No Turkey or Stuffing - A Day At Disney Instead!

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone! We are not having the big traditional dinner today, we are holding off until later because my husband does all the holiday cooking and he is out hunting today. I'm not going to knock myself out cooking a feast for just me and the little girls, and they don't know the difference. Gotta get away with sliding by while I can! Won't be long and they'll catch me breaking the rules like this!

Can't let the holiday go without some fun though. So I took the girls to Disneyland on Tuesday. We had a blast! The looks on their faces when we are there is so precious, it is worth all the money and all the hassle. It's just pure happiness!

That kind of happiness is more expensive, again. I noticed the parking and the entrance prices all went up. Funny, I noticed that last month too. I went ahead and got Gracie an annual pass so that I don't end up in Mickey Mouse jail for sneaking her in as a child under the age of 3. She doesn't look under 3, and I'm not going to risk it.



Parking was a nightmare! The Mickey and Friends parking structure was closed so once you got there you were rerouted all around Anaheim in circles until you got to the Pongo Parking Lot, which didn't look like it was anywhere near Disneyland. And since it took over an hour to get from the parking structure to this temporary parking lot, I assumed we were nearly home again. Then we boarded a bus to Disneyland which took another 15 mins. The bus was overcrowded and I had to squeeze me and Gracie and Libby all into one seat, plus the diaper bag, my purse and the snack bag. My double stroller was underneath the bus in the storage bin, but they wouldn't let me toss my bags in there too.

Finally we got to the Happiest Place on Earth! Stood in line for the security check, then stood in line for Gracie's ticket, then stood in line to show the tickets and get inside the park. Lordy. I was so thankful that Gracie didn't have to go potty! That could have really thrown a wrench into all this patience we were practicing. We did really well with patience, I must say.

I only had a temporary pass for Gracie, had to go get her picture taken and get her plastic card at "The Pavilion" on Main Street. Getting a pass isn't as easy as it sounds. I didn't see this place and was sick of standing in line for no big thrill, so decided to come back to Main Street and do it later.

My camera was flashing low battery in red. Which usually means I have 2 or 3 pictures left and that's all that I'm gonna get. Darn it. I managed to get quite a few pictures and we got the Photo Pass card.

We made our way down Main Street slowly. It was so crowded it was unbelievable! Today was going to be a day to be very very patient. Very patient. It was 2pm and people were claiming their spaces on the curb for the parade at 3:30. Yikes. Here we are on Main Street, look at the stroller in the background on the left. There are two kids in it! One is getting squished.



Got to the castle and we went up inside to see the story of Sleeping Beauty. This is always our first attraction. Gracie loves most of it. We don't look in the windows that have scary parts of the story. At the end, the princess is dancing with the prince and her dress turns from pink to blue over and over again. We never leave until it is pink. Then we boarded King Arthur's carousel. Libby rode a horse and Gracie ran straight for her favorite spot: the bench.

We moseyed along and found ourselves a great spot for the parade that was to start in 20 minutes. Great spot right on the curb and great timing! We sat next to a family with several kids who had bubbles and bubble guns, so they entertained Gracie and Libby as well as a few other children who were all right there. Note to self: bring bubbles next time. Great idea!

The parade was amazing! We saw several characters, the dancers were better than great, all of the Princes and Princesses were in it and it ended with Santa. Couldn't have been better! Libby really wanted to get out there and join in with the dancers, but I held her back. Gracie would like to be a roller skating snowflake when she grows up, but she needs to practice. I think she will be a very pretty snowflake someday.





Next stop, another long line of course! This time we were waiting to see the Princesses. This is a terrible line to stand in because you cannot use your stroller, there is nothing to lean on, and it takes an hour at least. Again, I had to nurse Libby standing up in line. Gosh, I'm good! There are three princesses to see, and you never know who you will get to visit with, it's a triple surprise! And well worth the wait. Each princess spends a little time with each kid and they get a little visit, a hug and maybe even a twirl around. You can look down the line and see total amazement and awe in little faces as they visit the princesses! So cute! Libby didn't want anything to do with any of them, she still thinks her mom is the best! Awww, thanks Libby! We saw Mulan, Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty.



