April is the new new February

Sorry for the silence but it's been sick, sick, sick round these parts. We've had high fevers, stomach bugs, sore throats, croupy coughs, ear infections, goopy eyes, and more boogers than....you probably care to think about. I think we had 3 sick free days between the stomach virus that N and the girls brought back from Florida and the nasty colds that have been going back and forth between us all. Oh, and somehow there was a second stomach bug that N had all weekend and I had part of Tuesday. Miss Koala has probably had the worst of it. She's on her second ear infection and is still pretty sick.

In unrelated news:

I read Tina Fey's Bossypants! Fun book, but lite. And left me wanting to know more. I watched No Impact Man, which I thought would annoy me, but actually I found it interesting and also made me feel super guilty about all of our garbage. One day we will compost! And our children will be diaper free! Speaking of diaper free, Miss Beanie Bean is right now wearing her very own princess underpants! We're just testing them out at home this evening, but hopefully potty training will happen sooner.

What else?

OMG the snow is gone from our lawn and our grass has mostly gone from depressing brown to happy green! We've been going about in the stroller! It's still pretty cold most of the time though.

But this has come to our green! Come visit. Mmmm.....

Puke: Not Just Another 4 Letter Word

Oh, man. March is the new February. On the good side of the month, our travels were a success---we sunned, swam, those 21 + drank copious amounts of pina coladas, those closer to 3 drank loads of pineapple juice and chocolate milk; there was much eating, a massage, a golf lesson, and even some childcare. Oh, and we rode in a Hummer Stretch Limo cuz that's how we roll.

The girls were troopers, great on both flights. And the sleeping wasn't as bad as I thought it might be considering we were all sharing a room.

The negative was that my brand new Verizon iPhone was lost/stolen with lots of our vacation pics on it:( And Miss Bean fell out of the bed twice! The good part was that she wasn't hurt either time .

On the bad side of the month, around 3AM on Sunday, our first night back in NH, I go into Miss Bean's room after hearing her yell for water a few times and discovered that she had puked great buckets all over her crib, wall, floor, and the 800 "lovies" she sleeps with each night.

I'm not all that squeamish about the puke thing, but this was so super gross. Her sheets had to be washed twice to get the stink out! And I kept finding puke hiding in the crevices of her crib.

She was low-energy on Sunday, but not too bad. All I wanted to do yesterday was go to the gym, you can only drink so many pinas without feeling a bit on the fat side, but N came home ashen and pukey and went straight to bed at 4:00 and then Miss Koala yaked up her entire dinner all over the high chair. I cleaned her up only to have her yak again and again..all over me, the living room rug, her rug and many articles of her clothing. I felt so bad for her...The Bean rarely pukes and never did as a baby. In fact, I think The Bean solely pukes in her crib, which while messy and gross is much more contained. Hmmm.....

Needless to say, I did not make it to the gym. Monday was puke fest 2011.

24 hours later, things are much better. Miss Koala was on liquids for most of the day, but was hungry for her dinner of chicken soup and toast which she kept down. N pushed through and gave his artist talk this afternoon and has been eating various crackery things this evening.

I finally made it to the gym too.
I better not get sick! March has already caused enough damage!

Hell

I don't know what I did to piss off the Gods, but man have I been paying. It started off mildly enough with a week of poor sleeping due to terrible sore throats. Then, the sore throat turned into a cold, which turned into a sinus infection and bronchitis bad enough to warrant antibiodicts. But the small stomach and all the phlegm I coughed up along with the meds turned into me throwing it all up. So I stopped the meds early (with the doc's okay, of course) but I'd still spent the last week vomiting dinner after these insane coughing fits. Pleasant.

Finally stopped vomiting and coughing so darn much only to wake up yesterday with a most painful, can barely move bruised rib. The smallest movement is soooo painful. This has been going on for WEEKS! I don't think I can take anymore. I just hope Baby Meow Meow holds on so I can heal. Would not want to labor with this pain.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY J-DOG!

It's a wintry day in NH. I have no idea what it's like in NYC, but I hope it's spectacular for one Mr. Unkie Speklunky Brobly!
Happy 41, Little Bro!

Although we are sort of trapped here because of the storm, today is a much better day than yesterday. At 5:30 yesterday morning, N said he needed me to help getting Miss Bean. I was a bit snippy since I was trying to ignore her and go back to sleep. Then N explained that he'd been up since 3AM vomiting, etc. I felt bad for him and got up, got Miss Bean changed and went downstairs to get her some water. I was thinking about N being sick, which made me think about last night's dinner when WHAM. I puked too.

