Tim's 'Heidi' Moment

I mentioned earlier that we played a few games over Christmas, one of which was Totally 80s Trivial Pursuit. There was a question in there that brought up a story by my Dad. I don't remember the question, but the story made us laugh and cringe. Before most of us were born (I believe Mike was alive then??), there was a Sunday night football game between the Oakland Raiders and the New York Jets, now known as the Heidi Game. To use a ka-ching phrase, basically what happened was that the game went on longer than expected, and when it was due to end at 7pm, NBC cut to its previously scheduled programming instead of allowing viewers to watch the end of the game. People were pissed. NBC got so many calls from angry football fans that the phone exchange crashed. I think the networks learned something that night: don't publish your phone number.

Cut to the Sun Bowl on CBS on Friday afternoon, a game between the Oregon State Beavers and the Missouri Tigers. Tim's a proud Beaver, and was super pleased that his normally 'doormat of the Pac-10' team was 1) ranked, and 2) in a bowl game. He came home from work at a reasonable hour (noon) just so he could watch his Beavers play some football. So we're watching the game, and things are close. The Tigers score, the Beavers score. It goes back and forth for most of the first half. Then, out of nowhere, Katie Couric comes on the screen for some 'breaking news'. CBS had just cut out of a bowl game to cover one of President Ford's funerals. Except that the news team was totally unprepared, and it was fairly obvious that they didn't know what exactly they were supposed to be talking about. There were cars driving up to the site, but that was about it. I assumed that the network would cut back to the game within a minute, after seeing that there was really nothing to see at the funeral. Nope. Katie and some other reporter stammered on for more than 20 minutes, finishing out the first half of the game. Tim was pissed. I don't remember the last time I've seen him that mad. He tried in vain to find CBS's phone number so he could help the rest of the Beaver and Tiger fans crash their exchange, but to no avail. He ended up calling our network provider, which gladly gave him their number, happy that he wasn't calling to complain to them. There were some colorful words that Kate did not learn that day, because she was napping. He never was able to reach CBS, but apparently some people did, because not long into halftime, they switched back to the game. And the Beavers won with less than a minute to go, 39-38. What a game.

On the Verge

Snow, I'm talking about snow. Not babies. Yet.




It's been hovering around freezing all day and has been raining like crazy. We lost power for just a few seconds just a few times last night, and our yard looks like Dorothy's must have after the cyclone. The radio says it's snowing at Tanque Verde and Catalina Highway. That's like 7 miles from here. If all goes well, Jess and I are going to take Kate to Sabino Canyon this afternoon and see if we can get some playtime in the snow.

On a totally different note, it seems blogger has done away with the Beta version and has a new version out. I don't know if I can switch to the new version since I'm already on Beta, but this quote on their website made me laugh:

I am overjoyed to announce that today we have o’ficially graduated the new version of Blogger from “in beta” to “.” Why is this significant? Allow me to explain via analogy:
Battlestar Galactica with Lorne Greene : Battlestar Galactica with Edward James Olmos :: Old Blogger : New Blogger

Ha! I'm not the only geek out there addicted to the show. Of course, that was written by a website egghead...

Kate is napping soundly at the moment, so now's my chance to get some painting done.

Someone Stop Me

Christmas Eve dinner.

Bunny goes for a ride.

Little People Nativity set.

These bath toys taste great!

Exhausted. That's me, as I try in vain to get more out of every day. I'm 35 weeks pregnant now, and I swear this kid is coming out any time (I'll take your bet, James). But I'm not ready. I still have to paint the bathroom (I painted most of one wall last week, and have decided that the color is horrid and found a new color today. I know, I have a problem.), paint Kate's bookshelves, wash baby clothes, move Kate's clothes (and Kate) to her new room, put Christmas decorations away, find a futon cover, and the list goes on. Tim thinks I'm crazy. I know I'm crazy, but I can't stop myself. I did not go through this nesting phase when I was pregnant with Kate. Last time, if you stopped by my house, you'd see disaster, with me lying on the sofa watching bad daytime TV or napping. This time I'm frantic. I've probably started 8 projects, none of them are done, and I'm tempted to start more. ACK.

