Updates

I will write about the trip in the next day or so, but here are some updates I missed blogging about over the last week...

We have a 6th tooth. The sucker popped out to give us a much more cordial daughter while we were away from home. Now in the true nature of these things though, she is busy working on the 7th to help even out the bottom chompers.

Ok - Maybe this isn't the best photo, but she gets mad when you look in her mouth. She now has the two center bottom teeth (which don't look centered in the photo,) the two top center teeth and a tooth on each side up top. I think the next arrival will be bottom left.

Today gives us 2 full weeks of crawling. It is amazing how quickly she can move now. And how dirty I am discovering that my kitchen floor is. I hate cleaning, which is why we pay someone to come do it for us once a month, but I guess I am now deticated to sweeping / mopping weekly if not daily. Ugg.

Grace has also figured out how to go up the step between our family room and kitchen. Then insists on going back down it. Over and over. At least the wood floor on the 'down' portion of the activity has more give than the kitchen tile.

I guess I should have put her shorts back on before taking photos, huh?

Oh, and lets not forget, in true family fashion she is going straight for the wine rack. This morning she was pulling herself to standing position and then pulling bottles of wine off.

Guess we will just have to start drinking them faster.

The Countdown

I am at the point where I am so tired that it is hard to think.

I was at this point on Tuesday. It is now Saturday. (I just had to stop for a few minutes to figure out what day it was.) I AM READY TO GO HOME.

Instead of writing in complete sentences I am going to just throw out numbers.

Here is the countdown:

10 - Number of bottles of wine consumed over the trip.
9- Number of mosquito bites on my legs. So itchy.
8 - Number of hours we listed to a freaking Chipmunks CD in the car. Damn songs are still in my head
7 - Number of times I became so irritated with conversations / circumstance that I left the room.
6 - Number of White Castles I consumed.
5 - Number of times I've checked my work email in the last 24 hours.
4 - Number of serious discussion I had with Matt about changing flights to come home early.
3 - Number of nights Grace slept on my chest like I'm a giant air mattress.
2 - Number of days I lost my flip flops, only to have them found under my luggage. (See #1 & 3)
1 - Number of nights out of 8 that I slept though the night.

More to come.

The Journey Begins

The journey begins.

It is starting with a brain that won't turn off to go to sleep, a back that is playing fun with spasms and my realization that the 1/2 glass of wine we have isn't enough to shut them both down.

I just want to get on the plane without incident. Then I just want to get off the plane without incident. Finally, I just want to get through our hotel stay Saturday night without incident.

Then let the incidents roll because I know if we can get over those three hurdles, everything else will be fine.

My ride to the airport informed me the other day that he thought I should get there at 6 am for our 8 am flight. I said I would prefer to leave the house at 6 am. That was two days ago.

Apparently my wishes fell on deaf ears, for tonight I was informed that he made a 7 am tee time at a local golf course. Which means he needs to drop me off BY 6 am.

Yeah well, I need you to entertain a 10 month old baby in a freaking airport terminal for 1.5 hours then buddy.

That's what I wanted to say anyway. Of course I didn't though.

He's doing us a multitude of favors this week. They are all owed to us though. Is it bad Karma to state that someone "owes" favors? I dunno, but he does.

So I am tense. I am setting up mini goals. First security. Pre-flight. Flight. Post-flight. Parents. Dinner. Hotel.

After hotel I am golden. I will keep you posted.

The Best Laid Plans

We were on our game last night.

By the time I got home with Grace, Matt had the kitchen straightened and most of his clothes for the week packed. We quickly ate our microwaved dinner of left over Chinese - part of my brilliant plan to order too much so I didn’t have to cook - went even more smoothly than I could have imagined.

I pulled out the list of baby supplies I need to pack and efficiently gathered them from around the house, managing to neatly pack everything into one easy-to-carry laundry basket to haul into and out of our many destinations.

By 8 pm we were completely packed, loaded into the car and sitting on the couch with a glass of wine.

This morning however was a different story.

Matt woke at 3 am to be driving east by 3:30. Ironically, the sound of the shower didn’t wake me, but the smell of the Dial soap did. Go figure, couldn’t hear him, but could smell the fresh, crisp scent of his soap.

Grace also slept through the shower, but woke to the faint click of the front door closing. At 3:35 am she was awake and crying.

I brought her into bed with me in the hopes that she would sleep a little longer. After using my stomach as a pillow for 20 minutes she laid back and snuggled against me.

UNTIL MY FREAKING ALARM CLOCK WENT OFF!!

I don’t like my alarm. It makes me angry every morning, but I keep it because it is so obnoxiously loud that I actually get up.

Grace doesn’t like it either apparently.

Before I could even get my hand close to the beast, she was screaming. I mean SCREAMING.

No matter what I did I couldn’t calm her down. After about 15 minutes I decided that she would just have to scream on her own, so I put her in her crib with every toy I could find. 30 minutes later she was still screaming.

Finally a warm bottle and lots of hugs did the trick. I’m sure the 45 minute nap she got on the ride to daycare didn’t hurt either.

Do I get a nap today?

I Hate Mint

I have a non baby related rant today.

