"Stayin' Alive"

This week Brian & I experienced a "first" for two different life stages:  The Flu.  The last time Brian & I had the flu was Christmas of 2008, the year we were engaged.  This means that having the flu this week was a first for our marriage.  It was also the first time we experienced dual sickness while being parents.  Let me tell you, it. is. rough.  Trying to take care of a toddler who doesn't yet understand what "mommy doesn't feel good" means is a very trying experience.  It all started on Sunday at Issac's birthday party.

Carly and Issac are just over a week a part and Jenny and I had fun time going through our final trimester of pregnancy together after meeting at church on Christmas Eve of 2011. We try to get together as often as we can, but living 40 minutes a part sure makes that hard!  Needless to say, here are a few pics from Issac's first birthday party.

The very happy birthday boy

Miss C watching Issac open presents

Trying to play with the big girls

Me, C, Issac & Jenny

Monday evening when Carly went to sleep her cheeks were ruby red, but she wasn't showing any signs of sickness, so we didn't think much of it.  As she was crawling from the living room to the kitchen Tuesday morning, she paused and heaved!  She was rather discombobulated by the whole thing and I quickly picked her up to take her to the sink.  That's when I was doused in real life child vomit for the first time as a mama.  What a special memory. ;)  After getting cleaned up, she was essentially unphased by being sick, and went on playing as normal.  She kept asking for food (obviously, she was hungry all day from not having food in her belly) and each time she ate it would all come back up.  I actually had to go into work to close at the World of Disney that evening, so Brian was granted leaving work a bit early and came home to care for our sickie bug. I wondered what was wrong, but after posting on Facebook and finding out that two of the little girls who were also at the party had the flu, it cleared that wonder right up. 

My evening at World of Disney was very fun, as many of the Cast Members (lol...we have to capitalize "Cast" and "Guests" in reports, so that's a habit) I had worked with when I first started working for Disney remembered me and were happy to see my in a management role.  It was a late, late night, not pulling out of the parking lot until after 2am.  One very strange thing happened at work that evening: I ran into my best friend from middle school/high school.  It's a very strange story, but her and I were nearly inseparable for years...we practically lived at each others homes.  She even "dated" Brian first and encouraged me to date him since she thought him and I would be more compatible.  She was there for me when our relationship ended and spent the next year gallivanting about the Gilbert High dances with random friends of the guy I was dating from that high school.  We shared a love for music, went to the same youth group, fit into all the same clothes and had the same hobbies.  She suddenly left the end of our Junior year of high school and never came back.  I received one phone call from her that summer, but never spoke to her again.  There was a lot of hurt from that whole experience and I never received closure from it.  I cried over losing her for years, and have never gotten that close to a girlfriend again.  Seeing her was at first, exciting, as I leaped at the opportunity to give her hug, but then it became quite awkward.  What do you say to someone you were so close to and haven't seen in nearly a decade?  Do you make small talk (which is what we attempted at doing), or do you go on a 5-minute monologue about your lives?  Anyway, I cried the whole way home that night.  Seeing her brought back a lot of unresolved emotions and reminded me of how much I missed her.  She would have been a bridesmaid in my wedding, we likely would have gone to the same college...been life long friends. But she just left.  And that was the end. I never thought I'd see her again. Weird. 

Wednesday we had a nice family day (after I slept in from being up until 3am, of course) and got some fresh air at EPCOT.  It was the first day of the Flower and Garden Festival and I, of course, forgot my camera!!  I did take it out to snap a photo of my loves watching the ISU game Wednesday evening, though!  Go State!

And that's when it happened...sickness overtook my body and I was out for the count! I fought throwing up for hours...I would run to the toilet and wouldn't be able to let go.  I finally made Brian get up and get me a bucket.  He didn't understand why I couldn't go in the toilet.  I must be the only child who grew up barfing in a bucket next to my bed?  Like I mentioned, I haven't been sick since college, and during that break I happened to be home...so I don't think I've ever been sick anywhere but under the gentle care of my mother.  She took great care of us when we were sick...making sure we had ample amounts of blankets, TV, 7UP, chicken noodle soup...and a bucket and towel right next to our bed so we didn't have to get up when we felt ill.  She would hear us in the night and come empty and clean our bucket and place it back by our bed.  Needless to say, I was wishing I was at my mama's house during my flu episode.  A sleepy husband just isn't the same, especially when he is frustrated at me for not spewing in the toilet! Yuck!! ;)

