UGH!

Oh chicken broth, my chicken broth, you make me feel so warm. You give me the ooey gooey's in my throat and you smell good to boot. My feel good mug is full of feel good juice and I've never been more happy while I was sick before. You're like the lovable nanny for my body, making every part of it behave and do it's homework.

Oh chicken broth I love you.

Last Night

Last night Laine was acting really weird. Laine is normally such a happy baby that it wigs us out when she seems to get cranky for no reason. Last night Laine didn’t go to sleep until after 10:00. Mom said that she hadn’t really slept at all during the day while she was at her house so I’m assuming that all of this is just because she was overtired. But it started around 7:30 with a bunch of whining and wanting to be picked up then put back down. Then she wanted Erik but as soon as he’d pick her up she was reaching for me and as soon as he’d hand her over she wanted to go back to him. It was weird and something she’s never done before. Then around 8:30 she started crying, and it was a cry we aren’t used to. It broke our hearts to hear it and we didn’t know what she wanted. We did everything we knew to do and she just wouldn’t stop crying. Finally Erik thought she was getting hot from all the crying so he took her clothes off and it was like flipping a switch, once she was in just her diaper she was happy, laughing and screeching and playing with an old M&M’s container. So we sat with her, completely baffled as to what her deal was but thinking as long as she’s happy we’re happy. Soon after we needed to put some pajamas on her so that she was ready for bed and she did fine for the arms and fine for the feet but right when Erik snapped the last button she started hollering again, doing that suffocating cry that makes me worry that one day she’ll just forget to inhale entirely. So we tried to calm her down and it was like she was hysterical, so we took the pajamas off her and she started to calm down again. I need you to know that her room is freaky, it gets cold in there when the rest of the house stays warm, I think there is something wrong with her window or maybe the vent is wonky, either way, with the amount of tossing she does in her sleep we can never keep a blanket on her so pajamas are required for her comfort and for my peace of mind. So not having pajamas on isn’t an option. For our next effort we went for the t-shirt pants combo, this time it worked fine. She was still happy with the clothes on, the shirt we left unbuttoned because she started to flip over and we didn’t want to tell her no, I tell you we were terrified she’s start crying again and we were breaking down not knowing what to do. So after about 20 minutes of happy dressed baby she started crying again. Out of no where, completely unprovoked and even more hysterical than before and this time she was scratching at her chest and stomach. I’m freaking out thinking that she’s got a rash or something but we couldn’t see anything on her other than the scratches she gave herself, so we stripped her down again but this time is didn’t help, she just kept crying and scratching herself. At a complete loss Erik thought maybe a bath would help, so I had him start the shower and I stripped down as quick at I could and hopped in there with her. As soon as that water hit her she stopped crying. She didn’t get happy or playful, she just rested her cheek on my shoulder and I swayed back and forth for about a half an hour and let her rest, she seemed content there. Erik stayed right at the curtain the whole time and she held his hand for a while. After thirty or so minutes had passed Erik wrapped her up in a towel and dressed her really quick, and the only time she cried again was when I left to use the restroom. When I got back I took her and rocked her, holding her very tight in her blanket, almost swaddling her and finally she fell asleep. And she slept, quiet and unmoving all night; she was in the same position this morning as she was when I put her down, with the blanket in the same spot too. She didn’t move, toss or turn in her sleep for the first time in months. Poor girl was worn out and so were we.

