My Fairy Princess

I'd waited a few months to get an appointment.  The day had come: Halloween.  Matt and Laurel's wedding anniversary.  Alyson from work's birthday.  My dig-the-cyst-out-of-my-back D day.  Appointment at 12:50 and they asked me to arrive 30 minutes early.  There was an emergency the surgeon must attend to after my appointment.  I hoped he would take his time with my delicate back.  The topical lidocaine with epinephrine ("epi" as my Mom and other medical types abbreviate) injections were no joke.  I've made it through child birth and I still thought this hurt like an S.O.B.

Next step: Pop out the cyst, right?  Wrong.  It was much bigger than expected.  He dug.  It ruptured.  I took pictures with my phone.  I'm still debating whether to post them.  One made my sister-in-law gag.  So the procedure was more painful than I expected and I was in much rougher shape that afternoon and evening, Halloween of course. 

Jill had slept in until 8:15 (she has NEVER slept that late for us) for my Mom Monday morning so her nap came an hour or so later than usual.  I tried the Super Mom act to bring her into day care for the costume parade and party but her nap timing screwed everything up.  Oh well, I thought.  My Mom and I sat and had coffee and talked about how awful my procedure felt.  We went to school later that afternoon but had missed all signs of any partying.

Tyden, the Michigan football player, stole Jill's wand almost immediately.

I don't think she noticed right away.

a belly laugh!

still a little out of it from the late nap

a pic with Mom in the hallway on our way home

to rest up, eat dinner and get dressed again!

not impressed

first stop was across the street at the Lyons'

second stop was Stella's

third stop was Mary Lou and Kenny's and fourth stop was the Boussy's

Jill and 4-month-old Lexi (Tom's granddaughter)

We made one more stop, met Dad walking around the corner and called it quits!

Jill has never tried candy (maybe she has at school?) but she grabbed for a Snickers as soon as we were in the house.  A Mounds mini bar for me and a ..... a strawberry cereal bar for Jill??  Tony pretended he had a bigger and better candy bar in the kitchen and he came back with a breakfast bar.  She ate it like it was coated in chocolate and rolled in coconut!  Good thinking, Tony!

The Storm's Aftermath

Parts of Massachusetts were hit hard last weekend with snow, rain and wind. Power remains out and tree limbs are still being cleaned up in many areas. Thankfully, in Quincy we only had rain and wind, which made for an exciting trip to .... Hull!

Jill is like Rachael. They both seem to enjoy the colder weather.

Yes, the owl hat still fits...

 intense waves for Nantasket Beach

warming up in the truck

Books and Finger Paints

 Take a look at that goofy smile.  It's contagious!  You can't help but smile back.

Today's weather was awful.  Tonight is much worse.  But we got out early to get some errands done and had time for a stop at the playground.  Jill seemed to be very interested in books today, even more so than usual.  Hey, it's a good cold weather day activity. 

As is painting...

To the other parents out there: Isn't it funny how clutter can be put away; the house can be clean; and it takes about 45 seconds for your toddler to destroy the place? 

We had a lot of fun today.  I'm glad Jill was in such a good mood.  It made the best out of the mostly-indoor day!

Arts & Crafts

An early pick-up from day care crossed my mind.  The sun is shining.  We could hit up the playground.  Yes, it's cold but at least it's not raining and/or snowing like predicted for the weekend. 

I contemplated a pick-up around 4:30, early but not too early, and then I threw that idea out the window.  Jill doesn't want to leave school early.  If I arrive before 5, I should plan on playing or reading the oversized There was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly.  Thursday afternoon's early pick-up was fun so I decided to arrive around 4:30.  We didn't leave until after 5.

Some other pictures from this week:

Jill painted after school on Wednesday.

 Her favorite word lately, "NO!"  She did not want to wear a shirt to school on Friday, the coldest day yet.

Miss Cindy took this picture of Jill painting her pumpkin from Aunt Andrea on Thursday. Miss Cindy, Kathleen, Paige and Mary all laughed at how serious and meticulous Jill was with her painting.

Other favorites from the past week or so include Toy Story 3 (Thomas the Train has fallen into second), her Cat in the Hat book from Kristen and Joe and her Train to Timbuctoo classic from Nana. 

How Easily I Forget

How could I forget about these pictures on my phone?  A couple weekends ago Tony had a work event Saturday morning and Jill and I were on a mission to get the Mom mobile inspected.  The sticker was already late (Tony informed me it's a 3 pt violation on insurance even though his sticker is always at least 2 mths late).  So Jill and I dropped off the car and continued on a walk down the street to Hannaford's.

It wasn't particularly sunny that morning but whatever, she likes to wear her sunglasses some days!  When we got to the store, I let Jill climb into the car cart.  You know the ones I'm talking about.  Tony says they're gross and germ-infested but really, can it be much worse than day care??

