Where I write a lot about nothing at all

I am really slacking on blogging these days. There just isn't much to write about. The new job is like all-consuming. I work harder there than I have ever worked at any job in my life. You know how with most jobs there is a little down time that you can goof off and play on the internet? Not with teaching. At least not for me. I am working nonstop from 6:30 in the morning til 3:30 in the afternoon. I even work through my 30 minute lunch break because I try not to take anything home with me so I can devote my afternoons and evenings with Ellie.

Speaking of Ellie, she is doing great except for the whole teething thing. We just barely survived the top molars coming in only to have to repeat the whole process with the bottom ones. I feel them so close to poking through. I only hope they go smoother than the top ones. She starts her new daycare tomorrow and I am really praying that she likes it there and we don't have to do the hysterical crying thing again.

The t-shirts Tom designed for his cross country team came in this week. He ordered one for Ellie and I as well. Ok, terrible picture alert: I am wearing no makeup and didn't bother combing my hair. And Ellie is covered in pretzels and slobber. But the tees are cool, right?

The crazy new laugh

A very long day

We really wore Ellie out this weekend. She actually took a FOUR hour nap on Saturday! When she woke up, we were hurriedly trying to get ready to go watch my brothers and two friends run an 8 mile relay. While we were getting dressed, Ellie wandered around our bedroom pulling things from drawers and she came across a blue nightie of mine. I guess she loved the silky feel of it because she refused to let go of it and insisted on bringing it along for the ride.
It was fun watching the boys run and all the kids loved playing together on the grass. Afterwards, I snapped a pic of the guys. Here they are...the old cross country team together again. I should scan in one of the high school cross country pics to juxtapose with this pic of old men. :)
Afterwards, we all went to the Texas Roadhouse for dinner. Trying to get a table for 20 was a bit insane and the wait was horrendous. Ellie and Kolby passed the time by dancing to the music outside.
Once we were finally seated, it took even longer for the food to arrive. I finally just gave in and let Ellie eat a whole container of butter....with a little lemon on the side.
She was so exhausted by the time we left (3 hours past her bedtime), that she slept in until 8:30 this morning! A new record for her and a great gift for us! Much better than the normal 5:30am wake up call we get over the baby monitor.

Two hours and $30 later...

"She has a cold."

Her pink eye, red spots, and yeast infection miraculously healed at daycare today.

Sickness, daycares, and life in the fast lane

Oh my gosh, it has been like four days since I have blogged last! Life seems to have slipped into fast forward. School is keeping me really busy. We had Open House last night. Out of my two reading classes, only 2 parents showed up. Telling, isn't it?

Ellie is still fighting the crud. I tell you, the kid is a mess. She has her little red spots again, a yeast infection, one pink eye, a hacking cough that wakes her up several times during the night, and congestion so bad that she is hoarse. I have yet another doctor's appointment scheduled for tomorrow right after school.

On my way home from school today, I stopped by the Mon.tessori daycare that is directly behind where I work. This is my second surprise visit there and both times I have been impressed. I registered Ellie to start on October 1st. Now I just need to break up with my current daycare. I feel incredibly guilty because I have become rather friendly with her two daycare providers there. But, really, the environment is not that great. It is more like controlled chaos. I would rather shell out more money and have peace of mind. I hope that the change of schools will go smoothly and Ellie will take to it rather quickly.

Before I go grade some more poorly written papers, I just want to share (in my opinion) a funny Ellie story. Yesterday, she had gotten a hold of the Vaseline and was smearing it all over her body. I took it away from her and she threw herself on the ground screaming "Mine, mine!" I tried to pick her up, but she shoved away from me and stormed across the room to where her little baby stroller was. She then picked up the stroller and threw it in a fit of rage. But...seeing the stroller laying on its side, wheels spinning, was too distracting for her. She promptly uprighted it, placed her baby in it, and strolled happily around the living room singing a wordless little tune. If only we could all get over our little tantrums that quickly.

Making me laugh on a daily basis

Progress report grades are due on Monday so I am hastily trying to get all my grades entered. Being the dedicated mom that I am, I sat Ellie down in front of Signing Time this morning so I could finish up the grades. About 15 minutes later, she strolls in carrying an extra diaper and saying "poo poo" over and over again. Sure enough...dirty diaper. So, I changed her and handed her off to Rachel once more. After another 15 minutes, I peek around the corner to check on her and apparently she had decided it was time to get dressed (what, suddenly she is too good to hang out in a diaper all day?). Luckily for her, the couch was covered with piles and piles of clean clothes (because that's where clean clothes go in our house...on the living room couch). Anyway, she had inserted each arm through multiple items of clothing and she had a shirt on her head. Naturally, I documented it:

Hand-me-downs...in the wrong direction

Remember this?

Well, I washed that cute little dress and threw it in the dryer and suddenly it wasn't buttoning over Ellie's little Buddha belly. So, I shipped it off to Ellie's cousin...who is EIGHT MONTHS OLDER than she is!

