On Hurling

So I guess you can say we'd been lucky, extremely lucky. Our little girl had a stellar record of Never Ever Puking for the past 7.5 years; but that record was shattered (violently, I might add) this past Saturday.

I had organized a sweet meeting for her troop to come over and study All Things Peru. There was flounder ready to be made into Cebiche, cancha corn ready to be popped and Inca Kola ready to be enjoyed by the girls. DVDs to be watched, books to be referenced and Google at the ready. I even had genuine artifacts gotten from Peru for the girls to use in our booth.

Ten minutes before the meeting, I walked into the living room and the early bird scout told me that Emi had disappeared into the bathroom very quickly after they had sat down to eat some fruit. I checked on her and found a very upset little girl in the bathroom with tears streaming down her face...Vomit stench hung in the air and made it mostly into the toilet.

We canceled the meeting and watched our little girl carefully (after we shoved her into the shower, of course!). She rested for a few hours and woke up hungry. I made her some chicken soup and she ate that heartily, but she wanted some of my fruit and yogurt. I gave her some of that and a little ginger ale, then after a while some herbal tea. Within 2 hours she was power purging the contents of her stomach again and shivering. She never had a fever but it was obvious she had some nasty bug. We forced fluids and bundled her up and she was fine the next day....

We were a little hesitant to give her any solids until she was able to prove to us that she could keep half a banana down. She worked her way up to a Loaded Baked Potato (delivered by her MeeMaw and PeePaw) a little too quickly so we made her eat it in sessions....just to be sure.

So, we had a nice relaxing weekend at home, reading, catching up on random things and not doing anything that was scheduled. It worked out well, really, 2 of the 3 bathrooms were cleaned and sanitized twice in as many days, so that's a plus.

Since Saturday our nerves have been running a little high. For instance, Monday when she went to run errands with Daddy, they had to make an emergency stop at Taco Bell (I'm told it was a photo finish.). I later found out it was only to PEE! Then last night we were brave (and also weak) and decided to eat out at our favorite Mexican restaurant. We were just digging into our meals when Emi said her tummy was gurgling. We panicked and told her to stop eating and go to bathroom just in case.

It was a false alarm and at this point I think the kiddo is just jacking with us just to see how quickly we will lose it...

Playing Around...

Sy-Fy Overload

Wednesday night I watched an episode of Fringe that dealt with astral projection or demonic possession a la Fallen and then later I read a bit more of The Time Traveler's Wife before falling asleep. Thursday morning I awoke from a shameful dream where I time traveled all the way to my office at the end of the work day and had to scramble to find clothing. I was only able to find a half shirt (who wears those anymore?) before heading out to the parking lot. I was so embarassed trying to pull the shirt down enough to cover my ass so that my co-workers walking behind me weren't getting an eyeful, but it was no use. I was to meet Scott in the parking lot to head out to a lake for the weekend. His best friend was there with him and while Scott was trying to help me cover up, he thought it would be a funny joke to unhook the boat (we do not have a boat) and hide the truck, just leave the boat in my work parking lot. Hardy-har-har! Thankfully I woke up from that dream soon after...

The next night/morning I had a dream about my cool English neighbor. In the dream she lived in a huge tree house (actually lived IN the base of this this gigantic tree) with 3 openings. It felt like we were in Africa. She was single and cleaning up her cool treehouse getting ready for a date. The walls were tall and adorned with mementos from her travels around the world and there was one wall full of needles (?). It was common knowledge in the village that she was scared of elephants. We saw an elephant follow her into her house and she then tried to shoo it out when it was also common knowledge that you lead an elephant out instead of trying to force it out (all this common knowledge coming from where?). While she was trying to get the elephant out, we talked to her date and asked him about the needles...what was the purpose? He said she was into accupuncture and actually gave us a demo of something that was not accupuncture. Through his shirt he pierced one of his nipples with a needle then with the other needle connected by a string, he pierced the other nipple. It was hard to watch and he told us it was so freeing. Yipes! I woke up right after that...

Saturday morning was thankfully the last occurence of these nightmarish dreams. I dreamed that Scott, Emi and I were walking up some stone stairs in a park when we fell into what can only be described as a zombie hibernation lair or vampire den. We scrambled to get out of that place where we saw human shaped cocoons and then went merrily on our way to a friend's house. While there we realized that our town had been invaded by vampires/zombies. In the the dream I distinctly felt like these were zombies because of the way my friends were attacked and bitten, then died and came back - the undead. But they were way more lithe than zombies and moved at normal or faster speed than non-zombie types. At some point in getting to the friend's house we lost Scott and picked up a couple of kids whose parents had been attacked.

We holed up in the house while some friends brought in a co-worker friend who'd been attacked, but they suspected he was not infected and put him in the back room to rest. The doorbell rang and when I looked out the window to the porch, a white girl from high school was standing there, looking all undead and she had 2 little brown girls wearing afro puffs in a wagon that she'd pulled onto the porch. I could not see their faces thankfully and I was afraid that they would turn around at any moment. Their heads were lolling around in that zombie way. This "friend" tried to persuade me to let her and her girls in and I told her to wait while I put some clothes on and then I checked the back door for escape. I had Emi and the 2 other kids close and when we tried to exit the back door, some good friends (and neighbors) of mine were suddenly blocking the doorway. They were friendly in their greetings but were obviously vampire/zombies trying to get at us. They looked normal enough but had pasty white faces with perma-grins. Not my friends any more... I told the kids to follow me and we tried to run through the town, but we could only move in that scary dream slo-mo way. It was very frustrating and I kept thinking that we would be safe if we could just make it to a tall tree in the park and scamper up, for we all knew that the undead could not climb. But our feet were like lead weights and they were gaining on us and the friend in the back room had waken up or become undead. We moved as best we could and I thought I could make it but the children were so much slower and weren't going to make it...

