I took Ada to an ENT doc today to check out our options for her recurring ear infections. It was fairly quick and painless, except for the part where I had to hold Ada down in the chair while he stuck what looked like an ice pick in her ear. That part had me a bit perturbed. He just used it to get a little wax out of the way, yet I couldn't help but think to myself 'mister, if my daughter bucks or moves slightly, that ice pick will pierce her brain'. Thankfully with the nurse holding her head down, we were safe. He recommended that we put tubes in her ears since she's had 6 infections in the last 5 months, so we'll do that on the 3rd of March. Hopefully that will help...

Well, it's that time again...I took Ada to the doctor this morning because she's been acting like she has another ear infection. Sure enough her right ear is infected so she's on Omnicef again. She has her well baby checkup in 10 days so he'll see her then and if it's not better we're going to see an ENT specialist to talk about whether or not she might benefit from getting tubes. I'm all for it, if it means uninterrupted sleep for all of us again! I've heard mixed reviews on tubes, so I'm not totally confident that they would take care of things, but it'd be nice to try something besides the army of antibiotics that she's been on in the last few months.

Sometimes I think of little things that I want to write about, while I'm at work, but they wouldn't necessarily deserve an entire post. This one goes out to them...

• Now I know I work in an office with like 900 people or something, so I don't expect to know everyone's name or anything. But if you're walking down the hall alone, and you meet someone, wouldn't the polite thing to do be to say hello, or at least smile? You wouldn't believe the people that look at the ground when I smile at them, or just keep walking when I say hello. At times, I've thought of just throwing in the towel and not doing either, but that feels so awkward...
• Why does it have to be like 50 degrees in our suite of this building? I mean the rest of the building seems to be toasty warm, but seriously, as I type this, my fingers feel like they're halfway to hypothermia. The silver lining is that I've been able to wear a lot of my "hot" (think temperature) stuff, that I usually can't stand because I hate being hot (much more than being cold). So I've gotten a lot of usage out of those fleece sweatshirts, and wool sweaters, so I guess that's alright.
• I've been bringing pretty much the same thing to work for lunch every day since we moved to this new building, some sort of microwave soup or beef stew, some yogurt, chips and a coke. How is it that the people that make these soup and yogurt containers can't figure out how to make a top that doesn't splatter everywhere when you remove it? I've learned that I need to put the soup on the counter and hold it as far away from me as possible, but it still seems to make it somewhere on my shirt, and undeniably on the counter...same with the yogurt. They must be the same people that think the "press here to open" notches actually work on the shells 'n cheese boxes. (has anyone ever really pressed those open using only their fingers?)
• We have to use badges to get into the building or into a specific suite and I totally get that, I think it's a great thing. But, what happens when you're walking out of the building and someone else is walking in. They didn't bother to get their badge out because they see you coming. So am I supposed to walk out and close the door behind behind me, in their face (can you imagine how rude and kind of funny that would be)? I always hold it open for them, but as I walk away I hope that I don't hear the faint sound of gun shots and screaming. They'd look back at the security tapes to find me practically inviting this gun-wielding stranger into our building.

Well that's all I can think of for now, feel free to add your own in the comments...

So as you may know, Ivy has quite the imagination. A while back, she started pretending she was a tiger, growling and crawling around. Eric bought her a little beanie baby tiger  to add to the fun. Sometimes she wants Eric or me to play the tiger and "get her". Now Is it wrong that we exploit that to get her ready in the morning, or at night? If we pretend that the tiger's coming to "get her" and she needs to put her clothes on so he can't see her? When I say it out loud, it sounds so reprehensible, but it's so effective. I just worry that she might develop a fear of wild animals...which, when I say that out loud...doesn't seem all that bad. I mean who wouldn't be afraid of a wild tiger? I mainly just wanted to blog about this because I don't want to forget some of these ridiculous things that we do to accomplish what should be the simplest of tasks.

I just had to post this story about something Ivy said tonight because it was so cute and so innocent. We were driving through McDonald's (gimme a break) and she said she wanted ice cream. I told her she needed to eat food first and then maybe we'd have ice cream at home. She started crying and wanted me to open the window so she could tell the guy that she wanted ice cream. I didn't let her, which now that I think about it, I should have. haha. I digress. So as we're waiting for our food, she calmed down a little bit, and she says something about being sad. Then she says it again, and again and I finally listened to what she was saying. She said 'mommy, I licked my sad'. I was thinking to myself, 'what the hell is she talking about?'. Then I turned around and she was licking her face where her tears were running. OMG, I was like 'that's the cutest thing I've ever heard'. You just don't think about how you'd describe something if you didn't know what it was called. I think she did a pretty good job...

