Yeah Annie, I'll Let Santa Know . . .

So, Annie's become quite the fan of "The Grinch Who Stole Christmas" this holiday season.

She wants it read to her every single night. And sometimes during the day a few times.

She's seen the Jim Carrey version a few times now, and giggles the whole time and keeps asking, "When does the Grinch have his awful, wonderful awful idea?"

Then tonight the cartoon was on television. Seeing her favorite book in cartoonish color was like a dream come true. She loved it, and was in a constant state of excitement the whole time. Ellie surprised me though, as she too would laugh and squeal and point every time the Grinch came on screen.

The funniest part though was just a minute or two in, when the Grinch is reminiscing about Christmases past, and he's talking about all the different noise making gifts they'll open ("the noise, noise, noise, noise!") Across the screen rolls a Who loudly riding on a floo-floober (a one man band looking contraption), and Annie's eyes and mouth fly open, she turns to me and shrieks, "Mommy! Can I have one of those for Christmas?"


(I tried to find a picture or clip of the movie that had the noisy toys -- turns out YouTube AND Google Images searches turn up nothing. Who knew?!)

Holiday Picture Extravaganza

Thanksgiving was everything I wanted it to be -- the kids had so much fun playing with family, and I loved that we cooked together, cleaned up together, played card and other party games, looked through ads, and we were able to go and visit Greg's grandmother and a bunch of his family for several hours too. It was a long, exhausting day, but well worth it all. I got a bunch of pictures of the girls eating dinner -- Ellie was a crazy potato covered mess. It was cute.

Here's Ellie showing off her messy shirt and pants. She's quite pleased with herself. You can tell by her strange new smile she makes everytime she grins cheesily now!

After my earlier, and enraging, experiences of getting our tree up and lit, it was a nice change of pace to put the ornaments on with our girls. They loved it. Ellie was in complete awe of the tree and the decorations, and Annie had the time of her life putting dozens and dozens of ornaments on the tree (or the bottom branches of the tree at least!)

Ellie's cheesy camera grin.

Lacy & Ellie making matching faces.

Annie admiring the snow globe.

Ellie singing along with one of our Christmas decorations. Fa la la la.



Here's just a comparison of Aunt Lacy & 15 month old Annie making "Annie's face"
and Aunt Lacy & 18 month old Ellie making "Ellie's face"

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

I love this holiday, as it is just rich with family traditions and good company and yummy food, plus a four day weekend, and it just doesn't get much better than that. And is there any better reason to have a holiday than just to remind us to look around and be thankful for what we have?

(As I type this, Annie and Ellie are getting increasingly annoyed with each other in the other room. Voices escalating, Ellie shrieks reverberating, threats of violence. Greg, standing next to me sighs and says, "I'll go check on 'em. Although, I have to tell you . . . my money is on Ellie. She may be small, but she's fiesty." Awww, I'm thankful for my girls and the sisterhood they share. Brings back memories.)

I'm thankful for my family.
First off, Greg. I cannot imagine my life without him . . . it's like his whole goal in life is to make me happy and make sure I'm taken care of. He is one of the most talented, sweetest, giving, intelligent, caring people I've ever met. And he's stuck with me. And we make really cute kids together. Sure, they shriek like banshee's while fighting over a singing snow globe, but they are the most precious things in my life. Watching them grow up, playing some role in shaping who they are, teaching them what I can, these things are among my greatest honors in life. I marvel at their sweetness, especially to each other (when they're in the mood for that kinda bonding), at their intelligence (it truly is mind blowing, the sponge like brains of toddlers that suck up everything and are able to turn around and use the new knowledge almost instantly), and their humor and personalities. These girls are amazing, and I can't believe I'm lucky enough to call them mine.

Next, my family beyond my own home. Greg and I both come from wonderful, strong, amazing families who have endlessly blessed our lives. Our kids are spoiled with love and affection from wonderful grandparents, as well as several amazing great grandparents. Greg and I were lucky to have been raised well, taught well and loved unconditionally. That has made us who we are today, and I'm thankful for that. We're surrounded by amazing siblings with talents and intellect and humor unparalleled. Just to highlight a few things -- genius runs amok in our families, with amazingly bright and gifted people who excel at a whole host of things. They're also blessed with amazing hearts, generous personalities and sincerity. Greg's sister is a pediatric nurse at Primary Children's Hospital, he has a brother who's in his final year of law school at Notre Dame, my sister is an amazingly gifted instructor (working in a job I always wanted to end up in at my own company -- training and development), and another sister who works in a research lab as a moleculear biologist. Just to name a few. We have siblings who are natural born leaders, who are a real influence for good in the lives of those around them, and whose potential really is limitless. I have a sister in law who I can talk to on the phone for hours at a time, discussing absolutely anything and everything. We've also had the amazing opportunity to raise kids of similiar ages together, and her parenting insights and experiences have helped shape the parent I am today. I have a brother in law who'll drive out of his way after classes at BYU to come and visit my girls, watching them while I run errands. I have a little brother who loves nothing more than playing in the mud and sand with my kids. My girls have many uncles who will happy chase them around and threaten to tickle them, getting squeals of delight for their efforts. All of these people have greatly influenced mine and Greg's life, but even more so now, I look to them as the examples and the people in my children's lives who will help shape who they are. My kids are amazingly lucky to have them.
Greg and I also have tons of Aunts, Uncles, cousins and friends who love our kids and want whats best for us. How could our kids really be any better off? They have such an amazing support system (and fan base).

