a little vacation and a not-so-little spider bite

This is a week of preparation for us...Well, preparation and spider bites.

While up north visiting my parents, Britten was bitten by a spider on her leg. We believe this happened while she was sleeping on the floor of my parents bedroom, but have no definite answer, and really, it doesn't matter when it happened. What matters is that the bite got infected and we had to rush Britten to the doctor on Wednesday, two days after she was bitten, with an oozing bite mark and a swollen leg. The doctor was quite concerned, to say the least, but she immediately started Britten on a round of antibiotics and told us to watch Britten carefully, and if she develops a fever, bring her right back.

When Britten woke up on Thursday, she seemed much better. As the day progressed, she started complaining of a headache, stomachache and kept telling us she was really tired. Britten is our little busy-body-wiggle-worm, so for her to complain of being tired and asking to to go to sleep, was totally out of character and really worried us. We called the doctor, but because Britten didn't have a fever and the bite mark seemed better, there wasn't much need for concern. But by 10:00pm last night, Britten did have a fever and it had spiked to over 104. Back to the ER we went, or more precisely, Daddy and Britten went. I stayed home with sleeping Ella and sleeping Chloe, knowing Chloe would soon not be sleeping and want her Mommy. Long story short, blood tests came back normal (thank God!) and it didn't seem the fever was related to the spider bite. They determined she had a viral infection as her throat was red and a little swollen. This diagnosis made sense as I've been sick with a sore throat and no voice for the last three days. Poor Britty. An infected spider bite and a viral infection to boot. She's doing much, much better today though, and with a good nap and full night sleep tonight, I'm expecting to have my "busy-body-wiggle-worm" back to normal in no time.

So as I mentioned earlier in the post, this is a week of preparation for us. Andy and I are leaving the older girls with Grandma Patty and Grandpa Dave, and taking Chloe (because it certainly wouldn't be fair to leave an almost exclusive-nurser and horrible sleeper with Grandma for 4 days and nights) with us to Boulder, Colorado. We are dropping the girls off with Grandma and Grandpa this Sunday, and Monday morning flying out to Colorado to visit friends and enjoy an almost childless vacation through Thursday. We're totally pumped and are really looking forward to some time away. For as much as I love my little Chloe and know she'll be a little trooper for us, we won't have a REAL vacation until we can get away from all three of our girls at once and have the free time to lay in the sun, read books until our eyes bug out and actually get a full night of sleep. :)

marathon mommies: weekly log

I know I'm a day late with posting my weekly accountability post. I was out of town for a few days with the girls, visiting my parents, while my husband was home, working hard on projects around the house. For those of you with children, you can relate with how impossible it is to get tasks done when you have the little ones at your heels. We have several big summer projects we need to finish in the upcoming weeks, and for as much I'd love to roll up my sleeves and get my hands dirty, my husband is much more capable and efficient with these sort of things, so I'm left with the responsibility of keeping the kids out of his hair (or lack thereof). So off to Grandma's and Grandpa's we went for a 2 1/2 day adventure!

Overall, I had a great first week of training. I ran every scheduled run, with the exception of today, and pushed myself a little harder than my "calendar" recommended, knowing I have to be ready for a 10k in a couple of weeks.

Today was supposed to be a 4 mile run, and like I said, I didn't do it. I was out of town until this afternoon, and after one of the longest trips of my life with the girls, I couldn't muster up the energy to do it. I do, however, plan to "make-up" the run sometime this week, so I'll keep you posted on my next weekly log.

I wish I had the energy to write a little more, but I don't, and my brain is shut...t...i...n...g d...o...w...n.

Yawn. I'm going to go eat some ice cream and go to bed. I deserve a reward after all my running, wouldn't you agree?

How about you...How was YOUR week?

a lot of juggling and a little yo-yo action

The last two days has consisted of a lot of quality girl time. With Daddy out of town for a couple days, it's been me and my girls. With a forecast of dreary weather, I woke up yesterday morning wondering how we were going to fill our time without the option of playing outside or going to the park. I got out of bed, sat down at my laptop with my coffee in hand (Because without my morning cup of coffee, I'm worthless. It's a horrible addiction.), and typed in the local library web address.