I hate mint. I do.

We have rouge mint plants growing in our back yard and every time they are mowed off the smell makes me nauseous. I think mint tea is one of the least soothing things on the planet. I still buy mint toothpaste, but only because the flavors leave a funny residue on my tongue and then I only use a baby sized amount.

OK, I will admit I like Girl Scout Thin Mints, Andies chocolates & can order mint chocolate chip ice cream. But all three involve large amounts of chocolate too.

And the ice cream doesn’t count because who does like ice cream? In any form?

Well, I did have to send back an ice cream cone I ordered during our babymoon in Boston last year. They duped me.

There were literally 70 flavors to pick from. I went with ‘Devils Chocolate’ thinking it would be a super rich, super chocolaty creation.

Nope.

It was chocolate ice cream with HOT SAUCE & RED HOTS mixed it.

I was appalled. The girl laughed and said that they get that reaction a lot with that flavor and she would bring me something else. I went Pistachio. It was the safest flavor I could think of.

~ ~ ~ I digress though ~ ~ ~

I hate mint. It’s mainly the smell. Don’t like it at all.

There is a lady that comes up to MY bathroom on the 6th floor to brush her teeth after lunch. Pretty much every day. I assume she has been asked not to do this on her own floor anymore.

It is so disgusting. It is like being in a dentists office.

She carries a little kit with brush, paste, floss, mouth wash and who know what else, and sets it all out on the counter. It takes her about 15 minutes to complete the process.

I understand the concept of good dental hygiene, I should totally floss more than I do, but come on lady! It is a semi-public bathroom, not your own freaking house!

I am trying to pee and your gargling? For 30 seconds! Who even gargles that long?? Then your nasty spit makes the whole bathroom stink like mint. I hate mint!

I know this is a stupid post but every time I am exposed to it I want to barf.

God I hate mint.

Chicago Trip – Excitements

I’m back with Part II of the blog. Things that I am excited about.

This is, in fact, much easier to write today given that Gracie FINALLY slept through the night for the first time in a week.

Although I do have to admit, starting around 12:30 am I did start waking up every 45 minutes or so to make sure she was still asleep. 1:15 am, ahh, no crying. 2 am, ahh, no crying. 2:45 am, ahh, no crying. All the way up until my alarm went off. Not thrilled that I kept waking up, but hey, I instantly fell back to sleep and never had to actually get up.

So things that I am looking forward to with this trip:

1. The triathlon. On some level, I’ve actually begun to enjoy going to these events. It appeals to my/our plan-a-holic natures. Originally, when my Mom and Jerry said they wanted to come, I didn’t think much of it. OK, sure, come on down! Now, I am realizing that on top of getting to spend extra time with them, it will be a tremendous amount of help. Plus I now have people to drink breakfast booze with!

2. Dinner in the city. Alone. We love Chicago. Jeanine has volunteered to take Grace back to her house after the triathlon, so that gives us Sunday night all to ourselves. I’m not sure what we are going to do, but you’d better believe it will end with an Ambien.

3. Boat rides. Matt’s dad’s place in on a lake, so I imagine there will be at lease one ride on his pontoon boat. I am fairly certain that Gracie will LOVE it.

4. Cheese (and maybe jerky.) I am one that usually can’t come up with too many things that I like about Wisconsin as a state, but they do make some killer cheese. I know it’s cliché. It is one of those stereotypes are there for a reason though. Cheese curds here I come.

5. Fire trucks. Jerry is working his 24 on Thursday when we are heading back down to my parents. Assuming the timing works out, we will stop by the fire house and show Gracie the trucks.

6. Family. I think there will be a low key soirée on Friday at my Mom’s with family that I haven’t seen in awhile. In fact, I think there will be at least one person there that has never seen Grace.

So there we are. It wasn’t so hard. I just need to not get overwhelmed with the planning and packing. Once Matt leaves Friday morning, it will all be downhill.

See you soon!

Chicago Trip - Anxieties

Matt & I were both born and raised in the Chicago suburbs. I grew up in the southwest yuppie burbs and Matt has claim to the far north Wisconsin border burbs. This coming weekend we are trekking back with Grace for a week long family adventure.

The week will begin with Matt and his sister Jeanine doing the international distance Chicago Triathlon (1.5K swim, 40K bike, 10K run.)

We will then go up to Matt’s Dad’s weekend house in Wisconsin, just north of Green Bay, for 3 days.

After that we go back down to my parent’s house for 3 days.

Seems simple, right?

Yeah well…. Here are my anxieties about the coming week:

1. In order to bring his bike back for the Triathlon, Matt is driving back. Grace and I are flying. It will be my 1st experience of single parent air travel.

2. Grace has been sick / teething, as you all know from the previous posts. I am terrified of the thought of a screaming child in an upscale hotel. I am in knots over the thought that she will keep entire households awake. I am so tired that I feel sick, and can’t imagine dealing with this away from home.

3. Long drives. It will take approximately 5 hours to get up to our Wisconsin destination. I think the longest we have ever driven with Gracie is an hour. Should I sit in the back seat with her? Should we stop to feed and change diapers or try to do it while moving?

