The bug in my tummy.

 Dani's had a rough few days.  She couldn't keep anything down yesterday, and had a low grade fever.  By midnight, her temp was about 102, and she could not sleep.  She was up, in my room just miserable, until about 4am when she finally got a few hours of sleep.  And that means, I got even less, as there was a Tommy feeding after Dani finally slept.  Welcome to the house of zombie.  The fever, slightly lower, raged on today, and she was out of sorts, exhausted, and still pukey.  No signs of a cold or anything else.  So Daddy told her yesterday that it must be a stomach bug. 

(No wonder she couldn't sleep, she was probably scared of the bug...thanks Big Man.)

 

Tonight, after she puked up her dinner, while snuggling with me, she told me that she was ready to get the bug out of her tummy.  "I just want myself to feel like myself again," she insisted.  I wrote that one down so I wouldn't forget it!

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, everyone else is great.  Tommy climbed the stairs today!  He also said "ut oh, spaghetti o" mimicking Tori in his mumble speak.  Adorable!

Pole dancer. No!

Dani is always asking me to take her picture.   We did a whole shoot of emotions, "happy", "sad", "upset".  This was my favorite of the bunch.

 Big Man and I escaped for a night to attend a Halloween Party.  His costume was sooo appropriate, because we hadn't escaped together in months!

 And then I blinked, and Tori learned how to work a smartphone.  And to talk fluently, like a big kid.  Where'd my baby go?

 And this one?  If I told you she was loving first grade, you'd believe me!  All she needs is her own cell phone in this picture and you'd think she was 8.  She's not even old enough for Pre-K! 

Where the hell did my little kids go? 

 I am really hoping this is not a foreshadowing to a future career.  She loves the radiator pipes. 

There's never a dull moment here.

Silly monkey.

Tori got ahold of a fun hat tonight, and pranced around the house in it all night, even during dinner.

 

 She was quite the ham.

 She was so happy she indulged me in a photo shoot, something she usually runs from!

 This one's at the dinner table.

 She is our little ray of sunshine.

Our little Tori-nado.

Big girls.

 The girls and I took a trip to the salon today.  Dani needed to relax her re-growth, and Tori was scheduled for a bit of texturizer--just a bit of curl loosening to make it easier to comb.  They were so excited!

Dani had been to the salon once before...it was Tori's first haircut.  Dani was poised and excited.  Tori cried and wailed, quite loudly at times, every minute the stylist was near her and she was in the chair.  She did end up with a cute new haircut though!

 

And Dani had a blowout after the cut--it will never be this straight again but she loved it.  I swear, she looks about 5 years older with straight hair!

 Here's Tori's new cut.  A layered, shoulder length bob.  Cute!

Thought this was a great shot of the just-got-home energy burn.  Dani had been still and good for so long, that the instant we got home she was a little banshee!

In other news, Tori is walking around saying, "You disgust me," because I let them watch Looney Toons last night and apparently Daffy said that a few times.  Nice, huh?  Thankfully she didn't tell anyone that at the salon, but she certainly enjoys saying it.  They literally watched the show for 15 minutes....so what gives?  When I was a kid we used to watch that crap all the time and we never said crazy stuff....she has a few minutes and is telling people off?  Damn you Daffy!

North Country.

We took the kids up north on Saturday to Dave & Gail's second home.  Dani was so excited, "Why do they have two houses, mommy?  Can we get another house?"  They couldn't wait for the rain to stop so they could check out the deck.

 

 Tommy had to enjoy the deck from behind the glass doors.

 The kids got to rip and run around a different house.  Dave and Gail cooked us an awesome meal, and we had a great time.  With Wes' schedule, and all the kids, we don't get out much.  We really don't get invited too many places...probably because of the chaos we bring with us.  It was a much-needed night out.

 Little Tori didn't have a nap--by about 7pm, she lets us know she was getting ready to go home and get to sleep!

 Meanwhile, Tommy was quite excited about buttons!  Buttons on his shirt!  Perfectly chewable buttons!

I got to look at his little belly all day...adorable!

Romper room.

Lawdy, lawdy, it's chaos here!  Three kids running in different directions and one of me!  At any given time, I don't know what I'm going to discover, from the benign, like a ripped pillow, to the random puddles of fluid that can be drool, a spilled cat water bowl, or any manner of toddler secretions.

Dani and Tori are eager to "help" us feed Tommy.  They take turns at dinnertime in the seat next to him so they can dole out (and sneak bites of) his finger food.

Tori the 'nado, basically refuses to smile for the camera, so I've got to catch her by surprise, or she likes to make ridiculous faces.  Not only has her language exploded, but she's mastered the art of polite.  Give her something and you're bound to get a "thank you"; she's pretty good at "excuse me" if she burps, but still announces, "I tooted" with a smile.  If she forgets "please" when asking for something, I give her a look and get a dramatic "puh-puh-puh-pleeeease"; on the occasions that I ask her for the magic word, the answer is always "abacadabra".

The girls helped me bake brownies tonight.  Their favorite part was the licking of the mixing spoons.

Batter face!

Frankenbaby and other silly tales.

It's Tommy...but with the scratch on his head, I've been referring to him as Frankenbaby.

