Family, Parenting & Life: Updates

Wow. The days just fly by. This is the first time I have had a moment to myself all week. I am writing this blog and watching the finale of X-Factor, which by the way has turned out to be a great show.

We have been so busy the past few weeks. We had Oma and Opa in town this past weekend and celebrated an early Christmas. The boys got lots of wonderful gifts, which I have tons of pictures below. We also went to breakfast with Santa at the Missouri Athletic Club. It was our first experience and it was clear that this is a big traditional breakfast with a lot of families. I know we will go back for many years because it was a lot of fun, but I was a little stressed out because I never know how long the boys will behave themselves. This year Samuel was so excited to see Santa and tell him what he wanted. Joseph on the other hand, freak the f-out. He screamed so much and would not let go of me. We weren't planning on having a family picture, but that is what we got. There was no way Joseph was letting me put him down, plus Simone was fast asleep. Oh well, maybe next year.

Not only did we have a wonderful time celebrating Christmas with Oma and Opa, but they were also so amazingly helpful in watching the kids that I got to go to Bikrum Yoga twice and Dave went with me one time. I think I am obsessed. I love the way it makes me feel. I sweat like crazy and I smell so absolutely disgusting afterwards, but it is such an awesome workout. Since I started last Wednesday night, I have lost 3 pounds. I thought at first it was water weight, but it hasn't come back. I am just feeling great and Dave loves it too.

Simone is getting so big. She is smiling all the time and is such a happy baby. Today when we went over to Justin and Charisa's new house we were walking down into their basement and Simone laughed out loud for the first time. I have no idea what she found funny, but it was so cute to hear. Then I put her down on the floor to change her diaper and she started to roll over from her back to her stomach. She almost made it completely over, but her left arm got stuck underneath her and she couldn't figure out how to kick herself over. Anyway, I could not believe it. She must love the McFarland's new house because she had two huge milestones over there.

On Tuesday morning Samuel woke up and his eyes were super red and crusty. I thought for sure he had pink eye in both of his eyes, so I put drops in them and kept him home from school. In the afternoon, I put Joseph in the tub and Samuel in the shower. After Samuel got out of the shower he started complaining that his ear was killing him. He got a really high fever and was grabbing his right ear. I called the doctor and luckily they had late office hours that night, so Dave was able to take him in. It turns out, he had a double ear infection and his right ear was super infected. The infection caused his red blood shot eyes. As soon as he had one dose of the medicine his eyes completely cleared up. I have never heard of such a thing, but thank goodness he didn't have pink eye. I hate having to hold him down to put the drops in.

This morning Samuel woke up and had splotches all over his body. I thought for sure he had an allergic reaction to the medicine, but within 30 minutes the spots went away, so then I thought it was just a heat rash or something. It was gone all day until about 2:30 in the afternoon and then all of the sudden it came back again. I called the doctor and he wanted to see us right away to see what was going one. Turns out he really is allergic to the medication. His ears had completely cleared up, so the doctor said to not give him anymore medicine and see what happens. Samuel has never had a reaction to any medicine so this was a whole new experience for me. He is feeling fine now and hopefully our house is done with sickness.

Tuesday night was the beginning of Hanukkah. Since Samuel felt terrible he wasn't in a great mood. We lit the candles and didn't do much else. On Wednesday night we lit the candles and the boys got rain boots. Samuel was so excited about his Batman boots, but Joseph was freaking out about putting on his Thomas the Train boots. He wants nothing to do with them and screams anytime we try to put them on his feet. I hope he gets over that soon, but that will be a waste of money if he won't wear them. Tonight I made a nice dinner and the boys each got a dollar. It has been such a nice holiday season so far. I am looking forward to having a nice family weekend with all the kids and Dave.

More pictures to come, but for now here you go:

Making the gingerbread house. Joseph wasn't too happy that he wasn't able to help out with the frosting.

Simone starting to smile

Another smiling picture

The other night the boys put their shirts over their heads and ran around, they were having so much fun. I love to hear their laughter together.

Just look at the Samuel's face, pure joy. I love it!

Another funny picture

Oma holding Simone in the back in her cute dress. She is looking at her big brother.

My handsome Joseph. Such a cutie pie.

This is such a great picture of Oma and Opa with the kids. The kids did such a great job of sitting for the picture.

Here we are with Santa. You can see how absolutely crazy it was. Simone sleeping, Samuel smiling and so happy and Joseph screaming. It was quite a scene.

Samuel enjoying the cool airplane that Opa made for him. That plane is made completely by hand out of wood. It is really cool. Obviously you can tell, Samuel loved it.