I think I’m developing ADD. Mostly because there just seem to be SO MUCH going on. Though a lot of it is in the distant to not-so-distant future a lot of thinking, deciding, and planning needs to occur in the present. There’s much to be done and now I feel the need to blog about it (versus DO it?). The next year[s] will be crazy for us.

• I’m currently going to school. As any regular should know. So I have 12 credits worth of work going on right now.
• I’m graduating from PCC in the spring and have had to line my ducks all up for that recently.
• Next fall I hope to attend Portland State University. Which involves SO many things. At the moment: applying (done), filling out endless scholarship apps (getting there), applying to the BSW program I hope to get into, making sure I take classes that will transfer over well and satisfy as many lower level requirements as possible. A lot of administrative stuff.
• And, further in the future: filling out a FAFSA pretty much on New Year’s Day, MOVING hopefully between winter and spring terms so I can take some on-campus classes my last term at PCC.
• Moving and all that that entails.
• We are getting married in July! And that is quickly approaching. Currently working on "save the date" cards, looking at venues next week when we’re in portland for Thanksgiving, trying to come up with some sort of guest list. Gah.
• The holidays are oh-so-quickly approaching. We blessed to be able to do some of our shopping early this year. Or at least consider it! Last year times were very tough for us.
• I recently started working out again. Which is great, makes me feel good about myself, gives me energy, etc. But that is yet another thing to add to the list of time-taker-uppers. And to feel guilty about when it doesn’t get done.
• Due to a cold/daylight’s savings time Ali shaved nearly and hour and a half off of her normal sleep time. Which means significantly less time available to do: schoolwork, kind of cleaning, exercise, BLOGGING, relaxing, and SLEEP. I think the lack of adequate sleep time (which, for me is 7.5 to 8 hours for sure I don’t do well with less and especially not for a few nights in a row) has been probably the biggest component to my feeling overly stressed and worn out/down.
• Just everyday things like dishes and cleaning have been seeming never-ending and insurmountable.
• Maybe this isn’t so much? I don’t know, but it’s frazzling me. Too many variables and outcomes dependent upon other outcomes. I hope to have some answers in the next couple of months so we will have a clearer direction.

Stress aside, this is a very VERY exciting time. The next year is going to be challenging and I don’t see it get easier after that. I’ll be in school (the Bachelors of Social Work provides the opportunity to get a Master’s in one year versus two) for quite awhile and somewhere in the mix is a sibling for Ali. Which, btw, I cannot believe it’s already something we have to think about! It’s a bit much.

So that’s it. Rather new-sy eh?

This afternoon we were out for a little walk. Ali is walking between Tony and I and bend down to grab something but doesn’t. she makes a YUCK noise and continues on. Which is totally somethig she’s been taught, to discourage her from picking up trash and whatever else a toddler would grab if left to her own devices. Only, this time it was not trash. It was a DOLLAR. And behind it a few feet, was another dollar and another! Three bucks! Not bad.

So I went and got a latte and Ali got a juice box.

Before last week’s rain started.

And after it stopped.

Getting out when the weather permits.

And, today!

Found a walking stick.

Snot central these days.

Ali caught a cold last week. And it’s lingering. Tonight is the second night of her coughing all night long (well, I’m gonna project here) in her sleep. It’s got to be one of the saddest sounds ever, her congested little cough. We got a Vicks Vaporizer for her stuffed up nose last week but that’s about all we can do. I think it’s a somewhat recent development, but decongestants and coughing meds are no longer approved for kids under….like, five or six? Or maybe it’s two. Anyway, some age that’s older than our baby.

What do you do whenyour little one does/did struggle like this? Poor things been waking up between 4:30-5:30 for nearly a week now. Poor, exhausted parents too!!

As previously mentioned, Ali had her first dental appointment recently and I feared she had a cavity. She does. Quite a big, obvious one. Right at the gum line of one of her top teeth. Not a front one, but next to it. Total breastfeeding all night for wayyyyy too many months cavity.

We had to schedule an appointment with a specialist in the PDX area. The office told us it was January but when we got home Tony noticed the papaer said December. Today we called to reschedule (it was the 18th and we don’t want to be making two trips since we’re headed that way for Christmas) and the term "hospital visit" was used. So she has a consult at the end of January and the actual procedure will be a "hospital visit." So scary.

And I can’t even handle watching her throw up!

Oh my. Today was one of  "those days."

As any loyal readers know, we’ve been home for awhile. For the first time in a LONG while. We tend to hit Costco up whenever we’re at my parents’ but the last time was early October so it’d been over a month. We talked last week about going up to Warrenton to stock up this week and decided Wednesday was probably the best day. Then a storm came through.

Monday night the wind howled and continued to through the morning. Ali and I were headed to Tillamook to go to MOPS but I was somewhat hesitant. We went and it was fine. Wind, rain, struggly car, and all. So when Tony said [yesterday, Tuesday] that we should see if it was still stroming I didn’t think much of it. This morning it was raining but no wind and he said tomorrow, Thursday, was supposed to be nicer. Which, in his mind, meant we should wait and go tomorrow. But I heard, today we’ll be stuck in the house, tomorrow we could venture out for a walk or something so we should go to the store (it’s just driving, and "indoor" activity, right?) today while the weather is bad. Ha!

Had we decided to venture out at the beginning of the storm it would have been one thing. But on the tail end you are then dealing with FLOODING.

