When it Rains, It Pours

I took my kids to the doctor today because they've both been a little under the weather with coughs and sniffles and complaints. I was really hesitant to go earlier because I've gotten so much flack about being an overprotective mom. Well, I don't care anymore. I'm going to be overprotective and anyone who has a problem with that can just deal with it. :)

Turns out both of them have tonsillitis. Joe's is pretty intense and on the edge of being something serious. Joe also has croup. And Kathrynn also has both an ear infection and a sinus infection. Keep in mind, I HAVE kept them both home since the first sign of any illness showed up, I didn't want to cause any other kids to get sick.

I've pretty much had it. It's been a REALLY long time since we've had a problem with illness in our house, but since September we have invested hundreds - I mean HUNDREDS of dollars in our kids and their illnesses. And it is almost always because another parent was too free to let their sick kid interact with other kids at preschool, playgroups, and church. Kathrynn was hospitalized with a nasty stomach virus because she played with a boy who had been throwing up the day before (I found out after the play date). Joe spent all of his birthday and Thanksgiving unable to keep anything down because he played with a boy who announced the very next day at church "I threw up last night," after his parents had assured me that he was no longer sick.

And now, both kids are just suffering because of much of the same. I've had it. I'm seriously considering keeping them under quarantine for the next couple of months. I know, that's just ridiculous, but seriously, if you have a sick kid, KEEP HIM HOME!!!

I don't get it! I keep my kids home whenever they seem sick and I'm being overprotective. How did doing something good become perceived as bad and why do all of these moms who send their sick kids out and about think that they're some kind of supermom for doing this?

Anyway, that's my rant to the blogging world. Here's hoping that both Joe and Kathrynn are better by Christmas. We've had way too many special events ruined because of things like this.

The Christmas Village

Ogden has the coolest thing ever - this little Christmas Village in the heart of town. It's a bunch of small houses decorated for Christmas and is just so festive and cute!

Joe's preschool went to the Christmas Village last Friday and I was able to get a few pictures - though they don't do it justice. First, it was daytime, so no lights, and second, I took the not-so-great camera with me because I didn't trust myself with the nice one while toting around 2 kids and trying to keep like 10 others under control with the other moms.

Here's Joe enjoying his freedom and running around like a maniac. :)



This is a little Elf Chapel of Love. :)


This is Mrs. Clause. She gave the tour. Very patient woman. :)


Here's a series of pictures as we were trying to get a decent group shot of the preschool. It just turned into a bunch of pictures of the moms trying to corral all of the kids. I was cracking up the entire time. :)




This was my favorite house - a little diner where some snowmen went to eat, but the middle one had chili, and, well, you see the results. I love the looks on the other snowmen's faces.


And, um, yeah... Kathrynn has pretty bad stranger anxiety right now.


And here they are, subdued with candy and ready to go home. :)

Joe Said...

So, I gave the kids ants on a log as a treat today - you know, celery, peanut butter and raisins. I think they're yummy and was wondering if I could pass something healthy off with them. Not a chance.
Joe told me "I can't eat this. I don't like celery." I asked him why, to which he replied "Because it's too good for me!"

At least he's honest. :)

Wordless Wednesday - Cat Nap

The Biggest Loser

So, I have a new addiction - I LOVE to watch The Biggest Loser and totally look forward to Tuesdays now so I can watch it. It's actually been really good for me and totally motivating and I've lost more weight while watching it this season than I've been able to all year.
There is, however, a thorn in the side of the show. Her name is Vicky. She's pure evil. Steve and I look forward to her elimination with elation.
I saw a video on Yahoo this morning about her that sums it all up. I seriously had to share it with you all.

Biggest Loser 6: Vicky Gives 'Em Hell @ Yahoo! Video

Wordless Wednesday - Happy Thanksgiving! :)

Happy Birthday, Joe!

My little guy turned 4 today. FOUR! I have a four year old. That's unbelievable to me! He's growing up so fast and I just love him more everyday than I did the last. I'm so grateful to be his mommy and to have the connection with him that I do. He is just the funnest little guy with his random songs and the funny things he tells me. He's grown to be a wonderful big brother and is so sweet - well, most of the time - to Kathrynn that it almost brings me to tears. He is the biggest helper in the world and actually cleans up after himself without being asked - I love that! After every meal he always takes all of his dishes to the sink. I love that he does this, though it does force me to make sure he ALWAYS has plastic dishes. :) Joe gives the best hugs in the world and is really so generous with them. He makes friends so easily and already has a little girlfriend (who very openly told me and Steve that she's "in love with Joe.")

