Sunday, December 23, 2012

In sickness and health...

This post has nothing to do with marriage...or maybe it does a little bit.

Yesterday Kayla was sick as a dog.  We woke up to get things ready for me to go to work.  Kayla asked for "juice" which is totally normal.  Then right before I left for work, she threw up.  This has happened once before so I asked Justin if he wanted me to stay home.  He said no to go to work and he'd call or text if he needed anything.  2 hours later, he was texting me to come home because she had thrown up 4 times.

It's hard to juggle an infant who needs almost all of your attention and a puking toddler who needs almost all of your attention.  So I told the front desk to cancel the rest of my patients for the day because my daughter was throwing up.

When I got home, she started to throw up every 15 minutes.  She literally would drink some water and then 5 minutes later throw that up.  I called the doctor again, because despite in the back of your mind knowing it's just a bug and she'll get over it, you still want that reassurance.  It's hard to keep her hydrated when she can't even keep water down.  After throwing up about 13-15 times before 1 pm, I told Justin that maybe one of us should take Brody out to get him away so he doesn't get sick and to just "divide and conquer."  He took Brody to the mall and Kayla and I took a nap on the floor.

My little girl, who is so active and busy that sometimes she won't even take a nap in her crib, fell asleep right on the floor next to me while I rubbed her back in 5 minutes.  Seeing her throwing up made me really want to cry for her, but I loved how cuddly and sweet she was while she was sick.



She's still sweet, but after our nap, she was back to her active, busy, loud and sometimes annoying self. :)  Back to the marriage thing, I have to say Justin and I were master tag team-ers with our sick toddler and our fussy baby yesterday.  I love that man more every day.

I realized while writing this post that I still have to update on Brody's 3 month birthday and photos, and yesterday Kayla was 23 months old.  I can't believe she's almost two - wait, based on her behavior I totally can.

Thursday, December 20, 2012

Oh Christmas Tree!

Normally, I'm completely and totally ready for the holiday season mid November (even before my own birthday!)  But this year, I'm just not feeling in the Christmas spirit.  I'm over tired and overwhelmed and stressed about some stuff going on but I'm trying to make sure to create holiday traditions for my family.  (Sidenote, Elf has gotten really lazy and I stopped taking pictures of his hiding spots.  So elf posts are over.  I have better things to write about. :)  But Elf is still traveling a little bit for Kayla.)

Two weeks ago, I finally insisted we go get a tree.  Justin and I have had 2 real trees (out of three Christmases we've been married - last year we were still with my parents.)  I'm not opposed to a fake tree, but we really don't have the room now.  And there is something a little special about taking the time to go pick a tree together.  We went to a place nearby to pick out our tree after Justin got home from work.  No cutting down our own this year.  We are lucky we got out with two sick kids and all.

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Justin and Brody 

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Kayla wasn't terribly impressed with the trees

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The nice guy offered to take a photo for us!  Our first non professional family photo (I need to be better about this.)
Then I got to thinking about decorating the tree.  Kayla is a little bit too little for real ornaments.  She took a lot of Aunt Meg's ornaments off of her tree at her party.  We also don't have a ton of ornaments anyways and I didn't want to spend a lot of money.  One middle of the night feeding I came up with a brilliant idea (it's amazing how when you become a mom you become just a little bit more crafty.)  I had all this extra red and white felt from making their Halloween costumes so I pulled it out, grabbed a pen and scissors (for mommy and daddy obviously) and we tried to teach Kayla how to trace things.  We made circles and squares and rectangles.  We traced some letters from her bath letters, and Justin tried to show her how to make a snowflake.  Daddy and I cut them out and we put hooks on them and had Kayla help us hang them on the bottom of the tree.  Free, simple, toddler friendly activity.  Yay me!

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Daddy making a snowflake

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Those are my prenatal vitamins: we were using the bottle for a circle shape.

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This is what Brody did. :)

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Kayla had a really good nap that day...excuse the bed head.

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Hugs for Daddy.

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Brody watching Kayla and Daddy make ornaments

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We used only a few letters, B, K, M, D, H, G...you get the idea :)

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Daddy and his little ones

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Crooked star and all, I love it.

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"Kayla half" of the tree

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Four Hales

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Brody

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Kayla
What toddler friendly tree ideas do you have?

Monday, December 17, 2012

Calling all Moms of two or more...

Someone please tell me when exactly this is supposed to start getting a little easier?  Because it truly seems that every day becomes progressively harder with my two.

