Sights of spring

That's an ant on Emma's hand in that first picture. She likes it when they crawl on her. I mean, who doesn't?

Powerful stuff

The title of this post makes it sound like it might be deep and thought-provoking. I assure you it will not be.

We were bathing the girls last night and I was putting some special prescription cream on Addie's eczema. She's got these sores behind her knees that just look awful, poor thing! So Ems is getting lathered up with her beloved "purple" lotion which suddenly isn't good enough and she asked Gary if she could have Addie's lotion.

"No," he said. "Addie's lotion is pretty powerful stuff. It might hurt your skin."

"Oh." And she dropped it. (Good girl, Emma!)

A few minutes later, I had finished drying her hair and was brushing it. In a rare Osborne moment, all was quiet, even with the four of us merely inches from one another. And then Emma tooted.

"Emma!" we exclaimed, while trying to stifle our giggles. Because yes, even grown-ups think tooting is funny sometimes. Come on, admit it.

With big eyes, and a whole bunch of seriousness, she said, "That was powerful!"

We busted up laughing and even Addie did too!

My girls' terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day

So Addie had her 18-month well visit last Thursday. I was on a mission to get the doctor (who we love, don't get me wrong) to really go after WHY she is cranky a lot. My mommy gut was telling me it was more than just her personality and the fact that she's a drama queen. Yes, we know that (boy, do we know that!), but I just knew something else was making her skin crawl... literally.

Dr. S. took one look at my sweet one and said "Allergies! Let's test her for allergies." Well, duh. We'd tested her very early on because of some bad eczema, but only tested for wheat and dairy, both of which she tested negative. I wish I'd been persisting all this time. He noticed her very dry and irritated skin, dark circles under her eyes and flakiness around her eyes and knew immediately that allergies were to blame. Now here's the part where I feel like such a bad mom - why didn't I notice all these things? I guess I see her everyday and they'd become the norm. Sad. Actually, compared to how her skin WAS, it's been a huge improvement lately.

Here's where I'm going to interrupt this story to tell you about the funny sense of humor God has. You see, back in my shallow, list-making days, I decided I wanted a husband with no allergies. Yep, that's right. Because, you know, what a HASSLE that would be having to keep up with what he can and cannot eat, where he can go and do, etc. I mean, SERIOUSLY! Don't worry, I came to grips with things long before I was married - or engaged for that matter - and ended up marrying a man who could have a few allergies (we're not sure), but worse than allergies, is picky and won't eat more things than a simple food allergy would have kept him from in the first place. Go figure. LOL! So here I am... years and years later, with a daughter who quite possibly has some severe allergies. The Lord is truly teaching me patience, humility and compassion through this. I'm eager to see what else He has in store.

So anyway, we went back the next day to get her blood drawn to test for dairy (again), cow's milk, eggs and dog dander. We should get the results back this week, and I'm very anxious. On our way through the parking lot into the hospital, Emma got stung by a BEE! She screamed and wriggled her hand out of mine and flailed about in a panic. Strangely, I wasn't panicked at all and we calmly (okay, there was no "we" in the calmly part) went in to get an ice pack. Emma soon learned that an ice pack earns you TONS of attention and lollipops. I guess bees aren't so bad afterall!

Two tubes of blood and a TON of screaming later, Addie's blood was drawn and we were on our way home. I just had to laugh when I looked in the backseat and saw Addie's two bandaids from her shots the day before, a big bandaid and cotton from her bloodwork, and a puffy arm with an icepack on Emma. I felt the Lord with me through all of it. It's the only way I stayed so calm!

Here's Emma and her bee sting (it's a red mark on her upper arm... LOL... look closely!):

This is what grouchy looks like.

Addie is not a morning person. Emma is very much a morning person. Emma would have jumped up, said, "Time to rise and shine!" and given me a hug while trying to climb out of the crib. Not Addie. She rolled over and wailed. Like this:

But you know what? That's okay, Addie. I'm not a morning person, either. I've tried. Just like I've tried to like coffee and have failed, I've tried to be a morning person and have failed too. I wish I looked forward to getting up - the birds always sound so cheerful, I really DO love watching the sunrise, it feels so good to be up early and get a good start on the day, it's quiet, and yes, one of the few times of the day I can be alone long enough to get in a good quiet time. How often does it happen? Next to NEVER. But when it does, it's enough to make me want it to happen again. But then the next morning, those sheets are so cozy, the pillow so soft... zzzzzzzzz....

I'll stick to being a night owl. It's just as quiet at 1:00 a.m.

I deleted a widget.

I don't even know what a widget it. But I deleted one, and now my blog is all wonky. I have no idea what I did. Emma's on my lap while we try to figure it out. Uh-huh. This will work!

If anyone out there in blog-land knows what I did, I'd be so grateful. And then we can get to our regularly scheduled ramblings.

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Okay... things are sort of back to normal, but I still need to tweak a few things. I'm so not blog saavy. What's that weird line around my banner? Why isn't it centered? The perfectionist side of me is going bonkers right now...

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Whew! I think I've got it. And I learned a thing or two on along the way. Number one lesson learned: naptime should be used for MUCH more productive things.

Blogs and Links and Stalkers... oh my!

So here's my question... there are lots of blogs I read and love, but I don't know the person behind the blog. Some I've never even left comments, so they don't know I exist. Is it weird to link their blogs here without them knowing? Am I supposed to ask? I just think my huge fanbase (ha ha) would also like the blogs. Deep thoughts.

Also, I'm sure a few random anonymous people pop in and out of here once in awhile. I guess when I think about it, I'd be honored if they (you?) felt like linking my blog on yours, so maybe I'll just go for it.

I just wouldn't want one of those people I don't know to stumble across my site, see they've been linked and think I'm a super scary stalker. I promise I'm not.

What do you think? If you're one of my stalkers and never leave a comment... welcome! ;)

A Big Fat EWWWWWW!

Public Service Announcement: Colgate's Sparkling White Vanilla Mint toothpaste is nasty. If anyone out there would like a full tube - minus two squeezes - I would be happy to send it to you.

(Why two squeezes? Gary: [squeeeeze] "Ewww! Here Angie, try this. It's GROSS!" Angie: [squeeeeze] "Okay! ... it's not bad... okay, it's sick!")

Whew. I can rest easy now that I've done my civic duty for the day.