longer for the DH to get used to it. :P

My big brainchild of an idea today was to put all of the toys in the house into a big pile in the living room floor. Then with Karen and my friend Lowen's help I was able to sort through and organize them all. I moved the target toy bin thing that everyone seems to have into Morella's closet and then put the organized toys in there. I rehung a wall frog type thing that has three ...well suffice to say I moved a bin, a frog and a chair a about six inches away from Morella's bed. Probably less, more like like three inches. Throw in the floor being clean and vacuumed and it all probably seems very different to Morella, even though it isn't that different.

Tonight we were treated to what is sure to be a common occurrence, a sleeping walking toddler. I was in the bedroom putting Athena to sleep for the second or third time when I heard a sigh from Morella. I thought it was kind of strange hear it so clearly. Then I heard Tim say "Morella? Morella?" and start walking down the hall. I asked him what was going on and he said "She is sleep walking." I quickly unlatched Athena and went to see. She was laying down in the middle of the living room floor on her tummy - completely asleep. Tim was about to gently wake her up, but I told him to just pick her up and put her back to bed, which he did. She was quiet again for another hour or so. After awhile we heard some movement in her room and mumbly whining. He looked into see her walking around her room confused. He helped her back to bed, but she has woken up enough by then to want the lamp on (low light) and keep the door open.

I asked Tim if he thinks this string of events is because of the mild rearrangement in her room and he said yes. Maybe. I could believe it though. Kids don't like change, so have something like this be changed must be confusing? I don't know. What I find compelling is that Tim confessed to me that he was a frequent sleepwalker, but mostly sleep talker when he was little. Myself, I was a notorious sleeperwalker -- the kind that walks outside, goes into other rooms and does strange things, the kind that rips needles out of their arm to walk into a neighboring hospital room. Thankfully I outgrew it. I'll be frank - Morella having two sleepwalkers as parents doesn't bode well for the future.

And you know what? Sleepwalking is kind of creepy.

In other news, yesterday was a super awesome day. Oh heck the whole weekend was great. Tim took Friday off and helped me talk Morella and Neeners to McDonald's to try out the playland. Desperate times folks....anyway. She got stuck in a lower part of the structure and needed the help of a little boy to pull her back up so she could get out. It's a loud, get your energy out by screaming and climbing sort of place.

Saturday, we went to one of the more affluent libraries that has a fish take, a train table with 20 trains, a dollhouse, a barn, tons of puzzles, stuffies that you can dress/undress, bean bags, duplo blocks table and of course tons of books. They even have a little volunteer run cafe in the front that serves diner style coffee for .75 cents or .50 if you have your own cup (good to know!). After the library we came home and had a family nap that lasted about three and half hours.

Sunday, we went out for my delayed birthday brunch to a Brazilian restaurant with some friends who have a five month old too. You go in and they have an exotic salad bar, and dudes walking around with sticks of freshly roasted meat on sticks ... it was pretty successful. Morella was a darling, Athena was a crabpot who should have taken a nap but overall managed okay and I had the best waffle ever. It had a hot berry and chocolate sauce combo on top. Since I had to stop midway through to nurse a fussy Athena, I ate slowly and didn't overdo it, though I short of wished I had. I guess that is for the hungry in me talking now.

Tim's parent's offered to watch the girls while we did something. I suggested to Tim that we really try to do something since it seemed like Athena was getting better about me leaving her for stretches at a time without needing food. We went to see Avatar - a movie I never thought I would get to see in the theater despite it selling out seven weeks after it's release. We splurged and got the ultra combo - huge popcorn and big drinks for each of us, and sat back to watch the movie. My only comment regarding the movie is that each time the Na'vi plugged their biological USB cords into the plants, I would instantly think of Athena. I realized after awhile that nursing and weird braid USB's were very similar. I guess, it's both a method of bonding and exchange of energy. Happy hormones for me and sustenance for Athena and of course, that bond.

We got back to a howling, tear faced Athena sitting in her grandma's lap and Morella waking up from a nap. Apparently Athena thought it would be more fun to cry through her afternoon nap and make everyone miserable the entire time. Big credit to Tim's parents though for not calling us and letting us see a movie uninterrupted -- it was on the best birthday presents ever. :D

Oh that Neeners...she's such a Momma's girl and I can't be mad at her because she is so stinking cute and cuddle and mine...all mine.

There are some other things I wanted to say but it's late and Tim just told me that I am where English words go to die. [In reference to full boar -- dude, I thought it was a wild big in full rampaging mode....and just now when I asked him how to spell substenence because stupid spell check wasn't bring it up. He said "You mean sustenance?" ]

2010-01-28T21:24:00.002-06:00

I felt brave today, and on top of things. I was a super mom. I woke up well rested because Athena slept from 12-7. I took a shower with Morella and got clean while Athena took a quick nap. I dressed everyone, myself included. I made a batch of my awesome chocolate chip cookies before Toddler Time at the library. I attended Toddler Time and Morella had a blast while I managed to keep a non napping Neeners quiet. I let Morella play with the library stuff afterward before giving up the battle with Athena and went home. Athena feel asleep on the way home so I was able to have a peaceful lunch with Morella while baking two trays of awesome chocolate chip cookies, with walnuts for those "nut lovers." I then packed everyone in the car and ... this is where I really outdid myself ... I drove all the to Cross Plains (like 20 miles) to visit an old college friend who just had a baby two weeks ago. I brought a tater tot casserole I had made the night before -- I made a double batch so we would have dinner when I got home, an upside down orange cake (kind of bitter), and the cookies because the cake was bitter.

