Hanging in There

So Ella is still on the mend and Sam is still sick. I've been able to keep his temps under control a bit better than Ella but he gets more uncomfortable when they get higher. Luckily that isn't usually too long and he is fine most of the time. He is quite the snot machine these days. Quite crusty would be a good visual. It's just harder on him because he's younger and doesn't understand as much as Ella does. I ended up taking him to the Target clinic Friday night because his fever was almost 105 and he was very uncomfortable. He checked out fine with just a virus of some type. It's really nice to have that clinic so close!

I've also caught their cold, but it's not really slowing me down. Just a minor annoyance. At least Ella will be going back to school tomorrow.

I'm signing Ella up for soccer here this week. (She'll play in April and May.) I can't wait to watch her play. She's such a runner that she should be good at soccer. I've waited for years to sign her up, can't wait!

I've been having some problems with my camera that I thought were due to a memory card issue. Unfortunately it isn't the card, but the problem seems to be with my camera. This isn't good! I've been wanting to get a new camera for a while now, but the timing is great. I'm going to hope that this one holds on long enough so I can get the one I want down the road. I have my backup camera that I might use more often, but I really like my good one!

The Light Went Out Again

Now that Ella is feeling better Sam decided it was time to be sick. I was hoping he would pass up this whole fever epidemic. He's currently napping with a temp of 104.5. Poor guy. I think we'll go into the clinic tomorrow morning to make sure he's doing okay. He didn't get his nap this afternoon that's why he's so tired.

Let's hope for a speedy recovery...

I See the Light

Ella's fever finally broke last night! I went in to check on her and she was sleeping. So I put the thermometer in her ear and it read 98 degrees. I thought there was something wrong with it so I woke her up to get the other ear and double check. Sure enough it was right. I was very excited!! She still has a slight temp today, but with Tylenol it goes down to normal. It's been 6 long days of high temps so this is really nice.

I can't believe she missed an entire week of school! Well if this is as bad as it gets this winter then that's fine, but no more!

Sam's doing well. He has a little cough and slight temp, but nothing like Ella has/had. I'm going to be going through the house and cleaning it really well today.

On a totally different topic...

I was looking online and saw an article about a Victoria Secret model who did a swim shoot a year after giving birth. Back in a swim suit a year after having a baby. Now I'll give kudos to the women who pose a month or two after having a baby because that's tough, but a year? I think that's pushing it. I would hope a supermodel would be able to get back into a bikini a year after having a baby. Especially if it's their job.

If that's the case then look at me! I'm in the best shape of my life and only 2 1/2 years after having a baby! :)

Day 6...No End in Sight

It has been a very long week and it's only Thursday. Ella is still sick. She's been on antibiotics since Monday, but I haven't noticed a difference sick wise in her. I'm sure her ears are getting better, but they weren't bothering her to begin with. I'm sure she's just got a crappy virus of some sort but if she's not better by tomorrow we're going back to the doctors. She seems a little better today than she did yesterday.

It's just these recurrent fevers that have me baffled. During the day she has a temperature of around 100 or 101 then in the evening it will go up to 103 to 104.5 or so. She sleeps quite well and in the morning it's back down a little. Every night I keep thinking that this ~has~ to be the last night of this, but same thing next day.

This has to be the most sick she has ever been. We've never had any fevers last more than a couple days around here. Stuffy/runny noses yes, but missing what I'm sure will be a whole week of school is crazy. Every morning I call the school and they're like, "she's still sick?". Yup, she is....

I can hear them playing Lego's downstairs. Once they start to get better I'm going to need to disinfect this entire house. No need until they stop coughing all over everything. (I say they because Sam has a little cold and slight cough. Nothing bad like Ella.)

Sick Kid and Tired Mommy

Last night Ella's fever spiked to 104.5 again. Needless to say I didn't get much sleep because I was constantly going in to check on her. She's so cute. She kept telling me that she was fine. By morning it was back down to 100 or so again.

