My house is slowly returning back to normal. After my late night jaunt to Ikea with Liza, I went through a crazy re-org phase. I am now the proud owner of a Billy bookcase like most of the greater Portland area. Of course, putting up the new bookcase meant everything else in all parts of my house had to be moved and then removed. (Poor Kevin.) But I’m finally happy with the results. Bookshelves are good things. I need more. I also need a new kitchen. But that’s a whole ‘nother level of pain.

We have also lost Melo puppy (or Princess Melo as Leina calles her). Kat & Josh returned from Vegas and reclaimen their girl. Leina is slowly recovering from her Melo fix but still sighs when she thinks about all the fun they had. Melo? I bet she is happy to be back home and away from my crazy kids. The look in her eye here doesn’t say “yippee I love to play dress up with 4 yr old” so much as “mom, please come home soon.” I wish I had snapped a picture of the nightly walk. It involved one small white puppy with two leashes being walked simultaneously by my girls. Just the thought makes me smile. Artie loved the lack of attention he received. He got to laze around and smirk while Melo got all the cool dressing up time. Everyone needs a break every now and then, right?

Today was Leina’s first picture day at school and, of course, she threw a fit. She hates having her picture taken so when I announced she was getting one taken at school, she adamantly refused. First, she threatened that she would not smile. Then she threatened she would not go at all. Finally, she stamped her little foot, crossed her little arms, and glared at me.

I suppose every mom deals with every situation differently. Some moms may reason, some may threaten, some may punish. Me, I’m a big fan of the bargain. I get what I want, you get what you want and we all walk away happy. (I have heard some people call this technique bribery but these people tend to have no children of their own so their opinion doesn’t really count.)

Now, I wanted my child to sit nicely and smile for the camera. That was my end of the deal. But what did Leina want? As a good deal maker, I keep a running list of Leina currency – things she just can’t say no too. And right now, believe it or not, the top item on her list is KFC. Yes, that was not a typo. Kentucky Fried Chicken. Not the chicken, per se, but the mashed potatoes and gravy. Leina will do anything for KFC mashed potatoes and gravy.

You see the beauty of the deal? I told my cross little child that if she smiled and took a nice picture for me, I would take her to KFC for lunch and she could get mashed potatoes and gravy. At the mention of gravy, she threw her happy little arms around me and announced I’m the best mommy in the world and we skipped upstairs to pick out a cute outfit for her photo shoot. I’m happy to report we both fullfilled our sides of the bargain and I’m looking forward to the happy smiley picture sometime soon.

I don’t know how long this deal making will last. I envision a not too distant future when the top two things on her want list are a car or a new cell phone. But I figure I’ll deal with that trauma later. Right now, I’ve got the KFC card and I plan to use it wisely and well.

Ah, Friday. The one day of the week where we don’t have to be dressed and fed and out of the house early. No, Fridays are all about lounging about in our PJ’s until 11:30am. My only motivation for getting the girls dressed is the fact that Kevin gets a bit grumpy when he comes home for lunch and finds us still in jammies. (I think he’s secretly envious.) And honestly, can you blame me for keeping the PJs on for so long when the kids are so darn cute?

This weekend is looking bizarrely calm. I am finally heading to the new Ikea to do some damage on our credit card. I’ve wrangled Liza into driving me. She needs a cutting board. I need shelves and blinds and china hutches and goodness know what else. Might be a bit of a mismatch at checkout time but that’s fine with me.

It’s Friday! We made it!

Leina is firmly on the road to recovery. That medicine sure is powerful. The fever, tenderness and swelling are almost totally gone and not a moment too soon. Leina is a still a bit grouchy and not quite back to her sweet little self yet but I know she’ll shake off her funk soon enough.

This morning we headed to the mom’s club halloween social and the girls got to don their costumes. Leina was grumpy and moody so the only pictures I got were of a very sullen Tinkerbell. Kulia, however, refused to hold still long enough for a good shot. Crazy kid. Both girls, however, agreed to pose with their absolute favorite puppy, Melo, who we are watching for a few days. I think Melo has done more to help Leina back onto the road to happiness than any amount of medication. Maybe she should become a therapy dog. Hmmm.

So here, without further adieu, are my little fly girls. (And the snuggle puppy.)

Leina woke from nap yesterday and wandered into the craft room. I took one look at her and said, “we’re going to the doctor.”

Sometimes, your mom sense just starts tingling. She just didn’t look right in her eyes. Something was off. Just wrong. I remember when she was a tiny infant, the doctor told me that if I ever felt something was wrong to bring her in because a mom knows her baby like nobody else. I had no idea what she was talking about at the time. I had just come into my mom powers and hadn’t understood all of it’s quirks. But now, after four years, I’ve pretty much figured it out. Follow your gut.

