My Bloody Feet Are Killing Me! – Day Four (London)

The remainder of last night went well. Madeline got a much needed good night’s sleep. After David and I took turns going to the Pub next door to use their Wi-Fi (which we have to do again tonight), we took a minute to sneak up one floor to the rooftop to scope out the view. This photo of the Tower Bridge was taken from our rooftop. As you can see, we are very close to the Tower Bridge.

This morning, David finished up with his work obligations early in the day so we were able to do a bit of sightseeing. This first picture of Mama and Madeline was taken at a sundial in a small park area outside of our flat. We next jumped on the Tube (subway) to head in the direction of some of London’s most popular sights. David and I were thrilled to see all that we did but Madeline wasn’t so impressed. For the most part, the tantrums have improved today however the only time we were close to tantrum stage was between Buckingham Palace and Big Ben. After traveling to Disney last fall, Madeline couldn’t quite understand why she wasn’t seeing any princesses at the “castle”. Also, the guards and barricades of the palace limited how close we could get and Madeline had a hard time understanding this. In her mind we should be able to get as close to Buckingham Palace as we did to Cinderella’s castle. And since we saw fireworks at Disney she thought we were going to see fireworks at Buckingham Palace. Also, from what I could gather, I think Madeline knew that we weren’t at Cinderella’s castle so in her mind she decided that we were at Mulan’s castle. She was insisting on finding out where Mulan was. With this rationale in her head it’s no wonder she pretty much had a meltdown when we looked at Buckingham Place, took a couple pictures and walked away. After several attempts to explain that this wasn’t Mulan’s castle I gave up and told her that Mulan was inside hiding from Madeline’s screaming. (Oh yeah, Madeline’s screaming fit had me so distracted that we practically got ran over by a car while crossing the street. Same as in Dublin, the cars are on the opposite side of the street and thus coming from a different direction than we are used to for pedestrians as well)

With all the elaborate architecture, Madeline must’ve thought we were in a village of castles. We took a walk through St. James’s Park. On the other side, we came upon Churchill’s Museum and Cabinet War Rooms. Although Madeline was now tantrum free, and pretty much stayed that way for the rest of the day, we were not willing to press our luck and head inside…..just not a very exciting place for a kid. Mama-Dirtyfoot wasn’t too disappointed but David is a history buff so I know that is something he would’ve loved to see.

From there we walked over to see 10 Downing Street (home of the Prime Minister). We also walked over to see Big Ben. For the faithful Mama-Dirtyfoot readers you know how Madeline pronounces “clock” (without the “l”) so of course we got to listen to her exclaim, “I see the big clock!” with her unique pronunciation. Luckily there was plenty of traffic volume so that the rest of London didn’t hear that too! The Big Ben is part of the Parliament building. The architecture is beautiful. Also, in that general vicinity is Westminster Abbey. There too is beautiful architecture. Unfortunately, by the time we got to Westminster Abbey, they were no longer allowing tourists in for the day. That is someplace that, if time allows, we will try to get back inside.

Next we walked across the Westminster Bridge and headed to the London Eye. The London Eye is a huge Ferris wheel. In fact, the London Eye is the largest observation wheel ever built. Madeline was thrilled to go on the wheel. The height aspect of the wheel didn’t even faze her as she would sit right along the glass enclosure. Madeline can make a friend anywhere and she had a fun time during the ½ hour ride with another 3 year old girl. The views from atop the London Eye are beautiful.

Finally we walked quite a distance along the River Thames. We ended up getting dinner at a little place that overlooked the river. In fact, we could see St. Paul’s Cathedral directly across the river from where we ate. The restaurant was great because the décor was very nice yet it was *very* kid friendly. David had a burger while Madeline and I shared a shepherd’s pie (yeah, I know Tammy….that is *almost* like a casserole!!) After dinner we walked back over the river via the Millennium Bridge but since it was getting late and cooler outside we took the Tube the remaining three stops back to our flat. I think we will all sleep quite well tonight!!

Insane & Exhausting Day – Day Three (London)

The most important thing to report is that we made it London in one piece….although we pretty much lost our sanity in the process. Madeline finally fell asleep last night at what would be after midnight Dublin time. David and I were both wired as well and forced ourselves to head to bed at 1:30am. I know that we can’t be 100% adjusted to the time difference yet but I think it is something more than that. Maybe it was the sugar in the ice cream we had?? “Back in the day” David and I wouldn’t care what time we stayed up ‘til or how little sleep we had but we have to be on the top of our game with a 3-year old running around.

We had a 7am wake-up call. David and I did as much as possible in getting ready so that Madeline would sleep as long as possible. Regardless we still had to wake her which we dreaded because she had so little sleep. We pretty much flew to the airport…..in a manual car with the steering wheel on the wrong side and driving on the left side of the road. Great driving skills, David! I can’t even imagine how difficult that has to be to get used to because you have to even think just walking across the street (keep in mind, oncoming curb-side traffic would be coming from the opposite direction too!) We dropped the rental car off and ran to the airport (we thought our flight was earlier than it actually was). This in itself was a sight to see!! Keep in mind that each of us has a suitcase (although Maddie’s is mini-sized) and each of us also has a carry-on. This wouldn’t normally be a problem except Madeline is too small to carry her own stuff. Add to this the fact that somewhere in Europe, one of the wheels to one of the larger suitcases fell off. We could have been our own sitcom episode today! Luckily, or flight wasn’t until 11:10am, not 9:55am like we originally thought. This at least gave us time for a leisurely breakfast.

