Christmas 2010 Part Five: The Evening

The boys got up from their naps around 3:30pm. When they came upstairs, they found the rest of their Christmas presents waiting for them:

That's right...Josh's sister sent a box of hats, and Josh's parents sent them each a set of knight armor. How exciting. What was even more exciting was half an hour later when the power went out. For 3 1/2 hours. Yeah. From 4 in the afternoon until 7:30 in the evening (give or take a minute or two) we had no power on Christmas.

Not having power Christmas afternoon/evening was interesting. It was bad because I had made a duck for dinner, but it hadn't finished cooking before the power went out (Josh carved it and put it in the powerless fridge anyway and we ate it Monday for dinner...it was a little dry, but still good). That meant we had to be creative with dinner, so Josh cooked hot dogs and macaroni and cheese on the grill.

It also meant candles were our main source of light, and the fireplace was our main source of heat for those hours. The candles were great because the boys were super excited by them, and when we sat down to eat they insisted that the candles on the table were "Happy Birthday Jesus candles", so we sang "Happy Birthday" to Jesus before we ate.

Here's that same picture but with the camera's flash (can you tell Josh really wasn't feeling well all day?):

The power outage was also a bit of a blessing though. After dinner we had to find ways to entertain the boys. This meant that, instead of watching football and new movies on TV, or playing video games and things, we sat in front of the fire and read books (we finally had to get a flashlight though).

Josh also took the boys to the "night range". In the dark, they shot their new nerf guns at the back door. Because the door is made of glass and the ammo has suction cups that stick to the glass. You know.

All in all, it was a great Christmas time here in Walterland. Thank you for letting me share it all with you. And if you're interested, ALL of our pictures from Christmas are up on flickr. Now we're looking forward to 2011 and all the fun and interesting times it promises to hold for us. Happy New Year every one!

Christmas 2010 Part Four: The Morning

Christmas morning was so much fun this year. Not that it isn't fun every year, but with the boys being so into the season, and more fully aware of it all, it really made a difference. Josh got up first, and fed Finn before getting the rest of us up. (I figured this would be the best way to go so that we weren't trying to feed Finn and oversee the present opening at the same time.)

As you can see from the video, Zeke was pretty excited from the get go. After helping me distribute the presents, he just ripped into them and tore open present after present after present. Everything he opened was recieved with an "Oh cool!" or an "Oh boy!" or sometimes just an enthusiastic, "WOW!" (Notice, in these pictures how Zeke's presents are scattered all over, while Deacon's are in a neat pile - it's so funny to see their little personalities come through like this.)

Deacon, on the other hand, took a little longer. Maybe it's because he was still trying to wake up, maybe it's because he is easily distracted, but it took Deacon a good amount of time to get anything done. He took his sweet time opening every present, tearing off one little piece of wrapping paper at a time. Then, he would look at or play with said present for a good 5 or so minutes before he was willing to start the next present. In the amount of time it took Deacon to open all of his presents, Zeke had opened all of his, all of the ones for the both of them, or all 3 of them, and half of mine. But that's okay. Except that Finn was in love with all the colorful paper and kept trying to get at Deacon's pile.

After we finished opening presents, we had breakfast. My wonderful friend, Amity, made homemade cinnamon rolls and brought us our own batch, and boy were they good. Thank you so much Amity!

Around 9:30 Zeke decided that he had had enough excitement and put himself in bed for a little rest time, so all the boys went to bed for a little rest time. Then they got up and we just played and read books and relaxed for the rest of the morning until nap time. Thank you, again, to all the grandparents who sent such fun and wonderful things!

Christmas 2010 Part Three: The Eve

Christmas Eve was a fun day. Nothing exciting or special happened in the first half of the day, but after naps is a whole nother story. We got the boys up a little early from their naps (poor Finn was the only one still sleeping and he had a hard time waking up) so we could go to church.

Our church here has a special kid's service they do every Christmas Eve. As I said last year, you show up, there are tables of costumes for the kids to dress up in as either shepherds or angels or wise men or stable animals. Then, after the service starts, the kids gather in the back of the church in groups based on what they're dressed as, then the reader reads the Christmas stories, and the groups of kids make their way to the front of the church when it's their turn.

So you start off in the stable, so all the animals go up and sit around the manger.

