Sledding!

Brian has been all over us to make a snowman this winter, but the snow hasn't been right.  He switched gears to sled riding after he received a new sled for Christmas.  We got a chance to try it out last week.  We don't have any good hills by our house, so we headed out to my work.  It was great because we could get the kids ready indoors! 

Lilah only lasted about 20 minutes.  I made a bad decision and let the kids go down on their own.  They face planted and she decided she was D.O.N.E.  Brian would have stayed much. much longer.  He loved it.  Lilah still says she is not going again because, "I got snow on my face," so maybe we will go sans Lilah if we get more snow.

Dear Blog, I've Missed You

Dear Blog,

I've missed you.  Things got a little crazy right before Thanksgiving and I've been working on finding a new normal.  A new normal where my best friend's mom resides in heaven instead of in a nursing home bed.  A new normal where cancer is a chronic disease.  And where I am at peace with all of it.

Am I?  Not really.  It's not fair.  None of it is.  Shawn says I have a skewed version of fair because I have been lucky in life.  He's right.  But it's still not fair.

But I am choosing to be okay with it.  What else is there to do?

Donna is in a better place.  I can't even imagine to go from what she had become to a place where all is healed and she is free of all of her earthly torment.

Mom is here with us.  Sick, but still here.  She starts treatment today.  And just like I've been saying, it's like the bad news gets chipped away little by little.  It's still bad.   But it's liveable.  And LIFE is what it's all about.

We thought Lilah broke her nose.  She didn't, but it looked like this is still quite noticeably bruised.

It snowed a lot.  The kids had a ball in it.

Thanksgiving and my birthday came and went and now we have five days until Christmas.

And I feel so blessed.

So blessed to have known Donna and basked in the light she gave off when she was well.

So blessed to have my Mom and medical science keeping her here with us.

So blessed to have my babies healthy and so very excited for Christmas.

So blessed to have married my high school sweetheart and to have my best friend also be my first and only love. 

So very blessed to have amazing friends and a wonderfully supportive family.

We took a Christmas tree and some baking items to a family from church.  That's what they wanted for Christmas.   It was almost too much for me to handle.  Their house was very bare.  Both the mother and one of the children underwent major surgery this past year.  They have had it really rough.  We were able to go back and take gifts as well.  They didn't ask for the gifts, but they needed them.

It can always be worse.  Choosing to be positive once I have grieved is a wonderful trait my mother passed down to me.  I hope to pass it on to my own babies.

I promise to check in more.  I didn't know how to write all of this down.  Now that I have, I can move forward and post the pictures of my beautiful children that our wonderful photographer captured.  And snow pictures, Santa pictures and the Christmas pictures that I will have soon.  I cannot wait to see their faces on Christmas.  They are so genuinely excited and they so innocently believe.

The Christmas Eve skit is going to be out. of. this. world.  The kids are going to be mice with two of their cousins.  Shawn's Aunt has dubbed them "the rat pack."  There will be a real baby Jesus!  And Shawn's Uncle will make an appearance as Santa Claus.  He will bless the baby Jesus in silence.  The kids in that church are going to LOOSE THEIR MINDS.

Thanks for giving me a place to share.

Love,
Maria

Christmas 2012

Brian is at such a fun age for Christmas fun.  I feel like we started celebrating Christmas the day after Thanksgiving and didn't stop until yesterday!

Advent was a huge excitement builder in our house.  Brian so looked forward to opening his Advent train each morning and putting a new ornament on his tree.  If he could catch his Daddy at home in the morning, he would insist on opening his Lego Advent calendar too.  If not, he would wait (im)patiently for his Daddy to get home in the evening so they could assemble whatever ship or "mini-fig" awaited them!

We went to the zoo for the Festival of Lights, saw Santa  few times, built a gingerbread house, baked cookies, visited with friends, went to an ugly Christmas sweater party...the whole nine yards!  Lilah fed off of Brian's excitement.  What a fun season!

I volunteered to plan Brian's class Christmas party.  The planning was fun, but the party was a whirlwind!  15 three and four year olds-oh my!  And I'm a teacher!! Thank you to Aunt Teri for coming to my rescue!!

On Christmas Eve we went to Mass where Brian played a wise man in the children's skit.  He did a great job!  I know how nervous he was...that place was packed!  After Mass, we went out to dinner with the family...yum!  When we got home, we put out the reindeer food and the cookies and milk for Santa just before bath time.  I can't even describe how excited Brian was!

Luckily, with the late night, both kids slept until about 8:30.  Before presents, I made them pose for a Christmas morning pj picture!

Both kids really enjoyed opening presents.  After the chaos, we ate some breakfast and got ready to head to Nana and Pappy's for more food and more presents.  Here are the kiddos just before we left.

We spent the day opening presents and eating! 

After Nana and Pappy's, we headed to Bibber and Billy's house. The kids were exhausted by the end of the day.  We felt bad putting them to bed knowing they really just wanted to play with all of their new toys, but knowing there would be plenty of time over the next several days.

