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Wednesday, December 30, 2009
Ballerina Time
Well Lillian loves to dance so I got her a little tutu for Christmas because she is always saying she is a 'dancing girl, music girl, singer, or ballerina'.......this is of course when she is not too busy being a 'PRINCESS' (please pray for us now LOL). I showed her a video on YouTube of some kids doing a recital and she was very excited. Here is her first 'debut'.
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Tuesday, December 29, 2009
Craft Day & Organizing Project #1
Lillian and I decided to have a craft day yesterday (despite us both being a bit under the weather I just LOVE being home with her). The motivation on my part was partially selfish, I dont have the energy to be running around doing house cleaning and we definately aren't going out since everyone around us has cold/flu reports BUT organizing I can definately do.
Lillian got some safety scissors for Christmas and was excited to practice with them so we started out with a paper craft which was great because she got alot of time in cutting which she didnt need help with and I got alot of organizing started. Here is her finished work of art which according to her is "a cookie monster (because he has big googley eyes) and she drew his head with marker and then the blue marks next to his head are a cookie since that is his favorite but its blue because he is blue and that's his favorite color"---so there you have it!
I should have taken pictures of all the 'craft' junk I had but here is the table when I was part way into it. I have these stackable wooden mini-trunks that I had packed with stuff, a front closet with the green bins which were my initial organizing attempt, her gray treasure chest full of odds and ends, and junk drawers packed with paint brushes, plus bendaroos and more art stuff from Christmas.
Before: a partial story.......
After: I just bought this rolley cart for her closet that I wanted to store puzzles and blocks so, at least for now I found the purpose for the third drawer. Each little plastic zip bag is labeled with the contents and divided according to type of stuff so *hopefully* if we want to do stickers I can just pull out that zippie case etc. And yes, Mel I do need a p-touch for labeling :-)
Lillian got some safety scissors for Christmas and was excited to practice with them so we started out with a paper craft which was great because she got alot of time in cutting which she didnt need help with and I got alot of organizing started. Here is her finished work of art which according to her is "a cookie monster (because he has big googley eyes) and she drew his head with marker and then the blue marks next to his head are a cookie since that is his favorite but its blue because he is blue and that's his favorite color"---so there you have it!
Next up she wanted to pull out all the stuff we use to make crafts and make something. She decided on popsicle sticks. We haven't made anything completely out of those before they are usually just an accessory to our foam work and the only thing her non-creative mommy could think of was a cup or box since I have seen those made before so thats what we set out to do. Originally I was thinking a tall cup that we could put pencils in or something but it morphed into more. Lillian picked out the sticks she wanted in what order and helped to lay them down and I manned the glue gun and stuck it all together as best I could. She decided this was a box for Daddy. She was very pleased to be making him a present since she has been pretending to wrap up her stuff and give it to me as a 'surprise' ever since her birthday. I asked her if she wanted to decorate the outside and boy did she, other than the suggestion of adding 'Daddy' it was all her doing and it turned out so cute! Here is her finished product which she is BURSTING with pride over (excuse the crummy pictures)
Unfortunately, an injury was obtained in the making of this product! I had been adding the glue and Lillian was carefully adding the decorations. Before I could tell her I should do the letters she went to jab down the D and well..........here was the result (her finger is fine now):
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I should have taken pictures of all the 'craft' junk I had but here is the table when I was part way into it. I have these stackable wooden mini-trunks that I had packed with stuff, a front closet with the green bins which were my initial organizing attempt, her gray treasure chest full of odds and ends, and junk drawers packed with paint brushes, plus bendaroos and more art stuff from Christmas.
Before: a partial story.......
After: I just bought this rolley cart for her closet that I wanted to store puzzles and blocks so, at least for now I found the purpose for the third drawer. Each little plastic zip bag is labeled with the contents and divided according to type of stuff so *hopefully* if we want to do stickers I can just pull out that zippie case etc. And yes, Mel I do need a p-touch for labeling :-)
Sunday, December 27, 2009
Medicine Scare
Well just so that things dont get boring around here Lillian decided to keep us on our toes. Jared had went out to pick up a clients laptop for repair (Speaking of which I think we are going to start charing a 'smoker' fee, he has to wash all his clothes and shower when he gets back from a house where chain smokers live---it is so bad and then you start up the computer and UGH its horrible he actually blows them out before bringing them in the house with an air gun they are so full of JUNK---eew).