Then the shepherds join the story, and are vistited by the angels.

Finally the wise men/kings make it. I don't have a big group picture from this point on because Deacon wanted to be a wise man this year (he's more like a wise-guy, really), but he's still too shy, I guess, to go it alone, so I went up with him again. And again, Zeke wanted nothing to do with dressing up, so he sat with Daddy and Finn.

Between each group's arrival, we would sing a Christmas carol relating to the part of the story we were at. Once all the groups were up there, and the wonderful story of Christ's birth was finished being told, all of the kids were moved off the stage, but kept right up front there, and a children's sermon was shared.

This year, our church decided to hold this service twice, once at 3:30 and again at 5:00. We decided to go to the 3:30 service so we could go out to dinner afterwards at a decent time for the kids and get them home with enough time to wind down before bed. So, after church we went to Piccolino's for dinner, then headed home. We put the oh-so-tired-but-doing-SO-well Finn down for a little rest, popped in a movie for the bigger boys and enjoyed the rest of our fun Christmas Eve.

Christmas 2010 Part Two: The Cookies

Here are a few things I learned this year while making cookies with my boys:

1. No matter how many times you show them how to "properly" use the cookie cutters, the boys will always use them upside down so that cookie dough gets stuck in them:

2. No matter how closely you watch them when they are decorating the cookies, things will get out of control (not in these pictures, but by the end of decorating time, the cookies were looking rather...um...festive):

3. Not all cookie/cake decorating items are the same. You may think you're buying the same kind of decorations as last year that decorated your cookies so nicely, but you aren't. At the same time, not all cookie doughs are the same. You may think you're being clever and saving time by buying pre-separated (I guess) cookie dough (you know, the kind you break and bake), flattening it with your hand, then letting the boys use the cookie cutters, but you aren't.

Well, you're saving time, but you certainly aren't being clever. (Look, I wanted to bake cookies with the boys, but I was too tired to actually make my own dough. I wanted to buy different premade dough, the kind you can make cookies with, but the store was all sold out of every kind. It was kind of sad. Just like how our cookies turned out.)

Kind of looks like the frosting took on a life of its own and ate parts of the cookies, huh?

4. Am I on 4? Yes, okay.

4. None of it really matters because we all had a great time and the cookies still tasted like cookies (even if they were a little on the sweet side).

Christmas 2010 Part One: The Introduction

I had thought about writing one big epic post about our Christmas this year, but instead I've decided to do it in smaller segments, posting one piece each day this week. My reasons for this are two-fold. One, I just spent an hour on flickr putting up and labeling all of our pictures from this month, and I don't want to do any more on the computer today. Two, if I did do one post, it would seriously be a loooooong one since there are cookies and church and opening presents and the power outage all to be shared. And I wouldn't want to bore anyone by going on and on and on all in one shot. But so I don't leave you empty handed (since I am leaving now), here's a picture of Finn trying to yoink one of Deacon's presents Christmas morning:

Farewell My Friend

A sad thing happened the other night. A dear, old friend of mine; a friend that had been so good to me, and to my family, for so, so long; has died.

That's right, my VCR has finally decided that it was time. I went to put in a video for the boys and it just wouldn't play. Then the whole thing just shut down and said, "I'm done." I've had this VCR for probably a good 15 years. It was with me through part of high school, through all of college, and it came with us to Germany and Oklahoma and Alaska. But it has now joined the list of things that will not be making the move from Alaska, whenever that might be.

That being said, if anyone is interested in owning any of our old VHS tapes, let me know. I'm not sure what movies for older people we have (they're in a box in the basement somewhere) but we have a bunch of Thomas and Friends videos, and some 3-2-1 Penguins, a VeggieTale silly song video, Homeward Bound, DuckTales the Movie, and some Baby Einstein videos.

Sigh. Maybe we'll just have to replace it with a blue-ray player.

Sweet Slumber

Personally, I think there are few things sweeter then a sleeping baby:

Just look at that little foot propped up on the netting (and yes, he does have a hole in his sock, I think he did that while he was in bed.

He really does love that shark. Thanks again Joni. You're the best, just like this shark.

Oh, such a sweet, sweet boy.

