Boo-hoo.

Christmas is over AND we didn't get the big snowstorm I was eagerly anticipating.  Bummer!  Not to mention, all the delicious holiday food and goodies I've been consuming are now firmly attached to my hips and waist.  Blah!

Day with Grandma and Grandpa

We spent a fun day at Grandma and Grandpa's house.  Nolan spent pretty much the entire day playing with Grandpa's "big train" and some of Grandma's silver Christmas bells.  He is completely entranced and mesmerized by the train and can't get enough of it.

 just watching...

 Mr. Engineer hard at work.  Note his two very important bells.

 

The people getting in a line.

Baking with Grandma.

Time for a little rest with Grandpa.  (Even bear looks like he's resting.)

Reading Grandma's fun Christmas pop-up book.

Relaxing by the "fire."  Almost as mesmerizing as the train.

Health update

So the supposed ear infection seemed to resolve itself.  He complained about it again yesterday morning, but has been fine since then.  Strange.  Marco has a bad head cold and stayed home from work yesterday so I guess that can be added to "the list."  ha!

I suppose I don't have much more interesting than our boring health issues to write about.  Haven't taken many pictures lately.  I think I am finished the shopping and have actually started wrapping.  So early for me!  Just waiting for the kids to settle down and get to sleep so I can get back to it.  I'm determined to not be wrapping at midnight on Christmas Eve as per usual.

The good and the bad

So the good news is both kids went to school today!  First time in almost two weeks that they both went on the same day.  woo-hoo!  I got some much needed last minute shopping and errands accomplished.  The bad news is Nolan said his ear was hurting when he went to bed.  I tried some ear drops that I bought back when he was a baby, that are supposed to relieve the pain.  He woke up crying in pain about two hours later so I gave him ibuprofen and he did go back to sleep.  I tried a warm washcloth and a heating pad, but he wanted nothing to do with either of those.  I had to go back and tally.  In the past two months our household has seen:

• stomach bug (x 3)
• croup
• bronchitis
• ear infection
• impetigo
• week-long flu-like illness with cough and high fever
• shorter, milder version of above flu
• ear infection round 2 (I'm assuming?)

Crazy, especially since prior to October, according to my records, our last illness was way back in February.

Gingerbread Train

After several weeks of torturing Nolan by making him wait, we finally had a chance to build our gingerbread train this past weekend.  Perfect activity for a cold, rainy Sunday.  Can you tell Karly has a fever?

 Ready to start!

The train is built.

Time to decorate.

Oops, guess I'll have to eat this icing on my finger.

 

 Working hard.

Choo-choo!!!

Today's status

Things are looking a little better around here. I think Karly will actually be able to go back to school tomorrow finally (assuming school is open that is!), after a whole week at home. Good thing because we're all getting a little stir crazy. She was fever-free all day and the cough sounds like it is loosening up and is less "tight" and barky. Nolan had a fever all day, but he wasn't acting too sick and so far only has congestion in his nose. Cautiously optimistic that the daily Pulmicort he has been on will do the trick to prevent the wheezing and chest congestion.

I just realized I did not even think to take a single picture of the season's first snowfall today! How did that happen?!

Are you kidding me???!!!

The day started at 6 am this morning when Karly woke both of them up with an hour long coughing attack. Her temp was slightly high this morning when I checked it, so I checked Nolan's for comparison to see if that was normal.  His was higher - 101!  AARGHH!  Then he started sounding all gurgly and burpy like he was about to throw up.  That seems to have stopped, but this is how things are looking here at the moment: 

 

He is not a happy camper and is actually trying to sleep on the sofa right now. I am bummed that he is going to miss the Christmas program at his school today. But all I ask really is that nobody throws up!

Weekend Activities

Saturday morning we had our long-awaited Santa Train ride.  I missed getting tickets last year because they sold out so quickly.  This year I was online literally the minute they went on sale and I was still a little panicky thinking I might not get them!  Nolan was really excited, Karly not so much.  It was fun, not too crowded, and the one hour trip was just the right length of time.

Waiting in line.

The Train!

Here we go!

Santa is on board!

Afterward, we went out to eat at one of our old favorites - El Paso.  We used to go there a lot, but haven't been much recently.  It was good and we enjoyed the lunchtime prices!

Karly had a birthday party to attend that afternoon that she had really been looking forward to.  It was a combo swimming and ice skating party.  She had a fever, which had started the day before, but strangely and amazingly enough she felt perfectly wonderful when it was time for the party.  I'll probably get the degenerate Mother of the Year award for this one, but I did let her go and she rallied and had a great time.  I did make her skip gymnastics, so maybe I get a little credit for that at least?

Marco and Nolan came along too for some swimming fun.

On to ice skating!

On Sunday she still had a fever and it got up to 105, but thankfully it came down quickly with ibuprofen.  The fever finally broke today, but I ended up taking her in just to be sure everything was ok.  As usual, good thing I did - he was not happy with the sound of her cough and chest.  She is back on Pulmicort with the addition of Singulair (both through the winter), plus Xoponex, Robitussin and nasal saline as needed til she is better.  At least she didn't need an antibiotic.  She had been doing so well for the past 6 months with no meds or anything I was really thinking we wouldn't be going down this road yet again.

Junie B. Jones

Karly's favorite book came to the theater!  We went to see Junie B. Jones on stage with several of her friends over the Thanksgiving weekend.  I thought the show was really well done, very true to the book, and pretty funny!  I'm not sure who enjoyed the show more - me or Karly or mom, who bought a ticket at the last minute and joined us as well.  She got a cheap seat way up in the nosebleed section, while we were all down closer to the stage.   We were laughing imagining what people around her must have thought seeing the lady sitting in the back having a great time at the children's show all by herself!    

 Waiting for the show to start.

After the show, we decided to all go out to eat nearby.  We ended up at Bertucci's after we found out there would be an hour and a half wait for Cheesecake Factory.  We had a lovely time in spite of the extremely slow and inattentive service.  I was a little stressed as Marco had been home with a sick Nolan since lunchtime and didn't sound too happy when I called to say we wouldn't be home til pretty late.  They survived of course and Nolan was asleep by the time we got back (albeit in his clothes). 

What a beautiful and sweet group of girls!

More Thanksgiving

We celebrated an early Thanksgiving with Marco's family on the Sunday before Thanksgiving.  We took way more pictures at this gathering.  Here are just a few.

 

 

 

Thanksgiving

It turns out we took a whopping 3 pictures on Thanksgiving, so here you go!

Chillin' out with puppy and key-key