How Is It Possible?


Will someone please explain to me how, in 10 days, my baby girl will turn two? TWO! How is that possible?

It seems like just two weeks I had my ultrasound and confirmed my instincts that we were having a girl:

And just last week I swear I was having pregnancy photos taken with my little 2.5 year old son:


A couple of days ago she was born:


A day ago they took away all her machines and tubes and I got to hold her as much as I wanted:


And yesterday that we came home from the hospital:


So tell me - how is it possible that she will be turning two in 10 days? Not possible. It's just not possible. And don't even get me started on the fact that in two months my first baby will be turning five. FIVE? I'm thinking that there must be a time stealing gremlin lurking around my house. I refuse to believe they are growing up. I flat out refuse to believe it.

It's a good thing she is small, loves to snuggle and basically has the nighttime sleep patterns of a newborn. I can still live in my land of denial for a while longer.

Comment To Your Comment?

Do you love and not love them? What I mean is when you leave a comment on someone's blog, do you like it when they comment back to you? If you like it, do you like it done in the comment section of the post you commented on or emailed to you privately?

I have no real reason for asking - it's just been on my mind.

I know, that for me, I love when people comment back to me in the comment area of their posting. It lets me know they read what I wrote and they care enough to respond. I'm not a big fan of the emailed response to my comment because well, let's face it; I love to read the comments posted back to all the comments. I'm nosey that way. :)

Now that said - I suck at commenting back to the amazing people who leave comments on my blog. I try really hard to do it but the comments come in through my email, I read them and then I *mean* to go over to the blog and comment back but more times than not, I don't. *sheepish look*

I have to say though - I LOVE getting comments. And yes, even the privately emailed one that come. LOVE, LOVE, LOVE IT!! And I try to leave a comment on each and every blog I visit because if *I* love comments this much, I know others do as well.

So? What about you? Do you love comments back to your comments or no?

I Miss My Car

It's sad really but I am missing my car terribly right now. We are on day 3 of being house bound and the kids and I are going bonkers. Sure, I could dig out the stroller, or go without one, and go for a good ol' fashioned walk but it's cold out there and I don't feel like repeating 50 million times "Kelton, stay with us. Kelton stay on the sidewalk. Kelton stop bugging your sister." I suppose I'll use that for my last resort later this afternoon if push comes to shove (and I mean that literally. Kelton has been pushing Kaylen lately. *sigh* We're working on always using kind hands when you touch someone.)

It's not so much that we go someplace every day - it's the idea that we *can*. Without the car, we can't. End of story. What would we do if we had the car? Nothing exciting...it's just that we could use a few grocery things - not like we'll die without them but they would be nice to have. Kelton already missed one gymnastics class this week and while it's not a huge outing, it is something. I could have maybe set up a playdate - though maybe not since we all seem to be coming down with colds (which I will take over the stomach viruses that has plagued us this winter). Like I said - nothing earth shattering and in truth, we might still have gone nowhere for Monday and today (gymnastics is Tues/Thurs) it's just the cold hard truth that we can't. I don't enjoy having my choices limited.

And besides....we are all going bonkers with no other interactions. Speaking with another adult would be great and yes, even if that adult is the clerk at Safeway.

I'm really looking forward to having Dakota's car to use. And hey - if Dakota's mom brings over her car early enough this evening, I just may toss the extra carseats in the car and hit the drive-thru at McDonalds. Probably not since I am not a fan of driving other people's vehicles but still - just having that option makes me happy. :)

A Few More Pages

I'm light years behind on pages so you will probably be seeing autumn, winter and Christmas layouts well into the summer. :) Enjoy!

credits:elements from Santa Baby by Dani Mogstadt.
Sorry - no clue onthe paper. It was a freebie I downloaded sometimes last year before I knew to save the credit info. Oops!


Credit: Christmas Breeze kit by Dani Mogstadt

Thanks Rick!


