Oops.

Forgot one.


And it's too cute to forget!

We're just chock-full of excitement.

So we've been up to a whole lotta nothin' lately. That's all I've got for ya. I am working, but the semester really starts this next week when I have to start the grading circus. It's also cold and rainy here about 90% of the time, so there's not a lot of outdoors happening. Hence we hang inside and try not to go too stir crazy!

A typical daily scene in our house:


Moon Sand, I sing your praises. Frankie LOVES this stuff. It's a mini-sized sandbox right in the living room! Like play-doh, all of the colors turn to brown or purple when mixed together. Unlike play-doh, this stuff doesn't get ground into the carpet and vacuums right up!


He will literally spend a couple of hours a day digging in the sand in the living room (while simultaneously watching tv, of course.)


Harper hangs on the mat. She hasn't quite mastered rolling over yet, so she also spends time face-down, but it's really not as cute as face-up.


I'm still not sure what color that hair is going to be when it finally comes in.

Frankie's been taking baby steps into going back to preschool with his cast. They've been very kind and more than accommodating, just another reason to love The Children's Garden and all of the hippies therein. Every Thursday is 'bread day', where the children make their own bread as an activity and also their snack. Unfortunately one of Frankie's teachers was out on Thursday and I wasn't about to leave cast-boy with one poor, frazzled teacher and six other screaming three-year-olds. (We actually went for 45 minutes and I stayed and helped; it made me really glad I wasn't working with little kids anymore!) Since Frankie didn't get to stay for bread making, we went to the store - we are quite a sideshow what with the baby in the wrap and the kid in a cast in the wagon - and bought all of the stuff to do it ourselves at home. I'm getting much braver when it comes to going out in public, at least. And then the cast was covered in flour.



Harper watches. She lacks the muscle control to participate.


Baby Xander, who is three days older than Harper and at least three pounds heavier, came to visit this week. When your total weight with a wet diaper is less than 12 pounds, three pounds is pretty significant!


And I will leave you with this AMAZING onesie that my friend Amy made for Harper. She's a master at embroidery and, lucky for us, is more than willing to share her talents!

Spendy

If anyone feels the need to spend what I classify as WAY too much on an item of clothing for Harper, you may buy this. That is all. :)

It's a major award!

So, Sun over at How to Become a Zombie in Two Easy Steps nominated me for a creative blogger award. :) Thanks, Sun - like you, I wasn't sure anyone read this blog but my mom (hi, mom!) and a couple of other relatives. So for fun, I get to tell all of you masses of folk seven things that you don't know about me (this could prove difficult - I'm a bit of an exhibitionist and tend to 'put it all out there.')

1. When I was a tweener, I had my palm read by another tweener at a slumber party. We must've been really bored and/or hyped up on sugar. I was a big cat fan, and this girl said I would fall in love with my vet at the age of 26 and marry him when I was 27. Apparently I was completely convinced that this girl had the gift of seeing the future because I was absolutely sure it would happen like that. Guess what? It didn't.

2. I kill all of the bugs in our house. Juston is scared of them. I think growing up in Texas in a house next to a creek made those giant roaches (aka waterbugs) ubiquitous and non-threatening. You just squash 'em and get it over with, no big deal!

3. I have had a total of eight ear piercings (maybe 9? can't remember.) Seven of the holes are still open. I regularly wear anywhere from three to five earrings at a time. I can't remember the last time I wore seven; it's literally been years. I secretly really really want to pierce my nose, but don't worry mom - I won't do it.

4. I'm not sure when I became obsessed with the idea of getting a pug. I think it just happened one day when I was around 22 or 23 years old. I can't remember ever wanting one before that. We got Bridget when we bought our first house in 2005; none of our apartments allowed pets. I think of her as my first child sometimes.

5. I'm 5'1.75" tall (or as I say, 5'2" on a good day.)

6. At one time, I had an Oingo Boingo fansite that would come up in the top 10 results when you searched Oingo Boingo on Google. Thankfully, the web has grown in the last ten years and it's dead and buried in the world wide web.

7. I've never broken a bone and can be overly cautious because I have a low tolerance for pain. I'm afraid to go skiing (snow or water, not as though I have the arm strength for the latter anyway) and I have an irrational fear of motorcycles, dirtbikes, spinning donuts in any vehicle, driving too fast, etc. My three-year-old already has one up on me.

There you go. Not a great list, but a list nonetheless. I'm supposed to nominate seven other people, but I'm going to skip that for the time being as I really need to go to bed earlier tonight. I will hopefully come back and do that soon!

