Update as of late

It's been sometime since the last post. After my published detail of the trials and tribulations of dealing with the consistent wave of illness with Sarah, Kirk and I proceeded to get hit. Kirk continued his fight with the man cold but this time the battle seemed to be easier. He did some research online to find a homeopathic site detailing the healing powers of apple cider vinegar. It's nature's antibiotic of sorts: 2 teaspoons and 8 oz of water 2-4 times per day and poof, you are healed.

I, on the other hand, looked like this two weeks ago. (minus the blood, sweat and my pained look was less dramatic) Two trips to two different doctors, two different eye antibiotics to kill the pink eye I caught from Sarah, another dose of antibiotics for an upper respiratory/sinus infection and a shot of steroid in the rear to combat seasonal allergies and I'm cured! (kind of) Last week I battled a new cold and chest congestion and this past weekend Sarah was coughing up a lung. It doesn't help that mother nature keeps us guessing on a daily basis and things are in full bloom. 70's and sun, then cold, windy, snow, cold, windy, warm, windy, cold, more snow and now sunshine today. But I think at this point, I'll take the random southwest weather over Alaska's cold, snowy and now ash fall plagued spring.

Let's see...

Let's see...

Three days of throw up (Sun-Tues) followed by discolored goop in the eyes on Wed leading to sealed shut and swollen eyes yesterday morning. I finally threw the towel in and made the trip to the doc yesterday where we found out that Sarah has a double ear infection and pink eye. The doctor was amazed on how calm, cool and collected she was given what he witnessed in her ears. So needless to say, we are in the midst of another battle with the day care cooties.

I must give a shout out to the following for helping make the past week a bit more bearable in dealing with my limp noodle daughter:

1. Dr Seuss rocks! Particularly, "Horton Hears a Who" movie, the Cat in the Hat and Robert the Rose Horse books. Thank you, thank you, thank you! We now have a small obsession with movie so have decided to make "Horton" the main birthday theme for next week's celebration.

2. Annie's cheddar bunny crackers, Horizon Cheddar Cheese slices, New Mexico tortillas, Honey Nut Cheerios and fresh berries. That's the list of food that Sarah was remotely interested in and kept down for the most part once we turned the corner on the throw-up episodes.

3. The Gucci of antibiotics that even with insurance co-pay costs $70. Good times. And, Tylenol.

4. Corona. I needed a cool adult beverage at the end of the day a couple of times this week to help me find my center again.

I hope that in the end, Sarah has a strong immune system like a steel trap come kindergarten. Oh and now I have a husband with a man cold to finish off the week and carry us into the weekend. :-)

On a positive side, even though her eyes were swollen again this morning (she could be a mini-Rocky Balboa if it were Halloween) my daughter is now singing, laughing and eating well again.

School and Skiing

Sarah's first school picture @ 23 months.

Last week was a busy one and this week hasn't been so great. We are battling another round of the flu bug or at least just Sarah. But she seems to be getting better, knock on wood.

We attended Sarah's first school gig last week. It was a spring concert with the babies through pre-K classes. Each class wore something different to highlight the various elements of spring. The kids sang 7 nursery rhyme type songs but that was mostly the older kids. The younger ones, including Sarah, sat in their chairs remarkably well and stared out to the crowd like deer in headlights. Sarah participated on occasion with the teacher sitting next to her egging her on. It was super cute. Plus she finally fit into a dress that I purchased for her in Anchorage many moons ago.

Kirk and I went skiing with our new gear last Friday at Purgatory. It was nice to finally ski on gear that was comfortable. The snow was hard packed and starting to get slushy at the bottom which is another sign that spring is definitely in the air. We had plans to go on Friday again, but given the battle with sick kid plus flu, we are going to take a rain check and maybe get up there one more time before the mountain closes early April. We will see.

I never wore a helmet before on the hills but really liked the new one I purchased. It was warm!

Sarah's 2nd birthday is on the 30th but we are going to celebrate next weekend with both sets of grandparents. We are hoping everyone is happy and healthy for the big celebration.

Sarah in the bathroom with us "getting ready" for the day. Love the accessories.

