Putting It Together, Part Deux

A few weeks ago, the little guy took another monumental step on the path to verbal independence; he put together 3 words: "Duck, Duck, Goose."

I did not push him to say this, he chose these words to be his first 3 words put together all on his own.  Although I will admit his sister was going through a phase where she kept wanting us to play the game.

The little guy and I have been reading Silly Little Goose! (by Nancy Tafuri) at night, and although it is not about the game of "duck, duck, goose," it does have a goose and some ducks.  He now points at it and says "duck, duck, GOOSE."

Regardless, I am one proud Mama.  I never thought those words could sound so sweet. 

So, here's to duck, duck, goose.

That Time of Year

I have been a little sick for about 11 days.  It started out strong (fever, exhaustion) and calmed down pretty quickly.  Some days I have felt I am on the upswing and some days I have felt I am on the down slide.  Today was a down slide day.

I am washing my hands frequently, drinking fluids, not getting enough rest, and drinking wine. 

I also have a sick daughter.  She has had a cold and cough for longer than I have been under the weather.  The problem is that she is unaware of how to prevent spreading her germs everywhere.  She picks her nose, wipes runny snot onto her shirt sleeve, coughs onto everyone (although I know she's trying to remember to cover her mouth with her arm) and she has no problem touching everything and anything with her germy hands.  It is overwhelming to try and correct every germ spreading behavior every time I look at her, because it feels like it's constant.  There's only so much I can nag. 

She, like me, has had some upswing days and some down slide nights.  Last night was a down slide and had us all up for about an hour and a half due to the babe's hacking cough and inability to calm down long enough to fall back asleep.

I called the pediatrician today and was told I could:

-NOT give her cough medicine
-give her homeopathic soothing honey type substance (not available at a standard drug store)
-give her decaffeinated tea with honey (yes, I did remind them that she is 3 and not yet a tea drinker)
-keep a humidifier running in her room (while the dehumidifier runs simultaneously in the basement)
-use saline drops to loosen the mucus (squirting this up her nose caused her to almost throw up)

If we see a fever, notice any trouble with her eyes, notice ear pain, or anything funky, we are to call immediately.  If the cough doesn't get better by next week, we are to call for an appointment.  At this point it seems like every kid in her class sounds the same, and they are all just spreading their germs back and forth to each other.  I suppose this is the age where this kind of thing is pretty standard. 

Anyway, if you have any tips on how the babe and I can return to our former glory, please feel free to share.

Congratulations!

A few words of congratulations to some good friends:

K & B had a beautiful baby boy on September 2nd, putting the labour back into labour day weekend!  Good work guys!

K & S had a sweet little girl on October 16th (I was hoping she'd arrive on my b-day which was the 20th, but no luck).  I can't wait to meet her (and her older brother!).  Why is the West Coast so far away?

And my friend Kimberly Palmer, writer and mother extraordinaire, just released Generation Earn: The Young Professional's Guide to Spending, Investing and Giving Back.  You should definitely check it out!  You can also check out her blog, Alpha Consumer, at US News and World Report.

It's Been One Month (and a day)

Looks like I just took a break.  Yikes.  The more days that went by, the harder it was to log in and write.

I have been too afraid to look at my site meter stats, but the last time I looked it was pretty bleak.  Who could blame you?  I wouldn't bother checking in with 24-7 Mommy either!

But here I am.  In my new house.  Setting up our old routine.  And trying to keep things moving tickidy boom.  It has been a crazy few months but I finally feel like we are getting to where I wanted: the "new normal."

The babe and the little guy have adjusted quite well to our new home.  We have a few more night wake ups than we were used to, but I figure it will pass.  I am thrilled to walk in the door and am still in shock that it's our home.  I feel blessed.

I wanted to share a little story, since I'm here and all.  For the past 5 days I have been tearing apart the house in search of the Winnie the Pooh costume my daughter has worn for Halloween the past 2 years.  I desperately wanted the little guy to wear the same one as it's just so freakin' cute!  I was also looking for the baby cow costume both kids wore as wee youngsters to lend to a friend.  I knew these items were located somewhere, in some box or other, and was pretty determined to find them.

I apparently didn't give myself enough credit, because this morning, when I was about to break down and head to Target for Halloween stuff, I dug into a bin of "too big/new clothes for the future" and low and behold, guess what was in there?  A bag with 3 Halloween costumes and a Halloween themed orange size 4 shirt for the babe to wear to her class party on Friday.  Looking at the price tag, I apparently bought it last year after Halloween for the bargain price of $2!  I had also bought a race car driver costume for the little guy to use a few years down the road.  I appear to have shockingly been organized enough to put all of this stuff together in a "safe" place so I could find it easily. 

Now I realize that all those messy boxes I looked through were just trying to teach me a lesson.  And that lesson is that I need to continue on with my dream of having everything organized and in its place.  As a stay at home Mom, I am committed to making this dream a reality.  I dream big, don't I?