Feeling ill and feeling good

Tony just called me, and he is sick again. Or still. Not sure which it is, but he sounds croaky and horrible, and this makes going on 3 weeks he's been ill. First, it was a cold. Then it changed into a sinus infection. So he went to the clinic and got amoxicillin to treat it, only to discover several days later (via a nasty, itchy rash all over his body) that he's allergic to amoxicillin. Then he went to Snow Camp last weekend--the rash was fading, but still there--on prednisone and Benadryl to counteract the rash. While at Snow Camp, he took several nasty spills on the ice, resulting in some pretty impressive bruising and general aches and pains. When he got home, he was of course exhausted from the weekend--being up late, being out in the cold weather all day, etc. Last night, he was complaining of a very sore throat, and today, he just sounds awful. The poor guy can't catch a break. I told him last night he needs to get better soon, because he's just not himself. Not that he's been super-cranky or anything--I doubt I would be handling this many ailments so gallantly--but you can just tell he's not his usual self. I miss him.

I know--I'm such a sap, huh? I just want him to feel better. I'm really surprised I haven't caught anything from him. Usually, I'm the one who's sick more often than him. Uh, I should probably go knock on some wood now...

Prepare for an abrupt change of subject, starting... now!

Four has been one of my "lucky numbers" for a long time now. It all goes back to high school. My friends and I developed a number system by assigning numbers to all our friends, boyfriends/crushes, enemies, and school administrators, so that we could easily gossip about them without anyone knowing. (I know--weren't we oh-so-clever and devious?) For whatever reason, I chose the number 4 to represent my crush at the time, and my personal number was 16 (4 x 4... get it?). I even wrote down our entire code one time (I know--dumb move, right?), but I'm sure it's long since been discarded. But that's not important. The only point of this story is to tell you that the number 4 has a long history of being my lucky/favorite number. Let's take a brief look at how the number 4 has impacted my life, shall we?

Four is the number of siblings I have.

Four is the number of siblings-in-law I currently have.

Four is the number of people in my immediate family (not counting my spouse or in-laws) with birthdays in March.

Four is (approximately) the number of weeks I was overdue before I was born (once again... I am so sorry, Mom).

Four is the number of years it took me to get my BA in English.

Four is the number of years I knew Tony before we got married.

Four is the number of times I've thought about chocolate already today. (Wait... make that 5... 6... OK, moving on...)

Four is the number of e-mails I've already written today.

And last, but certainly not least (and, truthfully, the entire reason for this silly list)... four is the number that was on the tag of the pants I tried on last night. Sure, they were too snug for my liking, but the point is, I could zip and button them, and move and sit down in them. And I totally bought them, simply so I can always look back on this momentous time in my life and say, "Yeh, I once owned a pair of size 4 pants." (OK, fine, two pairs. So I was a little delusional.) I am so shallow. But I don't care, because... hello... size FOUR, people! I have worked long and hard for this, and I think I have earned a little narcissism. Don't worry... I'll be over it soon.

(This entry was brought to you by the letter F and the number 4.)

Pendants, parroting, and planning

Let us take a moment to stand in awe of my amazing alliteration skills in that terrific title...

Before I begin, I have to sing the praises of my friend Kim, who made these lovely pendants for me. Please ignore the crappiness of the photo and believe me when I say that this picture does them no justice.



And in case you're curious, these are the originals:





I am so, so in love with these pendants, and she did such a good job with them.

--------------------

OK, moving on, with more Ari stories. She didn't take a nap yesterday until about 4:30, so around 6:30 I woke her up, because she needed to eat some supper and not be up all hours of the night. She was not at all happy about being woken up (hmm, I don't know where she gets that from) and made her discontent well known. So we caved, and put Nemo on for her, just to settle her down. It worked like a charm, and Tony and I were able to get a few things done.

Now that she's watched Nemo several times, she's starting to talk along with the movie. For example, in the scene where the tank gang initiates Nemo into their "club," she chants along with them--"Ah, hoo hoo, ah, hoo hoo." And Tony told me she also squawks, "Mine, mine" along with the seagulls. This almost makes me want to let her watch the movie more often, just to hear what other cute stuff she will say. Yes, some parents teach their kids letters and numbers and colors--but my goal for my kid is to have her quoting movies. I've got my priorities straight.

I went out to do some errands last night, and I had barely set foot in Target when my phone rang. I figured Tony was calling to add something else to my list, but instead, he had an Ari story. He said she had taken a paper towel, laid it flat on the coffee table, and put her baby doll on top of it, all the while saying, "Bah-poo, bah-poo" (her word for "diaper"). Then she took another paper towel and laid it on top of the doll. Once he had finished telling me the story, he quickly hung up so that he could take a picture with his phone to send to me. Now, if only I could teach her how to change her own diaper...

--------------------

I need to set aside some time to go birthday-card shopping. I know, it probably sounds odd to say I need to schedule time to buy cards, but let me put it to you this way--my family has lots of birthdays in March, starting on March 1. There's my mom, my brother, Tony, my sister, my sister-in-law, my dad and Tony's dad. Plus a lady from church invited Ari to her 4-year-old's birthday party, so there's another card and gift. So if you don't feel like counting, let me do it for you--that's 8 people that need cards, and several of those people also need gifts. And since I'm the type of person who likes to read pretty much every card on the rack, in search of the perfect card, this could take a while.

