Anything Goes

Update on our lives

2010-04-10T19:49:00.000-07:00

I know I'm horrible at blogging, but what can I say? We are a family of 5 now! February 27th, our daughter Evelyn was born. Of course she's adorable and perfect in every way (except for the silent reflux). She has a ton of dark brown hair. She is different from Allison and Ethan in that she loves to cuddle! She loves being held, she loves sleeping in bed snuggled right up next to me. Since we are more sure than not that she will be our last, I find the time going by so much faster than with the other two. It's like I have to hold on to every single moment because it could be the last. The last 'first smile.' The last teeny premie outfit. The last sleepless nights. As previously mentioned, it was discovered last week she has silent reflux. Basically, silent reflux is similar to regular reflux except that the baby doesn't throw up. She just swallows everything back down. So, not only does everything burn coming up, but also burns going down. The kicker is, since they don't throw up, no one realizes anything is wrong. They just cry and cry and demand you hold them. We didn't realize Evelyn was wanting us to hold her all the time because her throat would burn when she was laying down. We just thought she was a high maintenance baby! The ped gave us a script for Zantac. She has been taking it for a little over a week. What a difference it has made! Allison and Ethan seem indifferent when it comes to their new sister. She requires so much of my time. Allison wants to hold her occasionally, and loves when I have her help with something related to her care. But then she will say things like "Mommy, how come you have to feed Evelyn all the time?" Ethan has been throwing fits quite a bit. There is no doubt in my mind, he just wants more attention. *Sigh* It's the times like having a newborn at home that make me really really wish I lived closer to my family. I think things will start to calm down now that Evelyn doing so much better being on the Zantac. It's nice to actually be able to put her down at times!

Chris still loves his job. He's at the point in his post-doc that he is starting to look for a permanent job. Hopefully he will find something around the DFW area. That would just be too perfect if he did. Keep your fingers crossed for us.

I'm doing fine. I started running with some girls a couple weeks ago. This is going to be the year that I will run in a marathon, damnit! Also, I turned 29 last Friday. It seems so strange to think that in less than a year I'll be 30. WEIRD!

My favorite poem.

2009-10-18T06:58:00.000-07:00

Machine Guns, Towers, and Time Clocks
- Charles Bukowski

I feel gypped by dunces
As if reality were the property
Of little men
With luck and a head start,
And I sit in the cold
Wondering about purple flowers
Along a fence
While the rest of them
Stack gold
And Cadillacs and
Ladyfriends,
I wonder about palm leaves
And gravestones
And the preciousness of a
Cocoon-like sleep;
To be a lizard would be
Bad enough
To be scalding in the sun
Would be bad enough
But not so bad
As being built up to
Man-size and Man-life
And not wanting the
Game, not wanting
Machine guns, towers, and
Time clocks,
Not wanting a carwash
A tooth pull
A wristwatch, cufflinks,
A pocket radio
Tweezers and cotton
A cabinet full of iodine,
Not wanting cocktail parties
A front lawn
Sing-togethers,
New shoes, Christmas presents,
Life insurance, Newsweek,
162 baseball games,
a vacation in Bermuda.
Not wanting, not wanting,
And I judge the purple flowers
Better of than I
The lizard better off
The dark green horse
The ever grass
The trees, the birds,
The cats dreaming in the butter
Sun are
Better off than
I, getting into this old coat now
Feeling for my cigarettes,
Car keys
And road map back,
Going out
Down the walk
Like a man to be executed
Walking toward it
Surely,
Going into it
Without guards
Driving toward it
Racing at it
70 miles per hour
jockeying
cussing
dropping ashes
deadly ashes of every
deadly thing
burning,
the caterpillar knows less
horror
the armies of ants are
braver,
the kiss of a snake
less ravenous,
I only want the sky
to burn me more and more
burn me out
so that the sun begins at
6 in the morning
and goes past midnight
like a drunken door always open,
I drive toward it
Not wanting it
Getting it getting it,
As the cat stretches,
Yawns
And rolls over into
Another dream

My daughter just asked me..

