Slacking this week :(

I can't believe I haven't posted all week.

Let's see what has kept me busy this week:
1. 3 children home, one infant and two of whch are best friends one minute and evil enemies the other. :)
2. Tornado hit my house after 3 holiday parties last week. STILL have to clean up the destruction.
3. We had something to do every day. What can I say? Megan is on vacation and I want her to enjoy it!
4. When the kids are finally in bed, around 10-10:30 all week, I want to go to bed myself!
5. Sleeping in!! (Until Christian wakes up, that is!)

Hopefully I can get on later and post some pictures and recap the week a little bit better. :)

Monday Morning

I think Christian missed the memo that we are on vacation. He was awake at 6:45. I told him on a regular school day, this would be quite acceptable! But not today.

I have learned too that if I bring him into bed with me, he will sleep til about 8:30 or so. When he does this, he is still wide awake at 10:30 at night.

If I can get some peace and quiet at night, maybe getting up at 7 am isn't so bad. :)

Random Thoughts About Christmas this Year

1. Once Matt was able to help me out a little, I was able to get many, many more things done.
Example- Matt came along Christmas shopping on Christmas Eve and took 2/3 of the kids to do something else, wow, I got a lot accomplished!

2. While we were out doing our last minute shopping on Christmas Eve, we had lunch at the mall as a family. I think the last time we had lunch there as a family was the day we had Christian (we had stopped to walk around to try to go into labor, which we all know, didn't work!).

3. I really enjoy staying home on Christmas Eve. With all the hustle and bustle, I am glad Matt and I have carved out one evening to spend with our family.

4. I am also glad we finally, after 10 years, decided on a meal to make on Christmas Eve. Every year, we end up going out to eat because we cannot decide on what to make. Matt ALWAYS wants to get a lobster, but I REFUSE to listen to it scream in my kitchen!! I really wanted to eat at home this year because we have a nice dining room!
I knew Matt loved hamballs, so I offered them up as a replacement for lobster and it worked out great! I never made them before, but they were awesome! Now Matt wants me to make them at least once a month, we'll see. :)

5. We had one of Megan's friends and her mom and sister come over Thursday for a short playdate. They brought us over M&M cookies that were sooo good. There were about 8 left in the container and I went upstairs to put Christian to bed and when I came back downstairs, the container was open and they were gone! DELL!!!!!!!!!!! She ate all my cookies!!!! Those were mine! She looked pretty pitiful as she laid on the floor...I just wanted to say, "Now your're going to get sick, aren't you?? You dumb dog!" I was kind of mad at her, so to make up for those cookies, we had monster cookie ice cream for dessert on Christmas Eve!!

6. Speaking of Christmas Eve, I really need to wrap presents sooner. While our food was cooking, I had Matt keep an eye on all the kids and I locked myself in my bedroom to finish wrapping presents! I should've had this done days ago, but it's hard to hide out when there are 3 kids to keep track of! Afer they were wrapped, I snuck them downstairs and put them under the tree. I think we opened them an hour later.

7. It was fun watching our kids open the presents! Christian just wanted to eat the wrapping, Megan was thrilled that we are going to let her get her ears pierced, and Courtney loves her Bug sticker book! It was really hard shopping with Courtney and Christian along, so I think Courtney had seen everything I had gotten her, but she didn't seem to remember.

8. While we were in the Dollar Tree one day getting stocking stuffers, Courtney had seen this long, fake hair. We had some of this before but it got really tangly and gross, so I threw it out. But on this day, Courtney would not give up on this fake hair, she wanted it! I asked her why and she said, "Because Grace has some!" So I put it in the cart and it ended up in her stocking! She looked like a rock star when she had it on yesterday! And of course, she had a huge smile on her face!

9. This year, I have been terrible with presents. I forgot to wrap one of Matt's presents, I forgot to put one of Christian's under the tree, now I have lost one for my mom. Hopefully I can find it within the next hour or two. :)

10. I have also enjoyed trying new recipes this season. I am tired of making my same old fruit salad for every get-together, so I branched out this year. I really do enjoy making new things, but never seem to get time to experiment. These were out of our "5 Ingredients" cookbook, so they only took 5 ingredients! Easy!

Anyway, off to another party today and another one next week and then we are done! The house will get back into order someday!

Am I crazy??

Ok, so I was going to go out today to get a few groceries and to finish Christmas shopping, BUT I got behind in my day. I knew I wouldn't get out this morning, so I planned on going out this afternoon, with three kids in tow! We had some friends come over about 11:15 and stay til about 12:45, so lunch started about one and this usually takes awhile.

