Lately, Lucy seems to be making an exceptional effort at ramping up for the terrible twos. She's always been a pretty laid back kid, and she does still listen exceptionally well for a not-quite-two year old. However, she can get into trouble faster than I can blink (and it is saying something that she can surprise me with anything after her brothers).
Since we changed her crib to a toddler bed, we've had issues with her getting out and playing at nap time. It hasn't been a problem, until this week. Normally, she'll just play for a bit (never trying to leave her room, which is fabulous) and then either crawl back in bed or fall asleep on the floor. So, when she was making noise on Tuesday during nap time, I didn't think much of it. She went to sleep eventually and nothing seemed amiss. She woke up grumpy, which is very unusual for her. I went in to find her covered from head to toe in slime and a wearing a very dirty diaper. It turns out that she found the drawer in the changing table where we keep the diaper ointments, orajel, baby lotion, etc. She had just about every tube/bottle from the drawer out with the cap off. Her toy kitchen dishes were strewn about the floor, covered in muck -- the spoons were full of the stuff, so she must have been "cooking". Plus, she had rolled around and her diaper had leaked. Lovely, just lovely! Oh, and I should mention that she was totally peeved that she was dirty and insisted on an immediate bath (not that I would have let her go anywhere but straight to the tub anyway).
Ugghh...this called for an emergency shampooing of the carpet. I'm really glad we have our own shampooer, though I found ours isn't working right (drat), but it worked well enough to get her room done. So, I better get the part replaced on the shampooer before Lucy can find something else to get into. Hmmmm...she loves the pump of liquid soap in the bathroom, too. Perhaps I should switch to bar soap to avoid anymore unplanned carpet shampooing!
Thursday, August 19, 2010
Tuesday, August 10, 2010
Fourteen!
Somehow -- and I don't really understand it -- but somehow my little girl turned 14 today. I shouldn't be surprised by this, considering the fact that she towers over me at this point, but yet here I sit amazed that she is really growing up so quickly.
I took a few shots today, though I'm not totally pleased with them and think I'll try again tomorrow.
Her cake was a major undertaking for me this year. She wanted fondant and came up with the idea for a giraffe print cake (inspired by one of my favorite bakery blogs). I decided to take a stab at a tiered cake for this, which was really not that hard. Overall, I'm very pleased with the cake!
It wasn't perfect, but that is okay -- I only do these a couple of times a year, so I really shouldn't expect perfection. I tried a few new recipes -- chocolate fondant (for the black) and meringue buttercream (which goes under the fondant). I LOVE the meringue buttercream and doubt I'll ever make a powdered sugar based buttercream again. The stuff was just HEAVENLY!!!! The bottom cake was chocolate and the top was lemon (mmmm....my favorite).
I also tried something new with the fondant. In the past I've kneaded the color into the fondant after making it (as is usually recommended). This time, I added the color to the melted marshmallows before mixing in the sugar. It was much easier this way, though admittedly limits you to a single color per batch.
I took a few shots today, though I'm not totally pleased with them and think I'll try again tomorrow.
Her cake was a major undertaking for me this year. She wanted fondant and came up with the idea for a giraffe print cake (inspired by one of my favorite bakery blogs). I decided to take a stab at a tiered cake for this, which was really not that hard. Overall, I'm very pleased with the cake!
It wasn't perfect, but that is okay -- I only do these a couple of times a year, so I really shouldn't expect perfection. I tried a few new recipes -- chocolate fondant (for the black) and meringue buttercream (which goes under the fondant). I LOVE the meringue buttercream and doubt I'll ever make a powdered sugar based buttercream again. The stuff was just HEAVENLY!!!! The bottom cake was chocolate and the top was lemon (mmmm....my favorite).
I also tried something new with the fondant. In the past I've kneaded the color into the fondant after making it (as is usually recommended). This time, I added the color to the melted marshmallows before mixing in the sugar. It was much easier this way, though admittedly limits you to a single color per batch.
We had a small get together this evening and had a pretty low-key celebration, which was really nice. Hopefully the next birthday party for Hannah won't creep up again so fast...
Sunday, August 8, 2010
Seriously!
