I'm Here

I know, I know, you've all been wondering where I've been. I'm here, and we're all fine. I've just not been in the mood to blog I suppose. For a normal individual that wouldn't be such a big deal. But see, I don't email or pick up the phone or even reply to emails sometimes, so everyone really is in the dark when I don't blog.

My poor mother-in-law emailed when we got back from our trip to Albuquerque to make sure I wasn't still sick and I never emailed her back. I'm a loser. My mom didn't even know we went to Albuquerque until a couple of days ago when she called. See? Big loser.

Speaking of Albuquerque, I left you with a video of Clara singing Happy Birthday to her Grandma. That was just to throw said grandma off. A couple of hours after I posted the video, we got on a plane to surprise her for her big birthday.

The plan was to surprise her by showing up at Jason's Deli that night. They go there before church, so we got there about 15 minutes early. When we saw them drive up, I sent Clara to the door with her camera to get a picture of Grandma. I saw Linda notice her as she was walking up and then she just stopped dead in her tracks, mouth wide open when she realized it was Clara.

So we fessed up to having been in on the surprise with Dan for a couple of months and were there to spend a few days with her for her birthday. We said we wanted to take her out to a nice dinner Friday night and got all dressed up for it and Tim was going to meet us there as well. Much to her surprise, Dan had planned a big party at the restaraunt with lots of friends from church. As we rounded the corner to be seated, the room broke out in "Happy Birthday" and it took Linda a few seconds to realize it was for her. She was wondering why the hostess just stopped without seating us first. I think there were about 30 people there and again, Linda didn't have a clue that something was up. Dan was pretty proud of himself for keeping it in so long without exploding first.



Clara had a runny nose for a couple of days before we were to leave on our trip and then started acting more sick the day before, so I went back and forth trying to decide if I should take her to the doctor or not. I didn't want her getting on the plane if it was an ear infection, so I called the doctor to see what she thought and she called in an antibiotic for her. I'm normally not a fan of using antibiotics unless it's truly necessary, but I felt it was truly necessary to not be on the same plane as the child if it was, in fact, an ear infection. She did great on the plane.

She went through a whole lotta kleenexes on the trip, but was feeling much better after a few days. I, on the other hand, felt like poo. That first night just about killed me. My sinuses felt sooo dry, my lips were chapped and my throat was on fire. The dry air really does a number on me. I also think the altitude bothers me. I just don't feel normal and get tired very easily when I'm there. We bought a humidifier the next day and I slept a little better the next two nights, but I still woke up every hour or more in pain. I lost most of my voice and it was about a week before I was able to sing Clara's goodnight songs again.

Clara did fine on the plane ride home, but I was in some serious pain during takeoff and landing. My sinuses felt like they were going to explode. But, I made it. I felt better after just one night in my haven of humidity and was back to my normal, mosturized self a few days later.