The Dreadful Sickies

Well, Tate's got it now too.  Man, as if these kids haven't been watching too much tv as it is.  I'm soooo lucky with him because he likes to scream when I offer to bring him a bowl.  "DO     NOT      GET     ME    A    BOW-UL!!!!!!!!"  Apparently, if you bring the bowl the vomit will come.  And it's fantastic when these GI bugs are spread out so nicely like this. This way, if the whole family ends up with it, you can be sure to have another two weeks of your life killed in a dreadful, bodily-fluid filled sort of way. 

Not that I'm complaining.  (I NEVER complain ;-)  I know it could be worse.  Two years ago, just before Christmas when I was pregnant with Elle, a rotavirus-like bug blew through this house like a  tornado on crack.  I had just finished 4 months of multiple-barfs-a-day morning sickness like I had never experienced with the boys.  This virus ripped through me in about 12 hours, all during the night and all through which I took care of two boys alternating between losing it at either end every 5 or ten minutes.  We must have gone through every single sheet, blanket, mattress pad, towel and set of pajamas in the house.  I really don't think I slept more than 20 minutes that whole night.  The virus lasted the boys TEN days, left Cal a walking skeleton, started Mike on a month of illness and landed Tate in the hospital for days.  It was more than slightly unpleasant.  

Here is what I've learned in all this:

1.  waterproof crib mattress pads and sheets fit very nicely over two of the cushions on our   couch.  

2.  If you wrap a towel around a pillow...either over or under the pillowcase.... you may save yourself washing pillows

3.  At least children that are really sick are generally not running around being naughty.

4.  No matter how ungreen it may be, bleach smells really good.

Wordless Wednesday: Robot

I'm (Not) Whining

Really.  I'm not going to whine this morning.  The sun is out and shining gloriously on all this snow that just keeps coming and I've just had some delicious coffee and so I'm not going to whine.

Not about all the laundry I have from Ellie barfing in the night all over herself and every pillow and animal in her bed.  Then barfing again in my bed, on towels this time, but 4 or 5 more times and choosing to do this on the same night that Tate gets a fantastic bloody nose.

Not about how tired I am because I can't seem to be NOT sick for at least two weeks now...first my throat, then my chest, now my nose.  

Not about how I have become "that" mother.... you know, the one who is perpetually late and forgets to return the library books on time and loses her preschooler's "All About Me" poster for school and has to ask for another because we never did it in the first place, and the one has to pick through the dirty wash for a load of underwear and socks or we could never leave the house.

Not about how I am currently having a panicky identity crisis because I will likely soon be out of a paid job,  (It doesn't pay much, but it puts gas in the cars) which leads me to question what I am going to do to help us out in the short term and then leads me to question what I am going to do eventually when the kids are all in school.... what DO I want to be when I grow up?

Not about how I am incredibly OVER being cold.

Nope.  I'm not going to whine about any of those things.  Instead, I'm going to switch a load of icky laundry, sit with recovering Baby Girl and pop Please Don't Eat the Daisies in the DVD player until it's time to get Tate from school.  I might even make more coffee.  

And, if anyone is still reading after all my non-whining, you can look at some pics from Dad's workshop.  I'll try not to be so chipper next time, I know it can be annoying in the morning ;-)

Home Again, Home Again, Jiggety- Jog

Well, we did make it to Grandma and Grandpa's last week.  I periodically lost my voice and Tate was still coughing in the night, but we managed to have a nice time (save the little-too-intense wrestling matches between the boys....when did we start BITING???) and don't seem to have (knock on wood) spread anything to the Grands.  

Speaking of wood, it's very cool when you have a Gramp that can make stuff like this (you should be able to click on this one and blow it up a bit if you like):

It's even cooler when he lets you mess around (supervised, of course) in his workshop:

Grandma Jean and Ellerie and I made a nice trip to SA 1/2 price Wednesday and I scored a big bag full of stuff (mostly for the kids) for twelve dollars, including a raincoat for Ellerie and shorts for Long Legs McGee (AKA Calvin) who would have looked like he was wearing hot pants in half the stuff I have from last year.  And I finished up my first dishcloth (double seed stitch) in Daddy's sunny recliner.  

The sun didn't last though.  After all, it IS February around here.  The drive home was mostly in a snowstorm which I found incredibly stressful.  It didn't help listening to Flight of the Bumblebee on the kids' Little Einstein's video (something that was supposed to keep the boys from fighting while I drove in the snow and did not EXACTLY do its job).  Isn't it amazing how music can affect you?  It's snowing again now, rather soft and pretty and grayish-blue, but I still hate it at the moment.  February is flying though and I seem to be breezing through without too much of the gloom and doom that often comes with this month for me.  Too much good is on the horizon:  Cal's birthday, Ellie's birthday, Easter and vacation!  I am letting go of some of my grand sewing plans and trying to keep it simple in that regard, so I don't stress myself out.  Cal and Elle both need their birthday crowns and then I think I am going to leave it at that.  I have ideas for cloth Easter Baskets and homemade bunnies and frogs and, well, I think that it might just be a bit much.  So I am going to try to be low-key, focus on one thing at a time and not make myself crazy.  

At least, that's the plan ;-)

Monday, Monday

So, Valentines Day was NOT perfect.  Can you imagine?

