Gossom Christmas 2011

We have had a great month, despite events and circumstances that could take a lesser person down.

Ignore my last post. My poor boy was fatigued and oversugared, and I think he needed Momma's attention. I didn't react right. We're better now.  I quit telling him to potty, and he is taking care of business all on his own. Just like I taught him.

We've worked out a system of celebrating the holidays that seems to work for everyone. Kelsey had her Christmas celebrations with her mom's family when they planned them. Not that I think they puposely planned them around our events, but this year it worked out fantastic. Which is good, because Christmas time for a kid with two separate family trees is difficult to say the least.  She handled it all very well this year, so A+ for her. Our girl is growing up.

We spent Christmas Eve with Chris's dad and stepmom, and his sisters and brothers-in-law. Sweet new baby to cuddle, my chicken 'n' dumplins to devour, and lots of laughs.

I forgot to mention that I am hosting The Flat Princess - Thanks Mom! She was a big help with the chicken 'n' dumplins, but she was a little light handed with the pepper. Just sayin'.

Alyssa reading to Zachary

Precious little bundle 

I have to say that I am so happy with how our Christmas Day turned out. The kids were delightful opening their presents, and I'll share the two pictures I got - I was too busy admiring my new Pyrex to mess with pictures.

The tree with decorations on the top third. 

 

Gracie playing with her magnetic paper dolls.

Zachary building his stuff - definitely the Christmas morning winner!

In my stocking

Zachary is so proud of himself for putting this puzzle together!

My dinner was delicious - BBQ spice rub on a boneless turkey breast - totally the way to do turkey. It was incredibly tender and juicy.  Of course there was mashed potatoes, gravy, macaroni and cheese, broccoli salad, deviled eggs, rolls, corn on the cob, a perfect butterscotch pie (no recipe to share there - sorry - you'll just have to come and visit if you want to taste it), and a burnt apple pie. Which I was totally fine with cutting off the burnt crust edges.

The fun isn't over - we're doing Christmas at Mom's tomorrow night.  I'm super excited about it, and I hope I stop eating long enough to take pictures.

Also I hope I can manage to score a cheeseball somewhere on the way up because otherwise this will be the second cheeseball disappointed Christmas in a row.

Maybe that will be in my stocking next year.

Potty Talk

Potty training - Ihateitwithmywholeheart

Not sure if it's all the Christmas excitement that came to a screeching halt yesterday when I decided November 18-December 26 was a long enough lifespan for the Christmas decorations. But Zach has all but refused to use the bathroom without an unbelievable amount of prompting for several weeks now.

Today I had to sit him on the potty where he had not been since last night - at 12 something today.  He decided to not cooperate in the grossest way possible and peed all over my hand painted mushrooms on the wall.

Should an almost 4 year old have a potty training setback after months of no accidents?

Meanwhile Gracie is so ready to stop wearing diapers, but I'm not sure I'm ready to handle cleaning up potty messes on one hand and reteach Zach how to use the potty in a timely manner again with the other hand. And change diapers with that third hand that is going to magically grow out of my back just in time for the new baby to be born.

Don't look now but I think I captured that elusive waistline on film

I found my camera!

More accurately, Zachary found my camera.  Apparently the place I put it where I'd never forget it and the kids would never find it - was behind this little divider behind my modem and router at the back of the desk.

There's no telling what else is back there.

The desk is the one stationary piece of furniture in the house.  We (meaning Chris) had to screw it back together when we moved in.  We had some friends help us - one being a guy whoI affectionately refer to as The Hulk, or sometimes That Guy Who Made My Dining Room Table Into A True Scratch And Dent Item.

I've been perusing the Craigslist for a new-to-me dining room set for a few months.  I'd like to find an 8 seater normal height table, preferably with a hutch or a buffet included.  We have four chairs, and already have five in our family.  For awhile we had our spare two-seater in the dining room, but I moved it back downstairs.  Since we rarely eat together due to Chris's work schedule, it's pretty much first come first served when it comes to chairs at the table.

So we definitely need more seating at the table, and since my old set is pretty banged up now, I'm tossing around the wording to sell it on Craigslist too.

"Counter-height table for sale. Four chairs. Seats eight but I only bought four chairs. The four chairs we have are encrusted with God knows what.  Needs a power wash and possibly an orbital sander. The bolts holding the legs on the chairs are tenuous at best; my two year old unscrews them at the most inopportune times."

Segway.

So I found my camera.  That black hole behind my desk sucked the camera in sometime after Father's Day. Gracie is so little in that picture.  That dress went to her ankles - now it barely grazes her knees.  I can't bear to part with it though, so it's hanging on the wall in her bedroom.  So I can look at it daily.

Oh, and check out me trying to show off the paint job upstairs.  Sometime in May.  Right before I wasted four months of hard work losing weight and got pregnant again. 

