Christmas is coming

So this weekend I decorated the house for Christmas.  And when I say "house", I mean I put up the tree, decorated the fireplace, and changed out the lemons on the formal dining room table for ornaments. 

There was a certain little boy in my house that was totally thrilled.  He must have told me a hundred times on Friday "Thank you Mommy for the Kissmass twee!"  I love that kid.  It's also started some heavy conversation about Santa.  I asked him what he wanted Santa to bring him this year.  His response?  Cookies. 

Okay.  I can handle that.

Then I asked more directly, what toys would he want Santa to bring him?  A ding ding wif a awm and fwashing red lights.  (that would be a functioning railroad crossing arm for those of you that aren't fluent in Luke-speak)  Great.  Where am I supposed to find that?  He's also asked about a million times when Santa was going to come.  I will be making a count-down calender for him soon to help quell the question.

Saturday I didn't need to do my normal housecleaning since I'd taken care of it all before I left town, so I was able to do the things I never ever EVER get around to.  My refrigerator looks brand new.  All bedding from mattress pad to comforter on mine and Luke's bed is clean.  There is nary a dust bunny from the ceiling fans to the carpets.  That would be a big thanks to Mom for that one- my vacuum cleaner died the minute I turned it on that morning, and I called her to see if I could go get theirs while they were still out of town.  Turns out she found one on sale for Black Friday for $36 and snagged it for me.  Whoo hoo!  Do you know how thrilling it is to vacuum and not stink up the house?! 

Saturday night I took the kids to The Village.  We didn't get there late by any means, in fact we were 20 minutes early, but Evan's class was all ready full.  Boo.  That meant I had to bring baby girl into the service with me.  I was afraid the music would be to loud for her, but she was an angel.  Well, an angel up until 10 minutes before the lesson was over and she was so done with being held. 

Sunday I just let us all sleep in.  Next week I start teaching Evan's bible class for the winter quarter, which not only means we must be there but be there early.  Yikes.  Get two kids plus myself up, ready, and out of the door early.  We'll see how this goes.  So this Sunday we just played hooky and to our last chance to relax.  By Sunday night I'd been at the house with the kids for three straight days, only leaving for church Saturday night, and I was super restless.  Thankfully Mom and Dad were home by then and let me bring the kids over while I had dinner with a friend.  There was adult conversation that DIDN'T revolve around when Santa was coming or what the latest status on the train table was.  I love my kids more than anything in the word, but sometimes a girl just has talk about something else for awhile.

Thanksgiving Break

Ahhhh.  I'm sitting here in the living room with only the glow of the Christmas tree lights on and a cup of hot pumpkin spice tea beside me.  Children are not only in bed, but finally quiet.  Luke has taken to narrating his life in song these days, and they can last for hours after the lights go out.

They are finally healthy-ish, I believe.  Luke has had some digestive issues over the last few days, but thankfully today there were no episodes. We'll get to that later.

Tuesday I got off work at 3 and picked up Ashley on my way home.  Mom had the kids that day, so we swung by my house to get my suitcase, then over to Mom's to pack in her new Pilot.  We were headed down the road to Colorado City by 4:30, and we made good time.  We laughed, fiddled around learning all the new tricks the car could do, Luke and I watched Happy Feet on the dvd player, and at one point we stopped at Sonic for dinner.

My sweet happy girl in the car.

The only problem?  Luke talked the entire way there.  Literally.  He talked over the movie.  He echoed the voice commands Mom programed into the car.  He sang his own songs.  His little voice was made known the entire 4 hour trip.  What was one way to combat that?  Turn the music up.  We tried to convince him to move to the music and have a "dance party", but he didn't fall for it for very long.  Ashley even employed a strobe light feature using the flash light feature on her phone. Obviously we know how to have a good time. Eventually we made it to Grandy's.

Wednesday was just a lazy day.  Aunt Patty had already bought most of the fixings for Thursday's big lunch so we just hung around.

   

Maybe he'll be musically inclined like me.

Ashley had never been to the museum where Aunt Patty works, so we headed there after nap time.  Dinner was grilled out side- hamburgers with all the fixings.  I took the kids' back to Grandy's house fairly early for baths and bed, then just enjoyed the quiet for once where there was nothing I felt like I should be doing.

