We drugged her last night...

...and as I watched her eat that delicious, happy pudding (yummy!), she was ingesting antibiotic and Benadryl. Is it OK to feel bad about that? She's fighting a sinus infection. Sometimes she'll happily take her medicine straight. Other times, she'll walk away and come back for it when she's good and ready. Last night I didn't feel like playing around. We doped her yummy vanilla pudding with her meds and I watched her happily gulp down the concoction her loving, trusting mommy just gave her.

Something about the whole ordeal made me feel a little guilty.
Paul: "You're just making the medicine taste better!"

Yeah, that's it, right? Just making it taste better...I think I was stunned at so naturally trusting she is of her mommy and daddy. I mean, ofcourse she's supposed to be. Most mommies and daddies love their little ones. Some mommies and daddies do terrible harm to their little ones. But the little ones are wired to love and trust their parents (and throw tantrums and be uncooperative too, ofcourse). She had no idea I was drugging her. I think this is what made it a little more weird in my mind than giving her the medicine straight up. In fact, I was kinda shocked I was thinking any of this at all.

But she just ate up that yummy pudding.

And then she got sleepy. And that was even more super weird.

The effects of the poison.

I think I hate Benadryl.

Here you go!

Spacemama: Anna, will you bring daddy this napkin?
Anna to SpaceDaddy: "Here you go!"

Spacemama to SpaceDaddy: Did she just say "here you go?"

Cute.

*******

Tonight she actually slept hard enough for me to clip her long claws without me having to duck and run, flashlight covered, which is the usual light-sleeper tossing and turning I face during sleep-based nail-trimming attempts.

She is still extra clingy, especially to me, but on several occasions she's wanted BOTH of us present. She hasn't had any sleeping and nap issues (separation anxiety) and her nose is clearing up some. I made it to the parent's chapel at her school yesterday, just in time to make it back to NASA for an important meeting. Remind me to post pictures on Monday of the Anna at parent's chapel last year versus this year. It's amazing how fast these little boogers develop.

My head has still been hurting off and on with the sinus infection but I think it's improving. It's a good thing Anna has still been the awesomely happy, goofy, silly toddler she has since we've all reunited. I wonder if her good behavior is a honeymoon phase, sure to resort back to defiant, uncooperative toddler as soon as the routine and apparent boredom sets back in. You know, the kind you slowly sink back into once reality hits after a really great vacation.

She also understands TONS of what I say to her, including following my directions, even if I think she won't and I say it anyway. That includes discipline. She definitely knows when she's busted.


The weather here has been mercifully cool, and beautiful! It's almost enough to tempt us into attempting a zoo visit tomorrow, but we'll see how it goes. We still have Halloween decorations to put away, and floors and bathrooms to clean.

On that note, Paul doesn't work at the hospital (Weekends) for the rest of the month! Yahoo, weekends can be fun again!

I am still surprised and excited and proud of how well she did while away from us for several nights. This is monumental, folks.

I have noticed the last 2 days that she is smiling and happy alot more. Maybe she was that way before we separated but I am getting a good look at this right now. She was playing with a scarf at the Little Gym today and she was just genuinely happy. It's that big smile. We peeked into the back seat tonight on the way home from Cafe Express and she was all silly smiles. When she smiles, she means it. She is happy. We must be doing something right. Or at least she's OK with it.

The up-side to a sinus infection...

...is that nothing has any flavor.

No taste = why bother to eat = wow, look at the scale move.

Nice!

We're home! Did you miss us?

Last night was a battle between good and evil within my own head. That is, the bacteria happily living in my fluid-filled sinuses were not about to be taken down by the antibiotics without a fight. For 2 or 3 weeks I've been fighting congestion in my head and chest. While we were on travel, it was a bother but it didn't slow me down. But I realized I might be facing a sinus infection and saw the doc yesterday, who confirmed it. Apparently, green snot that lasts longer than 3 days warrants a doc's visit, according to him. Boy was I late! Last night was the worst ever, including a fever, painful sinuses, and I thought I might also throw up at one point. By 6am I felt much better, like the biggest battle is over, but still had a low-grade fever. I haven't slept in weeks because of it but I guess I kept thinking it'd go away on its own. Boy am I ready for a good night's sleep. Did I mention this is the first sinus infection I've had (that I know of)?