To add to the Christmas excitement, we finally got a good snow Christmas night and throughout the next day.  Brian and Lilah were more than ready to get outside and play.  It was COLD though, so we had to limit the snow time.  We got a few more inches later in the week and took the kids out again to play.  Brian got an extra snow play date with his Daddy while Lilah and mommy went to work out one day too. 

Now the snow is melting and the presents are all opened.  Brian has moved on to telling us all the things he wants for his birthday-haha!  Good thing we planned well...summer birthdays are perfect...you only have to wait 6 months for more presents!  

A Sad Excuse for Winter Weather

We haven't had any snow this winter. Not really. And it stinks because Brian is dying to make a Frosty the Snowman. If he sees one flake fall, he's in the bay window yelling for me. It's so sad.

I mean I am not a huge fan of winter period. But if it's gonna be cold, it might as well be pretty. And I feel we have been jipped this winter.

On Saturday, we woke up to maybe an inch of snow. Probably less. It started on Friday and both of the kids watched it fall from the bay window. Brian was so excited!
Of course this year I actually bought Brian a snow suit. And we bought him boots. Cars boots. He outright refused to try them on in the store. Brian does not do well with things that are new. Boots have always been an issue.

But Saturday morning he was more than excited to put the boots on. And the snowsuit. The clothing was probably overkill given the amount of snow outside, but it was really cold, so we went with it. (As a side note, he actually ran upstairs and attempted to dress himself for the cold. He put on his Cars jacket, Elmo ball cap and somehow managed to put a yellow zip up hoodie on his legs in lieu of pants. I couldn't get to the camera fast enough to capture it!)

Well we finally made it outside and it was really cold as I said before. Lilah's nose turned pink after about 5 minutes, so she stayed out only long enough to capture some pictures.
Quite possibly the saddest sled ride ever...


While Lilah and I watched from the back doors, Brian continued to enjoy the snow. Can you see the look on her face. She really adores that brother of hers!

Snow!

Brian is so excited about the snow this year! He is also excited about all things Christmas...the lights, the trees...Santa! Poor kid, he is mesmerized by Santa, but also pretty much terrified. It's pitiful. There was an old man at dinner the other night who fiercely resembled the jolly old elf and Brian could not stop staring! As we were leaving though, Nana took him over to say goodbye to the man (who was a sweetheart by the way...he was totally playing along!) and Brian freaked out! He did NOT want to be that close!!

Anyway, it snowed just a tiny bit the other day and Mr. Brian sat in our bay window (oh how I LOVE the bay window) and watched the tiny flakes in amazement. Bring on the snow!!

Well, He Really IS Sick

Poor little guy. He's been SOOO cranky all week and has run a low grade fever a couple of nights. He has been tugging at his ears, but he had been doing that since November, so I didn't think anything of it. Three pediatricians have looked in his ears the past two months and they have all said his ears were clear. I feel like poo, so I figured we just had the same virus. Since he always has a virus when I do take him to the doctor. Well today we went to the ENT and B has his first ear infection. I am so sad. We started him on an antibiotic so I hope it works quickly. The ENT didn't say it was a "raging" ear infection, so I feel pretty certain that it's not been there long. But still. I feel like a bad Mommy.

We did not do the hearing test today because of how badly he was feeling. The ENT said that was the right decision. We are going back to the ENT at the end of February for a recheck. If there is anything in his ears, we are going put in more tubes. The ENT will also remove his adenoids if we do another tube surgery. His right tube (where the infection is) has been out for some time. His left tube is in, but just barely.

Is it bad that I am hoping he does have junk in his ear when we go back? I just really think he would do better with his adenoids out. His sleep pattern is so terrible, and he's always getting every virus that comes along, so I feel like if those were gone maybe some of these issues would be corrected.

On a non-medical note, when we came home he was trying desperately to convince me to let him watch "Frosty the Snowman." I didn't care if he watched it or not, but the case he was showing me did not have the movie in it. I kept trying to explain that, and he just kept saying, "No Mama, Frosty. Frosty the No-man." Then he would break into song, "Frosty, the No-man was a jolly, happy soul..." He's pretty persuasive. I eventually located it on my laptop and he watched it on there.

Another Snow Day

We have gotten quite a bit of snow today! They were predicting 4-6 inches and I think we have gotten every bit of that.

Brian and I had a fun day. I cleaned (FUN!) this morning while he played trains, trains and more trains. Gotta get this house in shape if it's gonna sell!

Then (stupidly) I decided to let Brian paint. It wasn't that stupid. The mess was very manageable.

We were using finger paint, but he decided to use a brush.



Look at that focus.

And those (not so) chubby baby hands. He's really growing up!


Eventually the brush idea became somewhat boring, and he moved on to finger painting. He still held onto that brush though!


After the painting (and a much needed bath), our neighbor Karen came up for a visit.

Daddy came home while she was here, and at Nana's suggestion we decided to get in some snow time before dinner. It's going to be FIVE degrees tonight, and pretty darn cold tomorrow too, so it was probably a good move.


We got the sled out this time and Brian really enjoyed it. He let Shawn pull him around and we went down the street to small hill to try it out as well. He really liked that!


Shawn was annoyed that we didn't think his "hill" was good enough.