Christmas was great. We had a late breakfast and a late dinner. Turkey, stuffing, potatoes, yams, the whole 9 yards. We played Totally 80s Trivial Pursuit and 24, the game (we have yet to figure that one out). We watched movies and played with Kate. Her favorite toys are her shopping cart from her Great-Gramma Donna and her My Little Pony singing book from her Great-Grandma Lorraine. We had a lot of fun with the shopping cart; Kate opened it at Jessica's house on Christmas Eve, and she was content to use just the yellow part as a push-toy before Tim put it together. Hysterical.

She is getting her first molar, and will not nap in the normal fashion. This is putting a serious crimp on how much I can get done each day. It finally cut through today, so I hope we're done with that for awhile.

Hope you all had a great Christmas! Relax, will you?

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas!

We spent Christmas Eve at Jessica's house, and Kate got to open her first gift. We'll see how the rest of today goes, but I think it's destined to be her favorite Christmas toy. She pushes it around everywhere, putting things like shoes (she's starting early) and her bunny in it.

Jess and Mike and Dad are on their way over for brunch and dinner later, and gifts. More stories later.

How big is Kate?

This is the best!

So True, So True

I get these weekly emails from Babycenter about Kate's milestones, and what to expect each week of pregnancy. This week, I opened the email about Kate and read the following:

Doing errands around town is harder than ever with a pint-sized explorer in tow. Being strapped down in a car seat or stroller is the last place your toddler wants to be: Expect an earful — usually accompanied by an arched back and flailing arms and legs — when it's time to buckle up.

Ha! So true! That arched back, the 'outside voice' screaming in protest at the horror of being chained into a stroller. The glare I get for putting her in there. Now, just add an 8 1/2 month pregnant belly and the crabbiness that comes with it to the mix, and you get some fun shoppers!

Kate had her 15mo well-baby check this morning, and is doing just fine, despite my concerns that she had lost a lot of weight during last week's illness. Nope. She gained weight over the past month (she's now 24lb 14oz). Must be the Christmas cookies. She had her first lollipop this morning after her shots; I felt bad for the screaming child and let the nurse give her one. Wow, did she love that. I think I'm going to have to wash the stroller seat cover now, it's so covered in sugary goo, but she was sooo happy until I took it away from her.

As for us, the house is a disaster (dis-as-ter, no kidding). Mike is finishing up the bathroom today (I hope), and I'll get to cleaning this place as soon as he's done. Dad's headed our way tomorrow, Christmas Eve dinner is at Jessica's house, and Christmas day festivities are here, including breakfast, gift opening and dinner.

Oh, and the Ducks got spanked last night in their bowl game. Ha! So sorry, Dad. Tim says they were still getting over their loss to OSU in the Civil War. =)

Nope, No Snow

Bummer. I was so hoping to wake up this morning to a light dusting of the white stuff. No such luck. But it was only 20* when I got up at 5:30, and even now it's like 45*. Mt Lemmon has snow, which I can see from my kitchen window - very cool. But Holy Mother of GOD it's still cold out there, with the wind whipping up a bit!

I think I am doomed to early mornings again. Last summer when I was pregnant with Kate, I woke up nearly every morning by about 4:30-5am and couldn't get back to sleep. Tim had to be in early this morning, and I couldn't fall back to sleep after he left, so I got up and puttered around the house. It's kind of nice at that time of day; no toddler pulling ornaments off the tree, no cat walking underfoot trying to kill me; just dark skies and a nice fire. Now it's noon and I need a nap.

I had my 34 week OB appointment today, and my doctor doesn't think I'm in danger of going into labor soon. Or, if he does think so, he's out of town for at least a week, so it's no harm to him if I do. He thinks I was just having trouble breathing yesterday because of the Braxton-Hicks contractions. Okay, I'll go with that. He did say that the baby had dropped, though, and she is head-down. So, my prediction is that I'll have her around 37 weeks, just like happened with Kate. Gawd, that's only 3 weeks from now. But! That means only 3 more weeks of heartburn! That sounds heavenly right about now.

