A year and a half

Guess who's 18 months?!



Lorelai's 27lb 2oz (87th percentile) and 33.25 inches (90th percentile). She's 100% perfect and healthy as usual (except the whole peanut allergy thing, ugh). Her appointment didn't go so well, though. It's official: she's absolutely terrified of the doctor. The minute she saw the nurse, she got all clingy and as soon as I set her on the table and started to undress her, she lost her mind. I had to stand on the scale with her to get her weight, and when the doctor tried to look in her ears, we had to physically restrain her while she turned bright red fighting us. It was just terrible. She also got two shots, but she was so worked up already that it didn't even make things much worse. Logan was there though, and he was so sweet with her, trying to calm her down and cheer her up. It actually did help a bit to get her mind of all the torture at the end :)





Otherwise, she a normal totally bipolar toddler. Happy, silly and funny one minute...a screaming mess the next. She's miss independent, too. She loves to try to do things by herself, like putting on her shoes and coat.

She still isn't saying a ton of words, but I'm not as worried now. She's got a bunch of new words since the her 15 month appointment. She's added ball, bow, no, down, hi, bye, book, mine, yeah and probably others that I'm not remembering now. She also says "baa" when we ask her what a sheep says, which is so freaking cute (even though that's the only animal sound she says). Even cuter than that? She blows kisses. I die of cuteness every time.

She's got 16 teeth now (well, one canine isn't all the way in yet), is a great eater and is getting better at using a spoon and fork. She'd probably be better by now if we let her have more practice, but it's usually easier to just let her use her hands (bad mommy). We're working on it though. I'm trying to let her do more coloring, too, but she always ends up trying to eat the crayons (please tell me that's still normal...) so we have to find something else to do.

She plays really well with the boys and always wants to be involved in what they're doing. They love her just as much as always and are really great with trying to calm her down when she gets in one of her moods. She's not as much of a mommy's girl as she used to be, either. Adam's super glad about this, I'm sure!


All in all, Lorelai is the most fabulous, perfect, most awesome little girl and I just love watching her learn and grow. Cliche, I know. But it's so true. She always seems to put a smile on our face with something cute she does, or a funny expression she makes. She's awesomesauce, pure and simple.

Oh, that hair. Still haven't cut it, still gets in her face all the time because she doesn't leave bows in.

iPhone photo dump {week 2}

Despite the whole LASIK disappointment on Friday and all the anxiety leading up to the big day, we had a pretty good week. Work was slightly less busy for me than it had been, so that was a nice change of pace. Plus Adam was here all week, yay! Highlight of the week: Aidan lost his fifth tooth (my work party wasn't too shabby, either). Lowlight: Logan's came down with a cold and feels pretty crappy.

We started off last weekend super lazy, lounging in bed.



Then the kids and I watched Phineas and Ferb and lounged on the couch some more while Adam was at a class he has to take for work. We were really glad when Adam got home since he was gone almost all last week! Then Adam and I left the kids to go to my work party. Poor kids barely got to see daddy much until Sunday.



On Sunday, Adam and I got home at lunch time, lounged around (in my new slippers!) for a while while the kids rested, then we vacuumed. And listened to Lorelai scream and cry until I went on a solo grocery trip. Sunday fun day, fo real.



On Monday evening I got my eyes dilated, and this is how they still looked on Tuesday. Plus, Aidan did his homework.



On Tuesday, I made crispy cheddar chicken for the first time. Logan was not a fan (as per usual with new things, boo). I thought it was pretty tasty, but I don't know if I did it right because it wasn't as ah-MAZE-ing as I expected based on the reviews. Maybe it's the sauce that makes the dish? I skipped the sauce. Oh well. But afterwards, we had an impromptu dance party. Party rock is in the house tonight, everybody just have a good time. Every day I'm shufflin'.



On Wednesday, we went out for pizza and subs. The TV was way more interesting to the boys than chatting with mom and dad. Of course.