I don't know why I'm having such a hard time keeping this thing updated lately. I really miss taking the time each day to look back and review what was going on and what I was thinking. I just need to put blogging back on my to-do list. Of course, my biggest challenge is that Lucy has taken to messing with the laptop if I try to use it. We keep the laptop under one of our arm chairs (and the other one is upstairs where the kids generally aren't allowed because that is where we keep our office and gym equipment), and if I sit down and try to use it Lucy will unplug it, pull the screen down, bang on the keys, etc. I know she'll outgrow it eventually, but for now it is really hard to get anything done on the computer.
So, anyway, I've been busy lately -- not with any one thing in particular, but just a lot of little stuff, one of which is twice weekly physical therapy, which I don't think I've mentioned here before. For a while now I've been having numbness issues in my right hand. It got so bad that I was having numbness anytime I lifted my arms -- shampooing hair, doing the dishes and many other activities left me with numb fingers. The last straw was last spring when I attempted to paint one of our closets -- my hand went numb as soon as I lifted my arm and stayed that way for several hours after. I could hardly get the trimming done, because I don't have good dexterity when my fingers are numb and feel like they've been resting in a snow drift for a few hours (note to self -- the linen closet really should be repainted). I was pretty freaked out -- my active imagination started running amok with all the horrible things that could be wrong with em. So, I ended up at my doctor (along with a slew of other bizarre symptoms --running problems mostly, also on my right side, which now appear to simply have been a result of poor/over training). I was put through a massive amount of tests -- blood draws and an extensive set of x-rays -- and was also referred out to a specialist for some kind of special nerve mapping in my hands.
The specialist discovered that I had a messed up shoulder, which was causing the numbness. I was doubtful when he told me this, but consented to his recommended cortisone injections in my back (which hurt like a *&^#, by the way -- I felt like I had been beat to pulp in my upper body after the shot). Surprisingly (to me), they worked -- or mostly worked. I seem to have some lingering issues that they are trying to work out through therapy, but the numbness is only occurring now when I spend several hours knitting. I can deal with that! Hopefully the therapy will fix the problem completely, but I'm growing quite tired of the frequent appointments, which is just one of the things keeping me hopping. On the other hand, I'd take therapy over the shots any day. He swears they usually don't hurt much, but if you're tense they can be very painful. Apparently, I'm a very tense person -- he told me I need to work on controlling my stress better (hah!). Yeah...I'll get right now that!
So, anyway, I've been busy lately -- not with any one thing in particular, but just a lot of little stuff, one of which is twice weekly physical therapy, which I don't think I've mentioned here before. For a while now I've been having numbness issues in my right hand. It got so bad that I was having numbness anytime I lifted my arms -- shampooing hair, doing the dishes and many other activities left me with numb fingers. The last straw was last spring when I attempted to paint one of our closets -- my hand went numb as soon as I lifted my arm and stayed that way for several hours after. I could hardly get the trimming done, because I don't have good dexterity when my fingers are numb and feel like they've been resting in a snow drift for a few hours (note to self -- the linen closet really should be repainted). I was pretty freaked out -- my active imagination started running amok with all the horrible things that could be wrong with em. So, I ended up at my doctor (along with a slew of other bizarre symptoms --running problems mostly, also on my right side, which now appear to simply have been a result of poor/over training). I was put through a massive amount of tests -- blood draws and an extensive set of x-rays -- and was also referred out to a specialist for some kind of special nerve mapping in my hands.
The specialist discovered that I had a messed up shoulder, which was causing the numbness. I was doubtful when he told me this, but consented to his recommended cortisone injections in my back (which hurt like a *&^#, by the way -- I felt like I had been beat to pulp in my upper body after the shot). Surprisingly (to me), they worked -- or mostly worked. I seem to have some lingering issues that they are trying to work out through therapy, but the numbness is only occurring now when I spend several hours knitting. I can deal with that! Hopefully the therapy will fix the problem completely, but I'm growing quite tired of the frequent appointments, which is just one of the things keeping me hopping. On the other hand, I'd take therapy over the shots any day. He swears they usually don't hurt much, but if you're tense they can be very painful. Apparently, I'm a very tense person -- he told me I need to work on controlling my stress better (hah!). Yeah...I'll get right now that!
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