Thoughts of a lady trapped in her own home

This has been a January that might live on in infamy, but I do think there is a happy ending somewhere along the line.

It started out with a week of the kids having a cold.  Cold's are manageable, even Eloise is a trooper and still sleeps pretty good, even when she's sick.  

Meanwhile, I'm trying to loose weight.  So I pray for help.  "Please help me to not be so starving all the time and help me control my portions."  I have prayed for help before in this area and I got I HUGE canker sore in my mouth that made it hard for me to eat at all....should have learned my lesson.

The next Tuesday I was excited that I hadn't gotten it and the kids were pretty much recovered, until I felt that tickle in my throat.  NOOOOOOOOO!  You know the tickle.  I started drinking water like it was nobody's business, drank activate C, went to bed early.  Anything to avoid getting sick!  We were hoping to go see our new nephew Ty and we can't go until we're healthy.

Well, I got it (or what I thought was my kid's disease).  Things kept progressing and getting worse and on Thursday night I knew that I had gotten something different.  I was tutoring and I got the chills so bad, luckily my student left and I went and buried myself in a pile of blankets, shaking uncontrollably.  Finally the shivering stopped and my head started on fire, it felt like my eyes would explode.  104.5 was a higher number than I expected and I started taking the drugs trying to get it down.  800mg of ibuprofen and 1000mg of tylenol, alternated got it down in 12 short hours to a lovely 102.

Lets just let it suffice to say that I felt awful for a few days and my appetite all but disappeared.  All I could eat was smoothies and water.  I was SO incredibly grateful that it was the weekend and Zac was there to take care of the kids and house!  I did go to the Doctor and of course it was the influenza virus (you know the one you get the flu shot to avoid? Dang, should have gotten my flu shot!).  Luckily, my kids got flu shots so their chances of getting it were small.

Not small enough though.  Eloise started getting sick AGAIN on Sunday, but her's seems to be a lessened version.  Her fever was low and short lived and her cough doesn't seem too bad.

So between being sick myself and taking care of a sick baby my prayer was answered in a round about way.  After all that light eating, my stomach has shrunk!  I can't eat as much in a sitting and I'm in the habit of drinking more water.  Although, I still think it will be a while before I pray for help with weight loss again.  :)

So between 3 different bouts of sickness I have have left the house 3 times in about 2 weeks.  Once to go grocery shopping, once to go to the doctor, and once to get Teagan from preschool.  I was going CRAZY CRAZY!  I wanted to leave so bad, but now that I was better the kids were too sick.  Yesterday I told Zac my craziness and he stayed with the kids while I went out and had a PARTY!

First stop, Wells Fargo.  Deposited a check and talked to adults!

Next, the mall, to return clothes at Old Navy and The Children's Place for my kids.

Next, Walmart (could this night get any more exciting?!?!)

As I was going to the checkout line I had the feeling that I should go to the speedy checkout line, didn't know why, but I changed lines and walked over there, only to find myself behind a young lady who was trying to buy her goods and couldn't get her debit card to work.  I've been there and it's embarrassing so I was trying to not look at her and I was acting like I didn't notice that it was taking a long time.  Finally, they put her order on hold and I heard her say "I'm so sorry, we just got new cards and I don't know what my husband put for the pin."  Apparently, if you guess too many times they shut your card down so this poor woman was going to have her husband come and pay for her stuff.  I have been in that position before and it's AWFUL.  I saw her bag, it had two bags of off brand hamburger buns in it and I got a huge smile on my face.  I asked the clerk if it was just the buns (it was) and had her put it with my stuff.

The lady was so happy and grateful, the clerk was so excited, and I was so excited.  I couldn't wipe the smile off of my face the whole way home.  It just feels so darn good to do something for someone that they can't do for themselves.  That was exactly what I needed.  I needed some high quality adult human interaction, and it only cost $2!!!!  If all good deeds were that simple and inexpensive I think we would all do a lot more of them!

In all of this madness I kind of had an epiphany last night on the way home from Walmart.  Prayer is the real deal.  If you pray for help with something, or anything and it is reasonable, Heavenly Father will help you.  Sometimes the help is in unexpected ways (like getting the flu or a bad canker to aid weight loss), but it still counts.  I'm sure that girl was praying her mind out to help her figure out her pin and hoping that her husband would pick up his phone and I (someone who desperately needed to do service for someone) happened to be behind her in line.  There is a master plan and Heavenly Father is upstairs monitoring every aspect of it helping us all be at the right place at the right time.

