Our Last Supper

We just finished our peaceful Pizza Patron special out on the patio (the new neighborhood pizzeria with a drive-thru pick-up--BONUS!) The Papenfuss family arrives tomorrow. Chaos will ensue. Here's the latest haps from the house:

Wed, March 4: I brought Amelia in to Dr. Grant for her first sick baby visit. She had an irritation in the crease of her ear which has just exploded in the past few days--raw skin, crusted scabs, general grossness. It turns out she has impetigo. I think the initial irritation is from scratching herself behind the ear (one of her habits) with her long fingernails (bad Mommy). This irritation turned into the secondary infection when a bacteria found its way in there. Poor girl. She's cutting three upper teeth, has one tender ear and her allergies are terrible right now with the high oak and mold counts. She's miserable.

She really is miserable I tell you...just a fussypants!

Nate's night-time potty progress comes with a price! He's kept his pull-up dry 6 of the past 10 nights, but he wakes up first thing in the morning to check if it's still dry. (First thing in the morning is 5:45 or so!) Of course, he yells from his bed or even comes into our bedroom to announce his dry-or-wet status. For those who know me, you know I am not an early morning riser! There is a big difference between waking up at his (my) normal 7:00 versus 5:45.

Thurs, Mar 5: We booked our big celebratory trip to Peru--through emotional highs and lows, long waits and periods where we didn't think anything would come together (timeline, budget, itinerary requests, etc.); but, it was meant to be! We have booking number and itinerary in hand...thanks, Alyssa!

Saturday, Mar 7: Another jackpot father-son outing at Home Depot! Jason and Nate were out pricing ceiling fans for the landing before the Papenfuss family arrives (Anna and Ashley usually sleep on the futon in the landing). When he walked into HD, the Kid's Project was a racecar track! Nate got to help saw, hammer, glue and paint his own derby set with Dad! After the project, they had juice, cookies and big-wheels races in the parking lot. Nate won his first medal! If you ask him, he'll modestly tell you he won because his opponent had "car troubles," but we know he's got mad racing skills! ;)

Part of Nate's handiwork!

Sunday, Mar 8: Phil Collins at the Alamo. No, really. Jason's family is a descendant of Johnathan Lindley who died defending the Alamo. His Dad was invited to the 173rd Remembrance Ceremony for the Alamo Defenders Descendants Association (a private, by invitation only deal) at the Alamo Shrine. The surprise guest speaker happened to be PHIL COLLINS; yes, like the Su Su Sudio Phil Colins! As he tells the story, he grew up on Disney's "Davy Crocket" TV series. This led to a fascination with ol' Davy, which led him to study the Alamo, which led to a love of the plight of the Alamo and the courage of the people who stood for it and what they believed. He has one of the largest private collections of Alamo memorabilia in the world. (And now you know.) Sorry; no cool Phil photos! The association respectfully asked the members not to take photos of Mr. Collin's speech--and he left immediately following the formal ceremony. Bummer. Jason wanted to get a side-by-side of Phil and his dad (whom the boys have labelled a Phil Collins look-alike)!

Do you see any resemblance?

The distant uncle, Jonathan Lindley

To top off his evening downtown, Jason got [almost] free parking in the parking garage. He didn't have cash, the ATM nearest the garage was down as was the cc machine in the attendant's booth. So the guy said, "well, what do you have?" "Jason pulled one dollar out of his wallet, the guy shrugged and opened the gate!

Me? I'm still sick with what the locals call the San Antonio crud." With this drought (no significant rain in 10 months) the mountain cedar and oak counts are ridiculously high. It might even be approaching "ludicrous" levels! For a few days, SA registered as the worst place in the US for allergy sufferers. That's me. Usually it's just a stuffed nose and headache (can still breath...and smell...and taste); but the fever, aches, fatigue & sweats hit again on Friday.

I'm sick with Sally. The Sally Forth cartoon this week was oh-to-appropriate: Sally says, "I've had the flu for so long, I'm beginning to forget what it's like to feel healthy...It's as if all my life my body has ached, my nostrils have been stuffed and I've been lying on this couch. I don't know how much more I can take...Now let me die in peace."

Yes, I still read the comics. In fact, that's one of my favorite rituals--perusing the Sunday paper throughout the afternoon--especially the comics, coupons, current events, community calendar and crossword puzzle. I'm big on the letter C on Sundays; because while the kids are napping (which is now turning in to "quiet time" for Nate) we have our coffee & crossword on the couch as a couple!

Mon, Mar 9. Craigslist purge. We sold Nate's would-be heirloom airplane desk we bought at a bazaar in Japan. I still love it, but he's getting too big for it. I just couldn't see lugging it around for the rest of our lives. It was a hot item. I even had one lady offer to pay me MORE than I was asking (but I'd already agreed to sell it to someone else). We sold Amelia's activity center, too--after many hours of edu-tainment between the two kids.

Amelia's last stand

Nate's fini-flight

UPDATE: I can smell! (circa March 9) After two+ weeks with a never-ending bug, I finally feel like me again! No more crushing headaches, no more mucus, no more chills and sweats...