nostalgia

When I was about six, my Grandma Buehrer made me a Christmas dress (one of many hand smocked dresses she made me...this one was one of the last, though, sadly).

It needed new cuffs, collar, and lengthening, which my mom did, and now Rachel is wearing it this Christmas.  I know my grandma would have been thrilled to see her great granddaughter wearing it all these years later.

(Rebecca is wearing a dress that was Rachel's when she was three.  Love how she's admiring her big sister!)

baby, it's cold outside!

Rachel and I just spent about two hours out in the freezing cold snow, in the Christmas parade with the Girl Scouts.  I haven't been in a parade since high school band, and I wasn't anticipating that it would be quite as stressful as it was.  The Girl Scouts were in front of one of the high school bands, and high schoolers march a lot faster than second graders walk (and pass out candy to on-lookers), so we were constantly being swallowed up by the band, and trying to book it to get ahead of them.  I was walking fast, and my legs are LONG--you can only imagine how the little second grade girls fared.  They were cold and tired, but most of them seemed to have fun, so I'm glad.  I don't think they'll choose to be in the parade again, though. 

Here's Rachel before the parade (they were supposed to be festive--at one point along the parade route a guy took her picture like this and asked for her name and information for the town's local newspaper, so she might be in the paper next week!):

And here's the troop and other Girl Scouts (from behind...I didn't want to show their faces....not to mention the fact that I didn't have enough time to run ahead of them to get a shot from in front!)

So tonight we get to experience standing out in the cold AGAIN because Rachel's choir from church is singing at a firefighter's event, also outside.  I'm not even bothering taking off my long johns....I'm just trying to warm up for an hour here at home and then we get to go leave again.

Brrrrr........

snow day!

It's a snow day today!  We actually don't have any snow, yet, but we have ice, and the snow is coming later today.  I don't care....I'm thrilled that I don't have to 1) scrape the ice off the van, 2) get dressed before 8 AM, 3) get the girls to the bus stop with ice on the ground....  I'm also glad (this time) that our news makes a HUGE deal about these coming storms, because since they did, I decided to get to the grocery store last night instead of this morning, like I always do (Friday morning is my grocery shopping day--I'm not sure why, it's just kind of the pattern I've fallen into in the last several years).  I saw that today was supposed to be bad, and changed my plans yesterday so that I could get there last night.  Even though it was SO packed (because everyone else was freaking out about the storm, too) and they were out of a bunch of things on my list, I still got the essentials, and my pantry is no longer bare on a day when I can't go out.  I'm hoping tomorrow will be better and I can go back and get the remainder of the things on my list.

The girls are so excited about the prospect of playing in the snow later.  I'm excited that Rachel is here to entertain Rebecca!  :)  Yesterday morning Rachel was sad when I told her it was time to get to the bus stop because the two of them had been playing together so nicely for at least 30 minutes, and she didn't want to stop.  Here's hoping today is a day like that....and not a day of screaming, arguing, and separating them, because we certainly have those days, too! 

decking the halls

Showing off their new ornaments (not a good picture....but you can see Rebecca's Hello Kitty--she's obsessed with her at the moment--and Rachel's artist's palette).

Decorating--Rebecca kept putting them all in the same spot, and letting them hang WAY down....even down to the floor, as you see here!

The best shot we could get in front of the tree....still not great, since they're not looking at the camera, but oh well.

And some of the bad ones...

And this is one from a couple of weeks ago (before the cast came off, obviously).  I couldn't get a good picture that day, either, but I still liked this one.

happy thanksgiving

We're back from several days out of town for Thanksgiving, but I don't have a single picture!  We took the camera, but forgot to get it out.  :(

Thanksgiving morning we left home to go see husband's side of the family for lunch.  We spent the afternoon with over twenty people....the largest Thanksgiving get together I think I've ever been to.  

Mid afternoon we left there and went to my parents' house for the rest of the day.  We indulged in another delicious Thanksgiving meal for dinner.  It was the first year we didn't use a high chair....I have mixed feelings about being out of that stage of our lives.

We stayed there until yesterday, visiting with my family.  Rachel and Rebecca loved being with their cousins and grandparents.  Rebecca made good friends with my Aunt Julie, who was also staying.  At one point she was looking for her and I told her that she and Grandma had gone to the store for a little bit.  She pouted a little and said, "It's just not a party without your friends....."  That girl says the funniest stuff.