In fact, like mother like daughter. It turns out Anna has one too. ANOTHER one. So AGAIN she is on antibiotics. I don't understand where all of the fluid is coming from. Did we both start with a cold that turned into this or did it stem from allergies? Judging from the deep cough the three of us have (and doc said mild bronchitis for me and Paul, actually), my guess is a cold. But who knows. I just want this all to GO AWAY.

Anna also has 4 happy canines that have just poked through the gums and she is actually a pretty happy little toddler. She had such a great time with Paul's family and all their cousins, she has been nothing but all smiles and cooperation since we got home yesterday. I guess she needed a vacation too :) She even knows more words and is stringing them together to make sentences. Before we left she could count to 6 and last night she counted to 13 (going up the steps) all by herself. She seems to have a sharper sense of humor and is really into giving out hugs. Whether she picked this up while there or it's just an example of how fast she's developing is beyond me! I can actually have a funny conversation with her. This morning I asked her if she was ready to go back to school and she starts rattling off the kids' names in her class. She hadn't forgotten! And her words and names are very clear, just like a little person. That has freaked me out entirely! You are really going to talk to me one day for real...one day you will have an intelligent conversation with me and there will be no fooling you about anything that I can fool you about today...

I have zero experience here but I'd swear we have a two year old. She's 20 months.

This morning I tried to wipe her green booger nose and she refused, arms pushing me away. My response was, "my, you're swinging at that one, aren't you!" She got up off the floor, "swinging, swinging, swinging!"Me confused at what she was asking, she grabbed my hand and took me over to the back door to point at her swing in the back yard! SWINGING, get it? Hahahaha. Too bad, it was raining and we had to go to school.

In the last 24 hours the fact that she's such a big girl has just been proven over and over. We were away from her for4.5 days, during a time which she didn't really ask about us and didn't even have problems sleeping at night or going down for a nap (that I know of). I am HAPPY about that. I am NOT sad she didn't seem to miss us. I would like to think she forgot all about us! She played with her cousins and her grandparents and the dog. I don't know all the details of her visit, I am sure they'll come out in time, but I can tell that she was busy, busy. She even napped in the stroller a few times while they were out shopping, which is beyond my belief. I have only known her to fall asleep in the stroller once in her life: after a hard few hours of play at Disney World when she was 14 months old. It's good that Paul's mom is busy and took Anna with her everywhere. To my discredit (I suppose), I don't take Anna all around town. First of all, I hate to shop in general. If I have to do it, I do it quick and by myself. Second of all I hate to encroach on her nap time because as a baby I learned quickly she just couldn't shut out the stimulus coming at her in public to be able to relax and just fall asleep. Instead, she'd scream and squirm till I got her home to sleep. Paul's mom pushed Anna's boundaries, both knowingly and unknowingly, which rocks because it gave Anna a chance to experience new things and for me to know she is in fact getting more and more flexible. Like a big girl.

Remember I am new at this so anything off-routine surprises me...

When she saw us again, she seemed happy and has asked for extra hugs alot more since. This morning as Paul was leaving, she asked for a group hug. It was really, really sweet and cute.

She is all smiles, and pretty easy-going right now. She seems to be handling the interruption in her routine. She has been a little clingy to me at home, but it's OK. If I leave the room, she cries and chases me. This morning she held it together at drop off, and last night she went to bed and slept without problems other than the occasional wake-up, crying out about what seemed to be due to disorientation..."oh yeah, I'm back at home now".

I love the fact that she's turning into a little person all her own, complete with a wonderful sense of humor. She even gets my little jokes.

