gasp!

it is a scary night ahead of the gerbicks...grandma is gone & we are taking amelia off zantac! yipes, could be a screamer of a night. at millie's 2 month appt, the ped suggested we do that one week before her 4 month...& it's here already. she only had her morning dose, so we'll see. oh my oh my, wish us luck.

however, wes' grandma suggested we try goat's milk for millie's reflux. hhm, maybe? i love goat cheese. goat milk can't be that bad, eh? any thoughts?

on a better note: my dad is scheduled to go home tomorrow! pretty amazing. since his bowels "woke up" saturday night, things have progressed quickly. thank sweeeet jesus. i think my whole family will rest a bit better...or is it just me that couldn't sleep b/c i was worrying about my pops? probably not.

hhmm, what else? the gerbicks are contemplating refinishing our basement. why? b/c we no longer want addy smooshing her face on the concrete (& i want a playroom where i can set up padded walls for adeline. really, she needs them).

millie has taken to screeching the past few days. it's hilarious & loud & just a hoot to hear. she really gets excited when in her swing. so loud.

i have discovered "word twist" on facebook & am now addicted. i am climbing that ladder.

shiester: millie just woke up crying. here we go...let the night begin.

The 2008 Christmas Video

here it is, in all its glory! this is what we'll archive for our little gerbick family forever :o) every year. oh the joy.



a few endnotes: i really sucked at the transition (you'll know what i'm talking about when you see it!). also, i suggest turning down the volume a bit; for some reason the song came out loud & crinkly like that (hhhmmmm). & this video is in double time...i don't bounce millie on my legs that fast, no worries ;o)

christmas 2008

well, we thought things would be better in the land of illness by christmas. not so much. wes & i felt better & even amelia seems to feel better. but not poor adeline! this is the first christmas that she really got it, the idea of opening the gifts for jesus' birthday, the celebration of it all...so i'm so sad that she was sick!

christmas morning we all rolled out of bed by 8:30 (well, amelia had been up around 6 & then back to sleep, thankfully!). wes snuck the presents down during breakfast & addy walked into the living room & saw the tree with presents & let out a big "OOOOOHHHH" & began to demolish the gifts, tearing at the wrap & doing her part to unwrap amelia's gifts as well. this was the first time adeline really got into unwrapping gifts. even for her 2nd birthday, she just wasn't interesting in the unwrapping, more into the result. it really was nearly magical seeing her extreme excitement while tearing into the gifts. i can see now why parents love love love to get their kids gifts...the joy & expectation on her face was really miraculous to witness.

this year we kept our tradition of getting them their first "lovey" object & bought amelia her first build-a-bear. technically, it was build-a-monkey... it's an adorable monkey & we don't know it's name or gender yet. addy has a bear (who we just decided is a girl b/c she got a dress this year!) called "little bear" so i guess this will be "little monkey" until amelia lets us know either way. to keep our camera safe, we bought addy a toddler digital camera & she LOVES it. we weren't sure if it would be a passing thing that she was interested in one day, then totally ignored it the next...but she has been insanely intrigued by it. although her pictures are hilarious b/c they are only within toddler interest range; she has many pictures of the floor, of feet & legs or of the ceiling. love it. hopefully we can download them to post of few. our own little annie libowitz! (total spelling error there but i don't even care today!)

amelia fell asleep while opening her monkey...apparently she's not as stoked as we are. so she missed out on her stocking & other gifts (two books, one being "millie moo"...love it). then we had a mad dash for everyone to get ready & out the door & off to aunt kristi & uncle cal's for the rest of the day...which was really fun with chloe & zoe & the aunts & uncles. i did notice how different it is not having my parents around...it was very sad & i didn't let myself think about it too much or else i would've just cried & cried. it's one thing when we know they are somewhere else also celebrating the holiday, but another thing when they are in a hospital & one is in pain... (speaking of my dad: he is now doing better, finally. he had a very rough week & was recovering slowly. thankfully, he is doing better).

my grandparents came down in the later afternoon & we had dinner & then my mom arrived at about 7 & we started to open the rest of the gifts (we had opened some from the siblings earlier. we had to give the girls something to play with!)...it was going pretty good. judy & aaron crawford had arrived & were hanging out with everyone & it was going pretty smooth. then addy didn't feel like opening her gift & quietly snuck downstairs to where the boys (andrew-8- & owen-6-) were playing a video game (& mini skateboarding?)...& adeline then vomited right next to the tv. i heard it all the way from the top of the stairs, nasty. andrew & owen just seemed stunned & awed...it was hilarious to see their faces. but they were so nice about it! andrew even said 'oh i hope you feel better addy.' (sweet kids).

