Another Milestone

We have reached yet another milestone. Hudson is ready for a booster seat, and Evan has switched to sitting in a regular dining room chair. I am so happy for this milestone because the high chair takes up an enormous amount of space in our fairly small eating area off the kitchen. Yippee!


Off to be donated. Please ignore my shirt on the floor. It must have fallen out of the laundry basket on the way to the washer. Yeah, that's it! That's what must have happened!


I told you this child was a little ham! All I said was, "Smile!" He's also trying to feed himself. Dad had to help out after a while.

I can't help it. I am excited about these milestones. Every once in a while I get a bit sad about the baby years passing by, but by and large I am more excited about the kids getting bigger.

One item I am NOT ready for Hudson to outgrow just yet is his crib. That's not because I don't want to see it leave because then my baby isn't a baby. Nope. That's not it at all. I still want him in the crib because it contains him! There are times we still need containment!

We broke the cardinal rule of parenting

We broke the cardinal rule of parenting on Saturday night. All parents know that their kids are going to get sick. It's inevitable. And we also know that we ourselves are going to get sick. However, the rule is that both parents are NOT allowed to get sick at the same time! I don't make these things up...it's a real rule!

On Saturday night at about 11 p.m, both Eric and I started feeling sick to our stomachs. Thus began 24 hours of throwing up and other stuff. I don't like to think about the other stuff. It's gross. The word starts with a "D," and I don't like to write it or think about it, much less have it.

Anyhow, we were both terribly sick. I called my parents at 7:30 in the morning. They came to town to watch the boys for the day. Eric and I locked ourselves in our bedroom and slept until late afternoon. I woke up just in time for Evan to start throwing up. He's been a pretty sick little boy along with his mom and dad.

There's nothing worse than having a sick child while being sick yourself. My mom kept telling me someday I'd laugh about this. Hmmm. That someday is going to be pretty far off before I start laughing. I'm too tired to laugh.

We are on the mend today having taken a day off work. We wanted to send Hudson to daycare so the rest of us could sleep, but he wasn't looking too great himself. He isn't throwing up, but his diapers aren't pretty. I am hoping we are all up to speed by tomorrow.

Thank goodness for my parents helping us out yesterday. I do feel terrible that they are both sick now. Apparently this stomach virus is really contagious. My mom keeps telling me it's okay, but I still feel badly for messing up their Sunday and keeping my mom from two of her Christmas parties. Sorry Mom!


I made Evan a little bed on the kitchen floor after he threw up on the family room carpet. Much easier to clean up puke from a hard-surface floor.


Sick little boy.


Hudson had to spend time in the pack-n-play while we dealt with Evan.


My dad under a blanket. He was starting to get sick, but we didn't know it at the time.


My mom. The saint. Thank you for helping yesterday! I am sorry you are sick and had to stay home today.

I hope Eric and I never ever ever break the cardinal rule again. Being sick at the same time is miserable while trying to take care of kids. Besides, when you are sick at the same time, it's hard to get sympathy from one another! When I said, "My back hurts," he said, "Mine too." Not the sympathy I was looking for! If we are ever going to do this again, it better be when the boys are able to take care of themselves for 24 hours.

Tagged

A friend tagged me on a blogger game. The idea was to post the fourth photo in the fourth folder on your computer and explain the picture. Here's what I found:



This is a picture of Evan playing football with his dad in the side yard this past summer. Eric has him running passes. It's funny to watch. The picture is a bit blurry, but it is the fourth pic of the fourth folder, and I didn't want to cheat.

I'm not going to tag anyone else, because I think all my friends have already been tagged. It was fun to play!

Mess

This is what happens when we let the chicken feed himself.


And this is what happens when I laugh at the chicken after he feeds himself and refuse to let him out of his high chair. He wasn't laughing.

I misplaced my brain

Yes, you read that right. Yesterday I misplaced my brain. That's the only explanation as to why I would dare to venture out into the madness by myself with two small children. I guess I figured I am a competent and able person. No big deal. I just wanted to pick up a few presents for Eric from the boys. Eric wasn't feeling well, so even better for us to leave for a bit and give him quiet time to rest. And then it all fell apart.

We made it to the mall. I strapped Hudson into the little umbrella stroller. Mistake #1. I should have had the large, heavy-duty stroller which would contain the small child in a sturdier fashion. I then let Evan push said stroller. Mistake #2. What, am I crazy? It's Christmas time and there are only about 42 million people roaming around the mall. Evan's chipper mood lasted all of 86 seconds. Hudson's mood went sour shortly thereafter. Evan wanted to go the candy store. Hudson wanted to get out of his stroller.

Normally I wouldn't let Hudson out, because as any mom knows, the minute you let them out, it is next to impossible to get them back in. But the child was about to cut off the blood circulation to his lower half by leaning so far out of the stroller. Not to mention the fact that his brother hanging out the stroller did nothing to slow Evan down or keep from crashing his brother's body into every aisle display in sight.