Now we're back home and it's December 1st, which means the return of our Elf on the Shelf:

We found him on the mantle this morning and he had played with the Scrabble tiles a little....

It also means the return of our Advent calendars

So at 5:58 this morning Rachel came in and told me it said 6:00 on her clock.  Usually on a weekend I would send her downstairs by herself for a little while and I would stay in bed until Rebecca got up, but knowing that she would find Rudy, I needed to get up with her this morning.  She found Rudy right away and liked the little sign he had made.  I made her wait for her sister to do the rest (looking in the little door of the house and reading the first little book of the Christmas story).  So once Rebecca was up we did those.  The paper in the little door said we'd put up the Christmas tree today.  So that's on the agenda for later today.

It's hard to believe Christmas is less than four weeks away.

it's off!!

She got her cast off yesterday.  She laughed through the whole thing.  They said it would tickle, and apparently it did, because she just laughed and laughed!

She was really tentative about moving it for the first few hours.  Every little movement bothered her and anything that touched her skin was annoying.  They said her skin would be sensitive for awhile.  I was kind of worried because she just wouldn't move it and said it hurt, but the doctor said it was fine, but would be stiff for awhile.  As the afternoon and evening went on yesterday, though, she started trying to straighten it out a little bit and she gradually was able to get it almost straight.  She was excited to take a shower instead of a bath, to wear real PJs instead of just PJ pants and a t-shirt, to wear a long sleeved shirt this morning to match her sister (they both love to match and they haven't been able to wear any of their matching clothes for the last month), and tie her own shoes this morning for the first time in month.  

She ran to the bus stop this morning yelling, "I can run again!!!"

So glad all is back to normal!

germs

November seems to be full of germs around here.  Every fall seems to turn out this way, with one of us constantly sick.  Right now it's me.  A few days ago it was Rebecca, and I was up almost all night with her for two nights.  Before that it was me (it's been me for the last month, actually, with a few of the girls' colds in there, too). 

My previous sinus/ear infection never completely went away.  Then on Saturday morning I woke up with a killer sore throat.  Then an upset stomach.  Lots of really unpleasant symptoms to go along with that.  Yesterday I felt almost fine (except a bad headache, which I always seem to deal with, so that's nothing new), but this morning I had the sore throat again and the nasty stomach flu symptoms, again, too.  I went to the doctor--he says it's a virus that's going around and to give it 72 hours.  That means by tomorrow morning I should be good as new.  Let's hope he's right, because I am really, really tired of feeling lousy.

Hopefully soon I'll have something more exciting to write about.  Right now a day of feeling good would be exciting.

no news

My husband commented the other day that I hadn't updated my blog in awhile.  There have been several times that I've thought about the fact that I haven't but I've thought, "What should I write about?  That Rebecca's getting in trouble every other minute?"  Because that's really all that's been going on around here.  

They say the terrible twos are nothing compared to having a three year old, and that's definitely the case with Rebecca at the moment.  She is pushing limits, trying out her independence, and getting thwarted at every turn.  It's constant discipline, correction, and lots of tears and frustration here at the moment (the tears are mostly hers, the frustration is mostly mine).  

She's a stinker, but is also full of hugs and declarations of "I love you, Mommy."  She's easy to love, but also easy to get frustrated with right now.  I guess that just about sums up most three year olds, though.  I remember the fours being so much better with Rachel.  I'm hopeful that that will be the case with Rebecca, too.  Not that I really want her to grow up that quickly.....I just want her out of this phase!

Rachel gets her cast off in six days.  She's counting down.  Me too....I'm ready for her to be able to wear long sleeves and zippered pants (she's been wearing the same elastic waist pants and short sleeve shirts for weeks now!), take her own showers instead of me bathing her, having her tie her own shoes, put her own coat on, and all of the things that have been a struggle for her for the last month.  I hope her strength comes back quickly and she'll be able to get back to her beloved monkey bars!

trick or treating in the rain

All week long they talked about the "Frankenstorm" that was coming on Halloween.  All day long on Halloween they scrolled trick or treating times across the bottom of the TV screen, because some of the towns were postponing it because of the coming storm.  The towns in our area mostly chose to start at 5:30 instead of 6 and only go until 7 instead of 8, to try and get it in earlier, before the worst of the storm.