They're a Fun Pair

Now that Finn is much more interactive then he was at birth, and now that Zeke is starting to understand (I think) that 5 means a little more responsibility is coming his way, Zeke has really started to take more and more of an interest in Finn. Zeke will come up with little games he can play with Finn. He likes to turn off the fan in Finn's room every time we get Finn up from a nap, and lately, Zeke likes to "carry" Finn out of his bedroom and over to the couch. Of course, with Finn weighing in at 20 pounds or so, I have to stand behind Zeke and hold on to Finn as well. I'm sure the 3 of us are quite a site. But Finn LOVES all of the attention he's getting from Zeke now. Finn's sweet little face just lights up whenever Zeke is around now.

Zeke has also started talking to Finn more. In the evenings, Zeke doesn't help me get Finn up because he's usually watching his movie. But as I enter the living room with Finn, Zeke is quick to fill Finn in on what they're watching. Zeke has also started to use a higher pitched voice with Finn sometimes. For example, the other night at dinner I handed Finn one of his crackers. Zeke watched as Finn gummed it for a bit. Once Finn bit off a piece Zeke cheered for him. When I told Zeke he didn't have to cheer for Finn eating, he turned to Finn and said (in his higher voice), "Good job Finn! You're such a cutie." Yeah. Or when he does help me get Finn up, he'll turn off the fan then walk over to the bed, look down at Finn, and in his high voice say, "Hi there Bug-a-Boo. Hi Bug-a-Boo." over and over (I wonder where he got that from...).

So, it's been fun watching Zeke get more and more into the "big brother" role. He'll help feed Finn, hold Finn, entertain Finn. Last week, Zeke wore home a t-shirt he had made at school. I wanted to get a picture of this shirt, so I told him to stand by the fireplace. When I got the camera ready, Zeke had decided to pose like this:

Yeah, they're a fun pair.

I Don't Mind

I've mentioned this before, but on Saturdays, Zeke goes to speech in the mornings. His speech "school" is in Anchorage, which means a good 20 minute drive each way...especially now, with snow everywhere. Most Friday evenings, we discuss which of us is going to take Zeke to speech. Josh doesn't really like driving much, let alone driving in the cold/snow, so he doesn't usually get too excited if I ask him to (like last week, when I was sick). I, on the other hand, really do enjoy taking Zeke in. Besides the fact that I really like Miss Kathie and enjoy chatting with her each week, I also enjoy watching his sessions and seeing where he needs work so I know what to pay attention to during the week.

Today I realized I also like to take Zeke in for a completely different reason. The sun. See, our house (and most of our town) is situated in a sort of bowl, surrounded by mountains. And since it's winter, the sun doesn't make it over the mountains, so for a few months every year, we don't really get to see the sun. Sure, there will be blue skies so you know it's out there somewhere, but unless I leave town, I don't actually get to see it. And since I don't really have any reasons to leave town, I don't really get to see the sun much. But the sun was out today during our drive home, and it was wonderful. Sure, it made it hard to see at times (especially when it glares off of the snow), but it was so warm and I could just feel it lifting my soul a little bit. So yeah, I really don't mind bringing Zeke in to his speech "school" each week.

Finished!

Today was Zeke's last day of school for the year.

Today the last of the Christmas letters and boxes have been mailed. (Right, Josh?)

Today I am finished, and can now relax and enjoy the holiday season.

Yes, I still have to wrap the boys' presents from us, but I love wrapping presents, so I'm looking forward to that.

In getting ready for Christmas, I realized that I just never knew that the spotlight lorry and the cherry picker from the Island of Sodor were at the birth of Jesus.

And since we had a long morning of hanging out at school with Zeke and his class for their little party (or par-TAY as Zeke pronounces it), I'm going to go and start relaxing right now.

I Wanted To Share This

I read the blog Stuff Christians Like. I think Jon Acuff does a wonderful job over there. It's mostly funny entries, but on Wednesdays he does more "serious" posts, and I love them. Today's entry is another one that I think is so well said, that I wanted to share it here. If you want to read it (or anything else) on his site, you can click HERE. Otherwise, here's what Jon had to say today:


The easiest way for a store to make my wife mad is to have a complicated return policy. She refuses to shop at Forever 21 for this very reason. Their return policy is so complicated that the cashiers will often read it to you when you’re making a purchase, kind of like a cop reading you Miranda Rights. “By purchasing this melon colored scarf you realize that should you ever take it out of the bag and merely make eye contact with it, that will forever be held against you in the court of no returns.”

