This week in history...

Something happened, I'm sure of it. Just don't ask me what. All I do is play with a baby all day every day. She is very cute and cuddly and all, but she doesn't help me stay connected with life 'outside' as it were. For me this week it was just nutso, for the most part.

First of all we all had a nasty stomach thing; Karen had it first (Sunday/Monday) then I had it (Tuesday/Wednesday) and then Joe had it (Wednesday/Thursday). Karen puked up a couple times, I just felt really gross, and Joe had it all comin' out the other end. It wasn't a great week in that way, but we're feeling better now. Karen also got two new teeth this week. One last night and one this morning for a total of seven for my cute little 10 month old. She's got another one close too!

The major things for this week are a couple of exciting things in the extended family. My cousin Jamie Stansfield is pregnant again-she'll be due sometime in the fall/early winter but she's not sure yet. Her older baby Liberty is 6 weeks younger than Karen, so this was not quite expected but is still really exciting. The other thing that is exiting this week is that Joe's sister and brother-in-law are going to UConn for graduate school. He's going to do a master's in Counseling (I think) and they'll move from Provo to Connecticut sometime this summer. That's about it from us down here in Charlotte. It's a nice 80degree day here (again). I think my favorite thing about this city is the weather (except in July and August). The picture of Karen in her frog mask is from the "Imagine Me as a Frog" book we got from my parents a Christmas.

Dishes

The worst thing about staying at home with Karen all the time is the dishes. I feel like they should 'be done' all the time. So, for a week or so I'll do good and keep up with it all right but then the rebellion sets in. I don't want those dishes to push me around and I resent being stuck in the kitchen all the time. So the dishes start piling up (because who else in our house would do the dishes anyway?) until it gets bad enough that I can't get Karen or me or Joe any food because there are no clean dishes and if there were any I'd still have no where to put them. Then I decide that I just can't live like this and spend an hour or two (or more sometimes) cleaning the kitchen. Usually right after I finish cleaning up, I have to make dinner and the whole terrible cycle starts all over again... I'm at the bottom of the cycle right now, and I'm glad I have Enrichment tonight so I don't have to try and find any food in there...it could be scary. I guess in some way it could be related to the whole Nephite 'Pride Cycle', but I really don't want to go there right now.

Other than Dish Wars, not much is going on. Tomorrow is Recruitment Day for Joe, which means it's been a whole year since we decided to move here, and in about a week it will be a year since I was on almost-bedrest with Karen. It's crazy how fast the last year has gone by. Part of that may just be my blocking out a month or two after Karen was born, but that can't account for all of it...can it? Oh well.

Glasses

This week was spring break for us, which meant that Joe only spent about half of the day at school every day instead of all day. So the other half of the day we had 'free' if you can call it that... Tuesday we went to the eye doctor. It had been almost 2 years for me and my glasses were aweful, and Joe hadn't been since before his mission. So, more than $500 dollars later I come out with contacts (which was cheaper than getting glasses) and Joe comes out of the experience with a...unique...perscription. I am near-sighted and far-sighted, depending on which eye you're talking about (which is interesting itself). Joe however is near-sighted and far-sighted at the same time in both eyes (but can see middle distances fairly well, oddly enough) which Casey Claypool can tell you all about...he gets some expensive glasses and that's about all I can say for now (I don't want to get in trouble too much). So we're a bit lighter in the pocketbook now, but at least we can see exactly how much we don't have. ;)

Also this week I've been doing a bit (very little bit) of Southern cooking. Monday was Biscuits and Sausage gravy, which turned out all right if you like thick gravy. Wednesday I made cornbread (for the first time ever) to go with our Taco Soup, as well as a Pecan Pie (which was really good). The only problem with the pie was that we had the Sister missionaries over for dinner and one of them has a nut allergy... which didn't work out so well since the only other dessert we had was peanut butter cookies. Oh well...

Thursday was Karen's 9 month checkup. She would have had it a couple weeks ago but she was sick. Now she's feeling fine except for the rash all over her face and in the cracks of her elbows and knees and chin. Nothing I had would make it better, but it wasn't getting worse either so I wasn't too worried about it. The Dr. said she has baby eczema (I think that's how you spell it) and gave us a cream to help it get better. In one day it's already almost gone. Hopefully this is something she'll grow out of though.

The last thing about this week is the cross-stitch I finished last night. Our front bathroom is frogs, and I did a little cross-stitch of a frog on a fountain. It was fairly symmetrical so Joe said "why don't you do another one only backwards" so I did. It was really difficult to remember the whole 'opposite' thing and it took me about 3 times longer than the first one, but they're really cute now. I put them in some cute matching frames and will hang them up sometime. As Marquita suggested I took a picture of all the 'stuff' I've been working on-see below.

Now it's back to real life next week, but only a month until Easter and my birthday (they're the same this year, and it's also Fast Sunday for us as well). Hope school is good for everyone and y'all have a more exciting and eventful spring break than we did (unless you're at BYU and don't have spring break at all...) yeah.

Ivory...?

This week my life has been about ivory (or something) and antibiotics. Karen started her first round of meds last week and we've continued with the 'pink stuff' all week long; I think we're both glad that this is the last day for it. Hopefully this means that Karen won't be sick for a couple of weeks...? Also on the same topic Joe went to the health center on campus with the same thing Karen has had...but instead of giving him an antibiotic for the infection they gave him some really strong decongestants...as in the highest legal dose that you can possibly take and people who make meth would love to get their hands on it. As far as I'm concerned if they think it's that great they can have it. Joe took one pill and was in such a daze for the evening it was really scary. And he didn't even feel better at all. So, if you ever have a doctor give those to you watch out-if you need them that bad you may just have some other underlying problems that you should talk about it with a professional.

Now to the topic of ivory...or white. At the beginning of the week Karen had 3 ivory (or white) colored things coming out of her gums in her mouth. Now however she has 5 of them. Yes, Karen got 2 new teeth in the last two days, one on bottom first (which was funny because she had 3 on the bottom and only one on the top) and then yesterday the other top tooth came in. So it's been a bit of a week in that department-all she wants is for Mommy to play with/hold/feed her, but she won't say mommy-only daddy or bob (whoever that is!)

Also on the topic of ivory (and ebony-if you remember the old song) we now have a piano in our apartment! It's really exciting but don't think that I've just gone out and spent all my money and used up all the credit I've ever had. In church on Sunday the EQ Pres. asked if anyone would be willing to 'store' a piano for a year or so. Joe and I weren't there because we were both in Primary, but a friend of ours emailed Joe on Monday with the news. So, through some convoluted and twisted manner that I don't completely understand we are now 'storing' a piano for some guy that we don't know for an undefined period of time (at least a year or year-and-a-half). It's not a nice piano or new in any sense of the word, but it's been tuned fairly recently and it sounds all right. The most worrying thing is that the rust on some of the inside parts; I think I heard it was stored in a garage for a few (maybe 10-15) years. So we're not sure if the guy will ever come for it, it could just be ours-until we move and actually have money to buy a good non-rusted piano. Anyway, that's about it for us. Next week is Spring Break for us, which is exciting but Joe has tons of work to do so it won't be much of a 'break' but we might be able to do something fun. It's also in the 60's here every day and it's starting to bloom-Spring really is here!!!! Hope y'all are doing well and good luck on midterms! (Pictures to be posted in the next week)