alligator juice

"Mama, can I have some aa-wi-gator juice?"

For those of you that were also confused by this... she means Gatorade.

Oooh, boy. It has been a terrible week plus since I last wrote. I'm pretty sure we (Ruby, Max, and I) had the world's worst virus. It didn't kill us, so I suppose it wasn't as bad as the Ebola virus or something. But, I can say that I personally wanted to die. Especially since the kids were sick too. Isn't there some kind of rule against that? What is the POINT of moms every getting sick? I am eternally grateful that Jared didn't succomb though and was able to stay home on Friday to take care of the kids while I slept. ALL. DAY. LONG.

It's so good to have Ruby drinking and sleeping some again. I was pretty frightened for a while there that she would have to be hospitalized for dehydration. Then, I thought of the "alligator juice" and things have improved greatly since then.

Well, I better go clean my house. Things have gotten a tad "wild" while I have been in recovery mode. Hopefully I'll find the cord for the camera while I clean and be able to get some photos of our trip to Salem up later on.

Now remember to wash your hands! There are germs EVERYWHERE!!

i don' wanna...

... hab a fee-ber!"

Poor Ruby is under the weather today with a fever of 102.5F, so we're stuck at home. This morning she was so beat that she actually took an hour and half nap!! That is unheard of, so I knew she was really feeling rotten and called in sick to our Toddler Time class at the local library.

Post-nap and post-lunch (plus a dose of tylenol and a mug of hot cocoa) she's feeling a lot better and is begging to go the library to play. She says, "my germs are all gone now!". Unfortunately, the aren't! So I think we'll bundle up and walk over to the "pwaygwound" to burn off a little bit of steam. I'm sure germs will curl up and die in the freeze overnight--right?

looking up

It's been a really hard day here. We've had major nap and sleep issues since Ruby said a sad farewell to her pacie and we're all feeling it. Today has been short on patience and understanding and too full of harsh words and temper flare-ups all around. I gave myself a time out a few minutes ago and went straight to these two posts.

"A Heart Tale" at Holy Experience

"Taming My Tone" at Lots of Scotts

God doesn't make mistakes.

I sure am glad He's still working on me, because I need a lot of work.

you need this

I just had to share this with anyone and everyone that has toddlers... the Swivel Sweeper! Okay, so it's one of those "as seen on TV" things, but I'm telling you this puppy works like a charm! I bet it gets used 3 to 5 times a day at my house--cleaning up under the table after meals and snacks. A quick vacuum around the house. It's perfect! My favorite thing is that it picks up chunks--cheerios, crumbs, etc.-- but also does an awesome job with dust bunnies, stray hairs, etc.

Really, though, the best thing about it is that Ruby LOVES it and she does the sweeping herself after every meals. She is meticulous to get every little scrap that Max has dropped and then lets me know when it needs to be emptied and then puts it away... on her own... without being asked. That's pretty awesome!

Ours was a gift from my mother-in-law and we love it (as you can tell!). I was more than a little skeptical, but it really is great. So thanks again, Kay!

with a honk, honk here!

... and a beep, beep there!

Well, after two plus years of no driving, watch out world, I'm back behind the wheel. Actually, I have been for a week or two now, but today was the first time that I headed out somewhere I'd never been before on my own with the kids. It went... okay. I will admit that I was honked at several times and drove like a grandma, but we made it!

Our first stop was to Michaels. They were having a frame sale and it was PERFECT timing as we just got a wonderful poster of Nyhavn from our friends, Allan and Jannie, in CPH. It really made me cry a bit when I opened it. It's JUST what we needed for our bare walls and a great piece of what feels like "home" right now. Anyhoo, I made it with only one slightly wrong turn which was remedied almost immediately. I also got a great $50 frame for $30. So, that was pretty awesome.

Next, I attempted to get us to this place called Bonkers that has an indoor toddler play area that's free. What a headache! I thought I was going to lose my mind before I found it. I didn't have directions (of course) and had brought the phone book to look up the address and phone number, but as luck would have it, it was in a town further out than the phone book covered. Alas, after LOTS of honks and more than a little sweat on my brow, we made it. The fun the kids had made it all worth while. And I made it home with NO WRONG TURNS!!

Ruby the slide hog!

Barney? Is that you?

Max, over the rainbow!

That's his, "hello, ladies!" smile. He's going to be trouble this one!

pizza! pizza party!

One of the supercool things about moving out here has been that we actually already have quite a few friends from our past in this neck of the woods. So, this last Saturday we were able to have two of my college pals, Karil and Jenn, over for dinner. We decided to make things easy and just build our own pizzas. I got a few pics of the kids "creating" before our guests arrived. Max enjoyed pigging out on my homemade garlic bread sticks! In the adults' opinion the store bought dough was less than wonderful, but apparently Ruby loved it because I'm pretty sure she ate THREE pieces of her personal pie.

Ru has been such a finicky eater the last few weeks it's been a real battle. She is begging for food (rather "treats") all the time, which she isn't allowed except for her morning snack at about 10am. Then, at meal time she looks at the food. Maybe eats a few bites. Then proceeds to complain about it and say she isn't hungry. We've oscillated between making her finish every scrap on her plate to x more bites to just letting her be excused and no more food til the next meal time. None seem to be effective in changing her behavior. It's getting frustrating. Really frustrating.

But, back to the pizza party. We had a great time with my friends (our friends now!). We certainly didn't "catch up" on the last few years in a few hours, but we had some great times chatting and just enjoying each other. It's fun to have some people here who "know the ropes" and can give us the cliff notes version of what to do and what not to do around Boston. Jenn and I already have a Valentine's lunch date planned, which I'm so excited for and Karil has offerred her much needed decorating services for a day or two next week. I'm so thankful that God provided these friends. I've been feeling a bit down and lonely, but dinner with friends went a long way towards changing that.

"postable"

I heard somewhere along the way that babies actually DO suck your brain power away. Then I read that everything is supposed to be back to normal six months after birth... or maybe it was nine months. All I know is that it's been about ten months and things aren't normal. I really think that there was a time when I could complete an entire sentance before I forgot the beginning of the sentance. Couldn't I? Does anyone else struggle with this?!?

Nevermind. My children are awake, so I guess I'll finish this thought another time!

Hope you all are having a more cohesive day than me!

new pics over in ruby-land.

Just a quick heads-up that I've posted a few pictures over at Ruby's Great Adventure... Be back with more current stuff soon!

bye-bye "ma"

Those who have been around Ruby for any length of time know that she has been devoted, since birth, to her pacifer. A year or so ago we cut her pacie time down to just nap time and bed time, but we've known for a while now that we really needed to just get rid of the thing. Her little buck teeth were begging us to, "Do Something!!". So, we've been talking this big change up for weeks... well, maybe even months. We finally decided to let her pick out a reading light to have at bedtime instead of her pacifier. So, believe it or not...

It's been 48 hours since Ruby threw her last "ma" (pacifier) in the trash!!

It has not been pretty. She has shed lots and lots and LOTS of tears over her pacies and keeps begging me for them. Even though I keep reminding her that we threw them away she is certain that I have one or more hidden. (I must admit I considered it, but realized that it was pointless and counter-productive.) I'm thankful that I can honestly tell her that I don't.

Over all I think she's really doing pretty well. It certainly isn't the, "Oh goodie, I'm a big girl now!" reaction that some of our friends have had with their kids, but it's been okay.

And I'm proud of our Ru... she sure is growing up.