I've Been Tagged!

My life-long friend Amanda (who's now PREGNANT...I can FINALLY say something! YAY!), tagged me in her blog.

I need to go to "My Pictures" on my computer, pick the fourth file folder, and post the fourth picture in that file. Here's the result:

Oh, this is too much. This pic is from April of this year (Peanut was 2 1/2 years old). I had fruit cut up on a plate, ready to go with dinner, when all of a sudden it was not on the kitchen counter where I had put it. When I peeked into the living room, this is what I found: the little thief, enjoying her stolen goods. :o)

So now I tag you, Ruth!

Sickness Update:

We think the Holy War is now over. Vomiting has ceased, and we are slowly able to eat more food (and not just saltines!). The baby never came down with the bug, thank God! He is still dealing with stuffiness, but I'll take that over puking any day! Thank you for your prayers...we love having friends and family who are prayer warriors for us. :o)

Skipping Thanksgiving

Yup, you read the title correctly: we are skipping Thanksgiving this year in our household. It's not that we aren't thankful for many, many things in our lives. We could go on and on about God's blessings...this year has definitely been filled with them.

Nope, it's not that.

It's because of a silly stomach virus that has hit our family.

It went something like this (warning: those with weak stomachs probably shouldn't proceed):

* Monday morning, 4:00am: I wake up vomiting, ending the toilet tirade around 8:00am. Hubby stays home from work, takes care of the kids, etc. while I battle the bug in bed.

* Monday night: more vomiting on my part.

* Tuesday at lunchtime: Our little Peanut starts spewing. This continues throughout the day. So does the laundry. So does my fever and nausea.

* Wednesday morning, 1:30am: Hubby joins the ranks. He and Peanut continue vomiting throughout the early morning, sometimes together, but most of the time taking shifts. Because of every child's inability to correctly aim vomit, the washer and dryer take a beating all night long.

Thank God that my fever broke in the middle of the night and I was able to take care of Danae and the laundry...if not, I'm not sure what we would have done. Besides the comforter on our bed, there are no clean blankets in the house!

And thank God, too, that the baby has not gotten this virus. I think it would be rather scary for a 4 month old to go through this. I'd be going straight to the hospital with him.

Needless to say, I've completely ramped up my germ-killing powers to super-high mode. EVERYTHING gets Lysol-ed after being touched, the bathroom gets completely wiped down after EVERY vomit-fest, things are getting washed in hot or warm (I don't care if they shrink), I change my clothes after every vomit clean-up, my hands are slightly raw from being washed before and after I touch the baby, and we are going through wipes like crazy because I keep wiping Danae's and the baby's hands. I decided "crazy" was the way to go in order to get rid of this thing.

So, in your Thanksgiving Day prayers, please keep us in mind. Pray that this will pass completely and that we won't infect anyone else. We are now planning on staying home and not taking our trip to NJ to see my family. As much as this hurts, we know that's what we must do in order to get healthy and keep others from getting this.

Enjoy your turkey...we'll be thinking of you as we sip water and Gatorade and nibble on saltines. :o)

Today was a first (for this year, anyway).

I went for a run.

By myself.

As in, no children.

No jogging stroller.

No extra 65 pounds to push along.

And.it.felt.GLORIOUS.

This head cold, on the other hand: not rejoicing over that so much.

Similarities and Differences

Here are pictures of my little bubbies, both when they were 3 months old:

Danae

Caedon

I've been trying to see if my kiddos actually look alike or are completely different. Danae's face was rounder, and Caedon's head is bigger. Danae's eyes were lighter for a longer amount of time, whereas Caedon's are already turning brown. Danae definitely had more hair than her brother. :o) In the end, I think Danae looks more like me, and Caedon and is just a paler, dimple-cheeked version of his Daddy-O.

It's funny...in some ways they look the same as babies, and in others they have their own unique look! Isn't it amazing how no two living creatures are exactly the same, even if they are brother and sister? God's pretty cool like that. :o)

The Turkey

Sorry I haven't been around much these days. Maybe because it's that time of year and the holidays add a bit more to your "to-do" list...maybe because I have about 50 million work-related things on my plate and some days feel like I'm drowning...or maybe because my little boy thinks that he needs to nurse like crazy in the middle of the night and keep me up from 4:30am to close to 6:00am, leaving me tired and begging for a cup of Seattle's Best coffee and a donut every morning. Could be any of the above.

Seriously, though, these days have been flying by, and I'm in shock that Thanksgiving is next week! You know Christmas will then be on our doorsteps, and before we know it, here's 2009! Where does it all go???

Speaking of Thanksgiving: I've been trying to hunt down some type of turkey outfit to put on my Little Turkey for the big day. Just thought it would be funny for him to wear...well, really, it would be more for everyone else's amusement. :o) BUT, there doesn't seem to be any outfits/costumes ANYWHERE! My sister and I scoured the lovely world wide web, but the only thing we came up with was this roast turkey costume you could make from Martha Stewart's website:

I find that a little weird, don't you? We decided to nix that one. (FYI: The baby above is NOT Caedon, even though there is a close resemblance.) :o)

We then found one other that you could make, but it was so involved and my sewing machine talents are so non-existent that I had to pass on that. So, if you have any suggestions of where to find a cute turkey outfit, (besides "You should have looked when it was Halloween, you big dummy"), size 6-9 months, let me know. My last option is to put an iron-on that I found onto a white long-sleeve onesie.

So, for now, I will enjoy my cup of half-caff coffee, homemade breakfast scone, and last few minutes of alone time...oh, wait...there goes my Brita water pitcher on the floor and my daughter looking at me sheepishly. Gotta run.

Cold Day Fun

What we do on cold, stay in the house days: Stick the baby in a play stroller that is way too small.

Oh the fun. Funny-ness, rather.

Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday to my Hubby! The big "3-0" is now only a year away...and he'll always remind me that it's closer for me. :o)

Here he is with the happy Helper. She tends to think it's her job to help every and any birthday person open his/her presents. :o)

Danae-isms

Here it comes...Episode 3 of "Danae-isms"!

#1
While I am attempting to feed Caedon a bottle and eat dinner at the same time:
Danae: Mom, you have to hold it in his mouth higher. And sometimes he moves his head side to side, so just take it out and then put it back in later. You know?


#2
The Peanut comes into Caedon's room while I am nursing him to sleep.
Danae: Hey Mom...I need to come into the nursery to feed my baby.
Me: Okay, come on in.
Danae (sits down on the floor and proceeds to lift her shirt to nurse her Cinderella doll): There you go, Baby. (gives an exasperated sigh, then says to her doll) Ok, calm down, calm down. (to me) She's just crying because she's tired, Mom. I'm going to put her in her bed now. You need to be quiet because she's going to sleep, ok?


#3
To her baby brother:
Danae: (in a high-pitched, talking-to-a-baby voice): Good morning, my chubby handsome! Hello, chubby handsome! Did you sleep good? Did you? Did you? Did you? What's wrong, my chubby? What is it? Awww...


#4
Me: Hey, Danae...Can you sing a song to me? How about the ABC's?
Danae: No, not now...I'll sing it to my teacher when I go to school when I'm older.


#5
This one is understandable only if you have ever watched the show "Super Why" on PBS. Danae: Mommy, can I get all of the things in this magazine for Christmas?
Me: Hmmm...maybe some of the things. We'll make a Christmas list later.
Danae: But what about this scooter?
Me: I don't think so, honey...that's for bigger kids.
Danae: Well, I need to get it. It says so in my story...(pretending to read from a book), "I need to get a scooter."