Weekend roundup and someone's getting glasses

Where to even begin? It's been a super busy weekend!

Saturday morning, Kate had an eye appointment. She had been complaining that she couldn't see, and after she wrote down on paper what it was like to read the microwave clock, I made an appointment. You may remember her appt. with a different optometrist in August that said she had a focusing issue and sent us to get a pair of cheap readers. We're still scratching our heads on that one. Anyway, come to find out, she's quite nearsighted! All three tests strongly showed this and agreed with Kate's complaints. It really came full-circle when he found her prescription with the machine and turned off the "power." She could not see the letters on the wall, and they were big! He told her that was how she saw without correction, flipped it back on and showed her what it would be like with glasses. Wow! She was so used to it, that she didn't realize how bad she actually saw until then. And she just saw another optometrist in August that said she was fine... Her new dr. has NO clue why they told us what they did! She brought 3 frames home to get opinions and overwhelmingly chose a very stylish and cool pair! I have to take them back in tomorrow and get them ordered. She can't wait!

Granny and Pa returned from Florida Thursday, so we spent the entire afternoon out there Saturday. Seth, Diana, and Glen were there, so the kids had a blast playing together! They were worn out when we got home! Then we went back this afternoon and they got to play with Glen again. Needless to say, it was a very busy weekend, but very fun! Glen is such a cutie! Last night, he was getting kind of ornery toward the end and started dumping his sippy. Pa was downstairs with the kids and we hear him getting onto Glen. Seth went to get him and when he brought him back, he asked Glen if he was in trouble: "I'm not in trouble. I'm OK." Such a sweetie! I can't wait to see what litte Cooper is like!

Reverend Christopher

Folks, I am now officially a preacher's wife.

Christopher came home from work last night and handed me an email to read. I caught on right away: Rev. Christopher S., "Reverend Christopher?" thinking it was some kind of mistake. But no. My husband found a site online where he could become an ordained minister and decided he could add that one to his list of titles. I laughed hysterically! My husband, a minister! Seriously, I never thought I'd see the day- he's a Christian and all, but he's just not the minister type! He says he can officially marry people and perform funerals, etc. I told him he could marry Kelby and Tasha should they decide to go for it, but he said he doubts he'll ever put it to use. He should be getting his official license in the mail soon. Priceless!

He also said that he found a site that for $25, he could get an official doctorate of the universe degree. Oh. My. Word. Now that just seems wrong! Becoming an ordained minister is one thing. A doctorate of the universe? That's just weird- and a waste of money. At least the minister bit was free!

On the mend

After 24+ hours on the Biaxin and Cipro drops, Mr. P is feeling much better. I find it so amazing that this infection has been virtually painless! Thank goodness for tubes! He's clear to go to school tomorrow, although he's not too thrilled- he enjoyed being home with me! And like mother like son, my ears are full, especially the bad one. The one with the tube has been "bubbling" all day, presumably from air going in. I'm a bit stubborn, though, and haven't started on my drops. I really wish Dr. S would've been able to put the bigger tube in. Next time (I don't see one set curing my lifelong plague) I'll tell him to shove with all his might to get the bigger one through my scarred up eardrum.

Which reminds me, I need to schedule my follow-up.

Trip to the dr.

Preston started complaining about his ear early Monday morning when he woke up crying in pain. I gave him drops and Tylenol and he seemed fine when he went to school. He came home complaining that it hurt when he yawned, so I continued the drops figuring that he had an infection. Not so fun when you have tubes and shouldn't get infections...

Fast forward to 4:30 this morning when he woke up again in tears, this time his throat hurting and running a 101 temp. When he woke up for the day, he was still complaining about his throat, so I looked and findhis tonsils covered in white spots. Great... We went to the dr. and the strep test came back negative despite the throat full of white junk. But his right ear is very infected and is draining from the tube. Nice... They put his on Biaxin since it's the only thing that clears his ears (even that's not always the case) and we continue with the Ciprodex drops. If the 24 hr. strep test comes back positive, the Biaxin will cover that, too. Poor kid! At least the tube is letting it drain so he's really not complaining of pain in his ear. He takes after his Momma, that's for sure.

