Stolen Moments

I could talk about a lot of things that have happened since my last post.  To me, my family, my friends, my country, the world.  But I won't.  Today is Earth Day, and I want to preserve a few moments of peace, talking about how much I love being outside.

I have lived and worked in the city, and there are some things to appreciate about being downtown.  It is just simply not my preference.  Although I do make exceptions for the symphony and theater.  The city and country hum in two completely different ways.  I live out in the country now.  I do have neighbors, but they spread out a bit.  To the back and side, I'm surrounded by a horse farm.  They not only have a stable full of horses, but what seems to be an entire pack of dogs.  Some belong to them, some to visitors who board horses.  Some they took in temporarily and just never left.  There are also goats who pretty much run free munching on whatever the bump into. 

I love getting up in the morning with the sun and sneaking outside a few moments before my girls wake up. Right now we're still in the best part of spring.  Everything is growing and smelling fresh.  Our greenhouse is full of baby plants, just getting their roots down and stems up, not yet ready for the garden.  The pear, apple, and almond trees are blooming, and leafing out, getting ready to spend summer growing something delicious.  The landscape is sprining to life with my husband's plants, that I may never learn the names to all of.  "Is this a weed or a plant?"  How many times have I asked that question.

I love being by the lake, in the woods, in grassy fields, up a hill or mountain.  I just love being outside.  Day, or night.  It makes me feel small and peaceful.  It feels clean and happy.  I just hope we can keep it that way for the next generation.  I hope that my girls will love and appreciate it as much as me.

So today, I'm enjoying the outside.  I'm being selfish and pretending for a few stolen moments that nothing is wrong anywhere, that there was no loss, no war, no politics.  Just wind blowing gently, sun shining, horses rolling in the fields, and little girls picking flowers.

A Zombie Invasion Update

The day after that last post I got sick.  I'm not kidding, the very next day, just like I joked.  I'm still sick, as in the rest of our zombie household.  Stop on by to visit, we'll make you zombie's too.  Unforunately parenthood doesn't stop when you get sick.  It keeps going and going and going.  Diapers, feedings, messes, potty training.  But now it also goes with force feeding medicine, 3am couching fits, from you and this children, and the spouse.  We're getting better, but very slowly. 

I had a few hours of misery this morning, laying on the floor, cell phone on my chest.  It happens once every year or two, usually just for a morning, but sometimes all day.  Vertigo.  Bad, bad vertigo.  Can't open my eyes, can't move, can't eat.  It feels like the world is swirling around you.  Then you try to get up and vomit.  Unfortunately my husband had to go into work this morning.  In the almost 4 years we've been married he's NEVER had to work a single moment on the weekend.  The timing was awful.  Luckily my sister is just a few miles from me, and her and my brother-in-law were on standby in case it got to be too much to handle. 

God Bless my dear sweet children for being unusually well behaved this morning.  I can't say that enough times.  Even being sick, they did really well while I layed there on the floor.  My toddler did jump on me once and shout "yehaw!" and try to ride me like a horse.  I gave myself a gold star for not puking on her.

The world stopped swimming this afternoon, I ate, and the baby is napping while the toddler has her way with my kitchen.  Let's hope for a week of no more zombies. 

Zombie Invasion

I think I've maybe been hearing too much about zombies from people lately.  I've started having dreams about them.  Also, a friend of mine, who is a pharmacist, mentioned the other day that she needed 2 more brains and 6 more hands.  And I did what any good friend would do.  I said "I never knew you were a zombie!"  What a nice sympathetic comment to an overworked friend.

My husband was feeling bad over the weekend, and didn't work from sunup to sundown.  I knew he was a zombie then.  He never doesn't do too much.  (did you get that great sentence?)

My poor toddler was sick yesterday.  I assume she still is today, seeing as it's 9:30 and she's still in bed.  It's usually 6:30am springing up and dancing and eating.  She really looked like a zombie.  She barely spoke, barely reacted when you spoke.  She just flopped on the couch or floor literally the entire day.  I think she had one slice of apple, and 3 chips all day.  Lots of fluids though.  Today, I think I'll have two zombies.  My 6.5 month old was up all night and is now napping.  She never naps.  So much like her big sister in that aspect.

I guess I better watch my back, the Zombie invasion is spreading.  Tomorrow we may all be zombies.

Breakthroughs

I consider this weekend a huge breakthrough in my oldest daughter's communication skills.  She will be two years and three months old soon, and as of this weekend, other people can understand and communicate with her.  Namely, my older sister and niece.  Before, when she did manage to try and speak around them, they needed a translator.  I heard a lot of "I don't speak two year old".  I think most of the time I don't either, I'm just a good guesser, spending so much time with her daily.

I feel that in the past two weeks specifically, her vocabulary as exploded.  She's not only using two and three and four word sentences all of the sudden, but she can also repeat (or try to repeat) just about anything you can say.  Sure, there are lots of letter sounds she doesn't do, but it's huge progress, and relieves some big worries.  I guess deep down I always figured she would be fine.  I just kept telling everyone that she's saving her words up for a special occasion. 

She can't say her sister's name, but she can say part of it, so she calls her Ia, pronouces (eee-uh).  She's also named the baby doll her cousin got her Ia.  She sings the songs we sing to her sister, to the doll also. 

I couldn't be happier that those two love each other so much. 

In an astronomy-related note, there is an event I am thinking of taking the baby along to, since she still refuses her bottle. I promise this is a children's, family friendly, event, and not a particle physics lecture, like last time.

That is all.

Astronomy Makes Me Hungry

I was reading an article on the Lobster Nebula, that came up in my news feed recently.  It made me realize just how many astronomical objects make me hungry.  I'm a huge fan of seafood in general, and I don't always get much time to eat, so chances are I'm hungry at any given point during the day. So, here is a list.

Lobster Nebula-pretty obvious, sea food, McCormick & Schmick, Red Lobster, Sushi

Crab Nebula-yep, crab, particularly crab cakes, which remind me of salmon cakes, so those too

Milky Way Galaxy (our galaxy in case you didn't know)- so many yummy chocolate bars

Sombrero Galaxy-Mexican food, particularly chimichangas

Ring Nebula- Donuts, though I don't eat them often

Horsehead Nebula...I'm just joking, seriously, I don't eat horse, it would make my neighbor very cross with me.

You can stop reading now.  And go bring me some candy bars and sushi.

My kid is awesome

Emily just ran up to me shouting "happy apple!"  I thought she was just happy to be eating it until she turned it around and showed me this. 

Hooray for another two word combo!

Holiday Spirit

Yes, I really did this to my poor children.  And I don't even like Valentine's Day. Look how much she adores big sister.