Snow movies

Snow day!

My little singing wonder

I've been noticing lately that Adia can carry a tune. Right now she's singing "My Personal Penguin" completely from memory (the tune -- she has the book in front of her) from hearing it in the car a few weeks ago. It's super-adorable.

Talking to the bank

Charles goes to talk to the credit union today to see what they can do for us.

I'm going to burn off enough nervous energy to lose 20 lbs. today. (I imagine the same will happen whenever we put an offer on a house until it's accepted. And then more until closing. haha.)

Just another couple of hours until I hear from him, hopefully. His appointment is at 11, I think.

Buffalo Chicken Dip

2 cans chicken
1 block cream cheese
1/2 C shredded cheddar
1/2 C ranch dressing
3/4 C Frank's hot sauce

Combine in mini crock pot.

waiting 2 go 2 lunch

waiting 2 go 2 lunch w mom and mb. they must not be done w dentist yet. girls have dentist appt 2day 2.

Inauguration

It was tough to get out of bed this morning after having slept on the couch, again, because of illness. (Francesca this time -- she had to be propped all night for congestion, so Charles slept on his back. And snored. While she snored too.) I did finally get moving and called to confirm that our inauguration party was still on. It was, and so I got the girls dressed. We got out the door almost a half hour after we meant to, but I managed to get both of them, extra clothes, a diaper, and all of the supplies for the food I was going to make. Oh, and Checka went diaperless.

We got to J's house and unloaded. We started watching the coverage and C (female, not Charles) showed up. We didn't have pizza sauce or pepperoni for the pizzas the kids were going to make for lunch, but nobody wanted to miss the beginning of the ceremony. (Or go back out in the sub-freezing air!) Shortly after deciding not to go, we decided we wanted Buffalo Chicken Dip* anyway, so C went to get the ingredients. She got back pretty quickly, and it got started on the stove. We busted out the hummus while that was cooking. C & J's mom was at the inauguration, so we kept joking "Look! There she is!" whenever they'd pan over the (huge) crowds.

Time seemed to fly by, and before we knew it, the swearing in of Biden was going on. We brought the chips and dip over in front of the TV to watch for a bit. The bigs came down to ask about lunch, so we set all of the kiddos up at the table to make pizzas. The bigs were chased off to play while the pizzas cooked, and the littles bummed tortilla chips from us. (I warned Checka that the dip was "picy," but P decided he wanted a bite. It was adorable and awful once the kick hit him.)

Aretha Franklin's motown "My Country 'Tis of Thee" was beautiful. From what I could concentrate on, I thought Rick Warren's invocation wasn't too bad. I recognized the scripture he used (except I know it in Hebrew. Deut 6:4, for those who are curious.) The John Williams arrangement freaked me out a bit. It was very "movie" (yes, duh, John Williams) and made me think of a scene from a political thriller. Totally not what I needed with the worry I did have already. During that song, both NBC and CNN announced that Obama was now the president anyway. The swearing-in was so cute! You could totally tell he was nervous, and then the chief justice messed up the words. We were all "awwww-ing" over the Obama girls and their fidgeting, as well as Michelle's attempts to keep them still and/or quiet. The benediction was really good too. Particularly noted at the party was the phrase "in our churches, our synagogues, our mosques." Then we watched the Bush helicopter fly away, but none of us realized what it was, as some crisis or another had popped up.

At some point in there, the bigs and a couple of the littles ate their pizzas. Once they were safely back playing, we busted out the Giant (as in, from the supermarket chain) brownie with red, white, and blue sprinkles. Straight out of the box, with forks. I'd intended to make broccoli (or is that Barack-oli?) cheddar popovers, but we were too full from the chips and dip for more food-food. We also toasted with sparkling cranberry juice and took pretentious-looking pictures. :)

A little later, C took her girls home. J and I tuned back in at 2:30 to watch the parade, but the luncheon was still going on. After confirming that it was running over, the announcement about Senator Byrd was made. And then it was Byrd and Senator Kennedy. And then it was just Kennedy. We were totally thinking the worst, especially with the revelation that a moment of silence had been held.

Eventually they announced he was conscious and talking. The parade started too. I was a bit disappointed, because it was like 2 hours of the motorcade, with 15 minutes of the Obamas walking down the road. Apparently the "real" parade started after I left.

The kids were so good today! P and Checka were a bit clingy (esp. Checka) at times, but the bigs were off and playing together happily most of the day. Adia dressed up in a green dress and red heels. (Which she soon ditched because they weren't comfortable -- that's my girl!) S wore a black dress and black heels, and M wore a red and white polka dot shirt and brown wedges. Later they all came downstairs (without the dress-up clothes) and went shirtless for the afternoon. Oh, preschoolers. At one point while the mamas were on the couch eating brownies, Checka was sitting on the floor watching the inauguration festivities and chanting "O-ba-ma! O-ba-ma!" to herself.