I am so glad our separation worked out so great. I do think she had fun, and so did we in Colorado. In this way I wish we had more local family so Anna didn't get so bored with just mommy and daddy around. At least I think she is making friends at school. Or at least knows their name. When I dropped her off this morning, Reese came up to her and they grabbed each other's hands, both with big smiles on their faces. How cute is that?

Well, on to catching up at home and at work. Welcome back to reality!

Lift Off

Well, today's the day. Spacedaddy and I are sitting in the Lafayette airport waiting for our plane to leave. Anna was having lots of fun with her cousins and the rest of the family. She did cry when we left but it wasn't too bad. That's just typical Anna. In fact she was enjoying herself so much she wanted nothing to do with me and my lame attempts in the last 24 hours of routine Anna care: changing her diaper elicted glorious tantrums in front of everyone, forcing me to power through...thanks for making me look good in front of the in-laws ;). Forget changing her clothes, who has time for that? (tantrum galore). Yet this morning:

Nanee: Anna, will you go with momma to change your diaper?
Anna: Yes! (head nodding)

And the little booger trots into the bedroom without a peep.

Little. Booger. GGgrrrrr....But honestly I hope it's as easy for Nanee the rest of the week. Several experienced moms have told me they'll be on their best behavior away from mom and dad. Good! I hope so!

After a 2 hour family meal at Olive Garden last night, Anna got to bed around 9:30. She didn't go down easy...Spacedaddy had to lay down next to her pack and play. But it was quick and baby slept through the night, even through the apparently new cough that's started. She slept. I did not. Typical. I listened to her cough and I worried over it. Then I heard her giggle in her sleep. These guys do dream. How cute.

Four teeth are showing. Count 'em. 4. Teething, snot, cough, travel...all good combo. At least she is in great spirits. She's supposed to be napping now. I wonder if she is? Spacedaddy's holding back on calling...we are just so curious.

Anyway, here we are at the airport. Our plane has left us. We volunteered to stay. Well, only for another 2 hours. Delta gave us each $400 vouchers for future use if we gave up our flight today. Sure! We have no real agenda. On top of that, they gave us first class on our way to Denver. Aahhhhh...Did I mention these tickets that we're using today are already free due to Paul's American Express point rewards? It's a good thing because flying out of Lafayette was way convenient and costly if we were to pay for it. It's a tiny airport.

Life can be good. Or maybe it's one big dose of good karma for us. We'll take it!

Actually I think it's Delta's way of making up for the crap they did to me earlier this year. I was coming back from a speaking engagement at a college in the upper penninsula of Michigan. An island. With a tiny airport and 2 gates. My plane left at 7am. I showed up at 6:35. I stood in line behind a family in tears when one of the members told me good luck trying to get onto this flight. What? Apparently Delta has this 30 min rule. If you are even there one minute behind the 30 min pre-flight time, they shut you out. Even if you're there with all your bags and everyone else is still going through security watching you, feeling bad for you standing there. As you watch them seriously close the plane up, even though your seat is empty, Delta has no empathy for lack of punctuality. Because the plane only leaves that island once per day, and I'd already dumped my rental car keys into a lock box at the closed rental car place, I hitched a ride with that nice little family (Canadians who decided to drive to their destination in Chicago) to Lansing, where I then picked up a rental car, drove to the Detroit airport and whined till they got me on a flight to Houston that night. I had to get to Houston because we were going to Colorado the next day. The Delta operator on the phone wanted to charge me $1000 for new tickets since I "missed" my flight in the UP. It's different when you show up at the airport like: HELP ME. They did for a $25 fee. But I was this close to starting up a I HATE DELTA.COM website. Today they made up for the whole incident. But Southwest is still our first choice.

And Spacedaddy just confirmed with Nanee that she is eating buscuits with honey and butter with her fun cousins. Not sleeping. Seriously, honey?

T-2 Days...

