I'll Never Make it to Midnight!

So it's 8:53. The kiddos have just been tucked in for the night. They got to stay up late tonight, with it being New Year's Eve and all. I'm in my pajamas. Okay, to be honest, I've been in my pajamas since about 6:30. We finished supper and had plans to play a new game, so I got comfy. As I'm sitting here next to the sleeping giant (although to hear him tell it, he's just "resting his eyes" or something lame like that), I'm wondering if I'll ever see midnight on New Year's again. Oh, yeah, I'll probably see it by being up with sick kids some time, but that doesn't count. I've seen lots of midnights that way. Maybe that's why I don't get too excited about seeing in the new year. I'll catch up with it tomorrow morning...when it's light. Am I really so boring?! Yep...I am right now. I still know how to have lots of fun, though. It just takes place during the day in most cases. Besides, what could I possibly do that is more fun (and funnier) than spending time with the three little goofballs currently whispering in their rooms? Nothing. Nada. Zilch. They prefer that I get a full night's sleep anyway. And the feeling's mutual.

New Year's Eve

We made it through Christmas, or Christmases as the case may be. We got to spend time with both sides of the family and had a great time. We also went to see "Marley and Me" Saturday evening. Great movie, but I cried like a baby at the end. It didn't help that Mom & Dad have a yellow lab that looks identical to Marley and that she's getting old. I'm such a wimp!

Gary came home Sunday morning, but the girls and I stayed with my parents so Meme wouldn't have to come up here to watch the girls while I had an ultrasound on my knee Monday. As for that, the cyst is apparently still there. It's not nearly as large or painful as it had been, and I'm able to walk again without looking like an old woman. That's definitely a positive thing! I have an appointment on Monday with a specialist, so we'll see what he thinks I need to do or not do so I can return to normal.

I've spent all my time since we got home attempting to clean house. I can't wait to get the tree down and put away for another year. It's nice to have it up, but I'm always ready to get it put away when Christmas is over. Maybe then we'll have a place to put everything. The girls have been playing since we got home. It's just so much fun to have new things to play with, do, color, etc. :) Until we get the Christmas decorations down, though, we're going to have to live around them. My plan is to get everything put away tomorrow so Gary can help us get it back into the attic. Then I can run the sweeper, dust, and get things back to normal. I'm not sure he realizes that he's in for a day of honey-dos tomorrow. I'm not telling! :)

Christmas Eve

We're currently tracking Santa on the NORAD Santa tracking website. The girls are noticing that he's getting ever closer to the United States (he's currently in Grenada) and so are snarfing down a quick snack so they can get to bed. They've got his milk and cookies (and a little cherry mash) ready and waiting on the fireplace and are wearing their new Christmas Eve pajamas. We're watching the end of The Grinch, but we're all beginning to wear down. I'm ready for everyone to head to bed so Santa can get her job done. Yes, in our house Santa is indeed a female. Don't tell anyone. She's sleepy and has one self-bought present to wrap so it doesn't look like Mama was the only one on the naughty list this year. How would that look?! Good thing I planned ahead...

We didn't accomplish much today but did get our reindeer necklaces made so we could wear them to church tonight. The doctor suggested a few days on crutches, so that has sped up my getting around considerably. As of yet I haven't had an episode, so maybe the rest is what I needed. I'm keeping my fingers crossed. We had a wonderful Christmas Eve service at church tonight with a full house - amazing! You have to keep in mind that we go to a very small church and rarely have a really good crowd. Tonight was great! The girls were cute as bugs, wearing white turtlenecks, red velvet jumpers (with jingle bells attached), white leotards and black patent shoes. Boo had her hair in braids, Doodle's was in curls, and Hanny's was down with her bangs pulled back. They were precious. Add to that that they sang, without any reserve, the chorus to the Advent song we sang, and it was a perfect evening. We came home and let them open up their new pj's as well as a movie I had picked out for everybody. They're anxiously awaiting tomorrow morning's festivities, as well as those on Friday and Saturday. Better get to bed...I don't want Santa to skip over our house because I'm still awake! :)

