No Laughing Matter

Okay, so I make a crack about my dead fish and eating salmon, and what happens? Today I get attacked by salmon.

Okay, not really by salmon, but by the can containing the salmon. We're talking serious bloodshed here people.

Here's the tale of why I won't make fun on my dead fish anymore.

I'm making dinner - Cheddar Salmon Quiche - if you're interested. I open up the can of salmon. Empty salmon in the bowl. I move to throw away the open can and somehow drop the can (blaming that on pregnancy clumsiness), which had the lid partially attached to it. The jagged opening of the lid lands right on my big toe.

The gash is pretty long and deep. There's blood and me not coping well with the blood. I stood there for about 30 seconds just saying, "oh no" over and over. Actually more like, "ooooohhhhh.....noooooooo". As I watch the blood pool on my newly scrubbed kitchen floor.

I stood there long enough to attract Grace from watching Barney to come over and also say "oh no". So we're both standing there saying "oh no". Where's Mr. D when I need him? He's my logic when I have none.

Well, I wanted to get the quiche in the oven since I was already running late getting dinner started, so my answer was to take a handful of napkins and wrap them around my big toe. I continue making dinner when I realized I was still dragging blood across the floor. Not good. Answer? More napkins.

I finally get the quiche in the over and sit down to properly clean up and do something with my wound. It's okay - it was only a two band-aid emergency.

So I rescrub the kitchen floor and make up a dramatic tale to explain to Mr. D the quantity of bloody napkins in the trashcan.

And the moral: don't joke about the dead fishes.

Bye-Bye Billy

R.I.P. Billy the Fish



May 2005 - June 2008

Billy the Beta lived a long life - much longer than I ever thought. When we bought him to live in my office for work, I suspected he would hang around for a few months - tops. I was surprised when each Monday I would come in and there he would be swimming around.

Then he came home with me to live in my kitchen. I enjoyed his company - well, as much as you can enjoy a fish's company.

My favorite Billy story is that of his second chance at life. I cleaned his bowl one day, and not thinking, grabbed the purified water from the fridge. After I filled the bowl, dropped Billy back in, did I realize that the glass was frosty to the touch and Billy was in shock! I scooped him out and back into the warm water. He just floated without movement. Sad, I waited. He still floated. With remorse for being responsible for his demise, I scooped him and and carried him to his final resting place in the toilet. I dumped him in and went to flush. With one last look, I reached for the handle. What's that? He's swimming! It's a miracle! Billy went on to live another year with his new lease on life.

Unfortunately, Billy is no longer with us. My kitchen is a little quieter. Mr. D says we will replace him, but it won't replace the memories.

Let's pause for a moment of silence.

Great. Who's thinking salmon for dinner?

Relationships

We have new neighbors moving in next door. Its really an answer to prayer - they are a family from our church who have two kids, plus two on the way (twins!). Their daughter is three and son is two - just a couple months older than Grace. She's about 6 weeks ahead of me in her pregnancy. How exciting. I'm hoping that we can all get along and Grace might have some playmates. There really aren't any little ones around us, nor in our family, so Grace is pretty used to playing alone. It sounds so sad, but its not so much that she's lonely as she needs to learn to play with others.

Plus, Mr. D and I have been "dating" another couple from church. We joke that getting to know another couple is like dating: when do you call, is it too soon to get together again. Fortunately, the other couple makes the same jokes - so they "get us". I don't know about other people, but it seems to be so hard to find like-humored people. I meet many like-minded people, but like-humored is different.

This is how see it: like-minded - you have fairly similar beliefs and values. Obviously, I don't have to see eye to eye with someone on everything, but having similar values and outlooks on life helps things along. Now, like-humored - we can laugh and joke about the same types of things. I can tell the story about seeing the grandma in Target who had a muffin-top, (I am not making this up), and they'll laugh at it. Or cringe like I did. As a sidenote, grandmas shouldn't be wearing low-rise jeans and short tops. Really. Actually, its not a look that flatters anyone, but I don't usually see in in the 70+ age group.

So that's the latest in our relationship life. The ups and downs of moving into new stages in life and meeting people along the way.

New Beds for Everyone

We are sleeping in style around our house these days. Mr. D and I decided to splurge in the purchase of a much-needed new bed, and Gracie has been upgraded to a toddler bed.

