Let the merry-go-round of sicknesses in the Harris household begin!! Woo hoo!

Katie went back to school on Thursday of last week, but she did throw up again Thursday night. Called the doctor back, he didn't seem worried - just figured we'd started Katie back on full strength formula a little too quickly. SO ... back to good old faithful Pedialyte and watered down formula for at least another day. We got Katie bathed and to bed Thursday night, and I went to bed ... but not for long. Got up at midnight sick as a dog (I will spare you the gory details - trust me, they were gory). I was sick a couple more times through the night but on Friday felt better - I did stay home from work; I dialed in on the laptop and kept up with a few emails and took a few calls, but I also got some marathon naps in, too. I'm happy to say that Skip hasn't yet gotten sick ... let's hope it stays that way. I guess the virus ripped through the day care - took out all of the teachers for a few days, too.

Well, of course are we going to let a little ol' virus keep us from football? Oh HECK NO - we left for Houston on Saturday morning (I was feeling better and Katie hadn't shown any signs of a relapse). We made pretty good time into Houston and actually stopped off at Boys and Girls Country in Hockley, TX for a tour. Why B&GC? Well, let's see ... a few years ago, Skip was traveling to PA a lot with a couple of other guys for business. They got to talking about odds and ends, and Skip mentioned that we go to Houston football games a lot. One of the guys mentioned that his step mother and father lived in the Houston area, and that his step mom is executive director for a charity called Boys and Girls Country. Skip asks if they can ever use extra football tickets, friend/coworker says you bet, so we get hooked up with his step mom (Ms. Shirley) and she sees to it that any football tickets we can't use get put to good use.

Boys and Girls Country houses 56 boys and 32 girls - 8 per cottage where they live with a set of house parents. These kids are usually placed at B&GC because their parents or grandparents can no longer care for them - the parents have drug and alcohol issues and end up in rehab, or they're in prison, or they are on the streets and just unable to care for their kids. Ms. Shirley said that so many of their kids show up with absolutely no basic skills - they can't even brush their teeth, let alone know their ABCs (given the life I've led, I just can't even IMAGINE ...). Anyway, B&GC gets over 1000 applications a year and only takes in the 88 kids - ages anywhere from 5 to 18. Their goal is to get the kids through high school with some good, basic skills and then (this is what differentiates them from similar charities) support the kids as they go onto a career or college. Ms. Shirley is an AMAZING woman - I really believe that God puts people in certain places to fill needs and Ms. Shirley is a testament to that. B&GC gets no federal or United Way dollars - they are entirely privately funded. So Ms. Shirley wears two pretty significant hats - one as a fundraiser (because as she said, they are a "bottomless pit of need") and the other as a developer of children. She's hoping to retire next summer, but I'm not sure who else can fill those shoes!

Oh yeah, we did go to the football game - Texans beat the Cowboys! Yeah, yeah, yeah, it's pre season ... but given that the Texans in years past haven't been even able to post many preseason wins, we're taking whatever we can get!! The team looked pretty good (former Husker Ahman Green looked GREAT), and Katie drew lots of attention in her little Matt Schaub onesie (he's their new QB). Many of our season ticket "neighbors" had to stop and see Katie, which was fun. She did really well with all of the noise and activity - better than me, I was still wiped out from being sick and then going out in the legendary Houston heat and humidity about did me in!!

Today it was back to work and to school. Katie started at the Plano site for Creme de la Creme - the location is a LOT more convenient for us on our way to and from work, and it's close enough to Skip's office that he plans to go up and visit Katie some over his lunch hours. It was really hard taking Katie out of the Allen location - the staff up there was SO wonderful and they really seemed to enjoy Katie a lot. The staff at the Plano site seems nice, too ... guess they're just not as "gushy" over Katie at Plano as they were in Allen! If for whatever reason we decide to put Katie back at the Allen location, we can - it's nice having that alternative in our back pocket. The schools are essentially the same - same curriculum, same philosophy, etc - the Plano site is just older. Ms. Sara, the director at Plano, has been there only a few months but sort of hinted that the previous director didn't quite keep things up to snuff, so she (Ms. Sara) is working to fix that.

Well, anyway ... more next week in the adventures of Katie the Road Warrior. Labor Day it's off to Nebraska; we're staying in Holdrege and Skip and I are going the football game in Lincoln while Katie spends some quality time with her Grammy DiAnn and Angie. The following weekend it's Omaha to see Grandma Sandy, Great-Grandma June, and various and other assorted relatives in Omaha (Skip IS going with me, BTW ... so I don't have to try to finagle the TSA mess by myself at the airport). THEN it's to Kansas City for our godson Joshie's 3rd birthday ... and then I think we're taking a break. Whew.

Whoever said kids slow you down didn't know what they were sayin!