We flew BMI air. Their flight attendants have the goofiest hats! I must say that plane was pretty darn creaky too! The flight should’ve only been 50 minutes but due to high hinds, we circled London, Heathrow airport for about a half-hour before finally landing. Not fun!! In the midst of the circling, Madeline decided to become monster-child. Mama and Papa are not happy. Finally, we get our bearings in the airport to have to hop the Tube (subway) to our flat (near London’s tower bridge). Again, if it were just the two of us navigating all this it would be no problem but doing this with a grumpy 3 year old, 3 suitcases (one with a broken wheel), 3 carry-ons and by this time 3 hungry tummies was not fun. Oh, I need to mention that the Tube ride was an additional 40 minutes (with a train transfer with all this luggage)

We finally got to our flat which is very small but quite nice (better than a hotel room). Basically we dumped all our stuff and hit the streets to find an early dinner. We stopped at a family-friendly pub. David had a chicken sandwich, Madeline had fish & chips while I, the most daring of the group, had a lamb & mint burger. On the walk back to the flat we decided to stop at a small store (about a 5 min walk from the flat) for a few essential food items to have in the flat. At this point Madeline once again decided to hit the wall. Okay, I know we have been running her ragged but we hit the limit with giving leeway. Basically, Madeline was dragged out of the store by Mama and back to the flat (luckily I remembered my way) while David finished up in the store and met us back at the flat. Oh yeah, and Madeline was in time out until David got back. We are beginning to wonder who’s bright idea it was to do the European tour with a three year old. We did, however get back to the flat early enough and Madeline is sleeping at a somewhat decent time so we are hoping tomorrow will be a better day. At this point, David is still unsure what time his meetings are tomorrow but we are hoping that by the time David is done with his business that Madeline will be rested enough to do some touring of London.

Oh….and one other traumatic thing for today, the flat’s internet can’t be connected to at this time. Long story…..but now that Madeline is sleeping David and I are taking turns going to the pub next door to the flat which has free Wi-Fi. So, if I don’t get a chance to post again you’ll know why. We will be here for four nights. We are flying to Berlin on Sunday……wish us luck!!

Adventures O' Dublin - Day Two

We got a late start today. Part of it was due to the fact that we are still not quite adjusted to the time difference and part of it was due to the fact that David had some business to attend to in the morning. We did, however, have a lot of the afternoon together to do some sightseeing.

We headed out for a bite to eat at a small café. Madeline, being over tired, was in major meltdown mode. We actually had to give her a time out in the restaurant. The server (who I think may have also been the owner) was kind enough to bring out a Barbie and, fittingly enough, a Bratz doll (what was I thinking to leave the hotel with out my bag of tricks?!?!) The Bratz doll was missing her feet so we decided to call her “Peg”. Madeline got much better after a bite to eat and was extremely excited to ride on a bus.

We had to make a stop for David to get an international cell phone for business purposes. In a one block area there were about 5 mobile phone stores. One of the store’s names was O2 and their advertisement had tons of yellow rubber duckies which Madeline thought was pretty cool. The mobile phone stuff took forever so Madeline and I strolled some neighboring stores while waiting for David. First souvenir….Madeline found a bright pink rubber duck with green shamrocks and a leprechaun hat. Okay…..whatever. I also bought a pen for my purse to have handy for the next restaurant.

We then got on a double-decker tour bus that stopped at all the major sites of the city. You can get off and on the bus at any of the stops. I highly recommend something like this if you plan to visit a city for only a short period of time. Like I side, it goes to all the highlights but also has a tour guide explaining what you are looking at as you drive around. As I previously mentioned, we had a late start to our day but then the tour busses only ran until 6:30pm. We really only had enough time to hop of the bus twice. So were did we go? St. Patrick’s Cathedral and the Guinness Brewery (not the tour, just the gift shop) When we got almost full circle on the bus tour, a few stops before our hotel, we decided to get off early at the Temple Bar. Although there is a bar called “Temple Bar”, it is also a district in Dublin.

Temple Bar district is like an entertainment district. We strolled through there, and passed by the actual “Temple Bar” where they were filming for a Guinness 250 year anniversary commercial. We took a photo of the outside because we figured that if the commercial got to the States we could say that we were there as it was being filmed. We also stopped to browse at a gift shop….tantrum #2 of the day. All I have to say about her tantrums lately is Holy Crap!

We hit a restaurant for dinner. Thank God Madeline was well behaved, although the pen I bought was very much put to use during our wait. I do have to say that everyone we have encountered here in Dublin has been very friendly, although the restaurant service is a bit slow…..but, you roll with the flow. After diner we stopped for some European-style ice cream followed by a leisurely stroll back to the hotel. Either Madeline’s sleep schedule is *way* off (but I can’t see how she is not tired after all this activity today and no nap) or the sugar from the ice cream has kicked in. It as I type this, it is 7:30 EST or 11:30pm Dublin time and she is STILL awake. Don’t get me wrong, she is in bed, but she is just singing away…..sigh!

Tomorrow we are back to the airport on a plane to London. We will be there for four nights. We are actually staying in a flat, rather than a hotel. If we are not mistaken, the flat will have high speed Internet so, hopefully I will have better luck posting pictures from London.

Greetings From Dublin - Day One

We have arrived! Yes, we are in Ireland....this picture is the alley to the side of our hotel. It is completely lined with beer kegs on both sides of the alley.....I just had to laugh. Our flight out of Buffalo was delayed but that gave us an opportunity to grab a bite to eat. Despite the fact that we were on a little prop plan, the flight went fairly well. However, I did keep smell someone passing gas. I realized that it was Madeline when one of the times she loudly exclaimed, "PU!” Since the flight out of Buffalo was delayed we were nervous that we would miss our connection in Newark. Luckily our flight from Newark to Dublin was delayed however it was delayed until 10:07. We boarded the plain and there we sat until take off at MIDNIGHT! Madeline was okay for the wait to take-off for the first hour of that wait. At that point she had a complete meltdown (luckily it only lasted about 10 minutes). Thankfully she then fell asleep and slept through until our arrival. It is next to impossible for me to sleep while sitting up so Madeline and I squeezed side by side on our two seats while Papa, who sits next to me and has no problem sleeping on a plane, had his lap function as either a headrest or foot rest for me. No wonder my back is killing me now.

