Still Honest People

Our garage door stopped working on Christmas Eve and the Expedition was stuck in the garage. It's the original door that was on the house when it was built so it's pushing 36 years. Adam was able to manually pull open the door but we have been without the convenience of an automatic door for 5 days now. The garage door repairman came this afternoon to give us an estimate on fixing it...

I was waiting to hear the spiel on how we needed to replace the door and the thousands of dollars it was going to cost when he literally said, "You can fix that with WD40." What? Someone is telling me I can fix something with a $4 can of spray from Home Depot???

He wrote me up an estimate if we want to replace the door in the future and charged absolutely nothing for his visit. I guess there still are honest people in this world.

Not the kind of party I was looking for

Maison and I were at Party City buying decorations for our NYE party. When we came out I put Maison into the car on the passenger side. I noticed a man getting out of the car next to us on the driver's side and didn't think anything of it while I sat there and sang Mais a song as I strapped her in the car seat, nor when I took my sweet time looking for Cookie Monster's cookies all over the Expedition.

When I walked to the driver's side of the car, I then noticed that the man had his pants down around his ankles. REALLY??? In front of Party City and Babies R Us in fabulous, safe, All American City, PLANO, TEXAS??? Yes! I started the car and backed up without looking at all. I would take an accident over a rape or molestation. I think I startled him because he got up on the sidewalk in between PC and BRU pulled his pants up and then proceeded to loiter outside of BRU...eeeewwww!

Next time I need party decorates, I'll drive across town to the other Party City because that is NOT the kind of party I am looking for!!!!

And then there was 8

Finally the 8th night of Hanukkah is here. Even Maison seemed a little bored with the lighting of the menorah tonight...

But she warmed up after the last candle was lit...probably because she knew she was about to get her present for the night ;o)

Happy Hanukkah! Only one more holiday left this year!

Hanukkah with Shiloh Jolie Pitt

Is it just me or does Maison look like Shiloh in this pic??? Maybe its the way she has her mouth makes her lips look pouty...

The side by side comparison...

Gifts Galore!!

Maison is really starting to think every time she sees someone they should have some sort of present in hand for her. We continued day two of Christmas/Hanukkah overlap with a visit from Santa...

Waiting on the princess to arrive:

What did Santa bring me? Disney Princess Castle, Rapunzel's Tower, and every Disney Princess!

Taking Rapunzel down from her tower:

Do you want to brush baby Rapunzel's hair?

What did Santa leave in my stocking?

Checking out my stocking stuffers:

Lighting the menorah with Daddy:

More Pooh Bear figures for Hanukkah:

HAPPY HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!! and still 2 nights of Hanukkah to go!

Holiday Overload

This is the first time since having Maison that Christmas and Hanukkah overlapped. It was quite the action packed night for Miss Maison...

Lighting the menorah with Daddy:

Receiving Pooh and Piglet figures for Hanukkah:

Helping Daddy open gifts from Mommy:

Mommy was just a little excited to get a Kindle Fire (it was a total surprise!) from Daddy:

After presents at our house, it was off to Camp Gooey to spend Christmas Eve with the Ellington fam...

Snoopy shirt from Aunt Shari:

This is the LAST picture you will see of Maison in her Christmas dress. After receiving this shirt she literally pulled her dress off and refused to wear anything but the Snoopy shirt.

Checking out the Disney Princess tent from Nooey and G'Daddy:

Maneuvering my new CPK, Josie Marie, around my new table/chairs in my new stroller:

Taking a spin in my new Benz:

Checking out my new house from Uncle Bubba:

As usual, I have no idea how Santa is going to top this!

What's up?

What's up with UPS delivering after 10pm not 1, not 2, not 3, but 4 nights in a row??? I really want our Christmas gifts to arrive on time but not at the expense of waking up my sick baby. Last night when the doorbell rang at 10:05pm I knew it was UPS again and I was not happy...

Until Adam brought in the Pali box. What is Pali? It is the Italian furniture manufacturer that made Maison's crib. We bought Maison's crib from a local baby store that went out of business. We did not buy the toddler rails or full size conversion kit when we bought the crib (I know, totally stupid! and yes, MY MOM told me to buy them with the crib). When Maison had already climbed/jumped out of her crib twice I started searching for a store that carried the toddler rails. I found a furniture store in LA that carried Pali cribs and I ordered the 2 sets of rails in June. They told me it would take 6 weeks to have Pali make them and ship them from Italy. In November (that's 5 months!) we had received the full size rails but not the toddler rails.

