Santa is coming...

Kelly tells me this morning that Santa is coming. That Christmas is only 2 days away. I was surprised that she knew this. I thought maybe she figured it out last night. Jason and I started wrapping the gifts last night, not Kelly and Evan's of course. So maybe she put 2 and 2 together. I found out where she found out. She and I got to work this morning and she tells one of the guys " Christmas is in 2 days." He says" yes it is". I said "How'd you know that". She says "Daddy told me". Of course, I should have known. He must've told her this morning before he left work. Silly me. She's only 5, she wouldn't know the exact timing. So 2 days and counting.

Busy, Crazy Life

I never write much about my husband, Jason. But this post is for him or better said, about him. With all the chaos I've had to deal with in November and December so far this is the icing. Both kids have gotten sick with this or that and each of them have had to stay home a few times. So daddy gets an infection on his hand. Honestly I don't know when it showed up because he never mentioned it to me until it started bothering him. So last week on Wednesday he's running his hand in the hottest water to "numb" it. Ok. It didn't so much good. On Thursday it's still bothering him and he has attempted to pop it Eww. Friday morning he texts me and says that he has an appointment with the doctor. He's worried now because there are reds streaks down his finger coming from the spot. OK good. Does he go? Nope. He cancels the appointment and says he got it to drain. I really don't think much more about it after Friday afternoon because Kelly came home with a high fever and was ill all weekend. Sunday morning at 3:30 am Jason wakes me up and tells me that he's going to the Emergency room. What? I could not go with him because who would I call at time of the night to watch the kids. So at the hospital they xrayed him, pumped him full of antibiotics by IV, did bloodwork and cut open this wound. We find out it's an abscess. Something that he should have gone to our family doctor for a LOONG time ago. MEN.

So now this has been a busy week for me. He cannot bathe the kids, wash dishes or do alot of other things. I am now like the mommy and the daddy when it comes to duties around the house.
So yesterday 12/17/08 he had his first checkup on his hand. ( I say first because now he has to go next week on Christmas Eve for a second one) They cut some dead skin off of it, inserted some collagen in the area and rewrapped it. They told him to not remove the bandage and come back in a week. Just ducky! Now I have another week of double duty. He did however step in last night and wash the dishes-ONE HANDED. Kudos for my sweetie! I can't wait to see how he handles tonight. I have to leave the house for a few hours ( during bath and dinner time) and he's going to be busy. I'll keep you posted on the hand.

It's a BOY! It's a GIRL!

I am surrounded by babies. Let's see. In 2008 I have had 8 friends (some family) have a baby and 3 more found out that they're expecting in 2009! My sister in law Lisa had Gavin, Crystal had Cheyenne, Kim had Quinnton, Abby had Laila, Carissa had Morgan, Crystal had Autumn, Sabrina had Ashlyn and Kelly had Olivia. Holy moly! Only 2 boys. And for 2009, Jessie is expecting a Boy, his name has yet to be determined, Christy my sister in law is expecting a Boy and he will be named Tyler and Melissa is expecting s Girl and her name is not yet determined since they just found out yesterday that is was indeed a girl. Congratulations to the mommies and mommies to be!

Christmas Photos

So I took my own photos of the kids this year. Kelly has always been a great photo subject. She has been posing since she was 18 months old. Evan however, could care less. So this is what I got.

Holidays

I have got a busy weekend ahead with holiday festivities. Today is the Christmas parade for Orange City. As I write this Jason is watching it with the kids. This is will be Kelly and Evan's second year of watching the parade.
Later this afternoon Kelly will be going to a friend's, a girl from church, birthday party. Then at 6:30 we're going to the Christmas dinner at our church. It's our tradition to attend this event with our church. We've been going since Kelly was only 4 months old. Santa makes his appearance at the end of dinner. He brings a gift for each child that attends. I'm so excited. Hopefully Evan doesn't get scared of Santa.
Sunday we have church in the morning and then I'm going to try and take pictures of the kids for our Christmas cards. I usually go to the portrait studio but times are tough. They take the best pictures but I spend too much when I go. I bought my own backdrop and props and it cost me less so far. We'll see how it goes.

Unfriendly

If you read my blog called "Laughter" you'll remember my new route for driving the kids to school. Kelly loves the "bumpy road" as she calls it, Evan really doesn't care much about it anymore. It saves me time in the morning so I continue to go that way. But it really bothers me how the people that live off that road act when I drive by them. There is this one woman who walks her black lab down that road, I've seen her 4 times now. The first time I drove by her, I smiled. You would think she would have smiled back, but NO. She scowled at me. Whatever. She has given me scowls everytime I've passed her as she has had to move into the grass as I drive by.
Today I passed another person walking his 2 dogs. I smiled at him as I went by. Did he smile back? Heck no! What is it with these people? Do they think they own that road? That I can't use that PUBLIC road?? Do they think that by being rude to me will stop me from using my shortcut? Heck no.
Why must be people be so mean? Oh well.