Speaking of gifts, I'm working on planning this trip to NYC for Tony's birthday. I definitely want to get us tickets to see Rent, and of course you can't go to the city without eating at least one decent meal. So I know what we want to do--I just need to figure out when we're going. The first 3 Saturdays of March are booked with various birthday parties, and Rent doesn't have any matiness during the week, like most Broadway shows do. There is a Sunday matinee, but that would never work because of church. So either we go to a Sunday night show, or a nighttime show during the week. I'm thinking if we went on a weekday, I could take 2 half-days off work... for example, work Monday morning, then head to the city in the afternoon, see the show, head home really late, then sleep late the next day and go in to work for the afternoon. Sounds feasible, right? Of course, we also have to find a sitter for Ari. And a friend of ours is going to be in NYC for a few days for some work-related class--it would be nice if we could plan our trip for when he's there, since I'm sure he'll be bored when he's not in class. See how complicated a little day trip can be? This is why we need a travel agent to help us with our cruise--there's no way I could figure out the details without going insane.

Oh my gosh, we're going on a cruise! Sometimes I still have to pinch myself... Ow. Anyway... we're going on a CRUISE!

That's how you know...

Tony arrived home in one piece yesterday, though that one piece was a little more beat-up than before he left. He showed off several bruises he acquired from his many falls, while proudly telling me that he hadn't fallen at all on Saturday or Sunday. On the plus side, his rash is much better than it was--you can still see the patches from it, but they don't look nearly as red, and since he's not complaining about it much anymore, I'm assuming it doesn't hurt either. Either that, or he's too busy aching all over from his various bruises to notice the rash.

Ari was happy to see Tony, and greeted him with an exuberant, "Hi Daddy!" which melted his heart. I remember teasing him before he left that he was going to miss Ari more than me, and he argued that he would miss me more. Well, if the hugs and kisses Ari got before me are any indication of who he missed more... I should have made our conversation into a bet and scored some money out of this.

(Oh, and in case you're wondering, her fever appears to be gone, and I'm going to go ahead and declare her cured. I still have no idea what the fever was all about, but I'm going to pretend that my Genius Child with her Fantastic Immune System has beaten down a super-virus all by her little self. Because my kid is made of awesome.)

In the catgeory of Weird Ari Habits, she has suddenly decided she needs to clean up after me--namely, by picking up little pieces of lint/fuzzies and handing them to me to dispose of. I suppose I should take this as a sign that I need to vacuum more often? Nah, I'll just blame it on her being weird, since half the things she tries to give me are invisible (either that, or she drops them before handing them to me... or never picks them up at all...).

She decided to follow Tony outside the other day, in her bare feet, on the wet concrete. So naturally, when she came back in, those wet, naked feet were a magnet for all the dog hair on the floor. It didn't even occur to me that that would happen until I heard her grunting her "hello, something is really bothering me here" noise. I turned to see her sitting on the floor, examining the bottom of her foot. Once I got close, I saw the reason for her complaint--dog hair stuck to her foot. I did my best to brush it off (which really didn't work too well on her still-damp feet, but it seemed to satisfy her), and once her feet were dry, I put socks on her.

Later that day, she was in the bathroom with me when she started up her annoyed-grunting again. This time, it was a clump of my hair on the floor that was directly in her path and, apparently, blocking her from moving. She didn't rest until I picked it up. I have no idea where she gets this neat-freakiness from... it's certainly not from me.

In Non-Weird But Instead Very-Cute Ari News, I had her on my lap the other day, watching various YouTube videos with me. When I finished what I was doing and selected "Birdhouse on Your Soul" for her, she clapped her hands and cried, "Yay!" I am so not making that up.

I taped the Oscars last night, for the sole purpose of watching Kristen Chenoweth perform the Oscar-nominated song "That's How You Know" from Enchanted. She was adorable and pitch-perfect, as always. I ended up watching the other 4 nominee performances too (2 more from Enchanted, one from August Rush and another one from a movie I've never heard of). Tony thought it was weird that I was skipping the actual awards and only watching the performances. I told him it made sense--if I want to know who won what, it will be splashed all over the Internet today, so it's not like I'm missing out on anything.

I thought I had more to say, but I guess not.

You give me fever*

So, as predicted, I stayed home from work on Friday with a sick kiddo. When I picked her up at the babysitter's on Thursday evening, she was burning up and doing that constant pathetic-whiny noise kids do when they're sick--you know, the kind of noise that just reaches down through your eardrums and tears your heart out because it's just so SAD. I made the decision then and there that I wouldn't be going to work--her fever plus the coming snowstorm was more than enough of an excuse to stay home.

Friday morning, her fever seemed to be gone, and she was her angelic little self all morning. Didn't eat much, but that's no surprise, because she never eats well for me. She certainly drank enough, so no worries about dehydration. I put her down for her nap around 2 PM, fell asleep myself a little while later on the couch, and woke at 5:30 to discover she was still asleep. I woke her up, and she was on fire again. I brought her downstairs with me, and she wanted nothing more than to just sit next to me on the couch--highly unusual for her. When I got up to make her dinner, she moaned, but didn't even have enough energy to get up off the couch and follow me to the gate at the kitchen doorway like she usually does. She picked at her supper and spent the rest of the evening huddled next to me on the couch. Every so often, she'd move around a little, and show signs of life (like clapping for the contestants on Jeopardy--seriously), but she mostly held still. I even kept her up almost an hour past her bedtime, just for the snuggling. (Yes, I tried to tell myself it was because she had slept late in the morning and taken such a long nap, but really, I just didn't want to let go of her.)