Anyway smoking rant aside he stopped to get her some tylenol cold for kiddos. We were already cheating just a bit since it starts at 4 years old and so per weight we gave her 1/2 of a normal dose. She didnt want to take it but I had her smell it and it was cherry so then she thought it sounded great and liked it. She took them medicine easily and then proceeded to run around in a circle yelling "I feel better now, I feel better now" since we told her it would help her feel better.
We tried to explain that she wouldnt feel better right away and then she started coughing horribly again and we explained how it would just 'help' but she wasnt all better.
Evidentially we didnt do a very good job of explaining or being protective parents. Jared went upstairs to work on the computer and shower and I went to get him some food. I must not have closed the bottle tightly as I remember having trouble with the lid. I was gone for 5 minutes getting Jared a plate ready and Lillian is always so good at entertaining herself I never thought anythign of it when she was quiet.
I entered the living room just in time to see Lillian finish drinking out of the medicine cup----again. She had gotten the bottle open and poured herself an entire dosing cup on children's tylenol. She was actually looking pleased with herself until she looked up and saw my panic-stricken expression. I about had a heart attack and started yelling "GET DOWN HERE JARED" despite his projections of being 'half naked' he came running down. I was telling him how its tylenol which is most dangerous to overdose due to liver damage and fumbling for the box to see who to call.
Jared started asking her if she got more herself and she said "Yes, I still had more coughs" after earlier that day saying "Mommy I just cant stop (coughing) poor thing". As in most situations Jared calmed down the tone and suggested first seeing how much she had taken, which since it was a new bottle was pretty easily done. When I first saw it the bottle looked like it had alot more gone than it did since it was the top of the bottle that was gone. In actuality she had 'only' drank one dose cup of it and the half a dose cup I had given her the first time.
I was still very worried and wanted to call the number on the box since it said basically to call if any extra was ingested. Jared said guaranteed they will tell us to go to ER even if its not needed which I knew he was right. We decided I would see what I could find on the internet for poison control in toddlers with tylenol. Luckily mayo clinic and poison control sites agreed and calculating out what she had ingested she was just under a quarter of the 'seek medical help' amount which is calculated in mg/lb of body weight for her age. Thankfully I do stuff similar to that all the time at work so I felt very safe knowing I was right but I was still very very worried about her.
It was nap time which was why I was giving her the medicine and I KNEW she needed her nap but I was scared to put her to bed and I knew if I put her in bed with me I would fall asleep. So I decided to put her in her bed on her own and then went down and cranked the baby monitor up so I could hear each breath. She was absolutely fine and she *did* take a good nap adn get some rest but my security level with medicines and such has definately raised a good deal. I was very upset with myself.
We did take the time to teach her a lesson or two about it and dramatized it a bit so hopefully we never have to worry about it in the future but I am raiding and organizing any area with medicines to make sure there are no other mishaps since I do have alot of different medications for myself around. We let her know it was serious the whole time by talking about going to the hospital and trying to decide what we were going to do. She started crying, "No I dont want to get stitches in my belly like Nikko" *Aside: Nikko is the small dog at our daycare lady grandma Sharon's and he was neutered LOL* I told her that she wouldnt have to have stitches in her belly but we MIGHT have to go to the hospital. While I was upstairs looking up the information previously Jared had a conversation with her about it.
Once I came downstairs and said we didnt have to go she looked a little to relieved for my comfort so I told her I wanted to talk to her Jared mentioned what he had said to her and we decided on a bit of impromptu scare tactic. I told her when I talked to the doctor he said she didnt have to go to the hospital but mommy had to make her some medicine that was going to taste very very yucky and she had to drink it if she didnt want to get sick and go to the hospital. She ran to her princess castle and hid inside chanting "no, no, never, never, never, not going to drink yucky medicine" Jared said ok that he was going to finish getting dressed so he could take her to the hospital which of course started a similar chant coming from the princess house. Jared came out to consult with me in the kitchen and we were amusing ourself a bit at this point. We pondered over what we should do. I told him I just didnt want her thinking she got off 'scott-free' and since she absolutely hates horrid tasting medicine the idea popped into my head. Mean mean mommy yes I know I know. I didnt want to make her sick but I did want it to taste a bit yucky, though in actuality I was going for the 'fear' factor of anticipating the taste more than anything since Jared was popping his head in the castle telling her the 'rules' on taking her choice. I brought out a small dose of water with some balsamic vinegar in it. She cried and said she didnt like yucky medicine and we talked to her about how she can never ever EVER take medicine on her own again yada yada this is what we have to do now and I gave it to her and told her she could pick to drink it or Jared chimed in that he could finish getting dressed. She chose to drink it, I wish I had gotten a picture of her face with the awful anticipation. Afterward when Jared asked she said it wasnt that yucky and now she would 'be better' and I really didnt add that much vinegar as I didnt want an upset tummy on top of it all (yes I tried it before I forced it on her LOL).