Charles watched the inauguration at work. (For some reason they had tv's tuned to the event. ;) His impression was good, although he agreed with me on the movie score. He was the one who pointed out to me that the chief justice had screwed up the words to the oath. He also left after the poet, so he didn't see the rest of it. (Though, to be honest, I mostly tuned out the poet.)

I talked to my mom this evening, and I asked her if she had anything new in her world.. like a president. ;) She said she was optimistic that this was going to bring about good things.

O-ba-ma, indeed.

Illness update

Things seem to be on the upswing. Charles took Advil for his throat this morning, but he said it was tolerable before that. 28 hours into round 2 of antibiotics for me means I can swallow without painkillers without crying. It still hurts a little, but much improved. It took forever for me to fall asleep last night and to wake up this morning, but a huge cup of coffee and a bottle of tea helped me stay awake. I'm taking the lazy way out and making a frozen veggie lasagna and garlic bread, but it's still an improvement on our diet of late.

Tonight a bunch of my friends are going out to play pool and drink sans kids, but I'll be at home with my cough syrup and Heroes on DVD. Woot woot. Doesn't get much more exciting than that.

Antibiotics, take 2

Urgent care was pretty awesome. I was in and out in less than 30 minutes AND the doc faxed my prescriptions to CVS. I took the babes through the Dunkin' Donuts drive-thru (see pictures of snowflake doughnuts below -- although that's about all the doughnut Checka ate!) and then through the CVS drive-thru. They offered to flavor my cough syrup too, so I took them up on it. (Watermelon.) Now on Zithromax.

We swung by Rite Aid on the way home for Mucinex and nebbie refills, and now I'm home and drowsy on antibiotics and Mucinex. They're totally cancelling out my coffee from Dunkin'. This is normal for day 1 of antibiotics for me, but I think the Mucinex is magnifying it.

I'm definitely not driving anywhere else today. I can barely type! (I'm having to backspace almost every other word.) I foresee lots of TV this afternoon.

Also, I might get to sleep in the bed tomorrow night. I haven't done that in at least a week. Laying down made me cough too much, which felt yucky AND woke up Charles and Checka.

she was also rewarded

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reward 4 being good @ mommy's dr

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Still sick

I finished the abx on Monday, and within 12 hours I was feeling crappy again. I put it off and put it off, expecting to feel better, but my sore throat and green mucus have returned. So I'm off to urgent care again.

Greaaaat

Adia now has a fever of 102.6 (ish)

We'll be at home until June, if anybody's looking for us.

On the good list, the flavored Zithromax is going well.

Good and Bad

Bad: Adia has a sinus infection. She's on Zithromax for 5 days. I seriously want to move now.* I didn't sleep last night, because the Benadryl I took must've been expired and I couldn't stop coughing.

Good: Adia's lungs sound good, so we're doing good on the nebbies. The pharmacy offered to flavor her medicine, so we made it strawberry. Also, she was freaking awesome at the doctor's office. Francesca sounds and looks clear, so the doctor said to keep an eye on her over the weekend.

I suppose I can't complain too much -- the goods currently outweigh the bads. And now we should all be well enough to go Madi's birthday party next weekend. :)

*So we can be closer to good pharmacies. The CVS we went to today was fast, friendly, and has a drive-thru. I've never done that before, and it's so much nicer than dragging two kids (one sick and I'm still sick) through the pharmacy. Rite Aid has never even presented the flavor thing as an option, and I'm wary of using them for anything with the constant screw-ups they seem to have.

So, it wasn't hives

It's another form of eczema. They're sending her home with two prescription creams (probably steriods, Gramma :P) one for her body and a gentler one for her face.

Still sick, now F is off to the doctor

I spent last night violently coughing, and I wound up sleeping sitting up on the couch. I have broken blood vessels in my eyes and my throat. I'm a lot better now that I'm up and about, but I'm still occasionally coughing. My throat feels better, as long as I'm not coughing. I sent Charles back to work for the first time in almost two weeks.

Over the last day or so, Checka's hives have started covering her entire body. Seriously, she's about as bad as I was when I had the thyroid craziness last summer. Chest-to-toe hives. I called the doctor's office and they wanted to see her today, so I got Charles to come home to take her. I feel better, but not "drive two kids to Fred." better. This is the first doctor's appointment I haven't been present for, and it's a little weird.

Three cheers for modern medicine

I went to the walk-in clinic at the doctor's office here this morning. I have a sinus infection, so I came home with antibiotics, saline, and soup.

Of course, Rite Aid read the prescription wrong and had me taking 1 pill a day for 30 days. I called the dr's office when I got home, and the prescription was written as 4 pills a day for 7.5 days. Argh.

I think if I hadn't gone in today, I would be hating life (more) right now. My throat is getting progressively worse. And I might've gotten 2 hours of sleep last night, because Advil wasn't touching the pain.

I should be asleep

But I'm not, because my throat is screaming and I have at least another hour before my next dose of Advil. Also, my nose is running and I have a cough. Both of which annoy Francesca and interrupt my ability to sleep.

This really, really sucks. I am not a fan of 2009 thus far.