Christmas, Christmas

I'll have a lot to say, and a lot of pictures. Christmas was nice, peaceful, joyful, and Santa sure was generous! So generous, that I've had to stay up late and get up early to play with presents. Which means I'm tired and going to bed. Christmas flew by, but luckily, you can relive it with me when I recover enough to blog about it!

No, Ava!

Well, it's started. Ava has started reaching things that belong to Max. And Max says "No, Ava!" many times throughout the day. I remember when Abby and Nolan were this age, and I just kept telling Abby to move it out of his reach. Then when he could crawl, to switch out the toys so she could have what she wants and he had something else. And then one day that didn't work and they fought. And still do! I'm not sure what I'll tell Max to do.

I'm hoping that part of Max's "No, Ava's" are because he's sick. Ava had the double ear infection, but now that we figured out how to get medicine down, she seems to be better. Max, on the other hand, only had a single ear infection, but is getting worse. This morning we were playing at the Y and he wanted to go home almost immediately. We got here and he seemed wheezy. We then watched a movie (so unlike him!) and then he threw up. Ugh. Naptime. Then woke up and threw up again. Ugh again. And tonight he just wasn't himself--crying like his body ached. He just had the flu over Thanksgiving, and then it turned into a cold and ear infection, now he's on antibiotics, and still sick? My goodness!

One more day for the kids and then winter break!!

Mother of the Year Part II

Max has an ear infection too. Probably since Thanksgiving. Geez! Apparently kids #3 and4 get delayed medical care. Oh well... at least they're both on medicine and hopefully will be at full health soon!

In shock

There's a guy I work with who, just last month, was diagnosed with incurable brain cancer. He's my age, has three little girls younger than my kids, has run nine marathons. After getting a biopsy and an initial diagnosis, he was able to go home last week to wait for treatment to start. He went and got a Christmas tree with his family, attended his daughters' Christmas concert, and hung out. Just this week he got a new scan and the tumor grew again and he was hospitalized, and now in the ICU. The growth of the tumor has caused irreversible brain damage, and he's on a vent. I'm truly in shock.

If you want to visit his page: http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/chadbordwell

Mother of the Year Award

I took Ava to her four month check-up today. I was kind of looking forward to it because she's been having some bad tummy issues that keeps her up at night. The doctor went through everything I can do for her (drink prune juice, give her apple juice with water, etc.), then we did the regular stuff--she's 15 pounds (75th percentile), 26" (99th percentile), and she can start on oatmeal (skipping rice cereal because of the constipation/tummy issues). Then she looked in her eyes--they werefine, nose--fine, ears--uh oh! Double ear infection. Yeah, a week ago Dave asked me if I thought she had an ear infection because she couldn't sleep, and I said no, it's just her tummy. When he rubbed it in that he was right, I told him he can call the doctor as well as I can.

Tomorrow I'm taking Max in. Still not 100%, and I just bet he's in the same boat.

Spits and Giggles

I've never added a video before, so I thought I'd try it. Sorry it's crooked, and that loud annyoing sound you hear is just me doing raspberries on Ava's tummy!

Confessions of a Second-Grade Abby

Last Saturday Abby had her First Reconciliation (or Confession, or Penance, whatever you want to call it). She was pretty nervous, and kept telling me her tummy hurt. She knew it was just from nerves, but I don't think that helped at all. There were 90 second graders total doing their first reconcilation, but only 45 at her group at 11:00 Saturday morning. She really wanted to go to Fr. Tom, the priest she knows and who did their practice session, but the way they were split up she got Fr. Dan, the new priest who she doesn't know as well. But you know what? She got up there, stood in line (looking for all the world that they were hauling her off to boot camp), walked up there, did what she needed to do and came back a happy girl. Which is better than I did. The parents were welcome to go to confession after all the kids went, but Abby was one of the first ones to go, so there was quite a bit of time to wait before I could go. I asked Abby if she's rather just leave and go to lunch, which she did. Oh darn! :) Not my favorite sacrament, as you can tell. Coming up... Abby's First Communion in April.

After reconciliation, Abby and I headed to lunch. It was really nice, just hanging out with her. We had Ava, but she slept the whole time so I could just talk to her without interruption. It gave me the opportunity to save Santa. A few weeks back Abby went in the store room and saw the pogo sticks that I got her and Nolan for Christmas. I knew she saw them, but she didn't want to tell me because she though I would be mad. But finally she did, I said it was no problem, it was just a gift from Dave and I to them, and now she could share the secret. No problem. BUT... last week before Dave and I went Christmas shopping, I needed to know what we had for everyone. So, while the kids were watching a movie, I hauled out the gifts, put them in piles and made mental notes of it all. The kids went to bed, I put everything away, and that was that. Or so I thought. A few days later, Abby asked me about the toys that were in the piles in the basement. I gave her a blank look and said, "What toys? I don't know what you're talking about." And she went to bed. Well, Saturday those toys came up again. I acted so surprised. I asked her what toys they were, where she thought they came from, where they went? She didn't know. We decided together that the elves must be preparing for Christmas, and that's the only way they can do it. (Did you see Prep and Landing, anyone?) I figured if she believes in the man with a big red suit coming down our chimney, delivering toys to everyone in the world, flying reindeer, eating cookies, I could make up anything and she'd be ok with it. And she was. Phew! I have a feeling that this will be the last Christmas that she believes, so I'm glad she was ok with the story. While it'll be fun to have her as a partner in crime, I'll miss her believing days for sure.

It's snowing again here! Another 1-3 inches they're saying. The kids were delayed 2 hours this morning because of icy roads. It was actually a welcome delay--Ava was up most of the night with tummy issues, so I didn't have to push so hard getting ready. The kids had fun, too, playing Wii, card games and hoarsing around. Maybe they should shorten the school day? :) Nah, maybe not.

A picture is worth a thousand words

So this post is certainly worth a million bucks! I feel like I haven't posted pictures for awhile, so tonight, it's what you get!

Abby and Nolan unpacking Christmas ornaments. I remember loving doing this as a kid. But then you get done, and the tree is still getting put up (yes, I'm a fake tree kind of person) and the lights are still getting put on and you have to wait. And it feels like you wait forever!


But Nolan can always find things to do to amuse himself.


And we made them go down and make paper chains. We had a million of these last year. I guess now it's tradition!


Here's the kids with santa at my Christmas party. Check out Ava! I was so busy getting the picture, I didn't realize that santa was going to drop her!

Either Abby or Nolan took this picture of my dad. Looking nice, don't you think? It was so nice to have him and my mom there. Even if Dave could have made it, the extra hands are always appreciated!

Ready for the Christmas party.

Bowling over Thanksgiving.

Merry Christmas!

Ava was afraid we were going to eat her instead of the turkey.

All the grankids at my mom and dad's house the Sunday after Thanksgiving for a Christmas parade.

Max, Ava Pie, and MineAva.

Ok, this is my favorite face. The pouty mouth just before the wailing begins.

The kids being reindeer. Max just cracks me up!

There you go! Hope you feel a million dollars richer after that!

First snow day of the year

Well, last year it was December 1. This year we made it to December 9! Our first snow day of the year was here. The kids enjoyed the 2 inches of snow we got on Sunday night, but now we're going to get 12! Yikes! Last year the first snow day was fun... baking, crafts, playing outside. These days can go either way--very fun or very long. We'll see how this first one goes!