Thursday we again took it easy in the morning.  Layed in bed for awhile (I was on the pull out in the living room, so I could be "in bed" yet in charge of my children at the same time.  Not a terrible concept!)  I got me and the kids ready just in time to be back down the street at Aunt Patty's for our 1:00 lunch.  Lord have mercy did I stuff myself. 

You better believe I ate this ENTIRE plate of food.  Plus a slice of pie.

But then we went down town to a couple of boutiques that were open on Thanksgiving day, and we walked some of it off.  Such a Goodlett tradition.  Girls visit and shop, while all the boys went hunting.  Well, except for Dad.  He took Luke back to Grandy's for a nap.

West Texas: where cotton grows in the street.

We had a grand time, but soon it was time for me to pack up the kids and head home.  Dad had driven out on Wednesday night in my car since he had to work all day that day, which left me free to leave whenever I wanted.  I wanted all day Friday to get the house ready for Christmas so Thursday night I headed back with my babies. 

That's, unfortunately, when Luke's digestive issues decided to kick back in.  We were in a rather desolate stretch of highway that had gone down to one lane due to construction, when he started moaning.  Talk about panic mode.  It was 15 minutes before the highway opened back up and there was a gas station.  Blessedly it was open at 9:30 on Thanksgiving night.  I rushed him inside with Evan in her seat on my arm and then had to WAIT for a stall to open up.  There should be a special bathroom for preschool emergencies.  Thankfully the handicap on the very end opened up first, so I could have Evan up on the sink counter while I helped him and my eyes could be on both while no one walked by.  Whew.  It was great parenting. 

Anyway, we finally made it home that night a little before 11 and I was so glad to see the house.  And seeing how it's taken me three days just to get this much recapped, I'll save the rest of the weekend for another post.

Sickness

Unfortunately this week has been pretty eventful in all the wrong ways.  Last Monday night, at 12:30, Luke woke up whimpering that his ear hurt.  Yay.  So I got him an appointment first thing in the morning, which worked out since Evan was supposed to go in around then for a follow up for her ear infections. 

Turns out he had a double ear infection, which burst one of his ear drums.  While Evan's ears looked okay, she had developed a slight wheeze.  What is with my children?  I was sent home with a trial of Luke's antibiotic since it was late enough that I wouldn't really be able to run to get the prescriptions filled that night.  They had given Evan a breathing treatment at the office to see if it helped and since I hadn't even noticed it, I figured one more day wouldn't make a big difference.

WRONG.  When I picked Evan up from bible class on Wednesday night (with nebulizer vials in hand), she sounded awful.  AWFUL.  I rushed her home and immediately got her going on a treatment.  An hour later she still didn't sound very good.  Her wheeze was still pretty audible and she was retracting some. By then it was approaching 10 and I debated on whether to call her pediatrician on if I could give her another round of treatment or not.  I HATE calling the doctor after hours so I called Shae to confirm I wasn't crazy and needed to call.  I've only called once before for either of my kids, it's not something I generally do.  But Shae said that it indeed was a good reason to call.  I love my pediatrician's office.  While the little girl at the answering service was snippy with me, the doctor was anything but.  She told me I was right in giving her another round of treatment but if it still wasn't better after that I needed to take her to Acute Kids. 

Bad news.  She still wasn't better.  It was 10:30, Luke was asleep, Evan wasn't breathing well, and the urgent care place closed at 11.  I tearfully called my momma and she came right over to stay with Luke.  I made it to Acute Kids with 10 minutes to spare.  They listened to her and watched her breath, confirming that yes, she was in slight distress (although her face never showed it.  Have I told you what an amazing baby I have?  She is so flippin happy.) especially after having two breathing treatments back to back.  They gave her a treatment with different meds and an oral steroid.  She didn't sound 100% but better enough to send us home instead of the hospital.  Which almost happened.  She also had developed a double ear infection within those last 24 hours, so we got another prescription for antibiotics and an oral steroid to give her each day to boost the effects of the breathing treatments. 