So, that is our story and we're sticking to it. Yes I made a dumb mistake, now I will try to prevent future occurences by being more diligent about having medicine put out of reach BUT hopefully we taught her a lesson well enough it shouldnt be a problem!
Note: all that day and the next she is STILL talkign about "mommy and daddy have to give me the medicine" and when I have brought her more tylenol she asks if its ok LOL
Anyway smoking rant aside he stopped to get her some tylenol cold for kiddos. We were already cheating just a bit since it starts at 4 years old and so per weight we gave her 1/2 of a normal dose. She didnt want to take it but I had her smell it and it was cherry so then she thought it sounded great and liked it. She took them medicine easily and then proceeded to run around in a circle yelling "I feel better now, I feel better now" since we told her it would help her feel better.
We tried to explain that she wouldnt feel better right away and then she started coughing horribly again and we explained how it would just 'help' but she wasnt all better.
Evidentially we didnt do a very good job of explaining or being protective parents. Jared went upstairs to work on the computer and shower and I went to get him some food. I must not have closed the bottle tightly as I remember having trouble with the lid. I was gone for 5 minutes getting Jared a plate ready and Lillian is always so good at entertaining herself I never thought anythign of it when she was quiet.
I entered the living room just in time to see Lillian finish drinking out of the medicine cup----again. She had gotten the bottle open and poured herself an entire dosing cup on children's tylenol. She was actually looking pleased with herself until she looked up and saw my panic-stricken expression. I about had a heart attack and started yelling "GET DOWN HERE JARED" despite his projections of being 'half naked' he came running down. I was telling him how its tylenol which is most dangerous to overdose due to liver damage and fumbling for the box to see who to call.
Jared started asking her if she got more herself and she said "Yes, I still had more coughs" after earlier that day saying "Mommy I just cant stop (coughing) poor thing". As in most situations Jared calmed down the tone and suggested first seeing how much she had taken, which since it was a new bottle was pretty easily done. When I first saw it the bottle looked like it had alot more gone than it did since it was the top of the bottle that was gone. In actuality she had 'only' drank one dose cup of it and the half a dose cup I had given her the first time.
I was still very worried and wanted to call the number on the box since it said basically to call if any extra was ingested. Jared said guaranteed they will tell us to go to ER even if its not needed which I knew he was right. We decided I would see what I could find on the internet for poison control in toddlers with tylenol. Luckily mayo clinic and poison control sites agreed and calculating out what she had ingested she was just under a quarter of the 'seek medical help' amount which is calculated in mg/lb of body weight for her age. Thankfully I do stuff similar to that all the time at work so I felt very safe knowing I was right but I was still very very worried about her.
It was nap time which was why I was giving her the medicine and I KNEW she needed her nap but I was scared to put her to bed and I knew if I put her in bed with me I would fall asleep. So I decided to put her in her bed on her own and then went down and cranked the baby monitor up so I could hear each breath. She was absolutely fine and she *did* take a good nap adn get some rest but my security level with medicines and such has definately raised a good deal. I was very upset with myself.
We did take the time to teach her a lesson or two about it and dramatized it a bit so hopefully we never have to worry about it in the future but I am raiding and organizing any area with medicines to make sure there are no other mishaps since I do have alot of different medications for myself around. We let her know it was serious the whole time by talking about going to the hospital and trying to decide what we were going to do. She started crying, "No I dont want to get stitches in my belly like Nikko" *Aside: Nikko is the small dog at our daycare lady grandma Sharon's and he was neutered LOL* I told her that she wouldnt have to have stitches in her belly but we MIGHT have to go to the hospital. While I was upstairs looking up the information previously Jared had a conversation with her about it.