We arrived in Dublin on Monday at 10am (6am EST). Between David, Madeline and I we have a ton of luggage. But, there is also one of David’s coworkers and her husband traveling with us as well and they had just as much luggage as we did. We decided that we wouldn’t all be able to fit into one taxi. Also, the other couple, Carolyn & Jeff, had to be back at the airport to catch a 3:30pm flight to Munich. So, we decided that it would be better to just rent a car. Problem #1, the steering wheels are on the wrong side of the car. Problem#2, they drive on the wrong side of the road. Next, we tried to plug the hotel’s address into the car’s GPS and it took us to some quaint back alley full of teeny houses. We then tried to enter something different into the GPS and that took us on the other side of the city. Finally, we stopped for directions and the guy at the gas station let us use his phone. Finally we got to the hotel but after our unplanned tour of Dublin, (which by the way is very pretty) we had just enough time to freshen up before leaving to take Carolyn & Jeff back to the airport.

After all the air travel to Dublin and car travel while in Dublin we had a tired, testy, cranky hungry baby on our hands. We went out for a bite to eat at an Irish Pub. I always assumed that the “Irish Pub” look in the States was sort of cliché and that most of them didn’t look like that….WRONG! You drive past one pub-style restaurant after another and they all look like that. I am soooo totally going to gross out my friends but I had a liver and bacon dish while David had a chicken stew. David and I washed everything down with some Guiness. I never tried it before, but had to while in Ireland. It is such a dark beer but not bad. Madeline had spaghetti that tasted a bit like Spaghetti-O’s

On the walk back to the hotel, we stopped at a Polish Deli (I guess there is a large Polish population here) and I was soooo excited to see the Mushroom Lays potato chips like what I had in Russia (other reason I will gross out my friends). Of course I had to get some – they make your breathe stinky but they are yummy! When we got back to the room we all sort of veggied out. We are all dragging after very little sleep last night coupled with jet lag. We are heading to bed now and will try to post more tomorrow.

Last Minute Preparations

AAAHhhhhhh!!! I am sooooo not ready!!! It's 9pm, we are leaving tomorrow and I am still NOT packed! We let Madeline stay up late tonight. We want her to be good and tired tomorrow so that she will (hopefully) sleep on the trans-Atlantic flight. I am just waiting until she is *sound* asleep before I head upstairs again to pack our suitcases. In the meantime, I thought I would post a blog to keep my cyber-friends updated.

The past two days I have been doing some type of trip preparation. Yesterday I spent the day balancing checkbooks, writing bills, doing miscellaneous correspondence. Today, I ran around all day taking care of last minute errands, buying last minute things for our trip, stocking up stuff for our house sitter, etc. I think for the most part I am ready but I just have to gather all the items and toss in suitcases.

In addition to errands for our trip, Madeline also had dance class this morning and a doctor's appointment. Thankfully, the ENT doctor said that Madeline's ear tubes are now unblocked. Therefore, I do not foresee any issues (associated with her ears) with travel. Additionally, I did not have a chance to get to the tax guy today. So the seeing the "clock" must wait until we get home......something to look forward to.

It's crazy that I am not too overwhelmed with the upcoming travel to Europe. Don't get me wrong, I am thrilled at this opportunity and it is an opportunity that a few years ago David and I *never* thought we would have. But after traveling to Russia two times and one of those times staying in Russia one month+ while packing for three (even though there were only two of us when we departed), this travel seems like a piece of cake. I, however, am struggling with my casual attitude toward this trip. On one hand, like I said, I am taking this very casually....maybe it is due to our prior experiences. On the other hand, I am feeling much guilt that I am treating this casually because many people do not have such wonderful opportunities. I pray that I am truly grateful. I do not ever want to take such experiences for granted.

I must go now. I still have to pack and prepare instructions for our house sitter. Although we do not leave until later in the day tomorrow, I do not know if I will have a chance to blog. It is possible that I will not be able to post until we arrive in Dublin. David will be very busy during the day. I will explore with Madeline. In the evenings, David will still be busy with work stuff (catching up on emails, etc.) and while he is doing that (and Madeline is sleeping) I plan to blog. So check back here to keep up to date with the Adventures of Mama-Dirtyfoot.

Tick Toc Taxes

Tomorrow is going to be an extremely busy day for us. Madeline has dance class at 10:15 and a doctor's appointment at 11:45 to follow up with the ENT doctor. Also, endless errands to run....I have to exchange some clothes that I bought for Madeline for the trip (1/2 the stuff ran big). I need to go to the bank, the post office, the grocery store, dry cleaners, and if time allows, the tax man.

And the tax man is the one I am NOT looking forward to! It has nothing to do with IRS fear or anything like that. The guy has been doing our taxes for years and is a really nice guy. The thing I fear is taking Madeline with me. Last week, David stopped in with Madeline to drop off all our tax stuff. The tax guy, during tax season, meets with clients in his house. It is a very beautiful home that has a grandfather clock in the living room. I guess when David and the tax guy were reviewing the paperwork that David was dropping off, the grandfather clock began chiming in the other room. After Madeline heard that she wanted to go see the clock. Madeline continued to exclaim loudly for the rest of the visit, "I wanna see the clock! I wanna see the clock! I wanna see the clock!"The only problem with this is that Madeline can't produce the "cl" blend sound so she was omitting the "l" in the word. Ummmm.....yeah, I need to make a conscious effort to not show up at the tax guy at the top of the hour.

