dodging a bullet?

Rewind a few days to Wednesday afternoon. I was able to get an intramuscular H1N1 shot, since I'm on the high priority list as a pregnant woman. The good news is that I've had the vaccine. The bad news is that it takes about 2 weeks to take effect. So I'm still not "safe."

Fast forward to last night. After a fun dinner at the golf club with Grammy & Grandpa and some good friends, we came home to get ready for bed. Emerson had a grand old time at dinner, and was laughing, chatting, singing, and generally in a terrific mood. But at bedtime, she felt a bit warm to me. Temp was only 99.4, but it made me nervous. Any doctor will tell you that no-one has the "regular" flu right now, so my immediate concern was H1N1. I checked her temp throughout the nite, and by 2am, it was over 101. We cleared our schedule for the day and hoped for the best, but were not overly optimistic.

She woke this morning about an hour and half later than usual, and was in a horrendous mood. Didn't want to play, wasn't singing or even walking around. She just wanted to lay in our bed and read books. But after a little breakfast, she perked up. She had no fever, but we were still assuming that she had H1N1. By mid-morning, still no fever. After lunch, still no fever. In fact, she's been fever free all day. She has, however been sneezing up a storm and is in full booger-factory mode. We've been blowing her nose all day. Our assessment? She's prone to sinus-type issues, and I think that's what is going on here. She's really stuffy and congested, which is in direct contrast with what the doctor told me to be looking for with H1N1. And her energy has been right on target with usual...she even wanted to play soccer outside this afternoon.

Seems like we've dodged a major bullet. Keeping our fingers crossed on this one.

And in other news, I'd like to have a moment of silence for the Hawkeyes season-of-a-lifetime. They put up a good fight, and losing Stanzi was not the way we wanted to go down. 9-0 was fun, and amazing. Chins up, Hawks. Let's just go out and nail it next week.

fall learning activity

Today, I had a good idea. We were outside (Praise God, the rain has finally let up and it is beautiful here today), playing in the leaves when we started collecting some pretty ones to use in upcoming projects. Emerson helped me find some interesting ones, and we brought them inside. My plan is to make a turkey using leaves for the tail feathers, as well as use some in a texture collage. But, it occurred to me that I didn't need to wait to do crafts to benefit from our haul. We did a color sort using the leaves! Sorting is a great activity for toddlers, as it stimulates their mathematical thinking (see, that's the teacher in me coming out). Plus, it reinforced her concept of colors with real-world examples that are not always as clear-cut as a box of Crayolas. Translation: she had to actually think about where to put some of them. She loved it! Here's the proof...

my days of waking in daylight hours have come to an end

At 5:05 this morning, I was treated to the harmonious sounds of my darling Emerson singing her arrival into the day. 6:05 would have been really early for her, but given the time change, it was really, really early.

Good thing she's so darn cute.

a recipe for you

I feel compelled to preface this recipe by telling you that I can cook. In fact, I love to cook. I can make lasagna, cheesecake, chicken saltimboca. I make stir fry from scratch and NEVER buy bottled pasta sauce...I always make my own (my Mom taught me that!) I have an herb garden, year-round. I've hosted Thanksgiving and Christmas at my house. I can even make a souffle. I really can cook. Okay? Are you convinced?

The reason I mention all of this is because of the recipe I'm going to share. It's one of our favorites, but it's so stinkin' cheesy. I got it from an online scrapbooking message board that I used to frequent several years ago. There's nothing fancy, and it even calls for a box of cake mix. But trust me, it's so yummy!!! So here's to good eats. As Julia would say, Bon Appetit!

PUMPKIN CRUNCH CAKE
1 box yellow cake mix (w/0 pudding in the mix)
1 large can pumpkin (28 oz or so)
1 can evaporated milk (10 or 12 oz)
3 eggs
1 cup butter (HOW CAN THIS NOT BE GOOD?!?!?!)
1 cup sugar
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 cup chopped nuts (I used roasted, salted pecans)

I also add some ginger, cloves, nutmeg.... the usual pumpkin pie spices.

Melt butter and set aside. In a separate bowl, mix pumpkin, milk, eggs, sugar, and spices. Line a 9 x 13 pan with foil and spray with cooking spray. Pour pumpkin mixture into pan. Sprinkle dry cake mix on top. Pat down and sprinkle with nuts. Drizzle the butter over the top. Bake at 350 for one hour. Let stand for at least 10 minutes to set before turning out onto a platter. Let stand 2 hours or refrigerate before serving. Peel foil and slice.

Mmmmmm...

it fills me with dread OR "fall behind"

Ah yes. In high school, it meant one more hour of sleep. In college, it meant we had one more hour at the bars. But as a parent, it means only one thing: my child is going to start waking before 6 am. I maintain that the person who thought up daylight savings did not have a toddler.

Last year, the time change was disastrous for us. See my post from last year. It did not go very well. She regularly woke up at 5:15, 5:30, and on-the-joy-of-sleeping-in...6:00 am. Ugh. This year, I'm taking a more proactive approach. Starting last Sunday nite, I've been putting her to bed a few minutes early. As of tonite (partially because she blew off her nap today), she went down 1/2 hour early. We're going to keep this up until the time changes on Saturday nite. Then next week, she'll go to bed a bit later than the regular time (which will ultimately be the same time as this week...get it?) until she's back to her regular 8:00 pm bedtime.

Piece of cake, right?

i heart fall!

Fall is my favorite season of the year. The pumpkins, the leaves, college football, crisp weather, yummy treats, Halloween, Thanksgiving...the list goes on and on. So I tend to go a bit overboard, trying to cram as much into the season as possible. Wanna see?

Emerson has her own tiny rake and was excited to have the chance to use it. She's Papa's helper girl.

This year, Em was old enough to be mildly interested in pumpkin carving.

Here is our finished Jack-o-Lantern, before the squirrels ate his nose and mouth off.
We had a Halloween party at Gymboree on Friday nite, and Emerson debuted her M&M costume. Unfortunately, my camera was not cooperating and this is the best picture that I got.

We went to this pumpkin patch last year (it's the one my parents used to take me to as well), and had our picture taken by the scarecrow. This year, we're 3 feet tall!

She was so proud of herself when she was able to carry this heavy pumpkin.

I love this picture of the 3 of us at a local park. Jeff came up with the idea and we used the self-timer on the camera to get the shot. Too bad Emerson looks so tiny though.

Happy fall, everyone!

have you heard?

The Iowa Hawkeyes are 8-0!!!! It's great to be a Hawkeye!!!!!