She woke up a couple times during the night, which gave me a chance to re-Tylenol her and change her diaper, and she slept late again this morning. She seems to have no other symptoms besides this come-and-go fever, so whatever it is that she's coming down with, it seems like her body is doing its darnedest to fight it off.

I left her in her crib this morning while I got ready and shoveled out my car. When it came time to get her ready, I held out my arms and said, "Hey, ready to get dressed?" Her response was to flop down onto her belly with a mischievous grin on her face--that's her new thing. "Come on, don't you want to go bye-bye?" I asked, sure that that would get her up. She replied by burying her face in the blankets. "Hey, we're going to go shopping," I tried.

Immediately, her head popped up. "Oppy?" she asked.

"Yes, shopping. Let's go." From that point on, she asked me about every 5 minutes, "Oppy? Oppy?" To which I patiently replied, "Yes, we're going shopping." I guess she's getting to that age where you can't tell her about anything too far in advance, or you're going to hear of nothing else until it happens.

After I got her in the car, and climbed into my seat, again she asked, "Oppy?"

"Yes, we're going shopping--right now."

She answered clearly with a "Yay!" which made me burst out laughing. Where does she get this stuff?

When we got to Target, she played shy with the friendly pharmacist who said hi to her, but proceeded to say an enthusiastic "Hi!" to nearly every person we passed throughout the store. I guess she only likes to be friendly when she's the one who initiates it.

We passed one of those huge cage thingamajigs that's full of giant rubber balls. Ari cried, "Ball!" and proceeded to grunt unhappily as we passed it. "You have one at home," I reminded her, referring to the giant rubber ball that she convinced Daddy to buy her the last time the two of them were at Target together. "Mommy's not a sucker like Daddy is," I added.

Tony is having a fabulous weekend so far. I got a call from him last night, where he reported that he'd fallen no less than 4 times already on the icy snow. There's a fresh coating of snow on the ice below it, which makes it hard to tell where the ground is slippery. Tony said one of the times he fell, he hit his head so hard that his teeth were hurting afterwards. I texted him this afternoon to ask him how many times he'd fallen today, and he said none so far. So, yeah, my husband is in upstate New York, possibly with a concussion or something. Let's hope the rest of his weekend is uneventful.

I'm off to attempt to give Ari a bath--which should be an adventure in itself. For some reason, she's decided she's no longer a fan of bathtime.

***** EDIT *****

Just edited to add this video of the always gorgeous Johnny Depp, from the movie "Benny and Joon." I was watching this movie on TV and realized the movie is almost 15 years old. And to me, Johnny looks just as good now as he did back then. Oh yeh, and it's a great movie too. I love this song... it will now be in my head the rest of the night.

Short and to the point

Too lazy to write in paragraphs today, so let's do some math, shall we? Oh come on... it will be fun!

Me + one tall glass of Crystal Light Energy Drink = me having to pee more often than I ever did when I was pregnant. (Such is the price I pay for not wanting to fall asleep at my desk.)

Me + Dove chocolate x caramel filling = zero willpower.

Me + reading weather reports about more stupid snow heading our way = wanting to go on a cruise tomorrow, instead of waiting until September.

Top 24 American Idol contestants + whoever is in charge of how they look on stage = 24 people with ridiculously white teeth. (Seriously, am I the only one who noticed last night how every single girl had shiny, shiny white-white teeth?)

Tony + a newly-discovered allergy to amoxicillin which has resulted in a hideous, itchy rash over most of his body = one very cranky husband. (But who can blame him, right? I know if it were me, I would not be a pleasant person to live with.)

Tony + taking the teens to Snow Camp this weekend = me and Ari doing some major girl-bonding. (Oh, and also? I get the remote to myself. And the bed.)

Tony + me + watching "Rent" on TV for a gajillionth time = a conversation about how we want/need to see it on Broadway. (So guess what Tony's birthday present is going to be...)

Impending snowstorm + child who is possibly coming down with something = me staying home from work tomorrow. (Aw, rats...)

Let's go ride bikes!

Ari is doing well (I feel like it's been a while since I've written about her). She is turning into such a little goofball--I know I've said that before, but she just gets goofier as the days go by. Her latest thing is making weird faces. I can't even describe how odd these faces are--maybe I'll have to try to catch them on video. The other day, she was half-squinting, half-winking at me, and looking at me out of the very corners of her eyes. She also likes to roll her head around, and roll her eyes around at the same time. And she's totally doing it for an audience too, because she'll stop every so often to look at you normally with a big grin, as though she's thinking, "Hey, did you see me? Did you?" She is a constant source of entertainment now.

We did some shopping the other night, which included a stop at a furniture store (we were thinking about getting new bedroom furniture, but have decided against it). Anyway, when we went into the store, we decided to let Ari walk on her own, instead of riding in the stroller. And honestly, that was the first time we've ever taken her shopping without her being strapped into a stroller or shopping cart. And she did great. She stayed with us (for the most part), and had a grand old time opening drawers and doors and squawking loudly about her great discoveries. She got a little antsy toward the end, but that's because it was her bedtime, so who can blame her? I was just so impressed with how good she was. And I don't know why I feel surprised. Maybe it's because I know how active and go-go-go she is at home, and was worried that she would wreak havoc on the store and/or disappear on us. But like I said, she was really good, and only had to be "spoken to" a few times. Maybe we'll have to try stroller-free shopping more often.