Thanks to Dakota's office mate, Rick, we have located and purchased the a/c compressor (and the part the repair facility forgot to tell us we needed) for half the price we were quoted yesterday. And yes, it's a new part. The downside is we'll have to wait for it to be shipped to us and then we have to take it to Mieneke ourselves. The company wasn't able to ship it to an address unless it matched the credit card. The credit card Mieneke had has their corporate address which was no help at all. So...the parts should be here sometime Friday and, with luck, I'll have my car back Saturday afternoon.

Oh - and they did a brake inspection. I had them inspected about 6 months ago and they figured they were good for another year. Turns out, not the case. So for a mere $125 I'll also be getting front brakes. The funny thing is, after all the big numbers we've been throwing around the past 24 hours, $125 feels like nothing. Sad.

Dakota mom is going to bring her car over tomorrow evening so that D can drive it to work and school Thursday and I can drive Dakota's car so that Kelton doesn't miss another of his gymnastics classes. I mean sheesh...we paid for him to go eight times. It would be nice if he went at least six.

It's still a lot of money but at least it's much better than it was yesterday at this time.

THANKS RICK!!!!

Did You Hear That Sound?

It was money being flushed down the toilet. A lot of money.

See that picture? It's my vehicle. Right now it is sitting in the repair bay at Meineke where it has been since yesterday and where it will stay until probably early afternoon on Wednesday (unless a miracle happens; then it will be late tomorrow afternoon).

Yesterday I drove up to a nearby shopping area to get my haircut. About three business' away from my desired location I heard a horrible noisy squeal. I wasn't sure if it came from my car or one of the cars ahead of me. Ever in denial, I opted to think it was someone else. I pulled into a parking spot and went in to get my hair cut. I returned to the car and started the engine. No denying it now. My car was making a horrible noise. Since I was only 6 blocks from home I thought I would attempt to get there. Then I could wait until this morning to call AAA and have it towed somewhere.

Um...yeah..the best laid plans and all. I hadn't gone very far when white smoke starting billowing from the back, followed by a nasty burning rubber smell. "Ok," I thought to myself, "it's a belt. I need to stop." I pulled into a parking space and called D who was at home with the kids (and this is where I interject that I am SO thankful they were not with me! There was enough stress happening.). Then I called AAA.

The tow truck arrived about 30 minutes after my initial call and hooked up the car. I jumped in the cab and took a ride to the repair shop. Dakota met me there and took me home. We weren't too upset because these things happen. It's all part of owning a vehicle. At least everyone is safe and after a few hundred dollars in repair cost, everything will be as good as new.

Yes. You may laugh hysterically now. I know. I'm so naive.

This afternoon the phone rings. The conversation quickly moved from pleasantries to "Do you have an extended warranty on the vehicle." We all know what that means, right? "Um..no. I don't." It's a 2002 and we have never, ever bought an extended warranty for any of our vehicles before. I may be rethinking that in the future.

The air conditioning compressor, which continually runs if the engine is on, seized. The belt that turns the unit was still trying to turn it: hence the burning rubber smell. These things happen, the nice tech explained. He also explained how the vehicle cannot run without the compressor so.......

There goes a whole lotta money. By the time the part (over $1100), labor and tax is added up we'll be closing in on about $1800. $1800 that we, of course, don't have just sitting around. I tried not to cry when he told me. I tried to act like it was no big deal - like I expected it and was ready for it, relieved it wasn't higher. I think he was reading me like a book. He said he was really, really sorry. Yeah, me too. Stupid car! I gave the go ahead. What else could I do? I can't *not* get it fixed.

Today, of all days, D forgot to take her cell phone with her and she was, at that very moment, enroute to her day class. So while I waited for her to get to school and log into her IM account I had a nervous breakdown.

I talked with D who assured me that one way or another we'll be ok. It'll all work out. So then we focused on the positive side of things:

1) I stopped immediately so there was no damage to the engine.
2) I wasn't driving fast so it didn't cause an accident.
3) The kids were not in the car with me.
4) The kids are healthy and so are we.
5) No one we know died.
6) It's "just money". (I'm still processing that. It's a LOT of money and will stretch us beyond our limit. Hopefully tax time will be good to us. REALLY good to us.)
7) It's something that we can throw money at and fix - unlike if, God forbid, one of the kids were really sick with something terrible. We couldn't fix that no matter how much money we threw at it. (So true!)