Yes, the glasses stayed on.  And surprisingly, Jill stayed in the cart.  She seemed to really enjoy making some tight turns and driving around the older early Saturday morning crowd.

Carving Pumpkins and Harrassing the Seals

I realize it's Wednesday and I'm just now posting pics from the weekend but you have to picture our life this week.  Jill's been fighting some kind of illness.  She's been a complete grump and a beast to get to bed.  And by the time she's asleep, we're either on our way too, glued to the couch to watch an episode of Mad Men or reading in bed.  It's been that kind of week.

The weekend was much nicer as we welcomed two special guests: Nana and Auntie Andrea, pizza pie maker extraordinaire and pumpkin farmer! 

we carved pumpkins and baked salted pumpkin seeds, yum!

 Jill got a hold of Nana's camera

 admiring her perfect little pumpkin from Auntie Andrea's garden

 a pizza making pro, no joke

 Nana spent the night and we headed into the city Sunday morning. Here's Tony and Jill walking through the Holocaust Memorial. Jill was very interested in the homeless man wrapped in a blanket on the way to Quincy Market.  I think she wanted to peak under and play peek-a-boo!

 Quincy Market with Nana

 checking out the seals outside the aquarium - easily the highlight of our day!

 Jill LOVED the seals!

 She laughed out loud when they floated by.

 She dropped to the ground to get a better view.

 yelling in excitement!!

 Where did the seal go?!

 We checked out the playground at Columbus Park in the North End.  It was a fun time until I wacked my head on a metal bar and Jill slipped and split her lip.  I'm not lying.  We were both in tears and blood was dripping from Jill's mouth.  It was a mess!

Later Sunday afternoon Jill tried on her Halloween costume.  I'll keep that a surprise for Monday night's post!  It's almost time to trick-or-treat!

Tweet, Tweet!

Status updates from 5am-5pm. A tweet here and a tweet there but no worrying about the 140 character count.

4:59am Man, it’s early. I really need to get my ass out of bed and get on the elliptical.

5:30am There, that feels better. I love getting a little sweaty in the morning.

6:15am Wow, Jill’s still sleeping. Must need her rest to fight that nasty cough she had last night.

7:40am Am I really just getting out the door? Jill was difficult this morning. Had no interest in getting a diaper change, brushing her teeth, washing her face or getting dressed for school.

8am Very successful drop-off. Lots of kids were already there (usually we’re early and there’s maybe one other kid sitting at the table enjoying some Cheerios of Kix). Jill ran over to Miss Megan and asked for the bubble lawn mower. Peace, Mom!

8:15am Arrive at boat yard. Is that man on the dock really drinking a beer??

8:30am Successful pulling the boat out for the season. Tony sailed into the boat yard, manueured around several boats and helped as our sailboat was loaded onto a trailer to be stored for the winter. I’m jealous: He saw a seal while he was out sailing! Wish I was with him!

9:20am On the way to work and the Neposet Bridge is closed to one lane. ONE lane. God this is annoying. Still heavy on the Expressway. Sometimes rush hour seems like every hour!

10am Arrive at work and I’m not sure which floor to take the elevator to… 5 or 6? The morning consisted of my move to 6 to be near my new team. Also been responding to Congrats emails on my new position (announcement went out yesterday afternoon). Very nice to get such thoughtful notes!

11:49am Starving!

11:52am So excited that the microwave on my new floor has a seconds function!

12:08pm work or unpack?

12:20pm hot chocolate after lunch – it’s become an addiction

1:00pm enter meeting with Sanofi digital guru from Paris office and his very French agency counterparts

1:15pm try chocolate from Paris: a light pink chocolate shaped like a Pringle sprinkled with strawberry Nerds and vanilla jimmies. That’s what it looked like; it tasted like heaven.

1:21pm These French folk are difficult to understand. I wonder if they think the same about me. Does the Boston accent make it worse?

2:26pm Looking forward to tomorrow. Nana and Auntie Andrea are visiting and the weather’s supposed to be quite nice and fall-like.

2:27pm Can I leave work yet? Can’t wait to pick Jill up from day care!

2:59pm Email from Heidi: what are your plans for the weekend? That’s a good question…

3:07pm Need to check Facebook. Neeeeeed to…

3:28pm thankful the chocolate chip cookies from our earlier meeting were gone when I walked by the conference room for that exact purpose, to grab a cookie. Eating red grapes at my desk.

3:38pm Really can’t wait to pick up Jill!

3:58pm cleaning out my new cube … filed papers from Q2 07 – recycle bin!

4:14pm invoices from Q3 05 – bye, bye!

4:21pm ready to head home and enjoy the evening with Tony, Jill and Rachael. Shutting down!

4:48pm Love the carpool lane! On our way to get muffinhead.

