Sick and Worried – Updated

Bug is one of the healthiest kids I know and when he gets sick it really puts both Daddy and myself on edge.  Yesterday Bug was supposed to have a play date with Baby Girl (the little girl I babysat for) and shortly before her arrival he started complaining of a headache.  I gave him some Motrin just before she arrived and within 5 minutes of them starting to play, he started throwing up…

Baby Girl and her mommy left and Bug and I curled up on the couch with a cold washcloth.  I made the room as dark as possible and had Daddy run to the store to pick up some Children’s Tylenol and some ginger ale since we didn’t have any.  Bug was reluctant to take the meds because he was afraid he was going to throw up again…he finally took it and kept it down.  Unfortunately, I couldn’t get him to eat or drink anything…which is very out of character for him…as is the sudden headache and vomiting.

It was late so we got him to bed and he did fall asleep.  I brought the baby monitor in my room so I could hear him better if he got sick or needed me.  He woke up to pee at 3 and still complained of the headache.  I gave him more Tylenol and got him back to bed.  He seemed ok this morning.  He was hungry, ate an apple, drank some water and some ginger ale. We laid in my bed for most of the morning.

Around 11 he was playing downstairs and curled up on the floor, again holding his head, and started to vomit again…thankfully, it was a false alarm and everything stayed down.  He seems fine as long as he’s laying down and is currently laying on his bean bag chair watching a cartoon with the volume down low…hey, it’s keeping him still and happy.

I called the doctor and they said it could be strep throat…he’s never complained of a sore throat, but when I asked him while I was on the phone with the nurse he said, “yes, it hurt.”  I didn’t see anything inside his mouth, though…I’m wondering if it’s an ear infection.  The pain seems to radiate from the left side…It’s either those things or a migraine…

Until we see the doctor at 2:45 I’m going to be on edge and I know that Daddy is very worried (he keeps calling me from work to check on him).  I’m hoping it’s something simple with an easy fix and that my little munchkin can go back to his happy go lucky self.

It doesn’t help that Darling Hubby and I are planning a get away without Bug this coming weekend and are planning to leave Bug with his Auntie Shannon…I’m hoping he’ll be ok by then.  I don’t want to ruin the fun for all involved.  He’s so looking forward to staying with Auntie Shannon.

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So, we are back from the doctors.  They did a strep test and checked his ears and both came up negative.  Dr. B is going to chalk it up to a virus right now.  I’m to call if he gets worse or if this happens again in the future (something similar happened in June), which might be a sign of something (benign) called Cyclical Vomiting Syndrome.  I’m not going to worry about this now, but it is a possible diagnosis if this keeps happening.  Honestly, I much rather it be something treatable like an ear infection or strep.

On the up side, Bug seems to be pretty much back to normal this afternoon.  He was pretty normal just before we went to the doctors appointment – go figure!  I think it was the Tylenol at 12:30 that perked him back up.  It also helps that he’s got food/drink in him.  He  ate an apple for breakfast, a piece of lightly buttered toast for lunch, and a slice of pizza for dinner <–his choice.  He’s also been drinking water, ginger ale and, per the doctors recommendation, Gatorade.  I’m hoping that this is the last bout of this…it really gets Darling Hubby and me worked up.  So, if you wouldn’t mind, keep your fingers crossed for us and/or say a little prayer if that’s your thing.

Cthulhu and Play Dates

So this weekend was fun.  Bug had a play date each afternoon and he had so much fun.  Saturday morning we ran to Joann’s to get some yarn for the blanket that I’m making for Bug to take to school and then we did our grocery shopping for the next 2 weeks before doing a little yard work.  In otherwords, digging up the 4 rose bushes and a hosta in my front yard that just needed to go.  They were climbers that were not in a place to have anything to climb and so entangled with this very tall grass that there was no easy way (read: a way without getting completely scratched to shreds by the inch long barbs) to clear out the grass without removing the bush…plus, I was never a fan of those roses…they came with the house…I want to find something else to put in that bed.

