Snow Day

Yes, it actually snowed in Greenville today. I only saw the remnants, a few flakes gathered on my car. It was supposed to be snow showers all day, but I didn't see any fall or accumulate. So Quinn and I drove to Spartanburg to play. We went to Cleveland Park, and it was completely covered in snow. Quinn played for a little bit, but he didn't seem crazy about the cold. It was so pretty to look at though. Then we warmed up, dried off, and had lunch at Jalal's restaurant. Quinn got his usual treatment, with all the girls fawning over him. He was pretty tired, though, so he acted up a little. I was ready to pack up the food and go, but Jalal said not to worry about it. The place was empty and nobody seemed to mind, but I just hate when he starts screaming in the middle of a meal.
Part of the problem might have been that I forgot his pacifier. Now the story is this. Quinn has only been using his paci for naps, bedtime, and in times of extreme stress (read: hysteria) for months now. I'm trying to get him off it entirely, but I don't want to push him too much. On Thursday, he was coughing pretty bad, deep in his chest, but he didn't seem to have any other symptoms. I had to rock with him a little that night when he woke up crying. The next morning, he had a fever of 99.9 and seemed to be having some ragged breathing. I called the doctor's office and they said to bring him in. The nurse practitioner was about to finish up examining him when he started coughing. She said, "Well I was going to say he just had a cold, but that's croup." Great. Anyway, he got a prescription steroid and started on some Benadryl. He was pretty miserable for about the rest of the weekend, though it did get better and worse and back again for a while. It was so sad. We were scared to put him down in his crib because they say it's dangerous if you can't hear his breathing change. Anyway, he slept in our room that night, and I tried to get him to nap downstairs with me. Mostly he cried and dozed off and on, almost always on my lap. I had huge wet spots all over me from the drooling. I felt so bad that he felt so bad. He still has a runny nose and he still coughs when he gets himself worked up, but he is MUCH better now. I'm so glad.
Well, I'm going to check out now and work for a little before bed. More soon. Love, Us.

Brrr!!

It's late and I'm going to bed. I know I've been remiss on my blog, but I'll catch up soon. Suffice it to say that it is currently 13 degrees with the windchill here right now. I call that cold! Also, Quinn has a bit of a yucky cough. Pray he doesn't get really sick and that he gets over it soon. More soon. Love, Us.

Happy New Year!

Welcome to 2009! We've had quite a year, so we have high hopes for this year being a big improvement. New Year's Eve was pretty anticlimactic. Jalal had to work. I went to bed around 10:30, Jalal called at 11:20 and said he was coming home. I fell back asleep until he got home, and he walked in at about 15 seconds til midnight! We counted down, kissed, then I went back to sleep. Oh well, not the worst new year's we've shared.
Christmas was quite an experience. Trish and Wade got here Christmas Eve, and Mom even flew in for the weekend, but she couldn't come until the day after Christmas. We had a wonderful Christmas Day. Quinn's face when he saw his rocking chair was priceless. He loves it, and Jalal and I can't believe we kept it a secret for so long. I think he was a bit overwhelmed by all the toys, but he's slowly taking each one in its turn. Stockings were so stuffed that they couldn't be hung up! And I personally got some fantastic gifts, including sterling silver hoop earrings, a cool knit hat, gloves, and scarf set, and a Wii Fit Balance Board! That was a huge surprise and Jalal and I are having so much fun with it. I made a 24-hour omelet for breakfast, which was great because I put it together the day before and only had to pop it in the oven that morning. Jalal made our traditional Christmas dinner, lamb. That night, we went to Hollywild for the holiday lights festival. It was crazy. They have a deer forest, which basically turned into a redneck demolition derby with people chasing down deer with bags of bread. We never did get a deer to come up to us. We did, however, get to feed a couple of zebras and a zonkey (I'm not making that up: it's a hybrid of a zebra and a donkey). Quinn had a close encounter with a camel when he smelled the Melba toast Quinn was eating.
Trish and Wade left on Saturday, and Mom, Jalal, and I took Quinn to a playground for a while. We all had a good time and got some great pictures. On Sunday, we went over to Atlanta to the Georgia Acquarium. Quinn loves the fish. He even says "fish." I'm so glad we got annual passes. It is such a short ride (would be shorter if we didn't always go on football game days!), and we've already paid for them.
The next day, we went to breakfast, but Mom wasn't feeling too well. I took her to the airport just after noon, and she had to get out of the check-in line to be sick. We finally made it up to security and said goodbye. Well, long story short, she was supposed to leave at 2:00 p.m. and her flight didn't end up leaving until after 1:00 a.m.! What an ordeal. I couldn't even do anything to help her because she couldn't leave the airport, and we wouldn't have been able to go through security. I know she was glad to finally be home though. Well, I have a lot of stuff to do today, including dishes, laundry, grocery shopping, working out (very important), and working on an edit. I won't say it's a resolution, but I will try to write more often this year. Hope you all have a wonderful new year and a blessed 2009. Love, Us.

Merry Christmas!

Well, it is officially Christmas Day, so Merry Christmas! I'm up waiting for Jalal to get home from work. Trish and Wade got here safely a few hours ago. We had dinner together, played with Quinn, and each opened one present. Trish gave me a beautiful plum-colored purse, which I love. Now I should probably fill the stockings. I went to the Bridge for Christmas Eve service tonight at 6:00. They didn't have nursery, so it was a little embarrassing when Quinn kept yelling "DaDa" in the middle of prayers and stuff, but he wasn't the only loud kid there, so oh well. It was nice. They did the candles and singing "Silent Night," which is the most magical part of Christmas for me. Always has been. It was a little different this year trying to make sure Quinn didn't get the candle, but again, oh well. I'm not going to go on and on tonight, but I did just want to check in. I've gotten some very sweet cards from a lot of you this season, and I thank you all for your kind thoughts, good wishes, and prayers. It is going to be a tough Christmas without Dad and Louella, but they are celebrating along with us, Dad with a singing fish and Louella with a farting Santa. God bless you both. Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night. Love, Us.