We then made our way toward Toon Town. I was only going to concentrate on touring this one section of the park today, since I have never gone to this part of it before. Oh gosh, it was so crowded you could barely get around. Gracie recognized Minnie Mouse's house and wanted to go in, so we parked the stroller and got in line. Only one family got in line behind us and then the line closed down. Minnie would be making an appearance on Main Street and so they closed down the line to visit her. Another family showed up to get in line and they had a little girl about 2 or 3 years old dressed like Minnie Mouse and the guard didn't let them in line. I just about cried when I saw that little girl's disappointed face! I sure hope she got to see Minnie Mouse sometime during the day.

Minnie was cute! I handed my dying camera to the Disney worker to take a photo and hoped it would fire off a shot. It did. Just one. And it's blurry. Her house was adorable! Just a few rooms. Gracie and Libby had fun making the dishwasher go. Next door was Mickey's house and no line, I think you just go from one to the next, so we already stood in line and were just following. I had no idea Mickey's house was a mile long maze with no escape. We were in there for an hour at least, nudging our way forward. I ended up having to nurse Libby while standing in line inching forward and keeping Gracie near me with my foot. I didn't kick her, I just used my foot to reach to her and get her attention. Yes, that's me, the mom who is in line at Disneyland, standing on one leg while breastfeeding a toddler. I think I'll write that on my next resume.



We finally got to see Mickey Mouse! He was great! Libby wanted nothing to do with him, but Gracie gave him some love. The Disney photographer took some photos. These photos never did make it to the Disney Photo Pass web page, so I haven't seen them. Hopefully they will show up soon. Usually only takes an hour and your photos are there. The princess photos showed up a few at a time over the past couple of days. I'll check again tomorrow for Mickey photos.

By the time we got out of there it was dark! We left Toon Town for Small World. It was lit up with a billion lights! We parked the stroller and got in line for the Small World boat ride. The line was encroaching on the entrance to Toon Town. Wow! This line moves though because they are constantly loading and unloading boatloads of people, so at least you don't just stand there. Once again, I found myself battling a wiggle monster in my tired arms, and ended up nursing in line again. This time she fell asleep.

Gracie could have stared at the Christmas lights all night, they were beautiful and this was her first sighting of any lights this holiday season. We rode the boat through and Libby missed it all because she was fast asleep. It was great! The entire ride was decorated for Christmas, so many pretty details! The puppets sang bits of Christmas songs intermixed with the Small World song. It was so sweet to see Gracie's big eyes trying to absorb it all. At the end of the ride, she asked to go again, so we got back in line. This time the line was a lot shorter, it ended at the gate where you are supposed to enter to line up. And as we walked along the line, the parade went past. This time it was all lit up and since we were in line, we were on an elevated platform! Score! Gracie got to yell and wave to Santa again! Of course he winked at her and waved back. Libby slept through this and the second ride. We called Katie from inside the ride and left her a message, Gracie said "Katie! I'm at the Small World!" The music is pretty loud, so I'm sure she got an earful of that too.

Now it was 7:30 and I was worn out. Gracie seemed to have forgotten about the fireworks, so I was going to let her. They start at 9:30 and then its mass exodus from the parking lots. I thought sneaking out early might be a great idea, especially considering getting out might not be so easy, getting in was sure difficult! I strolled the kids across the park, down Main Street, and where is this Pavilion? Up and down Main street, and I asked, finally found it. Got there for Gracie's pass and she was sound asleep in the front seat of the stroller. Libby was wide awake, but Gracie was not waking up for anything. I held her head up and they took her picture like that. Her pass looks pretty funny! The lady said "Next time come when she's awake". Sure, great idea.

We went out and headed for the bus pick up area. Had to wait quite a while there. Wasn't too sure how I was going to get on the bus holding a baby, carrying a sleeping kid and fold up my stroller too. Somehow, I managed. I had to wake up Gracie and she was so groggy she wasn't sure what was going on, but I got her on the bus. This time we got 2 seats. yay! Found the Pongo parking lot, and I asked the bus driver how to get to the freeway. She said to Take a left, go a block to Harbor Blvd, take a right and it's a couple of minutes to the freeway, stay in the right lane. Really? It took me just a couple of minutes to get from Pongo to the freeway! Why did it take over an hour to get from Mickey and friends parking structure to Pongo! A Disney mystery.

Anyway, when I got to the van, Gracie finally had to go potty. This is the first time she said she had to go since we left the house! I asked her a bunch of times all day, but no, she won't go on big toilets. Good thing I keep a little potty chair in the van. The girl has a bladder of steel!