Around 4, our friends dropped off their son Little A to play so they could go to dinner and do a little Easter shopping.  Bug and A had so much fun, despite Bug getting injured by a thrown toy early on in the afternoon.  A little TLC and some juice and he was back to playing.  While they were engrossed in playing with some cars, Darling Hubby ran to Target and bought a Spider-man Bop bag so the 2 could smack it around a bit (it’s what they were doing with a hard toy when Bug got hurt (just seconds before I could utter the warning to stop before some got hurt, mind you)…we figured a $4 bop bag would be a good investment so there were no more injuries.  While no one else got hurt, there were lots more tears.  Bug must have been overtired because ever little thing set him off before A’s parents picked him up.  Needless to say, Bug had an early bedtime!

Sunday was a pretty lazy day.  I did a little cleaning and prepared for Bug’s second play date of the weekend, the little girl I used to baby sit, Baby Girl…She’s not a baby anymore, though!  She’s talking up a storm and she was so different from the last time I watched her.  The only thing that shut her up the entire time she was here was when Darling Hubby came in the room…she’s never cared for him, despite the fact that he was only around a few times when I watched her and he’s never done anything to scare her.  She just has a thing against him…Anyway, her and Bug had a great time.  Together they played with cars, had car races, played with trains, cooked all sorts of foods and drinks with Bug’s play kitchen.  We colored and read all sorts of stories and she even “read” several stories to us.  It was cute that most of the stories were the same thing over and over and had nothing what so ever to do with the pictures in the book…It’s something Bug has never done, so I enjoyed it while it lasted.  Oh, and they even enjoyed the new bop bag.

On the crochet front, I haven’t been working on the Gatsby sweater, not because I haven’t wanted to, but because Darling Hubby asked me to make him a “pin cushion” of sorts to use at work.  He picked out a Tiny Cthulhu and I set to work creating it.  I made the head/tentacles/body and wings according to the pattern, but Darling Hubby wasn’t fond of the arms and wanted it to have some legs, so we sat down together and perused Ravelry to find some other patterns I could use.  We found a couple of frog patterns and I whipped up a couple arms and some short stumpy legs.  I finished him this afternoon and took a couple pictures to share (although they don’t really do it justice.)  I think he’s pretty darn cute for an evil, soul sucking, terror evoking, being.  😀

Darling Hubby will take him to work tomorrow and show him off to his buddies and put him to use.  In the mean time, I feel justified in working on Bug’s school blanket since I finished an item for Darling Hubby.  😀  So far I’ve finished up the black (school roof, tires and door) and white squares (windows) and I’ve started on the red (school squares).  I have about 5 done and need 36 total.  I think I’m going to curl up  with my F hook and watch Heroes and Castle and knock out some more red squares.  I think I’ll have this blanket done in no time…I just have to keep justifying my working on it.  😀

A Busy Day Filled with Happiness

So today was a busy day in my house.  I’ve decided that it takes someone coming into my house for me to get it really clean.  Today the little girl I used to babysit for came over for a few hours this afternoon.  My house is pretty clean ordinarily, but I vacuumed all the downstairs rugs and Bug’s upstairs as well as swept up all the major dust bunnies that were hiding out in the corners, in the hallway and on the stairs.  My pets shed way too much.  It was good that I did because I found out Baby Girl has dust aggravated asthma.  It did feel good to get those dust bunnies from the stairs.  I was beginning to think they were going to mutate and eat one of my dogs in the night.

Anyway, Baby Girl arrived around lunch and we all dined on PB&J and raisins and then played for an hour in Bug’s room with his trains and various other toys until it was time for Baby Girl to nap.  I was surprised at how easily she went down for her nap.  When she was younger it used to be a battle.  This time she just laid down on Bug’s bed with her own blankie and pillow and was out like a light for a little over an hour.  Thankfully, Bug was good about being quiet downstairs while she slept.  It was really cute that he was listening over the baby monitor to make sure she was going to sleep.

