I don't mean to sound like I'm complaining all the time, but we're tired. Sophie is over the fever stuff, but not has this rash covering her whole body. Just means she had some virus. It looks like it's very irritating, but we have no idea if that's why she's fussy or if it's something else. We can't seem to make her happy and the things that used to make her laugh don't work anymore. She is eating and drinking half of what she used to, but thankfully she can miss a meal or two, if you know what I mean. I thought we were past this clingy stage, but it seems like we are back again. She hates riding in the car, she hates it if you aren't holding her, she hates it if you are holding her, she hates eating, drinking, etc. Bath time and swinging are the only things that make her happy. Oh, and playing peek a boo every now and then. I know they say babies can sense when their parents are stressed and become stressed too, but I really can't help it! Who wouldn't be stressed in times like these???? She isn't sleeping well at night anymore and Brandon and I are exhausted. I think we were up for an hour last night with her. Anyway, I just pray that God will have mercy on us and help her to feel better soon. It's so frustrating when your child has a problem and they can't tell you how to fix it. I just wonder if she's fussing b/c something is wrong or she just isn't getting her way. I think it's more the latter than it used to be! Just part of life, kid! (That goes for you too, mommy!)

Little Sophie has been sick for the last 4 days and we aren't sure when we'll see the end of it. On Wednesday she felt a little warm, but we just wrote it off as wearing a jacket too long. Thursday afternoon, Brandon was home early from work and when she woke up from her nap she was burning up. We took her temp and it was 103.8, the highest either child has ever run a fever. We gave her some medicine and waited. After a while, Brandon, of course knowing way too much, started to get a little worried about what it could be, and knowing he was probably just overreacting decided to call one of the doctors he works with and was told to bring her in. We found out she has an ear infection. I wasn't too surprised since she's been cutting teeth like crazy and Christopher had an ear infection twice around this age. We were sent home with some meds and told to just watch the fever and let them know if it was still acting up. Friday I took Christopher to Mother's Day Out, went to get my haircut and pick up a few things at the store and poor Sophie looked terrible! She crashed when we got home and slept for 2 hours. Woke up with another fever, still 103.9 and I gave her some IB and called Brandon to give him the update. I was told by her doctor to give her Tylenol as well and call in an hour if it was still high. We go to get brother and she can barely keep her little puffy eyes open. I called Brandon back to tell him we were just going to come straight there b/c I didn't want to wait for naps to be over and be "that person" who shows up at 4:30 on a Friday with a sick child. The nurses were amazingly sweet and it took 3 of us to hold little Sophie down as they gathered urine and blood samples. It killed me to see her screaming like that, but knew it had to be done. We found out she has a virus on top of the ear infection and just have to keep doing what we're doing. Saturday her doctor called to check on her while headed out of town with his family (he's so sweet!) and told us what to do if we needed anything. Her fever came and went throughout the day, hitting 104 by the afternoon, but she's a trooper and hanging in there. The good news is, she's sleeping harder at night so I'm not as tired as you'd think I'd be. Hopefully today will be a good day and she'll just start getting better.

After three attempts to get a decent Christmas photo of the kids, I finally got one. I gave up on dressing them in nice clothes and taking a pretty picture. I was crazy to think that was even possible. The evening after we got back from Thanksgiving holidays we bathed the kids and put on their new Christmas pj's (thanks Mimi!) and decorated the tree. They were having such a good time I wanted to take advantage of it. Sophie was extremely excited to be next to Christopher and wouldn't sit still, but we happened to get one where they were both facing the camera and had smile on their faces. I'm going to wait until the cards actually come in to show you the one we picked, but here are some of the others. You'll see why this was a challenge.

I did it. I can't believe it, but I did it. I packed up most of my baby items and took them to consignment. I've been looking forward to opening up more storage space, but it's strange to think that it's all gone, not just out of sight. I also took my maternity clothes. I let my sister pick out what she wanted and the rest of it is gone. GONE! I'm definitely not going to miss my maternity clothes, but knowing that the bouncer will never be tripped over or the swing playing in the kitchen again is kind of sad in a way. I did it so fast I didn't have time to think about it and dwell over it. I still have a few things, the exersaucer and the jumper, but that's about it. Let's just hope there are no surprises any time soon. Ugh, the thought of that just gives me a headache. I'll keep my fingers crossed. Now I just need to drop off the bags of regular clothes we don't wear anymore...

I'm tired.

I'm tired of waking up at night to give a pacifier that they can reach themselves.

I'm tired of leaky diapers adding to my pile of laundry.

I'm tired of hauling two kids to the store complaining about being at the store to get things that they need and want.

I'm tired of being screamed at b/c I'm not doing something fast enough, right away or at all.

I'm tired of getting milk.

I'm tired of giving baths.

I'm tired of cleaning up.

I'm tired of cooking dinner while kids are screaming.

I'm tired of not finding Christmas gifts. (And I'm not even looking for a "perfect" one, just trying to find anything!)

I'm tired of teething. (waaaaaay tired!!!!)

I'm tired of potty training.

I'm tired of washing my hair.

I'm tired of never feeling human.

I'm tired of literally wrestling my child to put on a diaper and clothes.

