A Trip to the Zoo

My Mom and my brother Scott took Edie to the zoo yesterday while I had a meeting (I don't mention it here but I'm still working part time, planning a freelance event). I went out last night for Darrah's birthday and Jeff shot this video while eating dinner with E.

I like when she gets completely side tracked by talking about her pony tails. She has finally started letting me do her hair and the last few days she's begged me for "ponies" (pigtails). Oh and I also like that she manufactured my parents' dog Toby into the day, despite the fact that he wasn't there. That girl loves her some Toby.

Santa and Edie

This video is old news, having been taken over a month ago. I meant to post it BP (before the plague) but I've decided it's still worth documenting because it marks the week that two obsessions began.

Obsession #1: Edie talking about herself in the third person. This was taken the week she learned to say her own name and since then she takes every opportunity to point to herself and say her name. In particular, she likes to use it in place of the word "mine"; pointing at my lunch/toy/socks/what have you and saying "Mommy's" and then pointing at her own and saying "Edie". Knowing what belongs to whom is very important these days.

Obsession #2: Santa. We got a Raffi CD for Christmas, which at first was the best source of nostalgia I could think of. I would sing along to every song and be amazed by the fact that after 25 years, I still remembered the lyrics. Then I grew tired of Raffi. (Sorry Raffi). But not Edie. After every song and before the next one begins, she yells, "MO MO MO" (more more more). She literally cannot wait the 3 seconds between songs for her next Raffi fix. In particular she is consumed with need for the song "Must be Santa" and actually has started singing along with a few parts - the "ho ho ho" part and when the kids sing along and repeat "must be Santa" she frequently gets in there and says "Sata" at roughly the right time (while swaying side to side in a ridiculously sweet manner). I'm not sure what to do with this seasonally inappropriate obsession, so for now I'm indulging it when I can stomach listening to a children's Christmas song in January 3 times consecutively while sort of hoping it will fade over the next week or two. Do you think if I start playing something like James Taylor I could trick her into thinking it's a new Raffi album?

Thanks Wendy!

Edie loves her new Olivia doll and books that arrived in the mail tonight!

On a more cheerful note

Day 13

We are now closing lucky Day #13 of this plague. I don't want to curse myself (again) and say that we are finally on the mend for fear that I'll wake tomorrow with chicken pox, or something else that only people under 12 are supposed to get. I'm pleased to report that my pink eye is more or less healed. I'm also defensively feeling that I need to point out that my pink eye was never of the disgusting, crusty variety, but rather a viral version resulting from my epic cold/flu. My eye was no less pink though.

So here we are. Day 13. Edie is still a bit of a hot mess, going on day 2 of antibiotics after discovering yesterday at the pediatricians that she has an ear infection (a result of her lengthy cold). I will say though that she was in better spirits for most of today (excepting 45 minutes of whiny crying midday) and it's such a relief to have her giggling and teasing again. This business of her spending all day laying around and staring into the middle distance was VERY disturbing. I'm still sick with this cold, Jeff is sick now too and the chorus of coughing fits in our house at night continues, but I think we are both trying hard to pull ourselves out of this because DUDES, we are BORED. In the midst of this illness, we have canceled meetings, my book club, mom's night out, Darrah's birthday dinner, work, date night/babysitter, and two playgroups. All that said, we were just remarking tonight over dinner that we've weathered this isolation with only a touch of cabin fever and almost no frustration with each other. Pretty remarkable that neither of us is ready to murder the other given that we've been sleep deprived and trapped with each other and no one but a cranky baby for company. Whenever we start to feel too sorry for ourselves, we like to watch a video we took of Edie "talking" on my cell phone, saying "hellohellohellohello?" in this imitation of a sophisticated voice. And when we ask her who she's talking to? She exclaims, "Gampa!" "Gamma!"

It didn't work

I have pink eye.

PINK EYE.

Faking it

Jeff always says that there's a turning point in every illness - the day you get SO BORED with being sick that you just start pretending you're well again. Today is that day. I showered. I put make-up on. I blow-dried my hair. I am making a shopping list.