There went the sun

After nearly two weeks with absolutely no sun shining, it came out for a brief time this morning! It was so nice! Then, just as quickly as it came, it left and hasn't shown itself again, nor is it supposed to any time this week. Sigh... Is it spring yet?

Last night we had a thunderstorm, the first in a long while, and it was really nice (I love thunderstorms). I was in bed reading and the rain was coming down so hard I almost got up to see if it was hailing. I didn't get up, though. But a thunderstorm meant that it was warm enough to have one. This morning it got up to 51, and that's just fantastic! I know by the end of the week it will be cold and snowy, but just being able to go outside and not freeze is wonderful. I can NOT wait for spring. And in case you're wondering, there are just 7 more weeks until spring!

Where do you shop?

Kelly is having sharing her favorite places to shop with her Show Us Where You Live, so here are my favs!
Ann Taylor Loft is my absolute favorite! Jess turned me on to it a few years ago and I turn there more than any other place. When you're teeny like me, it's HARD to find clothes that fit. Anyone that says being skinny is great... think again! I like being able to go in, find a 00P or XXSP, and know that it will fit. Plus, their girly ruffles and corsage tees are TDF! Chances are, if you see me out and about, anywhere but home, I'm wearing ATL.

I also really like Francesca's. I ordered the cutest coat from there this fall, but it just was too big. I was SO disappointed! I still can't wait to get to the Galleria so I can go in the store. Now that all of the I-64/40 construction is finished, I'll actually be able to get through the city!

Modcloth is another favorite. Isn't this Soda Fountain dress just the cutest? Some of their stuff is a little off the wall, but I really love the vintage look, so I really like a lot of their clothes.

I also like good ol Old Navy and Target as well. Sometimes you can find really cute stuff there! There's this one shirt that I got from ON that I've worn layered all winter and can't wait to wear it along once it's warmer. Plus, their basics can't be beat.

Deal of the day!

I'm a sucker for childrens' bedding. I just love it! For once in your lifetime, you can have some really fun bedding! Preston currently has Company Kids cowboy bedding that he's had since he was 3. I still absolutely LOVE it. We got it because he was really into his boot phase (wait, he still is), and had been wearing his cowboy boots around everywhere with every outfit- even with shorts. It was perfect. It was vintage inspired, and anything vintage is absolutely right up my alley. Preston loved it, too.

Flash forward 3 years. Preston still loves his cowboy boots and wears them every single day. Who needs to learn to tie shoes when you can just wear boots forever? To face reality, my baby is growing up. He'll be 7 in September, and that's a hard reality to swallow. I don't want my baby to grow up! I got to thinking that vintage cowboy is a little babyish for a 7 year old (not that he cares). Plus, although he still adores his boots, he really loves the Beatles. Those of you who are around him any amount of time know exactly how fascinated he is with them. He knows all the lyrics. He can tell you who sings which song. You get the drift...
That's when I found this! When my Land of Nod catalog came and I saw this, I had to get it. Preston got a huge 3x4 foot Beatles poster for Christmas from my Aunt Sherrie that we framed and hung in his room. When he got that poster, he was so proud! It trumped all other gifts he had gotten all day. Who would've thought! So this bedding fit perfectly. And to sweeten the deal, it was in their winter sale for just $24! Where on Earth can you find a comforter for $24, much less LON quality? I am so excited! I ordered it today and plan to tuck it away for his birthday (giving me a few more months to savor the cowboy bedding before it heads to upstairs to be packed away for his son someday). I'm just going to get a navy blue sheet set and sham to go with it because the matching sheets were just too much of the same. I know he's going to love it, and I'll get to have fun re-doing his room. Now, to find some more cool Beatles stuff to decorate with!

Run, Momma, run!

