Fighting the blues and other random thoughts.

I should be packing for a trip we are leaving on in the next couple days.

I should be washing the dishes.

I should be folding laundry.

Instead, I'm ignoring all that and writing.  A good solution, eh?

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Our house is cold.  C-O-L-D.  If it's not cold, which is rare, it is boiling hot.  Annoying.  

When I am cold, I find it hard to do anything.  Yeah, how am I going to survive the Midwest again?

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Emily talks all. the. time.  It's really funny.  Yesterday she said some particularly entertaining things.

When I was talking on the phone she said, "Mom! Get off [the] phone! Read book!"  

After I picked Andrew up out of the bathtub I turned around to find Emily already out and wrapped in a towel.  She said, "I'm okay, Mom."  Alrighty then.

When she falls or something she'll tell me, "Mom! I hurt my knee."  After I snuggle her, she'll say, "I'm all better."  

She likes to bring her stuffed animals with her everywhere.  Yesterday her little sheep sat at the table and she told me, "Mom! Sheep wants to eat!"

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I don't think I'd feel so crappy if I could actually sleep.  It feels really awful to wake up at 3 in the morning practically every other night and finally fall back to sleep at like 6 am.  Eck.

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These are some videos from the past week.

This is of Andrew walking.  He has chocolate all over his face, in case you were wondering.

This one is of Emily dancing to The Wiggles.

I have a few others but Blogger won't let me upload them.  Rude.

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Have I sung praises of Ben lately?  No?  Well shame on me.  He is just amazing.  I am so proud of him for getting accepted to ALL the schools he interviewed at and for working two jobs for our family.  He is so busy but he rarely complains about feeling tired.  

When I grow up, I want to be like him.

Resolutions, Rants, Videos, and Other Random Thoughts

Greetings from the Great White North where the temperatures currently reside in the single digits.  Needless to say, the kids and I are secluded in our lovely apartment as I attempt to entertain them by reading, dancing, and singing; in reality I'm just trying to keep them happy in between nap and bedtime.  It's equally as difficult for Ben as he must drive our heater-less car to and from work.  Shiver. 

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Happy New Year's, everyone!  We started the year with a bang: Ben worked the night shift New Year's Eve!  Oh yeah, we know how to celebrate holidays chez T. 

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I thought I'd look at my goals and do a little on-line evaluation.  If you recall (which I don't expect you to), I made the goal to post 5 days a week if sickness did not hamper my attempts.  Well, I didn't stick to that because sickness hampered my attempts.  Seriously, we've been sick EVERY SINGLE MONTH of this year.  You name it, we've had it: colds (x like 20), flu (x 3), stomach virus (x 5), and respiratory infections (x 5).    Oh and add all the other weird things Ben and I have dealt with and you will have a nice year-long sickness partay.  I am a little sick (haha) of these on-going fiestas so here's to hoping we remain relatively sick free this year. 

My goal this year remains the same, and I intend to catch up with summer posts and pictures.  Wish me luck.

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In keeping with the resolutions topic, our resolutions are pretty awesome this year, if I say so myself.  Neither Ben nor I have goals to lose weight and/or eat healthier because we've already been doing this for the past few months.  I love getting a head start on things.

Something that we are both working on is moving away from survival mode and moving toward get things done mode.  This year has been hard.  It isn't getting any easier and we feel much more prepared to handle everything.  Well not prepared, exactly, more like experienced.  One thing in particular is parenting.  I have let many things slide when it comes to consistency and following through because I've either been too tired, too sick, or too stressed. Usually a combination of two or three of those.  Now that I know the fatigue and sickness will not go away (if it isn't an ulcer thing anyway), I'm much more accustomed to handling it; therefore, I am more willing to actually be here for my kids than to give myself excuses--no matter how much I deserve it.  It kind of feels awesome to be at this point, to know that Ben and I have made it through the worst emotionally and can now better ourselves in this tough and exacting situation.  

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In case you are wondering what stomach ulcers feel like, I will gladly explain.  You can skip this paragraph if you'd like, I'm recording this mostly for posterity's sake.  (I'm cool like that.)  

Ben and I have had different symptoms, so I'll describe his ailments first.