To me, holidays are all about family. The time spent together, the traditions created and lived out each year. This is what makes holidays meaningful to me. And Thanksgiving is the prime example of this to me -- I cannot sit down and think about what I'm thankful for without pretty much completely focusing on my family.

But, in the spirit of the holiday, I want to think past that, and remember so many other blessings I have.

I'm thankful for the perspective and guidance I get in life because of my belief in, and personal relationship with, a loving, gracious Heavenly Father. I'm grateful I know more of my potential, and have higher expectations of myself, because I know I'm loved by the being who created all Heaven and earth.

I'm grateful for the home I live in, and where that home is located. I miss old friends and neighbors from past homes, but we feel so truly blessed to have found ourselves where we live right now. We're surrounded by wonderful neighbors and countless friends for ourselves and our girls. We are where we're supposed to be, and that is an amazing feeling.

I'm grateful for those who serve this country and insure our safety, both here and abroad. The sacrifices are immeasurable, and I cannot even fathom the character of those so willing to put their entire lives on hold, even put them at risk, to protect others.

I'm grateful for the opportunities we have -- Annie's able to go to dance and preschool, we have museums and parks close by, we spend countless hours as a family exploring this valley, and we are never without things to do. That's an amazing feeling.

I'm grateful for talents. My own, which make my life better by allowing me improve myself, as well as serve others through the talents I've been blessed with. And the talents of others, because so many people bless my life through the things they are able to do.

I'm grateful I have enough to share. We've worked hard this last couple months of some service projects, and watching my daughter go through her toys and help pick out those to give away was touching. Going to the store and being able to help her pick out toys and necessities for other families was another thing I'll treasure. Watching her begin to understand that not everyone has what she does, but that in some small way we can help out, is an experience of motherhood I would never want to miss out on.

I'm grateful for technology. My sister in law, who's raising kids alongside me, is actually states and states away. But we can call and talk, email and keep up with other each other's blogs. Even when I'm home alone for a long day with the kids, I have literally dozens of friends who daily enter into my life through technology -- phone calls, text messages, emails, comments on facebook or my blog. I never feel alone.

I'm grateful for the good health of me, my husband and my children.

I'm grateful that life just keeps getting better and better. And next Thanksgiving, I'll have even more to be thankful for.

Happy Thanksgiving!
(And thanks to you for reading my blog!)

Oh, Christmas Tree

I was suddenly struck with the holiday bug this morning. Don't know what it was that caused the sudden Christmas rush, but I found myself crawling around the rafters, rummaging through the basement, and digging through storage to find everything I needed to put up the tree. I merrily began setup around 8:30 this morning.
The day rapidly went down hill. The kids were fussy and demanding. I had forgotten that setting up a fake tree is akin to sticking your hands, wrists and arms into a swarm of angry, sharpened clawed kittens. After hours of work, I was about 3/4ths of the way done when one of the strands of lights randomly went out. (You know, one a ways back into the tree, about an hours worth of work ago). I tried messing with all the bulbs, and then decided to change the fuses on that strand. Right as I was walking away to find the instructions, my tree slowly begin to lean to one side, then suddenly there was a SNAP and the plastic tree base proved itself worthless and my tree is now leaning against the wall in my frontroom. (Which has to be safe with a one and three year old running around, right?) I decided to focus on the fuses though, and ignore the fact my tree was now angled. I started looking at the boxes that the lights came in when I noticed a big bold warning box that read:

CAUTION:
PROP 65 WARNING - Handling the coated electrical wire on this product exposes you to a chemical know to the State of California to cause birth defects and other reproductive harm. Wash hands after use.

Um, yeah I can't help y'all. Bah Humbug.

BAH FREAKIN' HUMBUG.

P.S. It's a good thing I have Thanksgiving to heal from this experience and hopefully I'll come back from Black Friday shopping with Christmas spirit anew.

My Girls

Annie today was perusing our DVD collection, when she was hit with the holiday bug. "Can I watch the 'Baby Jesus Christmas Movie'?" she asked enthusiastically. Seeing the "Joy to the World" DVD (a touching Christmas video, complete with a Mormon Tabernacle Choir soundtrack), I thought, "This isn't gonna be what she thinks it is . . . " but I put the movie on and went upstairs to change laundry.