I called the clinic this morning and they told me to bring her in and get her checked out. We trekked out in the snowy weather and made it there about an hour later. (We should really find a closer clinic, but both the kids like it there, so we go with what works.) Turns out she has an ear infection (both ears). I never would have thought that was the problem because she said nothing hurt and she's only had one ear infection before and she was only about 18 months old.

Stopped at Target on the way home to pick up her antibiotics (hopefully these ones won't give her hives) so hopefully she'll get better soon. Today was the first day of school that she's missed. The doctor was surprised when she realized Ella's only had antibiotics once before. Sam's never had any yet. I guess we keep the kids healthy. I'm telling you that extra Vitamin D supplement really helps!

The Week In Review

Well technically today is the beginning of the week, but I am referring to last week. There hasn't been much going on around here. These January and February winter weeks seem to blur themselves together in a cold, dreary way.

Ella didn't have school on Monday so we headed to the mall. What better place to spend time on a cold, dreary day. Even when the weather is warmer than average it's still not warm enough to hang around outside. The mall was nice. I don't think anyone actually purchased anything but we had a nice lunch.

Ella had her second swimming lesson on Wednesday evening. It's been a change for her to go from the only person in her class to being one of four but she's doing really well.

I've been running a lot on the treadmill, but have finally succumb to injury. I have these shin splints that have been limiting my running. I wish it was something that I could just run through and they would get better but I don't think that's going to be the case. I think I'll be walking for a while until they get better.

Ella had a fever yesterday that was hovering around 104 and 103 with Tylenol. Finally after midnight it started going down and by this morning was only at 100. Other than the fever and little cough she was fine. Eating and drinking and said she felt fine so I wasn't too worried. She's downstairs playing with Sam and I'm really hoping that he doesn't end up with this too.

The Vikings game is tonight and I wish that it was earlier in the day. I'm not sure what we're going to do until them. I'm thinking not a whole lot of anything, which isn't a bad thing I suppose.

This is the last week in January then on to February. I'm so excited for spring this year I just can't wait until it gets warmer outside!!

Octomom in a bikini???

So the babies are turning one and octomom thought to pose in a bikini. Nothing like trying to keep yourself in the media.

You can see the pictures here. Now I'm no doctor, but in ~my~ opinion there is NO. WAY. that her stomach can be that flat without surgery. She says it was just diet and exercise but I don't believe her. Have you seen the before pictures? You can see some here if you really want to. (warning: scary photos!)

So yeah, going from that ~huge~ stomach WITH stretch marks to flat with no marks is pretty far fetched to say the least. Her skin would be just too stretched out to bounce back like that.

Well that's my opinion on that. Anyone else want to weigh in with your opinion???

Kindergarten Schoolwork

Ella came home from school today with a notice about working on math during class. Apparently they are splitting up into groups to work on their math skills.

Now Ella's class is very good about making sure each child gets to work on the skills that they need to work on, but I think they are trying to learn too much too quickly. We're still working on identifying all the numbers. Now maybe I'm behind the times, but I'm more in that group of letting the kids be kids.

We chose to let her play instead of sitting her down when she was little and teaching her words, letters and numbers at a young age. We've been told she (and all the other children) need to work on counting (forward and backwards), reading all their "sight" words, and now math skills. They were previously working on shapes. We're not talking just basic shapes but more tricky ones. The ones that I don't even know. (I was horrible in geometry!)

I have no problem with them learning all of these things. It just seems that every week or so there's something new that we're supposed to work on outside of the class. At this rate we'll have hours of lessons that we need to work on and review. Repetition is very important at this age and they can quickly forget what they have learned if you don't continue to review.

Maybe it's just me and something I need to deal with. Ella doesn't seem to want to work with me too much and would rather play and work on her crafts. I try to find a good balance, but I find myself wishing it were summer break already.

Here's an article I found online that talks about parents, their children and how some have hired tutors for their preschoolers.

It's making me rethink the whole letting kids be kids thing and want to teach Sam some of these things earlier so he'll be a step ahead. I really don't want to go overboard though because I do think letting kids play and enjoy themselves is really important. How do you find a balance?