----------

No progress on the cruise-planning front yet. I've been doing some research online, but there are just so many choices. I really think our next order of business is to get a travel agent--we have AAA, so that's a good place to start. I think I would feel more secure about the whole trip if I had an expert helping us out with good deals, insider tips, coordinating our flights (and possibly hotel stays on either end of the trip), etc.

Of course, we also need to figure out where we want to go. Apparently, it's not enough to just say "the Caribbean" because there's Eastern Caribbean, Western Caribbean, and even Southern Caribbean (which sounds really appealing, but usually requires flying into Puerto Rico, which I'm sure will be pricier than flying somewhere in the States). Plus, we have to figure out what port we want to depart from. Ah, decisions, decisions. But they are fun ones! And we still have plenty of time to work out all the little details.

----------

I went shopping for some new bedsheets last night, dreading the prospect. King-size sheets always cost more than any other size, and as I perused the aisles, price tags of $59.99, $69.99 and $79.99 made me gulp. Then I spied a clearance section and found several sets of sheets that were the same brand name, same color, same style, etc. In other words--identical. Two sets were marked $44.99, and then one was marked $22.48. I did a double-take, and then told myself it was a probably a case of someone putting the wrong sticker on the set. So I took it to the price-checker-scanner-thingy and lo and behold, it scanned at $22.48. I have no idea why the price was so different--you could tell the sheets had never been opened, so it wasn't like it was a set that had been returned. So we are now the proud owners of a set of black (ha ha--yes, black) king-size 400-thread-count (read: extra soft) sheets. I also snagged two 300-thread-count pillowcases for only $7.48 (olive green, not black, but hey--everything goes with black). Hooray for bargains! And hooray for luxurious new sheets!

----------

A couple jokes I ran across recently...

This one is really fun to tell someone out loud...

Q: How many kids with ADD does it take to change a lightbulb?
A: OMG, let's go ride bikes!

And this one's a groaner, but still funny...

Q: How many Chinese people does it take to change a lightbulb?
A: Thousands, because Confucious say many hands make light work.

Nothing like a completely cheesy joke to cheer me up.

----------

Yeh, I know this was random. What's your point?

We're going on a cruise!

Yes, you heard me right--we are going on a cruise! We just had our taxes done tonight, and we are getting back A LOT more than we even dreamed we would get. So yes, some of it will go toward practical things like bills and savings accounts, but we are most definitely going on a fabulous, exotic cruise for our 10th anniversary.

I'd love to stay and chat, but I have some serious research to start. But if you've ever been on a cruise or know anything about cruising, please leave me lots of notes, because I am clueless.

Oh, that obnoxiously high-pitched squealing you're hearing? Yep--that's me.

:D

13th Valentine's Day *EDIT*

***** EDIT *****

Just edited to add pictures of the roses. Want to see how I got them home?



Hey, it looks silly, but they fit perfectly in Ari's carseat. And here's a better shot of the 50 roses. Don't try counting them, because I'm sure I wasn't able to fit them all in this frame. A few are getting floppy already, but hey... I could take them out and you wouldn't even miss them.



***** END EDIT *****

I had 50 long-stemmed roses delivered to my office today. Yes, I said 50--five-zero. There are 25 purple and 25 white. Somehow I have to figure out how to get them home with me today.

I got a call from the front desk telling me I had a package. "They might be flowers!" the receptionist added in a sing-song voice. When I got there, waiting for me was a long, large cardboard box--the kind that roses come in. I carried it back to my desk, a little perplexed about why they weren't in some kind of vase. When my boss saw me come in, she cried, "Oh, they messed it up!" Apparently, Tony had called her a few days ago to arrange this whole thing with her. He was going to have the flowers delivered to her so that she could arrange them all in a vase and give them to me. I think that was what touched me the most about this gesture--not just that he did it, but that he went to all this trouble to plot behind my back about it.

(On a side note... I need to remember to ask him how long he's been planning this. Because just the other day, I told him "No gifts--cards only" and he acted like he agreed. And come to think of it, he never really said yes. And of course, I didn't get him anything but a card...)

So I ended up arranging them myself, which was fine with me. It killed about 30 minutes in my work day, anyway. I cut the bottoms of each stem and pulled the bottom sets of leaves off, and stuck them in the vase. I played around with them, trying to get a good mix of purple and white (instead of just purple on one side and white on the other) and trying to keep the taller ones in the middle. I'm not about to quit my day job, though--flower arranging is not my thing. But they look gorgeous and smell heavenly.

I took a picture of them with my cell phone and sent it to Tony, with the words, "What is this about? :)" We talked on the phone right afterwards--he kept asking if I was surprised. Then after we hung up, he replied to my text message...

You asked--What is this about? I wanted you to know how I'm so very much still in love with you! This is our 13th Valentine's Day, and I wanted you to feel a bit surprised of my love for you--even after all these years. I can still surprise you!

*melts*

Tony keeps talking about wanting to go out to dinner tonight, and I keep hesitating (especially now that I know he spent however-much money on these roses). I told him a few days ago that all he had to do for me for Valentine's Day was take me to Coldstone for ice cream. But last night, he started talking about going to dinner.

"I was thinking we could go to that place across the street," he said.

"I told you that you only had to take me to Coldstone."

"Well, we can go to Coldstone afterwards."

"I don't think you understand--Coldstone will be my dinner."

"That can't be your dinner."

"Do you have any idea how many calories are in their ice cream alone? And you think I'm going to eat a whole meal, plus ice cream?"