2009-09-04T14:32:00.000-07:00

"Mommy, was this on sale?" referring to the granola bar I had just given her. That statement alone proves more conclusively than any DNA test ever could, that she is, in fact, my daughter.

Allison

2008-11-13T17:28:00.000-08:00

Sometimes Allison just makes me smile. I love toddlers. They can be a handful, but when they are happy they just radiate all this sunshine and energy. It's the little things I like the most. For example - when she runs up to me and says "Mommy, I'm so firsty (thirsty). Can I have some nuks? (milk). I tell her sure baby. She gets all excited and goes running off into the kitchen in her little t-shirt and Dora the Explorer undies. When she runs, she kind of skips too. She reminds me of a little baby pony running and skipping in the field. She runs and skips the same way. She's old enough now that she will run to the kitchen and open the fridge and bring me me milk. When I fill up her glass, she says Oh! Dank you! Then she skips off to go play again. She's such a little girl now. She's becoming more independent. She's not a baby anymore. Sometimes I look at her and it hits me that I'm so very lucky to have her. I love that little girl so much.

Library Card

2008-10-29T07:16:00.000-07:00

My husband recently got a library card. He has been so happy about his card for some reason. Even telling me - you know, if you want, you can check out some books on my card. (I have just started reading books again. I'm on my 12th novel in 3 months!) So, we all go to the library and I check out 3 books. A couple weeks later - Chris asks me about them. I told him I hadn't returned them yet. He gets all nervous and is like - what! You better go return them! I don't want any late charges on my library card! I told him that I thought they were already late. Then he really freaks out. What?!! If your going to return books late, you gotta get your own card! Why didn't you go return them? You better go return them! I'm like - What's up with you and your stupid library card? You've been so happy about it and pleased with yourself ever since you got it. He says - I like having one. It makes me feel smart. Yeah. OK. Nevermind the Ph.D in physics. Nevermind that he has a patent that Canon wants to buy for the thing he invented. Nevermind that a bunch of his research as been published in journals. It's the library card that makes him feel smart. Only my husband would say something like that.

Today Allison comes up to me and says...

2008-10-24T11:06:00.000-07:00

"Mommy, I love you." so I said I love you too. Then she said "I love snacks, too." I said ohh. Ok. Then she said "I love lizards, too." Apparently that's all becuase she went back to playing after that. Yep, I rank up there with snacks and lizards. Gotta love toddlers!

Date Night!

2008-09-21T06:37:00.000-07:00

Yesterday Chris and I got a babysitter and went out. We went to this place called Jay's. It's a 5 star seafood resturant. It was fabulous!! It was one of those places that is deceptively nice. Looking at it, you would't guess that it's going to cost you 3 figures to eat there. The outside it doesn't look like much. The inside looks like a warehouse turned into a resturant. We got two appetizers. I wanted Oysters Rockefeller and Chris wanted the Crab Cake. The Oysters were TO DIE FOR! SOOOO good! Chris loves crab cakes so he thought his was better than mine. His was really good, but I liked mine better! I got the Walleye. It was sauteed and was on top of a giant mushroom ravioli. Then has spinach and tomatoes and stuff on it. Freaking good! Chris has always wanted to try Ahi Tuna. I have alwasy been skeptical because eating a little piece of sushi is one thing. A big rare tuna steak is another. Well, let me just say - if you have never had rare Ahi Tuna you need to go get some! It was so delicious! It was totally not what I expected. You could cut it with a fork. It wasn't slimy or fishy. It actually tasted like a yummy steak! I didn't eat it with the wasabi. We shared a desert called 4 yums. It was a little slice of pecan pie, key lime pie, raspberry cheesecake, and a flourless chocolate cake. First of all, I don't see how anyone could eat that entire desert by themselves. It would have been too much! They make all the deserts (well, everything really) from scratch. The flourless chocolate cake was probably one of the best deserts I have ever had. Chris thought so too. At dinner, we were talking about how differnt we are now. We both use to think Red Lobster was a "nice" resturant. It makes me laugh to think about it - on account of how it's pretty much the shittiest seafood resturant on the planet. I wish I could remember all the stuff I thought when I was 16. I would probably kill myself if I knew. After dinner we went to the see the Dayton Philharmonic Orchestra. It was opening weekend. We both really liked the beginning. We thought the piano part in the middle was just OK. Then then end was great too. I'm really glad we went. I was in band when I was in middle school. While I don't miss it, I'm really glad I was in it. I think music and different art programs are really good for kids to be involved in. It seems like you're alwasy hearing of funding being cut for the arts, and I think it's a shame. While it's important to know about Math and Science, I think it's important for kids to be creative and expressive as well. After all was said and done, we got home about 11. The kids were obviously already in bed. It was so nice! We just got to come home, relax and watch a little tv without kids running around. It was a great night!

