Monday

Sunday night/Monday morning, Lou spiked a very high fever.  He was super sick and generally miserable, so I decided to take him to the pediatrician to rule out an ear infection.  He slept on and off all morning, Norah and I watched a movie, and then I attempted to get us all ready to get out of the house.  I was in my bathroom getting ready when I happened to glance in the bathtub.  And saw this. 

Seriously?  SERIOUSLY?  Of course I lost my shit.  Lou was in his crib and I made Norah stand on my bed while I panicked.  It was furiously trying to climb up the side of the tub but wasn't having much luck.  We don't keep cleaning products in the bathroom (everything is up on a high shelf in the laundry room), so I turned on the hot water and poured in an entire bottle of hand soap.

Death by bubble bath.

It took a while but the thing finally stopped moving.  It was huge.  With an orange/red head and 12 million little legs.  Oh yeah and ENORMOUS pincers.  Internet research later revealed that it was a Sonoran Desert centipede.  When it bites it injects a shit ton of venom, which is painful (but not deadly).  I am still not sure how it 1) got in the house and/or 2) got in the bathtub, I am trying very hard NOT to think about it..

The carcass was too big to go down the drain and although I was certain it was dead, I was way too freaked out to do anything about it.  So, I did what any rational, well educated, thirty-six-year-old mother of two would do.  I called my mom and asked her to please come over and dispose of the body.  And she did.  

I love living in Texas.  

Lou does not have an ear infection, but he sure is sick.  Day two of 104'ish degree fever, no eating, sicko diapers, general malaise and non-stop crying.  I will take that over a centipede any day.

ETA: Of course Lou got weighed at the doctor's office.  When he was sitting on the scale the numbers flashed 24 lbs, 3 ozs and I thought, hot damn!  That's awesome.  But then the nurse noticed that Norah had her hand on the scale.  He really only weighs a measly 20 lbs., 6 ozs.  That's fifth percentile for weight, folks.  I would be concerned except for the fact that he drinks a gallon and a half of whole milk a week, eats more than Norah and I put together, and is in the 75th percentile for height.  And don't forget those giant feet.  So what if he is currently wearing 6-12 month shorts that I have to roll at the waist so that they don't fall down?  Kid can scale a staircase is 3.5 seconds and runs faster than I do.  I think he'll be alright.  

Tap

Her second dance was tap.  Trevor was doing the camera work in this one (Megan did ballet).  I appreciate his keeping it interesting.

Ballet

Norah had her first ballet recital today.  Now, she's been taking dance for a while now, but just at the local parks and rec department (as opposed to a dance studio).  I am not opposed to the latter, but they are really expensive and require quite a bit of commitment, and c'mon.  She's three.  BVZ takes her to class every Saturday and so I don't really know that much about what goes on.  I didn't even know she was going to have a recital until she came home with a costume (that BVZ forgot to tell me he paid for).  It was way fancier that I was expecting...there were five classes and they each did two dances, so the whole thing lasted well over an hour and a half.  Norah did great.  She's into it and she's a total rule follower, two things which bode well for a three year old ballet recital.

Girl

When I picked up Norah from school today I asked her what she wanted to do.  She said, "play school."  Hey, at least she likes it.  She decided that playing school should consist of her practicing writing her name.  This is a big deal because she usually does the N backwards.  She was very proud of herself.  I like the font she chose.  It kind of looks like it could be on a poster to a horror movie (you know, like the H is dripping blood or something). 

She recently got moved up to another classroom at school and this one has mostly already four-year-olds.  The girls play jump rope on the playground and try as she might, Norah just can't do it.  She tries really, really hard but she's either too short or too uncoordinated or too something that I have yet to figure out.  At bedtime we talk a lot about continuing to try hard even though it would be easier to just give up (and yes, I got a jump rope so we can try to figure out the problem).  She waited up for BVZ to get home tonight and they also had a conversation about it.  He told her how proud he was of her for how hard she has been trying.  She said, "oh, I know.  I am proud of myself too.  So is Santa."

As has been mentioned, her current favorite show is Doc McStuffins.  I love it too.  It's fabulous.  The protagonist is an African-American little girl who is a doctor to toys (they come alive when no one else is around).  Her mom is a people doctor and her dad is a fabulous stay-at-home-dad.  Doc is kind and generous and super smart and really funny.  She also makes mistakes, learns from them, and becomes a better doctor and friend.  She has her "clinic" (ie, her playhouse) and when she's in there with a patient she puts a sign on the door and says, "the doc is IN!" 

I noticed over the past week or so that Norah's been hanging her Hello Kitty purse on her door.  I asked her about it today and she told me that when she's in her room, she turns the face outwards and announces, "the GIRL IS IN" and then when she is not in her room, she flips it around and announces, "the GIRL IS OUT."

I love television.

Heres and Theres

Louis is obsessed with this cow at the Children's Museum.  Seriously obsessed.  He wants nothing to do with anything other than this cow the entire time we are there.

Lou has been talking quite a bit lately.  We've got hi and bye, cat and dog, ball, and something that sounds kind of like thank you (said when I give him food) and uh-oh, mama and dada, up and go.  One of the cuter things he does is grab a blanket, cuddle down with his bear and then says "nigh nigh."  Almost makes me forget that he regularly grinds avocado into his hair and pasta sauce into the carpet. 

For the past several days, before his bath I have noticed that Lou has this rash on his back.  I assume it must be heat rash because it's not there in the morning and well, it's hot.  90+ degrees all this week.  I think it's only going to get worse.