I'm tired of being sleepy.

I'm tired of being hungry.

I'm tired of not brushing my hair and teeth until nap time, or worse, bed time.

I'm tired of being frustrated that my wonderful family drives me so crazy.

I love my kids. I love my husband. I love my life. But today I don't. Today, I'm tired of anything and everything. I'm just wish I could be away from home, all alone and it's quiet with a fireplace, a blanket, a stack of movies that have nothing to do with kids and a couple good books.

Tomorrow will be a better day. It has to.

Brandon missed another Thanksgiving, thanks to work. He had to work nights the week before and the week of, so I took the kids up to my parents house at the lake to stay for a little over a week. It's not worth staying home b/c the kids won't stay quiet that long and Brandon can't sleep. I was ready to get out of town anyway. We haven't seen my parents in almost 3 months so they were as anxious as we were to see them. Here's what happened over the week:

Christopher playing on the door of the dishwasher with his new ornament from Grammie, along with the other little diggers he found at her house. He can make anything a road!

Christopher helped Pop load rocks into the trailer to the lawn mower. He adores Pop, playing outside and anything dirt, rock or construction related.


He's really gotten into fishing lately. Maybe this is a little too much, but he thought it was fun.

Saturday, the Khans came up to visit. The boys had a great time playing together and chasing Burt inside and out.

Here's the crazy foursome, Nicholas, Christopher, Joshua and Sophie. Nicholas was smaller than Christopher as a baby, just like Joshua is, but now he's a good bit taller, so maybe the same will happen with the babies.

Grammie had a bunch of pecans that she needed to crack open. Christopher was more than willing to help. He was pretty good too! He let me have a turn and before I started he warned me to be careful about hitting my fingers. So sweet!

My second attempt to take Christmas photos. Was a complete disaster. We tried several locations, bribes and finally gave up. They wouldn't sit still for anything! I did get one good shot of Christopher playing with a truck (imagine that!) and figured I'll just have to use individual ones b/c there is no way I'm going to get one with both kids sitting still.

After the photo session, Christopher and Grammie made homemade ornaments. He was a big help and loved every minute of it!

He had to do it all by himself. He's very independent that way. (I know, it's really b/c he's two.) But he really is good at doing things in the kitchen. He helps us make things all the time.

Poor Grammie, I had so many projects for her to do while we were there. Only one of them was needed before we left, but she never wants to disappoint and worked hard getting all of them done. Even made a new outfit in one day that she had never made before, while having a bad cold. She is so sweet! Sophie enjoyed sitting at her feet and playing with whatever she could find.

Christopher wanted to color on the kitchen floor while Grammie and I were working on dinner and when we turned around, this is what we saw...

Funny thing is, she didn't even care! She just sat there and let him color her face, hands and feet.

Off to the bath they went to get cleaned up and we started playing a fishing game. I put the fish outside the tub and Christopher had to throw the line over the side to see what he could catch. Sophie, well, she does everything her brother does.

Again, Christopher finds ways to dig, or pretend to, practically anywhere. By the end of the week he discovered tiny rocks in the fireplace. They fit perfectly in the tiny diggers he'd been playing with so he'd back the dump trucks up to the edge (while making a "beep, beep, beep" noise), fill it up, drive forward and dump it for the tiny diggers to use. He did this until we left.

Sophie finally warmed up to Pop. The only man she will go to is her daddy, who she adores. But she finally fell in love with another man.


Pop helped Christopher make his own tool catalog. They traced their hands on the cover and then cut and paste photos of tools out of one of Pop's numerous tool catalogs. It was very cute! In case you can't read the sign, it says, "A man and his tools, it's a powerful thing."

Sophie took off up the stairs the first day at the lake. Then she just stayed at the bottom and would dance and laugh, then one day she decided to try again and she wouldn't stay put. She was so proud of herself, it was so cute! This was taken the day we left.

The day before Thanksgiving we went to my in-laws to stay until Friday b/c it was their holiday. Brandon's sister and her family were unable to come b/c the baby came down with RSV and they were afraid Sophie would catch it. We missed them terribly and it didn't really seem like a holiday b/c everyone wasn't there. The kids ate early so it was just the four of us around the table. We didn't make everything we normally would b/c we knew the four of us couldn't eat it all. Lisa and I had planned to hit the stores early Friday morning with Sophie and drop Christopher off at his friend Nicholas' house to play, but Christopher and I didn't wake up until almost 7:00! Sophie had woken up before 6, but I never heard her and John went to get her for me. I really needed the sleep, but felt terrible that I was so tired I never heard her crying. Odd b/c I didn't have a problem hearing it at 1:00 in the morning! We had some success at Toys R Us and Target, but didn't feel like doing much else after that. I needed to get on the road with the kids before it started raining anyway. We made it home in time to see Brandon for about 2 hours before he had to go back to work. I got to run to the store to get milk and a few other things and learned the day after Thanksgiving is the absolute BEST time to go grocery shopping! Nobody is there!!! (duh, I know) The kids were so happy to be home and Christopher happily crashed in his bed, while Sophie was so tired of being in different beds that she couldn't sleep at all. I don't think it will take long to get back into our groove again. It's nice to go away, but even better to come home!