About ten minutes later, Annie came wandering upstairs. She came up to me, sighed, and commented, "You know Mom, I think I like 'characters' in my movies . . . " and pulled up a chair to the computer, logged onto Disney's website and started watching "Mulan" instead. :-)

Just a "Ellie eating breakfast" picture and video. She's becoming increasingly proficient at using a spoon!

Later on, Annie and Ellie got dressed up as princesses and danced. 'Cause that's what princesses do.

I try to focus on the adorableness of an 18 month old's version of "smile for the camera" but this picture just makes me think of the costly orthodontic work that'll most likely need to be done on Ellie, what with her habit of lining up her bottom two teeth with the not-necessarily-opposite-teeth on top. Sigh. :-)

Annie, with some fancy dancin'.Ellie showing off her glamorous outfit her older sister picked out for her.

The princesses taking a break from all that dancing. Ellie is way chill, leaned back against the wall.

Ellie trying to sit herself up again.

The girls dancing -- with Annie constantly pointing out that we're dancing, not playing ring around the rosies.

Black Friday Prep

So, last night Greg and I are sitting up to the computer (him manning the comfy chair, me back seat driving from the edge of the bed) perusing several Black Friday ads that have already found their way to the internet. Greg is checking out the Sears ad (the most drool worthy of After Thanksgiving sales for him).
He's quickly scanning each page, while I ask obnoxious questions from over his shoulder like, "Ooooh, are you SURE we don't need a 7" handheld television?!" He pretty much ignores me. "Are you sure we don't want to get a Tinkerbell digital camera for Annie?"
Finally, on page 44, he stops and comments. "Oh, look at these wrenches! How do I zoom in and check these out?"
I stop and stare in disbelief, "Everyday low price!? Everyday?! Step away from the computer. You suck at Black Friday shopping."

This is why I do pretty much all of the Christmas shopping at our house.

Repost: Annie, Go Grab Momma a Pair of Those Red Shoes

I posted this last year . . . then today I read a mention of the song "Christmas Shoes" on a friend's blog, and heard it for the first time this season on the radio. Hearing it again reminded me of my deep seated resentment of the song, and I had no choice to drag out this post all over again :-) (That and I am in a crappy blogging slump right now and had nothing else to write about anyway. Win-win.)

So, here it is again:

So, Greg and I are driving, listening to Christmas music ('cause that's what one does this time of year . . . unless you're my Dad, then you probably started annoying coworkers months ago playing the stuff since like July or something. Just one of the many reasons he's one of my heroes.) On comes the song "The Christmas Shoes" . . . you know the one, right? Well, Greg didn't. I was all, "You know, the song, about the kid, trying to buy some shoes for his dying Mother." Greg's staring at me blankly. "You know, he needs to get the shoes right away, 'cause she's going to die soon, and he wants her to look pretty for Jesus if she goes to meet him tonight." Now he's just looking at me like I'm crazy. And I'm starting to tear up a little, maybe a little more than a little. Blatant emotional manipulation through song story telling should only exist in country music, not on my Christmas stations! But how can one picture a small, dirty, poorly dressed child saying stuff like . . .

Sir, I want to buy these shoes for my Mama please

It's Christmas Eve and these shoes are just her size.

Could you hurry, sir, Daddy says there's not much time.
You see she's been sick for quite a while

And I know these shoes would make her smile

And I want her to look beautiful if Mama meets Jesus tonight.

. . . and not get a little teary.

Heart of stone I tell you, only way to avoid it. Mom meeting Jesus on Christmas Eve . . . I could barely recount the story to Greg without pondering my maternal role and mortality and imagining my two beautiful daughters growing up without their own Mother. I was barely keeping it together. At this point Greg is still staring at me like I'm crazy. And I'm trying hard to wipe away tears casually, when it suddenly hits me . . . "Wait a second? So, this kid's Mom is dying. On Christmas Eve. And he's at the mall?!" This struck me as wrong in so many ways. His Mom is dying and he's away from home, all alone? Are there other siblings gathered around their Mother's bed? Does nobody notice his absence? How'd he get to the mall? Plus, the practical part of me was all, "Why does she need new shoes if she's going to be dead in the next 24 hours?! What a horrible waste of money when this family is obviously struggling." I told Greg if I'm dying he is not allowed to buy me any fancy new red shoes, that money goes towards our kids' college funds! Not surprisingly, at this point, Greg is still staring like the crazies have taken up permanent residence in his wife's head. Something's not adding up. Did they not notice the kid leaving? Are they now all freaking out at home, watching Mom die, and calling the police to help find their 7 year old, 'cause that would be like the worst Christmas Eve ever. Or, do they know where the kid is at? "Hopefully he'll be back from the mall soon . . . don't know how much longer we have and Mom's still waiting on those shoes." Shouldn't they have sent him with an adult chaperon. Possibly one with enough money to purchase said shoes? And time is short, shouldn't the family be all gathered together. Or is the father so distraught by losing his wife that he isn't even aware of the the missing child? And the kid is dirty and unkempt . . . obviously the father isn't able to handle all the stress in his life, but isn't their a grandparent, neighbor or something that can make sure this kid is fed and bathed regularly? And not wandering off to malls with potentially bad timing?

