2009!

Well, it's about time I get back to blogging! Whoops... the last few months sort of passed me by. It's embarrassing to say, but Facebook has wiped out almost all of my Internet time lately. Ugh... frying my brain cells, as the newest study has indicated. LOL. And we've sort of been under the weather this year....

2009 hasn't gotten off to a great start just yet. Christmas was good, and we were able to celebrate with family at our home. It was nice and relaxing... but shortly after the New Year, we were hit with illnesses. It started the first week of January with recurrent corneal erosion in Christy's right eye... on a SUNDAY morning, when no eye doctor is in the office. Tissue began to tear away from the cornea. After 5 eye-doctor appointments in two weeks, I thought I was back to normal. Till 7 weeks later, when it reoccurred! Ugh. It's a very painful process, but fortunately within days the eye mostly heals. The biggest problem with corneal abrasions is that your eye never fully heals, and the new tissue doesn't attach properly. So, it's always susceptible to this problem in the future, especially with the extreme dry-eye problem that I have. What a future I have ahead of me... corneal erosions for life? ACK! My problem began in 2003 with a corneal abrasion from a piece of wood. NEVER try basketweaving on your own without goggles!!! Don't laugh... I kid you not. And thus, I've never touched basketweaving since.

After the first eye incident, I went in for tendonitis in my shoulder. My shoulder had for nearly a year been aching at night and in the morning. The pain started becoming worse around the holidays, to the point of throbbing all day too. So, a good course of prednisone stopped that. Whew... by this point, I was really feeling old.

Then we had a few good, healthy weeks. (except for a hobbling knee injury from hula-hooping on the Wii Fit... again, I kid you not!) And then WHAM! Ben got sick (stomach bug), quickly followed by Gracelynn (who... by the way... threw up all night without telling us... she's a pro at getting to the toilet, flushing and forgetting... never fussed!!), then Reagan got it (and needed ER assistance to stop the dry-heaving), then Mommy (me!), quickly followed by Tommy... and then, our poor caretaker, Mike. Yes, in 6 days, it hit every one of us!!! What a miserably horrible horrible week that was!

So... to say the least, by this point, I had already missed a few weeks of work. After the stomach bug, we all began to recuperate by Friday/Saturday of that week. Until... Sunday morning. Mommy woke up at 4:30 to feel "RIP". Yep, the second occurrence of corneal erosion this year. Ugh. Fortunately this time I didn't have to scream in agony for 24 hours again while awaiting an eye doctor appointment. We did call the doctor on call (who by the way, must not be used to eye emergencies at 5am on Sunday mornings!) After basically hearing that I was to endure the pain till Monday, take some painkillers and keep my eye closed all day... Mike asked if I could use my contacts to cover the wound. She said yes. Talk about immense relief. I went from screaming to calm in about 5 minutes. Daily contacts make terrific bandaids! (This is the way the doctor's office treats the problem, too.) By the time I got to the doctor on Monday, the wound had "healed". Whew!

Reagan had another brief reoccurence of some stomach thing, and I've had a few migraines throughout... but I really think that maybe we are on the mend (KNOCK WOOD). Mike and I had our physicals this week. He's in the clear... my blood results still aren't back, but I'm not expecting any major problems. Could it be that we may be good-to-go for awhile? Shouldn't say that... Influenza A and Influenza B are hitting the schools with a vengeance lately. Can my kids stay well??? Now I see why people homeschool! (Only teasing.) Fortunately my preschool class has been fairly well... almost no absences! Woo hoo!

Ugh. Our doctors are buying new convertibles with the bills we're racking up!

Mommy hosted a Pampered Chef in there somewhere too... and is now super-stocked on PC products... woo hoo! Daddy celebrated his 29th birthday again... and has yet to buy his birthday gift (Mommy was out of ideas this year!) Reagan had her 8th birthday and a small party. We learned of our good friends being chosen for an adoption! (YAY Karen and Neil). Their arrival should make his appearance any day now. Oh... I'm sure I've missed out on a lot more, but those are the things I can remember right now. LOL We're also in the midst of planning a Disney vacation in November, too. If anyone has any advice on what NOT to miss, please email me!