Anyway. It was a great drive. I did it! That was the farthest I have ever driven by myself with just the girls and I rocked it! Had a great visit. Drove home and missed all the rush hour traffic. I put the casserole in the oven, and watched "Ahh Aahh" (Curious George) with Morella while nursing Athena and then Karen came over and played with Morella while I ... oh I am getting bored writing this.

All I needed was to hear "It's the eye of the tiger, it's the thrill of the fight..." Ha ha. I also imagined that I was in a cut scene in a Lifetime movie about a courageous woman who turns her life around and makes it more fantastic than it already is.

So you know how I talked about not wanting to tackle Athena and the cosleeper? Sometimes all I need to do is publicly say something to give myself the motivation to do something. You know, it's the classic "Why wait for the perfect time that may never exist when I can just do it now?" Plus, Tim came back to bed after spending a week or two on the futon because of a terrible cold he had. I found the diminished space to be less than restful. My baby is huge and likes to spread out.

Today is day three of having her to go to sleep in her cosleeper. So far the trick is to leave my arm in there next to her for awhile. Sure there is usually one misfire or so where I have to take her out to re-nurse her into submission, but in the end she is asleep in her cosleeper like a good little baby. Just gotta take it one day at at time.

During one of the misfires last night, I looked down at her and she as nestled in the crook of my arm, sleeping peacefully and radiating contentment. She was just beautiful. I wanted to capture it forever and hold her all night long but then thought "No, this is just a ruse to trick me." No, I didn't really think that. But it does show you how easy it is to justify not sticking to something. "She'll only be little for short time. I should be enjoying this -- everyone tells me I should be."

Nursing a baby instead of spending two - 4 hours a day pumping for a baby is so much nicer. A thousand times nicer. How the heck did I do that for a year? No wonder I felt like I had no free time. I didn't.

Morella's newest thing is to take the squirt/spray bottle we use for getting the flannel wipes wet and going after the cats. I told her she could because Tim and I were sick of getting sprayed. I don't think I will ever forget how she learned it though. I was laying on the floor of her room while she puttered in the corner. I picked up the bottle she had knocked to the floor and was playing with and said "Morella..." She looked at me and I sprayed her right in the face. Her look was priceless. Shock. Bewilderment. Tears. I called her over and gave her a hug, apologized and wiped her face all while trying not to laugh. Exactly one hour later I got sprayed in the face and started laughing manically.

2010-01-26T08:38:00.002-06:00

I am so tired. It's not very often I am afflicted by the tired side effect of having kids, so this is not a welcome feeling. One other other has been waking up all hours of the night or getting up at ungodly hours in the morning. Yesterday it was Neeners who wanted to play at 4:30. Today it was Morella at 5:45 because the milk that was left by her bedside was "no nilk!" You see, two of our local grocery stores were out of her particular brand of milk. 8th Continent Vanilla Soy. Anything else is no acceptable. I admit we dug ourselves into this hole by indulging her. It was just easier to buy that than to get her to drink anything else, especially since we were so thrilled she was drinking something. In our defense we have done some whole milk trials recently and she can tolerate dairy now. So we have been starting to mix whole milk with her soy -- right now we are at about 1 part milk (maybe a little less) to 3 parts soy. We only started last week, so we aren't ready to go full boar milk. But we might have too -- because how can two stores be out of the same milk that they always sell out off?

I know two of the other stores do not have it. The Hippy coop does not. Copps pick and save does not. Savers does not. Hy-vee does ... so that is where we are headed this morning. OH and you know, we did buy another brand of vanilla soy that we hadn't tried yet (and we have tried them all). Same result. A big part of that reason is that they claim it's vanilla, but it's only lightly flavored whereas 8th Continent means business whey they say vanilla. I even tried sweetening it with honey - nope. Trust me folks, we have tried every other option. I did get her to be quiet this morning by giving her some strawberry milk, but she only sips it. Treats it like a cup of coffee or tea, or a milkshake. Not life sustaining milk.

I am just to tired to face this battle right now after the week we have. Morella's high fever, thinking she might have had a UTI (she didn't, she was just afraid to pee), and then Athena getting sick, and me going out on my birthday (I don't regret that, but it did make for a late night), and that wretched headache I had all weekend that drained the life out of me all contribute to me wanting to put this battle and others off for another week. The other battle -- Athena needs to really start sleeping in her cosleeper. She is getting mobile in bed, and big. I want my space back. It's just so much easier to have her sleep right away though than to constantly put her down in it and go there five minutes later to take her out, recalm her and blah blah blah. I know. Think of the end game. The whole bed 1/2 bed to myself is reward enough...or is it? I hate this not having sleep thing.

2010-01-22T21:27:00.003-06:00

Morella has been battling a fever all day. So far the highest has been 104.7 taken this evening at 8:00. Of course we called the doctor -- twice. First I did this afternoon when the two hours after a dose of tylenol her temperature went up almost two degrees and made an appointment for tomorrow morning at 10. Plenty of time to see if anything changes between then and now. The second time was tonight when Tim called. We got all the same information - give motrin and make sure it goes down. Weather through it. Kids get high fevers and it's normal. They also consider a fever of 104.7 to be only moderately high.

It's going to be a long night. Instead of foolishly going to bed at 12 like I did last night and waking at 2, 4, and then 5 for the day, I am going to go bed by 10. I am finally starting to feel the tiredness now. There is something about having a sick kid that gives you energy.

I think having a sick kid is one of the hottest fires imaginable in the tempering of parenthood. Sure there are the sleepless nights and exhaustion and uncontrollable and sometimes embarrassing tantrums, vomiting, spit up, poop and pee accidents. However, the most frustrating aspect to parenthood for me so far is when they get sick. Then you have all of the above plus a distinct feeling of helplessness. You just want to make it better but can't.

