He Knows How to Take Care of Business

Burn Victim

Here are some pics of our little burn victim playing

with their new toy- which Gavin absolutely loves!

What a Day

Saturday morning started out like most mornings at the Rosier house. We were all in our bed, the babes were playing, and Wes and I were watching the morning news while eating breakfast. Then, the unthinkable happened. Gavin got up on all fours and lunged at Wes' bowl of hot oatmeal! After he stuck his hand in the oatmeal and quickly pulled it out, he began screaming bloody murder. I scooped him up and ran into the bathroom, where I put his hand under some cold water. He calmed down. I kept it there for 2-3 minutes. Then, I took him back into the bedroom. He started screaming again. Back to the cold water. After a few more minutes, I brought him back into the bedroom again. He SCREAMED! So, I got a cold wet washcloth and wrapped his hand in it. Sniffle, whimper, etc. At this point, his hand was red, but that was it. It looked like it hurt, but we didn't think it warranted a visit to the doctor.

Wes went to work and Gavin continued to whimper and whine for the next hour. I decided to call my mom to see if my sister (the chef who constantly burns herself) was there. My mom said that the last time she burned herself, my sister said to put a tomato on the burn to make it feel better. My mom did and it worked. I didn't have a tomato. So I asked, "Do you think some Preggo would do the trick?" "Sure, why not?" my mom replied. I put some spaghetti sauce in a bowl. Both babes were playing on the floor. I brought the bowl over to Gavin and placed his hand in it. BAD IDEA! He flipped his shit. So again, I ran him over to the sink to wash it off his hand. When I returned to the living room, Viv had put her hands AND FACE in the bowl. I quickly wiped her face and hands off (I didn't think that spaghetti sauce should be her fifth food). She got a lot of it on her clothes too, so those had to be changed. Mind you, Gavin is still screaming the entire time.

Then, a blister appeared. I teeny tiny little blister. So, I called the doctor. Well, it was Saturday, so I had to call the "advice nurse". This was the gist of our conversation:

• Me: "I have a 7 month old who stuck his hand in hot oatmeal. His hand is really red and he's been upset for a long time."
• AN (Advice Nurse): "Are there any blisters?"
• Me: "Well, yes, but it's REALLY small."
• AN: "Like a dime-size small?"
• Me: "Oh no, it's like 1/8th of a dime size small."
• AN: "Okay, just put some Neosporin on it and a band-aid."
• Me: "A band-aid on a 7 month old? Are you serious? He'll just eat it off."
• AN: "Okay, well put the Neosporin on it and then wrap his whole hand up. And, you can give him Tylenol for the pain."
• Me: "Okay, thanks."

I searched the house for some Neosporin with no luck. Then, I searched for the Tylenol because I knew we had some somewhere! Nope. No Tylenol. Damn. Meanwhile, Gavin is still fussing about his hand. I fed both babies, piled them into the car and drove to Walmart. Gavin fell asleep in the car- thank you! At Walmart, I picked up little tiny band-aids, Neosporin, baby Tylenol, gauze, and tape. Oh yeah, I also bought Gav and Viv a new toy- which distracted him from his arm for a while.

When we got in the house, I decided to first give Gav some Tylenol. Poor guy had woken up and was still upset. Then, I made numerous attempts to put Neosporin on his blister and cover it.

• Attempt #1: Neosporin and an Elmo band-aid. Two seconds later, Gavin pulled it off.
• Attempt #2: Neosporin and 2 Elmo band-aids. About one minute later, Gavin sucked them off.
• Attempt #3: Neosporin, 2 band-aids, gauze, and tape down to his wrist. He was intrigued at first. Then I tried to distract him. But about 20 minutes after it was first put on, Gavin was unwrapping all of the gauze and eating the tape.
• Attempt #4: Neosporin, 2 band-aids, gauze, and tape down to the middle of his fore arm. This time, it worked. Probably because I used almost an entire roll of tape. This puppy was not coming off. He tried to suck his thumb, couldn't, and just dealt with it. All was good in the world again.

Then I showed him the new toy. Love at first sight. He scooted up to it and pushed all of the buttons, looked at the lights, smiled, and listened to the music (which, by the way, I have had stuck in my head for two days). Through out the rest of the day, I caught Gavin sucking on his tape-covered stub of a hand. I'm not exactly sure why he wanted to eat it so bad, but he did. That night, when Wes got home, it was time to change the bandage. WOAH! The blister was a lot bigger! And, there were TWO now! One on his first finger and one on his thumb. It was gross. We gave him some Tylenol, let him watch the TV (merely as a distraction tactic), and wrapped it up again. Poor guy. He ate his dinner and fell asleep.