So it's going to be ok.

Somehow.

Somehow it will be ok. I just have to have faith that things will work out like it should.

And from now on, I'm going to take a long hard look at buying the extended warranty for a vehicle. (Although this is actually the first time in all my years of vehicle ownership that I would have been able to use it.)

*sigh*

Another Page....Finally

Apparently when I take a scrapping break, it becomes difficult for me to jump back in. It's almost like a creative block - I scare myself into thinking I can't do it. So tonight I decided, to steal the Nike catchphrase, to "Just Do It".

Here's what I ended up with:



The journaling reads:
We finally had snow to play in and boy did we make the best of it. We all bundled up and went outside several times each day to ride on the sleds, throw snowballs at each other, wrestle in the snow and take snow walks around the neighborhood.

Although we can’t agree on the one best thing about snow we all do know this:

SNOW IS FUN!!

We hope it snows again this winter because there is nothing better than a snow day with the ones you love!

What a Day

It started about 6:10 this morning when Kelton came in to wake me up; "Mom...when are you going to wake up?" "Not yet...please leave me alone." It had been a long night with the girl and I wanted another hour. Fifteen minutes later he was back. And then 15 minutes after that. *sigh* Up I got while the girl slept on. Of course.

The reason he wanted me up was because he couldn't access his new favorite site; IKnowThat.com. He's been glued to it for days and since it's educational and fun, it's fine with me. Anyway, for some reason it wouldn't load. At all. For the entire day. He was beyond frustrated and to be honest, so was I.

I wrote to our service provider to see if this was something they could help with. They could but it meant an on-line chat with a tech. Yeah - that's fun to do with two little ones underfoot, in your lap, hanging on your shoulder and asking a bazillion questions about "Is it fixed yet Mom?" About an hour into the chat, after running diagnostics and queries in DOS (which I now know way more about than I did this morning. Or ever before. Let's just say I now know how to "ping" an IP address.) it was determined that the problem most likely was coming from our wireless router. I needed to disconnect it and reconnect the CPU directly to the cable connection. If the web page was accessible to me after doing that, the router was the issue and we need to contact and NetGear to discuss that with them.

I called Dakota and told her about the conversation and that we would need to disconnect, reconnect, etc when she got home tonight. I'm not someone who likes to mess around with cords and wires and whatnot. Way too much can go wrong. I'm just not up for it. Dakota said, and I quote: "That sure doesn't make me look forward to coming home tonight." Not exactly what I was looking to hear after spending most of the day dealing with this stuff. (And honey - I know you are reading this. I love you like crazy but maybe, just maybe, a "Sure. I'll help you with that tonight." would have been better received. We both know how well I took the first comment. *grin*)

Anyway, I was less than happy....ok truthfully I was pretty pissed off that she didn't want to help me figure it out (but to be fair I know that it's not something a person *wants* to deal with when they arrive home at 10:15 at night. Also to be fair, it's not something *I* wanted to deal with either.). Yes, she did agree to help me but by then I was a bit over the edge so after I hung up the phone and got the kids eating their dinner I started pulling the computer cabinet away from the wall so I could reach all the zillions of wires. After a bit of cursing I did locate the cords I needed and disconnected the router (well..what I was hoping was the router). Like magic, when I turned on the computer, the web page appeared.

A happier boy you have NEVER seen! He was dancing around squealing with joy and he kept hugging me and saying "You're amazing Mom! I love you!" How can you *not feel good about that? :)

We called Dakota and let her know it was done. She was really happy for us that Kelton was back on-line. And oh - I should mention that Dakota had called me back somewhere in there and apologized for her earlier comment. I, of course, forgave her. :) She also told me her final grades for last semester and let me tell you: SHE ROCKS!!!! :)

So at the end of the day I know how to "ping" something, I know how to disconnect the router and reconnect the cable to the CPU, I carried on a conversation that was dripping in techie speak while dealing with two kids AND I made my son one very happy boy.

