Merry Christmas!

Sleep is overrated.

I say this, of course, because I haven’t had a decent night’s sleep in many moons. This month, however, has been exceptionally lacking, due to sick children. Ever since Eden got croup, we seem to be passing the bug in circles. Right now it is 0430 Christmas morning and my son, who is well fed, yet has a faucet for a nose, is much too awake to sleep. So, we sit and look at each other. His big blue eyes can win over even the toughest of hearts and the longest of nights. And that toothless grin is to die for. I think God made babies cute so that they live to toddler-hood where they come up with another cute feature to survive until childhood and so on and so forth.

As you can imagine, this past week has been busy. I fully intended to blog all about it on Monday, but I was in the middle of a miserable cold and thought sitting on the couch holding my sick son, listening to my whining daughter would be more fun. With four services in three days, I’m hoping for a quiet, nap-filled afternoon today. (It’s Christmas, I can hope!)

The choir sang on Sunday morning, and as soon as I got to church to warm up, Eden threw up all over herself. She had on such a cute dress, too. We made it through the service, sang our piece, and I fled, only to have her throw up all over the blazer on the ride home.

Yesterday, there was no day care and I was running on one solid hour of sleep. I had two kids who wanted to be held exclusively all day, fighting over my lap, while I held closely to the box of tissue and a bottle of water. And they cried. Both of them. All afternoon. With Sudafed running through my blood, I lasted until about 3:30p, when I called my ever-so-compassionate husband and begged him to come home from work. Mind you, it was Christmas Eve and he’s the pastor. But it’s hard to argue with ‘in sickness and in health’ when your wife is crying along with your kids on the other end of the phone line. He finished his sermon and was home in half an hour.

There was some joy to the week. Watching Eden chase Samson with blinking reindeer antlers, trying to squeeze them on his head, was one of them.

The big highlight of the week was when I heard ‘splash splash giggle’ coming from the upstairs bathroom. I was too tired to comprehend what was going on until it dawned on me that the only thing in the bathroom that can make that sound is Eden and the toilet. By then it was much too late. The entire bathroom was covered in toilet water. With the help of the toilet brush, she dipped and flung it all over the place. I had water dripping from the ceiling, the walls, the mirror, the cupboards and the shower curtain. When I walked in the water was all gone, and she’d just flushed to get more! Clever girl. Even more clever was when I shooed her out of the bathroom to clean it up. While I was cleaning the upstairs bathroom, she was in the downstairs bathroom doing the exact same thing!! You’d think a mother would have more brains than to let it happen twice, in the same day and indeed, in the same hour. But alas, chalk it up to lack of sleep. I was completely shocked, yet amused all at the same time.

It is now 9:00 pm. Both my children are asleep, though I expect Lars to wake up momentarily. After writing early this morning, I decided to disinfect the house. I opened all the windows, pulled out my can of Lysol and got down to business. I sprayed every non-wood surface in this house. Then I went back to bed. I didn’t really get to go back to sleep, but I did doze for 45 minutes while Al was getting ready for church. Eden was still sleeping when we should have been leaving, so I stayed home with them. Guess I was kind of tired of juggling two little ones, the hymnal and the snotty Kleenexes.

When the kids got up, I took every blanket, pillowcase and sheet I could find and put it the washer. (Eden didn’t give her blanket up until much later in the afternoon). When it was blowing snow into the house, I took one last deep breath of fresh air, and shut the windows. Eden, often naked, came out of her bedroom wrapped in her blanket yelling, “I FREEZING!”

Christmas went off without a hitch. Al came home from church and we ate a delicious homemade sausage and egg bread loaf. (Made in somebody else’s home, that is). We began to open gifts. Eden opened her first one, a talking Barbie phone from Uncle Matt and family, then proceeded to play with it for twenty minutes! About a third of the way through, we all took an hour nap. Then, we dug in again until we quit for supper. Eden is exceptionally slow at gift opening. With every new book she opened, she would sit on her daddy’s lap and say, ‘read it’. After he was done, she’d open it up and say ‘read again’.