Once I came downstairs and said we didnt have to go she looked a little to relieved for my comfort so I told her I wanted to talk to her Jared mentioned what he had said to her and we decided on a bit of impromptu scare tactic. I told her when I talked to the doctor he said she didnt have to go to the hospital but mommy had to make her some medicine that was going to taste very very yucky and she had to drink it if she didnt want to get sick and go to the hospital. She ran to her princess castle and hid inside chanting "no, no, never, never, never, not going to drink yucky medicine" Jared said ok that he was going to finish getting dressed so he could take her to the hospital which of course started a similar chant coming from the princess house. Jared came out to consult with me in the kitchen and we were amusing ourself a bit at this point. We pondered over what we should do. I told him I just didnt want her thinking she got off 'scott-free' and since she absolutely hates horrid tasting medicine the idea popped into my head. Mean mean mommy yes I know I know. I didnt want to make her sick but I did want it to taste a bit yucky, though in actuality I was going for the 'fear' factor of anticipating the taste more than anything since Jared was popping his head in the castle telling her the 'rules' on taking her choice. I brought out a small dose of water with some balsamic vinegar in it. She cried and said she didnt like yucky medicine and we talked to her about how she can never ever EVER take medicine on her own again yada yada this is what we have to do now and I gave it to her and told her she could pick to drink it or Jared chimed in that he could finish getting dressed. She chose to drink it, I wish I had gotten a picture of her face with the awful anticipation. Afterward when Jared asked she said it wasnt that yucky and now she would 'be better' and I really didnt add that much vinegar as I didnt want an upset tummy on top of it all (yes I tried it before I forced it on her LOL).
So, that is our story and we're sticking to it. Yes I made a dumb mistake, now I will try to prevent future occurences by being more diligent about having medicine put out of reach BUT hopefully we taught her a lesson well enough it shouldnt be a problem!
Note: all that day and the next she is STILL talkign about "mommy and daddy have to give me the medicine" and when I have brought her more tylenol she asks if its ok LOL
Attack of the.........?
Tonight Lillian went to go to the bathroom and came running back in the kitchen I could tell she was very excited about something....."mom, mom, MOM there's some things in our house, and they are coming in and COME ON I'll show you" so I followed her because by the look in her eyes and the tone of her voice I could tell there was both genuine concern and intrigue.
She was pointing to icicles that are hanging down off of our roof right above our bathroom window and are now long enough they are making a nice silhoutte in the window. She was so worked up over them. I couldn't help but laugh out loud. I then tried to explain how when the snow melts or it rains that the water freezes on the roof and hangs down.
She then proceeded upstairs (after deciding she didnt need to use the bathroom so badly after all mind you) to tell Daddy that she thought "there were rain clouds climbing in to come in our house" LOL.
It is so funny and adorable when you see how their little minds work!
She was pointing to icicles that are hanging down off of our roof right above our bathroom window and are now long enough they are making a nice silhoutte in the window. She was so worked up over them. I couldn't help but laugh out loud. I then tried to explain how when the snow melts or it rains that the water freezes on the roof and hangs down.
She then proceeded upstairs (after deciding she didnt need to use the bathroom so badly after all mind you) to tell Daddy that she thought "there were rain clouds climbing in to come in our house" LOL.
It is so funny and adorable when you see how their little minds work!
Christmas Time
We have been so blessed this year, looking over the year I am not even sure how to put it into words. So, at least for now, I will reflect on our Christmas 'days'. We have all been under the weather lately and taking turns at it so we decided the need to be low-key and because I am on antibiotics allow me to rest while still trying to have a good time.
This is the eve-eve-eve LOL but had to post she had such a great time and was enamored with him. She danced for him even since it was at an intimate setting in a coffee cafe and she was the only kid at the time.
Christmas Services
The service also happened to be on Lillians birthday which for her made it extra special because she could wear her birthday crown AND her Christmas dress! I loved the Christmas service because it incorporated so many of the children and parents with singing and caroling into it. The message was carried out via a play surrounding a real member of our congregations life and family which was turned around. The sermon portion focused on how to 'be the gift' in so many different ways to so many different people. I found it moving. The rock band did a spectacular show with lights and my favorite song out of the trans siberian orchestra which definately didn't hurt!
Christmas Eve-eve
We finally got around to decorating the tree, which had been up for a week and we just hadn't gotten to it. I called Jared and work to make sure he'd be able to make it home from his clients house after his regular work day in time.
I ran out to pick up Lillian from daycare, she had been going to daycare so I could rest. It was their Christmas party day and she had clearly had a blast as had all the kids who couldnt wait to share their excitement by showing me their gifts and telling me all about their day....which in the end, resulted in me barely being able to understand any of them! They had done a cute treat where she cut marshmallow rice krispy treats and dipped them in chocolate and then the kids decorate them, they also made too cute pretzel wreaths--both of wish I had thought to get a picture of before they were eaten!