By now it is about 2 and Christian is just going down for another nap. Do I wake him up and have a cranky baby? Or do I let him nap for about 1 1/2 hours, then feed him, and then pack everybody up and head out? Plus I had two girls who were actually getting along and playing nicely- who would want to interrupt any of this???

So, I did not make it out today. I need to go out tomorrow. Yes, I need to. I have to get food for tomorrow night. I refuse to let Matt make a lobster, so we settled on ham balls. I've never made them before and I need a few ingredients. We usually go out to eat after church on Christmas Eve because we can never agree what to make at home, but we have a very nice dining room now, so let's use it!

So anyway, am I crazy for going out to get last minute items on Christmas Eve?? I think I am! (Plus Matt has tomorrow off and can probably keep one, two, or all three fo the children!)

We survived the first day of winter break!

I'm not used to having three kids home again. After two weeks, it will be wierd going back to two kids!

Today we had a chiropractor appointment, I have one week left to get as much medical appointments in as I can, and trust me, I'm trying my hardest! I think I have 2 or 3 appointments next week. The doctor continued to work on my back and then I've been having jaw pain, so he fixed that too! The only bad part was that since Christian was up 3 hours last night, he screamed the entire time. I put Megan in charge of pushing him around in his stroller, but it really didn't do any good. :(

After the chiropractor, we had an appointment at our pediatrician. Courtney has had this "bump" on her foot for some time and I thought, while everything is covered 100%, let's take her in. Well, it was a wart! The doctor sprayed something on it to freeze it off and boy did Courtney cry! The doctor warned us that it was going to sting and it did! They said the wart will turn black and fall off in a couple of days. Ok! I was also told to put duct tape on it to dry it out, but I don't know about that.

Our last stop was McDonalds. Megan helped me at the chiropractor and Courtney was brave at the doctor, so we stopped and had ice cream. It was a good time!

Tomorrow a playdate with one of Megan's classmates and finish the last of the Christmas shopping!!

I love nights like these....NOT!

Ok, Christian, you have set a new record for how long you have been up in one night.

Last night = 3 1/2 hours. Yes, from 11-2:30

I know you couldn't breath, but you should really work with me more.

I sprayed your nose with saline spray, I had your vaporizer on, I fed you before bed, I rocked you, I put you in your bouncy seat to sit upright, I gave you your pacifier but no, none of those worked!!

And yes, I know letting you cry it out doesn't work either, but don't you know that mom and dad need to function in the morning? Why do you keep us up???

Honestly in the end, I think you were cold from the vaporizer being right beside you. Once I swaddled you in a blanket and the stuff in your nose disappeared somehow and were able to suck on your pacifier, you fell fast asleep.

Really, can we make tonight a better night?? We were doing SOOOO good!

(I hope your dad is doing ok at work today, he was up with you too.)

We're pretty pitiful this year!

I was thinking this morning that Christmas is only 3 days away and we still don't have everything out for the main event yet!

For instance:
We don't even have our stockings on the fireplace yet!



We always put garland on the banister, but that's not done either!



No Chistmas cookies have been made, no cards given to any teachers, no plans made for our meal on Chistmas Eve, no presents wrapped! Yikes!

But on the other hand, we do have these things accomlished!

The most important Christmas tree with only 2 presents underneath!



The nativity scene is up too and we decided not to put baby Jesus in the manger until Christmas day this year!



I got the Chistmas cards and family letter out yesterday, so those are done!

Annual Uncle Night get-together to make Gingerbread houses is done!

Besides all this, let's not forget to celebrate Jesus's Birthday this Chistmas season!!

Christian's New Trick

Polly needs to have surgery!

Started Christian on cereal.

For my own record, I started Christian on cereal on Wed. December 15th.

When I was at the dr. Friday, she said, "It's about time you start him on solids." Yah, yah, I know...

I will probably do one box of baby cereal to get him started and then it's onto the homemade stuff, no store bought food for me! Then shortly later, we'll probably go right to table food!

My squealer...

Miss Courtney is the one around here who spills all the secrets.

I had dropped Matt's phone one day and said, "Now Courtney, we aren't going to tell dad that we dropped his phone unless it doesn't work anymore. Until then, don't say anything." She did anyway.

I broke the shades in the playroom and said, "Now Courtney, don't tell dad, he'll get mad about it." Sure enough, she told Matt.

So today when his Christmas present came in the mail, I hid it in my sitting room and guess who found it, yes Courtney did! So, I decided to move it. Well she followed me. Knowing her history, I knew this hiding place wasn't going to last long. She would probably lead Matt right to it.

So I wrapped it. Really, why not? It's a Christmas present. Courtney doesn't know what it is, just that it is for Matt.