Bug and Baby Girl had a grand time playing with each other and I have to say that Baby Girl has changed so much in the 9 months since I stopped watching her.  She speaks so well and so clearly.  She ate her lunch without a fight and for the first time EVER, let me wipe down her face.  She also had her hair up in a pony tail which if you knew this girl a few months ago, she didn’t even let you touch her hair or her face!  lol  She’s really growing up.

I did manage to get a little bit of knitting done today between cleaning and waiting for Baby Girl to arrive.  I did however notice that I made an error in my knitted scarf a few rows back that I’m going to have to go back and figure out how to fix.  I’m not sure I’m good at fixing mistakes though, so I’m a little scared.  lol  I also played around with the circular needles that my friend Rose (Happy Birthday today!) let me borrow.  I’m trying to figure out how to knit in the round as I wanted to make a scarf with no wrong side, but the needles I have are too long to do what I want to do.  It sucks because I’ve been trying to find a pair of 12-16 inch circulars and all anyone ever has is 29 or 40 inch.  I may have to try Trumpet Hill to see if she has anything….

Oh, when Darling Hubby got home, he had something for me to listen to on the computer.  It turns out one of his high school friends, Joe, was awarded the bronze star for his services in Afghanistan for a May 25-26th, 2008 assault when their unit was ambushed by Taliban forces and they entered a 3 hour fire fight where no American lives were lost.  Here is the on air interview of 1st Sgt James Meltz (Cropseyville, Rensselaer County) and Capt. Joseph Merrill (Binghamton, Broome County), as well as the written article.  I’m sending a big Thank You out to James and Joe and all other service men for what they do!

Video Games and Crochet

Today was a sleep in day…for me anyway.  Darling Hubby got up with Bug and let me stay in bed until 10:30!  He even did the dishes and made rice pudding and just after I got up, took Bug outside to bag the leaves that I raked up yesterday.  This is the last of the leaves off the tree so hopefully we won’t have to rake and bag until next year.  Fall is almost over and winter is on the way in.

Oh, a funny story.  Darling Hubby wanted to show Bug the little helicopter seed pods falling off the tree in mass quantities so he tossed Bug’s yellow plastic baseball bat into the tree, knocking some down.  I was in the house and he wanted to show me their new fun, so he banged on the window.  When I came to watch, Darling Hubby tossed the bat into the tree, knocking down some of the seed pods and I watched as the yellow bat sailed across the fence into the neighbors yard.  lol  Thankfully our neighbors don’t care if we need to get back into their yard so it was easy retrieval.  It was still kinda funny.

After lunch we just watched some recorded tv and then we played Ultimate Alliance on the Xbox.  I think I drive Darling Hubby nuts because I end up beating up everything in my path, which takes away from running around dealing with the villians.  My fingers are so sore from the last big battle.  We had to give up because I couldn’t feel my thumb anymore…typing this is difficult.  lol

I’ve been working here and there today on the afghan for Darling Hubby’s Grandpa for Christmas.  It’s coming along nicely.  I like how the 3 colors work well together and it’s going to be so warm.  I’ll have to take some  pictures of it soon.  It’s very thick and fluffy, too.  It will be so nice to curl up under on a cold winter day and watch some tv.  I think I may want to make one for me at some point!  lol  I’m loving the Q hook, too.  It’s so easy to manuver.  I should probably have it done tomorrow or Tuesday…depending on if I have the time.  Tomorrow is craft night, but I don’t know if I want to drag it with me.  I may just work on a scarf or something simple.

I also don’t know if I’ll be babysitting tomorrow.  A friend of mine asked if it would be possible to watch his kids as his normal sitter is being investigated by CPS for an incident and isn’t allowed to watch kids during the investigation.  I’ll also be watching Baby Girl on Tuesday since it’s a holiday and her regular daycare is closed.  It should be a fun week.

Back to crocheting.

