The New Year

Recent milestones: "So Big," wet sloppy kisses, more waving, more dancing, making "bldbldbldbld" noises with her tongue, smacking her lips when hungry, eating cheerios and bananas with her hands, yelling when she's annoyed, getting on hands and knees and rocking back-and-forth, pulling up a bit

I haven't written since the morning after our emergency room visit. It turns out that The Hellkat has a UTI and possibly pneumonia. The antibiotics clicked in and got rid of the fever by the following morning. Though I still question our decision to go to the emergency room, our pediatrician says they would have given her all the same tests and may have sent her to the hospital for some of the tests anyway. And, if we had waited, she would only have gotten sicker. So, though it may have been better to wait until the doctor's office opened, it probably wouldn't have been much better. Whatever! She's better and it was a good learning experience for all of us. Poor kid. Here's a video of her in sicky mode....



Anyway, here we are on the eve of the New Year and I have a lot on my mind. It's been an incredible year and though I've been tired and crappy lately, I am pretty happy about a lot of stuff. Most importantly, I have a happy, easy, sweet daughter that gives me an endless amount of joy. I have a delicious husband who is involved and loving and patient and kind. I'm a challenge so that's saying quite a bit! I need him more than let on and I'm lucky to have a partner who gives a shit. I also have a sweet, old dog that loves his new baby and isn't taking her arrival out on his parents. Thanks, G.!

Resolutions? I don't believe in them but, I do have some stuff I want to do this year. I want to get some of the weight off, of course. I want to figure out a way to work part-time. I want to get a few more credits under my belt. I want to be a better, happier wife. I want to teach my daughter a few tricks. Laugh more, play more, resent less, pout less, etc... Wish me luck!

The Christmas Grind

On Sunday night we decorated Hellkat’s first Christmas tree with a few friends, too much wine, and a lot of really rich food. We’ve gone treeless for the past few years largely because the act of digging our accumulated decorations out of our crammed-with-crap storage space is daunting but also because I’ve come to loathe the holiday season and all of its attendant obligations, expenses, and out-of-control consumerism. Thankfully, M. allowed me to badger him into disassembling and reassembling the intricately piled and useless garbage we save in our basement storage unit for future use and our friends let us. it this year and we coerced our friends into helping us decorate it. I am officially grateful, y'all. It's just as sparklelicious and bubbly as I remember it!

I know she doesn’t really give a shit but I can't shake the feeling that it's important to make H.’s first Christmas as festive as possible even though our sleep deprived souls can barely muster enough energy to face the day. So, in honor of The Hellkat I've been listening to all of the holiday tunes we had hidden under the bed, strapping H. into her sling and shopping my ass off. Of course, she’s been cheerful throughout and in the face of her chipper little spirit, I think the spirit of Christmas may be starting to eke its way back into my scroogey heart.