Bye Aunt Jenn!

We said goodbye to Jenn this afternoon. :(. She has been such a big help these past couple of months! I know I'll miss running to the store to get a couple of things while the kids are napping! That was sure nice. She watched the kids, fed them, bathed them, and put them to bed while Brian and I saw 'Zero Dark Thirty.' Excellent movie. It was pretty awesome just walking out the door without giving someone detailed instructions and not having anxiety while I was gone. She keeps better tabs on my kids than I do! They don't go out of her sight! She will be missed.

This morning we had a birthday party for a classmate of Isabel's that was really low key and awesome. It started at 9:30am and we were greeted with the smells of bacon, coffee, sausage, muffins and the sounds of fun music and kids laughing when we walked in the door to this super modern, hip home. After being offered mimosas, coffee, tea, and/or Mexican hot chocolate I wanted to move in! It was supposed to rain, but be fairly warm. It didn't rain, but we had lovely cloud cover and warm temps for the awesome bounce house with gigantic slide in the backyard! I was taking down ideas for Isabel and Logan's birthday parties! Too bad our yard is not nearly flat enough for a bounce house, because that thing was amazing. I also loved this party because it didn't look like Pinterest threw up all over it. I mean, I love Pinterest, but sometimes enough is enough. No cheesy goodie bags and the 'cake' was Shirley's donuts. That was too bad because Isabel can't have donuts from a donut shop due to her nut allergies. She was upset until I promised her that we could go get Oreos after the party. I should have made her a special cupcake and brought it, but I didn't. Next time.

After the party ( we stayed until noon!) I went out for fufu with Jenn and another RPCV. I took the first bite and almost threw up. The fufu was fine, good even, but the "spinach in sauce" was NOT up my alley. I will typically eat anything, but this almost got spit out. It was unlike anything I've ever tasted. There was a very strange fish sauce taste that I couldn't put my finger on but I just didn't like it. At all. There was another plate with rice and spinach that was very tasty. I tried to stick with that. We ate Togo style. With our fingers. It was a good time and I enjoyed hearing some stories and listening to French.

Brian took Logan on a special mission to get a solder sucker(?) to try and fix the tv in our bedroom. And 'maybe get a milkshake.' I'm embarrassed to admit how much I miss the tv in our bedroom.

I also decided today that I really want to tackle refinishing the cabinets in the kitchen. It's a huge multi weekend project, but I know the end result will be worth it. I'm so thrilled with our bathroom kitchen cabinets! I think we'll start with the island and see how we like the color for awhile before doing the rest. Anyone want to come volunteer to work on our crew?! Watch the kids?!

Here's a picture of fufu and aunt Jenn after we did DIY avocado masks.

3 doctors in 2 days

I broke down and went to the doctor this morning. I couldn't sleep last night due to the amazing pain in my jaw and eye socket. It hurt to lay down. Super fun. I picked up some cipro and hopefully will be feeling better soon, although I still can't chew on my left side and my nostril feels like there is a hole in it when I blow my nose. I've never had a sinus infection like this. By far the worst ever.

I then headed to the cardiologist and had an hour wait. It didn't bother me since I took a book and actually had time to read! Everything is fine and I'll head back next year for an ECHO.

Tomorrow I'm going to take Logan to the doctor. He's still snotty and congested and his little eyes have been watering. We're going on 2 weeks. :(. I think he might be fighting a sinus infection too.

Tomorrow I have to be in 2 places at once so aunt Jenn is coming to the rescue again and taking Isabel to swim lessons while I take Logan to therapy. I thought tomorrow was her last day of classes, but it's actually next week. I lucked out and found a babysitter to take Isabel to swim since Aunt Jenn will sadly be gone. :(. It's her last class and I didn't want her to miss it since I'm not sure she'll take lessons in the spring.

Somebody played beauty parlor tonight!

3 month follow up for Logan. And we are still sick.

Logan had his 3 month follow up with the developmental pediatrician yesterday. It was pretty overwhelming. There were lots of acronyms thrown out and lots of suggestions. There is a game plan and I feel like we are headed in the right direction and that his doctor is really looking out for him and knows her stuff. She's fairly young and has some seriously impressive credentials. Her bed side manner is not exactly warm and fuzzy, but that's ok with me. Sometimes I actually prefer it that way.

