Sneaky Viruses....

About two weeks ago, Carlee came down with this cough. She wasn't acting sick or anything, so I assumed it was just allergies, as she usually does come down with them around this time and in the fall here. Anyway, about a week ago, Tony came down with the same cough, but over the course of yesterday and last night, it got really bad. For some reason he got hit by this bug a lot harder than Carlee did.

So he called me this morning and tells me he's coming home early from work in order to go to the doctors. The appointment took forever, and I knew that wasn't a good sign. He finally came out, looking all pale, and said, "It's a viral strain of pneumonia."

great.

Which means, he probably got it from Carlee, since she had the cough first. He asked if we should take Carlee in, but the doctor said to not even bother as long as she was acting normal, eating, and drinking, because there's nothing they could give her. She has to fight it off. Tony asked if they were contagious, and the doctor said, "Well, you were around a week or two ago. Two to three days before you start having symptoms is when you're contagious."

sneaky sneaky viruses.

The Five Love Languages

I just finished reading this book: The Five Love Languages by Gary Chapman, and all I can say is WOW! I am seriously so glad that I was introduced to this book now and not years and years later. It is an eye opener for marriage.

Tony and I have been married for a little over 4 years, and things are going good, don't get me wrong, but sometimes (of course) we look at our life together and think, "Geez... what's changed? Because something has." Now, I know that we love each other, but some days it just felt like we were going through the motions of life. It personally seemed to me that Tony didn't want to take the time to show me that he loved me. I tried showing him, I would want to spend time together and do things together, but he didn't seem too interested. Some days it broke my heart.

What was the problem? We speak different love languages! I have never even heard of such a thing before this. How could someone think love was something different from what I thought it was? Isn't it the same thing? I equate love to quality time spent together, focused one on one time, simply being together doing whatever. Turns out, this doesn't mean much at all to Tony; his love language is Acts of Service! Duh. No wonder. He sees acts of service (such as me cleaning, doing laundry, cooking for him) as my showing love. I never thought that that would be the main thing that showed I loved him. And believe you me, I am not the world's best housekeeper. A spotless house is not high on my priority list, I'd rather be playing with Carlee, doing something creative (i.e. making a bigger mess) or generally just having a good time. Why waste time meticulously detailing the house? Now, I do normal stuff, but having things out of place, Carlee's toys on the floor, clothes that stay folded in the basket for longer than they should, a few dishes in the sink until I get to them, honestly doesn't bother me. So this revelation is a hard one for me. This whole time that I've been ignoring certain things for so long, I've been telling Tony, "I don't love you."

Ouch.

And it's so hard for me to wrap my brain around, because acts of service doesn't equal LOVE to me! But I have to accept that it does for my husband, and I really want to express my love to him in his language. So, I will be trying even harder to be better at the house stuff, which is also cool, because I'm getting into natural cleaning too. Anyway...

My love language is Quality Time, which is what I thought it was for everyone. This is also why when Tony could have cared less about just sitting down and talking with me, it really stung. Now I see. Tony will be reading the book this week. I'm really looking forward to having a discussion about it. I've already started on my end, the kitchen looks marvelous, the floors are mopped, and dinner was pumpkin waffles that Tony wanted... all because I love him.

Obviously, I highly recommend this book. :)

An afternoon in Ramacca

Today we went to Ramacca's artichoke festival. We finally found some grilled artichokes! Can't you tell how ecstatic Tony was?!? (We went to Niscemi's artichoke festival about a week ago, but went too early in the day, and there was no grilled artichokes to be found.) Ramacca's festival this year seemed a lot bigger than last year, but it could be because we went during the day this time when the huge market was still open. There were so many pictures I wanted to take, but since Carlee's stroller was full of 8 kilos of blood oranges (5 euro) and a whole crate's worth of artichokes (2 euro,) I was having to hold her hand and make sure she wasn't kidnapped by gypsies (just kidding.) But I didn't want to lose her in the mass of people that's for sure.

The day was nice until after we ate, and then Carlee caught sight of a balloon unicorn she wanted from a toy vendor. ugh, I dread facing those guys, they will pretty much shove things in your kid's hands to make you buy them. Well, that's exactly what he did, he immediately took the unicorn off and handed it to Carlee. Tony asked how much. "Five euro," the guy said. 5 EURO! for a plastic balloon toy thing! (Right at this minute, 5 euro is $7.86!) Tony took back the balloon and gave it to the guy. He went down to 4 euro giving it to Carlee again. No thanks, Tony gave it back. I think he went down to 3 euro (which I think was what he was charging Italians to begin with) and which I would have paid but we were trying to walk off. He caught up with Carlee and gave it to her again, angrily saying, "Regalo!" (a gift!) ugh. He knew we weren't going to walk off without giving him something for it. Tony ended up giving him a 2 euro coin. He angrily said something to Tony about how we could just afford to eat the artichokes and pay for that but we couldn't pay for a balloon animal.