What a day.

She's a Copy Cat

Vivi is a copy cat. We can get Viv to copy us when we talk. We say, "bamboozle" and she says "bamboozle." Sike. Just kidding. In reality, she's a copy cat because she likes to watch us stick our tongues out and then copy us. It's actually incredibly adorable. She does it a lot. She's such a precious little copy cat.

Matching Monkey PJs

Sorry for the terrible photo quality. I took the pics at night, in poor lighting, with my Mac.

christmas tree

On Thanksgiving, we decided to assemble and decorate our Christmas tree. Last December, we decided to have a blue or pink tree in 2009 depending on whether we had a boy or a girl. Well, since we had a boy AND a girl, we decided to have a blue AND pink tree. At first, we hung colored lights on the tree. Then I found some white lights and we switched them out. Here are some pictures of us and the kids putting on the first couple of ornaments.

And here's the tree after the lights were changed and all of the ornaments were added.

We Can't Help Ourselves

(These video clips are all from November 2009)

V

G

I've gotten very little sleep b/c of her...

... and I still think she's the cutest little girl ever.

Last Night...

... was terrible. Vivian woke up at 1 a.m. coughing and coughing and coughing. Then, she was awake. Wide awake. And upset. Very upset. So, Wes gave her a bottle, which we hoped would calm her down. It didn't. She was awake and ready to play. At that point, it was 2 a.m. We put her in the pack-n-play in our bedroom, awake, with the baby-light-display-go-to-sleep-mechanism playing. That thing usually works. It didn't. She just talked and talked and talked. And, if you know how Vivi "talks," you know that she sounds like a loud mouth dying cat. We tried to ignore her. And, we did... for like thirty minutes. Then, she started crying. Seriously crying. She was NOT tired and she was NOT going to be bamboozled by those cute little butterflies and bumble bees with people faces dancing and singing lullabies to her. No way, no how. So, we let her come into our bed with us (please refrain from emailing us about how that is likely the WORST thing to do- we know- but it was 2:45 in the morning and we were exhausted). Then, we snuggled. Still awake. We rocked. Still awake. We sang. Still awake. Finally, at 3:54 a.m. (yes, I was looking at the clock), Vivian dozed off. YES! Sleep at last!

Then, at 5:32 a.m. (again, looking at the clock), Gavin woke up. GREAT! Bottle, burp, sleep, back in the pack-n-play. Sleep. Sleep. Sleep.

About 30 minutes later, I woke up to a tiny little hand slapping me in the face and a tiny little voice cooing. It. Was. Vivian! How could she be awake again? She's Vivian. She's the unpredictable child. I gave her a bottle hoping that she would go back to sleep for a couple of hours. Nope. She was awake. Again. And, she's been awake ever since. It's now 8:45 a.m., Wes is at work, and I'm struggling to keep my eyes open. But, the babes are happy. I guess that's what really matters. Damn babies.

Top Chef: Episode 3

The third episode of Top Chef: Lafayette, which originally aired on November 25, upped the ante. The remaining Chefs were given thirty minutes to conceptualize and execute an orange-themed dish. Initially, the Chefs seemed to be very excited about this elimination challenge, but as the clock began to tick, the Chefs started to worry that they were not being creative enough. They weren't. All but one had chosen sweet potatoes as a base to make the dishes orange. Three-fourths of the Chefs actually ended up producing a sweet potato soup. It was a little ridiculous.

As usual, Judge Vivian tasted the orange concoctions first. She took a bite and then smeared the rest all over the table. The Chefs were terrified. They just looked at each other and at the other two judges. Judge Gavin and Judge Colicchio were intrigued. You never know what Judge Vivian is going to do or say. She's unpredictable. "Amazing!" she yelled, "These are the best dishes I've eaten in the last three weeks!" She finished each plate, while continuing to soil the table with her sweet potato hands.

After watching Judge Vivian's odd behavior, Judge Gavin was ready to try the dishes himself. He immediately ate a rather large spoonful. Silence. Judge Colicchio stared in his direction (Judge Vivian was still playing with- I mean examining- her food). He took another bite and screamed out loud, "Wow! I absolutely adore the mix of sweet potato with sweet potato! It's superb!"