I got Morella some dvd's from the library to help cheer her up when she is feeling like watching some TV -- two Melmo (Elmo) dvd's and a story book type thing with Goodnight Moon. We just watched it a little while ago and it made me sleepy. One of the stories was How Do Dinosaurs Say Goodnight. I gotta say, this kid is pretty good natures because both Tim and I thought it was a creepy, scary story!

I also got her some subway cold cut trio meat, a snickerdoodle and ginger ale. She has a full cup of crushed ice with enough soda to fill in the spaces in her extra special Boppa (grandma) sippy cup with a straw. Now if only we can keep the Doctor (she renamed Arkham the cat) and Meyo (Migo) out of her room and off her bed. Especially that darn Meyo.

I hope she feels better tomorrow. What a rotten start to a birthday weekend.

PS. The fever did go down after the last Motrin dose at 8:10. It was down to 101.6 at 8:50. we are mostly worried about how high it will be before the next motrin dose.

2010-01-21T23:45:00.002-06:00

Tim took a 1/2 day today so that he could come home and hold down the fort while I went to the DMV to renew my driver's license. This wasn't just any old renewing though -- this was me getting my permanent DL's! Yeah! I'm a real adult now! I get a few more fuck up points added to my card! Hurray! The picture is awful. However I am comforted by the fact that by the time I need to renew it again at the age of 42 -- I am 100% positive I will think I looked awesome. Hows that for a convoluted sentence. I would try to fix it, but it's super late and I gotta get to bed. I celebrated by going to a grocery store some chocolate cake and coffee and got pizza for dinner. When I returned home Athena was howling a desperately, Morella had red rimmed eyes and Tim look relieved. It took me about 1/2 an hour to calm Athena down. I told her I wasn't sorry for the 1 1/2 hours of freedom I had though and it was her fault for always waking up 5 minutes after I leave.

While Tim was at his Thursday night gaming thing, I went through photos and deleted most of the ones that were bad, relooked through them to try and narrow it down more and eventually uploaded 4 months worth of photos to Walgreens (total 370 photos) and ordered them. Then I shared the album with family so that they could order whatever pictures they wanted ... and then remembered I had four nursing photos on there. I went and deleted them but I am not sure if the family will see them or not. The Walgreens FAQ was hazy on the issue. It's not like they are distasteful. No nipple is showing -- they are very nice in fact. However, I don't need them all seeing that as the photos were for me. Sigh. Anyway. Let it go.

So here are four pictures from this month.

Sarah, Nicol, Me and Athena. I am fairy certain that Athena weighs more than her son who is seven weeks older than she is. It's so strange to have a big baby now considering how flimsy nature of Morella. Though Nicol is much sturdier -- Neener is still pretty soft and squishy.

Morella didn't want to get out of the bath. This is the most wrinkled, and pruny feet I have ever seen.
Athena the sitter upper.
Noah and Morella on their first drive in date.

2010-01-19T21:04:00.002-06:00

This week has been strange. First I hosted playgroup on Monday and a bajillion people and kids showed up, enough for the neighbors to notice. It was cool though because for the first time ever having that many people over did not stress me out one bit. I guess I figured the house was clean enough from over the past week and what wasn't clean I can pawn off on having kids. Maybe it was being prepared ahead of time that allotted me that easy, stress free feeling.

I had a new friend over on Friday morning with her two sons, one of which is about two weeks younger than Athena. Since she had never been to my house I was on high alert and spent the week before that using her visit as a catalyst to get things done like put curtains up and redo elements of organization in the bathroom. Once those things were done it was easy to keep the house clean over the weekend. The visit went well and is worth repeating, especially since after March most playdates will have to be at her house because of her older son's schedule.

The day before that one of the playdate ladies came over with her son and we had a nice visit. Morella and her son had a blast until it ended very abruptly near Morella's bedtime because she was bitten. She had two round little bite marks on her pipecleaner arm, one with red and blue near the skin. No skin was broken but Morella was very upset. She ended up regaling the entire story of what happened to us several times over the course of the night (she stayed up until 10) and the next day. She made sure to reenact the entire experience by walking us to the kitchen and taking us to her room where the crime of passion occurred (near her bed). She was so serious -- it was much like the Owl incident. Tim had taken her outside to listen to an Owl and for the next week we heard all about the Owl. In sum, I am glad that she was bitten by a friend rather than some bully at the park. It was bound to happen sooner or later, and this way we were able to talk about it and deal with it as an accident rather than the world being a cold, cruel place.

Let's see, then Sunday we had our out of town friends, Sarah and family stop in for a visit in the evening. Morella and their daughter Ruth played beautifully together. Morella was very excited and happy to take Ruth's hand and lead her off to her room to show her around. In truth, Ruth is just old enough that Morella was enthralled by her older girl status. For the record, Ruth is 7 months older that Morella -- practically a cool, older teenager in toddler speak. Tim took the girls downstairs to play in the playroom while we stayed upstairs and had Athena and Nicol play with each other for awhile. Okay, we layed them on the floor next to each other. What else are you going to do with little babies? Ha ha. After they left I felt awful that we didn't offer to have them stay for dinner. God, sometimes I wish I could be more prepared. All the dishes were dirty and in the dishwasher, I didn't know when the heck dinner would be done and it would have been too late for them to drive back. Still, I like to imagine that I am capable of gracious hosting -- I guess that is a skill I will have to perfect. I apologize for not having thought ahead!

