crucible of ennui

My niece Jenna died this weekend. She was 7 years old, brilliant, stunningly beautiful and one of the reasons I wanted to have my own children.

We’re still waiting to find out what happened. They were on the way to the emergency room when she collapsed and stopped breathing. The paramedics couldn’t do anything even though they worked on her until her lungs started to bleed.

I cannot even begin to explain how horrible and devastating her death has affected my sister.

I took it for granted that Jenna would always be there. I took my sister for granted, lied and wasn’t there for her when she needed me most.

I wish I had one more time to tell her how much I loved her and how much I will miss her.

I decided against posting all the nasty details of Catherine’s last cold. And it was nasty. At one point she had a sinus infection, chest cold, sore throat, fever AND an ear infection. The amount of snot this child can produce is mind blowing. It got to the point where if she even saw the booger-sucking thingy in the room she would try to turn over AND CLAW TO GET AWAY. But she’s fine now.

At the end of her cold, she started up the drooling again. And tooth #2 came in. And she loves to bite. She bit the daycare worker, me, her father, Conner - the poor defenseless little boy at daycare two months younger than her *giggle*, the end of the cat’s tail and whoever else is foolish enough to place a finger near that treacherous maw.

Man oh man. I loves me my vicious baby.

Glenn got the job!!!

Uh huh uh huh… do a little dance… fly a little on Southwest… get down tonight…

These are the photos from our early Christmas. And some shots G. took yesterday of her.

Not much else going on. Still waiting for any news about work. We’ll just have to wait until after the first of the year I think. Same for G. on his interview too!

Catherine got her first tooth. If you hold her head just so and pry her mouth open you can see it, although she’s usually pissed off at this point.

She’ll stand in your lap, with her hands on either side of your face… you know, like she’s playing with your ears, nose, mouth, whatever. And she’ll look at you all cute and innocent… then WHAM! She grabs your ears/hair/cheeks, pulls your toward her gaping little mouth and goes after your nose. She will chomp you. Bad. So bad that tears will come to your eyes. Blood drawing kinda bad.

Defenseless my ass.

We decided to move up our Christmas this year to Sunday the 19th. So technically I have only 3 days to get ready for Christmas. And I really haven’t finished my shopping. I tried. I really did. Every time I went out this last weekend to shop, I couldn’t find anything. I just may be in a mood. I have Friday off, so I’ll have to break out the serious shopping then. I decided that the theme to dinner this year is…. Appetizers!!! Yes, we’re having an appetizer Christmas. No need to really do a formal sit down shin-dig, just little yummy munchie things, very casual.

It really doesn’t feel like Christmas yet, even with all the vacation time I’ve been taking. Obviously I NEED to have a tree in my house before I can really feel like it’s Christmas.

And I’m waiting for one of my best friends to get off his ass and get his LiveJournal up and running again so I can continue my voyeuristic predilections.

Every half hour or so I think of Glenn and project good/happy thoughts to Dallas where he’s interviewing at Southwest Airlines.

Go Glenn Go! Yay Yay Yay!!!

This weekend my life simutaneously got easier and more difficult.

Catherine can now hold her bottle on her own. She recognizes that if she can slam that bottle nipple into her gaping mouth - mmmm…. food. She will sit in her bouncer/high chair, as long as she’s in a bit of a recline and suck contentedly while I can now attempt to pick up the house, load the dishwasher, do some laundry, etc.

Catherine can also snake her hand out and grab onto things that can easily be knocked over. Vases, tablecloths (that was lovely since everything on the tablecloth fell over as well), the cat’s tail, weird things that shouldn’t go in her mouth.

It’s only a matter of time - I give it two months tops - that I’ll have to baby-proof the house. Can’t have her drool into an open outlet or go exploring in the kitty litter (mmm… Satan’s Almond Roca).

I have to beg Santa to bring one of those neglect-o-circles of activity to hopefully keep her entertained. I’ve been good this year. Promise. And if that doesn’t work, I can kick in a lapdance.

Every morning when I hear Cat start to wake up, I love to poke my head around the corner into her room and wait until she sees me. Then she breaks into a HUGE smile which starts in her eyes and ends in my heart.

She is absolutely the most wonderful person I’ve ever met.

Ugh. We’re both still sick. Catherine’s feeling better, but I still pulled a load of junk from her nose this morning. But we’re going to make a cameo appearance at Sophia’s 1st birthday party. Heck. We have to show off the wonderful new outfit Nona got her. Mmm… Rosebuds, strawberries and butterflies. I may even be able to pull off a hat.