I think Greg should post another picture of Allie's new haircut, because he called it severe and it looks awfully drastic in the photo, when it was soaking wet. I took her to get it cut and it is short, but she looks cuter than heck (like that's so difficult--indulge a mother, please).

Her hair is thick, so it's poofed out considerably now that's it's dry. She did pretty well at the salon, considering that the girl who cut it (this was not a woman) was not very careful about combing it out gently. Allie said "ow" a couple of times and then towards the end, she got that "I'm gonna cry any minute" look and sure enough, she did.

Big crocodile tears welled up and spilled over, so the beautician quickly cut her bangs (a little unevenly) and she was done. She made it through her third salon haircut (her nana was a hairstylist and she's cut it quite often).

Greg is trying to convince me that we should cut the back of Julia's hair. The sides aren't very long and the top is OK (although she has a combover), but on the back of her head, she's got a mostly bald spot.

Allie had one too, same place, from laying on her back so much. The problem is that the hair below the bald spot and to the side of it is quite long, giving her a little bit of a mullet.

But she's my mullet-headed baby, and I just finished giving her a bath, so she smells good (like a baby should).

Now if she would just learn to roll in the opposite direction, so she wouldn't keep getting stuck under the furniture, we'd be a happy, happy family.

It's no use. If you read my blog yesterday, you can forget about it. Or try to, anyway.

No matter if you keep your toothbrush on top of the toilet or if you keep it hermetically sealed in your bedroom safe, it's going to have fecal coliform bacteria on it. That's the conclusion of "Mythbusters," in the investigation detailed in my blog last night.

There was no significant difference in the amount of bacteria found on the toothbrushes kept in the bathroom and outside. However, no one got sick from any of the toothbrushes either. The end result is that there's fecal bacteria everywhere--because people are such slobs, of course. Just try not to think about it.

On another subject, did you know that some psychology professors who have studied job interviews state that most interviewers make up their minds about an applicant in the first 3 minutes? Then they spend the next 27 or whatever minutes gathering information to validate that decision.

I've been thinking about that a little lately because I'm interviewing to find a new clerk for our human resources department. People think that because I do HR that I interview all the time, but nothing could be further from the truth. Me and the HR director never do job interviews.

I've done three interviews since last week and I'm so glad I'm almost done. I know that interviews are very stressful for most people, but I just want to get someone to accept a job offer so I can hand over the clerk duties, which I'm doing right now.

Anyone unemployed out there?

Have you ever seen the Discovery Channel show "Mythbusters"? It's hilarious and educational at the same time.

These two guys whose background, I believe, is in science/TV/mechanicals/who-knows-what-else carefully research and attempt to prove or disprove urban legends and stories that we've all probably heard but have never known anyone to experience.

Tonight, they're trying to see if it's possible to waterski behind an eight-person crew boat. They're also trying to find out if it's true that leaving your toothbrush by the sink next to the toilet will result in it being covered with fecal coliform bacteria droplets when the toilet's flushed.

I'm interested especially in the last one--I read that theory in Reader's Digest a long time ago. Great little journal, Reader's Digest. If you read even a few other magazines each year, some of the stories are going to sound really familiar when you see them condensed in Reader's Digest.

My parents have a collection of ancient R.D.s in their basement and the most fun thing is to find one from, say, 1975 and read the predictions that were made regarding the cold war or progress in computer development. They were really off, usually pessimistically (is that a word?), thank goodness.

I need to remember to read one of those oldies the next time I'm at their house.

In the meantime, back to see if I need to buy a new toothbrush and if I'm going to start keeping it next to my bed. Stay tuned for the answer---

This has been one lo-ong week. I did get sick on Thursday, joining my family in vomitus familius. Today, I felt weak but knew I had to go in to work. Then the phone rang--our daycare provider again. Her son had a fever of 103 that wasn't coming down with Tylenol.

Sigh.

Greg took the girls to the daycare center associated with his work. You know, one of those "warehouse your kids" places. And it was fine. Allie had a blast playing with a little girl who had a Princess jacket on (therefore, friend) and Julia was one of only three babies, so she got lots of attention.

We're all going to spend the weekend sleeping to recover from this week. Especially since it's snowing again (we got 5 inches of snow last night).

Our sole trip out will probably be Greg's mission to buy us new toilet seats. He says he's now intimately familiar with what's on the toilets in our house and it's time to buy new ones. What can you do with a used toilet seat (since we'll have three)? I'm taking suggestions.

These last couple of days have sucked. Lots of sick people. On top of everything else in this story, I'm still getting over the cold I got a little while back.

So on Tuesday morning, our daycare provider calls to say she can't take the girls because she's throwing up. Greg and I decide that he'll work in the morning and I'll work in the afternoon and we'll cover it. Julia has come down with a nasty cold, so I spend a bunch of time in the morning suctioning her nose while I manage to get some work done at home.

At noon, Greg comes home for the tag team. Allie has been quiet all morning, just asking for a snack of multi-colored goldfish crackers and eating a slice of American cheese. I head upstairs to change clothes for work and hear a commotion downstairs. Allie has thrown up all over the (white, wouldn't you know) carpeting in the living room and in the hallway and in the bathroom.

Did you know that multi-colored goldfish crackers basically all turn red in the stomach? Gross doesn't even begin to describe it, and Greg got to clean it up because I had to leave. He spent the afternoon doing laundry (her bed got it too) and then Julia started throwing up also. Last evening was your basic miserable experience.

Last night actually wasn't too bad. Both girls last threw up about 7 p.m. Allie slept through the night and Julia woke at 3:30, famished. She ate part of a bottle and went back to sleep.

Our daycare provider had called and said she didn't feel up to taking the girls yet today. So Greg and I decided to tag team it again, this time with me working the morning. The girls were listless and Julia was clingy, but other than that they were pretty much OK. When I walked in to relieve Greg, however, he was throwing up in the bathroom.

He's been throwing up and nauseous all afternoon and evening while I've been trying to gradually re-introduce food for Allie while holding Julia, who's probably having stomach cramps on top of her cold, based on how she's almost inconsolable. And Julia's eaten so little today that I'm afraid for dehydration if she doesn't start eating in the morning.

And the worst part for me, personally, is the anticipation of knowing that my turn is coming. I don't think I have ever not caught something that Allie has had, illness-wise. Every time I eat, I question whether I'm going to be OK looking at that meal again.

The good news is, the girls and our daycare provider should be back together tomorrow. Greg may still be ill and I'll probably be ill, but at least we won't have to handle the two of them also. We'll also be feeling like death warmed over, most likely.

God, those nasty little viruses do like to do us humans in, don't they? Until healthier days---

Allie is four. She had her birthday on Friday and her party on Saturday. Let's just say it was a very pink day, filled with princesses and lace and Barbies.

How did my daughter get to be such a girly-girl? We've bought her trucks and balls and bats and construction materials, but she loves Sleeping Beauty. Why? Because Sleeping Beauty wears a pink dress.

We had a very nice weekend at my parent's. It actually got a little warmer today, so Greg successfully chipped away some of the ice on our driveway when we got home.

I gave Julia a bath tonight, which showed (no surprise) that there are still new challenges to come in bathing her. She kicked so hard and was so determined to chew on the cup that we use for rinsing her hair. . .

Tomorrow, I'm going to try oatmeal baby cereal for her breakfast. I'm assuming that I could blog tomorrow night and indicate that I've given her another bath. Babies that are her age love to decorate their hair with food.

I'd say she'll most likely outgrow it pretty quickly, but more often than not, when I brush Allie's hair after she has had pancakes, there's syrup in her hair!