12-25-15 Merry Christmas to all and to all a goodnight!

12-24-15 Christmas Eve

It's Christmas eve.

There are presents to be wrapped.

Service to attend.

Children to tuck in.

Toys to assemble.

Stockings to stuff.

But I caught Baby E's stomach bug. So instead of those things, I'm quarantined in my room and I am sad.

12-23-15 Santa is real, Mommy... He really is.

This is a post about Santa. Please don't get offended. I'm just trying to navigate this touchy subject the best way I know how.

Now, I should state that it really really doesn't bother me if other kids believe in Santa, and if they do, I am all about playing along. I definitely see the magical side of it, the side that captures wonder and enjoyment in small children. I think it is fun to watch kids light up when they see Santa or sit on his lap. To believe that something magical can happen can be a beautiful thing. However, I still don't get the whole Elf on the Shelf thing, but that's another story.

Neither Tim nor I ever believed in Santa, and we figured our kids wouldn't either. But for the first few years we didn't really worry about it because C was too young to understand. But as she started getting older we started explaining that Santa was a lot like Mickey Mouse, a great character, but not real. He's a fun story and he's fun to talk about, but he isn't actually going to come down our chimney (if we had one.) But we weren't really aggressive about our explanations. We would wait for her to bring it up and then we would talk about it. This worked well for us the first fews years, but now she is in school and Santa is everywhere!

Well, poor C is getting mixed signals now, so I know we really need to be clear. She came home with a postcard from school that was from 'Santa.' She used it as proof to tell me that Santa was in fact real with a tone of voice intended to educate me out of my ignorance. And not only was he real, he wrote on the postcard that he would try to bring her the unicorn and coat she asked for for Christmas. (Seriously, can this 'Santa' postcard come out a few weeks before Christmas? There are no unicorns or coats under the tree this year.)

Later this evening she shocked me with the following question, "Mommy, how can we know that the Bible is telling the truth and isn't just made up stories?" Wow, I wasn't expecting that theological question to come out of the mouth of my five year old. How do I answer that in a way that she can understand? I don't want to dumb it down and muddy the message, but I don't want to confuse her either. (Any ideas would be greatly appreciated on this one! (Ahem... Davey)) Before I could give her the answer I was piecing together in my head she had moved onto another subject, but I want to finish our discussion soon. 

But it got me thinking, if she is questioning the reality of Santa and the Bible at the same time, then I believe it is my responsibility to be truthful to her about both. That to lie about one might be to injure the other. That Santa isn't a magical, jolly, red suited old man that rides a sleigh and delivers presents, but that many years ago he was a real man that did real good for the people in his community, that his life and his actions pointed back to Christ- that is the Santa I would choose for her to know. 

It's murky water, this Santa business. Every family makes their own choices for what works or doesn't with their beliefs and their children. And honestly, its no one else's business. So, I promise you this, we won't spoil Santa for your kids. We won't ruin it! We wouldn't want to. In fact, we will enjoy watching the excitement of your kids. Just don't get offended if our kids look confused when you ask them what Santa is going to bring them! 

As for Baby E, it has been nearly 24 hours since he last threw up. He has been sleeping most of the day, but when he is awake, he is eating and drinking. I am thankful that he seems to be on the mend and I am looking forward to spending this holiday season with my savages! 

12-22-15 My Day In Numbers

2-  The number of times Baby E threw up.

8- the number of truly disgusting diapers I changed.

6- the number of outfit changes for Baby E. 

2- the number of outfit changes for mommy.

2- the number of times we watched Monsters Inc.

8- the number of presents I wrapped. 

9- the height of our Christmas tree,

6- the highest number of feet I can reach to decorate the tree. (There are no ornaments higher than that)

5- the number of s'mores pop tarts consumed in our house.

3- the number of hours Baby E was awake today. 

3- the number of days Baby E has been sick. 

It's been a long few days. Baby E has been sleeping a lot. This evening he finally started to perk up. He has been getting fluids and keeping down food, but will randomly throw up. He enjoyed some applesauce and graham crackers this evening and then became quite chatty. 

I'm praying that we are over the worst of it and that all the sleeping means that his little body is fighting hard to beat this bug. I'm hoping tomorrow brings him some reprieve. Please pray that no one else gets it and that everyone is healthy by Christmas. They have been so looking forward to it! Thank you!

12-21-15 Sick Baby

Baby E has a stomach bug. He slept all but about three hours today. It's been a long day and I'm heading to bed early. Goodnight!

12-20-15 This post is gross.

Give me ear infections...

Give me coughs...

Give me a fever...

Give me hand, foot, and mouth...