About Me Meme

Annie tagged me with yet another About Me Meme, so here goes….A. The rules of the game are posted at the beginning.
B. Each player answers the questions about themselves.
C. At the end of the post, the player then tags 5 people and post their names, then goes to the blogs and leaves them a comment letting them know they’ve been tagged.

What I was doing 10 years ago: Ten years ago I was still living at home finishing up my senior year of high school, planning where to live with Darling Hubby after graduating and getting ready for life away from home at college. I really think that in March we were on or had just come back from our Marching Band trip to Florida (Disney World) for the Magic Music Days.

5 Things on my To Do list today: Since I’m posting this at night and really have nothing left to do, I’ll post what’s on my list for Friday…Do Bug’s laundry and fold and put away all the dried laundry from Wednesday, make a menu and plan out a grocery list, call our mortgage lender and tell them we are refinancing and to put a hold on taking May’s payment out of our bank account, do the dishes and make dinner.

Snacks I enjoy: I’m a big chocolate fan so pretty much any chocolate I will eat it. I also love ice cream. In fact, I’m thinking about having a bowl of mint chocolate chip before watching tv and going to bed

Things I would do if I were a Billionaire: I’d pay off all our debt (house, car, credit card), invest some, put some away for a rainy day, and of course spend some frivolously on things that I don’t really need or want.

3 of my Bad Habits: I used to bite my nails all the time, right down to the nub. I’ve gotten better about not chewing them to pieces, but I still have my fingernails in my mouth all the time. I have a hard time keeping our kitchen counters uncluttered. They seem to be the catch all area for crap. I need motivation to clean them off. I watch too much tv. I record a lot of things and then never find time to actually watch them.

5 places I have lived: I have only ever lived in 3 places. With my parents from birth through 18. I moved out about a week after my 18th birthday and 2 days after graduation. I lived in an apartment in the city we currently still live in with Darling Hubby from 1998-2003 when we bought our house.

5 jobs I have had: I’m kinda low on the whole job experience front…I never worked in high school. It wasn’t that I didn’t want to, it was that I didn’t really need to. I still got an allowance and I’d saved money for things that I wanted to buy…My first ever, real paying job was working as a Student Assistant (work study) at the library at college. I made minimum wage and only worked 6.5 hours a week. I then was hired full time as the Circulation Coordinator in 2000 where I made a bit more than minimum wage and had benefits. After Bug was born, I worked at the library on a temp basis when they were in a bind and after that I worked for a year babysitting Baby Girl. Currently, I’m a stay at home mom. I don’t get paid and most days I’m happy with the job I do despite the lack of income. Most times I feel bad that I’m not contributing to our coffers, but I think that Darling Hubby would rather me be home giving Bug good care then him being stuck in some day care where who knows what kind of care he would receive and me being unhappy stuck in some dead end job….I digress…

Ok, I’m not tagging anyone specifically because, well, I’m tired and don’t feel like thinking about who to tag and that bowl of ice cream is calling my name and I really want to eat it before it gets too late…so, if you are reading this and have the time, consider yourself tagged!

Done and Done, It’s On It’s Way & Getting Better

It’s done…my 2007 taxes, that is. Many, many thanks go out to my friend Bernie for letting me use his Turbo Tax program and for letting me upgrade it to the Business software so I could correctly calculate my self employment taxes for the “business” I “owned” while I was babysitting Baby Girl. Thanks to Turbo Tax for finding an additional $200 deduction for something we never would have found otherwise. So, the tiny (<– that makes me happy) check for the feds has been written, the forms signed and dated and the envelope stamped and sent. The state forms have been completed, signed and sent. I’m just waiting for my refund to be direct deposited into my checking account. WOOT! I’m also sitting and waiting for my whopping check from the economic stimulus package…until then, I have plans for it, but we haven’t truly spent it yet.