Before I sign off, I must leave a note regarding the number of returned Christmas cards I have received in the past few weeks. People. If you're going to move, send out your new address. It's so much easier for you to receive mail that way.

Snow?

It's 4:30pm, 40* and apparently snowing in Vail and Saurita, which are very close to here. Jessica is over here, helping me bake peppermint chocolate chip cookies and is building a gingerbread house at the same time. Kate is playing with her Little People bus, as usual. And I'm taking deep breaths, glad that I have an OB appointment tomorrow. I'm only 34 weeks, and am hoping I have at least 3 more weeks before the baby girl arrives, but this breathing thing is making me wonder. The shower is all tiled, and Mike will be back tomorrow to grout it, tile the floor, and work on all the plumbing. I think the new bath may be ready for use by Christmas day. What a great gift!

Progress

We now have new wallboard up in our shower, and a new vanity.

Mike is starting to tile, and I think he still plans to be done by Friday. Sweet.


We had a busy weekend of parties and shopping at Lowe's. The squadron Christmas party was on Saturday night and we had a pretty good time, although we left early. No dancing for me this year, thank you very much. That's the last thing anyone wants - a pregnant woman shaking her booty on the dancefloor.








Kate had fun this weekend, too:

My Daddy is cooler than Britney, Mom!

Red jello. After which she needed a bath.

We also watched the last episode of Battlestar of the season, and Tim found this video on the web that had me laughing outloud. It's funnier if you've been watching the new BSG, but check it out.

When You're Tired

When you're tired, I guess you can sleep through just about anything. I am surprised that Kate is not crying in her crib right now. Her bedroom wall, and her crib, are pretty much right next to our bathroom. Mike the contractor is in the process of chipping tiles off our shower wall as I type, and is making a horrible racket. Yet, the babe sleeps. Yahoo!

Our bathroom when we moved in. Vintage 1971.

Our bathroom today.

Stay tuned for updates on the beautiful master bath that will be, all before Christmas.

Pavlov Visits the Hanoi Hilton, and a Casualty of War

Tim's war-fighting ammo.

We're done. At least, I hope we're done. Tim hasn't come down with this nasty bug yet, which means he probably will in say ... about 24 hours, right after he's done flying on Friday, right in time for the Squadron Christmas party on Saturday night, and right in time for us to start our latest project: Operation Remodel Master Bathroom.

But first. I did end up getting The Bug, but it wasn't nearly as bad for me as it was for Kate. I spent most of Tuesday night on the sofa so I wouldn't wake Tim up (little did I know he had no idea that I was even gone, he was so tired) every time I moved. I was in a sorry state until 4am when I finally got sick (sorry for the graphic timeline) and was able to sleep after that. I woke up at 7am, wondering if that was truly the time. Not a sound from Kate's room. Not a peep from Tim's room. I tried in vain to go back to sleep, and instead grabbed the remote and turned on the Today Show. Kate didn't wake up until around 8am (this from a 6:30am riser), and even then only wanted to lay on Tim. Luckily, he had the day off from flying, cancelled his 9am meeting and told me he could hang out at home for a few hours until I was better. Ha. He ended up home all day taking care of us.

We tried feeding Kate some breakfast, but she got sick. I called the on-call nurse and got in line for a call-back. Kate hadn't been able to keep much of anything down for more than 24 hours and we were a little worried. More napping on Tim's chest, and then she seemed a little better. Tim decided to feed her lunch, and I was down the hall getting dressed. I heard crying and knew what had happened. This time she got super sick, though, and Tim was overwhelmed by the amount of food that had been in her stomach. "Call the doctor back now." No messin' around with Daddy. I called. And someone actually talked to me, right then on the phone. I couldn't believe it. She told me that we weren't to give Kate anything for 2 hours, then start her on a teaspoon of clear liquid every 10-15 minutes. Then, if she could hold that down for 8 hours -are you kidding?- that we could start giving her small amounts of bland solids. Good God. That meant no solids until dinner time (later, really) and she already hadn't had anything to eat in like 2 days. Sounded like baby torture to me, but we decided that it was the only hope of getting Kate any better. And since there was only one pediatrician on base the whole day, we didn't have many options.

