Christmas

...It was great... Santa was extremely good and Daddy Dearest was very good to me. I feel bad because he always does more than I do... The kids are not nearly finished with Christmas. We'll head to Amarillo next week to see the rest of the family. We'll have Christmas with both the grandmas and there will be TONS more stuff to haul home! Hopefully, we'll be hanging out with friends in Amarillo on NYE...since the kiddos, our New Year's Eves have been pretty mild, but I wouldn't have it any other way. Here are some pictures of what we've been up to in December...
Dickens of a Christmas
ICE at the Gaylord
Great Wolf Lodge
Polar Express in Palestine
Christmas

Enjoy, not sure if I'll post before we leave, but I'm sure I'll have lots to share after we return!
Happy New Year!!

Change is Coming

Like my new blog look? I worked most of the evening on it. Not sure if it will stay, but it's a start.
I've come to the horribly sad realization that I need to make a major change in my life. Denial is a word I am very familiar with.....I knew that the scales were creeping up instead of down. I knew that I wasn't really watching what I was eating. I knew that my clothes were getting tighter and tighter by the minute. I just kept avoiding the mirror, eating more and more, and shoving those realizations further and further back in my mind. Wanna know what my 'wake-up call' was? I saw a picture of myself and my children and it had a great (disgusting) side view. I nearly cried....it's awful. Something has to change. I know it, I won't deny it anymore. I'm planning on starting a boot camp after the first of the year. I'm also planning to start eating better. Here's where my weakness is. I'm an emotional eater. I eat when I'm happy, I eat when I'm sad, I eat when I'm bored. I eat, just to eat. It totally sucks. I also have a hard time working out. I'm exhausted when I get home and I don't have the motivation to get up early (hear that denial???). However, the class I'm looking into will be in the evenings. I've already worked it out with Daddy Dearest to make sure it's something that can be worked out. I'm going to try to find a sitter to come over on the nights when he's gone, just to make sure I can get there. It's for a month and I am going to start at 3 nights a week. I can do anything 12 times, right?
My point for posting this is to hold me somewhat accountable. So if you know me and you see me, please encourage me! I need all the help I can get! It's pretty sad when a video game (Wii Fit) says your obese and your Mii is fat...ugh!
I promise to post Christmas pictures and stories later....Sweet Pea seems to be recovering quite well, thank goodness!

RSV AND...............

PNEUMONIA....gotta love the winter cold season, right??? My poor baby is so darn sick. The good news is that she isn't acting like she feels bad. It's been a week of struggling to get those breathing treatments in. We wrestle with her, restrain her, sing to her, talk to her, WHATEVER it takes to get her to take the medicine. This morning we headed in for our follow up only to find out that she's not getting better. Um, excuse me??? It was somewhat insinuated that somehow 'we' aren't making sure she's getting all her medicine. Nothing like making a mom who already feels like crap feel even worse about her daughter being sick. Never mind the fact that I've been to their office each week for 3 weeks prior to this trying to get her well. UGH. I adore the pediatrician that is 'ours' in the practice, but I can only see him if I have an appointment scheduled about 3 months in advance. I'd like to book now for March because I know we'll have something come up... I'm not particularly crazy about the other doctors and assistants. They tend to rush through, dismiss my concerns, talk down to me, make crazy insinuations (is that even a word?) like the ones that were hinted at today.... the list goes on. The only reason I haven't left is because just when I think I've had enough, we'll have a visit with the good one and I remember how awesome he is and I keep going back .... What to do, what to do??
Anyways, back to the story.... We gave her two breathing treatments at the office this morning (under the watchful eyes of super nurse and the physicians assistant who has had an abundance of work done), head to Allen for a chest x-ray, rush home to get a 12 pm breathing treatment in, try to get her to eat something, nap for about 30 minutes, have another 3 pm breathing treatment, AND head back to the office for a 4 pm appointment. This time the PA is gone and my least favorite doctor gets to see us. She tells us the bad news on the x-ray, we also find out that part of SP's lung has collapsed, she compares it to the little balloons in her lungs were so full of that thick, yucky stuff, that they just collapsed, poor baby! It's decided that Sweet Pea will have a rocephin shot, continue her breathing treatments, and start 14 days of antibiotics tomorrow. We did spend some time talking about how to get through the next two days, since their office is closed. Kinda scary to be talking about which ER we will go to. Wow. Where did all this go so horribly wrong?
So, we'll try to get through the next few days, praying that the treatments are working and she's getting well. We haven't decided what to do about our trip next week, we need to make sure Sweet Pea is well enough to travel and won't infect all the baby cousins with this lovely sickness!
It's amazing how much better I feel just getting all this 'out there', whew..... I am now vowing to put all this behind me and get into the official spirit of the season~
Happy Holidays, Y'all!

