Whew!

Every day for the past week and a half, I have been telling myself that I needed to update the blog, because I know that if I slack off for more than a few days at a time I will all in all forget about it, which is something I really don't want to do. I love being able to come here and fill you all in on all of the goings on with us, and it is just a teensy bit therapeutic for me when I am just a tad stressed and can just come here and share my frustrations, fears, worries, etc. and I always feel better afterward.

Neely's rash is on it's way out of our lives, and she is only too happy to agree with me when I tell her it looks much better. It still bothers her a little when I try to bathe her, but we are making it. I also stopped using the pre-moistened wipes made for potty trained children, as it contained fragrances and could very well be irritating her sensitive bottom. I think I finally caught on to it when Neely would scream in horror when I would reach for them. I feel terrible that I never caught on to it before, but the important part is I chunked them and have started using the sensitive diaper wipes on used on her as a baby. She was relieved when I explained to her that the "green wipes" (in reference to the green color on the package)were gone forever and we now use these "special wipes". She handled them MUCH better when I used them on her too, so I think we are sticking with them.

We had a lovely Valentine's Day. Our celebration started the Saturday night before, at our church's Sweetheart Banquet. The adults were treated to a steak dinner and entertainment, while the children were treated to pizza and a movie, while being looked after by the youth. When we went to pick her up, I couldn't tell who had more fun - Neely or the teenagers! The kids went on and on about how good Neely was and how much they adore her. I love watching her mesmerize other people. I should have her wear a shirt that says, "I dare you not to fall in love with me". I kid you not. She has everyone of those teenage kids at church wrapped around her little finger. Then of course on the actual Valentines Day, Derek sent me roses, I got him a card with lots of chocolate goodies, and we got Neely a Disney princess heart shaped tin with heart shaped candies. Then we had dinner at church and spend the rest of the evening relaxing and watching tv. It was a good night.

RIP Fargo - You are missed and loved, and will never be forgotten.

#@!%*&*^!

I thought that would be a more appropriate title than what I really wanted to say, lol. In case you haven't already guessed, I am having a bad day. Let me tell you why. Since this year started, both Neely and I have been ill or afflicted with some type of ailment. First we had the sinus infection, then Neely had the "mystery virus", now I have a monster of a wisdom tooth attempting to break into my mouth what feels very much like in a sideways position, and Neely has a horrible rash on her hiney. It's awful. I am pretty sure I know what is causing it, and that would be her little accidents she has been having and not telling anyone for God knows how long, thus her tush breaks out. Last night was awful. All she wanted to do was lay down on her stomach so her bottom would not touch anything, thus causing it to hurt more. I did get her on some oral meds prescribed by her pediatrician's office, so hopefully it will be wiped out in a few days.

So please forgive me if this post isn't very pleasant. I feel like I a have a tiny Yosemite Sam in my head jumping up and down and ranting and raving, yelling his hard-to-understand expletives constantly, and I feel like he will be there until I get some relief from all of this madness, or I'll just completely blow up and have a complete meltdown, which sometimes feels really good, so maybe I'll do that sometime later today. Grrrrrrr.

We're Super!

Whew! You know how it feels when you have been sick for what seems like a million years (when, in fact, it was really just a week or so), then you get that one day where you still feel kinda bad but yet soooooo much better than you did the night before when you included in your prayers something about "dying just a little bit"? Well, for me, today is that day. Yes, I still have a sore throat, but it's on the mend. Yes, I'm still breathing through one nostril, but I can tell that I am close to clearing up. But what makes me feel the best? Knowing that the majority of my pain was caused by my lower left wisdom tooth coming in. Not that I am miraculously healed of my pain just because I finally have pinpointed my ailment, but I can take a pain reliever for it now instead of just Nyquil. So that is why I am feeling much better - I took some tylenol. LOL

Another reason to be happy - Neely is better too. She was always a few steps ahead of me in the recent healing process, on account of she came down with the crud much earlier than I did, but still, we are both on the mend. Definitely reason to be happy.

In other Neely news - we have become Superheroes. By day, we are Kelly and Neely, working mother and brilliant 3 year old pre-schooler. By night (and sometimes early morning, and a lot on the weekends), we become Super Mommy and Super Neely! Yes, we could use some help in the whole super name department, but cut us some slack, after all, we are only part-time superheroes. We usually rescue Derek and Belle, but sometimes we do rescue each other, mostly from the couch or the bed. She has a blast, and I catch myself enjoying it as well, for many reasons.

Why I Love Fridays

Another week has come and gone, and the sweet sound of the word Friday keeps going through my head. I long for Fridays, the way I get so excited about the weekend is almost worth the blah feeling I get when I wake up on Monday through Thursday mornings. The only thing that would make Fridays better, is if I didn't have to work on that day. When I am Queen of the World, that will be my first change, that businesses will close on Friday, except for those who provide any kind of service to me and my family, lol. That sounds fair, right?

