Oink Oink

I know I know...I am past due to post pictures from Halloween and I will get them up soon. The Turtle and Snow White pictures will make their appearance shortly. :)

In the mean time let me occupy your mind with another story. My dad's company "Novartis" makes the season flu and now the H1N1 vaccines and are offering it to employees and families for free. Since my doctor's office does not have the H1N1 vaccine yet and don't know when they will get it my doctor recommended I get it where we can even though Samantha cannot get it at my dad's work b/c they are only offering it to kids over 4 years of age...Hannah just made the cut off! Our doctor also highly recommended I get Hannah the shot before her surgery/hospital stay next Friday but to keep in mind that it is possible to get a fever within 7 days of the shot and if she has a fever they will not do the surgery. Well that is a total catch 22 b/c we are now 7 days out from the surgery but I decided to go ahead and take the risk that she will not develop a fever and get her the shot to help keep her immune from any germs lurking around the hospital.

Originally I thought I was going to have to go to Emeryville where my dad works but he found out that the Novartis in Vacaville was administering the shots and arranged for us to go there instead. YAY! I left work this morning and off I went to go get my mom (she is up visiting) and then Hannah at school to go get this shot. Poor Hannah...she was all excited to see us only to find out the reason we were there was to get her this shot. She was fine the whole way there but became very shy when we arrived at the nurse's office. The nurse was very nice and gave Hannah a pink pig hat to wear which was great and I thought it would be a great distraction. Hannah wanted me to go first and she was fine watching me get the shot but when I told her it was her turn she went running out the door and down the hallway screaming "NO!". I really don't know where she thought she was going. Of course I caught up to her and brought her back in. She was now screaming "No I don't want to do this, I don't want a shot!". Being the sympathetic mother that I am I told her we could do this the nice way where she sits o my lap and I hold her hand while she is given the shot or we could do this the not nice way and I could pin her down and she could get the shot. She chose the first option...smart girl. All was somewhat o.k. until the shot hit her arm and then more screaming occurred and she tried to move but I held her tight. Then she screamed for like 5 minutes aftewards indicating that she did not like that. Sorry. And because she is under 9 we get to repeat this again in 3-4 weeks...good times.

Next week Adam and I get to tackle how to explain to her that she is having surgery on Friday...wish us luck. Any suggestions would be great!

Bye-Bye

Today Samantha is 10 months old and when I dropped her off at school this morning she waved bye-bye to me for the first time! In the past they were just half waves good-bye or you couldn't really tell if that is what she was intending to do, but this morning it was a completely intentional wave good-bye and really good looking wave too. Too bad I didn't have my camera on me. She also had a great smile while waving good-bye, it melted my heart. :)

Happy 4th Birthday Hannah!

I cannot believe that Hannah turns 4 today. I also cannot believe that she is sick with a low fever and I am sitting at home with her today while she is sick celebrating her birthday. She had her big princess party with her fellow princesses and princes on Sunday and then woke up with a fever Monday morning, which since then has remained low grade...enough to let you know you are sick but not enough to keep you down so she really doesn't think she is that sick and wants to do things, but we have to keep reminding her to rest. Ughhh!

Here are a few picks from the princess mania party...

The birthday princess...


Every princess has to do some swinging...


Some other Snow Whites that showed up to the party:




Having some fun...


And getting into a little mischief..


Having lunch...I set up little kids tables on the deck with table cloths and flowers in the center...it was cute...


All of Hannah & Samantha's cousins were there...Hannah was so excited and this was the first time they were all together as a group so we had to take a picture. It turned out really well!



Here is the royal group (with a few missing due to illness or the fact that they just did not want to be in the picture...


The fancy princess cakes...that's right we had two b/c Hannah wanted a round cake and so we needed to get two to feed everyone, plus the princess that went on top took up all the space on top of one so we had to get 2 to write on the other one...





And finally the present mob...believe it or not I am in there...somewhere...


The royal guests also did some decorating of sashes that I made for each of them with their name on it (you can see them in some of the above pictures) and they decorated crowns...all in all the arts in crafts were a big hit, so I am glad.

At then end, Hannah was trashed (perhaps her illness was already beginning to creep up on her)and so she laid down on the couch with her new princess blanket, opened up her ballerina music box and closed her eyes listening to the music...the princess needed her beauty sleep...


When Hannah gets back to school she will celebrate with her classmates and I will make a cupcake cake so the celebrations will still continue when the princess is feeling better.