Then it hit. It's a con. A family of grifters. It's genius. Mommy wants a new pair of some hot red wedges, but there's no money. Dress the kid up just this side of street urchin, have him rummage through his pockets and pull out two bucks and change, turn pathetically to the person behind him in line and tell his sad, sad story. Big wide eyes, one lone tear. Well meaning stranger, on verge of tears ('cause you just said you want Mommy to be pretty when she meets Jesus tonight, how does one's emotional defenses stand a chance?! Especially if the store has Christmas music playing overhead), forks over the money. Kid brings shoes back to Mom and gets to go out for a Happy Meal as a reward for a job well done. Win-win. Sexy new shoes for Mom, or maybe she returns the shoes later, and goes and buys some booze. Whatever the end game, the con is kinda genius. See if that song can ever makes me cry again!! I've won this round.
Greg's staring at me like I'm crazy again.

Shrimpy McBaby is Growing Up!

So, today was Ellie's "one and a half birthday day!", as Annie happily exclaimed repeatedly. (Yesterday was Annie's "three and a half birthday! "I am practically almost four now.")
Ellie's milestone of turning 18 months was, of course, celebrated with a well child check up. Woo hoo! (We're party animals.)

Ellie showed up with some impressive stats:
20 lbs. 5 oz. -- 4% on the weight charts
The doctor was very please with this, 'cause Ellie has 'shot up' from 2% to 4%, and actually put on 2 lbs. in the last 2 months. Go Chunker!
Nearly 30 inches tall -- 9% on height
This is the same percentage on height she's been for nearly a year. She's consistent. Consistently petite.

The doctor gave us the OK to turn her carseat forward facing now that she hit the magical 20 lb. mark. But, I told her, the girls seem to love it so much that they're facing each other (Ellie facing back and Annie facing forward) that they talk and sing and play peek a boo, that I was planning on leaving Ellie rear facing until she just plain outgrew her rear facing space . . . which doesn't appear to be anytime soon. The doctor said I was possibly the only parent she's ever talked to who's said that.

Ellie cracked the doctor up the whole time, as she nakedly danced and jumped and hugged her giant stuffed cow that is nearly the same size as her. She chattered and babbled happily, as long as nobody tried to set her on the exam table. That just pissed her off and she suddenly would become an angry, violent howler monkey. The doctor laughed when I told her that I've had some 'concerned' comments about Ellie's meager (recognizable) verbal repertoire . . . and said that she was nothing but impressed by Ellie, and that any speech therapist she asked to look at Ellie would laugh her out of the office. But then, looking over Ellie's growh charts, she noticed the head circumference stats, which (erroneously) showed Ellie's head having shrunk several centimeters -- she looked at me dead seriously and said, "Although, her head shrinking could be why she's not talking much . . . " And we both cracked up. You so had to be there. But, I really like my girls' doctor.

The only point of concern from the whole checkup was actually about Annie. Just finishing up her second back of antibiotics for her second set of double ear infections in less than a month, the doctor rechecked her ears. Only to find they are rapidly filling with fluid and are probably going to be infected any day now. Don't tell Annie -- but the next round of antibiotics is a series of daily shots. Dang, I'm hoping those ears don't end up infected. Poor kid. Although, a third set of double ear infections in a month may just be our ticket to tubes in before Christmas . . .

So Let it Be Written . . .

I'm going on record now:

Greg thinks the baby is a girl.
Even making a gender slip earlier today when he said, "Uh huh, yeah Hilary, I'm sure she needs that freakishly bright pink cupcake."

I'm convinced it's a boy.
(Although, begrudgingly. Don't get me wrong, I'd be thrilled with a son too, but I'm definitely in a 'I want what I know' and 'Do you know how many baby girls clothes I own?!" mode.)

We will see.


It possibly should be noted: I have thought both of our first two pregnancies were boys as well. Greg has been convinced they were girls. One of us, who shall not be named, seems to contain a greater capacity for parental intuition.

