Thursday, December 27, 2012

Christmas Update

So, I'm the worst updater ever.  I can't believe it's nearly four months since I updated.  Oops.

We've been busy here as usual.  I feel like I spend my days just running the kids from one activity to another.  I'm just glad I had the sense this session to register Sean for a Tuesday morning swim class at the Y.  An evening class would be next to impossible, and the weekends are just so full most of the time.  It makes for a bit of a rush to get him home, fed, and on the bus, but I manage.  Sarah has her own swim lessons, which of course are at a different time and place.  Both kids dance, but that's back-to-back at the same place.  Both kids get private speech therapy at a local college, at different times.  For the moment, I'm okay with that.  Once Sean goes to kindergarten, I'll try and see if they can put the kids at the same time.  Sarah is playing her third season of hockey, and she's doing great at it.

Sarah is eating okay.  I'd love to say she's doing great, but overall she's just eating okay.  Breakfast is a struggle.  I got her eating macaroni and cheese for breakfast.  Unconventional, I know, but something had to give because the mornings were just a bunch of tears.  Hers and mine.  I managed to get her to eat oatmeal yesterday, but it was a struggle.  She got some new DVD's for Christmas, and they seem to help more with reinforcing proper behavior.  She definitely still loves her Chef Boyardee foods, and eats them without complaining.  Sometimes she's a tad picky about whether it's spaghetti or ravioli, but generally, she eats them fine.  She tried a few bites of Thanksgiving dinner.  She didn't like turkey (not surprised about that), but she did eat several bites of my mom's sweet potato dish.  I got her to eat one bite of sweet potatoes and one bite of carrots at Christmas dinner.  I think she would have done better with the carrots had they been canned and not frozen, but I'm happy she made an effort.  Pizza is still generally a hit with her, but it's so difficult for her to eat right now.  She takes a very, very long time to eat one slice.

Oh, and if anyone didn't get the memo, October seemed to be "crap on our family" month.  Seriously, it was probably the worst month of my entire life.  My husband and sister-in-law left on the 1st to be with their mother.  She'd been in hospice for a little over a month, and we got the call that they'd better come over and see her right away.  My mother-in-law held on until the 6th, when she passed away peacefully in her home.  It was a horrible week at home for the kids and me, and even worse for my husband and sister-in-law.  The kids and I managed okay, but it was hard and the nights were especially difficult for me.  I just tried to keep things as normal as possible for the kids so I didn't stress them out too much.  The following weeks were horrible too.  Not only were we grieving, we also seemed to catch every germ within a 10-mile radius.  Sean got hand, foot, and mouth disease, Sarah ran a fever with no other symptoms later that week.  The week after that, Sean threw up twice unexpectedly and then slept for three hours.  He was fine after that, and mad that "mean mommy" made him eat Pedialyte popsicles and wouldn't let him have anything else.  Sarah went home early from school the following day, but just seemed tired for about an hour and fine after that.  I got a sinus infection, and my husband got strep early the following week.  My sister-in-law was sick for nearly a month, and ended up with either bronchitis, pneumonia, or sinusitis.  The doctors weren't sure which.  The final Saturday of October, we took the kids to Sesame Place again, just to have at least one fun memory for the month.  Oh, and then Hurricane Sandy hit here.  We were lucky that we didn't lose power, save for a few small flickers, and didn't sustain any damage.  Rob get a few extra days off of work because his building was without power for a long while.  We took the kids to a local mall for trick-or-treating instead of my parents' neighborhood like usual (because mine has very few houses who participate for whatever reason).  It was cold out, and I didn't want to risk anyone getting sick again.  We ended up on the news, but didn't find out until after it aired.  I couldn't find any video online, so too bad for us I guess.  Also, I had the misfortune of having one child back at school the Wednesday after the hurricane and one who didn't go because the school didn't have power.  Since my kids LOVE school, the one who didn't have school was mad at the one who did.  Ugh.  At least we got to see Sarah in her Halloween parade at school without worrying about Sean's dismissal.  The kids dressed up as Sonic and Knuckles from the Sonic the Hedgehog video games.  They were so cute!

November was slightly better than October.  Sean got pink eye and a sinus infection and was under doctor's orders to stay home from school for THREE DAYS.  I was NOT happy.  At all.  I'm getting rotten letters from his school regarding his attendance.  I'm sorry he's been sick so much.  Geez.  I really don't think missing that much pre-K is so horrible.  He's missed 9 days this year, which I agree is ridiculous, but we're just unlucky, not bad parents.  Anyway, I ended up with a rotten cold in November, and my husband got bronchitis.  I'm pretty sure Sarah was sick with something at some point, but maybe not.  We hosted Thanksgiving as usual, and it was a small group for us.  I think we had a total of ten people.  It was tough for Rob and his sister, especially, since this was the first holiday after losing their mother.  Their stepfather had other plans for Thanksgiving, so he wasn't even there.

December was germy too.  We got a stomach bug, and a cold.  Sarah had a fever one night, so she missed school the day before her Christmas party.  She was MAD, but at least it broke in time for her to go to school the last day before Christmas (errr...Winter) Break.  Everyone was healthy on Christmas, other than a cough or sniffle here or there.  The kids really understood Santa this year.  Sean wasn't afraid anymore, and both kids understood that they were supposed to ask for something.  We had to explain to Sarah that the gifts aren't instant, but she got the idea after her third (yes, third) Santa visit.  We saw Santa at the mall, then we saw him at Dinner with Santa at Sean's school, and then at Sesame Place.  The kids both got the gifts they REALLY wanted, so that was nice for everyone.

Sarah got chosen for the Sesame Place parade again, this time outright.  Last time, she was chosen because Sean refused.  I got video of it, and I thanked the person who picked her profusely.  She's usually "too big" to participate.  I get that, but the performers don't realize she's almost 8 physically, but closer to 4 or 5 mentally.

Here is Little Miss in the parade.  She's the adorable one in a purple coat with a pink hat.


I think that's enough for now.  I hope everyone had a great holiday, whatever you celebrate!