The library is such a great place to enjoy cheap (by cheap, I mean free) fun. Up until recently, I wasn't one to keep a good eye on the price of entertainment, particularly for children. I'd go to the local zoo, drop $30.00 - $40.00, and not even think twice about it. But my reality changed, along with my perspective, when a month ago, my husband left one of his jobs to fully commit his time and attention to his other career. He had been juggling essentially two full time jobs, one in which required him to travel, since we had Britten. He did this primarily so I could be home with our girls and we wouldn't have the stress of losing my income. Suffice to say, over time, he started to burn-out and began to feel the stress of spending too much time away from our family. He made the emotional and difficult decision to quit one career to focus on the other, and in the process, met his primary goal of being home more with our family. Of course this meant losing one income, but in the end, we realized that being on a tight budget and having more time as a family far outweighed having more money in our pockets. We are slowly becoming accustomed to living on our new and improved budget, and quite honestly, I carry less guilt about spending money frivolously.

So like I said, a library is a great place for cheap entertainment, for adults and kids alike. Reading is a personal passion, so walking into a room with rows and rows of free books is like a little taste of heaven on earth. By the look on my girls faces when we walk through the library doors, I know they feel the same way.

When I opened their website yesterday morning, I noticed they had "Dave the Yo-Yo Master" performing at 10:30 that morning! What could be more fun than taking the girls to watch a man yo-yo for an hour? Don't answer that. Considering it was only 8:00am, I knew I had enough time in my morning to get everyone ready and out the door in time. We quickly ate breakfast, took showers, got ready - Chloe took a quick nap -- and we were out the door with just enough time to get to the library, take our seats on the floor (among 1,000 other kids) and see "Dave the Yo-Yo Master" start his little act. I wish, wish, wish I had pictures to share, but I don't. My husband took the camera for the weekend, so I guess you'll have to take my word for it. We WERE there and watched most of the yo-yo show, until my girls got bored and asked if we could go read instead. :) It was a fun-filled, and most importantly, FREE, morning at the library.

I woke up this morning and was pleasantly surprised to see the sun in the sky. I was thrilled for the warmer weather as I had big plans in store for us. Today marked our neighborhood's 35th Annual Community Garage Sale, where over 100 home owner's participate and the event draws close to 10,000 people every year. The main street that runs through our neighborhood resembles that of the main drag of the State Fair, with Sweet Corn, Brats, Cotton Candy and Pop booths lining the streets, and hoards of people walking in every which direction. I'm not much of a garage-saler (is that a word?), but this event is so much fun and something I try not to miss.

I got the older girls in the wagon, lathered them in sunscreen, and gave them each a purse with 4 quarters in it. I put Chloe in my sling, and again, lathered her in sunscreen, and threw a big, pink, polka-dot hat on her head to block the sun from her eyes. She was so cute, with her big cheeks poking out from under the hat and her roly-poly legs and arms hanging from the sling.

As we walked through the neighborhood, among the crowd of people, I got the occasional comments like "She's really brave!" or "What is she thinking?" and the "Are you crazy?" stares, but that's to be expected. I underestimated the amount of work it would be, carrying my 18 lb baby in her sling, and pulling Ella and Britten in the wagon, all with the sun beating down on my head, that after 45 minutes or so, I decided to head back home. Though we didn't buy any garage sale items, I relented in letting the girls each buy chips and a donut with their money. Again, I wish, wish, wish I had pictures to document our morning together, but believe you me, Ella and Britten both had tummy aches to prove it!

a first in forever

We battled the pounding rain, the wind and the tornadoes (Oh, alright. There weren't actual tornadoes, but there was a tornado watch, and I felt a slight exaggeration would add a little drama to my story). We drove through rush hour in this stormy weather, 30 minutes, to do one thing. Something we've done once since having Chloe. Drop all three girls off with a babysitter (aka my wonderful sister and brother-in-law).

My husband and I have not been on a double date, let alone a night out, in months. The combination of Chloe not taking a bottle and my husband's travel schedule on weekends makes it extremely difficult to go out on dates. But with the help of my sister and the flexibility of our good friends, Kyle and Nealy, we finally accomplished Mission Impossible.

We met them for dinner at a the Cheesecake Factory, and for almost two hours, enjoyed food and conversation without the constant distraction of having kids crawl all over our laps. It was strange, but oh-so sweet.

Thanks, Lanzen's, for a great night out!

ant eater

Ella and I spent the afternoon yesterday making another batch of yummy granola. We literally don't go a day without eating this granola, and the moment I run out, you can guarantee I'm in the kitchen mixing together a new batch or running to the grocery store to buy more ingredients. I've been nicknamed the "granola maid" by my husband, because he's constantly demanding lovingly asking me to make him more granola.