Adam had called them every week starting in September and received a different story every time. He finally told them to forget it and to credit back our card. So the search was on for another store that carried Pali. I found another store in San Francisco, apparently no stores in Texas carry Pali, and ordered another set of toddler rails.

To our surprise, they arrived last night...well before the 4-5 weeks the store quoted. I guess this once I can't be mad that UPS rang our bell after 10pm!

And then there was light...

I think I finally figured out the lighting sitch for Hanukkah pics...

Daddy helping Maison light the menorah:

Maison is so excited to get a ladybug spatula:

She'll be making her own popovers in no time!

Festival of lights?

Some how our 'festival of lights' is a little dark. Our 3rd night of Hanukkah is a little hard to make out...

Will work on 'lighting adjustments' for tonight!

The more things change...

Shari, our mom, and I eat at the Zodiac Room every year the week of Christmas. We'd always had a great experience until last year when things started going downhill (see The Grand Zodiac Room). They did a buffet again this year but the entree selection sucked so bad we all had a carb fest for lunch. The service again was optional to the point the manager said to my mom, "I can tell by the look on your face you need another drink." yet he did nothing to correct the lack of service.

So for this year's review:

Food - Fair, entree selection blew but a plus for no blue jello this year

Drinks - Anything is acceptable when it's washed down with 2 bottles of wine, 5 grand champagne cocktails, 2 coffees with grand marnier and frangelico, and a chocolate martini (don't worry we had a driver)

Atmosphere - Sub-par, I expect more from Neiman Marcus than mono-chromatic white trees

Company - Exquisite, the only thing better than the drinks

Bottom Line - Already making reservations for the Aldophus next year

The more things change, the more things stay the same...

It's all about the box

Maison has had her new TV for almost 24 hours, but so far she is more interested in the box. While I was getting ready this morning Maison decided to turn the box into her own personal dance stage...she is my child after all.

Apparently Maison thinks Mariah Carey's All I want for Christmas warrants a dance party...I couldn't agree more!

Would never know...

You would never know Maison just had surgery this morning...

She seems completely fine. She's playing and running around when she's supposed to be "taking it easy." She has absolutely NO interest in laying in bed and watching her new TV. Who's been laying in bed watching TV? That would be Adam...

I think he is on to something with this 'Maison gift thing'. Maybe the next time she's sick she'll need a Louis Vuitton or a Chanel bag or something along those lines.

Maison was feeling just fine when Adam lit the menorah. She of course was well enough to make sure Daddy was doing it right. I wonder where she gets this supervisor trait from???

Worth the Surgery

When we got home from the hospital I realized we hadn't gotten Maison a post-surgery gift. With all the chaos of Christmas and Hanukkah shopping I didn't even think about it. I asked Adam to go to Tom Thumb to get her a Snoopy dressed up like Santa we had seen the last time we were there. It was about 3 feet tall and we had only seen it at a distance so I wasn't sure if it was a stuffed animal or a decoration. I did say if it wasn't soft like a stuffed animal to get her something else.

Some how Adam's trip to Tom Thumb turned into a trip to Costco for a 46" flat screen TV and to Apple for an Apple TV so Maison could lay in Mommy and Daddy's bed and watch her movies. And I'm the reason Maison is spoiled?

Maybe I need to send Adam to the store more often...Or better yet maybe I need to have a surgery of sorts to see what he comes home with for me. Do cosmetic surgeries count???

It's over...

Maison's surgery is over! All went well...ear tubes in, adenoids out, no antibiotics during surgery or expected post-surgery. Complete success...now just praying this wards off future need for antibiotics and future c-diff infections!

Is it Hanukkah already?

With Maison's illness and her looming surgery tomorrow, Hanukkah snuck up on us this year. We squeezed in lighting the menorah right before Maison's early bedtime.

The 5:30am departure tomorrow will be here before we know it.

Surgery is a go...

We just left Dr. Huang's office, or Japanese "Wong" as we call her so she won't be confused with Maison's ped, Dr. Wong, and Maison's surgery on Wednesday is a go. We had high hopes that her ears got better while we were in Atlanta and the surgery wouldn't be required, but they are still infected. Since she still has c-diff, there are no other treatments at this point so we will be proceed with the ear tube placement/adenoid removal surgery.

Can't Miss Out

This morning was Maison's school Christmas party. We let her go despite her c-diff and ear infections...poor baby can't miss out on all the fun!

