The Daddy Badge of Courage

We've had quite a time the last 24-hours. When I went to the doctor last week for Ellie's fever, I asked her about the amount of food Ellie eats and told her she could put down some serious quantities. The doctor looked at her chart, looked at Ellie, and told me that if Ellie was hungry to let her eat. And eat Ellie did on Sunday. She had a normal breakfast and lunch, but her dinner was a little over the top. We went to my parent's house for dinner where Ellie ate ham, green beans, mashed potatoes, Gerber pasta, strawberries, and washed it all down with milk. And after all of that, she still could have kept going. Sometimes I'm afraid that she has that disease where you can't tell how much you've eaten and the parents have to padlock the fridge so the child won't eat herself to death. I saw it on Inside Edition.


We made it home and she seemed okay, but then around midnight, she started crying... well, screaming actually. I went in there and could tell she had pooped, so I changed her diaper. Same thing happened at 1AM. At 2AM, she woke up again, and I did something I never do - I brought her into bed with us. She was being quiet, but all she wanted to do was stick her finger in my nose or poke me in the eye. And when I say "poke me in the eye", I mean she actually uses her thumb and index finger on her left hand to pry my eyelid open and then pokes me square in the eyeball with her right index finger. So she had to go back to her bed. Not happy.


I had a meeting in Arlington at 8AM so Lee graciously offered to take my car (where the car seat is) and drop Ellie at day care on his way to Denton. When he got her out of the car, poop streamed out of her diaper, into her shoes, and all over him. They dressed Ellie in her spare outfit (a pair of skin tight pajamas) because I had forgotten to pack a legitimate spare outfit, but Lee had to go back home to change (and he missed his meeting). Around 9AM, the day care called to tell me that Ellie had "round two" and I needed to come get her. This sounds great - but not so fast - I had to drive from Arlington to find Lee in downtown Dallas and switch cars to get the car with the car seat. And I should mention that I am am walking with a limp today because the back is worse.


I finally got to daycare only to find Ellie running around outside with all of the other kids in her skin tight sea foam green pj's and red and black one size too big aqua socks (she had pooped in her shoes). Awful. All she needed was a tinfoil hat to complete her crazy baby look. I'm glad she's not old enough to know she looked totally ridiculous. By the time I got there, they told me she was a lot better and hadn't had any more "problems". She was fine the rest of the day, so that's where she stayed. When I picked her up, her teachers said she had three servings of ravioli for dinner so she must be feeling better. Poor sweet Ellie. First she had the virus and now this. I will be monitoring her food intake much more closely now.


Aside from Ellie's chronic illnesses, Lee and I had a really nice anniversary last Thursday. He surprised me by taking me to dinner at Fearing's. It's a beautiful restaurant, but everyone there (including the waitstaff) takes themselves a little too seriously. Our waiter had a specific way that he poured our wine every time - very robotic with three movements. At the end of the evening/bottle, I asked him if that was the way the restaurant instructed him to pour wine, and he told me he didn't know what I was talking about. That's just the way he poured wine. Really? You naturally pour wine like Rosie on the Jetsons? That's weird.


I also ran into a bit of (un)luck last week depending on how you look at it. Lee bought me the cutest tunic from Tory Birch. When he got it home, he noticed one of the little mirrors on the sleeves was coming loose so he took it back to have it sewn. When we returned to pick it up, they couldn't find it. Apparently they had re-sold it. I was so ticked off. I called their corporate offices, and now I get to go back and pick out any item in the store. This is going to require some thought... I honestly just wanted the shirt back, but they couldn't find it at any store. As they say, the squeaky wheel gets the grease.

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Walks are hard work.

Happy Anniversary, Lee!

I want to send a very special Happy Anniversary greeting to my hubby... I love you, Lee. Happy #4! This picture is from our engagement photos. It always makes me laugh because I think it looks like some sort of print ad for a perfume.

