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Morella has croup, going on a week and half now (that I have kept track of). I have been giving her honey before bedtime and have a cool mist humidifier in her room running at full steam (heh). But I only started that part yesterday. Tonight she seems just as bad as before and right at night her voice gets barky and she starts coughing. Should I take her to the doctor? I had always assumed that this was something that was a side effect of a cold (which she didn’t have) and that it would just go away after a day or two. This doesn’t seem to be going away. It also doesn’t affect her during the day at all. She doesn’t cough, have a fever or seem in low spirits, yet at night she is miserable. Ugh. Why can’t I download a pediatrician app into my head?

I had a pretty good day with the girls. We have been holed up in the house for the last couple of days. At first it was post Christmas destressing, then it became something where I was trying to work up a good cabin fever. But you know what I just realized? I have started to get the blues the last few days….there might be a link here. I had to get out of the house today because we ran out of coffee. Getting coffee is apparently one heck of a way to motivate me to get into the shower, get the kids dressed and write up a list for things we need to get at Target. I stopped my McDonalds to get a starter coffee and dropped one off for Tim before we went to the distant Target to shop. I was going to stick to my list, but I got suckered into the 50% off stuff and the girls were so well behaved sitting in the cart playing with 50% off giraffe’s that I lingered far too long. You know what I mean. While I was shopping I drank an entire large Starbuck’s coffee, so I was feeling pretty good at the end of the trip. Good enough to go to Old Navy and see what they had to offer — and drink my still warm McDonald’s coffee on the way there.

Old Navy was great and I stocked up on some of my favorite things for a fraction of the price I would have paid going sooner. I got two new hoodies and can’t wait to get rid of my old, dirty stained ones. I even got a new dress for 8$. After that we went home and unloaded our goodies and then scurried the kids outside to play and pick up dog poop. Neeners eventually got cold only wearing a coat and we went back inside. I left to Old Navy to return a hoodie I got for Tim because it was hung wrong and I got the wrong size. Oh a side note, the kids totally charmed everyone there by each putting one of the straps of their bags over their shoulder and carrying my bag for me while singing “Teamwork!” Those kids are so totally awesome.

Anyway. I ran back and exchanged it for the last one. If I had waited until tomorrow then I would have been out of luck. Came back home and Neeners passed out on my chest while I looked at the internet and made Christmas scene’s out of 50% off foam stickers with Morella. Then when she work up we played My Little Pony and then I took the kids to Tex Tubb’s for some fish tacos while Tim went off to his weekly game. I told the girls the MLP’s wanted to eat tacos which motivated them to want to go in the first place. Once we were there we made every other little girl and some boy scouts, jealous of our ponies. But, my girls sat in their seats, ate their dinner and were so well behaved. I predict some ponies heading out to eat with us in the future. Way better than stupid crayons, which by the way we got too because those were 50% off too (glitter ones by crayola? Cool!). I had only eaten a McChicken, 1/4 of a cookie and a chocolate (another 50% find) so I devoured my food too fast and ate too much. I was so full when we got home. I haven’t felt like that in a very long time so all I wanted to do was sit on the couch and watch The Long Road to Christmas while playing Words With Friends.

THEN I found out what was making our house smell disgusting. Okay, I know you want to know, but it is a little embarrassing to admit. We made a crock pot turkey breast for Christmas dinner. After I had cleaned it and put away the leftover I just put the lid on the rest of the stuff, and juices in the crock pot and put it over by the sink — where it became neglected because both Tim and I hate to clean to crock pots. That, my friend, was a very disgusting smell. I think it was hidden for so long because 1. we hate cleaning clunky pans and 2. it’s colder in the kitchen so it took longer to rot.

ANYWAY….problem taken care of and a new vow to try and take care of that sort of thing right away instead of procrastinating for almost a freaking week.