October

Weekend Update

I can’t remember how my weekend started. Friday was years ago.
Erik had taken most of the day off to do whatever it is he does when I’m not around. That evening he took his parents to the airport, they are going to be in Egypt for a while and he was heading home the same time I was after work, close to 3:30. Since it was so early Erik and I decided to leave Laine at daycare while we cleaned up. We were able to completely rearrange the kitchen. I collected all the pots and pans, utensils and flatware that I never use and got them packed up, ready to either sell or donate. At 6:00 we went to get Laine and headed over to Borders to look for a birthday present for Jacob, thanks to my person I knew what to get him. We spent about an hour there until Laine started getting hungry so we headed back to the house, picking up some pizza and milk on the way since neither one of us felt like cooking and both of us were starving. Once we got home Erik took the pizza into the living room and turned on the TV while I fed and bathed Laine. When I got done I found Erik waiting on me to eat, which surprised me. Catch Me If You Can was just starting so we watched that as we ate. Laine was sweet as she kept lying down on Erik’s tummy. Her head would shoot up every now and then but mostly she just chilled there. About 9:30 she gave up and went to sleep and stayed down all night until around 7:00. Well, I woke up at 7:00 and Erik wasn’t in bed so I assumed Laine woke up sometime close to that because they were in the blue room and Laine was talking to the fan as Erik slept. I went in there and crawled into bed with them and we all talked for a while as I took pictures, of course, it's what I do.
After an hour of goofing off we took a shower and started getting ready to start the day. Sydney called and we invited her along with us to the Painted Potter so that we could get started on some of the grandparents Christmas presents, we only had time to do one of them so we’ll have to go back in a few weeks to do it again. I painted the base coat of the gift and then set it on Laine’s little table that we borrowed from moms house and just let her finger paint, her bang-scream-smear technique seemed to work well. Well see on the 4th how it turned out.
From the Painted Potter we had to first run back to the house to grab my new camcorder and then we headed over to Jacobs birthday party. I can’t believe he’s seven already. It doesn’t’ feel like seven years at all. Even Erik thought I was getting my numbers mixed up but my baby is seven, and he can bowl and tie his own shoes and open his own gifts and when did all this happen? I hope Laine lets me catch my breath before she starts doing all these things on her own too. I encourage her as much as I can but in the back of my mind I’m screaming “Don’t walk yet!”
Erik, Jacob and Josh all bowled at the party, Josh and Erik have an amazing relationship, in that they are both kind of outsiders in the adoption, outsiders is the wrong word, but I can’t think of a better one. I think that’s why they have gravitated towards one anther so well. There was a sweet moment between the two where Erik would coach him on how to throw the ball and after Josh would toss it down the alley (and I do mean toss) he'd run back and hold Erik’s hand so that they could watch it go down together, silently moving the ball with their minds. It was adorable. To the max.
There was pizza and cake and I ate it all and felt it later but it was all so much fun watching the run around. I never could get a good shot of Jacob, he was always running, always headed someplace. I had a little better luck with Josh; he’s a ham for the camera. And Laine seemed to really enjoy watching everything happen around her; we got a little video of her standing up all on her own while holding onto my dad’s foot.
I was sad to leave so soon but the party was over and it’s not the same as when we go to Darren and Audrey house and hang out for a while, the party was from 2:00 to 4:00 and it was 4:00 so we had to leave. It was sad and I cried a little but they were happy tears, Jacob’s growing in all the ways he should and it’s okay now that I have to leave him with someone else.
We headed over to Colleens house after that. We needed to see Josie dressed as Nemo and try to get pictures of all the girls together in their costumes. We managed to get a few shots in but it took some doing. Laine was an adorable monkey and the character fit her so well, she really does get into everything. I was glad that her costume was comfortable for her, it seemed a little tight but she never pulled on it. She made it until almost 10:00 with it still on. We went trick-or-treating in Erik’s parent’s neighborhood with Kate and one of her friends. We put Laine in a wagon and pulled her around but she didn’t make it very far before she went to sleep. When she woke up again we were already back at the house with her full bucket of candy and Kate had a couple friends come over to spend the night. It s the first time I’ve ever been the adult that parents came to talk to before leaving their kids with me. Every parent was given the house number and we assured them that their kids would be safe with us until midnight, at which time we were leaving and we relinquish all responsibility to Jenn and Alicia. We checked back in with them after church and everyone was still safe and happy and awake in the living room still telling ghost stories in their costumes. Kate’s friends are good girls, I was glad to get to know them. They scared the crap out of Erik though. He now has the crazy idea that Laine is going to an all girl’s boarding school. Or was that my idea… I can’t remember, HA!
So after we left them for a second time we headed over to Oriental Gourmet for Stimpy’s girlfriends birthday with the family. We felt really thankful to be invited along, we had a lot of fun, and it’s nice to see Adam and Charlie outside of work. It should happen more often. Adam’s mom almost ran off with Laine, she wants grandkids so bad, I’ll have to make a point to go and visit her more often.
After lunch Erik and I had to hurry home since Shannon was coming by to meet Laine for the first time, that was a quick and very nice visit but after that Erik and I were both exhausted and wanted nothing more than to veg out in the living room. Erik turned on the football game and Laine and I turned into zombies watching the boob tube. Colleen and Josie came over and saved us from becoming grafted into the couch and we went out for a walk while Erik and Mike watched soccer. We went out to the park for a short time and then walked around the block. Josie ate it in the street but didn’t’ have any marks to show for it, that’s good to, I didn’t want to have to kick a sidewalks ass.
Back home and Colleen and crew left us to go eat dinner at their house while we went back to watching TV again.
We went up to bed around 9:30 and slept all night long, a good end to a good weekend.

