Crazy Week...

This has been a crazy week, but what else would I expect for the week before Christmas? :)

I worked a full day Monday, worked Tuesday but left at 2:30 to go to the kids’ Christmas parties at school, I took off Wednesday, and then I’m working a full day Thursday and then off until January 3rd. Crazy!

So Tuesday John and I went to the kids’ Christmas parties at school. The parking lot was insanely packed, so I parked in our neighborhood and walked over (normally I would have walked no matter what, but my leg is still sore). So John and I were a little late :( We started in Josh’s classroom because he is still so happy to see us and wants us to be at everything. After about 7 minutes we headed over to Kylie’s class. Kylie is at that age where inside she wants us there, but on the outside, she acts like it’s no big deal if we’re there or not. We talked with her a little bit and watched her make her ornament and then we headed back to Josh’s class. He finished up and we got him packed up and then we finished the time out at Ky’s classroom.

When we got home we all just hung out and relaxed. My dad came over as soon as he got up here (he’s here for a while now since all of his students are on break) and we chatted for a while. Ky, Josh and Ryan spent the night with my parents and after we put Colton to bed John and I spent a while wrapping presents.

On Wednesday Colton let me sleep in! He didn’t wake me up until 9:00 AM and boy, I needed that sleep! While he was eating breakfast I started making some cookie doughs that had to be refrigerated. The kids slowly started coming back over and we spent the morning baking, playing and chasing after Colton! He was such a pistol yesterday as he was into EVERYTHING! He really didn’t want anything to do with any of his toys…he just wanted papers, poinsettia plants and the remote. It was exhausting! The worst part was that my leg was pretty sore, so I would try to rest it, but I just couldn’t trust that little booger so not much rest was had.

The bad part to yesterday was that Kylie got a horrible stomach ache in the early afternoon. It was so painful for her and she would cry in pain every so often. The stomach ache ended up lasting the whole day and finally after throwing up once in the middle of the night, she felt a ton better. And thankfully she’s old enough to know when she’s going to be sick, so there was nothing for me to clean up :)

So last day of work today and then a whole bunch of time off with the kiddos! I have all my shopping done and wrapping started, so I’m feeling pretty good right now :)

Oh, and the best line of the season so far:

I got the kids’ presents wrapped and put under the tree yesterday, so when Ryan woke up from his nap, he was so excited to see presents! When my dad came back from shopping, he told Ryan that he had gotten him some presents and Ryan replied “Can you buy us some more presents because we don’t have so much.” What an adorable, honest child :)

Vein Surgery...

With the birth of Colton and the hospitalization of Colton earlier this year, we spent a lot of money on medical bills and were quickly approaching our out of pocket maximum with our health insurance. Yes, you read that right, our out of pocket maximum. Sheesh!

So I decided it was the time to see a doctor about a hideous vein that I have always had on the back of my leg. After a couple of appointments and an ultrasound, it turns out that not only was it hideous, but there was also some leakage, so we were set to remove this thing. The only problem was that it was attached to a nerve, so if the doctor shot it up with the killing stuff (normal plan of action) it would also kill my nerve, so that was not going to work. Which meant I actually had to have surgery to remove this vein.

So last Thursday John and I headed to the hospital at 7:00 in the morning (the time my doctor’s office told me to be there) and checked in. Even though this was a very simple, common procedure, I was still super nervous because I’ve never had surgery before. What made my nerves worse was that the hospital didn’t have me scheduled until 12:15, and there was an emergency that came in that morning, so my surgery was going to be even later! After some pushing from me, I finally went back around 12:45 and they started getting me ready.

The nurses were fantastic back there and finally around 3:00 I was ready to go in. I remember being wheeled into the operating room, but that’s it! The next thing I remember was waking up in recovery about an hour and a half later. Once I was awake, they brought John in and I got dressed and we headed out. I was so groggy and slept the whole way home. Once John got me settled into bed, he took all the kids out to get me pain medicine, the kids dinner, and me some fries and a frosty (I hadn’t eaten since 9:00 PM the night before!). I slept some more and finally around 7:30 I was able to get up and eat and move around.

I was (and still am) surprised at the amount of pain I have had. While my leg is sore and looks horrible, I really expected more pain. I have been walking around and going up and down steps since the night after my surgery.

The worst part about the whole thing was that I couldn’t nurse Colton for 24 hours after my surgery, and he doesn’t take a bottle anymore, so poor John was up with him a few times at night and he was a pistol! And on top of that, Ryan had some kind of a stomach thing, so he was throwing up every 40 minutes. So John would deal with Colton and I would take care of Ryan and put the laundry in, etc. It was a horrible night, but thankfully, Ryan was done being sick by morning and was fine the rest of the day!

I’m still recovering…I often forget that it hurts to bend my knee (the incision spots are still really sore) and it’s hard not wrestling around with the kids. But it is getting so much better every day and I can’t wait to see what my leg looks like after all this bruising is gone!

Online Shopping...So Easy A Child Can Do It...

