week 42

Ok, it is not just me. Time is racing along. It's Thanksgiving next week people, when I know just yesterday was Halloween. November is proving to be the fastest month ever. Also, the cloudiest and the turn into cold weather here. Out come the hats, gloves and scarves. Time for flu shots and more snot.

This week has been good. PJ is continuing to pull up and work on her mobility. Her top right tooth is pushing through so she'll have her two front teeth for Christmas (ha!) She has decided to forgo her morning nap and bottle at daycare. She had only been taking an ounce or two in her bottle and sleeping for like 20-30 minutes. The breastmilk was just being tossed if she didn't drink and I'm no longer pumping as much as before. Now with two bottles of 4-5 oz each, I hope there will be less waste. Shannon and I think that she loves all the activity of daycare and doesn't want to miss anything. Plus when she's working on a new skill, she gets a little intense and focused. Like why nap when she can work on figuring out how to sit down once she's pulled up or cruising around the furniture. Additionally, the gym scooting time is wearing her out. Where she used to cry and complain during the car ride home, now she's cozy in her snowsuit and quiet and either asleep or sleepy.

The thrush was not completely gone though, so it's back. Boo! Most of PJ's snot is gone, but Shannon and I continue with the colds. Shannon can take the badass meds and get through her day ok, but I keep the congestion. Plus my bad ear is all stopped up again, so forgive me if I can't hear you if you are standing on my right this week.

PJ continues to enjoy eating. We are trying to all have dinner together or at least a snack before her bath and bed routine. Mostly it's a snack she likes and some of our dinner to play with and explore. Last night we had boil in the bag Indian food, rice and Trader Joe's frozen naan. Shannon cut up a red bell pepper for some fresh veggie to snack on with we waited for the longest part of this meal, the rice to cook. PJ ate pretzels with me and tried some red bell pepper. She sits on our knee and watches us chew. She holds her pretzel stick like a cigar.

Sometimes she pokes herself in the mouth or bites down on some sensitive part of her teething gums and then she cries pitifully for like 10 seconds. Often she'll throw down whatever the offending food item was during the crying. Last night, she got pissed at one of her pretzel sticks, threw it down (Max gleefully swooped in and ate it) and cried and then resumed eating her other pretzel stick. Then she looked down on the floor for where she dropped it. I know this is lots of detail for a mundane event, but it's so cool watching her learn about cause and effect. Plus, she remembered that she had dropped something and went to see if it was still there. Genius this baby, genius!

I think we are not going to try to buy another car. We just don't have the time or money to do it, nor the stomach for more risk. Money is a bit scary right now with the economy sucking, Shannon graduating and looking for internships/jobs and daycare being awesome but expensive. The grandma Buick needs a brake repair before we head off on the Christmas tour. It's the end of the year which means it's time to pay for car insurance. We really need to do some comparison shopping as well, since we want to get comprehensive for our only car. If this one was stolen, we'd be screwed so we need to cover ourselves as much as we can afford. And I say afford, but that's a relative term. I will stop because talking about money is boring, I know. I'm sure everyone is feeling the pinches. I know when I worry lately about it all, I try to focus instead on us being together. We've got heat and food and entertainment. We can take the dogs to the park and they are overjoyed. We can take PJ to the free playground at the mall and she's enthralled. Life is good even if we don't get to go out for sushi as much as we'd like or if we have to carpool.

One last thing from this week, I baked a little. Inspired by the ever awesome Smitten Kitchen and the bag of Wisconsin cranberries sitting in our fridge, I made cranberry orange walnut muffins for Shannon and her rotation. And then because I still wanted scones, I also made cranberry walnut oatmeal scones. They were awesome because the butter was melted instead of having to cut the butter and flour together which I always think is a pain. These were quick and painless and super tasty. Now, I'm all fired up for Thanksgiving. There will be pie and awesome side dishes and maybe even a turkey. We might go with chicken if the turkeys are expensive or sold out. Either way it's going to be an awesome day of food and hopefully Shannon (fingers crossed for no emergencies).