This Week in Treecingham

It has been quite a week for the Treeces! Here's what we've been up to:

• We're dog-sitting for my parents while they are in Alaska, so their 90 pound dog has become Charissa's new best friend. Shepard and Charissa play on the floor together and try to share toys, but they are thwarted by parents who think doggy slobber isn't good for little girls. Fortunately, Shepard is a very gentle and mild mannered dog, so he doesn't mind if Charissa tries to steal his toys, pulls his fur, rolls into him, or squeals loudly and often. By the way, for all you dog owners - I have two products to recommend for you: the Dyson vacuum cleaner, and the FURminator. One gets the dog hair up off your floors amazingly, and the other takes more hair off your dog than you thought was possible. If you have a dog with hair, the FURminator is a must.
• Charissa had her 6 month check up on Tuesday! YAY! She received a clean bill of health and they told us that she is cognitively and emotionally developing right on track. Her height is doing well - staying in that 37th percentile! - but her weight has dropped from the 60th percentile to the 30th. The doctor isn't concerned about her, but he said we should probably up her solid feedings to two a day. Which brings me to ...
• YUMMY SOLID FOODS! Charissa has decided that she likes solid food! Peaches were a huge hit with her, and we finally figured out how to get her to eat her rice cereal - add some banana. :) So she is now a happy little eater.
  
• On Tuesday, Charissa and I had our first mother-daughter incident where I was truly frightened for her. After I feed Charissa for the last time that night I was holding her in my lap and playing with her, when she vomited all over me. I had barely recognized what she had done, before she did it again. So there I was home alone, with vomit all over Charissa, myself, the couch, and the floor and I didn't know what to think or do. So I did what every woman does - I called my mom. Of course, it helps that my mom was a pediatric nurse for 11 years. But it didn't help that she's in Alaska and it took me about 10 minutes to connect with her. I've never been concerned for Charissa before like this, so I was almost hysterical. And Charissa was perfectly calm. I finally calmed down after it became apparent that she was just reacting to the two shots she had received early that day. So we both had a bath, got cleaned up, and then we cuddled because I didn't want to let her go.
• A friend of ours is going to stay with us for a little while before she gets married in September. In preparation for her arrival, Britt and I tried to rearrange a few things and make some room for her. While doing that, I got really frustrated and said, "We have too much stuff! I just want to get rid of it all!" This comment sparked a contest between me and Britt to see who could get rid of the most stuff. So both of us went through all of our drawers, our closets, the kitchen, and any place containing stuff and threw out a ton of stuff. And since both of us are highly competitive, we were constantly comparing piles, and saying to each other, "I claim it!" when we saw something to get rid of it. It was a really fun way to clean out our house. I highly recommend it.

I think that's all going on with us this week. Tune in again next week to hear more updates from Treecingham!