Catchin' up...

Wow...this week has FLOWN! I can't believe Christmas is over already. It was definitely a whirlwind. We celebrated five Christmas' in four days. We didn't plan on doing that at first, but hey...go with the flow!

Well, we listened to the weather reports and decided that it would be better to go back home on Christmas Day. That was the only day that was supposed to be clear. I worked Christmas Eve day. We were low in census, so we were able to "call off" people. It goes by seniority. I was the most senior staff member (also in charge)...I took the last four hours off. It felt a little weird being in charge and sending myself home, but we really needed to get packed up if we were going to leave in decent time on Christmas Day.

Caleb had been looking longingly at the gifts that we put under the tree for like a week before Christmas. I kept telling him that those were for everyone that we were giving gifts too and that he'd get his presents on Christmas. Christmas morning Abby decided she needed to wake up at 430 AM! It took an hour to get her back to sleep. Of course, we couldn't fall asleep after that. Caleb woke up around 615. The first thing he said was "Mom, I think there are presents under the tree!" We got up, got dressed, ate breakfast and opened gifts. That went really fast since Caleb just did one after another. We packed up our final things....the new toys that Caleb got, etc. And hopped in the van to go to my uncle's house in Illinois. So, lunch at my uncle's house and more gift opening that day.





Friday we had "off" since it was originally going to be our travel day. The fog was HORRIBLE. I'm glad we came down the day before.

Saturday, we opened gifts with my parents and brother and sister-in-law. Saturday afternoon (after the kids went to nap), I ran into town to see my friends from high school. We try to get together around Christmas and exchange something small. In years past, we had done ornaments. This year we exchanged Christmas socks. :) You can never have too many socks! Saturday night we went to my grandparents' house. I have a pretty big extended family that tries to get together. There were twenty-three people there, counting the kiddos. I'd call it controlled chaos.





Sunday, we packed up the van and went to Brent's parents' house. It's only about a fifteen minute drive from my parents', so it's nice to be able to see everyone in one trip! Again, we opened gifts and visited with everyone. This was probably the most emotional day for us. It was the first Christmas without Brent's grand-dad. Pretty much everything reminded us of him. There were lots of tears, but lots of smiles too.



We left after supper time to drive back to Wisconsin. We got back in time to get the kids to bed and unload. Brent and I were both supposed to work today, so we wanted to get to sleep as fast as possible.

This morning, we were both up and eating breakfast when the phone rang. It was work. I got called off again!! Or...I should say I got offered the first eight hours off. I have a lot of benefit time still since I never requested vacation time this year. I was on maternity leave when we had to turn in our requests, and I completely forgot. (we always have to turn in our requests by Nov. 15 the year before) I couldn't go back to sleep....so I started unpacking, etc. I helped get the kids off to daycare...and ran errands. I got a ton done, and then when I called work, they said I could have the last four hours off too! Boy, did I need that. It was a really good day off!

I didn't post many pictures this time because I took a couple hundred of them. I uploaded a little over a hundred to my picture page...click on the link on the left of the blog. :)

Yea!!

I got to go home early from work! :) Yippee! Happy early Christmas to me :) I love having seniority!

Gearing up...

Today is the last "sane" day before the holiday rush. Yesterday was my birthday...the first anniversary of my twenty-nineth birthday to be exact. I worked. I was stupid. They called to see if I wanted off. They could only guarentee me the first 4 hrs, so I said I'd come in. Well, I would have ended up with the WHOLE day off...oh well. It was insanely busy, which is weird because they usually stop doing surgeries a while before Christmas so that everyone can be home for Christmas if possible.

Today, I'm watching my friends' son. He's the same age as Caleb, so it's really nice to have a playmate over. The two of them run all over...and Abby tries to keep up. It's great to watch!

Tomorrow I work again...hoping to get off early of course, but not likely to happen.

I think we'll try to drive down to my parents' house on Christmas instead of waiting until Friday. We'll do our family Christmas here and then take off. Friday is supposed to have iffy weather, and I don't want to miss anything.

If we go down on Christmas Day, we'll be at my aunt's for lunch. Then, my brother is coming up on Friday. We'll have probably two Christmas' on Saturdy with a get together with my high-school friends in the middle. Then on Sunday, we'll go over to my in-laws for Christmas there. That means five Christmas' in the next 4 days! WOW.

Today's a bit better...

So, I did convince Brent to stay home. And...he felt fine. :) Anyway...he did decide to run into work to do a few things. The ironic thing is...I don't think he would have gotten our car down the street any earlier anyway. The plow didn't come until 1pm!

Abby's eating a little more...still not feeling 100% though. We'll see.

Ugh!

This has NOT been a fun few days! Tuesday Abby woke up from her nap, having thrown up all over. She proceeded to throw up for the rest of the night too. I couldn't even get Pedialyte in her. Wednesday was my "mommy day." The kids were supposed to go to daycare and I had lunch plans. Well, I obviously had to cancel those and I kept Abby at home. She was doing fine, so I did get some errands done. She didn't eat all day, but at least she drank fluids. She slept through the night...so this morning when she woke up at 4:45, I figured she would just get herself back to sleep....and then I woke up enough to realize that I didn't like the sound of her cry. I went in to her, and sure enough, she had gotten sick again...so I quickly changed her, changed the crib, and she went right back to sleep. I gave her a bath when she woke up.

