stomach virus

Carl and I survived the week. For about a day or so, I thought that might not be possible. Somehow we both had the stomach virus at the same time, the stomach virus that doesn't let you stop puking or aching or freezing. Luckily, my mom and Carl's mom were able to come to the rescue and help with the girls a bit while Carl and I were focusing on getting better (or wallowing in misery...)

I had made a drs appointment for Delaney for Friday for her stinky snot. She has a sinus infection, which evidently hasn't been bothering her. The good news is: we have some meds to put an end to the stinky snot once and for all!

Yesterday, we went to wish Greg and Wendy good bye after their seemingly short stay (although it was just over 3 months) in DC. We went to the DC zoo and Laney got sick. After heading back to Wens all seemed well with Laney so we stayed for dinner, drinks and dessert. A little different than we had originally planned (especially since Carl and I were feeling a bit cautious about what to eat) but still fun!

I'm looking forward to tomorrow, and the start of a new week. With Destination Towson coming up, my weeks are looking quite busy, but hopefully this marks the end of the seemingly endless health problems in our family.

A day off

The stress is finally getting to me! I need a day off (well really I need more than a day). I need some time when noone is sick, I don't have a paper to write, a house to clean or a meal to cook and I can just relax and enjoy. Recently, I have been completely stressed. I am stressed at work...future aspirations hanging over my head, lots of responsibility, just lots of work. Grad school just stresses me out period....lots of reading, lots of papers, too little inspiration. I feel constantly stressed about finances (I know I'm a budget and control freak but I can't help it!) Carl's job is stressing me out...lots of hours, sometimes Saturdays getting in the way of already made plans. Laney and Alie stress me out in a good way. I want to spend time with them, but I feel like work/grad school are pulling me in a million different directions...And then there's me. I know its selfish, but I really would like some me time...some time to float in the tub and stare at the ceiling, or to lay on my couch and mindlessly watch some of my trashy tv favorites. I have been trying to do relaxation things (thanks body and soul) but sometimes, time just seems to be slipping away from me..grrr.
I'm really looking forward to Opening Day...I have such high expectations since I am taking the day off and going to the game. I hope it doesn't rain, that may just stress me out even more! Oh well...less than a week to go. The problem is, when I count down to these things, scary meetings or projects get closer as well. Better stop procrastinating and get back to work!

Easter!

This weekend we did all things Easter. The girls and I woke up on Saturday morning and headed to Brooke's for some Easter egg dying, lunching and cupcake eating. The egg dying portion of the morning went quite smoothly, regardless of the fact that four toddlers were participating. Laney and Alie loved putting the Sesame Street stickers on their eggs after they were dry, and Turner really enjoyed decorating his eggs with Cars stickers.

Saturday evening, after Carl returned from work and the girls had "napped" we headed to the mall to buy some drinking glasses. The strangest thing has happened to our glasses, they have disappeared. We haven't broken any that we can remember, I know we unpacked them in the move, and I can't imagine what might have happened to the ten that are missing. So, since we were having family over for Easter dinner, we broke down and replaced them (watch them all turn up somewhere now). So friends, next time you venture to my house, you won't have to drink out of our assortment of plastic cups gathered from our trips and nights out. You can have a nice glass.

When Laney and Alie woke up Sunday morning, they were excited to see that the Easter bunny had come to visit. They loved finding the easter eggs. Laney especially enjoyed the fact that he had left her some jelly beans. After breakfast, we decided to skip church and instead spend some quiet time as a family hiking. Since we were expecting guests for dinner, we decided on Oregon Ridge since it's close to home and has some nice short trails. Our hike was great. We visited the frog pond and saw egg sacks hanging out on the bottom. We will be hiking back soon to check out all of the frogs!

Easter dinner was great as well! Carl grilled chickens and asparagus. Wendy brought wine. Sue brought macaroni salad, and my mom brought chocolate cake and potatoes. It certainly was delish! Sue and Big Carl gave Laney and Alie monkey backpacks (that are little kid leashes) and the girls love them. They were wearing them again when I left the house this morning. My mom gave them plates that she had made with them back in February...I made them as a kid too! Auntie Wen brought over books and chocolate. It was wonderful to spend time with everyone :)

My Dad

My Dad has really had a rough start to his year. He planned to have his hip replaced about a month ago, but broke his arm and now has to wait for the hip. On Wednesday, he started having chest pains, and ended up having two additional stents (sp?) put in yesterday (bringing his total to 6!) They are hopefully releasing him from the hospital today. I'm hoping he will be well enough to enjoy Easter. The last time this happened was just before Carl and I were married, and he contracted MRSA. He was so sick (one of the reasons I'm so afraid of staph to begin with). Hopefully this time around, he avoids that situation!

