A hallmark moment

Today is our ninth wedding anniversary and--shout out to Jerry--what a long, strange trip it's been.

Somewhere around the four-year mark, we decided to try for a baby. How were we to know it'd take almost five years, lots of tears, some heartbreak, lots of blood, tests, dildocams, money, and more to achieve this "simple" milestone (foolish naive fertiles we then perceived ourselves to be) -- one so easy that teen girls, crack whores, and SILs do it all the time. It would happen for us just.like.that (snaps fingers). Oh, yes, we were naive indeed.

Fast forward five years: I couldn't have imagined where life would take us, nor what we would undergo along the way. There was good and some bad, each with lots of love and--most importantly--lots of laughs. Years from now, when we're both getting on in years, I have no doubt that he'll still be making me laugh...and I could think of no one else I'd rather be doing that with than A.

He believed in me, in my 'broken' body, in what we were going through and why, and imagined, or perhaps saw, the light at the end of the tunnel. His undying optimism buoyed me when I was at my lowest (even if I did think his optimism was plumb crazy at the time), his shoulder saw me through the roughest of times and he propped me up when I could not stand on my own, both figuratively and literally.

So, for the memories of yesterday, the happiness of today, the promise of tomorrow, and so much more, I have A to thank. I wouldn't be who I am today without him by my side, nor would we be where we are now....

My favorite crustacean

With everything else that's been going on (ask me about my cyst that abscessed--go ahead, ask), it seems I neglected to post a picture of a certain little person in her Halloween costume.

Drawn butter, anyone?

A devil in disguise

I may look like an angel but I'm really a weapon of mass destruction sent here to eradicate my mom. My colleagues and I at the daycare are slowly working on that--taking her down one cold, virus, and bacteria at a time. My evil plan is working; she's sick again. Bwah ha ha...

(though I'm not so good with the blogging--my grubby little fingers don't know how to make my picture any bigger or what's up with all that rainbow dotted mess to the right--but trust me, I'm every bit as cute as I am evil; the halo is a mere disguise).

My poor aching ears

So it seems that the two gals of the house, me and Miss J, both have ear infections. Mine came courtesy of the cold someone (ahem, guess who) passed along to me a few weeks ago. It was horrendous--enough so that when it came on over a weekend I had to pay a visit to the urgent care center and also had to break into the d*rvocet prescribed to me after the baby's birth. After a ten day heavy duty course of antibiotics, the infection is gone but the fluid remains behind my eardrum, which basically means that I can't hear for crap out of that ear. Rumor has it that it could take an old folk like myself 4-6 weeks to regain my hearing. And if it goes longer than that, my doctor may actually want to put a tube in my ear. Yikes...come on drainage.

As for the little miss, she'd been tugging here and there on her ears during the last week. Then Saturday evening she ran a temp of 102+ which came down into the 101 range with regular doses of infant's tylenol on Sunday. She was bloody miserable and no fun to be around and sleep--hell, calling it that was being generous. Monday A took her to the ped and whaddya know? Ears infected--but just starting the doc said. J also had a ton of ear wax, so much that the doctor commented on it and had to use a loop to get it out (um, yeah, baby not a big fan of that little procedure). So now she's back on a 10 day course of amoxicillin, her second one in the last three weeks (the first was used to treat the "cold" that had lingered and gotten worse over the course of almost all October). Sigh, at least her mood has improved.

It's become apparent to me that day care is the germ's best friend.