The morning went pretty well. Abby ate a little bit. Mom and Dad came up because Dad had an appointment with his Parkinson's specialist. He's not doing very well. He doesn't "crash" in between medication doses, but he can hardly talk, and he's stumbling all over. He even ended up falling at home and having the snow blower landing on him...while it was running. He managed to turn it off somehow. Anyway. This is really frustrating. Yes, he is off of two of the Parkinson's meds since having the stimulators placed, but that's not going to help if he can't walk well enough to keep from falling. The last thing he needs is to hit his head or break a hip. Oh...and to top all that off, his arthritis in his shoulders is so bad, he can hardly lift anything. He can barely pick Abby up. (yes, she is over 25 pounds, but still)

So, they left for their appointment, and I got the kiddos down for their naps. Brent comes home from work white as a sheet and saying he's been fighting something off all day. Abby wakes up, we go in to get her...and she has bought herself her second bath of the day...this time, the other end. GIVE ME A BREAK!

Brent couldn't eat anything for supper....then we went downstairs to the family room to play for a while. I brought the kids up for snacks. Brent came up a bit later and ended up passing out in the hallway...right in front of Caleb, which freaked us both out. Now, I'm trying to convince Brent to not go into work tomorrow. That's not going well. He is the only full-timer for the unit right now...and he's doing two people's jobs. Putting that much stress on top of being sick is not a good plan.

My other problem....Brent is sick. We're supposed to get up to a foot of snow tonight/tomorrow. We're supposed to take care of our neighbor's driveway as well as our own. We can use our neighbor's snowblower, but Brent's the one that's used it before. This should be interesting to say the least!

Judging from past times when the whole family has gotten sick, I ususally get it about 3-4 days after Brent. That puts me right into this weekend and Monday. I really don't want to be sick on Monday. That would be a BAD birthday present! I also don't want to be sick on Christmas. This is just horrible timing!

Christmas Cookies...

So, I'd been avoiding doing Christmas cut-out cookies for the last few years....I decided it was too much mess, and Caleb was too little to enjoy it anyway. This year, I broke down, and decided to give it a try. :) Caleb actually did really well. He's hit-and-miss when it comes to being interested in doing projects that I try to plan. He really got into decorating the cookies. Of course, maybe it was the promise of having some for a snack that fueled the interest, but we still had fun! I'm still finding sprinkles all over!



Abby "helped" with the cookies too!



Caleb liked to "paint" with the frosting.



Our finished product.

What a week!

Okay...so this week has been interesting to say the least. Abby's been very....accident prone. And...we've been insanely busy. It could have been more busy...but a few things (of course) happened! So, I worked last weekend...and was able to get off early on Sunday. Monday I was supposed to have a 4 hour class and then be in charge for the rest of my shift. Well, the class was led by the director of surgical/psych nursing...and she happened to be the person that had to escort JCAHO (Joint Commission on the Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations) if they happened to show up that week. Of course, an hour into the class (at 8am) her pager goes off...and "THEY'RE HERE!" Now, for those of you that aren't in the healthcare field, JCAHO is the organization that critiques hospitals, etc. and you have to be accredited to be reimbursed by Medicare, among other things. Just saying the name is like swearing at work. Needless to say, everyone went into a tizzy. We went back to our units. And...since the class was cancelled, by boss put me on "project" time. Basically...I got to help clean up the unit as fast as possible...cross our T's and dot our I's. I was also fortunate enough to not have to take patients the rest of the day. Nice break, let me tell ya!

Tuesday...we're supposed to go to Caleb's ENT appnt. by 8am. I got the kiddos loaded up in the van, and Caleb says "I had a yucky tummy and spit up all over my trucks." I'm like WHAT?!?!?! I ran back inside quick...and nothing. I thought we were safe. I'm running late, so as I'm on hold to tell them that I'm late...I hear that dreaded sound....yup. So, instead of telling them I was late, I had to tell them that I was headed back home. Well...that day just got a little less busy. However...that night, Abby managed to pinch her hand in the bi fold doors and get a pretty good cut on it.

Wednesday...I was supposed to take Dad to our daddy-daughter Christmas shopping that we do every year. Mom called and said to not come due to the snow. I probably would have tried it anyway...but you know parents!! Anyway..it was good I didn't. We got 3 inches here and more down south. I did however, manage to tackle most of our Christmas shopping...

Thursday...I babysat for a friend all day. It was fun for Caleb to have a playmate! Thursday night I wanted to vacuum since I hadn't vacuumed for a few weeks (due to our vacuum dying.) I had just bought a new one. I was downstairs vacuuming, and Brent decided to take Abby upstairs. Well, he forgot to shut the gate at the top of the stairs. This leads to Abby's other accident. She tumbled down the whole flight of stairs. Neither one of us saw how far...I'm assuming she went head first from the top since her sippy cup was on the first step. That was the absolute most awful sound I have ever heard. I turned (since the vacuum was on) and saw her go down the last 5 steps (there were 12). I don't remember what I yelled, but I went running. Abby cried as soon as she got to the bottom of the stairs. She's fine. Just a little bruised and has a cut on her gums. I was a WRECK. Caleb's summary of what happened is "Daddy forgot to shut the gate, Abby fell, Mommy cried." Caleb cried because I cried. Brent was beside himself and had a hard time forgiving himself for forgetting. It was purely an accident...and God definitely kept it from turning out badly! I really thought I'd have a more clear head if something happened. I mean after all...I've assisted in codes at the hospital and kept my cool. It's a completely different ball game when it's my kids.

Friday...nothing big happened, but Saturday we had a White Elephant Christmas Party. It was fun. We actually found a sitter...and the kids didn't run her ragged!

Here are a few pics...



Abby decided she didn't like the feel of snow on her tongue!