It’s just over an hour drive. While Ali normally naps at noon we timed it so she could have kind of a split nap, hoping she’d nap the majority of both ways, so we left a bit before 10am. It rained, Ali eventually fell asleep. I started to get car sick. South of Seaside (like 2/3 to 3/4 of the way there) we can to an area where water was standing on the road and crew had just arrived. Perhaps to close it or deal with it we really didn’t know. We headed on.

Had a great time. Stopped at Walgreens, Rite-Aid, and Ross. It’s so fun just to even look when you’re NEVER at stoes like these. Ali gets so, SO excited because her two favorite characters, Elmo and Dora, are EVERYWHERE. Then we drove to Astoria and had lunch at Pig’n Pancake. And then Costco. We really didn’t even need that much, just our Costco "staples:"

• 12 oz. cans of V-8
• Salmon burgers
• Chicken breasts
• Pizza shells
• Almond butter (which I haven’t found the last two times and will be crushed if they stopped carrying)
• Soup (?)
• Toilet paper
• Paper towels

Actually I left the list at home. Which is classic me. But that was what we needed, though really, do you ever leave Costco with ONLY what you came for? It was the dwindling TP supply that lit a fire under me in the first place, btw. Which, sidenote, why can’t I just walk across the street and buy and small and grossly overpriced package there?!?! Why does my brain not work that way?

Then we come home. It’s about 1:30pm. Ali is tired and falls asleep immediately. we get to Seaside. The road (highway 101) is closed to low vehicles. Which, in a Hyundai Elantra, is us. We didn’t even wait to see the water before turning around. Tony gets on his phone and starts GPSing another route. We take off. 

It’s not long before we’re in the mountains (the only detour is a looooooong one) with no cell reception. He gets out a map. I have no idea where we went, but I know there was a long period of timewhere we weren’t even headed in the direction of home, not sure exactly where we were and worried that, at any moment, water was going to force us to turn around. After about two hours we finally reached an area we were familiar with (up by Jewell for anyone familiar with the area) and knew we were about an hour from home. This was 3:30pm, about when Ali woke up.

Also, pretty much this whole time it’s all I can do not to barf. I get car sick so very easily and these particular roads are brutal. I can do alright when Ali is asleep but if she’s awake it’s all I can do to turn back to hand her a snack. And Tony is concentrating on driving and it’s POURING and there’s standing water all over these quickly darkening, very curvy roads.

Ali did so great. I gave her some crackers and what little water she had left (we had a Costco load of food but nothing to drink but V-8 in the trunk). When she started fussing I put Elmo on my phone and gave it to her. While trying not to barf myself I pondered whether she could get carsick. She had barfed once before in the car. Also while watching something on my phone but it was only a few minutes after eating McDonald’s so we more thought it was due to too much [not-good] food. I thought two things. First, she’d tell me if she didn’t feel good, right? Like, cry or whine or something. Second, probably her brain or eyes or whatever is responsible for the peripheral vision wasn’t developed enough. Basically, she’s not old enough to get carsick, right? She’s still a BABY!

Finally we’re on 47 and so close to 101 just hoping, hoping, there’s no water blocking us. I turn around and Ali has a HUGE barf. (All over my new iPhone, btw). I say, "She just barfed." Tony pulls over and gets out while I grab napkins out of the glove compartment. I turn around and she her barfing more. I lose it and start SOBBING. I have no idea why, except that seeing Ali be sick was like the saddestthing ever. Sadder than her burning her hand. Especially because it was basically all my fault…

Of course, me bawling uncontrollably does not help the situation and Ali is further scared but I can’t stop and thank God for Tony. It’s another 20-25 minutes to home during which Ali is appalled as the barf all over her (seriously, where did the girl put that much?) but, for the most part, calm. We got home a bit before 5pm.

It was a long, long day.

Ali has been very into the coloring lately. And she’s still a total lefty! Which makes me happy. Despite being inconveniant at times, I think there’s something very special about lefties- especially left-handed women! Other than that I’m swamped with trying to stay ahead on my schoolwork and plan what the next year holds. Looking at universities and where we’d have to move for me to attend one. Also, that pesky summer wedding is approaching sooner than I’d like to admit. And there’s Christmas stuff in the stores. Is it the holidays already?!?

Storms too! Which are exciting and kind of cozy. As long as the power stays on. Unfortunately something super obnoxious is going on with the house next door (the new one) that it makes horrendous noise when the wind blows. Keeps me up at night and I have to figure out what to do….

Much to write, but she could awaken at any moment, so just some pics:

From Monday, day two of steady rainfall.

And, yesterday, doing the candy cheer, in which she throws her arms up, touchdown-style, and yells "Na-Nee!" Was used in the same manner later in the night with "Ah-ma!"

Check us out!!

Also, welcome to the new America

If you’re disappointed, at least give Obama a chance to prove you wrong….and MOST OF AMERICA right!!!

Ah, I think I have it. I think the whole COUNTRY has it. Ready to be done with the ads and waste fillnig our P.O. box!

Yesterday was Halloween. Duh. It was fun and we’re having a continuation of it today with a community carnival this evening. We went to a harvest party at a nearby church last night and Ali (who already tends toward the shy) was TERRIFIED of a guy dressed as a gecko. She spent the whole night with one eye on him and started fervently saying "bye-bye" any time he got too close for comfort. It was hilarious and sad.

I really should be working on the speech I need to give Monday. Especially since I don’t yet have a topic. Sorry the blog is suffering as I’m engaged elsewhere…

Running on the beach Wednesday.

Hanging out at St. Mary’s, a new favorite "play area" on Thursday.

Friday, in costume, stuck in the drawer!

After I took her "curlers" out.