Looks I have a lot of catching up to do. Let's see if I can do it in one entry.

Sunday was Easter and is was also Rob's birthday. Before we left for my Mom's house we gave Gabriel a purple stuffed bunny as his morning easter present. We packed up and headed to my Mom's place. Rob backed up into a rock on the way out of our garage, but there's only minor damage to the trailor hitch cap. Unfortunately, that's not the only damage that occured to my poor car (but that will come later on). The drive to my Mom's house was fairly uneventful.

Once we got there we unpacked and gave Gabriel his later in the day Easter present of a stuffed baby chick in a diaper. My Mom had a new Elmo chair for him and a huge stuffed lamb as well. I gave my Mom a pair of sneakers that I bought for her (I know she loves the brand and they look so cool, she really seemed to like them) and some new cat food for her kitty (Baby) to try. Rob got cards and cash from my Mom and Nana for his birthday. I gave him my card before we left the house and he already had his presents from me (a new black RAZR phone and much needed socks and underpants). We chilled out around my Mom's place for awhile and then headed out for dinner.

Originally we had wanted to have Rob's birthday dinner at Backstreet, but they were closed for Easter. So, we decided to go with Fried Green Tomatoes, but then found out that they don't have high chairs! So, we decided on Chinese. Dinner was great and Gabriel was a spaz. My Mom, Rob, and I took turns chasing Gabriel around the restaurant. It was pretty empty and my Mom knows the owners so Gabriel pretty much had the run of the restaurant. After dinner we headed back to my Mom's place for the night. My Mom had picked up a birthday cake for Rob and we munched on that while watching some TV.

On Monday, my Mom babysat Gabriel for us and Rob and I got to see a movie! That's a big thing for us these days, the last movie we saw was Final Destination 3 and that was only a few days before Gabriel was born. It's been close to 14 months since we've seen a movie in a theatre. We headed to a new big (and really nice) movie theatre in Dubuque to see a 1pm showing of Grindhouse. Of all the movies to see, we really picked the right one! Both "Planet Terror" and "Death Proof" were great and the fake previews were hilarious. I'm so glad we were able to see this in the theatre! Rob enjoyed it as well and I will definitely get the DVD when it comes out and will probably get the soundtrack as well at some point. LOVED IT.

Unfortunately my mood was dampened when I got out to my car. My mirror was all askew and loose and has the paint taken off of it on the side. Some jerk off obviously hit it and didn't even bother to leave a note. I hope they get a nice case of herpes and then unkillable crotch lice. I positioned the mirror as best I could and we headed to a local Borders. With the damage my car has had on this trip, I told Rob we're taking his next time. *wink*

We went to the kids section in Borders. We bought Gabriel 11 books, a stuffed plushie book called "Squishy Turtle and Friends", and a stuffed duck. Then it was time for dinner.

On the way to dinner I nearly pooped my pants when my mirror (the injured one on the passenger side) moved suddenly and made a loud cracking noise. The one thing that went through my head was "what now". When we got to the restaurant (Chinese again because that place rocks and we have yet to find a Chinese restaurant we LOVE in our area) I checked the mirror out again. To my surprise, it was no longer loose. It was back in place as it should be. My car fixed itself! Sweet! The paint is still off of it, but I don't have to worry about it as much now that it's back in place and not all loose.

Dinner was nice and this was the first time Rob and I were able to have a day to ourselves. It felt so good to be able to see a movie, hit a bookstore, and then have dinner out. But as nice as it was, it was also wonderful to be able to head back to our son. The rest of the night we spent watching TV with my Mom, Nana, and Gabriel.

Tuesday we spent the early part of the day around my Mom's house. We headed out around 3pm because both my Nana and I had doctor's appointments. My Nana needed her monthly B12 shot and I needed my wrist and ear checked out.

First the good news. After the last run of antibiotics my ear looks fine. It looks like I'm having reoccuring ear infections, but it's just bouts of swimmers ear and nothing more serious us going on in there. He told me to take a cotton ball, rip it in half, and put some vaseline over it. That should keep the water in the shower out of my ear. I'll be dropping by a drug store tomorrow (weather permitting) to pick those supplies up. So while the reoccuring ear infections blow, it's just swimmers ear that keeps coming back. Nice to know it's not anything more serious.

And now the bad news. That lump on my wrist has gotten bigger. It's now double the size it was only a few weeks ago. It's a Ganglion Cyst and it's a bad one. The doctor wants me to get in with an orthopedic surgeon soon and have it looked at. It's base is wrapped around my tendons (which is why I have the limited mobility, loss, of strength, and pain) and it's gotten big enough that it's pushing on one of my arteries which is not a good thing. He thinks it's going to need surgery and is not sure if it should wait until after the Wisconsin Bar. I'm so fucked on that. I have to hand write it. Either with a huge painful cyst or after having major surgery. Either prospect has me near in tears because I have to pass this one on the first go. Not just because it will allow me to get an attorney job out here, but also because you don't have unlimited takes out here. Three times and then you're done. For good. He told me the surgery is considered major because of the attachment to tendons and the close proximity to arteries, that there's a chance of something going wrong because of this, and that the orthopedic surgeon would be able to explain everything to me. *sigh* I do not need this right now. Not around bar time. Not during bar review or the bar, especially when I can't type the damn thing. I'm going to try and get in with the orthopedic surgeon Rob saw for his shoulder.

After the doctor appointments we headed to dinner at The Log Cabin. Gabriel was super fussy and wanted none of his dinner. Eventually he fell asleep in my Mom's arms (she is now officially Grandma Pillow). He was probably tired out because he spent the entire time I was with the doctor running around the lobby with Rob and finding out what fun automatic doors are. *sigh* After dinner we headed back to my Mom's place.

This morning the weather was bad. Both my Mom's place and our place had strong winter storm adviseries. It was snowing like a bitch and kept changing to rain and ice and then back to snow. Not great weather to do what normally is a three house drive in, but at least we had my car (the SUV) with us and that's four wheel drive.

The drive itself wasn't too bad. The weather sucked, but the roads were plowed. The main problem was that Gabriel kept taking his binky out, trying to molar teeth on his fingers, gagging himself, and throwing up. My car now reeks like baby vomit. He managed to do this TWICE and attempted many other times but was stopped. Has anyone else ever had their kid do this? How the hell do you get them to not do it? He does it all the time and normally we can stop him, but when he's back in his car seat we can't get to him before he makes himself puke. Any advice from other parents who have dealt with this would be very much appreciated.

We stopped at Blackhawk Meats on the way home and got some brats to make for dinner. When we got home we noticed there was a ton of snow in our area and our driveway was not plowed. Hooray for the SUV. We drove over about six inches of snow just fine, but it felt like driving off of a curb when we entered our gargage. It's April and snowing. What the hell? Not that I'm complaining because I LOVE the cold weather, but it's just weird. There was also a very soggy package on our front porch. The package was soaked, but luckily everything inside of it (an Easter basket for Gabriel from Grandma Linda and Grandpa Charlie) was just fine.

Once we unpacked, got settled in, started the laundry, and cleaned the cat puke off of the couch, Rob made the brats for dinner and we watched America's Next Top Model and the Idol results show. Maybe the Nosferatu looking penis headed man will be voted off next week. One can only hope.

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You scored as Fred. Fred is a confident kind of guy. He always thinks of good plans to trap the so-called ghosts. Of course, Shaggy and Scooby NEVER help unless he gives them Scooby Snacks galore(Velma does most of it.)! Fred 83% Scooby-Doo 58% Shaggy 42% Velma 33% Daphne 25% What Scooby-Doo Character are you? created with QuizFarm.com