A little break

Eammon had a few days off from work so we decided to take a little trip to escape the obscenely high pollen counts and also so that we could enjoy a little warm weather. I scored some ultra cheap flights and for less than the cost of a tank of gas, all three of us flew down to the Fort Lauderdale/Miami area for a few days of sun, fun and relaxation. Thanks to Tiffany who gave me info on renting homes or condos privately, I found and rented a two bedroom, two bathroom condo right on the intercostal for less than the cost of a hotel room, thanks Tiff! Check out the pictures of our views.

Maisie was once again a star on the flights, falling asleep within minutes of take off and waking about half an hour before landing. The girl loves airplanes and flying which is great because both Eammon and I love to travel.

We had a nice couple of days laying low, spending time at the pool and doing those family type outings that are great fun with a toddler. We did two outings, the first was to Gator Park where we did an air boat tour and watched a little alligator show.

The second outing was to Flamingo Gardens which is 60 acres of gardens and animals. We took a narrated tram ride to view most of the property and then we walked around to see all the different animals.

We had beautiful weather and we just had fun being away, no phone, no schedule, no commitments. Can't wait for our next, yet to be scheduled holiday away.

Good to be back

I awoke Tuesday morning to find that my blog had been flagged as a possible spam blog and I was locked out, no publishing possible. I've already published 488 posts and you'd sort of hope that the spam-prevention robots would have pick up on it sooner had I actually been a spam blog. Oh well, I'm back in the game now and my withdrawal symptoms have dissipated.

On a more important note, I'm asking all my bloggy friends to send good wishes and prayers to my friend Kim and her family. The day after returning from China with their new son Kai, he had to be life-flighted to the hospital. Kai has since had heart surgery and is also recovering from pneumonia. You can follow his progress at The Brown Bulletin.

My Houdini

Maisie has managed to circumvent all my attempts at child containment and of making the house child safe. She makes short work of those silly door knob covers that I have difficulty with, so now all doors in the house have hooks & eyes but on the pocket doors she's figured out how to pop the hook and open the door. In addition, her super strong little fingers have figured out how to not only work the drawer & cabinet locks but she also pries outlet covers out of the outlets. I've removed everything dangerous from the drawers and cabinets so now it's just keeping an eye on her to prevent her from emptying the contents and distributing everything across the floor and throughout the room and I've also upgraded the outlet covers to ones that take me five minutes and two hands to remove but give her time and she'll figure those out too. In addition I've had to add latches to the tops of the refrigerator and freezer doors as she was climbing up and into the fridge. I'm telling you, this girl keeps me on my toes and has me completely exhausted by midday the end of every day.

Ready for a new week

This past week was rather rough with me not feeling well, Eammon working his usual long hours, Maisie being on spring break and pollen counts as much as 2600% above what is considered extremely high.

Much to Maisie's chagrin and my sanity, we had to limit our outdoor time and all I can say is how thankful I am for the bouncy ball, indoor trampoline, play-doh and washable markers. We did make it through the week but I think both Maisie and I are looking forward to getting back to our normal schedule. Our week wasn't all bad as we still managed a couple of days having indoor playtime with friends and Friday morning we did venture out and met up with Kathy & Chani and Lisa & Briana at Tanglewood Farm.

We got to get up close and personal with lots of miniature animals and when I say we, I mean me as Maisie is not an animal person and did her best to avoid being near and/or touching any of the animals.

While both Briana and Chani saddled up and went for a pony ride, Maisie was happy to just jump on the rocking moose for her ride.

Four days and lots of piccies

Friday I packed Maisie's bike into the car and we headed over to Deb & LiLi's house to enjoy the nice afternoon and allow the girls to bike on the porch together. Deb took these great pictures of the girls.

Sunday afternoon was Andrew's naming. As it worked out, the naming fell during Maisie's nap time so Eammon volunteered to stay home with her and I was able to attend the naming alone. Both Trixie & WaWa were so proud and Andrew did great through the ceremony and with all the guests.

Tuesday afternoon Maisie had a little playtime with LiLi. Neither girl was in a particularly good mood but they played and did well together even with Deb putting a bow in Maisie's hair.

Today Maisie perfected a new skill and as you can see, she's still having a blast with the trampoline.

If you build it she will jump

And jump and jump and jump!! Yesterday Maisie's trampoline arrived and today Eammon and I spent the afternoon putting it together. Though the construction took three times as long as the manufacturer stated it would, we managed to put it together with little difficulty. Maisie was more than excited to get jumping and within seconds of the trampoline being completed, Maisie was jumping away. Having Maisie jump for two hours worked wonders as she went to bed without even a whimper and I have high hopes that she'll sleep though the night.

Catching up and pictures

* I've been a little behind in posting and adding pictures, but as usual we've been busy and on top of that, both Maisie and I both have been fighting colds and battling snot...Yuck! I think there may be an end in sight, let's keep our fingers crossed and hope!

* Friday Maisie had fun wearing her fancy shoes and playing with her beads, this was of course when she wasn't on her bouncy ball.

* Saturday morning we had our final (1 year) home study visit. Oh, you seem to remember that we celebrated our gotcha day anniversary way back in December, so why are we doing the visit now? Seems that our original social worker had little or no interest in doing her job in a timely manner so a different social worker completed everything for us. The visit went smoothly and it's great to be finished!!

* Saturday night Maisie and I got together with other families from my local Moms group for an around the world dinner. Everyone brought a dish that was symbolic of where they came from or chose to be from for the night. We have so many heritage/ethnicity/country options in this house I decided to use Maisie's and I brought Chinese Peanut Sesame Noodles which everyone seemed to enjoy. I also dressed Maisie in one of her dresses from China as she rarely has the opportunity to wear them and so many people commented on how adorable she looked. We were able to enjoy foods from Argentina, Brazil, Cuba, Ecuador, Germany, Greece & Italy, to name a few. It was a fun evening.

* If you are interested, check out Cook Lisa Cook for the Chinese Peanut Sesame Noodle recipe.

* Sunday morning Eammon took Maisie to the Aquarium where they both had fun looking at the fish. Seems there was a big foot race in Atlanta and that combined with streets still being closed due to the recent tornado and spring break happening, both the city and the Aquarium were quite busy and packed. They lasted a good long time there though but I was happy to be home doing some work and avoiding the crowds.

* Sunday afternoon Maisie and Eammon had a little Wii competition and oh what fun Maisie had playing both bowling and golf. The girl definitely has her own style and a cute one at that.
* We are semi-back to our usual weekly routine, doing things when Maisie is feeling okay and laying low when she needs it. Hopefully I'll get some (snot-free) pictures taken and posted soon.