Ohhh I wish I knew more Italian. I mean seriously there's a big difference between lunch for 2 and 1/2 people costing 4 euro (for 8 grilled artichokes) and paying 5 euro for a balloon toy that was cheaply made in China, and will inevitably end up in the trash. Plus I would have reminded him that for us, the euro is way more expensive that what they are used to, and if we didn't want to buy a toy, then that's our choice as a consumer, so tough. oh I don't know... Sometimes I think we're just getting a little burned out on being here. Just a little.... lol. On a more chipper note, Carlee fell in love the unicorn and played with it all afternoon while we cooked dinner. I did feel like we should have paid 3 euro for it, but if the vendor would have just asked for 3 from the beginning, instead of trying to get the most out of the Americans, he would have gotten the 3 euro.

these are AWESOME!

I can't WAIT to get one of these for Carlee!

These are in the All Services Exchange Catalog for only $99! The age requirement is 4, but I think Carlee will be okay. You know, it's never too early to start a good workout regimen. You know, indoor walking and indoor cycling?

I mean... I guess I could just go for a walk with her outside... or ride bikes with her to the park... but...

nah.

:)

I hate the Internet....

it's such a time sucker.

I really should set a timer. All this time after I put Carlee to bed, I could have been doing something productive. Cleaning (well, I did get the kitchen done,) or better yet, cardmaking, or even better finishing Carlee's BABY SCRAPBOOK!!! geez.

where is that timer anyway?

:)

I crack myself up...

I posted this on my friend's myspace (she's moving soon and I already knew she was preggers.)

"OMG you're PREGNANT!?! AHHHH!!!! CONGRATS!!!! :) I'm going to kidnap you and keep you hidden in our Harry Potter Closet, don't worry I'll move the catbox somewhere else."

I couldn't stop laughing at myself. If my mom or sister were here, they would have laughed at me laughing, and then I would have laughed at them laughing, and then we wouldn't be able to stop laughing... I miss that.

wow. okay, that went from funny to sad in about .2 seconds! *Miss you two!*

On another note, I had my first "appointment" yesterday. I had to get up at 6 AM to get ready, and wake Carlee at 6:30 to get her ready. After waking up, Carlee said, "Mommy, my eyes are tired. Are we going on the plane?" Anytime she gets up really early, she relates that to us getting on the MAC flights at 3 AM. :( We finally left the house at 7 AM to get to base by 7:45 (the time I was told to get there.)

Well, I was the first one there. I did my huge paper work packet, and waited and waited and waited for the rest of the girls that were included in my group. The first "appointment" is more like a class with speakers such as the WIC people, a nutritionist, visiting nurse, etc. Then you get bloodwork done, then you get a one on one with the nurse, and then you finally get to go home. Anyway, the rest of the class didn't show up until 8:30ish, then we finally got started. If I had known that I would have slept in. I was bored anyway, only one of the girls is a first time mom, the rest of us had had kids already. It did remind me of when Carlee was firstborn though. I caught myself daydreaming about those first few days, and thought, "Oh yeah..." *smile* I can't wait. :D

Anyway, so things are going good. I'm at 7 1/2 weeks *Due Nov. 16th!* (so if you can, send positive thoughts and prayers because I'm still so early.) My weight is good (I've put on 2 pounds). I'm slightly showing, but you wouldn't notice it. Only Tony and I can see it, well, because we know what my tummy looked like before. :) My BMI is good, eating is great, exercise is good, etc. No morning sickness as of yet, the only effect I'm feeling is being tired at the end of the day. Really tired. I told Tony, it wasn't like this with Carlee. He said, "Well, Sheena, when you were pregnant with Carlee you didn't have an almost 3 year old Carlee to run after." LOL I'm really excited about this pregnancy. I'm so much more health conscious than when I was pregnant with Carlee (and even then I was somewhat health conscious,) and I really feel like it's going to make a big difference. I can't wait to see how much of a difference.

Hope everyone is having a good week!

Sparklies!

Remember the crow on Secret of Nimh? He would love my U card. :) I went to another class last week that was completely filled up and so worth it. We made my two favorite cards yet, both in one night. We were warned that we would end up going home covered in glitter, and we didn't leave disappointed. Here are the cards:


I hate how my scanner focuses on the embellishments... but oh well. And I'm horrible at putting them on the scanner straight... lol Anyway, aren't those adorable? I had a good time, and am really enjoying the girls that are in my stamp club. I was really quiet the first few times I went, but now after getting to know them, I'm laughing and cracking jokes as much as they are. It's a lot of fun.