Sunday Night Chit Chat: Back Into The Deep Freeze

Howdy Humble Readers...

Whew, that was a rough week.  The crud that landed on my Beloved and I is finally starting to ease.  I can breath easily, but the cough still keeps me from getting a good night's sleep.  Thankfully, other than Pip getting a touch of the sniffles, the wee-lings have been relatively untouched this go round. 

Winter has decided that it's not done with the Shire, not by a long shot.  We have been under an extreme windchill warning for the last two days.  We haven't gotten much new snow at all since the beginning of January, but it's absolutely frigid out there.  We actually decided not to go to church this morning because, even though my Beloved and I are feeling moderately better, the prospect of bundling the wee-lings and ourselves up was just too daunting. 

I forgot to mention last week that Pippin's hearing test went really well.  He only missed one tone out of the whole test, and that was right at the beginning when he wasn't really sure what was going on.  We have his speech pathology assessment tomorrow morning, and I'm curious how they are going to help us help him.  I took Rain's advice and recorded Pip making many of his usual sounds to show the speech therapist. 

The wee-lings and I watched the opening ceremonies for the Winter Olympics, and I made a bit of a game out of it with Ginny.  She has a placemat with a map of the world on it, so during the parade of nations she would try to guess where they were from.  She only knows a few countries (we added Russia to the list this week), but we had fun and it was a great way for her to get engaged with the Olympics. 

I was feeling well enough on Friday to go out with the girls to celebrate JJ's birthday.  We went to a new-ish place in town (I had a really good burger), to a movie (the Monuments Men... wonderful movie!  Made me so thankful that I've been able to see so many great works of art in museums around the world), and then out for drinks at an Irish pub with a VERY loud band.  We had a lot of fun and laughed a lot.  I always love getting to spend time with them. 

Potty training is still an ongoing process with Ginny.  I think we had a minor victory today.  Ginny claims that she 'went stinky' in the potty.  I was in the living room, and my Beloved was putting Pip down for his nap, so we don't know for sure (if she did, she cleaned herself up really well).  She's gotten very independent about going.  She usually only needs assistance with dealing with buttons and zippers after she's done.  She hasn't had a wet accident in weeks now.  Of course, we are still using diapers at night and nap time, and Pull-ups when we go out. 

Enough rambling.  On to tonight's chit chat.  Here's what I'm...

Reading - My reading binge has come to an end.  I haven't been able to focus on reading hardly at all this week.  I'm still reading the trashy romance that I started a week ago.  Now that I'm beginning to feel better, I'm hoping to get back into reading more.  Next on the list is a biography from a woman who left one of the polygamist sects we hear so much about in the news. 

Watching - Other than my usual Sunday night trip to Downton Abbey, I've been watching a lot of the Olympics.  I particularly enjoy the hockey and figure skating, but I was thrilled with the gold and silver medals won by the Dufour-Lapointe sisters in women's moguls. 

Listening to - I can hear my Beloved taping Pippin's diaper.  Yes, we've had to go back to using packing tape to keep him from taking his diaper off and making a huge mess. 

Cooking/Baking - Tonight was coffee braised short ribs with garlic mashed potatoes, roasted green beans, and yorkies.  I'm trying a couple of new-to-me recipes this week... chicken Florentine penne, and chili garlic pork.  I have a special dinner planned for Valentine's day, although I still need to decide what I'm doing for dessert for that night.

Happy I Accomplished This Week - Ummm, the wee-lings were fed, read to, and bathed.  Oh, and I managed to run the vacuum.  That's about it. 

Looking Forward To Next Week - Getting back into a normal routine, Pip's appointment tomorrow, and celebrating Valentines Day with the wee-lings. 

Thankful For - Relative good health.  I am such a wimp when I get sick, but knowing that it will go away and I will feel better is such a blessing.

***Bonus Question*** What lesson did you learn this week?  Never trust that a toddler won't do something just because it seems unlikely.  Pip, even with packing tape or duct tape over the tabs on his diaper, has once or twice managed to take his diaper off.  And he's fast about it too.  I'll put him in the playpen while I go to the bathroom or into the kitchen to make lunch, and in just that short amount of time he'll have his pants and diaper off, and have managed to make a mess for me to clean up. 

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This was posted as a part of Carla's Sunday Night Chit Chat.  Pop over and check out what the others are chatting about tonight.