I was so glad to get into the van. My arms were ready to fall off! I had to carry Libby a lot because you can't use your stroller in line, and we spent more time standing in lines than we did strolling. Libby is definitely leash-ready! Next time, I'm bring a leash for her so I can put her down a bit here and there. Save us both some frustration. She is 22 pounds of pure wiggle!

I followed the bus driver's instructions to get out of the Pongo Parking lot, and she was right - I was on the 5 North in no time! She said the 5 goes to the 91 in only a couple of minutes, and that's the freeway I needed and sure enough, I found it! I merged and hopped onto the 91 West. Drove and drove, Gracie was wide awake now and Libby was fast asleep. After a while I thought, hmmm, these exits don't have familiar names, I must have a long way to go yet. Then I started to drive right into some fog and I saw a sign that said Long Beach Blvd. Oh no! The Beach! I drove WEST! I needed to go EAST! Oh Lordy!

I pulled off on the next exit, and in a panic I called Keith who was in South Dakota, he pulled up a map and said I could flip around easily there and head back. Then he said, "Wow, you drove a long way in the wrong direction". I made it to the edge of Compton. Went about 12 miles west rather than east. Ugh!

So I got turned around and got home just fine. I really need to learn the difference between East and West! Someday... someday...

We got home at 11pm. We left the house at 11am, making this a 12 hour outing. I was beat! And of course, the girls were wide awake now and ready to play! They'd been strapped down too long and needed to wiggle and be free of constraints. Guess we could have stayed for the fireworks after all. We were up till 1am when I finally declared an end to this long exciting day. It was great, but Disneyland was tougher than I was that day.

Watch out, Disneyland, the parking nightmare, crowds, long lines without use of a stroller, lollipops that shatter on the sidewalk, and trapping me in Mickey's house didn't do me in! I'm coming back for more! And I'm bringing a fully charged camera battery and a toddler leash!

Quilt Progress Report

Fifteen 9-patch blocks done. Here they are laid out on my bed. Kind of looks funny - a quilt on a quilt. But, you can get the idea anyway. Next time I'll plan it out better and actually measure correctly. Oh well. This one is turning out good enough and it's much better than that old pile of useless jeans that I once had!

I Look GREAT!

I took Gracie to get her hair cut the other day. As soon as the stylist twirled her around toward the mirror, Gracie lit up like the 4th of July and exclaimed, "I Look GREAT!" And she does!

Here is the haircut and "mini-mani" in photos: Remember if you cannot see a full photo, click on it and you will be able to see the whole thing. Then just use the back button to return here and look at the next one.

Salamander Crossing

Only in California!



They've shut down a section of road to make a safe path for a salamander crossing. Yes. For a salamander to cross the road.

Here is a link to a news report explaining why the salamanders needed to shut down a road. It's so obvious! They are endangered! Save the Salamanders!

Ballerina Booger

The last ballet class was very entertaining. You get what you get with a three-year old! Next Monday we don't have class since it will be Thanksgiving week; I am glad we don't go back for two weeks!

Since there are 20 three and four year old ballerinas and class is only 30 minutes long, all the parents stay. The class is in a gym and there are folding chairs along the wall for the parental audience. There are usually about 30 parents and people who stay and watch, most with cameras. The teacher can then have the parents help a bit if their child needs it. Sometimes a shoe comes untied or someone has to go potty, things like that happen.

Monday, Libby was fussing and crying and wanting to go with all the ballerinas. So the teacher asks me to leave. Is that embarrassing enough? No.

Gracie gets a bloody nose! The teacher announces, "Who is the mom for this ballerina?" I have to deal with that in front of everyone. I grabbed kleenex and baby wipes and my hand sanitizer, and I make sure to get her super clean and germ free cuz they have to hold hands.

This happens three times cuz it just wouldn't quit bleeding. It wasn't bad, just bad enough. And Libby continues to throw fits which causes the teacher to once again say, "Whoever has the unhappy baby, could you step out? Thank you!" Of course, I can't because I have a bloody ballerina to deal with.

And then Gracie sneezed and used her hand to wipe her nose and then yells to the crowd, "MOM! I got a booger!" She has to scan the line of parents because she knows I was jostling Libby on my hip and pacing behind the row of seated quiet parents trying to quiet little sis. Gracie is holding up this HUGE booger blood clot for the world to see. And Libby is still crying.