A Night Out

Last night Erik and I went out see The Pogues play at House of Blues. For an event that completely turned everyone's plans for Thursday upside down it all turned out okay. Instead of going to dinner before the show with the family, Erik and I ate at Freebirds near our house and I’m pretty sure that’s what made the night start off right, we were able to talk a bit about our days and generally not rush ourselves. It’s so nice when we get a few minutes to ourselves, and we take those minutes where we can. I realized while I was at the show what an old lady I’m becoming. I was ill at the thought of all the split beer on the floor and the mashed up aluminum bottles and cans that those dirty kids were throwing everywhere. I was cringing every time someone screamed out in a drunken fit about what song the band should play next and I didn’t laugh at the fact that the lead singer was so unintelligible, so incomprehensible due to his drunken state that he needed the tin flute player to translate for him. Most of his warbling had something to do with Napoleon from what I did understand. And to think four years ago I was trashed and thrashing around the pit at a Dropkick Murphy show, cheering as my sister climbed onstage to dance with the bassist and break a heel, thinking she was the most amazing person ever; while last night I was pulling my sweater tight around me to make sure the germs don’t touch. I was so glad we had seats up in the balcony; I would have had an epileptic fit if any of the dirty punks had come near me. But we did have seats in the balcony. We had lovely seats with a great view of the band from up high and we had waitresses taking orders in the isles and I’ve got to say, THAT is the way to do a concert. The music was a little loud for my ears, but the sound was amazing. There was no feedback, you could hear every instrument and every voice and I thoroughly enjoyed myself. I got to sit next to my husband as he watched one of his favorite bands perform and have him squeeze my hand during his favorite songs. If we had floor tickets we wouldn’t have had a night like we did and I’m grateful because last night was just what we needed.

Carving Pumpkins

#16, 18 & 45 Finished

One of my challenges is to not eat fast food for three months. I just finished that one and I got to say, it was way easier than I though it would be. Not eating fast food is like switching from whole milk to 2%, after about a week you can’t tell the difference anymore. In the course of this challenge others are corresponding nicely and so challenges 16, 18 and 45 can all be checked off today. Challenge number 18, to make a new recipe once a week for a month and challenge number 45, to buy a new bottle of wine once a week for a month, fell into place as I tried to find meals for Erik and me to eat every night. At the very beginning of my fast food challenge I continued with our normal fall back meals at home, like hamburger helper and frozen bag meals. But by the end of the first month we were so over that and without Pizza Hut or McDonalds to fall back on I needed to come up with some fast easy recipes that didn’t taste fast and easy. Most of the time I would prowl the internet food sites and mash up a recipe or four to make something all my own, these were typically dishes that needed to be made a couple of times before I ended up with something that Erik liked. Erik, by the way, is an incredibly hard man to satisfy, hardly anything is as good as he thinks it could be; most of my recipes are still in their conception stage because of him.
The new recipe thing I’ve been doing way more than once a week but the wine I’ve been slacking on. I don’t take that to be a bad thing though. The first bottle I bought is a red wine from South Africa. I’m not typically a fan of red wines, especially dry ones because I hate the tingles I get in my nose from them. And this one is no exception, it’s an okay wine I guess, nothing to write about really. The label was pretty. Now the second one I tried, Red Truck, was good, I took out a whole bottle in under an hour. I like Red Truck.
I've been having bad luck in my choices of wines lately, there haven't been any worth talking about for the last two weeks but I'll keep trying, this week I'm going to try a wine called Daddy's girl, it makes me wonder whether they have a cute name because their wine is so good they don't need to be serious about it, or if it's so bad that they need a funny label for it. I'll find out soon enough I guess.
I’ve been having fun cooking my own food and coming up with my own ideas from other people’s recipes. I started a new recipe book, not completely because I wanted a new one but mostly because I lost my old one. I’m putting photos of all the finished products once we’ve gotten to a point that I won’t change the recipe again. I’m also writing pages of notes that I’m updating every time I re-make the dish. I’m writing my notes like I’m writing a letter to someone or writing a blog, one day Laine or someone else will get the recipe book when I die and it’ll be like I’m talking them through recipes from the grave. Oooh…
So now for the proof of it all; here are some photos of the food I’ve made in the last couple of months.
First here is a stuffed pizza I made with Italian sausage and mushrooms. Yes that is homemade pizza dough though I don’t think it tastes any better or worse than the “just add water” packets from Betty Crocker. However, cheap trumps puffed chests, so even if there is a pride factor involved I won’t be making my own dough too often.
The second meal that I remembered to take pictures of is my spaghetti sauce. It didn’t start out to be a spaghetti sauce but that’s how it ended up, next time we are going to drain a little of the juice from the tomatoes and add a tomato paste or some tomato sauce to make it, you know, more saucy. Colleen and Sydney were over when I was making this one and this was my second go at it. The first time I made sauce out of a beef stock and cooking sherry which I thought was amazing but Erik didn’t like it so I tried again and this is what we’ve got; my first true blue very own recipe that came from my own pretty little head. It looks good, huh?
I made Beef Stew on Friday, the 16th, when Stimpy came to visit. It had started off as a soup but things took their own roads and ended up in stew. The next night I made mini shepherds pies out of the leftovers that were way yummy.
I made Zuppa Toscana two days after my birthday dinner with my parents, my dad got this soup it encouraged me to try my own. It tasted a lot like the stuff they sell at Olive Garden and Erik liked it so there are major points for that dish.
I’ve decided to expand my fast food boycott for a little longer, I don’t’ know how much longer but I’m doing well with it so I don’t see why I’d stop. I might allow myself a little something every now and then but I’d like to see if I can make it to thanksgiving at least. That’ll be right at four months. Then we can try for Christmas.

