Just remember...

When heating up the homemade rice bag warmer, be careful not to heat it up too long or your house will start smelling like burned rice.

Good thing I've kept all those lonely socks without matches so I can make more. Even though it was hot and uncomfortable, it did provide relief.

Pain in the neck

Literally.

I've had some massive back pain for the past couple of weeks and it doesn't seem to be getting any better. But yesterday my neck started hurting too. I woke up with it feeling tweaked and it felt like it got worse during the day.

This morning, however, it's so much worse that I had to literally lift my head with my hands to be able to sit up in bed. My pain while not moving is probably at a 3, but unguarded movements are at least a 9. This stinks. I've also got a throbbing headache and my back still hurts.

I have taken the maximum ibuprofen in the hopes that it will take the edge off, but I think I need a major muscle relaxant too. And a massage. And maybe a jacuzzi.

The pics are of the new little "high" chair that we got for Amelia. Turns out it works great if you don't have a kitchen to eat in, and both kids really like it. And a trip to the park showed that Felix has the monkey gene. :)

Awesomely bad movies

A couple of weeks ago Brent and I discovered a disaster flick on TV. Luke Perry and Tia Carrere. It's called Supernova and it's all about how the sun is going to explode. In the process of exploding, it shoots flaming meteors at the earth. I hate giving away movies, but this is too good to not share. It turns out that one of the calculations is off and the sun isn't actually exploding. That's the resolution. Awesome.

Last night on a saunter through Walmart, we discovered this gem: Do you see the bottom right corner? Yep, Supernova! I was so excited. :) $5 for 4 awesomely bad movies. It's like Christmas!

So this morning I'm watching The Black Hole. There's a disaster in a nuculer (yeah, one of the main guys pronounced it like that) power plant that unleashes some kind of malicious alien. hahahahahahaha

Anyone want to do a bad movie night at my house?

The party

Brent's birthday was on Wednesday and we didn't really do anything for it. We were both just very busy, and since we were planning a big party for two days later we figured it would be okay to skip the actual birthday. I mean, he's a big boy now, right?

My sister, the RN will end up with 6 overnight 12-hour shifts in 7 days by Sunday night, so I offered to take her kids on Friday at noon if I could take her oldest overnight on Thursday so she could help out. Worked out just fine.

Apparently my house was decent enough that there wasn't too much prep work till the right-before-the-party stuff, which was fortuitous. Becca and I went to a sort of Pampered Chef show on Thursday night and essentially just sat with my girlfriends and ate good Pampered Chef recipes*.

I found some sheets at DI to hang around the patio so we could be outside during the whole party and it was perfect. The breeze (and the fan) kept the air moving so it wasn't too hot, and it was just dark enough for the movie. We had lots of good food (thanks to my mom for the seashell pasta salad, and for picking up the veggie tray and shrimp cocktail platter), lots of little kids running around enjoying things, and lots of good adult conversation.

After almost everyone left, we cleaned up everything, put a movie on for my nieces and nephews, and Brent and his friend Ian played video games outside on the projector for a couple of hours. Late night! But oh, so pleasant.

I think we'll have to do it again soon. :)

Thanks to all who showed up. And to those of you who couldn't make it - we missed you. Next time, hopefully.




*Southwest Salad
Dressing:
3/4 cup ranch dressing
1 jalapeno seeded and finely chopped
2 tsp taco seasoning
1 TBS lime juice
Salad:
1 can olives sliced
1 red bell pepper chopped
1 head romaine lettuce
1 can rinsed black beans
1/2 cup corn (I used about half a bag of sweet frozen corn slightly thawed and it was perfect)
2 cups diced cooked chicken
1 avocado
2 tomatoes chopped

*Mushroom Bread
1 pkg refrigerated crescent rolls spread out on a stoneware pan or round
2 cups sliced fresh mushrooms
2 TBS melted butter
1/4 cup grated Parmesan
1/4 tsp dried Italian seasoning
fresh minced garlic (maybe 2 TBS - we all really liked garlic)

Toss the mushrooms in the melted butter and spread over the crescent rolls. Sprinkle with Parmesan, Italian seasoning, and garlic. Bake at 375 for 15-20 minutes in preheated oven - or until golden brown.

*I did also make a fruit pizza but I made that up as I went along.

The cake

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Cherry-pickin' fools

This is what we did this morning: Weather was perfect, and these cherries are mighty tasty. I'm going to give a bunch away and pit the rest. I think I'll make a fruit salad for this evening, and juice a bunch. Then I'll freeze the rest for future use. Anyone want some lovely golden Queen Anne cherries?

She's mobile!

And still all sorts of adorable. Still almost no hair, but what is there is red. Intense blue eyes. She's very ticklish and we love the anticipation laughs we get from her when she knows she's about to be tickled.

She's not very coordinated, but she can get around if she doesn't think too hard about it.

She loves solids. She'll put anything in her mouth and loves all kinds of flavors. If you hold anything too close, she'll grab it and try to eat it. She loves other people's knuckles, but still has no teeth. She'll drink from a cup but doesn't really know what to do with it. It's fun to watch, that's for sure.

She still sleeps through the night almost always. She smiles a lot and loves her jumpy chair. She's extremely wiggly. It's hard to get her out of the car seat because, being so anxious to get out she tries to push her way out and you have to put the handle down or you'll bonk her head on the way out.

She loves sitting on her dad's lap watching him work on his computer while she takes a bottle and she's getting just slightly more snuggly. Really she wants to see what's going on. She'll watch intently if anything is on tv or on the movie screen (she had a better attention span at 4 months than Felix does now at 2 1/2 years).

If she's rolling around on the floor and your toes are visible she'll try to eat them.

7 1/2 months, and Amelia is so very entertaining. How happy we are to have her in our family!

Overheard

"Are you coming over here, Batman?" I wish there was some way to describe all the inflections of his voice as he says things like this. It's only been in the past couple of weeks that he says complete sentences. Like: "Go get me a bottle mommy, please."

The Batman thing is recent. I think he started it because I have Batman bandaids, but apparently they're now friends or something.

Monday Monday

Saturday was a great day. I spent hours filling water balloons and it turned out to be a big hit (although I should have filled the buckets with water apparently, because it equalizes the pressure). There was a water slide that Felix loved, a dunk tank, lots of good food, etc.

Sunday morning Brent and I were still recovering from our week-long colds, so we skipped church. Felix had a 3 1/2 hour nap, which was probably foreshadowing today's adventure. He woke up this morning, took a morning bottle (he only gets like 2 a day), and within an hour had thrown up everything. But even immediately after his bottle he wouldn't let me put him down. He's normally a very cheerful little kid and a total delight first thing in the morning. Not today.

By about 5 this afternoon he was finally ready for something to eat. He had a half a bottle and a small cup of juice. Half an hour later that was up too. So, if he didn't have anything in his stomach, he was still dry heaving stomach juices. Poor kid was so miserable he couldn't even stand up.

I finally snuck out of the house about 10:30 to take Lauren home (niece was bored so she came to visit and help) and get some groceries. He has since kept down another half a bottle and fallen asleep.

I don't like having sick kids. They make me feel helpless. I don't like being an adult. Well, most of the time that's true. It's tough!