After settling in at home I got us ready for a nice evening, tidying up the house and preparing some goodies. Lillian was excited to decorate the tree. I set up sugar plum herbal tea, hot chocolate, egg-nog, and a pile of Christmas treats sent home by our daycare lady who is just to good to us. She made two kinds of breads, carmel puffs (a new favorite of ours), peppermint candies, chocolate covered pretzels, peanut butter cookies and more!
The snafu in the plan was when my port for my IV antibiotics quit working in the middle of my treatment and I had to call to have someone come out and try to 'jump start' it so I could get through my next dose of IV's. We decided not to let this dampen our time so I just invited her in and asked her what she wanted and explained what we were doing. She was so upset at 'intruding' but so sweet, she offered to go sit in her car while waiting for the meds to work but we insisted she stayed and Lillian had an even better time having someone to 'show off' for since she is a real ham these days. I enjoyed the chat with her, she has 3 year old girls herself and a 6 year old boy....(I knew she had rushed over as soon as she shut down her station at her job as a cancer nurse) so I commented AND two jobs wow! We got into a discussion about how this night nurse job pays for her sons treatments since he is autistic and the treatments have made all the difference for him in his quality of life---amazing! I hope to hear from her again, she was very nice--though hopefully not in a nurse-like setting! The process worked, we all got the tree decorated and had a good time........and a few too many treats in the process!
Christmas Eve
I kept Lillian home with me this day, despite still being on the IV's I wanted some special Christmas time. We had an easy morning since she loves to watch disney movies lately I let her lay in my bed watching one on the lap top while I 1/2 snoozed. My mom was going to bring our niece and nephew over to have some fun with Lillian while she did some shopping so we got up and ready for that. I had planned to make cookies but decided that might be a bit more labor intensive with 3 kids under 5 than I was up to. So I pulled out some pretzel rods and marshmallows, melted white chocolate in a mini-crock. I gave them each large pieces of foil and piles of decorations and as I dipped they decorated. They had a blast and as my nephew Darryn said "This is so MUCH fun..isn't it guys" with such enthusiasm it melted my heart. After each new thing I woudl send them back off to play and clean up while getting out the next thing. All in all we did the pretzel rods, marshmallows, and then lastly after reinforcements showed up i.e grandma we decorated a pre-baked ginger-bread house. I definately wouldnt recommend the houses as edible but the kids had fun and I enjoyed seeing their 'team-work' once I set out the ground rules....we are all about rules around here but having fun doing it.
That evening Lillian and I went to visit a couple neighbors and take goodie bags. Our last stop was to visit our neighbor 'Grandma Jean', because we have all been taking turns with illness and since she's 100 I was afraid of giving her something it had been over a month since we had seen her. She was SO pleased to see us and I heard about how she had called information trying to get our number (we only have cells) because she was concerned (she did have our name and number and address somewhere but it must have gotten lost). I was struck by how caring she is and how she kept telling us how much she missed and loved us. I did find out she was going to be alone on Christmas much to my dismay. She just isnt able to 'get out' to come to our house so she pleaded with me not to worry because she is recovering from a fall and needed the rest and they had their Christmas two days earlier. Lillian was very unhappy about leaving but it was getting late so I whispered in her ear that we go to open two presents when we got home--she lit up like a Christmas tree and started throwing on her coat and boots!
We all gathered around the Christmas tree with Lillian begging to open the biggest present which was of course not on the agenda. We had left the part of the Christmas tree skirt featuring santa open because that is where Santa would leave his gifts (we dont like making the Santa gifts a huge deal so it was just a few). She was yearning to open what we later learned was the princess castle from Grandma Becky & Grandpa Jared which would have resulted in her NEVER going to sleep LOL. We had already had the tradition of opening PJs on Christmas eve so the video would look nice, this year I got the idea from a friend to add a family game to the mix so we opened the 'cootie bug' game. After playing a round it was time for bed and Lillian was actually a very willing participant after making it clear that when she woke up that meant "it will be Christmas".
After she was in bed we watched a pretty boring movie while I wrapped the last few 'Santa' presents. Then it was off to bed but I had a hard time sleeping, I was pretty excited to see her reaction. The difference between her at 2 and 3 is so amazing I was excited to see what was in store.
