Maeve

I'm babysitting Maeve today! She was very happy when I walked in, and even happier when I mashed up some bananas for her. She did not, however, like when I stopped shoveling the banana into her mouth to take a picture.

This is her saying, "Aunt Ceil, stop with the pics and put that banana right here."

Right now? She's asleep. And I'm jealous. I didn't think she'd sleep since she slept all morning with Aunt Mary, but, as soon as I started to read to her from my anatomy book, she passed right out.

Also, look how much she's grown:

Maeve the day she came home from the hospital...

Maeve last month.

Maybe I should get a nanny...or some restraints.

So, you know what it's like to be in a house with a toddler? I'm assuming you do. Sometimes, that's how I feel with Amy. Only she's a very smart toddler. But...she. does. not. sit. still. EVER.

Remember her broken toe? Common sense says you should not move too much on a bone in your foot that is broken. But Amy likes to move. She likes to take out the garbage and do the dishes and the laundry and clean the garage and feed the dogs (Ok, maybe she doesn't like to do those things, but she also doesn't like to wait for me to do them...). She's just incapable of sitting and doing nothing (a skill I have perfected, by the way.)

So, my point is, she has to have surgery now because her toe hasn't healed (not necessarily because she didn't stay still for three weeks like the doctor told her to), and after the surgery she has to stay off of her foot for 10 days. For real this time.

How do you keep a toddler (or Amy) still for 10 days? Does anyone have any Dora or Diego movies I can borrow?

Marshmallows.

Oh My...Leah made marshmallows with her three little boys. She is my hero.

Wanna know what I remember from marshmallow day at FCI? Sitting in the bathroom. Crying. Because I can't make marshmallows. And I was working with a grown-up (ish) boy, who also wanted to make marshmallows (he did not end up crying in the bathroom, though.)

Seriously. All of my attempts turned into a soupy, sticky, mess. Gross.

And I burned myself in the process.

Hopefully oral surgery will be better to me.

Great Picture

Quite possibly the best picture ever:

Yes, it's a little blurry, but it was taken at the Green Tie Dinner...everything was a little blurry.

200

This is my 200th post.

Fortune Cookies

So every week Amy and I get little bags with neighborhood circulars, coupons, and menus slipped into the handle of our front door. Because we technically live in North Buffalo, but right on the border with Kenmore, we get packages from both communities. The first few weeks I was so excited! Mail! Not addressed to Amy! I'd go through the bag, read everything in it, and then throw it all out. Eventually I skipped the reading part and just threw it all out on my way into the house.

But last week I opened one and saw that we had gotten a menu for a Chinese food place. Since we don't have a chinese food place yet, I kept the menu and we decided to try it out on Sautrday. So I called them.

Chinese food man: Tin tin Kitchen
Me: Hi do you deliver?
CFM: Where to?
Me: My house (I actually gave them my address...)
CFM: Call back in half an hour and we will. *hangs up.*

So I called back, and was told they were technically delivering, but it would be over an hour. Fine, bring me some food.

It was good. I'd definitely order from them again. Amy finished before I did and opened her cookie. Her fortune was something about how great her life is or whatever. Mine?

"You are about to become $8.95 poorer. ($6.95 if you had the buffet)"

Yesterday after seeing Shakira we went out for lunch. Chinese food. It was wonderful. And my fortune was a little less of a glimps into my future, and more of a warning, as they sometimes are.

"Don't spit into the wind."

Those fortune cookie people are so smart.

So, I've been trying to figure out how to write this post since about noon yesterday...almost 24 hours.

Check this out.



I SAW him yesterday. Esther let me, Louis, Mary, and my Mom go into the room with her for her ultrasound. It was the coolest thing I've ever seen. The pictures don't really do it justice. Shakira (my new nickname for my nephew, because his hips can move...) is perfect. I saw (and heard) his heart beat. I saw his belly, and his arms, legs, hands, and feet. I saw his brain, his beautiful face, and then he moved and I SAW RIGHT UP HIS NOSE! His precious precious nose.



I can't explain what it was like. My eyes got teary seeing him, and I can't wait to meet him outside of his mommy, but this short little introduction is something I'll never forget. I could have watched him all day.



Then, to make my day even better, we had sushi for dinner at Esther and John's house. Julia didn't actually eat the sushi, but she did say "rainbow roll," "love roll," and "kiss me I'm Irish."





















She's too cute.

Earlier this week Lisa called me and asked if I could go swimming with Maeve on Saturday (today.) She had to work but Maeve loves her swimming class, so I met Mike at the YMCA this morning and took Maeve into the pool. I have to say that I was nervous. For a few reasons, really (in no particular order:) (1) I wasn't sure if my bathing suit would fit (it did, barely.) (2.) I was nervous about getting Maeve into her swimmy diaper and bathing suit in a locker room the size of my bathroom. (3.) I was worried I'd drop her while we were swimming. I mean, really...she's a wiggly baby who gets slippery when she's wet.

