Day 6:

A picture of a person you'd love to trade places with for a day





I would trade places, gratefully, with any of those people.  Just so I could be in Paris

For more of my 30 day picture challenge posts, simply click on the label link titled "30 day picture challenge" in the sidebar.



Day 5:

A picture of your favorite memory

Yup, our recent family trip to Lake Powell ranks pretty high on my "favorite memory" list.  You can read about our trip here and here if you like.

Nighttime in the hospital is very odd.  It's quiet, but it's not quiet.  The visitors have gone home for the day, most of the patients are asleep, the staff is fewer.  But, you hear the beep of the machines, the moans and groans (or cries) as patients attempt to rest despite their pain, the covered giggles of the night staff as they try to have fun at work without waking the neighborhood.  It's weird.


When we went in Saturday night, I asked Super Realtor (love this nickname, by the way - it just may stick) to bring my laptop.  Of course, I also asked him to bring my exercise pants, a pair of athletic socks, my tennis shoes, a tshirt, and my pajamas.  I got his exercise pants, one of his dress socks, a pair of my fuzzy socks, and a sweatshirt.  Whatever.  At least he remembered the laptop. 


I don't sleep well in hospitals.  Heck, I have trouble sleeping at home!  And I learned from our first stay with Violet that nighttime can be pretty boring for Mama while baby is trying to sleep.  So, while Violet tried to get comfortable and catch some zzzz's between all the beeps and boops and whooshes, I hopped on FB to catch up with the world and let my brain unwind. 


And that is when the trouble began.


I guess it started innocently enough.  Rachel (who is NEVER on FB, by the way), posted about their adventure of the day:



Now, I'm sure you missed the most epic part of that post.  Go look at the number of comments. 


No, that is not a typo.  We discovered how to use the comments as a 5-way IM.  Genius!


Of course, after a long and stressful day, my snarky meter was WAY off the charts:



My other friend Shana jumped in the fray, but her snarky meter was just a little tired that night, at first:



Really, only Shana could say something like that and have it seem completely normal.  But, we still needed to know WHY IN THE HECK THERE WERE TEETH IN HER DRIVEWAY!





And then we discussed the finer points of target practice with 22s:



Seriously, what husband, given that wind-up, would not swing straight for the fences?  Mr. Daddy delivered a home run:




And, we have all learned one thing from the times Mr. Daddy hijacks their blog.  Don't get that man on a roll.  Cause it's gonna be dangerous!




At this point, Rachel was red beyond belief and trying to do ANYTHING to focus the attention away from her:




Oh yes.  Mr. Daddy won a gift card from a blog giveaway.  To Dress Barn.  And, if you would like to see Mr. Daddy "modeling" his final choices, you can simply go here.  Don't worry, I'll wait.  It's worth it. 



So, we all had a good giggle at Mr. Daddy's expense.  And then one of us had to pee.




No, really.  Shana has crabs.  Real ones.  You can look at photos of them here.  And if you're a crab person, they really are quite cute.  But, because Liz hadn't seen the crabs, they became FB friends so that she could see the crabs.  Weirdest conversation ever!




And, really, it didn't seem odd at all that Mr. Daddy randomly chimed in with an outhouse anticdote.  But then Rachel took it down a whole other road:



And apparently, once Mr. Daddy found out that we ALL knew his buttocks were unshaven, he became a spoilsport and made Rachel go to bed. 




Fuddy duddy old man.


Yes, this conversation lasted 2 1/2 hours, had almost 1100 comments, and covered just about EVERY random subject known to man.  I do not remember the last time I woke up with sore abs from laughing.  And my phone, which receives all my FB notifications, refused to work.  Apparently I made it think too hard the night before. 


But, thanks to three crazy ladies (and one nut of a man), my night at the hospital was anything but boring! 






Want to read Rachel's side of the story?  Or more stories that are just so nuts they have to be true?  Go harass visit Rachel and Mr. Daddy at Once Upon A Miracle.  Don't forget to tell them that Saint Poopicus sent you!

It started out normally enough.  Finished out work, came home and made a nutritious, organic dinner (read: take and bake pizza), and baked a nutritious, organic dessert for home group (read:  soda pop cake). 


What?  You have never made soda pop cake?  For shame!  My bloggy friend Becky turned me onto the Hungry Girl site, where I found the recipe.  All you have to do is take 1 box of cake mix, add with 12 oz soda, mix until smooth, then bake like normal.  Hopefully, your cake will come out looking something like this:

Yes, it is quite possibly the best cake you will ever eat.  You are welcome.  No, it is not the healthiest cake you will ever eat.  Anywho, this one was a combination of devils food cake and Dr. Pepper soda.  I also made a white cake with peach soda for the kids.  All were completely eaten.  Our home group likes food. 



Saturday morning, Super Realtor had to go show houses to some clients, so the girls & I headed into town for some fun.  We started out at the church, helping our friend/ mentor/ children's pastor Jen clean out her office from all the Daddy Daughter Dance stuff.  Then, Madi got to go the the fabulous Pinkalicious birthday party of her friend Kate.  They had a grand time.  You can see the pics, and wish the birthday girl a happy birthday, on her mommas blog here.



While Madi was at the party, Jen and I took the rest of the kids (hers + mine) to a healthy, organic lunch.  NOT!!!  Truth: we bribed them with fast food and a play place so we could have a semi-coherent, adult conversation.  While we were there, I managed to snap this precious photo of her smallest, ornery wonder:




Don't you just want to bite those cheeks?  Yeah, me too.



The entire day, I knew something was wrong with Violet.  Truth be told, she hadn't slept well in about 2 weeks.  Friday night was miserable.  We slept for about 2 hours total.  She was okay when she first got up, but progressively got worse throughout the day.  She tried to sleep that afternoon, but could not stop coughing long enough to get comfortable. 



So, we headed in to the urgent care after Super Realtor got home.  They took one look at her and started calling the hospital.  They started her on oxygen and IV fluids with antibiotics immediately.  X rays revealed what I suspected - pneumonia.  The only way I convinced them to not transport her from the urgent care to the hospital via ambulance was if I promised to drive her immediately there, no stops.  I knew she was bad, but not that bad.



So, Violet & I got to spend the night in the hospital.  Our nurses ( two dad of two kids each) were amazing, and Violet responded well.  They let us go on Sunday afternoon with oxygen, more albuterol for the nebulizer, and the rest of her antibiotics. 



Today we visited with her doctor again.  Looks like we are going to be chasing the leash at least until Friday.




At least she knows how to do it in style.