Merry Christmas to all..and then some...

Happy holidays! We're back from our trip to NJ to celebrate Christmas with the family. As usual, it took us forever to make the trip because of traffic and bathroom trips. The way up took us about 6 hours (including a 20 minute bathroom stop for C, and 45 minute dinner break). Luckily I had the foresight to send most of our presents up with my inlaws so we weren't cramped on the way up. The way back was a completely different story. Alas, I'm getting ahead of myself. Here's a rundown of our week:

• C and M had a blast playing with Aunt C (J's sister) who was in from CA. We only see her twice a year, so it's one of the main reasons we head up for Christmas. C really remembers her so she was over the moon to see her, but M was a little resistant. She warmed up the next morning and had a blast from there.
• C and I arrived to NJ with allergy/cold issues. Both of us were pretty miserable the first day or two, but recovered. J and M seemed fine for a while, but are getting it now.
• C was able to see her friend Sophie who moved away this summer. To say the girls were excited to see each other was an understatement. They were adorable together. We met up for lunch and then headed to a local B&N to let them play a bit. They sat and read books which was just soo cute. Pictures from that will come...
• Christmas Eve was insane as always. The festivities started around 2 pm at my inlaws and by 4, the kids had opened presents. Early, yes but they were running around in circles so it gave them something to do. C enjoyed everything she got and loved playing with her cousins. By the time we headed over to my mom's house at 7, it was another story. Both girls were fried and acting up. Moral of the story: one Christmas Eve for us from now on.
• Santa came in with a bang on Christmas morning. Both girls LOVED all the presents and excitement. While I didn't get pictures, I have video that I'm going to edit and post. The biggest hits were C's Barbie dolls and M's Little People Garage. They are still opening new toys at home and loving it. I ,on the other hand, am trying to figure out what to do with all of them!
• Aunt C and I made a Rice Krispie house instead of the traditional gingerbread. It was much easier to build (thicker pieces) but harder to decorate since the surface was uneven. We all loved to eat the "debris" though! :)

I think those are the highlights from the trip. The week also included family drama, bad weather, and a trip to the ER. Yup, that's right...the ER. M was running a 104 fever on Wednesday so I called our pediatrician and she wanted us to get checked out. The dr. at the ER said it's probably viral and M seems to be feeling better today. She's back to eating, so I'm taking that as a good sign.

The trip home took over 9 hours which was horrendous. The weather was bad, the traffic through Nj was worse, and M was running a fever the whole time. To say we will never travel the day after Christmas again is an understatement.

So there you go...the holiday according to us. Hope you all had a wonderful one and a happy new year!

Procrastination at it's finest...

Yup, that's me procrastinating. You see I should be getting ready to get on the road and head up to NJ, but instead I'm writing this blog. I'm tired, correction exhausted, as my kids were up from 4:30-6 am. I then had to dash out the door by 9:30 am to go get bloodwork. Now it's time to pack. Or is it??

I realized that I neglected to provide M's 18 month update. Bad Mommy, I know. So, here you go...



M had her checkup last Thursday while I was in bed recovering from a stomach virus. Her stats are as follows:

Weight: 25 lbs. 3 ozs.
Height: 33 1/2 inches

She says the following:

• Please
• Thank You
• Welcome
• Mommy
• Daddy
• Mema
• Pepa
• Mimi
• Samby (Sammy)
• Tubby
• Cup
• Drink
• Cat
• Kitty
• Milo
• Baby
• Puppy
• Birdie
• Monkey
• Boots
• Dora
• Diego
• Super Why
• Show
• TV
• Pancakes
• Bagel
• Dip
• Carrot
• Yummy
• Roni (Macaroni)/Pasta
• Yes
• Ok
• No
• Let GO!!
• Stop It!!
• Get Down
• Done
• Cleanup
• Nose
• Eyes
• Ears
• Mouth
• Teeth
• Tongue
• Cheek
• Chin
• Head
• Hair
• Buckle
• Open/Close
• Up
• On/Off

There are a ton more but that's all I can think of right now. She can sing "Twinkle, twinkle", "See Saw", "Cleanup", "Go to Sleep", and "ABC's". She's running, trying to jump, and loves to dance and spin. Overall she's really happy all the time. She's just started throwing tantrums when she gets mad. Fun, right?

Her sleeping is still being worked on, but we'll be dealing with that after the holidays. Ok, enough procrastination. Off to pack. Hope you all have a wonderful holiday!!

Winter Wonderland Recital

C's recital was Saturday. I haven't had a chance to put the video online yet, but here are some pictures from the day. This is the best one. The called C's name and she ran across the stage. Unfortunately, her tutu decided not to stay on her hips...