Give me pink eye...

But for the love of all things holy, please don't make me deal with stomach bugs!!

I used to throw up a lot when I was a kid. I got motion sickness pretty bad, so long car rides usually included me throwing up over a nearby guardrail. I got so many stomach bugs and flus that it wasn't uncommon for me to have some kind of throwing up sickness at least ten times a year. And when I threw up it would break the blood vessels around my eyes and I would develop dark spots all over my face and my eyes would swell up. It was horrible!!! Oh, and the best part was that the spots would stick around for about a week. So long after I felt better I still looked like I had been hit by a truck... Awesome...

So when my kids get sick, I cringe. The truth is, I want to run as fast and as far in the opposite direction as possible. But I'm a mom, and that isn't practical, or terribly loving. So instead, I suck it up, be an adult, and deal. (Not without a good deal of mental grumbling!)

This morning I was in the living room and when I returned to the kitchen, Baby E had throw up all over the tray of his high chair. He just sat there smiling at me like nothing whatsoever was wrong. Confused, I figured he must have coughed himself into a throw up fit. I cleaned him and the tray off and moved on. 

Fast forward four hours. I'm sitting on the stairs into the kitchen holding Baby E when he makes a strange noise and I look down and realize he just threw up all over me. But wait! He wasn't done... That was just the prelude. All of a sudden the floodgates open and I am drenched (as in every piece of clothing I'm wearing is now completely drenched and I'm gagging in my own mouth!!!) and I'm sitting there, frozen because I know if I move I'm going to feel the warm sliminess creep through my clothing and onto my skin. But I need a towel!  Ugh! I yell to Big E to grab the towel on the stove and he looks right at it and can't find it. I'm pretty much freaking out at this point and begging him to just get me a towel. Once the towel situation was sorted out, and Tim came to the rescue, I wiped myself down and went upstairs to change. 

Thankfully Baby E hasn't thrown up since then. We didn't let him eat all day, and this evening we started him back on some pedialite. Still waiting to see if that stays down but so far so good. He was pretty angry that he wasn't allowed to eat and made that abundantly clear all evening. He is currently asleep upstairs and I'm just praying he stays that way through the night. I'm going to have one ravenous little fellow in the morning. Poor little guy! 

12-19-15 The Nativity

When I was a kid my parents had these two end tables in our living room. They were hexagon in shape and had two small doors in front. I'm not sure what other families used them for, but in our house they held phones books.

They looked similar to this...


They were absolutely perfect for playing hide and seek, if you didn't mind sharing them with the aforementioned books.

And while they stand out in my memory for the above reasons, they also had special significance in winter because one of them would hold our nativity scene. I always looked forward to mom getting out the box tinted yellow with age and carefully unwrapping each statue. My sister and I would gingerly help her place each piece.

And when we were done, it would entertain me for hours! (Remember, it was the eighties. There was no WiFi or computers and we didn't even have cable.)

Well this year my mother sent me the Nativity set! I was excited to set it up this evening and looking at it brought back great memories from my childhood. In the busyness of our lives, I hope we are still talking the time to create some of those special moments for our kids. I hope when C is all grown up she will get just as excited when I pass this nativity on to her.

12-18-15 Holiday Party

Today was the holiday party at my work, and I decided to take the kids out of school to bring them along. We had a rough morning because Big E was awake from 10-1 last night, so I didn't get much sleep. Unfortunately that made me pretty cranky this morning. And when mommy is cranky, everyone is cranky. We finally got out the door and made it to work. Once the party started the kids did pretty well, but it was definitely more exhausting than actually having a full day of work! Ha! 

The theme was the future, and the committees did great with the decorations. The kids loved getting a gift and playing with their new friends. They slept the whole way home.

This evening has been rough for Baby E. He has been on antibiotics since Monday when we learned he had a double ear infection. The men's arae working well, but are giving him terrible diaper rashes and this evening he screamed hysterically for about an hour. Poor kid! I finally got him to sleep. Hopefully he is out for the night! Mommy could use some sleep! 

12-17-15 late night

It's a late night, made later by a little boy that had to use the potty and couldn't find his mommy so he had a major freakout. How was he to know mommy wouldn't be in her room, but instead would be downstairs wrapping presents and watching Sherlock? And since the frightened kid cried A LOT, he made himself all snarffly and can't fall back asleep and insists mommy stay within his line of sight. So, tired mommy, who has gift wrapping and chores to do before sleep, is sitting on the edge of frightened boy's bed waiting for him to fall asleep.


So while I wait, here are some pictures of my evening. I love the first one. C was dancing along to Manheim steamroller while Big E is shoving earplugs in his ear and Baby E is looking on like they are crazy. He's right, of course!