Here are some photos of the last few months, in reverse order since the Mac isn't allowing me to click and drag photos to new spots and I don't have the time to fuss with this. LOL

Perhaps our new car? A Toyota Sequoia... our next adventure in another month or so. This is Reagan at the DC Auto Show, testing out the Sequoia. Can I just say that I love the term "Adoption Credit" these days?

Ben, without BRACES! He has a retainer, which he wears most of the time, but his cheeks aren't as puffy anymore. When he's out playing basketball at Upwards, he takes it out. I can seem the gleaming straight white teeth from the bleachers! YAY! All that work with braces and headgear and expanders worked!!! :-) Reagan is supposed to start her orthodontic work this summer...

Happy 8th Birthday Reagan. We are down to "small parties" nowadays with the older kids. We just had a kick-back easy craft and movie day. I'm guessing the "small parties" will be phased out in another year or two.

We took the kids with my parents to Baltimore's Port Discovery one day at the end of December. The kids had a ball! The adults were exhausted!

All eight of us (minus me taking the photo) at our Christmas Dinner. Mike's parents were in town that weekend. We were able to use our new placemats and had a lovely fried-turkey meal by Ukrops. Yummy!

Our traditional "top o' the stairs" photo as the kids anxiously await our okay to go dive into the Christmas gifts. We have to stop having kids... can't fit anymore across that top stair! They are sporting their new Christmas PJs. :)

This was Christmas Eve, after our church's service and the last reading of a Christmas book in our 24-day reading countdown. (I think it was Franklin's Christmas by the looks of the book on the table.) The kids get to open just one present on Christmas Eve... their new PJs for Christmas photos! :)

It's Christmastime!

Woo hoo! It's finally December, so now I can be outwardly Christmas-y and not hide the fact that I've been listening to Christmas music for 2 weeks now! (much to the chagrin of my loving husband who is a staunch believer in no Christmas till after Thanksgiving!)

We are ALMOST done decorating. Somehow this year, it didn't happen all in one day. It took about a week. That's what happens when you work part-time, have 4 kids in the house, and go away for Thanksgiving. But we're getting there. The only thing left is to hang the ornaments on the back-room tree. I'm so frustrated too, because I cannot find the tree skirt that I hand-made before we were married. It's not quite my style anymore, but I'm so proud of my cross-stitching, sewing and quilting skills in it. It's truly amazing that the thing is still in one piece after 13 years... crafty as I am, sewing is NOT my forte. It may be that a red throw blanket becomes the tree skirt this year. Ugh.

I had heard that my too-much-like-me, decorative and crafty friend Christy (yes, same name) had 9 Christmas trees last year... so guess who went out and bought 6 more this year! :-) I figure if she can do it, than I'm perfectly allowed to do it too. Hee hee. I now have 11 trees in this house... ooops... I mean 13. Now, before you think I'm totally nuts, 5 of those trees are the 4' tall skinny kind that are tucked out of the way and are lighted only, and 6 of those are 18" tall and sit on tables/dressers. Those ones are decked out in plastic bulbs or other simple decorations (unbreakable). So, really, we only have two big trees. All fake, yes. Sorry. Enough allergies in this family to warrant avoiding real trees. Besides the fake ones shed enough... I couldn't imagine the mess I'd make with a real one!

As for the outdoors, however... we aren't as lavish. I refuse to climb a 20 foot ladder to install lights at the roof. Kudos to those that do. After Mike's broken arm last year and my adversity to cold weather, we're just not going to do it. Mike and I are also not crazy about the blow-up decorations (although we love to see them in others' yards so please keep blowing them up!). So, we have two spotlights, a couple of lighted trees, a garland over the door, and wreaths on the windows. That's enough for me. Easy enough to take down quickly with snow on the ground. LOL

Here is Gracelynn hanging her very first Christmas tree ornament! I'd love to be able to read her mind. She just seems to go with the flow. No questions, no puzzled expressions. She must be wondering what just happened to our house, which is now jam-packed with funny trees and lights. She must look at these pictures and books of Santa Claus, and think "Who is that funny-looking man and why should we be good for him?" She must wonder what all these packaged goodies are. We now have 5 secret pal/santas among the 4 kids and are secretly dropping off packages of toys at people's houses. She's probably wondering, "What is that for? Why can't I keep that toy?" Not to mention that the poor girl's birthday is this Sunday. She's already celebrated her birthday twice with gifts and cake... once with Gran/Granddad and once with Nana/PapPap/Aunt Tracy/Uncle Tim. Oh just wait till the Chuck E Cheese party on Saturday and her birthday dinner on Sunday. That little girl is going to think that these birthdays are supposed to last a month! She's going to go into gift-withdrawal come January. Yikes!

