Dammit

Did you know that the alternative word for "damn it" is spelled "dammit" – not "damnit"? It's a common mistake I see, so I thought I'd enlighten some of you in case you were unaware. That's just my word lesson for the day.

Anyway, on with my post. Dammit about sums it up.

Last Wednesday, as we were sitting on the couch, Maddie turned, looked at me, and puked all over both of us. It was wonderful (sense my sarcasm?), and it continued throughout the evening. I think I counted seven times in two hours, and by then the poor thing had nothing left in her and was just dry heaving. She and Matt camped out on the living room floor, because neither of us wanted to leave her alone in the crib, and there's no way I was sleeping on the couch or floor at 29 weeks pregnant.

During the night, Matt woke up to her hitting him on the head with a book, which was in the corner of the living room, near where she slept. This is his recollection of the encounter:

Matt: Maddie, what are you doing?
Maddie: Doesn't say anything.
Matt: Don't you know it's night-night time?
Maddie: Night-night?
Matt: Yes, night-night.
Maddie: Lies back down and goes to sleep.

Just like that. She's too funny, even when sick.

Luckily she recovered, and though she was whiny all weekend – that reminds me, I need to check for eyeteeth, since those seem to be rather elusive – she is pretty much feeling better.

Saturday afternoon we went and bought her a big girl (full) mattress and box spring. Sunday we had the family (my parents and siblings) over for a Christmas-type gathering.

Then Matt woke up around 12:30 a.m. today, sick. That's all I'll say, because I promise you don't want any more details. I was really hoping we were going to avoid whatever is "going around," but of course that couldn't happen. Right now I'm just praying I don't get it, too. It's the last thing I need right now.

Play dates galore

Well, Matt's trip to Vegas last weekend was rather uneventful. He did not bring home enough money to finish a bedroom in our basement. OK, so he lost. We're still finishing that room though – wife's orders.

Maddie and I spent the weekend in NL because I didn't want to sit home and do nothing for three days, especially considering it was going to be so cold and we'd be cooped up inside.

Friday night we went shopping at Sam's Club, and the kid had a blast wandering around the huge store. She kept looking up at the tall ceiling, running around, and sitting down on the ledge in front of the freezer cases, kind of like when she sits in Grandma Schaefer's fridge.


Saturday morning we had a play date with three of my friends (Andrea, Natosha and Kim) who all had babies within five days of each other at the end of September/beginning of October. There wasn't much playing going on, but I'm sure Maddie would have been all about showing them how to use their toys had they been awake longer! It was nice catching up with my friends, and of course I enjoyed seeing their babies.

After Maddie's nap, we went over to Kasey and Teasha's house to play with Treston. He's closer to her age – about four and a half months older – and he shared his toys and pretzels nicely with her. I'm waiting for Teasha to post some pics on Facebook, because I think Kasey took some good ones of the two of them playing in the basement. Teasha just sent me a message on Facebook saying Treston has been asking, "Where's Maddie? Where's Maddie's grandma?" since we left! Too cute!

This is me last Friday, at 28 weeks, before I got my hair trimmed and roots done! ;-)


I can't believe I potentially have 12-plus weeks of growing to do. I always think I'm about the same size I was at this gestation with Maddie, and then I look back at pictures and realize I'm wrong. I'm definitely still bigger this time around. My mom said the other week, "Well, maybe your growing will slow down soon." Um, yeah. Because that happens in late pregnancy!

Wednesday?

So you're telling me it's not the weekend yet? Crap.

After nearly two weeks of sleeping in, this getting-up-before-6:30-a.m. stuff is quite tiring. And poor Maddie – I hate having to wake her up for daycare at 7, when she'd sleep until at least 7:30 if I let her.

Tonight Matt is learning how to iron. Well, I taught him one other time, but he didn't quite catch on. So tonight is the night. If he thinks he needs to run off to Vegas a few times a year, then he needs to learn how to iron his own shirts. Apparently when he went last summer, he didn't iron before going out. I can imagine what a wrinkly mess he must have been for that entire trip. Oh well – at least I didn't have to be seen with him!

The purpose of this trip, you may wonder? The old fart turns 30 on Friday – yep, he's getting old – and he would rather party in Vegas than spend time with his beautiful, pregnant wife and gorgeous daughter. His cousin Steve gets comped rooms at some fine Las Vegas hotels, so their stay is free. Hopefully he comes home with some winnings – enough to finish a bedroom in the basement would be ideal.

New year, new blog

Because it's a new year, I figure I'll just jump right in and start off where we are – no recaps about what's been going on for the past several months or anything like that.

We rang in 2010 – well, kind of – with friends Bill and Michelle and their two kids, Brookelynn and Boden. They left by about 9 p.m. so they could get the kids to bed, but before then we had a fabulous meal of lobster, potatoes, caramelized mushrooms and salad (with appetizers beforehand), and the kids had Happy Meals. Maddie must have been hungry, because she ate all four of her Chicken McNuggets. Yuck. I'll never understand why kids love those things so much. Michelle also brought cheesecake bites, which I ate way too many of, and I bought – I mean "made" – these mini chocolate fudge cakes. Yumm!!

The kids played in Maddie's tent and tunnel for the longest time,


and then they posed for a few pics in front of the fireplace.


The adults had a nice time visiting, and I enjoyed my O'Doul's Amber – my party beverage of choice when I'm unable to have the real stuff. It's actually pretty good, in case you're in a similar "situation."

Today it's back to the real world for me – for the next eight weeks at least. My last day of work is Feb. 25 (my birthday), and I'm not coming back after this baby arrives. I'm really excited to become a stay-at-home-mom – or SAHM for short – but I'm a little nervous, too. Luckily there are a few other SAHMs in our neighborhood, so hopefully they'll help me stay sane. I'll be 35 weeks pregnant when I leave work, so the plan is to have a few weeks at home to enjoy with Maddie before the new baby arrives. We're taking a vacation to Mexico at the end of January/beginning of February – Maddie is coming with – so that means I only have seven weeks of actual work left.

I suppose I should get back to work since that's where I am. There's nothing more exciting than golf in Wisconsin ... in January!

I'll leave you with this picture of Maddie giving one of her babies "uggs." She'll be a great big sister!

A family blog

I decided a long time ago that I don't really like the format of webs.com, so that's why I haven't updated our family Web site in quite a while. A blog seems like a much better idea, and that was really the format our site was taking anyway.

So, this isn't going to be much of an update, because I need to head to the bedroom so I can practice my Hypnobabies (more on that some other time), but I anticipate updating here much more frequently. It's way more user-friendly and just ... less of a pain in the butt.

I'll leave you all with this picture of us from Christmas, and I hope to be back with a proper update very soon.