**cough** **cough**

i'm here again.  on the couch, waiting out the coughing.  this time it is nadia.
 
we have all had our turn with this little bug. 
it's one that really likes to hang on tight and tickle your alveoli. 

aidan is quite put out because he didn't get to stay home when he was coughing. 
i tried to make it up to him with a salami omelet and a fancy schmancy lunch.  we will see if his mood improves by the time he gets home. 

and yes, mom. i have a pot of water boiling. and she had pudding. and, no, i don't think it is whooping cough, but the way she hacked last night makes me to nervous to skip a second opinion.

as the first opinion, this has been a difficult call.  it is just a cough.  a little runny nose.  a bit of a sore throat.  no fever.  no barfing.  but we are going on 3 weeks of this nonsense.  do i take her to the doctor?  do i keep her home and resting?  do i just beef up her immune system with a crap load of garlic and oranges?  i feel like i should know what to do here since i have over 11 years on the job training, but i just don't.  we even watched videos online listening to different cough types.

so here's our plan.  all of the above. plus watch a little white christmas and a little funny youtube videos.  who knows which will be the thing that works, but here's hoping we don't have too many more nights of head splitting coughing fits. 

sometimes the best moments aren't free

uggghhh. my head was swimming with dollar signs all weekend long.  every where i turned, here's a deal, here's a bargain, here's a way to blow a paycheck. 

since when did the matinee showing mean the 11:25 am showing and when did we become one of the suckers that have to pay full price?

and a couple handfuls of popcorn, fruit snacks and a bag of reeces cost you 40 bones? 

and sushi after racks up another $50?

and then you start to believe you are actually bleeding receipt paper?

it's stressing me out, man.  it's overwhelming.  all the black friday this, the deals that.
it makes me feel blechy. 

i am not the budgeteer of our family.  vacuuming, mowing and bill-paying are tony's departments.  (we are still trying to figure out exactly what my department it).  but all this spending, spending, spending is starting to weigh on me. 

but there were two moments that night that seemed worth the high price tag:::

during the rise of the guardians, i looked over at nadia and realized just how old she is getting.  she had her legs crossed at the knee and her hands clasped in her lap.  her sweet head was tilted slightly, obviously engrossed in the story.  without looking at me, she reached over and squeezed my hand.

how could i not melt at that?

for the second moment we need to revisit a little history... nani is known to state the obvious, thus captain obvious, or coco, became a loving little nickname.  she is also known as muffin-butt, nani-b, sweet nani, poppy, but i digress...
aidan said 'here's our car' as we were climbing in.  without missing a beat nadia said, "well heeellllooo coco!"

would you believe aidan laughed the hardest?

thankful

*sigh*

that is the sigh of contentment.

my belly is full.
my heart is full.
my fridge is full.

and i am so very thankful.

our thankful turkeys tell it all. 
tony's turkey says it with sunglasses and side-swept tail feathers because he is kinda fancy when he's feeling thankful.

about me

i scrutinized that list to the right with my head cocked to the side all studious like. i over analyzed it like i am want to do. i should probably update it because that me was so 2007.  after 5 years of compiling this stuff, surely i should need to cross a few things off....

but it is all still me. i wouldn't delete even one little thing, but i might consider a few tweaks.

i am still learning to bake. that's a nice, long learning curve people.
i am still a systems developer. my silverware sorting system still reigns supreme.
i am still mourning the loss of the great arrested development.

i might add 'dabbling runner', because sometimes that is what i call myself. i can't say i am a full fledged runner because i haven't been committed to it for an entire year. and a year is my own arbitrary criteria. so at this point, i dabble.

i might add crochet-er in place of craft-er because my only crafts lately are scarves, scarves and more scarves.

i might change mother to mother of aidan and mother of nadia because those two jobs are entirely different.

and i am still a hopeless tony devotee. 

pretty fly

i get all awkward and gushy and usually incoherent (due to my foot being in my mouth) when i try to properly express how i feel.
i feel like lola in the book i love you so much...

such a sweet book

 

those words of love, or gratitude, or appreciation, or words that ask for forgiveness just have to get out.

so here it is dad and mom.
i will try not to get too gushy...
thank you for the light belt.  i hope you know how much it means to me. 

not to mention, i look pretty fly with it on.

take the time

the mornings are far less crazy then they used to be, but less crazy is still crazy.

usually mornings are littered with requests for children to brush their hair, put pants on, wipe down the counters, for the love of all that is good on planet earth please brush your teeth.

but this morning the requests were aimed at me.

nadia, who feels that a brush within 10 feet of her is a special kind of torture, asked me to curl her hair.  whoa!
and aidan, who has taken to wearing old school faded sweatpants and would easily pair that with a button up shirt, asked me to help him pick out his clothes.

the fact that i was late already was a very fleeting thought.
that little voice in my head that tries to see the bigger picture screamed, 'take the time". 
so a few curls were put in her hair. a pair of pants that actually fit were pulled down from a high up shelf.

i feel sucky at this mothering thing when i am making all of those requests every.single.day. 
but today feels good. 

sometimes you have to go with it

tony says we are going to get her hooked on surfing and snowboarding so she has an excuse for her perpetually tangled hair. 

 but even with messy hair, she still melts me with that face. 





a vote for aidan...updated

is a vote to be informed.

that sounds about right.  he is usually at the ready with information. 
he wasn't nervous before.  in fact, he kept yawning while he was sitting in his little row of candidates.  i was shaking like a crazy caffeine addict.  after though, he told me he felt like he had just experienced acid rain!

i would say something like 'fingers crossed that he wins asb secretary', but really, i am already so proud of him that winning is a small thing. 
i mean look at him!

Update!
and the winner is...

smoochtastic

they are.