12.5 miles

That's how far I biked this morning. At Mike's Hike and Bike we've had a men's riding group leaving the shop a couple of days a week for several weeks now. I've been trying to find a good time to do a women's ride and decided that Saturday mornings are as good a time as any.

This morning was the first of them and I was the only person to show, which is not at all surprising since we did not really advertise this group ride. I did pretty well I think, I completed this ride in just under 1 hour - to make it back in time for the weekly family ride that we've been doing for a while now. No other families showed up for our ride this morning, but Mike and the kids and I had a good ride.

I enjoyed the time to myself and I'm in some selfish ways hoping that others don't show up. Well, that's not true. I want them to show up for that ride, but I want to be sure to have at least one other good ride a week to myself.

I meandered through the countryside, mooed at some cows, and just enjoyed the freedom that a bicycle offers.

Don't read the back of baby food ...

unless you really want to be freaked out by what they put into the food that is supposed to feed babies!

I can tell you (because I have read the back of the packages) that some of the wost processed and man-made ingredients find their way into baby-food. In addition to the huge number of things that you can't pronounce and you're sure you don't want to know what they are are the several kinds of sugary or sugar substitute products. Can some one please tell me why you need to add sugar to fruit? Is it just me or is there something inherently wrong with putting sugar into very naturally sweet food items.

Can you tell I'm smack in the middle of the "what the heck am I gonna feed this kid today" stage? She only has two bottom teeth, but she wants to eat everything in site. She likes me to spoon food into her mouth; she likes to pick up the pieces and eat it herself; mostly she just likes to eat. I just have a hard time figuring out what to fix her to eat everyday. I wish there were a few more good (healthy) options that didn't require prep work on my part. As many of you know I'm the queen of hunger, but the (what is opposite of "queen of something"?) not-queen of preparing meals or figuring out what to prepare. If I have a fixed menu in advance, I do OK, but the whole, walk into the kitchen and whip something up is just not my forte.

I like Morgan's age. She just tells me what she wants. The only problem with this approach is that she occasionally tells me something that we don't have on hand. I usually just find something and figure out a way to make it what she asked for. Although, she's getting wise enough now that if I tell her that we don't have something she tells me to go to the grocery store to buy it. :) I really love the almost 3 stage, really I do. :)

So, here's to hoping I make it through this stage with Kenna and eventually she tells me that she wants a mayonnaise sandwich or something equally appetizing. (If you're kid ever asks for it, don't tell them you'll give them turkey with mayonnaise on it. Just ask if they want turkey or roast beef on their mayonnaise sandwich. This tactic has saved me from several meltdowns.)

Going down river again

We took the girls down (and back up) a short stretch of the Kentucky River again today. Mike's parents have a pontoon boat that we took out with his dad today. While we were going down the river, we realized that this is the first motorized boat ride (excluding the Ferry ride to Granny Nannie's house) that the girls have ever taken. We all enjoyed ourselves.

Kenna much preferred the amount of space offered on the pontoon compared to the canoe on our last trip. Actually, I think the real positive for her is that she has grown enough that the PFD doesn't force her chin up. She was crawling all over the boat and standing looking over the rail.

Morgan's favorite part was when we let her jump off of the back of the boat into the water. She is quite the swimmer, and we're doing everything we can to encourage it. We've been going to the pool at EKU at least once a week to let her swim in the big pool. She is very happy to go underwater to try to swim, she likes blowing bubbles, and she loves jumping off the wall. The biggest problem with the EKU swimming pool is the kiddie pool. When Morgan gets in there and "swims" she ends up putting her feet on the bottom which just encourages the "standing" swim instead of the belly position.

When she does the "standing" kick she just turns circles. Today in the river, she had her PFD on, so it was much more comfortable for her to be on her belly instead of upright. This really helped her get the hang of how to move forward in the water instead of spinning circles. She propelled herself several feet forward a couple of times today. Now, if we can just transfer that skill to the swimming pool without the PFD we'll be "golden" as Michael says.

Kenna also enjoyed swimming in the river. She floated around on her back for most of the time that we were jumping off the boat and swimming around. While doing so, she drank much more of the water than I would like to admit. She had a big smile on her face every time she turned her head to the side and the water just washed right into her mouth.

We had a camera (old style with film, smile) with us today. We actually got some pictures of this river adventure. I'll try to get them developed and scanned in to share here.

