Sunday road trip

I do numerous 4-10 mile drives day-after-day taking Maisie and I to and from all our varied activities but very rarely do I take my car onto the highway or out for a long drive. But here it is, that time a year when I have to take my poor old Volvo in for it's emissions test. Because my car is 18 years old with 209,000 miles on it and I consistently do short little trips, the car builds up gunk which just doesn't get burned off. About five years ago my car failed the emissions test and the guy that ran the test told me to get a bottle of G2P and follow the directions. I did exactly what the box said and the next morning I took the car back to be retested and it passed with great numbers. So now each year before I take the car for its test I add a bottle of G2P to gas tank and take the car out for a highway road trip.

Back in November Kathy, Chani, Maisie and I spent a weekend up in Chattanooga and the girls just loved the Creative Discovery Museum. So I thought perfect, a great way to spend the day and in my car, the trip from Atlanta to Chattanooga almost completely burns through a tank of petrol. Maisie was so excited to go back to the museum and it was a beautiful day so it was perfect. Also perfect was that Maisie napped for an hour of each of the two hour drives.

We had fun at the museum, Eammon and Maisie both painted their faces and pretended to be archaeologists digging up dinosaur bones, we saw lots of bugs, we played on computers, did crafts, played different musical instruments, pretended to be a doctor, had fun will electricity and air flow and worked our muscles spinning ourselves around in circles and pulling ourselves up on a pulley chair. For some odd reason though, my freshly charged camera battery decided not to work so I only took a few piccies with my iPhone.

After our time at the museum we went out for an early dinner where Maisie ate like she hadn't eaten in a week and then we drove home. It was a really fun day and the museum up in Chattanooga was so fun and is exponentially superior to the boring and pathetic children's museum here in Atlanta. Honestly if you live here in Atlanta, take a trip north and visit the museum in Chattanooga and you'll never return to the one here.

We're ready for another fun and busy week, keeping my fingers crossed that it's another good one for us as we seem to be having a nice string of good days, laissez les bons temps rouler!

Another week gone

It's M3's Fashion Challenge Friday and today Maisie picked out a Marie t-shirt, pink & orange polka dot shorts, hot pink Hello Kitty socks and pink sparkly sneakers and she proudly proclaimed that she was dressed in pink.

I have to say that Maisie is good at matching her clothes together but of course when you almost always go for pink, it's not too difficult. I'm lucky in that Maisie doesn't care what she wears as far as dresses, pants, skirts or shorts, she's just very easy going and when I dress her, whatever I put on her she's happy. When she dresses herself she quickly decides what she wants and thankfully doesn't create a giant mess of discarded clothes. To see her other fashion choices see: week 1 (but Baba helped so it really doesn't count), week 2, week 3.

We had a huge storm roll through last night with so much lightning that our house looked like a disco, just incredible. Of course all the thunder and light flashes woke Maisie and scared the cr@p out of her so I ended up taking the little kicking, constant motion, bed hogging girl to bed with me so this morning I'm bruised and tired, what else is new.

First thing this morning I had to take Maisie for a doctors appointment and once home next door neighbor A came over to play for a bit. Maisie and A had fun playing with trains, beads, in Maisie's kitchen and of course jumping on the trampoline. They were so cute together and played very well.

This has been a good week and WOW has it flown by. Now it's time to have lunch and then we're off to ballet. Wishing everyone a great weekend.

Picture day

Maisie had a bit of a rough night last night, which of course means I was up but basically today we had another good day but it seemed wicked busy. This morning we were all up early as we had to take Eammon's car to the shop to have the power steering worked on. So we caravaned to the shop, dropped off Eammon's car and then Eammon and Maisie dropped me back at the house and they headed to Maisie's school for 'doughnuts with Dad' day. Maisie loved having her Baba at school with her and gave Eammon a tour of her classroom. While I had an hour to myself, I worked on firming up plans for the trip Maisie and I are taking to Florida the beginning of June. We now have six trips on the calendar before the end of the year! Eammon then came home and he and I returned to the shop to pick up his car but on my way home I had to make a stop to pick up a few items. I returned home for about 20 minutes then it was time to go pick Maisie up from school.