I am so grateful to be Joe's mommy. He has the sweetest, most compassionate spirit. He really makes my heart melt. I love him so much.

Happy Birthday, buddy! :)

Hello, Guilt.

I don't know if it just comes with being a mom or a woman who is constantly trying to better herself, but I have become well aquainted with guilt lately and today it came in a flood.

I've been called in our ward to work with Activity Day girls (8-11 year olds) and we planned a big mother-daughter party for our activity today. Unfortunately, I gave Kathrynn a cold that I developed on Sunday and she had this nasty yellow-green stuff coming out of her nose, so I decided that it would be best if I did not come tonight. Her immune system is weak and I just can't deal with another major illness in our house right now - and EVERYTHING is in the air right now. Plus, I didn't want to get anyone else sick, or gross any of the girls out. I made this decision a few hours before the activity, but had an impossible time reaching one of the other leaders to let her know. I left a message with her husband, but, as much as we love them, I think we all know they aren't the best at relaying those messages. So, I finally reached her about half an hour before we were due to be at the church to set up and felt just HORRIBLE. I was totally stricken with guilt the ENTIRE night over this. I'm not a slacker in my callings. I just didn't want to take my sick child out.

THEN... Steve went off to Young Men's and showed back up at our house with a couple of young women who were doing a service scavenger hunt, looking for food to give to people for Thanksgiving. First, let me say, I am HORRIBLE at doing anything on the fly. I'm a total OCD control freak "D" personality who needs to know exactly what's happening like 2 days before it happens. My brain literally does not function when something is put before me in a matter of seconds. Something I definitely know I need to work on, don't worry. :) Anyway, they handed me this list and I took the girls down to our food storage pantry and put a few things in a bag for them, all the while having a funny little banter with them about the insane amount of sugar cereal we have in our storage. OK, I buy things when I can get them ridiculously cheap, and that opportunity has come very often in the sugar cereal department. I'm officially no longer buying cereal because of it. Anyway, one of the girls comes from a family of 8 and was talking about how they don't have anything like that at their house and how they have to eat gross stuff - like oatmeal - for breakfast. I'm actually good friends with her mom, so this made me laugh, but that the same time I felt guilty. We are totally spoiled. Totally. We have tons of sugar cereal in our food storage. We have anything we may want or need at our fingertips and there are so many people who don't have anything. We have a surplus. Yes, we are exceedingly blessed. But at that moment, I almost felt bad for it.

Then I started feeling guilty that we only have 2 kids and are holding off a little longer before we even start thinking about a third. There's my friend's daughter.. my friend who is only a few years older than me and devotes her life to her 8 children. Of course, she has been married a LOT longer than Steve and I have and it wouldn't be physically possible, well it would, but not comfortably, for me to do the same, but I don't have a huge desire to jump the gun and get pregnant again. I want the dust to settle in our lives. I want our kids to not have stress for a while. I just want things to be consistent and peaceful before we have another baby.

Then the girls left and I realized I only gave them a few things and got the REAL picture of what they were doing and wished I had opened more of my pantry to them. I regretted not giving them the chicken in our freezer and thought of all of the people who had so much less than us in our own community.

To top everything off, I accidently poked Joe in the eye right before bed. That sent me over the guilt edge. He has this thing about grabbing my back pocket or the back belt loop on my pants and being my little train and I thought it was his hand, but it was somehow his face that I grabbed, poking him in the eye and leading to a good 10 minute cry on his part (and profuse teasing from Steve about how it'll be OK if Joe goes blind). I felt so so so bad! Of course, it didn't help that he was VERY tired and had been begging to go to bed like 30 minutes earlier. He's just been the sweetest, most fun little guy ever lately, and I hated ending his day that way. Today, we went the grocery store and in the produce section he started singing this song he was making up about all of the fruits and vegetables at the top of his lungs, causing everyone to giggle. He didn't need me to poke him in the eye. :(

So, that's my day. I'm hoping I get my fill of guilt for a while because it's exhausting.

Wordless Wednesday - Pure Joy

My Silly Little Guy

Joe had me laughing harder tonight that I have in a long time. He came up to me and started to tickle me and said the following:
"I tickle slow," then he sped up a little,
"I tickle fast," sped up some more,
"I tickle faster," sped up even more,
"I tickle CRAZY!"
I could not stop laughing! He thought he was doing a pretty awesome job tickling mommy - he was just hilarious! :)