11 days

That's how long it's been since I last posted. I even have friends e-mailing me to tell me to get back to it. It is funny how you can post for several days in a row, but if you just miss one then it is sometimes easy to just keep putting it off.

A friend of mine is posting daily until her twin boys turn 2 (just a couple of weeks to go). I was trying to keep pace with her, but as you can see I've fallen way behind. So, I'm committing to at least trying to post more frequently. I won't be here daily I'm sure, but I will try to come more frequently or at least post from my e-mail account.

I think I can do fairly well while I'm "off" for the summer, but I'm afraid once school starts back up again, I'll be dreadfully behind all of the time.

And the race is on

If you remember Kenna learned to crawl about a week ago. She has become amazingly fast in that short amount of time. Check her out moving quickly in the video (it's my first one on-line; so forgive me that it is sideways and forgive me for the file being so large).




Today, we were all outside playing when I remembered that I needed to return a call for an interpreting job. I put Kenna as far away as possible from the little pool we have on the patio and I walked up the steps. I went inside, walked to the dinning room, got the paper with the phone number on it, and dialed the phone number on the phone. Just after dialing the number I stepped back on the porch.

When I looked down to the patio to see what the girls were doing, Kenna was leaning over the side of the baby pool splashing happily. Let's just say I wasn't so happy to see her like that. She was fine in this case, but it really made me think about how quickly she can get into dangerous situtations. Just another vivid reminder to me to "never leave a child unattended near a pool."

On an other note, Morgan amazes me everyday. After making my phone call I put Kenna the rest of the way in the pool and was splashing and playing with her. Morgan was blowing bubbles that she got at a friend's wedding and all in all running around like a heathen on the patio. We don't have much shade out there. At one point Morgan asked me to get something for her. I told her that she could climb up to do it. After investigating the situation further, she walked toward the pool and said "I will put water shoes on." Then she put one foot in the pool reached down and "tied" the laces. Then she switched feet to put the other foot in the pool and tie the laces. Then she got out and walked to where she was reaching for the bubbles. Before she got there she decided she needed more "water shoes." She came over and this time, she put both feet into the pool and tied the laces up really tight (meaning several times of pretend tieing) then walked all the way to what she wanted, got it, and walked back. How did she even think of that? I mean besides the obvious of the water keeps your feet cooler on hot pavement.

The trouble with cars

is that the kids fall asleep in them at the worst times. You may remember a previous post of mine when both of my kids fell asleep in the car when I was making a trip to Lexington specifically to check out a store and to stop at the library to pick up some reserved materials. Mike wasn't with me; so, I ended up coming home without accomplishing much.

Today was a totally different story. Michael and I headed out to the Peddler's Market to look around for a few things. We took the bikes and the trailer with kids in it. When we got to the store the kids were asleep in the trailer. Now, if we'd been in the car one of us would have stayed with the sleeping kids and the other would have gone in to do the looking. Today, we just unhooked the trailer from the bike and both went right in the store. We got most of the looking done before Kenna woke up. Morgan didn't wake up until we had to shove her over so Kenna could get back in the trailer to go home.

All in all, our family had a wonderful relaxing day without the car. Ok, Mike did take the car to go bring his parents' dog here to play with our dogs while they (his parents) were out of town, but other than that it was another car-less day in the Hale household.

Mike's Hike and Bike

Things at the store are moving right along.

We had another family ride this morning (every Saturday morning at 9 AM). Two other families joined us for a few miles around town. It looked like it might rain when we first got started this morning, but the clouds moved on and it was a beautiful morning for a ride.

In addition to family rides we're trying to get a couple of other groups set up. I'm trying to get a Women's ride going. I think it will probably just be one or possibly two times per month. We also have a friend that is hoping to get an evening group ride that will go from the shop.

Mike is also going to be doing a safety and repair clinic the next two Tuesday nights at the Richmond (12th) and Berea (19th) libraries.

We have customers in the store pretty steadily all day on most days. Many of them are buying things so that is a plus. Even if they don't buy something on the first visit, we're getting lots of repeat visitors/customers. We're enjoying getting to know more people in the community through the shop.

Zoo Passes and Vans are great!

We loaded up our van on Thursday for a wild adventure. We had 5 babes in car-seats, 3 mommas, 3 strollers, and enough "gear" to keep all of the mommas and babies happy for the trip. I love the size of this van. I used to think it was overkill, but we've used it to full capacity several times now. I hate driving several cars to go places as a group because much of the group experience is lost in transportation, but this van allowed all three families to ride together and enjoy the full spectacle of my children crying most of the way to Louisville. ;)


I'll also just say that babies in the van should always be buckled into the car seats or they may fall out of a non-moving van. (See my friend Deborah's blog for proof positive that falling out of a stationary van does in fact leave big ugly ouchies). Two of the five kids fell out of the van while we were getting car-seats situated.