Peas!

I just made up a small batch of peas for Quinn and was putting them in the fridge when he came over and pointed at them like he wanted to have them. So I offered him and couple and decided, what the heck, if he wants to have peas as a snack, who am I to say no? We sat down and he proceeded to eat half the container of peas. I was a bit bothered because he wouldn't eat his broccoli at lunch, but now I don't care so much! He was even saying "peas" as he ate. Unfortunately it sounds the same as when he says "please."
I'm supposed to be working but I'm having a hard time concentrating, partly because the edit I'm reading is really poorly written. Nonetheless, it is about the only thing paying the bills (almost), so I won't dally too long. Jalal should get off soon and then maybe we can go see Christmas light tonight. Speaking of Jalal and Christmas, I'm so mad! I just remembered one of the best gifts I was going to get him, but I have to order it online and it's too late to get it by Christmas (it's personalized, sort of). So I ordered it anyway, even though it will be late, because I really want him to have it. Maybe I'll make an IOU or a mockup or something he can open that day. Yeah, that will be cute. (By the way, I'm not worried about him seeing this because I'm pretty sure he never ever reads our blog. Hummpph.) I can't really jump on him about though, considering I forgot our anniversary. Our anniversary of nine years together! I'm a schmuck. I know. I knew when it was, I just didn't know that Thursday was the 18th. Oh well. I made it up to him last night (I hope) with a present, card, and dinner.
So I'm really going to push hard and try to finish this edit before Jalal gets home. Wish me luck! (Oh, and blame Facebook for me not writing as often. It's all Facebook's fault.) Love, Us.

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas!

Well, just a little under two weeks until Christmas, and we've almost finished all of our Christmas shopping. I can't believe it! We have basically a couple of stocking stuffers to pick up and we're done. Now we have to get our Christmas cards in the mail and ship out the gifts to family and friends who we won't see. Now it looks like there's a chance my mom might be able to come up the day after Christmas for the weekend. That would be great because she really shouldn't be alone for the holidays this year. Our Christmas tree is beautiful this year. It's going to be so great to have Trish and Wade here for the holiday, even if they can't get here until Christmas Eve.
So two days ago, I filled up my gas tank for the first time since October 31st. The last time I got gas, it was $2.08. When I filled up this time, it was $1.39! It only cost me $16.25 to fill up. How crazy is that? Oh, and a gallon of milk is down to $2.99. Whew.
I've been trying to focus on getting in shape lately. Every day this week (until today anyway), I've made sure to get on our stationary bike at least once. I try to do it before I even shower so I don't have time to make excuses or get tired later in the day. So far it seems to be working. Yesterday I rode for about 40 minutes and went 8 miles. It goes better when Quinn naps. When he's awake, he can't quite figure out what I'm doing. He just keeps asking me for juice and trying to hand me books to read to him. It's cute but not very productive, you know? Speaking of juice, we met Leah at the mall today and hung out while Quinn played at the play area. He spent most of his time on the other side from where we were, flirting with the other moms. I had to go stop him when he started pointed at one woman's Starbucks cup and saying "juice!" He's so freakin' cute. I love that kid. Tonight he kind of freaked me out though when I was giving him a bath. He started by leaning forward and putting his face underwater. He would hold his breath, put his head down for a few seconds, then come up grinning. Then he started to lay back flat on his back. The water was just deep enough to come almost up to the sides of his eyes. He wasn't scared at all. He started kicking his legs so hard that water was splashing up over my head! No big deal, right? Until I couldn't get him to sit up. Every time I would pull him up to sitting to try to soap him up, he would drop backward and yell "Dada!" I was more afraid of him cracking his head open than drowning, but it took me forever to get him to calm down enough to sit up and let me wash him. What the heck? I guess he's officially started his swimming practice! By the end of the bath, I was exhausted and soaking wet and his towel was in the bathtub with him. What a kid. Well, more soon. Love, Us.

Missing My Daddy

I'm missing my dad tonight. I've been wrapping Christmas presents and it's really tough to think about spending the holidays without him. Not that we see him every Christmas, but just knowing he's not there is so sad. It's strange to have my mom answer the phone every time I call home. It was always him. I can't roll my eyes at his jokes or get frustrated at hearing the same story for the second time in a month. I miss Christmas shopping for him. I loved to pick out books that he would love . . . and hope he'd let me borrow them after he had read them. I was going through the digital camera tonight and deleting a bunch of old pictures. He wasn't in many, but seeing Quinn holding onto his walker at his birthday party made me think about that day, what I will always think of as the last day. It was the last day he was here, the last day he was going to live forever, the last day I could convince myself he would see Quinn celebrate another birthday, the last day I ever got mad at him. I hate that I wasn't a better daughter. I hate that I didn't tell him every single day that I loved him and was proud of him and liked the parts of me that were most like him. I hope he watches Quinn dance and play his banjo. I hope he sees me reading the books he gave me. I hope he knows that I want him here this year. I hope he laughs every time I tell one of his jokes, use one of his illogical turns of phrase. I hope he's proud of me and Trish and how we treat Mom. I hope he understands that we argue because we want what's best for her. I hope he's watching and is willing to pull a few strings with the other Big Guy to make it all okay. I hope he understands that there are moments when I don't think about him at all. Tonight just doesn't happen to have any of them.