At the playground with the Szabos and Martins

After our visit to the ER on Saturday night, and 4 full days cooped up with just Mom, Dad and Myney for entertainment, Anastasia was definitely in need of some quality time outside.



Orlando's fraternity brother Sid, aka Zsolt, and his family were visiting from San Francisco this week and we were able to get a coveted slot in their very booked schedule of visits with friends and family. We arranged a play date with their two boys, Bodie and Atilla. Another brother, Shawn, joined in the fun with his two girls, Brooke and Kara. After a short visit at the house, we all made our way to the playground for a bit of outside fun and running around.



It was also a great chance for us to catch up with some friends we don't get to see often enough. Linda and Sid are great fun, and their two boys are little balls of energy. I wish we could get together with them more often.



Atilla looks like he's going to become a rock climber like his parents.



All of the kids enjoyed time on the teeter totter while the dads caught up with each other. Then Anastasia and Bodie helped Atilla take a little walk around the playground.



It was a very fun couple of hours. Annie loved all of it, especially playing on the horses and the slide.



She had so much fun that she really didn't want to leave when it was time to go. Unfortunately, she paid a price for all her fun outside, and today she's feeling worse than before. Sad, but hopefully she'll be better tomorrow.

Annie's weekend goes downhill

Annie started running a fever very suddenly on Friday. I was reading her a story at bedtime and by the time the story was finished, she was running 100 degrees. We gave her some Tylenol and put her to bed hoping that she would be better by morning. She was, and we went about our day as though all was well.

At lunch time on Saturday, the same thing happened. We sat down to a meal and by the time we'd finished eating, she was up to 101. Unfortunately, because of the urinary reflux that she has, whenever she runs a fever of 101 or higher, we have to take her in to have a urine culture drawn. Since it was Saturday afternoon, the Dr's office was closed, so a trip to the ER was in store. We took her in later that evening, then proceeded to wait (she wasn't really that sick afterall). 4 1/2 hours later, and a lot more tired, we returned home with the knowledge that she did not have a UTI, and we should let this problem run its course.

We were ready for a better day on Sunday.

Merry Christmas Hitzigs

Anastasia woke up on Christmas morning knowing that Santa Claus had come, but because she didn't really know what Christmas meant, we were able to keep her upstairs until about 7:00.

When she came downstairs, she immediately saw the babydoll in a stroller and the play kitchen.



Myney and I were successful in getting her to wait to open the rest until after breakfast. I expect this is the last year that trick will work. She played with the doll while I made the waffles. Breakfast was first, then presents. Anastasia liked the blueberry sauce I made.



When it came time to start opening, Anastasia and Candis were both very excited. Annie asked Orlando to open every present and played with each before opening the next.



She ran out of steam toward the end, and with two presents left to open, she declared that she was finished. After a short rest, she went back to them and eventually finished opening all of her gifts. Then she remembered that Santa had promised to leave candy in her stocking.



When it was all over, Myney had gotten a new sink and vanity for her bathroom and tickets to two musicals, Orlando had gotten a new workbench with two big tool chests, and I got a porch swing and an iPhone. A great Christmas was had by all.

A visit with Santa

Last weekend we took a trip to the mall to visit St. Nick. Anastasia was curious about Santa before we got to the front of the line. She's been saying his name, and she knows that he brings presents (or sometimes she says he brings candy), but when it came time to meet him, she was not excited.

After one failed attempt, we tried again with Mommy acting as a barrier between Santa and Anastasia.



She looks like she's smiling, which is good, but she was desperately trying to get off my lap and as far away from Santa as she could get. After it was over, she happily took the candy cane and said bye-bye to Santa. She's not so shy when it's time to say goodbye.

Christmas Cookies

Every year, Myney makes cookies for Christmas in quantities that are incomprehensible to most people. She takes most of them to her work where they're her contribution to the patient's holiday party, but for a short time each year, meals in our house revolve around cookies and cookie dough. I think there were 12 different types.



Clockwise from top left: Toffee Chip, Gingerbread, Chocolate, and Snickerdoodle

Anastasia particularly liked the chocolate cookie dough. Myney was willing to give up the beater for a few minutes so Annie could eat to her heart's content.



But she couldn't keep it for long because there were still more cookies to be made.



Clockwise from top left: Peanut butter, Oatmeal Raisin, Wine cookies, and Mint meringues

Sadly, I didn't get pictures of all of the cookies because Orlando, Anastasia and I had a party to attend. Our friends Mallory and Dave host a Gingerbread house party every year. They make and assemble a ton of gingerbread houses, and they provide the candy for use in decorating. When we arrived, there were houses lining the staircase. This is not the kind of party you can have with three dogs in the house.

