Recovery and Grandparents

Neighborhood party big success - got to hold sweet Baby B who is 9 weeks old - so cute and sweet and drink with my favorite neighbors.

So Chatty Cathy is on the mend - yeah .. although is it bad that I enjoyed the few quiet days around our house where she was too sick to talk much?? Anyway - MIL and FIL came to town today from Philly - actually Allentown (think Billy Joel - I get that comment every time I tell someone we are going there - Luckily I like Billy Joel and the song)! Went to lunch after grandparents got in and Bia proceeded to continue her terrible 2 antics - somebody please pour me a drink or 4! I apologized to MIL and told her this is WHY we do not go out to eat. Luckily for me she thinks her granddaughters are too cute and was OK with it. I totally scored bearing 2 girls to a woman with 3 sons - I so earned major brownie points! Plus they are her only granddaughters!

Came home, made homemade salsa (thanks BMB we all love it - including all of my neighbors) and swam (and drank beer/wine) - wore them both out (gotta love the investment in a pool) ... tomorrow church and birthday party and then some pool time ... summer is here!

PS - did I tell you I am teaching Vacation Bible School in a couple weeks ... yikes! Only 5 days until girls weekend with my favorite cousin J in San Diego ... I feel the ocean calling me ... oh wait maybe that is Chatty Cathy crying - it is amazing how you can convince yourself you are hearing something you want to hear!

Strep or No Strep and Proud Mom Moment

So Mr. ESPN took Chatty Cathy to the Dr. this morning and they swabbed for Strep. Quick test came back negative. We have to call in tomorrow to get the results of the overnight test ... I never knew they had two tests. Our favorite neighbor J had strep last week so I wouldn't be totally surprised if she had it (and his didn't show up until the overnight test). All in all Chatty Cathy was more like normal today ... talking non-stop and bugging her dad. We met Nana and Poppa (my parents) for dinner. It was my mom's birthday today. Chatty Cathy was supposed to spend the night at their house tonight and go to the movies with them tomorrow but it is postponed until after my in-laws visit (which begins Saturday) since she has been sick. Needless to say she wasn't too thrilled with the postponement.

Something funny - actually embarrassing happened at dinner - it reminded Mr. ESPN and I why we don't take our children out to dinner much. Bia (who used to be the calm quite child) was the wild child (luckily for us Chatty Cathy was mellow due to illness tonight) at dinner tonight and Nana and Poppa laughed at all her antics - just what she was looking for! Anyway the kicker was when she screamed for a baby wipe to clean her feet at the table. Seriously - she took her Crocs off and cleaned her feet! If I wasn't her mom I would have laughed hysterically (like my parents) but all I could do was roll my eyes and tell my mom and at least she has some funny stories to tell my Granny next time she talks to her! Talk about proud mom moment!

Sick Kid

Chatty Cathy has been sick for three days ... got a call from school on Tuesday saying she had a fever. Second to last day of school and she goes home sick ... still had a fever yesterday so I worked from home with her .... still has a fever this morning and threw up her Motrin ... I kept thinking her fever would break but so far no such luck. I told Mr. ESPN (asked) him to take her to the doctor this morning since he is working from home today. We have a fabulous pediatrician's office with walk in hours from 8:00 to 9:00 (which we have used numerous times). I asked him if he wanted me to come home to take her and he said he could take care of it. He just doesn't get that mom guilt of not being there ... I know he can handle it but I still feel guilty, although since I am taking tomorrow off I really need to get some stuff done here at work (yes I know I am once again blogging at work). Ah the guilt of motherhood!

So far Bia hasn't shown any signs the sickness yet but she was still sleeping when I left the house this morning. Not a good time to get sick in our house - we have a neighborhood block party tomorrow night, Grandma and Grandpa arrive on Saturday, Birthday party on Sunday and old neighbors visiting from Kansas on Sunday to swim ... I hope she feels better soon and that the rest of us don't get it - although I love snuggling with her and feeling needed.

Update - Mr. ESPN just called and said Chatty Cathy ate some toast and is acting fine ... playing with Bia. Now he is wondering if he should take her in or not ... it is so hard to know what to do and I don't want our pediatrician thinking we are hypochondriacs!

Busy Weekend

The girls swimming at our house this weekend. Bia is saying "Cheese" - hence the closed eyes

A picture from Mother's Day with my brown eyed girls!

We had a busy weekend filled with neighborhood parties - three in all if you count our Friday night impromptu wine/beer in the driveway with our neighbors across the street. Needless to say we had an anjoyable weekend, although I think I gained at least 10 lbs. Mr. ESPN painted Chatty Cathy's room - we switched the girls rooms and put Bia in a big girl bed! Between painting and reorganizing, we were busy all weekend - well that and parties and swimming! Hope you had a nice one too!

Thursday

Tonight -

Workout at the gym - Run 3 miles and Core Class +

Dinner with the family not cooked by me +

Kids in bed by 7:45 pm +

Bath with a good book and a glass (or 2) of red wine =

PRICELESS!

