A short, neutrally told, anecdote

We were sitting at breakfast this morning, Kate and I and a friend. Kate looks out the window and sees a large billboard on the street. She says, "papa" (i.e. Grandpa) and points. I look at this billboard and see it is a giant ad for McDonalds.

'Nuff said.

Momma Day

I was off today, so I decided today would be my unofficial birthday since my real birthday is going to be filled with work and errands. So, we started our day at the park. When it got to hot we stopped for a snack. Yum.

Next up was nap, and then... IKEA! Kate spent about 20 minutes at the demo kitchen. I kid you not.

Then she noticed stuffed dogs. Lots of them. She pet and kissed each one until this one was destined to go "home." I kept trying to distract her from it with other less cute toys but she was determined. I heard a lot of "woof. home." talk until I caved.

Then another snack break. I'm skeptical there is really any cheese in their Mac N Cheese but damn she loves it.


And finally... home... with new toys in tow. My grandma gave me some birthday money, so I spent it on some fun toys: a doggie, a train set, an easel and a small purse. I never get to splurge on Kate since money's a little tight right now, so it was truly a treat. We had a blast.

Unfortunately, the blast ended around dinner time. Kate is having a hard time with Daddy P out of town (he's been working 60 hour weeks before he left so was mostly gone then, too), and Miss K was up until 10pm tonight with me rocking, reading, singing and finally just letting her fall asleep on me. She is now slumbering in my bed and I am soon to follow. We will see how that turns out. All other times we've tried this she wakes up and freaks out in the middle of the night because she doesn't know where she is.


Here she is with her new train. She loved taking the track apart and putting it together in new weird ways. She hasn't figured out the whole polarity thing on the cars yet, but hey... she isn't even two yet!

One word: Epipen

Yep, that's right. We are the proud owners of an epipen. That little reaction to egg that we thought was just a teeny deal? The allergist didn't agree.

Kate and I went in to the doctor's office on Thursday and he told us that yes, Kate does have an egg allergy, but that 85% of kids grow out of it by the age of 4 or 5. He said to come back in two years.

Hilarious, right? Take this epinepherine and go home. Come back in two years.

You know what they do in two years? A blood test, and then if things look like her allergy is getting better they make us stay for 2 hours so they can feed her an egg and monitor her. They say it is the only way to know for sure. Sounds fun, right? Sitting at the doctor's for two hours, watching a movie with a four year old. Ah well. Better than having to test my epi skills at home.

I figure this isn't going to change our lives much. The biggest change is not being able to find easy breakfast options at restaurants that are egg-free. But everyone wants oatmeal when they go out to breakfast, right?

Aspiring Artist

I have been having a blast painting with Kate. She has been fun figuring out how the colors mix, and what the water does to the paper. We've even put some of her artwork up in the house. It's been a nice summer activity since she can strip down and do it outside on the patio. Plus there is inevitably some rinsing off involved in the process.

21 Month Update

I know, July flew by without hardly a post. Two things contributed to that: 1) a broken computer, and 2) a lack of childcare.

We finally have childcare under control (man, am I getting tired of singing this song), but the computer is still stone-cold dead so don't get too hopeful. But for now, my husband is still at work (yes, it is 10pm) and the baby is asleep, so here I am.

Little Kate is doing well. She's positively hilarious. I cherish every moment I get to hang out with her. Even the ones where I think I'm going to pull out my hair because she's driving me nuts. Friends have been nudging us that it is time for #2, but I have the hardest time imagining losing these moments. I remember the last few times I breastfed her in the morning before she weaned, I just would rock her and try to soak in the moments. Those mornings were my favorites. She'd wake around 5 and I'd drag myself into her room to be rewarded with the sweetest moments. In a quiet house with the dark slowly lightening we got to be just mom and baby for a few minutes before we both retreated back to sleep.

We have different versions of those moments now. In the morning, one of us grabs her and brings her into bed to cuddle and read a book as everyone gets going. Some afternoons when the day is just feeling too much we'll build a tent and hunker down with books and blankets and just read. My favorite lately has been getting to paint with her. She's quite the little artist and we've even put a couple of her paintings up on the wall. Those moments of creation and experimentation with her are so joyful. I know another baby will be amazing, but right now I'm so in love with my little life it's hard to want to change it.

One of my favorite new activities with her is yoga. She and I have been doing yoga in the morning for several months now but she went to her first yoga class this month! There is a "Crawlers and Toddlers" class that we go to. It's basically Kundalini with kids in the room. The teacher is amazing at helping you to practice balancing taking care of yourself and taking care of your children. An amazing and necessary skill to be sure, and so fun to do in the context of yoga.

I think her favorite part is tea. At the end of every yoga class this studio serves tea. At home she and I have morning tea from time to time. So, the first time that we went to the class she was so excited about the tea she started repeating "tea tea tea" over and over. It was super cute. She wasn't too sure about the rest of the class. Not too used to little kids running all over the place... but she did learn to do Bridge pose.