Technical Difficulties

Yesterday, I had planned on beginning a week of posts focused on happiness. But we experienced some technical difficulties, both computer and family-wise. I have been unable to upload pictures to my blog the last few days. I am not tech savvy and have no idea why. My husband, who is much more tech savvy, also has no idea why.

As for the family, well those little loves of mine sure know how to keep things interesting. Jason, ever the medical adventurer, piggy-backed his knee surgery recovery with a tooth extraction yesterday. His was the sort of extraction that elicits comments from the oral surgeon like, "you're going to make me earn my money today," and "Holy mother!" from the rest of us (or, perhaps, just me) as we investigate the trim job to the corresponding gum tissue, making it appear as if this scant piece of tissue missed the memo about wearing heels on picture day, the shortened gum line made ever more obvious by the two-popcorn-kernel-sized hole above.

Our sweet Nathan, although rather congested, got a clean bill of health at his two-month check-up yesterday, along with a vaccine to each thigh. We spent a good portion of the evening trying to place him in a comfortable position to ease his crying and taking turns with the bulb syringe. He continues to whimper a bit today each time I move him, but rather than cry, the last time I stuck the bulb syringe in his nostril, he smiled at me. Poor kid.

Audrey developed an alter ego yesterday, culminating in an attempted eye roll (she managed to dart the blues of her eyes to the corners of her lids while fluttering her eyelashes) by late afternoon and the discovery of a fever at 3 a.m. The two of us had quite the forcing-down-of -juice party until 5 a.m. when Jason settled her back in bed. By 8:20 she was fine, asking me to play in her playroom and requesting pancakes. (Although, she keeps asking to sit in my lap with my hand to her forehead, because she finds the position "cozy"). As I made the pancakes, she sat at the kitchen table, attaching stickers to a bag she had used to collect Valentines at school and singing "Jesus Loves Me," with an extra verse thrown in about her mama loving her.

As for the lone healthy individual of the household, I am thankful for the sunshine today, and finally feeling awake enough to not squint at the sight of it. Around 10:30, I began slugging around the kitchen making those pancakes Audrey had requested. All seemed to be going well. Audrey was content at the kitchen table with stickers and Nate had finally settled into a comfortable position in his car seat out of harm's way on the counter. The pancakes were coming together, or so I thought. I poured the batter for the "test" pancake onto the skillet. It came out looking like a deflated whoopee cushion. I realized I had never added the baking powder with the other dry ingredients. I had taken it out of the pantry, sat it on the counter, and then in my lack-of-sleep stupor, returned it to the pantry without ever using it. I threw in two teaspoonfuls, stirred, and hoped for the best. The batter looked bubbly as I poured it onto the skillet. What resulted was a batch of, perhaps, the lightest, fluffiest pancakes I've ever made.

Discovering the secret to pillowy pancakes because you're a blundering mess in the kitchen - happiness!