With the onset of the new baby, we decided we should start to transition Grace out of the crib. Since she never won the World's Best Sleeper competition (actually I think she finished close to last), we figured we should get an early start. We found a listing on Craigslist for a great little bed for her, and saved ourselves a few pennies in the meantime.

The transition is definitely still in progress. We hit Grace with a double-whammy though. In getting the "big girl bed", we also told her big girls stay in the their big girl beds all night, not with Mommy and Daddy. (Plus Mommy and Daddy don't want any wet diapers yet on their new bed).

She threw a big girl fit about that for a few nights.

I think she has resigned herself that she's not getting in our fancy, smancy new bed, but she's still paying me back. I was up with her three times last night putting her back to bed. I felt like my newborn had already arrived!

So I'm tired and haven't been able to enjoy my new, giant bed. Here's Grace enjoying it for me! (And yes, she mushed the pillows all up during our photo shoot.)

Oh, by the way, in other news....
IT'S A BOY!

How I Get Gracie to Eat

Just add avocado.





I swear this kid has eaten more avocado in her mere 22 months here on earth than I probably have in my many more months alive. She loves them.

I can't complain. There are worse things for her to eat.

Tonight for dinner I made a baked barley dish with onions and mushrooms. It was just us girls tonight, so I dish it up and we sit down to eat. Grace wasn't too interested. She picked out the mushrooms, deeming them "ick" and played with her food.

So I thought, I could add a little cheese. Cheese usually solves most problems for both her and Mr. D.

Cheese didn't do it - besides picking out the pieces here and there.

So I thought, "Do I give up on dinner and offer something else?" Oh, but wait, Mama has another trick up her sleeve. "Grace, do you want some avocado?". Affirmative response.

So I take half an avocado, mash it up along with the barley. Bingo. She scoops in and starts eating away.

My toddler has an unique taste in cuisine.

Jet Setting Party Animal

Wow. It has been two weeks. Missed me much?

We had our exciting adventure to Washington DC last week for my friend's wedding and this past week we have spent getting back into the groove, doing piles of laundry, and pretty much kicking back since Mr. D took the week off work.

Traveling with Grace turned out to be much better than anticipated. I've decided she's going to be a jet-setter and party animal. I'm in trouble.

She loved the traveling part. The airplane ride was exciting - well for the first 3-4 hours. The last hour not so much. But I was feeling the itch to get moving too, so who can blame the kid. Even then, no tears. We only have to use our portable DVD player (AKA, our back-up relief pitcher) for only an epidsode of Go, Diego, Go and a little bit of Wonder Pets.

Then the hotels. Whee - elevators, running down hallways, Mom and Dad always in the same room with her. She was in heaven.

Oh, and the Metro. She loved riding on the train.

Everything was just so exciting.

So when she's off traveling the world when she grows up, she's also going to be dancing the nights away. I'm worried.

She was the life of the party at the wedding. She danced and danced and danced some more. If Mom and Dad sat down, she would take us by the hand back to the floor. I wanted to take a video of her with her fancy moves. My daughter now does the "Raise the Roof". Sweet. But I didn't think of it til she was somewhat winding down for the night. She danced until the party ended at 11pm.

Unfortunately, my pictures didn't even turn out the greatest - my flash was turned off for half of them. I'm usually much better at documenting our travels, but multitasking between being in the wedding and helping with Grace, made my photo skills suffer. Fortunately, I think my mom had some good ones on her camera, but I haven't seen her to snag them yet. So I guess some of these medicore shots will suffice for now.

The Family

Dancing Away

There's a Reason I Haven't Posted

So I haven't been very good at posting lately. But before you give up on me, I have some excuses. And they are good ones too.

- Nausea

- Fatigue

- Irritability

- Excessive trips to the restroom

Oh wait, those all sound so familiar. As if I experienced them sometime in the past couple years. Oh yes, its coming back to me.

It's a baby folks.

Yes, Mr. D and I are excited to announce that we've been blessed with an addition to our family. I'm due in late-October - putting me at almost 15 weeks right now. This first trimester has been a rough ride. But I think I have put the worse behind me... well, for now. There's always that ninth month... oh yeah, and delivery isn't exactly a party.

We're very excited. Only a few weeks before we find out if our baby will be wearing pink (which we have a lot of in boxes), or if it will be a boy who wears pink!

We're getting Grace ready for her new Big Sister role. She has a cool shirt - that's the first step.

I think she's a little concerned about the prospect - all that sharing that is in store for her.