At first I thought I had just puked because I can be sensitive to suggestion, but as the day wore on it was clear that I too had "The Bug." Since N was run over by a truck and I was merely run over by a Vespa I was in charge of the kid. I took Miss Bean with me to school because I wanted to be there to answer my students research paper questions. I probably should have just cancelled the class because less than half of them were there. I guess it was good for The Bean to get out and I was able to help N by moving his students photos out of his office.

N was a sickly shade of geen-gray when we returned. My issue was I'd vomit, feel great for about 30 minutes, and then get a slightly annoying stomach ache for 1-2 hours before it'd come to a head and I'd vomit again. Fun times.

Figures that Miss Bean would only nap 45 minutes on the day I needed a 2 hour miracle.

Although I was able to drive, I figured I shouldn't risk it so we spent hours in the house. I don't know what we did but at one point I had to hide this children's cook book that she likes (what could be better than pictures of babies and food!) because I just couldn't look at it without gagging and by the end of the day our carpet was covered in a 3-inch layer of crackers. Around 3:30 she started to get a little nutty so I took her to the daycare at the gym while I went and closed my eyes in the car. It was a good move, for her at least, because she was much cheerier when I picked her up an hour later.

So we made it through. She was in bed by 6:20 and I passed out from 6:30-7:00, but after that I gathered the strength to eat some Saltines with N and watch some TV. N and I have never been sick at the same time, but at least it was a quick bug and I was able to parent.

Being sick does make you appreciate being healthy. Hope you're all feeling well these days. Except for J-dog. He should be good and drunk by noon.

Back

Well, I'm back online, but my back is still kind of killing me. It was getting better, but I think I did too much on Sunday because Monday morning was just awful. Of course Bean was extra needy too. Luckily, N was able to take over all yesterday afternoon and evening and he's on duty all day today and tomorrow. I can't wait till I'm healed because it really stinks. For the rest of my life I'm going to do back exercises every morning. I think I'm genetically destined for back issues, but I think a lot of it could be prevented.

I really miss being physical with Miss Bean, but feel incredibly lucky that N is home to take over. I'm hoping I'll be back (ha, ha) on track by Thurs/Fri.

Other than the bad back, we had a nice, busy weekend with family. The weather was great too. Now, it's rainy, which we're actually happy about since the landlords put down a ton of weed killer and fertilizer so the lawn has been off limits. I'm getting stir crazy and think I'll leave the house at some point today.

Oh. The Bean is getting her two front teeth, which makes her look even cuter. And, she's starting to stand. On her own.

Cute But Also A Little Nasty

Poor Bean. She's got a variety of ailments these days. She has pink eye in both eyes, which means there's green goop all over her eyeballs and stuck in her eyelashes and she has to get 2 drops in each eye 4! times a day for 10!! days. No fun. But we gotta kill the goop. She's also got snot running out of her nose like it's going to win the 100-yard dash or something. And she has a barking cough that sounds just awful at night. Very little sleep was had by the Bean familia last night. Today, Ms. Bean was so sleepy that according to the babysitter's report, she fell asleep in her high chair in the middle of her lunch.

And now mama's throat is starting to hurt....But I'm downing tea and Tylenol like they're nachos and margaritas so hopefully I will not succumb.

More happily, it was nice out today! The sun shone and Ms. Bean crawled around in the grass in the backyard! That was very fun. We are so going to LOVE summer. And if we don't, if we be complaining on this blog, you come up to NH and slap us around some, y'all hear?

N. Wants Y'all To Know

1.) Although this blog might make you think otherwise, he's NOT a sicky in NH
2.) He got up at 6:30 last night and although he did not ingest the pasta with the MEAT sauce, he was able to eat some plain pasta
3.) He really is trying to help the economy with all his big box store buys
4.)His wife is very foxy and she does such a good job cleaning the kitchen that it makes him feel just a little bit bad that he cuts so many corners

Also,
The Bean wants you to know that she HATES cauliflower no matter how many different ways her mama tries to sneak it in her.

Oh No! Not Again....

This was all set to be a different, upbeat post, but N came home with a stomach ache. Again. I don't think I can take it. Is that wrong? Both he and the Bean are in bed right now and it's just 6:00. 6:00 is the Bean's normal bedtime, but she just can't stay up for more than three hours without becoming a total crazy nut. Since her nap ended a little before 2:00, she was a loco by 4:30 and totally bonkers at 5:35 when I plopped her down.

And to think we thought she might make till 7:00 when DLS happened. Ha, ha.

