Christmas Cookies For Santa

It's The Most Crazy Time Of The Year

To paraphrase the famous song, that's how I feel today. I noticed today that I haven't blogged in over a week! Where are my priorities people?! I'll tell you where, they're at the store, along with all of my money.


Let's see...what has been going on with us...


Dan worked about 60 hours last week and his brakes need to be fixed on his car so he has been taking my car to work...


I've been trying to finish last minute projects and get everything ready for Christmas. I finally mailed Becki's present to California today. I used priority mail, so it should get there on time...I hope...


I've been finishing Christmas shopping and making Dan drive me in the snow because I hate driving in it...it's one of my many sources of neurotic anxiety these days.


Other than that, I've been trying to get rid of this cold. I think it's finally going away. I was sick last year on Christmas so I'm hoping it will be gone by Thursday.


So, Merry Christmas Everyone! Here are the Christmas cards I made using my digital scrapbooking software.

Potty Training Stuff

I decided to write a post on this again, because I'm starting with a new approach. Ethan is definitely not the potty boot camp kind where you do it in a short amount of time. We're still in Pull-Ups, but that's okay. He'll learn it eventually. I mean, I just started doing "Potty Time" yesterday and he's already come to me twice to tell me that there is poopy in his Pull-Up and we need to put it in the toilet and he already peed once yesterday. That's progress and we're both happy with it. It's important for us both to be relaxed and happy about this or it won't go well for either of us.

I called my pediatrician's office yesterday for some ideas, since Ethan is my first child and I have absolutely no idea what I'm doing. They referred me to a doctor who specializes in child development. I left a message for him and he was gracious enough to call me back with some ideas. They seem to be working.

This is our plan so far:

1. Scheduled potty times throughout the day, about once an hour or so, or whenever he wants to go.

2. Putting the poopy in the toilet and flushing it down so he knows where it goes.

3. Using the potty box and getting a treat for trying to go.

4. Positive reinforcement. Positive correction for accidents by saying, "Uh oh, you got poopy and pee pee in your underwear, it goes in the toilet."

5. Doing all potty related stuff, like cleaning him up, etc., in the bathroom.

Anyway, I know a lot of moms out there stress about potty training their kids. These were just some ideas that I thought were good and they're working for us. I get the best of both worlds. I'm teaching Ethan to do something grown up, but I'm not cleaning up human waste every five minutes.

My mantra to myself is, "Don't worry. He'll get it eventually." I know he will, and we're both happier now that I'm comfortable with what I'm doing.

Family Pics

We went to have family pictures done on Friday and we got some really cute ones, so I thought I'd share. I was surprised that Ethan cooperated as well as he did. Enjoy!

The Sun Is Back

After the dark day of wading through puke, it was a refreshing change to have my little boy back to normal today. He bounced back so fast! He was so miserable yesterday, but he slept a lot and that must've done the trick....so no more puke here! Hooray! As far as my grandma, the surgery went well and she's going to be fine, thank goodness. It's not a very aggressive cancer so they're confident that she'll be okay. My grandpa should go to the doctor this week, but he's fine with the way things are if they can't do anything. He's been on oxygen for about a year and a half now without any problems. He can continue to do that if he needs to.

All in all, the storms of yesterday seem to have passed for the moment. I know there will be others in my life, but it seems as though they don't usually hit all in the same time frame like they did this week. Oh well, I guess I passed the test. I've proved my worth, Fear Factor style, by testing my gross out factor and lots of prayers for the other stuff.

I learned something today, Heavenly Father truly is aware of us and our problems. He truly is there for us through everything in this life. Sometimes he lets us go through things because it's what needs to happen for us to grow. Sometimes he helps us out of situations because we need to see miracles in our lives. We learned about miracles in Sunday School this week. God truly is a God of miracles. They are big and small, all around us. Look around in your life and I bet you'll see a few.

When It Rains...

It pours...we've all heard that statement before. It seem to be, whoever knows me is having crappy things happen to them, time. My grandma is in surgery right now for a cancerous lump, one of my closest friends is going through a divorce, my grandpa is going in for a lung procedure this week because they think blood is pooling in his lung causing decreased lung capacity, and, to top it all off, Ethan and Dan both have the stomach flu.

They also say, it isn't about waiting for the storm to pass, it's about learning to dance in the rain. Well, at my house, we'll probably be dancing in puke not rain, but at least the doctor said this will be over in 24 to 48 hours. Poor kid can't keep anything down, not even medicine. I've been successful with two teaspoons of water at a time in 15 minute intervals so far, so we'll see what happens. I just know I've been washing my hands, sterilizing, and washing all of his bedding. At least I'm getting exercise running up and down the stairs over and over for various things Ethan needs. I'm glad I got that good night's sleep last night, I'm going to need it today.