Just Hanging

We seem to be hanging in there given the past few weeks of illness running rapid through the house. Sarah is on antibiotics now due to an ear infection. But spirits are high so life is good. Here are a couple of pictures from the past couple of weeks.

Cuddling post nap on our bed and watching Mickey Mouse. Cuddling helps make the sickies go away.

Oh yeah, life is good when you can enjoy a cookie. The best darn cookies are the Newman's Own Organic Oreo type cookies.

Running with Elmo and saying "cheese" at the same time.

Time for ball exercises.Sock Moose gets his turn on the ball.

Eating my words...

Sure enough after I blogged about Sarah's bout with the flu bug, I knew I'd be eating my words in regards to her turning the corner to recovery. Her flu bug was followed by a pretty good cold. Come Tuesday night, I had the flu bug and was couch bound all day Wednesday. Thank goodness Kirk stayed home to help out. On Thursday, I had Sarah's cold and seemed to be on the road to recovery with the flu (though to this day my stomach still isn't quite right). On Friday Kirk woke up with the cold and yesterday all three of us were sick, though Sarah is getting better, especially in spirits and food intake. Plus Kirk and I were losing our voices yesterday but are slowly getting them back today. Good times. I've learned my lesson....never blog about your kid being sick. You will be punished with the same misfortune.

Other than that, life is good.

Serenity now!

It's been an interesting few days here...to the point when we scream "Serenity now!"

We started Sarah out in the day care last week for 2 hours on both Thursday and Friday. It's part of the easy introduction back into day care approach. ha! Come Saturday night, she was vomiting up through yesterday afternoon followed by the worst diarrhea ever experienced to date with her. Holy bejesus! I took her to the doctor yesterday afternoon to make sure we weren't fighting something beyond the average run of the mill bug and it seems we are doing just that. Our orders were to keep her hydrated. As of now, nap time, we have stayed clear of both vomit and out of control poo. I'm sure I will be eating my words later today. She is starting to eat though slowly and is very picky. We are interested in playing again as well. However, she woke up this morning with green yuck coming from the nose and a slight cough. How about we just get it all in one week?! Good times. And to top it off, she threw a massive fit this morning with foot stomping to boot because she wanted to watch Mickey Mouse on the TV when I was trying to watch the big hoopla around Obama. There was a point when the parent hat came off and I just sat there and laughed. It was a sight. Poor little red headed girl with green goo coming from the nose doing a soldier's march for a mouse. Again...Serenity now!

If you're happy and you know it shout Hurray!

The New Year has gotten off to an interesting start on many fronts. First off, Sarah's homemade fort was recently upgraded to a cool tent. It's an indoor/outdoor "Flower Shop" from the best store in town Target, and is tons of fun. Since our little baby girl is inching closer to an almost two year old, she is starting to get a bit more bossy..."Mama, house" or "Dada, house" is repeated over and over until you either a. go to the tent/house to play or b. mentally prepare for a meltdown/whine session. If it's around the dinner hour and you are trying to prepare the meal, a shot of wine or a cool IPA helps with option b. above when option a. won't work because you are wrestling pots and pans.

Next, we received an unexpected call yesterday. The day care spot we've been hoping for since we accepted the job offers with ConocoPhillips in June 2008 was now available for Sarah to occupy. It's a great place that is very similar to the BP Early Learning Center which Sarah attended while we lived in Anchorage. So, she will start out slow the later part of this week and then on a regular basis starting next Monday. I received confirmation from ConocoPhillips that my start date is targeted to be February 9th! I'll be working part time as an operations excellence/continuous improvement engineer. From the tidbits Kirk shares with me, it sounds like one of my first tasks is to help institute an Management of Change process for the San Juan business unit. It should be a great experience and I'm looking forward to working again. But on the flip side, I'm also very sad to not be with Sarah all day like we are now. I don't want to miss a minute of her growing up. It's that constant internal dilemma for a working mom. At this point we will give it a try and hope for the best.