That brings us to Monday with the playdate. Well the all the kids must have tuckered Morella out because she took a nap. For the record, she has largely given up naps. It sucks because I have had to adjust for the extra 15 hours a week in my work schedule entertaining and keeping track of a toddler. I'm getting there, but I still am really tired by the end of the day. I was enjoying the unexpected free time catching up on the internet (which has sadly suffered since the Death of the Nap) and ... I am so embarrassed to admit this. *deep breath*

I almost got suckered into an online phishing scam. This one was via Facebook -- the good old "I got Mugged in London by Gunpoint" scam. It was only because Western Union has bulletins on their website that warn of fraud, scams and ruses that I thought to ask a personal question. A question the "friend" couldn't answer. In the the end, no harm was done. No money was lost, no personal information revealed and the world didn't blow up. No the only real lasting damage was to my pride. I emailed the friend and told her of the hacking and then tried to get on with the rest of the day. But you know, I just feel like such a rube. A maroon if you will.

You know, since then, I have been trying to think of other times I have done really stupid things and only two really come to mind. First and foremost was the stupid cruise I bought into over the phone. Thank goodness Wisconsin has a refund law that ensures you get 48 hours to change your mind. Secondly, was the time I left my camera at the outlook tower while camping. By the time we went back it was gone. Hey that reminds me of another one -- the time I forgot my camera in my bag by the car last October when I went to get pumpkins. Thankfully I was able to get that one back unscathed. I blame Morella for that. You know, that whole leaving things in a rush and you forget things. I can't tell you how many times I have locked us out of the house because I forgot to bring my keys with me.

Okay. It's Fringe time -- no more wallowing. I just wonder what my horoscope would have to say about this weird week. Probably something very cryptic. Yesterday aside, this month has gotten much better. I guess I need to start the New Year off with a major case of the blues so that I have something to shake off. The darkness before dawn. It's nice. This is going to be the year of unfinished business, I think. Finish things. Return things. Fulfill obligations. Fulfill promises -- at least those that I can remember. Have the whole year in which to wipe the slate clean. Maybe this should be my new years resolution.

Yeah. That it's. Brilliant.

2010-01-15T23:35:00.002-06:00

I was tagged to do a meme of "10 Things that Make me Happy" by Lapnoodle. Of course in the blogger realm they do this in form of awards -- but I don't think I'll pass that on. For one, I am only aware of maybe 20 of my readers, they don't all have journals and many of them are over in livejournal land. Thanks for tagging me!

That said, here are 10 things that made me happy *today*.

1. Successful play date this morning with Emily and her two sons. Athena slept the entire time, Morella was great and the house was fairly okay.

2. Letter from Sarah and a lovely family New Year's card.

3. Grocery shopping with no meltdowns and exited with food.

4. Grocery pickup (uh where you drive to the store and they load your groceries for you -- for free! In fact, I use this service a lot with two kids because I feel like I am keeping these guys in a job by utilizing the service).

5. Newly assembled last night bathroom space saver looked good this morning. I was afraid I might have buyers regret. A space saver is one of those cabinets that go over the toilet and is on legs.

6. Morella got into my package of gum. Took the plastic off, opened it and took out a piece of gum. After going through all that work I let her keep the piece she took. At first she played with it for about 5 minutes and then walked away. I followed her a minute later to see that she had finally gotten around to putting it in her mouth (like everything these days) and was chewing a little bit of it. She held it up to me and said "Yum." She was telling me that it was good, like it was something I didn't know. She later spit out the gum and handed me a tiny remnant. Yum.

7. Watching how active and happy Athena gets when she's diaperless and on the floor. She really came close to rolling over! She's such a lovely little baby. Sometimes I wish I could see more of her during the day rather than the back of her head.

8. News that one of my old IF (IF-infertility) friends is pregnant *naturally* with her second. I am so excited for her.

9. That box of chocolates that Tim got me the other day.

10. Neighbor brought by a beautiful hand made Christmas basket centerpiece/decoration type thing that she crafted and two books for Morella/Athena. A Disney princess book and a Cars Book. Morella really likes the picture of Belle and was quick to memorize her name.

There you have it! I have to get to bed now. It's almost my new bedtime of 12. Oy vey.

2010-01-12T21:42:00.002-06:00

Tim bought me a box of chocolate AND made his futon bed in the office this morning. Is it my lucky day or what? I woke up this morning with a bit of congestion but it's since gone. I think we all had a mini cold. Oh I did take Morella to the doctor last Friday and she was fine, absolutely nothing wrong with her. The doctor did say the classic "It's a virus," blah blah blah, and that she might show signs of congestion over the weekend. She didn't though, but we did.

Anyway. I am stressed out with this whole parenting thing. Morella is not eating. Is it because she carries her sippy cup around her as a glorified bottle? Is she drinking too much milk and not having enough room leftover to eat? Is she sick again (Tim said she is following the progression of his illness)?

Hm. Tim just said no. She is sick. She is coughing a lot tonight. But is that because she is sick or because of the one hour screaming tantrum she threw this afternoon during a major nap fail? Has she given up naps for good? IF that is the case why did she fall asleep in the car five minutes into it this afternoon?

Is Athena ever going to sleep through the night? Is she waking at 12 because I am going to bed then? (I don't think so because on nights I go to bed late she still wakes up at that time to cry and eat). How am I ever going to get them to share a room together? The other night she was up every TWO hours. If she was in Morella's or another room, I wouldn't have gotten any sleep at all. How will she ever get Morella's toddler/bed crib since Morella is so attached to her bed? Will we have to buy a toddler bed even though we have a perfectly fine trundle bed with a rollout that they could use? Will she never get to use it because she will be in my bed until she is one like our parents did (my Mom and Tim's Mom both kept their babies in bed until 1).