From school we headed to Maisie's ballet school as it was picture day. All the little girls looked absolutely stinking adorable and look look, Maisie even allowed her teacher Miss Lisa to pull her hair back and put in a bow! Maisie was so into having her picture taken and did fabu with the photographer, posing and doing exactly as she was told, I can't wait to see her picture and the group photo too. After the photo shoot I was going to just waste the bit of excess time doing a little shopping but Maisie was tired and fell asleep in the car so we returned home for 30 minutes and then we were off to gymnastics. We returned home at 5:30, just in time for me to make dinner which trust me, was fast, easy and nothing special. Maisie's now in bed and after all the back and forth busyness of the day I'm just vegging on the sofa worn out, contemplating going to bed soon myself and thinking that I'm thankful that petrol isn't $4 per gallon right now.

Also can you believe it, two posts within two days...Haven't done that in ages!

Good Days!

Some days can be so.very.trying so when we have good days, especially five or six of them back-to-back-to-back, this Mama is in heaven!! I love when we have good days, woohoo!! We ended last week on a high and it's just continued...another big woohoo!! Sunday we spent a good part of the afternoon watching way too much television but only one thing, over and over as Maisie just adored the DVD that we won from Diana, Prima Princessa presents Swan Lake. From when Maisie and I watched the little video clip I knew that she would love watching the little girls and animals but thought that she might be a little bored watching the actual ballet but that was not the case at all. Maisie just couldn't get enough of it, dancing around and around pointing out all the characters, naming all the steps and completely enjoying the video. I especially loved watching her trying to dance and imitate the ballerinas when she watched the dance of the four baby swans, can't tell you how many times we watched that clip! Thanks again Diana for hosting such a great giveaway.

Sunday night was a late night for me as it was stormy and the tornado sirens sounded somewhere between 10:30 & 11PM with severe thunderstorm & tornado watches continuing until 3am but thankfully, once again we had no damage or problems. Well I had one problem, the power cord for my computer gave out on Sunday so just another computer related problem.

Monday morning Maisie was up early and crawled into bed with me and said "Mama I love you, you're my best girl in the whole world" what a great way to start the week! We had a free morning so we headed to Target to get Maisie some new sneakers and some shorts. Would you believe that she's in a size 2...if they're cinched in. The 18 month ones fit better in the waist but were just a little too short so we went with the twos. We then headed to the computer store to get a new power cord. I brought along the dead one so that I'd be sure to get the correct replacement and the guy who helped me made it easy, showing me the replacement. Yeah, until I got home and found that the new cord didn't want to power my computer...OY. So after nap we returned to the computer store this time with my laptop and $90 later we had a working power cord, another OY! We then headed over to Maisie's gymnastics practice where she just rocked, Maisie just loves her gymnastics.

Last week when Maisie was out riding around on her trike I decided that she had outgrown it and needed a new big girl bike. So today after school and her nap we headed to the store and once there Maisie immediately picked out the bike she wanted and after a little test run down the isle we had our prize. It was a really blustery afternoon but Maisie couldn't wait to tryout her new bike. She was especially excited to be out and riding because her neighbor friends K & A joined her on the street riding along with her. Of course she was riding in part thanks to K & A's Dad as he filled the tires with air and raised up the training wheels a bit. Maisie quickly learned how to use the brakes and even though she needed a little push now and then to go up the slight incline of the road, she did great.

Maisie's really looking forward to tomorrow as it's doughnuts with Dad day at school and she's so excited to have her Baba go to school with her. Hope that we have another great day and that the fun just continues.

Pollen, playdates and parties

Even though I'm late in posting this due to some computer problems and lack of time and desire to be online, here is Maisie's fashion choice of the week for M3's Fashion Challenge Friday. This week I didn't give Maisie any direction or limit her in anyway and she put her own spin on her outfit. She chose one of her favorite Indygo twirly-whirly dresses, a pair of black leggings with lace bottoms and her very favorite pink princess shoes. I think she did great again and I'm proud to be her Mother. The first week we did this challenge Eammon "helped" Maisie choose her outfit and...well if you can't say anything nice...{ silence } The second week I did tell Maisie that she needed to wear pants because of where we were going and on her own she did great and looked coordinated and I could hold my head high. So basically if I keep Eammon out of choosing or helping to pick out clothes I'll be able to walk out the door feeling pretty good about what Maisie's wearing...we'll see how long that lasts though as Maisie may have other ideas, we shall see.