The teacher is getting so annoyed with my kids but she laughs along with everyone else. She wants me to hover over Gracie and take the baby out. I can't do both! Every time I left with Libby I left Gracie's kleenex and purell for her hands just sitting near her on the table that held the cd player, then the teacher would say "you left all your stuff here". Yes, in case Gracie needs it!

I was never so happy to see ballet class end! That was a very long 30 minute ballet class!

How to get straight As!

It's easy. Go to the college where my husband works. They dish 'em out like candy. I'm so annoyed.

I try not to vent a lot and turn my blog into a stomping ground of things that frustrate me, but seriously, this university "policy" is on my nerves. They don't really have a "policy" its more of a "the way things are" type of thing. Unwritten, non verbalized way of how it works.

And this is how I understand that it works: The University has an excellent graduate program for excellent students who excel in everything they do. Excellent!

Except that excellence is just code for "we give them all As". Key word: Give.

My husband teaches students who already have been through middle school, high school, junior college, university undergrad school; they have Bachelor's degrees, job experience and proved themselves worthy of being admitted to the Master's program. Impressive, eh? Yeah, I thought so too. Until... I saw some of their work. And I saw my husband making squishy faces while reading their papers they turned in to him. And I realized that their written academic presentations were not much better than the essays he brings home from his middle school. These people are in the masters program? How did they get there? Shoot, how did they get out of the 8th grade?

The end of this term, my husband sat with a huge stack of final projects in front of him and he was scowling. He looked over and said to me, "these are all crap!" All but two got an A. I don't get it. I don't know how or why, but it happens that way. It just irritates me so much. I worked so hard for my grades and they weren't As all the time.

Not all students come out of class with an A. Some get an A-. OOooooOOOOooo, poor students! Apparently, A- is cause for academic review or something, and a B is just insultingly bad, and I'm sure the university doesn't want to waste a lot of time with those "bad" students. Just nudge them over the line. I wish I knew how they decide that everyone gets an A and how an A- is cause for review. I know if the teacher gives out too many "bad grades" he gets his ass chewed. Then his boss does.

Now that I know all this, I know where I'm going to get my master's degree. Yes, to the excellent school for excellent students who do nothing but excel in every excellent class. Then they go on to get excellent jobs with excellent salaries because they are so excellently excellent and win the job with that excellent transcript. And if I don't get a masters at this excellent school, I might end up working for one of these jerks who just purchased their degree. So, that's what I'll do. Can't beat 'em, join 'em! Buy a degree! Who has time to earn one?

Boy, I'm gonna catch hell for writing this, but I'm gonna hit publish post anyway.

"V"

Hello, Mary's Blog Fans. Mary's husband here. I'm taking over the keys to the blog today. I noticed this new TV show "V" is a remake of an 80s show by the same name. Remember that one? This one seems the same with updates. Here are my thoughts on the new V show and my predictions:

It is all pretty predictable--and that Nazi-like allegory is still there. The son of the main character is signed up to be part of the "Hitler Youth" and I'm sure will eventually sell out his own mother to the "V's"

In fact, Here's how the rest of the series will go:

* The son will develop a romantic (albeit one-sided) relationship with the hot little blonde V as he continues to lie to his mom about being involved.

* As she leads him on, he begins to rise up in the ranks and gains more V trust.

* Eventually, the hot little blonde V will start to show some feelings for him, and reveal the truth of her reptilian heart, OR, she will go all psycho on his arse and reveal how she used him like the tool he is--THEN reveal her reptilian side. Either way, THAT is when this tool will realize Mom was right all along.

* Meanwhile, the younger priest will become more involved in the underground resistance--helping to lead it and gaining intel from the FBI agent. Also-- The priest will at some point end up killing his older Priest mentor--who is actually a V himself.

* The turning point will be when a large portion of the population realizes the true intent of the V's (to turn us into soylent green), and a V revolt erupts. That revolt willl involve the internet and hackers (because using the internet can solve anything) taking over tv stations for a worlwide broadcast of some video evidence that the V's are lying about who and what they are and why they are here. That might be the black guy ripping the human skin off his reptilian arm live on camera.

* By now, the jilted son has switched sides and provides valuable intel about the V embassy so the resistance can blow it up, which they do almost simultaneous to the "Here is the Real V" tv broadcast. Result: chaos and mass anti-V sentiment ending with multiple attacks against V's, (with lots of scenes of 15 year old cars getting blown up) and prompting the V's to use their superior weaponry in defense.