About 3am I was desperately craving 7UP, so when Brian came into the bedroom at 6am (I had given him permission go sleep in the guest room about midnight) I pleaded with him to run to 7-11 to get me a BIG Gulp of 7UP, only to find out he had joined my club.  He was a trooper, though, and ran the errand then came back and took the first shift with Carly.  I took over at 9:30 and did the next shift until 2 (she took a nap in there, though).  It was like that all evening long. We were so thankful when bedtime rolled around...tucked her in and then hit the hay ourselves!  I was still pretty sick this morning so Brian got up with Carly, then he was able to steal a nap this afternoon.  By 1pm I was feeling pretty good, so I took Carly out of the house for a grocery store run and a gingerly jog with some much needed play time outside.  We made it through...can you believe it?!  I think both Brian and I questioned if we were going to get through this about 36 hours ago.

Well that about recaps our week in a nutshell. I'm thankful I worked on Tuesday so I only had to call in one of the days this week.  My first call-in sick since before I had Carly, and Brian's first in a long time.  Too bad we couldn't enjoy the three days off we had together, but thankful it happened the way it did.  I even caught Brian saying in agony last night, "Man, today would be a great day to have our folks live down the street."  Yes, Brian, indeed it would. ;)

"I'm Walking on Sunshine"

Carly is officially on the move putting one foot in front of the other.  She took her first steps 4 days after her first birthday, and a week into being 1, she upped and walked across the room.  Matter of fact, we were in the waiting room at the doctor's office.  She has walked more and more every day since and is becoming quite comfortable with the whole ordeal.  She still, however, much prefers a horizontal mode of transportation on all fours.  She cracks under pressure and when requested to walk will fall on the floor and bury her head in the ground.  Exhibit A:

Now that she is walking, we decided it was time for some real shoes.  I did not know that finding some would be a challenge, however, so she still doesn't have any tennis shoes in her size.  She is a size 3 and apparently most stores don't make "real" shoes until size 5.  So, she wears the one pair of baby shoes she has when we are out and about, but loves to wear these (due to the Velcro and lights) when we are at home.

The past few weeks have just been awesome!  I've been so focused on writing all about Carly turning one that I've completely neglected writing about our day to day life.  It's been two weeks since my Mom was here and we thoroughly enjoyed having her around!  She likes to take care of all my house work when she's here, so I got to sit back while she made meals (and frozen ones for me to pull out on a busy day), cleaned, did dishes, cleaned up after Carly would eat (she is a messy little girl!) and even was my personal shopper!  She went to the grocery store for us at least twice while she was here and also took me to the outlet mall!  As we were shopping (I scored big time, by the way...it's so nice to be able to shop in "my" size again), we realized that the two of us haven't spent a day together in exactly a year.  We always have some sort of male around to get in the way of our girl talk.  So, needless to say, it was a very special day of shopping and eating.  I believe I blogged about most of her trip except for the last day: the day before Valentines Day (yes, it's March 3rd and I'm writing about V-Day).  It was a Wednesday, so of course we all had the day off and were ready to play!  My Mom was staying in a hotel with her foreign exchange students, so the three of us got up and had a relaxing morning together.  After lunch, we met my Mom and the three girls at Typhoon Lagoon for some water park fun.  It was a lovely 80 degree day and I even got a tan!  My Mom played with Carly in the sand while Brian and I ran all over the park enjoying some good water slide action.  Carly LOVES the sand.  And, she is SUPER cute in her swimsuit my Aunt Sherry got her for Christmas.

After the water park, my Mom graciously took Carly so that Brian and I could have our first date night as parents ever.  Can you believe it took us a year to go on a date.  Probably not super healthy for the marriage, but it sure made for a fabulous evening!!  Awe the days of being married with no kids.  I hope when we someday become empty nesters that we will still love dating as much as we do now.  And...maybe we will have lots of money to take extravagant trips with. ;)  Anyway...for our first date in a year, we chose to play mini golf (Brian creamed me) and eat dinner at Texas Roadhouse.  I pretty much stuffed myself with their delicious bread.  I think bread is in the top three favorite foods for me.  Bummer, huh? ;)

