what a difference a month makes.....

so i was just rereading my last post - and was first horrified it's been over a month since i last related any casey anecdotes, and secondly giggling about how bad casey's sleeping was going last month......giggling because i think pretty much after that last post (the night we re-instituted farber) she's been fine......like absolutely totally fine........back to two very regular two hour naps and bedtime at 8:30......i guess there were a couple weeks where she'd "play" in her crib from 8:30 until 9ish, but not like what was going on around last posting......

in fact, we just got back from a mini-cape vacation down at the cape house for memorial day weekend......steve and i were both very apprehensive about how casey would sleep down there - usually any break in routine - in this case her sleeping in the pack and play - creates havoc that lasts longer than just the trip........but she did fantastic.......aside from about an hour the first night when she woke up around 10 disoriented and kinda freaked out, she was a sleeping angel - for naps and bedtime.......it really made the weekend very stress-free and relaxing......it's great to have a happy kid on a trip........

the only down side of our trip was that merlin got sick......he started not eating and got sick a couple times.......we brought him to angell mspca hospital yesterday morning and he had to stay overnight.......they ruled out pretty much all the serious stuff.......and have narrowed it down to a bacterial infection.......so they gave him some antibiotics and tube fed him and he was doing good yesterday afternoon.......waiting to hear from them this morning to see if he can come home today.......we really missed him last night.......casey kept looking at merlin's cage and saying bird (well, her version of bird anyway which sounds more like "ber") and she was looking for him at bedtime to say goodnight to........she usually blows him a kiss before bed.......it was sad.......but hopefully he'll be home today and back to normal.......i'm so grateful we have such a great animal hospital so close to us.......it's nuts to think that they have doctors so specialized that they just focus on birds.......they administer antibiotics, anesthesia (which luckily so far merlin hasn't needed), do bloodwork, and take xrays all of these tiny little guys.......it's amazing.......

other news since last posting.......casey's first BFF, caroline, and her mom/my friend, maddy, moved to wisconsin.......it was very sad to see them go, but we tried not to tell them that because we knew they were happy about their new journey and didn't want them feeling bad about it.......judging by a facebook picture yesterday, it looks like they made it safely to their new home state.......it's funny that they'll now be living super close to anna and eliza who we were sad moved there about a year ago........i'm glad they'll be reunited!.......and i hope someday all our paths cross again!........it'd be great to have casey and caroline and eliza meet up when they're older - of course they won't remember each other, but we will!!.......

playgroup has ended for the summer which is also a little bummy......casey really enjoyed playing with the other kids and playing on the slide they had there.......of course we did get her a slide for our backyard since she clearly was loving it so much........and it was free!!........this great email group called freecycle is a place where people post things they have to offer or things they need.......so we got this fantastic slide from a woman named amy whose yard was too steep for her kids to use it.......casey loves it........we hope playgroup starts up again in september - right now it's subject to the pending funding........it's such a great thing to have a free place to go where casey can play with other kids.......

let's see what else.......well casey's turned into a very not good eater.......it's not so much about the food as it is about her mood.......she really hates sitting down at the table to eat.......whether it's reading a book or playing with my cell phone, she really needs to be distracted to eat these days.......it's hard to make sure she's not just eating crap like goldfish or pretzel sticks (her current favorites)........although she'd drink ANYTHING we put in a sippy cup........she's nuts about liquids........at least we know she's getting her calories somehow, although she seems a little skinny to me the last few days........so we're trying to get creative and hopefully this finicky stage will pass........

well i guess that's about it for now.......hopefully i won't wait another month to post again!......