Wayne and Rebecca Madsen

Who knew hand, foot, mouth disease was a real thing? Or that it was "fairly common"? I've never heard of it before...until Friday.

We noticed Paela had a fever Tuesday evening, and she was obviously feeling icky all day Wednesday. A pretty nasty fever of 103, but tylenol helped a little. Thursday the fever was gone and we all breathed a collective sigh of relief that we didn't have to figure out what a doctor visit without insurance would run us. Note to future self: move "figure out what we should do about insurance" a little higher up on the to-do list.  read more »

Just a smattering of photos from December 2008. We'll put photos from Christmas in a different album.

Okay, so maybe this is still fall. But I like to think it is winter so I can tell the truth when I sing along with Larry the cucumber and his silly, silly songs.

This week, I left Wayne and Paela to their own devices and hopped a plane to Boston for a job interview. They survived the two days I was gone, and so did I.  read more »

We prepared during the first half of the week.

Early in the week, I tied up the last loose ends at school, and here's to hoping that next semester will be the last. Even now the weight and pressure of job hunting rests on my mind as painfully as my sinuses. But this is what the holiday break is for.

After packing on Tuesday, we spent most of Wednesday in airplanes. Thankfully, Paela was a little angel during both legs of the trip. She even became friends with the college student sitting next to her for the 5 hour leg, constantly offering him slobber-covered toys and half eaten crackers. While I anticipated a melt-down due to the lack of mobility, Paela was a trooper for the trip even though she was only able to walk around the crowded plane for a bit near the end of the trip due to turbulence during most of the trip.  read more »