Almost Christmas! :)

We are in the final countdown to Christmas and are all getting excited! We have to make reindeer bell necklaces tomorrow so the girls can wear them to church tomorrow night with their Christmas dresses. We also plan to make a birthday cake for Jesus to make sure we recognize the reason behind all the madness. The girls have it all planned out. We'll go to church at 7:00, take the long way home so we can check out all the fun lights, have some of the birthday cake and open their Christmas Eve presents (SHH...it's new pajamas!). It was always the tradition in my family that we ALWAYS got new pajamas on Christmas Eve. I kinda wish I still did, to be honest. I could certainly use some! :) I've got a few presents left to wrap, but those don't have to be ready until Friday so I'm not too worried. I look forward to the next couple days of Christmas fun, making egg casserole Thursday morning and spending the day with Gary and the girls. It will be fun. I'm also really looking forward to some family fun and games on Saturday. It's always great when we can get together and just have some fun.

Thankfully, at this point anyway, I'm the only one with an update. I'm scheduled for an ultrasound on my knee Monday and will meet with an orthopedic specialist on January 5. I thought I might make it through today without any episodes, but didn't. I was up moving most of the day. I just decided that spending all my time on the couch with my knee elevated was only making my back hurt, so I'd just take my chances with the knee. It went fine until I took a few minutes to lie in the floor with the girls. I hadn't curled up in so many days that it felt really good (for awhile) to curl up in a ball and just relax. It was fine until I tried to get up. My ping pong ball was back again. I hobbled to the heating pad and sat with it for 30 minutes until it went away. It really leaves me sore and achy after it shows up and goes away. I will be glad when it's gone, by whatever means necessary.

We're going to enjoy our next few days. As much as I hate it that I'm temporarily living in the body of a 90-year-old, at least the girls are currently healthy. It would be so much worse if they were sick and unable to truly enjoy Christmas. Nothing makes me happier than seeing them smile and hearing them giggle. On the plus side (and this just bugs the snot out of Gary), my blood pressure at the doctor's office the other day was 98/54. I asked if I was living. I can still see a little sliver of that silver lining! :)

Long, Rough Weekend

Do you ever have one of those days when you're just glad you survived it in one piece? I had one of those weekends. To say I'm glad it's Monday is an understatement, as long as Monday is an improvement over the past 3 days.

It all started Friday morning while I was baking cookies and realized that the pain I'd been feeling in my ear was not going away. I had a double ear infection 2 weeks ago, got antibiotics, and thought I was done with it. It was not to be that easy. I went to the doctor Friday afternoon to get the news that the ear infection was indeed back and back with a vengeance. I got home with my medicine at about 4:30. At 4:55 Hanny told me her ear hurt. I had noticed her digging at it quite a bit and had asked her repeatedly if it hurt, but she always assured me that it didn't. I called the doctor's office to see what they could recommend, and they suggested we head to a minute clinic in Gardner (35 minutes away - no big deal). We took out at about 5:30 with all three girls and dad set to see the doctor. On the plus side, nobody had any signs of infection, they got medicine to treat their symptoms, and Hanny got her ear cleaned out (long story...she's got strange ears). After getting supper at 8:00 and eating on the road, we made it home just before 9:00. I spent the night on the floor with the girls just to make sure everybody was okay.

Saturday morning I woke up at 5:50 and got up for awhile. I was up and around for about 25 minutes (with no problems) before Boo woke up and I got back in the floor to keep her quiet so her sisters could sleep. By 7:00 we were all awake so I got up again to get some coffee. At some point between the time I laid down and the time I got up I did something to my knee. I could not walk on it and had a ping pong ball-sized lump on the back of it. Long story short, we headed to the ER (at the advice of the doctor's office) and learned that I had a Baker's Cyst. It had apparently ruptured by the time I got to the ER (I think it did at home), so the lump was no longer there and the pain had improved slightly. I took it easy the rest of the day, kept it wrapped, life went on.