I feel like I had more to say but I have been on the computer now for over and hour and it’s past midnight and I am tired and have been berating myself for not going to bed sooner. I have slept in this week too late for too many days. I felt a little bad this morning after Morella happily exclaimed to Tim “We were really hungry this morning so we fed ourselves! We had lots of grapes and candy from the candy houses.” Ugh. Need to do better!

I turned off the TV, found the awful smell in the kitchen — cleaned it up and then some of the kitchen and am currently letting incense try and take care of the lingering smell. Yuck. Anyway, while doing dishes is productive in that dishes get clean, it’s also an excellent way to think about tons of mundane things. That is for another post. This post is going to try and finish a photo post I started the other day.

Checking out the Christmas Tree at the Capitol. A passerby was kind enough to take our photo for me. It was really a super day, everyone was so nice and held doors open for me, and smiled at the girls. It was one of those days that felt straight out of a Christmas movie about the awesomeness of small town life.

Noah and Morella at the Solstice party at Olbrich. We have gone 3 out of 5 years and this is the first without snow. We didn’t stay long because the “punk fire” burned out fast and it was extremely muddy and dark.

Neeners and Noah’s Mom – Ann.

One of each of the things we made for the annual cookie box, minus the peanut blossom that I added after the fact.

Christian invited us to his annual family Christmas party. The girls had a wonderful time dancing in front of complete strangers next to the Christmas tree.

Christmas Eve brunch at Lowen’s house. We decided it’s gonna be a yearly thing, it was so nice.

Soren reaching after Neener’s hair and Morella.

Morella’s with Clara’s Mother at the Nutcracker performance on Christmas Eve

Neeners felted stocking is the unfinished one of the right. I swear those things take 60 hours of work.

Tim and Morella on Christmas Day

Our first family Christmas Dinner together at home. Morella is the only dressed and we do dinner at 5:00. It was pure awesome.

I had a hard time deciding on photos taken and narrowed a bunch of them down, but even so it’s too much to put on a post. Therefore I have decided to post them on Facebook and you can see the rest of the photos by clicking on the following link: The Holidays 2011.

In the last minutes of Christmas day 2011, I just have to note that I wrote 8 pages in my journal about how awesome and great the entire weekend was for me. It was like a dream come true…the kind that just happen and you go along with, that is. The Christmas clock just sang it’s 12:00 song and I should go to bed “early” for a change. I was in bed after making everything perfect at 1:30 am last night and Neeners was up and chatting to me at 7:00. Too many late nights…but it was all so worth it.

This was hands down, the best Christmas I have ever had thanks to my wonderful family and friends.

Sorry, it has been forever. I have been meaning and wanting to post but lets face it, December is a brutally busy month for all of us. I have a few minutes right now to edit photos and write something down. Tim has a half day today so he is downstairs playing with the girls and Soren finally passed out. Having Soren is such a lovely reminder that in general, I do not miss little babies — all that carrying and trying to decipher what the heck it is that they want now. Though Soren is a good kid.

Anyway. It is so nice to have a minute to myself to take a breather and write. I might have to do this tidbit style to get more down.

–I love Christmas shopping hours. I love being able to go to almost any store I want at 11:00 PM to browse in peace and quiet. It’s brilliant, though I feel a little bad for the clerks that people like me make them stay open that late.

–We finished our annual Cookie Box yesterday and delivered them all (except two). This year’s plate included: Russian Tea Cake, Peanut Butter Blossoms, Sugar cookies with royal icing, snickerdoodles, white chocolate covered marshmallows dipped in sprinkles, rolo turtles, peppermint and pecan saltine toffee (separate batches), fudge with walnuts, thumbprint cookies with bumbleberry jam, spiced molasses cookies, spritz cookies with cherry and almond flavors, and cream cheese mints. Everyone is always so happy and surprised to get them from us, though some neighbors I know look forward to it.

–Had Morella make her own, and help with Neeners Santa letter and then went to Macy’s to deliver them to the Santa box. For every letter received they donated a dollar to the Make a Wish Foundation. While we were at Hilldale we had dumplings and noodles with Sigrid and then browsed the great toy store Playthings.