4. Keeping Grace on her schedule. Between flights, drives, time zone changes and events, how the hell am I going to make sure she gets her normal naps??

5. Pets. My parent’s house is like Noah’s Arc. OK, that’s an exaggeration, but still- 1 large dog (Husky- very hairy) and 2 cats (one is gigantic/very hairy & the other pees all over.)
* Grace pokes and grabs at Ricky like he is a piñata. Nikki, the Husky, isn’t going to like that and I don't trust her not to nip.
* She seems to find every stray hair on the floor and puts them directly into her mouth like it is another source of finger food. There is 100X more hair at my parent’s house than mine.
* Matt’s family has all sorts of pet dander allergies. Cats are specifically troublesome. She was fine in December, but I am nervous.

Tomorrow, when I’ve had more sleep (Please! Please! Please!) I will be more positive and outline the things I am excited about.

Great Day For a Sick Day

So much for being sick today.

Friday afternoon Grace spiked a temperature of 100.9 at daycare. Anything above 100.5 for over an hour they send you home. Her teachers striped her down, wrapped cool towels around her and successfully got the temp down to 100.5.

Then she pulled a Poltergeist move and vomited carrots all over herself, Ms. Felicitie and 4 square feet of the tile floor below her.

We went home early.

All weekend she had a fever. It ranged from 99.9 to 201.1. She was so congested that there have been a minimum of 3 crying sessions per night.

Last night we made the decision to keep her home today and take the first available appointment at Dr.H's office. I called right at 9am this morning and the first available was 3:50pm today.

Great. I guess I could have gone to work.

Plus, as of this morning, all traces of fever have disappeared. She does have some funky looking snot (kinda like watered down chocolate frosting - yummy) coming out of one nostril and is tugging on her left ear.

I'm glad we are going though, just for the piece of mind of getting an all clear before flying on Saturday.

To make today even more worth while though - BIG ANNOUNCEMENT - Grace has figured out the knee #1, then knee #2 aspect of crawling.

Just a few moments ago, I turned to see that in a matter of minutes she had moved from her toy box on the carpet all the way over to the tile floor by the stairs.

I did a double take.

I turned back to the computer only to hear movement again.

I then watched her crawl back to the start position.



Way to go kiddo!!

She then went over to the window and started yanking on my curtains.

Hey - wait a minute. Let's just go sit over here for awhile longer.

I guess today was a GREAT day to stay home after all.

5 and Counting

The 5th tooth has made an appearance. Right top big tooth.

Unfortunately, it is traveling companions are excessive drooling, temperature and vomiting.

It's a beautiful thing.

I guess we are going to the Doc's on Monday to make sure it is just indeed a heavy bout of teething and not something more.

Sick children and vacations do not mix well.

Heroism

When my brother Jerry and I were kids, Whitney Houston's "I Will Always Love You" was usually a catalyst for a fight. I have no idea why, but the way he would sing the refrain in a goofy, squeaky voice would enrage me. Thus prompting him to sing louder and closer to my face.

When “Hero” by Enrique Iglesias came out in the 2002, it took its place. I was always annoyed by the song and Jerry knew it.

Now, as an adult, my not-so-little little brother is a Paramedic-Firefighter. A good one.

Not that I’ve ever needed his services, but your coworkers don’t refer to you (only partially in jest) as ‘God’ for no reason. He seems to have an uncanny ability to save lives that others have already written off.

He is good at what he does because he loves it. He was made for it. Meant to do it with every fiber of his being. Being an adrenaline junky doesn’t hurt either.

He has fought tooth and nail for this too. To say he was a mediocre student in High School is being kind. Jerry hated school and, for the most part, it hated him right back.

Something clicked in the time between graduation and medic school though. Maybe a shiny red fire truck went whizzing by with lights and sirens one day and he thought, “Hey, they don’t have to stop for red lights! That looks fun!” Probably not, but knowing my brother, I would definitely put it in the “maybe” category.

He became an EMT and shortly after started applying to Paramedic schools. It took a long time, and a lot of hard work, to get into the competitive programs. I believe he applied twice a year for 2 years before he was selected. Oh, and how he studied. He would write it off with a shrug of the shoulders, but I knew.

Yeah, some things were easy for him. What my brother lacks in book smarts, he makes up for 10 fold in common sense. Which is frankly much more practical in real life – and the life and death situations of Para-medicine is a real as you can get.

He has worked his butt off for the last 5 years to become a Paramedic and then a Firefighter.

He is hitting road blocks again now, but what is life without road blocks? Doesn’t that help you to appreciate your goal even more when you get it? While yes, more money is never anything to turn your nose at, but you love what you do! It will eventually come. It will get better.

You have come full circle though Jerry. No matter what kind of shitty circumstance and forgotten promise comes your way, you are a hero.

You are a hero to all the people you’ve saved, a hero to the families of the folks that you tried your hardest to save and hero for the random acts of kindness you do without a second thought.

You are a hero to your family and friends.

You are a hero to me.

Heroism is about heart. It is about dedication. It is not about money.

Don’t get bogged down in the negative. There is no point. Believe in the good. Believe in the Karma you generate. It will come back around and repay you.