Did someone say WEEKEND!!

Amazing. I worked a whole 3 day week last week and it seemed to last forever. Monday being MLK day and a paid holiday (wooHoo!) and Thursday staying home due to a doctor's appointment for myself and a multitude of other reasons. I justified my sick day by my doctor appointment being smack in the middle of the morning at 10:30, me not having an ounce of free time to feel like I'm able to keep my head above water in the land of mess which I call home, not having much work to do at work and most of all, having suffering through the entire month of January with a cold. Oh yeah, I woke up new year's morning with a sore throat, sinus junk and coughing and it's been with me ever since. I wanted to believe that it was on it's way out of me, but just really wanted a doctor to confirm that since that's what I've been telling myself for 2 weeks already. My lovely doctor fixed me up with some antibiotics and a codeine cough medicine which will not only suppress my cough but prevent my husband from killing me as I lie in bed for nearly an hour coughing and twisting before I can finally fall asleep. Thank you codeine!

So, one of these days I know that I will kick this cough and snot once and for all and I'll quit going through a box of tissue per week and my co-workers won't have to hear me cough, hack and blow for much longer. Still crossing my fingers.

In the meantime, I'm pretending to feel well because most often, I just don't have any choice. My kids have been healthy and that's really most important. I'm finally able to post some footage of Lincoln's crawling attempt and how he's been able to cover every corner of the room by his butt-dance-roll-over-moves. Although he did crawl a mere 2 knee lengths on Thursday, there has been no crawling to report since.

Now tell me, am I the only one who longs to have a girls' day out with a bunch of close friends and we talk about it and plan it and yet, it never happens? Well on Saturday five of my girlfriends and myself loaded up in my Yukon, pleaded with my dear husband to strap the turtle cap on top and hit the road for the Ikea store in Pittsburgh. We really did it! We had been talking about going since November and our plans finally came to fruition. Yeah, we looked like a bunch of dorks with a giant turtle cap on top the truck, but for 6 women shoppers in Ikea followed by the mall, it was so necessary! Pittsburgh is about 90 minutes away and the closest Ikea to us. Most of us, including myself, have never been there and I was blown away by the shopping experience. I was mostly seeking out some organization for my den, specifically this little, old computer desk which I need to clear off to talk to all of you every now and then. Ikea came through for me! I'd love to post a picture, but even after 3 hours of cleaning, sorting and organizing, it's still not exactly finished, but very, very close and I'm in love with my Ikea storage that made it happen.

Following this awesome shopping showcase, otherwise known as I-luvva, we hit the mall. Since having kids, I hardly enjoy shopping for clothes for me anymore. Don't get me wrong, I can shop at the drop of a hat for practically any occasion, but buying for Elaina and Lincoln is my favorite of all. My best finds were at The Children's Place. I totally loaded up on the Monster Sale of clearance items. Did I mention that I love it when stores have a sale and it actually is a "sale?" Way to go TCP!

That brings me to today. Eric and I were going to go out to the mall (as if I didn't get my fix from yesterday), some other stores and dinner and quite possibly, some play land area for Elaina to burn off some energy. We made a second round in The Children's Place (I'm telling you, the deals were that good) and then off to Panera for dinner. I had just brought back Lincoln's jarred baby food from the microwave as Lincoln's was sitting happily in his highchair and when I turned around to reach for a spoon, Lincoln reached into the very hot jar of very hot baby food and burned his fingers. I wasn't planning on serving him this very, overly heated food until it was much cooler except he had a different plan for now. O dear God did he ever scream! And proceeded to scream. I wiped his hand clean of the hot food and jumped up for some ice in a mini cup which only caused him to scream some more. After doing everything we could think of to calm him and fix him, we loaded up our barely eaten meals and headed for home. The smartest thing we did was to prepare a bottle before we left to see if that would comfort him and that's the only thing that gave us breaks of silence for the whole 30 minute drive home. Once we were home, we were able to better assess his burn since our lighting was better and some time had passed. His ring finger had completely blistered within this same amount of time. Some blistering occurred on the top and side of his middle finger but not even close in comparison to the other. Here's a sad picture of baby Lincoln's first injury. And check out the finger cozy that I made to still allow him to suck his thumb. I smothered his fingers with burn cream, yet didn't want it to get in his eyes or mouth while he was sucking his thumb and so this was my only solution. And he only sucks the thumb on this hand.

Elaina and I said our prayers at bedtime and asked God to heal our baby's fingers and make him well. Elaina also thanked God for her sippy cup tonight and her (fairly new) decorative mirror. Thank you God, indeed!