Monday, June 29, 2009

A Weekend in Bethesda

FINALLY, I have some pictures to prove that we, indeed, get out of the house and do stuff every once in a while!

Claire and I got up on Saturday morning, and after breakfast headed on down to her grandparents' house in Bethesda. Her dad and I then took her to Great Falls for a gorgeous hike. It's always difficult coordinating how long we can stay places because her nap falls right in the middle of the day, but we managed to enjoy the gorgeous weather and scenery a few hours before naptime.

Daddy's little rock climber (check out her hiking boots...just like daddy's!)



Made it to the top!



In the Kelty pack with Daddy...



...gazing out at this



Off the beaten path...



Hitching a ride with Daddy after the hike...



After lunch, we switched modes from nature lovers to party people and headed over to Claire's cousin, Elena's 3rd birthday party. Claire and Elena are fast friends and enjoyed their tea party.







On Sunday, we definitely played it low key and hung around the house in Bethesda. Claire loves to look at the herbs and tomatoes she helped Grandma Jo plant in the backyard, and she is completely obsessed with the apple trees...



And yes, she eats them right off the ground. Bless her wild heart!

There you have it, our weekend in pictures!

Tuesday, June 23, 2009

'NANAS!!!!

LOVE 'EM!!! Thank you, Starbucks, for selling bananas 'cause I eat 'em while Mommy drinks that weird stuff!

Friday, June 19, 2009

Aloha!

The picture made for Daddy at daycare this week in honor of Father's Day. I am mesmerized and in love with this face!

Wednesday, June 17, 2009

Alex Nicholson interview

While I was driving yesterday, I listened to a really good interview on NPR with Alex Nicholson, a former Army translater who was honorably discharged in 2002 under the BOGUS "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy.



It should be no surprise that I vehemently disagree with this unconstitutional policy, and I pray that President Obama repeals it during his presidency.

I wanted to share the interview, because it is worthwhile.

Monday, June 15, 2009

Not So Hot for the Trots

Last week when I went to pick Claire up from daycare on Monday afternoon, her teacher advised that she might have pink eye. Ugh. Claire had gone to daycare that morning directly from her dad's house, so I obviously hadn't seen her eye for a few days. After the teacher told me, I turned to look at her and DUH. Her eye was just about matted shut and very glassy. Of course the next day I had an interview (grr), so I had to call her dad back up to watch her for the day. I managed to get a doctor appointment for 1:10 pm, which was after the interview. We took her in and the pediatrician checked her out and told us it wasn't pink eye. Poor sweetie has a bacterial sinus infection that is draining out of her nose AND right eye. Ewww. Yep, the same booger stuff that comes out of the nose was coming out of the corner of her eye as well.

This is just the beginning for this poor girl. I can't explain enough how severe the allergies and sinus problems run with both myself and her dad.

Anyhoo, the doctor prescribed antibiotics (ugh, but a necessity...it's bacterial, and that is what is needed to cure it) and eye drops. Double ugh. Thankfully we're done w/the eye drops (that was a special piece of hell I don't wish to repeat any time soon). But the antibiotics are twice a day for two whole weeks. I have been successful at hiding it in her milk. The first day or two we tried to give it to her from the syringe and that was a total fiasco. So I'm sure putting it in her milk isn't ideal, but it's the only way she's actually getting the full dose and not injuring herself or us in the process.

So it wasn't long before she had a loose BM. Yep, it's called antibiotic diarrhea. My child, unfortunately, gets diarrhea a LOT. I have probably spent upwards of $500 on Pedialyte since she's been born. When she gets it, she remains happy, her appetite is good, and she has no fever. The pediatrican tells us it's called toddler's diarrhea, and they just get it for no reason. Oh joy.

So I've just had enough. I have tried to coax her to eat yogurt for the live cultures, but she doesn't like yogurt. She probably gets that honestly, because I didn't like yogurt as a child. I acquired the taste for it as an adult.

Off to the internet I went, as usual. What I found was this:

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Culturelle - Lactobacillus is Not Created Equal
Only a limited number of probiotics survive stomach acid. Further, studies are mixed between the U.S. and the rest of the world on the value of Lactobacillus. So the question is, does Culturelle really work?

http://www.associatedcontent.comarticle/352986/culturelle_lactobacillus_is_not_created.html
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I break one capsule open and pour it into a cold drink once a day. The good bacteria are then supposed to counteract the effects of the antibiotics. So far, so good. She has had some not so pleasant dirty diapers, but I think that has more to do with the fact that daycare fed them CHILI BEANS for lunch last week. That's a whole other blog, and I'm not dwelling on it now. But she is not having more than her usual daily BMs and they are not loose or runny (lovely conversation).

Apparently Culturelle also is beneficial in building the immune system (same concept DanActive). I figure it can't hurt. And it gives me something natural to possibly prevent her ever frequent runs. I'll take that!

Monday, June 8, 2009

blues traveler

no job no man no money no plan baby won't sleep despair runs deep always dealt another blow happy endings i don't know never ever catch a break life is more than i can take

And cue the bass......

Saturday, June 6, 2009

Just another wasted Happy Birthday

Oh God...
Where are you now?
And what you gonna do
About the mess I've made
If there was ever a soul to save
It must be me
It must be me

Dear god...
Oh how can I survive?
Will I make this drop this dive?
When it all comes to this
I'm looking down at the abyss
Where you don't exist
You don't exist

but if you hear me
If you can see me...
I know I can't be that strong
'Cause everything I ever did went wrong
Everything I ever did went wrong

Oh god
Now where do I come in?
Gone and broken everything
So I hope you'll understand
if someone needed a helping hand
It must be now
It must be now


Wednesday, June 3, 2009

Family Day

Claire, her daddy, and I do a lot of family days, even if it's just for part of a day. We're big on the park...Northwest Regional most often.

Claire's daddy likes for he and I to walk into daycare together so we can watch Claire's expression when she sees both of us. We also like to peek in on her and watch her before she sees us. Today she was dramatically putting a lei around her neck. Yes, my heart bursts frequently at these little moments.

I changed Claire into shorts while we were at daycare and we all headed to the park. As usual, I need Jess to accompany me because my camera was nowhere in sight...blah. But we had fun w/Claire's new push car.



Of course she's not satisfied w/just a simple ride. Daddy has to "pop wheelies" and push her around at a high rate of speed. She is such a daredevil! (Clairedevil)

I also made a cheap but great purchase...BUBBLE GUN!!!!



I think...um...maybe, um, Mommy might like this just as much (um, more) than Claire. We sent bubbles all over the immediate vicinity and Claire popped them as she rode in her car.

Over to the playground...yeah, use your imagination. She loves it, and her daddy and I get a great workout...one of us posted up in the apparatus and one on the ground on constant Claire duty.

Off to Starbucks for refreshments and then to Giant to shop for dinner food. Her daddy spotted the donut peaches among the produce.



He hands it to Claire and says, look claire, a donut peach! Before I can get "Don't let her hold that!!!" out of my mouth, my munchkin has already taken a healthy bite out of the unwashed, unbought peach. Sigh. Needless to say we bought it and took it home. That child ate it down to the pit. She's a fruit addict. I wish I could get her to eat veggies like that.

So then the little dirtball was deposited into the bathtub and then off to her room for story time. Daddy read her some books while Claire performed her usual method w/the "Touch and Feel" books. She must touch all the surfaces w/her foot. Yes, she has some obsession w/her foot.

Then sleep baby went to bed.

These are the days that I love more than anything. This is what I want more than anything. I just have to trust that God has the plan on how things are to be. I do love and cherish my "family," no matter how unconventional we may be.