So at 5:00 there was a change of costume plans....again.  I told Rachel that her Belle dress would drag in the rain and mud and wouldn't be a good idea, so I showed her every option I could come up with that was short.  She chose a butterfly, then added a tiara and declared herself a butterfly princess.

Rebecca, who had decided to be Minnie Mouse again, saw her pink cowboy boots just before getting ready.  "I want to wear cowboy boots!" she declared.  So I came up with the cowgirl costume in a matter of minutes.  All the more reason I'm happy we didn't buy costumes this year!  But it helps when your daughter has loved playing dress up for four years and has amassed quite a collection of paraphernalia! 

Anyway, Daddy took them out in his rain suit while I stayed snug and dry in the garage, passing out candy to the few brave souls who decided to trick or treat.  There was actually a decent amount, but nowhere near the number of trick or treaters we normally have.  I started giving out two and three pieces at a time to make sure I got rid of it all.

(This picture with the hat on top of the hood cracks me up....)

They came home about an hour later, soggy, but happy.

indecision

For weeks she's been alternating between being a doctor, princess, or Little Red Riding Hood for Halloween. All day today she was talking about wearing her Little Red Riding Hood costume tonight to church. After dinner we went up to her room to get her costume on and she saw her Minnie Mouse dress. (This is exactly why I didn't buy any of these costumes...we had them all already, and I knew she was highly likely to change her mind.) Minnie Mouse it was tonight.... Who knows what she'll decide to be by 6:00 PM tomorrow when it's trick or treat time.

cast

She got her cast this morning.  Before we went she was hoping she wouldn't have to get one, but once she found out she got to choose the color she wanted, and people would be allowed to sign it, she was all in.

She chose pink, of course.  Later she found out she could've chosen glow in the dark, which would've been cool for Halloween, but it was too late.  

Now we have to figure out what she can be for Halloween that will fit over the cast.  She was going to be Merida, but both dresses have long sleeves, and she can't wear long sleeves very easily right now. So we'll see what she comes up with.  We pretty much have a whole costume store at our house, so it shouldn't be too hard!

She has to wear the cast for four weeks.

talking

Rebecca talks NONSTOP.  I don't think she's quiet from the moment she gets up until she goes to bed for more than 30 seconds at a time.

Tonight was a long night.  I had a splitting headache, had to take Rachel to choir, and bring Rebecca with me so my husband could go to the gym.  She talked and talked and talked the entire evening, as we drove to choir, as we walked Rachel to the practice room, as we drove to the library while Rachel was at choir, and on and on and onnnnnnnnnnn........

When we got to the church to pick up Rachel from choir I jokingly said, "Can't you stop talking?  You've been talking ever since you got in the car!"

She responded, "But I have talks in my tummy that just have to come out of my mouth!"

Oh, that girl.....love her...,even though her talking drives me CRAAAAZY!  She is pretty hilarious, though!

oops...

This is what happens when a little girl experiments to see if she can do the monkey bars with her mittens on at recess.

The answer is, she can't.  The result?  A broken elbow.

I was out at recess at my own school today, since Tuesday is my teaching day, when I got a call from Rachel's school that she had just come in from her recess, having fallen off the monkey bars and was in considerable pain.  So I quickly arranged for someone to cover my remaining 45 minutes (I'm done at 1:00 PM) and left.  On the way I made a zillion phone calls.....my husband, making arrangements for Rebecca, the doctor's office (I didn't even know where to take her in this instance....the nurse said to go to the children's hospital urgent care, which didn't open until 3:00, so I didn't need to go  immediately), and so forth.  When I got to Rachel she had calmed down and was getting started on her homework  in the nurse's office.  But any little movement made her flinch in pain.  

I picked up Rebecca, took them home, put Rebecca down for her nap, gave Rachel some pain medicine, got her started on her homework, and resumed my phone calls.  When my husband got home Rachel and I left for the urgent care.  They took two X-rays and determined that it is an occult fracture just above the elbow.  This means the fracture doesn't show up for a couple of days, and it's like a hairline fracture.  They put her in a splint and we have to see an orthopedist in a few days to see if she needs a cast or what needs to happen next.  