Bits and Pieces

Sorry I haven't been blogging much lately. I guess there just isn't much to say. I have come up with a few random things that have happened/are going on lately...

* Go Vikings!! Need I say more?
* I've been running on the treadmill a lot lately. I ran 5 miles last night.
* I have no gray hairs on my head, but I grow gray eyebrows! Weird!
* Went to MOA today with Nana and the kids. MLK day, so no school.
* I'm liking this warmer weather, but would prefer a little warmer.
* I've started drinking coffee. Must have cream and sugar though.
* My arm hurts from playing Wii Saturday night. Not sore from running, but Wii ...
* Sam's hair is getting pretty long, but I think I'll let it grow a bit more and see how it looks.
* Ella is celebrating her 1/2 birthday at school this week.
* I got a lot of spam e-mails this morning about Russian blonde's. I'm not really interested.

Well I think that should hold ya'll over for a while. We return now to your regularly scheduled programming...

My Etsy Store

If you haven't noticed I have a new link on the top of the right side of my page. I've enjoyed knitting so much (and bow making) that I thought I'd try my hand at selling a few.

I have a few different hats and bows out there. I'm working on getting more sizes, but anything can be special ordered and done in no time. So if you're looking for something for your child or a great handmade gift check it out!!

Wordless Wednesday: A Light Read

All A Buzz

We hadn't been to church in a couple weeks due to one thing or the other, but this morning we got up and all ready. Except that Sam's nose was running and watch out if he sneezed!! So Sam and I stayed home while Zan took Ella. While they were gone I was chilly and Zan had a pot of coffee going.

Now I don't normally drink coffee because I'm not too fond of the taste. But it was warm and handy so I took half a cup; put some cream and sugar in it and proceeded to drink it in about 10 minutes. Shortly thereafter I had a nice buzz going. I'm only used to drinking one diet Coke a day and even that is over a few hours.

Zan sat there quite amused while I rambled on and on about this and that very fast. The room seemed very animated for about a half hour or so until most of it wore off. It was quite interesting and funny all at the same time. Same thing happens with alcohol too, so watch out!

Sam's doing fine just a runny/stuffy nose. He was sitting here watching tv with Houston.



If you check out my photo blog you'll see Houston wearing a hat that I knit. It came out a little small, so I gave it to Houston. Too bad Sam doesn't want him to wear it and pulls it off as soon as he can. I also finished a 2 to 3 year sized hat Friday night that ended up fitting me when I was done. The thing is the gauge on it is correct, so I'm not sure what happened there. So now I have a nice pink and green striped hat. :)

Sticky Fingers

We ran to the mall this morning to run a couple errands. I haven't been out of the house very much with these freezing cold temps we've had so it was nice to get out.

We proved on two occasions today that it would be very easy to slip out of a store with unpaid merchandise. After we checked out at Target and started walking away I noticed that Sam was holding some piece of candy he picked up at the checkout when I was helping Ella with her bow. That boy will grab anything within his reach (he's in his stroller).

Then we were leaving Scheels and I was going to purchase a neck gaiter for Ella. I had set it on top of the stroller, but didn't notice it was still there until we were half way down the mall. Yikes! I sent Zan back to pay for it.

Previously we've walked out of stores and there was something that Sam had picked up and put in the stroller. I'm usually pretty good at keeping an eye on him or at least looking in the stroller quite often to make sure he hasn't picked up anything, but I was clearly out of practice today.

On a good note it's supposed to get nice and warm (almost 30) this week. I'm very excited to see some melting around here!

Tip of the Day

When putting bags of spaghetti sauce in the freezer it's best not to set them directly on the wire rack. I couldn't figure out why it wasn't coming off the shelf. Just had to take the whole shelf out to thaw. Lasagna tonight!! Yum!!

Another good tip... When putting boiling hot liquids in the blender make sure the blender isn't too full and the lid is on good and tight because when that stuff lands on you (and all over the kitchen) it doesn't hurt like hell!! (I'm okay.)