Ellie woke up with a fever again this morning so I am staying home with her today. Poor kiddo - she just can't shake it. Her temperature was 102.2 this morning, so I took her to the doctor. By the time we got to the doctor, it was 98.5, of course. The doctor said exactly what I thought she would - Ellie has a virus and keep giving her Tylenol to bring the fever down. So that's what we're stuck doing. At home... not the way I want to spend a vacation day, but that's okay.

I also had an appointment with a chiropractor this morning because my lower back has decided that it wants to be difficult. And by difficult I mean spasm and become totally inflexible to the point that I can't bend over to spit in the sink when I'm brushing my teeth. She fixed it momentarily, but it's hurting again now. I guess that's what doing 32 will do to you. After the pediatrician and chiropractor, Ellie and I had a mother-daughter lunch at Celebrity Bakery. She's finally to the age where I can sit her across from me in a restaurant and feel like I'm having lunch with her instead of constantly wrangling her. It's fun.

Thirty-two

I turned 32 yesterday. Generally, I'd say there's nothing really significant about turning 32; however, my mother had me on her 32nd birthday, so yesterday, I was exactly half her age. And for one day only, we were a mathematical wonder because my age was 2^5 and her age was 2^6. Mom noted that she will not live to see 2^7 because she'd have to live to 128. Did I just loose you back in Algebra I? I don't know how old I was when I first knew how old my mom was when she had me (maybe 4?), but I knew it sounded like she had a lot of years under her belt. And I always wondered what I would be doing on my 32nd birthday. Maybe having a baby too? When I was younger, I wondered if having a baby on my 32nd birthday would get me into Guinness Book of Records? But which record would that be breaking? At the very least, it would get me one the news. But thank God for unanswered prayers because when I had Ellie, I weighed more than a baby elephant and wasn't wearing makeup... not exactly a look I'd like all of Dallas-Ft. Worth to see as they sit down to dinner. It all worked out for the best.

So how did I spend my 32nd birthday? The birthday I'd been wondering about since I was 4 or so? My mom has been keeping Ellie on Tuesdays this summer so she showed up early so I could go to work. She seemed okay when I left, but after 30 minutes at the Little Gym with a listless Ellie, my mom took her temperature and it was 103.5. Ellie slept most of the afternoon, and when I got home, she was doing better, but still sick. My dad came over after work and we were all going to go out to dinner, but Ellie just wasn't up to it. So Lee and my dad picked up dinner and we ate at our house. Mom brought over a little cake and then we opened presents. And of course, I gave my mom something she already owns so I'll be making a trip to the mall to return it... and that was it. There were no babies being born unless, of course, you count the work baby I've been having every day this week since I have so much crap to do lately.

Ellie was better this morning (temp was 101), but she was obviously not 100% so my mom came back over to watch her again. Poor Ellie. I hate it when she's sick. She conquered all of the infant room germs and now she has to battle a whole new round with the toddler room germs. At least she got sick on a day when my mom was taking care of her and not when she was at daycare. I was trying to keep her calm this morning so I let her watch Sesame Street in Daddy's chair. She just sat there with her Pedialite. One time she dropped her cup, squealed and pointed at it for me to come pick it up. What a life. The other thing that Ellie has been doing quite a bit of lately is reading by herself. If it gets really quiet in her room and I sneak in there, this is what I find... What? You say I'm raising a genius? I already know.

We had a pretty relaxed weekend since Lee burned the midnight oil all weekend getting ready for a trial that settled on Monday morning. Ellie and I went shopping on Saturday morning at Southlake Town Square with my mom and then went to my parents house for lunch and a nap. I got to the shopping center early so Ellie could spend time in the Barnes and Noble children's section and when we left it would have looked like the picture above if I hadn't cleaned up. She loves to grab every book she can get her hands on. As you can see, it totally exhausted her. The following picture was taken literally 30 seconds after she made it into the car seat. Shopping is tough work!