so went the rest of the evening. addy vomited a total of 5 times before finally going to sleep (once in the car...oh my, let's not talk about that smell again). & we were worried that it was from her possible concussion from her fall on tuesday, so we were on the phone with the pediatrician on christmas ('do we need to take her to the ER?'). it was decided to wait it out. so we did & 5 outfits later, she no longer smelled like spew. what a day. as wes said as we were leaving to go home "merry freakin christmas"...but it still was a good day, just not the end of it.

as for pictures & videos, i plan on making time tonight to do something with them. i did want to do that friday night, but it didn't happen, then saturday night & it didn't happen. then at 3am sunday morning, i was vomiting & sick all day sunday! lovely, i tell ya! thankfully, wes parents were here & able to help us out & wes & i even got to drive to cleveland to visit my dad on saturday. my dad was so happy to see us that he started to cry...talk about a heart breaker. at the time, he had a tube down his nose to drain out his stomach & continued to have hiccups (which are painful in long term to begin with, but then add in a long incision on your side...very painful), he just looked pained & depressed. we got a handful of smiles out of him, which was good to see. & we had actually remembered to bring out video camera so he could watch all the festivities from christmas, which he seemed to enjoy.

everyone, including myself, seems to finally feel better today. sadly, wes' dad caught the bug & is now hugging his porcelain throne (hopefully that part is over already). so my goal for today is to do the christmas video & to wipe my entire house down with bleach! i'm so not a bleach person, but after being sick about 6 times this fall & winter, i'm done with germs. germs be gone! addy still has her cough, but it's not a bark anymore, which is great.

now, what to do for new years? i think we're feeling a low key evening at home! (shocking). hhmm, anyone want to join us?

what happened to today?

i thought today would never end...but it has (almost). i think if i was to count the number of times i've cried out of frustration today...i would run out of fingers. no joke.

it's really about a lack of sleep last night (sick infant + sick toddler + my weird intermittent insomnia + sick mama + sick daddy) coupled with a fairly terrible day that included a series of unfortunate events...i think i could nearly outdo 'liminy snickets series of unfortunate events' (maybe).

addy started the morning barking again, just about the time that amelia was crying for a bottle...so i tried to feed amelia & then addy started crying, making the coughing/barking worse. so i put amelia down to take addy outside to alleviate the cough ("oh baby it's cold outside") to come back inside to a wailing infant (we were gone maybe 4 minutes) who had vomited all over herself (how did she miss the bib, though?!). so i change millie (already in her 2nd outfit of the day) & continue feeding her, only to make addy upset (she likes to be held a lot when sick), so she wanders off to do something...which includes desitin, diapers, & her teddy bear. (i found that out much later).

once i did find the teddy bear with desitin, i washed it & then went down to the basement to put it in the dryer quickly before nap time & i thought addy was staying upstairs with wes, who was home for lunch (but yet neither of us ate anything)...but she wasn't; she was behind me, apparently very concerned about her 'little bear' being thrown into the dryer b/c she then attempted to jump or fall or something off the 3rd step down on the basement stairs. there are no walls on the sides of the stairs. just cement on the floor, which she hit, head first. from 6 feet up. MY OH MY did that scare the living daylights out of me. i actually think my heart stopped beating; truly folks. it was like she glided in slow motion & hearing her hit the floor just sent me over the edge (i think that was cry #2 of the day). i saw it all from about 10 feet away. gliding, i promise.

however! she is okay! she landed cheek first & the pediatrician joked that she has extra padding there, so it helped her fall a bit. but below i have posted a lovely picture of addy's christmas war wounds. it is actually much better by the time i took this picture...for a few hours her left side (which hit first) was very swollen, up to the eye & for also a few hours she was drooling blood (she apparently bit her cheek upon landing...ouch!). & yes, we've visited the pediatrician two days in a row now. i asked if they had a frequent flyer program...the receptionist laughed, but i was so totally serious! we weren't sure if she might have a concussion or something of that nature, so we agreed that it would be appropriate to take her in.

above i have detailed all the ailments (really i just wanted to try out picasa's new text abilities).

and addy on steroids (for the croup) is totally, TOTALLY wild. she is wild, i mean. she's a very active, rambunctious kid to begin with. but today she was literally climbing things & bouncing off furniture & walls & going a mile a minute. (until she smacked the concrete). one second she was crying & wanting to be held, the next she was zooming around the house or chasing griswold with a orange fairy wand. or trying to scale the cabinets to get to the chocolate basket (oh yes, we have a basket filled with chocolates! & i wander why the weight isn't coming off as easily this time around?!).

& i think millie just sensed my frustration & stress & everything else today...she was just in a sour mood & also wanted to be held most of the day. & then she took the best nap in a week & i had to wake her up to take addy to the pediatrician.

