I think we have all successfully made it over the flu.

My New Year's Resolution is to try to post more about the house. I have lots to show you. I have just been too lazy to get the pictures up and ready. So in the new year I will try to do better.

Looks like it's going to be a late night.

Christmas Memory Party

What's your favorite "horrible" Christmas memory?

Leave me a comment and share the Christmas joy.

Will this be. . .

one of those Christmas's that we look back on, remember, and laugh at?

Will we say, hey, remember the Christmas where. . .

• Christmas Eve Day we almost took Mom to the hospital for dehydration?
  
• Madi awoke Christmas day in a puddle of strawberry-colored vomit?
• Mom was so wiped out that after a trek up the stairs she had to lay down for a few minutes to catch her breath and recover?
• Dad bonded with Madi over hours upon hours of The Wiggles, as Mommy slept and slept?
• We feasted on Gatorade, ginger ale, crackers, and toast?
• Christmas gift opening lasted weeks afterwards due to canceled family get-togethers, so the sickness wouldn't spread?

Who knows? But I guess it's worth a try.

The Saga Continues

Josh has fallen victim to the circulating flu. It has proven too strong to be overtaken!

So our holiday fun continues. . .

On Dasher and Dancer, Prancer and Vixen, On Vomit. . .

No, that doesn't seem right, but it does seem to accurately describe our home today.

I was pleasantly surprised to wake this morning and feel rested and a little energetic. This wakefulness was greeted with a cough and a cry, as Madilyn proceeded to vomit up her dinner all throughout her crib. Needless to say, plans did not go as expected. We were unable to make it to liturgy this morning, and as for traveling to Josh's relative's this evening, it just was not possible.

My parents were able to come over, and gifts were opened and a Christmas meal prepared and eaten.

I am feeling better, though still nauseous. I am thinking this may be a combination of pregnancy and post-flu. We'll see! Madi has been keeping food down all day, just a little more tired, crabby, and less hungry than usual.

Now we just need to make it through the next few days without Josh breaking into the flu madness, then my posts should revolve around something less revolting!

Morning Sickness = 24 Hour Flu

So what disguised itself as morning sickness turned out to be a 24 (well 48 hour) stomach virus. The worst appears to be over as after about 12 hours without keeping anything down, I am now able to drink Gatorade and eat toast, jello, and applesauce. I'll write more later, as I need to head to bed to sleep, but please keep me in your prayers. It's been a challenging past few days.

Merry Christmas, if I don't get a chance to tell you tomorrow!

Quote

I couldn't resist passing on this quote. I know, I know, probably not something good to live by, but being pregnant and it being around the holidays, it just seems, well, too true.

"Life should NOT be a journey to the grave with the intention of
arriving safely in an attractive and well preserved body, but rather to
skid in sideways, chocolate in one hand, body thoroughly used up,
totally worn out and screaming "WOO HOO what a ride!"

Something New

So I had my first experience of morning sickness leading to vomiting. Being pregnant with Madilyn, I was tired and needed to keep food in my stomach most of the time to not feel nauseous, but that was it. Well, this pregnancy is proving different. I feel nauseous a lot more often, not horribly so, but enough to disrupt my energy level at times.

This morning we got up for church. We were all showered, dressed, and fed. We were saying our pre-communion prayers as a family--well Josh and I were. Madi was slowly and diligently carrying her friends--a stuffed pooh bear, a yellow chicken-dancing duck, Toby the tot bot, and a cookie monster puppet, over to our vacinity. I was feeling a little strange, but that's fairly regular lately, but then it got a little more intense. So I excused myself, left Josh to continue without me, and I won't horrify you with details, threw up into the kitchen sink.

As we were running a little late for church, and needed to leave right away, I opted to stay home. None of us were sure where this new type of pregnancy symptom would lead, and I wasn't too thrilled with potentially having a repeat in the sanctuary. So I've been nursing my pregnant tummy with Sprite, water, and crackers (thankfully, it all seems to be staying down), while my husband and daughter are at church. I'm just hoping this is a one time thing!