I'm so happy to be a part of this world, it really is fantastic.

Almost Walking

Eloise is such a little darling these days.  She will stand on her own for 5-10 seconds all the time now, but she's only tried to take a step a couple times and she just plummets, I find her so very sweet.  She was standing in this picture long enough for me to take a picture and then switch to video mode and take the video right below....I think we'll have a walker on our hands pretty soon.

Try to ignore her fussiness, she did not want a photo shoot, she wanted to go to bed, so no smiles today.

She is a ham and will wave and give a big goofy grin to anyone.  

Her favorite toys these days are socks, the end of a baby medicine syringe, fluffy blankets, zhu zhu pets, Teagan's super heroes, and anything that plays music.  

She loves music.  She dances and claps her hands when she hears and loves playing the piano.

She has started to throw mini tantrums.  They are so out of character though, that they just make me laugh.  Reasons she throws a "tantrum"- If I shut the dishwasher, put her binkie in her bed, take away scissors (or any dangerous item), put her down when she's tired....I should probably get a tantrum on video so we can remember how quiet and short they started.  

She says mamamamamama (which means mom, I want some milk!!!!  It's kind of a cry) and I can tell she is trying to say other things, but we can't understand anything yet.  

She will be 1 in six short weeks.  I can't believe how fast the time has flown by!  She has brought so much happiness into our home, she is just a little ray of sunshine.

Winter Fun

Entertainment when it is -10 outside is difficult.  We were getting stir crazy (already!  I know, it's only January 15th!) so when we had a warm (ish) day we were so excited.  I shoveled the walk and Teagan played and pretty soon the whole neighborhood was over.  

Eloise woke up and Teagan begged me to bring her out.  They both LOVED being pulled in the sled by me.  Eloise was giggling so much.

She didn't love it as much when Teagan was pulling and left her in a snow pile with snow all over her face.  But, as always she was quick to forgive and forget.

 Happy little snow bunny, just don't take her out of the sled!

Now that the temperatures have dropped we stretch our imaginations to find fun activities.  The latest fun has involved turning on all of the zhu zhu pets (little motorized mouse/dog toys) and setting them free in the kitchen.  Eloise tries to knock them over and Teagan tries to keep all of them going.  This is the first time they've really "played" together.  Both laughing and having fun.  As annoying as it is to have those things constantly under my feet, I love to see them having fun!

 We've been sick these last few days, today I witnessed a beautiful thing:
Teagan: "Mom, can me and Eloise watch Mickey Mouse?"
Me: "Sure"
He got the movie all set up by himself (I'm not proud that he can do that)
Eloise: crawls (so fast it's almost running!  lol) over to him, pulls herself up on him and reaches for him to pick her up.
Teagan: picks her up and sits her down on the couch and invites her to watch the movie with him and "snuggle"

They sat like this for probably 10 minutes, it was so sweet.  (Aren't they're outfits stellar???  Teagan picked them both out.  :)

It helps me forget the time earlier today when Eloise was standing on his blanket and he yanked it out from under her and she fell HARD on her head.  I'm sure he didn't think it through, but I'm starting to see hints of sibling rivalry coming out as Eloise becomes more mobile and more opinionated.   Luckily they're best friends most of the time.

Last night Teagan was so furious because Eloise was wrecking his hot wheels track so I helped him solve the problem by blocking Eloise into the kitchen using a line of laid down kitchen chairs as a fence.  Eloise promptly pulled herself up on a chair and waved at him and was "talking to him."  After about one minute of playing alone he couldn't resist anymore and he made a secret entrance and taught her how to get over to where he was.  It was fantastic.

I'm so glad they have someone to play with these days, they are buddies and it is wonderful.

The big 5!

Teagan had his birthday on December 26th.  This year we decided to skip the half birthday and celebrate on the real day.  It was pretty low key.  The night before (Christmas) we put him to bed and then hurried and took down our Christmas decor and decorated for his birthday.  He was so excited when he woke up that it was special for his day.

 We let him open his presents right away, you'd think he was sick of opening presents after Christmas, but he somehow was still just as excited for more.

