A Long Week...

It's been a long, nightmare of a week. Ryan has been out of town since Tuesday, and won't return until Sunday afternoon. My parents are coming tonight to help me out, because I am FRIED!

Juliana has had a bad cold since last Friday- she threw up at the dinner table, and that is all Noah can talk about any time he sees someone new. We just figured it was her turn to be sick, and we were actually pretty happy that she waited this long (8 months) to get sick. One of the down sides to her being sick was that she was eating significantly less than she had already been eating. Tuesday morning, at 2 AM, Ryan got up to feed Juliana before he had to leave to get on the plane. I noticed that he had started the washing machine, so I wandered into her room, and he told me she had thrown up again. I helped him clean up, and then told him I needed to call in sick and email my sub plans to my friends at work, so I could stay home with her.

I was able to get her in to see the pediatrician that morning. I noticed that morning that her breathing was odd. When she would breathe in, you could hear loud crackling. That's when I started to freak out a little bit. I was happy to find out that she was now 15 pounds and she wasn't dehydrated. What I didn't want to hear was that her right lung was not clear, BUT her left lung was clear. The pediatrician suspected bronchitis bordering on pneumonia and he was glad that I had brought her in when I did, because he didn't want to see it turn into RSV, which apparently because of her heart, she is more susceptible to. He started her on antibiotics, and gave me this amazing baby booger sucker that works way better than the one you go home from the hospital with. I also had him check Noah out, since he said she was very contaigous. Noah just had a cold, thank God.

Tuesday was rough, but the night time was worse. I gave her a bath, and got her into her jammies. She then threw up again, so I had to clean both of us up, her crib, and I gave her a new bath. That night, I was getting up every hour or so, to suction her nose and mouth (she was choking on mucus). I had her sleeping in her swing, no motion, just more upright than in her propped crib.

Wednesday, I stayed home again. In the morning, I called the chiropractor and they got us in right away as well. He adjusted Juliana and told me that if she was still as bad as she was on Thursday, to call his cell phone (he's off on Thursdays) and he would drive up and meet us at his office. Wednesday she ate a little better, and there was no throwing up. I was able to get a little more sleep, and only had to suction her every 2-3 hours.

If you live in the Midwest, you know that Thursday we got hammered with snow, and I'll admit I had been banking on a snow day, so let me tell you, when I didn't get that phone call, I was NOT happy to get up, get the kids up and go to work. I should have stayed home another day, but final exams are next week, and I was not done teaching the material that my students needed to know.

When I picked up the kids on Thursday, Juliana was in high spirits. She was smiling and babbling and bouncing, something I hadn't seen her do in days. She still wasn't eating well, but she was definitely better, which was great. Of course, once I got her home, she immediately melted down on and off until she went to bed, but at least she had a good day with Theresa.

This morning she barely seemed congested and we go back to the chiropractor after work to have her adjusted again. I'm just thankful that she didn't get worse, and that my parents are coming tonight. I am exhausted and in need of much sleep. Thank goodness it's the weekend.

New Year's Resolutions...

This year I have a few resolutions that I plan on completing, and here they are:

1) A Sprint Triathalon. This is not like the Ironman Triathalon. It's a 400 meter swim, 13.3 mile bike ride, and a 5K run. Some friends of mine are on board to do this as well, so hopefully we will be able to all sign up to do one together. FYI, Adriane and Cari the June one in Naperville I will not be able to do because we will be in Florida, but there is one in Naperville in August. I've been training since this summer with the running part and have recently added on the swimming part (which is harder than I thought, because swimming has always been easy for me).

2) Enjoying my kids. Because of the little girl's health issues, I feel like I have not enjoyed her or Noah like I should have. I feel like all we did in 2009 was go from doctor to doctor. This year, so far the doctor appointments seem to be spread out more, so we won't be in the car as much.

3) Making some friends at church. There are a lot of nice ladies who go to our church, and I feel like I don't know any of them. Three of my four closest friends are spread out in Illinois and I never get to see them. My fourth closest friend is my sister, and while I talk to her on the phone, we don't live close enough to see each other as often as I (and Noah) would like. I thought that by signing up for Mom Connections would help me do this, but due to problems with the little girl, being sick myself, and Ryan being out of town, I haven't connected there either. I think I do have a babysitter for the upcoming meeting, as Ryan will, again, be out of town.

4) This one is for next year (2011), and I totally want Jaime and Bill to sign up for it as well. Ryan and I want to do the warrior dash (click on it to see what it is), and if you put the mouse over the pictures, it shows you what you do at that stage. I mean, who doesn't want to get totally dirty and get to jump over fire?!? It looks AWESOME! Mom, will you babysit for us, please? Any one else want to jump on the bandwagon? You get some cool stuff too, we don't really care about the free beer afterwards, because we don't drink, but the rest of it sounds like fun.

Well, I think that's about all for my resolutions, and it seems like they are all do-able.

Harlem Globetrotters...NOT!

I love basketball. My dad and I used to watch all the Bulls games together. The '90's were the best- two threepeats, and it doesn't get any better than Michael Jordan. I've always wanted to see the Harlem Globetrotters, and the opportunity presented itself in an odd way.

