Merry Christmas

December 26th, 2009 - VERY early morning

4am - my arm is asleep, which wakes me up. I need to 'wake up' my arm in order for me to go back to sleep (is this backwards or what!?) Kaitlyn is already up: Mama, is it morning yet?!?!? No, baby, not yet. Go back to sleep, okay?

5am - my arm woke up, and I went back to sleep. Rousing me from a deep sleep is my daughter: Mama, is it morning now?!?! Sigh...no, baby. Go back to sleep, okay?

5:30am - Zander is up and partying...

6:45am - my son is still partying, although my daughter's room is quiet. I sigh and get out of bed.
Fudge notices me putting on my pants, which means I am up and we are going for a walk!
The weather is beautiful; the sun is almost up and the cold, wet wind feels wonderful, waking me up fully and I take deep breaths of fresh air.

7:15am - I tiptoe back into the house with the paper, turn on the coffee machine and feed the pets. I am hoping to get in a few minutes of alone time before Christmas kicks off. Both children have dozed off. I do not have to worry about Aaron: he is a teenager and will not rise voluntarily before 10am...:)

7:20am - I get Fudge out from behind the tree, where a present with a bone in it for him was "hidden".












7:21am - I make room for Hootie to get behind the tree, since Christmas tree water is a real treat for him and he could not reach because of all the presents Santa dropped off.

7:25am - Jim wakes up, completely taking me off guard. Did you fall out of bed, honey?

7:28am - after reading an article in the paper I am immensely grateful for what we have. Thanking God for all our blessings.

8am - both Jim and I try to wake up the kids, which takes us a long time.

8:15am - finally! The kids are awake (Aaron qualifies as "awake", since his eyes are open) and we are heading for the stockings.

9am - Breakfast is in the oven and Ama and Poppy arrive to witness the opening of the presents. Merry Christmas, everyone!

Christmas card pictures

Reflecting on the year past

This is the letter I sent out to some of my family members and friends that live far away...
Merry Christmas and a Blessed New Year!

Dear friends and family,
I am trying yet again to stay ahead of the “get ready for Christmas” game and I have to accept defeat once more. Only six more days until Christmas…sigh
Another year passed, it seems it was even shorter than the one before. It is time lost, moments that cannot be repeated, only reflected upon and hopefully enjoyed while they lasted, however brief.
As Kaitlyn wonders how Santa makes his reindeer fly, I reflect on the year past.
Zander has made HUGE progress! His airway issues have disappeared (thank you, God!) and he is eating like a champ. He still has trouble drinking, but we know he will get there in his own time. He still has his mic-key button, which helps us give him the water and occasional medicine he needs. Also, he has started to LOVE baths! After all we have been through with his health issues, him screaming through bath time REALLY did not help matters…however, now he simply loves his baths and his newest game is to get as much water OUTSIDE the tub as possible. In August he started school (in his class are 4 kids with special needs, and 4 typically developing kids) and is absolutely loving it. His teachers Katie and Val are amazing, and he is starting to interact with his fellow classmates. His birthday party was great: we had a small gathering of family and let Zander go to town with chocolate pudding; he had a blast! On his birthday he started crawling, which had us scrambling to baby-proof the house. He is unstoppable, especially when he can chase the cat, dog, or his favorite, his sissy!
Kaitlyn had a great 6-year sleepover/unicorn birthday party. She invited several friends for her unicorn party and three of them were able to sleep over. On March 30th she got her puppy, a German Shepherd/Black Lab mix we found online at a shelter. She named him Fudge. They are inseparable and he adores her! He is also great with Zander and a wonderful protector and watchdog – maybe a tad too much… Kaitlyn’s transition into 1st grade at her new school went very well. She likes her teacher and has made many new friends. She also joined the Daisy Girl Scouts (with me as her troop’s co-leader) and is loving it! She still takes things literally, which is so very much her age. Today, when Jim was trying to train her how to sell Girl Scout cookies, he started his speech by saying: “you will need to hit as many people as you can”. She thought about that for a moment and said: Daddy, I don’t know about the hitting people thing; I really don’t want to hit anybody”… She is developing a great sense of humor, and is a master in spelling (no more spelling words to get things by her anymore!). Soon I will start training her to play Scrabble with me.
Jim and I celebrated our 8th wedding anniversary on October 31st, our first in our new home. We had many firsts in our new house and came full circle at Thanksgiving. Jim is still working as an official and liking it. I recently lost my job at the Symphony and am looking for something as we speak. God has a plan, even if we do not know yet what that may be, and I am confident He will guide us in the right direction.
I feel extremely blessed with my family and friends and wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a Blessed and Joyful New Year!
Oh, and before I forget: Girl Scout cookies, anyone?
Sylvia

My boy, almost expelled from school

The "kids" were all lined up, sitting nicely on their chairs. There was a moment of panic, when a baby did not want to sit up straight and kept toppling over. Once she was positioned against the back of the chair, it was fine.
Class was about to start.
Ms. Kaitlyn's Kindergarten class, that is.