I like to run. I've always liked to run. My grandpa still reminds me of the races we used to have from the house to the dogpen. He'd always run backwards, and he still won. As much as I like to run, I don't like people to see me run, nor do I have time. It's really too cold to go running outside, too. So what's a mom to do? Go use someone else's treadmill! Granny and Pa have a treadmill that never gets used. In fact, just a few months ago, it was at my mom's house, and now it's back at their house. So this morning, armed with Kate's large CD player (because both mp3 players were MIA) and my With the Beatles album, I went to run. It was nice and quiet with them still in Florida, so I was able to turn up my music, look outside over their land, and run. I did more walking than running since I haven't run in a while, but I made it 30 minutes, reaching my goal of making it through "Hold Me Tight." By the end, I was exhausted, but felt great! It really helped me get in the mood to accomplish a lot today. If I wasn't watching Abbie and Issie tomorrow, I'd go back and run some more, but that will have to wait until Friday.

Now, what will I do when they get back in 2 weeks?

Looking back

My mom is cleaning house and came across a bunch of boxes of my old stuff. I went up there this morning to look through them and found a folder of papers I'd written in high school. While most everyone else in my senior class took fluff classes for easy A's their final year, I took elective senior English. Yeah... This first semester was great. It was all creative writing and I loved every minute of it. Writing is one of my favorite things, and boy, was I creative... Each and every paper was quickly thrown out upon reading them. Yikes! How on Earth did I ever choose to write on those subjects (which will remain unmentioned)? And why on Earth did they ever get saved? Times have definitely changed!

The second semester was horrible- classic lit. Oh, how I hated each and every second of classic lit. Beowulf, Gulliver's Travels, and some other very deep and heavy novels. I had to have a tutor. This straight A student could not grasp classic lit, showing my dislike toward reading. How ironic, though, how much I love to write, but dislike reading. Ugh!

Mr. H was my teacher and he to this day is one of my all-time favorites. He retired shortly after I graduated. I can only speculate that after reading my papers, he figured that he'd seen all and read all, leaving nothing else that could ever be new, and retired. Yes, those papers were that interesting (interesting being the only word that I can safely use to describe them).

Weekend wrap-up

Thursday night, Christopher's cousin Aaron called to say that Chloe was coming down with his mom and dad, and wanted to know if Kate wanted to stay with them, or if Chloe could stay with us. We opted for the latter. Debbie brought Chloe over Saturday morning and the kids were thrilled! It's a rare treat when Chloe comes to town since she lives in Dekalb. The kids were so disappointed when they weren't able to make it down for Christmas, so this made up for it!

That afternoon, we went to Ballard's Nature Center in Altamont and the kids really enjoyed their time there. They had just fed the birds, so there were quite a few eating, and a possum even came out of the woods to eat. The kids loved that! The rest of the day was spent playing, and they had movie night and watched Annie. I'm so glad they had fun! They really hated to see her go this morning.

After lunch, we went with mom to spend the afternoon with Seth, Diana, and Glen at their house. When Glen saw Kate, his face lit up! He loves her SO much! They all had fun running around their basement playing and kicking balls! When we all were ready to go to Target and get dinner, they didn't want to go. Seth, Di, and Glen came along too, so that made it better. They liked eating dinner at Red Robin with Glen, too!

Diana is scheduled to have little Cooper March 11, but she's consistently measuring a month ahead. She has another ultrasound the first week in February, and Little C may be coming sooner than we expect! She's 32 weeks, but there's a good chance she may actually be 36 weeks. Wow! It doesn't seem real that he's going to be here so soon- it seems like they just found out!

Tomorrow is a no-school day. Hopefully the kiddos will behave themselves and keep the fighting to a minimum. I already promised them we'd make oatmeal cookies. Not sure what else we'll do to fill the day other than tackle Preston's disastrous closet. I can NOT keep that thing clean!

Six months

Preston had his 6 month re-check with Dr. S today to check on his tubes. Both ears are looking fabulous! Can't ask for anything better than that! He said that unless he takes after me, then he'll only have a 5% chance of needing a 3rd set. Let's see the chances of him not turning out like me with our extensive family history of chronic ear infections/hearing loss. Ha! This set should last another year, which is good- he does SO well with them. The only downside to the bigger tubes is that they don't like to come out on their own. Right now, I'm just thankful that he has been infection-free since July (he did have an infection a month post-op). We'll enjoy the next year infection-free (hopefully) and face removal when that time comes.