Sigh. It's so different having a bottle fed baby (with thickened EBM) versus a nursing baby. And a first born versus a second born.

Oh there is my laptop battery telling me knock it off, watch some TV and calm the fuck down. :P

2010-01-11T22:38:00.002-06:00

It January. I get caught up in television during this time. We finished watching season 4 of Dexter and I was ... well... I feel a little embarrassed to admit this, but I got too involved. I got caught up in the life of a fictional character. In the early months of two under two, I would often think about how Dexter was handing fatherhood. It was something that got me through the day, you know? So when this season ended, the way it did, I was emotionally upset and it took a couple days to shake it off. I really don't want to talk about it further so I don't give anything away. Let's just say that I felt like one of those crazy people that believe soap operas are real and spend way too much time thinking about their lives.

Now we are watching Fringe, and of course I am going back to catching up on How I Meet Your Mother. I have also been watching movies -- tonight it was Grace Is Gone. An indie movie with John Cussak that was really rather unremarkable. Not to be a movie snob, but I've seen a lot of independent and foreign movies and this was just another classic example of american's doing a lackluster job on a slow drama. Enough of that, I am not a movie critic nor do I aspire to be one. I just know what I like and don't like, and I knew what kind of movie that was going to be five minutes into it.

On the positive side, I finally finished an afghan that I started two years ago before Morella was born for a friend of mine. Hurray! I can get it out of my living room.

I am on a quest to dejunkify and get things done around this house. Yesterday we went out and finally bought curtain rods for the office and girl's bedroom windows. The solution that I have used for the last five years just cannot stand anymore. That solution being safety pins on the end of "curtains" hung of a little nail at each side of the window. Oh wait, one of the windows I actually strung some jewelry wire for them to hang on. Real classy.

Now that I have the rods, I hope to actually install them sometime before the next five years are up. No really, I hope to do it this week sometime. If these kids ever take a nap. Morella opted not to today. Please don't let nap times go the way of the Dinosaur Train. I don't have a time tunnel to go back to the good old days of three hour naps.

Of course this wouldn't be a mommy blog (as Tim so lovingly refers to my blog now) if I didn't prattle on about my little darlings. Morella is in a developmental explosion now! She is adding new words by the handful each day, finally started to mimic words, jumped off her slide (about 2 inches) to the ground several times without falling, figured out puzzles and how to put money into her princess crown bank and knows how to have a conversation on the phone that is more than "hi" and "bye."

Athena has been showing remarkable improvement in sitting and playing with toys and just loves Morella. Morella was telling her some jokes this afternoon and pretty much anything that came out of her mouth had her laughing. She slept for crap today and doesn't nurse well in public or noisy situations (would prefer really for me to be in a quiet darken room in the side lying position). But she did go to bed early and she finally had her big poopsploion. It's been almost five days. This poop was weird too, really sticky. It sort of reminded me of the xanthum gum poops that Morella had for the first year of her life because of the Simply Thickened bottles she had to have.

Man I'm tired.

One last thing, we have tuna casserole for dinner. We had some. Morella at two peas and called it. That girl is living on air. I think she thinks that 2% body fat she has is too much and is doing something about it. Sigh. No seriously, I have to remind myself that the pediatrician assured me that children this young do not purposely starve themselves.

2010-01-07T22:30:00.002-06:00

Athena - 5 Months

The rest of the images can be seen here in the Photo Gallery
(Yes i notice that the thumbprints seem to be missing for several of the beginning galleries, however if you click on the album and the title links the images will show. I have no idea how to fix this either short of going back to do it all over again). You can also seem them here which might be easier to see: Facebook Photo Album

--Nicknames: Neena, Neeners, Neener Beaner, Athena Beana, Kerfluff
--Can sit unassisted! She started this three days ago. She can go for several wobbly minutes, but by gum she can do it.
--Hates hates hates being on her tummy
--Won't roll over to save her life
--Loves to pretend she is texting
--Insists on holding my hand while nursing
--Pulled the computer keyboard to her and started banging on it this week (aww!)
--Favorite joke in the world is "B...buh...buh bah!"
--Loves little bunny foo foo
--Laughs when you head nuzzle her tummy (then she grabs your hair and pulls..ouch!)
--Wearing 6-9 and 6-12 month clothing
--Barely gets any floor time because as soon as she hits the ground, or couch or bed or whatever, Morella is all over her like a wet rag. Poor Neeners hardly ever gets alone time to exercise those muscles and explore. At least she is getting big enough to fend for herself when Attack of the Toddler begins. But, you know she loves Morella and just looking at her makes her smile.
--Much better about letting other people hold her
--Goes to bed around 8:00-8:30...however I am the only one that can seem to do it.
--Wakes up between 11-12 to eat, then 3-4 and then now she is waking up at 7:00 for the day. Seems to take a nap around 9:30-10 and then an afternoon nap around 2-5.
--Must be held facing out, or you can hip hold her if she is high enough and mostly facing out. Facing in - disaster. Kind of sucky for the Ergo, but I did test getting her in it for the back carrying position and though she fussed she started to actually fall asleep. Maybe in another month it will be better. For now the Baby Bjorn is easier and more flattering to my post baby squishy belly syndrome.
--Bald spot is getting more fuzz growing in and hair is starting to thicken ever so slightly all around
--Really getting into playing with toys
--Sits in high chair with us during dinner good most of the time. The rest of the time she wants to be held and tries to pat our plates or food
--At this point in time hasn't pooped in two days
--Still seems sensitive to dairy in my diet
--Still only one tooth (the one she was born with)
--Is an overall wonderfully easy going little baby. When she cries it's usually for a reason and that is so nice to have. She either wants to move, eat, sleep or has a poopy diaper.