New Year's Post (a little late)

Since I was out of town I didn't get to my obligatory New Year's post about the past year. Now is better than never right? 2009 was a very interesting year for us. I'd like to call it a turning point for our family.

Zan's job went well throughout the year and he continues to enjoy his work. I'm continuing to stay home with the kids and enjoy that very much. I do still sell Norwex products on the side, but that doesn't take much of my time since I'm such a horrible sales person! :)

In the spring we decided to try and sell our home. The market sucked but we thought it was a great opportunity to get into a new home at a good price. The conditions that they were we would actually be able to get the house we always wanted but never thought we'd be able to get at this point in time. So we listed our house at the beginning of April. Before we even got our house on the market we had signed a purchase agreement to build a home when ours sold.

We had quite a few showings, a couple a week, which kept me busy trying to keep the house clean with two children. Our Realtor told us our house would sell in about 45 days and she was right. On Mother's Day we got an offer and the next day we signed the papers for that!

Since the market was questionable we decided to hold off building until the appraisal and inspection went through. The appraisal took up until the week before closing before it was completed. They wanted a quick close, so about a month later we were out. We went to live with my parents for the summer. The kids had a great time living with Nana and Papa out on the lake for the summer. It was fun, but I always miss having my own space. Besides the fact that there were four of us sharing a bedroom.

They started building our house on June 20th and we moved in October 1st. Since then we've been trying very hard to get everything back in working order. Pretty successfully too.

Ella started kindergarten this fall and really likes school. Sam has been adjusting to Ella being gone in the morning and gets really excited when she gets home.

Some new things that I'm expecting for 2010 will be Ella starting 1st grade!! Yikes, full day school. Sam will be moving out of his crib into a bed. Hopefully this can wait a while though. Sam won't start preschool until next year because he'll be a little young this year. Ella and Sam are only 3 yrs 4 mo apart in age, but they are 4 years apart in school.

Hopefully this year will be mostly uneventful and we'll be able to just enjoy our new home, do fun things with the kids and have a great year!!

I wish you all the best year ever!!

I'm Saying It Wrong

People have been questioning the correct pronunciation lately of 2010. I've been saying two thousand ten. My reasoning is that I said two thousand and nine and so on.

On the radio this morning they were talking about this very question and had people send in their thoughts and answers.

Apparently I've been saying it wrong. Who would have thought? The correct pronunciation is twenty-ten. The reason being it was the 18th century and the 19th century, so clearly twenty would come next, not two thousand. Makes sense but it sounds funny to me. I guess I'll have to change because I don't like saying something that isn't correct. Especially since I know the correct way.

I wiki'd it, so you can check out all the info here. Now we all need to make sure everyone else is saying it correctly so we sound better too!!

One Tired Little Guy

We arrived home from our New Years trip around 2:45 or so today. It was a non-eventful trip and the kids were happy to be home and out of the car. Sam napped for quite a while on the way home and wanted to play. We didn't get much in the way of lunch except for some snacks, so they had another snack. Around 4:45 they were getting hungry so I got dinner ready.

We were all done eating dinner shortly after 5 and I thought the kids could just play until bath and bed. We thought the kids should go to bed a little earlier tonight since they were probably tired from the trip. Well after dinner Sam was really, REALLY upset and didn't want to calm down. He found his "nuk" and told me he wanted to take a nap. Remember that it was 5:15. I asked him if he wanted to take a bath and then nap. That didn't sound good to him at all. Keep in mind here that the tears are streaming down his face, he's breathing hard and talking incoherently all this time. So I figured the only way to calm him down was to put him in his bed.

He was much better in his bed (once I got him his pillow that is). I decided to get their bath ready and gave Ella her bath. I "talked" Sam into taking a quick bath (3 min. max) with minimal crying and then put him into bed. He was out like a light before 5:30. Wow, he was so tired.

I've never before seen a child scream about how they wanted to take a nap and go to sleep. Other than Zan of course!

I guess they had a good time playing at Grandma and Grandpa's. Maybe a bit too much fun. They even slept well and Sam got a good nap every day. Just too much going on I guess. They like their schedules!!