Kayla is fighting bed time and nap time tooth and nail.  Brody isn't sleeping terribly but he's also not sleeping great and gas is still waking him up and causing him to be a little bit fussy.

Being a Mom is sort of a like a downward spiral...

  • Get no sleep
  • Kids don't sleep well
  • Kids become really cranky and irritable
  • Continue getting no sleep
  • Lose all patience and tolerance
  • Get extremely frustrated very easily with your kids
  • Your kids then become more fussy and cranky and then sad because you are upset with them
  • You feel guilty and upset because you can't be more tolerant because...
  • YOU ARE GETTING NO EFFING SLEEP.

See...downward tornado that seems never ending when you are in the middle of it.  Despite the fact that you've been through it before and you came out unscathed slightly scathed.

I will be joining one or two exercise classes at our local park district in January to help me let off some steam and have some time to myself.  I truly love my kids more than anything in the world, but I'm really looking forward to these work outs.

Friday, December 14, 2012

Back to Work

So I've been back to work for 3 weeks now.  I had to miss my second day back because Brody was having flu like symptoms.  Then Kayla got sick.  Two weeks ago.  And yesterday, we found out she has another double ear infection (which I kinda felt was the case the whole time, after Justin told me she pointed at her ear and said owie.)  But anyways, back to work...

I love my job, but it was so so hard to watch my kiddos go out the door that first day.  It's especially hard to let Brody go.  I never had to leave Kayla with anyone for 8 months.  I was really lucky that way.  I do truly love working part time and being able to stay home with my kids the rest of the time.  Honestly, my 10 hour days at work are sometimes easier than my days at home with Kayla and Brody.

Brody's been a pretty terrible napper and occasionally pretty cranky because of gas.  Kayla has been overly fussy and needy for a few weeks so.  She often refuses to nap which leads to long horrible afternoons trying to keep Brody asleep and keep her happy and make dinner.  But no matter how hard a day I have with my kids, it NEVER makes watching them leave on work days any easier.  I want to talk about them all day at work.  I'm sure I light up when people ask me about them.  (I don't particularly like when 2 patients ask me when I'm due, but whatever.)

I've had this post "pending" for a few weeks now.  I decided to write today because of the tragedy at Sandy Hook Elementary School today.  As a mother, this hits especially close to home now.  I have so many mom friends and spend a large portion of my time with little ones.  Tiny humans who know nothing but joy in the simplest things.  Who giggle playing peek a boo with friends and parents.  Who cry when they have a boo boo and just want a kiss and hug to feel better.  Who sometimes ask a lot of their parents it may seem, but who's truly genuine smiles and laughs make all the demands worth it.

I cannot fathom what would cause someone to do something this terrible.  But I cannot imagine watching my child go off to Kindergarten one day and not returning home ever again.  I feel so much for the mothers and fathers of those children lost today.  I feel for the families and friends of all the victims.  And I especially feel for those left behind.  The teachers, faculty and innocent minds of those children who will have a black spot in their memories for the rest of their lives.  No one, especially small children, should ever have to witness a horror like that.

As an alumni of Virginia Tech, these things always get to me.  I am praying for those lost.  I am praying that their families find love and support in their community to help them cope.  I am praying that those left behind at Sandy Hook find the faith to overcome the darkness.

I am also praying for the rest of our country.  For all the mothers and fathers out there.  That they hug their children a little tighter.  Tell them they love them just one extra time.  That they all keep the faith that the majority of people are truly good and we cannot prevent horrible things from happening to us.  We can only make sure we are proud of the people our children grow to be and make sure they know how wonderful and loved they are.

A letter from the President of Virginia Tech:

We of the greater Virginia Tech community know, from our experience, of the unending sorrow and horror that has now descended on the Newtown, Conn., community. No words can express how they now feel over this senseless and insane tragedy. Our words seem so inadequate in light of their plight. Still, we extend our deepest condolences, thoughts, and prayers to the Newtown community as it begins to cope with their grief and blackness.


Sunday, December 9, 2012

Weekly Meal Plan: Week of 12/9/12

The Hales family of four has been under the weather for a couple weeks now.  It seems as though we are just passing illness back and forth.  Today, I wasn't feeling too great at all.  Having some nausea, headache (which I pretty much never get), coughing, etc.  The only reason I bring this up is because I know when I'm sick and I know when I just am feeling a little under the weather.  However, my husband is of the opinion a shower can cure everything.  If I had a nickel for every time I complained about something and he told me to take a shower, I'd be filthy rich.  His showers must have magical power shooting out of the shower head with the water or something.   Can anyone explain this to me?