Christmas Day
It was going to be just the three of us at home so I planned a small meal, much of which I was able to get prepared the night before with a bit of help from Jared so that I could enjoy the day too. We had a bone in turkey breast, a ham end from our hog, green bean casserole & mashed potatoes (Jareds favorites), Becky's sweet potato pecan casserole (my favorite) and rolls---I figured no sense in making anything other than our favorites and that was more than enough. I also made bread pudding (Jareds favorite) and then I made a pudding dessert that combined pumpkin pudding, cheesecake pudding, and whip cream in a graham cracker crust.
Christmas Eve Lillian was coughing alot and so ended up sleeping in. I started doing my medicine and then her and Jared woke up. We went downstairs and let her open her stocking on the couch while we had coffee and 'woke up' probably the last year we will be able to set the pace before she catches on! In general she wanted to open the presents and inspect them and/or use them before moving on, sometimes depending on the present we prodded her along and others we let her do as she wanted, for instance she couldnt be pried away from putting on the cinderella dress up gear immediately---and who would want to stop her, what is more adorable than cinderella with a magic gleam in her eye on Christmas morning?
She got a bit tired of stopping to take pictures with her gifts though!
It took a while to get everything open then I went off to the kitchen to get the rest of everything in the oven and Jared played with Lillian and some of her new treasures while cleaning up the paper, and paper, and boxes, and oh yeah more paper----I dont even think we buy that much compared to most and we have only ONE kid---wow I cant imagine large families!
While Jared was setting the table I ran down some hot food to Jean since I know she eats dinner so early. I wasnt scolded too badly (since I had told her the day before I wouldnt come down *I had said I wouldnt *visit* not exactly that I wouldnt stop by LOL) and another neighbor was there visiting who looked happy that I had brought down the food and I was able to get in and out quickly--which can be a feat with Jean.
We had a nice dinner and left dessert and leftovers for later that night. The rest of the evening we spent playing games . My mom and sister Anita came a bit after dinner to visit and bring Lillian MORE presents, Lillian enjoyed the visit and didnt want them to go of course. Before bed we were all beat and we watched Lillians new enchanted evening princess.
It was a very very nice and relaxing Christmas, the best ever in my book!
This is the eve-eve-eve LOL but had to post she had such a great time and was enamored with him. She danced for him even since it was at an intimate setting in a coffee cafe and she was the only kid at the time.
Christmas Services
The service also happened to be on Lillians birthday which for her made it extra special because she could wear her birthday crown AND her Christmas dress! I loved the Christmas service because it incorporated so many of the children and parents with singing and caroling into it. The message was carried out via a play surrounding a real member of our congregations life and family which was turned around. The sermon portion focused on how to 'be the gift' in so many different ways to so many different people. I found it moving. The rock band did a spectacular show with lights and my favorite song out of the trans siberian orchestra which definately didn't hurt!
Crown says Birthday Girl and she's all prepared to go to Church in her Christmas Dress
Christmas Eve-eve
We finally got around to decorating the tree, which had been up for a week and we just hadn't gotten to it. I called Jared and work to make sure he'd be able to make it home from his clients house after his regular work day in time.
I ran out to pick up Lillian from daycare, she had been going to daycare so I could rest. It was their Christmas party day and she had clearly had a blast as had all the kids who couldnt wait to share their excitement by showing me their gifts and telling me all about their day....which in the end, resulted in me barely being able to understand any of them! They had done a cute treat where she cut marshmallow rice krispy treats and dipped them in chocolate and then the kids decorate them, they also made too cute pretzel wreaths--both of wish I had thought to get a picture of before they were eaten!
After settling in at home I got us ready for a nice evening, tidying up the house and preparing some goodies. Lillian was excited to decorate the tree. I set up sugar plum herbal tea, hot chocolate, egg-nog, and a pile of Christmas treats sent home by our daycare lady who is just to good to us. She made two kinds of breads, carmel puffs (a new favorite of ours), peppermint candies, chocolate covered pretzels, peanut butter cookies and more!
The snafu in the plan was when my port for my IV antibiotics quit working in the middle of my treatment and I had to call to have someone come out and try to 'jump start' it so I could get through my next dose of IV's. We decided not to let this dampen our time so I just invited her in and asked her what she wanted and explained what we were doing. She was so upset at 'intruding' but so sweet, she offered to go sit in her car while waiting for the meds to work but we insisted she stayed and Lillian had an even better time having someone to 'show off' for since she is a real ham these days. I enjoyed the chat with her, she has 3 year old girls herself and a 6 year old boy....(I knew she had rushed over as soon as she shut down her station at her job as a cancer nurse) so I commented AND two jobs wow! We got into a discussion about how this night nurse job pays for her sons treatments since he is autistic and the treatments have made all the difference for him in his quality of life---amazing! I hope to hear from her again, she was very nice--though hopefully not in a nurse-like setting! The process worked, we all got the tree decorated and had a good time........and a few too many treats in the process!
