Tag: Family

The Week (and 1/2) That Was

Published by dee on July 15, 2009

The last week and a half or so has been a lot of fun mixed with a lot of terrible. It all started the Friday before the 4th when (on my day off) I decided Evie needed to go to the doctor. She had some spots on her chest that originally looked like bug bites, but they kept getting more and more red and didn’t seem to be going away. She had also been sneezing quite a bit but we’re having major allergy issues right now so I blew that off. The doctor diagnosed her with a bacterial infection for the spots on her chest and prescribed her both a topical antibiotic and an oral antibiotic.

That afternoon we had an appointment to have Zach’s 4-year portraits taken. By the time we got there, Evie was a mess. The portrait studio was running behind schedule and it ended up taking nearly three hours from start to finish. By the time we left Hubby was cranky, the kids were cranky, and Evie was running a fever and had green stuff oozing from her nose and eyes. We should have just stopped then and gone home, but we were all hungry and Zach had been promised a trip to Target to spend his birthday money.

We celebrated the 4th with my family at Grandma’s where the kids got to swim in the pool. Fortunately, Evie was feeling a bit better. We celebrated our country’s Independence Day by eating tons of Mexican food, including Hubby’s homemade guacamole and salsa (yum!). Then we headed to Corporate Woods to enjoy the fireworks, though we weren’t sure we would even see anything through all the clouds. The kids loved the fireworks, but Zach decided about halfway through that they were too loud.

Sunday was a catch up/run errands/do laundry/snuggle with sick kid kind of day. It ended up being much busier than I had planned. It wasn’t a bad day though, until I realized that Evie’s Motrin had worn off and she still had a fever. That didn’t exactly bode well for heading back to work Monday morning.

Evie ended up at work with me Monday because I had things that just had to be done at the office. I worked as long as I could before she started getting too cranky then brought her home so she could get some sleep and I could do a little more work. Tuesday I ended up staying home with her, since her fever was still up. I was hoping that giving her a day to rest would help her recover, but the darn fever just wouldn’t come back down. Wednesday my sister took both kids so I could work and Thursday Evie was back at work with me. Her fever finally broke at some point on Thursday and I was thrilled to finally be able to take her back to day care on Friday after an entire week of fever.

Friday night was what I had been both waiting for and dreading all week. I picked the kids up, drove to my sister’s house, dropped the kids off with my BIL and Mom and headed out for a night out with the girls. It was for a friend’s bachelorette party and even though I knew I would have fun, I was pretty worn out from the week. The party ended up being a blast, just as I expected. We rented a party bus that drove us around all night while we consumed adult beverages, listened to music, danced, and chatted. We stopped off at a couple of bars, but mostly enjoyed our time together on the bus.

The next morning, we packed up and drove to Springfield where we joined my cousins, Aunt and Uncle for their annual 4th of July bash. They always have a huge BBQ and then my cousins put on an amazing fireworks display. The kids loved getting to see fireworks again and I really enjoyed seeing some of my extended family. The best part was getting to meet my cousin’s two week old baby boy, Kyler. He is just precious and instantly gave me that sad “I don’t have a baby anymore” feeling. I didn’t get to hold him for long since Evie was practically attached to my hip all night, but the few minutes of baby snuggling I got in made the drive all worth it!

The other nice part of the trip was getting to see my Grandma. She has been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s so I’m never really sure what to expect when we’re around her, but she did seem genuinely happy to see all of us even if she couldn’t remember exactly who everyone was. I really wish I would have gotten a picture of her holding baby Kyler, but I already had my camera put away by the time she got her hands on him.

We didn’t check out of our hotel until almost noon on Sunday, stopped to eat and let the kids play at Incredible Pizza, then set out for the drive home. By the time we got to my house I felt like I needed another weekend to recover before heading back to work, but that just wasn’t an option. So far this week I’ve done nothing but play catch-up on the things I wasn’t able to finish last week and there’s a lot more left to do. I’d give just about anything for a long nap.

(Yes, super long post, I know. I just needed to get it all down. But at least I gave you pictures to look at!)