The one in which I admit to shoplifting

I had to stop by the grocery store to pick up a few items. It has gotten near impossible to grocery shop with Ellie. She will not stay in the cart and I can no longer distract her with treats because she is adamant about holding the container herself and inevitably ends up spilling her goldfish all over aisle 7. So, I decided to give one of those fun looking shopping carts a try. You know, the ones at Kroger that have the little car in front. Ellie happily climbed into the little red car and up and down the aisles we raced. And by raced, I do mean raced. If I paused to do a little price comparison or to try to locate an item, she started whining and trying to climb out of the car. So, I started grabbing things off the shelves as I flew by. Since I was just getting a few things, most went in the little seat area where Ellie normally would have been except for the milk which was placed in the cart. When I was checking out, Ellie was throwing a fit and I was totally distracted. When I got to my car, I realized that the milk was still in the cart and I hadn't paid for it. Yep, I shoplifted milk from Krogers. I haven't shoplifted since I was four years old and I stole that pack of gum from the Piggly Wiggly. I could have waltzed back into the store and paid the $1.79 for the half gallon of milk, but I just couldn't deal with Ellie and the grocery store scene anymore. I just have to accept the fact that I am a no-good milk stealer.

Happy Birthday, Kolby!

Ellie attended Kolby's awesome truck-themed birthday party yesterday. Kolby is obsessed with trucks (and good thing, too, because he got a ton of them for his birthday). Sabrina had the place decorated so cute and had even gotten hardhats for all the kids. Ellie, of course, would not keep hers on.
But Daniel and Kolby happily wore theirs (I swear, Kolby really was happy about his hat).
The kids had a blast playing Pin the Wheel on the Truck. Even Ellie got in on the action.
Afterwards, the fam played a rousing game of croquet (which Tom and I bailed on because we are party poopers like that). Look at my goofy brothers in their matching outfits. They swear they didn't plan it. Sure guys, sure.

Last Year vs. This Year

Last year at Kolby's birthday party...

This year at Kolby's birthday party

"Hiiii doggies!"

Things are looking up

Ellie is doing much better today! She is fever and spot free. It looks like she will be well enough to attend Kolby's birthday party tomorrow (knock on wood). And I had a good day at school, too. I brought home a mountain of papers to grade and a huge stack of materials to plan out my lessons for next week (I have THREE preps), but it is the weekend and I have all the time in the world, right? Right!

A Happier Ragamuffin

Raggamuffin

You would not believe how I sent Ellie to daycare this morning. Scraggly hair, thick yellow snot coming out of her nose, still wearing her pajama shirt, and clashing purple capris. I swore before I had kids that my kid would always have a wiped nose, hair carefully done, and a cute outfit. Um, yeah, not so much. Lately, Ellie has decided she hates for me to change her shirt. She has no problem with me changing her pants, but she screams, grabs at her shirt, and does everything within her power to keep me from taking her shirt off. This morning, at 6am, I just did not have it in me to continue the fight so I left her pajama shirt on. And why bother doing her hair for daycare? It will just be filled with dried bits of food by the end of the day anyway and any ponytails or bows I put in will have disappeared. So yeah, my kid looks all sorts of white trash when I drop her off at daycare. I feel like taking in pics of her wearing cute outfits and her hair in pigtails to prove to them that I am not completely negligent.

As for the rash, my oldest brother, Dr. Dave, will be in town this weekend for Kolby's birthday party and I have already called him to tell him to bring his stethoscope, otoscope, and whatever other types of scopes he has. Because Ellie was sent home from daycare today with a 102 fever and I have no clue what is wrong with her. I have taken her to the doctor twice in the past two weeks and am tired of spending $30 each visit only to be that told my child has a cold.

It's a mystery

Ellie has tiny red dots all over her stomach and back. It all started a little over two weeks ago. I thought it was related to her ear infection. It went away over the weekend, but was back again Monday evening when I picked her up from daycare. The daycare lady mentioned that other kids have it, too. Last week, it proceeded to get worse throughout the week, working its way down her arms and legs and even some on her cheeks. Over the long weekend, they completely disappeared. Then, Tuesday evening, after spending the day at daycare, they were back. What do y'all think? Is my daughter allergic to daycare?

Toddler or baby?

Yesterday the family all met over at Daniel and Sabrina's for games and hamburgers. I was excited to show off Ellie's new words and signs (like a trick pony). But she refused to cooperate and instead walked around putting small objects in her mouth. After we fished the marbles and jacks out of her mouth, she decided to go play in the potted plant by the front door...multiple times. I swear, she really is (almost) 17 months and not 7 months.

An explosion of signs

I have never really worked with Ellie on signing. I taught her the sign for milk a very long time ago and she picked it up immediately. When she was about 8 months, her cousin Kolby taught her the sign for "more" which she has used ever since. Then we strapped in her in front of a TV for 12 hours while we drove across country and she suddenly started doing tons of signs. She loves to watch Signing Time. Every time she is in the living room, she stands in front of the TV, signing "play" with both hands and making this singing sound. If we don't turn it on, she starts crying and signing more frantically. It is bizarre. I don't like to let her watch it too much, because I have these fears of her turning into a hand-waving zombie, but lately I have noticed that when she does the sign, she will also say the word out loud...words I didn't even realize she knew. Example, yesterday we were doing a puzzle and she picked up the dog piece, signed dog, and said "dog." Then she did the same for "fish." When we took our walk, she pointed to a tree, said "tee" and did the sign. And the sign for tree is more complicated, involving both hands! Anyway, I am not trying to be all my daughter is a freaking genius. I am just so amazed how suddenly her vocabulary has exploded...both verbally and, um, signingly. I still think of her as a baby, not as a walking, talking little person.

Yes, No & Fish