Correction

I just heard the whole story from Dan about who all helped him out in the ER and radiology dept yesterday. I only gave credit to Dr. Cheney in my last post, but several ER, radiology, and ortho guys helped out. Maybe some Drs from other specialties as well, I can't remember right now. So, great big thanks to Drs. Cheney, Elliott, Smith, Russell, and DeLucia. There were more, but those names stuck in my head and the others went away...I blame preggy brain on that one. Dan says that DeLucia did the splint itself. Great job on that. It looks great! We can't wait for the cast, though, so that Hannah can color on it. She's excited about it as well.

We really appreciate all the help in getting Dan checked out and splinted and on his way without breaking our bank. You are all the best. We are lucky to know all of you. I wanted to make sure to thank all of you. I know a lot of the wives of the Drs read this blog, so please send thanks to your husbands and be proud of them. They are really great friends!

It's broken!

Dan came home from soccer last night with a broken foot. He didn't have it looked at until today and the x-ray confirmed that it's broken. It's broken in a questionable spot on the outer side of the foot and Dr. Cheney (Libby, tell Nick thank you for me) suggested that Dan see a ortho foot/ankle specialist. That's just great. We are out of money for the year, so Cheney was able to not charge (thank you again). However, I'm sure the specialist won't be so accommodating. He doesn't go in until next week, so at least insurance will cover it, but that just means we will run out even more quickly and have to pay even more out of pocket for the baby visits and delivery and pedi appts.

Sorry for the doom and gloom, but I am not feeling well again and I really HATE soccer. There is rarely a game when Dan doesn't get injured somehow or come home needing to ice some part of his body. I don't get the attraction. Now he is on crutches for at least 6-8 weeks, more if the specialist says he needs surgery. I have a funny feeling I will be getting even less help around house now and much of the work I did with MIL last week will be thrown out the window.

Again, sorry for the gloom and doom, but hard to see the bright side at this point. Going to lie in a dark room for a minute and try not to puke.

Christannukah Week

Well, tonight is the 5th night of Hanukkah and the only Christmas. We have had a great holiday so far. Hannah has not been short on presents AT ALL. Dan's mom came in town on Monday night. We had a good dinner together at Red Robin (we love that restaurant when Hannah is with us). Then, Tuesday morning, we went to work on the house. Hannah's room was first. We emptied out the drawers and closet, cleaned, moved furniture, sorted outgrown clothes into bins (with labels via my new label maker - thanks Sue!), sorted others into charity or consignment, then put everything back into the room in an orderly fashion. Wednesday, we hung up decorations in Hannah's room and continued the organizing/cleaning into Mommy and Daddy's room. We got rid of anything we don't wear much, or is worn out/out grown, cleaned (it really needed a good vacuuming), and reorganized. I feel SOOOOO much better about the house now. I feel the MIL helped me get it to a place that Dan and I can take over, finish, and keep up with the changes. Hannah's toys in the living room are even organized into bins (thanks again Emmy!) and we even cleaned out the ottoman. Now, even with the new toys Hannah got this week (and we still have 3 more nights to go), we have an organized and liveable living room. I may even be willing to host another play group now that the toys are more manageable.

Anyway, I will post pictures of Hannah's new big girl room soon and maybe even my own room when I get some things on the walls.

Thanks Emmy/Sue/MIL for everything you helped us with this week. We really enjoyed having you and really need the help to jump start the re-organizing of the bedrooms. I appreciate it very much, we all do. We miss our Emmy already. Hannah had a blast with you and is currently enjoying a game of Candy Land with Daddy while Mommy types on the blog.

See you very soon.....hopefully in California so we can escape the cold.

Great!

This is what happens when Mommy tries to use the restroom in peace:


I told her to go to time out and she threw a bloody fit on the floor. I told her to straighten up and find the lid to the marker. When she couldn't find the lid, I threw the marker away. Well, a few minutes later, she finds piece of paper and shows me in a proud manner that she can color on paper. I tell her "yes, very good, color on paper only". Another minute later, she has dug the marker out of the trash and is using that marker to draw on the paper. Well, that marker is back in the trash and we are heading to bed as soon as Daddy comes home. Luckily, the Magic Eraser got most of the marker off the wall (it's still slightly visible if you look closely). Hannah's hands and arms are still discolored, but I can't use magic eraser on her skin. I am not patient enough to give her a bath, so she's going to bed blue and I'm going to bed nauseous. Oh what fun we're having.

I'm editing to add that Hannah just came up to me and pointed me to three more spots on the wall that I hadn't seen before. She was apparently trying to decorate the entire living and dining area. At least she's honest, right?


And, just because I know you have all been on the edge of your seats since my last post...
the remaining fish have survived our little incident. We still have 7 surviving fish. Out of the original 8, that's not too shabby.

We are hoping to have a visit from Emmy tomorrow night and through the weekend. Here's hoping she can get a seat on a very full plane in the morning. I really need the extra support right now. This house is a disaster and I obviously need someone to keep an eye on the munchkin so I can get some work done. Hannah's really embracing the Two's more and more each day.