So it will be interesting to see who "wins." I have a feeling we'll end up going out for dinner--Pete already offered to babysit Ari for us. But if we do go out, I'll probably just order an appetizer or something. Gotta save room for ice cream!

Best sweater ever

So where did I last leave off? Right... Friday night. My mom dropped my brother Pete off in the afternoon, and it turned into a guys' night--Greg and Wayne both came over in the evening. We still did laundry--Tony started it, and I finished it after the guys got here--but we didn't do much cleaning. We saved that for Saturday morning.

We were up fairly early with Ari, and Tony, Pete and I did a quick cleaning before Tony's dad came over. We all went to Texas Roadhouse for lunch--Tony's dad had been there before, but none of the rest of us had. The food was excellent. Even the chicken tenders kids' meal that Ari got was really good--I don't know what they bread the chicken with, but it was delicious. Tony and I still have a gift card for there that we haven't used yet, so we will definitely be going back soon.

After lunch, we went to the mall so that Pappy could spoil his granddaughter a little. We got her a few things at the Children's Place--a sweater, a hoodie, and a pair of khakis. And as I was picking all that out, Ari kept grabbing at a leopard-print shirt on the clearance rack. I expressed my distaste for the shirt, but Tony and his dad ganged up on me, saying things like, "It's only $5" and "Aw, but look--she really likes it." So we added the hideous leopard-print shirt to our pile. Tony's dad came back to the apartment for a little while, then headed home. And Greg and Wayne ended up coming over that night for yet another guys' night.

Today was church, and Ari wore her new sweater. It's that classic Children's Place sweater, and I almost bought it for her a couple times, but always held off. But now, since it was on sale and Tony's dad was buying, I couldn't resist it any longer. Tell me that this is not the most awesome outfit ever.



Something about it makes her look so grown-up...



After church and a quick lunch at Wendy's, I insisted that Tony head down the street to the walk-in clinic. He's been fighting a nasty cold for over a week, with barely any improvement. and every time he coughs, it's deafening--loud and hacky and horrible-sounding. And when he agreed to go without must protest, I knew that was another sign that he was really feeling lousy. They said he has a sinus infection that's about to turn into bronchitis. No fever, and his lungs sound good, but they prescribed an antibiotic. So hopefully he can kick this thing pretty quickly. We're pretty sure he caught it from Ari, who came down with a cold only a couple days before him, but she seems fine. She still has the runny nose and every so often she'll cough, but overall, she's on the mend. And I'm just hoping and praying that I don't catch this thing. The only thing that sucks about that is that it means I've been avoiding Tony--only kissing him on the cheek, for example. It's amazing how much you miss little things like that when you're suddenly being so careful to avoid doing them.

So now here I sit at the computer, the last evening of the weekend. I'll give you three guesses who's sitting in my living room right now... Tony, Pete, Greg and Wayne. I made a full-fledged, real live dinner tonight for the boys--Shake-n-Bake chicken, rice, and veggies on the side. And I made brownies before they got here. All the leftovers are put away, and the dishwasher is cleaning all my dishes. I feel like such a perfect little housewife right now.

They're playing video games right now, and Ari is charming them into paying attention to her every so often. But it's about her bedtime, so I'm off to enjoy a few minutes with her before we have to start the bedtime routine.

127

In Totally Self-Centered News, I am officially back to my pre-pregnancy weight. I was 127 at my very first prenatal appointment, and this morning, my scale gave me that same number. Of course, at my 2nd prenatal appointment, I was mysteriously at 125, so that's my new goal. Two whole pounds--way to think big, Sara. Once I get there, we'll see what I can do after that. (Is it too much to wish for 110? Yeah, probably...) Right now, I'm going to celebrate 127 with a caramel Hershey's kiss. (Just one, I swear. OK... maybe 2. Shut up.)

OK, moving on... I have Ari videos to share. Lately, it seems like videos are more useful than pictures in capturing the real her. She certainly won't hold still to pose for pictures, and definitely doesn't smile on cue yet (as evidenced by the last batch of pictures I shared), but she is constantly doing and saying goofy stuff. I need a video camera running 24/7 or something... it can be like my own version of Big Brother... except with much less drama and much more hilarity.

All right, on to the videos. I put the TV on a music channel the other night--a channel called "Kidz Only!" (Yes, with an exclamation point and everything.) Don't ask me why they were playing Kelly Clarkson's "Breakaway." I don't really think of that as a kids' song, but then again, I'm thinking of kids Ari's age. (Wow, Sara... ramble much?) Anyway, she was busting out some pretty gnarly dance moves, which I now share with you. Watch and learn, people.



Then, she decided to do... well, whatever it is you call this. She likes to take clear plastic things (like this, the bag that holds her blocks, or her highchair tray, or whatever) and smush them against her face and then grin weird-looking grins at me. (And despite how it may appear, her face is not inside the plastic case. I may let my kid do a lot of crazy stuff for the sake of fun videos, but I'm not going to let her suffocate herself. Give me some credit, here.) I've never showed her herself in the mirror when she does this, but she seems to instinctively know how goofy she looks. Anyway, she does that for a minute, then she tackles me, gives me a brief cuddle, and then gets distracted because she sees a Cheerio under the closet door and she's all, "Remove this Cheerio immediately because it is distracting me and I cannot go on living while it's there."