Here she is shaking her thing. She was a Rockin' Rudolph and danced to "Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer".
To say the whole thing was hilarious was an understatement. It is truly the best money I spend. I get the whole mommy pride thing going as well as sore sides from laughing! Her teachers really do a wonderful job at preparing the kids, but the kids have their own agendas. Here's one little girl deciding to take a "seat":

She wound up sitting down right on the end of the stage. Priceless!! I'll post the video once it's up.

Catching up

It's been a busy December here so far. We've been busily decorating and preparing for the holidays. Miss C had her school concert on Tuesday which was really cute. I'm going to try get some up on the computer and will post it once I do. Now we are busy in preparation for this weekend. C has her winter dance recital on Saturday which also means our house will be overflowing with out of town guests. Time to clean!! :)

To make this week a little crazier, I got hit in the parking lot of a church right before C's concert. Luckily no one was hurt, and I'm hoping the damage is minimal (seems like my mirror was the only casualty), but it's a pain to deal with. We're heading up to NJ next week, so I don't have a ton of time to get this done. Oh well...just need to get through this week, right??

We'll be taking some pictures tonight in the hopes of getting one in front of our tree we can use for our cards. I'll (hopefully) have a great shot to post on here later.

A visit with Santa and other things...

On Sunday we headed to our local mall for a "Breakfast with Santa". Boy, what a rip off!! I paid $30 (M was free) for the four of us to go for breakfast and a visit with Santa. I thought there would be pancakes, etc...but it was actually nothing more than a 2 star quality hotel continental breakfast. Meaning there was fruit, tiny bagels, tiny danishes, and munchkins. Yippee!! Needless to say we all left starving from the ordeal, but Miss C was ecstatic that she got to sit with Santa. As you can see, Miss M didn't feel the same...

By Wednesday, M was acting really crabby and had a snotty nose so off to the doctor, and in a snowstorm no less, we went. Turns out she had a sinus infection that backed up into her ears so she's on a course of antibiotics. Hopefully she'll be all healthy before the holidays!

'Tis the Season

Well, tomorrow marks the beginning of the holiday season for us. You see as I mentioned here I refuse to start decorating or celebrating Christmas until Dec. 1st. So far I'm hanging on to my timeline. Miss C is a little dismayed that we don't have our tree up or the house decorated yet, but I'm sticking to my guns. I have to take a stand somewhere right???

With this weekend marking the beginning of December, I will now allow us to make a head first plunge into decorating, shopping, etc. So how will we begin? A visit to Santa? Throwing up lights around the house? Nope. I'm starting with cleaning. My kids have entirely too many toys and books and such, so there is no room for all the loot that will be had on Christmas. This weekend I will be conducting our annual purge where I will give away toys and books. I'm not sure how the kids will handle it, but I've already talked to Miss C. about giving to kids who aren't as lucky to have as many toys as her. She liked it in theory, we'll see how it goes once we put it into practice.

Yesterday I had a visit with a woman in my mom's group that I've become friends with. Yes sir, I made a friend! WOOHOO! ;) I went over to her house and while Miss C and her daughter played I was able to get my talk on. At one point we were talking about Christmas and what to get and she brought up an article she had read about rewarding kids with toys. According to this article, it said by rewarding children with toys starting at a small age, you're setting them up for wanting things all the time, or becoming spoiled. Ok...so what to do? I totally don't want my children to be spoiled brats in their tween years demanding whatever BFF has at the time, but how do you handle it now? Especially when our family LOVES to spoil my girls?? Honestly, I don't know the answer but we're trying a few things:

1. C has to earn things. We have a star chart and when she reaches the goal, she gets a gift that she wants. I'm kind of equating this to a chore chart, except instead of getting allowance, she gets something she wants. The more money it costs, the more stars she earns.

2. I've been putting away gifts each girl gets for birthdays, etc and giving them some throughout the year. I mean honestly they get so overwhelmed by the sheer amount of stuff they get, are they really going to notice if their stash is light a few items?

3. We're donating things they don't use anymore. I've only done this once before, but as I mentioned this is going to now be part of our Christmas tradition. I'm hoping this will help show the girls how lucky they are and teach them compassion for those who are not as fortunate.

So that's my plan for hopefully avoiding future feelings of entitlement and brattiness. Anyone else have good ideas for this?

The long and winding week...

Happy belated Thanksgiving to all of you! I had planned on posting over the week, but the insanity of it got the better of me. I don't even have any pictures to share!! I know, bad mommy...