High School Reunion

Ok, ok, ok.....I KNOW! What a dorky picture of me (I am front and center). This picture is taken at my 16th birthday party in1986. I have no idea what we were doing here - probably just being goofy teenage girls. I have always kept in touch through Christmas & birthday cards with my grade school/high school friend Tina (on right) but I lost contact with the other girls in the photo. Through the wonders of Facebook, I have reconnected with soooo many friends from the my past and as a result, tonight I went out to dinner with the other two girls in the photo. I have not seen Mary (on the left) since high school (we graduated in 1988). Also, the last time I saw Margerita (in yellow) was at our 10 year high school reunion. We met for dinner tonight at a new restaurant in downtown Buffalo called Encore. It was nice to reconnect. On one hand, it seemed as though a life time has passed....in actuality, much has happened to all of us in 20 years but in many ways it seems as though no time has passed. Unfortunately, we were on our way out before we realized that we did not take a current picture. Hopefully we'll get a chance to do this again soon! Like I said, none of this could've happened without the help of Facebook. In fact, in addition to my high school friends, I have also reconnected with friends from grade school and friends from my childhood neighborhood. So, for those that have been resistant to joining the buzz on Facebook, don't delay. It's not just for the young Gen-Y twenty-somethings!! However, beware.....you may get addicted!

All Better

It's amazing what a good night's sleep will do! Madeline complained a little bit about her foot later in the day yesterday but nothing drastic. I gave her some ibuprofen before bed and rubbed her foot down with Franzbranns Liniment. Madeline slept in this morning and awoke a completely different child. There were no complaints about her foot and her mood was much improved too. She was actually outside running around in the afternoon today. So either she had sprained something or was suffering from growing pains. At least if Madeline's foot pains start up again while we are in Europe we will know that its nothing major that needs immediate care.

With regard to the Franzbranns Liniment, I now SWEAR BY IT!! My mom brought it back from one of her senior citizen's bus trips. She picked up for me to try out on David to see if it would help his aches and pains due to arthritis. She said that the seniors were buying it up so she thought she would give it a try. It sat in our linen closet for years until one day we finally decided to give it a try. As it was applied for the first time I thought there was no way this stuff would work because it has the consistency of water. But sure enough, this stuff works magic! Also, it doesn't stink like Ben-Gay or Flex-All and there is no icy-hot sensation after application. This product is made in Canada, in fact my mom bought it there, but I believe it can be purchased online. Luckily for me, since we live so close to Canada we are there quite often and therefore I can just pick it up next time we are there. I need to make a mental note of that because we are running low.

Too Much Excitement Today

We've been having a few days of beautiful Spring weather here. After Sunday's St. Patrick's Day Parade, Madeline had some time to run around outside like a little monkey. When Monday morning came, Madeline was screaming and crying and complaining about her foot hurting, so much that she didn't want to walk on it. I figured that Madeline either did something to it while playing outside Sunday or was suffering from growing pains. I gave Madeline some ibuprofen which had enough time to work through her system as she ate breakfast. After breakfast, Madeline exclaimed, "all better" and stopped complaining about her foot so I figured all was well. David, however, had to put Madeline to bed last night because I was out getting my haircut. He mentioned that Madeline was once again complaining about her foot in the evening and she was limping around, consistently being ginger with her right foot.

This morning, the same thing happened as yesterday so I tried the same routine with the ibuprofen. This, however, did not help. She could barely put pressure on her foot and was complaining quite strongly about it that I decided since we will be leaving for Europe on Sunday, we should get things checked out without delay. The appointment wasn't until 11:15 so Madeline was quite content to lay on the couch with her feet elevated and watch Cinderella. My concern, since she stopped mentioning her foot after her initial complaints Monday morning, was that Madeline was somehow being a drama queen and milking the foot thing. I thought too that Cinderella might distract her enough and that her foot issues would be forgotten about once the movie was over. After Cinderella, David happened to have a meeting near home so he stopped home to check on things. Mama went upstairs (so that my presence wouldn't affect her responses) and we had Papa offer her "Nemo Candy" (fruit chews) in the kitchen. Madeline would not even get off the couch for the "candy" - she tried to but the foot pain stopped her.

We went to the doctor's and he moved around her foot and there appeared to be no problems. Of course, when the doctor was checking her over, there were no complaints. While putting Maddie's socks back on, I gently squeezed her foot in the area that appeared to be bothering her and she cried, "No Mama touch, only the doctor!" The doctor took a second look in the area I pinpointed and there was some tenderness that made Madeline jumpy (that bone area directly below her big toe).....so, just to make sure, off we went for x-rays. Of course, by this time Madeline is able to walk fine.

In the radiology waiting room, Madeline was pleased to see a fish tank with a clown fish and a blue fish "Like Nemo". She was so darn cute watching them. She kept saying, "Hi Nemo". The clown fish kept coming up to the glass and Madeline noticed the fish opening and closing its mouth so Madeline told me, "Fish talking! He saying Hi Madeline!"

The x-rays came back negative so at this point we figure that Madeline sprained something and we have to just treat her with ibuprofen as needed. I just hope she is feeling better before we travel this weekend! The down side to all of this is that I was planning on using this morning (Madeline normally goes to school Tuesday mornings) to run errands for the trip. School would've given me 3 hours. Also, her speech teacher usually comes over and that would've given me an additional 1/2 hour to accomplish something around the house too. So, I am a little stressed about not having anything ready for our departure.