–Took the girls to see the big Christmas Tree at the Capitol, looked at the train, went to Capitol Kids to Christmas shop for cousins and then had pizza at Ian’s. My favorite pizza place.

–Morella had her 4 year well check. She now officially weights 32 pounds! We broke the 30 barrier! Hip hip hooray! And she measured at 39 1/2 inches. Though at home she measures 40.25. When asked if she wanted to get her shots now or wait a year, she oped for waiting a year. Smart kid. She did however fail the drawing a triangle, square and plus sign test, as well as the knowing her first and last name portion. She got a vision test and passed that with flying colors and was able to draw a wonderful person. I gave everyone in my play group a heads up as their kids head into their 4 years, and everyone has been practicing. I am happy to report that right now both girls know their full name.

–Ordered, received, updated address database, wrote the Christmas letter and got all our cards mailed out. There was a happy accident and we got an extra hundred cards free of charge, so we were able to send everyone a primo card this year.

[The girls are back upstairs.... bummer]

St. Nick’s presents. Since their shoes are so little, I had to wrap everything to keep it together and placed it on top.

Morella went to the dentist for the second time ever. She did great! No cavities, though I got some wordage on how she should visit a orthodontist when she is 7 for a consultation based on how her baby teeth grew in.

Morella is such a good listener and does so good at the doctors office. She loves leaving the dentist with a bag full of goodies especially.

Morella in one of her Nutcracker outfits. She has been obsessed with the Nutcracker. I can’t wait for tomorrow…she is going to just explode into little Morella bits. I bought her a new party dress, shoes and tights for tomorrow. In this photo she is opening a belated birthday/early christmas present from my Mom. She got a baby dolls and a bunch of baby things to go with it. She immediately called the new baby “Good Soren” and went on and on about how he never cried, went to sleep when he should and never spits up. For some inexplicable reason, she is grossed out by Soren. I think its because she expects him to barf any second.

Speaking of which, here is the boy passed out on the couch.

Morella’s letter to Santa

Neeners letter to Santa

At Hilldale. The nice thing about Hilldale is that they have a Santa that you can pose with and take your own pictures. The girls weren’t interested in that, though they did wave to him.

Morella sending her letter.

Neeners picking her nose. There is a 50/50 chance she another sinus infection or if this is just a new hobby.

Merry Snismas!

This is like the second day in a row (fingers crossed) that there isn’t something wrong with me. I have struggled with the recurrence of a badly pinched nerve in my neck, then on Saturday I got a terrible migraine that made talking and thinking difficult. Ugh. Enough already.

Saturday Morella woke up with a tissue applied to her nose and hasn’t let up since. Neeners copied her on Sunday and so now we have two boogery girls, but at least they are getting better and there were no fevers involved. It’s interesting. When they were babies, every time they got sick they got a fever. Every single time. Now they can get sick but not have a fever…I wonder if that is just a side effect of experience? Hm.

The family started to make cookies yesterday. I made nut cookies (tea cakes), peanut butter blossoms, cream cheese mints, and the dough for the sugar cookie cutouts. The day before Tim and Morella made the snickerdoodles. All cookies are frozen now. It helps for us to not eat them that way and keeps them fresh until we are done with all of them and ready for the Grand Dispersal. I am not sure what I am going to do today. Take a shower I guess. Cut out and bake sugar cookies, and make spritz? I am not a fan of cutting out, baking and decorating sugar cookies in one day. It’s too much and way to easy to get cookie burnout. I don’t like the idea of taking the girls out of the house when they are coughing and emitting large volumes of yellow snot every five minutes. I guess I could clean too, since I feel better. Really what I want to do is a bunch of stuff for myself. Like journal, and wrap gifts and stuff like that.