Well, I met Mike at the Y and as we were walking in we passed Mary getting Julia out of the car. So we all went in together, and Mary and I took the girls into the locker room and got them changed. It wasn't as hard as I had imagined, and we were changed with time to play some peek-a-boo before class started.

We had a great time. The hardest part of the day? After class when the moms and kids from our class were also trying to get into dry clothes and about 800 people using the gym decided to come get changed too...I had to balance Maeve on the bench to put a dry diaper on her, and then finish getting her changed on my lap, while I was still wearing a wet bathing suit. But it was worth it. She was so much fun in the pool! She loved floating on her back to Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, and kicking her legs and splashing with Julia. And I didn't drop her once!

Broken Toe Pictorial

Sunday night Amy broke her toe.

This is what it looked like when I finally got her to calm down a little bit and tell me what was wrong. It's hard to tell, but it's already bruising, and, yes, the top part is definitely bent at an unnatural angle.

So we went to the ER, where they took x-rays, made us wait, and wait, and wait, then said, "It's not broken, we'll let you go home."

So we waited and waited and waited and Amy got a script for what is basically Aleve, and we went home.

And Amy's toe hurt more and more. And got bigger and bigger. And by Monday night she was miserable. So she called her podiatrist and got an appointment for this morning.

We went and waited and waited in the waiting room. And finally they called us back and looked at Amy's foot.

Her toe is still crooked, swollen, and bruising, so, they took more x-rays. So we waited and waited for the x-rays to be developed. And when they were, the doctor said, "See this little piece of bone in your toe joint? It shouldn't be there." Well, not in those words, but, close.

So now Amy has better drugs, a taped up toe, and a funny little shoe.

Cute, huh? She has to wear it for 3 weeks. And then she'll go back in for more x-rays and if the bone hasn't fused, she needs to have surgery. So if you see her, DON'T STEP ON HER FOOT!

***Yes, that's a picture of Julia on the floor behind Amy's foot in the last picture. As soon as she's allowed to play with tools again and hang pictures, it will be back on the wall.

I'm still a grown up...I was saving it for Mary.

Last week after work one day I went to Wal Mart. I needed Q Tips, but I forgot them, and all I actually bought was a flower pot and potting soil. See, a few months ago I was making this pasta dish (Mary's favorite pasta, as I call it), and I needed basil. The only basil Wegmans had was a potted plant. So I bought it, ripped off most of the leaves, and used them. Then I figured I'd try to get it to grow more, so I put it on my window sill and watered it. It worked! And it got so big that it needed a new pot! So I got home with the new pot and soil and replanted it. Now I'm waiting to see if it's going to live. Moving is one of the most stressful things to go through, you know...

Anyway, last night at dinner I was telling everyone about my basil plant (who does not have a name yet...I'm waiting to see if it lives before I really get attached), and complimenting myself on how grown up I must be to keep a plant alive. I'd just like everyone to know that I'm not really that grown up (or maybe I'm grown up, just not clean?)...this morning while looking for something in the fridge I pulled open one of the drawers and it had this brownish liquid covering the bottom. The worst part? I wasn't sure if it was from some old mushrooms, part of an eggplant, or an onion. I figured out it was the mushrooms, but I threw them all out. Then I decided I needed to clean the fridge. While I was doing that, I found a tupperware of something I couldn't quite identify...When I opened it all I could smell was mold.

It was the pasta dish.

That I made at least a month and a half ago.

I'd guess even longer, maybe, but our fridge isn't that old.

I just put the top back on and put it back...Maybe Mary will still want it.

100,000

A month or so ago Amy took my car to get an oil change. Sweet of her, right? She also got me new windshield wipers, which I LOVE, but, that's a different story (or not...that's pretty much the story.) The point of this is that the little sticker they put on to remind me when to bring the car back had the mileage of 1003--something or other. In the hundred-thousand miles. I was SO excited. I get excited when I see the last two numbers on the odometer change at the same time, so, all of them? I COULD NOT WAIT! It was a long wait. This past week I've taken the long way everywhere. Last night I got home from work and my odometer said 099997. I went out to meet friends right down the street and when I got there, it said 099998. When I got home it looked like this:

I know, right?? Just give me the 099999! But no. So today we were on our way to Mom and Dad's. Amy was driving and stopped in the middle of our street so I could get this picture:

We had to stop at Target first, but Target is less than a mile away, so it wasn't until the middle of Elmwood near Hertle (where Amy was good enough to stop, again,) that we (Amy) got this picture:

My little car...all grown up.

Speaking of grown up, look at this:

I think she's ready for her own cell phone.

Maybe I should sell it?

My blog is worth $1,693.62.
How much is your blog worth?