The school building is beautiful, naturally with the American flag!









Oh, and NO dogs or cats allowed! Sorry, Fudge and Hootie...










I asked Ms. Kaitlyn if my son could come to school. "Of course", she replied. "And if you want, you can stay with him since it's his first day. Giraffe's mommy is here too." That's all right, I said. He will do fine.
I did come into the classroom briefly to take pictures. I moved Zander's high chair a little closer to the others so they would all fit in the picture.










As I proceeded to take a picture of his other class mates, Ms. Kaitlyn looked over to him and noticed that he had grabbed Cheetah by the ear and was trying to pull her off her chair.
She ran over to him, got Cheetah to safety and then moved his high chair to where he could do no harm to the other kids.
"Don't do that again, or you will have to go home", she said sternly.











My son was neither overly impressed nor subdued by that statement.
I may have to look for another school.
Sigh...

Slick puppy

Meet Fudge, our newest family member:

He is a German Shepherd/black lab mix and is sooo sweet!
He came home with us from a shelter on Tuesday and has adapted extremely well. He does not like to be alone and will follow us around "like a puppy" you could say...:)
He tries really hard to be friends with Hootie, but Hootie doesn't want to have anything to do with him; he will hiss at him when he comes too close, or swat him. It will take that cat a little while to accept Fudge. Meanwhile Hootie has been snacking on Fudge's water and food to his heart's content.

Now, about the name of this blog...
Yesterday Jim tied Fudge in the garage with food and water, then brought the kids to Danyelle for Zander's speech therapy and went to work. I would pick up the kids from Danyelle's after work, go home and take Fudge for a walk (Zander in the stroller), since it was such a gorgeous day.
I parked the car outside, opened the garage door and there was Fudge, still tied to the pole where Jim had left him. He was yelping and howling, ecstatic with the prospect of being able to jump on us in greeting, happy to soon be released from his pole prison. I saw he had knocked over the bag of potting soil, but not much had spilled. Then I noticed the paw prints. Dozens and dozens of prints littered the floor and covered his leash, food dishes, and several boxes and picture frames around him.
Even though they were brown it did not smell like poop, so I got a little closer look.
Then it dawned on me: motor oil!
Last week Jim had changed the oil in my car and, since we did not have any container to put the used oil in, left the pan with the used oil in the garage until we would be able to dispose of it. I have to admit that my thoughts towards my husband were not very nice at that moment. Not very nice at all.
Okay, let's tackle this and get it over with.
While I tried to calm Fudge, who was trying his utmost to jump on my suit, I told Kaitlyn to run upstairs and put on her oldest clothes. Then she could walk Fudge in the backyard while I changed and together we could bathe him and attempt to get most of the oil off him.
When she came back down I untied Fudge, who immediately jumped on Kaitlyn, deliriously happy that he was finally loose. In his enthousiasm he scratched her arm, which prompted Kaitlyn to start wailing for me to get that dog off her!
Plan B
I tied Fudge to the pole again (sorry, baby) and brought Alexander, who had been napping in the car, upstairs and changed hurriedly into my old jeans and my Salon Maison shirt (the shirt I use when I dye my hair, since I ALWAYS seem to spill dye on myself). Then I ran back down and let Fudge give me a proper greeting, complete with wet doggy kisses!
Together Kaitlyn and I washed Fudge's paws, belly, and under his chin. Luckily he did not get any oil around his mouth and Kaitlyn went to fetch him some fresh drinking water, which he slobbered up the way only a puppy can. When I was sure I had gotten all of it, I rinsed him and Kaitlyn dried him off carefully. We let him run in the back yard a little to dry off completely and, finally, were ready to head into the house.
First things first: I poured myself a glass of wine and took a sip (okay, more like a few gulps...).
Then I fed Alexander, changed him, and got Kaitlyn's dinner ready. She wanted bread with butter and a boiled egg and asked if she could eat it while watching the dog movie (How to take care of your puppy). Needing a little time to myself I agreed (yes I know, the tv is not a babysitter. So bite me!) and told her she had to make sure Fudge would stay away from her plate. She sat down on the couch and Fudge promptly snatched a piece of bread from her plate and devoured it in 3 seconds flat. Okay, so maybe that plan didn't work out too well.
Later that night, after putting KK to bed, tidying up the house and getting things ready for the next day I plopped down in front of the tv with my son in my arms, ready to relax for a little bit.
At 11pm I fed him once more, put him in his crib, walked Fudge, and fell into bed. I think it took me a whole second to fall asleep.
I woke up sensing someone standing by my bed. I opened my eyes and looked at my daughter. Kaitlyn was wondering why Fudge was not sleeping next to her bed and where was he anyway and could she go get him and take him to her room? I slowly moved my head to look at my alarm clock. It was 4:15am...sigh
Whose idea was it again to get a dog?!?!?