This type of frustration often manifests itself at Target. There have been a number of times when they’ve refused to make some return easy over an amount in question as small as a few dollars. The great irony is that Target will spend tens of millions of dollars trying to get people into their stores via advertising and then argue over $1.50 once they’re at the returns counter. If they paused for a second, they would jump at the chance to pay a $1.50 to get a customer who over the course of her life will spend thousands of dollars in their store.

That’s why I love places like LL Bean. You can bring a canoe on fire into their store and they’ll take it back. Same with Wal-mart, a store we spend a considerable amount of time in. Although the Wal-mart in Franklin is situated in kind of a pit of despair parking lot, we still go pretty regularly. A few years ago, during one of our trips there, I saw something interesting that I’ve written about before. It was a powerful action that in a strange way reminded me of Christmas this year.

One afternoon, in the middle of an ordinary Saturday, the loudspeaker buzzed to life and a less than calm voice said, “All employees, we’ve got a Code Adam.”

In seconds, every employee sprinted to the front doors. A few went outside to scan the parking lot, the others formed a wall blocking the exits. It was like an anthill had been kicked over.

Why?

Because a Code Adam means that a child is missing.

I imagine that most times, the child is found quickly and all is returned to right. That’s what happened when I saw my first Code Adam. But for a few minutes, nothing in the store mattered as much as finding that missing kid. The world of commerce and price tags and sales figures stopped dead as they tried to locate a lost child.

And I think that’s how God is too.

When I am lost. When like the prodigal son, I stumble from the father’s grasp and gaze, I don’t think He cries out “look at Jon sinning again! Look at him failing me again!” I think God cries, “Code Jon! Code Jon!”

And then He rushes outside, hoping to intercept me before I get in the wrong car, desperate to keep me from making the type of decision that is going to hurt me. Because He loves me. I am His delight. He longs, not likes, but longs to show us compassion.

And we are the reason for the greatest Code Adam moment in the history of all mankind, Christmas.

In the tinsel and the lights and the balsam flavored candles we forget that sometimes. It is a beautiful season. It is full of merriment and cheer, but at its heart, Christmas is a rescue.

From the safety and security of heaven, stormed Jesus. From the contentment and perfection of God rushed the Lord. Why? Because God had declared a Code Adam. A Code Jon. A Code Christy. A Code Stacy. A Code Chad. A Code Chris. A Code You.

When we were lost, He did more than just lock a store down. When we were beyond all hope he did more than sprint to the parking lot. He sent his son to the cross for us, to rescue us. And, he speaks this message in a thousand ways every day. He would move the mountains and the cosmos if it meant we came home safe. If it meant we returned to the father and he could stop saying, “Code Adam, Code Adam.”

That’s what I hope we all remember this Christmas.

The reason for the season is a rescue.

Just Like That

One day last week, as I opened Zeke's bedroom door to "release" him from naptime, Zeke very matter-of-factly handed me he his pacie and said, "Put this in the garbage. No more pacie." And, just like that, he no longer has a pacie*. Sure, he got a little sad before bedtime that night and at naptime the next day, but that was all.

*He doesn't actually suck on his pacifier. He hasn't sucked on it since he was probably 2. To him, a pacifier is just another "lovey", like his stuffed animals or his blanket. He just liked to hold on to it. You know, before anyone judges me too harshly for letting my almost 5-year-old still sleep with a pacie.

This past Thursday or so, Zeke told us at dinner that he "needs" a haircut. We said okay, then moved on. Friday night the same thing, Saturday night the same thing. Only on Saturday, he got a little more insistant. All of a sudden, just like that, he wanted to have his hair cut. So, just like that, on Saturday night, Josh cut his hair. As Josh was getting out the stuff to cut Zeke's hair, Zeke informed him that he wanted his hair cut with the purple blade guard, and so it was with the purple one that his hair was cut. He made some great faces during the process.

In the end, he was very pleased with his "new" look and just like that, my little boy became a big boy, making 2 somewhat big decisions in 1 week all on his own. I think 5 is going to be a very interesting age for us.