So I took it with me to the annual Ladies Banquet tonight. This was my 13th banquet, and I was so desperate to go I paid a 12-year-old to watch the kids. She was wonderful and she's totally hired.

Forever friends. Oh, and yes that's a blue ribbon on my sweater. I was on a winning team.

Through the fog

Please don't get used to this. I don't know how I got so lucky that my children are settling back down into a normal bedtime routine, but I don't want to count my chickens before they hatch.

Or as a mixed up card of common quotes that my Dad sent me one time said, "Don't count your chickens before they walk a mile in your shoes."

I hadn't mentioned it before because who has time to blog these days when you are so busy living the life - BUT - Zachary had another asthma attack. We're pretty sure it is due to allergies, but I asked the doctor if it was time to maybe put him on a daily medicine to help with that. Now that my child is not blue in the face again, I can step back and see that maybe he just needed a few days of Benedryl. But the doctor was only too eager to comply and gave me samples and a prescription for Singulair.

Maybe your child or you have had great success with this medicine, and maybe it was because Zach isn't dealing with a chronic asthma problem, but this stuff messed him up.

I mean, he could never be accused of being a compliant kid, and he has been sleeping on the floor instead of his toddler bed for almost a year now because he insisted he was "a big boy for to sleep on the floor not in a baby bed."

A few days after the asthma attack and the start of his nightly Singulair, I realized he was being exceptionally ugly.  And not sleeping. Not just the not sleeping well, but in my bed every night. Screaming, crying, nightmares, the whole works. He can be less than cooperative on a good day, but on a day following a night of no sleep which followed a day after the night of no sleep - multiplied by ten or so days and nights - it was awful. He even pushed a kid down at the mall play area, which is highly unusual behavior for him.  And no 3 1/2 year old wants to be told "no," but he would get completely out of control at the smallest confrontation.  He even told me he didn't want to be happy, he wanted to stay sad.

!!!

I called the doctor right away when he told me that, and we took him off of the Singulair. Ten days later we think we are finally getting our kid back. I missed him. And I missed my sleep and peace of mind.

I liked it so I put a Pin on it

I know, right? Two posts in one day.  I attribute my chattiness to the full night of rest I got last night.

It is astounding the amount of energy one has when one is permitted to sleep through the night without the added benefit of a 3 1/2 year old wallowing all over them. Hypothetically speaking, that person might even clean the refrigerator, deep clean kitchen counters, sweep, mop, and *gasp* practice the piano.

Henceforth, one also might be persuaded to actually create something she pinned.

And the speaking of oneself in the third person is getting old.

I saw this mug sweater on Pinterest, and immediately wished I could knit and also wished I could bring myself to use a cup without a top on it in the presence of my children.

Source: ravelry.com via Liz on Pinterest

I remembered that I really can't knit worth blogging about, but I can crochet a little.  So I went in search of a crochet pattern. Pinterest did not disappoint.

Source: micahmakes.com via Liz on Pinterest

Aha.  Free pattern! Just the way I like it! I dug out the solitary skein of yarn that survived the Decluttering O' Winter 2010 and whipped this baby up after having to research crochet pattern abbreviations because I couldn't remember what "sk" stood for.

Isn't she sweet? 

she loves her some Cordy

We added two new family members to our household about a month ago. Nana Crystal joined us for the time being, along with her almost ten year old white English bulldog, Lady Cordelia.

We are all very happy with the whole arrangement.  It has been a long time since I've lived with any family at all, and it is just so great to have another adult around to talk to when Chris is working.  And say what you may about mothers-in-law and their sons - there is no jealousy here.  It makes me very happy when I hear Chris and his mom talking about whatever random stuff they talk about, because he treats her with respect as a mother, and she treats him with respect as a grown son.  We work together dealing with the kids and their various disciplinary needs. We picked up a chair off the side of the road together and readily admitted defeat after twenty minutes of scrubbing. She admires my cooking, and I admire her swift laundry tackling skills.  It is mutual adoration.

And I especially enjoy a dog that I am not personally responsible for, but who comes running to meet me every morning.  Well, as much as a short, fat, and utterly adorable mess of Cordy can run.  It's more of a rapid hop.

Gracie took a few weeks to get used to her.  We are talking full on shrieking and running the other direction any time Cordy dared to move from her cage.

Now we are all the time calling for Gracie to "stop riding the puppy," and "please stay out of Cordy's cage," and "no, Nana will wipe Cordy's nose, you don't have to do that," and any other assortment of two year old adoring the puppy a bit too much comments.

the lion sleeps in the middle of the day, and so I blog

So a couple of weeks ago I got homesick for my people.  Mom & I had a thing to swap, Jessica & I had a thing to swap, so we all met at some outlet stores between hither and yon.