Speaking of spending, we decided to buy Bug a big present for Easter since we will be getting so much back from taxes. Leapfrog had a good deal on their Leapster game units. Bug loves to “play” our Nintendo DS, but there really aren’t many games that are age appropriate for him. So, we shelled out the money to get him one that he can really get into. We ended up getting the L-Max which was only $10 more than the regular Leapster. We bought a Finding Nemo game and got a Ratatouille game for FREE! We also shelled out for the recharger. Hopefully, Bug will love it and play it a lot.

Oh, and it’s being shipped by UPS…I’m not sure how I feel about it. It was my only shipping option. I’m not going to be very happy if they incorrectly deliver this package as it’s much more expensive than the last one. It’s supposed to be here by tomorrow. I shelled out for rush delivery so it wouldn’t be in their hands too long to make sure it would be here well before Easter. You can bet your tax refund that I’m going to be watching for the delivery truck and if a cute man in brown doesn’t walk up to my door with a package in his hands you can be sure that we’ll have some words. It’s currently in Philadelphia, PA waiting to be shipped to NY…

On another good note, Bug’s ear is looking much better after his fall he took Monday at lunch time. While I was on the phone with Shell I heard a crash from the living room and when I went to investigate, I saw Bug with a gaping hole in his right ear. Quickly getting off the phone with Shell I tended to the very unhappy Bug while assessing the wound and attempting to get a hold of Darling Hubby…it was lunch time at the lab, there was no one around to answer the phone…so I spent about 30 mins trying to get anyone. Anyway, the wound wasn’t something that could be stitched up so I got the bleeding stopped (t really didn’t bleed much at all) and the cut cleaned out and put some ointment and a Sesame Street band aid on it. For those of you with an aversion to wounds and all things rather gory, you may not want to look at the following picture. I’ve made it a link to the file so no one gets grossed out unnecessarily.

Bug’s Ear

Anyway, today it’s looking much better. I’ve been cleaning it out with peroxide a couple times a day and putting Neosporin on it and letting it stay open to the air so it doesn’t become a breeding ground for bacteria. He’s probably going to have a pretty nasty scar. I’m hoping that the Neosporin helps so it’s not too bad. Oh, and you are probably wondering what he fell on to cause that injury. Well, he’d climbed up on the radiator behind the couch (where he knows he’s not supposed to be) and fell off hitting his ear directly on the sharp corner of his little wooden piano. I hope he won’t be doing that again…

What’s Been Going On In My Life Lately

Ok, So I posted before that things in my life are changing and I’m hoping it’s for the better.

Last week was my final week of babysitting. I am both happy and sad about this change. I’m happy in that I’ll finally be able to get my life back on track in terms of doing my own thing, cleaning when I want, etc. I’m sad because I will miss both Baby Girl and the money it brought in. But, now that I’ll have my time back during Bugs nap, I’ll be able to post on my blog more, be a part of my online baby boards that I have been sadly neglecting since well before Christmas, reconnect with online friends and I can get my cleaning schedule back on track.

I’m hoping that with the lack of babysitting, I can also get myself back on a decent eating habit. After I started babysitting, my eating habits went down the drain. I haven’t been the best person to count on for eating breakfast, just ask my mom, yet I always make sure Bug has something to eat first thing in the morning, generally a bowl of cereal or a piece of fruit. While I was baby sitting, I’d have to shower and do most of my cleaning first thing (vacuuming, sweeping, general straightening, cleaning the cat and dog pans, etc) because it was all stuff that needed to be done before the day could begin. This left little time for me to sit down and have a healthy breakfast with Bug. I would normally put a cup of tea in the microwave and would either forget that it was in there long after the beep or be seen scarfing it down quickly right as Baby Girl arrived. I usually get hungry around 10am or so if I don’t eat first thing and since I didn’t want to eat in front of Baby Girl because she’d want what I was eating (I didn’t want to share…lol), I just didn’t eat. Also, I wasn’t always the best at eating with the kids at lunch. I’d stay with them and supervise them, but at the same time I’d be finishing laundry or trying to check my email. I often wouldn’t eat until well after Bug went down for his nap…usually around 2pm…I’m hoping that since I don’t have to clean first thing anymore, I can sit down and enjoy a relaxed and hot meal with my son. And, I know I can sit down and eat lunch with him since there is no need to rush to get other things done fast before the quietness had to envelope my house.

