I don't know who knows, but Brandon had surgery this morning. He has had a hernia for years, but didn't realize that is what was causing the occassional pain he'd been having until just now. The pain was never strong enough or lasted long enough for him to bother getting it checked. Turns out he didn't have one hernia, he had two! The doctor said he did great. Brandon was a little nervous about having his co-workers operating him (not b/c he didn't trust them) and becoming the patient instead of the doctor, but he was able to let go of it and relax. I was proud of him for doing so well and actually following the doctor's orders by letting me take care of him.

Yesterday I started explaining to Christopher that Daddy was going to go to the hospital to get a boo boo fixed instead of being the one to take care of other people's boo boos. At dinner tonight he was so cute and told me that Daddy would feel better if he watched his digger movie. And later told Brandon that he could use his Lightning McQueen ice pack to make his boo boo feel better. Before he went to bed he crawled up with Brandon to watch a soccer game that was on and Christopher said, "I love soccer," which of course melted Brandon's heart. (Such a sweet boy!!)

Thankfully my mother-in-law was able to come down and help me with the kids and I don't know what I would have done without her! And Tiffany too. She was awesome and picked Christopher up from Mother's Day Out for me b/c the surgery took longer than expected. The upside to all of this is that he has all of next week off! Unfortunately he won't exactly be in great shape to enjoy it like he'd want to, but it'll be nice to have Christmas with family now.

Ok, you will probably think I'm crazy, but when I have a night when the kids are in bed early and I'm all alone I love to "blog hop." Months ago I came across one of a girl I recognize from Auburn and loved her blog! (I am friends with people who know her, but I never actually met her.) I was so amazed by all that a mom with 2 girls and a newborn could accomplish. Sewing, remodeling a house that nobody would buy b/c it was so bad, canning food, you name it, she does it. Made me feel lazy for not doing a fraction of what she does! Well, I forgot how I found it and what her name was and so since then I've been in a search to find it again. And tonight, I found it!!! I'm adding it to my favorite blogs so you can see it yourself. I actually came across her twin sister's blog first and kept looking until I found the one I was searching for. Her sister sounds amazing too, so I added hers as well! (If you girls ever read this, I hope you don't mind!) I didn't want to lose these again. If you're wondering it's the Stickler family and Urban Grace Interiors. I love seeing what they do and hopefully I can learn from them b/c they are both very talented. Hope you enjoy them as much as I do! Oh, and I've added other favorites as well.

I thought I'd put some recent photos on here so you can see what we've been up to, besides being sick.

Anytime Christopher sees an empty box or bin he HAS to take a ride in it and always wants Sophie to join him. She's not as excited about it as he is, but they still have fun together.

The annual smashing of the pumpkins. This is a tradition that was started when we were dating and seems to be even more fun now that Christopher gets involved.

Ta da!!! Here's the Christmas card photo. Like I said, it took three different days and giving up on nice clothes and hairbows to finally get a decent one. I knew it was hopeless to think they'd sit perfectly still smiling and posed. So this is what we ended up with, the kids in their natural form, laughing and being silly.

Sophie catalog shopping for Christmas presents. She sat here for about 20 minutes just turning the pages one by one and then starting over again when she would get to the end. It was so funny! Usually she just rips them apart, but I guess she likes Pottery Barn Kids and wanted to take a closer look. She was very serious so I had to get a photo. I should have gotten the video camera so you could see her going. I couldn't believe it!

Today it rained, but it was a really good day. I'd post photos, but Brandon took the camera to work. I actually enjoy days like this b/c I don't have to worry about running errands with kids who hate running errands. We usually turn on music and dance around and read books and pop popcorn to watch a movie. Chrisotpher helped me make cookie dough for some Christmas cookies later and then helped stamp our Christmas card envelopes. (This will explain if you get yours and it looks like a 2 year old got a hold of it.) After we mailed those, Sophie woke up and he decided he needed a bath. After a snack and reading of some books, we are sitting on the couch watching the rain in the front yard and here are some of the funny things Christopher said,

"Mommy the rain is making a puddle for me to jump in later!" (guess that's what we're doing when the rain stops)

Then the thunder starts and he says, "We better run to our beds and take a nap before the thunder wakes us up."

"Whoa!!! The thunder is booming!!"

"Hey, it's raining out here too." (said after Christopher walks to see the backyard)

When turning on some music, I asked if he wanted country or Christmas music, his reply was, "Crunchy!!"

We had success going potty and later took a trip to the BX with Brandon. We decorated our Christmas cookies and even got a surprise visit from our neighbors Matt and William, which is always fun. Overall, it was just the day that we've been needing around here. Hopefully we'll have more of them now that everyone is feeling better!

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.