After some crying fits by several of the children (two of which were mine - the other had a big ouchie on his head) we finally made it to the Lousivlle Zoo. We are members and we highly recommend becoming a member of your local zoo (or the closest one you have). Our family pass gets us in as often as we want for free, and we frequently get coupons for getting other people in too. For all 8 of us we only paid for one admission. It does help that non of the kids are old enough to be charged admission yet.

Although it was hot, we had a great time looking at the animals, watching the children interact with one another, and talking with other adults.

Here are a few highlights of our day: Kenna's first kiss - well really, this was not the first of the day heck I think Charlie may have even beat Jackson to the "first kiss", but you get the idea.



And for the "after the kiss" picture, you see how much she liked the Weber boys' kisses.

Morgan is hitting the stage where she realizes that she is "big" compared to babies, but that she is actually quite small when compared to adults and some animals. The first exhibit was of the orangutans. It was holding on to something above the glass and it was right up against the glass. When I heard her say "Mommy, get me out of here." I quickly undid the buckle of the stroller and picked her up to walk closer - then she yelled even louder "Mommy, get me outta here!" Ahh, now the dummy momma figures it out - she wants out of the building not out of the stroller.

After we decided to steer clear of exhibits inside of buildings/shelters, she was fine and back to her normal self of enjoying the animals. Just after seeing the giraffes up close and personal Morgan decided to ride this giraffe.

That look of wonder is one of the things I really love about that kid.

Traveling family

We're trying to keep our "weekends" (Sunday and Monday - the store closed days) free to do family things and not much else.

This weekend, we went to Indiana to visit Michael's brother Carroll and his wife Sarah. We had a great visit of bicycling around their nice neighborhood and hanging out on the front porch. The also cooked us a great steak lunch.

Morgan enjoyed the wide open spaces for running around, Kenna enjoyed tasting lots of grass and leaves.

After leaving their place we went to Cliffy Falls State Park to camp. It was a nice, quiet evening. Morgan played in the campfire ring for about 45 minutes straight. And who says that 2-year-olds don't have long attention spans?

Kenna Crawls!

Ok, it is more like a crab walk at this point, but heck she made a good 3 or 4 foot of forward movement today toward an object.

Over the past month I've tried every enticing object I could find to get her to continue moving forward instead of dropping to the belly and doing the fish-swimmy-thing. I put down the beloved-goldfish (you know that yummy, but completely unhealthy eatable things), I put dangerous toys in her path, I put the non-puke-proof camera just out of reach. None of it worked.

Today we stopped by Sportsman's Warehouse (checking out the competition's selection and prices - not shopping) and she crawled directly across the floor to reach the hanger that Morgan had removed from the PFD that she was wearing. I moved the darn hanger and she came after it again without the silly swimming thing!

Ahh, gone are the days of leaving Kenna unattended and unstrapped down. We're firmly into the mobile mania days!

The real reason I hate work

Is because I really love my work. I do love my job at EKU. I also completely enjoy working at Mike's Hike and Bike. When I work, I really want to give full effort and energy to my work. It is very frustrating to me that I can not do that because I have those two cute babies that need and want their momma.

Sometimes I just wish they didn't need their momma so much so I could focus and complete some other tasks. I know this is selfish, but heck I'm human and I am selfish. I just want time to do my own thing and be who I want to be without being relegated to taking care of the whims and needs of a 2-year-old and 7 month-old. Sometimes it's the little one that drives me crazy by being too demanding and sometimes it's the older one.

I think this is just the struggle that many working women feel. We love our kids and want to be with them, and at the same time we love/like our work and feel important there. I guess I'm just not cut out for this full-time split personality thing. I have a really hard time not resenting the job for taking me away from my kids and my kids from taking me away from my work. I'm hoping to eventually be able to convince my supervisors at EKU that I deserve to work part-time, but with benefits. I'm not so sure they're ever going to go for it, but I have to keep hoping that I will be able to have some work that I enjoy (and gives benefits that we need) and have plenty of time with my kids to home school and just in general be a part of their lives.