The Things They Say

Annie was playing Chutes and Ladders with Uncle Cody and his girlfriend, Taylor, the other day. Annie possesses a nearly supernatural ability to kick everyone's trash at this and Candy Land. I think it's making her a little smug.
Only about a third of the way through the game, Annie was leading. Per usual. After spinning yet another six, she looked up at Cody, a mixture of sweet and a bit cocky, and said, "Well, it seems like I'm going to win . . ."

~~~

Annie, when she was out with Aunt Star, heard Star's cell phone beep. "What's that?" Star asked.
"I don't know," Annie responded, "but is sounds very similar to my Mom's phone."
"Similar, huh?" my sister asked, amused by her three year old niece's vocabulary.
"Yes, it is very similar sounding."
Star called me, laughing, to tell me about the exchange. I told her I was glad she got to hear Annie's language skills in action, so she won't doubt the veracity of my Annie tales in the future!

~~~

Annie isn't the only one who amuses us with things she says. Today Ellie was playing with Grandma Ruth, and got kind of upset with how Grandma had helped her get a toy out of the toy box or something and grunted or in some other way showed her displeasure. Grandma asked, "I'm sorry, did Grandma mess up?" Ellie sighed and responded very decidedly, "Yeah." Ellie sure keeps people in their place.
That is so one you had to be there for, but it was really funny.

~~~

Edited to add: My sister, Star, just posted on her blog about her trip with Annie to see the Disney Princesses on Ice show. There were a few things Annie and her talked about that just seemed to fit in with this post:

• Annie spent the whole drive home chattering on about the 'mean people' in the show. And how she liked Gaston, but didn't like the things he did.

• Star gave Annie her first ever Hi-C drink, to which Annie enthusiastically replied that she loved it and it tasted just like pink.

• Star also wrote about the drive there: "Annie chattered away the entire drive about her sister, her school, her friends . . . and one point she ranked her friends by height, age and how nice they were. It was fascinating to learn the inner workings of her preschool network."

My Little Artistic Genius

Annie drew this today. Call me a neglectful mother, but when did Annie start drawing stick figures!? Let alone ones with fingers, toes and eyebrows?!
The green lady is Princess Odette, from The Swan Princess. That stunning blue figure. That's Mommy. I'm so proud. (Don't know why I have a nose ring.)


Last night, Aunt Star took Annie out to dinner and to "Disney Princesses on Ice" for her birthday (Star's birthday, not Annie's. I'm hoping that next year Star will take me to Vegas for her birthday!)
I sent Annie with the camera for her and Star to get some pictures. Here's Annie waiting for the show to start.

Aunt Star and Annie. Star is better at these self portraits than Annie. :-)

Annie. Possibly waving at her subjects.

Annie all decked out in Disney.

One tired little girl on the ride home.

Happy Birthday Grandma Ruth!

It's Greg's Mom's birthday today! I sucked and never ended up calling her, 'cause I was fighting the overwhelming urge to puke all day, it slipped my mind and my sweet husband didn't remind me that it was her birthday 'til like 9PM. Meaning, I never had Annie call and sing "Happy Birthday" to her like I'd planned, nor did I get to talk to her on her birthday. Stupid morning sickness ruins everything. Oh well, we'll call her tomorrow and will once again thank our lucky stars that she is like the kindest, sweetest person in the entire world and won't hold it against us for a second!

My girls (and their cousins) are so unbelievably lucky to be surrounded by loving, involved, amazing, generous patient and fun grandparents. Annie could sit on Grandma's lap for hours and read books and play with dolls, and Ellie lights up and starts babbling about "Gam-ma" as soon as we turn onto their street.

Having amazing grandparents in our children's lives is a tremendous blessing. But, even more so, Ruth's influence on my life has been profound because she is so directly responsible for the person that my husband is . . . respectful, chivalrous, hard working, kind, considerate, smart, educated and wonderful in every way. Because of her hand in raising my husband, she is right up there with my own mother on the list of women who have influenced, and bettered, my life.

Then to top it off, her and my father in law have never made me feel any less than 100% welcomed into their family.

It's funny, because in-laws are people you don't meet until well into adulthood, but you quickly find that these people you've only just met have more to do with having shaped your own future and happiness than almost anyone else ever will. And I couldn't be more grateful.

Happy Birthday Ruth!

The rest of these (and there are a bunch of them and they don't seem that different from each other at first glance) are such a wonderful series of pictures watching Grandma & Grandpa with all the grandkids in various states of cooperation (or lack thereof) . . .

First Trimester Blues

Ugh.

My nausea, the all-day-long-and-eating-no-longer-helps-enough kind, just progressed to dry heaving.

UGH.

Logically . . .

Last night Annie was winding down for bed, and we were at the 'video on YouTube' part of the bedtime routine. (What? You mean everyone doesn't watch YouTube videos with their three year olds before bed?!) On Thursday Annie is going with her Aunt Star to Disney Princesses on Ice, so the last several nights she's got to watch a couple videos from past events, 'cause, well, just try explaining dancing Disney characters on ice skates to a three year old without visual aides. It's become her favorite part of the evening, as she pleads, "Mommy, can I please watch one more Ice Age Princesses tonight?"

Tonight I'd told her she could watch two videos before it was time to head into bed and say prayers. Nearing the end of her second video, she turned to me and pleaded, "Mom, can I please watch just one more . . . since I'm three! Three videos for a three year old?" Well, I couldn't argue with that logic (and more importantly, was in the middle of something and had already been hoping her video would last longer than it did.) OK, I agreed, one more for a three year old. As that video was ending, I started to walk towards her to carry her to bed, when she looked up with a mischevious smile and said, "You know . . . I'm almost three and a half . . . that's pretty close to four . . . "

Nicknames

Annie has a lot of nicknames for Ellie. She calls her Elles, Ellie Belly, Ella, Ella Bella, Little Sister, etc.

But my favorite is popping up more and more frequently lately:
"Little Fella"

Have no idea where she got it from, but it makes me laugh every time she uses it (which is now several times a day.) "Little Fella, come on!" "What's the matter, Little Fella?" "I love you Little Fella." Again, no clue where she picked it up, but it cracks me up.

Here's a picture from this afternoon of Annie playing with her sister, Little Fella. :-)