We were in NJ from last Tuesday until yesterday. We hadn't planned on staying up that long but between family drama and J being sick, we stayed up there. The trip was supposed to be relaxing, minus actual Thanksgiving day, but it turned out anything but. Here's a glimpse of our week:

Tuesday - Arrived at 9 pm. Kids wound up from the drive and don't crash until after 10 pm. M wakes up at 3, and then again at 7 am for the day.

Wednesday - Kids up early but I took advantage of J being home and went back to bed. Woke up sometime after 9 am and get a call from my aunt about my mom. Spend the whole day dealing with that and don't get back home until sometime after 6pm. Kids in bed around 8, but M is again up all night. J begins to not feel well.

Thursday - Thanksgiving Day. Wake up early with the girls and the smell of turkey already in the oven. J is complaining about his head not feeling right. Both girls are cranky because of lack of sleep. Put M down for an early nap which I come to regret later. Spend the day eating and around 8 pm see the look on J's face meaning we need to leave. By 9 pm he's running a 102 degree fever. Spend the night tossing and turning, checking on J and getting woken up by M.

Friday - Black Friday. I had plans on venturing out this year, but between my lack of sleep and no noteworthy sales I decide not to go. J is still running a fever and both girls slept poorly again.

And on and on it goes... Monday I took J to the doctor's where he was told he had a virus. Great, thanks. He seems to be feeling better today, aside from a sore throat. Since M already had this, I'm waiting to see if C and I get it. Guess time will tell...

Now I know some of you may be wondering what the family drama is. I want to share, just not sure how to right now. You see, I've never advertised this blog to my family as I had started it for myself, to give me a place to vent. Given the nature of the internet I'm not sure who is reading this, if anyone...lol. Anyway, I don't want to violate anyone's privacy and I'm not sure I'm ready to vent about it anyway. So you can expect more on that later...

Ok...off to get this day going. Hope you all had a better Thanksgiving than we did!!

Sleep, where art thou?

I am a mom and so by definition I am tired ALL the time. Add to that my gimp thyroid and I go from tired to exhausted in about 2 seconds flat. Recently my exhaustion has hit a whole new level. Enter Miss M. M has not slept consistently through the night in at least a month. I'm starting to feel the haze I lived in during her newborn/reflux months. I'm not sure the real cause of it yet. You see, she's gotten and still is getting teeth, has been sick, we've been traveling, missing naps, etc. But now we have reached a whole new level of it. It's now become that M is waking up at 2 am because she wants attention. Yup, to be entertained in the middle of the night, and what is more entertaining then seeing me scramble it trying to locate her baby/blanket/pacifier or whatever else will get her back to sleep.

Last night (actually the wee hours of this morning) we had one of those incidents. M woke up at 2 am just as I had gotten to sleep (out late for a movie and then talking with J). I went in there and she threw a fit. Literally. She threw everything out of her bed and was yelling at me. So what did I do? Closed her door and went back in my room and freaked out because I've reached my absolute exhaustion point. J promptly woke up and went in there and rocked her for about 15 minutes. No sooner is he back in here than I here M kicking her bed. I chose to ignore it and at 3:45 am she started crying again. I had given her some more tylenol at 2:30 just in case it was the teeth monster that was bothering her. So, I checked on her and then left. 2 minutes later I didn't hear a peep.

So what have I learned from this?

1. I need to buy ear plugs so that I don't jump out of bed and race in there at every noise with the speed that rivals an Olympic runner.

2. I need to get rid of the pacifier. I have been putting it off and putting it off, but it's time. I think part of her waking is because she drops it behind her bed or out the side of it. So I need to start that after Thanksgiving because I don't want to hear it from my family when she's screaming for it.

3. She really is ok and I can't let her cry for a few minutes.

4. As much as M is the cause of my exhaustion, I'm training her to do this.

So we will enter Sleep Bootcamp #2. We did Bootcamp #1 with C and it worked. Took a few weeks, but she got through it and we got more sleep. Time to start again. Does anyone have any words of encouragement or tips? Or maybe a strong cup of coffee??

I'll post updates once Bootcamp begins...wish us luck (and sleep!).

Sick, sick again...

Last Friday I ventured out sans kids or hubby to a crop night at a local scrapbooking store. I haven't gone out aside from a grocery store run without my offspring in longer than I care to remember, so I was really excited. On top of that, I decided that I was going to spend the time working on an albulm I want to give my grandfather for Christmas. So as you can see I was understandably psyched to go.