Comments closed

A Much Needed Vacation

Published by dee on June 23, 2009

So I know it’s been like two weeks since I updated this thing, but I have good reasons. I was on VACATION! A glorious, relaxing, no-internet kind of vacation. We drove down to Texas to attend Hubby’s cousin’s wedding (with no A/C in the car!) which was fabulous. Then spent the next week just chilling out at a cabin on Lake O’ The Pines with the in-laws. We had so much fun. Evie loved playing with her cousin Mikayla. Zach got to go fishing for the first time with Papa. We all went swimming in the warm lake water, rode around on a pontoon boat, relaxed, and just enjoyed each other’s company. It was just what we needed.

I took about a bazillion photos (ok, more like 500) which you can see the best of on Flickr, but here are a few of my favorites:

Jason & Chelsea saying their “I Do’s”

Evie & Daddy

Hubby with his Dad and Brother

Zach Fishing

Evie begging for “up”

My beautiful niece Mikayla

Zach on the boat

This week we’re adjusting back to our “normal” schedules, catching up on tons of laundry, and preparing for another quick trip out of town and a big birthday party this weekend. I’m hoping things will slow down soon so I can get back to regular posting here. However, it appears that while we were gone my baby girl turned 15-months-old and somehow my other baby is turning 4 years(!) old on Friday, so you can expect some mushy Mama stuff the rest of the week!

Comments closed

Summer Goes Too Fast

Published by dee on May 27, 2009

What? You say it’s been a week already since I posted last? Nonsense. Oh, wait. It has. Let’s just say I’ve been a little busy. It’s not even officially summer yet and I already feel like it’s almost gone. We’re hitting that fun time of year when Hubby’s work suddenly picks up and he works late nearly every night. This leaves me to try to cook dinner by myself for two little screaming banshees who are starving when I pick them up from day care. Then they must have baths because they are filthy from playing outside in the dirt. Then they want to watch TV, read books, wrestle, hold me, play games, have a snack, and all kinds of other requests, cleverly delaying bed time because it isn’t dark yet! Therefore, bed time gets pushed back nearly every night almost an hour past when it should be which means that I lose my precious me time and by the time I do get there my brain is fried. Oh, and on top of that Evie is cutting her molars (3 in one week!) and has been more cranky and clingy than usual too.

(They’ve been very lovey with each other lately)

I have all these post ideas in my head, but I just can’t seem to find the time or the mental energy to get them out. I owe Miss Evie a 14 month letter, which I have started and can’t seem to finish. I have several one line drafts that haven’t progressed at all. Plus, I started thinking about the fact that Zachary will be 4 years old next month and I am sitting around wondering how in the heck that happened? He was just a baby, like last week right? And holy cow, I have another birthday party to plan and haven’t even started!

Regardless of how stressed out I am, we did manage to cram in some fun over Memorial Day weekend (which is the real point of this post). Thanks to Jenny over at Savvy Source, we got some free tickets to Jiggle Jam. We took the kids on Saturday, which just happened to be probably the hottest day of the year so far. Besides the fact that we spent the entire day melting in the sun, we had a lot of fun. Evie loved the music and Zach enjoyed playing in the bounce houses and fountains. We met up with Cagey and her two adorable kiddos for a while, which I really enjoyed. It was great to see them outside of the computer screen for a change! The kids’ babysitter, her sister, and nephews were there as well and we enjoyed visiting with them too.

Evie likes bellies. Anjali is not amused!

On Sunday, we headed up north to visit my dad and his wife at her parents’ home. They were staying there for the weekend and invited us up for a BBQ. My brother and sister and their families were there as well and we had a great time playing with the kids and just enjoying each other’s company.

Monday we stayed home and celebrated Memorial Day by cleaning the house. Exciting, huh? It had to be done, so it was nice that we had an extra day to fit it in.

Oh, and I should also mention that I read an entire book over the weekend. I only mention it because this is not something I normally do. It usually takes me about a month to find the time to read an entire book. This one, however, I just could not put down. Now I can’t wait to get my hands on the follow-up. I’ve been doing a lot more reading lately and I’m really enjoying it. I guess it’s the one good thing that comes from Hubby staying up late at night playing WoW.