~~~~~~~

My kids are over playing at my Mom's house, while Greg's helping my Dad do something with a water heater or a furnace or something. I possibly didn't pay a lot of attention when the problem was being explained to me on the phone. I was trying to watch 'Bones' while my house was quiet. Anyway, my Mom was trying to get Ellie set up to play up to the dry erase board, and had grabbed something tall for Ellie to sit up on. Annie looked at my Mom, shook her head and said, "You know Grandma, you have some good ideas. I don't think this is one of them."
He he.

~~~~~~~

From last week -- just to showcase the horribleness of the flu we had . . . it can take the nearly hairless (Ellie, in this case, not Greg), and give them some serious bedhead! (Ellie's hair that day was cracking us all up, 'cause it was just like lifted an inch or so higher than normal in a pile of fuzzy frizz).

Don't Know If It'll Fit in the Sleigh . . .

Annie's gone back and forth on what kind of dollhouse she wants for Christmas (causing me to buy two completely different models when I found them online at amazing prices -- I now have to go return one to Kohl's this week.) But she was sitting in my room this morning, getting ready for preschool, when she suddenly changed her mind about all things Christmas:

"You know Mom, Sarajayne has a bathroom kinda like mine!"
"That's great Annie."
"Yeah, except it's a little different. There's like this outlines and a round thing and some carpet in places."
"Um, OK. A rug?"
Suddenly serious, "I like her bathroom a lot better! Tell Santa that is what I want for Christmas! A bathroom like Sarajayne's!"
"Um, Annie . . . Santa doesn't typically remodel bathrooms for Christmas presents. We can get a new rug if you want . . . "
"I want it like Sarajayne's . . . except, it might be hard for Santa to get some of the stuff out . . . OK Mom, he can leave the bathtub, but everything else should be like Sarajayne's! Oh, and I'd want a sink still. I could still have a sink right?"
"Um . . . I don't think Santa's going to give you a new bathroom . . . and yeah, we'll keep the sink . . ."

Dear FedEx

Dear FedEx,

Usually, you make my day. Your big truck pulling up, your driver ringing my door bell in some magical way that makes it sound so much louder than normal and making me jump, then leaving me some awesome goody on the front porch. I wave excitedly as your big truck drives away at a speed that's probably endangering many of the approximately four thousand kids who live in my neighborhood.

Usually, FexEx, you and I are on good terms. But see, I ordered this new blender last week. I don't like the one I have, it makes craptacular smoothies, and I'm on a smoothie kick. My old blender leaves big chunks of frozen peaches. I'm pregnant, so therefore am not exactly known for my patience. So even though it's only been a few days since I placed my order, I've already started to stalk your website to see when my smoothie making blender will arrive.

November 20th?! Seriously? I mean, I'm sure you're not in any big hurry to get my my blender, but for it to take that much longer than the Postal Service, it almost seems like you're going out of your way to get it here as slowly as possible. Like Pony Express speed. Or, you're giving my blender a multi-stop tour of the country's heartland? I personally think you are taking your own sweet time, possibly having some employee walk my package across one of those large, flat middle states.

That November 20th date better just be someone's horribly inaccurate estimation, 'cause three weeks to get a blender that's already left the warehouse is a cruel, horrible joke to play on a pregnant woman who just wants her morning smoothie with flax seed.

Sincerely,
Grumpy Smoothie-less Pregnant Woman



Unrelated,

Dear PBS & "Super Why"

I forgot how much I loved you, since Annie's been out of a "Super Why" phase for well over a year now.
But Ellie just sat through an entire episode. She enthusiastically waved at and shrieked at the television in a participatory way. It was adorable. And I got my bedroom floor vacuumed.
Thanks "Super Why!" I expect that the next year will find us close friends again!

Take Care,
Neglectful Mother Who's Happy Her 18 Month Old Finally Found Something That Interests Her on Television for More than 45 Seconds

Seriously!? SERIOUSLY!?

Just got back from the doctor's with Annie.

Her nighttime cough is croup, and we've started steroid treatment and upped her asthma medicine.

The most shocking thing though -- she has double ear infections. Again. AGAIN! We just had ear infections diagnosed exactly two weeks ago today, then we went in for a check up this Tuesday and her ears were declared perfectly clear, and now today I'm told she's walking around with two infected ears again. Since Tuesday.

Which means she gets bumped up to the 'next step' in antibiotics. We're on to Omnicef now. Reading the 'most common side effects' list is horrific.

This has been a long week.

