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