Friday was an absolutely beautiful day after a pretty rainy week (and there have been a bunch of mild days like it, so our daffodils are already starting to pop up). Since I didn't end up getting my LASIK, I worked from home that afternoon and was able to walk to the bus stop to get Aidan (I usually drive there straight from work and wait in my car).



Aidan greeted me off the bus with a toothless grin and tooth in a bag because he pulled his tooth out at school. Logan came down with a cold and was not feeling well at dinner. Also, Lorelai raided the diaper bag for a baby wipe. That's her thing these days--she loves to wipe her face with a baby wipe. The other day she even snuck upstairs for one. She's obsessed.



Somehow I managed not to take any photos from yesterday or today. But, I did do a much better job of getting pics of ALL of my kids this week! I did take a lot more photos than normal just so I would have ones to choose from for this post :)


Linking up with a good life.

Change of plans

So a funny thing happened today when I went to go get my eyeballs sliced: I didn't. Yep, I'm just as nearsighted as I was when I made the hour plus drive to the laser eye center this morning, shaking like a leaf.

Turns out, my eyes are too dry today to ensure a good outcome, so the doctor recommended I wait. He said if it was his wife or sister, he wouldn't do the surgery and strongly recommended against it. Of course, hearing that made me totally agree, despite being in near tears over not being able to get it done as planned. He's not sure why they're so dry all of a sudden, but it could be effects from the pink eye last week, or the drops, or a combo of the drops. Who knows. But basically, all that anxiety and anticipation, not to mention the drive...all for nothing.

Well, not exactly nothing. He put plugs in my tear ducts gave me a crap ton of drops that I'm basically supposed to flood my eyes with until next Friday when they were able to reschedule me. I'm hoping to get an pre-op appointment at the office near me next Wednesday so the doctor can re-check my eyes to see how they're doing before mom and I trek all the way back out to the other center. Fingers crossed I'll be good to go by then!

I do have to say that as much as it sucked to walk away today, I totally appreciate that the doctor had my best interests in mind and was willing to do the right thing instead of the easy thing. I'm also so appreciative of my mom who's willing to chauffeur me back and forth and didn't get upset that she has to do it all over again next week.

Dear glasses, I'm so sick of you. XOXO, Becky

PS: To clarify about the whole two different places thing, I'm getting my LASIK done by TLC and had my initial consultation at their office in Raleigh. They have a sister office in Greensboro and the same doctor operates in both locations, the only difference is the lasers they use. The one in Greensboro will work better for my eye, leaving more cornea left over in the event that I need any future enhancements. Hence the drive.

Partay

Adam and I don't go out much together, just two of us without the kids. So I was super excited about my company's holiday* party as a chance to get out and have some grown-up fun. And by grown-up fun, I clearly mean dancing around like a fool, playing Wii Mario Kart (terribly), and making goofy faces in a photo booth with mature props like feather boas, glitter lips and mustaches. Really the main thing that made this seem like a grown-up outing was the copious amounts of alcohol. Open bar all night? Sure, why not have another one!

 

I mustache you a question, but I'll shave it for later. Ha!

My fancy shoes even made another appearance, and I'm happy to report that I didn't fall a single time. Although they did come off when I danced, and several other times throughout the night since those suckers hurt like a mutha!

Speaking of dancing, I totally worked it with the Cupid's Shuffle and the Wobble. I may have even gotten low to Lil Jon. To the window, to the wall. Yo.

We also went on a carriage ride through the streets of downtown Raleigh. But by "we" I don't me me and Adam, since he thought a carriage ride in the cold rain would be lame. Pshhh, whatever :) It had actually stopped raining by the time we went, but it was super cold. Since Adam bailed, I cuddled up with my friend CC.




Although I, personally, didn't drink copious amounts of alcohol, there were a few people who did. Like the random dude at the hotel bar after the party who passed out cold and fell off the stool. EMTs showed up and everything. But the best part was the fight that almost happened between our friend Mike and random dude's friend. Then that jerk started talking trash to Mike's wife, Katherine. Don't worry, I totally had her back with a well timed "Dude, what the f&#%! Chill the f&#% out" because I'm tough like that. Ha, not really, but I would have loved to see that guy throw a punch at Katherine, like he claimed he wanted to do (again, not really). What a way to end a night.

