February in a Flash!

Holy moley where did February go? Work has been so busy, which is great, but I have just been exhausted every night and updating kept getting pushed to tomorrow, tomorrow, tomorrow.

The house is completely quiet right now, Mary is napping and Brian is on the couch with two terriers holding him down. I found some time and a sunny spot in our breakfast nook *sigh* so nice.

So to give a quick re-cap to the second half of our February:

Sick, Sick, Sick:
Sorry to start on this note, but it was a doozie. All three of us were sick with the flu at the same time. Let's just say I have never done so much laundry to wash out DNA in my life.

Brynn's health and well being:
I started a new diet and I couldn't be happier! I lost 5lbs so far and am feeling more like myself! I hurt my foot a few weeks ago, but am heading back to the gym this week and can't wait to see even more pounds disappear!

Broken Tooth:
I'm often so proud when Mary can just play by herself in the family room. Brian was in the basement, I was in the kitchen and I peeked in at Mary coloring in the family room. Moments later I hear a fall (nothing uncommon) and then Mary's serious cry. I went down and rocked her, there was a little blood on her lip, which again, is pretty common (sheesh, does she fall on her face a lot?), I lifted her lip and half a chunk was missing from her front right tooth. UGH. My perfect little baby. It sounds funny, but it was so upsetting to me and Brian. It's hard to see when she smiles because she really doesn't show her top teeth a lot, but it's easy to see when she talks. Poor little muffin.

Snowstorms!
Most of our winter happen in February. All through December and January, our buddy Tom Skilling on WGN would warn of 6" storms and it would turn into maybe an inch....a disappointment to a man who wants to use his monster snowblower (or has he says "snow plow", I have to keep correcting him or people are going to start thinking there is a plow on the front of the Jeep)

However this week, we got a doozie. At about 1pm Tuesday at work, the storm was coming down hard, so packed up to head home. I made it out to my car and had snow plastered on the side of my head. I scraped the windshield and by the time i got back in my car, it was covered with snow again. I tried to leave the parking lot and I couldn't see out the windshield! I headed back to the office. I thought I would wait it out, but everyone kept warning that it was going to get worse, so a co-worker invited me to her house. I probably could have just stayed at work, logged more hours, left at 9 and gotten home fine, but oh well, I had some nice wine, nice company and was safe.

Model Mary:
Mary was asked to be a model for a photo shoot at the Crystal Lake Dolphin Swim club! Oh, how I wish i could have been there to see her in action. Brian said, she did great - pictures to come on this one!

Things Mary Says:
This is a new type of regular entry I'll be doing. As Mary's vocabulary expands (daily!) she is starting to say some really funny things - here is a recent sampling:

"No S'ank You Pictures!" - While she usually hams it up pretty good for the camera, one sunny, snowy day she was NOT in the mood. She sounded like a little celebrity warding off the paparazzi
"God Bless Hobby Lobby" - each night before bed, Mary and I say our "God Blesses" we usually go through the whole family, pets, friends, neighbors. Mary also usually adds in "God bless pillow. God bless, milk", one day she had been to Monkey Joe's (our local bouncy house establishment) which is right next to Hobby Lobby, so when I asked if she wanted to bless Monkey Joe's, she got all excited and said "Oh! God Bless Hobby Lobby!" I laughed out loud.
"TOOT!" - one of the side effects of hanging out with her dad so much is that she thinks it's hilarious when she passes gas. She happily takes credit for all of her toots with a proud "TOOT! I tooted!"
"Baseball!" "Football!" - My little athlete. She loves throwing a ball (and actually has a remarkably good arm) and when she does she usually yells out "Baseball!" or "Football!" We got her a t-Ball for her birthday and have already played it in the driveway. She loves it. On the flip-side, she also spins around and kicks her leg into an arabesque and says "Ballerina!"
"Milk" - While it may not seem like there is anything special about this, when referring to "milk", Mary used to say "Wook". Now she clearly enunciates "M-I-L-K" and that makes me a little sad because she is growing up so quickly...I love you Mary.