Guess she won't be doing the monkey bars for awhile.  :(  I hope she wants to relearn how to do them and re-strengthen her arm once this is all over!

results

I got the results of Rachel's blood work, and everything is normal.  Which is great!  It just doesn't tell us what the problem is.

And she did a fabulous job at the upper GI appointment last week--no tears, complaining, or anything. I was SO relieved and proud of her.  All I know from that so far is that the radiologist said that everything went down the right way.

She's eating better.  She's finished her lunch every day for almost a week.  She's been able to eat without feeling full after a few bites or complaining that her stomach hurts.  She's drinking two carnation instant breakfast drinks each day in addition to her regular meals, so she's getting those extra calories, plus the vitamins, minerals, and proteins that those drinks provide.  So that's all good.  I just wish we knew what the problem was.

Rebecca is her regular silly, smart, hilarious self.  I wish I could write down all of the funny things she says.  Today she told me before her nap, "Mom, I have to get some shut eye!"  She comes up with this stuff out of nowhere, it seems.  That one she said she heard on a TV show.

I was amazed recently when she and I were working on letters.  She's been asking lots of questions lately about what letters different words start with, so we work n the sounds and she comes up with the letter.  We went through the whole alphabet and she knew not only almost all of the letters, but their sounds, too!  She had a little trouble with the vowels, and she can never remember the name of letter "S", though she knows what sound it makes.  She sometimes forgets "V" too.  

So that's our news.  Now if I only could get rid of this sinus/ear thing going on.  I'm on round two of antibiotics and it still is not draining.  My head is always in a state of dizziness and feeling like its going to explode.   Ugh.

Here's my girl.  She brought home her school pictures today.  She's looking at the camera (always a challenge to get her looking at the camera) but it's not a genuine smile....oh well.  LOVE HER!!!!

And now that I see this picture more closely, I realize that the colors aren't right.  Her shirt is navy blue and white striped with a bright chartreuse bow.  Here it looks black and white with an orange bow.  I guess it works for Halloween, but not much else!  No big deal, but it annoys me!  

donuts with dad

Last week at school Rebecca had a special day called Donuts with Dad.  But dad couldn't come (he had to take off several days lately because of girls being sick, so he has little vacation time left), and I work on Tuesdays, so I couldn't go, so I asked Grandma and Grandpa to come be Rebecca's special guests.  She didn't understand that Daddy was supposed to be there.....she was just thrilled that Grandma and Grandpa were there.  And that there were donuts.

They made buckeye necklaces together.  She's excited that she now has her own because Rachel has one.

farm fun

Today we went to a pumpkin farm where we went two years ago.  The girls had a GREAT time and didn't want to leave.  Enjoy the millions of pictures!  (And here's a link to the pictures when we went a few years ago to compare....Rebecca's changed the most!)

http://worldofweed.blogspot.com/2011/10/fall-farm-fun.html

drama girl

Oh, my sweet, crazy Rachel....I love this girl so much.  We've been going through some hard stuff with her lately, though.  I mentioned over the summer that we had to cut dairy out of her diet to try and figure out what was causing her stomach pain and discomfort.  We didn't notice a huge change, except she started losing weight, so we put her back on the dairy.  She continued to struggle with discomfort now and then.  She eats a few bites, feels bad, usually burps, and then can eat some more.  But this takes time, plus she's a slow eater anyway, so when school started and she had a limited time for lunch, and friends to talk to, which takes up some of that limited time, she started eating only a few bites for lunch and throwing the rest away (because it was already opened and wasn't re-packable.)  So she continued losing weight.  Her clothes started falling off her tiny waist.  I did finally get her to not open the applesauce and yogurt at school and bring those home and eat them when she got home, so at least she eats that now.  