Holiday Blues

I really hate it when my kids get sick. I feel so bad for them and wish that it would quickly run it's course. Not this time. Poor Evan has been dealing with the effects of his cold that started weeks ago. It started out with a runny nose then progressed into a cough with the snotty nose that doesn't stop running. I tried home remedies before finally taking him to the doctor. They diagnosed him with an ear infection in one, possible in the other and an Upper Respiratory infection in the chest. The doctor prescribed him Augmentin which he's taking 2 times a day. So last week I noticed that his lips had some white skin peeling on them. I wasn't too worried about it. Evan WAS still using a pacifier and I figured he'd been sucking it too much. But it all changed Sunday night. I got him out of the bath and noticed that his lips had these red bumps all over them and down inside the mouth. The white skin that I had seen earlier in the week was now inside the lips. I called the doctor's office that night and left a message for the on call doctor. In the meantime I checked the internet for possible causes. I found out that using the antibiotic Augmentin can cause Thrush. Once I talked to the doctor and decsribed what it looked like, he thought without seeing Evan, that it was possibly Thrush. He recommended that I bring him in the morning to the office to have him checked out. So Monday morning I was at the doctor's office where the bad news was confirmed. Evan has a case of Thrush. Possibly caused by the Augmentin he's taking for his ear infections. Unfortunately he still has to finish that medicine as well as now take another antibiotic for the Thrush. Even worse, Thrush is contagious if Evan were to swap pacifiers with another child. So I kept him home for 3 days from daycare per their request. So as of last night, Evan no longer has his paci and is still taking antibiotics. Hopefully everything clears up soon. Poor guy.

Holiday Santa Shop

Last week Kelly's school sent home a money envelope and a letter explaining that the school's PTA was holding a holiday Santa shop for the students. It was there for them to go shopping for their parents, siblings, grandparents and/or pets. I sent her yesterday with a $15.00 check in the envelope. The letter didn't explain how to designate how much and who she should be buying for. It listed mother, father, brother etc.. on the front and amount, but without seeing what they had to offer I couldn't pick for her to spend how much for each of us. I figured that they would have an adult or teacher help each child in deciding what to get. Or at least question if they're buying for their mommy or daddy?

So yesterday afternoon she was so excited to pull out her bag of goodies. She pulls out one dog bone ( we have 2 dogs) , 2 cat toys, a wiggly bird feather pen, a clip-on dolly, a 3" stuffed leopard, some lip gloss, a coin purse, and one of those slimy slingy things that you can get out of a quarter machine. She tells me, " look what I got mom". I tried to question her what she bought for mommy and daddy. Of course this upsets her and she drops to the floor and starts to cry.

This is not her fault. Why would they let a 5 year old pick out some junk?? So last night we made the best of it and picked who would get what for Christmas and rethinking how this will go next year. But I wasn't satisfied with that. So this morning, I questioned her teacher on who helps the kids pick out their "gifts". She said that the PTA is in there to help the students pick out stuff. OKAY, sure. I told her that Kelly came home with a bunch of "junk" for herself. She told me to go check it out for myself and I did.

Well. These items are like what you might find at Dollar Tree or online at Oriental Trading company. Not your best choices for gifts. Now there were some decent items like a #1 Grandma or #1 Grandpa pen. and #1 Dad coffee mug.

So I spoke with the ladies there this morning and told them of my dilemma. They were very understanding and I exchanged just a few of the items for some more appropriate gifts. I was a bit worried about doing this without Kelly there, but the woman I dealt with said that if Kelly waited until tomorrow there might not be any "good" gifts left. I'm sure this afternoon when I explain what I did Kelly won't be too upset. I did keep the clip-on doll just for her.

So a word of the wise. Next year, I'll know what to expect. Or maybe, I'll just take her to the Target or Walmart and she can pick out stuff there.

Mom Tip #1

Do you ever read in the parenting type magazines where they have those "Mom Tips"? Well here's mine, to prevent this from happening to you.
Ever since Evan started walking I was glad that he could walk himself to my truck. Carrying his heavy load, he weighs 29.6 lbs as of yesterday, was killing my back. Carrying him and my purse, his cooler bag, my keys and whatever else we need in the morning was beginning to be TOO much. SoI started letting Evan follow Kelly to my truck in the driveway. He had figured out the routine and knew which side of the vehicle his carseat was on. I always let him climb up in the truck while holding his hand and once he is on the seat I let him crawl into his carseat. I usually leave that door open and load up the rest of our stuff in back of the truck.
I've always had this feeling that one day he might slip on the seat and fall to the ground. But he's been so curious about the dome light above his seat that he's usually standing in his carseat turning it on and off.
Today I decided that I would close his door while I loaded up. I still had our jackets on my arm and I opened up his door to buckle him in and he must've been leaning on the door and came tumbling out. I grabbed at him preventing his fall from being about 4 feet down to about a foot. But he still hit the concrete ground on the side of his head. I freaked out and scooped up my crying little boy. I checked him for blood and cuts. Thank God he was not cut. I felt so bad and knew that letting my 16 month old climb into the truck and not just following through with buckling him in was a mistake. So from now on. NEW ROUTINE.