I'm updating the blog already because I know if I don't, and if we don't call Grandma and Grandpa, they'll wonder.

No ear infection, just a little bit of fluid in one of her ears. Katie took a four hour (!) nap yesterday and for the most part, seems to be all better. Doctor just recommended flushing out Katie's nose periodically with saline (yeah, that's exactly as fun as it sounds) but no antibiotics (hooray). The doc did prescribe some numbing drops for Katie's ears in case the pain gets too bad, but I suspect we're already over it.

So - that's all for now - back to fighting with Illustrator to get invitations done for a baby shower ...

Yes, it was hot! 110+ most days I was there, although I do have to say there is something to the "it's a dry heat" comment - it felt much worse here in Dallas than it did in AZ. Had three good days of meetings and now it's back home for a while ... but got a meeting invite for another powwow in Arizona ... in AUGUST. Woof. I know why we do that - the CVS|Caremark building in Scottsdale has the largest meeting room. But c'mon, we couldn't rent a meeting space in like, Seattle or Denver or something?

Katie is now walking well on her own almost all the time now. We did video chat with Grandma and eventually Grandpa (who was the "Energizer Bunny" according to Grandma - working in the yard) and they enjoyed watching Katie roam through the kitchen in her little froggie jammies (new ones - frog princess). What was funniest is that Katie would walk to the door mat next to the garage door, bend down, pick up some miniscule nit that she'd see, and then she'd bring it to me .... and she'd do that over, and over, and over. Grandma thought that was pretty funny! Grandma and Grandpa also got some Katie kisses ("MMMMMMWAH!") and got to learn where Katie's nose is, and her belly.

Right now Katie is with Daddy at the doctor's office - got a call yesterday from day care that Katie was running a 101 temp. Picked her (and her pukey clothes) up from day care and came home - she napped a bit, didn't eat much (what she did, she spewed back up), and then she played - but she wasn't her usual self yesterday. We suspect another ear infection - Ms. Sandra in her classroom said Katie was really digging at one of her ears yesterday. Joy. Katie did sleep through the night last night, and her nose was sorta crusty this morning but she wasn't running a fever. I suspect we get another 10 days of trying to get antibiotics in her ... fun fun.

Katie continues to not be a great eater, unless it's Cheerios. She does so-so at day care - she usually eats some cereal and fruit (baby food) for breakfast, they try giving her table food at lunch (she usually eats very little of that, if any - if she doesn't eat any of the "big kid" food, she gets more baby food), and we try again at home - either with table food or baby food and have NO luck whatsoever. Skip worries that she's malnourished but I think she's fine - she's growing and developing and it's not like she isn't eating ANYTHING at all. All I can say is thank goodness for Cheerios!

Well, not much else going on here - trying to figure out what to do next weekend; had hoped some different friends might make it down but no go. So we're thinking of heading to Little Rock - Skip's never been to Arkansas and it's a short drive from here. Or who knows ... we might just end up staying here, in the pool! TTFN!

Yes, Katie is walking on her own now - haltingly, but she is walking!

Just in the last day or two she's taken to standing up on her own and taking a few hesitant steps before falling down. She's still happy as a little clam if you take her by the hands and walk her through the house. She is SO funny and smart - we have our downstairs gated off so she has the run of the living room and the kitchen, but nothing else. But if you walk with Katie, she will walk right up to the gate, drop one of your hands and then stand there waiting like "Well? I wanna get to the other side!" And of course she's not very happy when you do NOT open the gate (or door, or whatever it is she wants). It'll only be a matter of days before she's running all over the place. Skip and I went to the mall last week to get her shoes - ouch! Her shoes cost more than mine!

Hm, what else is up with Katie. She continues to be a bit of a fussy eater - sometimes she'll do well, other times you can't get her to eat anything except Cheerios. Even at daycare now they've had problems getting her to eat anything else sometimes, and historically they'd had much better luck than we did. I'm not too worried about it - she is growing and she's downing the milk every chance she gets (and ... I am probably jinxing myself here ... we've been yak-free for a couple of weeks!). And - she is working her way out of bottles (yippee! no more bottles to wash - a good thing since our dishwasher is JUNK). Skip bought us a dishwasher last spring, before Katie arrived - we wanted one that would be quieter. When we first got it (Kenmore Elite, in case you were wondering what kind NOT to buy), it was great - did a great job on the dishes, didn't have to turn the TV up to full volume if the DW was running. But about 4-6 months into it, the dishes started coming out filmy. Called out a service tech, who diagnosed hard water, and not enough detergent and rinse aid (hm, piece of crap dishwasher installed by the cheap-o builder who put up the house used the SAME HARD WATER and it worked just fine, thank you - noisy as a jet, but dishes were always clean). So we change our detergent and all that jazz and it starts again. Sears sends another tech out who dismantles the thing and cleans out some filter, which is totally full of stuff. Dishes are great for, oh, about three weeks, and now they're filmy again. Went into the Sears where we bought it and the sales guys were ZERO help (they had a negative reading on the "get a clue" scale, I think) but I did get the 800 number for customer service, so we'll see where that gets us.

Oh - and as an added bonus - also have to fix our fridge. You know the shelves in the door that hold all of the pickles, jelly, all that jazz? They keep falling out. Joy. The last time, they fell AFTER I closed the door, so I could barely get the door open and I had to pull each and every jar out one by one (as I was trying to leave for work, wouldn't ya know).

Katie is also learning to blow kisses (very fun) and will occasionally give kisses, but she's still working on that part. Oh, and she waves "bye-bye" after we change her diaper (bye-bye, diaper!) which is pretty funny. She'll even do "bye bye diaper" when she's about half awake.