I'm tired. So is Annie, she fell asleep before we were even out of the hospital's parking lot after her appointment today. That's only her second nap since getting sick back on Sunday.

Santa

Talking about Christmas presents last night raised some fundamental Santa questions from our three year old.

Santa's living conditions were the main point of interest. There were various ways of trying to explain to Annie the basics of where Santa lives, including some Google Image searches for 'North Pole' (word of caution: beware nearly nude pictures of Santas under such a search).

After awhile, Annie finally summed up her understanding as such: "So, he lives at the North Pole. Which is kinda like the top of the head of the whole Earth." Yep, sure. Top of the Earth's head.

This has raised lots of questions. Yes, Annie, your cousin Connor lives far away too. No, not as far away as Santa. I don't know why Santa likes to live so far away from everyone else, he just has a lot of work to get done. I don't know why the reindeers think it's fun to play in snow. I don't know if reindeers like to eat snow or not. I don't know if Santa throws snowballs at the elves. If he does, I'm sure they're all just playing. No, we can't drive there, we'd have to go through too much snow. Yeah, it'll all make more sense when you're older.

Big Sister 2

Annie is always fairly convinced she's the boss. Most especially of Ellie. But it seems with the adults in the house being under the weather, she's really stepped it up this last few days.
My favorite 'parenting' done by Annie today:
"Ellie, you have 10 seconds to stop doing that, [pause] 9, 8, 7 . . . "

Also, random, but earlier today Annie told me she was "playing hypothesizing". Um, what's hypothesizing Annie? "Just thinkin' about stuff . . . "

Sick Days

What do you do with a three year old, who despite a hacking cough, has more energy than every other sickly person in the home combined? You turn to YouTube. Seriously, it's a lifesaver.
Annie and I have been watching Alvin and the Chipmunk videos for most of an hour now. I can lay here in the chair, dying, and she can sit on my lap and watch movie clips. It's a perfect system.






Oh, and Greg's coming home from work right now. This stuff hits in shifts, y'all. You think you're better, or close to it, then you find out how sorely mistaken you were.

Edited to add: This morning, I woke up feeling crappy, but not the worst I've felt by a long shot. I laid in bed, and thought briefly, "I should go grab something to eat before the girls get up." But, I felt icky, an decided I'd just lay there for a bit, until I felt a bit better. It just kept getting worse though, I was feeling sicker and sicker.
After about ten minutes it finally hit me: "Idiot! It's morning sickness! Not the flu!" Here I was waiting to feel better before going to get something to eat, when I wasn't going to start feeling better 'til I got something in my stomach! Genius!

Big Sister

I came upstairs while the girls were playing to get a little graphics work done, when I suddenly heard Annie 'herding' her little sister up the stairs towards me.
From the stairwell, "Ellie. Ellie! Go up the stairs. No, Ellie. Go UP! The stairs. No. Up the stairs. Just go up. Ellie. No. Just go up. [long pause] Ellie, I'm getting angry now, look at me, my face is angry."
Ellie giggles.
Annie, exasperated, "Ellie! Angry is not funny, it is serious!"


A few minutes later, Ellie had been crawling all over my poor, achy body, at one point causing me to kinda yelp out in pain. Annie glared at her little sister, then turned to me and said sympathetically, "I'm thinking that 'cause Ellie does stuff to hurt you a lot, we should've just had a boy."

Swine Flu: Round 2

I apparently opened my big mouth too soon, being all, "Wow, that wasn't bad at all!" I wasn't ready for the flu to hit in waves! Annie was nearly symptom free all day yesterday, she had a doctor look at her who declared her perfectly healthy looking. But what did my girls do all. night. long? Cough. All night. Coughing. It was horrific, and I'm so tired, and I couldn't sleep and they coughed all night long. All night, people!
Now I have horrible thoughts about pneumonia and stuff floating around my sleepless brain. I'm hoping today goes well . . .

We've Been Swined

So, Sunday was the day of high fevers -- 103.5 for Annie, 102.7 for Ellie. Annie was more chill, happy to watch movies and lay around all day. She even napped. And that's saying something. Ellie was somehow high on the virus, and literally spent up to 5 minutes at a time jumping on the bed. It was odd. There was running, singing, dancing and jumping almost nonstop from our fiery one year old. Both girls fevers would come down with medicine, neither was listless, so I wasn't too worried.

