Using My Imagination

I love that Simpson's episode wherein Homer does something rotten to his next door neighbor Ned Flanders, who then loses tons of money and says to his kids, "Well kids, it looks like we're going to have an imagination Christmas this year!" (Rod replies, "Yay! I got a pogo stick!") I'm feeling deeply in need of a girls' night out, but for the time being, it looks like I get an imagination girls' night. I'm just going to visualize an evening away. Hard to believe but this does have its advantages. I might not actually be able to leave the house alone, but my imagination has no budget. Last week The Becky and I decided that for our imagination girls' night we'd go to a nice hotel where we would each shower for as long as we wanted with no one bothering us, at all, and then we'd put on brand new clothes and go somewhere very expensive for dinner. It was great. We had a lovely evening. What was funny was that as we were discussing our plans we were interrupted by our children so many times that it was challenging to even TALK about a girls' night out!

Poor Bundle. Though it is her fault that I cannot leave my house unaccompanied, she's had a rough time lately in the form of further ear infections. I guess it's only her second, but it's really crappy. She was up all night crying so hard one night last week that I nearly took her to an ER at 4 in the morning. Surely her lungs had deflated or her kidneys failed or her bowel had been perforated. Something. No, it was her right ear. And thus began another round of amoxicillin, the nastiest pink goo ever known to man. Or baby. Seriously. WHY so pink? I can not think of why it has to be that way, except to leave a lasting reminder of its presence upon every article of clothing Bundle has, not to mention a few shirts of mine and my bedspread as well. That's got to be some serious food coloring. It's beyond pepto, you know? And let's not even get into the viscosity issue. I myself nearly gag every time I administer it to Bundle. And the worst part for me is that I'm not entirely sure that it's going to help her ear infection.

Regardless of her ear infection she hasn't been sleeping well. I mean, she's done great falling asleep in her own bed for naps and for bedtime, but she does not stay asleep at night. She always wakes up, sometimes 45 minutes later, sometimes 2 hours later. Sometimes she'll fuss for a few minutes and then fall back asleep, but that hasn't happened for a long time. Usually she wakes up and cries until I give her a little love and put her back to bed, either in my bed or back in her crib. I tried a few times to let her cry this wake-up out, but learned quickly that she wasn't going to do it. (You may have heard me around 1 in the morning crying along with Bundle a couple of weeks ago.) So I just go in, love her, and put her back to sleep. No big deal. I don't mind lovin' my Bundle. Unless I really need a movie night or something, and then I'm toast, because if it's anyone but me going in there (sorry Troy) she flips out. Side note: she adores her daddy. Just not when she wants to go to sleep.

Ah well. Such is life with a baby, and we all know that it goes by too quickly any way. I will just snuggle my Bundle until she is Bundle no longer. (I'm thinking "Cheeks" might be a good blog-name for her once she reaches her first birthday.) Movie going will return to my life someday, and in the meantime, how can I begrudge a little extra nuzzle time with this fat cute cuddly momma-lovin' babe? I just can't. She's too sweet, which you can see for yourself. She loves taking tubbies with her big brother.