* Season-ending cliff-hanger scene will be of the cute bitch V leader with a nasty pissed off Nancy-Pelosi looking expression (or maybe Hillary) telling the weaselly reporter that if the humans want war, the V's will bring it.


...and there will be no season 2

Chicken Nuts

That's what we just had for dinner. Rice, Sauce and Chicken Nuts.

I told Gracie that we are having Chicken Nuggets and she replied, "Chicken Nuts! I don't like Chicken Nuts!". She ate plenty of them though, so she does like Chicken Nuts!

Actually, I served up some General Tso's Heat and Eat Chicken Nuggets. It comes with some spicy sauce and says right on the box: "Just Add Rice". Coupled with Minute Rice, it's a quick and easy convenient dinner. Not gourmet, but we don't eat it very often. Not that we eat gourmet very often either... I think we should have General Tso's Chicken Nuts more often now that Gracie is a big fan.

Of course, now, I will always think of them as Chicken Nuts.

A Work in Progress

I cut up piles of jeans! Old jeans that didn't fit anyone, worn out jeans, stained jeans, maternity jeans, baby denim dresses, you name it, I chopped it into squares 6"x6". I couldn't really make the squares bigger because the girls are too skinny to wear jeans that have legs wide enough to cut larger than 6" across. Took me about a month to cut all the denim that we had that was worthy of going into a quilt (meaning it was not worthy to wear!).


Here is a 9-patch block laid out. Dark, light, dark, light, dark, light... and so it goes. Square #7 is where I will lay and "interesting" square in the block. Plenty of those!


So far I have four 9-patch blocks done. I am identifying them by the shade of the center square and as you can see I have one dark and three light. I will alternate the dark, light, dark, light so that the pattern is consistent. But, for today, I just laid out the blocks that I have done to show you, and it happens to be that I have one more light than dark so the pattern is a bit off in this layout. No worries, I won't sew them together like that! I am happy with almost all of my corners!

I have a king size red flannel bedsheet that I will use for the backing, and I will put jeans pockets in the bordering blocks. My husband has been asking me to make a denim jeans quilt for years; it isn't my favorite fabric and I've always thought a jeans quilt would be too bulky, boring and ugly. I'm happy to say, it's a fun project and I look forward to taking this quilt camping!

It's coming along! A big warm denim quilt for the hubby will soon be a reality! And since it will be made out of the family's old jeans, it will have some extra coziness to it!

Cluck! Cluck! Cluck! Ribbit!

Here I was worrying about swine when I should have been worrying about fowl! Turns out, Libby's illness this week was not swine flu, it was Chicken Pox.

Libby had her 12 mth vaccinations last month. 15 days later (last Sunday) she developed a fever and began her fever and flu-like symptoms. Friday she was splotchy and polka dotty. Saturday was more of the same. Her irritability increased, separation anxiety heightened and she wasn't happy. Saturday her skin looked a lot better, clingy as velcro with static. Now it's Sunday morning, we shall see how she is today. Hopefully, her skin will be cleared up and back to normal, but it could still take a day or two.

Not to be left out of all the attention, Gracie says she has a frog in her throat. Ribbit!

The Bed Saga

*Click on photos to see the whole photo, my blog layout isn't allowing the entire photo to display in the skinny main column. I am trying to find a new template; in the meantime, click the photo then hit the back button to return.

We bought a new bed 4 years ago. We really needed it, our Queen sized bed had body dents and we wanted to get a King size. We had that Queen for ten years.

We kept the Queen and gave it to Katie; she had it in her room upstairs for a couple of years and then moved it downstairs. Now it's in South Carolina. I think it's been moved and shaken around so much, it shook out some of the dents. I'm sure it's forming new ones now. But, it'll do till the kids can buy a new bed of their own.

So, we got a new King bed four years ago. Sept 16, 2005 to be exact. I remember because that is also the same day that we found out Gracie was going to join us. Big Exciting Day!

Turned out that the bed wasn't so great. It was thick with memory foam and I always felt like I was drowning in it. I couldn't roll over so I"d wake up and fight my way out of my memory foam hole to readjust myself. Ick! Then, it started to sink almost immediately and we exchanged it for another one with no memory foam pillow top, but had the same result. At least it didn't suck us down like the pillow top did. After three years, it felt worse than our Queen did. We were both waking up sore and weren't sleeping well. It took us a full year of looking, actually a bit more, but we finally just bought a new King size bed.

