We had a quiet weekend, mostly. Saturday we had just a few Christmas errands to finish up, but it was crazy out there! Traffic on County Line Rd. was horrific - I think it took us about 20 mintues to drive from FedEx to our house, which is only about 2 miles away. Nuts. Donald was going crazy by the time we got home.

Today I went to CVS and Wal-Fart to get some groceries. I hate Wal-Mart. I usually go to Kroger, but I had a gift card for WM, so I went. Bleh. That place is my own personal hell. At least Donald stayed home with the kiddo so I could drive the cart in peace.

We went swimming tonight - we always go swimming on Sunday nights. A few weeks ago, Donald *invented* backwards swimming. LOL, don't ask. Anyway, he was being all big and bad about how he could almost swim all the way across the pool backwards and how hard it was. Soooo...I gave it a try and got all the way across the pool on the first try. LOL. He says he doesn't like being beaten at his own game. I'm a pretty good swimmer though (or at least I used to be), so maybe he shouldn't get too sad. He had to re-take swim all four years of high school :o( Poor Donald.

How Lauren became Peeler

Donald is big on nicknames. I can't tell you the last time he called me "Katie". Our cats, officially Sammie and Zowie, and known as "Choopie" and "Co-pee". I guess he has a thing for p's. So, it should come as no suprise that our little girl was called "Lauren" for all of about an hour. He first started calling her "Lilo", then that gave way to "Pilo" which eventually became "Peeler". And Peeler has stuck. Sometimes we just call her "P"; I usually call her Peanut, monkey, roo, or rooster. The poor kid probably doesn't know her real name. I'm sure she'll hate us someday for all these weird nicknames, but oh well. Every kid hates their parents for something. Heh.

Monday was the last day of Peeler's swim lessons before Christmas. I did not know this because we missed the previous week because the kid was sick. We knew that the swim school had a big Christmas party on the last day of class, and Donald had intended on taking the afternoon off to come. I thought it was next week. So, we got to class yesterday and everyone's parents and grandparents and third cousins were there, and I felt like a jackass because it was just me and P. Needless to say, I also didn't bring the teacher's Christmas gift. Oh well. Classes start again Jan. 3, and P got to move up to Waterbaby 2! She loves the water so much and lessons are so much fun for both of us. She's learned to go underwater completely, swim alone about 1-2 feet, and can splash and kick on command. Well worth it.

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I think I've talked before about how much of a pain it is to find somewhat healthy food on a buffet for Peeler to eat. At Pearl River Monday night we had the same problem. The only vegetable on the buffet that wasn't soaked in butter was lima beans. I scooped some up on my plate, but wasn't too optimistic about P eating them. Boy, was I wrong! The kid devoured them. Honestly, she's really not into solids too much as she's still a boobie baby, but man she liked limas. I'm going to have to go buy some now. The only thing she liked better than the limas was Donald's ice cream. Heh. Figures.

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We did have a nice time at PRR. It's always nice to just get away for a couple days. Monday night we just kinda hung out in the room.
A funny side story that I must add: When we got home from swim school Monday night, I got P's clothes ready for her to wear that night. I put them on the couch and then asked Donald to get her dressed. I went in the bedroom to get myself dressed and came back out to the living room a few minutes later. Donald was getting some stuff ready to pack, and I went in the living room to work on the suitcase. I saw P's pants still on the couch, and told Donald that he forgot to put the kid's pants on. He said that he did put them on...... He had put her pajama pants back on her, thinking they were her real pants! Boys. Good thing I usually do the dressing...the child would be scarred for life. Heh.

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Tuesday we had nothing to do, so we decided to drive to Meridian just for the fun of it. Yeah, there wasn't much fun. Two good things did come of it, though. First, we got to eat lunch at A&W, which we haven't done since we left Wisconsin. They even had cheese curds!!!! They weren't nearly as good as Culver's, but they were cheese curds nevertheless. Second, we stopped at Big Lots, and I bought a Venus Fly Trap plant!

Now, I think this thing is freakin' cool, and I don't want to kill it, but I have no idea what to do with it. The instructions say to keep it at 40 degrees Nov-Feb, because that is when it is dormant, but the darn thing doesn't look too dormant to me. So, I guess to get it to go dormant, I have to put in the cold, but where exactly am I supposed to put it that's 40 degrees? The fridge? And should I just stick it in there and leave it, or gradually get it used to the cold? Or should I just forget about making it dormant, an keep in the warm for the winter? Gah I'm so confused!

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Because I am a mean and horrible person, I made Donald pose with Peeler for some Christmas-y pictures. He'll forgive me someday :o)

Mother Shock

A few months before Lauren was born, I read this post on Tertia's blog. I sort of forgot about it until tonight. Tonight Donald and I went to Buffalo Wild Wings with the crew from his office, and as we were leaving he said something to the effect of Peeler ruins lots of things and that he kinda misses our old life. Peeler actually had done pretty well - we'd went to the boat parade at six, and then we went straight to Wild Wings and we were there until nine. She started getting antsy about 8:45, so we decided it was time to go. But for those almost-three-hours, she sat in her high chair, watching and listening to all the big people, smiling when necessary.