Would it be wrong...

2008-09-07T08:26:00.000-07:00

to hire someone to come over and do my laundry every week. I'm not even kidding. I hate doing laundry sooo much. Like, I can't even explain my hatred for it. I would rather do any other chore than do laundry (except for cleaning the garage because of spider. EEEKK)! I am really thinking of paying someone to come over and do it. Is that pathetic or what? In other news, my mom and Aunt Jeannie were here yesterday. We went out shopping for stuff for my dining room. We bought all new place settings. Chargers, plates, napkins, and rings. We took out two of the chairs so there were only 4 around the table. I love the way it turned out!!! I'm soooo not the decorator so I'm so glad they were here to help me. Thanks so much guys! Mom got me 2 big pictures also. One for my hallway and one for my bedroom. I need to get those hung and then I'll take pics of the rest of the house. I'm so excited! Everything is almost done! WOO HOO! Here's some pics.

Apparently Ethan is not ready for peek-a-boo!

2008-08-20T14:20:00.000-07:00

Today I was cleaning the kitchen. Ethan was sittin in his chair at the counter playing with Cheerios. I thought I would make him laugh and play peek-a-boo with him. So, I ducked down on the other side of the counter and stuck my head up and said peek-a-boo! He just looked kind of confused. I did it again and he jumped really big! It scared him so bad! Then he started bawling! Poor baby! So, the fun time I had envisioned, was not so much. Well, maybe next month he will like it.

What a week!

2008-08-16T15:57:00.000-07:00

What a week it has been! Chris graduated thursday. I can't even belive my husband has a Ph.D! I'm so stinking proud of him. We have had all kinds of family in. My parents came down on Saturday. It was so nice to see them. We had a really relaxing 3 days of just spending time together. Allison had a blast playing with my mom and dad. Also - they brought up my new couches! WOO HOO! (For those that don't know, I found some leather couches that I loved but they were way expensive. My parents found them in OK for a thousand dollars cheaper so they brought them up!) My mom helped me decorate my living room. We still need a few more things, but it's almost done. YAY! Thursday we all headed to Akron for Graduation. We all ate a late lunch/early dinner together and then went to the ceremony. We got there super early so I could get front row seats! (And I did! :D ) I could not have been more proud of him. His mom had a party held at her house afterward. Everything looked perfect. It was so nice! On Friday we all went back to Dayton except for my parens who left to go back hom. Chris' little sisters and dad and sisters baby came back with us so they could hang out here for a day. They left a few hours ago. I already miss everyone. This week seems like it has flown by! The only thing that sucks is that my sisters were not able to come. :( I have a zillion pictures I need to download and then I will post some. So - that's where I've been all week!

AHHH! Poop on my floor!

