Happy Birthday kid!

So the first grader turns seven today. SEVEN! We had a party for her and a few friends on Saturday at a local paint-your-own-pottery place. Her cousins (and sister) came and the three non-family friends we invited came too. It was pretty great. We haven't really thrown her a party since she turned one and it was time. I try not to go overboard with parties, and we haven't with her, but she's the second kid so she sort of was getting...shorted. The oldest had a party at one, six, seven or eight...and so she'll have another this year too probably. But the youngest...she came along when the oldest was nearly five, so..she just didn't get parties after that one year mark. So we thought she was due.

Painting her ladybug

We had seven painters, so we asked them to stick to the $6-$10 price range on the pottery they selected and they were all very accommodating, choosing a penguin, ladybug, cupcake box, bunny, duck and kitty. I thought for sure they'd never get done painting in time to get to presents and cake, but in reality they painted super fast and the party was essentially over after an hour (and we had an hour to go). So we passed out the goodie bags and the girls played with those items while we waited for parents.

Happy Birthday cake (with her cousin)

Party goers

She got some great gifts and had a great time with her friends. The cake was delicious in spite of my having to ask the bakery to change her name from Laxi to Lexi. It should be a rule in cake and engraving...allow the customer to PRINT the words they want.  And Sunday she and her sister put together the two Lego Friends sets she got, and we got out the Doh Vinci set and she's decorated a cute little vanity/storage piece.

All in all a great weekend. And then Sunday night her nose started getting stuffed up (and her sister's too) and she woke up feeling awful on her actual birthday. I drove her to school so she could sleep in a little...and she threw up in the car just before we got out. So home we came and she's been relaxing and watching TV and waiting patiently to open the rest of her presents from us tonight.

Happy Birthday kid!

Terrible Blogger

I am really terrible at this. Most of the time I feel like whatever I might have to say isn't worth saying out loud, or in writing, because no one cares about it but me. So then I talk myself into not writing anything and end up with a blog that hasn't been updated since November. Well. Sorry. How about a general catchup...

We smoked two turkeys for both sides of the family on Thanksgiving which was delicious and fun. I went out that night with my aunt-in-law and mother-in-law for some black friday..or brown thursday as I prefer to call it..shopping. I bought a couple small gifts but didn't find much and fighting the people was not worth it. I did find the perfect comforter set for my bed though, on sale, at JCPenney. I love it. It's the Galaxy 10-pc Comforter Set and I did NOT pay that price for it. It looks fantastic on my bed because the walls are the cream color and my curtains are the brown..and green is my favorite color, so it's perfect. I almost didn't buy it, but my cohorts convinced me I could always return it if it didn't work vs not buying it and it going out of stock or something. So they were right. I love it.

Christmas was crazy. We planned to smoke about 16 pounds of pork shoulder for a large husband-side dinner/birthday/Christmas but the weather cancelled those plans. So we still smoked some pork, the gathering was just smaller. Still delicious. The husband's sister and her husband and toddler came up from GA to visit and it was really great. To see them and see how big she's getting. I got a Hoodie Footie from the husband and some really nice silver hoop earrings. The girls got me more socks (I love socks for some reason) and bath&body soaps. The girls got what they've always wanted, Deluxe Webkinz accounts and stuffed Boo animals, among other things. It was a great week.

New Years was uneventful, the kids spent the night with the grandparents, and we played Final Fantasy XIV most of the night. On New Years day we headed over to the in-laws to watch a bowl game (Go Hawkeyes! they lost.) and do some puzzles. I love doing puzzles, I just never make the time to do it.

School break started a day early due to snow..and was extended by two days due to super super super freezing temperatures. It was -40F here at some point with the windchill, -27 without...it was a little crazy. So the kids stayed home, the rest of us worked and they finally went back to school last Wednesday.