A month ago she had a bad few days with her stomach and missed some school.  We went to the  doctor and they took an X-ray and determined it was likely constipation.  We took care of that problem and it was a little better for awhile, but not completely gone, but then over the weekend it started up badly again.  She was miserable on Sunday.  So Monday we went back to the doctor and this time she decided we need to start digging deeper to figure out what's wrong.  Yesterday we went to the GI clinic at Children's Hospital, where they ordered lots of blood tests and an upper GI.  Rachel was terrified of the blood test.   She is so scared of doctors, needles, tests, being prodded and poked, and all of that kind of stuff.  She shed many tears leading up to the appointment, knowing it was coming, and I was fearing having to hold her down, like I've had to do for throat cultures, dentist visits, and the one other blood test she had when she was much younger.  But she did it!  Yes, she cried, but she didn't  kick or scream or carry on like she's done in the past.  She was so proud of herself and wore her sparkly bandaid on her arm like a badge of honor all day yesterday.  She did tell me, "That's the worst thing that's ever happened to me in my WHOLE life!"  Such drama.....

She's just started taking Zantac to see if it would help, and her extreme pickiness makes taking any new medicine an issue, too.  For a couple of days it was a battle twice a day to get her to take it, but she's gotten better, and even though she still hates it, she does it without complaining now.   So  we've made progress.  She also has to drink two Carnation Instant Breakfasts each day, trying to add calories, protein, and vitamins to her diet.  I was afraid of how she'd react to that, too.  She started it this morning, and she liked it heated up like hot chocolate, so I guess maybe that won't be so bad.  She also has to drink juice mixed with Miralax every day, and that, too, was a battle at first, but now she doesn't mind it.  Finding time for all of these drinks, though, is rather difficult!  

So that's the drama we're going through with dear Rachel.  On top of that, Rebecca's been sick (some sort of stomach flu), so that's been no fun.....  But she's on the mend today.  

The Upper GI test is next week, and then we'll just have to wait for all of the results.  I really want my girl to feel good again....and to stop losing weight (she's in the 2nd% now for weight).  She and Rebecca almost weigh the same amount now.  That's just not right.

more progress

Rachel met her goal yesterday of doing all of the monkey bars at school - 16 monkey bars.  So proud of her!

Rebecca's still got a nasty cold, but it's still just a cold.  No fever or anything.  She's slept well, with the help of Benadryl  the first few nights, and without any last night.  Rachel's got some of the same germs, but hers is mostly a cough.

I'm better, but still not great.  No more face pain, but still dizzy and a head that feels full.  I guess it could take awhile for it all to drain.  It sure is annoying!

Rebecca's currently setting up a checker board and wants me to play checkers with her.  She has no idea how to play, so this will be interesting....

progress

Rachel succeeded in doing all of the monkey bars!  Her goal is now to do the whole circle of monkey bars at school.  she can do half the circle right now.  She's done the so much that she now has a blister...she says, "but I try to ignore it."   Ignoring pain is not one of her strong suits, so you KNOW she's determined about this.

In other news, I found out yesterday that I have an ear infection in both ears and a sinus infection.  It all started last week when I started feeling dizzy.  It happened off and on, but many times throughout the day, and it wouldn't go away.  Really frustrating.  Then on Saturday my face started hurting and was super tender in my cheeks.  Then Sunday I felt lots of pressure inside my head.  The weird thing is that I didn't have a stuffy nose, cold, cough, sore throat, sore ears, or anything like that.  Strange.  The dizziness has been the worst thing.  The doctor said I should feel better starting tomorrow,  on the medicine, so we'll see.  I felt a tiny bit better today, so hopefully I'm on the upswing.

But Rebecca is now getting sick.  This morning she sneezed a couple of times.  I dropped her off at my friend, Emily's house, where she goes on the days I work, and when I came to pick her up, her face was a mess, and I could tell she had been wiping her snotty nose over and over, all over her face, so it had obviously progressed from sneezes to stuffy/runny nose (I'm sorry, Emily!  I honestly didn't know when dropped her off, that she was full of germs...it was just a sneeze or two this morning!)  so I brought her home, put her down for her nap, and 45 minutes later she woke up (she usually sleeps about two hours, sometimes more), crying her head off, gasping for air, unable to breathe because she had so much phlegm in her throat.  She threw up/spit up the junk in her throat, all over her pillow, I ushered her in the bathroom, and she did it again all over the floor. But at least after that she was able to breathe.  I was able to get her to calm down.  It was gross and scary at the same time.  We'll see how she sleeps tonight....