Two weeks ago, we plunked down a fortune at Ortho Mattress for a new box spring and mattress. It's supposed to be amazing and hold up perfectly. After the first night on it, we both felt pretty good. Neither one of us thought it was amazing though. We decided to give it some time.



Well, I still don't love it. It's been two weeks. The thing has a hard as a rock raised middle. I think that's because of the box springs coming together in the center, but still. I have to stick to my own side. The mattress people don't realize that "my side" is 3/4 of the bed! I can't have this hard line limiting my space to only 50%.

And it has "Memory Foam" on the top layer over the springs. Springs, I like! Memory Foam, ugh, I do not like that stuff! Especially since it doesn't remember. It's a rubbery foam that doesn't bounce back, it slowly oozes back to shape. But it squishes under your body so that when you roll over, now the bed is lumpy from your previous shape. At least the foam isn't deep. And it's rubbery, which makes me sweaty. Gross. Why can't a person get a bed without memory foam in it these days? The memory foam people are taking over the world! And I seem to be the only one who isn't thrilled about that.

So here we are, in another expensive uncomfortable bed. I tell ya, I'm ready to just put a pad on the floor and camp out!

I also got Libby a new bed. She refused to sleep in her pack-and-play any longer. Every time I would bend over to lay her down, she woke right up. There must have been a magnetic force in there that jolted her awake. And it started to sag under her weight anyway, so it's time for her to get a real bed.

When Gracie reached this age, we gave her the twin bed and moved it into our room putting it up against the wall and using a bed rail for the other side. Our bedroom is crazy big and our King bed plus the Twin bed next to it lengthwise fit just fine. It's an odd room.

So I thought about buying Libby a twin and doing that again, but I also had a crazy idea that maybe a toddler bed would do. This is nuts because I've always thought toddler beds are silly. They look like a toy. But trying to fit two twin beds into Grace's pink room someday might prove to be a challenge, so I considered how a toddler bed in Gracie's bedroom would be a better fit someday. After we move it out of our room. It was food for thought anyway.

I checked prices online. A Toddler bed costs as much as a Twin! Plus you still have to buy a crib mattress for it. Ah-ha! I'll check Craigslist! It's very active in our area. Sure enough, there was a pink princess toddler bed with a mattress for $35. Well, for that much it's worth trying to see if Libby will sleep in it and to see if I like it as opposed to a "real bed".

We picked it up and it's the cutest thing! She sleeps great in it for half the night, then she gets up and comes to bed with us. That's better than she was doing in her little playpen during the last month. She slept all night in her new little bed a few times too, and it is so much easier to lay her down because I don't have to stoop. I'm surprised! I like this cute little bed!


The dog likes it too. If the baby isn't sleeping in the toddler bed, the dog is. She fits very nicely on it too. I guess if it doesn't work out for Libby, then Sandy has a new princess bed just the right size. It seems to be working out just fine for Libby and once she starts to sleep through the night consistently, we can move her little bed to the Pink Room and the girls can share. I'm looking forward to that!

So, that's the saga of the beds as it is now. We have a new King that we are not in love with and Libby has a new Toddler bed that she likes well enough. Gracie got new sheets, we can't leave her out!

Overdose of Cute!

I mentioned the Baby Halloween Party that I took the kids to last Friday, but I didn't tell you about it!

It was fun! There were aprox 40 mommies there and 50 babies. Some moms have two or three babies, so there are always more little ones than big ones. This baby play group is under the guise of being a breastfeeding support group, but really, we're just a bunch of mommies having fun. The group meets at the hospital twice a week and there is a Lactinazi Lactation Consultant (she is also a Doula) who is employed to lead the group and help women with any breastfeeding issues they might have. The moms start off coming for breastfeeding support and end up coming for fun. We chitter-chatter, show off our babies, brag about the latest milestone, plan playdates and outings, trade coupons and recipes, and we had a Halloween Party.

Here are some of the uber-cute babies in their costumes:

No Oinking in this house!

Sunday, Libby had a fever. I couldn't find my thermometer but my best guess was that it wasn't too bad. Gave her some motrin and figured it would pass.