When we’d finished, the paper strewn house was full of new toys and knick knacks that needed new spots. It was a wonderful & blustery snowy Christmas, with a fresh 4” coat of the white stuff to end the evening.

In a world of sinus drainage, colds and ear aches, we are blessed indeed with the celebration of our Savior’s birth and the endless needs He provides. Merry Christmas, everyone.

“I’m dreaming of a White Christmas”…..Ok, that’s not quite true. I haven’t slept long or hard enough in over 3 months to actually dream! However, it is beautifully white here in Western Nebraska. The snow has been falling most of the week, and though it’s supposed to warm up this week, it’s supposed to be snowing again by next weekend.

Nine days until Christmas…..is your shopping done? Once again, we didn’t get anything for our children for Christmas this year. They have enough stuff from the relatives that we thought we’d spend it on diapers instead. I am looking forward to finding some stocking stuffers, however. Last night, Eden and I put the presents under the tree. A bold move on my part, I know. Only two labels got torn off, but no presents were opened ‘accidently’ yet.

We have been flooded with Christmas cards. I love it! Last year, I didn’t have much time to read them, packing and traveling and all that. This year, I’ve been able to catch up on everybody’s lives. All my friends are married with children now and strange to think that I am one of them… Didn’t I just get out of high school??

Eden’s new question of life is, “Who’s that?” From people in line at the grocery store, to the newscaster on TV and unnamed characters in picture books, it’s, “Who’s that?” I have made up more names than I ever thought possible!

Al took Friday off and instead of cleaning the house for the circuit social, we played outside in the fresh fallen snow. Click on the slideshow above for the whole day’s playing. (The pastor’s social was cancelled due to the weather.) Al fashioned a sled out of a plastic garbage lid and tied some rope to it, then took Eden for a spin. It was a bit too wild for her, however, and she was in tears the whole time. We’ll have to try it a bit slower next time. Samson had a great time in the snow, but he kept stealing Eden’s mittens and running off with them. With the snow a foot deep, it was hard to chase after him to get them back.

Lars has Eden’s croupy cough. We thought it was getting better and now he sounds awful. Kids are always the sickest on the weekends, aren’t they?? We’ll see what tonight brings.

On Thursday, I invited a bunch of children over to decorate Christmas cookies. Since I wanted to do a few myself, and give Eden the opportunity to be creative, I thought this would be a fun way to do it. It was a big, messy riot! Everybody had a great time and got to take a plate of cookies home. That’s definately something worth doing again next year. Eden’s favorite color is green, so all her cookies were green. All green. Some with green M&M’s and green sprinkles.

Tomorrow, the Red Wings game is going to be on VS (cable), so I am way excited about this. This will be the 3^rd game this season I’ve been able to watch, which is something new since we’ve acquired cable. I’m not much of a cable TV fan, but there are a few benefits. This being one of them J

Keep enjoying the weather everybody!

December Snow!

December is here and so is the snow! We have a good 5" of the white fluffy stuff heavy laden on the branches of the pine trees & all over the grass. It's also causing fun road conditions. I'm ashamed to admit that I have no sled for my daughter to experience. On the other hand, we really have no hills in the immediate vicinity. I love it when it snows all day and I can listen to Christmas music, stay indoors with my big windows, and not have to go anywhere. Someday, I'll be able to sit on the couch with a blanket and read a good book. However, this past week, I held sick kids and rocked instead.

Looking back over the week, my calendar is all but blank. I don't know how that is, really, because I never have a dull moment. I went to an auction last Saturday, and came home with a winter scene framed picture and an antique chamber pot. Also, as a bonus, a whole set of 1960's powder blue hard back suitcases. Anybody in need?