Neglected....

That should be the title of my blog...ugh, sorry. It's that time of the year. I don't even have time to think anymore! We've been really busy. We had a little staycation at the Great Wolf Lodge. Can I tell you that I absolutely LOVE this place?!?
Everyone at my house is kinda teetering on the edge of being sick. Sweet Pea still hasn't recovered completely from her Thanksgiving ear infection. She's been to the doctor twice since then. Turkey Butt has a cough and green nose, but I can give him medicine that seems to help. Last night, Sweet Pea and I were snoozing and I noticed she felt warm...being in the hotel, I didn't have her thermometer. I gave her some Motrin and tried to go back to sleep. My poor baby has been dealing with this cough and nose issue for almost 4 weeks now. On our way home from Grapevine, I called the pediatrician to make an appointment. We went in and I heard those 3 letters that every mother of a little one dreads......
R S V
That's right, my poor baby has RSV, she has breathing treatments almost around the clock and has to stay home for a week. Ugh, I win the award for World's Worst Mother....Never mind the fact that we kept her out of the water and have tried to get this under control for what seems like MONTHS.... Pretty much means my sister and the twins won't be stopping by next week, we just can't take the risk of the babies catching this one... We're just hoping she's well enough to travel after Christmas. Keep your fingers crossed!

Snoopy's Watchin' You!

One of my friends blogged about her latest Christmas Tradition, The Elf on the Shelf. If you have kiddos who tend to be naughty (like my oldest), this is a great motivator for good behavior. I realize the fix is temporary, but times are desperate around here...you can only ground a kid from so many things (DS, TV, Wii, computer, noticing a pattern here?). So, here's the idea, your elf shows up with a book, you read the story and learn that the elf is a special reporter for Santa. At night, your elf flies away to the North Pole to report his findings, returning the next day to continue to monitor things around your house. Each day, the elf finds some new spot from which to observe the daily happenings. You must name your elf, and you can go online and register your elf as well. Our elf is appropriately named Snoopy. He came from Learning Express and was a great investment on our part (Thanks, Daddy Dearest). The first day, Snoopy rested on the mantle. The next day, he was hanging over the lamp in the fan. This morning, we found him perched in the Christmas tree. I'm not sure where he'll be tomorrow. The hard part is going to be be remembering to move him each day so that we can keep this going! My friend and I joked that we need to have some type of alarm so that we can all remember!
Turkey Butt is all into this! He races downstairs to see where Snoopy is hiding each morning! If he starts to act up, I just remind him that someone is taking note of his behavior, works like a charm...

Now, if only Sweet Pea would catch on... the ornaments on the tree have been hauled all over the house. She walks up the the tree and says " oooohwee" and grabs one and runs... The presents barely made it 20 minutes before they had to be put in the closet. The paper and bows won't make it for 24 more days at this rate. Every stuffed 'thing' that we have that plays music or tells the story of The Night Before Christmas has been played AT LEAST a million times (especially that damn snowman that sings Jingle Bells, thanks Memaw). I have managed to locate all the off switches and this does not make the princess happy! She walk around with whatever stuffed noisemaker she can find, grunting until she finds someone to turn it on....usually Daddy Dearest.
Gotta love the holidays, right??