Preston wore his Beatles shirt today and that sparked a fun discussion with Dr. S who is also a big Beatles fan. He had some pretty interesting stories and info I hadn't known, so it was neat to talk with someone growing up with them!

Coupons

I'm known as the coupon queen among my family. They know how I am and how excited I get about a good deal! Last week, IGA had their Green Giant steamers on sale for $1. I had 3, 40 cents off coupons, and 2, 50 cents off coupons. With them doubled, I got all 5 bags of veggies for a grand total of 40 cents! Yeah, I like coupons!

A few weeks ago, my beloved organizer started coming unsewn. I contemplated repairing it for weeks. Then I decided to bite the bullet and order one I saw in the coupon insert, thinking it was the same place I'd gotten my current one. Wrongo! What came was too small. I kept it in the closet for weeks, debating whether or not to keep it. I checked Wal-Mart and Target for alternatives and found nothing. I decided to open the new one and it's been a huge regret. HUGE! This thing is so small that most coupons have to be folded over, which is not ideal. It doesn't expand, so it's already stuffed full. Finding coupons in it tonight was terrible. The inserts it came with were standard white paper and completely flimsy. I took the ones out of my old one, cut them, and used them instead.

I have to find a new one. This one cramps my style. I can't whip through this one in the store like I could the old one if I found something on sale but not planned for. Adding coupons to it and planning for the upcoming shopping trips is murder. I'm seriously disliking this thing. As soon as I find an acceptable replacement, this one's going to the garage sale box!

Progress

Tomorrow when I go to Wal-Mart, I'm returning a pack of diapers. In the past 6 years, I have never been able to do that. Why? Because Preston, up until last Friday, has worn diapers to bed. Daytime potty training him was a cinch. He was completely trained and accident-free in 2 weeks. When he was ready, he was ready! Nightime, though, was a different story. He's always been a bedwetter. He sleeps like the perverbial log. Two years ago we had a major hailstorm early one morning. 1 1/4 inch hail came slamming down on our house for almost a full 5 minutes. It sounded like someone was firing rifles continuously. Christopher, Kate and I all jumped out of bed immediately. Preston... he slept through it all. He slept so soundly that he didn't know when he needed to go.

Dr. B has always taken a laid back approach to his bedwetting, as have I. There's no medical condition causing it. He just sleeps too soundly. At some point, he'd be ready, and he'd stay dry. So that's what we've always left it at. That is, until Christopher had his say the other day. He feels that he's too old to be wetting the bed and that there's no excuse for it. So, we decided to try waking him at night to pee. That night, he stayed dry! Yes! Granted, he had to be woken 4 times... We (I) still wake him about 3 times to go, and for the past 3 nights, he's stayed dry! I'm not thrilled with waking him. He's not learning to know when to go when we're waking him. He's only staying dry because we wake him up enough times that he doesn't have to go while he's sleeping. I feel it's still going to be a long road. There will still be accidents, and that's OK. But he's making progress, and he's proud of himself for keeping his underwear dry. So Ihave a brand new pack of size 6 diapers that I'll be returning. After a week of no diapers, there's no going back.

I'm so proud of his progress! He really is the best boy!

They broke me in

Today was my first day watching Abbie and Issie, and they did a great job of breaking me in! I have so much respect for Jess & Reid, and any parents of multiples who do this day in, day out! It's HARD work, yet it was very fun! Where to start...

I got their around 8:30. Jess said that they'd want to eat at 8:30. Keith watched them until I dropped the kids off, and he'd already fed Abbie and had her taking a nap. Issie still hadn't eaten (they eat together). Issie wouldn't take all of her bottle, but shortly after took a short nap. They both woke up at 11:00. Issie was screaming bloody murder. She was NOT happy! Then Abbie followed suit and I had 2 hungry and mad babies that weren't supposed to eat for another hour. By 11:30, I gave in and fed them. They gulped down their bottles and were very happy to have full bellies. They cooed, they smiled, they sat in their bouncy seats while I ate a very quick lunch.