I still cannot believe Hannah has gone from:

1st Birthday:


2nd Birthday:


3rd Birthday:


To the princess that she is today. :) Time flies when you are having fun. And we get to go through it all again with little Samantha. By the way Samantha had a great time at the party too...especially with the balloons...

Pumpkin Patch Day at Hannah's School

It was my turn this year to help Hannah's school on their annual pumpkin patch field trip since Adam participated last year b/c I was much too pregnant to attempt it. He was happy to hand it over to me this year. I borrowed our friend's truck b/c it had 2 forward facing car seats so we didn't have to do car seat swapping and I took their daughter Sydney along with Hannah to the pumpkin patch along with lots of other parents and children.

They both behaved great and it was a wonderful trip. They got to pick pumpkins...



Run through the hay maze...



Pet animals...



I love this picture...this poor cat...



And I love this picture too...Sydney seems really interested in this bunny ear...



Hannah was not too sure about the chicks or the ducks...to wriggly I think...




They also got to go on a tractor ride...



The two well behaved girls and me...


Then we loaded up the truck with a lot of the pre-school class pumpkins and headed back to school.



When we got back to school both of the girls were very excited to help unload the pumpkins and came outside with me for each of the 5 trips I took to unload them all and each time took a pumpkin each and helped bring it inside for their friends. Very helpful! All in all a great outing. :)

BTW...Happy Birthday to Jenny, Kate, & Cindy...I know way too many people born today!

What the What?!

I have a really bad headache, so I go to our back office to look for some Tylenol. There is none to be found but I run into Paul, and EXB professor also in the back room. I ask him if he happens to have Tylenol in his office and he says yes...score! So I follow him to his office down the hall and he hands me his bottle of Tylenol from a drawer. I look at it and think "this bottle looks a little old". So I decided to turn it over to look at the expiration date and to my surprise I see 4/95...yes that's right folks it is 14 years old!!! I of course inform Paul that his Tylenol is 14 years old and he says "oh, I don't believe in that stuff". Well I don't believe in it if it is a couple of months old, but 14 years!!! My god!! I kindly hand his bottle back and say thanks but no thanks.

So next I call our Training Room, luckily they of course have some and are willing to give me some. So down I go and one of the student athletic trainers hands me the Tylenol and in the room are several student-athletes getting worked on and other trainers. Also in the room is our Men's Locker Room Asst., Joe. Really nice guy but sometimes I don't think there is a filter on what he says because he turns to me in front of all these people and says "Hey Nicole can you take that while you are still breastfeeding?". Of course everyone turns to look at me and I have to kindly inform him that I am done breastfeeding but thanks for being concerned about me. He says he is just looking out for me...again sweet, but the concern coming from a male co-worker is a little funny to me and in front of a lot of student-athletes and trainers makes it even funnier. But I have my Tylenol and hopefully my headache will be gone soon.

Rain, Rain, Rain, please go away!!

We have our first official storm of the season and while most people enjoy the rain I DO NOT!! Here is a little story of why I do not like the rain:

I left for work this morning at 8:25am by car, and 45 minutes LATER I got to work. This trip should have taken 10 minutes tops! For some reason when it rains people find the need to drive like it is snowing outside in whiteout conditions and lose all sense of how to drive...of course this drives me nuts!! Come on people, you do not need to drive 15 mph down the road...25 is already slow enough you will manage to stop or avoid something if you are driving that slow already. Really it is just water, not snow or ice. Then of course god forbid a tree branch has fallen down in the road, people then really lose all sense of what they should do. It is really quite simple, slow down and go AROUND it...do not stop, think about it for a while and then VERY slowly proceed to go around it, just go already...it is not going to jump out and bite you.
With a storm for some reason a lot of traffic lights seem to go out, which then of courses causes a lot of backup b/c it is too difficult for people to understand the art of stopping and taking turns going once you have stopped. Either they all go at the same time or everyone waits way too long to let someone else go first, which then causes a traffic jam a mile long.
I finally make it downtown to find that the railroad sensor has probably malfunctioned probably due to the wind and the railroad guards are down for no particular reason what so ever causing another huge backup. After I make a u-turn with several other cars and make a large detour through Davis to go over Covell,which bypasses the track, but not before again being slowed down by the drivers scared to drive in rain and by obstacles in the road.
Next I finally make it to campus which again has a HUGE back up b/c now I have made it just in time for the 9am class traffic and the line of cars to turn into campus is long and then comes another long line to get into the parking structure. I of course need to buy a permit b/c I don't have one since I normally walk from downtown where I park for free and everyone else of course is buying permits today so there is another long line for that. I choose to risk it and bypass the line for permits to get a parking spot first since I am worried they will be all taken. Then I figure I will go to my office put my things down and then go back out and buy a permit b/c the line should have dwindled by then. The only spots left are on the top level which is exposed to the elements and as I jump out of the car the rain and wind hit me and practically blow me over as I try to open my umbrella. I get down 2 flights of stairs before I realize that I must have dropped my car keys somewhere b/c I cannot find them so I go back up the stairs (which are uncovered by the way so I am getting pelted with rain and wind) and when finally back on the top level a nice lady has picked them up for me and hands them to me b/c she found the on the ground. I say "thank you" and then head back down the 4 flights of stairs and the short run to the building. Of course now it is after 9am I am drenched from that short little run in the rain even though I had a raincoat on and an umbrella! People at my work thought I walked in from off campus and are quite surprise to find out I just came from the parking structure. Of course I now have to go back out to the parking structure to purchase my permit that I chose not to wait in line for and find that that was a huge mistake on my part b/c when I get out there, there is a still a long line for permits, so now I have to wait behind a car but without being in the comfort of my own car. In addition, there are idiots who chose to purchase a permit with 6 crumpled $1 bills so it takes them like 10 minutes to purchase a permit b/c the bills keep going in and out...just use a freaking card already!!!! I finally buy my permit, run up the 4 flights of uncovered stairs, put the permit in my car, run down 4 flights of uncovered stairs and back into the office. By now it looks like I just came out of the shower, again even though I had a raincoat and an umbrella and what I really need is a blow dryer for my hair and brand new shoes b/c mine are soaking wet! Luckily I have a small heater so I prop up my shoes to dry them but in the mean time I have no shoes. I consider making temporary shoes out of kleenex boxes (like on the last episode of "The Office") but b/c of budget cuts we no longer get kleenex boxes. So here I sit at work bare foot, wet from the knees down, wet hair and really wishing this rain would go away.

THE END

P.S. Hannah came up with a great new reason to get out of bed this morning...she claims she was pretending Pluto was barking so she had to come sleep in our bed. I told her to just not pretend he was barking and she wouldn't have this problem but she said that he has been barking all night b/c she was pretending he was barking. That is a new one I haven't heard of before. I have to give her creativity points. :)

TARGET IS OPEN IN DAVIS!!!

I never thought I would see this day but it has finally arrived here in Davis and they even opened early!! Target was not suppose to open until this weekend, so imagine my surprise when Adam called my on Tuesday after he picked up the girls from school to let me know that Target was officially opening that day and they were having all sorts of free stuff there and Music Matt was playing there. Well this definitely was a reason to get off of work early, so I left a 1/2 hour early and off to the Target celebration we went.

They had free food, free pharmacy samples, free ballon making people, free face painting, a free bouncy house, free snow cones and to top it all off Music Matt was rockin' the house! That was Hannah's favorite b/c every Tuesday afternoon she takes music lessons with Music Matt at her school and really enjoys it. So here she is on stage with Music Matt singing her "ABCs".





Music Matt also had a drum set there for the little ones to use to rock out on and Hannah took full advantage.





We decided to use the Target shopping cart as a high chair for Samantha to feed her dinner...yeah we are classy, but you gotta do what you gotta do when you are celebrating at Target. :)



Even Samantha is happy that Target is open in Davis (although from the looks of this picture she could use a hair cut...her hair is gettin' a little shaggy).



Now if we can only get a Trader Joe's to come to Davis our little world here would be complete and I really would only have to leave to go to Costco...although that is not too far up the road in Woodland.

Last night Survivor was on and b/c I am a true Survivor fan I put watching the show ahead of putting my kids down to sleep...yeah I know I am a horrible mother. No really Adam put Samantha down but I decided to let Hannah watch a little of Survivor with me. Lately Hannah has been a huge pain in the you know what so I decided if we spent a little Mama and Hannah time together watching Survivor she might enjoy it (don't worry I am planning on some other more quality one on one time with Hannah this weekend not involving the TV) and she did. She of course had A LOT of why questions about the show and while in the past she has seen bits and pieces of Survivor she has never seen the voting off process. This brought up a whole host of why questions and I basically told her that all these people are camping and some are not very helpful or kind so they are deciding who to send back home that way. Since Hannah has not been very helpful or kind lately I figured this was a good analogy to use...of course this may just scar her for life b/c she might think we are going to vote to send her away...although that why question never came up. Maybe it will improve her behavior. :)