I always looked forward to the weekend, even before Neely came along. But of course, I was excited for different reasons. Mainly to stay in bed on Saturday mornings until I was good and ready. Usually, our big thing was deciding what to do on Friday or Saturday nights. We felt that as a young couple, we just couldn't spend a weekend night at home, so we would get out and do anything we could think of - going out for a quick dinner, visiting parents or other family members, or calling up friends for a last minute get together. Of course, now, I look forward to the weekend for reasons that aren't close to my old ones. Sure, I would still love to sleep in on Saturday mornings, but when there is a certain 3 year old laying in her bed singing an original song, sweetly entertaining herself until Mommy comes to get her to start her fun day, it's really hard to go back to sleep. I love going in her room first thing on a Saturday morning. She lights up, and the fun day begins. Sundays are great too, but since we have to start getting ready for church almost right after we get up, Saturdays are definitely the favorite, considering that most of the time we have the whole day at our disposal.

This is usually how are weekends go - Friday evening, Derek's parents will come over. We always order out and then have dinner. Neely then entertains her grandparents, while we clean up after dinner. Occasionally, Derek and I will run out to take care of an errand or something and give them some alone time with her (this is something that everyone enjoys, lol). They usually leave around Neely's bedtime, then Derek and I will crash on the couch and watch tv, usually "The Soup" and "Best Week Ever". Saturdays are our weekly shopping days, with runs the to the grocery store, and to wherever else we need to go. This weekend, we will take Neely to get some new tennis shoes, she is really looking forward to that. In fact, she loves any kind of shopping (that's my girl!). No matter what we are going shopping for, as soon as she hears the word "shopping", she immediately asks, "where's my purse?" and we are out the door, which is why I have learned not to tell her what we are doing until we are ready to leave, because little miss gets impatient if you make her wait to do anything fun. Sundays are almost always the same - church, nap, playtime, dinner, sleep. We rarely go anywhere on Sunday unless it involves family, other than that, we don't do anything else.

So today, I will use my time at work wisely. I will spend the whole day planning out my weekend. I will make shopping lists, I will take my breaks to take care of the less exciting tasks that need to be taken care of this weekend. And if things go well, I will leave work early to go get my sweetheart from school and begin my weekend with a big hug.

Well, Neely is finally on the mend from what I'm calling "the mystery virus". At first I assumed it was a sinus infection, but then I start hearing other people talking about some "fever virus" that I have never heard of, and the symptoms are all of the ones that Neely has experienced at least once this week. The only thing that doesn't fit in that well is that her fever was mild, and went away after a dose of Motrin, unlike the other cases I heard about, where the fever lasted for several days. Whatever it is, she appears to be getting over it.

However, I'm the sick one now. Which means absolutely nothing, because any mother can tell you that moms don't get sick, at least of course to those who share a home with her. The show must go on. Dinner must be made. Laundry must be washed and put away. Children must be bathed. House must be kept tidy. And as crazy as this may seem, I insist on doing it all. That's because I'm a control freak. Derek, being the sweet soul that he is, does offer to take care of dinner when I'm ill, or he will offer to do various other things around the house in order to give me a break, but 99% of the time I will refuse. I know it sounds ridiculous, and it probably is a little, but you don't see me breaking out the tools and the JB Weld whenever one of the vehicles doesn't want to behave. Yeah, and the only time I've touched a lawnmower is when I helped Derek put it in the cart when we bought it. The fact is, everybody wants a job to do, no matter what it is, because it makes us feel needed, as well as appreciated. I can't tell you the feeling I get when Derek compliments me on a delicious meal (example: last night's enchiladas), or when a visitor goes on and on about how my house is always clean. Or the way Derek feel's when I tell him how good the yard looks after he spent all day mowing and trimming. It's a game of give and take, and I like it.

Okay, back to Neely. This kid cracks me up on a daily basis. Without going into too much explanation, I will say that we have been having issues with "accidents" involing not making it to the bathroom in time and several pairs of undies being ruined in process. Here lately, I have been trying to keep my eye on her to tell when she needs to be whisked off to the bathroom ASAP. The usual thing I do is put my hand on her bottom, as if to feel for anything through her pants, and ask her "Neely, did you poop?" Then after she tells me no, I will ask her if she needs to go, which will usually be followed by another no, then an hour later, we'll be in the bathroom cleaning up a bit of a mess. This morning, we were watching one of her kiddie shows, and some music was playing, so we got up and started doing our little silly dance, then out of no where, she puts her hand right under my crotch and asks, "Did you poop?", I had to ask again, on account of it took me by surprise, and then couldn't help but laugh at it, which after a few seconds, she joined me in the laughter.

I think we are doing pretty good with Neely. We surprise ourselves every day with how well she is turning out, and for those of you who know us well, you probably understand. :) She is very polite - she always says, "bless you" after someone sneezes, and the other day, as I let out a large yawn while we were talking and said, "excuse me" to her, she, in return said, "you're welcome". True, she doesn't always get it, but the fact that she is trying makes be feel very proud that my little girl is polite and courteous to others. At least while I'm around.