2010-01-06T22:28:00.003-06:00

Picture time!

HA HA HA HA ... oh my god, this last photo has me in stitches.

Kathleen and her daughter Daphne came over today to hang out. We played Abalone and made Valentine cards from Target Dollar bin goodies while drinking some candy cane lane decaf. It was awesome ... especially the part where everyone was sleeping except us and we got do fun stuff. Anyway. Then we put them in bumbos and made them look at each other.

Some other photos since I am on the horn...Here is one of Hilary and Athena

It seems like deja vue.... Hilary and Morella

2010-01-05T22:41:00.002-06:00

Okay. I walked the dog yesterday. Our first for 2010. It was darn cold out there, and of course he took a giant dump half way through forcing me to carry his poop. I often fantasize that dogs could wear a poop catcher like horses in parades have too. I would probably take him on more walks if he didn't insist on taking giant dumps each time we go out. Yeah I work with a lot of poop in my business, but you know I can wash it off, throw it in the diaper bucket or the trash and be done with it. I don't have to carry it or touch it warmth for any length of time.

This morning I went to the bank to get a money order so I can sent in Athena's tribal enrollment application and then to the library to make a photocopy of the paperwork. I had to pay my one dollar fine because I had no change and while I was doing that some old dude took over the copier with a crapload of coins that he painstakingly entered one at a time per every 30 seconds. One glance at his pile of envelopes and I knew that Morella was going to get to play with the trains and dollhouse. Bonus, Athena would get her bite to eat.

Morella was a dreamboat. She shared, helped other kids find the train. She talked to them and adults. She did all the puzzles. She picked up the greyhaired doll and talked about about Boppi (Grandmother -- oh incidentally the morning after her Grandma put her to bed and we went out for fancy appetizers -- the first word out of her mouth was "Boppi?") She is going to love her week long visit this summer. It could also be bappi or Babbi or something like that. You know two year old speak is hard to understand and I asked Tim five minutes ago to come into the living room to help me clarify but he obviously has more important things to do. :P

Anyway, after the library we went to Java cat for lunch where she continued being an angel and we had a really sweet meal together. Neeners meanwhile had fallen asleep like a good little baby.

Came home, put the girls down for a nap, sent the Mother's helper home (she was only going to be here for an hour and I really wanted to take a nap too) and crashed. Morella got up at 4:30 as did I, we played an then woke up Athena at 5 after I made a new rule about no babies sleeping after five if I want them to go to bed at a decent hour.

Made two dinners (chicken sausage/applesauce/green peppers) and chicken tikka masala.

Watched a little Dexter to get my heart racing (and more fodder to think about the show for the time being), and here I am trying to beat the clock on my laptop battery. It's almost dead and I don't want to go into the room to get the cord and risk waking the baby. Who by the way is not happy with me putting the kabash on her no rules sleeping. As in...I am working on putting her to sleep in the cosleeper and letting her fuss it out a bit to see if she'll go down without nursing. She's about 60/40 now .

Overall it was a good day. It helps when the kids behave, it's sunny, we get out of the house, no one is sick and dinner gets made.

PS. Tim still hasn't come to discuss toddler linguistics with me....oh there is my low battery warning.

2010-01-03T20:29:00.002-06:00

I am going stir crazy. Nuts. Maybe it's the winter blues, post holiday, de-stressing blah blah blah out of my system. But the last two days I have just had such a short fuse. I get angry with Morella's constant tantrums, the closing and opening of doors every two freaking seconds, not letting Athena lay on the floor or anywhere without guarding her closely from Morella's affections, tripping over crap I picked up an hour ago on the floor, the never ending pile of dirty dishes, to name a few. Yes, we have a dish washer but someone has to rinse dishes, load it and unload it and it's hard to do that when Athena is growling about something and Morella wants to "help."

I love these two kids. I do. I love Tim. But I can hate the snoring that makes me feel trapped at night between him and a sleeping baby. Yes, I had ear plugs in but this was the might that shook the bed and stirred the baby. I started to cry and then thought "Why are you unhappy right now? You want to sleep? Make it happen. Leave."

So I did. I went to the office and unfolded the futon, made the bed, wrestled with a stupid bouncy seat that made noise no matter how I touched it and then went and retrieved the baby -- all to a thundering cacophony of nostrils. I was able to put her down in about 15 minutes and fall asleep myself by about 1:00. I was awakened later at some point by a darling demanding to know "What happened?" and a baby who wanted to eat. Everyone got up early at 7:15 and I discovered that sleep did not change my disposition and I was in just as bad of a mood as I was last night.

I served Morella breakfast she did not want. Unloaded the dishwasher, loaded it, fed the baby and then handed her off to Tim before I went into the office, shut the door and put in ear plugs. I hoped for a 1 hour and 15 minutes for sleep. Fifteen minutes to get to sleep and a good hour. That is exactly what I got when Tim woke me up to "top off" Athena because he was going to take them to the mall to get some new calenders.

Okay the oven is beeping at me. I ended up going. Then later I read and caught up on sleep during the afternoon nap. Oh wait, I should mention I think that is how the bad mood really started. No one took any significant naps yesterday and both kids were in foul moods making everything a thousand times harder than it should have been.

Sigh.

I watched Slumdog Millionaire last night. I was happy to notice that when it was over I had to look around and shake the movie off. I really enjoy movies that make me forget about everything. Then I watched an episode of Dexter.

I hope I feel better by tomorrow. I hate feeling like this. I even considered getting some St. John's wort tea but got scared off by the warning of Nursing or Pregnant women beware.

