Doctor Visits

The last couple of weeks we've had ...doctor visits. As a family, in the last two weeks we've had a cumulative six doctor visits. All but two of those were for me. And the girls were lucky enough to have the best kind of doctor visits: well child appointments.

I was able to schedule Alice's 9 month and Clara's three year visits together. Alice is 15 lb 10oz, about the 7th percentile (don't worry, her head size is still the 75th percentile.) As for Clara, I was reading a friend's blog a while back wherein she said her two year old was 25 pounds. And I thought, "Oh, what a small kid." So, guess how big Clara is? 25 pounds. She's about the third percentile. It was also a great visit because no shots were needed. Unfortunately, that won't be the case in a couple of months when I schedule Alice's 1 year and Nathan's 5 year visits together. 

I won't dwell on all the myriad details of my illnesses since I'm tired of complaining. But last Friday after coming home with antibiotics for a double ear infection (third prescription of the week), I joked that there weren't many more parts of me that could be infected--maybe fingernails?) Ha. Then Wednesday I went back for thrush, and Thursday for conjunctivitis. The nurses and pharmacy techs are starting to get to know me.

But I'm getting better! (The power of positive thinking, you know.) My cold is gone and my ears are starting to clear out. I no longer sound like I'm underwater! And once my antibiotics are gone I'll start a probiotics course to get rid of this stupid thrush. I feel like I'm a walking petri dish. Luckily, though, I'm getting less contagious by the day.

And, fingers crossed, I don't seem to have passed any of this on to any of my family. Which is lucky. I've barely been able to take care of myself, let alone any other sickies.

And, something I've learned: if you ask people to ask your kids while you go to the doctor, they usually feed you lunch. It's pretty nice. I'm going to start inventing appointments, conveniently scheduled to end right about noon. I'll be making the rounds through friends and acquaintances. Just wait for your phone call, and be ready. Seriously, though, many thanks to those who have helped me with the kids the last couple weeks. You've been lifesavers. And of course, to Levi, who has really stepped up with cooking and kid duties when he's home so that I can rest. He's a good'un.

A Very Merry Birthday

 Well. I wanted to make sure we'd mark this third birthday with some good fun things. I organized a playdate while Nathan would be at school. And the next day was Levi's day off, so we'd have some time for a day-after birthday outing. Hooray! Fun things!

And then, sickness. Levi was home sick. Clara had a cough. Alice was all sorts of snotty and had a little cough. So we canceled the playdate and hunkered in.

 But was our birthday fun? You bet. The thing about three is that simple things are really fun. During the afternoon we got out some balloons. Balloons are fun by nature, and then when you learn about static electricity, the fun multiplies! Look! the balloon is sticking to me! To the couch! To the wall!

 Then we got out the birthday crepe paper to decorate. She was pretty proud of this one--she did it all herself.  After that we watched a movie and painted fingernails. For dinner we loaded all the sickies in the car for Chick Fil A drive-through--her choice. And then, birthday party!

 Clara wanted a pink princess birthday cake. But, this is a girl who doesn't eat cake, so why bother? So she got a pink princess ice cream cake. It turned out pretty well, and she loved it.

 It took a while to blow out candles--by the end, Nathan was helping.

And Alice was pretty happy with an ice cream cone filled with whipped cream. She did successfully beg a few bites of ice cream later. I've gotten a lot more relaxed about things like that with each baby.

And although our day didn't live up to my plans, it was probably better. A fun day at home doing all the things Clara loves best. What a happy girl, at least most of the time.

And, the day after her birthday, she started (finally) telling me when it's time to go potty. We're definitely making progress now. Hopefully we'll have less of turning "back into a baby" from here on out. Clara told Grandma a couple weeks ago that most of the time she's a big girl but sometimes she turns back into a baby--this while grandma was dealing with a dirty pull-up. Yes, let's have less of that.

A backseat civics education

A couple weeks ago, while heading to the grocery store, somebody had left the radio turned to ksl talkradio (our satellite radio's free trial period has ended, and it's been a very sad day.) Talk radio is not really my thing, but it was Doug Wright, who seems to make a good deal of sense, usually, and so I left it on. It was talk about the recent passage of the bill averting the fiscal cliff, and all the ridiculous hoopla surrounding that.

From the backseat I hear: "Mom, did we vote yes or no?"

?

"Um, we voted yes." ? I wasn't quite sure what he was talking about.

"Because we need to keep taxes low."

Well. I think we have a little Republican in the making. Because, as our four year old is quite sure, low taxes are a good thing. And who's going to disagree?

The Twenty-Fifth

 Christmas Eve, just before bed. We worked all day to get the house clean so I could enjoy Christmas. Then in the evening we had dinner before heading to the live Nativity in West Haven. Our Barton grandparents and Uncle Will were able to come. The kids enjoyed seeing the animals, and even Alice enjoyed the angels up on the roof. I haven't been for several years and it was wonderful. It was bitterly cold and it was such a testimony to me to see the Roman soldiers march through the snow in sandals and the young children try not to shiver in the cold--the story they told was so important that they didn't care about the physical discomfort. I think I've found a good Christmas Eve tradition.

 Then, the next morning, December twenty-fifth, we celebrated Alice's nine-month birthday. Oh, and Christmas.

 The kids had a great morning opening presents. The crankies started to come out at breakfast, and really came out at at Grandma Burrows' house.

 After lunch we had a drive to Farmington and (yes!) naps. And then, it turns out, a drive to Grantsville and more naps for most of us.

Christmas was a good day. And now we've even (mostly) caught up with our naps.

Seven days to go

 The Monday before Christmas Eve  we decorated gingerbread houses. I bought a kit of four mini gingerbread houses, which included frosting and candy. Convenient. But it felt like cheating. No spending the day baking gingerbread? Lazy.

 Also, the candy was kind of sparse. Especially after some kids started eating it.

And this baby was so proud of herself! She didn't get to help decorate the houses, but... Standing is a pretty good substitute.

Visit to Santa

 In the leadup to Christmas, we tried to have some Christmasy activities to help us along. And since Santa didn't come to our ward Christmas party this year, and Nathan really wanted to tell Santa what he wanted. So we had to go to Santa. Christmas village, here we come.

 I think Levi thought I was a little excessive with the bundling, but no one complained of cold. Success. Also, it was Nathan's idea to wear his snow pants. I just went along with it.

 Luckily we got there at a good time--short line.

 So we sipped hot chocolate and listened to some kids sing.

 And before the kids could even get bored...

 We were in. While we were in line, I asked what the kids were going to tell Santa. Nathan said, "Transformers." But... didn't you want Star Wars toys? "Oh, yeah. I want Star Wars toys." Whew. Luckily Santa could come through with some Star Wars toys.

 Clara had rehearsed how she was going to ask Santa for a princess. But she had just seen Nathan get a candy cane from Santa, and so that's what she asked for.

So, Santa requests accomplished, we set off the see the rest of the lights. And ride the Christmas train. It's fun to see the kids enjoy the same Christmas displays that I enjoyed when I was young.