Oh Sweet Internets

The internet has been down at the tallgirl household. There are three men here who are starting to twitch from withdrawl. Mr. T. almost bit my hand the other night when I asked for my iphone back. (He can be a bit internet aggressive). My brother in law works in computers, but evidently, I still get to be the chief of technology. I have patched a bit of internet together on Mr. T's computer, but I will be buying a new router soon.

VERY SOON.

Everyone arrived safely. Most of the clan spent last night in Dallas. It was a bit of sweet relief for me because I can start to focus on Thanksgiving. Most of the shopping is completed, but there is still a lot of cooking to do. I love Thanksgiving. I love pulling the China out of the cupboard and dusting off the nice napkins. I love eating off place settings that all match. I love the tradition and grandeur. I love to cook and eat.

I guess now that the internet is up, I should get into the kitchen and start cooking. It is hard to cook without my laptop, which holds all my recipes. It is almost like living in the dark ages where we had to use books and writing. The HORROR!

T-24

The in laws will be arriving soon. We should be doing more on the house, but instead we are ignoring our kids and playing on the computer. Well not so much ignoring them as being ignored by Peanut. She would rather play dolls then hang out with old mom and dad.

We should be okay because the 'magic cleaning' fairy comes tomorrow and makes the house spotless. I love the magic cleaning fairy. She also happens to be the 'pick the kids up when you are stuck in a meeting 1.5 hours away and you should be picking the kids up then' fairy. Not to mention the 'calling before she gives your dairy free kid a cupcake' fairy. She is a very good fairy. We love our magic fairy.

We all still have a case of the yucks. Just when we seem to be getting better, it gets worse again. I thought I was over my funk, but I guess I was wrong. That isn't going to stop me from sleep training BabyP again tonight. I started last week but gave up when his cough was persistant. He is now on a steriod to make it go away. I feel like this should be the end of the cold stuff. I sure hope, for his sake, it is. That poor bear.

It is weird to think this will be the first time Mr. T.'s father has met BabyP. It is nice that when they come, they can stay a while (5 weeks in this case). I wouldn't say that I take for granted that my mother and father are so close, but I just can't imagine it any other way. My MIL does a good job of seeing us once a year, so the kids will grow up know her, but it isn't like them living right down the street. I know it is hard for Mr. T when his mom and dad leave. When we win the lottery, we are moving my mom and dad to Australia. Until that day, we will make the most of the holidays we get together. I am so thankful we have a house that accommodate so many people at one time.

Apples to Apples

Peanut at 18 months.

This weekend brought to you by Disney Pixar's UP on blue ray and DVD

ya, we watch a bit of Disney. Peanut kept asking for Disney Pixar's Up, not just Up. We will watch it once it comes back into the video store, but it cracks me up to hear her whine about not getting to see it "Tell them to bring it to me." I don't think she gets the whole idea. oh well.

Spent the weekend pretty busy. Mr. T. worked on Saturday. I rode mountain bikes in the morning. Did you hear those angels singing? That is what it feels like to ride mountain bikes on Saturday mornings in the fall. Mountain biking is one of those things I kind of dread because it takes so much preperation, but once I am doing it, I am like "Holy Shit, why don't I do this all the time?"

Sunday was spent planning for the arrival of our guests on Friday. My MIL and FIL are going to stay for a couple of weeks. I needed to clean out the cabinets and put some childproof locks on them. The locks aren't necessarily FOR my in-laws, but with the locks on the cabinets, we can safely stash our items on the counter back into drawers without risk of someone killing themselves.

Can you believe it is almost Thanksgiving? I haven't yet planned our menu, but I am getting close. I placed an order for our turkey, which was a load off of my mind. I wanted a fresh one with no salt water added. Peanut has three things she is going to help me with. I think this year, she might make a trifle.

Peanut's health is improving. She is on a antibiotic after the doctor called and said she was positive for strep. I am worried BabyP might be getting ill, but he sounded better at the end of the day than he did at the beginning. I have resigned myself that he needs an antihistamine before he goes to bed. If he gets that, he cough seems to stay under control. Once this cough is completely gone, I will rest a little easier.

Everything else is just about the same as always. BabyP's diet is going well. He will only drink So Coconut milk, which they quit carrying at our Kroger. I have asked that they bring it back.

We are looking forward to our visitor's, my BIL, will be coming for Thanksgiving too. We are going to do a short vacation, which I am looking forward too. Going to work is a bit of a drain on me these days. I have hopes for the new year, but we will see. I think I need a nice vacation and a change of scenery.

They are DONE

well kinda...
The Peanut's sweater needs some buttons and BabyP's needs to be tacked at the collar some.

But here they are....

Peanut's was WAY shorter than it should have been. It should be a size 6, but the length is really like a size 5. I will check that next time.

Baby's P's turned out great. I had to size it up because the biggest size was 24 month. I wanted something bigger than that. I think he will be wearing this all year and maybe into next fall.

Love Letter to an 18 month old

Dear BabyP,

You are turning into such a funny little man. You talking has improved pretty dramatically this month. I still can't really understand most of what you are saying, but I can tell you are trying to say things like grapes and bear. You are working at it, and that is all I can ever ask you to do.