Mommy and Maison working on the Christmas craft, making a stocking ornament. Mommy may or may not be sizing up the competition...

Maison eating the only sugar free treats: turkey and cheese croissant

Checking out the book from the book exchange:

Maison eyeing someone else's gift or the Sponge Bob gift bag:

The "juice thief" wasn't there today and the "drama boy" (not to be confused with the Drummer Boy) was low key since his dad was there. Oh well, it was drama free but fun just the same!

Atlanta Vacay Day 8 ~ On the Road Again

Because I never have anything nice to say about road trips, especially those that are upwards of 3 hours, I will just say we left at 5:30am EST (read 4:30am our time) and we got home in 14 1/2 hours.

As Forrest Gump said, "And that's all I have to say about that."

Atlanta Vacay Day 7 ~ High Tea

After our star studded affair yesterday, we couldn't wait to attend another event at the St. Regis. My brother invited us over for high tea before he had to leave to return to Dallas. We did not have any celeb sightings this time, but we had an exquisite time. Maison was so excited to have her own 3-tier service of tea sandwiches and treats. The teas were amazing! My mom and I had the Mad Hatter (of course, my mom did since this is her nickname from my Aunt Gail). My dad had the St. Regis peach which is only served at the St. Regis in Atlanta. It was literally some of the best tea I have ever had.

It was truly a wonderful afternoon. I just wished I had pictures to share but the battery was dead in the good camera and the new small one apparently needs a memory card. Oops! Only I can bring two cameras and neither of them work...bummer.

Atlanta Vacay Day 6 ~ A Star Studded Brunch

My brother hosted a brunch this morning at the St. Regis hotel in Buckhead; a last family event before Shari and Adam flew back to Dallas tonight. We had high hopes that we might see Santa Claus while we were at the hotel because they were having Holiday Tea with Santa. What we didn't expect was to see real celebrities...

Maison was having one of her 'I can't sit in my own chair without throwing a class A fit' moments, so Adam took her to the restaurant lobby to calm her down. Who did he see waiting on a table with his daughter? That would be Vince Vaughn. Maison pretty much accosted his daughter so Adam got to have a short chat with him.

When Vince got seated, a short little lady in a sock hat, scarf, coat, and glasses ran over and gave him a hug. Who could it be? That would be Bette Midler.

Let's just say when Santa finally made it to our table, I wasn't exactly star struck especially since Adam had another conversation with Vince after brunch. He said how cute Maison was and wished them a Merry Christmas.

Mais is still a little reluctant of the man in the red suit:

Maison 'fist bumping' Santa:

Sorry to report my paparazzi skills suck, no pics of Vince or Bette, only of Santa.

Atlanta Vacay Day 5, Part 2 ~ A Family Affair

I don't remember the last time that my parents, Shari, Bubba, Adam, and I were all in Atlanta at the same time. My Aunt Lou-Lou decided to host a family dinner tonight since we were all here. I haven't seen this many members of the Ellington family together unless it was Thanksgiving or Christmas...

Maison with our cousin, Charlsie Grace:

Maison displaying her snowman "dooley boppers" for our cousin, Mardell:

Aunt Susan, Aunt Lou-Lou, Cousin Cathy:

Cousin Cindy, Uncle Jack, Dad, and Nannie:

You're probably wondering why all the pics are in black and white. It was not an attempt for me to make them look old. I actually took them with the infrared setting on the camera because the room was dark so the kids could see the Christmas decorations. Seems to be a trade-off...they seem grainy but at least you can see who everyone is!

Atlanta Vacay Day 5 ~ Happy 90th Boo!

What better reason to drive 16 1/2 hours with an 85 year old and a toddler than to celebrate your grandmother's 90th b-day? My entire family travelled to Atlanta for my Annie Boo's birthday party at Park Cafe in Duluth. My Mom specifically selected Park Cafe because it is in downtown Duluth where my grandmother grew up. Unfortunately, it didn't strike up a long-term memory that she could share, but she was having a very good day. We were joined by my great-aunt Pat, Annie Boo's only remaining sibling, and my cousin Denise, who's mother was my grandmother's sister.

My mom with Aunt Pat:

Annie Boo thoroughly enjoying her ice cream:

Happy Birthday, Boo!!! We love you!

Atlanta Vacay Day 4 ~ A little piece of History

Maison continued the whirl wind of meeting new family members...tonight was Adam's Aunt Kelli, Uncle Howard, and cousin Henry. Howard and Henry had not met Maison before and Kelli had not seen her since she was 6 months old. Maison was learning about her Maslow family history in Atlanta's oldest continually operated restaurant, Horseradish Grill.