*SIGH*

so i am incredibly glad today is over. but now i am afraid...what will tomorrow bring? the ped joked with addy, asking her 'what will i see you for tomorrow?'...i think i almost cried thinking about it.

then i get addy together after dinner & whisk her off the costco with me to buy a non-frozen turkey for christmas dinner. AND THEY ARE OUT OF TURKEYS! gasp! so as i type, wes is off attempting to find a turkey in this town of ours. (no worries all folks who are joining us for christmas dinner...i will triumph & find a turkey. it's about the principle of being able to buy a fresh turkey now, not about how far i have to drive to find it). damn it. i just had to throw a cuss word in there b/c i felt like it.

no one need feel sorry for me. such is the life of a mama. i'm sure many have gone through nearly an identical day & i probably will do so again. i just have to tell it b/c i don't know if i'd believe it in a few years. will i remember these days?!

a barking seal in the HOW-OWSE!

first of all, my dad just got out of surgery...12 inches of his colon were removed & b/c he had 12 days of antibiotics, it was not as inflamed as it could be, which means that the surgeon didn't have to put in a colostomy (or ileostomy?) bag. which is very good! so he is recovering & is on some intense drugs. wes & cal (my brother in law) were joking the other night that this will be the first christmas that my dad may actually get to 'see' santa claus (b/c of all the pain meds he is on). my dad is a jokester, he appreciated the laughter. (except i think it made his gut hurt). anyways, it's all good & it's pretty miraculous that he doesn't have to have a bag, so...god is good.

here is the newest fun for amelia: the exersaucer! while watching video of addy, we noticed that addy was in the exersaucer around 4 months & amelia can hold her head up way better than addy could at this age, so we gave it a shot. & she loved it...but amelia gets over stimulated very quickly, so she only lasted about 5 minutes. a good start, though.

it is funny how different they are, but then again similar in other ways. watching addy baby videos brought it all back...how little addy slept during the day (well, & night!), how she loved to be playing with things & not held a lot...she is NOT a snuggler at all. however, for millie, it's like this: amelia = snuggles. she wants to be held constantly & she doesn't like a lot of things around her, such as toys or lights. it either shuts her down (asleep) or makes her very very cranky. but addy thrives on that stuff...so interesting to this mama.

here's a shot of millie in the saucer for the first time. the thing she loved the most was the mirror. hhmm, we try not to raise vain children! ;o)

addy dancing with her doll (b/c i was with dancing with amelia) to christmas music. not having pants on is nothing new. i was going to post a streaker picture, but decided against it (it was an adorable butt shot, but...the internet is the internet). it was a true streaker picture...addy was literally naked & running through our house like a mad woman, trying not to get caught so she wouldn't have to put clothes on.

and now to today: we have a severely sick child in our house. addy has croup & a (bad!) ear infection. i was wondering why she had no balance the past few days...apparently that is from the ear infection. so she has to take antibiotics for the ear infection & a steroid for the croup. the ped also warned us that the croup gets worse at night & the 2nd & 3rd nights are usually the worst. great! looking forward to it...apparently we are also to take her into the garage (where it's cold, this will help her airways) if she's coughing a lot...another great thing i'm looking forward to. but she will still not take a nap today, with all the yuck that's in her body, you'd think she's be exhausted. not addy. energy still abounds. it's exhausting (esp when we're sick & stressed/thinking about my dad & such). next week i'm looking forward to a nasty nasty diaper rash for this adeline (always happens when she's on antibiotics, always). below the picture is of my 2nd attempt getting her to take a nap. there were 4 attempts today, then i gave up. (one in my bed, one on the couch, one in her bedroom, & another in her bedroom...what i wouldn't give for someone to send me to my room right now!).

amelia today...she is getting very frustrated at this moment (she chews on her hand when she starts to get upset). i think we had the kids out of order...millie, the snuggler would've had a lot more snuggles as a first born & addy, ms. independent, would've been a great 2nd baby. but i don't think we could handle two addy-style babies. (she perfectly fits the 'active/spirited' baby descriptions). amelia doesn't exactly fit into any of the given personalities perfectly. we're still trying to figure her all out... but we do know she's more cuddly & attached to her mama & daddy & isn't such an extrovert.

okay, now i must go entertain a very tired & cranky toddler...who has found the cookies somehow & gets a bit, oh, even more dictator-ish when sick & tired...oh my. i feel a kid free vacation calling my name (yea right).