We were, however, able to make it back home in time for the estimate to get a crack in our basement wall fixed. Yeah, another stressing thing. Pretty much, Niagara Falls would enter our house during heavy rains. David and I were expecting an arm and a leg to fix but it'll only be $400....yipppeee!!! But wouldn't you know it, I was holding Madeline while the estimate guy was talking to me. Why she decided to do this I have no idea, but Madeline starts trying to press on my boobs and yank at my shirt. Kids do these goofy things but I tried to ignore her and lead her hands away from my chest area while simultaneously trying to have a straight-faced conversation with the estimate guy. Yep, subtlety doesn't work with a 3-year old because after I try to lead Madeline's hand away, she loudly exclaims, "No, I wanna see Mama's boobies!" Okay, aside from thinking "What the heck is Madeline doing this for?", I was ready to die. Well, maybe that is why I got a $400 estimate. Whatever it takes, right??? hahaha

More Preparations

I am having a hard time realizing that we are leaving in six days. I am trying to get things together but there are not enough hours in the day. Today, I picked up the Euros that we ordered. Madeline and I also headed back to the mall. We hit the Carter's store and Children's Place in the outlet mall. Madeline now has a few spring items for our travels. We made a stop at WalMart to stock up on Benydryl (as recommended by her pediatrician) to aid in a good night sleep for Madeline (and us) on the plane on our way to Dublin. We also picked out a few small *new* toys to pack for the plan to keep Madeline occupied trans-Atlantic on the way home. (Yes, we figured out on our trips to Russia that the way to limit jet lag with trans-Atlantic flights is to sleep as much as possible on the way there and stay awake as long as possible on the way back). Also, tonight my friend Kelly and I drove out to my friend, Andrea's, house for haircuts (see above). The remainder of the week I need to pack and clean-up our house for our house sitter. There sooooo totally aren't enough hours in the day!

Fun-Filled Weekend

Friday, David came home from work with a beautiful bouquet of flowers. Now that I see the picture of the flowers, the photo does NOT do them justice AT ALL! Anyway, they really are very beautiful! Shortly after he came home, the door bell rang. I answered the door and it was our babysitter (who lives next door). She said David called and wanted to say that she could babysit. I, however, had no idea what she was talking about. David surprised me and made arrangements with the babysitter for Saturday night.....yippee!!!!!

Friday night was *REALLY* exciting.....we put Madeline to bed at around 9pm and David and I fell asleep on the couch at about 9:30. We never do that.....but it was WONDERFUL! We woke up at about midnight, headed to bed, and ended up sleeping until Madeline woke up at about 8:30 the next morning. Eleven hours of sleep!!!!! Can you tell we were exhausted and in need of some rest?!?!!?!

During the day on Saturday, David agreed to take Madeline to dance class (see photo). Dance recital season is around the corner as David came home with Madeline's two dance costumes. I was able to spend this time to meet my friend, Kelly, for shopping. I am still trying to prep myself for our travel next week. In the evening, David and I went to dinner at Left Bank (a hot spot restaurant on the West Side of Buffalo) and then we went to the Sabres Game. For the game, we met up with one of David's co-workers, Carolyn, and her husband, Jeff. David and Carolyn are traveling together to Europe for work while we spouses (and Madeline) are tagging along. David and Carolyn will be very busy with work so Jeff and I will probably be seeing the sights while our spouses work. David kind of figured that it would be a good idea for the 4 of us to get together before we cross "the pond" together. Despite the Buffalo Sabres' loss, the hockey game was a great ice breaker (no pun intended) for us.

Today, Sunday, was a beautiful day! The weather was in the low 50's and the sunshine made for a perfect Buffalo Spring day! After church, we hit an open house (very nice area that we would consider but just not *that* particular house), then we went to meet up with one of David's co-worker's and his wife to see Buffalo's St. Patrick's Day Parade. The parade is a huge event in Buffalo.....I grew up here, but never went before until today!! David's co-worker lives only a block and a half from the parade route so it was really convenient. The parade started at 2pm. We got to the parade route mid-parade at about 2:30 pm and had to leave the parade route by 3:30pm and the parade was *still* going!!! The parade was huge and Madeline was mesmerized (Doesn't this photo look as though Madeline is trying to raise the kelt of this guy??) !!! We had a great time and it was a shame that we had to leave early. Next year (assuming the weather is as nice as it was this year.....Buffalo weather is unpredictable this time of year. It could be as high as 60 degrees or in the 20's this time of year) we will go again!!

We had left the parade to meet another realtor to see a house south of the city. It was a pretty house in a nice area.....but just not quite what we wanted (maybe 90% there....not 100%). Although one might think this was a waste of our time, I think this helped us narrow down our search to where we want to be. Although the neighborhood we saw in the afternoon on Sunday was very nice, we decided to *not* concentrate our search in this region of WNY. So, I guess you could say we had a very productive, NON-productive house search this weekend.

Once we got home, David was finally able to take down the Christmas lights from our house. Don't get me wrong, we were NOT lighting our Christmas lights for this long....it has just been too damn frigid to take them down until now. Madeline finally had the opportunity to run around like a little monkey outside for the first time in months and I took advantage of the Papa/Madeline outside time and concentrated on straightening up the inside of the house a little.

After enjoying a lamb dinner (a Amy recipe creation....with the help of Wegmans - of course!), and some Petite Sirrah, David and I were ready to settle in for the night. We put Madeline in for bed and all of today's fresh air made her fall asleep pretty much as soon as her head hit the pillow. Mama-Dirtyfoot and Papa are now enjoying quiet time and playing on our computers while thinking about the wonderful weekend we've shared. Yet, it won't be long before our heads hit the pillow too!!!!

Progress!!!! - Let's Go BUFF-A-LO!