All in all, a pretty good day. And honey, I'm sorry I came a wee bit unglued. :)

One Year Ago

One year ago today was, without a doubt, the worst day of my life. The moments of that afternoon will echo in my heart forever - each and every second is seared into my memory and every fiber of my being. It's the first time that Kaylen stopped breathing.

And yes, I said first.

The first was the worst. And while I will never, ever get used to it, my heart doesn't stop now like it did that first day. I know the things to do now to get through it. I know she will start to breathe again...even if those moments feel like a million lifetimes. I didn't know that the first time. For those moments in time I was sure I was holding my dying child. I have never been more terrified in my entire life. Never. Not ever.

Kaylen has what is called Pallid Breath Holding Spells which is an involuntary response to sudden trauma such as a painful fall (usually when she hits her head) or to something that terrifies her (again, usually when she hurts herself). For some reason she stops breathing and passes out. I wish it was as easy as it sounds but it's not. At least not for the Moms.

One year ago. It seems like this has been going on for forever and yet, at the same time, the terror I felt that day truly does feel like it was just yesterday.

*Happy Sigh*

Kate Moennig. Shane McCutcheon on The L Word. She just has a way of making me very, very happy. :)

Baby Adelaide

For a while now I've been reading Mieke's blog. I started reading it because Mieke was a visitor to Dakota's blog and, at the time, was looking at going to law school. Dakota would tell me about the conversations the two were having about the hardships of being a parent while pursuing a law degree. Since I am always trying to understand the "I'm a full-time working mom who is planning to add law school to my crazy life with small kids" mind, I started reading her blog. Fast forward a year and I'm still reading. Anyway....Mieke has a close friend who had a baby a year ago. Shortly after Adelaide was born, she was diagnosed with Cystic Fibrosis.

As you know, this is a devastating disease. And, at this point, there is no cure. Last year, Mieke helped raise $18,000 for the CF Foundation. This year she is hoping to reach $25,000. Here is where you can help Adelaide and others like her. If you have clicked on the links in this posting then you have seen her face - she is just a baby with her whole life before her. You can help by donating whatever you can to the Great Strides donation site for the CF Foundation. Mieke has an account set up and it's super easy to process a donation. Every single dollar helps. Every single one.

So seriously, if you can spare a few dollars please do. I did. I would love to see Mieke reach her donation goal. (And yes, your donation is tax deductible.) So what do you say? Will you join me?

New Glasses

Ok - so for most of you you have no idea what my old glasses looked like but still - this is exciting for me. I haven't had new glasses in over 10 years (or had my eyes checked in over 5. Wow - did my prescription needs change since then! No wonder I've been getting nasty headaches lately.) so this is was a fun adventure yesterday.

I think they look pretty good on me. (And yes, this is where you are supposed to be nodding your head and saying "Wow! They sure do!" *grin*) Kelton said they make me look "sassy!". How's that for a compliment. :)

In case you were wondering.....

This is why people in this area take snow days and why schools close.

(PS...Keep reading, if you haven't already as I posted last night, too.)

Back to Reality

*sigh* Our two and a half days of snow-induced family bliss is over. The temperature reached high enough today to clear the roads which meant Dakota headed to class this afternoon. I have to say that I am no where near ready for snow time to be over. I love it. Seriously love it. I love that it feels like the rest of the world has slowed to a stop and that the four of us are left alone to just "be". No errands. No "have to's". Just time to be together.

I don't think I could ever live where snow is common place (or worse yet, doesn't happen). I love the magic of it - the way life comes screeching to a halt. I know it's a strange concept to those of you who live life with snow all winter since life just continues on despite snow falling from the sky. But see there lies the difference between your worlds and mine: it's not common place here. It's special. It's rare. It's amazing.