Well, it was bound to happen sooner or later ... Katie got sick last night. She'd awakened yesterday morning with some congestion, but she went to day care and had no problems. She was pretty fussy at home, though, and crashed out at about 7:00 - which is early for her. We were doing yard work (I mow while Skip watches the munchkin, then I watch her while Skip trims/edges/blows) and then we went to Sonic - our after mowing treat and tradition. Katie stayed asleep as we put her into her car seat and while we were at Sonic ... but towards the end of our stay there I heard a loud, wet urps out of her. Didn't think a lot about it - she is the Yak Queen of Collin County, after all - but when we got home I was holding her and getting her ready for her bath and she definitely puked. Twice.

So ... call the doctor, he says it's not uncommon for babies, when they have any kind of virus, to simply have NO tolerance for any kind of milk products. So we gave Katie a bath, laundered everything (including the car seat cover), and Skip made a run to Wal-Mart for some Pedialyte. Katie stayed home from school today - she's not herself but she seems to be getting better. She slept a lot today and when she wasn't sleeping, she needed to be held. We re-introduced some formula tonight - thinned out from the usual mix - and she seems to be keeping it down OK.

Hopefully tomorrow it's back to school. And, actually, on that note - the Plano location has an opening starting next week. YAY! That will be a lot easier for all of us as far as getting Katie to and from day care. Skip visited there today - it's set up the same as where she is now, and he said the staff was really nice. It'll be hard to take her out of the Allen location - the staff there has been SO wonderful. But I'm confident that the staff at the Plano location is likewise as good.

Looks like Dean will miss Texas, so if Katie holds up through the rest of the week, it's Texans vs. Cowboys for all of us on Saturday night!!

Well, back to work just three weeks and a trip to Phoenix/Scottsdale for me. Guess I can't complain too badly - I return from maternity leave to be promoted to Director, so I guess if they want me to go to AZ, I'll go to AZ!

I did fine leaving Katie at day care on Tuesday - I didn't even cry. Had an uneventful but crowded trip (it was nice going through security WITHOUT the car seat and stroller). There were an awful lot of 'amateur travelers' out for a Tuesday - everyone getting one last vacation in before school starts, I guess. Skip did a GREAT job as Mr. Mom all week - he sent me a little movie of him and Katie one night, and a really cute picture of Katie the next. They even managed to go to the grocery store one night after work - Skip is braver than I am, Katie is her grumpiest at night and I'm usually already tired but he said it went very well (she did start getting fussy at the end of the shopping trip, so at that point Skip decided to consider it done, even though he'd wanted to shop for a few more things).

I returned to DFW on Thursday night and left the terminal just as it absolutely started to POUR down rain, so it took me a bit longer than usual to get home, and of course by the time I did Katie had already been in bed for a while. I had to take her out of her crib and just hold her and rock her for a little bit - THEN I cried. Little stinker was still asleep the next morning when I went to work, but when I picked her up from day care on Friday she just had the biggest smile for me, that was AWESOME.

Katie continues to get good reports from day care - her teachers always report that she's a happy, smiling baby. She's just started to laugh in the last couple of weeks, and that has been a lot of fun for all of us.

We went out today to a North Texas Nebraskans event - "Taste of Nebraska". The group brings in Valentino's pizzas and Runzas (for those of you not from Nebraska asking what the h*** is a Runza, it's a czech sandwich "thing" made with beef, onions and cabbage wrapped in bread and baked - there is a chain of fast food restaurants in NE that sells 'em and yes, they are good!). We met up with Abbey at the sports bar where the event was held - Abbey is the daughter of one of Skip's mom's friends from Holdrege, she's doing a dietician internship here in Dallas at the Presby hospital system (same one where Katie was born). We ate lots of food, got an update on how the team will be, and Skip even won an extra Val's pizza - so we had to return home to put it in the fridge. We had planned to head out shopping straight from the restaurant, it's tax free weekend here in Texas, so time to load up! But since we had to come home anyway, I gave Katie a bath (yes, she yakked all over her cute little Nebraska cheerleader outfit) and she and Daddy took naps while I caught up on some housework.

So that's what's new this week ... next weekend, assuming hurricane Dean doesn't mess up our plans, we're headed to Houston for the preseason game against the Cowboys - Katie's first football game. Ought to be some good stories out of that adventure!

Jen

Katie has proven to be an EXCELLENT little airplane traveler!! She slept the whole way out to California - we landed at Burbank, and she actually slept as we got off the plane, waited for bags, and loaded up the rental car - she didn't wake up until we had driven to Anaheim, actually! I was shocked that she slept that whole time - the airport at Burbank is teeny-tiny and very congested. It literally felt like get off the plane, walk 5 steps to the combo baggage claim / car rental area (which seemed only slightly bigger than our living room, packed with the passengers from a couple of flights), and then another 10 steps to our rental car. I was surprised that with all of the commotion and movement that Katie didn't wake ... but she didn't!

