What a Week

Note: bruise on right forehead, scrapes on right cheek, gouge under left eye, snot dripping from nose.

It all started Saturday night with the recurrence of Alden's teething. I think she is getting her bottom "fang" teeth in and is congested and can't breathe through her nose. This is a major problem when you have a pacifier. Alden will suck on it a couple times, then pull it out and breathe, then suck again, take a breath. She was up a couple times Saturday, the next night, and every night this week until last night when finally our prayers were answered for a full night's rest. Part of the problem is that all of the infant cold medicine has been taken off the shelves. I thought I had hit the jackpot at Wal-Greens the other night with some toddler decongestant, and when they rang it up, it said the item could not be sold. I was about to cry. We went to the doctor yesterday to plead my case for SOMETHING to make it better. The PA had mercy on me, and told me to give her some Benadryl and Motrin, something she calls the Night -night cocktail. Now that it worked, Mom and Dad need their own cocktails.

To add to our drama this week, I had to bail off Misty on Sunday and landed on my right side, bruising a lot of my body. She has a tendency to walk off as I get on, and Sunday, as I was mounting, she walked off, I couldn't get my right leg over in time, and ended up behind the saddle, sitting on her back. Misty, of course, was irritated, and started bucking like a rodeo horse...Bouncing all around the arena, and jumping into the dressage arena, where some poor woman was praticing her test. Time slows down in those situations, and I found myself weighing all the possibilities. Obviously, I wasn't going to get back in the saddle, so I tried to jump off before she decided to take off across the farm, or jump through the mirrors like Frieling. We parted ways without either of us getting hurt, and the plus side, was that I had a GREAT ride after a little bit of remedial lunging in the round pen, to refocus Misty from her rodeo-horse mindset back to Dressage-horse Misty.

And there is more...on Wednesday, we ventured to Uptown Charlotte for the FIRST time to have lunch with Sarah, one of my high school friends who was in town for a drinking water quality conference. Riveting, huh? We found a parking spot, and I sat in the backseat to change Alden's diaper and get her jacket on. I closed the door to get the stroller, and when I opened it again to get her out, she fell out the door. I was able to break her fall some, and gouge her in the cheek with my fingernail, but she hit her head and got some scrapes on her face. Mom is not doing a good job here.

Besides Alden's sicky, teething yuckness, she has had a great time this week discovering the box of white strips under the sink in the bathroom. These are the #1 source of entertainment in our house right now. She also really likes to be chased, and will hide behind the curtains in her room, the closet, or the corner of our room. We had dinner at McDonalds on Friday night, and we taught her the sign for McDonalds. She will just randomly do it now, and "sings" the "McDonalds, McDonalds, Kentucky Fried Chicken and Pizza Hut" ditty. Please don't read this and think she actually says any words. It is just the general sound. She also really enjoyed collecting and piling up the aerated dirt terds at Bill and Ashley's last weekend. Go figure.

Another fave right now for Alden is standing on a chair at the table eating tortilla chips. Sometimes, she takes them to her rocking horse; sometimes she spills the whole bag on the floor.

Grammy is coming down today to give us a break, and to free Matt from his Saturday responsibilities while I am at clinical. We are really looking forward to it! And, I only have this 1 1/2 days of clinical left and four more nights of class. We are nearing the end! The great thing about next week is that we have 2 tests, too, which for anyone who knows my nerdy side, will know that I love taking tests.