Tomorrow we head to Lafayette with Anna. Saturday Paul and I get on a plane to Colorado and leave her with his parents for 4 nights.

Last night we had to go up to help her out twice when she cried and couldn't find her paci. Normally she'll just find it herself or leave it out. But right now with the teething, this action is pretty typical. She whimpered in her sleep a few more times through the night. I was up for good at 4:30am. She was up for good at 6:30. Still too early but in addition to the teething, her little internal clock is still working out daylight savings time. Apparently so is mine.

This morning:thick, runny nose. Blachhhh...ick. That goes for both of us, although I can wipe my own with less struggle than wiping hers! She doesn't mind too much, she just doesn't want to be bothered by it as often as I'd like. She will actually blow her nose if you ask her to blow. That's awesome. Alternatively I can give her her own kleenex and she'll wipe her own nose. It's less tidy but a bonus nonetheless.

Someone just told me it's ragweed time. I hope that's all this is. I was NEVER sick till I moved to Houston.

Getting into her carseat (thanks to Paul, she can climb in by herself, which is nice at 27 lbs): "Ice Ice Baby....bababababababada". It cracks me up. That is so Paul.

On the way to school she spots a bird, buses, more buses, rocket ships, cows. I am sure to repeat them back or else she'll shout them louder and louder.

At school, she struts down the hall to her classroom, enters like: I'm HERE! Big smile. Miss P calls her over and she runs over to Miss P and climbs into her lap. She fist bumps me and Miss P bye bye and I am out the door, both of us all smiles. I'll pick her up at noon.

And it seems we have at least 3...

...canine teeth coming in at once, that is. Teething...yes. We saw one bottom left poking right through the gum tonight. That explains the early wake up and crying in her sleep. Paul thinks she's getting all 4 at once. I definitely have seen 2, maybe 3. With what must be a good bit of pain, I am reminded why we don't remember stuff from being this young. I just stare at her to marvel how well she's actually handling the situation. She hasn't been around long enough to learn how to be a complete sissy about it like an adult might be. You go, girl!

A day of prayers and Vanilla Ice

Drop-off was again all smiles. She actually struts right into the class, puts a big smile on her face, and pretty much says hey...then she changes her mind and clings to me but no tears. One of her teachers will come over and we'll distract her with a tickle or "fist bump" and she'll go to her teacher and smile and say bye bye as I leave. This is wonderful. Just in time to throw that out the window when we shake up her little routine with travel for a whole week...

Anyway, CS told me today that when she dropped off her daughter in Anna's classroom, they were settling in for snack time. She was pleased to see all the kiddos sitting at the table, praying (remember, this is a Christian-based school). Anna too? Wow. I asked her teacher afterwards, who told me they sit at the table, tell everyone to put their hands together, and they say the whole God is Good...thank you....food...Amen prayer.

In the car I asked Anna to put her hands together and pray. She put her little hands together and waited for me to say the prayer. It was really adorable and sweet. Really. Then she made me say it over and over again. She didn't attempt it herself, except for "Amen."

What freaks me out is what she's learning that I didn't know she's learning at school. What else does she know?

Like I just learned, also from CS that she and her class walks to and from their classroom holding onto a rope with little handles. Wasn't she just in the bye-bye buggy 8 months ago, and then the wagon over the summer? Now she's following walking rules? How cool is that? I haven't seen her in action yet but I'm looking forward to it.

She also has this recent obsession with Ice (maybe the teething?). She will shout for ICE! ICE! ICE! We used to give her the ice but now she's content with a frozen teether (saves the cold, wet fingers I guess). Anyway, lately Paul and I would follow her ICE ICE up with "Baby" to the tune of the Vanilla Ice song. She got me good tonight: she did her own version:
"Ice, baby...dadadadadadadada"

Over and over. Giggles all around. I can't believe the stuff she picks up...

T-3 Days...

...till we leave Anna with Paul's parents for 4 nights while we're across the country in Colorado.