I needed to get new glasses and contacts, and Jaime recommended I go to America's Best to do one of their deals and get 2 pairs of glasses. So, I did that, and in the process, I got a pair with transition lenses. When I did that, I received a voucher for 2 free tickets to see the Harlem Globetrotters while I was on Christmas break. I called my mom and booked her to babysit so that Ryan and I could go to the 2 PM performance.

My mom came from work on Monday, and both kids really enjoyed having her at our house. I was very excited to go see the Globetrotters on Tuesday. Tuesday morning came around, and I got up. I felt like I had been beaten up. My head throbbed, my joints ached, I couldn't breathe out of my nose, and I felt like an elephant was sitting on my chest.

Needless to say, we did not go see the Harlem Globetrotters. Instead, Ryan and Grandma took care of the children, and I slept on the couch and was miserable. Oh well, maybe I'll get to see them one day.

Here are some pictures that we took of Grandma and the kids, plus, a few I took today, when Noah decided to have me build a large railway complete with a nativity and zoo (we re-enacted the Polar Express all day).

An Excellent Christmas...

We started the Christmas festivities on the 23rd. Noah helped me bake Jesus' birthday cake, and then we made some cutout cookies (they didn't turn out so well, but we had fun anyway).

On Christmas Eve, it was very icy out. Our backyard was a sheet of ice, and the dogs had to walk slowly and carefully every time they went out. After both kids' afternoon naps, we opened presents. It was fun to watch Noah's excitement. He jumped up and down each time we gave him a present to unwrap. He even unwrapped mine and Ryan's gifts.

On Christmas Day we went to Jaime and Bill's house to open more presents. Noah and Liam were so excited (Rori Rose was too). I think Noah's most prized present was the book, "The Polar Express", that he got from Grandma and Grandpa. He has slept with it every night and brings it everywhere. He also really liked his new Thomas the train pajamas, and had to put them on at 3:00 on Christmas. It was a really nice day, and Auntie Val and Uncle Randy also stopped by for a visit.

I don't have any pictures from Christmas Day (hint Grandma Vicki), but I do have some pictures from Christmas Eve.

From The Mouth of Two-Year Olds Part II...

Since Eric's accident, I have avoided using the entrance of our subdivision, as that is where the accident occurred. Yesterday, I wasn't thinking and took that way home. Noah said, "Look Momma, crosses!" I started to cry. Noah said, "Why crying Momma?" I told Noah that Momma's heart hurt. Noah said, "Stop car Momma. I kiss heart and make better." What a sweetheart, right?

Later that afternoon, I noticed Noah studying Finchy. He pointed at Finchy's boy parts and said, "What those, Momma?" So, I told him, to which Noah replied, "Finchy has peanuts?" I laughed so hard.

Special Babysitters...

Last year for Christmas, my sister Jaime got us 2 movie tickets and a movie giftcard to go on a date. They would watch our kids while we went to a movie at the theater by their house. Well, almost a year has gone by, and Jaime said they would like to watch our kids so Ryan and I could go to a movie for Ryan's birthday. I asked her if she was sure; it's not that I don't trust her with my kids, it's just Juliana can be pretty high maintence if she's having a bad day- there are days here and there when we can barely handle her.

So, what did her offer involve?

This is Brendan, my newest and mellowest nephew. Isn't he cute? He's 2.5 months old. I think he looks like Jaime.
These 2 characters are Liam and Rori Rose. Rori is the oldest at 4 and Liam is 2.5. Isn't Liam the cutest Darth Vader ever? And Rori's the prettiest Jasmine around!

And you've met my two children already. Juliana 7.5 months and Noah 2.75 years.

So, how many children is that? Five. How many are either 4 or less? Five. How many are 2? Two. How many are under the age of 1? Two. Is my sister nuts? No, but she has a good heart.

Shortly after we left, my cell phone rang. It was Jaime. I was sure either Noah was melting down or Juliana was freaking out because they were trying to feed her a bottle. She called to say that Noah asked for us, but she explained to him that we had to leave for a little while and he was going to stay and play with them. He said, okay, and went back downstairs to play with his cousins. Not even a tear.

Did I mention that when we returned to their house (after seeing New Moon- Ryan's choice, not mine since I had already seen it), we were greeted with the wonderful smell of apple dumplings that Jaime had time to bake while we were gone? Talk about Super Mom. Then, we went downstairs to see everyone. They had gotten Juliana to take a nap, and as we came down the steps, Noah took a flying leap and tackled Bill to the ground (he's going to be sore tomorrow).

So, thank you, Jaime and Bill, for watching our children for us. We knew they were in safe hands and knew they would have fun. In fact, both kids were sound asleep before we got on the expressway to go home.

Oh, and the apple dumplings were delicious. Jaime even sent some home with us, AND she baked Ryan brownies for his birthday. I know, she's nuts (in a good way, of course, Jaimers).

Penguin Baseball...

Here's an addicting little site for you if you are ever bored:

Penguin Baseball

Basically, you are the abominable snowman, and you click the mouse once for the penguin to slide down the iceberg, and then click the mouse again to swing the baseball bat and hit the penguin. I learned about it at school- our media center does stressbusters at Christmas time, and we had a competition during our lunch periods to see who could hit the penguin the furthest. Enjoy!