I took the girls to the doctor for their 2 week ear recheck this morning...brace yourself...neither one has an ear infection...for now...

Ivy's really making herself at home these days when we go to the doctor. When she got out of the car she waved at an elderly couple walking into the building, then she talked to them in the elevator. She asked the doctor if he wanted a cheerio and couldn't believe it when he politely declined (he had already eaten breakfast). On the way out, she told the guy in the elevator that she wanted to press the button and proceeded to show him the new princess sticker she got at the doctor. He either had a daughter of his own, or a Disney princess fetish because he knew Ariel's name and something tells me he would've listed the others' by name if we had more time. Then she waved and yelled bye to him when she saw him getting into his truck. I thought about using that experience as a segue into my "don't talk to strangers' speech, but she's just coming out of her shell and it's too cute to discourage...for now...

Ada's as sweet as ever, but getting a new tooth on the bottom left that must be a toughie, cause she's been waking at night/early in the morning. She's socializing more too and you can tell she wants to name things. She points to everything and says "D" or  "E", it's pretty cute.

On the way to work this morning I heard the song "Cruel Summer" by Bananarama and I was instantly transported to the beach with Ralph Macchio and Elizabeth Shue playing soccer in Karate Kid. I love how music can remind you of things and places or a certain time of your life. I still think that the best music came out when I was in high school or college. I'm starting to sound like my dad when he listens to oldies from the 60's because he thinks that is the best music ever made. I think it's really just because it reminds him of when he was in school and he looks back fondly on those years. I find myself excited to listen to the 90's at noon on the radio because it's a whole hour of great songs. That being said, it makes me feel old because I remember when they used to play crappy 70's or 80's songs all the time as a "retro hour" or whatever they used to call it. I used to say something about how those songs are so old and no one wants to hear them anymore, put them to rest already! So are high school kids saying that about the 90's & early 00's music that I love so much? That's where I start to feel old, and I don't like it.

Speaking of crappy songs that need to be put to rest, I've started making mental notes when I hear them so I can list them on my blog. Here are a few that I can remember, feel free to add more songs as you see fit.

• Takin' Care Of Business by Bachman-Turner Overdrive
• Celebration by Kool & The Gang
• We Are Family by Sister Sledge
• Anything by the Spin Doctors
• Anything by Nickelback

There are so many more, but I can't think of them now. I knew I should've been writing them down...oh well. As always, comments are welcomed!

So we didn't waste any time in the new year to add to the string of ear infections. We took the girls to the doctor today because Ivy was up last night complaining that her ears hurt again and Ada has been acting cranky off and on for a while. Turns out Ivy had a new infection so she's on Augmentin again. He doesn't think Ada's right ear has ever gotten better, because it's always the same one and it's never been clear since October, so she's on Biaxin this time. He thought if it doesn't get better in two weeks that we'll probably take her to a specialist to see what they say.

Ivy wore her purple leopard print pajamas to the doctor because it was one of those 'pick your battles' mornings. So Dr. Hurlbut was making small talk with her, talking about the snow and a goose that walked by his window the other day. She interrupts him and says "Doctor, look at my [insert stuffy nosed b instead of a p] bajamas".  It's so precious to see her strike up conversations with adults.

What better way to spend the Christmas holiday then snowed in at Grandma Margie and Grandpa Jerry's house? And that's just what we did. My sister's family even made it home in the nick of time before the interstate was closed. Craig was able to fly in from CA before the weather came around. We spent a lot of time eating, laughing, opening gifts, and playing the Wii that Eric and I got from my parents. The girls got lots of new toys including a Wonder Pets fly boat, the Bugbsy reading system, clothes, a purse and lots of other fun stuff.

We went to the Hale's house tonight for the kids' daycare Christmas party. We had a lot of fun and the kids got to sit on Santa's lap and open some presents. Tiffany got them teddy bears and books and gave us a picture of all the daycare kids. Here are a couple pictures from the night...