Yesterday her ear started leaking fluid again. It's not an infection. It's just the reason she got the tubes in the first place: to leak the chronic build up. So it's gross but it's not bad.

Today her ear wasn't leaking, but her nose was. Alot. And it was yellowish, looking like it could turn green by tomorrow. And it was flowing. I too have congestion and a sore throat. I wonder if her throat is sore too? This morning she woke around 5:30 am crying in her sleep. She was up for the day at 6:15. She doesn't usually cry in her sleep, and she usually sleeps till almost the new 7am. So what gives?

A cold?
The teething?

So now we face a possible cold + teething + travel + where's mommy and daddy while we're gone. All sleep-depriving symptoms piled on top of each other, when individually they're bad enough. I hope Nanee is prepared for some potentially sleepless nights and a clingy toddler by day.

With the ear infection and previous recent travel and the teething, we've back-slid on the paci progress. She is once again demanding the paci in the car. So she gets it for now (in addition to sleep). After the holidays/travel/teething are over, we'll start again.

Yucky, baby! Paci is YUCKY!
She just laughs when I say that. Blahhh....

Lovin DaMomma

http://damomma.com/2008/11/04/vote-part-ii

Yes, I voted...here's my soap box

I am a registered Independent. To the Republicans who know me, that somehow makes me a "Stinking Democrat". To the democrats who know me, I'm just Tara. Why do the Republicans feel so strongly about me not being a Republican? It boggles my mind that you have to "choose" a camp. Why do I need to "belong"? Why can't I take a non-biased look at the issues on both sides and choose my own way? Why can't I decide that George Bush has done a sucky job the past 8 years, just like we expected him to?

I want the war in Iraq to be done. Anybody care about the horrors over in Darfur? It's disgusting. Does this mean I don't support the American men and women over in Iraq? No. Does this make me un-patriotic? No, unless you're a Republican judging me...these days Republicans think this makes me un-patriotic. Yeah? Well, suck it. There. I am a federal employee. Thank you, America for taking care of me and my little family.

I am fiscally conservative, but at the same time, I do think we need to be taxed as Americans, until someone can come up with a better plan. People, if we didn't pay taxes, think of the idiots we'd be investing in: sucky schools raising stupid kids...the kids who will be your doctors, lawyers, emergency workers, and worse, our political leaders. If the rich kept all their money, they should be prepared to provide for themselves, from food to clothing to education. It takes investments as Americans to make America work. What is WRONG with people? Nobody LIKES their taxes being taken from their hard-earned paycheck to pay welfare to the guy who won't stop drinking and driving and find a darned job. But it's not a matter of TAXES, it's a matter of how it will be spent. So stop your complaining. You're taking "Share the wealth" to some extreme, aren't you? Really.

I don't normally blow up about politics because it's not my passion. It's the democrats' and the republicans' passion.

But Yes, I voted. This time I voted for the winner.

Space Ships

On the way to school this morning…

Anna: Space ships, space ships, space ships…

Me: what?

Anna: SPACE SHIPS! (pointing out the window).

We passed in front of NASA on our way to school, just like we do twice a day. Usually she shouts MOOOOOOO for the Longhorns NASA harbors in the name of Texas and all that's holy livestock protection. Not this time. She was pointing at the Mercury and Gemini (is that Redstone and Atlas and Titan II?) rockets that sit outside the front NASA gate. Correct me as to what's really out there, LW.

Spacemama is proud!

I've never loved falling back more...

I was so happy to move the clock back one hour, I ran 4 miles on Sunday morning before 7am. Sure, we were beat by the end of the day and Anna ended up going to bed by the new 7:00pm, but this morning I ran yet another 4 miles while Anna and Paul slept and STILL made it to work by 8:30. Yeah, baby. Who cares that it gets darker earlier? I am useless in the evenings anyway. This morning I felt like I could do anything by 8am. If this is the new norm, I am re-energized. I am going to finally start getting the miles under my belt for that Disney half marathon in Jan.