Basically she recommended that Logan start OT twice a week (we had previously been scheduled for once) and that he add speech therapy twice a week as well. That's 4 hours of therapy total per week. His expressive speech is not a problem and his vocabulary seems to be average to above average, but his communicative/ pragmatic speech is the area of concern. For example he will rarely answer yes/no questions. I think the phrase that most grabbed at my heart was that she described him as being 'difficult to play with.' Not in a mean way, obviously, but very matter of fact. Yes, he is difficult to play with. Typical play is hard for him. We aren't sure if Logan is on the autism spectrum or not. The doctor said she is seeing behaviors that are concerning to her, but she's not ready to diagnose that yet. When he goes back in 6 months he will undergo testing. At that time he will be 3 and eligible for the elementary schools program if he is indeed on the spectrum.

So, all in all, an overwhelming day. On top of that the cardiologist called to tell me the results of my genetic testing came in and that he wanted to schedule an appointment for this week. Wtf? This week? I was like 'uh, next week is better,' but she was like 'how about this Thursday?' I asked her if she could tell me the results and she said everything was negative, so I'm hoping he just needs to meet his weekly quota of patients or something!

In other news we are all still sick. I think I'm going to go to the doctor tomorrow if there is not some awesome healing powers that clear out my sinuses magically overnight. Poor Logan's eyes have started watering too. I think he might be fighting a sinus infection. The doctor looked in his ears yesterday and they were not infected, but one was 'dull.' I'll keep an eye out for him pulling at the left one.

In some fun news I bought tickets to see 'Zero Dark Thirty' on Friday night with Brian! Jenn is going to watch the kiddos. I think she's the only person, besides maybe a grandparent, who has ever put them to bed without one of us.

Here is a picture of Logan and I splashing around in the rain while sister was at dance class and aunt Jenn nursing one of her injuries from her 4 days of working out. And sleeping on the guest bed after one of the slats fell through instead of getting us to help her fix it. Silly aunt Jenn. Or considerate aunt

Oh, and Logan had to give blood yesterday and he didn't even cry!!! So proud of my brave boy!

This is how we roll today

Yep, even gave Logan a paci to try and stop him shoving Kleenex/towels/shoes in his mouth. Desperate today!

Sick

Again. Well, still really. I think this is going on week 2? 3? Tonight I had horrible head congestion and pressure. Maybe a sinus infection? Just when I was finally starting to feel better. I guess if things don't improve in the next couple of days I'll head to the doctor. :(. Waking up with a headache is so fun, right? That's a picture of me giving a thumbs down. I don't have the energy to turn a light on or figure out the flash. Ha.

Poop Ornaments

Today we took down the rest of the Christmas decor in the house. I finally had to deal with the 'poop ornaments.' If you remember these are the ornaments in a box that some rodent got into and decided to poop all over. GROSS. I tossed all of the ornament boxes, anything paper/cardboard and washed, clorox wiped, clorox sprayed everything else. Now everything smells like disinfectant, but at least it should be clean and ready for next year. We tried to get rid of cardboard boxes and put more things in plastic containers to avoid this problem in the future. Here's a picture from the de-pooping.

We spend a lot of time at the playground today walking some of the trails (until Logan decided to grab a cactus) and playing on the equipment. It was such a nice day in Austin. The high was probably upper 50s/lower 60s. So very nice.

I almost forgot to add that I found the advent calendar my mom gave (that my Grandmother had made)! It was in a box that we didn't open this year. It now has a safe home right next to the wreath made out of the kids' hands. Two of my prized possessions!

Last night Jenn was kind enough to offer her babysitting services while Brian and I went out. We tried a new Mexican restaurant, Tres Amigos, and both gave it a B. Brian had a stuffed avocado, which was amazing, and I had a shrimp chili relleno, which was not great. The salsa was amazingly good, but I had a horrible margarita. I'm not a fan of fruity drinks and when I ordered a habanero margarita on the rocks I did not expect a pink drink that tasted like trash can punch. Yuck. After dinner we saw "Jack Reacher." I liked it but Brian thought it was 'meh.' Those kind of thrillers are just up my alley, so I enjoyed it.

Tonight we're looking forward to Downton Abbey premiering and relaxing after our hard work around the house. Jenn had a babysitting job from 11am - 5pm, so she'll probably need some relaxing too! We stayed up until well past midnight watching the last few episodes of Gossip Girl. Jenn was a little behind because apparently they don't really get Gossip Girl in Togo, or electricity for that matter.

Picture Saturday

I forgot to post pictures of some of our Christmas decor. I had a hard time figuring out picture placement, so I'm putting a few pictures here for easy reference next year. And here is a photo dump from Christmases 2010, 2011, and 2012.