The week proceeding I worked 6 out of 8 days, resulting in a mama who missed her little lady and some crazy schedule changes, but also gave my an entire week off (I work any three days in a weeks time Sunday-Saturday, so if I work Thursday, Friday, Saturday one week and Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday the next, it gives me Thursday-Wednesday off the following week...make sense?).  So, one week with Miss C gave me good look at what life would be like if I was a SAHM.  Well...I did love every second with her, but I would by lying if I said by day seven that I wasn't okay with going back to work.  I'm so thankful for my job and get so much positive reinforcement and validation that I just can't dread going.  It's just too much fun.  What a blessing, right!?  I think when future babes arrive, I may have to step down merely because it's too much of a cost for daycare, but I'd really hate to do that, so can we all please try harder in convincing my mama to move down here?  Thank you! ;)

Working a lot also helped with a little bit of weening and allowed for some cow's milk to be introduced to Miss C.  I packed the pump away nearly two months ago, and I wasn't about to get it back out when my freezer supply ran out last week, so cow's milk it was!  She hated the cold milk and spat it across the room, but when we warmed it up and put it in a bottle, she gobbled it right up.  I was hoping to go cold turkey on the bottles but as per usual, my expectation did not meet my child's needs.  I guess we will continue the bottle use until further notice.  But, she's also still nursing, so maybe when she stops nursing the bottle can go away, too.  I give her cold milk from a sippy cup everyday, and everyday she spits it all over her clothes.  Sour milk on a babies clothes just smells so good...

I have also successfully weened Carly off her bedtime nurse, but she still begs for it in the morning and the afternoon.  I really think she will eventually ween herself from nursing, and we've decided that we are just going to let her do that.  If she's still nursing at 16 months than we will probably have to step in, but I really doubt she will be.  Each day she is becoming more like a toddler...walking, talking, understanding more of the world around her.  I highly doubt she will want to continue snuggling up with mama.  In the meantime, however, I'm enjoying each time she will cuddle with me as she has a morning or mid-day snack. :)

Well we have finally reached this week, and boy was it a good one!  Carly is so much fun, our minutes and hours fly away so quickly these days!  It's been gorgeous weather the past month and has allowed for some wonderful days outdoors.  She actually took those first three steps going up hill in our driveway, which is the only place she has to play while enjoying the sunshine.  Speaking of which, I am so excited to MOVE!  Oh...did I mention we heard that the bank was going to accept our offer on our soon-to-be-hope-to-be-house?!  We haven't received the executed contract yet, but I believe we should be moving sometime in May!  YAAAAYYY!!!  I am beyond excited for walking paths, a play ground and a pool just a quarter mile from us!  I'm also excited for more space and a two level house.  Oh I am just so excited!  I hope the deal doesn't fall through!

This has been quite the update, but I can't leave without writing about the fabulous family day we had this week.  Brian had a demanding week at work, so on his way home Tuesday evening he texted me that he needed a little magic on Wednesday.  So that's exactly what we gave him!  We got up early and hit the road to open Magic Kingdom.  We've never been that early and it was really delightful.  We took the classic MK photo and then decided to get a snapshot of Carly walking up Main Street USA, since she had just begun walking.  The picture turned out awesome and will certainly be displayed somewhere in our new home.  I have visions of taking this same photo as we add to our family over the next several years.

Then we decided to hit up Dumbo, Carly's second time on this attraction (after daddy rode Space Mountain, of course).

After MK, we ran over to DTD so I could attend a quick meeting for work.  After that, we let daddy putt a little before heading to Hollywood Studios for lunch.  We ate at Hollywood & Vine, a buffet style meal with Disney Junior characters.  Of course none of us knew who the characters were, but Carly enjoyed interacting with them.  The food was very good, as well.

Kisses for whatever bear this is...

Jake, would you like some food?

Handy Manny...but that's all we know ;)

I love watching the parades as well, so after lunch we waited around for the "5, 4, 3, 2, FUN!" Parade.

She loves them, too!

Does a fabulous job of pointing

Nothing beats this view!

We came home about 4pm and had a relaxing evening as a family.  What more could you ask for on the one day a week we get to spend all three of us together?

I think that about covers it.  Of course there are a million little things that go on throughout our week that I think, "oh I need to remember to blog about this," or "it was fun to watch Carly playing with her friend, ___," but there just isn't time for that this month.

I have 5 more work days before coming to Iowa and Brian is counting down the 7 or 8 days he has left.  He is jittery with excitement while I am just anticipating the stress of it all.  I'm sure it will be fun, though, and I certainly look forward to spending some much needed quality time with my girlfriends.  We are coming for 12 days so that we don't have to feel obligated to only spend time with our families.  I think it will end up being great.

Thanks for checking in!