And a few more pics for good measure…

My adorable niece, Caitlin

The girls messing up the T-ball game

A cute picture turned into an awesome picture thanks to the editing skillz of my friend Jen

P.S. If you’ve made it this far, then please go check out my latest review and giveaway! It’s a perfect gift for the little girl in your life! (Yes, family members can enter too!)

Comments closed

A Long Week

Published by dee on April 23, 2009

Last Tuesday, April 14, 2009, we got the call that Hubby’s grandfather had passed away. It didn’t really come as a surprise as his health had been failing for quite a while. While death is never a happy occasion, I have to say that I’m very glad that he is no longer suffering and has moved on to a better place.

I didn’t know Papop very well, but I’ll never forget the way he welcomed me with open arms when we were first introduced. He always made me feel welcome and loved both in his home and his family. Papop could build anything. He nearly doubled the size of his house with all the additions he made. He was well known in the community and even added an office onto his home (with an outdoor entrance) for his Notary services. He was also a very proud Veteran who served his country.

With heavy hearts Hubby and I loaded up the car on Wednesday for the long drive to Louisiana. The trip took a little longer than expected, but after a few hiccups, we arrived in Kaplan Thursday afternoon just in time to change clothes and head to the funeral home for visitation.

The funeral service was Friday, complete with a military salute. It was a nice service, although I missed quite a bit of it because I had to take Evie out when she started getting noisy. Tears were shed and love was shared.

The most difficult part for me was trying to explain to Zach what was going on. While he seemed to understand, he kept asking me when Papop would “get his life back”. The concept of forever is apparently still hard for him to grasp. I’m guessing it will take a while for it all to sink in.

Hubby and I decided to stay through the weekend and spend some time with the family that we rarely get to see. This was indeed the best part of the trip. We really enjoyed getting to visit with everyone and especially enjoyed getting to meet our 3-month-old niece, Maggie. Zach and Evie got to play with all of their cousins on that side of the family and they thoroughly enjoyed it.

The downside of the trip was that we discovered we were in dire need for new tires and ended up having to purchase them while we were there. We had to buy two and will have to replace the other two (along with fixing the air conditioner) before our next trip planned in June.

All in all the trip was bittersweet. We loved getting to spend time with our family, but sad that another member of it was gone.

We got home Monday night at midnight, unloaded the car and went straight to bed. There is so much to catch up on after being gone for nearly a week. I have yet to even unpack our bags. My house is a disaster. I’m behind at work. I still haven’t caught up on sleep. Oh, and Evie is suddenly super clingy which doesn’t help with the whole catching up thing.

One thing I have been reminded of this week though, is to be thankful for everything I have. I have a wonderful husband, two amazing kids, family that is always willing to help out when I need it, and loving in-laws that I wouldn’t trade for the world. In the big scheme of things, that’s all a person really needs.

p.s. I’m way behind on posting over there, but have a great giveaway going on over on my reviews page!

Comments closed

A Weekend At Home

Published by dee on January 26, 2009

This weekend my family did something that I can’t recall doing in a very long time – we stayed home. I honestly cannot remember the last time that we stayed home for an entire weekend and now that we’ve done it I hope to make it a priority a little more often. We did leave for about an hour to go to church on Sunday and Hubby had to go to work for a couple hours, but that was it. No errands, no restaurants, nothing. We spent time as a family at home.

During our weekend at home, we cooked every meal (if you count making PBJ’s as cooking!). This is quite an accomplishment as we generally eat out (or order in) at least twice on the weekends. Friday night we usually go out for a nice family meal, then end up grabbing fast food as we’re running errands or on our way somewhere on Saturday or Sunday. Even when my mom tried to tempt me with Mexican food and margarita’s I held onto my reserve. Not only did we eat every meal at home, but I also made cupcakes (requested by Zach) and brownies (requested by Hubby) from scratch. This was in part due to the new budget I’m trying to get us on and in part due to my goal of cleaning out the pantry. It is amazing how much food I have horded in there!

On Saturday I spent some time cleaning and organizing the kitchen, putting laundry away, and just general tidying up so that I had the evening free. I spent lots of time loving on my kids and I gave my blog a fresh new look for the second time in as many days. I hated the first version but so far still like this one. (If you’re in a feed reader you might want to click over and take a look!)