My helper while I wrap presents for our friends. Kirk put the ribbon on her head.

Cats, Gear and Catholics

We went to the Farmington Library on Monday to celebrate Read Across America and Dr. Seuss' birthday. They put on a bilingual puppet show (English and Spanish) of "Green Eggs and Ham" and Cat in the Hat himself stopped by to visit with the kids for photo ops. Sarah was interested in the cat once he left her sight but if ever in her sight, she freaked big time with the full on climbing up my chest and holding on for dear life while crying. Good times. She still asks about the cat and we get out of the repeated questioning by saying the cat went to Texas. Random, I know, but the questioning usually stops.

Sarah with her "Cat in the Hat" hat at the library.

Sarah wearing her hat again at home and sporting her new CSM sweatshirt. Go Orediggers!Our trips to Durango last weekend were successful on many fronts. We finally got to eat at Steamworks Brewery which had one heck of an IPA on tap (a close competitor to Moose Tooth IPA), I ran a good 5k race on Saturday and we now own quality downhill ski gear (we got smokin deals!). We have already blocked out the calendar this month for a least two trips to Purgatory (Durango Mtn Resort) before they close shop for the season in April.

Kirk showing Sarah how to climb at the park in Durango.Cutie pie!!
Good run.

Sarah sacked out in the car in her pjs post dinner and shopping in Durango.

Ready to go for another trip to Durango on Saturday morning to cheer on mom. I think she had everything she needed: Elmo, panda bear, Pooh book about Easter eggs, water and sunglasses. Whew!

Kirk and I also wanted to post the picture below for some time but kept forgetting to bring the camera. We drive by these signs on a daily basis on our way to/from work. Leave it to the Catholics (I'm a 'recovering Catholic' as a friend put it) to place guilt on the patrons of the adult video store. Got to love it.

Sarah having a difficult morning. She has major bed head just like mama.Life is better after a bowl of "O's".

Life is good

The trip to Pagosa Springs Resort and Wolf Creek was great last weekend. The hot springs was much needed after a day of skiing. Wolf Creek was a fun, small resort and the sunshine was fantastic. We were able to enjoy beer from a Durango brew pub called Steamworks and it was good. The only downside to the day was dealing with our not so great rentals. We decided that renting equipment was for the birds and are making efforts to find some deals. I picked up a set of skis, bindings and poles before leaving Anchorage but still need boots...good ones that don't pinch, bind, etc. Kirk needs the whole shooting match. So we are headed to Durango this weekend to a huge sale at the fairgrounds.

The sun was great and the views were awesome!

Yummy beer after a day on the slopes.

We are doing well otherwise. I'm running another 5k race tomorrow in Durango along the Animas River. It should be nice. Kirk hopes to make it flying this weekend possibly with a co-worker who has expressed interest. Next weekend we are hosting a house warming party and the weekend after that we hope to make it up to Delta, CO to see Kirk's parents and cousins.

Sarah modeling the sweater and matching socks she received from Mikie for Christmas. I love the toddler smile with the wrinkled nose and full on teeth. Elmo is her main critter lately...he goes everywhere with us.

Mama needs to brag!

This week, my baby girl has amazed both Kirk and I. I feel obligated to brag just a bit. She tried to get past Kirk who was blocking her way around the ottoman the other night. She said "excuse me dada" in her Sarah way. We just looked at each other with big grins. She says "excuse me" frequently now including after she burps. Very cool. She also said "mama rocks" after we asked to repeat it but it still was pretty neat!

She is showing positive signs for potty training as well. While I was swimming tonight, Kirk was home with Sarah. She ran to him and said "poop". After she did that, she ran to her bathroom and sat on her potty that her grandfather made for her and continued to say poop. Then she got up and ran to the changing table and said up. So she understands the relationship between the potty and going potty which is great. We received an ebook sent from our friends the Yanceys on how to potty train your child in 3 days. We are making plans for sometime in March to give it a try. Wish us luck!

It's a Circus Around Here

Last week was busy. I started work, we made it to the circus (more on that later), and it was Valentines Day.