A few months ago, Mama-Dirtyfoot wrote about an opportunity that David had to tour the Buffalo Memorial Auditorium prior to its demolition. Buffalo is centered in nostalgia and thus such an opportunity to see inside the Aud made many people "green". The other day, David gave me the opportunity to see inside the Memorial Auditorium one last time too.....although not quite the same viewing he received. Basically, my viewing was through this cavernous hole in the Aud's facade as we drove by. The seating sections - or as Buffalonians knew them - Golds, Blues, Reds & Oranges - were gone. All you could see were the cement "stairs" that held the seats. The echoes of a generation's worth of cheers and laughter spilled from the wound of the arena's structure. Yet, despite the Aud's crumbling walls, the Sabres' chant, "Let's Go BUFF-A-LO" which was heard within these walls for some many years, took on a new meaning. Yes!...Let's Go Buffalo! Change and progress are at your doorstep!

Pre- School Homework

In Madeline's take-home folder, was a letter "Q" with a note to color brown. (Why brown? I have no idea.) I was guessing this was something that Madeline missed while she was out. I wasn't sure however if the teacher just wanted to give it to Madeline to complete at her leisure or if she wanted Madeline to complete and bring back to school. So last night she colored her "Q" as homework. Also, Madeline needed to bring in a White item for the class's "Show & Share". We went around the house picking out some white toys. The picture below is of "the finalists" for Show & Share. Mama-Dirtyfoot needed to have Madeline pick only one to take to school. And the winner???....the white car. She was so excited to bring the car in to show her friends. This is the first time that her class had Show & Share. Now that Madeline understands what to expect, I think she'll have that much more fun pick out something for next Thursday's Show & Share. Next Week: pink!!

Back Together Again

In the rush to leave Marysia's house in time to catch our flight I forgot a few items. Marysia was nice enough to mail them out to me and, of course, included in the shipment was the ceramic clown bank. Now all three items are together again at my house like one big happy family. I suspected the clown would be coming my way in that shipment so I had purposely delayed mailing out some things that I promised I would send Marysia when I returned home. Don't be surprised Marysia if the box the mailman delivers is a little bigger than you expected. The weather in Maryland gets warmer earlier than here. I must say that I did hear the clown complaining to the kitty that he was cold. Hmmmm......*Or*, since Margaret is coming to town for the reunion, maybe we could spread the wealth. Be on guard!!!

Old MacDonald

Yesterday, Madeline cracked me up and I was lucky enough to find this image on the Internet that was fitting for today's blog post.

I have noooo idea where Madeline got this from. I am pretty sure she came up with this on her own. As we were in the car, Madeline was in the backseat singing her heart out as she normally does. She began to sing "Old MacDonald". Here is how our conversation went:

Madeline (singing) : Old MacDonald had a farm.....On his farm he had a Chicken Nugget.

MDF (surprised): A chicken nugget?!?!?!

Madeline: (laughing)

MDF (singing to prompt Madeline to fill in the blanks): he had a chicken nugget. E-I-E-I-O. With a .......

Madeline: (laughing she fills in the blanks with smacking sounds!!!)


Oh brother.....this child has our warped sense of humor!

ZZZzzzz!!!!

I am just too tired to blog today. My cold is finally getting better but I get pretty tired by the end of the day. So, no fun tales tonight. Instead, I am heading to bed with my book that I can't seem to find time to read during the day and I neglect at night because I am blogging. Tonight, I will reunite with my book and, I am sure, fall fast asleep!

While You Were Out

As promised, here is a picture of the "While You Were Out" project David surprised Madeline and me with when we returned from our visit to Marysia's. I guess I could've taken a better photo that gave a better perspective of it's size. The castle is fairly large. It is located above Madeline's head board and the width of the castle is almost the same width of the headboard. Also, just out of view of this picture is a Tinkerbell that is flying about the castle. David just thought it was time to start transitioning Madeline's room from a baby's room to a little girl's room. It does look good and Madeline loves it. I just have to laugh because when it came to the idea of having a daughter, David was so anti-princess and anti-girly girl and now here Papa is buying (with no direction from me) castle decals while shopping at Home Depot! Oh....how times have changed and how tight Madeline has David wrapped around her little fingers!

Back from Marysia's

We arrived in once piece! Madeline and I got home from our visit with Marysia late Saturday afternoon. Despite Mama-Dirtyfoot's cold and Madeline's recovery set-back, we really did have a great time and actually considered extending our trip another day (for more shopping, of course). But, even though it was a wonderful time (Marysia and her family are always so hospitable) it also felt good to be home, knowing that David, Madeline and I would have a full family day on Sunday.

For those of you that have followed my blog and the ongoing saga of "last tag" with a few goofy trinkets from my mom's house, you will know that it was inevitable that at least one of the trinkets would get passed back. I was completely at an advantage because Marysia was stuck with the two larger items (the ceramic clown bank and the plastic stuffed kitty). I only had the anchor in my possession and knew that I could easily hide that anywhere. In fact, even before my arrival at Marysia's I decided where I would plant that anchor.

A day or so before I left Marysia's I planted the anchor inside a ceramic pitcher that is in her guest room (see photo above). I giggled as I took a picture of the pitcher. In fact, my original plan was to pre-write a blog entry and have it timed to post to my blog while I was mid-flight and instructing Marysia to look in the pitcher. However, I never got around to creating that post.

After four nights at Marysia's it took me a while to gather up all Madeline's toys and pack for our flight. I double checked to make sure that the anchor wasn't discovered and that it was still in the pitcher where I planted it - and it was. I got about 95% packed and lunch was ready (Mike made up some chicken wings on the grill.....yummy!) Once we ate lunch, crunch time was on and it was a mad dash to get the rest of the things gathered up, packed and ready to go. Marysia was kind enough to pack up my mini lunch box sized cooler (I brought yummy fresh kielbasa with me. You can't get anything like it anywhere other than Buffalo. But it worked out that I had the mini-cooler because one of Madeline's medicines needed to be refrigerated). And as I brought things downstairs, my brother-in-law, Mike, and my nieces, Lauren and Julie, were kind enough to load our suitcases into their van. Like I said it was crunch-time to get to the airport for our flight.