Ben has had on-going heartburn for three months.  It has been bad.  Like really, really bad.  It keeps him awake at night and miserable during the day.  It goes away for a little bit after he eats, but comes back full force an hour or so later.  He downs a bottle of Tums every two weeks or so, has cut back on heartburn-inducing foods and beverages, and even desperately tried an over-the-counter heartburn medication to no avail.  This is serious business, people.  

As for me, it's been wonderfully nauseating.  (Insert a sarcastic laugh.)  Seriously, I've had awful nausea--very reminiscent of first trimester nausea without the pregnancy.  It's been so bad that I can't sleep at night.  Add in a little vomiting, severe upper stomach pain, and awful bloating and you have a very tired and grumpy Mama. As with Ben, I'll feel so sick that I try eating something to make it go away.  This works for a few minutes and then the sickness comes back an hour or so later.  It's peak is at night.  Holy crappy miserableness.  I live in sweats these days because pants hurt and make me feel even more ill.  And I feel horribly fat. 

So, if you ever feel horribly sick all the time, you might consider being poked for an ulcer.

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Back to the resolutions thing, I have been horrible at taking pictures of the kids.  The excuse is, once again, health related.  Since I am no longer letting myself use that excuse, at least to an extent, I am going to try harder to take at least a couple photos a day.  And at least one video a week.  I love taking pictures of the babies and hope that I can continue working on my photography skills by taking beautiful photos of my gorgeous babies.

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Have I mentioned the kids' poor sleeping habits?  In particular, Emily's?  Yes?  Well it bears repeating that she is sleeping HORRIBLY.  I'm at the end of my rope with this kid.  At first I was pretty understanding.  I soothed her, cuddled her, and let her hang out while I cleaned.  Now, I'm kinda like, "Get your freakin' butt in bed kid because I'm going nuts!"  Hey, considering I'm with my kids, ALONE, from 7am until 11 pm a good portion of the week, I think this kind of thinking is completely understandable.  Even if I am trying to change it (see resolution paragraph numba 2 above.)  

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I thought I'd change things up by including a few videos.  The first is of Andrew enjoying a balloon.  The second is of Emily and Andrew playing with bubbles.  They were both taken around September so are a bit old, but still fun.

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I hope all of YOU are doing well.

We celebrated a birthday and took a trip.

I have so many photos. But, I can't seem to find time to write individual posts for them, therefore I am going to double up posts.  At least until I get caught up.  

Warning: Extremely long post ahead.  And, sheesh! It's only two events!

Part I

Andrew's First Birthday

We had a little celebration for Andrew's first birthday.  We invited over a couple cousins and a few friends.  It was small and delightful.

You won't believe this, but I actually baked a cake for him.  Despite my attempts to burn it, the chocolate cake turned out surprisingly well, mostly because of Ben's mad frosting skills.  Alas, I did not get a good picture of the fine specimen.  I think the pictures I did snap are even better.

Oh, yeah, he enjoyed it.  Emily did too.

The chocolate cake plus the spaghetti dinner we had made for one spectacular bath later that night.

I even took a video.  

Andrew got the most exciting presents in the world: clothes.  They were exciting for us, at least.

As it is nearly impossible to take a good picture of my busy one-year-old these days, this is the best I could find for one of his cute shirts. (He is playing with a balloon; his favorite toy these days.)

Part II

Thanksgiving

Ben was unable to get time off the week of Thanksgiving, but we were able to make a quick trip to Idaho to celebrate the actual day. 

Day 1: Night before we leave. 

The day before we left, Emily fell ill. Instead of sleeping so I could pack and clean, she was in my arms, screaming.  I gave her Tylenol and let her watch The Wiggles while I finished my endeavors.  However, Andrew did not want to be left out of the party; so, he was brought out and let loose on the floor.

Not the wisest idea on my part.

At least it was amusing to watch him enjoy himself.

Despite all the Tylenol, Emily continued to scream all. night. long.  Ben and I were lucky enough to snatch 2 freakin' hours before we hit the road.  Awesome. (On a side note--the kids were in so much pain.  It was really hard to witness.)

Day 2: Driving to and arriving in Boise

My dear cousin, Ally, made the trip with us.  Lucky her.  Because of weather conditions, a drive that normally takes us 6 1/2 hours (with breaks) took us 9 hours.  9 hours of driving + screaming, sick children = tired and frazzled parents.  