Kirk and I started off the Valentines celebration with a date night on Friday. We made it out to the nicest restaurant in Farmington, called The Bluffs, for desert and wine. It was a nice evening. I decided on Saturday morning to participate in a local fun run at the hospital to acknowledge February as the American Heart month. The race was 3 miles and I did well plus came in as the first female across the finish line. I won an iPod Nano which was great and I'll be sending it to my niece in Phoenix. Work is going well. I forgot what it was like with the cat herding process in the morning with getting out of the house with Sarah. So far I've been getting my feet wet, meeting people and trying to understand the ConocoPhillips way vs. the BP way. I do miss some of the process and procedure from the BP way but am looking forward to the challenges within this business unit. It's like I'm back in the ol'cowboy days and somewhat reminds me of my early years on the platforms in the Cook Inlet.

On Wednesday, we decided to check out the visiting circus in town. The Jordan World Circus...try to google it and it will come up immediately with a complaint from PETA on the animal treatment. Without knowing that in advance we thought it would be a nice change from our daily routine to take Sarah to enjoy the animals, etc. Let's just say it was the JV of all the circuses. Plus the venue was very small town. The show started out with the ring leader coming out with three women dressed for a Vegas show (hot pink head dresses and all) who proceeded to climb up ropes and twirl around. Thank goodness the elephants were still out in the ring when we first arrived before the show to at least capture some sort of interest from our toddler because the Vegas ladies just weren't cutting it. Oh and their routine was done to the High School Musical 3 movie theme. What? Next up was the lion/tiger show. The tamer looked similar to Siegfried and Roy...dark tan with bleach blond hair and quite the outfit to boot. It was neat to see him handle one large lion and 4 other tigers in a small ringed off area. But the funny part of the act was the music. Kirk and I were laughing pretty hard when the show started out to the Beverly Hills Cop movie theme. The next song on tap was the theme from Indiana Jones. Wow. After the lion/tiger show was the magician who was really there to help fill time. His act was very bad. They could have brought out clowns instead in my opinion. Plus toddlers don't understand why there is a man dressed up to look silly who was pretending to put grown men from the audience to sleep as his act. Oh and that was done to the X-files theme...repeated over and over. Then came three young men on motorcycles who drove their bikes into what they called "The Globe of Death". It was a large cage in the shape of a ball. It was a neat act because they were literally riding around in the ball like little mice. The best part was that act was done to Metallica's "Master of Puppets". Now if that doesn't draw in young children, I don't know what will. The motorcycle act was followed by a small car full of poodles painted pink and blue to perform doggie tricks. Sarah seemed bewildered at the color of the dogs. I must admit, I was too. That's a bit cruel to paint a dog blue or pink. But the best part of the entire show was half time. Not only because we made an executive decision to leave early but also because the main attraction was brought out to center ring. That attraction was a live black bear which Kirk estimated weighed at least 1000 lbs. They sat this black bear in center ring and proceeded to place a small wooden bench next to it. In between the bear and the bench was a 1/4" thick piece of pexiglass. And you, as the general public, could pay money to sit on the bench next to the bear for a picture. Now being from Alaska, Kirk and I thought this was plain crazy. Who would let their small child sit next to a live bear, who granted was being distracted by the constant food being shoved down it's mouth, but still could crush your kids head lickety splickety. But the line for pictures was huge! On the way to the car, Kirk and I were joking about how that could have been a Visa commercial.

1. 3 Tickets to The Jordan World Circus, $26
2. Bag of popcorn for the family to share, $1
3. Picture of your only child sitting next to a live black bear before the black bear snapped and attacked them...not necessarily priceless.

There are some things money can buy, but why spend it if it doesn't make sense?

We are looking forward to this weekend. Kirk's folks are coming down to help take care of Sarah so Kirk and I can escape for an overnight sans child. We are headed to Pagosa Springs to enjoy the hot springs and ski Wolf Creek. We can't wait!

Here are some shots of Sarah from the past couple of weeks.

Sarah in her hutch. She loves to sit in it with her Elmo doll.

Sarah reading to her new Tigger doll from Aunt Deree and Uncle Jim.

Sarah loves to play hide and seek in the curtains.
Modeling her new summer hat and putting her new sunglasses on her panda bear.