Mini-Family Reunion aka Girls Weekend

So my mom's family has a family reunion every June in Mississippi where most of them live. My Granny is 1 of 11 kids and only has one sister (Granny 2). Our families have always been close - my mom and her cousin and now her cousin's daughter (J) and me. I haven't seen J in 5 years I think - in that time we have each had 2 kids and now she is prego with her third ... it's crazy how fast time slips away. Anyway she sent me an e-mail last weekend asking if I wanted to meet her in San Diego for a girls trip as she has a resort package that is going to expire (as in free hotel). Of course I wanted to meet her. It was perfect timing for me as I just finished my Masters degree and needed to celebrate. It also helped solve Mr. ESPN's gift giving dilemma (he has the hardest time coming up with gift ideas for me) as I told him this trip could be considered my gift from him. Plus I got a cheap flight and even better my in laws will be in town to provide backup support to Mr. ESPN. Don't worry I am not missing my in laws entire visit - MIL is here for 2 weeks and FIL is here for 1 week - I will only be gone 3 (glorious) nights.

So as J and I were discussing our flights, etc. we realized our trip is the same weekend as our family reunion in Memphis ... so we decided it is our mini-family reunion and that we should try and do it annually. Sounds good to me!

Blogging at the gym ...

well not really, but I was trying to think of something fun to blog about while I was running (I should say jogging since I don't go very fast) on the treadmill ... so I got to thinking how since I joined the gym I feel good (other than the aches and pains - but those are good right) but every time I go I feel like ugly, old, fat girl at the gym. No I don't think I am fat - so don't even comment about that but I sweat like no other at the gym and I can't help but notice (yes I am a people watcher) all the cute, young, perfect bodies at the gym who seem to glisten while I am dripping with sweat (yes I know it means I am working out and it is good) but it doesn't make me feel "pretty" at the gym. Some things never change, I remember feeling that way when I was in college and worked out at the rec center ...

After my revelation at the gym tonight I came home to children who weren't very well behaved but that seems to be the norm these days. For some reason Chatty Cathy has been super sassy. A friend of mine said she has always had one leg in the sassy pants. Well I can now officially report she has both legs fully in the sassy pants. It almost seems like she is a teenager with the things she says and the way she acts ... man oh man what will we do when she really is a teenager ... buy wine/beer in bulk (oh wait I think we already do that)?

Then Bia wouldn't eat her dinner (once again what else is new?) and was super mad when I didn't let he get in the shower the second she was ready to do so. Don't you know a 2 year old demands everything be on their terms? Needless to say she was pretty mad by the time showers were over. I didn't want to put her in her crib while she was having a fit so I went into sappy mom mode and said they could come lay down with me in my bed for a little while. I love snuggling with them, especialy Bia since she is still small. Just before I was about to fall asleep (mind you it was only 7:30), I put them both in their own beds where they both proceeded to fall asleep without any argument. Nice way to end the evening ... gotta love the fact that my kiddos are great sleepers like their mom!

A Little Background Information

Most of you reading this already know what all the family blog names mean, but I thought I would give a quick run down for a few of you who aren't familiar with them.

Mr. ESPN - My husband is a huge sports fan. He loves all sports, especially college basketball and football. Lucky for him I love sports too and know more about college football than a lot of guys (I guess that is the southerner in me). Our first outings together were to football games when we were in college. While I would have loved to have gone to an awesome SEC school were football is king (like my friend Casey) we went to a basketball powerhouse - Arizona - and thus I became a huge basketball and Arizona Wildcat fan. My husband regulary (as in daily) provides me with occasionally interesting but oftentimes useless sports information, hence the reason I have dubbed him Mr. ESPN.

Chatty Cathy - Since the day she could talk, my oldest hasn't stopped. There are many days Mr. ESPN and I ask her if she can take a break for a little while and she always says, "I can't, I don't know how". While her name isn't Cathy she reminds us of the old Chatty Cathy dolls and that is how she got her blog name.

Little Bia - Last (but not least) is my Little Bia. When she was a few weeks old I started calling her Bubba Bia. I have no idea why, but for whatever reason the Bia portion has stuck. Chatty Cathy calls her Bia, my parents call her Bia and even the little kids in her daycare class call her Bia.

Ok - so that is my supporting cast. Since I will be writing everything I guess I don't really need a name other than "Me" although I am sure my family could come up with quite a few if I asked them!

New Kid on the Block

So I am the new kid on the block when it comes to blogging. While I generally consider myself a pretty intelligent person with computer skills, I am finding this more difficult than I originally thought. See I don't like doing stuff I am not good at, I guess that is the type A in me. I also like things to look cute and orderly from the get go, and needless to say my blog doesn't look as cute as the ones I follow. Hopefully I will get there soon though .... plus it took me forever to come up with a name for the blog. I debated on making this private but thought I would leave it public and e-mail a few of you about it. To date I haven't sent it to my family (other than you Jann) as I want to see how this goes.

Casey - thanks for the initial pointers, they really helped. Don't be surprised if I start leaving you tons of posts on your blog asking questions.