"What's heavy heavy hangover???"

 Best game ever!!!  He thought the whole smacking the present on your head thing was hilarious!

 He's been begging for play doh for quite some time now, it's probably been a couple years that he asks and I just say no.  Mostly because I hate the stuff, but we finally relented and he was thrilled.  Play doh Chuck the dump Truck toys entertained him pretty much all day.  It was fabulous.

 We went to blast off with his cousins and the highlight was when Uncle Jake and his buddies gave Teagan ALL of their tickets that they won playing skee ball.  It was around 600 so he got to pick out lots of fun stuff.

Forever he's been asking for a superman cake.  He changed last minute to Iron man, I promptly forgot and still made the superman cake.  Ooops.  He just laughed and said "Mom, I thought you were going to make an Iron Man cake"  Me: "oh yeah! I forgot!" Teagan: "It's okay, I love Superman too!"  Bless his sweet little heart.

Teagan is such a fun and sweet boy.  We love him so much and can't get enough of his hilarity.

Some Highlights:

-He has developed an awesome sense of humor.  He is constantly doing and saying funny little things to trick us or make us laugh.  I'm so glad he's trying to move past the hitting-himself-in-the-face-to-make-us-laugh stage.  Still does it to make friends laugh, but he's developing a much more keen sense of humor for us.  I wish I could remember more of the funny stuff he says.

-He is the BEST older brother to Eloise.  He is super protective.  The other day I was changing her diaper and she was trying to crawl away and used my serious voice and held her down and told her to stay (I wasn't hurting her, but she screamed like I cut off a limb).  Teagan comes running in "Mom!  You can't hurt my sister!"  I explained to him and he promptly ran for her favorite toy that plays music and proceeded to sing and dance for her until I finished.  She, of course, cheered right up.  This sort of thing is a daily occurrence.  He is very aware of her needs and where she is at and is constantly protecting her from falling down the stairs, eating small foods, climbing in the dishwasher, playing in the toilet, feeling sad for any reason...  She adores him for it.  I hope that they are always best buddies!

-He is learning to read.  I love seeing him figure out words and learn, it is so magical.  We have some great book sets that we use and then we read the scriptures every night and on his turn we just help him and it takes about 5 minutes for his turn.  He loves being read to as well.  His favorite series this year was "The Mouse and the Motorcycle" series.  Me and Zac are loving it too!  He really wants us to read Harry Potter, but I'm holding off until he is a little older and has had more practice listening.

-His favorite toys to play with these days are his transformers from Christmas.  Before that he was obsessed with little legos and building things with them (usually some form of a transformer).  He loves to play superheros, but we're trying to steer him towards less violent activities.

My favorite time with him is when we are reading books together.  We snuggle on the couch and sometimes 10 minutes turns into an hour or two.  I love it so much.  Sometimes I don't really know how to relate to that wild child, but we both love  books and stories and I love having that to share with him.

I can't believe he's 5!  He is growing and changing so fast and the more I get to know him, the more I love that little man.

Christmas

 We had a wonderful holiday season.  It was so great and so busy.

The Real Santa came to preschool and the kids got to sit on his lap.  At the first of the season Teagan was asking for "All of the transformers and all of the superheros" so I talked to him about being greedy vs grateful for anything.  It was so sweet to hear him tell Santa, "I changed my mind, I just want one transformer now."

 This is a good time for me to insert my opinion...what kind of a generation are we creating that thinks they can ask Santa for anything under the sun and he always brings it, that's not magic, that's greedy.  When I was a kid I didn't ask for anything (I did when I started getting older), but I just remember being so excited to see what he was going to bring.  It was always so magical because he always found the PERFECT present.  There were no long lists of requests, we just waited to see what we got and  I think it was more magical than getting exactly what you ask for.

Anywho...we had lots of Christmas parties, one with friends, one at my Dad's house (no pics...) and an Ugly Sweater Party with my mom at our house....all in one week and it was a little too much, next year we need to spread it out or combine it all in one because we were spent.

Teagan and his cousins performed "Up on the Housetop."  It was so cute.

 He also did a trumpet solo, he practiced all day.  It was beautiful.

 We only got to have my mom for a couple days, but we loved it while she was here!  This was Christmas Eve.

