Happy October, everyone! I never thought I would see the day when I actually looked forward to the months to fly by and the weather to cool off. With temperatures in the upper 80’s last week, I was actually getting annoyed that the weather wasn’t chilly. Those who grew up with me are probably not believing what they’re reading because I used to swear that I would live in the deep, hot south because of the year-round stifling temps. What can I say, I’ve changed. Say hi to Prudence. She’s a preying mantis and came to visit us the other day. Prudence isn’t her usual, vibrant, green self but is instead preparing for fall and winter by wearing fresh fall colors.

Did you know that there are places that let people come and dish up food only to take it home to freeze? And I’m one of those people. The place is called Let’s Dish, and there are several locations here in Maryland. A group of us went on Saturday to “try it out” with a coupon for $10.00 for one meal. Normally, the meals are $25.00 each which serves 4-6 people, and they encourage a 4-meal plan that is discounted a whole $5.00. I told Mike that I was considering going again in the far off future to do this so that we’d have meals already prepared for those nights when we want a nice meal but not all the work involved. He looked at me like I was crazy and said that I absolultely wasn’t going to go to a place to have someone else make my meals for me to “cook” later. How dare he take this idea away from me!! Can you guess how much I love cooking? Anyway, it was fun to have a day away from the kids and chit-chat time with some girlfriends.

Later that night Mike and I discovered a different kind of dining experience. We met up with Tiger and Leah at a place called Fogo de Chao. Perhaps you’ve heard of it, but it’s a Brazilian steakhouse that offers meats of many animals and cuts. Instead of ordering off a menu, you are given a card with a red and green side. If the green side is up, then you are bombarded by the “gauchos” with meats galore. It’s definitely not for people like me and Leah with little appetites, but Mike and Tiger gave those people a run for their money. The food was fabulous and oh-so-filling. Leah and I were more impressed with the bathroom though. I’m so going to sneak in there one day with my camera to copy for my future, dream home;) Of course, halfway through our walk back to the metro station we were up for some ice-cream at Maggie Moo’s. Tiger actually ordered a hefty serving of popcorn ice-cream. Mike and I both tasted it, but I don’t think I could stomach a whole cup of that stuff. I’m a chocolate lover, so it’s hard for me to think of anything else anyway. This is one good thing about living in a super, huge, ginormous city (or set of cities) is that we’ve got tons of variety in the way of restaurants.

Annie has taken a liking to waking me up each morning. If I’m not quite ready to get up, then I tell Annie that it has to be at least 7:30 (seven-three-zero) on the clock. Well, Annie enjoys saying the time for EVERY SINGLE MINUTE. “Mommy, it’s seven-one-three!” “Mommy, it’s seven-one-four!” Talk about completely defeating the purpose of those extra minutes of rest. Mike and I discussed this new habit and thought it would be fun to get the girls a clock for their room. While shopping for said clock I also decided to get the girls each a watch. Now if I absolutely don’t want to get up until seven-three-zero, then Annie is told she can’t enter my room until those numbers are on her watch or clock. So far it seems to be working, although on a couple of recent days I actually got up before Annie. Part of the reason Annie needed that extra sleep was due to her asthma making a return. {The previous visit to the doctor resulted in Annie getting an Albuterol inhaler, but she refused to use it without Mike or I having to tackle her to the ground. I’m pretty sure she wasn’t getting any medicine in her. So Mike and I concluded that maybe she didn’t have asthma, and Annie’s coughing fits also went away.} On Wednesday though Annie coughed every 5 seconds all day long, and then had a major attack with difficulty in breathing in the middle of the night. We took Annie to the doctor the next day where they put her on a nebulizer. Surprisingly, Annie didn’t freak out and sat very patiently for the 10 minutes required. It actually made her stop coughing, too. So now Annie takes Claritin daily and has to use her inhaler during coughing fits. The cough did return the other day, and Annie actually used the inhaler all by herself properly and without a fight. The funny part of the story is that on the way home from the doctor Annie exclaimed that she had a fun time at the doctor. Then later she told Mike that she was smoking at the doctor. Mike explained to her that she wasn’t technically smoking, but she insisted that she was in fact smoking. I hope this doesn’t mean that we have a future smoker on our hands:(

It’s official, Mimi’s a hyper kid. That child hops everywhere. When I yell across the house for her to come to me, then I will hear bonk, bonk, bonk…until she reaches me. All I can say is that she’s going to have some monster calf muscles one day. The other day while preparing to do a pilates/yogo video I grabbed the Noah’s Arc quilt (that Auntie Jenni made) to use as a mat. Mimi promptly picked it up declaring that it was her blanket. She came back a few seconds later with a towel and put it where the quilt had once laid. I discovered later that she had also returned the quilt to her crib. That stinker! My hopes were raised the other day when I was summoned at church to attend to Mimi’s insistence that she had to go potty. I immediately escorted her to a toilet waiting for something grand to happen. Suddenly, I heard a toot and Mimi saying, “All done!” I checked the toilet to discover NOTHING! Little Miss Toot had dragged me out of my class and got my hopes up just so she could pass gas on the potty. I tried to see this as a positive experience because it must means that Mimi is starting to realize to an extent what goes on in that big, white bowl. Of course, our marathon, toilet-sitting sessions since then have brought no progress, but I’m not giving up. Speaking of our tooting princess, we have discovered that she does have a talent for it. Mike has been attacked by her toots on several occasions. Some evenings I will hear quite a raucous going on in the girls’ room after bedtime, and I will find Mimi having a fart party in her crib much to her and Annie’s enjoyment. Just thought you’d like to know…

How was your weekend?