This past weekend we had some goals of things we wanted to accomplish. One of the major items was for us to take the kids out shopping for their gifts to each other. So after basketball on Saturday, we loaded everyone up in the car and went and had a wonderful lunch. After that lunch, we headed over to Target.

We were prepared for crazy busy – Christmas was two weeks away, and while it was cold, the sun was shining so we knew people would want to get out of the house. We were all talking and singing and whatnot when I realized that we had been sitting in the same spot on the road for a while. Then we looked around at the parking lots and realized that they were not just packed, they were FULL! And people were driving around just trying to find a spot. This was not just crazy busy, it was insanity! Horrible visions of us trying to navigate through a busy parking lot and store with four kids, one of which was a baby that probably wouldn’t last long, and knowing that we would have to trade off a couple of times so that all kids could get all presents for all kids started playing in our heads. So John whipped out of the line of traffic and turned around and headed home stating “we are going to go home and teach our kids how to online shop!”

So when we got home we put the younger two down for naps and John took Kylie upstairs to our computer and I sat with Josh on the couch with my laptop and we shopped! The kids had fun thinking about what they wanted to get each other and I liked that I was teaching them how to price compare and read reviews.

That night John and Josh went to the CBJ game with a friend and his son, so his wife and daughter came over to hang out with us while they were gone. We went out to a Chinese buffet for dinner and Ryan cracked me up when he exclaimed “Mom, this is the best broccoli ever!” Colton ate a ton of food…noodles, potatoes, cheese and melon. Then we all went home and after I put the boys to bed, I painted the girls’ nails

All in all, a really good Saturday :)

Seeing Santa...

This past weekend was the annual trip to see Santa :) And it was also a time for me to realize that even when I think I can predict reactions…I can’t.

The weather was so nice on Saturday (in the 50s!). We started the activities with taking Josh, Kylie and Rachel to basketball. I took Ryan with me, and my dad stayed home with Colton. The kids both loved basketball!

After that we went home for naps and just hung out for a while. The kids finished up their letters to Santa and around 4:30 we headed over to Holidays in Powell (John was already there because working). We waited in a long line for Santa (very unusual…never waited that long before, but since it was so nice out, everyone waited to come until the end). I figured that obviously Josh and Kylie would be fine with Santa, Ryan would be fine because he was fine last year, and I thought Colton would cry (which I love because you always have to have the crying-Santa picture!). As we were in line, Ryan starts saying that he doesn’t want to sit on Santa’s lap. What??? I told him that if he didn’t, then Santa wouldn’t know what he wanted for Christmas and he wouldn’t get any toys (harsh I know, but I was trying to take 4 kids to see Santa without the help of John and I was frustrated and tired). We get up to Santa (after a very nice talk with Mrs. Clause) and Josh and Kylie do their thing. Then Ryan starts crying…ugghhh… Luckily John (who was able to come over and help at this point) was able to get him on Santa’s lap and even tell him what he wanted. And then Colton’s turn…he just looked at Santa, trying to figure out what this crazy site was…no tears whatsoever! I was so disappointed! Oh well, maybe next year :)

After we saw Santa, we went into the other room and the kids did some crafts and then we followed Santa out for the tree lighting. We’ve never seen this before because it’s usually cold or we’re not there at the end, but it was really nice outside!

I say it every year, but this year I mean it (we’ll see) – no more Holidays in Powell! It’s just too hard for me to take the kids by myself and navigate the crazy craft tables…all for things that we just throw away! I always want to shoot myself at the end of the day and this time was no exception. But the kids had a lot of fun…and I guess that is what matters…(although mom’s sanity should count for something).

Blog Reading...

It actually happened last night…Kylie started reading some of my blog entries :)

I get my blog published into a hardcover book every couple of years. It’s the best $100 I spend! The books are gorgeous and my memories are forever saved (well, maybe not forever, but I feel a little better knowing that if something ever happened to my blog I would at least have every entry somewhere). Anyway, I have kept the books in our family room, right next to all the photobooks I have ever made. I have told Kylie that every year I write her a birthday note, and that she should read it sometime, but she always blows me off and complains that I write about her at all. I tell her not to worry and that I only write about her so that I’ll remember it and that no one reads this but me (shhhhh, don’t tell!).

So last night I hear her laughing from the couch, and I ask her what she’s doing and she says “I’m reading the purple book.” I have no idea what she’s talking about, and she clarifies with “the purple book, you know, the one you keep over on that table.” Ohhh yes…the purple book is the first book. She happened to read a post about me trying to deal with my frustrations better and not take them out on John or the kids. Of course she would have to start reading posts that had to deal with me and not the kids! And she was surprised that I am still blogging…and nervous…she’s scared to death I’m going to write something embarrassing about her (who me??? Never :) ).

I hope she keeps reading pages from those books…I hope she sees how much John and I love her, and I hope that even when she feels like we don’t, she’ll be able to read those books or even sneak a peek at the live blog and see that everything we do we do out of love for each of our kiddos.