i don't know if i'm just at peace, but there's not a lot of blog posting going on in my brain lately.
we did wake up Christmas morning.

it was terrific.
mary tessa's bowels gifted her with a diarrhea-free day (bookended by 10 days of "not so much").

i started on a "i'm not going to eat sugar until my birthday" kick, giving a nod to my high-school days when i'd go off sugar or chocolate with my best friend mel. it's just fun to think "I haven't had sugar for 13 days" just like those safety signs in factories. funny thing is, when i talked to mel a few days later she said she'd been looking for someone for a few months to do it. karma, mel.
not caramel.
speaking of forbidden sweet things, i stopped nursing tess cold-turkey on saturday. the first day was somewhat okay, considering she was used to nursing about 4 times/day and to sleep. she slept but then woke up early. both of us were sobbing away at 5am sunday morning while mark and i told her that "mom's medicine makes it yucky." because soon it likely will. tomorrow i go to my bi-annual
cancer checkup and will probably have my radioactive iodine treatment soon.
and nobody likes radioactive milk.
but i'm not opposed to serving bluebell ice cream for breakfast.
thanks to a few well-read friends of friends who posted their favorite books of 2009 i have a great reading list going, including
Escape by Carolyn Jessop,
The Red Tent by Anita Diamant, and
Mountains Beyond Mountains by Tracy Kidder.

allianna and i have been waging the Battle of the Pants. she abhors the things. and will spend hours daily raging against them, writhing on the floor. she also cannot tolerate a coat. or a jacket. or a sweater, no matter how feminine. the only desire of her heart is dresses. she was born in the wrong century. she would refuse to even allow a coat or--shudder--socks/closed-toe shoes in the car when we went places. i've taken to making her carry her coat in her arms when we're in public, so that 1. people don't judge me a bad parent 2. strangers can see how sassy she is when they tell her she should put on her coat. because it has been getting
below freezing (gasp!) here. though i can't prove it thermometrically, i'm beginning to believe she's just hotter than the rest of us. so today she played outside in short-sleeves and something knee-length while the weather was low 50s and i'm just going to leave it to her to come in if she's cold. if i can't steer the ship i'm just going to get out of the way.
and go read one of my good books.
on her most bundled-up day in months
and those are the things bipping around in my head.