Vocal rest sucks.

This is not a face that endorses laryngitis, kids.

In the past 18 months, I have had: gastroenteritis, strep throat, swimmer's ear, three or four colds, the flu, bronchitis, sinus surgery and now full-blown laryngitis.

Moral of the story? Thank heavens for Tricare.

I really can't speak, and if I try it's very straining and I'm hard to understand. Patrick's just been on AIM since yesterday and that's how I communicate with him. Generally I feel fine - I just can't talk. I'm generally a very chatty person, so this is very hard to deal with.

It started on Friday - I was losing my voice, but I could still talk. I just sounded like a two-pack a day smoker. We went to the Copa with some friends of ours that night, which was a REALLY bad idea because loud clubs + rapidly diminishing voice = no voice the next day. Though I did have a fantastic time, as I always do there.





Yesterday was Hannah's birthday. She turned four, and sometimes I'm amazed at how fast she and Zach are growing up. I started working there about 10 months ago, and Zach couldn't even sit upright on his own. Now he's walking all over the place and babbling up a storm.



Like most kids her age [and some adults, too], Hannah loves High School Musical... and Zac Efron. Who doesn't?

It was an adorable low-key birthday party, complete with bubbles, cupcakes shaped like ice cream cones and kids getting all their energy out running around on playground equipment, some of which was very old-school. It definitely brought me back to my childhood.





Lastly... Abbie and Yoyo love each other... kind of. Abbie just tries to stay as far away from the kitty as possible while still laying in her favorite spot. She's a bit neurotic.