2008-07-22T12:51:00.000-07:00

Ethan is 100% the complete opposite when it comes to diapers and doo doo than when compared to Allison. When Allison was a baby - she would go #2 every day. No big deal. Only like 1 or 2 major blowouts ever. Ethan, not so much. 1st off, he rarely poops. I'm talking maybe once a week. MAYBE. Pediatrician said not to worry, some kids are like that, no big deal, esp. since he is breast fed. When he does poop though - LOOK OUT! I can't even count the number of times he has gone and I've had to take him straight to the tub. This has happened on NUMBEROUS occasions. Take today for example. We were at the mall for a while. I get home, change his diaper because he was wet. A little big later I smell "the smell." I take a peek by his leg - yep - poop. It didn't seem like that much. Since we have a 3 story house, I have his changing table in his room and I little roll up mat thing inside a basket witih diapers and wipes downstairs. Stupidly, I didn't set him on the mat. (Like I said, it didn't seem like that much). So, I undo his diaper and realize it's all up his freaking back! All over his clothes - everywhere! When I had undid his snaps on his outfit some of the poop from there got on my freaking brand new carpet. AHHHH!!! So, I pull is shirt back down to cover the poop and clean my carpet real fast. Then Ethan got put straight into the bath. (Is it wrong that I cleaned up the carpet first?) Good thing he's so dang cute!

How quickly things change...

2008-07-18T12:59:00.000-07:00

We have only been in our new place for 6 weeks. Yesterday we came back to Akron so Chris could get all his graduation stuff taken care of and he also had to run some experiments or something. We have only been gone 6 weeks. 6 WEEKS! That's it. Now that I'm back, everything seems weird. I don't really know how to explain it. It doesn't feel like home at.all. Driving around today - everything seemed different. I felt like I absolutely don't belong here. I'm staying at my MIL's house and told Chris that I really wish she would have gotten a place in Dayton too. Crazy huh! I saw my friend Amanda today and was so happy to see her. Tonight I'm going to work to see everyone. I can't wait. I guess I'm just feeling....lost? I don't know. I mean, I'm not sad living in Dayton. I like it a LOT more than living in Stow. It's soooooo much nicer there. I think it's just that once again, we are alone. I hate starting over.

Blankies

2008-07-08T07:52:00.001-07:00

Allison and Ethan both have their own blankies. They are these knit blankets that have their names and a picutre knitted into them. Allisons has Bambi and Ethan's has a little boy baseball player. We got them from our friends Bob and Genny. They are soft buy not super soft or anything. We definitely have softer blankets for the kids. Allison became attached to hers right away. She would grab it and hold it up to her face and go right to sleep. We started to notice that when she had that particular blanket she would go to bed easier, and would calm down more if we gave it to her. We would hold it up to her and say - do you want your blankie? She would get all excited and start making noises and smiling and kicking her legs. Thus - a 'blankie' was born. Now if we travel, it comes with us. If she goes to sleep, shes covered up with it. (Only partially now, becuase shes getting bigger than blankie). Knowing how attached Allison was to blankie, when I because pregnant with Ethan, Bob and Genny got him one too. Again - we have much softer blankets, but for some reason it is becoming clear that Ehan likes this particular blanket the best. The other day I held it up to him and asked if he wanted his blankie. She smiled really big and kicked his legs and started making cute babie noises. Looks like Ethan now has a 'blankie' too. Today I could tell Ethan was getting tired and ready to lay down for his morning nap. I had left his blankie upstairs but Allisons was downstairs. I was just going to put Ethan in his swing so he could snooze here while I get stuff done. As I'm puting Ethan in his swing, Allison sees her blankie sitting next me and grabs it and says "My favorite blankie!" (EVERYTHING is her favorite nowadays). Then she says "It's purple." I tell her, yes it is purple and it is a very nice blankie. I then ask her if Ethan can use it. She has this whatthehellnowaythisismyblankie! look on her face. She says "Ethan has hims own." I said yes, but it's not here. So she says "Where is him blue blankie?" I told her it was upstairs. I guess she sensed that I was going to use hers and tell her to be a nice girl and share, so she runs to the stairs and yells "Don't use mine!" She comes back a minute later holding Ethan's blankie. I suppose some things are sacred. In this house, it apparently is blankies!
Ethan all snugglie with his blankie.

I came in the living room one day to find Allison just laying on the floor with her blankie. (She was wearing clothes under there!)

Not blankie related, but thought it was a cute pic.