The highlight for me was Teagan's preschool program.  My aunt does such a good job with all the kids.  The outfits alone were fabulous.  Teagan loved performing for us and Grandma and Grandpa Daniels.  

 Our cute Christmas kids on the Sunday before Christmas.  I can't believe Eloise has already mastered the cheeser smile.  Teagan insisted on a red vest with a green tie for a few Sundays leading up to Christmas, a boy after my own heart.

Christmas morning was a blast!  Santa built some stuff out of legos to show off the presents, he LOVED it!  

 The pre-runing downstairs crew.  

Teagan was SO excited to see that he got the transformer he asked for (maybe I'm wrong about the whole getting what you ask for thing because he was thrilled).

I think Ellie was really excited to be standing up, the shopping cart was nice too.

They both got new winter hats, you can see Teagan's in the back.  Love those kiddos!

After we opened presents and had breakfast we went up to Teton Valley to spend the day with the Daniels' family.  Ellie sure loves her grandpa, I wish I had taken more pictures.  We all had a great time having a delicious dinner and playing "the game of things."  

This year I think we learned that you don't have to do everything with everyone at Christmas time.  It's just too much and hard to remember the real reason that we celebrate Christmas.  I'm not sure how, but next year I want to put a LOT more focus on the birth of our Savior and a lot less on all the "stuff" of the season.  More time with my sweet kids and amazing hubby.

BFFs in the making

I love my kids, they are fabulous.    

Teagan was chatting with me the other day and told me "Mom, I have fallen in love with Ellie, I think I will marry her."  Then he started cracking up, "no, I can't marry her, she is my sister, but I am in love with her."

He is the BEST big brother, he always tries to make her happy and loves to play with her.  She is completely obsessed with everything he does.  She laughs at him all the time and recognizes him as the silly little boy that he is.  These pictures were from a week or two ago.

 Eloise thinks it's hilarious when she stands and he holds her hands, she just giggles and thinks it's so silly.

 I catch him kissing and hugging her and telling her she is so cute.  This is probably not going to be cute forever, like when he's 20 and she's 16, but for now it is my favorite part of the day.

 Sliding on the pillow across the kitchen proved to be a very effective form of entertainment for both kids.  They were both cracking up.

 This last week Ellie had a fever for several days (and nights, let us not forget those blessed feverish nights).  I was trying to make dinner and she just wanted to be cuddled, but when she wants to be cuddled ALL day I have to put her down eventually.  I asked Teagan to keep her company and she was content just to have him sitting there by her.  She kept putting her foot on Teagan's forehead and cheeks and he would move it and she'd put it right back up.  It was the cutest thing, I wish I had a video.

This is our Chevy Chase Christmas house, Zac has worked tirelessly to get all the lights to work without flipping the breaker.  It's been a rather comical week with the lights flipping on and off.  haha

Happy Holidays everyone!

My Sweet Girl

This little girl is growing and changing so fast.  She is such a wonderful part of our family.  Any of the other 3 of us can be intolerably grouchy and she comes into the room and just melts all of the grouchiness away with her smile.  When she sees us for the first time when she wakes up she smiles with her whole body.  Her face and eyes smile, she crunches up her body and she waves her arms like crazy.  

If Zac has a rough day at work he'll come in and I can tell he is discouraged or just exhausted and Eloise sees him and she does her whole body smile and you can see his rough day fading away and after a quick snuggle he's happy as a lark.  She really has the sweetest little spirit and there is something about her that just brightens life.  I have no idea what we would do without her!  

Her favorite toys are the lego train tracks, she chews on them and drools until she's soaked. 

 She is getting eerily close to crawling.  I'm really excited, but also nervous about the fact that we have little stuff all over the place that she could choke on.  Time to baby proof!

She's started doing pushups...seriously I think she is stronger than I am!

We love her to pieces, she is such a darling!

Other items of importance that I want to remember:

-She does the sign for milk when she wants milk and while she's having a bottle or nursing, it is so sweet.

-She got has two teeth that are all the way in, love them.

-She loves solids, especially peas, bananas, tomatoes (crazy!), celery sticks (thanks Shelly for introducing her!), and ice cream (shocker).  

-Teagan is her favorite person still.  He walks in and she is already jumping and laughing to see him.