Chomper

Laine sprouted bone from her mouth. There was no increase in crying, no fevers, no increase in munching on hard objects, but when I got off work last night, there it was, staring at me from underneath the ham and pineapple dinner. A TOOTH!!

Weekend Update

Let me start off by saying how much it pains me to move away from my 100 spot, it was comfortable there, I felt content in that space, but we move on don’t we?
At work on Friday I had an interesting day. I woke up fairly late, close to 6:45 so I had to rush with my shower and getting dressed. I didn’t have time to make breakfast so I sliced an apple really quick and ate it on the way to work. Once I got here I did a little blogging and sent out my Daily Laine. Later I went to the farmers market at lunch and bought some more of the trail mix that I make the Villages of the Pea People out of, it’s really good stuff. I also got some grapes that are HUGE and seedless and the best ever as well as some squash and zucchini and two pumpkins for carving. A fire marshal stopped by and got all douchy with Jim about the fact that they don’t know how to do their own jobs and look up paperwork so they thought that we built our new building illegally or something, it was laughable. And the marshal was like ten; his badge was bigger than he was. Then around 1:30 my boss had a delivery, everyone was called outside to help haul it in; ten cases of Costa Rican lager. A case of beer got started and it was finished by 3:30 at which point I clocked out, I don’t drink at work so I didn’t see a point in sticking around to watch them do it.
Friday night mom and dad had us over for dinner; Levi was in town so we got to celebrate my birthday again this time as a full family. Momma made some gumbo and potato salad and the Whites and the Schmale's came over and ate with us. We tried really hard to get a good picture of Laine and Amy playing together and it just didn't happen. We’ll try again next time. I did get a couple of great photos of Laine by herself in the back yard. I was almost able to get here to try the grass but she's just not too sure about it yet. I also got a great video of momma and daddy messing around; prepare yourself before viewing. I'm not responsible for you peeing yourself with laughter.