wowzers

this cold hit amelia pretty hard, as it has me & adeline. UGH. wes seems to be improving (it appears that he gave it to us), so we have about 2 more days of minor illness & then hopefully we will all feel better by christmas. wes & i split shifts last night with amelia...i took from 11 until 4 am & he took from then until morning...sleeping in the nursery rocking chair, hmmm, not so comfortable at times (i think my neck will look normal by tomorrow from sleeping in an odd sideways position in a ball for about an hour). then he let me sleep in our bed until 11 am! crazy! i haven't slept in that late, oh, maybe since before having kids?! but i was up with amelia about every hour, sometimes more...suctioning out her nose & such, as was wes from 5:30 until 8 am. but he says he's feeling great, so...

with this knowledge we are now very glad we didn't visit my parents & infect them with our cold...so dad, we are sorry to not be able to be with you right now, but trust me, you don't want this in addition to your surgery!

we had the intention of videotaping the girls yesterday & today...but, shucks darn it, we are out of video! how is that possible on the day we need it?? so i went back in the archives & found some stuff to play around with. this one that you will see is of addy. i will make one of amelia soon, we just need to get some more video of her (besides the stuff of her being "played with" my her sister). i'm having a grand time figuring this video stuff out, so i'm doodling with all the effects & such, seeing what happens. so bare with me.

Pictures of our Day....

Here is Amelia in her swing giving the thumbs up....we think

Griswold has had some trouble expressing himself lately so we helped a bit...

Addy sleeping.

This is the zoom out of the previous picture. Two points if you can find Addy.

Addy nursing a benadryl hangover with some yogurt and granola.

addy will eat anything

& who did she get that from? hhmm...

Blowing out the Candles

This is from when we had Addy's 2nd Birthday celebration....as you will see it becomes a disaster, but recovers nicely.

for pop pop #1

here's a long story short: my dad (aka 'pop pop') had another bout of diverticulitis (sp?) & possible colon perforation & is now scheduled for a ileostomy on monday. he will be in the hospital (cleveland clinic) for 7 days after...missing christmas. my dad LOVES christmas, so this is pretty hard on him & our family will miss him dearly for our celebration. but celebrate we will! b/c he has taught us well...to love our family & have a good time during holidays (especially christmas).

we were going to drive up to see him today, exchange the gifts, etc & have some enjoyable moments before the surgery...except addy woke up with an intense cold, wes already has the cold (he would be ground zero, we are all getting it from him this time), & i am starting on it. which means we can't visit my dad with our infectious selves. so we will use this blog to keep him posted on the pre-christmas spirit in our house & we have promised many tidbits of addy & amelia throughout today (i will work hard to figure out how to post video).

disclaimer: some of our blog readers may find the next few posts to be not that exciting...stuff that maybe only grandparents would be interested in (specifically: pop pop). feel free to tune out if you want!

addy waiting & waiting & waiting on lunch...we have started to put a hair band on to keep her hair out of the food, so this is her, sans pants (w/ 'big girl' undies on!) & w/ slippers loudly proclaiming that she's ready to have lunch.

another attempt at putting the hair band on. lookin' good!

i did it!

addy showing us that she is quite the lady & has her napkin ready for lunch to be served. she ate 4 dino chicken nuggets, a mini can of peaches, approximately 1 tablespoon of ketchup, & a very tiny part of her napkin that was soaked in peach juice & dipped in ketchup. good stuff.

addy was very excited this morning when we told her we were going to visit gramum & pop pop today...she had her snack, shoes, & sippy cup in hand & was pointing at the door within minutes. when we explained a bit later that we couldn't visit g-mum & pop pop, she was very sad & gave a few pouts. but we then explained that we are going to take lots of pictures of her throughout the day so that pop pop can see her & what a fun time she's still having at home, she chippered up quickly & is now fully enjoying the camera.

while i type she is running around the circle in our house (from kitchen, to 'den', to living room, to hallway, & back round & round) with griswold chasing her. she's also throwing her toy heart, something i believe pop pop helped her learn. she will be getting some benedryl soon to help her sleep...good ole benny.

today we can now dress amelia up in the santa claus outfit & take her christmas picture...we may even go to the zoo to look at lights, depending on how the sinus issues go. more pictures to come!