We put her down for a nap, and when she woke up, we started with the teaspoon every 15 minutes. She was pissed. I would have been too! She was starving, I was sure. Then, at about 4pm, I finally got a little hungry and made a piece of toast. I have never felt so much guilt in my life. I still feel bad, just thinking about how I was eating in front of her, and she had 3 hours to wait for a morsel of food. Mama Ho Chi Minh, here. When we finally got to the point where we could feed her food, it was a Kix every 2 minutes. Tim set his watch for 10 minutes, and everytime it went off, she'd get a teaspoon of Pedialyte and a Kix. I'm afraid she's going to hear alarms and think it's time to eat. Tim did such a good job with her, though, keeping her entertained while she waited for the next piece of cereal.

16 minutes worth of food.

The morning she got sick in her bed, she had all kinds of stuffed animals in there with her, including 'bu-eee' (bunny, duh). This is her favorite stuffed animal ever. My grandma got it for her when she was born, and it's super soft and plays a lullaby when you pull her string. I had to wash her the other day, though, and now I can't get the lullaby to work. Tim dissected her the other night, but to no avail. I stitched her back up last night and Kate hugged her and grabbed for her pull-string. Poor kid. But the bunny is as soft and clean as ever.

And, you'll be glad to know, after reading all this long-ness about Kate, that she is now eating many Kix at a time, and sucking down Pedialyte as fast as she can. And she's keeping it down. Whew.

Make It Stop

Many loads of laundry.

Warning: put down your muffin before reading this post. There will be a discussion of vomit, and it won't be pleasant.


Kate woke up yesterday in a pretty good mood. She sat down for breakfast and after drinking most of her milk, let out a horrendous burp and then threw up all that she had ingested. I thanked God that she was still in her high chair and that the tray caught most of the action. I'm still amazed at how big her stomach is. I calmly walked to the bathroom and started the tub, came back and undressed her in her chair, and took her to the tub and placed her into the water.


Last night she was having some trouble sleeping, and after she woke up for about the 3rd time, we gave her some Motrin, thinking she was teething. Tim rocked her for a long time, and then she fully woke up, good mood and all, wanting to play. We finally got her back to bed, thinking it was going to be a long night. She slept fine.


Tim's back on days now, and had to be to work at 5am. I heard Kate wake up briefly when he left, and hoped that she would go back to sleep. She did, and so did I. Then at about 6:40, she woke up and started talking. I usually can let her talk until about 7am before guilt sets in, so I pulled the covers over my shoulders and prepared to sleep for another 20 minutes. Then I heard crying, followed immediately by retching. Uh-oh.


Poor kid. She doesn't know what is going on. I ran into her room, saw the mess and went to the tub to start the water. She hadn't even had breakfast yet. Normally she loves baths, but I think she's starting to dislike them. She had a nice warm bath, finally cheering up towards the end. I got her dressed and fed her some breakfast. She didn't eat much, but seemed in a good mood. I thought I'd take advantage of this and head to the commissary because we were almost out of milk, and I was starting to think along the lines of 'saltines, 7-up and chicken soup', none of which we had. We got home, I fed her lunch and then it started all over again. This time with me in tears, dialing the squadron ops desk to tell Tim that he needed to not hang out after work (just in case he was planning on that) and needed to come home as soon as he was done. Line busy. Maybe that's when the tears started. Or maybe it was when Kate wouldn't stop screaming. Or when I walked down the hall to the tub yet again to start the water. Or perhaps when I realized that her crib wasn't made yet and I couldn't just bathe her and put her down for a nap. Luckily I'd had the wherewithall to put the sheets in the dryer before we went out. I gave Kate another bath, did a half-assed job of making the bed (do you know how hard it is to make a crib when you're 8+ months pregnant??), and got her down for her nap. I hope she gets better soon. Especially if Tim and I are both going to get it, too, like Katie's family did.