Christmas Preparation Update

Cards--mailed with wallets of Madi in her Christmas dress

Gifts--wrapped, except for 6 sitting on the desk--they were late arrivals. Oh, and four I'm not done with--it's always something.

Cookies--dough made and in the freezer--except the cookie press ones, which won't be frozen

Decorations--as good as it's going to get--I gave up a while ago on the pristine house--with half completed renovations and a toddler it was hopeless

I still have to think about the meal, and a few other things. But it is getting there. I just need to avoid getting complacent.

How is everyone else doing?

You know you're a Mom when. . .

. . . you use a crayon to add something to your grocery list, as it is easier to find in your purse than a pen.

Like Mother, Like Daughter

So our weekend of death defying stunts continued. On Saturday, Madilyn had her first blood-drawing fall. Since she has been walking for some time, she now feels the need to frequently test her ability for speed, and well, run. So on Saturday evening, she was entertaining herself by sprinting around our dining room table. She found this quite hilarious! I guess it's a stage or something, as she also finds it amusing to stick her fingers in her ears to plug them and talk loudly. Anyway, so she was doing laps, and tripped on a wheel of her shopping cart. Now Madilyn falls alot, something about learning to walk and all. But this one you could hear. There was a loud thud, and you could tell it hurt even before she started to wail. However, unlike all the other falls, as I was holding/comforting her, I noticed some blood. Here she had sliced the inside of her upper lip on her teeth. It didn't bleed long, and it wasn't that serious, but it was still a little stressful until we knew where the blood was coming from. To be honest, I can't even use the word gush when describing it, it was more like a trickle.

The funniest part, if there is one, is that while still kind of crying she squirmed to get down. I let her down, and she proceeded to walk toward the dining room floor, and tell us all about it. This is all grunts and baby talk, but she had to tell us about 10 times until she felt better. And each time, she expected us to say, "yes, that's where you fell. You tripped over the shopping cart and fell, thus getting a boo, boo (or goo, goo as she calls them)". Finally, she was satisfied that we understand the situation, and we could get her to sit down and eat some dinner. But I think we've all had enough accidents for a while now.

A Little Excitement

I am a clumsy person. For those of you who have heard about the coffee table incident, you know what I mean. Let's just say that I will never own a glass top coffee table if I can help it, and I have learned my lesson about sitting on furniture not designed to be sat upon. Anyway. I have earnestly avoided glass furniture, but I did not count on the stairs taking me out.

Yesterday, after getting myself and Madi dressed, we proceeded down the stairs to go make breakfast. No rush, no running, no jumping, just the usual walking gait. About 5 steps from the bottom, I some how missed placing my foot firmly on the step. I fell backwards and slid down the remaining steps until my feet were pressed up against the wall at the base of the steps. Madi was still in my arms in the exact same position, no worse for the wear, only a little confused on why Mommy was now laying down.

I will say for the amount of insane accidents I have had, I have never broken anything or needed stitches from one of them. So I am fairly lucky. Yesterday proved to be the same. The front of my neck is sore--the opposite of whiplash, and I'm a little stiff, but that's it. Otherwise, I am fine.

I guess we all need a little excitement in our lives.

Holiday Time Saver

I remember the days of growing up and prior to Christmas we would spend hours mixing, measuring, and baking those thousands of Christmas cookies. Then for weeks following Christmas we had piles of cookies on our counter tops tempting us to nibble each time we walked past. Well no more. Let me just ask you this: when are cookies best? If you answered when they first come out of the oven, then I have the answer for you.

What we now do is mix the cookie dough prior to Christmas day, and then freeze it. On Christmas day we just take the frozen cookie dough out, and scoop out as many cookies (and a few extra) that we plan to eat. Pop the tray in the oven, and in 8 to 10 minutes, we have fresh cookies. No hours spent in front of the oven. No mass quantities of cookies tempting for weeks on end. And then anytime you have unexpected company, you can quickly wipe up fresh baked cookies.