Between the three adults we managed to corral the three young ones with only one injury for the afternoon. That's probably a record. Zach was overzealous in hugging Eva, and the poor girl wound up on the sidewalk. Thankfully Zachary's arms were trapping her into the hug around her , and I think his arms broke the fall.

A few pictures of the kids, those camera hogs ...

Jessica got a greatly over exposed shot, but edited it into my favorite happy picture ever that I show everyone.

Nana sewed the most perfect birthday gift ever, this remnant of orange fleece I picked up over a year ago for less than a dollar - turned into a cape.  Gracie loves it, and it coordinates nicely with a handmedown cordouroy skirt and a yellow turtleneck. She looked like a candy corn, and a little girl in the store said "I love her costume!"  

I didn't get many pictures of the other two playing. Mainly because they would have been a blur, and also I had my eyes fastened on Gracie. This is the largest playset she has attempted, and I was nervous.

Speaking of birthdays, Sissy turned 2 last week!  So hard to believe.  Here is her birthday outfit/present from Mommy.  Target's clearance produced an adorable dress that is elbow length, so I'm totally fine with it for winter. The leggings, not so much. I thought they would fit tighter, and they are more like a 4T than a 3T, so I'll be saving those for next winter. And the shoes. THE SHOES! Fuschia Keds, never worn, at Once Upon A Child for $6.50.  Score. She can put them on herself, and loves them. Double score.  

And here is the birthday girl at her little cake and ice cream party that I refuse to call a birthday ParTay, because a birthday ParTay every year goes against every principle that I have. Also a birthday ParTay requires planned games and a theme and I just don't have the time and energy to do that. I did bake her a cake though.  I tried to make it a hairbow. It looked more like a butterfly. Actually I won't write it out loud on the internet what I thought it looked like once I put two round layer cakes side by side and iced it with yellow icing and no trim decorations, but if you are following that sentence closely at all you can read between the lines and figure out what I thought it looked like.  

Okay, back to the cute little girl in the pink dress - she is taking a picture of me with her Step 2 kitchen phone.  Too cute.

Segway.

We had a no good, terrible, awful, very bad day around here Tuesday, and so I made Chris drag down the Christmas tree and decorations. Someone had to do something to get a smile out of somebody, and snowmen did the trick.  If you look closely, you will note there is not one breakable decoration on that tree. All plastic and paper chains and stockings. It is delightful.  The kids had a fantastic time decorating it to their heart's desire, and smiles were shared by all.  Mission accomplished.

the new thought pattern

Motherhood.

She will cause thoughts to be perfectly acceptable that are otherwise irrational.

It is mid-November, and we set up the Christmas tree and decked the halls last night.  The kids dragged the waterguns in from the garage last night, and there they laid on the floor all night long. Mocking me, because I bought them for the Labor Day picnic that ended up being 60 degrees the day after it was 93 degrees.

It's mid-November, and my first thought when I saw them juxtaposed with the holly jolly living room is "Here's my chance to hide those waterguns!"

If you wonder why I am not blogging, it's because this is what I hear constantly:

"Mom. You need to put my bunk beds in your room for when my friends come over. We can sleep in your room."

fat chance


"Mom. Let's have church.  Ladies and gemmlemen. Let's have a song. *plink plink plink* Okay. Now I will preach. Jesus was a preacher. And then He died. And unrosed! And then there was a storm, and it got a hole in the boat, and Jesus died again." Son, He said 'Peace be still.'   "Yes. He said 'Please be still,' and then we have another song."

"Mom. We need to put the baby's bed in my room. He can't sleep in your room because he needs to sleep in my room."

"Mom. We need to decorate my room and Gracie's room. Come and help me decorate our rooms."

"Nana. Cordy needs a bath. She cannot take a bath in my bathtub. We need a screwdriver to take apart my bathtub and put in a dog bathtub."

ALL DAY LONG.


I don't have room in my brain for adult thoughts.

At least there is Scrabble on my phone. Too bad I can't think of any words longer than 5 letters, because all of the thoughts are sucked out of my brain.

An explanation you will only understand if you are sleep deprived and/or on a sugar high

Neglecting my blog - it's my spiritual gift.

No really, this last month has been ten kinds of crazy. I have bunk beds on one brain track and fixing our missionary wall display on the other brain track. 

Speaking of brain tracks, I had a hilarious dream last night that me, my Dad, my father in law, his wife, my sister in law (who is having a baby! in 6-7 weeks!), and two other random visitors were all taking a road trip on Interstate 70. The road was horrible, and somehow the car got on an old railroad trestle, and SUDDENLY the road stopped and the ancient rusted trestle mechanically moved our car from one side of the road to the other. Thank God I woke up in my own bed all by my own self.

So when things return to normal and I have some before and after pictures to share, I will see you on the other side of the tracks. 

Get it? brain tracks? railroad tracks? see, I'm so distracted I can't even think straight.