The Most Perfect of Perfect Days

The joy of motherhood. Sometimes it's overwhelming.

Recently I have started working out 3 mornings a weeks. I do this, yes, to get healthy, but also because I work out at the YMCA where they have FREE DAYCARE. I was a little hesitant to drop Alex off the first time, giving her up to what looked like a 15 year old girl with 5 toddler boys running circles around her. But I got her back in one piece, happy as a clam. Since then, it's been pretty easy to give her up and enjoy an hour of working out and not having to worry if Alex is chewing on the power chords again. (Kids.) (And no, that's never happened.) (She's much more interested in dog toys and shoes.) Anyway, I had a pretty stable relationship with daycare. I give, I take. Then daycare gave something back. A big fat cold for Alex's face. Boo.

The past few days have been filled with not alot of sleep, alot of snot, alot of crying, and not a whole lot of eating (on Alex's part... I, on the other hand, have been stuffing my face... you know... to cope with all the CRYING). Yesterday was the peak of snottiness, I believe. The night before, we got no sleep, up every 2 hours. Each time, I was forced to clean out her nose with a few drops of saline solution and a good suction, which she loathes, I assure you. She was having trouble eating because of it, as well. And the pacifier. THE PACIFIER. SHE CAN'T SLEEP WITHOUT THE PACIFIER. AND SHE CAN'T SUCK WITH A NOSE FULL OF SNOT. That was a long night. The next day, Paul left for work, and we got up just after 6. Lots of suctioning, lots of crying. She didn't go down for a nap until 2. (To put that in perspective, usually her first nap is before 9.) And 20 minutes into it, I hear her GASPING FOR AIR over the monitor. I go in, and she's balling because she can't breathe with the pacifier in. So I gathered her up, and rocked her back to sleep, with her sitting up because that helped the snot settle into a more desirable position. I spent the next hour and half in that chair. Finally, last night, at 10 (again... bedtime is usually between 7 and 8), we had the stroke of genius and put her to bed in her swing. So the swing went in her room, the humidifier got put on full blast, and the poor thing slept till 5:30 this morning. I fed her, she promptly went back to sleep, and slept till 9:15. I actually did something right!! Yay! Today, she's still a bit snotty, but she's been an absolute angel. She took a good long nap in her swing, and has been playing wonderfully the rest of the time. It was a much better day today.

I am being a good patron of day care and not taking her back until she is over this. Mostly because I am hoping karma is on my side and when this circles back around because SOMEONE IS NOT AS GOOD OF A DAY CARE PATRON AS I AM, it might skip us because we tried to stop the cycle. Hopefully.

Sorry to get political...

...But this is a great article. (The link of this site is and has been on the left side of this page, but I figured I would bring your attention to this article in particular.) Written by someone who used to support Obama. Here's a clip:

"Obama is the typical cynical politician, putting negative spin on everything his opponent does and denying his own past statements and actions. If Obama were a Republican, he would quickly learn that any such hypocrisy would be nailed by the media and harped on endlessly.

But because the mainstream media are relentlessly partisan on Obama's behalf, he is always surprised and shocked when his deceptions and stupidities are exposed. How dare those nasty conservative talk radio hosts and bloggers interfere with his coronation! Can't they see that Obama is the one anointed by the leftist media establishment?

Here's the problem, Mr. Obama. Back when you were still saying nothing, you looked very promising to people like me, who thought of you as what you claimed to be -- a great conciliator.

But since Hillary took the gloves off and bloodied you at the end of the primary season, you have been forced to take firm positions on issues and to defend yourself against criticism -- you have been forced to let us see who you are.

And who are you?"

It's here.

Recipes for you!

You will also find the link on the left side of this page from now on. Enjoy!

Who IS this child??

Alex's new thing:



Not sure where she picked that one up from...

Make sense? Sure.

So, we have a minivan. It's pretty great. There have, however, been a few snags in our almost perfect relationship. When we went to bring the van home, one of the lights came up. We didn't even make it out of the parking lot before we had to turn it back around. Thankfully, they fixed that right away. Yesterday another light came on. Boo. We had just dropped off Paul's car (formerly my HHR) at his dealership to get the oil changed. So we talked with them, explained that it's pretty ridiculous that these lights keep coming on when the car is not even a week old. They ended up giving us a free rental car for the day to placate us (Paul... let's face it.. I am not confrontational enough to do these types of things). Now, to paint the picture, imagine me, Paul, and Alex waiting. She is in her carseat, which is in her stroller. And what do we see pull up for us?

This.

Not that I don't enjoy a good gas-guzzler (which we had to pay for). And not that I don't enjoy lugging the car seat into the back seat of this. And not that I don't enjoy feeling like I am one step away from being at the top of Mt. Everest by the time I get into the driver's seat. Well, what am I saying? This car is perfect.

In other news, our deck was apparently the place to be if you were a bug yesterday.

Well, I was going to write more, but I have 6 kids running circles around my house right now because their dog is jumping all of the fences in the neighborhood.... So I should go take care of that....