Issie started getting fussy again since she'd only slept 20 minutes, so I finally got her settled down and asleep. I go back and find Abbie asleep, so I take her upstairs, too, and both of them took another nap. At 2:00 they were both awake. I go upstairs and they are so happy, smiling, cooing, just kicking their legs around. It was so sweet! That lasted all of half an hour before they were both hungry again, scheduled to eat at 3:00. I warmed their bottles, but they were not in the mood to wait! Keith came back right as they were warm, so he took over.

It was a very exhausting day, but I enjoyed every minute. I got lots of exercise walking Issie up and down the stairs, shushing her because that was the only thing that stopped her from crying when she was tired. I can't wait until next Thursday when I get to do it all over again!

Going Rogue

My father-in-law, and fellow Conservative, lent me his copy of Sarah Palin's book "Going Rogue." I have only made it to the second chapter, but it's pretty good. Interesting, insightful and entertaining. Just as I'd hoped it would be.

When she first burst onto the scene last August (or maybe it was actually a year ago), my first thought was, who is this woman? There goes the race. Truthfully speaking, Mc Cain never had the race in the first place. Obama had his trump card (which shall remain unspoken [whistling]) and had the race from the very beginning. Once I saw her at the RNC, my thoughts changed. As I learned more about her, they changed even more. Here was a woman- an everyday, average woman- that had come from little, worked her way through college, and had now worked her way from city government to running for the Vice Presidential position. I liked her platform. I liked her headstrong attitude. As much as my husband would hate to hear me say it, she would've made a great VP alongside any other Republican candidate (no, I wasn't to thrilled with JM, but he was certainly better than the other option...).

Now she's on FOX News and I'm not sure how I feel about that. I feel that it certainly rules out chances for higher public offices. The Liberals are so against FOX that joining forces with them can only be used as a sword against her in any upcoming election. I can see it now... "Palin resigns as Governor and takes post as FOX News contributor." It hardly seems the most honorable choice to make, especially if she wants to continue her political career, but maybe this is what she really wants to do. Maybe she doesn't want to go back to politics. Who knows.

As for her book, I highly recommend it! I definitely need to catch her show and see for myself how it is. She is a woman to be admired for her goals in life and for what she's accomplished, even if you don't respect her opinions.

Here comes the sun

I can't tell you what a beautiful day it was! After being below freezing since Christmas day, it finally got to 32 yesterday. And today... it was 41! I went to town and there was a warm breeze blowing that felt wonderful compared to just the other day when it was in the single digits! I know that spring is still a LONG way off, but I'm liking this little heat wave!

Wednesdays are our "get stuff done" days around here. With Christopher off, we can usually tend to things that are easiest done without children. Today we redid two closets! Christopher felt that the coat closet in the entry hall needed a shoe shelf. I can't say that it particularly needed a shelf, but we got the supplies for about $10, and it did free up more floor space, so I can't complain. The big remodel was in out closet. I'd suggested a few weeks ago that we raise the shelf and rod and add another below it. I was tired of shoving everything in. We set off this morning, completely unloaded the closet and Christopher got the extra rod hung. The extra space is amazing! I've went to the closet several times today just to look at it. It's that nice to have extra space! In the process, I weeded out a bunch of stuff to donate, some for garage sale, cleaned my jewelry drawer that had become a dumping ground for junk, and cleaned one of Christopher's drawers. A productive day by all means!

Tomorrow I finally get to watch my little neices and I can't wait! Hopefully all goes well. I've never taken care of two infants at once, but I have successfully taken care of a very needy/demanding 4 year-old and an even more needy, and extremely fussy reflux baby, so that should account for something! Taking care of two laid back 3 month-olds should be fairly easy. Let's hope!

And as for this nice, sunny day, let's keep them coming- with a few more good snows for the kids thrown in. After all, it is only January!

Rashes, hives and eczema. Oh my.

Having an allergic child is seldom easy.

When I went to give Preston his bath tonight, I noticed that his skin was a little "off." I look closer and see that he's covered with hives and his eczema has flared so badly that his entire body is red and feels like sand paper. GREAT...

When things like this happen, it's a scramble trying to figure out the cause. Did he come in contact with milk? Peanuts? Nuts? Something else? Is it the All Free Clear instead of allergy-free Tide (even though we've been using it for weeks). We know it wasn't something he ate here, but was it something at school? Some weird virus? We're stumped.