Eden suffered from her case of the croup all week, coughing and hacking until she was out of breath. She would then yell for her blanket, call for mommy or daddy and say, "ROCK". Needless to say, she missed daycare on Monday, Story Hour on Tuesday, and church on Wednesday.

Friday, I made 8 batches of peanut brittle then broke my really nice candy thermometer. After that, I started out to the garage with the recyclables and slipped on stair number 5 of the back deck, sledding down on my backside without a sled. The tread is years gone on the wood steps and with the icy snow against my house slippers, I was no match. You could see my finger swipes in the snow on the steps all the way down, grappling for something to hold on to. Al rushed to my aide and after polishing my damaged pride, I went back in the house. Saturday, it was Motrin all day. Sunday was more Motrin. Looking forward to the chiropracter tomorrow!

Saturday, Eden went to Douthit's house during the day and I took a long winter's nap. Then, their girls came over for the night while they went to a Christmas party. That worked well. I had entertainment for Eden most all day! We made pizzas to everybody's delight then watched Christmas movies until bed time. Older kids are easier. They are potty trained.

Tonight, Eden, Al & I decorated the Christmas tree. It's had lights for a week, but no ornaments. It's looking a bit top heavy, with all the 'careful' ornaments on the skinny top and all the unbreakable ones on the wide bottom. I understand the concept of this, but it looks a bit silly.

Tis the season for Christmas music...so turn the radio up and enjoy yourself!







Don't forget to vote, below. And read this week's quote for quite a laugh. :-)

In Sickness and in Health....

This is an abbreviated weekly blog. Read slow to get the normal effect.

Very fun week. Kids are a blast. Until they get sick. This is one of those times. Eden has finally fallen asleep, on her knees, leaning her head against Lars' bouncy chair. I moved her to the couch, where she remains with her 103 temperature and seal-like bark. A tell tale sign of croup, but I hope I'm wrong.

Last night, she spiked a fever and ended up on our bedroom floor. Lars' cradle was on my side of the bed, and Eden was on Al's side. The dog also came in to join us at some point. Nothing like having a 4 bedroom house when everybody is crammed into one room for the night. Unfortunately, when Eden woke up at 0300, she didn't go back to sleep. She laid on the floor and talked and talked and talked. By 0400, Al and I were in stitches... too tired to believe this was happening.

Friday was a wonderful day. We headed to Scottsbluff in the morning for family pictures. Lars was awake the whole time and Eden smiled on cue. But when they were done, they were done. We had a quick lunch, then headed to the doctor for Lars' 2 month check up. He is 11 pounds even & 23" long. He had 4 shots and Eden got her flu shot. Then we did our big December shop and headed home for a pork roast.

Wednesday, I forgot about choir. I called Laura part way thru the practice to ask her a question and her daughter answered the phone saying, "no, she's in choir" and I said, "Oh, I didn't know she sang in a choir. Oh wait. That's the same choir I sing in. I'll be right there". This is the reason Al didn't come home at the regularly scheduled supper time. Oops.

If you don't have a two year old and an infant, you really should get yourself one. You don't know what you're missing! Now I need to go take care of them.

Here are some photos from healthier days this week.






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Monday morning early addition:
When mothers are right.... I took Eden to the ER last night when she just couldn't breathe anymore and her temp was going up with Motrin/Tylenol, instead of down. In a matter of 10 minutes, they gave her a breathing treatment and an injection of high dose steroids, followed by two Dora the Explorer stickers. Less than an hour later, we walked home. The 15 degree air helped tremendously. She slept all night and then some, on our bedroom floor. Lars, on the other hand, was up from 0230 until morning, and then some. He's still crying, actually. But there comes a time in every mother's life where you say, "ok child, if you're going to cry whether I hold you or not, then I'm going to put you down to cry". Again, this is one of those moments. Al is in Denver picking up my Christmas present that I picked out and bought :-) I can't wait until he's home tonight! God bless mothers/fathers/grandparents/caregivers everywhere!