Erik and I went to the movies Friday night after dinner. Momma watched Laine for us and Mike gave Colleen permission to come out, I’m so glad she came with us too, everything is a bazillion times more fun when you have your person with you. Just for your information, Law Abiding Citizen is a great movie. Just take my word for it and go watch it.
Friday night Laine and I were up at 1:30, 4:00 and 6:30, just hanging out and talking to each other mostly. I had to take her into the blue room at 6:30, she was getting a little rowdy and I didn't want to wake Erik up. But the dogs started barking anyway when they heard they floors creaking and he got up to let them out and then joined us in bed in the blue room. There must be something about Erik’s smell that calms her because she passed out soon after he got there and as soon as she slept I did too. Erik took Laine and put her down in her bed but left me to sleep in a little more. I woke up close to 9:00 and was all by myself in a strange room, and that’s was a weird feeling I haven’t felt in years. Laine was still sleeping so I went back to my bed and found Erik still asleep too so I cuddled up to him and we all slept until Laine got up around 10:00. I got up and cut up an apple for breakfast and Laine seriously wanted one so I gave her a slice, Saturday October 24, 2009, Laine's first apple!
As soon as we woke up I got a hold of my person and made plans to meet her and her family at the church that sells pumpkins and we were able to take some amazing photos of each others families. I really hope that becomes an annual tradition for all of us. It’s so much fun to do together. Avery was being super adorable and wanting to pose for all her photos, she’s gotten really good at doing sweet smiles for photographs. And she’s apparently got a mad love for tiny pumpkins; she seemed to want to take all of them home with her. And the Bean has charmed Erik, she can do no wrong in his eyes, Josie is bar none Erik’s favorite toddler. Josie has a love for big pumpkins, she kept running to the largest ones she could find then more or less hug them and say BIG! And then Erik would say “did you see that, she hugged a pumpkin and said BIG!" I got a recap of all her movements. It was really adorable. Josie was all about the big pumpkins last year too and I'm looking forward to seeing if she does it again next year.
We didn't get to carve our pumpkins this weekend like I wanted to; we couldn’t seem to find the time. So maybe we can do it tonight.
After we left the pumpkin patch we went home for a quick pit stop and some grocery gathering before heading over to his parent’s house. I had all the veggies to make a spaghetti sauce and since his whole family was going to be there Erik and I decided to make lunch for everyone. There wasn’t even a spoonful left over, everyone loved it and my cooking ego inflated monstrously. After lunch all the kids went into the office with Tricia and got the walk through of all the Rosendahl important information, just so everyone knows where everything is. Tricia and Torben are taking a trip together to Egypt next week, so precautions have to be made as far as their estate.
After all that was taken care of we all made our way to the theater room to watch family movies that Torben had put together. I was amazed to see how everyone had changed in the last two years. I used to have some amazing legs, I mean, they went for miles. I don't know what happened or how I got these stumpy things now, but something drastic needs to happen, and soon.
Tricia had a meeting with the ladies of the neighborhood for dinner and Kate was about to heat up a frozen dinner and I wasn’t having any of that so I took her to the store and we made dinner for everyone. Laine was so tired that she started double fisting the thumbs, it was time to go hime but we didn't make it there until after ten. Erik took midnight duty for me and ended up getting up with Laine twice and staying up with her both time for a while. Poor kid, I don't know why she's not sleeping.
Sunday we woke up late, almost 9:30. Church starts at 10:00. We made it there late but we made it there and sometimes that’s what matters. Jacob asked us if we'd like to go to his karate tournament and I was really excited to go but it ended up not being a tournament at all but instead a "you gotta show up and your parents have to by tickets and you'll just stand there and maybe to do a kick or two, but hey, now you can move on to the next belt color" thing. So we opted out of that. Since Momma was having her brother come into town Erik and I were on our own for lunch. So we went to Cracker Barrel and had an amazing lunch. Once we got home Laine and I watched some TV while she calmed down a bit and rested. When I tried to put her down for a nap she flipped out on me so I decided to get her out of the house and she and I went to the mall while Erik did yard work. I had to return a dress I got for my birthday and I ended up getting a really nice black and white dress that will be great for Christmas this year. I’m very excited to have a new dress for Christmas, I’ve worn the same dress two years in a row now, and although that dress is amazing I’d rather not wear it again if I don’t have to. I also bought three shirts from Lane Bryant, they were having an amazing sale and I only spent 12 bucks so, I win.
Once I got home I fed Laine and played around with her for a little bit and then made some chili for dinner. After we finished eating my mom called to let us know that they were headed over to Waffle House so my uncle and his wife and my cousin could get some food before heading out. So Erik and I went to meet them for some coffee. It was great to see them all doing so well. Kristi was looking smoking hot and Cody looked really good too, much better than the last time I saw him. And Uncle Edward never seems to change to me; I think I’d be okay if someone said that to me after a couple of years. People who age well bug me though, because I don’t think I’ll age very well and I have severe jealousy issues.
After we left the Waffle House Erik and I headed over to Wal-Mart-- that's an amazing sentence right there!
At Wal-Mart we bought some safely gates to divide up areas for Laine, she's just getting too curious and put-everything-in-my-mouthy. Erik tinkered with putting them up but I think he needs a full afternoon to figure out the perfect place to put them, because apparently aesthetics are important when it comes to big ol’ wood gates in the middle of the hallway. I’ll be happy with however he puts them up as long as Laine can't pull them down on top of her.
Laine only woke up once last night so I got mostly good nights sleep. I woke up early this morning and was able to use one of my gift cards from my birthday and get myself a cheese danish that rocked my world and a pumpkin spice latte from Starbucks that really made this morning a good one.
Now its off to getting this day started so I can kick its butt.