Long Short Week

What a week it has been. Everyone in my house is sick but me. Amidala has another double ear infection and may have had a stomach bug on top of it this past weekend. Now Anakin has the stomach bug. I hope I'm not next. Amidala finally seems to be getting over this most recent ear infection. The poor little kid, it's her fourth double ear infection in two months. So we have to go back to the doctor in three weeks here to see if her ears are draining or if she needs something to help her. They had originally talked about some nasal spray that they found to be doing wonders. I don't know about any of you but I think trying to get a 15 month old to do that will be not so successful and I will probably get to do it once and that is it. The next step would be tubes in her ears. They had talked to us about this in January but at the follow up her ears seemed fine so they didn't proceed with them. Also this go around the antibiotics didn't agree with Amidala so after a weekend of horrific diapers we took her back and they wanted to just start back up on it. I insisted they give her something else, so we got a Z-Pac and it seems to be good. Tomorrow is our last day on it so I guess we shall see.
So with everyone being sick, I have been a cleaning machine, trying to keep the house as clean as possible.
On a brighter note from this weekend, Amidala used the potty 3 times. She's getting so big. She went into the bathroom and took her pants off and said potty so I put her on and she did go a little. Since she has been wanting to use the potty we got some training pants. Not sure how successful they will be, but we figured it was worth a try. One of the only things I don't like is they are Dora. I know most people think its a great bilingual show, but personally I find it annoying. I think it's silly of pampers to put the character on the pants. Amidala doesn't even watch TV so she has no idea who this character on her pants is. She says pretty when we put them on but I'm assuming that because they are pink. She also says this about the overnight diapers and points to the purple top on them. So this weekend we will use her potty pants and see how it goes. She also tried at school but just sat there.
I've also been able to use the camera more which I am happy about. I mean we have them so why not learn to use them. That way there will be some picture of Anakin and Amidala for once and they won't be from my iPhone. I also got to take some pictures of Anakin in his new suit and give him the edgy treatment. Check out blog.everythingthelighttouches.com to see them.
Lastly a small 101 update:

#59: I sent out 5 cards today to friends. So keep your eyes open to see if you get one in the mail. They are nothing big but something to make them smile. Who doesn't like to get non bill mail. I know I do.

Hope Everyone has a great weekend and sickness leaves our house.
-Rachel

Sick Baby is no fun

From the title you probably figured out that Amidala is sick since she is the only baby in my life. Unless you thought of my first babies, the kitties. She has another double ear infection but the little kid has been a trooper and was her happy little self. She even finger painted for the first time at home with the Crayola color wonder paint. I have to say it is an awesome product. It really only gets the colors on the paper. She was a little hesitant at first but once she got into it had a blast. I will have to have her paint again tomorrow and take some pictures.
So Anakin and I have decided that after the mess of a diaper she had this morning that she needs to go back to the doctor. She has always been a bit off when on the Amoxillian but today was just horrible. I mean it was soup(sorry for being graphic) but I almost threw up on my child again(another story for another time).So after this we called the on call nurse, who seemed a little unfase and said to just skip a dose and fill her up on carbs. I know she felt like crap the past few day but hardly ate today. She didn't even want mashed potatoes so I know she felt bad. But hopefully tomorrow's appointment will be productive and she will feel better.
Also tomorrow Anakin is letting me take pictures of him in his suit so keep an eye out for pictures of him here and on Everythingthelighttouches. Sorry if you don't recognize him as he is beardless(sad sad day in our house). He did this while Amidala was asleep so she may or may not freak out tomorrow.
Here is a short update for the 101. I had planned on working on a bunch of ones from my list but with Amidala not feeling well it got put on the back burner for the time being. Maybe my little helper will be back tomorrow.

#38: Last night some friend came over for some drinks after they went out to dinner. I had picked up some wine at Rite Aid on Friday(I know it sounds horrid, but they have a great selection). I got Asti, Reisling and Sweet Red. They were having a sale of 3 for $20. Clearly I enjoy the Asti and Reisling. The Sweet Red was somethign enw for me. I don't usually like reds but I decided to give it a try beacuse it looked more like a white. It was really good. I would buy this one again. It was a tad bitter but it had wonderful notes of raspberry, pommegrante and cherries.

