poor sweet sickypoo bean

man, paypal genie aside, it's kinda been a rough week. i mean, it started out just fine. monday was...well, monday. and then tuesday came. the bean got ready for school like always, even letting me do this to her hair:

i went home and worked out with jillian michaels since my beloved xtend barre was unexpectedly closed due to plumbing issues. i promise, i didn't do it. and then i did my civic duty (wait, is that jury duty? oh well) and headed here:

 and did this:

then i somehow made my way here:

before picking up MIL and FIL from the airport. they're home for a week to help sort out some of g-wan's earthly possessions and attend her memorial service this weekend. as MIL and i were enjoying a nice lunch at home, i got a calll:  "your little one is complaining of a headache and we were wondering if you wanted to come in to bring her some medicine or take her home."

damn. the bean isn't a very sickly kid at all, but if it was bad enough to go to the nurse's office, her head must've been really hurting her. so i grabbed her some meds and we hopped in the car to see her. 

on the way, another call. MIL took it since i was driving and reported that they'd taken her temperature and because she was running a fever, they were gathering up her stuff to send her home. poor little baby. 

when as we walked into the nurse's office, she took one look at me and burst into tears. you know how sometimes when you felt like crap as a kid and all you wanted was your mommy? i think this was one of those moments for her. she barely acknowledged that grandma was there, which is VERY rare for her. i'm usually set aside for however long MIL is in town, so this told me how bad she really was feeling. heh. 

we got her home, put her in comfy clothes, set her up on the couch and that's pretty much where she stayed for the rest of the day. she was out like a light and i ended up sleeping out there with her that night. 

she woke up early the next morning, still with a low-grade fever but in much better spirits. and she came up with a request: "mommy, can you make some monkey bread pleeeeeeeaaaase?"

when your sickypoo kid asks you for monkey bread with sad little puppydog eyes and a feverish smile at 6:30 in the morning, you make it happen. 

not to mention, we hadn't had it in a long time and it was pretty damn tasty. 

she was still slightly feverish throughout the day and still had a bit of a headache, and we spent a second night in the living room together. i tell you, i'm gonna need a massage when this is all over. 

the teen swung by her school and picked up her schoolwork from the past couple of days. thankfully, she was almost back to 100% yesterday and managed to get through it all. 

and since she's been fever-free for over 24 hours now, today she goes back to school. yay! we all slept in our own beds last night. double yay! it's also half day because it's the end of the trimester. even more yay! and xtend is up and running again. yay again!

life can go back to normal. YAY!!

pancakes make everything better

the bean kicked off 2012 with a rare cold.  poor baby.  she woke up with a snuffalupagusy nose and just went downhill from there.  by the time i got her out of bed and dressed for the day, she had super rosy cheeks and sad little sickypoo eyes.

sucks, huh?  first me on christmas eve, and then the bean on new year's day.  sheesh.  but she's seriously the most cheerful sick kid i know - she still played happily and stayed her happy, upbeat self.  pretty awesome.

so i decided to bust out something fun for breakfast - the chocolate chip pancake mix i'd gotten in my stocking.

no, i'm not going to bore you with the process of making pancakes.  but i will dazzle you with my makeup-less face and the ove glove i got for christmas from brother wan.

and what's breakfast without my favorite pork product?

unfortunately, this cold is sticking around a lot longer than i'd hoped.  she had to skip school and dance class yesterday to avoid spreading her sicky germs to all of her friends.  boo.  please send lots of happy, healthy vibes so she can go and play with her buddies tomorrow, yeah?

poor little bean

i got a call yesterday mid-morning from MIL, who wanted to let me know that the bean was listless and running a low-grade fever. sadness. we've been really lucky with her - she's rarely sick and still manages to stay cheerful on those rare occasions when she is under the weather.

and sure enough, when i arrived home, i could hear her chatting and laughing as i walked up the stairs. she'd gotten a dose of ibuprofen, was eating lunch, and was mostly her merry self. see?

but as the afternoon wore on, the meds wore off and she got cranky and drowsy. i managed to get her to fall asleep for a little while, and we went about our usual routine.

it was a restless night, though. she couldn't get comfortable and tossed and turned and cried through most of it, and it was tough. i just wanted to take it all away, but there was nothing i could do but hold her and murmur that everything would be okay. i was so sad to leave for work this morning with her still feeling like crap.

let's just say that i'm starting my day off with a big ass iced drink from starbucks.

the little princess

it's friday the 13th today. dun dun dun!

so, the entire wan house is part of this weekend's wedding party, when my brother and o are set to tie the knot at last. whee! i'm a bridesmaid, the hub's a groomsman, the teen is a junior bridesmaid, and of course, the bean is the flower girl. the girls get to walk down the aisle together. this was quite a relief to the teen, who doesn't like to be the center of attention. she certainly didn't inherit her mother's attention-whorishness. pwah!

