Nip and Tuck

On Thursday, Alina had surgery on her nose. It was a secondary repair of her cleft lip. The cartilage on the cleft side of her nose was collapsed. They went in and tried to pull up and reshape it in an effort to make the nose appear more symmetrical and to open up her airway a little more on that side. I can't tell how successful it was since everything is still covered with packing and bandages. I had a fleeting thought of posting a picture, but quickly reconsidered. Last night she looked at herself in the mirror and said, "Mommy, I can't go to school like this." My daughter is beautiful inside and out, but her poor little nose is not a pretty sight at the moment. Neither is her disposition. She is ticked off that her nose hurts and she has to breath through her mouth all the time...and we are all suffering as a result. Cause if NiNi ain't happy, then nobody's happy. We pretty much have been giving her whatever she wants for the past 48 hours...chocolate pudding for breakfast, movies non-stop, etc. In fact, she has been firmly planted in front of Nick Jr. since 6:00 this morning. I'm sure we'll have to do some major behavior deprogramming once all of this is over.

In other news, I started a new job. I am still working at the nursing home, but am also now doing First Steps (in home therapy for kids 0-3). It is a new adventure since I am out of my element a little bit. Also, as with any government run program, the paperwork is a major headache...and I have to buy my own materials. I haven't acutally MADE any money yet with all the cash I've been shelling out for cool toys. All things considered, it's a pretty sweet gig to play with toys for an hour and get paid for it.

Here are a few funnies from the girls..

Alina: "Ms. Brenda says if we don't be good she's gonna nix the Christmas party...that means she's gonna hansel it" (she had no idea what "nix" or "hansel" means, only that it sounded very ominous)

Chris and I were in the bedroom with the door closed trying to have a romantic moment when we heard a knock on the door.
Meagan: "Mom, I really want to come in there. It's like you're having a party and I'm not invited."

Alina has become obsessed with obeying stoplights. Here was our conversation the other day:
NiNi: "Mommy, why did you go on the red?"
Me: "It was almost yellow."
NiNi: "That's crazy. You have to obey 'cause if you go on the red you will get stuck in the polar bear tunnel"
(Hmmmm...could 'polar bear tunnel' be a euphemism for jail?)

NiNi: "If I play in the play in the playroom, will I get a piece of candy?" (I sometimes bribe my children to either clean the playroom or play quietly in there...now it's coming back to bite me)

Meagan has a severe phobia of shots. In order to avoid serious drama, I usually delay the bad news until right before we head into the doctor's office. The other day I needed to take her to CVS to get a flu shot
Me: "Come on Meagan, we're going to CVS"
Meagan: "Why?"
Me: "We just need to run an errand"
Meagan: "What kind of errand?"
Me: "Just get in the car"
Meagan: "But what for?"
Finally, NiNi could tolerate the nonsense no longer and shouted, "YOU'RE GOING TO GET YOUR FLU SHOT"

NiNi is continually trying to come up with effective yet original ways to insult us when we fall out of favor with her. First it was, "You are mean" or "You are not my friend." Then it evolved to "You're not coming to my birthday party." (To which I would secretly wonder who would actually PLAN the party if I did not attend) Her latest dig is "You are not getting any Christmas presents"