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Wednesday, December 29, 2010

Tuesday, December 28, 2010

Lifetime Originals: The Next Generation

After two years of solo projects and some additional spawning, THEY'RE BACK AND THEY'RE BAD.

THAT'S RIGHT.

THE LIFETIME ORIGINALS!

AS YOU REMEMBER THEM!!

Ollie first got involved after a stint as a guitar.
He tried to join up at nine months, but he just didn't have the maturity, or the pants, to handle life on the road.
Dylan was first offered a position as a toddler, but felt at that time that her energies were better spent on remaining awake during nap time.

Uncle Tom has always been the heart of the band. He patiently took the new recruits under his wing as they found their footing.

So to speak.





Finally it all came together for them.



Rock on, Originals, Rock on

Monday, December 27, 2010

christmas eve, christmas day, aftermath

cookie decorating

the traditional letting ollie out of his box


a bread pudding experiment that was highly successful if measured in deliciousness and highly unsuccessful in terms of shortening my family's life expectancy

note+food offering in exchange for loot






dylan got a glinda the good witch doll who now goes everywhere with her. i feel like this really works for us because i think glinda is a fine role model and dylan gets to idolize someone girly who is not part of the princess complex.

i don't have a picture, but it was agreed by all that the best-received present, in terms of most joy added to a life, was a second copy of ollie's beloved blankie. the joy! the snuggling! more joy! it was awesome. i ALSO don't have a picture of the fancy new jogging pants aaron got. somehow they must have gotten switched with pants from people of a different gender when i went to get him a different size in the fitting room. talbots here he comes! our friend asked if he got a matching sports bra, but he actually didn't.

i also have to give dylan a lot of credit for a lack of obnoxiousness about opening her presents. she was really patient and handed out presents to everyone else and didn't tear hers open all at once and enjoyed each one as she got it. she then resumed her constant lobbying for dessert, but if there's one thing she does well it's delayed gratification.

Sunday, December 26, 2010

terra cotta army of two




ps ollie got carhartts for christmas.

Wednesday, December 22, 2010

briefly noted

Ollie says uh-oh. Not well, and usually after he throws something across the room. I think he got it from Aaron, who has also been known to throw things across the room on occasion. There goes Daddy's whiskey bottle! Uh-oh!

***

The bakery where Aaron worked all those years closed! We are sad, particularly as they had recently expanded to the world of delicious delicious donuts.

***

Re: questions in med school lectures, when to ask. Please to reference this flowchart.

***

I meant to not go nuts, present-wise, for the kids. Especially since we JUST DID Hanukkah. The problem is that thinking about and shopping for presents is about my favorite thing to do. I think we all know how this will end.

***

Ollie would like to submit a review of the new Food Bar at Wegmans. He gives it two fistfuls of food up. He and Dylan are nothing if not experienced at eating at restaurants. His latest trick is to grab a handful of my hair and not let go when I bend over to pick up the debris under his high chair. Really cute, Ollie.

***

The children would like their bigness noted. Thank you.

Monday, December 20, 2010

bleisenblog: now with content

What I thought was, if Ollie is old enough to walk and eat all this food all the time, he is old enough to vacuum.

I had the girl child show him how.


What I have not learned is that if the flash is out of batteries and there is no light, the pictures will still be blurry EVEN IF I TAKE ONE HUNDRED OF THEM. Then what I have is, one hundred blurry pictures.

***

Aaron and Dylan are both no longer sick. Technically. They are neither one of them back to full strength. Aaron has taken a classic approach to convalescence and spends his free time sitting on the couch looking wan. Dylan has put a new twist on things by being alternately exhausted and restless, all the while exuding the rude sassiness of a demon hellbeast. [ed: I just checked with Aaron as to whether calling our darling child a demon hellbeast on the internet is acceptable. he says: "it's fine with me." You, dear reader, would no doubt agree if you had to spend yesterday evening with her.] Ollie, sensing emotional tumult and wanting to get in on the action, is back to his quotidian agenda of defiant evil, but now when you tell him no he bursts into tears.

***

My rotation went fine. We didn't all implode when I started working a bunch more. I liked some of it a lot and the routine isn't all so new anymore, so it's a little less tiring for me to be at the hospital all day. It was sort of entertaining to come home from all the sick people in the hospital to all the sick people in the house. Plus I learned something from the sick people at home! High fever + pinkeye = adenovirus. The more you know.

***

Now I have to switch back to administering the household and working on my research stuff. Aaron is spending the week reintroducing himself to his coworkers. We are all the while halfheartedly trying to figure out where to go next year (kate: hey, where should we go next year? aaron: *shrugs*). It's not working that well.

***

Thursday, December 16, 2010

but who's counting

done after tomorrow...probably good...i had to unlock the door when I got home at 6pm today because no one had been out yet. aaron hasn't been to work since last wednesday. ollie is now chipper as a...clam? a happy clam? a wood chipper? but never got brought to daycare owing to its being outside the house.

Monday, December 13, 2010

pestilence

Everyone in the house but me has been felled by what I believe is a miasma. Ollie's fever and pension for 10-day courses of antibiotics are nothing new, but this evening Dylan took to curling up on the floor and whimpering about being cold...so cold. Aaron's right eye is showcasing fire engine red, while his demeanor fluctuates from "melodramatically collapsing on the couch" to "passed out." Aaron helpfully text pages me throughout the day so I know exactly how high everyone's fever is.

I have cleverly avoided germs by spending my days in the hospital. Other things I have avoided via hospital include: bitter cold, shoveling, afternoon snack, and sunlight. I have four more days of this rotation. It's much more fun than previous rotations because they let me pretend to have just a bit of responsibility, and Aaron was keeping up with all the house and kid stuff really well until he got the vapors etc. Probably a good taste of what next year will be like.

Sunday, December 12, 2010

not that there's anything wrong with that

Ollie slapped Dylan's flower barrette on the side of his head, put my headband on top, and emerged from Dylan's room carrying fistfuls of her underwear. He was pleased.

Saturday, December 11, 2010

making conversation

hi, hi. please to enjoy the children stuffed into their snowthings:


done with this rotation in one more week, going okay. ollie's back to back ear infections, fever, and $90 antibiotics with nasty gastrointestinal side effects less okay. weather up to 40 degrees today, not snowing. there we go--covered work, kids, and the weather. i think we're all set for now.

Sunday, December 05, 2010

next up: chewing gum

Friday, December 03, 2010

Tuesday, November 30, 2010

Monday, November 29, 2010

howdy there, pilgrim

"Dylan! Don't wipe your nose on me."

"Mommy. It's too late now."

***