I gave him some Benadryl, and hopefully he's better in the morning. Poor guy! It's no fun to be scratchy like that all over. I really feel badly for him. Of course, it had to happen right as we had his eczema pretty much under control except for one spot under his bottom lip. Now it will take forever to get him back.

Photos

I have an obsession. I am obsessed with capturing every moment of my children's lives in pictures. I love to capture their joy, their expressions, their spirit. I want to remember everything. It's not just my children's lives that I capture, but everything in between. I love photos, period. I love to look at other people's photos, especially old photos.

I've discovered a love for photography. I love to capture just the right photo that says so much without any words. I love that photos can do just that. I enjoy capturing the moments of other people's lives for their own memories. I love that people love my photos enough that they entrust me to capture those memories and cherish them. To see them hanging proudly on their walls and given as gifts feels even more special. I'm honored to be given the opportunity.

I'm thrilled that Kate enjoys photography, too. She has her own camera, a real one that takes excellent pictures for a point and shoot. She has hundreds of photos on her card. I love to look through them and see things from her perspective. Some are funny. Some are cute. Some of them make me think, "What in the world is that?" She takes her camera everywhere, and I encourage it. One day, maybe her current fascination will turn into a real hobby. She especially loves making videos on her camera, so maybe film will be her inspiration.

At this moment, I have hundreds of photos myself sitting and waiting to be scrapbooked and meticulously detailed. I am a year behind in Kate's photos alone, with hundreds sitting in envelopes waiting their turn to be put in an alblum. I have hundreds of photos from Gatlinburg, hundreds of our old house, new house, and each and every renovation we've completed. All waiting to be documented. I am uploading about 100 right now to be printed from Christmas alone. I have exactly 112 from my photo shoot with my nieces on Saturday that need weeded through and edited.

I love photos. They show who I am, who my family is. They show life.

One day, someone's going to stumble upon my photography when I'm long gone, and spend weeks going through it. I hope they enjoy it as much as I do.

Snowed in and out

After being snowed in for 2 days, I finally got out Friday night to buy groceries. It was colder than blue blazes, but it was nice to get out of the house! Christopher stayed home with the kids and they watched "Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs." They are now obsessed with Steve, the monkey in the movie, and have been going around saying Steve like the character says it all weekend. Man, am I glad school is tomorrow!

Saturday I had a photo shoot with Abbie and Issie who turned 3 months old yesterday. Man, does time fly! Before I know it, they'll be one! They are such cute subjects and starting to smile now, so it only makes them even cuter! Jess and Reid took us out to eat at Cracker Barrel to thank me, and it was nice to get out with them.

We had dinner at my mom's tonight and she rented "Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs" so the kids have seen it 3 times now. They continue to say Steve constantly. Man, am I glad school is tomorrow!

I plan on going over to Fairview tomorrow to finish off the returns and exchanges from Christmas. I hope to make it a quick trip, but with everywhere I have to stop, I hope I can get everything done! That's about the only thing I don't like about Christmas. That, and putting away the decorations. I have all my exchanges sitting by the door, all my receipts and gift cards sitting on the counter. Now, to just get out of town without something popping up...

A little bit of snow

The school called at 10:30 last night to report that there would be no school today. The news had us all hyped up about almost 8 inches of snow, blizzard-like conditions, and record low temps. I worked on my afghan and watched House Hunters, continually checking on the snow. Not much was falling, but I could hear the plows driving by, so I was getting excited.

Christopher was up bright and early with the tv on downstairs checking road conditions. He got ready for work and left, so I figured the roads weren't too bad. At 6:00, I hear him coming back in. He had gotten to Mulberry and had to turn back. A minute later, I hear two excited kids talking about all the snow. On any other day, I can't drag them out of bed. On a snow day, they're up at 6:00! I drag myself downstairs, look out the door, and see a whopping 2 inches. That's right, just 2 inches.

So all four of us had a snow day. We ventured out in the snow mid-morning but it didn't last long. The wind was blowing so hard and it was only 20 degrees, so we lasted about 20 minutes before our faces were frozen. The rest of the day we played Playmobil, Wii, Quirkle, dig Kate's crystal mining kit, and baked fresh bread from scratch- YUM!