It's been a busy week!

2008-06-29T20:21:00.000-07:00

I started my new job and have been orienting to nights this week. So far its been pretty good. Of course there are good things and bad things about it. I don't think I will end up being friends with the people I work with now like I did when I was at Childrens, so that sucks. (I miss you guys!) Little things about the job annoy me. For example, I feel like if we get a crappy chest x-ray in and a change needs to be made, they wait until rounds! I don't like just sitting on kids and waiting, you know? It's weird the way some things are done. Maybe it's just because I'm not use to it. I do really like going to deliveries though. That part is really cool! A nurse and a respiratory therapist attend all high risk deliveries. (So far there have been 3 or more every time I have worked). It's like everything I liked about when I was transporting at Childrens without actually having to transport! No late trips for me! WOO HOO! A few days ago I got a brand new dining room table and buffet. It gets delivered on Wednesday. I can't wait! My dumb dining room is so stupid looking right now. It's all empty with stuff that needs to be hung up in there. Of course, I dont' want to hang anything up until I get the new furniture in because I only want to do it once and don't want extra holes in the walls. I'll post pics after it gets delivered. Then on Thrusday my friend Amanda and her kids came down for a few days. It was absolutely great getting to see her. We did a bunch of stuff. Got to go swimming on Thursday. We went to the outlet mall and I got some new stuff for my dining room and a few odd and end things for the kids and Chris on Friday. On Saturday we went to the Columbus zoo. Allison loved it! She was so excited to see the snakes! She kept asking about them! What a funny kid. It started raining at the end, but we had pretty much seen everything so it was OK. That's about it. I tried to post a slide show but it's not working for some reason. I'll try again later.

Funny Websites

2008-06-16T19:24:00.000-07:00

One of my nestie girls posted a link to a website that pretty much has all the stuff you will ever need sorted and posted all nice and neat into one website. (www.allmyfaves.com) On this there is a favorties of the week and it just has random stuff on there. I came across a website called I am neurotic. (www.iamneurotic.com). Basically, people just will just submit their different neurosies and then they will get posted. IT IS FREAKING HYSTERICAL! I'm totally cracking up over here. Some of them include:

I can’t say or think the word “chicken” without it being followed by the clucking noise “bawk bawk.” I’m kind of the same way with “diarrhea” followed by “cha cha cha”…but that doesn’t come up quiet as often.

I can’t allow the inside of my wrists to be exposed when I’m trying to relax. I sometimes lay down on the couch and watch television with the back of my hand sort of resting on my forehead. I’m OK as long as someone else is in the room with me, but the minute I’m alone, I can’t be comfortable for thoughts of some unknown assailant slicing my wrist open.

I have a rug in my bedroom which has long tassels on either end of it. These tassels have to be perfectly aligned and spaced apart from each other for me to be truly comfortable in the room. I even have a picture of my perfectly arranged rug on my phone that I glance at every now and again for its calming effects. My cat however, seems to live solely for the joy of waiting until I am not paying attention to leap onto the rug, claws deployed, and wrap himself in it. I have spent hours meticulously placing each tassel in its appropriate place, only to discover it bundled up with a cat underneath minutes later. I seek my revenge by exploiting some of his own neuroses, but those are for another post…