How I Met your Mother and Dancing with the Stars

The only two shows I watch on television are on at the same time on the same night! We got rid of our dvr when we decided to do a budget cut, and I still stand by our decision, but its a bit frustrating. Carl prefers How I Met Your Mother, so that's what we watch. Last night, after dinner at Brooke's I watched Monday nights Dancing with the Stars on her tivo. I might just have to mooch off of Brooke's tivo for the remainder of the season (which wouldn't be a bad thing since I love spending time with her). Dancing with the Stars party on Tuesday nights Brooke?

Just to share, Kristy Yamaguchi was awesome and I'm even more psyched now that I see her partner is Mark Ballas. I really like him too (I'm secretly obsessed with the fact that he's dating a cheetah girl).

oops!

I started a blog entry on Monday, but clearly I never finished it. Ooops!

I had started to write about my experience being "that mom" at the zoo on Saturday. Everyone has had an encounter with a mom that thinks she does everything better than other moms...you know, she looks down on working moms, or moms that choose to bottle feed, etc, etc... I strive to not be that mom, but at the zoo I just couldn't help myself.

I decided to take the girlies to the easter egg hunt at the zoo. As we were waiting in line, we discussed the 5 egg limit, and I even mentioned the signs that encourage kiddos to find 5 "different" eggs. Once it was our turn to go into the egg hunt, we struggled to find our 10 eggs (5 each) and we really couldn't find 5 different eggs. Finally, upon finding our eggs, we joined the line to trade our eggs for a prize. In line I noticed that lots of kids, older kids that should have known better had many more than 5 eggs! There parents were even helping them carry their baskets or bags. There, my evil judge-y mom head really wanted to lash out. Teach your kids about rules. Make them follow the rules! In instances like this, your kid not following the rules is ruining it for others....grrrr. Of course I didn't actually say anything, but I really wanted to . Ugh, I hate when I'm too judge-y.

We did have a wonderful day at the zoo. The girls really loved the giraffes, the elephants and the chimps. We had so much fun that we ventured back with Carl on Sunday for a picnic lunch. Our zoo membership always gets lots of use!

In other news: my brother is home from college for spring break! I always miss having my brother around, and I get so excited when he is in town. Last night we went to my parents house and Travis cooked dinner...yum-o. The girls love their uncle and I think they love his dog even more :)

being "that mom"

its Thursday

I made it to Thursday! I have my last night time committment of the week tonight in Catonsville and I couldn't be more excited. I'm thinking of taking a half day tomorrow to re-group since I've worked 3 nights this week, especially since Brooke informed me that it will be almost 70 outside!!!! I would love to take the girlies to the playground and relax away the afternoon with them. We'll see though. I am going to coffee mid-morning with fellow St. Paulies Kristen and Elizabeth, so it will definitely be fun to catch up with them. Between the time change on Sunday and my packed schedule this week, I am definitely in need of the weekend!

One cool thing to mention: last night, the University of Alabama rep standing next to me also has twin kiddos. I remembered her being preggo last year at that fair and asked. She has a boy and a girl who are almost 1 year old. It was fun to talk to her about being a mommy....

2 year olds

I am really enjoying life with 2 year olds (for the most part). The girls are really beginning to communicate their needs and wants with us, which is awesome and leads to far fewer temper tantrums. They are still struggling with the idea of sharing, but I'm thinking that's always hard when you're little. Alison is on this coloring kick, which is great because I find coloring quite relaxing. Its nice to lay on the floor with her after a day at work and color in pictures of winnie the pooh, mickey mouse, or grover. I love watching the girls discover how to do new things or invent their own way of doing things. Yesterday afternoon, while Carl was cooking dinner the girls and I played in the backyard. We had the t-ball set up, but Delaney was convinced that t-ball was some creative way of playing golf. She ran around the yard with the plastic bat yelling "golf stick" and "golfed" with the bat and plastic softballs. Sure! Why not? Its easier to hit a giant ball with a giant plastic bat than it is to hit the much smaller golf balls with the small golf club.

