Christmas in Dothan

We had a really good weekend in Dothan. The 5 hour round trip was significantly better than the 14+ hour round trip we took a week ago. Plus, my husband was with me this time! Saturday morning we went to my brother's office where they were having a Christmas fundraiser complete with an inflatable bouncer, food, music (courtesy of DJ Mark), and Santa himself. Elle jumped up in Santa's lap and gave him the biggest hug. The picture turned out great--unfortunately we were missing a child as he was back at the grandparents' napping.

Sorry for the quality--it's a picture of the picture--no scanner

We spent the middle of the day playing outside at Dad's. They have two swingsets, a little playhouse and a couple motorized riding toys (I promise you can still see yard). The kids love playing outside there.



That afternoon, we went to my uncle's house to get together with my Dad's family. It was the first time in several years that everyone was there. I'll post the big group shot when I get it from my aunt. My grandmother already has 6 great-grandchildren and will be gaining three more this spring/summer. My cousin and his wife are due with their third child three days after me! There was great food again and this time, I was able to keep it down.

Sunday was pretty laid back. We hung out at Dad's with my brother, SIL, and my nephew. I raked a big pile of leaves for Elle and Powell to play in. I think my brother had almost as much fun as they did. We went ahead and opened presents from Dad and Sandi because we probably won't see them again until sometime after Christmas. Both kids racked up on clothes and toys and books. Thank you Poppey & GiGi for a fun weekend and for all the gifts!

O Christmas Tree

It took a full week but we finally got our tree decorated. I had every intention of coming home from Savannah last Sunday and finishing off our Thanksgiving week by decorating our Christmas tree. But as you can imagine, not much happened Sunday night besides everyone going to bed early.

Tuesday, Grady and I picked out a tree before picking Elle up from school. It was the first one I touched! And it was perfect. It wasn't until Thursday morning that I was able to put the lights on it. We had three strands left that worked (and about four that didn't) and all three strands went on the tree. Finally, Elle, Steven and I put on the ornaments last night. Elle really had a great time. She got every ornament carefully out of the boxes, wrapping, bags, etc. and placed them delicately on the floor. We had a fire going and some good ole Bing, Nat, Perry Como, and Dean Martin serenading us in the background. We finished it off by roasting some marshmallows in the fireplace. Anybody have any ideas for a creative and inexpensive garland for our tree?

Thanksgiving in a nutshell

Before I start, let me first say that I am extremely grateful for all the Lord has given me, my precious family and friends, my needs are always met, and that He promises to never give me more than I can handle. I recount my Thanksgiving week with this in mind, knowing it could always be worse and that you have to laugh or else you'd make yourself crazy...

I left Tuesday after Elle's school program heading 411 miles to Savannah, Georgia.

I was by myself with both kids.

Not sure what I was thinking.

It took me 8 1/2 hours to get there.

We stopped three times.

Once, just to hold Grady so that he would stop screaming.

They slept a total of a hour. Combined.

We stayed at mom's house that night.

Wednesday, we pack up to head here where the 17 other family members were joining us.

Steven got in around midnight with my uncle and cousin.

It was a great house, built in the 1790's, split in to three units (we rented the whole thing), and right across the street from the river.

Thanksgiving morning, I make this delicious praline french toast courtesy of Super Suppers for the family.

Grady would not let another soul touch him besides me. The entire trip.

And if someone even got near, he screamed.

If I left the room, he screamed.

We go out for a walk and my brother gets a call that my grandmother has been put in the hospital.

She is on a ventilator.

My dad's family is in the ER instead of eating Thanksgiving lunch at grandma's.

That afternoon, Grady breaks out in a rash all over his entire body.

He had gotten the MMR shot 10 days ago. He basically had the measles.

We gather together to eat a delicious Thanksgiving dinner. And it was wonderful.

My mom took Grady to another place in the house so Steven and I could actually eat.

Steven did not feel good most of the day.

We retired for the night.

The four of us were in one room together. Elle in the king size bed with us and Grady in the pack-n-play.

Plenty of room for us.

But not if one family member won't sleep.

Grady cried about every 15 minutes.

At one point, it's really bad but instead of getting up to console him, I run to the bathroom and have Thanksgiving dinner backwards. (I puked).

Finally, at 3 AM, I sit up in bed and put Grady on my chest. Felt really good to my worn out tummy.

My poor brother had been upstairs on the couch all night. Without sleeping.

He even knew how many times I threw up.

I get up with the kids and Steven stays in bed until lunch when we take family pictures (Notice the beautiful one of my immediate family at the top!).

Elle starts running a fever.

Steven leaves with my cousin to come home.

He had to work Saturday.

Friday night is a replay of Thursday night, minus the puking.

Saturday everyone heads home before lunch.

Elle is still feverish but the ibuprofen is managing it.

Steven, back home, spends most of his work day in the bathroom.

The kids and I head back to mom's for one more night.

I slept downstairs in mom's bed and she slept upstairs with the kids so that I could actually sleep some.

I hadn't slept in 4 days.

We leave Sunday morning around 9 AM.

I am thrilled about doing the drive again.

I go a different way because I will not drive through Atlanta ever again.

My step-mom calls on my way home and my dad is in the ER with chest pain.

He and my grandma are in the same hospital.

We make it home in 7 hours and 15 minutes.

Elle slept 20 minutes.

Grady took two 30 minute naps.

My dad gets out of the hospital Monday. His heart is in great shape. No heart attack and everything looks good.

My grandmother gets out Monday. She apparently had a grand mal seizure reaction to an anti-nausea medication (Zofran--which I am currently taking).