Well, need to get some work done while Katie naps ... laundry, some travel plans (Skip is SO much better at those than I am), and some shower planning for a friend. Skip is in NE this weekend for his great-aunt June's funeral, unfortunately, so he's missing Father's Day but it's important that he be in Holdrege with his mom. He comes back on Tuesday - then I turn around and leave on Sunday for Arizona, yippee.

That's all for now .... more later as events warrant!!!

Well ... just got back from Nebraska. Quite the adventure!!

We left Sunday morning with Angie and DiAnn in the van and me, Skip and Katie in the Acura. We got off to a bit of a slow start - several stops along the way to get everyone settled and comfortable. We switched off and I drove the van for a while then we went back to our "original" configuration again as we headed north from Wichita to Salina. Skip and Katie and I were about 30 miles ahead of the van - and about 30 minutes ahead of a big bad storm blowing in along I-70. So we stopped off at Wal-Mart and called D&A to let them know where we were. They pulled off and we all started shopping ... when the sirens blew. Yippee! Anyone who knows me knows I am a COMPLETE tornado weenie - if the sky looks the least bit funky, I'm gathering up my blankie, my pillows, my radio and anything else I think I might need and I'm headed off to wherever it's safe to curl up in the fetal position until the storm blows over. (Bad childhood experience - the Wizard of Oz gave me nightmares, followed about one month later by one of the biggest tornadoes ever to hit Omaha, and I'm scarred for life, I guess.)

ANYWAY ... we herd into the customer service area of good old Wally World (no sky lights or windows) until the staff gets the "all clear". Since the storm is coming in from the west - straight along I-70 - we decide to grab a bite to eat at Subway until the storm gets a little further east so we're not driving through buckets o' rain. We head west through some rain, although nothing rough, and end up dodging about a dozen deer between Hays, KS and Holdrege but we make it to the house at about 12:30 or so, safe and sound.

Nebraska was COLD - one day I don't think it got much above 50 degrees and it was kinda rainy most of the time we were there. Didn't do a whole lot while we were there - Skip did have a small "honey do" list (gutter duty) - but got to spend some time with Angie and DiAnn, which is always good. On Thursday, we packed up and headed to Grand Island, to visit our friends Cory, Sharyl and their kids Anthony and Alyssa. We were in a bit of a hurry as - you guessed it - more storms coming in and we wanted to be off the road before they hit. Well, we're headed north on highway 183 towards I-80 and there's a couple of cars stopped, southbound; there are about 4-5 guys out with a tripod and a camera. Look off to the west ... big honkin' funnel cloud. YIKES!!!!!!!!

It was well off in the distance - no threat to us - but Skip did have to gently remind me to not drive 110 MPH.

We made it to GI without really going through any rain - there was some FIERCE cloud to ground lightening up ahead of us, and several storm vehicles passed us, headed west. (One looked like a tank!) We made it to GI just in time to order some pizza ... and head to the basement (more yippee!). It rained long and hard, filling the drainage ditches around Cory and Sharyl's house, and eventually we headed upstairs to wait for our now much delayed (but very anticipated) Valentino's pizza.

We eventually pack back up and head back towards I-80; we have reservations at a hotel in Lincoln that night. Sharyl calls. 80 is closed - tornado blew through Aurora, which is about 10-15 miles east of GI, and there are semis overturned on 80. So we ended up spending the night in GI, which actually was very much a blessing - got to spend more time with our friends and Sharyl (God bless her) did some laundry for us (Katie had a meltdown and puked all over herself and Daddy. I thought formula spit up was bad, but it is NOTHING like baby milk puke.) Also got to spend more time with Anthony, Alyssa, and their two kitties ("Katie's Dad, his name is BUBBA!" Alyssa kept telling Skip, as he asked Katie if she'd like to pet the kitty).

Friday we head out and near Aurora, there are overturned irrigation pivots (wheels up), debris in fields, signs ripped down, and we passed one farm that was pretty much destroyed by the tornado. We detoured in Lincoln for some shopping (cute dress for Katie - Husker gear, o' course) and some pictures, then a stop in Omaha to visit my Grandma and Aunt Carolyn at the nursing home where they live. Katie was a BIG hit with the octogenarian set! We stayed through dinner, then Katie was getting tired so off to Des Moines, where we had breakfast with Kent and Rhonda and spent some time visiting with them. Then off to KC for dinner with Mack, Joleyne and Josh; overnight in Wichita that night (some rain ... but nothing severe, thankfully) and the rest of the way home on Sunday.

Whew!

Through all of this Katie was a GREAT little traveler - I worried because now that she's crawling (and attempting to walk), I was afraid being cooped up would make her really cranky, but she did pretty good for the most part. Our biggest challenge was getting her to go to sleep the last few nights - I think extended naps in the car plus lots of stimulation at our various stops made it hard for her to relax for the night.

Katie isn't yet walking on her own, but she loves to hang on to our hands and walk with us; she's gotten much better in her balance and "form", but she's not quite ready to let go just yet (Katie will go with just one hand ... but not for very long before she's looking for her "anchor" again). She's getting two more teeth on top, and Katie is doing a little better with the solid food - she had Tater Tots tonight, and that went well until she decided to dump the bowl of potatoes in her lap. Thank goodness the cleaning lady comes tomorrow ...

Well, that's an awfully long blog ... but lots to tell. Need to close for now so Skip can upload pics from the cameras so I can add some visuals for everyone. TTFN!