It hasn't been featured on Food Network, at least not that I'm aware of, but it was featured in the local paper the day we ate there. I'm certainly not the foodie in the family but it was good enough of an endorsement for me!

Atlanta Vacay Day 3 ~ Rollin in the Doh

My mom, Maison, and I had lunch with my Aunt Gail today. Since she wouldn't see us before Christmas she went ahead and gave Maison her Christmas present. One of her presents was a Hansel and Gretel PlayDoh set. Maison has several PlayDoh sets but we rarely play with them because they make such a mess.

After lunch, we had to put take Christmas flowers to the cemetery and run other errands. By the time we got back to the hotel, Maison really wanted to play with the Hansel and Gretel set. We are in a hotel, so why not 'give it a go'. I have never seen a child have so much fun with 2 cans of dough and 2 molds. It was endless amounts of fun.

Best part of playing with play doh for hours? I didn't have to clean up the twitters of purple dough = best present ever!

Atlanta Vacay Day 2 ~ Hanging with Guy

Everyone knows that if there is a restaurant featured on Food Network or Man v. Food and Adam is involved then we must eat there. Adam is still in Dallas so tonight's dinner locale was not at his suggestion.

We were having dinner with my Aunt Susan and Uncle Jack so my parents suggested that we eat at Marrietta Fish Market. They had all been there before and raved about it the entire drive there. Let's just say the bar was set really high and it did not disappoint. It was delicious!

No one knew Guy Fieri had eaten there when he was in town to feature their sister restaurant, Marrietta Diner, on Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives (or DDD). The menu and website both claim that Guy said Marietta Fish Market, "this was one of the most incredible spreads of food he's ever tasted or seen." That's high praise, considering he tastes food for living!

Atlanta Vacay Day 1 ~ Drive from Hell

Apparently I have short term memory loss...

I'm positive that when we got back from Gulf Shores in June I swore I would NEVER go on a road trip again. Yet here I am...just completed 16 1/2 hours in a suburban with my parents, Nannie, and Maison from Dallas to Atlanta.

The trip should take only 14 hours but when you are driving with an 85 year old, a 2 year old with digestive issues, and a car sick passenger (yes, that would be me) you tend to make a lot of stops. Not to mention, it started raining in Jackson, MS and didn't stop the whole way to Atlanta.

Honestly, Maison was the best behaved of the entire trip. As long as a DVD was playing she was fine. Next on the 'to do' list: check flights from ATL to DFW...

Say what?

We have decided to go to Atlanta for my Annie Boo's 90th birthday party despite the fact Maison still has c-diff. I took her to Dr. Wong to see if her ear had gotten any worse and to see what I would be up against during our travels. Dr. Wong confirmed Maison has another ear infection. Given her c-diff infection, she cannot take antibiotics to treat the ear infection so Dr. Wong concurred with Dr. Russo and recommended that we proceed with the ear tubes...today. Say what? Today? As in right now? Before we leave at 5:00am for a 14 hour road trip???

Yes, that is exactly what she meant. She referred us to an ENT, Dr. Huang (also pronounced Wong), for a consult. Dr. Huang agreed that doing the ear tubes was a good preventative treatment for the c-diff infections but she also recommended taking out her adenoids which is too invasive of a surgery to do on the spur of the moment. Besides they can't even book an OR that fast so surgery is on hold until we get back from Atlanta. Looks like tomorrow we will head out with a 2 year old with an untreated ear infection and a c-diff infection...sounds awesome!

Missing the "Lake"

I left this morning at 5:45 am in the 38 degree pouring down rain to go run the Dallas White Rock half marathon. Given that Maison is sick again and I haven't done any athletic events since spraining my ankle, this really wasn't the best idea. I missed my last training run of 10 miles due to Mais being sick so on top of everything else, I wasn't sure I was prepared.

If I didn't have doubts on the drive down, I definitely had doubts after lining up at 7:30am in the pouring rain and not crossing the starting line until 8:13am. It literally poured the entire first 5 miles. It was raining so hard the water dripping off the bill of my hat was blurring my vision.

This race is referred to as "Run the Rock" in reference to the course which follows White Rock lake. I think today's race should been referred to as "Run the Lake" or "Running through White Rock Lake" because that is more what it felt like.