Against my better judgment, I let Hudson out. Mistake #3. Then Evan wanted to ride. Um okay. Mistake #4. I guess I was lying to myself in believing that Hudson might actually hold my hand and walk calmly beside me as I pushed his 4-year-old brother through the sardine-packed mall. Like I said...brain misplaced. I ended up carrying the 1-year-old while pushing the 4-year-old with one hand. Not so easy to do while also trying to balance a purse and packages bought at the store.

We did our shopping at one department store. I then made it about 14 steps into the mall before turning around and high tailing it right out of there. I guess I found my brain sitting under a poinsettia plant! I was smart enough not to let Evan get a glimpse of Santa and then beg to see him. Yeah right. The line was a bit long. I wasn't going to put myself through that torture without involving my husband in the fun!

We managed to make it home in one piece. Barely. I am pretty sure I am thinking clearly again. At least clearly enough to never do THAT again.

And now for the inside

Now I'll share the work I did on the inside of the house.


I cross stitched this stocking 15 years ago. See, I have a couple of talents!


Here is the Christmas tree. Yes, I know it is crooked. That is what happens when the 4-year-old topples the whole thing over when it is half decorated. Eric managed to get it back upright, and I held onto it while he crawled under the tree to screw the base into the holder. This is the result. It just isn't going to get any better this year.


The fireplace. I bought the solid red and green stockings yesterday for the boys. I let Evan choose which one he wanted. He chose the red one, so the green belongs to my Chicken boy.


The formal living room with the piano.

Decorations are pretty much done. I do enjoy the house at this time of year. The only problem this year is having to keep Hudson from touching everything. I purposely put Christmas toys he can play with lined up in front of the fireplace. Does he want to play with those toys? No, he wants nothing to do with those toys. Sigh. The Christmas tree is much more appealing to him. Maybe next year will be easier.

Deck the Halls

We woke up Saturday morning to a gray and gloomy day. That was okay though. After breakfast, Evan and Eric headed outside to put up lights and lawn decorations. Eric worked hard. Evan had his own special way of helping!


First they had to drag all the boxes and containers down from the rafters of the garage.


Eric got the large snowglobe and Santa in place. While all this was going on, Hudson was taking a four hour nap, and I was very content watching White Christmas, blogging, and running in and out to take photos! What a wonderful day it was for me!


Evan has his own way of helping...it's called keeping out of Dad's way.


Our beloved Frosty is dead. I think this is the first blow-up decoration we bought when we started going big on the decorations outside. Goodbye dear Frosty. You served us well.


Here's Evan again doing his part by "helping." I guess sitting on the wreath box is helping in his mind.


At this particular point of the morning, Eric realized that he had no strands of Christmas lights left from last year. We threw them all out last year because there were too many sets not working. He and Evan headed into the craziness known as the Christmas Shopping Season. Lowes had no lights. Then they went to K-Mart. They bought lights, and Evan got a new set of gloves to keep his little hands warm. In years past, trying to put gloves on this kid was a pain in the rear. He couldn't get the right fingers into the right spots. This year he can manage it all on his own.


Up on the roof stringing lights. This part scares me. I don't like these photos. One thing Eric always does is get up and there and start exclaiming over this and that. I start to get curious about all the stuff he sees. Sometimes that curiosity gets the best of me and I climb up on the roof. Then I get angry at myself because I know better. I'm not afraid of heights, but I am afraid to climb back down. I vowed never to get myself in that predicament again. I am proud to say I did not give in to the curiosity this year.


As long as Eric was up on the roof, he figured he'd scoot over to the side of the house to fix the Dish TV receiver. We can't ever get Channel 30 in HD, so he wanted to adjust that. My job was to stand just inside the door and flip through channels on the tv to see if we were getting reception. Lots of fun to be had yelling results out the door up to the roof.


I just thought this picture was funny because it's all I saw as I yelled out tv reception results to Eric up on the roof.


From looking at this picture, you'd think we live on a ranch somewhere. Empty field across the street, not many houses in sight, horses passing by on the irrigation canal. That's why Evan scaled the chain link fence like a little monkey. He wanted to see the horses. We pretty much live on the edge of the town limits, but are still very much located in the city. By the way, the long gray building on the left is the mini storage that is going in on that empty field. At least the neighbors won't be noisy!


Evan gets to go up on the roof for the very first time. He loved it!


Then Hudson woke up and joined the party. He's looking up at the roof trying to figure out what his daddy is doing up there!


I just can't get enough of this face!


As the day wore down, we headed inside to finish watching a football game (Hudson says "Touchdown!") and get ready to go to the downtown electrical Christmas parade. It's our tradition. I took the boys by myself last year because Eric was as sick as a dog. Last year Hudson rode on my body in a Snuggli. This year he road on my body in a backpack. Not too much has changed. This year, however, I did remember to bring blankets. Last year I was suffering from amnesia after giving birth two months prior!


The completed look at night. Looks good boys!