Good times!

That's my friend Katherine. Why anyone would want to punch her in the face, I'll never know.

And I'm really glad we spent the night because sleeping in the next morning was wonderful.


*Technically a post-holiday party, since it was a month after Christmas, but due to scheduling issues in December, it seems to always end up in January. Yet they never change the name. Whatevs. Free food and booze, who cares what it's called!

PS: Go Heels!

Wise words Wednesday: Sight

“What you lose in blindness is the space around you, the place where you are, and without that you might not exist. You could be nowhere at all.” -Barbara Kingsolver

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My LASIK appointment is on Friday, and to say that I'm a bit anxious is an understatement. I know that odds are (overwhelmingly) in my favor for a completely successful surgery, but I can't ignore the fact that something could go wrong and I could lose the ability to see these precious faces clearly (or at all) every day.





And if something does go wrong, it'll be all my fault since I selfishly didn't want to deal with glasses or contacts any more.

Also? I got my eyes dilated on Monday to check my retinas before the procedure, and they're STILL not back to normal. I have my near vision back sort of (which was completely gone until Tuesday morning) but I can't focus on anything right up in my face, and my distance vision is somewhat blurry making driving, especially when it's bright, a difficult task. Although I don't know what my current vision is, I imagine I've gotten a taste of having best corrected vision of less than 20/20, and it totally sucks.

I've been reassured again that I'm a good candidate, and that the doctor performing the surgery is very good and very experienced. But prayers and/or positive thoughts would be much appreciated, if you have some to spare!

Unleash the beast

On Saturday night, Adam and I went to my company party and spent the night in the hotel for a very welcome night away and an opportunity to sleep in. My mom graciously offered to spend the night to watch the kids and even had my niece and nephew over so the boys could have a sleepover. She said Lorelai was a perfect angel—didn't fuss at all, went down to bed without a peep and slept all night. She was happy as could be in the morning, and let me put her down for a nap as soon as we got home. But when she woke up, she was an entirely different child. It's like she held in every bit of fuss until we got home, and then unleashed the beast on us.



She just couldn't control her emotions and we could not for the life of us figure out what she wanted or needed, or how to calm her down.



So what did I do? I went grocery shopping. And for the record, I hate grocery shopping. A LOT. But what I hate more is listening to my sweet girl cry and throw tantrums and not be able to figure out what she needs or how to calm her down. So instead of getting mad at her or myself, I voluntarily went to the grocery store on my own instead of conning politely asking Adam to do it like I usually do when we only need a couple of things and aren't doing a full grocery run as a family.

I feel bad for leaving (even though I wasn't gone more than 30 minutes), but it almost seemed like she was mad at me, specifically. Adam said she fussed while I was gone, but she sure seemed fine when I walked in the door, until she saw me and started up another tantrum. I know it's normal and expected for toddlers to throw tantrums over what seems like nothing, but I can't help but wonder if she really was mad at us for leaving her for the night. This does not bode well for any future overnight trips Adam and I might want to plan...

Luckily she was back to her normal, sweet self yesterday, but I'm dreading the next meltdown when a snuggle and some comforting words from Mommy or Daddy won't make her feel better like they used to. Ah, the joys of toddlerhood, woohoo! {sarcasm alert}

iPhone photo dump {week 1}

I've been taking a lot more photos since I upgraded to an iPhone 4s (love the better camera with flash!), so I figured I'd do a weekly recap in photos. I don't really remember when some of these were actually taken (maybe I'll keep better track in the future...maybe not) but whatever :)




My mom left her slippers at my house so I held them hostage and sent her this ransom pic (then I found a pair on sale at Target so I was nice enough to give hers back). Lorelai found Adam's hat and experimented with her gangsta look. The kids entertained themselves while Adam and I were lazy and laid in bed last weekend (laundry basket=ship and they all 3 tried to get in there at one point).