Anastasia was very eager to get started (she began eyeing the candy the moment we walked in the door) so as soon as the royal icing was ready, we got down to decorating. She figured out pretty quickly that the icing was like glue, and she placed her candy pieces very diliberately.



She let both Orlando and me help her make the house.



Her finished creation is a work of art that is now proudly being displayed in our dining room.



The grown ups ended the day with a much needed salty dinner of ham, spinach and macaroni and cheese. Now, Orlando is finished eating until he starts on ice cream and popcicles after surgery tomorrow.

School Pictures

I got Anastasia's school pictures this week. The photographer did a really great job with her and even though she was very shy in the beginning, the photographer was actually able to get her to pose (or at least look like she was posing) and smile! I can't decide which is my favorite.

The one where she looks so grown up:


or the one where she looks just like Orlando:


The third picture is a distant third to the others. I don't think I'm going to keep any of the prints of this one since the others are so cute.


Grandma and Pawpaw will be receiving a print copy or two soon.

A bad day for the Hitzigs

Yesterday, I got my cast off, which was an exciting way to start the day. I got fitted for a walking boot, which is incredibly uncomfortable, but we're going to figure that one out on Friday. Pictures later, I promise.

On Sunday night, Orlando started to feel his heart beating irregularly. It was Atrial Fibrulation, a problem he's had before. Usually, when it happens, it stops by itself within a few minutes. This time, unfortunately, it didn't stop by itself. by about 11:00 yesterday morning, he had decided that he needed to go to the hospital to get it to stop. When he got there, the first thing they wanted to do was shock him to get his heart beating properly again. Unfortunately, to do that, they have to sedate him, and he'd tasted his sauces from lunch service, so the doctors said no.

Just after I arrived at the emergency room, I got a call from Anastasia's daycare saying that she had woken up with a bloody nose that was not stopping. Apparently she was dripping blood all over the classroom, so I had to go get her. Fortunately, without the cast, this was a lot easier. She was fine and very concerned about the new piece of equipment on my foot. Once Myney got home, I left to go back to the hospital, still hoping that we'd be able to come home soon.

Back with Orlando, instead of shocking him, they tried medicine. The first medication didn't work, but 4 hours later, shortly after I got back to the ER, the second one did. Unfortunately, they had already decided by that point that O was going to have to spend the night. Kind of stinks, mostly because by the time he actually got to a room (at 11:15 pm) he was feeling fine, and really just wanted to come home. About 3:00 today, he finally was able to leave the hospital.

Not a fun day in our house. Sorry, no pictures of Orlando in the ER, or Annie with a bloody nose.

Decorating for Christmas

I was really looking forward to seeing how Anastasia reacted to the tree and decorations. When we brought the tree home last week, she was very interested in it. She says Christmas Tree pretty well, and she understood that it was going to be in our house. We decided that we'd do the decorating on Saturday evening (while Orlando was at work because he doesn't think it's as much fun as Myney and I do.)

Because I'm not able to walk, and carrying things is impossible with the crutches, Myney and I called in some backup for the Christmas decorating this year. My friend Abby, who is an excellent decorator in general, agreed to come over and lend a hand. Surprisingly, it wasn't a hard sell since it combined playing with Annie, decorating and egg nog. Before we got started, Anastasia tried to dring from the frosty mug light.



We turned on the Christmas carols, got ourselves each a glass of nog and set to work. My job was checking and untangling the lights while Abby put them on the tree. With the lights on, it was time for the real deocrating.



Anastasia did really well. After being shown how to put ornaments on the tree, she took off and put a ton on. My job was to hand her the ones that she would put up. She got a little carried away with two branches, putting about 10 ornaments on each, but all in all, she was a good Christmas tree decorator.



While we were working (and by we, I mean Myney, Abby and Anastasia), Abby told us the story of her adventures in homemade pasta. Martha's got nothing on Abby!



Here's Anastasia with the finished product.

Surgery and the cast

A little late in posting this, sorry. On November 26, the day before Thanksgiving, I had surgery to repair some torn connective tissue in my ankle. The surgery went well, and I was very thankful for our tradition of going out for Thanksgiving dinner because it meant a very relaxed day for me. Initially, the ankle was wrapped with ace bandages on a pretty intense splint, to allow for swelling, then on Monday Dec. 1, I got a real cast. (I'm wishing for the splint now because the ace bandages made scratching the leg so much easier.)



