Dropping like flies

This week both kiddos are ailing. J has a ripping ear infection and D was diagnosed with a sinus infection this past Monday. Today was her 15-month well check appointment and that brought a new diagnosis: ear infection. Other than that, however, she was declared well within the normal range with height, weight, and head circumference all coming in around the 50th percentile. She's got a four-word vocabulary presently (mama, dada, baba, and doggie--essentially, all of the vital things in her current world) and a mouthful of teeth, way more than J ever did at this age, with her 12th tooth currently coming in.

My weight is also dropping...hooray! I'm now down almost 18 pounds in a month. I feel so much better and, big newsflash, I self-weaned off the P'zac. Figured I was feeling like myself again (have been for some time now) and that if I started to feel 'dark' again, I'd end my little experiment and start popping that little pill again. So far so good though. I've had a little more irritation with things the kids do (and the things that A doesn't do) here and there but I think that's pretty normal as a parent.

Let's see...other big news? The main water supply pipe to our house cracked last week, flooding part of the garage and the floor to J's room which butts up to the garage. Fast forward: a huge plumbing repair bill along with a couple hundred extra dollars to replace drywall and the pergo floor in J's room. A nightmare that is still ongoing. The flooring was a special order so it won't be here until next week. J, in the meantime, is camping out in our spare bedroom/office on her princess blow up bed.

In happier news, last week I paid a small fortune (and three hours of my life) to have my hair permanently straightened via thermal reconditioning (aka Japanese hair straightening) and, OMG, I love it! For the first time in my previously curly-haired life, I absolutely love my hair!! It is like someone else's hair now resides on my head. It looks so polished and neat that, at times, I still can't believe it belongs to me.

Now I feel like I look nicely put together on daily basis. Haha, good thing the appearance is far better than the reality--because, really, we all know that behind the scenes, with small children in the household, there really is no such thing as 'put together.' It's all about hanging on by the cusps of your fingernails and making the best of every day, with many moments of love/fear/joy along the way.

Here is just one such moment recently (complete with shiny straight 'new' hair, mine not hers, LOL):