And lastly... I promise, I did not set this up. She went to the gate all on her own and decided to give Ivan loads of loving. Before I got the camera out, she was giggling her fool head off, and of course she stopped the giggling once the camera was rolling. But it's still pretty cute, nonetheless. He is so good with her. I swear the only reason I haven't killed him yet is because she loves him so much. You'd better be grateful, Ivan.



And I don't have much more to say. My brother Pete is coming over tonight and will be staying with us all next week. Tony's dad is coming into town for a quick visit tomorrow. Then Sunday is church, as usual. Plus, there's other little things like laundry and cleaning that have to get done. So my Friday night will most likely be spent doing those things. I know--I lead such an exciting life. Jealous?

Heartbreaker

Ari woke up easily this morning, and was wide awake and raring to go. She was in an extremely animated mood, talking my ear off as I got her ready, and saying "no" to everything. She wasn't saying it in a bratty or whiny way--more like an I'm-experimenting-with-this-cool-new-word way. The way she said it was so cute that I found myself purposely asking her questions, just to hear her say "no" one more time in her squeaky little voice.

In the car, she babbled away, and even sang a little, which was funny, because I wasn't singing at all. When we got to the babysitter's, she immediately headed for the toys. As I prepared to leave, I asked her to come give me a hug. She replied with a very serious "no" as she headed toward me from across the room. As she hugged me, I said, "Can you give Mommy a kiss?"

Now you have to know this about her--I can count on one hand the number of times I've seen her try to give anyone a kiss. Her usual routine is to either blow you a kiss (which, with the accompanying "muh!", is insufferably cute) or offer you her cheek so that you may kiss her.

So back to my story. When I asked her for the kiss, she drew her head back, fixed this breathtaking stare on me, and puckered up her little lips as she leaned in to me. I turned my head slightly so she could kiss me on the cheek. When I pulled back, she was still staring at me, so I said, "Oh, another one?" I offered her my other cheek as I added, "How very European of you." But again, when I pulled back, she was still staring at me with puckered lips. I leaned in to give her a quick peck on the lips, and that seemed to satisfy her. She toddled away, ready to play with her toys.

I called out to her one last time as I reached for the door. "Bye-bye, sweetie."

"Bye-bye!"

"Love you."

"Uh-voo!"

I blew her a kiss, and she returned the favor.

She's a heartbreaker, that one...

Missing me?

I dropped Ari off at the babysitter's yesterday, and as I went toward the door to leave, she followed me. This is unusual, since normally it's like pulling teeth to even get her to hug me goodbye. Because at the babysitter's house, there are toys! and a cat! and so much fun stuff to do! She can't usually be bothered with anything more than an enthusiastic, "Bye-bye!" (which is followed, in her head, by "Don't hurry back," I'm sure.)

So when she followed me to the door, I turned to her and crouched down, saying, "What's up, baby? Do you want to give me another hug?"

"Nooooo," she said, quite simply and seriously. Then before the last "oooo" had died down, she reached out to give me a hug.

When she was done, she immediately went back to playing. I called out one last "bye" to her, and she whipped around, stuck her arm straight out in a motionless wave, and made a goofy face at me.

I was also the one who picked her up yesterday, and when I walked in the door, she actually came right to me for a hug. I guess she's all of a sudden decided to miss me when I'm gone?

After dinner, I plopped myself down on the floor to play with her. The TV wasn't even on, but she looked at it and said, "Mee-mo? Mee-mo?"

"No, baby, no Nemo." Then, in a flash of brilliance, I added, "Nemo's sleeping."

She looked at me curiously, as though she was trying to process what I had said, and was soon distracted by her toys. She didn't mention Nemo again... until Tony got home. After showering him with hugs and enthusiastic squeals of delight, she started up with her "Mee-mo" bit again. "No, no Nemo," Tony replied, glancing at me.

"I told her Nemo is sleeping," I said, with an evil gleam in my eye.

His face lit up, and he turned to Ari. "Nemo's sleeping, baby. He went to bed. Just like you're going to go to bed soon." So Ari resigned herself to an evening without Nemo. And she was none the worse for it, either. I don't mind letting her watch it now and then (and I'll probably take advantage of her new love of movies to start showing her Beauty and the Beast, in order to complete the Belle Brainwashing), but I'm not going to let her watch it 20 times a day, every day.

--------------------

Something that's really odd to me... I've been working out regularly for quite a while now. (OK, that's not the odd part... bear with me.) So over time, I've developed fairly decent muscles in my legs. Nothing that's going to make any body-builder jealous, of course, but there is definitely some definition there. I can feel the difference even in my normal walking (like when I walk in to work from the parking lot)--there's more strength there, more endurance.

So here's what's weird to me... as much working out as I've done, and as much muscle tone as I have, stairs are still the death of me. I'm fine for a flight or 2, but anything more than that, and my thighs cry out for mercy. When we were leaving the casino the other night, Dawn and I decided to take the stairs to the 5th floor of the parking garage. It was a little more than 5 flights, though--I think there were 2 flights of stairs before you even reached level 1, and then the rest were normal. But by about level 3 (maybe before), I was dying. My legs were burning and felt totally weak.

Maybe I'm just dumb, but I would think that if I have enough strength and endurance to handle a 45-minute cardio workout every night, and any kind of walking, that stairs would be no big deal. And fine, I know, it's a different set of muscles you use to climb stairs, as opposed to walking, but still. Stair-climbing makes me feel like I've never worked out a day in my life, which is really annoying, considering how good I'm being about sticking to my workout routine.

--------------------

Well, enough about me. It's about time I posted some Ari pictures, huh?