I think we've got a solid Halloween idea there, no?

And this is Tori.  We had grilled shrimp last night (and broiled fish and tons of veggies--my kids will eat anything!).  Tori declared the shrimp to be whistles, and spent most of dinner making music with the shrimp!

This picture of Dani is unremarkable, except if you saw a picture of my mom at the same age, you would think they were twins.  I need to dig up a photo and put them side by side.

 Dani thought shrimp whistles were the funniest thing ever.

In pediatric gastroenterology news, Dani's headed to Albany Med for an upper GI series tomorrow.  Here's hoping we can figure out why she's such a little gaggy kid.  And while Big Man takes her, I'm taking Tommy to the doc for a wellbaby visit.  I hope he doesn't need a shot.  I've never had to do a visit with a shot...

One day. Two parks.

We took the kids to the Sassafras Park at the old Bacon School Saturday.  Sadly, now that the school has closed, the park isn't terribly well maintained; in fact, there were parts that didn't even seem that safe.  It always always surprises and disappoints me when people litter, especially when there are garbage cans around.

 The kids had a blast, however.

Tommy needed a nap, so we brought the kiddos home, but Dani and Tori still wanted to play outside, so I took the girls to the park down the street.  What a difference a neighborhood can make.  Here's Tori in the slide--good thing she can't read, or appreciate pictures of penises.

Not to mention the swearing, smoking teens paying no attention to the children in their care, who basically pushed and ran my kids over until I decided it was time to go.  Kind of a bummer.

We'd been to that park before and never quite had such a bad crowd there.

Funny words of the week.
Big Man and I are going to celebrate our 8th anniversary in a few weeks.  Dani is just getting the hang of dates and days and times and such.  A few days ago, she looked at him and said, "Daddy, you don't look that happy.  You haven't looked happy in eight years."  He chuckled and asked if she was sure it had been that long.  "Yes, Daddy, you haven't been happy for eight years."  Big Man erupted in laughter.

Dress Up!

We were given a bunch of dress up clothes and shoes for the girls!  Tori was as excited about the bin I put them in as she was the clothes.

Dani rocked the heels, dress, and hair bow, and thought her soccer participation medal provided the necessary bling to complete the outfit.

Tommy, always game, sported the pink tutu.  (You should have seen him last night in the leopard dress, gloves and hat--the girls loved it!)

He was happy to reestablish his manhood with a cool strut after dress up was over.

Daddy was happy about it too...he's not such a fan of Tommy in drag.

Are you ready for some football???

Sunday!  Sunday!  Sunday!  Big Man was happy because the Bears home opener was on.  Time for lazy Sundays, game food and family time.

 

Dani and Tori prepared by doing pre-game stretches.

 Tommy's contribution was to take an nap for almost the entire game...so he didn't make it into any pics this week!

 The girls brought their little table and chairs into the living room, and played while we watched the game.

It was a reminder of how nice it is to be back home!  And, how much I love football!

Tales from the DNC: Day 4, and the long trip home.

The main night of the convention was supposed to be in the outdoor stadium where the Carolina Panthers play; I had managed to get my folks tickets to hear the President's speech.  But, we kept having rainstorms in the afternoon--heavy ones.  I started to dread the though of sitting in a stadium for 5 hours in the rain.  Since the forecast was severe, the powers that be decided to keep the current location, and not move to the larger venue for the night the President was speaking.  As you might have guessed, with security like it was, we didn't exactly get curbside dropoff.  There were charter buses for delegates, but they could never get closer than 5 blocks or so from where we needed to be.  On Thursday, the big night, we got in the bus and it started to downpour.

 

Honestly, the rain made me feel a little better because all the folks who no longer had tickets probably understood.  And then, a miracle!  In the 20 minutes it took my shuttle to get me to the arena, the clouds parted and the sun came out--so I didn't get wet!

There were TONS of cool things...great speakers, music.  James Taylor, Mary J. Blige, and the Foo Fighters played live.  Big Man loves the Foo Fighters!

Great speeches--John Kerry found a sense of humor--he has apparently finished licking his wounds from 2004, and gave a kick ass speech.  The NY Delegation had a famous guest--Sandra Lee from Food TV (she dates Governor Cuomo).

Michelle Obama introduced the President, and we all just listened, and got inspired!  Because of the last minute move of venue, we didn't have the typical balloon drop--instead we had confetti launchers!  It was the most amazing, energetic crowd, full of hope and excitement!

And I was there, a part of it!

And another late night, and it was time to come home.  Thank GOD I booked an afternoon flight.  Due to volume it was recommended we get to the airport at least 3 hours early.  I took the noon shuttle for a 4:30pm flight...wasn't too bad, and had time to surf the web and relax at the airport--if you've ever been to the Charlotte Airport--it's really pretty lovely; lots to do, eat, and see.  My local news station met me at the airport for a story...I was quick, because after 6 days, all I wanted to do was get home to my family.  I missed them!

Tommy enjoying the slinkys I bought for Dani and Tori.  I swear, they all grew inches while I was gone.  It was a long time to have been away--sure we Skyped, and talked, but I didn't kiss my kids or my husband for six days!  I made up for it today!  Happy to be home, but thrilled with my experience.