She was equally good on the flight home - she didn't sleep the whole time (she did nap a little), but she was very well behaved. She started to cry a little but we fed her and that settled her down very quickly. She stayed awake as we landed and wasn't even very interested in her pacifier - so the pressure on her ears must not have been too bad, she just sat and played! Katie also went through what we affectionately call the Poopie Grunts on the return trip - her body language when she makes a dirty diaper is VERY distinctive (which is actually sorta nice, once she's done we know to change her diaper before it gets too uncomfortable and she goes into full Hissy Fit Mode). Daddy did diaper changing duty - in the itty bitty aiprlane bathroom - and it went pretty well for both Daddy and Katie (no Poopie Grunt landed on her outfit or socks, which I always take as a sign of a successful poopie diaper change!).

I do have to say this, though ... what a TOTAL pain in the A@@ it is to get through security with an infant!! We bought Katie her own seat on the plane, so she sat in her car seat the whole time. We figured that would be easier on all of us, plus if we sat on the three-seater side of the plane, then some poor schlep didn't have to sit with us and a baby - and, we'd need the car seat once we got to CA anyway. We also took her stroller, which works in conjunction with her car seat (the seat itself snaps into the stroller). Well, we get to security and not only do we have to go through the usual BS of taking off our shoes, removing our liquids, laptop, etc., but we ALSO have to take the car seat out of the stroller and get it into the xray machine (which means taking Katie out, of course), AND the TSA boobs (my apologies to Doug) all insist on trying to get the stroller folded and through the xray machine as well, even though a blind person could see it wouldn't fit. So at DFW, the agents keep trying to shove the stroller through the xray and we're waiting to see if it gets destroyed (put it on the belt, move it forward a little bit, get it stuck, back it up, try again, get it stuck, back it up, repeat). FINALLY they get smart and take the stroller off to the side so it can be inspected by hand. Same deal when we returned to Dallas from the Ontario, CA airport - we TOLD the agents that the stroller wouldn't fit, but they insisted on trying anyway ... and same thing, move the belt forward with the stroller, it all jams, back it up, try cramming it in again ... needless to say, Skip and I were both pretty peeved!!! And, to top it all off - the agents confiscated Katie's sun screen, because it was an eight ounce bottle. I know I slept a lot better last night, knowing that our 50SPF Water Babies was safely out of the hands of terrorists (I actually do know the rules, but had left the sunscreen in the diaper bag in case we had needed it, and had forgotten to take it out to check it ... but honestly, some of these TSA rules are just asinine).

It was definitely a two person job to get everything through security. I've been thinking about going back to Omaha with Katie in September - we need to see my Grandma and my cousin's daughter is getting married - but I'm having second thoughts, now, just because of the security line stuff. You can't have anyone else hold your baby - not even an agent - yet you have to get the car seat out of the stroller and onto the belt, AND then fold up the stroller and fight with getting it on the belt as well (not to mention the aforementioned shoe removal, liquid removal, and all other security line hassles). I need to do some research to see how we could possibly manage an airplane trip, just the two of us - maybe I have to request a manual search, I don't know (but that would be a lot easier than fighting with all of the stuff!!).

We were in CA to see Skip's brother Scott get married, the wedding was lovely, and on a beach just before sunset. Never having been to a beach wedding, I wasn't sure what to expect. I think what struck me as a little odd about it all was the fact that the hotel where the wedding was held had roped off a small section of beach for the ceremony - but of course the rest of the beach is just business as usual, so there were sunbathers, joggers, et al just outside of where the ceremony was. Although if I stop to think about it, I would've realized that there probably is no such thing as a "private beach" any more, and actually a lot of the sunbathers stopped and watched as Scott and Missy exchanged vows. Katie held up well during the wedding - she slept during the ceremony but woke up when Pastor Bernie presented Mr. and Mrs. Scott Harris (the applause and cheers startled her). She did well during the noisy reception, too - she started to get fussy while we were in the buffet line (cousin Jack held her hand, which she liked ... but then Uncle Mitchell was trying to get Katie to do the Hook Em Horns thing with her hand, and she didn't like that AT ALL, good girl ) so I took her out of the main reception area to calm her down. She was good again for a bit, but then got good and fussy when it was bed time ... Grandma Betty Jo had just come by to see if she could help in getting Katie settled and it was like someone had flipped a switch - Katie's eyes shut and she was OUT. We're all glad we went - Scott is pretty special and his bride is beautiful. And, I am happy to report Katie didn't yak on anyone ... just herself.

We didn't do much else while in CA - we weren't there for very long. We did go to Downtown Disney to do a little shopping and people watching, that was kind of fun, and we got Katie her first pair of mouse ears (of COURSE there are pictures!!)

Well, it's back to normal for a little while until football season starts up. OH - and I go to Arizona on my own for business in 10 days - so Skip will be doing the single dad thing. I think Skip needs to start his own blog!!