Much Better.

Thank you for all the well wishes! Karl is doing much better. His fever broke yesterday afternoon and has so far kept it normal for today. He is still acting a tad bit cranky, but he's back to playing instead of snuggling. While I loved the snugglebunny I had, I'd rather him feel better.

We have an appointment with the ENT tomorrow morning to talk tubes for Mr Karl. I hope to get his surgery scheduled asap so we can get him as comfortable as possible as soon as possible. I'd like to say I'm not nervous, since I've been through 2 sets of tubes with Allison, but I'm still very anxious.

I remember back to when Allison got her first set of tubes and they let me hold her while she went under anesthesia. When they then took her from me and told me to go wait in the waiting room, I couldn't hold it together. I started bawling. I went to the waiting room, grabbed a tissue, picked a magazine and sat down. By the time I opened the first page, the surgeon was already back in the waiting room telling me she did wonderful. So I know it's a simple process and I know it's quick as can be, but I find myself pretty nervous about it all.

On a cute note, Karl is ALL ABOUT giving kisses right now. He started giving kisses months ago, but it was very hit and miss - way more missing than hits. Now, when you look at him and ask "kisses?" - he immediately comes at you with an open mouth. I absolutely adore it. Oh, and he'll also respond to "love?" with laying his head down on your chest while he lets you cuddle him. I just love this stage of development!

You will understand my being away, but I have a very sick little baby. See?




Ear infections than a cough so bad last week I was having to do breathing treatments with him. Now it's a high temped fever (103's) and I'm dealing the best I can. He's in good hands and I'm doing all I can to keep him comfortable, but this is where I've been and where I will be for another day or so.

If my baby wants nothing more than to lay on my chest and cuddle away his sicky feelings, I'm doing just that.

Luckily, the girls stayed with grandma and grandpa this week and are having a full christmas WEEK with them. This is what I saw when I left them yesterday ...




So please don't mind the small break in blogging, but I must care for my little man.

"You put ice cubes in and get a snocone out ..."

" ... Yum yum fun is what it's all about!"

I actually don't know if those are the exact words, but it's how I sing the "snoopy snocone machine" jingle. I just made 6 snocones. Mmmmmm.

The children had a wonderful christmas. Lots of presents. Lots of excitement. Lots of everything. "They" say Christmas isn't about getting, it's about giving - but in our case, it's about both. I loved giving presents to my kids and I'm glad they got a lot of getting.

Come to think of it - the people who say "christmas isn't about getting presents" piss me off. For everything you give, someone is getting so whatever. It's about getting. Without giving, there'd be no getting. So there.

I won't bore you with the breakdown of all the details. I'll just leave it as it was (and still is) a good day. Hope you all are having just as good of a day. And that you GOT a lot. ~wink~

milestones, milestones, milestones.

Karl can walk on anything he can pull himself up on. If the thing moves (like a walker he can push behind) he will walk with it. He won't let go to even stand on his own, but if he can stand up on it, he can walk around or with it.

Allison is hitting her stride from being "alone" during the day without Ella. At first she would just sit around bored, but now she's taken up a lot of pretend play or she'll play with her little brother.

And now for the biggie. Ella can READ. She's got about 50 "sight words" (words she knows by sight) in her back pocket and can do a damned good job at sounding out words she doesn't know. This AMAZES me. I mean, I knew she'd learn how to read, but already? She's amazing. (I'm sure all other mommies of kindergartners say the same thing, but still.)

Over a week has gone by

and my mommy blog is struggling.

I guess I don't have much going on. I'm on the verge of a breakdown because I have 3 kids under 5, but then again, 2 minutes later, I'm over the moon with them. It's bizarre how quickly I can go from thanking my lucky stars and say, oh, selling them to gypsies.

One more present and I'm DONE!

~gloat~gloat~gloat~

I'm almost done shopping. I have 1 more blanket to make, 1 more present for the girls (which I already know what it is, I just have to go buy it) and 5 stockings to stuff (which is easy).

Okay, that seems like a lot now. Especially since I haven't wrapped anything. Nor put up any decorations yet.

See? Instant karma for my gloating. I have a lot to get done!

family of five = endless loads of laundry.

I just don't understand why I have so much laundry to do. It's literally NEVER all done. How can a family of five make so many loads of dirty clothes? I mean, kids clothes are TINY. Shouldn't that mean their loads should be smaller too?

ugh.

I'm about to fold the upteenth load and there is still more to do. It never ends.

The zoo!

We go to the zoo more than any other family in the city. I'm sure of it. These pictures were from the week before thanksgiving. We didn't go this weekend because the ground is still covered with snow and it's freaking COLD outside. Think anywhere between 6-35 degrees. Last night when we got in the car to go home (tom and I went out to dinner) it was ONE degree. Holy moly.

Here is a picture of miss Allison riding a pony ...




This is in the bird exhibit where you can feed the birds using little seed covered sticks. This one is Allison ...




And Ella ...




Here is photo evidence that I'm a bad mother. Can you make out what is in Karl's hand? That's right boys and girls - a tootsie roll pop.

Whew.

What a day so far. I just spent the morning cleaning and then went grocery shopping for almost 2 hours. Jeez.

Karl was SO GOOD at the store. Since he's my climber, I use my shopping car cover thing (what is those things called?) and strap him in. All I need to do is give him something crinkly to hold (this time it was a bag of chocolate chips) and he keep himself busy, smiling at anyone who walks by. I still can't believe how lucky I got in the good baby department.

How are your kids when you go shopping?