A little after midnight I dragged my tired butt home to find out that Miss M. had been running a fever. She was up almost all night which meant no sleeping for me as well. After two trips to the dr's on Saturday and then again on Monday, she's finally on the mend. She was officially diagnosed with a virus. Fever is gone but she's still acting cranky. I think it's caused by teeth more than anything else right now, but we will see.

I hate this time of the year for illness. At almost 18 months, C started a series of ear infections that led to her getting tubes. Miss M has already had her fair share, and the dr. has already said she's on the road to see an ENT before the winter is out. Hopefully she'll make it through ear infection free!!

Bah Humbug!!!

Yes, I am officially a Grinch. I've noticed every year how stores start the Christmas season early and earlier. At first, it was right around Thanksgiving, then it was Veteran's Day, now...it was out before freaking Halloween!!! WTH?? Next year I'll be getting Caitlin's school supplies and buying tinsel at the same time?!?

Some may say I'm completely overreacting to some early holiday tidings, but it's not just that at all. Sure, I can't take Christmas lights up before December 1st but I know that's my personal pet peeve. What's bothering me is why are we rushing it? Why are we preparing for a holiday that is months away? Are our lives so busy that we need to multitask even holiday shopping right now? Buy a pumpkin and get a Christmas wreath for free??

I've recently discovered (well really admitted) that I am running, no sprinting through my life. Who made me realize this? My precocious first born, Miss C. I believe her exact words as I was rushing to get somewhere were, "Slow down Mommy! I can't move this fast!!" And she's right. She can't move that fast and neither can I without feeling like I'm shooting up crack. So the moral of this story is...SLOW DOWN!! Enjoy each moment even if you are running late, because you're running past precious moments in your life. In my case this means I need to wake up earlier or prepare more the night before so we don't have to rush, but I think it will be worth it. End of public service message...

Happy Halloween!

Here are some Halloween pictures. Both girls had a great time!!

Here is C posing with our pumpkins. Yes, that is a Cinderella pumpkin next to her...















Here is one of the girls with J. C is doing this smiling with her head up thing that we can't stop. Oh well...

No big surprise that C was another princess this year for Halloween. I figure by the time she's 8 we'll probably have each and every one. I was going to dress M up as a black cat, Flounder (with C being Ariel), or Tinkerbell, but she kept yelling "MICKEY!!!" at the Disney store, so I took that as a hint. Luckily, I had a costume from C's second Halloween and just had to buy some ears. Nice, huh??

Cox Farms

Since Blogger decided not to let me post more pictures in my last post, here are some shots of our day at Cox Farms on Sunday:


Here is C on the pony ride.








Here M is enjoying her apple.

I'll post some pictures from trick or treating tomorrow. Happy Halloween!!

Halloween Fun

Saturday we hit up Boo at the Zoo which was held at the National Zoo. We had a great time especially since our friends from Richmond came up. Here's a shot of C and her buddy.

Unfortunately, our camera died right after that but our friends got some. I'll post one once I get it.

Sunday we headed out to Cox Farms for their Fall Festival which was a ton of fun. C enjoyed a pony ride and M loved the apples!!

Today was C's school parade. Here is a quick shot of that.

Thank you, thank you

Just a little prayer from the mouth of Miss C...

"Thank you for our food and friends, thank you, thank you, Armens."

:)

The Great Pumpkin

Monday the girls and I headed to a local pumpkin farm. We had a great time. There were hayslides, a hay ride, petting zoo, and fresh apples and apple cider! The weather was beautiful and the girls really enjoyed the morning.

After running around for a while, we went to head out and grab our pumpkins. My kids seem to have a strange attraction to pumpkins. Could it be because I loved to eat pumpkin muffins while I was pregnant with both of them?? They both treat the pumpkin like it is a new member of the family. Let's start with Miss C's story...

C got her first pumpkin at school last week. They did a cute little hayride to the other side of the school where a local farm provided pumpkins for all the kids. C was so excited to show off her pumpkin when she got in the car. When we brought it home, she immediately sat it down at her little table and ate lunch with it. Ok...strange right? Well, it doesn't end here. Her princess dolls had to play and talk with the pumpkin, and get this, the pumpkin talks back?!? She wanted to know where the pumpkin would sleep and what it eats. After several discussions of how the pumpkin is not a person, I decided to approach it another way. Why not decorate the pumpkin? So, armed with a white crayon, black paper, scissors and tape, I let C draw a face and then cut it out herself and tape it to the pumpkin. Let me tell you, it was cute. If I had known it was going to come off so quickly, I would have taken a picture right then and there. Well no sooner are we done, then Miss C starts a complete OCD meltdown about how we HAD to take it off the pumpkin. I was able to convince her to leave it on long enough for Daddy to see it, but she would not go to bed until it was off. So nakey pumpkin it is...

