So Glad When Daddy Comes Home

Willa has been going through a new (and hopefully permanent) stage where she is excited to see her Dada and likes playing with him! A few times, when I had to go out, she even waved bye-bye instead of clinging to my legs and crying. We will see how long the happiness lasts. I came home from running last weekend and they were playing in a very fun blanket-fort.

Chuck E Cheese Please!

Always in pursuit of indoor activities to pass the time during the summer, Carol and I took the kiddos to Chuck E Cheese on Friday. It was a first visit for both Willa and me! It was nothing close to a first visit for Carol, and she wisely suggested that we arrive at 9:30 am. It was the perfect time! Hardly anyone was there, so we could just let the kids do the little kiddie rides and wander around without worrying. According to Carol, the place is a zoo in the afternoons during the summer.

Willa was very unsure of the rides at first, she tried to get off the bus.

The horses were fun and we rode this ride a lot!

 She liked Barney because he sang the ABC song and she was able to sing along.

Renee and the Willster

Another bonus for morning attendance was that the manager was testing all the games and rides. Carol went around behind him and collected all the tickets that were coming out. She got 75 tickets!! Chuck E Cheese employs a loan-shark exchange-rate, though, 75 tickets basically bought us five smarties.

I was really pleased with our expedition. It was very clean and happy inside! I was imagining dingy lighting and lots of dirty toys so I was pleasantly surprised. There were even hand santizer dispensers out. I can see why kids love it and also why it might drive parents crazy on a Saturday morning when there are 10 million birthday parties there. Still, it looks so easy to have a party there, order a few pizzas, give all the kids some tokens, and your work is done! Carol says that it will be a sad sad day when I actually have to eat the pizza there because it is very disgusting.

Our youth are going to Nauvoo next summer and need to start earning money. We talked about ideas for helping them earn: babysitting, yard work, etc. I suggested that if someone's child was having a birthday party at Chuck E Cheese, they could hire a few youths to take the kids there and oversee the whole thing instead of going themselves. That would be money well-spent in my opinion.

She's in charge

Burger King has soft-serve cones for just 50 cents! Because we're big spenders like that, we decided to go out for a treat on Friday. Two cones for $1.08! Except, I envisioned Ryan and I eating the cones while giving Willa occasional licks. As soon as she saw the cone, she wanted it and didn't really let it go until it was gone. She would sometimes deign to give me the occasional lick.

This is how she went to bed tonight. Normally there are no toys in bed because the bed is for sleeping. There are some battles worth fighting, though, and this wasn't one of them. I know that I want her to see me as a merciless dictator, but I get tired of saying no all the time. I don't know how Kim Jong il and Al-Assad have done it. It's hard being the bad guy.

Good Things Come to Those Who Procrasti-Wait

I mentioned our camera woes, previously. The other day I picked the camera up, and voila, it opened! Sometimes procrastinating and doing nothing will produce results!

Here is a photo of Willa from yesterday. She is very into holding the keys and pretending to lock/unlock the door, opening and closing the door, and saying bye-bye to pretend that she's leaving. She also loves me to open and close most doors and say bye-bye. Or, last night in the bathtub she laid down in the water and she wanted me to say "night night" and close the door. She thought it was really hilarious.

You can also see that she has begun dressing herself. She loves her pink swim shoes and prefers them to every other shoe available. Yesterday I tried to put two different pairs on her and almost had success, but as we were leaving the apartment she spotted the pink shoes and immediately tried to pull off her beautiful little gold ballet flats. They say you should let children win these types of tussles to give them a feeling of self-control. I don't want her to have a feeling of self-control. I want her to know that I am all powerful.

The Adventures of Balloon Hand

On Monday morning I got bit on the thumb by a gigantic black hornet. It hurt like the dickens! Honestly, it felt how I imagine a small animal bite would feel. Overnight, my thumb swelled and swelled like big fat sausage. In the morning, it was hot, red, and puffy.  By afternoon half of the hand was hot, red, and puffy too. Dr. Alyson told me to go to the doctor because it might be cellulitis. I skipped the beginning of YW (yippee!) and headed to Instacare. The doctor came in, saw the burning hand and the red streaks that were making their way up my arm. He agreed there was an infection, so he ordered one shot of antibiotics in my butt and then a prescription of oral antibiotics for me to take. His first words when he saw my hand were, "Oh wow, that's worse than I thought." I think that phrase is probably filed somewhere in Med School under "Things Not to Say to Your Patients".