The first part of our one-hour flight was smooth however the last part, before landing, was extremely bumpy....so much so that the flight attendant was on her knees going down the isle, cleaning up the cabin before landing.Yep, I was not thrilled with that. Although Madeline thought it was a fun amusement park ride!

We got home, and even though I had my own car at the airport, David met us there to greet us and to help me with the luggage. That was awesome. He was also very proud to show off a "While You Were Out" home improvement that he did to Madeline's room. It looks great but I forgot to take a picture of it before Madeline went to bed so I'll post more information on that tomorrow.

Immediately, I started unpacking to show David my shopping purchases. I was happy to see that my mini-cooler which I placed in my suitcase after Marysia packed it did not leak all over every thing. So, I immediately unpacked the cooler. And what did I find at the bottom?....the plastic stuffed kitty! Thanks for being so "helpful" Marysia!!!

I wasn't even done unpacking but I *had to* call Marysia to call her a jerk. Of course she thought it was pretty funny. In response, my come back was basically......"Oh yeah, you have the anchor in the pitcher". To which her response was, "No, I don't". That's right, her girls waited until everything was out of the room to steal the anchor and plant it in one of the bags that they were "so kind" to be helping with.

UGH!!!!! I so totally did NOT see that coming. In fact, I was confident that I had the upper hand. Good thing I didn't write and pre-post that gloating blog entry! So, a recap for those keeping track....I am stuck with the anchor and the kitty while Marysia is stuck still stuck with the ceramic clown. Don't worry, Maryisa, they WILL find their way back to you!

Marysia's House - Day Four

Although Friday's adventures were quite exciting for Marysia and me, they will probably be very boring for my blog readers as Friday's adventures were "more of the same". By that, I mean, sleep in (Madeline did too) and go shopping.

Madeline is doing so good. Mama-Dirtyfoot, on the other hand is still dealing with this chest cold. I am fine during the day but things sort of catch up to me at night time and a day at the mall drains me. But.....oh, how productive we were! If I were to list all the items I bought it would seem as though I was being self indulgent and fiscally irresponsible but actually, I was in true need of the stuff I bought. In fact one item I said I needed for years but never got around to buying.

I bought two pairs of shoes. By no means am I an Emelda Marcos. I just got an everyday pair of black shoes and an everyday pair of brown shoes. The ones I had were beat and bordering out of style. I need style and comfort for our upcoming trip to Europe. I like the brown shoes (GREAT DEAL - for those who know name brands, a pair of Clarks for $30. Those normally run for $60) however, I might return them because they are backless. In general that doesn't bother me but I don't know how practical they will be for sightseeing. The thing that I have needed for a few years is a spring coat. I was tempted to get a khaki color but instead thought of David who likes when I wear colors. So, I got a bright green, hip-lengthed trench. The absolute hit of the day was the summer shoes that I bought for Madeline. One of the pairs of shoes I bought for myself I got at the Skecher store. They were having a "buy one get one 1/2 off" sale. I didn't see anything else I liked there but for Madeline, I got a pair of Skeecher clear jelly shoes that light up as she walks. I know....kind of obnoxious but she's 3! She loves the clear jelly look because they look like Cinderella's slippers and the light-up feature is an added bonus.

Also, Marysia and I picked names for our family's $10 Christmas gift exchange (family, I'll email those picks out soon). I bought a gift for one of my names and Marysia bought Christmas gifts for both of her names. We also picked out Bunco prizes for the next time she hosts a Bunco party. The above is a major accomplishment for Marysia because although she enjoys shopping with her sisters, in general she is NOT a shopper.

The shopping trip was all worth it for Madeline when I splurged and let her ride those silly rides at the mall. I can't believe those stupid things are $0.75! I used to get away from paying that by letting Madeline climb on the rides and then I would just shake them.....that would completely satisfy her. Now, she is on to my tricks and I have to cough up the dough.

Marysia's House - Day Three

Last night, Madeline did great! She went to bed at around 7:30 and slept in until 10:30! With all of that rest, she is pretty darn close to her old self......enough that we were able to venture to the mall.....yippee!!

After the amount of time Marysia, Madeline and I spent at the mall you would've thought that we could've each walked away with compete wardrobes. I did get a new bathing suit (although I will wait to see what David thinks of it when I get home. He gets final voting rights on that.) I also got a new blousy-type top to layer under a cardigan (or could wear alone in summer).

Now, Marysia and I both have issues shopping. We both consider ourselves to have "problem areas" that we would like to hide. It is good when we shop together because we commiserate but it is also bad too because the two of us spend so much time second guessing ourselves. One thing that was decided was that we needed help in the boobie area. We figured new bras would be the equivalent of plastic surgery boob lifts. Off too Victoria Secret we went. The "bra specialist" there was awesome and this is what took the majority of our time. But let me tell ya, we are now uh....."lifted" and that made our clothing fit better. (Sorry male readers, be glad you don't have to deal with this)

We also had to make a trip to the Disney store for Madeline. The Disney stores in the area malls where I live closed but there is one in the mall near Marysia. Madeline was like a kid in the candy shop...."buy this, buy this". I don't think we did too much damage. We only spend $37 and walked away with 3 t-shirts for summer time(1 Ariel, 1 Tinkerbell & 1 Disney Princesses) . She also got a Cinderella playset (see photo) as a souvenir of our trip to Aunt Mushie's and an additional Disney Fairies playset to be used as a gift at a later date.