I woke up right at this point..thankfully!

I haven't consulted Dr. Google to analyze these dreams, but I bet he'd say that I need to turn off the TV, close the book and snuggle up with the Mr. tonight!

Weekend Update with Emiliana

Ty(p)ing Up Loose Ends

I was reading through the past few months' entries on my blog trying to figure out where 2009 went and realized that I have some loose ends to tie up around here.

Back in July I was reminiscing about my youth and the first camera I owned and how I was on a quest to find one just like it. Well, my better half scratched that off my list for me...as an early Christmas present he surprised me with an Argoflex 750...and this one comes with a flash! Not that we will be able to locate a bulb for it, but still!

In September, Emi and I are started the Move for Life class at the hospital and we never went back to finish the class. Emi was bored and I felt like we already knew the information they were trying to tell us. Plus, we already have great menus/recipes. The class was not going to help us out in the motivation department and it was a big time stealer. So we punted it. We introduced Emi to basketball instead and it seems to be working.

Before Christmas I was having some anxiety over my (finally paid off) SUV that was in need of a 3rd axle! I am so very happy to report that that last time took care of the problem and we owe our mechanic Big Time for coming through for us. No more squealing or grating sounds!

Also, remember after Thanksgiving when I was feeling very overwhelmed with combing and rebraiding Emi's hair? Well we are all better now. I was able to get her hair rebraided over the course of a couple of weeks without causing any further psychological damage and in time for the numerous Christmas gatherings. Crisis averted.

Take Me to Your Reader (heh heh)

So I made no new year's resolutions the other night. But 2 things I do want to do more of this year are 1) drink more water and 2) read more books... Picked up The Time Traveler's Wife and Let the Great World Spin tonight (as well as a scream-free parenting book - hah!) and I have a full glass of water so here's to Twenty Ten!

Christmas FAIL

Today while we were taking down the Christmas tree we discovered a big Christmas Fail. Wedged into the Letters to Santa tube was a sweet note from Emi....and Santa was too busy with the cookies and milk to notice. D'oh!

Santa Claus what do you want for Christmas?

Santa if you want something call [cough*ahem] or wake me up. So call or wake me up.

She was upset that Santa hadn't taken the note but we thought it was her Christmas list (which he got via this blog previously) so we didn't touch it. She did leave another note for him by the cookies and he DID take THAT as a keepsake and actually left HER a note saying so. It wasn't a total fail, but we think she is doing some independent research on the real Santa because many of her friends do not believe in him. She's a persistent one, that girl. Will go far in life for sure!

Guide to Twenty-Ten

A friend of mine sent me this and I thought I'd share with everyone. Happy New Year!

How to make Twenty-Ten Better than Ever:

Health:

1. Drink plenty of water.
2. Eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince and dinner like a beggar..
3. Eat more foods that grow on trees and plants and eat less food that is manufactured in plants..
4. Live with the 3 E's -- Energy, Enthusiasm and Empathy
5. Make time to pray.
6. Play more games.
7. Read more books than you did in 2009.
8. Sit in silence for at least 10 minutes each day
9. Sleep for 7 hours.
10. Take a 10-30 minutes walk daily. And while you walk, smile.

Personality:

11. Don't compare your life to others. You have no idea what their journey is all about.
12. Don't have negative thoughts or things you cannot control. Instead invest your energy in the positive present moment.
13. Don't over do it. Keep your limits.
14. Don't take yourself so seriously. No one else does.
15. Don't waste your precious energy on gossip.
16. Dream more while you are awake.
17. Envy is a waste of time. You already have all you need..
18. Forget issues of the past. Don't remind your partner with His/her mistakes of the past. That will ruin your present happiness.
19. Life is too short to waste time hating anyone. Don't hate others.
20. Make peace with your past so it won't spoil the present.
21. No one is in charge of your happiness except you.
22. Realize that life is a school and you are here to learn. Problems are simply part of the curriculum that appear and fade like algebra class but the lessons you learn will last a lifetime.
23. Smile and laugh more.
24. You don't have to win every argument. Agree to disagree...

Society:

25. Call your family often.
26. Each day give something good to others.
27. Forgive everyone for everything..
28. Spend time w/ people over the age of 70 & under the age of 6.
29. Try to make at least three people smile each day.
30. What other people think of you is none of your business.
31. Your job won't take care of you when you are sick. Your friends will. Stay in touch.

Life:
32. Do the right thing!
33. Get rid of anything that isn't useful, beautiful or joyful.
34. GOD heals everything.
35. However good or bad a situation is, it will change..
36. No matter how you feel, get up, dress up and show up.
37. The best is yet to come..
38. When you awake alive in the morning, thank GOD for it.
39. Your Inner most is always happy. So, be happy.

Last but not the least:
40. Please Forward this to everyone you care about, I just did.