as we've been getting ourselves ready, having dresses altered, trying to break in shoes, etc., the hub and i looked over at the bean. her last haircut was over a year ago, and although we love her long locks, they needed a little update. that nugget was in need of some reshaping, and so yesterday, MIL and i took her back here:

it's a cute little kids' hairstyling shop, all bright and colorful and full of stuff to keep little ones occupied.

the bean was enchanted by the multitude of toys that surrounded her. she even let me take a few "before" shots. she'd just woken up from a nap, so she had a bit o'bedhead, but she's two. nobody cares.

she was particularly entranced by this tabletop train set. she spent a surprising amount of time here, pushing the magnetically-joined cars along the track and murmuring "choo choo" as she played.

it wasn't long before it was her turn, and she got to pick which horse to sit on for her haircut. she pointed to this one first ("lellow!") but instead opted for the white one, just next to it.

she dug the disney princesses cape that was draped around her shoulders, and sat patiently as her mane was sprinkled with warm water and then combed through. is that the trick to getting her to sit still for hairstyling? i better get a freaking pony and a princess cape for the living room.

snip, comb, snip, went the busy hands of the hairstylist.

i loved how prepared the shop was for kids of all ages. as she worked, she handed the bean a colorful book to peruse - which achieved her goal of getting her to look down as she continued to work.

and in no time, it was all over. the bean's hair was an inch shorter, layers were freshened up, and it looked shiny and healthy again.

i'd mentioned the upcoming special occasion, and i might have dropped a hint or two about not having any ideas as to what to do with her hair for that day. and so i was stoked when the stylist offered to do it up in "princess braids" - and showed me step-by-step how to achieve a similar look.

it's rather like a french braid, only you work with two pieces instead of three, and you just twist instead of braiding, gathering more hair along the way. super duper easy peasy.

and then you take the two sides and join them at the back. i think i'll tie an ivory satin ribbon around the rubber band for saturday to dress it up a little.

cute, right? and with a little gel and hairspray, it'll hold all day long.

hell, this could very well end up being a regular 'do for the bean, who's constantly pushing her hair out of her little face. it's a cute little motion, but i'm sure it must be frustrating for her.

i was surprised at the small amount of snippets that fell to the floor. it seemed like she'd cut off way more than this.

the bean spent a little more time playing with the toys in the waiting area and watching and listening to the other kids getting their hairs cut after her. when one little boy started wailing and carrying on, she stopped what she was doing, stared, and said "noise! crying. oh, no!" so funny.

after we blew that popsicle stand, we headed over to target to do some shopping. and then out of the blue, the bean piped up and said "pancakes? eat? hungry."

i LOVE this age, where they're learning how to communicate in clear ways, trying to put short sentences together, but not really talking back aside from the occasional stubborn "no!" it's just so freaking cute.

anyway, there just happens to be an IHOP just down the street from where we were. and because we just love seeing her happy, and were totally proud of how well she'd behaved during the haircut, that's where we had dinner.

inside, the waitress handed us the regular menus plus this one - with christmas music playing moderately loudly in the background. sheesh. we just barely got past halloween, people!

we'd noticed that at target, too, where they not only had their entire line of holiday and christmas décor out, but also had the store all decked out in snowflakes and ornaments. good gracious, folks, we've still got a couple of weeks till thanksgiving! give turkey day the respect it deserves, dang it!

but after i scrutinized that special menu, i kind of ended up eating my words - literally. ha! for my dinner, i selected the eggnog pancakes - vanilla cream sandwiched between two sweetened buttermilk pancakes, topped with whipped cream, cinnamon sugar, and a butter rum sauce drizzle. MIL followed my lead and chose the gingerbread pancakes, flavored with ginger spice with whipped cream and christmas-y red and green sprinkles. do you have a toothache yet?

both sets of hotcake creations were fantastic. oh, man, were they tasty. i was glad i'd added on some eggs, hash browns and bacon (duh), because i needed a little savory to balance out all that sugary goodness. yum.

the bean proceeded to mow through her plate of scrambled eggs and bacon, guzzled half a glass of chocolate milk, took two bites of her "baby size" pancakes, and munched on a few spoonfuls of MIL's sprinkles before she declared herself "done!" and pushed away from the table.

later, at home, i noticed that the uncharacteristic sneezing that she'd been doing all afternoon had also resulted in a stuffy/runny nose. as she played in her bubble bath, i could hear her struggling to breathe. poor baby. just in time for the wedding, too. damn.

but you know what? this is the first time in her life that she's experienced anything in the way of sickness, aside from teething fevers. well, wait - she also ran an odd 100.3 fever on sunday, but that went away quickly. anyway, i consider us lucky that she's been such a healthy monkey for two-plus years. and as she fell asleep in my arms later, bundled up in a comfy blanket zip-up sleeper, she seemed to be doing just fine - no wheezing or through-the-mouth breathing. yay!

oh! one last, super random tidbit: check out my hello kitty-ized phone and keys.

so.stinking.cute!