Adam stayed home with the kids on Monday morning for MLK day and they lounged in their jammies and watched movies. Then Adam went out of town on Tuesday so I had to deal with Lorelai's sleep issues all by myself. I had to wake her up since she barely slept all night, and then rush to get Logan and Lorelai to daycare in time to make it to Aidan's bus stop.



Lorelai had fun in the tub...until it was time to get out. Epic meltdown ensued (should have taken a pic of her laying in a nekkid heap in front of the bathroom door, banging on it trying to get back in...but I was too busy wrestling her to get her diaper and jammies on).



Lorelai took up bird watching as her new hobby, along with vigorous burrito eating, apparently (she dogged that thing!). Also, she's now sitting at the table with us instead of in her high chair. Such a big girl. Maybe not at big as my burrito, though. Why can I never make them the right size?!?

PS: I've noticed that I take way more iPhone photos of Lorelai than the boys (oddly enough, I think I'm more equal with my dslr). Bad mommy. I'm going to get better about that, promise.

Linking up with a good life. Thanks to Amy for inspiring me to take and share more of my iPhone photos!

What is it with me and pink eye?!?

Seriously? Pink eye AGAIN?! Seriously?!? The week before I'm supposed to have LASIK and I wake up with a bright red, painful, itchy, crusty eye. OMG.

I didn't even think I touched my eyeballs any more since I stopped wearing contacts last week, so I have no idea how I got it. None of the kids have it (yet...knock on wood!) and I completely replaced my mascara and doused my eyeliner in alcohol after the last time (which may or may not have been actual conjunctivitis, but whatever it was cleared up on its own in a couple of days and wasn't nearly as bad as the mess I've got going on now). Who knows, maybe Lorelai stuck her finger up her nose and then in my eye. Totally possible since we're in the naming body parts phase. Also totally ew.

Fortunately, I had my LASIK pre-op appointment already scheduled for this morning (standard follow up tests looked good!), so the doctor prescribed me some heavy-duty antibiotic/steroid combo drops and said as long as it clears up before Friday, it shouldn't affect my surgery. He'll see me on Monday to follow up (and also dilate my eyes as a pre-op thing, fun).

So in addition to the drops for pink eye which I have to use 4x daily until the day of surgery, he also prescribed me the standard antibiotic and steroid drops I'm supposed to start 3x a day 3 days before surgery. That's 10 drops a day, geez! I hope I can remember them all...

Eye drops plus ambien for after the surgery.

Side note: I'm now $150 poorer thanks to these meds and the epi pen 2-pack for Lorelai. They couldn't have prescribed me some generic eye drops?? Geez!

Wise words Wednesday: Sleep needed

A good laugh and a long sleep are the best cures in the doctor's book. ~Irish proverb.




A couple of people I know {coughLorelaiandMommycough} are in desperate need of a good laugh and a very long sleep, and not necessarily in that order. Between teething (working on her fourth canine this month) and a nasty cold, sleep has been totally sucking lately, which has resulted in some seriously bad moods all around.

I keep telling myself that it's just a phase, but the longer it goes on, the more impatient and worried I get. The impatience is because I don't function well in the middle of the night when I'm exhausted, and the worry is that in order to get us all some sleep, I'm creating some really terrible sleep habits for Lorelai, who used to be such an awesome sleeper. Bringing her into bed with me a couple of nights here and there is no big deal, but it's been happening several nights a week for the past few weeks. I fear that even once she's past the teething and the cold, whenever she wakes up, she'll expect to sleep in bed with me and won't sleep in her own bed anymore. This is bad news because she's a terrible sleep partner. She pulls my hair as she tries to go to sleep, and then once she's asleep she smacks me in the face and kicks me as she squirms. She eventually ends up perpendicular to me and Adam in bed, forcing me to the very edge of our king size bed. Plus she farts on me.

