Sick

I have been sick with a very nasty cold since Sunday. I'll post adorable pictures of Evelyn sometime soon. But for now, rest.

Everyone is sick

Evelyn has a little cold. Jon has a little cold. There's a lot of wheezing and sneezing and snorting going on. It's gross. I feel if all this is going on that it is only inevitable that I will get sick. Especially because Evelyn has taken to chewing on my toothbrush (really, any toothbrush she can get her hands on.)

I feel especially bad for Evelyn because she hasn't been sleeping very well, is super cranky, can't eat a lot because her nose is all stuffy, and there is no medicine we can give her that will make her feel better. We are out of Motrin, but I think we need more because she seems to have a low fever. Oh yeah, she's cutting two more teeth, too! Maybe some saline drops up the nose would help.

Two of the past three evenings, Evelyn and I (and once Jon), have ridden my bike to a little shopping area that recently opened near our house. It is about a 10 minute ride, mostly flat, and quite delightful. Yesterday we went to Whole Foods for some milk. (And as an aside...Whole Foods has local, horomone free milk for only $1.50 a half gallon. That's cheaper than other local, horomone free milk by $1.25! With the amount of milk we drink around here, that's almost $4 a week difference. I think we are making the switch!) There is also a Maggie Moo's ice cream, lots of restaurants, a YARN STORE. I'm sad I didn't ride up there more throughout the summer.

I hope the rest of you aren't suffering through colds. Isn't it too early for that anyway? Blerg.

Birthday Celebration!

Here we have a bunch of pictures from Evelyn's big birthday party weekend. In no particular order.

Evelyn getting a raspberry from her dad. That kid is wild.

Riding in the laundry basket. This turned out to be a big hit.

Evelyn with Styx, the mellowest yellowest lab ever. She loved this dog.

Evelyn asking her dad to please read that book. Please!

At the party. Note how everyone is up against the house? It was a HOT day, and most people moved their chairs into the shade.

I made a cake! Devil's Food Cake with Root Beer frosting! The root beer was a bit...odd...but it was fine. The cake was really good!

Eating lunch: bacon cornbread!

More shade.

I will post pics of Evelyn opening gifts and eating cake tomorrow.

When to add to the family

I've been reading a lot of blogs and such lately about knowing when is the right time to have a second (or third, or 19th) child. Jon and I don't yet know if we will want to have a second child, but if we do, it won't be for a while.

We do know, however, that we are always going to have dogs in our lives. We are dog people, and Evelyn absolutely loves all the dogs she sees. I can tell you with absolute certainty that right now is NOT the right time to get another dog. Three dogs? Bad idea. What if they didn't get along with small children? What if they were somewhat destructive to our house or yard? What if they didn't get along with the dogs we already have? All good reasons not to get another dog. And yet...I find myself perusing the adoption pages at the Denver Dumb Friend's League website. I even look at the cats and rabbits! I don't know what the deal is!

Must stop looking at adoptable pets!

Estes Park

Some pictures from our trip to Estes Park.

Here is Evelyn, looking adorable.

This is how I felt most of the trip.

This is from a different event, but look how cute!

There was a hummingbird feeder outside our cabin. Can you see the little hummingbird sitting on the branch under the feeder? It was pretty cool.

Here is where we stayed.

Birthday girl

Happy birthday to Evelyn!

It was a low-key day. Doctor's appointments and chocolate milk. She went to the petting zoo with her Grandma Lew. The big day will be Saturday when we have her first birthday party. Hooray!

Ooh, pretty

There are many things I wish I could do, and this is one of them.

It's a lunchbox....washable...with adorable embroidery. (Here's how to make it, if you are so inclined.) My mother-in-law can embroider really well and it amazes me. It's just so pretty and fun. Maybe someday I will learn that particular craft.

There are lots of things like that that I wish I could do. But then I have to remind myself: Self, you have a small child and a full-time job and two dogs and a husband and, frankly, you should get over this idea of doing extra crafty things. Right. And then I double remind myself that just because I don't have time to do this now doesn't mean I won't ever have time. Maybe when Evelyn is 6. So then I triple remind myself that I am not even 30 yet (for a couple months...) and there is PLENTY of time to learn how to embroidery handmade lunch totes. That is a lot of reminding.

But you know why I shouldn't learn a new craft right now? Because my brain is not operating at 100 percent, and what little cerebral power I have should be directed to the things that matter, like feeding my daughter and NOT LOSING MY KEYS. Which, I did. Only to find them last night (OK, Jon found them) in my purse. Let me repeat that: My "lost" keys were in my purse. All day. I didn't need to call around to every place I had been over the weekend to enquire about missing keys. I didn't need to fret that I had lost them for good. Because they were in my purse.

Just another day here in crazytown.

For an update on Jon's shop...the city has the permit application in their bureaucratic little hands. They have come back a couple of times with additional requests, but now (finger's crossed) they have everything they need and we will have an answer THIS WEEK. All of this, by the way, is just the permit to complete construction. It has absolutely 100 percent nothing to do with Jon. Nothing to do with a tattoo shop going into the space. Nothing to do with anything we have control over. Which is why it is so freakin frustrating.  Once the contruction finally starts up again and eventually finishes, then Jon has to do all the stuff to get his tattooing licensing and permiting. Insane. I will fall into a great abyss of crying and gnashing of teeth if this doesn't come together. Please, City and County of Denver, please let us finish contruction so we can open this shop before Christmas!