12-16-15 My Boys

12-15-15 The Third Baby

As many of you know, it is a well documented fact that the third baby often gets the shaft. From hand me down clothes to stained crib mattresses, the third kid shuffles through their early years blissfully unaware that toys come in fancy packaging, that new clothes have tags, and mismatched socks are aren't actually a valid fashion statement. 

Things that were unthinkable with the first baby somehow become second nature by your third child. For instance, you would never let your first baby cry it out at night. No, you'd feed, rock, pace, with that child for hours until they finally fell asleep and you could place them ever so gently in their crib before tiptoeing out of the room as your precious angel slept. By the third baby, you close your door, turn on a fan, and put a pillow over your head to drown out the screaming. 

For baby number one, everything is brand new and sanitized, after all nothing that has touched the floor shall ever come in contact with the lips of your heaven sent one. Unless you count rubbing a dropped paci against my pant leg before putting it back in Baby E's mouth, I haven't sanitized a baby item in years. Cleaned and washed? Yes. Boiled? No. 

Those willing to watch your precious first went through a thorough background and reference check. By the third baby you briefly consider calling the anonymous neighborhood tween who left a card on your door advertising their babysitting services just so you can have a quiet evening out. 

All of that brings us to this evening when poor third baby got a bath. If you don't count baby wipes or a damp washcloth, third baby gets thoroughly cleaned maybe 2-3 times a month... In a good month. Embarrassing, but true. First baby got nearly nightly baths, but by third baby you are lucky to get all your children clean at the same time. 

None of this means that third baby is loved any less. It just means that all the time and money you devoted to one is now spread across more littles and you know what? That's ok. 

12-14-15 Way Back Then

So I am incredibly exhausted, so all I've got is this...

Here's our family... 15 people ago... Circa January 2008.

It was awesome then... It's much more awesome now.



Hopefully tomorrow will bring some kind of renewed inspiration and creativity! Goodnight!

12-13-15 I want to be like my boy

Yesterday before the crazy, we had been furiously cleaning the house. I'm trying to get it holiday ready so we can enjoy it a little more. Part of the cleaning was purging and getting rid of old toys the kids don't play with. I told them each to pick out some toys that we can donate. C went around picking out small little toys that didn't matter much to her and she would never miss. Big E however took one of his prize toys and handed it to me. At that point I wasn't sure if he understood the exercise so I got down on his level and explained the toy would be going away and it wouldn't be coming back. This was a toy that I personally felt he's should keep, and I was kinda sad that he had selected it. However he was insistent that that was the toy to send away. I sat with him as daddy took it outside and he started to cry. He said that he was sad that the toy was going away. I asked him if he wanted to keep it, but he shook his head no and said he wanted it to go. I'll admit I was incredibly humbled by this moment and this kid. He had just done the most selfless act a three year old could ever do. He hadn't picked the leftover or the forgotten toy, he had picked his biggest and best, and with tears, he gave it away. He mourned it for a few minutes and then moved on.

This evening we had dinner with some good friends and they suggested we should donate it as a shoebox gift and let Big E pack a box. So we pulled the toy out of the van with some other small toys and explained to him what we were doing. He eagerly filled the box to overflowing. Again, he didn't show any interest in keeping his prize toy. When we got home he mentioned again that he hoped it would come home someday but I explained it was for good. He pouted for a moment and again moved on.

And as I tucked him into bed I started thinking that I wish I had a heart like that little guy. I wish I could be that selfless. I wish I could offer my best, mourn it's loss, and move on. His choice so perfectly illustrated the choice God calls us to make on a daily basis, to give Him the best and trust Him with that decision. What a powerful lesson my little boy taught me today. I want to be like my boy.

12-12-15 A Scary Moment and an ER Visit

Tim and I had some great plans today. We were going to drop the older kids off with Rebecca and take Baby E shopping with us. I had a list. I was prepared! We got the kids ready first and sent them outside to play basketball with the neighbor kid, a child in C's grade. Tim was getting baby E in his seat and I was gathering the last minute stuff for the diaper bag when I heard Big E crying outside. Apparently he had tripped and fallen. Neither Tim nor I saw the fall, but Tim saw him after he landed and didn't think much of it. Big E was crying, but seemed ok. Tim called for him to come to the house. He stood up and started running toward Tim when he suddenly veered off and passed out! He went down face first into the concrete. I heard Tim run for him and as I looked out the door I saw him laying limp behind the back wheel of the van. My heart stopped. Tim scooped him up and his eyes were rolling back in his head. 