Weekend Update

We had a busy weekend. We spent Saturday getting ready to have a few people over for games, cocktails and dessert, and since it was a Christmas party I wanted to have Christmas decorations up. We strapped Kate in the car and drove to a tree place that was advertising trees from Oregon. I think most of the trees here in Tucson come from Oregon, so we probably could have gone to Home Depot and saved $20, but the people at this one place were nice and they gave us a military discount. Kate loved wandering through the forest of trees and exploring the lot. She found a string of lights attached to a pole on the tent and stared at it for a long time. She loves Christmas lights! We drove home, put Kate down for a nap, and began decorating. We opted to leave all nice/antique/glass decorations above Kate-level, and so far we haven't had any problems. We'll see how long this lasts.

When Kate woke up, she wanted to help us clean up the house, so she grabbed the duster and started on the tree.

Right before people began showing up, Kate played a round of hide and seek with Tim under the table.

Where's Kate?

There she is!

On Sunday we went to base to see Santa taxi in on an A-10. Kate watched, fascinated, as the plane rolled up and came to a stop. She thought Santa was great, until she had to sit on his lap.

Mommy, I don't like this Santa man!

Last night I had Tim take a photo of me (just for you, Carrie!) and my 'basketball'. He thinks it looks like there really is a basketball under my shirt. I told him it feels more like an oversized beach ball.

33 weeks.

Oh, and Jess found out that they are having a girl! She also had her due date revised to 2 weeks later - early May. She seems fine with this. Me, I would not be pleased to hear that!

So That's How it Happens

Kate and I went to the BX this morning to get a few things and pick up a refill on her Tylenol. We ran into Dana and Eric, and decided to have lunch together. Dana's been busy moving, and we've been busy...doing stuff, so we haven't seen them much lately. We were supposed to have the mother's morning out group today, but about half the kids were sick so we cancelled it. Eric has had a fever off and on this week, and Kate's had some bug that's caused all kinds of fun. We sat them in highchairs next to each other, and set food out in front of them on the table. Kate picked up one of her Cheerios and fed it to Eric. Cute. Later in the meal, Eric decided he didn't like the quesedilla he was eating, took it out of his mouth, and handed it to Kate. Now I know how kids pass illnesses on to one another. Gross.

We put the kids down to wander about the eating area for a few minutes before we left, and they headed to the giant gumball machine. An older gentleman walked up and put a quarter in and turned the handle, releasing an orange ball of gum down the chute. Round and round and round it went, mesmerizing the kids. Another quarter, another gumball. "One for each of them!" We smiled...and looked at each other, wondering if we should say anything about how the kids were only 14 months and really weren't ready for gumballs. The man walked away, and we removed the gum and ate them ourselves. The kids shrieked. I don't think they wanted the gum, they just wanted to see the gumballs make their journey down the chute again.

Hilarious

I have gotten a couple of funny referrals from Google this week:

• mistletoad
• nighttime stuffy nose
• egg nog being pregnant

I'm not really sure how Google does its searches, but that people are being directed to my website for these subjects amuses me. But that's what it's all about: my amusement. Woohoo!

Upside

December flowers in bloom.

Give me a June day when it's 108* and there's no chance for rain, and I'll tell you that living in Tucson is not my favorite thing ever. But this week has been gorgeous. Really, how can you complain about 75* and sun in December? Well, me, when I am hoping for snow. But the warmth has been great, and everyone seems to be enjoying it. Kate loves that we can go outside and play, Starbuck loves that the birds are ripe for the stalking, and my flowers think it's time to bloom.

All innocence.

Somehow, even with the warmth, Kate picked up a cold, and has been slightly miserable this week. Poor kid. I keep thinking that it's winding down because she acts so good for being sick, but then the next morning we get up and she's still got a runny nose. She's not eating much, which is hard for me - I just want to feed her and hope she'll get better, but food is not working. Juice seems to be a good thing, so we're doing a lot of that.

