3 down....2 to go

So we started out last week with Jacob going to the doctor with an ear infection. He made it the rest of the week at school feeling "sort of ok but not really" in his words. I started feeling really crappy in the middle of the week but kept on going because well, I had to. As Sarah put it, mom's can't get sick...and breastfeeding moms especially can't get sick. I thought I was feeling a little bit better (woo-hoo!) and continued to carry on with our everyday lives. Saturday night Zach got sick. Puking sick. Sunday he seemed fine (though a bit more mellow!). Sunday night he got sick again. I kept him home from school on Monday and let him sit in front of the tv all day long. Everybody seemed well enough for school on Tuesday and I was thankful for that small 3 hour period where I only had to worry about Emily and myself.

This was Daniel's last week of his on campus classes for his MBA. He waited until the last few days before his classes to do a 15 page research paper so I was pretty much a single mom over the weekend and the beginning of the week. (Did I mention that I took 3 children shopping for 6 hours on Saturday all by myself? I did.)

Anyways, fast forward to today... It seems that everyday I've said "if my throat feels any worse I'm calling the doctor tomorrow." I keep saying it for the next day but today I actually called. I got an appointment right after I picked Zach up from school and yep, I tested positive for strep throat. I'm quite thankful for antibiotics right now and hoping that I'll be feeling like myself soon. (This has been a rough last week with me feeling crappy the entire time and taking care of 3 kids.) Let's hope I didn't get anyone else sick!

I've been trying to learn about my new camera lens. Daniel picked my camera up today and after about 3 shots with it he put it down and said it was over his head. It might still be over my head but I'm trying hard!

A few pictures from our last few days. . .

We bought the gingerbread house kits this year. We always buy a ton of candy and all the fixins for gingerbread houses. At $11 each, these were  MUCH cheaper!!

Tonight we assembled!

 

Tomorrow we decorate!

Be careful, dad!

monkey around 

Emily was having some fun in the exersaucer while the boys worked on assembling their gingerbread houses.

goof!

Emily tried sweet potatoes at the end of last week. She really seemed to love them!

 

She's also had bananas. Maybe tomorrow we'll try something new (but that would of course mean that I need to make something new because yeah, I make baby food instead of buying it.

Zach with his "Jelly Bean blanket!"

perfect!

 

excited that she can touch the Christmas tree!

little cutie patootie!

holy mastitis...

Go figure the afternoon my body picks to feel like poo is a night Daniel has class. He did offer to come home but he needs to be there to help us out in the long run so I'm sucking it up and letting my kids eat frosted flakes for dinner while watching Tom and Jerry. Not quite feeling like supermom tonight. Not sure if it's mastitis or a really bad cold but I'm leaning towards mastitis due to certain factors.If you've never had it, be thankful..if you have, you can commiserate. It's awful.  I should add that I started out just peachy this morning but started feeling worse as the day went on and then bam! felt like I couldn't move this afternoon. I told the boys we could go to the library today so I feel awful that I couldn't make good on my promise but they understood that mommy doesn't feel well and have really been wonderful. They've been so helpful and really the best kids in the world. Emily's been pretty darn good too. She snuggled me under a big blanket while we had the fireplace roaring. I'm more thankful than I've ever been for the recorded books my mom got the kids that they love so much. (Frosty is such a favorite that it never got put up last year after Christmas..in fact, we listen to it a minimum of once a week.)

My new camera lens arrived yesterday and here's some shots of a daddy's girl with her daddy. I was attempting to try out some new features. Enjoy!

Am I really feeling well enough to post on my blog? Not really...but I know that my mom and my mother in law check it frequently and since I didn't update it yesterday I felt like I needed to do it today.

Monday Monday!