Have a great extra day off tomorrow everyone
-Rachel

Amidala can moo, can you?

Amidala has been learning new animal sounds at school as this month's theme is animals. She also got some puzzles for her birthday and when we do them I make the sounds. She will pick up the cow and I'll say oh do you know what sound the cow makes? He says moo. So since starting this she now knows what the cow and sheep say in addition to the kitty. Before everything said meow. So since she learned this I decided to try and read Mr. Brown can moo, can you? The first night it was a no go she threw the book on the floor and said bed please, so I put her in the crib and she laid back with her dolly, blankie and my teddy. So last night I picked up the book again and we read it with her turning the pages faster than I could read or make the sounds. The sounds I did make got a laugh and smile which is nice to see.
Amidala has been doing great with her words and using them when she chooses but her vocabulary has gotten huge and is at the point where Anakin and I spell things in front of her and find ourselves editing ourselves because we don't want her to repeat what we say. Last night for Valentine's Day Anakin brought home some chocolate covered strawberries which are my favorite and Amidala wanted one. So I got it out and brought it to her and said "I'll hold it". As really didn't want it all over my kitchen. She responded to me by saying, "No mom. I'll hold it." I was surprised and shocked she said it so I gave to her and said ok.
She's getting so big but so much fun!
This weekend was a busy one for us, Anakin and I celebrated Valentine's Day and we did a lot of work around the house. I did get to work on my 101 this weekend which I was excited about. I have put some crocheting on hold for right now. I made a ton of stuff for my cousin's baby shower and just need a break. In a bit I will be working of some gifts, starting my 5 handmade items for the 2011 handmade challenge, and a new hat project. If you love cute baby hats let me know. I'm planning on making one that is a bunny with ears on it. Amidala hates hats so I don't know if I'll get any pictures of her in it. So onto the 101 update( I was busy so we have a lot).

#11: I had gone through my clothes last year after I had Amidala and again when I brought my winter stuff out. I had the stuff just sitting in my basement waiting to me donated. So last night when I made a run to the grocery store after Amidala went to bed I dropped the bags off at a donation bin for the American Red Cross. It was two full (and heavy might I add) trash bags full of clothes and shoes. It felt nice to get this one done and I'm sure I'll have more again soon.

#16: Anakin and I watched RED on Sunday night. We bought this because it was on sale at target for $13 for the blue ray. It looked ok but I didn't really know what it was about so I said sure to watching it. It was a good movie and quite funny. A lot of big name actors so I don't know why I'd never heard of it.

#33; FINALLY! Amidala had about 10 boxes of clothes in our basement. I know my child, I don't know how she amassed so much clothing. So Saturday night I brought them all upstairs and sorted them by size. I am horrified to say there were more than 10 things with the tags still on them that I do not have reciepts for so I will just keep them. This took a couple of hours to just sort and fold them. I also got rid of some things, like the sleep positioner we got and never used since it is considered a "pillow" and could not be in the crib. I also got rid of the bottle warmer which had seen many a better day. If I need another one in the future I will just buy one. So then I decided to finish this on Sunday as it was 11pm and all I need to do was get some bins and put the clothes in them. On Sunday we headed over to Lowe's and got some bins and while Amidala was napping I started to put all the clothes in them and label them with the sizes. As I was about to be done with this I found ANOTHER BOX of clothes in my basement. I think I will be having nightmares about finding random boxes of baby clothes everywhere. So this is done and now I just have to move clothes down as she out grows them.

#35: When I dropped off my clothes last night I also donated about 25 books that I had read and was not likely to read again. These went to a local book charity the donates the books to libraries in need. I would have just go to my local library but the timing was not happening.

#72: Anakin and I went on Date 4 for Valentine's Day while my SIL watched Amidala for us. We went to Aquitaine for lunch and it was delicious, best meal I've ever had. After this we wandered around the shops at legacy place before heading over to La Novita for a couples massage. Which was wonderful and extremely relaxing. This was the best Valentine's Day I've ever had.

That's it for my update for now. Hopefully I'll get some more done here. I am going to try to blog some more on this blog too. So check back often!