A hair cut and then some...

Okay, so I have been cutting my boy's hair since he needed one, the first one when he was 2 months old. MONTHS, not years!
Now, since his hair grows faster than grass after a week of rain, I have given him numerous haircuts. So many in fact that I stopped counting. He has had one professional hair cut when he was around 6 months old, but I have cut it on all the other occasions. I asked Jim yesterday...he stopped counting at 12, and Zander has had a few more after that.

The day before yesterday I noticed that his bangs were hanging in his eyes and I got out my "Mommy" scissors. Only I am authorized to use those and I use them exclusively for hair: Jim's, KK's, Zander's and my own bangs.
So Wednesday evening I was able to get his bangs and the hair on top of his head done. All I needed to do was trim the back and sides, by his ears.
Now, this whole hair cutting business has become exceedingly difficult due to Alexander's moving around, pulling his head one way with a jerking motion when I try to get it to go the other way. I have tried to do it while he is asleep, but to no avail: he starts rolling his head from side to side in his sleep.
Kaitlyn has helped me by distracting him, which works up until a certain moment, when he decides I messed with his hair long enough.
Last night I decided to finish by cuting the back and around his ears. I did not want to postpone it in case I would not get around to it for another week or so and have his neck hairs long enough again for a pony tail - so not "in" anymore. I got the back done quickly and then proceeded to finish up with the sides.
Since Jim was busy, Kaitlyn volunteered to distract him while he was sitting in the high chair. She was doing a wonderful job and neither one of us was prepared for Zander suddenly throwing his head forward. I felt the scissors make contact with his ear while I closed the blades...
It took Zander a full 4 seconds to realize something hurt. Then "the lip". That's when he started squealing like a little pig getting slaughtered and the blood started gushing out.
My hearing is not too good to begin with and is now completely shot. I know my son can be loud, but this topped it all. Even the synergys shots, which are very painful, do not elicit a reaction like this one.
Kaitlyn rushed to get me a tissue, which I held up to his ear to stop the bleeding. Naturally, with him screaming bloody murder the attempt was futile, since 95% of his blood was in his head to accomodate his need for oxygen. In the meantime Jim had come running and, after I told him the cut was tiny and we did not need to make a trip to the ER, had fled the scene.
With Zander howling while I am holding him in one arm and trying to stop the bleeding with the other, I am trying to get a hold of a bandaid (I have to replenish the supply in my purse again). They are too far up for Kaitlyn to reach and impossible for me to get down without hands. Finally Jim comes back and I ask (yell actually) to get me a @#$#@$ bandaid...okay, I did not SAY that in front of the kids, but boy was I thinking it! My husband manages to find the tiniest bandaid in the box - it's a family size box - barely enough to cover the top of a pin, and hands it to me. Naturally, the second I put the bandaid on it is soaked with blood. After some more asking (yelling again, since my son is waayyy not out of steam yet) I finally get the size I want and promptly stick it on his hair. Zander has actually calmed down a little and there I go ripping the bandaid off his hair, pulling a few out of his head for good measure. There we go again!
Finally, after what seems like an eternity, I get the bandaid in the right place and Zander calmed down. Needless to say I was done with hair cutting! I even blamed my husband for an instant, since I mentioned wanting to take Alexander to a hair dresser and he said he is not quite ready to do that. I bet NOW he is!
A tip on how to get blood completely out of clothes without discoloration: hydrogen peroxide. It's magic.
This morning, as I was feeding my oh so sweetly smiling, cooing baby I contemplated getting the scissors to get to that little pluck of hair I missed yesterday.
And then I remembered what happened...or actually I saw what happened. He still had dried blood all over his ear and the side of his head. When I gather enough courage I will tackle that project.
Sigh.
And next time: hair dresser it is, honey!

Snow!

Trying to hit daddy...

Finally KK can make a snow angel!

Everyone is enjoying the snow...until Zander touches it! So much for that!