1st amelia laugh

oops, i forgot to post this yesterday (as this is the kids' blog, technically)...amelia laughed for the first time yesterday! twice! so adorable. she sounded like elmer fudd & porky pig. big smiles, good times.
today? not so good. so it goes...

what have we created?

it seems a real possibility that addy could live on her own for at least a day, maybe more. she knows how to get food out. how to push her stool around the house to stand up to anything. she even knows how to change amelia's diaper (although i have put the stops on that several times...how does she get millie's clothes off?!). if only this little one would decide it's time to go poopy & pee in the potty instead of learning how to do other things.

on another note...i am just learning how important it is for me to have time all by myself each day. each each each day. i have to have at least a good 30 minutes of no one being within 5 feet of me, no one clinging to me for dear life, no one asking me to do something for them...sort of like freedom or something. so when millie decides not to nap when adeline is also napping, that really wears on me. & it's also difficult that wes has spent the entire day at work not really being around others (well, his office-thing doesn't really count as being in close quarters with others), so he likes to give hugs or rub my back or give a kiss on the cheek & if i haven't had my time alone that day...i have to politely ask him to take a step back. how terrible to hear your wife say this! what to do until amelia & addy get on the same sleep schedule (which doesn't seem to be plausible for at least 3 or 6 more months, that little stinker millie), really, what can i do?

last night addy & i took a walk after dinner (yesterday she had superhuman energy...oh if i could have some of it) & she was ecstatic (as was griswold, who came with). she oohed & ahhed over the houses with christmas lights. she gave a far away gnome kiss (rubbing nose) to fake moving lit up reindeer & blew a kiss to a lit up snowman. afte the first cul-du-sac, i noticed that she kept doing the same thing i was doing. if i kicked my leg out while walking, she would do it. so i experimented a bit...it was hysterical. she would put her hands in her pockets & put her foot down & put her hands on her head & attempt to jump over the sidewalk crack. she even walked backwards, holding her arms forward as i was doing when i turned to see how far behind me she was. cute & humbling b/c now i really need to watch things i say & such. i need to be a nicer driver, especially. anyway, kids are humbling & funny, b/c really i don't think anyone would willingly want to be like me! but apparently i am wrong.

i do remember as a kid i would LOVE to watch my mom put on makeup & i remember specifically thinking 'wow, my mom is so pretty' & i told her this & i don't remember what she said, but knowing my mom it was probably something along the lines of 'hhmm, that's interesting.' so now when addy plops herself down on the floor beside me while i put makeup on, grabbing for the brushes & such, i try to be as patient as my mom was...

millie is awake. ugh, another 40 minute nap. must go before spellchecking, oops

sister knows best?

i never realized how fortunate i was to have an older sister...until now, when i see how addy is with amelia. first thing addy does in the morning is look for millie in the crib & if she's not there, she will hunt everywhere for her. when she finds her, oh, it's like love explodes in the room. adeline says 'hello amelia (well, "hiya ame-i-a") & pats her head & plays with her hair & gives her kisses & kisses & more kisses. it's really wonderful to witness. addy has such a soft heart towards others & i'm especially glad it applies to her sister as well.

later in the morning i was trying to figure out if millie was ready for a nap, so i started by changing her diaper. addy sees what's going on & starts moving these stacked plastic tote shelves we have full of blankets & such. i ask her what she's doing & she just says "doin it" & points to the wall. i have no idea what she's talking about, but i just say "okay" to see what she's up to. so she moves the shelves & then pushes the stool over to the window...then she reaches up & pulls on the string for the blinds! she then hands me a burp cloth & a pacifier, points to the nosie maker fan & then to the cd player (we really have to do lots of white noise or else addy wakes up millie) & i was totally laughing by this point. but i tell addy that i will turn the rest on, that she can go play now. so she then looks at me rather sternly & says "shhh" with her finger up to her mouth & then she waves bye & softly shuts the door. LOVE IT. she is such a little mama. or a bossy little girl...

i've heard stories about the good & bad things my sister & i did to my brother as a baby & now i can only imagine how much more efficient we were b/c my sister was 4 & i was 2... poor scotty. but now, i'm positive he was entertained & well taken care of by his other two mamas.

here is a picture of amelia this afternoon, right before her nap, so she's a bit leany & scrunched in the bumbo b/c she could barely keep her eyes open. today she has a SERIOUS spike mohawk. we really do nothing to encourage her hair to stand up on end like this...by the morning, it just has it's own way of being.



& here's the confession of the day: i give up on cloth diapers. it's just not going to work with my girls! every day i put at least one on amelia & there's only 1 that doesn't make her bottom bright red by the time i change the diaper an hour or so later. the one that doesn't is an organic, fleece all-in-one that my friend gave to us as a gift for millie's birth (b/c we were planning on doing cloth), but it's very pricey (oh, $20 each & we would need 12-18! plus more for the next size up). it's been very hard for me to admit defeat. we still use cloth wipes & it seems the best combination is cloth wipes & disposable diapers (pampers or huggies...i think b/c they have the least amount of dye). personally, if i were a baby, i would want cloth next to my skin instead of the scratchy disposables (& apparently that's the only thing i could have when a baby & in fact, my skin was much worse than even addy's...my poor parents!). i keep thinking that the chemicals in the diaper HAS to be worse than the cloth so i keep trying...(the cloths' do hold urine & such more on the skin, even with the wonderful all-in-one) & i'm fine with changing the cloth diapers a bit more, then washing & folding them (i think washing & folding the wipes is much more time consuming & icky). i'm just not okay with giving my girls diaper rashes when it's avoidable. how funny that i couldn't wear disposables as a baby b/c they gave me constant rashes & now my girls can't wear cloth b/c they give them constant rashes... yes, as i said, admitting defeat is difficult. so, now it's official. i guess i will have to move on.