We don't have snow plows at the ready with chemicals and road crews. I'm not even sure the city I live in *has* a snow plow. The city across the river has a couple. Why would we? The last time we had any snow worth talking about was three years ago. Last year we had a flurry of snow activity that left us with a dusting for a few hours. That was the sum total for the winter. The winter before, nothing. Kelton was 19 and 21 months the last time we had a "winter storm". It was November 2003 and January 2004. January was an ice storm that kept us under lock and key for almost a week. I have those days, those moments, implanted forever in my memory. Sitting at the backdoor while Dakota braved the ice to bring Kelton and I icicles so we could fling them across the yard on the ice. I can still hear the branches creaking as they tried to sway in the cold wind but couldn't because they were frozen in place. I remember the plastic blow up whale shaped ballpit that took up a good portion of the livingroom. Dakota and Kelton played for hours in that thing. I remember the baking that was done. I can practically smell the brownies.

So all you people who have snow every year, all winter long, you can keep all your snow plows and your chemicals. I want to keep the magic and wonder of snow. I want it to be a miracle each time it falls to the ground. I want to keep my snow days and the time it gives me just to be with my family. To us, an inch or two is just enough to ice the roads, slow things down and bring life into focus.

I don't get cabin fever when it snows. I do, however, feel incredibly sad when the ice and snow melt and life goes back to being the same as always.

Here are a few pictures from yesterday.

I'm Loving All The Snow!

But talk with me in a few days to see if the crazies have set in. The ice is supposed to be bad tomorrow and Thursday which means we aren't going anywhere anytime soon. As Dakota so rightly put it this morning: "Dakota doesn't drive in snow and ice." and I echo that quite loudly. What is the point? For us it's all about staying safe and keeping our vehicles in one piece. We know we aren't the world's best snow/ice drivers and we are absolutely sure more others in this area aren't as well.

Dakota stayed home today. Thankfully, for a variety of reasons, she was late getting out the door this morning. By the time she made it into her car, the snow was starting to fall. Listening to the radio brought news that areas around us were already turning ugly. She came back in the house to watch the news and wait a bit. The snow kept coming! One of the people she works with called her cell to say that he wasn't going in - conditions were just too awful in his area. Her supervisor sent word that she wasn't going in either. Soon we learned that even the law school was closing for the day.

A snow day!! Now that is my idea of a slice of heaven. :)

I know lots of you think it's crazy but I love getting out in the snow and playing with the kids. I love pulling them on the sleds, chasing them around and hearing their squeals of laughter and I love, love, love watching Dakota and the kids wrestle in the snow. So much fun. So much laughter. It was awesome.

Tonight while I was putting Kaylen to sleep I asked her if she had had a good day. She looked up at me with a huge smile and said "MmmmmHmmmm" which is baby speak for yes. I asked her what she liked the most today and she tensed up her little body and yelled "NOOOOOOOOOO!!!!" which is baby speak for SNOW! She was so cute. :)

Needless to say, even though we all had naps this afternoon, the kids went down with a thud. They were wiped out from the hours we spent playing. I have to admit, if Dakota wasn't sitting at the table behind me studying, I'd probably be snug in my bed too. I'm exhausted! It's tiring to have so much fun. :)

Here are a few pics from the day. For a number of reason I don't have too many from today. #1 is I was having too much fun playing with them to keep taking off my gloves, locating my camera in my coat pocket, snapping a photo (trying desperately to capture a moment that was most likely well over), putting the camera away and putting my gloves back on. Too much work and I was missing out on too much. #2 is well..let's face it: same kids, same snow pants and coats. Hard to tell the difference between last Thursdays snow pictures and todays. :) That's a lame excuse, I realize. So sue me. :)

Anyway - here they are:

( Yes, it was icy enough for a 4 year old to pull a sled containing a mom AND a sister!)

Dakota wrestling with the kids.

Just hanging out.

Little snow eater!

And my all time favorite:

I LOVE this one! :)

Snow Snow Snow!