The other thing I’m hoping for is for less stress. I am starting to think that watching Baby Girl was messing with my stress level and my health, as well as my diet. I started stressing over if I’d picked up all the little toys Bug was playing with and put them out of reach. Did I clean everything I needed too? Was Baby Girl going to be exceptionally whiny today? Was she going to give me attitude when I told her no? Was she going to eat? Was she going to finally drink her milk? Was she going to nap well? I fully believe that my parenting style and Baby Girls’ parents parenting style were completely different. There are things that I just had to accept that never would have flown with Bug. Anyway, I’m not entirely convinced that my stress level has anything to do with, but I’m waiting to see if A) my stomach pains that I’ve been experiencing each month go away and B) I get pregnant. Darling Hubby and I have been sorta trying since last July, but it’s been a no go. I’m sure fate has reasons for us not getting pregnant yet. I’ll be sad if we don’t have a second child, but I’m just enjoying Bug right now.

I’m hoping things will get better for me and Darling Hubby in the relationship department, too. Lately, like I said, I’ve just been feeling stressed out with keeping up appearances, so to speak, and how my day goes that I just feel burnt out at the end of the day. Fingers crossed that now that I’m getting back on my own schedule, I’ll get better about being a snuggler.

As for the 2nd income, I’m not sure what I’m going to do. I’ve been doing some writing for Associated Content, which my friend Annie over at Fried PorkChop told me about. They pay you for writing articles for them. So far I’ve been paid for 3 of the 4 articles I’ve written. Maybe now that I’ll have a bit more computer time I’ll be able to come up with some article topics, as well as blog topics.

And since so much has changed in my life I figured I’d make one more big change. I’m moving. Now don’t start to worry, I’m not going to physically move from my house (I like it here), I’m moving my blog. I decided a while ago that I wasn’t going to participate in the big bloggy move that my friend Megan was a part of, but when I checked out her new blog it made me think that a change could be good for me, too.

So, after some consideration, I’m moving to wordpress. After checking out their site I decided it would be easier to use then Blogger, although I have nothing against Blogger. I think I just need easier in my life.

Come check me out at my new digs – https://sarandipity9702.wordpress.com/ It’s still a work in progress, so pardon the dust until I can get everything sorted out and cleaned up. Don’t forget to update your blogroll, if I’m part of it, and your blog reader.

Better Late Than Never Birthday Post

Ok, so this post is only nearly 2 weeks overdue, but hey, life keeps getting in the way of my blogging time. I think from now on things will get better in that department (and a lot of departments in my life), but first, here’s my birthday boy, who turned 3 on January 30th!

The little girl, Baby Girl, that I babysat (I’m no longer watching her) and her parents bought Bug this little Lightning McQueen remote controlled race car. Bug loves it. It runs around in a backwards circle and when you push the button on the remote control (very 3 year old friendly) it goes forward. He zoomed it all over the house that day (except when it freaked out Baby Girl,) and for days after. He also got the book Philadelphia Chickens by Sandra Boynton. If you’ve never heard of Sandra Boynton or her books, you should go check them out! Bug’s newest song addiction is the Belly Button Song. We also have the Belly Button Book which is where the song came from. Needless to say, it’s stuck in my head right now…

For dinner, I made Bug’s favorite meal…Spaghetti with homemade sauce. Here he was being goofy for the camera. Typical 3 year old…

After dinner we broke out the present. He was so excited to open it.

He got the DC Super Friends Green Lantern on a motorized scooter thingy…

He really wanted Daddy to open it…and fast…like the Flash!

Here is Green Lantern running around…veeerrrryyy slllloooowwwlllyy, I might add… around our living room with Bug in hot cold pursuit.