Monday, Libby is worse. She had a fever all night and all day. It would fade with motrin doses but it was consistently there. I found two thermometers. One said she was 71 and the other one said between 39 and 40 degrees. Can't find my good thermometer anywhere.

Tuesday, Libby is still feverish. Ugh. Still 39 and 40 degrees, give or take a few decimal points. Dumb thermometer. I am guessing she's around 103. Between giving her baths, cool drinks, frozen teething toys, motrin and tylenol, we're keeping her from boiling, but she's pretty hot. She puked in the afternoon all over me. Ick.

Wednesday, fever is down, but she's puking more than she eats and with more force. With this added symptom of throwing up I decide its time to call the pediatrician. They didn't call back till evening. I bet they are busy busy busy! I was told to take her in for a flu test on Thursday since she has a high fever and is vomiting. I also figured out that my thermometer is stuck in Celcius mode and 40 degrees is just over 104 F. Yikes!

Took her in today for the flu test and she saw the doctor too.

No FLU!!! Libby just has an icky virus or something. Libby did not like getting a Qtip up her nose to test for the flu. The doc asked about her bruises on her face. Asked if she threw up because of a head injury. No, no, that was last week. One bruise is from when she pulled the gate right off the wall and it fell on her, and the other one was the next day when she fell in the driveway trying to walk on the slightly sloped concrete. Both bruises are on her face and they are yellow now so you can tell they are kinda old and almost gone.

Personally, I'm wondering now if it is the chicken pox. She's got little bitty spots all over her torso and head, the doc didn't think much of her little spots. But, I have a feeling that my kids are exceptionally sensitive to the chicken pox virus and Libby just got the shot for it a couple of weeks ago. I don't know, I'm just going on my Mom instincts.

It does make sense that she has an icky bug though. I took the kids to a baby Halloween party on Friday, and on Sunday Libby was running a fever. Timing is just right for an icky bug. Two days after being exposed to a bunch of drooling babies and boom, she is sick. Hmmmm.

Gracie got a band-aid for her "bwoken leg" (a tiny scratch) and the Dr told her she was ok. Yay! She's been using her broken leg as an excuse to get out of everything and get attention. For example, "Gracie, let the dog in' then she'll throw her self to the floor and cry cuz her leg is bwoken. Libby is sick and she is not getting enough attention, so she's had this broken leg for a few days and it's totally on my nerves. Thankfully, the doc fixed her right up!

After the doc's visit we went to Walmart to stock up on ballerina tights (Gracie shreds her tights after one or two uses), disposable straws cuz the sippy cup straws are grossing me out, and Halloween shirts for next year (50 cents each!). Leaving Wally World, two guys were crossing in the crosswalk and a car slowed for them but didn't stop for them, they were cocky enough to keep walking and the car still didn't stop. So one guy kicked the car bumper and this angry man jumped out of the car. A pushing match quickly turned into a fist fight! So, I quickly turned the cart around and went back in so that Gracie would not see or hear that kind of behavior. I told the greeter to call the police and she looked at me like I was speaking English or something foreign like that. Of course, no security or police ever showed. the cocky guys and the angry man were gone so I got the kids to the van and we came home.

I forgot to buy a new thermometer, which is why I went there.

Got home and we washed our hands with lots of soap and water and we're going to resume our hermit ways. Staying home! Yay, no swine flu!!!

Small World

I bet I hear this song a thousand times a day. Well, at least a dozen. As long as it is the favorite song in our house, I figure we might as well change it up a bit and hear the different versions to keep dear old mommy from going totally out of her mind. After some extensive googling, I found some variety for the lyrics. Yay! (Hopefully the lyrics are correct, I have no idea)

Sing it with me:

It's a world of laughter, a world of tears;
It's a world of hopes and a world of fears;
There's so much that we share,
That it's time we're aware

It's a small world, after all.
It's a Small World, after all;
It's a Small World, after all;
It's a Small World, after all;
It's a small, small, world.

There is just one moon and one golden sun,
And a smile means friendship to everyone;
'Though the mountains divide,
and the oceans are wide,

It's a small world, after all.
It's a Small World, after all;
It's a Small World, after all;
It's a Small World, after all;
It's a small, small, world.