I'm going to go put it under the Christmas tree in plain sight! She can tell dad all she wants! (I just hope there's one for me under there too pretty soon. :)

Time to call the school...

Megan is home sick today. She got the bug too.

I was sitting in Christian's room nursing him at 6:15 and I hear her coughing, it didn't sound like she was gagging, so I dismissed it. I was kind of stuck what I was doing anyway.

Next thing I know, I see her running by his room, I said, "Megan, Megan, I'm in here." She stopped and said, "I puked." Great!!

So Matt came to the rescue. She had gotten it on her floor and on the bathroom floor! Good job- you didn't get any in your bed!!!

By 7, both girls were back asleep on my floor. Megan is still throwing up a little bit, but she'll be fine.

No school for her today.

I hope Matt and I don't get this now!

Kindergarten next year???

Aldrich Elementary just called...I thought Megan was sitting in the nurses office sick too, so before I even answered, I was trying to figure out how I was going to go pick her up.

But no, they were working on their kindergarten lists for next year and wanted to know if Courtney would be attending kindergarten! I said, "No, we are going to hold her back a year." The secretary said, "Ok, we will see her then!" It about brought tears to my eyes, there is no way I could send her off to kindergarten next year!!! (Yes, I know she can technically go, but I would rather have her one of the oldest of the class than the youngest!)

And yes, I know she will have to go someday, but not today!

My Morning started at 3:20 am

We had a little visitor at 3:20 am this morning, Courtney had not been feeling well all evening while I was gone at mom's night out and she had a little accident in her underwear at this time. I got up, dealt with her, and tried to get her calmed down because she was quite upset about it all.

Matt got up too to help me, but by 3:45, Christian was crying too! Matt got Courtney back to bed and I rocked Christian for awhile. I put him down, but he started to cry again, so I decided to feed him. Why not? He's a little low on weight right now, so extra calories won't hurt. Plus it might send him back to sleep. :)

So I fed him, this took until 4:25. I laid him back down and he's out, so I sneak back to bed. By 5 am, he is back awake. What?? I go and put his pacifier back in his mouth, pat him, and he goes back to sleep. 10 minutes later, awake again. This is not the plan! So by 5:15, I just go and get him! I bring him into bed with me and he goes to sleep. It's been almost 2 hours now that I have been awake. Matt gets up at 5:30 to take a shower and puts him back to bed. Super! I fall back asleep and all is well!

6:00 I hear Christian AGAIN! AHHH. This time I let him cry it out awhile, I had already tried everything with him and I had just gotten back to sleep. So about 6:15, he's not going back to sleep (which I figured), so I drug myself out of bed and went and got get him, again. I brought him back into bed with me and he's kind of half awake/ half asleep. Matt comes out of the bathroom and entertains him a little bit and he stops crying, but as soon as Matt leaves, he's back to his "I'm so tired" cry. About 6:30, he falls asleep on my chest. Great! Now, do I move him back to his bed or do I just leave him?

I decided to leave him and catch some more sleep myself. At 7:15, my alarm goes off and at 7:25 Megan's alarm goes off. Now I have to get up, but it was so hard! I left Christian on my bed and surrounded him with pillows since he can roll now.

I got Megan up and off to school and then I stood there at 8:30 with two of my kids still sleeping! Needless to say, Christian woke up about 9 and I got Courtney up at 10. I think they were both a little sick, but they're feeling fine now!

Hopefully we can get out and do something this afternoon, we had playgroup this morning, but I cancelled. Maybe we can go finish some Christmas shopping OR put away the four baskets of laundry on my bedroom floor!

Dance Recital Day

Megan has her very first dance recital today. She is part of the Chinese troupe in "The Nutcracker." She is excited!

It is 5 degrees out with 50 mph winds- can we do the dance recital another day?? Imagine the costumes and hair that is going to be blowing around in this weather!

The girls have worked very hard though. A part of me wants to post-pone it due to the weather, but the other part just wants to sit back and enjoy it!

I'll post some pictures later!

Test Results

My Ultrasound/ gall bladder check- looks great, no cause for concern!

Matt's MRI- perfect too! a couple benign cysts in his sinuses, but no big deal!

How much did we spend on health care today?? I think around $3500! But thanks to insurance, it's all covered!!

Anything else we want to get done this year?? We have about 20 days left of 2010...

Christian's 6 month checkup

Today we had Christian's 6 month checkup.