When we arrived, we looked at Emily's ear and realized the problem--her ear drum had burst.  (At least we hypothesized based on the evidence: lots of gunk and a happier child.) 

That night, the kids slept pretty well in the room with us.  Despite that we had forgotten their Pac'N'Plays and made make-shift beds out of our suitcases.  

Day 3: Thanksgiving day.

Thanksgiving day was pretty restful.  As evidenced by the photos I managed to snap.

Andrew and Aunt Katelynn

Andrew and Aunt Abby

Andrew, Abby, and Emily

Emily, Grandma Kim, and Andrew

Andrew and Uncle Aaron

Ben and me enjoying our relaxing mini-vacation

Attempting mad/sad faces. Ben won.

Andrew really likes Aaron.

My mother spent all day in the kitchen preparing a feast for everyone.

Unfortunately, I did not photograph the excellent food she made nor the sweet potato souffle she let me make.  Sigh.  Maybe next year I'll be a little more on top of things.

You'll have to believe me when I tell you it was a feast.  My mother is an excellent cook.  

I fed Emily and Andrew prior to the meal because they were screaming with hunger and I thought it would lead to a more peaceful experience for Ben and me.

It didn't work.

During the meal, Emily ran around the tables and Andrew screamed, yelled, and cried until I released him from his high chair prison.  He went straight for the stairs.  Most of this happened while we were all sharing what we were grateful for. As soon as the last person spoke (my mom, who made all of us cry), Ben and I bathed the kids and put them to bed.  We were able to enjoy the rest of the evening in quiet solitude.

Haha.  Until Andrew woke up an hour later...and then Emily woke up...and then we decided it would just be easier to go to bed.

Lucky for me, Andrew only woke up 5 times that night.

Day 4: Last day of the holiday.

I've noticed my pictures decrease the more tired I become.  Hence the reason I have no pictures from this day.

All in all it was pretty restful: Andrew wouldn't let anyone but me hold him/touch him/look at him and Emily would scream each time an aunt or uncle would do anything to her.  Ben did what he could, but my babes have developed and singular attachment to me.  At least when they are sick. And, yes, Andrew had fallen ill as well.

We spent the better part of the day watching football games (while holding/feeding/comforting children).  Then my mom, my sister, Ben, me, and the kids braved the crowds at Old Navy.  Except there weren't any.  It was pretty cool.  We got the awesome deals without having to get up early. 

By that evening, both Emily and Andrew were weezing, coughing, and complaining of ear aches.  We gave them both Tylenol and sent them to bed.

Except Andrew didn't go to bed.  He woke up crying and continued to cry until 2 am.  He took an hour break and started again, right up until we needed to leave.  

Day 5: The return trip home (i.e. today).

I think I'm getting pretty good at functioning with two hours or less of sleep.  Ben has to use caffeine, I just use cookies.  

The drive home was uneventful.  We made it with an hour to spare before Ben went back to work.  (Blech.)  

The kids are still weezing/coughing/crying.*  And so am I.  Yeah, thanks kids for giving me your sickness.** (Insert sarcastic voice.)

I don't think we'll be going to church tomorrow.

*I will take the kids to the doctor if it gets worse, but, honestly, we went through the same illness a few months ago and the doctor couldn't do anything.
**I really am sad for the babies and how sick they feel.  It has  been pretty miserable for my usually happy children. 

Emily is talented.

Proof of Emily's love for "I Am a Child of God."

A few videos to enjoy.

Most of these were taken during the summer.  They are fun.  I promise.

Emily Praying

Having fun with newspapers.

Bath time giggles.

More proof that Emily is stinking cute. As if we needed any.

Emily's voice is the cutest little voice ever.  Hearing her talk makes me day.  Good thing, too, because she talks all the time. 

This is one of our many breakfast conversations.

And another cute park video, this time she dazzles all with her amazing climbing skills.

I love this girl.

Park Video

 Emily and Andrew really love the park.  I have actual proof.  Oh and you get to hear Emily talking. Nothing better than that!

Our Little Song Bird

Emily loves to sing. She likes to sing her ABC's, Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes, and a few other songs. Her favorite song, though, is Twinkle Twinkle Little Star.

All She Needs is Daddy

The Girl has struck again. She has given us one more reason to keep her.
Until next time, girl.
P.S. She said those giggles were for great-nana and great-papa. We love you and wish you a full recovery!