We have snow!!! Again! About 2.25 inches fell this morning and it's a beautiful sight!

Enjoy your day. :)

One Night Down; A Lot More To Go

The day actually went quite well. Dakota didn't have work today so we were able to spend some family time together early on. Kelton had his first gymnastics class so Dakota took the kids and went to that while I waited at home for Safeway to deliver groceries (which should have been here last week but they cancelled our delivery because of the snow and ice). All three of them arrived home jazzed from the excitement and fun of the first day.

After telling me all about it (complete with demonstrations using the couch cushions, of course) Dakota had to pack up and leave for school. Monday she has an afternoon class so instead of being able to be with us all day and not go in until after dinner, as would have been the case last semester on a "no work but yes school" day, she had to leave at noon. The really sucky part is that her class was over at 3:30 and her next class wasn't until 8pm. Oh how it would have been nice to have her here for those 4.5 hours but it doesn't make sense to drive back and forth and it was a good opportunity for studying.

Anyway, the kids had a hard time letting her walk out the door (as did I but I didn't call her back a zillion times to say good-bye like they did. Not that I didn't want to but I was *trying* to be more mature about it. *grin*). I promptly got Kaylen down for her nap and returned to spend time with my sad little guy.

The afternoon went by fine as did the evening. The weird part is that I'm fine doing this on my own (well let's not get crazy....I'll qualify that with "on the good days I'm fine doing all this on my own..."), it's just that I miss her, really miss her when she isn't here.

Out of the past 71 weeks I've been on my own with the kids for the biggest part of 48 of them. So clearly, I can do this but even as I move about fixing dinner, cleaning up, playing with the kids, managing conflicts, etc. I find that I have this intense feeling of just plain missing her and being lonely for her company. I miss just knowing she is in the house. I don't know - I doubt I'm explaining this so it can be understood. Maybe what it comes down to is this: I am fine on my own. I can care for the kids alone 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. I am a whole person in my own right and yet....whenever Dakota isn't here, I feel like part of my heart is missing. And I'm lonely for her. *sigh* I guess that's true love. :)

Wow - am I rambling or what? Here's the point of this posting: The day went fine. One day down, a lot more to go. :)

A New Semester

The new semester starts tomorrow for Dakota. Wish us all luck.

The big challenge will be making sure we keep the lines of communication open which is going to be a bit tougher than last semester. Last time she was home by 8:30 three out of four school nights. This time she won't be home until 10 or 10:30 four nights out of four. Ugh.

It was so nice last semester to have the kids in bed when she walked in so we could talk, catch up and then just hang out together until bedtime. It was *almost* like she wasn't in school at all in regards to being able to be together. That becomes much more challenging when she walks in the door as I am ready to tumble into bed and as she is more than ready to do the same.

But - it's only 16 weeks. Sixteen weeks and then she will be on summer vacation and we will have successfully navigated our way through one half of the 4 year program. Now there is a reason to celebrate if ever there was one.

Hang on tight...............here we go!

Snow Fun - Day 2

Ten Years Ago Today

Ten years ago today the sun was shining but it was bitter cold. Snow that had been on the ground for almost two weeks was all but melted away. We had had a big storm come through that left us with 22 inches of snow - which is a whole lot of snow for an area that rarely sees more than an inch a year.

Are you wondering why I know the details of the days weather so well? It's because I laid on the freezing ground for 20 minutes wearing nothing but jeans and a shirt. No sweater, no coat. Why was I lying on the ground? Well you see - ten years ago today I fell 6 feet and broke my back. I also cracked my head open but that paled in comparison to the broken back.