Crawling By Christmas?

I think so!

The True Tragedy of Mommy's Illness

I have a terrible head cold. I can't breathe, yet my nose is almost constantly running. I can't taste anything and often wind up gasping for breath after sipping some water. My throat hurts a little and my eyes itch some (although that could be from being tired). And I keep coughing and sneezing. That's why I didn't blog yesterday. I felt terrible. I'm still not well today, but I feel a little bit better.

The true tragedy of my illness though, is that I can barely smell. This resulted in both Finn and Deacon having big blow-outs in their diapers and me not knowing because I couldn't smell it. Which led to big surprises for us when we went to change their diapers before naptime today. Ahh the joys of parenthood.

But enough of that. Yesterday, Josh came home from work, and after the boys got up from naps, they did this:

Isn't Daddy clever? It's been a great source of amusement for the boys. We even had Finn in there yesterday (for about 2 minutes). Now if we could just find a better place to keep it.

This Kid Has Such An Imagination

As we all know, Deacon cracks me up. He has such a wonderful imagination, and I just love it. He spends so much of his days in imaginary worlds, and he really gets himself lost in them sometimes. He will just tune everything out and either make up scenes and storylines himself, or he'll start reenacting scenes from movies or TV shows that he's seen. Either way, it's a lot of fun to watch.

Here's a video of Deacon doing one of his own things, being a dancing pirate. Now, it's the most exciting video in the world, and I apologize for that, but it was really funny at the time.

Usually he gets way more into it then this, and he was WAY more into it then this, but once I got out my phone and started "filming" him, he quickly toned it down.

This morning he was reenacting the "exercise scene" from Winnie the Pooh. Just in case you don't know what I'm talking about, here you go.

He only does the part up until Pooh fixes his back, and again, he was doing a better job of it, but by the time I stopped laughing and got my phone out, he was already on his 4th repetition.

Oh, Deacon. You really are so much fun. I can hardly wait to see what life with this kid will be as he gets older. I have a feeling school days are going to be quite interesting with this one. In a good way, of course.

Please Don't Laugh At Me

I hurt myself at McDonald's today.

Every time we go, I put the backpack on the back of my chair, then lay my coat over the top of the chair, and it always stays like that - the coat seems to balance out the weight of the backpack somehow. Today was no different. Backpack on the chair, coat on the chair, chair is standing up and doing great. As I was getting the bigger boys their lunches, I stood up for a second. Apparently, during that second, my chair decided to fall over. But since the backpack (and my coat) were on the back of the chair, it didn't make any noise when it landed, so I had NO idea it had fallen over. I'm sure you can see where this is going. I sat down and landed, really hard, on my rear, on the floor, scraping my upper arm and slicing my lower arm in the process. It was so hard for me to not burst into tears as it hurt really, really badly. I'd show you a picture, but it's kind of gross, what with all the dried blood and skin and what's-it.

As I landed, I had a flashback to 5th grade. One day during chorus, one boy pulled another boy's chair out from under him as he was sitting down. The boy who did the chair pulling got such a lecture from our chorus teacher about how he could have seriously wounded the other boy, maybe even paralysing him for the rest of his life. I'll never forget that lecture...apparently.

But I regrouped, ate some nuggets and fries, and soothed my wounded feelings. I'd say I wounded my pride, but there was no one in McD's besides us for most of our time there. Seriously, no one. The cashiers and cooks and drive-thru order takers were all just standing around chatting as there was nothing for any of them to do. For about an hour. It was so random. Plus, we were the only ones from Zeke's class that went today, so we really had the whole place to ourselves.

Since we had the whole place to ourselves, I figured why not let Finn in on some of the fun and action. He doesn't look very excited in the first picture, but you can see his big smile (and his 2 teeth!) in the second picture.

Finn had a blast, and Zeke was SO good about going down the slide with him. And in case you're wondering, Finn is wearing his hat still because it was so cold in there. I think they crank the air in the playroom because when kids run around in there they get all hot and sweaty, so this is their way of trying to help keep them cool, but for anyone not running around, it gets to be a bit much.

Now we're back home. They boys are all in bed and sleeping. I have bandaged my sliced arm. And now I have blogged for the day. It's time to get some more Christmas letters in the mail.

