Sunday, July 17, 2011

We are going on vacation soon. Well, as much as our yearly trip to North Dakota and Montana counts as a vacation. The driving tends to be a bit much and it will be interesting to see how the whole thing goes off with two kiddos. I'm sure the DVD player in the van will be getting some heavy use. There are a few other trips in the works. One of Bernie's good high school friends is getting married on Vivian's birthday in Minneapolis. I really enjoyed it when we where there a few years ago, so we plan to stay a few extra days. And it looks like we are spending Christmas in Phoenix...I won't complain about that.

We were planing to go to my high school reunion while in Great Falls, but things have been badly organized. And the only people I care to see aren't all that interested in going, so we will be meeting outside of the reunion.
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My dad will be leaving Great Falls with. We will drop him off in Sheridan Wyoming where he will stay with my Uncle Joe and family until he decides he wants to come down to our house. I'm not nervous yet, but I'm sure it will be a challenge. He's going to need to be prepared for some serious kid noise and sleeping in the family room. He is doing ok in Seeley Lake, but has had a couple of anxiety meltdowns related to trying to stop his meds cold turkey. It seems like he has learned his lesson, but I never count on anything with him.

It seems we have finally figured out Vivian's skin. Her eye area got really bad about 12 days after I cut out the dairy. That coupled with a three hour vomiting episode got me thinking that it must be something else. She saw the allergist on Monday and the only thing she tested allergic to was indeed dairy. The skin test didn't look like much, but the blood test was 3 on a scale from one to 6. So definitely no dairy for her or for me until we are done nursing. Her growing out of it is iffy. We will check yearly to see what is going on. Her skin is looking much better now. It must have taken a bit longer for the dairy to clear her system (that and the food I ate at the restaurant the night before the puking episode must have had dairy in it). She is also allergic to dogs,but Hailey isn't near her hardly ever. The doc didn't think that had anything to do with her recent flare up.

We had our first intake appointment for Bennett's autism appointment. It was just a short interview with the psychologist for Bernie and me. I have to make a video of him playing with other kids and fill out yet more paperwork before they will schedule the actual evaluation. I'm hoping to get all of that done before we leave.

Our anniversary was Friday. We didn't do anything too exciting as our baby sitter wimped out. But Bernie did surprise me with a massage at a local spa (an awesome one btw) and flowers. The flowers had five red roses for the number of years we have been married, two white ones for our babies, and one yellow gerber daisy for Hailey. I was impressed with the thought that went into it! I didn't do anything for him, but there might be a surprise in the works for when we get home!

Marlena and the boys stopped by for a night on their way back to Great Falls. We had a lovely day full of gabbing as usual.

Saturday, July 2, 2011

Happy 4th of July!

I just spent the last 30 minutes trying to get red window crayon out of our white carpet. Vivian decided to eat part of the crayon, spread it all over her face, and then the carpet. It doesn't look perfect, but it never did to begin with. I fucking hate carpet. Not sure if I've ever sworn on this blog before. That's how strongly I feel about it. Since the stupid spot cleaner is out of the basement, I've refilled the solution and might tackle some other areas after the kids are in bed tonight. Fun times on a Saturday night!

Bernie is on evening shifts currently and will remain on them through the holiday. I am taking the kids over to a friends BBQ today and Michaela and Craig's house on Monday (I should probably go RSVP), so we will stay busy. I hope to avoid too many fireworks as they have always freaked me out. Luckily they are mostly illegal in Longmont. We are often in Mandan with Bernie's family over the 4th where almost anything goes. I hide in the house for most of the night! Bernie got Bennett some snaps and snakes. I'm sure he will get a kick out of those.

The race is finally over...for this year anyway. I don't plan to start on too much planning for next year until September. I'm hopeful that Mindy and I can find a few more people who want to be involved to make things go more smoothly. It would be great to be able to delegate tasks and not worry so much about every little thing. The actual event went well with a few to-be-expected hiccups (not enough shade in 90 degree heat for example). I haven't gotten any complaints from those who attended. It was very emotional with Mindy and I crying at multiple points during the morning. Overall, it was well worth the effort.

We are at over $17,500 now. It's possible we could still get to $20,000, depending on donations over the next month and employer matches. We had just over 200 participants. I had no idea what to expect. I did think there would be more walk-ups than we ended up having, but it is probably best that we didn't get inundated the first time. The guy who timed and managed the race thought we did well and that anytime there are 200 at a first-time race, things look good for growth in the future. We raised the registration price from by $5 at our event (compared to other PW's in the nation) to pay for the management and timing. We fell short about by $300.

Vivian is having all kinds of trouble with her skin. It has always been sensitive, but earlier this week it broke out badly. It was red, scaly, and itchy. I took her to the MD and she was disagosed with eczema. He thought it was related to a dairy intolerance. So now I am on a dairy-free diet which isn't as bad as I had thought. The saddest part is no mochas. BOOOO. Vivian also has a prescription skin oil and things are looking much better. Her poor eye still looks red and itchy though. We'll see how things go until her nine month appointment in a couple of weeks and talk about adding the dairy back in slowly to see what happens.

Vivi also finally sprouted her first tooth yesterday! At least seeing it explained why she was up crying fore three hours the night before.