I had been jumping a fence on a return trip from capturing our run-away "inside only" cat who loved nothing better than to escape and jump the fence into the neighbors yard. Not wanting to bother the elderly woman who lived in the house with said yard, I declined when she offered to go through the yard and unlock the fence for me. The carport lead to an easy drop down into the yard and I easily accessed the yard, grabbed the little furry run-away and handed her back over our back fence to Dakota's waiting hands. I then returned to the carport area and climbed upon the fence. Sitting there a thought went through my head - a thought that clearly meant I was feeling a little too full of myself. I was 32 years old and sitting on top of the fence I thought smugly "Wow - jumping this fence was so easy. It's not like I'm 18 anymore...." and there my thought ended and I toppled backwards and slammed flat on my back and head. What did I land on? Broken up pieces of cement from the previous walkway they had recently ripped out. Ouch.

After the initial shock, I realized that I couldn't move. At all. I screamed for Dakota and used all my strength to move my legs off of the side of the house, on which they were sort of propped. Dakota jumped our back fence in about 2 seconds flat and attempted to help me up. But I had smacked my head open and there was blood so she gently put me back on the freezing cement pieces and banged on the neighbors window to have her call for help.

Long story short, the ambulance took me to the hospital where it was discovered that I had indeed broken my back. Now this was also the week we were to have the first insemination for trying to get pregnant. Clearly *that* dream was shoved into a deep dark corner of a closet somewhere.

18 months later I had spinal fusion as my back was refusing to heal properly and I was in constant pain.

4 years later we were finally back on the mommy track and now, 10 years later I have 2 amazingly beautiful children and a back that reminds me constantly that I was once laying on the cold ground for 20 minutes wearing nothing but jeans and a shirt.

I can't believe it's been 10 years. In some ways, it feels like a million lifetimes ago and in others, like it was just last year. It's weird how a single moment in time changes your entire life.

Finally!!!!!

We have snow! Now I know this is a paultry sum compared to what a lot of you see but to our two little ones this is a winter wonderland to be sure. Here's hoping the temps stay low so it can hang around for a day or two. WE LOVE SNOW!!!

Family Photos

We had our annual family photo taken last Friday and even though the kids were umm...well...challenging....I think we got some good shots. :) My babies sure are growing up quickly.

Fingers Crossed

I think we may be on the upswing of things with Kaylen. Yesterday was a horrid day; the poor thing wouldn't agree to being put down as long as she was awake (which made for a long day and a very sore back for me). She did take three naps throughout the day which I was both thankful for and worried about. It's just not her style.

By dinnertime, she was starting to perk up. We had a bunch of "jump to high alert" situations last night and early this morning and I know we aren't out the woods yet as far as bodily fluids but I think we're starting to move in that direction.

The best news is that she is acting more like herself. I can't even begin to tell you how good it felt to have her playing and laughing with me this morning. Yesterday felt so...well...dark and scary but today feels much, much lighter.

Now as to why she seems to contract the stomach viruses so flippin' easy - that's a question that I have no answer for. Yes, Kelton did start a preschool program 7 weeks ago and I suppose he could be carrying home a thousand bugs. Sounds entirely possible. But why *just* the stomach bugs? Why no colds? Colds I would totally get but stomach bugs? This many times? *sigh*

This is the last week of preschool for this semester. He won't start again until spring. However, he is starting gymnastics next week so who knows what he'll bring home from there.

Oh the joy of kids and germs. :)

NO NO NO!!!

The girl is puking. And has diarrhea. AGAIN. How is this possible? Short of keeping the child under lock and key in a sterilized room what am I supposed to do? She seems to gets every little bug that walks by and looks sideways at her. What is up with this?

And of course this is the first week since mid-November that we would have had a playdate with friends and various other fun activities. Today I had hoped to convince Dakota that we should take the kids to the local community pool to go swimming (it's a year old and we keep telling Kelton that we will go swimming there). Clearly that isn't happening.

Next weekend I want to take the kids up to the snow so they can romp and play in it. She needs to be well by then. But let's not kid ourselves....she needs to be well soon or I just may lose my ever lovin' mind.

*sigh* Back to Puke-ville I go. Seems like I barely left that place.