Top 10 reasons why having a cast on my leg is a pain:

10 - Crutches are a workout the likes of which my body has not endured in 5 1/2 years
9 - I can't carry a glass of water
8 - I've had to take cabs home from work because I can't make it to the metro
7 - I'm not able to help with cleaning the house
6 - Putting away laundry takes three times as long
5 - Getting dog hair all over my butt from going down stairs
4 - Finding clothes that are both warm and fit over the cast is a challenge
3 - Christmas shopping has felt like running a marathon
2 - I can't pick Anastasia up and carry her
1 - Itchy, itchy, scratchy, scratchy

On the positive side, I get to use those motorized scooter grocery carts.

Cast comes off on Monday, and then I'll have a walking boot. I'm told by my doc that I'll need the crutches for support for the first couple of days, but after that I should be more mobile.

Happy Early Thanksgiving!

It's November, and that means it's Thanksgiving time. My friend and co-worker Nathalie, who is also one of Anastasia's favorite babysitters, throws a Thanksgiving dinner for her friends. This year, in order to fit in to Nathalie's super busy schedule, she ended up doing it on Veterans Day.

The dinner is sort of potluck, where each person is assigned a particular dish to bring. My assignment, a vegetable side dish, was actually pretty open ended, which I liked. I decided to do creamed spinach, which is super easy to make, and rich enough in flavor that I felt like it wouldn't get lost on plates laden with turkey, stuffing and gravy. The spinach made, Anastasia and I headed out.

She was very nervous when we arrived because she didn't recognize many faces. It didn't take her long to notice the cheese and crackers, which she at in abundance. She also enjoyed looking at Baby Colin, who was attending his first Thanksgiving. By the time we sat down for dinner, though, she was doing great.



Anastasia really enjoyed the turkey, the cranberry sauce, and the stuffing. Not so much with the mashed potatoes, or the creamed spinach. Well, vegetables were worth a shot.

Before we said goodnight, we managed to get one picture with Abby (Miss Photogenic) and Anastasia (who was happier than she looks):

Falling Leaves

The trees are really dropping their leaves now, so Orlando pulled out the leaf blower to clear the front yard and sidewalks. After a little while of blowing, he had a pretty good pile built up. Anastasia and I decided to take the opportunity for a bit of fun. In seconds, she was up to her knees.



She really thought throwing the leaves was fun.



But, when Orlando laid down and started to bury himself in the leaves, she got a little upset and told him that she didn't like it.



Then we decided that Daddy needed to get back to work, but not before one more toss of the leaves.

Annie's new coat

Daddy bought Anastasia a new winter coat. She was pretty excited to get to try it out. And, this week she learned how to put it on all by herself.



It was a pretty proud accomplishment. Now, if it would only get cold enough for a lime green puffer jacket to be needed.

Happy Halloween!

Anastasia was not terribly excited to get dressed up for Halloween. When we tried on her costume on Monday, she cried and said she didn't want to be a bumblebee. I was a little concerned that we would have a problem on Friday, but as soon as she realized there was candy, I was able to convince her to put on the costume in order to get a piece of candy.



She made a very cute bee, and with her friend Lily as a butterfly, we were well on the way to a super cute bug parade. Lily's baby brother Noah was a caterpillar, and their dog George was a super cute lady bug.



Our little bugs were very happy to be walking out in the neighborhood. We went to about a dozen houses, mostly friends and people we know. The girls were very excited to get started.



Initially, the two girls wanted to go inside, especially when they saw a kitty cat inside one of the first houses.



It didn't take long for them to get the gist of trick or treating. At our neighbor Kathleen's down the street, the girls knocked and her dog Hoover was very excited to meet the trick or treaters.



We went down the block and met up with some more of the neighborhood crew. Anastasia was very patient while all of the other kids got their candy, but she made sure she got hers, too.





After a while, the girls started to run out of steam, so we decided to head back. Anastasia was ready to be carried as we headed back to the house.



She was very good about waiting until we got home before trying to get into the candy. But, as soon as we got home, she was ready to dive in! Grandma Myney opened a sucker for her and she went to town while we continued to serve the neighborhood children their Halloween treats.



As you might have guessed, bedtime was pretty well delayed, but when it finally came to going to bed, she pretty much crashed. Unfortunately for me, it was only a few minutes after she went to bed that my stomach started to react to the virus that would keep me down all weekend.