Yesterday morning I got up expecting to feel better. I was doing pretty good. I made some homemade muffins for breakfast, ate, had big plans to bake some bread for our friends and neighbors after my shower... It was before my shower that I noticed that my knees were two different sizes. My left one was twice the size of my right one. I have some pretty bird-like knees, so when one is swollen, it shows in a big way. :) Doctor Gary got a true taste of being the caretaker all day while he iced it on a schedule and I perched myself on the couch for most of the day. It was a learning experience for both of us. He did great at taking care of me and I did a fair job of staying off my feet. I was not made to spend much time sitting down,though. There are too many things I could see that needed to be done. On top of all the knee business, I have also had two of the most excruciating sinus headaches the last two days. No amount of Motrin would ease the pain, so yesterday afternoon after icing my knee I put the heat pad on my head. I was a sight... In the meantime, though, we had some of our dearest friends visit bearing Christmas goodies. It was such a joy to get to see and visit with someone outside our crazy household! We're out of things to visit about here! :)

I'm not sure what I'm supposed to be learning from all this. Maybe I'm supposed to slow down a little. Maybe I'm not supposed to sleep on the floor. Maybe I'm supposed to allow someone else to take care of me for a (hopefully) short period of time. Only God knows. That's comfort, though. Today I'm praying for a healthy, no-headache, normal-knee, day. I'll even tolerate the frigid temperatures with a smile if I can just feel good! :)

Slinkies and Silly Putty

So it's already been a long day. Not long in the bad sense, I have just gotten several things done today and am ready to sit down and relax for awhile. Add to that that Gary turned our TV on at 5:45 this morning and the twins got up very shortly after that, and I'm just a little sleepy. Well, okay, I'll admit it. This weather makes me sleepy too. It's hard to have a bright sunny attitude when the weather is so cold, snowy and dreary. Don't get me wrong, I almost enjoy being stuck in the house this time of the year. It allows me to get some of the fun baking done without feeling guilty about not doing something else.

I made a trip out to the school this afternoon to pick up the girls' goodie bags. Their teacher had emailed me and asked if I wanted to come get their fun stuff, so off I went. They were so excited about everything. In one particular bag they received a slinky (the plastic kind) and silly putty along with a few other little goodies. These girls have never had either of those items, so it was something new for them. Boo asked me what she was supposed to do with Silly Putty, and I have to admit that I didn't really know what to tell her. I think I rolled it into a ball and bounced it at some point as a child. I also remember squishing it onto the newspaper cartoons to get the ink transferred onto it. But I also remember that eventually it's more ink and less putty. So, taking the safer route, I told her she could stretch it apart, as long as she didn't get it stuck to anything, including her. I think she might've been a little scared of it, because as soon as I got done giving the speech about how important it is not to get it stuck to, on, or in anything, she told me she'd just put it back in the egg for now. Good plan... Then we got out the slinkies. It didn't take much playing before Doodle had hers so tangled up that I spent the next 20 minutes untangling it. Ahh, the joys of childhood toys. Who comes up with these things?!

Hanny is spending this afternoon at Meme's Pomona house. For those of you who didn't know, my parents just recently bought a small fixer-upper house on a great lot here in Pomona so Mom can be here more often and at a shorter notice than before. And the best part is that it has a basement! It probably had something to do with the many, many times we've been sick and had to make trips to the doctor since August. Anyway... The twins want her to spend the night down there so they can be here all by themselves (well, with Gary & me, but you get the idea). They told Meme that then maybe we'd sleep on the floor, or maybe they'd both just sleep in my bed...with Gary and me. I don't think so. Why do you think we sleep on the living room floor when they're sick?! It's always something with them.

We also had a visit from our own private Santa today. Some people have Santa visit once a year, but our Santa comes by pretty regularly. Santa (and you know who you are), thank you so much for being so thoughtful year-round. We are all truly blessed to have you in our lives. We think you and Mrs. Claus are both very special people! :)

Reindeer Snacks

We just made these cute reindeer snacks and wanted to share a picture. This is what I had organized to make for a healthy treat at their school party tomorrow, but since they're puny and at home we made them here after I took the supplies to the school. They thought it was a fun snack! :)