We think she had a mini stroke (TIA).

She is still very confused and is unable to be by herself as of now.

Monday, I can't find my credit card.

I call the restaurant in Savannah where I last used it on Friday.

They have it.

They tell me to bring my ID when I come get it.

Did I mention we are having another baby?

Hence, the throwing up and the Zofran.








Can't wait to see what Christmas has in store for us! We are heading to Dothan to celebrate Christmas with my dad's family this weekend. Hopefully, that will end our traveling for awhile. Mommy needs a break!

Is it really December?

I am so far behind in posting that all I can do is just pick up where I left off. Thanks for bearing with me.

The Saturday before Thanksgiving, we journeyed to Greenville for the day to have Thanksgiving with the Salters (in-laws). And when I say Salters, I mean 70+ Salters! Steven's dad is one of 10 children, eight of which are still living. And they know how to multiply. It was pretty crazy having all those people together, but it was a lot of fun and I know Gran Gran (Steven's Dad) loved it. I'm glad we were able to be there. I didn't take a lot of pictures because I wasn't feeling very good, but here's what I did take:



Sad, I know. That's about all I have. Elle is playing with one of Steven's cousin's twin boys. She has four boys. I told you they know how to multiply.

On Sunday, we went to Lucy's 4th birthday party. There was a princess castle inflatable jumper and Elle had a blast. We did have one minor meltdown because I wouldn't give her more cake after she had already eaten one piece of cake, a package of gummies, a juice box, half a cupcake and some pretzel mix (that was similar to the very hungry caterpillar's Saturday meal?!). I am a terrible mom, I know. For pictures, click here.

Tuesday brought Elle's Thanksgiving play at school. And, of course I am biased, but she was the best little Indian around. They sang about 5 songs and then we had pumpkin pie and milk afterwards. Steven was able to join us, although he actually spent the entire time corralling Grady so that I could film. The best part was during a quiet transition between songs, Elle shouts out, "Mommy, Lauren gave me a ring!" complete with her hand stuck out as far as she could reach.




I'll have to save my actual Thanksgiving post for the next time. I promise it will be worth your wait. Seriously.

There's A First Time for Everything

It was probably silly to think we would escape all of childhood without at least one ear infection. But I suppose going three and a half years with two children is a good record. Elle has yet to have one. Grady is experiencing his first one now. He had his 15 month check up today. When the doctor tried to examine his ears, you would have thought we were sawing his legs off. By the time she was able to see a little of the right ear and most of the left, the paper on the table was ripped to shreds, every instrument she had lying on the table was on the floor, Elle was hysterical, I was sweating from trying to hold him still and of course, Grady was miserable. She ended up doing a tympanogram (which also involved a lot of restraining and screaming) and decided that the right ear did have a little infection. He did run fever on Saturday and Sunday morning but I really thought nothing of it because he had no other symptoms and it was never over 100.5. Everybody always says that kids have trouble sleeping with ear infections. I can count on one hand the number of times Grady has woken up at night since he was 10 weeks old. He is my rock solid sleeper.

Now we have journeyed in to the land of antibiotics.

All other parts of the check-up were great and he is a happy and healthy 15 month old. I did have to escort Elle out while he received his two vaccinations (the third round of restraining and screaming). She just can't take thinking Grady is really hurting or in pain. For those who care his stats are:

Weight: 25 lbs (~50%)

Height: 31 1/2 inches (~50%)

We have to go back in two weeks for a follow-up and I think I'm going to get them both flu shots. I'm not against vaccines by any means, but I'm just not sure about the flu shot. Elle has never had one and has never had the flu. But, she is in school this year so I'm a little more concerned. Although, I'm also a bit weary of having to give both of them shots at one time. I'm not sure which would be worse--Elle actually getting the flu or the appointment where they both get the flu shot?!

Since we are talking about firsts, we had our first fire of the season over the weekend, which was delightful. Elle also got to partake in her first cup of hot chocolate complete with mini marshmallows. >

A Night Away

I have to say an enormous thank you to my wonderful husband and my wonderful mom. I had my first night away from my kids in 15 months this past weekend. I met my mom in Atlanta on Saturday and spent the night. We shopped, ate, went to see The Secret Life of Bees, ate some more (IHOP for breakfast!), shopped some more at IKEA (amazing!), and relaxed. I wish I could say I slept in on Sunday, but alas, I woke up at 6:43 AM Atlanta time and did not return to my slumber. It was a fun getaway and one I desperately needed. I even got to listen to an entire book on CD during the drive! The kids were here with Steven and I think they had a fun time. I returned home to find this in the window:

and this on the garage

definitely made me feel loved and missed
we (I mean Mom) also picked up some fun treats for the kids at IKEA

Oh Well

Maybe I was a little over confident about the job thing. I talked with the nurse manager yesterday and it's not happening now. The good news was she said she would hire me in a minute and it was nothing to do with me. I was pretty specific and limited with the days and times I wanted to work (to minimize time away from the kids and childcare costs--I'm not working to pay someone else to keep my children). Apparently, the need is not there right now. And I think she didn't want to hire anyone with the holidays coming up. So.... she said to check back with her at the first of the year. And besides, with our new President we'll be getting back our tax money so I probably won't need to work anyway! HA!

Really, I am excited to see what the next four years bring. No matter if I agree with everything Obama stands for (I don't!), the American people spoke and elected him. And the office of President deserves respect. It is certainly a job I would NEVER want to have. I don't know if you have watched this John Piper video, but it gave me great perspective on the whole thing. Watch it if you have 4 minutes to spare.