Christmas Eve
I kept Lillian home with me this day, despite still being on the IV's I wanted some special Christmas time. We had an easy morning since she loves to watch disney movies lately I let her lay in my bed watching one on the lap top while I 1/2 snoozed. My mom was going to bring our niece and nephew over to have some fun with Lillian while she did some shopping so we got up and ready for that. I had planned to make cookies but decided that might be a bit more labor intensive with 3 kids under 5 than I was up to. So I pulled out some pretzel rods and marshmallows, melted white chocolate in a mini-crock. I gave them each large pieces of foil and piles of decorations and as I dipped they decorated. They had a blast and as my nephew Darryn said "This is so MUCH fun..isn't it guys" with such enthusiasm it melted my heart. After each new thing I woudl send them back off to play and clean up while getting out the next thing. All in all we did the pretzel rods, marshmallows, and then lastly after reinforcements showed up i.e grandma we decorated a pre-baked ginger-bread house. I definately wouldnt recommend the houses as edible but the kids had fun and I enjoyed seeing their 'team-work' once I set out the ground rules....we are all about rules around here but having fun doing it.
Cousins...what a trio
That evening Lillian and I went to visit a couple neighbors and take goodie bags. Our last stop was to visit our neighbor 'Grandma Jean', because we have all been taking turns with illness and since she's 100 I was afraid of giving her something it had been over a month since we had seen her. She was SO pleased to see us and I heard about how she had called information trying to get our number (we only have cells) because she was concerned (she did have our name and number and address somewhere but it must have gotten lost). I was struck by how caring she is and how she kept telling us how much she missed and loved us. I did find out she was going to be alone on Christmas much to my dismay. She just isnt able to 'get out' to come to our house so she pleaded with me not to worry because she is recovering from a fall and needed the rest and they had their Christmas two days earlier. Lillian was very unhappy about leaving but it was getting late so I whispered in her ear that we go to open two presents when we got home--she lit up like a Christmas tree and started throwing on her coat and boots!
We all gathered around the Christmas tree with Lillian begging to open the biggest present which was of course not on the agenda. We had left the part of the Christmas tree skirt featuring santa open because that is where Santa would leave his gifts (we dont like making the Santa gifts a huge deal so it was just a few). She was yearning to open what we later learned was the princess castle from Grandma Becky & Grandpa Jared which would have resulted in her NEVER going to sleep LOL. We had already had the tradition of opening PJs on Christmas eve so the video would look nice, this year I got the idea from a friend to add a family game to the mix so we opened the 'cootie bug' game. After playing a round it was time for bed and Lillian was actually a very willing participant after making it clear that when she woke up that meant "it will be Christmas".
The Santa we visited specifically asked for 3 peanut butter cookies (he's lucky Grandma Sharon sent some over because Lillian remembered) and 1/2 a glass of milk and we always add something for the reindeer too! Then Lillian in her new tinkerbell PJ's left her 'love note' I figured we'd leave the 'letter' tradition until next year.
After she was in bed we watched a pretty boring movie while I wrapped the last few 'Santa' presents. Then it was off to bed but I had a hard time sleeping, I was pretty excited to see her reaction. The difference between her at 2 and 3 is so amazing I was excited to see what was in store.
Christmas Day
It was going to be just the three of us at home so I planned a small meal, much of which I was able to get prepared the night before with a bit of help from Jared so that I could enjoy the day too. We had a bone in turkey breast, a ham end from our hog, green bean casserole & mashed potatoes (Jareds favorites), Becky's sweet potato pecan casserole (my favorite) and rolls---I figured no sense in making anything other than our favorites and that was more than enough. I also made bread pudding (Jareds favorite) and then I made a pudding dessert that combined pumpkin pudding, cheesecake pudding, and whip cream in a graham cracker crust.