Anyways, here is our weekly menu for this week:

Sunday: Chicken and wild rice casserole (with brown rice)
Monday: Chicken on a stick with spinach ricotta bites
Tuesday: Pasta with marinara sauce
Wednesday: Cheesy Chicken Taquitos
Thursday: Slow cooker pulled pork tacos
Friday: Pasta with butternut sauce, spicy chicken and baby spinach
Saturday: Out of the house.

Most of these we've done before, but I'll let you know how the spinach ricotta bites are and the pasta with butternut sauce. :)

I'll also be making homemade graham crackers, apple cinnamon sticks and apple oat bars.

EOTS Dec 1-8

Here is where Elf Hales has been this week.  (Not gonna lie, sometimes Elf gets a little lazy and doesn't return to Santa every single night therefore he stays in the same place for 2 days in a row.  Coincidentally, this tends to happen on days when Kayla and Brody go to day care...) :)

Elf likes fruit:

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And playing the guitar:

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And wine (who doesn't??):

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Guarding the door to the deck from Kayla's advances:

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And fresh, lovely smelling Christmas trees (again, who doesn't??)

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Monday, December 3, 2012

Thanksgiving 2012

We had a fun and family filled Thanksgiving again this year.  I think normally on Thanksgiving we will try to make our way out to Virginia, but since Brody was still so little and we didn't really have the money to fly, we stayed home this year.  

Like last year, we headed to my mom and dad's where my older sister was cooking in my parents brand new kitchen.  My little sister's fiance's parents and sister were also coming over, along with my grandma and my uncle (my grandpa was sick so he didn't want to spread any infections, especially to the little ones.)  This was also Kayla's first big outing without a diaper.  I was worried she'd be to busy and too distracted to remember to go to the potty, but we only had one small accident and it was only because we didn't get there in time.  I ran her to the potty and she peed partially on the bathroom floor.  Overall, a success in my book.  

Kayla was also SUPER excited to see Uncle Brendan (even though I had told her everyone that would be there.)  When she saw Brendan she VERY excitedly exclaimed, "OOOHHH!  Brendit here!!!!!!" (Imagine arms flailing in excitement and very thrilled toddler voice.)  

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I tried to just capture the feel of the day in pictures.  It was mostly very laid back with Lauren and I feeding and putting Liam and Brody down for naps most of the day. :)

Aunt Meg took a few breaks from cooking:
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Gigi helping with the prep work (i.e. peeling potatoes):
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Uncle Brendan folding his laundry.
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Lauren swaddling and putting Liam down for a nap:
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Aunt Lauren and Kayla:
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Papa cleaning his glasses (he wasn't too thrilled I took this picture.):
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Kayla with her Aunts:
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"Meme, Up!"
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Kayla with her aunts and uncle (such a great photo...sort of.  This was right before Kayla learned the "cheese" meant smile for the camera.)
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"Cheese!"
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The boys were on pretty much the same schedule that day.
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So different. :)
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My grandma was thrilled Brody wasn't sleeping the whole time (she's under the weird impression he's always sleeping...right):
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Ok admittedly not the best picture and in Brendan's defense he works nights so this is normally his sleeping time.
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Daddy and son watching football.
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So smiley, Kayla wanted to see what Karen was doing that was so funny.
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Papa and Brody:
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Kayla and Erin (my soon to be brother-in-law's sister)
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Nanny filling her "baby holding" quota:
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The cook yelling at someone to get out of the kitchen (just kidding):
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Gigi and her only granddaughter (so far :) )
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Two very special and important people to me:
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My dad cutting the turkey:
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The cook setting up the buffet:
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Finally eating:
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Dogs (I didn't manage to snap one of Kerrigan...she's always on the go)
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Kevin testing out my lens on Liam...this was his best shot. :)
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Then on Friday we headed back out to my parents because my sisters, mom and I were going shopping for wedding dresses for Lauren.  We had two appointments and we luckily found a beautiful dress at the first one!  Kayla came with us and was overall well behaved and peed in the potty like a champ! :)

Megan and Brody:
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Liam with Gigi:
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Overall it was a fun but busy weekend.  My ** birthday was also on Thanksgiving this year.  I'm just glad it's past as I usually dislike the time around my birthday because no one remembers it.  

Hope everyone Thanksgiving was filled with family, food and love!