As I mentioned above, on Sunday we went to church. We’re currently on the search for a new church (we still haven’t really found one since my dad moved away in June) so we decided to try out a small church in our neighborhood. I’m still a little on the fence about the church we went to. I didn’t just love it, but I didn’t hate it either. I think we need to go a few more times before I can decide. Zach, on the other hand, was asking if we could come back again before we were even out of the building, so there’s that.

Zach really enjoyed playing with the other kids at church, which brings up a question. Do you keep your kids with you during the church service or send them to a nursery/children’s church? I have struggled with this ever since Zach was a baby. I prefer to have my kids in church with me. They make a little noise, but I think that if you want them to learn how to behave in church, they have to be in church. When we first arrived at the church on Sunday we were told there was a nursery available. I thanked the lady and told her that I prefer to keep the kids with me. Then part way through the service the children came up (from the nursery) to assist with a “noisy offering”. The same lady came by and asked Zach to join them which he did happily. Then when it was all over she asked him if he would like to go back downstairs with them. Of course he said “Yes!” so she told me that he was going with them.

I didn’t really mind him going, but I was a little unhappy that the lady totally disregarded the fact that I wanted him to stay in church. I certainly didn’t want to cause a scene by saying he coulnd’t go so I let him go with her and the other kids. If he was acting up or being noisy I would have taken him down there myself, but he was being very well-behaved. I wanted him to stay in church where he might learn something rather than go downstairs where he could run around and play with cars and blocks. I don’t really think that making the child sit still for one hour out of the entire weekend is really that torturous.

Whew, I got off on a bit of a tangent there!

Anyway, after church we headed back home and spent the rest of the day relaxing. I finally got Evie’s Tinkerbell Fleece Tie Blanket finished (that was supposed to be a Christmas gift!) and made her a couple more hair bows, though the electricity went out for a while forcing me to stop that project before I was finished. While the electricity was out, Hubby got called to work and the kids and I spent some time reading books together. Once we had power again we watched some movies and I worked a bit on knitting the “never ending scarf” that I still owe my mom from her last birthday.

I got a little off track, but the whole point of this entry was that we had a really great weekend together at home with very little distraction from the outside world. I wish I could say that we didn’t spend any money, but I did order Evie a few clearanced clothing items online because she’s suddenly outgrowing all of her 12 month sized clothes. It was really nice to slow down for a change and just enjoy being together.

Comments closed

Slowing Down in 2009

Published by dee on January 3, 2009

So here we are in 2009. 2008 went by so fast I barely had time to blink. My hope for 2009 is that things will just slow down so I can sit back and enjoy this amazing life that I have. Over the last week or so I’ve really been trying to stop and appreciate what I have a little more. That includes spending more time with my kids and less time with my computer. Today, for instance, I decided to stop at the park with the kids on the way home from day care instead of rushing home. It gave me a chance to play around with my new camera a little bit and enjoy watching my kids play at the same time.

Who is that old wrinkly lady holding my baby?!?

I don’t really make New Year’s resolutions because they never make it past the first week, but I have been giving a lot of thought to changes I want to make in my life lately. Besides the usual goals of losing weight, eating healthier, and sticking to a budget, I really want to spend more quality time with my family. We spend so much time rushing to get this done or that done and very little time just enjoying each other.

A secondary goal – though probably the most important of them all – is to get more sleep. Over the last 9 1/2 months I can think of maybe five times that I have slept for more than four hours at a time. Evie has never been a good sleeper and since the kids share a room I always jump up as soon as she starts crying. Then she spends the rest of the night in bed with me nursing every hour or two and waking frequently. I finally decided that I’ve had enough of that, so Operation Sleep started last weekend. Grandma took Zach away for the weekend and I started sleep training with Evie. The first night I cried nearly as many tears as she did, but on the third night she slept for eleven hours straight. We’ve had a couple of bad nights in there, but for the most part she is doing really well. I do miss snuggling with her, but the sleep is wonderful.

Other things I want to work on include de-cluttering the house, reading more books, practicing and improving my photography skills, improving my sewing skills, building up a web design portfolio, and keeping up with my blogs. You know, just a few little things.

What do you have planned for 2009?

Comments closed