We found out this month that you are allergic to dairy. We removed it from your diet, and a whole new world of clear eyes and clear noses opened up to us. It is the magic pill I have been looking to find for the past year while you have been battling sinusitis. I feel a little sorry for you because I think you miss your milk and cheese crackers. We don't eat a lot of cheese, so cutting it from your diet isn't hard. The hard part is being sure that all of your care givers comply, and that you are given tasty alternatives to dairy. Because you are in day care, I feel a little out of control of that part of your life.

You admiration for you sister has been stepped up this month. When you see her, you run up to her and give her a hug. A couple of days last week she stayed home from school. When I picked you up from daycare, you tried to remind me about your sister, "dister, dister?" You weren't terribly convinced when I told you she was at home.

If she is laying on the floor, you are known to walk over to her and lay on top of her to give her a good cuddle.

Your favorite game to play is chase. It is fun, most of the time. I think your favorite part of chase is getting caught because you fall in a heap and laugh. My least favorite part is when you are going to something that will kill you or holding something that could kill you when you start running. Anytime I say "Come here." You look at me, giggle, and run in the exact opposite direction. If you have something you aren't supposed to have, you run into the corner by the refrigerator and work as hard as you can on opening whatever container should have been out of your reach.

You love to open things. I have half of my spices sitting on top of my counter now because you like to open the drawer they are in and get them out. You like to carry them around the house and try to open the jar. I know you can do it, but luckily, we have always caught you before you get the bottle open. I let you play with the red pepper because I am mean and figure if you did it once, you may not do it again.

Daisy is still big excitement in your life. It is funny to me how different you are compare to you sister in this regard. Your sister was pretty mean to Daisy, but you are incredibly sweet to her. Tonight, she was inside, and she actually let you sit on her like a horse. In contrast, when your sister was your age she wouldn't let her within 5 feet. You are incredibly sweet to Daisy. You like to give her treats, and if there are no treats, you hand feed her own food to her.

Your a sweet little boy. I have to think so because I am your mother, but even the folks at daycare think you are wonderful. Evidently, you don't hit or bite or do any naughty things that are characteristic of "boys". You love to cuddle and are pretty easy to please. I love that people like to be around you. I love that when we go to the park, you are never the one causing a raucous (knock on wood). I love that when we see a new dog or cat, you want to pet and cuddle it. I love that you care so much for you sister that you wake her up with cuddles, hand her your vitamins when you get them first, and go out of your way to hand her milk to her. You are a sweet sweet boy, and I hope you that is something that never ever ends.

I love you,

your mum.

Quick Notes

We have all been under the weather and busy, but I have some things I want to jot down so I will do it in bullet form.

• Somehow BabyP knows who Elmo is. When he sees him he says "melmo" and stands mesmerized.
• His speaking is improving considerably. He is starting to say two words together. And by starting I mean today he said bye bye sister and bye bye daddy.
• He can unscrew lids from sippy cups. He will not be getting a cup of water in his crib anymore.
• I can move him out of his crib, change his sheets, and move him back all without him waking up.
• He loves his sister.
• He loves his papa.
• He no longer likes soy milk, and they were out of the coconut milk at the grocery store. I bought him some toddler formula (insert irony here), but he didn't like that either. I wish I could give him milk.
• The popcorn at Target contains dairy.
• Peanut is in swim lessons this week. She is doing better than last time and seems to like her teacher a lot.
• Peanut is wheezing so we are working on getting over it.
  
• She has all but quit taking a nap which makes her really manic at the end of the day. She wants to go to be early which makes her wake up early and since she doesn't take a nap...
• She has been pretty good lately. I was feeling under the weather these last couple of days, but she has been spot on awesome. I asked her to get dressed this morning, and she did it! She even had on pants like I requested and had on her shoes. She even added some sun glasses because she is a fancy girl.
  

Weekend Done!

The big excitement this weekend was figuring out BabyP's diet. I might be imagining it, but it seems like as soon as he had just a bit of dairy, he would get a nasty runny nose. For example, he drank his sister milk then had a yucky nose. He ate a cheese cracker then had a yucky nose. For the most part he is symptom free. He does seem to have a cold, but I don't feel like I need to be watching him closely to take him to the doctor. Let's just hope it all works.

He has started to get a bit sassy. He was throwing his food off his tray bit by bit so I took his plate away. I gave him one noodle at a time. He would pick it up and look right at me. I would say "put it in your mouth." He would giggle and EAT PART OF IT. I would have to tell him to eat the whole thing before he would eat the whole noodle. He kept looking at me acting like he was going to throw it on the floor. He is so naughty!

Sister was pretty good this weekend. I think she might be coming down with something because she was a little horse and seemed really lethargic this evening. I doped her up with ibuprofen and benedryl and will hope for the best.

I spent most of the weekend playing with my mom's camera. I need to download some more pictures, which I plan on doing once I get my Brand New (to me) desk set up downstairs. Momma is taking some space back. I looked around and realized that the only place I had to put things was in Peanut's closet, which of course, doesn't work. I want to take over the whole office, but I am not allowed to (yet). My desk is really pretty and shiny though.