Fortunately she seems to be catching on about Jesus. She knows her special grace prayers and knows that Jesus is always with us. She loves carrying her new Bible (from Child dedication day) to church each Sunday, even if she never has to open it. She loves going to church and seems to recall the stories better than I'd expect. So, at least the Nativity and the real reason for the season isn't lost on her. Granted, she's just almost-four, so I'm sure she doesn't truly understand Jesus. But at least she'll understand why Christmas is so important to us.

We started the Advent Calendar and the Surprise-Christmas-Book opening last night. We have a string of mittens on our wall with the gifts for the advent calendar. I'm hoping the kids realize that now we won't be receiving quite as nice gifts in each mitten. 25 days x 4 kids... can't do the $1.00 toy per kid per day anymore! But I did throw in a few nice surprises... things I would've just bought anyway. Yesterday, on Day One, they got a note about getting Charlie Brown's Christmas DVD. So, after opening the mitten, they all settled in for a bowl of popcorn and a movie before bed. You would've thought that a DVD would be exciting. Tommy was in tears. He kept asking to open ANOTHER mitten. He wanted the candy. LOL Well, considering how cheap 4 candy canes are... he won't be disappointed often. What book did we read? The Legend of the Poinsettia. Oh, how I love Tomie dePaola. My kids probably weren't as excited, but I just ADORE his sweet little illustrations. (Witch or not... Strega Nona must be in the top 5 books I love.) I keep buying more and more Christmas books... I think if I were to wrap them all, we'd have a book-a-day for about two months. LOL At least there are surprises each year when it's time to open them!

So, do we like Christmas? I do believe so. And what a month this is going to be... our babysitter is going to LOVE us. LOL

Sore Throats and Rashes

This last week, we've had a few sickies here. Grace began on Monday complaining of a sore throat and of a mild tummyache. On Wednesday morning she began having a red rash over her bottom. I thought she was having an allergic reaction to something she ate or drank.

She had strep. The rash was a reaction to the strep. Since Tommy was in the office too, I went ahead and had them check him. Ever seen a child break a strep-culture-swab in half? I did! The doctor also checked him out. The first thing she did was listen to his heart. He looked at her like she was nuts and said, "My heart's not broken." LOL

Sure enough. That test was positive, too. He had NO symptoms at all. I'm glad mother's instinct kicked in to do a test "just in case". Besides, I was about to head over to drop Tommy off at preschool. So glad I did the test. He may have infected more kids.

So, Grace and Tommy and I were home from school on Thursday. I'm not sure if anyone out there has ever had a child with a terrible rash reaction to strep before. I looked it up on the web (a very reliable source, you know?) The articles I found referred to the rash as scarlatina (scarlet fever). The rash itself had me freaking out for a day or two. If you can imagine a bad sunburn with small blisters, this looked just like that... but in the area that your underwear would normally cover! After a day or two of the bright red, blistery rash, it began to peel and look all shriveled. Now, 5 days later, I can report that *most* of the peeling is done and *most* of the skin looks healthy and normal. Poor little girl. Fortunately the only time she really complained was when she was undressing or using the bathroom.

The things we learn each day, huh? I'd heard of fever, sore throat, headache, and even nausea with strep before... but never the blistery rash. So one day when your child is diagnosed with strep THROAT and breaks out in a blistery, peeling rash. They are (believe it or not) related.

Fortunately all looks well with both kids now. Also, (knock on wood) no other family member has caught it from Grace or Tommy yet. Maybe it's over. Here's hoping. I've missed too many days of work with Election Day and illnesses... it's time to get back and make some money. LOL

Oooooohhhhhhmmmmmmm.....

Reagan's soccer team would do this before a game. One night I found these kiddos practicing...

Here are some wintry shots... taken inside, of course.

Economic Woes?