extra things in the cart

this is what i found in the shopping cart at target today: a can of keyboard cleaner spray (???), can of febreeze spray (strawberry?), a dora the explorer birthday card, kitten christmas cards (pack of 18), & a pack of hair bands (multi colored). this was the work of a very fast toddler...i really didn't ignore her or let her wander too far at all & plop, i look down & there's all the extras. when do we lose our ability to be that quick on our toes (okay, when did i lose that ability?).

i have a very very cute video of amelia smiling & nearly laughing at the kissing penguins, but alas, i suck at computer schtuff & don't know how to upload. so...until my hubby helps me, you'll just have to use your imagination. but, she's adorable.

what did i do this weekend? well, yesterday was quite fun. & i forget friday night....hmm, what did we do? hmmm...do not remember! anyway, yesterday afternoon i sold my winter maternity clothes & they took about half of them & i walked away with $85! yea! & then they said that they'd love to see my spring & summer clothes in march, so i'm very much looking forward to going there again. bye bye maternity clothes (no worries, leila, i still have yours; i didn't sell yours, UNLESS you want me to ;o). selling the maternity clothes has made it official: the gerbicks are only having 2 babies (by this mama). i tell wes if he wants a boy we either have to #1 adopt #2 knock up another lady. i really hope he chooses #1 if he wants a boy. (let's set this straight: if he chooses #2, he will have many many many other problems on his hands). so yes, 2 kids it is. i feel pretty darn good about this decision.

really, i was a terrible pregnant lady. all the little woes & problems got me good but thankfully i never had anything seriously wrong. however, i would go through labor & delivery any day before being pregnant again. although painful, it's amazing to birth a baby. & i'm happy with my decision to do the no pain meds hypnobirthing thing twice. all in all, i'm satisfied with my two babies that i have & the way in which they arrived; it is complete. so there kristi & judy; you have my thesis on why i am certain i won't be (purposefully) pregnant ever again! :o)

speaking of those ladies...after i sold my clothes, i went thrifting with judy to this AWESOME store called 'the village thrift store' (off of cleveland ave). it was totally amazing. they had racks of clothes in excellent condition for pennies. seriously, pennies. i spent $0.45 on a gap jumper (red, like a christmas outfit), size 3T. & there were dozens of deals like that...it was like manna from heaven & i was just sitting there picking it up. i went away with an entire garbage bag full of clothes for next summer & some extra little things for amelia for only $32. a full garbage bag...i love bargains. why why why spend full price?

then after that judy & i met kristi (my sister) at easton to eat at the cheesecake factory. a special treat for selling my maternity clothes (oh wait, the new hat & socks were also a treat...). we waited for 2 hours to get a table. what were we thinking?! oh my. but we had a ball & ate a lot, shared the food & then went over to barnes & noble to talk some more. & then today was christmas stuff. gifts online are purchased, the christmas photo thing is complete. i didn't go to church & kept millie home with me, hoping to find a bit more time to do the online calendars & such. but i'm also struggling a bit with whether or not we should stay at that church. we just have some equally as intriguing options only a few miles away from home...anyway, it's not really something i need to discuss in this blog, so i'll skip to saying that i am glad that so many other people worry about things like what to do if your car lands in water! your comments were helpful.

wes is brewing beer outside (yes, now, at 9 p.m. & in the freezing cold...crazy man) & i am ready to hit the hay. & i still don't remember what we did friday night. how is it possible to have such a terrible memory at such a young age? (yup, calling myself young here!)

catastrophic thinking

so, i have this situation that i need to let everyone know about. something i think about more than i'd like to admit...it can take up chunks of half hours throughout the day...just b/c i want to figure it out! wes & i are here talking about it AGAIN, so i guess i better see what anyone else has to say about it. here it is:

i'm driving with both girls down a road. the road has a pond, lake, river beside it. i have to swerve the car to miss a deer (or in sometimes, it's icy & the car goes off the road). the car goes into the pond/river/lake. WHAT DO I DO?! i have two girls strapped in car seats & me in a seat belt, automatic locks & windows...egads. how do i get us all out alive?

i think this bothers me b/c i'm not such a good swimmer, but i'm fairly good in a crisis, so i could handle it, but it would have to be perfect. there's the whole thing about the air being used, water pushing onto the car, so a door won't open & automatic locks & windows will shut down in the water.

