True Thanksgiving

Our Thanksgiving plans changed a bit last night.  Little Eli had come down with a cold and he gets wicked chest congestion.  After watching him struggle to breath & with the encouragement of family members who love him dearly, Dave & I decided to take him to the ER.  It was busy there. I was crabby about waiting and missing my family's Thanksgiving festivities.  When we were finally called back to our room and Eli was hooked up to an oxygen monitor.  It hit me that I was being incredibly ungrateful & selfish.  My sweet baby boy was so sad & feeling so crummy.  I cannot imagine what it would be like to have a child who actually sick enough to be in a hospital, or even worse have a baby who hasn't even left the hospital yet.  My poor attitude instantly changed to true thankfulness.  I am so thankful that we only spent 3 hours at the hospital and that the doctors were able to find some medications to help Eli breath.  Our family is lucky that we only battle ear infections & colds.  I will hold my tongue when I think about complaining about a cranky kid with an ear infection- it could be so so much worse. 

Thank you God for reminding me this Thanksgiving to be grateful for the health of my kids.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Today I am thankful for all we are fortunate enought to have.  A warm home, loving family, food on the table.  Today as we sit down to eat our Thanksgiving feast may we all be reminded of how blessed we truely are.  And may we also remember that the best things in life are free.  We wish you a Happy Thanksgiving from our home to yours.

Terrible Twos

It finally happened- the terrible twos have officially entered our house.  We are living with an tiny blonde jekyll and hyde.  Miss Hyde likes to appear around naptime and bedtime.  Miss Hyde also shows her face anytime she doesn't get her way.  Poor Eli has taken a few smacks already today.  He is the innocent bystander to our multiple personality toddler's tantrums.  And just when I have had enough of little Hyde's giant attidude- in walks my sweet Jekyll.  She has become quite fond of snuggles and hand holding.  She give kisses often and for no reason.  I wish this side of Breena would stick around more often.  But every once in a while mid-snuggle Miss Hyde sneaks in and demands some "candies".  She is pretty angry when the answer is 'no'!  I just keep repeating, "it's just a phase. it's just a phase."  *sigh*...

Our Babies

Yesterday we had some family photos taken.  I was pleased with the way the family of photos turned out- but not so pleased with pictures of just the kids.  So yesterday afternoon Dave & I took the kids to a local park and began snapping away in hopes of using one for our Christmas card!  Here are a few of my favorites:

My favorite one will be on our Christmas card this year so I did not post it.  We found out that Breena LOVES the camera!  She was such a ham.  Eli was happy as long as we were acting goofy enough to make him smile.  I love days like this!

The girl who cried turd

We have a Shetland Sheepdog named Allie. Allie is almost 3 years old. She is obnoxious & lovable all at the same time. Breena adores her. Eli likes to pull her hair. Allie is awesome with our kids. She never snarls when Eli gets a handful of fur and she playfully chases Breena all around our house. But their are two things I really dislike about Allie: 1) She barks all the time. 2) She is super furry
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On rare occasions when Allie comes in from going potty outside she brings a little present in. Without getting too graphic I will just say it gets caught in her bum hair. The small remnant of her business eventually lands on my floor. Breena saw me pick it up to discard of it once & was obsessed with talking about how "Allie poopy on floor". Since then, every speck of dirt, piece of mud or grain of sand is an Allie poopy. Breena tells me she sees an Allie poo at least once per day. I have stopped believing her. So when I heard her yell, "Mommy! Allie poopy on floor! " on Tuesday morning I chose not to go check the scene. But she persisted, "Allie Poopy! Ew Allie!". Again I ignored her. Eli was on one of his usual tours of our house. I walked to the hallway to bring him back to his toys and there it was- an Allie poo! And Eli was headed right for it! I quickly removed Eli and barricaded off the infected area. I guess I should take Breena more seriously from now on...

(side note: Dave wanted to be sure he got credit for the clever title of the post. he thinks I always take credit for his jokes- I tell him he is just jealous that I am so funny!)