I can really tell a big difference in my relationship with Morgan since I'm not working this summer (I've been to the office several times already, and to the store at least a couple of days per week). I feel much more connected with her and can avert major tantrums and meltdowns just by knowing what is causing the problem. Of course, sometimes I don't know the problem, or I am busy trying to keep Kenna from eating the power cord to the fan, or I'm just so darn tired of averting the meltdowns that I can't avert the issue with Morgan, but I definitely feel much more connected and like we're back in sync again.

I'm so not looking forward to going back to work full time in the fall.

Going to the Zoo

As I mentioned in an earlier post, Morgan is becoming quite adept at pretending. Earlier today, we pretended to drink the bath water, for example. We pretend quite a few things daily.

This evening she was talking to her Dad about the raisins that she needed to feed her animals at the zoo. We talked about what animals she will feed the raisin to and then she suggested that we actually go to the zoo. So, while I'm prepping my "I'm making plans and we'll be going to the zoo next week" speech, her dad immediately says "Let's get in the car and you drive us to the zoo, Morgan."

To which her reply was "No Daddy, we need the van." So, we changed how we were sitting on the chaise lounge (now it is a van).

She drove us to the zoo, told us what we were seeing as we went. We saw koala bears eating eucalyptus leaves, giraffes with 7 bones in their necks, turtles with hard shells (as opposed to the ones with soft shells), dolphins, monkeys - who eat raisins, as well as others that my Pear Cider brain can't think of at the moment. Sometimes we were the animals, sometimes, she was the animal.

She drove us between each animal area and asked us where we wanted to go/what we wanted to see next. When we told her we were tired and hungry, she said she'd drive us to the aquarium to eat "chicken fries." All in all it was a great fun-filled evening of "going to the zoo."

I was already planning on taking her soon; now I really have to get moving on that plan. We're members so it really only costs gas money to get there. Last year we used the heck out of our membership. We only have to go two times for it to be "worth it." We went to the Louisville zoo at least 4 times, and the Cincinnati Zoo at least 3 times (half off there). So, we for sure got our money's worth out of it. I think we'll probably go every couple of weeks this summer. It is a nice long day of interesting stuff for her to do.

She has been watching some National Geographic video that we got from Mike's sister Laura. She loves it - maybe we should get a membership at the Aquarium as well. Anyway, the video talks about the difference between fish and dolphins/whales. It discusses humans and dolphins being mammals and that fish aren't mammals. Morgan is really trying to figure this mammal/human thing out. Several times a day she talks about that she is a human and that she is a mammal. She knows that dolphins and whales are mammals, but she is still a little confused about the other animals in her life. She's not convinced that Hyena and Lester are mammals - she knows they're animals. She's just not convinced that they are mammals, but not humans.

Really, even though at times I just want to wring her neck (she is 2 and a half, you know) I really enjoy being with her and watching her explore her world. OK, I don't necessarily enjoy watching her explore her world by testing my limits and biting her sister, but in general I do enjoy her.

Another New "Van"

Since opening the cycling store, we've decided to try to bike more frequently. We've taken the bikes and trailer so many places recently that it does seem like we've got a new van.

On Friday, I biked with the kids to the park, then went to Mike's mom's house to drop off Morgan while I went to work in the shop. Then of course, after work, I biked to go pick her up.

On Saturday, we took the bike on the first weekly Mike's Hike and Bike family ride. Then Mike took Morgan and dropped her off at his parent's house for the day while we worked at the store.

Sunday, we took the bikes and the trailer to the grocery store, then later to visit friends, and to Mike's parents house to get a bigger PFD for Morgan.

Today, no - we didn't take them to go canoing we can't carry the canoe on there, we took the bikes to a restaurant for dinner, then to the video store. I'm already noticing the difference in my ability to pull the trailer and in biking with just increading the amount I'm biking in the last week.

River Guides Again

Michael and I got to guide a trip down the Kentucky River today. It was a rather short jaunt – about 5 miles. I think we took our youngest patrons yet. Morgan, 2 and a half, took her first down river canoe trip. And Kenna, 7 months, took her first canoe trip ever. Speaking of firsts, it was our first trip down this section of river as well. We should have done it earlier.

The girls (and their guides) had a delightful day. The weather was perfect. We were on the river before the river became crowded. We did not have any mishaps.

Morgan had a great time leaning over the side of the canoe and running her hands in the water. While “on shore” she had a splendid time swimming. She really was proud of herself for moving so well in the water. We of course are delighted that she still likes it so much. She wasn’t too fond of the craw-dads (crayfish) that she saw in the creek. I think she preferred to think of it as her own little swimming pool – not where the animals live.

