. VG .

Sunday, February 16, 2014

Possible new Mom friend

I have to say that I really enjoy where we live in Kalamazoo. I know I've said it before but the community is amazing and I love the attitude, as a whole, of the people here. One thing that is hard being in a city where you don't know anybody is making new friends... especially as a Mom! You're priority is making sure that your kids are around other kids/parents that are good to be around and that you and your kids both like... which is harder than you think. Most of the time I like the parents just fine but their kids are brats or whiners... but I think that we found a family that everybody likes! I met her at K Phil and she has children about the same age as the crazies. I made her a few meals because she got really sick and any Mom knows that as a Mom you don't get the excuse 'you're not feeling well'. So, when it's something more serious than you do anything you can to help out. Since she has been feeling better they invited us over to have dinner and so that the kids could play together. It went really well! The kids did well with their kids and we had this delightful Korean feast! We are watching her youngest as she goes in for follow-up appointments so I think this could be the start of a beautiful little friendship. :) And, it's also really nice to know, as a parent, that there are other adults that you can trust if you need help with your kids. I think that's the hardest part is vetting other adults... making sure that they are reliable and somebody you feel safe leaving your most precious treasure with. So, we are really starting to set down roots and get involved with this community even more... let's hope we can stay :)

The kids table haha

Our delightful dinner... I tried cuttle fish and sardines!

JVG

Saturday, February 15, 2014

Woe is me

Do you ever have those weeks where you think, "Poor me! This week was horrible and hard and I just want to lock the door and shut the world out until I can stop feeling sorry for myself?!" Well, that is me. Right now. As I blog. Le sigh.

This hasn't been the easiest month due to all the snow and cancelled plans and having to stay inside because it's to effing cold to go out and play... which makes for stir crazy kids... which makes for frazzled parents. But, this last week took the cake. Our sweet Norah one afternoon was getting ready for lunch when I looked at her tray and it was completely covered in vomit. Like, it was almost brimming over it was so full. What. The. Heck. She wasn't upset about it. And I didn't even hear her do it. Eek. Our kids have never been pukers so we aren't really that experienced in it, even though this is our third! Well, our sweet Norah continued to be sweet even though she was clearly very sick. The only thing that would keep down is Momma milk, so at least I felt good that she was keeping some sort of food down.

Poor Goose at the library... she even had to take her mammick in and just wanted to lay on the bean bags

Us in the middle of the night because her fever was bad and just wanted to cuddle

Well, it didn't stop there. Dude was watching a show and I was showering when Gaetan came in and said that he had just puked all up and down the side of the couch. And the last thing that he had was chocolate milk... glorious. We had been at the library earlier that day and Lucy was all sad and pathetic... you could just tell that she wasn't feeling well. She luckily didn't puke but had a pretty severe fever, which made her want to be extra cuddly, but when I get a fever I don't want anything touching me... and then add on top of that Gaetan and I had it coming out both ends. Marvelous. We moved everybody into our room for the night and tried to survive til morning. Lucy and Dude were good by morning which was good, but I still had stabbing pain in my stomach :( Gaetan had seemed to get everything out of his system (literally) at night and was feeling pretty good. We ended up going to my parents because we told them that we would help move my sister but I wasn't sure that we were going to live through the night. Yes, that sounds dramatic, but when everybody is on the verge of puking or other at any given moment you don't wonder why we felt that way.

The hardest part I think is that the kids are still misbehaving. I'm not sure what it is, but they are acting like entitled little brats and it's killing me. It's killing me because I know that they're good kids. It's killing me because I refuse to have kids like that. It's killing me because it gets to the point where I just don't want to get up because I'm not sure I can handle one more whiney fit being thrown because heaven forbid we didn't get them something fast enough or they wanted to do something and couldn't at the exact moment. It's killing me because these can't be my kids... and I don't know how to fix it. Just like being sick it seems like we are just trying to get through the day by the skin of our teeth and hoping and praying that the next day will be better.

The last part for sure

JVG

I'm a real runner now

I know that a lot of people would argue that I am a runner but I still don't really view myself as one... until the other day. I finally hit a runners problem... I lost a toe nail. I always saw people at races with signs about how real runners don't need their toe nails (shoot, I even saw a bumper sticker once) but I never had that problem. The closest thing I had was I got a bruised toe during my actual marathon but nothing during training or during any other race! But... this last bout of training has taken its toll on my poor right foot... I think it has to do with some weird pregnancy related thing (your body changes in weird ways let me tell you). And I finally lost a toe nail. Incidentally it was the same one that got bruised during my full, but I didn't even realize that it was coming off. Well, I guess, there you have it. I'm a runner now ;)

JVG

Individual Key Lime Pie

We went over to a friend's house for dinner tonight so I volunteered to bring dessert. These are extremely cute, tasty and FAST to make. They are refreshing and would be great for a picnic type outing. I would highly recommend and will be making it again!

http://www.kitchentreaty.com/key-lime-pie-in-a-jar/

JVG

Tuesday, February 4, 2014

I got a job

My friend Lauren's husband got a job in Lansing and is moving there next week. :( She is the reason why I joined KPhil! Anyhoo, she really wanted to leave her students to somebody she knew and asked if I wanted to teach private violin lessons again. I wasn't actively looking to do so, but I told her that if it worked out I would give it a shot. So, I applied at the music store that she works at yesterday and got an interview today... and was hired! I also have another student that doesn't come to the music store that I'm meeting next week. Things are happening so quickly! And so far its only a handful of students so it won't be a lot of hours (which is a good thing). I am excited about this and the extra money is always helpful. Looking forward to getting back into this teaching thing!

JVG

Piercing

As many of you know I don't have any piercings. Nope. Not one. I had my cartilage done in my ear for a little while but it never healed so I took it out. I don't even have my lobes pierced... but I decided I wanted to get my nose done. I've wanted to a few times before but never really seriously thought about it... but this time I did and go it done! I really like it and it didn't hurt at all. I got a little nervous when he came at me with a huge needle, but it was over quickly and I don't even feel it now! Just have to be careful that Norah doesn't get a hold of it, but so far so good :)

JVG

Snow playing!

The weather finally warmed up a bit so that we were able to go out and enjoy the bounty of snow! We even saw Chase (whom we haven't seen in almost two months!) Norah wasn't really about it, so I didn't get to stay outside that long... but it was nice to get outside! I shoveled our walkway and to the car for a little bit ahead of time, which made me realize that it wasn't really that cold out. I think it was upper 20's low 30's... frickin' heat way! haha. I even saw pavement for the first time but I think this snowstorm Nika will change all of that...