Around 7:00 we got a call from the school saying that tomorrow will be cancelled as well. It's supposed to be belowe zero tonight and only 8 degress for a high tomorrow, so it will be nice to not have to get out. I was supposed to watch Abbie and Issie today, but since Jess had a snow day from work, I didn't get to. :( Reid called and asked if I could switch to tomorrow, so I was excited about that, but Jess called tonight and she won't be going in tomorrow, either. I'm looking forward to next Thursday for my next chance!

Snow storm

We are in for a big winter storm- or so they say. We're in the 4-8 inch range, so surely we'll get some. From what they're saying, it's going to be bad. All of the snow tonight, plus strong winds all day tomorrow undoing what the plows get off. Then it's going to be in the negative temps, so IDOT is worried that the chemicals they use to melt snow and ice will not work. This might be a messy few days.

Check out this forecast. Brrrrrrrrrrr! I can only pray that our well pump doesn't freeze- that means no water and no heat. Not good. Just a few minutes ago, the school called and tomorrow will be a snow day. Right now, there's only a dusting on the ground! The kids will be happy when they wake up tomorrow!

It's always nice...

It's always nice to go out to the garage to get ice cream when you're in the middle of making a milkshake, only to find that the entire gallon is completely thawed. That's exactly what happened today. A brand new gallon of Prairie Farms chocolate chip ice cream, completely thawed and very spoiled. YUCK! I had put it in the spare refigerator freezer instead of the deep freeze because it and the inside refrigerator freezer were both full (yeah, we have that many freezers...). I guess at some time, the thermostat control had gotten bumped and knocked down to warm. It had been a while, too, since that ice cream had been in there a few months. Needless to say, opening that bucket was NOT pretty!

In general, just a bad day

I should have seen it coming... I was up until 3:00 this morning feeling like I was going to vomit. I felt horrible. The lack of sleep probably only made everything harder. We managed to all get up and ready on time to be out the door by 8:30. Kate had earned her Nintendo DS back, so the kids were quiet and happy on the way to Effingham. By this time, I'm secretly hoping that the day will go better than espected, but that thought would soon be dashed. Kate hates to wait. She's an impatient patient as I told her. So by the time we were actually called back to see the dr., I'd lost my patience. I'll get to the diagnosis in a bit...

We left and headed to start making our returns. We got Kate's jogging suit exchanged at Penney's with only minimal frustration, but Kohl's was another story. I had tons of returns there. We looked for Kate some clothes with her credit and found nothing (I really dislike that store). Then I tried to find some new bath towels and decided that I'm really sick of brown and that if I bought a new shower curtain, I could buy some cute towels and have a new look for the bathroom. Of course, I couldn't find anything I liked, so I just gave up. The kids were antsy, it was lunch time, and we still needed to go to Wal-Mart. WM was fairly quick, I got conned into buying sugary cereal and Pop Tarts, but at least they had the kids' bread that has been MIA in town. It's COLD- 12 degrees- and it's windy, so I decided to scrap the dollar store. I was not dragging the kids out in that cold again for the dollar store. We grabbed a quick lunch and headed home.

Thankfully, the kids let me take a 1 1/2 hour nap. Nice! But at that point, Preston starts to sit on me, wants a snack, the kids start bickering, so I get up. WE ate a snack, played Play-do, watched some tv, and had an enjoyable day until Christopher returned in a bad mood and that set the evening off on a bad note. I am SO glad the day is done. The kids are in bed, not ready to return to school tomorrow, but I am!

On to the diagnosis. Looks like Kate will continue to be dairy-free, much to her dislike. Dr. B. agreed that it would be far fetched for her vomitting to be caused by anything else. Of course, an allergy vs. intolerance hasn't been proven, but considering Preston is severely allergic to dairy, it makes an allergy more probable. That, and her symptoms came on so quickly and it was taking less and less each time for her to get sick, both of which indicate allergy. So, Dr. B. says it's safer just to keep her dairy-free. She was very pleased that she had gained 3 pounds since we saw her *3* weeks ago! She's always been tiny, always had belly aches, and we take her off dairy, the belly aches are gone and she gains 3 pounds!