Christmas Eve Lillian was coughing alot and so ended up sleeping in. I started doing my medicine and then her and Jared woke up. We went downstairs and let her open her stocking on the couch while we had coffee and 'woke up' probably the last year we will be able to set the pace before she catches on! In general she wanted to open the presents and inspect them and/or use them before moving on, sometimes depending on the present we prodded her along and others we let her do as she wanted, for instance she couldnt be pried away from putting on the cinderella dress up gear immediately---and who would want to stop her, what is more adorable than cinderella with a magic gleam in her eye on Christmas morning?
She got a bit tired of stopping to take pictures with her gifts though!It took a while to get everything open then I went off to the kitchen to get the rest of everything in the oven and Jared played with Lillian and some of her new treasures while cleaning up the paper, and paper, and boxes, and oh yeah more paper----I dont even think we buy that much compared to most and we have only ONE kid---wow I cant imagine large families!While Jared was setting the table I ran down some hot food to Jean since I know she eats dinner so early. I wasnt scolded too badly (since I had told her the day before I wouldnt come down *I had said I wouldnt *visit* not exactly that I wouldnt stop by LOL) and another neighbor was there visiting who looked happy that I had brought down the food and I was able to get in and out quickly--which can be a feat with Jean.
We had a nice dinner and left dessert and leftovers for later that night. The rest of the evening we spent playing games . My mom and sister Anita came a bit after dinner to visit and bring Lillian MORE presents, Lillian enjoyed the visit and didnt want them to go of course. Before bed we were all beat and we watched Lillians new enchanted evening princess.
It was a very very nice and relaxing Christmas, the best ever in my book!
A nice CF awareness bracelet Jared got me, the angels with wings are for the ones we have lost, unfortunately with all these flu's our community has suffered greatly and I wanted something commemorative of that.
This was the t-shirt I got Jared in lieu of actual pajamas--couldnt resist as you dont know how true this is and thankfully he loves it.
The Day After
Yesterday we had alot of leftover food so I made a small spread and we were pleased to have over Grandma Donna, Grandpa Coop, and Great Grandma Jan. We had such a nice visit and Lillian had her top 'ham' material out between her ballerina slippers and her dress up stuff and her princess castle, oh and not to forget the microphone that sings she was an entertaining delight---0y. I warned Jared he was making a monster when he kept telling Lillian "No you dont just look like a princess YOU ARE a princess" and you could see the proof in the pudding so to speak with her little show. Though I do think it delighted the grandparents. I was happy that the Amish Friendship lotion I made was well received and Coop seemed to enjoy the cream rum and eggnog concoction! All in all a nice relaxing day visiting with family.
Thursday, December 17, 2009
I'm just having a bad mood
Lillian hasn't been sleeping well off and on for the past month or so. We have tried just about everything. She has been doing really well for the past week or so and then last night was bad. She was so upset. I went in to talk with her and the conversation went something like this:
M- what's going on why are you so upset
L-I'm just having a bad mood, I want to sleep in your bed, I'm just having a hard time and a bad mood. Sometimes little girls cant help it. When I get big I can because big girls can but I'm just a little girl.
OH BOY. She sure knows how to pile it on. It worked.
M- what's going on why are you so upset
L-I'm just having a bad mood, I want to sleep in your bed, I'm just having a hard time and a bad mood. Sometimes little girls cant help it. When I get big I can because big girls can but I'm just a little girl.
OH BOY. She sure knows how to pile it on. It worked.
Sunday, December 13, 2009
December Update
Lillian is doing great and looking forward to 'ecember' December for the rest of you for her birthday and then Christmas. I told her once it snowed it was close so since the snow has been here for a week now she is asking constantly.
Mom has been better but am taking care of my health which is the important part. Since end of October I have had the flu, stomach bug, and then a horrid head cold. My lungs are not pleased with the situation so I have had to bring out the big guns in the way of IV antibiotics. I will be off work for the rest of the year. The good news is that I had vacation starting the 24th anyway, the bad news is that I will be on IV's for some if not all the holidays. I am fortunate that I can log in from home with my laptop and stay up on at least some stuff while resting and sticking to my 'sick' routine.
Mom has been better but am taking care of my health which is the important part. Since end of October I have had the flu, stomach bug, and then a horrid head cold. My lungs are not pleased with the situation so I have had to bring out the big guns in the way of IV antibiotics. I will be off work for the rest of the year. The good news is that I had vacation starting the 24th anyway, the bad news is that I will be on IV's for some if not all the holidays. I am fortunate that I can log in from home with my laptop and stay up on at least some stuff while resting and sticking to my 'sick' routine.
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