2010-01-01T14:54:00.002-06:00

Resolutions:

read 20 books (a low sum, to be sure -- but high with two little ones)
clean/organize the master bedroom
get Athena on the tribal roll (or at least do everything that I can do on my end)
keep up with babybook/journals more
continue the Postcard project
start a new "everyday" chore habit (for example, the year Morella was born I trained myself to make the bed every day. Now I do it every day, almost obsessively. It only takes like 2 minutes and the room is so much better because of it) Suggestions for a new daily routine chore type thing appreciated.
Write at least 10 minutes a day

There we go!

Last night was fun. Our friends Chuck and Kathleen came over with their 4 month old daughter (who slept most of the time) and we lucked out with the kids going to bed early and staying there. We took shifts in going to a party where the hostess is famed for her fabulous food, party themes and well, overall awesome parties. Speaking of which Laima, did I win the Owl print silent auction?

Kathleen and I took the first shift and sampled all of the food (fresh made sushi, bacon wrapped chestnuts, cookies, chocolate banana bread, crudites, olives, crackers, smoked cheese) and we made sure to dip everything we could possibly dip that resembled food into the chocolate fondue. Later, I had a very spicy pickle I had to spit out, and some salsa that I did not spit out but wished I had. The menfolk returned from their turn 20 minutes before midnight and we rang in the new year with champagne and jello shots (eww). Then we visited for an hour or so more and were in bed by 1:30AM. Tim and I were both very tired this morning but thankfully not hungover. :D

Both kids are currently asleep, as I probably should be. I made some quick bread for something to eat, had a bowl of oatmeal for lunch and sort of wish we had other food. I have no idea what is for dinner and I wonder if the grocery store is open today. We need some food. And someone to cook it.

Tim is making a sweet potato pie (I whipped a crust this morning), but that won't be ready until much later. One cannot live on sweet potato pie alone.

2009-12-27T23:33:00.002-06:00

It's the holiday hangover. You know, where so much stuff just happened in a relatively short amount of time and now that everything is done you just don't want to do anything. THAT.

Tonight though, we got a surprise gift from the Mother in Law. She offered to bring Morella and Athena's very awesome new wagon (grandparents), and slide (from Uncle Mark/Anutie Erica) because it wouldn't fit in our car on the drive home yesterday. Sure this was nice, but the real gift was when she offered to watch the kids while went out and did something. We briefly toyed with the idea of seeing Avatar, but it's a long movie and since Athena doesn't do bottles, it would have been a long time being separated from her. Let it also be stated that I would never leave Athena with anyone else but his mother because she has the chops to handle a little crying and take care of a two year old who loves her to bits. Seriously, we got a casual 'bye' as we left.

Our freedom in hand we went to Alchemy for a drink, the best onion rings in the world, and clementine cheesecake. Then we tried to two restaurants in search of oysters but both were closed. We ended up at the Brocach Irish Pub for more drinks and a platter of the best steamed mussels ever. It was a night out on the town with fine dining. We would have left 15 minutes sooner except our waitress who was assigned to our section who doesn't usually work our section gave us the wrong bill after charging our credit card. It was not the bill she initially gave us, and was for 50$ bucks more. After waiting for a small eternity I finally got up to go after her and Tim immediately ran ahead of me and told me to sit back down. You see, we would still be sitting there if I had waited for miracles to happen. I gotta remember to use my power of "getting things done" a little more often. I even told Tim I was going to be nice! Sheesh.

We came back to a hiccuping, head twitching from too much crying baby who was nothing but smiles, snuggles and giggles as soon as she was on my lap and in my arms. Awww! The other one went to bed without a problem.

Okay. That was a start. I broke the dry blogging spell.

I'm reading Stephen King's On Writing now in preparation for my new career in writing. Ha. Oh we all have to have our new years dreams, right?

2009-12-22T16:12:00.002-06:00

As a reminder of Morella at 4 Months:

And then I did a recreation of Athena at 4ish Months in the dress with just a white tablecloth and my camera and this is what I got. Not as nice, but good enough for comparison. :D

Then I did some self portraits holding the camera over us.

2009-12-21T22:31:00.003-06:00

Well, it happened. I can blame it on the Mommy brain, right? I committed a huge faux paus in Christmas cards. You see, I have been writing them in the odds and ends moments of the day when I am assured that Morella isn't running around with a towel over heard and smashing into things (poor kid) or when Athena isn't constantly grizzling. It was bound to happen. I should have just not even written anyone's names or a message and instead just signed our names at the end. You know, so many other people do it. I should do too. Especially when I accidentally wrote the name of the EX-GIRLFRIEND of a dude who just got married this past year to a woman with an entirely different name.

Of course he wrote to tell me that his wife wasn't very pleased.

Sigh. I suck.

2009-12-16T23:26:00.002-06:00

Oh fudge.

I misread the instructions and interpreted 1 1/2 sticks of butter to be 1 1/2 cups...meaning I had twice as much butter. It looked greasy and crumbly. I reread the instructions and realized my error. I quickly threw in more sugar, a 1/2 a bag of vanilla chips (out of chocolate), about a cup of marshmallows and some more evaporated milk and stirred for about 8 minutes before dumping it into a big pan. It's smooth. We'll see how bad it is tomorrow.

But for now I am chocolated out. I had two cherry cordials, a piece of poor man's rocky road bars that I had made before that and ... uff. I can only think my body is trying to have a period. Four months? It took 9 months before I got my period back with Morella and the exclusive pumping. I am not ready to have a period yet. :P

I went out and bought a cool mist humidifier because Athena wasn't able to breath with her stuffed up nose tonight at Walgreens. It seems to be working as she is sound asleep. I hope it works for me too because I have been mouth breathing for the last three days and it's killer to wake up with a parched mouth.

