Getting Back In The Swing Of Things

I know I've been MIA in blogging for awhile, with the exception of the video of Elise walking.  I've been trying to recover and catch up from the holidays.  I haven't even had the desire to sit down and try to type out anything... at least not anything with some substance.  If I would have attempted to write a blog post last week or the week before, it would have looked something like this:

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So it's for the best that I took a small hiatus to give my brain time to recover from being MUSH.

I just got Elise down in her crib for her nap.  She's been wanting to be held ALL DAY for the last two days, so I laid down on the couch with her and held her while she snuggled up with her favorite blanket and fell asleep.  I can't say that I mind getting the opportunity to lay down and cuddle with her.

She hasn't been feeling well.  We have been to her doctor's office once a week for the last three weeks.  First, it was a sinus infection.  I have never seen someone sneeze and pour out snot like she was.  We got the sinus infection cleared up and the following week we were back at the pediatrician's office again.  This time it was severe allergies.  She was prescribed a $70 allergy medication plus Benadryll every 6 hrs.  We were able to get the sneezing and red, puffy eyes under control and get her nose dried somewhat dried up.  Now, she has a rattling cough.  Today, she got a steroid shot for inflamed airways and two medications in a breathing treatment.  I've been coughing too, so the doctor told me to give her and myself 3 breathing treatments a day.  So, it looks like we will be chained to the Panda Bear nebulizer again for awhile.  She said it may not be until SPRING that Elise will be completely well.

It is starting to look like I'm going to be unemployed and poor indefinitely.  I have applied for another job.  A job that I thought I'd be perfect for.  I interviewed for it last week and received a letter in the mail today saying that although my qualifications were excellent, they had selected another applicant.  Definitely not encouraging news.

And, when it rains it pours...  We've got about $600 worth of repairs needed on my vehicle as well as needing new tires.  Last week we bought two new ones (the tune of $360) and will be needing the other two in the near future.  A couple of weeks ago, Jason put in a new water pump since it was leaking and causing the heater to not work properly.  And a heater is a necessity this time of year!

On a more pleasant note, over New Year's weekend we had a big family get together.  It was a lot of fun to see the three babies playing and getting to spend time together.  We also saw Jason's family on the Thursday before Christmas and again the following week.  We met them halfway for lunch and for Jason to give them his lawnmower and leaf blower to have worked on.  Elise and I were really lucky to have Jason home with us all last week.  We ran a lot of errands, but it was still good to be able to spend a lot of family time together.  It's rare that we are all three relaxing and doing things together that don't include laundry, cooking, bath time, cleaning, and running around in the evenings like chickens with our heads cut off.

We have a future model in the family.  My friend Shalee send me a text message last night of a photo of Elise that was displayed at the mall.  It's a 16X20 canvas.  It was one of the recent pictures we had made of her about a month ago.  This is the picture they have displayed....

 

I called the place that we had her pictures made at today and asked them what they planned on doing with it after it wasn't being displayed at the mall anymore.  They told me they would sell it for $50 (regular price is $195) or just recover the canvas with another picture.  The only thing was that they would just sell the picture to ANYONE.  That's pretty creepy.  It's a really big picture, so I wouldn't have any room in my house for it.  Anyway, it's going to be at the mall until the end of the month.

Elise's favorite word is "doggie."  She can now identify everyone in the family: Momma, Dada, Doggie.  She has also started shaking her head "no" when you ask her certain questions.  For instance:  "Can momma have a kiss?"  ::shakes head no::  "Can dada have a kiss?"  ::shakes head no::
Except on Sunday night, she was being the sweetest little thing.  While she was sitting in the bath tub, Jason and I were both in there.  I asked her for a kiss and she lifted her head up for me to give her one.  Then Jason asked her if he could have one and she swam/scooted over to him and lifted her head up to get one from him.  We did it back and forth a couple of times and it was so cute!
The last month has been a whirlwind, with trying to buy Christmas presents (on a limited income), coordinating family visits and traveling, cooking, finding a dog sitter, catching up on laundry, cleaning, getting Christmas gifts put away (we still have stuff out and toys EVERYWHERE!), getting my vehicle fixed, looking for a job, taking Elise to the doctor, and whatever else I can't think of at the moment.  I think I might need a vacation from life!  Hopefully I will be struck with a little more ambition and will keep updating more often.