Pren-Cess

Is she not the most adorable, delicious one in the world? I LOVE the way she says Princess. :)


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(If you haven't already, scroll down and keep reading. There is a post from earlier today and one from last night. I couldn't have you miss them after all the work I put into them now could I? *grin*)

Locked in a Room

Yesterday while I was chatting on the phone to Brenda, my son decided to lock his sister in my bedroom. He came running out to me and said "Mom! Kaylen is locked in your room and I can't get her out!" Since I couldn't hear her crying, I calmly walked over to the cabinet and pulled out the handy dandy screwdriver set. I had practiced for such an emergency on the bathroom door so I knew that I could turn the lock using the hole in the handle. I kept chatting to Brenda because I was confident that I would have my little girl out in 5 seconds flat.

I tried to unlock it while Kelton stood there talking to her, Saying things like "It's ok baby girl...Mom's going to get you out. Be brave." It was so cute. He got down on the floor to talk with her under the door and touched fingers with her. He tried saying "Honey, turn the knob. That thing I turned to lock the door. Just turn it, ok baby girl?"

It was really cute the way he was talking with her. She stayed completely calm and I could feel her trying to reach the knob (she is too little to actually do it though). I kept trying to unlock the door using different screwdrivers. I got a flashlight but it didn't help me see any better. I just couldn't get it to pop open. I started to worry. I hung up with Brenda and kept working and working.

Kelton very sadly told his sister "Honey, I don't think we're going to be able to get you out." He sounded so sad.

Suddenly it dawned on me. There was a sliding glass door from our room onto the patio. I went out the kitchen slider, walked over to the bedroom slider and called Kaylen over. I showed her the lock that needed to be flipped (which I knew she could do since I had watched her locking and unlocking the kitchen sloder earlier in the day) and within 2 seconds, I was able to get into the bedroom and unlock the inside door.

Kelton was SO happy to see his sister. :) Something tells me he won't be locking her in there anytime soon. Well...for at least a few days anyway.

Clearly I need to figure out how to unlock every single door in this house. Just because I can pop open one of them clearly doesn't mean I can open them all. *sigh*

More Fun Than One Family Should Have

We had the best time last night playing Play-Doh. Kaylen got her brother the Play-Doh EZ 2 Do Zoo kit for Christmas (man that girl has good tastes in gifts! *wink*) and it was so much fun! I cannot recommend these kits enough. Seriously - it's fun for the entire family especially if you are like me and have not a creative bone in your body when it comes to playing with Play-Doh.

Check out the fun!



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and

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and

Update?

I know, I know! I need to update. And I will...I promise. I have new pictures to share of our Christmas celebration up with my family in Seattle and I have a couple of super cute videos of the kids to post (I find nothing cuter at this point than how Kaylen says "princess" - it kills me every time she says it so you just *know* I had to get it on video. *grin*). But when to find the time to upload photos and video?

And then there is the whole new year resolution thing. I didn't get whacky or anything and I have a sinking feeling it's the same as last year but my goal for the year is to declutter this house! (I think last year was the garage - which is did do and which promptly gathered more items as the kids outgrew clothes/toys/etc.) I am swimming in "stuff" and it's eating at me. To jump start my goal yesterday I took an entire truck load of stuff to Goodwill, sorted through and crated up a bunch of outgrown toys to donate to our new MOMS Club chapter and gave away a bunch of baby gear through Craigslist. It's something anyway.

Dakota is off school for another blissful two weeks. Then the schedule from hell takes over and she won't be home until 10:30 or 11 four night of the week. It's going to be quite the shift from having her home at 8:30. :( The kids won't notice a difference but I sure am going to. I keep trying to tell myself that it just means I will have tons more hours to scrapbook. I'll let you know when I finally convince myself that the new schedule is good. :P

It's just 16 weeks though. Sixteen. It sounds short enough. I just wish it *felt* short enough.

Until school starts though, the kids and I are enjoying all our evening time and weekend time together. The kids are both over the moon when she walks in the door at 4:30. It's like Christmas every day for now. :)

That's it for now. Bath time if over and I need to go take charge of one of the munchkins. Fun!