It's our birthday!

It's been mentioned before in this blog, but Doug and I share a birthday. It was yesterday. We started out with 5 overlapping commitments this day, but we cancelled 2 and one was tentative and never came to fruition, so overall not a bad day. We are kind of mellow birthday celebration people, so we never plan anything too elaborate and this year was no different.

I did ask for and receive a new camcorder!! Woohoo! Once I figure it all out and teach the kids that they don't have to see themselves on the tiny screen to know that they are actually being taped, perhaps you'll see some video posted her from time to time. I'm particularly interested in capturing our everyday things. The things that we'll have otherwise forgotten 10 years from now: William's "big finish" when he sings a song, Mary's somersaults through the house, Robert's crawling and babbling.

Doug asked for and received a new Bass Guitar Pod. He'll have to talk it up on here for himself because it's one of those gadgets that I could never do justice. It's got pedals, and plugs and knobs and makes the bass sound different. A real "Doug" gift. The kids got Daddy the Optimus Prime transformer. Mommy may have helped them pick it out. :-)

Today after church, we had lunch with Doug's family (minus kids - thank you babysitters!!) and it was very enjoyable and delicious. A perfect free-day gorging.

Tomorrow it's back to more of the usual. It's been a good year!

It's been a while...

...almost a month! We've been swimming upstream this past month just trying to keep up, but all of it was a good kind of busy.

We've gone to the pumpkin patch, had a stamping weekend, baked fall themed cookies (twice!), celebrated a whole families worth of birthdays in one week, and added another family member that week too. My sister, Michelle had her baby girl, Virginia. She was a tad early, but came out great. They are both home doing well now, but isolated to protect Virginia's fragile immune system. It's been a good month overall.

We'd escaped illness for so long...

...then this.

I got a cough about 3 weeks ago. It started as a cough with no nasal drainage whatsoever. Just as I thought that was getting better, I got a "runny nose" type cold on top of that. So after a lot of drainage and coughing, I noticed (about a week ago) that one of my ribs really hurt when I coughed or moved certain ways. Doug was tired of all the hacking (and complaining) and it has kept me from working out regularly the last several weeks and I was tired of complaining about my rib. So, Doug worked from home yesterday so I could go to the doctor.

The doctor was concerned about my rib, but was even more concerned when I told him I was wheezing. He listened to my lungs and made several exclamations about how awful they sounded and promptly sent me for an x-ray. The x-ray came back clear (both my ribs and my lungs), but the doctor said that there are 2 types of pneumonia that do not necessarily appear in x-rays and he imagines that this is what I have. It is not uncommon for people with broken or bruised ribs to breathe shallowly to avoid the pain. This is precisely what I've been doing, which has allowed my lower lungs to collapse and fill with fluid, which in turn makes it painful when I do take a deep breath.

So, I've been prescribed several medications to alleviate this bacterial pneumonia, which is not the contagious kind. I am feeling surprisingly well in spite of this, but will definitely make my rest a priority to speed the process. I've had pneumonia twice before and felt more like curling up to die, so I am quite surprised by this diagnosis.

The medications, particularly the inhaler are helping, so I'm on the right track again.

The Holidays are nearing...

I'm getting so excited about this holiday season. I can't wait. I really love fall and I've been decorating bit by bit. I've got plans whirling around my head for things I want to do. I've got a Thanksgiving garland hanging on our mantel already and harvest scented candles at the ready. I keep eyeballing the pumpkins appearing at various stores and can't resist buying fall clothes for the kids even though it's still 90 degrees out.

I've got a long list of recipes I want to bake with the kids (on free-days of course) and crafts I want to share with them. I'm preparing an Advent calendar that has been in the works since Mary was born, but I failed to complete before the start of Advent each year. I want this year to be super special. I'm plotting what shape my "bunny bread, " usually made at Easter will be for Christmas, as it won't be bunnies. I wish I could make it for Thanksgiving, but we'll be out of town and away from my mixer which is the only thing that makes homemade bread a possibility for me.

I like to put up my Christmas tree the day after Thanksgiving, but it will have to be postponed due to travel and a birthday party this year, but by December 2nd, we'll be twinkling again. I finished a banner for Christmas too.

4 teeth!

After about a month of having only 3 teeth, Robert cut the second top tooth and he's so cute!

I'll try to get a picture of him showing them off. Man is it sharp!

Are you mocking me?

Yesterday Robert had a very verbal day. He copied everything we said. I don't think he was using words exactly, but he was copying the sounds. He copied Mary saying "bye bye", he said Ma Ma a lot, but I'm not convinced he was saying my name as much as he was just whining. I sqwaked when I realized I'd forgotten to make the kids' lunches before school and he sqwaked the same way. Later he said "go go" and "more."

Now the important thing is to convince Mary that she doesn't have to make her voice go super-sonic when she talks to him because he's been talking in squeals all day today.

I wonder if we're in for his 2nd word soon. His first being "nya nya" for hungry.

Today is picture day

It's picture day at school today. It's fall themed picture, so I sent the kids in fall clothes. Poor Mary is wearing tights and it's 91 degrees out! Well, she's adorable anyway so even if she's dripping sweat for her photo, they'll still turn out great.

Where did my autumn weather go??