Coming soon...

Give me a few days, and photopalooza from Emily and Joe's wedding will be coming. I want to attempt to edit a few of the photos to do them the justice they deserve.

It was an incredible weekend, so I will leave you with this teaser--the beautiful bride and the adorable flower girl!

The Good, The Sick and the Ugly

This winter's cold and flu season is bringing me to my knees. No, seriously. If it isn't bending down to wipe up barf of Tillie, it is bending down to heave myself in front of the toilet.

It has been w-e-e-k-s since we have made it it through the week without a new prescription.

Pink Eye.
Ear Infections.
Nystatin for thrush caused by the ear infection medicine.
More ear infections.
Which leads to more pink eye (yes, this is now a trend with Bea which is just suuupper)
And then a few stomach bugs thrown in for good measure.

I know that I am not alone in this misery. Other families have to go through the 'pass it back and forth' drama like we have. And it was all taken in stride.

Until Friday, while I am at home recouping from the stomach bug, I get a call that Bea has a fever. And I am taking her to the doctor, while I am sick, and find out she has an ear infection and Pink Eye. In that moment, I felt totally and utterly defeated.

So we will continue to medicate, (and contribute to our health savings account as it gets drained each year), be grateful for good health insurance, and attempt to keep Matilda's hands out of her mouth (i.e. mission impossible), and Bea from putting everything she can get her hands onto into her mouth (i.e. Mission impossible 2).

Oh, and also, I am saying a silent prayer for our upcoming flight to Colorado as the pediatrician casually mentions to me that it isn't uncommon for babies with fluids in their ears to rupture their ear drums while they are flying.

Grrrreat. Because you just know that is definitely going to be happening to us.

A Typical Day

I've really been trying to capture daily life more. The girls are both just so damned sweet (and sassy).

Tillie is saying the craziest things.

And Bea is doing the craziest things.

So I've been trying to do better about just letting the video camera run, so we can remember 'daily life' (vs. those perfectly captured moments).

And this is a pretty good snapshot of what its like most days.

Tillie bossing.

Bea exploring. Putting stuff in her mouth.

And Daddy doing anything and everything Matilda tells him too....

A New Stage Emerges

Today started with barf. In the crib. On ourselves. All over Matilda.

We spun the calendar roulette wheel. Nate stayed home. I went to work.

And then Nate and Tillie proceeded to have a lovely day, as Matilda displayed zero signs of having barfed. The got groceries. Went to the library.

Then she projectile barfed again.
And took a 3 hour nap.
Woke up ready to rock and roll. Or more specifically, go to Tumbletots........

uh-oh.

She was fully expecting to still go to her little tumbling class. So we had to have a talk with her, which amounted to some half-truths about how all the other kids were also sick and escalated to classes getting cancelled.

What I was NOT expecting was her logical response when we told her she couldn't go because she was sick, and had barfed. She looked at us with 100% seriousness and said: "I just spit up a little."

Like she was already negotiating to get out of being sick. Is this supposed to happen already?!? I was not prepared. I need to practice up on my negotiation skills, because she is getting smarter, and pretty soon my half-put together white lies about class being cancelled are not going to cut it.

She shook it off pretty well...although Nate and I were both instructed by "Coach Tillie" to ""walk the balance beam", "Jump like bunnies", "IT'S NOT YOUR TURN, sit down!!", and to "knock the block over"....

So essentially we did Tumbletots, and I think Matilda may just like the version that she gets to be boss better......

An Open Apology to the State of MN

It is time for me to fess up, MN.

I believe the awfulness of this winter is straight-up my fault. You see, at the start of this winter, when people immediately began bitching about the cold, the snow, the  (fill in the blank about ANYTHING weather related), I made a pretty strong statement that I was not going to bitch about winter.

And I think Mother Nature is literally daring me, pushing me, coaxing me to complain so that she can be victorious. Every cold day closing. Every rush hour snow storm (which I swear to god has been EVERY SINGLE SNOW this season). If it's not freezing cold, it's snowing.

And I am not talking about "20 degree" coldness. I am talking about BELOW 20 degree coldness.

I have really held firm. Trying to be positive. Ok, that may be a little too rosy. Trying to just not be so pissed about the weather, because its MN and it's winter. -10 or 10, I am probably not hanging outside anyway. Cold is cold, right?

But listen, I have to say that I am pretty sure if I open up to the universe and tell it that I am sick of my dry skin. Sick of putting boots on. Hats on. Coats on. Scarves on. Sick of a slushy garage. Of an icy walk into daycare. work. the grocery store. Sick of commutes that last an hour when I am going 6 miles.

Maybe, just maybe, this winter will be over.

To be clear, I am not filing a formal complaint. No, I think that will need to wait until the next snowfall, because the cold just doesn't bother me that much.