We started by measuring his head and of course the nurse said, "He's really strong for a 6 month old!" Yes he is! We then got his length and that was 28 inches, he added 1 1/4 inches in 2 months. We then put him on the scale and it said 17 lbs. 3 oz. I thought that was odd because a month ago, he was 17 lbs. 8 oz. (with clothes on). I asked if we could use a different scale and the other one said the same thing. (Just for reference, he was 16 lbs. 12 oz. at 4 months- right after I fed him, so give or take a few ounces.) I swear he was putting weight on! They are supposed to gain a pound a month, we weren't even at 1/2 a pound in 2 months. I know this is a cause for concern, so my first thought was, "I'm going to get in trouble by the dr." Courtney did this exact same thing, she only gained 8 oz. between 4 and 6 months, Christian only gained 7 oz. The nurse looked at his chart, but seeing how active he was, she didn't seem concerned.

The dr. came in and I asked, "Am I going to get in trouble??" She said no because we had seen this before with Courtney. I also mentioned that I have had a thyroid problem lately and there for awhile, I didn't have much milk, but now lately, I've had quite a bit. I told her he's been eating better, sleeping better, and we're finally getting settled into a routine. I asked if thyroid and my milk supply would go hand in hand she said it certainly could! She told me she was not going to worry about it because things had changed lately and my thyroid should be leveling off. Yes! She said if there was no reason for it, then she would be concerned, like we were with Courtney, but she just wants me to keep doing what I've been doing and come back in a month. I can do that. (I wonder if this is exactly what happened with Courtney too, maybe I was having thyroid problems with her and didn't know it.)

I also talked to her about him being stuffed up for the last two months, she said we could try some allergy medicine, but then she also said he's a little young for allergies. She said if it doesn't bother him, then let him be. His ears and nose were clear, so that was good. (Matt's mom said he was like this when he was younger too, so this doesn't surprise me either). His skin is also broke out a little bit, so we have some sensitive skin going on again too.

We ended with our shots and he fell asleep in my arms going out to the car. Poor thing!

Doctor Day!

Today we have 3 appointments to see doctors and/or have a test ran. We've met our deductible, so let's get these things checked out!

7:30 am Ultrasound to check out my gall bladder. Done. Wait on results.

9:20 Matt's MRI. He's had a lot of occular migraines lately and his mom has chiari malformation, so they are going to check it out. Hopefully he'll do fine with an IV, he's never had one before and he doesn't take blood very well.

1:00 Christian's 6 month checkup/ shots. I think he will be over 18 pounds, we'll see! Maybe the dr. has a magic formula to get him to sleep through the night. He's been up on and off since 5 am!

We have a very busy weekend coming up with Megan's dance recital and our first holiday party!

PS My tooth is much better, but still a little tender.

My poor tooth :(

Wow, does my tooth hurt today!!

I thought yesterday was the toughest part of the entire root canal/ crown process, he was pretty hard on it. It can't really "hurt" because there is no nerve in it, maybe it is just very tender! yikes! I hope this doesn't last.

I think Advil is going to be my friend again today.

Root Canal is COMPLETE!

I went in to the dentist today for my final step in completing my root canal.

One hour and forty-five minutes later, I walked out with a completed tooth again.

Now hopefully my crown won't crack, at least the dentist said he would replace that for free. :)

3 hours

That is how long it took the girls to clean thier playroom last night. 3 hours.
It was a disaster!

It has been closed for about a week and the girls were getting bored with nothing to do around the house. They were arguing a lot, picking on each other, and just had so much pent up energy, especially after Megan got home from school.

Last night, I decided that I was tired of getting upset at them for their behavior, so I said they HAD to clean the playroom! They need something to do again! I am always constantly entertaining Courtney during the day too and am not getting anything done, so I wanted it back during the day too!

They got it successfully cleaned last night by 8:15! The problem was that since they had all their stuff back, we couldn't get them to stop drawing last night to go to bed!

I hope they keep it clean! (We have started a new chore chart where they can earn money, so hopefully this will encourage them!!) It's going to be a long winter if we have to keep closing it because it's not clean!

#8 is gone, literally

#8 as in tooth #8.

Last night before Megan went to bed, she had a very wiggly tooth. I didn't think it was so loose, so I didn't make an issue about her getting it out before she went to bed.

I should've.

When she woke up this morning, she looked at me with a very worried look and said, "Mom, my tooth is gone," and pointed to a whole in her mouth.

I asked her, "Where did it go?" She responded with tears in her eyes, "I don't know."

"Did you swallow it?" Upon that statement, she grabbed her throat and made a choking sound! I said, "Megan, are you breathing?" She said yes and then I said, "Well, then you didn't choke on it!" I think she was a little relieved.

We looked through her bed, but unfortunately, I'm pretty sure she swallowed it. I told her I would take her sheets off today and clean out her bed (needs to be done anyway) and look harder, but she sleeps on her back, so I think it went straight down!