I got all my Christmas packages mailed out (sans sugar cookies, sorry everyone), which has been a great stress-relief, but found out that the place I ordered my crib from doesn't have it in stock either, and won't until February. Looks like we'll be hitting the baby stores this weekend in hopes of finding a crib that doesn't cost a small fortune that is actually in stock somewhere.

When Nights are a Good Thing

I used to appreciate Tim being on nights, when Kate was really little. I was tired all the time anyway, and when he was on nights that meant he could help out with her in the mornings before he left for work at noon.

Then we hit the latest round of nights at the end of October. At that time I was about 7 months pregnant and nights were no longer fun. Nights meant that I was the dinner-server and bath-giver. Dinner, fine. Bath, not so much. It's hard to lean over a tub with a toddler when your belly is huge. Now I'm 8 months pregnant and the squadron is still on nights. What the hell? Yes, that is 6 weeks of nights. A little excessive, if you ask a pregnant girl.

But last night was tough for Kate, and having Tim on nights was a blessing. Finally. Kate is sick with a cold, and she woke up every few hours until about 1am, I think. Since Tim was going to be sleeping in this morning, he took over helping her get back to sleep and I got to stay in bed. Heaven. With a little bit of guilt, but mostly just heaven. After all, it's after 9am and he's still sleeping. Bye-bye guilt. Thank you night week/month/season.

Cookies, Gifts and Snot, Oh My

How did I do all the stuff I did for Christmas last year? Decorate the house, get a tree, bake cookies, entertain Kate, send gifts and not fall asleep at the dinner table? Oh, right: I had a baby, not a toddler. Kate is into everything, and it's putting a crimp in my desire to be Martha Stewart this Christmas.

I started out by signing up to bake cookies for the base Cookie Crunch, a cookie drive that collects homemade cookies to give to the airmen living on base over the holidays. Since I was already making a batch of cookies, I might as well just go balls out and make a double batch of Peppermint Chocolate Chip cookies, then whip up some dough for the candy cane cookies, find a recipe for yummy mint brownies, and make plans for oodles of sugar cookies. Right? Right. To add to this recipe for success, I thought, 'You know, we should have a little holiday gathering, play games, eat, drink and be merry.' Got to get the decorations all up before then, clean the house, make some food, buy some alcohol, rearrange the living room to accomodate people, blah blah blah. Am I stressed? No. Just waking up at 4am, wondering when I'm going to get all this stuff done.

And then there's the crib fiasco. Target. I love Target, but they are a Gigantic Corporation and thus have their problems. The one I learned about over the weekend: they don't have the crib I want in stock, none of the Tucson stores do, and no, they can't order one for me. What?! We went to Tar-jay yesterday to look at cribs, and to order one because I figured they wouldn't have one in stock. That's why I waited till now to get one. Because I thought they would ORDER one in for me. Something about central warehouse/delivery issues and no they cannot order one in, but I can surely call them every week to see if they got one in recently, right? OR, I could go online and order the damn thing on my own, which is what I did. So sorry, Target. Hopefully we'll get the crib delivered by the new year...

Saturday was football day; the last day of regular season play for college ball. We (really, I mean Tim - I ran around the house like a madwoman trying to make cookie dough, clean, etc) sat on the sofa and watched USC lose !, West Virginia beat Rutgers (I thought it odd that Tim wanted to watch this game, but apparently there was a chance his team would play the winner in a bowl game), and then stayed up to watch the OSU Beavers play Hawaii. Okay, Tim stayed up to watch, I went to bed. The game didn't even start until 10pm! I watched part of the first quarter and then decided it would be better to sleep. Then at 1:30am he came into the bedroom and gleefully claimed victory over Hawaii. I cheered groggily.

We decided to go to the late church service on Sunday, but then thought better of it when Kate appeared to be coming down with a cold. We put her down for a nap instead of going to church, and were so glad we did. She didn't sleep, but she did vomit all over her crib and we were happy that she didn't do this in the nursery at church. Poor kid. Poor parents! Gross, cleaning that mess up. Thank you Kate for doing it when your daddy was home!

Now it's naptime and I need to get baking. Damn, there's a lot of cookies to make.