N's normal bedtime is between 9:30-11:00. 6:00 is highly unusual. And we were gonna have spaghetti with MEAT sauce for dinner and then I was going to embarrass myself on the Wii fit, which Nick somehow picked up while shopping for screws and diapers. Hmmmm.... That boy can be dangerous when sent out to the box stores. I guess it's good for the economy, right?

More later?

You Have To Be Kidding....

So if I said I was going to have a little me time for the first time in oh, I don't know, like two weeks, and about ten minutes before I left the house, N's back went out, you so wouldn't believe me, right? Cuz N's back doesn't go out. It's my back that goes out, but apparently The Gods wanted to give N. a sample of bad backiness. Thanks.

And uh, we're gonna get a foot of snow tonight.

More positively, The Bean went swimming for the first time today. She rocked the pool. And she rocked the house cuz she's CRAWLING.

Help!!!!!!

Wednesday....

It's a little before 4:00 PM here and I'm the only one up. Poor N. is still sick!! The doctor said there's a lot of "activity" in his belly so he's passed out once again and The Bean is down for her nap. I'm up and feeling sorry for myself. Remember when I said it was so nice to come home to a truly clean house? People, a tornado has been through the house. I haven't had a break from the baby since last Thursday! I love my Bean more than anything, but I am tired!

To make matters even more happy, it's going to snow. Again. A lot. I'm not sure we'll be able to have the sitter tomorrow---it wouldn't be fair to make her come to a sick house and with all the snow expected I'm not sure she'll want to drive over here anyway. And Friday's normal baby outing is canceled because it's school break 'round these parts. If I didn't have such a headache right now, I'd be drinking a stiff one. Or two. Or six.

I need a healthy husband and summer ASAP!

Friday....

It's 8:30 PM on a Friday night and I'm the only one up right now. The Bean is an early sleeper---she's usually beat by 6:00 although I would like her to go to bed a little later so that eight hour of sleep (!) doesn't mean getting up to nurse at 2:00 AM. 4:00 or 5:00 AM would be better. But anyway it's normal for Beanie to be a snoozin now, but poor N. is super sick. He stayed home from work today and just got sicker and sicker. We were supposed to go out for pizza and beer tonight, which is our annual frak-Valentine's Day tradition, but I had to cancel our sitter. Bummer!

I'm not really tired, but my computer isn't charged enough for me to do that much on it and I don't feel like going into the living room to get the cord because that's where N. is sleeping. I'm very glad we bought our new pull-out couch. I love my husband, but I really don't want to sleep next to a germy guy. Oh, this is very scattered, but I was going to say that I'm not tired, but I'm so not into the book I'm reading, which is Twilight. Yeah the silly YA book that they made a silly (and lame!) YA movie about a few months back. I don't know why I bought the book...it's about Vampires. I'm so not into that....I guess I wanted to see what all the fuss was about, but man is the writing just terrible. And it's so long. And I have this weird hang up about having to finish books that I've read more than 100 pages or half of. So I know I'm going to finish it (eventually) but I'm so not into reading it.

I read An Abundance of Katherines by John Green a few weeks ago. That's another YA and why it's not perfect, it's very very smart and funny and good. I recommend that. Most especially if your reading level has gone down to that of a 7th grader.

My computer is about to lose its juice. Cross your fingers that Ms. Bean doesn't get her daddy's bug. She's much too little to get that sick.

Happy V-day for those that subscribe to that kinda stuff. Have a Bud and slice for me and N.

Is a Lame Post Better Than No Post At All?

Probably not, but who cares. The Bean and I both got colds over the weekend. A cold is a bummer in general. Having to get up a lot to nurse with a cold is even more of a bummer. But it's worstest for The Bean since she can't blow her nose and her dad has suck up her snots with a bulby thing that he puts up her nose. Ouch! We're both on the mend though.

I wish I could say the same for the weather. We had a major ice storm, which you probably heard about. We got super lucky that our power was only out for about 9 hours and most of that was during the very early morning. Hundreds of thousands of people were without power for DAYS! N.'s school had to postpone finals till after the holidays since they were powerless and couldn't heat the dorms. So N. got an extra week to hang with his ladies in the daytime, the lucky man. The storm did teach us a lesson and we went out and got some flashlights and shotguns. You know, just to be prepared.

It snowed yesterday and it's going to snow tomorrow. And soon this blog will be nothing but rants against snow. I'm that will really build the blog's readership.

On a positive note, I got my eyebrows waxed this morning for the first time in months. There's nothing like a little personal grooming to weather a bad storm.