Dairy Free Dieting and some winter swimming

We went to the otolaryngologist yesterday to discuss the constant ear and sinus infections. She peered into his nose and his ears. We talked about what kind of things have been going on and how he never seems to be well. At least once a month he is on antibiotics,even with his tubes. We were happy because we have made it 5 weeks before having to go to the doctor again.

She suggested we take him off milk. I told her we had tried it before and bla bla bla. She was pretty insistent that we try it again. I thought, what the hell. I have nothing to lose.

Less than 24 hours later, he is almost symptom free. I had him a full hour before I saw any discharge from his nose, even then it was clear and thin. He still has a bit of a cough, but I think that will go away soon. I can't believe the change in his condition in only a short time. When I picked him up from school, his nose was clean, and his eyes were clear. It is really exciting to see him getting better, literally before my eyes.

I wonder if his skin will clear up a bit too.

We have him mostly on soy and coconut milk. He doesn't even act like there is a difference. It won't be hard to cut out cheese because he doesn't like to eat it anyway. He would prefer to eat regular spaghetti to mac and cheese any day of the week. I am concerned about him getting enough fat, so I am going to start him on flaxseed oil. He loves hummus and peanut butter, so it is great that he can eat foods he already enjoys.

In other news, he fell down an 8 foot embankment into a small stream at a local park. I was never any more than a foot from him the whole time, but I just couldn't catch him. He was barely under water when I yanked him out. He was pretty shocked and scared, once he got the water out of his lungs. It really sucked to watch it all unfold. I almost caught him right before he rolled in, but i just couldn't get my hands on his shirt. I felt so helpless.

It was only a couple of yards back to the car where I stripped him down completely. He had a sweatshirt in the car, and after a lot of digging, we found a diaper as well. He thought it was pretty nice to be free balling at the park. He was playing with acorns and yelling at his sister before I had the kids strapped into the car.

I think the whole thing shook his sister up. She kept saying "oh poor baby" over and over again. She was crying and on the verge of hysterics when I got back to the bridge she was standing on. She is a good girl. She cares about her brother.

This kid is so accident prone. I don't think he does anymore than his sister did. I was pulling her off of tables and telling her to get down too, but this boy just doesn't have the grace his sister does. He is going into dance at the first opportunity.

Candy Fairy

The Candy Fairy came Monday night. (the above picture had nothing to do with the candy fairy, but I thought it was funny)

First we wrote a note to her to tell her what we wanted. We place the candy outside because she can't get inside (or so I am told)

I thought this part was really cute.

She tried to sign it at my urging. She doesn't seemed too concerned about getting the letters in the correct sequence even though she can recite the spelling.

Then the candy fairy came. She took all the candy, but evidently, she does not like candy necklaces, so that one stayed.

I had to explain why the candy fairy did not bring brother a big sister doll. I told her she thought he might like the truck more. It is a bit of a toss up. He likes to be tidy and put things in the truck, but he also likes to cuddle his sister.

Although, you can't always say that is the case.

All the candy found a good home IN MY BELLY. Well, not all of it, but it did get eaten at work by me AND my coworkers.

Happy Halloween

What an exciting weekend! Friday was the big party at the Chances. We had a great time, and it was a nice change of pace to drag Mr. T. and the kids out of there instead of being the one dragged. Saturday there were a lot of chores done and Saturday night was TRICK OR TREAT!

Mom and dad came over. Because of dad's change in schedule, it has been a long time since we have seen him. BabyP was all about him, which was great for me. Dad ended up carrying BabyP most of the time. BabyP is just as the age where he can trick or treat but doesn't really understand too much what it is all about. He gets that he is getting something, and that it goes in his bucket. He knows that it is candy, but he doesn't try to get a bunch of candy at the door of the houses nor does he try to eat it during our trip like someone else does.

Peanut ate TONS of candy. Sugar treats don't come often around here, so I figured one evening of going all out would be fun for her. Today, her father let her pick out some candy. She picked out some wax lips and started to eat them. She told her father that the candy didn't taste too good and was making her sick. WHOOPS.

Today we went to the zoo to celebrate All Saints Day. We had a nice discussion about how Mexicans take this day to remember the dead. We also at FREE ICE CREAM. I think it might have been the left over ice cream because they had all these weird flavors like cotton candy and chocolate banana.

Nothing much else to report. I cooked like a mad woman this weekend. I guess I wanted to compensate for no grocery shopping last week. Peanut was very good this weekend despite the candy fueled energy she was living off of.

The Great Flood of 09

Something exciting happened to us Thursday night. We got 3 inches of rain in an hour and a total of 5.25 inches over a 24 hour period. Our basement, like most basements around, took on some water. At one point, I could see the water flowing in from the foundation. Mr. T. and I took turns sucking the water up with the shop vac. The whole ordeal made the house smell awful, and we lost a retaining wall out of the back. I don't know when we are going to rebuild the wall because Mr. T. is schedule to work and race next weekend. I feel lucky that we didn't get too much water, but I am disappointed that money meant to remodel the living room and buying a new rug will go into building a wall and improving drainage. Oh well. We will get around to the living room sometime.