Ok, we are feeling the pinch. As is most everyone I know. Grocery bills, high energy costs, etc. But we live in a "wealthy" county... or so the Census tells us. I personally don't know a lot of wealthy people here, but I know they exist. I've seen their homes and cars and airplanes and car stickers of their children's elite academies. To add to that, I just saw today a new sign. Posted to a telephone pole was a sign that read, "We hang Christmas lights" with a phone number. Now, really. In these times when everyone is trying to watch what they spend and stick-to-a-budget, are there people out there able to afford to hire someone to hang their Christmas lights? Mike and I refuse to step foot onto a 20' ladder in cold weather continuously along our house in order to hang lights. Why? Because you then have to do it all over again in January. LOL I applaud everyone else who does... I just know I'd end up with frostbite and a broken arm. However, we are definitely Christmas-decoration-loving people. So, I hang the wreaths on the windows, prop up a few lighted trees in our foyer, decorate the bannister, put out a spotlight, and hope they look festive. :0)

I'm not knocking the concept of doing this business, though. I think it's quite innovative, and I applaud those who found a niche that wasn't being addressed. In this county, I'm sure they'll find many a person to pay for someone else to hang Christmas lights. I know in our neighborhood alone, I think about 90% of the homes decorate with lights at Christmas (if not more). Someone will be willing to pay others to win that first-prize ribbon! LOL I think we'll just continue our tradition of "low lights" ... and set a timer to save on electricity to boot. :-)

Some Mommy Thoughts & Advice

1. Mammoth Crocs are awesome. (Bought myself a pair after admiring the kids'... can even fit my long orthotics UNDER the lining! Woo hoo!) However, they should NEVER be allowed on a mulched playground. That should be stated in bold print on the tag! The fleece lining attracts mulch like mad... it cannot be cleaned!!! Tommy now owns off-white-and-cedar-colored-fleece-lined Crocs that are a little scratchy.

2. A peanut-free preschool makes complete sense... I totally understand, especially as a teacher that wants to be ultra-safe. But man, it's tough on those of us whose kids' only source of protein is peanut butter. LOL

3. Shopping in the summer for Christmas is great... great deals, good things for cheap... but you may just end up with TOO much (and now darling little son is giving me lists and lists of items from catalogs he finally has the excitement to look through... none of which Santa bought.) Fortunately I was fairly smart and bought almost nothing for my picky older ones... they want the big expensive gifts that I just need to buy later... hopefully a great Black Friday deal?

4. Gottadeal.com is still my favorite source of deals. I haven't bought from Victoria's Secret in years... too expensive, didn't think they had my size. I just ordered FOUR bras and two free panties for $33 shipped! And, they had my size! Now, if only my body could possibly look good in those...

5. Another note on gottadeal... when you think you find a great deal, check what you own already. I bought a 2-DVD deal on Amazon for $16+. Turns out we own the one. Duh!

6. When you have a daughter that could eat 24/7, lock the pantry. We've found food and candy wrappers under cushions, behind shelving in hall closets, in pants pockets, under beds, in the rec room (a food-free zone), in toy baskets, under sofas, and more. Oh, and store Halloween candy baskets up HIGH! On November 1, we found so many empty wrappers around the house before 8am!!

7. Don't try to do the Lotus Focus on the Wii Fit with kids in the room (or dogs). I have successfully mastered that thing 3 times now (sitting absolutely still for 3 minutes while staring at a flame on the screen). However, just as I sit down, if I'm not alone, THAT is the moment the dog scratches my leg, Ben asks me questions, and Tommy and Grace drive their cars on me. Ugh. Can't they see I'm working. LOL

8. Another Wii Fit bit... if you don't normally box (... who does?) , don't do 12 consecutive minutes of rhythm boxing right off the bat while trying to punch really hard. Your back and arms will pay for it in the morning ... and the next morning.

9. Another Wii Fit piece of advice... don't get the body-test done while your kids are watching. They just laugh into hysterics when my Mii character explodes wide and looks at her big belly after the "measuring". Plus, they may learn a new O word. In my case, it was an awful 5 letter word that I refuse to utter. Meanwhile, the kids are struggling to be healthy, instead of underweight!

