Due to some deadlines, unexpected doctor visits and general over-busyness we're somewhat delinquent in the Department of Birthday Posts: our sincere apologies go out to all those impacted! But rather than cheat and post-date them to make you think you just weren't paying attention, here's what we missed (online at least, thanks to Brandie's efforts we still managed to get out traditional cards and phone calls):
February 2
My fabulous god-mother Myrna, seen here in a photo from my childhood taken by our friend Doc.
February 4
My beautiful and brave mother-in-law, "Grammy" Barbara. We love and miss you!!!
February 8
Our friend and new-again mom, Erin - congratulations again on the new Jonesy!!
February 10
Our dear friend and excellent roommate many times over, Uncle John (or "Hat", as Josie dubbed him over the holidays.)
Sharing a birthday with her best friend John, our stalwart protector and shepherd Eula (or Eujo, as Kim calls her) turned five yesterday, or my age in dog years. Sophie gave her a new raw-hide as a present, and we all sang 'Happy Birthday' to her.
More info on those doctor's visits: last week Josie was diagnosed with twin ear infections, one so bad it was swollen. We had no sooner gotten her home from the doctor's office when she had another of those febrile seizures, thankfully this time not as intense as the last one. We gave her Tylenol and got her into a lukewarm bath right away, and she recovered fairly quickly.
Saturday morning Sophie complained that her eye hurt after accidentally hitting it with her fork, so we didn't pay it much heed until we got to her friend Ashlyn's birthday party in Ithaca and realized she might have conjunctivitis, or pink eye. We managed to avoid sharing blindfolds for the "pin the glass slipper on the Princess" game and read up on home remedies on the drive south. By this morning she looked like Rocky in the ninth round, so Brandie took her in to the doctor's. On top of the pink eye it turns out she also has twin ear infections, one very severe so now we have two household members on amoxycillin.
In other news, our not-exactly-balmy weather has turned bitter, into the single digits last night with a wind chill of 25 below (that's Fahrenheit too, in case you've lived in New Zealand so long you've forgotten our standards.) My iPhone said it was 2 degrees when I checked it at 9am, by now with all the sunshine I think we're safely back into the double digits. Sophie & I ran to Home Depot yesterday to get some weather-stripping for the front door, and I installed some fiberglass insulation that the previous homeowners had conveniently left for us in the storage space under the stairs.
We're planning to insulate the outer walls of our garage soon, and attempting some other interior renovation projects but are otherwise occupied with work and parenting. With any luck we'll get out for dinner or a movie Thursday, too!
February 2
My fabulous god-mother Myrna, seen here in a photo from my childhood taken by our friend Doc.
February 4
My beautiful and brave mother-in-law, "Grammy" Barbara. We love and miss you!!!
February 8
Our friend and new-again mom, Erin - congratulations again on the new Jonesy!!
February 10
Our dear friend and excellent roommate many times over, Uncle John (or "Hat", as Josie dubbed him over the holidays.)
Sharing a birthday with her best friend John, our stalwart protector and shepherd Eula (or Eujo, as Kim calls her) turned five yesterday, or my age in dog years. Sophie gave her a new raw-hide as a present, and we all sang 'Happy Birthday' to her.
More info on those doctor's visits: last week Josie was diagnosed with twin ear infections, one so bad it was swollen. We had no sooner gotten her home from the doctor's office when she had another of those febrile seizures, thankfully this time not as intense as the last one. We gave her Tylenol and got her into a lukewarm bath right away, and she recovered fairly quickly.
Saturday morning Sophie complained that her eye hurt after accidentally hitting it with her fork, so we didn't pay it much heed until we got to her friend Ashlyn's birthday party in Ithaca and realized she might have conjunctivitis, or pink eye. We managed to avoid sharing blindfolds for the "pin the glass slipper on the Princess" game and read up on home remedies on the drive south. By this morning she looked like Rocky in the ninth round, so Brandie took her in to the doctor's. On top of the pink eye it turns out she also has twin ear infections, one very severe so now we have two household members on amoxycillin.
In other news, our not-exactly-balmy weather has turned bitter, into the single digits last night with a wind chill of 25 below (that's Fahrenheit too, in case you've lived in New Zealand so long you've forgotten our standards.) My iPhone said it was 2 degrees when I checked it at 9am, by now with all the sunshine I think we're safely back into the double digits. Sophie & I ran to Home Depot yesterday to get some weather-stripping for the front door, and I installed some fiberglass insulation that the previous homeowners had conveniently left for us in the storage space under the stairs.
We're planning to insulate the outer walls of our garage soon, and attempting some other interior renovation projects but are otherwise occupied with work and parenting. With any luck we'll get out for dinner or a movie Thursday, too!