It Might Be a Bit Much

Last Tuesday, while Deacon was getting sick at Pizza Man, Josh was out doing some food shopping. While he was at the store, he also picked up a star for the top of our tree, since Zeke was most insistant about having a star up there. Not that we weren't going to get around to it eventually, but he wanted the star up pronto, once the lights had been put on.

So Wednesday, after the boys got up from their naps, Josh put the star on the tree (he got off of work early so he was already home by then). Now, here's where the title of the post comes into play. You see, every time I took a picture of Josh trying to get the star to stay up on the tree, Finn would fuss until I aimed the camera at him. Then he would flash a cheesey smile until I would take his picture.

Every

Single

Time

I also gave the post this title because Josh had a hard time getting the star to stay on the tree on account of the star being a wee bit on the big side, and a little bit heavy, I guess. At one point Josh said, "I guess it's a bit too much star for our tree?" He finally rigged it up there, and up there it has stayed - so far. But it is a lovely star, and the boys are super excited about it (okay, I'm excited about it too...it's so "blingy").

Oh. My. Gosh You Guys!

I, like, totally stumbled upon, like, the most awesomest, like, TV show EVER last night!

And since typing like that isn't much fun, there ends my written "valley girl" impersonation. But I do want to tell you about a show I found on TV last night, because I still can't believe it's a real show. Some of you may have heard of it already, I don't know, but last night I watched (yes, I actually sat there and watched it while I worked on some knitting) Bridalplasty. You read that right, Bridalplasty. I linked to it there if you want to go check out its site, I'll wait.

For those unfamiliar with it, Bridalplasty (it's just so fun to say) is a reality TV show where these 12 women (10 now that 2 episodes have aired) are competing to get head to toe plastic surgery for their weddings. I KNOW!! These women have each met with the show's plastic surgeon and have made, get this, "plastic surgery wish lists". Each episode the ladies have to do some sort of wedding related contest (like write vows that match what their fiances wanted them to say). At the end of each contest, the bottom bride is kicked off. Of course, of the 2 episodes there have been so far, each contest had a tie for bottom bride so the other brides-to-be had to vote someone off - talk about drama (make sure you read "drama" in a high, sing-songy kind of voice).

I don't even know where to go from here. This show was so ridiculous and the idea behind is just so...so...I don't even know! It's just insane, and I'm afraid I'm going to find myself watching it every Sunday, getting more and more into it, just because it's so ridiculous. Well, at least until My Fair Wedding with David Tutera comes back on in January. Ooh! Maybe I'll get lucky and the shows will be on at different times so I can watch them BOTH! Fingers crossed y'all.

A Long Day

This morning I went to the chiropractor's to get my back adjusted. It had been hurting for awhile, and today was the first day that worked out for me getting there. Of course is snowed last night, dropping about 4-5 inches on the ground, but that didn't stop me. After my appointment I did some Christmas shopping.

Shortly after getting home, I went back out to a baby shower for a friend, the mother of one of the little girls in Zeke's class. Besides the things I bought for her, I made her baby girl (due New Year's Eve) these:

They actually unbutton and button! She was super excited. Apparently no one has ever knit anything for her before. I had a nice time at the shower, and once I got home it was dinner, baths, movie, and bed for the boys. Now Josh and I have a movie in ourselves, that I am going to get back to. I just wanted to show off what I made.

Not Only Is It Cold...

...but it's dry. The air is incredibly dry right now. It's so dry, in fact, that all of the static the dry air is bringing about has caused most of Zeke and Deacon's hairs to be plastered to their heads. Most of their hair, except for the area around their whorls, where the hair is sticking straight out, in all sorts of directions. Josh said I should rub their heads on the carpet and see if I can get them to stick to the ceiling like a couple of balloons. If only something like that would work (because then I'd have better pictures then these, that's all, not because it would be funny or anything to see my kids stuck by their heads to the ceiling, no, that wouldn't be funny at all).

365?

Apparently if you just hit the "enter" button after filling in the title block, it automatically posts your post...who knew?