Kenna, after become more comfortable in her PFD (personal floatation device), enjoyed the trip. She slept for a good bit of it in my lap while I paddled. I wasn’t much help to Michael during the paddling today though, because she was in my lap the whole time. Because she’s still so small, when she sits with the PFD on, it is just a little longer than her torso; so, it lifts her chin up. That really makes her angry. As long as I was holding her, she was content to look around and watch her sister leaning out of the boat. At rest stops she enjoyed playing in the boat (a good “play pen”) and watching the rest of us swim. At the second stop, we went wading and she enjoyed the ride on Dad’s shoulders.

It really was a great day. A few more weekends like this one and we may just decide we can “get out” around here.

Now Summer!

So many things are happening so quickly these days. First, I am off of work for the summer (sorta, I still have my own projects to work on). It turns out that I don’t have to reapply for my job; so, I’m going to work there next year as well But secondly, and more importantly, our store is now open!

Mike’s Hike and Bike opened last Wednesday. We had a great sales day on Saturday (6 new bikes, 1 used bike, and lots of accessories). I think the community was really ready for what we have to offer.

Now on to info about my darlin’ girls, Kenna has two bottom teeth now. She really likes pears and mixed vegetables – not so happy about bananas or avocado. She still doesn’t know how to crawl forward. I’m starting to feel bad for her because she always gets stuck in a corner and can’t get out; which causes lots of fussing.

Morgan is very “into” pretend right now. She can take absolutely any item and turn it into amazing things. She is becoming a polite little girl (as opposed to a toddler). She knows the name of the store, recognizes the logo, and will tell anyone what the store is called. Say “Mike’s Hike and Bike” as fast as you can, and that ‘bout sounds like what she says. :)

Long Time Gone

Ok, so it has been wwwwaaaaayyyyy too long since I've written here. There have been so manythings going on I don't even know where to start. Humm. The short of it is this:

1. We are opening a bicycle and hiking/camping gear store in Richmond. We will open in a couple of weeks; so, all of our spare time is spent at the store. I'm in charge of data entry and general bookkeeping. Michael is in charge of merchandise, store fixtures/layout, and generally getting the place ready to open.

2. I have only a couple of weeks left of work for this school year. I don't know if I'll be back next year or not yet since I have to reapply for my job and it has not been posted yet.

3. Kenna is sitting up, crawling backwards, and just all around being a cute baby.

4. Morgan is a great child. She is a very kind big sister (still), and she's lots of fun with her immagivitiave/pretend play that she has recently started. Morgan has gone on her first boyscout camping trip. She had a grand time.

Back to work now, and I hope to post more soon.

Home again

We returned from that week-long road trip relatively unscathed. It actually was quite nice to visit new places, old friends, and old places.

While on the road, Kenna manged to (finally) successfully roll from her belly to her back. She had the back to belly thing figured out for a while now. I realize that she did these things in the "incorrect" order, but you can't tell her that. :) Anyway, back to the rolling thing. She managed to pull this feat off while Michael and I were setting up the tent. Let's just say that we put her on the trailer, a nice safe distance from the edge, and within a couple of minutes she was on the ground yelling. Luckily she landed on the freshly placed sand on the tent pad. It was not too firmly packed; so, she was scared, but not injured. Still, not one of my proudest moments.

An item that ranks near the top of our list in usefulness is the little portable potty that we have stashed in the van. Morgan made use of that potty more times than I can remember during our week long trip. It folds up the size of a dinner plate and comes with small disposable bags; so, you can just dump the "stuff" no fuss- no muss at your next pit stop.

One of my favorite memories from the trip involves a trip down a dead-end road. We looked on the map (you know that fairly crappy one that you can pick up at Wal-Mart for about 5 bucks?) and found a campground (as indicated by the little tent on the map) in the general direction that we were headed. Upon driving down several roads we found that what we really had was a place you can pitch a tent and not campground. It was getting late, Morgan was hungry, her parents were hungry, Kenna was over the car seat. So, we decided to go ahead and cook dinner there even though we knew we were not going to camp at the end of the road (that is right at some one's driveway). Michael and I were a bit disappointed at the circumstances, but we were up for making the best of it. Morgan reminded us how good the circumstances were by declaring with glee "We're having a picnic in the dark!"