Eek-A

I have done an absolutely horrible job at taking pictures. In fact, since our trip to the zoo, I've only taken three pictures. I'm not doing such a great job as the official Bright record keeper. It's bothering me. And while we're on the topic of things that bother me, has anyone heard the new song by Kid Rock called "All Summer Long"? It's the song where he samples "Sweet Home Alabama" and then proceeds to sing all about Michigan. I keep a radio on low at my desk at work and every time I hear this song it sound likes they're playing "Werewolves of London" by Warren Zevon. So then I hear it and I spend the last half of the day singing "Aaaa-OOOOO werewolves of London..." and if you've never had that song stuck in your head before, it's super annoying. And it's not cool to quietly hum it to yourself either.

Things have been pretty uneventful around here. I picked up Ellie's proofs of her one year pictures and they're so cute. I love almost all of them which surprised me because she was rather uncooperative during the shoot. Now I just need to decide if I want one big one... the proofs... who knows. I'm glad I splurged and had a great photographer shoot her because I think that in 30 years, I'll appreciate it even thought it's expensive now. On Saturday afternoon, my company had a picnic. I really love where I work, but our office is one of those offices where half of the people are gung ho about getting together and doing stuff and the rest could care less. I'm on the office's activity committee, so it's discouraging when only a few people show up. But I guess that's true for most things, isn't it? At any rate, we had a really good time at the park and Ellie got to meet a duck close-up. Unfortunately, it bit her about 30 seconds after the above picture was taken. She is recovering, but we fear she will never eat pate.

Sunday was Father's Day and Ellie slept until 8PM. We went to church and then got the house and yard ready for dinner. My dad and mom came over along with Ben and Elizabeth. Lee's parents were out of town. My mom brought an appetizer and carrots, Elizabeth made a salad, and I made a pork tenderloin, spicy veggie cous cous, and a jello poke cake. The poke cake was interesting - you bake a cake and then poke holes in the and pour jello over the top. It was all very good. I made a special dinner for Ellie, but as it turned out, she loved the cous cous, so I could have just fed her that.

Ellie's teachers tell me she is totally used to her new toddler routine and even has a friend named Angie who is tiny. She may be a midget. I can't tell. Ellie is at least 4 inches taller than her. I wanted to take a picture of them the other day, but then the teachers told me something about not being able to photograph the other children because I didn't have a release form from their parents or some such nonsense. I can remember they days when there were no release forms... they were better. Anyway, she and Angie always sit together when they eat and apparently they eat the most in the class so it takes them the longest. Long after the all of the other children have finished, Ellie and Angie are there at the table together. Eating. The other day Grayson's mom told me that she was watching the children at breakfast and Grayson started walking around and taking food off of the other kids plates. Ellie gathered up all of her pancakes and held them to her chest until he passed. That's my girl.

Ellie added to her four-word vocabulary on Saturday night. I was reading a book from the Erwins called Peek-a-Who? There's a cut out that goes through to the next page of the book, but you can't see what's behind the first page until you turn it. Make sense? So there's Peek-a-Moo, Boo, Zoo, Choo-Choo, and You. I can now officially say I've memorized a book from cover to cover. So we were reading the book and as I was about to say "Peek-A... Moo", I heard this tiny "eek-a" from Ellie. Then I turned the page for Peek-a-Boo, and before I could say anything, she did it again - "eek-a". Then I called Lee in to hear it, and she quit doing it. But she's done it since then, so it wasn't a fluke. When you show her the book, she'll start saying "eek-a". I don't know that you can find "eek-a" in a Webster's, but I'll take it!

This paragraph is probably going to gross most of you out... don't say you weren't warned. For the past 2 weeks, we have had to completely strip Ellie's bed, wash her sheets and pajamas, and give her a bath because every morning a little brown fairy comes to visit her. The best morning occurred when I gave her blueberries and it turned her poo blue. The second best morning occurred when I gave her kidney beans, and I won't tell you what happened then. I don't know how to stop her. When I'm giving her a bath at night, she stands there with her skinny little legs and giant potbelly and I know where the contents of her belly are going to be in the morning - all over her crib. I have tried different diapers and different sizes. I wonder if they make a Ziplock bag for the waist down?