Monday, spiking fevers, but not quite as high. Greg was sick now too, and home from work. He slept more than all the rest of us combined. (I actually added zero day time sleep to that total. Annie napped on Sunday, but wasn't 'sick enough anymore' to possibly nap on Monday. Ellie did take three crappy naps rather than her normal two crappy naps. So he slept like a million times more than the rest of us.) Annie was much more energetic. Ellie was still in Energizer Bunny mode. I started to feel a little sore and achy in the evening. And I was starting to cough. Crap.

Tuesday, Greg was sick in the morning, but by afternoon was feeling much better. Which was good, 'cause our girls were feverless and fancy free, and he did all the important stuff like heat up lunch and change diapers, while I laid in bed afraid to move for fear of it bringing on another coughing fit that made my chest burn and caused an asthma attack. Oddly, I never got a fever. Ellie was grumpier though, and pulling on her ears. So, after a few days at home with kids with swine flu, we finally felt the need to go to the doctors office. Turns out her ears are fine, she might just have a headache (I know I do.) Keep up the tylenol, etc. Our doctor 'officially' diagnosed us all with H1N1, and informed us that for all children under two they've automatically been treating with anti-viral drugs, but since we hadn't brought Ellie in when she was more symptomatic, they wouldn't bother with it now. I told her that since Ellie never stopped dancing and hopping during her fever, I'd never really been that worried. Both girls are starting to cough a bit more, which breaks my heart 'cause I know how bad it hurts, but nothing that even causes them to catch their breaths. Later in the evening, I had a bout of morning sickness. That sucked. Nausea combined with overall body aching and coughing fits just seems entirely unfair. But, I really can't complain too much, 'cause my big fear of getting swine flu was getting a high fever while in my first trimester. Our doctor was shocked that I had all the other symptoms, but not the most common: high fever. I'm chalking this one up to a blessing, and just being grateful.

All in all, swine flu was easier than I'd feared. We've all made it through (or about through) no worse for wear. Annie'll have to stay home frome dance on Wednesday, and Preschool on Thursday, but I'm thinking by the end of the week, we should be back among the living!

Edited to add: The biggest shock from the doctor's appointment was that our little Ellie weighed in at over 20 lbs! We'd been at the doctor's just 11 days ago for her double ear infections, and in the last 11 days while having both the flu and being on antibiotics, she somehow managed to put on a very unexpected 1/2 pound! Her doctor had been convinced she wouldn't hit the magical '20 pound mark' until after the 18 month checkup (which is later this month.) Yay Chunker!

The Last of the Halloween Pictures. I Promise.

This was at our Ward Trunk or Treat party, Annie and Sarajayne were making the rounds with their Daddies.

Warming up inside with hot chocolate!

Ellie wanting more hot chocolate (Mom wasn't very nice and gave her a pretty empty cup.)

Ellie was much grumpier than Sarajayne's mellow little sister Kate.

Here's Ellie with some random bits of chocolate on her face.

An excited Annie (with a very smeared face painted star on her cheek).

On Halloween Day, we got together and made Haunted Gingerbread Houses. Uncle Cody, and his girlfriend Taylor, were devouring their roofs once they realized it wasn't staying on.
And Cody painted his face with black icing. He's odd like that.

Annie and I with our nearly completed Gingerbread House. Notice the ever growing gap between the two pieces of the roof. It finally slid off about 15 seconds after this picture was taken.
We all may have been a bit impatient in not letting the icing dry before we got to decorating . . .

Here's my girls right before we went out trick or treating! My two little pumpkins.

Annie and Aunt Talina swappin' attitude or something.

Out on the front porch waiting for our friends to come over!

Daddy and an excitedly surprised Ellie.

Ellie happily turned herself blue with this sucker for the next block or two.

Annie and Sarajayne going from house to house. I only have a few pictures of their friend Kian with them, because he was a real go getter and ran from door to door. The girls were a bit more laid back. Annie was practically a snail.

At Grandma's house later that evening, playing with Ellie's favorite Dracula doll.

Here's Annie on Halloween night when she finally fell asleep. With a ton of glow sticks brightly shining on her wrists. You could see the glow from outside her room in the hall.

So happy, and healthy looking. Amazing they both woke up just hours later with raging fevers!


Here they both are first thing in the morning on Sunday.
Ellie perked up really quickly, Annie looked like this for most of the morning and early afternoon. But now they're both really happy and hyper. As long as the tylenol is keeping their fevers below 102.5 or so.

Here they are on Monday morning. Ellie's rockin' some exceptionally good bedhead.

Happily playing the computer together.