As Luck Would Have It

Ever have those moments when you're in the car, a million things on your mind, stress physically weighing on your shoulders, and instead of finding the perfect pick-me-up song you need on the radio, all you hear is commercials?  I know you've been there.  It's just the worst.  But as luck would have it, in the past few days, just when I've needed the right song to play, the radio powers-that-be have answered the call with the following:
1. Like a Prayer by - who else? - Madonna
2. Simple Man by Lynyrd Skynyrd
3. In the Still of the Night by Boyz II Men (remake, I know, but who didn't doesn't LOVE Boyz II Men?)
4. The Tide is High by Blondie
5. Hungry Like the Wolf by Duran Duran
6. Life's a Dance by John Michael Montgomery (I know Ashley can appreciate why I had a total mood transformation upon stumbling across this country masterpiece a couple afternoons ago)

Sometimes the right song can just fix everything (or at least lots of things).  You know what I mean when I say that, on some days, nothing beats turning on the radio and having an honest-to-goodness Jerry McGuire Free Fallin' experience.  In such moments, it can almost begin to feel like Heaven is a Place on Earth.

A Case of Clash

When we left the house this morning, Sara was dressed in a cute-but-practical polka-dot dress and leggings.  Apparently it was one of those days, so multiple diaper changes and about four outfits later, she came home wearing this lovely number: 

Oh, my.  I guess I'm getting a taste of what life will be like when she begins picking her own clothes.  I'm trying to remind myself, while looking at this picture, that clothing really should be all about function.  And if that's true, then this whole ensemble totally works.

Dry Skin, Discipline, and Something Downright Disgusting

Dry Skin: I've got a lot of it.  It's the worst thing about this time of year, don't you agree?  I put at least three layers of lotion on my face each morning after showering, and still, my skin continues to peel.  I wonder if I'm part reptile.  As for Sara and her eczema skin, I practically bathe her in creams and lotions, which she detests.  I keep telling her that moisturizing properly now will prevent wrinkles later, but she still squirms away when I lather her.

Discipline:  Nobody told us that the Terrible Two's might actually start around, well, one.  All of a sudden we're finding ourselves in the throes having to discipline our child and we feel so seriously ill-equipped.  We're not having major problems, just little things here or there that are requiring very a firm "no, no" and some little hand slaps.  It's also possible that we've had some serious stare-downs with our dear daughter, who is beginning to test every limit.  While I'm sure this is all to be expected, it's arrived sooner that I had anticipated, and it's definitely challenging us on a variety of levels.  All of a sudden I feel like this whole child-rearing bit is very real. (What wonderland have I been in for the past year?  Not sure.)  What if I make disciplinary decisions now that ruin her for life?  What if she sees me laughing when I'm supposed to be mad?  What if she decides she's heard me say, "Sara Noel, NO," too many times and shuts me out completely?  OK, not likely, I know.  But still.

Something Downright Disgusting: This morning, Sara woke up in a pile of vomit.  Funny thing is, though, that it was crusty ... obviously not too fresh.  She hadn't made one peep all night, so we have no idea when her purge actually happened.  Our lazy Saturday morning began with laundry, a bath, and lots of Oust air freshener.  After some breakfast, Sara was playing and carrying on as usual, so we assumed her little episode had come and gone.  This afternoon, we picked up Melissa and Adam from the airport (they were here on a layover on their way back to MN from Cancun); we ate and hung out for a while.  After dropping them back off at the airport, we decided to take a scenic drive home, knowing that Sara would probably nap.  As we were enjoying our drive and some Starburst candies, we heard the all too familiar vomit gurgle sound from the backseat ... within mere seconds, Sara was covered.  I'll refrain from going into tons of detail here, but - long story short - we pulled over, undressed Sara, and cleaned as best we could.  Then we raced home (with a window down).  Once again, after another bath, Sara was bouncing around like her regular self, though we decided it was best to call it an early night, so she is sleeping soundly now.  We're not sure what is going on with her little belly.  What we do know, though, is that the whole thing is Downright Disgusting. 

I mentioned that we picked up my sister and Adam from the airport today.  We did the same thing last Saturday when they had a long layover on their way to Cancun.  They went for a friend's wedding ... the tropical vacation was just an added bonus.  It was so good to see them for a couple of hours two weeks in a row.  What a treat!

Will You Be My Valentine?

Snow Day Play

Nostalgia

It's February in North Texas and we have snow!  When I say snow, I am not referring to our annual dusting that barely covers the blades of grass ... I mean an unheard of amount of snow for this region in general, let alone two weeks into February.  It's been snowing since 3 a.m., it's showing no signs of letting up, and the temp is continuing to drop.  We have about eight inches so far.  Forget the roads that are tough to navigate, the bad visibility, etc. ... it's so, so beautiful and I'm thrilled.  The natives are saying they haven't seen snow like this in years, if ever.  Even Steve said it's more than he's ever seen in 20 years of living in Texas. 

All day, the students were just itching to get outside and run around in it, and who could blame them?  Are you wondering whether I participated in the inevitable middle school snow ball fight that ensued at dismissal today?  That would be a YES.  I hadn't intended to do so, but nobody could resist the temptation.  It was so fun to act like a kid with the kids who were soaking up the rare Texas snowfall.  The VIPs have already canceled school for tomorrow, we're equipped here with sweats, fire logs, food, and drink, and we have no place to go.  I say, let it snow!

Got a Case of the Mondays?

Here's a cure: spend six minutes in Sara's world. 
I can't say it is super exciting, but it is probably better than whatever you're doing at work today!

