I don't even know what day it is.

Bullet-pointed Christmas overview:

• Went to DC on the 23rd to meet our friends Dan and Sari (in from NYC)
• Stopped at IKEA to pick up some new Stella Dot furniture
• Made it to our hotel; went to dinner in Chinatown with Dan and Sari. Had fun, but Stella Dot was tired from the trip.
  
• Returned to hotel and laid in bed, in the dark, until Stella Dot fell asleep.
  
• Woke up, ate breakfast, visited the Lincoln Monument. We reminded of his amazing ability to communicate (Gettysburg Address -- so short, so powerful!)
• Got Dan and Sari, went to lunch at Clyde's. Grant ate a lunch that I would torment him about later.
• Went to the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center near Dulles to look at planes and other things that fly. Amy was bored; Stella Dot was scared of the big things hanging from the ceiling; Grant had "indigestion." Did see the Enola Gay, which was interesting. Stella Dot pooped three times. Ran out of diapers.
• Returned Grant to hotel, since his "indigestion" was worsening. Reminded him of the gross lunch he had eaten.
• Went to dinner with Dan, Sari, and Stella Dot, while Grant laid down in room.
  
• Dinner was nice, but Stella Dot hadn't napped and restaurant wasn't kid friendly.
• 9pm. Returned to hotel room; Grant did not seem better.
• 9:30pm. Grant not better.
• 10pm. Amy attempts to get some sleep; Grant attempts to rid himself of whatever is causing "indigestion."
• 10:30pm. Ditto.
• 11pm. Suddenly occurs to us that maybe this isn't indigestion.
  
• 11:38pm. Grant takes cab to George Washington University Hospital, thinking that what he has might be appendicitis. Amy stays with Stella Dot in the hotel.
  
• He is admitted almost immediately, and after several doctors and interns look at him, he is given pain medicine. Ahhh, pain medicine.
• After several tests, it is decided that he needs surgery. Amy and Stella Dot are asleep. Grant gets a little shut eye.
• 5:50am. Grant calls Amy after texting twice (no answer, she was sleeping) to tell her that he will be going into surgery within the hour and that she needs to get to the hospital to get his stuff. Stella Dot wakes up.
• Merry Christmas.
  
• Stella Dot eats breakfast #1, we get dressed, and call the front desk to see if we can get another night in the hospital. Amy cries a little. We get the room.
  
• Amy and Stella Dot arrive at the hospital by 7am. Grant is already in surgery. There is no one around.
  
• After locating Grant's stuff (no easy task), we find a waiting room. A nurse finds us and says, "Grant is fine. The appendix is out." Psshhhhhew.
• Amy calls family.
• The doctor comes out about 15 minutes later. His handshake is creepy, but he's nice enough. Grant is fine.
• Amy and Stella Dot eat breakfast (#2 for SDS) and then return to waiting room.
• A nurse comes out and says that Amy may visit Grant in the recovery room, but "what are you going to do with that baby?" "Um, I can't bring her in?" "No." "Then, I guess I can't go into the recovery room." [???!!!???]
• Another nurse comes out 10 minutes later and says, "I'm going to watch your baby so you can see your husband." Ah, a kind soul.
• Grant is still delirious and is quite sure that he "freaked out" on the operating table. Amy asks the nurse if it is true. She says, "that's just the drugs talking."
• Amy returns to the waiting room. Another hour passes and Grant is moved to his room (#545). Stella Dot finally gets to see him, and is a little freaked out by the tubes and such. The nice nurse comes in and says, "You ought to get that baby out of the hospital. You don't know what she could catch." Good point.
• Grant is in pain, but OK at this point. We all agree that he needs rest, so Amy and Stella Dot pick up Dan and Sari and we all go to Mount Vernon, as we had planned to do before Grant's emergency appendectomy. We enjoy a beautiful, sunny, warm day in Virginia.
• We return to DC, and Sari and Stella Dot hang out while Dan and Amy visit Grant once again in the hospital. They talk about strange things.
  
• Stella Dot and Amy return to the hotel, order in Chinese food, and Amy watches "National Treasure," which is possibly the dumbest movie she has ever seen (after Breakin 2: Electric Boogaloo). Merry Christmas.
• December 26, 5:30am. Stella Dot wakes up. Amy is exhausted.
• December 26, 9am. After breakfast, walking around, drinking gallons of coffee, Amy drops Stella Dot off with Dan and Sari, and goes to pick up Grant at the hospital.
  
• He's still bloated, but already looking better. We get him drugged up on pain meds, and by 10am, he is in the car.
• 10:30am. We say our goodbyes to Dan and Sari and start the 5-hour drive home.
• We drive non-stop for 4 hours. Stella Dot sleeps for the first 3.
  
• We get milkshakes at McDonald's, and feed Stella Dot every remaining item of food that we had packed.
  