The only problem with the above toy is that it’s very hard for a 3 year old to affix the Green Lantern to the scooter. I’m always being asked to help with it, which gets a little tedious when you’ve got your hands occupied with something else. Then, it gets placed on the floor to slowly run amok into the corners of the room until Mommy tells Bug to move him…But, at least he’s happy and Green Lantern can now hang with his other super friends, Batman, Superman, and Flash, in the superhero bin under the TV.

All in all, I think his actual birthday was a good one. I can’t believe that my baby is 3 now. He’s come a long way from that little (I say little even though he was nearly 10lbs) baby that needed me to do everything for him to a head strong 3 year old who only wants me to do some things for him. I’m sad to see my little baby go, but I’m glad he’s becoming self-sufficient and can do things for himself, tell me what he wants and needs and is just all around joy to be around.

We had a mini party for him on Sunday, the 3rd with just my parents. I’ll post pics of that later on when I get the chance. That was when we had cake and ice cream, so fear not, I have pics of him blowing out the candles.

It’s Been Ruff, Ruff, Ruff

It’s been a rough couple weeks in the Sarandipity household. It started out like this…Last Monday Baby Girl was dropped off and she had a head cold. Nothing major, just a little bit of a stuffy nose and the occasional sneeze. I’m not too concerned about Bug being around head colds, cause, come on…he’s gonna have a zillion of them when he starts school. Best to get some of the minor bugs out of the way now. By early Wednesday morning, Bug woke up crying and saying his nose hurt. And it was no wonder his nose hurt…he had enough snot in there to sink a battleship…and I’m not talking one of the little plastic ones from the Milton Bradley game. He eventually went back to sleep and seemed ok come morning; Still stuffy, but nothing we couldn’t handle. By Thursday around 2am, the cough had set in. In the morning, I get a call from Baby Girl’s Mommy. Apparently, Baby Girl is having some trouble breathing and the earliest doctor appointment she could schedule wasn’t until 1:45. She hated to ask me to watch her being that Baby Girl obviously wasn’t feeling well, but she had a meeting that had already been blown off once and Baby Girl’s Daddy was out of town. I agreed to watch her and made sure I kept her and Bug separated to make sure nothing else was exchanged between them. She ended up taking an early nap and ate most of her normal lunch and was in good spirits, despite the breathing difficulty, when her mom picked her up around 1. Turns out she had an ear infection and just a bad chest cold. They gave her antibiotics and a nebulizer (which went over like a ton of bricks) and by Saturday she was acting like her old self again.

Saturday at our house the baby gate at the bottom of the stairs decided that it didn’t want to remain hanging where it was and fell completely off the wall, landing on the dogs in the dog bed below it…No one was hurt. Sunday morning, Bug decided that it was “I’m not going to listen to Daddy” day and went downstairs alone. Daddy told him to stop, but Bug pulled his “bye” routine and started rushing down the stairs. In his hurry, he tripped on the last 2 stairs and fell face first into the side of the plastic dog bed. For the record, the dog bed is a plastic storage container without the lid and a hole cut in the side. I was still in bed and heard a thud, some crying, Daddy going down and coming back up the stairs and telling Bug to sit on the toilet so he could check him out. I go running in there not knowing what to expect. Turns out he busted the inside of his mouth open pretty good. There was lots of blood, but thankfully it stopped pretty quickly. No loose teeth that I could determine. He has a slight bruise (very faint yellow) on the right side of his mouth and the scrapes are getting better. The inside of his mouth looks better too, although he won’t let me get a really good look. In a way, I’m glad the baby gate wasn’t at the bottom of the stairs that day and that the dog bed stays there. If it the gate was there, he probably would have bounced off that, too before landing in the dog bed. And, without the dog bed, it would have been a face plant on the hardwood floor…who knows what kind of damage that could do from that height….I shudder to think…