The other big treat was that we went to the food court and got soft pretzels. Madeline never had these before. Marysia and I decided that we should take this photo of Madeline eating the pretzel because the way she was holding on to it made it look like a big steering wheel for the stroller.

Madeline had more energy today than Mama. She is doing great while I am fighting some type of cold. Hopefully, tomorrow will bring Mama-Dirtyfoot some renewed strength to tackle another day of shopping.

Two Egg Spa Treatment - Marysia's House Day Two

We arrived safely in Baltimore yesterday. First off, I want to back up to my last post and up date the story a little. In addition to Madeline taking matters into her hands with the NUKs, I found she did the same with the Vaseline too. When I got her out of bed (although I gave her a tub before bed, she looked as though she had sweated through the night. Eventually I realized that she had the Vaseline in her bed and put it in her hair. So, in preparation for the trip to Marysia I had to give her another bath even though she had one the night before. We got dressed, I put her hair up and worked our way to the airport. It wasn't until we were at the airport, and thought that Madeline looked like a really greasy baby did I realize that Vaseline does not wash out of hair. Yep, I showed up at my sisters looking as though I never bathe my child. Also, a side effect of the surgery (that can last a few weeks) is foul breath. So in addition to looking as though I never washed her hair, it also appeared as though I never brushed her teeth.

Madeline was great on the one-hour flight but was a bit wiped when we arrived. Basically, to make a very long story short, Madeline was put into bed early. However, she kept getting up crying. At first I just thought that it was because she was not in her own bed. However, as time went on and Madeline became almost inconsolable, I decided to call doctor's. I didn't get the doctor that performed the surgery but a different doctor that was on call. Like I said, to make a long story short, I am convinced that the doctor who performed the surgery neglected to give the proper antibiotics for Madeline. I thought it was weird that the only antibiotics that Madeline received were ear drops. I wondered how that would help with the adenoid surgery but I figured, that they knew what they were doing. So my dear brother-in-law, Mike, was driving to a 24 hour pharmacy after midnight(on a work night for him) to get a script that the on-call doctor called in for antibiotics and pain meds. Some drugs, and a good night sleep helped bring Madeline back to not only were she was before we left for Maryland but also, better than when we left.

The next thing to take care of was Madeline's greasy Vaseline hair. After sifting through various tips on the Internet, I decided to hair dry Madeline's hair before a shower (to try to liquefy the Vaseline) Next, shampoo with a whisked egg, rinse, wash with shampoo, rinse, wash a *second* time with a whisked egg, rinse and wash a second time with shampoo...it worked! She is almost back to normal.

As you can see below, she was having a blast playing catch with Uncle Mike and her cousins. Oh, the "dress" she is wearing is a hand-me-down slip that she was playing dress-up in. Also, as usual, my video quality is crappy because it was taken on my cell phone (maybe David can hook me up with a better camera phone for my birthday...hint, hint)

Habits Formed That WILL Be Broken

Madeline is in some ways better and in some ways not. In general, she is doing fine. In fact, we have decided to make the trip to Marysia. She was dancing around yesterday, roughhousing with David and did not spike a fever at all and, as before, did not sleep when I put her down for a nap. On the other hand, she is still boogery and has a cough but that is a side effect of the surgery that can last up to two weeks after surgery. The worst side effect of this surgery has been that Madeline has gotten *WAY* too used to being catered to. She is enjoying bossing us around. She is very specific as to which type of drink she wants, what type and what color cup she is drinking it out of. Then she'll take a few sips and place an order for a different type of drink. At first I was playing along to this whole game because I was concerned about her liquid intake. Now, I must break her of this habit.

Madeline has also taken to whining. Don't get me wrong, I understand that that is inevitable to a certain degree when a child doesn't feel good but I think Madeline has decided that she prefers that tone in her voice better. Also, Madeline has once again realized that we will cater to her during the night. She sleeps with a NUK, not so much to suck on but rather to hold. I have a small bucket of NUK's on her dresser. Last night, she woke up crying so I shot out of bed. She couldn't find her NUK, it must've been buried in the blankets so I gave her another NUK. An hour or two later, she woke up crying and I shot out of bed again. She had decided to wake me up while she had TWO NUKS in her hands (the first "lost" one and the second one I gave her) and tell me that she wanted "new NUKS". She just woke me up to tell me that she wanted them switched out. Yeah, I pretty much laughed at that request and went back to bed.

I am thinking that this trip to Marysia will actually help get Madeline back on track as the event of it all will possibly make her forget about the bad habits she has formed. I just hope we don't make Marysia and her family miserable in the process. Next post....from Baltimore area.

Making Progress

Madeline did better yesterday. We ventured out of the house for a little bit yesterday and she was pretty much pooped and ready for a nap when we got home, but in general she was better. She is still dealing with boogies (or as Madeline would say, "NO-gies") but that is a side effect that they told us might hang around for a couple of weeks. My friend Kelly warned me from personal experience with her daughter that the recovery from adenoidectomy is brutal. It pretty much has been but I am wondering if Madeline's symptoms were simply from having her adenoids removed or if she had caught something on top of everything else. The reason I am saying this is because now I am feeling crappy with a sore throat, ear ache and last night I had the chills (and I just got over a little bug!)

Last night Madeline woke up once during the middle of the night because her top sheet wasn't the way she wanted it....*sigh*, I'll have to break her of this when she is feeling 100%! I felt to see if she was warm and she was not so I did not give her Tylenol at that time. She ended up sleeping in until 9:30 and I checked her temperature at that time and she still did not have a fever, so that is good news.

Today we are laying low and relaxing. We'll probably have a movie-filled, PJ-wearing day. I really think that Madeline will be okay to travel tomorrow.....the question is will I?