I guess she was thrilled to be having her picture taken.



I'm not entirely sure what she was doing here.



I'd love to tell you that she put this hat on this way all by herself, but that would be a lie. It was totally me.



Trying to escape from the camera...



Oh, those eyes...



I think she looks like me in this picture. Probably because of the spaced-out, dopey look on her face.



And I know this one is blurry, but I took it especially for Dave and Jess. Remember the puzzle you got her for Christmas--the one with her name? This is how she likes to "play" with it. I think she's treating the pieces like they're pacifiers. Anyway, at least she likes it...

Mee-mo

Tony, Ari and I were all chilling downstairs on Saturday afternoon--Tony was watching TV, Ari was playing with her toys, and I was... doing something that I can't remember right now. Ari was perfectly content for a while, until suddenly, for some reason, she looked at the TV and started frantically saying, "Mee-mo? Mee-mo?" to Tony.

The urgency in her voice caught my attention, and I watched the scene play out in front of me. After several "Mee-mo"s, each one increasing in volume, Tony finally switched the TV to DVD mode and started playing "Finding Nemo." Ari's face broke out in the biggest smile, and she plopped herself down in her princess chair with a small plastic toy to chew on as a snack. And she sat there for a good 15 minutes or so, without moving or breaking eye contact with the screen. Now you have to understand, this is a big deal, from the child who will not hold still. She was mesmerized. When she finally broke away from the TV to check out more toys, Tony tried to take advantage of the chance to switch back to the show he'd been watching. But as soon as he did that, Ari snapped back to attention, and began the "Mee-mo? Mee-mo?" chant again. A bit reluctantly, Tony turned the movie back on.

I had stepped into the room by the time and was watching the scene unfold before me, partially amused and partially stunned. "Where did this come from?" I asked Tony.

He shrugged. "She did this to me yesterday, too."

I know Ari has watched "Finding Nemo" before at the babysitter's house, but it's not like this week was the first time she ever saw it. But for some reason, she has suddenly fallen in love with it, and I foresee many instances of her "forcing" us to change the channel. You can see now why I've put off letting her watch TV for so long--it was almost spooky to see how still she was. But then again, I can understand why parents are OK with the TV addictions--anything that can get your child to hold still and stay out of trouble has to be a blessing, right? I knew it was inevitable that she would get hooked on some show or movie, as most little kids do, but I just didn't think it would happen so soon. I can add that to the list of things she does now that astound me. It's like I somehow keep thinking of her as this helpless little baby. But she's not--she's an official toddler, about to enter the terrible twos, with likes and dislikes and opinions about everything. She's an actual little girl now.

Speaking of things she does that fall under the "Where does she get this from?" category... I was getting her ready for bed the other night, and because she had a baby doll in her arms, the baby doll came into the bathroom with us. I sat Ari on the toilet and did our usual routine--I handed her the toothbrush and said, "Brush your teeth." She dutifully took it from me, laid the doll down on her lap, and proceeded to brush her doll's "teeth." I just stared. I have never once done that myself--not even as a "demonstration" of proper tooth-brushing techniques. And the doll doesn't even have teeth--but Ari knew exactly what she was doing.

We borrowed a potty chair from a friend, to start introducing the idea of potty-training to Ari. We're not pushing it at all--just trying to teach her the concept. So anytime one of us goes in the bathroom and Ari is with us, we'll tell her what we're doing. "Mommy's going potty. Mommy doesn't use a diaper, because Mommy's a big girl. Mommy goes in the potty. And that's your potty." (And yes, I do feel like an idiot saying all that stuff--thanks for asking.) Ari listens intently, but every time I've encouraged her to actually sit on her potty while she waits for me, she instead tries to stick her foot in it. Apparently, she's not quite getting it yet.

We hung out with some friends last night to watch Superbowl. Personally, I couldn't care less about football, but it's always fun to chill with friends. I spent a lot of the evening in the kitchen, as us girls worked on reheating and preparing food. And in between food prep, we just gathered around the table and munched and chatted (and made sure none of the kids were killing themselves or each other). I was pretty good with eating, though--I spent most of my time grabbing bites from the vegetable and fruit trays. Of course I had to have some mozzarella sticks, potato skins, and a cupcake/cookie or 2 (or 3), but I think I balanced myself pretty well.

We stayed until the game was over (about 10:30) and Ari was an absolute angel. She even ate a decent dinner, which I was sure she wouldn't do--with all the excitement and all the other kids to play with, I was sure there was no way she'd want to be strapped into a chair to eat, but she polished off most of a bowl of Easy Mac, plus some other munchies. Then, I figured she would melt down once it got past her bedtime (8 PM), but she was a little trooper. I'm sure it helped that there were other kids to keep her occupied too. Towards the end of the night, she spent as much time curled up in Tony's or Dawn's lap as she did playing, but she didn't get whiny or fussy at all. And of course, she was asleep in the car before we even made it back to the highway.

She's started this new thing now, and I think it's safe to call it singing. Sometimes, when I have her in the car with me, and I'm singing (which I do a lot, even when she's not with me, since my stupid stereo is broken), she'll start making these sweet little noises that I think can only de described as singing. She's not really saying any words, but she's sort of humming along, kind of the way people do when they're trying to sing along with a song they don't know the words to--they hum and throw in random vowel sounds as they try to pick out words. I've even caught Ari "singing" sometimes when she's by herself, playing with her toys. She already loves to dance to music, so it doesn't surprise me at all that she's learning the concept of singing. I can't wait until she's old enough to learn an actual song and butcher all the words in that adorable way that only little kids can do. Look out, American Idol.