Another picture just for fun and because it makes me remember the very nice weather we had not too long ago. Hannah dressed herself and had fun playing outside for the last few days of fall.

more fish drama

Well, Dan thought it would be a good idea to let Hannah hold onto the food jar while they fed the fish last night. Hannah thought is would be a good idea to pour the entire jar of food into the tank...it was a big jar and almost totally full. NOT good! So, we changed as much of the water as we could last night. You aren't supposed to change too much water at once because it shocks the fish environment and the balance of bacteria/ammonia/and other such gunk in the tank. So, I woke up this morning to a very cloudy tank and one dead fish. I'm sure it was the one that was trapped under the treasure chest. The shock was too much for him all in the same week. I was sure we would loose the others today as they were all at the top of tank gasping for clean water/air...whatever they were needing. I went to the fish store and bought a special filter and changed more of the water. The remaining fish seem to be doing better. I will keep changing 50% of the water until it looks clear in there again. I can only hope they survive. So, no more perfect fish record, we've had our first casualty. Hannah didn't even notice.

A couple of positive things from the last few days:

1) I finally found Hannah the desk I've been searching for. I had to drive to New Albany to get it, but it's in really good shape, stores tons of arts/crafts supplies, and she loves it!

2) I've been able to go out 4 times this week for some fun, only one time without Hannah, but still fun. She got sick Sunday night, so the rest of the week has been rough, but she's been a trooper and is getting better every day. Hopefully, she will be well by this weekend and we can have some more fun outings.

3) On Monday, she was drawing on her Magna Doodle and drew one very small dot/circle. She showed it to me and said "that's the baby in you belly". So cute! She gets it now. Of course, now she has a baby in her belly too.

It's a Christannukah Miracle!

That's what we call Christmas and Hannukah around the Clearfield house.
I have been noticing for the past few days that we were missing one of our "Birthday Fish". We bought Hannah 5 yellow fish for her birthday and have since added 2 black ones and one sucker fish. Anyway, I count them every day or so to make sure I don't need to fish out any dead ones. I finally went looking for the missing fish tonight, thinking he committed suicide by jumping into the filter, which these yellow fish seem to try quite often. Turns out he was stuck under the treasure chest. When he came floating out, he seemed pretty lifeless just laying on the bottom. I started to scoop him up with the net and he swam away, just barely. Then he lay on the bottom with labored breathing. I put food in the tank and......

HE'S ALIVE!!! He's swimming around like nothing ever happened. A few days stuck under a treasure chest barely phased him. What a survivor. So, we've had these fish for 6months and no casualties. Not bad for first time fish owners (well, unless you count childhood fish which I killed).

It was pretty funny. When I saw it laying there lifeless, I told Hannah the fish died and we had to flush him. Dan started to tell her about the fish dying and she could tell he was looking sad and she said "it's ok, Daddy". Then the fish started doing better, and she was clapping and jumping around. Such a happy day!

I guess I owe it to the guy to clean the tank now and give them some fresh water.

17* feels like 5!!!

What the *&%$? This is the temperature outside right now. I am really hating hating Ohio this winter and it JUST started. Hannah just woke up, so I go to weather.com to see how many layers we need today. How the hell do you dress for 17 degrees, feels like 5?! That's nuts. Just insane. I need to leave the house today, I really really need to leave the house today. But I don't know how I will be able to make myself do it.

nothing much

That's what I've been doing....nothing much. Just the usual. I'm still not feeling well, so we stay home a lot and watch a lot of TV. Well, Hannah watches Curious George The Movie.all.day.long and I get on the computer. It works for us. The house is starting to show my laziness and Dan is putting up with me pretty well. He should, seeing as he got me into this mess in the first place. Just kidding.

Hannah had portraits taken on Tuesday and they turned out really well. I will try to attach a few. I can only attach the proofs, but the prints are cropped better and turned out really well. I will attach 3 cute ones and 3 goofy ones, just for fun. Family can look forward to more prints of Hannah this year. She was such a big girl at the shoot and tried her best to pose like they asked. In the proofs, you can see all the silly faces she made in between the good shots. She's definitely got the "cheerleader smile" down pat. It works best not to tell her to smile, but to get her to laugh. She's such a doll.

She's been very sweet lately, well, when she wants to be. She is still being 2 and testing me every chance she gets, but overall, I can't complain too much about her. She is a really good kid. I think the worst of it at the moment is the whining. But, I can't really blame her when she's got a Mommy that's doing a lot of whining herself lately. When she's in a cuddly mood or just a sweet mood, she'll say "Mommy, you so cute." Makes my day.

I'll try to post again soon.

Hannah's scary tongue roll shot.
Posing and laying on the CHEESE
Being a real goof ball
Just being pretty
I'm not sure how to rotate these, but just tilt your head and get the idea.