I mean, it was good.  It was really good and we all enjoyed each other's company (for the most part) and I am pretty sure the boys were purposefully keeping their "i'm going to kick your face off"s to a minimum just as a gift to me.  But, you know, sometimes reality doesn't live up to what is in my head... often because of my own failures.  I feel really grateful that even when things aren't perfect, which is most of the time, that I have a family that truly loves me.  Scatterbrained, silly, undisciplined, neurotic, little ol' me.  Thanks guys.  I love you too.

On to..... something else that didn't turn out perfect! ;-)

Yesterday afternoon I attended a baby shower for a girlfriend of mine.  Oddly enough, she's having her third girl, so one would think she doesn't need much.  She is due in just a couple of weeks and only a few weeks ago, she discovered that her SIL had given away all the newborn things she had loaned her.  Yikes!  It wasn't done maliciously.  For some reason she had got it in her head that they didn't want them back, but you can imagine my friend was just a tad stressed out thinking that she had no clothes for #3.  Another friend from church decided to just throw her a clothing shower because, well, tiny baby clothes are fun and it's a reason to get together!  We had a nice time with delicious cake and coffee and Korana got some lovely gifts.  

I had decided to sew something for her awhile ago and knew I would make something from the pattern that got me back to sewing in the first place.  But then I came across this tutorial recently and just thought it rocked.  Super cool idea, right?  I didn't have any appropriate t-shirts on hand, but thought I would just use some terry and repurposed material from my bins to see how the pattern turned out.  Let me just say, I don't know what I did when I printed the PDF, but this was the result:

Cute, right?  But GIGANTIC!!!!  As you can see, I ended up just leaving off the bottom elastic and turning it into a nightie for Elle.  Seriously, WHAT did I do?  I thought it looked big, even when I was cutting it, but just kept telling myself that after the seams were in and the elastic and all that it would turn out just fine!  Well, now I have a nightie and t-shirt pattern for Ellerie.  Oops.  If any of you try this, let me know how it goes.  There was also something goofy when I attached the sleeves.  I ended up cutting off a huge bit from the pattern.  I would be curious to know if this happens to anyone else!

Thank goodness for old favorites.  I didn't have a newborn handy, so one of our bears agreed to model.  Stuffed animals are so lovely and cooperative.  

They are both out of some nice soft flannel.  Although it is hard to see, the light one is covered in pink and green polka dots.  I was bummed that I inadvertently bought the wrong width of bias tape for the brown one, but it turned out ok just a little less dainty looking.  It might soften up a bit after it's washed.  I wasn't about to make another trip to the store.  

I hope they come in handy, Kor.  

I've been doing some more sewing too.... whipping up some knit cotton pants for Ellerie-long-legs.  I'm sort of getting the hand of sewing with knits I think.  I definitely feel more comfortable with it the more I do it.  It has been good to get back to doing some more clothing.  The kids are going to need pajamas this spring and summer and I need skirts and tops too..... although I am a little afraid of sewing for myself, being a tad intimidated by "real" patterns.

But the sewing will have to wait this week.  I am going to finish up Tate's scarf and Tate's suitcase applique....long, dragged out, procrastinated project that I will be sure to post pics of when I manage to complete it.  And we are, illness pending, headed to my folks' for a few days this vacation week.  Oh kids, please don't stay sick, please don't stay sick, PLEASE don't stay sick....

*ok.  Everyone seems to be commenting about the bagels, so I feel compelled to give the credit to Panera's asiago cheese bagel.  It seems so obvious to ME that I would never take the time to make heart shaped....oh, probably anything....but I thought you all should be clued in as well.  They were, however, as delicious as they look.

What I'm Loving

In light of tomorrow being the Day of Love, here are some things (people aside, but I DO love my Valentines) that I am currently lovin'.

1.  SUNSHINE.  We are back to cold around here, but sunshine makes all the difference in the world, don't you think?

2.  My new tile from Home Studio. :-)

3.  I am finding with knitting that I really love the look at feel of all over textured patterns.  Right now I am in love with the Daisy Stitch  and SO want to learn to do it.

4.  Ellie's recent development of a hat fetish...

...in which anything can be a hat, including baskets and her brothers' underwear!

5.  g diapers.  I could never have afforded to use them full time, since they are even more than disposables, but I'm glad I decided to try them for the times I want to "cheat" on my cloth ones.  They're great, even overnight!

6.  The reason I decided to try g diapers.... an upcoming FAMILY VACATION to myrtle beach.  Can I just tell you that this will be the first vacation we have ever taken as a family?  And it gets better because my WHOLE family (all 19 of us!) will be there!  I am just a TAD excited.  Just a TAD.

7.  These bike helmets.  I just think they're fun.  I think they are a bit expensive, but Mike tells me... cheaper than a cracked skull.  I'll give you that.

8.  Almay Pure Blends foundation.  I've been looking for a paraben free foundation for awhile.  This one is affordable and doesn't make my skin feel waxy or cakey and still is a real foundation... not just a tinted moisturizer.  I bought it in neutral thinking that would be ok, but I actually think it is just a TINY bit too dark for me.  Apparently in the winter my pallor is something lighter than "neutral" and a little closer to "dead."  ;-)

9.  The kids all making friends with Trailer (cat #2).  We had the cats before we had kids and they've forgiven us, I think, but not the kids.  Roxie, our beautiful and snotty calico, hates them all, but Trailer seems to be warming up.  They all get so excited when he lets them pet him.

10.  Valentines Day.  I don't usually get all sappy about this day or anything, but I love that it is on a Saturday this year and we can just make the whole day about some good ole family love.  

Wishing you all a lovely day with your valentines!  

xoxo

Elissa

Wordless Wednesday: 24/7 Legos