She told me that she's just going to have to write the tooth fairy and tell her what happened! Good plan Megan!

Friday night and Destructo Christian

For about a month now, we have been telling Megan that we would take her to "The Nutcracker Ballet" at the Orpheum Theatre. The cheapest tickets, with our Rose Theatre discount, were $22. Grandma gave her money for her birthday, so she was going to use that on her ticket. Matt and I decided that all of us could go. I wanted to see the play, Courtney might like it, and sure, why not take Christian? It didn't start until 8, so I figured I could feed him and he could sleep through the ballet.

Well, plans changed. Don't they always. I called to the ticket place Thursday to see if we could get tickets for us. Sure, they said, but you will need a ticket for EVERYBODY. I said, "What, even my six month old needs a $22 ticket??" They said, "Everybody needs a ticket in their hand to walk through the door." Yikes! No way am I doing that! So, I decided to stay home with the younger two and Matt took Megan.

So, off they went for a great time at the ballet.

While they were gone, Courtney and I made a pizza, ate in the living room, and watched "Fairytopia." I sat on the floor most of the movie with Christian. I found out during this time that he is not our "sweet, lay on the floor and play with his toys" anymore, we are beyond that, he is turning into destructo Christian. I think the boy is starting to come out in him because this is what he was doing for most of the night.

This is a toy that you are supposed to lay under and play with the monkeys/ birds that hang down, but no, I think Christian is over that. He has decided that the rest of it is something to play with, well, not just play, eat! Right before I took this picture, he had the orange part in his mouth. About two minutes after I took the picture, he had fallen over backwards and took the toy with him! So there he is on his back with the toy on it's side and he's still trying to go after it!

I just love the look in his eye, "I'm going to get the best of this toy!" Like I said, he's not even interested in the monkeys anymore, he wants to destroy it! And he thinks he's funny!

Courtney on the couch watching her movie:

Soon the movie got over and I got these two to bed. I love these two kids, but I had spent the entire day with them!

Matt and Megan pulled in about 10:15 and Megan was obviously tired! She said she really enjoyed the ballet, but said her ticket was only $10. What?? I purposely called and asked about tickets and pricing! Matt said when they went to go buy the tickets at the Orpheum, they asked if Megan was a student and she said yes. Student prices were only $10! UGH! Matt still had to pay $22, but Megan's was half the price we expected. If I had known that, maybe we could've gone....do you think they have a discount for babies too??
<>

What's the secret, Christian?

It's amazing. I woke up at 6:30 this morning and then realized that I hadn't been up once with Christian! After he woke up last night at 10:30, I fed him and put him back to bed. He couldn't keep his eyes open! Right after I woke up this morning, I heard him crying and by the time I got into his room, he was just laying there wide awake and happy! What is the secret? How can I get him to sleep the ENTIRE night, every night???

Loss and a win

Sad that the Huskers lost thier game, but on the flip sign, a win for me. Christian slept through the whole thing!

He fell asleep at 7:15 and didn't wake up until 10:30, the girls went to bed at 9, so it was nice just watching the game in peace from halftime until 10:30. Thank you children!

Front Door Service!

Just got back from putting Megan on the bus. We were running about a minute late, so by the time we got out there, the bus was coming around the curve. I didn't want Megan running across the street in front of the bus, so I had her stay on the driveway until he went by. Lucky for us, he stopped right in front of our house and she got on right there!!

Really though, the bus stop is just a house over, I can't complain anyway! At least I don't have to take her to school every morning!

Crazy Hair Courtney!

This is how her hair was when she woke up this morning- CRAZY!!!

Blood Work results...again

I went back to the dr. yesterday to have my blood drawn again to check my thyroid.

The dr. called this morning with the results and he was even a bit confused.

There are two things they check:

1. Hormone that tells my body to make the thyroid hormone (or so I understand it).
I think normal is at least .19.
Last month my number was .01, the lowest it will register.
Now it was .14 or something like that. The point is that it is going up!

2. The actual thyroid hormone.
Normal is 2.9-4.1

Last month mine was 7.1!! a little hyper-thyroid :)

Now, it's 2.1...hmmm, now I'm hypo-thyroid?

The family dr. said I am either levelling off or I am turning into hypo-thyroid!

He said to go back in a month and have it checked again, but it is definitely getting better. I can tell too, I'm not having heart palpitations and I'm not shaking anymore.

I have to go see the endocrine specialist in a month to determine what to do with this all.

Please continue to hope and pray that this will level off, I don't want to stop nursing Christian and go on thyroid medicine!