Please, please, please, please let her start sleeping through the night again soon! And if I can't get that long sleep tonight, at least I have a few laughs courtesy of Pinterest. A good laugh is half a cure, right?

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I roasted my first turkey

And no, this isn't a very belated Thanksgiving post. I know roasting a turkey is probably a totally normal thing for a lot of people and you're probably rolling your eyes at me thinking it's no big deal. But as I mentioned, I've never roasted a turkey before, and it really never even crossed my mind as something to do on a day other than Thanksgiving. Because as I also mentioned, turkey? Meh. Then my mom cooked a turkey breast for her Christmas tree-trimming party that blew my mind. It was probably the most moist and delicious oven roasted turkey I've ever had.

We're a chicken and ground beef house, with the occasional pork tenderloin. It's VERY rare for us to cook another type of meat. But when I saw frozen turkey breasts on sale at Target last weekend, I knew I wanted to try it out.

All I did was rub it with olive oil and put a generous amount of the Pampered Chef chipotle rub all over it. I put two cups of water underneath my roasting pan and covered it with foil. I cooked it covered with foil until the last 30 minutes when I pulled the foil off to brown it.

And...ta da!

Isn't it gorgeous? Too bad it isn't mine (I forgot to take a pic).
Props go to Betty Crocker for this one.

And now, since I'm obviously an expert turkey cooker after all of that experience, I'm going to tell you the secret to moist turkey. It's an earth-shattering revelation. Ready? PUT THE FOIL BACK ON WHILE IT COOLS. Seriously. (And just humor me if this is a totally well-known fact.)

Honestly, I would have never thought of this, and apparently my mom didn't realize this was the key either, until out of necessity she had to cover her turkey back up so she could leave to run an errand. She said she ended up leaving it covered for about an hour and a half until she sliced it. It made sense that would help with the moistness, so I figured I would try it out to see if that's what made the difference. Sure enough, my turkey was amazingly moist. (If you're a How I Met Your Mother fan: moist moist moist moist moist moist moist.) I actually left it covered for a looong time before I sliced--like 4 hours while we went to my nephew's birthday party. It was actually still a little warm, and it was so good! It was an 8lb breast, so we've got a ton of leftovers. I've enjoyed a few turkey sandwiches and I made turkey salad with it tonight. I even froze a whole tupperware container for later.

I'll have to keep my eye out for whenever they go on sale. Adam suggested getting a flavor injector, and that Betty Crocker recipe above looks really yummy, too. I guess I'm a turkey convert now!

The brains, they are rotting

Not sure why Santa finally gave in and gave Aidan a 3DS after holding strong for 2 straight years. And now? He's obsessed. Logan's obsessed. Rotting brains.

Exhibit A


Exhibit B



And with all of the video game hoopla, Adam had to get in on the action and get back out his PSP. Of course the boys drop everything to watch. Daddy's so cool.

Exhibit C

Like father, like son

Not pictured: Exhibits D-Z of one or both of the boys playing their video games or watching Adam play his. If it's not the playstation, it's angry birds on the phone. Sigh. Boys will be boys?

We do have rules that the boys have been really good with so far: obey the time limits we set (usually no more than 30 minutes); no fighting over it or because of it; schoolwork comes first; they don't get to keep them in their rooms; and we do either one show OR video game, not both.

All in all, I guess it could be worse. Aidan is still way into books and had Big Nate and the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series right up there on his Christmas list along with the DS. As long as he reads just as much as he plays video games, his brain won't rot too much, right?

On that note, I think we need to make a date with the library. :)

They're gonna slice my eyeballs

If all goes as planned, today is my last day in contacts. Ever. That's right, I'm getting LASIK!

goodbye contacts!

I'm seriously so excited. And nervous. Really really nervous. But mostly excited. Except for the whole slicing the eyeballs thing. OMG. Thank goodness for vicodan valium, is all I'm saying. Anyway...