The girls have been terrible about going to bed the last two weeks. I mean terrible. Like 11:30PM terrible. It’s like they are taking turns staying up until I go to bed. We put them to bed at reasonable times, usually between 7:30 and 9:00, depending on how late they stayed up the night before, but they just won’t stay there. Morella has been up because she can’t go to sleep with her boogers and waits until she passes out. Neeners was up because she dumped a whole bunch of liquid in her bed when she fell asleep with her nighttime cup. Or Morella will have nightmares 2-4 times a night. Or Neeners isn’t sleeping because she took too late of a nap and we couldn’t wake up her in time.

But you know what? IT doesn’t matter how long she sleeps. If either of these kids so much as have a 10 minute nap during the day they will not go to bed. The rule with Morella is that she doesn’t get naps anymore unless we are traveling or she is sick. But Neeners….she still wants that nap expect she pushes it back to 3 now and that is too late. She can make it without a nap but only until 6:30 or 7:00 and those are rather unpleasant hours.

Anyway, sorry I digressed into a sleep post (boring) but my point is that I have not had a minute to myself in many, many days. Okay that isn’t completely true. I do go out and run errands and leave the kids with Tim. But then sometimes I also take one of them with me. I took Neeners with me on Saturday to State Street to pick up my tickets to the Nut Cracker.

Oh my gosh. I gotta tell you about that one. Last month I had this idea that I wanted to take Morella to the Nutcracker. I looked online and saw the ticket prices and decided against it. Decent seats were at least $30 bucks each and the best were upwards of $60. There was no way I was going to take Morella up into the triple balcony, nose bleed seats for the bargain price of $9-12. They were, however, having a give away of tickets. I consulted with Tim and we agreed that a spending that much on a 4 year old going to a show was just too much, but if I won tickets then that might be different.

Well, I won! I won tickets! I had to call to find out where they were, but when I first discovered that I won I didn’t think I would be able to go because the show times were Friday the 23rd at 7:00 (no good), Saturday the 24th at 2:00, and Monday the 26th at 1:00. We were still planning on going up to his parents at that point so it wasn’t gonna happen. THEN, we had Thanksgiving, in which I made a considerable sacrifice to only do a day trip to visit my family instead of spending the weekend. I commented to Tim on the way back how disappointed I was that we were not going to be able to set in stone our own Christmas traditions with the girls. No Santa, or opening a present the night before. Not being able to visit friends Christmas eve and share cookies and eggnog. Not being able to see the girls wake up on Christmas morning and drink some hot coco as they tear into gifts….awww. Anyway. Tim suggested then that we shouldn’t go. We should stay here and then go up to visit them on Christmas day and spend the afternoon with everyone. We would go to our own Christmas Eve service in Madison and then have all Christmas day to ourselves and family. Then we would drive back, and not have to kennel the dog, and everyone would get to sleep in their own beds.

Okay. We made this momentous decision and suddenly a whole world of things opened up to us. A big Christmas party on Friday night, and then I get to take Morella to the Nut Cracker in our $32 each seats on Christmas Eve. Oh my gosh, she is going to be so excited. We are both going to dress up, and have a magical afternoon. She is going to be so surprised, excited and thrilled. I have already prepped her by watching the Maurice Sendak Nut Cracker Ballet on TV on one of the nights she wouldn’t go to bed.

In other news we started putting Neeners in underwear after taking off her nighttime diaper. Normally she hasn’t done anything, and will hold it until afternoon nap diaper. But yesterday she pooped in her panties and I had to clean that up. She had only peed in the potty once a couple weeks ago. A part of me can’t help but to compare how at this exact age, Morella potty trained herself.

The girls are in their flyboats reading books to me, and sitting with their stuffies. I wonder when I will ever get to use those plastic storage bins for … storage.