So there you have it, MN. Look forward to the next snowfall, because I will most likely lose my shit, and then it will be all over. I will be defeated, Mother Nature will have won.

But Spring will most likely be right around the corner....

Tillie Talks

A few of my most recent Tillie-isms:

Me: "Ok, I'm going for a run."
Tillie: "Ok, but come back mama."
______________

Matilda is getting more emotionally sophisticated in her suggestions when Bea is crying.
"Daddy, bring Bea to mama"
"Mama, Bea wants you"
"Mama, PLEASE come get Bea"
___________________

New Songs being sung in the back of the car...

"Take me out to the ballgame. Take me out to the barn. Buy me peanuts and crackers."

"Bringing home my Baby Baby Bea. Won't my mama be so proud of me."

________________________

"Swiper! No Swiping!" (said like 'fwiper, no fwiping)
She picked this up from a few Dora books that we read all of the time, and says it anytime Bea tries to take her toys, or if she is in the midst of stealing food off of the counter....

Keep Your Eye On the Calm

 This is not a new topic. In fact, I've covered it recently. Which was part of the problem going into the last 24 hours of my life. Business travel is just not my jam right now.

Coming off of a weekend where I was quite sick, I was not exactly looking forward to saying goodbye to my sweet girls and boarding a plane to NYC where I was certain I would contract the flu. And I knew that this trip was doomed as soon as the cab that I called to pick me up got stuck in my neighbors driveway and I had to finagle random passerby's to help us un-stick this cab. My contribution was to drive the cab while they pushed.

Why did you take a cab, one might ask. Well you see since my husband is a crazy biker we still only have one car. And since he was on single daddy duty, he needed said car to get the girls to daycare since we live in the birthplace of the Polar Vortex.

See these---these are my keys:

In my hand, pulled from the pocket of my coat while I am sitting on the airplane. I just rescued the cab to take me to the airport only to strand my husband without the car, which at this point may as well have taken me to the airport. Sidenote: Thank god for AMAZING neighbors, who were generous enough to help us out getting the girls to school in tact without frostbite.

We land in NYC. Immediately begin hearing tales of a blizzard to hit the city. I am hopeful. We are leaving early enough, it should be fine. Maybe it will start later than expected. Maybe it won’t be as bad as expected.

8AM: Snow.

9AM: MASSIVE SNOW

10AM: All flights cancelled

10:01AM: I am immediately on the phone with the work travel line, who works magic gets be re-booked on some random flight out of some random airport I've never heard of. Amazingness.

EXCEPT…..that flight gets cancelled. And at about that exact same time I learn that my ORIGINAL flight never actually got cancelled, it got moved—earlier (like when does this ever happen?). The time is now 12:20. We are in Manhatten. The flight is scheduled to leave at 1:30.  At this point I have shed tears.

And lets not forget it is a blizzard outside.

Myself and another woman, who is in the zone of working momdom with me, go for it. We race to get a cab. And wait. Watch the clock tick. Call Delta. Call the work travel line. I throw all modesty out the window and pump. While in a cab. With my co-worker.

We pull up, throw money at the driver (unfortunately that is not an exaggeration), and R-U-N as fast as we ever have through the airport. Because I am still nursing I get stopped because I have breast milk and I am not kidding the lady seemed like she was moving through molasses. Like quicksand would swallow her at any moment. But I try to remain polite. Say nothing and just try to stay calm focusing on the next step.

Everything checks out, and I am running through the airport, in my stocking feet, holding my boots, and my breastmilk, and starting to cry tears of joy that this is going to actually work out. But then…I get to the gate and realize I have left my ID and boarding pass at security.

It’s true. I did that. My heart sank. I started crying. The gate agent said we are closing this door. I yelled: “NO! Please please no”. And then, molasses gate agent woman appears out of nowhere hands me my ID, and I walk through that door.

As I entered the plane, literally tears of relief came over me. I saw my friend and she said she totally cried once she got on to.

The lesson?

There are 2:

1) Always be polite. Even if you are stressed to the max. That security woman saved my hide. And had I been a snarky beeotch to her about her pace my guess is my ass would be stuck in LGA tonight.

2)As we pulled away from NYC and rose above the snowstorm below, the sun started to poke out. As cheesy as it may sounds it was very parallel to my life at that moment. Being a working mom during the baby years is so tough. You are in the eye of the storm, and it consumes you entirely. But above that storm is calm. And you have to keep your eye on the calm.

Any my calm came tonight. As I walked in the door. Seeing Tillie’s little head poking out of the window, and hearing her shriek when I knocked on the door. The snuggles. The Bea smiles, and the bedtime stories. Made the stress, the sprint, the fatigue melt away.