The next morning my pediatrician's office called to check in on us and I filled them all in.  20 minutes later he called back again, saying he just kept thinking about her and wanted her to come in to see how she was responding to treatment that day.  I was able to get an appointment for Friday afternoon, and it turns out she STILL was wheezing, even with the oral and inhaled steroids she is on.  No bueno.  She has a doctor's appointment tonight to monitor her lungs, and if she still has even a slight wheeze then we have to start in on x rays to figure out what is going on. 

And yesterday?  Yesterday I don't know what happened.  I walked into the nursery to drop her off at bible class and she puked everywhere.  Evan.  My baby who doesn't even spit up.  I took her home to change her and give her a breathing treatment and in the middle of it she puked again.  So. Much. Vomit. I couldn't get the mask off of her while she kept getting sick.  It was a little scary.  After she finished I surveyed the carnage that was my floor, the couch, my clothes and her body, and I wasn't sure what to do first.  Where to begin. Eventually I just stripped her down and let her play in the bath, laid her down for a nap, then commenced with the cleaning of the living room.  Thankfully there wasn't a boy and a dog to keep out of the mess (Cody took the dog when he moved out).  I could tell she felt totally better right after she was done, but I still limited the volume she took in while nursing, just to make sure she held everything down. 

Watching the Cowboys after she felt better.

My poor baby.  If you are keeping count, that would be 4 doctor visits and 4 different meds within the last week. 

And that brother of hers?  Luke just plain keeps me on my toes.  Last night we were sitting on the couch and he said "Momma, are you kinda like a pwincess?"  I told him sure. I could be a princess and that he was a prince.  His response?  "I not a pwince.  I just a boy.  A big little boy."   He for some reason calls Smarties 'candy smarts' and is still confused as to why Mom's white car is in Papa's garage and we keep taking his blue car home.  I rearranged the living room last night, moving his train table over.  He kept thanking me for it the rest of the evening.  He LOVES to have Evan sit in her bouncy seat and play with her.  He likes to make the songs come on for her and spin the toys.

He's started saying I love you Mom at the most random times, and last night I taught him to blow kisses.  Except, he wouldn't catch my kisses, he would sometimes kiss his hand and then immediatly put it on his own cheek.  I asked him if that was my kiss or his kiss he was putting on, and he said it was just his own.  As long as he grasps the concept I suppose.

A few firsts

Well, several big "firsts" have happened in my house over the last few days.  Going in chronological order (because how else would you do it?):

-I got my first newer car.  Yep.  It's true.  Mom and Dad bought themselves a brand new Pilot, which seats 8 so we call can ride together now that I've got multiple children, and the VERY graciously offered me the Pathfinder.  I don't think you understand what that means.  My little Protege?  We have been together since I was 16.  Well, technically since I was 15 years and 50 weeks old.  They surprised me with it in the parking lot when I returned home from a summer camp two weeks before my birthday.  That old girl and I have been through many a things.  She took me to college.  She brought me home from college.  She watched me get married.  She brought both of my babies home from the hospital.  She saw the end of my marriage. We spent over 128,000 miles on the road together.  And, in a slightly unceremoniously manner, she's been replaced.  Don't worry little lady.  I'll never forget you.  (and don't tell her, but it was apparently way past time.  Plus I LOVE driving the Pathfinder.) (and at this point I have 45 minutes combing my photo albums for the picture of 16 year old me with the Protege, but I can't for the life of me find it)


-Luke spent his first weekend away from me.  I had a hard time with it leading up to the hour before he left.  I worried.  I missed him all ready.  I fretted over his cough and his night time routine and whether he would get enough sleep.  I cried a little.  But then, by the grace of God, he asked 50 BILLION question in the hour right before he got picked up on Thursday night and I realized a tiny break might not be so bad.  I missed my boy terribly.  It was quiet.  Very quiet.  I cleaned my house and it stayed that way.  I spent lots of time with Evan.  We got dressed up on Saturday night and had a fancy sushi dinner.  And Luke had a great time.  I knew he would.  He loves his grandparents and needed all the attention just on him, not shared with the baby. He came back with stories of the hotel and trains and place cards with his name on it (Cody's brother got married on Saturday).  I'm grateful that he has two sets of grandparents willing to spoil and indulge him in his boyish obsessions. 