We tried a new restaurant with some friends recently - saturday night - which was really great fun. However, I woke up at 230am on Sunday with what I think was food poisoning. I don't know whether to blame the pork belly from the restaurant or the frozen yogurt from the dessert place. Either way, I'll be avoiding both for awhile. After three days of queasyness - which feels disturbingly like morning sickness - today my stomach seems much better. So Monday I stayed home sick, and I kept the 6yo home as well because she's working on a cough/cold. Tuesday it was super super windy here, which was freezing some roadways, so school was delayed by 2 hours. So the 6yo agreed to ride the bus, since she had plenty of time to get ready and read and play beforehand. So loved it and Grandpa loved getting her hug when she got off. So this morning, she wanted to ride the bus again...and she did. So it's possible (shhh don't jinx it) she might be fully ok with school now. I'll still drive her anytime she feels like sleeping in a little, but it was really great to see her ready and happy to ride the bus with her friends. Now if she could just stop catching colds from all of them.

Gifts and Colds

So I took the husband and 4yo to the doctor this morning. He's started coughing and it's starting to sound unpleasant and she's had a cold for going on a month now. I think it's actually three colds in a row, but her little body just can't keep up with it. So he's got meds x 2 now, and she's got meds as well. She's got swollen tonsils and congestion and sniffles and it's a wonder really that she's as pleasant as she is. She hasn't complained much and she's been stuffed up and snoring for a month now. She's tough I guess.

For Mother's Day we headed to see the in-laws. I had an ulterior motive though, I got a flyer from a furniture store near the in-laws to come in, scan this barcode and win savings! 5%, 10% 40% off or a $25,000 shopping spree. Wow that would have been nice. I didn't win, but we did get 10% off. We've wanted new bedroom furniture for awhile now. Our headboard/footboard is from Montgomery Wards, we got it on clearance because it was discontinued. We got a great deal on it...15 years ago. The two chests of drawers we have are giant and while they do the job, they make the room feel like its full of furniture. The husband has a nightstand but I only have a home made (well made) wooden stand. It has a top and a shelf. It works, but not very well. He has the drawers with stuff, and I have an open shelf that doesn't hold much. Also, none of it really matches the direction we've gone with the room. The new bathroom took us in a brown/cream direction. The walls are cream and I've upgraded the comforter and curtains to brown (cream flowers on the bed as well) but the rest of the furniture and artwork just doesn't match any more. So...we bought new bedroom furniture on Saturday. It's my mother's day, anniversary, birthday gifts all rolled into one. I'll take it, it's beautiful stuff. Because of the solution we're going with, we have to clean out our drawers and unworn clothes etc to make this solution work. I am so very excited I cannot even explain.

We're swapping the two chests, which each have 4 decent sized drawers, plus 2 smaller drawers for a single dresser, 70" with 6 decent drawers plus 2 slightly smaller drawers. It also comes with a mirror. We're also  getting two matching nightstands. I. Cannot. Wait.

I have to wait ten weeks. TEN WEEKS. 10. Ten. Gah!

I 'm glad to have the cleanout and organizational things to do in the meantime. And it was a bit of a trick to get it all ordered correctly, so I hope it shows up with the correct number of drawers AND the right finish.

So..I'm going to turn this into a posting opportunity and blog about the changes I make in the room as I go. I'll take some before pictures soon and then post as I make progress removing the artwork from the walls and patching and hopefully selecting new artwork from somewhere. I'm excited about all of it. Yay for grown up furniture!

Everyone sleeps

Last night we turned a corner. The 4yo slept, no puke, just a little snoring...all night long. The 9yo thew up at 1130, but not again, and slept...all night long. I held her hair at 1130..and then I slept...all night long. Last night was borderline blissful. After getting through the newborn and sleep training years of small children, illnesses are the only time I lose out on sleep. My girls are such good sleepers, we can do pretty much whatever we want after their in bed. Now, to be honest, the 4yo does stall at bedtime and sometimes she makes me go up there to answer inane questions before she agrees to shut it and sleep. But overall they are the best sleepers ever. And, now that I think we'e in the clear for vomit, I get to sleep again as well.

So it seems we'll be all better for the weekend.

If I were a gambling woman...