Ring in the New Year

We had a great visit with Kirk's parents to finish off the Christmas celebration and ring in the New Year. They were very kind to take care of Sarah one day so Kirk and I could hit the slopes for the first time in a very long time. That was an awesome day! It started out with a stop at Durango Joe's as soon as we rolled into Durango for a very yummy breakfast burrito and coffee. Once we arrived at the resort, it was blue bird conditions with an abundance of sunshine. Neither Kirk nor I skied Durango Mtn Resort (aka Pugatory) until now and we had a blast. We made an attempt to cover the entire mountain by 3pm. It's nice to be back in Colorado enjoying the wonderful mountains like the good ol'days.

Sarah with Gaga and Papa.

Papa in the fort playing with Sarah's laptop and having a great time.Durango Mountain Resort

New Years Eve was nice and relaxing. The day started with the crew making our way to the Riverwalk to feed the ducks. We took a bag of popcorn but that ended up not being enough for the crowd of ducks and geese in the area. It was another blue bird day with lots of sun...we just can't get enough of the sun. We celebrated that night by playing a game of cribbage once Sarah was in bed while enjoying wine and pie. We watched the ball drop in NYC live at 10pm MST on CNBC and were in bed shortly after by 10:30pm. We were hoopin it up big time!

So, now it's back to 'normal' as the New Year starts. Saying goodbye to the holiday treats, drinks and general laid back attitude will be hard. We have great hopes for the New Year including the slight chance I can finally start work if we are lucky enough to get a day care spot. We look forward to more skiing along with camping, fishing, hiking and other adventures the New Year holds. We wish everyone the best as well.

Happy New Year!

New Year...New Look

What does a person do on New Years Day but update their blog page? Thanks to the Gage Family blog for the idea.

Merry Christmas - Part I

Merry Christmas 2008!

We had a wonderful Christmas this year. Christmas Eve wasn't as we initially planned starting with not one single person at Durango Mtn Resort having information about Santa's visit...good thing we called in advance before piling into the car for the drive. They claim there was a misprint in a few publications. That was a bit disappointing but we hope to see St Nick in person next year. So it was status quo...Kirk worked and Sarah/I went to the gym.

We woke up Christmas morning to beautiful white, peaceful snow! It was great and I have to admit I was giddy. Kirk and I are convinced the big guy upstairs is taking it easy on us our first year away from Alaska. We snuggled in our bed with Sarah for a bit after she woke up and I pulled her out of her crib. But soon after she declared "eats", which means it was time to feed the child, we made our way to the kitchen. After breakfast we convinced Sarah to follow us to the living room to see what "Santa had left for her". She was skeptic at first and a bit overwhelmed once she realized what was going on...where did all of these new toys come from? But soon, she was having a great time in her new kitchen and playing with her zoo animals. Uncle Andy and Aunt Laurie gave Sarah a Fisher Price Little People Doll House which was a great hit along with the frog Grandma Ann made for her. Kirk and I sat back to enjoy the wonders of Christmas through our daughter's eyes. What a true blessing.

Part II of the celebration will hopefully continue tomorrow when Kirk's parents arrive. The snow storm that hit us in Farmington also did a number on the San Juan mountains including Telluride and Durango. So road conditions aren't the best between Delta, CO and Farmington. We hope the weather will allow Kirk to fly the Cessna tomorrow to pick his folks up and bring them back here to finish off the Christmas celebration and ring in the New Year.

The scene after Santa left the house Christmas Eve.

Molly Moose! She came from the Build-A-Bear shop in Chandler, AZ. We felt Molly was the perfect name. Molly is a must have in the crib for naps and bedtime now.

Playing with the zoo animals.

Wow! The kitchen oven, microwave and stone top all make sounds plus have buttons!

Having a blast with the doll house in her chef outfit.

Enjoying her candy cane and digging for more treats in the stocking.

After opening and playing for a bit, it was time for a snack. Her new frog was the lucky one who got to share snack.

We hope everyone had a great holiday!