For all of you Dallas folks, you should try Cool Thursdays at the Dallas Arboretum. We went with the Hardemans on Thursday night for Danny's Birthday and had so much fun. We took a picnic and wine and saw a band called "Reality Bites" which played covers of 80's and 90's songs. There's a Billy Joel and an Eagles tribute band coming up soon so we may have to go back.

A Trip to the Zoo

Sometimes writing the blog is a lot of fun and I have a ton to say and other times, it feels like a job. And sometimes I have no time to write. I think a combination of those three has led to my late blog entry. I have two weekends to catch up on...

Last weekend, Ellie had her first year photos taken and I wish I'd had the chance to take some pictures of the scene, but she was totally non-compliant and only wanted to bury her head in my leg, so I didn't get a chance. I don't know what got into her, but she was not excited to be photographed. I have not gotten the proofs back yet, but I'm hoping that we got at least one good one so that we won't have to reshoot. After her picture, we went to Grace's third birthday party. Look at how cute that dress is with the three candles on it. I don't know where Leslie gets Grace's clothing, but she always looks so cute. Ellie ate pizza at the table with all of the kids and had cake too. Poor kiddo was so exhausted from the photo and the party that she I didn't even get to the end of Leslie's block before she conked out.

Ellie is doing a lot better with the toddler room, but she got pink eye AGAIN last Thursday. She's in a class with kids aged 1-2 so some of the children in there have a vocabulary larger than Ellie's which isn't hard since she only says mama, dada, ut-oh, and dog. When we got there on Monday, a few kids ran over to Ellie, started petting her and saying "baby! baby!". Since she's bald, I think they must think she's 3 months old or something. Then the lunch lady brought the breakfast in and they all started saying "eat! eat! eat! eat!!". It was so funny. They all sound like little birds chirping excitedly. Ellie can't say the word, but she knows what it means because when I ask her if she wants to eat, she runs to her high chair. Her teachers find her amusing because she can put down so much food. Yesterday they told me that she ate five fish sticks, mac and cheese and some green beans for lunch. Then she tried eating other kids' lunches. She must have been born with Lee's metabolism and my appetite.

This past weekend, we had planned on going to the Dallas Zoo on Saturday morning, but Lee came down with food poisoning from something he ate on Friday night so we kept it low key on Saturday. So low key, in fact, that I can't really remember much about what we did other than Ellie and I went on a long walk and then in the afternoon, we went to the pool. Late that night, Ben got sick so Lee had to help take him to the emergency room and didn't get home until 2AM... so it was sort of a rough weekend.

We did get the chance to go to the Dallas Zoo on Sunday. If you're in Dallas or visiting Dallas and looking for a good zoo, I would go to the Fort Worth Zoo. The Dallas Zoo doesn't even have any elephants and the Dallas SWAT team shot the gorilla in an unfortunate incident about three years ago (actually Jabari committed suicide by cop because he acted aggressively). But Ellie didn't really care because in the children's area, she got to see fish and ducks, pet a guinea pig and a rabbit, and harass a large pig. We got to see a cheetah almost eat a squirrel so that was pretty cool too. The zoo also has an exhibit called "Stingray Bay" and we got to touch some stingrays (minus the barb) and Lee fed one a frozen minnow. The best thing about big outings like this is that Ellie takes an awesome nap afterward. Her nap was so long that I got to watch an entire Lifetime movie called "She's Too Young" without interruption while I cleaned the closet. Awesome. Love Lifetime. This weekend is Father's Day so Happy Father's Day to all of you dads out there (especially mine)!

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I have been a bad blogger... Ellie at dinner