• The last hour sees Grant's pain medicine wearing off, and it is clear that his pain is getting increasingly worse as every minute goes by. And, over every bump. Stella Dot is getting ornery.
• We arrive home. Grant lies down, Stella Dot goes to Zorica's house (Amy tells her, "She's dirty, hungry, and has a dirty diaper. Have fun," and then races off to pick up Grant's prescription for pain medicine and the dog.)
• Grant gets his meds, Stella Dot eats, Lemmy comes home, and Amy has a beer.
  
• Fast forward two days to today. Here are some pictures, in reverse chronological order:

Home again, at last.

Stella Dot strolling her baby in her new jammies.

Stella Dot's a little stinker, too.

Trying out her baby's new stroller.

Christmas Eve morning. The Korean War Memorial. It looks like I'm carrying Stella Dot off a battlefield.

The whole family on Christmas Eve morning at the Lincoln Memorial.

Stella Dot was sort of freaked out by the size of the statue. Or perhaps it was awe.

Climbin' the steps.

On the way to the lights show. Is it Christmas or Easter? Oh, wait. It's just North Carolina.

The girls and their headless mothers hold hands.

"Oh, check that out!"

Lights. Many, many lights. We took a "train" through them.

On the train.

On the train. It was so warm and muggy, which was better than if it had been cold. But, that's why Stella Dot's not bundled up.

Her new rocking horse, made by her great-great uncle. (I think I got that right.)

And finally, a video of Stella Dot enjoying her new IKEA dresser.

December 23. Imagine the sky 400 times more pink than this!

Don't forget dessert!

Our ridiculously delicious Southern dinner

Grandpa, get the poles ready

Fearless

Marbles Museum, Saturday morning

One Two . . . Bee! . . . Four . . . Baisch!

Stella Dot is learning to count (we say "one two" she says "bee*" we say "four" and she says "baisch**"). It's fun. You'll see from the video.

She also sits on her potty seat on the toilet and points at the bees on it saying, "bee!" Do you think she thinks "three" and "bee" are the same? She also seems to know what you do with the toilet paper, which is interesting. She just doesn't seem to get the going-to-the-bathroom part. But, she's young. We'll keep playing until she does.

Tonight, for fun, we put her tutu over her sparkley jeans (thanks grandma) and her Ramones onesie. She had spit up AND spilled water onto her onesie at dinner, which was totally punk rock, even at 18 months, so, I added the tutu to give her "look" a third-wave feminist feel. Here's a picture of the grrrl.

You can actually see the sparkle in her pants in this photo. (And the water on her shirt. Grrrl!)

Me and Stella Dot. I'm wearing the new earrings Auntie Ann gave me (thank you!).

A picture of Maddie, Janet (Maddie's mom), Stella Dot, and Noah, reading a book at Robin, Waylon, and Noah's house last weekend.

*three

**five

Coughity Cough Cough Cough

Stella Dot had a runny nose yesterday. Drip, drip, drip. Wipe, wipe, wipe. Drip, drip, drip. We were home most of the day together and that was how it went. Drip wipe drip wipe drip drip drip.

It seems to be going around at daycare. She's not the only drippy one. As long as she's upright, it doesn't really bother her. She's just moist. She's learned how to wipe the snot off her face with the back of the hand, which I suppose is a developmental step, albeit a gross one. When she is laying down -- trying to sleep -- the postnasal drip starts to cause a problem. The coughing last night was consistent and I thought must have been painful after a time.

At 3:30 am, I got up to see if I could make her more comfortable. I refilled her humidifier and tried to elevate her mattress near her head by sticking two of her big plastic blocks under it. As I was shoving them under the mattress, she raised her head, looked at me, and said "ba-lock?" Um, yeah. Block.

So, I got up off the floor (blocks in place), grabbed her, a blanket, and her kitty and we rocked. And rocked. And she coughed. And we rocked. And she jibber-jabbered for a while. After rocking, and coughing, and quietly singing and jibber-jabbering, I finally decided to take her to bed. I thought I would sit up and she could sleep against my chest.

Ever sleep with a toddler? Get a wind turbine, turn it on, and crawl into bed with it. I don't care how sick your toddler is, s/he is still going to spin, and kick, and flop, and flail. Add coughing to it, and a little snoring from Grant, and that was what my early morning devolved into.

At one point, I remember through my own delirium, seeing her sitting up between Grant and I, and then sighing deeply, she flopped backwards onto her back on top of the comforter, legs in our faces.

We all fell asleep at some point and woke up about 6:30am. Stella Dot woke right up, and once upright for a few minutes was just about OK. We nearly didn't send her to daycare, but then decided to give it a try. When I picked her up this afternoon, she was in a great mood, not the least bit drippy, and we actually sort of sang together on the car ride home -- she can't get enough of "Wheels on the Bus" and "Old MacDonald" (but then, again, who can?).