With Miss M, it's not so much a person, but she loves it. As in hugs and kisses, won't put it down love it. She insisted on having it in the stroller, her carseat, and then had a complete meltdown when it wasn't allowed in the tub!! So M's pumpkin has moved outside. Mean?? I did go out and get her a cute felt trick or treat bag that's a pumpkin so she has that, and then some of those tiny pumpkins to carry around. See, I'm not completely heartless! ;)

So I ask you...are my kids weird or what?? Are they the only ones with this extreme obsession to the pumpkins??

Ignorance is bliss??

I apologize for not updating sooner...I've been out of town for family reasons. To catch up, I went to the doctor late Wednesday afternoon and found out that my thyroid is screwy. I'm relieved to say the least, but it's still not resolved. You see, right now I have hyperthyroidism which means my thyroid is in overdrive. It gives me lovely side effects such as nonstop shaking, dizziness, fatigue, stomach issues, anxiety, and all kinds of other lovely things.

The normal course of treatment for this is to take medication to help suppress the hormones the thyroid puts out there. My doctor has not prescribed anything for me yet as she ordered more tests. One is a blood test to see if it's a virus that's causing my thyroid issues and the other is a nuclear thyroid scan. Sounds fun, right? Well, I got the blood test done today, so one down...but the scan is another story. I have to wait for my &*@# insurance company to authorize the test, and who knows how long that will take. Such a pain!

So, me being who I am came home from my appointment last week and immediately looked up what my thyroid is doing and the possible causes. I'm hoping it's just genetics (as every woman on my mom's side has a thyroid issue) and not some of the others. The scan is going to check for nodules which should be nothing if I have them, but there's always that chance that it's something more. So now I'm left wondering...was I better off before I knew what was going on? Was it better to worry about the way I was feeling or now worry as to the cause?? I guess time will tell...

Busy weekend and phone calls...

We had a busy weekend catching up around here. This was the first weekend in a while that we've been home without something major to do. So what did we do? CLEAN!! Yup, cleaned, organized, and even made a trip to IKEA. So much for relaxing, but at least the house is cleaner!

This morning I finally got the phone call regarding my blood work and of course I wasn't here to get it. When I called back, they told me I need to come in to discuss the test results. When was the earliest I could get in?? WEDNESDAY!! And of course I got the last appointment of the day! Ugh! I have to sit in misery until then. I'm hoping and praying it's nothing, but the wait is KILLING me. I'm not a very patient person to begin with, but this is agony!

I'm expecting it to be one of 4 things: thyroid (all the women on my mom's side have issues), blood sugar (again HUGE family history), vitamin D deficiency, or cholesterol. I'm trying to focus on those things because they are all treatable, and easily handled. I'm trying to stay positive because I mean, after all, if it was really, really bad the doctor would have called me herself...right?!?

I'll update as soon as I know for sure...

Scared

Waiting for impending bloodwork has made me impatient and grouchy. Last week I had a pretty severe reaction to some antibiotics and other medications I have been taking for my sinus/ear issues. I went in for a checkup with my doctor and she recommended bloodwork to make sure nothing else is the culprit. While I have slowly started to feel better since stopping the meds, I'm still anxious that I'm going to get a call from my doctor that something else is wrong.

The truth of the whole matter is that I'm just scared. The last things any of us needs is for me to be sick. Going home this weekend didn't help. It's hard to leave someplace where I have so much support, to go back here where I'm alone. God forbid something is truly wrong, I'm not sure how we will cope. I know somehow we will, because we have to right? Life cannot stop and lord knows, the girls definitely won't!

In the meantime I'll be waiting, albeit not patiently for the phone to ring. Hopefully I'll be back soon with good news.

M's First Haircut

On Saturday we took M for her first "official" haircut. I had been trimming her bangs at home while the rest of her hair grew, but it was time. She was excellent during the whole thing. She barely moved and didn't cry at all. Big change from C's first cut which she screamed through the whole thing.

Here are some pictures of the event:

















When she first got her bangs cut, she looked at me like, "Look Mom...I can see!"

Afternoon at the Circus

Today we took the girls to see the Big Apple Circus. If you've never seen it, you really should. It's how the circus should be...under one big tent. Both kids loved it although M got a little restless at times and took some walks. She loved the puppies and the acrobats, as well as the lights. C said her favorite part was the horses.

We tried to take some pictures at it, but honestly they are all bad! LOL! It was really difficult trying to get both kids to not only look at the camera, but also smile with all the other stuff to look at. Oh well, maybe next year!