-I dyed my hair.  WHAT?!  It's true.  I am 28 years old and finally dyed my hair.  You know what I learned?  I've got really dark hair and really stubborn greys.  It took two times to really get them covered, and the grey is still more blond than mahogany. It's okay.  It looks like expensive highlights out of a $6 box.  Well, that's what I'm telling myself anyway.  The best "before" picture I can find is the one I have in my side bar.

And here is a not-so-decent after picture.

Ashley said it's like looking at the 24 year old version of me. 


-Finally, I let Evan girl try some rice cereal last night.  I figured 5 1/5 months was long enough to wait.  I don't know what I was expecting, but it certainly wasn't what I got.  The way she licks her chops and dives after any food within reach I figured Sister Friend would devour whatever I put on that little spoon.  WRONG.  So wrong.  She hated it.  I mean HATED it. I might as well have been poisoning her with pure wretchedness. 

 

 Ooooo, that's for me?  Yes please!

 

First bite: Wait a second...I'm not so sure about this.....

 

Towards the end: No more! No more!

What?!  We have to do this again another time?!

I used formula at first, and I thought that might be the problem.  So I dumped it and tried to mix the cereal with a little expressed milk.  Maybe it was too cold right out of the fridge.  So I tried with room temp tap water.  Still gagged on it.  I hate to make her go through this again tonight, but she's got to learn.  What else should I try?  I feel like I should be more on top of this, be able to give the advice as opposed to asking for it, since she isn't my first babe.  Luke loved the stuff and never almost threw it back up.  Missy Lou is proving to be a bit more high maintenance.

Halloween

I can not believe that it's been a week and a half and I still haven't posted anything about Halloween.  The type-A person in my cringes.  I've always prided myself on doing things right on time, right when it happens.  The working single mom in me is too tired to care anymore.

Who am I?!

Anyway, Luke really enjoyed the whole aspect of Halloween this year, minus the dressing up part. 

Okay.  So mostly he enjoyed the candy.  Or "tweats" as he still calls them.  He asked me for a treat for breakfast this morning.  I told him no.

Sunday night, the 30th, was Trunk or Treat at church.  Poor kid was so overwhelmed by everything that he mostly looked like a deer in the headlights and could barely mumble when prompted.  I think it was all the kids.  When he gets around kids he doesn't know he tends to clam up.  He also had issues with being a little picky about his candy.  It was a hard concept for him to wait until the adult put the candy in his bucket, he tended to go all in and help himself.  And if he didn't like what you put in, the dude wasn't afraid to ask for an exchange.

Thank God he's cute.

He didn't really want to do any of the games inside...

so we just ate a hot dog and some nachos... 

and cotton candy.

Monday night, on actual Halloween, I had planned to just stay home.  Luke didn't know that there was the possiblity of more candy- not being all familiar with the traditions of the holiday and all- so I planned to ride it out as long as possible.  Until he knew to ask to go, I wasn't planning on it.  BUT.  Shae called and asked us to come over and trick or treat with them.

And like a 13 year old girl, I caved to peer pressure.

I'm so glad I did.  The Wyatt's came over too, which meant that Luke, Dakota, and Jadyn had the best little time.

 We went to various houses around the neighborhood for an hour or so before retiring back at the Raymond's to pass out candy.  While he was door to door, Luke did better about his "trick or treat" and "thank you"s, but he still got fussed at for reaching his grubby little hands in other people's candy bowl.  Silly boy.  Evan had her first go in the umbrella stroller and her legs stuck straight out of it.  I'd totally forgotten how Luke's used to do that too.  Kinda makes me wonder what else I've already forgotten.....

Evan:

 

Luke:

 (this was our trip to Fredericksburg in 2009)

I digress.  When we got back to the Raymond's we checked over the candy and let the boys have a few pieces.  Shae also let them help hand out the candy when the door bell rang.  Luke throughtly enjoyed it, and Dakota did good for the first couple of answers, until Big Foot showed up and scared the living beejeezus out of him.  From then on he ran the opposite way when there was a knock.

But the funniest part of the whole evening was my boy's stubborn habbit.  Before we left to go trick or treating, I made him eat some chicken for dinner.  Execpt Luke did not want to eat his chicken for dinner.  So what did he do?  Held his chewed chicken in his mouth the ENTIRE. NIGHT.