After spring break week which was filled with sickness, major allergies and a little to much down time it was great to return to our regular schedule and have a busy and good week. Maisie and I are still suffering with allergies but the pollen count was lower this past week ranging between "only" 286 - 974 but remember, anything over 121 is considered extremely high so even though it's lower than the past few weeks, it's still outrageous. Maisie is off her inhaler but will be on a nasal spray for the foreseeable future. Thankfully she's gotten used to having the nasal spray so the once nightly treatment is no longer a struggle.

Maisie was happy to return to school this week and see her friends and teachers again. She was also excited to have her bentos again, I didn't realize how much she missed them when we were on break. I was happy to have those few hours while Maisie was in school to run errands and catch up on a few things.

We have new neighbors that just moved in next door to us and the best part, they have two children, a six year old girl K and a four year old boy A. Maisie has been having a blast all week riding bikes, using chalk, playing house and having bubble wars with K & A. Friday afternoon Eammon arrived home early from work and all three kids were playing out on the deck & dock with bubbles. So Eammon went out to watch them for a while and to play with them and ended up inside Maisie's playhouse with Maisie, K & A attacking him from all directions with bubbles and they weren't neat about it so he was just covered from head to toe in bubble goo.

Friday morning Maisie and I met up with Kathy & Chani and Lisa & Briana for some girly-girl get-together time and it was great to see everyone. The girls had fun making numerous trips to the bathroom, coloring, drawing, playing with stickers, goofing around together being silly and making & eating candy necklaces. Even though Lisa, Kathy & I all live relatively close to one another we're spread out far enough that it's not quick or always easy, especially with all our busy schedules, to meet up so when we do, it's always a good time.

Here's one more picture from Friday morning, my little angel with her drawing of an angel. Not sure why her angel has such a sad face but I'm glad that my little sweetie was sporting such a big and happy smile.

To finish off our week, Saturday night we attended a party hosted by our new neighbors. They have some really nice friends, it was a beautiful evening, the food was divine and all the children were well behaved. We stayed until well after Maisie's bedtime as she was having so much fun and so were we. Before we could put Maisie to bed though we had to go pick up Eammon's car from the shop as we had to have new brakes installed and we had asked them to just lock the car and leave it for us to pick up at our convenience. By the time I got Maisie in bed it was a few hours past her bed time so I had hopes of sleeping in this morning. Even though she went to bed so late, she was still up before 7am...oh my gosh, how does this girl function on so little sleep!!!

Off to get some laundry done and getting ready for a new week.

My funny bunny and we won!!

We had no Easter egg hunts, no baskets filled with chocolate and candy, no special dress or outfit and not even a special meal but what we did have was a quiet day and our second year of building a bunny house. Maisie and I had fun building our foam bunny house and let me tell you, so much easier and neater than last year when we made a gingerbread hutch. (Maisie was actually twisting her head back and forth being silly when I took the picture so that's why her right pony tail looks so short and chopped as the ends of her hair hadn't caught up with her yet.) Looking back at the picture from last year, I can't believe how much my little Maisie has grown, from a toddler to a little girl.

Funny little story, today at gymnastics Maisie's coach asked the girls what they received for Easter and the two other girls said the usual, candy, chocolate, bubbles and toys. Maisie's response, without even a second of hesitation... "Toothpaste and I don't like the flavor." I don't know how she came up with that one but I guess she's letting me know in no uncertain terms that she doesn't like her new (week old) toothpaste and next year I'd better get her candy, chocolate, bubbles and toys if I want to avoid getting the stink eye from her gymnastics coach and friends!