It took about a minute for him to come to. His forehead was all scraped up and he wasn't responding to us, or crying. By the time he started crying we had already decided to take him to the ER. We packed up the kids. My sister in law was kind enough to take Baby E and we dropped C off as planned. 

The way down to the hospital Tim sat in the back with E and kept him awake. 

When we got to the ER they took us right back. By this point he was acting pretty normal, but we still wanted him checked out, when the doctor showed up and did his exam he concluded he should have a CAT scan to make sure there was nothing more than the surface damage. He said the second fall could have been caused by a seizure after the first fall. He was very concerned about the passing out and eye rolling and the large size of the bruise.

When discussing the injury, we think perhaps the first fall was a hit to the head as well because his hands and knees were not scraped up. He had a few small cuts on the top of his finger and his chin and nose were scraped up, along with the huge mark on his forehead. 

The CAT scan was ordered, At that point Big E was allowed to fall asleep, and man did he fall asleep! He was sitting on Tim's lap on the bed and so they just wheeled them both down to the CAT scan room. Amazingly he stayed asleep being transferred to the CAT scan bed and slept through the entire scan!! He didn't wake up again until we were back in the room and waiting for the results. 

The technician didn't see anything to concern her, and when the doctor finally came in he agreed that the scan looked good. Big E was diagnosed with a concussion and we have orders to keep an eye on him for the next twenty four hours. After 3+ hours in the ER they sent us home, 

I am so very grateful for that outcome. I will never forget that moment of seeing him laying there, of watching his eyes roll back. It was horrible. Thankfully this evening he was back to his old self running around, and I kept having to warn him not to get hurt again. When I asked him to tell me about what  happened, he could only remember the first fall. He remembered getting up, running to daddy, and suddenly daddy was carrying him. 

I crawled into bed with him this evening and cuddled him close, listening to him breath. He gave us quite a scare today and I am thanking God that he's ok. 

Such a big machine for such a little kid! 

When we first got there they put the heart rate monitor on his finger. He thought it was fascinating to watch his heartbeat on the computer screen, 

Television time! 

It's hard to tell how bad the bruise is until you move his hair out of the way. Tim likened him to Boris Karloff because of the swelling!

Passed out on Daddy! 

To avoid waking him up, they just wheeled him and daddy to the scanning room. 

Still asleep!

His final diagnosis was head injury with a concussion. Also, with the CAT scan they figured out he has a sinus infection. 

We have to follow up with his doctor on Monday to make sure everything is ok.  Meanwhile, I have to find a way to keep him a little less active for the next 24 hours! 

12-11-15 My babies were babies!

I was cleaning this evening when I came across an envelope of photos that we had taken when C was 2 and Big E was six months old. Wow, they seem so little!!

I'm once again reminded how similar the boys look!

12-10-15 It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas!

The kids have started decorating the Christmas tree. The nine foot tall Christmas tree. That means there are ornaments clumped all around the bottom and very few above the 3.5 foot mark. After I got the kids to bed this evening I shuffled some of them around, now there are none above the 5.5 foot mark. We are going to need to break out a ladder to get the whole thing finished! It wasn't until I was looking at the picture of the tree that I realized some of the lights aren't working. Guess which side will be facing the wall?!? 

Tim shifted the tree across the room last night, which is great because I no longer have to squeeze by it to work in my kitchen! This weekend we will clean out the corner and get it into place. :) I. Love this time of year with all the lights everywhere. It always makes me so happy! I just wish it lasted longer!

So I switched from Verizon a few weeks ago and joined Project Fi for my phone. It is Google's cell phone service. I had been wanting to do it for awhile, and I finally bit the bullet. I purchased my new phone outright and pay a small monthly fee for my data and phone service, so far I like it. I'm telling you all this to mention that when I got home the other day from work I had a package from Google sitting at my door. It was a holiday gift of a cellphone caddy. Actually, it was more like a box filled with Lego pieces and instructions to make a cellphone caddy, which is pretty awesome. It didn't take the kids long to find it and start assembling things themselves. Big E seems to have the most fun with it, so far he has made mini obstacle courses, the cross that Jesus died on, and this giraffe.

He was very proud of it. 

Baby E is getting much more mobile.  He goes up stairs now, but hasn't quite mastered the concept of coming down them. He has started signing 'more' during mealtime and he is babbling and trying to say words now. All of his big molars have come in and it looks like he has all but four of his baby teeth. 

I love that he is finally at the age where is is so interactive with the other kids. He follows them around and steals their toys. He offers them kisses and tries to take their food. He yells at them when they are too rough and he laughs when they play games with him. He is growing so fast!