Greg and Wayne are coming over tonight, to continue watching the "Saw" movie series with Tony. For some reason, the 3 of them decided that on Monday nights, they'll get together and watch all the "Saw" movies one by one. Tonight, it's "Saw 3." And since I despise horror movies (especially really gory ones like these), I'll be making myself scarce. I can't decide if I'm just going to hole up upstairs with the other TV, or if I'm going to go shopping. I'm still on the quest for a new pair of jeans. No luck yet, but a small victory--I tried on a pair the other night that were a size 6. SIX, people. They were too long in the legs and too low-rise for me, but they were a SIX. All the jeans I own right now are junior's sizes, which means they are all fairly big numbers (because juniors clothing seems to be designed for stick-thin girls with no curves. Man, no wonder teenage girls think they're fat, if even someone like me, who's fairly average, wears a size 13). Anyway, I'm hoping the size 6 thing wasn't just a fluke with that particular brand. We shall see.

"Night-night, Daddy" *EDIT*

****** EDIT *****

Just wanted to add a few videos I took tonight. (They're all short--about 30 seconds each.) I don't have a video of Ari saying "night-night, Daddy" but I do have one of her saying a whole bunch of other stuff. She was in the mood to repeat after me, so I took full advantage. Then, at the end, she gets annoyed because she can't reach her raisins.



Here is a perfect example of how she totally ignores me... but then she hugs Sasha, so it's all OK.



She has recently fallen in love with Finding Nemo. Here, we were getting her to point out Nemo. And I think she tried to hug him at the end...



And here, we're trying to get her to say "Nemo."



And a random picture of me, just because.



****** END EDIT *****

A quick Ari story to sucker you in... I was getting ready to take her to bed the other night, and I told her to go give Tony hugs and kisses and say good night. She did all of that willingly, and then as I picked her back up, Tony said, "Say 'night-night, Daddy.'" She looked right at him, and clear as day, said, "Night-night, Daddy." You know how when kids are this age, it seems like their parents are the only ones who can understand what they're saying? For example, when Ari says "please" it sounds more like "bees," but we know what she means. Well, this "night-night, Daddy" was perfect--any stranger who would have walked in the room would have understood her. As I took her upstairs, I took advantage of the chance to try to get her to say "night-night, Mommy," but all I got was, "nigh, Moh-ey." Eh, close enough.

Tony took my car into the shop to get checked out on Thursday--oil change, basic tune-up, etc. They also checked the stereo, and much to my dismay, the problem is with the stereo itself, not with the wiring. So it truly is "all dead," not just "mostly dead." We only paid about $100 for the stereo at first, since we got it during a Black Friday special. But seeing as we have lots of other, more important, bills to pay, fixing my stereo is not going to be very high on our priority list.

I was watching Celebrity Apprentice last night (which, for some reason, was a 2-hour show, instead of the usual one-hour), and I have to say: If there was ever any doubt in my mind that this show is scripted, it's gone. I'm not saying the celebs are memorizing lines or anything, but it's so obvious that they're being told how to act and being pushed into certain situations and dramas. Not that I don't still enjoy the show--it's just interesting. Anyway, last night (WARNING: spoilers ahead, for both Celebrity Apprentice and the series finale of The Sopranos, if for some reason you're a fan who has not yet seen that--please proceed to the next paragraph if you don't want to know), Vinny Pastore decided to resign rather than risk being fired. (If you don't know who he is, he was an actor on The Sopranos.) And there was all this drama during the show, where Vinny was being a "rat" (spying on the other team, but pretending he was on their team, and then changing his mind--apparently, very similar to the character he played on The Sopranos). And here's where I need to explain how the series finale of The Sopranos went down. I never watched the show, but there was such an uproar among fans who were dissatisfied with how it ended, so I heard about it via the great Internet. The last scene showed Tony Soprano and his family in a diner, while the camera panned around to several different suspicious-looking people. They played Journey's "Don't Stop Believin'" in the background, and then the screen went black and silent, very abruptly. This is important to know, to understand the insanity that is Celeb Apprentice. So anyway, Vinny resigned, and as he left the boardroom, some odd music started playing--much different than the usual "dramatic mood" music they usually play. It took me a second, but then I recognized it as "Don't Stop Believin.'" I chuckled, but that was only the beginning. As he walked out the doors of Trump Tower, the camera zoomed in on a couple random people standing around on the sidewalks. Then, just as Vinny was about to climb into the cab, the screen suddenly went black and silent. I nearly fell off the bed laughing. It was so completely corny, but hilarious.

Anyway, that's enough about that. One last bit of news (I saved the best for last)... my brother Dave and his wife Jess are pregnant! Dave called me yesterday at work to tell me, and I thought it was really sweet that he went out of his way to track down my work number to tell me right then and there (even though he did harass me on the phone a little). They're only about 8 weeks along, but they just had their first doctor appointment, which is what prompted them to start sharing the news. I'm so excited for them, and I'm excited for myself too, because this will be the first niece/nephew I'll have that I will actually get to see on a regular basis (Dave graduates med school in May, and they will be moving back into the area).

And that's all I've got. It's Friday, and as long as I survive my icy drive home (I loathe winter), tonight should be a nice, relaxing night. (Though I suppose if I die, that will be fairly relaxing too.)