I know it won't work for everyone, but I thought I'd share the idea in case you are feeling swamped at the moment with holiday preparations.

Check it out!

Click here to send a Thank you card to our troops. It's easy and free!

Caption Contest

So now is the time for all of you who have told me that you love to follow my blog to prove your perseverance. You've already made it through my sporadic blogging and my empty promises of seeing more home repairs and renovations. And now you have the opportunity to be featured on my oh-so-popular (what I get five hits a day, and three of them are me checking to see how many hits I've gotten) blog.

Simply leave me a comment with a caption for the following picture, and if Josh and I choose your caption, your caption will be announced on my blog! But that's not all, you will also be awarded a Starlite peppermint candy. Who could ask for more? So start brainstorming. . . you have until Sunday at noon to enter. The winner will be posted Monday (well, as soon as I get to it--I need to avoid more promises I don't keep).

Public Service Announcement

Stay tuned later this week for my dining room reveal! Yes, it is complete. Well, minus the new chandelier and 12 major feast icons. But still, complete enough to share!

Mom's Play Group

So today I hosted our church Mom's play group. Previously, we have gone out and about to a library, a park, or a farmer's market. But today, I decided to try something different and have everyone over here to eat lunch and then play.

I always find that I appreciate Madilyn much more after having been at a Mom's group meeting. Not that the other kids are bad in any way. They are all really nice kids, and I mean that. They have manners and know when something is inappropriate. But something about having five kids (all under the age of 5) running around instead of just one, makes my one seem much more manageable. It always leaves me more satisfied with the next few days and our quiet coloring sessions or our fast-paced book reading time.

And how did the mom's group go, you ask? It went well--I got some time to talk to adults amidst the chaos of couch jumping, toy music blaring, and little cries of Mama, Mama. Madi got some time to see other children and interact with them. And as always she got some help learning to share. And my house, well, see for yourself:


I think it got a workout too!

But now, Madi is napping, the dishwasher is running, the washing machine is churning away, and my house is straightened and cleaned. So I am going to go put my feet on the couch and read.

I wish. . .

So I wish I could tell you I was absolutely done with Christmas shopping, or my Christmas cards. Not to mention, how much of a relief it would be to say that my living room finally had artwork hung on the walls or my curtains finalized. I would also love to tell you that my pictures have all been organized and developed, and that my stairway had a cascade of faces to gaze upon during your ascent. Or perhaps that my daughter's first year scrapbook had at least a few more pages complete. It would be thrilling to say that my dinner was simmering on the stove, while my Amish friendship bread baked in the oven, and my bread maker kneaded a dough. How about glistening front windows, or carpet freshly vacuumed? Not to mention that the front yard would be cleared of all remnants of past trees. My hallway would be primed and painted, along with the family room walls.

But, while I can't tell you any of that, I can tell you that I read Madi three books today--one to her large stuffed pig, and one to her purple-overall wearing bear. We watched the birds and squirrels bicker over our two bird feeders at least four times, accompanied by our cat who was twitching her tail. I can tell you that Madi helped ring the Salvation Army bell at Walmart today, and that she waved at exactly twelve different people, all unknown. We sang at least 24 songs, whether with music or not, and put in the motions as best as we could. I can say that I only lost my patience once so far, and even when the bowl of applesauce slipped from little hands leaving a trail across the entire dining room floor, I did not once sigh or groan. I've overcome at least nine fits and temper tantrums, most of those belonging to Madi, and I've managed to drink three glasses of water. So while my house looks the same as it always did, please don't think that things aren't changing, because Madi and I are hard to work, trying to improve ourselves.

Hope you all had a Happy Thanksgiving!

About Two Week Ago. . .