It was a pretty good weekend, and I tell you about today…Tuesday? Figures. Anyway. We managed to get out to a Christmas party on Saturday night at Bill S’s house. He had a white elephant exchange going on and I got a … ugh…. a Nagel print of a woman with sunglasses on. My friends. I hate Nagel. I don’t know many artist names, but I know his because I hate it that much, and I “won” it. I couldn’t for the life of me get anyone else to take it. So here it sits. Either someone who loves Nagel tells me they want it, or I figure out how to repurpose the frame. It is a rather nice frame. Tim’s prize was something I told him to steal – a Celtic Christmas 2 disc CD. These people thought that was bad?! If I could have only gotten the Cat Calander and puzzle I would have cleaned up. Alas…Nagel. (puke)

Morella is wailing in the bathroom. Trying to force cry this one to keep going for another five minutes. It’s pretty dramatic and fake sounding at this point. The lastest trigger in this overtired preschooler is that Neeners got to the bathroom first. Man. This after having an awesome day. I took her to her dentist appointment, came home and put Neeners down for a nap, and then took Morella to the Mall so that she could look around and get ideas for what she wanted to ask Santa. She picked out the Melissa and Doug Cupcake set, followed by another tea set. Ugh. Not another tea set.

My neck really hurts today, on day three of bad kinked neck. I figured out what caused the problem though! The other night Neeners came into our room and asked to cuddle. So laying down, I reached over and picked her up and realized that my neck was strained … and then BINGO! That is it! Neeners is the cause of my kinked neck. I am straining my whole left side when I pick her up from a laying position to get into bed with us. Ugh. So no more of that. I am desperate for relief today and am currently trying an Icy Hot Patch (Target knock off). The sensation is so, very weird. I am battling with the urge to take it off, but then if I do that it is wasted and maybe I just need to go through this in order for it to finally feel better. Right? I tried my massage pillow earlier and some ibuprofen and nothing. What I probably need to do is just lie in bed for a few days with a couple great books, some movies and my stocking felt craft that I am working on, oh and the lap top in case in get inspired to write. That would cure me, I am sure.

Anyway. I took the girls out for lunch at Hyvee and then a trip to Target for toliet paper, which also meant we got five dollars worth of dollar bin stuff, tweezers (two pairs because I am sick of always losing them), target brand icy hot patches and some “christmas” glitter nail polish that I am going to do as an advent activity. OH and a coffee for me on the way out. I take the girls to the car, load the stuff and then hear Morella whispering over and over “I have to go pee. I have to go pee.”

“What?” I asked.
“I have to go pee!” She hollered in response.
“Why didn’t you say something when we were in the store?” I asked and threw bags behind her into the back.
“I have to go pee!” she repeated.
“Well, you are just gonna have to wait until we get home,” I said. “Now get in your seat.” She started screaming and saying “Hurry! Hurry!” and sitting like a plank in her seat. Meanwhile Neeners is chugging soda from her sippy cup and looking nonchalant.

“Do you really really have to go?” I asked.
“I have to pee!” she cried.
“Fine,” I said. “Just fine. We have to go all the way across the parking lot, back into the store just so you can go pee when we could have been done already if you had just said something.” I took her out of the car, carried Neeners and grabbed my keys and wallet before locking the car. We marched back into the store (and when I mean we park far away, we do. It’s always busy at the East Target and is a 3 minute walk) with Morella sobbing the whole way. We get into the bathroom and she continues to bawl despite a countdown and peeing. Finally when she is done she says “I want a hug after I am done peeing!” I say “Okay.” And help her.

After she washes her hand, and I refuse to carry both of them, and we exit the store, she says “I no want you. I don’t want you Mommy.”

“Well,” I say holding their hands and walking them “I am sure we could find another Mom somewhere in this parking lot”.

“No Mommy. I am just crabby. That is why I say that.”
“I know you are,” I reply and bundle them into the car.

Last week, Morella’s godmother by marriage Kelly sent her a birthday present. A wonderful, fantastic beautifully crafted fairy house.

For more pictures of the fairy house and details please visit: The Wonderful Fairy House album.

Thank you so much Kelly. We all love it and will cherish it for years to come.