I've been waiting so long for this. I've wanted to do it for years and years, but I had to wait until my prescription stabilized. And then I had to wait until I wasn't pregnant. And then I had to wait until I was done nursing. But now, I'm good to go. I was even able to get it all figured out in time for open enrollment so I could take out FSA to pay for it. Woohoo for saving money!

The countdown starts tomorrow. I have to be out of my contacts for two weeks before my surgery on January 27. Not looking forward to wearing my glasses for two weeks straight, especially since they're not my current prescription (didn't want to pay for new lenses that I would only have for a few months before LASIK). But it'll be so worth it, I'm sure. At least I hope, assuming nothing goes wrong. Fingers, toes and eyes crossed.

goodbye glasses (until I get old and start needing them for reading)

Has anyone else had LASIK? I'd really love to hear about it. Just be kind and don't scare me too much...

PS: apparently I'm not a druggie because when I wrote this last night I got valium and vicodan confused. Thankful for both, but the valium is for the anxiety relief before the procedure as I'm reading through the paperwork and deciding whether to risk permanent blindness. Yeah.

Wise words Wednesday: Worry

 Images via and via

What does it say about me that I have multiple quotes about worry pinned on Pinterest? Oh right, that I’m a mom. All this talk about not worrying is clearly for people who don’t have children. I try not to let worry consume or overwhelm me and in general (except for when I was pregnant and hormonal) I think I do a pretty good job.

That said, I’ve been doing a lot of worrying lately about Lorelai and her allergies. I was told not to google ‘peanut allergy’ willy-nilly because there’s a lot of misinformation out there (surprise! I haven't...yet). The doctor directed me to http://www.foodallergy.org/ for reputable information on allergies. I started there, and what do I see on the home page? “Latest News: Fatality in Chesterfield, VA Reported.”

Rationally I know that food allergy fatalities are very rare. Adam pointed out that there’s a better chance of dying in a car accident (which doesn’t help much because now I just feel worse about cars, obvs). But it’s just one extra thing we have to worry about with Lorelai that we don’t with the boys. And not even just dying. Almost dying from anaphylaxis is enough to put me over the edge with worry.

I don't want Lorelai to have to worry or be scared either. She's obviously too young to know what's going on now, but as she gets older this will be a huge burden on her. I don't want that for her. I want her biggest worry to be what shoes to wear.

Silver shoes or pink shoes? Pants or no pants? These are the first world problems I want her to have. Sigh.

I’m eagerly awaiting the results of the blood test with the hope that it’ll lesson some of my concerns if her levels are low. But since there’s no way to know what her reaction will be and to what amount, I think I’ll just be in a constant state of worry, pretty much just waiting for something bad to happen. Not a good way to live, and it'll get me nowhere. Rock, rock, rock...

So in summary…










Pardon the language (mom). If you’re not offended by such language, do yourself a favor and watch this hilarious video about the honey badger. Just not around kids or anyone who would be offended by bad language :)

{January} 10 on 10

Since one of my resolutions was to take better photos, I figured it would be nice to take on a photo challenge. I've seen a bunch of monthly challenges that have a daily theme, but I figured I might have trouble keeping up daily. When I saw the simple things 10 on 10 challenge, it sounded totally doable!  On the 10th day of each month post 10 photos that were taken over the course of one day during that month.

So here's my first 10 on 10 challenge.

I'm kind of cheating a little because these pictures are actually from New Year's eve. It was a beautiful day out, so we took full advantage.

Flip flops in December!


Chalk drawing.




Getting ready to ride. Safety first!




And she's off.


Tennis. Nice shot, Aidan :)


Getting the tennis ball for Daddy.


Logan's turn to play tennis with Daddy.


Cheese!


These were all taken with my new Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 II Standard AutoFocus Lens. I'm still trying to get the hang of it and making sure my focal points are right, and the lighting looks off in some of these, but so far I'm really liking the lens. Maybe I should try adjusting my white balance? I've always used auto before and lighting outside has always looked pretty good. If you have any links to any good tutorials, especially for this lens, I'd love to know about them!