Author: Emily

Photo by Kaibara on Flickr

Friday afternoon, my phone rang as Jenny, Cortney and I were lounging in our room at the Opryland. It was Andy.

“Oh no,” I said. “Oh no. Oh no!”

As I hung up, I reported to them, “Kate is throwing up.”

“Oh no!” Cortney and Jenny said in unison.

My poor baby girl had apparently picked up the stomach bug that was, based on the reports of other parents on Facebook, going around her school. Great.

An hour or so later, we were sitting in a session about blogging rock stars, and I was pretty pumped, so I tweeted this:
Getting ready to see my google reader in real life with @velveteenmind @bostonmamas @debontherocks and @mttsm #blissdom

In the middle of the session, Andy called. Of course we were sitting WAY in the front, but I left the room as quietly and quickly as I could.

“Sammy’s puking his brains out,” Andy reported.

And then I tweeted this.
Both my kids are at home throwing up and I suddenly feel very stuck in nashville #blissdom

I immediately started pulling up the schedule for Greyhound and the website for Enterprise Rent-a-Car. I really, really wanted to get home and take care of my babies.

Late in the evening, Andy called to tell me that they had stopped getting sick, and that I should just stay put in Nashville. I was truthfully glad not to board the Greyhound in a strange city in the middle of the night and in the middle of a snow storm, but the news of their sickness took a lot of the excitement out of the weekend for me.

I woke up Saturday morning with a sore throat, and by noon I was feeling pretty lousy. I spent most of the day in our room watching Toddlers and Tiaras (have you seen that? o.m.g.!!!!) I got up (at Jenny’s urging. Or perhaps, insistence) and got dressed for dinner, and while I was sitting in a room with some of my very favorite people in the entire world, I wanted nothing more than to go upstairs and put on my pajamas. And watch more Toddlers and Tiaras. So I did.

I called Andy to check on the kids, and they were tired and worn out, but there was no more puking.

That is, of course, until Andy started puking.

So by the time I got home on Sunday, our house (though remarkably clean despite the weekend they’d had and with all the laundry done) pretty much needed a big black X on the door to ward off potential visitors. Actually we should have done that, because my grandma came to check on the kids and, bazinga, a day later she had the dreaded disease as well.

The kids and Andy, fortunately, were on the mend, but for me, the worst was yet to come. It turns out I had strep throat, which I hadn’t had since I got my tonsils out circa 1989. Apparently it’s one of those diseases that sucks when you’re a kid but very nearly kills you when you’re an adult. Or at least that’s what it feels like. I really can’t remember ever being that sick, it was awful. It felt like I was swallowing shards of glass. During the night on Monday, I told Andy it hurt worse than being in labor with Sam, and that was not an exaggeration. I would have done pretty much anything for an epidural that night!

We all lived to tell about the weekend from hell and things are nearly back to normal, despite the fact that in the midst of all this mess, Sam’s beloved teddy bear went missing. But that’s a story for another day!

Hi, this is Emily, coming to you live from Blissdom at the Opryland Hotel. Jenny, our friends and I are having a great time! It’s so nice to be in the company of other nerds bloggers. Anyway, today’s post was written by my sister, Anna, who is expecting her first baby. She is, of course, looking for advice, so I suggested she do what Jenny and I always do when we have a question, and turn to our brilliant readers. So take a look, and let Anna know what baby items she will just have to have and what will likely end up at the bottom of the closet.

It took my husband and me awhile to decide to start a family. Many of our friends have children and it seems they are much more willing to share battle stories with us than stories about the wonders of being a parent. It wasn’t all that long ago that our friend described her evenings taking care of the children, including things like homework and baths and putting the kids to bed. Notably missing from her description were the things that we typically do in the evenings: veg on the couch and watch TV, eat in the living room, spend a considerable amount of time on Facebook, go somewhere at the spur of the moment and, my favorite, nap. Here was our conversation after we got home:
Hubby: “You know when Mandy was talking about their normal evening ? It sounded horrible.”
Me: “I know. Shudder. Why do people even have kids?”

Fast forward a few months and we decided to that we too wanted a little life-sucker… I mean blessing of our own. In the words of Liz Lemon from 30 Rock “Is it so wrong that I just want to one of these to grow up and resent me?”

It’s been a few months since we found out we were excepting. (I bought the pregnancy test with CVS ECBs, Woot-woot). As we check the weeks off the calendar, our baby becomes more and more real. Our excitement grows along with my belly. And so do the questions. I’ve started to do the very first thing that comes to me when facing uncertainty: research. I’m pretty sure that researching is a genetic trait that runs in our inbred family. Before making a decision, I simply must gather as much information as humanly possible.

Which leads me to my question for you: What is a definite must on our registry and what should we leave off? With so many options and verities of baby stuff, I have no idea what I should get for the baby and what we should do without. Was there anything that you found collecting dust and just taking up space? What were the things that you really needed for your baby, the things that you couldn’t live without?