Kate is not happy. She LOVES cheese and buttery movie theater popcorn- probably the 2 things she'll miss the most. But around here, she ate dairy-free before, so there's not really much that's different other than no milk on her cereal. She'll just have to get used to rice milk. Family, though, is not pleased. Not one bit. Christopher's mom abruptly ended the phone call. My mom doesn't believe it's an allergy and focused on how big of a deal it will be because she can no longer have popcorn and cheese (not a big deal). So this will take some time for everyone to get used to. For us, it's just another normal day. I know it stinks for her, but she's so much healtheir now, so it's worth it.

My daughter really is a blond

I love Kate, I really do. I love her more than the sun, and the moon, and the stars, and the world- ask her.* But she's a blond. According to genetics (which I used to want to persue), the gene for dark hair is dominant, so by all accounts, she should be a brunette. Mother nature came into play and made Christopher's blond gene trump mine, obviously, since I have two blond children. I digress...

We went to Pondo with Christopher's family for lunch today. Jess was telling Kate that in a few years, she'd be old enough to babysit the twins. Kate asked her how much older she was, and she told her that she was 10 years older than Abbie and Issie. She then asked Kate how old the girls would be when she was 18. Kate replied, "Two." That's my girl! If there's a math gene, then she really does take after me!

* Kate used to say this when she was a little girl.

A quick prayer for Jess tomorrow as she returns to work after her maternity leave. Good luck, Jess! The girls are in good hands!

Happy new year!

We had a pretty quiet new year's eve. We had dinner at Keith and Dee's, then went home and had movie night- we watched Up. The kids were in bed at 10:00, and I followed shortly after. No, I did not stay up to ring in the new year. If you want to say that it was midnight on the East coast, that would work, but here in the Midwest, it was only 11:30.

We awoke New Year's Day to find that Nonni had once again downed the Christmas tree. This time several glass ornaments fell victim to his crime and had to be thrown away. We've already decided that next year the tree will not go by the tile- well, at least not without some sandbags holding the stand down. So we took down our decorations, finally. Our real tree upstairs had died some time back before Christmas and by Friday, was so crispy that we were afraid to plug in the lights. It left a major mess behind, but my SWEET boy, Preston, volunteered to vacuum it all up! There really IS a reason I call him Sweets! Our house looks like a different house after putting everything up!

The rest of our weekend was pretty relaxed- game playing, Wii playing, toy playing. We got together with Christopher's extended family today for lunch at Pondo and the kids got to play with Sarah and Gracie. Mom got back from Florida today so we went out there to visit. I offered to bring the roast I had in the crock pot since she said she was out of food, but the thing was so raw when we went to go, so we got fast food. Putting a fresh roast in the crock pot at 9:00 works SO much better than putting in a frozen roast at noon. Lesson learned. By the time we got back, it was perfect, so tomorrow's dinner is already made!

Kate goes back to Dr. B. tomorrow to see what our next step is. Her galbladder ultrasound was normal, and she's been on the Pepcid for 2 weeks now, as well as being dairy-free. I am now 100% positive that her vomiting was milk induced. After we decided ourselves to eliminate dairy, Christopher's mom took "dairy-free" to be no cheese, no milk, instead of 100% dairy-free like Preston has to be. So when Kate went there, she made her a PB sandwich on bread that contained milk. Both times she vomited afterward. Since setting the record straight after Dr. B. agreed, and she's been 100% dairy-free, she has not had one single vomiting episode. Not one. In fact, she's felt better than she has in ages! I will tell you that I'm terrified to re-introduce it to see if it is in fact the problem. Terrified. I don't want to clean up any more vomit. We'll see what Dr. B. has to say tomorrow.

Tomorrow is also the last day of winter break. I'm kind of sad to see it go, actually, even though the kids are starting to fight again since the "new" is wearing off the toys. It's nice to not wake up by the alarm, not rush to get ready, and to just be able to play all day. Tuesday, it's back to homework, back to girl scouts, back to babysitting Gracie (and Abbie and Issie this month). Just five more months, though, and summer break starts...