Momma Getting Fresh with Santa?

I could tell you more about being sick, but I just coughed up some nasty stuff so I'm going to change the topic for a minute.

You're Welcome.

It's Christmas season, my favorite time of the year when I'm not stressing out or freezing my hiney off!  This means it's also time for Christmas music, and time for me to cry at nearly every other one.  The classic Christmas songs make me instantly reflect on a time 2000 years ago.  A time when a tiny baby was born in the most modest of birthplaces.  The fact that I know that baby grew up to teach us about God's word, the kind of life we should strive for, and because humans can never live a sinless life he would eventually die so that our sins could be forgiven and we could join Him in Heaven, brings tears to my eyes often.  Sounds like a Savior to me!

That said, not all Christmas songs have that effect. 

Take "I saw Mama kissing Santa Clause" for instance.  When I was a little kid I remember being confused as to why it was a cute song.  Why would people sing a song about a mom kissing another man... while the family sleeps... on Christmas eve! 

I guess to me it was a cutsie song about a married woman getting fresh with an old bearded man, not a cutsie song about some forthcoming bedroom role-playing scene!

Come to think of it, either way, that song disturbs me.

It's been 11 days since I started feeling sick...

Oh my goodness I've been sick!  It started 2 thursdays ago.  That Thursday I felt a heaviness in my chest and figured I was finally catching the cough that several kids in my life have had, and I had been pretty tired in the evening.  Thursday afternoon I could feel myself ready to pass out and Spence was ready to take over kid-duty after I finished daycare so I could go crash.  That night my temp had started to rise but lingered in the 99 degree range so I figured I'd sleep it off and feel better in the morning. 

That night, in the middle of the night, I woke up with horrible chills and a fever.  After managing an email to my daycare parents telling them I'd be closed that day, I reset my alarm to wake up in time to either confirm that they got those emails or call them before they got completely ready to come. 

Friday was a struggle, I had all three kids at home and Spence had to work.  I don't remember much other than having Sweet Pea feed everyone cereal for breakfast and lunch, and opening a bag of pretzels for snacks.  During the next several days there would be a lot of cereal/toast/pretzels consumed.  My son was neglected, the house was ignored, I just prayed no one was getting hurt because I couldn't leave the couch.  Just getting up to pee took more work than it seemed it was worth.

Saturday the girls started a "vacation" at Nana's that had thankfully already been planned, which allowed me to get a lot more rest than I otherwise would have had.  I remember giving Little Man the bag of pretzels a couple times because I couldn't muster up the energy to get up and give him a bowl.  He sprinkled more than a few pretzels around the room, but our dog took care of those for him.  When Spence was home he took care of the kids and I hid downstairs trying to sleep it off, which was difficult because by Saturday I had started coughing pretty bad.  Saturday afternoon, even though I had now lost my voice, I was starting to feel like I might just live so Spence and I went to a friend's house for a party that we had been looking forward to.  I felt ok but was more than ready to fall asleep by the time we got home, I was so looking forward to crawling into bed!  I got ready for bed and laid down, but started coughing, so I got up and found some cough medicine.  After taking a dose of that I sat back down on the bed and WUMP, the bed broke.

The corners of our bed have pretty weak joints and it's broken on us before, but tonight was NOT the night to be dealing with a broken bed.  I had been very sick, was then feeling ok and had made it out, but now was ready to collapse and we had a bed with the bottom right corner on the floor.

Spence tried to fix it for a while before I had just had it and we took it apart at all 4 corners so we could set the frame on the ground.  I laid down and was amazed at how much more comfortable our mattresses were when they weren't connected to the head and foot boards!  It was the most comfortable that bed had felt since we tried it out in the store!  This was looking like it would be a blissful night of sleep, except that I couldn't go more than 2 seconds without coughing... and I'm not exaggerating! 

Desperate to get to sleep I hauled my pillows out to the living room to join my blankets and sleep upright on the couch.

Things weren't going well, and that was just 2 days into it.  There's more to fill you in but I need to get to sleep so I can work tomorrow for the first time in 11 days! 

Fill you in more later!  And thank you for being patient and not totally forgetting about me while I've been recovering!

I Am Thankful...

For my husband who loves me.

that I have 3 amazing, smart, kind, well behaved, beautiful kids.

that Spencer and I both have jobs.

that we have a warm home and food in the kitchen.

for the parents who allow me to love and care for their kids during the day.

for those wonderful kids who come to my house most mornings.

that I continue to feel better and better.

that Spencer is bringing me gatorade, love that stuff.

that I'll be spending thanksgiving with the whole family.

that all my kids are safely tucked in at home tonight.

for all of you who read my blog, even though I get sick or busy and take a hiatus every now and then.

that we are entering the most wonderful time of the year.

What are you thankful for this year?

Wishful Wednesday

Ughh...

I wish I could get over this virus 100%.  Like, 4 days ago.

I wish my now low-grade fever (in the 99s - woo hoo!) was gone.

I wish I could have played with my kids this past 5 days.