So Long, Hoover

One of the first puchases we made after we got married was a vacuum cleaner, and our beloved red Hoover did right by us for a good six years.  But for the last six months or so, it's been going downhill quickly.  Even as it sucked up dirt, hair, crumbs, and a variety of other things, it spit out a dust all its own.  Additionally, it smelled bad.  We'd finally gotten to a point where our house was cleaner and smelled better if we didn't vacuum.  That is saying something.  After using more than our fair share of Swiffer wet and dry cloths over the past few weeks, today has officially been dubbed New Vacuum Day in our home.  We headed to Target and, thanks to G. G. Lou, we came home with this new Bissell.  It's so new and shiny, and it was even on sale.  You know how a sale just speaks to my heart!  I guess the only downside to today's purchase is that now we actually have to vacuum again.  It's been so long, though, that the chore can surely wait one more day.  I'll definitely get to it tomorrow. 

Sick Day

I was home from work yesterday with my first sick day in at least a couple of years.  I hate taking sick days; they make me feel so guilty (which is ridiculous, I know).  About midnight Friday, something hit me hard.  I don't know if I ate something bad or if I caught a stomach bug, but whatever it was, for 24 hours, I was in b-a-d-BAD shape.  After just a couple of hours of sleep, I did get up and get ready to go to work Friday morning, but quickly realized there was just no way it was going to happen.  So I succumbed, called in sick, and went back to bed.  By about noon, I felt like I might be able to stomach a saltine and a sip of water, but that proved to be a bad decision.  I was feeling a little better, though, by the time Steve and Sara got home, and Sara had fun playing with me on the bed.  She would stand up tall with her hands up in the air, scream, and then belly flop onto the blankets ... much needed entertainment after my long day!  This morning I feel SO MUCH better, thank goodness.  My total-body-purge encounter lasted almost exactly 24 hours, and they were miserable ones.   No signs of my symptoms affecting anyone else here, thankfully, so hopefully we can enjoy the rest of our weekend!

Something to Talk About

I know I don't necessarily have an obligation to blog, but I start to feel neglectful when I go for a period of time without writing something.  No pressure from you, just from myself.  Problem is, I don't have much to share in the way of news tonight ... life has generally just been life (with a couple highs and lows) around here this past week.  Nothing wrong with "just life," though, right?  So out of obligation, guilt, the desire to sit and write something -- anything, whatever-you-want-to-call-it, I'll indulge you tonight with a recap of recent events in the Casa de Brittain.

Last Thursday morning, in my haste to leave the house on time, I hit my passenger-side mirror on the side of the garage.  I'll admit: it wasn't the first time I'd done this, so I did as I usually do and continued to pull out, assuming the entire mirror would just fold back and remain unharmed as it ususally does.  Well, the mirror (or the garage or my depth perception or fate or what-have-you) wasn't behaving as usual, and I cracked the heck out of the mirror.  All day long it was just one of those now-I-have-to-pay-a-bunch-of-money-to-the-dealership-because-I'm-an-idiot-and-my-husband-is-going-to-flip days.  But those don't last forever ... and Steve didn't flip.  In fact, after hanging out at the dealership to get my mirror fixed Saturday morning, he took me to Bob's on Saturday night to celebrate my birthday a few days early.  It was d-lish-us.  I polished off my entire filet, my glazed carrot, most of my potatoes, two glasses of Shiraz, and a fair amount of our free birthday dessert, and then I felt miserble for the rest of the night.  But the meal was totally worth it.

Monday morning we were back at the pediatrician for a re-check of Sara's ears.  Her right ear is, yet again, infected.  We go back again in two weeks, and then we'll probably be sent on to the ENT to look into tubes.  I'm ready to just move forward with the procedure so we can quit going to the doctor every two-to-three weeks with the same problem.  Sara's such a good sport about it all, though.  She continues to eat well, sleep well, and takes her meds without so much as a puckered lip.  On the other hand, Sara has decided that it would behoove her to throw a huge fit during diaper changes recently.  Almost as soon as we lay her down for a change, she says, "All done."  We say, "Not all done," and usually a tantrum ensues.  I've gotten really good at fastening her diaper when she's standing up, rolling over, sitting, etc. -- impressive, I know.  Last night I told her that if she is sick of the diaper business, she's free to learn to use the toilet, but I'm afraid my suggestion may have fallen on deaf ears.

As most of you know, I'm a year older as of yesterday (thanks for the e-mails, texts, calls, etc.).  In case you missed the official announcement, we're due to have six more weeks of winter.  I've never found the groundhog's predictions to be incredibly reliable, but seeing as how I was born on his big day, I'll support him regardless of how inaccurate his shadow test may be.  I did have a nice birthday, but I've decided that Tuesday birthdays are just ... well, on Tuesdays.  I really prefer Saturday birthdays, don't you agree?

My mom made us these matching aprons.  Aren't they so cute?  Sara just loves wearing hers (as you can see, it was all the clothing she needed when she was playing last night).  We'll be donning our aprons later next week when we make cookies for Friendship Day at Sara's school!

Like I wrote at the start of this post, it's been a relatively normal week around here, though not without its share of stressful and hectic moments.  To close this post, I'm going to steal an idea from Kelly's Korner and list a few of my simple pleasures (this is as much for my soul as it is for your reading enjoyment).  In no particular order, the simple pleasures in my life that make the short list at this very moment include (but are not limited to) the following:
-big, wet, open-mouthed kisses from Sara (even when accompanied by a cough)
-finishing a great book (Melissa, you'd love this one)
-kettle chips
-listening to Steve sing, "Jesus Loves Me," to Sara during bath time
-Skyping with my family
-a cold beer waiting for me in the fridge after a long day (hey, I'm not here to hide any truths)
-watching my girl slowly wake up in the mornings when I go into her room and sing, "Sara ... time to get up!"
-relaxing in my cozy bed (which is where I'm headed now)