Now how cool is this? Diana over at She's a-DORI-ble held a giveaway contest for a DVD, Prima Princessa presents Swan Lake and I entered because Maisie just LOVED watching the video clip and couldn't wait to see more. Guess what, we won!! Thank you Diana for having such a great giveaway and we're so excited to have won and can't wait to watch the DVD.

No breaks for Spring break week

I have to say, this has been a rough week. The weather has been mostly uncooperative with rain, snow, more rain and today tornado, high winds, hail and severe storm warnings...thankfully we've only had the rain, thunder, major lightning, hail and high winds...thus far but the tornado sirens have gone off a couple of times. Even if the weather had been more conducive to being outside this week, our pollen count of over 1200 each day would have nixed that idea. Even though I've kept Maisie busy with lots of activities, indoor play gyms and three hour gymnastics practices two afternoons this week, it just hasn't been enough to burn off all her excess energy. I'm of course still trying to get over bronchitis and could really use a full nights rest or maybe even an afternoon nap but neither of those have been part of Maisie's agenda. Yesterday she was so wired and spinning out of control like a whirling dervish and I was completely done and exhausted that I put her to bed at 6PM and I was in bed by 7. Of course Maisie had me up at 2:20am for over an hour but what else is new...

This afternoon I had to go for a follow-up appointment for my kidney stone incident. Instead of bringing Maisie along for all the "fun" I instead dropped her off at PLAY where she had a great time doing all the Easter activities and playing with all the other children, with games and in the gym. To join in on M3's Fashion Challenge Friday, when getting dressed this morning I asked Maisie to pick out her own outfit with my only direction being that she needed pants and a shirt because she was going to PLAY. She did well picking out her outfit, black velvet pants, a pink Lilly Pulitzer top, light pink socks, sparkly pink sneakers and even pink Elmo panties. She did much better choosing an outfit on her own than she did last Thursday when Baba "helped" in choosing clothes and I was happy that I didn't have to hang my head in shame when I dropped her off this afternoon.

Spring break hasn't felt like much of a break so I'm ready to get back to our regular schedule next week. Have a good weekend and we wish everyone a Happy Easter and Passover.

I spoke to soon

Well after that whole kidney stone episode of last Thursday I wrote on Friday that I woke up feeling better than I had in weeks. Unfortunately *THAT* didn't last to long. By late afternoon Friday I was coughing, sneezing, congested and my eyes were streaming all of which I attributed to the obscene pollen count of 1071. Over the weekend though I just got worse and worse so Monday morning I followed my new 3-day rule, (if sick and not getting better after 3 days, I go to the doc) so off to the doc I went. Sure enough I have a full blown case of bronchitis but thankfully, by going to the doc early, I've hopefully avoided another bout pneumonia.

Poor little Maisie has been suffering with allergies and is a snotty mess. We have to do daily inhaler treatments which she's good with but it's the nightly nasal spray that she really dislikes. It's amazing though what the girl will suffer for a mini-package of two little Starburst candies.

The weather here is Georgia has been crazy and hasn't helped with my being sick and Maisie's allergies. Yesterday we had snow! In Georgia...In April...Are you kidding me? Of course none of it stuck but still it was cold, wet and windy and then this morning I had to scrape ice off my windshield, seriously I moved south to get away from weather like this. Then the pollen, Monday the count was 3583 and on Tuesday in the stinking snow it was 1797. Anything over 121 is considered extremely high so our numbers are just obscenely outrageous. I'm holding tight waiting for some nice warm weather and the pollen count to drop...a lot!

I'm thinking of adding yet another trip to our busy 2009 travel schedule. I'm looking into heading down to Florida with Maisie sometime during the second week of June to visit with my parents and one of our China travel mates. I'd like to do a day at either SeaWorld or maybe one of the other parks, just not sure yet. So, if you're in Florida and would like to hook up while we're there either at whatever park we end up visiting or for lunch or dinner, please email and let me know.

