No more hacking coughs!

I think it's safe to say -- we're finally all over that virus. No more hacking coughs! Hooray! I'm going to keep the humidifier going though, because it sure makes the house more comfortable.

Happy New Year everybody, belated but heartfelt. My resolutions include cleaning out all the closets in the house AND the basement, donating anything useable to Cathoic Social Services or St. Vincent de Paul or the Crisis Pregnancy Center or the parish school, and reorganizing everything so it's easier to keep things clean and find what I want, when I want it.

Two closets are done. One more to go. Yes, that's right. We only have three closets in the whole house. It's an old house, so there are no closets at all on the first floor. But I have cabinets and bureaus down there that will count for "closets" when I finish the bedroom closets.

I don't know if I ever told you all this or not, but we bought our house the same day Zooey was born. (My water broke & then we stopped at the bank to sign the papers for the house, then went to Target to buy a camera and film and then went to the hospital to have Zooey -- CRAZY!) Obviously, I didn't do much of the moving with a newborn in arms. I'd packed up most of our duplex, but Zooey was early and DH had to finish the last few things while I stayed at his parents' house. Anyway, I had a drawer full of baby clothes that were very special, from friends in Italy, my parents' trip to Europe, etc. Some girl clothes, some boy clothes, since we didn't know what gender we were having. They never showed up at the new house, and I was very upset about it because there were some great things in this particular drawer. Still, I had lots and lots of other supplies, so I decided not to complain to much about it.

When I was expecting Edyn three years later, I decided to give it a shot and searched high and low for those missing baby gifts. The girl clothes were awfully cute, and I wanted Edyn to wear them. No luck.

Well, last Saturday, I was cleaning out the closet in the children's room, and I pulled out a box from the way, way back marked BLANKETS -- West Bedroom. It was the West Bedroom closet, so that was right. I opened the box, and there were the blankets. I decided since they'd been stored for 5 years, we might as well donate them, so I started to pull them out to count them and make sure they were in good enough shape to donate. One -- a nice warm blanket from Mexico. Two -- a nice wool plaid blanket, perfect for this time of year. Three -- oh, the light-weight Christmas throw I used to drape over the back of the couch. Wish I would have found this two months ago. Well, that can go in the Christmas boxes down in the basement. Four -- aaaack! The baby clothes!!! Six outfits, two bibs and a hat, all in perfect condition, still in the package. The beautiful little girl outfits. The stylish unisex number from Italy. Baaaaah! All for newborns, all waaaay too small for Lola, who is now one.

Well, I'm disappointed, but I can donate brand-new clothes to the Crisis Pregnancy Center and bless some new mom who doesn't have much for her baby. Could be worse, huh.

Lola is walking!

She can take up to eight steps unassisted, slowly and with perfect control. It just hasn't occurred to her to get up and run around the house yet. (Our house has an entry with a door to the living room, which opens into the dining room, which has a door to the kitchen, which has a door to the entry way, so the kids really do run around the house.) I wonder how long it will take. It took Zooey only two days. It took Edyn about two minutes. Lola's been doing eight steps unassisted for six days now. We're all sort of holding our breath, waiting for the concept of "freedom" to dawn on our baby and turn her into an official toddler.

Zooey and Edyn were both exactly 13 months old when they started walking. Lola is only a year plus a week, but close enough. My, they do grow up so fast! How can my baby be a toddler all ready?

--Sparki