In addition, I think we are getting really close to the whole potty training thing. Laney is obsessed with potty things...announcing when she has gone, making her dolls sit on the potty, she even had her little people rabbit go potty in the little people house last night. Ahh how wonderful it will be when we have this whole potty training thing behind us. Perhaps that will end the poop art fascination as well.

Today I registered for a zoo membership ($10.00 off today!!!!). I'm really excited because the girls love animals, and have started shouting out the name and sound the animal makes whenever they see one. We have plans to attend the Easter egg hunt at the zoo with the Ambrose family this weekend, and I'm really excited. Laney loves to collect things, so finding easter eggs will be right up her alley.

relaxed

My post on Sunday night was quite rushed and stressed and my post this morning wasn't much better. Sometimes, group meetings can be overwhelming for me. They reinforce everything that has to get done, and even when I think I have everything under control, I still tend to become anxious. Throw in the wrench of registering for the next semester (which could very well be the next to last semester) and crazy stressed Haley emerges!

I am feeling much better and far less stressed now. Everything is back in control and in my nice, list-filled world. I am really looking forward to bookclub tonight! The book: The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox has left a lot of questions in my head (and Cirucci's head too!). This should be a good discussion....and an even better dinner :)

Off to change my clothes and color with Alie before Brooke arrives....

class registration

well. i am registered for three courses for the summer. i am on the waiting list (which i knew i would be on) for another course. i am planning on taking 2 summer courses (and still secretly debating 3). peoplesoft is broken today.

what a week!

This has been quite the week...and it looks like I have another busy week ahead!

Laney and Alie both develped some sort of stomach, gross poop issue on Monday/Monday night lasting all the way through until Friday. I stayed home with them on Tuesday and Friday and my mom helped out on Wednesday and Thursday. The girls went through lots of pants (and sometimes even shirts) and a couple complete hose-downs, but by Friday evening, it seemed as though the issue had completey moved through their system.

Brian and then Inda informed me on Friday afternoon that we will be having an opening in our admissions office in a few weeks. Katie had expressed some interest in coming back to TU, and I'm really hoping that works out! (no pressure Katie)

Saturday was Becky's baby shower (gosh she could be one of the most gorgeous pregnant people ever...). She is now 35 weeks and I had been looking forward to the shower for months! Of course, Carl had yet another "pool emergency" on a Saturday, so Cirucci came to the rescue for two hours so that I could head out to Harford County. The shower was absolutely beautiful and it was really nice to see Becky's family....judging from the gifts, the baby girl to be will be one snazzy dresser, just like her mother!

That brings us to today....the mad dash to get the errands completed day. It was a bit windy to walk to the grocery store, so we ended up driving...hitting up both Sam's and Superfresh. We should be good for at least the next two weeks. Tonight, I met with my "team" for my teambuilding class again...ugh, we are really getting to "spend" lots of time together. I can't wait for my masters to be completed! It feels like this is taking FOREVER!!!! I'm starting to feel that crunch time in the semester (appropriately placed right around the time of midterms). It probably doesn't help that I have one super busy week ahead...
Tomorrow night is bookclub, Tuesday night is accepted student chat night, Wednesday and Thursday night are CCBC fairs...so finally Friday I should get a "break". At least bookclub is something that I do for myself ;)

Finally, I have a mysterious bursar hold on my account, so cross your fingers that I get the summer courses I am hoping for tomorrow!!! First thing tomorrow morning I will be standing at that window...and then registering ;) Of course I have a 9am meeting. AHHHH.....

painting

The girls spent the weekend with their grandparents so Carl and I spent the weekend painting our foyer, tiny "hallway" on the first floor, stairwell and upstairs hallway. I must say that I adore the color. It is a little more lavender than I thought, but that's ok, it looks great (and anything is an improvement from the yucko brown color that was up). Strangely enough, the new hallway color even seems to make the bathroom brighter, always a plus. We are really looking forward to painting the kitchen, dining room and dining room ceiling.

We have already started scouting possible items to use our Bush refund on....we've decided on purchasing a new dishwasher and possibly a microhood (i keep imagining how a microhood will give me more space on my counter). We've also been eyeing a fence for the backyard....we have to look into that a bit more though.

I'm looking forward to this afternoon. The weatherman is predicting gorgeous weather in the mid 60s. Carl is going to grill a chicken outside, and I might take the girls for a nice walk around the neighborhood! Enjoy the weather!