I wish I knew how I'd feel in the morning.

I wish I knew how I'd feel on Thanksgiving.

I wish my brain hadn't just been on a slow sizzle for the past 5 days.

I'm going to bed.

what are you wishing for?

I've been sick

I've been in a flu-stuper (stooper?) for a couple days now, and have been fighting it off for days before that, which is why the old bloggy wog has been neglected.  I'm feeling better this morning though, which is good because I gots stuffs to do, and hope to resume regularly scheduled blogging on monday.  That's my goal anyway!  Thanks for bearing with me!

Wishful Wednesday

I wish my camera was fixed so I could get out of my blogging funk... need better pictures!  Does anyone want to sponsor my camera's repair?  hehe... but no, seriously.

I wish I had taken a shower last night, because when my alarm went off this morning I just reset it and went back to sleep... no shower for me.

I wish this budding cold would go away.  It's been tapping on the door for a while now and I'm not sure how long I can keep that door shut!

I wish my family/dog/bladder would let me sleep ALL night... at least once in a while.

I wish I could eat a brownie right now, but I'm making them tomorrow for a get-together I'm hosting tomorrow night, so I'll have to wait.

I wish I had a cleaning lady.

What are you wishing for today?

My Sweetie Pea

I didn't blog last night.

I had to watch Dexter, Desperate Housewives, and the latest episode of The Office.

Had to.

Then I went to bed, because every once in a while I sleep.

I'm having a hard time blogging these days because the things I want to blog about work best with photos.  And my camera is not working well which makes me really bummed.

I need to take it in to get fixed, but I'm afraid they're going to demand my first born child in exchange for a working camera.

So today, I bring you, my first born child.

This is Sweet Pea when she was 3 years old.  All of these pictures of her are so her that I had to include them.  I could put up a lot more, but I have a menu to plan (a day late and a dollar short but hey, whatdoyado?)

She's showing me her muscles, not having a bowel movement.

Easter



Random Things I've Learned part dos

A few more random things I've learned...

~ Target's Up and Up brand baby wipes are awesome, and a whole lot cheaper than the name brands.  Walmart's Parents Choice baby wipes suck.  They rip apart, they have a hard feel to them, and they are tough to get out of the travel packs.  I once bought baby wipes at the dollar store... worst wipes ever!

~ While I'm on this train of thought, Target brand homestyle frozen waffles are also awesome, Cub brand waffles are gross.

~ Special K protein meal bars are delicious.  Luna bars have about the same amount of protein but are gross.  The Luna bars with more protein are so gross I couldn't even choke down one bite.  Nasty.

~ Apparently I shouldn't eat a Luna bar with a coffee chaser... upset tummy.

~ When the house is clean at night, my mornings are lovely.

~ Watching that "Baggage" dating show hosted by Jerry Springer makes me extremely glad I'm not out there dating... some huge crazies on that show!  But what else would you expect from Jerry Springer?

Shutterfly is Awesome!

I am SUPER excited about what Shutterfly is doing for bloggers right now, and I'll tell you why.  I use shutterfly to order all my photo prints because I can order through them and pick up at the Target store a few blocks away from my house.  In years past I've also made photo books and calendars to give as Christmas gifts, and they were always a hit!  And now Shutterfly has offered bloggers 50 free holiday cards as a thank you for blogging about them!  If you're a blogger and are interested in the promotion click HERE.

Remember my post not long ago about how much trouble I have getting a good photo of my kids to use for a Christmas card?  Since I wasn't able to find a single picture of my kids together that was Christmas card worthy, I designed one through Shutterfly.  I'm not going to show you the actual card that will be going out yet, because I like to make it a surprise for the family and a few close friends that will be getting cards.  I will, however, show you the card I chose (minus my chosen photos). 

I wasn't able to get a good group photo, so I took a photo of each child and then found the perfect card to plug them into.



As you can see, these are not my kids, and I've changed it up a bit to make it work for the pictures I chose, but this is the card!  click here to link to it. I like this card because I can change the caption to whatever I want, and include the names of our family members.

I've also really liked their photo calendars, and gave them to the grandparents and aunts 2 Christmas's ago.  They were disappointed last Christmas when I didn't make them, so I'll have to see about making one again this year.  Click here to see the various Shutterfly photo calendars you can make.

Last Christmas I made a photo book of all the daycare kids to give as gifts for the families that trust and allow me to take care of their children each day!  The parents loved them, but even more than the parents, the kids loved them!  I've had a couple requests already to make "yearbooks" again!  Click here to see the photo books you can make.  Last year I made a "custom" photo book with captions and neatly organized.  If I get to it this year I'll most likely make the "simple" kind, that way the only hard part will be choosing a balanced number of photos of each child in daycare.  That and getting good pictures with my camera being broken!

To get started with your cards click on a link above, or choose one of these below.