When you're pregnant, everyone tells you how much having a baby will change your life. I always just sort-of believed them. How much different could it be, really? Even the first few weeks of Peeler's life, I remember thinking, "Oh, this isn't so bad....I don't know what everyone was talking about". And then, slowly, you start to learn that you're not in charge anymore, a tiny baby is, and that whether you like it or not, she will control your life for the near future.

Sure, Donald is right in a way. Having a baby has "ruined" some parts of our life. We can't go out with our friends whenever we want and stay out until dawn. We don't get to go to the movies, or to the gym, or even to the grocery store in peace. But I don't like to think of those parts as "ruined"....just different. Someday we will be able to do all those things again, without a baby. But for now, we're living in a different country, and need to speak the language of the locals. This new country has lots of parks, lots of laundry, and tons of hugs.

Finally, after almost a year, I'm becoming fluent in this new language. Mothering is coming more naturally and it's hard to imagine going back to my "old" life. Donald's getting there - some people just need more time to adjust than others. Driving home from Wild Wings, the Mother Shock concept just kinda popped back in my head, and it makes so much more sense now than it did before.

Sick baby

Poor baby girl has been sick since Wednesday. It started with a simple runny nose, but by Thursday morning she was really stuffy. This is the first time she's been sick, and I'm blaming it on that dumb airplane. I just feel so bad for her because there's really nothing that I can do. I'm sure she'd feel much better if she could just figure out how to blow her nose, but unfortunately that's a few years off yet.

She's on the mend, now though, I think. She was happy playing this evening and didn't want to go to bed, unlike past nights where she's passed out at any chance. She's still having trouble nursing though, because she's so stuffed up, so I have to attack her every so often with the snot sucker (professional term). She hates that thing, and cries every time she sees it. Poor thing.

I started to feel like crap yesterday with a headache and sore lymph nodes. Today the headache is gone but the lymph nodes are still swollen, so I'm hoping I've escaped illness. We'll see though.

The thing that really blows about all this is that Donald and I actually had a babysitter for last night and had to cancel because Peeler was sick! Grrrrr. Oh yeah, last night around seven one of Donald's friends called and wanted him to go out and play pool. He then asked me if it was okay, and I told him it was up to him and his conscience (hehe). He told his friend he'd call him back later and let him know if he'd be out. After he got off the phone, he asked me again if he could go and I told him that I'd really rather he not go out. I mean, come on....kid's sick, wife feels like crap and has been taking care of sick kid the past three days by herself....give a girl a break here and stay home!!! Oy vey! MEN!

My Hunny is so Sweet :o)

Friday morning I was kinda grumpy because we weren't going to be able to anything for my birthday. Donald had to work all weekend and couldn't get out of it, so I was feeling kind of lonely, I guess. Anyway, Friday afternoon there was a knock on my door and it was a guy holding a vase of flowers. Hunny sent me flowers! The first time, EVER, I might add. Donald hates flowers...he thinks they're a waste of money. I guess they are, really...I mean, they just die in a few days, but they're still pretty. When we lived in Wisconsin, there was a gas station that sold flowers for pretty cheap, so on my birthday and Valentine's Day I'd always get Kwik Trip flowers, but never any other kind. We used to always joke about that....

So, yeah...hunny sent me a dozen roses in a pretty vase. And, he got me the new Jewel CD and a CD of the London Theatre Orchestra performing songs from the Phantom of the Opera. AND a cross-stitch pattern of Van Gogh's Starry Night. AND (maybe the best of all) he stayed up with Lilo last night so I could get some sleep, even though he had to be to work early this morning. He's a good hunny....I think I'll keep him :o)

Nothing too much

Donald finally got a full-time job *whew*. I was starting to panic...the balance in our savings account was getting sadly low. So he's working at Dyatech
doing some accounting crap that goes WAY over my head. Whatever...it pays the bills :o) He's going to keep working at his beloved bowling alley, too...plus he's looking for a third shift job. You'd think he *likes* working or something. Nah, we're just trying to pay off some bills so we can buy a house.

Why didn't anyone tell me that Sonic's limeades were so freakin' good? I've been going to Sonic for years and years and had never tried a limeade till the other day. And now I'm hooked. Lilo and I go the park everyday, and on our way home we stop at Sonic. Evil I tell you.

Speaking of Lilo, she has a doctor's appointment tomorrow for her shots. *tear* I think it will be more traumatic for me than her. Her pediatrician is in Hattiesburg, and Donald wants to go for Mexican when we're done at the doc, but I have a feeling lil Lilo is going to be too cranky to hush in a restaraunt. We shall see.