Brave or stupid???

Probably a little of both. Nevertheless, my best friend (brave mother of triplets plus one) and I spent Saturday afternoon making cookies or cackies (according to Kate). It actually went very smooth condsidering. Though it is hard to narrow it down, I think everyone's favorite part was Sprinkles.

Belated Christmas post

Santa arrived on schedule Christmas morning and while he had a hard time competing with the boys' Grandparents and Great-grandparents, I think they were pleased. Chase was at least. Noelly only wanted to play with Chase's stuff and take the ornaments off the tree. Fortunately, they felt much better that day. We spent Christmas eve morning in the Doctor's office where Noel got steroids added to his regimen and Chase was diagnosed with a severe sinus infection.

Ain't no party like a birthday party...

Essentially, the photos in this post are backwards, but I am blogging from our laptop at home and it is too difficult to make changes.

We celebrated Noelly's birthday a little bit early this past Sunday. I was somewhat hesitant to follow through with it given his sickness and grumpiness, but I didn't really know when else we would have it so we carried on. He did great. He completely smashed his cake, opened his first present and only wanted to play with it, and was his incredibly cute self. He didn't really eat any cake but as you can see he kindly offered me some.

The Albuterol Blues

that is what we are singing at our house. After a really rough night on Friday, I took Noel to the doctor first thing Saturday morning. I honestly thought they would tell me he had a cold, at worst, a sinus infection. I am soooo glad I took him because he had a double ear infection and bronchiolitis. The doctor did not like the way his chest sounded. She gave him a breathing treatment right in the office and sent him home with a nebulizer to do breathing treatments 4 times a day. The good news is he is much better as of this posting on Sunday night. The bad news is the side effect of Albuterol is nervousness and agitation. He doesn't want to be held or put down. He doesn't want to sleep but he is soooo tired. It is a little frustrating but all that matters is that he is on the road to recovery.

A Different Child

I was just scanning over some of my past posts and read the one about Chase's disasterous last shopping trip. I feel I owe him his due to report on the kid I took shopping yesterday. I took a vacation day from work to take Chase to the dentist, attend his school party, and then finish my shopping. I always have a multitasking agenda. Chase had the opportunity to stay home with Aunt Jessica but chose to come along instead. I made the parameters of that choice abundantly clear to him before he decided.

He was an absolute, helpful, witty, charming angel of a kid the entire day. When my mother in law asked what was making him be so good, he said "Well, it is getting close to Christmas." When I was contemplating a pair of mittens for Noel he suggested I write him a note to put his hands in his pockets (a line he had heard in "It's Christmas time again, Charlie Brown). We both decided that wouldn't be practical considering he can't read. And lastly when I asked him if he wanted to pick out something special for his dad on his own, he said " No, I really want you to save your money...Long pause...then you can buy more presents for me." He actually hugged me at one point and thanked me for taking him shopping. Me thinks he was craving a little one on one time.

Unfortunately, Mr. Noel is a bit of a different child himself. He has a terrible little cold that is making him quite short tempered. Hopefully he will feel better for his big birthday party this Sunday!!!

Wordless Wednesday

Santa and his helpers.

A'camping we did go.

What is the most logical thing to do after getting over a 24 hour stomach virus on the coldest weekend of the year so far? Take your family to join five other families camping in the mountains, of course. Ok, so that is actually the opposite of logic, but that is exactly what we did this past weekend. For a couple of months several families from church have been planning this grand adventure, so who was I to let a little fever, vomitting, and diarrhea hold us back.

I was actually feeling much better by the time we left on Friday and wasn't running a fever so I did not contaminate the entire party, and to clarify we were in campers and cabins. In fact, we were in the (around 23 of us in the 3 room efficiency style) cabin the majority of the time because it was so cold outside.

Noel, I decided is a warm weather baby because every time we got him bundled up enough to go outside he was not excited.

The main event of the weekend was a community Christmas tree lighting, caroling, hay and train riding extravaganza. The hayrides began at 4:30 with the evening to culminate in the tree lighting at 6:30, not one member of our party managed to brave the elements and see said lighting. The above picture is the point (at I would say 4:45) when Noel had had enough.

That night after dutifully eating my bland Chicken and rice soup the whole time I decided I could partake in a hamburger. How wrong I was, and as I write this on Monday afternoon I have to say I am still not feeling great. But, here is what made the whole experience worthwhile:

Chase had the time of his life in the "wilderness" as he called it and got to be with his best buddies for a full uninterupted weekend.