All out of whack.

You know you're a bad blogger when you receive more than one (and more than 2) emails from people wondering if you're OK. The good news is that I now know that people do read the blog and were concerned about my absence. 12 days does seem like quite a long break in between posts, but we've been out of whack big time.

An illness sent us spinning over the last couple of weeks. One day of nursery school and Joshua managed to get sick. I only wish I would have formalized the bet that I talked about with my staff after dropping him off at school the first day. I had said that I figured he'd be sick by Friday...and he was. His first few weeks of school were a bit strange. His first day was a Monday. It went great. Wednesday was a snow day. When I took him back on Friday he was starting to show signs of a cold, but it must have hit him full force when I left because I no sooner got to the office again when my cell phone rang and it was the school telling me that he was fevered and that I needed to come and get him. The next Monday was President's Day and he was still hacking around on Wednesday, so I kept him home. Friday was a teacher inservice day so there was no school. He did return yesterday and had a blast. We're hoping for a three-peat this week so that he can get into some kind of a rhythm with school.

Last weekend, despite our illnesses, we decided to make our planned trip to Nana and Pap's house. At that point, it seemed just like a head cold, and no one seemed too concerned. Libby had been sick that week as well, so we figured Brooke had already been exposed. I can't believe it, but the camera only came out one time to snap a picture of a pitifully sleeping Joshua on the chair with Nana. The rest of the time we were just playing and visiting. But you know I'm not feeling well when I don't take pictures of the kids playing together.



Last week marked Lauren's first cold since Joshua was kind enough to infect the whole household. She bounced back pretty quickly, but had a pretty rough day last Wednesday. It could have been a whole lot worse than it was, so I'm grateful.

This past weekend, we decided to give some rice cereal a shot. We got out the high chair and set it up on Friday evening. I had her all strapped in because she has a tendency to try to fold herself in half to chew on everything (toes, trays, etc.). You can see for yourself, but she seemed to like her new seat at the big people table. This was a Christmas gift from Nana and Pap, so thanks to them! I have to say that I really like this attached-to-a-regular-chair high chair compared to the one that I wheeled out of my way for two years with Joshua. We just don't have the extra space for a separate high chair. And since no one ever comes here to eat dinner, I'm not too concerned about taking up one of our regular dining room table chairs. Yet another good improvement from Fisher Price in the past three years.



So, on Saturday morning we tried Lauren's first bites of cereal. She was so pleasant about it, but honestly had no clue what to do with a spoon or the soupy stuff I was giving to her. She'd take the bite and then let it all run right back out of her mouth. And then she'd flash me the sweetest smile. See?


Sometimes she looked puzzled, like "I don't get it, Mommy." See?

But mostly she had a great time trying something new. As the days have gone on and she's gotten more practice things have gone much more smoothly. Last night she downed the first little bit that I made for her, so I got her some more and she wolfed that down too. I kept telling her that if she was enjoying this, which clearly must taste like wallpaper paste, she'll really like it when she gets to try vegetables and fruits. I'm not in a huge hurry there, and we'll work our way through the cereals first, but I'm encouraged that her eating repertoire is starting to widen a bit.

And then, the schedule changed again. Joshua's cold has infected Grandma and seems to have hit her the hardest of all of us. She had to go to the doctor yesterday and is in rough shape, so I find myself homebound with the kids yesterday and today. A whole bunch of plans had to be rearranged (like me getting installed as United Way Presidend yesterday morning....it was pretty poor form to miss that, but there was nothing I could do), but there's nothing more important than being with the kids. We're here together again today and may be so again tomorrow depending on how super the antibiotics are that Grandma started taking yesterday. My laundry is caught up, but work and other community stuff is in complete shambles. I guess we can't have it all, can we?

Lauren and I had a little bit of alone time yesterday afternoon while Joshua was at school. I can't tell you how much I enjoyed that. It wasn't that I enjoyed being without Josh, but the contrast of the noise of two kids compared to the peacefulness of one sleeping baby/eating baby without the commotion of a three year old just about blew me away. I sat quietly feeding Lauren while watching the Young and the Restless. Amazing. It actually flashed me back to what it was like to have ONE child. I really didn't think it was that different until I experienced an hour and a half without the louder of the two small Dugans.

And finally, here's a picture I snapped of Lauren yesterday snoozing away in her seat. She loves that doll....too cute.

Here's to hoping that I can get back to a more regular blogging schedule. I forget so much of the little precious stuff if I don't write it down quickly. Happy Tuesday everyone!