10. Don't post funny old photos on Facebook of college/high school years without expecting retaliation. There are now some old hairstyles of mine on the Internet for the world to see. And to think, in the 80's, we laughed at our choices of the 70's. In the 90's, we laughed at our choice of clothing in the 80's. What will people say about our butterfly-clipped hairdos, flare-leg jeans and hoodies in a few years? (... or at least mine) I know in a decade, my daughter will be telling me, "How could you make me wear that stuff?" when looking at her trendy Limited Too sweaters and Crocs. I know... I did it to my mom.

Broken Teeth and Halloween

I apologize for the big pause in blogging. It seems like my "everyday" is now "busy day". After the Farm experience, we had a minor dental issue with Tommy. Those who knew him 1.5 years ago know that he fell at 2.5 years old and banged up his teeth. They were displaced at the time. Lots of blood... scared the daylights out of Mommy! After a three-adults-to-hold-him-down struggle, a cast-like bandage was applied to his front teeth. It took several months to chip away, but eventually the bandage fell off and his teeth were back to being cemented in place. Yeah! He managed to keep them... but about 6 months ago, they turned brown. :-( At his checkup, we were told to watch for abcesses, but in general it was good to keep the teeth in place despite the color.

Here is a picture of my baby boy (almost 3 at the time) with his fat lip and dental-bandage (hard to see, but it puffed out his lips for months):

On the Saturday that we went to the farm a few weeks ago, I noticed that his left front tooth had a chip. The chip was brown (due to the discolored tooth). I figured I'd call the dentist on Monday, since it didn't bother him. On Sunday, I noticed him playing with his mouth. I looked inside... half of his tooth was gone! So after calling the dentist and going in on Monday morning, we learned that there wasn't much to do. I had filed it down a tad with a nail file. He has no feeling in it since the nerve is dead. The X-ray showed that the root is all but gone. Basically we're just awaiting it to fall out on its own. The dentist did say she could wiggle it out if it became painful to him or if it bothered him, but she wanted to keep it as long as possible to hold the place for the permanent tooth. Here is Tommy now... imagine that the left half of his tooth was gone. That's what it looks like up close. The root (or what's left of it) is still in the socket, but the visible tooth is down to just the right half. Kind of funky looking. In the photo, you may think he's missing a tooth... no that long skinny thing in the middle is the remainder of the tooth. (Yes, the boy needs a haircut! LOL) Oh, the bang-up on his face... a fall on the sidewalk... a few days after losing the tooth that started with a fall on the sidewalk 18 months ago. Oh, I love my sweet little Tommy, but he's all boy!

Halloween was nuts this year, but fun. Ben dressed as a mad scientist (looks a bit like Einstein, eh?) He went to a birthday party that night and trick-or-treated with them.
Reagan also went as a mad scientist, though she looked more like Frankenstein's bride. :-) Gracelynn was my little cowgirl, and Tommy was a pirate. Here they are, moments before the chaos of walking around the block. Three kids don't walk at the same pace, and Mommy was left going mad trying to keep eyes on all three in the dark! We survived though.

Gracelynn had a ball, once she got the hang of it. Tommy pooped out early (as always). We came home so that Mike could be relieved of handing out food so he could go get Ben. After 8:30, we just left the candy bowl outside (hoping the candy would be gone quickly... I totally expected the first kids along to take a bunch if not all... c'mon... what kid DOESN'T take a ton when there is no one looking?) About 10 minutes later, the doorbell rang. It was two teenagers asking for treats. (...in terrorist garb talking in middle-eastern accents... how sickening!) We looked around... the bowl was gone! OK, I can see dumping the candy in your bag... but taking the bowl, too? It was our Halloween Mickey Mouse bowl! C'mon! I gave the two kids some candy I still had, and we shut out the light. It took me awhile to get used to teenagers dressing up (we never trick-or-treated after middle school when we were young), but I got used to it... seems to be the norm around here. Then to see them dressing like terrorists or in other vile costumes is bad too. (The ones that don't even bother to dress up bug me too... at least put some effort into it.) But, then to STEAL my candy bowl on top of the dozens of candybars left in there... give me a break. Granted, I'm assuming it was an older teen, but most younger kids were with adults... I can't imagine an adult allowing that. OK... my fault... shouldn't have just left it out... but I'm irked.

Ok, time to move on. Here are our pumpkins this year. The face was designed by Reagan (carved by Mike). The other one took about 1 minute. Ar ar ar (ala Tim Taylor). I got out my drill and put holes all over. How cool!