2011 Fail

Wow. We've had our asses handed to us this week. Edie fell first when she woke on Saturday with a cold and then decided that she was incapable of sleeping for more than 2 hours at a time without either coughing herself into a gagging rage or just generally being pissed and crying about her stuffy nose. After 2 nights of sleeplessness, I came down with what I'm now calling The Plague of 2011. Things peaked on Monday when both Edie and I were raging with fevers, and just generally feeling like we wanted to die. Edie didn't exactly articulate her feelings as such, but I'm pretty sure that's what she was trying to say by not even lifting her head off my shoulder the entire day. This from a girl who does not snuggle. Motrin barely put a dent in her 103.5 fever and I felt so bad watching her suffer. While things have improved since then, only just. Edie has transitioned into a wet cough and continues her night time rages every few hours. I have moved on from the flu into a cold that makes all my Ms into Bs and I have begun chewing with my mouth open in order to breath. Oh, and you should hear the symphony of coughs that we create at night! It's epic. Jeff is loving life and buying stock in Baby Motrin. Which reminds me, every time I feed Edie a dropper full of grape Motrin, I remember this story that may or may not be true - Maggie: Did your brother once drink an entire bottle of Dimetapp? And all it did was make him gassy?

Bare with us as we wrap up this pity party. I hope to get back to posting regularly soon.

Yours sincerely,

Mouth Breather Culver

Stocking Exchange 2010

We hosted the annual stocking exchange party at our house this year. I briefly reread my post from last year's party and was pleasantly surprised by my reference to the "wonderful new men my friends would have in their lives at future stocking parties". Because we had a new addition this year, and he IS wonderful! Heidi's boyfriend Paul rounded out what we called the "men's lounge" this year (which sadly, was not captured on camera by me). Essentially the men all ended up sitting around the dining table drinking winter ale while the ladies sipped champagne cocktails in the living room and opened presents together. My prediction of Edie chasing Darrah and Matt's baby boy was a bit premature - Reid is only 8 months old afterall- but they did play together, which was so cute it about broke my heart. A few photos from the night:

Elephant

I say this with the full knowledge that every parent believes their child to be a genius (and really, aren't they all?). As well as the full disclosure that tonight, Edie put an empty Goldfish cracker box from Costco over her head and stood still while clapping for herself. But you guys! Out of nowhere, Edie said "elephant" yesterday! While pointing at a picture of an elephant. And she pronounced it accurately! It blew my mind. She's been holding out on me.

Anyways, here's a cute photo of my brother Scott and his wife Emily with Edie (and me). They came over earlier this week and we were flipping through the book Jeff surprised me with for Christmas. We had promised no gifts for each other this year, but he designed and had printed a book called "ONE" which includes all my monthly letters to Edie, along with photos from her entire first year. I love it so much. But Edie loves it a bit more. She kept trying to rip the pages to turn them faster and Aunt Emily kept saying "careful" until Edie started repeating her. She'd say "ca-ful" and then violently try to turn the page.

Happy New Year slash Birthday

Happy 2011 peoples. And happy birthday husband. Jeffrey turns 35 today and per always, I will be singing "Old Man River" to him in honor of this day. Edie had a sleepover at Toby, Gamma and Guppa's house last night while Jeff and I spent a blissfully child-free night in Vancouver BC. I presented Jeff with his super romantic gift - the dvd of the first season of ThirtySomething. We'd talked about it recently and it seemed fitting, plus, there's nothing we love more than a good tv show on dvd. When coming back to the US today, we had to wait a while at the border, but when we finally made it to the booth, this was our entire interaction:

Dude in the booth(approximate age: 28): What were you doing up there?
Jeff: Sorry?
DITB: Why were you in Canada?
Jeff: For my birthday
DITB: What'd she get you? (referring to me)
Jeff: Umm... a dvd of the show ThirtySomething.
DITB: K, you can go.

We drove away laughing out loud. Was our answer so weird and quasi-embarrassing that he didn't need to know anything more to prove we weren't terrorists?

Also - while driving to Bellingham to pick up Edie on our way back to Seattle, we detoured to Birch Bay for a late afternoon cup of chowder. On our way back to the freeway, while driving a shady county backroad, we passed a field of llamas. I shouted, "Llamas!" and Jeff looked at them for a minute. Then this happened:

Jeff: Man, llamas have some weird posture.
Me: Yeah, I guess. (thinking - I could think of some weirder things about llamas - like that they exist at all, or that people buy them)
Jeff all of a sudden performs a rather forceful and sudden impression of a llamas neck posture that mostly involves him pulling his face back into his neck.
I very seriously respond: "I think it's more like this" and proceed to stick my neck out while simultaneously pulling my chin back.
We drive on in silence for a few minutes before Jeff says: "I think I just hurt my neck."

Dear Jeffrey,
Thanks for being my favorite weirdo.
Love,
Jill