weeks 44-45

The first week of December surprised me. I mean I enjoyed Thanksgiving and I know December comes next, but still. When the sun starts setting at 4:30pm and the temperature drops and there's Christmas music everywhere, there's no denying it. I was looking forward to the break from work (two weeks to correspond with Shannon's break) but I wanted to stay home, not to travel with PJ in the car and probably the snow. I didn't want to share my little family. That's really the only mood I can remember from that week.

PJ started to fall asleep with hardly any crying in the car on the way home from daycare. I think it was probably the aforementioned early sunset. Oh, but also, we think, the thick lovely snowsuit. She's cozy and wiped out from daycare, it's dark and boring, and now she zonks out for a wee nap.

Also of note, I finally got the Buick's brakes checked out. Right around the theft of the Honda, the anti lock brake light came on in the Buick. I read in the manual that I still had brakes, just not anti lock ones and ignored the problem. I mean I was nervous while braking, but I just could not deal with any more car drama. But this first week I took the car to a recommended mechanic who ended up being a total sweetheart. He couldn't fix the anti lock brakes (only dealers can for 1000s) but recommended we just half old fashioned brakes (which are in fine shape). We also got an oil change and he fixed the wiper that was broken for free. It's so nice having good car news for a change.

Shannon was doing a general practice rotation these two weeks, so her hours were basically 7:30-6 which worked well for carpooling. She got positive feedback from my clinicians who tried to recruit her for small animal. It was nice because she also heard back from two of the three places where she applied for internships (Vermont and Oregon) with big fat nos. I tried to remind her that applying for jobs sucks and she has just been away from it for too long to remember the waiting and trying not to take it personally. But I can say all this because it's not me. I try to offer prespective and love and positive thoughts. I'm sure I sound like a deranged job hunting cheerleader sometimes.

PJ and I went back to the Children's Musuem the 7th. Shannon took her the 14th. I think I was the only one who took pictures though. She was climbing stairs, playing peekaboo all over the place, and we rode down the slide together. I realized it has been over a decade since I went down a slide.


Sickness descended back upon our house during the last week. It started on a Wednesday with watery eyes and lots of snot. Thursday morning there was vomiting of milk so I stayed home with her. My darling baby would not nurse for like 6-7 hours and just fell asleep in my arms. Friday she perked up and went back to daycare, mainly because I had to wrap up all my work stuff before leaving for two weeks. Saturday Shannon caught the nausea so she slept a lot and I tried to hold it all together. Luckily for both PJ and Shannon the vomiting only lasted half a day. Sunday was better for everyone, but still there was lots of snot and interrupted sleep. I will be so happy when cold season ends.

Due to the sickness, we didn't really do anything as a three person family before leaving for our multi-state Holiday Extravaganca of blood relatives. But it was wonderful to be able to have that weekend together to get a few things done and also be sick at home.