Anyway. I've recieved many comments that I should do a blog 365 - where I blog every day of the year. I've thought about it and my answer is no. Sorry, I just know I don't have it in me. I do think, however, that I could pull off a blog 265-300 or so. See, I don't like "having" to blog every day. This is a hobby, and I don't want it to become a chore. I don't enjoy blogging on Sundays (there's really no reason for this, I just don't), and I'd like to have the option of taking a day off once or so a week. Hence a blog 265-300 or so. Because I do enjoy doing it. I mean, who doesn't love talking about their own kids all the time? And I will continue to link through facebook, for those who check that more often then the blog here.

Now you know you can look forward to much more from Walterland this year. You know, until I get bored with it all. Lol!

His Day Started Out So Well

Yesterday started out as a pretty good day for Deacon. Zeke was at school so he had the playroom and the toys to himself. We watched some Sesame Street, and I put Finn down for his morning rest time "on time" so Deacon got some time on my lap. After a good rest time for Deacon, and after I fed Finn, Deacon and I made a snowman together to hang on the front door.

Look how pleased he is.

As soon as the snowman was hung, Zeke's bus pulled up, which led to some fun wrestling and such around the house (even though Deacon did fall once and cry a little). After lunch he got to watch a Handy Manny episode then it was off to bed for naptime. After naps we were all excited because we were going out to dinner at Pizza Man with the evening PWOC Bible study group I sometimes attend, and our friends were going to be there.

Once we got there though, things for Deacon started going downhill. I thought he was just being shy. He's not as outgoing as Zeke is, and often tends to have a little period of time where he's just sad when I leave him places (child care in the clinic, Sunday school, whatever) but he usually bounces out of it quickly and has a good time. But last night, as more and more ladies showed up, Deacon seemed to get sadder and sadder. I thought he was just getting overwhelmed, but would be okay soon enough.

Eventually he wound up climbing into my lap and started sobbing. I kept asking him what was wrong and if anything hurt, but he just said no and that he wanted to go home. So I called Josh (who was food shopping) and asked him to swing past Pizza Man on his way home and pick up Deacon. I got Deacon dressed to go outside, then headed to the front door to wait for Josh. And that's when I saw it.

I looked at Deacon's coat and saw what looked like some of his chocolate milk on it. So I asked him if he spilled, but then I took a closer look and realized he had thrown up. Poor baby! So as I'm grabbing napkins off of the table next to us, Deacon threw up again. So now I'm feeling like a terrible mother because I kept playing off his sadness, figuring he'd be fine, when in fact, he wasn't fine. I had just finished cleaning him up when Josh walked in, so off they went to get Deacon home and cleaned up, and off I went in search of help to clean up the restaurant. Our waitress was already on top of it though, so I just washed my hands and went back to the table, and back to my other two boys.

Deacon didn't throw up again, and he never got a fever, but he didn't sleep really well. He kept waking up crying, with some sort of pain in his belly. Eventually he decided to come to bed with me. So Deacon and I slept in my bed (he totally took over my side by the way...pillow, blankets, everything), while Josh moved himself to the couch.

I took this picture around midnight, since I couldn't really sleep as I was worried, and feeling, again, like a bad mom since I had no idea really what to do. See, our kids are hardly ever sick, so when they get sick, I don't have much practice, therefore I really don't know what to do besides hold them, and keep them cleaned up. I think the last time either of the big boys threw up was back in October 2008...over two years ago. That can't really be right, can it?

Anyway, I guess I had fallen asleep shortly after midnight, because around midnight-thirty I woke up to a sound coming from next to me that had me utterly confused. "Is that...music?" I asked myself. I rolled over, and sure enough, there was Deacon, wide awake and apparently feeling much better since he was laying there singing songs and having a good time doing so. Yay. Only not so yay because he stayed awake until 2am either singing or playing with things like the alarm clock and the lamp. Eventually he did fall back asleep and so did I.

We both slept well until 4:30am when Deacon started crying again, and I thought, "Oh no. He's not actually better, what am I going to do?" But then I came to the conclusion that he was probably hungry, which he was, so I got up and made him some toast and sliced a little bit of an apple.

This made him feel much better. So much better in fact, that he wanted to get up then. Somehow I managed to convince him to go back to sleep for a little bit. It only took me until 5:30 to get him back to sleep. But then he slept for a good 2 hours, and woke up feeling fine and has gone through this day, so far, as if nothing at all happened. He's napping quite peacefully now, and I think I'm going to end here and do the same.