Life as usual

Well, I'm writing today after four very long days!

But before I get into all that nitty gritty, I have been meaning to post this picture for ages... Sometime a bit after Christmas we walked past this house that is apparently in need of a new roof. Now the real mystery to me is two-fold: (1) why, oh why, did they built that huge secondary roof complete with oodles of scaffolding and (2) why is it taking sooooo long to finish?? Today, at least 5 weeks after the scaffolding contraption showed up, it still remains and the roof still looks the same. I never really see anyone working on it, which I suppose is why it's taking sooooo long, but anyway, this is a Danish oddity that repeats itself everywhere. It seems to take eons for any kind of construction work to get completed and people just don't seem to care! Elevators will be out for a month and no one bats an eye... strange!!

So, I tried to bake a cake last week. Well, I should say that I DID bake a cake. It is edible, and actually very tasty, but I just had to take a picture (a horrible shot I know) of the baking process becuase I'm pretty sure that a cake isn't supposed to look like a volcano/island rising out of a calm sea. I guess that the problem was too much baking soda or powder or whatever. I don't know why, but it seems like I follow the recipe to the letter and it just doesn't seem to turn out right. I really wonder if I would have the same terrible luck with a boxed mix or not. I don't think I'll test that anytime soon though since a box of Betty Crocker is over $5!!

As I'm sure you have already guessed, our problems this week have been in the Ruby category. Over the last few weeks Ruby has been more and more insistant that not only is she done with baby bottles, but she's done with baby food too. She doesn't want anything to do with pureed anything. The problem is that it's really hard to come up with many healthy finger foods that she can eat and will eat. As you can see, spaghetti was a huge hit with her. Let's just say, I'm starting to rethink the decision to get a Tripp Trapp instead of a conventional highchair with tray. Thankfully, I was able to get the huge orange splotch out of our tablecloth, though some of Ru's clothes aren't faring as well.

To make matters worse, she also decided last week that she's petrified of taking a bath... something that she has always loved up to this point. We've found that we have to ease her into the experience by letting her stand in the water for a bit. Blowing bubbles seems to help too. Anyhoo, the combination of a baby filthy with finger foods and not wanting to take a bath has been difficult. She also isn't eating as much as she was when we were feeding her, so she's been waking up in the night. Monday night I had less than 4 hours of sleep, not good. Part of the problem, we think, is some kind of tummy trouble. On Sunday, just as we stepped off the bus, Ruby threw up for the first (and second and third) time. What a mess! All over her stroller, snowsuit, clothes, etc. Thankfully, our friends lent us a blanket to whisk her home in and the all of the cloth parts of the stroller are detachable and machine washable--YEAH!!! Oh, did I forget to say that the stroller has now lost BOTH sets of front wheels and had to be pushed home wheelbarrow style, totally stripped of it's cushions and looking like a skeleton?!?! Thankfully (again), my whiz kid hubby rebuilt the stroller and we are now back to 100%.

So, now that we're up and running again, I'm down for the count. Ruby's stomach bug has made its way to my gut and is busy giving me the light-headed feverish jitters and queasy-weasies as I type. I hope and pray that this clears up by tomorrow, because I've got things to do and people to see. That, and my little cowgirl is getting pretty tired of mommy laying around instead of playing with her.

Before I "sign off" for the day, I want to wish my Dad a Happy Birthday!! We can't seem to get back into the whole snail mail thing now that we're in DK, so this little electronic greeting (along with that snappy e-card) is about as good as it gets!

As you can tell, it's life as usual at the Nelson house.