The next morning, the swelling and burning was WORSE and I now officially had a balloon hand. Some of the area was so swollen that the skin was blistering and breaking to let out fluid, gross. It looked so disgusting. It really looked like someone had taken a surgical glove and blown it up with air. I started slightly panicking. Why hadn't the antibiotics at least stopped the spread? Was it a mutant flesh-eating bacteria that was immune to most antibiotics? Approximately how many hours do I have until it reaches my brain and/or my arm falls off? By afternoon, Dr. Alyson thought I should go to the ER (If she charged for all the telephone advice she gives, she could probably retire by now). So, I went to the ER, had a typical annoying wait and tried to shelter myself away from other sicklier people.

The result? The doctor looked my arm, felt my hand, and told me that instead of a flesh-eating bacteria, he thought it was probably just an allergic reaction to the sting. So, it was a bum trip to the ER and I'm annoyed at myself for going. Though, Ryan points out that if they had actually found something and I had been admitted to the hospital, it would have been a much more annoying (and scary) result. In my further defense, it was getting worse and it was REALLY painful. On the happy and ironic side, that evening I looked down and realized that the swelling was going down and that I could almost close my thumb again! Today it's even better, just a hint of puffiness left.

Here's a picture I took of my hands to send to Alyson, it's actually before a lot of the swelling, but it's still bad. It's an ugly picture of me frowning and an even uglier one of the hands, so squeamish stomachs beware.

Ahem

Well, it's time to update Ye Olde Blogg again. I still have pictures to post from Utah, but after that my pictures may come to a sudden halt. I can't get the lens-thingy to open on our camera. I googled it and there is an easy, potential cure, but if that doesn't work then the camera is toast. At this point, I'm too lazy nervous to try it. Until I do try it, there is a hope that the camera may still be of use. Once I try it and it doesn't work, then I have to bear the bad news.

A correction to the last post. I wrote that Ryan's siblings introduced me to Chick-Fil-A last year. My sister Carrie respectively pointed out that my oldest brother actually worked for Chick-Fil-A when I was little and was the Chick-Fil-A Chicken for the state of Utah. First of all, I'm not surprised that Chris, in his Jack Donaughy ability to be promoted from errand boy to president within two hours of working at a company, managed to snag such a prime job as Chicken after working for the fast-food restaurant.

Second, I do remember him working there and visiting him at work, but I do not remember ever eating there. Those of you who know my mom, won't be surprised that we would drive downtown to see my brother at work, but still not purchase delicious fast food once there.

Thirdly, even if I did eat Chick-Fil-A in the third grade (approximate time period when said brother was working there), I somehow don't think it was the same as the Chick-Fil-A now. Didn't they revamp everything with the "Eat More Chikin" campaign? I mean, it used to be just in food courts and now they have their own restaurants with free ice cream for kids, storytime, and balloon artists! The very fact that my brother was Chicken instead of a Cow dates the story. I don't really know where to end this post, except that Ryan thought I needed to do a revision for accuracy, and so here you have it.

Chick-Fil-A, a protest day!

This morning we headed out to the park around 8:45 a.m. to get a few wiggles out before the heat really set in. Lisa and Jayden joined us and then we decided that we should hit the 11:00 a.m. library singing time.

After an hour at the park, it was too early for the library and the kids were a little hungry. There wasn't enough time to go home, park the car, lug toddler across apartment complex and up three flights of stairs (or worse, toddler insist on walking entire way and stopping to throw leaves), eat, and get back to the library. So, we decided to make an entire morning of it and stop in for a 10:15 a.m. lunch at delicious Chick-Fil-A. I would also like to thank Ryan's siblings for introducing me to Chick-fil-A last year. I had never been there before, but now I know what I was missing out on.

I knew something was wrong when the drive-thru line was backed up all the way through the parking lot. When we got inside there was also a huge line, but by then it would have taken more time to re-carseat two toddlers and find a new place. So, we found ourselves at the heart of Chick-fil-A Appreciation Day. I'm all for appreciating those delicious chicken nuggets, but I'm also practical - I will appreciate on a non-official, non-politicized day. Still, the line moved quicker than we thought it would and we got our food with minimal hassle.

Jayden tries to share some of his fruit cup with Willa, as usual she's savvy to his games and likes to play coy.

Three cheers for delicious chicken nuggets, a fruit cup, and chocolate milk! By the time we got out of there, we just barely made singing time. By then, we were all exhausted that we stayed for the minimum amount and then headed home. I had to take Willa's shoes off and tickle her feet the whole way home so that she wouldn't fall asleep. I win, though! Three hours later and napping strong!