I didn't mention that all morning, as she fussed and coughed, I kept running my hands through her hair and over her soft cheeks to soothe her. I hope it was as comforting for her as it was for me.

That was the day. Pretty nice, actually.

A whirlwind week in the wintery midwest

On Thursday, we arrived home after a week in the Midwest visiting family, celebrating an early Christmas, enjoying a Chicago winter, and attending a work-related conference. We started out taking loads of pictures, especially of the cousins and other family members. But, you know how it goes. Time passes, you are having fun, and the camera is forgotten. But, we managed to keep it out long enough to capture the family's Christmas celebration.

We won't actually be with family on Christmas -- well, "blood" family anyway. We will be spending the holidays with Grant's very best friend, Dan, and his wife, Sari, in D.C., instead. I think that Grant probably considers Dan family, and in fact, they are Stella Dot's unofficial god parents, along with Bill and Niki. (We figure that she can go to school in the Midwest and spend summers in NYC, should something happen to us, thus providing her the groundedness and solid education that the Midwest and my brother's family offer, balanced with the attitude and cosmopolitan-ness that The City, and Dan and Sari, can provide.) But, anyway. . .

So, we started out the week at Bill and Niki's, where Stella Dot played endlessly with Kira and Kaila. She especially loved the big package of plastic balls that were everywhere all the time and the cool tent they could play inside. Kira was a great big sister and big cousin, corralling the youger girls all over and doing her best to keep them from fighting (and breaking up fights that did occur) as best she could when faced with two very stubborn 18-month olds.

We tried to see Santa on Friday but the line was far too long for three toddlers (and their hungry parents and grandparents) to wait in, so we bee lined through the cold and blustery streets of southeastern Wisconsin to dinner. The girls wowed the other diners with their triple-threat cuteness, and we ate a decent dinner despite the giant hair that Niki pulled out of her bread. Grant really enjoyed his martini, anyway.

Saturday was CHRISTMAS, and after several games of Trivial Pursuit (a family tradition), we exchanged gifts. We would normally do this on Christmas Eve, which I think is a German tradition, and then Santa would come during the night and fill our stockings. This year we opened family gifts, and rumor has it that Santa will still be tending to our stockings on Christmas Day despite our early celebrations. He keeps lists, you know.

Grant and I visited friends in Chicago on Sunday, and it was so great to see Danny and Andrea's beautiful daughters, and to see Amor and Sonya, who we simply don't see or talk to enough. All this moving from place to place over the years has left good friends scattered around the country. To only get to see them for a couple of hours on these whirlwind trips is bittersweet. Too short, but solidly packed with goodness despite their brevity. Or something.

I go back and forth on being in North Carolina. Trips home make me want to desperately move back so that Stella Dot can grow up with her cousins and with her grandparents nearby. But, then things like last night and today happen. We attend Stella Dot's daycare Christmas pageant with two families that we've met and had such a nice time with them (I forgot the camera, but you can see pictures at Robin's blog). And then, this afternoon, as I was driving home from the mall (what was I thinking going to the mall three weeks before Christmas?), I was stopped by a neighborhood boy who just wanted to say "hello," and then had another brief chat with the neighbor as he was fixing his mailbox. It was just so. . . friendly. And nice.

Anyway, we got to see Aunt Linda briefly on Monday and then headed back to the city for my conference on Tuesday and Wednesday. We took the Metra in, which is so civilized. Every time I take the train into Chicago I am reminded how ridiculous we are that we don't have accessible train transportation in this country. I mean, there's AmTrak, but um, if you have ever taken the train in Europe, you know how sorely lacking the American version is. Can someone fix that PLEASE???

We got to have dinner at Frontera (a Rick Bayliss establishment) while in Chicago with our friends Amber and Jack. They are "with child," as they say, and are considering some great names for their little one, including Sasha Berlin (guess where It was conceived). Anway, they are always a good time and are ready with great stories, and they didn't disappoint this time, either! Oh, that was Tuesday night during a wonderful snowstorm, too! I walked about a mile in the snow from Filene's Basement on Michigan Avenue (I couldn't resist) to the restaurant as the snow was coming down. I found myself wondering at how Chicago has changed so much in the 8 years since Grant and I moved away. Even so, I was filled with holiday spirit, and found myself singing Christmas carols out loud as I made my way to the restaurant. Crazy you say? Perhaps.

All this while that Grant and I were in Chicago, Stella Dot was spending quality time with Grandma back at the ranch. (Not really a ranch, not even a ranch house.) Word has it that Stella Dot thinks Grandma is super duper awesome and she would like her to come and babysit any time she wants.

I will mention that our flights were pretty miserable to and from Chicago. 18-month-old toddlers do not understand the concept of staying in your seats with your seatbelt buckled until the pilot has turned off the sealt belt light. And, there is no point in trying to explain it to them.