The pictures are from Monday, another crazy cold day so for Maisie's nap I changed her into a sleeper to keep her warm. Our Gardener Tim brought his 4-year old son Daniel along with him while he worked in our yard. Daniel had fun playing outside until...he ended up knee deep in the pond. So he came in and joined Maisie for some animal crackers and Go Diego Go on the tube. I popped his pants and socks into the dryer and much to Daniel's delight, Eammon got him dressed in a pair of his Sponge Bob pants and dry socks. By the time Tim finished the yard Daniel's clothes were dry and he could lose the giant pants. Maisie and Daniel also had fun playing on the trampoline and rolling around on the mat. They were so cute laughing together and being silly, a nice way to spend a cold afternoon.

So long, farewell and good riddance

No I'm not blowing off all my bloggy friends & followers or anyone else for that matter, what I am saying goodbye to, and hope it never returns, is to the kidney stone that landed me in the E.R. yesterday morning. I had been having a little on-and-off pain since last Saturday but nothing major or debilitating so I didn't pay much mind to it but Wednesday night into Thursday morning I was waking with pain in my left side and needing to go to the bathroom every few minutes. By 5am the pain was excruciating so I woke Eammon to tell him that I needed to go to the E.R. I had guessed at a kidney or bladder infection or maybe even a kidney stone but because I've never had any of those conditions, I was just guessing.

We arrived at the E.R. and after only a two or three minute wait they took me back to a room. As soon as I told them my symptoms they guessed at a kidney stone and soon, after three sticks and two different phlebotomists, I had an I.V. and pain meds going into me. The pain meds helped ease the pain for only about 15 minutes and then what I thought had been excruciating pain at 5am was nothing, not even close, compared to what I was then experiencing. Considering that I had major pain meds on board and the pain was as intense as it was, I can't even imagine trying to do it without drugs. Come to find out that I was in the final stages of passing the stone...thankfully! After a CT scan, four more doses of pain meds, two doses of anti-nausea meds to counter act the affects of the pain meds and a little rest I was cleared to go home. I spent the rest of the day resting, sleeping and basically trying to overcome the feeling that I had been run over by a Mac truck. I went to bed for the night at 7PM and thankfully had a good nights rest (and Maisie helped out by sleeping through the night for the first time in weeks) and awoke this morning feeling better than I have in ages, Yeah!!

So while I was at the E.R. Eammon got Maisie dressed and to school. Yeah, the two of them assembled quite an "outfit" as you can see in the picture to the right. I'm hanging my head in shame knowing that she was seen in public dressed this way. Next time that I'm sick, no matter how sick, I'm going to lay out what Maisie needs to wear to school or for that day. All I can hope is that when people saw Eammon bringing Maisie into school they figured out that Mom had nothing to do with dressing Maisie that morning...One can wish.

After school and a nap Eammon took Maisie to her first swim lesson and said that she did really well. I'm sad that I missed it but after spring break next week I'll be able to see her in her swim class. It's amazing how many activities we now have with school Tues, Wed & Thurs mornings, gymnastics Mon & Wed afternoon, swim lesson on Thurs afternoon and ballet on Friday. Of course this is only until the end of May and then our busy travel schedule starts up along with ballet camp, gymnastics camp, two days per week with her new gymnastics team and most likely more swim lessons, busy but always fun.

Today was costume day at Maisie's ballet class so all the little girls tried on their costumes and received cute little ballerina dolls. Talk about stinking cute and pink! As you can tell by the piccie, Maisie's just not all that into dolls and when it was time to leave she was ready to leave her doll behind. All the other girls just thought the doll the greatest. The one girl without a costume is part of a wedding the day of the recital but the teacher Miss Lisa ordered an extra doll just for her. Maisie's costume needs some alteration as it's a little big even though it's the smallest size the company offered. I can't wait to see these wee little girls up on stage. Anyone want to place bets on whether Maisie actually gets out on the stage, freezes on stage, continuously looks stage right to see what her teacher is doing or, the one I'm hoping for, performs like a star. It should be fun and to top it off, my parents are flying in for that weekend to see Maisie's first recital.

Don't forget, only two days left to enter the Maisie Eats Bento 100th Bento Giveaway so pop on over to Maisie Eats Bento and enter for a chance to win the random drawing.

Have a great weekend.