Yesterday Jenny and I spent the afternoon getting ready for Blissdom in the best possible way – being pampered at Michael’s Salon and Day Spa! It was wooooonnnderful.

Michael’s Salon has been a favored salon in the Dayton area for more than 35 years (I remember my mom and grandma going there when I was a little kid), and in 2002 they combined all their locations into one “super salon” in the Cross Pointe Center in Centerville. There’s a spa side and a salon side, and both are huge. The salon side is very elegant, calm and quiet – the perfect place to relax. The salon side is a little more upbeat and fun – nearly 40 hair designers work their magic there. It is a top-notch facility, and was selected in the Top 10 Salons in America by Salon City magazine, which was based on media artistry, popularity with clients, community and peers, and involvement with the Salon City media network. I was really impressed with the entire place.

After being welcomed by a few of the many helpful Michael’s staff members, Jenny and I went our separate ways – she headed off for a massage and I got ready to have a facial.

I chose to get a facial because, well, unlike Jenny, I don’t have an extensive skin care routine. My standard regimen includes washing my face in the morning and going to bed with my make up on at night. So, I figured my skin could use a little polishing up! The aesthetician started by removing my make up, and then went through a bunch of different steps to purify my skin. After a while, she put a mask on my face, and it reminded me of those peel-off masks I used to put on in high school (remember those?) except it didn’t feel like saran wrap was applied to my face with a hair dryer. And no peeling was involved. Anyway, she put the mask on, covered it with a hot towel, put eye pad things over my eyes, turned the lights out and left. Then it was just me, in a dark room with soft music playing. It was lovely.

I’ll let Jenny tell you a little about her massage!

Next, we were whisked off to the salon side for a shampoo and style. I love to get my hair washed by a professional (is that weird?) so I really enjoyed this part! My designer managed to make me look like I have twice the hair I really do, and Jenny’s made her hair look super sleek!

As you saw above, Jenny was getting a pedicure as she fondly remembered her massage. Jenny and I got the Chocolate Cherry Pedicure, and it was amazing. I think the pedicure was my favorite part of the day. It was so fun to sit in a heated massage chair, read People magazine and chat with Jenny! We are nearly in constant contact with each other most days, but we very rarely actually talk to each other in person, and especially without our kids running around! It was great, and the perfect activity for an afternoon out with the girls! Did I mention the pedicure itself was amazing too? There were like a bajillion steps – soaking and scrubbing and lotioning and all kinds of fun stuff. It was sooooo nice. Last night I couldn’t believe how soft the bottoms of my feet were! They look pretty, too. I got a fun purple shade on my toes, and Jenny picked a brighter pink… we’ll be happy to show them off this weekend at Blissdom!

After our toes were done, they moved onto our fingernails, and we each got very nice manicures. Again, it was really nice to sit and talk to Jenny, as well as the nail specialists, about kids and celebrity gossip and random stuff. The staff members were all amazing – I was continually impressed with the attention to detail that each of them showed. Someone was always filling up our water glasses, asking us if we needed anything… the service was fantastic. During the manicure I was thinking about how everyone had really taken their time with us – they made sure they did everything right, and no one was in a hurry. Very impressive.

When our nails were all buffed and polished, we headed back to the salon side for the final stop of the day – the make up chair. The one thing I’ve always regretted about my wedding is that I didn’t have my make up professionally done, I did it myself (this was before Jenny fancied herself a professional make up applier). After seeing the magic worked on my face yesterday, I regret it even more! Michael’s Salon uses Jane Iredale make up, which is made of natural ingredients, and many of the products don’t have any chemicals. Also? The mascara comes in a tube like toothpaste, so you can squeeze out every last drop. Brilliant! The make up artist was very nice, like everyone we encountered yesterday, and explained everything she was doing as she went along. Turns out I’ve been putting eyeliner on the opposite of the way I should. Good to know.

So what do you think of the finished product?

We had an amazing time yesterday. It was the perfect way to transition from a busy week at the office to vacation time! I highly recommend Michael’s Salon to all of our readers. And speaking of our readers, Michael’s has a special coupon just for you!

Another reason we love Michael’s (and the way we originally found them) is that they’re all over the social media thing. You can follow them on Twitter (@michaelssalon), become a fan on Facebook (facebook.com/michaelssalon), and watch their videos on YouTube (youtube.com/user/michaelssalon). Also, you can find everything you need to know about their spa and salon services on their webpage, MichaelsSalon.com.

A huge thank you to Michael’s Salon from Jenny and me for sending us off to Blissdom in style. We had a fantastic time.

And speaking of Blissdom, I have to leave to meet Jenny and Cortney in exactly 26 minutes, and so I have to hit the shower!!