February Where Are You?

January has been a rough month for us Zollners.... we started it off with a NASTY seven day long bout of stomach flu for Maddy (and then an abbreviated version for lucky Jason). Then we got two new teeth which is always a bummer. Then yet ANOTHER, albeit much shorter, round of stomach flu the past few days and two more teeth on the verge of coming through. #15 and #16, then we are DONE with those little buggers for a while. I suppose the good news is that the month is almost over and February has to be healthier for all of us (more sleep for mama included in that wish!). In the midst of the spewing of bodily fluids (the tremendous volume of which is completely amazing coming from a 23 pound little person), our dryer died. So I have mounds of dirty laundry taunting the obsessive side of my personality. Before it died I was in the middle of doing a bunch of laundry so I had two huge loads that were clean and wet with no place to efficiently dry them. We had underwear hanging from our overhead fans and socks and shirts and pants and towels draped over every possible piece of furniture. Our wonderful neighbors Gary and Ev (Gary went to high school with my Dad, how crazy is that? From Corvallis to Kirkland and Gresham and then they meet again 40 years later) let us borrow their dryer to dry towels (17 of them!!) because you just have to have towels around when you are dealing with the level of nasty that had invaded Maddy's system. We have a lead on a used dryer that matches our new(ish) washer that we will check out tomorrow. If that doesn't pan out then it is off to Best Buy for me because I simply can not handle the piles any longer. Using a laundromat is just more than I can bear at this point. The thought of hauling all that stinky laundry to a public place and spending goodness knows how much to get never-quite-dry-laundry-no-matter-how-many-quarters-you-drop-in-the-slot while Maddy continues to leak from every possible orifice is just overwhelming to me. Sigh. February, where are you....won't you please come quickly????

playing with Grandma

Maddy loves playing with her Grandma more than with anybody else. Here are some shots of our recent visit. Maddy especially enjoys her finger puppets and her little blue chair that are special toys at Grandma's house.

Snow Baby

Maddy got two rounds of big snow, first in Seattle and then once we got home. She isn't sure what she thinks of it, but she likes looking at it through the window more than being in it. But she sure looks cute in her winter snow clothes. I added a picture of us trying to stuff her in it because she was so not happy about all the layers. My Mom says that when we lived in Wisconsin she would get both of us all stuffed and ready to go and inevitably someone would say "Mama, I gotta go pee". I'm glad it doesn't snow here all that often because it was an aerobic workout trying to bundle her.

Super Sonic

My Dad and Jason went to a Sonics game for Jason's birthday last weekend. (But his birthday is today if anyone wants to bring us some cake!!!) They bought Maddy a little warm up outfit while they were there.

Wise Words

THE DAILY GROOVE ~ by Scott Noelle www.enjoyparenting.com/dailygroove
Riding Coattails ::
When practicing the Art of Unconditionality, hopefulness and optimism can help you make peace with unwanted conditions and behavior. You can talk yourself into a more optimistic groove by "riding the coattails" of past successes -- yours or others'. Suppose your child is taking a long time to fall asleep, and you're feeling frustrated. Instead of thinking, "He's *never* going to fall asleep," which makes you feel worse, recall past situations that turned out well: "He *always* falls asleep eventually,and there *have* been times when he went out like a lightbulb."Then focus on your own experience: "I've handled challenges like this before... I'm good at waiting when I relax into it... Some of my most satisfying experiences involved a lot of waiting, and I've always said it was worth the wait..." Etc. A feeling of relief will wash over you as you release resistance and make peace with What Is. Paradoxically, outer conditions and behaviors are more likely to change once you no longer "need" them to.
http://dailygroove.net/riding-coattails

Spur of the Moment Adventure

Spur of the moment last weekend we decided to go down to Philomath. My parents were there and Maddy and I were looking for something to do, so we joined them.

We had a great time outside all bundled up but then Maddy's hands got all dirty and she didn't like that at all.

And then later inside we were reading books and listening to the Seahawks game on the radio. Even Maddy's ridiculous cuteness couldn't keep Grandma's attention during the last few moments and she had to do some serious fist pumping and yee hawing when they won. Her face cracks me up in the photo!

Maddy also had to throw some little baby fits when we wouldn't let her go up near the road. This is a hard age to hear "no" and she let us know it! Her intensity amazes us, but we just acknowledge her feelings, continue to set limits and then it passes really quickly. You have to zoom in on the picture to see her face, but it is definitely full of passion - she is certainly expressive. Wonder where she gets that???