Just thought I'd close the decade with a few of my favorite things that happened in the last ten years.

• April 2000 - met my lovely husband Eric
• May 2002 - graduated from college
• April 2003 - got married on a gorgeous April Saturday
• March 2004 - moved into the home that Eric built
• March 2005 - welcomed Kermit the dog into our home
• October 2006 - welcomed our beautiful daughter Ivy into our home
• November 2008 - welcomed our beautiful daughter Ada into our home
• September 2009 - moved into our home that Eric didn't build, but is improving daily

People keep talking about how crappy the noughties ('00's) were, but as you can see, the best memories of my life so far have occurred during this decade so I think it was a pretty darn good one. Happy New Decade!

Ok, so Lincoln has a few of these lights (mostly downtown) that have a countdown timer on the "don't walk" sign. I feel like this is the best invention ever, while other drivers seem to think it's a reason to slow down at green lights. I'll explain. So you're driving along and you notice the don't walk sign is blinking...normally, you'd just have to guess at when that light is going to turn yellow. Well, with the countdown sign, you get like a 12 second warning of when that yellow light is coming. So if you're 2 blocks away with 2 seconds left, you know that you can prepare to stop because you're not going to make it through the light. Last night, I was within 30 feet of the light with 3 seconds left and the car in front of me slowed down to a stop, BEFORE the light even turned yellow! So you see, it's both a blessing and a curse...but mostly a blessing...I hope they pop up around town more.

...for ear infections! Ivy woke up at 3am this morning complaining of ear pain, so she jumped in bed with us and kicked and tossed and turned until about 4:30am. After I realized that she finally fell asleep again I rolled over and thought to myself, this is great, I might actually get another couple hours of sleep! Then what to my wondering ears should I hear, but Ada crying at 5am!

Well, I headed off to work (in a hurry :)) and Eric stayed home with the girls and took them to the doctor. It was ironic because they were supposed to have their 3 week recheck on their ears Thursday. So while I made their appointment this morning, I went ahead and canceled Thursday's appointment. The doc said that both of Ivy's ears were very infected and bulging, and he wouldn't be surprised if they burst. Ada's right ear is also very infected. Sounds like the amoxicillin from last time didn't take care of it so he prescribed Augmentin. Hopefully that will do the trick. It seems like my kids always get ear infections around the holidays...but actually they get them plenty of times in between, so there's really no coincidence. {capdropper off}

• Singing the "Wonder Pets" theme song in the shower with Ivy (in tune!)
• Ada learning how to give kisses...and even make the kissing sound with her lips
• Never having to touch a snow shovel because my wonderful husband takes care of that
• Three snow days in one week
• A forgiving dog who seems to understand why I won't play outside with him and he still warms my feet
• Earning some money on the side to pay for Christmas presents
• Wrapping those presents in front of the fire while listening to Christmas music
• An offer to babysit the kids

HAPPY HOLIDAYS! {capdropper off}

So we're officially saying that Ada's walking now...and I have to say it's too cute for words. It seems so weird when you're used to them being either immobile or crawling their whole life. In other news, she's been pointing a lot and has started kissing on request. She responds more if you make a kissing noise and ask for a kiss, but sometimes she will do it just by asking. Also, she said "bye bye" to grandpa Jerry today, while waving. She loves dropping stuff to hear me say 'uh oh' and she tries to mimic me and so far has just said the 'uh' part of that phrase. She's getting tougher around her big sister and doesn't give up her toys as easily as she used to. I love watching her hold her own with that death grip. Here's a video of Ada walking a little bit.

{mp4}ada_walking{/mp4}

Since this seems like a monthly recurring post, I thought I'd start titling as such. I took the girls into the doctor today because Ivy woke up a couple times last night complaining of ear pain and Ada's been sick with a cold and cough for a couple weeks now. The doctor said they both have ear infections, Ivy's left ear and Ada's right ear. He prescribed some Amoxicillin and some ear drops that are supposed to help with the pain. I'm excited to see if they work because we've never been offered that prescription before. Mental note to self...find a drive-thru pharmacy in Lincoln BESIDES Walgreen's! UGH. It is so painful every time I go there, that I vow never to use them again. But the drive-thru is so much more convenient than taking two sick kids out in the cold so they can wait in the lobby there with a bunch of other sick people. That being said...Walgreen's drive-thrus are so worthless that I'd almost rather just go inside some mom and pop pharmacy...

I celebrated my 30th birthday with friends and family at Spaghetti Works in downtown Lincoln last night. We went early and ate dinner with the mine and Eric's families. Then went downstairs for hors d'oeuvres, cake and beer. I had a lot of fun and at the end of the night I got a taxi ride from a girl named Bridget. My brother Craig said that sounded like an alternate "It's a Wonderful Life" scene, showing me what I could've been...LOL.

As far as my feelings about turning thirty...didn't seem like it was much different. I will say that I feel old every time I hear that Taylor Swift song about being fifteen. It's kind of depressing when you can start saying things like '"fifteen years ago..." since I don't feel a day older than fifteen.

Oh well, thanks to all who helped me ring in  my new year...looking forward to my thirties...I guess...

I took the girls to Antelope Park today to get some shots of them with the fall foliage for their 1& 3 year pictures. It was a brisk morning so I had to keep their coats on the whole time, but the pictures turned out better than I expected. I had so much fun taking them, it reminded me of Mr. Bartek's photography class...minus the psycho teacher...

I took the girls to their new doctor for their checkups today, and they're both right on track for development. We started with Ada who tipped the scales at 23 lbs, which now puts her around the 80th percentile, which dropped a bit since last time. She was 30.75 inches long, which is in the 90th percentile, so she's quickly growing taller. Her head circumference is 18.25, which is at the 80th percentile. Ivy weighed about 32 lbs (60%) and was 38 inches tall (75%).

Alright, enough numbers already! Ivy got her first H1N1 shot - which she did not enjoy at all. Ada got Hep A, Varicella, PCV, & H1N1. I think this time tainted Ivy's idea of how fun the doctor's office is. She loved to play doctor and give everyone 'shots'...wonder if she'll think twice now. Dr Hurlbut said they were both doing everything they should be doing at their ages, so we were happy to hear that.

It's been a while since I've talked about something random so I thought of something that I wanted to discuss...joint accounts. This post will be directed toward those of you with a joint email, or social networking account. I don't mean to offend, but that drives me nuts!

Here's why:

1. Even though you're married, you're still a person in and of yourself. I'm not opposed to a woman taking her husband's last name (obviously),  but sharing accounts like that is like saying 'whatever you have to say to me, you can say to my husband/wife'. Which brings me to...
2. Maybe I don't want your husband/wife reading what I have to say to you. I'm not saying that I have anything really interesting/scandalous to say, but a lot of times the stuff I say doesn't mean anything to anyone but the person I intended to send it to (and could potentially be embarrassing for anyone else to read). Inside jokes, or stories from years gone by are not interesting to anyone outside of that situation. Case in point, go to any high school reunion and check out the look on the spouses faces...they can not wait to go home (unless of course they went to the same high school, in which case this point is defunct)...
3. They're free! It'd be different if you had to pay for email or networking logins, but they give them away to anyone for free! Take advantage!