*READY FOR THE WEEKEND*

A Multi-Purpose Wax

Nurses give away the Lansinoh brand of Lanolin to new nursing Moms at Brigham & Women's.  They're well aware of the possible aches and pains ahead.  Lanolin, aka wool wax, is used to soothe sore nipples.  No delicate way around it.  Today I discovered another use: to heal messy, chapped lips.  Per my Mom Janet, I bought a cube at CVS this afternoon.  I forgot how goey it is!  If you ever decide to use this trick, it only takes a very very small amount.  Gross but it seems like it's working!

Mr. Mom

Monday starred Tony as Mr. Mom. When asked what he’s going to do when Jill poops, Tony replies that my Mom’s pressure washer is still at the house. Oh man. Should I stay home, I ponder. No, Tony can handle this one. Besides it’s the first day of my new job and I really should be in the office, at least for most of the day.

As I discovered Sunday evening, Tony is not a big fan of the playground, abbreviated “pg” when discussed in front of Jill (like “w” stands for walk in front of Rachael). I’m sure it’s because a play session typically lasts an hour and involves interaction with other parents and even worse, their kids. He’d rather drop me off and take Jill to his work for a couple hours. From what I gathered, she was fairly well-behaved and somewhat quiet. Jill’s morning consisted of drawing on sales brochures and accounting paperwork, decorating Jenn’s desk with sticky notes and rearranging magnets on someone’s whiteboard. Less acrobatic than the “pg” but still stimulating and a lot of fun!

Despite Tony’s best efforts to engage Jill and feed crackers to her in the backseat, she crashed and slept in her carseat like she did on Saturday and Sunday. Shorter naps earlier in the day then no real nap. No nap on the weekend = mess of a house and mess of a Jill come 5 p.m. Thankfully Jill was more cheerful and less grumpy on Monday. I could hear her in the background each time Tony and I talked. She chatted away, laughed and climbed on Tony’s back. Tony laughed too. He might have actually enjoyed himself on Monday, although I don’t expect him to volunteer again next week. My Mom is visiting her sister in California so we are sharing the Jill Monday coverage responsibilities for two weeks.

In the darkness of the early morning hours, Monday began with a test run to the local YMCA. My sales pitch to Tony on the family membership (it’s expensive) was that we needed activities to do with Jill throughout the winter months. The playground in February won’t work. Family swim works. So we toured the facility this weekend and LOVED it! Free babysitting while you workout! Are you kidding me? Why are we just discovering this now? Jill walked into the playroom and didn’t look back. We finished the tour sans Jill but I’m sure she would have been equally as impressed by the pool area. There are two pools with a ton of options for family swim, lap swim, lessons, swim team, you name it. Monday morning wasn’t as exciting for me, just 20 minutes running intervals on the treadmill. Five minutes to drive there, five minutes home and I was showered before Jill even woke up. I could do this more often. In fact, I think I will!

TUESDAY: Eggs, anyone? As the usual breakfast chef, I realized how empty the cereal and bread shelves were. Oh man, no English muffins either. What are Jill and Tony going to eat? The last few mornings I’d made a bigger batch of steel cut oats (dipping into the pantry now) and drizzled honey on top. Jill shoveled it down. This morning we scrambled eggs. With Jill’s track record of Tony-like food preferences, it was sure to be a hit. NOPE, not at all! She took one whiff and turned her nose up with a disgusted look on her face. This got a good laugh out of Tony. Waffles it is!

Tuesday’s commute included a drive by Occupy Boston, the local version of Occupy Wall Street, set up across the street from South Station. Some in our household perhaps refer to it as “Camp Entitlement.” I was honestly impressed by the number of tents and the area the demonstration covered. My friend Jocelyn follows bebehblog and sends me links every now and then. This writer and stay at home Mom is a riot! She addressed the OWS movement in today’s post called What’s In a Choice? It discusses the choices Moms may or may not have to either work or stay home to raise their children. This shouldn’t be the case, but it all comes down to money, doesn’t it? Money for your mortgage, health insurance, food, child care and bills. So going strictly by the numbers, you could stay home if you made more than your child care costs, right? Yes and no. Work provides an adult environment. Day care offers hours filled with interaction with other children for your toddler. Work provides health insurance, something not all spouses can get, at least at a reasonable price. Suzanne presents this thought in her post: What would you do if you won the lottery? Would you stay home?

Sunday in Webster

Tim plays with Cadence & Jill

 Jill really enjoys playing with Cadence's fun toys!

 Tim rests 2.5-week-old Addison on Cadence and Jill

 Jill: What are we supposed to do with her??

 Cadence: Dad?

 Stomping on every last bubble

 Nothing is getting past these two

 face plant

 bubbles are so much fun!

 Hey Jill, this isn't football!