Not kidding.  There are some pictures with his mouth open where you can even see it.  You better believe he is every bit as stubborn as I am.  I tried eating his candy in front of him, telling him I needed to eat it since he couldn't have any with food still in his mouth.  I tried giving him water to help him swallow it.  When he complained that it was gross I told him to just swallow it and get it over with.  It finally went down when he got a smoothie back at the Raymond's house after trick or treating.  YEP.  He had that mouth full for at least two hours.  He's not strong willed.  Nope.  Not even a little.

So, we ended up having a great time.  I laughed my head off with my friends, my son got to build memories with his, and Sister Friend got to experience the little stroller.  Not a terrible way to spend a Monday night.

Mud Run

So, last Saturday (Oct. 29th) I did a little something.  A 10K with obstacles. 

But not just any obstacles.  They all involved mud and water. 

A bunch of guys (and Carrie, the only other girl) in the office were all doing the Mud Run and they convinced me to sign up too.  So in turn, I signed Shae up.  I believe her exact words were "Did I get a choice in this?"

No.

So we started the morning out like this.

And by 1:30 we were done, looking like this.

Even though we were FREEZING- 50 degree weather soaking wet- we had the very best time.  We haven't laughed like that in forever.  Really.  One of my co-workers is hilarious.  So what was it like exactly?  It was a 10k run where every quarter mile or so there was some type of obstacle. 


They included climbing over walls....

(not my most graceful look)

Crawling through tunnels, swimming across the Trinity River (which was so cold that I got half way across and almost panicked), cargo net climbs, rope ladders, log rolls, over/unders, slogging through pits where the water was up to your waist and the mud so thick it almost sucked my shoes off (this is also where I was laughing so hard I fell over on top of Shae while laughing, getting a mouthful of nasty smelling mud), and much MUCH more.  I made it about 3/4 of the way through before I was so cold my muscles couldn't work anymore to pull myself up onto things and I had to skip the obstacles that were more water than mud.  The hardest one (besides swimming across the fa-reeeeeeezzing river) was probably the mud hills.  There would be three hills growing in successive order, and in between each hill was a deep water pit.  The last hill would be 10 or so feet high of mud so slick all you could do was slide back down.  I would have to really dig my knees and my fingers in and just cling with everything I had. 

It was intense and hard, especially for someone who did zippo training.  But I had the best time with my best friend and co workers.  I'm so glad I had the opportunity and now the memories!

(about to take off...no idea what we are getting into)

(first encounter with the mud)

 (right after the first encounter....still no idea what was to come)

 

 (it seems in water I had trouble staying upright.  This happened a lot.  I was laughing though.)

 (finished!  Those shirts aren't so white now are they?)

The Synaptyk Group

(action pictures were taken by another guy in our office, he followed us for part of the beginning and the end)

Five Months

My sweet girly, you are five months old!  You are just the best baby a momma could ever ask for.  Really.  I thought your brother was a good baby, but you have taken it to another level.  Your smile goes on for days.  Really. 

This month your little personality just keeps coming alive.  You love to talk.  You love to reach for things.  I've already had to start moving my plate and cup waaaaaaaaaaaaaay back when I'm eating so you don't get ahold of anything.  This probably is a giant sign you are ready for solids, but I'm still not ready.  There is a good chance you will be 20 and not on solid foods.  It's hard to get a good picture thats not this:

You are wearing size 6 months clothes, and some 9 months.  You are probably ready for a size 3 diaper, but I've still got some 2's hanging around that need to be gone first.  You love to talk, love to laugh, love to play.  Toys floating by in the bath make for great fun.  I can sit you up on a soft place and you will stay sitting up for 5-7 seconds.  What?!  Luke could stay up right till he was 7 months old. 

What do you hate?  Not much.  Getting your nose suctioned is about as torturous as it gets, and yesterday when I took you in for some congestion that just won't go away they had to test your ears and that was pretty awful.  Other than that, switching sides while you are nursing is about as terrible as your life gets.  The specific little shriek that you do stills says "Don't take a fat girl away from her food." 

Evan Elaine, life is changing around our house in more ways than I would like. But one thing that is the same and will always be the same is how much I love you.  Getting you out of your crib in the morning when you wake up hungry is the best way to start each day.  You are my beautiful little girl and nothing will ever chang that.