My poor Jakeyroo. He was complaining of ear pain yesterday but this morning when he got up he said he was feeling much better. I sent him to school against my better judgment. Emily and I went ahead with our normal morning stuff (except for the part where she takes a nap. She decided the 10 minute snooze she got walking home from taking the boys to school this morning was all she needed) which included planting some bulbs my parents brought us a few weeks ago. I figured we'd take advantage of the beautiful weather and spend some time outside! We were about halfway through our planting and my phone rang....it was the school nurse and I immediately said "Jacob must not be feeling well again." She told me that was it exactly so I strapped Emily into her seat, and headed to the school to pick him up. I called the pediatrician on the way and they scheduled us for an appointment in the afternoon. Jacob was happy to see me but even more excited about the fact that he got to pick Zach up with me! He said "Zach is going to be sooooo surprised to see me!' Zach was too! He gave Jake the biggest hug ever. Then I treated Jacob to a milkshake hoping that would help if his throat was hurting any. The nurse said his tonsils were huge (just like his momma!) but he wasn't complaining about a sore throat or anything. The milkshake might've helped better if he would've drank more than 2 sips. :-)

Relaxing in daddy's chair, Jacob's favorite spot!

The verdict, an ear infection! (only his 2nd one!)

Did you know that amoxicillin isn't bubble gum flavored anymore? The nice pharmacy tech was kind enough to make it bubble gum flavored for $2.99 though.

 

And, we almost have a sitter! I'm pretty sure she's got the back strength (or almost enough!) but she's still working on the balance. She's good for about 10 seconds and then she wobbles!

Big girl!

The boys are really enjoying finding our elf, Eugene. He flew off to the North Pole while we were putting the boys to bed and then got himself ready for tomorrow.....

Oh, Eugene. I hope you're handy with a papertowel and windex. :-)

Christmas photshoot...

I took a few pictures of the kids today for our Christmas card...

I might take a couple more after I get my new camera lens in a few days!

(and I'll make Copper and Jelly Bean move!)

Elkton tree lighting

A friend invited us to a local tree lighting before our dinner with another friend. . . we sure had fun!

Emily was ready! Same Santa hat that the boys both wore when they were itty bitty!

 

watching the dancers while we waited for Santa

Zach and Josh. Zach was happy to see his buddy again.

Noah trying to get to his lady!

Can you spot Santa?

caroling with Santa!

best picture I got of the group! Maybe Jen got a better one!

I think they were singing with Santa but I can't remember!

and it's lit!

Zach convinced Daniel that we needed to see Santa while we were there. Sort of threw a wrench in my plans for seeing Santa but I think we can still do what I wanted too. We'll just have 3 Santa visits this year (Zach thought of something that he forgot to tell Santa about anyway!).

Jacob with Santa

Zach with Santa

My precious 3. Emily was really good up until about 2 minutes before our turn to see Santa. She was tired of waiting at that point and wouldn't smile for us! Let's hope for a better picture when we take the 3 of them to the Santa House.

 

Santa was pretty clever. Both boys of course told him they wanted ipads and he told them to keep wishing and wishing and wishing!

Emily starts cereal & we meet Eugene!

What a fun and exciting evening we had...

Emily had her first taste of baby cereal. It went something like this:

She was sooooooooooooooooooooo excited to sit at the table. Look at her precious little face. She was definitely ready (though I think she would've preferred the bbq chicken).

mmmmmm..... organic brown rice cereal.

maybe I'll just eat my fist instead!

open up, Emily

this one speaks for itself!

how about another taste?

yum! yum! yum!

not sure what I think about this stuff!

how about some of that tasty bbq chicken? please!

more cereal!

alright, mom...I'm done!

After dinner we had something fun for the boys..... we got an Elf on the Shelf!

Meet Eugene!

The boys seem quite excited about the new "addition" to our family!

He's waiting for them to notice him on the ledge at our steps....

See that messy shelf? Well, it's behind our loveseat so I don't see it very often (thankfully) but thats our arts & games shelf. I didn't realize until taking this picture that even though the boys have been putting their stuff away on the shelf they haven't been putting it back nice and neatly! I guess that'll be their "project" before school in the morning!