Pictures:

Before we left, Stella Dot opening her Advent Calendar.

Woooo, what's inside? Actually, she can get to this point on her own. But, the ribbon and wrapping paper tends to befuddle her.

At Bill and Niki's. This picture captures what most of the week involved -- sitting on our bums. Surprisingly, there is no food in this picture, since a lot of our energy went to eating or thinking about eating. Mom made frosted cookies that she was really down on, but it took less than 4 days for every single one to disappear.

Kira, Stella Dot, and Kaila in the toyhouse. Stella Dot loved this thing, and if we had more space, I would get her one. Alas, mid-century brick ranch houses do not come with bonus rooms.

Kaila is 4 days older than Stella Dot. And, freakin' adorable.

Bath time! (I believe this is a rite of passage for all children who grow up in the United States. You have one of these with your sister or brother or neighbor or cousin, right?)

"Christmas night," opening gifts. Kira and her dad, Bill.

Stella Dot figured out how to stand up on the stool all by herself. She entertained herself (and made us nervous) for hours doing this.

Grandma and her three girls on Christmas.

Kira and Stella Dot embraced in a "thank you" hug.

Bill and Niki in front of the Christmas tree.

Grandma and Stella Dot.

This was taken on Sunday morning after "Christmas." I made each of the girls a tutu for Christmas, and Ryan bought "ballet shoes" and a leotard for each of them. We dressed them up to try take a picture for Mom and Dad to use for their Christmas card, but you'll see from the following picture that we weren't terribly successful getting two 18-month olds and a 3.5 year old to stand still long enough for anything "formal." They are pretty adorable, though!

Kaila -- post breakfast, pre-tutu.

Kira in her tutu.

Stella Dot in her tutus with "babies."

Stella Dot almost appears to be in some sort of ballet-like point position.

Me and Stella Dot.

This was the best photo I got. Not only do you see their tutus, but each one has a great expression on her face.

Kaila from the back.

I bought this pink leopard print "snow suit" at the last Kids Exchange. I love it, and it was really great to put Stella Dot in for long car trips when the car was already warmed up. Her winter coat is so fuzzy and bulky that she looks like the little brother in the Christmas Story when his mom over dresses him to play outside. Grant agrees with me that it is cute; my mom disagrees.

Well, it was a wonderful trip filled with great memories. I already miss everyone!

Trip home -- preview

Hi. I wanted to put a couple of photos up from our trip home, but the real entry with lots of photos will come later this weekend.

Here's a sampler:

Stella Dot and her 4-days older cousin Kaila, held by Auntie Niki.

Three sleepy cousins packed into the back seat of the car. Couldn't get them in one shot, so . . .

Two videos: Bubbles & Dude, You Should Totally See This

Video #1: Bubbles


Video #2: Dude, You Should Totally See This

Walkin' off the turkey

I suppose it'll take more than one, one-hour walk for that, huh? Well, we managed to more or less escape the post-Thanksgiving feeding frenzy that is the mall, although we did drop $37 at the grocery store. We're crazy that way.

Also, we noticed today that as Stella Dot has come out of her illness, her willingness to mimic, talk, and communicate seems to have come out with her. She was pretty quiet up to this point, and my friend Robin will tell you that I've been a little concerned (Robin, is paranoid a better word?) about it. But, it seems like in the past 16 hours, we have a little chatterbox emerging.I don't know if it is a short-term reaction to feeling better, or if this is a long-term change. But, she's talking in sentences (granted, they are 99% incomprehensible and probably not real words, but the intention and inflection is definitely there) and using words that seem to come out of nowhere all the time. She is also mimicking, which she typically isn't willing to do -- tonight, for example, I got her to say hippo (hoppo) and I heard her repeating letters to Grant while she was taking her bath. She also handed me a star, a triangle, and a square on request (although she wouldn't say the words). Finally, she has started putting puzzles together. Right now the puzzle is really just individual shapes that fit into a board, but she's doing this thing where she purposefully puts the wrong piece over the wrong hole and says "no" and then moves the piece to the right hole and puts it in. Sometimes, when she's done, she claps and says "job!" (short for "good job," which apparently I say to her all the time.)

Anyway, here are a couple of pictures from our afternoon walk.

I'll load up a couple of videos and add 'em tomorrow.

I started out carrying her. She started out carrying this leaf.

Cute family portrait. Except for grumpy Stella Dot. (Actually, I think the sun was in her eyes.)

We touched a lot of trees today.

We did a lot of pointing, too.

Then, Grant carried her. And, she was silly.

And, cute. A woman walked by us at one point and just said, "awww." I feel that way, sometimes, too.

More pointing.

Later, in her jammies.

Stella Dot's first photograph. I held the camera, she pushed the button, Grant posed like a goofball. Go team.