I nearly froze my hands off in those puny little knit gloves. It's cold out there!

This lame post brought to you by a vicodin that has now kicked in because my back is killing me.

2009-12-12T14:27:00.002-06:00

HO HO HO!

Morella, Athena and her little friends Bree and Noah all meet Santa for the first time.

Fore more pictures go here.

2009-12-11T15:36:00.002-06:00

For watching her get big reference you can also look here while I get around to putting them on my gallery. ;)

2009-12-10T21:27:00.002-06:00

I feel like my confidence as a Mommy today was shaken. The day was packed again as usual. It seems like so many days are packed at this time of the year. Athena was extra crabby last night and I gave up doing anything last evening and instead just went to bed at 9:00 with her. She woke up at 11:30 screaming like a 1000 banshees. Tim came in and held her for awhile and bounced until she calmed down enough to nurse back to sleep. About a 1/2 an hour after that Morella started screaming and Tim had to go in and sleep in her room. Every time he tried to leave she would start up. These days aren't every night but I sure feel like they are becoming more frequent.

Athena had her 4 month well baby check today at 1:30. Right in the middle of nap time. Having anything going on during a regular nap time just makes me sick to the stomach but instead of cancelling I dropped her off at Ann's who was willing to risk it and keep her own kid up as well. I had everyone bundled up and out the door by 12 and stopped at Walgreens to get our holiday photos and look around for a few minutes. I had gotten a bunch of photo cards at a garage sale last year and planned to put the photos in those, but later on when I got home and tried it out, I realized that it cut off our heads and the Holiday Greeting at the top. Oh well. I found some other misc cards and am using those up.

After Walgreens and because the roads were so bad I made it to Ann's at 1 to just drop off Morella and leave. Then I stopped by and dropped off some formula samples and outgrown diapers to a relatively new Mom before heading off to Athena's appointment. I made it in just in time and she was seen right away. She weighs 15.5 pounds and is 26 inches long. While she is 85% for height and weight, she is actually about 50% in weight for height meaning she is perfectly average. :) She got her shots and I nursed her before leaving. I stopped at Willie Street Coop to buy something quick for dinner -- pocket samosa's and asian noodles. She fell asleep on the way to pick up Morella and stayed asleep as I decided to stay for awhile and visit.

At 4 we left to go home because Athena woke up and Morella was melting down. We get home and just as I pulled into the driveway I realized I locked ourselves out. Great on the coldest day of the year so far. :( I called Tim and told him I would be on my way to pick up his keys.

This always happens on the first really cold day of the year where I have to go out and warm up the car and then get kids out into the weather. Traffic was a nightmare on the way there and Morella woke up and was very upset that I wasn't taking her inside to her bed. She calmed down when I said we were going to see Daddy though and went back to sleep. Thank god. If only Athena had followed suit. Instead I got to hear her cry for the next 50 minutes it took to get to Tim's work and home.

Got home at 5:15 and brought a wailing Morella inside and unbundled and put her to bed with the door open. I then fed Athena in the living room while Morella readjusted and woke up a bit. Then Tim came home about 15 minutes later from his biking commute. I was so exhausted at this point.

Tim then got his gear and left at 6:00 for his weekly gaming session just in time for Karen the Mother's Helper to show up and help for an hour. She entertained Morella while I gave Athena a good nursing session. She was in good spirits but was tired. She went down for about a 1/2 an hour while I helped get Morella ready for bed. Karen left at 7:00, I put Morella down by 7:10 but she started howling. I comprimised and left the door open a crack only to hear her say "mommy...mommy" over and over forever while I nursed Athena who had woken back up and was very upset. I gave Athena some tylenol and then held her close and nursed her until she feel asleep. By then it was 7:45 and Morella was still up. I went in there and said it was time to sleep. I retucked her in, kissed her and said good night and closed the door. Morella then started throwing the hugest tantrum ever for the next 15 minutes. I swear she was going to pass out from the screaming and kicking and wailing and what have you.

At 8:05 I opened her door and got her. I didn't take her out of her sleeping sack but instead deposited her in front of the TV on the couch and proceeded to work on Christmas cards while watching a terrible movie with Sabrina the Teenage Witch and Mario Lopez. Morella dinked around for awhile, walking in her sleep sack and even running! Geez. Here I thought she was immobile in that too.

Finally at 9:20 she seemed tired enough to put back to bed which is where she is now with no tantrum. Thank god. I went downstairs and got a beer and am now typing this up and hoping that Athena stays asleep for a little while longer.

I worry that I am setting her up to having terrible night time routines by letting nights like this happen. I worry that Athena will never go to sleep on her own and will always need me to nurse her down. I know that in two years bedtime will probably seem like a piece of cake when Morella and Athena go to bed at the same time in the same room, but for now, since I can't read the future I just don't know.

Days like this prevent me from wanting to leave the house the next day, you know? I need tomorrow to be normal so that I can clean up the huge bombs and messes that Morella has made from being cooped up inside, to bake, wrap presents, and send out Christmas cards. I love sending out cards -- it's one of my favorite things to do in the holiday season and it's already December 10th and I haven't sent a single one out.

Anyway. Karen isn't going to come next week but instead will come for two days in a row the 22 and 23rd for four hours each day. I will have to pack, wrap gifts (If I haven't by then) and blah blah blah. It will be much appreciated.

Okay, now that I have gotten a typical day off my chest I am going to use the time remaining to clean up a little. Because cleaning makes me feel like I have some iota of control over this chaos, even if it's all erased the next day.