This is what I'm supposed to do - puttin' this here to keep myself honest.
1) Thank the person giving the award
2) Copy the award to your blog
3) Place a link to their blog
4) Name 7 things people don’t know about you
5) Nominate 7 bloggers
6) Place a link to those bloggers
7) Leave a comment letting those bloggers know about the award

Mountain Getaway

Christmas was stressful, I'm not gonna lie. There was an assortment of other things that happened in addition to Frankie breaking his leg that made us more than happy to put 2009 behind and move forward. We decided, at the last minute, to take advantage of the MLK holiday and take a one-night trip to the North Georgia Mountains. Growing up in Dallas, there really wasn't much to see within an hour - or two or three - of my house (Oklahoma? Gah.), so I'm not used to this idea of having 'nature's wonders' almost in my backyard. It turns out, there's a really amazing waterfall about an hour and fifteen minutes away called Amicalola Falls. Who knew? (Apparently a lot of people, but not me, obviously.)

Here's our family picture at the top of the falls. We couldn't do any hiking because of Frankie's leg, but we did drive to the top and pull him out in the wagon to get a good look at things. Not sure what's up with my hair - I'm going to blame it on the drizzle.


We then drove to the middle of the waterfall and took a walk down the trail.



And then...the waterfall!!! It was wet! It was huge! It was water cascading down a cliff!




We didn't get any pictures of our fancy buffet dinner at the Amicalola Falls lodge (woot buffet!), but we did manage to prop Frankie in a chair for the first time. It required two pillows and it now means that we know he can sit at the table. I don't have to feed him anymore in a semi-reclined position, so this was a huge breakthrough. We braved the fog and drove down the mountain and went to a 'resort', where we stayed in a 'rustic' cabin. Rustic = old and unrenovated. It was the very definition of 1980s kitsch. There was a freakin' hot tub in the middle of the living room!


Can you say 'awesome'?


There was a lovely porch swing out back where one could sit and look at the trees. Unless you are Frankie, and then you have to avert your eyes if there is even the least bit of sun.


Rustic!


We then drove into the gold mining town of Dahlonega, Georgia and had breakfast.

Look at me! Sitting upright! Drinking milk!


It was quaint, but mostly touristy little shops in a town square, nothing too special. Although we did get some great chocolate-covered pretzels. And the weather was perfect that morning, none of the drizzle and fog from the night before. It was surprisingly relaxing and really great to see some of the 'local' sites. I hope that we get the chance to do it again, perhaps when all of the family members are mobile instead of only half.

Recreational activities.

Riding the zoo train.


Making a sandwich.


Sitting around.



I left off sleeping, watching TV, working, and playing video games. And don't forget doing laundry (I sometimes feel like I live at a 24 hour wash 'n fold.) You will have to use your imagination and create your own visuals that are surely more interesting than the actual things.

You might notice a theme....

Can you figure out what we've been doing for the past week?

Pay attention to Frankie's hair twirling; it's a weird new habit he's developed since breaking his leg. I originally thought it was a side effect of being all drugged up, but he's hardly taking any of the good stuff these days and he still does it.

Not so happy.

Yes, the baby is wearing a bib. She's turning into a DROOLING MONSTER.

And with the hair again.

They don't quite feel the same way about this sibling bonding time.

Whatever keeps her happy, right?

Football!

And somewhere between the last picture of Frankie and this picture of Frankie, he got a haircut. After combing out the tangles from Frankie's days of lying on his back, it was decided that a new style was in order. Due to Juston's lack of talent with the clippers and a three-year-old's general inability to tolerate getting a haircut, Frankie ended up with a sweet 90's hairstyle, complete with 'shaved underneath' all the way around and long on top. It actually looks really good and all he needs now is a flannel shirt and a pair of Girbauds to go with his skateboard and complete the amazing throwback.

And again....

(They are holding hands in this picture. Altogether now with the 'awwwww.')

To be fair, Frankie asks to 'see' Harper multiple times a day (exact words are "let me see her"), which means he wants to hold her. She tolerates it well until he starts petting her head, smacking her belly, or generally just being an obnoxious older brother. Today the orthopedist said that Frankie's femur is healing up well and we go back in four weeks for either a cast removal or the opportunity to go back and pay another co-pay if he's not quite healed yet.

This is what I call a 'pillow pet.'

Edit: reference to this, hat tip to the seven-year-old niece.

Gettin' Around

Cast travel via airplane:



Via wheelchair and carseat:


Via wagon with sister!


Frankie is using a specially-designed carseat called the Britax Hippo. It doesn't have any sides so that his legs can hang off and he can still travel safely. The kind people at Primary Children's Hospital in Salt Lake City loaned it to us and we simply need to ship it back to them when we are finished.

Adaptation

Learning new ways to do old things.

Happy New Year.

A rare moment of peace....well, sort of.