Spanish

En el mundo hay risas y dolor
Esperanzas y hay tambien temor
Mucho hay en verdad, que poder compartir
Entre la humanidad

Muy pequeño el mundo es
Muy pequeño el mundo es
Debe haber mas hermandad
Muy pequeño es

Una luna hay solo hay un sol
Para todos brillan sin distincion
Y aunque muy grandes son, las montañas y el mar
Muy pequeño el mundo es

Muy pequeño el mundo es
Muy pequeño el mundo es
Debe haber mas hermandad
Muy pequeño es

French:

Au bout du Pole Nord ou sur l'equateur
Il y a un jean qui rit il y a un jean qui pleure
Du soleil due midi au soleil de minuit
On a tous la même vie

Car le monde est tout petit
Devant le ciel on se dit
Que nous sommes des fourmis
Le monde est petit

Au bout du Pole Nord ou sur l'equateur
On a toujours l'air de venir d'ailleurs
Mais quand on fait le tour de nos joies, nos ennuis
On a tous la même vie

Car le monde est tout petit
Devant le ciel on se dit
Que nous sommes des fourmis
Le monde est petit

Nihongo!

Sekaijû dare datte,
Hohoemeba nakayoshi sa,
Heiwa inori te o kumi arukô,
Chiisa na sekai.

Sekai wa hitotsu,
Sekai wa onaji,
Sekai wa marui,
Tada hitotsu.

Kotoba wa minna chigatte mo,
Minna no kokoro wa onaji,
Katakumi atte mirai e arukô,
Chiisa na sekai.

Deutsch!

Es gibt nur einen Mond, eine Sonne scheint,
Und mit Läscheln ist bloss nur Freundschaft gemeint,
Trennen Berge und Meere und Grenzen querfeldein,
Diese Welt ist ja so klein.

Diese Welt ist klein, so klein,
Diese Welt ist fein, so fein,
Diese Welt ist klein, so klein,
Diese Welt ist fein.

Italiano!

Mari e monti non ci dividono,
Luna e sole sempre risplendono,
Se un sorriso farai in risposta tu avrai,
Amicizia e simpatia.

E un mondo piccolo,
Dopo tutto è piccolo,
E un mondo favoloso,
Ma è piccolo.

NaBloPoMo vs NaNoWriMo

My sister is going to participate in this writing challenge called NaNoWriMo. The goal of the challenge is to write a novel in one month, November. I heard a few suggestions that I should do this as well. And my response is: HAHAHAHAHA! I can't even keep up with my blog! There should be a November blogging challenge. What do ya know, there is! It's called NaBloPoMo.

I'm not even going to pretend that I can pronounce either one of those crazy acronyms.

My husband and my oldest daughter participated in a song writing challenge called FAWM. And then they halfheartedly participated in another one called 50/90. While they were deep in their FAWM work, I saw very little of them. Every extra minute of spare time was spent creating, writing and recording. I am proud of their accomplishments, but I missed them both.

These challenges are all kind of the same type of deal. They are motivators to get the creative juices going and get you to spit out something, anything, just to get going on that writing project that you always wished you would do. I think it's a great idea to get a person going on something if they are the type that needs a kick in the pants to get it started and dedicate themselves to it. And, I am exactly that type of person!

I do not have the luxery of telling my family to fend for themselves for a month. Can you imagine that?! The world as we know it would cease to exist and chaos would ensue in a matter of hours. Thirty days of me typing away while my little world is neglected would really not work out very well. I can't even go to the bathroom by myself, when would I have all this time to write every day!

I'm sure that if I participated in one of these writing challenges, I would do either one of two things: 1. I would start off with the best intentions and type for three days straight, never to return to it again in the month of November, or 2. I would complete the writing challenge and have pages of word salad. These challenges lack the motivation to write quality, they are all about quantity. Maybe that's where quality comes from, a big garden of writing compost. But, I'm not so sure that it's for me.

I do enjoy writing, but I don't do it with much of a goal in mind. I just do it for me and for my own amusement. I don't have any lofty goals of getting published or finding fame and fortune in authorship. But, it is November, the month that so many people are vowing to write more. And so I will join that bandwagon on my own terms. I promise to write more blog posts in November. I have been a slacker lately. However, there are only 30 days in November, so I don't promise a whole lot. Sorry, no novels. Don't get too excited! But, I am hoping to blog more this month. Just for fun!

Even though I'm not up to the writing challenge, I wish all of you who are participating lots of creative luck! Enjoy and Happy Writing!