Road trip

We are currently parked in a shopping center in North
Carolina. The Panera Bread company right outside the
van should open in time for the girls to awaken.

This will give us just the right start to the next leg
of the road trip. Mike will be able to get coffee
without having to get the stove fired up.

We've had a great trip so far. Morgan seems to like
the picnics on the flatbed tailer we are towing.

Although she does get tired of all of the sitting in
the car she is doing well on this long trip.

Everyone enjoyed the visit with our friends in
Maryland. We were sorry to have to leave them. They
were probably glad to see this big noisy clan go.

I'll try to get pictures of Morgan's first ocean
experience posted soon. She wasn't too impressed with
the water or waves, but she did enjoy the sand.

I should know by now

I really should. I should know if I want to actually go to the store and look around/browse and make a couple of other stops along the way that my eldest daughter will decide to nap on the drive.

I should know by now that if I don't think I will have time to crochet or read at all so why take it with me that I should for sure pack those things into the car.

I should know by now that waking Morgan up before she is finished with her nap is just asking for tantrums for pretty much the rest of the day.

I should know by now if Morgan refuses to sit on the potty after a nap that she will end up peeing in some inappropriate place (like the stool at the library).

I should know by now to make sure that the diaper bag has an ample supply of Kenna (cloth)diapers before I leave the house because she will of course need to be changed.

I should know by now that the emergency diapers in the van are pretty much too small for her.

I should know by now to never attempt to change a disposable diaper that is on Kenna any place besides a bathroom because poop will inevitably be all over her entire body.

I should know by now that you can't find parking close to anywhere you want to be in downtown Lexington.

I should know by now that a blue sky and sunshine does not mean that it is warm outside.

I should know by now that my jacket on top of Morgan will not be thick enough to stifle the yells of "It's cold, Momma." (especially after not completing a nap).

I should know by now that the books I'm going all the way to the downtown branch of the library to pick-up will not be there for me to get.

I should know by now if it crosses my mind that I don't really want to try to do my errands by myself because it will not be a relaxing browse that I should ask Michael to go with me or ask him to keep the kids.

I should know by now that Michael is wonderful and loves me because as soon as I walked in the door after this "should-a-known" day he took the girls and left me home alone.

Hit and run, water lines, pneumonia, and other woes

Hit and run...that's what I was almost charged with last week.. I was driving Mike's truck to work because he was going to be doing some work on my van. Let's just say it doesn't drive quite so easily as my van (even though they are the same size and basically have the same controls, engine, etc.). When I realized that his truck was just too big and had too much of a turning radius to easily get into the parking spot, I, like any rational person, decided to back up and go somewhere else. As I backed up, I hit the car next to me! UGGG talk about frustrating since I was running to get to my office to get some things done before my class started. I decided to move the truck to the other parking lot, and walk back over the offer up my insurance info and whatnot for the owner of the other car (who was not around). Well, someone who saw it happen, caught the eye of a cop and told them that it was a hit and run. I passed the cop and heard him saying that on his radio. I immediately told him why I moved the truck (it would have blocked the entire parking lot) and that I was coming back to write down my info. That was quite a mess.

Speaking of wide things, Michael was widening our driveway on Saturday and Sunday. While trying to even out the drive on Sunday, he hit the water line to the house. So, then entire rest of the day on Sunday was spent repairing the damage that the utilities company so eloquently explained as "your problem Bub."

And to top that all off, Michael woke up with an extremely high fever at 3 AM - if it's not one reason to be up in the middle of the night it's another. He went to the doctor today and found out that he has pneumonia. He's beat - especially because before heading to the doctor's office today, he spread a dump-truck full of gravel in the driveway this morning.

To top off that I didn't want Michael around the kids much today because we weren't sure what illness had befallen him, our sitter has strep throat and can't watch the kids for a few days. So, we had to call in the back-up team - my Aunt to sit with the girls this morning. She was not scheduled to arrive until after my classes began. We could have called Michael's mom, but she just got out of the hospital yesterday. The foot she had surgery on has an infection. I ended up taking Kenna to work with me this morning. I wonder if I'm the first woman to give a test with a baby on her hip; I hope not. I will just say that the sling that I use was a perfect way to keep Kenna happy while I was giving the test (American Sign Language, so that means I had to sign the test to them).

It's just been crazy, but hey at least we have health insurance to cover the doctor's visit and chest x-ray today. And, the prescription comes out of my pre-taxed reimbursement account. I reckon there is a silver lining somewhere in all of that.