I'm a loser

2008-06-13T08:05:00.000-07:00

Everyone else's blogs look all cute and stuff, with polka dots and flowers and cute pictures. My looks like a giant brown turd with writing on it. I don't know how to do anything and add anything. (Although I may have just figured out how to add pics. More on that later). We finally have all the boxes unpacked. Everything is pretty much the way I want it with the exception of the hallway closet. Chris has it stacked with all his physics books and office crap. It is staying there until he gets his own office at the base. (I guess in a few weeks). People are getting ready to leave and some visiting scientist has his office. So, in the meantime, my vacuum is sitting out in the living room along with some other hallway closet type stuff. Here in an hour I am going to this clearance furniture store that has all kinds of cheap stuff. They are only open friday saturday and sunday. I really want a new dining room table. Hopefully i will be able to find one! I got the kids set up with a new Pediatrician. I hope I like him. I really liked Dr. Kline so I'm nervous. This week I have been in hospital orientation for the new job. It is really different than when I worked at Children's in Akron. Morale seems to be a lot higher here so I'm excited to see how things go, although I think I'm going to miss working in the PICU. Easy is doing good. (for those who don't know - Shila calls Ethan "Easy E" so then I started calling him that and now I just call him Easy. Or prince. Or handsome. Or handsome Devil. Or Devil Dog. Whatever). He is so cute. My friend Tiffanie got him this little toy that hangs down from his carrier. When I stick him there and he sees his it he grabs for it and likes to play with it. Its so cute. He's so funny to me. When I'm talking to him and stuff he will smile and root at me. It's so cute! He's also such a little breather. I say that because he is constantly breathing little sighs out his nose like a bull. Like I'll go to get him out of his swing and will pull his blankie off him and he will give me 3 little bull breaths. It's too funny! Allison's a funny one too. Yesterday she was downstairs watching Dora and Chris and I were upstairs. We heard her making noises so Chris went down to check on her. Apparently there was a bear behind a tree or something and she was scared and had her blankie up to her face and was yelling at the tv to tell Dora. I thought it was cute. Apparently she is just like me, so chris say's anyway. The other day we were running around and she fell asleep in the car on the way home. And I mean she was OUT. I got her out of the car. She was still asleep. I couldn't carry her in though because I had to get Ethan too. So I stood her on the ground and she woke up. I said were home, lets go inside. She started turning around in circles all confused and stuff. It was hilarious! Poor tired kid. I was telling Chris about it and he says I do the exact same thing when I'm woken up and have to walk somewhere. I'm going to go now.

Here are a few pics: (I hope this works!)

Isn't she pretty?!

Me and the boy.

Why the heck am I bald??

2008-06-08T12:10:00.000-07:00

I have a ton of hair. So much so that I go get it thinned out occasionally. That being said - why the heck do I have 2 bald spots on the side of my head? Let me explain...I woke up yesterday and combed my hair and put it in a poney tail. I noticed two really thin spots on the side of my head! They were absolutely not there a month ago. Then last night, I'm in the shower. Well, everyone knows you lose little strands of hair when you're taking a shower. Not me - I was pulling out GLOBS - chunks, if you will - of hair yesterday! After my shower a little pile of hair had collected on top of the drain. It looked like rugs hacked up a hairball! It's starting to freak me out. This better just be some postpartum hair loss. It also better grow back! Of course, if it doesn't my BIL Bob suggested I get the spray on hair stuff to cover up the bald spots. Thanks for the suggestion Bob. I'll get right on that.

Jumping on the Blog bandwagon

2008-06-06T08:07:00.000-07:00

Everyone has their own blog nowadays! Everybody but me. I have been thinking of making one for a while now, however haven't done so because, what the hell do I have to say anyway, right? After lots of blog-stocking I realized blogging is almost like peoples online journal of their daily life for all to read. With my family and friends living so far away I thought I thought this might be a good way for them to read about what's going on with Chris and I and the kids, thus beginning my first blog! So - to bring everyone up to date with our lives:

1. Chris defended last week. You can now call him Dr. Christopher Bailey!
2. We Moved to Beavercreek Ohio last Saturday. So far it is a hell of a lot nicer than Stow!
3. I start my new job in the NICU on the 9th. I'm really looking forward to it, and hey - NO MORE TRANSPORT!
4. Allison has not worn diapers since the first week of May. She hasn't had an accident since the weekend we moved. WOO HOO! She's such a good girl.
5. I'm looking for new living room and dining room furniture. I'm so ready to get rid of our piece of shit $60 garage sale couches. For realsies!
6. Ethan is doing all kinds of cute stuff lately. He blows bubbles and grabs at toys and things. Damn, I love that kid.
7. I still have unpacking to do. Which totally explains why I'm on the computer jacking around.
8. Our new house kicks ass!