As I was letting the granola cool on the counter, Ella dashed into the kitchen and grabbed a handful of it.

"I need to feed the bug, Mommy."

"Bug? What bug, Ella?"

"The ant in the bathroom!"

We've had a little ant infestation in our upstairs bathroom, and even though we've treated the bathroom for ants and it's much more under control than it was a few weeks ago, we still get a straggler here and there running across the room. Up until Ella decided she wanted to feed the ant, she's been avoiding them at all cost, scared that they'll attack and bite her little ankles. It has made her so nervous, in fact, she's been making me go to the bathroom with her.

Surprised and curious, I decided to follow Ella into the bathroom. Sure enough, the tough little "bug"ger had made his way past the poison we had sprayed along the edges of the floor and was running across our bathroom rug. Ella sprawled herself on the floor and dumped her little pile of granola next the ant. He stopped in his little tracks and slowly made his way over to the food. He circled the granola and sniffed around, but must've decided it wasn't safe or good enough to eat, because he started to run off.

Ella: "No, ant! Come back! Come back and eat your food!" She grabbed an almond from the pile and tried to stop him in his tracks, but instead, squished him in the process. "Oh good! Look, Mom! He's eating the almond!"

I didn't have the heart to tell her she just killed the ant with the almond. She was taking big steps with getting over her fear of ants and I didn't want to traumatize the poor girl. Instead, I'd be a good mom and lie.

"Oh, you're right, honey! He is! That's very nice of you to feed your new little ant friend!'

Even the ants love my granola. It must be a great recipe.

teeth (because i couldn't think of anything more clever than that)

Hi, Chloe. Will you give us a little peek at your new teeth, please?

No? Pretty please, Chloe? Everyone wants to see how adorably cute you are with your four new top teeth!

Fine. If you're not going to do it on your own, Britten will have to pry your mouth open, and you know how much you hate that!

Oh, there we go! That's a nice big smile. Thanks, Chloe! At least we can see the top two teeth and that's good enough for now!

What's this picture for, you ask? Just for fun.

message in a bottle on a balloon

*** Update*** Just tonight, as we were getting ready for bed, the doorbell rang. Ella ran to the door to find an envelope bearing her name on the doorstop. She instantly tore it open and asked for me to read it to her:

Ella's response to receiving a card back from "Jesus" was priceless.

Me: "Ella, Jesus got your balloon message!! What do you think about all of this?!?"

Ella: "It's crazy!" The smile on her face was priceless, too.
******

On Saturday morning, I had invited a couple girlfriends from high school over for brunch. One of them showed up bearing gifts for the girls - balloons & flowers! They were estatic and haven't stopped playing with the balloons since. Until this morning, that is...when one slipped through Britten's little fingers and got away. Off it blew, into the gray, cloudy sky.

I was anticipating a meltdown on the spot, considering the affection my girls had for the balloon, but instead, to my surprise, the girls thought it was hilarious! They couldn't stop giggling and jumping up and down as they watched it fly off into the distance, growing smaller and smaller by the second. Ella noted the balloon was flying to see Jesus in the sky, and I assured her that Jesus would take good care of their balloon.

As it disappeared, Ella ran into the house, coming back seconds later with the 2nd of the 3 balloons. She let it go, purposefully this time, and both the girls giggled in excitement as it floated away. Once the balloon was out of view, Ella asked if she could send the third and final balloon off to its' demise Jesus, but this time, she wanted to attach a little message to the balloon...you know, just a little note to say "hi" to Jesus.

Absolutely, Ella, we can do that!

As Ella prepared and carefully wrote her note to Jesus, Britten wrote, er, scribbled, her own little note to Jesus...

...on our dining room wall! Ugh! I turn my back for two seconds (literally) and this is what she did! Two-year olds have an amazing ability to wreak havoc in a blink of an eye! Fortunately, they were washable markers and were easily washed off, but STILL!

Ella taped her message to the balloon, making sure to use only two pieces of tape so as not to "weight" the balloon down at all.

And it's off!

It had a slow start, but it eventually creeped further into the sky, closer to its destination: Heaven.

"We'll see you in another life, brother balloon!" (Anyone else a Lost fan? Sorry, I couldn't resist!)