So remember yesterday? when I said...

"Tonight is going to be a repeat of last night, I'd bet cash on it."

Well, I was right, but with a twist. Last night the 9yo spent most of her night in the bathroom, hugging the toilet. The 4yo did throw up to start, but I'm pretty sure that was snot/cold related. This one, is probably a stomach bug. So...it was a repeat..just with a different kid. And honestly, I much prefer when the 9yo has to puke vs the 4yo. The 9yo can run to the bathroom and make it (most of the time) into the toilet. No sheets to wash, no towels or precious blankets to wash. Just run, puke, rinse, sleep, repeat as necessary. She threw up around 7 times last night I think, each time with less results. She finally fully emptied her stomach at around 6:30 this morning. So that's something like 11:30 puke, 12:30 puke, 1:30 puke, 3:30 puke, 5:30 puke, 6:30 puke... and it's possible I've missed one in my recollection. The night was kind of a blur. I'm still working today though, because I have a particular project I want to get done, and the alternative is watching TV on the couch with the sickies..catching the sick.

So, I started this post this morning and I'm finishing it tonight. The 9yo threw up at least 4-5 more times today and rocked a fever of 101. It was down tonight but she's clearly not feeling well. Poor kid. We've worked hard the last 2-3 days on her very last Awana (church group) memorization. 32 verses, all said in a row. We were through 20 verses at least..and then she got sick and we couldn't finish and she didn't get to go. I'm so very proud of her, even without completing it. She was working so hard at it, and she's really good at memorizing. I don't think I could have done it. So she didn't eat at all today, and she drank some gatorade, but a bunch of that came back up.  Her stomach is just not happy with her right now and it sounds like there's a bug going around as well. So I tried to keep the 4yo separated from her, on the same couch..it's a very long couch..today, while they watched TV and rested. It went ok. The 4yo clearly feels better, she was playing and doing things and up and about more today. So my hope and prayer is that the 4yo finishes her cold, and doesn't catch the stomach bug the 9yo has. Ideally, the 9yo gets over hers after tomorrow also, AND the husband and I don't catch it. I'm not gonna hold my breath on either of those. We'll see how it goes.

So wish me luck, that Thursday is better than Wednesday..and Friday, oh sweet Friday, please be better than both of these last two days. Sorry, the only thing I have to talk about right now is not sleeping and catching puke. Sorry.

Ah motherhood

Parenting brings a lot of unexpected...happenings? consequences? ...STUFF.

I spent last night on the couch, catching the toddler's vomit every few hours. I have decided she's lactose intolerant. Maybe not 100% intolerant, but she definitely has a threshold. The nachos for dinner was not a good idea, the last time she had nachos, she also threw up, but I blamed a cold instead. She does have a cold now as well but I still think there's a lactose issue. So, no nachos and we'll lay off the dairy and milk products as much as possible. What do you feed a kid that only eats chicken nuggets and spaghetti and shredded cheddar cheese, when you have to cut out the cheese?

The strangest part about last night was that I could hear her start to throw up almost a half second before she realized that's what was happening. So I would FLY out of my spot, over to her end, pull her up and over the towel I set up to catch each episode. She doesn't do toilet or bucket puke yet, in time, in time. It's almost like the body has its own kid emergency receptors and I just flew into action almost involuntarily. I flew, its really the fastest I can move I think, if I could run a 5k as fast as I run to catch puke...well, I'd be winning some things.

Tonight is going to be a repeat of last night, I'd bet cash on it. While I was on the teadmill tonight she threw up her spaghetti dinner. I knew she would, her head is all congested and she can't breathe very well. Poor punkin. If I could just take it from her, I would. But the best I can do is cuddle her and let her sleep on the couch with me, so I can more easily catch the puke..and then let her rest and watch tv tomorrow while she recovers. Preschool has been one stupid cold after the other. I feel very very blessed not to have had to take her to the doctor much because of it. Last year we ended up in the hospital with dehydration..and preschool wasn't even involved. So..she's building an immunity. Right? RIGHT?!