again in the Land of Erin

Another 4-8 inches today through tomorrow. Then add Gusting winds which equal Whiteout conditions. I am so done with the White Stuff. I can't even find my grill, chairs, or patio table on our deck. Will we have to tell the people who buy our house to please call us when the snow melts, so we can pick up our stuff?

So I noticed something this weekend...

~ 2 months vs. 18 months ~


My baby looks almost exactly the same asleep as he did at 2 months old. His (Angelina Jolie) lips are the same, hands, ears, cheeks. His face has thinned out, become more defined, and he has hair. But overall, he's the same. It's nice to know that I can still see my baby in my active little boy.

*** big difference? Check out the bruised bump on Weston's 18 month forehead! He slipped on his traction footed jammies and landed his head on the wheel of my bed frame. Big ouch! ***

Fabulous with a capital FAB!!!

So, it's no joke that I follow a number of Blogs. I love them. I love reading about my friends, about people I have interest in, about companies, etc. My favorite daily read is CJane Enjoy it by Courtney Kendrick. Her stories and her family are fabulous. So entertaining. But... CJane started another blog called Dear CJane trying to answer the questions posed by her readers. Questions like... "What color are the walls in your living room?" and "where did you get that fabulous Coral dress?" It's a brilliant blog.

Today CJane spilled the beans on a fabulous webstore called eShakti. This company designs clothes in sizes 0-26, then they let you customize those choices! Take this dress right here. I love it. But, as most of you know, I'm not a huge fan on my arms. So, I pick my size, I tell them my bra size and height (so it fits perfectly) and then I can make the changes. Keep the neckline as is or make it smaller/bigger? Hem length... as is or floor length? Sleeve length... there are 7 choices! Not kidding. They'll even customize the entire dress in case their standard sizes don't fit! I'm thinking Mother-daughter dresses? Or say, custom sleeve lengths if you have short arms? Could be very cool.

Anyway, this may be my new favorite store. Haven't bought anything yet, but the possibilities are endless!

Thanks for the fun!

My friend Jess came down from Cherokee Saturday. She brought her husband Andy and her youngest Carson. Carson is my godson and he'll be 3 years old February 10th. He's a whole head taller than Weston, but only 3.5 pounds heavier. And Jess's married name is Jones. So... we all share the same last name now. Which is hilarious when you're in a mall full of people and you call "Little Jones"and two little boys stop and turn around. Kind of makes you smile.

Anyway, we had a great time with a house full of Joneses. And Weston and Carson played together... well sort of. They played in Silence around each other, unless one wanted what the other had. But hey - they're toddlers!

Coming Soon: Weston's 18 months old!!!

the first of many

So... I'm plugging along at work yesterday, happily getting some stuff done and off of my desk. I'm vaguely thinking about how fast I seem to be moving and that it must be almost lunch time with the amount of work that I have done.

And then my cell rings.

It's daycare-
"Weston crashed into the table. He'll probably need stitches. We knew this would happen eventually."

(I look at my watch. It's 9:30. Only 9:30!?!)
"I thought we would have time. Maybe get him to his 2nd birthday before I visit the ER."

"How soon can you be here? Maybe you should call the doctor's office."

"Twenty minutes. Is he crying?"

"No. Barely cried at all. See you soon." Click.

So I call the doctor. They slightly freak out and call me 2 more times before I've even seen my baby's head wound. I call the nurse back as soon as I see how bad it is.

"Melanie, he ran and fell into a small wooden picnic table. It's on the top of his head. About a quarter inch long and starts and a scrape and gets deeper to a hole (?) Barely bleeding. Stitches? Glue?"

"Erin, we can't glue hair. We use staples on heads."

(Gulp) "Staples?" (On my baby?!?!?)

"I think he needs to be seen now. How soon can you be here?"

"Twenty minutes. See you then."

We rush over to Ankeny to the doctor. We check in with Wendy who tells us that we'll be seeing the on-call doctor. Um, okay.

We go in, the nurse cleans his wound. He screams and cries and turns all red. It's not so bad... right?

The doctor comes in. Does a complete exam. (Which drives Weston nuts since he's hurt and tired.) He keeps pushing her hands away, and you can tell she doesn't like it. But he's a baby... what's she going to do?

"Well, we can use staples to hold the wound shut. (Gulp! Again with the Staples??? No!!!) But it's really more of a puncture wound, and staples are only used to hold the skin together so it heals nicely. And as you can see, his wound has already pulled itself together. So I don't think Staples are necessary."

(If you didn't think they were necessary, why did you say Staples?!?!) "So then, what do we do for this?"

"Wash it 4 or so times a day with Antibacterial soap. Wait 20 minutes for it to dry and put Neosporin on it. He shouldn't go back to daycare today, Daycares are dirty."

"Ok, thank you."

Now... let's think about this: He shouldn't go to daycare because he might get dirty? Please! My daycare is pretty clean, heck the air is even clean! (They have UV filters for the duct work.) He'll be occupied at daycare and less likely to touch his head. Um, yeah, Weston went back to daycare and was just fine. And I went back to work. And all was well. Other than the hole in his head and his runny nose, you wouldn't know anything was wrong with him.

Phew! First emergency averted. 20 yrs to go.

dinner?

What did you have for dinner last night?

This is what we had...

BABY!!!!

eck

So... I have caught some nasty thing from Weston. I assume it's from Weston since his nose is running non-stop and he's got a bad cough. My face feels puffy, my nose is running and sore and I feel like I am coughing up razor blades. Just for fun. I have no time to go to a doctor, who will probably tell me this is just a virus anyway and that I need to work through it. I am so tired that all I want to do is to crawl up into a ball and find a small hole to sleep in.

But... it looks like I might get a small reprieve. Just got a call from daycare. They are now closed on Friday. It looks like Weston and I can sleep in! Since I can't find another sitter. All of my options are tapped. I will have to take off. :( It's a bad week too. We are already down one person. I really need reliable back up daycare.