SEE! this is scary!

i plot out my course every time, but i'm never satisfied... first get me out of the seat belt, then addy, put her in the front seat. then get amelia out, then holding addy in my legs (so she won't be swept away from the gush of water) & amelia in my left arm, i somehow break the window & then grab addy & then try to swim up. impossible? let me know what you think. unless you're kristi or cal & then you'll just tell me this is 'catastrophic thinking' & i should stop thinking about it. but...i need a plan.

this all started again after i found a "glass window breaker tool" in a sahalie magazine. perfect! it's on my christmas list (in addition to a personal trainer & a SAHM emergency/illness day care, both are pretty out of my reach).

another one bites the dust

in an earlier post, i said something along the lines of 'we have a new nativity set & it was a good deal & i shouldn't really get worked up about addy playing with it...' blah blah blah. well, addy is holding me to that. the other day she was playing with it & we were talking about how the angel told the shepherds & the wise men about baby jesus being born...LOW & BEHOLD the angel was blowing it's own horn a bit too much b/c it's arms & trumpet were taken away, by addy. all it took was one swift drop off the table & the angel is now armless & hornless.

that sealed my decision of not to care if things get ruined or messed up with kids in the house. i really had thought that before & that's the main reason why we still have the UGLY tile & nasty carpet from the previous owners in our house. things are just things, eh?

on tuesday, my dad was taken back to the cleveland clinic ER b/c he was having another diverticulitis flair up...very very painful. he was admitted to the hospital & nearly had emergency surgery to remove part of his colon, which was originally scheduled to be performed this coming monday...but that is now postponed until the inflammation goes down, sometime in february. this is really hard on him in general, the pain from the perforations in the colon, plus the medicine/antibiotics to keep the inflammation down...well it just makes for a generally crappy time. so i went with my sister to cleveland on wednesday to see him. it's very sad & humbling to see someone you love in so much pain. BUT the good news is that now he can eat christmas dinner! (if he had surgery on monday, he would be on a restricted diet for awhile) so we are thinking up a wonderful meal that will last all day. this afternoon he was sent home, so he now has his own comfortable bed & his grand new TV & the best nurse of all (my mom).

addy & amelia's pictures are below; this was from last week. amelia didn't cooperate very well, so there's more of addy....you'll just have to wait to see our christmas picture thing to see the rest.
this was the outfit addy picked out for a photo shoot:

funny addy story from today: addy sits in the infant swing. infant swing folds somehow & collapses on addy. addy is sandwiched in swing & flailing her arms & legs about, letting out loud yelps & cries. the mama is talking on the phone & quickly says goodbye (sorry mom) to help addy out of the precarious situation. addy cries & cries & cries, pointing at the swing, saying "bad, bad."
it's very unusual for addy to cry over getting hurt, so this was a pretty scary thing for her, apparently. she did have a slightly bloody nose & some purple fingers from a pinch & a welt on her left cheek. but holy crap, folks, it was HILARIOUS. i really had to bite my lip to not laugh when consoling her...one of the funniest sights i've seen in awhile.

& millie, oh millie. we have taken to calling her "millionaire"...it started with millie, then went to mills, then millionaire. she's been having a rough week or two. stuffy nose, low grade fever every once in awhile, general crankiness. we were going to wait until monday to see if she improved, then take her to the pediatrician if not. well, this morning, i saw this white thing coming out of her gums & i was shocked; GASP: maybe she was teething! but it was coming from her molar area & pointed towards her cheek...weird. long story short: it's a benign cyst, sometimes called 'baby pearl' or something like that. anyway, no problem. (we obviously took her to the ped b/c it looks rather odd & freakish). as for the general crankiness & minor illness: a passing little virus, as suspected. she should return to normal in a few days or up to a week...but we are VERY tired.

ode to my streaker toddler

i just have to say, there's nothing more, oh, delightful than seeing a diaper clad-naked toddler running around in the morning...excited & jolly & giggly. adeline loves the morning. it seems she is full of wonder & love of being alive. i really have so much to learn from my little ones.

what a week

this week started off not so bad. the girls & i went to the gym early monday morning & addy played at 'toddler time' at the westerville rec center. then...monday night, we made a double batch of chicken taco soup, which i find to be very yummy....until now. when i see it now, it makes my stomach gurgle in a baaaaddd way. monday night i was very nauseous & didn't sleep well...as soon as i tried to eat breakfast, "the sheets" (wes' word for diarrhea & according to my mom, that's what the ohio mennonites also call it) started & didn't stop until very late that night. midday i had a very long round of vomiting... by dinner, i was sucking on pedialite popsicles. it's terrible to say this, but thankfully wes wasn't feeling very well either, so he stayed home from work & was able to take the girls while i moaned in bed most of the day. good times.

