Mayhem

Left alone for approximately 2.4 seconds, Kate sunscreens the patio and her hands.

Hey, y'all!

Craziness. Insanity. Frenzy. Hysteria. These words describe my last 2 days. I still am not packed. Well, I am packed. But I am the only one who is packed. All of Kate's clothes are on my bed, some of Claire's clothes lie next to them; their suitcase lies at the foot of my bed, empty. There are toiletries on the guest bed, along with some (I now notice as I look over) of my clothes that I failed to pack in my suitcase. The kitchen is a disaster with dinner dishes scattered over the counters and table, and I believe there is still a load of laundry in the dryer. Instead of doing what I ought to be doing, I am sitting at the computer blogging and drinking a glass of cold Sauvingnon Blanc from New Zealand. I am trying not to think about all that I need to do tonight and tomorrow morning.

I am trying to think of all the things that have been going on for the past few days to make life so crazy. Well, besides the fact that I'm trying to pack for 3 of us for a month, for weather that will be strikingly different than what we are used to. We are going to Oregon. Yes, it is almost July, but it won't be 110* there (thank GOD), and we might well freeze at night. Really. It gets quite cold at night in Oregon, even in the summer. Add to that the fact that very few people there have air conditioners so you cool off your house by opening all the doors and windows in the morning when it's 50* outside so that by the time it's 90* that afternoon, it's still bearable in your home. But, I digress.

Where was I. Ah, yes. Mayhem. Claire has pink-eye. Still. I took her back to the doctor yesterday because the erythromycin wasn't doing the trick. Turns out she has a staph infection (not MRSA) and the strain is resistant to that ointment. Now she's on tobramycin drops, and I think she is getting better. But her eye is still red and slightly puffy. I might have to take her back in tomorrow before we leave if it doesn't look better. Yahoo. On a separate note, the pediatrician called me today to see how Claire was doing. I almost dropped the phone I was so surprised. I love off-base medical.

Before I forget, McLaren's stats for 5mo:
16 lbs 13 oz
25.5"

Kate is supposed to finish her swimming lessons this week, but she's not ready. Tracie says she needs another few days. Of course, we are leaving tomorrow, so those lessons will take place next month, (hopefully) right before Claire's morning lessons. Tracie wants me to get in the water with Kate tomorrow to see how Kate does with me. Also, my babysitter is in Mexico so I will have to take Claire to the lesson (it's only about 97* at 10am) and try to keep her happy (and cool) while I swim with Kate.

We got a new car seat for Kate. My main requirements were that the seat be super comfortable (her little butt is going to be in it for 4 days straight), and that it converts to booster seat. The best one I found was the Safety First Intera. I am currently having second thoughts about this seat. Not good, considering when cleaning up for book club the other night, I threw the box away. So. We put (read: Tim put) the seat in his car, as we are driving it to Oregon (tomorrow). I have an Outback, he has an Acura sedan. My car: sits high. His car: sits lower. As I drove Kate to and from her swim lesson this morning, I noticed that I could barely see her in the back seat behind me. I can't tell if this is just the fact that his seats are lower or what. I had to strain my head to see the top of hers. I also noticed that she can barely see out the window. This could make for painful driving up I5. Also, the seat belt on the car seat. I am not pleased with it. It seems really short. Like when you release the shoulder straps to get your kid unbuckled: there is hardly any slack. And likewise, when you go to tighten her shoulder straps, there is only about 3-4 inches of strap to pull. Not much leverage. The buckle part also bothers me. It's the same one that the Eddie Bauer and Cosco seats use, and is not the same one that I am used to (we have all Graco right now). It seems like it sits really low to the seat, so it hits her chubby little thighs, and I am pretty sure she is not a big fan of it right now. And, since I threw the box away, and since we are leaving tomorrow, it seems that we will learn to deal with these problems because I don't see that we have much of a choice. There is the booster part of the seat that we could add back into the car to put her seat up higher, but that will put her feet right behind the driver's shoulders and I have a feeling that she'll have fun kicking the driver the whole 22 hours we are driving.

And then there's McLaren's new car seat. It's Kate's old one turned around so it is rear-facing. And it doesn't leave much room for the front passenger. After Tim installed it the other night he informed me that he'll be driving the whole way. I really hope it's not that bad, but I fear that it is.

Let's not even discuss the fact that Tim went in at 8am this morning and is flying tonight so he won't be home until at least 10:30...and then there is a change of command at 0800 tomorrow.

I'll leave out the rest of the craziness of the past 2 days and let you get back to whatever it was that you were doing before you clicked on over here. I am taking all my camera hook-ups, so I hope to post photos on the blog, along with stories of course, once we arrive. Until then, happy 4th of July!