Gluten free is going really well.  Norah seems to feel better, it's not that big of a deal, and with the exception of our multi-million dollar grocery bill, I actually really like it.  Rice pasta is delicious.  Norah has been really good about learning more about what foods have gluten in them and there hasn't been a moment of discord on her part that she can't have something she used to have.  The only moment of sadness was when we told her that she couldn't go to Subway with BVZ anymore.  See, BVZ takes her to ballet every Saturday.  It's their thing (it's also why I had no idea that she was having a formal recital until she came home with a COSTUME yesterday that he apparently paid for three weeks ago...), and after class they get everyone sandwiches at Subway and they split a cookie while they wait.  BVZ divides it and Norah gets to pick the first piece.  Totally sweet.  She cried big, giant crocodile tears when the Subway run got taken out of the equation.  I think it's 50% because of the loss of her and BVZ's special time together, and 50% because of the loss of the cookie.  He's promised to find her an alternative.

In the meantime, we made a big batch of cupcakes.  They were good, if a bit crumbly.

This is the built-in in the game/play room at the new house.  It's a toy storage wonderland.  I thought at first we might paint it white but have since decided against it.  Because 1) while white might be good for a kids playroom, brown works better for when they are older or we ever sell the house, and 2) give me a break.  I am not going to paint it.  I did get awesome and colorful cabinet knobs,though.  The ones on them right now are brushed gold and say things like, "love," "peace", "hope."  Clearly, not my style.  But seriously.  A toy storage wonderland!

Norah saw this picture and was very excited at the prospect of a kid only-tv.  I told her to keep dreaming.

It's hot here but not unbearable, so we've been trying to get outside as much as possible before it does get, in fact, unbearable.  There have been lots of trips to the mailbox and digging for dinosaur bones.

Norah doing her exercises in the driveway and swinging at the park (Lou's hair is very strawberry blond, especially in the sunlight.  Hair to match his temperament, for sure).

Lately Norah makes this great face when she asks a question about something or pretends to be perplexed. It's hilarious in person.  Clearly, it does not come across the same way in a photograph.

These days she will ONLY wear dresses (no shorts, no pants, no skirts-so annoying), and likes her hair to be "long and loose."  It took the promise of a treat after dinner, a trip to the park, and a show to get her to have her hair braided.  It looks incredibly sweet, but she's not buying it.

Saturday Funday

Blogger apparently changed all of their formatting.  It's freaking me out a bit and it has taken me about three hours just to figure out how to arrange photos.  Plus, it's centering everything and that's about to drive me bananas.  Ah.  Just figured it out.

Anyway, we had a very boring Saturday today.  Which was actually really nice considering it's been a week full of work, sickness, and general malaise.  You know, like every week around here.  

Lou continues to exhaust everyone.  His new obsession is the top drawer of BVZ's nightstand.  You know, the drawer that no kid has any business getting into.  The drawer that now has a child proof latch that Lou made mince meat of this morning.  The drawer that will be getting a magnetic lock tomorrow.  The drawer that BVZ told Norah was "private" and she in turn told me and Lou was "poison."  You know, that drawer.

(The photo on the right is Norah demonstrating what happens when you get poisoned).

Despite being a monster, Lou is completely irresistible.  And unbelievably skinny.  The cargo shorts he is wearing are size 6 to 12 months.  And he can't keep them up.  Oh yes, he's a gangsta in size 6 to 12 month shorts.  He's eating us out of house and home these days, so I can only assume being a holy terror 12 hours a day burns a lot of calories.

This would be Lou giving our baby proofing efforts a big Eff Off this afternoon.

Norah and I ran a bunch of errands and got heatstroke today.  I think it got up to 96 degrees at one point.  We decided the only way to deal was to have frozen yogurt for dinner.  You never saw a kid so excited to get to have frozen yogurt for dinner.

Baby on the loose requires constant monitoring.

We went to a really cute place that's very close to the new house.  It's one of those fancy pants, "gourmet" yogurt places that has less sugar, more probiotics.  You know, the ones with only five or six flavors, one of them being "tart."  Anyway, no one that worked there could confirm that the yogurt was gluten free so I asked to see one of the bags that would hopefully have the ingredient list.  The manager told me that was against their policy because someone once tried to steal their yogurt recipe.  I rolled my eyes and literally laughed out loud.  Thankfully, the non-manager had a little more sense and let me see the bag.  It looked safe so we loaded up.  (Right before bed Norah complained that her stomach hurt "more than ever" so I really, really, really hope she was just being dramatic and I didn't totally ruin her).

Norah's ballet and tap recital is next weekend and apparently they do some Toddlers and Tiara move where they put their heads on their hands, lean to one side and smile.  I have been making fun of her move non-stop, so of course she's been doing it non-stop.  It's pretty much been the highlight of my weekend.  Lou was into the yogurt as well, but of course refuses to allow anyone to give him a bite, he must TAKE IT HIMSELF.  

 I did make them eat some legitimate dinner, including broccoli, and Lou had to get hosed off in the shower after cramming massive amounts of gluten free pasta in his face.  BVZ went to a work function (minor league baseball game) and so after getting Lou to bed, Norah and I made popcorn and watched three episodes of Doc McStuffins (best kid show ever).  I may or may not be currently drinking that bottle of wine in the background.

A Good Run

From the day he was born, Norah has loved and adored Lou. Until today. Today she asked if he could "go away and stay away."

It was a good fourteen months while it lasted.