thursday morning, wes left for vermont & let me tell you, i wanted to be there. i have always wanted to go to vermont & there he goes, without his wifely. of course, he tried many times to get me to go with him, but i just couldn't bare to leave millie (even with grandparents) when she is this young for more than 1 day (it would've been 3 days). so lucky him...sleeping in a hotel all night! but millie loved on me that night by sleeping through the night...it doesn't happen that often (maybe 3 times?) but when it does, it freaks me out! i go in & check on her several times just to be sure everything is okay. so she sleeps through the night, i don't. it all seems a bit ridiculous, eh?! (& i was also worried that she was allergic to the wool blanket b/c i had just found out that her daddy & grandma are allergic to wool, so i checked on her twice, making sure she wasn't having an allergic reaction, you know...with her throat swelled shut, hives, etc, etc. seriously, where do these doom & gloom thoughts come from?!).

wes' mom, sue, came to stay with us & help me out while wes was gone...which was wonderful b/c i wasn't fully functioning again until friday. we had a good time, the 4 ladies; baking cookies, shopping, getting our pictures at shutterbug photography. addy loves it when we have visitors & she was gleeful most of the time. sue also had a cold, so together we were probably a sore sight of illness, but we made it & everyone was at least happy, if not healthy.

a picture of the cookie making

saturday was a christmas day. i sent wes & addy out to buy the christmas tree (we get a real one) & i saw them drive up 45 minutes later & thought to myself: 'what have i done?!' it's a VERY LARGE tree...more wide than tall, but it does touch our ceiling & at the base is as wide as i am long. oh my. this is what happens when mama doesn't go on the tree hunting expedition...

did i mention that it has a severely crooked trunk?! anyway, we brought all the loads of boxes out of the basement, my sister came over to help decorate & control the kiddos...we turned on 11 hours of christmas music & got to work!

addy has really taken to the nativity set. i found it at old time pottery last year & was stoked b/c it was only $25 & was pretty much what i had been looking for. this year, i am stoked again b/c it was only $25 & i don't feel irritated when addy begins to bang it around, moving the pieces & creating her own nativity scene (who knew 'little people' were at jesus' birth?! :o) today she even took the lambs & donkey to 'little people' school in the school bus! what i'm saying is that if i had purchased the much nicer, more expensive set, i would not let addy play with it & what fun is that? now she knows all the nativity set people by name & it's really helping us do some explaining on the whole christmas deal. b/c it's fun.

here's a few more thoughts & pictures:

millie & her little tongue, 14 weeks

here's the odd one...adeline has had this rash for about two weeks. well, not sure if it's a rash or what, but it's not pimples & they can come & go throughout the day. i'm wondering if it's from the dryness, even though we have a humidifier always running in our house & a whole-house furnace humidifier. anyway, nothing will make it better! not aquaphor, vaseline, lotion, desitin, her prescription eczema cream, or the burt's bees baby winter face goop. who knows.
oh, & it's sometimes on her belly as well & seems to itch a bit at times. i'm really hoping to avoid going to the pediatrician this week, but i don't know what else to do & don't want to ignore something that could be a sign of a bigger problem...ANY IDEAS?

i just have to say that i am really frustrated that i'm getting so sick this year. every month it's a different virus or bacteria or WHATEVER (baby...pregnancy) that knocks me off my feet for at least one day & i'm left recovering for a week. i don't know what to do about it! i was taking vitamins, but they don't seem to help & i exercises when i can...but lets me realistic about how often i can get out of the house to the gym right now! at least now i'm not prego so i can take medicine...there it is, looking on the bright side. (see how wes is positively influencing me over the years...) but really, what's going on?! UGH. this year has been very bad for my health :o)

okay, here's the last random thing: i'm trying to set up the advent thing. we've put little dove chocolates in it for addy to eat every night, so we've got the food & excitement part covered. my question is, does anyone have any ideas about what to put in the boxes for each day besides chocolate or treats? i'm talking about 'learning' things, such as a bible verse or a story or SOMETHING. i'm running out of ideas to talk about...we've gone over that jesus was a baby, it's jesus' birthday, etc etc... i remember as a kid doing certain things every night (so help, mom!) that had to do with advent & christmas.

okay, long post, hope no one fell asleep

Grandma and Addy

Hi Everyone, I'm learning to blog in Columbus with the "girls".
We played and shopped today with Judy and little Elliot.
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