This is the first race I have ever done where I did not remove something that I was wearing. I was so wet and cold I kept every stitch on until the bitter end. I ended up finishing in 2:10 which was a PR for me. I guess the freezing rain moved me faster than the heat I normally compete in.

After wringing water out of my sports bra which was my 3rd layer down and seeing Andrea (friend I ran with) ask for pancakes post-race so that she could use them for warmth, I thought I should have listened to my gut and sat this one out....but then I remembered I was thinking about me and unless I'm physically injured I don't ever sit one out! Besides a little rain never hurt anyone...

The Ear is Connected to the Stomach

I had a consult with Dr. Russo this morning regarding Maison's c-diff relapse. His recommended course of treatment is ear surgery. Yes, you heard me right. Ear surgery to solve a G.I. issue.

Nasal drainage leads to ear infections.

Ear infections lead to antibiotics.

Antibiotics lead to c-diff.

So to ward off possible c-diff infections he is recommending ear tubes. Apparently, every part of the body IS connected!

Speechless...

I just got off the phone with Maison's doctor...the c-diff is back!

Maison had double ear infections at the beginning of November that were treated with a short course of antibiotics. As we walked out of Dr. Russo's office on Nov. 3 with a clean bill of health, he warned us not to give Maison antibiotics for any reason unless there were no other options. Unfortunately, he was right...

Just 2 days after finishing up the antibiotics, the 'c-diff' symptoms came back. Saturday we took Maison to the doctor because she was already pulling on her ear again and complaining that it hurt. Her ear had fluid but was not an infection, yet. We had the on-call doctor call in the stool studies and he just called to confirm the c-diff was positive.

I knew Thanksgiving night that it was back but didn't want to believe it. I told my mom my suspicions and she told me not to borrow trouble. Unfortunately, I was right. Our family's nightmare it back...I'm speechless...

Starting Black Friday with a POP

Neiman Marcus's Zodiac Room has nothing on me in the popover department....

Will there be anything to gobble?

My mom called around 9:30 this morning to say we may or may not be eating Thanksgiving dinner at 4:00 as planned and we may or may not have anything to eat because BOTH of the ovens in the kitchen had stopped working. What a great start to Thanksgiving day...

By the time the Macy's day parade was over, my mom had moved 'operation Thanksgiving' to the small kitchen in the guest house where Nannie lives and my dad had dropped off the dressing at our house for Adam to bake. Yes, my dad trusts Adam enough to bake his famed dressing.

Despite all the chaos, dinner was served only an hour after my mom had planned! This Thanksgiving, we were definitely thankful there was food on the table. HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

Some how this is the ONLY picture from Thanksgiving???

Easy as pie

My mom usually starts baking for Thanksgiving early Wednesday so that she has plenty of oven space for the turkey, dressing, and mac and cheese that take up most of her oven cooking time. I thought I would help out this year by making a pie.

I love to bake and make lots of cupcakes, cakes, cookies, muffins, breads, etc but I have NEVER made a pie from scratch. How hard could it be? I know how to bake. Could a pie with homemade crust really be that hard? I researched Thanksgiving pie recipes on foodnetwork.com and came across the maple pumpkin pie with pecan streusel. It was described as the 'must serve' Thanksgiving pie as it combines pumpkin and pecans into one pie and it had an 'easy' difficulty rating...sounds like a winner to me.

I called my mom around 11:30am to tell her that Maison and I would be by for a short visit after her nap, as I was going to surprise her with my fab pie. Let's just say 'easy' has a whole new meaning...

Nothing is fast about homemade crust. I got the dough mixed together in minutes but didn't realize that it had to rest for at least 30 minutes before I could use it. Then I noticed the recipe called for toasting the pecans before making the streusel. Uh, how do you toast pecans? I seriously had to google it. Then I struggled to get the dough to go over the fluted edges of my Emile Henry pie pan. It seemed every time I covered one side the other side slipped down. Ok, so maybe I wouldn't be dropping off the pie shortly after Mais's nap.

This easy pie had a million steps and literally took me all day to make. I believe it was close to 7pm when I finally left to drop the pie off. It was already dark and Adam was already home from work so I made him drive me. I did not want anything happening to this pie on the way to Nooey's house. I sure hope it tastes as good as it looks and was worth a whole days work!

High speed photo shoot

I finally got around to looking at Maison's 2 year pics so that I could place our order and realized there is not one shot where she is still. She is either running, climbing, or dancing in every single picture.

I see now why all my pictures of her are a blur...