So I called the doctor at 4:30pm and they said they’d hold the last spot of the day (5pm) for me. Of course, Kulia was still fast asleep and we had rush hour traffic to get through but I’m a big fun of back streets. I worked my mom mojo and had both kids awake, diapered, snacked and in the car in 10 minutes flat and we arrived with 2 minutes to spare. Yes!

The doctor poked and prodded and nodded. The right side of Leina’s face from the front of her ear all down her jaw was swollen and hot. It felt like a large cyst was there. She was talking funny because it hurt to open her mouth and running a slight fever. After ruling out the mumps, (thank goodness for vaccines), the doctor concluded that she has a lymphnode that has gone wild. For whatever reason, it has turned on and is inflamed. By itself, it’s probably nothing that a good dose of medicine won’t fix. If, however, any further symptoms appear, we have some serious testing to do. By the time it was done, it was approaching 6pm and had to throw the girls back in the car and raced to the pharmacy to get her prescription filled before closing. Then, we hit CJ’s for a giant vanilla milkshake for my poor child with the sore jaw. Today, the fever is down and the swelling greatly reduced and Leina has her sparkle back. Phew. I’m hoping this is just some wierd one shot deal ’cause I don’t know how much more adventure we can take.

Poor Kevin, he came home around 7:30pm yesterday and we were still sitting around the table eating dinner. He was very confused but glad to hear his girl was A-OK.

Truth be told, I’m not big on doctors for myself. I moan and groan and avoid them unless I’m on death’s door. But for my kids, it’s a whole ‘nother story. I figure Kevin works very hard and we pay every month for insurance so I’m using it! For a mere $5 co-pay, I’d rather take my kid in and be told everything is fine than have my kids suffer one minute longer than necessary. So when my mom sense tingles, I dig out the five bucks and hit the road.

Now that the danger has been averted, I’ve thrown myself back to my tasks. My mom friend is having a little girl in about 2 weeks and I finally finished her baby gift. I’ve been pretty much stalking her about the baby’s name and she swears they’ve decided to go with Mya. I love making these name banners and I love it even more when the name is short! Lets just hope I spelled it right…

You ever had one of those days when life seemed set against you? Yeah, that was this morning.

Today was the annual trip to the pumpkin patch with Leina’s preschool class. The girls were so excited to pick pumpkins. Here in the burbs, there are alot of working farms around so a trip to the pumpkin patch involves petting every type of farm animal plus one, fresh pressed apple cidar, hay mazes and tractor rides. It’s really rather incredible. Especially coming from SoCal where the pumpkin patch was a corner lot next to the gas station that the local boyscouts manned with some old hay strewn about. Here, pumpkins are a big deal.

I think you can see why the girls were so excited. We had talked about it all week and I’ll admit I was a bit twittery too. I love holding baby chicks and petting fresh puppies as much as the next kid. I imagined myself sipping hot cidar, chatting with the other moms, while our adorable children ran amoungst fields of bright orange pumpkins squealing with delight. Ok, maybe a bit optomistic. Ok, maybe alot. But imagine my distress when Leina woke in a black funk claiming her tooth hurt her. Closer inspecting revealed that the side of her face was slightly swollen. She just had her dentist xrays 3 weeks ago so I knew it was nothing major. She has very very sensitve jaws and the slightest movement of her teeth causes her extreme pain. Trust me, I’ve seen this girl teething and it is hell on earth. Really. I had thought I was done once her 2 yr molars popped through but I guess not. Luck me.

Because her teeth hurt, she refused to eat. You think Leina with sore teeth is bad, try making her hungry as well. Like her father, Leina quickly turns grumpy when hungry. The idea of dragging her around a pumpkin patch with a swollen face and a grumbling stomach was not my idea of fun. However, I did survive teething and had learned a few trick of the mom trade. I am not about medicating my children so out came the tylenol. Add to that, thinly sliced banana wedges and lots of milk and I had her semi-human and we headed for the door with 2 minutes to spar. Of course, that’s when Kulia stopped, squatted, and announced “poopie mommmie!”

Oh my. But we made it. The animals and pumpkins were enough to keep Leina mildly entertained but she didn’t have a very good time. There was lots of whining, irrational tears because the pumpkins were too dirty, and mommy cursing artfully whispered under my breath. I’ve decided we will go again with Kevin once the tooth ache is passed for a second try. But I’me very disappointed that the stars were so misaligned this morning. Oh yes, and did I mention that Kevin has a 5:30pm conference call tonight and won’t be home ’til very very late?

But here are the best shots of my pumpkin girls. Enjoy.