Lastly, Judge Colicchio tasted the orange meals. He agreed with Vivian and Gavin, "These are great!"

The episode ended with only one Top Chef hopeful being eliminated due to her use of pumpkin. What was she thinking?

Below are some extra photos from episode 3:

Top Chef: Episode 2

The competition in episode 2 of Top Chef: Lafayette was fierce. This episode, which originally aired on Nov 21, had the Chefs prepare a fruit dish. For the challenge, each Chef began by pulling a numbered knife from the knife block. Each number corresponded to a different bowl of ingredients, all of which included pears. The Chefs were then asked to make a unique American-cuisine-inspired course that included pears for each judge. Many of the Chefs had a difficult time wrapping their minds around this one. Luckily, all of the Chefs finished preparing and plating their dishes when the buzzer sounded.

Judge Vivian was up first. "Interesting" was the first word out of her mouth. Everyone was very nervous about what she would say next. "Um... I think... I like it." Clapping from the Chefs then ensued. She continued to eat the rest of the Chefs' meals with a smile on her face.

Judge Gavin was second. Oddly, Bravo failed to film Judge Gavin during his judgement. He took his first bite and immediately cheered, "Magnificent!" He continued by saying, "You all are very talented!" Again, the Chefs applauded and smiled at his remarks.

Chef Tom Colicchio surprised everyone with a disgusted look on his face at the first bite. "It's my belief that cooking is a craft. This is a catastrophe."

At the end of the episode, two Chefs were reprimanded for their poor execution of the pear course. Judge Vivian and Judge Gavin ended up agreeing with Judge Colicchio about one of the Chef's dishes and he was eliminated.

the girl effect

go to girleffect.org for more information

Top Chef: Episode 1

Hello and welcome to the Reality Show Recap Hour. Tonight, and every Tuesday night this season, we'll be recapping Top Chef: Lafayette. I know what you're thinking: why is Top Chef in Lafayette of all places? Well, Bravo recently learned that there were two individuals with amazingly sensitive palettes and articulate food-critiquing abilities living in that Midwestern town. These two (I think their names are Gavin & Vivian) were hired as judges to spice up the seventh season.

Since the season has already begun, and we're a little behind, I'll begin tonight's Reality Show Recap Hour by reviewing the first episode and then I'll review one episode a day until we catch up.

The first episode, which aired on Nov 9, required the aspiring Chefs to create a green bean dish. But not just any green bean dish. They had to create a green bean puree with no heating element, only one utensil, and ten minutes. When the bell rang, the Chefs were off; fighting over ingredients and utensils. After ten minutes, they threw their utensils down and looked at their poorly-plated dishes. It just wasn't enough time for any of them. Next, the judges got to taste each dish (which were all surprisingly similar).

Judge Vivian tasted a few of the dishes and was utterly disgusted. Her exact words were, "I've never had to spit something out so quickly! This is appalling!" Her distain for all of the green bean dishes made it look as if this season of Top Chef was doomed to fail.

Then, Judge Gavin tasted each green bean concoction. At first, he was a little weary- mostly because he had just seen Judge Vivian's reaction! But after he savored the first bite for a moment, he was ready for more!

He even reached out towards the other dishes and exclaimed, "Delicious! This is amazing!

I love it all! Do you think you could make me some for later?" Everyone laughed, and then Judge Gavin said, "I'm serious."

This left the end decision to Chef Tom Colicchio. Would he be harsh and spit out his food like Judge Vivian? Or, would he give the greatest compliment to the Chefs by asking for more like Judge Gavin? The suspense was intense. And then, of course, they went to commercial. When the show returned, Chef Colicchio had already tasted the dishes and was ready to give his verdict. "Delicious!" he said. "I love the way you all layered your flavors! Magnificent!"

In the end, Judge Vivian was outnumbered and no one was eliminated. This week.

It seems as though Judge Vivian is going to be the hard-ass this season...

First Fight

The other day, the babes were in the family room playing on the floor while I was doing the dishes in the kitchen. They were playing nice when I left them, but then I started to hear them squeal. I picked up the camera and this is what I found...

Playtime

Happy Thanksgiving...

...from The Rosiers!

He's Still a Fan of the Rattle