As I ran yesterday and today, the streets were dead. I had the neighborhood to myself but for a few fellow joggers. My MP3 was playing all kinds of music, not just the typical motivational EMINEM I usually run to: Peter Gabriel, 10,000 Maniacs, Paul Simon, Christopher Cross, The Eagles, Toad the Wet Sprockett...the sky was blue and the air was clear and the music was calm. My run was peaceful (albeit slow) but it was what I needed. It was actually almost a shame to have headphones because I am sure the birds and other morning sounds would have made me happy...if I were walking. But I need something to drown out the sound of my own heavy breathing, people. I do realize that the "serious" runners don't use headphones. And I will be forced to ditch the headphones in the Disney Half Marathon (rules). I guess the fact that my left earbud is going out on me is an indicator that it's almost time to let go. But I'm not ready yet.

With the new early daylight I can get my butt out of bed and get that day started so desperately earlier that I need it to.

Yes we have a Halloween Post!

We can't skip blogging on Anna's second Halloween. Last year she was about 7 months old. She wore a heavy chicken costume. She was carried house to house and people actually gave her candy. She was insistent on her 6:30 bedtime, which we dared to push a little till around 7pm before she started getting cranky. We went with C/M/O (TJ was in school), L/A/A, and my mom.

This year, Anna was a cheerleader. The weather was most perfect, probably in the low 70's and dry. We were joined by TJ/M/O/B, L/A/A, my mom, and her husband R. Aunt S stayed behind at our place to hand out candy. This year we got to watch Anna join in the fun with the older kids (princesses and pirate). She ran to keep up and we encouraged it. She ate rice krispy treats as she went house to house. She said "thank you" sometimes and I think I heard "Trick or treat" once. She got a kick out of one woman's cat inside her house. I think she thought it must be weird to go door to door to people's homes and get candy while people told her how cute she was. We loved to watch her do this whole thing. We were with friends and family and it was pretty perfect. She kept up till around 7:30 when we all decided to head to my house for dinner, where we were joined by L, CM, and Z.

Everyone brought food and we ate and had good conversations with lots of catching up to do while Ghost Hunters Live played on the TV (as is such every year). Anna played with the other kids and I realized how wonderfully busy it kept her. She was having fun. Around 9pm, she went to bed, and I dug through her candy :) Folks stayed till around 11PM.

We skipped the dinner at my place last year just because it all snuck up on me. Friends had moved away, Anna had a sleep schedule, and I was still a new parent longing for sleep. It was great to have folks back again this year, though a smaller group. We missed the others, but it was still fun as usual. One amazing change is in the kids. A, O and M are so grown up and Anna is not far behind. I remember when O and M were Anna's age. Crazy. It's happening before my eyes.

Before she went Trick or Treating, TJ/O/M and Anna and Paul and I headed over to one of Paul's friends' who owns a car dealership. The place was all decked out and had a few games and candy for the kids. It was actually really cool. The kids had fun and the employees took pride in their spooky work. Anna bobbed for apples:

Halloween bonus: With all the kiddos at our house playing on Halloween night, they dove into Anna's Leggo wagon. Paul glanced over and saw something shiny and familiar in one of their hands. There was the nice Timex watch I had bought myself back in May because I needed a nice watch to wear with my nice clothes. I knew Anna-bear had run off with it and placed it somewhere, but I figured searching would be pointless. Turns out I was right on both accounts! I got my watch back, though! Thanks SpaceDaddy and fun kiddos!

Now, has anyone seen the Indiana Jones' clothes? We have a naked Jones and it's not pretty.

...And yes, we have teething

I spotted a definite canine eruption this morning on her top right. Not nearly where we expected to find the first pop up, but there it was, staring at me as I was tickling her upside down at drop off this morning.

No swelling, ro redness. Just more drool the past 2 days.

No notice. And that's how it goes.