Christmas cards:  http://www.shutterfly.com/cards-stationery/christmas-cards

Calendars:  http://www.shutterfly.com/calendars/wall-calendars

These are pretty cool if you  have a lot more money to spend - photo wall art:  http://www.shutterfly.com/home-decor/canvas-wall-art

This promotion is such a blessing to us because we were already planning on ordering 50 Christmas cards from Shutterfly, but we're really watching our pennies right now and I worried about being able to pay for them.  Thank you Shutterfly for helping us out and allowing us to help spread the word for you too!

Wishful Wednesdayw

I wish I could stay healthy forever, that would be pretty helpful.

I wish my family could be and/or stay healthy forever, that would be awesome.

I wish my basement was as clean as my upper level right now.

I wish I had a gigantic sandwich in my hands right now.

And brownies.  And cookies. :o)

Did you know that a salad made up of iceberg lettuce, cucumbers, and ranch vinegarette salad spritzers is refreshingly tasty and almost zero calories?  It's pretty exciting :o)

What about you?  What are you wishing for today?

Things that drive me nuts

Whether you're a parent or not, there's things that other parents do that makes us crazy.  We all make mistakes.  We all have dumb-parent moments.  I am fully aware of my humanness and am not a judgemental person, but sometimes I see things out and about that drive me nuts.  I'm not talking about stuff that may have been a lapse in judgement, or a stress-induced mistake, I'm talking about recurrent wrongs.  Recently I've seen:

A 2-year old ( I think) in the backseat of a car, with NO CARSEAT and just a seatbelt, driving down a busy highway.  I noticed it at a stop light, it was a guy driving, cell phone to ear, tiny little toddler strapped in with just a seatbelt.  Now perhaps there was an issue and he had to drive her home from somewhere and there was just no carseat available... but then he pulled into Target.  Really... shopping?  He better have been buying a carseat!  If he crashed, or got hit, that little girl would go flying around in that car and, I can't even think about it.

Parents swearing at their kids for misbehaving in public.  If they're swearing at them in public then you know they're swearing at them at home too.  Makes me cringe.  I saw this today in a parking lot and it's what led me to write this post.  Some people don't think swearing is a big deal, and swearing in front of kids is a big deal either... but I don't like it, and I take offense to people swearing AT their child.

People walking their dog down the street, inches away from a sidewalk.  Not related to parents or anything, but it bugs me because cars have to drive around them, and I'm always afraid that the dog will dart out or something.

Little girls wearing things I wouldn't even want my 17 year old daughter wearing... someone buys it for them.  And someone lets them wear it.  Luckily I haven't seen any of Sweet Pea's friends dressing above their age, but I know eventually that will come.  Eeek!

Ok, this has become a bit of an angry post, but I'm hungry and I have a headache, and I guess I'm a bit cranky right now... so this is what happens.  Perhaps it's a bad idea to blog with a headache and an empty stomach.  Sorry.

What do you see that drives you nuts?

Babydoll Disturbs Me

Babydoll brought me a book she had been reading, and showed me a page that apparently  had her pretty excited.  It was a mom holding a 12-ish month old baby and they were waving goodbye to the big brother who was on the bus going to school.

This is the conversation we had.

BD (in a giddy sort of way): I want this baby!

Me:  You want a doll like that baby?

BD:  I want this baby!

Me: But that's not our baby, that baby lives with her family.

BD (in an even giddier sort of way, quite proud of herself for her new plan): How about we go to their house, and when they're all sleeping... we'll take the baby!!

Me (in a horrified sort of way):  Sweetie!  We can't take a baby!  If you take someones child you go to jail!

BD (in a questioning sort of way): How long?

Me: A long long time!

BD:  How long is a long long time?

Me: Until you're very old!

BD: Big enough to break out of jail?


Add this to the last time we had steak and she announced, "I love blood" and I'm more than a little disturbed.

Then again, the slightest scrape sets off a half hour of sobbing, so maybe I shouldn't worry too much about that last one.

Wishful Wednesday

A little later than usual but here it is....

I wish the tornado siren test didn't happen a half hour into naptime.. bad timing people!

I wish all the halloween candy was calorie-free, but still just as yummy!

I'm more than a little concerned about Christmas cookie baking season coming up, there's a wish in there somewhere.

Seriously sirens... SHUT UP!

Sweet Pea wishes for a baby chimp.  She's been having dreams that she has one, and doesn't seem to mind that they are very dangerous as adults.

I wish I had a self-cleaning house.  That would be awesome!

What are you wishing for today?

A few words from Little Man on costumes

I've got more pictures from Halloween, but Little Man's meltdown deserved it's own post.  So I now bring you a few words from Little Man regarding costumes.

I haaaate thiiiiiiiiisss!!

I have no idea why you crammed me into this costume which is clearly 3 sizes too big for me!!

No I will NOT come out there! I'm going to stay back here behind my glider rocker until this whole costume business blows over!

You can't make me go anywhere! 

Hold me Teddy, just hold me.

If I have to leave my room I'm bringing Teddy with me.

Ooo Toys!

Alright Mom, maybe it's not so bad after all.

With one minor improvement that is! :o)