-Rachel

Won't you come out to play

#85: I found this title fitting as we took Amidala out to play in the snow for the first time in January. Last year she was too little and too bulky to take out in the snow. So with the snow freshly fallen on the ground free of footprint we all of bundled up on a Saturday morning. 45 minutes later we finally made it outside and stay out for 15 whole minutes. Amidala was not a fan of the snow too much she just kind of stood there and waited for one of us to pick her up. I think part of it was her snow suit was too bulky but she was warm in it. This also let me to take the opportunity to complete something off my 101 list. While we did not make a huge Frosty, we made a mini one for her. It was easier and the snow was not ideal snowman snow, more powdery than wet. We all had fun no the less and we got some great pictures from it.

#89: Since Amidala has started at her new school this week she is still getting used to the new schedule and had been going to bed earlier than usual. I know this will change but for now I have been working on completing her baby book for her when she is sleep. This Tuesday I put the finishing touches and some more pictures in it and I can now say that it is done. I will be putting it away for her when I pick up some storage options for our basement.

#38: Also this past weekend while at my cousin's baby shower I tried a new wine, Sparkling White. I was very good, a bit like champagne but the bubbles were smaller and more delicate and it had a bid of a Riesling taste. Overall I would have it again.

Thanks for stopping by and hopefully I get some updates done soon!
-Rachel

It's our god forsaken right to be loved

We had a very busy weekend. A lot of my crocheting got shown off which made me proud. Firstly I made my cousin and his wife 2 blankets and 2 hats as part of her shower gift. I thought back to my baby shower and thought of what I like best for gifts. I loved the blankets people made for me, so I made them some. I'm happy to say she loved them and I got a lot of complements from my family and other shower guest. It felt nice to know that someone liked something I made and wasn't just being nice to make me fell good. Also get her a big bin full of diapers because you can never have enough. We did a diaper raffle at my shower where everyone who brought a pack was entered into a raffle to win a huge gift basket. I didn't have to buy diapers until Amidala was in size 2!
I also completed one of my 101. Today Anakin and I drove to Attleboro with 2 purposes. ! buy a new printer since ours is now in printer heaven. RIP Kodak7200. You printed 200 pictures. Secondly, we went to Sturdy Memorial Hospital so I could donate 2 of the blankets and a hat I made to the maternity ward. Amidala was born there 15 months ago. It brought back a lot of memories and a lot of emotions going back there. Thinking about how scared and exited I was all at the same time. A mere 12 hours after we arrived we were parents. So I went though the maze of halls to find the volunteer office to drop them off. They were very nice and said my blanket were beautiful. I know some new mom will love them.
On a funny note, I was telling them how Amidala was born there 15 months ago. They then said, how can you have a baby you're only in high school. I thanked them and said no I'm not but thank you. Good to know I still look 16.

-Rachel

101 in 1001 Update

So this past week I have been busy with finishing a second blanket for my cousin's wife for their baby shower tomorrow. Still working on it right now but taking a quick break to post here. I had been working on my 101 a lot and have forgotten to update it here. With that and the holidays and having Amidala running around causing terror, I had forgotten what I had done until I could take a minute to read my list and make notes on it.
So with out further adieu here is the update.
#30: Amidala went to her second play date this October,actually we hosted it here. Two of my sorority sisters came over with their daughters. There were 4 little girls here in total only Amidala and my friend Shelby's here mobile enough to fun around and somehow manage to take every toy out that was available including dumping out all of the blocks. Shelby's youngest and Kelly's little one just kinda hung out. Amidala got to check out the babies too.
#32. Anakin and I had gone through our photos down stairs when an unfortunate event of finding out we had water in the basement forced us to empty those boxes. We decided to put them on the shelving that is in the basement and to get 16x20 prints of Amidala's miles stone ages and hang those up. So we have her 3, 6, 9, 12 month photos up along with one from Halloween.
#38. I also tried two new wines over Christmas one was on Christmas Eve which was a merlot, I found it too dry for me but everyone else seemed to like. On Christmas day I tried a perseco which was good, bubbly white wine and I hardly have disagreements.
#64. I starting teaching Amidala baby sign language at 6 months. I just wanted to teach her simple things like more, milk etc. She learned and used more very quickly and still does. It was nice for her to have tell us she was still hungry when she couldn't say the words. She also recently started doing the sign for milk. She 's such a smarty.
Check back soon for some more pictures and posts.

-Rachel