So fast forward to last night. After dinner I helped Darling Hubby upgrade the power supply and the video card for the computer. Then my stomach started hurting. Don’t worry, it wasn’t the nauseous feeling, but more of a pressure, like gas but worse. I’ve had this feeling before on several occasions and it seems I just can’t pin point when or why its going to happen. For a while we thought it might be a lactose intolerance, but even if I don’t eat cheese or milk, it still seemed to happen. I seem to think it may be a menstrual thing, but sometimes it happens around that time and sometimes not. It’s very annoying. Last night was a very bad episode. My stomach hurt all night long, no matter what I did. I took Tums, drank water, drank hot tea, tried all different positions in bed and eventually took an Excedrin around 5:45 this morning. That seemed to help, as it has in the past. I think I jinxed myself by talking to my friend Fried PorkChop about this issue last night. She has a similar tummy problem…It’s frustrating for both of us, to say the least.

Then, this morning around 9, I get a call from Baby Girl’s Daddy. Apparently Baby Girl has a case of the “Return of the Last Meal Eaten,” so she’s not here today. In a way, I’m glad because I’m very tired from not getting a lot of sleep last night. I just hope that we keep all the sickness away from me. I’m actually getting tired of disinfecting everything. My house is one big ad for Lysol.

Anyway…I’m knocking on wood for good health.

And, on a good note, I finished Bug’s 2nd (larger) sweater as well a the one I made for Baby Girl. I’ve started working on the one Fried PorkChop has requested for her son Buckwheat. I finished the front panel this morning…only the back panel, 2 sleeves and a pocket to go.

Oh, since my friends Fried PorkChop and T-Bone got new banners for their blogs, I thought I’d redo mine as well. I made it myself. I’m pretty proud of it…if I do say so myself…

Feelin’ Crafty

Yesterday was Monday and I was feelin’ crafty.

It’s been several weeks since I completed the quilt (I’ll eventually take pictures) that I was working on with my friend Rose and now I’m moving on to bigger and badder things…well, not really bigger and it’s actually much easier. I’m crocheting. Yep…that’s what I’m doing. I recently broke out my crochet hooks and balls of yarn in the hopes of making a cool scarf and hat for myself…not that I need another scarf or hat, but hey. I rather do something constructive with my hands while I’m plopped on the couch practicing all manners of silence while Baby Girl naps in the next room. This is much better than noshing on potato chips and chocolate.

So the scarf and hat didn’t pan out. I just wasn’t happy with the pattern I had nor the color yarn I was using so I decided to attempt one of the few patterns I had and make Bug a sweater. I figured it would be fun to make as well as functional. Now the pattern I used was one from an I Taught Myself to Crochet book that I swear got all it’s patterns from the 1970’s. But I figured I could always modify it if I wasn’t happy with it…So, after about 3-4 days of steadily working on it, here is the end result.

Showing off the kangaroo pocket.

And a bonus shot of him being goofy…

Bug loves it. He wants to wear it all the time, even before I had it totally finished. He has even started attempting to put it on himself. He had to wear it over his footie pajamas the other day…too cute.

Since I’ve been bitten by the craft bug and want to share the wealth of my craftiness (and since Darling Hubby has practically forbidden me to make another blanket), I’ve made a sweater for Baby Girl. It’s pink with purple stripes and a pocket. I still have to put the buttons on the neckline (I didn’t have the right needle last night) and it will be done. I think it looks very nice and I hope she likes it, too. I’m going to give it to her as a going away type present. She’s going to be moving to an actual daycare after the first week of February when she turns 18 months.

Oh, and since Bug’s first sweater was a little on the snug side (I made the middle size (2-3T)) I’m making him a slightly bigger one in blue and green (he picked the colors). Today he actually told me he wanted me to make him pants…I may have to come up with a way to make him some pants…we’ll see…lol That would be totally crafty…crocheted pants!

I think once I’m done with all this crochet craftiness it will be back on to learning how to knit. Then I will make my scarf! Only, I probably won’t need it by the time I get good enough to produce something worthwhile…lol